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Road Racing

Sobrino takes Castilla y León opener

Very few people will be talking about the biggest win of Joaquín Sobrino’s career. The Burgos Monumental rider sped to victory in the opening stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y León, but the world’s media were focused on the crash involving Lance Armstrong (Astana) with about 15km to go. The seven-time Tour de France winner went down in a nasty pileup as the peloton was completing its chase of a four-man breakaway and left the race in an ambulance (see main story).

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Road

European correspondent Andrew Hood is preparing for a busy week following the races.

After a relative lull in mid-March, with the European racing schedule dominated by two big races (Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico) and the first classic of the season with Milan-San Remo, the peloton is making up for lost time. There are major races this week in Spain, Belgium and Italy and the women’s World Cup begins in Switzerland. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s jump right in:

Monday to Friday, March 23-27

24th Vuelta a Castilla y León (Spa, 2.1)

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Road Racing

Day, Teutenberg win San Dimas

Fly V Australia's Ben Day turned a blistering opening time trial performance into an overall victory at the three-day San Dimas Stage Race in California this weekend. Day's teammate Jonathan Cantwell won the final stage criterium, ahead of Colavita's Lucas Haedo and OUCH-Maxxis' John Murphy. Team Type 1's Shawn Milne added to Team Type 1’s polka dot jersey collection by winning the King of the Mountains classification.

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Road Racing

Cavendish wins 2009 Milano-Sanremo

If there was any doubt about who is cycling’s most exciting sprinter, Mark Cavendish erased it Saturday with an explosive victory in the 100th Milan-San Remo. Judges had to break out the zoom lens to determine Cavendish the winner in a photo-finish to a devastated Heinrich Haussler as Cervélo TestTeam went two-three with Thor Hushovd rounding out the podium. Haussler pounced out of the left side of the pack with 350 meters to go —he said to set up Hushovd — only to look back and see that Hushovd wasn’t on his wheel and a surging Cavendish was closing in fast.

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Road

Farrar crashes out of San Remo

Milan-San Remo didn’t end the way Tyler Farrar would have liked. The Garmin-Slipstream rider -- fresh off beating eventual winner Mark Cavendish in a bunch sprint this week at Tirreno-Adriatico – crashed out with a possible broken clavicle. Farrar flew back to his home base in Belgium on Saturday night and will be treated by doctors there, but team officials are worried that the injury could take Farrar out of the upcoming northern classics.

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Road

Cavendish: ‘I wanted to prove I am a great rider’

Mark Cavendish proved the skeptics wrong yet again. After most experts believed he couldn’t get over the late-race climbs, the Columbia-Highroad rider sprinted to a dramatic victory to win the 100th Milan-San Remo. Here are excerpts from his post-race press conference: Question: What does it mean to you to win a classic?

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Road

Milan-San Remo: Can Cavendish get over the Poggio?

Mark Cavendish isn’t expecting to win his first crack at Milan-San Remo, but he’s getting some advice from someone who has. Four-time winner Erik Zabel has been quietly working and training with the British sprinter since retiring. Cavendish is expecting that expert advice to pay dividends sooner than later. “He knows every race by the back of his hand, so it’s perfect for me,” Cavendish told VeloNews. “It takes away at least one year for experience. We’re talking and training together all the time, at the races or after.”

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Road

Henk Vogels talks about his new team, the North American peloton, and life as a director.

Henk Vogels is back. Well, sort of. After a career that included a pair of top-10 finishes in Paris-Roubaix, second at the 2003 Gent-Wevelgem, wins at the USPRO road and criterium championships, an overall victory at the Tour de Beauce and an Australian national road title, Vogels quietly retired at the end of the 2008 season. There was no announcement, no send-off race or ceremony — just a shift, from the bike to the driver’s seat in a new role as team director.

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News

Columbia-Highroad for Milan-San Remo

San Luis Obispo, California, 18th March 2009 - Columbia-Highroad tackles Milan-San Remo this weekend with high hopes for Mark Cavendish, the recent winner of the last stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. However, the squad has no intention of placing their top sprinter under any pressure to come up with a specific result.

