PLEASANT HILL -- The attorney representing a Santa Clara County sheriff's deputy who struck and killed two competitive bicyclists in Cupertino said Wednesday that the officer had worked a lengthy shift the day before and that fatigue may have been a factor in the crash.

She would not confirm witness reports that the deputy, 27-year-old James Council, told people at the crash scene Sunday morning that he had fallen asleep at the wheel. Council "doesn't know what happened" when he veered across the center line of winding, two-lane Stevens Canyon Road, killing the two cyclists and injuring a third, attorney Mary Sansen said. "The possibility exists," she said, "that we're never going to know what happened." Read More...

MONTREAL, Quebec (BRAIN)—Dorel Industries has just announced the acquisition of the Cannondale Bicycle Corporation.

The total value of the all-cash transaction will be $190 (U.S) to $200 (U.S) million, subject to Cannondale's earnings results for the year ending June 30, 2008.

The transaction, which will be immediately accretive to Dorel's earnings, is being financed through debt.

Cannondale and Sugoi are being purchased from an affiliate of Pegasus Capital Advisors, which acquired the company in 2003. 2007 sales for Cannondale and Sugoi were approximately $200 million.

Dorel president and chief executive officer Martin Schwartz said that in light of the acquisition the Company's Recreational/Leisure segment is being split into two distinct operating divisions.
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Scottish officials are campaigning to have cycling's premier event, the Tour de France, come to Scotland within the next few years.



The summer marathon on two-wheels staged a major success this year with huge crowds turing out to see the time-trial prologue in London followed by a first stage down to the Channel coast.

And with cycling a boom sport north of the border, the National events agency EventScotland believes the time is ripe to lure the Tour.
The organisation's corporate communications manager Leon Thompson told The Scotsman newspaper: "We've had the early conversations about the possibility of hosting the `Grand Depart' in Scotland.

"It's an iconic world-class event, and the kind of event that would sit very well within our portfolio of major events.
"We haven't discussed possible years yet, or where it might happen." Scottish officials are currently active on several fronts trying to bring top-class sports events to the country and they scored a notable success last month with Glasgow winning the right to stage the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The Scottish Government have also backed a feasibility study to determine whether Scotland could stage football's European Championships in 2016.
The Scotsman said that Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme had been made aware of Scotland's interest in staging the prologue and first stage.
The soonest Scotland could get involved, however, would be 2010, as Tour officials have confirmed the event will start in Brittany and Monaco in the next two years.

Scottish Tour de France rider David Millar (pictured) said: "It would be amazing, and I think it is realistic."

Hamilton to Rock Racing

By Neal Rogers

Tyler Hamilton has reportedly signed with Rock Racing for 2008. Several sources have confirmed that the team inked a deal with the one-time grand tour contender and that he plans to race with the UCI continental squad in the coming season.

VeloNews requested comment from both Hamilton and team owner Michael Ball, but neither immediately responded. Hamilton's career wins have thus far included the 2004 Olympic time trial, the 2003 Liège-Bastogne-Liège and stages of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France. He tested positive for blood doping in 2004 and was suspended for two years. He returned to professional cycling this past spring with the Russian-Italian Tinkoff Credit Systems.

Hamilton's term with Tinkoff was rocky, after a tooth infection derailed him at April's Tour de Georgia, then he was dropped from his team's Giro squad following a La Gazzetta dello Sport story that linked him to the Operación Puerto blood doping scandal. Hamilton said that team owner Oleg Tinkov then asked him to sign a contract "with very different financial terms than my existing contract. Since I did not think this was fair, I did not agree." In a July posting on his personal web site, Hamilton said he planned to file suit to enforce the provisions of the original deal, although there are no records of that suit actually having been filed. Specific details of the contract dispute have not been disclosed by either party.


Hamilton's last race was at the USA Cycling national time trial championship in Greenville, South Carolina, where he placed sixth, 49 seconds behind winner Dave Zabriskie of CSC. Should Hamilton don the skull-and-wings logo of Rock Racing, he would join former ProTour riders such as three-time U.S. national champion Freddie Rodriguez, Colombian former U.S. Postal Service and Phonak rider Victor Hugo Peña and 2002 world time trial champion Santiago Botero. Other notable Rock Racing signings for 2008 include Michael Creed, Doug Ollerenshaw and Cesar Grajales. Ball, who built a fortune with the edgy Rock & Republic jeans company, hopes to build a team capable of winning the Tour de France.


Hamilton's signing would also reunite him with Rock Racing team director Frankie Andreu. The Americans rode as teammates at U.S. Postal Service on Lance Armstrong's Tour de France-winning teams in 1999 and 2000 before Andreu retired from racing. Hamilton left U.S. Postal for Team CSC in 2002, where he finished second with a fractured shoulder at his first Giro d'Italia. The following year Hamilton won both Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour de Romandie and was poised as a Tour de France contender before breaking his collarbone during a nasty stage 1 pileup. He went on to win stage 16 with a 142 km solo breakaway, and placed fourth overall. The following season Hamilton switched over to Phonak and again entered the Tour as a favorite, but again hit he pavement during the first week and eventually abandoned the race. He looked to salvage his season with an Olympic medal and a shot at the Vuelta a España overall before positive tests at both events brought him under fire with the sport's anti-doping agencies. Though he was cleared of his Olympic positive when the lab in Athens, Greece, incorrectly froze his B blood sample, Hamilton was later suspended based on samples taken at the Vuelta.


Hamilton mounted a lengthy and expensive defense, losing his initial hearing on a 2-1 split decision. He then appealed his case to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, where he lost in a unanimous 3-0 decision.


Rock Racing will hold its first team camp of 2008 in January in Malibu.