Levi Leipheimer notched his second championship for the month of August by hanging on to win the 6-stage Tour of Utah on Sunday.

The victory in the national-level road-race event follows his Aug. 14 victory and course record at the Leadville 100, a mountain bike race.

He won each bicycle race riding without the benefit of teammates. He represented RadioShack at Leadville and wore the Mellow Johnnys kit at the Tour of Utah.

Following the end of the Tour of Utah on Sunday ...   more »

Leave it to the guy who's never competed on a mountain bike before to win one of the premier off-road bike races in the U.S.

Levi Leipheimer won the Leadville 100 mountain bike race on Saturday, setting a new course record in the process. His RadioShack teammate and defending champion, Lance Armstrong, didn't race due to injuries sufferd in the Tour de France.

Listening to his comments after the race, it sounds like the 36-year-old left it all out on the 100-mile Rocky Mountain route that ranges between 9,000 and 13,000 feet.

"Twenty miles to go, I didn't care if I was an hour behind or a half an hour ahead, I just wanted to get it done .... It was just torturous. .....   more »

Colorado took the wrapper off its plans on Wednesday to host a week-long bicycle race next year entitled the Quizno's Pro Challenge.

Named for its sponsorship by the sandwich shop chain, the bike race is scheduled Aug. 22-28, 2011. It steps into the void left by the demise of the Tour of Missouri, which was unable to land a title sponsor during its short 3-year history.

Making the announcement were Lance Armstrong and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter. Armstrong now makes his home in the Aspen area and has been lobbying Ritter for more than a year to host a bike race that would be a descendant of the famed Coors Classic ....   more »

Matthew Lee rolled into Antelope Wells, New Mexico, early Tuesday morning under the cover of darkness to win the 2010 Tour Divide mountain bike race.

Lee finished the both breath-taking and grueling race down the spine of the Continental Divide in 17 days, 16 hours and 13 minutes. It was his sixth victory.

Winning this year meant that Lee overcame the weather, the theft of his bicycle, a mid-route course change due to a forest fire, and the tragic loss of fellow Tour Divide cyclist David Blumenthal.

He averaged about 158 miles a day over dirt track and gravel road ....   more »

Tragedy struck the Tour Divide Mountain Bike Race on Thursday when competitor Dave Blumenthal died from injuries he suffered in a collision with a pickup truck the day before in northern Colorado.

Blumenthal, 37, was pronounced dead at a Denver hospital. He leaves behind his wife, Lexi, and 4-year-old daughter Linnaea.

The outdoorsman from Vermont was competing in his first Tour Divide, which started June 11 in Banff, Alberta. After crossing the Wyoming-Colorado border, he had spent Tuesday night at the Brush Mountain Lodge near Slater and was heading toward Steamboat Springs when the crash occurred.

A Colorado State Patrol trooper told a Vermont newspaper (ArgusTimes.com) that Blumenthal and the pickup driver were heading in opposite directions ....   more »

As Stage 8 of the Tour de Suisse drew to a close with a final climb on Saturday, Lance Armstrong attacked a group that was chasing a six-man break up the road.

The General Classification contenders reeled him back, but Armstrong proved that there's still plenty of life in his legs.

He emphasized that point on the final stage Sunday with a decent finish in the individual time trial that catapulted him into second place overall, just 12 seconds behind winner Frank Schleck. Aussie Tony Martin (HTC Columbia) won the ITT, and defending champ Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) trailed by 17 seconds.

Armstrong, riding for Team RadioShack, finished 11th at 1:09 behind. He reported to his Tweet followers ....   more »

Slovenia's Jure Robic rolled across the finish line of the Race Across America on Friday afternoon, winning an unprecedented 5th solo title in a span of just seven years.

The 45-year-old completed the 3,005-mile RAAM route from Oceanside, California, to Annapolis, Maryland, in 9 days, 1 hour and 1 minute. That's an average of 13.85 mph for the entire trip, including stops.

He was among 24 men who set out in the solo men's divisions at noon a week ago Wednesday. Ten have abandoned ...   more »

A bicyclist riding for a four-man Spanish relay team at the Race Across America is recovering on Thursday after being struck by a vehicle on a Kansas road.

News reports say the driver was distracted by something in the car about 6:45 a.m. Wednesday and drifted onto the shoulder where Spain's Diego Bellesteros was riding his bicycle.

