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

Stage five of the 2008 Tour de Nez, a 45-mile up and down affair in and around the Village at Northstar resort, gave onlookers one last chance to see the main protagonists of the stage race fight it out on the tough technical course. The 1.75-mile loop took riders over stretches of the cobblestones that run through the village, lending an old-school feel to the race.

Exhausted, sunburned but smiling in her new rainbow jersey — that’s how Melissa Buhl spent her Saturday evening. The Arizona native had a jam-packed schedule on the sun-baked penultimate day of the 2008 UCI world mountain bike championships in Val di Sole, Italy. First Buhl tackled the pro women’s downhill, speeding down the steep 1.40-mile track with the 10th fastest time of the day.

Exhausted, sunburned but smiling in her new rainbow jersey — that’s how Melissa Buhl spent her Saturday evening. The Arizona native had a jam-packed schedule on the sun-baked penultimate day of the 2008 UCI world mountain-bike championships in Val di Sole, Italy. First Buhl tackled the pro women’s downhill, speeding down the steep 1.40-mile track with the 10th fastest time of the day.

It’s been more than 10 years since a Canadian has lined up for the Tour de France. That’s likely to change in 2008 as it’s expected that not one, but two Canadians could be lining up in Brest to end Canada’s Tour drought that dates back to 1997 with Gordon Fraser. Ryder Hesjedal and Michael Barry are both hoping to earn Tour berths on Garmin-Chipotle and Team Columbia, respectively.

Tom Boonen (Quick Step) returned to the spotlight for the right reasons Friday after blazing to victory in the 170km fourth stage at the Ster Elektrotoer in Holland. The Belgian classics star made headlines earlier this month after he tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition test that forced him out of next month’s Tour de France, but he decided to keep racing rather than retreat from increasing media pressure.

CSC's world time trial champion, Fabian Cancellara, won the seventh stage of the Tour de Suisse on Friday with a trademark solo attack in the final kilometers. Just like Cancellara's win at this year's Milan-San Remo and last July's stage 3 of the Tour de France, Cancellara attacked as the top sprinters were gearing up for a field sprint, and held them off for a narrow victory in a daring display of raw power.

I've been tossing around the idea of trying to "move" to Italy one of these days. I was really only half serious. But now, as I sit here writing this from our balcony overlooking the Torrente (river) Nocem, about to go eat delicious pizza once again, I'm getting a bit more serious. It's real nice here.

Barloworld is hoping this year’s Tour de France is as good as last year’s. In 2007, the wild-card team was one of the Tour’s biggest surprises, winning a sprint stage with Robbie Hunter and a mountain stage and the King of the Mountains jersey with breakout Colombian Mauricio Soler. For this year, the team is heading into its second Tour with quiet ambitions that things will be just as good.

Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen, riding for the High Road team, surged into the overall lead of the Tour of Switzerland after winning the sixth stage on Thursday. [nid:78578] The stage was a 188km race from Ambri to Verbier, punctuated by two major climbs, the hors categorie Nufenenpass early in the race and the Category 1 finishing climb to Verbier.

The Tour de Nez, a five-stage race that bills itself as "the Coolest Race in America," got underway Wednesday with a criterium at a Reno, Nevada, casino. The Bissell team gave Michigan's Steven Howard a perfect lead out, setting him up for a bike-length win ahead of Riccardo Escuela (Successful Living) and Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics). [nid:77952]

American Tejay Van Garderen finished second overall at the Circuito Montañes, an eight-stage UCI 2.2-ranked race in Spain that concluded Tuesday. Van Garderen, 19, was competing for his Rabobank Continental squad, which also earned the overall team title. It was Van Garderen's second podium finish at a UCI stage race this season. He was also second overall and won a stage at last month's Fleche du Sud in Luxembourg, where he was also best young rider and took the points competition.

France’s four-person squad of Jean-Christoph Peraud, Arnaud Jouffroy, Laurence Leboucher and Alexis Vuillermoz stormed to a convincing win in the first event of the 2008 UCI mountain bike world championships, the team relay. The French led from start to finish, and stomped pre-race favorites Switzerland by more than two minutes. “It was very challenging at the start because [the Swiss] were favored to win,” Peraud said with the aid of a translator. [nid:77862]

Silence-Lotto's Robbie McEwen won a sprint finish in the 170km fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Tuesday for his second consecutive stage win. The 35-year-old McEwen crossed the line ahead of Spaniard Oscar Freire of Rabobank and German Gerald Ciolek of High Road in exactly the same order as in Monday's third stage. [nid:77868]

American Taylor Phinney, the 2007 world junior time trial champion, set a new world junior pursuit record Monday at the ADT Event Center velodrome in Carson, California. Phinney’s time of 3:16.589 in the 3000-meter individual pursuit broke Australian Michael Ford’s four-year-old record of 3:17.775. It was the first world record set at the ADT Event Center — the same track where Phinney won a pursuit World Cup in January.

