CyclingFans: Sunday's Tour of Flanders departs Brugge at 10:00am CET (4:00am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Oudenaarde at around 4:22pm CET (10:22am U.S. Eastern).  Tour of Flanders live streaming video should get underway at around *12:00pm CET (6:00am U.S. Eastern). *Sporza will be LIVE at the race start in Brugge from 9am CET through the official start, then again at 12:00pm CET with pre-coverage commentary.  Other feeds are expected to go live at around 12:20pm CET (6:20am U.S. Eastern), and still others a bit later.

VeloNation: Dutchman names two ‘second line’ riders as his big tips.

PodiumCafe: Filippo Pozzato is a wonderfully gifted cyclist, in a class very close to the two big favorites, but he stopped taking chances right about when he left Quick Step. From then on, with Liquigas and Katusha, he built a reputation as a calculating wheel-sucker, one who had the ability to win but spent his time dogging the favorites, often to the detriment of the race itself.

Tour of Flanders - Women - April 1 (Start list),
Tour of Flanders - Men - April 1 (Start list),
Cape Epic - March 25-April 1 (Races & results),
Paris - Roubaix - April 8 (History),
De Panne-Koksijde - March 27-29 (Stages & results),
Volta a Catalunya - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Critérium International - March 24-25 (Stages & results),
Tour de Normandie - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Vuelta Mexico  - March 18-25 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

VeloNation: MTN-Qhubeka dominating African race with seven stage victories.

CyclingNews: Sauser & Stander keep lead while Bigham & Süss still at head women's field.

BikeRadar verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars. "A fresh new attitude for 2012 boosts the budget Trek EX’s fun factor."

InnerRing: What’s the biggest one day race of the year? The World Championships? The Olympic road race? There’s plenty to say this Sunday’s Tour of Flanders is the biggest and the best. A combination of the route, the prestige, the history and the roadside crowds make this race unmissable.

VeloNews: For a rider who has won the Tour of Flanders just once, Fabian Cancellara carries a heavy burden of expectation heading into Sunday’s race.

VeloNation: Belgian ready for major battle on new race course.

EuroSport: The Russian beat Simon Geschke (1t4i) and Daniel Schorn (NetApp) to the line at the end of the 198km route.

VeloNation: Dani Moreno and Pavel Brutt score for Russian squad in opposite ends of Europe.

PodiumCafe: The biggest race favorite for the women's Ronde van Vlaanderen (and pretty much every other race on the planet, really), won't be starting tomorrow. Rabo informs us that she is ill.

VeloNation: Garmin Barracuda rider takes more laid-back approach to Indurain and Pais Vasco.

VeloNation: Dutchwoman now says she was previously able to stand prior to ‘miracle recovery’.

BikeRadar verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars. "For the money you simply can’t do better than these."

VeloNation: Multi-billion Euro energy company to power team for next three years.

road.cc: The seatpost and the main frame are separate. Spartacus himself has been heavily involved with the design process, and the bike "specifically addresses the challenges of rough road conditions found throughout the spring classics courses with a collection of key innovations unlike any available before today", according to Trek.

 

InnerRing: Tomorrow sees the greatest one day race of the year, the Tour of Flanders. Organisers say 600,000 to 800,000 people will line the roads, L’Equipe even says one million could turn out, making one tenth of the Belgian population.

PEZ: On the eve of Belgium’s greatest race, speculation is rampant as to how considerable course changes and the improved form of certain perennial race favorites will play on what many are calling the most challenging Tour of Flanders of the modern era. One such rider is 2010 winner Fabian Cancellara who believes the more difficult course will prove to be a better overall race that favors the strongest and smartest riders.

Today's Quote

“There’s no engine, there’s just something to give you a bit more comfort.” - Fabian Cancellara CyclingNews

BMC Cycling heads into the 96th Tour of Flanders with a classics squad that, on paper, at least, should be the envy of the peloton.

Peloton: Trek’s launch plan for the new classics inspired Domane involved plenty of ride time over the famed cobblestones of Flanders. That in its self is a real indication of how confident Trek is about the bikes performance. Nothing tests brute force power transfer and compliance like steep pitches of cobblestones.

BikeRumor: When using the CO2 system, you screw the CO2 cartridge into the brass fitting until it’s tight. The cartridge is punctured and activated at this point. To inflate your tire you attach the pump to your presta valve and loosen the cartridge a quarter-turn. To stop simply tighten the cartridge again, this makes the Second Wind Road Mini a controllable CO2/pump inflation system, brilliant! Purchase the Innovations Second Wind Road Carbon Here

Brand New 2012 Wilier Cento 1, Size XL 57 top tube.  Frame fork headset integrated seatpost: $2300.
Bike as pictured with Campy Chorus 11 speed front and rear deraileurs, Revel Hove carbon brakes, FSA carbon bars (44), Fizik Kurve saddle, and 2012 Reynolds 46 carbon clinchers: $4900
Bike as pictured WITHOUT Reynolds wheels:  $3500. Purchase this bike via email Here

VeloNews: Óscar Sevilla — the Spanish rider once hailed as a grand tour contender before being implicated in the Operación Puerto doping ring — has found new legs in a move to Colombia. Known as “El Niño” for his youthful looks, Sevilla won last week’s Tour of Mexico racing for a Mexican amateur team called Emepacadora San Marcos.

CyclingFans: Sunday's Tour of Flanders departs Brugge at 10:00am CET (4:00am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Oudenaarde at around 4:22pm CET (10:22am U.S. Eastern).  Tour of Flanders live streaming video should get underway at around *12:00pm CET (6:00am U.S. Eastern). *Sporza will be LIVE at the race start in Brugge from 9am CET through the official start, then again at 12:00pm CET with pre-coverage commentary.  Other feeds are expected to go live at around 12:20pm CET (6:20am U.S. Eastern), and still others a bit later.

InnerRing: What’s the biggest one day race of the year? The World Championships? The Olympic road race? There’s plenty to say this Sunday’s Tour of Flanders is the biggest and the best. A combination of the route, the prestige, the history and the roadside crowds make this race unmissable.

VeloNews: For a rider who has won the Tour of Flanders just once, Fabian Cancellara carries a heavy burden of expectation heading into Sunday’s race.

Boonen cleans slate ahead of Flanders.

VeloNews: “I’ve won a lot, but it’s wrong to say that there’s less pressure,” the Belgian said. “Every race you do is important. Though it’s nice to have these wins, you have to forget everything you’ve done the week before and race the best you can.”

PodiumCafe: I was going to call this "who will win?", but the power of the jinx is strong, and I am bound to be wrong anyway! But as I said in my course preview, EVERYONE in the women's peloton wants to win Flanders, but there's only space for one on that top step. So who are the likely contenders?

PEZ: The Tour of Flanders is tough enough to have ensured that no rider has ever won it more than three times - and there have been only four who have managed it. One of those riders was an Italian, Fiorenzo Magni.

VeloNation: Race becomes more difficult in 2012.

Tour of Flanders - Women - April 1 (Start list),
Tour of Flanders - Men - April 1 (Start list),
Cape Epic - March 25-April 1 (Races & results),
Paris - Roubaix - April 8 (History),
De Panne-Koksijde - March 27-29 (Stages & results),
Volta a Catalunya - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Critérium International - March 24-25 (Stages & results),
Tour de Normandie - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Vuelta Mexico  - March 18-25 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

CyclingNews: The Men’s category of Stage 5 of this year’s Absa Cape Epic was again won in a sprint finish by the unbeatable South African–Swiss duo of Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser (Team 36ONE-Songo-Specialized), in a time of 5:06:45 (overall 25:26:48).

VeloNation: Agreement signed in China, UCI’s licence commission to make final decision.

BikeRadar: Today, Oakley launched the fourth member of their Switchlock collection of interchangeable-lens eyewear with the introduction of a new Radarlock model, which will arrive in stores beginning this summer.

road.cc: Good pedals offering comfort, efficiency and decent grip, but they're only worth the investment for regular and long-term flat pedal users.

CyclingFans: Saturday the Volta Limburg Classic departs Eijsden at 12:00pm CET (6:00am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Eijsden at around 5:00pm CET (11:00am U.S. Eastern).  Volta Limburg Classic live video streaming should get underway at 3:00pm CET (9:00am U.S. Eastern); there may also be a live feed at the start as the race gets underway.

VeloNation: Multi-billion Euro energy company to power team for next three years.

Launched in Belgium...

road.cc: The seatpost and the main frame are separate. Spartacus himself has been heavily involved with the design process, and the bike "specifically addresses the challenges of rough road conditions found throughout the spring classics courses with a collection of key innovations unlike any available before today", according to Trek.

CyclingNews: The Tour of Flanders may be less than 48 hours away but Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek) still found time to show Cyclingnews his new Trek Damone bike.

While there are endless choices in technical riding kit, the question of what to wear after your ride was largely unsolved – until Après Velo founder Leonard Greis saw an opportunity and stepped up – creating a brand that has grown in just five years to present a distinct offering in casual tops and bottoms to wear... after your ride.

CycleSport: BMC was the richest team in cycling, and they looked like the strongest team for many of the Classics. It’s fair to say that this weekend was a big target, if not a culmination of the team-building project that started last year.

Cyclismas: “It is much disappointing for me to see Mario stealing mine and Nibali’s essence after the two of us have such a grandissimo start to 2012,” shared a despondent Pozzato. ”After much suffering at Katusha, I am happy to be back in the breasts of Italy. I thank Angelo Citracca for making me comforted.”

Bicycling: This week Trek debuted its Domane, a bike built for rough roads such as those found in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. But Specialized—which arguably created the category in 2004 with its Roubaix—is continuing to tweak the line.

BikeRadar verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars. "Great race bike ride from one of the best frames available at this price."

Peloton: Clear skies and warm temperatures are forecast for this Sunday’s Ronde van Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders, and it’ll likely be dry for next week’s Paris-Roubaix, too. It’s not supposed to be like this.

Today's Quote

“There’s no engine, there’s just something to give you a bit more comfort.” - Fabian Cancellara CyclingNews

CycleSport: With just two days to go until the Tour of Flanders, we look at how the new route reflects the changing face of cycling as a sport.

VeloNews: The portrait of the Flandrian sometimes takes on more political, historical, or social accents. “Cycling, for us, was originally a way to lift ourselves socially,” Godefroot said. “At 16, I worked 57 hours a week as a carpenter, and I did two four-hour rides in addition.

CyclingIQ: As professional road cycling continues to spread its global wings, it has been fascinating to witness the number of Asian, Australian and Kiwi cyclists breaking into the top echelon of professional road cycling; sometimes via quite long and convoluted pathways. Today, Cycling iQ looks at where “home” is for Asia’s top riders.

The hood doubles as a helmet for the soft-headed. The soft-headed will like this one: Would have, should have, could have...hood have! Perfect for walking around the neighborhood, or receiving a knighthood, or even statehood. When you see it, you will likelihood (French). It is a real hood, not a falsehood!

CyclingWeekly: Mark Cavendish announced on Thursday night that he will fund three annual scholarships for promising sportspeople on his native Isle of Man.

EuroSport: the Yorkshire Grand Depart bid for 2016 is really going ahead — with representatives from the Amaury Sport Organisation earmarked to visit Yorkshire in May (just when the rain will no doubt return) to study the proposed route. Of course, no decision will be made for quite some time — Corsica's 2013 Grand Depart, after all, was not confirmed until fairly recently.

VeloNation: Normal contract rules don’t apply due to complexities of case.

CyclingNews: Mansilla had tested positive for EPO after stage 5 of the 2012 Tour of Chile in January, which he lead for eight stages and in which he won two stages. 

VeloNews: BMC Racing lines up Sunday at the Tour of Flanders with a super-star squad loaded with potential winners, if not the weight of a disappointing start to the cobbles season. Alessandro Ballan won Flanders in 2007, while Philippe Gilbert and Thor Hushovd will be hogging the limelight as the team’s top current-day stars.