The collision happened on U.S. 254 near El Dorado. Ballesteros was airlifted to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas, where his condition was upgraded to serious condition late Wednesday.

Ballesteros is somewhat of a bicycle ambassador ....   more »

Some riders held up the start of Wednesday's Stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse to protest Mark Cavendish's erratic cycling at the finish of Stage 4 on Tuesday that led to this crash.

The British sprinter for the US-based HTC-Columbia team has been docked 25 points in the sprinter competition and 30 seconds in the General Classification and been fined 200 Swiss francs.

The crash forced earlier Tour de Suisse leader Heinrich Haussler of Cervelo out of the race, as well as Frenchman Arnaud Coyot.

Cavendish is reportedly riding with a serious case of road rash on Wednesday. Teammate Mark Renshaw snapped this photo of Cavendish all bandaged up ...   more »

As the Race Across America cyclists charge eastward with their teammates or support crews or both, there's an equally amazing corps of cyclists heading down the spine of the Continental Divide individually and with no support whatsoever.

The Tour Divide got underway from Banff, Alberta, with 48 mountain bike riders on Friday (video at left). They're heading along the spine of the Rocky Mountains to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, on gravel roads and dirt paths for a distance of 2,745 miles.

You could draw comparisons between the two races all day long. For instance:

-- They're both ultra-endurance events whose winners measure success by hours spent not sleeping.

-- Both aim for the lightest rides possible. Weight issues stop with the frame and components for RAAM cyclists; Tour Divide bicyclists must factor in tools, food and cooking equipment, sleeping bags ...   more »

Slovenian ultra-cyclist Jure Robic is well past the half-way point of the 2010 Race Across America with the entire solo field strung out for hundreds of miles behind him.

The 45-year-old four-time champion most recently rode through the Fort Scott, Kansas, checkpoint at 2:10 p.m. (ET) on Monday.

His closest rival is Gerhard Gulewicz of Austria, who's trailing by about 60 miles. The other 15 men in the under-50 age stretch as far back as Trinidad, Colorado, more than 500 miles behind. [June 15 update: Gulewicz had cut that gap to 40-some miles by Tuesday afternoon. See RAAM website for update and video.] ....   more »

Just about any European bicycle race this month is touted as a tune-up for the 2010 Tour de France. That's always been true for the just-ended Dauphine Libere.

It's also the case for the Tour de Suisse that started Saturday and runs through next Saturday. The Versus cable network will broadcast highlights of the race daily this week.

While Spain's Alberto Contador focused attention on the Dauphine as the training ground for his attempt for a third victory at the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong, above right, is racing in the Tour de Suisse to prepare for his attempt for an eighth Tour de France championship.

Among others, he's going up against Switzerland's homeboy and defending champion Fabian Cancellara (spoiler alert) ...   more »

Another epic Race Across America begins this week as bicycle racers depart from Oceanside, California, for a 3,004-mile sleep-deprived slog across 14 states to Annapolis, Maryland.

The efforts of the two-, four-, and 8-person relay teams that leave on Saturday are remarkable. Even more phenomenal are the aspirations of 5 female solo racers who leave today and the 25 men who leave on Wednesday.

They'll single-handedly battle the mountains, headwinds, and dark nights as they pedal across the US ahead of their support crews. In the past 27 years of the event, only 200 solo riders have finished the race. Most succumb to exhaustion or hallucinations or failure to meet the time cutoffs. Two died in collisions with motor vehicles ....   more »

Lance Armstrong held onto third place overall as the Tour of Luxembourg came to an end Sunday, putting the 38-year-old cyclist closer to the condition he'll need for the 2010 Tour de France.

Armstrong shared the podium with overall winner Matteo Carrara of Vacansoleil and second-place finisher Frank Schleck of Saxo Bank.

The leader of Team RadioShack, which won the team classification, told reporters after the race that he felt good about the finishing on the podium, especially considering the illnesses and crash that marred his spring season. He's quoted at Reuters:

"Any time you can win a race, be on a podium, in preparation it's important. I wouldn't ....   more »

Lance Armstrong remained in 3rd place at the Tour of Luxembourg after Frank Schleck of Saxo Bank won the most difficult stage of the race on Friday and took the overall lead.

The five-day race around the tiny country ends Sunday. Armstrong will take a week off, then compete in the Tour of Switzerland from June 12 - 20 as he tries to ride himself back into shape for the 2010 Tour de France in July.

