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Levi Leipheimer will make his European debut to the 2011 season at the Ruta del Sol in late February with RadioShack.

Race organizers confirmed Wednesday that Leipheimer will lead the squad in what will be the American team’s first appearance in the five-day race held across Spain’s Andalucía region, set this year for February 20-24.

Joining Leipheimer will be Haimar Zubeldia and Janez Brajkovic, who beat back Alberto Contador to win the Critérium du Dauphiné in June. Also lining up for the Shack will be Geoffrey Lequatre, Ivano Rovny and Dimitri Muravyev.

Last year’s edition of the race, also known as the Vuelta a Andalucía, was won by Michael Rogers.

Marca: Rodríguez wants to win grand tour

Joaquím ‘Purito’ Rodríguez says he hopes to win either the Giro d’Italia or Vuelta a España someday following his breakthrough 2010 season after his move to Katusha. The Spanish rider was fourth overall at the Vuelta this year, a result that fuels his ambitions for the coming seasons. “Now my dream is this: to win a grand tour or at least be on the podium. The Vuelta and the Giro are within reach of my possibilities.”

Eurosport:: Voeckler believes there’s less doping in cycling

Thomas Voeckler, the French rider on Bouygues Telecom, believes that cycling is getting cleaner. In an interview with Eurosport, the French rider of the year says that the increased number of doping controls are having an impact: “Fifteen years ago, there were no positives at the Tour, but that doesn’t mean that people were not doping. You have to accept that better controls mean that riders will get caught.”

The Associated Press: Vuelta to start with team time trial

The Associated Press reports that the 2011 Vuelta a España will start with a team time trial following the official confirmation from Benidorm officials.

Team Saxo Bank: Nuyens says there’s no star attitude on his new team

Rabobank transfer Nick Nuyens says one of Bjarne Riis’ famous off-season team building exercises revealed a well balanced squad. “It also became very quickly apparent that no one sought to be ’star,’ “ he says in a post on the team web site. The 30 year-old Belgian classics specialist said the team’s discipline at meetings impressed him. “There’s no chitchat for joint meetings, which is a relatively rare phenomenon when it comes to professional cyclists,” he said.

El Mundo: Tonkov now running hotel in Spain

Pavel Tonkov, winner of the 1996 Giro d’Italia, has traded the pink jersey for the business suit of a hotel owner.

The Russian has settled into a new life as the owner and operator of the Hospedería del Atalia in Córdoba, hometown of his wife. Tonkov, now 41, opened the 20-room boutique hotel in May.

Tonkov, who became one of the most successful riders to come out of the post-Soviet Russia, told the Spanish daily El Mundo that he cannot stand to sit still. He also offers guided cycling trips in the mountains north of Córdoba.

Tonkov, known as The Czar during his heyday, retired at the end of the 2005 season. He won seven stages and one overall at the Giro, two stages at the Vuelta a España and the overall at the Tour de Suisse in 1995.

The Danish-backed project to create a new pro team around Michael Rasmussen took a stronger form Tuesday when it announced ex-pro Michael Blaudzun will be the team’s top sport director for next season.

Christina Hembo, a Danish designer and watch-maker, has ambitious plans to grow a team centered around Rasmussen. The team, to be called Christina Watches, expects to have a continental license for the 2011 season and hopes to eventually grow the squad into a ProTour team within five years.

The arrival of Blaudzun, a two-time Danish national road champion who retired in 2008, brings addition heft to the team which started last year as a personal project by Christina Hembo to help earn Rasmussen a spot back with a major European team.

Claus Hembo, the husband of Christina, said the team expects to be in some major races next season despite its continental status for 2011.

“We have been invited to many races, much bigger and much more interesting than what’s normal for a continental team,” Hembo told VeloNews on Tuesday. “We have 12 riders confirmed and there will be more. We have had interest from more than 100 riders, some of them are people you would know very well.”

Rasmussen, now, 36, remains a controversial figure within cycling following his contentious exit while leading the 2007 Tour de France with just four days to go to Paris. The former mountain bike world champion later served a two-year ban for missing out-of-competition doping controls and discovered an uphill road when he returned to racing in 2009.

Major teams were hesitant to sign Rasmussen and he could only manage to land rides at the modest Tecos Guadalajara in Mexico for 2009 and the Miche team of Italy in 2010.

Christina Hembo ? who was named entrepreneur of the year in Denmark and won other business accolades for her successful watch-design company ? met Rasmussen while the pair competed on the Danish version of “Dancing with the Stars.”

