Tour of Turkey: Cavendish wins sprint in Alanya.

Mark Cavendish made it two for two in the Presidential Tour of Turkey, winning the mass sprint of stage two in Alanya. He edged out Sacha Modolo and Nicola Ruffoni, to maintain his overall lead.

The stage, 182km with start and finish in Alanya, was marked by five-man break group. Lluis Mas, Federico Zurlo, Kevin de Mesmaeker, Frederik Veuchelen and Adrien Niyonshuti never had more than about a three minute lead, and were caught again with 12 km to go.

Tour of Turkey 2015 Live Dashboard ...

2015 Tour of Turkey LIVE.

Tuesday's Tour of Turkey Stage 3 departs Kemer at 11:25am EEST (local) (10:25am CET or 4:25am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Elmali at around 4:13pm EEST (local) (3:13pm CET or 9:13am U.S. Eastern). 

Tour of Turkey live streaming video should get underway at around 3:00pm EEST (local) (2:00pm CET or 8:00am U.S. Eastern, 5:00am Pacific).

Wiggins to race against Sky at upcoming Tour de Yorkshire.

Bradley Wiggins will line up against his former Sky team for the first time in the Tour de Yorkshire on Friday. The Englishman is set to make his debut in the blue and red team Wiggins colors as he transitions from the road to the track with an attempt at breaking the hour record on the horizon.

Wiggins, who celebrates his 35th birthday Tuesday, has never raced against Sky before. He left Garmin after he finished fourth in the 2009 Tour de France and joined Sky for its debut year in 2010. He stayed with the British squad for five and a half years, winning the 2012 Tour de France and the time trial at the 2014 UCI worlds, and left after Paris-Roubaix two weeks ago.

“I would not have had any of the success that I’ve had if I hadn’t been in this team,” Wiggins said during a talk with members of the media during the classics.

2014-15 Races & Results.

Tour de Romandie - April 28-May 3 (Stages),

Tour of Turkey - Apr 26-May 3 (Stages & Results),

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),

Liège - Bastogne - Liège - Apr 26 (Results),

Joe Martin Stage Race - Apr 23-26 (Results),

Giro del Trentino - Apr 21-24 (Results),

La Flèche Wallonne - Apr 22 (Results),

Amstel Gold Race - Apr 19 (Results),

De Brabantse Pijl - Apr 15 (Results),

Paris Roubaix - Apr 12 (Results),

More...

Beyond pink it and shrink it: Layers of change in diverse Asia-Pacific (Part 2).

"The women’s market for cycling products is going through a period of evolution.

The commercial opportunity posed by such an underdeveloped market sector is causing companies to invest time and resources into providing female cyclists with the products they want and need.

In part one of our three-part series on the women’s market we looked at Specialized’s take from the United Kingdom and now we turn our attention to the Asia-Pacific region."

Leadville adds three-day stage race.

Owners of the Leadville 100 mountain bike race have announced the addition of a three-day stage race, to take place three weeks prior to the 100-mile event over the same course.

The stage race, slated for July 24-26, will cover the same high-altitude terrain as the Leadville 100, but split the distance over three consecutive stages.

“We are thrilled to offer the new Leadville Stage Race as an opportunity for athletes to come and test their limits on the famed The Leadville 100 MTB course,” said Josh Colley, Leadville race director.

Trek Domane 5.2.

Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars. "Designed for the Classics – and a classic race machine."

Bosch eShift System for eBikes.

First appearing on these shores during this month’s Sea Otter Classic bike expo, eBike enthusiasts first got a glimpse at Bosch’s eShift system last fall at venues throughout Europe.  

Although Bosch’s video has been lingering in “cyber space” for a few months now, its the first time its come to our attention.

When used in conjunction with NuVinci’s H|Sync system, Bosch’s Intuvia on-board computer can set the cadence, in relationship with the shifting system to operate, in which case the gear ratio will be automatically adjusted to the rider’s preferred cadence.

The Moment The Race Was Won: Liège Bastogne Liège.

Alejandro Valverde sprints for the line ahead of Julian Alaphilippe and Joaquim Rodriguez. The Movistar rider won the sprint after controlling the final kilometer and outwitting Katusha’s numerical superiority.

