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Outside of the USA Cycling Pro Tour events, which include the Tours of California and Georgia, Southern California’s venerable Redlands Classic boasts one of the best fields and most challenging courses of the season. Particularly this week’s 23rd edition, when, following its absence in 2006, the climb to Oak Glen is back. It will host the mountaintop finish of the 156.6km stage 1 on Friday, following Thursday afternoon’s 5km prologue, while the familiar Redlands criterium and Sunset Road Race complete the four days of racing this weekend.

Australian Tour de France hope Cadel Evans isn’t going to become Mr. July. The ex-mountain biker – fresh off finishing a solid seventh at Paris-Nice - is eyeing two form peaks this season, with the first one coming just around the corner, in time for next month’s Ardennes classics. “I’ll race Pais Vasco to get ready for the Ardennes,” Evans told VeloNews. “I want to be good in April this year. Last year, I had some headaches in the races. I am hoping for some good results in the spring classics.” The bumpy Ardennes races obviously best suit Evans’ explosive climbing capabilities and he’s

On a new uphill 5km prologue course, which was made tougher by strong SantaAnna winds Thursday, defending Redlands Classic champion Amben Neben (Stahl-SCVelo) took out a strong option on a repeat victory with a resounding 33-secondwin over runner-up Christine Thorburn (Webcor Builders). Race favoriteOenone Wood (T-Mobile) placed only eighth, with a 1:07 deficit on Neben.

The Ancient Cyclist, at the Red Zinger Boulder to Breckenridge road race, an event in which he was not forced to don cycling shorts

A talented climber, 2006 winner Amber Neben may benefit from the return of Oak Glen, but she’ll still have her hands full in her efforts to repeat at Redlands.

This year, the road to Oak Glen will feature a couple of Cat. 2 climbs as a warm-up for the big haul.

For Evans, Paris-Nice was an early season test. Now he aims for the Ardennes Classics

Neben picks up where she left off last year

Men's winner Svein Tuft guts it out on the climb.

Chris Baldwin is looking for the finish line near the top of the climb.

Kim Anderson works up a sweat warming up for the prologue

Former Natl Champion Kathryn Curi returns to racing after a tough year recuperating from an accident.

Ben Jacques Maynes is a blur as he tops the climb.

Riders head for the top of the climb and the end of a difficult prologue.

Tilford...

... and Rogers. These guys aren't doing the Master's race, by the way.

Things are coming together nicely for Tyler Farrar despite an early departure last week from Paris-Nice with a cold. The second-year pro is a key part of Cofidis’ 10-man classics unit and he’s looking forward to working for team captain Nick Nuyens. “It was nice when Nick (Nuyens) won the first race of the season [Etoille de Bessèges in France] – so that’s good for the motivation for everyone,” Farrar told VeloNews. “He’s a great captain and he’s real easy to work for.” So far in 2007, he’s been busy with nearly 20 days of racing in his legs with the meat of his spring classics program

Still suffering from the after effects of the flu, former ProTour champion Danilo Di Luca has been ruled out of Saturday's 100th anniversary edition of Milan-San Remo. The illness forced the 31-year-old Italian to miss Tirreno-Adriatico one-week stage race, which ended on Tuesday. Di Luca, who rides for the Liquigas team, won the Milano-Turin one-day semi-classic earlier this month. His best season was in 2005 when he was crowned ProTour champion. That year he won the Tour of the Basque country stage race and the Amstel Gold and Fleche Wallonne one-day classics, before finishing

Oakley has produced its incredibly popular M-Frame sunglasses for 17 years, and while the design has been tweaked over its long lifetime, the M-Frame has always held onto its distinct shape and reputation as one of the best functioning sport shields on the market. Now, the M-Frame has a little brother — Radar, which even in its infancy seems to be reaching for grandeur. Look for Oakley’s newest sports shield on riders from Team CSC, T-Mobile and Slipstream-Chipotle during 2007. “In the beginning we sponsored 7-Eleven, then Motorola, Saturn, Rabobank, ONCE and Phonak,” said Steve Blick,

