Sam Bennett wins final stage of Tour of Qatar.

Sam Bennett claimed the finest win of his young career while Niki Terpstra sealed overall victory as the Tour of Qatar drew a close with a breathless finale on Doha’s Corniche on Friday afternoon.

Terpstra began the day with a lead of 6 seconds over Maciej Bodnar and, more pressingly, just 11 seconds over Alexander Kristoff, already the winner of three sprint stages.

Surprisingly, however, Kristoff was nowhere to be seen in a keenly-contested bunch finish, and for the second successive year the overall spoils fell to Terpstra.

Sam Bennett celebrates biggest career win to date in Qatar.

Ireland’s Sam Bennett described his victory in today’s final Tour of Qatar stage as the biggest of his fledgling career to date.

The 24-year-old Bora-Argon 18 rider comfortably got the better of Astana’s Andrea Guardini, a former winner on the Doha Corniche where this afternoon’s race culminated, Nacer Bouhanni and Peter Sagan.

Tour of Qatar news shorts: Victory eludes Sagan in Qatar.

Reguigui sprints to 5th in Doha, Lampre look to Tour of Oman after subpar Tour of Qatar.

Boom disqualified from the Tour of Qatar.

Lars Boom will not finish the Tour of Qatar. The Astana rider finished the fifth stage, but did not start in the sixth and final leg.

The organizers have announced that he has been disqualified for drafting behind a car.

The Dutchman was frustrated. "It's shit. I am still sick and without strength in my legs," he told Biciciclismo just after crossing the finish line on a day when he had suffered in the echelons.

Tour of Oman 2015: Who will win?

The Tour of Oman (February 17-22) affords Grand Tour hopefuls a chance to stretch their legs as they build towards the season’s bigger goals.

With last year’s winner Chris Froome electing to skip the race, the way is clear for a new rider to occupy the top step of the podium.

No time trial stage and a stiff climbing test on stage four of the race to Green Mountain means that the race should allow the climbers to prevail.

Here we pick out some of the front runners and rate their chances.

2014-15 Races & Results.

Tour of Oman 2015 - Feb 17-22 (Stages),

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),

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

Dubai Tour 2015 - Feb 4-7 (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 ...

Cyclocross LIVE stream - 2015 Superprestige CX at Middelkerke.

Livestreams Saturday get underway at 3:45pm CET (9:45am U.S. Eastern, 6:45 PST) with the Elite Men race starting at 4:30pm CET (10:30am U.S. Eastern).

UCI verbally agrees to inaugural La Course by La Vuelta.

Plans for the proposed women’s one-day race held in conjunction with the final stage of the Vuelta a España appear to be moving ahead after the UCI made a verbal agreement with the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) to add it back onto the calendar, according to the Spanish newspaper AS.

Last February, Vuelta a España director Javier Guillén was keen on hosting a one-day women’s event ahead of the finish of the men’s Grand Tour, after the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) announced its plans to host La Course by Le Tour de France.

Sarah Storey: Chasing place in history with UCI hour record.

In terms of concept, it’s one of the most simple in sport. In terms of effort, it’s one of the most brutal.

Cycling’s world hour record requires riders to ride as hard, and as far as possible, in one hour on a track. No tactics, other than pacing strategy. No direct competition, other than the clock.

But when physical effort is factored in, the scale of the task becomes clear. Riders have to go deeper than at any other point in their careers.

Vaughters on Cannondale-Garmin's past and future.

Cancellara ‘lost motivation’ for hour record.

Swiss Fabian Cancellara “lost motivation” to attempt the hour record with the new rules and other targets on the horizon

“The rules changed, and I lost the motivation, let’s be honest,” Cancellara told VeloNews.

“When Bradley will do it and set a record, it’s going to be hard for someone to do it and catch that. His ability on the track is like no one else. He’s fluid.”

The 33-year-old would not rule out an attempt on the hour record, currently set at 52.491 kilometers by Australian Rohan Dennis, but would not put it on his schedule.

Horner's Airgas-Safeway team presented in San Francisco.

