Tour de San Luis: Da Silva wins atop Comechingones.

Kleber Ramos Da Silva won the sixth stage at the Tour de San Luis atop the Filo Sierras Comechingones on Saturday. The Brazilian climber won the tactical battle between a select group of climbers, beating Rodolfo Torres, his teammate and race leader Daniel Diaz, and Nairo Quintana.

After finishing third on the day, Diaz maintained his lead in the overall classification heading into the stage 7 finale in San Luis on Sunday.

The queen stage 6 started in Achiras and finished up the final climb to Filo Sierras Comechingones, a 16km final climb with an average gradient of 7.8 per cent.

Quintana third overall in San Luis.

As he negotiated the dirt track over the summit of the On crossing the line atop the Filo Sierras Comechingones, Nairo Quintana’s immediate analyzis of stage 6 of the Tour de San Luis was a relatively downbeat one.

The race is almost certain to be his sole competitive outing in South America this season, and despite his protestations that he was some way short of his best in Argentina, the Movistar man clearly wished to mark the occasion with a stage victory.

Diaz still wary of Quintana.

Dani Diaz not only managed to avoid any time loss to his direct rivals in yesterday's time trial of the Tour de San Luis. In fact, he gained a few seconds and now leads Rodolfo Torres by 1.09 and Nairo Quintana by 1.25.

His second final victory after the 2013 win is closer. However, with today's ascent to the Filos de los Comechingones at 2010 meters above sea level, nothing is decided.

Renshaw ready to team up with Cavendish for 2015 sprints.

As the lead-out rider for Mark Cavendish, Australian Mark Renshaw was as intrigued as anyone about young Colombian sprinter Fernando Gaviria who beat the Manxman twice at Tour de San Luis in Argentina.

Renshaw is racing the Tour Down Under but will re-unite with Cavendish at the Tour of Dubai on February 4-7. In Australia Renshaw has been riding as the lead-out man for Belgian Gianni Meersman. He said he has not seen replays of the sprints where Cavendish was beaten but he forecasts big things for Gaviria based on his wins in stage one and three of the Tour de San Luis.

Pauwels and Cant look to secure World Cup titles in Hoogerheide.

UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup leaders Kevin Pauwels and Sanne Cant will aim to win their respective titles upon the series’ sixth and final round at the GP Adrie van der Poel in Hoogerheide, Netherlands on Sunday.

Cant is aiming to win her first World Cup title in the elite women’s category, and needs to finish no less than top five in order to do so. She is leading the series with 206 points, 29 points ahead of US champion Katie Compton and 30 points ahead of Ellen Van Loy.

Pauwels is leading the elite men’s series with 370 points, 80 points ahead of Lars van der Haar and 87 points ahead of Corné Van Kessel.

Van der Haar wins in Ruchpen.

Lars van der Haar sharpened his form for the World Championships when he won today's race in Ruchpen, his fifth victory of the year. Vincent Baestaens and Jens Vandekinderen completed the podium.

The former Dutch champion got some thorough training and earned the victory as a result. Vincent Baestaens and Jens Vandekinderen were happy with a place on the podium. The returning Dieter Vanthourenhout finished fourth in his first race after a long recovery from injury...

2014-15 Races & Results.

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

Tour de San Luis 2015 - Jan 19-25 (Stages & Results),

UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships - Jan 31 (Races),

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

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

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

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

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 ...

Canadian Cycling Federation Selects Their Cyclocross Worlds Team: A Look the Riders and Funding.

As with USAC’s selection committee, who announced the American’s Worlds Team almost two weeks ago, the Canadian Cycling Federation didn’t wait until the final World Cup to make their decision on who is going to Tabor.

The biggest surprise in the selections could be the lack of representation from the Elite podiums of the 2014 Canadian Cyclocross National Championship. Of the six podium finishers, Catharine Pendrel, Mike Garrigan, Maghalie Rochette, Geoff Kabush, Sandra Walter and Michael van den Ham, only Elite Men’s winner Garrigan will be headed to the World Championship in the Czech Republic. By in large, the biggest reason for this discrepancy is the emphasis many of these riders put on mountain biking: Pendrel, Rochette and Kabush are preparing for the trail season ahead.

2015 Tour de San Luis LIVE.

Saturday's Tour de San Luis Stage 6 departs Achiras (Cordoba) at 3:30pm local (1:30pm U.S. Eastern, 19:30 CET) and is expected at the finish at Filo Sierras Comechingones 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.

