With their participation at the Beijing Olympics just a month away, Levi Leipheimer (Astana) and Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo Lifeforce) made the most of their last time trial before the Games by putting significant time into their opponents in Friday’s stage 3 Skyliner’s Time Trial at the Cascade Cycling Classic.

Astana’s René Haselbacher outsprinted his breakaway companion at the end of the fifth stage of the Tour of Austria Friday, winning the 185 kilometer race from Neustadt to Bad Vöslau and grabbing the points jersey for his efforts as well.

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

The first skirmishes in the battle for the Tour de France yellow jersey left damage in their wake during the tumultuous seventh stage to here on Friday. But the biggest souvenir from the second day of climbing in the 'medium' mountain stages was the full exposure of the existing rivalry between three of Luxembourg's most talented bike riders. In one corner is Kim Kirchen, the Columbia team leader who has been wearing the yellow jersey since the end of Thursday's sixth stage.

After seven stages, the 2008 Tour de France is one-third over and starting to take shape, even with the Monday’s first high-mountain stage looming in the distance. Four of the first week’s six road stages have seen separation on the day’s final climb, with the race’s GC contenders coming to the fore to show their cards and limit their losses. And in an unusual twist, the race has seen only one field sprint, won by Columbia’s Mark Cavendish, and its first solo breakaway victory, won Friday by Caisse d’Epargne’s Luis-Leon Sanchez.

Stage 7, Brioude to Aurillac, 159km

Belgian-based frame builder Ridley has completed two new models in time for this year’s Tour de France with the goal of putting Silence-Lotto's top rider on the top step of the podium in Paris on July 27. Anyone can hope, of course, but Ridley has the technological chops to back it up. Aside from Team Columbia's prototype Giant, which we’ll look at in another piece, Ridley’s Dean and Noah are the big tech stories of this year’s Tour. And, unlike Columbia's new time-trial bike, both Ridley models are slated for 2009 production.

While the spectacular battle for stage 6 unfolded on the erratic climb to Super-Besse on Thursday, I was standing at the finish line next to Bob Stapleton, the owner-manager of Team Columbia. As we watched, we speculated whether his team leader Kim Kirchen could make up the 12 seconds by which he trailed Stefan Schumacher and take the yellow jersey. Right then, as Kirchen and the other race contenders were about to start their sprint for the line, Schumacher fell off his bike.

Team Columbia’s André Greipel won the fourth stage of the 60th edition of the International Tour of Austria on Wednesday, outsprinting Astana’s René Haselbacher and Danilo Hondo (Serramenti) at the end of a 216.8-kilometer race from Lienz to Wolfsberg.

Team Type 1's Matt Wilson crossed the finish line just ahead of Garmin-Slipstream’s Tom Peterson to win Thursday’s second stage of the Cascade Cycling Classic, and also slipped on the yellow leader’s jersey. Most important to him, though, was dedicating the wins to Ben Brooks, his Aussie teammate who remains in a nearby hospital in stable condition after a serious crash in the first stage. [nid:79776]

Saunier Duval’s Riccardo Riccò put his money where his mouth was on the summit finish of stage 6, sprinting uphill for the win ahead of overall race favorites Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans. Team Columbia’s Kim Kirchen finished just behind to take the yellow jersey, as race leader Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) crashed within the final kilometer and lost 30 seconds. (The final 3km mercy rule, which gives crashed riders the same time as the group they came out of, does not apply on summit finishes.) Ironically, it was Kirchen’s wheel with which Schumacher collided.

RICCO A LA PANTANI?
Will Riccardo Riccò pull a page from the playbook of his childhood hero, Marco Pantani, and surprise everyone at this Tour de France? Riccò insists he’s here only for stage victories, but his impressive pop in Thursday’s stage could betray his public declarations.

