UCI hindered anti-doping efforts but no corruption charges.

If you were hoping for lurid revelations to emerge from the Cycling Independent Commission’s report into cycling’s doping culture and allegations of corruption at the UCI, then you might be out of luck.

The more than 200 page report is a small step towards understanding the incredibly complex narrative that is, as it put it, cycling’s former ‘endemic doping culture’, as well as consistent allegations of corruption and failures of governance within cycling’s governing body, the UCI.

Paris-Nice Stage 1 Preview.

Despite the promised CIRC-us on Monday there’s some sport to be had on the roads and we’re due a stressful sprint finish.

Alexander Kristoff and John Degenkolb are the big names but there’s a nervous duo of Arnaud Démare and Nacer Bouhanni each looking for their first win.

Paris-Nice: Kwiatkowski wins prologue.

World road champion Michael Kwiatkowski showed his time trial prowess, winning the prologue of Paris-Nice in Maurepas on Sunday.

He finished less than a second ahead of world Hour Record champion Rohan Dennis, with both of them covering the 6.7km course in 7:40. Third place went to former world time trial champion Tony Martin, who was seven seconds slower.

Bradley Wiggins, the reigning world champion in the discipline, finished more than 15 seconds down, and outside of the top ten.

2014-15 Races & Results.

Paris Nice - Mar 8-15 (Stages & Results),

Le Tour de Langkawi - Mar 8-15 (Stages & Results),

Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen - Mar 6-8 (Stages & Results),

Tirreno-Adriatico - Mar 11-17 (Start List),

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),

Strade Bianche - Mar 7 (Results),

Strade Bianche Women - Mar 7 (Results),

Le Samyn - Mar 4 (Results),

Le Samyn des Dames - Mar 4 (Results),

Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne - Mar 1 (Results),

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite - Feb 28 (Results),

UCI Track World Championships - Feb 18-22 (Results),

UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships - Jan 31-Feb 1 (Results).

More ...

Tour of Turkey announces 2015 route and stages.

The Presidential Tour of Turkey has announced the course for its 51st edition, to be held April 26-May 3. The course promises a mixture of sprints and mountains, ending with a spectacular stage in Istanbul.

The race opens with a stage starting and ending in the beach resort of Alanya, which should result in a bunch sprint. The second stage runs from Alanya to Antalya, another coastline and sprint stage.

2015 Paris-Nice LIVE.

Monday's Paris-Nice Stage 1 departs Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse at 11:00am CET (6:00am U.S. Eastern) and is expected to finish at Contres at around 3:50pm CET (10:50am U.S. Eastern). 

Paris-Nice live streaming video should get underway at around 2:00pm CET (9:00am U.S. Eastern, 6:00am Pacific)..

CeramicSpeed debuts US$1,000 derailleur pulleys at NAHBS.

Just when you thought boutique bicycle components couldn’t get any pricier, Danish company CeramicSpeed has gone and utterly shattered the glass ceiling with a pair of outrageously expensive titanium derailleur pulleys developed in collaboration with the Danish Technological Institute.

The price tag is a whopping US$1,000 – but hey, at least you get two.

Štybar Wins Strade Bianche.

Guarnier wins Women's Strade Bianche 2015.

Report details Lance Armstrong's 'special relationship'.

In an effort to rationalize his rampant cheating, Lance Armstrong has been telling a compelling story.

He has said he did it to stay competitive because so many cyclists were doing the same.

It was a "level playing field," he said.

But a report released Sunday challenges that description. Compiled by the Cycling Independent Reform Commission, the report describes a sport in which Armstrong had a "special relationship" with the people in charge of international cycling, unlike other riders.

Andrea Guardini wins kickoff to 2015 Tour de Langkawi .

Andrea Guardini continued his hot streak on Sunday, avoiding a crash with a kilometer to go and out-sprinting neopro Caleb Ewan and Anuar Manan to win stage 1 of the Tour de Langkawi.

Guardini now leads Ewan on the overall by four seconds with Ma Guangtong third at five seconds.

It was the fifth straight start here for Guardini, who has collected 15 of his 29 pro stage wins in the past five years at Langkawi.

Van Poppel wins final stage of Driedaagse van West Vlaanderen.

Yves Lampaert cleaned up at the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen on Sunday, winning the overall title, the points classification and the best young rider’s competition.