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Road

Mark Cavendish says he needs a few years before he can be competitive at Milan-San Remo

Add Mark Cavendish to the growing list of people who think Daniele Bennati is one of the big favorites for Milan-San Remo.   The British sprinter easily handed Bennati defeat in Tuesday’s final stage at Tirreno-Adriatico, but when pressed to give one name who would win Saturday, Cavendish thought long and hard before saying, “Bennati.”   “Three hundred kilometers at 23 is a long way,” said Cavendish, discounting his own chances for his San Remo debut. “I will be ready to win San Remo in a few years. Bennati looks strong. He can get over the climbs and he has the sprint.”

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Road

Milan-San Remo: Is it finally Boonen’s turn?

Tom Boonen leaned back on the hood of the Quick Step team car on a sunny morning in San Benedetto del Tronto before the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Life was good. The sun was out, his form was closing in on its annual spring peak and, most importantly, his left knee wasn’t giving him any problems.

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Road Racing

Cavendish wins final T-A stage as Scarponi wraps up the overall win.

Mark Cavendish wasn’t going to let anyone pass him this time.   Just days after Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) relegated Cavendish to a rare second place in Friday’s third stage, Cavendish evened the score in Tuesday’s 169km finale at the 44th Tirreno-Adriatico.   Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) tried in vain to sprint early, but Cavendish darted past him in easy work to win for the fifth time in 2009. Farrar trailed through second in another strong performance for the American while Baden Cooke (Vacansoleil) took third.  

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Road

Racing This Week: Milan-San Remo highlights the action

There are a few races around Europe this weekend, but it is Saturday’s Milan-San Remo that will be the center of attention. The race is celebrating its 100th edition this year and the Italians are expected to pull out all the stops. The presence of Lance Armstrong in his first European race since his comeback will only heighten the media attention and anticipation for the 100th edition of the Italian spring classic.

Ongoing through Tuesday

44th Tirreno-Adriatico (Ita, HIS)

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Road Racing

Michele Scarponi takes the lead at Tirreno-Adriatico as Klöden gets dropped

It was another day of epic racing at Tirreno-Adriatico, this time with Michele Scarponi (Diquigiovanni) snatching the stage victory and the leader’s jersey in Monday’s 235km climbing stage to Camerino. Scarponi, back to the winner’s circle after serving a racing ban after being implicated in the Operación Puerto doping scandal, darted ahead of Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) to win the stage. Ivan Basso (Liquigas), riding with strength in grand tour-like conditions, crossed third.

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Road

Team Type 1’s Jesse Anthony wins the climber’s title at the Tour de Taiwan

Team Type 1's Jesse Anthony won the King of the Mountain title at the seven-stage Tour de Taiwan, which ended Saturday in Taipei. Poland's Je?owski Krzysztof of the Merida Europe team won the overall title, followed by Australia's Peter McDonald (Drapac Porsche) and Roman Zhiyentayev (Kazakhstan National Team). Anthony was 17th on the GC. His teammate Ken Hanson, the only other American to finish the race, was 29th on GC and was sixth in the final stage.

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Road Racing

Mark Cavendish to return to the boards at the track world championships in Poland

Four-time Tour de France stage winner MarkCavendish has been included in a largely experimental 19-man British track cycling squad that will head to the World Championships in Pruszkow, Poland next week. Cavendish, who normally plies his trade with the Columbia-High Road team, is a surprise inclusion in a squad that will be shorn of many of its big names. At last year's Olympic Games Britain won seven of the ten golds on offer at the Laoshan velodrome in Beijing, with Scotland's Chris Hoy claiming three and Bradley Wiggins winning two from both pursuit events.

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Road Racing

Sanchez wraps up Paris Nice, Colom wins final stage

Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne) trumped compatriot Alberto Contador of Astana to win the 67th Paris-Nice cycling race after the eighth and final stage here on Sunday. Sanchez finished the race one minute ahead of Luxembourg's Frank Schleck in the overall standings, with French rider Sylvain Chavanal a further 9 seconds adrift in third.

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Road

Farrar: ‘Biggest win of my career’

Tyler Farrar did what many haven’t been able to manage lately – come around Mark Cavendish to win a bunch sprint. That’s just what the 24-year-old Garmin-Slipstream did on what was a very lucky Friday the 13th. He timed his final punch to the line perfectly to win the 166km third stage from Fuchecchio to Santa Croce Sull’Arno at the 44th Tirreno-Adriatico on Friday. Farrar bolted past Cavendish’s left shoulder, taking a prestigious bunch sprint ahead of the likes of Tom Boonen (fourth) and Robbie McEwen (fifth).

