Mon, 12 May 2008 01:50:56 -0700
Mountain, Rider Journals
Dirty Words with Adam Craig: a Madrid World Cup report
American cross-country mountain bike racer Adam Craig has his sights set on the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. That means for the next few months he will be battling it out on the World Cup and National Mountain Bike Series with his fellow Americans for a slot on the U.S. team. In between races, Craig skis, kayaks and is the rally car co-driver for his Giant teammate Carl Decker. VeloNews.com is along for the ride. —Editor It’s amazing how much more tiring riding fast is than riding ...

Mon, 12 May 2008 01:50:13 -0700
New Products
Titus Cycles enters the cyclocross market with three new frame models.
Retail: $1895 (steel Exogrid) Sizes: Five standard plus custom Availability: August Web site: www.titusti.com Titus Cycles is introducing three new cyclocross frames this year, the company's first venture into the 'cross market. Two of the frames feature Titus' Exogrid tubing technology, in which two materials are fused together, with the heavier material thinned or cut away in a grid pattern in the middle of the tube, to reduce weight. One of the new TRX cyclocross frames, shown ...

Sun, 11 May 2008 19:44:35 -0700
Domestic Road
Lees-McRae riders ace their finals
Tiny Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina, can finally say it owns the best collegiate road cycling team in the United States. After a series of near misses at collegiate cycling’s biggest race, the Bobcats finally grabbed the coveted Division I team omnium, squeaking by Fort Lewis College, 473-424. The Bobcats’ Andrew Talansky and Carla Swart also took home the Division I individual omnium titles — another first for the school of 900 students. “We’ve always been ...

Sun, 11 May 2008 14:48:28 -0700
International Road, Tech Reports
2008 Giro d'Italia, stage 1: Team Time Trial Tech

Sun, 11 May 2008 13:56:44 -0700
International Road
2008 Giro d'Italia, stage 2: Live Coverage
01:47 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Updates from the second stage of the 2008 Giro d'Italia, a 207km race from Cefalu to Agrigente. This stage features two climbs, the Category 2 Gatteri, at 26km and then the Cat. 3 Polizzello at 112km. This is not a simple and easy flat sprinters' stage typical of the early days in the grand tours. This is the sort of stage that may favor a strong all-arounder, like Paolo Bettini ... or Christian Vande Velde, for that matter. That's not to say ...

Sun, 11 May 2008 13:05:24 -0700
International Road
Vande Velde's day in pink
Christian Vande Velde stepped off the Slipstream-Chipotle team bus Sunday morning along the beach at Cerfalù with a big smile on his face. Proudly decked out in the maglia rosa, Vande Velde was clearly enjoying his moment as the first American since Andy Hampsten won the 1988 Giro to wear the Giro’s leader’s jersey. “We hope today goes just like yesterday, but we know it’s a complicated stage,” Vande Velde said. “To win yesterday’s stage was our big goal, everything else ...

Sun, 11 May 2008 10:14:50 -0700
International Road
Zabriskie crashes out of Giro
VeloNews staff and wire reports David Zabriskie’s 2008 Giro d’Italia ended Sunday when he was caught at a pileup with about 55km to go in the 207km second stage from Cerfalù to Agrigento. Zabriskie, 29, went down with several other riders as the peloton approached a railroad crossing. Zabriskie, who started the day second overall, was knocked off his bike and was unable to rejoin the pack. Doctors immediately attended to the reigning U.S. time trial champion and transported him ...

Sun, 11 May 2008 09:26:34 -0700
Domestic Road
Zajicek, Abbott win Colorado series kickoff
Phil Zajicek (Health Net-Maxxis) and Mara Abbott (Team High Road) won the kickoff to the 2008 Tour of Colorado race series on Saturday in Boulder. The 9.14-mile Excel Sports Sunshine Hill Climb up Sunshine Canyon served up 3226 feet in elevation gain with a maximum grade of 23 percent. Conditions didn’t make the climb any easier, with temperatures in the low 40s under cloudy skies at the start and mid-30s with snow at the finish. Abbott must have been in a hurry to get it over with — ...