Armstrong, 38, will sit out the Dauphine Libere bike race that starts Sunday and runs through June 13. While considered a tune-up for the Tour de France, so is the Swiss bike race ....   more »

Levi Leipheimer won his second Tour of the Gila championship on Sunday while Aussie Darren Lill won the Stage 5 Gila Monster Road Race.

High winds and snow flurries, instead of high winds and heat, greeted the cyclists on the final day of bike race based in the Silver City, New Mexico, that has become a domestic training race for elite cyclists.

Lance Armstrong, who launched this retreat to southwestern New Mexico last year to test his recovery from a broken collarbone, finished in 17th, 6:53 behind Leipheimer. Finishing second and third overall were Tom Danielson and David Zabriskie. ....   more »

Taylor Phinney won the Stage 4 criterium at Tour of the Gila on Saturday. A member of the Trek-Livestrong development team, it's the second win in a row for the under-23 development team.

Phinney's teammate Jesse Sergent won Friday's individual time trial.

After Saturday's 43-mile criterium, Levi Leipheimer had the overall lead by 59 seconds. Tom Danielson was second ...   more »

Levi Leipheimer won the leader's red jersey in the Tour of the Gila after the first stage in 2009; he's still wearing it in the New Mexico bike race after Stage 1 in 2010.

Riding once again for Mellow Johnny's (a proxy team for the RadioShack pro cycling team), Leipheimer took the Stage 1 mountaintop finish on Wednesday ahead of No. 2 finisher Tom Danielson, a member of the DZNuts team (a proxy for Garmin-Transitions pro cycling team) .....    more »

Lance Armstrong helped shine an international spotlight on the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico last year when he showed up to compete in the five-day race with two compadres from the Astana team.

He's returning to the bike race again this year from April 28 through May 2 with defending champ Levi Leipheimer and Jason McCartney from the RadioShack pro cycling team. They'll be joined among the elite cyclists with three from Garmin-Transitions -- David Zabriskie, Danny Pate and Tom Danielson.

The arrival of the pros will definitely spark more interest in the race located in southwestern New Mexico near the Gila National Forest ...   more »

April is turning out to be a great month for pro cyclists from the Pacific Northwest.

Tyler Farrar of Wenatchee, Washington, won the Grote Scheldeprijs in Belgium last Wednesday, and Chris Horner of Bend, Oregon, earned a hard-fought championship at the six-day Tour de Basque in Spain on Saturday.

A reader informed me that they aren't the only cyclists scoring championships this spring, however. Bainbridge Island native Kiel Reijnen, left, of the Jelly Belly-Kenda cycling team won the six-stage Tour of Thailand last week.

Reijnen, 23, has been a member of the team with the happiest name in cycling for about 3 years. He emerged as the Tour leader ...   more »

Hats off to Fabian Cancellara for winning the second Paris-Roubaix of his career on Sunday.

The Swiss time trial specialist escaped from his rivals on one of the 27 sections of cobblestones that interrupt the 160-mile bike route and led all the way to the finish.

That the Swiss cyclist is one of the few cyclists to win the race multiple times is a testament to the difficulty of the aptly named "Hell of the North."

If the distance and uncertain weather along the course doesn't get you, the cobblestones surely will. ...   more »

Team RadioShack's first multi-stage tour win came at the hands of Oregon's Chris Horner on Saturday.

The 38-year-old blistered the 14-mile time trial course that marked the finale of the six-day Tour of Basque Country in Spain, taking the championship from Spain's Alejandro Valverde, who dropped to second place.

Basque Country is considered one of the more difficult multi-stage races in Europe because of the terrain. Horner put himself in a position to win early in the contest by hanging with the leaders in the first stage on Monday.

He stayed comfortably within reach of first place until Thursday's Stage 4. That's when he attacked on the final climb, only to be passed by stage winner Samuel Sanchez, Valverde and Gesink. But that move put him within 1 second of the overall race leader Valverde.

In his ride to victory in Orio on Saturday ...   more »

The future must have been looking pretty bright for Jorge Alvarado on Thursday morning as he headed south on his bicycle for a solo training ride on Greenspot Road in California's eastern San Bernardino County.

The 27-year-old cyclist from Mexico had made it onto the roster of the Bahati Foundation cycling team in March. He recently had won the UCLA Road Race and finished 5th at the Redlands Classic pro/am crit.