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Road Racing

Farrar outkicks Cav’ at Tirreno-Adriatico

Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) bolted past Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad) to win Friday’s third stage at Tirreno-Adriatico. Cavendish looked to have the sprint in the bag when Farrar came off Cavendish’s wheel and surged past his left shoulder to take the biggest win of his European career.

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Road Racing

Petacchi scores at Tirreno-Adriatico, El Fares keeps lead

Alessandro Petacchi (LPR Brakes) won the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico over 177km from Volterra to Marina di Carrara on Thursday. Petacchi edged out compatriot Daniele Bennati of Liquigas and Spaniard Koldo Fernandez in a sprint finish. Frenchman Julien El Fares of Cofidis, who won the first stage on Wednesday, held onto the leader's jersey with Bennati in second 15 seconds behind.

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Road Training

The Coach(ed) Corner: Finding the time

Of all the lessons I learned during this past year of getting coached, No. 1 by a long shot is this basic tenet: More time on the bike does not necessarily translate to increased fitness. Instead, the key is finding that critical balance between high intensity and adequate rest. Better to crush yourself a couple times a week, and then have several short truly easy days, than to noodle around whenever you can and rarely take time off.

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Road Racing

El Fares takes Tirreno-Adriatico opener

French rider Julien El Fares (Cofidis) held off the chasing peloton to win the first stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Led by Liquigas and Columbia-Highroad, the chasing pack fell 11 seconds short of ending the Frenchman’s adventure in the 147km stage to Capannori on Wednesday. El Fares dropped his fellow escapee, Vladimir Duma (Flaminia), with about 20km to go but Duma chased back with 9km to go. They held a slender lead of 1:34 to hungry sprinters.

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Road Racing

Haussler wins stage 2, Contador leads P-N

Heinrich Haussler slammed home his third victory of the 2009 season on Monday in the second stage at the 67th Paris-Nice. The Cervélo TestTeam rider cranked up his sprint with 250m to go in the 195.5km stage and had plenty of time to thump his chest as he crossed the line clear by three bike lengths. Coming through second was Mark Renshaw (Columbia-Highroad) with Mirco Lorenzetto (Lampre) slotting into third. "The sprint wasn't easy. We were racing into a headwind so I tucked my bike in behind Renshaw and the Columbia team,” said the 25-year-old Haussler.

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Road Racing

Grabinger, Holcomb win Tucson Bicycle Classic

J.R. Grabinger (Fly V Australia p/b Successful Living) and Janel Holcomb (Webcor Builders) collected the overall titles at the 23rd annual Tucson Bicycle Classic on Sunday. Nick Clayville (Hagens Berman LLP) won the final stage, the Speedway/Anklam Circuit Race, crossing five seconds ahead of Sean Mazich (Team Waste Management) and Chad Beyer (BMC). But Grabinger finished with the bunch at 1:48 to claim the overall after three days of racing. Michael Mathis (CRCA-Empire Cycling Team) took the runner-up spot at 17 seconds back with Waste Management’s Scott Stewart third at 0:24.

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Road Racing

Menchov wins Murcia

Denis Menchov wrapped up the overall title at the Vuelta a Murcia in Spain on Sunday to claim his first victory since winning the 2007 Vuelta a España. There was no major shakeup in the overall standings as a busted-up peloton came in for a mass sprint for the fifth and final stage.

Vuelta a Murcia
Stage 5:

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Road

Hoogerland wins West Flanders

Dutch rider Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) won the overall crown at the Three Days of West Flanders in Belgium on Sunday. The Dutch sprinter, winner of the first stage on Friday, finished safely in the pack in the 185.7km final stage starting and finishing in Ichtegem to wrap up the overall title. Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step) claimed the finale in a bunch sprint, finishing ahead of Danilo Napolitano (Katusha), winner of Saturday’s second stage. Coming through third was Roy Sentjens (Silence-Lotto).

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Road Racing

Contador wins Paris-Nice opener

Alberto Contador likes to say he doesn’t feel obliged to win, so perhaps it's just that he can’t help himself. The 25-year-old Spaniard is turning into a modern-day cannibal, seemingly winning at will as he continues his superb start of the 2009 season.

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Road Racing

Florencio Ramos wins stage 7

Tecos' Florencio Ramos won stage of la Vuelta Mexico on Saturday, while Team Type 1's Shawn Milne was second and Jackson Rodriguez (Serramenti PVC) continued to lead the general classification. Americans featured in the day's key breakaway and remain atop the sprint and U23 competition leader boards.

