All of your cycling news: May 27, 2010

In today’s bicycle racing news, Greipel finally grabs his win, 4 wildcards at the Dauphine-Libere, Landis’ allegations may benefit him and the battle against doping, and more….

• Andre Greipel (HTC-Columbia) finally grabbed the Giro sprint win that eluded him in the early stages. The race goes back to the mountains for two days before the final time trial, so this was realistically his last chance for a stage win.
• Greipel rode on the coattails of Team Sky in the final meters, as his teammates were spent from keeping him in place for the final.
• This is Greipel’s second victory in the Giro, two years after winning the stage in Locarno (Switzerland).
• Friday’s stage of the Giro d’Italia will start with a moment of silence to honor those killed and wounded in the Piazza della Loggia terrorist attack of 1974.
• The Liquigas company announced today that they have extended their sponsorship of the Liquigas team for two more years.

Other Cycling News:

• 22 teams have received invitations to the Dauphine Libere. In addition to the 18 Pro Tour teams, Bbox, Cervélo, Cofidis and Saur-Sojasun will send squads. This year’s race takes place from June 6th to 13th.
• A San Francisco lawyer who specializes in bringing fraud suits against government contractors says Floyd Landis could be acting as a whistleblower for a False Claims Act suit. If that’s the case, Landis could be protected from some prosecution and could receive up to 30 percent of any judgment from a successful claim based on his information. Considering the money that the U.S. government shelled out to sponsor the U.S. Postal team ($8 to $10 million a year for 4 years), the payout could be significant. ['Course, Floyd will use any money he receives to pay back everyone who donated to the Floyd Fairness Fund. - Ed.]
• An article at ESPN.com today talks about methods that Floyd Landis (and others) used to avoid doping detection. Michael Ashenden, a Australian exercise physiologist and blood doping researcher who sits on the nine-man independent panel that reviews biological passport data for UCI and Dr. Don Catlin, an anti-doping researcher who pioneered methods for steroid detection, both said that Landis’ information could be crucial in understanding how cyclists try to beat the system.
• Italian cyclist Francesco De Bonis has become the first rider suspended for doping based solely on the evidence of blood profile results. The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) suspended the 28-year-old De Bonis for two years, through June 2011, though he never failed a doping test. His suspension runs from June 18, 2009 to June 17, 2011. De Bonis will also have to pay 30000 euros in fines and litigation fees. Spanish rider Antonio Colom (formerly Katusha) was the second rider to be banned solely on the basis of his biological passport. In addition to a two year ban, he will have to pay 46,958 in fines.
• Changes are afoot at Omega Pharma-Lotto. Liquigas’ Frederik Willems is said to be in advanced negotiations with the squad and U23 climber Yannick Eijssen is looking to move from his internship with the Lotto squad to the pros. Meanwhile, Greg Van Avermaet is in talks to join former teammate Cadel Evans at BMC Racing.