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BOULDER, CO, --Tim Blumenthal, executive director of theInternational Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), has been picked froma pool of more than 500 applicants to lead The Bikes Belong Coalition.Bikes Belong is the industry trade group dedicated to putting more peopleon bikes more often. Blumenthal will begin work as the organization's executivedirector in September.Blumenthal has served as IMBA's chief staffer since 1993, followingfive years as a board member. When he began as IMBA's first fulltime employee,the organization had a $70,000 annual budget and fewer than 1,000

Former U.S. Postal rider Stive Vermaut died early Wednesday morning in Roeselaere, Belgium. Vermaut suffered a heart attack on the morning of June 13, while out on a training ride. The heart attack deprived Vermaut's brain of oxygen and his death Wednesday was the result of the effects of the resulting damage. Doctors had initially expressed hope of an eventual recovery and kept the 28-year-old Belgian on life support in an artificial coma, but Vermaut's condition deteriorated over the past three days and he died on Wednesday. Vermaut suffered from a congenital heart defect, first detected

Gilberto approaching Tour de France. He reveals his favorite for theoverall classification, his ambitions, and his “secret weapon”: “I’ve muchmore energy than last year”Q- Gilberto, this year’s Tour is different for you compared tolast year. Then you’d triumphed at the Giro and had clear ambitions todo well in the overall. This year?A- ”I’m still convinced I’ve got the right characteristics tobe a contender at the Tour. Naturally the experience of last year taughtme a lot and I’m trying to use it all this year”.Q- What are your objectives?A- ”I’m going to start the race quietly and prudently.

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com, appearing each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 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.Drugs driving this fan away from sportEditor:I'm a long-time Canadian athlete who competed in triathlons for over 10 years before switching to cycling. It's the most exciting sport I've ever done, and I've turned into a huge fan. Over the past

Tour de France chief Jean-Marie Leblanc said Tuesday that he doubted claims in a recently-published book which alleges that five-time winner Lance Armstrong has been involved in doping. "I'm skeptical," Leblanc told AFP of the book "La Confidential - The Secrets of Lance Armstrong" which alleges the 32-year-old American has used the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) since his recovery from cancer in 1998. The allegations caused such a storm that Armstrong's U.S. Postal team launched a futile attempt to have a note inserted on the book cover instructing readers of its supposed

CSC and Phonak have both announced their teams for the Tour De France. And, Boy, Oh, Boy are we happy to be apart of helping both teams perform at their best! ZIPP Speed Weaponry is proud to be a part of the biggest bike event ever. We can see it all now, like a window on the world, the stage wins and the glory of combat as the winners of each team step up into the light. And we can see them trying out the best wheels ever: ZIPP 202, 303 and 404's for the every day rigors of the road and the ZIPP 909's for the rough Time Trial stages. We are proud to be the supplier of these wheels and

Tuesday's EuroFile: Leblanc voices support for Armstrong

PRESS RELEASE - Phonak and CSC set up teams for the Tour De France

Zipp 303s

Zipp 404s

Zipp 909s

June has been a little hectic. We started out the month in the Alps previewing the Tour de France climbs. Our training camp finished just in time for the challenging one day Classique des Alps race, which I decided to sit out, since I had done so much riding in the days proceeding. But it was a successful race for our team, with four Phonak guys in the top 10. My teammate Oscar Pereiro won, which was a big victory for the entire organization. So we headed to the Dauphine Libere on a high note, which started a day later. My personal goal was to try and test myself as well as some new

June has been a little hectic. We started out the month in the Alps previewing the Tour de France climbs. Our training camp finished just in time for the challenging one day Classique des Alps race, which I decided to sit out, since I had done so much riding in the days proceeding. But it was a successful race for our team, with four Phonak guys in the top 10. My teammate Oscar Pereiro won, which was a big victory for the entire organization. So we headed to the Dauphine Libere on a high note, which started a day later. My personal goal was to try and test myself as well as some new