CyclingNews: Sylvain Chavanel of Omega Pharma-Quickstep blasted his way to the win in the closing time trial of the Three Days of De Panne to take the overall title. Lieuwe Westra of Vacansoleil-DCM was a close second on the day, with Svein Tuft (GreenEdge) third.

VeloNation: Norwegian champion takes bumpy cobbled sprint and his first international pro victory.

Tour of Flanders - Women - April 1 (Start list),
Tour of Flanders - Men - April 1 (Start list),
Cape Epic - March 25-April 1 (Races & results),
Paris - Roubaix - April 8 (History),
De Panne-Koksijde - March 27-29 (Stages & results),
Volta a Catalunya - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Critérium International - March 24-25 (Stages & results),
Tour de Normandie - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Vuelta Mexico  - March 18-25 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

CyclingNews: Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser (36One-Songo-Specialized) successfully defended their lead in stage 4 of the Cape Epic on Thursday.  The race's defending champions also won the stage ahead of Kevin Evans and David George (360Life) by 44 seconds.  Hannes Genze and Andreas Kugler (Multivan Merida) followed in third at 2:41.

CyclingNews: Physical asset management company cleans, tracks 1000+ bikes.

VeloNation: Recovery from injury and Classics preparation highest priorities.

BikeRadar verdict: 3 out of 5 stars. "Solid, stable and smooth, but the non-remote resistance change is a pain."

The hood doubles as a helmet for the soft-headed. The soft-headed will like this one: Would have, should have, could have...hood have! Perfect for walking around the neighborhood, or receiving a knighthood, or even statehood. When you see it, you will likelihood (French). It is a real hood, not a falsehood!

Bicycling: Interval Training for Weight Loss.

"Sometimes with great rivalries, you can't have a great friendship because there is so much riding on the line for those involved that it's an uncomfortable situation to try to switch off and open yourself up to that person when you do need to beat them on the track."

VeloNation: The big names will be the favorites as usual but a new generation awaits.

VeloNews: BMC Racing lines up Sunday at the Tour of Flanders with a super-star squad loaded with potential winners, if not the weight of a disappointing start to the cobbles season. Alessandro Ballan won Flanders in 2007, while Philippe Gilbert and Thor Hushovd will be hogging the limelight as the team’s top current-day stars.

CyclingNews: George Hincapie can claim the record of most finishes in the Tour of Flanders if he crosses the finish line again on Sunday.The BMC rider will have finished the race 17 times.

While there are endless choices in technical riding kit, the question of what to wear after your ride was largely unsolved – until Après Velo founder Leonard Greis saw an opportunity and stepped up – creating a brand that has grown in just five years to present a distinct offering in casual tops and bottoms to wear... after your ride.

VeloNews: Ballan won Flanders in 2007 after victory in the Three Days of De Panne. BMC Racing plans for him to lead its Flanders team this year with Philippe Gilbert and George Hincapie.

BikeRumor: Announced earlier this year, we’ve finally got the low down on the new SRAM Grip Shift, and it’s a far cry from the twist shifters of yore.

CXMagazine: After a stellar 2011/2012 season that ended with one victory at Jingle Cross, but plenty of top ten finishes throughout the season, the recent college graduate is already hard at work prepping for road season.

 

VeloNation: Normal contract rules don’t apply due to complexities of case.

Today's Quote

"People do make mistakes and I think they should be punished. But they should be forgiven and given the opportunity for a second chance. We are human beings. Why should sports men and women get punished harder than people in the normal world?” - David Millar CyclingNews

CyclingNews: Mansilla had tested positive for EPO after stage 5 of the 2012 Tour of Chile in January, which he lead for eight stages and in which he won two stages. 

CXMagazine: “Belgium has been for nearly a century the epicenter of international professional cycling in the early spring race season, and the SPY Belgian Waffle Ride is an homage to the storied history and folklore of bike racing in that region, a tribute to the incredibly arduous competitions staged there, and a celebration of our cycling heritage as a brand,” says Michael Marckx, SPY president, CEO, and USA Cycling/UCI Category 1 bike racer.

Bicycling: Protect your noggin with one of these sweet lids.

CyclingNews: According to a press release from his team RusVelo, Kovalev was riding back from training at the Dunc Gray Velodrome outside of Sydney, when he was hit by a fast-moving car. He flew over the car's bonnet and hit the ground hard, but the driver did not stop.

VeloNews: I would recommend experimenting with a 27 or 28 cassette in training. See how it feels when you’re climbing hard on local hills. Then ride some rolling roads too. If you already miss the 16-tooth cog on your 11-26, you might not like the bigger gaps in the 11-28.

Off The Beaten Path: The main protagonist of the1956 dramatic edition of PBP was a young Roger Baumann. He rode the René Herse shown above through wind and rain, fought off a challenge from a late-charging Jean Lheuillier, and arrived back in Paris as the first of the single bikes. What a story!

RedKitePrayer: The world is full of cycling caps, and they are not all created equal. Walz makes their hats, by hand, in the USA. Whether or not their handmade-ness or their USA-ness are behind the quality and comfort of the final product is not for me to say. What I will say is that Walz makes a great cap.

VeloNews: Belgian network Sporza reported earlier in the day that the three-time and defending Scheldeprijs champion was a likely non-starter due to the impending birth of his daughter.

CyclingFans: There are two stages on Thursday.  Thursday morning's Three Days of De Panne Stage 3a departs De Panne at 09:25am CET (3:25am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at De Panne at around 12:10pm CET (6:10am U.S. Eastern).  3 Days of De Panne Stage 3a live streaming video should get underway at around 10:30am CET (4:30am U.S. Eastern).
The afternoon stage, Stage 3b, is a 14.7km Individual Time Trial at De Panne.  The TT is scheduled to get underway at 2:30pm CET (8:30am U.S. Eastern).  3 Days of De Panne Stage 3b live streaming video should get underway at around 2:45pm CET (8:45am U.S. Eastern).

Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara might not crack the top ten of this Sunday's Ronde van Vlaanderen, but you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone writing about the race and not starting the conversation with one or both of these stars.

CyclingNews: Taylor Phinney (BMC) has missed out on selection for Sunday's Tour of Flanders but remains optimistic over his chances of starting Paris-Roubaix. The American had made the long-list for Andy Rhis's Flanders squad but missed out, with the team edging for a more experienced line-up.

Cape Epic - March 25-April 1 (Races & results),
De Panne-Koksijde - March 27-29 (Stages & results),
Volta a Catalunya - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Critérium International - March 24-25 (Stages & results),
Tour de Normandie - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Vuelta Mexico  - March 18-25 (Stages & results),
Gent - Wevelgem - March 25 (Start list),
Trofeo Alfredo Binda - March 25 (Start list),
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke - March 23 (Start list),
Coppi e Bartali March - 20-24 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

VeloNation: Second place for Alexander Kristoff gives Norwegian champion the lead after Peter Sagan dropped.

CyclingWeekly: Marcel Kittel said after his win today in the Three Days of De Panne that his dream is in the Tour de France. He wants to take on Mark Cavendish and win the most famous sprinters' stage on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Marijn de Vries: A thick fog hangs over the Middelkerke beach. The wind is blowing from the sea and it’s very cold. We wait in the bus as long as we can and then rush to the start of Gent-Wevelgem, or Middelkerke-Wevelgem in our case.

VeloNation: Rider had been fired after testing positive in Tour de France, then cleared by CAS.

CyclingNews: Bigham and Süss further their streak of stage victories.

BikeRadar: It's not often a wooden time trial bike is brought by the office but that's precisely what happened today with the Renovo Hoodoo.

Bicycling: Does milk—and its product spin-offs—really do a body good? Absolutely, if you know what and how much to consume.

Trek Bicycle is building five bikes for 1985 Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson, who is leading a ride across Alabama to raise money for victims of last year\'s tornados.

CyclingNews: The long-running Mantova-based doping investigation centred around the Lampre squad and pharmacist Guido Nigrelli has taken another step towards resolution following the confirmation that a judge will soon decide on whether to charge the 32 people named in the final report made by the public prosecutor in the case last year.

Former rider seeking to overturn suspended sentence.

The Dutch squad Project 1t4i has found a new title sponsor and will announce the team’s new name on Friday.

Millar: “I am quite happy looking forward to the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games,” he added. “That will be a much more joyful experience than me going to the Olympics as a black sheep.”

While there are endless choices in technical riding kit, the question of what to wear after your ride was largely unsolved – until Après Velo founder Leonard Greis saw an opportunity and stepped up – creating a brand that has grown in just five years to present a distinct offering in casual tops and bottoms to wear... after your ride.

Most of the elite women finished up their season at Nationals, but what now?

VeloNews: How much do you train? Maybe not as much as you’d like, but you still spend a lot of time cycling on your local roads. In some areas that experience is a good one, in others it’s more like a war. What’s strange is that for as much time as racing cyclists (and I count myself in this number) spend using roads and trails, we, as a group, do very little to make the country a safer place to ride a bicycle.

VeloNews: “The Spring Classics: Cycling’s Greatest One-Day Races” delves deeply into the glorious, beautiful history of cycling’s monuments.

"I have a problem with the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. No, it isn’t the preponderance of handlebar mustaches, nor the vast seas of off-the-bike cycling caps, or even the chainring tattoos that are, highly ironically, often actual tattoos. That whole offbeat culture is endearing, if a bit comical at times. My problem is with the name, in relation to the show’s contents, or, more specifically, what can’t be found there."

BikeRadar verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars. "Very, very expensive but the pinnacle of mountain bike shoe development."

Clara Hughes: Nervous energy and the bergs that beckon in Belgium.

CyclingWeekly: Fans will be licking their lips at the prospect of Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) vs Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek) once again at the Tour of Flanders this Sunday (April 1).

Today's Quote

"People do make mistakes and I think they should be punished. But they should be forgiven and given the opportunity for a second chance. We are human beings. Why should sports men and women get punished harder than people in the normal world?” - David Millar CyclingNews

InnerRing: Pro cycling is a nakedly commercial sport. The above cartoon by Pellos mocks the way the 1956 Tour de France consumes the environment with branding. Half a century later only the sponsor names have changed. Riders act as mobile billboards to sell Quickstep laminated flooring and Liquigas bottled gas. However this culture is set to clash with the Olympic Games, now just four months away.

SoCalCycling: Stage race month concludes with the most challenging, most grueling and most prestigious stage race of them all, the Redlands Bicycle Classic. Okay, maybe this year the San Dimas Stage Race was more "epic" than any other stage race because of the way the heavens unloaded on the unfortunate riders during the road race, but if San Dimas is the opening act then Redlands is the Big Show.

SingleTrack: In the world of multi day, self-supported racing, there are three major races: the Arizona Trail Race, Tour Divide, and the Colorado Trail Race. The first of the season — starting April 13 at 9 am — is the Arizona Trail Race.

Pedal: Canada’s own Team SpiderTech powered by C10 made another breakthrough in professional cycling today, receiving an invitation to race the 2012 Tour de Suisse, the first-ever invite from a WorldTour race in Europe.

Three years in development, the Turbo has been designed specifically to be "the fastest and best e-bike ever". However, its top assisted speed of 45km/h (28mph) is 13km/h faster than is allowed under US federal law and 20km/h more than is permitted in the EU*, including Britain.

RedKitePrayer: Charles Pelkey will be bringing even more of his talent to RKP this year. RKP will be running Charles’ inimitable Live Update Guy race commentary for some of the season’s marquee events. If all goes according to plan, we will begin with Paris-Roubaix, but the bulk of the coverage will be focused on, as usual, the Grand Tours.

CyclingIQ: As professional road cycling continues to spread its global wings, it has been fascinating to witness the number of Asian, Australian and Kiwi cyclists breaking into the top echelon of professional road cycling; sometimes via quite long and convoluted pathways. Starting with Oceania, Cycling iQ looks at where “home” is for these pioneering riders.

PEZ: The Belgian classics season has returned and with all the names, the stories, the bergs and the cobbles that make it so special. As a fan, riding a section of any of those classics is on most short lists. For the racer, Immersion Cycling goes a step further, offering guests the chance to turn their pedals in anger on Belgian soil, in real Belgian races – on real Belgian cobbles.

