Tour de San Luis: Diaz victorious atop Alto el Amago.

Daniel Diaz extended his lead in the Tour de San Luis on the soaring mountain finish to Alto el Amago, putting his second overall victory in the race nearer to his reach.

The Argentinean topped teammate Alex Diniz, Colombia's Rodolfo Torres and defending champion Nairo Quintana by nearly a minute on the mountain top finish.

Juan Arango, Giacomo Berlato, Dario Diaz and Juan Pablo Valencia were the fortunate few to make the day's long breakaway, gaining up to six minutes at one point during the 142.5km stage.

Tour de San Luis: Quintana remaining calm.

On and off the bike, his every move since his arrival in Argentina has been scrutinized, yet as is his wont, Nairo Quintana seems to keep his head when all about him are losing theirs at the Tour de San Luis.

At stage starts, for instance, his Movistar team is the lone squad forced to cordon off some space around their van, though, invariably, Quintana rolls down the window to salute the local fans and smile shyly for their photos.

Each day, a scrum – or a rolling maul, perhaps – forms around Quintana as he soft-pedals to the signing on rostrum. "I touched Nairo, I touched Nairo!" one teenage girl shouted to a friend at the start in Villa Dolores on Thursday. Only the occasional home rider comes close to matching the cheers that erupt when Quintana's name is announced..

Dombrowski enjoys early test at Tour de San Luis.

One reason oft-cited by riders for choosing the Tour de San Luis over the Tour Down Under is that the Argentinian event is a preparation race while those who travel to Australia aren’t so much dipping their toes into the season as plunging headlong into WorldTour competition.

It’s a fine theory, but one that felt stretched to its limits on the slopes of the Mirador del Potrero on Tuesday afternoon. True, the strength in depth of the San Luis peloton does not match that in Adelaide, but for more than half of their number this race is far from the first event of their season, but is perhaps the most important.

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 ...

Cavendish pays tribute to Gaviria’s track speed.

For the second sprint running at the Tour de San Luis, Mark Cavendish had to settle for second best. In Villa Mercedes two days ago, Cavendish left his sprint too late and in Juana Koslay on Wednesday, a moment’s hesitation from his lead-out proved costly. On each occasion, the acceleration of the 20-year-old Colombian fast man Fernando Gaviria was simply irresistible.

As he had done on the first stage, Gaviria opted to anticipate Cavendish in the sprint, opening his effort early on the slightly uphill finish and quickly opening a winning gap. Like Cavendish, Gaviria comes from a track background, and after descending from the podium, the Manxman recognized a talent that had been honed on the boards.

Talk: Tejay van Garderen.

Tejay van Garderen is entering his eighth year in the professional peloton and it could be said that at 26 years-old, that it is his most important. We caught up with Tejay at a recent BMC training camp in Spain to talk; Tour, Nibali, Lance, food and US cycling.

Cadel Evans will retire this year leaving the way clear for Tejay to take the BMC helm in the Tour de France, his rise up the team hierarchy has been steady and sure. This year we should find out how high he can climb the Tour ladder.

Bernaudeau confident Europcar team will survive.

Europcar team manager Jean-René Bernaudeau says that he is confident that his team will survive into 2016. Bernaudeau has been busy courting new prospective sponsors after Europcar announced, last October, that they would pull their sponsorship at the end of 2015, after five seasons with the team.

“I have had several discussions with potential partners for 2016. Budgets are being considered. I am not worried, no, I'm still very confident,” he said in an interview with L’Équipe.

The best energy gels.

"Love them or hate them, there's no doubting the benefit of downing a quick energy gel at vital points of a ride or race. Here's our guide to what for look for, as well as a few of our favorites."

Gels are useful for delivering a quickly absorbed hit of energy when your body needs it. There is however a huge number of different products on the market. More and more flavors are becoming available and additives such as nitrate and caffeine often feature too. So what’s best?

2015 Tour de San Luis LIVE.

Thursday's Tour de San Luis Stage 4 departs Villa Dolores at 2:44pm local (12:44pm U.S. Eastern, 18:44 CET) and is expected at the finish at Alto El Amago at around 6:35pm local (4:35pm U.S. Eastern, 22:35 CET).  Tour de San Luis live video streaming is expected for the start and finish and at other times during the stage.

Note that live radio streaming should be available throughout the race.

Second win for Gaviria in Tour de San Luis.

Big names line up for massive year of cycling.

Cycling’s double-standard creates headaches for Lampre.

