Tour Down Under

January’s Tour Down Under is still the only confirmed race appearance for Lance Armstrong in 2011.

Just who is the title sponsor of Australia’s preeminent cycling team, and what is stopping Pegasus Sports CEO Chris White from revealing its identity?

The joys of hand-built wheels, flat-fixing tips and TDU training

The HTC-HighRoad rider will battle Andre Greipel for stage wins at the Australian race in 2011.

Two-time winner Andre Greipel will return to defend his title at the 2011 Tour Down Under, organizers announced on Friday.

Garmin sprint specialist Tyler Farrar will ride in Australia's Tour Down Under in January, organizers confirmed Wednesday.

Lance Armstrong will race for the last time outside the United States in January when he makes an international farewell appearance at the Tour Down Under.

Australia's Tour Down Under last month attracted record crowds, visitor numbers and income, the South Australian state government said Friday.

André Greipel (Team HTC-Columbia) tops the 2010 UCI world rankings following his victory in the Tour Down Under.

Picking up where he left off two years ago, HTC-Columbia’s big German sprinter, André Greipel, has claimed his second overall victory in the 2010 Santos Tour Down Under.

After one of the most riveting stages in the twelve-year history of Tour Down Under, André Greipel (HTC-Columbia) has managed to defend his leader’s ochre jersey, and is now an assured winner in the 2010 edition of the Australia’s premier stage race.

HTC-Columbia’s André Greipel added to his grip on the overall lead at the 2010 Tour Down Under on Friday, winning the fourth stage, his third victory of the week-long tour.

Jason McCartney is consistent if nothing else. An appointed domestique since he was 15 years old, the native Iowan has a developed a sick passion for burying himself into the ground in the service of others.

Manuel Cardoso (Footon-Servetto-Fuji) takes Stage 3 at the 2010 Tour Down Under. Andre Greipel (HTC-Columbia) holds the lead.

Chris Carmichael recently returned from Hawaii where Lance Armstrong had been training in the lead-in to the Tour Down Under. Armstrong’s current power output, according to his longtime coach, is where it used to be in April during the years he was winning the Tour de France.

A gallery of Graham Watson photos from the 2010 Santos Tour Down Under second stage.

HTC-Columbia's Andre Greipel extended his dominance of the Tour Down Under on Wednesday, winning his second stage in as many days.

Graham Watson photos from the first stage of the 2010 Santos Tour Down Under

2010 stage winner/GC leader (Click for full results):

• Stage 1: Andre Greipel/Greipel
• Stage 2: Greipel/Greipel
• Stage 3: Manuel Cardoso/Greipel
• Stage 4: Greipel/Greipel
• Stage 5: Sanchez/Greipel
• Stage 6/FINAL: Sutton/Greipel

Team Sky drew first blood in Sunday’s Cancer Council Classic. But two days later in the South Australian village of Tanunda, 2008 champion Andre Greipel of HTC-Columbia fired the first real warning shot of the opening event of this year’s ProTour when he claimed the first road stage and ochre leader’s jersey at the 2010 Santos Tour Down Under.

The death of Christian Meier's brother gives the Garmin-Transitions rider a fresh perspective on life.

Team Sky manager Sean Yates applauds his squad's performance in the Tour Down Under prelude.

Sidelined by surgery after a wicked crash, HTC-Columbia's André Greipel is ready to race.

Team Sky's Gregory Henderson and Christopher Sutton go one-two in the 2010 Cancer Council Helpline Classic.

Britain's all-new Team Sky stormed to a one-two win in the Cancer Council Helpline Classic on Sunday, their debut race and a prelude to next week's season-opening Tour Down Under.

Around 5,000 amateur cyclists joined Lance Armstrong on Saturday for an impromptu ride announced on Twitter, causing chaotic scenes.

Saying they are now redundant, Lance Armstrong said on Saturday that he has dispensed with the additional personal doping tests he adopted to silence critics who suspect him of using drugs.

Alejandro Valverde’s long and winding road and his alleged links to Puerto reached a head this week during a three-day hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which closed Thursday with a hint that the Vuelta a España champion likely won’t be racing in Italy anytime soon.

2010 Santos Tour Down Under stages

Old Willunga Hill — and Lance Fever — remains the highlight of the Santos Tour Down Under

As Tiger Woods did last November when he came, saw and conquered the Australian Masters golf tournament, Armstrong flew into Oz via private jet. Flying from Hawaii, his Gulfstream touched down in Adelaide a few minutes before 5 p.m Wednesday. Out popped Lance and girlfriend Anna Hansen, who cradled their seven-month-old son Max in her arms.

A handful of Graham Watson photos of Lance Armstrong in Adelaide, Australia, Thursday.

Lance Armstrong, in Sydney, Australia prior to the Tour Down Under, pledged $250,000 for victims of the Haiti earthquake on Thursday. He urged the public to come forward with further donations.

