Voight looking stern
Voight looking stern
Voight looking stern
Vila and Landis
The peloton chases
Too late - Vila wins and Landis takes the lead
Welcome to the Taipei International Cycle Show
The RockShox Domain
The RockShox Totem
The Deda Electa
Deep-dish Shimano: On the 2007 menu?
San Marco saddles
The Avid 140mm rotor
American Classic engaged
Knog's small fry ...
... and the Gator
Three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) headlines an all-star field for Tirreno-Adriatico set to begin Wednesday in Tivoli along Italy’s western coast. The race of “due mari” pushes east across the middle of the Italian peninsula and serves as an ideal proving ground for contenders for Milan-San Remo. Among the former MSR winners taking the start include Freire, Alessandro Petacchi and Erik Zabel (Milram) and Paolo Bettini (Quick Step). Other big names include Michael Boogerd and Erik Dekker (Rabobank), 2003 world champ Igor Astarloa (Barloworld), last year's Tour green jersey
Editor’s note: A report in the Australian newspaper The Daily Telegraph, also posted at VeloNews.com on March 2 (see "UCI: No sanction for Armstrong over EPO charges"), requires clarification regarding the UCI’s handling of doping control forms that were obtained by L’Equipe and published in an August 23 story under the headline "The Armstrong Lie." A UCI official pointed out that while the forms obtained by L’Equipe were copies of UCI doping control forms from the 1999 Tour de France, they were not copies of positive test results. Below is a corrected version of the report: While the UCI
No offense to Allan Davis or anyone else in Tuesday’s finish line dash, but it’s going to take more than a good try to stop Tom Boonen. The reigning world champion sprang to his second consecutive victory in Paris-Nice in Tuesday’s hilly 200km second stage and widened his lead to 17 seconds over prologue winner Bobby Julich (CSC). The Quick Step-Innergetic train did nice work to set up the mass gallop after reeling in a long breakaway by French rider Nicolas Crosbie (Agritubel). Boonen made easy work of relegating Davis to a consecutive second-place and earned his ninth win on the 2006
Christian Vande Velde (CSC) was forced to abandon the 64th Paris-Nice after crashing hard on his left shoulder in a tumble in Tuesday’s hilly second stage. X-rays later showed that there was no break in his clavicle and Vande Velde was optimistic that he could be back on the bike in time to start his next scheduled race, Criterium International, at the end of March. "There’s nothing broken, that’s the good news," Vande Velde told VeloNews via telephone. "It hurts pretty bad, though. When you get to know your body pretty well, you know when something’s not right." Vande Velde said he
Freire is part of a star-filled field at Tirreno-Adriatico
For González, Murcia was sweet revenge.
González at the 2004 Tour
Boonen doubles up at Paris-Nice
Crosbie works his break
Celestino grimaces after his race-ending crash
A grim day in the saddle
Leblacher and Franzoi
Osa, Van Summeren and Marichal
Vasseur and Quick Step to the front ... with predictable results
Boonen takes his ninth win of the season
Bobby Julich is one-for-one in Europe so far in the 2006 season, ripping to a narrow victory in Sunday’s opening prologue of the 64th Paris-Nice. “I simply had killer legs,” he recounted on the team’s web page. “The route suited me perfectly and I really had the feeling that I was fast. It was a special feeling to start as the last one and be able to keep everyone behind me. It's always a great feeling to win and it's quite a good statistic to kick off my European season: one start – one win!” Julich expressed surprise at his condition in a race where he didn’t expect to challenge
Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now up for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of ourmost recent contest. Take the time to wander through that gallery and see if you agree or disagree with our choice of winner. We especially liked Phil Marques’s “Another Dam Race stage 1 1999.” Nice composition and a great shot from a superb perspective. Congratulations Phil! Once you thaw out, drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.com to work out the details and we’ll send you a copy of Graham Watson's "Landscapes of Cycling."Go ahead and