2009 Vuelta Mexico Telmex

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Road

Napolitano wins in Belgium

Italian sprinter Danilo Napolitano shot to another victory for his Katusha team after taking the flowers Saturday in the second stage at the Three Days of West Flanders in Belgium. The stocky Italian won ahead of last year’s winner Bobby Traksel (Vacansoleil) while French rider Denis Flahaut (Landbouwkrediet) came through third in the 179.3km stage from Torhout to Handzame. “My teammates did a very good job today,” said Napolitano. “We always ride in the first position and in the final 5km, we took control of the head of the group. I won the sprint even for a little.”

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Road Racing

Evans takes stage in Mexico tour

Cameron Evans (OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis) won a three-up sprint to take the victory at the end of Stage 6 of la Vuelta Mexico. The rolling, 190 km stage saw a break succeed for the third consecutive day. And for the third consecutive day, an OUCH rider made the most of it. “We knew a break had a good shot to stay away to the finish,” Evans said. “We wanted to make sure we had a guy in every move.”

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Road Racing

Rock Racing’s David Vitoria wins his second stage in Mexico, while Jackson Rodriguez displaces teammate Simoni atop the GC.

Rock Racing’s David Vitoria rode to his second straight stage win and donned the King of the Mountains jersey Thursday following the fifth stage of the Vuelta Mexico Telmex. Meanwhile Jackson Rodriguez (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni) took over the overall leadership of the race, displacing his teammate Gilberto Simoni.

2009 Vuelta Mexico Telmex

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Road

Contador favorite in hilly Paris-Nice

Most observers expect Alberto Contador to ride away with the victory at the 67th Paris-Nice, which begins Sunday with a time trial in Amilly. The Spanish climber, who won Paris-Nice as part of his breakout 2007 season, is the five-star favorite following his victory at the Volta ao Algarve to start his season last month. But expectations aside, the eight-day “Race to the Sun” is known to deliver a surprise or two in what’s the season’s first major stage race. There will be plenty of challengers nipping at Astana’s heels among the 20-team field.

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Road Racing

Henderson takes weather-shortened stage at Murcia

Heavy winds wreaked havoc in Thursday’s second stage at the Vuelta a Murcia in Spain, prompting officials to cut the distance and then halt the race due to blustery weather. Dangerous winds topping 80kph before the race started prompted race organizers to trim the distance by nearly 75km and eliminate the day’s main obstacle at the Cat. 1 Alto de San Juan.

2009 Vuelta a Murcia
Stage 2: Las Torres de Cotillas to Caravaca

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Road Racing

Rock Racing’s David Vitoria wins Mexico’s stage 4 as Simoni retains the overall lead

Rock Racing's David Vitoria won the Vuelta Mexico Telmex's fourth stage in a solo breakaway, while Italian Gilberto Simoni retains the overall lead in the race. Vitoria, a fourth-year Swiss pro, escaped from three others — Arquimedes Lam (Tecos), Francesco Rivera (Amica Chips-Knauf) and Andrew Pinfold (OUCH-Maxxis) — on a steep climb in the closing miles to beat Lam by 20 seconds. Pinfold was third, 1:53 behind.

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Road

Ted King: ‘Champing at the bit to get back out there’

Ted King’s debut with his Cervélo TestTeam didn’t quite go according to plan, but he’s already recovering from a crash that short-circuited his season debut at the Amgen Tour of California. His teammate Thor Hushovd won stage 3, but King was forced out of the race earlier in the stage after a freak spill left him with a busted up arm. Luckily, surgery wasn’t necessary and the 6-foot-3 King is anticipating a fairly quick return to the peloton.

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Road Racing

Brown pips Henderson in Vuelta a Murcia opener

Graeme Brown (Rabobank) took vengeance on Greg Henderson (Columbia-Highroad) on Wednesday by winning the opening stage of the Vuelta a Murcia in Spain.

2009 Vuelta a Murcia
Stage 1: San Pedro del Pinatar to Lorca Miercoles

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Road Racing

Injury will keep Chris Hoy from world track championships

Chris Hoy, Britain's four-time Olympic track-cycling gold medalist, announced on Tuesday he was withdrawing from this month's World Championships in Poland because of injury. Hoy, who has suffered complications following a hip injury sustained when falling off his bike in the keirin final of the Copenhagen leg of the World Cup in February, said: "I'm hugely disappointed that I'm not going to be riding in the Worlds."