On tap was this weekend's Dana Point Grand Prix and the upcoming SRAM Tour of the Gila at the end of April. There he'd get the chance to race against Dave Zabriskie, Danny Pate, Tom Danielson and other pros preparing for the Tour of California.

But this Thursday morning, Sheriff's investigators say a high school senior made the decision to pass a classmate's car at 70 mph. He lost control ....   more »

A round-up of some spring cycling news:

Tyler Farrar

Wenatchee, Washington's Tyler Farrar claimed his second victory of the year at the Grote Scheldeprijs in Belgium on Wednesday.

The 122-mile bike race from Antwerp to Schoten is a flat route that pretty much designed for a sprint finish. Farrar became the first American ever to win the race, and beat the likes of Australia's Robbie McEwen (Team Katusha), Germany's Robert Forster (Team Milram), and New Zealand's Greg Henderson (Sky pro cycling).

 In the video above, you can see Farrar just blasting past Belgium's Tom Boonen ...   more »

In case there was any doubt, the US-based teams of Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, Cadel Evans, Christian Vande Velde and Mark Cavendish will compete in the Tour de France this year.

Organizers of the Tour de France named four US-based pro cycling teams among the 22 chosen. HTC-Columbia had an automatic invitation; Team RadioShack, BMC Racing, and Garmin-Transitions were all invited as wild cards.

Although the teams are by no means exclusively manned by American cyclists, it does mean the US will be well-represented when the three-week race rolls out in the Netherlands on July 3. The bike race ends in Paris on July 25.

Other wild card teams invited to the race are Team Sky, Katusha, and Cervelo TestTeam ...   more »

The first showdown of the year between Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador ended with the Spaniard crossing the finish line ahead of the Texan in Stage 1 of the Criterium International on Saturday.

Contador finished 1-minute-13 behind the winner and Armstrong finished 4:51 behind.

---

Sunday update: Armstrong finished 17 places ahead on Contador in the lead group in Stage 2, but with the same time. In the Stage 3 time trial, Contador finished in 2nd place, 2 seconds behind the winner, David Millar of Garmin. Armstrong finished in 15th place, 19 seconds behind Millar.

Pierrick Fedrigo survived in yellow to take the overall win.

---

But that contest between the two rivals on last year's Astana cycling team was secondary to the stage win by Frenchman ...   more »

Rabobank's Oscar Freire set up behind a couple of opposing Liquigas cyclists before exploding across the finish line at the 101st Milan - San Remo bicycle race in Italy on Saturday.

The sprint win marked the third victory at San Remo by the 34-year-old Spanish cyclist at the official opening of Europe's spring classics season.

He was followed closely across the finish line of the 185-mile race by Tom Boonen (Quickstep) and Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre).

Italy's Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) finished in 5th place; Freire set up behind Bennati .....   more »

For cycling enthusiasts, March Madness continues with Italy's Milan - San Remo bicycle race on Saturday.

Considered the opening day of the Spring Classics series, the one-day race will be streamed live on Universalsports.com beginning at 10 a.m. (ET), following by replays and highlights. The race will be broadcast on Universal Sports cable at 3 p.m. (ET), with repeats at 8 p.m. Saturday and 1 a.m. Sunday.

Americans cycling at the 185-mile slog include sprinter Tyler Farrar (Garmin) and George Hincapie, Brent Bookwalter and Jeffrey Louder (BMC Racing).

Lance Armstrong was scheduled to lead the Team RadioShack contingent...   more »

It could have been deja vu all over again for Alberto Contador at the Paris-Nice bike race on Sunday.

The Caisse d'Epargne team was attacking Contador's precarious position as overall leader in the final stage of the week-long race, just as it had in the penultimate stage in 2009.

But instead of succumbing to the pressure and losing the yellow jersey to final champion Luis Leon Sanchez last year, Contador survived the attacks to win his second Paris-Nice championship. His first win came in 2007 .....   more »

Wondering how the 2010 Tour de France might go this year? You'll want to check out the video of the uphill finish on Stage 4 of Paris-Nice bike race on Thursday.

If the Astana team kit isn't a dead giveaway for the identity of the cyclist in the blurry image at left, consider that he's in the lead on the hilltop finish in Mende and no one is in sight behind him.

