Powers flawless en route to third US 'cross title.

Jeremy Powers confirmed himself as the top 'cross racer in the US, riding off the front of the rescheduled elite men's race from the first lap with Jonathan Page before slowly dismantling the four-time champion. Zach McDonald was third. It was the second consecutive US 'cross title for the defending champion Powers, who won his first championship in 2012 and has been nearly undefeated in UCI 'cross races in the US this season.

On a technical, taxing and muddy Austin, Texas course, Powers used his newly-found skills acquired from an increased European race schedule to good effect, smoothly tackling the off-camber running sections and gliding around the rideable turns, putting in more time each lap into Page, McDonald, a chase group led by Stephen Hyde.

Compton defends U.S. ‘cross crown for 11th consecutive year.

On Monday in Austin, Texas, Katie Compton went to 11.

Her win in the U.S. elite women’s national cyclocross championship was her 11th straight title.

Sure, she seemed a little shaky after a weak start, but after one lap of racing, it was clear that no one would rival the defending champ.

“Honestly I just had to be a lot more conservative today,” Compton said. “I wasn’t feeling awesome, wasn’t sure if I went out too hard if it would come back to get me. I knew I couldn’t go too deep too soon.

“It’s so easy to make a mistake and lose time. You never know with mechanicals and how conditions change.”

Owen wins his second under-23 U.S. ‘cross championship.

Logan Owen won his second under-23 national championship on Monday in Austin, Texas. The 19-year-old took matters into his own hands early in the race, riding alone to win in slippery, sticky mud.

“Yesterday I was really liking the course,” said Owen. “Today, I didn’t have the good vibes on the course like I did yesterday; I was a little nervous. My legs didn’t feel as good as they did yesterday because of the move, but yeah, I was able to adapt really well and able to pull it off.”

From the gun, California Giant-Specialized was in control, with Tobin Ortenblad grabbing the holeshot, followed closely by two of his teammates.

Curtis White soon went to the front. Owen was quick to jump on his wheel, and separations began to form immediately.

Wyman looks forward to Tabor Worlds after ninth national title.

In the wake of her ninth British cyclo-cross title in ten years, Helen Wyman now turns her attention to the World Championships on January 31, although she admitted that the Tabor course was not ideally suited to her strengths.

Wyman claimed the bronze medal in Hoogerheide last year after a decade of consistency at the top level, but despite her third place finish in the Tabor World Cup in 2012, she was pragmatic about her prospects in the Czech Republic at the end of the month.

Hannah Barnes wins stage one of Tour Femenino de San Luis.

It was a case of déjà-vu for Britain’s Hannah Barnes as she won the first stage of the Tour Femenino de San Luis for the second year running.

The 21-year-old, who races for UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Women’s team, beat Italian duo Elena Cecchini and Michela Pavin into second and third respectively in the 80.2km stage in El Durazno on Sunday.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Barnes also claimed the win in the 76.5km Gran Prix San Luis Femenino around Juana Koslay.

2014-15 Races & Results.

Australia Road National Championships - Jan 7-11 (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)

Strava Just Dissected UK Cycling and Here are the Numbers.

Plenty of riders may lament the effect Strava has had on the club ride or reminisce about the days of easy KOM’s, but one thing is clear, Strava is still growing and quickly, with a reported 100,000 new signups each week.

What riders do with the data collected by Strava is pretty clear, but what Strava can do with that data is still wide open, from deciding when you need new tires to painting incredibly detailed pictures of urban cycling habits. To show off what they can do, Strava just dissected UK cycling in 2014 and the numbers are pretty incredible.

Oligarchs left pedaling into sunset as Putin's Russia cracks.

Vantornout wins after a battle in the Erpe-Mere mud.

Cant takes her sixth consecutive Belgian title.

Van der Poel brothers dominate Dutch championship.

Andrew Talansky: Unfinished business with the Tour de France.

