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Road

Robbie McEwen in hospital after a fall at the Tour of Belgium

Australian Robbie McEwen will likely be unable to start the Tour de France after he suffered a heavy fall at the Tour of Belgium on Thursday. “Now Robbie is in the hospital. His knee joint is OK, but he cut his ligaments under his left knee and the doctors are rebuilding it. It’s almost impossible his participation at the Tour de France," a team statement said. "Robbie hit a tub of flowers and fell. He went off to hospital for analysis, said the racer's sporting director Jef Braeckevelt.

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Road Racing

Michele Scarponi wins the Giro’s stage 18; Garmin’s Pate is third.

Danny Pate (Garmin-Slipstream) and Jason McCartney (Saxo Bank) went on the hunt for stage victory in Thursday’s 182km hilly 18th stage from Sulmona to Benevento, in what turned out to be a breather for the GC favorites ahead of Friday’s showdown on Mont Vesuvius. The U.S. pair worked into a huge, 24-rider breakaway across the hilly Campagna region that atrophied to a seven-man winning effort.

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Road Racing

Pellizotti pounces at Blockhaus; Menchov defends lead

Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) climbed to a solo victory in stage 17 of the 2009 Giro d'Italia on Wednesday, a short, tough ride from Chieti to Blockhaus. Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes) fought like a wildcat to take time from his rivals, but race leader Denis Menchov (Rabobank) stuck to him like a decal, and Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) had the audacity to sucker-punch the Killer at the line for second place on the day.

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Giro d'Italia

The Explainer – Radiohead

Dear Explainer, Have racing tactics changed with the advent of race radios as riders now all seem to be communicating directly with team cars? Do you think the riders race more conservatively, knowing the whereabouts of their opponents or do radios make racing more exciting tactically? Stephen O'Sullivan Los Angeles, California Dear Stephen,

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Giro d'Italia

Columbia-Highroad’s Michael Barry gives an inside view of Monday’s brutal Giro stage

Pescara, Italy — Each hundred meters of the two final kilometers of every stage is signed at the roadside. On a flat stage I take little notice of the signs as we speed through the kilometers in two minutes as the sprinters charge to the line at the head of the peloton. On a mountain stage, I feel every pedal stroke as my legs labor to turn over the cranks. The final few kilometers never seem to pass fast enough. Monday, we spent nearly eight hours on our bikes racing from Pergola to Monte Petrano. The last meters we rode were painfully long.

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News

Mailbag: Steve Larsen remembered

Do you want to contribute to Mailbag, a regular feature of VeloNews.com? Here's how:

  • Keep it short. And remember that we reserve the right to edit for grammar, length and clarity.
  • Include your full name, hometown and state or nation.
  • Send it to webletters@insideinc.com.

Steve Larsen remembered

Editor,

Published
Giro d'Italia

iamTedKing: Life in a Bubble

Bike races are a circus-like spectacle best witnessed firsthand. This is especially apparent at a race the size, caliber and prestige of the Giro d'Italia. Obviously the cyclists whizzing by at breathtaking speed and the unique dynamics of the races themselves are fascinating, but to experience the race caravan is like taking a stroll through the Vegas strip.

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Road Racing

Haedo, Pic tops in Somerville

Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Colavita Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light) won the 66th annual Tour of Somerville in style on Monday. The 26 year-old Argentian rider beat Jake Keough (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Aldo Ino Ilesic (Team Type 1) to the line in a full-on field sprint to take the storied New Jersey criterium, the country's oldest bike race still in existence. With the win Haedo defended his victory from 2008 and joined a short list of riders to take the event in consecutive years.

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Road Racing

Sastre conquers Monte Petrano

Carlos Sastre (Cervélo TestTeam) surged out of the anonymity of the peloton Monday with a dramatic stage victory in a grueling, seven-hour march across the Apennines to re-energize his hopes of overall victory at the Giro d’Italia. Denis Menchov (Rabobank) rode shrewdly to sprint to second, expanding his lead over second-place Danilo Di Luca (LPR), while Levi Leipheimer (Astana) saw his hopes of winning the Giro fade when he ceded 2:51 to drop from third to sixth, 3:21 back. “I was not as strong as those guys, it is plain and simple,” Leipheimer said at the finish line.

