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After chasing down Deignan thought they had a shot at the win...

... but McCartney timed his move just right.

And soloed in for the win.

Hincapie is secure in the jersey

Nine men on the run: The break stayed out for more than 100 miles.

Chadwick leads the break.

Saturday's start in Jefferson City in front of the capitol.

Most aggessive rider John Parra tries a final attack before being caught by Pate.

Peloton passes one of hundreds of soybean fields.

Pate earns Tour of Missouri stage win, Hincapie on track for overall title

Just when it looked like the Vuelta a España was stuck on the repeat button, all hell broke loose in Friday´s 176km 13th stage. Take away the wild battles in the Pyrenees, and it seemed the Vuelta had stolen the script from the movie “Groundhog Day.” Day after day, the same plot unfolded: an early break, lots of TV for Spain´s second-division no-hopers, the peloton on siesta, the sprint teams revving up the chase, the breakaway caught with 8km to go, a sprinter sweeping across the line in the fight to see who gets kisses from the podium girls.

Klier takes the win after a wild day of racing

The rain in Spain (you know the rest)

World champ Bettini gets a good soaking

Roy in the break

Ditto Stamsnidjer, a Vuelta rookie

It almost never rains in Murcia, they say

Devolder was among the many to hit the deck

And Menchov holds tight to his golden jersey

Okay, I admit I have no idea where I am. I am driving southwest right now to our new hotel. We are entering the region of Murcia, which is somewhat akin to the southwest of the states: Desert, sharp mountains, rocks, sleepy villages, nada. But this is all part of my new tactic of making the race go by faster. I know the date and the stage, but apart from that, I have no idea where I was today or yesterday after the stage ended. This is quite common during a long stage race in a different land. But given that I have lived here in Spain for the last 10 years and know Spain from its food to

Denis Menchov will never be accused of being outspoken. A man of few words, the 29-year-old Russian clearly prefers to let his legs do the talking. So far through this Vuelta a España, the Rabobank captain has kept his cards close to his chest. He’s ridden with solid consistency in the decisive mountain and time trial stages to take firm control of the race, but he’s loath to talk about it. For the past few days, Menchov has more or less avoided the media as the Vuelta pushes south toward the next decisive stage in Sunday’s mountain stage into Granada. Until then, Menchov seems intent on

Luciano Pagliarini took a convincing sprint win at the conclusion of stage 4 of the Tour of Missouri on Friday, moving into a tie atop the points jersey standings in the process. [nid:40511]The Brazilian Prodir-Saunier Duval rider blasted straight up the gut of the finishing straight of Columbia’s East Walnut Street, lunging his bike across the line ahead of Canadian Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics) and Cuban Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United), who were a distant second and third respectively.

The second Bike-A-GoGo, a women’s bicycle demo day and expo, is slated for October 20 at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. More than 30 companies, including major bike brands such as Specialized, Voodoo, Trek, and Kona, will display their wares, from road and mountain-bike products to nutritional goods and apparel. There will also be seminars on a variety of bike-related topics, including a presentation on bike maintenance by a female mechanic from a local bike shop, a tire-changing clinic by Betty Bike Gear, and a workshop on combining Pilates core strength with

Menchov wants to win outright this time

Clear winner: Paliarini makes it look easy

Pagliarini charges to the line.

It looks like all of Lebanon's school kids showed up for today's start.

Who's the wise guy who said this race had nuthin' but flat stages?

KIds slap five with Alberto Contador. Bet that doesn't happen at the Tour.

For the final chase, Prodir, Symmetrics, and Kodak come to the front.

The peloton crosses the Missouri River bridge

Another thing you won't see at the TdF.

Dear Readers,

Welcome to this week's edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the world of competitive cycling by your friends at VeloNews.com.

It's a big week in cycling, with the season's final grand tour in full swing and the inaugural edition of the Tour of Missouri now underway.

Dear Bob,I thought you might like to address this in your column. We were ona group ride in deepest darkest West Virginia and a car passed with oncomingtraffic, mere inches from our handlebars.This yahoo move was obviously for the purpose of aggression in thatthere was a stop sign only 100 yards ahead. Our fearless leader took offenseand let loose the bird. The clan from Deliverance slid their vehicle acrossthe road and in front of our group. When the enraged and rather large passengertried to get out of the car our man, the bird man, pushed him back in.As the passenger fell back he struck

If there was any doubt that Alessandro Petacchi was back at his best, he erased them with an emphatic finishing surge Thursday to claim his second straight sprint victory at the Vuelta a España. On a day when another breakaway attempt fell short, Milram did the heavy lifting to reel in the attackers to put Ale-Jet in position to win the 173km 12th stage from Algemesí to Hellín.