Christian Vande Velde will be back to the Tour de France for the first time since 2001 after getting the news Monday afternoon that he’s part of the nine-man squad lining up in Liège for Saturday’s start. After weeks of waiting to hear his Tour fate, the 28-year-old was nervously awaiting news from Liberty Seguros manager Manolo Saiz and finally couldn’t take it anymore. He called the Spanish team manager and learned the good news. Also getting a last-minute thumb’s-up is Aussie sprinter Allan Davis, so now at least Vande Velde will have someone to talk to at the team dinner table. Vande

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com, appearing each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 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 Millar’s tale: It just doesn’t fitEditor:I hope it's not true, just more silly gossip. We love David Millar here. The archetypal “whingeing pom,” who tells it like it is and moans when it hurts. The great British hope, who we all expect to

Tyler Tunes: Getting ready to ride

When Tyler Hamilton’s name is mentioned as a potential winner of theTour de France, the suggestion is usually followed by the qualification:But he’s too nice. That’s not to say that nice guys never win the Tour. For example, there are few cyclists as gentlemanly as Miguel Induráin,and didn’t he win the race five times? The question of “niceness” comesup with the well-mannered Hamilton because people do not see the same killerinstinct in him as they do in defending champion Lance Armstrong. Hamilton is a late developer, a little like Induráin. In hisfirst six Tours, the great Spanish rider

Sitting in a plush hotel lobby several hours before the final stageof the Dodge Tour de Georgia, CSC’s Bobby Julich is acutely aware thathe’s just one flat 75-mile ride away from a well-earned rest. It’s beena tough but successful spring campaign for Julich, and tomorrow he’ll beback at his home in Reno, Nevada, taking a week off the bike with teammateand good friend Jens Voigt. If all goes as planned today, Julich will finish the Tour de Georgiafourth overall behind race leaders Lance Armstrong, Voigt and Chris Horner.Coming into the weeklong race, his CSC team was aiming to ride in

Team Action Sports set a cross-country cycling record when they rolled onto the boardwalk at 1:17 a.m. Sunday at Atlantic City, New Jersey, defeating rivals Team Vail-Go Fast to win the four-man-team competition in the 2004 Insight Race Across America. The record for the category, set in 1995, had been 2905 miles in five days, six hours, and four minutes. This year, Action Sports completed 2959 miles in five days, eight hours, 17 minutes. Vail Go-Fast finished in five days, 10 hours and 26 minutes. “We learned a few things the hard way,” said Nat Faulkner of Action Sports. “We started out

Most of Europe was racing Sunday as several countries capped a week’s racingwith the men’s road race taking center stage. Here’s a round up of themajor nations:France: Thomas Voeckler (La Boulangere) won a three-up sprintagainst Cyril Dessel and Benoît Salmon after the leading trio hada large enough cushion to play games over the final sprint. Sylvain Chavanel(LaBoulangere) led the main bunch through three minutes back.Belgium: Tom Steels (Landbouwkrediet) won his second title inthree years after winning a three-up sprint on a flat 240km course. GeertOmloop (MrBookmaker) and Geert Verheyen

For a guy who spends the month of July under the klieg lights of the Tourde France, Jan Ullrich’s preparations for the Tour are largely unknown.In fact, apart from a plethora of pre-season interviews arranged at hisT-Mobile team’s Spanish training camp back in January, followed by hisonly pre-Tour clash with Lance Armstrong reported en masse by the Germanmedia at the Tour of Murcia in March, Ullrich’s plans for his annual July rendezvous with the Tour have mostly fallen below the radar. The 30-year-old German looked good at his training camp, having alreadyspent two months of alternating his

