VeloNews: This weekend begins the final set of preparation races before the spring classics with Saturday’s running of the Monte Paschi Strade Bianche, Sunday’s start to Paris-Nice, and Tuesday’s opening of Tirreno Adriatico.

CyclingNews: The Merco Cycling Classic returned from the brink of extinction after the exit of title sponsor McLane, thanks to a new partnership with Mercy Medical Center Merced and the Merco Credit Union. Racing got underway with the elite men's four-day stage with an 82-mile road race.

VeloNation: Fourth in 2012 brings Italian’s tally up to nine victories.

Iʼve mentioned this hill-climb before, but permit me to drone on. Itʼs a 90km beast of an event that lives in central Taiwan, and goes from a sleepy town that goes by the name of Hualien, meanders through the rather magnificent Taroko Gorge amidst and sometimes through enormous slabs of ancient rock so delightful that entices riders even mid-race to utter ʻooh wow!ʼ and up and up and up to a small makeshift stage where a septuagenarian Robert Plant look-a-like is doing an acappella version of Stairway To Heaven in a string vest, leather speedos and Uggs — and then up a little more, all the way up to 3,275 meters.

VeloNews: Second in the opening road stage, third on Stage 8, UnitedHealthcare’s young American, Jake Keough, has been one of the few able to come close to the sprinting juggernaut that is Andrea Guardini at the Tour de Langkawi, who racked up his fourth stage win Friday.

VeloNews: It’s only early March, but if the early-season fireworks have been any indication, next week’s Paris-Nice should be a real doozy.

MurrietaPatch: Friday will bring the return of the popular IE Bikes time trial. Unlike any other time trial in Southern California, its European style terrain consisting primarily of paved roadway and a 1.2-mile portion of unpaved/hard compact dirt.

CyclingNews: Races & Results.
Le Tour de Langkawi (Stages & results),
Merco Cycling Classic (Stages & results),
Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen (Stages & results),
Tirreno-Adriatico (Stages ),
Le Samyn (Results),
Le Samyn des Dames (Results),
Strade Bianche (Start list),
Paris - Nice (Stages ),
Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (Results),
Amgen Tour of California (Stages ),
More...

BikeRadar verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. "Still the best race bike Specialized offer, but not the best value for money when it comes to equipment."

SteepHill: Strade Bianche (White Road) has rapidly risen as favorite among bike racing fans and racers since the first edition in 2007. Italy's version of Paris-Roubaix is held on the dirt roads of Tuscany with the finish in Siena.

Intelligent Triathlon Training: She won her age group in the San Diego triathlon series in her first and second years in the sport, before moving up to Ironman the following year, when she ran the fastest amateur marathon split (3:10) at the Hawaii World Championships.

Saturday's Strade Bianche (or Montepaschi Strade Bianche) departs Gaiole in Chianti at 11:00am CET (5:00am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish in Siena at around 3:45pm CET (9:45am U.S. Eastern).  Strade Bianche live streaming video is expected from around 2:30pm CET (8:30am U.S. Eastern).

VeloNation: Polish rider fastest over Middelkerke seafront course; Omega Pharma-Quick Step puts two on the podium this time.

CyclingFans: 2012 Three Days of West Flanders March 2-4, Belgium Prologue starts at 1:30pm CET (7:30am U.S. Eastern). Finish at around 4:50pm CET (10:50am U.S. Eastern).

SBS: Australian stalwart Robbie McEwen has won the OCBC Cycling Singapore Criterium for his fledgling Australian ProTeam GreenEDGE.

CyclingNews: After several days when it appeared that this year’s Vuelta al País Vasco and Clásica de San Sebastián might not take place, the race organization has said it is “more optimistic” about the future of both events. Jaime Ugarte, president of the Organizaciones Ciclistas Euskadi, has revealed that he hopes to provide more precise details about the future of these two WorldTour events, perhaps as soon as today [Friday].