Stage 6, Aigurande to Super-Besse, 195.5km

With 10km to go in stage 5 of the Tour de France, Mark Cavendish’s Team Columbia teammates drilled it at the front of the chaotic peloton, burying themselves to set up their British sprint star. With 150 meters to go — and early breakaway rider Nicolas Vogondy of Agritubel still barely clear of the chase — Cavendish lit it up and repaid his teammates with a dominant win ahead of Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Erik Zabel (Milram). Race leader Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) finished in the bunch to retain the yellow jersey.

There’s no arguing that this year’s Cascade Cycling Classic is filled with world-class talent. Two world champion time trialists took the men’s and women’s wins in Wednesday’s stage 1 Prineville Road Race in Bend, Oregon: Colombian Santiago Botero (Rock Racing) and Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo Lifeforce). Both part of large breaks in their respective races – Botero in a group of 12 and Armstrong in a group of 7 – they each left their competition behind on the final climb to the finish on Pilot Butte.

The French fans finally saw a real sprint finish Wednesday — resulting in a superbly confident first Tour stage win for Team Columbia’s young Manxman Mark Cavendish — but his well-placed GC teammates, along with the other race favorites, are already looking ahead to the next three stages through the low mountains of the Massif Central. Besides heading into the hills Thursday, the riders will be racing into summer temperatures as the Tour now heads south before arriving in the Pyrenees on Sunday.

Wednesday’s 232km stage from Cholet to Chatearoux might have been the fifth stage of this 2008 Tour de France, but in many respects it was a day of firsts. It was the first hot, sunny day of a Tour that began in the rain and cold winds of Brittany — weather that seemed to follow the peloton wherever it traveled. Stage 5 was the first day spent in the malliot jaune for Gerolsteiner’s Stefan Schumacher, an unlikely hero who seems as surprised as everyone else to find himself leading the world’s biggest bike race.

Stage 5, Cholet to Châteauroux, 232km Weather: Partly cloudy in the morning, warm and sunny in afternoon, moderate westerly breeze with 20kph, highs in the low 80s

This Tour de France couldn’t be going any better for Cadel Evans. In four days of racing he and his Silence-Lotto team have ridden conservatively, largely out of the spotlight — just like the modest Aussie wants it. He showed his form was coming along nicely on opening day, losing by just one second to the explosive Alejandro Valverde on the uphill finish at Plumelec. On stages 2 and 3, his team kept him near the front of the peloton all day, well away from the crashes that were all too common.

Garmin party: Garmin-Chipotle was in a good mood today. The riders raced with a yellow dossard because they stood atop the team GC while Will Frischkorn raced with a red background on his number after winning Monday’s most aggressive rider’s prize. Frischkorn said he felt Monday’s effort in his legs, but admitted he didn’t go too hard in Tuesday’s TT.

Stage 3, Saint Malo to Nantes, 208km

Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) outsprinted three breakaway mates to win stage 3 of the Tour de France on Monday, while Romain Feillu (Agritubel) took the yellow jersey from Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne). "It was phenomenal to win the stage today. It was something you dream about,” said Dumoulin. “The priority was to make the breakaway stay clear. We had some common interests in the breakaway and we worked well together. I knew the yellow jersey wasn't possible so I started to think about winning the stage.”[nid:79536] Feillu was elated, too.

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

National criterium champion Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) won Sunday's Workers’ Credit Union Criterium, the final stage of the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic stage race in Massachusetts. Pic outsprinted Cheerwine's Laura Van Gilder and ProMan's Megan Guarnier to take the win. [nid:79501] In the men's race, John Murphy (Health Net- Maxxis) outsprinted Emile Abraham and Alejandro Borrajo (Colavita). After four days of racing, the overall winners were Cheerwine's Catherine Cheatley and Colavita's Kyle Wamsley.

Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) shot out of a chaotic bunch dash to win stage 2 of the 2008 Tour de France on Sunday. Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) finished safely near the front of the peloton to retain the overall lead. “Yesterday was not a great finish for me,” said Hushovd. “I felt stronger today in the final today. I like Brittany; it's a bit like Norway, always windy and rainy. Maybe I'm not a pure sprinter like Mark Cavendish, but after some hard climbs like today, I usually have some strength left, so maybe that's why I was able to win today."