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Road

Wherry, Small win Iron Horse crits

Chris Wherry (Hotel San Jose) and Carmen Small (Colavita-Sutter Home) won the elite Iron Horse criteriums on Sunday in Durango, Colorado. It was the third consecutive crit win for Wherry and the second for Small. A three-man breakaway containing mountain biker Sam Jurekovic (Sho Air-Specialized), Dan Bowman (Kelly Benefits) and Jesse Dekrey formed midway through the hourlong men’s race, on an eight-corner course around downtown Durango.

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Road Racing

Hausler wins Tour de l’Aude; Teutenberg takes finale

Claudia Hausler (Cervélo TestTeam) took the overall victory in the 25th edition of the Tour de l'Aude on Sunday as Columbia-Highroad’s Ina-Yoko Teutenberg collected her third stage win in this year’s race, out-kicking Noëmie Cantele (Bigla Cycling Team) and Emma Johansson (Red Sun Cycling Team). Teutenberg, who thus claimed her 18th career stage at the tour, gave all the credit to teammate Chantal Beltman.

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Road Racing

Bertagnolli outlasts a crumbling break, chase

It was two-for-one again in Sunday’s 15th stage, as the Giro d’Italia unfolded with two races within one that was almost as hot and blistering as the searing temperature on the tarmac. Leonardo Bertagnolli (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni) won the battle for the kisses from the podium girls, the sole survivor of a 16-man breakaway that went clear early in a tremendously hot, hilly 161km from Forli to Faenza.

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Giro d'Italia

Farrar happy with Giro

Sometimes you don’t have to win to make a strong impression. That’s certainly the case for Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream), who proved that he’s reached a new level in the rough-and-tumble world of field sprints. With two seconds and one third, Farrar came close to the elusive breakthrough victory. The team was more than satisfied with Farrar’s performances and he all but assured himself a ticket to the Tour de France in July as the team’s top sprinter.

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Road Racing

Cervelo’s Gerrans wins at San Luca in classic style

Danilo Di Luca (LPR) missed a chance to jump back into the pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia in Saturday’s hilltop finish up the fiercely steep climb to the San Luca church that was tailor-made for his explosive style. Instead of battling for a vital 20-second time bonus that might have come with a stage victory, LPR botched the chase in the 172km 14th stage and let most of a 14-man breakaway stay clear to gobble up the time bonuses.

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Road Racing

Giro’s 13th stage is lucky for Cavendish

Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad) carved another masterpiece Friday on the fast road to Florence, dashing to his third sprint victory in five stages before taking an early exit from the Giro d’Italia. Within shot of the towering duomo, Cavendish made easy work of Italian star Alessandro Petacchi (LPR) to claim his 11th win on the season. [nid:92327] In post-race comments, Cavendish hinted that he would leave the Giro. A press release from his team a few hours later confirmed his early departure.

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Road Racing

Trek-Livestrong’s Phinney holds his lead in the Fleche du Sud

Taylor Phinney will get to wear the white leader's jersey of the Fleche du Sud another day, as he defended it in Thursday's first stage of the Luxembourg race. The American track champion won the prologue Wednesday, his first win in the Trek-Livestrong colors. Stage 1 went to Germany's Marcel Kittel, who was second in the prologue, at three seconds. But Phinney sprinted to third place on the stage, finishing in the same time as Kittel. Luxembourg's Cyrille Heymans was second.

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Giro d'Italia

Menchov meets the press

Denis Menchov (Rabobank) became the first Russian since Pavel Tonkov to don the maglia rosa after his impressive performance in Thursday’s 60.6km time trial along the Cinque Terre. The 31-year-old is already a winner of two editions of the Vuelta a España and takes a slender, 20-second lead to Levi Leipheimer (Astana) going into the decisive second half of the 2009 Giro d’Italia. Menchov spoke to the assembled Giro media following his victory. Here are excerpts from the press conference: Question: Were the time differences as you expected?

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Road Racing

Menchov wins stage 12 time trial at Cinque Terre and takes lead.

A spectacular 60km course along Italy’s stunning Cinque Terre lived up to expectations Thursday as Denis Menchov (Rabobank) pulled the double, winning the stage and snatching away the maglia rosa from Danilo Di Luca (LPR). Levi Leipheimer (Astana) – who had won three time trials in three starts this season ? almost walked away with the jackpot, finishing just 20 seconds slower than Menchov and climbing into third overall at 40 seconds back.