Farrar has recovered from the cold he had at Paris-Nice

Holczer says the ProTour worth fighting for

The Radar Black Hero

Oakley compiled a media kit including a Sharpie permanent marker and a lens blank to illustrate the prowess of its new hydrophobic lens coating

We scribbled on the lens blank with the Sharpie, and you can see that the ink beaded on the coated side (left) of the lens

When we wiped the lens the ink came off the coated side very easily. Not the case with the uncoated side. Even pressure was applied on both sides of the lens with a dry tissue

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of our most recent contest. Kevin Dillard’s shot of the Off-road section of the Poolesville Road Race reminds us just how cool road racing can be… especially when it goes back to its roots and hits a bit of dirt. It’s a terrific shot, Kevin. Congratulations. Please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work out the details and we’ll send you a copy of our new Coors Classic DVD. Meanwhile, go ahead and take a lookat our latest

Quick Step-Innergetic stars Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini promise to be in the mix at this weekend’s Milan-San Remo, but both men readily admit they won’t be 100 percent for the Italian classic. Boonen pulled out of Paris-Nice ahead of Sunday’s finale after not winning a stage for the first time in three years with nagging back pain. The Belgian sprinter underwent chiropractic back treatments Monday and Tuesday and plans a long six-hour training ride Wednesday to test his condition. “Tom has some nagging back pain and that’s never easy for the longest race of the season,” team spokesman

Australian Scott Sunderland brought his rich and at times dramatic cycling career to an end just over two years ago. But in a few days Sunderland, now in his second year working as a manager with CSC, will be hoping that 15 years of racing among Europe's elite proves decisive once more for his riders in the big spring classics. Milan-San Remo opens cycling's one-day race season with a bang this Sunday. At nearly 300km long, it is crucial for anyone hoping to contend throughout a tough month of April. Sunderland never won the race known as La Primavera (the Spring), but that

George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer and Tyler Hamilton will be among the headliners racing the 2007 Tour de Georgia April 16-22, Medalist Sports announced today. Fifteen teams have accepted invitations to race the seven-stage, 667-mile event, including ProTour teams CSC, Discovery Channel, Saunier Duval-Prodir, Quick Step-Innergetic and Predictor-Lotto, according to the sports management agency. “The stature of the Tour de Georgia field continues to grow year after year,” said Jim Birrell, race director and managing partner of Medalist Sports. “That says something as to the quality of the

Andreas Klöden (Astana) retained his overall lead after the seventh and final stage to win the 42nd Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race on Tuesday. Koldo Fernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) won the 177km stage between Civitella del Tronto and San Benedetto del Tronto in four hours, 38 minutes and 43 seconds after a bunch sprint. It was the Spaniard's first win since he turned professional in 2004. Australian Stuart O'Grady (CSC) came in second and Italian Gabriele Balducci (Acqua e Sapone) was third. Italian sprint king Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) was knocked out of contention for the stage

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced Tuesday that it has made a request to take up civil action involving Spain's Operación Puerto scandal. On March 12, the presiding judge in the criminal case threw out the case on the grounds that Spain had no law specifically barring the use of doping products or methods for sporting competition at the time alleged infractions occurred. State prosecutors appealed that decision two days later. Last year's probe uncovered an alleged doping network said to involve 58 cyclists out of a total of 200 athletes. Revelations implicating top

Pro Tour standings following the final day of Tirreno-Adriatico on Tuesday:1. Alberto Contador (Sp), Discovery 56 points2. Andreas Klöden (G), 533. Davide Rebellin (I), 424. Kim Kirchen (Lux), 415. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kz), 386. Luis Sanchez (Sp), 387. Stefan Schumacher (G), 358. Tadej Valjavec (Slo), 309. Franco Pellizotti (I), 2810. Janez Brajkovic (Slo), 2511. David Lopez (Sp), 2312. Jens Voigt (G), 2013. Cadel Evans (Aus), 1514. Frank Schleck (Lux), 1015. Riccardo Ricco (I), 6

Poolesville Road Race off-road section

No matter how they're feeling, you can't write either one of these guys off.

