Rojas wins opening stage at Tour of Qatar.

José Joaquin Rojas won the opening stage of the Tour of Qatar with a well-timed sprint at Sealine Beach Resort that saw him fend off the challenges of Tom Boonen and Arnaud Démare.

Boonen and Sagan crash mid-race in Tour of Qatar opener.

Tom Boonen survived a scare on stage 1 of the Tour of Qatar after crashing with rival Peter Sagan. The Belgian was unhurt and managed to finish second to José Joaquin Rojas in a chaotic sprint on a day that was marked by consistent headwinds and fraught nerves.

“It was a messy day with the headwind and everyone had the nerves even though they knew the headwind conditions would keep it together,” Boonen told Cyclingnews at the finish.

Jungels wins Étoile de Bessèges in final time trial.

Stage and GC for Luxembourg rider.

Riis: Contador is the best I've ever seen.

Alberto Contador may be out of contract at the end of the season but Tinkoff-Saxo manager Bjarne Riis has no intention of letting his star pupil go as the pair plot their course for the Giro d’Italia–Tour de France double, with the Dane calling Contador the ‘best rider he has ever seen.’

Contador is currently building up to his season debut, which will take place later this month at the Ruta del Sol. From there he will tackle Tirreno-Adriatico before lining up at the Giro d’Italia.

“He’s training well and he’s doing well. The preparation has been great and he’ll be ready to race at Ruta,” Riis told Cyclingnews at the Tour of Qatar, where he is currently directing his other star rider, Peter Sagan.

2014-15 Races & Results.

Tour of Qatar 2015 - Feb 8-13 (Stages & Results),

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

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

Vuelta a España 2015 - Aug 22-Sept 13 (Stages),

UCI Road World Championship 2015 - Sept 20-27 (Stages),

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

Ladies Tour of Qatar 2015 - Feb 3-6 (Results),

UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships - Jan 31-Feb 1 (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 ...

Dubai Tour aiming for a place in the WorldTour.

The organizers of the Dubai Tour have confirmed that they would like to see the race in the UCI WorldTour in 2017, when the major reforms to the race calendars are due to be introduced. The Dubai Tour could fill a gap in the WorldTour calendar between the Tour Down Under in January and Paris-Nice.

Dubai has the wealth to cover the cost of the race, with the prize money for a golf or tennis tournament enough to pay for the whole race.

Dubai uses the race to promote cycling as a sport and a form of transport and to promote Dubai globally as a holiday and business destination.

Tour of Qatar 2015 Live Dashboard.

Stage 2 start time: Monday 11:25 AST (12:25 AM PST);
Earliest live video: 15:15 AST (4:15 AM PST);
Estimated finish: 16:13 AST (5:13:00 AM PST).

Mark Cavendish bounces back in Dubai, wins finale, takes overall.

Mark Cavendish won the Dubai Tour after outsprinting his rivals to claim Saturday’s fourth and final stage.

John Degenkolb took the overall lead from the 29-year-old Isle of Man rider on Friday, leaving him four seconds down.

But Cavendish bounced back to seal the victory after beating Elia Viviani and Juan Jose Lobato in the closing 128km stage for his second stage win of the week.

Before they could fight it out at the finish Etixx and Giant had to chase down a five-man break, which they overhauled 10km from the line.

Viviani disappointed not to win on his birthday at the Dubai Tour.

Videos ...

Rohan Dennis sets new Hour Record.

Rohan Dennis has set a new Hour Record of 52.491 kilometres after he comfortably overhauled Matthias Brändle’s existing mark by more than 600 meters.

Brändle’s record stood at 51.85 kilometers before Dennis started but it was immediately clear that he had designs not only on beating the Austrian but on establishing a mark that could withstand the attempts of Bradley Wiggins et al later in the year.

Matthias Brandle says hour record made a name for him, brought respect.

Matthias Brändle saw his hour record surpassed by Rohan Dennis Sunday, but his mark and reign changed his career.

“I’m looking the stage finish of the Tour of Qatar. If I get back in time from stage 1, I’ll watch it live on the internet, otherwise, I’ll re-watch a recording,” Brändle told VeloNews.

“I’m happy that I’ve been able to keep hold of the record for three months now. It gave me a lot of publicity, and continues to do so. It helped me make a name for myself around the world and gained me respect in the peloton.”

The 25-year-old Austrian arrived in Qatar’s capital city of Doha on Friday to begin his 2015 season. The 2014 season ended in Aigle, Switzerland, at cycling’s headquarters where he rode 51.852km in 60 minutes.

Wiggins will not underestimate Hour Record Challenge.

Bradley Wiggins says he will not underestimate the magnitude of attempting the Hour Record after learning of Rohan Dennis’ successful ride on Sunday.

Dennis set a record of 52.491 kilometres at the Grenchen velodrome in Switzerland, surpassing the previous best of 51.852 kilometres set by Mattias Brändle last year.

Wiggins has set a date in June to attempt the Hour Record but is under no illusions how hard the effort will be.

Belletti wins Italian season opener.

Manuel Belletti got his career as a Southeast rider off to the best possible start when he won his first race in his new colors, the GP Costa degli Etruschi.

In the Italian season opener, he survived the two passages of the Torre Sagalari climb before he beat Davide Vigano and Niccolo Bonifazio in a sprint from a 30-rider group.

