Tour de San Luis: Gaviria wins stage 1 in Villa Mercedes.

Fernando Gaviria won the opening stage of the Tour de San Luis after a sprint to the finish line in Villa Mercedes on Monday. The Colombian neo-pro took a commanding win in the sprint ahead of Mark Cavendish and Sacha Modolo in third.

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).  Live video from 6:00pm local  (4:00pm U.S. Eastern) (22:00 CET).

Favorites Meeusen, Sweeck excluded from 'cross Worlds.

Three of Belgium's top cyclo-cross racers will not be in the team for the UCI World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic at the end of this month because of a long-running investigation into their doctor, who is accused of providing illegal ozone treatments to athletes. Tom Meeusen, one of the top favorites for the elite race, Laurens Sweeck, the favorite for the U23 race, and former world champion Bart Wellens have been deemed ineligible under UCI rules because of their connection to the case.

The case against Dr. Chris Mertens made headlines back in early 2013 when dozens of riders began being questioned by the authorities, who dug into patient records dating back to 2007 looking for evidence of blood manipulation using ozone therapy. The technique in which blood is withdrawn, treated with ozone, and then re-infused, is purported to treat viral infections. Under the WADA code, any method of blood manipulation is banned.

Analysis: Evans rides into sunset as Australia’s greatest cyclist ever.

Tuesday’s start of the Santos Tour Down Under marks the end of one of cycling’s most remarkable and unlikely careers in the peloton’s history.

Cadel Evans, one of the most tenacious, dogged, and perhaps misunderstood riders in the bunch, will embark on his final stage race of a career marked by historical highs and gut-wrenching lows.

A mountain biker who became Australia’s first Tour de France winner, the 37-year-old will put an end to his dramatic and sometimes bumpy career in front of home crowds.

“I just want to enjoy racing, being in the peloton with these guys, and pinning a number on my jersey for the last time,” Evans said about this week. “It’s the last time I will be racing in a stage race, in a WorldTour event, so I want to enjoy the moment.”.

BMW USA will sponsor new UCI women's team.

BMW will be the title sponsor of a new UCI women's team run by Team SmartStop owners Premier Sports Group, the North Carolina-based management company announced today. Happy Tooth Dental Group is on board as the presenting sponsor.

The team also announced a 2015 roster directed by former Vanderkitten manager Jono Coulter and headlined by 2011 US national champion Robin Farina.

BMW has been a Team SmartStop sponsor since last year's Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, while Happy Tooth was a sponsor throughout last season. Both sponsors will also continue their support of the men's team this year, although the women's team will have separate sponsors for bikes and other equipment.

2014-15 Races & Results.

Santos Women's Tour 2015 - Jan 17-20 (Stages & Results),

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

Tour de San Luis 2015 - Jan 19-25 (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 ...

Best bike lights for road cycling.

Modern bike lights can be split into two main categories – lights for road/commuting use and lights for mountain bike use. They differ vastly in terms of light output, run time, weight and expense.

Road lights are split into two categories too. Those that enable you to see, and those that allow you to be seen by other users.

"We've covered some of each here. The front lights tested this year, are more powerful and will enable you to see where you are going on unlit cycle paths or rural roads. The rear lights and lightsets are designed primarily to make you visible to other road users. Factors such as battery life, weight and side visibility are more important than power here, and the prices are lower too."

Hoskins wins stage two of the Santos Women's Tour.

Melissa Hoskins won stage two of the Santos Women's Tour ahead of national criterium champion Kimberly Wells and track Commonwealth Games champion Annette Edmondson with a sprint finish deciding the winner. Hoskins' teammate Valentina Scandalora retains the overall race lead by six seconds with two stages to come.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been able to throw the hands in the air, so I’m pretty stoked to be able to start the season off on such a good run,” Hoskins said after her win.

San Luis favorites: Everybody is saying it’s tranquillo.

At the same Tour de San Luis pre-race press conference where Mark Cavendish reflected on journalists' sexual behaviors, last year's winner Nairo Quintana as well as his countryman Carlos Betancur and Thomas Voeckler reflected on their expectations towards the upcoming event.

In case of both Colombians, who underwent preparations for the new season in South America and require more undulating terrain to show their full potential, a choice between Tour de San Luis and Tour Down Under was no brainer.

“It’s a nicer temperature here. In Europe, it’s much colder right now so it’s a better race to start out with for me, especially as I have other objectives later in the year,” Quintana said at the official pre-race press conference. “But it’s good to race in January, and it gives us the opportunity to prepare better for what is to come.”

San Dimas Stage Race slated for March 27-29.

Bobridge wins Tour Down Under opening stage.

Jack Bobridge took the first win of the 2015 Santos Tour Down Under Tuesday in Campbelltown after surviving in a four-rider breakaway that just held off the charging peloton.