Tour de San Luis: Malori wins stage 5 time trial.

Paolini goes the distance at the Tour de San Luis.

Meeusen must be allowed in World Championship, court decides.

2015 Tour Down Under LIVE.

Stage 6 start time: Saturday 13:30 CDT (7:00:00 PM PST);
Earliest live video: 13:30 CDT (7:00:00 PM PST);
Estimated finish: 15:30 CDT (9:00:00 PM PST).

Dennis on cusp of Tour Down Under victory.

There will be no fairytale finish to Cadel Evans' last Tour Down Under but the BMC team is on the cusp of winning its first overall classification at the race with his Australian heir apparent Rohan Dennis.

The talented young Australia took over the race lead from fellow Hour Record aspirant Jack Bobridge with victory on stage three to Paracombe and despite being dropped by Richie Porte in the final 400 meters of the queen stage to Willunga Hill, he enters the final stage of the race on Sunday with a two second buffer on the Team Sky Tasmanian.

Porte sees positives in Down Under form, despite title near miss.

Bitter disappointment was mixed with great anticipation for Riche Porte after Saturday's near-miss at the Tour Down Under.

I'm in a much better mindset this year - I have been much more professional in my off season and I am healthy and so motivated going into this season.

The Australian cycling star repeated his feat of a year ago, attacking near the end of the Willunga Hill climb to win the Santos Tour's famed Queen stage.

But whereas he was not in the hunt for the overall title last year, this time he failed to overhaul race leader Rohan Dennis by just two seconds. Dennis most likely will hold that advantage through Sunday's final stage in Adelaide.

Richie Porte wins on Willunga Hill, just misses lead at Tour Down Under.

Richie Porte blew the Santos Tour Down Under field wide open on Willunga Hill Saturday but just failed to overhaul Rohan Dennis as overall leader.

Just as he had in 2014, Porte launched a stunning attack on the second and final climb up the notorious ascent to win the 151.5km stage in just over three and a half hours.

Dennis crossed the line nine seconds behind Porte to retain the leader’s ochre jersey by two seconds heading into Sunday’s final stage, a 90km circuit race through the streets of Adelaide.

Ruben Fernandez finished third, ahead of Dennis’s teammate Cadel Evans and Tom Dumoulin.

“I know this climb quite well, but I didn’t quite get the jersey, which is disappointing,” Porte said.

The Tour Down Under’s Ring-in mechanics.

"Not French, Belgian, Italian, Dutch, etc. They were Australian. To be precise - they were from Adealide. That got me asking: how did they get into being a WorldTour mechanic and helper for just one week a year? It’s not an easy job, but for any cycling enthusiast, it’s a dream job for most. Here are a few of their stories."

Voigt and Meares named as Tour Down Under ambassadors.

Organizers of the Santos Tour Down Under named Australian track cyclist Anna Meares and German road cyclist Jens Voigt as the official ambassadors of the event at the Legends’ Night Dinner held at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Saturday.

As ambassadors of the Tour Down Under for the next two years, Meares and Voigt will be active in engaging the community and encouraging visitors to attend the WorldTour event.

Gilbert: I will have to fight for Tour selection.

"When I told the management that I wanted to do the Tour, I was surprised to get told that I was on a list of 12 or 13 contenders. I was disappointed but I got the same treatment as everyone else. I will have to fight for my spot."

At the beginning of the 2015 season, Philippe Gilbert has outlined his goals in an interview with RTBF. Milan-Sanremo, the Ardennes classics, the maglia rosa in the Giro, the Worlds and the Tour. Gilbert is again ambitious for 2015.

Since 2011 Gilbert has gone into almost every race as a potential winner. Places of honor or in the top 10 are not enough to meet the expectations of the Belgian fans. 2014 was another good example, with wins in the Amstel and the Tour of Beijing not enough to attract much national recognition. Looking at the numbers, Gilbert was the best Belgian rider but he was not recognized in the awards ceremonies at the end of the year.

Bouhanni: I want to win as much as possible.

The Cofidis team held their official presentation in the indoor Roubaix velodrome on Friday evening, with new team leader Nacer Bouhanni making clear his intentions for 2015.

“I want to win and win as much as possible, be it in WorldTour races or other smaller races I ride,” he said according to Le Monde.

