Ned and Amanda Win Fat Bike Nationals ...

Mountain biking pioneer Ned Overend, 59, added another national championship to his lengthy palmares Saturday with a win at USA Cycling's first-ever Fat Bike National Championships in Ogden, Utah.

Overend won the Men's Pro Open event in front of Brad Bingham and Travis Brown on a snow-covered 30km course at Powder Mountain Resort.

Overend's results date back to the early 1980s.

He won the Mountain Biking World Championship in 1990 and was a six-time winner of the NORBA Mountain Bike National Championships. Overend has also been the XTERRA World Champion twice, and most recently he was the UCI Masters 55-59 Cyclo-cross champion in 2012.

Pauwels Wins in Middelkerke – Van der Poel Takes 2014-2015 Superprestige Series Title.

Kevin Pauwels took the win at the eighth round of the 2014-2015 Superprestige series in Middelkerke, but it was Mathieu Van der Poel who claimed the series win in  a race that was characterized by numerous technical sections and a constant jockeying for position.

With the top three general classification leaders, Van der Poel, Pauwels and Lars van der Haar separated by a mere five points going into the final race, everything was on the line.

Cant wins North Sea cross.

Sanne Cant  continued her winning ways with another victory at the windy North Sea cross in Middelkerke on Saturday afternoon.

UCI leader, European and Belgian champion Cant won solo ahead of British champion Helen Wyman and young Femke van den Driessche.

The victory in the final Superprestige round was Cant's 22nd victory of the season.

Jacobs Dashes Iserbyt’s Perfect 2014-15 Superprestige Series with a Win at Middelkerke.

Swiss Rider Johan Jacobs won the eighth and final round of the Superprestige at Middelkerke.

Eli Iserbyt, the current Belgian Junior national champion and runner up at the 2015 Cyclocross World Championship in Tabor, was already guaranteed the overall victory of the Superprestige series with an incredible performance of seven wins in a row this season.

An eighth win would have sealed a perfect showing in the series, but Jacobs once again proved himself as a capable underdog.

Kristoff misses out on overall victory in Qatar.

Alexander Kristoff won three stages and the points jersey at the Tour of Qatar, but he was unable to snatch overall victory from Niki Terpstra in the final sprint.

The Norwegian rider had come into the final stage 11 seconds down, and need to do well in the final intermediate sprints and take bonus seconds in the final sprint to take overall vcitory.

Kristoff placed second in the first intermediate sprint to pick up two seconds and give him a chance in the final sprint but he and the Katusha team were shut out in the decisive sprint for victory won by Sam Bennett.

Kristoff was only 19th on the stage.

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 ...

Report: Pantani was killed by a mix of cocaine and anti-depressants.

On the 11th anniversary of the death of Marco Pantani, the Gazzetta dello Sport sports newspaper has suggested that former Giro d'Italia and Tour de France winner died due to the toxic combination of a large dose of cocaine and his anti-depressant medication.

During the summer Gazzetta dello Sport suggested that Pantani could have been murdered and openly supported the private investigation funded by Pantani's parents and aggressively pursued by their lawyer Antonio De Rensis.

This lead to the Rimini police opening a new investigation and the ordering of a review of the autopsy carried out on Pantani's body after his death in 2004.

How Eddy Merckx put the Middle East on the cycling map.

Eddy Merckx’s rule has shifted from the roads of Europe to Qatar, where he created a stage race across the petroleum-rich state in 2002. Yesterday, Dutchman Niki Terpstra won the 14th edition in a close bonus-second battle under the king’s watchful eye.

“I’d say this is more than a classics preparation race,” Merckx said with pride.

“Look at how they raced. You see that guys are racing all out to win the overall. It’s a good preparation, but also a nice race win to have on your palmarès.”

Greg LeMond: The Giro was like a training ride in my day.

Greg LeMond is no stranger to completing Giro d’Italia and Tour de France doubles, but the American insists Alberto Contador will face a stiffer challenge to win both this season than riders did in the eighties.

