The power of Lance is pretty awesome. It is felt not only in the cycling world where media and fans simply can't get enough of him. But, it transcends the sport of cycling and the cycling community to America and most of the rest of the developed world. One only needs to know that Armstrong has over one million followers on Twitter to see the power of Lance.

This past Sunday, I got to see the power of Lance. The Texan was scheduled to ride the Nevada City Bicycle Classic. His appearance caused quite a stir in the tiny Northern California town and a local TV station stepped in to broadcast the race live. Team BMC professional rider Scott Nydam was supposed to be the color commentator for the broadcast, but he got the call to fly to Aspen to train with Levi, Lance and Chris and was unable to provide his insights.

I was at the event covering it for cyclingnews.com and was asked to step in and take Scott's place.  I have done enough live radio and TV to know the drill so I agreed to get behind the camera. What was supposed to be just a local TV broadcast grew to epic proportions when Lance tweeted the web address for the broadcast. In an instant, our TV production was now a worldwide affair.  It was a lot of fun and I continue to get comments from people across America who listened and viewed the broadcast.

Switching gears a bit, I love putting photos in my blog, when interesting and appropriate, so in keeping with the Lance and Nevada City Bicycle Classic, here are several photos of Lance and Levi warming up before the race. Those with a keen eye will notice that they are riding all-black Madones and not their usual steeds painted in Team Astana colors. These are clearly prototype bikes.

It seems that Trek is about to announce an updated version of the Madone; the new models will be unveiled to the press and public just before the start of the Tour de France in Monaco. Of course, it is a bit of speculation, but it appears that Trek is going to address one of the concerns of the current design of the Madone by modifying the integral seat mast and clamping mechanism to allow some side-to-side play.

This new design will make it easier to insure that you can dial in the direction of the nose of the saddle to meet your desires. The Madone re-design may include other changes. Keep your eyes peeled at the end of next week for more details.

Bruce

Lance Armstrong won his first pro race since his comeback with a solo win at Sunday's Nevada City Bicycle Classic. Lance, Levi and Chris came to Northern California from their training camp in Aspen, looking to test their fitness and also ramp up the intensity a bit after multiple five to six hour rides in the Colorado high country. Long rides build and preserve endurance; the 90-minute effort at Nevada City was designed to add some snap.

The 1.3 mile criterium course is considered one of the most difficult in America with over 100 feet of climbing per lap. There is no place to hide and the pretenders are quickly separated from the contenders.  Lance and Levi attacked early on in the 90 minute/35 lap event and went clear with only Ben Jacques-Maynes(Bissell Pro Cycling) able to catch the train.

Lance and Levi did all the work on the front. Jacques-Maynes realizing that he was over matched by these two Tour de France veterans. With about 10 laps remaining Armstrong and Leipheimer started trading attacks, Ben finally had to let Lance go and suddenly, Armstrong was solo and looking very good for the win. The crowd erupted in applause for the seven-time Tour winner. Clearly, it was a very, very popular victory.

After the race I talked with Lance and Levi. Lance is looking extremely fit with nary an ounce of body fat on his frame.  He will be starting the Tour two kilos lighter than any of his seven victories in France crediting the hot weather and long, tough stages at the Giro, rather than Jenny Craig, for his trimmer self. A couple of weeks ago, I would have questioned his fitness to contend for the overall at the Tour. Now, I have to say that he looks ready to be very, very competitive.

Levi took some well-deserved time off after the Giro, but is now ramping up his training and feeling good though he did comment that it is hard to really gage ones fitness when you are training at 8000'.

If the Nevada City Bicycle Classic was any indication of what we will see in France, things are going to be looking very good for Team Astana and the three amigos.

Bruce

Tyler Hamilton received an eight year ban from the United States Anti-Doping Agency today effectively ending the 38 year-old's professional cycling career. Hamilton admitted in April that he had taken an over-the-counter anti-depressant that contained the banned substance DHEA. DHEA is a precursor for testosterone. At that time, he also announced that he has been fighting depression for a number of years which was the reason for taking the over-the-counter medication.

Hamilton's career has been marked by some very high highs and some very low lows. In 2002 he became only the second American to stand on the podium of the Giro d'Italia and the first American to win a classic, the Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2003. His Tour de France stage win in the same year, riding with a broken collarbone, was the stuff of legends.

