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Hamilton, behind Jeremiah Wiscovich, oversees the chase at stage 2 at San Dimas last weekend.

Thousands Are “Legal to Ride” at the start of the 2008 Cycling Season in Colorado May 30 to June 1 in Castle Rock REGISTRATION is now more than half full; May 14 is mail-in deadline; May 28 is regular deadline Where can you find an 8-mile family course, 32, 50, 65, 100-mile road rides, a 25-mile off-road course and a 24-hour ride during a weekend? The annual pilgrimage to Castle Rock, Colo.,marks the first major cycling festival of the season for participants from near and far.

Continuing the excitement generated last year throughout the national cycling community, Carrera de San Rafael announces important changes to its 2008 event. Project Sport, LLC, one of the largest sports marketing companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, has acquired this premier cycling event that will return to the streets of downtown San Rafael on its new date of Saturday, August 9, 2008.

The Redlands Classic, which begins Thursday April 3 in Southern California, marks the opening of the USA Cycling NRC series. By this time of the year, the NRC competition is usually well under way. But with the MERCO races in Merced and the Central Valley Classic in Fresno not having NRC status this year, the race for the NRC crown is off to a late start.

After my posting about Cristina’s accident, I was flooded with emails from friends encouraging me to keep riding. It was really great to get all the support from home and to know that you were all still tuning in, despite my unofficial ranking. You will all be happy to know I’m still competing in my own personal race here at the Cape Epic. Today was stage 6 and the last of the really long stages. The last two will both be less than 100km.

Two-time Tour of Flanders winner Tom Boonen wants to make it a hat trick this weekend on home roads. A winner in 2005 and 2006, Boonen couldn’t meet expectations last year and finished 12th as Alessandro Ballan (Lampre) pipped Leif Hoste (Silence-Lotto) for a career-defining victory. This year, Boonen has taken a quieter route to the northern classics and he’s hoping it will pay off with a strong ride Sunday.

For the first time since winning the prologue, the MTN Energade team of Kevin Evans and David George won Thursday's 130km Absa Cape Epic stage in a sprint with two other teams. The previous day's stage winners, the Bulls team of Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm, were second, followed one second later by the Cannondale Vredestein team, Roel Paulissen and Jakob Fuglsang, who aggressively defended their overall lead. On stage 5 Paulissen had to ride the final 18km on a bare rim and the team finished in fifth position, losing about half of its overall lead.

Dutch flier Joost Posthuma (Rabobank) pulled the double in Thursday’s time trial finale at the Three Days of De Panne to claim the stage and the overall crown in one hard effort. Posthuma had just enough in the tank to erase a 27-second gap to overnight leader Enrico Gasparotto (Barloworld) to vault from eighth to the top spot on the podium.

Riders Get Chance to Earn A Spot on The Nature Valley Cycling Team and Compete in The 2008 Nature Valley Grand Prix

The International Council of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has named Italian Mino Auletta to be its president. Auletta has been interim president since the death of Judge Ke?ba Mbaye last January. Mbaye was the president and founder of the organization. Outspoken Canadian Dick Pound, the former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency had been lobbying for the position.

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 endurance 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

David George and Kevin Evans of MTN 1 sprint to victory during stage 6 of the 2008 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race from Bredasdorp to Hermanus in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Eugene A. Sloane, the author of the 1970s Bike Boom bestseller The Complete Book of Bicycling, died in Illinois this weekend. He was 91 and died for complications from pneumonia, according to the Chicago Tribune. Sloane published his first cycling book in 1970. It was followed by Sloane's Handy Pocket Guide to Bicycle Repair and Sloane's Complete Book of All-Terrain Bicycles. Sloane's sons told the Times that their father had many interests that, variously, bordered on obsessions, including sailing, motorcycling and photography. Services will be private.

Bob,

For the second day in a row, British sprinter Mark Cavendish bested the pack in Belgium’s Three Days of De Panne. The High Road fastman out-kicked Francesco Chicchi (Liquigas) to win Thursday’s 119km morning sector as part of the two-stage finale. Slovenian Borut Bozic (Collstop) came through second with Danilo Napolitano (Lampre) fourth. Like he did in Wednesday’s stage, Cavendish won once again in a long sprint. Italian Enrico Gasparotto (Barloworld) conserved his leader’s jersey going into the afternoon’s decisive 14km individual time trial.

Editor's note: the following is an essay written by 1984 Olympic gold medalist Alexi Grewal. A full article on Grewal and his admitted use of performance enhancing drugs appears in the April 15 issue of VeloNews. Sons have a propensity to follow in their father’s footsteps. For that very reason I write this. My son, your son or daughter, should have the right to find the sport better than it is now or was in our day.

