Photos ...

Matthews holds onto yellow jersey ...

Pais Vasco Welcomes Fabio ...

Felline is fabulous in Pais Vasco stage 2 sprint.

Despite a lumpy course that offered six categorized climbs, the sprinters had their day again at Vuelta al Pais Vasco, and Fabio Felline proved the fastest of the bunch on Tuesday.

At the end of stage 2, Etixx-Quick-Step was eager to set up its sprinter, Gianni Meersman, but Orica-GreenEdge had other plans, infiltrating the lead-out with Daryl Impey.

Although Impey laced up an excellent lead-out for race leader, and his teammate, Michael Matthews, Felline caught the Australian off-guard with an early jump and held it to the line.

Start List ...

Energiewacht Tour 2015.

Now in it’s fifth year the Energiewacht Tour is one of the younger races on the calendar but is showing the ‘old guard’ how it’s done, with an excellent presence on social media, daily highlights and for the first time ever this year, the entire race will be broadcast live on a local TV channel.

Plus, for those fans from a little further afield there will be an unrestricted live stream on the race website.  

Based mostly in the Dutch northern province of Groningen the racing is pan-flat and characterized by the infamous winds whipping across the exposed landscape. Throw in an evening prologue and the first team time trial of the year and it has all the makings for an action-packed five days of racing.

NRC Preview: US peloton deep in talent.

US domestic racing rolls out of hybernation this week with the Redlands Bicycle Classic and the start of USA Cycling's 2015 National Racing Calendar.

The men's and women's NRC individual and team classifications will be decided over seven events throughout the season, beginning with the five-stage California race that starts on Wednesday.

2014-15 Races & Results.

Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco - Apr 6-11 (Stages & Results),

Circuit Cycliste Sarthe - Apr 7-10 (Stages & Results),

Scheldeprijs - Apr 8 (Start List),

Paris-Roubaix - Apr 12 (History),

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 Flanders - Apr 5 (Results),

GP Miguel Indurain - Apr 4 (Results),

Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde - Mar 31-Apr 2 (Results),

Gent - Wevelgem - Mar 29 (Results),

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

E3 Harelbeke - Mar 27 (Results),

Milan San Remo - Mar 22 (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...

Vandenbergh set to race ...

Paris-Roubaix: looking ahead to a Sunday in Hell.

If there’s one race that epitomizes racing on the cobblestones, it’s Paris-Roubaix.

When organizers made their first tentative course reconnaissance in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, so devastated by four years of industrial warfare was the landscape along the route from the capital to the Belgian border that they gave the 1919 race the name ‘The Hell of the North’.

It stuck, thanks both to the apocalyptic conditions of almost every edition of the race since, and to Jørgen Leth’s iconic film of the 1976 race: A Sunday in Hell.

Videos ...

Stage 2 preview ...

Tour of the Basque Country 2015 Live Dashboard ...

2015 Tour of the Basque Country LIVE.

Tuesday's Tour of the Basque Country Stage 2 departs Bilbao at 12:45pm CET (6:45am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Vitoria-Gasteiz at around 5:13pm CET (11:13am U.S. Eastern). 

Tour of the Basque Country live streaming video should get underway at around *3:30pm CET (*9:30am U.S. Eastern, 6:30am Pacific). *Eurosport is scheduled to begin at this time.

27 sectors of pavé for Paris Roubaix ...

Paris Roubaix 2015 Live Dashboard ...

2015 Paris Roubaix LIVE.

Sunday's Paris Roubaix departs Compiegne at 10:20am CET (4:20am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Roubaix at around 4:50pm CET (10:50am U.S. Eastern). 

Paris Roubaix live streaming video should get underway at around *12:45pm CET (*6:45am U.S. Eastern, 3:45am Pacific). *Eurosport's coverage is scheduled to begin at this time.

Reviewed: WattBike Pro.

Let’s face it; most of us have a love-hate relationship with indoor training. Generally, we’ll use work, illness, prior commitments, or any other excuse under the sun to avoid it. But sometimes, when the weather is bad and friends aren’t around, we just have to ride vicariously as Contador or Froome indoors.

Fortunately, WattBike, a UK-based company has developed an indoor trainer, in conjunction with British Cycling, that it hopes will have you scrambling to get inside to get your training fix.

