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This Week in Pro Cycling – April 28, 2008

by VeloNews.com

• April 28, 2008
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Dear Readers,

Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the world of competitive cycling by your friends at VeloNews.com.

It’s been a busy week since our last newsletter, with the Tour de Georgia, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Flèche Wallonne and a World Cup cross-country race in Germany topping the list.

Here at home, the Tour de Georgia wrapped up on Sunday, with what were essentially parade laps through downtown Atlanta. The real action took place Saturday in the final kilometer of the feared climb up Brasstown Bald when High Road’s Kanstantin Sivtsov emerged the victor, beating pre-race favorites including Levi Leipheimer and wrapping up the overall title. Don’t worry, we didn’t know much about him, either, but rest assured you will be hearing a lot more about Sivtsov in coming years.

While the U.S. had the Tour de Georgia, Europeans were able to enjoy the so-called Ardennes Classics, starting with Holland’s Amstel Gold Race, followed by Wednesday’s Flèche Wallonne and ending with the oldest of classics, La Doyenne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège. It was a spectacular series of great races and I encourage you to look through our coverage.

While ProTour riders were either in Georgia or at the Classics, mountain bike racers went to Germany’s Black Forest to compete in the second round of the UCI World Cup in Offenburg. Not surprisingly, France’s Julien Absalon (Orbea) put another notch in his belt, winning easily after a blistering mid-race attack. Irina Kalentieva (Ergon-Topeak) had a tougher time of it, but finally managed to break out of a group of top racers to win the women’s division by a comfortable 33 seconds.

Things won’t be letting up in the weeks to come, with the Tour of Romandie coming up this week and then the first grand tour of the season, the Giro d’Italia, slated to begin on May 10. As always, we’ll be offering Live up-to-the-minute coverage of the Giro, so be sure to check in with VeloNews.com for that.

Meanwhile, the weather’s turning, so it might be time to go out and get some miles in yourself.

Have a good week,

Charles Pelkey

Senior Editor, VeloNews.com

CPelkey@insideinc.com