The 2009 Giro d’Italia looks to be shaping up into a battle of cycling’s titans, as still more big names have announced plans to race in Italy in May . With Lance Armstrong, Damiano Cunego and Ivan Basso already confirmed, 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre and longtime Armstrong sidekick José Luís Rubiera are both expected to start the centennial edition of the corsa rosa. Sastre said last week that he’ll likely skip the Vuelta a España and race the Giro instead as preparation for his Tour defense.

Alberto Contador’s road to the Tour de France won’t pass through the Giro d’Italia next year. The Spanish winner confirmed this weekend he wouldn’t defend his Giro title next May and instead focus his season on trying to win a second Tour crown in three years.

Lampre’s Damiano Cunego won the Japan Cup on Sunday, edging out Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) and Liquigas’s Ivan Basso who was competing in his first race since being swept up in the Opera?ion Puerto doping scandal. The 30-year-old, now riding for the Liquigas team, finished behind compatriots Damiano Cunego — winner of the Tour of Lombardy — and former national champion Giovanni Visconti in the 151 kilometers Japan Cup.

Ivan Basso, whose Operación Puerto-related racing ban ends next week, is back in the spotlight and he’s hoping it will be for sporting reasons alone. Basso faced the media for the first time in a press conference Friday in Italy and seemed anxious to put the focus on racing and not on his links to the Puerto doping scandal. Basso’s ban officially ends October 24 and he will race for the first time since April 2007 at the Japan Cup on October 26 as part a two-year contract with Liquigas.

Lance Armstrong never rode la corsa rosa during his professional career, but he confirmed Monday he will race the 2009 Giro d’Italia as part of his comeback season. Armstrong, 37, announced in a video posted on the webpage of the Italian sports daily, La Gazzetta dello Sport, he will be at the start of the centenary celebration of the Italian grand tour beginning May 9.

Lance Armstrong never raced the Giro d’Italia during his seven-year Tour de France reign, but now it’s looking likely that he might be part of the corsa rosa during the race’s centenary. Giro d’Italia director Angelo Zomegnan officially invited Armstrong to the 2009 edition of the three-week national tour of Italy, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport. Armstrong has already hinted he’d like to race in the Giro. Speaking to reporters earlier this month, the Texan said skipping the Giro was one of his few regrets during his racing career.

After a heavy late-season schedule that included the Olympic Games, the Vuelta a España and the world time trial championship, Astana’s Levi Leipheimer is finally back in the U.S., enjoying his off-season at the Santa Rosa, California, home he shares with his wife, former pro racer Odessa Gunn. When VeloNews reached him on October 1, Leipheimer was just back from a mountain bike ride through Santa Rosa’s Annadel Park, the largest State Park located within a city limit in California.

Astana brings a loaded team looking for nothing short of domination in the 63rd Vuelta a España that opens with a team time trial Saturday in sunny Granada. Still miffed it was left out of the 2008 Tour de France, the Astana blue swaggers into Granada with its A-team for the season’s third tour with overall victory as the main objective. Andreas Klöden and Levi Leipheimer provide heft to the nine-man lineup, but it’s budding Spanish super star Alberto Contador who will be captain of this ship.

Following the withdrawal of his team’s title sponsor, Barloworld’s Enrico Gasparotto has signed with the Lampre team for 2009, a decision criticized by his current team manager. Gasparotto reached the agreement this week, following a decision by Barloworld to pull its sponsorship of the team after one of its riders tested positive for a new version of EPO during the Tour de France.

USA Cycling has added the final three names to its 24-member Beijing Olympic cycling squad. Roadies Amber Neben (Irvine, California) and Christine Thorburn (Sunnyvale, California) and mountain biker Mary McConneloug (Chilmark, Massachusetts) are the latest additions to the squad that will represent the United States in China next month. They join the 21 riders USA Cycling announced on July 1 (list below). The three earned discretionary selections and were nominated by a nine-person selection committee. A second Games for Thorburn[nid:79896]

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg took her second consecutive stage of the Giro d'Italia Femminile Monday, defending the Maglia Rosa going into stage four. "I'm psyched to win the the pink jersey and be able to ride with it another day," said Teutenberg. "We couldn't have had a better start in the Giro and hopefully we can keep playing a big role in the race." The flat stage from Ca’ Tiepolo Porto Tolle to Rosolina Mare was hot and relatively fast with cross winds in the last ten kilometers. Team Columbia started the lead out for Teutenberg with three kilometers remaining in the race.

