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Bessette burning it up

Anthony scores a home-turf win

When the smoke exits from the start gun this Sunday in Bendigo, a bustling rural town about an hour’s drive north of Melbourne, Australia, it will signal the start of the 56th edition of Australia’s oldest stage race, the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. Like the Tour de France, ‘the Sun Tour’ as it is colloquially known, was conceived by a newspaper outlet in an attempt to capture the attention of the parochial Victorian sporting public and in turn boost newspaper sales. This News Corporation-Rupert Murdoch-owned metropolitan daily, the Herald Sun holds the title of being the highest circulation

It’s been a tough few years, but Tom Danielson says it’s still too early to write-off his chances of soon making a big mark on a major tour. “He’s a big natural talent,” Danielson’s soon-to-be team director at Slipstream-Chipotle, Jonathan Vaughters, told the Denver Post this summer. “He went to Discovery and got caught up in the whole ‘next Lance Armstrong’ thing, which he is not. I don’t know whether he’ll be able to recover from day-to-day like Lance did. In a one-day race, it’s not important. He can win a stage of the Tour de France without a doubt.” Danielson doesn’t dispute the

Danielson says he's looking forward to riding with his new team.

After a two-year hiatus, the Gran Prix of Gloucester rejoined the Verge New England Championship Cyclocross Series Saturday with Round 1 of a doubleheader race weekend, with victories by Cylcocrossworld.com’s Jeremy Powers and Lyne Bessette. Fending off attack after attack by a quartet containing Jesse Anthony (Jamis), Germany's Multe Urban (Focus) and Chris Jones (NERAC), it was Powers who outsprinted them all in the final kilometer of the men’s race to win his second Gloucester 'cross.

Dear Readers,
Welcome to this week's edition of The Prologue, a regular summary of news from the world of competitive cycling by your friends at VeloNews.com.

The Kazakh Cycling Federation formally announced Friday that former Discovery manager Johan Bruyneel will take over the helm of the troubled Astana team starting with the 2008 season. Kazakh officials have vowed to continue an estimated $15 million per year sponsorship, despite doping positives involving star riders Alexander Vinokourov and Andrey Kashechkin, and have hired Bruyneel to usher in a new management team. “As we recall this year some of team’s riders were linked to using performance enhancing drugs. In spite of these issues the KCF firmly decided to move forward, having

Fireworks, bagpipes and cyclocross are three things best enjoyed outdoors, in the opinion of most. But when the New England winter sets in even the hardiest crossnuts would appreciate a little bit of climate-control to take the edge off the season. That’s the thinking from a New Hampshire promoter who’s planning a race inside a 94,000-square-foot sports dome for some time after the new year. It would be perhaps the first indoor cyclocross race held in the U.S., providing further evidence of the growth of the discipline. It also might contribute to shifting the New England cyclocross season

You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. — Kenny Rogers, The Gambler Floyd Landis has decided to play one last hand, taking his case to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport. Is it time for some close friend to delicately mention Gambler’s Anonymous? When Big Tex finally cashed in his chips and left the game a winner, the Mennonite kid from Farmersville, Pennsylvania, finally took what seemed to be a well-deserved seat at the high rollers’ table. The deal went his way for a while, but the cards have not been his friends for quite some time now. In fact,

Bruyneel is headed to Astana for the next few years

Welcome to the dome

With a few changes - and a cover over the turf - the dome may turn into the perfect venue for a new event.

There's already a track...

... which local roadies use year-round.

Riders report that you can ride the track at up to 23mph.

Friday's Foaming Rant: The gambler

Roberto Heras - the disgraced Spanish climber who saw his 2005 Vuelta a España victory stripped after he tested positive for EPO – vows to return to the professional peloton. His two-year ban ends October 27 and the 33-year-old insists he will be with a top team next season and wants to be in a host of major races on the international calendar. Heras says he’s considered offers from Spanish and foreign teams. “I am planning to return and there are several teams interested in me,” Heras told the Spanish daily El Mundo. “I never lost the rhythm of training and I never lost the idea that I

Something very strange is in the Rocky Mountain air. No, it’s not the smellof cheap beer and hot dogs still wafting out of Coors Field. It’s the sweetsmell of victory. Yes, I know, it’s hard to believe, but I have won three cyclocross racesthis season. That’s one more win than I have earned in the entirety ofmy 13-year cyclocross career. I’m not going to sugar coat it, these weresmall, local races with out very deep fields, but hey, a win is a win isa win, right? Don’t get me wrong, these races didn’t come too easy, but a true testarrives this weekend as I make my way East for the Ohio

