THE 18 EVENTSMen (9 events)Track (5 events): Individual sprint, team sprint, keirin, team pursuit and omniumRoad (2 events): Individual road race and individual time-trialMountain biking (1 event): Cross-countryBMX (1 event): Individual raceWomen (9 events)Track (5 events): Individual sprint, team sprint, keirin, team pursuit and omniumRoad (2 events): Individual road race and individual time-trialMountain biking (1 event): Cross-countryBMX (1 event): Individual raceMILESTONES1817The draisienne, the ancestor of the bicycle, is invented by the German Karl Drais.1880The first bike chain appears and the back wheel becomes the motor of the bike.1887The tyre is invented by John Boyd Dunlop.1896Cycling is included in the programme for the first modern Olympics.1903The first Tour de France is held.1937Gears become standard on most cycles and are authorised at the Tour de France.1953A Californian student, James Finley Scott, creates a prototype for cross-country cycling. The mountain bike is born.1996Professionals are authorised to compete at the Atlanta Games.1996Mountain biking makes its Olympic debut in Atlanta.2008BMX cycling makes its Olympic debut at the Beijing Games.STARSFausto Coppi (Italy)Il Campionissimo. 2-time winner of the Tour de France and 5-time winner of the Giro dItalia, including 2 Giro-Tour doubles in 1949 and 1952. World road race champion (1953) and world pursuit champion (1947, 1949). He also won 1 Paris-Roubaix, 3 Milan-San Remo, 5 Tours of Lombardy and 1 Flèche Wallonne. One of the greatest of all time, Coppi also held the hour record for 14 years.Eddy Merckx (Belgium)The Cannibal. An average of 50 victories per year between 1970 and 1973. 5 Tour de France wins (1969-1974), 5 Giro dItalia, 3 world road racing titles, 7 Milan-San Remo, 5 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, 3 Paris-Roubaix, 3 Paris-Nice, 3 Flèche Wallonne, and the hour record. The most decorated cyclist of all time.Chris Hoy (Great Britain)The most decorated British athlete at the Olympics, with 6 gold medals (1km time trial, individual sprint, team sprint and keirin) across three Games (2004, 2008, 2012). Knighted in 2009, Sir Chris is also an 11-time world champion. The Scot is unquestionably the king of the track. Vapormax Womens Clearance . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. Nike Air VaporMax 2.0 Floral Pure Platinum+Arctic Pink-White . Q: Team Canada announces their Olympic roster three weeks from today. Who is general manager Steve Yzerman watching? LeBrun: Over the last 48 hours, hes taken in the home-and-home between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche with Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene being the obvious targets. http://www.clearancevapormax.com/cheap-vapormax-3-clearance.html .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. Cheap Vapormax Plus . The catch: It needs a lot of money, and it needs it fast. Fake Vapormax 95 . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. The Chicago Bulls will have, perhaps, the most fitting opponent of any team in the NBA for a season-opening game Thursday night at the United Center.Chicago will debut its retooled roster against the Boston Celtics, with the Bulls Three Alphas -- otherwise known as guards Jimmy Butler, Dwayne Wade and Rajon Rondo -- leading the way.It is a familiar structural concept to Rondo, the veteran point guard who signed with the Bulls in the offseason. In the early stages of his career, Rondo was a member of the Celtics when the Big Three, of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce led Boston to the 2008 NBA title.Rondo and Wade are both aging, but feel they can help Butler bring the Bulls back to the playoffs in the Eastern Conference -- if not achieve loftier goals.Outside of the Bulls and their Three Alphas, expectations are low. Butler, however, said he isnt paying attention to prognostications.I dont think (criticism) motivates us to do anything, Butler told the Chicago Sun-Times. Theyre going to say and do whatever theyre going to say and do whatever they want to do and say anyways. So ... motivation? Nah. Motivation is we get to go out and compete and put on for this organization every day.Wade and Rondo werent the lone additions to the Bulls roster, however.After trading former point guard Derrick Rose to the New York Knicks, the Bulls blew up last seasons roster with a significant overhaul for coach Fred Hoibergs second season. They will start out with 14 players, one short of the NBA maximum, and will have eight faces making their Bulls regular-season debut.Along with Rondo and Wade, Chicago will unveil center Robin Lopez, recently acquired backup guard Michael Carter-Williams, rookie guard Denzel Valentine, guard Jerian Grant, guard Isaiah Canaan and German rookie forward Paul Zipser.Wade, Rondo and Butler will start, along with Lopez and power forward Taj Gibson -- who earned a starting role over Nikola Mirotic. That starting five is geared more for slugging it out in the paint than spreading the floor and draining 3-pointers.dddddddddddd.We feel like (Gibson) has played excellent basketball throughout the preseason, Hoiberg said this week. Hes been good in practices. Weve talked to our guys about that. Niko has had a couple good practices in a row now. You try to get him in a good rhythm coming out of the gate, but thats the way were going to start.The Celtics will be a good test for Chicago, after opening their season Wednesday night with a 122-117 win over against the Brooklyn Nets -- to whom they traded Garnett and Pierce in a deal that is paying dividends for Boston in a bevy of draft picks that were acquired.Isaiah Thomas led Boston with 25 points and nine assists against Brooklyn, and Jae Crowder added 21 points.The Celtics are coming off back-to-back playoff appearances, and they added four-time NBA All-Star Al Horford, who signed a four-year free agent contract worth $113 million. Horfords veteran experience up front is expected to mesh nicely with Bostons young core group.He contributed 11 points, six assists and five rebounds Wednesday as Boston held on to top the Nets. Brooklyn trailed by 21 with 5 1/2 minutes left yet had two chances to tie in the late going.Thats the NBA for you, Horford said. I think it will humble you sometimes. We had a comfortable lead and we thought it was fine, but this is a good learning experience for our group.Role players Marcus Smart (ankle) and Kelly Olynyk (shoulder) are injured to start the season, but the Celtics are confident their replacements can grant enough rest to the starters.In the opener, the Celtics chalked up 36 assists on 48 baskets -- the most assists by a team in an NBA opener since 2001. They also committed 19 turnovers.We could have even had more assists if we knocked down our open shots, Thomas said. ' ' '