Robert Hunter once more got the better of Brown (r) and Reynes

(Photo: Roberto Bettini)

Murcia Sprint Repeat for Hunter

South Africa's Robert Hunter of the Garmin-Transitions team won his second consecutive stage of the Tour of Murcia in southeastern Spain on Thursday, beating Australia's Graeme Brown (Rabobank) and Spain's Vicente Reynes (HTC-Columbia) in a sprint finish. Hunter took the 169.8km second stage and retained the leader's yellow jersey in the process. The three finished in the same order in Wednesday's first stage.

Stage race favorites Lance Armstrong (RadioShack), Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), and defending Murcia champion Denis Menchov (Rabobank) all finished in the main pack, five seconds off the pace after a split in the field. 

"Muchas gracias to the people for the support here," Armstrong wrote on Twitter. "I must say though, I'm a little surprised by it."

Saxo Bank's Bellis Recovering Well

Johnny Bellis, who was seriously injured in a traffic accident in Italy last September. Bellis was placed in a medically-induced coma after several surgeries and his chances for recovery looked slim at the time. He was later transferred to a hospital in London, emaciated and suffering the effects of several post-surgery complications. In early December, Bellis was moved to the Wellington Hospital to begin intensive rehabilitation and progress was made almost immediately.

"Johnny has been working extremely hard with all disciplines of his rehabilitation program here at the Wellington Hospital," said Katie Davies, Senior Physiotherapist at the hospital. "His strength and endurance is improving out of sight on a weekly basis. He has been attending strength sessions in the gym, cooking in the kitchen, clocking miles on the exercise bike and going out in the community. The team treating him could not be happier with his progress at this stage of his recovery."

"I went to see Johnny on a personal level, as a young man that I care about, not as a cyclist," said team owner Bjarne Riis after a recent visit to Bellis. "We all went for a walk and stopped by a café to have a coffee. But you know, once we sat down, we ended up speaking about nutrition, weight gain and training all afternoon anyway. There was just no way around it. Johnny wants to come back and we are motivated to help him."

Riis insists that Bellis is facing no pressure from the team to hasten his return to the peloton. "Bradley McGee is working with him to get his training started and the team will be there for him with anything he needs," Riis said. "Everyone in and around the team are excited to see Johnny back on the road."

Roger Hammond will lead Cervélo on the Strade Bianchi in Italy on Saturday

(Photo: Roberto Bettini)

Cervélo Prepared on Two Fronts

Team Cervélo TestTeam will tackle stage racing on the French and Italian fronts over the next two weeks, sending experienced teams to both Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, with the one-day Montepaschi Strade Bianchi thrown in the mix as a classics warm-up on Saturday. Held in the Tuscany region near Siena, the Montepaschi Strade Bianche is famous for the 70 kilometers of gravel roads that make up a substantial portion of the race route.

"I am confident we have a very strong team for this race," said Jens Zemke, TestTeam sports director, who once again will lead the team at this year's race. "The riders are very motivated."

"In Roger Hammond we have a specialist who is ideal for this kind of race," he added. "This kind of a race is also an ideal opportunity to test how our components perform in these extreme conditions so we can determine the best equipment setup." 

Joaquín Novoa and Xavier Tondo will be in position to try their luck at the week-long Paris-Nice stage race, which begins Sunday southwest of Paris in Montfort-l'Amaury. Stage wins will be the primary focus as Cervélo looks ahead to bigger challenges on the calendar ahead.

"That doesn't mean we are using this race for training, because Paris-Nice is too important for that," Zemke explained. Heinrich Haussler, who has already showed form with a second place in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, will himself look for breakaways or sprints on the flatter stages. 

Fellow classics specialist Thor Hushovd will use Tirreno-Adriatico as a fitness springboard with the hopes of a stage win as well.

Leipheimer will lead RadioShack at Paris-Nice

(Photo: Roberto Bettini)

Leipheimer and Horner to Paris-Nice

Team RadioShack, which has sent Lance Armstrong to the Vuelta a Murcia this week, will enter Paris-Nice on Sunday with a strong line-up headed by Americans Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner. They will be supported by a solid roster including Jani Brajkovic, Geoffroy Lequatre, Tiago Machado, Yaroslav Popovych, Sébastien Rosseler and Gert Steegmans. Alain Gallopin and Dirk Demol will direct the team while Johan Bruyneel sticks with the Armstrong wing of RadioShack's spring campaign.

Chavanel in the leader's jersey at the 2009 edition of Paris-Nice

(Photo: Roberto Bettini)

Chavanel to Lead Quick Step in France

Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel will lead the Quick Step team at Paris-Nice, afforded the status of leader due in part to his excellent performance in last year's edition where he both took a stage win and third place overall. He will be joined by compatriot Jérôme Pineau, Spaniard Carlos Barredo, and Belgians Kevin De Weert, Nikolas Maes, Kevin Van Impe and Wouter Weylandt.

Nishitani takes victory in stage 4

(Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)

Nishitani Scores in Langkawi

Japanese cyclist Taiji Nishitani Thursday won the fourth stage of the Tour de Langkawi while German Tobias Erler retained the overall lead. Nishitani won the 163.5-kilometer (about 102-mile) stage from the seaside resort of Mersing in southern Johor state to Parit Sulong, also in Johor, in 3:50:11. Australian Michael Matthews of Team Jayco-Skins took second place.

The seven-stage race began in Kota Bharu, capital of the northern state of Kelantan, on Monday and will proceed from Muar in Johor to the beach resort of Port Dickson, south of Kuala Lumpur, for Friday's race. By the end of the event on March 7, the 20 teams taking part will have covered 1,013.7 kilometers and six states.