The rollercoaster ride that is George Hincapie's cycling career took a decidedly upward turn on Thursday, as the American posted a solid sixth-place effort in the Tour of Missouri's stage 3 time trial. Hincapie was more than two minutes back of teammate and stage winner Levi Leipheimer, but he put time into all the other members of Wednesday's decisive 12-man breakaway, and now has a commanding lead in the overall standings of this six-day, 600-mile race that ends Sunday in St. Louis.

German rider Andreas Klöden, who suffered a bad accident in training at the beginning of September, announced on Thursday that he has withdrawn from this month's world road championships in Stuttgart. "Unfortunately, I do not have enough time to be to 100 percent ready for the beginning of the world championships," said the 32-year-old Astana rider on his website. "I have told the people in charge of the German cycling federation that I won't be racing in Stuttgart. It would not have been fair to replace one of my colleagues who is fit.” Klöden suffered a hand and hip injury when

Jan Ullrich might be retired, but his legal troubles seem far from over. On Thursday, German prosecutors revealed that the 1997 Tour de France champion transferred 25,000 euros (about $35,000) to controversial Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes for his services in 2004. They’re also following leads of a similar bank transfer in 2006. According to Jorg Schindler, a spokesman for the Bonn prosecutor’s office, the payment was made from a bank account in Geneva, Switzerland, in early 2004 for what they believe was for doping services. “We have tests that reveal Fuentes stored Ullrich’s blood and we

Petacchi takes a second consecutive victory

Hincapie solidified his hold on the jersey with a solid ride.

Menchov was on cruise control today

The day's doomed break

The Milram chase

Murcia

The winner

Everyone's smiling because tomorrow the Milram train gets the day off

Leipheimer is happy to let his teammate take the top spot on the podium.

Matti Helminen turns in a strong third-place ride

Contador: The Tour winner comes in for 10th.

Will Frischkorn had a good ride, and sits 2nd overall now.

The state of Missouri knows how to protect the riders, with some serious barriers.

O'Neill finishes a strong second

A long stage and a long break and the Tour of Missouri is changed for good. Our man Casey Gibson was there to see it all.

Hincapie at the start, perhaps predicting the outcome.

The peloton on another perfect fall day.

The break in its early stage, only 30 seconds up on the peloton.

Hincapie checks on the field as the break takes off.

The Drury Volleyball team was out to cheer on the riders.

Yellow jersey Ivan Dominguez had bike problems early.

Frank Pipp gets some advice from DS Jeff Corbett.

The TV cameraman gets creative in the break. Don't try this at home.

Mike Friedman was a strong part of the break.

Behind, the peloton is lead by Disco riders who are clearly taking it easy.

Hincapie takes a feed.

George takes the win...

... and the yellow jersey

A weary Will Frischkorn accepts the Most Aggressive Jersey.

Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) made yet another comeback after sprinting to victory in Wednesday’s otherwise routine 11th stage at the Vuelta a España. It was his first major victory since the Italian ace tested non-negative for Salbutamol at the Giro d’Italia and his career teetered on the edge of disaster. The Italian cycling federation eventually cleared Petacchi of what could have been a two-year racing ban, but the proud Petacchi was forced to sit on the sidelines during the Tour de France.

Barring a repeat of the bad luck that has periodically plagued George Hincapie the last couple years, the American is in solid position to win the overall title at the inaugural Tour of Missouri. On Wednesday, the Discovery Channel rider was part of a 12-rider break that rolled off the front of the field early in the rolling 125.6-mile stage 2 run from Clinton to Springfield and never looked back. At the finish, when Hincapie darted out of the small pack to take the stage win, the trailing field was more than 14 minutes behind.

Cycling fans with an eye for style can earn bragging rights and a Slipstream-Chipotle team bike if they design the squad’s 2008 kit in a contest designed to drum up both ideas and interest in the team. Team manager Jonathan Vaughters announced the "Get in the Slipstream" contest, which is open to the public, on August 31 at the national championships in Greenville, South Carolina. The team has since received more than 250 submissions via its Web site, where interested designers can download a template and upload their ideas. The only rules, Vaughters said, are that Slipstream’s trademark

Petacchi wins

Hincapie looks to have already locked up the inaugural Tour of Missouri

It was a routine day in the saddle for race leader Menchov

The peloton motors along

Another day, another pair of podium girls

Hincapie nips Rollin at the first sprint