A few weeks off from competition clearly didn’t hurt Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan-Merida). The reigning World Cup champion, who skipped last weekend’s race in Schlamding, Austria, repeated her cross-country win of a year ago here at Mont Sainte-Anne with a win over hometown favorite Marie-Helen Premont (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects). Premont, who grew up only 15 minutes away from the race venue, pushed the pace on the opening lap, leading Dahle and teammate Alison Sydor up the opening climb. But it was on the climb that Dahle’s incredible form came into play. The 31-year-old Norwegian, who

The harder and longer the race, the more Levi Leipheimer likes it. And the 30- year-old Rabobank rider thinks he’ll really like the 2004 Tour de France. With the first serious mountains not coming until the climbing finish to La Mongie in stage 12, Leipheimer figures he’ll be firing on all cylinders just in time for the Tour’s decisive moments. “Each grand tour I’ve done, I’ve always been better in the third week,” Leipheimer told VeloNews. “It’s a strong point for me and I like it if the final week of the Tour is the most difficult. It favors me.” Leipheimer has made a mark for himself

Gord Fraser's smile said it all as he crossed the finish line during the Canadian national road race Sunday in Kamloops, British Columbia — the Health Net-Maxxis rider was finally the national champion, and had moved into strong contention for a spot on his country’s Olympic team. Fraser played a waiting game in the 180km race, sprinting away from a small lead group over the top of the final hill and soloing away to the finish lline. Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) took second, with Alexandre Lavallee (Volkswagen-Trek)third. In the women's race, meanwhile, Lyne Bessette (Team Québec) was dominant,

Hamilton - Too nice to beat Lance?

On the bike, Hamilton is as tough as they come.

Hamilton - Too nice to beat Lance?

Hamilton - Too nice to beat Lance?

Vande Velde may be headed back to the Tour

Ullrich has spent much of 2004 training outside of the public eye.

Voeckler tops in France

Leipheimer - He loves a tough race

Leipheimer will be Rabobank's sole GC man at the '04 Tour.

Juré Robic continues to lead the soloists in the 2004 Insight Race Across America, and the four-time Slovenian national road champion appears to be on track to break the solo average-speed record in just his second outing. "Physically he was good in 2003, but not mentally," said crew member Janez Slapar. "This year he is very good, both physically and mentally." The current average-speed record for solo men is 15.40 mph. At present Robic is maintaining a pace of 15.53 mph. And veteran crew members say Robic's pace will only improve once the road turns skyward in the Appalachian Mountains.

Aussie Brad McGee said he wants to win the Tour de France – next year. The 28-year-old has made steady progress the past few years and is feeling more confident after his breakthrough eighth-place performance in the 2004 Giro d’Italia. “Going for overall victory next year is the goal, and a very realistic one at that,” McGee said in an interview with BBC Sport. “This has been the first year I've gone for the general classification in major races, so I'm a lot leaner to make life easier up the climbs. I'm probably two kilos short of where I need to be for the prologue, but I'm steadily

I’ve heard it said that it doesn’t matter if you win by one secondor five minutes, so long as you win. At the end of the day, being victoriousis more important than your margin of victory; but no one involved in LanceArmstrong’s bid to win a sixth Tour de France wants to experience anythinglike last year. Lance’s preparation for the 2004 Tour de France has beenfocused on building a substantial lead over the competition; we have nointention of repeating the “too close to call” scenarios from last summer. In a stage race, distancing yourself from your rivals is critical forreducing stress and

If Steve Peat (Orange) could race all his races on the Mont Sainte-Anne downhill, he’d be a happy man. The burly Englishman collected his third Mont Sainte-Anne World Cup in as many years as the tricky course claimed more than a few potential winners, including world champ Greg Minnaar (Team G-Cross Honda), who crashed twice in his final run. Peat overcame a hard crash in yesterday’s final practice run and a slow start in Saturday’s final to motor down the final kilometer of the course just fast enough to take the lead from Australian Sam Hill (Iron Horse-MadCatz). The tight, technical

