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For the last year, American cross-country mountain bike racer Adam Craig (Giant) has been battling it out on the World Cup and National Mountain Bike Series for a slot on the U.S. team. Last week, after a solid performance at the world championships, Craig got word that he had made the team. This week he shares his journal and includes a report from his Giant teammate, Carl Decker. —Editor

This Tour de France couldn’t be going any better for Cadel Evans. In four days of racing he and his Silence-Lotto team have ridden conservatively, largely out of the spotlight — just like the modest Aussie wants it. He showed his form was coming along nicely on opening day, losing by just one second to the explosive Alejandro Valverde on the uphill finish at Plumelec. On stages 2 and 3, his team kept him near the front of the peloton all day, well away from the crashes that were all too common.

Retail Price: $21.95 Web site: www.velogear.com The Tour Is Won on the Alpe: Alpe d'Huez and the Classic Battles of the Tour de France is a new book by cycling historian Jean-Paul Vespini. Each chapter covers one Alpe d'Huez stage, starting with Fausto Coppi’s victory in 1952. Vespini tells the story of the celebrated climb that so often determines the winner cycling’s biggest prize.

Team Columbia won her third consecutive stage of the Giro d’Italia Femminile on Tuesday, increasing her overall lead in the race to 17 seconds over Kirsten Wild (AA Drink). “It feels pretty unreal to get the hat trick,” said Teutenberg. “I can’t believe it but I’m definitely happy about it. For sure though, it will be a different story tomorrow and another girl will be in pink." Wednesday's stage climbs twice up the Monte Serra and finishes at the top after 106km of racing. “No matter how hard I try, it will be a different race tomorrow,” added Teutenberg.

The extra 20 pounds Hi Monique, I enjoyed your article in the recent VeloNews (May 22, 2008) about nutrition for cyclists. A lot of what you discussed I was already doing (learned from trial and error over my riding career of 25 years), but have a question I'd like to address to you that a lot of other cyclists might also find interesting.

Garmin party: Garmin-Chipotle was in a good mood today. The riders raced with a yellow dossard because they stood atop the team GC while Will Frischkorn raced with a red background on his number after winning Monday’s most aggressive rider’s prize. Frischkorn said he felt Monday’s effort in his legs, but admitted he didn’t go too hard in Tuesday’s TT.

And now the real racing begins... After three road stages on the rolling roads of Brittany, we had a bit of a change today with a shorter-than-normal-for-the-Tour time trial. We'd flown in a day early last week to scout this one out so there were no surprises out there, nice for the heads of the guys really gunning for it. And gun they did. Danny lit it up with a hot early time, then Christian and David put in some really solid rides near the end that solidified our lead in the team GC and sets us up well looking forward to the days ahead.

Stage 4, Cholet-Cholet, 29.5km (individual time trial) Weather:
Mostly sunny, with building clouds in afternoon, no rain. Strong SW winds up to 35kph, highs in upper 60s Stage winner:

While Gerolsteiner’s Stefan Schumacher scored an impressive ? and surprising ? win in Tuesday’s 29.5km individual time trial in Cholet, he’s still not ranked among the favorites to wear the yellow jersey in Paris on July 27.

Germany's Stefan Schumacher pulled on the Tour de France yellow jersey here Tuesday, and was then forced to defend himself quickly over a positive test for amphetamines last year and explain why he was invited to race the Tour, while Tom Boonen was not. Schumacher, who denies taking the stimulant, tested positive after a police stop while returning from a disco. The incident reminds some of Boonen's out-of-competition positive test for cocaine this spring, which resulted in Boonen being denied a Tour start.

Shimano’s electric time-trial shifters made their racing debut on Tuesday during the stage-4 individual time trial in Cholet. Ever since the “E-Dura-Ace” group showed up three years ago there was speculation that it might become a powerful time-trial tool. The system can be routed internally through a radically shaped time trial bike without hampering shifting performance. And the time-trial version sports shift buttons in both bar-ends and brake levers, which means a rider can shift regardless of whether he’s on the aero bars or the bullhorns.

You’ve already seen the new Bell Volt helmet, even if you didn’t recognize it as new. Thor Hushovd put the Volt in the spotlight of victory at the end of Sunday’s stage two. The new model will slot in as the top road and cross-country race helmet from Bell.

Oh so close. Garmin Chipotle’s Will Frischkorn, out ahead of the peloton in a four-man breakaway from the first 10 kilometers of the Tour’s third stage from Saint-Malo to Nantes, came within a wheel’s length of winning a stage in his first grand tour. Not a bad ride for a rider who only learned he was heading to the Tour de France a week before the start, on a team that earned a wildcard invitation to the world’s biggest bike race.

When I was an amateur racer in Brittany a few decades ago, one event I did was the local classic, Nantes-St. Nazaire. We raced on some of the same flat roads that the Tour de France peloton covered Monday; and the weather was similar: heavy rain showers and a strong southwest wind. Although I usually enjoyed racing in the rain, that classic was the first time I encountered fast-moving echelons, angled into the wind. It was all I could do to grovel in the gutter, trying to hang on to the thin line of riders stuck at the back. It’s not a pleasant memory.

Aging tires
Dear Lennard,
I have known people that have road bicycle spare tires in their garage for more than two years. Also, I have a nine-year-old Nokian studded tire on the front of my mountain bike for snowy/icy conditions. I have a pair of Michelin Pro Race tires that have been in my garage for four or five years, and have only been pulled out of their boxes a few times. Although they have not been exposed to sunlight, I am concerned about the pressurizing these tires to 115-120 psi considering that they may have dried out.

While the Cascade Classic has always enjoyed top tier competition, the story of this year’s event is undoubtedly the participation of two of America’s most decorated road racers; Astana teammates Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner. Leipheimer will likely use the Classic to fine tune his form for the Olympics while Horner, who was left off the US team, will be seeking redemption with a hometown win.

Stage 3, Saint Malo to Nantes, 208km

Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) outsprinted three breakaway mates to win stage 3 of the Tour de France on Monday, while Romain Feillu (Agritubel) took the yellow jersey from Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne). "It was phenomenal to win the stage today. It was something you dream about,” said Dumoulin. “The priority was to make the breakaway stay clear. We had some common interests in the breakaway and we worked well together. I knew the yellow jersey wasn't possible so I started to think about winning the stage.”[nid:79536] Feillu was elated, too.

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg took her second consecutive stage of the Giro d'Italia Femminile Monday, defending the Maglia Rosa going into stage four. "I'm psyched to win the the pink jersey and be able to ride with it another day," said Teutenberg. "We couldn't have had a better start in the Giro and hopefully we can keep playing a big role in the race." The flat stage from Ca’ Tiepolo Porto Tolle to Rosolina Mare was hot and relatively fast with cross winds in the last ten kilometers. Team Columbia started the lead out for Teutenberg with three kilometers remaining in the race.

Yellow jersey hopeful Alejandro Valverde willingly gave up the Tour de France lead on Tuesday, but admitted he had raced the hectic third stage with more of an eye on the crucial fourth stage.

Rabobank’s Denis Menchov became the of the Tour de France's top yellow jersey contenders to lose a significant amount of time Monday when he got caught napping in a hectic run to the finish of a 208km stage. Menchov, a two-time Vuelta a España winner, found himself in a group that had been left trailing by some furious accelerations at the front of the peloton and a mid-field crash as sprinters’ teams ramped up an ultimately futile pursuit of a four-man break.