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This is excellent news for Astana. We at Bicycle.net would be thrilled to see Astana at the Giro. Anything that increases the level of competition is good for cycling.
PARIS, May 3, 2008 (AFP) - Giro d’Italia organizers could perform a dramatic u-turn and invite the Kazakh-backed Astana cycling team to [...]

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. Concludes Pro Cycling Team Title Sponsorship
United Pro Cycling Team will Seek Replacement Title Sponsor for 2009
Los Angeles, CA – Team Owner, Sean Tucker, held a conference call earlier today with his riders, staff and management to announce to the team that Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. has decided [...]

by Justin Davis
RESULTS AT BOTTOM OF PAGE
ROUBAIX, France, April 13, 2008 (AFP) - Hounded by a glory-starved media in his native Belgium, cycling star Tom Boonen delivered in style Sunday by claiming what is arguably sport’s most celebrated chunk of granite.
The cobblestone trophy given to [...]

It is being reported on VeloNews.com that Michael Ball and his cycling team Rock Racing is going to sue the Tour de Georgia and the organizing company Medalist Sports to be let into the race that starts April 21.
Rock Racing LLC, filed the complaint April 8 asking for an injunction against the race’s owner, the [...]

BERLIN, April 12, 2008 (AFP) - Disgraced former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich is to pay out a million euro fine to end a fraud case which German prosecutors have been investigating, Focus news magazine reported on its website Saturday.
Prosecutors accused the 1997 Tour de France winner [...]

Join the forum discussion on this post ROME, April 8, 2008 (AFP) - Eddy Mazzoleni, third in last year’s Tour of Italy (Giro d’Italia), has been handed a two-year ban by the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) for his involvement in the “Oil for Drug” affair, the FCI said on Tuesday.
[...]

MANCHESTER, England, March 26, 2008 (AFP) - Results from the first day of the world track cycling championships here Wednesday:
Men
Individual pursuit
Final
Bradley Wiggins (GBR) 4:18.519 bt Jenning Huizenga (NED)
Bronze medal
Alexei Markov (RUS) 4:21.097 bt [...]

With the increasing popularity of the Tour of Georgia the number of teams requesting invitations to race in Georgia in April has seen a steady increase. Medalist Sports, the management company for the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T, has announced an elite field of 15 teams, with the obvious exclusion of Rock Racing. With [...]

Join the forum discussion on this postRock Racing has announced that they are breaking ties with world champion Mario Cipollini effective immediately.
Rumors have been circulating for weeks about the tenuous relationship between team owner Michael Ball and Cipollini, and even on the final day of the Tour of California there was evidence of discontent.
Michael [...]

Levi Leipheimer beat 2nd place David Millar by 28 seconds on a 30-minute ride. It was enough to hold off Fabian Cancellara and Robert Gesink and keep the yellow jersey.
All three riders were on the course together, 2 minutes apart at the start, virtually riding head-to-head.
Pics:

More photos here and here!

When the pros have to reach back to Oslo in the mid 90s to think of a race as long, and wet and miserable, you know that you’ve got a race as difficult as any you’re likely to see. When the winner was asked for a finish line quote, he just gasped for air, [...]

Today’s stage will feature two Herbalife Sprints and three California Travel and Tourism King of the Mountains climbs on a route that is hilly and technical down the picturesque Pacific Coast Highway that will pedal through Big Sur and past the Hearst Castle before arriving in San Luis Obispo. Leipheimer’s GC lead over CSC’s Fabian [...]

George Hincapie of Team HighRoad took a pretty nasty crash in the final circuits around Santa Rosa in stage one of the Tour of California. Here are Bicycle.Net’s exclusive photos.

Back on his feet:

Photos by Michael Roe

Bicycle.net this year is thrilled to bring you fantastic exclusive interviews and podcasts. Here are some thoughts on what this year’s Tour of California is going to bring you.
For more great audio, check out our host David Bernstein at The FredCast cycling podcast (The Fredcast.com).

