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Gould nails it

Plenty of challenges on an interesting course.

Trebon and Wicks built an early advantage

Johnson in pursuit

Dear Readers, Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the world of competitive cycling from your friends at VeloNews.com.

VeloNews Podcast 34 - Charles Pelkey at the 2007 WADA Conference, cyclocross interview with Tim Johnson plus the latest on the women's Team Advil squad for 2008.

Fat-tire racers in Southern California probably recognize the name Manuel “Manny” Prado — the 26-year-old wrenches at the Rock N’ Road Cyclery in Mission Viejo and is a staple on the California state mountain-bike series. Each year when the California series and the National Mountain-Bike Series draw to a close, Prado — a native of Costa Rica — finishes each season out by racing his homeland’s largest cycling event, the La Ruta de los Conquistadores. Prado immigrated to the United States in 2001 to pursue his passion for freestyle BMX competition. He earned an appearance on ESPN’s X-Games

German cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz was given a one-year suspension by the disciplinary committee of the German Cycling Federation on Friday. The 27-year-old was fired by his T-Mobile team during this month's Tour de France in July after he was found to have had an abnormally high level of testosterone in his blood during a pre-race test on June 8. Sinkewitz then confessed earlier this month in German magazine Der Spiegel to having used EPO since 2003. Sinkewitz he also gave five hours of evidence to the BDR's disciplinary committee in a bid to get his expected two-year ban reduced.

Dick Pound says only one thing is certain about the presidency of the World Anti-Doping Agency. “My term ends at midnight on December 31, 2007,” the current WADA president said during the Third World Conference on Doping in Sport in Madrid this week. “Beyond that, I’m not sure what is happening. “ European governments on Friday nominated former French Sports Minister Guy Drut as a candidate to stand in opposition to Australian finance minister John Fahey to fill the post. Until two months ago, neither man was being considered for the position, which most observers said would go to

Chris Horner will stay in Europe, José Luís “Chechu” Rubiera won’t retire and Vladimir Gusev remains “at home” as all three are poised to join the new-look Astana team for the 2008 season. The Astana team announced the new arrivals Friday as well as revealed it will cover salaries it says were left unpaid to several riders from the 2007 season in a move that cuts all ties with former team manager Marc Biver. “It’s worked out really well,” Horner said. “It’s fantastic. It’s going to be a great squad. We’ve got great sponsorships. It’s exactly what I wanted to stay in Europe.” Horner’s

With the news of Chris Horner joining fellow American Levi Leipheimer at Astana just hours old, another staple of American cycling also has also been linked to Kazakh team — Trek Bicycles. “We’ve definitely looked at it,” said Scott Daubert, Trek’s former Discovery Team Liaison and current road bike brand manager. “Johan Bruyneel was here right after the Tour of Missouri two months ago.” With the Discovery Channel sponsorship concluding in 2007, Trek officials knew they needed something else for next season. Daubert said Trek had three options: quickly find a ProTour team; take a year off;

The USGP of Cyclocross presented by Crank Brothers will set a stage this weekend for the nation's elite racers to try their luck in the Northeast's hotbed of cyclocross. The pivotal location just outside Trenton, New Jersey, has already lured local 'cross stars from up and down the Eastern seaboard and the ones arriving from far-flung points across the country will only add to the tense, hyper competitive atmosphere. Following respective wins on home turf and overseas, series leaders Tim Johnson (Cannondale–Leer–Cyclocrossworld.com) and Katie Compton (Spike Shooter) seem poised

With three stages of the 2007 La Ruta de los Conquistadores in the books, Federico “Lico” Ramirez has proven beyond a doubt he owns the strongest legs of anyone in the race. So far the Costa Rican is three-for-three in stage wins, having handily dropped his countrymen and foreigners alike on the course’s steepest climbs. While Ramirez speaks no English, the Tico strongman is a spokesperson for La Ruta to North America and Europe. In 2005, Ramirez rode to a third-place finish at Germany’s eight-day Trans Alp race. Just three months ago, Ramirez and his BCR-Pizza Hut teammate Ivan Amador

La Ruta de los Conquistadores

Federico Ramirez

Juan Solis

Sinkewitz got of lighter than expected, largely because of his cooperation with authorities.

The man who might be king. European sports ministers nominated Guy Drut to replace Dick Pound.

Horner says he has a reason to smile.

The Third World Conference on Doping in Sport kicked off in Madrid, Spain, on Thursday, beginning a three-day international meeting that will focus on revisions in the World Anti-Doping Code and signal the end of Dick Pound’s tenure as the sporting world’s top doping cop. Nearly nine years after the first World Conference on Doping in Sports, in February of 1999, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has grown from a one-page document, issued largely as a panicked response to cycling’s Festina scandal, to a $25 million-a-year organization with authority over all Olympic sport and the legal

Pound addresses a conference charged, in part, with picking his replacement.