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USA Cycling named 21 of its 24 nominees to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team on Tuesday, including all 16 men’s athletes across the disciplines of road cycling, track cycling, mountain biking BMX. The governing body also named five automatic women’s nominees across the four Olympic disciplines of cycling. Of the 21 named on Tuesday, 12 earned automatic nominations under USA Cycling’s Olympic selection procedures, while nine other riders were nominated to the Olympic Team by a nine-person selection committee according to USA Cycling’s Principles of Discretion.

Sunday’s final time trial gave Slipstream-Chipotle and High Road the perfect way to celebrate what’s been a very successful Giro d’Italia for both teams. Five riders from the two U.S.-registered teams filled out the top-six in the final stage of the 91st Giro, with Marco Pinotti scoring High Road’s fourth stage victory of the race while Christian Vande Velde and Danny Pate capped a successful Giro with fifth and sixth, respectively.

Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel celebrated his 11th grand tour victory from behind the steering wheel of a team car with Alberto Contador’s unlikely Giro d’Italia win Sunday. Bruyneel answered questions about the team’s anti-doping program and Contador’s unexpected rise; here are excerpts from the press conference: Question: Can you talk about the team’s work with Damsgaard?

On Sunday, two-time Italian national time trial champion Marco Pinotti proved yet again that he is one of the world’s best in that specialty, particularly when it comes to the grand tours.

Now Alberto Contador can go back to the beach. After interrupting a vacation a month ago to pack his bags to head to Italy, the defending Tour de France champion secured one of the most unlikely victories in cycling history to claim the 91st Giro d’Italia on Sunday. “It’s never been so worth it to leave a vacation early,” Contador said. “I didn’t know I was coming to the Giro until eight days before the race. This Giro has a special flavor and perhaps means more to me than last year’s Tour.”

Alberto Contador (Astana) is 28.5km from winning a Giro d’Italia he never expected to start. The Spanish climber deflected a flurry of last-gasp attacks from arch-rival Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) over the Gavia and Mortirolo in Saturday’s 232km mountain shootout to retain the maglia rosa and roll into Sunday’s final-day time trial with the narrowest of margins.

Alberto Contador (Astana) might be wishing he was back at the beach after fending off relentless attacks from Danilo Di Luca (LPR) and Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) in Friday’s wild 19th stage that saw him save his maglia rosa by the narrowest of margins. Contador saw his grip on the pink jersey trimmed to four seconds to Riccò and 21 seconds to Di Luca and looks vulnerable going into Saturday’s epic stage over the Gavia and the Mortirolo.

Andy Hampsten and his 7-Eleven-Hoonved team appeared to have everything under control before the 1988 Giro d’Italia’s final stage, a long time trial on a rolling circuit at Vittorio Veneto. The American climber, 26, enjoyed a spaghetti lunch after a short morning stage and then rested in his room prior to the Giro’s ultimate challenge.

It was 20 years ago Saturday that Andy Hampsten rode through a blizzard over the Passo di Gavia to claim the pink jersey and become the first and only American to win the Giro d’Italia. Most people seem to remember that it was Hampsten who also won the stage, but it was another young, up-and-coming rider who was first across the line into Bormio on June 5, 1988.

It was a world championship-style victory for Jens Voigt (CSC) in Thursday’s 147km 17th stage that traced the routes of the 2008 and 2009 worlds courses. Voigt attacked an all-star group that included two-time world champ Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and the national champions of Italy and Spain with 35km to go at the start of two finishing circuits on the Varese worlds course the peloton will see in October. Chasers left it too late and never saw Voigt again as the German diesel hammered home to one of his most impressive victories of his head-banging career.