It seems that Sabrina Jonnier may have found a cure for jet lag: a ton of bike racing. Jonnier (Intense), who rode little yesterday because of acute jet lag, had been off the downhill awards podium for less than 30 minutes when she entered the gate for the opening heat of Saturday night’s four-cross event at Mont Sainte-Anne. Having just won her first World Cup downhill of the year, Jonnier had a ready-made excuse for skipping the evening's four-cross. But given a course with high speeds, some nerve-rattling jumps, and an alternate route thrown in for good measure, Jonnier could hardly pass

Team ALS Lightning, the lone recumbent team in the 2004 Insight Race Across America, is expected to cross the finish line in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at approximately 11:30 Eastern time Saturday. Not far behind ALS Lightning are the top two four-man teams, Team Action Sports and Team Vail Go-Fast, which have rarely been separated by more than a half hour during the transcontinental competition, and at one point were only two minutes apart. When last checked, Action Sports was ahead by 35 minutes and expected to reach the finish line by 1:30 a.m. Sunday. For up-to-the-moment race news,

Coach Carmichael: Tailoring nutrition to training

Carmichael and Armstrong have put the emphasis on training quality rather than quantity.

Peat pounds the tricky course

Jonnier: Second no longer

Jonnier does the double

Prokop didn't care for the course — but he won anyway

June 25, 2002USA Cycling's board of directors named retail and food industry executive Gerard Bisceglia as the organization’s new chief executive officer on Tuesday, replacing Lisa Voight who left the post in May. Bisceglia, 52, most recently president of Shogun Express, a restaurant management firm in Scottsdale, Arizona, was national sales manager for the Southland Corporation’s 7-Eleven chain when the firm ventured into cycling sponsorship in the 1980s. Bisceglia served as a trustee on the board of U.S. PRO from 1997 to 2001. During a Tuesday conference call, the USA Cycling board

Tour de France organizers on Friday barred David Millar from this year's race after he allegedly told police that he has used doping products. Jean-Marie Leblanc, the Tour's director general, told The Associated Press that the reigning world time-trial champion was out. "We don't want to pollute the Tour,'" he said. The 27-year-old Millar, who has never failed a drug test in his eight-year professional career, is the highest-profile casualty of a decision announced Friday by Tour organizers that all riders investigated or implicated in doping probes will be barred from the event, which

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com, appearing each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 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. Say it ain't so, DavidVeloNews,It is sad to hear that David Millar has used banned substances (see“Paper reports that Millar admits to doping”). I was really rooting for him when his chain skipped in last year's Tour. The fact that he admitted

Sue Palmer-Komar (Genesis-Scuba) virtually assured herself a position on the Canadian Olympic team after winning the individual time trial Friday at the Canadian National Cycling Championships. Palmer-Komar covered the 30km out-and-back circuit in 43:20, 41 seconds ahead of defending champion Lyne Bessette (Quark). In the men's 40km event, Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) turned a 51:35.56 to decisively beat eight-time defending champion Eric Wohlberg (Sierra Nevada), who was 1:12.66 slower. The circuit was not particularly difficult, but the riders had to battle strong winds and extreme heat —

Five-time Tour de France runner-up Jan Ullrich admits it’s going to be tough to derail arch-rival Lance Armstrong as the Texan makes a run for a sixth straight Tour title. The T-Mobile captain brushed aside concerns about early-season fitness problems with his victory at the Tour de Suisse earlier this month. The 30-year-old German said he’s more motivated than ever to win the Tour. “Naturally, Lance is the man to beat,” Ullrich told AFP. “My win in Switzerland confirms my work since the beginning of the season. I had a good race thanks to the team, I showed a strength which I didn't have

