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Taylor Phinney has reported that injuries he suffered in a crash during last month’s Cascade Classic were more serious than originally suspected. Phinney, who was hospitalized after a crash in the fourth stage of the Oregon stage race, said that follow-up x-rays revealed a fracture of the dorsal surface of his C5 vertebra. Phinney was originally treated for a serious concussion. "So...turns out I broke my dorsal spine of my C5 vertebra,” Phinney announced on his Twitter account. “Explains a lot. No Tour of Utah for me!"

The best thing about mountain biking in Park City is the accessibility of both beginner and expert trails in the area - 350 miles of 'em. Go forth and conquer.

Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia) won a sprint finish for the sixth and penultimate stage of the Tour of Poland in Zakopane on Friday. Hagen crossed ahead of Italians Alessandro Ballan (Lampre), who holds the overall race leader's yellow jersey, and Marco Marcato after the 162km run between Kroscienko and Zakopane. "The stage was very tough. It wasn't possible to take the yellow jersey from Ballan, but tomorrow I'm going to do everything I can to take it from him and win," warned Hagen.

Crankworx Colorado hosts 1,100 athletes in five disciplines over the course of four days. Record number of riders in WP's bike park, too.

No rest for the weary. Ryder Hesjedal, fresh off finishing his second Tour de France, is roaring into the second half of the 2009 season. The Garmin-Slipstream rider posted a strong fifth place at last weekend’s Clásica San Sebastián and now sets his sights on a run at the overall classification at the Vuelta a España later this month before the world championships in Mendrisio. That heavy load is typical for 28-year-old Canadian, who is on the verge of major breakthrough victory.

You’ve seen it, we’ve reported on it and everyone expected it to eventually be offered for sale and now it’s finally official: Adam Craig’s Anthem X Advanced SL carbon racer will be included in Giant’s 2010 mountain bike line. The new World Cup-worthy full-suspension carbon race bike will be accompanied by a ground-up redesign of the Trance composite platform, which was absent from the line in 2009, but will be offered again in 2010 as the Trance X Advanced SL.

Anthem X Advanced SL

Utah Jazz point guard Deron Williams and Floyd Landis (OUCH) will challenge one another in their respective sports at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, on Friday, at 6:30 p.m. Landis will school Williams on the intricacies of a time trial and Williams will then challenge Landis to a three-point shoot out. Both media and the general public are invited to attend the event. Admission is free. The challenge is a promotional event in advance of the 2009 Tour of Utah, scheduled from August 18-23 throughout central Utah.

American Lawson Craddock (Hot Tubes) earned the silver medal in the time trial at the UCI Junior Road World Championships in Moscow, Russia on Friday. Craddock recorded a time of 32:54.45 on the 25.8-kilometer course, narrowly missing the world title. The Texan finished only 2.2 seconds behind Australia's Luke Durbrige who scored a time of 32:52:23. Lasse Norman Hansen of Denmark earned the bronze at 33:03.01. The only other American contesting the event, Nathan Brown (Covington, Tenn./Hot Tubes) was 34th at 34:42.62.

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The Intermontane Challenge wrapped up last week in Kamloops, British Columbia with a 30-kilometer time trial, providing a chance for Chris Sheppard (Santa Cruz-WTB-FOX) and Sue Butler (MonaVie-Cannondale) to cement their overall wins in the week-long stage race.

We ran out of time during the Tour to cover every bit of the latest and greatest. But never fear, we saved some of the best for last.

Giant Bicycles announces production model aero bike

Although still in its late prototype phase, the Ibis 160 mm Mojo HD has already been ridden to victory by Brian Lopes at the recent Enduro Trophy des Nations in Vars, France.

Spanish puncheur Joaquín Rodríguez (Caisse d’Epargne) knew he had a good shot at stage victory when he saw the short but steep third-category finish-line approach in Thursday’s second stage at the Vuelta a Burgos in northern Spain. Known for explosive ability that’s helped him win, among other victories, the hilltop stage at Tirreno-Adriatico to Monte Lupone two years in a row, Rodríguez turned on the gas Thursday to win the 153km second stage and take the leader’s jersey at the five-day Burgos tour.

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The Intermontane Challenge wrapped up last week with a 30-kilometer time trial, providing a chance for Chris Sheppard (Santa Cruz-WTB-FOX) and Sue Butler (MonaVie-Cannondale) to cement their overall wins in the week-long stage race. Neither winner faced significant threats to their overall race leads, and both protected their positions by riding carefully on the sinewy singletrack of Kenna Cartwright Park just on the edge of Kamloops.

