Candidates must have well-established experience in writing, editing, formatting and timely project management, as well as a firm understanding of all aspects of the sport of professional cycling — road, mountain, cyclocross and track.

Working closely with the editor-in-chief, the managing editor is responsible for the coordination, organization, control and completion of all aspects of editorial production, from raw material to finished publication, by maintaining effective communication among the editorial, design, production and ad sales departments.

Minimum skills required include a B.A. or advanced degree in journalism or related field, or equivalent work experience and working knowledge of Word, Excel and InCopy.

Essential skills include project management, attention to detail, communication, creativity, people skills, multitasking and decision making, all within a deadline-driven environment.

In addition, the ideal candidate is intimately familiar with acronyms such as UCI, USAC, ASO, WADA, NCCA, IMBA, HRM, LBS, TT, KPH, OTB, JRA and, of course, DFL.

The ideal candidate will be able to spell names like Frischknecht, Maaskant and Vinokourov from memory.

The ideal candidate can list off every winner of the last 20 Tours de France.

The ideal candidate is able to fix a flat tire in under 10 minutes, using only tire levers and a mini-pump.

One last thing — a sense of humor always helps.

To apply, click here. For a more detailed job description, contact Velo editor-in-chief Neal Rogers: nrogers(at)competitorgroup.com.

What Kenda says separates the Kountach from their other tires is the “Iron Cloak” flat protection, which only resides beneath the tread and not the entire casing as with some of their other tires. This is intended to give the tire a much more supple feel, while still giving the rider some peace of mind. This new technology, for Kenda, was tested and designed in part by the Kenda Pro Cycling team.

Out of the box, the tires are simple enough to the eye. They come in a variety of colors including white, green, red and all black. The more colorful options simply add a bit of auxiliary color on the shoulders of the tread, keeping the overall look relatively subtle. The white version we have in adds a nice bit of flair, though I do find the candy green a bit too eye-catching for my taste.

For some reason, Kenda has printed a “Dry Pavement” logo right next to an “All Weather” logo on the packaging. When we asked about this their product developer assured us that the tires are a fantastic all weather tire, and they handle the wet better than most of their other products. So the “Dry Pavement” logo appears to be superfluous, rather than a recommendation to keep the tires away from wet weather.

We will be testing the tires’ capabilities over the next few months. Check back to see how the Kountach really measures up.

According to the audit conducted by Ernst & Young commissioned by the UCI of more than three-dozen top teams reveals that budgets have increased across the board by 36.5 percent.

“It is very pleasing to see that the men’s professional cycling is prospering in these difficult times,” UCI President Pat McQuaid said in the release. “Most of the cyclists within the professional peloton can live very well, or at least comfortably, on their salaries thanks to the support of sponsors who invest in this sport. These sponsors are attracted by the extremely good visibility cycling provides them throughout the year.”

The UCI claimed in a press release Monday that “this result shows that cycling is in a healthy position and resisting the effects of the current global economic downturn.”

According to the audit, in 2009, the total budget for the 39 professional men’s teams was 235 million euros. In 2012, there are 40 professional teams (18 UCI ProTeams and 22 UCI Professional Continental Teams) with a total budget of 321 million euros, representing an increase of 36 percent.

The UCI claimed “that the investment by sponsors continues to increase as they demonstrate their support for the sport of cycling. In 2012, there are 61 principal sponsors for the 40 professional teams, providing 73 percent of the teams’ revenue. This figure increases to 95 percent when grouped with the remaining sponsors.”

The numbers did not reveal the range in budgets for individual teams, as there’s a growing gap between the super teams — such ProTeam squads as Team Sky, BMC and Astana, which boast budgets in excess of 15 million euros per year, to smaller teams, such as Euskaltel-Euskadi, which have a budget of 7 million euros.

The UCI also claims that the average annual salary of a rider with a UCI ProTeam has risen from 190,000 euros in 2009 to 264,000 euros in 2012.

The NetApp rider said that long-term problems with colitis have long prevented him from performing above half of his potential and said that getting back to full health is his first priority.

“For too long now I have been struggling with colitis,” Cozza said on the team’s web site. “I am getting better at managing it but at this point it is not improving fast enough for me to continue at this professional level in the sport of cycling.

“I love the sport of cycling so to only be able to perform at 50 percent of my best because of my health has been very frustrating. I miss the rider I use to be – the aggressive one attacking nonstop throughout the race,” he continued. “Therefore, I have made a really tough decision to change my focus away from racing. I have to get my body and my health right – that’s all that counts. But in the end I can be proud because I know I gave it my best until the end.”

Cozza, 26, turned pro in 2007 and rode for four seasons with Garmin, earning some solid results in Europe in one-day races such as Milan-San Remo and other small stage races. Last season, he joined NetApp, helping the upstart team gain some credibility with race organizers. Lingering health problems took the wind out of his sails, however, and he felt he just couldn’t carry on.

“Steven was so crucial for helping our young team to advance. After our first year he was brave enough to believe in our ambitious plans. I take my hat off to this very private decision to pause the stressful side of life and to recharge his batteries,” says Ralph Denk, Team NetApp team manager.

Last Friday’s opening time trial in Putrajaya gave us a tempter, whetting our appetites. Although the course was on wide, smooth roads and mostly flat save for a three kilometer uphill drag, it provided a clue of who was in form in late February. After all, when has the race of truth ever lied?

2003 champion, Tom Danielson (Garmin-Barracuda) performed best out of the GC contenders of note, 1:11 behind teammate and stage winner Dave Zabriskie – but six seconds ahead of him was a dark horse in the guise of Darren Lapthorne (Drapac-Porsche).