Tyler's Olympic Gold Medal in the Time Trial at the 2004 Athens Games was, undoubtedly, the highlight of his career, but the low point occurred only a month later when he tested positive for non-homologous blood transfusion at the Vuelta a Espana. What followed was two years of trials and hearings which ultimately resulted in Hamilton receiving a two-year ban.

Tyler returned to racing in 2007 with the Italian Tinkov racing squad, but found a better place in 2008 with Michael Ball's Rock Racing team Last year he won the USPRO Road Championships meaning that in 2009, he would be sporting the coveted Stars and Stripes Captain America jersey when he competed. Unfortunately, he only got to wear that jersey in one race, the Amgen Tour of California, before being informed of his positive test at the end of February.

Tyler is one of the nicest persons you will ever meet. The best word to describe this premature end to his career is tragic. I hope that he will be able to rely on the support of his friends and family to fight his depression and move on to the next chapter in his life.

Bruce

The Cervelo Test Team was launched in 2009 by the original founders of the Cervelo bike company Phil White and Gerard Vroomen. While they do not currently hold a Pro Tour license, they are the number one ranked professional team in the world based on their results in the biggest races including four stage win a the recent Giro d'Italia.  The team includes 2008 Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre and Tour green jersey wearer Thor Hushovd, but recruits such as Heinrich Haussler, Serge Pauwels and Simon Gerrans have also performed well.

I caught up with Phil White and rider Simon Gerrans at the team bus after the Blockhaus stage.

Bruce: tell me about Carlos Sastre's win on Monte Petrano

Phil White: It was not scripted, but that was something we wanted to do. We figured that was a stage he could really excel on. It was similar to what he did last year on l'Alpe d'Huez. When everyone else is worn down he's just got more energy and can go longer than anyone else.  He's like the Energizer Bunny of cycling.

Bruce: what about Simon Gerrans' win at Bologna?

Phil White: It was a long day. That break worked super well together.  There was no scrapping, everyone pulled their weight and it just came down to who the strongest rider was. Gerrans is a strong rider.  We saw him win the Tour stage win and that is one reason we got him.

Bruce: how hard was it to build a team from scratch and get some credibility?

Phil White: I think the reputation of the team was initially that Carlos put his name to it then Thor.  Those guys brought credibility to the effort, but pretty soon those guys in the classics put their stamp on it and now it is not a team that is relying on two name riders. It is a team that has built its own reputation. Those guys came right out of the blocks and stamped their name on it a the Tour of Qatar.  It got the monkey off our back early so we could focus on moving ahead rather than feeling the pressure to win.

Bruce: was it hard to get the respect of the other teams in the Pro Peloton?

Phil White: I don't think anyone gives you respect just by showing up.  You have to earn it.  Luckily our guys earned it pretty hard and pretty solidly right from the start.  In pro cycling there is no such thing as an easy ride.  You have to earn your stripes and there is no way around that. We have good guys and they proved early on that they deserved the respect.

Bruce: how are things looking for the Tour?

Phil White:  I think we will be right in there for the Tour. The Giro is our grand tour debut.  I have a book where I have been making notes, and the sport directors have as well and it is pretty much full of little things we have to fix and improve.  That's how we are going to get better by focusing on the things we

can do better.

Simon Gerrans

Bruce: Take us through the finale of your win at Bologna.

Simon Gerrans: I think it was just basically survival of the breakaway; whoever could get to the top first. There was nothing too tactical about it. It was just who could get up the hill the fastest.

Bruce: it looked like the false flat halfway up took you by surprise.

Simon Gerrans: I didn't know the climb so that second ramp up to the finish was a bit of a surprise. Luckily I had a bit of gas in the tank for that.

It's hard to determine where Steve Larsen left a greater legacy. He was an accomplished road racer, riding in Europe in the mid-90's for the Motorola Professional Cycling team alongside Lance Armstrong and Andy Hampsten. He won a NORBA National Championship in 1998 and 2000 on the mountain bike. Who can forget his first ever Ironman triathlon winning and setting a course record at Lake Placid. Steve's awesome talent left its mark across a wide swath of endurance sports. If Steve was in the field, one thing was for certain, even if he didn't win, he made everyone else suffer trying to catch him.

Steve was also the consummate professional. He realized that his athletic prowess was the way he was going to put food on the table and went about trying to maximize his name and results. That's not a negative, it just indicates that Steve pursued the business side of the sport with the same skill and determination he used on the athletic side.