The UCI's press release announcing it has requested Lampre be granted a provisional license to start the Tour Down Under

The Lampre team, which has been denied a ProTour license because of "serious administrative non-compliances," may be able to start next week's Tour Down Under at the request of the UCI ProTour Council.

Team Garmin-Transitions on Wednesday released its roster for the 2010 Santos Tour Down Under. The American-based team is bringing a team of Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians and a South Africans to the Australian race. The team will be directed by Sport Director Matt White, also of Australia.

Joaquim Rodríguez crashes out of the Katusha training camp.

2010 Santos Tour Down Under start list.

Former Tour de France winner, Oscar Pereiro, will start his season with the Astana team at this month’s Tour Down Under in Australia.

Katusha riders will be scattered across three continents as the Russian squad opens the 2010 season.

Andre Greipel is hoping history repeats itself at the Tour Down Under ─ not the version from last year, but from two years ago.

Australian Allan Davis, champion in last year's Tour Down Under, has signed a two-year deal with the Astana team, led by Spanish star Alberto Contador, the team said Tuesday.

After earlier concerns, Aussie veteran Stuart O’Grady has been given the green light to start the Tour Down Under next month.

Mark Renshaw – the ace lead-out man at Columbia-HTC – will miss the Tour Down Under as he recovers from Epstein-Barr.

Columbia-HTC will be bringing two former Tour Down Under winners to the 2010 edition of the race, which will be held January 17-24, starting in Adelaide. German Andre Greipel (the 2008 winner) and Australian Michael Rogers (2002 winner) are in the Columbia-HTC line-up the team announced on Friday. Greipel spent months on the sidelines after crashing during the third stage of this year's Tour Down Under, dislocating his shoulder and suffering a deep cut on his elbow, which required minor surgery. "After Greipel's mishap at the race this year we are pleased he will be

World road champion Cadel Evans said Thursday he is considering returning to Australia in January to race the Tour Down Under for the first time since 2005. The Australian two-time Tour de France runner-up said he was considering changing his strategy for 2010 and riding in the Adelaide tour was "highly possible". Evans, who won the elite men's road race at the world championships in Switzerland this month, said he was mapping next year's campaign with Silence-Lotto team chiefs and would confirm his plans early next month.

Press Release

Believe it or not, there are two other Americans racing the Tour Down Under — George Hincapie and Timothy Duggan — though you’d be hard-pressed to know who they are, given the commotion surrounding a certain Lance Armstrong. VeloNews caught up with the diminutive Duggan from Garmin-Slipstream before the start of the queen stage of the TDU, and discovered the 26-year-old Coloradan’s been waging something of a comeback himself. VeloNews: This race, for most, is their first test back into the rhythm of racing — is that the case for you?

Two-time Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans of Australia says the Astana team of Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong will be his number one threat at this year's event. Evans was beat to the 2007 yellow jersey by Contador, then of Discovery Channel, and last year succumbed to another Spaniard, Carlos Sastre, in the closing stages of the race. The 30-year-old, considered Australia's most successful stage racer, admitted while he has added some firepower to his team, Astana will be tough contenders.

Lance Armstrong is already heading back to the United States after his successful comeback debut at the Tour Down Under. Armstrong finished 29th overall at 49 seconds behind winner Allan Davis (Quick Step) in his first major stage race since winning the 2005 Tour de France for a record seventh occasion. Next up in Armstrong’s comeback tour is a 10-day training camp in Santa Rosa, California, where he will join up with Astana teammates ahead of the Tour of California (Feb. 14-22).

José Joaquin Rojas is satisfied with third place overall at the Tour Down Under and wants to carry that momentum into the first races on the European calendar.

He chose not to sprint ? he didn’t have to ? but regardless, Allan Davis’ 33rd place behind stage winner Francesco Chicchi Sunday in Adelaide saw him crowned winner of the 2009 Tour Down Under. It’s been a monumental week for the bull terrier from Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia, who, from this moment onwards, can definitively put the past behind him and move on to what many are predicting bigger and better things. “It’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride,” Davis told VeloNews, in reference to the past two seasons that saw his career in virtual limbo.

Allan Davis has never felt so good. The only rider to have ridden every edition of the race, the 28-year-old Queenslander now finds himself in the enviable position of becoming the eleventh champion of the Tour Down Under and the sixth Australian to do so. After two seasons he’d probably rather forget, he finally wrenched himself free of the mudded waters of Operación Puerto to start 2009 afresh with a new team, Quick Step, and clear of any wrongdoing.

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong on Friday gave the thumbs-up to the imminent return to the peloton of disgraced former teammate Floyd Landis. Landis, who once rode with Armstrong at U.S. Postal, won the 2006 Tour de France but was stripped of that title and suspended for two years after a sample from the race's 17th stage tested positive for testosterone. Next month the 33-year-old will mark his return to road racing at the Tour of California.