Silence-Lotto's Aussie sprinter Robbie McEwen won Monday's third stage of the tour of Switzerland, outsprinting Rabobank's Oscar Freire and High Road's Gerald Ciolek. "Leif Hoste and Greg Van Avermaet did well for me on the sprint," said McEwen. "It's exactly the tactic that we discussed this morning. "It's one of the first times that I've sprinted with the two of them and it worked well." This win, he said, "was good for confidence ahead of the Tour de France."

[nid:77758][nid:77759][nid:77754][nid:77755] Erik Barlevav of the Time Pro Cycling team scored the biggest win of his young career with a narrow advantage win over Rock Racing's Rahsaan Bahati on Sunday at the Harlem Cycling Classic. Barlevav's final effort was so intense that he lost control of his bicycle and crashed just after the finish line. The first-year professional managed to get up unassisted and take a victory lap with a bouquet of flowers.

The 23rd Tour de Beauce ended on Sunday with Symmetrics' Svein Tuft recording the first Canadian victory since 1995. Tuft and his team held off repeated attacks by both the Tecos Trek and Team Type 1 squads to take the overall victory. Matt Wilson gave Team Type 1 a victory in the final stage, and that team also wrapped up the Points and Climber's Jerseys, plus the top overall team on general classification.

Health Net’s Rory Sutherland is a rangy Australian who is built a little too lean for a typical sprinter but a little too long for a typical climber. It may be that he’s a perfect fit for a race like the Nature Valley Grand Prix, which features a lot of flat roads that suddenly tilt up in a rider’s face and require a short burst of intense power.

There were two races underway Saturday at the Tour de Beauce - the race for the stage win and the race for the Yellow Jersey. Team Sparkasse won the first battle by taking first and second, while Symmetrics and team leader Svein Tuft won the second, by preserving Tuft's hold on the overall lead despite the efforts of both Team Type 1 and Tecos Trek.

Three-time world champion Oscar Freire sprinted to victory in the first stage of the Tour de Suisse, out-charging the field at the end of 146-kilometer race that started and finished in Langnau im Emmental. Freire pulled on the race leader's jersey at the end of the stage after beating Switzerland's Martin Elmiger at the finish line. In the general classification Freire has a four-second lead on Elmiger (Ag2r)and another local, Lampre’s David Loosli.

The sun set and a crowd of thousands screamed at the moment Kirk O’Bee (Health Net-Maxxis) charged across the line in the final sprint of Friday’s downtown Minneapolis criterium to win his second stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Close on his wing, Ivan Stevic (Toyota-United) threw his bike across the line, but came up half a wheel short. Ricardo Escuela (Successful Living) captured third.

To almost no one's surprise, Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) won the fourth stage time trial at the Tour de Beauce on Friday, and grabbed the overall lead in the process. What did raise eyebrows was the unexpectedly strong showing of Bernardo Cole Tepoz (Tecos Trek UAG), who had held the leader's jersey since winning the opening stage. The 24 year old Colex finished fourth, 58 seconds down on Tuft, and is only seven seconds behind in the general classification.

It’s not the longest climb nor is it the highest, but the Joux-Plane always proves troublesome in any race it’s featured. That was certainly the case in Friday’s short but explosive 125km fifth stage in the 60th Dauphiné Libéré that saw plenty of action on both sides of the 11.5km climb high in France’s Haut-Savoie.

Bernardo Colex (Tecos Trek UAG) let his rivals know that he wasn't going to give up the Yellow Jersey at the Tour de Beauce without a fight, with an aggressive ride up Mont Megantic to finish second on stage three behind Miguel Martinez (Amore E Vita-McDonalds).

