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It was a hat trick, but not quite the hat trick some might have predicted at the beginning of the year. Dutchman Lars Boom scored his third world cyclocross title Sunday, adding an elite gold medal to the junior title he earned in 2003 and the U23 rainbow jersey he scored at last year’s world’s in Belgium. His Rabobank teammate, Sven Nys, however, had to settle for third, missing out on an impressive triple of his own — a world title to add to his World Cup crown and the Belgian national championship — losing a sprint for second to Czech rider Zdenek Stybar.

If women’s cyclocross racing has just one rule, it has to be “never, never, never count out Hanka.” Germany’s Hanka Kupfernagel racked up an impressive win at the world cyclocross championships on Sunday after a season of insisting that her training was focused entirely on qualifying for the road and time-trial events at this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing.

Lycra and burkhas are the unlikely companions this week as the seventh Tour of Qatar cranks up Sunday in this oil-rich state protruding into the Persian Gulf like a thumb. There’s nary a mountain, but plenty of sand and wind in what’s become a popular season-starter for riders — 130 of them this year, representing 24 nations on 17 teams from the United States, Europe and Asia.

Rock Racing rider Kayle Leogrande is the anonymous rider filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, charging that it planned to test his B urine sample after his A sample tested negative for performance-enhancing drugs, several sources told VeloNews Friday. Sources with intimate knowledge of the case confirmed that Leogrande is the unnamed cyclist suing USADA, and verified that sworn affidavits have been filed with the agency as it tries to build a case against the 30-year-old rider.

Niels Albert had just one question heading into the world cyclocross championships in Treviso, Italy, this year: Whether to jump into the elite category or ride his final year as an under-23. He now says he made the right choice. “I’m glad I did what I did,” said the 21-year-old Belgian. “I had considered making the jump, but now I can add this to the junior title (he won in 2004) and set my eyes on getting the third one.”

It appears Andre Greipel is a man who can do no wrong. Before this week, the palmarès of the 25-year-old from Rostock amounted to five wins in much smaller stage races. But all of a sudden, he's stepped up to the ProTour level in a very, very big way. And after a third stage victory Saturday in Willunga, he finds himself the likely champion of the 2008 Tour Down Under with just one stage remaining.

Arnaud Jouffroy lined up as the odds-on favorite on Saturday at the world junior cyclocross championship in Treviso, Italy. He didn’t disappoint, but he had to fight to live up to expectations. Based largely on the strength of his sixth-place finish at world’s last year, the fact that the five men who finished ahead of him had graduated to the U23 category, and his stellar results all season, the 17-year-old Frenchman was the pick of many in a sport often dominated by Belgians.

LOS ANGELES - January 25, 2008: Wheelbuilder is proud to announce it has entered its second season as the official sponsor of the UCLA Cycling Team. They have enjoyed a close relationship with the team over the 2006-07 season and look forward to continuing to help the team develop into a Regional and National Championship contender in the coming years.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency faces a lawsuit claiming that it overstepped its own rules by intending to test a cyclist’s B urine sample after the A-sample test came back negative. Associated Press sportswriter Eddie Pells reported Thursday that an anonymous professional cyclist has filed a lawsuit against USADA on behalf of “John Doe,” seeking an injunction to prevent the anti-doping agency from ever testing the B sample.

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 road season seems to start earlier and earlier every year. It's not even February, and the ProTour stars are already logging the race miles.

Maureen Bruno-Roy, winner of the masters women’s 30-34 race at December’s USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships, has been stripped of her title because she was ineligible to compete in that category. Runner-up Josie Jacques-Maynes has been declared the winner, with Sally Annis second and Kristi Berg third. The problem stems from a violation of rules 1H4 and 1A29 of the 2007 USA Cycling Rulebook, the national governing body noted in a press release.

Belgian police this week questioned former world cycling champion Tom Boonen and searched his parents' home as part of a drugs investigation involving another cyclist. The Tour de France green jersey winner's name came up during a police inquiry into Belgian cyclocross rider Tom Vanoppen. On Wednesday, Belgian police carried out a search of Boonen's parents' home in the northern town of Retie, a move described by prosecutor Marc Rubens on Friday as routine.

The stage has been set for a showdown of epic proportions. In searing heat, a highly animated fourth stage of the Tour Down Under had the potential to impose time gaps, but the finale in Strathalbyn saw the fourth bunch gallop in as many days. High Road's Andre Greipel took a convincing win over race leader Mark Renshaw, who kept his ochre jersey, thus leaving the door to overall honors wide open for Saturday's stage in Willunga.

It hasn’t rained all week in Treviso and that could mean that this weekend’s world cyclocross championships could be settled on what is probably the fastest world’s course since the 2002 championships in Zolder, Belgium.

The Trevosiso course is designed by former world champion Adrie Van der Poel.

The 3.25km course is expected to be fast... unless it rains.

The course begins with a 150 meter slight uphill to the finish area.

The surface is made up of a sand and gravel mix, that could muck up in wet conditions.

After a quick ride through the grandstands, the course drops onto grass...

.. and takes a long sweep through a meadow.

Riders were picking up a lot of mud on Friday.

The course turns back up a slight rise...

... and transitions back to that sandy gravel.

The world's at treviso

Another twisting route through another section of grass.

And then on to the day's biggest obstacle, a 26 percent slope

that many riders find too tough to ride.

Try to imagine the traffic jam on the first lap.

A brief rest, again on gravel.

Then comes a quick drop onto asphalt...

... and into the pits.

The world's at treviso