Bike World News

In today’s cycling news, squad announcements for upcoming races from Quick Step, Ceramica Flaminia and Ag2R ; Gert Steegmans wants to get paid; David Kopp returns; Steve Bauer aiming for Canada-based Pro Tour team and more….

Today’s stage travels from yesterday’s arrival town of Valladolid to the city of Las Rozas. The road tilts gently upward for about the first 85 kilometers and then the stage gets a little more bumpy, culminating in the climb up Category 3 Alto des Leones at the 128km mark. From there, the riders will have a 38km downhill ride into the town of Las Rozas. The sprinters will have some time to recover before the finish. 
As anticipated this morning, Tom Boonen dropped out and headed home to rest up for …

I’ve been a little tied up with 2009 bikes lately, but the racing goes on:

Gerolsteiner’s Carlo Westphal took his first professional victory in the fifth stage of the Eneco Tour, but Andre Greipel of the Columbia team still sits in the lead with an 11 second advantage over Jose Ivan Gutierrez of Caisse d’Epargne. Here’s the rest of stages:

Prologue: Gutierrez defended his win in last year’s Eneco Tour, setting the fastest time in the prologue and securing the leaders jersey.
Stage 1: Tom Boonen (Quick Step) won the mass sprint ahead …