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).

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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.

A closed tunnel will force route changes for the 99th edition of Milan-San Remo on March 22 and make the season’s longest classic four kilometers longer than usual. Race officials announced Tuesday that the additional climb, called Mànie, comes about 100km from the finish just before the arrival of three headlands at Capo Mele, Capo Cervo and Capo Berta as the route dips down to the Mediterranean Sea. The climb will have a technical descent and could play a factor in the decisive part of the race when the peloton typically begins in earnest to reel in dangerous breakaways.

Graeme Brown (Rabobank) got revenge for losing Sunday’s Clásica de Almería by sprinting to victory Tuesday in the opening stage of the five-day Vuelta a Murcia in Spain. Brown and Rabobank teammate Oscar Freire were upstaged by Juan José Haedo (CSC) on Sunday, but the Aussie sprinter got it right in 197.3km stage from San Pedro del Pinatar to Lorca to snag his second win on the 2008 season.

One of the legends of American bike racing is planning a 6-day-style track race for this fall in Las Vegas, to coincide with the Interbike trade show there. Jack Simes III, a member of the U.S. Olympic team in 1960, '64 and '68, and coach of the 1976 Olympic team, has booked the arena at Mandalay Bay resort on the Vegas strip, and plans to hold the events on a new 166-meter plywood track. The races would be held September 23-25, with events from about 7 p.m. until 1 a.m. each night. Planned events include Madison races, sprints, one-lap record attempts and motor-paced Derny races.

Some big-name riders are confirmed at the 28th Vuelta a Murcia, starting Tuesday and ending Saturday in southern Spain. The race will give them a chance to stretch their legs ahead of the season’s first major races. Some 12 teams, including the beleaguered Astana squad, will tackle a bumpy, five-day course that also includes a 23km climbing time trial that’s sure to decide the overall classification.

Juan José Haedo (CSC) is riding high into this week’s Vuelta a Murcia following an impressive victory Sunday against three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) in the Clásica de Almería. The Argentine ace edged Freire by inches in a photo finish to score only his second win on European soil at the end of what was his first day of racing on the continent this year. The newly confident Haedo looks even stronger this year as he roars into his second season with Team CSC.

March is here and your first race may be just around the corner, if you haven’t already toed the line. This is the time of year when intensity must inevitably increase as part of your preparation for the demands of racing. Hard, yet focused, training sessions characterize the build phase of training and mark the end of the base phase.

CSC's Juan Jose Haedo won the 23rd Clasica de Almeria in Spain on Sunday, beating out Rabobank's Oscar Freire and Graeme Brown in a sprint to take the 187km race.

Just nine American track racers will journey to the 2008 UCI track world championships, held March 26-30 in Manchester, Great Britain. USA Cycling will send sprinters Jennie Reed, Michael Blatchford and Adam Duvendeck as well as endurance riders Sarah Hammer, Michael Friedman, Bobby Lea, Colby Pearce and Taylor Phinney. Reed races endurance and sprint events.

Another stage at the Volta a Valenciana and another breakaway by a rider from Slipstream-Chipotle. For the fourth stage in a row, the American squad put a man into the main move in the five-day Valencia tour in Spain. This time it was Lucas Euser showing off the argyle with Antonio Piedra (Contentpolis-Murcia) in more than 100km at the front.

Major changes are in store for the unofficial kick off of the classics season with Saturday’s running of the 63rd Omloop Het Volk in Belgium. Narrower roads, more cobblestones and tougher climbs are on tap for the 199km Belgian season opener in what’s always one of the most anticipated races of the year among that rare breed of racer who loves to bash the pavé.

Bettini Boonen Cancellara sprint Hincapie goes down S1 ATOC

The third stage of the Volta a Valenciana ended on a controversial note Thursday as a misdirected peloton split between a highway and a frontage road in the decisive final 5km of the 166.5km climbing course around Ibi. Ruben Plaza (Benfica) stole away the leader’s jersey from José Iván Gutiérrez (Caisse d’Epargne) in one of the most bizarre mishaps in recent cycling history.

Lopes and Ibis

Skil-Shimano, the Dutch-based continental team, seems to be one of the new darlings of ASO after receiving recent invitations to both Paris-Nice and Criterium International. The fourth-year team is a blend of aging and aspiring Europeans mixed in with Japan’s most promising talent, including Fumy Beppu, who joined in 2008 after a three-year stint with Discovery Channel. Maarten Den Bakker, one of the oldest riders in the peloton at 39, said the race invitations are welcome news.

Erik Zabel isn’t washed up yet. The 37-year-old Milram ace out-sprinted younger rivals to snag his first win of what will likely be his final season in the 178km second stage of the Volta a Valenciana in Spain. Zabel — who saw his reputation sullied last year after admitting he used the banned blood booster EPO during the 1996 season — finished off an exciting stage that saw Slipstream-Chipotle’s Timmy Duggan feature in the day’s main breakaway.

