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Scott Nydam attacked early in the second stage of the Amgen Tour of California last month, spending a long and lonely day off the front of the peloton before being pulled back after 97 miles on his own. For his effort, the 30-year-old Colorado native earned the day's most-aggressive rider jersey and snagged a few climber's points along the way.

The Old and The New - Scott Moninger and Taylor Phinney, 2007 North Boulder Park Crit

Mount Hamilton descent - Tour of CA 2008

Following is the full text of the email UCI president Pat McQuaid sent to professional racers on March 4. Aigle, 4th March 2008 Ref: President / gr Dear Rider, You are aware of the difficulties we have with the forthcoming edition of Paris-Nice and I wanted to write to you personally to express my sympathy for the position you find yourself in and to explain the situation as I see it. I am writing at the request and with the support of the organisation that looks after your interests as a rider, the CPA.

A Denver-area institution turns 35 this year. Wheat Ridge Cyclery, founded by Eugene Kiefel in 1973 has grown to be the largest single bike shop in all of Colorado and a perennial recipient of the coveted “Bicycle Retailer: Top 100” award. (An industry honor reserved for the best 100 bike shops in the nation.) History

The international cycling union UCI on Thursday announced a new anti-doping foundation as part of its latest battle to rid the sport of cheats. With a budget of five million euros a year, the goal of the foundation "is to permit the improvement of resources available in the anti-doping battle", said a UCI statement. The new group will be headed by UCI president Pat McQuaid and made up of Peder Pedersen (Denmark), Daniel Baal (France), Artur Lopes (Portugal) and George Ruijsch Van Dugteren (South Africa).

Abraham Olano, the Basque two-time world champion and winner of the Vuelta a España, will participate in cycling trips organized by Giant Tours. Olano rode with Giant bikes in his years with the professional team ONCE. After his retirement as a pro rider, Olano went on with Giant testing their products and as one of their ambassadors in several events.

At the start of the year, Team CSC brass were predicting that a stronger, more confident Juan José Haedo would win more in his second season in Europe. So far, the Argentine ace is living up to expectations. After winning races in Argentina and in California earlier this season, Haedo won Sunday’s Clásica de Almería ahead of three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank).

Next month's AT&T Tour de Georgia route will include a quick pass into South Carolina for the first time and replace an individual time trial with a hilly team time trial held on a motorsports track. It also will feature a new route for one of the key stages in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Organizers released details of the 7-stage race on Thursday. This will be the sixth edition of the race, which starts Monday April 21.

Tour de France champion Alberto Contador isn’t exactly holding his breath expecting Tour organizers to change their minds on its controversial decision to exclude his Astana team from cycling’s marquee race. “It seems unlikely, even though I am receiving the support from everyone, from the other riders and from the public,” Contador told the Spanish sports daily MARCA. “Being optimistic, I see 0.5 percent of the possibilities that the Tour would reconsider its posture.”

Sébastien Joly (FDJeux) will be the first person to tell you that he’s not going to win seven Tours de France, let alone one, after fending off a bout with testicular cancer that struck him midway through the 2007 season. Comparisons to Lance Armstrong are inevitable for the 28-year-old Frenchman, who returned to competition in February after missing last year’s Tour as he underwent surgery and radiotherapy.

Crossing the Gator Pit

Cesar Grajales guts it out on Brasstown Bald last year.

Mai's bike. He says he rides up to 1000km a week on it.

A German rider with a penchant for lightweight rides has put together a 3195-gram (7.04-pound) road bike that he says is sturdy enough for him to ride up to 1000 kilometers a week. Günter Mai from Lampertheim has modified virtually every part on the bike, including the set of custom Lew Racing Pro VT-1 wheels. Off the shelf VT-1 wheels weigh 850 grams a pair and are made for use by riders up to 185 pounds. They sell for about $6000, while custom wheels like Mai's cost $15,000.

Coming off an impressive 2007 season, Kona CLUMP riders Andreu Lacondeguy, Paul “Bas” Basagoitia and Grant “Chopper” Fielder automatically qualified for the 2008 Nissan Qashqai Challenge (NQC). The five-event series will take place from April through May at five different European venues with the Grand Final slated for London, UK.

