On now: NCC's Sunny King Criterium live.

The USA Cycling National Criterium Calendar (NCC) will kick off with the Sunny King Criterium on March 28 in Anniston, Alabama, with the Women's Pro 1/2 race starting at 6:20pm (CDT) followed by the Men's Pro 1 race at 7:30pm (CDT).

Carlos Alzate and Coryn Rivera took the wins in 2014 Sunny King Criterium. At the end of last season, Erica Allar secured the NCC's overall title in the women's category and Luke Keough won the overall men's title.

In addition, Colavita-Bianchi won the women's overall team classification and UnitedHealthcare took the men's overall team classification.

Volta a Catalunya: Chernetski wins stage 6 in Port Aventura.

Sergei Chernetski won stage 6 of the Volta a Catalunya on the streets of Port Aventura on Saturday. The Russian rider out-sprinted Julian Alaphilippe and Maciej Paterski. The trio were involved in a 21-rider breakaway that successfully made it to the finish line ahead of the main group of overall contenders.

Richie Porte continues to lead the overall classification by five seconds ahead of Domenico Pozzovivo as the race heads into the finale stage 7 on Sunday.

It was reported that Alberto Contador may have been involved in a crash with three kilometers to go but finished the race and he will keep his third place in the overall classification, seven seconds behind Porte.

Gent-Wevelgem Preview.

This Sunday’s race is the most sprinter-friendly of the cobbled classics and it’s World Tour race too, so we get action and a deep field.

Cobbles and climbs feature but so does a long section to the finish line to suit the sprinters. Only the weather could ravage the race with very strong winds forecast.

Bardet withdraws from the Volta a Catalunya.

Romain Bardet, who crashed in the second stage of the Volta a Catalunya, did not start the fifth stage.

"Since my crash, I have felt severe pain in the butt that makes it hard for me to pedal. Yesterday I survived but I am not able to express myself at my usual level. I'm going to rest, go to further examinations and prepare the rest of the season," he said.

Bardet will next ride Brabantse Pijl(April 15), Fleche Wallonne (April 22) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 26).

2014-15 Races & Results.

Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - Mar 23-29 (Stages & Results),

Gent - Wevelgem - Mar 29 (Start List),

Gent - Wevelgem Women - Mar 29 (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),

E3 Harelbeke - Mar 27 (Results),

Tour de Taiwan - Mar 21-25 (Results),

Milan San Remo - Mar 22 (Results),

Nokere Koerse - Mar 18 (Results),

Tirreno-Adriatico - Mar 11-17 (Results),

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

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

More ...

Gerrans hopes to return for La Rioja, Basque Country.

Simon Gerrans doesn’t even attempt to hide his disappointment for missing Milan-San Remo, so keen is he to return to racing after his comeback from a previously fractured shoulder lasted 110 kilometers before he crashed out again at Strade Bianchi in Italy on March 20.

“I am a big cycling fan, but it was hard watching when you know you can be out there and mixing it up and that sort of thing,” The Orica-GreenEdge rider told Cyclingnews. “It is difficult to watch a race like that, but I was definitely on the edge of my seat like everyone else.”

Volta a Catalunya 2015 Live.

Saturday's Volta a Catalunya Stage 6 departs Cervera at 12:00pm CET (7:00am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Port Aventura at around 4:58pm CET (11:58am U.S. Eastern).

Volta a Catalunya live streaming video is scheduled to get underway by around 3:30pm CET (10:30am U.S. Eastern, 7:30am Pacific).

The Sagan star flickering.

The Peter Sagan star appears to be flickering, judging by his finish in E3 Harelbeke, a race he won a year ago and one that should be easy for a cyclist aiming at the monuments like next week’s Ronde van Vlaanderen.

Team Tinkoff-Saxo’s Sagan followed the attack of Geraint Thomas and Zdenek Stybar on the Oude Kwaremont and raced away with the two, but when they approached the business end of the 215-kilometer race, his lights began to fade.

“It’s shit because in that group of three he should’ve been the fastest,” Tinkoff sports director, Tristan Hoffman told VeloNews.

“He was so disappointed. Then, to make it worse, [the] whole group passes him.”

Valverde wins Volta a Catalunya stage 5.

Felline and Jungels make it a 1-2 for Trek in Corsica time trial.

Fabio Felline proved that he is much more than a fast finisher and solid climber when he took a surprise win in the Criterium International. The Italian beat his teammate Bob Jungels by a single second on the 7km course while Manuele Boaro was one second further back in third.

Ben King did well to take 19th and defend his overall lead.

Going into this season, Felline had never really excelled in time trials but apparently things will change in the future for the fast Italian. After he had already taken a surprise third in the Etoile de Besseges TT, he took a hugely surprising win in today's second stage of the Criterium International.

Ben King opens Criterium International with victory.

Ben King won the first stage of the Critérium International on Saturday.

Stage 1a was a 92.5km circuit around Porto-Vecchio that featured a 2km, 5.3 percent climb, the Côte de Conca, at its midpoint.

King beat breakaway companion Saint-Clément Martin and donned the leader’s yellow jersey for the second stage of the day, a 7km individual time trial in the afternoon.

The two attacked in the first kilometer, building a 40-second lead.

Chicchi returns to winning ways in Coppi e Bartali.

Less than a month after signing a contract with Androni, Francesco Chicchi took his first win for his new team when he won a crash-marred bunch sprint on stage 3 of the Settimana Coppi e Bartali. Having gone head to head with Manuel Belletti, he emerged as the strongest while Ben Swift avoided the crashes and defended his overall lead. 

At the start of the year, it seemed that the career was over for Chicchi. The Italian had been unable to find a new team after Southeast decided not to renew his contract and he seemed destined to retire in the early months of the season.