In 2007, Kirk O’Bee and his HealthNet-Maxxis team dominated the Nature Valley Grand Prix, with one exception: the final overall standings. Last year, the men in green and black won four of five stages and enjoyed the leader's jersey for two days, but could not wrestle the final GC from the grip of Toyota-United’s Ivan Stevic. This year, O’Bee got off to a good start, winning the 65-mile second stage in a sprint – just as he had done a year ago - but this time he pulled on the leader’s yellow jersey afterward.

Former American pro road racer Chad Gerlach, once a promising U.S. Postal Service rider who became homeless and addicted to drugs, will be featured on episode of A&E’s “Intervention” next week. Gerlach rode professionally for Montgomery-Bell in 1995, U.S. Postal Service in 1996, Navigators Insurance in 1997, Oilme-Klein in 1998 and Sierra Nevada in 2002. Gerlach never raced a grand tour, but won a sprint stage at the 1996 Kent Tour of China and two stages of the 1998 Tour de Langkawi.

As Cadel Evans takes aim at becoming the first Australian to win the Tour de France, he is finding inspiration from the first rider to win five in a row: Miguel Indurain. Evans says that he’ll try to follow Big Mig’s proven model of taking gains in the time trials and defending in the mountains.

Bernardo Colex (Tecos-Trek UAG) continues to hold the yellow leader's jersey at the Tour de Beauce after Wednesday’s second hilly 166-kilometer stage. Colex’s team did masterful job of controlling the field, with the stage coming down to a bunch sprint won by Yuri Metlushenko (Amore E Vita) ahead of Ciaran Power (Pezula) and Ramos Kleber (Garneau-Crocs). Charles Dionne (Equipe Quebec) was the top North American on the stage, finishing fourth, with Christian Meier (Symmetrics) the top in the overall standings in ninth place, 26 seconds down on Colex.

Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) rode the time trial of his career to beat the likes of Levi Leipheimer and Cadel Evans on a difficult, hilly 31km course Wednesday to win the stage and take control of the 60th Dauphiné Libéré. Valverde, who also won Monday’s first stage in a sprint, revealed impressive time trial credentials on wet roads to beat 2006 Dauphiné champ Leipheimer by 19 seconds and Tour de France runner-up Evans by 20 seconds.

Mexico's Bernardo Colex Tepoz (Tecos Trek UAG) took the biggest win of his career when a mid-race breakaway resulted in a solo victory and the yellow jersey in the opening stage of the 23rd Tour de Beauce on Tuesday. The classic Canadian stage race kicked of with the traditional 165-kilometer Lac Etchemin road race stage, contested on one long loop that encompasses typical Beauce terrain ? lots of climbing and rough roads.

The 60th Dauphiné Libéré is a race of seconds – literally – at least through the first two days of racing. A day after losing Sunday’s opening prologue by one second, Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) captured the maillot jaune by that same margin over Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) after the Norwegian sprinter earned finish-line time bonuses in Monday’s 194km first stage from Avignon to Privas.

After quietly sitting in for most of the 156-mile race, CSC’s Matti Breschel went boldly to the front of the Philadelphia International Championship when it mattered most — coming across the finish line. The young Danish rider took the sprint win on Benjamin Franklin Parkway ahead of Kirk O’Bee (Health Net-Maxxis) and three-time Philly winner Fred Rodriguez (Rock Racing).

Levi Leipheimer (Astana) ripped to a dramatic victory in Sunday’s opening prologue at the 60th Dauphiné Libéré in a showdown between the Tour de France favorites. Leipheimer -- who won the 2006 Dauphiné – flew over the 5.6km course into Avignon to stop the clock at 6:10 to take a one-second victory to prologue specialist Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole), with Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) stopping the clock third at six seconds off the pace.

High Road’s Chantal Beltman won the Commerce Bank Liberty Classic in a late-race solo move. After Beltman and her High Road teammates Mara Abbott and Kim Anderson went clear with Tibco’s Joanne Kiesanowski on the last of four trips up Manayunk Wall, America’s strongest women’s team played its numbers. With less than three miles to go, Abbott attacked, drawing out Kiesanowski. Beltman then countered and it was game over.

On the road again. Seems to be a reoccurring theme here in the land of the coached. This week – a day late I must admit – I’m coming to you from the great American city of Philadelphia. And of course I am here to cover the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling – and get in a few maintenance rides time permitting.

It may have been the Scottish Highlands rather than the Alps, but the Swiss men were right at home in Fort William for the fifth round of the mountain bike cross-country World Cup. Swiss riders swept the top three spots of the podium, led by Florian Vogel (Swisspower). Vogel's teammate, U23 series leader Nino Schurter, came in right behind, with Christoph Sauser (Specialized) nine seconds back.