Just in time for his attempt at a sixth consecutiveTour win, Rodale is set to release in July “Lance Armstrong: Images ofa Champion,” a 208-page volume chronicling the Texan’s extraordinary career,with images from renowned cycling photographer Graham Watson and photocaptions and commentary provided by Armstrong. While Watson’s decade of race photos takes center stage, the true gemscan be found in revealing testimonials written by five-time Tour winnersMiguel Induráin and Eddy Merckx, as well as U.S. Postal team director Johan Bruyneel. The photo album focuses on Armstrong’s

YELLOW JERSEYThe yellow jersey — or maillot jaune — is worn by the overallrace leader, the rider who has covered the overall distance in the leastamount of cumulative time. Time bonuses (12 seconds for winning a roadstage, six seconds for winning an intermediate sprint) are deducted, andtime penalties (for infractions like dangerous riding or accepting pushesfrom spectators on the climbs) are added to riders’ stage times beforecalculating their GC (general classification) times.A major change this year is that there will be a limit on the time lostby any team (and consequently by each rider

"I am afraid to add up all of the money we have spenton the development of this bike,” says Phil White, one of the two foundingowners of Cervélo. White is speaking about the R2.5, the carbon bikeon which Team CSC won three Tour stages in 2003, including Tyler Hamilton’sepic solo stage 16 win. Those stage wins, and even the presence of Cervéloat all on a top Division 1 pro team, may be a surprise to those accustomedto seeing Tour victories only from bigger companies or long-establishednames. To White and his partner, Gerard Vroomen, however, it is merelythe culmination of many years of hard

Although the official announcement of the USA Olympic track squad wasn’t made until Friday morning, that didn’t stop TIAA-CREF from throwing a celebratory gathering for team rider/manager Colby Pearce in Denver on Wednesday evening, 36 hours ahead of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s approval of USA Cycling’s nominations. Pearce will contest the Olympic points race based on his third-place finish in the overall World Cup standings. His highlight of the 2004 season came in the season’s final World Cup in Sydney, where he took a gold medal. A bronze in the fourth round of the World Cup also

When Lance Armstrong finished the 2003 Tour de France, even though he wonthe race for the fifth year in a row, he was full of doubts. Not much went right for him last year. His marriage broke up; he headed into the Tour with a gastro-intestinal infection picked up from his son; he developed sciatica from using new cleats in his shoes; and then he fell in the mass pileup on stage 1. And that was just the beginning. After that came the rubbing-brake-pad incident on the Col du Galibier, his near-crash at Gap, dehydration in the first time trial, and his fall at the foot of Luz-Ardiden. That he

New Graham Watson book documents Armstrong career in photos

Jersey winners Cooke, Armstrong, Virenque and Menchov on the 2003 final podium.

Gerard Vroomen, Phil White and Ivan Basso in the MIT wind tunnel.

Riis and Basso study the data.

Colby Pearce and Colby Pearce

Armstrong - Ready for No. 6

Tyler Hamilton better brush up on his Spanish as five of his eight Phonakteammates named to start the Tour de France hail from the Iberian Peninsula.Hamilton will be looking to improve on his fourth-place performancein last year’s Tour and will count on the Spanish mountain goats to usherhim through the Tour’s key moments in the Pyrénées and theAlps.Joining Hamilton for the 91st Tour are Spanish riders Oscar Sevilla,Santi Perez, Jose Gutierrez, Oscar Pereiro and Santos Gonzalez. The otherteam members are German rider Bert Grabsch, Frenchman Nicolas Jalabertand Swiss rider Martin Elmiger.

