Posted: Sat, Apr 19th
A conversation with Julien Absalon You may have thought that Julien Absalon had won every important cross-country mountain bike race on the planet. The Frenchman owns four elite world titles, three World Cup titles, a swarm of World Cup wins and Olympic gold. And to top that off, he won our ...
Posted: Sat, Apr 19th
The Houffalize World Cup is critical for Olympic team selections.The world’s top cross-country mountain-bike racers begin their final toward the Beijing Olympics, as the UCI World Cup kicks off this Sunday, April 20, in Houffalize, Belgium. The women take to the 6.7km course at 10:30 a.m., and the men at 2 p.m. sharp.
Posted: Fri, Apr 18th
Before the Houffalize World Cup, Fleche-Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Fred Dreier explores.Nazi artillery greeted me on my ride into Houffalize this morning. A German Panther tank sits near the center of the Belgian town that this Sunday hosts the opening round of the UCI mountain-bike World Cup. And to be honest, the sight of enemy armor didn’t faze me, not even ...
Posted: Sun, Apr 13th
Slipstream's Maaskant 4th into RoubaixMinutes before the start of Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix in the French town of Compiegne, Slipstream-Chipotle boss Jonathan Vaughters predicted big things for his young Dutch rider, Martijn Maaskant.
“Martijn is going to have a good ride today — he is going to be the ...
Posted: Sat, Apr 12th
An interview with Slipstream-Chipotle's Michael FriedmanOn the eve of his first try at Paris-Roubaix’s infamous pave´, Mike Friedman understandably has a few butterflies in his stomach. The 25-year-old Slipstream-Chipotle strongman is only a handful of months into his first-ever European campaign. And Friedman, affectionately ...
Posted: Sat, Apr 12th
Team Slipstream-Chipotle hits Paris-Roubaix on special Felt bikesIn preparation for its first crack at Paris-Roubaix — arguably the world’s most demanding single-day event for riders and their bikes — Slipstream-Chipotle wisely called on their team captain Magnus Backstedt for technical recommendations. ...
Posted: Fri, Apr 11th
Roubaix Tech: Nick Nuyens’ special Time VXSNick Nuyens proved he could ride as a classics contender with his second-place finish at Sunday’s Tour of Flanders.
Nuyens, Cofidis’ newest strongman, bridged to a surging Juan Antonio Flecha in the final kilometers of Belgium’s most famous single-day race in an ...
Posted: Fri, Apr 11th
Recon Day: Fred Dreier's pics from Friday's practice in the Arenberg ForestThe days prior to Paris-Roubaix are the traditional practice and reconnaissance days for the top teams, who ride key sections of the course while photographers, reporters and fans watch.
On Friday VeloNews' Fred Dreier and John Wilcockson headed out to the Arenberg ...
Posted: Wed, Apr 9th
Freire wins Ghent-WevelgemOscar Freire’s knack for winning chaotic sprints made him a favorite to win the 70th edition of Ghent-Wevelgem as a huge 77-rider pack thundered toward the finish line in this small Belgian town. And while the cagey 32-year-old did emerge ...
Posted: Tue, Apr 8th
A Fred’s Eye View: Riding the RondeIt took Stijn Devolder six hours, 24 minutes and two seconds to ride all 264 kilometers of this year’s Ronde van Vlaanderen, Belgium’s Tour of Flanders.
It took me a bit longer. Scratch that. It took a lot longer; another four-and-a-half hours, to be exact. ...
Posted: Sun, Apr 6th
School of hard knocks: Ups and downs mark Slipstream’s Ronde debutThe American Slipstream-Chipotle squad endured a day of highs and lows at the 2008 Tour of Flanders, the American squad’s debut at Belgium’s biggest one-day race.
The high came at the finish line, where the team’s 24-year-old Belgian rider Martin Maaskant was the 12th ...
Posted: Sun, Apr 6th
High Road's Judith Arndt wins women's Tour of FlandersGerman ace Judith Arndt out-kicked American Kristin Armstrong to win the women’s Tour of Flanders, the third round of the 2008 UCI women’s World Cup. It was the fourth career World Cup victory for Arndt, the silver medalist from the 2004 Olympics, and the first for her team ...