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Road

McEwen: ‘I love winning, hate losing’

Change is just what Robbie McEwen needed. His move to Katusha for a two-year deal with the start-up Russian squad has put the fire back into the veteran Australian sprinter. Not that it’s ever gone away, but McEwen didn’t have his best season in 2008, coming off just five wins and getting blanked in the grand tours. McEwen will see more support in the sprints with Katusha and he already has two wins under his belt before the end of February.

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Road

Chianti’s gravel roads of Monte Paschi Eroica top race of week

After an exciting opening weekend of the classics season – with Thor Hushovd and Tom Boonen taking a pair of victories in Belgium – the hammerheads have plenty on their plates this week. The top draw for the first week of March is Monte Paschi Eroica in Italy, already considered a major event despite only its third year on the calendar. Spanish stage racing continues in the sunny south with the Vuelta a Murcia, where Denis Menchov (Rabobank) is the top name joining mostly Spanish riders in the five-day race.

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Road

Henderson wins in Spain

Greg Henderson scored a sprint victory in Sunday’s Clásica Almería in the Spanish one-day race controlled perfectly by the Columbia-Highroad team. Henderson out-kicked Graeme Brown (Rabobank) for his first win on the season while Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) came through third out of a reduced, 35-strong front group.

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Road Racing

Tom Boonen wins 2009 Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

Quick Step's Tom Boonen claimed his first big spring classics win of the season at the Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne semi-classic on Sunday. A former world champion, Boonen finished ahead of Columbia-High Road's sprinter Bernhard Eisel of Austria and Britain's Jeremy Hunt (Cervélo TestTeam ), who was third in a bunch sprint for the line. At Sunday's race, held over 194km, the 194-strong field stopped to pay tribute to Belgian racer Frederiek Nolf, 21, who died in his sleep at the Tour of Qatar on February 5.

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Road

Kelly Benefit Strategies: Making their own way

The sun is just breaking through an overcast sky on Wednesday morning in San Antonio as the Kelly Benefit/ Strategies pro team prepares for another long day on the bike. While many of the KBS racers escaped sub-freezing temperatures to spend two weeks training in the Texas Hill Country, few expected the day’s estimated high of 85-degrees. “Sunscreen, don’t forget the sunscreen,” the team’s soigneur implores.

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Road

Petacchi scores stage win, Bennati claims Sardegna

It was hard to believe that Alessandro Petacchi hadn’t won a stage all week during the return after a 12-year absence of the Giro di Sardegna in Italy. Was the Italian sprinter losing his touch? A day after losing his chain in the final sprint, Petacchi got his victory in the fifth and final stage to quiet the critics. The veteran Italian was able to beat back compatriot Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) to take the face-saving win. Bennati, meanwhile, winner of yesterday’s stage, sprinted to second and claimed the overall title.

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Road Racing

Hushovd wins Het Nieuwsblad

Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) lived up to his promise to focus more on the classics this season by taking an important victory in Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad that officially opened the Belgian racing calendar. Formerly known as Het Volk, the semi-classic delivered a nail-biter to kick start the classics season as Hushovd steered clear of two late crashes to steer to victory ahead of Kevin Ista (Agritubel) with Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) coming through third.

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Road

Bennati’s turn at Sardegna

Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) sprinted to victory Friday at the Giro di Sardegna and overtakes the leader jersey at the end of the 147km fourth stage. Bennati darted ahead of Mirco Lorenzetto (Milram) as the pack came in for the mass sprint into Cagliari on the southern tip of the Mediterranean’s second-largest island. Overnight leader Oscar Gatto (ICS) finished out of the bonuses and slipped to second at six seconds back. Bennati is confident he can hang on for Saturday’s finale and secure the overall victory if it all comes down a sprint as expected.

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Road Racing

Gatto grabs lead at Sardegna

New Italian team ISD ended Mirco Lorenzetto’s two-day stranglehold on the Giro di Sardegna, with Oscar Gatto sprinting to victory in Thursday’s 181km third stage from Oristano to Tortoli. The hilly stage featured more than 3,000 meters of climbing, but the top teams reeled a two-man break, but not before 22 riders slipped away near the end. Giovanni Visconti led things out for his teammate Gatto to keep a lid on world champion Alessandro Ballan (Lampre), who finished second but is in good position to win the overall with two stages left.