“I've got my own lead out train and so I hope my results will reflect that. Every time I start a race, it'll be to win. My goal is to win, that's the only result that matters. Of course there some races that are especially close to my heart like Milan-San Remo and the Tour de France, where I hope to win some stages.”

Tour Down Under: Porte wins atop Willunga Hill.

Tony Martin: The harder the penalty for dopers, the better.

Daily Distractions.

Video: Tour Down Under stage five highlights.

Kreuziger claims a lie detector test shows he did not dope.

Roman Kreuziger has claimed he passed a lie detector test, which confirms he is not a liar and that he has never doped. The Tinkoff-Saxo rider posted a photo of himself undergoing the lie detctor test on his personal website, explaining that he is doing everything possible to try to clear his name.

The Czech rider has been embroiled in a long-running battle with the UCI over his blood parameters from 2011 and 2012, when he was with the Astana team. He was cleared of any wrong-doing by the Czech Olympic Committee in September but is now awaiting for the Court of Arbitration for Sport to hear the appeal hearing requested by the UCI. A date for a hearing has yet to be confirmed by CAS.

Horner ‘Couldn’t Believe’ California Snub.

The winner of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California, American Chris Horner, says he is “disappointed” and “couldn’t believe” that his Airgas-Safeway team did not receive an invitation to compete in the 2015 edition of the race.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Horner told peloton in a phone interview Friday. “I don’t know what the promoters are thinking. They’ve obviously done harm to the race by not bringing me. You left the only current rider with a grand-tour résumé who was going to show up, and I’m a past champion there.”

The Tour of California, which on Friday announced the 18 invited teams, does not publish or make public the specific criteria it uses to decide which teams it invites and which teams it does not invite.

Q&A with UCI vice president Tracey Gaudry.

Before the fourth stage of the Tour Down Under, Australia's UCI vice president Tracey Gaudry met with selected media for a roundtable discussion on various issues.

Foremost of those issues raised was the latest on womens' cycling - prompted by Cycling Australia's recent decision to drop its high performance program - and where the sport is heading on the ever-present issue of doping.

O'Grady: I don't miss hurting myself.

One year after admitting to using doping products during his time as a rider, Stuart O’Grady has spoken to Cyclingnews about his story during the Tour Down Under as he launched his new business, Stuart O’Grady Cycling.

He was nowhere to be seen at the 2014 edition of the race, preferring to keep his head down and let the public deal with the news. He says they have been nothing but supportive of him.

“I wasn't really sure what to expect. [I was] not happy with myself with what had happened. Twelve months on it's black and white. It's been a really supportive crowd."

Down Under: Porte Pushes Hard!

A desperate attack by pre-race favorite Richie Porte saw him steal the queen stage but he couldn’t quite reach the leader’s jersey falling two seconds short as Rohan Dennis hung on in fine style. The sentimental favorite Cadel Evans was also well in attendance as was a simply huge Aussie crowd with our photographer David Pearce right in among them all to capture these great images of all the action.

Gerrans joins Orica-GreenEdge for training camp in Alicante.

Simon Gerrans has recovered from a broken collarbone sustained in a mountain bike crash in December and has joined his Orica-GreenEdge squad for a pre-season training camp in Alicante, Spain. The sprinter has used the camp to fine-tune his time trial position, and rebuild his strength and form ahead of his targeted Spring Classics.

“Team camp has been a really positive experience,” Gerrans wrote in his latest blog entry on his website. “This is one of the few times that I have ever been at a camp this early in the season. I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to do long rides and some harder training alongside tweaking the time trial position, working on the bike set-up and adjusting a new pair of Shimano race shoes.”

Tech Roundup: Leatherman wearable multi-tool, new wearable heart rate monitor, Look pedals + more.

Leatherman has launched the Tread, a multi-tool that can be worn around the wrist.

The Tread can provide a total of 25 tools, as each of the stainless steel links can included two to three tool bits. There’s everything you might expect on a regular multi-tool, such as multiple screwdrivers, hex, Torx tools and more. The Tread is fully customizable, it comes apart so you can rearrange the links, add new ones, and adjust for wrist sizes.

Video: Highlights of von Hoff's victory on stage 4 of the Tour Down Under.

Landis: LeMond’s anti-doping stance on Lance Armstrong lacks consistency.

BMC re-signs Samuel Sánchez.

The Right Race, The Wrong Time?

Dennis shows off his Tour de France potential Down Under.

Winston-Salem eyed as USOC cycling training site.

Down Under: With The Fans.