BikeRadar: In the fourth video of our 26 vs 29er video series, we look at how 29er mountain bikes can give you more stability over rough terrain and through turns.

Today's Quote

“One day on the 2006 Tour, Tom Boonen, who was reigning world champion, was near the front, slowing things a little.  At the moment I launched my attack, he hit me hard on the back. I stopped, he yelled at me and I said to him: ‘You can shout if you like, but don’t touch me.’ I was the small French guy he could hit because I’m thirty centimetres smaller than him." -  Thomas Voeckler  CyclingNews

road.cc: Our last dealer show of the season was earlier in the week in Derby with Moore Large aka Today's Cyclist.

“War on Want fights poverty in developing countries in partnership with people affected by globalisation. We campaign for human rights and against the root causes of global poverty, inequality and injustice."

Off The Beaten Path: I am the fortunate custodian of a lovely 1962 Alex Singer that is in almost-new condition. It has all the features that make an Alex Singer special, and really represents Alex Singer’s ideal of the perfect bike: lightweight, elegant and performing.

BikeRadar: Video games are blamed as a component of the rising obesity levels of children and teens in the US. In response some game developers have created “exercise” games that take advantage of the motion control feature offered by the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Kinect for the Xbox 360, and Sony’s Move for the PlayStation3. And one game developer believes in the prospect of a cycling video game.

BikeRumor: Yeti’s area reps had two of the new SB66 full suspension mountain bikes with the articulating main linkage on hand. The medium came in slightly heavier with bigger tires on it at 28lbs 10oz. The large (blue) was 28lbs 9oz.

The Daily Distraction.

Peloton: It was once easy to discern who was the world’s best pro racer. For seven straight years, 1969 to 1975, Eddy Merckx won the Super Prestige Pernod competition (the equivalent of today’s UCI WorldTour), which awarded points in all of the major races: one-day classics, weeklong stage races and three-week grand tours. There was no denying that The Cannibal was No. 1.

InnerRing: How do you know a bike race is coming? Roadside fans often wait for the audible rumble of TV helicopters to indicate the race is approaching. But in Belgium it’s different. Instead you know the race is coming thanks to the call of Rodania.

VeloNews: Time trials in this year’s Tour de France in July will be five kilometres (3.1 miles) longer than previously announced, race organisers said on Friday.

TwistedSpoke: Shocked by news that ASO and Tour boss CHristian Prudehomme had taken it upon themselves to add an additional 5 kilometers to the 2012 Tour route, Andy Schleck has officially requested they tack on 10k in the mountains.

The novel is set mostly within the World Tour and follows the 26-year-old Mariani's misfortunes as his career falls to pieces. On the verge of stardom, our hero has a terrible crash and gets himself into a bit of a pickle trying to overcome the resulting brain damage.

road.cc: Riders beating 33,000 metre height gain over month and a half stand to win Specialized schwag.

Cyclismas: Mark Renshaw will lodge a complaint with Cycling Australia over what he believes is a conspiracy to keep him out of bunch sprints around the world.

BikeRadar: We kick off our coverage of this year's North American Handmade Bicycle Show with a snapshot of two local one-man marques – and a sampling of their show bikes for this year – that are each celebrating their 20th year making customers' dreams come true: Sycip Bikes and Retrotec Cycles.

RedKitePrayer: The North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) is upon us once again. Men and women with dirty fingernails, weld burns and ornately carved lug work will descend upon Sacramento with all manner of lovingly crafted bicycle objects.

Lea Davison: The 2012 mountain bike season opener is this weekend in Austin, Texas, so I figure it's the perfect time to share what happened in my off season. This winter was filled with a lot of fun. I went from the tropical climate in Kauai to winter in Vermont and then to perfect riding weather in Santa Cruz.

SingleTrack: The latest updates from the Shimano camp are beginning to become available and their affordable all-rounder SLX is becoming even more versatile. With a lot of trickle down of technology from the top-tier XTR groupset, SLX could be stepping into the role of being the most cost efficient mountain bike group.