Convinced that Rasmussen deserved a second opportunity to race at the elite level of the sport, Hembo stepped in as a personal sponsor and promised to underwrite Rasmussen’s salary in 2011 if he could join a ProTour team. But even with the financial guarantee, no teams were interested in signing the climbing specialist.

“The whole idea (of a team) started when Christina would support Michael with the clear idea of getting him back to a ProTour team. We negotiated with several teams that we would pay Michael’s salary and we negotiated with (Bjarne) Riis for four months,” Claus Hembo said. “We thought we were home safe, then Riis said he changed his mind.”

Rather than give up, they decided to buy an entire team and worked to close a deal with a Denmark-registered team to take control of the entire infrastructure and staff.

Hembo said they believe Rasmussen deserves a second chance to race again.

“If we couldn’t get Michael back on a ProTour team, then we will get him back in the saddle in another way, so we bought this team,” Hembo continued. “Christina really enjoyed watching Michael climb those mountains and was upset when he couldn’t come back. She believes he deserves another chance. Plan A was to get Michael on a ProTour team, so now we have Plan B. At first, everyone laughed at us and said it wasn’t possible. Now we have invitations from races and riders are calling us to join the team.”

Continental licenses are set to be issued in mid-January. Hembo assured that all the necessary paperwork and financial guarantees are in place to fully fund the team in what he described as a project that will ideally culminate with a ProTour license by 2016.

“Michael would like race three more years and then become the team’s sport director,” Hembo said.

Katie Compton gets another World Cup win.

Women

• 1. Katherine Compton, (USA), in 39:58
• 2. Marianne Vos, (NED) Nederland Bloeit, at 0:54
• 3. Sanne Van Paassen, (NED), at 1:29
• 4. Daphny Van Den Brand, (NED), at 2:10
• 5. Pavla Havlikova, (CZE), at 2:11
• 6. Sabrina Schweizer, (GER), at 2:28
• 7. Pauline Ferrand Prevot, (FRA), at 2:47
• 8. Christel Ferrier-Bruneau, (FRA) Vienne Futuroscope, at 02:48
• 9. Linda Van Rijen, (NED), at 3:07
• 10. Jasmin Achermann, (SUI) Fischer-Bmc, at 03:35
• 11. Caroline Mani, (FRA) Vienne Futuroscope, at 03:52
• 12. Helen Wyman, (GBR) Kona, at 04:57
• 13. Sanne Cant, (BEL), at 5:20
• 14. Nikki Harris, (GBR), at 5:41
• 15. Sabrina Stultiens, (NED), at 6:01
• 16. Ellen Van Loy, (BEL), at 6:30
• 17. Elisabeth Brandau, (GER), at 6:31
• 18. Nadia Triquet-Claude, (FRA) Vienne Futuroscope, at 07:20
• 19. Susan Butler, (USA), at 7:25
• 20. Maureen Bruno Roy, (USA), at 7:36
• 21. Nicoletta Bresciani, (ITA), at 8:01
• 22. Arenda Grimberg, (NED), at 8:20
• 23. Gabriella Day, (GBR), at 8:53
• 24. Sophie De Boer, (NED), at 8:53
• 25. Daniela Bresciani, (ITA), at 9:05
• 26. Nancy Bober, (BEL), at 9:16
• 27. Tessa Van Nieuwpoort, (NED), at 9:36
• 28. Nikoline Hansen, (DEN), at 9:46
• 29. Helena Kloppenburg Margriet, (DEN) Hitec Products Uck, at -1 Lap
• 30. Nicole De Bie-Leyten, (BEL), at -1 Lap
• 31. Anne Arnouts, (BEL) Redsun Cycling Team, at -1 Lap
• 32. Martina Mikulaskova, (CZE), at -1 Lap
• 33. Gertie Willems, (BEL), at -1 Lap
• 34. Helena Van Leijen, (NED), at -1 Lap
• 35. Nathalie Nijns, (BEL), at -1 Lap
• 36. Christine Vardaros, (USA), at -1 Lap
• 37. Joyce Vanderbeken, (BEL), at -1 Lap
• 38. Ayako Toyooka, (JPN), at -2 Laps

