Photographer Kristof Ramon rode along in the Lotto-Belisol team car while they prerode the course of this weekend's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. He put up this lovely slideshow of photos from the course. So sit back in your comfy chair, watch the slideshow, and get that cobbled feeling. You can grab a beer too, if you want. Because you wouldn't want to cobble without the appropriate beverages. It could be dangerous.

There's a new stage race in town this year. The Exergy Tour, running 24-28 May, is a five-day women's stage race, and earlier this week, the Exergy Tour announced the course cities for this year's edition. It starts and finishes in Boise, Idaho, home to the sponsor Exergy. Along the way, the women will visit Nampa, Kuna, Garden Valley, and Idaho City. Apparently, there's plenty of variety in the neighborhood: Mountains, high desert, sprints.

The Exergy Tour also carries a UCI 2.1 ranking. It's the only women's race in the U.S. with the 2.1 ranking, actually. Hello there Olympic points! The May time slot makes the Exergy Tour one of the last chances to pick off qualifying points for London.

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This is the time of year when anything is possible. Yesterday’s disappointment is tomorrow’s hero. We can still hope that our favorites will have the seasons of their lives. It's all promise and anticipation.

Tom Boonen won the Tour of Qatar last week and in this season of boundless possibility that victory feels like a promise. He could win the Ronde van Vlaanderen, this year. And André Greipel won stages at the Tour Down Under and at this week’s Tour of Oman. He could win on the Champs Elysèes. You see what I mean? In February, anything is possible.

Anything is possible must surely have been what the Belgian sports site RTBF was thinking when they published a Cyclismas spoof story as a true-to-life news story. The story reported that Liquigas team riders had been arrested by the Oman authorities for obscene photos. It’s shocking! And funny! It’s also not true.

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It's Friday. Really! It is! I know my days of the week, and I know that right now, it's so totally Friday. And that means review time. Do you remember what we did last week? Don't worry, I'm here with this handy cheat sheet to help you remember. Because I'd hate to think of you going forward through life with no recollection of this week.

We did a preview of the Amgen Tour of California from a Ferrari. Also, we went shopping on Rodeo Drive. Now, we have no money, but we had a fabulous time.

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So you've logged into the FSA Directeur Sportif game and you're geeking out over points totals and whether Boonen winning in Qatar means Boonen winning in Flanders. Hint: It doesn't. Don't look like that! I'm just trying to help!

How is your women's team going? What?! You don't have a women's team? Plainly, we need to have a little talk. Below the fold, Gav's top ten reasons to play the women's FSA directeur sportif game.

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Welcome to the Days of the Dope. Really, every day, it’s more doping news. There’s the Contador decision. Which, if you've been underwater for a week, led to a two year ban and the loss of his Tour de France and Giro d'Italia titles for Contador. But don't be sad, he'll be back racing in August.

It's not enough to have a decision. No, we have to have the press conference about the decision. Which! Was fun times, amiright? My favorite part was Riis and The Contract Talk. Riis, he looks so hot when he puts on his Earnest Face. We don’t have a contract with Contador now. Because you know, doping. But we’d really really like to have one in the future. Because ohmigod, he’s so awesome. Just look how awesome he is. We looovveeee him so much.

Raise your hand if you think a contract is already signed? Yes, I think this is entirely possible. And really, you’d hate to see so much love go unrequited.

And then, there’s this. Really, you can’t make this stuff up. You people are seriously going to ride around Spain wearing Contador masks? Boundaries, people, boundaries. Also, we are laughing at you, not with you. Just so you know.

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Just a quick note to all you lovely people: You are not imagining things. The fanpost column has temporarily disappeared from the page. The support people are working on a thing. It will return when they are done with the thing. There've been some database-related troubles, which they are working to fix. Sorry for the dread 503 errors you may have been seeing earlier today.

Meanwhile in bike racing... The dudes really go at it in this one, eh? A fun finish to this stage 4 of the Tour of Qatar. It was not exactly the routine march to the bunch sprint we sometimes see in the early season. Yay bikes!

Alberto Contador and Saxo Bank team owner Bjarne Riis met the press today to discuss the arbitration court decision in Contador's 2010 Tour de France doping case. Contador's contract with the team ends with his suspension, but Riis signaled that he would like Contador to return to the team. Contador maintained his innocence, and criticized the system for the slow speed of the decision-making.

Contador claims he does not really understand the decision, and reiterated the now-familiar argument about the small amounts of Clenbuterol found in his sample. There is no way the substance could have enhanced his performance, he argues.

