Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) abandoned the Giro d’Italia during Tuesday’s 16th stage. The American, who wore the maglia rosa in 2012, withdrew from the race after suffering through illness, knee pain, and saddle sores during the three-week race.

Phinney wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that he’d been afflicted with an infection for almost a week:

I’ve been battling an infection for around 5 days now. Today I had to be smart and look after myself. Broke my heart to abandon this #Giro.

The BMC Racing strongman rode through pain in his right knee, allergies, and illness earlier in the race to support second overall Cadel Evans. He had hoped to finish the race on Sunday, but Phinney called it quits after the race’s second rest day.

The USA Cycling Professional Road National Championships take place Saturday through Monday in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Having abandoned the Giro, which doesn’t finish until Sunday in Brescia, Phinney, the 2010 U.S. time trial champion, would need an exemption from the sport’s world governing body, the UCI, to take part in the TT national championship. Despite his illness, Phinney would enter the race a favorite, with the absence of defending champion David Zabriskie (Garmin-Sharp), who fractured his clavicle in a crash at the Amgen Tour of California on Friday.

Reigning Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins (Sky) saw nearly all of his time advantage from Sunday’s team time trial erased on Tuesday when he lost contact with the front of the race late in Tuesday’s fourth stage at the Giro d’Italia. Officials docked Wiggins 17 seconds on the stage, pushing him from second overall to sixth, tied on time with defending champion Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp).

Sky officials claimed that Wiggins had lost time behind a crash late in the stage. Riders delayed by a crash inside the final three kilometers of a stage that does not feature a summit finish are awarded the same time as the group with which they were riding, but the race jury ruled that the crash involving Cristiano Salerno (Cannondale) did not delay Wiggins.

“Brad was caught behind a crash. We are waiting for something from the race jury. The crash was inside three kilometers to go, so hopefully they will recognize that,” Sky director Marcus Ljungvist said in a statement on the team’s website. “It’s one of those things that happens in bike racing. It’s certainly not the end of the world.”

UCI jury president Hervé Brocque addressed the incident with the media after the stage and said that officials had looked back at transponder data to determine where the time breaks should appear in the results sheet.

“Wiggins was already behind at three kilometers [to go],” said Brocque. “After the last 3km, we had all the time checks thanks to the transponders. We saw who crashed. We had the time at the 3K and finish, and we gave back the time to those that were left behind.”

Wiggins’ teammate Rigoberto Urán moved to second overall, 17 seconds behind overall leader Luca Paolini (Katusha). Beñat Intxausti (Movistar) is third, at 26 seconds. After Tuesday’s stage, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) is the top-placed pre-race favorite, in fourth, at 31 seconds.

“It’s one of those races where you just have to pay attention all the time,” Sky boss Dave Brailsford told Sky Sports News. “You can gain hard-earned seconds here and there and then you can lose time very quickly.

“Bradley’s in great shape mentally and physically. Ultimately, this first week is all about staying in contention and then this race will be won and lost in the time trials and the high mountains.”

Gregor Brown contributed to this report.

“We’ve set out to create the greatest professional cycling event in the U.S. and with each edition the route continues to evolve, the competition continues to be fierce, and the fans continue to come out in droves,” said Hunter. “In looking at the route we have outlined, each day is a challenge, which will create some amazing racing. This year is looking like it will be the best yet.”

The third annual race, which runs Aug. 19-25, will start with a stage 1 circuit race in the Roaring Fork Valley near Aspen. At just 66 miles, the three-lap opener features more than 9,000 feet of climbing. Each 21.6-mile lap will climb from Aspen toward Snowmass Village via Owl Creek Road before riders plummet back to the start/finish in the valley. While the big menu of climbing and high altitude (the start is at 7,908 feet above sea level) present a tough challenge, the short length and long run-in to the finish in Aspen should keep the race mostly glued together, though riders unprepared for the thin air will struggle. That difficulty could play out when the attacks fly on the final lap, or it could surface the next day, after sub-optimal recover, when the race heads for Breckenridge.

Stage 2 will almost immediately travel over 12,095-foot Independence Pass before climbing from Fairplay over Hoosier Pass and finishing with a semi-technical loop above Breckenridge on the steep Moonstone and Boreas Pass roads. If the weather turns, as it is apt to do quickly in the high Rockies in August, the finale of the 126-mile stage, from the summit of Hoosier Pass to Breckenridge, and particularly the Moonstone victory lap, could get messy. Look for opportunists to try and make the first real differences in the general classifications on the latter. This is a race of seconds, as 2011 and 2012 proved, and an attentive rider could make a few in Breckenridge.

The race’s third day will essentially revisit the 2011 stage from Steamboat Springs to Breckenridge, stalemated by Andy Schleck (RadioShack-Leopard) and Laurens Ten Dam (Blanco) and won by Elia Viviani (Cannondale), in reverse. Riders will start the 106-mile stage with a climb of Swan Mountain Road before a long slog north along the Green Mountain Reservoir, the climb of Rabbit Ears Pass, and a roughly 18-mile final approach to “Bike Town USA.” The climb of Rabbit Ears from the rural town of Kremmling is a wide-road grind for upwards of 30 miles, with the climb’s real kick building in the last five miles toward its twin summits. The wind can blow hard down the pass, curtailing any escapes and making for a hard day in the bunch. If this happens, look for the peloton to regroup for a high-speed bunch finish.

Stage 4, a 102.9-mile run from Steamboat Springs to Beaver Creek, could be the most decisive of the race, with the climb south from the tiny Colorado River village of State Bridge at mile 67 opening what should be an active finale. The heavy, two-lane road climbs up out of the river basin and drops riders down into the Vail Valley for a grinding push up to the town of Avon. From there, riders will face two tough climbs in the final 11 miles: the ascent through the exclusive Bachelors Gulch luxury development, which steepens to 18-percent gradient, and the finish climb to Beaver Creek Village, where Jens Voigt (RadioShack) stormed to solo victory in 2012. Many of the outside contenders still in with a shot after the first dust-up in Breckenridge will find themselves on the outside in Beaver Creek. The stage winner will likely emerge on the penultimate climb and the time gaps could approach half-a-minute. This is where three back-to-back days of decisive racing begin.

