Stage 1 start time: Saturday 15:40 CET (6:40 AM PDT);
Earliest live video: 15:30 CET (6:30 AM PDT);
Approximate finish: 19:30 CET (10:30:00 AM PDT).

Friday Shorts: ‘USA Pro Challenge,’ SRAM Tour of the Gila, Revenue Sharing.

Boulder Report: Last year the USA Pro Challenge* skipped Boulder entirely, which surprised many people who assumed that a city so closely associated with cycling would be a shoo-in for a host city slot. Not only did Boulder get a stage finish but it might be one of the most memorable events in competitive cycling in the U.S. in decades. If it happens...

VeloNews: Race leader Rory Sutherland finished second, keeping the jersey another day.

VeloNation: German fastman cruises to the first pink jersey of the race after ten riders get clear in the closing kilometres.

SRAM Tour of the Gila - May 2-6 (Stages & results),
Giro d'Italia - May 5-27 (Stages),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages),
Tour of Turkey - April 22-29 (Stages & results),
Tour de Romandie - April 24-29 (Stages & results),
Joe Martin Stage Race - April 26-29 (Stages & results),
Tour de France - June 30 - July 22 (Stages),
2012 Olympic Games - July 28 - August 12 (Races),
Vuelta a España - August 18 - September 9 (Stages),
More...

VeloNation: Cleared by CAS, Classic specialist will return to racing this month with Katusha.

DrunkCyclist: "I first heard of Frank Vandenbroucke in a magazine called Cycle Sport. This young man they called VDB was setting the world in fire. He took the 1998 Paris–Nice in fine form, while riding for Mapei-GB. Which was, of course, about the coolest god damn bike team on the planet at the time. It was fantastic. You couldn’t look more pro than VDB."

BikeRadar: Budget Bike Tech returns with a quick, simple and yet thorough way to prevent rain and road (or trail) spray from seeping into your frame. Total cost for this project is less than $5 and the total time expenditure is just a few minutes.

John McKee: Santa Clarita Velo has developed a reputation for producing good cycling races. On Saturday they always bring us the tough Devils Punchbowl out in hell and gone. On Sunday they produce the Chuck Pontius Criterium in Santa Clarita/Valencia.

InnerRing: Stage 1 is better depicted by the aerial map of the course, especially since the course is quite flat. Riders start at the green point on the map above. The route looks like the path out of a maze.

InnerRing: It’s hard to pick a clear favourite for the Giro d’Italia. There’s no obvious star name. Instead there are several contenders on a similar level and then a collection of outsiders, mainly mountain specialists who could also shine. To make forecasting even harder many of those taking part have not had the best run of results recently which makes it tougher to judge their form.

VeloNews: Roman Kreuziger (Astana), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Frank Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) spearhead a foreign legion hoping to end Italian hopes of scoring another home win in the Giro d’Italia, which begins Saturday in Herning, Denmark.

Marco Pinotti: "Hello from Denmark. I always enjoy the start of the Giro abroad like in Amsterdam two years ago. It's more interesting. The first part in a different country is like another race in itself."

CyclingWeekly: Frank Schleck was selected to take part in the 2012 Giro d'Italia at the last minute to replace injured RadioShack-Nissan team-mate Jakob Fuglsang. The team called him up while he was enjoying time off with his daughter in the park.

PEZ: It's an early start as we hit the Herning Motorvej for our trip to Silkeborg. But it's worth the alarm call. The world champion is looking effortlessly cool in his gleaming rainbow bands, striding purposefully down the drive from the Scandic Silkeborg, and spirits seem high in the Team Sky camp.

RedKitePrayer: An ex-girlfriend taught me about fit models and how all clothing begins with pieces of fabric cut to fit some individual that I began to appreciate why some things fit and others didn’t. Understanding that actually made shopping easier; it eliminated whole product lines because I knew they weren’t cut for me.

 

road.cc: Unnamed athlete was tested as part of UKAD's pre-Olympic Games testing program.

TwistedSpoke: While the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) has banned Riccardo Ricco for doping for 12 years, the Italian climber announced today that he has signed with Androni-Giocattoli for the 2024 season.

VeloNation: “I’m very lucky.’

In 1930, a non-appearance fee was paid by the Giro organisers. Alfredo Binda had by then established a stranglehold on the corsa rosa, winning in 1925, 1927, 1928 and 1929, in all of them riding for Legnano. It wasn’t just that Binda kept winning, it was the manner of his victories. In 1927 he had won twelve of the fifteen stages, in 1928 seven of twelve and 1929 nine of fourteen. In all, that’s thirty-three out of forty-one stages in three years. Giro boss Emilio Colombo was getting more than a little bit bored by il campionissimo. More to the point, La Gazzetta dello Sport‘s readers were getting bored by il campionissimo: circulation was down.

TwistedSpoke: In all the opening analysis of the implications of a new model in revenue sharing, there’s been little discussion of the domino effect. It is huge because once the first one falls, the momentum and force will quickly knock down the other dominoes.

BikeRumor: Bianchi’s Oltre road bike is their top of the line Grand Tour racing road bike, and our test model is spec’d out with the new Campagnolo EPS electronic group. It’s a no-expense-spared racer, complete with logo color matched FSA carbon stem and handlebar, Campy Eurus 2-Way Fit wheels and Fizik saddle that comes in at a whopping $12,900 MSRP. Frameset only (EPS/Di2 version) is $4,999.

CyclingIQ: After 34 years of publication in German, the respected road cycling publication ‘Tour das Radmagazin’ (TOUR magazine) sought to broaden its reach with an English-language iPad application, called TOUR Quarterly, in late 2011. Two editions later, it appears the plug has been pulled.

BikeRadar verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars. "Dependable lightweight quality at a reasonable price."