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Christian Vande Velde (CSC) and Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel) have both confirmed they will race next month’s Vuelta a España. Vande Velde, fresh off a rock solid 15th in the Clásica San Sebastián on Saturday, was the fourth-best American at the Tour de France, slotting in at 25th overall, finishing behind Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) in third, Chris Horner (Predictor-Lotto), 15th, and George Hincapie (Discovery) in 24th. “I will take a little break and then I will get ready for the Vuelta,” said Vande Velde, who’s raced in the Vuelta three times, with a career-best 25th in 2002.

“Wow! You’re a professional cyclist? How cool! You must see everything! How lucky is that! Like one huge paid vacation traveling around the world!” Response: “Yep, see it all. Pretty cool.” To answer honestly with “Well, we see the insides of lots of hotel rooms, airports and a few hundred kilometers of road a day, but it’s not like we actually see anything,” simply isn’t worth the complicated explanation required afterwards. Most people simply can’t believe and that we don’t spend our days cruising town, checking out the sights, doing a bit of shopping, hitting up swank restaurants and

Dear readers,
Most of today's column is devoted to a selection of the many, many interesting letters I got in response to my June 26 column, addressing the many factors that add to - or reduce – rolling resistance.
Lennard

Roundness
Lennard,

Vande Velde rode a solid Tour and is aiming to ride the Vuelta, too.

Fresh ‘Korn: The romance and adventure of the open road

You couldn’t tell that Danilo Di Luca has been the subject of a drugs inquiry since winning the Giro d’Italia in early June. Just as it looked like Di Luca was going to be cleared of links to the so-called “Oil for Drugs” doping investigation in Italy, Italy’s Olympic Committee (CONI) said late last week on its web page it will need more time to review evidence over links to alleged illicit practices. Di Luca, however, showed no signs of tension after racing at this weekend’s Clásica San Sebastián. “I am tranquilo,” Di Luca said after finishing 80th. “I have nothing to worry about. I

Di Luca celebrated a win by teammate Leonardo Bertagnolli at the Clásica San Sebastián.

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,

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. This last round of photos offered up some exceptional images and you really need to take a look, but we have to celebrate the sheer cheekiness of the man in the black t-shirt in Brandon Dwight’s “The Message is Delivered.” Yeah, yeah, we could go on and wax poetic about the message and how we're not making any accusations and yada, yada, yada… but, bottom line is that it’s a great shot and it made a lot of us

The Message is Delivered

After losing valuable ground on the NRC front during Charlotte, North Carolina’s prize-rich Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium, Toyota-United’s Ivan Dominguez evened the score just up the road in Winston-Salem at the 2007 Hanes Park Classic. Dominguez sat comfortably in the field during most of Sunday’s 90-minute effort, content on waiting for the right moment to make up for a disappointing 15th place showing the day before. “Yesterday I was a little tired but from the second lap, I told my guys ‘Hey, keep the race together because I feel good.’ And I love this heat.” The extreme

Arvesen wins Danish tourNorwegian Kurt-Asle Arvesen (CSC) won the Tour of Denmark on Sunday. Britain’s Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile) won the sixth and final stage, a 175.6km leg between Praestoe and Frederiksberg. Arvesen thus becomes the first two-time winner of the Danish tour, his first victory here having come in 2004. It is the fourth consecutive victory here for a CSC rider. "It's fantastic," Arvesen told The Associated Press. "I never thought I could do this." Tour of DenmarkStage 61. Mark Cavendish (GB), T-Mobile, 175.6km in 4:05:172. Juan José Haedo (Arg), CSC, same time3. Graeme

With doping positives and the ejection of the yellow jersey, the news from this year’s Tour de France was predictably dour. Indeed, with reporters spending three weeks in the race’s scandal-plagued – and essentially closed – environment, many were prepared to write the obituary for France’s national tour. But sorting through the numbers and viewing the event from outside the “bubble” of the Tour caravan shows that the race deservedly remains one of the world’s most popular sporting events. Numbers on the roadThis year’s Tour began, with great hope and ambition, on the streets of London.