No Apologies from Cyclocross Legend Roland Liboton: Losing his Job After Critiquing Nys, Belgian Squad.

“Why do we go to Tabor, why do all those Belgian fans bother to go there? They are just not worth it. What I’m saying is maybe hard, but I’m really frustrated after this World Championship.”

This is what Roland Liboton had to say to Het Nieuwsblad last Monday on the performance of the Belgian squad in Tabor.

Liboton, one of the most successful cyclocross riders of the 1980’s and a member of the Belgian Cycling Federation (he approved courses for the federation), had even more pointed and detailed complaints of his country’s showing at the 2015 World Championships.

The Belgian Cycling Federation took action on his unabashed comments, mostly due to the heavy critique of Nys’ performance. According to Het Nieuwsblad, Liboton was first given a message through email then by phone: he needed to publicly apologize to Nys.

Liboton refused.

Lanterne Rouge by Max Leonard.

There is drama and intrigue to be found throughout the Tour de France, and this book opens our eyes to the end of the race that is often ignored: the cameras are rarely there, and the commentators are focussed on the battle for the lead.

It "flips the Tour de France on its head and examines what these stories tell us about ourselves, the 99% who don't win the trophy, and forces us to re-examine the meaning of success, failure, and the very nature of sport."

Although someone has always finished last in the Tour de France, the author's research shows that the name Lanterne Rouge was not used until 1919 – which also happens to be the first year that the Yellow Jersey was used.

The term is derived from the red lantern that was hung on the back of a train to confirm that all carriages were present and connected.

Theuns wins Etoile de Bessèges.

Mathieu van der Poel, Sanne Cant win Bpost Bank Trofee finale in Lille.

Daily Distractions.

Podcast: 2015 Episode 1 – Happy Birthday Pauline.

Cameron Meyer wins the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, Patrick Bevin takes the final stage.

Cameron Meyer has successfully defended his overall lead in the 2015 Jayco Herald Sun Tour, finishing second on the hill-top finish to Arthurs Seat on the final day of the race.

Patrick Bevin won the stage ahead of Meyer and his teammate Simon Clarke, the winner of last year’s race.

The result sees Bevin finish second overall, 11 seconds behind Meyer and eight seconds ahead of Joe Cooper, Bevin’s teammate and fellow New Zealander..

No opposition for Cant in Hoogstraten.

Sanne Cant dominated the penultimate round of the Superprestige cyclo-cross series in Hoogstraten, Belgium. Cant won ahead of British champion Helen Wyman and Jolien Verschueren. It was the 21st win for Cant this season.

“Never before I had so many wins. Also the Superprestige went great. Only in Franchorchamps I wasn’t able to win and in Diegem I was ill. In all other rounds I won,” Cant said.

Mathieu van der Poel wins Superprestige round in Hoogstraten.

Mathieu van der Poel won the penultimate round of the 2014-15 Superprestige series at Hoogstraten in Belgium.

The freshly anointed world champion got off to his usual swift start, chased by Kevin Pauwels and Lars van der Haar.

Van der Poel began the day with a one-point edge over Pauwels and two over van der Haar, and he set about defending his series lead from the front, quickly building an advantage on the very first lap.

Sven Nys had something of a rough start to the day, crashing on a muddy straight but quickly remounting.

Uran wins Colombian time trial title.

Rigoberto Uran claimed his first ever professional win in his home country when he landed the Colombian time trial title in Rionegro in his home department of Antioquia on Saturday afternoon.

Uran’s last medal in the Colombian time trial championships dated all the way back to April 2007, when – then at Unibet – he took silver behind Santiago Botero in Neiva.

Peter Sagan: Expectation to ‘win one or two’ Classics.

Peter Sagan began racing with new team Tinkoff-Saxo today in the Tour of Qatar with expectations high in the upcoming classics.

“We have high expectations this year, but we will see because we are talking about races, cycling, and he’s a human being,” Russian team owner Oleg Tinkov said.

“I hope he’s going to win two or three classics. If he doesn’t, I’ll be very disappointed, but I’m not going to kill him!”

Tinkov laughed, but since he is paying Sagan €4m a year then he might want something in return. He signed Sagan over the winter from team Cannondale, which was closing its doors, for three years.

Bookshelf: Kittel’s Vittles Revealed in Tour de Cuisine!

It is said that Tour de France cyclists consume quantities of food during the event second only to sumo wrestlers in training: 11,000 calories per day for the former, 14,000 for the latter.

But while sumos are famous for their vats of greasy soup, an innovative new book suggests that pro cyclists are in reality a pretty sophisticated bunch when it comes to noshing.

2015 marks the appearance of a new German UCI Pro Continental team, BORA-Argon 18. With new name sponsors it is actually the successor to the NetApp-Endura squad and like its predecessor has received a wild card invitation to the Tour de France, hoping in 2015 to match the results of last year when the team showed it deserved to be included among the elite of the sport.

Steve Tilford: Walked 20 + Miles – Umbrellas are Valueless in Seattle.

Caleb Ewan claims back-to-back wins at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour.

Caleb Ewan has secured his second consecutive stage win in the 2015 Jayco Herald Sun Tour, sprinting to victory in Nagambie on stage 3 ahead of Tyler Farrar and Steele von Hoff.

Ewan came into the final corner (the same finishing corner as yesterday’s stage) further from the front than he did 24 hours earlier, but the 20-year-old was still about to get the result he was after.