Russell Downing (CandiTV) outkicked two Saxo Bank riders out of a small group to win the first stage of the 2009 Tour of Ireland. Astana and Saxo Bank drove the peloton hard up and over the day’s categorized climbs, shattering the field and setting a group of 23 riders free with just under 40km to go. Alexander Kolobnev and Matti Breschel (both Saxo Bank) finished second and third ahead of Philip Deignan (Cervélo) on the 196km stage from Powerscourt to Waterford.

Tom Boonen (Quick Step) won the third stage of the Eneco Tour at Hasselt, Belgium, on Friday, edging out overall leader Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Slipstream in a sprint finish which saw Italian Francesco Chicchi take third spot. "I had earmarked this stage and it's super to have won it," said Boonen. "It was really nice today to have been riding in my home region. We went right past my parents' place and my village, my house, my training ground."

Nearly 700 racers lined up for the Trek Border Battle, the eighth race in the Wisconsin Off Road Series.

In just a few years on the US market, Shimano’s PRO component line has already achieved good visibility. Lately prominent on the bikes of Columbia-HTC riders and of course those of Skil-Shimano, PRO bars, stems, and other parts appear destined for reasonably broad acceptance.

American Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) won the second stage of the Eneco Tour on Thursday, further consolidating his hold on the overall lead. Farrar won a field sprint at the end of a 178.1km stage from Ardooie to Brussels, adding to the sprint win he earned in stage 1 on Wednesday. Farrar outsprinted Yauheni Hutarovich (Française des Jeux) and Columbia-HTC’s Edvald Boasson Hagen for the win in Brussels. The stage was marked by several breakaway attempts, the last of which was reeled in just 500 meters from the line.

Francisco Mancebo and Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) pulled off a one-two finish in the first stage of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah on Wednesday. The tandem sprang away from the fadiing peloton on the climb above East Canyon Dam and extended their lead to a maximum of 35 seconds before coming through the finish on the outskirts of Salt Lake City together, 25 seconds ahead of a disorganized chase group that contained overnight leader Brent Bookwalter (BMC). The result vaulted Mancebo into the overall lead over Sevilla by 9 seconds.

Cervelo is bringing three crowd-drawing racers to the Tour of Missouri: Tour de France green jersey winner Thor Hushovd, Tour stage winner Heinrich Haussler, and up-and-coming American stage racer Ted King. Haussler and Hushovd are sure to battle with Columbia's Mark Cavendish for stage wins in Missouri.

Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) sprinted to victory in the 184km first stage at the 5th Eneco Tour on Wednesday in Belgium. A major crash marred the finale into Ardooie, Belgium, sending scores of riders somersaulting to the ground in a high-speed melee. Farrar avoided the mishap and darted to victory, sprinting ahead of Tom Boonen (Quick Step), with Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia-HTC) coming through third.

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How do the big races produce custom leaders' jerseys so fast?

When Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) says he’s on good form, you better believe him. Fresh off sprinting to victory in Sunday’s Hamburg Cyclassics race in Germany, Farrar came within a whisker of winning the opening prologue at the Eneco Tour, which clicked into gear Tuesday with a 4.4km course.

The National Racing Calendar rolls into Salt Lake City Tuesday evening as the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah returns in 2009 to challenge the mountain goats of the North American peloton. The five-stage race covers 325 miles and features many of the most demanding climbs in northern Utah.

Tyler Farrar notched the most important victory of his career this past Sunday in the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg, Germany. The classic win capped a break-out year for the 25-year-old Garmin-Slipstream rider, who’s won a stage at Tirreno-Adriatico, the overall at the Delta Tour Zeeland and five top-5s at the Tour de France so far this season. And he’s not finished yet.

Wet and wild would not even begin to describe the conditions for Sunday’s U.S. criterium national championships in Downers Grove outside Chicago. Torrential rains soaked the elite amateur men's field and thunderstorms delayed the pro men's race by an hour. The slick course caused crash after crash, turning the races into survival contests and dashing the hopes of favorites.

