Britain's Chris Hoy made a mark in track cycling’s history books by winning his first try at a world sprint title in Manchester, England, on Friday Hoy, the reigning world keirin champion and a former kilometer and team sprint champion, claimed the gold medal ahead of Frenchman Kevin Sireau in a tense two-round final. Sireau, racing in white as the reigning World Cup sprint champion, finished second to claim the silver with his French compatriot Mickael Bourgain claiming the bronze after a two-leg victory over Italian Roberto Chiappa.

If I were to write the perfect classified ad to recruit top female athletes to track cycling it would look like this:

Tired of your current sport? You might have an Olympic future in Cycling! Oarswomen, listen up – Rebecca Romero of England came from a top career as a single sculler to win a silver medal in cycling in less than 365 days. Add another year to that and she’s a double World Cycling Champion, supported by the best funding in women’s cycling. And to top it off, the crowds and media LOVE her, she’s a national hero. What more could a girl want?

Australia's reigning Olympic 500 meter time trial champion Anna Meares is celebrating after hearing she has qualified for the sprint event in Beijing. Australia's sole women's sprint spot at the Games was under threat because of Meares' place in the world rankings, but results from the world championships in Manchester, England, on Friday mean she can no longer be overtaken. Meares is absent from the world championships as she recovers from injuries sustained in a serious crash at the Los Angeles round of the World Cup in January.

On a foggy December day in 1983 the newly formed National Off Road Bicycle Association held its first event in the Los Padres National Forest outside of Solvang, California. A bushy haired Kansas kid named Steve Tilford escaped with the win that day, riding in his first ever mountain-bike race on a rig slapped together just a day earlier.

You know the guy who couldn’t pass a calculus exam even if the fate of the human race depended on it, but who can count blackjack cards like one of those brainy MIT kids or Rain Man? Well, I guess don’t really either, but I do know I am not that guy. After being put through my paces at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine testing lab, I did a similar battery of threshold and power exams outdoors a week later. Much to my chagrin — but not surprise — the outdoor results were very similar to the indoor ones. I remain average.

The following press release was sent by the Australian cycling federation: Olympic and World Champion, Brad McGee, moved a step closer to his goal of a fourth Olympic Games berth with a solid performance in the individual pursuit on day one of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester. McGee was the fifth fastest in qualifying, missing a chance to ride off for a medal, but posting his fastest time since 2004 when he claimed silver in the event at the Athens Olympic Games along with gold in the teams pursuit.

On or off the track, you don’t mess with Arnaud Tournant, the powerhouse French sprinter who remains one of the most feared sprinters in the world and perhaps the best kilometer rider ever to take to the track.

Reigning world sprint champion Theo Bos says he will not shy away from his rivals when the blue-ribbon event of the world track championships gets under way Friday in Manchester, England. And the flying Dutchman believes his main challenger, big Frenchman Kevin Sireau, lacks the necessary experience to battle his way through to the gold medal. With only five months to go to the Beijing Olympics, and despite keeping a low profile in the World Cup this season, Bos is still considered the man to beat in the men's prestigious speed events.

Bob,
I was talking to a cycling friend today and telling him how my riding had been going and happened to mention an accident I was in while riding a couple of weeks ago. He laughed and said he was just reading a similar story and showed me the birdman case. I found it very interesting and it left me with questions about my incident. So here goes my story.

The world championships began with an unscheduled event, early morning blood draw from the UCI. The Holiday Inn was targeted at an ungodly hour for our teenage son (7am!) and no doubt, no one else was happy either. In any case, the Brits, Aussies, Dutchies and USA team were all tested. Welcome to the big leagues. Luckily, Taylor exercised his prerogative as a teenager and went directly went back to sleep after a little breakfast, of course (another prerogative of the teenager?

Until Wednesday morning, David Brailsford's ethical stance on Team GB's attitude to doping had been unquestioned. The British team's Performance Director has long championed clean and fair competition and maintained that any deviation from that philosophy would not be tolerated.

Olympic pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins lifted British spirits by successfully defending his individual pursuit crown here at the world track cycling championships on Wednesday. Wiggins overpowered surprise Dutch finalist Jenning Huizenga in a time of 4:18.519 to claim his second consecutive gold after his victory in Mallorca last year. Huizenga, who had beaten Wiggins in qualifying, finished in 4:23.474 to claim the silver medal. Russian Alexei Markov claimed the bronze after beating New Zealand's Hayden Roulston in their medal match-up.

