CyclingFans: Cavendish, Renshaw, Greipel, Farrar, Galimzyanov et al join in the fun Sunday in Belgium. Race starts at 11:55am CET (5:55am U.S. Eastern). Finish at around 4:30pm CET (10:30am U.S. Eastern). Live video from 2:00pm CET (8:00am U.S. Eastern).

PodiumCafe: Sep Vanmarcke from Garmin-Barracuda opened his account for the season -- and maybe for the start of a dramatic career turn -- with a clinical victory at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in Gent, Belgium today.

VeloNation: Former Dutch champion outsprints compatriot Ellen van Dijk in women’s European season opener.

VeloNation: Omega Pharma-Quick Step Classics captain positive about form ahead of the big races to come; will go for a third Kuurne victory tomorrow.

CyclingNews: Races & Results.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite Men (Results),
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite Women (Results),
Le Tour de Langkawi (Stages & results),
Women's Tour of New Zealand (Stages & results),
Vuelta a Andalucia (Stages & results),
Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (Start list),
Rutas de América (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California (Stages ),
More...

VeloNation: American rider gives his thoughts in post-stage reaction.

"It’s February in Colorado. Today, it’s in the high 50s but the wind is hurricane force. There’s a branch in my driveway as big as my Subaru. I just watched an empty trash can speeding down the street going at least 35 miles per hour."

Boulder Report: Neither Hushovd nor Gilbert will race Sunday’s KBK. That’s a little curious on Hushovd’s part as KBK is more of a sprinters’ race than Omloop. It has hills but not nearly as many as the Omloop’s numerous hellingen. But they’ll share the team lead Saturday even as both play down their ambitions.

VeloNation: World time trial champion now just eleven seconds behind Kristin Armstrong.

Sunday's Tour de Langkawi Stage 3 departs Melaka at 10:00am local (3:00am CET, 9:00pm U.S. Eastern Saturday) and is expected at the finish at Parit Sulong at around 2:22pm local (7:22am CET, 1:22am U.S. Eastern).

David Zabriskie (Garmin-Barracuda) retains his overall lead.

VeloNation: Yellow passes from one US rider to another as the peloton sits up.

VeloNation: American in zany humor as yellow jersey defence continues.

CyclingNews: Andrea Guardini has found the way to success again at Le Tour de Langkawi where he launched his career as a sprinter with five stage wins on Malaysian soil last year, but a question arose after the opening 20.3km time trial: has Jose Rujano (Androni-Venezuela) already won the overall title, given that he recorded the fifth fastest time and only conceded nine seconds to the other race favorite Tom Danielson?

VeloNation: Rising British star remains hungry after latest wins.

Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) enters the record books as the victor of the 2011 Giro d’Italia following Alberto Contador’s suspension, but he has admitted that he does not feel like the winner of the race.

The Daily Distraction.

CyclingNews: The Italian was training with his teammate Marco Coledan and three riders from the UC Trevigiani under 23 team – Mattia Mosole, Massimo Coledan and Andrea Dal Col – when a motorist passing the opposite direction fired plastic pellets at the riders. None of the five were seriously injured, although Marco Coledan and Mosole were struck by pellets.

CyclingNews: The future of the Tour of the Basque Country and the Clasica San Sebastian is at risk as the autonomous Basque government has been unable to sustain its commitment to funding the races.

Today's Quote

“Where are those who have ridden with Ricco now? Those who were with him then, where are they now? In this world of sharks, nobody, nobody is there. Mercy and love are words we are taught as children. We must give him strength and we must reach out for him. I want him to remember the good of cycling. It will not be easy, because he is still wearing the badge and thinking of riding and of revenge."  -  Mario Cipollini CyclingNews

RBAction: Take 16 minutes out of your to life to be a better cyclist by watching this video...

SBS: Australian cyclist Shara Gillow is five seconds from the lead in the Tour of New Zealand after a dramatic shakeup of the overall standings in stage four, ahead of today's fifth and final 119km stage at Palmerston North.

BikeRadar: "We've just received BH’s new road bike, the Ultralight, for a long-term test. True to its name, the frame weighs just 807g/1.78lb on our scale (small size, with seat binder, derailleur hanger and bottle cage bolts)."

road.cc: How entrepreneur Will Meister bounced back from the dotcom bust to surf the wave of the fixed gear scene...

BikeRumor: Lezyne’s Pressure Drive mini pump is a CNC aluminum mini pump that claims to go to 120psi. The overlapping barrel and handle with a detacheable threaded hose makes for a compact package that easily slides into even the smallest hydration pack. It even does well inside a jersey pocket.

InnerRing: The season started in January, collarbones have been snapped already. We’ve had racing in the Middle-East and the shores of the Mediterranean too. But this weekend marks the start of racing in Belgium and the intensity of the racing goes up and the quality of the road surface goes down.