The hood doubles as a helmet for the soft-headed. The soft-headed will like this one: Would have, should have, could have...hood have! Perfect for walking around the neighborhood, or receiving a knighthood, or even statehood. When you see it, you will likelihood (French). It is a real hood, not a falsehood!

CyclingNews: Eddy Merckx has been indicted in a corruption case involving his bike company, Eddy Merckx Cycles, and the local police service of Anderlecht, a Belgian municipality.

VeloNation: Eight foreign teams amongst field in tough 1.2-ranked race.

CyclingFans: Wednesday's Three Days of De Panne Stage 2 departs Zottegem at 11:40am CET (5:40am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Koksijde (Oostduinkerke) at around 4:53pm CET (10:53am U.S. Eastern).  3 Days of De Panne live streaming video should get underway at around 2:45pm CET (8:45am U.S. Eastern).

CyclingNews: The USA Cycling National Criterium Calendar (NCC), designed to highlight the nation's top criterium events and riders, begins Saturday with the Cigar City Brewing Criterium in Tampa, Florida. The 19-event calendar is the first of its kind for USA Cycling as criterium races were previously part of the USA Cycling National Racing Calendar (NRC).

CyclingNews: Anonymous letter writers have threated to strew nails on the course of the Tour of Flanders in protest of the change of route this year. The Mayor of Oudenaarde, where the race will finish this year, received the ominous mail last week.

VeloNation: Slovakian champion takes sprint ahead of much-reduced peloton after an attritional day in the Flemish Ardennes.

CyclingNews: The Bulls 1 team of Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm sprinted to a win at the end of Cape Epic stage 2 in a time of 4:21:13. They were closely followed by Hannes Genze and Andreas Kugler (Multivan Merida Biking) and the winners of the previous two days, Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser (Team 36ONE-Songo-Specialized).

Cape Epic - March 25-April 1 (Races & results),
De Panne-Koksijde - March 27-29 (Stages & results),
Volta a Catalunya - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Critérium International - March 24-25 (Stages & results),
Tour de Normandie - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Vuelta Mexico  - March 18-25 (Stages & results),
Gent - Wevelgem - March 25 (Start list),
Trofeo Alfredo Binda - March 25 (Start list),
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke - March 23 (Start list),
Coppi e Bartali March - 20-24 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

CyclingNews: Karsten Kroon has nothing good to say about the UCI and doping. He is angry at how the organisation treated Alberto Contador, and the effect of the Spaniard's suspension on Team Saxo Bank. Added to that, he said he has been informed that he has missed doping controls.

Today's Quote

“I was isolated before the Monteberg. It’s as simple as one wheel; someone loses the wheel in front of you, and you’re gapped.” - Mark Cavendish VeloNews

Andy Schleck of team RadioShack-Nissan is to receive official honours for the 2010 Tour de France victory, following the disqualification of Alberto Contador because of a doping-related suspension. Race director Christian Prudhomme has told Belgian newspaper Le Soir that he was planning to hold an official ceremony in Luxembourg, awarding Schleck with the title.

CyclingNews: Boonen the weekend's big winner.

VeloNation: Eight foreign teams amongst field in tough 1.2-ranked race.

InnerRing: ASO has unveiled the route of the 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné. The 8 day stage race is a great contest in its own right but also resembles the Tour de France in more ways than one.

InnerRing: AG2R-La Mondiale is now the only UCI Pro Team yet to win this year. In 2011 the brown short brigade took five wins, crowned by John Gadret’s stage win in the Giro d’Italia. With a modest record like this it’s easy to be dismissive but this ignores the squad’s budget, it just doesn’t have the funds to match Team Sky or Omega Pharma-Quickstep.

RedKitePrayer: Of all things, the water bottle has been in the news this past week. First came the loose bottle on the ground at a feed zone that caused Volta a Catalunya favorite Alejandro Valverde to crash and later pull out of the race. In Belgium, world champion Mark Cavendish accused a Katusha team rider of throwing a bottle into his wheel and making him crash near the end of the Across Flanders race. And then there was a pronouncement from the UCI that, among other new regulations, the world’s governing body will soon be banning aerodynamically shaped bottles.

Breakthrough in e-Bike Battery Technology?

BikeEurope: Science, the world’s leading journal of original scientific research, is publishing an article on the first research results of a Polish-Swedish group. Their study is called: “Searching for a better thermal battery.”

BikeRumor: Paul Budnitz, the creator of Kidrobot toys, built his first bicycles in 2006. In 2011, Budnitz Bicycles was founded with the goal of manufacturing simple, built-to-last bikes.

BikeRadar verdict: 3 out of 5 stars. "Good first attempt from Mavic, ideal for sporty roundheads."

CyclingNews: It is the track sprinting rivalry that will not go away. Victoria Pendleton fronted the media on Tuesday in Melbourne ahead of next week's UCI Track World Championships where she spoke of her on-going battle with Australian Anna Meares.

 

CyclingNews: Eddy Merckx has been indicted in a corruption case involving his bike company, Eddy Merckx Cycles, and the local police service of Anderlecht, a Belgian municipality.

road.cc: Two and a half year ban for Colnago-CSF rider, reduced from six due to his co-operation with enquiry.

VeloNation: Governing body ‘concerned’ that World Cup event might not take place.

On Monday the UCI replied to my questions about its clarification document on equipment rules, specifically the prohibition on modifying equipment that includes filing off axle-retention tabs on forks.

The hood doubles as a helmet for the soft-headed. The soft-headed will like this one: Would have, should have, could have...hood have! Perfect for walking around the neighborhood, or receiving a knighthood, or even statehood. When you see it, you will likelihood (French). It is a real hood, not a falsehood!

road.cc: A mighty gallery of hand built road bike loveliness in steel, Ti and carbon.

road.cc: Fairly lightweight bottle cage that holds onto your bottle securely without any road buzz.

Pedal: The 25th edition of Taipei Cycle took place earlier this month at the Nangang Exhibition Hall in Taipei, Taiwan and continues to grow as one of the world’s top three bicycle trade shows. A total of 1,092 companies filled 3,288 booths at this year’s show, an increase of 15% over last year. In addition, the show saw 13% more international visits this year, a testament to the importance of the Taipei Cycle show.

Five Thoughts From Flanders.

CyclingFans: Tuesday's Three Days of De Panne Stage 1 departs Middelkerke at 11:55am CET (5:55am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Oudenaarde at around 4:48pm CET (10:48am U.S. Eastern).  Three Days of De Panne live streaming video should get underway at around 2:45pm CET (8:45am U.S. Eastern).

Paddy Bevin took his third straight win Sunday during a rain-soaked 157-kilometre final stage of the Sunset Road Race at the Redlands Bicycle Classic and sprinted within two seconds of winning the overall classification. But Kenda/5-Hour Energy's Phil Gaimon clawed back enough time on the final closing downtown circuit to save his overall lead and take his first NRC stage race win.

CyclingNews: Sevilla wraps up overall.

SBS: For the second year in a row, the Men’s category for the Cape Epic prologue was won by the South African/Swiss team of Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser (team 36ONE Songo Specialized) in a time of 1:11:52,1.

Cape Epic - March 25-Arril 1 (Races & results),
De Panne-Koksijde - March 27-29 (Stages & results),
Volta a Catalunya - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Critérium International - March 24-25 (Stages & results),
Tour de Normandie - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Vuelta Mexico  - March 18-28 (Stages & results),
Gent - Wevelgem - March 25 (Start list),
Trofeo Alfredo Binda - March 25 (Start list),
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke - March 23 (Start list),
Coppi e Bartali March - 20-24 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

Amber Neben: I traveled to Mar del Plata, Argentina for the Pan American Championships.  The time trial was a big objective for me, because with a win I could earn an automatic start spot for the World Championships Time Trial.  The same was true for the road race, so I wanted to be available to ride for our sprinter to help the USA earn that additional team spot for the world championships.

"For the second time in three days, we were spoiled with a race in our backyard. So after a morning of work and relaxing, we got our kits on, shouldered our backpacks, and headed into the Vlaamse Ardennen to enjoy an incredible afternoon of bike racing."

VeloNation: Tour of Britain podium finisher continues to gain momentum.

Off The Beaten Path: If you use a headlight from Busch & Müller or another brand, you will have to attach your own connectors. Even with an Edelux light, it makes sense to cut the wires exactly to the length you need (but not too short!), rather than wrap extra wires around your bike’s fork blades.

BikeRumor: We had the Cervelo S5 for several months and logged about 350 miles between two testers. Whether you love the looks or hate ‘em, it’s a fast bike. It’s also a fairly stable ride, not twitchy in the least like some crit bikes. But, it can still be whipped through some tight turns at speed when necessary. In other words, it’s a solid performer in any situation where speed is critical. As with any bike, though, there’s more to the story…

VeloNews: With his victory Sunday, the third Ghent-Wevelgem win of his career, Tom Boonen emphatically confirmed that, at the age of 31, and seven years after his breakthrough season, he is back on top.

TwistedSpoke: The latest UCI team rankings are out and the big winner is: Matt White of GreenEdge. Revenge is a dish best served up in Milan San Remo and the Volta a Catalunya. Fresh out the gate and in their first year of existence as a ProTeam, GreenEdge leads Jonathan Vaughters’ Garmin squad in the rankings by eight victories to six.

BikeRadar: The Spring Classics - a series of races in Italy, Belgium and northern France in March and April - are among the most iconic races in professional cycling. They're held on tough courses that wind through back roads and typically contain several sections of cobbles. Hard to finish and much harder to win, given how many things can go wrong.

road.cc: Olympic champion says she will ride for Armitstead if required to do so in London.

Today's Quote

“I was isolated before the Monteberg. It’s as simple as one wheel; someone loses the wheel in front of you, and you’re gapped.” - Mark Cavendish VeloNews

VeloNation: Danish squad currently last in UCI ranking.

Jason Sager: Everything is epic and off the charts by Cape Epic standards. Take the prologue. Typically in road stage races, a prologue is five to 10 minutes, our prologue here took longer than my time at the Mellow Johnny's UCI-sanctioned cross country event back in Texas a few weeks ago.

BikeRumor: Above, a carbon bash guard for Rotor cranks.

CXMagazine: Yes, tires can be removed and then re-glued. When removing Belgian taped and glued tires, it is possible that some of the tape will come off with the tire and some will remain on the rim.  Also, it is possible, though unfortunate, that the base tape can stick to Belgian tape and stay on the rim; if that happens the tire may not be useable.

SingleTrack: Why do some pros wrap tape around the ends of their Eggbeaters? I saw Jeremiah Bishop’s Cannondale a couple of years ago with that, and then I’ve noticed a few other pros since do the same thing.

CyclingNews: At the end of the 74th edition of Gent-Wevelgem the flowers were once again awarded to Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), just as they had been in Friday’s E3-Prijs Harelbeke. The 2005 world champion continues his impressive demonstration of form and confidence which started early this season in Argentina’s Tour de San Luis.

 

Five Thoughts From Flanders.

RedKitePrayer: Thoughts on a terrific weekend of racing in Flanders.

VeloCast: This weekend was hours and hours spent following elite level, professional bike races where the UCI didn't get a mention. To some this may seem like a remarkable occurence. Yet there it was; hundreds of kilometres covered all over Europe and not so much as a whisper of self-interested, politcal maneouvering, "what will they think of next!" edicts or how the entire sport is but a hare's breath away from collapsing under the considerable weight of ineptitude and bad governance.

CyclingNews: Colnago CSF-Inox rider Mattia Gavazzi has been hit with a two-and-a-half-year ban for his positive doping control for cocaine by the Italian National Anti-Doping Tribunal.

CyclingNews: Paolo Bettini has won a lawsuit against German television broadcaster ZDF, which had claimed the former Italian pro had supplied doping products to his then-teammate Patrik Sinkewitz. The broadcast company must now pay him damages, the Italian court ruled last week.