Niklas Axelsson’s career looked dead in the water when he tested positive for EPO at the 2001 world cycling championships. He admitted his guilt and was later banned for four years by the Swedish cycling federation. The 35-year-old then mounted a comeback in 2004, but was stricken with testicular cancer in 2007 only to reappear yet again with Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli this season. Persistence paid off Wednesday when he won the 175.6km second stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in Italy.

Fran Ventoso (Andalucía-CajaSur) won the third stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y León on a day that lived up to his name. “Ventoso” means windy in Spanish, but strong northern breezes couldn’t stop his explosive sprint atop a one-kilometer rising finish to snag the win in a perfectly timed acceleration past Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi). Overnight leader Alberto Contador (Astana) retained his four-second lead over teammate Levi Leipheimer while Christian Vande Velde (Slipstream-Chipotle) slotted up to fifth and Slipstream retained the team classification lead.

The world track championships begin in Manchester, England, on Wednesday with the host nation’s Great Britain team expecting to dominate the five-day event. As if home advantage wasn’t enough, Team GB can lean on the experience and talent of riders such as Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and Victoria Pendleton, as well as the fast-track progression of a clutch of young hopefuls.

With three race weekends down and five to go in the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference schedule the Colorado State University Rams Cycling Team has a commanding lead in the conference title race. At the University of Colorado’s Criterium on Sunday, the CSU Rams showed once again why they are the force to be reckoned with in the RMCCC with commanding performances coming from every category.

The heat is on in chilly Manchester. The British press says it was the coldest Easter in 40 years but inside the velodrome it is definitely starting to warm up. You can feel the heat pouring from the vents. A hot track is a fast track: the air is less dense. It’s physics — bodies hurl through space faster with less resistance. This storied Manchester track is the British national cycling center. It’s the home of SEVEN current world champs. And it is proven that, in the right conditions on this track, world records will fall.

Liquigas went full bore in the double-stage opener of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in Italy on Tuesday. The 2002 U23 world champion Francesco Chicchi sprinted to victory in the morning road stage and then the Italian squad won the 11.8km team time trial afternoon stage ahead of Acqua e Sapone and Tinkoff Credit Systems.

Henk Vogels doubles up with a pair of victories in Colorado, Ivan Stevic returns to racing with a 2nd place finish After a late spring snow storm dusted Boulder, Colorado Saturday evening, it was a bright and sunny Easter Sunday for the 100-man field toeing the line for the 60-minute Colorado University Research Park Criterium. With a number of local pros on hand, the pace was fast from the start. Toyota-United used their strength in numbers to establish the winning break in the opening 25 minutes.

Karsten Kroon (CSC) wanted to win a stage at Paris-Nice earlier this month to demonstrate he’s on track for the upcoming spring classics. He could only manage second in a breakaway stage into Sisteron, but the 32-year-old Dutch rider made up for the close call with a tidy sprint finish Tuesday in the second stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y León to prove his point.

Going back to the drawing board won’t be an option for Team Australia at the end of the world track cycling championships this week. With the Beijing Olympics just around the corner, the Australians — and fellow track giants Britain and France - know it's now time to set down markers or forget dreaming about gold medal success in China this August. Australia set a blistering pace on the Athens Olympic velodrome in 2004, but for the past two years the Aussies have been playing catch-up to the new track pacesetters Britain.

Briton Emma Pooley won the Trophee Alfredo Binda, the second round of the UCI's World Cup, soloing to victory by more than a minute in the 120-kilometer race from Cittiglio to Varese in Italy. Pooley finished 1:08 of the field sprint, which was won by the Netherland's Suzanne De Goede, who finished ahead of former world champion Diana Ziliute of Lithuania. Pooley is now tied for first in the World Cup standings with Katheryn Curi Mattis, winner of round one in Geelong, Australia, last month.

Alberto Contador and his Astana teammates aren’t going to the Tour de France this summer, so they look intent on winning everything else instead. Just a day after Tomas Vaitkus sprinted to victory in Holland, last year’s Tour champ surged to an impressive time trial victory to open the Vuelta a Castilla y León on Monday in northern Spain. Contador stopped the clock on the technical 9.7km course in 11 minutes, 39 seconds, just 3.6 seconds faster than Tour of California champ and Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer.