The WattBike comes in two models — the Trainer and the Pro. This review covers the Pro, which only differs in its resistance range, providing what WattBike calls medium to hard resistance, ideal for Cat. 3 or better men, Cat. 2 or better women, and sprinters.

Photos ...

Matthews sprints to stage 1 win in Pais Vasco ...

Matthews wins Pais Vasco opener.

Michael Matthews won the opening stage at the Pais Vasco from a small group sprint on the streets of Bilbao.

The Australian sprinter made it through the hilly stage with a front group of roughly 50 riders to take the sprint ahead of world champion Michal Kwiatkowski and Ilnur Zakarin.

Bauke Mollema: Taking on Pais Vasco before the Ardennes Classics.

"The Ardennes Classics are right around the corner! They are my next big targets, after Tirreno-Adriatico, and I’m looking forward to taking on the three days of racing at the Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège."

"Huge relief" ...

Bouhanni claims first win of 2015 in Circuit Sarthe opener.

Nacer Bouhanni finally whipped his Cofidis lead-out train into shape and claimed a long-awaited first victory of 2015 in the opening stage of Circuit Cycliste Sarthe in Varades. The Frenchman denied the remaining two early breakaway riders a shot at the first leader's jersey, his train catching them in the final kilometer and delivering their star to the win.

"We didn't know if we'd be able to bridge the gap or not," the Frenchman told Cyclingnews after the race. "So we used Dominique Rollin to chase with three kilometers to go although he was scheduled for leading me out. It's a relief to finally pull up a win."

Rider protest ...

Bookwalter explains ...

CPA initiates  following crash ...

Riders angry after high-speed Basque Country crash.

As the full list of riders injured in the crash at the Tour of the Basque Country emerges, the anger of the riders in the race and around the world has swelled, with the UCI, the race organizer and the riders’ Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA) under pressure to take a stance and improve rider safety.

According to the El Diario Vasco newspaper in the Basque Country, four riders were taken to hospital after riders hit a series of metal poles as they entered the finishing straight at high speed and began sprinting to the line.

Preview ...

Wiggins confirmed ...

Paolini-Kristoff Duo ...

Kristoff headlines Scheldeprijs without Cavendish, Kittel.

Though it’s the oldest of the Flemish classics, dating back to 1907, Scheldeprijs certainly isn’t the most prestigious or challenging. But it is fast, very fast. Held over the flats around Belgium’s diamond capital of Antwerp, the 200-kilometer race is an unofficial sprinter’s championship.

The route, consisting of one large loop and three finishing circuits, does include seven cobblestone sectors, but it stays well north of the “hellingen” featured in the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders), and almost always ends in a mass gallop.

Bradley Wiggins and Dave Brailsford interview: How this odd couple changed the face of British cycling.

Ahead of Paris-Roubaix this weekend, Tom Cary chats with Bradley Wiggins and Dave Brailsford to discuss how these two unlikely lads have transformed British cycling.

More Likely to Survive Cardiac Arrest ...

MAMILs shouldn't worry about cardiac arrest while riding, says new study.

When a participant in a major event like a sportive or marathon suffers a heart attack, it makes headlines. But there's no need for MAMILs and MAWILs to panic: a new study shows middle-aged athletes are at low risk for having a sudden cardiac arrest while playing sports, and those who do have a greater chance of surviving.

"Because there is so much media attention when someone has a sudden cardiac arrest while playing sports, we want to make sure people know that the benefits of exercise far outweigh the risk of having a cardiac arrest," says Sumeet S. Chugh, MD, an expert in heart rhythm abnormalities.

Garmin Vivoactive In-Depth Review.

Earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Garmin announced a slew of wearable devices including the new Vivoactive.  The Vivoactive was designed as a merger between Garmin’s mid-range fitness watches (i.e. the FR220) and the activity tracking of the Vivofit line. 

Yet at the same time it adopted the 3rd party app functionality of Connect IQ and even managed to get golf support.  In many ways, the watch outperforms some units that Garmin sells for nearly twice as much.  But, does it live up to the hype?

2016 Trek Madone - What we want to see.

Trek launched its current-generation Madone three years ago with the idea that it could be a true all-in-one road racing platform: light enough for the biggest mountain stages, aero enough to spend all day out front in the wind, and comfortable enough to ride all day.