Levi Leipheimer came to the Giro d’Italia as part of the last-minute invitation for Astana that included Alberto Contador and Andreas Klöden as co-leaders. Leipheimer was at home in California when he got the call and he quickly made arrangements to fly to Sicily. No one knew what to expect. The team wanted nothing more than to make the most of the unexpected situation. Flash forward three weeks and Contador is poised to become just the second Spanish rider to win the Giro.

Is Mark Cavendish so good that he’s already gifting sprints? In the manner that High Road teammate André Greipel sprinted to victory ahead of Cavendish and Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) ? when Cavendish looked back to Bennati at least three times to check that the Italian wasn’t pulling through ? it would seem so. No way, says Greipel. The burly 26-year-old bristled at the suggestion that the biggest victory of his professional career was handed to him by his younger teammate.

If there were any doubts that Andy Hampsten was entitled to the 1988 Giro’s pink jersey, they would be exposed on the crucial stage 18, an individual 18km mountain time trial from Levico Terme up to the ski station of Vetriolo Terme. With Frenchman Jean-François Bernard out of the race because of a crash the previous day, the logical favorites for the stage win were the other top climber/time trialists: Hampsten, Erik Breukink, Urs Zimmermann and Roberto Visentini.

Monday’s spectacular yet controversial stage up Plan de Corones capped a trio of decisive mountaintop finishes that saw Alberto Contador whittle out a slender but perhaps decisive lead going into the final week of the 91st Giro d’Italia. Contador hasn’t won a stage yet, but he’s finessed his way into a 41-second lead over Riccardo Riccò thanks to a superb time trial in stage 10 and three consistent performances across the Dolomites.

At least there were two riders who were in high spirits after Monday’s grueling 12.9km climbing time trial up the spectacular summit at Plan de Corones. While nearly the entire peloton was a chorus of complaints over the difficulty of the controversial 16th stage up slippery gravel roads with grades as steep as 24 percent, Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) and Alberto Contador (Astana) both had plenty of reason to celebrate.

When Andy Hampsten survived the snowstorm over the Passo di Gavia at the 1988 Giro d’Italia and took over the maglia rosa (see Hampsten and the 1988 Pink Jersey: Part 1) the battle to become the first American to win the world’s second most prestigious grand tour was far from over. There were still seven days to go, including two time trials and four mountain stages, before the finish in Vittorio Veneto.

Alberto Contador (Astana) went from beach bum to Spain’s best chance to win the Giro d’Italia since Miguel Indurain won back-to-back editions in 1992-93. Contador rides into Monday’s decisive individual time trial at Plan de Corones nursing a slender but significant 33-second lead to Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Prodir).

Under normal conditions, Alberto Contador (Astana) claiming the maglia rosa might bring some certainty to the 91st Giro d’Italia. But there’s nothing predictable about this explosive and unpredictable race with a week still to go. The defending Tour de France champ faltered in Sunday’s six-climb, 154km 15th stage, but had just enough spin in his legs to slink into the overall lead by 33 seconds — a lead that by his own admission might be only temporary.

How do you define an epic? It’s a noun grossly over-used by sportswriters, particularly those who write about cycling. Through the years, European journalists have described heroic deeds by brave athletes on bicycles with gushing prose that was rarely deserved. They even titled road racing’s formative years The Heroic Era.

Emanuele Sella (CSF-Navigare) swapped tears of frustration for tears of joy Saturday after winning a blockbuster stage as the overall favorites squared off up the grueling 7.7km climb to the Alpe di Pampeago summit in the 91st Giro’s first clash in the Dolomites. The 195km, two-climb stage lived up to expectations to deliver big surprises as Sella pulled away early as part of a 13-man breakaway at 13km that also included Christian Vande Velde (Slipstream-Chipotle).

Alberto Contador (Astana) is poised to become the first Spanish rider to wear the pink jersey since Juan Carlos Dominguez won the opening prologue in 2002. The only question now seems to be which day it will happen as the defending Tour de France champ enters a trio of tortuous climbing stages across the heart of the Dolomites positioned perfectly for a maglia rosa assault.

