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Willamette Valley Stage Race, Oregon
Willamette Valley Stage Race, Oregon
Teamwork at the Party Pardee in Ione, CA
Teamwork at the Party Pardee in Ione, CA
Former RAAM racer dies in car-bike collision
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.
Gould, Kabush take lead in NMBS
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.
Rusching Across Africa: The end
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
Wrubleski, Botero win Redlands
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.
School of hard knocks: Ups and downs mark Slipstream’s Ronde debut
The American Slipstream-Chipotle squad endured a day of highs and lows at the 2008 Tour of Flanders, the American squad’s debut at Belgium’s biggest one-day race. The high came at the finish line, where the team’s 24-year-old Belgian rider Martin Maaskant was the 12th man to cross the line, finishing 21 seconds in arrears alongside a handful of the sport’s classics stars, including George Hincapie, Alessandro Ballan, Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen.
Di Luca wins Settimana Lombardia
Danilo Di Luca (LPR) won the Settimana Lombardia race on Sunday following the sixth and final stage over 162.7km around Bergamo. Teammates Paolo Savoldelli and Daniele Pietropolli finished second and third respectively. Italy's Francesco Failli (Acqua e Sapone), won the stage in a sprint finish. It was the 43rd career win for 32-year-old Di Luca, the reigning Giro d'Italia champion. Di Luca is embroiled in an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to have a three-month suspension he served for a doping offense last year overturned.
High Road’s Judith Arndt wins women’s Tour of Flanders
German ace Judith Arndt out-kicked American Kristin Armstrong to win the women’s Tour of Flanders, the third round of the 2008 UCI women’s World Cup. It was the fourth career World Cup victory for Arndt, the silver medalist from the 2004 Olympics, and the first for her team under its new High Road label. “It was a perfect victory; a perfect day for us,” said Arndt. “It was a team victory.”
Emilia Fahlin and Jeff Louder win Redlands criterium
Emilia Fahlin (Team High Road) and Jeff Louder (BMC) won Saturday’s 1st Centennial Bank-KWB Wealth Managers Criterium, the second stage of the 2008 Redlands Classic in California. Fahlin, a 19-year-old Swede, took the bunch sprint ahead of a hard-driving women’s peloton in Saturday’s 1st Centennial Bank-KWB Wealth Managers Criterium. Hot on her wheel was Canadian Alex Wrubleski (Webcor Builders) and Advil-Chapstick’s Brenda Lyons.
Nash, Kabush win short track at NMBS No. 2
Katerina Nash (Luna) and Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) won the short track on Saturday during round two of the National Mountain Bike Series in Arizona. One short, loose climb added significantly to the technical challenge of racing in the desert terrain of McDowell Mountain Regional Park outside Fountain Hills. The women dismounted, but some of the men were able to ride it. Kona teammates Ryan Trebon and Barry Wicks opened a small gap early in the pro men's race, but Kabush, the 2007 short-track national series champion, soon bridged up to form a trio.
Bulls win final Cape Epic stage
The Absa Cape Epic stage race wrapped up Saturday with the Bulls team — comprising the German riders Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm — capturing the final stage while the overall title goes to the Cannondale Vredestein duo of Denmark's Jakob Fuglsang and Belgium's Roel Paulissen. With a nine-minute time advantage built up of over the last couple of stages, the Cannondale Vredestein team solidified their position by finishing in the lead bunch. The Bulls team secured second place overall.