Some might call Ariel Lindsley a throwback from mountain-bike racing’sgolden age, when riders split their time equally between the downhill andcross-country bikes. Others might call him the most versatile mountain-bikeracer in the country. Either way, Lindsley races as a pro in gravity andcross-country events, and the chops to duke it out with the nation’s bestriders in each. Lindsley spent a good amount of 2007 racing on Colorado’sMountain States Cup, and also hit the brand new RockyMountain G3. The latter series brought the stage-race format todownhill racing: riders completed two downhill

The Larry H. Miller Tourof Utah will return in 2008, race organizers announced Thursday. Therace’s chairman, Greg Miller of the Larry H. Miller Group, has appointedveteran Utah bike racer, coach and cycling advocate Terry McGinnis as therace’s Executive Director. Zion’s Bank returns as presenting sponsor. Datesfor the event will be August 13-17. After a successful third year of the event in 2006, won by Health Net-Maxxisrider Scott Moninger, the 2007 Tour of Utah was scheduled from June 30to July 7 but was cancelled due to lack of sponsorship. And while McGinnissaid the race wouldn’t be

Dear Readers;In my last column, "Themthere's fightin' words, boy," we looked at two cases—Chaplinskyv. New Hampshire and Cohen v. California—as backgroundfor revisiting the question of whether “flipping the bird” is constitutionallyprotected speech. To recap briefly, in Chaplinsky, a 1942 case,the Supreme Court carved out a “fighting words” exception to free speech—words“which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediatebreach of the peace.” Twenty-nine years later, the Supreme Court held in Cohen thatthe words “Fuck the Draft” did not constitute

Sports publisher seeks product and e-commerce consultant for catalog business. Consultant will work closely with manager of the Velo Catalog department in advising on product acquisition and catalog/Velogear.com marketing. Consultation would include product price negotiation, inventory control, budgeting, revenue generation, web and direct mail marketing and catalog production. 5-7 years catalog and e-commerce experience preferred, knowledge of cycling and triathlon industries a plus. Please send cover letter and résumé to: Attn: HR, ICI, 1830 N. 55th St., Boulder, CO 80301-2700 or

Heras, who's seen his share of courtrooms these past two years, is anxious to get back on the road.

To the winner...

...come the spoils.

Daddy, I want one of those!

The local 'cross crowd packs the Boulder Theater.

New Challenge tires for Ohio!

After the races, it's journal writing time.

Ariel Lindsley

North American News and Notes: Tour of Utah is back; Single-speed world's

Legally Speaking - with Bob Mionske: Free Bird

T-Mobile phenom’ Mark Cavendish confirmed his arrival to the big leagues over the weekend by reaching his pre-season target of 11 victories on the year. The 22-year-old Brit surged to victory in Saturday’s stage at the Circuit Franco-Belge to put an exclamation point on what’s been a dazzling rookie season. “I’ve reached my target and I’m about delighted about that,” Cavendish said on T-Mobile’s web page. “We miscalculated things a bit in the sprint yesterday and that cost me, but things ran so smoothly today.” Cavendish opened the year with an eye-catching second at the Etoile des

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Dear readers,     VeloNews.com recently experienced an unexpected technical problem with one of several servers used to host a large portion of our video content. As a result, several videos from this year’s Tour de France, Tour of Missouri and other feature items are not currently available.     Our technical staff is working on the problem and we are currently re-loading many of those items using back-up files. Missing videos will gradually reappear on our site over the next few days.     We apologize for the lapse and appreciate your patience as we work to resolve those

Calling for "an overhaul" of national and international anti-doping enforcement systems, Floyd Landis announced Wednesday that he has filed an appeal of the ruling that resulted in the stripping of his Tour de France title. Landis filed an appeal with the International Court of Arbitration for Sport ahead of Thursday's deadline for challenging the decision of a three-member U.S. arbitration panel that resulted in the 2006 Tour title being awarded to Oscar Pereiro. “Knowing that the accusations against me are simply wrong, and having risked all my energy and resources – including those

Cavendish earned his 11th win of the season this week.

Petacchi's Salbutamol case is far from over.

Landis during last May's hearing at Pepperdine.

George Hincapie is hoping a switch to T-Mobile will bring him closer to winning an elusive Classics victory. After racing from 1997-2007 at U.S. Postal Service/Discovery Channel, the 34-year-old had a feeling that a change would do him some good. Hincapie said new teammates and a innovative philosophy under the leadership of Bob Stapleton will help keep him motivated as he enters a two-year deal with the German team looking to increase its North American profile. A few years ago, a switch to rival T-Mobile would have been seen as a major controversy, but times change and Hincapie’s

Jon Baker is living the dream. That is, if you consider spending fourmonths chasing some of the world’s fastest cyclocross racers around mud-and manure-filled European fields in sub-zero temperatures. The dream? Luckily he looks at it that way. Up until about a month ago the 33-year-old Baker was leading an averageAmerican life, happily married to Cyndi with two kids, Leah, 9, and Axel,1. He was a software engineer for BEA Systems, and he balanced his passionfor cycling with his family life and a full-time career, as most of usdo. He was a weekend warrior, albeit a darn good one. Baker