A cancer scare a year ago is fueling newfound ambitions for Belgian attacker Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux) heading into this year’s classics campaign. At the beginning of the 2007 season, the 25-year-old was alarmed by the sudden appearance of any ugly black mole on his left leg and immediately went to the doctor. Before he knew it, he was hustled into surgery not knowing whether or not he’d ever race again.

The sprinters were sharpening their knives before Tuesday’s opening stage of the five-day Volta a Valenciana in Spain, but a late-race attack featuring 24 riders stayed away to foil their chances. Spanish rider José Iván Gutiérrez (Caisse d’Epargne) out-kicked compatriot Ruben Plaza (SL Benfica) and Xavier Florencio (Bouygues Telecom) to snag the win and take the overall leader’s jersey in the 157km stage from Sagunto to Port de Sagunto.

Tour de France champion Alberto Contador will look to continue venting his frustration on the bike when he saddles up for the five-day Tour of the Valencia Community on Tuesday. The Spaniard and his Astana team are still digesting the bitter pill of being left out of the Tour de France, and the Giro d'Italia due to controversial decisions by the respective race organizers.

Adding a ray of sunshine to an otherwise cloudy week of racing for Team High Road, American George Hincapie won the final stage of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California on Sunday, the 93.4-mile journey from Santa Clarita to Pasadena. The American took the victory in downtown Pasadena ahead of breakaway companions Michael Creed, Jason McCartney, Rory Sutherland and Tom Zirbel. [nid:72801]

Levi Leipheimer has proven immune to all the pressures, dangers, fatigue and sickness of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California. With one final stage left, it seems all but certain that Astana will defend Leipheimer’s overall lead into Pasadena and the record books. Only 91 of the original starting 132 riders made it to the finish line in Santa Clarita. A stomach virus has taken out more than a dozen riders, while crashes, fatigue, hypothermia and other factors have removed players from what has been the toughest-ever Tour of California.

American Katheryn Mattis (Webcor Builders) outsprinted Australia's Emma Rickards (Cervelo Lifeforce) to claim victory in the opening round of the UCI Women's Road Cycling World Cup series Sunday in Geelong, Australia. The pace was high from the gun with 12 riders breaking away early. But Team High Road powered the chase on the front of the peloton and the break were reeled in on the fourth lap. Cervelo Lifeforce riders then launched a series of attacks with Rickards finally breaking clear followed close behind by Mattis.

Barring disaster, Astana's Levi Leipheimer appears to have a lock on the overall 2008 Amgen Tour of California's winner's jersey.

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Gerolsteiner's Robert Förster won a mass sprint Friday in the third stage of Portugal's Volta ao Algarve, winning the stage while retaining his overall lead. Förster took the 208km stage from Vila Real S.Antontio to Loule after his team and Quick Step pulled back an early breakaway, catching its lone survivor, Belgian Gianni Meersman (Française des Jeux), in the final 600 meters. Belgian Jurgen Roelandts (Silence-Lotto) and the Frenchman Lilian Jegou (Française des Jeux) finished second and third in the sprint.

With a show of raw power reminiscent of Tom Boonen’s victories in the spring classics, Canadian Dominique Rollin muscled his way to a solo victory in the Amgen Tour of California’s rain-soaked fourth stage. The 25-year-old shattered a dwindling seven-man breakaway with 15 miles remaining in the brutal 135.3-mile slog from Seaside to San Luis Obispo, and then held off breakaway companions George Hincapie (High Road) and Iker Camano (Saunier Duval-Scott) by 18 seconds to take the biggest win of his young career.

Tomas Vaitkus delivered a dose of revenge for his beleaguered Astana team by taking the team’s first win of the 2008 season in the 189.5km second stage at the Volta ao Algarve, a day after his teammate Levi Leipheimer took the lead at the Tour of California. Overnight leader Robert Förster (Gerolsteiner) came through second in the mass gallop to retain his place atop the GC, with Vaitkus slotting in at second at just one second back.

As predicted, stage 3 proved itself pivotal to the overall of the Amgen Tour of California. While we don’t yet know who will take the overall title, we can probably rule out 115 of the 120 men left in the race. Those still with a realistic chance include defending champion Levi Leipheimer (Astana), world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (CSC) and three Slipstream-Chipotle riders: Dave Zabriskie, David Millar and Christian Vande Velde.