While LeMond never claimed victory in the Italian race, he started both the Giro and Tour five times in his career, with top-five finishes in both on two occasions.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly at the London Bike Show, the three-time Tour winner admitted the Giro organisers have made their race a lot more difficult since his era, but says Contador’s experience of winning both races individually will give him an advantage in his quest for the double.

Alberto Contador confirms Giro-Tour double … again.

Alberto Contador reconfirmed that he will race both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France this year, but said the Vuelta a España is not on his radar.

“I believe I’ve made it plain that racing the Giro and Tour is our project this season,” Contador said on Radio MARCA. “I have the Giro in mind, and I’ve said it since October, and I don’t have any doubt about that at all.”

Contador’s comments came in reaction to quotes from Sky’s David López, who cast doubts on Contador’s intentions of racing the Giro-Tour double.

Earlier this week, López told MARCA: “Here at Sky, we don’t believe Contador will race the Giro. In the end, he can change his mind. It won’t be the first time that he’s said one thing and done something else.”

News Shorts: BMC announces roster for Oman.

Sagan and Majka will lead Tinkoff in Oman, MTN-Qhubeka sweeps African championships podium.

Cancellara ‘lost motivation’ for hour record.

Sam Bennett wins final stage of Tour of Qatar.

Daily Distractions.

Steve Tilford: It’s all About the Cactus.

As popularity of golf wanes, fund managers bet on cycling.

Forget tee time. These days, you’re more likely to hear business deals discussed over the handlebars of a high-end bicycle than on the fairway, and fund managers are catching on.

As cycling becomes the hobby of choice among wealthy professionals, portfolio managers from firms such as Wasatch, Vanguard and Franklin Templeton have been moving into the shares of companies behind bicycle and bike-component brands such as Cannondale, Specialized, and Trek, whose highest-price models can cost more than $10,000.

Taaramäe wins Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia.

Rein Taaramäe kicked off his 2015 season and his time with the Astana team with an aggressive solo victory at the one-day Vuelta a Murcia race in Spain.

The Estonian rider won alone on the uphill finish after being going across to a mid-race attack.

While his breakaway companions all faded on the hilly race route, he powered clear alone to another attack, opened a two-minute gap and held off the peloton on the climb to the finish at Alto Fortaleza del Sol.

Bauke Mollema finished ten seconds behind Taaramäe, with Zdenek Stybar third in the same time.

Cannondale-Garmin share their Valentine messages.

The Cannondale-Garmin team has shared their Valentine’s Day messages in a light-hearted video from their Mallorca training camp, with the riders sending messages in different languages to their loved ones, family, friends and supporters.

Dan Martin, Nathan Haas, Alan Marangoni, Ted King, Ben King, Sebastian Langeveld, André Cardoso and Joe Dombrowski  took turns wishing the best to their loved ones – girlfriends, wives, moms and even “all the beautiful women in the world.”

Vuelta a Andalucia preview.

It's time for one of the most important build-up weeks of the cycling season, with the next few days offering no less than four stage races that will form a key part of the preparation that shall see classics and stage race riders hit peak condition for the months of March and April.

One of the options for the world's best cyclists is to head to Andalusia for the Ruta del Sol which offers five days of mountainous racing under usually sunny conditions and for its 61st edition, the organizers have attracted an incredible line-up that is led by grand tour stars Alberto Contador and Chris Froome.

Roads to Ride: Col de l’Iseran.

The King of the Alps. Europe’s highest mountain pass is more regal still thanks to the views and its length.

At 48km it is France’s longest climb. Used sparingly by the Tour de France, it’s a big high altitude test in two parts, a busy traffic artery before the calm upper slopes.

Majka, Sagan and Kreuziger lead Tinkoff-Saxo in Oman.

Tinkoff-Saxo joins the clash between grand tour favorites and classics riders at Tour of Oman, the third and final Middle Eastern race of the early season covering six stages.

Proven climber and stage-race talent Rafal Majka will lead the team’s efforts in the general classification, while Peter Sagan, will aim for stage wins coming straight off the back of Tour of Qatar.

The prominent squad is completed by Daniele Bennati, Matti Breschel, Roman Kreuziger, Edward Beltran, Ivan Rovny and Pawel Poljanski.