Spain's Alberto Contador won Stage 4 and took the overall lead from Saxo Bank's Jens Voigt in the so-called Race to the Sun that ends Sunday.

On the final climb of the day up the steep (average 10% gradient) Montée Laurent Jalabert, Contador gained enough time ....   more »

Hincapie, Farrar and Cavendish on tap in Italy

Universal Sports kicks off its 2010 pro cycling coverage on Wednesday with Italy's Tirreno-Adriatico, followed up through the season with the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana along with other cycling events.

The partnership of NBC Sports and Intermedia Partners says it will offer at least 10 premiere road cycling races this year on its broadcast and online platforms.

All races will be available live online at UniversalSports.com; same-day coverage will be provided on cable at Universal Sports stations in major TV markets. ....   more »

After the Paris-Nice peloton battled gusty winds for more than 100 miles, Team Sky's Greg Henderson won the Stage 1 sprint by slipping past Lampre's Grega Bole right at the finish.

Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) attacked the field with less than a mile to go in Contres, but couldn't sustain the long sprint.

Prologue winner Lars Boom of Rabobank remained in the yellow jersey as Levi Leipheimer (Team RadioShack) and Alberto Contador (Astana) dropped to 7th and 8th in the overall standings after suffering crashes. They started the day in 3rd and 4th place ....   more »

Lance Armstrong finished the Vuelta de Murcia on Sunday in 7th place behind winner Frantisek Rabon of HTC-Columbia; Armstrong's  plans include adding another race to his Tour de France preparations.

Meanwhile, his Team RadioShack teammate Levi Leipheimer opened the Paris-Nice bike race with a third place finish in the prologue, 6 seconds behind Lars Boom of Rabobank. The race will roll across France through Sunday.

More action unfolds this week as the Tirreno-Adriatico rolls out Wednesday for seven days across Italy. Highlights will be streamed live on the Universal Sports website.

Regarding his 7th place finish, Armstrong told reporters:

"Worried would be too strong of a word. ....   more »

HTC-Columbia's Czech time-trial champion Frantisek Rabon won Stage 5 of the Murcia bike race on Saturday and took the overall lead, as Lance Armstrong climbed into 7th place.

The Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia across southern Spain ends Sunday with a 75-mile stage that's expected to end in a mass sprint.

Elsewhere, the week-long Paris-Nice bicycle race starts Sunday in France, and Tirreno-Adriatico rolls out Wednesday for seven days across Italy.

While top racers struggle for top finishes in the Murcia bike race, most eyes are on Armstrong. RadioShack manager Johan Bruyneel made headlines ...   more »

Lance Armstrong returned to pro cycling at the Vuelta Ciclista a la Regiona de Murcia on Wednesday, more than a month after completing the Tour Down Under.

But it was Robbie Hunter, riding for US-based Garmin Transitions, who supplied the sparks to the first stage of the race across southern Spain that ends Sunday. 

The South African won a bunch sprint at the end of stage 1, beating the likes of Graeme Brown (Rabobank) and Daryl Impey (RadioShack), among others ....   more »

Those who like to ride and/or carry their bicycles up and over muddy hills or along grassy tracks are probably rejoicing to hear that the UCI World Cyclocross Championships are coming to Louisville, Kentucky, in 2013.

Historically popular in Belgium, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, cyclocross has been gaining popularity around the world, especially in the US. The interest will probably grow here, as 2013 will be the first time that the World cyclocross championships have come to the US.

In fact, it's the first time the Worlds have been held outside Europe in 50 years.

If you want to see what World championship cyclocross is all about, check out Universal Sports Cyclocross online this weekend.

The website is offering free live coverage of the elite men's and women's races from Tabor, Czech Republic, beginning at noon (ET) on Sunday, Jan. 31. Other webcasts are on demand   more »

It's good to see a cyclist finally named as an Athlete of the Decade.

No. It's not Lance Armstrong, who got squeezed out by a golfer in the Associated Press and USA Today polls.

We're talking about world champion track cyclist Marty Nothstein of Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. The 38-year-old got the nod from the editors at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call this week.

Nothstein grew up racing at the velodrome in Trexlertown and used that experience to earn an Olympic gold medal and win three world championships and 34 gold medals at US National Championships ....   more »

Podium Cafe lists a couple of dozen quotes uttered by current and former pro cyclists during the past year and asks for our favorite.

