Tour de San Luis victory not a sure ticket to higher level for Díaz.

At some point amid the ticker tape next Sunday night, the most valuable player at the Super Bowl will be asked ‘what’s next?’ and – handsomely compensated, of course – he will smile and deliver the immortal line: “I’m going to Disneyland.”

For Tour de San Luis winner Dani Díaz, the next item on his agenda is rather more modest. Life in the America Tour is no theme park. “Well first of all, I’ll take a break, and then I’ll prepare for the Vuelta a Mexico in March,” Díaz said. “The objective for my team is to be high up in America Tour rankings.”

Diaz wins Tour de San Luis.

Mark Cavendish won the stage 7 finale at the Tour de San Luis from a bunch sprint to the finish line on Sunday. He won the sprint ahead of Fernando Gaviria, a two-time stage winner this week, and Jakub Mareczeko.

Daniel Diaz won the overall title at the Tour de San Luis. He led the seven-day race since his stage 2 win atop Mirador del Potrero. He secured the overall win ahead of Radolfo Torres and Nairo Quintana.

Gaviria: I know my limits.

If one knows Fernando Gaviria's background, it is clearly no surprise that the Colombian has been the big revelation of the Tour de San Luis. Hernando Gaviria and José María del Carmen Rendón were both cyclists and their children have  followed that tradition.

His older sister Juliana, was just five when she saw a neighbor riding a bike and followed him to his  house just to see it. Today she is one of the best Colombian riders and has already been at the Olympics (London 2012), competing on the track. And she is married to Fabian Puerta who has won gold and bronze in the World Cup.

Kwiatkowski going easy in San Luis.

Michal Kwiatkowski is trying to begin his purple patch of form later in 2015 than has been the case in 2014, when the Pole was winning as early as February, to ensure he can reach the Tour de France in peak shape to get results.

He is currently at the Tour de San Luis where he is taking things easy and jot trying to go with the lead groups on the climbs, as he wants to be in his best shape for the Ardennes, Tour and his World title defense.

“I’m trying to do what I have to,” Kwiatkowski told Cyclingnews in San Luis on Friday. “You can see me on the finishes of the climbs going easy, because we’re trying for a stage win with Cav and trying to keep the group together."

Eva Lechner dominates in the mud of Hoogerheide.

Eva Lechner produced one of her best ever rides in the mud of Hoogerheide to win her first ever women's UCI World Cup race. The 29 year-old Italian had the power and the form to handle the heavy conditions and won alone after gradually distancing her rivals. The five-time Italian national champion celebrated by punching the air in celebration.

Katerina Nash got the better of world road race champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot to finish 18 seconds behind Lechner and so continue her run of consistent results. Ferrand-Prevot was third at 27 seconds.

2014-15 Races & 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 Tour Down Under 2015 - Jan 18-25 (Results),

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 ...

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.

The Moment The Race Was Won: Tour Down Under.

Rohan Dennis jumps clear on the climb to Paracombe to take the stage and the time bonus, putting him in the ochre jersey. It was a slender lead but enough to defend on Willunga Hill two days later.

The 2015 season has started with a tale of home advantage, an Aussie 1-2-3 on GC and local teams thriving.

Dennis’s move shows the contradiction between cycling as a team sport and an individual one. He jumped clear and neither Richie Porte nor Tom Dumoulin could follow, perhaps they were cooked, certainly it meant riding in a headwind with Cadel Evans sitting on their wheel but this act saw the apprentice trump his master. However come Willunga and Dennis was the stronger of the two BMC riders, tracking Porte when nobody else could.

Rohan Dennis confirms title at Santos Tour Down Under.

Rohan Dennis stayed out of trouble on the final stage to win the UCI season-opening Santos Tour Down Under by two seconds from fellow Australian Richie Porte on Sunday.

The BMC Racing rider finished in the leading group behind stage winner Wouter Wippert to win the race, which concluded with a 90km stage through the streets of Adelaide.

Dennis headed an all-Australian podium, with Porte second and his BMC teammate Cadel Evans 20 seconds back in third.

Dennis took the leader’s ochre jersey on Thursday after a stunning win on top of Paracombe Hill, then managed to cling to the lead when Porte claimed the penultimate stage up the notorious Willunga Hill.

Tour Down Under: Wippert wins final stage in Adelaide.

Wouter Wippert out-kicked Heinrich Haussler to take the final win of the Tour Down Under Sunday in Adelaide. Rohan Dennis finished safely in the field and took home the final ochre jersey of the overall winner for BMC.

Richie Porte also finished in the front bunch after a late crash split the peloton with Marcel Kittel getting caught out. Cadel Evans also finished in the front group to secure third place overall in his final WorldTour race.

Down Under: The Big Finalé.