After a relatively quiet week last week, things are cracking across Europe. There’s stage racing in France, Ireland and Holland, a women’s World Cup and the Trittico Lombardo across northern Italy. 5th Eneco Tour (Ned, ProTour) August 18-25 Now in its fifth year, the Eneco Tour was born for the ProTour to bring the series to the important Benelux market, one of bike racing’s hotbeds. Bobby Julich won the inaugural edition in 2005 and José Ivan Gutiérrez (Caisse d’Epargne) is the two-time defending champion.

Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) and Lea Davison (Maxxis) won the short track on Sunday in the Yankee Clipper at Windham Mountain in New York. Kabush, following his victory in Saturday's cross country, added a little icing to the cake by taking the short track ahead of Sam Schultz (Subaru-Gary Fisher and Sid Taberlay (Sho-Air-Specialized). Davison, meanwhile, outfought Luna teammates Katerina Nash and Georgia Gould to win the women's race.

A matter of inches

Garmin-Slipstream's Tyler Farrar sprinted to victory in the Vattenfall Cyclassics on Sunday. Farrar out-sped Matti Breschel (Saxo Bank) and Gerald Ciolek (Milram) to become the first American to win the 216.4km circuit race in Hamburg, Germany. Having lost out several times on sprint stages to Columbia-HTC’s Mark Cavendish in this year's Tour de France and Giro d'Italia, the 25-year-old Farrar said he was pleased to finally get a win under his belt.

The Saturday evening before the national criterium championships in Downers Grove, Illinois, is traditionally reserved for pro-am races for the men and women, half of the distances of the main events on Sunday. But with money on the line the racing is an odd combination of sprinting for dollars while saving something for Sunday’s big event ? or doing one’s best to avoid disaster the night before the title match.

Other than the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, few countries award a national championship jersey for criterium racing. The UCI does not even recognize it as an event and, therefore, does not recognize the national championship, but at least it kindly looks the other way, because criteriums are the most popular form of racing in these countries. In the U.S., criteriums dominate the racing calendar over road racing, culminating in the middle of August for the past 17 years in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove for the U.S. national criteirum championships.

Evelyn Stevens (New York, N.Y.) pulled off her first major European road stage race victory with a win in stage four of La Route de France on Thursday. Riding for the USA Cycling Women’s National Team, Stevens out sprinted fellow American Kim Anderson (Santa Barbara, Calif./Columbia-HTC) to take the stage win and second place in the general classification.

Reigning Olympic road race champion Samuel Sánchez will wear the No. 1 bib for the upcoming Vuelta a España in the season’s third and final grand tour, August 29- September 20. With none of last year’s top-3 podium finishers back for the 2009 edition, race organizers released a preliminary start list Thursday that includes the Euskaltel-Euskadi leader with el número uno.

American Chris Horner (Astana) narrowly missed a stage victory Tuesday morning at the Tour de l’Ain in France, but positioned himself to make a run at the overall title in the four-day French race. French rider Ludovic Turpin (Ag2r) won the morning sector of Tuesday’s two-stage schedule in a busted up sprint, just nipping Horner for his first victory of the season in the hilly stage into Lélex over the Jura Mountains. Horner crossed the line second, one second ahead of the chasing David Moncoutie (Cofidis).

It’s been a long time coming for José Rojas, but persistence paid off — the Spanish sprinter finally won his first race of 2009, taking stage 2 at the Tour de l’Ain. The oft-injured Caisse d’Epargne fastman finally got into the winner’s column in Monday’s 146.5km stage, out-kicking Belgian bomber Greg Van Avermaet (Silence-Lotto) with French rider Maxime Bouet coming through third.

This week’s European cycling menu consists primarily of events that are already under way. The Tour of Portugal and the Tour de l’Ain and the Route de France Féminine, both in France, kicked off last week and wrap up later this week. Then this weekend, the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg brings big-time cycling back to Germany. 21st Tour de l’Ain (Fra, 2.1) August 9-12

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Aldo Ino Ilesic (Team Type 1) and Brooke Miller (Tibco) both took wins at the 22nd annual running of the Hanes Park Classic on Sunday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It was the second consecutive Hanes Park win for Miller and the second win of the weekend for the U.S. national criterium champion. For Ilesic, the win was sweet retribution for his heartbreaking second-place finish during the previous evening’s NRC battle 80 miles south at the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium in Charlotte.

