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• 1. Rémi CUSIN, (FRA) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne, in 4:34:19
• 2. Matti BRESCHEL, (DEN) Rabobank Cycling Team, at 0
• 3. Daniele BENNATI, (ITA) Leopard-Trek, at 2
• 4. Sacha MODOLO, (ITA) Colnago-Csf, at 2
• 5. Daniele COLLI, (ITA) Geox-Tmc, at 2

PARIS (AFP) - Kazakhstan's Andrey Kashechkin announced Thursday he would race the Vuelta a España this month with former team Astana, with whom he has signed a deal until the end of 2013.

• 1. Peter SAGAN, (SVK) Liquigas-Cannondale, in 4:52:26
• 2. Michael MATTHEWS, (AUS) Rabobank Cycling Team, at 0
• 3. Heinrich HAUSSLER, (AUS) Garmin-Cervelo, at 0
• 4. Marco MARCATO, (ITA) Vacansoleil-Dcm, at 0
• 5. Peter KENNAUGH, (GBR) Team Sky, at 0

PARIS (AFP) - Frenchman Tony Gallopin will ride for RadioShack as of next season after signing a two-year deal with the American outfit, according to the French Cycling Federation (ffc.fr) Thursday.

Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) will ride a criterium in the hometown of Bjarne Riis on August 12, but whether he'll race again this season remains up in the air.

Dirt road ridin', team chef job opportunities and more

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BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - Italy's Olympic cycling champion Attilio Pavesi has died aged 100 in a retirement home in Buenos Aires, his family announced on Wednesday.

Due to a change in security protocol at the United States Air Force Academy, the location of the USA Cycling 24-Hour Mountain Bike National Championships has been changed from the Academy to Palmer Park in Colorado Springs. The date of the event remains Oct. 1-2, 2011.

Nate covers his background and how he got started in mountain biking and now rides for Team Herbalife24

Rebecca Rusch covers her history at the Leadville 100 race and future plans.

• 1. Sacha MODOLO, Colnago-Csf, in 3:59:21
• 2. Matti BRESCHEL, Rabobank Cycling Team at s.t.
• 3. Michael MORKOV, Saxobank-Sungard at s.t.
• 4. Daniele COLLI, Geox-Tmc at s.t.
• 5. Andrea PASQUALON, Colnago-Csf at s.t.

BOULDER, Colo. (VN) — Sébastien Rosseler will add more time trial and classics zip to Garmin-Cervélo in 2012.

Liquigas-Cannondale's Slovak phenom, Peter Sagan, won Wednesday's stage 4 of the 2011 Tour of Poland, taking over the race lead from Skil-Shimano's Marcel Kittel, who won the race's first three stages.

Stage 4

• 1. Peter SAGAN, (SVK) Liquigas-Cannondale, in 4:21:15
• 2. Daniel MARTIN, (IRL) Garmin-Cervelo, at 3
• 3. Marco MARCATO, (ITA) Vacansoleil-Dcm, at 3
• 4. Paul MARTENS, (GER) Rabobank Cycling Team, at 3
• 5. Fabian WEGMANN, (GER) Leopard-Trek, at 3

• 1. Peter SAGAN, (Slovakia) Liquigas-Cannondale, in 13:16:35
• 2. Marco MARCATO, (Italy) Vacansoleil-Dcm, at 5
• 3. Romain FEILLU, (France) Vacansoleil-Dcm, at 7
• 4. Daniel MARTIN, (Ireland) Garmin-Cervelo, at 7
• 5. Manuel Antonio Leal CARDOSO, (Portugal) Team RadioShack, at 13

• 1. Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, (ESP) Euskaltel-Euskadi, in 3:51:07
• 2. Joaquin RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, (ESP) Team Katusha, at 0
• 3. Sergio PARDILLA BELLON, (ESP) Movistar, at 4
• 4. Denis MENCHOV, (RUS) Geox-Tmc, at 4
• 5. David LOPEZ GARCIA, (ESP) Movistar, at 4

Two riders back from doping bans return to the pro ranks this week. Thomas Dekker lines up for the Tour of Portugal for the Chipotle development team while Mikel Astarloza returned to action Wednesday with Euskaltel-Euskadi.

In a battle of the cycling nicknames, "Samu" edged "Purito" to win the 175km opening stage at the Vuelta a Burgos in northern Spain on Wednesday.

Everyone needs to know how to patch a flat, especially during the winter. Singletrack.com's Lennard Zinn shows us how.

The UCI has agreed to extend the Tour Down Under's WorldTour licence until 2015, it was announced on Wednesday.