Marijn de Vries: Riding in a group is something completely different than riding solo. And no, I am not speaking of riding criss-cross in a peloton. I am speaking of training in neat pairs on the public road.

road.cc: The group – Bicycling editor at large Bill Strickland, photographer  Chris Milliman, David Alvarez, Jeff Lockwood, Mark Taylor and Belgian pro cyclocross rider Ben Berden – began their adventure last Sunday by riding the parcours of Gent-Wevelgem and finished on Saturday Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

VeloNews/BikeBlogNYC: Fixed gear bicycle racing took a few pedal revolutions forward on Saturday night as Brooklyn’s Red Hook Criterium attracted a smattering of European cyclists and a thousands-strong crowd. Despite the international flavor, two-time Red Hook winner and Brooklyn local Daniel Chabanov defended his 2011 title by stretching a fourth-lap (of 24) attack into a convincing solo victory.

Team Caffeine rules! For cycling purists who 'do it' for the love of tradition and a bloody good coffee, whilst keeping cosy in our super warm, super soft and ultra luxurious polar fleece jacket with edgy logos

BikeRadar: In credit crunch times it pays to do your own wrenching, but to maintain and repair your bike with any success you'll need a decent quality tool kit. Here's our pick of the best cycling-specific offerings we've tested this year.

BikeRadar verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. "Exquisite frame with supple ride, but wheels are heavyish for the price."

Albasini wins GC...

VeloNation: GreenEdge team continues strong display of form.

VeloNation: Dutch champion continues dominance of 2012 World Cup with final climb attack.

Cape Epic - March 25-Arril 1 (Races & results),
De Panne-Koksijde - March 27-29 (Stages & results),
Volta a Catalunya - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Critérium International - March 24-25 (Stages & results),
Tour de Normandie - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Vuelta Mexico  - March 18-28 (Stages & results),
Gent - Wevelgem - March 25 (Start list),
Trofeo Alfredo Binda - March 25 (Start list),
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke - March 23 (Start list),
Coppi e Bartali March - 20-24 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

CyclingNews: South Africa’s top marathon racers got the 2012 ABSA Cape Epic off to a blazing start when they dominated the top positions in the 27km prologue time trial that heralded the start of the international eight-day mountain bike stage race in Durbanville on Sunday.

Team Caffeine rules! For cycling purists who 'do it' for the love of tradition and a bloody good coffee, whilst keeping cosy in our super warm, super soft and ultra luxurious polar fleece jacket with edgy logos

VeloNation: Spaniard jumps to second overall with strong move.

Pedal: Canada’s Joelle Numainville (Optum Pro Cycling-Kelly Benefits) scored the win on Saturday at the 60-min City of Redlands Stage 2 Criterium over race leader Megan Guarnier (Team TIBCO) in second with yesterday’s winner Loren Rowney (Specialized-lululemon) in third.

The Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies women’s team executed their game plan nearly to perfection in the first stage of the Redlands Bicycle Classic, the City of Beaumont Circuit Race. Canada’s Joelle Numainville claimed second place in a frantic field sprint, and Jade Wilcoxson and Numainville claimed the Queen of the Mountain and points jerseys, respectively, in the 72 mile, 3 lap race.

CyclingNews: There was no major changes to the general classification with ovenight leader Oscar Sevilla remaining firmly in control. The Spaniard still holds a more than 3 minute lead over his rivals.

road.cc: Who knew? Tire company makes drive belts for German car industry.

CyclingNews: At the end of the 74th edition of Gent-Wevelgem the flowers were once again awarded to Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), just as they had been in Friday’s E3-Prijs Harelbeke. The 2005 world champion continues his impressive demonstration of form and confidence which started early this season in Argentina’s Tour de San Luis.

VeloNation: BMC Racing Team leader in control in Corsica.

Today's Quote

“I was isolated before the Monteberg. It’s as simple as one wheel; someone loses the wheel in front of you, and you’re gapped.” - Mark Cavendish VeloNews

VeloNews: Peter Sagan's Liquigas Cannondale SuperSix Evo, which was ridden to second place at Sunday's Ghent-Wevelgem. Liquigas is on SRAM Red and uses Mavic wheels, Fizik saddles and FSA components.

RBAction: TechLite is a new name in the road market. They’re not exactly jumping into the road scene head first, but rather testing the waters with a conservative approach with just two wheelsets: a carbon 38mm and an alloy 24mm—both available in either clincher or tubular versions.

VeloNation: Michael Rogers milliseconds back in runner-up slot.

VeloNation: Several GC riders lose time in crosswind splits.

VeloNation: Time trial victory moves him above team-mate Huzarski.

BikeRadar: In its eight year history, South Africa's Cape Epic has firmly established itself as the premier mountain biking stage race in the world. And there's no man more closely linked to that history than four-time champion, Karl Platt.

 

CycleSport: About a week ago, Tom Boonen wrote a blog for Het Nieuwsblad in which he played down his ambitions in bunch sprints. “Nowadays the guys take too big risks,” he complained. Since then, he’s won E3 Prijs, in a sprint. And today he won Ghent-Wevelgem, also in a sprint.

Earlier, the first ever edition of a women’s race at Gent-Wevelgem, Great Britain’s Lizzie Armistead, now racing for the Dutch outfit Team AA Drink/leontien.nl takes the win.

Pedal: Elisabeth Armitstead (Gbr) AA Drink – leontien.nl Cycling Team won the inaugural 113.7km Gent Wevelgem for women on Sunday besting Iris Slappendel (Ned) Rabobank Women in second with Jessie Daams (Bel) AA Drink – leontien.nl Cycling Team in third. The women’s version is apparently not ranked as a National Race with no UCI points.

CyclingNews: For the second time in a less than a week Oscar Freire (Team Katusha) was left frustrated in a bunch sprint finish, taking 4th place in Gent-Wevelgem. Three days prior to today’s result, the Spaniard had come out second best to Tom Boonen (Omega-Pharma QuickStep) in the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen-Harelbeke and once again it was the Belgian who made the trip to the top step of the podium in Wevelgem.

CyclingNews: Having missed the entire Classics campaign in 2011 through injury, Taylor Phinney (BMC) was among the starters at Gent-Wevelgem.

VeloNews: Though he’s never won the race, world champion Mark Cavendish will start as one of the big favorites Sunday morning at the 74th edition of Ghent-Wevelgem, the second Belgian WorldTour race of the weekend after Friday’s E3 Harelbeke.

CycleSport: The crux of this weekend’s Ghent-Wevelgem race is the famous Kemmelberg climb, featured in Cycle Sport’s Iconic Places series earlier this year.

CyclingFans: Sunday's Volta a Catalunya Stage 7 departs Badalona Centre Comercial Màgic at 12:20pm CET (6:20am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Barcelona (Sarrià) at around 3:00pm CET (9:00am U.S. Eastern). Volta a Catalunya live streaming video is scheduled to get underway by around 1:45pm CET (7:45am U.S. Eastern).

VeloNation: Spaniard jumps to second overall with strong move.

Volta a Catalunya - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Critérium International - March 24-25 (Stages & results),
Tour de Normandie - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Vuelta Mexico  - March 18-28 (Stages & results),
Gent - Wevelgem - March 25 (Start list),
Trofeo Alfredo Binda - March 25 (Start list),
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke - March 23 (Start list),
Coppi e Bartali March - 20-24 (Stages & results),
Dwars door Vlaanderen - March 21 (Results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

Pedal: Canada’s Joelle Numainville (Optum Pro Cycling-Kelly Benefits) scored the win on Saturday at the 60-min City of Redlands Stage 2 Criterium over race leader Megan Guarnier (Team TIBCO) in second with yesterday’s winner Loren Rowney (Specialized-lululemon) in third.

The Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies women’s team executed their game plan nearly to perfection in the first stage of the Redlands Bicycle Classic, the City of Beaumont Circuit Race. Canada’s Joelle Numainville claimed second place in a frantic field sprint, and Jade Wilcoxson and Numainville claimed the Queen of the Mountain and points jerseys, respectively, in the 72 mile, 3 lap race.

CyclingNews: There was no major changes to the general classification with ovenight leader Oscar Sevilla remaining firmly in control. The Spaniard still holds a more than 3 minute lead over his rivals.

VeloNews: The newly popular (and simultaneously very old) 650b wheel size took its first major win last weekend at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Nino Schurter rode a prototype 650b/27.5” Scott Scale frame to victory over local favorite Burry Stander, who was on a Specialized 29er. Julien Absalon was the only rider in the top 10 of the men’s race still on 26-inch wheels.

road.cc: Who knew? Tire company makes drive belts for German car industry.

Crew-neck semi-fitted T with contrast colored stiching detail. Finely printed T shirt front, rear, and sleeve, and '10 commandments of spin' badge. Cotton elastane single jersey, enzyme-washed for that super-soft, worn feel.

CyclingFans: Sunday's Criterium International Stage 3 departs Porto Vecchio at 9:50am CET (3:50am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Col de l’Ospedale at around 2:43pm CET (8:43am U.S. Eastern). Criterium International live streaming video is scheduled to get underway at around 1:20pm CET (7:20am U.S. Eastern).

VeloNation: Michael Rogers milliseconds back in runner-up slot.

VeloNation: Several GC riders lose time in crosswind splits.

VeloNation: Time trial victory moves him above team-mate Huzarski.

Today's Quote

“I hope they don’t do like last year. It’s never been my tactic to just follow one guy. Of course, if you give Fabian five seconds, it’s hard to get it back, but I’m not going to be the guy who is always behind him. If he attacks I’ll have to follow him, but I’m not a guy like [Filippo] Pozzato, always following.” - Philippe Gilbert VeloNews

BikeRadar: In its eight year history, South Africa's Cape Epic has firmly established itself as the premier mountain biking stage race in the world. And there's no man more closely linked to that history than four-time champion, Karl Platt.

CyclingNews: After a season of set-backs, Niels Albert promised that, if he won the 2012 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Koksijde, he would make the pilgrimage from Tremelo, where he lives, to the Scherpenheuvel basilica, one of Belgium's most holy sites.

road.cc: Pricy but super light and extremely comfortable performance road shoes for women.

CXMagazine: For me, and for pretty much any woman I’ve ever talked to, big base miles can be seriously painful on our — ahem — “lady parts.” I have to say, this is probably the best chamois cream I have ever used.

CyclingFans: Sunday's Gent-Wevelgem departs Deinze at 11:15am CET (5:15am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Wevelgem at around 4:56pm CET (10:56am U.S. Eastern).  Gent-Wevelgem live streaming video should get underway at around 2:00pm CET (8:00am U.S. Eastern).

VeloNews: Though he’s never won the race, world champion Mark Cavendish will start as one of the big favorites Sunday morning at the 74th edition of Ghent-Wevelgem, the second Belgian WorldTour race of the weekend after Friday’s E3 Harelbeke.

CycleSport: The crux of this weekend’s Ghent-Wevelgem race is the famous Kemmelberg climb, featured in Cycle Sport’s Iconic Places series earlier this year.

RedKitePrayer: The Folks at Versus will be offering some coverage of the Criterium International on Sunday March 25, but it appears that will just be a wrap-up with highlights. According to their schedule, we can see the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Fleche-Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, California, the Dauphine, The Tour de Suisse and the biggie, the Tour de France, this season.

CyclingNews: Bad luck cost Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) the chance of defending his title in E3 Harelbeke on Friday. The two-time race winner suffered three punctures and two crashes during the race and despite being a major factor in several attacks had to settle for 22nd place on the day.

VeloNation: Collarbone fracture pinned this morning.

VeloNation: Belgian will compete in tomorrow’s Gent Wevelgem, worried about Flanders.

BikeRadar verdict: 5 out of 5 stars. "Ultra-light race bike with a state-of-the-art drivetrain and frameset."

EuroSport: The Omega Pharma-Quickstep rider edged out three-time world champion Oscar Freire in a sprint finish at the end of the 203km race that began and ended in Harelbeke.

CyclingFans: Volta a Catalunya 2012 Live Dashboard... 2012 Volta a Catalunya LIVE - Stage 5. Stage Profile CyclingFans: Friday's Volta a Catalunya Stage 5 departs Ascó La vostra energia at 12:05pm CET (7:05am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Manresa at around 5:00pm CET (12:00pm U.S. Eastern). Volta a Catalunya live streaming video is scheduled to get underway by around 3:45pm CET (10:45am U.S. Eastern).