The early breakaway took time to form, a flurry of attacks in the first half hour finally ended with a move that didn’t contain any threats. It still prompted Europcar to lead the chase, strange for the wildcard invitees to feel responsible for controlling events especially as they were doing it before the TV coverage started.

Things heated up on the the Côte de Wanne where Astana’s Andriy Grivko took off, launching the first of a series of moves by the Kazakh team. Were they celebrating their continued presence in the World Tour?

Probably not and the hilly terrain suits a team that’s built for stage racing and Vincenzo Nibali had started 2015 with two targets circled in red: the Tour de France and Liège Bastogne Liège.

Greipel struggles to crack podium in Tour of Turkey.

The “Gorilla” has been caged for the first two sprint stages of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey. Not only has Andre Greipel failed to crack the podium, a day after finishing fifth on stage 1, the reigning two-time German national road race champion fell short of the top 20 on stage 2 with heated rival Mark Cavendish claiming both in dominant fashion.

Greipel recorded 16 wins last season — the most of any international male professional cyclist — but has just two in 2015, compared to the six he had at this time last year.

Chris Froome leads Brit-heavy Team Sky squad in Tour de Romandie.

Chris Froome returns to the Tour de Romandie as leader of Team Sky, eyeing a possible third consecutive victory in the Swiss WorldTour race, starting on Tuesday (April 28).

Froome is backed up by a strong team featuring four other Britons. Sky has picked a selection of riders to support Froome in the key Tour de France warm-up race that mixes those coming in from the Classics and key mountain domestiques.

2015 Tour de Romandie LIVE.

Tuesday's Tour de Romandie Stage 1, a 19.2 km Team Time Trial from Le Sentier to Juraparc, gets underway at 3:45pm CET (9:45am U.S. Eastern) with the departure of the first team.

Tour de Romandie live video streaming should get underway at around 4:00pm CET (10:00am U.S. Eastern, 7:00am Pacific).

Murphy, Stephens win Joe Martin Stage Race titles.

Haedo and Wilborne claim final day criterium wins.

Valverde takes over WorldTour lead.

The victories in Liege Bastogne Liege and the Fleche Wallonne have propelled Alejandro Valverde to the top of the UCI WorldTour rankings.

The Movistar rider moved up from second, dropping former leader Richie Porte to the runner-up position. Alexander Kristoff and John Degenkolb remained as third and fourth, respectively. Joaquin Rodriguez jumped from ninth to fifth.

Kittel to make racing return at Tour de Yorkshire.

Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) will return to racing at the Tour de Yorkshire on Friday following an extended period away from racing due to sickness.

The German sprinter’s recovery from a virus was slower than expected, resulting in a quiet, nearly race-free start to his season. Kittel was forced to pull out of Tirreno-Adriatico in early March and has not raced since. He missed the chance to add a fourth Scheldeprijs victory to his palmares as team doctors kept him sidelined during his recovery.

Kittel’s only win this year came at the People’s Choice Classic, a 51-kilometer warmup race for the Santos Tour Down Under. He notched 13 wins in 2014, including four Tour de France stages.

The Hell Of The North (County) BWR.

"Like Sea Otter it was my first visit but I would strongly suggest, 2016 will be your year to attend Sea Otter, recover, and attend BMR.

Events like that are put on by loyal cycling fans. My hats off to Victor and Maddy of Spy Optic. Someone mentioned turning the event to a professional event planner. There is something to be said to family and Maddy, who was my main contact did a fantastic job.  A well deserved Pat On the Back to Maddy and her gang."

Videos ...

Caleb Ewan takes second ...

Mark Cavendish takes opener ...

Cavendish wins opening stage of Tour of Turkey.

Mark Cavendish claimed the opening stage of the 2015 Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey on Sunday.

Cavendish won the bunch sprint after a perfect lead-out from the Etixx squad at the end of the 145-kilometer stage looping around Alanya. Australian prodigy Caleb Ewan placed second, with Italian Nicola Ruffoni in third.

Cavendish’s win means that he wears the leader’s jersey going into Monday’s second stage Alanya to Antalya covering 182 kilometres. It’s the Manxman’s seventh victory of the season – only Alexander Kristoff and Richie Porte have won more, with 11 and nine wins respectively. (cyclingweekly.co.uk)

Daily Distractions.

PEZ: EuroTrash Valverde Monday!

Adam Hansen: New target for Grand Tour record.