Men

• 1. Lars Boom, (NED) Rabobank, in 1:08:29
• 2. Niels Albert, (BEL) Bkcp – Powerplus, at 00:13
• 3. Bart Wellens, (BEL) Telenet – Fidea, at 01:16
• 4. Gerben De Knegt, (NED) Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team, at 01:45
• 5. Sven Nys, (BEL) Landbouwkrediet, at 01:55
• 6. Bart Aernouts, (BEL) Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team, at 02:24
• 7. Kevin Pauwels, (BEL) Telenet – Fidea, at 02:34
• 8. Dieter Vanthourenhout, (BEL) Bkcp – Powerplus, at 02:34
• 9. Christian Heule, (SUI), at 2:39
• 10. Thijs Van Amerongen, (NED), at 2:42
• 11. Tom Meeusen, (BEL) Telenet – Fidea, at 02:48
• 12. Marcel Wildhaber, (SUI) Scott-Swisspower Mtb-Racing, at 02:48
• 13. Martin Zlamalik, (CZE) Sunweb – Revor, at 02:54
• 14. Eddy Van Ijzendoorn, (NED), at 3:02
• 15. Steve Chainel, (FRA) Bbox Bouygues Telecom, at 03:14
• 16. Klaas Vantornout, (BEL) Sunweb – Revor, at 03:23
• 17. Nicolas Bazin, (FRA), at 3:30
• 18. Rob Peeters, (BEL) Telenet – Fidea, at 04:12
• 19. Jonathan Page, (USA), at 4:19
• 20. Petr Dlask, (CZE) Telenet – Fidea, at 04:45
• 21. Thijs Al, (NED), at 5:54
• 22. Simon Zahner, (SUI) Bmc Racing Team, at 06:00
• 23. Vladimir Kyzivat, (CZE), at 6:03
• 24. Philipp Walsleben, (GER) Bkcp – Powerplus, at 06:44
• 25. Mariusz Gil, (POL), at 7:02
• 26. Enrico Franzoi, (ITA) Bkcp – Powerplus, at 07:06
• 27. John Gadret, (FRA) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 07:18
• 28. David Kasek, (CZE), at 7:31
• 29. Ian Field, (GBR), at 7:43
• 30. Ondrej Bambula, (CZE), at -1 Lap
• 31. Patrick Van Leeuwen, (NED), at -1 Lap
• 32. Wilant Van Gils, (NED), at -1 Lap
• 33. Joachim Parbo, (DEN), at -2 Laps
• 34. Robert Gavenda, (SVK) Telenet – Fidea, at -2 Laps
• 35. Romain Villa, (FRA), at -2 Laps
• 36. Sean Babcock, (USA), at -2 Laps
• 37. Isaac Suarez Fernandez, (ESP), at -2 Laps
• 38. Milan Barenyi, (SVK), at -2 Laps
• 39. Fabio Ursi, (ITA), at -2 Laps
• 40. Mitchell Huenders, (NED), at -2 Laps
• 41. Christoph Pfingsten, (GER) Van Vliet Ebh Elshof, at -3 Laps
• 42. Yu Takenouchi, (JPN), at -3 Laps
• 43. Keiichi Tsujiura, (JPN), at -3 Laps
• 44. Laurent Colombatto, (FRA), at -3 Laps
• 45. René Birkenfeld, (GER), at -3 Laps
• 46. Antonio Suarez Fernandez, (ESP), at -3 Laps
• 47. Marco Bianco, (ITA), at -3 Laps
• 48. Mark Lalonde, (USA), at -4 Laps
• 49. Craig Richey, (CAN), at -4 Laps
• 50. Paul Voss, (GER) Team Milram, at -4 Laps
• 51. Jérome Chevallier, (FRA), at -4 Laps
• 52. Mike Garrigan, (CAN), at -4 Laps
• 53. Ryan Iddings, (USA), at -4 Laps
• 54. Robert Glajza, (SVK), at -4 Laps
• 55. Hikaru Kosaka, (JPN) Utsunomiya Blitzen, at -5 Laps
• 56. Martin Haring, (SVK), at -5 Laps
• 57. Romain Lejeune, (FRA), at -5 Laps
• 58. Ryan Knapp, (USA), at -5 Laps
• 59. Mitchell Hoke, (USA), at -5 Laps
• 60. Shaun Adamson, (CAN), at -5 Laps
• 61. Brian Matter, (USA), at -5 Laps

