Category: Racing
Italian cyclist Alessandro Ballan deflated the attempt by fellow countryman Paolo Bettini to win a record three-in-a-row World Championship at Varese, Italy, on Sunday.
Ballan attacked a dozen cyclists in a breakaway near the finish of the 161-mile road race to take the gold medal by 3 seconds over the group.
Bettini finished nearly 5 minutes behind. Had he won on Sunday, he would have been the first cyclist to win three road race championships in a row. Spain's Oscar Freire, one of only four cyclists to ever achieve 3 championships in his career and the only one currently riding, finished in Bettini's group. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/09/28/ballan-upsets-bettini-at-world-cycling-championships/
David Zabriskie achieved a podium finish at the UCI World Championships in the individual time trial on Thursday, finishing third behind Bert Grabsch of Germany and Svein Tuft of Canada.
Levi Leipheimer finished in 4th place, about 14 seconds behind Zabriskie. Those two were the only US cyclists in the competition.
The current world champion in the individual time trial, Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, did not compete. He won the gold at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing last month …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/09/25/grabsch-tuft-and-zabriskie-are-top-3-at-world-championships/
Congratulations to US cyclist Amber Neben for winning the women's time trial at the 2008 World Championships in Varese, Italy, on Wednesday.
Neben won the individual race over the 15.6-mile course by seven seconds over Christiane Soeder of Austria.
Neben, 34, was a member of the US Olympic cycling ..
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/09/24/us-cyclist-amber-neben-wins-world-championship-in-womens-time-trial/
Italian cyclist Paolo Bettini is going for a never-achieved three-in-a-row world cycling titles when the 75th edition of the World Championships convenes Wednesday through Sunday in Varese, Italy.
Bettini has been the man wearing the rainbow jersey in the peloton the past two years after victories in Salzburg and Stuttgart.
Now he's trying to join the club of three-time winners — Alfredo Binda, Eddy Merckx, Rik Van Steenbergen and Oscar Freire — but do it in back-to-back-to-back years. Levi Leipheimer will be among those on hand to prevent him from succeeding.
Free online video-streaming of the men's and women's road races and men's and women's time trials at Varese, Italy, will be provided by Universal Sports. See the schedule online for World Championship updates. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/09/23/world-cycling-championships-this-week-live-video-streaming/
Alberto Contador joined an elite club on Sunday when he became one of only five cyclists to win all three Grand Tours.
The 25-year-old Spanish bicyclist's championship at the Vuelta a Espana in Madrid put him in the record books after previous wins at the Giro d'Italia in May and the Tour de France in 2007.
No one has ever won all three Grand Tours in the same year, that's an indication of the difficulty of achieving such a mark. The other four cyclists with a championship from each race: …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/09/21/contador-becomes-1-of-5-cyclists-to-win-all-3-grand-tours-leipheimer-2nd-at-vuelta-a-espana/
Alberto Contador left them all in the dust on the dreaded Alto de l'Angliru climb at the Vuelta a Espana on Saturday, as he won the mountaintop finish and put himself in the overall leader's gold jersey.
Contador teammate Levi Leipheimer moved up to second place overall at 1:07 behind his Astana team leader.
Carlos Sastre, Team CSC's Tour de France winner, didn't fare as well on the final climb as he did on Alpe d'Huez in this year's Tour. Leipheimer marked him on the climb before driving past him to beat him to the summit by nearly 30 seconds …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/09/13/alberto-contador-wins-stage-takes-lead-at-vuelta-a-espana/
Levi Leipheimer donned the golden jersey for the second time during the 2008 Vuelta a Espana on Sunday as the peloton finished its second day in the Pyrénées.
His Astana teammate and race favorite Alberto Contador sits just 21 seconds behind Leipheimer, the sole American in the three week race that's entering its second week. David Moncoutie of Cofidis won Stage 8 that boasted four major climbs, including the mountaintop finish at Pla de Beret.
Leipheimer first gained the overall leader's jersey on Wednesday …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/09/07/vuelta-a-espana-in-mountains-leipheimer-back-in-gold/
Will Frischkorn of Garmin-Chipotle was on hand to defend his title at the Univest Grand Prix in Souderton, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, but it was teammate Lucas Euser who won the 100-mile road race.
It was clear from the video stream that the 131 pro cyclists battled rainy weather all day, but that didn't stop Euser, later joined by Frederick Ericsson (Sweden, Cykel City), from launching a breakaway and turning the final laps into a two-man race.
Although they worked well together to keep the rest of the peloton at bay, Euser attacked on the final lap and beat Ericsson by 13 seconds. Having competed in the Tour de France in July, Garmin-Chipotle completely dominated the race …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/09/07/pennsylvanias-univest-grand-prix-bike-race-video-streaminggarmin-chipotles-lucas-euser-wins-day-1/
A bicycling journalist-photographer I met online through my work at Biking Bis recently interviewed French cycling historian Jean-Paul Vespini.
Vespini has covered 19 Tours de France for the Euro cycling pubs Le Cycle and Cyclisme International. He's witnessed first-hand more Tour de France history than many of us have seen televised or have even read about.
Matt Wood's fascinating interview with Vespini is posted at the PezCycling News website. It's primarily about his new book, “The Tour is Won on the Alpe: Alpe d'Huez and the Classic Battles of the Tour de France.” …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/09/05/an-eyewitness-cycling-history-of-alpe-dhuez/
Levi Leipheimer's time in the golden jersey was brief — one day — as he dropped to second place behind Sylvain Chavanel by 10 seconds after Stage 6 of the Vuelta a Espana on Thursday.
World Champion Paolo Bettini won the 93-mile stage from Ciudad Real to Toledo. The peloton gets a rest day on Friday.
Chavanel snagged the golden leader's jersey from Leipheimer by taking intermediate sprint bonus points along the race route. Leipheimer only had a 2-second advantage over the Frenchman after Wednesday's individual time trial…
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/09/04/leipheimer-drops-to-2nd-at-vuelta-a-espana-bike-race/
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