CyclingFans: Saturday's Vuelta a Espana Stage 1 Team Time Trial at Pamplona gets underway at 7:03pm CET (1:03pm U.S. Eastern) with the departure of the first team.  Start Order and Times to come.  Vuelta live streaming video should get underway at around 6:45pm CET (12:45pm U.S. Eastern).

VeloNation: Italian climber outsprints Fortunato Baliani after more than 100km up the road.

VeloNation: German-registered team defends the race it won as HTC-Highroad; Marianne Vos still leads classification.

CyclingFas: Friday's Tour of Portugal Stage 2 departs Oliveira do Bairro at 12:35pm local (7:35am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Trofa at around 5:30pm local (12:30pm U.S. Eastern).  Tour of Portugal live streaming video should get underway at around 4:00pm local (11:00am U.S. Eastern).

CyclingNews: Races & Results.
Vuelta a España - August 18 - September 9 (Stages),
USA Pro Cycling Challenge - August 20 - 26 (Stages & Results),
Tour du Limousin - August 14 - 17 (Stages & Results),
Breck Epic - August 12 - 17 (Stages & Results),
2012 Olympic Games - July 28 - August 12 (Races),
Tour of Utah - August 7 - 12 (Stages & Results),
More...

Sarah Musick: Today is a gorgeous march above treeline.  It’s crazy to be up so high with my bike.  I catch myself being careful around the tundra, acting like a hiker in cycling silks.

road.cc: Stage-by-stage guide to race where Chris Froome and Alberto Contador are expected to fight it out for the overall.

CyclingNews: Why the time is now to help the sport thrive.

CyclingNews: Daniel Navarro is leaving Alberto Contador and Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank to ride with Cofidis. He has signed a two-year contract with the French team, according to the AFP news agency.

BikeRadar: We took a first look at a pre-production version of Scott's time trial helmet, Split, back in March after seeing GreenEDGE win the Tirreno-Adriatico team time trial in them. But we now have one in the office.

BikeRadar verdict: 3 out of 5 stars. "Another good set of sunglasses from Shimano, but not quite up to XTR standards."

2012 Tour of Portugal Results - Stage 1...

Thomson Solos to Stage Win and Yellow Jersey at Stage 1 of Volta a Portugal...

CyclingNews: Philippe Gilbert (BMC) failed in his second attempt this year to retain a national jersey, this time at the Belgian Time Trial Championships on Wednesday. In June he also failed to defend his title of Belgian road champion.

Sarah Musick: "Today is filled with great success (said in a Borat accent) for the YetiBeti from Colorado Springs."

SBS: Alberto Contador is primed and ready to challenge for top honours in the Vuelta a Espana, says Australian DS Brad McGee, and a band of loyal Saxo Bank Tinkoff Bank recruits can only further his chances.

TwistedSpoke: "Twisted Spoke doesn’t usually weigh in on what other bloggers have to say. However, we’re making an exception today because two of the most well-read bloggers have taken hard, negative shots at Garmin-Sharp boss Jonathan Vaughters for his doping admission piece in the New York Times."

road.cc: DSs and managers of all but two of the teams lining up in Pamplona tomorrow reveal their plans.

CyclingNews: With just 24 hours left before the Vuelta a España gets underway, Alberto Contador used his pre-race press conference to attempt to play down the expectations surrounding his return to Grand Tour stage racing.

InnerRing: Alberto Contador is the predicted winner, for some the question is merely the margin of his victory. Certainly he has had time away with his suspension but this is was not the normal two year ban, instead he has only missed six months of racing, enough time to get in plenty of training without losing too much racing speed.

Peloton: Japan's Yukiya Arashiro, riding for the Europcar team, on Friday won the Tour du Limousin despite finishing locked on the same time as French rival Jeremy Roy.

CyclingNews: Seven nations will send nine-man teams to the start of the UCI World Championships road race next month in Valkenberg, Netherlands. The UCI on Friday afternoon announced the number of riders each nation may enter in each road race and time trial in each of the various categories.

VeloNews: Jens Voigt is about to be reminded what everyone who rides a bike in Colorado already knows. Everyone is a cycling expert, and there’s a good chance they’ve ridden all the lofty climbs in the race, too.

PodiumCafe: We've had a long break since the last round of the Road World Cup, while the riders contested the biggest stage race of the year, the Giro Donne, and the raced the Olympics in front of the whole world, but the next two weeks have not one, not two, but three rounds, in quick succession - starting with the two Swedish races at the Open de Suède Vårgårda.

road.cc: A great looking saddle, well designed and excellent value, but strictly for those who like a firm ride.

BicycleRetailer: Praxis Works is now selling a cold-forged chainring set in the increasingly popular 'semi-compact' ring size: 36-52.

BikeRumor: "I’ve been up and down and over and out, and I know one thing, the new SRAM XX1 drivetrain is the real deal. Forget about 27.5″ wheels, electronic shifting, and GPS optimized magnetic suspension, the new 1×11 drivetrain is the new voodoo I’m lusting for."

VeloNews: If the 2012 Tour de France was all about time trials and control, the Vuelta a España this year delivers a route unlike any seen in the modern era.

BoulderReport: Held alongside the USA Pro Challenge, the Blue Ribbon Alpine Challenge women’s race is a study in contrasts.

Bicycling: In an exclusive interview, Jonathan Vaughters talks about his reasons for admitting he doped as a pro cyclist.

CyclingNews: A Texas district court judge is getting set to rule on the lawsuit filed against the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) by Lance Armstrong's attorneys aimed at blocking the agency from pursuing anti-doping violation charges against the seven-time Tour de France champion.

CyclingNews: The UCI has announced that the Tour de France returned no additional positive anti-doping controls upon completion of the analyses.

CyclingNews: Team SpiderTech powered by C10 has signed US national road champion Timmy Duggan on a multiple-year contract from Liquigas-Cannondale.

VeloNation: RadioShack Nissan rider still suffering from effects of Dauphiné crash.

VeloNews: Organizers of the second USA Pro Challenge have skipped the prologue this year in favor of a road race, and they drew up a classic stage for opening day.

VeloNation: American rider and compatriot Chris Butler head Champion System team.

NCTimes: Sarah Hammer, who just returned from the London Olympics, relaxes at her parents' Temecula home after coming home from the 2012 games with two silver medals in cycling.

BikeRumor: Tucked away in a the cozy little town of Newmarket, NH, Independent Fabrication has a complete shop set up for building custom steel, titanium and carbon fiber bicycles.

road.cc: Iconic and extremely versatile corrosion-inhibiting spray. Every toolbox should have some.

VeloNews: "Jonathan Vaughters’ recent doping confession in The New York Times revived a question that has ticked at my conscience since 2011, a year I spent with Vaughters and his riders while writing and photographing a book on his Garmin team."