Contador said he feels some "satisfaction" that the arbitration reports seems to acknowledge he did not dope (thanks Ted!). Here he is referring to the following statement from the arbiters:

"…in light of all the evidence on record, the Athlete’s positive test for Clenbuterol is more likely to have been caused by the ingestion of contaminated food supplement than by a blood transfusion or the ingestions of contaminated meat. This does not mean that the panel is convinced beyond reasonable doubt that this scenario of ingestion of contaminated food supplement actually happened."

Contador's lawyers, meanwhile, are studying the possibility of further appeals. Contador could still appeal to the Swiss courts or to the European courts to overturn the arbitration court's decision.

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Snark away, my friends. Because you know you want to. Cyclingfans has your links. Ready? Set? Go!

According to a brief update from Tuttobiciweb, Milano-Sanremo will run over the same course as it did in 2011. Apparently, there was some disgruntled murmurings in Italy, because the organizers had not made any announcements. Well, says the RCS, we really don't have a great deal to announce.

The Milano-Sanremo course remains the same as it was the past few years, which means it will include the le Manie climb, which organizers added a few years ago in an effort to make the race a little harder for the sprinters. The move seemed to work, and the race has evolved from the pure sprint fest it was into a more attacking affair.

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The Associated Press reports today that prosecutors have closed the investigation into possible doping by seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

According to the AP story:

United States Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. announced in a press release that his office "is closing an investigation into allegations of federal criminal conduct by members and associates of a professional bicycle racing team owned in part by Lance Armstrong." He didn't disclose the reason for the decision.

The Grand Jury convened in Los Angeles and sought to uncover whether Armstrong had created a doping program at his U.S. Postal team. Jeff Novitzky who investigated the baseball stars Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds led the Armstrong investigation.

During the course of the Grand Jury investigation, the Grand Jury subpoened ex-teammates, team officials, and friends of Armstrong. One of the stronger accusations came in May 2011, when Tyler Hamilton appeared on 60 Minutes and said he saw Armstrong use doping products during the Tour de France.

Armstrong has not yet commented on the closure of the investigation.

Welcome to Talk Show. This is the part where Gav and Douglas open up the wine and hop on the chatter to talk about bike racing. In this edition, we talk wine and camels. We suggest the introduction of interpretive dance numbers as a required element of team presentations. And we find the long, lost scarves of the Leopard Trek team. Because I know you were worried about those things.

Join us below the fold for some chat! And feel free to heckle us mercilessly in the comments. You can even suggest topics for the next edition. We might listen. Or not.

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Trixi Worrack of Specialized-lululemon won today's stage of the Tour of Qatar. The Qatar race is famous for camels and crosswinds, and today's race went straight to the gutter, propelled by the strong and ambitious Specialized-lululemon and GreenEdge teams. Both teams received a reward for their efforts. Worack won the stage, while Judith Arndt of GreenEdge now leads the overall.

Wind is nearly always a factor at the Tour of Qatar and from the start of the stage, GreenEdge and Specialized-lululemon hammered away at the race and slammed it into the gutter. With 15 kilometers to go, a four-rider break that included Worrack, Arndt, Adrie Visser, and Kirsten Wild. Just three kilometers later, Arndt and Worrack went up the road and left Visser and yesterdy's stage winner Wild behind. Today marked Arndt's second day in the break, and she took over the race lead as a reward for her efforts.

Cicloweb.it has a photo gallery from today's stage. The women's Tour of Qatar concludes tomorrow.

The GreenEdge women show us how to - and how not to - pack for the Tour of Qatar. I like how Tiffany Cromwell almost keeps a straight face at the end. But not quite.

The women's Tour of Qatar starts tomorrow on 1 February. Cyclingfever has your startlist, which includes a mix of trade and national teams. This race is typically a sprint and cross-wind fest.

A few notable names: Giorgia Bronzini (Diaora-Pasta Zara), Chloe Hosking (Specialized-lululemon), Kirsten Wild (Netherlands), Shelley Olds and Coryn Rivera (U.S.), Judith Arndt (GreenEdge), Tatiana Guderzo and Marta Bastianelli (MCipollini), and Noemi Cantele (Italy).

Also, there will be camels.

This week has been so all about cross. Unless you've been living under a rock - and really, if you have been, get out of there! Come out into the light! This weekend is the cyclocross world championship in Koksijde. Not sure what that means?

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Koksijde World Championships Bar Cam Footage from Behind The Barriers on Vimeo.

Jeremy Powers goes for a ride around the World Championship course with the barcam. It's... bouncy.

We've spent most of this week baking our brains out in Australia's summer heat. Yes! Bike racing! The Tour Down Under is so on. Check out stage 5 with Willunga mountain (which really isn't a mountain, according to the locals).

Wait! There's more...