The rainbow jersey curse has yet to strike Tom Boonen so far this year. The reigning world champion put down a textbook-perfect sprint to win Monday’s first stage of Paris-Nice and snatch the yellow jersey away from Bobby Julich (CSC) thanks to time bonuses. It was Boonen’s eighth win in the young 2006 season, and the Belgian was already looking ahead to the spring classics moments after slamming the door shut on Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros). "It’s good to have won the stage because now I can take it easy until the end of Paris-Nice," Boonen told reporters. "For me, this race is ideal
USA Cycling has earmarked more than $50,000 for the 2006 Elite Mountain Bike Performance Stipend program. The initiative is aimed at rewarding off-road athletes with incentives and support to compete at the highest level of international mountain bike competition. The 2006 mountain bike season marks the beginning of the two-year Olympic qualification period during which countries accumulate points towards its nation’s overall ranking – the deciding factor in how many start spots a country receives at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. USA Cycling created the stipend program as one of
I just returned to a very snow-covered Zürich after spending the last week at training camp in Italy. Luckily we rode loads of kilometers while in Italy, otherwise I think I’d be freaking out with this weather. It’s currently minus-4 Celsius with a 16kph wind and snowing. We were really lucky with the weather in Italy. It wasn’t exactly California, but for Europe in the end of February, it wasn’t bad at all. We only rode in the rain on the first day. Luckily, the only objective during that ride was to flush our legs from the long drive. The next day was when the kilometers started stacking
Julich's European season so far: One start, one win
Another Dam Race stage 1 1999
Boonen sprints into the overall lead
Auge and Laurent working their break
Julich in yellow
A gray, damp day
The peloton slows for a nature break
Boonen dons the leader's jersey
Zabriskie had an early go
Olympic pursuit champion Sarah Ulmer produced a stunning solo ride to demolish a class international field in the second round of the women's World Cup road cycling series Sunday. Ulmer, who switched to road racing less than a year ago, proved peerless against a field containing riders with numerous Olympic and world titles. Among those left in her wake were the world's top three road riders in 2005 - Australia's Oenone Wood, Sweden's Susanne Ljungskog and Germany's Judith Arndt. Ulmer clocked three hours 16 minutes 45 seconds for the 124-kilometer race on an inner-city
Mike Jones (Health Net-Maxxis) and Laura Charameda (McGuire Cycling) won the McLane Pacific Cycling Classic Downtown Grand Prix on Saturday. The race was run on a flat, fast, 0.8-mile loop in downtown Merced, California. In the men’s race, Jones soloed to victory ahead of Jackson Stewart (Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada) and Mark McCormack (Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home). It was a good day for Health Net, which put four riders into the top 10, including last year’s winner, Gord Fraser. The new Toyota-United Pro squad was right behind them, with three of the top 10, including Juan Jose
Defending champion Bobby Julich (Team CSC) roared to victory Sunday in the 4.8km opening prologue of the 64th Paris-Nice on a day he didn’t expect to win. Julich – who enjoyed his best season last year with wins at Paris-Nice, Criterium International and the Tour of Benelux – said earlier this year he wouldn’t be chasing the smaller races, but that could change very quickly. “This is a surprise win for me today because this was not among my main goals this season,” Julich told reporters. “I only came here to gear up for other objectives later in the year.” Emboldened by the sensations of
Santos González (3 Molinas) sewed up his first career stage-racevictory Sunday after finishing safely in the bunch in the final stage ofthe five-day Vuelta a Murcia.German wunderkind Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner) out-kicked ArielRicheze (Panaria) to claim his second stage of the Spanish race in a masssprint despite heavy winds that forced race organizers to neutralize partof the course.New Discovery Channel rider Egoi Martínez featured in a five-manescape that pulled away at 22km to build up a 2:30 lead at 80km. The movewas neutralized at 112km, just before heavy winds
Runner-up Kashechkin
Third-placed McGee
Fourth-placed Contador
Boonen finished fifth
Vaugenerard took eighth
Steegmans crossed ninth
Landis just missed the top 10, finishing 11th
Julich dons the leader's jersey
Tom Boonen has been enjoying some quality training sessions around his new home in Monaco and hopes to roll into Sunday’s start of Paris-Nice ready to pop for a win or two during the eight-day “Race to the Sun.” “The weather is great and the area in and around Monaco is perfect for this important training as there are some good up hill sections,” Boonen said in a Quick Step-Innergetic release. “My teammates Kevin Hulsmans, Kevin Van Impe and Steven De Jongh have also joined me here in Monaco. It’s certainly more fun and stimulating training together.” The reigning world champion will head
Carlos Garcia Quesada (Unibet.com) won the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Murcia on Saturday as Santos González (3 Molinos Resort) seized the overall lead from Jose Iván Gutiérrez (Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears) with just one stage remaining. Garcia Quesada edged Italian Damiano Cunego (Lampre) in the final meters of the 146.6km stage from Caravaca to Collado Bermejo, which featured a trio of Category 1 climbs. Gutiérrez, who assumed the leader’s yellow jersey after winning the Stage 3 individual time trial, could not counter the attacks from the climbers despite the help of teammates
Boonen is everywhere.
Garcia Quesada takes the victory
Gutierrez hits the finish too late to keep his yellow jersey
Caisse d'Epargne working it
Cunego and Gonzales
Martinez on the front
Lampre chasing
VDB and Vino'
Valverde, Hruska and Gutierrez
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood
Especially if you're Garcia Quesada and winning a stage
Or Gonzales, seizing the lead
Gonzales on the podium
In what’s sure to be one of the most-watched comebacks in recent racing history, David Millar is expected to roll down the start ramp for the opening prologue of the 2006 Tour de France on July 1, just days after his two-year racing ban ends. Some think the former world time trial champion - who admitted to French police in June, 2004, he took the banned blood booster EPO en route to some of his biggest victories – should never race again. Others, however, believe Millar can return to the elite of the sport as a clean rider. Millar has promised as much in a pair of emotional testaments at
Cross-country pros rejoice, your prayers have been answered. USA Cycling is putting up more than $33,000 this year so that the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series can actually award prize money in the pro men’s and women’s cross-country races for 2006. And with the prize money also comes the awarding of UCI points. The NORBA series has awarded neither since 2002. Here’s the skinny:Prize money and points will be available at six of the seven NORBA National races in 2006. Because the NORBA No. 5 in Sonoma, CA (July 14-16) conflicts with the Canadian national championships, it will not offer
José Iván Gutiérrez (Illes Balears) surged into the overall lead at the Vuelta a Murcia on Friday after ripping through an impressive early season win in the 21.3km individual time trial. Gutiérrez – a four-time Spanish national time trial champion and world championship silver medalist last year in Madrid – showed off the best time-trial position of any Spanish rider going, taking more than 1 minute out of teammate Alejandro Valverde during Stage 3. Also showing good early season form was Alexandre Vinokourov, making his presence felt for the first time this season with a strong
Aussie Anna Meares outfought American Jennie Reed to take the gold medal in the sprint on Friday at the fourth and final round of the UCI World Cup Series, being staged at Sydney's Dunc Gray Velodrome through Sunday. The Athens Olympic time trial champion, who qualified fourth fastest, claimed the victory without conceding a single race, winning every match along the way. In the semi-finals Meares defeated Tamilla Abassova of Russia, the 2005 world championship silver medalist, to set up her gold-medal showdown with Reed. In their first match, Meares attacked from the front and Reed was
Millar joined teammate Gilberto Simoni at the Saunier-Duval presentation.
José Iván Gutiérrez now has the overall lead
Runner-up Vino'
Third-placed Rich
Valverde slipped to sixth overall, more than a minute back