Men U23

• 1. Wietse Bosmans, (BEL), in 48:56
• 2. Tijmen Eising, (NED), at 0:00
• 3. Matthieu Boulo, (FRA), at 0:09
• 4. Elia Silvestri, (ITA), at 0:23
• 5. Haar Lars Van Der, (NED), at 0:44
• 6. Vincent Baestaens, (BEL), at 1:03
• 7. Karel Hnik, (CZE), at 1:07
• 8. Micki Van Empel, (NED), at 1:12
• 9. Gert-jan Bosman, (NED), at 1:12
• 10. Arnaud Grand, (SUI), at 1:44
• 11. Tomas Paprstka, (CZE), at 1:48
• 12. Jim Aernouts, (BEL), at 1:52
• 13. Daniel Summerhill, (USA), at 1:53
• 14. Heijden Michiel Van Der, (NED), at 1:53
• 15. Joeri Adams, (BEL), at 2:21
• 16. Michael Schweizer, (GER), at 2:25
• 17. Zach Mcdonald, (USA), at 2:44
• 18. Marcel Meisen, (GER), at 2:47
• 19. Michael Boros, (CZE), at 2:56
• 20. Mirko Tabacchi, (ITA), at 3:02
• 21. Vinnie Braet, (BEL), at 3:02
• 22. Sven Beelen, (BEL), at 3:05
• 23. Kenneth Hansen, (DEN), at 3:08
• 24. Ole Quast, (GER), at 3:09
• 25. Sean De Bie, (BEL), at 3:37
• 26. Tim Merlier, (BEL), at 4:05
• 27. Radek Polnicky, (CZE), at 4:08
• 28. Gianni Vermeersch, (BEL), at 4:09
• 29. Yannick Mayer, (GER), at 4:41
• 30. Matthias Bossuyt, (BEL), at 4:50
• 31. Jerome Townsend, (USA), at 5:22
• 32. Irwin Gras, (FRA), at 5:29
• 33. Angelo De Clercq, (BEL), at 6:19
• 34. Matteo Trentin, (ITA), at 6:47
• 35. Cody Kaiser, (USA), at 7:10
• 36. Jens Adams, (BEL), at 7:16
• 37. Kevin Eeckhout, (BEL), at 7:21
• 38. Max Walsleben, (GER), at -1 Lap
• 39. Chris Hurst, (USA), at -1 Lap
• 40. Schau Guddal Jonas, (DEN), at -1 Lap
• 41. Steve Fisher, (USA), at -1 Lap
• 42. Mike Teunissen, (NED), at -2 Laps
• 43. Jaroslav Chalas, (SVK), at -2 Laps
• 44. Fabian Danner, (GER), at -3 Laps

Junior Men

• 1. Lars Forster, (SUI), in 41:53
• 2. Vojtech Nipl, (CZE), at 0:30
• 3. Stan Godrie, (NED), at 0:33
• 4. Laurens Sweeck, (BEL), at 0:34
• 5. Jakub Skala, (CZE), at 0:39
• 6. Tomas Medek, (CZE), at 0:42
• 7. Jaap De Man, (NED), at 0:58
• 8. Yorben Van Tichelt, (BEL), at 1:03
• 9. Diether Sweeck, (BEL), at 1:06
• 10. Fabien Doubey, (FRA), at 1:07
• 11. Clément Venturini, (FRA), at 1:08
• 12. Daniel Peeters, (BEL), at 1:08
• 13. Tomas Bohata, (CZE), at 2:10
• 14. Quentin Jauregui, (FRA), at 2:19
• 15. Michael Vanthourenhout, (BEL), at 2:25
• 16. Jens Vandekinderen, (BEL), at 2:33
• 17. Lorenzo Samparisi, (ITA), at 2:39
• 18. Douwe Verberne, (NED), at 2:42
• 19. Daan Soete, (BEL), at 2:43
• 20. Yannick Eckmann, (GER), at 2:46
• 21. Toon Aerts, (BEL), at 3:19
• 22. Federico Zurlo, (ITA), at 3:24
• 23. Maxim Panis, (BEL), at 3:30
• 24. Tomas Svoboda, (CZE), at 3:39
• 25. Velde Matthias Van De, (BEL), at 4:01
• 26. Julian Lehmann, (GER), at 4:01
• 27. Kévin Bouvard, (FRA), at 4:21
• 28. Daan Hoeyberghs, (BEL), at 4:30
• 29. Andrew Dillman, (USA), at 4:32
• 30. Jeroen Meijers, (NED), at 4:48
• 31. Bjorn Fox, (USA), at 4:56
• 32. Steffen MÜller, (GER), at 5:04
• 33. Pjotr Van Beek, (NED), at 5:05
• 34. Karl Hoppner, (CAN), at 5:06
• 35. Jorn Claes, (BEL), at 5:06
• 36. Jan Brezna, (CZE), at 5:08
• 37. Jeff Bahnson, (USA), at 5:09
• 38. Wout Van Aert, (BEL), at 5:27
• 39. Kevin Suarez, (ESP), at 5:59
• 40. Yannick Gruner, (GER), at 6:32
• 41. Zane Godby, (USA), at 6:45
• 42. Enrico Scapolan, (ITA), at 6:54
• 43. Arvid Olsen Emil, (DEN), at 6:55
• 44. Ondrej Glajza, (SVK), at -1 Lap
• 45. Gunnar Bergey, (USA), at -1 Lap
• 46. Cypress Gorry, (USA), at -1 Lap

The 2010 U.S. road season had a little bit of everything. There were little known domestics like Andrew Talansky battling top international pros at the Tour of the Gila. Caleb Fairly broke through with a win at the Tour of the Battenkill in horrendous conditions. Neither ride made the six top moments in U.S. racing, so which ones did?