Sunday marks the 24th edition of the Philadelphia International Championship. Although no longer used to crown the national champion, this grand event of domestic racing boasts the greatest distance and some of the deepest fields in North American cycling. Riders surviving the past week’s racing in Reading and Lehigh will face 156 miles in 10 laps through Philadelphia, including 10 climbs up the famed 17 percent Manayunk Wall. Along with The Wall, the weather will also mount a challenge: forecasters called for a record-breaking high of 96 degrees on Sunday.

New York, NY — Harlem Rocks with messenger racing as part of the 35th Annual Skyscraper Cycling Classic on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 15th, at Marcus Garvey Park in New York City. Four-rider teams will compete in a “package pass” relay race on a specially modified racecourse. The race kicks off at 3:30 pm, just before the professional men’s start at 4:10.

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg is making the most of her time in America. In the span of three days, the German High Road rider has won a pair of Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling criteriums, gotten her hair done and purchased new shoes. “Things are cheap here to begin with,” said Teutenberg of her weeklong stay in southeastern Pennsylvania that included a day of shopping on Wednesday. “Throw in the strength of the Euro and it’s even better.”

Thursday’s Reading Classic, the second round of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling, offers both redemption and a final tune-up before Sunday’s grand old race through the streets of Philadelphia. Like Tuesday’s Lehigh race, the course is relatively short at 75 miles, yet the course in Reading, Pennsylvania, demands three trips up the switch-backing, mile-and-a-half, Mt. Penn. Described as a power-climbers’ ascent, look for riders able to accelerate over the top but still produce a big-time finishing sprint.

Three American track riders are locked and loaded for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and five spots are still up for grabs. Californian Sarah Hammer, Coloradan Taylor Phinney and Washington’s Jennie Reed all own spots for Beijing based on their 2008 results. USA Cycling will hold a talent camp June 15-16 at the ADT Events Center in Carson, California, to decide the final spots for the games.

Launching what his competitors called a late-race hail Mary, Ukraine’s Yuri Metlushenko scored a razor-thin sprint win in Tuesday’s Lehigh Valley Classic. Aussie Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis) was second by half a tire width at the opening round of the 2008 Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling, with American Brad Huff (Jelly Belly) trailing home in third.

The wet cobbles were icy slick from street cleaners that rinse off the grime from the morning delivery trucks, the sticky ice creams from the after school snacking kids and the alcohol from the late night revelers. I rode through the old town of Girona cautiously, my bike slipping and skidding in the corners, to meet the “boys” for a training ride; the shopkeepers who were sweeping their steps in daily routine, waved a friendly hello and smiled.

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

If you were to think of the upcoming Commerce Bank series as a stage race rather than a series of three one-day races, then Arlington, Virginia’s CSC Invitational criterium would be the prologue. Like those brief preambles to the big tours, the CSC race certainly doesn’t hold all the answers to what will unfold in the coming days, but it can provide a bit of a peek at what’s to come.

High Road's Judith Arndt won the Montreal World Cup road race Saturday, the second time in three years she has won the race. Her win pads her lead in the World Cup standings. Arndt attacked on the final climb of the 11-lap circuit with year's winner Fabiana Luperini. Arndt won the two-up sprint to take her second World Cup win this season. “I love coming to Montreal,” Arndt said before the race, “even though I’m always really tired when I get here [after coming straight from Tour de l‘Aude]. It’s a really great race and a great atmosphere.”

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

The MN Fixed Gear Classic velodrome races will be held Saturday, June 7 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and Sunday, June 8 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn. Premier track cyclists from around the world will be participating in this two-day event, competing for a purse of nearly $5,000. The MN Fixed Gear Classic is a prelude to the Great River Energy Bicycle Festival and the Nature Valley Grand Prix, held June 11-15 in various cities across central Minnesota.

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

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

Gerald Ciolek blasted past the opposition in the opening stage of the Bayern Rundfahrt on Wednesday for victory in a tough uphill sprint. “It was my first win of the season, and it’s come on home soil so that makes it all the more special.” Ciolek said. “I jumped away with 300 meters to go, just after Christian Knees of Milram attacked and I got it by a bike length. I didn’t have a lead-out, it was more a case of every man for himself, but I was doing ok and with 150 meters to go I knew I’d got it.”

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

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