The list has a few Lance Armstrong tweets about Alberto Contador being a "pistolero" and  having "lots to learn." Jens Voigt and Bradley Wiggins also are well represented.

My favorite, though, comes from Bernard Hinault, the 5-time winner of the Tour de France who commented on the earpiece radios now worn by cyclists to communicate with the team manager:

"I am against them. It is just a 'Game Boy' that has a gigolo attached at the end telling the racer when to take a piss." .....   more »

Ever since Lance Armstrong announced the formation of Team RadioShack in July, the confirmed identities of bike riders on the roster have dribbled out like sprinters struggling across the finish of a mountain stage.

Team manager Johan Bruyneel has now announced the final roster, identifying a 26-man team from 16 different countries. A large percentage of those bike riders came from Bruyneel's and Armstrong's former team, Astana.

The delay in making a final announcement stemmed from ongoing negotiations with the Kazakhstan-based team, currently the home of two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador.

Bruyneel said the team's main goal in 2010 is the Tour de France, although the team is expected to do well in other stage races as well as the one-day classics ...   more »

Olympic and two-time world gold medalist Kristin Armstrong is preparing for life after pro cycling.

The 36-year-old from Boise, Idaho, carried out her planned retirement after winning a gold medal in the time trial event at the World Championships in Switzerland in September. That honor went right up on the shelf beside her World gold in 2006 and the Olympic gold in the time trial in 2008.

Now she's working with a speaking coach to possibly launch a career as a motivational speaker and TV cycling commentator. Quoted by the AP:

“If a woman can commentate in the NFL, why can’t a woman commentate for the Tour de France? I have the medals. Now I have to make that happen. ....   more »

Congratulations to Garmin Slipstream's sprinter Tyler Farrar.

The 25-year-old from Wenatchee, Washington, scored more points than any other US cyclist on the UCI's individual world rankings. Topping the virtual podium were Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde and Samuel Sanchez, all from Spain.

Farrar has 9 first-place finishes in 2009 and won the Circuit Franco Belge and Delta Tour Zeeland stage races. He accumulated 212 points, to put him in 18th.

Comeback cyclist Lance Armstrong (Astana) finished 31st . ..   more »

Let's hope the bike racers competing in events on the 2010 National Racing Calendar aren't in it for the dough, because there's less prize money to go around this year.

USA Cycling says the overall prize list for the 27 bike races on this year's calendar is $981,310, down about $150,000 from last year's final total prize package.

The total amount is about $400,000 less than what was promised at the beginning of the 2009 season, but seven of those races fell off the calendar, reducing the total by about $250,000, says USA Cycling.

The calendar comprises 15 criteriums, 8 multi-stage races ...   more »

An updated edition of "Major Taylor, The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World" by Andrew Ritchie may start a discussion of who is America's greatest cyclist.

Although this summer's book by John Wilcockson calls Lance Armstrong "The World's Greatest Champion," you can make the argument that Marshall "Major" Taylor should hold that title, at least during his time.

Armstrong survived cancer to go on to win 7 Tours de France, but Taylor also became a champion in spite of huge obstacles.

As an African-American setting records in cycling at the turn of the century, Major Taylor faced incredible discrimination and hardships. He rose above that to become world renown in one of the bigggest sports on Earth at the time. ...   more »

Australia's Cadel Evans finished a disappointing year on a high note by winning the road race of the UCI Road World Championships on Sunday in Switzerland.

Evans, who started turning his pro cycling season around with a third place podium finish at the Vuelta a Espana a week ago, won the rainbow jersey in Mendrisio with a commanding solo charge across the finish line.

He finished 27 seconds ahead of Russian Alexandr Kolobnev and Spain's Joaquin Rodriguez and became Australia's first-ever road World Champion.

After the finish, Evans said he looked forward to defending his title on home soil ....   more »

Elite men's road race is Sunday

Cyclists from Italy and France won gold medals in the women's and under-23 men's road race Saturday at the UCI Road World Championships at Medrisio, Switzerland.

Italy's Tatiana Guderzo won the women's road race in a solo attack from a four-woman breakaway that included the US's Kristin Armstrong in her last professional race.

The Boise, Idaho, pro cyclist finished with the group, but in fourth place, just missing out on a bronze in the road race to complement the gold medal she won Wednesday in the individual time trial ....   more »

Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara streaked to victory at the UCI World Road Championships on Thursday to regain his individual time trial title.