It’s unlikely that Mark Cavendish will become the peloton’s new gentleman sprinter, but he was gracious enough Friday to say thanks to Daniele Bennati for not closing down the sprint 100 meters shy of his second win in the 91st Giro d’Italia. The High Road sprinter didn’t elaborate on whether or not he also said arrivederci as he burst past his Liquigas rival in what’s fast becoming recognized as the most lethal last-second punch in the peloton.

Liquigas's Daniele Bennati won Thursday's 12th stage of the Giro d’Italia, winning a furious sprint by the narrowest of margins over Mark Cavendish (High Road) at the end of a 172-kilometer race from Forli to Carpi. Quick Step's Giovanni Visconti finished in the main field and kept the the maglia rosa of the overall race leader.

Italian Alessandro Bertolini (Diquigiovanni) won Wednesday's wild ride into Cesena in the 11th stage at the Giro d'Italia that saw a cascade of crashes in yet another wild day of racing at the corsa rosa. Overnight leader Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) defended his pink jersey, but only after being dropped twice and overcoming a crash with 30km to go in the 199km, mountainous stage over what were once the training routes of Marco Pantani.

Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre) might raise Italian donkeys, but he rode like a thoroughbred in Tuesday’s rainy and very difficult 39.4-kilometer to upset the favored Andreas Klöden (Astana). The 33-year-old Bruseghin, who has more than a dozen donkeys and grows wine grapes on his farm in Vittorio Veneto, surged to just his third career victory in impressive fashion. The veteran Italian relegated the heavily favored Klöden to third by 40 seconds, but the real surprise was the second-place ride at just eight seconds off the pace by the injured Alberto Contador (Astana).

Six weeks ago, Slipstream-Chipotle’s Timmy Duggan was slated to be a member of team time trial winning squads at both the Tour de Georgia and the Giro d’Italia. Instead, Duggan went down in a pileup in Georgia the day before the TTT and suffered a brain injury that landed him in an Athens hospital for several days. Duggan hasn’t raced since and his season’s plans are now up in the air.

After a week of avoiding crashes and keeping a low profile, Andreas Klöden (Astana) will reluctantly step into the spotlight in Tuesday’s 39.4km individual time trial that will be the 91st Giro d’Italia’s first major litmus test. The media-shy Klöden will be favorite for the decisive 10th stage as the main contenders for the maglia rosa step up to show their cards after nine nervous and exciting days of racing.

Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) wants nothing more than to win a stage in the Giro d’Italia wearing the rainbow jersey. “The Cricket” came close but fell short in 2007, and when he successfully defended the world championship last fall in Stuttgart, one of the first things he said he wanted to do was win in Italy wearing the rainbow stripes. Bettini, 34, still has some unfinished business after losing in a photo-finish to Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) in a hotly contested sprint in Sunday’s 218km ninth stage from Civitavecchia to San Vicenzo.

Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) ripped to another dramatic victory in Saturday’s 208km eighth stage to prove he’s top dog in the first week of racing in the 91st Giro d’Italia. Riccò, 24, snagged his second stage in a week by out-kicking world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) at the end of another hilltop finale into Tivoli with Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) taking third.

It was a battle on three fronts in the first mountain stage of the 91st Giro d’Italia, and a preview of the suffering to come. Up front, Gabriele Bosisio (Team LPR) was the last man standing from a huge mob that peeled away early in the four-climb, 180km romp from Vasto to Pescocostanzo to claim his team’s first Giro stage. In the middle, Danilo Di Luca (LPR), Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval) and Alberto Contador (Astana) revealed they’ll be contenders after they attacked a lead group of favorites to carry home a 50-second prize over their GC rivals.

In every generation, it seems, there is someone in the peloton that all the other riders point to when asked: Who’s the fastest descender? Who’s the man who can race down mountain roads seemingly effortlessly and leave the rest behind?