He’s already completed a staggering run of ten straight Grand Tours, starting with the 2011 Vuelta a España and doing three a year since then.

Adam Hansen has committed to doing the same block of racing again this year and, all going well, by the end of September’s Vuelta the affable Australian will have set a major Grand Tour participation record.

The issue is a somewhat confusing one; as Hansen approached and then equalled the ten consecutive Grand Tours of the Spaniard Marino Lejarreta, that was widely reported as being the record.

However it has since emerged that another rider, Spain’s Bernardo Ruiz, had finished twelve straight three week races, starting with the 1954 Giro d’Italia and concluding with the 1958 Vuelta a España.

Some Classic Moments.

Gent Wevelgem was the stand-out race of the 2015 spring classics campaign and a shoe-in for the highlights of 2015 after the storm made a race that was gripping for hours.

Yes it was dangerous but hopefully most enjoyed watching for the long range action where for the tactical scenarios kept changing for over two hours rather than the crashes.

Other races provided plenty of action too and right from the start with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and along the way there have been revelations, confirmations and a fair-share of post-race polemics.

Injury update from Liege Bastogne Liege.

The series of crashes and injuries that has marked the 2015 season continued Sunday in Liege Bastogne Liege.

One mass crash with about 40 km to go took out a number of riders, and sent Europcar’s Yukiya Arashiro to the hospital with the most serious injuries.

The Japanese rider lay on the ground a long time and was obviously in pain. It was later reported that he had broken ribs as well as either his humerus or scapula.

LottoNL-Jumbo was the hardest hit team, losing two riders. Bram Tankink tweeted that he was “with concussion and bruises in bed. Nice end to the early season. Can’t remember what happened.”

After Liege runner-up, Alaphilippe happy to work for others.

French revelation Julian Alaphilippe admitted he was frustrated at missing out on a prestigious victory at Liege Bastogne Liege but claimed he was happy with his support role for world champion Michal Kwiatkowski.

The 22-year-old was beaten only by Alejandro Valverde in sprint finishes at Liege on Sunday and four days before that at Fleche Wallonne after Kwiatkowski had cracked in the final kilometers.

And having already finished seventh at Amstel Gold a week before Liege, where 25-year-old Kwiatkowski triumphed, Alaphilippe was arguably his Etixx Quick Step team’s star performer in the Ardennes.

But the humble rider refused to demand an improved status within the team, saying he will bide his time for the chance to lead.

Not A Museum Piece.

When bikes are as stunningly beautiful as the machines from René Herse, Alex Singer and other French constructeurs, it is easy to dismiss them as “beauty queens” or “show bikes.” This would be a mistake: The performance of these bikes is as outstanding as their appearance. They confirm the old saying: “What looks right usually is right.”

When I first became interested in the bikes of René Herse and Alex Singer, collectors told me: “Yes, they are beautiful to look at, but they probably aren’t so great to ride.” As a rider, that dampened my interest in these machines.

So imagine my surprise when I read Bernard Déon’s classic book Paris-Brest et Retour about the history of the famous 1200 km PBP randonneur event, and saw that these bikes had not only been ridden for that long distance, but ridden at incredible speeds.

Tour de Yorkshire 2015 Live Dashboard ...

2015 Tour de Yorkshire LIVE video stream.

Friday's (May 1st) Stage 1 starts at -- BST (-- U.S. Eastern). Finish at around -- BST (-- U.S. Eastern).

Live video from -- BST (-- U.S. Eastern).

Steve Tilford: Belgian Waffle Ride and Trans Iowa.

Podcast: The Recon Ride. Tour de Romandie.

Podcast: Murder We.

Video: Martin, Gerrans and Roche caught up in Liege Bastogne Liege crash.

Injured Gilbert fades ...

Nibali unable to follow ...

Crashes continue for Gerrans ...

Rodriguez leaves empty handed ...

Alaphilippe takes France’s best result since 1998 ...

Young Meintjes impresses at Liège Bastogne Liège.

Up and coming climber Louis Meintjes put in an impressive performance at Liège Bastogne Liège, following the attacks in the latter stages of the race to finish in 11th place.

Meintjes was sitting in the wheel of Daniel Moreno with two kilometers to go after the Katusha rider put in a dig, although he was eventually distanced on the final climb into Ans and was beaten to 10th by Moreno when the pair came to the line together.