It's transition time in Europe, with some races picking up leftovers form the Tour de France and others serving as platforms for the upcoming Vuelta a España.

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LONDON (AFP) - British rider Mark Cavendish told the BBC on Tuesday that his best chance yet of winning the world road race title would come in Copenhagen in September. He also said he has chosen a team for next year, but declined to identify the team.

Skil-Shimano's Marcel Kittel won his third consecutive stage at the 2011 Tour of Poland on Tuesday, building his GC lead to 24 seconds ahead of three riders: Romain Felllu (Vacansoleil), Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo) and Alexander Kristoff (BMC).

Riders on the American-registered Team Type 1 squad are sporting brand new kit at the Tour of Denmark this week. The team's title sponsor has changed its name from sanofi aventis to Sanofi, so the team is now officially Team Type 1-Sanofi.

Dave Wiens gives the breakdown on the ideal bike setup for Leadville.

• 1. Marcel KITTEL, (GER) Skil-Shimano, in3:09:29
• 2. Romain FEILLU, (FRA) Vacansoleil-Dcm, at s.t.
• 3. Jonas Aaen JÖRGENSEN, (DEN) Saxobank-Sungard, at s.t.
• 4. Giacomo NIZZOLO, (ITA) Leopard-Trek, at s.t.
• 5. Adam BLYTH, (GBR) Omega Pharma-Lotto, at s.t.

The Quick Step team is fast beefing up for 2012 and beyond. The team announced Tuesday that it has reached deals with three new athletes, the Slovak twins Martin and Peter Velits and Belgian Stijn Vandenbergh. The three have contracts with the team through the 2013 season, according to a team release.

The Dutch sports magazine NUsport is reporting Tuesday that former U.S. Postal Service rider Max Van Heeswijk detailed doping at the team in a June interview, then changed his mind and stole the interviewer’s tape. The full story appears in the August edition of NUsport, which hit newstands Tuesday.

ROME (AFP) — Former Tour of Italy winner Damiano Cunego and former world champion Alessandro Ballan have been called before the Italian Olympic Committee's (CONI) anti-doping prosecutor.

French national champion Sylvain Chavanel’s has extended his contract with Quick Step for two more seasons, the team announced Tuesday.

Ezequiel Mosquera broke his silence Tuesday and demanded that his ongoing possible doping case be resolved one way or another.

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (VN) — For the first time in nearly a decade, Denis Menchov didn't spend the month of July fighting in the Tour de France.

Lennard takes Q's on aging tubulars, tubeless tire maintenance, tire pump gauge accuracy and more.

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Check out CyclingTips's author page.

I moved to Colorado ten years ago, but it took five guys from Portland (OK, one of them lives in New York City, but he’s originally from PDX) riding black and pink bikes to get me out to explore my adopted home state by bicycle.

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Though he scored an impressive come-from-behind win at the final Leadville Qualifying Series Race at Crested Butte Mountain Resort on Sunday, Lance Armstrong said afterward that he's too old and too retired to mess with the big-daddy 100-miler on August 13th.

Here's a look at the bike Armstrong rode in Crested Butte, and what he might ride if he did decide to take that pre-race helicopter ride.

Belgian classics king Philippe Gilbert was none too pleased Monday to learn from the media that his team was merging with Quick Step next year.

A crash late in Monday's second stage of the Tour of Poland knocked BMC's Alessandro Ballan out of the race and prevented teammate Alexander Kristoff from contesting the sprint finish.

It's not taking long for riders and teams to make moves with new transfer limit bumped back to August 1.

Chris Horner is recovering after being diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung. The RadioShack rider was admitted to a Bend, Oregon, hospital Sunday evening after beginning to feel a sharp pain in his side earlier in the day.

Stage 2

• 1. Marcel KITTEL, (GER) Skil-Shimano, at 3:38:35
• 2. Heinrich HAUSSLER, (AUS) Garmin-Cervelo, at s.t.
• 3. Graeme BROWN, (AUS) Rabobank Cycling Team, at s.t.
• 4. Caleb FAIRLY, (USA) HTC-Highroad, at s.t.
• 5. John DEGENKOLB, (GER) HTC-Highroad, at s.t.

Skil-Shimano's Marcel Kittel is undefeated at the Tour of Poland, after winning stage 2 in Varsovie Monday. The German sprinter won the 162km stage ahead of Garmin-Cervelo's Heinrich Hausller and Rabobank's Graeme Brown.

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (VN) - Leopard-Trek sport director Kim Andersen said the team has nothing to regret about its performance at the 2011 Tour de France.

Omega Pharma is joining the Quick Step team as a sponsor for the 2012 and 2013 season, Quick Step announced Monday.

