Richie Porte wins Australian national time trial championship.

Richie Porte has started 2015 in emphatic fashion, winning the Australian national time trial championship in a star-studded field in Buninyong today.

Porte was joined on the podium by Rohan Dennis and Jack Bobridge and spoke after the race of his delight at winning his first Australian national title against such quality opposition.

“I’m a happy boy. I just got engaged a couple days ago and to win this time trial against such a class field it’s fantastic,” Porte said.

Shara Gillow wins fourth national title at Australian time trial championship.

Shara Gillow earned her fourth national title in the individual time trial at the Mars Cycling Australia Road National Championships. She bested her minute-man Bridie O’Donnell by just over a minute, covering the 29.3 kilometre course in Buninyong in 44:21. The four titles in five years puts Gillow within striking distance of Kathy Watts, with five national titles, as the most successful Australian women in the race against the clock.

Lindine Distances Deep Men’s Field at 2015 Singlespeed National Championship.

From the beginning of the race to the end, Justin Lindine took control of the Men’s Singlespeed Race at the 2015 National Championships, similarly to his 2014 run at the Masters 30-24 Masters National Championship Race in 2014. Before the first lap was over, he had a six second gap on the rest of the field. Within the second lap, he more than doubled that number.

In the chase group behind him, Tristan Uhl surged to the front, and the Austin-based rider created an uproar with the crowd shouting his name. He had plenty of company to contend with, however.

Mo Bruno Roy Defends Jersey at Women’s 2015 Singlespeed National Championship: Race Report and Full Results.

There is little doubt that Mo Bruno Roy, Jessica Culter, and Ellen Sherrill have a dedication to the discipline of singlespeed cyclocross, and an ability to maintain great results. For the second year in a row, all three women stood on the top three steps of the podium, with only second and third place swapping positions.

Bannister Takes Masters Men 65-69, Ferrandini Wins 70-74, 75-79, Axthelm Defends 80+ Jersey at the 2015 National Championships.

Belgian nationals: When the going gets tough.

Debate regarding the cx nationals runs fierce in this country. This year though, it all comes down to two questions: ‘is anyone capable of beating Wout Van Aert?’ and ‘Isn’t this race too tough?’

Dan Martin: Embracing the mantle of team leader with new Cannondale-Garmin squad.

If 2014 was all about the Giro d’Italia and then recovering from the disappointment of crashing out on day one of that race, 2015 will be a year of much more general targets for Dan Martin.

The Cannondale-Garmin rider is eschewing an approach targeting a few select events and instead intends being good early on and trying to rack up results in a wide number of races. To heck with holding back; having learned last year that things can go up in smoke instantaneously due to bad luck, he wants to win early and win often.

Cavendish: I concentrate on winning bike races, not on other riders.

Sport and development manager Rolf Aldag described it as a year for Mark Cavendish to settle some open accounts, and he certainly cut the air of a man eager to get down to business when he met the press at the Etixx-QuickStep training camp in Calpe on Thursday afternoon.

Ill fortune limited Cavendish to ten victories in 2014 – a decent haul by almost anyone’s standards but his own, perhaps – and it also prevented him from contending on the grandest platform of all, the Tour de France.

2014-15 Races & Results.

Australia Road National Championships - Jan 7-11 (Stages & 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)

Best cycling apps for Android smartphones.

Android cycling apps including Strava, Wahoo Fitness, RiderState, The Roadie Bike Fit and more.

Ascending Skills.

It would seem simple: The lighter rider crests the hill first and the heavier rider makes it down first. But there's more to the puzzle than weight, says Tim Hall, head cycling coach at Lees-McRae College in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. True, a lighter rider may have less mass to drag up a hill, but will struggle if he lacks strength and a solid aerobic engine. And plenty of heavier riders are able to scamper up an incline.

Descending, on the other hand, comes down to skill before weight, power, or any other physiological factor. "It's about knowing how to take the fastest line, when to brake, use momentum, and power out of turns," Hall says, adding that the sweet spot is when you can match your skill with physical strength.

Preview: Elite men’s road race at the Australian National Road Championships.

The Mars Cycling Australia Road National Championships are well underway in Victoria with the criterium and time trials titles having been decided already. This weekend the riders will take to the roads of Buninyong for the road races, culminating with the elite men's road race on Sunday.

Androni-Venezuela team files penal and criminal complaint against Hoogerland.

The dispute between Johnny Hoogerland and his 2014 team, Androni-Venezuela, has ratcheted up considerably with confirmation by the squad that it has filed a penal and criminal complaint against the rider.

At the end of December Hoogerland sent a Tweet to Brian Cookson, making clear he had a grievance. He asked the UCI president “where can you go as a rider when your team does not pay your salary?”

Boonen lauds Wiggins’ final ride across Roubaix.

Respect. That’s how cobbles king Tom Boonen  views Bradley Wiggins’ gesture of riding his final career road race across the treacherous cobbles of Paris-Roubaix.

Earlier this week, Wiggins confirmed he would close out his road racing career with Team Sky with an all-out bid to win the Hell of the North in April.

“I can only say that I really admire the guy for doing it,” Boonen said Thursday. “It shows how big Roubaix is, and how much he likes the monuments, and that he gives the value to the monuments.”

Compton aiming at 11th US cyclo-cross title.

At the beginning of last year, Katie Compton and her fellow Trek rider Sven Nys were on top of the world: both started New Year's Day with victories in Baal, Belgium and were enjoying successful seasons. Compton secured the World Cup overall by winning in Rome, then returned home where she cruised seemingly effortlessly to her 10th US national championship.

The year ended quite differently, however, and both she and Nys have struggled uncharacteristically in recent weeks. That doesn't mean that either of them are going to give up without a fight, and Compton has her sights set firmly on her 11th straight US title on Sunday.