Stage 5 will see the race return to the familiar roads of East Vail, site of the Vail Pass time trial. The 10-mile individual test will climb east from Vail Village toward the pass, rising 1,100 feet, with nearly all of that coming over the final five miles. In 2011, Levi Leipheimer used this stage to ride into the race’s first overall title, edging 2012 champ Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) by less than a second. After a tough day, a rider suffering from poor sleep at altitude (like Tejay van Garderen in 2011) or a bad stomach (Tom Danielson that same year) could shed big time. With the mostly-flat, potentially windy opening and brutally steep closing miles — likely packed to a single rider wide — pacing is a major challenge in this TT throwback to the Coors Classic. The first crux of the stage comes before the start, in equipment selection, and many riders will decide on the day whether they’ll pilot a time trial bike or a road bike with bar extensions. In 2011, Leipheimer chose the former, Vande Velde rode a road bike, and they ended up on essentially the same time. The second key point comes halfway through the stage, when an almost quarter-mile stretch of road narrows and ramps up to 8.1-percent gradient. Press too hard here, and a rider risks blowing up early on the climb. Back off too much, and the GC could be gone.

For the race’s penultimate stage, the Pro Challenge will take to new roads, visiting the northern Front Range of the state for the first time. If the overall winner did not lock in the jersey in Vail, the hilly circuit beginning near Loveland and finishing in Old Town Fort Collins will see the final GC battle of the race. The route features more than 3,500 feet of climbing over 115.2 miles, but the short, sharp ascents are potentially race-breaking. The final KOM climb of the Pro Challenge will come at Devil’s Gulch, topping out above the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park. After an 18-mile big-ring climb above Loveland to the block-long community of Glen Haven (and the best cinnamon rolls and crotchety storekeeper on this year’s race route), a one-mile section tilts upward and features multiple stretches of road above 15-percent. From the summit, riders will lap Estes Park before plummeting down Big Thompson Canyon and heading north for a series of ramps near Horsetooth Reservoir. Three short, steep walls lie just west of Fort Collins and lead to a mostly flat, seven-mile run-in to the finish. The race should regroup to some degree on the descent from Estes Park, but the puncheurs should come to the fore on the final climbs and the stage will likely see a group sprint of no more than 10 riders — what they’ll be sprinting for, exactly, will have to wait until late on August 24.

As it did in 2011, the USA Pro Challenge will wrap up with a circuit race in Denver. The 47.1-mile stage will follow a course linking Civic Center Park, in the heart of the city, to City Park, home of the Denver Zoo. The stage is almost certainly pegged for a bunch finish and may see the only such tilt of the entire race, beneath the steps of the State Capitol. The circuit-race finale in 2011 saw over 500,000 fans roadside, according to organizers, and the atmosphere in Denver was electric. The move back to a mass-start finale should recapture some of that spirit and put a fitting cap on a tough week of racing — perhaps the race’s toughest yet.

Organizers of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross confirmed on Friday that the series would discontinue, effective immediately.

In a call with VeloNews, series owners Joan Hanscom and Bruce Fina said that they had transferred rights to each of the series’ eight race days to local organizers after a sponsorship search fell short for the 2013-14 season.

“It’s really just the fact that everybody wants a bigger product every year, more expansion and media exposure, but we’ve lost some sponsors this year and as a result we find ourselves with a sponsorship gap,” Hanscom told VeloNews. “If it has to go away, we feel that we’re putting them in the hands of good, quality people.”

Hanscom and Fina, the promoters behind bringing the 2013 elite world championships to Louisville, Kentucky, were the management behind the nationwide cyclocross series, which would have celebrated its 10th anniversary this fall. Since 2004, the series welcomed many of the world’s elite riders, including former world champions Bart Wellens and Erwin Vervecken, as well as the top U.S. riders like series champions Tim Johnson, Jeremy Powers, Ryan Trebon, and Georgia Gould.

“We just barely scraped by [in 2012] with Trek jumping in and saving the day,” said Fina. “While Trek was wanting to continue this year, there were other sponsors whose marketing plans changed and were changing gears. … We don’t want to put everyone through the same heartache again, ourselves included.”

The eight-race series spanned four weekends from September to mid-December. Fina confirmed that the four race weekends — the Sun Prairie Gran Prix in Wisconsin, Deschutes Brewery Cup in Oregon, Derby City Cup in Louisville, and Fort Collins Cup in Colorado — would remain on the calendar, with management transferred to local organizers.

Fina said he wanted to stem any concern over the 2013-14 U.S. racing schedule.

“Most important thing to the benefit of American cyclocross and the riders especially … I know there are some riders that will get panicky … is that they’ll still have those race weekends,” he said. “[The organizers] have learned from the best people in America how to run a race. We don’t want widespread panic because we’re losing eight races. Those races will take place.”

When asked how local organizers could hope to carry on their races when the series was unable to find a sustainable solution, Fina and Hanscom cited the overhead inherent in moving staff and supplies around the country and the larger media product that comes with a season-long series.

“The difference will be that these guys will have a one-week or 10-day product. They’re out there getting sponsorship for a week-long media product where we were getting sponsorship for a four-month product,” said Fina.

The series struggled with sponsorship in the last two years, with title backer Exergy Development Group failing to fulfill its commitment to the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Trek, Clif Bar, and WD-40 Bike were among the sponsors to step in and save the series in late August 2012. With money on short supply, Fina was largely absent from the races in 2012, putting more responsibility on Hanscom, who was subsisting on sponsor-provided food.

“That’s not an easy way to live. I literally ate sponsor oatmeal because I had it,” said Hanscom. “I can’t keep living that way. That sounds selfish. … The only external pressure I feel is that I hate to disappoint people.”

Multiple-time series champion Gould was disappointed to hear the news on Friday at the Sea Otter Classic, but was unclear on the ramifications of the series’ cancellation.

“We all want to go to races, at least I want to go to the races where all the fast people are going, because I want to race against the fastest people and get the best racing,” she told VeloNews. I’m bummed because I think the USGP series was the most professional series of off-road racing in the U.S. — ’cross or mountain bike. … Those guys did such a good job and it was always the highlight of my season to race in their races. They value women’s racing and they’ve been a leader in the equal prize money thing.”

Logan VonBokel contributed to this report.

The Ardennes classics open Sunday in the Limburg region of the Netherlands with the Amstel Gold Race. At just 48 years old, the Dutch classic will reveal the first hints of the storylines that will captivate us throughout the week of hilly one-day races in the Low Countries.

Which grand-tour winners look sharp? Who will add his name to the palmares at Liège–Bastogne–Liège? Can Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) repeat at Flèche Wallonne? These are the obvious stories ahead of the final spring classics. But what will we be watching below the surface, beyond the obvious television shots of the race leaders? Here are six of the stories we’ll be talking about around the VeloNews offices next week.