For the second day in a row, a breakaway stayed clear of the peloton, with another unsung hero from a smaller team in the form of Matteo Priamo (CSF-Panaria) taking center stage. Unlike yesterday, the attackers had enough rope to end Franco Pellizotti’s four-day run in the pink jersey. Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) and German Matthias Russ (Gerolsteiner) ended the day tied on time, but Visconti took the maglia rosa based on differences taken in the team time trial.

Tinkoff’s Pavel Brutt feinted and feigned his way to victory in the final kilometers of a five-man breakaway that held off the chasing peloton by 30 seconds in Wednesday’s fifth stage at the 91st Giro d’Italia.

“Ten laps to go,” Lance Armstrong joked as he led off a string of two dozen invited guests on a ride around the 5-mile mountain-bike loop that circles his 444-acre ranch in the Texas Hill Country. It was Mother’s Day morning, and the seven-time Tour de France champion was having fun with friends, including many from the bike industry, who were helping him celebrate the opening of his new Austin bike shop, Mellow Johnny’s.

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Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the world of competitive cycling by your friends at VeloNews.com.

High Road's Mark Cavendish survived another chaotic dash to the line to win stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday. Gerolsteiner's Robert Forster crossed second and Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) third. Franco Pellozotti (Liquigas) retained the overall lead. "This is my finest victory," said Cavendish, whose teammates escorted him back to the front after a climb split the bunch with 20km to go. "It was the result of my team's work which kept me surrounded over the last 20km. The wind was blowing hard and Bennati went off at a good time, but I was able to follow him and overtake him.

The DeRosa aero seatpost allows for lots of fore-aft adjustment.

LPR’s DeRosa’s all had straight Deda extensions.

The LPR teams was racing on new DeRosa prototype time trial bikes with a very deep aero seat tube and aggressive rear wheel cutout.

Christian Vande Velde stepped off the Slipstream-Chipotle team bus Sunday morning along the beach at Cerfalù with a big smile on his face. Proudly decked out in the maglia rosa, Vande Velde was clearly enjoying his moment as the first American since Andy Hampsten won the 1988 Giro to wear the Giro’s leader’s jersey. “We hope today goes just like yesterday, but we know it’s a complicated stage,” Vande Velde said. “To win yesterday’s stage was our big goal, everything else is just icing on the cake at this point.”

VeloNews staff and wire reports David Zabriskie’s 2008 Giro d’Italia ended Sunday when he was caught at a pileup with about 55km to go in the 207km second stage from Cerfalù to Agrigento. Zabriskie, 29, went down with several other riders as the peloton approached a railroad crossing. Zabriskie, who started the day second overall, was knocked off his bike and was unable to rejoin the pack. Doctors immediately attended to the reigning U.S. time trial champion and transported him to a local hospital.

Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) uncorked a tremendous sprint in the final 100 meters to win Sunday’s exciting 207km second stage, but Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) snuck into fourth to short circuit Christian Vande Velde’s run in the maglia rosa by just one second.

Christian Vande Velde might have the pink jersey, but it was a team victory in every sense of the word Saturday for Slipstream-Chipotle in the 23.6km team time trial to open the 91st Giro d’Italia. Vande Velde, 31, becomes the first American since Andy Hampsten won the 1988 Giro to don the prized maglia rosa, but he’d love nothing more than to have eight more to pass among his teammates.

Paolo Bettini sees his best chance to end his winless streak that dates back to last year’s world championships in Sunday’s second stage of the Giro d'Italia, a race into Agrigento that traces the course from the 1994 worlds. The final 13.2km of the 207km stage from Cerfalù to Agrigento covers the circuit used for the 1994 worlds and the reigning two-time world champ can’t think of a better place to notch his first win of the year.

In Palermo, Italy Perhaps it’s only appropriate that during the 20th anniversary year of Andy Hampsten’s historic 1988 Giro d’Italia victory that another American rider could recapture the maglia rosa. While it’s too early to say if one of six U.S. riders from three teams starting the 91st Giro can survive the grueling Dolomites with a shot for final victory, there’s a very real possibility that one of them could grab pink jersey in Saturday’s team time trial.