Rogge says doping remains a serious threat to Olympic ideals.

Dear Readers;When I wrote Bicycling& the Law, one of my main goals was to tackle the problem of anti-cyclistbias. As I discussed in "Bicycling & the Law," there is an institutionalizedsocial bias against cyclists, which is manifested in a road infrastructurethat discriminates against cyclists, law enforcement bias against cyclists,and even a media bias against cyclists. In my previous Legally Speakingcolumn (see A Fatal Bias?), I discussed some recent car-on-bike crashes,and the textbook examples of police and media bias in response to thosecrashes.In Portland, the cycling community,

Alejandro Valverde’s successful challenge to ride in this year’s world championship road race should not be seen as an end to the doping investigation surrounding the Spanish cyclist, World Anti-Doping Agency president Dick Pound said Thursday. Valverde successfully fought an effort by the UCI to keep him from riding the world’s road race in Stuttgart in September after cycling’s international governing body said he was a suspect in the 18-month-old Operación Puerto case. Valverde took his case to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, and overturned the

Troubles for Michael Rasmussen aren’t over yet. The Danish climbing specialist could face a two-year ban after lying about his whereabouts ahead of this year’s Tour de France. Rabobank fired Rasmussen while leading the 2007 Tour with just days to go following inconsistencies about where he was in the weeks ahead of the race. On Thursday, UCI president Pat McQuaid told VeloNews that Rasmussen’s lies could come back to haunt him and insisted that latest admissions fall short. “We are considering sanctions. If he lied, to me that’s the same as a positive in a doping offense,” McQuaid said

Rasmussen might be suspended, says McQuaid.

Team CSC has won the ProTour team title three years running, but team boss Bjarne Riis is wondering if it’s worth taking aim for a fourth title in the wake of major changes in store for the season-long series for 2008. With all the major grand tours and several important one-day classics removed from the ProTour as part of a major restructuring of the European racing calendar, Riis is skeptical about how much the series title would mean. “Without the grand tours and the other important races, you don’t have to be very clever to see that the ProTour isn’t the same,” Riis told VeloNews. “We

Libby Sheldon (Tokyo Joe’s) and Kyle Hammaker (Cadence) won their respective events on Sunday at the Race Pace Cross in Sykesville, Maryland, round six of the BikeReg.com MABRAcross Series. In the elite women’s contest Sheldon went away from the gun and was never challenged. Jessica Hill (Trail’s End) was clearly on her way to second place before falling victim to a mechanical, leaving Cathy Large (Yellow Breeches) free to time-trial in for the runner-up spot. The elitemen’s race was entertaining from start to finish. Hammaker, Todd Hesel (HVB), Dave Weaver (unattached) and Jeff Buckle

What happens when you combine a world-championship event, six kegs of PBR, a limitless supply of Oregon microbrews, 110 men and 30 women, a heckling contest, a tequila shortcut and a golden Speedo? You get the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships (SSCXWC) November 11-12 near Portland, Oregon. What else? This year, Adam Craig (Giant) let the powerful spirit of Portland cyclocross overwhelm him in the finishing straight of the SSCXWC, held at Estacada Timber Park. In possession of an apparently race-winning lead, Craig stopped to take a beer hand-up a couple hundred meters before the

Andy Rollin says he still has nightmares about his muddy introduction to Costa Rica’s La Ruta de los Conquistadores. In 2005, the 45-year-old from Golden, Colorado, found himself bogged down on the opening stage from Jaco to El Rodeo. Thick mud clung to his rig. He snapped his chain four times and suffered a flat tire. The disasters set the tone for the remainder of the race, and while he finished, the mid-pack result was below his standards. “It was a flat nine miles of muddy jungle that just ruined the bike,” said Rollin. “Nothing worked right for the rest of [the race].”

Riis says it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that without the biggies, the ProTour doesn't mean much.

How come we never see podium ceremonies like this in the Tour?

Never uncork the champagne . . .

. . . until you've crossed the line

Stephen Taft, 63, of Toronto, is racing his first La Ruta. I like to set an objective each year. Last year it was an 800-mile ride. This year it's La Ruta.

John Wong, 42, of Vancouver, is tackling his first La Ruta as part of a three-week vacation cycling Costa Rica's western coast. This is more of a vacation where I get to do a bike race, not just a bike race on my vacation.

