Evans in top 50 highest paid Australian sportspeople list.

New professional cyclist Caleb Ewan has been flagged as one "to watch" as a contender for Australia's list of highest paid sports stars by the Fairfax Media site BRW.com.au ('Business Review Weekly') in its Top 50 sports earners for last year.

In the latest list, the only cyclist who made the top 50 was 2011 Tour de France champion Cadel Evans who retired at age 37 after placing fifth in the his eponymous Great Ocean Road Race at Geelong, Victoria in Australia on February 1.

Evans, estimated as having earned AUD 2.5 million last year, was the only cyclist in the top 50.

Guardini strikes first at the Tour of Oman.

Andrea Guardini took his first victory of the 2015 season at the Tour of Oman, beating Tom Boonen and Matteo Pelucchi on the slightly uphill sprint in Al Wutayyah near the capital Muscat.

Alexander Kristoff was fifth, with Peter Sagan seventh and Sam Bennett eighth.

Mistake costs Boonen Tour of Oman stage victory.

Tom Boonen was visibly frustrated after seeing victory slip from his grasp after a mistimed sprint on stage one of the Tour of Oman.

The discussions with his Etixx-QuickStep teammates were animated as they dissected the race minutes after crossing the finish line, trying to establish what had gone wrong.

Boonen led the sprint but was forced to concede defeat to Astana’s Andrea Guardini, who overhauled him in the last 50 metres after Boonen faded.

“I'm disappointed because we did a lot of work in the final, but my feelings are really good," said Boonen at the finish after taking some time to compose his thoughts before he spoke to the media. “We had done good work in the previous five kilometers for the sprint and I was strong.”

Guardini: Tour of Oman win means more than the others.

After knocking on the door throughout the Dubai Tour and the Tour of Qatar, Andrea Guardini finally broke it down at the Tour of Oman to take his first win of the season and one that could yet prove to be crucial.

At the end of this season, Guardini will be looking to pen a new deal with Astana for 2016 and he hopes that the win will help when it comes to negotiations with the team.

"My contract is expiring at the end of the year, so this is good.

In the first two years I won little so it's important to show myself," Guardini said at the finish of stage one.

"It's the result that I was hoping for already in Qatar, it means more to me than the others, after the second places it shows that I'm in good form."

American Carter Jones makes WorldTour debut at Tour of Oman.

Carter Jones began his first season in the top ranks Tuesday at the Tour of Oman, where he will help Giant-Alpecin teammate Warren Barguil and race alongside Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali.

“I’m nervous,” Jones told VeloNews while changing next to the Bayt Al Naman’s castle.

“I haven’t raced since September, at the Bucks County Classic in the U.S., and now it hits me that every race I do this year is going to be at the same level as the biggest races I did last year, if not higher. This is the biggest race of my life so far, and it’s only February.”

Jones won the Tour of the Gila and placed eighth in the Amgen Tour of California to earn a spot on the German WorldTeam. Besides stars Barguil, Marcel Kittel, and John Degenkolb, he joined Americans Caleb Fairly, Chad Haga, and Lawson Craddock.

Horner considering cyclo-cross campaign.

Airgas-Safeway's Chris Horner told Cyclingnews last week that he'd like to compete in some cyclo-cross races next fall now that he is racing domestically in the US.

"I'm working it out with Marin Bikes right now to set up some 'cross stuff, and we'll see how much Airgas-Safeway as a whole, because I think there are a few kids who do it, too, wants to get involved,” Horner said.

The Road to Rio: The Americans.

Men’s bike racing has been a part of the Summer Olympic Games since the 1896 Summer Olympics, at which a road race and several track events were held.

Women’s cycling events however weren’t added until the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, California, USA,  where there was a single road race, won by American Connie Carpenter.

Women’s track racing events were added in 1988.

Men’s and women’s mountain bike and BMX racing were added only fairly recently, in 1996 and 2008 respectively.

Fun fact: the 2012 Summer Olympics in London marked the first Games with an equal number of cycling events for men and women.

2014-15 Races & Results.