The 28-year-old previously won the title in 2006 and 2007, but this time he did it among home-country crowds in Mendrisio, Switzerland.

Tom Zirbel created some early excitement among US cycling fans as the Clear Lake, Iowa, native lead the ITT bike race going into the final group of favorites. Zirbel, who rides for Bissell pro cycling during the season, ended up finishing just off the podium in fourth place. ...   more »

Kristin Armstrong of the US won her second World Championship in the individual time trial on Wednesday, following up on her gold medal performance at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The 36-year-old from Boise scorched the 16.6-mile bike route in 35:26 minutes, beating rival Noemi Cantele of Italy by 55 seconds.

Meanwhile, Australia's Jack Bobridge, a 20-year-old member of the South Australian/AIS bike racing squad, became the under-23 individual time trial champion.

Both individual time trial races are part of the UCI Road World Championships going on through Sunday at Mendrisio, Switzerland. The men's elite cyclists race on Thursday ...   more »

Live or same-day coverage of the UCI Road World Championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland, will be available on webcasts and cable TV broadcasts from Wednesday through Sunday this week.

The 76th annual event opens with men's and women's individual time trials on Wednesday and Thursday, followed by road races on Saturday and Sunday. The winner wears the stripes of the rainbow jersey, above, in the 2010 cycling season.

The defending champion of the elite men's road race is Italy's Alessandro Ballan. Unfortunately, little was seen of Ballan this year because of illness.

This year's US lineup of pro cyclists includes Garmin-Slipstream's Tom Danielson ....   more »

Hometown hero George Hincapie, probably the most-experienced US cyclist competing today, won the National Road Race Championship on Sunday in Greenville, South Carolina.

He last earned the red, white and blue jersey in 2006, also in Greenville.

The 36-year-old cyclist for Team Columbia was part of an eight-man break that formed late in the 100-mile bike race around Greenville.

The route included four ascents of Paris Mountain, a ridge north of town that Hincapie has inserted into his local training rides for years ...   more »

Utah's Dave Zabriskie decisively won his fourth consecutive US individual time trial championship on Saturday in Greenville, South Carolina.

The time trial specialist for Garmin-Slipstream finished 44 seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher Tom Zirbel of Bissell cycling team. Zabriskie's time was 1:04 faster than what his tally on the same 20.7-mile course last year.

The US pro cycling championships continue Sunday with the road race. Current champion Tyler Hamilton will not be competing as he is suspended from professional cycling ....   more »

Lance Armstrong's Team RadioShack will head to Australia in January to make the Tour Down Under the first race for the new team.

The Tour Down Under rolls out Jan. 17-24, 2010, and is once again based in Adelaide. Armstrong's return to professional cycling at the bike race earlier this year boosted the attendance over previous years by about 50%.

Even a year after his announced return to cycling, Armstrong is still a big draw. His bike ride around Dublin after the close of his cancer summit there drew more than 1,000 bicyclists. Although he had hinted at a ride in Dublin's Phoenix Park earlier in the week, he gave the final details only hours before he set off. ....   more »

This wasn't a great day for US cyclists at two European bike races.

Lance Armstrong dropped out of a rain-drenched Tour of Ireland with a sore back, and Tyler Farrar lost his overall lead at the Eneco Tour through Belgium and The Netherlands.

Many came out to see the 7-time Tour de France winner for the final of the 3-stage Tour of Ireland in Cork on Sunday. CyclingNews said large crowds were at the finish, but were disappointed when Armstrong pulled out on the first circuit, never facing St. Patrick's Hill. ...   more »

Tyler Farrar will undoubtedly remember this week forever.

The Washington state native on Saturday posted his third win at the Eneco Tour, edging out Edvald Boasson Hagen in a photo finish.

The victory in Libramont, Belgium, kept him in the overall lead in the bike race through Belgium and The Netherlands that ends next Tuesday. He leads Belgium's Tom Boonen by 20 seconds.

Farrar, the sprint specialist on US-based Garmin Slipstream pro cycling team, started the week with a win at the Vattenfall Cyclassics on Sunday ...   more »

US cyclists are battling it out for high positions in bike races in Belgium, Ireland and the US on Friday.

Cyclist Tyler Farrar missed a third straight stage victory at the Eneco Tour when Tom Boonen sprinted right past him at the finish line in Hasselt, Belgium, on Friday.