The Australian tragically lost his sister in puzzling circumstances when her badly decomposed body was found in a nearby bay off the Croatian city of Dubrovnik on October 6, 2008, and the accumulated grief he and his family suffered was enough to see him temporarily retire from the sport. Thankfully Lapthorne decided to come back, and told me after finishing third in the TT that after much introspection, he’s rediscovered his love for the bike and bike racing; better still, it appears he’s found the form of his life.

2010 champ, José Rujano (Androni Giocattoli) also rode very well, just 10 seconds behind Danielson in the 20.3-kilometer test of time. His teammates José Serpa and Jonathan Monsalve, respective 2009 and 2011 champions, conceded 1:06 and 1:20 to Danielson – not impossible to recoup but if Tommy D is in angelic climbing form as is his wont, then near-impossible.

Since then, the last three days has been the Andrea Guardini Show. All other acts have been postponed, cancelled, or relegated to the cutting room floor.

As he was last year, the Farnese Vini-Selle Italia rider is proving a dominant force at Langkawi, taking a record-equaling five stages in 2011 and appears well on his way to matching, if not breaking, his feat of yesteryear. However like Graeme Brown, the only other rider who has captured a quintet of stages in one race here in Malaysia (which he accomplished in 2005), Guardini has so far struggled in his ability to convert success at this level to the next.

He came here via the tours of Qatar and Oman and finished well short in both (last year he won the fifth stage in Qatar but his best this year was eighth on Stage 5 of Qatar and seventh on Stage 3 in Oman). Some have likened him to world champ and Sunday’s victor of K-B-K, Mark Cavendish, but with respect, it is more to do with his stature and vocation as a field sprinter than his outright speed against the world’s very best.

Cav’ he may one day be, but not for a while yet. Aged 21, he has time aplenty to improve.

There is still one more stage before D-Day strikes Wednesday, stage 6 commencing outside the Santorini-white-and-blue Shah Alam mosque. Some may well need to say their prayers before departure for what lies ahead is not pretty – particularly if you do not have a proclivity towards hills, and big ones.

I’m predicting a showdown on the Langkawi Corral between Danielson and Rujano, the latter’s team enviably stacked with climbers who therefore have a number of cards to play. It is the Coloradan and his Garmin-Barracuda sport director Allan Peiper’s job to ascertain that which is fake and which is real – or alternatively, launch a sucker punch of his own and ride up, up and away with the win.

Compared to the majority of years past when this mother of a climb has been included, the Genting Highlands leg comes earlier than usual. If the leader board is tightly packed and separated by just a handful of seconds after stage 6, it means that is still possible to launch a successful tactical offensive at whoever’s mellow in yellow.

Those more than a minute in arrears, however, must deploy Operation Kitchen Sink if they want to win.

Realizing life in advertising was nothing like Mad Men and buoyed by the Olympic Games in his Australian hometown of Sydney, Anthony Tan turned his back on a lucrative copywriting career in 2000 in pursuit of something more cerebral. Combining wordsmithing with his experiences as an A-Grade club racer and an underwhelming season competing in Europe, a career as a cycling scribe beckoned… More than a dozen Grand Tours and countless Classics later, it’s where he still is today. He has been a contributor to VeloNews since 2006. In 2010, he won Cycling Australia’s media award for best story. Follow him on Twitter: @anthony_tan

PARIT SULONG, Malaysia (VN) – Taking to the helm of China’s first-ever Pro Continental squad and the expectations and scrutiny that it brings would be considered by many to be an unenviable task.

However Ed Beamon, one of the most experienced sport directors to come out of the States, tells VeloNews he’s relishing the opportunity as team manager of Champion System and the challenge of grooming Chinese riders into athletes that will one day be competitive on the WorldTour.

To achieve his goal, Beamon has recruited a number of experienced non-Chinese professionals including Jaan Kirsipuu, Cameron Wurf, Craig Lewis and Aaron Kemps, so they can pass on their knowledge, slowly transforming promising Chinese riders from neophytes to bona fide winners.

No doubt, if it is to one day happen, it will be a gradual metamorphosis. But if there’s one thing you should never tell the Chinese and the money and power they bring, it’s that they can’t do something.

Editor’s note: Several paragraphs have been removed at the author’s request

Just back from breakfast, lying on the bed. Imagine a giant anaconda having just swallowed an adult goat and you’ll get the idea. At these tours you quickly learn to take a serious dislike to eating, because it isn’t for pleasure anymore, but rather for the basic purpose of refueling. Like geese being force-fed to produce foie-gras, we sit there and stuff ourselves every chance we get, on bad pasta, dry rice and copious mounds of bread, the likes of which haven’t been seen on a plate since the Eastern Bloc fell.

We are in Malaysia now. I’m reposing listening to Start Dude, who is 13 stories below and a kilometer away and kicking it out on the street, blasting through his repertoire on the mic and what might be the world’s most powerful speakers. Start Dude is a guy that somehow magically appears at the stage start of all UCI Asia Pro Tour events. He is generally almost as wide as he is tall and has a mustache and a head full of pomade and fake Oakleys and wears a very bright shirt that could double as a beach wind-breaker for a small family of four. There is, it seems, a version of him in every country on the Asia Tour and they can be programmed to speak that country’s language perfectly, and very very loudly.

He says things like ‘WEEEEEEEELCOME TO THE START HERE IN PATABUKAY HEY HEY HEY HEY! Everybody scream INDONESIA-A-A-A-A-A-A at the top of your lungs like me! Let’s damage some tympanic membranes!”

