CyclingFans: Thursday's Criterium du Dauphine Stage 4, a 53.5km Individual Time Trial from Villié-Morgon to Bourg-en-Bresse gets underway with the departure of the first rider at 12:00pm CET (6:00am U.S. Eastern). Live streaming video should get underway at around 2:45pm CET (8:45am U.S. Eastern).

VeloNation: Australian Tour de France champion confident but watching key rival for July’s race,

CyclingNews: No change in general classification ahead of time trial.

Critérium du Dauphiné - June 3-10 (Races & results),
Trans Germany - June 6-9 (Races & results),
Tour de Suisse - June 9-17 (Stages),
Tour de Luxembourg - May 30-June3 (Races & 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...

BikeHugger: A misconception promoted by the European “Ize” blogs is that women just ride around upright looking pretty in fancy shoes. Few, if any, I ever see doing that. Women I ride with wear their fancy shoes to parties after they trained and raced.

CyclingNews: Reigning marathon world champion Christoph Sauser (Specialized) brought the home best possible start for his mission of securing the three-peat. As the favorite, he mastered the opening and so-called 73km queen's stage of this year's edition from Sonthofen to Pfronten in 3:05.48 and was 1:12 faster than surprise runner-up Matthias Bettinger (Team Centurion-Vaude).

RedKitePrayer: Before the 1987 Giro started it was thought that this edition was going to be a battle between Roberto Visentini and Giambattista Baronchelli. This Giro was in fact contested by Visentini, the 1986 Giro champion, and Stephen Roche, both members of Boifava’s Carrera team.

Lea Davison: "The chase for an Olympic berth is on, well, it's actually complete. This Olympic qualification journey started with the first World Cup in South Africa, then moved to the second World Cup in Belgium, and then back over to Europe for the last two World Cup qualification opportunities in Czech Republic and France."

CyclingNews: “We had no prior idea that anything was so wrong with JJ that he should be forced to give up,” team sports director Dan Frost told politiken.dk.

BikeRadar: Kali Protectives’ new Phenom road helmet and Maraka cross-country lid incorporate the brand's Composite Fusion Plus and SuperVent technologies. Both also promise to be superlight and adhere to Kali’s protection philosophies.

Off The Beaten Path: Supple tires with relatively thin tread greatly contribute to the joys of cycling. They roll much faster and are more comfortable. However, they also tend to be more prone to punctures. On the other hand, “flat-resistant” tires are harsh and slow.

InnerRing: With less than a month to go before the Tour de France Andy Schleck is well off the pace. When there is a climb or a time trial the Luxembourger seems to go backwards. Fans are frustrated, journalists exasperated and management nervous. Is this the 2012 Dauphiné? No, I’m talking about the June 2011 and the Tour of Switzerland.

VeloNation: Rider reportedly lost a week due to issue.

CyclingNews: Will Andy and Fränk Schleck return to Saxo Bank and Bjarne Riis, with Alberto Contador then going to Johan Bruyneel and Team RadioShack-Nissan? Tuttobiciweb.it indicated that such a deal may be in motion.

PodiumInsight: After grabbing the leader’s jersey following the time trial at the Exergy Tour, Amber Neben stated “really it doesn’t matter who goes up the road as long as it’s Specialized-lululemon.” Though sounding cliché, the sentiment, echoed by all the women on the Specialized-lululemon, was obviously heartfelt.

VeloNation: Norwegian relieved to find out why his form was poor this spring.

VeloNation: Rider says he was beaten by better riders in the Giro, accepts the result.

VeloNews: Hanging on for dear life and then knocking them dead in the time trials is hardly the racing strategy that puts fans on the edge of their seats, but it’s a formula that consistently delivers victories.

InnerRing: Perhaps you’ve asked yourself after years of reading about operación Galgo, Grail and Mantova — could you run a time consuming, farcical, expensive and untimely pointless doping investigation? The answer of course, is, damn right you could. With Twisted Spoke’s eight point plan, you can fly to Italy or Spain tomorrow and make headlines.

BikeRumor: Seems there’s no hiding from 650B discussions these days. Depending on who you listen to, the sudden explosion is either driven by consumers  looking for something better or industry folks trying to drum up new business. In reality, both are true, and 650B / 27″ / 27.5″ mountain bikes are headed to bike shops this fall.

RBAction: One of the best wheelsets we've ever tested.

CyclingNews: In just over a week USA Cycling will decide on its Olympic line-up for the London 2012 Games. While the battle for the nation’s one spot in the men’s time trial is set to come down to a choice between David Zabriskie and Taylor.

VeloNews: The future of the second-division Androni Giocatolli-Venezuela team is secure for at least another full season thanks to the return of Franco Pellizotti. The future of one of the team’s stars, José Rujano, is not, however, after team boss Gianni Savio criticized his early departure from the Giro d’Italia.

VeloNation: Belgian escapes punishment after apparently being duped.

NPR: Four years ago, Evelyn Stevens was working as a Wall Street investment banker and just starting to race bicycles. But she rose through the cycling ranks quickly, and next month she will represent the United States at the Olympic Games in London.

CyclingNews: Without a single win to his name this year, it is safe to assert that Philippe Gilbert's much-talked about transfer to BMC at the end of last season has so far failed to work out as expected. After a stellar season in 2011 in which he swept up high profile victories and the Velo d'Or award, Gilbert has endured a miserable time on the road this year.

CyclingNews: Roman Kreuziger will get a second chance to prove his worth to the Astana team management by leading the squad in this week's Tour de Suisse.

Fixie Don’t Care.

BikeRumor: "I tried so hard. I dated a girl from Portland. I criticized cheese. I applied the term artisanal to every inanimate object that went in or on my body. I burned and singed my forearms just to make it look like I was going to culinary school. I grew Carol Brady hair. I got itchy from the finest flannel and I cut off circulation from the waist down with jeans that made my ass look like an elevator button. And I rode a fixie..."

VeloNews: Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) adds that extra bit missing from his Tour de France preparation this week in the Critérium du Dauphiné: intensity. After a training block in Colorado and at his Euro-base in Monaco, the Milan-San Remo winner is back racing and looking towards the Tour.

CyclingNews: Italian Francesco Masciarelli has ended his season and his contract with the Astana team after discovering he suffers from a benign tumor on the pituitary gland in his brain, according to Tuttobiciweb.it.