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Mountain

Absalon, Fullana lead World Cup heading into this weekend’s urban course

The world’s best cross-country mountain bike racers will break out the hardtails this weekend for the fourth round of the UCI World Cup, held Sunday in Madrid, Spain. The dusty course spins an eight-kilometer circuit through an urban park in the Spanish capital, and includes plenty of fast hardpack and flat pedaling sections. Speeds on the track are high — the Madrid course lacks serious technical obstacles, but includes a plethora of punchy climbs, loose corners and gravel.

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Giro d'Italia

The Explainer – Giro questions to ponder

Dear Readers, While doing Live Updates during the Giro d’Italia this past week, I am pleased to see that our new update tool offers readers the chance to chime in with questions during our coverage. We do get to read all of them and I often try to include some of them during our coverage. Unfortunately, I can’t answer all of them personally. But there are some pretty interesting questions posed and I thought I’d use this week’s column to answer some of the more common questions I’ve received over the last few days.

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Road Racing

Cavendish strikes again; Farrar second in the finale of Giro transition stage

Mark Cavendish (Columbia-High Road) couldn’t help himself when the 11th stage of the Giro d’Italia hit the coast road that leads down the Italian Riviera and toward the finish line of greatest glory of his young, but prolific career at Milan-San Remo. The pack hit the Via Aurelia after a revived Lance Armstrong led the peloton down the Passo di Turchino at full speed ahead toward Arenzano.

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Giro d'Italia

Cervélo’s American Giro rookie Ted King is soaking it all in

Ted King is making quite the impression with his Cervélo TestTeam in his grand tour debut. Cervélo sport director Jean-Paul Van Poppel said the team is pleased with how the 26-year-old from New Hampshire is holding up midway through the Giro d’Italia. “Ted is doing fine. He’s a good team worker and we’re really happy with him,” Van Poppel said. “He has a fantastic attitude. He’s a well-mannered American boy. He’s pretty quiet, but you can tell he pays attention and he’s learning. There’s no better education for a young rider like him than a stage race.”

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Road Racing

Race leader Danilo Di Luca stomps, wins the Giro’s ‘Queen Stage’ with a solo attack.

Race leader Danilo Di Luca put a rose-colored stamp of authority on the 2009 Giro d’Italia on Tuesday, winning the race’s longest stage in a late solo attack that left the other GC favorites choking on his fumes as they ceded critical seconds on the general classification. Di Luca tightened his grip on the maglia rosa heading into Thursday's critical long individual time trial, expanding his lead to 1:20 to second-place Denis Menchov (Rabobank) on a day that saw quite a bit of reshuffling in the overall standings.

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Giro d'Italia

Rogers regains stride in time for Giro run

Michael Rogers (Columbia-Highroad) is poised to leap back into the spotlight of a grand tour for the first time since crashing out of the 2007 Tour de France. Rogers was the “virtuel maillot jaune” on the road in stage 8 before crashing on the descent of the Cormet de Roselend. That was nearly two years ago and after a bumpy road back, Rogers is returning to peak form, just in time for a run at maglia rosa.

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Giro d'Italia

Armstrong defends rider protest

Lance Armstrong defended Sunday’s rider protest and called for stronger representation among the peloton to protect its interests. Speaking in a seven-minute video posted on his personal web page late Monday night during the Giro d’Italia’s first rest day, Armstrong described his role in helping forge the controversial rider protest in Sunday’s ninth stage.

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Road Racing

Sutherland, Powers leading NRC

Following this weekend's racing in the Mid-Atlantic, Rory Sutherland (OUCH-Maxxis) and Alison Powers (TeamType 1) continue to lead the National Racing Calendar standings. Sutherland, the 2008 NRC champ, took over the lead following his win at the Joe Martin Stage Race. Powers was second at the SRAM Tour of the Gila and won the Joe Martin.