2015 Tour Down Under LIVE.

Stage 4 start time: Thursday 11:30 CDT (5:00:00 PM PST);
Earliest live video: 14:00 CDT (7:30:00 PM PST);
Approximate finish: 15:20 CDT (8:50:00 PM PST).

Thursday Shorts.

It’s only January but rider retirement is in the news whether it’s Cadel Evans’ imminent halt or Nick Nuyen’s recent retirement. Nuyens has gone from the peloton to the supermarket, swapping the Carrefour de l’Arbre for a branch of Carrefour Market, a change of career to file away for a list of strange retirement options. Evans is set to become a brand ambassador for BMC bicycles.

The fairytale scenario was Cadel Evans winning his final Tour Down Under. Now local rider Rohan Dennis is in the race lead and looks very strong with only Willunga Hill expected to shape the race.

Tour Down Under: Rohan Dennis wins in Paracombe.

Rohan Dennis out-kicked all the contenders at the Tour Down Under Thursday to take the uphill sprint in Paracombe, setting up a BMC one-two finish as teammate Cadel Evans followed him across the line. Giant-Alpecin's Tom Dumoulin was third.

Dennis benefited from tense moments in the final kilometres as all the general classification favorites eyed each other approaching the 1km banner. Dennis launched his attack directly under the banner and got an immediate gap as the others considered briefly that he may have simply been trying to set up Evans, BMC's announced team leader. By the time Richie Porte, Dumoulin and AG2R's Domenico Pozzovivo reacted to Dennis' move, the 24-year-old Australian was too far up the road to bring back.

Down Under: Team Car Action!

"When a legend is in town and an opportunity presents itself to have an early morning chat with them you make the required effort and force yourself out of bed. This is magnified when the said person was a huge inspiration to you from the first time you saw him ride in the 1985 Tour, possibly sacrificing his own chance of winning on team orders to allow Hinault to win.

The legend I refer to is of course Greg Lemond who went on to win 3 Tours. During the chat to a handful of other media Greg talked about Lance Armstrong, doping and the how he still suffers the effects from accidentally being shot in the back with a shotgun. It was a lovely 30 minutes and a great start to the day."

Cannondale-Garmin with cards to play at the Tour Down Under, says Howes.

Alex Howes' third trip to Australia has already been a success. The 27-year-old Cannondale-Garmin rider, making his Tour Down Under début, had previously only caught glimpses of the some of Australia's best known animals but has been inundated with them on this visit.

"[I've seen] much more wildlife in Australia, first time around I didn't see any kangaroos," Howes told Cyclingnews on the start of stage 3. "This time round I've seen mobs. Also some koalas."

Clarke's fighting TDU ride ends in green.

William Clarke spent the day in the 143km Santos Tour Down Under Stage 3 break to earn the Most Competitive Rider jersey.

The Drapac rider was the last of the original quartet to survive but was caught by the peloton with just nine kilometres left to race.

Along the way he picked up the three intermediate sprints.

Dennis takes first win of the season.

Against the clock, Rohan Dennis has had his fair share of second places in the last 12 months including the silver medal at the Australian national championships. After his attack in Paracombe to claim the second stage of the Tour Down Under and with it the overall lead, Dennis claimed only his second victory since winning atop Mount Diablo at the Tour of California last May and opened his 2015 account with BMC Racing Team.

"My only win last year, beside the worlds team time trial, was a road race in America," Dennis told reporters after the stage. "So maybe I need to move away from time trials and do more time trialling. In saying that, my time trialling helped me today to get into that mode of thinking about a threshold and attacking with a turn of speed."

News shorts: 16 teams for Critérium International, Horner shows off Airgas-Safeway wheels.

Seven wildcards for Catalunya, South Africa hosts Continental championships.

Lobato snags stage 2 win at Tour Down Under.

Impey focused on overall success at the Tour Down Under.

Daryl Impey went close to victory on stage two of the Tour Down Under, with only Juan Jose Lobato passing him before the line with a powerful late surge in Sterling.

In the absence of 2014 winner Simon Gerrans, Impey is team leader for Orica-GreenEdge and is focused on the fight for overall victory. His second place was a consequence of fighting for the precious time bonuses that could decide the final overall classification on Sunday. Impey is now fourth overall, seven seconds behind race leader Jack Bobridge. He is four seconds behind Lobato, who is arguably his biggest rival in the overall classification.

“Unfortunately there was just one guy faster than me. Hats off to him, there was nothing more we could have done today,” Impey said in a statement from the Australian team.

Daily Distractions.

DaveMoulton: Opting out of the system.

Cadel Evans: Love him or hate him, the show’s almost over.