Who’s willing to chase on the Cauberg?

The tactical battle late in Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race will be interesting to watch for a number of reasons. The new circuit finale will turn what has become a somewhat predictable finish (chase down an attack from the Fromberg or Keutenberg, then attack in the corners on the Cauberg finish climb) into a free-for-all. Will the favorites attack early, on the climbs that used to lead directly to the finish, or wait until the new Geulhemmerberg and Bemelerberg, or even the Cauberg? Will Peter Sagan (Cannondale) attack, or ride for a small group sprint?

But we know the attacks will come. What’s arguably more compelling is how the riders caught out will react. When the new finish, 1.8km after the top of the Cauberg, debuted at the road worlds last fall, Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing) rode away on the climb; behind him, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky), and Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha) marked each other out of the rainbow jersey. Instead of working together in the chase, the pursuers aimed at silver and attacked each other on the flat road leading to the finish.

On Wednesday at Brabantse Pijl, Sagan finally saw the fruits of his brutish spring campaign turn sour. No bother, though. When Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) attacked leading into the final climb, no one in the chase group would help Sagan. He still hunted the leaders down, countered, and out-sprinted Gilbert for the win. If the same happens on Sunday and Sagan is left in the chase, will anyone help? If not, what will the Slovak champion do? And if non-Cannondale riders are willing to chase, why?

Will Andy Schleck finish a race?

Andy Schleck’s struggles since fracturing his sacrum in a frightening time-trial crash at the Critérium du Dauphiné last June have been well documented. The RadioShack-Leopard rider has abandoned the Tour of Beijing, Santos Tour Down Under, Tour Méditeranéen, Tirreno-Adriatico, and Vuelta al País Vasco since returning to action late last year.

Schleck, winner of Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2009, has acknowledged that he’s not a contender in these Ardennes classics or the Tour de France. He is in the Low Countries to represent his sponsors while his team hunts for new backers, work for his teammates, and get racing kilometers in his legs. Racing kilometers are one thing, but a race finish is another, and Schleck is in need of a number next to his name on a results sheet instead of a “DNF.”

Will he get it? Sadly, it appears doubtful. It is difficult to find a more likeable man in the professional peloton, the sort you’d like to sit down with for a drink and and a chat. But, as has been widely written, that characteristic may be his ultimate undoing. We hope Schleck finds the finish line in the Ardennes, but he has done little to make us confident that he will.

Second-tier Soviet bloc riders get aggressive

From Vladislvak Bobrik to Maxim Iglinskiy, riders of the former Soviet bloc countries have long captured imaginations in the hilly classics. Rumsas, Kivilev, Ivanov, Vinokourov, Kolobnev — these are the names of attackers, of men without fear of coming up short. Nearly every spring there is one such who comes from relative obscurity to punch his way into the thick of the action in the Ardennes. Say what you will about many of their reputations; these men are exciting to watch on a visceral level.

Who will he be this week? Will it be Omega Pharma’s up-and-coming Pole, Michal Kwiatkowski? He didn’t finish any of the three races in 2012, but has come alive in 2013. “Honestly I don’t know what I can expect from [Amstel Gold Race],” he said Friday in a team press release. “I’m okay, but during the race a lot of things can happen.”

A lot of things can happen and often it is a rider of Kwiatkowski’s nature who makes it so — an aggressive, headstrong rider without the tag of outright favorite. Sure, the most exciting rider in the sport, Sagan, is Slovak, but we expect him to be at the sharp end. Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), Andriy Grivko (Astana), Evgeni Petrov (Saxo-Tinkoff), Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM), Vasili Kiryienka (Sky), step on up. Attack on the Eyserbosweg or the Côte de La Redoute. This is your time.

Who will attack too early on the Mur de Huy?

It happens every year. Alberto Contador (Saxo) did it. So did Paolo Bettini. Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) botched the Mur de Huy multiple times before he came back and won Flèche Wallonne as world champion in 2010. Who will attack too early on the ultra-steep wall above the River Meuse on Wednesday?

Winning on the Mur, the most iconic climb of today’s Ardennes classics, is a game of strategy and strength. Jump too early and you will fade on the long, straight rise to the finish. Wait, and you’ll just hit stride as you hit the buses beyond the finish.

We cheer the early aggressors; they are bold and make the race theirs, even if it means certain failure. We shout uncomfortably at the television as forceful circles become labored squares above the final, left-hand bend. An attack like Rodríguez’s in 2012, or Gilbert’s in 2011, from impossibly far out, gives us hope that the long-shot surge can survive. But more often, they fizzle like Matthias Kessler in 2007.

But we will still cheer them, while they last.

Can Sagan win Flèche Wallonne without being called a Tour contender?

Perhaps you remember 2011, the year Philippe Gilbert swept his way across the Ardennes, winning De Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne, and Liège–Bastogne–Liège? Fast-forward two and a half months and there he was, in the Pyrénées, the press tipping him as a GC contender at the Tour de France.

Rodríguez, whose only previous result at the Tour was seventh in 2010, is riding high on his two grand-tour podiums in 2012 and hopes to contend for the maillot jaune in July. Evans took his Tour triumph the season after winning the “Walloon Arrow.” Despite a top 10 at the Giro d’Italia as a young pro, Davide Rebellin avoided that billing, even after winning Paris-Nice. Kim Kirchen took a crack at the Tour after his Flèche victory, finishing seventh in 2008, and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), winner in 2006, continues to target the yellow jersey.

If Sagan wins on Wednesday in his final race of the classics season, can he possibly avoid billing as a Tour GC rider for the future? The prognosticators and armchair directors have been discussing the idea for a full year, but the chorus has been muted. Can the Slovak winner of the green jersey in 2012 possibly win in Huy and escape the calls for him to drop weight and focus on the high mountains? We hope so.

Will Vos mis-step again?

Marianne Vos (Rabobank) owns Flèche Wallonne Féminine. The Dutch Olympic and world champion has won the women’s World Cup here four times. But in 2012, upstart American Evelyn Stevens (Specialized-lululemon) timed a late surge perfectly to beat her back on the Mur de Huy. Stevens said afterward that she had little confidence she could beat Vos on the steep finishing climb. For her part, Vos had no answers, saying simply that, “the Mur does not lie.”