Results and Standings

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Road Racing

Columbia-Highroad’s Ina-Yoko Teutenberg wins stage 3 at the Tour de l’Aude

Columbia-Highroad’s Ina-Yoko Teutenberg on Monday took her second win in this year's Tour de l'Aude — her 17th career win in the French stage race. American Amber Neben (Nurnberger Versicherung) maintained her overall lead in the 10-day race, which has one more day of relatively flat racing before hitting the mountains on Wednesday. Teutenberg avoided a last-kilometer crash to come away with the stage 3 win.

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Road Racing

Columbia-Highroad’s Ina-Yoko Teutenberg wins stage 3 at the Tour de l’Aude

Columbia-Highroad’s Ina-Yoko Teutenberg on Monday took her second win in this year's Tour de l'Aude — her 17th career win in the French stage race. American Amber Neben (Nurnberger Versicherung) maintained her overall lead in the 10-day race, which has one more day of relatively flat racing before hitting the mountains on Wednesday. Teutenberg avoided a last-kilometer crash to come away with the stage 3 win.

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Giro d'Italia

McCartney, Saxo Bank biding time at Giro

One team that’s been uncharacteristically quiet so far through this Giro d’Italia is Saxo Bank. The former CSC squad is usually at the sharp end of the Giro peloton, riding to victory with Ivan Basso in 2006 and second with Andy Schleck in 2007. This year, however, the team came without a strong GC candidate and is taking a different approach to the season’s first grand tour.

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Giro d'Italia

A chat with Cav’: ‘I raced and I won’

Mark Cavendish kept the Columbia-Highroad party rolling on Sunday, delivering the team’s third consecutive victory in the controversial stage in Milan. Cavendish out-kicked Allan Davis (Quick Step) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) to win for the first time in the 2009 Giro. Here’s what Cavendish had to say after the victory: How important was it for you to win today?

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Road Racing

Cav’ wins a snoozer in Milan as riders stage a slowly rolling strike

What was supposed to be celebration of cycling in the heart of Milan turned into a bitter farce Sunday after riders angrily neutralized the 165km ninth stage for what they labeled a dangerous circuit. Mark Cavendish gave Columbia-Highroad its third consecutive victory, but the protesting peloton only raced the final 10km as all sides started pointing fingers at one another. A day after Spanish rider Pedro Horrillo plummeted nearly 150 feet into a ravine and spent the night in a medically induced coma, a week’s worth of nervous racing reached the boiling point for the rattled peloton.

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Giro d'Italia

Saxo Bank’s Matthew Goss shares his training journal and SRM files from the Giro

Just over a week ago Team Saxo Bank’s Matthew Goss was anxiously awaiting the start of his first ever grand tour. Goss, of Australia, has decided to share much of his grand tour debut through his own words as recorded within his training journal, along with his power and heart rate data collected from his SRM power meter. Stay tuned for more updates as told by Matthew as he endures one of the world’s hardest sporting events.

Opportunistic

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Road Racing

Sivtsov takes stage 8 in solo break

Columbia-Highroad’s juggernaut at the 2009 Giro d’Italia continued Saturday as Kanstantsin Sivtsov used a bold solo breakaway late in the 208km stage to deliver a stunning solo victory 21 seconds clear of the hungry pack. Columbia almost made it a podium sweep, with Friday’s winner Edvald Boasson Hagen taking his second runner-up spot in three days while Michael Rogers was pipped by race leader Danilo Di Luca (LPR) for third.

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Giro d'Italia

Michael Barry’s diary – A team of boys

The days have been long but fruitful. We have ridden more kilometers in the last week than most cyclists ride in a month, yet the hours in the saddle still seem to be passing quickly. The stages raced are slowly becoming a blur as our travel is incessant and every movement begins to blend together. What highlights the stages and separates them in my memory are our triumphs. It seems that all we have been doing the last week is eating, riding, sitting in the bus and sleeping. And, somehow, it seems we are eating and riding more than we are sitting or sleeping.

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Road Training

VeloNews’ Everyman Racer Jason Sumner says sometimes you need to just ride.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but there is a lot more to riding bikes than just training for the next race. And while I know that might sound obvious, for me anyway, that simple truth got lost for a little while. During the last year, I’ve been willingly immersed in an exciting new world of power meters, intervals, thresholds and watts. I trained indoors on powder days, bailed on friendly group rides so I could stick to my workout plan, and skipped a few Friday night bacchanals so I’d be fresh for Saturday’s ’cross race.