CyclingNews: Julien Simon of Saur-Sojasun gave his team a WorldTour win, taking the mass sprint in the fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya. He outpaced the previous day's winner Rigoberto Uran (Sky),with Liquigas' Sylvester Symyd taking third.

VeloNews: Loren Rowney and Patrick Bevin won the first road stage of the National Racing Calendar Friday, taking out stage 1 of the Redlands Bicycle Classic in California.

The sport’s governing body, the UCI, is moving towards greater regulation of equipment, both the bike and clothing. While rules about the bio passport or race radios might seem abstract, there’s a high chance these ones will affect you.

Volta a Catalunya - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Tour de Normandie - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Vuelta Mexico  - March 18-28 (Stages & results),
Gent - Wevelgem - March 25 (Start list),
Trofeo Alfredo Binda - March 25 (Start list),
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke - March 23 (Start list),
Coppi e Bartali March - 20-24 (Stages & results),
Dwars door Vlaanderen - March 21 (Results),
Milan-San Remo - March 17 (Results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

SBS: There are several comparisons to be made between BMC Racing teammates George Hincapie and Marcus Burghardt as the latter finds himself in the midst of another spring campaign.

BikeRadar: Speedplay's Zero pedals are almost universally lauded for their user-friendly two-sided design, secure retention, tunable and generous float, and lightweight yet durable construction. However, the cleats are among the most difficult of the major brands' to walk in on account of their bare aluminum surface. Thankfully you can add some much needed traction for less than US$10 using common hardware store supplies.

CyclingNews: Reigning Olympic Champion Nicole Cooke has revealed that she has forgiven British rival Lizzie Armitstead for her comments made following the women's road race world championships in Copenhagen. Armitstead accused her Great Britain teammate of "riding for herself and never working for a teammate" after Cooke finished in fourth place and Armitstead in seventh.

John Degenkolb: I'm still pinching myself: fifth at my first go at Milan-San Remo! What an incredible feeling. Our team was staying 100m from the bottom of the Poggio in the week coming into the race and when we rode the climb on training rides it gave us goose bumps to imagine all the cameras, the fans and the atmosphere that would be there on race day – it was all we expected and so much more.

Pedal: It’s day one of the Redlands Classic and Team TIBCO has wasted no time in making its presence known. Olympic long team member Megan Guarnier won today’s time trial and is set up to contend for the stage race General Classification.

CyclingFans: Stages 1 and 2 are on Saturday.  Only the final stage on Sunday is being broadcast live on television this year. Stage 1 starts at 9:15am CET (4:15am U.S. Eastern). Stage 1 finish at around 11:32am CET (6:32am U.S. Eastern). Stage 2 starts at 2:30pm CET (9:30am U.S. Eastern). Stage 2 finish at around 4:38pm CET (11:38am U.S. Eastern). Live video for Stage 3 only (Sunday).

CyclingFans: Saturday's Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali Stage 5, a 14.3km Individual Time Trial at Crevalcore, gets underway at 1:00pm CET (8:00am U.S. Eastern) with the departure of the first rider. There is no live television coverage but we will have photos and videos as available.

EuroSport: The Italian Lampre-ISD rider won in Pavullo as he took the stage in convincing fashion – a repeat of his success the previous day.

Pedal: After a dozen or so riders crashed on a slick descent early in last Wednesday’s stage of the Volta a Catalunya—with Dane Jakob Fuglsang breaking his scaphoid and New Zealander Julian Dean colliding with a parked car and fracturing a leg — the RadioShack-Nissan-Trek team director José Azevedo told his team Web site: “Normally, the peloton would wait for everyone to get back on their bikes. Not anymore. There was no waiting.”

RedKitePrayer: Wednesday’s Dwars door Vlaanderen kicked-off the run to the cobbled monuments with a gutsy solo win for Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Niki Terpstra. Now all eyes turn to the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen and Ghent-Wevelgem, two races who have seen quite a bit of change over the past few years. Traditionally held a week and a day before the Tour of Flanders, the E3 Prijs was considered by most to be the final check-point for riders hoping to win the Ronde.

Today's Quote

“I hope they don’t do like last year. It’s never been my tactic to just follow one guy. Of course, if you give Fabian five seconds, it’s hard to get it back, but I’m not going to be the guy who is always behind him. If he attacks I’ll have to follow him, but I’m not a guy like [Filippo] Pozzato, always following.” - Philippe Gilbert VeloNews

Criterium International for Evans

VeloNation: Pinotti also a protected rider for BMC Racing Team.

road.cc: Short films showcase cycling heritsage of Grand Depart host Corsica and Nice, where race returns to mainland.

PEZ: At the recent BMC training camp, based in the rather nice Marriott La Sella Golf Hotel in Denia, Spain, the rider interviews finished off with a group quizzing of the English speaking riders on the team. Tejay Van Garderen, Adam Blythe, Steve Cummings, Taylor Phinney, Brent Bookwalter, Tim Roe and George Hincapie lined up in front of the gathered press for a few questions. 

Bicycling: The Amira Compact is the entry-level member of the seven-model Amira family. The bike’s costliest sibling bears a sticker price of $8,000, a disparity deriving from the spec and the grade of carbon. All of them, however, share a race-oriented geometry that still suits many women’s anatomical needs with a more-upright stance.

CXMagazine: Todd Wells took a tumble in South Africa. Sven had some cyclocross legs that didn’t quite suit, but is he coming to Louisville now? Marianne Vos has to have won something, because she’s … well, Marianne Vos. Katie Compton heads to Pietermaritzburg to chase some Olympic qualification points. Then there’s Tim Johnson’s Ride on Washington. In some massive news, our very own Molly Hurford signed a contract to write a book on cyclocross!

 

CycleSport: The crux of this weekend’s Ghent-Wevelgem race is the famous Kemmelberg climb, featured in Cycle Sport’s Iconic Places series earlier this year.

EuroSport: The Omega Pharma-Quickstep rider edged out three-time world champion Oscar Freire in a sprint finish at the end of the 203km race that began and ended in Harelbeke.

InnerRing: The GP E3 Harelbeke race is on today, marking the beginning of a four week period of spring classics in and around Belgium. In particular the region of Flanders will host many races. A hotbed of cycling, some opinion polls suggest that nobody else in the world likes cycling as much as the inhabitants of Flanders. Here is a look at the region via its language, its flag and more.

CyclingWeekly: Team Sky chief and Team GB performance director David Brailsford has said that having Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish aiming for glory in the Tour de France and Olympic Games is a 'recipe for failure.'

Crew-neck semi-fitted T with contrast colored stiching detail. Finely printed T shirt front, rear, and sleeve, and '10 commandments of spin' badge. Cotton elastane single jersey, enzyme-washed for that super-soft, worn feel.

road.cc: Organization calls for 10 per cent of all tests to be performed on blood to detect substances such as HGH.

CyclingNews: At the age of 46, Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree is preparing a bid to break the world landspeed record on a bike in the USA later this year. As this video shows, he is busy "obsessively" building a bike at his home from recycled components which he hopes will help him make history.

Bicycling: 12 simple but vital repairs you can master with basic tools.

Vacansoleil-DCM are rumoured to be considering sports psychology sessions for their anxiety-ridden rider Johnny Hoogerland, who is set to sit out the first waffle of Belgian classics while he cobbles together a plan to beat the demons in his head and maybe, just maybe, one day stand on top of the podium for anything other than a Most Combative Rider award or a token KOM jersey.

CyclingFans: Friday's E3 Harelbeke (E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke) departs Harelbeke at 12:00pm CET (7:00am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Harelbeke at around 4:49pm CET (11:49am U.S. Eastern).  E3 Harelbeke live streaming video should get underway at around 2:45pm CET (9:45am U.S. Eastern).

RedKitePrayer: I am about to buy a new bike. Never mind which bike. It’s a bike that I will love. It’s the one I want the most right now. It’s another bike, but it’s a solution for a problem I didn’t know I had, but am now very concerned about.

CyclingFans: Friday's Volta a Catalunya Stage 5 departs Ascó La vostra energia at 12:05pm CET (7:05am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Manresa at around 5:00pm CET (12:00pm U.S. Eastern). Volta a Catalunya live streaming video is scheduled to get underway by around 3:45pm CET (10:45am U.S. Eastern).

CyclingNews: Guarnier tops Neben in women's.

VeloNation: Six man break animates closing kilometres.

VeloNation: Start continues as planned, riders facing another tough day.

Volta a Catalunya - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Tour de Normandie - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Vuelta Mexico  - March 18-28 (Stages & results),
Gent - Wevelgem - March 25 (Start list),
Trofeo Alfredo Binda - March 25 (Start list),
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke - March 23 (Start list),
Coppi e Bartali March - 20-24 (Stages & results),
Dwars door Vlaanderen - March 21 (Results),
Milan-San Remo - March 17 (Results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

CyclingNews: Sevilla retains overall lead.

PodiumCafe: Sunday is such a good Classics day! Over in Belgium, there's Gent-Wevelgem, but the big women's race of the day is Round 2 of the Road World Cup - the Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio. It may not have cobbles, but it has lots of hills, and always explosive racing.

RBAction: Widely regarded as the unofficial start to the domestic cycling season, the Redlands Bicycle Classic in Redlands, California begins today and runs to the 25th. The race is one of the most hotly contested events of the season.

Cyclocosm: For a guy who made obsessing over aerodynamics and other tech geek foibles into the development and marketing norm in the sport, Gerard Vroomen is surprisingly attuned to the sloppy, cut-and-run realities of professional bike racing.

Crew-neck semi-fitted T with contrast colored stiching detail. Finely printed T shirt front, rear, and sleeve, and '10 commandments of spin' badge. Cotton elastane single jersey, enzyme-washed for that super-soft, worn feel.

Bicycling: Six common causes of crashes—and some tips on how to avoid them.

TwistedSpoke: Strange turns to bizarre in Spain and Catalunya, the only professional bike race ranked Hors Silliness.

CyclingFans: Thursday's Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali Stage 3, departs Friday's Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali Stage 4 departs Pavullo at 12:00pm CET (7:00am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Pavullo at around 4:05pm CET (11:05am U.S. Eastern). There is no live television coverage but photos and videos as available.

CyclingNews: Benedetti remains in leader's jersey.

VeloNews: The 2012 classics campaign did not start the way BMC Racing would have liked. The team’s new superstars — Thor Hushovd and Philippe Gilbert — were out of the running for the season opener at Milan-San Remo. Hushovd didn’t start while Gilbert crashed on the Cipressa.

InnerRing: A UCI official has a giant construction project with plans for Europe’s tallest building that’s in trouble with the city authorities. Months later the UCI awards the world championships to the same city. Is there a link?

VeloNews: It’s a Belgian WorldTour race featuring the renowned cobblestone climbs of the Kappelmuur and Kwaremont — and a race where former winners Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen will again be the pre-race favorites.

BrowneEye: As the date for the US Pro championships gets nearer I have a feeling that this will be the last time Greenville will host the race. The race has been in the Southeast for seven years and prior to that in Philadelphia ever since they handed out professional road race national championship jerseys.

CyclingNews: Two months on from his horrific crash in the opening stage of the Tour Down Under, Lotto-Belisol's Jurgen Roelandts is still several weeks away from a return to racing and is yet to receive the all clear from his doctors. The 26-year-old Belgian suffered a fractured vertebrae in his neck and a clogged blood vessel in his brain following a spill with multiple riders in Adelaide.

BikeRumor: The Ventus II gets 15% lighter than the original. The revised base bar has shaped recesses for the arm rests to keep them from rotating out of line, and the handhold shape is modified and gets new grips to prevent slip.

RBAction: Riding at high speed in the draft of a scooter simulates the speed and intensity of racing. But unlike racing, the rider has full control over the workout’s duration and intensity. Most of the top European professionals motor pace multiple times per week to train their ability to pedal a big gear at a high cadence—something you can’t do without either racing or motor pacing.