We took a look at the best (and worst) of U.S. racing this year with VeloNews‘ North American Male Rider of the Year, Ben Day (Fly V Australia).

6. De Maar wins stage; Sutherland takes jersey at Three Lakes Sno-Park

de Maar took the stage in his Dutch champion's kit

The peloton topped out on the volcanic McKenzie Pass climb largely intact in the opening stage of Oregon’s Cascade Classic. The remnants of a late breakaway were erased 10km from the finish and David Tanner (Fly V Australia) set out on a suicide attack on the long climb to the finish at the Three Lakes Sno-Park.

As Tanner faded in the steep final kilometer, Rory Sutherland jumped out of an elite chase group, drawing Tanner’s teammate Darren Lill and his own man, Marc de Maar. De Maar played the pursuit perfectly, countering Lill just before catching Sutherland, and freed himself 500 meters from the finish. He went on to win solo.

“It was pretty obvious that we were the strongest two guys of the field,” de Maar said at the finish. “So, Rory went, I waited a little bit, let the others suffer and close the gap and I got them with a k to go.”

Sutherland jumped Lill at the top of the climb for second and took the leader’s jersey from overnight leader Jesse Sergeant (Trek-Livestrong), who was dropped low on the climb. Sutherland went on to take the final overall three days later.

“The idea was to drop as many of the real time trialists as we can so that we get a bit of a buffer for the next few days,” Sutherland told VeloNews. “Today was one of the harder days in the U.S. I think.”

De Maar and Sutherland used the one-two punch well all season, but never so effectively as in the finale when they rode away with the Cascade Classic.

Ben Day’s take:
Day rode into form at Cascade after three weeks of interrupted training as he finalized his green card over the course of forced trips to Canada and Australia.

“That day was a matter of limiting my losse s… that particular day was quite painful.”

“Those boys took the opportunity and Marc and Rory raced really well together this year.”

5. Thomas Rabou climbs to ATOC jersey while mom battles cancer

Thomas Rabou was a little known Dutch climber when he joined Team Type 1 for the 2010 season. Midway through the queen stage of the Tour of California, he was living a dream in the day’s long breakaway.

“It was a really special moment for me because yeah, you watch the Tour the last years and you see Andy Schleck,” Rabou told VeloNews. “You watch him on television and think, ‘Yeah, I would like to do that,’ and then one day, one year later, on this day you are on the breakaway with him. So, that’s a really cool moment. It’s like a dream come true, you know?”

Rabou entered the day three points behind Ryan Anderson (Kelly Benefit Strategies) in the climbers’ competition, which Rabou had led earlier in the week. He worked hard in the break and took top points at all but one of seven KOM points over the 135-mile test that finished in Big Bear Lake. By the time he outsprinted Garmin’s Matt Wilson for the day’s final prime, Rabou had built an insurmountable lead.

Rabou leads the group on stage 8

That night he talked with VeloNews about the dream he was living and the importance of his ride in light of his mother’s battle with cancer in Holland. Rabou dedicated his jersey to her.

“I have one goal: I want to be in the breakaway in the KOM jersey,” said Rabou. “I want to show this jersey on television. That would be really cool, so I will attack my balls off Sunday and try to be in the break.”

Rabou did just that in the race’s final stage, making a pair of early breakaways before fading over the final laps of the Thousand Oaks circuit. His red climber’s jersey was secure, however, and Rabou walked away with the first major jersey of his career.

Ben Day’s take:
Day’s own mother fought a bout with cancer recently and he knows well the weight that can put on a rider’s mind.

“To deal with a situation like that can’t have been easy.”

“It’s really special that he was able to dedicate that performance to his mom. That morning I was presented the Breakaway from Cancer most aggressive rider’s jersey from the day before and that was something I was able to dedicate to my mom, too.”

4. Abbott comes out on top of furious nationals road race

The women’s national championship road race — particularly the final 25km — was the most brutal of the domestic season in 2010. When a mid-race breakaway evaporated on the final lap, Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia) attacked hard on a quarter-mile climb leading into the feed zone. Shelley Evans (Peanut Butter & Co.-Twenty12) marked the acceleration and brought on a 10km onslaught of constant counter attacking that Carmen Small (Colavita-Baci) called “a blur.”

