The Roadie Blog

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 consec...

Fabian Cancellera is having a good couple of years. 2006 saw him winning Paris-Roubaix over the previously dominant Tom Boonen and winning the Worlds Time Trial competition later in the year.  He won the prologue and Stage 3 of this year's Tour de France and held on to the yellow jersey for 8 days.  Now he overcomes pressure, rain and a tougher course to repeat as the World Champ. He finished nearly a minute faster than Laszlo Bodrogi of Hungary and Dutchman Stef Clement. American Dave Zabriskie has been having good performance at time trials this year, but only managed 12th place today. 

The competition kicked off with U23 and Women's time trials. World U23 Cyclocross champ Lars Boom of the Netherlands came out on top in the U23 time trial, besting Mikhail Ignatiev of Russia by 8 seconds. Jerome Coppel of France came in third. The only American, Tejay Van Gardern, came in 38th.  Boom says that he is not going to switch to the road, but will continue to focus on CX. In the women's competition, Hanka Kupfernagel of Germany did her home country proud by posting the best time over defending champion Kristin Armstrong of the U.S. Christiane Soeder of Austria got the bronze. Americans Amber Neben and Christine Thorburn took fourth and fifth, respectively. 

Yesterday was Day 2 of the Outdoor Demo. The weather was said to be very non-Las Vegas like and agreeable, though some, like Matt Pacocha at VeloNews mentioned that getting out to Bootleg Canyon took an unusually long time. This report from CyclingNews focuses on cyclocross gear: A new titanium cyclocross machine from Litespeed that comes in at under 17 pounds The revised Jamis Supernova, now 50 grams lighter The Xpedo Twin pedal featuring dual hinged step-in engagement  That's not all they saw, however: Cannondale has 4 new 29er models for 2008 Foes was showing off some prototype machines, as well as a really cool work stand Lezyne: This all new company has some very cool multitools and pumps, with more in the pipeline Fizik had new saddles as well as gelato.  Interbike's New Product Showcase has a boatload of new products: Rotor's super light new S1 stem New road tires from Kenda A bike-park/slopestyle bike from Jamis Duratec a bicycle manufacturer based in the Czech R...

Do you have some sea salt on hand? Okay, pop a grain into your hand. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we can report that there is talk of a country-spanning Tour of America being planned for 2008. This web site has preliminary information about the race. The race is said to have 27 stages that will be contested over 30days. It would start in New York and finish up on the west coast, winding through as many as 22 states. They seem to be tying it into 9/11 as they are trying to start close to that date and the first stage is said to complete at Ground Zero.  They are offering $11 million in prize money, with $1 million going to the overall winner. They expect to invite the top teams in the world to come to the race.  I'm all for this. I'm ready to sign up and volunteer, as it looks like a stage will be passing right through my area.  Joe Lindsey, writer of the Boulder Report blog at Bicycling.com is thinking "What the... ?" There are some things that cas...

The Road Cycling World Championships kick off tomorrow in Stuttgart , Germany with U23 and Women's Time Trials. The Elite Men will have their time trial on Thursday. Road races will start on Friday. The course for the race is 19.1km long with several challenging climbs. The Women will do 7 laps, the U23 riders will do 9. Elite Men will race on Sunday, covering 14 laps for a total of   267 km. Paolo Bettini is looking to keep his rainbow jersey, and will not sign the anti-doping pledge. He and the rest of the Italian team (Alessandro Ballan, Danilo Di Luca and Davide Rebellin ). Alejandro Valverde will be in there gunning if he gets to race, and the Schleck brothers can't be dismissed either. The US team, consisting of Hincapie, Vande Velde and Zabriskie , could pose a threat as well.

I'll be doing news digests as I can compile them. If there is an item that particularly interests me, it will get its own post.  Velonews started their coverage of the event yesterday . They were at the Outdoor Demo along with everyone else. They noted that the Outdoor Demo has been moved to Bootleg Canyon , NV . This location offers 65,000 sq. ft of exhibit space along with plenty of space for MTB trails, a BMX course and road rides. Chris King was showing off new cyclocross hubs, wheelsets for road and cyclocross. Spot Bikes has a new carbon belt driven single speed system. Fulcrum rolls out a new line of mountain bike wheels. Tomac returns to the fray with a completely new line of mountain bikes. Mike Sinyard, the President of Specialized Bikes, rode the 600 miles from Morgan Hill , CA to Vegas for Interbike ( http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/420.html ) Advanced Sports, Inc., which owns the Fuji & SE Bikes brands, has announced plans to acquire Kestrel. They ...