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

Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol - Feb 18-22 (Stages),

Women's Tour of New Zealand - Feb 18-22 (Stages),

Volta ao Algarve - Feb 19-23 (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 ...

Trofeo Laigueglia preview.

The early part of the Italian season may no longer be as rich as it once was but one big event has survived and is growing.

The Trofeo Laigueglia has always been an important early event on the Italian calendar and with an upgraded UCI category, a stellar field and initial plans for TV coverage on Italian television, the 2015 edition seems to be bigger than ever.

Viviani looks to end Italian drought at Track Worlds.

Elia Viviani will try to bridge an 18-year gap for Italian cycling when he lines up in the omnium at this week’s UCI Track World Championships at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on the outskirts of Paris, though he faces stiff opposition from a number of contenders, including Fernando Gaviria.

Remarkably, Italy has not claimed a men’s world title on the track since 1997, when Silvio Martinello won the points race and the azzurri won the team pursuit in Perth.

Tour of Oman 2015 Live Dashboard.

Wednesday's Tour of Oman Stage 2 departs Al Hazm Castle at 10:35am local (7:35am CET, 1:35am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Al Bustan at around 3:31pm local (12:31pm CET, 6:31am U.S. Eastern). 

Tour of Oman live video streaming is possible.

Roadtripping Cairns.

"We quickly moved beyond the introductory chatter to discuss our hopes and our dreams and our fears.

We shared our stories, connected easily because of our common passion.

Together we pushed boundaries and redefined limits. As the kilometers ticked by, friendships deepened."

Lance Armstrong’s Ugly Detour From Road to Redemption.

Lance Armstrong once told me that it would take maybe six months to a year for him to rebuild his reputation after he admitted lying to the world about his drug use.

He said his plan was to keep a low profile and quietly earn back public trust, partly by apologizing to the people he had stepped on or, in some cases, tried to destroy.

Armstrong, who in 2012 was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, seemed proud of his blueprint to restore his image.

He said it would show that he was a good person who had been forced to dope because everyone else was doing it.

The plan might have worked — if he had bothered to follow it.

When Does The Season Start?

It’s hard to know where to look this week with racing on so many fronts.

Almost all the stars of the pro peloton will be visible this week whether in Oman, Andalucia or the Algarve plus more racing in Italy and France too.

There’s a regular refrain that the season only starts with the Het Nieuwsblad, Tirreno-Adriatico or Paris-Nice.

Reality, snobbism or just different viewpoints?

The obvious answer is that the season starts in January with the Tour Down Under and the Tour of San Luis.

But it’s not so simple because only a proportion of the pro peloton gets going in January. There are 474 riders on World Tour teams but only 119 started the Tour Down Under so if the season had started, many had not started their season.

Reporter’s notebook: Why race in the desert?

A column of lactate-filled echelons sandblasts across a massive highway, each diagonal strip of color bursting against shades of beige.

It’s brutal, windy, and mostly flat, with few fans and fewer climbs.

The Dubai Tour and its Gulf-region siblings, the Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman, have in short order become staples of the winter season, bridging the gap between the WorldTour opener in Australia and the first major European races. They are incongruous contests in incongruous places; no more organic to cycling than these gleaming host cities are to the pale deserts they’ve sprung out of.

And yet the riders come. Why?

For the sun.

Optum opens European swing in Algarve.

Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies begins an six-week European swing battling against the big boys in the five-day Volta ao Algarve starting Wednesday.

The American Continental team will also be hitting some other races in Portugal throughout March, capping their latest European foray with the Volta ao Alentejo on March 25-29.

The team has been competitive in previous trips to Portugal, but they know they will be facing stiff competition at the Algarve tour that includes eight WorldTour-level teams.

“We know we can be competitive in the [UCI categorized] .2 races on our schedule,” said performance director Jonas Carney in a team release. “However, the Volta ao Algarve is a different level. We will be up against roughly eight World Tour teams. We’ll approach it much the way we approach the tours of California, Colorado, Utah, or Alberta. It’s important for the team to work together, be aggressive, take chances, and seize opportunities.”

Froome: My preparation for 2015 Tour started when I crashed out in 2014.