Tarmac shifts underfoot. Birds fall from the sky. Clouds recede.

It’s just what you need when you’ve been standing on the start line under an already burning sun for ten minutes, and its so loud that it can, if you’re the lucky rider standing nearest the truck-size speakers, permanently separate vertebrae. I once saw a rider crumple into a puddle of flesh after all his bones got powderized after a particularly hearty ‘Hey Hey Hey HEEEEEEEEEEEEY!’

I apologize for the cynicism. I’m grumpy. I don’t know why, I’m not usually like this. It might be a case of I’m-A-Racer (IAR) Syndrome. This particularly pathetic condition afflicts many, if not all, riders at some point in the season, and a few unfortunate souls exhibit persistent signs of the disease.

It is also known more commonly as ‘being-an-a**hole’. Symptoms include chewing the soigneur’s ear off when she hands you a Coke that has been chilled for less than ten minutes, shouting ‘Who’s moved my f***ing sunglasses?!’ at no one in particular, pre-race, when in fact they are in your back pocket, and seriously contemplating killing the guy in front with a jackhammer before burning his body with a lighter and a can of WD40 because he took ‘your’ line. Also inherent in sufferers is a need to complain about everything, all the time.

In particularly bad cases, focus becomes narrowed until a point is reached where you, and only you, seem to exist. All other beings become inconsequential, they serve merely to irritate and to prohibit you from becoming the legend you so obviously are and would be, if only everyone else would realize and bow down at your feet to offer praise and get you what you want. Right now.

So either I have a dose of IAR, or am just tired. After all this racing and the traveling, I am hoping it’s the latter…

Seeing as this is a diary of the Tour de Langkawi, I guess I should talk about the racing a little. First day was a 20.3km ITT. I am not too bad a time trialist and yet a certain fella by the name of Zabriskie opened up his lungs and put a minute into second place (which was in fact a wicked ride by Drapac’s Adam Phelan) and 2:48 into me.

Sobering.

I was hoping against all reasonable expectation for top 20, but thinking top 30 might be doable, so 44th was somewhat of a disappointment. The heart willed but the legs were having none of it. Still, what do we do when we get a firm bit of boot leather slammed into our teeth? Get up and ask for more, naturally.

Day 2, I was up for it, so up for it, in fact, that I launched the first attack. I love the Utterly Pointless Gesture. I am, you might say, a master of it. Needless to say I got slapped back into the peloton soon after. The usual madcap attacking ensued for the next 20km until a very strong Drapac dude and OCBC’s Loh went clear, poor buggers! I say that only half in jest because I wanted to be up there with them, but man, working all day in this heat is not to be taken lightly.

Back to Stage 2, we start to close in on the break, 20km to go and they have just under a minute. I decide to attack, what the heck, I will not be figuring in any sprint, and I hate the nervy finishes. I launch out of the pack, a veritable rocket! I’m flying! ‘Look at him go!’ I hear the locals whisper in shuddering awe as I ride away, I get three hundred meters from the bunch and it is a certainty, I’m away! And then  — flat tire.

Deflating.

So I get a replacement, chase back on, work up to the front and what do I do? I attack again. See what I mean about my infatuation with The Pointless Gesture? I bridge up to the two leaders and hit the front and, to be honest, we make a pretty decent go of it.

They were exhausted so I did most of the work and we got close to a minute and a half with about 9km to go but inevitably, we were closed down. All over with 3.5km to go.

Felt pretty great though, leading in on the run in.

Guardini won, reaffirming his affinity with the Tour de Langkawi and proving that the suffering he did in Oman and Qatar did pay off.

And yeah, that’s about that from the first two days at Langkawi. So far, pretty fun. Everyone is waiting for Genting though, the mythical climb, later in the week. I shall endeavor to persevere.

Ciao!

Garmin – Barracuda’s Raymond Kreder tried to get past him, but Guardini was too strong. He punched the air in celebration of what is his seventh stage victory in two years, and increased his grip on the blue points classification jersey.

Kreder took second, with Malaysian favourite Anuar Manan (Champion System) netting third.

The sprint happened after a long distance break was hauled back inside the final twenty kilometers. The last to persist were Shinichi Fukushima (Terrengganu Cycling Team) and Taiji Nishitani (Aisan Racing Team), who had won into Parit Sulong two years ago.

However the main field was too strong, its chase paving the way for the big gallop to the line.

“There was a king of the mountains prize with ten kilometers to go,” Guardini said after the finish.  “Colnago tried to make the race hard, they tried to stay in the bunch, leaving me behind. But my team got me back and, like always, they were trying hard to do exactly what I wanted. I can savor their good job.”

Stage one time trial winner Dave Zabriskie suffered in the heat like the rest of the peloton, but had no other problems and finished in the main bunch. He continues in the yellow jersey of race leader, maintaining his one minute lead over Adam Phelan and one minute ten on the Phelan’s Drapac Cycling team-mate Darren Lapthorne.

“It was crazy hot out there today – it’s hot at the Tour, but there’s a humidity as well that’s very hard. It’s tough on the body, but its also hard to breathe,” Zabriskie said.  “This is my first race and I’m still setting into it, but hopefully I’ll be okay by Genting.”

His team-mate Tom Danielson, who started the day fourth overall, fell heavily close to the end and was last across the line.

He finished seven minutes 40 seconds behind Guardini and the peloton, but because the incident happened inside the final three kilometres, he was credited with the same time as the other riders and maintains his high general classification position.

He said on Twitter afterwards that he had very bad road rash on his right hand side, but was otherwise okay.

Aggressive beginning to stage 

All 129 finishers from yesterday lined out for this morning’s start of the third stage in Melaka, with the riders who went down in crashes yesterday all able to continue. That list of fallen riders includes second place overall, Adrian Phelan, who received stitches to his leg but was otherwise not too badly affected.

Like Danielson today, his crash yesterday fortunately took place inside the final three kilometers, thus ensuring he didn’t lose time to the other GC contenders.

Early on, Shinichi Fukushima (Terrengganu Cycling Team) and Suhardi Hassan (Malaysian national team) went clear, but were reeled in. A few more riders then tried their luck, but everything was together twenty kilometres into the 187.6 kilometre stage.

Almost immediately, though, four riders clipped away and started building a solid lead. The group was comprised of RTS Sport rider Alex Coutts, a persistent Fukushima, Ahmad Lutfi M. Fauzan and Taiji Nishitani (Aisan Racing Team); the latter was particularly motivated, as he won into today’s finishing town two years ago with a perfectly timed sprint.

After 31 kilometres of racing, the quartet out front were forty seconds clear of Xue Ming Xing (Max Success Sports) and Wijaya Endra (Indonesia), who were trying to get across. The peloton was one minute 37 seconds back and losing ground.

Zabriskie’s Garmin-Barracuda team was setting the pace and initially gave the break some leeway. After one hour of racing, 43.5 kilometers covered, the peloton was four and a half minutes back; the two chasers were two minutes down, and thus looking highly unlikely to get across.

The primes begin:

There were a total of three intermediate sprints and one mountain prime on today’s mainly flat stage. The first of those was in Tangkak, 51.9 kilometers after the start and was taken by Fukushima ahead of Fauzan, Nishitani and Coutts.

At that point, the two chasers were three minutes back and facing a hopeless cause to reach the front. The peloton was four minutes 15 seconds behind, and caught the duo soon afterwards. However, the group continued to lose time to the leaders, who surpassed five minutes’ advantage at the 69 kilometer point.

Nishitani had started the day three minutes and seven seconds back and so he was firmly race leader on the road. Fauzan won the intermediate sprint at Labis (km 119.3), but was pipped by Nishitani to take the next in Chaah (km 136).

The pendulum had swung, though, and the gap there was down to three minutes 50 seconds. Fauzan felt that the cause was a hopeless one and sat up, waiting for the bunch.

The others persisted and actually succeeded in extending their lead for some time, bringing the gap back up to four minutes and two seconds. However it started to drop again very soon after with 40 kilometers left, had nibbled it back to three minutes 20 seconds.

The advantage continued to erode and fell below a minute with over the twenty kilometers. Coutts was dropped soon after that, leaving Fukushima and Nishitani out front alone. The two Japanese gave it everything to try to stay away, but they were caught before the summit of the category four Bukit Belah, which hit its high point 10.9 kilometers from the end.

There, the Colnago team did what it could to put Guardini under pressure. However, he remained calm and stayed in contact, then moved back into position before blasting home for stage win number seven of his career.

Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin-Barracuda) outkicked his compatriot Tom Boonen (Omega Parma-Quick Step) to win the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the opening race of the Belgian season. It was Vanmarcke’s first victory as a professional.

In the final meters, the 23-year-old found himself in a three-man sprint against two of the biggest names in the sport — Boonen and former Omloop winner Juan Antonia Flecha (Sky). Boonen, clearly the strongest of the three in a sprint, launched his final sprint a bit too early. “I launched a long sprint because I knew that in the last 200 meters there were two corners where it would have been difficult to pass, but I miscalculated the effort,” Boonen said.

Boonen had earlier launched a big attack on the Taaienberg — one of his favorite climbs in Belgium — with just over 55km remaining. Vanmarcke caught on as did Matthew Hayman (Sky), Matti Breschel (Rabobank), Thor Hushovd (BMC), Flecha and Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quickstep). Philippe Gilbert was behind when he flatted and lost contact.

With 40km to go, Boonen’s group caught the two leaders, Sven Vandousselaere and Lieuwe Westra. Vanmarcke quickly launched a vicious attack on the Molenberg with 37km to go and Boonen was able to match him and catch back on. Hushovd, Breschel, Hayman, Flecha and Devenyns rejoined after dropping Vandousselaere and Westra.

Vanmarcke attacked a second time, this time unhinging both Hushovd and Breschel, with 30km to go, on the Paddestraat. His persistent accelerations eventually dropped Devenyns and Hayman too.

Boonen, Vanmarcke, and Flecha were very cautious going into the final meters, each carefully looking over his shoulders. When Boonen finally went, Flecha and Vanmarcke jumped on his wheel, but Boonen ran out of gas with 50 meters to go and Vanmarcke notched the win. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. I beat Tom Boonen, my big hero,” said an emotional Vanmarcke.

Boonen was upbeat and very congratulatory towards his fellow Belgian. “At 80 meters from the finish my sprint was over, I had no more power in my legs. I had also a cramp on my right leg. It’s a pity but I was beaten by a good rider who deserved the victory.
“Omloop is always a difficult race and even in the past we had few surprises,” Boonen said. “In any case, my condition is good. On the Taaienberg I attacked and the feeling was really good. I have time to improve leading up to Paris-Nice. The classics are far yet. Even the team was super today. Dries did a great job for me and Chavanel was great before the Taaienberg. In general the guys were super today.”

MELAKA, Malaysia (VN) – It has been two years since Alex Howes’ breakthrough 2009 season, which saw him crowned as the U.S. under-23 road and criterium champion.

While he may not have posted results of note on the board last year, the lanky resident of Boulder, Colorado says last season was one of his best and most consistent, and this year he is aiming to replicate, if not build, upon that.

His racing time begins now at the Tour de Langkawi, where Howes is one of five Garmin-Barracuda riders aiming to help leader Tom Danielson emulate what he did in 2003, when the Durango Kid took control of this race and became an overnight sensation.

“It’s really special for me to take my first win and for us to win the first European race of the season to continue our winning streak,” said Gunnewijk. “We have a really good spirit and work ethic in the team. Everyone wants to work for the leader in any given race. We’re happy to race as a team, and this is obvious in our results.”

GreenEdge had a straightforward plan for the day.

“We decided that I should be kept safe in the final,” explained Gunnewijk. “The ideal situation would give me one or two teammates in a front group so that we could play with several options. We succeeded pretty well in following this plan.”

A large, nervous field rode together for the first 50 kilometers. They covered two of the seven climbs on course without any major attacks.

“We wanted to ride easy and stay safe in the first half of the race,” Gunnewijk noted. “Other teams seemed to have this idea, too.”

A group of 12 formed on the Côte de Trieu, the day’s third climb, and GreenEdge put three riders in the move. Tiffany Cromwell and Amanda Spratt joined Gunnewijk up the road.

“We were the only team to have three in the breakaway,” said Gunnewijk. “We worked well together in the break. It was a hard day.”

Gunnewijk launched her winning move on the second to last cobbled section.

“Twenty kilometres before the finish, I attacked on the cobblestones, and I immediately got a gap,” Gunnewijk explained. “I rode alone for five kilometres, and then Ellen came up to me. We shared the work until the finish and I beat her in a sprint to the line.”

GreenEdge will continue it’s European campaign on Wednesday with Le Samyan.

The 22-year-old picked up five out of the ten stages last season and is aiming to take a number of victories again in the Malaysian race.

He sped home into Melaka in front of Jacobe Keough (UnitedHealthcare), Christian Delle Stelle (Colnago-CSF Inox) and the rest of the main field; he said afterwards that it was good to be back on top. 

“I needed to come back to Malaysia to be a winner again,” he said. “This is my fourth stage race of the year and I didn’t manage to win any stage in the first three. That was partly because of bad luck and partly because my adversaries were stronger than me.
“I wanted to win from the start in Argentina, but I couldn’t. Now I have found the serenity that I needed in Malaysia. It is easier for me to be quiet. I have managed to win here on the first occasion. Thanks to my team-mates who put me in the right position to sprint.”

Overnight race leader Dave Zabriskie had no major scares during the stage and easily retained his yellow jersey. He has a one minute lead over Adam Phelan (Drapac Cycling), who crashed just inside the final three kilometres and ended up finishing last on the stage. Fortunately for the Austrian, the location of the incident meant that he didn’t lose any time.

Zabriskie was happy to steer out of problems on the 151 kilometer stage and credited the Garmin-Barracuda riders as being of big importance in doing that. “I expected very hot conditions here and it was very hot indeed. I just wanted to say thank you to the team, who did an amazing job today controlling the race. It is great to be in the jersey again.”

The second stage began in Putrajaya, close to the location of yesterday’s time trial. Sea Keong Loh (OCBC Singapore) attacked after ten kilometres and was joined soon after by Foris Goesinnen (Drapa Cycling). Together, they quickly opened 30 seconds.
Soon after, Zinal Mohammad Nor Rizuan (Malaysia national team) started chasing and tried to get across to the others.
At the first sprint at Salak Tinggi, 22.5 kilometers after the start, Sea Keong Loh took the points ahead of Goesinnen. Rizuan was still chasing along while back in the bunch, two minutes behind the leaders, Anuar Manan (Champion System) led the peloton across the line for fourth.

Goesinnen was first to the top of the category four climb at Bkt Pelandok, 38.2 kilometers into the stage. He led Sea Keong Loh across the line there, while behind Rizuan continued to chase alone.

Colombian climber Freddy Gonzalez (Azad University) was first from the bunch, netting fourth place there.
The two leaders rode well together and raced on towards the day’s second intermediate sprint at Port Dickson (km 62.6). Sea Keong Loh finished ahead of Goesinnen, while behind Rizuan was about to be closed up by the peloton, but just held on for third ahead of Salleh Harrif (Terengganu). His break ended very soon afterwards.

A time check eight kilometers later put the two leaders three minutes 44 seconds ahead as they raced towards the category four climb of Linggi. Their advantage went up to four minutes fifteen soon afterwards, the highest level they would have on the day.

After two hours of racing, the leaders had covered 86km, and still had 55km remaining. The Garmin team had been doing the chasing up until this point, and were later joined by some from the Farnese team of Andrea Guardini.

This collaboration had the desired effect on the gap, and it was down to just over one minute with 25km left. RTS Racing rider Lee Rodgers seized the chance and bridged across, but the gap continued to drop and was down to 29 seconds with 10km to go.
The bunch made the junction approximately 5km later and from there to the line the various sprinters’ teams did what they could to put their fastest riders into place. Farnese Vini did things perfectly, giving Guardini the perfect leadout from which to reach the sixth Langkawi stage of his short career.

Race organizers said in a communiqué Friday that a reduction in funding from the regional Basque government is threatening to see two of cycling’s most colorful and hotly contested races disappear under the growing pressures from Spain’s economic crisis.