Meanwhile, Lance Armstrong's highly touted participation in the Tour of Ireland ended with him finishing in the main peloton, just 16 seconds behind the winner, Russell Downing of Great Britain...   more »

Washington state homeboy Tyler Farrar captured his second sprint-finish win at the Eneco Tour bike race in Belgium on Thursday.

Born and raised in Wenatchee, Farrar earlier admitted he had a frustrating Tour de France with several second-place showings against Team Columbia's sprint phenom Mark Cavendish. The Brit won 6 stages in the 2009 Tour.

In the past week, the 25-year-old member of US-based Garmin Slipstream has two first place finishes at Eneco Tour on Wednesday and Thursday and a win at the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Germany on Sunday.

It's uncertain when Farrar and Cavendish will finally get a chance to meet again...   more »

Cycling fans will be treated to action from three bike races in the upcoming weeks on both the computer screen and the TV screen.

Versus is offering a delayed broadcast of the 3-stage Tour of Ireland running Friday through Sunday and featuring comeback cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Then Universal Sports provides the 64th edition of the Vuelta a Espana from Aug. 29 through Sept. 20 as a live online videofeed and cable broadcast in the morning, followed by another cable broadcast later in the day.

At the same time, from Sept. 7 through 13, Universal is offering a live cable broadcast and an online streaming videofeed of the Tour of Missouri. ...   more »

Lance Armstrong won the Leadville 100 mountain bike race Saturday with some added drama -- a flat tire and crowds that blocked the finish line.

In spite of those setbacks, he set a new record over the grueling course.

The 7-time Tour de France winner finished the race in 6:28:50, that's 16:55 faster than the course record set last year when Leadville legend David Wiens beat Armstrong by about two minutes.

While Armstrong had an 18-minute lead on the defending champion near the end of the race, he lost time after his tire blew about 5 or 6 miles out. Then in Leadville, police had to push back the crowds that were blocking Armstrong from the finish.

The course record of 6:45:45 was set by Wiens in 2008. The entire 100-mile bike race takes place above the 9,000-foot elevation mark ....   more »

Universal Sports, the network that brought us live streaming of the Giro d'Italia, is following up with live online and delayed broadcasts of the 2009 Vuelta a Espana which rolls out from August 29 to September 20.

All 21 stages will be shown live at UniversalSports.com every morning, complete with an online "Tracker" that shows riders' positions on the course and stage maps and profiles.

The stages will be replayed on the Universal Sports broadcast and cable network during the day and followed by an enhanced replay in primetime.

Meanwhile, Tour de France broadcaster Versus announced that viewership  soared 41% over the previous year. Multichannel News reported that the Versus website fared well too, with a 117% increase in traffic over 2008 ...   more »

The seesaw battle for the lead in the Race Across America finally landed in Dani Wyss's favor Thursday evening as defending champion Jure Robic had to stop to serve 60 minutes of penalties just 55 miles from the finish line in Annapolis, Maryland.

Instead of serving his time at the Mt. Airy, Maryland, time station, however, Robic and his crew decided to quit. Wyss, who is recorded as arriving at that time station at the same time, proceeded down the road to victory in Annapolis.

Robic's action is explained on his website:

"Jure was the fastest cyclist on this years RAAM. On the last time check TS51, he came few minutes before Dani Wyss. Because of the penalties, issued controversially, because of the rules not aplied always in the same manner and because of not issuing penalties to others, Jure and his crew decided not to finish the race as 2nd, but step out of it on TS51.

"Today it was written the history of RAAM. Jure and Dani staged the toughest fight ever and on the end the fastest didn't won.

"Expect more in next days when we will be relaxing before traveling back home."

It's a shame that the closest and possibly greatest RAAM ever had to end on a sour note. It's amazing to consider that a 3,100-mile race could come down to just minutes separating these two endurance athletes until one of them bailed out ....   more »

Update: The leading solo men in the Race Across America plowed across Ohio on Wednesday at times within sight of each other as they prepared to enter mountainous West Virginia.

After Jure Robic and Dani Wyss passed through the Chillicothe time station at the same time, a punctured tire briefly sidelined Robic who was passed by Wyss. According to the time station splits in Athens, Robic arrived 3 minutes ahead of Wyss.

With Robic's 60 minutes of accumulated penalities, however, the Slovenian is actually in second place with less than 450 miles to go ...   more »