Colavita Forno d'Asolo-Cooking Light walked away with the team title in the final standings of the Women's Prestige Cycling Series, followng the last series race, the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic. The squad also claimed the sprinter's jersey for Leah Kirchmann, whose standing got a big boost when she won the Wheaties FUEL Sprint jersey at the Nature Valley Grand Prix in June.

BERLIN (AFP) - Germany's capital Berlin is set to bid to host the prologue of the Tour de France in either 2016 or 2017, it was confirmed on Monday.

Cadel Evans will return to BMC Racing alongside George Hincapie in 2012, the team announced Monday. Fresh off his Tour de France title, Evans extended his contract with the American squad through 2014, while Hincapie signed a one-year extension.

• 1. Cadel Evans, BMC Racing Team (BMC), 574 points
• 2. Philippe Gilbert, Omega Pharma-Lotto (olo), 482 points
• 3. Alberto Contador Velasco, Saxo Bank Sungard (sbs), 471 points
• 4. Michele Scarponi, Lampre - Isd (lam), 348 points
• 5. Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver, Katusha Team (kat), 328 points

I write from Salt Lake City, Utah, a place I once tried to forget.

• Annemiek VAN VLEUTEN, (Netherlands) Arc, 287 points 1 (2)
• Marianne VOS, (Netherlands) Arc, 280 points 2 (1)
• Emma JOHANSSON, (Sweden) Hpu, 212 points 3 (3)
• Judith ARNDT, (Germany) Tcw, 163 points 4 (4)
• Ina TEUTENBERG, (Germany) Tcw, 143 points 5 (5)

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. (ST) — Lance Armstrong won Sunday's 60-mile Alpine Odyssey race here, beating Greg Krause of Littleton, Colorado by three seconds.

American's Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale) and Georgia Gould (Luna) posted promising results at a test race held on the 2012 Olympic mountain bike course near London on Sunday.

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. (ST) — Lance Armstrong won Sunday's 60-mile Alpine Odyssey race here, beating Greg Krause of Littleton, Colorado by three seconds.

Women's

• 1. Rebecca Rusch, in 04:51:37.58
• 2. Jennifer Smith, in 04:54:39.95
• 3. Jari Kirkland, in 05:08:41.33
• 4. Jamie Busch, in 05:37:40.03
• 5. Rachel Farrett, in 05:46:12.59

• 1. LANCE Armstrong, in 04:32:21.31
• 2. GREG Krause, in 04:32:24.49
• 3. TRAVIS Scheefer, in 04:33:48.22
• 4. CHRIS Muntro, in 04:52:28.22
• 5. NATE Brown, in 04:52:34.52

Annemiek Van Vleuten (Nederland Bloeit) won the eighth round of the women's World Cup on Sunday.

The Australian is reporting that veteran Australian Stuart O'Grady, now with the Leopard-Trek team, will join the new Australian GreenEdge squad for the 2012 season. The paper also is reporting that sprinter Robbie McEwen, currently with RadioShack, is set to join the team as well.

Vårgårda World Cup

• 1. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned), 3:19:49
• 2. Eleonora Van Dijk (Ned), HTC-Highroad, s.t.
• 3. Nicole Cooke (Gbr), Sc Mcipollini Giambenini, s.t.
• 4. Ina Teutenberg (Ger), HTC-Highroad, s.t.
• 5. Irene Van Den Broek (Ned), Leontien.Nl, s.t.

Graham Watson shoots day one of the 2011 Tour of Poland.

Circuito De Getxo Memorial Ricardo Otxoa

• 1. Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Esp), Andalucia Caja Granada, 3:47:21
• 2. Stéphane Poulhies (Fra), Saur-Sojasun, at 0:01
• 3. Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Esp), Team Katusha, at 0:01
• 4. Antonio Santoro (Ita), Androni Giocattoli, at 0:03
• 5. Diego Milan Jimenez (Esp), Caja Rural, at 0:03

• 1. Marcel KITTEL, (GER) Skil-Shimano, in 2:07:26
• 2. Alexander KRISTOFF, (NOR) BMC Racing Team, at 0
• 3. Francesco CHICCHI, (ITA) Quick Step, at 0
• 4. Heinrich HAUSSLER, (AUS) Garmin-Cervelo, at 0
• 5. Michele MERLO, (ITA) De Rosa - Ceramica Flaminia, at 0

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (VN) - Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) just keeps on winning at will, but there's one race that he's determined to win one day, and that's the world championships.

Colavita's Cliff-Ryan and UnitedHealthcare's Jacob Keough prevail at the Presby