In pain and fighting back tears, Andrew Talansky crossed the finish line in Oyonnax in last place, 32 minutes behind the day’s winner and barely inside the time cut during stage 11 of last year’s Tour de France. He was unaware that his painfully arduous, yet admirable, effort had been played out on live television for the cycling world to see.

His performance, which ended in abandonment the next day, was a stark contrast to his triumphant and even bold overall win during a thrilling finale atop Courchevel just one month earlier at the Critérium du Dauphiné, and a real-life demonstration of the kind of adversity that riders often face in professional cycling.

Vincenzo Nibali’s 2015 race schedule revealed; fewer racing days for the Italian.

Vincenzo Nibali has his pre-Tour de France plan in hand for 2015. Though team Astana was toying with racing the Giro d’Italia, Nibali instead will tailor his schedule to be ready to defend his title in France this July.

The 30-year-old Sicilian begins his season at the Dubai Tour on February 4. Team Astana’s head coach, Paolo Slongo outlined the rest of his schedule to Cycling Weekly: The Tour of Oman, Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo, the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Rachel Neylan credits McGee for comeback success, searches for new team.

Olympic mountain biking hopeful Peta Mullens may have won the 2015 Australian women’s road race championship on Saturday, but runner-up Rachel Neylan recorded a personal victory that she hopes will help propel the 2012 UCI road worlds silver medallist toward Rio 2016.

It has been a tough 18 months for the 32-year-old New South Wales native. After major oral surgery, a season-ending knee injury in 2013, and being hit by an automobile during a training ride 11 months ago, Neylan has endured what she considered “string of bad luck.”

“I really needed a big ride today,” said Neylan after the race. “It’s been a pretty challenging 18 months to two years since my world championship silver medal.

“I rode for the win today, but I didn’t pull it off, but to come away with a silver medal is nothing to be disappointed about.”

Team Sky's Chris Froome: I am in a better place mentally.

The wry smile spoke volumes. Twelve months ago, had he bumped into a few journalists over the breakfast buffet at Team Sky’s hotel, Chris Froome might have tensed up, or made his excuses and scuttled away. This time, he was happy to spend a few minutes chatting.

The conversation was amusing. Had he, we were eager to learn, seen Lance Armstrong’s comments in Golf Digest last month comparing his riding style with Jim Furyk’s famously unconventional golf swing; an action that was once likened to “an octopus falling out of a tree” (but which yielded a US Open title in 2003)? Froome’s response was telling. Being unfamiliar with Furyk, he revealed that he had ventured on to YouTube to familiarize himself with this sporting oddity. And he had to laugh at what he saw.

Haussler returns to the top with Aussie road nats win.

While all the pre-race buzz surrounded recently crowned time trial champion Richie Porte and retiring Tour de France winner Cadel Evans, the oft-forgotten Heinrich Haussler stole the show by out-sprinting 20-year-old neo-pro sensation Caleb Ewan  and Neil van der Ploeg for the Australian road race title Sunday in Buninyong, Victoria.

In what would have been a near identical runner-up finish to his crushing defeat to Mark Cavendish at the 2009 Milan-Sanremo, Haussler avoided near disaster crossing the line in front of the 2014 under-23 national road champion Ewan as he was in the process of dropping his chain.

“I said no, this isn’t going to happen again,” Haussler said after the race. “I was just trying to get everything out of my legs just to try to get to that line first.

Gracie Elvin Q&A: The vulnerability of the pre-race favorite.

It was inevitable that Gracie Elvin would line up for the women’s road race at the Mars Cycling Australia Road National Championships as a marked rider. The defending champion had taken back-to-back titles (2013-2014) and the possibility of a record-equalling three-peat was a favorite discussion point among media and fans alike.

Elvin projected a calm confidence ahead of the marquee event. A win in Geelong’s Eastern Park on day two of the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic seemed to only elevate her chances. She was clearly motivated and fit – and her team had yet to lose a national road title since its inception in 2012.

Van Aert very disappointed with third place.