Trek itself has since muddied that philosophy with the ultralight Emonda and the remarkably comfortable Domane family, however, so with a new Madone presumably on the horizon, the most logical pathway at this point is to transform the storied nameplate into a more relevant dedicated aero road bike.

Best Lightweight Road Cycling Shoes.

Giro hit one out of the park with its lace-up Empire SLX. Not only are these shoes feathery light—and the lightest in this test—but the fit is also second-to-none when the lace tension is perfect. Plus, the vintage look is uniquely cool.

Laces may seem like a step backward to some but the contoured fit and even tension across the foot compared to all other closures currently on the market is unbelievably supportive, yet at the same time comfortable. The seamless microfiber upper conforms to the foot like a glove. “They provide the best pressure distribution and most complete fit I’ve ever experienced,” said one tester.

“I can wear them tighter than any other shoe for a feeling of efficiency, but my feet are still comfortable.” Giro’s unidirectional carbon sole is stiff but not quite as rigid-feeling as the Specialized’s. And an adjustable arch height via variable thickness arch spacers makes these footbeds best-in-class, and increases the already-comfortable shoe’s ability to feel like an extension of your body.

Preview ...

Scheldeprijs 2015 Live Dashboard.

Start time: Wednesday April 8th at 12:15 CET (3:15 AM PST);

Earliest live video: 14:45 CET (5:45 AM PST);

Approximate finish: 17:03 CET (8:03 AM PST).

Kristoff hopes to equal Hushovd’s achievements, now targeting Roubaix ...

After Flanders win, is Kristoff Norway’s new cycling king?

In Norway on Sunday evening, in the first hours after Alexander Kristoff won Belgium’s Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders), the locals already crowned their next king of cycling.

Daily Distractions.

Lee’s Lowdown: Classic Chaos!

Toolbox: Remodelling Muscle to Burn Fat.

DaveMoulton: The Bike Registry. Five Years On.

Steve Tilford: Climbing Trees.

FatCyclist: Buy Gear, Make a Donation, Win the Ultimate Dream Bike and Vacation.

Sybar’s orthodontist ranks Paris-Roubaix cobbles.

Technical FAQ: Road discs and tire pressure on wide road rims.

Technique Tuesday: Training to Run for Cyclocross Starts Now.

Bike Shorts: Cycling related stuff from around the world.

RKP: In Praise of Pavement.

Podcast: 2015 Episode 8 – Cobbles (and the cobbly cobblers who cobble them).

Video: Tom Boonen on why Paris-Roubaix is a slow killer.

Video: People Are Awesome On Bikes.

Video: When this bike race goes wrong, it goes really (really, really) wrong.

Video: Saddle fitting becomes scientific.

Video: Three ways to fix squealing disc brakes.

Video: Johann Museeuw muses on Roubaix with Rapha.

Video: Tiffany Cromwell video diary - part four.

“The new Boonen is Norwegian” ...

How to beat Kristoff.

He’ll go in the breakaways, he’ll win bunch sprints, he’ll take 300km classics or morning split stages. Alexander Kristoff is a problem for everyone else how to beat him in Paris-Roubaix is the question worrying many team managers keen to salvage something from the final cobbled classic.

What a week for Kristoff: three stage wins in the three days of De Panne, there were two bunch sprint wins but he also won from a breakaway move too, a confidence booster ahead of his triumph last Sunday.

His third place in the time trial stage was impressive, beaten but what if this was the real clue to his performance in De Ronde? He had the power to beat everyone over 20 minutes and when Niki Terpstra went clear over the Hotond only Kristoff could follow, hardly the mark of a sprinter trying to hang on for the win.

Wiggins’ swan song in Roubaix  ...

Wiggins: “There is always a fairy tale with Paris Roubaix.”

Although he will continue on with the new self-titled Continental squad, focussing mainly on the track plus the world hour record, Bradley Wiggins’ road career is essentially winding down and may have just days left to run.

The former Tour de France winner will don a Team Sky jersey for the final time for Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix. Then, wherever he finishes, he will call it a day with the team, ending a chapter with the squad which began a little over five years ago in January 2010.

Richie Porte still tops WorldTour ranking despite challenge from Kristoff.

