Alberto Contador will ride for a new team when he seeks his fourth Tour de France title next year, after deciding not to renew his contract with Astana.
Frenchman William Bonnet avoided a crash in the finishing straight to secure victory in the second stage of Paris-Nice -- the first major race of the European cycling calendar.
When 8-month-old Astana started getting her adult teeth, her owner, Gayle Warren, didn't expect any problems. She has a number of Black Russian terriers and developing new incisors was never a big deal with her other dogs. But Astana had a condition known as "twinning," where two teeth form in the same area. It can cause discomfort, overcrowding and early tooth decay. Warren decided to take Astana to a specialist in animal dentistry to have the extra teeth removed.
updated: Mon Feb 01 2010 10:58:00
CNN's Melissa Long reports on the importance of dental care for your pets in this Health Minute.
Alberto Contador's immediate future has finally been sorted out after his Astana team were finally granted their ProTour licence on Thursday.
Tour de France champion Alberto Contador looks set to stay with Astana next year after reaching a preliminary agreement with the Kazakh-based squad.
Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador will renew their fierce rivalry on a 2010 Tour de France route that features a fearsome stretch in the Pyrenees which is likely to decide the outcome of the 97th edition of cycling's most famous race.
Astana have confirmed that Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan will return to the team for the Tour of Spain, the third of three major cycling tours, which begins on Saturday.
Tour de France champion Alberto Contador will stay with Astana for the 2010 season, the Kazakh-funded team announced on Saturday night.
Lance Armstrong has hit back at Tour de France winner Alberto Contador by describing the Spaniard's latest criticism of him as "drivel" on his Twitter feed.
updated: Tue Jul 28 2009 22:58:00
Cycling great Lance Armstrong is in a war of words with Tour de France winner Alberto Contador. CNN's Josh Levs reports.
Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong has announced that he will race for a new U.S.-based team next year.
LE GRAND BORNAND, France -- Worst kept secret at this Tour de France: Astana general manager Johan Bruyneel will announce tomorrow that he intends to start a new team next year, backed by American sponsorship and led by Lance Armstrong.
Alberto Contador has moved closer to his second Tour de France victory in three years after finishing second to Luxembourg's Frank Schleck in the gruelling 169.5km 17th stage of the race from Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Le Grand-Bornand.
updated: Sun Jul 19 2009 12:19:00
Astana cyclist Levi Leipheimer talks to CNN about his chances of winning Tour de France before he crashes out.
Alberto Contador destroyed his rivals in the first Alpine stage of the Tour de France, taking over the yellow jersey with an impressive victory in the 207.5km 15th stage from Pontarlier to Verbier.
Denmark's Nicki Sorensen won the 12th stage of the Tour de France as the Rinaldo Nocentini kept the yellow jersey ahead of Astana teammates Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong.
Well, that was a trifle anticlimactic, no?
Defending Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre has exclusively told CNN that he does not care what happens in the alleged dispute between rivals Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador at Astana -- and is only concentrating on retaining his title.
Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong has admitted that tension has increased between himself and Astana teammate Alberto Contador, as both riders battle for the yellow jersey in the 2009 Tour de France.
Recall, if you will, Bernard Hinault's terse message to Lance Armstrong five years ago, after the Texan drained much of the suspense from the 2004 Tour de France by winning his third straight alpine stage. "No gifts," declaimed the Badger. Implicit in those words: a pro bike race is a knife fight, not a bridal shower. There is no place in it for charity or sentimentality or mercy. No gifts. Lance-o-philes loved it so much they put it on a T-shirt.
Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong was denied the yellow jersey again as unknown home rider Brice Feillu won a dramatic seventh stage of the Tour de France.
Lance Armstrong has failed by under a second to take the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, after the American's Astana team powered to victory in the 39km fourth stage team time-trial around Montpellier.
Lance Armstrong returned to the Tour de France for first time in four years by finishing 10th in the opening time trial in Monaco which was won by Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland.
Two weeks before the start of the 96th Tour de France, 1,870 days after his last pro victory, Lance Armstrong soloed to first place in the Nevada City (Cal.) Classic, a brief but brutal 40-lap circuit in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Asked afterward about the upcoming Tour, which starts Saturday in Monaco, the Texan poor-mouthed his own chances, pointing to Astana teammates Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer as clear favorites. After those two, he went on, "they got an old man like me to come around and pick up the pieces."
Lance Armstrong and 2007 champion Alberto Contador will head a strong Astana team for next month's Tour de France.
Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen further boosted his emerging profile in world cycling with an impressive victory in Friday's seventh stage of the Giro d'Italia.
Lance Armstrong is the star attraction in the 100th edition of the Giro d'Italia but has played down his chances of overall victory in the first major Tour of the cycling season.
World cycling's governing body, the International Cycling Union (UCI), have expressed their concern at the financial situation surrounding Lance Armstrong's Astana team.
Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong is back in competitive action after breaking his collarbone in a race in Spain last month.
Alberto Contador scored an emphatic victory in the final 24 kilometer time trial to wrap up overall honors in the Tour of Basque Country on Saturday.
Defending Giro d'Italia and Vuelta Espana champion Alberto Contador again showed he is the man to beat in this year's major stage races with an impressive win in Wednesday's 172.5km third stage of the Tour of the Basque Country.
Lance Armstrong flew home for surgery on his broken collarbone on Tuesday as Astana teammate and fellow American Levi Leipheimer won the second stage of the Tour of Castilla y Leon.
Christian Vandevelde of the United States claimed Wednesday's fourth stage of the Paris-Nice while Astana's Alberto Contador showed just why he is the race favorite in the early season classic.
Just because he's lean and ripped and far more fit than he's ever been at this time of year, Lance Armstrong won't necessarily regain the form that won him seven Tours de France. Just because those questions about his past have faded from the foreground, they haven't necessarily gone away. And while none of them care to be quoted, there are plenty of cycling people who wish he'd leave and not come back. He is a magnet for attention that might otherwise redound to more deserving riders -- guys like his Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer, who on Sunday clinched his third straight victory in the Amgen Tour of California, but whose next mention in this story is more than a thousand words away. But give Armstrong this: Three-and-a-half years after his retirement, two races into his comeback, he has plunged an IV full of Red Bull into the arm of a sport sorely in need of a pick-me-up. By his mere presence in the peloton, the 37-year-old Texan makes pro cycling an infinitely more interesting
Levi Leipheimer claimed his third successive Tour of California title with Astana teammate Lance Armstrong content to play a vital supporting role for his fellow American.
Norway's Thor Hushovd won an incident-packed third stage of the Tour of California with Levi Leipheimer retaining his overall lead despite crashing after clipping the wheel of Astana teammate Lance Armstrong.
Lance Armstrong finished tucked in the main bunch again as Australian Allan Davis all but wrapped up overall victory in the Tour Down Under with victory on the fifth stage.
Lance Armstrong has confirmed that he will join the Kazakh-backed Astana team for his competitive comeback next year, with his comeback race being January's Tour Down Under in Australia.
Alberto Contador maintained his dominance of the Tour of Spain on Sunday by winning his second successive mountain stage to stretch his overall lead over Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer.
Spain's Oscar Freire of Rabobank won out in a battle of former world champions as he edged Belgian Tom Boonen to win the 11th stage of the Tour of Spain on Wednesday.
Lance's Armstrong's friend and former mentor Johan Bruyneel is desperate to recruit the seven-time Tour de France champion to his new team.
updated: Wed Sep 10 2008 12:19:00
Lance Armstrong confirms to Dr. Sanjay Gupta that he'll race in this year's Tour de France to raise cancer awareness.
Grim news for gossip rags everywhere: Lance Armstrong confirmed Tuesday that he is, in fact, coming out of retirement. The immediate result, of course -- aside from a defibrillation of interest in cycling in this country -- will be a marked reduction in late-night sightings of the Lone Star State's most prolific Lothario with celebrity blondes of various vintages on his arm. If Lance is going to take the start at the Amgen Tour of California on Valentine's Day, 2009 -- the first of five stages races he's reportedly eyeballing, culminating with the Tour de France next July -- he'll need to maybe be dial down the night life a bit.
Greg Van Avermaet won a sprint finish in the ninth stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Monday, with Egoi Martinez of Spain taking the overall lead.
Italian Alessandro Ballan assumed leadership of the Tour of Spain with a brave lone victory on the seventh stage to Andorra on Saturday.
The three-week Tour de France starts on Saturday with organizers hoping that cycling's most prestigious race reaches the finish line without any doping scandals.
Rhetorical question posed on the eve of the 95th Tour de France, which begins Saturday in Brest, at the tip of the Breton peninsula: Wouldn't it be surprising if cycling, for so long the poster child of pharmacologically jacked-up sports, turned out to be cleaner than, say, the NFL, or the NHL, or Major League Baseball?
Roman Kreuziger of the Czech Republic produced a stunning performance in Saturday's 25 kilometer time trial from Altorf to Klausenpass to leave himself in pole position to win the Tour of Switzerland.
Franco Pellizotti won a gruelling mountain time trial at the Giro d'Italia on Monday as Spain's Alberto Contador tightened his grip on the race leader's pink jersey.
Slipstream-Chipotle utilized the time trialling ability in their ranks to maximum effect by claiming the opening stage of the 91st Giro-d'Italia in Palermo on Saturday.
Tour de France champion Alberto Contador and his Astana team are facing a hasty scramble to compete in the Giro d'Italia after receiving a late invitation to take part in a race from which they were originally barred.
Astana's Andreas Kloeden showed he will be a major contender at the Giro d'Italia by wrapping up victory in the six-stage Tour de Romandie on Sunday.