“After 51 editions of the Vuelta and 31 of the Clásica, this year (2012) could be the disappearance of our races from the map of
international cycling and its maximum category, the WorldTour,” said Jaime Ugarte Arce, president and general coordinator of Organizaciones Ciclistas Euskadi, which runs both races.

Ugarte said in the statement that the Basque government couldn’t afford to completely fund what would be an option to back both races for one more year from a four-year deal penned in 2009. Facing intense pressure to reduce spending across the board in light of Spain’s economic crisis, government officials said they could only pay 60 percent of what it paid over the past three years.

Ugarte said that the Vuelta al País Vasco, set for the first week of April, is all set to go, but threatened that if more backing is not found for the Clásica, which is usually held the week after the Tour de France, but this year scheduled for August 14, both races could be cancelled.

“With this difference, we cannot guarantee the Vuelta or the Clásica, as there are contracts with Eurovision and ETB that are based on both races and that you cannot separate,” he said.

Basque Country government officials agreed in 2009 to step up and help race organizers fund the two races in order to give them time to find private-sector sponsors. Ugarte said nothing is confirmed, despite lengthy talks with several potential sponsors.

“We made several proposals to potential sponsors and hopes faded yesterday of one potential backer; they said no,” he said. “A huge disappointment.”

Ugarte also said with the uncertainty of what will happen in 2012,they could not meet UCI requirements to assure them a place on the 2013 WorldTour calendar, throwing more cold water on the future of both races.

Spanish cycling has taken a huge hit over the past few years as one of the worst economic crises in the nation’s history has pushed Spain to the brink of bankruptcy. Unemployment tops 23 percent nationwide and government officials confirmed this week that Spain would slip back into recession in 2012.

At the macro-level, federal and regional governments are under huge pressure from the European Union to meet strict deficit limits in order to satisfy international creditors and keep Spain from following Greece into bankruptcy.

At the local level, Spanish race organizers are feeling the pinch. With fewer and fewer sponsorship dollars available from the private sector, organizers have turned to government entities to equal their balance sheets. Many races have been forced to reduce their number of race days, with the Murcia and Castilla y León races both shrinking from five to three days.

Other races have completely disappeared, including the Volta a Valencia, Setmana Catalana, stage races in Aragon and La Rioja as well as the Basque Country’s other stage race, the Euskal Bizikleta, in 2009. Other events, such as the Ruta del Sol and the Volta a Catalunya, are barely hanging on, thanks to regional government backing.

Race organizers are hoping that by going public with their troubles they can find a sponsor to step forward to assure the future of the two historic races.

At the beginning of her third year with the Twenty12 squad, VeloNews.com sat down with McGrath to catch up on where the University of Tennessee Exercise Physiology graduate has been and what is in store for 2012.

VN: How did you get into cycling?

KM: I played two sports as a collegiate athlete, soccer and swimming. My senior year I had a big knee injury. I dislocated my knee backwards. As I started to come back from that I needed another surgery and after that they said get on a bike. At that point I had decided I was going to go to medical school. I was already graduated and I needed a couple of prerequisite courses. I was back home at the time and I enrolled at Fort Lewis [College, in Durango, Colorado]. The school was like, “Hey, come race for us.”

VN: So did you put med school on hold?

KM: I actually cancelled medical school interviews because I signed a contract with Colavita for ’08.

VN: Why don’t you have any results in 2010?

KM: I got hit by a truck at the end of 2009. So all of 2010 was recovery from that.

VN: How do you put your annual racing program together?

KM: I work with my coach Simon (Cope, Exergy-Twenty12’s director sportif) and then Jackson (Stewart) with the national team to make the program that will best help me with my goals.

VN: Will you go to Europe again this year?

KM: Oh yeah. I’m on the Olympic long team. I’ll go to Europe right after Redlands for a month. (After 2010) last year my result at Flèche was like, OK, alright, I’m back!

VN: Do the fans on the Mur de Huy climb affect you when you are racing Flèche Wallonne?

KM: Oh my gosh, they are insane! I’ve never experienced anything like that. It’s just a wall of noise. It’s motivating for sure. At Flanders, you have the individual hecklers, but at Flèche you can’t even pick anything individual out. When you enter that wall, the energy is just unreal. It’s special.

VN: The Mur de Huy is a 20-percent pitch in some parts; on your final time up for the finish at the top, how did you approach it?

KM: I have actually been very lucky to train with Bob Roll a lot. So he gave me a few tips on what he’s seen as a commentator on what works and does not work — and as a racer. Basically, he knew Marianne Vos would go gonzo from the beginning. I didn’t have the fitness quite yet, or the experience, to do that for a K and a half, so my plan really was to just ride my own race and not pay attention to anyone.

VN: Talk about the Aspen Snowmass Women’s Pro Challenge last year, where you won a stage and placed third overall.

KM: Jessica (van Garderen, the race founder and organizer, and a Exergy-Twenty12 teammate) did an awesome job. It was top notch. I mean, the podiums, everything about it — we just felt like true professionals. And now having the Exergy Tour all to ourselves, those two races are going to be amazing. I think Jessica is doing it in a very savvy way. I mean, having us go up Independence Pass before the men. Show the spectators what it’s all about and they will see first hand: we are not going up that much slower than the guys.

VN: Are you working, too?

KM: Now I’m just riding. I’m lucky enough to focus this year with the addition of the team house (in Boise, Idaho) which takes away paying rent.

VN: How have you seen your team evolve over the three years that you have been with it?