Australian Richie Porte has maintained his top spot in the latest UCI WorldTour ranking, although Tour of Flanders winner Alexander Kristoff is threatening Porte’s position after enjoying his best season yet.

Norwegian Kristoff has moved up to second place in the WorldTour table after Sunday’s Belgian success, bumping British rider Geraint Thomas down to third.

Thomas missed out on points in Flanders after finishing outside the top 10.

Tour of Flanders tech: detailing the unusual.

One item that has quickly been adopted by many of the teams in the pro peloton is on-board cameras. Velon is pushing for the use of cameras in the sport and eight of the 11 Velon group teams at Flanders were using cameras. Lotto Soudal, Lampre-Merida, Giant-Alpecin, Trek, Tinkoff-Saxo, Cannondale-Garmin, Sky and Orica-GreenEdge are all able to showcase on-bike footage they’ve captured from the race. See, for example, Orica-GreenEdge’s Backstage Pass video from the Tour of Flanders.

On top of this they have shared the footage with race organizers and TV broadcasters for use in the post-race highlights packages.

The Giant Defy Advanced SL 0, Part I.

Bike manufacturers working in carbon fiber more or less have come to agree what the standard road bike is. Those race bikes we see in the big pro races fall within a pretty narrowly defined range; that’s true from sizing to stiffness.

They can be, similarly, all bold and no nuance. The differences between these bikes are, increasingly, a matter of degrees, though those degrees can still be significant.

However, (cue the dissonant string music), when it comes to grand touring bikes (I’m sorry, but “endurance bike” is a wicked-lame term), it’s still the Wild West. While there’s nominal agreement about handling and what the fit should be, there’s zero agreement about what the ride quality ought to be or if they even deserve top-shelf spec. Which is to say, every now and then you can come across a bike that will really surprise you.

Horse for the Course: BMC GF01 for Flanders.

"Held on and around the course of the Tour of Flanders, the Ronde van Vlaanderen Cyclo sportive boasts more than 16,000 participants.

Having done the event three times, this year I tackled the wet and muddy cobbles around Oudenaarde, Belgium on a BMC GranFondo GF01 105, with hydraulic disc brakes, plush 28mm Continental Ultra Sport clinchers and crazy-low gearing of 50/34 and 11-32.

As with many gran fondos, the Ronde offers three distances: the full 239km from Bruge to Oudenaare, the short 71km loop that still tackles famed cobbled climbs such as Koppenberg, Kwaremont and Paterberg, and the Goldilocks middle distance of 123km that I’ve done in years past."

The 10-Minute, Do-Anywhere Workout.

Bike messenger turned Hollywood stuntwoman, personal trainer, and SoulCycle instructor Kym Perfetto has an attitude that's as fierce as her physique. Her intense, no-nonsense workouts attract A-list celebrities, including Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Jake Gyllenhaal. But as a contestant on last season's Amazing Race, the 30-year-old Perfetto rarely had time to hit the gym.

Instead, she relied on this 10-minute, do-anywhere workout that focuses on core and leg strength. "It improves speed and endurance on the bike," says Perfetto, who is also a North American Cycle Courier Champion and Cat 2 track racer.

Faust's Gold, by Steven Ungerleider.

For the forty-one years between 1949 and 1990 that the Deutsche Demokratische Republik existed, sport was used as a tool to demonstrate the superiority of the communist system of the eastern bloc countries over the capitalist system of the west.

The Olympics became part of the Cold War, where east battled west. The USA and the USSR went to toe-to-toe. Behind them marched their satellite states, with East Germany one of the best among them when it came to bagging the bangles and baubles at the quadrennial five-ring circus that is the Games.

2015 Energiewacht Tour LIVE streaming video.

Wednesday's Energiewacht Tour Prologue, a 2.5km Individual Time Trial at Winsum, gets underway at 7:00pm CET (1:00pm U.S. Eastern) with the departure of the first rider. 

Energiewacht Tour live video streaming should get underway at 7:00pm CET (1:00pm U.S. Eastern, 10:00am Pacific).

Lance Armstrong in exile is restless, feisty and . . . underappreciated?

"Recently the oncologist Larry Einhorn sent a letter to each of the hundreds of patients who had once been in his care.