The world’s premier female road racers will take to the tarmac this Monday, March 24th, for the second round of the 2008 UCI women’s World Cup, held at Italy’s famed Trofeo Alfredo Binda race, just north of Varese. The race marks the first time since 2005 that Italy has hosted a round of the women’s World Cup. The undulating 121km course includes two long and three short loops, and will run on roads just north of the route of this year's UCI world championships. The 2008 edition marks the 36th running of the Trofeo Alfredo Binda event.

It wasn’t a sprint or an attack over the Poggio that won the 99th Milan-San Remo. It was Fabian Cancellara's instinct for big drama in cycling’s biggest days.

La Classicissimia, La Primavera – whatever you call it, Milan-San Remo is one of cycling’s most electrifying and prestigious races, one of the sport’s treasured “monuments.” Whoever wins San Remo is king of Italy for a day. Twenty-five eight-man teams line up Saturday in front of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan for the 298km run past the picturesque headlands jutting out of the Italian Riviera toward the finish in San Remo.

Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer Entertains Roadies and Educates the Non-Racer Veteran race announcer and long-time roadie Jamie Smith sets out to explain the sport he loves and the roadies who live for it in his new book from VeloPress, Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer.

Team Type 1, a first-year professional team that has twice won the Race Across America corporate team division, will be among 15 squads at this year’s Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T. Team Type 1 was founded in 2004 by racers Phil Southerland and Joe Eldridge to inspire people living with diabetes to take a proactive approach to managing their health and overcoming obstacles often associated with the condition. Four of the 15 riders on the Team Type 1 professional squad – Southerland, Eldridge, Tim Hargrave and Fabio Calabria – have Type 1 diabetes.

World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) will provide exclusive coverage of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships beginning March 26 in Manchester, UK. Cycling fans can watch the webcast on www.wcsn.com and broadcast on WCSN TV as the top 47 nations eye the special rainbow striped jersey reserved for World Champions.

Milan-San Remo is the season’s first big fish and cycling’s most important one-day race for sprinters never fails to deliver one of the most exciting battles of the year. Changes in both the finish area due to work on the Via Roma and the addition of a new climb called Le Manie with about 100km to go are sure to add new drama to one of the year’s most important contests.

This year's Tirreno-Adriatico featured classic Italian scenery, a string of blistering sprint finishes, and a key 26km time trial on stage 5 that largely determined the overall win for CSC's world champion, Fabian Cancellara.

Generalities — I’m heading deep into them here in the coming paragraphs. That said, the differences in racing styles from one country to another are pretty entertaining. Racing styles differ dramatically, and while some countries have an “international” feel, most manage to retain their individuality pretty well, even with a chunk of the field from afar. I’ve also noticed a little parallel between racing style, and the mentality of the country behind it (Warning: BIG GENERALITIES HERE).

Quick Step is so deep in talent on its classics team it can put up a half-dozen candidates for victory. With the team’s big stars Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini resting their guns for Saturday’s Milan-San Remo, other riders are getting a chance to step into the spotlight. Last week, it was Gert Steegmans winning two stages at Paris-Nice.

With a surge in the number of teams requesting invitations to race in Georgia in April, the management company for the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T, Medalist Sports, has announced the elite field of 15 teams. With eight riders on each team, a total of 120 professional cyclists will compete in the 600-mile, seven-day event (April 21-27, 2008), beginning just 31 days from today.

Inside Communications, Inc (ICI), the parent company of VeloNews, Inside Triathlon, VeloPress, VeloGear, VeloSwap and their eponymous Web sites, celebrated its 21st anniversary last Monday. There won’t be a 22nd.

Dede Barry’s 2002 win in Montreal stood as America’s sole women’s road World Cup victory before Katheryn Curi-Mattis out-sprinted breakaway companion Emma Rickards to take Australia’s 2008 Geelong World Cup last month. The two attacked with 75km remaining in the 120km race, then held off a hard-charging Team High Road — looking to set up sprinter Ina Teutenburg. The finished a minute ahead of the pack in the Feb. 24 race.