While most riders and especially the fans went home extremely satisfied yesterday, there was one rider who was extremely disappointed. Wout van Aert was the big favorite. The question before the race wasn’t if he was going to win, but with how many minutes. Yet the 20-year old star had to settle for third place.

After the race, van Aert shared his thoughts with Sporza reporters.

“The course here was completely honest. The best rider won today and I was only the third best rider. The race started out as I planned, I managed to drop all my competitors. Yet, I felt the affects of my efforts in the first two rounds immediately.”

Anger, confusion reign as cyclocross nationals reschedule for Monday.

PEZ: Daily Distractions.

(pezcyclingnews.com)

PEZ: EuroTrash Vuelta’15 Monday!

Quintana: The first stages of the Vuelta a Espana will cause problems.

Nairo Quintana believes that the opening stages of the 2015 Vuelta a España could cause the race favorites problems with the opening seven days of the race including four hill-top finishes.

“The first stages we know that they must be done, that there shouldn’t be too many complications but they could cause some problems,” Quintana told Spanish website Biciciclismo. “They are not usually bad roads but they are explosive days, especially the first two summit finishes. We will be in summer and the heat could be an influence but on those stages in the mountains it will perhaps be somewhat less noticeable.”

Phinney keeping racing in perspective.

The road to recovery from a horrific leg break at last year’s US Road Race has been a long one for Taylor Phinney. He spoke to Cycling Weekly about the injury that has ruled him out from his beloved Classics, just as he was beginning to make real progress at them in 2014.

“It’s going pretty well. I still have a couple of degrees of range of motion that I am not really sure if I will ever get back. It [the accident] chipped off a chunk of my patella so my tendon is shorter than it was before, which I try not to be too OCD about.”

Wiggins’ path to Paris-Roubaix and Sky swansong outlined, Quintana also for cobbles.

Set to move to the new Wiggins team after riding Paris-Roubaix, Bradley Wiggins’ final Team Sky racing program has been outlined and will see the Briton get things underway later this month.

According to the Het Nieuwsblad newspaper, the Briton will begin racing in the Challenge Mallorca races. The first of those is on January 29 and the racing continues until February 1.

Riders can dip in and out as they choose, with only those riding every day being considered for the overall.

Sarto Energia: Best of Pez 2014.

Quick. Name the family-owned Italian manufacturer producing pro-race winning frames exclusively in Italy since the 1950’s. Colnago, Pinarello, De Rosa all probably come to mind but Sarto are the family (and brand) still exclusively producing in Italy for more than 50 years and I have their new custom Energia Disc.

In cycling terms, the definition of “truly Italian” seems diluted as some of the leading brands have taken the steps to produce a portion (or the majority) of their products in other parts of the world. To be clear, these “foreign” products are generally, VERY good. The choice to go east with production is more about simple economics for big name brands and their big marketing and sponsorship budgets. Less expensive mass production is the only way to feed that beast.

Nys satisfied with performance.

Sven Nys surprised everybody by playing a major role in the Belgium championship yesterday. The greatest cyclocross rider ever was therefore very content with his race

Nys even admitted that there was more possible if he took more risks.

“I probably have been too careful”, he told Sporza reporters after the race. “Because of my form over the last month, I didn’t know how long I could go physically. At the end of the race, I had more than enough left.”

Don’t just spin your flywheels: 11 tips for productive trainer time.

Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) and Dr. James Hopker explain how he makes the most of his time on an indoor trainer.

2015 Tour de San Luis LIVE.

Monday's (January 19, 2015) Tour de San Luis Stage 1 departs San Luis at 1:49pm local (11:49am U.S. Eastern, 17:49 CET) and is expected at the finish at Villa Mercedes at around 6:15pm local (4:15pm U.S. Eastern, 22:15 CET).  Tour de San Luis live video streaming is expected for the start and the finish.

Steve Tilford: Cyclocross Nationals Cancelled – Crazy.