Van der Haar wins home race in Surhuisterveen.

Lars van der Haar has got the perfect dress rehearsal for his title defense at the Dutch National Cyclocross Championships. The current champion was clearly the strongest in the Centrumcross van Surhuisterveen where he beat Corne van Kessel. The battle for third place was a lot more exciting, with Stan Godrie finally taking the final spot on the podium.

Before the race, van der Haar probably knew that if Corne van Kessel didn't have super legs, no one would be able to follow him. With Ramon Sinkeldam, Thijs van Amerongen, Stan Godrie, Twan van den Brand and Niels Wubben, there were a number of respected pros at the start but on paper they should be no match to van der Haar. The Belgian pros and Mathieu van der Poel all skipped the race.

Ewan quick off the mark at Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic.

Caleb Ewan got his first full season at Orica-GreenEdge off to the best possible start by landing victory in the opening criterium of the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic series in Geelong on Friday.

The Australian fast man could well have been tempted to rely solely on his sprint to claim the win but instead he showed confidence that belied his 20 years when he latched onto a dangerous move by Greg Henderson midway through the hour-long race.

“I just got in the right move,” Ewan said, according to his team website. “He has done that before here, raced like that and won, so I knew when he went that it could be the race so I had to jump on it straight away.”

Mørkøv and Rasmussen take lead in Rotterdam.

Danes Michael Mørkøv and Alex Rasmussen got the Six-Days of Rotterdam off to a perfect start as they took the lead on the opening day. However, the battle is very close as seven laps are on the same lap.

After the gruelling first evening, six pairs are on the same lap.  Mørkøv and Rasmussen have taken the lead with a points tally of 54 points. Iljo Keissen and Niki Terpstra are second with 49 points.

North American Cyclocross Man of the Year: Jeremy Powers.

Pick a number between one and three. That’s where Jeremy Powers finished 99 percent of the races he contested in the U.S. in the 2013-14 season.

Drop a chain in the first corner? No problem. Patiently slice through the entire field on the dusty track of Boulder’s reservoir course at the Colorado Cross Classic and finish up with a tidy second place.

Win New England worlds? Sure thing. Then win again, then again. He took all three races he started during “Holy Week” in New England, winning both days at the Gran Prix of Gloucester, then hitting day 2 at the Providence Cyclocross Festival and stamping his authority.

In all, Powers claimed 12 wins in 22 starts between StarCrossed in September and the North Carolina Grand Prix in December.

North American Cyclocross Man of the Year: Jeremy Powers.

Cycling's history is full of brilliant performances, tragic stories, brave heroes, and scandalous villains. With more than 100 years of collective experience telling the tales of two wheels, the VeloNews staff has seen the best and worst of bike racing up close. We recently charged our editors with compiling their own best-of lists across a number of categories. Through a series of votes set around our sometimes contentious, often loud editorial table, we narrowed the first of these lists down to Velo's Top 10 Descenders of All Time.

Can a vegan diet work for cyclists?

More and more of us are questioning the long-held notion that a meal is not a meal unless it is based around a piece of meat. Awareness is also continuing to grow of the health, environmental and welfare issues that are consequences of chowing down on many of the animal food sources we take for granted.

As result, increasing numbers of people are deciding that it's time to take meat off the menu. An October 2014 report by analysts Mintel, for example, found that 12 per cent of UK adults are now vegetarian or vegan. That figure rises to 20 per cent among 16 to 24 year olds.

2014-15 Races & Results.

Santos Tour Down Under 2015 - Jan 18-25 (Stages),

Dubai Tour 2015 - Feb 4-7 (Stages),

Giro d'Italia 2015 - May 9-31 (Stages),

Tour de France 2015 - July 4-26 (Stages),

UCI Road World Championship 2014 - Sept 20-27 (Results),

Vuelta a España 2014 - Aug 23-Sept 14 (Results),

Tour de France 2014  - July 5-27 (Results),

Giro d'Italia 2014 - May 9 - June 1 (Results),

More ...

 (cyclingnews.com)

Van Aert starts 2015 with a bang in Baal.

Madiot says there was no room to keep Bouhanni and Démare on same team.

FDJ manager Marc Madiot has revisited Nacer Bouhanni’s fractious departure for Cofidis and acknowledged that it was always going to be difficult to find room for him to remain on the same team as fellow French sprinter Arnaud Démare.

Bouhanni opted to leave for Cofidis after losing out to Démare for a place on the FDJ roster at both Milan-San Remo and the Tour de France in 2014. Madiot hinted that tensions dating back to their amateur days meant that it would have been impossible to select both.

Photo Special: Jens Voigt.

2014 saw a lot of big names of our sport retire, Andy Schleck, Cadel Evans, Thor Hushovd & David Millar just to mention a few but as big as these riders were it’s a man that never won a Grand Tour or a monument who will be missed the most among many cycling fans – Jens Voigt.

Voigt was born on 17 September 1971 and from a very early age he showed promise in sport and in particular on a bike quickly joining a national sports school at age 14 to concentrate on cycling and athletics. What followed was a very impressive amateur career that included victory in the presitigious Peace Race and the overall UCI amateur rankings in 1994 amongst other big results.