VeloGear Warehouse Clearance Sale in Boulder on Saturday, March 24Boulder, CO, March 16, 2007 — VeloGear, the cycling and triathlongear retailer, will hold its annual Warehouse Clearance Sale in Boulderon Saturday, March 24 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Prices will be slashedup to 75% off VeloGear’s extensive inventory of apparel, jerseys, books,DVDs, posters, jewelry, and home décor. The clearance sale will make room for VeloGear’s new spring merchandise,which is on sale now at www.VeloGear.com.VeloNews subscribers will receive the VeloGear Spring/Summer Cataloginside issue 6 in

After a long lasting back and forth argument, the UCI finally came to an agreement with the ASO, the organizers of Paris-Nice, and we got the call that we would be starting Paris-Nice. The politics are complicated and at the end of the day we are neither politicians nor businessmen and most cyclists don’t really understand the issues and just want to race their bikes—so, the team, and the peloton were excited to be warming up and then rolling down the starting ramp at the prologue of the first ProTour race on the season’s calendar. Prior to leaving for Paris-Nice I had been sick and, as a

Component manufacturer Full Speed Ahead has confirmed plans to join the drivetrain market with full road and mountain-bike groups. There were plenty of rumors as far back as last year’s Taipei Cycle Show. We even reported a few, but as the industry entered last year’s fall trade show season the buzz had quieted. “We just don’t want too much attention because the worst mistake we could make would be to come out too early,” said Ric Hjertberg, FSA’s new technology manager. Although the tricky parts of the drivetrain — the shifters and the derailleurs — have not surfaced, FSA will introduce

Lampre’s Matteo Bono won the 162km sixth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race between San Benedetto del Tronto and San Giacomo-Monti della Laga on Monday. German Andreas Klöden(Astana) grabbed the overall race lead after he finished the stage in ninth place. Bono, who has only two professional seasons under his belt and claimed the first win of his professional career, set the pace on the final 11km climb to San Giacomo-Monti della Laga. The 23-year-old Lampre rider kicked into action with four kilometers to the line and left the breakaway group, which had formed at 27km and included

VeloGear Warehouse Clearance Sale in Boulder on Saturday, March 24

K-Force carbon handlebar

[nid:37799]The future is now for Alberto Contador after the Spanish climber pulled the double at Paris-Nice on Sunday to win the final stage and claim the overall prize that positions him as Spain’s next great hope. The 24-year-old Discovery Channel rider uncorked a searing attack on the Cat. 1 Col d’Eze to gap overnight leader Davide Rebellin and drove home a stirring victory on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais to turn a six-second deficit into a 26-second winning margin.

German Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) won the fifth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico on Sunday to take a slender overall lead of the weeklong Italian stage race. Schumacher edged out compatriot Andreas Klöden (Astana) in an individual time trial over 20.5km from Civitanova to Civitanova Alta. Schumacher finished in 27 minutes and eight seconds, a second ahead of Kloden. He now leads the overall standings with Klöden in second place and Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov (Astana) third. Tirreno-AdriaticoStage 51. Stefan Schumacher (G) Gerolsteiner, 20.5km in 27:082. Andreas Klöden (G) Astana, at

Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) showed why he is rightly regarded as one of the most feared sprinters in the U.S. as he charged out of the field at the Visalia Criterium on Sunday, the last day of the Quad Knopf Sequoia Cycling Classic. Dominguez, who took an impressive win in the final stage of the Amgen Tour of California three weeks ago, topped an all-Toyota podium, along with teammates Ivan Stevic and Henk Vogels. In a women's race that ran full throttle for the first of 43 laps around the 0.7-mile, six-turn course in downtown Visalia, Suzanne de Goede (T-Mobile) took the win, and

Contador takes the stage and the overall

Contador claims the mantle as next big Spanish hope

A course profile is worth 1000 words

Rebellin had a feeling this was gonna happen

Voeckler lays down the law

Paulinho in the escape

Danielson and Disco' get busy breaking legs

Contador attacks

Grinding it out and taking time

Sanchez chases

Horner lends a hand in the pursuit

The final podium

Toyota tops the podium

Despite the confusion, de Goede takes the win.