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Road Racing

Columbia’s Boasson Hagen wins Giro stage 7

Columbia-Highroad knew its young steed Edvald Boasson Hagen would probably win a stage in his Giro d’Italia debut, they just didn’t expect it so soon. Sport director Ralf Aldag thought Boasson Hagen, who turns 22 on Sunday, would be a factor in breakaways in the second half of the Giro. But just a day after sprinting to second, the tall Norwegian outfoxed a veteran group of five riders to hand Columbia-Highroad another stage victory.

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Road Racing

Michele Scarponi wins stage in a long breakaway, Di Luca retains the maglia rosa.

Michele Scarponi (Diquigiovanni) soloed home an impressive victory Thursday to leave the chasing peloton in his rear-view mirror in the 2009 Giro d’Italia’s first successful breakaway.   Despite a frenetic chase by Quick Step and Katusha, the sprightly Italian held out after 198km in a five-man move in the 248km sixth stage over two rated climbs to the posh Austrian ski town of Mayrhofen. He won by 32 seconds clear of an impressive Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia-Highroad).  

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Road Racing

Menchov wins stage 5; Di Luca in pink

Wednesday’s short but explosive climbing stage across the heart of the Dolomiti lived up to its dramatic backdrop at the Giro d’Italia.   The serpentine 24.9km climb up the snow-choked Alpi di Suisi summit at the end of the 125km fifth stage played executioner for some big names and culled the list of would-be winners down to a baker’s dozen.  

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Giro d'Italia

Michael Barry’s Diary – We will surely fight until the end

While the Tour de France is formulaic in its structure, the Giro is a mishmash of stages. Four days into the race and there have been three different leaders, challenging finishes and varied terrain. The Tour doesn’t reach the mountains until the end of the first week whereas here, in Italy, we rode into the sharp white-faced Dolomites today. And from here on, the race will not relent.

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Road Racing

Di Luca wins Giro stage 4

Tuesday’s first mountain stage provided an interesting antipasti of who’s going to be the main attraction in this centenary Giro d’Italia.   Danilo Di Luca (LPR), the 2007 Giro champion, sprinted to victory ahead of 2000 Giro winner Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) out of an elite group of about 40 riders to remind everyone that he’s still a force to reckon with.  

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Giro d'Italia

Moment of truth for Armstrong and company

Rarely has a modern grand tour entered the mountains as early as does this year’s Giro. After a brief team time trial and two flattish stages disrupted by crashes (because of the maximum-size field of 198 riders racing on narrow, technical finishing circuits), the three-week race heads for the Dolomites on Tuesday.

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Road Racing

Petacchi wins stage and jersey as Cav gets gapped by a crash.

There’s never a dull moment at the Giro d’Italia.   Just when it seemed like things were bordering on routine, all hell broke loose and the final 50km of the 198km march from Grado to Valdobbiadene turned into a crash derby.   Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) was the primary victim, crashing out with a broken rib with about 50km to go before another spill with about 12km to go completely blocked the entire breadth of the road just as the peloton ramped up for the sprint.

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Road Racing

Sutherland and Powers nail the overall at Joe Martin

On the final day of the Joe Martin Stage Race, a technical criterium with over 100 feet of climbing per one-mile lap, OUCH-Maxxis played perfect defense to secure Rory Sutherland’s third consecutive victory. At the race’s finish, it was Team Type 1’s Chris Jones and Luis Amaran of Colavita-Sutter Home emerging from the remnants of a 10-rider break to finish first and second in the stage, respectively. Amaran’s teammate, Lucas Sebastian Haedo, won the field sprint, putting him on the podium for the third time in the three days.

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Road Racing

Da Costa wins Four Days of Dunkirk

Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Caisse d'Epargne) won the Four Days of Dunkirk following Sunday's sixth and final stage. Andre Greipel (Columbia-Highroad) took the 172.3km finale in a sprint finish ahead of Jurgen Roelandts (Silence-Lotto) and Frenchman Sebastien Chavanel (Française des Jeux). Da Costa, who assumed the overall lead on Saturday, became the first Portuguese to win the event. The 22-year-old turned pro just two years ago with the modest Benfica team before switching to Caisse d'Epargne.