Airgas-Safeway finished a week of training in Marin County Thursday night by rolling out its 2015 roster during the official team presentation in San Francisco.

Although 2013 Vuelta a Espana winner Chris Horner was the star of the show, the theme of the night focused on the second-year US Continental team's development mission and its younger riders.

Former pro cyclist John Eustice was the master of ceremonies for the event, which took place at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater, part of the iconic Bay Area landmark that dates back to the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exhibition that celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal.

Quintana to race Tirreno-Adriatico after crash, will miss Ruta del Sol.

Nairo Quintana, banged up after crashing heavily in the Colombian national championships last weekend, will not race the Ruta del Sol as scheduled next week in Spain.

Movistar officials announced Friday that Quintana will return to Europe in March to race Tirreno-Adriatico, and will miss a chance to compete against Alberto Contador and Chris Froome at the Ruta del Sol from February 18-22.

According to media reports in Colombia, Quintana hit the deck about 50 meters from the finish, banging up his back and right arm. Initial medical reports suggest the crash did not affect his right shoulder, which was operated on after crashing out of the Vuelta a España last year.

Farrar pleased with MTN-Qhubeka wildcard for Flanders.

Yesterday the organizers of the Tour of Flanders announced the 8 wildcard teams for the 2015 edition of the race. Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung are delighted to have received an invitation for a second year in succession.

The 264.2km monument, known as the Ronde van Vlaanderen, is the darling race of the Belgian classics. Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung rider, Tyler Farrar, is particularly excited at the teams inclusion in the race.

Wiggins compares difficulty of Paris-Roubaix to moonwalking.

Bradley Wiggins has won the Tour de France and Olympic gold medals, but said winning his last big road race, Paris-Roubaix on April 12, could be as hard as moonwalking.

“I’d love to win Roubaix, and a lot of people are saying it’s a fairy tale ending, but it’s so unpredictable,” the Englishman explained.

“I’d love to moonwalk as well, but sometimes you have to accept you can’t do certain things in life, and I may never win Roubaix.

It won’t be for the lack of trying, same as if I took lessons to try to moonwalk, which I’ll never do to the extent of Michael Jackson.”

Boswell hoping for breakout season during third year with Sky.

Riding for one of the world's top teams can be a double-edged sword for a young rider like Ian Boswell, the 24-year-old American who is in his third year with Team Sky.

On one hand, Boswell benefits from the top-notch organization and support that the team provides, and he's also in a position to soak up the advice and example of some of the best riders in the peloton.

But it can also prove difficult to find his own opportunities to post the results that will make a name for himself on the WorldTour.

Sky: Wiggins is where he needs to be.

Bradley Wiggins has a long way to go if he’s to reach top form for Paris-Roubaix, according to Stephen Roche, who says the Brit’s time trial performance was of particular concern.

In Qatar, as the bikes were being packed onto a trailer for their trip back to Europe, Sky Sports Director Servais Knaven gave his thoughts on a hard-fought race, and the end result.

He added: “Brad is where he need to be. He’s looking strong and has been doing a lot of extra work out here before and after the racing.

“It’s been a good training block for him and he’s grown in stature as the race has gone on. This was a big step in terms of his preparations for the Classics, and we’re only two weeks away now.

“He’ll continue to build up his training over the next fortnight and we’ll do some reconnaissance work to make sure he’s ready for the races.”

Will this game-changing freehub ever make it to market?

Remember the Belgian man attempting to reinvent the wheel? Well, that man is Jan Deckx and Cycling Weekly managed to catch-up with him at the London Bike Show to talk about his innovative free hub system and see it for ourselves.

Deckx, from Antwerp, likes to design, invent and build things in his workshop to fit with his passion for cycling.

He’s invented and patented the ‘D-Fix’ rear hub system, an innovation which attaches the cassette to the wheel and means that the wheel can be removed separately, leaving the cassette behind.

The inventor highlights several advantages that he believes his free hub design provides over current systems, though he continues to tweak and improve it.

WADA, UCI await decision in Operación Puerto appeal.