Each of this year's 520 participants will receive the famous yellow gear bag

Williams models her rainbow, uh, bikini

To get to Tabor, in the Czech Republic, from Belgium you can either fly (a two-hour flight) or drive. My father, my mechanic for the World Cup, and I decided to fly. This was a big mistake. The reason I shied away from driving was due to my limited web research that noted “difficulties” driving in Czech. But after the stress of our car, plane, bus, metro, train and walking journey, any difficulties driving would be welcomed. As my father said, about halfway into our trip, when we had to purchase an additional bus ticket, since the first one was not for the ‘Airport Express,’ “You pay to

Organizers of the Amgen Tour of California released details of the 2008 edition Tuesday, highlighting an eight-day, 650-mile race slated to start with a prologue at Stanford University, in Palo Alto, on February 17 and end a week later in Pasadena. The 2008 edition of the Tour of California will visit 12 host cities for official stage starts and finishes, including Palo Alto-Stanford University (new in 2008), Sausalito, Santa Rosa, Sacramento, Modesto (new in 2008), San Jose, Seaside, San Luis Obispo, Solvang, Santa Barbara, Santa Clarita and Pasadena (new in 2008). "The challenging

Patrik Sinkewitz will not face criminal charges following this month's doping confession, said a spokesman for the Bonn public prosecutor's office on Tuesday. The 27-year-old German was found to have an abnormally high level of testosterone in his blood during a routine doping control before this year's Tour de France, and T-Mobile subsequently sacked him during the Tour. Earlier this month, he confessed in the German magazine Der Spiegel to having used the banned blood booster EPO since 2003. The Bonn resident has agreed to pay an undisclosed five-figure sum to charity, but

David Zabriskie is the only guy in the world who has earned a very special yellow sticker shaped like the map of France for his top tube. The sticker proclaims “Fastest Time Trial Ever: 54.676kph, David Zabriskie.” Ever since he won the 19km prologue at Noirmoutier in 2005 at that record speed, beating a stellar Lance Armstrong and donning the yellow jersey, cycling fans have marveled at his great bike position. But despite having a very low, narrow, incredibly aerodynamic position, his first time ever in a wind tunnel was Monday, November 12. That will probably come as a surprise to many,

The U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross presented by Crank Brothers has partnered with sponsors Clif Bar and Crank Brothers to reduce the amount of trash produced at its events. The goal of the USGP’s “Zero Waste” program is to recycle and compost as much waste as possible, keeping it from landfills or incineration. Each event will have multiple stations for recycling and composting with signs letting spectators know which items go in each station. The series is also using “greenware” and other products that can be recycled or composted. At the first USGP event in Louisville, the program yielded a

Costa Rica’s most prestigious international sporting event, La Ruta de los Conquistadores, celebrates its 15th birthday on Wednesday. To mark the milestone, organizers have added a fourth stage to the famously grueling mountain-bike race, which again traces a winding route from the Pacific to Caribbean coasts. The extra day has added significant clout to the race’s already-mind-numbing stats: 2006 Distance: 176.4 miles Climbing: 28,858 feet Maximum finishing time: 35 hours2007 Distance: 225 miles Climbing: More than 40,000 feet Maximum finishing time: 45.5 hours “I’m pretty nervous —

After two years of testing the waters in their Amgen Tour of California, race owner Anschutz Entertainment Group and race organizer Medalist Sports are ratcheting up the difficulties for the third edition next February. Until now the highest climb on the course was the 2155-foot San Marcos Pass into Santa Barbara in 2006, while the ruggedly steep Sierra Road, prior to the stage 3 finish in San José, tops out at 1943 feet. Sierra Road remains for 2008, but prior to tackling this redoubtable ascent, the riders will have already climbed the 4360-foot Mount Hamilton; and on the eight-day race’s

The '08 route is a mix of old and new.

Only one person can have a 'Fastest Time Trial Ever: 54.676kph, David Zabriskie' sticker on his bike.

Zabriskie undergoing Retul’s 3D analysis of his pedaling style

Millar mounting his bike with Retul LED emitters in place for 3D pedaling analysis

Jim Felt makes a point to David Millar while Retul’s Todd Carver sticks LEDs on his leg

A 14-foot cooling-tower fan blows air in a circuit around the tunnel

Styrofoam vanes bend the air around the tunnel’s 90-degree corner

The entire route

The profile for day one

Day two

Day three

Day four

Going up: There's more of this sort of thing in the 2008 Tour of California

José Luís “Chechu” Rubiera – who rode in six of Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour de France teams – said he’ll decide this week whether he’ll continue with his career. The veteran Spanish climber already told VeloNews during this year’s Vuelta a España that he was facing difficulties finding a new contract for 2008 following the dissolution of Discovery Channel. With job offers scarce, Rubiera said he would rather not race than to compete on a smaller team with a low salary. So far, he admits that the market is tough. “The situation is pretty bad. It isn’t so much that offers aren’t coming in,