Toshiba-Santo strongman Mark Hekman showed the form he displayed in 2007 by winning Saturday’s fourth annual Iron Hill Twilight Criterium in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Hekman, who held the lead in the 2007 USA CRITS Series until a crash at Downers Grove ended his pursuit of the title, lapped this year’s Iron Hill field with 20 laps remaining in the 60-lap event, run on a 1km course. “I got away on the 10th lap and just crushed it." Hekman said. "This is a really technical course with the hill on the back side and I thought I was going to die.”

Anyone who follows American politics knows that in the build-up to the 1992 presidential elections, Arkansas governor Bill Clinton had the message “It’s the economy, stupid!” pinned to a wall in his campaign headquarters. By keeping that mantra in mind, Clinton came from behind to win the Democratic nomination, and then the Presidency. In these opening days of the 2008 Tour de France, the message to would-be winners is: “It’s the wind, stupid!”

A SECOND IS A MILE: Alejandro Valverde’s one-second grip on the yellow jersey might seem slim, but it should keep him in the maillot jaune going into Tuesday’s first time trial. Because the Tour eliminated time bonuses in this year’s race, Valverde simply had to follow the wheels in Sunday’s rush to the line into Saint-Brieuc. Monday’s easier profile should assure another bunch sprint and another day in yellow for Valverde.

This part of France, Brittany, is a cycling-mad area. I could write again about the crowds, as they were just as impressive as yesterday, if not more so, and still blowing my mind.

When Caisse D’Epargne superstar Alejandro Valverde stormed past Columbia’s Kim Kircken in the last 200 meters of the opening stage of the 2008 Tour de France he did it on a brand new bike. The winning bike wasn’t new in the sense of a new design — it is the same bike as his teammates ride, a Pinarello Prince — but it was new to Valverde. In fact, it was his first ride on the new bike.

Alex Wrubleski (Webcor) won the second Canadian national road title of her career on Saturday when she outsprinted Leigh Hobson (Cheerwine) and Felicia Gomez (Aaron's) after 114km of racing. Julie Beveridge (Aaron's) took the under-23 title after finishing seventh in the lead group. A nontechnical 28.5km course with no major climbs meant that the only way to reduce the number of contenders was through attacks, and time trial champion Anne Samplonius (Quebec) did just that on the second of four laps with a strong move along a crosswind section.

With his Pinarello painted bright yellow and red, Spain’s new national champion Alejandro Valverde clawed his way up to and past an attacking Kim Kirchen (Columbia) on the steeps of the Côte de Cadoudal to take the first stage and yellow jersey of the 95th Tour de France.

Belgium’s Roel Paulissen and Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå of Norway have won the 2008 UCI marathon mountain biking world championships, in Villabassa, Italy on Saturday. The 119 km course wound a long lap through the Südtirol Dolomiti area of northern Italy.

BANG-BAM-BOOM: Tour brass will surely preen with pride at the huge crowds lining the route across the heart of Brittany, but not everyone was happy that the opening prologue was ditched in favor of a hectic, nervous road stage. Since 1967, the Tour started with some form of a time trial. This year, Christian Prudhomme wanted to shake things up and simply decided to let them sprint for the yellow jersey.

Team Columbia manager Bob Stapleton is looking to Britain's Mark Cavendish for a Tour de France stage victory after his team missed out on an historic first stage win here Saturday. Stapleton's team have come to the Tour looking to fight on several fronts, but at the start of the 2008 race - being held without a prologue for the first time in 41 years — he was reminded that they'll get nothing for free.

Robbie McEwen’s bike was lined up unassumingly, mid-pack, among his teammates' rigs in front of a roped off and guarded Silence-Lotto bus. All of the extra protection was meant to protect the race favorite — McEwen's teammate Cadel Evans — but McEwen’s bike benefited. He was suppose to start the race on Campagnolo’s new 11-speed group, but instead he unassumingly rode away from the team bus on a 10-speed bike. [nid:79347]

On the eve of his fourth Tour de France, Silence-Lotto’s Cadel Evans told a crowded hotel lobby that though he might be the pre-race favorite heading into the race, due to his second-place finish last year, given this year’s list of contenders, actually winning the race is something else entirely.

