BikeRumor.com

Argon 18 announced their triathlon star Torbjørn Sindballe, who has been an ambassador and an important collaborator with them for the past 5 years, must put an end to his sport career immediately due to a major health issue.

During wildflower triathlon in early May the Danish powerhouse ended his race hyperventilating in T2 after a very uncharacteristic bike ride during which he faded down the field with a drastically dropping HR and heavy fatigue. The Dane has known about an abnormal heart valve since 2005 and has had regular checkups to ensure he was safe to race. After the incident in California he has gone through extensive testing and evaluation with Danish experts. After considering their advice Torbjørn has decided to stop his career immediately.

Rudy Project has just released their new women’s specific performance sunglasses called the Ability.  At only 25 grams, they’re extremely light.  The shades were designed using digital mapping to create a shape that’s molded for female faces, rather than just making a “small” size of an existing design.

There are five different interchangeable lenses available, and the frames come in five colors: Raspberry, White, Demi Green, Ivory and Gloss Lava.  The nosepiece is adjustable to help get the perfect fit.  Click on any of the images below to enlarge.

Besides being Independence Day for us here in the states, today is also the start of the Tour de France in Monaco. Check out this cool “Tilt-shift” picture from mole2k’s Flickr photostream of Port Hercule, the start location of Le Tour and today’s time trial.

The start will be along the tree lined street on the left side of the picture. You can almost image yourself there. Happy Tour watching and Happy Fourth of July!

The 2009 Tour de France begins tomorrow with live coverage from Versus at 9:30AM Eastern Daylight Time. Check your local listings for the Versus Channel. It’s safe to say that any time you need a Le Tour fix, you can tune into Versus. They will be running recaps all day every day.

Below are the LIVE coverage times for each stage of the tour. Remember, all times are EDT. Which means west coasters are getting up at 3:30AM Pacific Daylight Time for live coverage of stages 16 and 17. I know they’ll do it too.

LIVE Coverage time below…

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The Tour Down Under promoters are capitalizing on the capitvating powers of the Tour de France. They just anounced the 2010 TDU route today, and will be running commercials during the Australian SBS news coverage of the Tour de France.

The 2010 TDU will be held in South Australia from 17-24 January 2010. The TDU is the first race in the UCI ProTour calendar, and the only UCI Pro Tour race outside of Europe. Noted on their press release: “All Tour de France winners of the last ten years have competed at the Tour Down Under at some time in their career.” It’s a less impressive fact considering Lance Armstong was 7 of the 10.

TDU route below…

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Twenty five years ago, Look introduced the first clipless pedal, and now they’re debuting the new Keo 2 Max at the 2009 Tour de France. Use your HD DVR and look for these things under the shoes of Astana, Cofidis, Quick-Step, Team Katusha, Silence-Lotto, Agritubel.

The new pedal features:

· Increased efficiency and comfort thanks to a more resistant INOX stainless steel contact surface area. The pedal platform is 12% larger with respect to the KéO Carbon.

· Lightweight: 120g for Carbon and 125g for Composite.

· Dual seals, a carbon injected pedal body, INOX stainless steel contact surface, and an oversize axle for durability.

· KéO grip cleats use rubber contacts to help you walk safely in your carbon-soled kicks.

In addition to the teams listed above, Alberto Contado will ride the KÉO 2 MAX at this year’s Tour as part of part of LOOK’s new sponsorship agreement with the Tour de France 2007 champion. Although Contador has been riding and winning with LOOK pedals for years, this partnership is the first official agreement between LOOK and Contador.

Let’s hear it for cyclists getting the recognition they deserve, especially when they look good doing it.

British (World Championships) Gold Medalist Victoria Pendleton went from being on the cover of FHM Magazine to getting her fashion on with Wayne Hemingway to benefit Team Green Britain, a group that puts on the annual Green Britain Day.  Designer Hemingway made a one-off dress using the Union Jack lines in green tones out of recycled fabrics.

Pendleton’s also been busy working with EA Sports to promote a new Wii fitness game.  Hit ‘more’ for video of her playing the Wii with co-model/TV star Alesha Dixon and video of her wearing/talking about the green dress.