Bobridge timed his move perfectly, jumping in the final 200 meters and holding off day-long breakaway mates Lieuwe Westra, Luke Durbridge and Maxim Belkov.

2015 Tour Down Under LIVE.

Tuesday's (Monday evening North America) Tour Down Under Stage 1 (Hostworks stage) departs Tanunda at 10:30am local (7:00pm U.S. Eastern, 1:00am CET) and is expected at the finish at Campbelltown at around 1:49pm local (10:19pm U.S. Eastern, 4:19am CET).  Tour Down Under live streaming video should get underway at around 12:00pm local (8:30pm U.S. Eastern, 2:30am CET).

Can Kittel be conquered in a bunch sprint at the TDU?

At Sunday night’s People’s Choice Criterium, which teases the start of the 2015 UCI WorldTour season and the 17th edition of the Tour Down Under (TDU), German sprinting sensation Marcel Kittel did what he does best — win.

With 59 pro victories, including 10 grand tour stage wins of which he captured four at last year’s Tour de France, the six-foot-two, 181-pound, 26-year-old from Arnstadt, Germany is an imposing presence in the closing hundred meters of a bunch sprint, especially in the absence of his only real contemporaries, Mark Cavendish and two-time TDU winner (2008, 2010) André Greipel.

Bronzini sprints to stage three victory at Santos Women's Tour.

The sprint for stage three honors belonged to Georgia Bronzini at the Santos Women's Tour today as she beat yesterday's winner Melissa Hoskins and race leader Valentina Scandolara over the line. Scandolara holds on to the overall race lead with one final criterium to come tomorrow around Victoria Park.

"I’m really happy because my team counted on my race, so I think they deserved that because we worked hard for the win," said Bronzini. "Also we are really happy because Nettie [Edmondson] won the intermediate sprint which was the plan. It was really hard to do but we’ve done it so I’m really happy.".

Sarah Storey: Because of the pain you might never want to do it again.

It’s going to be a savage challenge,” Sarah Storey says calmly on a sunlit morning in Lanzarote as she anticipates the simple yet vicious purity of trying to ride a bike further than any other woman has ever managed in an hour. “But I think I’ll only really know how savage it is when I’m deep into the hour. I expect the last 20 minutes to be brutal so I had better enjoy the first 40. I’m trying hard to prepare, but there is this sense that I’m venturing into the unknown.”

On 28 February, at the Olympic velodrome in London, Storey will attempt to break the world Hour record for women. The 37-year-old will be back on the track where she won the first of her four gold medals at the London 2012 Paralympics.

Fränk Schleck: I'm still competitive and have no intention of winding down.

After a season of rebuilding his fitness and form, Fränk Schleck hopes to remain integral to success at Trek Factory Racing in 2015 and despite approaching his 35th birthday in April, he has no intentions of slowing down.

Schleck finished 12th overall in last year’s Tour de France and will once again line up for the race as a designated captain for the US-registered team. The Ardennes Classics sit neatly in his spring targets, and with Bauke Mollema joining the team, Trek boast a formidable double act.

"It’s not possible to talk about the results yet for this season but I want to have a strong year and of course the aims are the Ardennes and the Tour," he tells Cyclingnews on the phone from Trek Factory Racing’s training camp in Mallorca.

Boom frustrated by criticism: It's just nonsense.

Astana’s first training camp of Astana in Montecatini was overshadowed by the doping problems in the team. The brothers Maxim and Valentin Iglinsky tested positive for EPO in 2014 while the continental team had three positive cases. "We have received a lot of shit," Lars Boom tells De Telegraaf.

“When I signed with Astana, I just had the feeling that the doping discussion was gone," says Boom who joined the team from the Belkin formation. "Well, in recent months it came back. Of course I don’t like it. Especially because the doping stories always mentioned the fact that Lieuwe [Westra] and I are under contract with them. I was and am against doping. Nothing has changed. I have not been worried that Astana would lose its WorldTour license as I did never believe that it would happen.”..

SRAM testing wireless electronic groupset at Tour Down Under.

Agr2-La Mondiale’s Domenico Pozzovivo has been spotted at the People’s Choice Classic prior to Tour Down Under, riding with a SRAM produced wireless electronic groupset on his Focus Izalco Max team bike.

SRAM has been rumored to be in the testing phase of an electronic groupset for sometime, after it was spotted on the bikes of the Bissell Development Team at the Tour of California in 2014.

It’ll be the first move into the elctronic groupset market for the American company, one that will see them competing with Shimano and its Dura Ace Di2 groupset, as well as Campagnolo and its Super Record EPS, though neither of the latter have yet to produce a fully wireless groupset.

Power meters of the 2015 WorldTour.