Belgian Greg van Avermaet (Predictor-Lotto) claimed victory in the German classic Rund um die Hainleite on Saturday. Van Avermaet outsprinted Germans Sven Krauss and Paul Martens to win the 201km race around Erfurt. Italian Alessandro Petacchi (Milram), who has returned to racing following a positive test for salbutamol, finished with the bunch, well behind the 11-man break that contested the victory. The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) had recommended to the Italian cycling federation (FCI) that Petacchi be banned from cycling for 12 months after a urine sample he gave at Pinerolo on May

With plenty of heavy hitters coming out of the Tour de France looking to light up the 225km Clásica San Sebastián on a hot Saturday in northern Spain, it was Leonardo Bertagnolli – with only five days of racing in his legs all season – who stole the prize. Bertagnolli, who only returned to training in early May after being sidelined with a cardiac arrhythmia for five months, outgunned Spanish veteran Juan Manuel Garate (QuickStep-Innergetic) in a two-up sprint to claim his most important victory of his career. “I’ve only raced five days this year. Though I didn’t expect to win, I knew the

In Saturday’s battle of the NRC titans at the Presbyterian Invitational Criterium in Charlotte, North Carolina, Health Net-Maxxis rider Frank Pipp followed a late move by Jesse Anthony (Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada) and grabbed the win four and a half laps later. It was an intense effort that unexpectedly delivered another key win over the team’s close competitors, Toyota-United.

London provided a unique - and popular - setting for this year's Grand Départ

Police estimate that 2.1 million fans turned out for the ride to Canterbury

In splendid isolation for three weeks, sometimes journalists miss the big picture

Fans turned out throughout the Tour.

Van Avermaet takes the win

Troubles or no, some of us can't help but love the Tour

Bertagnolli exults after outsprinting his breakaway companion

The Clásica

Di Luca, only recently returned to competition after taking a break following his Giro d’Italia victory in May

Lopez, De Walle and Albasini

Garate and Bertagnolli have a go

Française des Jeux chases

Bertagnolli pops his cork

The men's podium

The women's podium

It’s time for cycling to forget the Tour de France and all of its scandals as the international racing calendar kicks back into gear Saturday with the 27th Clásica San Sebastián in the heart of Spain’s Basque Country… at least for one day. Perhaps there couldn’t be a better tonic for cycling’s woes than a good old-fashioned race and the always-exciting Clásica could just be the ticket. With its spectacular backdrop – San Sebastián is easily one of Europe’s most glamorous cities – coupled with the passion that comes from the fiery Basque fans, the Clásica could help cycling fans remember

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,

Rabobank manager, Theo de Rooy has resigned, according to a team statement issued Friday. De Rooy became the center of some controversy on July 25th, when he dismissed Michael Rasmussen from the team, while the Danish rider was leading the Tour de France. The team said that de Rooy had "decided to step down, in consultation with the Rabobank." De Rooy fired Rasmussen for allegedly lying about his whereabouts in an attempt to avoid out-of-competition doping tests. Rasmussen, who has vehemently denied the accusations, missed tests in May and June. The two-time Tour de France climber's

Chris Eatough collected his fifth national 24-hour solo mountain-biking championships on July 29 at Wisconsin’s 24 Hours of Nine Mile. The six-time world 24-Solo champion went blow for blow with Nat Ross (Subaru-Gary Fisher) before finally pulling away from the Coloradan during the night. While 24-Solo racing is still considered a fringe sport for the physically tough/mentally insane, the 2007 U.S. championships featured an impressive 45 entrants. Still, Eatough has taken a step back from his bread-and-butter this season, and has spent 2007 diversifying his racing. The Maryland native won

Xavier Florencio surprised a strong field to win in 2006.

Florencio dons the traditional

Eatough

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.

Dear BobI live and bike in Texas. A few weeks ago friends in a cycling club were stopped and cited for failure to stop at a 4-way stop sign. Having ridden a few times with the group, I believe the officer to be correct, as the group rarely stopped at 4-way stop signs. However, a few cyclists were also cited for failure to carry their driver's license. I am a little confused as I seem to recall biking for 12 years or so before I qualified by age for a driver's license. I personally carry a RoadID strapped to my ankle in the event of an unfortunate incident. The officer insisted

Tour de France winner Alberto Contador said Thursday that the forced exit of Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen, which paved the way for his own victory, was fundamentally unfair and set a bad precedent for the sport. "I don't know what is really behind it, but I do know that what should not be possible is to be told in the middle of the race that you can't participate when there was no problem at the beginning," Contador said in an interview with radio Cadena Ser. "I would have liked to have won in another way," he added. Rasmussen was kicked off the Tour by his Rabobank team while

Bettini will have the chance to defend his rainbow jersey in Stuttgart next month.