Caisse d’Epargne’s Oscar Pereiro will receive his yellow jersey as the retrospective winner of the 2006 Tour de France next Monday in Madrid, organizers announced Tuesday. The 2006 runner-up has been moved up to first position after American Floyd Landis was stripped of the title for doping. Pereiro finished the 2006 edition 57 seconds behind Landis, but the American tested positive for testosterone following his 17th stage win at Morzine, three days before the finish in Paris. Landis is the first winner in the history of the Tour to be stripped of the title for doping. The top three

Hincapie rode his last Tour in Disco colors this July.

Jon Baker, Axel and enough gear to mount a European campaign.

Each bike has a name tag just in case some Euro dude has a 60cm bike painted hunter’s orange.

3. ROL’s new CX38 wheelset adorned with Dugast’s Rhino mud tire.

That nifty custom brake adjuster.

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of our most recent contest. Roger Klepacki’s “Off the back” made us both cringe and remember the pain and frustration of when a racing day goes bad… really bad. Roger, please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work out the details and we’ll send you a copy of our new Coors Classic DVD. Meanwhile, go ahead and take a look at our latest gallery, decide what you like and let us know what you think by dropping a note to

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Denver VeloSwap - October 27VeloSwapis the world's largest consumer bicycle and sports expo. It is THE placeto see, swap, buy, and sell every imaginable bike, part, and accessory.This cultural cycling happening is a not-to-be-missed experience. Itis the place to feel the pulse of the cycling community and rub elbowswith like minded cyclists.Booth space is available to individuals, clubs, retailers and manufacturers.Come see why 15,000 people think Veloswap is the best event of the year.For more information, visit www.VeloSwap.com19th Annual Subaru Denver VeloSwapDenver, ColoradoSaturday,

Barry Wicks (Kona-YourKey.com) took advantage of world champion Erwin Vervecken’s derailleur failure with half a lap to go to take the win at the second day of the Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup on Sunday at Southampton, New York. Wicks, who lost to Vervecken (Fidea) by a wheel in the previous day’s sprint finish, was never out of contention on the much more technical course featured on the second day at the Southampton Youth Services Center.

First-time cyclocross racer Steven Gordon (Haymarket Bicycles) and Betsy Shogren (Fort Factory) won their respective races at the fourth annual Breast Cancer Awareness Cyclocross Challenge on Sunday in Hagerstown, Maryland. Stephen Cummings (Meridith Group) took second in the men’s A race with Michael Gallagher (U.S. Armed Forces) third on the dusty, serpentine course at the Hagerstown Fairgrounds Park. In the women’s A race, Lisa Vible (C3 Sollay.com) took the runner-up spot with Libby Sheldon (Tokyo Joe’s) third. Other winners included: Men’s Category 4: Steven Wahl (AVC). Men’s B: Ethan

How tough is Stuart O’Grady? Just look at the wrist bands he brought to the Tour de France this summer and you’ll find out. The Paris-Roubaix champion is set to race this weekend for the first time since suffering a horrible crash in stage 8 to Tignes in the Tour de France. O’Grady fell on the treacherous descent off the Roseland and fractured eight ribs, three vertebrae, a shoulder and collarbone and punctured his lung. The Aussie spent nearly a week in the hospital and wasn’t able to start training again until September. O’Grady will race in the Jayco Herald Sun Tour from October 14-21

Off the back

Wicks takes the victory

Wicks and Trebon tag-teamed the world champ again

Compton and Bissette hung together early

But the national champ eventually soloed off to win

Katie Compton (Spike Shooter) and world champion Erwin Vervecken (Fidea Assurance) took two very different paths to winning their respective races at the Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup on Saturday in Southampton, New York. Vervecken did battle with three reigning national champions — American Ryan Trebon (Kona-YourKey), Canadian Greg Reain (RWR-Colnago-Time) and German Malte Urban (Heinz von Heiden) — and it proved to be a fight to the finish for the jet-lagged rainbow jersey.