Sun, 11 May 2008 09:03:08 -0700
International Road
Stephane Auge wins the Four Days of Dunkirk, as Hushovd wins the final stage.
Cofidis rider Stephane Auge of France claimed overall victory in the Four Days of Dunkirk cycling race on Sunday. Norwegian Thor Hushovd, riding for the Credit Agricole team, won Sunday's sixth and final 128.4km stage between Coudekerque and Dunkirk in a sprint finish. Please check back soon for results.

Sun, 11 May 2008 08:46:59 -0700
International Road
2008 Giro d'Italia: Pellizotti in pink after Ricco wins stage 2
Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) uncorked a tremendous sprint in the final 100 meters to win Sunday’s exciting 207km second stage, but Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) snuck into fourth to short circuit Christian Vande Velde’s run in the maglia rosa by just one second. On a day that saw Slipstream-Chipotle’s David Zabriskie crash out, Vande Velde fought like a gladiator against swarming Italians up the attack-riddled, 4km climbing finish to the hilltop city of Agrigento to try to ...

Sun, 11 May 2008 06:44:26 -0700
Domestic Road
Lees-McRae riders snap up wins in the Div. 1 men's and women's road races.
Carla Swart clung to the back of the elite seven-woman breakaway in the waning minutes of the 2008 Division I women’s road championship, held Saturday in Fort Collins, Colorado. Outnumbered and without teammates, the Lees-McRae sophomore didn’t appear to have the numbers or legs to win. Looks, however, can be deceiving. Swart sprung to the front of the group in the final meters to take a sprint victory ahead of Chloe Forsman (Arizona) and Amy Dombroski (Fort Lewis College). ...

Sat, 10 May 2008 14:23:42 -0700
Domestic Road
'Baby' Haedo takes Joe Martin stage — An Action Images Gallery
Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Colavita-Sutter Home) took the stage 2 sprint win at the Joe Martin Stage Race in Arkansas. Action Images photographer Kurt Jambretz was there to catch all the action.

Sat, 10 May 2008 12:43:58 -0700
International Road
Inside Slipstream's team time trial preparation
Slipstream-Chipotle’s victory in Saturday’s team time trial began weeks ago. The building blocks of the team’s historic victory that put Christian Vande Velde as the first American in the pink jersey in 20 years started with the team’s meticulous planning and execution. Just days after the Ardennes classics, the team gathered in its European base in Girona, Spain, to work on the time trial rotations and technique. Sport directors Matt White and Johnny Weltz found similar ...

Sat, 10 May 2008 11:51:02 -0700
International Road
Graham Watson photo gallery: The 2008 Giro d'Italia team time trial

Sat, 10 May 2008 11:07:03 -0700
International Road, Tech Reports
Giro Vibe: Lennard Zinn finds tech and atmosphere as the Giro prepares for take off
I have been in Sicily since Wednesday and have been watching the buildup in excitement and preparation among the teams, both riders and staff members. The atmosphere has been light and was getting less so as the race draws closer. And here also is the first of many cool Giro bikes you will see here in the coming days and weeks.

Sat, 10 May 2008 09:50:30 -0700
International Road
David Millar says Ivan Basso is neither a hero nor a victim.
Ivan Basso should not be held up as a model for young riders, Scottish rider David Millar said on Saturday. Millar said that despite 30-year-old Basso — who is allowed to ride competitively again from October 24, 2008, and has agreed a two-year deal with Liquigas — serving a two-year ban for his involvement in the Operation Puerto scandal he was in no way a role model for those aspiring to become professional cyclists. "Basso never admitted to being doped," said Millar, who was banned ...

Sat, 10 May 2008 09:26:20 -0700
International Road
AG2R's Cyril Dessel wins at the Four Days of Dunkirk
France's Cyril Dessel, of the AG2R-La Mondiale team, won Saturday's 179.4km fifth stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk cycling race between Calais and Cap Blanc-Nez. Cofidis rider Stephane Auge of France, who won Tuesday's first stage, retained the leader's pink jersey and looks set fair to win the race following Sunday's sixth and final stage, a 128.4km stretch around Dunkirk. Dessel clocked 4:23:48 to finish ahead of Gerald Ciolek of Germany and France's Samuel Dumoulin during this ...