Contador says he would have preferred to win another way.

South African Ryan Cox died Tuesday weeks after doctors performed surgery to repair a constriction in his iliac artery, a problem common in cyclists. The 28-year-old Cox, who had reported numbness, weakness and other problems with his left leg earlier in the year, had been diagnosed with a problem similar to that experienced by CSC’s Stuart O’Grady in 2002. Cox, with financial assistance from Barloworld teammate Robbie Hunter, underwent surgery in early July. Cox’s coach Clint Curtis told Bicycling South Africa that the rider showed classic symptoms of an arterial constriction. "He

Dear Monique,I just read your column about fish. I don’t eat fish for many reasons, some of which you mentioned in your article. I didn’t hear you mention flaxseed oil, which surprised me because I am told that it is a great alternative to fish, yet with a much lower or no risk of contamination. I was hoping that you could explain the difference and if it isn’t, what else could I include in my diet. Thanks,Adam Hi Adam,As you are aware, foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids may alleviate or prevent a variety of health problems. But getting enough omega-3s can be a unique modern dietary

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,

Levi Leipheimer rode the 2007 Tour de France just as he said he would, executing his plan of peaking in the final week of the race to perfection. With all the hardest stages packed into the Tour’s final nine days, Leipheimer passed on trying to defend his title during June’s Dauphiné Libéré for fear of peaking too soon. The veteran American hit his stride just in time and doubled in the Tour’s final time trial to secure a spot on the podium and win a stage. “I’m extremely happy to win a stage. It’s been a lifelong dream to win a stage at the Tour and to be on the podium is going to be

Cox's win at Genting in 2005 sealed his overall victory at Langkawi that year.

Leipheimer made it to the podium in Paris

The T-Mobile cycling team has fired Patrik Sinkewitz, the rider who failed a drugs test in the run up to the Tour de France, after he decided not to have a second urine sample analyzed. The 26-year-old's decision means he accepts the test's result and concedes that he violated T-Mobile's Code of Conduct after he was found to have abnormal levels of testosterone following an out-of-competition test taken on June 8th by the German anti-doping agency (NADA). the 2004 Tour of Germany winner said he had been using widely-available gel Testogel - a replacement therapy for low

Electronic shifting is not necessarily a new idea. Mavic, for example, twice tried to roll out the concept in the 1990s. Remember Zap and Mektronic? While those early efforts never really gained traction, they did represent a first step away from reliance on the old tried-and-true woven steel cable. These days, there are several systems at various stages of development. A couple even showed up at the Tour de France this year. Hands down, we were most impressed by the effort Campagnolo engineers have put into the project in recent months. Campagnolo insists that all of its parts are still

Just as Spanish cycling was celebrating the Tour de France victory of Alberto Contador, the breaking news Monday that Iban Mayo tested positive for EPO put a chill on Spain’s cycling renaissance. With six riders in the top 10 and Contador’s dramatic victory seemed to put Spanish cycling back on the forefront of the European peloton, but Mayo’s positive doping test threw cold water on the fiesta. Saunier Duval-Prodir quickly suspended the Basque climber after receiving notification from the UCI that Mayo revealed traces of the banned blood booster in a anti-doping control taken on the Tour’s

Officials with Kazakhstan’s cycling federation on Tuesday expressed staunch support for Alexander Vinokourov who was excluded from the Tour de France following a positive test for blood doping. "We are going to support the position that the results of the A and B samples were a direct result of the violent fall Alexander suffered during the fifth stage of the cycling race," said the executive director of the federation, Aleksandr Antychev. He also added that the federation would dispute, in the courts, the exclusion from the Tour of the entire Astana team, of which Vinokourov was team

On the same day that two riders from a U.S.-registered team stood on the final podium of the 2007 Tour de France, Slipstream Sports manager Jonathan Vaughters announced that he had signed compatriots Christian Vande Velde and Dave Zabriskie, both from team CSC, and Scottish rider David Millar, from Saunier Duval-Prodir. Team Slipstream, which began in 2004 as TIAA-CREF, will return as a continental professional team in 2008, with hopes of a Tour de France wildcard invitation. Vaughters and team owner Doug Ellis hope to see the squad become a ProTour team in 2009. The team will also race

Scheirlinckx’s World Star UL Team equipped with Campagnolo’s prototype electronic group.