BikeRadar: Cardo Systems, known for their wireless Bluetooth communication systems for motorcycle helmets, offer a new model called the cardo BK-1, a communication and entertainment system designed cyclists.

Breaks leg...

SBS: Wife, Carole, confirmed to this morning that her husband, regarded as one of the best leadout riders in the world, would be out of cycling for at least three months, possibly six, ruling him out of an eighth Tour de France and a fifth Olympic Games.

 

CyclingFans: Friday's E3 Harelbeke (E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke) departs Harelbeke at 12:00pm CET (7:00am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Harelbeke at around 4:49pm CET (11:49am U.S. Eastern).  E3 Harelbeke live streaming video should get underway at around 2:45pm CET (9:45am U.S. Eastern).

CyclingNews: Legendary French rider Jeannie Longo has been included in the France pre-selection squad for the London 2012 Olympics, despite her advancing years and the doping controversies that have plagued her and her husband over the last few months.

VeloNation: Spanish round of the competition cancelled due to lack of funding.

Today's Quote

“I hope they don’t do like last year. It’s never been my tactic to just follow one guy. Of course, if you give Fabian five seconds, it’s hard to get it back, but I’m not going to be the guy who is always behind him. If he attacks I’ll have to follow him, but I’m not a guy like [Filippo] Pozzato, always following.” - Philippe Gilbert VeloNews

Tour De José: 23 riders who were part of Geox-TMC, the procontinental team that would almost certainly have promoted to WorldTour-status in 2012 if Geox hadn’t withdrawn as main sponsor?

Bicycling: Centuries and all-day spins are pure joy when you follow these tips.

BikeRadar verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. "The complete home workshop package."

Bicycling: What you wear shapes how you ride. Here are some of our favorite garments for any two-wheeled adventure.

CyclingIQ: Since departing his native Australia for China in 2006, former urban planner and velophile Shannon Bufton has honed his considerable energy into bringing the bicycle back to Beijing. Last weekend, he went all out; unveiling a new high-end bicycle exhibition, Beijing Bike Week, from within the capital city’s opulent Jingbao Mall.

BikeRadar verdict: 2.5 out of 5 stars. "Impressive on paper but let down by its retention system."

VeloNation: Says Belgian ‘rode with the sword of Damocles over his head.’

CyclingFans: Thursday's Volta a Catalunya Stage 4 departs Tremp at 12:30pm CET (7:30am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Ascó La vostra energia at around 5:01pm CET (12:01pm U.S. Eastern). Volta a Catalunya live streaming video is scheduled to get underway by around 3:45pm CET (10:45am U.S. Eastern).

VeloNation: Snow leads to route being slashed and prompts many riders to withdraw.

Volta a Catalunya - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Dwars door Vlaanderen - March 21 (Start list),
Milan-San Remo - March 17 (Results),
Tour de Normandie - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Vuelta Mexico  - March 18-28 (Stages & results),
MTB World Cup Cross Country #1 March 16-18 (Races & results),
Gent - Wevelgem - March 25 (Start list),
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke - March 23 (Photos),
Coppi e Bartali March - 20-24 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

VeloNews: In the spring of 2000, David Zabriskie was a quiet kid that had garnered a few decent results during the spring races in the desert southwest, but when the 7-Up-Colorado Cyclist rider attacked late with teammate Clark Sheehan and the pair held on to win stage 1 of the Redlands Classic, the peloton took notice. What ensued was a three-day battle between a young nobody and Chris Horner, whose Mercury squad was a big dog in a small lot.

VeloNation: Injury forces Movistar leader out of race.

CyclingWeekly: Ian Wilkinson has added to Endura Racing's ever-increasing tally of continental road wins, claiming the third stage of the Tour de Normandie on Wednesday morning.

CyclingNews: Sevilla retains overall lead.

Today's Quote

“I’m far from being the best climber, far from being the best sprinter, far from being the strongest guy on the road… You become more tactically astute from not being the strongest guy there, so you really have to learn how to race, and learn how to be clever to win the races. You’ve got to learn tactics.” - Simon Gerrans CycleSport

BikeRadar: Dr. Allen Lim, a former consultant for both Garmin-Transitions and RadioShack professional road teams, along with Skratch Labs partner, and professional chef, Biju Thomas, have just launched the Skratch Labs mobile performance food trailer, which is supported by Nissan.

VeloNews: Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan) will be back at the start line for one of his favorite races of the year in this weekend’s Critérium International, but he admits his chances of a history-making sixth victory are slim.

BikeRadar verdict: 5 out of 5 stars. "One of the most rewarding riding experiences you can have right now."

CyclingFans: Thursday's Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali Stage 3, departs Fiorano Modenese at 12:00pm CET (7:00am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Levizzano at around 3:52pm CET (10:52am U.S. Eastern). There is no live television coverage but photos and videos as available.

Breaks leg...

SBS: Wife, Carole, confirmed to this morning that her husband, regarded as one of the best leadout riders in the world, would be out of cycling for at least three months, possibly six, ruling him out of an eighth Tour de France and a fifth Olympic Games.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step's Niki Terpstra rode a dominating race to victory in today's Dwars door Vlaanderen semi-classic, dropping his breakaway teammates on the Oude Kwaremont and holding off an 11-rider chase with relative ease for the solo win. Terpstra's team held all the cards in this race, with Sylvain Chavanel in the early break with him, and dogging each of the chasing efforts with his frightening presence looming at their back.

CyclingNews: NetApp's Benedetti moves into overall lead.

InnerRing: I’m learning about cycling every day but I know surprisingly little about Merckx. Various ideas come to mind. The rocking shoulders, the sideburns, winning all the jerseys in the Tour de France in the same year, the son of a shopkeeper from a Brussels suburb, the brown Molteni jersey and more. William Fotheringham’s book links all these mental images together and builds them into a fine history of the Belgian’s career.

As a kid in the UK who grew up getting into cycling thanks to the Channel Four coverage of the Tour de France, it was a real pleasure to speak to one half of the commentary team who called those incredible races: Lemond vs Hinault in 1986; Lemond vs Fignon in 1989; Robert Millar’s stage wins in the Pyrenees; and Stephen Roche’s stunning 1987 Tour.

Bicycling: Got a favorite race you never miss? Follow a certain rider's every move all season long? Of course you do—you're a passionate cycling fan. Why not expand your racing horizons and check out what other races and racers are out there? Here are some suggestions to get you started. —Joe Lindsey and Whit Yost.

Lennard Zinn: I wasn’t kidding last week; bigger tires DO roll faster!

BikeRadar: The 35-year-old fractured the neck of his left femur in what he described as a fairly innocuous fall during the Nove Mesto World Cup round last August. He has spent much of his close season building back up from what was a serious injury, with hours of Wattbike training and gym sessions now behind him.

CyclingFans: Race starts at 11:40am CET (6:40am U.S. Eastern). Finish at around 4:30pm CET (11:30am U.S. Eastern). Live video from 2:20pm CET (9:20am U.S. Eastern).

CyclingNews: Breakaway sticks as peloton mis-times the catch.

 

VeloNation: Says Belgian ‘rode with the sword of Damocles over his head.’

CycleSport: As UCI president, Pat McQuaid is the figurehead of an organisation that governs and authorises all aspects of the sport. But he is not popular with everyone. He has been caricatured as a bumbling fool. There have been bitter rows with race organisers, and with the teams, who have accused the UCI of operating a feudal system designed to ensure it prospers.

VeloNews: The UCI is continuing its crackdown on non-standard and modified equipment, with a number of common modifications deemed illegal for 2012, including filing off fork dropout safety tabs.

RedKitePrayer: Milan-San Remo has probably weathered more controversies in its 106-year history than any other classic. Last Saturday’s race, headed by Simon Gerrans’ upset victory, was no exception. And the announcement by the organizers on Monday that they are (again) thinking of making a few modifications to the 298km course has only added fuel to the perennial arguments about the race not being hard enough to reveal a true champion.

CyclingNews: Plus four Brazilians suspended for two years for doping.

Video: How to wheelie, with Tracy Moseley.

BikeRadar: A basic skill of mountain biking is knowing how to wheelie. Not only will you impress your mates with your new found prowess on one wheel, it's also an essential trail skill that'll see you deal with pesky roots or logs in your path.

Crew-neck semi-fitted T with contrast colored stiching detail. Finely printed T shirt front, rear, and sleeve, and '10 commandments of spin' badge. Cotton elastane single jersey, enzyme-washed for that super-soft, worn feel.

Suddenly, as a result of what happened today, Stage 7 has taken on a whole new dimension. There’s a storm a-brewin’, ya see, and it’s gonna get ugly.

Bicycling: 25 solutions to vexing problems.

road.cc: Featuring Millar's Cervelo, Hoogerland's Bianchi, Petacchi's Wilier, Nibali's Cannondale and loads more.

VeloNation: Says finishing line closer to Poggio could boost safety and drama.

Wednesday's Volta a Catalunya Stage 3 departs La Vall d'en Bas (Sant Esteve d'en Bas) at 11:15am CET (6:15am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Port-Ainé at around 4:57pm CET (11:57am U.S. Eastern). Volta a Catalunya live streaming video is scheduled to get underway by around 3:45pm CET (10:45am U.S. Eastern).

VeloNation: Race leader surprises the leaders with as the final climb decimates the peloton.

Volta a Catalunya - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Dwars door Vlaanderen - March 21 (Start list),
Milan-San Remo - March 17 (Results),
Tour de Normandie - March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Vuelta Mexico  - March 18-28 (Stages & results),
MTB World Cup Cross Country #1 March 16-18 (Races & results),
Gent - Wevelgem - March 25 (Start list),
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke - March 23 (Photos),
Coppi e Bartali March - 20-24 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

Press Enterprise: Continuity may well be the defining characteristic of this year’s Redlands Bicycle Classic, the 28th edition, which begins Thursday. The men’s and women’s overall winners from 2011 return, facing the same four-day format, run over the same courses as a year ago.

VeloNation: ‘There are real cowboys… Nowadays the guys take too big risks.’

Today's Quote

“I’m far from being the best climber, far from being the best sprinter, far from being the strongest guy on the road… You become more tactically astute from not being the strongest guy there, so you really have to learn how to race, and learn how to be clever to win the races. You’ve got to learn tactics.” - Simon Gerrans CycleSport

Spaniard firms as favorite for overall honors.

VeloNews: “I concede that the second leaves me with a more bitter taste in the mouth than in 2011,” Cancellara told DHnet.be. “After 300 km, there is always a chance against a rider who is not a pure sprinter. Obviously, if I had eyes in the back of my head, I might have quickly realized that I was taking the Australian behind me, in an armchair, to victory. On the other hand, I was also obsessed with the possible return of a larger group, which was never more than a few seconds behind us. I would not have done all this work for nothing.”

BikeRadar: Close to two-thirds of Specialized-lululemon will race in the Olympics this summer. By any measure, that’s a clear estimation of a ‘dream team’ and it’s exactly the caliber team Specialized-lululemon have assembled.

road.cc: Featuring Gilbert's BMC, Greipel's Ridley, Cav's wheels and all sorts of other racing goodness.

road.cc: You've had the iPhone version, now for the wider Android market.

BikeRadar verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. "Slightly heavy, but its smoothness, precision, power transfer and aerodynamics make it worth buying now and upgrading later."

BikeRumor: Few companies do as good a job as Crank Brothers at creating products that not only fulfill needs, but meet (or create) desires as well. Crank Brothers’ new Pixl, Pica, and Pica+ premium multi-tools have been desired by everyone that we’ve shared them with- but how do the sleek design and cool features translate into on-trail performance? And do they justify the added cost?

CyclingFans: Race starts at 11:40am CET (6:40am U.S. Eastern). Finish at around 4:30pm CET (11:30am U.S. Eastern). Live video from 2:20pm CET (9:20am U.S. Eastern).

CyclingFans: Wednesday's Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali Stage 2a, the morning stage, departs Gatteo at 9:15am CET (4:15am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Gatteo at around 11:37am CET (6:37am U.S. Eastern).  The afternoon 2b stage, also at Gatteo, is a 14.9km Team Time Trial.  It is scheduled to get underway at 3:30pm CET (10:30am U.S. Eastern).  There is no live television coverage but  photos and videos as available.