I knew Steve during all this phases, living and training with him and his Motorola teammates in Northern Italy, attending World Cup mountain bike races as a journalist and finally, watching him try to figure out how to train for the marathon portion of the triathlon without trashing his legs for cycling training.  The common denominator in all three were his determination to give his best and leave it all out on the road, trail or water.

Steve never really did figure out how to train for the marathon. He told me that he ran the final 26.2 miles of a triathlon on pure guts, no training whatsoever. That might seem reckless, but at the time, he was also racing professionally for the Webcor Builders cycling team and the running hurt his legs so badly he could not train on the bike for his "real" job.  The fact that Steve suffered his fatal injury while running a track workout seems a bit ironic.

In the 2001 Hawaii Ironman World Championships Steve was first off the bike, but suffered badly on the run and wound up 9th. While it might appear that the run was once again his undoing, Steve related to me that it was, in fact, all the water he swallowed during the swim finally catching up with him. Yes, Steve was really a biker first and foremost. Swimming and running were part of the job, but not part of the passion.

Off the bike, Steve and his wife Carrie opened a bike shop, Steve Larsen's Wheelworks, in his hometown of Davis, California. He sold the shop and relocate to Bend, Oregon five years ago and was working in commercial real estate. At only 39 years of age, he has left us way too early. Obviously, he will be sorely missed by his wife and their five children, but also by those of us who looked to Steve for inspiration on what could be accomplished once you set your mind to do it.

Visit http://www.rememberstevelarsen.com/ for more information on Steve's life and legacy.

Bruce

I stopped by the Team Astana bus during the Rome TT and spoke to Chechu Rubiera, Jani Brajkovic and Johan Bruyneel. Here is what they had to say on a variety of topics.

               Chechu Rubiera

Bruce: it appears that, for the TT, the race organizers found every bad section of cobbles in central Rome.

Chechu: Not just in Rome, the whole Giro. We should start a business in Italy with asphalt. It is a good thing. You could make money here. The whole Giro had cobblestones and it has been really tough. It is the Centenario(100th anniversary) and the route was very nice with places like Rome, Venice, Vesuvio, but it was pretty damned dangerous. We were lucky it didn't rain because if it did rain this race could have been a big mess.

Bruce: You keep threatening to retire. Is this your last Giro?

Chechu: Maybe my last one. I didn't feel very good. I trained hard and I did my best, but I was pretty far from the best guys. It was a little bit of a disappointment.

Bruce: Will we see you at the Tour?

Chechu: No. I will be doing the Vuelta and not the Tour.

               Jani Brajkovic

Bruce: how do you assess your performance in the Giro?

Jani: It was a pretty good Giro. I am pretty satisfied. We did a good job as a team also. I am not feeling super tired so I am happy. I was there to help Levi and Lance so I did that and I am happy about it.

Bruce: You seemed to excel as a climber in the Giro. Did you do anything special to become a better climber?

Jani: I think so far I have been quite a decent climber so I had no problems with that. I was not here to be a leader so there was no reason for me to go 100%. I tried to save as much energy as possible and use it on another day.

Bruce: what was it like riding for Lance and Levi?

Jani: Lance is incredible and Levi is also really strong. I am really happy to be racing with them. It is just incredible.

Bruce: for today's TT will you ride a road bike or a time trial bike?

Jani: Actually, I haven't decided yet. Maybe I will go on a road bike because I don't want to do it for the results. I just want to ride it because it is super-dangerous.

               Johan Bruyneel

Bruce: what positives for Team Astana do you take away from the Giro?

Johan: For us it has been a race where we didn't start with the obsession to win it or anything like that. We thought 'OK we want to have some good results', but we were not obsessed with winning it or having to have stage wins. Ultimately we are going to win the team classification. It is always a good indication of what the team performance is like.

Bruce: how do you feel about the performances of Levi and Lance?

Johan: I think Levi's sixth place is good. It's not great. We hoped for a little better, but his crash right before the time trial and the fact that he is on high form already since February makes it really difficult to maintain in the last week of the race. The last week of a big tour is always hard. We are happy with his performance at the end of three weeks.

Lance has improved considerably and is able to ride comfortably in the mountains.That is also a good thing we take away from it(the Giro). It has been a good three weeks.

Bruce: what does Lance need to do to be at top form for the Tour de France?

Johan: He needs some time. He needs another month now to have some good training in June. He'll be in good shape for the Tour. I don't know how good that can be to be with the best, but he will be in good shape.

Bruce