[nid:37790]The Spanish armada threw down an attack in Saturday’s brutal 200km sixth stage at Paris-Nice, but Davide Rebellin stood firm to retain the overall lead with one stage to go. Climbing sensation Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) unleashed a brutal acceleration on the last of nine rated climbs, the Col du Tanneron with 20km to go, to gap the Gerolsteiner leader by 25 seconds. Rebellin never panicked and found some friends in the lead pack to check the aggression with less than 2km to go to retain his six-second grip on the maillot jaune.

Italian Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval) claimed his second consecutive victory in Tirreno-Adriatico by winning the fourth stage of the race, held over 158.3 km between Pievobigliana and here Saturday. Ricco also took over the race lead from Russian Alexander Areekev (Acqua e Sapone), who had claimed his own double on Thursday by winning the stage and claiming the lead. Italian star Ivan Basso, meanwhile, was forced to pull out of the event, known as the "Race of the two seas", during Saturday's stage. The Discovery Channel team leader had started despite injuring his left wrist in a

Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health-Bissell) chalked up yet another win Saturday in the 30km Exeter Time Trial that opened this weekend's Quad Knopf Sequoia Cycling Classic in Central California, while Alison Powers (Colavita/Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) took her first win of the season. Two-time national time trial champion Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) trailed Jacques-Maynes by 34 seconds, while Anthony Colby (Colavita/Sutter Home), Chris Wherry (Toyota-United), and Canadian Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics), rounded out the top five. Having just returned Tuesday from racing in

Sanchez takes the win

Sanchez wins

Rebellin's tired — but so are a lot of folks

Sanchez savors the moment

Danielson and Leipheimer in the break

Gerolsteiner chases

Contador on the march

Rebellin chasing

Contador and Sanchez working it

Dear Bob,I always enjoy reading your column. Lately though, I haven’t seen your column, which has been kind of disappointing for me. Where have you been? Are you still writing your column? I hope so.Anyway, last weekend, I had the pleasant surprise of seeing you speak at the Seattle Bike Expo. During your talk, you mentioned something about traffic citations while riding your bike counting against your driver’s license. Can you explain more about this? I find it hard to believe that I could lose my driver’s license for something I do while riding my bike.D.R.Seattle, WashingtonDear

It’s obvious Yaroslav Popovych enjoys life. The Ukraine attacker usually has a smile on his face and is quick with a joke, except when he’s on his bike. Then he’s everyone else’s worst nightmare. Popovych dropped the ax with 30km to go on the last of four rated climbs in Friday’s intense 178km fifth stage from Sorgues to Manosque to motor away from a breakaway that included Dave Zabriskie (CSC) and sent a panic jolt through the peloton.

Italian Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval) won Friday’s third stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, a 213km leg between Marsciano and Macerata. Russian Alexander Areekev (Acqua e Sapone), winner of stage 2, retains the overall lead. Meanwhile, Italian Ivan Basso (Discovery Channel) crashed and injured his left wrist, according to Gazzetta dello Sport. He finished the stage, but subsequently was taken to hospital for X-rays. No fracture was found, according to press reports, but there was some question as to whether Basso would start Saturday's fourth stage. World and Olympic champion Paolo Bettini

Legally Speaking - with Bob Mionske: Points is Points

Popo' hangs on to win by 14 seconds over the raging pursuit

Grabsch leads the break

Rebellin had to fight to keep the jersey

Gerolsteiner on the job

Zabriskie takes a pull

Horner and Predictor-Lotto lend a hand to the chase