Former Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for CERA, the International Cycling Union has confirmed.
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."
The most-eagerly anticipated Tour de France in recent history begins with a testing individual time-trial in Monaco on July 4 and fittingly, on U.S. Independence Day, an American will take center stage in cycling's greatest race.
Denis Menchov survived a dramatic high-speed crash in the final kilometer of the closing individual time trial stage to win the centenary edition of the Giro d'Italia in Rome on Sunday.
Italian Franco Pellizotti claimed the third Giro d'Italia stage victory of his career after winning the epic climb up to Blockhaus, in the earthquake-hit Abruzzo region, on Wednesday.
Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre came home alone to win his first-ever stage in the Giro d'Italia on Monday, a gruelling 237km slog from Pergola to Monte Petrano in the Appenine mountains, to put himself in contention for overall victory.
Former Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for CERA, the International Cycling Union has confirmed.
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."
The most-eagerly anticipated Tour de France in recent history begins with a testing individual time-trial in Monaco on July 4 and fittingly, on U.S. Independence Day, an American will take center stage in cycling's greatest race.
Denis Menchov survived a dramatic high-speed crash in the final kilometer of the closing individual time trial stage to win the centenary edition of the Giro d'Italia in Rome on Sunday.
Italian Franco Pellizotti claimed the third Giro d'Italia stage victory of his career after winning the epic climb up to Blockhaus, in the earthquake-hit Abruzzo region, on Wednesday.
Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre came home alone to win his first-ever stage in the Giro d'Italia on Monday, a gruelling 237km slog from Pergola to Monte Petrano in the Appenine mountains, to put himself in contention for overall victory.
Briton Mark Cavendish claimed his third sprint victory of the race when powering away from his rivals to win the 175km 13th stage of the Giro d'Italia.
Two-time Tour of Spain winner Denis Menchov has taken over the race leader's pink jersey in the Giro d'Italia, after winning Thursday's 12th stage, a gruelling 60.6km individual time-trial from Sestri Levante to Riomaggiore.
Briton Mark Cavendish claimed his second stage victory in this year's Giro d'Italia after once again proving he is the fastest man in the peloton by taking the 214km 11th leg from from Turin to Arenzano.
Race leader Danilo Di Luca powered to victory in the 262-kilometer 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia from Cuneo to Pinerolo on Tuesday to extend his advantage in the pink jersey position.
Former winner Danilo Di Luca has taken over the race leader's pink jersey after finishing second in Wednesday's punishing fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia.
Former winner Danilo Di Luca claimed an emotional home success in the Giro d'Italia fourth stage on Tuesday when the race headed into the mountains during a 165-kilometer stretch from Padova to San Martino di Castrozza.
Mark Cavendish became the first British rider to wear the Giro d'Italia leader's pink jersey when his Columbia team claimed victory in Saturday's opening team time trial.
American Levi Leipheimer looks set to complete his second stage race victory of the season after maintaining his overall advantage after the fourth stage of the Tour of Castilla and Leon in Spain.
Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans and defending champion Denis Menchov will both not compete in this year's Tour of Spain, which starts on August 30 at Granada and finishes on September 21 in Madrid.
It's always pleasant to poke a bit of fun at CSC-Saxo Bank, with its Outward Bound-like team-building exercises, mandated by director Bjarne Riis, an earnest Dane with a slightly checkered past. But the truth is, they're a class bunch. Davis Phinney, the ex-Tour de France stage winner with whom I happened to be watching today's stage, recalled being stiffed on the eve of the Tour of California prologue earlier this year: an American rider who was supposed to speak before a fundraiser for the Davis Phinney Foundation bailed on short notice.
Spaniard Carlos Sastre produced a stunning performance on the classic stage to Alpe d'Huez to cross the line over two minutes clear and take the Tour de France yellow jersey by one minute, 24 seconds from CSC team-mate and previous leader Frank Schleck.
Frenchman Cyril Dessel dashed to his first Tour de France stage win by leading a breakaway group of four riders to a downhill finish after the 157-kilometer trek from Cuneo, Italy to Jausiers.
Frank Schleck of Luxembourg seized the overall race lead in the Tour de France after a dramatic first stage in the Alps, won by Australian Simon Gerrans.
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.
Denis Menchov looks assured of a second triumph in the Tour of Spain, after finishing second to Euskaltel's Spanish rider Samuel Sanchez on the 20th stage, a 20 km time trial.
Euskatel's Samuel Sanchez produced an epic ride to win Friday's 19th stage of the Tour of Spain between Avila and the mountain top finish at Alto de Abentos over 133 kilometers.
American cyclist Jason McCartney of the Discovery Channel surged clear of a breakaway group for a superb victory on the 14th stage of the Tour of Spain.
Italian Leonardo Piepoli of the Saunier Duval team won the 167.6 km ninth stage of the Tour of Spain to the ski station of Cerler -- but Russia's Denis Menchov came in second to take the overall leader's gold jersey.
Veteran German Erik Zabel won a sprint finish to take the seventh stage of the Tour of Spain, while Russian Vladimir Efimkin retained his overall race lead.
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).
American Levi Leipheimer stretched his overall lead in the Dauphine Libere to one minute 48 seconds after finishing fourth behind Spain's Iban Mayo on the penultimate stage of the race.
Denis Menchov deposed race leader Roberto Heras of Spain by winning the ninth stage of the Tour of Spain, a time trial starting and finishing in Lloret de Mar.
Italian Alessandro Petacchi re-asserted his dominance on the bunch sprint finishes at this year's Tour of Spain by claiming his third stage win in Lloret de Mar on Saturday.
Russia's Denis Menchov of the Illes Balears team took the lead in the Tour of the Basque Country on Thursday after a perfectly timed attack to win the fourth stage.
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