Cadel Evans rolled past Rohan Dennis beyond the finish line in Paracombe at the end of stage three of the Tour Down Under on Thursday and gave his BMC teammate the thumbs up.

As well he might: the two Australians are now first and second on general classification, with Dennis in the leader’s ochre jersey. And yet it hadn’t gone exactly to plan.

Dennis was supposed to attack at the foot of the climb, but the run-in was fast and hectic and the 24-year-old found himself too far back. Evans followed Richie Porte when he accelerated, but gradually Dennis and the others came back, then Dennis jumped, won the stage and took the jersey. Evans is second at seven seconds.

A thumbs-up from his leader was the most he could expect, said Dennis, because Evans “is a man of few words.”

Rasmussen testimony implicates Mario Zorzoli, UCI’s chief medical officer.

Testimony from former professional racer Michael Rasmussen implicates Italian Mario Zorzoli, the UCI’s chief medical officer, as having been complicit to doping during the sport’s darkest period of cheating.

Rasmussen’s testimony was made public Thursday after a three-member panel of the American Arbitration Association for Sport rendered its decision in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s case against Dr. Geert Leinders, imposing a lifetime ban for doping violations committed from 1996 through 2009, while he served as the chief team doctor for the Rabobank team.

The investigation into Leinders began with the discovery of evidence by USADA in 2012 during the course of its investigation of doping in cycling, including testimony from American rider Levi Leipheimer, who rode for Rabobank from 2002 through the 2004 season.

Rasmussen’s testimony implies impropriety within the UCI — specifically with Zorzoli, the UCI medical chief.

Leinders handed lifetime ban by USADA for doping offenses.

Former Rabobank and Team Sky doctor Geert Leinders has been handed a lifetime ban by the US Anti-Doping Acency, Anti-Doping Denmark (ADD), and Anti-Doping Authority Netherlands (Dopingautoriteit). A three-man panel found the Belgian guilty of multiple doping violations from his time as chief team doctor at the Rabobank team.

The hearing took place on August 14, 2014. Neither Leinders nor any of his representatives attended.

LeMond on Armstrong: ‘If anybody deserves a lifetime ban, it’s this guy’.

No gifts — that was once Lance Armstrong’s line. But don’t expect any mercy, at least not when Greg LeMond is concerned, regarding the possibility of reduction to Armstrong’s lifetime racing ban.

Speaking with journalists Thursday as part of a visit to the Santos Tour Down Under, LeMond said Armstrong should never see a reduction in the lifetime racing ban handed down in 2012 as part of the USADA case against the Texan.

“If there’s anyone who deserves a ban, it’s this guy,” LeMond said. “What’s the point? So he can race an amateur race? It’s not like he tested positive once, and came back clean. This is repeated cover-ups and bribes. There was nothing like it in the history of cycling.”

The 5 Big Talking Points of 2015.

Every year in the world of cycling, there are great athletic performances, some bad crashes, a few controversial decisions, maybe a scandal or two, a number of sponsorship problems and other unexpected developments. If it’s an Olympic year, the Games provide some extra excitement to an already highly charged season of racing.

But this season of professional cycling - which kicked off this week at the UCI WorldTour’s Tour Down Under in Australia and the UCI AmericaTour’s Tour de San Luis in Argentina - is different. We don’t have to wait; we already know five of the major topics we’ll be talking about for the next 12 months.

Dowsett's Hour Record attempt postponed.

Alex Dowsett’s Hour Record attempt has been indefinitely postponed his Movistar team has announced. Dowsett was due to take on the hour on February 27 but sustained a broken collarbone in a training crash last week. Movistar says they will re-evaluate the situation once Dowsett has recovered before they begin the process of preparing for an attempt.

“Following Dowsett’s crash last Tuesday, his collarbone fracture and the subsequent surgery... both rider and squad consider it would not be realistic to carry on with February 27 as a goal,” the team said in a statement.

Postponement of US 'cross nationals cost riders over $250,000.

The actual cost of the one-day postponement of the USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championship may never be known, but one informal survey estimated the impact at more than a quarter million dollars.

Amateur racer and fan Matthew Montesano watched the drama unfold from his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and created the online survey, which drew 122 responses, making up 44% of the racers who stayed for the final day of racing.

81 racers failed to start the rescheduled junior, U23 and elite races, which were moved from Sunday, January 11 to the following day after the Austin City Parks and Recreation department (PARD) put a stop to the event citing unexpected damage to the park.

Video: Highlights from Lobato's win on stage two of the Tour Down Under.

Do Women Racers Matter Less?

Flakemore breaks collarbone in post-race crash.