If you believe Barloworld team manager Claudio Corti, Colombian climbing sensation Mauricio Soler is starting next week’s Giro d’Italia only with ambitions to win a stage or two. Instead of making a run for the maglia rosa, Corti says the Giro will serve as a springboard for Soler to improve on his remarkable haul in last year’s Tour de France that included 11th place overall, a stage victory and the best climber’s jersey.

Enrico Gasparotto (Barloworld) snagged an overdue victory Tuesday in the opening stage of the Three Days of De Panne after several close calls this spring. The former Italian national champion out-kicked a four-man breakaway in the 192km first stage from Middelkerke to Zottegem to win his first victory in his new Barloworld jersey for the 2008 season.

It wouldn’t be California without sizing up everyone’s appearance, so here is one observer’s take on the new-for-2008 designs unveiled at this year’s Amgen Tour of California. With all the problems our sport has faced over the last few years, perhaps it’s no wonder why so many teams — BMC, Quick Step, Jelly Belly, High Road and CSC — have chosen a wholesome white background for their kits.

With an available seat, Health Net-Maxxis team director Mike Tamayo offered VeloNews's Neal Rogers a spot in its Tour of California caravan vehicle for Tuesday’s wet stage from Santa Rosa to Sacramento. What follows is his account of a day riding with Tamayo and team mechanic Eva Barabas.

There’s a new title sponsor in domestic road racing this year, one that has already built a growing legacy in the sport. Bissell, the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based floor-care products company, enters its sixth year in pro-cycling sponsorship. Bissell's support for the sport began in 2003 with the U.S. Postal Service team. From 2005 to 2007 the company co-sponsored Discovery Channel, and last year it co-sponsored the Priority Health continental team. When that company scaled back its commitment, Bissell stepped in as title sponsor.

Not surprisingly, Astana team brass have reacted with disappointment after being left out of 2008 Giro d’Italia. Astana was among four ProTour squads not issued invitations last week by Giro organizer RCS in a controversial decision that continues to ripple through the peloton. In a team communiqué, Astana general manager Johan Bruyneel said the team will not make a formal complaint over the snub.

The official route details won’t be revealed until Saturday, but more features of the 2008 Giro d’Italia are being discovered. Local officials in Sicily unveiled the profiles of the opening three stages of the 2008 Giro set to begin May 10 on the Italian island. The corsa rosa will begin with a 28.5km team time trial in Palermo and pass most of the city’s most interesting landmarks with the start in front of the Teatro Politeama and concluding near the Massimo theatre. The first road stage will roll from Cefalu to Agrigento, running from the north to the south of the island over a route

If Alejandro Valverde was hoping for a quiet off-season, he was wrong. Representatives of the World Anti-Doping Agency were expected to meet Monday with Court of Arbitration for Sport officials in connection with an effort to try yet again to secure a racing ban for the beleaguered Spanish rider for alleged links to the Operación Puerto doping scandal. Officials from both the UCI and WADA said last week during the Third World Conference on Doping in Sport in Madrid they were “considering their options” about what to do with Valverde, who they insist is linked to the alleged blood doping

Levi Leipheimer likes what he sees in the new-fangled Tour de France route unveiled last week in Paris for the 95th edition of the grande boucle. Leipheimer says the interesting mix of shorter time trials and four summit finishes represents a perfect recipe for what he expects will be victory for his new home at Astana. He says whether it’s him or defending champ Alberto Contador stepping on the top rung remains to be seen. “It’s a great course for Alberto and me. We’re really looking forward to next year’s Tour,” Leipheimer told VeloNews in a phone interview from his home in California.

A North Carolina sports management firm has announced preliminary plans to organize a 27-stage transcontinental “Tour of America,” with an $11 million prize list.In a release issued Wednesday, Aqu, Inc. promised to reveal further details – including dates – at a press conference scheduled for Thursday at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas.In its release, the company said it expects the race will be “the largest spectator event in the history of U.S. sports, covering approximately 4000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.”Distances2007 Tour de France - 3553.9kmLongest stage: