The Tour de France continued on its march toward the Alps today on stage 11, a mostly flat course containing only two small climbs with a flat run-in to the finish—perfectly matched for the legs of the world’s top sprinters, including Garmin-Slipstream’s young rocket, Tyler Farrar. Nonetheless, two breakaway riders gave it their best to foil the hopes of the sprinters’ teams, riding off the front for over 150 km before being caught near the end of the stage.

After a relaxed day

With the race’s first rest day in the bag and two transitional stages approaching, Garmin-Slipstream finished up the first segment of the Tour de France in fine form.

Bradley Wiggins and Christian Vande Velde remain in 5th and 8th place respectively, giving the team high hopes for a podium spot in Paris at the end of the three week race.

What exactly does professional cycling team do on a rest day during le Tour? Well...they ride, eat, nap and mostly perform media interviews. And

Years ago, when I first got traded from Sports Retail to the Team Clif Bar lair (a dubious move that still has Marketing management scratching their heads), I received a few emails from a young fellow named Chuck Engle, a runner who apparently had been on the TCB roster for years.

Interestingly, Chuck signs off all his emails as “Marathon Junkie”, which struck me as a bit strange at the time. The self-applied nickname becomes a bit less odd, though, when you truly grasp the scope of

Two things are certain when it comes to pro gravity outfit Santa Cruz Syndicate:

1. they are really freaking fast and

2. they just might have the coolest name in the professional cycling world. The word “Syndicate” gives them a sinister touch of 60’s spy movie style while adding enough intrigue to play mind games with the competition. Odds are that L.A. would have won at least thirteen Tours de France had he raced for the US Postal Syndicate.

Syndicate has been killing it so

For a fan of cycling’s spring classics, things simply do not get any better than this week. In a span of 9 days, pro cycling enthusiasts are treated to three of the most exciting races that Europe has to offer, complete with cobbles, crashes and weather that only the Flemish can truly appreciate. After last week’s Tour of Flanders and Wednesday’s Ghent-Wevelgem, the racing reaches its high point this Sunday, with the “Queen of the Classics”: Paris-Roubaix.

Three U.S-based teams are