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Saunier Duval-Prodir rolls into the heart of the 2006 as a dramatically different team. Eleven riders from last year are gone, replaced by big names such as Gilberto Simoni, David Millar, Koldo Gil and Luciano Pagliarini. Now in its third year in formation, Saunier Duval has matured in its goals and aspirations, taking aim for bigger fish, namely the Giro d’Italia with two-time champion Simoni. The return of Millar after a two-year racing ban is sure to attract a lot of attention, even more so if Millar can snag the yellow jersey in the opening prologue at the Tour this year in what will be

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.A pat on the editorial backEditor:Your live online coverage of the Tour de Georgia is absolutely fantastic. Well done, VeloNews. Michael DowToronto, Ontario, Canada P.S. Could you please ask John Wilcockson if he would possibly be interested in tutoring me? I'd be honored to follow

Tour de France hopeful Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) will finally launch the start of his season at the Tour de Romandie on Tuesday where a strong line-up awaits the German in the Swiss Alps. Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears), the recent winner of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Flèche Wallonne one-day classics, will be one of the headline acts in the race, which serves as a warm-up for the upcoming Giro d'Italia. Although the 653km race starts and finishes with time trials through the streets of Geneva and Lausanne, the rest of the six-day event snakes through the hills and

Mauro Gianetti

Final Overall 1. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, 24:00:54 2. Thomas Danielson (USA), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling, 00:04 3. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling, 01:55 4. Gutierrez Cataluna José Enrique (Sp), Phonak, 02:11 5. Janez Brajkovic (SLO), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling, 02:15 6. David Zabriskie (USA), CSC, 02:31 7. Nathan O'Neill (Aus), Health Net Maxxis, 03:45 8. Marco Pinotti (I), Saunier Duval, 03:54 9. Christopher Baldwin (USA), Toyota-United, 04:01 10. Augusto Cesar Augusto (Col), Navigators Insurance, 04:20

Chalk one up for the little guys. Following a five-day shutout in which domestic teams failed to win a single stage and only managed two top-three finishes against their ProTour foes, Toyota-United speedster Juan Jose Haedo earned a measure of redemption for the U.S.-based squads at the Ford Tour de Georgia, taking a bunch-sprint win on the final day of racing. The Argentine finished half a bike length ahead of Canadian Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis), with Phonak’s Aurelien Clerc third at the finish of Sunday’s 118.2-mile stage from Cumming to Alpharetta.

Alejandro Valverde, whose fans sometimes call him Balaverde, the Green Bullet, added a second notch to his list of classics victories on Sunday in a riveting 92nd edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, raced on a splendidly sunny spring day. The verdict was always in doubt after repeated attacks in the finale failed to break up a 12-strong group that eventually contested a ragged sprint, which Valverde of Caisse d’Épargne-Illes Balears clearly won from the Italians Paolo Bettini of Quick Step-Innergetic and Damiano Cunego of Lampre-Fondital.

Landis adds the Georgia title to an already-stellar early campaign

Valverde celebrates

Horner scored an eighth-place finish

Boogerd on the attack

The Bettini group on La Redoute

Whatever you do, hold your line

Valverde wins

The podium

Boogerd and Rodriguez on the march

Haedo wins the stage

Landis had a mechanical, but stayed cool and collected the overall

The jersey winners enjoy the prerogative of the podium

Frischkorn and Louder have a dig

A beautiful day after some rainy riding

And an appreciative crowd

Toyota at the front

And Haedo has something to celebrate

Make that an extra-beautiful day

The amazing spring run of Floyd Landis continued on Saturday, as the American stared down a stiff challenge from Tom Danielson and the Discovery Channel team during the brutal Stage 5 climb up Brasstown Bald at the 2006 Ford Tour de Georgia.

Since his break-through victory last Sunday at the Amstel Gold Race, FrankSchleck has seen his stock rise like a meteor. “He seems like a fragileguy,” his CSC team manager Bjarne Riis commented this week, “but he hasa huge resistance.”Schleck confirmed his good form on Wednesday at the Flèche Wallonne,where he was one of three riders, with CSC teammate Karsten Kroon and SamuelSanchez of Euskaltel, who finished at the top of the Mur de Huy just behindwinner Alejandro Valverde of Caisse d’Épargne-Illes Balears.In placing fourth at the Flèche, Schleck rode a smart race inview of the difficulties

Mano a mano, Danielson and Landis battled on Brasstown Bald

Landis had his game face on before the race got under way

Frischkorn leads an early break

McCartney and Euser ride together in the rain

Euser watches McCartney vanish up the road

It was another rainy day at the start

Phonak in charge

Popo' labors on Danielson's behalf

Danielson attacked and attacked, but couldn't shed Landis

The day's top three

‘Chechu’ free to fly againJosé Luis Rubiera has been a fixture at Discovery Channel since joining the team for the 2001 season, but now he’s relishing the opportunity to show what he can do. Always a loyal lieutenant to seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, “Chechu” is free to fly again this year as the team reloads in the post-Armstrong era. Speaking to journalists at the recent Tour of the Basque Country, the Spanish climbing ace says he’s looking forward to chance to stake out some results for himself. “We have a lot of experience on this team from many years and we all

Fred Rodriguez must like it in Dahlonega. For the second time in thefour-year history of the Tour de Georgia, the American speedstersprinted to a stage win in this small college town at the base of theBlue Ridge Mountains. Rodriguez burst across the line ahead of Italian Matteo Tosatto (QuickStep-Innergetic) and Discovery’s Yaroslav Popovych to grab victory inthe 118.9-mile stage that begin in Dalton.