Etixx-QuickStep still hunting for big Classics win.

The Etixx-QuickStep team usually has more Classics race wins in the bag by this point in the season, but 2015 has not been very fruitful so far in Northern Europe for the Belgian super-squad.

However, Patrick Lefevere’s outfit still leads the win count for 2015, with 18 victories, and its sponsors are happy. Given its Belgian roots, though, everyone would be more at ease with a classic win.

“Let’s talk again after Paris-Roubaix,” Lefevere told Cycling Weekly.

Daniel Patten – Team WIGGINS.

One of the big changes coming soon in the season will be that of Bradley Wiggins stepping down from Team Sky after Paris-Roubaix to headline his own Continental team, WIGGINS.

The guys at Southeast Regional Series recently caught up with Brit racer, Daniel Patten who is also a member of WIGGINS and a man who won the SRS race in Knoxville last year.

The Southeast Regional Series presented by BikeReg returns for a third year in 2015 with a four-state circuit. The highly competitive weekends of criterium and road race events will begin April 11-12 in Florida, with the Panama City Criterium and Walton County Road Race, hosted by the Visit South Walton Tourist Development Council.

Later in the year individual time trials will be added to the weekend races – Albany, Ga., Knoxville, Tenn., and Greenville, S.C.

.

New world speed record on MTB: 138.75mph.

Frenchman Eric Barone established a new world record bike speed Saturday on a track at the Vars ski resort.

In the Hautes-Alpes, between Gap, France and the Italian border, Barone rode a speed of 223.3kph (138.752mph) on a steep, snow-packed slope.

Barone, 55, has set the world record on multiple occasions, on both snow and gravel surfaces. He rode a special downhill mountain bike with a fairing to improve aerodynamics.

2015 Criterium International LIVE.

Sunday's Criterium International Stage 3 departs Porto Vecchio at 11:20am CET (5:20am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Col de l’Ospedale at around 4:45pm CET (10:45am U.S. Eastern). 

Criterium International live streaming video is scheduled to get underway at around 3:20pm CET (9:20am U.S. Eastern, 6:20am Pacific).

Thomas solos away from Stybar to win E3 Harelbeke.

Daily Distractions.

Video: The Week in Bike #62 – Plus Ça Change.

Alex Peters moves into Tour de Normandie lead.

Britain’s Alex Peters moved into the Tour de Normandie race lead in Martinvast this afternoon, despite missing out on the chance to win its penultimate stage following a final corner crash.

Peters was visibly upset not to have claimed the biggest win of his career to date at the end of a 169.5-kilometer stage held in wet and windy conditions.

The 20-year-old Londoner bridged to across to a seven-man lead group in the second half of the stage, despite starting the day just 18 seconds off race leader Dimitri Claeys.

Study shows dramatic jump in HGH use by high school teens.

Former cyclist Tyler Hamilton started doping with erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone that boosts red blood cell production and moved on to HGH. “I knew I’d crossed the line, but I didn’t know how far I’d go,” he said about the first time he was given a large red pill to take by his team doctor.

“Having already made the decision with the testosterone pill, the needle felt like the only way.”

Tinkoff-Saxo to announce decision on Riis Sunday.

Oleg Tinkov has revealed that the Tinkoff-Saxo team will make an announcement about the future of Bjarne Riis at 7:00pm CET on Sunday, a few hours after the Gent-Wevelgem race.

Tinkov made the announcement via Twitter on Saturday morning from Japan, where the Russian team owner is currently on holiday with his family.

“My dear @ tinkoff_saxo fans. Tomorrow @ 1900 CET Will Our Official Press Release Regarding the Best Sport Director. Wish Tomorrow # gentwevelgem” the tweet reads.

2015 Gent-Wevelgem LIVE.

Gent-Wevelgem LIVE March 29, Belgium.

Race starts at 11:20am CET (5:20am U.S. Eastern)

Finish at around 5:07pm CET (11:07am U.S. Eastern)

Live video from *1:30pm CET (*7:30am U.S. Eastern, 4:30am Pacific).

Stacked Sky Line-up for Sunday.

Bradley Wiggins will compete for Team Sky in Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem sprint classic in Belgium, the team announced. The 2012 Tour de France champion, will be joined by fellow British Olympic champion Geraint Thomas for the 239-kilometer one-day event.

Bernhard Eisel, who won the event in 2010, is also included in an eight-man team along with Christian Knees, Ian Stannard, Andy Fenn, Luke Rowe and Elia Viviani.

When in Belgium: Peloton Exploration.

"Belgium is a small country with roughly 11 million people.

For those prone to cycling addictions, we have put together some must-see locations that will allow you to ride your brains out, but also get a great overview of the culture, history and culinary delights of one of our favorite countries to visit."

Three stunning new routes for the 2015 Wiggle Etape Cymru.

After four years on closed roads, this year’s Wiggle Etape Cymru, scheduled for September 13, will consist of open road Corto, Medio Fondo and Gran Fondo events.

With its multiple challenging routes and no road closures, the sportive will now follow the model of the popular South Wales-based Wiggle Dragon Ride.

“Having an open road event allows us to pick our perfect route so we can access stunning vistas and beautiful scenery more often,” said event director Kirsty Wilde.

And the new arrangements have received the backing of Team Sky man Luke Rowe.

Video: Strong argument for always wearing a helmet.

Quintana’s cobblestone adventure ends safely with confidence for Tour.

Nairo Quintana will never win Paris-Roubaix, but the Colombian knows if he wants to win the Tour de France, he’ll have to survive a version of the “Hell of the North” this summer.

The spindly climber might have looked out of place at the start line of E3 Harelbeke, surrounded by brawny cobble-bashers, but Friday’s race marked the end of a weeklong experiment of getting a taste of what lies ahead this July in the Tour.