Abbott enjoys her win

When the 26-rider peloton arrived to the 15-plus-degree base of the Archie Briggs climb, Stevens, Small, Evans and her teammate Mara Abbott, Alison Starnes (Tibco) and Janelle Holcomb (Alto Velo) jumped away from the field. Stevens and Abbott hit each other with everything they had over a series of painful accelerations on the 2.5km climb and only Small and Evans could hold on.

Evans was the strongest sprinter in the foursome, which opened Abbott up to go on the attack. “It gave me so much freedom, so we got to the top and I knew that the best thing I could do to help our team win was to attack and attack and attack because that’s where my area of strength came,” Abbott told VeloNews. “Also, if that didn’t work out, it coincidentally played directly into Shelley’s strength and so, I mean, it was perfect.”

Perfect meant that at 1.5km, Abbott let off her final attack on a brief roller and was able to push to a quick 15-second advantage. From there, the soon-to-be Giro Donne champion put her head down and time trialed in for her second elite national title, three seconds ahead of Evans.

Abbott fought to hold back tears six months after a tough divorce from the HTC program. “When you first start out, people always only are saying you can and they never say you can’t. And once you hit you reach a certain level, people say you can’t and it’s kind of scary to hear. Like, you don’t believe it all the time, but it’s kind of scary to hear,” she told VeloNews at the finish. “And so when you have people saying you can’t, or people counting you off or people thinking you’re done, to be able to come back and win it, knowing all of these things, and win it consciously and win it with a team like this, it means the world.”

A week later, Abbott slipped into her stars-and-stripes jersey at the start of the Giro, and became the first American since Andy Hampsten in 1988 to win an Italian grand tour.

3. Sagan takes queen stage for second California win

If American race fans hadn’t taken notice of Liquigas-Doimo’s Peter Sagan when he won two stages and the points competition at Paris-Nice, they certainly did during the Tour of California. Race organizers billed it as a day for the climbers and with more than 12,000 feet of vertical over 135 miles, the Big Bear stage at the Tour of California was nearly that. An early break formed with Andy Schleck and Jacob Fugalsang (Saxo Bank) and KOM leader Thomas Rabou (Team Type 1) among its members.

Young sprint leader Peter Sagan sat comfortably within a formation of bright green Liquigas-Doimo jerseys just off the front of the thinning field. Sagan had won the day before in Bakersfield, charging out of the peloton near the end of the final, agonizingly steep finish circuit. His team was confident that the breakout rider of 2010 could deliver on the race’s biggest stage.

Sagan celebrates at Big Bear

When the break was caught 25km from the finish, Marc de Maar (UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis) and Matt Wilson (Gamin-Transitions) struck out on their own. The pair wound around Big Bear Lake and only a hard chase from the HTC-Columbia team of overall leader Michael Rogers could bring them back inside 1km to go. The most mountainous stage in the race’s history was set to go to a bunch sprint.

A hard lead-out from the HTC camp brought Sagan to the final sprint in fourth wheel and he surged away from Rogers and Rory Sutherland 200 meters from the line. The stage win kept Sagan in the best young rider jersey, which he secured with a solid time trial the next day.

“Yesterday (in Bakersfield) was hard because of the final climbs there on the circuit, but today was even harder, because obviously a lot more climbing,” Sagan said after the stage. “For me to arrive in a small group like that is always good. I had to work a little harder on the climbs, but I stayed with them and that’s where I’m going to win.”

Ben Day’s take:
Day crashed out with a head injury during the queen stage a day after nearly taking the Bakersfield stage himself.

“(Sagan)’s a super talented guy … He’s a neo-professional and already doing things in races like Paris-Nice”

“He’s just a very, very talented bike rider and we’re going to hear more and more about him in the future. I think he’s going to turn out to be one of the most incredible classics riders ever. I think it’s a privilege to be watching someone at the beginning of their career who’s going to be playing a part for a long time to come.”

2. Jai Crawford tops Levi Leipheimer for stage win at Snowbird

Sunday August 22 was the hardest of the National Racing Calendar in 2010 and Aussie Jai Crawford owned it.

Mark De Maar led Crawford on the lower reaches of the final climb.

Mark De Maar led Crawford on the lower reaches of the final climb.

A day after Crawford finished second in the fourth stage criterium in Park City, his Fly V Australia team hatched a plan for the queen stage of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and the riders executed it to perfection. The field, battered by heavy winds over the first half of the day, arrived to the lower reaches of the nine-mile, 2,800 vertical-foot Alpine Loop climb less than a minute behind an 18-rider breakaway. When the gap shrank to less than 30 seconds, Crawford jumped across to the leaders with Marc de Maar.

