CyclingFans: Friday's Paris-Nice Stage 6 departs Suze-la-Rousse at 12:00pm CET (6:00am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Sisteron at around 4:19pm CET (10:19am U.S. Eastern).  Paris-Nice live streaming video should get underway at around 3:00pm CET (9:00am U.S. Eastern).

InnerRing: It was a perfect day for Dutch team Vacansoleil-DCM. Their rider Frederik Veuchelen was in the four man breakaway that went right from the start and he won enough points on the climbs to take the mountains jersey. With a man up the road Westra was able to sit tight. Sky lead the chase for much of the day before Movistar and BMC took over and the bunch was thinned by the high pace in the last third of the stage.

EuroSport: Bradley Wiggins retained the overall lead in Paris-Nice as he finished third in the mountain top finish at Mende behind Lieuwe Westra.

Paris - Nice (Stages & results),
Tirreno-Adriatico (Stages & results),
Drentse 8 (Results),
Merco Cycling Classic (Stages & results),
Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen (Stages & results),
Strade Bianche (Results),
Amgen Tour of California (Stages ),
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Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) didn’t quite have the legs to stay at the sharp end of the action in Thursday’s climbing stage at Paris-Nice and admitted he’s lost any chance to win.

CyclingNews: Thirty-four men's and women's domestic elite teams will join 17 total UCI Continental squads already announced, in competition for the USA Cycling National Racing Calendar (NRC) as well as the National Criterium Calendar (NCC) and vie for the team titles in 2012.

Peloton: We're halfway through the 2012 edition of Paris-Nice. Known as the "race to the sun", Paris-Nice is a week-long stage race used by both grand tour and classics specialists alike to hone their form ahead of the season's key objectives. Some riders have come out fighting while others languish at the back of the pack, still in need of serious training.

Cyclismas: After a troubling outbreak of viral and bacterial infections at Paris-Nice this week, Team Sky boss David Brailsford enacted  ”extreme measures” to ensure the health and safety of Bradley Wiggins, their massively important British cycling superstar.

road.cc: You're not still struggling up the hills with those heavy steel bolts on your bike, are you?

BikeRadar verdict: 3 out of 5 stars. "Top quality racing or training tires from the big bike maker."

CyclingNews: Wiggins comfortable in matching Valverde.

PodiumCafe: Thursday, the Ronde van Drenthe begins, and Team Tibco will be among the teams at the starting line. The U.S.-based women’s team is in the Netherlands for the first of two blocks of racing this spring. They will ride the Ronde van Drenthe and the Drenthe World Cup. Then, they head home to ride Redlands and the Tour of Gila. Then, they travel back to Europe for the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Flèche Wallonne. Got that?

CyclingFans: Friday's Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 3 departs Indicatore at 11:55am CET (5:55am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Terni at around 4:15pm CET (10:15am U.S. Eastern). Tirreno-Adriatico live streaming video should get underway at around 3:00pm CET (9:00am U.S. Eastern).

Freire runs world champion close, Goss keeps lead.

Australian outsprints Bronzini and Vos to take Dutch World Cup warm up race.

Scot awaiting CAS ruling in relation to BOA.

VeloNews: What polish is safe to use on carbon bikes? I have a Felt AR4 carbon road bike. I normally use Muc-Off products to wash it, but I find this doesn’t give a lovely shine finish. A friend suggested 3M Performance Finish (synthetic wax). Would this do the job? Or can you recommend a different polish?

road.cc: Super-stiff race-ready frame let down by a flexy fork and vulnerable cable routing.

BikeRadar: At a time when quite a few bike companies are feeling the pinch and research and design budgets are being reeled in, Colnago have been busy ploughing ahead with a slew of new things. On top of their recent C59 Disc road bike, they also launched a new time trial bike which they're calling the K.Zero.

BikeRadar: NeilPryde have unveiled a new top-of-the-range race bike at the Taipei Cycle Show in Taiwan. The BuraSL frameset is claimed to weigh “under 750g”, placing it up with the very lightest road bikes currently available. It’s due to go on sale in September as a 2013 model.

CXMagazine: I caught up with Richard Sachs for an in-depth video interview on the final day of the 2012 NAHBS in Sacramento to discuss the how the show has changed since its inception seven years ago in Houston, his thoughts on bike building, his cyclocross team, the return of Dan Timmerman (after an early retirement in June 2010), and the photo essay that Nick Czrula did on him.

CyclingNews: Goss leads overall after scorching effort by Aussie ProTeam.

SteepHill: Stage 1 start time: Wednesday 14:50 CET (5:50:00 AM PST); Earliest live video: 15:00 CET (6:00:00 AM PST); Approximate finish: 16:15 CET (7:15:00 AM PST). Tirreno-Adriatico live streaming video should get underway at around 3:00pm CET (9:00am U.S. Eastern).

Marijn de Vries I only just had a racer, a beautiful aluminium Ridley. Red and grey with a bit of black and white. It was a triple with Shimano 105. And mountain bike pedals, “because mountain bike shoes are far easier to walk on than race shoes,” the bike shop guy said when I bought the bike. On that bike I entered my very first bike race ever.

The Daily Distraction.

BikingBis: 76 stolen bikes recovered in Seattle sting operation.

VeloNation: Eight teams part of tougher anti-doping regulations for 2012.

Today's Quote

“For drugs such as HGH and EPO, the window for using them is in the preparation phase, not actually during the Games. The testing during the Games is a fantastic deterrent but it's a pretty stupid athlete who would be using drugs during the Games.” -  David Millar  VeloNation

CyclingNews: Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma – QuickStep) has lent his support to a possible return to the pro peloton by Mario Cipollini despite the fact that the 45-year-old is not currently registered for dope testing by the UCI.

Bicycling: Mix in these three types of rides somewhat regularly, and you'll stay fit and in love with cycling.

There are a few professional bike stands out there for working on one’s bike. All of them cost a lot. The CheapOh Bike Stand is made from a vice, an old front hub and a scrap two-by-four. It costs less than 20 euros and best of all, it even works.

road.cc: Electronic shifting and hydraulic braking soon to be an option with Shimano Di2 TRP combo... plus new cyclocross cantis and road callipers.

This is all about doing time on the OUTSIDE. The front graphic displays images of tire tracks as prison bars and also features the Prisoner number over the pocket.

BikeBlogNYC: What would happen if a team of women with regular jobs and just a little racing experience upstaged the men and rode the exact same route a day before them (all 3,479 kilometers/2,162 miles of it)? This summer we’ll found out.

CXMagazine: While wandering the aisles at the Southeast Bike Expo, my eye was immediately drawn to the Felt tent, because unlike most of the vendors who were pushing their mountain bikes heavily (understandably, given the season), the guys at Felt had their new 65X Cyclocross bike prominently on display.

Hospitalization was not due to banned substances, Gazet van Antwerpen reports; wider investigation continues, however.

InnerRing: This is a “novelty” ring tone and it could prove annoying to non-cyclists. Don’t blame me if someone chucks your phone out of a window.

Motorola MOTOACTV GPS Watch BikeRadar verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. "Simple alternative to usual GPS units with decent music player and phone connectivity."