CyclingNews: Breakaway sticks as peloton mis-times the catch.

CompetitiveCyclist: Needless to say, we were bummed by last week's announcement that the Competitive Cyclist Racing Team wasn’t chosen for the Tour of California. But we still have a huge amount of respect for the phenomenon AEG has created with the race. Outside of the Tour de France, it's the most important race to the American bike industry. So while we would've loved to take part this year, we'll derive plenty of benefits from the week just the same.

CyclingNews: Yoann Offredo has said that his one-year suspension for three violations of the whereabouts system was too severe, although the FDJ-BigMat rider has accepted that it was not unjust to sanction him for the offence.

CyclingIQ: In 1992, when Cannondale was still a US-based manufacturer, it established a trading company in Japan to source Shimano components and bicycle parts for export back to Cannondale’s assembly factories in America and Europe. A few years later, a domestic sales function was added, which meant Japanese consumers could buy Cannondale “direct” from the subsidiary. [Note: Cannondale Australia was the next subsidiary formed, in July 1996].

Mary McConneloug & Mike Broderick: "Getting there is half the fun" was not a phrase coined on a trip that started out with back-to-back overnight flights. This is certainly the case with our current travels from our winter home in Northern California to the exotic lands of South Africa.

BikeRadar: Oakley has climbed aboard the London Olympic bandwagon with special edition Team GB models of their Radar and Flak Jacket shades.

BikeRumor: Black Sheep showed up with one of the craziest bikes at the show.  This 36″ wheeled monstrosity nabbed them the award for best experimental bike.  They also took home best tig construction.  Not to shabby.

Off The Beaten Path: 650B wheels have been in the news lately. 650B appears to be the “next big thing” for mountain bikes. The popular 700C mountain bikes (“29er”) don’t offer the nimble handling you need in technical terrain – the same result we found for wide 700C tires on the road. For 2013, several big makers are introducing 650B mountain bikes.

"I have a little bit of a break period," Horner told Cyclingnews. "I have a little problem behind the knee that I'm resting up. It's just a tendon below the hamstring that was sore from Tirreno-Adriatico. I'm waiting for that to heal. That will give me a week's rest that I wasn't planning."

VeloNation: Says finishing line closer to Poggio could boost safety and drama.

TwistedSpoke: After his fabulous — Chris Horner’s favorite word — fabulous 6th place performance in Milan San Remo, we ask the question: is Master P back?

"If there were one word to describe the beginning of my season, I would have to say it was “adversity.” In a sport that is all about planning and preparation, where we pay attention to every detail, analyzing our training schedules, our race programs, in search of the perfect combination to help us reach peak form when it matters the most, it can all go awry faster than you can imagine."

PEZ: George Hincapie (USA & BMC) has ridden Milan-Sanremo 16 times, with two top ten finishes – in 1999 and 2001. This year he finished 33rd at 20 seconds.

Crew-neck semi-fitted T with contrast colored stiching detail. Finely printed T shirt front, rear, and sleeve, and '10 commandments of spin' badge. Cotton elastane single jersey, enzyme-washed for that super-soft, worn feel.

Ted King: In a thick Italian accent, the shout cuts through the metallic drone generated by 150 drivetrains: “Ow-toe!” That’s “auto,” one of many alerts we racers use to tell each other that, somehow, a car has gotten onto the course.

TwistedSpoke: Excellent ventilation, light weight, personalized fit and safety certifications aren’t the driving reasons to select the Whisper Deluxe. Those factors are givens in this price range. What draws us to the Catlike is the distinctive visual style. In that respect, the Whisper Deluxe makes quite a loud statement.

BikeRadar: The last six and a half years have not been exactly easy for bikes in the Big Easy. Efforts to make the city more bicycle friendly have been hard fought, however, New Orleans is seeing improvements. And just recently the town known for food, music, and a party atmosphere was awarded the League of American Bicyclists’ bronze level status for bike friendliness.

RedKitePrayer: On Saturday, you learn that a five-year-old can chew the nozzle-end off your best water bottle while watching morning cartoons and pulling the heads off every action figure in the house. Further, you relearn that mother nature does NOT care that you have to be at the meet up in ten minutes, nor that you’ve already put your jersey on over your bibs, zipped it up and added a vest.

VeloNation: Seven wildcards awarded to Professional Continental teams for WorldTour race.

Tuesday's Volta a Catalunya Stage 2 departs Girona at 1:10pm CET (8:10am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Girona at around 5:00pm CET (12:00pm U.S. Eastern). Volta a Catalunya live streaming video is scheduled to get underway by around 3:45pm CET (10:45am U.S. Eastern).

PodiumCafe: This week's first taste of cobbled classicdom comes with the traditional Vlaamse Wielerweek opener and tragically misnamed Dwars door Vlaanderen, a/k/a straight across Flanders. This year's hopelessly meandering route will nonetheless take in a wee bit more pain than the standard Dwars route and provide an excellent place to test the Ronde van Vlaanderen form. And if you're not clear on that point, recall that last year's Dwars winner was... Nick Nuyens.

EuroSport: Michael Albasini continued GreenEdge's impressive form in 2012 with victory in the opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya.

Volta a Catalunya March 19-25 (Stages & results),
Milan-San Remo - March 17 (Results),
MTB World Cup Cross Country #1 March 16-18 (Races & results),
Vuelta Mexico March 18-28 (Stages & results),
San Dimas Stage Race March 16-18 (Stages & results),
Oceania Cycling Championships March 16-18 (Stages & results),
Nokere-Koerse - March 14 (Results),
Paris - Nice March 4-11 (Stages & results),
Tirreno-Adriatico - March 7-13 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

CyclingNews: Uruguay rider becomes first race leader.

VeloNews: If cycling (or any other sporting code, for that matter) were to adjudge the winner based on brawn alone, the majority of you would, before too long, stop watching. Sport, at its most rudimentary, is a game. Strength, strategy, on-the-spot decision making, cunning and awareness all form part of that je ne sais quoi that make ‘the game’ so alluring and absorbing.

Roadside Report: "The plan of Milan Sanremo is always the same - enjoy as much as possible. It’s the race of my dreams and what I find very difficult to explain is the fact the morning of any Sanremo I feel excited but also little bit sad. Why? Because I know in few hours that it will be over, and I will have to wait another year to get the same excitement!"

Crew-neck semi-fitted T with contrast colored stiching detail. Finely printed T shirt front, rear, and sleeve, and '10 commandments of spin' badge. Cotton elastane single jersey, enzyme-washed for that super-soft, worn feel.

road.cc: Two minutes thirty five seconds of fun from the UK distributor of Reynolds Wheels.

CXMagazine: It seems like only yesterday that riders left from Boston en route to Washington, DC. In reality, the riders have been going for three days and covered over 350 miles. Thanks to the group’s leader, ride organizer, poster-boy for the Ride on Washington, and six-time National Champion in cyclocross, Tim Johnson, morale has stayed high, even with a cold and rainy first day and a long haul from Hartford to New York (over 135 miles) on the second day.

With NAHBS just behind us, we saw some pretty darn lightweight road bikes, particularly the Crumpton and Rob English models. And both weighed in lighter than the Dimar Kinetic-One C780, which is also a full custom bike, making the “production” part of the claim a bit different than, say, the Cannondales, BH’s and Cervelos we’ve seen.

road.cc: Join us in a trawl of the weird world of unknown brands and OEMs.

"I have a little bit of a break period," Horner told Cyclingnews. "I have a little problem behind the knee that I'm resting up. It's just a tendon below the hamstring that was sore from Tirreno-Adriatico. I'm waiting for that to heal. That will give me a week's rest that I wasn't planning."

Following the disbanding of the 2011 UCI Colavita/Forno d'Asolo team last year, Colavita, one of the longest-running sponsors of women's cycling in the USA, has announced it will continue with a small elite team in 2012 with sports broadcaster ESPN as a co-sponsor.

The Women’s Prestige Cycling Series is back for 2012 and with defending champion Erinne Willock taking a year away from the sport, the series is wide open. The WPCS will comprise three events this season and will open with the Redlands Bicycle Classic this week.

VeloNation: American Omega Pharma-Quick Step racing in Spain to build form for his home race in May.

road.cc: An Ultegra Di2-equipped road bike for under two grand.

road.cc: Fabian's Trek Madone, Oscar's Canyon Aeroad, Boonen's Specialized Mclaren Venge & Cav's Pinarello Dogma 3.

CXMagazine: Ever wonder how to fuel during a long ride without getting bored, or worse, getting the dreaded “gut-rot” (cyclocrossers might know it as “cross-rot,” but the principal is the same).

BikeRadar verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars. "Beautiful quality tools that form a good base for your ultimate tool kit."

BikeRumor: Calfee always has a few nice items in their booth, but this year they pulled out all the stops. While tandems may not be your thing, they had THREE of them, all with some incredibly cool tech that could be built onto just about any of their bikes. Beyond that, they’ve expanded their set of internal Di2 offerings and updated the PowerPost seatpost/battery combo with an external charging port.

BikeRumor: Alchemy’s carbon road bikes have one of the stealthiest matte finishes of any of the bikes we’ve seen. Their paints use zero paint, with only a gloss finish for their logo. The Aero Road bike above isn’t new since last year, but they did disclose that their tubes are made by ENVE Composites (from Alchemy’s molds, last year they only said they were “U.S. made”). Despite the aero shaping, all of their frames are full custom sizes and geometries to suit the rider.

The Daily Distraction.

VeloNation: Seven wildcards awarded to Professional Continental teams for WorldTour race.

CyclingNews: Spanish police have arrested a Colombian doctor and charged him with doping offences as a result of information given by a Spanish ex-pro, allegedly supplied with a doping product by the doctor in question. Alberto Beltrán Niño, who has worked with a number of professional teams over the past decade, including Selle Italia, Kaiku, LA Liberty Seguros and Xacobeo-Galicia, was arrested on March 8 at Madrid’s Barajas airport as he was about to board a flight to Colombia.

InnerRing: We’re now in a second phase of the calendar now that the early season races are done and Milan-Sanremo is over. It is early to count the team wins but the data are worth a quick look.

Today's Quote

“I’m far from being the best climber, far from being the best sprinter, far from being the strongest guy on the road… You become more tactically astute from not being the strongest guy there, so you really have to learn how to race, and learn how to be clever to win the races. You’ve got to learn tactics.” - Simon Gerrans CycleSport

VeloNation: Milan-Sanremo faller expected back in action next month.

RedKitePrayer: Because it’s held on a Saturday, Milan-San Remo affords us the luxury of discussing the race on Sunday’s group ride. For fans of a sport unfamiliar to most Americans, this is a distinct pleasure as it gives us an opportunity to play Sunday Morning Quarterback with people who actually know what they’re talking about.

VeloNews: Cycling has gone global — but which nations have benefited most?

BicycleRetailer: Spanish helmet manufacturer Catlike is going direct in the U.S. It recently opened an office and warehouse in Virginia and is building up an independent rep force as it looks to grow its helmet sales.

Chilean Cycling's plans for the London 2012 Olympics have been thrown into disarray with the news that star rider Luis Mansilla tested positive for EPO after stage five of the 2012 Tour of Chile last January. The shock news comes more than two months after the race, where Mansilla won two stages.

CyclingFans: Monday's Volta a Catalunya Stage 1 departs Calella at 1:35pm CET (8:35am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Calella at around 4:58pm CET (11:58am U.S. Eastern). Volta a Catalunya live streaming video is scheduled to get underway by around 3:45pm CET (10:45am U.S. Eastern).

SoCalCycling: Joseph Schmalz (Elbows Racing) won the Pro Men's San Dimas Hospital Road Race from a breakaway in epic conditions.