The Dutchwoman, the current world champion in road and cyclocross, will enter Wednesday’s round of the World Cup the top favorite once again. But will she return to her winning ways in Huy? Will Stevens’ 2012 win give the field more confidence when Vos surges low on the wall? And, if she loses for a second year running, will we write that Vos’ rivals have unlocked the secret to the Walloon classic?

Vos’ dominance is incredible to watch, but elite women’s racing is better when the field at least rides as though it has a chance, even if it’s small.

Despite his impressive run through the cobbled classics, Peter Sagan (Cannondale) isn’t ready to hang the bike up for the spring. He is targeting Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands, spurred on by a narrow miss in the Ardennes opener in 2012.

“Last year I was third and I remember being left with a bitter taste in my mouth,” Sagan said Friday in a team press release. “Then I realized that result, in such a hard race, was something important. I understood that the Amstel Gold Race was a classic suited for me; this will be the starting point of my performance on Sunday to try to win.”

Aside from Flanders/Roubaix double champion Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard), Sagan has been the man of the spring. A winner at Gent-Wevelgem and a double stage victor at Tirreno-Adriatico in March, Sagan was one of two men to watch throughout the cobbles campaign.

After sitting out Paris-Roubaix to rest, he carried that momentum into the midweek Brabantse Pijl semi-classic in the Flemish and Walloon Brabant, west of the Ardennes hills. Sagan countered a late attack from Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and nipped the Belgian’s world champion teammate, Philippe Gilbert, at the line. The Slovak champion said he started Wednesday’s race to gauge his fitness after a week away from racing. He started a lower-tier race in France on Thursday, but abandoned partway through.

With a week of hilly classics opening on Sunday in the Dutch Limburg region, Sagan is targeting another major victory, atop the Cauberg climb, where Enrico Gasparotto (Astana) and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Belisol) denied him one year ago.

“I always said that to be one of the leaders in the classics season was the first, big goal of my season,” said Sagan. “The results I achieved so far are really good and I could think the target is reached. But I don’t want to settle and the Amstel Gold Race is an important race I would like to add.”

The constantly winding, undulating circuit through the Limburg hills east of Maastricht is one of the most stressful of the season. With a new finishing circuit that adds two late climbs and a startlist that will include Gilbert, Van Avermaet, Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), and Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge), the pressure at the front of the race will be that much higher.

“The victory in Brabantse on Wednesday was a boost of confidence,” said Sagan. “I think the competition will be a key factor during the race, especially in the final phases. Compared to the cobbled classics, the Amstel is a more open race. And we have to consider also the changes of the route from 2012.”

With Strade Bianche winner Moreno Moser, Sagan’s Cannondale team should pack a lethal one-two punch on the Bemelerberg and Cauberg, the race’s final two climbs. With a wild, tactical finale possibly on tap, the duo will look to deliver a case of Amstel Gold to the Italian squad’s bus above Valkenburg and replace the bitter taste of a 2012 defeat with the taste of water, barley malt, and hops.

“The final circuit, the same of the 2012 world champs, is easier and more advantageous for someone who wants to attack. The management of the race during the last 30km will be fundamental as well as team’s support. I know I can count on strong and motivated teammates. Then we’ll also see how other teams will conduct their race. It will be a really tactical finale and any hesitation could be fatal.”

Cannondale for the 2013 Amstel Gold Race: Peter Sagan, Moreno Moser, Damiano Caruso, Stefano Agostini, Alessandro De Marchi, Michel Koch, Daniele Ratto, and Maciej Paterski

At 298 kilometers, Milano-Sanremo is the longest of the sport’s five monuments and, with a parcours that has seen incremental changes over its 103 editions, one of the most difficult to predict.

The first edition of “La Classicissima” ran over rutted dirt roads in April 1907 and went to Frenchman Lucien Petit-Breton. Since then, 50 Italians and 53 foreigners have taken wins in the season’s first major classic, which has played out over a changing parcours that has become increasingly more challenging. As 2008 winner Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard) said this week, “it’s not the hardest race, but it’s the most difficult race to win.”

While riders sign in at the Castello Sforzesco and roll out over narrow, cobbled streets in the heart of Milan, the race truly begins 139km later, as the peloton approaches the narrow, dark tunnel at the top of the Passo del Turchino. It was here that 2009 winner Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) lost contact with the peloton in 2012. It was at the tunnel, as well, that Eugène Christophe fought through the snow to win the race’s fourth edition in 12 hours — one of only three finishers that year.

Full Milano-Sanremo coverage >>
Maps and course profiles for 2013 Milano-Sanremo >>

From the tunnel, atop an 8km ascent that begins in earnest 134km into the race at Campo Ligure, the remaining 156km is an onslaught of short, punchy climbs, technical descents, and two roughly 20km flat intermissions where the bunch may regroup if conditions are right. Cavendish hoped that would be the case in 2012, but the then-world champion would abandon along the coast from behind the peloton before it reached the final climbs. A year earlier, Cavendish and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) were caught behind crashes on the descent from Le Mànie and lost their shots.

Organizers added the climb at Le Mànie in 2008 to split the race earlier and give the sprinters more of a challenge ahead of the Capi ramps and infamous Cipressa and Poggio di Sanremo climbs. It is between the Mànie and the Capo Mele, at 245km, that riders will get the first indication of what they may see in the finale. Riding along the Riviera di Ponente, the riders at the front of the race will get a feel for the prevailing wind direction and the teams motivated to keep the pace high. The Capo Mele, Capo Cervo, and Capo Verta are short, punchy ramps that will serve as leg-softeners but little more. From here, the racing is full-tilt.

The Cipressa, added in 1982 as a response to rider complaints over descending from the final climb with a 250-strong peloton, rises 234 meters over 5.7km, with an average gradient of 4.1 percent. From the right-hand turn off the Via Aurelia, with 28km to go in the race, the Cipressa rises consistently over a series of sweeping switchbacks. The inevitable attack out of the corner has riders on high alert coming into the base of the climb. Paolo Bettini struck out in 2004, dislodging Mario Cipollini for good, but was ultimately beaten, even after another effort on the Poggio.

It is at the base of the Cipressa that the cork finally becomes dislodged and the bubbly of “La Primavera” begins to pour. And pour it does. The climbs of the Cipressa and the Poggio to follow are big-ring, all-out affairs, with sharp corners and dicey descents, taxing riders after six hours in the saddle. The finale at Sanremo is as hectic as they come.