The Astana team enjoyed a good day when Andreas Kloeden strengthened his grip on the Tour de Romandie and they were told that they would be allowed to compete in the Giro d'Italia after all.
German Andreas Kloeden won the third stage of the Tour de Romandie and took the overall lead in Sion.
Tour de France champion Alberto Contador sealed victory in the Tour of Basque Country by winning the sixth and final stage, an individual time trial.
Tour de France organizers have confirmed their earlier decision to exclude the Astana team of 2007 champion Alberto Contador from the 20-strong line-up for the July cycling classic.
From Rock Racing, the only U.S. Pro Continental team that travels with its own stable of podium girls, comes this breaking news: team owner Michael Ball has had an epiphany! On Tuesday, Rock announced plans to adopt "an aggressive internal team anti-doping program," such as those employed by Slipstream, High Road, CSC, Astana and others.
A Spanish court ordered the reopening of Operation Puerto, a widespread doping probe that has implicated some of cycling's biggest stars.
Reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador will be unable to defend his title after organizers excluded his new Astana team from competing in cycling's most prestigious race.
Kazakh cyclist Alexandre Vinokourov is reportedly retiring from the sport after being handed a one-year ban for doping.
Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of Spain has revealed that he is set to join the Astana team for next season.
The Astana cycling team has fired rider Jose Antonio Redondo for failing to comply with team rules.
The Astana cycling team, battling to overcome a series of doping scandals, applied for a new ProTour license and will retain its sponsor through 2010.
The three-week Tour of Spain begins in Vigo this Saturday but last year's first three will be missing because of proven, or suspected doping offenses.
Embattled cycling team Astana, who have been hit by a series of high-profile doping cases in recent months, will resume racing in September at the Plouay Grand Prix in France.
PAU, France -- No matter who wins this race, it seems destined to go down as the Tour dominated by talk of Alexandre Vinokourov's blood.
ALBI, France -- I was among the score or so of reporters skulking around the lobby of the Novotel in Montpellier on Friday, hoping extract a quote from embattled race leader Michael Rasmussen of Rabobank. (The crafty Dane gave us the dodge; officials of the Danish Cycling Union, apparently, can relate). Sharing the hotel with the Rabos was Team Astana. While we loitered on the lookout for Rasmussen, Alexandre Vinokourov emerged from the dining room. With a total of 30 stitches in his knees, he made his way across the lobby with the stiff-legged gait of a man with advanced arthritis. It was clear that the podium was beyond his reach.
Alexander Vinokourov put his injury woes behind him to revive his Tour de France hopes with an outstanding victory in the individual time trial 13th stage on Saturday.
This will be a rushed dispatch: I arrived late to this ancient city in the southern Alps as the result of some travel misadventures that I will share later this week (suffice it to say that the doors of a train closed on my fingertips while a French conductor met my pleas with an impassive stare that reminded me of Merseault from The Stranger).
Yes, Tuesday's Stage 3 into Compiegne featured an electrifying finish, with race leader Fabian Cancellara of Team CSC schooling the sprinters, throwing down a vicious acceleration 700 meters from the finish line, then holding off the muscle-bound likes of Erik Zabel, Tom Boonen and Robert Forster. To me, the biggest story of the day was not Cancellara's breathtaking speed at the finish, but the stately, unhurried, club-ride pace set by the peloton in the hours before the thrilling denouement. This was the slowest stage in recent memory. As I will explain later, that's a good thing.
French rider Christophe Moreau regained the leadership of the prestigious Dauphine Libere on Saturday as Kazakh Maxim Iglinsky won a testing sixth stage.
Germany's Andreas Kloeden won the Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race on Tuesday and said his main target for the year is a Tour de France triumph.
Spain's Astana team will be part of the ProTour peloton next season after being belatedly granted a license by the International Cycling Union (UCI).
Venezuelan cyclist Jose Rujano, whose climbing exploits helped him to third place in the 2005 Tour of Italy, has signed for Unibet, the team have announced.
Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan won the 61st Tour of Spain on Sunday, 72 seconds ahead of Spaniard Alejandro Valverde.
Kazakhstan's Alexander Vinokourov recovered from his disappointment 24 hours earlier to win stage eight of the Tour of Spain on Saturday.
German Andreas Kloeden, third in this year's Tour de France, has confirmed he will join the Astana team next season from T-Mobile.
Kazakh Assan Bazayev gave his Astana team something to cheer about after he recorded their first ever victory in the 198km first stage of the Tour of Germany.
Alexander Vinokourov has said that his Astana-Wuerth team will end its remaining connections with Spanish cycling supremo Manolo Saiz following his implication in the latest doping scandal to hit the sport.
Kazakh star Alexandre Vinokourov defied Tour de France chiefs Wednesday by flying into Strasbourg with his Astana team determined to start the race.
The Astana team has been asked to withdraw from the Tour de France in the wake of the doping scandal in Spain -- organisers have said.
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