The committee empaneled to review Michael Rasmussen’sfiring and ejection from this summer’s Tour de France issued a report Mondaysupporting the actions of Rabobank team officials, but questioning theirdecision to allow the Danish rider to start the race in the first place. After a three-month review, the Vogelzang committee of inquiry – organizedby the team’s sponsor, the Dutch financial firm Rabobank – concluded that team officials acted properly when they firedRasmussen at the height of the Tour, while he was wearing the yellow jersey.“The report is critical and extremely thorough,” said

Sorry for my tardiness with this journal entry. It’s been more than a week since the double-header UCI weekend in my hometown of Boulder and I think I have finally caught my breath. Once again, Chris Grealish and his Denver/Boulder Courier Events crew put together quite a show. Saturday’s Redline Cup and Sunday’s Boulder Cup offered contrasting and challenging courses, huge crowds and tough competition. Not to mention, some sore legs and lungs for yours truly. And, despite the lactic-acid buildup still lingering in my quadriceps, it was nice to have some big races close to home. Sure, I

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,

Georgia Gould (Luna) and Davide Frattini (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light) reprised their victories at Saturday’s Beacon Cyclocross by winning the second round of a New Jersey double-header, Sunday’s HPCX in Jamesburg. As on Saturday, Gould tackled both the men’s Category 2-4 and elite women’s races. But while she roared through the men’s field to beat the men on Saturday, on Sunday she was never a factor, finishing 10th and fueling speculation that she was tired. But the former Verge MAC champion proved that wasn’t the case a few hours later when she stomped to victory in the SRAM Elite

There were some big men on campus Sunday at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Among the 26 elite male riders in attendance for the UCI C2 Squawker Cross were national champion and Durango resident Todd Wells (GT Bicycles), mountain-bike star Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Litespeed), 2005 U23 cyclocross champion Troy Wells (Clif Bar) and Danish national champion Joachim Parbo (CCV-Protek). The warm, welcoming weather attracted a modest number of spectators, who watched Wells and Kabush battle it out to the end. The two former Olympians broke away quickly, with Durango’s Joey Thompson (Rocky

Rubiera says he's at a turning point.

The Vogelzang committee concluded that Rasmussen shouldn't even have been allowed to start the Tour.

A rough and dusty start as the Redline Cup

Colorado mud

Geoff Kabush signs a juiced-up VeloNews cover at the post-race party

Big crowds turned out for the soon-to-be legendary Boulder Cup

Busted

That ain't no cyclocross bike

Brothers Frank and Andy Schleck confirmed Sunday they have extended their deals with the CSC team until 2010. The two Luxembourgers had reached the end of their contracts with the Danish outfit. Andy, 22, finished second in the Giro d'Italia this year and is being touted as a future Tour de France champion, while classics-specialist Frank, 27, won the Amstel Gold Race in 2006.

American Katie Compton and Dutchman Lars Boom took top honors in Sunday's muddy UCI cyclocross World Cup in Pijnacker, the Netherlands. For both, it was their first victory in a World Cup event. Compton (Spike Shooter), the reigning U.S. women's cyclocross champion, took the lead from the gun, surrendering it only briefly in a sandy section that was faster to run than to ride. “The course was very hard, really muddy and sandy, so your skills and power had to be on; lose focus for a second and you crash into a barrier or dump it in the mud,” Compton told VeloNews. Compton regained

Compton wins her first World Cup

Boom beat a top field, including Sven Nys

Luna’s Georgia Gould and Davide Frattini (Colavita) were the big winners in the Verge Mid-Atlantic Cyclo-cross series event in Bridgeton, New Jersey on Saturday. A former Verge MAC champion, Gould returned to the series in spectacular fashion, starting her day by “warming up” in the men’s category 2/3/4 race. Starting near the back of the field of 55 riders, Gould steadily improved her position until she caught the leading pack of Jeremy Dunn (Cambridge), Patrick Bradley (Beacon), Kevin Kralik (Guys Cycles), John Brewer (Squadra Coppin/IM SAAB) and Verge MAC points leader Eric Linder (Hunt

Gould knocked off the competition in the men's 2/3/4 race before dominating the women's event.

D'Hon't claims Pevenage knew of Ullrich dopingA former Deutsche Telekom soigneur says that the head of the German cycling team knew about Jan Ullrich’s use of EPO in the mid-1990s, according to a report slated for publication in Monday's edition of German weekly magazine Focus. Former Telekom soigneur Jef d'Hont said Rudy Pevenage, the ex-boss of the team, was fully aware of the fact that the 1997 Tour de France winner had used the banned-blood booster. D’Hont, whose memoirs led to a string of high-profile doping confessions earlier this year, said Pevenage told him Ullrich

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.