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Now in its ninth year, the San Dimas Stage Race opens Friday with a deep start list of pro men and women. Originally called the Pomona Valley Stage Race, San Dimas has served as the season opener for domestic racing for years. Although not an NRC event this year, San Dimas still draws most of the teams who will line up at the Redlands Bicycle Classic on April 3. American women have already had four NRC events — Santa Rosa Grand Prix, the Sequoia Cycing Classic time trial and criterium, and the Susan G. Komens Cycle for the Cure — but Redlands will be the first men’s NRC event.

Venus de Miles Opens Registration Venus de Miles, Colorado’s 1st Women’s-Only bike ride, announces registration and the launch of their web site www.venusdemiles.com. Venus de Miles is a celebration of women and community designed to empower women through cycling, the world’s most popular sports, and give back to community youth through Greenhouse Scholars. COURSE

The American Track Racing Association (ATRA) has been reborn for the 2008 season with a new executive board, website and National track racing calendar boasting over $100,000 in prize money at 30 events held around the United States. ATRA's 2008 Executive Board: President - Pete Antonvich Vice President - Tim Goodwin Secretary - Leigh Barczewski Treasurer - Mike Murray A Base for Growth

The following press release was sent by the Australian cycling federation: Olympic and World Champion, Brad McGee, moved a step closer to his goal of a fourth Olympic Games berth with a solid performance in the individual pursuit on day one of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester. McGee was the fifth fastest in qualifying, missing a chance to ride off for a medal, but posting his fastest time since 2004 when he claimed silver in the event at the Athens Olympic Games along with gold in the teams pursuit.

Team Type 1 will field a much different lineup for its third stage race of the season – and its first in the United States – when it takes the start line Friday at the San Dimas Stage Race. On Team Type 1’s roster for the three-day, three-stage race are Americans Chris Jones, Ian MacGregor, Shawn Milne and Phil Southerland, Australian Ben Brooks, Mexican Moises Aldape and Emile Abraham of Trinidad and Tobago.

Colombia's Maria Luisa Calle Williams competes during the women's individual pursuit qualifying round on Thursday.

Cadel Evans’ remarkable spring campaign continued when the Australian doubled Thursday at Italy’s Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali both winning the stage and claiming the overall leader’s jersey. The Silence-Lotto captain, fresh off winning atop Mont Ventoux at Paris-Nice earlier this month, drove home a solo victory 32 seconds ahead of overnight leader Stefano Garzelli (Aqua e Sapone) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas), who came through second and third in the 189km stage.

The USA Cycling’s board of directors on Thursday elected collegiate cycling’s Mark Abramson as president of the organization, replacing Jim Ochowicz, whose term has expired. Abramson takes office immediately and replaces Ochowicz who assumed the post in 2002 and served the maximum allowable three consecutive two-year terms. Wayne Stetina was elected as the Board's vice president while United States Cycling Federation Trustee Jim Patton will serve as secretary.

World cycling chiefs said Thursday their athlete's 'passport' scheme will be maintained despite losing backing from the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA). The World Anti-Doping Agency has withdrawn its endorsement for the Athlete's Passport project from the UCI after the cycling body launched a lawsuit against a former WADA chief. The International Cycling Union (UCI) recently launched a 'biological passport', which records and charts athletes' blood and urine parameters, as a new and seemingly effective weapon in the fight against doping.

Alberto Contador (Astana) won a mountaintop duel versus Colombian condor Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) on Thursday to win his second stage and all but secure overall victory in the Vuelta a Castilla y León. The defending Tour de France champion pointed to his Astana jersey and fired an imaginary pistol as he crossed the line 11 seconds ahead of Soler in the 160.8km stage from Carrión de los Condes to Collado de Salcedillo.

On or off the track, you don’t mess with Arnaud Tournant, the powerhouse French sprinter who remains one of the most feared sprinters in the world and perhaps the best kilometer rider ever to take to the track.

Reigning champions Britain defended their team pursuit title in a new official world record time of 3:56.322 at the world track cycling championships in Manchester England on Thursday. Denmark finished second to claim the silver medal while Australia overcame some late race drama in their duel with New Zealand to claim the bronze. Australia, the Olympic champions, had set the previous world record in the 16-lap 4km event in a time of 3:56.610 in Athens in 2004 and they were quick to congratulate their new world pacesetters.