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Road

Haussler: Ready to win

With two victories and a second place overall at the Tour of Qatar, Heinrich Haussler is starting off his 2009 season on a winning note. Haussler – who turned 25 on Wednesday – is obviously feeling right at home at the new Cervélo TestTeam. Nickamed the “Racing Kangaroo,” Haussler’s father is German and his mother Australian. He was raised Down Under, but moved to Germany as a junior once he decided to give it a shot to race his bike professionally.

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Road Culture

Michael Barry’s diary – From Qatar to Cali

Suffering, speed and sore legs. Game on. The fans were fervent, the racing intense, and the media abundant. From Australia to Qatar to California the races were closely followed and cycling seems to be more popular than ever. For a month Mark Cavendish and I have traveled together: from hotel to hotel, from plane to plane, and from the Middle Eastern arid wind to the California rain. Our suitcases quickly became our homes on the road. We finished stages not knowing where we were ? the town was just another name and the finish line crossed another stage completed.

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Road

Theo Bos: Transition to road no walk in park

A handful of Dutch reporters made the trip down to Portugal last week for the Volta ao Algarve, a small race that typically doesn’t attract much attention from the international press. This year was different because Theo Bos – the five-time world champion on the track – made his debut on the road with the Rabobank continental team. A victory in a small criterium on Feb. 15 made front-page news in the Dutch papers, but Bos had a tougher time in the hilly Algarve course against a tougher field. He abandoned in the fourth stage that featured a second-category summit finish.

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Road Racing

Giro di Sardegna: Lorenzetto wins opener

Mirco Lorenzetto dashed to victory in a bunch sprint in the opening stage of the Giro di Sardegna in Italy on Tuesday. Lampre went one-two to fend off arch-rival Alessandro Petacchi (LPR) as Lorenzetto finished just ahead of teammate Enrico Gasparotto. Reigning world champion Alessandro Ballan gave a perfect lead-out to Lorenzetto to set up the victory in the 184km stage starting and finishing in Olbia. Pre-race favorite Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) came through sixth.

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Road Racing

Fränk Schleck’s winning ride

With two laps of the finishing circuit remaining in the penultimate stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, Fränk Schleck attacked on his Specialized Tarmac SL2 — but victory eluded him. Undaunted, Schleck again took the initiative during the final stage on Palomar Mountain and then out-sprinted his lone breakaway partner, Liquigas’ Vincenzo Nibali, in a short kick to the line.

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Road

Het Volk opens classics season, Giro di Sardegna re-born

With so much racing going on in Europe at any one time, we start this new weekly feature previewing the upcoming racing action to help fans – and us – keep track of who’s going where. There’s the ProTour, the Historic calendar and the European Tour, not to mention women’s and amateur racing. For this space, we’ll keep our eye on "D," all of the above, minus the U23/amateur scene. It’s still late February, but there are plenty of races to keep things interesting. Het Volk – oops, we mean the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad – opens the classics season in Belgium.

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Road

A look at the stage 8 power readings of OUCH’s Rory Sutherland, who finished fourth.

Rory Sutherland, as usual, closed out the Tour of California with a top result. Just like in the 2008 edition, Rory finished the final stage a wheel length behind George Hincapie. But this time instead of coming for the win, George and Rory were sprinting for third place just 40 seconds behind the winning duo of Frank Schleck and Vincenzo Nibali.

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Road

2009 ATOC stage 8, Live Coverage archive

  • 11:52 AM: Good day and welcome

    to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the eighth and final stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, a challenging 96.8-mile race from Ranch Bernardo to Escondido, punctuated by the hors- categorie climb up Palomar Mountain.

    Many riders are saying that the most decisive climb, however, may come on the Category 4 Cole Grade.

    Looking over at the GC and one can only conclude that this race is far from decided.

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Road Racing

Levi’s hat trick, Schleck’s stage as Amgen Tour ends

To win his third consecutive Amgen Tour of California, Levi Leipheimer needed every bit of help he received from his seven Astana teammates. That was emphasized on Sunday when 10 riders broke clear on the upper reaches of Palomar Mountain, and Leipheimer was the only Astana man who could follow the attacks. “But even though he was alone on Palomar,” said Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel, “I could see Levi was comfortable.”