KM: It’s been really cool because from the gun (team founders) Nicola (Cranmer) and Kristin (Armstrong) have had just such a clear goal and have been very vocal about that goal. They made very, very calculated decisions every step of the way and so it’s cool to see it just keep evolving. They are following through on the goals they have set and the things that they have promised. It’s been cool to be a part of it because it’s such a unique program.

VN: What makes it unique?

KM: It’s not a business. I mean, it is but it isn’t. We are treated like athletes and like human beings. Some programs are so results driven, and the athletes’ best interests aren’t always kept in mind, and here they are, and every sponsor is told that. We are not chasing to win the NRC. We are building Olympic champions, world champions, national champions. And to do that, our riders have to be in Europe half the year (riding for the US National team). So that means we are going to have a skeleton team at some NRC races, or we are just going to skip them because half the team will be in Europe. It’s so cool that some of these spring races that we are going to be at, there is going to be five Exergy girls on the national team. I mean, come on, that’s awesome.

VN: What would you tell an up-and-coming American rider about the difference between a domestic race like Redlands and the Tour of Flanders?

KM: Definitely in Europe because you are pulling from all the countries, the peloton that toes the line is bigger. It’s bigger and the talent is deeper. It tends to be game on from the gun. And the roads are really narrow, so bike handling skills and your ability to ride in the pack makes a much bigger difference over there than it does here. Because here, our roads are so wide and you can move up whenever you want and you can get to the front pretty easily. Over there, if you make your way to the back, especially at a race like Flanders, good luck getting back to the front.

VN: Was that intimidating for you at first?

KM: Oh god, yeah! My first race over there was the Giro della Toscana at the end of the year. It’s the week before worlds so everyone is really, really fit, doing their fine tuning. I got thrown into that race with Kristin Armstrong and she had just won the Gold medal (at the Beijing Olympics time trial). All these vets — it was really intimidating. But it’s so cool, because they showed me the ropes, and hopefully now I can do the same for younger riders.

Honestly, the first races that you do in Europe, it’s just stimulation overload. The riders ride a lot closer because the roads are narrower. And there is so much more action going on that your brain is working as hard as your body is. So when you finish it, you are mentally and physically exhausted from the stimulation of being in a different culture with the languages and then the racing. I think you learn a whole lot your first time over there. And you are able to come back and you are just like, OK, I survived that!

VN: If you had a magic wand, what would you change about pro cycling?

KM: I guess I would change the media and try and get the focus on the positive stories more. I get it. It’s human interest. But I meet someone on an airplane and they see my jacket and they ask me what I do. And the first thing that they want to know about is doping. I’m like, there are so many cooler things to know! I’m sad that you only know about that; the one thing that you think you know about cycling is that we are all on drugs. It’s unfortunate because it puts a negative stigma around the sport when there are 20 more happy, positive stories compared to one doping case and the one doping case will make the headlines.

VN: For example?

KM: Gosh, the education level in the women’s peloton. It’s phenomenal. Heather (Sprenger, McGrath’s Exergy teammate) has a PhD. Every team’s got at least one PhD or doctor on it. There’s a high education level, but the thing about women’s cycling is that the money isn’t there. So you do know these athletes are doing it purely out of passion.

VN: Why does women’s cycling draw so many riders with graduate degrees?

KM: It takes a lot of individual time at home motivating yourself to get in the miles day in and day out. That’s a lot harder thing to do than to show up at a scheduled practice. Just thinking of my college soccer practices, I was told I needed my cleats on by this time on the field, I was handed my schedule for the day and then I was walked through a practice that somebody else scheduled. In cycling I do have a coach who sends me my workouts and I am responsible to that coach. But at the end of the day I set my schedule, I have to get the miles in, I have to get the workout in and I have to hold myself accountable for getting the workout in. And so I think that there is a certain type of person that that attracts and, (laughing) those type of people tend to be overachievers in all walks of life.

• 1. David ZABRISKIE , (USA) Grm in 24:34
• 2. Adam Phelan , (AUS) Dpc +1:00
• 3. Darren LAPTHORNE , (AUS) Dpc +1:10
• 4. Thomas DANIELSON , (USA) Grm +1:17
• 5. José RUJANO GUILLEN , (VEN) And +1:26
• 6. Joseph COOPER , (NZL) Nzl +1:31
• 7. Dmitriy GRUZDEV , (KAZ) Ast +1:33
• 8. Alexsandr DYACHENKO , (KAZ) Ast +1:39
• 9. Nathan HAAS , (AUS) Grm +1:39
• 10. Behnam KHALILIKHOSROSHAHI , (IRI) Tpt +1:46
• 11. Artem OVECHKIN , (RUS) Rvl +1:51
• 12. Yohann GENE , (FRA) Euc +1:52
• 13. Floris GOESINNEN , (NED) Dpc +1:56
• 14. Alfredo BALLONI , (ITA) Far +1:57
• 15. Craig LEWIS , (USA) Css +1:57
• 16. Alessandro DE MARCHI , (ITA) And +2:00
• 17. Adrian HEGYVARI , (USA) Uhc +2:02
• 18. Ghader MIZBANI IRANAGH , (IRI) Tpt +2:12
• 19. Roman VAN UDEN , (NZL) Nzl +2:12
• 20. Malcom RUDOLPH , (AUS) Dpc +2:13
• 21. Carlos José OCHOA , (VEN) And +2:14
• 22. Christophe KERN , (FRA) Euc +2:21
• 23. Jose Rodolfo SERPA PEREZ , (COL) And +2:22
• 24. Meran RUSSAN , (ERI) Mtn +2:23
• 25. Jacques JANSE VAN RENSBURG , (RSA) Mtn +2:23
• 26. Hossein ASKARI , (IRI) Tpt +2:24
• 27. Jonathan CLARKE , (AUS) Uhc +2:25
• 28. Adam SEMPLE , (AUS) Dpc +2:28
• 29. Jackson RODRIGUEZ , (VEN) And +2:28
• 30. Jani TEWELDE WELDEGABER , (ERI) Mtn +2:30
• 31. Won Jae LEE , (KOR) Sct +2:30
• 32. Andrea DI CORRADO , (ITA) Cog +2:31
• 33. Dennis VAN NIEKERK , (RSA) Mtn +2:36
• 34. Thomas PETERSON , (USA) Grm +2:36
• 35. Jonathan MONSALVE , (VEN) And +2:36
• 36. Dmitry KOZONTCHUK , (RUS) Rvl +2:37
• 37. Andrey ZEITS , (KAZ) Ast +2:38
• 38. Kévin REZA , (FRA) Euc +2:39
• 39. Marco CANOLA , (ITA) Cog +2:40
• 40. Alexandr VINOKUROV , (KAZ) Ast +2:41

