Backspin: A-listers make headlines as season shifts into high gear

Updated 21/02/2017 at 10:29 GMT

Valverde, Contador and Kristoff ride to the forefront as cycling turns up the heat in lead up to spring...

Movistar Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde (C) celebrates his victory between second placed Trek-Segafredo Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador (L) and third placed FDJ French cyclist Thibaut Pinot

Image credit: AFP

While the sun is about to set on the first full month of racing since the World Tour kicked off at the Tour Down Under in January, the 2017 season is just heating up with spring just around the corner.

Cycling diehards were fixated on Vuelta a Andalucia last week as a pair of Spanish Grand Tour winners and rivals duelled it out across the race commonly referred to as Ruta del Sol, which translates to ‘Route of the Sun’ in English.

Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde picked up his 100th career win, as well as his fifth Andalucian victory, with Grand Tour triple crown winner Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) just one second off pace on general classification (GC).

Tour de Romandie

Godon, Vendrame complete Decathlon one-two on Stage 1

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Valverde edges Contador, Pinot in time trial to take GC lead

The unexpected early-season dogfight between the two thirtysomethings was a throwback of sorts and, as Eurosport’s Blazin’ Saddles opined on Friday, serves as a stark reminder of just how much cycling is going to miss the Spanish duo when they inevitably call time on their illustrious careers.

While Valverde, 36, and Contador, 34, are set for round two at Paris-Nice in March, the latter will ride the Abu Dhabi Tour in support of team-mate Bauke Mollema prior to the rematch.

Contador told Spanish newspaper Marca on Sunday:

Of course Bauke will be our leader. I'll be delighted to help him. The fact that we are both there creates an ideal situation. I've felt very good in the Ruta and my race condition is good, but I need to get sharper form to be able to accelerate hard, and you can only get that by racing, not matter how much you train.

Hermans, Kristoff shine in Oman

Ben Hermans (BMC Racing) held off Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team) over the penultimate mountain stage of the Tour of Oman to claim his second stage of the race en route to picking up “the most beautiful” big win of his career.

The 30-year-old Belgian stood tall on the final podium over Rui Costa (UAE Abu Dhabi) and Aru on Sunday, however it was Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) who was adding three more stage wins and his second points classification to his growing 2017 tally.

The 29-year-old Norwegian is looking to put his disappointing performance at the world championships in Doha behind him by claiming the rainbow jersey on home soil when Norway hosts Road Worlds in Bergen come September. While the world championships course is ideally suited for the one-day classics specialist, his ability to bounce in and out of form for the better part of nine months is perhaps another story.

Andersen wins in sprint finish in Tour of Oman stage three

Slovenian ski jumper wins Algarve under scrutiny

Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) continues to build his palmares since the former junior world ski jumping champion (2007) made the switch to cycling in 2012.

However the latest win for the 27-year-old Slovenian at Volta ao Algarve has raised a few eyebrows as stage 4 winner Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) called into question the fairness of Roglic’s jump into the leader’s jersey following an individual time trial on stage 3 after a video appeared to show the Giro d’Italia stage winner drafting closely behind a motorbike.

Greipel was clear to point out he had no criticism of Roglic personally, but rather with the moto driver’s apparent failure to accelerate and prevent the third-place stage finisher and eventual race winner from entering the slipstream.

Armstrong back in the saddle with $100m lawsuit looming

Lance Armstrong looks on upon his arrival in Rodez, southwest France, after riding a stage of The Tour De France for a leukaemia charity, a day ahead of the competing riders, on July 16, 2015

Image credit: AFP

Disgraced American cyclist Lance Armstrong was back in the news this week after a federal judge cleared the way for a U.S. government lawsuit seeking nearly $100m (£79m) in damages.

Armstrong is accused of defrauding the government by accepting millions of dollars in sponsorship money from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) as he led the team to a string of Tour de France victories in what has been reported as one of the most sophisticated doping schemes in sports.

A US District Court judge wrote on Monday:

Because the government has offered evidence that Armstrong withheld information about the team's doping and use of PEDs and that the anti-doping provisions of the sponsorship agreements were material to USPS's decision to continue the sponsorship and make payments under the agreements, the Court must deny Armstrong's motion for summary judgment on this issue.

Meanwhile Armstrong was joined by fellow former US Postal team-mates George Hincapie, Christian Vande Velde and Dylan Casey for the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo mountain bike race in Arizona over the weekend.

Like Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour titles following his own admission in 2012, and both Hincapie and Vande Velde served six-month bans after testifying to USADA about doping on their former team.

Boardman takes issue with UCI over Wiggins’ TUEs

Sir Bradley Wiggins

Image credit: AFP

On the subject of doping, British Olympic champion Chris Boardman continues to be outspoken when it comes to what he feels has been the UCI’s lack of resolution in terms of Bradley Wiggins’ use of Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) while at Team Sky.

Boardman is adamant that cycling’s governing body must do more to erase suspicion over TUEs, which were made public by a cyber-hacking website last year and raised ethical questions about riders competing after taking othrrwise prohibited drugs for medical conditions.

"I don't think the world governing body (UCI) is doing its job if they are allowing a situation where something is legal but not ethical," Boardman told media at the London Cycle Show on Saturday.