Daniele Bennati took his third group sprint of this year’s Tour of Germany, perhaps reviving his long-dead claim to as heir to Il Re Leone. Levi Leipheimer maintained his 31 second gap on Jan Ullrich to take the overall. Leipheimer’s teammate David Rebellin extended his contract with Gerlosteiner for blah blah blah…let’s just cut to the chase, shall we?

Man, how do I miss something like this?

Tyler Hamilton, currently not doing any racing because it looks pretty convincing that he cheated by means of blood doping during last year’s Vuelta, won the Mount Washington Hillclimb this past Saturday. The race, which is independent of any cycling governing body, involves little of the traditional “tactics,” “strategy” and “skills” (like descending) generally associated with bike racing. It also carries a horribly overinflated price tag, and thus attracts only professionals fleeing persecution from cycling governing bodies, fat I-bankers who feel guilty about using a $6000 road bike as garage decor, youngsters trying to make a name for themselves, and Dale Apgar.

With his typical display of sound and fury signifying nothing, Jan Ullrich rumbled to a victory in today’s 8th stage of the Tour of Germany. American Bobby Julich was a close second at 11s, but the man in the driver’s seat was Julich’s compatriot Levi Leipheimer, who lost nearly a minute to the German underachiever, leaving him 31 seconds up on Ullrich for the GC lead at the end of the day, a lead he will almost certainly retain through tomorrow’s flat finale.

Iglinski, Maxim. Never heard of him? That’s probably because he’s been riding for Domina Vacanze, which hasn’t had the greatest season so far. But today, the 24-Kazakh (they’re everwhere, these days) hung tough with a nasty breakaway group containing Julich, Horner and Ballan (each ProTour winners at least once this season) among other notables, and rode a brilliant sprint, catching the perfect wheel (Disco’s Jurgen van der Broeck) and blasting past it to win Stage 6 of the Tour of Germany right on the line. In the process, Iglinski became the most-Asian looking dude I’ve ever seen win a ProTour race. And in a sport run by the whitest of the white guys, a little diversity on the poduim is a sight for very sore eyes. In the GC, Levi Leipheimer retained his nearly-a-minute lead over other white guy Jan Ullrich, with Levi’s Gerlosteiner teammate Georg Totchnig sandwhich nicely in between. Tomorrow’s climbing and Monday’s TT should sort the GC out nicely before Tuesday’s finale.

Daniele Bennati of Lampre-Caffita roared to his second win of this year’s Tour of Germany, toasting Disco’s Roger Hammond and FdJ’s Baden Cooke in a group sprint. Levi Leipheimer maintained his lead, and not one single rider lost time today, though former GC leader Bram Tankink said “auf Wiedersehen” and failed to start today’s stage. Jan Ullrich, who sits in 3rd, 50 seconds behind Leipheimer, expressed optimism that he could catch the American over the next few days, a sentiment that Leipheimer echoed. Should be an interesting finale.

Well, I guess we all should have guessed this would happen as soon as Jan Ullrich declared his intentions to win the Tour of Germany: an American (Levi L) riding with the help of a teammate (Georg Totchnig) put nearly a minute into the big German diesel on Stage 4, and took the yellow jersey. The only downside on the day for Gerolsteiner was the fact that Totchnig, an Austrian, did not have the gas to win on his home soil. By far the biggest loser on the day was Bobby Julich, who lost over 10 minutes to his compatriot, and pretty much any shot he had at overall victory in the Tour.

Ok, so no one who’s seen a pro race from Hinault’s fall to Armstrong’s ascendency would accuse cycling of being a particularly fashion-conscious sport. True, there have been some notable fashion scores, like La Vie Claire’s snazzy art-modern kit, or the classic understated lines of Team Bianchi, or the so-uncool-its-hip outfit of Skil-Moser. But taken as a whole, the history of cycling attire has been one, long, unmittigated fashion disaster.

At the Tour of Germany, pretty much the only show in town in European Pro Cycling at the moment, Lampre’s Danieli Benatti, once hailed as a the next Cipo, came off white-hot Filippo Pozzatto’s wheel to win the group sprint for Stage 3. Euskatel’s Unai Etxebarria animated early with a long attack, and can console himself with the fact that, although his break failed, his head was extremely well-ventilated. Current race leader Bram Tankink finished with the group, marking probably his last day in yellow as tomorrow’s queen stage looks to be one for the skinnies.

Finally! Someone else has noticed that Boardman’s hour record has been smashed. And it only took a month. Still, you can count on the guys at Pez to pick up the overlooked-but-interesting. Some highlights of the report: Sosenka used 190mm custom cranks (just like Big Mig) and did not wear aerobooties (just like Eddy Merckx). Also, he’s won quite a few big races before; the reason you’ve never heard of him is because they were all East of the Elbe.

A stripped down model of the super-pimp Aliante this saddle might just only be available as an OEM part. No matter. It might be on a bike you want, it might turn up on Nashbar next month. It weighs 263g with Ti rails, cost is probably around $70 retail? Anyway, let’s get down to business (on a scale of 1-5 as always, with 3 being the industry average.)

Cost: 3. At my guestimated retail price, it compares favorably with other saddles in that price range. Ti rails keep it light, rest of the saddle is cheap: plastic, foam and faux leather.