A sharp descent delivers riders back to the coast for the approach to the race’s iconic climb, the Poggio — the final climb and the most likely launchpad for any attack that will survive to the finish. The 2.7km ramp, added in 1960, rises 136 meters with an average gradient of just 3.7 percent and a maximum of eight percent. Taken on its own, the Poggio is not remarkable. But the danger of the Via Duca d’Aosta comes in its sinuous design — attacking riders get out of sight around stone walls and hairpins quickly — and its location, 288km into the race.

It is on the Poggio that Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) and Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard) followed Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) to the podium in 2012, with Gerrans taking the win. But Moreno Argentin, in 1992, and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing), in 2011, have been among the attackers to narrowly miss victory after a Poggio attack.

Faces of Milano-Sanremo gallery >>

The action almost always opens in the first two hairpins low down on the climb as the teams with numbers press the issue. In 2012, Nibali made use of a Valerio Agnoli attack to counter higher up on the climb. The gradient over the final kilometer eases, giving the bunch a chance to collect itself before the summit.

Just as dangerous as the Poggio’s ascent is its descent, marked at the top by a tight, left-hand switchback that has seen a number of riders brake-check or crash out of contention. While riders attacking on the climb can get away quickly in the high-speed corners leading to the final ramp to the summit, it is on the descent that a breakaway must make its real difference to stay away.

All-time wins leader Eddy Merckx made the Poggio descent his ace card over his seven victories. Cancellara led the breakaway down the descent a year ago as though he were carrying lead weights in his pockets, at one point catching the lead motorcycle in the switchbacks.

“I can do a lot, I have my cards to play,” Cancellara said of Sunday’s race. “I know Milano-Sanremo well. It’s the most particular race out of all the classics. It’s hard to predict. We can name the favorites, but that doesn’t mean they’ll win. It depends on the weather, the way the race goes, the Cipressa and the Poggio’s descent. … The number of teammates a rider has with him.”

From the bottom of the Poggio’s descent, 2.9km of slightly downhill, gently winding road leads to the finish on the Lungomare Italo Calvino. A high-speed chicane drops riders down to the finish straight inside the final kilometer. If there is headwind here and the breakaway has less than 10 seconds, it’s likely doomed. However, if the weather is favorable, the high speeds make it difficult for a chase to close on a strong group in time.

With riders like Gerrans, Matthew Goss (Orica), and Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida) logging surprise wins in the last decade, the finale in Sanremo is perhaps the most difficult of the five monuments to predict.

“Many things have to happen to win Sanremo,” world champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing) told VeloNews. “If there’s an attack on the Poggio, it depends on which riders are there and if there are others coming from behind. The weather and wind is also a factor. It’s like any classic. You have to be fast.”

The last point is obviously the most important. Regardless of what happens over the opening crescendo to the tunnel, or on Le Mànie, or over the switchbacks of the Cipressa and Poggio, or the finish straight, to win “la Primavera,” more than any of the other monuments, a rider must be fast.

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (VN) — The home team arrived to Louisville ready to hit home runs in the first UCI Elite Cyclocross World Championships held outside of Europe. After a tough day in the snow and mud, the Americans will leave Eva Bandman Park with a single medal, some disappointment, and a lot of pride in the growth of U.S. ’cross.

What became of some of the key Americans in Louisville?

Junior men 17-18

Logan Owen (4th): Owen arrived to Louisville with immense pressure. Cyclocross Magazine featured him on a recent cover with the line, “the next Nys?” and he was a legitimate medal contender, having finished third in the World Cup overall standings even after skipping the final round in Hoogerheide, Netherlands. But Owen ran up against an untouchable Mathieu Van der Poel and a series of miscues that left him scrambling.

Owen appeared to start on the final red light displayed on the UCI starting board (the light flashed a countdown of single red lights before a full row of red lights and, finally, green). He put his foot back on the ground just as the other riders were clipping in, forcing him on the back foot. An early crash sent him tumbling through the pack, but Owen forged a hard chase, at one point riding into bronze-medal position. He faded, however, after drivetrain troubles led to multiple chain-drops in the final two laps. He was bitterly disappointed with fourth.

“It sucks because I know I was easily the second strongest guy there. I know if I had had a good start I could have battled with [Martijn] Budding for second,” Owen told VeloNews. “It’s really disappointing because I know I’m so much better than that… It’s just so disappointing when I had so much expectation of myself. I wish I had a do-over.”

U23 men

Zach McDonald (11th): McDonald came flying into the worlds off a silver-medal ride (in the elite race) at the national championships and without much pressure. He lacked his usual quick start, coming through the first lap 15th, but came on strong late for 11th. For McDonald, his lack of expectations saved him from what may have been disappointment after proving himself capable of a top 10 on the most technical European tracks.

“I technically progressed, I think I did one better than last year,” he told Cyclocross Magazine at his team tent after riding straight through the finish without stopping. “I don’t know what happened in the front, but it sure was exciting.”

Elite women

Katie Compton (2nd): Compton was the first woman to be called to the grid — the top-ranked woman in the world — and was the top pre-race contender to Dutch defending champ Marianne Vos.

Compton started slowly and lost big time when she dropped her chain in the first lap. From there, she had to fight back, almost a minute down on what she deemed an unstoppable Vos. But Compton kept coming, riding away from Katerina Nash after the U.S.-based Czech crashed on the final corner before the finish straight and then Dutchwoman Sanne Van Paassen, distancing her quickly on a technical descent before the bell lap.

The Compton versus Vos showdown many expected was over before the first time through the pits, but the American was satisfied with silver in the end.

“I had to focus really hard. The crowd was so loud and so crazy, constantly cheering, so I just had to try and turn it off and focus on the line and the braking and the gearing, and just be smooth and ride as fast as I could,” said Compton. “I’m not disappointed at all. I’m actually really happy. I mean, getting second to Marianne, I’m getting used to that. She’s fast and she’s so good at this, so if I’m going to get second to anyone, Marianne is a good person to get second to.”

Kaitlin Antonneau (10th): No one does positive finish-line reaction like Antonneau and she didn’t disappoint on Saturday. The 21-year-old Marian University student fought for a top-five spot over the first 20 minutes of racing and settled into 10th. She said she hit her limit on the technical hillside section on the final lap and finished off her last race of the season by maintaining her best-ever result at worlds (she was 26th in 2011 and 30th in 2012). It was her best ride since a World Cup-opening ninth at Tabor, Czech Republic, in October, and she was overcome at the finish.

“Oh, God yeah,” she told VeloNews when asked if she was satisfied with her result. “I hit my wall and couldn’t go any faster. I settled into my own race and fought and fought and fought… I’m so happy!”