Yellow jersey Levi Leipheimer (Mellow Johnny’s) didn’t react and the break held off the chase to the base of the finish climb of Little Cottonwood Canyon. De Maar was the last rider to maintain contact with Crawford when he surged at the base of the climb to the ski resort at Snowbird. From there, the diminutive climber fought through swirling head and crosswinds on the 10-mile, 3,000-foot slog.

Behind Crawford, second overall Francisco Mancebo (Canyon Bicycles) pulled Leipheimer and Alex Hagman (On The Rivet) away from the field. “I knew Levi was coming,” said Crawford at the finish. “There was nothing I could do about it except ride as hard as I could.”

When Leipheimer rode onto Crawford’s wheel, he was alone, having deposited his companions lower in the canyon. The catch came just a few hundred meters from the line. In a gentlemanly gesture, the GC winner stayed in the wheel as Crawford pressed across the line for the stage win, his jersey flying in the wind. “I think the bottom line is that he deserved the stage win more than anybody,” said Leipheimer.

The win – his first in the U.S. – came on Crawford’s last day of U.S. racing in 2010 and was a major breakthrough for the 27-year-old.

Ben Day’s take:
Day missed out on the Tour of Utah with a blood infection that hospitalized him in August.

“I was pretty much bed-ridden for a month.”

“There are a lot of talented bike riders out there that for whatever reason aren’t able to shine as much as their talent portrays. So I’m really excited that he was able to do something on a big stage where everybody was watching and took notice and he really pulled out a good one.”

1. Ben King soloes to road race title

With his 40-mile solo winning effort in the road race at nationals, Ben King earned the VeloNews North American Ride of the Year in our January 2011 awards issue. Below is the recap of his performance from that issue:

At 4:30 p.m. on September 19, the collective feeling in downtown Greenville, South Carolina, was that race fans were witnessing something truly special. Ben King had attacked in the first mile of the professional road championship to spring the day’s long breakaway and was coming through the start/finish solo to start his second of three short finish circuits. King rode away from companions Daniel Holloway (Bissell) and Scott Zwizanski (Kelly Benefit Strategies) on the third climb of Paris Mountain and set out alone, much as he had done en route to his U23 national title in June.

At the time, King’s 2011 contract with Radioshack was on the hush and his pseudo teammates patrolled the front of the bunch, smothering attempts by George Hincapie (BMC Racing) and Carter Jones (Jelly Belly-Kenda) to jump across the roughly one-minute gap. Cramps stung the 21-year-old’s legs on the sharp rollers in town, but he stood on the pedals, gritting his teeth in the 90-plus-degree heat.

After 115 miles – 40 of them solo – King turned onto the finish straight for the tenth and final time and pumped his fist as he crossed the line for his third national title in as many months. The easy tongued, hard as nails southerner became the youngest U.S. professional champion in the event’s 26-year history.

King’s ride was one of those seminal moments that journalists look back to decades later. Add to that day his solo wins in the U23 nationals criterium and road race, two U23 Pan-American titles and another long, lonely day on the front of the worlds road race in October, and King was an easy pick for U23 Rider of the Year. Winning the award was perhaps the easiest thing he did all year.

Ben Day’s take:

“He’s a young kid and he’s not afraid to put everything out there on the line.”

“He seems for a young kid to have a great aerobic ability to stay out there and keep pushing away. He spent a long time up the road and ended up finishing in front of a lot of very big name riders. I think it’s exciting for U.S. cycling. It’s a great result.”

Worst moments

For every yin there is a yang and this year wasn’t free of trouble. Jonathon Chodroff turned up with doping suspension on the eve of the professional national championships and David Veilleux won the U.S. criterium championship with his arms raised and his maple leaf Canadian champion’s skinsuit blaring red and white. Below are five of the most forgettable moments of the season.

5. NRC podium mishaps

Podium errors had riders missing out on podiums at Gila, Joe Martin and Cascade. At the Gila, the Phil Zajicek/Dave Zabriskie Gila debacle took a month to resolve.

4. De Maar loses shot at Beauce on saddle problem

Overall leader Marc de Maar lost any hope of an overall win at the Tour de Beauce when a saddle he’d ridden all season — including at the Tour of California — was disqualified by officials minutes before his start. Ben Day took the stage and the overall.

3. Heli-vac at Mt. Bachelor finish

A superfluous, cone-marked corner in the middle of a parking lot 200 meters from the finish of the final stage at the Cascade Classic was the scene of a violent crash in the men’s lead group. Taylor Sheldon and Andrew Talansky suffered facial trauma and the former left aboard a med-evac helicopter before being released late that night. Race organizers claimed rider error and the riders shouted dangerous course conditions.