The 2007 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships concluded on Saturday as the final five national titles were awarded in one individual and four team events. Just six weeks before making its debut on the UCI World Cup program in Sydney, the women's 3km team pursuit was introduced to the national championships. The trio of two-time world champion Sarah Hammer (Ouch Pro Cycling), Thursday's individual pursuit national champion Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light) and this year's sprint and keirin national champion, Jennie Reed (Momentum), rode to a victory in

Vervecken and Wicks battled right to the line

Vervecken said winning was tougher than in his previous visits stateside

Bausch, Reed and Hammer in the the women's 3km team pursuit

The podium

The bicycle Italy's Paolo Bettini rode to his second consecutive title at the world road race championships last Sunday has been stolen, the Ansa news agency reported on Saturday. Thieves stole a total of 21 bicycles belonging to the Quick Step team and the van in which they were being stored overnight ahead of Saturday's Memorial Cimurri race between Parma and Bologna. The bicycles are estimated to be worth 150,000 euros ($212,000). The team was able to assemble a collection of reserve bikes for Bettini and the team to use in the 183km race. The 33-year-old was crowned world

Eight more national champions were crowned Friday on day three of the 2007 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships as elite and U23 categories of the men's and women's sprint and points race were contested. After qualifying second behind Adam Duvendeck (Momentum) in the 200-meter time trial on Thursday, Michael Blatchford (Cody Racing) captured both the elite and U23 national titles in the men's sprint. Blatchford dispatched silver medalist Ben Barczewski (T-Town Express) in two straight rides in the finals to claim the national title while Duvendeck took two straight

Dear Readers,
Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the world of competitive cycling by your friends at VeloNews.com.

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

He’s certainly off to a good start. World junior time trial champion, Taylor Phinney captured the national elite men's individual pursuit title on Thursday evening, competing in his first-ever event on the track. The 17-year-old Phinney (TIAA-CREF) earned the number-two seed in Thursday morning's qualifying session at USA Cycling’s Elite Track National Championships in Carson, California, with a time of 4:35.550 Phinney’s time set up a head-to-head match against top-seed Brad Huff, who had earlier set a mark of 4:34.976. In the gold medal, Phinney rode to an early advantage in

T-Mobile general manager Bob Stapleton is taking a “wait and see” attitude toward the ongoing power struggle between the UCI and the organizers of the three grand tours. Last week, the UCI announced a restructured 2008 ProTour calendar that excludes the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a España and major one-day classics associated with the big three race organizers. Stapleton said the news of a watered-down ProTour calendar caught teams by surprise, but added this likely won’t be the last row in the ongoing battle over the controversial ProTour. “I think this is round one of what’s

Slipstream Sports LLC, the parent company of the Slipstream professionalcycling team, has developed a grant program designed to breathe new lifeinto American youth cycling.The organization today announced "Causing the Slipstream," a developmentprogram to provide financial support to outstanding youth cycling programsacross the country.U.S.-based cycling programs with a junior development program are encouragedto apply for grants through www.slipstreamsports.com.Grant winners will also receive access to private training from Slipstream/Chipotleteam members and renowned Sports Physiologist,

Good genes or the power of argyle? Either way, Taylor Phinney is flyin'

Stapleton isn't expecting a rapid resolution to the ProTour fight.

Slipstream supports juniors

Dear Readers,In Deliveranceof the bird man, a reader wrote in to ask about an incident in which his group ride was buzzed, and in response, the ride leader flipped the offending driver “the bird.” As you may recall, this immediately led to an altercation between the “bird man” and the “enraged and rather large passenger.” In that column, I wrote that “the bird” is not constitutionally protected speech, and may even be a provocation to fight. In response, I received the following letter. Hi Bob,Interesting discussion of the "bird," although lacking in brevity and accuracy. I take issue

Peter Van Den Abeele’s has the title of Mountain Bike Sports Coordinator within the UCI, which is a fancy way of saying he runs the show. A former pro off-road racer himself, the Belgian now patrols the start/finish line of World Cup races, doing everything from handing Gatorade to finishes, adjusting metal barriers and schmoozing potential sponsors. With a cash sponsor in Nissan on board, the UCI World Cup and world championships rose to new heights in 2007. And with the 2008 Olympics in Beijing on the horizon, Van Den Abeele owns an extensive to-do list. Van Den Abeele sat down with

Three cyclocross races in one week! Sure, temperatures for all events hovered around 80 degrees and even though only one race featured beer chugging, bike junkies throwing money at the racers, it still felt a little bit like Christmas time in Belgium. The first race of the last week was Cross Vegas, the soon-to-be annual kick off to the U.S. cyclocross season. This spectacular nighttime event took place last Wednesday following day three of the yearly super bike nerd convention known as Interbike. If you’ve never been to Interbike, all I can say is standing on concrete floors underneath

Oscar Pereiro finally feels comfortable enough to put on the yellow jersey from the disputed 2006 Tour de France. The Spanish rider donned the maillot jaune for a photo shoot with the Spanish daily AS and said it rightfully belongs to him following last month’s ruling against Floyd Landis. “A lot of time has passed but I feel good. And I’m not afraid to put it on,” Pereiro said. “Since I received a fax from the UCI (on Sept. 21) informing the news about the 2006 Tour, I know that putting on the yellow jersey again isn’t a provocation. I have nothing to hide.” In the eyes of the UCI,

Legally Speaking - with Bob Mionske: Them there's fightin' words, boy