The right shifter.

The left shifter, with a good view of the thumb button.

The system’s brain

The computer is hard wired to the rest of the parts.

The integration of the battery is seamless.

A view of the battery’s connection on Stéphane Augé’s Time bike.

The front derailleur.

The rear derailleur.

A rear view.

Mayo finished 16th in this year's Tour de France

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. One image in particular that caught our attention was a submission by frequent contributor Felipe Borja, “Sharing the Road.” Felipe usually sends his images from South America without too much detail, which means we can only guess at place, time and other details, but it has us longing for a bit of time off in the southern hemisphere. Nice work Felipe! Please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work out the

Alberto Contador, the 24-year-old surprise winner of a dope-scarred Tour de France, represents the hope of a "new cycling," Spanish media wrote Monday. "Champion of hope," wrote sports daily AS on its front page below a photo of the cyclist wearing a red and yellow Spanish flag around his neck taken after he won the three-week race on Sunday. "Contador was crowned in Paris as the symbol of the new cycling," it added. The rider for the American Discovery Channel team was the first Spaniard to win the crown since the last of Miguel Indurain's five titles in 1995 and the ninth Spaniard

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,

Spanish climbing specialist Iban Mayo became the latest rider to fail a drugs test after it was revealed he had tested positive for EPO during the Tour de France, it was announced by his Saunier Duval team on Monday. The 29-year-old, who finished 16th in the Tour, which finished on Sunday, has been suspended by his team. "The Saunier Duval team was notified by the UCI that Iban Mayo had tested positive for EPO following a test on July 24 which was a rest day on the Tour de France," read a statement on the team's website. The statement added that the team suspended Mayo immediately

Oh my lord, the morning after the Tour is the best breakfast in the world. It’s better than Christmas, as Stuey says. I spoke with the man a few times over the course of the last two days as he coached me to make it through the last night. He is the teacher after all. Last night I hurt myself as I always do with friends and foes and now I am crawling my way back to Gerona on my knees. CSC had the usual party, which was fun but then Disco' went above and beyond by renting the roof of the Crillon. Awesome. I won't go into details but I had a good time. Thanks Alberto. I did miss my

Oh my lord, the morning after the Tour is the best breakfast in the world. It’s better than Christmas, as Stuey says. I spoke with the man a few times over the course of the last two days as he coached me to make it through the last night. He is the teacher after all. Last night I hurt myself as I always do with friends and foes and now I am crawling my way back to Gerona on my knees. CSC had the usual party, which was fun but then Disco' went above and beyond by renting the roof of the Crillon. Awesome. I won't go into details but I had a good time. Thanks Alberto. I did miss my

Sharing the Road

A resurgent Mayo won the 19th stage of the Giro in June of this year.

Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis) took his third stage win of the 2007 Tour de Toona at Sunday’s stage 7 criterium, out-kicking Canadian Charles Dionne (Colavita Sutter Home) and Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefits) in downtown Altoona, Pennsylvania. The victory capped off a week of dominance by the big Australian and his Health Net team, as Menzies and his teammate Rory Sutherland took the top two spots in the final general classification. American Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) took the women’s victory, out sprinting Canadian Gina Grain (Expresscopy.com) and Lauren Franges (Lipton). It was

A celebration, a sigh of relief and the 2007 Tour de France has arrived in Paris. Just as he has been throughout the Tour de France, our man Casey Gibson was there.

Mr. Contador readies for another day at the office.

The Tour's four jerseys - along with the French national champion - ready for the start of the Tour's final stage

Is this Hincapie's final Tour in Disco' garb?

The peloton's 141 survivors head onto cycling's most hallowed stretch of road.

The folks from Oz had plenty to cheer about this year.