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Eddy Mazzoleni, third in last year's Giro d’Italia, has been handed a two-year ban by the Italian cycling federation (FCI) for his involvement in the so-called "Oil for Drugs" affair, the FCI said on Tuesday. The FCI also banned 28-year-old Domenico Quagliariello, formerly with Ceramica Flaminia, for life for his involvement in the same affair. The 34-year-old Mazzoleni was temporarily suspended by his Astana team in June 2007, then sacked a few days later. Both men have 10 days to lodge an appeal with the Italian National Olympic Committee (Coni).

Trek Bicycle Corp. is dropping LeMond Bicycles from its line and going to court to sever a 13-year licensing agreement with three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond, Trek president John Burke told employees Tuesday morning. Burke cited LeMond's public comments regarding doping allegations against Lance Armstrong and others, LeMond's decision to offer a mass merchant accessory product line in 2000, and his "inconsistent" commitment to the brand.

It took Stijn Devolder six hours, 24 minutes and two seconds to ride all 264 kilometers of this year’s Ronde van Vlaanderen, Belgium’s Tour of Flanders. It took me a bit longer. Scratch that. It took a lot longer; another four-and-a-half hours, to be exact.

Are longer cranks 'harder to push'?

The bridge at Bear Paw Preserve

The United States Cycling Team captured two Pan American Mountain Bike titles at the annual Continental Championships in Venezuela. Mary McConneloug won the elite women’s race, while Sam Jurekovic claimed the win in the men’s U23 contest. In the elite men’s division, Todd Wells was the top American rider with a fifth-place finish, while compatriot Michael Broderick finished sixth. Jurekovic recorded a 1:49:37 to beat runner-up Dario Gasco of Argentina by 54 seconds, while third-place finisher Kindree Neal of Canada was 4:57 back.

Riders will pedal through the streets of Banff on June 21 & 22, 2008 as two additional races are confirmed for the Banff National Park Bike Fest. The festival’s premiere edition will now include a time trial and road race testing participants against themselves, the clock and other teams.

THE 2008 TOUR OF ARKANSAS - PRESS RELEASE This year will see the launch of the Inaugural Tour of Arkansas. Two other great Arkansas events – The Tri-Peaks Challenge Stage Race (NRC) and the Celebrity Classic have now joined forces and become the Tour of Arkansas. The events slogan for this year - “23,000 Feet Of Climbing; 4 Days Of Racing; 2 Mountain Top Finishes; 1 Great Race ”

Shawn Milne became the third rider from Team Type 1 to break a bone in his hand in the past 17 days when he crashed Saturday on the final lap of the 1st Centennial Bank/KWB Wealth Managers Criterium at the Redlands Bicycle Classic. Riding in a four-man breakaway that was destined to stay away to the finish line, Milne clipped his pedal coming out of the second-to-last turn and went headfirst over the handlebars. X-Rays revealed Milne broke his right thumb at the metacarpal (knuckle) joint.

Erik Zabel leads Team MILRAM in Gent-Wevelgem Last-minute line-up change after poor showing in Hel van Het Mergelland

Pick your professional cyclists in this FREE fantasy cycling game and win over $1000 in endurance products. DBM Nutrition has opened registration for the April 13, 2008 Paris-Roubaix Fantasy Cycling Game. It's free to enter and prizes total over $1000 in Kona Endurance products. The object is to pick 10 cyclists from selected groups and the better they do, the better you do. It's fun and easy to play.

The last time Stuart O'Grady experienced such atrocious weather on a bike, he had to dive under a tractor to hide from hailstones the size of golf balls. That wasn't the case at the snow-hit Tour of Flanders on Sunday, but still the reigning Paris-Roubaix champion and his CSC team suffered arguably their worst ever day of racing. CSC harbored realistic hopes of seeing Milan-SanRemo champion Fabian Cancellara grab his second classics scalp of the season.