After two years of winning his debut race of the season in the Tour of Oman, Team Sky's Chris Froome has decided to change his routine and instead start 2015 at the Vuelta a Andalucia on Wednesday.

He was in a decidedly upbeat mood prior to tackling his first event of the year, to the point where he did not rule out going for the top spot overall.

Froome last raced the Vuelta a Andalucia in 2011, finishing 50th, but with so many races in the interim he couldn't recall any details of how he performed then, “It’s all blurred into one,” he said.

His victories in Oman in 2013 and 2014, though, are much fresher in his mind, as are his reasons for changing to Andalucia, which runs concurrently with Oman, as his debut race for 2015.

Volta ao Algarve 2015 Live Dashboard.

This race has been broadcast live in previous years but not last year.

Check back for 2015 live coverage options.

Basso ready for Tinkoff-Saxo debut Ruta del Sol.

Ivan Basso will make his Tinkoff-Saxo debut this week at the Vuelta a Andalucía Ruta Ciclista Del Sol riding in support of Alberto Contador.

The 37-year-old, who's last race was the Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli on October 12, returns to the Ruta del Sol for just the second time in his career and 13 years after making his debut.

"Since the moment I joined Tinkoff-Saxo, my ambition has been to reach the start of the season with all forces available to provide my best for the team," Basso said. "I'm very happy to kick off the season by the side of our extraordinary captain, Alberto Contador.

2015 Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol LIVE.

Wednesday's Vuelta a Andalucia/Ruta del Sol Stage 1b, an 8.2km Individual Time Trial at Coria del Rio, gets underway at 4:30pm CET (10:30am U.S. Eastern) with the departure of the first rider. 

Ruta del Sol live streaming video should get underway at around 4:30pm CET (10:30am U.S. Eastern, 7:30am PST).

Dekker on track for Hour Record attempt.

Thomas Dekker will become the third rider to attempt the Hour Record this year on February 25 in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Former teammate Rohan Dennis broke the record of 51.852 kilometers set by Matthias Brändle on February 8 when he rode a distance of 52.491 kilometers in sixty minutes in Switzerland.

Dekker, who is without a contract for 2015, is hoping the advantage of attempting the record at altitude in Mexico will help him set a new record. Eddy Merckx set the Hour Record benchmark of 49.431km in Mexico in 1972.

Ridley X-Bow 20 Disc Allroad.

BikeRadar verdict: 3 out of 5 stars. "An appealing and flexible ride that's annoyingly marred by poor attention to detail."

Trek Powerfly FS+ electric mountain bike.

The Powerfly FS+ uses a Bosch pedal assist system, paired to a 120mm travel, 27.5in-wheeled frame.

The Powerfly will be offered in three build levels.

Where the Powerfly differs from other full suspension e-bikes is that the motor has a custom mount and case, which allow the use of shorter chainstays and a lower shock mounting.

This gives what Trek believes is class-leading handling.

Armstrong to refuse to comply with SCA Promotions award?

Racing for WorldTour points creates chaos where there should be order.

L'Eroica comes to California with planned April event.

Daily Distractions.

BikeSnobNYC: Change of Venue.

Toolbox: Faster Race Finishes.

US Postal doping affair: CAS sets dates for cases involving Bruyneel, Martí and Celaya.

It’s been a full eight months since WADA announced that it would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in an attempt to secure longer bans from cycling for former US Postal manager Johan Bruyneel and two team staff. A date has now been set for that legal battle.

CAS released a list on Tuesday updating the dates of pending cases across a number of sports, and has named March 2 as the start point for three related appeals.

The first two are attempts by Johan Bruyneel and José ‘Pepe’ Martí to have their bans reduced.

The third is a bid by WADA to have those bans increased, and also to have an eight year ban handed down to former team doctor Pedro Celaya lengthened.

Merckx: Hour Record and Paris-Roubaix success would make Wiggins a complete champion.

Eddy Merckx believes that Bradley Wiggins would be a complete champion should the British Tour de France winner secure titles in Paris-Roubaix and the Hour Record.

Wiggins is targeting the Classics this spring before ending his WorldTour career with Team Sky. Paris-Roubaix forms the cornerstone of his cobbled ambitions as he looks to step down from the top of professional road racing with a Monument win.