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Road Racing

Petacchi clips Cav’s wings

Alessandro Petacchi (LPR) has won 164 races during his long career, but his relegation of British sprint ace Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad) to second on Sunday was one of his sweetest victories. Only the 2005 Milan-San Remo and his first career Giro stage win in 2003 — versus Mario Cipollini — mean more to the 35-year-old, who was back in the Giro d’Italia winner’s circle Sunday for the first time since serving his controversial racing ban last year.

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Road Racing

It’s Haedo again in Arkansas.

“It was tense from the word go,” said Mike Tamayo, director of OUCH-Maxxis, the team leading the Joe Martin Stage Race heading into Saturday’s 92-mile circuit race. But despite a breakaway containing many of the top general classification riders staying away late into the race, at the finish it was again Colavita-Sutter Home’s Lucas Sebastian Haedo placing first in a large field sprint ahead of Johnathan Cantwell (Fly V-Successful Living) and Nic Sanderson (Rock Racing).

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Road Racing

Vermont scores another win at collegiate road nationals

The University of Vermont won for a second day in a row at the collegiate national road championships on Saturday. UVM's Colin Jaskiewicz took the Division 1 men's criterium win at the race in downtown Fort Collins, Colorado, the day after teammates Jamey Driscoll and Will Dugan went 1-2 in the road race.

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Road Racing

Columbia-Highroad wins Giro’s team time trial; Cavendish dons the first leader’s jersey.

Mark Cavendish was cool as a cat as he watched team after team fall short of besting Columbia-Highroad on the flat 20.5km course in Lido di Venezia. The Cannonball had plenty of time to consider he was about to become the first British rider to wear the maglia rosa. Columbia started first among 22 teams and he had to wait nearly two hours to secure the victory until Giro rookie Lance Armstrong led final-team Astana across the line 13 seconds short.

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Giro d'Italia

Columbia-Highroad covering its Giro bases

With Mark Cavendish primed for the sprints, and Michael Rogers and Thomas Lövkvist riding with no pressure for the GC, Columbia-Highroad has its bases covered on the eve of the Giro d’Italia. The squad brings a balanced team with a heavy emphasis on stage victories and breakaways with no pressure but quiet ambition to perform well in the GC.

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Road Racing

Sutherland grabs the race lead at Arkansas’ Joe Martin Stage Race

A deluge of early morning rain dampened Fayetteville’s Ozark Mountain roads on the Friday morning prior to the 110-mile second stage of the Joe Martin Stage Race. When the skies finally parted, it was OUCH-Maxxis’s Rory Sutherland outsprinting a large field to take second place behind Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light’s Lucas Sebastian Haedo. Sutherland secured the overall lead in the process via a 10-second time bonus.

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Giro d'Italia

Andrew Hood previews the 100th anniversary of the Giro d’Italia

Weeks of hype and anticipation culminate Saturday as the centennial celebration of cycling’s most colorful and emotional race finally clicks into gear. The Giro d’Italia is celebrating its 100th birthday with all the raw emotion, intense passion and hard-edged racing that makes the Italian grand tour one of the season’s highlights. Stepping center-stage with aplomb is Lance Armstrong, back in his first grand tour since winning the 2005 Tour de France.

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Road Racing

Jacques-Maynes and Powers win opening time trial at the Joe Martin Stage Race, the next stop on the NRC

In 2007, when Team Bissell’s Ben Jacques-Maynes raced to a fifth place finish at the Joe Martin Stage Race’s uphill, 2 1/2-mile time trial, he said time trial bikes were the norm. “This year I show up and everyone’s on road bikes with light wheels,” Jacques-Maynes said. “I know my time trial bike is light and I can get it up a hill just fine. There’s a half mile of flat road before the climb starts, and being in your time trial position for that section can be the one-second between winning and losing.”

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Giro d'Italia

Vande Velde to lead Garmin in Giro

Garmin-Slipstream’s Giro d’Italia starts upside down, with the team’s most important stage coming on day 1 and everything else after that being a bonus in the three-week Italian grand tour starting Saturday. With that in mind, the American team lines up with a loaded squad that should bring more firepower in the team’s quest to defend its title in the team time trial in the opening stage in Venice.