Fabian Cancellara was among the big name favorites for the Tour of Flanders crown left regretting the harsh conditions and race tactics which produced a surprise winner here on Sunday. The Swiss ace came into the race as a big favorite after a commanding performance in the Italian one-day classic Milan-San Remo a fortnight ago, won shortly after he had triumphed at the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race.

Alberto Contador’s “Revenge Tour 2008” continued Monday as the Astana rider uncorked a blistering acceleration on the last of seven climbs to bolt away from a soggy and cold peloton in the 137km opener at the Vuelta al País Vasco. Contador won the stage three seconds ahead of Ezequiel Mosquera (Karpin-Galicia) and takes an unexpected eight-second lead on his main adversaries in an exciting opening day of the six-day Basque Country tour.

A decision on the fraud case against disgraced former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich is expected in the next week, it was revealed on Monday. Prosecutors in Bonn have been investigating the 1997 Tour de France winner since July 2006 after it was alleged that he was involved in taking performance-enhancing drugs. The 34-year-old faces fraud charges, alleging that by using banned substances, he deceived the public, sponsors and his team.

When it’s a hard day in the Tour of Flanders, the home riders nearly always come out on top. And Sunday’s 92nd edition of the gnarly Belgian classic was one of the hardest, with hail showers, even some snow, and long bouts of heavy rain blasting the riders through the middle part of the 264km race, which started and ended in spring sunshine. So it was fitting that the reigning champion of Belgium, Stijn Devolder of Quick Step-Innergetic, emerged with a gutsy solo triumph.

They won’t be facing off against each other in the Tour de France this summer, so this week’s Tour of the Basque Country in Spain will provide a glimpse of what should have been the season’s biggest showdown.

Connie Carpenter is reporting that her husband, Davis Phinney, had successful surgery Friday to install a device to reduce the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease. In a letter to friends, Carpenter said the deep brain surgery "went very well." She said after the surgery Phinney, a Tour de France stage winner and Olympian, said he was hungry. "He's tired (the surgery was well over four hours and he was awake for much of it), but hunger is a good sign!" she said.

Willamette Valley Stage Race, Oregon

Teamwork at the Party Pardee in Ione, CA

Randy Van Zee, a long time cyclist and 2004 solo competitor in the Race Across America, died Friday after being rear-ended by a car while on a ride near his home in Iowa. Police are still investigating the collision. The car was driven by a 21-year-old woman from Archer, Iowa. Van Zee, who was 56, finished in 8th place in the 2004 RAAM. He was a counselor who worked for Hope Haven, Inc. for 29 years before moving to Sheldon, Iowa, in 2002, where he worked as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the state of Iowa. He is survived by his wife, children and six grandchildren.

Georgia Gould (Luna) and Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) dominated the cross-country finale to claim the stage-race titles in round two of the National Mountain Bike Series, run on a fast, technical, desert course at McDowell Mountain Regional Park near Fountain Hills, Arizona. Kabush and Gould, both of whom also won Friday's Super D time trial, now lead the NMBS standings with two of six rounds completed.

Professional endurance competitor Rebecca Rusch has tackled her fair share of adventure races and 24-hour mountain bike races throughout the years. Now, the Idahoan is in South Africa, at the Absa Cape Epic, a nine-day mountain bike stage race across the country’s scenic Western Cape. Following an accident that resulted in a broken collarbone, teammate Cristina Begy withdrew from the race, but Rusch decided to continue, albeit unofficially, on her own. — Editor

Alex Wrubleski (Webcor Builders) and Santiago Botero (Rock Racing) wrapped up the overall titles at California's Redlands Classic on Sunday. Wrubleski not only won the Beaver Medical Group Sunset Road Race in a bunch sprint, just ahead of Leigh Hobson (Cheerwine) and Kim Anderson (Team High Road), but took just enough bonus time in Sunday’s final stage of the Redlands Cycling Classic to take the overall from Mara Abbott (Team High Road) by a mere second.