The pro racer’s association is threatening legal action within a week if portions of prize money from the 2007 Tour de France being withheld by the French cycling federation are left unpaid. The Professional Cyclists Association (CPA) issued the threat Wednesday in the face of more stalling from the French cycling federation, which is charged with handing out of the Tour prize money. According to a CPA communiqué, the entire prize money allotment totally more than $4 million should have been paid by Oct. 27, 2007, but the French cycling federation has yet to release all the money.

Abraham Ruhumuriza of Team Rwanda leads American Jock Boyer through the prologue

Abraham Ruhumuriza of Team Rwanda leads American Jock Boyer through the prologue

That red couch on the podium? Your guess is as good as ours.

Cannondale-Vredestein's Jakob Fuglsang, the U23 world champ, leads teammate Roel Paulissen through a creek

Kevin Evans donned the leader's jersey after winning the prologue alongside teammate David George. The two would not be so lucky on the first stage to George.

Defending champions Karl Platt (left) and Stefan Sahm signed some autographs the day before the race

The Absa Cape Epic's sign-in is a chance to show off the toned legs and new kit, however hideous it may be.

Trek/VW's Jeremiah Bishop meets a new friend on the eve of the race

Haywood (left) and Smith took their second straight stage win on the 2008 Absa Cape Epic's longest stage

The winners of the 2007 Absa Cape Epic, the Bulls squad of Stefan Sahm and Karl Platt took their first victory of the 2008 race, winning the fifth stage from Swellendam to Bredasdorp. The two out sprinted the Alb-Gold team of Hannes Genze and Joschen Kaess for the win. The victory took a sizable chunk out of the overall lead of the Cannondale-Vredestein squad of Jakob Fuglsang and Roel Paullissen, who crossed the line in 5th place, nearly eight minutes down.

Mark Cavendish (High Road) charged to victory in Wednesday’s second stage of the Three Days of De Panne in Belgium, while Enrico Gasparotto (Barloworld) retained the overall lead. Cavendish, who notched 11 wins in his rookie season last year, unloaded an electrifying sprint to relegate Francesco Chicchi (Liquigas) to second with Sebastien Chavanel (FDJeux) coming across the line for third.

July 1949 of Italian cyclists Gino Bartali (L) and Fausto Coppi (R) waiting before the start of a stage of the Tour de France. The two champions won 2 Tour de France each : Bartali in 1938 and 1948, Coppi in 1949 and 1952.

Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali are Italy’s two cycling icons. The duo have become legends because of their heroics on the bike, the mystique and contrast of their lives, the intrigue of their rivalries, the beauty evoked in the images taken of them — black and white; sweat and dust — and the courage and passion they gave to a post war Italy.

Troubled Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke is set to be quizzed by the Ypres justice department in the coming days over whether he bought cocaine. If found guilty it can carry a custodial sentence. The 33-year-old looked set for a glorious career when he won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic in 1999, but has been plagued by problems ever since including a ban for doping in 2002. His toubles reached its nadir when he tried to commit suicide in June 2007.

Network covers historic bicycle races LIVE from Indiana University – April 11 and 12 WHAT: For the 6th consecutive season, HDNet will cover the greatest single-speed bike races in the world - the Men’s and Women’s Little 500 LIVE from Indiana University. Steeped in tradition and high on excitement, these races are known as the nation’s premier intramural collegiate cycling event. The races have the reputation of being the best of their kind anywhere in the world, earning the nickname "The World's Greatest College Weekend."

Organizers of the proposed 2,200-mile Tour of America have postponed their inaugural event until fall 2009. "Everyone we have spoken with wants to see a 'Tour de France-style' race here in the United States," said Frank Arokiasamy, the race director and president of Aqu, Inc., the race's organizing company. Arokiasamy proposed the coast-to-coast race last fall, scheduling it for September 2008.

Colorado Premier Training (CPT), the nation’s leading facility for wind tunnel pro team testing and pre-race camps has selected Kurt Kinetic as the center’s official trainer. Teams fine-tuning their start of season performance are already making use of the first trainers to arrive: the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine. “This partnership creates a more comprehensive package for CPT athletes,” says Steve Owens, CEO of Colorado Premier Training.

Editor’s Note: - By now, most long-time readers of VeloNews and VeloNews.com realize that our favorite – albeit not legally recognized – holiday is April Fools’ Day. Many of us here have long enjoyed the once-a-year opportunity to set aside our normal duty of checking sources, facts and the veracity of quotes and just make the stuff up.