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Giro d'Italia

LPR readies for Giro

The Italian L.P.R. Brakes team appears to have its bases covered for the upcoming Giro d’Italia. The team will boast the firepower of Alessandro Petacchi in the sprint stages and then work for 2007 champion Danilo Di Luca for the overall title. Sprint ace Petacchi will be back in his first grand tour since the 2007 Vuelta a España following his controversial ban for high levels of the asthma medication Salbutamol. A winner of 19 Giro stages, Petacchi will also take aim for the points jersey.

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Giro d'Italia

Racing this week: The calm before the Giro storm

With the season’s first grand tour clicking into gear this weekend, there’s not a lot on the international calendar this week. Stage races in France and Poland are the main highlights, along with the fifth leg of the women’s World Cup this weekend in Switzerland. Otherwise, all eyes will be on the buildup for the Giro d’Italia, starting Saturday in Venice. Tuesday to Sunday

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Road Racing

Wamsley, Pic win Sandy Springs crit

Colavita-Sutter Home teammates Kyle Wamsley and Tina Pic both needed the finish-line camera to confirm their respective victories in Sunday's Global BMW Sandy Springs Criterium in Sandy Springs, Georgia. The photo finish in the men's USA CRITS Speed Week finale gave Wamsley the edge over Ken Hanson (Team Type 1) and Andrew Pinfold (OUCH-Maxxis), while Pic took the win from Kori Seehafer (Team Type 1) and Brooke Miller (Team Tibco). It was so close at the line that a weary Wamsley didn’t even realize he had won until announcer Chad Andrews congratulated him on the victory.

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Road Racing

Kreuziger wraps up Romandie

Czech rider Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) won the Tour of Romandie after the fifth and final stage which was won by three-time world champion Oscar Freire in Geneva on Sunday. Freire scored his second win in the Swiss stage race in bunch sprint for his Rabobank team holding off the threat of promising young American Tyler Farrar of the Garmin team. Kreuziger, an up-and-coming stage race specialist who is only 23 years old, won the Tour of Switzerland last year having finished runner-up in the 2008 edition of the Tour of Romandie.

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Road

Menzies, Miller score wins in Alabama

Moving one step up on the winner’s podium from his place in 2008, Karl Menzies of the OUCH Pro Cycling Team beat out Colavita-Sutter Home speedster Kyle Wamsley to win the 2009 installment of the Sunny King Criterium in Anniston, Alabama Saturday. “This is a great town (to race in).” Menzies said after his win. “I finished second here last year to Hilton Clarke, and I didn’t want to finish second here again.” Despite early bouts of heavy showers, the weather was once again ideal for racing by the time the pro squads took to the 1.1 km course.

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Road

VeloNews sits down with Lance, Levi and Chris

VeloNews, along with two other reporters, sat down with Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong Saturday morning at the house where they're bunked, up in the hills outside of Silver City, New Mexico.

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Mountain

World Cup XC, four-cross head to Houffalize

The UCI mountain bike World Cup heads to the Ardennes region of Belgium this weekend as the town of Houffalize adds four-cross to its popular off-road menu. Houffalize’s history in the World Cup dates back to 1992, and the venue has become a favorite among riders and spectators. Each year tens of thousands of fans fill the small town, which sits in a deep valley 25 miles northeast of Bastogne, to drink beer, ride bikes and cheer for their favorite pros.

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Road Racing

Colavita’s Haedo wins Gila field sprint, as Leipheimer retains lead.

Colavita's Lucas Sebastian Haedo won a field sprint to end Thursday's second stage of the SRAM Tour of the Gila in New Mexico, as Levi Leipheimer finished in the lead pack to retain his overall lead heading into Friday's time trial stage. Leipheimer's teammates on the Mellow Johnny's team, Lance Armstrong and Chris Horner, slaved at the front of the pack for much of the day, keeping in check a four-man breakaway containing Floyd Landis (OUCH-Maxxis).

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Road Racing

Freire wins stage, Rast keeps Romandie lead

Three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) won the second stage of the Tour de Romandie on Thursday after a breakaway by teammates Cadel Evans and Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) was stifled just a few kilometers before the finish line. The Silence-Lotto duo took advantage of the hilly course around northwestern Switzerland to break away on the final climb near the town of La Chaux-de-Fonds. But Evans, the 2006 Romandie winner, and Gilbert were reeled in by the peloton led by late entry Alejandro Valverde just four kilometers from the finish.

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