Rabobank's Oscar Freire won a sprint finish to the sixth and penultimate stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race in Italy on Monday. Freire took the 196km stage from Civitanova Marche and Castelfidaro ahead of two Italians — Filippo Pozzato and Danilo Di Luca. Fabian Cancellara of CSC retained the overall lead ahead of Tuesday's final stage.

In a hard, fast race full of attacks but few breaks, world-class German sprinter Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Team High Road) triumphed in the final stretch of the Visalia Criterium on Sunday, pulling around Brooke Miller (Team Tibco), who took second just in front of teammate and lead-out, Lauren Franges. Rounding out the top five were Canadian Anne Samplonius (Cheerwine) and Meredith Miller (Aaron’s).

A rash of new anti-doping controls and cycling’s tightening noose around would-be cheaters is ruffling some feathers in the peloton. Riders staged a protest before the start of Sunday’s final stage at Paris-Nice for what they characterized as unfair treatment of Kevin Van Impe, a Belgian rider who was forced to give urine samples for a surprise control Saturday as he was preparing the funeral of his infant son.

Health Net-Maxxis' John Murphy held onto the overall lead and the points competition lead following Saturday's penultimate stage of the Tour de Taiwan. The stage was a 58km criterium held outside the Taipei International Bicycle Show, a major industry event. Murphy held off a challenge from last year’s winner, Shawn Milne of Team Type 1. Milne won the event last years for the Health Net team and entered Saturday's stage seven seconds behind Murphy.

Italian sprint king Alessandro Petacchi gained revenge on Oscar Freire by claiming the fourth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico over 166km from Porto Recanati to Civitanova Marche on Saturday. Three days ago Petacchi was edged out by Freire in the race's opening stage. But this time the Team Milram rider turned the tables on the Spanish Rabobank leader with Italian Filippo Pozzato of Liquigas in third. Those three are the big favorites for the important Milan-San Remo classic on March 22.

Bright-eyed, 21-year-old Robert Gesink might have time on his side, but Davide Rebellin used all of the savvy of his 15-year career to snatch away the Paris-Nice yellow jersey Saturday in nail-biting sixth stage won by Sylvain Chavanel.

Health Net-Maxxis rider Kyle Gritters followed course directions in Friday's Tour de Taiwan stage — even when the race officials didn’t — to win the stage. Gritters' teammate John Murphy retains the overall lead and the leads the points competition in the race, which concludes Sunday. The rolling, 127km stage was chaotic, according to team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo, due to the rainy, windy conditions. But he said things got really interesting in the latter part of the stage.

Carlos Barredo (Quick Step) is one of those riders who can do just about anything. He chases down breakaways for the GC captains, goes on the attack to take off the pressure in the spring classics and even managed to finish 10th in last year’s Vuelta a España. Friday was payback time for the 26-year-old Barredo, who attacked late in the 172.5km fifth stage across Provence to drop the remnants of a 17-man breakaway and claim Quick Step’s third win in six days of racing at the 66th Paris-Nice.

American Shawn Milne (Team Type 1) won Thursday's fifth stage of the Tour de Taiwan, moving into second place behind Health Net's John Murphy. It was the first professional race victory for the team. Milne won the Tour de Taiwan last year while on the Health Net team. His victory on Thursday came in a field sprint at the end of the 92-mile Hsinchu City circuit race, the event's longest stage. Murphy was sixth, while also picking up three points and a two-second time bonus for his second place in an intermediate sprint. Murphy is leading the GC and the points competition.

Italian Raffaele Illiano (Diquigiovanni-Androni) won the second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico on Thursday, edging out countryman Enrico Gasparotto (Barloworld) in a sprint finish. Niklas Axelsson (Diquigiovanni-Androni) was third. The trio, with German Linus Gerdemann (Team High Road) and Saunier Duval teammates Riccardo Ricco and Eros Capecchi, went clear of the peloton on the last climb of the day, about 25km from the finale of the 203km leg from Civitavecchia to Gubbio.

Robert Gesink (Rabobank) couldn’t have picked a bigger stage to announce himself to the world. Holland’s first pure climber in a generation surged into the yellow jersey after Thursday’s summit finish on Mont Ventoux in a searing attack with 5km to go that left everyone choking on his fumes — except 2007 Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto). While Evans slipped past to win the stage, Gesink proved he’ll be a man to reckon with as he took control of Paris-Nice with three tough stages to go.