"Training data has become a crucial component of marginal gains in professional cycling, and with this, comes the use of power meters.

Here we round up what team is riding what, and point out a few custom touches spotted at the 2015 Tour Down Under."

Daily Distractions.

PEZ: EuroTrash Kittel Monday!

Ulissi given nine-month ban for Salbutamol positive.

Diego Ulissi will be able to return to racing in March after the Swiss Olympic Committee gave him a nine-month ban as punishment for his positive test for Salbutamol at the Giro d'Italia, his Lampre-Merida team has revealed. The Italian has only raced briefly since May and so his suspension will reportedly end on March 28. He attended a disciplinary hearing in December.

Ulissi tested positive after the 11th stage of the Giro d’Italia to Savona. Ulissi was shown to have 1900 ng/ml in his system, significantly higher than the 1000 ng/ml allowed by the UCI rules.

Paolo Bettini says 2014 was "wrong year" for Fernando Alonso cycling project.

Paolo Bettini, who gave up has job as coach to the Italian national team to head up Fernando Alsonso’s aborted professional cycling venture, says 2014 was “the wrong year” for the Formula 1 driver to try and get the project off the ground.

Alsonso had recruited  Bettini, twice world champion, winner of races including Milan-San Remo, the Giro di Lombardia and Liege-Bastogne-Liege as well as Olympic gold medallist in the road race at Athens in 2004, to act as general manager to his planned team at the end of 2013.

During 2014, the pair worked on the proposals, talking to potential backers as well as riders and team staff, but Bettini told La Gazzetta dello Sport that as it turned out, Alonso needed to put his own career first as it became clear he would not be retained as a driver by Ferrari.

Giro announces five wildcard teams; four Italian squads included.

The Giro d’Italia decided on four home teams and a Polish one when handing out its wildcard invitations Monday. CCC Sprandi will join Italian second-division teams Androni Giocattoli, Bardiani-CSF, Nippo-Vini Fantini, and Southeast, along with the 17 UCI WorldTour teams with automatic invitations.

“We reflected deeply on the wildcard choices; an increasingly meticulous process thanks to the quality of the teams that want to participate in our races,” explained Mauro Vegni, the RCS Sport Head of Cycling.

“This year’s choices, especially for the wildcards of the Giro d’Italia, were dictated by the opportunity to support the Italian cycling movement, giving continuity to an overall process without ever losing sight of the goal of international development in strategic territories.”

Sagan targetting Monuments and Tour de France in 2015.

Peter Sagan has revealed his race program for the first half of this season. In a post on his Facebook page, he confirmed that the Monuments will dominate the spring with the Tour of California and Tour de Suisse providing his build-up to the Tour de France.

Sagan will don Tinkoff-Saxo colors for the first time in a race this season at the Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman at the start of February. It is the first time since 2012 that Sagan will skip the Tour de San Luis in favor of the later start in Qatar. Following Oman, Sagan will head to Italy for Tirreno-Adriatico, where he won a stage and the points classification last season.

1X Disc Cross Crush: Cannondale, SRAM, American Classic and Ergon.

"Cannodale’s Super X cyclocross frame, SRAM’s CX1 group, American Classic’s Hurricane Disc wheels and Ergon CF3 post / SRX saddle all landed within a short period of time… Cue a mad scramble for tires, bar, stem and you wind up with an exceptionally smooth cross bike that removes any thoughts about shifting. And with a spare set of chubby slicks (and the right chain ring size), you also get an incredible performance/commuter."

McLay takes road less travelled to professional ranks.

In years past, it was the kind of rite of passage that was all but obligatory for the aspiring young British rider but in the modern era, Dan McLay’s stint under his own steam in Belgium stands out as a rather atypical route to the professional peloton.

McLay lines up at the Tour de San Luis on Monday for his first race in the colors of Bretagne-Séché after an impressive three-year spell with Lotto’s development squad, capped by a fine stage victory at the Tour de l’Avenir last September.

Pro Womens Cycling: Gethin and Nikki at the Tour Down Under – Stage 2.

O'Grady: At the end of the day I know what I did and didn't do.

Chad Haga Journal: The confidence game.

Dave Brailsford's vision for Chris Froome and Team Sky.

If Brailsford had a coat of arms it would feature a magpie, a sponge and a Great White Shark.

A magpie to represent his talent for spotting shiny bits of knowledge, a sponge for his ability to retain it, and the world's most fearsome predator because of his appetite for more of it.

It would also be the best coat of arms in the world.

Brailsford's job title at Team Sky - arguably road cycling's most successful team over the last five years, and certainly the most influential - is team principal. That does not come close to describing what he does, though.

Cheerleader, spokesman, strategist, head of innovation, beating heart…the most shocking thing about this list is that until a year ago he was combining them with the job of running the British Olympic and Paralympic cycling teams.