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The Tour Down Under continues today with stage 3 running from Unley to Victoria Harbor. There is currently a break up the road, and around 65 kilometers to race. Will Clarke of UniSA-Australia is your current race leader. Follow the official twitter feed for updates. You can also follow on the radio. Hey Australia! Next time video, please? Because your time zone, it's so good for me.

They can black out Wikipedia, but they can't take away our Italian legs! Ivan Basso posted this bit of... scenery from training camp. La la la, here we are browsing the internet and bam! Basso getting a massage. Really, I think the internet loves us, don't you?

Yes, it's back, the weekly review thingy. But now? It's on Friday instead of Monday. Because Friday just feels like a better day for reviewing. Monday is the beginning of a whole new week. We're all looking ahead on Monday. It's hard to review when you're looking ahead.

We got up to some stuff this past week. Missed something? Better study up. You wouldn't want to fall behind the rest of the class.

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According to a press release issued today, Garmin has a new co-sponsor, Barracuda Networks, and will race as Garmin-Barracuda beginning at the Tour Down Under. Barracuda provides network and content security to corporate clients. The company counts Coca-Cola, FedEx, Harvard University, IBM, L'Oreal, and Europcar among its clients. Team manager Jonathan Vaughters expects to create a long-term partnership with the new sponsor, who replaces Cervélo as the Slipstream co-sponsor. Cervélo will continue to provide bikes to the team.

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It’s become a tradition, if doing something twice qualifies as a tradition. When Ted King comes to town, I meet him for coffee and we talk bike racing. And whatever else happens to come to mind.

A week or so ago, King sent me a message that he would be in town. We immediately got down to the all-important business of planning coffee. Training is important. Coffee is vital.

Join me below the fold for a story about drinking coffee with Ted King.

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The RadioShack Nissan Trek team prezzy has a live stream so you can follow along at home.

The lovely ladies over at The Hairpin found this list of tips for women cyclists. The list dates from 1895. Among the things a proper lady rider should avoid? Don't try on your brother's pants just to see how it feels. Also, bicycle face. Don't make bicycle face, young lady, or your face will freeze like that!

I do love this sport sometimes, don't you? Races are cancelled, then, maybe they're uncancelled. Doping cases go for a hundred years or more. It's all so charming, really.

Anywho, according to a report at VeloNation, the Tour Méditerranéen may yet be saved. As these things often do, the problem involves a dispute over money. I confess, I can't make heads or tails of it, myself. But the lovely people over at VeloNation have done it for me, so if you're interested in the details, do head over and have a read.

Bottom line? Race might be on. Or, race might not be on. We just don't really know yet.

Hey there!

Just a quicky request: If you wanna post a video, can you pretty please use fanposts instead of fanshots?

I ask, because, the fanshots do not go to the front page as easily with video. Like, the width is all wacked. I know, this is the place where all the regulars will start talking about wide view. I hear you. But, people who are showing up to the site without logging in will see narrow view. So, the front page has to be compatible with narrow. I know! I know! It's silly! But it's how it is.

Anyway, video. Please pretty please use fanposts. Because then we can front page your awesome videos easily.

Remember! People with author/admin/super powers privileges are not subject to the word count requirements on fanposts. So use those things!

XOXOX
Gav.

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It's the holiday time of year, you know that time when we write letters to Santa and the dreidel and ask for our hearts' desires. It's also almost the new year, and that means more bike racing. Really, could it just start already? I'm kind of afeared that Twitter is going to explode if there isn't some bike racing soon, actually.

Anyway, if you were to write to Santa or the dreidel or the Christmas bush or Poseidon or whatever holiday gift-bringing entity you like to write to, what cycling gifts for the coming year would you ask for?

Really, this needs more crayons. But you get the idea, right?

The lovely people at Sporza have the final lap of the Namen cross race. Well, hello there mud. It looks pretty fun. For one lap, at least.

So, as you maybe noticed, I was at the Specialized-lululemon women's team camp last week. Yes, it was pretty awesome. I have two stories up at Bicycling.com, a quick first look at the team. And, a second more complete story (with quotes!) about how the team came together and what they hare hoping to achieve in the coming season.

The sponsorship agreements for the team run for the next season, and Kristy, the team owner, said that the team very much started out as an Olympic year project. But she is also increasingly optimistic that the project may prove longer-lived than just next year. If so, that would be fab news for the team and the sport, more generally.

One thing I thought was especially interesting about being at the team camp. We talk a lot about the benefits of linking men's and women's teams together. The joint teams share sponsors, staff, and equipment, of course. But it was also cool to see a well-funded, top-level women's team that is really centered on the women. Certainly, as a writer, it meant I could devote my full attention to the women and not worry about chasing interviews around the men's roster, too.

Anyway, my conclusion? More like this. And I really hope they can keep it going beyond 2012.