2015 starts with a bang for Richie Porte.

January 2015 is looking like being a life-changing month for Richie Porte who has already become engaged and won a maiden national time trial title in the first eight days of the year. Still to come for the Team Sky rider is the men's national road race on Sunday, the Tour Down Under next week and a 30th birthday celebration to cap it all off on the 31st.

"I just got engaged a few days ago and now to win this time trial against such a class field is fantastic," Porte told reporters after winning the Australian time trial, seven seconds ahead of pre-race favorite Rohan Dennis.

Dennis believes he’s still on course to beat world hour record despite Australian TT nationals defeat.

Ending up 7.1 seconds slower than Richie Porte in today’s Australian time trial national championships, BMC Racing team rider Rohan Dennis nevertheless remains optimistic that he can take the world hour record when he attacks it in exactly one month’s time.

“It was about a 52-minute effort today and my power levels were better than where they have been, so that is a good indication,” he said after the 40.9 kilometre event.

Bobridge on track for Hour Record attempt.

For Jack Bobridge there is one date in January that matters more than any other as he attempts to break the Hour Record on the last day of the month in Melbourne. However, January 8 will be seen as a pretty good day as well with the multiple world champion on the track proving he is on target to beat the distance of 51.852 km, set by Matthias Brändle last October, with third place at the Australian national time trial titles.

News Shorts: Ferrari leads Lampre at the Tour Down Under, Santambrogio to fight doping case.

USAC fills six positions, Trentino and Melinda organizers join forces. Drug makers, anti-doping agencies will meet in Tokyo.

There’s nothing but love between Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb.

Two riders with similar objectives – often a scenario which leads to disharmony within a professional team, but a pair of Team Giant-Alpecin sprinters are not expecting friction any time soon.

In Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb, Giant-Alpecin has a double act that has notched up 21 Grand Tour stage wins, including eight by Kittel at the Tour de France across the last two editions.

Strava 2014: the year in numbers.

Last year, Strava users clocked up 2,700,000,000km (that’s two billion, seven hundred million kilometers) across the globe over the course of 75,700,000 rides.

Top riders skipping Tour Down Under for Tour de San Luis.

PEZ: Daily Distractions.

(pezcyclingnews.com)

Steve Tilford: Wednesday at Cross Nationals / Singlespeed Race.

CrankPunk: Cycling in Taiwan: The Hidden Gem of Asia.

New UCI Points System for 2015.

The UCI have brought out a new system of points and rankings for 2015. The main ranking is the “UCI World Classification”, a rolling ranking of riders of all categories based on performances over the previous 52 weeks as opposed to each season or calendar year.

Within this there are big changes to the allocation of points across races, for example all three grand tours are now treated equally.

Tony Martin: Cancellara wrong, there can’t be enough attention on the Hour Record.

Tony Martin says that Fabian Cancellara is wrong to say the Hour Record is ‘low level’, as the three time World Time Trial Champion plots his own attempt on the prestigious record.

Cancellara said in an interview in November last year that he believed the Hour was losing its worth after the UCI changed the rules to allow the use of modern aerodynamic bikes and clothing, adding that the record was devalued because “everyone can do it who wants and there’s no limit.”

Vuelta a España 2015 route leaked, featuring new climbs.

The 2015 Vuelta a España will celebrate its 70th edition this year with something new. Based on press leaks, the course will include nine summit finishes – none of which have been used before by the Spanish Grand Tour.

Organizer Unipublic will present the route on Saturday, January 10, in Málaga, just down the road from where the race will begin on August 22.

Talk: Taylor Phinney.

Taylor Phinney has the DNA of a champion cyclist and had the World at his feet until his horrendous crash last year put his cycling career on hold.

2014 was looking pretty good for the man from Boulder, he won the Dubai Tour with a win in the time trial stage and the best young rider competition, 7th in Het Nieuwsblad, stage win in California and became US national time trial champion and then in the national road race he crashed and hit a roadside guardrail and his season was over. Whether his career is over is yet unknown.

Shane Sutton believes Bradley Wiggins’ new team will boost Olympic hopes.

British Cycling technical director Shane Sutton says Bradley Wiggins’ new team will strengthen Team GB’s medal hopes at Rio 2016.

Wiggins finally announced his eponymous team, WIGGINS, earlier today, although details were  released Weekly before Christmas.

With riders such as Owain Doull, Andy Tennant and Steven Burke in the squad, Sutton hopes WIGGINS will boost British hopes in the Team Pursuit in Rio.

News Shorts: More teams announced for Evans race.

Gesink will lead Lotto NL-Jumbo in Algarve, Sicily training camp for Tinkoff Saxo, Tibco adds SVB as co-title sponsor.

Specialized Crux Elite.

BikeRadar verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars. "A fine handling frame and decent build make the Crux Elite a bike with great 'cross potential.

The Crux Elite is the least expensive of the carbon options, but packs a lot in for the price, with a disc-specific race proven frame that doesn’t cut any performance corners. Specialized’s swoopy top and head tubes blend in to a chunky down tube, beefy chainstays and slimseat stays. It’s a well-trodden path, but rear tyre clearance has been increased with lengthened wheelbase and flared stays, and the fork's wide stance gives mud nowhere to hide."

Black in fashion for team kits.

Black is on trend when it comes to cycling kit fashion in 2015, with Giant-Alpecin and Cannondale-Garmin both taking a darker approach.

Both teams unveiled their new kit at their respective team launches on Thursday.

Sony SmartWatch 3.

BikeRadar verdict: 1.5 out of 5 stars. "Android connectivity works well, but fairly useless for cycling."

Lee’s Lowdown: A Glamorous Life?