Amy Dombroski (11th): Dombroski has knocked and knocked at the door of the top 10 this season, twice finishing 11th in World Cups when one spot better would have auto-qualified her for the worlds. She did so again on Saturday, scoring the third-best U.S. result for the elite women.

Dombroski, who based herself in Belgium all season, was in contention for eighth when she chose a new line on the final corner and crashed. She took a chance and it didn’t pay.

“It’s the season of 11th places. It’s almost their season,” she told VeloNews. “I’m happy. I think I rode a great race. I tried to take a different line on that final corner; sometimes the chance works and sometimes it doesn’t.”

Elite men

Tim Johnson (19th): Johnson was the top American and celebrated at the finish by dismounting and raising his hands over his head in front of swollen crowd. Johnson, who played a key role in developing the Eva Bandman course, rode steadily through the hour-long tilt and his 19th was better than any World Cup result he’d logged this season.

“I really just tried to keep moving forward,” he said. “I had an ok start and really started to feel like I was moving toward the end… I just want to keep riding around [the course, because of fan support].”

Like his season, Johnson’s ride was consistent and finished stronger than it began.

Jonathan Page (22nd): The U.S. champion rode a streak of hot form into the worlds. He’d never ridden the Eva Bandman course before Friday morning, when he took his new Fuji Altamira CX 1.0 bikes for a spin. Page started well and got better, moving through the field, as one journalist said, “like he has a rocket in his bibs,” but two mechanicals and a crash waylaid his charge up the results sheet.

Page was riding inside the top 10 when a shift dropped his chain into his spokes, locking up his drivetrain. (The same issue killed Belgian Kevin Pauwels’ podium chances.) Page stopped to dislodge and replace his chain, but lost a number of positions. He flatted shortly after and then crashed trying to make up time. He said at the finish he was just happy to fly the flag of national champion at the first-ever home ’cross worlds for the U.S.

“I’m a little disappointed, yeah, but I wasn’t superman today,” he told VeloNews. “I still could have had a good race. I still wanted to see how far I could go, everybody was just cheering so hard for me out there.”

Jeremy Powers (25th): Powers put much of his season on a strong showing at worlds, but a full travel schedule and an early peak had him coasting into worlds on vapors. Starting in the second row, Powers slide out and lost a position on the grid, but left the pavement near the top-15 position he knew he needed. From there, the heavy mud took its toll and the 2012 U.S. champion rode steadily toward 25th.

“I didn’t crash. I rode a steady race, and the last half was better than the first in my opinion,” he told VeloNews. “It was really hard out there today… I took on a lot [this season] and I’d say now that it’s February 3, I’m happy the season is over.”

Ryan Trebon (DNF): Trebon was an unknown quantity coming into the race, opting to skip Europe this season and spend a good deal of time training in Southern California. He said he felt good, but started a little slow and was picking riders off one-by-one after two laps.

Trebon looked comfortable and was approaching the top 10 when he crashed heavily on a tricky descent just before the climb to the finish. He endoed after his front wheel went sideways in a small drop, and slid downhill along the barriers, hitting his right arm, back, and head. Trebon said he tried to continue, but the pain in his arm was too much.

“It would have been nice to have finished; somewhere around 10th would have possible,” he said. “I might have hit my head pretty good and I have a pretty good headache right now, but no breaks, I think.”

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (VN) — A rising Ohio River has forced a major schedule change at the UCI Elite Cyclocross World Championships this weekend in Louisville.

With a major storm swelling the river in Pennsylvania and New York, and Beargrass Creek expected to flood lower-lying sections of Eva Bandman Park early Sunday, officials have moved all elite races to Saturday and canceled the rider presentation scheduled for Friday evening at 4th Street Live.

USA Cycling officials said a temporary barrier was under construction to keep floodwaters at bay.

According to race director Micah Rice, a group of officials from the UCI, USA Cycling and the City of Louisville decided late Thursday night to change the schedule.

“It was a joint decision between the city, which includes Metro Parks and the Louisville Sports Commission, the UCI, and USA Cycling,” Rice told VeloNews.

The elite men and women had been scheduled to compete on Sunday.

The National Weather Service expects a 50 percent chance of snow for Saturday, with less than an inch of accumulation. Skies are expected to be cloudy, with a high near 33 and wind out of the southwest at 5 to 11 mph.

New weekend schedule:
Saturday, February 2
8 a.m. Gates open (food served)
9:45 a.m. Junior men 17-18
11 a.m. Elite women
12:30 p.m. U23 men
2:30 p.m. Elite men

Editor’s note: As we ring out 2012, we look at 12 of our favorite stories of the year. VeloNews.com editor Brian Holcombe’s commentary on Lance Armstrong’s refusal to fight the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s case against him first appeared on August 23, the night Armstrong announced he would accept a lifetime ban.

Lance Armstrong announced Thursday night that he would give up his fight against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and what he called a corrupt system that unfairly prosecutes athletes without honoring due process.

What else could he be expected to do?

Armstrong, who now stands to lose his record seven Tour de France titles, 22 Tour stage wins, and overall victories at the 2003 Critérium du Dauphiné and 2001 Tour de Suisse, chose martyrdom over almost certain conviction by the anti-doping authorities. At 40, he chose to save face, maintain his reputation before millions of fans and those affected by cancer, and trade his sporting accolades for those of a renowned philanthropist.

Armstrong will lose the results and awards upon which he built his Lance Armstrong Foundation and the ubiquitous Livestrong brand, found everywhere from retail stores with Nike and Oakley — longtime Armstrong sponsors — to the Livestrong Survivorship Center for young cancer survivors in Austin, Texas.

He will lose the base upon which he built his empire, but the house of cards will stand, at least as far as those living with the impacts of the disease and the casual sports fan are concerned.

His acceptance of the USADA sanction — a lifetime ban and the stripping of all results earned since 1999 — is not an admission of guilt, but rather a refusal to address the allegations. It is the only way the Texan, once the formidable patron of the peloton, could choose to respond after U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks on Monday dismissed the lawsuit Armstrong brought last month against USADA.

As he would tell it in the press, Armstrong isn’t unlike William Tyndale, a martyr forced to death by a savage oppressor. Travis Tygart and USADA on Thursday essentially erased the decade-long résumé of Armstrong and his historic run through the Tour de France, where he won his final overall title in 2005. The lifetime sanction also kills Armstrong’s comeback to triathlon almost before it began.