Rams Cycling continues to climb to the top of the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference with outstanding results at the University of New Mexico Lobo Classic and Metro State/Denver University Time Trial and Criterium.

John Murphy of Health Net - Maxxis finished seventh in the third stage of the Tour of Taiwan, retaining the leader's jersey he earned earlier this week. Murphy's team said he used the climbing form developed at the Tour of California to stay within three seconds of the Australian stage winner, Peter McDonald (Drapac Porsche). McDonald moved up to second on GC, five seconds behind Murphy. Shawn Milne of Team Type 1 was third on the day and is now fourth on GC.

Oscar Freire (Rabobank) proved fastest among an elite group of sprinters on Wednesday, winning the first stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Freire won the 160km stage around Civitavecchia in 4:10:01, just nicking Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) and Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Caisse D'Epargne). The former world champion will wear the leader's blue jersey in Thursday's second stage, over 203km from from Civitavecchia to Gubbio.

A Frenchman hasn’t stood atop the Paris-Nice podium since Laurent Jalabert won the last of his three straight titles in 1997. Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) promises he can restore French pride in the "Race to the Sun" after moving into the race leader’s jersey in Wednesday’s roller-coaster stage that saw Finnish rider Kjell Carlström (Liquigas) take a breakaway stage victory into St. Étienne.

Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team adds Mexican National Time Trial Championship to List of Victories. Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team kicked off the first racing week in March with Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia winning the Mexican National Time Trial Championship. The victory will go a long way to assist “Chepe” in making the Mexican Olympic team that will be racing in Beijing this summer.

The Superdrome at Frisco, Texas, proudly announces their racing schedule for the 2008 season. This year sees the return of the Richardson Bike Mart Superdrome Points Series (SPS), the Moritz Sprint Series, the Matrix Cup, Texas Cup races, a Masters Regional, an Elite National Qualifier and Collegiate Conference racing. The Superdrome Development Program encourages youth participation in the sport by including heats for junior racers during each of the SPS events. For 2008 we will also introduce a series of skills clinics taught by National track racing champions.

Another wet day at Paris-Nice and photographer Graham Watson was there to keep track of events.

Health Net’s John Murphy moved into the overall lead at the 2008 Tour de Taiwan, solidifying his hold on the sprint jersey as well by earning sprint points and time bonuses in the 111-kilometer second stage. Murphy won the second and third intermediate sprints out on the road during a circuit race, run on a 14 km course, and finished 10th on the stage while helping teammate Kirk O’Bee to 7th on the stage. Time bonuses for the two sprints moved him ahead of previous leader Kam Po Wong of Team Hong Kong.

Crashes and nasty weather are turning the 66th Paris-Nice into a war of attrition as Gert Steegmans (Quick Step) sprinted to his second straight win Tuesday in an exciting, attack-riddled 201km soggy march. The big Belgian didn’t want to wait for the bunch and made easy work of a four-up sprint on a slight rise into Belleville, three seconds ahead of a 44-rider chase group that was missing several GC contenders, among them Fränk Schleck (CSC – 76th at 2:56) and Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel-Euskadi – 53rd at 1:15) and José Angel Gómez Marchante (Saunier Duval – abandon).

It’s not often you see Gert Steegmans first in line. Since last season, the 6-foot, 3-inch Belgian has often been second in line at Quick Step, developing into the preferred lead-out man for cycling superstar Tom Boonen. Before that, he was the pilot for Robbie McEwen at Silence-Lotto. The soft-spoken Steegmans is never one to shove his way into the limelight, but when he won Stage 2 in last year’s Tour de France, he couldn’t help but get noticed. This season, Steegmans is getting more freedom to ride for his own victories.

For a guy who would rather be somewhere else, Thor Hushovd is making the most of a bad situation. The Crédit Agricole fast man surged to an impressive victory in Sunday’s prologue and then sprinted to third in Monday’s first stage to retain his grip on the race leader’s yellow jersey. Not bad for a guy who’d rather be in Italy.

On a stage dominated by local riders, Health Net-Maxxis’s John Murphy took the green jersey and sits second overall after the first stage of the Tour of Taiwan. Besides Health Net, the other American team in the race is Team Type 1. Their top rider after the first stage was Emile Abraham in 25th.