This amateur palmares would eventually lead to a pro career that started with the Australian Giant-ZVZZ team in 1997 and would go all the way through to 2014 with the Trek team and included victories in stages in the Tour de France & Giro, Overall GC victories in many stage races like the Tour of Germany, Tour de Pologne and his favorite Critérium International race and would culminate in his now beaten World Hour record in September 2014.

2014 Domestic Teams of the Year: UnitedHealthcare and Team SmartStop.

The consistent results that the UnitedHealthcare women’s team gathered in its inaugural year were nothing short of amazing. UHC’s general manager and sporting director, Mike Tamayo, brought on a select group of both established and rising talent to complete the roster.

After years of posting mediocre results on the domestic circuit, Team SmartStop brought on riders fit for both stage races and support roles for the 2014 season. The once crit-centric squad went into the year hoping to tackle some of North America’s biggest races, with the ambition of grabbing wins and bolstering their presence in the peloton.

Mission: accomplished.

Elvin aiming for debut European win in 2015.

As the winner of the last two Australian national women's race road events, Grace Elvin enters the 2015 championships with a target on her back. A win next Saturday would see the 26-year-old tie Kathy Watt as the only female cyclists to have won the race three years running.

"I think the pressure is only from myself," Elvin said of the expectation ahead of the nationals. "I have very high expectations from myself and I'll be super nervous on the day but I am not thinking about it at the moment. The priority for me it to be super healthy and get into good form again. It's the kind of course that if you're in good shape then you have a good chance of winning and that's what I am focusing on.

Marc Pro Plus.

"The manual recommends using the Marc (which actually stands for muscle activated recovery cascade) Pro for at least 30 minutes, but longer if you like. I can’t sit still very long, so I stuck to about 35 minutes. The recovery effect was immediately apparent. My legs felt lighter and fresher and I definitely had more spring going up the stairs. I’d never felt anything quite like that.

The unit is extremely compact and a single charge lasts at least 10 hours, which made it a perfect companion for stage racing. I packed it with me a few weeks later for a seven-day stage race in Brazil and am convinced it helped me start fresher and faster each day than I could have without it. I should also note that I seemed to develop a tolerance to it as I used it. At first, 3.5 seemed sufficient, but within a few sessions I was cranking it up to 6.5 and then 7 (I never did hit 10)."

Marcel Kittel interview: “It is going to be a challenging year for everyone.”

PEZ: Daily Distractions.

(pezcyclingnews.com)

Video: Q&A with Steve Cummings.

Crazy Stat Shows Just How Common Doping Was In Cycling When Lance Armstrong Was Winning The Tour de France.

Teddy Cutler of SportingIntelligence.com recently took a an excellent and detailed look at all the top cyclists from 1998 through 2013 and whether or not they have ever been linked to blood doping or have links to doping or a doctor linked to blood doping.

During this 16-year period, 12 Tour de France races were won by cyclists who were confirmed dopers. In addition, of the 81 different riders who finished in the top-10 of the Tour de France during this period, 65% have been caught doping, admitted to blood doping, or have strong associations to doping and are suspected cheaters.

More importantly for Lance Armstrong, during the 7-year window when he won every Tour de France (1999-2005), 87% of the top-10 finishers (61 of 70) were confirmed dopers or suspected of doping.

WADA code adds four-year doping bans.

Two key changes to the world anti-doping code came into play on 1 January, including four-year bans for athletes who have doped.

Driven by The World-Anti Doping Agency (WADA) and implemented by organizations like the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA), the ban for specified substances, like EPO (Erythropoietin), is doubled to four years.

This doubling has been called for by fans and stakeholders within cycling for many years.

It would be difficult to return to the top level of cycling after a four-year layoff so this measure would in all likelihood have the effect of removing a rider from the sport permanently.

Suffers knife wounds ...

Atapuma attacked by bandits on training tide in Colombia.

During a training ride in Colombia, BMC's Darwin Atapuma was attacked by two bandits who demanded that he give them his bike. Atapuma, who broke his femur during the 2014 Tour de France, suffered knife cuts to his left arm and wrist during the altercation and is now recovering from his injuries in his hometown of Túquerres.

10 Neo-Pros to Watch for 2015.

After picking 10 established pros to watch for 2015, here are some neo-pros to keep a look out for. You’ll know some already, the definition of a neo-pro is someone in their first two years. But a good first year doesn’t always bring glorious second year, just ask Moreno Moser or Brice Feillu.

Pantani - Debunking The Murder Myth, by Andrea Rossini.

Rossini offers a lucid account of Pantani's final months and clear responses to the key questions being raised by those who would have the world believe that Il Pirata was murdered

This is not a story of the Marco Pantani you'd like to remember, of Il Piarata scaling mountains, this is the story of his final descent, a dark tale that at times traps you in that Rimini hotel room with him.

Ritchey P-650b frame.

BikeRadar verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars. "Beyond the history-rich paint scheme and branding, the P-650b frame offers a confident and well-behaved ride."

Inrng: 2015 Pro Cycling Calendar.