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Road

2009 ATOC stage 7, Live Coverage archive

  • 11:29 AM: Good day and welcome

    to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the seventh stage of the Amgen Tour of California, a 143km (88.9 mile) ride from Santa Clarita to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

    Today's stage, scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m., begins with 40km (25 miles) of gradual climbing before the route takes a significant hop up Millcreek Summit in the San Gabriel Mountains, a Category three climb that crests at the 60.7km mark (37.7 miles).

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Road Racing

Nocentini wins in Pasadena

It can be difficult to judge just how difficult a race is until you can make a direct comparison with a previous result. That was the case Saturday, when enormous crowds, probably the biggest of the week, showed up at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to see the finale to stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California. This stage from Santa Clarita was identical to the one that George Hincapie won 12 months ago, when he covered the 89-mile course in a time of 3:50:57. This year, the time of stage winner Rinaldo Nocentini of AG2R-La Mondiale was 26 minutes faster!

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Road Racing

Contador TT’s to Algarve lead

A day after being relegated to a rare second place on a summit finish, Alberto Contador turned in an authoritative time trial victory Saturday to take the overall lead at Portugal’s Volta ao Algarve. Contador beat back the likes of teammate Andreas Klöden and reigning world time trial champion Bert Grabsch (Columbia-High Road) on a fairly challenging 33.7km course in the hills along the Algarve Coast to snag his first win of the season and secure the overall leader’s jersey.

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Road

On Tap at AToC: Stage 7 – A break at the Rose Bowl?

With just two days left in the nine-day Amgen Tour of California, only six of the 17 teams have won a stage. That means that 11 others are still eager to taste victory, especially those teams that have major American sponsors. Top of this list of teams is Rabobank, followed by Liquigas and Quick Step.

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Road Racing

Leipheimer wins the Solvang time trial

Levi Leipheimer is an undemonstrative guy. So when the Astana team leader thrust up his arms and raised three fingers 10 meters before he crossed the finish line on Friday’s stage 6 of the Amgen Tour of California, that was big. The three fingers signaled his third consecutive victory in the 15-mile Solvang time trial, and it may well signal his third overall victory come Sunday night in Escondido.

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Road

AToC Stage 5 Live Update Archive

  • 10:41 AM: Good day!

    And welcome to VeloNews.com's live coverage of the fifth stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California.

    This is the longest day of this year's edition of America's largest stage race, and will take us 134.3 miles from Visalia to Paso Robles — that's 216km for those of you living in modernized countries.

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Road Racing

Algarve S3: Colom nips Contador

Katusha’s early season haul continued Friday as Toni Colom out-kicked triple-crown winner Alberto Contador (Astana) in the final meters of a summit finish to win the stage and take the overall leader’s jersey in stage three at the Volta ao Algarve. Colom – fresh off winning the Mallorca Challenge earlier this month – had a stronger kick at the end of the steep, second-category climb up the Alto do Malhao to relegate Contador to a rare second-place on a summit finish.

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Road Racing

No Contest: Cav’ gallops to second victory

There’s no better combination in bike racing than sunshine, Lance, Levi … and Mark Cavendish. While America’s two top champions are the favorites with their legions of fans all along the route of this fourth Amgen Tour of California, Columbia-High Road’s Cavendish is fast becoming a crowd favorite.

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Road Racing

2009 Volta ao Algarve: Koldo takes stage, lead

A steep, 200-meter rising finish at the end of Thursday’s hilly 183km second stage in the Volta ao Algarve looked tailor-made for Damiano Cunego or Alberto Contador. But those big-name riders have bigger fish to fry later this year, which opened the door for Basque sprinter Koldo Fernández to pull the double, taking the stage win and the leader’s jersey. The Euskaltel-Euskadi speedster bolted ahead of Portuguese sprinter Manuel Cardoso (Liberty Seguros) to claim his first win of the year, with Gerard Ciolek (Milram) coming through third.

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Road

Peeing, crashing, eating, teasing and riding really fast: a day in the Garmin team car.

Editor's Note: Mark Johnson spent stage 4 of the Amgen Tour of California in a Garmin-Slipstream support car with team director Matt White and mechanic Tom Hopper.

Two Garmin cars follow the field. We are in the first car, in third position behind the Astana and Columbia. Position in the caravan corresponds to each team’s best rider on GC. Garmin’s Dave Zabriskie is in third, so that’s where we sit.

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