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Jeremy Powers (Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com) and Katie Compton (Planet Bike) were victorious by wide margins in Friday’s Cyclo Stampede, the opener of this year’s Cincinnati UCI3 Cyclocross Festival. But the race was truly dominated by the team of Mother Nature and Gravity. Mother Nature delivered plenty of pre-race rain, while gravity took advantage of riders as they rode, or rather, tried to ride, the multiple off-camber straights and turns on the course. Even Compton was victimized by the muddy slopes, falling twice and running off course in the first lap.

The 58th Jayco Herald Sun Tour, Australia’s second-largest stage race behind the Tour Down Under, takes place in Victoria from October 11-17, beginning in Ballarat on Sunday and ending in Melbourne six days later. Confirmed teams include American squads Garmin-Slipstream, led by Bradley Wiggins, Bissell, led by Ben Jacques-Maynes, Jelly Belly, led by Brad Huff, and Rock Racing, led by Ivan Dominguez.

Two-time Olympic cross-country mountain bike champion Julien Absalon has inked a deal extending his contract with Orbea for three years, until the London Olympics in 2012. "I have been with Orbea for three years and I want to continue with them,” Absolon said Friday. "The London Olympics are the big goal," said Absolon, who won back-to-back gold medals in the Athens and Beijing Games in 2004 and 2008. The 29-year-old Absalon, who won a silver medal in the 2009 mountain bike world championships in Canberra, Australia, has also won the world title four times (2004-2007).

Organizers said Friday that they are still finalizing the route of the fifth edition of the Amissa Bongo Tropical, slated for January 19 to 24 in the west central African country of Gabon. "We expect to finalize the route by the end of the month,” the organizers said in a statement. “We are considering routes through the Haut-Ogooué, Moyen-Ogooué and Woleu-Ntem and a finish in (the capital of) Libreville."

24-hour championships for 2009 are being held in conjunction with the 24-Hours of Moab event. Pua Sawicki shoots for Guinness Book of World Records as Chris Eatough rides into the sunset at race.

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”Accidental” ingestion?

Caisse d’Epargne’s Daniel Moreno won the fourth stage at Mexico’s Vuelta a Chihuahua Thursday, as Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) increased his lead in the overall standings with a third-place finish on the day. Sevilla finished 19 seconds behind Moreno in the 192km stage from Guachochi to Parral. Michael Rasmussen (Tecos Trek), who held the overall lead earlier in the race, was second, two seconds behind Moreno.

Niels Albert is on a roll. The world cyclocross champion, a rider who became the discipline’s new prince last season, started his season with four victories in the lead-up to the first World Cup in Treviso, Italy, which he went on to win. Until now, Sven Nys has been regarded as the king of ’cross, but he’s had a very different start to his season. After a top-15 placing at the 2009 mountain bike world championships, his cyclocross season had a rocky start.

Press Release

A total of 1,620 racers have started at least one Gravity East event in the second year of the series. This weekend it's the finals at Plattekill in New York with Neko Mulally likely to grab championship.

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Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) won Italy's Coppa Sabatini Thursday, outsprinting ISD's Giovanni Visconti and Leonardo Bertagnoli (Diquigiovani) after joining a large and successful 24-man break earlier in the 199km race. Gilbert's teammate, recently crowned world champion Cadel Evans, was part of the break and remained aggressive throughout. Evans made a late surge on the final two-kilometer climb on the lastlap, setting a strong tempo for Gilbert and leaving the group strung out in single-file.

Vuelta a España points competition winner André Greipel added another win to an impressive 2009 record as he outsprinted the field at Paris-Bourges on Thursday. Greipel, powered ahead of a 91-rider field, beating JJ Haedo (Saxo Bank) and Cofidis’ Alexandre Usov to the line. The win is Greipel’s 20th of the season. Greipel was quick to credit his team for countering late attacks as other teams attempted to deny the German a shot at a field sprint.

Press Release

Dear Explainer, The part of town that I live in is blanketed by great bike paths that I frequent but recently I ran into a small problem. As I looked up from my power meter after completing an interval session, I saw a runner coming right at me in the bike path. Luckily I saw her in time and swerved to avoid a collision but she seemed pretty set on holding her line.

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Three cheers for Michael: Cheer #1

I am Barry's cracked and bleeding sinuses, pouring sticky sweet goo down into his nasal cavity. I am draining my wrath out on to his upper lip as he gasps for breath in the dry desert night. I am vengeful and full of hate. The evil stench of a million vacant souls trickles in past mucus and hair and fills me up to the brim, reinforcing my quest to punish in every way I can.

A day after Italian Gabriele Bosisio learned that he had failed a dope test, his countryman Francesco De Bonis has also been flagged as an EPO user. De Bonis, who rides with the Diquigiovanni team, tested positive for the new-generation EPO, known as a Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator (CERA), during the first stage of the Giro d’Italia on May 7, according to the Italian press. The news comes a day after it was announced that LPR's Bosisio was caught out by a suprise out-of-competition test conducted by the UCI on September 2 at Rogeno.

The head of the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) said Wednesday that his organization won't work with the UCI again until it takes steps to correct testing and procedural “failures” he observed during this year’s Tour de France. In press conference in Paris, AFLD director Pierre Bordry said he was bothered by the absence of positive test results from this year’s Tour, particularly in light of what he characterized as serious lapses in protocol by anti-doping testers from the UCI.

What can I do if I need to replace my tapered-steerer fork?

Are SRAM shift levers durable?

Should I be concerned about the durability of my Shimano 105 shifter?

Press Release

The Bissell team will have seven returning riders for 2010, including the Jacques-Maynes brothers, Frank Pipp, Paul Mach, Cody O’Reilly, Pete Latham and Jeremy Vennell. And the team will pick up three new riders: Kyle Wamsley, Daniel Holloway and David Williams. The most notable absence from the team next year will be Tom Zirbel, who will race for Garmin-Slipstream in 2010. The team is expected to announce more riders later.

Press Release

The Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race offers 130 total miles of riding, 31,000 cumulative feet of climbing and a $15,000 purse for dividing between the victors.

Italian cyclist Gabriele Bosisio (LPR Brakes) has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for EPO, the UCI announced Tuesday. The 29-year-old was found positive in an out-of-competition test conducted by the UCI on September 2 at Rogeno, Italy. Bosisio’s LPR teammate, Danilo Di Luca, had apparently finished second in the Giro d’Italia in May, but was later suspended for failing two doping tests during the race. A UCI statement said Bosisio has been provisionally suspended, pending the outcome of a follow-up test.

MTB summit aims at discussing the direction and changes within the sport, share best practices and develop initiatives to advance mountain bike racing in the US.