Peter Velits

For some riders over 40, the prospects of racing in the peloton next year are still up in the air as they seek contracts.

Kwiatkowski claims his first stage at the Tour of Britain and now wears the yellow leader's jersey

The American is ready to help escort teammate Tejay van Garderen to the final Tour podium via the Pyrénées this week

The experienced Slovakian is looking forward to helping van Garderen realize his "great future" at the Tour

Atapuma, Velits and Stetina sign on with BMC Racing to help van Garderen take on the Tour de France while Evans focuses on the Giro d'Italia

Omega Pharma-Quick Step edges Orica-GreenEdge by less than a second to defend its title

The 28-year-old is the two-time defending Slovakian national time trial champion

Andrew Hood contributes a daily notebook from the 2012 Tour de France

Lefevre selects balanced roster aimed at stage wins and the overall

Pro bike gallery: Peter Velits' Specialized Tarmac through the lens of Nick Legan

Peter Velits suffered through stage 6 and has no idea what to expect on Mount Baldy at the 2012 Amgen Tour of California

Dave Zabriskie enters Saturday's queen stage in California in pole position, but the 15-percent ramps on Mount Baldy will determine who holds yellow on Sunday

Peter Velits and Robert Gesink may just be the most dangerous men on the GC ahead of Mount Baldy

The cast of characters vying for the Amgen Tour of California overall changed Thursday, and a new story waits to be written

Velits slips into leader's jersey ahead of Nibali on mountain stage

The Quick Step team is fast beefing up for 2012 and beyond. The team announced Tuesday that it has reached deals with three new athletes, the Slovak twins Martin and Peter Velits and Belgian Stijn Vandenbergh. The three have contracts with the team through the 2013 season, according to a team release.

Off the radar and unnoticed; that sums how the first half of the 2011 Tour has gone for HTC-Highroad's two-pronged GC attack. And that's just fine for them.

The team won two stages at the Vuelta, four stages and the overall at the Tour of Britain, two stages and the overall at the Giro di Toscana, and took victories at Belgium's Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen and the GP Isbergues in France.

The 2010 Vuelta a España wrapped up Sunday with an thrilling sprint victory by Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) that capped what most agree was the most exciting and demanding Vuelta in years.

Peter Velits (HTC-Columbia) was surprised as anyone that he won Wednesday’s 46km time trial at the Vuelta a España.

HTC-Columbia's Slovak speedster overpowers Denis Menchov and world champ Fabian Cancellara as Vincenzo Nibali races into red.