News

Former Paris-Roubaix winner and Italian national coach Franco Ballerini has died from injuries suffered in a rally car accident on Sunday.

Seventeen pro continental-registered teams will enjoy “wild card” status this, opening the door for the teams to get invites to ProTour events. Sixteen teams were confirmed Friday, with BMC already assured its “wild card” status ahead of its debut at the Tour Down Under last month.

Our readers weigh in on doping cases, the risks on the road and the Trek lawsuit.

A recently broken leg won't keep Versus commentator Bob Roll from the Tour de France this summer, and likely won't prevent him from helping the cable network cover Paris-Nice, which starts March 7.

Attorney Jamie DiBoise planned to call some noted Armstrong critics to testify at the trial, which had been scheduled to start less than four weeks from now in a Minnesota federal court.. And in October DiBoise took a three-hour deposition from Armstrong’s ex-wife, asking whether she had ever seen Armstrong use doping products (a question she declined to answer on her lawyer’s advice).

USA Cycling's COO Sean Petty says that only time will tell whether the race radio ban is a good thing for American racing.

The Ladies Tour of Qatar

Results from the 2010 Ladies Tour of Qatar

Organizers of the Minnesota Bicycle Festival have announced that Nature Valley is increasing its commitment. After sponsoring the Nature Valley Grand Prix pro stage race for ten years, they will expand their involvement to sponsor the overall festival in 2010. The event, which still includes the Nature Valley Grand Prix, has been renamed the Nature Valley Bicycle Festival and will take place June 11-20, 2010.

The 2010 Redlands Bicycle Classic Organizing Committee is proud to announce another year of partnership with PossAbilities and looks forward to a spectacular four day event presented by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.

The Skil-Shimano cycling team has agreed to annul Fumiyuki Beppu's contract after the Japanese rider acknowledged that he had violated UCI rules in reaching a verbal agreement to join the Team RadioShack.

While we've spent time looking at the deaths and injuries resulting from car/bike encounters, are we overstating the risk?

Check out CyclingTips's author page.

The fines levied this week against former Giro d’Italia winner Danilo Di Luca reflect the greater latitude recent rule changes have given the UCI in handing down penalties, the governing body noted Tuesday.

Check out Robbie Stout's author page.

Trek Bicycle and Greg LeMond reach a settlement in their suit over a licensing agreement between the three-time Tour de France winner and the Wisconsin-based bike maker.

Our readers weigh in on Tom Zirbel's positive and a winter warmup in Hawaii.

American Tom Zirbel faces as much as a two-year suspension after a laboratory analysis of a B sample confirmed an earlier positive for DHEA.

Platelet-Rich-Plasma, in which a patient's own blood is spun down to platelets and then injected into an injured area, is a promising new therapy for cyclist. VeloNews' own Tom LeCarner gives it a whirl.

Ikeman Cycling, LLC., today announced its partnership with Yahoo! to form the Yahoo! Cycling Team. Based in Northern California, the team plans to race the majority of its season on the West Coast as well as a portion of the National Racing Calendar (NRC). Dependent upon its success in the US circuit in 2010, the team plans to move on to Continental Status in 2011.

What began as a small women’s cycling club in 2006 in Kansas City has grown to a Denver-based organization which includes a 14-woman pro/1/2 squad, a CAT 3 team and a large developmental CAT 4 team, as well as a multi-state co-ed.

Garmin-Transitions’ captain Christian Vande Velde has secured his future by signing a three-year contract extension that will keep him in argyle through 2012.

Photographer Casey Gibson heads to Agoura Hills, California, for BMC's January training camp.

Just a day after successfully defending the suspension of Stefan Schumacher in the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, anti-doping officials scored a significant legal win in a Spanish courtroom.

Volunteer opportunities for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California are now posted online at the official race Web site, www.amgentourofcalifornia.com .

A reader asks just how dangerous is cycling on American roads and what we can do to make it safer.

The Adageo Energy Pro Cycling Team is contributing to relief efforts in Haiti by donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of its 2010 team clothing to the American Red Cross.

The latest VeloNews.com reader gallery - great shots from all over.

Organizers of the Tour of the Battenkill cycling race announce that amateur registration has exceeded 1800 registrants for the Pro/Am event scheduled for April 10 in Cambridge, NY. Registration for the event is expected to exceed 2200 by the April date, continuing its tradition as the largest single day road cycling race in North America.

Seeing a void in the development of well-rounded female athletes in Southern California, a pair of veteran cyclists, Dotsie Bausch and Pam Schuster, have formed the InCycle/Time To Track presented by Empower Coaching Systems cycling team.

The Rocky Mountain Bicycle Festival is set for August 7th & 8th, 2010 in Denver, CO at the National Western Complex. This third-year event, formerly known as the Rocky Mountain Bicycle Show, has grown steadily and significantly since it’s inception prompting the name change.

Track racer Sarah Hammer and biathlete Tim Burke were named Athletes of the Month by the U.S Olympic Committee for December.

Our readers speak out on Lance, Landis and VeloNews TV.

Press Release: Let’s do something to help the people of Haiti. Elite, the leading Italian company in the cycling sector has decided to hit the field immediately to help the people of Haiti, the Caribbean island that was recently devastated by a terrible earthquake.

Officials revealed details of 68th Paris-Nice on Thursday and “Race to the Sun” follows a familiar pattern, with an individual time trial on the outskirts of Paris on March 7 to open what’s arguably France’s most important stage race behind the Tour de France.