As recently as Wednesday, the folks at USA Cycling were still holding out hope that the UCI was going to award them a “kickback” start spot for the women’s Olympic cross-country race this summer in Athens, but now it looks like that won’t happen. Following an e-mail exchange with Régis Alexandre, the UCI’s mountain bike sports coordinator, VeloNews has learned that while one start spot in the women’s race has become available, the spot is “reserved only for a country without a place,” Alexandre wrote. That means the U.S. will not be getting back the spot it lost to the UCI’s special

Gutierrez and Hamilton at the Dauphine

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com, appearing each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 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.Do Americans never cheat?Editor:Is it my almost-European persecution mania or am I right in the impression that some of your correspondents believe that European cyclists are all dirty drug users and all American riders are clean,

Just like Lance Armstrong, U.S. Postal Service sport director Johan Bruyneel believes Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) is the most dangerous rival for the Texan going into next weekend’s start of the 2004 Tour de France. “He’s still the most dangerous,” Bruyneel said in an interview in the Spanish daily MARCA. “Of the rest of the favorites, Mayo is at the top of the list. There’s Mayo, Hamilton, Heras and Basso and I would also add Menchov. I’m sure I left somebody off.” Bruyneel said he believes Armstrong will be ready to win a record sixth Tour when the race begins July 3 in Liège, Belgium. “We’re

Lennard Zinn does it again! With the release of "Zinn’s Cycling Primer: Maintenance Tips and Skill Building for Cyclists" American cycling's übergeek brings our favorite pastime to a new level.Zinn,the author of the best-selling "Zinnand the Art of Mountain-Bike Maintenance" and "Zinnand the Art of Road Bike Maintenance," takes a comprehensive approachwith an understanding that successful, enjoyable cycling depends on a hostof factors, including a well-tuned bicycle, a balanced and healthy bodyand the proper interface between the two.Zinn takes the reader through the essentials of bicycle

The late Charles Bukowski and friend

Still Postal's main worry

Seven leading Australian track cyclists on Tuesday declared themselves drug-free, saying they were furious at being smeared by association with the sport's damaging doping scandal. The seven cyclists, all members of the shadow track sprint team for the Athens Olympics, issued a joint statement denying involvement in drug-taking allegations centering on banned cyclist Mark French. They are Olympians Shane Kelly and Sean Eadie, Ryan Bayley, Jobie Dajka, Rosealee Hubbard, Anna Meares and her sister Kerrie, who has withdrawn from the Athens team after suffering an injury. The eighth shadow

Dear Joe and Dirk,I am a first-year Category 2 racer. My training regime had followed, as closely as possible, given my work schedule, a program looking to peak in mid-June and then again in early August. Just as I was starting to build in much more intensity and longer interval work early in May, I began to find that my legs were not responding as I would have liked. I seemed to fall further into this hole, and now I am far behind where I was even a month ago. Basically, when I get on the bike, and try to put down any sort of sustained effort, it feels like I have been riding for three

Levi Leipheimer will lead Rabobank in the Tour de France as the 30-year-old American will be anxious to forget his early exit from last year’s edition. Leipheimer wants to improve on his eighth-place debut in 2002 and get past his opening stage crash that took him out of last year’s Tour as the Dutch team announced its nine-man lineup Tuesday. “I missed not doing it last year, so I’m excited to get back to the Tour,” Leipheimer told VeloNews last month. “There’s no way not to be excited about the Tour. I think every year gets better, I’m more experienced, I’m more comfortable in the

Six returning riders from last year’s Tour de France team will line up for U.S. Postal Service to support Lance Armstrong in his quest to win a record sixth Tour. There’s an added emphasis on strength in the mountains as Armstrong will be looking to get all the support he can in a decisive second half of the race, which starts July 3 in Liège, Belgium. “We will have a very strong team in the mountains, stronger than last year,” said U.S. Postal Service sport director Johan Bruyneel in a team press release. “We have six riders from last year and two new guys. Lance is confident he has a

Six returning riders from last year’s Tour de France team will line up for U.S. Postal Service to support Lance Armstrong in his quest to win a record sixth Tour. There’s an added emphasis on strength in the mountains as Armstrong will be looking to get all the support he can in a decisive second half of the race, which starts July 3 in Liège, Belgium. “We will have a very strong team in the mountains, stronger than last year,” said U.S. Postal Service sport director Johan Bruyneel in a team press release. “We have six riders from last year and two new guys. Lance is confident he has a