David Pearce has come to the end of his adventure down under with the final stage 6 circuit race in Adelaide. As always he sends in a wonderfull photo collage that takes in the full atmosphere of the Australian WorldTour race, Adelaide and the star of the show; the Santos Tour Down Under.

Kevin Pauwels, Sanne Cant claim UCI World Cup titles.

Kevin Pauwels and Sanne Cant claimed their UCI cyclocross World Cup titles on Sunday following the final race at Hoogerheide.

Mathieu Van der Poel won the men’s finale in the Netherlands, bolting away from the field on the first lap, staying away to the finish, and making himself the obvious favorite for a rainbow jersey at the upcoming UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Tabor.

Cant, like Pauwels, finished fourth to lock up the series title with 246 points. Ellen Van Loy finished second with 204 and Katie Compton rounded out the podium in third with 187.

Laurens Sweeck Wins the U23 World Cup at Hoogerheide, Vanthournhout Takes Overall Title.

Laurens Sweeck came mentally prepared to race against all odds today at the final stage of the World Cup, taking a win over fellow countryman Michael Vanthourenhout and French rider Fabien Doubey.

Vanthourenhout, however, was able to seal the overall win of the World Cup by over 5 points over Sweeck.

Wout van Aert took third overall despite having ridden in the Elite category for multiple rounds.

On the rivet: Interview with “Hollywood” Daniel Holloway.

Daniel Holloway is the reigning U.S. elite men’s crit champion. In 2014 he won his fourth title, so it’s hard to blame it all on luck or good looks. Easily the most dominant crit racer in the U.S., Holloway’s 2014 season was a tour de force that saw him win 21 times, a massive victory haul by any standard.

Tactically savvy and possessing a lethal finishing kick, Holloway is also feared for his ability to ride — and win out of — the break. He’s also a veteran rider of the European six-day circuit, and this week he lines up with some of the best madison racers in the world to contest the 104th Berlin Six-Day.

Daily Distractions.

UCI back tracks on ranking and points system for 2015.

The UCI has confirmed it will back track on the introduction of a new points and ranking system for 2015 after protests from several major teams. The WorldTour ranking system used until 2014 will be kept in place during the 2015 season, while a study of the new rules is carried out.

The UCI's decision was confirmed at the Tour Down Under via the distribution of a letter sent to teams, national federations and race organizers. The letter was signed by UCI President Brian Cookson.

Evans says goodbye to the Tour Down Under.

Before Cadel Evans completed his last ever WorldTour race on Sunday with his third place finish in the Tour Down Under, he was given a reminder of one of the reasons why he will not miss the sport. In the final and sixth stage of the race – a 91km circuit race in Adelaide – he narrowly avoided being caught up in a mass pile up.

The crash happened right behind Evans, who still finished in the front group that fought out the stage, won by Dutchman Wouter Wippert in a sprint. Evans was relieved that he avoided the crash and also hold on to his third place, overall at 20 seconds to Australia winner Rohan Dennis.

Nine things we learned from the Tour Down Under.

"The racing in this year’s Tour Down Under has been as good as I can remember. As always race director Mike Turtur made only subtle changes to the course, but his judgement was again spot on as those subtle changes proved decisive.

Every day we saw something unexpected from the break that stayed away on Stage One to Stage 6, where the world’s premier sprinter Marcel Kittel failed once again to win on a day tailor-made for him.

We learned about both riders and the race."

Mountain bike success for Peta Mullens in Western Australia.

Hot off winning the Australian road title Peta Mullens has claimed victory at the Pemberton round of the Subaru National Mountain Bike Series.

Alongside Mullens, Cameron Ivory secured gold in round three of the Australian series in Pemberton, Western Australia

Sunday’s race was the second leg of a double-header in the idyllic location in the South Western corner of Australia, with riders having to contend with tired legs and a new course.

In an exciting elite Women’s race, Peta Mullens took the win and in the process claimed a rare victory in front of 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Bec Henderson.

Van der Poel solos to Hoogerheide victory.

Mathieu van der Poel showed he is the favorite for next week's World Cyclo-cross Championships in Tabor with a dominate display at home in the Hoogerheide World Cup race.

"It was awesome, really nice," Van der Poel said. "The crowd were screaming and it was really nice."

Bookshelf: The Fast Times of Albert Champion.

With the vast flood of books reaching the Pez library weekly it is always a pleasant surprise to receive something as novel as Peter Joffre Nye’s latest book which, in fact, reads like a novel. It is, to date, the only biography of an extraordinarily interesting individual who made his mark in the boom time when the mad fashion of cycling gave way to the mad fashion of motoring, his feet firmly in both worlds.

Albert Champion: Could anyone be better named than this man, born into poverty in Paris, who was a great professional athlete, a motorcycle dare-devil and a wildly successful American entrepreneur?

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.