Rabobank’s 21-year-old Robert Gesink climbed his way to the biggest win of his young career Wednesday in stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California. Levi Leipheimer, who went clear with Gesink from a select bunch of chasers over Sierra Road, finished second on the day to take the leader’s jersey. Slipstream-Chipotle’s Tyler Farrar started the day in the jersey — but with a stomach bug. He dropped out midway through the stage. However, it was inevitable that the American sprinter would have relinquished the lead on the race's most difficult climbing stage.

Tyler Farrar, the young Slipstream-Chipotle rider who took the yellow jersey following Tuesday’s stage, only got to show it off for about 50 miles on Wednesday, as he dropped out with stomach bug that is spreading through the peloton. “I had a bit of a rough night last night,” Farrar said before the start Wednesday. He said then that he thought he was feeling better, but he was dropped by the pack on the first hill. He caught on on the descent, only to be dropped again. He climbed into a team car before the day’s major climbs began.

Gerolsteiner sprinter Robert Förster opened his account for the 2008 season with a sprint victory in the first stage of the five-day Tour of Algarve in southern Portugal. Förster out-kicked Tomas Vaitkus (Astana) in a bunch sprint with German veteran Erik Zabel (Milram) coming through third in the 164km stage from Albufeira to Faro. Förster will wear the leader’s jersey going into Thursday’s 189.5km stage from Lagoa to Lagos.

Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) made it two in a row at the Vuelta a Andalucía-Ruta del Sol while race leader Pablo Lastras (Caisse d’Epargne) stayed in the driver’s seat with just one stage to go. A five-man breakaway was reeled in just in time for the sprinters to take over, with Petacchi making easy work of Borut Bozihc (Cycle Collstrop) to claim the 173.5km march from La Guardia de Jaén to Ecija.

Boonen closing in the finish, with Cipo.

Tom Boonen winning the field sprint in front of the California Capitol

Tom Boonen won the second stage of the 2008 Tour of California by waiting and timing his sprint perfectly.

Tom Boonen has now won stages of major races on three continents. The big Belgian blew past High Road’s Mark Cavendish to grab the stage 2 win of the Amgen Tour of California in a drizzly downtown Sacramento. Gerolsteiner’s Heinrich Haussler came second with the recently out-of-retirement Mario Cipollini showing he still can turn the pedals with a third-place performance.

With an available seat, Health Net-Maxxis team director Mike Tamayo offered VeloNews's Neal Rogers a spot in its Tour of California caravan vehicle for Tuesday’s wet stage from Santa Rosa to Sacramento. What follows is his account of a day riding with Tamayo and team mechanic Eva Barabas.

Alessandro Petacchi used all his wile to win a three-up sprint against younger Italian compatriots to win Tuesday’s 174.5km third stage from Otura to Jaén at the Vuelta a Andalucía-Ruta del Sol. The Milram sprinter had just enough in the tank to hold off Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) and Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval), who came through second and third, respectively.

Like most stage races, the overall at the Amgen Tour of California boils down to who can climb and time trial. With only a 2.1-mile prologue and a single Cat. 3 climb ridden thus far, the major players are already moving forward, indicating who has the suds for the 15-mile stage 5 time trial and the big climbs on stage 3.

Riders won’t have it easy in the season’s first major stage race as Paris-Nice sees the return of the towering menace of Mont Ventoux for the first time in 20 years. Race officials unveiled details Tuesday of the 66th “Race to the Sun” with a few twists to a familiar pattern. Unchanged is the general route of the eight-day race, which opens with a short prologue south of Paris on March 9 and brushes up against the northern and eastern edges of the Massif Central and plunges across Provence until its traditional conclusion along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice on March 16.

Yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara had both hands up in the air well before any of the sprinters crossed the stage 1 Tour of California finish line — his CSC teammate JJ Haedo had the clear win. After three laps of a crowd-packed Santa Rosa circuit, Haedo hit from his CSC leadout coming up from an underpass. “When you see that last 200 meters you just go as hard as you can, and you don’t look back, otherwise you can lose,” Haedo said. High Road’s Gerald Ciolek finished second on the stage up from Sausalito, with Gerolsteiner’s Heinrich Haussler in third.

It didn’t take long for Cadel Evans to crank up his 2008 season in winning fashion. In just his second day of competition in a year when all eyes will be on the Silence-Lotto leader, last year’s Tour runner-up uncorked a winning sprint to out-kick the remnants of a breakaway in a hard-fought second stage at the Vuelta a Andalucía-Ruta del Sol in Spain.

Astana’s Levi Leipheimer put in the best prologue ride of the overall favorites at the Amgen Tour of California. However, Fabian Cancellara's leader’s jersey may well go to a sprinter following today’s stage. Eight fast finishers all sit within 15 seconds of the general classification lead, and there are 19 seconds up for grabs in time bonuses. Slipstream-Chipotle’s Tyler Farrar put in a great prologue to finish third. He now sits just 5 seconds outside of the jersey.