But what it doesn’t kill is Armstrong’s reputation in the cancer community and among general sports fans in the United States. Despite questions surrounding its research and treatment budgets, the LAF has become a beacon for millions affected by cancer around the world. And to the casual cycling fan — the viewer more likely to catch Tour de France highlights on SportsCenter than on this website — Armstrong is the most tested athlete in the world and an unfairly persecuted superstar.

Had he continued to fight and accepted arbitration with the American Arbitration Association, it’s likely that alleged misdeeds at the U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams would reach the public arena.

The public hearing would almost certainly turn into a who’s-who gathering of U.S. cycling over the last 13 years. The allegations of mid-mountain blood doping stops in the team bus, unmarked motorcycles carrying blood bags and an extensive network of covert doctors and trainers would likely pour into the mainstream news, and while a conviction would not be guaranteed, Armstrong’s public image could very well see irreversible damage.

But that can still happen one of two ways: Armstrong’s accusers continue to go public on an individual basis or U.S. Postal manager Johan Bruyneel goes through with his arbitration hearing, expected to take place this fall.

After seeing the public outcry against men like Frankie Andreu, Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton, anyone coming forward would understandably be hesitant to erase the doubt surrounding his own career, particularly after the sanction comes down. The 10-plus witnesses USADA claims to have on record detailing Armstrong’s misdeeds will likely stay quiet. For now.

But come Bruyneel’s arbitration, the skeletons will come dancing out of the closet. That is, if the Belgian goes to arbitration — and if Armstrong does not appeal Sparks’ ruling in federal appeals court or USADA’s sanction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

So, here we are. Did Lance Armstrong dope during his historic career, as USADA and a collection of its witnesses allege? Armstrong, coy as ever, made the only decision tonight that he could. By accepting a lifetime ban, he turned the conversation for many from whether he doped, to whether, in the big picture, it really matters.

BOULDER, Colorado (VN) — USA Pro Challenge organizers unveiled a compact, familiar route on Wednesday for the race’s third edition and 2012 winner Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) confirmed that he would be back in 2013.

The 2013 Pro Challenge will kick off in the familiar surrounds of Aspen, Colorado, with a circuit race between the mountain town and nearby Snowmass. The 2011 Aspen Women’s Challenge utilized a hilly Snowmass circuit in 2011 in a stage won by Kristin Armstrong; it is unknown at this point how closely the stage 1 circuit will resemble that route.

From Aspen/Snowmass, the race sets out on its second stage for Breckenridge. The route should climb Independence Pass out of Aspen before an ascent of Fremont Pass outside of Leadville and a run-in to Breckenridge similar to the fifth stage of the race’s 2011 edition.

On Wednesday August 21, the race will set out from Breckenridge for Steamboat Springs, where Elia Viviani won the first of three consecutive stages for Liquigas-Cannondale in 2011, and could approach the finish via Rabbit Ears Pass or Gore Pass.

The race will return the next day to Beaver Creek, the site of Jen Voigt’s outlandish solo win in 2012. The uphill finish in Beaver Creek is a short, power climbers’ affair and should return in the 2013 edition.

With its four opening stages focusing on just four communities, organizers said in a statement that the “consolidated footprint and multiple back-to-back stages… will ensure that spectators in host cities will have many opportunities to root for their favorite rider or team.”

The Vail Time Trial returns to the race on Friday August 23. While organizers would not release route details, it is likely that the race will return to the Vail Pass route made famous in the Coors Classic and utilized in 2011 when Levi Leipheimer took control of the general classification after tying on time with Vande Velde.

The only new cities to host a stage start or finish are the Northern Colorado communities of Loveland and Fort Collins, which will see the penultimate stage play out over what is expected to be a mountainous route finishing near the downtown of the latter.

“With the addition of Loveland and Fort Collins we are adding two cities that have built a community around the cycling culture,” said the race’s CEO and co-chairman Shawn Hunter. “We are thrilled to incorporate their enthusiasm as we continue to showcase Colorado as the center of the nation’s cycling spirit.”

The race will wrap with a Denver circuit race on Sunday August 25. The race’s inaugural edition closed similarly, with finishing circuits in Denver after a start in Golden, and crowds were thick around Civic Center Park.

“Riders now know that there is no race in America like the USA Pro Challenge, and these host cities help ensure cycling’s world stage returns to Colorado for seven days of grueling competition,” said Hunter. “Each of these communities will be on an international stage as we partner with them to ensure the USA Pro Challenge takes its place as America’s greatest race.”

Organizers will announce full route details in Spring 2013.

2013 USA Pro Challenge stages
August 19 Stage 1: Aspen/Snowmass Circuit
August 20 Stage 2: Aspen/Snowmass – Breckenridge
August 21 Stage 3: Breckenridge – Steamboat Springs
August 22 Stage 4: Steamboat Springs – Beaver Creek
August 23 Stage 5: Vail Time Trial (ITT)
August 24 Stage 6: Loveland – Fort Collins
August 25 Stage 7: Denver Circuit

The first ’cross worlds to be held outside of Europe ran into trouble in 2011 European promoters made a play to wrestle the worlds back from the United States, citing organizers’ inability to close key sponsorship and broadcast agreements. USA Cycling’s chief operating officer, Sean Petty, told VeloNews in August 2012 that it would assist the promoters, but would not “write a big check” to rescue the event. When Hanscom split with top sponsor Exergy, which was 11 months in arrears on payments, earlier this month, she acknowledged an almost-quarter-million-dollar shortfall and said that the federation and the Louisville Sports Commission were stepping up to help.

Tuesday’s announcement sheds some light on just how far they are going. USA Cycling’s national events director Micah Rice will act as race director and John Schnatter, founder and CEO of Papa John’s International, Inc., David A. Jones, Sr., co-founder of Humana, and Sam Swope, founder of Sam Swope Auto Group, have stepped in with financial backing, according to a USAC statement. Schnatter has supported Louisville’s Derby City Cup races, while Human and the Sam Swope Auto Group are new sponsors for cyclocross in the region.

“We are grateful for the generous support provided by John Schnatter, David Jones and Sam Swope,” said Karl Schmitt, executive director of the Louisville Sports Commission. “Their financial contributions will go a long way in making this an outstanding event for the participants, cycling fans and the Louisville community.”

Louisville 2013 promoters Joan Hanscom and Bruce Fina have worked with the Louisville Sports Commission on transitioning out of the event’s top management positions. Hanscom, who expects to be on-the-ground working the event, told VeloNews that she was happy to have USAC step in with its robust events crew.