Team Type 1's Alison Powers has wrapped up her overall win of the Women's Prestige Cycling Series with a solid performance at the final event, last week's Cascade Cycling Classic in Oregon. Powers held onto the lead she established at the series' first two events, the Redlands Bicycle Classic and the Joe Martin Stage Race. While Powers' lead was insurmountable after the first few events, the series' team competition went down to the wire, with Team Tibco eventually taking the lead ahead of Powers' Team Type 1 and the Webcor team.[nid:96375]

World champion Allesandro Ballan (Lampre) won a sprint finish for the fifth stage of the Tour of Poland under the rain on Thursday. Ballan's success on the 163km stage from Strzyzow to Krynica Zdroj also gave him possession of the race leader's yellow jersey. Ballan finished ahead of Spaniard Daniel Moreno and Dutch rider Pieter Weening, who are second and third in the overall standings respectively. "I promised to fight in the Tour of Poland and I kept my word," said Ballan after crossing the finish line in a bunched sprint.

Disgraced cyclist Alexander Vinokourov continues his return to competitive cycling this week hoping to show he has not lost too much form over his two-year ban for doping. Once one of the peloton's toughest competitors Vinokourov was revealed as a cheat in 2007 when he tested positive for homologous blood doping (the injection of red cells from a donor) at the Tour de France. The scandal led to the expulsion of his team Astana from the race, and a two-year ban left his career in tatters.

Quick Step’s Tom Boonen is skipping this weekend’s Tour de l’Ain, but has confirmed he will start the Vuelta a España later this month. After a disastrous Tour de France, the Belgian classics star is looking to regroup before the world championships in September. The former world and current Belgian road champion was scheduled to race for the first time since the Tour at Sunday’s start at the four-day Tour de l’Ain, but he still hasn’t fully recovered from a nagging cold that prompted his departureahead of the 15th stage of the Tour.

Lance Armstrong might be training up in the Colorado mountains for next weekend’s Leadville 100, but backers from his new RadioShack team are already working hard behind the scenes to prepare the squad for a high-profile entrance into the elite ranks of the sport. Officials from RadioShack Corporation are planning to unveil its new branding and marketing campaign Thursday in New York and San Francisco, and the cycling team, where Armstrong will race during the 2010 season, will play a central role.

Classic East Coast singletrack gets even better with the unveiling of new cross country courses August 7-9 at the US Kenda Cup East, USA Cycling's Pro XCT Tour in Vermont.

Pennsylvania's Univest Grand Prix is experiencing a late-season growth spurt. The UCI 2.2 race is adding a team time trial on Friday, Sept. 11. The 7.6-mile TTT and Saturday's 100 mile road race will make up a 2-day stage race. The Univest weekend will continue with Sunday's Univest Grand Prix Doylestown Criterium, which is not part of the Friday-Saturday stage race. The stage race is part of the USA Cycling Pro Tour. The new TTT stage will be held in Allenstown and will include two laps of a technical 3.8-mile circuit.

Sturgis ain't just for the hogs. Yes, South Dakota's Black Hills are the home of a huge Harleyfest, but they also boast sweet singletrack and feature festivities for the fat-tire set.

Columbia-HTC will bring sprinter Mark Cavendish, time trialist/GC rider Michael Rogers and strongman George Hincapie to this year's Tour of Missouri, the race announced Wednesday. Cavendish won three stages at Missouri last year, and Hincapie won the overall title in the race's first edition in 2007. The race is being held Sept. 7-13 this year. “I really enjoyed Tour of Missouri last year," Cavendish said. "Cycling fans in America are genuinely enthusiastic about watching us race, which makes for a great atmosphere.”

What a week it’s been for Euskaltel-Euskadi. First, its captain and Tour de France stage-winner, Mikel Astrarloza, pops positive for EPO in a pre-Tour doping control, some nasty business that raises questions about the team’s future, not to mention its ethical integrity. Then Igor Antón wins Sunday’s Urkiola climbing race in the heart of Basque Country to remind everyone that the “orange tide” isn’t going down without a fight.

Norwegian ace Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia-HTC) won the fourth stage of the Tour of Poland on Wednesday after outshining teammate André Greipel in a sprint finish. Greipel, wearing the race leader's jersey, finished second on the 239.7-kilometer stage from Naleczow to Rzeszow but was later relegated by race officials after impeding the sprint of Australia's Allan Davis.

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Time is still marching on
Dear Explainer, I was happy to see that the Tour de France reintroduced the team time trial to this year’s race. It raised a question that has bothered me for a long time, though. While I understand that teams are assigned the finishing times of the fifth rider to cross the line, what happens to those riders who finish behind the fifth rider? More importantly, what happens to teams that, for whatever reason, have to start the TTT with fewer than five riders? Jonathan Bergner Washington, D.C.

Alexander Vinokourov is back from his two-year doping ban, but his immediate future is anything but certain. In fact, the only thing certain about the charismatic Kazakh rider and his racing plans is shrouded in uncertainty. Besides a few vague public comments, almost no one is willing to go on the record to answer some basic questions on whether or not Vinokourov will be racing in an Astana jersey, a sure sign that something is cooking.

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FatCyclist.com, in partnership with Shimano and Orbea, is holding a fundraiser to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF). The winner of the ten-day (August 4 - 13) contest will become the owner of a true dream bike: an Orbea Orca or Diva (winner's choice), outfitted with the Shimano Di2 group and PRO components, a retail value of approximately $9,600.