Editor's Note: Subaru/Gary Fisher pro endurance racer Nat Ross has been sharing daily diaries from the BC Bike Race with VeloNews.com readers. Today, Ross reports on the final stage in Whistler. We just finished the 7th stage in the 2nd Annual BC Bike Race and my body is pretty worked. My legs feel great because I was getting daily massages, and they are accustomed to high mileage in the summer months, but everything else on my body is sore.

Editor’s note: Every day during the 95th Tour de France, VeloNews editorial director John Wilcockson will be writing his “Inside the Tour” column. It will have a more personal slant than most of the pieces he writes. There will be comments on each day’s tactics, insights on what to look for the next day, and stories he has witnessed in the 40 years he has been reporting the race. This first column includes thoughts on the opening stage and what to looking for on the wild roads of Brittany over this first weekend. * * *

Cheerwine Cycling has all but dominated the first two stages of the women’s race at the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic. After winning Thursday’s time trial, the team took the top two spots in Friday’s 69-mile road race, with Catherine Cheatley and Kristin McGrath finishing one-two. The last step on the podium was taken by Kathleen Billington (Connecticut Coast).

When Lance Armstrong was winning the Tour every year, the only real question before the race was not “Who will win?” but “Can anyone get close to him?” Now, after two totally unpredictable Tours, both of them ruined by doping controversies, it looks like we’re about to start on another Magical Mystery Tour. All the same, it’s still fun trying to peek into the crystal ball.

For the second consecutive day, an American team kicked off its Tour de France by unveiling a fresh jersey design created for a new title sponsor. Team Columbia, the former T-Mobile team referred to as Team High Road for the first half of the 2008 season, presented its new look and new sponsor in front of a packed press conference at the Penfeld Parc des Expositions in Brest, France, where the Tour will start Saturday morning.

One of these eight men will win the 2008 Tour. Here, we break down each of their chances based on four key metrics.

CADEL EVANS (Aus), Silence-Lotto

Pro cycling fans may find themselves unclear who to root for at this year’s Tour de France. The list of familiar faces absent from this year’s race is as long as it is top-heavy. The exclusion of the Astana team of defending champion Alberto Contador and teammates Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden means three former podium finishers will sit out this year. It's the first instance in modern history where the previous year’s Tour winner was eligible to race, yet not invited to defend his title.

The 4th annual Iron Hill Twilight Criterium, Saturday in West Chester, Pennsylvania, is up next in the USA CRITS Series. Teams including TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, Richmond Pro Cycling, Colavita Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light, Team Inferno Racing, Time Pro Cycling, Locos Grill & Pub, and Kelly Benefit Strategies will send their riders to the starting line in the men’s match-up.

The inaugural New England Race Week wraps up with the four-day Fitchburg-Longsjo stage race in Massachusetts. The new race series includes eight days of top-tier racing in four Northeastern states. Back on the NRC calendar for 2008, the 49th running of the Fitchburg-Longsjo stage race begins Thursday with a stacked line-up of former winners and top pro riders.

The positive out-of-competition test for cocaine that put defending points champion Tom Boonen out of the Tour de France, and the absence of the top Italian sprinters Alessandro Petacchi and Daniele Bennati, has opened up this year’s green jersey competition; while the decision by exciting newcomer Mark Cavendish to start the Tour rather than focus entirely on his Olympic track preparations gives new interest to the early sprint stages.

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

Rock Racing's Rahsaan Bahati won his second Manhattan Beach Grand Prix on Sunday, outsprinting Ricardo Escuela (Successful Living), and Brad Huff (Jelly Belly). “I had a lot of trust in my teammates and they delivered,” Bahati said before being congratulated by Rock Racing Team Owner Michael Ball and a host of teammates and cheering fans. “With a lap to go, I was concerned about us getting swarmed. But our lead out was tremendous. The guys started sprinting with a kilometer to go.”