A more aggressive, more exciting edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège resulted last year when the organizers restored the “Bermuda Triangle” to the Belgian classic’s 262km course. The series of three critical climbs — Côte de Wanne, Côte de Stockeu and Côte de la Haute-Levée — in the space of just 12km around the town of Stavelot split the peloton into shreds. Only 35 riders from the 180-strong pack emerged from the “triangle” with a chance of winning. As a result, none of the pre-race favorites had more than a couple of teammates to help them in the final 80km. This gave an opening for CSC’s

A more aggressive, more exciting edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège resulted last year when the organizers restored the "Bermuda Triangle" to the Belgian classic’s 262kmn course. The series of three critical climbs — Côte de Wanne, Côte de Stockeu and Côte de la Haute-Levée — in the space of just 12km around the town of Stavelot split the peloton into shreds. Only 35 riders from the 180-strong pack emerged from the "triangle" with a chance of winning. As a result, none of the pre-race favorites had more than a couple of teammates to help them in the final 80km. This gave an opening for

Daddy Fred on the podium

Rodriguez celebrates

As Landis lunches, he hopes for a better ride on Brasstown Bald this time around

McCartney nearly did it again

Riding in the rain

And again

Rodriguez makes his move

Phonak in control, waiting for tomorrow

Zabriskie: Can he attack on Brasstown Bald?

The trio on the run

Spanish rider David Muñoz (Comunidad Valenciana) snatched the third stage of the Giro di Trentino in Italy on Thursday, but Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Fondital) remained safely in the race leader’s jersey. With the win in the 168km stage from Romeno to Tione, Muñoz marks just his second victory of his career to go along with a stage in the 2002 Tour of Portugal. Muñoz escaped with five other riders just 10km into the day’s course and was fastest of the bunch. Cunego, meanwhile, remained safely inside the peloton to retain the race leaders’ jersey. The 2004 Giro d’Italia champion sounded

Dear Bob:I have the good fortune to live in Southern Minnesota where the roadsare in good condition, and relatively free of traffic. Our club ridesare always quite enjoyable and take us on some very pleasant routes throughlocal farmland. Most of the roads we ride on have very minimal traffic,to the point where a car goes past us (in either direction) often onlyonce every 10 or 15 minutes. In general, most motorists are quiteconsiderate, but as always there are a few who feel that bicyclists simplydo not belong on the roads.Minnesota law states that bicyclists are allowed to ride two

For the second time in two years the battle for supremacy at the Tour de Georgia is setting up as a showdown between Americans Floyd Landis and Tom Danielson after they vaulted into the top two places in the overall standings by finishing 1-2 in the Stage 3 individual time trial on Thursday.

Landis races to the stage win and overall lead ...

... setting up a showdown with Danielson

Popovych finished ninth and slipped to sixth overall

U.S. TT champ Baldwin rode to seventh on the day

Danielson gets a boost from fans along the route

Ekimov rode to 15th on the day

When all was said and done, Landis was on top

But if he falters in the hills, Danielson will be waiting

Aussie Stuart O´Grady returned to action in Monday’s Rund um Köln after missing the northern classics with injuries. O´Grady cracked some ribs in a high-speed fall at Tirreno-Adriatico in early March, forcing him to the sidelines for Milan-San Remo and Tour of Flanders, two classics where he’s previously finished on the podium. A healthy O´Grady is back on the bike and looking to rebuild his form for the Tour de France. This year, O´Grady said he'll be at the service of team captain Ivan Basso and won’t be chasing the green jersey. "If it was going to happen, it would have happened by

Spanish riders virtually overran the 70th edition of the Flèche Wallonne classic on Wednesday. Whenever there was a significant break, a Spaniard was in it; and when it came to the stiff finishing climb up the Mur de Huy, one Spaniard after another attacked before Alejandro Valverde surged in the final 200 meters to score his first victory in a ProTour classic.

Yaroslav Popovych sure knows how to impress the boss. With Discovery Channel’s Lance Armstrong looking on for the first time here in Georgia, the rising star from the Ukraine made a late-race escape to win Stage 2 of the 2006 Ford Tour de Georgia on Wednesday.

Cycling legend and Colorado native Davis Phinney was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Tuesday night in Denver. The Tour de France stage winner, who racked up 300 wins in his professional career, headed up an inductee class that included longtime University of Colorado women’s basketball coach Ceal Barry and Denver Broncos defensive lineman Dennis Smith. A graduate of Boulder High School, Phinny won a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympic games in the team time trial, as well as two stages of the Tour de France — one in 1986 and another in 1987. In 2000 Phinney was diagnosed with

Check out all the videos from the Tour de Georgia. Exclusive race highlights and interviews. Check out https://www.velonews.com/vntv/

The U.S. Postal Service ain't got nothin' on Casey Gibson when it comes to the "neither rain nor . . . " bit. He was out there on a rainy day in Georgia, bringing it all back home to you. Here it is.

O'Grady - seen here at the 2004 Tour - says that as a member of CSC he has other goals and responsibilities

Valverde kicks into overdrive at the finish

Popovych gets the win

Arrieta and Finot launched the first major break of the day

The podium: Two Spaniards and a Dutchman

Freire and Moos on the attack

Liquigas worked for defending champ Di Luca, to no avail

The Mur de Huy

Extebarria and Valverde sprint for it

And Valverde gets it