Milan-San Remo - March 17 (Start list),
MTB World Cup Cross Country #1 March 16-18 (Races & results),
San Dimas Stage Race March 16-18 (Stages & results),
Oceania Cycling Championships March 16-18 (Stages & results),
Nokere-Koerse - March 14 (Results),
Paris - Nice March 4-11 (Stages & results),
Tirreno-Adriatico - March 7-13 (Stages & results),
Tour de Taiwan - March 10-16 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

Crew-neck semi-fitted T with contrast colored stiching detail. Finely printed T shirt front, rear, and sleeve, and '10 commandments of spin' badge. Cotton elastane single jersey, enzyme-washed for that super-soft, worn feel.

CyclingNews: Howe takes victory in men's crit.

CyclingNews: Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower) celebrated a sweet victory over Burry Stander (Specialized) and Manuel Fumic (Cannondale) in the elite men's cross country race at the South African World Cup, the first round of the 2012 season.

Liquigas-Cannondale went three-four in Saturday’s Milan-San Remo, but the team was left wondering what could have been had things just gone a little differently.

Brussels Airlift.

PodiumCafe: You can pick any of several points and call that the start of the season -- TdU, Omloop, Paris-Nice opener. As of the departure from Milan yesterday, nobody in their right mind can refuse to acknowledge the season is now underway.

Craig Lewis: Coming into this year, the Amgen Tour of California (ATOC) was always in the back of my mind as a race where I really wanted to shine. I knew there was never a guarantee that Champion System would be invited, but you can’t let thoughts like that get in the way of your goals. After reading the list of teams that would be invited to ATOC this year, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one left scratching my head. Are we at Champion System disappointed? You bet.

Peloton: The 2012 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya will begin tomorrow. Almost canceled due to lack of funding, the race has the makings of a classic with a star-studded field. Riders like Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner (RadioShack) and Bradley Wiggins (SKY) are on form and flying, while Andy Schleck (RadioShack) and Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) are still building form.

TwistedSpoke: You know that Milan San Remo was a bad race for Garmin-Barracuda when there’s no mention of it on the team website. Home page news is the new 2012 team jerseys are in stock, there’s a limited edition poster available and that Sep Vanmarcke won Omloop a few weeks ago.

Australian Simon Gerrans kicked off the 2012 season by winning the national road championship and the Santos Tour Down Under, immediately putting his new GreenEdge team on the map. It was an illustrious start for Gerrans, 31, who first won the Tour Down Under in 2006 as a second-year pro.

VeloNation: Should Sky have given Boasson Hagen more support?

road.cc: An international Raleigh celebrates 125 years of the marque's existence.

VeloNews: Milan-San Remo is a monster of a race. It may not be the toughest of the classics, but it is no doubt the longest, with the official race length at 298km. Being that this is the first really big classic of the year, every team is firing on all cylinders to try and prove their worth. The speeds were very high on Saturday (the peloton covered 57km in hour 1), which lead to a group of no more than 45 riders hitting the final climb of the Poggio with 11km to go.

InnerRing: Vincenzo Nibali attacks on the Poggio and only Simon Gerrans goes with him. Behind Rabobank’s Matti Breschel looks over his shoulder but on the left of the image you can see Fabian Cancellara about to make his move. It would be wrong to distil a 300km race into one camera flash but the image above does capture the most strategic moment of the day.

The Daily Distraction.

Chilean Cycling's plans for the London 2012 Olympics have been thrown into disarray with the news that star rider Luis Mansilla tested positive for EPO after stage five of the 2012 Tour of Chile last January. The shock news comes more than two months after the race, where Mansilla won two stages.

Today's Quote

“Yesterdays race gets filed in my #worstdaysofmycareer list. Something was VERY wrong. No explanation, but I let down an incredible group." - Mark Cavendish VeloNation

VeloNation: Mørkøv in main break, Sorensen best placed.

Radioshack stays on top of team list, Italy now leads countries’ table.

EuroSrort: Arnaud Demare claimed his fourth victory of the season by taking a sprint finish in the Cholet-Pays de Loire day race in France.

BikeRadar verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. "Smooth and quiet, with decent spin, subtle resistance changes and a natural bouncy feel."

TwistedSpoke: Occasionally people email Twisted Spoke asking if we can help spread the word for their saddle bag company, bamboo underwear or new porn site. Generally we ignore those requests but the folks at Fyxation have a cool little vid of their 2012 accessories for total fixie joy-ification. It’s worth a look if only for the music and lime green handlebar tape.

CyclingNews: Australian holds his nerve to win Milan-San Remo.

VeloNews: For a few moments Saturday afternoon it looked like cycling was facing another worst-case scenario when the Colombia-Coldeportes rider crashed heavily on the descent of Le Mànie. Also, Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) suffered facial trauma and heavy cuts and scrapes to his chest and arms. He was transported to a local hospital for observation.

VeloNation: Australian champion hands Fabian Cancellara his second straight second place as Vincenzo Nibali pulls them clear on the Poggio; Mark Cavendish’s dream of a rainbow Primavera end on Le Mànie again.

Milan-San Remo - March 17 (Start list),
MTB World Cup Cross Country #1 March 16-18 (Races & results),
San Dimas Stage Race March 16-18 (Stages & results),
Oceania Cycling Championships March 16-18 (Stages & results),
Nokere-Koerse - March 14 (Results),
Paris - Nice March 4-11 (Stages & results),
Tirreno-Adriatico - March 7-13 (Stages & results),
Tour de Taiwan - March 10-16 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

VeloNation: Astana featuring a slew of attackers in Italian Classic.

Armstrong and Gaimon Victorious on Glendora Mountain Road.

CyclingNews: Christchurch cyclist Sam Horgan gave the New Zealanders something to cheer about with an outstanding victory in the elite men's time trial on the opening day of the UCI Oceania Road Championships in Queenstown.

SteepHill: Milano-Sanremo 2012 is Saturday March 17th. Start time: Saturday 9:45 CET (1:45 AM PDT); Earliest live video: 14:40 CET (6:40 AM PDT); Approximate finish 17:00 CET (9:00 AM PDT).

road.cc: This weekend's mashup of the magnificent and the mind-blowing not forgetting 'Kickstarter Project of the Week.'

VeloNews: Rapha’s new Grand Tour shoes are constructed using premium materials and several unique, well-thought-out features. Instead of reinventing the wheel, Rapha partnered with Ecco and Giro to produce the Grand Tours.

EuroSport: Experts believe up to 100 undetectable performance-enhancing drugs similar to EPO.

InnerRing: Vincenzo Nibali attacks on the Poggio and only Simon Gerrans goes with him. Behind Rabobank’s Matti Breschel looks over his shoulder but on the left of the image you can see Fabian Cancellara about to make his move. It would be wrong to distil a 300km race into one camera flash but the image above does capture the most strategic moment of the day.

Gaget Box: Get that six-pack home safe for St. Paddy's Day with this custom bike cinch, which appears to have started out life as a polo mallet holder. Whatever the case, this is a brilliant innovation.

Today's Quote

"Sagan. I think he’s the favorite, just looking at the way he’s riding here this week. He climbs with the front group most days and then he’s right in the mix in the field sprints as well. He’s been quite impressive." - Tyler Farrar VeloNews

VeloNation: American rider speaks prior to making his debut in La Primavera.

CyclingNews: Sven Nys is one of the top cyclo-cross riders in the world, but he is not satisfied with that alone. This weekend he opens his campaign for a spot on the Belgian Olympic mountain bike team, riding the World Cup race in Pietermaritzburg.

1. Maja Wloszczowska (Pol) CCC Polowice 1:34:01
2. Emily Batty (Can) Subaru-Trek 0:04
3. Catharine Pendrel (Can) Luna Pro Team 0:23

Crew-neck semi-fitted T with contrast colored stiching detail. Finely printed T shirt front, rear, and sleeve, and '10 commandments of spin' badge. Cotton elastane single jersey, enzyme-washed for that super-soft, worn feel.

Bicycling: A conversation with Chris Horner about his comeback to racing in March 2012.

The Daily Distraction.

CyclingNews: Australian holds his nerve to win Milan-San Remo.

VeloNews: For a few moments Saturday afternoon it looked like cycling was facing another worst-case scenario when the Colombia-Coldeportes rider crashed heavily on the descent of Le Mànie. Also, Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) suffered facial trauma and heavy cuts and scrapes to his chest and arms. He was transported to a local hospital for observation.

Tour De José: Today Raymond Kerckhoffs published an article in De Telegraaf. An anonymous team doctor admits AICAR has been going around the peloton for the past two years. Rumours in the peloton have been saying that several top riders have been using it.

VeloNation: Peloton pays tribute to victims of Swiss coach crash before la Classicissima.

CyclingNews: Team director Axel Merckx rejected the idea Thursday that his Bontrager-Livestrong team would be working for the interests of RadioShack-Nissan-Trek at this year's Amgen Tour of California, saying the U23 development team had done everything it could to become independent, and would be focused on its own ambitions during the May 13-20 tour.

DR: Scott is now involved in the apparel business and tells  us what he is doing to create a product that will fit into his vision of the "new" marketplace.

CXMagazine: Their motto is “performance shave gel for fast legs.” And if there’s one thing I need, it’s fast legs. So I gave it a try.

After being snubbed by Amgen Tour of California organiser AEG, Team Type 1-Sanofi's owner Phil Southerland, outraged by his team's exclusion, is accusing AEG of making their invitation contingent upon a $100,000 sponsorship by Sanofi. AEG, however, insists the invitations were based on merit and not payment.

SteepHill: Milano-Sanremo 2012 is Saturday March 17th. Start time: Saturday 9:45 CET (1:45 AM PDT); Earliest live video: 14:40 CET (6:40 AM PDT); Approximate finish 17:00 CET (9:00 AM PDT).

VeloNation: Team’s press officer Paolo Barbieri gives a look inside Italian squad.

CyclingNews: Cantwell sprints to second stage victory.

Milan-San Remo - March 17 (Start list),
Nokere-Koerse - March 14 (Results),
Paris - Nice March 4-11 (Stages & results),
Tirreno-Adriatico - March 7-13 (Stages & results),
Tour de Taiwan - March 10-16 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages ),
More...

Chicchi takes Omega Pharma’s 18th win of season in Handzame Classic.

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Peloton: The Milan-San Remo buzz truly starts on the eve of the race when crowds of respectful tifosi greet the Giants of the Road for pre-race formalities in the hallowed courtyard of Milan’s medieval fortress, the Castello Sforzesco. The Italian fans see the modern superstars, the Cancellaras, Cavendishes and Gilberts, as mingling with the spirits of the greatest Italian legends, Coppi, Bartali and Girardengo.

InnerRing: Milan-Sanremo is on Saturday. The longest day of racing on the calendar at 298km [185 miles], it is one of the five monuments that are the most prestigious of one day races in the sport.

PEZ: The Milan-San Remo podium contenders split their preparation into two camps, those participating in Paris-Nice and those opting for Tirreno-Adriatico. Which one is the best indicator for success in the sprinters’ classic?

Bicycling: A conversation with Chris Horner about his comeback to racing in March 2012.

BikeBlogNYC: Introducing the Cobra Tire Tool. This is a super light (.5 oz), indestructible tool designed as a better answer to your average tire lever.

CyclingIQ: As the highest of Japan’s three Holy Mountains, Mt Fuji is a national icon, a tourist drawcard and a breathtaking example of evolution that ranks it amongst the earth’s finest natural features. Anyone who stands before it cannot help but be awed by its sheer physical dominance. A road cyclist might think ‘I wonder if I can ride up that?’.

"I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me, training camp is mostly about male bonding. After a winter cooped up at home, it’s great to be back with the team again."

TwistedSpoke: The KHS Flite 747 is a bike of epic proportions. First the frame is an XXL mucho grande 65cms and it’s designed by Lennard Zinn specifically for big and tall riders. That’s from 6’4″ to 6’6″ and up to 250 pounds.

VeloNation: Katusha’s Spanish star gives his thoughts on eve of Italian Classic.

The Daily Distraction.

After being snubbed by Amgen Tour of California organiser AEG, Team Type 1-Sanofi's owner Phil Southerland, outraged by his team's exclusion, is accusing AEG of making their invitation contingent upon a $100,000 sponsorship by Sanofi. AEG, however, insists the invitations were based on merit and not payment.