2. Bahati, Keough clash

An emotional show down between Rahsaan Bahati and Jake Keough, just days after the former lost teammate Jorge Alvarado in a car/bike collision, resulted in a hotly debated crash and an extreme act of unsportsmanlike conduct. The incident was one in a string that led to the demise of Bahati’s team in May.

1. Timing of the Landis bombshell

Attention was ripped away from great racing when Landis let loose on the eve of stage 5 of the Tour of California. The timing of the “leak” of letters between Landis and officials describing drug use within the U.S. Postal Service team coincided with the biggest race of the year in the States — one Landis won in 2006, seven months before being stripped of his Tour de France title. This time Landis found a different way to leave his mark in American cycling, and a cloud hung over the race for days.

Alberto Contador is hunkering down this weekend to celebrate the Christmas holidays with family and friends in Spain as he faces a far from certain future.

Life in Purgatory: Contador hopes for a quick resolution

With the possibility of a two-year ban after traces of clenbuterol were detected in his system, the beleaguered three-time Tour de France champion is trying to maintain a façade of normalcy as the decision looms from the Spanish cycling federation.

“Alberto is with his family and wants to enjoy some quiet days,” Contador’s spokesman Jacinto Vidarte told VeloNews. “Of course, Alberto is very affected by this situation. He’s trying to not let it get to it him, but it’s not easy.”

Vidarte said that the Contador camp has no idea when the four-member competition committee of the Spanish cycling federation will make a decision about the clenbuterol case. The president of the Spanish cycling federation said last week that a decision likely won’t come until at least mid-January.

Until then, Contador can only try to keep his focus on training and remain close to his family and friends in his hometown of Pinto, a small community south of Madrid.

Vidarte said Contador is sticking to his training schedule and preparing for the 2011 season despite not knowing if he’ll be cleared of charges or enter into what would likely be a drawn-out legal process that could go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if WADA, the UCI or Contador exercise their right to appeal.

“Alberto is maintaining his full training schedule, but right now, it’s very light,” Vidarte said. “There’s no pressure, he had always planned to come into the 2011 season a little easier than he’s done the past few years anyway.”

Contador has largely avoided the public eye since an emotional press conference in late September, when he denied knowingly taking clenbuterol and made the claim that the banned substance found its way into his system after eating contaminated steaks brought into France from Spain.

On Christmas eve, Contador posted a message on his Twitter account for the first time in nearly three weeks. His three posted messages seemed to capture his mood, defiant yet quietly optimistic.

“Hello, long time – this will not be my best Christmas or the quietest. I hope that in 2011, coherence, ethics and truth will prevail to do justice,” Contador wrote. Also thanking his teammates at Saxo Bank-Sungard, he wrote: “Next year will be HISTORIC. Querer es poder (where there’s a will, there’s a way), Merry Christmas.”

Vidarte said Contador enjoyed the two-week training camp with his new Saxo Bank-Sungard team in mid-December. Though banned from competition, the UCI ruled that Contador could train with his new team while waiting for the legal process to unfold.

Saxo Bank team boss Bjarne Riis said he believes in his new team captain, who left Astana to pen a deal with Riis just weeks before the clenbuterol story broke. That confidence is important to Contador, Vidarte said.

“The first contact with the team in Fuerteventura was very positive. He was able to forget a little bit about the problems surrounding him and came back in good spirits after two weeks together with his new teammates,” Vidarte said. “They really supported him, from the team to his teammates. He’s fully integrated into the team. “

Whether Contador and his legal team can beat back the clenbuterol charges remains to be seen. Contador claims that the minute traces of clenbuterol entered his system after eating tainted meat laced with the banned product, something that’s raised the ire among Spanish beef producers who say that their meat is uncontaminated and where the drug has been banned by the European Union since the mid-1990s.

The World Anti-Doping Agency, however, has been consistent in interpreting WADA rules and recently filed motions to appeal a decision to by the German table tennis association to not ban Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who also claims he triggered a false clenbuterol positive after eating meat on a trip to China.

Contador and his supporters remain cautiously optimistic that Contador will be fighting his battles on the bike and not in the courtroom come 2011.

“We haven’t spoken yet about (a racing schedule yet). It’s foolish to plan too far in advance for anything until we know what the decision will be. That will change everything,” Vidarte said. “We are still optimistic that the legal defense of Alberto will be able to clearly demonstrate that this was a case of contamination and we’re hoping for the best.”