- After allegations that current World Champ Paolo Bettini supplied Patrick Sinkewitz, and his refusal to sign the "Commitment for a New Cycling" agreement, Germany is trying to bar him from riding in the World Championships road race on Saturday. Signing the agreement is voluntary; Bettini is said to have signed a version which stated that he was not involved in O.P. and that he would provide DNA if requested. Also, Sinkewitz's lawyer has stated that he did not refer to Bettini during procedures related to Sinkewitz's positive doping control in June.
- The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled yesterday that it could not bar Alejandro Valverde from competing Saturday, either. The Spanish Secretary for the Sport Jaime Lissavetzky was pleased with the decision, stating that it was important to safeguard the presumption of innocence. Australian Allan Davis and Czech Rene Andrle were cleared to race under the same decision.
- Veteran racer Inigo Cuesta completed his 14th consecutive Vuelta this year. This ties a record, which he hopes to beat next year, before retiring.
- CSC has wrapped up the Pro Tour team title for the year. Danilo DiLuca is on top of the individual ratings, but may not last long, given doping allegations.
- The organizers of the Giro will announce details about the route of the 2008 race in December.
- Still no definite news about the "Tour of America". I'm getting more and more doubtful.
- Missing The Point: Andrey Kashechkin is planning to protest his positive out of competition test from August on the grounds that they violated his privacy, as he was on vacation and "didn't want to be disturbed."
Stage 18 : Luis Perez Rodriguez goes out with a bang, closing out his 13 year career with a stage win in his home country. 4 riders dropped out before the start of Thursday's, the most notable of which was World Chamion Paolo Bettini. 24 riders tried to make an early escape today, but were captured by the peloton at 40km. Soon after, another group of 19 riders broke away. Even that group splintered, and we ended up with a group of 12, consisting of chasers and breakers at the 56km mark. Some of the notable names in the break were Menchov, Sastre, Evans, Sanchez and Mosquera. Chasing closely behind (38 seconds back at 76km) was a 10 man group containing Efimkin and others. At 93km, the second group was caught be the peloton, while the leaders extended their advantage to 2 minutes and 45 seconds. The leaders cooperated well over the final climb and kept their lead. With 13km to go, Rodriguez put the hammer down and quickly pulled out to a 26 second lead. He managed to keep ahead al...