The Belgian took the overall lead after winning Saturday’s second stage out of a breakaway. During Sunday’s 184.5km finale, the team kept him out of trouble, putting Lampaert and three teammates into a 24-rider escape, keeping a reduced group away until inside 10km to go, and finally ensuring that the stage ended in a bunch sprint.

Danny Van Poppel won the final stage ahead of Kris Boeckmans and Michael Van Staeyen.

Talansky Is Ready To Step It Up A Notch.

His nickname is Pitbull. He surfs. And Miami, Florida, native Andrew Talansky carries the weight of a future Grand Tour winner on his shoulders.

After beating Alberto Contador in the final stage of the Dauphine to take the overall victory in 2014, Andrew moved up a few notches to a legitimate GT contender.

For now, he’s focused on the spring races, like this week’s Paris-Nice.

2015 Tour de Langkawi LIVE.

Monday's Tour de Langkawi Stage 2 departs Alor Setar at 12:00pm local (5:00am CET, 12:00am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Sungai Petani at around 4:16pm local (9:16am CET, 4:16am U.S. Eastern). 

Tour de Langkawi live streaming should begin at around 3pm local (8:00am CET, 3:00am U.S. Eastern).

Specialized Roubaix SL4 Elite Disc.

BikeRadar verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. "A consummate sportive machine that’s capable of much, much more."

Tour of Langkawi race preview.

Daily Distractions.

Contador given favorable treatment by UCI after 2010 Tour de France doping positive.

Within the 228-page Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) report is the finding that there was no evidence behind the allegations of the UCI covering up Alberto Contador's positive test for clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour de France.

The report did find inconsistency with how the case was dealt with and that Contador received favorable treatment by the governing body.

While WADA enforces "minimum levels on WADA-accredited laboratories" the CIRC report found that the testing capabilities was a reason behind the unequal treatment of athletes samples, highlighted by Contador's 2010 positive test.

The CIRC report investigated the allegation that the UCI had covered up the test until German television station ARD announced the details of the positive test.

Steve Tilford: Nibali, Vino, Astana, CIRC.

Pat McQuaid insists he has nothing to fear from CIRC report.

Pat McQuaid has defended his time in charge of world cycling’s governing body ahead of the publication tomorrow morning of a report by the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) that is expected to be highly critical of the Irishman and his predecessor, Hein Verbruggen.

The former UCI chief confirmed that he has testified to the three-member commission, part of whose remit was to examine allegations of the governing body colluding in covering up doping by the disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Team Sky stands by Knaven after doping allegations resurface.

Team Sky havsleapt to the defense of Servais Knaven after doping accusations against the team’s director sportif resurfaced in an article published in the British press.

Knaven, who rode for TVM, QuickStep, T-Mobile/High Road and Milram during his career has always maintained that he never took performance enhancing drugs as a professional rider, however the recent accusations center around court documents from the TVM trial in 2001, which allege that Knaven had doped.

SRS Begins on Florida’s Emerald Coast.

Organizers of the Southeast Regional Series (SRS) announced its lineup of host venues and 11 categorized races across four states for the third annual cycling competition.

The series has added individual time trial competitions on three select weekends to accompany existing criterium and road races. In addition, BikeReg.com will be the presenting sponsor for SRS this year.

Registration is now open online for all four race weekends, including the opening event in Florida, April 11-12, 2015 in Panama City and Walton County.

NAHBS 2015, Day 2.

"This afternoon at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show we announced the category award winners, with a few exceptions. This post will be brief and I’ll do a followup that will go into more detail on why each bike won its respective category.

Due to a lack of entrants, we did not award Best Fillet this year. Initially, we also thought we didn’t have enough entrants for Best Layup. We received only one entrant but after walking the floor we realized that there were at least two other possible entrants and we will be judging that award Sunday morning."

2015 Tirreno-Adriatico LIVE.

Tirreno-Adriatico LIVE starting Wednesday, March 11th through the 17th.

Stage 1 starts at 2:00pm CET (9:00am U.S. Eastern).

Finish at around 4:10pm CET (11:10am U.S. Eastern).

Live video from 2:30pm CET (9:30am U.S. Eastern, 6:30am Pacific).

Steve Tilford: Pneumonia for Bromont.