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BMC and Health Net-Maxxis made their mark at the Tour de Nez on Thursday, placing riders at the front of the morning uphill 2.75-mile time trial at Northstar at Tahoe and the evening Truckee Criterium. BMC's Ian McKissick won the time trial and his team helped him protect the lead in the crit, where Health Net's Roman Kilun won after outsprinting a three-man breakaway.

In his final year of espoir eligibility, Swiss phenom Nino Schurter stormed to his second world U23 cross-country title in three years. The 2006 U23 champ, who took silver last year, rode on the heels of South Africa’s Burry Stander for the first five or six laps in Val di Sole, Italy, before attacking on the penultimate loop for the win. “I attacked twice on the backside [of the course] and [Stander] could not close the gap,” said a triumphant Schurter. “It was in my advantage to have a mate riding behind us.”[nid:78672]

Tom Boonen (Quick Step) returned to the spotlight for the right reasons Friday after blazing to victory in the 170km fourth stage at the Ster Elektrotoer in Holland. The Belgian classics star made headlines earlier this month after he tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition test that forced him out of next month’s Tour de France, but he decided to keep racing rather than retreat from increasing media pressure.

CSC's world time trial champion, Fabian Cancellara, won the seventh stage of the Tour de Suisse on Friday with a trademark solo attack in the final kilometers. Just like Cancellara's win at this year's Milan-San Remo and last July's stage 3 of the Tour de France, Cancellara attacked as the top sprinters were gearing up for a field sprint, and held them off for a narrow victory in a daring display of raw power.

One of the strongest pro fields in recent history competed at the 48th Father’s Day cycling classic in the Sierra foothills town of Nevada City, California on June 15th. As thousands of spectators lined the streets of this historic and bicycle-crazed town, it became clear with 10 laps to go in the men's race that the 48th winner of the Nevada City Bicycle Classic was likely to be one of the two riders who had built a 30-second gap from the pack.

I've been tossing around the idea of trying to "move" to Italy one of these days. I was really only half serious. But now, as I sit here writing this from our balcony overlooking the Torrente (river) Nocem, about to go eat delicious pizza once again, I'm getting a bit more serious. It's real nice here.

Less than five years since he last took the line as an elite bike racer, Marc Gullickson faces a new cycling challenge. As USA Cycling’s newly hired mountain-bike coordinator, “Gully” is charged with helping select the United States’ four-person cross-country team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

The world’s best mountain bike riders are heading to Greg Minnaar’s backyard for 2009. The UCI World Cup will host its opening round of 2009 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, hometown of Minnaar, the 2003 world downhill champ. It’s the first time since 1998 that South Africa has hosted a World Cup round. The April 11-12, 2009, Pietermaritzburg World Cup features the big three of mountain bike racing — cross-country, downhill and four cross.