Canadian David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Tibco’s Brooke Miller scored solid wins in the sixth annual Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium in Charlotte, North Carolina, Saturday. Veilleux rolled the dice during the final laps of the men’s race on Saturday night and came up a winner. Veillieux leapt off the front of a strong 10-man breakaway, where he was the sole Kelly rider, to hold a 14-second gap throughout the remaining three laps of racing.

Race simulations are a great weapon to have in your belt. Try these training tips and you'll be plenty prepared for exploding off the start line and getting a jump on the competition.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Carbon mid- and deep-section wheels are all the rage in road racing, and for good reason. A deep aerodynamic profile helps slice through the wind, and using carbon as the rim material helps keep weight to a minimum. Most high-end deep section carbon wheels have that perfect blend of light weight and improved aerodynamics.

Organizers promise some surprises in the third edition of the all-new Tour of Missouri, which kicks off on Labor Day in St. Louis and concludes a week later in Kansas City. Christian Vande Velde (Garmin) won last year’s edition, while George Hincapie (Discovery) triumphed in the inaugural event, and race director Jim Birrell says it will take a strong man to win the 2009 tour, too.

Italian Angelo Furlan (Lampre-N.G.C.) dominated a sprint finish to win the second stage of the Tour of Poland Monday. Furlan beat Belgian Jurgen Roelandts (Silence-Lotto) and Argentina's Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) to take the victory in the 219km stage between Serock and Bialystok. Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil), the winner of stage was, retained the overall lead despite a tie on time with Furlan, whose teammate David Loosli sits third overall at one second back. Tuesday’s stage 3 is a 225,1km leg from Bielsk Podlaski to Lublin.

The promoters of the Tour of Elk Grove call it the "richest stage race in the world." And with more than $150,000 on the line for a 7.7km time trial, a 150km road race and a 110km criterium, the dollars-per-kilometer average is quite astronomical.

Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) sprinted to victory in the first stage of the 66th Tour of Poland on Sunday. David Loosli (Lampre-N.G.C) and Blazej Janiczak (Polska-BGZ) broke away early in the 96km circuit race in Warsaw and built a lead of some five minutes before the peloton finally retrieved them on the final lap. Columbia-HTC tried to get its train rolling for sprinter Andre Greipel, but Bozic showed him a clean pair of heels with Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-N.G.C.) third. "It's my first victory in the ProTour, I was waiting for so long,” Bozic said.

Rising Danish prospect Jakob Fuglsang wrapped up overall victory at the Tour of Denmark on Sunday after finishing safely in the main bunch to successfully defend his crown in his national tour. Fuglsang, who won last year racing for the Designa Kokka team, and joined Saxo Bank as a stagiaire after returning from the Beijing Summer Olympic Games, where he competed in mountain biking. Racing full-time on the road this year with Saxo Bank, Fuglsang won stage 3 to take the lead and then rode to fifth in the time trial in stage 5 to defend.

Carlos Barredo (Quick Step) won a wet Clásica San Sebastián in Spain's northern Basque region on Saturday. Barredo beat Czech rider Roman Kreuziger of Liquigas in a sprint to the line at the end of the 237-kilometer mountainous course that begins and ends in the city. The two were seven seconds ahead of a group led by Frenchman Mikael Delage. Canadian Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Slipstream) finished fifth.

Meredith Miller (Team Tibco) attacked out of a break to solo across the line for her first stars- and-stripes jersey on Saturday in the women’s elite road race at USA Cycling’s Junior, U23, Elite and Paralympic National Championships in Bend, Oregon.