Dr. James Wilson has been racing bikes for a decade, and studying cystic fibrosis for 20 years. This year, he’s putting the two together to improve the lives of those living with the genetic disease. Wilson created Team CF to raise awareness of the disease and to aggressively promote exercise in children and young adults with CF as a way to improve their condition.

All of Graham Watson's 2010 Tour Down Under stage galleries

HTC-Columbia is putting the finishing touches on its pre-season training camp at Mallorca.

Alberto Contador is quietly growing confident that the re-fitted Astana team will be up to the task of defending his Tour de France title come July.

Kevin Flock became a statistic when he was struck and killed by a van while cycling. But he was so much more than that.

With racing underway in Australia and South America, it’s only a matter of days before the 2010 calendar clicks into gear in Europe. The first official races on the European continent will be the Giro di Regio Calabria in Italy on Jan. 30 and the GP de Ouverture La Marsellaise on Jan. 31 in France.

2010 stage winner/GC leader (Click for full results):

• Stage 1: Andre Greipel/Greipel
• Stage 2: Greipel/Greipel
• Stage 3: Manuel Cardoso/Greipel
• Stage 4: Greipel/Greipel
• Stage 5: Sanchez/Greipel
• Stage 6/FINAL: Sutton/Greipel

We break down all the best bikes of 2010 in 18 categories, plus give you the inside story on tested products from road groups to helmets to shoes. The photo feature, 25 Years of Cool, takes you inside bike tech as only VeloNews can, showing choice bikes and gear in their 1985 form alongside their 2010 iteration, like the Specialized Stumpjumper or Sidi shoes. Subscribe Now!

Former Spanish cyclist Jesus Manzano has repeated doping charges against former teammate and compatriot Alejandro Valverde, adding that the Vuelta a España winner should admit his violations rather than continuing to deny them.

Vinokourov joined Contador for a team training ride near Calpe, Spain, on Friday, and VeloNews' Kurt Hoy was along to take pics.

Our readers weigh in on doctors' duties, the wording of the oath, the value of cutting & pasting and weight limits.

Alejandro Valverde’s long and winding road and his alleged links to Puerto reached a head this week during a three-day hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which closed Thursday with a hint that the Vuelta a España champion likely won’t be racing in Italy anytime soon.

Lance Armstrong, in Sydney, Australia prior to the Tour Down Under, pledged $250,000 for victims of the Haiti earthquake on Thursday. He urged the public to come forward with further donations.

Albuquerque, NM – The 2010 RoadRunner Classic on April 24, 2010 is a one-day Omnium for Pro 1, 2 men and women and a separate Time Trial event for Cat 3, 4, 5 men and Cat 3, 4 women. The Omnium includes a 6.3 mile time trial and 63 mile men’s, 37.8 mile women’s road race. Both Roadrunner time trial and road events will be held on the Snake, a hilly 6.3-mile closed course at an elevation of 5,200 feet. It will be an ideal warm-up and staging event for the SRAM Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico on April 28th.

While many cyclists were able to take some solace in the recent sentence handed down to the now-infamous road-rage doctor in California, we need to remember that the problem of rider safety continues to be a serious one on American roads.

Our readers weigh in on the risks of EPO, the driver's choice of profession and our duties as road users.

Mark Cavendish blasted the imminent return of Riccardo Riccò and said George Hincapie’s move to BMC was a “massive loss” as the British ace confronts the 2010 season replete with new goals and challenges.

Mark Cavendish's ace lead-out man Mark Renshaw, sidelined with the Epstein-Barr virus, is on the mend and will be back in action in time for the most important events of the year, the HTC-Columbia team says.

A chat with George Hincapie about his new team, plus photos of his new BMC

Our readers weigh in on the Christopher Thompson case and the cost of cycling kit.

Tour of Portugal

Tour de l’Ain

Former Tour de France winner, Oscar Pereiro, will start his season with the Astana team at this month’s Tour Down Under in Australia.

Reporter Patrick Brady covered Dr. Christopher Thompson's road-rage trial for VeloNews and was in the courtroom for a long-anticipated sentencing hearing.

AT&T USA Cycling Professional Criterium National Championship at the Glencoe Grand Prix, to be held in Glencoe, Illinois, on August 14, 2010.

The team known since last summer as Columbia-HTC will reverse its title sponsors for 2010, becoming Team HTC-Columbia, High Road Sports, the team's owner, announced Friday.

Cadel Evans won the title, but who was Australia really riding for at the world championships? This, and many other questions about Australian cycling are answered in detail in the April issue, for which Neal Rogers spent weeks on the continent Down Under. Plus, a day at the track with Philip Deignan and an insider's look at Japanese cyclocross. Subscribe Now!

José Rujano – the pint-sized Venezuelan climber who’s struggled to make an impact since his 2005 third place at the Giro d’Italia – insists he still has it.

Euskaltel-Euskadi said it will impose surprise internal controls on its riders in an effort to secure the team’s future.

Former Coors Light pro Chris Bailey and his wife, Deanna, suffered a tragic loss over the holidays when their two children were killed in a Christmas Day fire.

Cameron Meyer (Garmin-Transitions) roared to victory in the elite men’s Australian time trial championship on Wednesday.

The Spartanburg Regional Classic, held in Spartanbrug, South Carolina, is the fifth stop in the USA Crits Speedweek race series.