Quick-Step Floors the Tour de France, taking two stage wins. Bettini defended his world championship in Stuttgart. In 2008 Gert Steegmans took the final stage of the 2008 Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées. Paolo Bettini retired after the world championship in Varese. In both 2008 and 2009 Stijn Devolder took the Tour of Flanders and Tom Boonen, Paris–Roubaix. After two seasons of disappointment, a resurgent Omega Pharma–Quick-Step and Tom Boonen, took four major Spring classics victories, including the four cobblestone courses E3 Harelbeke, Gent–Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders, Paris–Roubaix. In October 2012, the team fired their veteran rider Levi Leipheimer after he
Include (horse) After his Jennings score, his connections decided to take a step up in class and compete in the $750,000 grade-one Pimlico Special Handicap. Include was bred and trained in Maryland, so many in the crowd threw their support behind him even though there had only been three Maryland winners of the "Special" before 2001. In that race, Include was the 5/2 second choice on the morning line in a field of seven graded stakes horses from around the country. He broke slowly but made up ground before the famous "Club house turn" at "Old Hilltop" and placed himself third rounding