Cancellara still focused on winning as career clock ticks.

At 33 years old Fabian Cancellara is aware that time is running out in his cycling career.

"The young ones are still writing the first chapters of their book. My book is almost finished. This pressure, to write history, is my personal pressure and motivation."

Despite having a palmares to make most riders envious with seven Monuments, seven Tour de France stages and four world titles, the Swiss rider is still chasing more.

“According to me, I haven’t won enough last year, so I really have to focus on what’s the most important to me,” Cancellara told Trekfactoryracing.com.

“The only ambition I have now when I start a race is to win, and I’ll do anything for that. If I feel that I can win a stage here or there, I will go for it. Of course, everything can happen whether it’s a technical problem or a crash, but we always try to deal with these risks.”

Warren Barguil’s Tour year begins in Oman.

With his debut in the Tour de France on the horizon, Giant-Alpecin’s rising grand tour star Warren Barguil is starting the Tour of Oman for the first time.

“It’s been a really long wait until now,” Barguil said ahead of stage 1.

“Some people can be really strong during the winter, train well and be really good in the first race, but I need to see. I have no comparison, so I don’t know where I am.”

The 23-year-old Frenchman showed his capacities in the grand tours in the last two years in the Vuelta a España. In 2013, he won the Castelldefels and Formigal stages, the second a mountaintop finish ahead of Rigoberto Urán. Though he failed to win a stage in 2014, he placed eighth overall.

Marcel Kittel will not ride Milan-San Remo.

Marcel Kittel will not ride Milan-San Remo (March 22) this year so that John Degenkolb can lead team Giant-Alpecin.

Kittel was the 2014 Tour de France’s most successful sprinter with four stage wins but has never raced in Milan-San Remo, which has a reputation of favoring sprinters.

When asked whether he’d take part in the Italian classic, Kittel said: “Not Milan-San Remo because mainly John is the leader for the race, that’s how the team decision is.

I don’t know if I can win, I’ve never done it.”

PEZ Talk: David Mckenzie.

David McKenzie put the Linda McCartney team firmly on the map with a stage win in the 2000 Giro d’Italia, life was looking good for the team and for the man from Ballarat.

With the promise of a bigger and better McCartney team in 2001 all was rosy… then reality.

No sponsors and no money.

The man who gave the team it’s greatest success, with a Giro stage win was Australian Mckenzie, but nowadays he’s on the Media side of the fence as a broadcaster with Australian TV.

 

Santa Cruz re-launches Stigmata ’cross bike.

“What’s old is new again” is not a cliché that applies to the Santa Cruz Stigmata CC. Well, except for its name.

“Naming bikes is a process. Seriously, it takes months of circular emails being sent. It’s so much easier to name a new bike after an old one,” said Santa Cruz’s COO, Joe Graney.

The new Santa Cruz Stigmata CC, is a rekindled name for the California brand, and it’s in the same genre of bikes, though when the Stigmata cyclocross bike was cut from the Santa Cruz line-up in 2012, it had Easton EA6X aluminum tubes, handmade in Portland, Oregon, and was only available with cantilever brakes.

It was on the verge of being an obsolete bike, with carbon ’cross bikes becoming commonplace, and the debate over discs reaching a head.

A Little Yonkers Goes A Long Way.

"I refuse to ride inside.  Spinning away on a trainer while watching TV?  Please. 

When I ride a bike I do it outside, when I watch TV I do it on the couch with a beer.

If you’re going to do something, do it right.

Of course, this being February in New York, conditions can often be more conducive to watching TV on the couch than to riding outside, so when I see a decent weather window I jump right through it like I just dropped LSD and I’m convinced I can fly."

2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships LIVE - Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France.

The 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, are being held February 18-22. 

There will be live streams.  Details to come.

Best new bikes from the London Bike Show.

There was certainly plenty to see at the London Bike Show last weekend.

Here's the first part of our look at some of the best bikes on show.

Q&A: Chris Horner on swapping the WorldTour for Airgas-Safeway.

PEZ: EuroTrash ‘Cav’ Monday!