“I’m relieved that the event is moving forward and will be a successful,” she said.

The 2013 UCI Elite Cyclocross World Championships take place February 2-3 in Louisville.

Just six weeks remain before USA Cycling announces its roster for the 2013 elite cyclocross world championships in Louisville, Kentucky, but much is to be decided for the host nation’s squad of 21 riders.

While national champions Katie Compton (Trek Cyclocross Collective) and Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus) are among the riders to have automatically qualified for the team, if the January 14 roster announcement were to be issued today, as many as 13 discretionary selections could find themselves booking flights to the Bluegrass State.

Many of the top contenders will descend on Belgium during the week of December 10. There, they’ll tackle the Kerstperiode races, a slate of seven events over 10 days, bookended by a pair of Bpost Bank Trofee races, the Grand Prix Rouwmoer in Essen on December 22 and the Grand Prix Sven Nys in Baal on January 1. And with the World Cups in Namur and Zolder just three days apart, this will be the most important time for riders to show themselves ready to ride the Kerst bounce to the worlds.

But today, with the fourth round of the World Cup, in Roubaix, France, in the books, where do the four U.S. teams stand?

The team, as of today

If the January 14 deadline were today, eight riders would automatically qualify for the worlds team, based on USA Cycling’s criteria. USA Cycling will determine the worlds team based on a set of criteria for automatic qualification that it published earlier this year. Those criteria form a hierarchy, with the top standard for Americans a top-five World Cup finish between October 21, 2012 and January 6, 2013 (no Americans meet the first criterion, a podium at 2012 worlds). The third criterion, a national championship win, could draw in additional auto-qualifiers in early January, if a rider that has not qualified otherwise takes a win in Madison, Wisconsin.

Powers and Compton would each qualify on three criteria, with Compton getting the nod for having won three rounds of the World Cup this season (she also leads the overall), while Powers meets the fourth criterion as the top-ranked American in the elite men’s standings released November 27. The sixth criterion awards a berth to the top points holder from the North American C1 events — Compton and Powers should each take that honor as well when the Trek U.S. Gran Prix closes out in Bend this weekend.

Joining them would be elite men Ryan Trebon and Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com), the second- and third-ranked U.S. men in the UCI standings, respectively; Kaitlin Antonneau (Cannondale), who finished ninth in the elite women’s World Cup opener; Zach McDonald (Rapha), who finished fourth for U23 men at the Tabor World Cup; and junior men Logan Owen (Redline) and Curtis White (Hot Tubes).

USA Cycling’s cyclocross program director, Marc Gullickson, expects to fill every one of the United States’ 21 worlds spots, which means that, if the qualifying period ended today, there would be three available slots each for the elite men’s and women’s and junior men’s categories, and four for the U23 men’s group. That’s a lot of room on the bubble for discretionary selections. The USA Cycling selection committee will make those selections between the application deadline of January 4 and the roster announcement.

Automatic qualifiers, if the season ended December 3
Katie Compton (Criteria #2, #4, #5)
Kaitlin Antonneau (Criteria #4)
Jeremy Powers (Criteria #4, #5, #6)
Ryan Trebon (Criteria #4)
Tim Johnson (Criteria #4)
Zach McDonald (Criteria #2, #5)
Logan Owen (Criteria #2, #5)
Curtis White (Criteria #4)

“Exergy is currently $250,000 arrears in payments with an additional $100k coming due and our partners are all in agreement that it is in best interest of event that we terminate the sponsorship agreement now. At this point, we can no longer count on Exergy’s support,” Hanscom told VeloNews. “This event will definitely take place in Louisville and we’ve been working with USA Cycling, the UCI and our partners in Louisville to close the financial gap, which is a significant number. We’re generating revenues from other sponsor sources and we still need help.”

While Hanscom and partner Bruce Fina face a large funding gap after their attorney sent a termination letter to Exergy CEO James Carkulis Wednesday evening, the former tells VeloNews that USA Cycling, the Louisville Sports Commission and the UCI have stepped in with logistical and sponsor acquisition support to make sure the event is a success.

“It’s going to be fantastic, but fantastic without Exergy,” Hanscom told VeloNews. “We’re in a full-court press right now. The operational aspects of the production have been overwhelmingly positive. The venue is a world-caliber track and received incredibly positive feedback after the Derby City Cup. We have no doubt Louisville will make U.S. cycling proud.”

Carkulis was not immediately available for comment.

On Tuesday Carkulis announced that the company was discontinuing sponsorship of its men’s Continental road team. The company has missed or been late in payments to vendors for the Exergy Tour and Amgen Tour of California in 2012. Hanscom previously replaced Exergy with Trek, WD-40 BIKE and other sponsors to fill a funding gap it left at the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross.

The masters world cyclocross championships run January 29-February 1, with the elite worlds taking place February 2-3 at Eva Bandman Park in Louisville, Kentucky.

This story is breaking. Check back to VeloNews.com for updates.

Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld) is six-time U.S. cyclocross champion and was the first American to finish on the podium at ’cross worlds, as a U23 in 1999. Johnson is a member of the Cyclocross Committee for USA Cycling and on Sunday he won the main event at the Jingle Cross Rock in Iowa.

Johnson is in line to make the worlds team for the U.S. and will be a local crowd favorite when the worlds rolls into Louisville, Kentucky, in February.

Johnson spoke with us as part of our special project for Storycorps’ National Day of Listening. His interview, during which he discusses the broadcast shortcomings of U.S. cyclocross, the craziness that is being a Red Bull athlete, and his first ’cross race, appears below.

Mara Abbott was on top of the sport. It was July 2010 and she’d just succeeded in conquering the biggest stage race in women’s cycling, the Giro Donne, and wore the stars and stripes of national road race champion. In the afterglow of achieving all she could imagine on two wheels, Abbott found herself descending into a dark place that saw her struggle with self doubt and weight loss, and ultimately walk away from the sport little more than 12 months later.

She’s back and with the support of Exergy Twenty12′s Nicola Cranmer and Kristin Armstrong, Abbott plans a comeback in 2013 — and she says she’s in a safer, healthier and, above all, happier place than when the cycling world last saw her. In this special audio broadcast for the National Day of Listening, Abbott discusses her fall from grace, her struggle to overcome the feeling that she’d lost her purpose, and the pursuit of being the “best in the world.”

If the audio player below doesn’t load, visit our SoundCloud >>