Doubling up on his victory two days before and gaining a valuable 10 second time bonus Friday in Angaston, Quick Step’s Allan Davis has given himself a realistic shot of going one better than last year in his bid to become the sixth Australian winner of the Tour Down Under.

Former winners Michael Rogers and Stuart O'Grady are shaping up to repeat their past triumphs on the Tour Down Under, which ends Sunday. The six-stage race which opens the Pro Tour cycling season has famously been won by both sprinters and stage race specialists in the last 10 years. O'Grady — the winner in 1999 and 2001 — and 2002 champion Rogers have in recent years kept a low profile in the race, or failed to show up at all. But on Thursday they showed their determination to challenge for the ochre jersey.

German sprinter André Greipel will likely face three months on the sidelines after a dramatic crash in the third stage of Australia’s Tour Down Under on Thursday. Greipel, the defending champion who won four stages last year, dramatically crashed into a motorbike parked on the side of the road early in the 136km stage from Unley to Victor Harbor. As he hit the ground, his bike flew back into the peloton, taking down more riders.

What appeared to be a relatively innocuous stage was turned on its head Thursday in Victor Harbor. Courtesy of a howling westerly wind and some of the world’s best riders, a star-studded break created havoc in the Tour Down Under and threatened to leave no more than a dozen riders in contention to win the race overall.

Australian journalist Benjamin Fitzmaurice got a look at the underside of Lance Armstrong's Trek Madone at the Tour Down Under this week, and saw something unexpected: "The bike has some letters and numbers on the bottom bracket," Fitzmaurice said. "The guy from Trek said that he would show us but could not tell us what they meant. When we shot the bottom bracket a guy from Astana staff came rushing over to question what we were doing ..."

Following a difficult year that saw his career aspirations go off the boil, Quick Step’s Queenslander Allan Davis found his form at exactly the right time, flying up the final 500 meters in Wednesday’s finish in Stirling to capture both the second stage and race lead in the 2009 Tour Down Under.

Lance Armstrong may have to wait months before displaying the top-end race speed that was characteristic of his seven-year domination of the Tour de France.

He said last year Australia was where he found himself. Facing sponsorship uncertainties, Columbia-High Road’s André Greipel went on to a stellar 12-win season that was only topped by his teammate Mark Cavendish. And Tuesday in Mawson Lakes, Germany’s ‘Gorilla’ picked up where he left off, the defending champion sailing straight down the middle of the road to capture the opening road stage of the 2009 Tour Down Under and find himself in familiar surroundings in the leader’s ochre jersey.

VeloNews.tv is working with Australian journalist Benjamin Fitzmaurice to produce daily video features from the Tour Down Under. The site has been recently updated with several new videos:

• Interview with Cameron and Travis Meyer
• TECH: Team Columbia's Scott Addict

Australian Michael Rogers is ready to put the pain of the past two seasons firmly behind him as he saddles up for the Tour Down Under with renewed dreams of success in 2009. A three-time world time-trial champion by the time he was 25, Rogers was hailed early in his career as a potential Tour de France winner. But in a dramatic 2007, a year after losing his coveted world crown to Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara, his career came to a shuddering halt. Injury, illness and a controversial career decision tested Rogers' morale.

It’s been almost nine years since Lance Armstrong made a journey this far south. Following a second Tour de France title that surprised no one after his ’99 comeback victory a year earlier, the Texan decided to skip the world road championships, a title he’d precociously won as a second-year pro way back in 1993, in favor of claiming a scalp he’d never taken but very much desired: an Olympic gold medal.

Lance Armstrong's participation at the Tour Down Under this week may have stolen the limelight from the local challengers, but he has also proved a welcome distraction. Armstrong's arrival in Australia following his decision in September to come out of a three-year retirement has prompted huge media interest across the country. The 37-year-old seven-time Tour de France winner will saddle up with 132 other riders for the first stage race of the season on Tuesday.

The German Milram team will start the 2009 ProTour by sending a seven man team to the Tour Down Under. "It will be a difficult race,“ said MILRAM's Christian Knees.  "The profile is challenging, there are a lot of highly-motivated riders and let's not forget Lance Armstrong's comeback.  We have prepared ourselves well and will have a strong team at the start.“ The team's sprinters and all rounders use the first stage race of the year as a test.  Knees will lead the team, supported by a misture of classics riders and sprinters. Team MILRAM for the Tour Down Under:

He may be residing at the Hilton this week, but besides being American, that’s all Lance Armstrong has in common with the party-going daughter of the famous hotel empire, who, on her recent New Year’s trip Down Under, had sand thrown in her face when she took a stroll on the sands of Bondi Beach.

The number 13 may not be so unlucky after all. Why? Because just after 8 p.m. Sunday evening in Adelaide, Australia, Katusha’s sprinting pocket rocket Robbie McEwen notched his thirteenth stage victory in the race by winning the Cancer Council Classic criterium, outsprinting Milram’s Wim Stroetinga and Graeme Brown of Rabobank.