Cycling friends,

 I have a couple of days off to decompress, so I’ll be back to tap the keyboard in anger, as Phil Ligget might say, on Friday.

Have a nice Ride Your Bike to Work week!

 Dave

Since American Christian Vande Velde of Slipstream-Chipotle claimed the maglia rosa in Stage 1 of the Giro d’Italia, it’s been all Italians in the country’s grand tour.

Well, all Italians and crashes …

Daniele Bennati won Stage 3, a 221km ride from Catania to…

Toyota-United riders took home $5,000 in prize money last week at the Tour of the Gila. All of that money is going to Fausto Esparza, who was paralyzed in a crash on the final stage of the race.

The team…

American Christian Vande Velde is in the maglia rosa after his team, Slipstream-Chipotle, won the team time trial in impressive fashion Saturday in the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia. 

Vande Velde led the five surviving argyle-clad Slipstream-Chipotle riders across the finishing line…

Ain’t it cool that Bike St. Louis has added 57 miles to its on-street trail system, for a total of 77 miles on top of the many car-free trails throughout the area?

If Bike St. Louis encourages more people to ride their…

The time stamp on this item shows 8 p.m., and that’s the time in El Paso, Texas, that Fausto Esparza’s family is gathering to pray the rosary tonight

So too are members of his extended family in Guadalajara, Mexico, and across the United States.

Perhaps…

This should be sobering to anyone who uses two wheels and public roads for transportation or fitness/enjoyment.

The headline pretty much speaks for itself, but among the injured cyclists were past and perhaps future Australian Olympians. Here’s a link to coverage…

With Americans prominent on Slipstream-Chipotle, CSC and Astana, Velonews.com previewed the Giro d’Italia and suggested that an American could end up in the maglia rosa Saturday after the Team Time Trial in the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia.

Velo…

Brad Huff of Springfield, Mo., will be back in action, starting today, at the Joe Martin Stage Race in Arkansas. The race concludes Sunday.

Huff, who went from Slipstream-Chipotle to Jelly Belly after last season, has been out all of this…

Then watch this video, and decide which of the protagonists you’d like to be — the stressed out guy in the suv or the cool cat on the bicycle.

--30--