Reigning world sprint champion Theo Bos says he will not shy away from his rivals when the blue-ribbon event of the world track championships gets under way Friday in Manchester, England. And the flying Dutchman believes his main challenger, big Frenchman Kevin Sireau, lacks the necessary experience to battle his way through to the gold medal. With only five months to go to the Beijing Olympics, and despite keeping a low profile in the World Cup this season, Bos is still considered the man to beat in the men's prestigious speed events.

He’s been talking about it for the past few seasons, now Damiano Cunego will finally do it. Italy’s “Prince” of cycling will skip the Giro d’Italia and focus on the Tour de France instead. The 26-year-old Cunego likes the look of the 2008 Tour route compared to the more challenging Giro on tap for May. He was 11th in the Tour debut in 2006 and believes he challenge for the podium in July.

Bob,
I was talking to a cycling friend today and telling him how my riding had been going and happened to mention an accident I was in while riding a couple of weeks ago. He laughed and said he was just reading a similar story and showed me the birdman case. I found it very interesting and it left me with questions about my incident. So here goes my story.

Hard but worth it. Bonelli Park mtb race 2008

The world championships began with an unscheduled event, early morning blood draw from the UCI. The Holiday Inn was targeted at an ungodly hour for our teenage son (7am!) and no doubt, no one else was happy either. In any case, the Brits, Aussies, Dutchies and USA team were all tested. Welcome to the big leagues. Luckily, Taylor exercised his prerogative as a teenager and went directly went back to sleep after a little breakfast, of course (another prerogative of the teenager?

Until Wednesday morning, David Brailsford's ethical stance on Team GB's attitude to doping had been unquestioned. The British team's Performance Director has long championed clean and fair competition and maintained that any deviation from that philosophy would not be tolerated.

Taylor Phinney continued his quest for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team on Wednesday, lowering his personal best time in the men's individual pursuit by more than two seconds and recording a new world-record time for a junior. His mark of 4:22.358 seconds placed him eighth in his first-ever UCI Track World Championships while his time of 3:17.523 at the 3-kilometer mark — the distance juniors typically race — surpassed the previous world record of 3:17.775 set by Michael Ford (AUS) in 2004. Phinney's previous personal best over four kilometers was 4:24.364.

Olympic pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins lifted British spirits by successfully defending his individual pursuit crown here at the world track cycling championships on Wednesday. Wiggins overpowered surprise Dutch finalist Jenning Huizenga in a time of 4:18.519 to claim his second consecutive gold after his victory in Mallorca last year. Huizenga, who had beaten Wiggins in qualifying, finished in 4:23.474 to claim the silver medal. Russian Alexei Markov claimed the bronze after beating New Zealand's Hayden Roulston in their medal match-up.

Niklas Axelsson’s career looked dead in the water when he tested positive for EPO at the 2001 world cycling championships. He admitted his guilt and was later banned for four years by the Swedish cycling federation. The 35-year-old then mounted a comeback in 2004, but was stricken with testicular cancer in 2007 only to reappear yet again with Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli this season. Persistence paid off Wednesday when he won the 175.6km second stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in Italy.

With only a few months to go until BMX's Olympic debut, there's a lot at stake at this weekend's second annual USA Cycling BMX National Championships in DeSoto, Texas. DeSoto's Metroplex BMX, the world’s first covered BMX track, will host the event, which will award national titles in 52 classifications, from the under-12 cruiser class up to masters classes. "It would mean a lot to be able to represent my country at the most prestigious event in the world," said Kyle Bennett (Free Agent), the top ranked continental racer who holds a 42-point

Britain's cycling director Dave Brailsford admitted on Wednesday the world track cycling championships had begun under a cloud after endurance rider Rob Hayles failed a blood screening test. Britain is the team to beat at the championships, which they dominated last year in Spain, and are considered track cycling's global pacesetters five months ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Their bid to get off to a positive start here on Wednesday however hit the skids when both Hayles and Dutch rider Pim Ligthart failed routine blood screening tests.