David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast) wrapped up the overall at the American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania on Sunday as Daniel Holloway (VMG-Felt) collected the final stage win in downtown Pittsburgh. Holloway — who also won the tour’s opening criterium Tuesday in Philadelphia — sprinted to victory in the finale ahead of Keven Lacombe (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast) and Erik Barlevav (Time Pro Cycling). The 50-mile race, run on a 1.5-mile, four-corner circuit, was interrupted by a tornado warning and heavy rains that required spectators to take cover.

Editor's Note: Subaru/Gary Fisher pro endurance racer Nat Ross will be sharing daily diaries from the BC Bike Race with VeloNews.com readers. This is the first installment.

Stage 1 Shawnigan Lake to Lake Cowichan

Under brilliant blue skies and a hot summer sun, the BC Bike Race start gun fired to launch more than 400 riders from around the world into the first stage of the second annual multi-stage mountain bike event. Over the next 7 days, racers will cover stages totalling more than 550 kilometers as they race a combination of singletrack and logging roads from Victoria to Whistler.

Kelly Benefit's Canadian strong man David Veilleux won Friday's soggy fourth stage of the American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania, surviving torrential rain and nearly 7,000 feet of climbing to win the sprint ahead of breakaway companions into Latrobe, Pennsylvania. South Africa’s Christoff Van Heerden (Konica Minolta) finished third and moved into the race lead. [nid:78955]

The last weekend in June will see the National Racing Calendar split between coasts with a pair of big money criteriums. For the right coasters, the Cox Charities Cycling Classic in Providence, Rhode Island will be making its debut on the men’s NRC calendar on Saturday while the West Coast will host the 47th edition of the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix in Manhattan Beach, California, on Sunday.

Bahati guides us through the bent paperclip by the ocean

Fiordifrutta’s Jamie Driscoll took a slim victory in the longest stage of the American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania on Thursday. The 168-kilometer stage was made even more difficult when strong winds and rain threatened the international field at the starting line in Camp Hill. While the sun broke through as riders lined up, but the strong winds continued to disrupt the day.

Liquigas will lineup without green-jersey candidate Daniele Bennati for next week’s Tour de France. The Italian sprinter has been forced out of the Tour after problems with his Achilles tendon that flared up during Giro d’Italia, where he won three stages and the points jersey.

The Tour of Ireland is back for 2008 and both top-level American teams will be starting the five-day, five-stage race across the green hills of the Emerald Isle set for August 27-31. Team Columbia, with likely starts from Mark Cavendish and Michael Rogers, and Garmin-Slipstream both confirmed they would be among 16 international teams lining up in Dublin.

Canadian all-rounder Keven Lacombe (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast/USA) jumped ahead of a late-race, 18-rider breakaway to triumph in stage 2 of the American Eagle Outfitters® Tour of Pennsylvania on Wednesday. LaCombe took his first stage win ahead of the South African speedster Christoff Van Heerden (Konica Minolta) and Ryan Baumann (Sakonnet Technology).

Philadelphia’s downtown cycling fans were offered a second round of excitement Tuesday afternoon when the current U.S. national criterium champion, Daniel Holloway (VMG-Felt) lit up the final 200-meters in Stage 1B of the American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania presented by Highmark Healthy High 5. Holloway captured a convincing field sprint victory in this elite U25 competition ahead of Jacob Keough (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast) and Christoff Van Heerden of South Africa (Konica Minolta Continental) in the 25-lap criterium of day one.

The second year of the Tour of Missouri will capitalize on the success of the inaugural race, again visiting Kansas City and St. Louis, but will also bring the action to new towns. The seven-day race from St. Joseph to St. Louis will kick off September 8 and feature squads from Team Columbia (formerly High Road) and Garmin-Chipotle (formerly Slipstream). Here is a breakdown of the stages. Stage 1 – Monday, September 8 St. Joseph to Kansas City, 90 miles