• 1. David ZABRISKIE , (USA) Grm in 24:34
• 2. Adam Phelan , (AUS) Dpc +1:00
• 3. Darren LAPTHORNE , (AUS) Dpc +1:10
• 4. Thomas DANIELSON , (USA) Grm +1:17
• 5. José RUJANO GUILLEN , (VEN) And +1:26
• 6. Joseph COOPER , (NZL) Nzl +1:31
• 7. Dmitriy GRUZDEV , (KAZ) Ast +1:33
• 8. Alexsandr DYACHENKO , (KAZ) Ast +1:39
• 9. Nathan HAAS , (AUS) Grm +1:39
• 10. Behnam KHOSROSHAHI , (IRI) Tpt +1:46
• 11. Artem OVECHKIN , (RUS) Rvl +1:51
• 12. Yohann GENE , (FRA) Euc +1:52
• 13. Floris GOESINNEN , (NED) Dpc +1:56
• 14. Alfredo BALLONI , (ITA) Far +1:57
• 15. Craig LEWIS , (USA) Css +1:57
• 16. Alessandro DE MARCHI , (ITA) And +2:00
• 17. Adrian HEGYVARI , (USA) Uhc +2:02
• 18. Ghader MIZBANI , (IRI) Tpt +2:12
• 19. Roman VAN UDEN , (NZL) Nzl +2:12
• 20. Malcom RUDOLPH , (AUS) Dpc +2:13
• 21. Carlos José OCHOA , (VEN) And +2:14
• 22. Christophe KERN , (FRA) Euc +2:21
• 23. Jose Rodolfo SERPA PEREZ , (COL) And +2:22
• 24. Meran RUSSAN , (ERI) Mtn +2:23
• 25. Jacques JANSE VAN RENSBURG , (RSA) Mtn +2:23
• 26. Hossein ASKARI , (IRI) Tpt +2:24
• 27. Jonathan CLARKE , (AUS) Uhc +2:25
• 28. Adam SEMPLE , (AUS) Dpc +2:28
• 29. Jackson RODRIGUEZ , (VEN) And +2:28
• 30. Jani TEWELDE WELDEGABER , (ERI) Mtn +2:30
• 31. Won Jae LEE , (KOR) Sct +2:30
• 32. Andrea DI CORRADO , (ITA) Cog +2:31
• 33. Dennis VAN NIEKERK , (RSA) Mtn +2:36
• 34. Thomas PETERSON , (USA) Grm +2:36
• 35. Jonathan MONSALVE , (VEN) And +2:36
• 36. Dmitry KOZONTCHUK , (RUS) Rvl +2:37
• 37. Andrey ZEITS , (KAZ) Ast +2:38
• 38. Kévin REZA , (FRA) Euc +2:39
• 39. Marco CANOLA , (ITA) Cog +2:40
• 40. Alexandr VINOKUROV , (KAZ) Ast +2:41

General classification results

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (VN) – “This was just the beautiful course. It’s probably one of the best time trial courses I’ve done in a long time,” Dave Zabriskie, the opening stage winner of the 2012 Tour de Langkawi, told VeloNews.

Coming into Friday’s time trial in Malaysia’s administrative capital, the Garmin-Barracuda rider was always going to be the odds-on favorite – the question was not ‘would he win?’ but ‘by how much?’

Under a scalding midday sun Zabriskie proved it so, winning the 20.3-kilometer time trial in 24 minutes 34.18 seconds, exactly one minute ahead of two riders from Australian continental team Drapac-Porsche, Adam Phelan and Darren Lapthorne.

Tom Danielson, the team’s leader and 2003 Langkawi champion, managed a highly creditable fourth place by stopping the clock in 25:51, nine seconds ahead of 2010 winner José Rujano (Androni Giocattoli), while another Garmin-Barracuda rider, Australian Nathan Haas, managed ninth place, giving them a trio of men in the top 10.

Realizing life in advertising was nothing like Mad Men and buoyed by the Olympic Games in his Australian hometown of Sydney, Anthony Tan turned his back on a lucrative copywriting career in 2000 in pursuit of something more cerebral. Combining wordsmithing with his experiences as an A-Grade club racer and an underwhelming season competing in Europe, a career as a cycling scribe beckoned… More than a dozen Grand Tours and countless Classics later, it’s where he still is today. He has been a contributor to VeloNews since 2006. In 2010, he won Cycling Australia’s media award for best story. Follow him on Twitter: @anthony_tan