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It’s not a coincidence that the front-page photo chosen for Saturday’s edition of L’Équipe, the top-selling French sports newspaper, was a shot from the rear of the Tour de France peloton climbing the Mur de Bretagne, a 10-percent-grade, wall-like climb that marks the midpoint of stage 2. The shot is from the 2004 Tour de France, the last time the race came this way, but it will look much the same on Sunday.

Gear combinations: 53/39; 52/39 [nid:79403] Lengths: 170, 172.5, 175 Weight: 715g including bottom bracket Available: December 2008 Web site: www.shimano.com Originally shown at Eurobike 2007, Shimano's carbon Dura-Ace crank, model FC-7800-C, is being revised before its release at the end of this year. The new crank will feature improved chainrings to offer better shifting without the need to trim the shifter. The rings also will be available for aftermarket purchase.

Cheerwine's Robin Farina outsprinted her breakaway companion to take a win Saturday in the third stage of the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic stage race in Massachusetts. Her teammate Catherine Cheatley maintains her overall lead in the race. In the men's race, Colavita's Kyle Wamsley won the stage and widened his overall lead. KBS/Medifast's Justin Spinelli sits second and Bissell's Ted King is third. The men rode 75 miles around a 3.1 mile loop through the hilly streets of Fitchburg. The women rode 34 miles.

With his Pinarello painted bright yellow and red, Spain’s new national champion Alejandro Valverde clawed his way up to and past an attacking Kim Kirchen (Columbia) on the steeps of the Côte de Cadoudal to take the first stage and yellow jersey of the 95th Tour de France.

Belgium’s Roel Paulissen and Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå of Norway have won the 2008 UCI marathon mountain biking world championships, in Villabassa, Italy on Saturday. The 119 km course wound a long lap through the Südtirol Dolomiti area of northern Italy.

It’s not a coincidence that the front-page photo chosen for Saturday’s edition of L’Équipe, the top-selling French sports newspaper, was a shot from the rear of the Tour de France peloton climbing the Mur de Bretagne, a 10-percent-grade, wall-like climb that marks the midpoint of stage 2. The shot is from the 2004 Tour de France, the last time the race came this way, but it will look much the same on Sunday.

BANG-BAM-BOOM: Tour brass will surely preen with pride at the huge crowds lining the route across the heart of Brittany, but not everyone was happy that the opening prologue was ditched in favor of a hectic, nervous road stage. Since 1967, the Tour started with some form of a time trial. This year, Christian Prudhomme wanted to shake things up and simply decided to let them sprint for the yellow jersey.

The 2008 Canadian National Road Cycling Championships began on Friday with the individual time trial events for Elite and Under-23 men and women in Saint-Georges, Quebec. Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) took his fourth title in the men's 40 kilometer event, while Anne Samplonius (Équipe du Québec) won her second title in the women's 20 kilometer race. David Veilleux of (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast) won the Under-23 men's category and Julie Beveridge (Aaron's) the women's Under-23 race.

Team Columbia manager Bob Stapleton is looking to Britain's Mark Cavendish for a Tour de France stage victory after his team missed out on an historic first stage win here Saturday. Stapleton's team have come to the Tour looking to fight on several fronts, but at the start of the 2008 race - being held without a prologue for the first time in 41 years — he was reminded that they'll get nothing for free.

Stage 1, Brest to Plumelec, 197.5km

Robbie McEwen’s bike was lined up unassumingly, mid-pack, among his teammates' rigs in front of a roped off and guarded Silence-Lotto bus. All of the extra protection was meant to protect the race favorite — McEwen's teammate Cadel Evans — but McEwen’s bike benefited. He was suppose to start the race on Campagnolo’s new 11-speed group, but instead he unassumingly rode away from the team bus on a 10-speed bike. [nid:79347]

Garmin-Chipotle rider Will Frischkorn is riding his first Tour de France. He will share his journal entries with VeloNews.com readers after each stage. People. That's the word of the day. I'm always amazed by how many people swarm the climbs in races like the Tour of Flanders and the Pave of Roubaix ... that's nothing. I'd seen the videos and the pictures, heard the stories about the crowds on the epic climbs of the Tour, but had no idea how many people would be EVERYWHERE! Crazy.

On the eve of his fourth Tour de France, Silence-Lotto’s Cadel Evans told a crowded hotel lobby that though he might be the pre-race favorite heading into the race, due to his second-place finish last year, given this year’s list of contenders, actually winning the race is something else entirely.

Last year Oakley revamped its most popular sport sunglass the M-Frame into a new sunglass. Though the M-Frame is still available its predecessor, the Radar, has become as instantly popular as the decade old staple of Oakley’s line. Using the opening stage of the Tour as a springboard, Oakley introduced a complement to the new Radar in the form of a newly styled Racing Jacket. Columbia’s George Hincapie and Credit Agricole’s Thor Hushovd are the two riders charged with introducing the new shade, and the only two riders who currently have it. [nid:79335]