Jens in his own words

It wasn't this way for all of us, but for race leader Jeremiah Bishop, the 65km second stage of the Intermontane Challenge in Kamloops, British Columbia, unfolded in much the same formula as stage 1: a neutral rollout through town, followed by roughly an hour of dusty desert riding, an hour in the forest above town, and a third, final hour weaving through sagebrush on the way to the finish line back in town.

None of last year’s top three are expected to be back, but the 2009 Vuelta a España will see a strong field for the season’s final grand tour. Last year’s winner Alberto Contador – still celebrating his Tour de France victory – has confirmed he will not defend his Vuelta title. Runner-up Levi Leipheimer, recovering from his crash at the Tour, and third-place Carlos Sastre, exhausted after racing four consecutive grand tours, are both steering clear of the Spanish tour. That leaves a huge vacuum that several top names will be jostling to fill.

It wasn't this way for all of us, but for race leader Jeremiah Bishop, the 65km second stage of the Intermontane Challenge in Kamloops, British Columbia, unfolded in much the same formula as stage 1: a neutral rollout through town, followed by roughly an hour of dusty desert riding, an hour in the forest above town, and a third, final hour weaving through sagebrush on the way to the finish line back in town.

Road bikes are nothing new to Gary Fisher. He began racing on the road as a junior decades ago. His original goals were to make it as a professional road cyclist but those plans were derailed when he began his mountain bike business. Fisher thanks his experience as a roadie for his obsession with the perfectly fitting mountain bike. For a complete new road line, Fisher aimed to build bikes that stiffer and lighter plus a few extras that should improve the ride quality.

New Technology

The International Cycling Classic, the 17-day race series held in and around Milwaukee and Chicago that is better known as Superweek, concluded on Sunday in Whitefish Bay, just north of Milwaukee. Fly V Australia's Bernard Sulzberger was corned as the overall series champion — a position he defended the entire series since winning the opening race July 10. In fitting fashion, the final race was won by Sulzberger's Fly V Australia teammate, fellow Aussie and last year's series winner Jonathan Cantwell.

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With Sunday's Chicago Criterium dishing out $2,800 in primes, Brad Huff (Jelly Belly) said it felt like a field sprint on every lap, but the Midwestern sprinter saved himself for when it counted, successfully launching a flier from more than a kilometer out to take victory and a $5,000 pay day. "Guys are jockeying for position, guys are being aggressive. I was like, 'Good lord, can everyone just calm down? We still have 30 laps!'"

Anthony Colby (Colavita-Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light) attacked a nine-man break that had been out since the third of five laps in Sunday’s final stage, and soloed across the line for the biggest NRC win of his career. He was followed seconds later by fellow breakaway partners Taylor Shelden and Alex Howes, both of Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin. Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) held onto the yellow jersey and also succeeded in helping teammate Francisco Mancebo gain enough time to jump ahead of Jeff Louder (BMC) on GC for second.

There’s more to racing than the Tour de France and there’s no rest for the weary as the cycling circus keeps on truckin’. The Tour of Denmark and the Clásica San Sebastian are the main events this week as the cycling calendar switches gears after the most important stage race of the year. The women’s World Cup also clicks back into gear, with two events in Sweden this weekend. 19th Tour of Denmark

Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme credited Lance Armstrong for adding an interesting element to this year's race after the American came out of retirement to finish a commendable third overall. Armstrong finished more than five minutes behind Astana teammate Alberto Contador, who proved unbeatable over three weeks of tough racing on his way to his second victory since his maiden win in 2007. However, on more than one occasion, the 37-year-old seven-time champion showed that his sense for racing is still up there with the best.

During the stage-winning celebrations at the Columbia-HTC team bus in Paris Sunday evening, directeur sportif Allan Peiper pointed out that Mark Cavendish scored his record six field-sprint wins at this Tour in very different ways. The 24-year-old Brit not only packs a kick that is fast enough to out-accelerate most of his rivals but he can also improvise in way that few sprinters have ever been able to do.