Daily Distractions.

Video: GenZe Sport Electric Bike.

Lance Armstrong treated unfairly, says former team-mate Sean Yates.

Former Discovery Channel and Team Sky sporting director Sean Yates tells BBC South East Today that disgraced cyclist and former team-mate Lance Armstrong has been unfairly treated.

American Armstrong, 43, was stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles and banned from sport for life by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) in August 2012 following a doping scandal.

Yates says Armstrong was "a stand-out figure" who was "hunted down" and "took the brunt of the blame" in the drugs scandal of 2012.

Top Ride: Climbing Il Mortirolo.

"Over a lifetime of cycling the roads of our sport, a few stand out: the fun ones, the beautiful ones, and the brutal ones – where you suffer like you never knew possible.

Riding your bike up the Mortirolo in Northern Italy is all three, and ranks up there with the Stelvio and Gavia as epic climbs one must do.

I’ve ridden this beast twice up the traditional Giro side from Mazzo, and driven it once up a different route from the same side.

The descent down to Edolo is almost as tough as the climb up (especially in the rain), and the Mortirolo will feature again in the 2015 Giro d’Italia, using a new route that’s being paved just for the occasion.

And yes, it’s supposed to be just as tough with 10+km at over 10% average grade. As one of the toughest climbs I’ve ever drone, it’s also one of the few that I’d go do agaiin."

News shorts: Merckx backs Contador's Giro-Tour double.

Tour de France's second stage finalized, IAM to Oman, Boom busted.

Steegmans sub-plot adds intrigue to Classics campaign.

Whether Gert Steegmans proves to be a successful signing for the Classics remains to be seen but the Belgian’s controversial move from QuickStep to Trek Factory Racing could be one of the most interesting sub-plots of this year’s campaign.

Steegmans fell out with QuickStep during last year’s national championships when his trade team decided to chase down a late move he was involved with in order to set up a sprint for Tom Boonen. The tactic spectacularly back-fired as Boonen missed out and Steegmans angrily lamented his team’s decision afterwards.

UCI to stream live footage from onboard cameras at track worlds.

The UCI will stream live footage from onboard cameras during select events at next week’s track world championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, the governing body announced Friday.

The event will mark the UCI’s first attempt at live streaming onboard footage, and is born of a partnership with Infront/HBS, a broadcast organization.

In order to ensure fairness, every rider’s bike will be equipped with the same camera and transmission equipment, in the events selected for live streaming. The cameras will be fixed under racers’ saddles, capturing footage pointing backward.

Here Come The Young, Hungry Sprinters.

A generation ago, the peloton’s best sprinters were still winning big races in their mid-30s, including classics, stages of grand tours and world titles.

Mario Cipollini had his best year at age 35 when he won Milan-San Remo and the rainbow jersey.

Oscar Freire was 34 when he won at San Remo for the third time. Robbie McEwen took Paris-Brussels and Hamburg’s Vattenfall Cyclassics at 36.

And Erik Zabel was 35 when he won his final classic, Paris-Tours.

That’s not the case anymore. When, at age 25, Marcel Kittel broke through at the Tour de France two years ago, the pundits started writing about the demise of Mark Cavendish.

Cav was 28 at the time, hardly a geriatric.

At that same Tour, Peter Sagan won the sprinters’ green jersey at age 23—and repeated last year (but without winning a single stage).

Perfect Flow.

San Francisco cyclist and yoga instructor Pat Bailey frequently can be found snapping selfies as she twists like a pretzel in surprising places, often with a bike.

Those eye-catching poses have inspired a devoted and sizeable Instagram following—70K and counting—and helped Bailey, who pedals her road, mountain, and cruiser bikes all over the Bay Area, realize that yoga is a lot like cycling.

"When you're climbing slowly, breathing in that sweet pine air, and you're focused on watching the trail and being on your bike," she says, "that's yoga." Who knew the two had so much in common?

Five-a-side: This week's new bike gear.

This week's selection includes Giordana, Easton, POC, Maya and more
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