Oh, there’s also some video of her winning a record-setting third gold medal by taking the World Kierin Track Championship, if you’re into that sort of thing…

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Calling all Fan Boys and Fan Girls, CycleGarb.com just sent us word that these Star Wars cycling jerseys are on sale now for just $44.95.  Awesome.  And they have free shipping.

They’re made from 100% ProSensor material from Primal Wearto “wick” or pull the sweat away from the body but keep your body temperature at a constant). Features include: - 19″ hidden zipper - Three rear cargo pockets - Elasticized waist & sleeves - Generous side panels for mobility and comfort.  These jerseys are referred to as a “club cut”.

Hit ‘more’ to see the other two in the Star Wars bicycle jersey collection, plus some other cool new jersey designs they started carrying with Flash Gordon, Count Chocula and Graham Watson…and to get a Discount Code!

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Thanks to Simon for the tip on this…apparently there’s more to come from Nike and Cavendish throughout the Tour de France.

PRESS RELEASE: Safe from the dark skies, high winds and torrential rain of tropical storm “Feria” the very first Rollapaluza roller-racing event in Asia event took place inside the Festival Mall, Manila, Philippines last Thursday 25th June.

It’s a long way from the back room of an East London pub when nine years ago the format of this sport / entertainment event was created by cycle couriers. Rollapaluza is still run by two ex-couriers Caspar Hughes and Paul Churchill and they travelled to the Philippines to train the local team and oversee the launch event.

“It was an amazing experience, the hospitality and enthusiasm of the local team was brilliant and the scale of the launch incredible” explained Churchill. Local Rollapaluza partner David Charlton is a famous Philippines business figure and champion of female cycling, he already sponsors a women’s race team and cycling club and he sees great potential for Rollapaluza in the region, not least beacuse it’s a sport that can take place inside away from the heat, humidity and indeed Thursday’s typhoon.

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Yep, technically it started yesterday, but we were busy BBQin’ and such.  So, here’s the schedule and links for this weekend’s stop of the Bicycle Film Festival in Pittsburgh, PA:

Yum.

Found these on Dee Railer’s Flickr photostream.

Clif Bar introduced a new beverages- Quench. Quench is a ready-serve drink designed to be a tasty rehydration beverage. Unlike some of their powdered mixes which also provides proteins and more energy. It’s nice that Quench is 88 percent organic and uses organic evaporated cane juice rather than high-fructose corn syrup. 

Several other product lines are getting a new additions: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut is the new bar flavor, Lemon is the new Builds protein bar flavor, and Mountain Berry is the new Shot Bloks flavor. Also, the Fastpack packaging for Shot Bloks, which used almost 50% less packaging material, will now be the only package used; completely replacing the original pouches.

The Better World Club is offering the first and only national roadside assistance for cyclists. You can add the coverage to automotive roadside assistance plans or sign up for cycling only coverage. Cycling coverage includes:

• Towing: If you need emergency assistance they will send someone to transport you and your bike to where you need to go.
• Locked Out: Since proving ownership of a bike is tricky, they won’t come unlock a bike for you. But if you do get a bike unlocked by someone else, they’ll reimbuse you up to $50.
• Flat Tire: They won’t bring you new equipment such as tubes or tires, but they will dispatch someone with commonly available  tools upon request.

Cycling only coverage is $39.95 a year and allows you two service calls and up to 30 miles. Also included with the cycling only membership is enrollment into the League of American Bicyclists, a subscription to Bicycling magazine, and other goodies.

Scott Bikes is spreading the word on their 2010 product line changes. The well respected CR1 road bike has conceded to the supremacy of Scott’s flagship road bike, the Addict, and has been redesigned with a new M.O. (modus operandi). The 2010 CR1 will lose a little of its raciness in exchange for comfort and extended rideability. The CR1 will never be a beach cruiser, but Scott hopes to capitalize on a more relaxed audience who still want to go fast.

Click ‘more‘ for a Video of the New 29er, and more previews…

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