Not to be outdone by the Trek Project One paint jobs over in the Astana camp, and the custom yellow Specialized Tarmac SL3 for Saxo Bank’s Fabian Cancellara, Scott Bicycles and the Columbia-HTC team produced a special bike for their star sprinter Mark Cavendish.

Alberto Contador collected the final yellow jersey of the 2009 Tour de France on Sunday as Mark Cavendish won the 21st and final stage on the Champs-Élysées. "The Tour is the hardest race in the world, but this year it was particularly difficult. That's why I am so happy," said the Astana captain after finishing the 96th Tour with 4:11 over Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) and 5:24 over teammate Lance Armstrong. The runner-up credited his brother for his success.

Though she’s only 16 years old and still racing junior gears (52x14 top gear), Coryn Rivera (Proman Hit Squad) emerged from a bunch sprint just ahead of Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) and Kirsty Broun (Team Lip Smacker) to take the stage 5 criterium in downtown Bend Saturday night. There was no change in GC, as Evelyn Stevens (Webcor Builders) still has the lead, followed by Amber Rais (Team Tibco) and Alison Powers (Team Type 1).

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The Tour de France organizers’ experiment of making the peloton race up Mont Ventoux the day before the finish had mixed results. It was a thrill for the estimated 500,000 fans who lined the 21km length of the infamous climb. It was a burden for most of the 156 men who have survived the rigors of another rugged race out of the 198 starters. And it showcased the still-obvious strength of Lance Armstrong to finish ahead of the riders who threatened his third place on the final podium in Paris.

Columbia's Mark Cavendish says he never focuses on his rivals, but on Sunday's final stage of the Tour de France the Columbia rider would do well to keep a close eye on Thor Hushovd. Despite going one better than he did in 2008 by winning five stages at the race so far this year Cavendish has unfinished business - challenging for the points competition's green jersey. Going into Sunday's 164km ride from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to the Champs Elysees in Paris Hushovd has a significant lead of 25 points on Cavendish.

Rabobank finally got a victory in the 2009 Tour de France as Juan Manuel Garate joined an early break on Saturday and stayed away to win the penultimate stage atop the forbidding summit of Mont Ventoux. Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck did all he could do to upset the top of the GC — his team powered the peloton much of the day and Schleck led the yellow jersey group for much of the climb, attacking alone and with his brother Frank.

Moises Aldape (Team Type 1) must have experienced a little déjà vu as he crossed the finish line of the Cascade Lakes Road Race by himself in stage 4 on Friday – he won this same stage last year. Phil Zajicek (Fly V Australia p/b Successful Living) won a bunch sprint to take second place 13 seconds later, while Francisco Mancebo (Rock Racing) took third. The top of the GC remained unchanged with Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) retaining his lead, Jeff Louder (BMC) in second at 40 seconds back, and Mancebo in third at 1:00 back.

Columbia's Mark Cavendish won 19th stage of the Tour on Friday, a hilly stage tucked between the Annecy time trial and the penultimate Mont Ventoux stage. All the GC favorites and race leader Alberto Contador finished safely in the front group, setting up a battle for the Parisian podium on the slopes of Mont Ventoux Saturday. Lance Armstrong (Astana) was the only GC favorite on the right side of a four-second split at the end, picking up a small edge going into the final two days.

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Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) heard the comments from arch-rival Mark Cavendish about how the big Viking needed to DQ the British sprinter to have any chance to win the green jersey. The tension was ratcheting up even since the stage to Besançon when Cavendish was relegated for irregular sprinting in the bunch sprint for 13th place. That UCI jury decision essentially gifted Hushovd the green jersey. But the Cervélo sprinter was too proud to take it that way.

Following their strong performance on the 17th stage of the Tour de France, Saxo Bank’s Fränk and Andy Schleck met with the press. By finishing first and third in what is widely regarded as the toughest stage of the Tour thus far, the brothers have moved up into the top three of the overall standings, trailing only race leader Alberto Contador (Astana), who finished second on the day. Andy Schleck now occupies second place, 2:26 behind Contador, while Fränk is in third at 3:25. VeloNews’Neal Rogers attended the press conference and provides these highlights.