 

 Fredcast - TOC Prologue [27:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (89)

Unified Rock Racing Team Votes To Ride Short-Handed
Rock Racings Michael Ball Responds To AEGs Exclusion Of Three Riders
Palo Alto, Calif. (Feb. 16, 2008) Despite only being able to field a five-rider squad three short of the standard team roster Rock Racing will compete in the Amgen Tour of California.
Rock Racing Team Owner Michael Ball said [...]

Palo Alto, Ca. - VeloGuy is in Palo Alto this week hanging out with some of the teams getting ready for the Tour of California this week. He’s learned from officials of Team High Road that they have been invited to participate this year in the Giro d’Italia and other events sponsored by [...]

Breaking News: Nicki Sørensen in Bad Crash During Training
[11.02 08:34] This Sunday Team CSC’s Nicki Sørensen crashed in Malibu Mountains during the team training camp in California.
The Danish rider suffered a deep cut on the forehead as well as other cuts and bruises to the face. Nicki Sørensen is now recovering from surgery in the [...]

Cannondale bought by Dorel for $200m
With the purchase Dorel creates two divisons: Pacific Cycle for the mass and an IBD-only division
Canada’s Dorel Industries has acquired the Cannondale Bicycle Corporation.
Headquartered in Connecticut, Cannondale has facilities in Bedford, Pennsylvania as well as offices in Canada, Switzerland, Holland, Japan, and Australia.
The purchase also includes Sugoi Performance Apparel.
The total [...]

British star Wiggins in shock after father dies in Australia
LONDON, Jan 31, 2008 (AFP) - British cycling star Bradley Wiggins said on Thursday he was shocked by news that his father had been found dead in suspicious circumstances in Australia.
According to media reports here, 55-year-old Gary Wiggins was found [...]

Breaking News: Rock Racing’s squad for the 2008 Amgen Tour of California.
A rumor has made it’s way into the Bicycle.net newsroom this evening and we want to be the first to get it out to our readers. It seems that Michael Ball and his Rock Racing Team may have chosen their squad for the [...]

Disclaimer… Bicycle.net’s humorist and webmaster Velociraptor lives less than 200′ south of Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles and his office is on Olympic Blvd. The absentee mayor’s proposal affects him about as directly as it possible. I have young children, have lived in my house for 20 years, and now my street will [...]

Months ago, Tailwind sports dropped the bomb that it couldn’t secure appropriate sponsorship to replace Discovery Channel, though LA himself said they were 90% along the way to doing so.  But rather than pursue that last slice of, say $1-2m/year, it made more sense to simply, and dramatically, fold the tent and send the riders and [...]

Operation Raw Deal uncovers operation that traces to China, officials say
By Amy Shipley - WashingtonPost.com
Federal agents raided more than four dozen underground drug labs and arrested 124 people in 27 states during an 18-month crackdown on Chinese steroids, human growth hormone and other performance-enhancing drugs that reached its culmination in the last four days, Drug [...]

130mph? On a bike. Yeah… right. Yes, right!
Enough with the news about Floyld Landis for a moment… gravity beats chemistry as Austrian rider Markus Stoeckl used a Chilean ski slope with a 45 degree drop to get up to speed. The 33-year-old broke the world record for downhill series mountain bikes [...]

There is nothing gruesome in this video but it should serve as a warning to us all.
On a side note, how nice would this world be if everyone drove a Mini, or a SmartCar, and not SUV’s.

_VS_

http://video.nbc6.net/player/?id=149887#videoid=149887

VeloGuy of Bicycle.net has gotten himself into the magazine called LAS&F (Los Angeles Sports & Fitness). As a member of Team Polar he not only rides in bicycle races, but also in races in triathlons. As an advocate for Team Polar he conducts clinics on the proper use of training with a heart rate monitors, [...]

The Unibet.com cycling team will disband at the end of the year after its main sponsor decided to quit funding the team.
The decision by the Swedish gambling company Unibet follows a drawn-out dispute with French race organisers, who refused to invite the team because France bans foreign gambling advertising.
“We expected it. The riders are free [...]

I heard the rumor that big George Hincapie is going to the T-Mobile Pro Team in 2008. I have not been able to confirm this rumor but I have heard it from more than a few sources. It would seem to make sense since George would be a great fit for the T-Mobile Team. [...]