Weekend News Update

Here's some news from the racing world from over the weekend:

Luciano Pagliarini took the fifth stage of the Eneco Tour de Benelux, but Nick Nuyens holds on to the leader's jersey.
Stjin Vanderbergh stayed close enough to the front to hold on to the lead of the Tour of Ireland. This is the first stage race victory of his professional career. Marcus Ljungqvist and Aaron Olson round out the podium. Vanderbergh also gets the nod for best young rider and Unibet.com takes the team award.
With the Discovery Channel team going the way of the dodo, Tom Danielson will be moving to the Slipstream Sports/Chipotle team for 2008. He joins David Zabriskie, Christian Vandevelde, Magnus Backstedt, David Millar, Daniel Martin, Julian Dean, Christophe Laurent, Huub Duyn and Martin Maaskant.
Portland, Oregon will host the world's first single-speed cyclocross world championships in November. I don't think that the UCI is really going to be watching this one too closely.

Lance Breaks His Silence On The Landis Decision

When first asked a couple of weeks ago about the decision in the Floyd Landis case, Lance Armstrong basically implied that he didn't keep up with cycling anymore and that he didn't have time to look at it.

Now, in a new interview released yesterday, Armstrong blasts the decision of the arbitration panel and states that he feels that Landis would have been exonerated by a jury.

It's about time he spoke up. He may be focused on finding a cure for cancer, but he needs to recognize that for most Americans, he is the person that comes to mind when they think about professional cycling.

Specialized Rolls Out 2008 Products In Advance Of Interbike

Specialized has already rolled out much of their new products for 2008 in advance of Interbike.

Saddles: Specialized found that, because of its comfort and light weight, many of their mountain bike riders were using the Toupe road saddle off road. They saw that they could use the same technology to make an MTB saddle that is as light and comfortable, but more durable and off road specific. The result is the new Phenom saddle.
They also are rolling out a new time trial/tri saddle called the Tri-Tip. This is very similar to the Toupe, but with a longer and wider, slighty more padded nose.
Tires: Specialized grew their tire team this year and worked with long time advisor Ned Overend on a new line of mountain bike tires. This year sees the introduction of the Control line, with S-Works, Captain, Armadillo and S-Carve models. The S-Works tire was designed to be lighter while increasing cut resistance.
The Captain is an all around tire, while the Armadillo is focused on overall durability.
The…

First "Look" at Look 586 Road Frame

The new Bikeradar.com site (formerly cycling.co.uk) gives a first look at Look's new 586 high modulus carbon road frame that will come out in 2008.
It is 100g lighter than the frame it replaces. Like it's predecessor, it has an integrated seatpost, but this model includes elastomer blocks in the post that will help to soften the ride a little bit.
The same article mentions the introduction of the Keo Grip cleat. Apparently this is the Keo cleat with some rubber grip pads to help keep your feet under you when walking.
The new products can be seen at Look Cycle's web site.
As an aside, I see that the review was written by Gary Boulanger, of the late, great Cycles Gaansari.

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