One of the worst winter storms of the year ripped across central France on Monday and left the Paris-Nice peloton looking like shredded wheat in a brutal, weather-shortened first stage. Only a Belgian could be happy racing in howling crosswinds, piercing rain and plummeting temperatures, so it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise as Tom Boonen’s favorite lead-out man, Gert Steegmans, out-toughed a reduced bunch in a 40-up sprint on a steep climbing finish into Nevers to claim victory.

If it’s short, fast and flat, chances are good that Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) will be among the favorites in any opening prologue. The 30-year-old Norwegian sprinter confirmed he’s one of the peloton’s best “short course” time trial specialists Sunday with a solid four-second victory in the wet and windy 4.6km opener at the 66th Paris-Nice.

Paris-Nice used to be cycling’s sparkling season kickoff, a chance for the sport to shake off the winter doldrums and click fully into gear for the year’s first major stage race. The once shining “Race to the Sun” has since been transformed into the sport’s major battleground in the ugly, drawn-out power struggle between cycling’s governing body and the sport’s preeminent race organizer, Amaury Sport Organisation. At the dawn of Sunday’s prologue start of the 66th edition, the UCI and ASO are showing no signs of a last-minute cease-fire.

CSC's powerhouse Fabian Cancellara won Saturday's new Italian one-day, the Monte Paschi Eroica. The long-time amateur race, which includes miles of gravel roads, was held for the first time as a professional race last fall. The first pro edition also was won by a CSC rider, Alexandr Kolobnev.

Spaniard Alejandro Valverde of the Caisse d'Epargne team won the Tour of Murcia cycling race for the third time on Saturday. Compatriot Kolko Fernandez, riding for Euskaltel-Euskadi, won the 134.9km fifth and final stage from San Javier to Murcia. Valverde, winner in 2004 and 2007 and who stamped his mark on this year's renewal in Friday's stage, said that having achieved one of his targets for the season, he hoped it would prove to be a launchpad for the rest of his campaign.

Alejandro Valverde pedaled himself into position Friday to win the Vuelta a Murcia for the third time. The Caisse d’Epargne rider won the decisive 23.1km climbing time trial and moved into the overall lead with just one stage remaining in the five-day stage race in Spain with his first win of the 2008 season. Valverde, who hails from the Spanish region, won the race against the clock from Alhama to Aledo in 33 minutes, 32 seconds, some two seconds faster than Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) and six seconds faster than 2007 Tour de France champion Alberto Contador (Astana).

Dear Readers,
Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, VeloNews.com's regular summary of the news from the world of competitive cycling.

Swiss rider Aurélien Clerc (Bouygues Telecom) sprinted to victory in the opening stage Friday of the Three Days of West Flanders and claimed the overall leader’s jersey in the west Belgian race. Clerc was fastest in the 176km stage from Courtrai to Bellegem, finishing ahead of Belarussian Jevgeni Goetarovitsj (FDJeux), with Dutch rider Bobby Traksel (P3 Transfer-Batavus) coming through third.

At the start of the year, Team CSC brass were predicting that a stronger, more confident Juan José Haedo would win more in his second season in Europe. So far, the Argentine ace is living up to expectations. After winning races in Argentina and in California earlier this season, Haedo won Sunday’s Clásica de Almería ahead of three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank).

Next month's AT&T Tour de Georgia route will include a quick pass into South Carolina for the first time and replace an individual time trial with a hilly team time trial held on a motorsports track. It also will feature a new route for one of the key stages in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Organizers released details of the 7-stage race on Thursday. This will be the sixth edition of the race, which starts Monday April 21.

Spanish veteran José Luís “Chechu” Rubiera was looking at retirement last winter following the collapse of his Discovery Channel team, where he rode alongside Lance Armstrong for five of his seven Tour de France victories. New-look Astana offered him a lifeline with a one-year contract and the popular Spanish rider didn’t take long to pay back the favor.

Philippe Gilbert (Francaise des Jeux) is back on the top spot of the podium just days after blowing the doors off everyone in Het Volk. The 25-year-old Belgian out-kicked the main pack to win the 39th GP Samyn in a sprint to snag his fifth win of the year. Gilbert finally got it right in the Belgian race from Frameries to Dour after finishing second the past two years in a row. This time, he relegated Kevin Ista (Agritubel) to runner-up position with Aleksejs Saramontins (Rietumu Bank) coming through third.