Spanish veteran José Luís “Chechu” Rubiera was looking at retirement last winter following the collapse of his Discovery Channel team, where he rode alongside Lance Armstrong for five of his seven Tour de France victories. New-look Astana offered him a lifeline with a one-year contract and the popular Spanish rider didn’t take long to pay back the favor.

The head of the French Cycling Federation says he will go to court — and to French President Nicolas Sarkozy if necessary — if the international cycling federation UCI punishes pro cyclists taking part in next week's Paris-Nice race. Meanwhile the head of the U.S. cycling federation is urging all sides to negotiate and a group representing the teams has asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to intercede.

Philippe Gilbert (Francaise des Jeux) is back on the top spot of the podium just days after blowing the doors off everyone in Het Volk. The 25-year-old Belgian out-kicked the main pack to win the 39th GP Samyn in a sprint to snag his fifth win of the year. Gilbert finally got it right in the Belgian race from Frameries to Dour after finishing second the past two years in a row. This time, he relegated Kevin Ista (Agritubel) to runner-up position with Aleksejs Saramontins (Rietumu Bank) coming through third.

The season is still a few weeks away, plenty of time to hit the powder

Decker speeds through another stage of Washington's Doo Wop Rally

Craig (left) and Decker with their rallying machine, the Wheels of Teal

American cross-country mountain bike racer Adam Craig has his sights set on the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. That means for the next few months he will be battling it out on the World Cup and National Mountain Bike Series with his fellow Americans for a slot on the U.S. team. In between races, Craig skis, kayaks and is the rally car co-driver for his Giant teammate Carl Decker. VeloNews.com is along for the ride. —Editor

IRVINE, Calif. -- Enjoying the outdoors is as natural as riding a bike and Shimano American Corporation and the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) have teamed up to promote how important the activity is. Shimano is a major manufacturer of bicycle components and IMBA is a national advocate for responsible riding and trail construction. Together they are releasing the new document, The Economics and Benefits of Mountain Biking at the National Bike Summit in Washington D.C. March 4 – 6, 2008.

A closed tunnel will force route changes for the 99th edition of Milan-San Remo on March 22 and make the season’s longest classic four kilometers longer than usual. Race officials announced Tuesday that the additional climb, called Mànie, comes about 100km from the finish just before the arrival of three headlands at Capo Mele, Capo Cervo and Capo Berta as the route dips down to the Mediterranean Sea. The climb will have a technical descent and could play a factor in the decisive part of the race when the peloton typically begins in earnest to reel in dangerous breakaways.

Props to Wilcockson
Dear Velo,
What an excellent article by John Wilcockson! It would seem clear that ASO, as owners of the most prestigious event in cycling (the Tour de France and others such as Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Nice), are seeking to widen their control in cycling, which would ultimately undo all the work to make professional cycling an organized world-wide sport.

Offroad in Burma

Riders race through downtown Brian Head when the resort hosted a stop on the National Mountain Bike Series (NMBS) in 2006

Competitors in this summer's four-day endurance mountain bike race in Brian Head, Utah, will tackle 170 miles of racing and 14,000 feet of climbing. Riders at the American Mountain Challenge, August 21-24, will compete as individuals, much like Costa Rica's La Ruta de los Conquistadores race. The race is being organized by Tom Spiegel and Jeff Frost, who promoted the National Mountain Bike Series (NMBS).

WOODSTOCK, Georgia— Starting in March, leading sports nutrition and supplement manufacturer Dedicated Athlete will break new ground in the fight against illegal doping, unveiling a first-of-its-kind program that allows customers to make direct donations to the non-profit Cycling Ethics Foundation. The progressive program will be run through Dedicated Athlete’s revamped online store, www.DedicatedAthlete.com, where customers will be able to contribute to the anti-doping fight simply by clicking on the appropriate button on the checkout page.

Danilo Di Luca faces a two-year ban and the possible loss of his 2007 Giro d’Italia title in a hearing scheduled for April 1 in Rome. The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) has scheduled a hearing to review the results of medical tests conducted on May 30, which showed “very strange” hormone levels and offered indirect evidence of doping.