CyclingNews: France has a fine young generation of sprinters coming up, as became clear last Sunday at the national championship road race in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux. FDJ-Big Mat dominated the race, first by working hard to take it to a bunch sprint finish and then by delivering its two best sprinters, Arnaud Démare and 21 year old Nacer Bouhanni, to a one-two placing.

Pedal: The first edition of the race will take place from 17th to 21st October 2012. This new event will close this year’s UCI WorldTour calendar.

CyclingIQ: Billed as the “highest race in Asia”, the cloud-scraping Tour of Qinghai Lake is also the longest on the 2012 UCI AsiaTour calendar. At 1,347 kilometers over 13 stages, China’s first Hors Categorie stage race will punish the lungs and legs of all riders, including those from the seven ProContinental teams making the journey to central China.

Vuelta a Colombia - June 12-24 (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...

VeloNews: At a tender 21 years of age, Australian neo-pro Luke Durbridge is one of the youngest riders in the WorldTour peloton. In his debutant pro season, Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge) is rapidly marking himself out as one of the hottest prospects around, especially when it comes to racing against the clock. He’s also showing noticeable signs of developing into an extremely promising all-around stage racer.

BikeRadar: GT’s complete 2013 lineup is, of course, much more extensive than this, but we asked GT global marketing manager Chris Hopwood to share the highlights for the road and cyclocross bikes here, MTB will be posted separately.

Lennard Zinn: "To note: this result can vary depending on the side of the bike exposed and the YAW vector. So the data shown is an average of the DS (drive side) and NDS (non-drive side) of the bike because wind doesn’t always come from the DS."

RedKitePrayer: The Helium is a simple, clean design unencumbered by superfluous contours that cause so many frames to look like an early ’60s Corvette and weigh nearly as much.

Tour de France Coverage News...

InnerRing: Each stage is analyzed, each jersey is explained and once more information is available there will be full list of riders and other content that’ll be updated every day so you can dip in and out during the next few weeks.

Mark Renshaw: "With less than a week until the 2012 Tour de France begins in Liege, it's all about staying focussed. I'm still spending time at altitude and I will head to Belgium on Wednesday night. The two days before the Grand Depart should just be some recon of the prologue and the first stage."

Cyclelicious: "Any suggested captions for this frankenbike?"

VeloNews: Italian cyclist Riccardo Riccò is to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a bid to have his 12-year doping ban overturned, CAS announced on Tuesday.

VeloNews: Two-time winner of the Tour de France, Alberto Contador, currently suspended, is conspicuously absent from the 99th edition of the Tour, which starts Saturday Liege, Belgium. “The absent are always wrong,” said Tour director Christian Prudhomme. “Once the Tour has begun, you stop thinking about it.”

RedKitePrayer: "I just had breakfast with Scott Moninger at a Boulder diner. The 45-year-old Colorado resident is probably the greatest American bike racer who never rode the Tour de France—but he is going to his first Tour this week. Not as a racer, but as a television commentator to work with Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen and Bob Roll in the NBC Sports “studio” at every stage finish for the next three weeks."

CyclingTips: National Champions | Tinkoff returns to pro cycling | Armstrong bangs his fist on the table | Bruyneel opts out of Tour | LeMond expects Armstrong to lose Tour wins | National Champions, including Pellizotti | Schlecks starting a new team? | Scarponi & Pozzato didn't get the memo | Giro to start in Naples | Jack Bobridge handed 8 month suspension for drink-driving incident.

VeloNews: Martin Velits will replace Stijn Vandenbergh in Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Tour de France squad, the team announced Tuesday. Vandenbergh is suffering from a saddle sore.

Cyclismas: With rest days alternating with racing days, it was Thursday before the riders undertook the third stage of the Tour, 405 kilometres down the coast from Cherbourg to Brest. It should have been another innocuous stage, nothing save punctures or mishaps stopping the main contenders from all finishing together. It proved to be a lot more eventful than that.

BikeRadar: After decades as a road-only brand, Pinarello have jumped into the mountain bike market with the Dogma XC hardtail.

road.cc: Lightweight and well-constructed offering from Abus but there are better options at this price point.

BikeRumor: "Aboard NeilPryde’s new Bayamo TT bike were the new Mavic Cosmic CXR 80 Aero Wheels, but we had a note from Mavic saying that they were unrideable samples. Apparently, these were one of only a few sets in the states and Mavic wanted to keep them pristine, so we didn’t actually ride them. But here are some closeup photos of the wheels and the Blade aero faring."

BikeRadar: Cannondale’s launch of the Trigger Over Mountain bike also served to introduce the manufacturer’s latest Lefty suspension fork. Cannondale will offer three Lefty models for 2013 – PBR, XLR and Carbon XLR. There’ll be three travel options for 26in wheels – 130mm, 120mm and 100mm – and two for 29ers – 100mm and 90mm.

BikeRadar verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. "Mid-level spec but sublime composure and easy speed at the heart of a modern classic."

BikeRadar: Radioshack-Nissan-Trek will race this year's Tour de France on the latest generation of Trek's flagship Madone road platform. The new Madone 7-Series borrows aero shaping from the Speed Concept to save a claimed 25 watts at 40km/h, it's supposedly more comfortable than before, and the lightest variant now weighs a startlingly feathery 750g for a 56cm frame.

PodiumInsight: Though Amber Neben has won some of the biggest time trial races in her career, including the World Championships in 2008 she had never claimed the national time trial title. That is until this year. Neben clocked the fastest time of 39:27, beating her lululemon-Specialized teammate Evelyn Stevens by less than one second.

Bicycling: After three decades of reporting from the Tour de France, Samuel Abt offers a historical perspective of the world's greatest bicycle race—from his living room.

CyclingNews: Eric Boyer, team manager of French squad Cofidis, has been sacked on Monday following weeks of rumors. François Migraine, head of the team's sponsor, blamed Boyer for the outfit's lack of results this season and decided to replace him. According to L'Equipe, former Festina, Astana and FDJ-BigMat directeur sportif Yvon Sanquer will replace him, with the start of the 2012 Tour de France only a few days away.

road.cc: Superlight multitool with a good selection of functions although the price tag is a whopper.

SingleTrack: Kirk Pacenti did not invent the 650b size or the name for it, and it was natural that he would use the name that already existed for that rim size, especially as 650b mountain bikes have existed for decades. The 650b size has been around for a long time — at least 50 years. It was a popular trekking and tandem size in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, for instance.

BikeRadar: Hayes Components have a lot going on among their brands, but Sun Ringle posted the biggest product news during the Deer Valley PressCamp last week. The high-performance, economically priced brand launched an SL line, which includes new Black Flag and Charger models in 26in, 29in and 650b. These are lighter and wider than the basic Pro models, which will stay in the line.

road.cc: Phil Gale samples a unique 24 hour road race in and around the Italian hill town of Feltre.

PEZ: La vallée de l'herault is a region in the south of France, 30km North West of Montpellier and just 50km to the north of the Mediterranean and its famous beaches.

BikeRumor: Specializing in walkie-talkie gadgets for motorcycles and snowmobiles, Cardo Systems recently unveiled a rig specifically for cycling – the BK-1. It’s a radio headset that’ll link three cyclists to walkie-talkie each other at a distance up to 500 meters.

BikeRadar verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. "Combine with quality pedals for total security – they’re quite bulky shoes, though."

Cyclelicious: They combine cycling with shooting sports in the Russian warm weather version of a biathlon.