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The best seat in the house

Vande Velde in the break

Horner was working overtime for Evans

Sastre puts the hammer down

Menchov does likewise

The attacks put the hurt on Gomez Marchante, Pereiro and Evans

Sorensen lends Sastre a hand, with Menchov tagging along

Devolder

Efimkin in the leader's jersey

Press Release: It's time for cyclo-cross, so you'd better start reading

Reigning world champion Paolo Bettini says he’s not superstitious, but he was probably having his doubts after what’s been a long season for the usually prolific Tuscan tiger. Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) came into the Vuelta a España with just one victory on the 2007 season and was relieved with his sprint victory Monday ahead of Óscar Freire Gómez (Rabobank) and Allan Davis (Discovery Channel) to end a winless streak dating back to February’s Tour of California.

American four-cross and BMX rider Tara Llanes (Giant) broke her back during the third round of the Jeep King of the Mountains series, on Saturday in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Llanes crashed during the semi finals, where she dueled with longtime rival Jill Kintner. Llanes was airlifted to Denver Health Medical Center where she underwent seven hours of surgery to address the massive trauma suffered on her lower back. Doctors also diagnosed a C-7 fracture which was deemed stable prior going into surgery. Accoding to her family, Llanes is currently breathing without assistance, but reports no

MTB News and Notes: Kintner, Prokop take third Jeep KOM, Beerten, Prokop win overall; Llanes hospitalized after crash; Craig, Emmett take single speed world titles; Hermida bests everyone at final Swisspower; Floyd third at Shenandoah Mountain 100 By Fred DreierVeloNews Associate Editor Two-time defending Jeep King of the Mountain world champions Jill Kintner (GT) and Michal Prokop (Author) won the third round of the 2007 series on Saturday in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Finishing second in the women’s race was Dutchwoman Anneke Beerten (Bikepark.ch), who, along with Prokop, took the three-race

Freire wasn't happy with the result, but Bettini was.

Along the coast in Astruias

The day's early break met its expected fate

Rabobank kept tabs on the gap for Friere

Quick Step ramped it up for Bettini

Another day and another civilized afternoon start

The finish town of Luarca

The peloton may be smaller once a few sprinters vanish in the hills

We are off and running. September 1st has come and gone. The Vuelta is a rare and special race with an interesting peloton, facing different circumstances. Some have raced a lot; some very little; some have a contract; some don't; some are Spanish; many are not. Racing in your own country in front of your people, eating your food and enjoying your customs can give you that little bit of an edge. As for the rest of us, this race serves as a good test of desire and mental strength. For myself, I like the Vuelta, have a friend and teammate who can win the race and I can have some success

Unlike Interbike in the United States, Eurobike’s final day is open to the public. Anyone with 20 extra euros can show up at the Messe Friedrichshafen and see the bicycle industry’s best. Because of this, most of the show's business is done by Saturday afternoon, freeing exhibitors from spec’ and sales meetings, plus the press, just in time to be thrown to an inquisitive public. We saw a lot on Saturday, some of which can be quickly explained and some that will require more attention. Over the next few weeks, in a lead-up to Interbike, we will try to explore in detail some of those

A day after finishing second, Spanish ace Oscar Freire (Rabobank) got it right in Sunday’s crash-marred second stage to win and move into the overall lead at the Vuelta a España. And a day after American climber Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel) was KO’d with a broken shoulder, it was Christian Vande Velde’s turn. The Team CSC rider crashed twice but was able to finish the hilly stage despite some nasty road rash.

Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) escaped to victory at the Grand Prix de Plouay on Sunday. Voeckler, a hero in France after valiantly and improbably holding on to the Tour de France's yellow jersey for 10 days in 2004 before losing it to Lance Armstrong, shot off from the pack with 2.5km to ride and held off the fast-finishing peloton to secure the win. Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) finished second with Italian Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas), the ProTour leader, in third. As he passed the red flag marking the final kilometer, Voeckler only had a few seconds' gap

Discovery Channel went one-two on Sunday at the Greenville Hospital System USA Cycling Professional Road Race Championships in Greenville, South Carolina, with Levi Leipheimer soloing to victory by more than a minute over defending champion George Hincapie with Neil Shirley (Jittery Joe’s) third.

If you have to go looking for work, it helps to have a solid résumé, and Levi Leipheimer isn't exactly lacking in that department — plus he has a nice red-white-and-blue suit to wear to the interview. Just ask Casey Gibson, who was on hand to see Leipheimer win the U.S. professional road race on Sunday in South Carolina.

No frozen waterbottles in this bunch

Cunego up and riding. Who says bike racers ain't tough?

Schwinn’s prototype Fastback.

GT’s anniversary edition Zaskar.

Litespeed’s award winning Archon.

The top and down tubes wrap around the head tube to offer greater stiffness to the front of the bike.

The One’s lever

And its giant single-piece, forged caliper.

Adidas’ new adiStar XC Ultra.

And its budget Razor.

Mavic’s new wheels forced a reshuffling just below the top of the range. The Ksyrium Premium is front and center, while the new SL is to the right.

Both rely on a new rim with an offset spoke bed.

Deda’s Zero100 seatpost

The new Phazer handlebar

The new SuperZero seatpost and the Forza carbon stem complete Deda’s top package.

Freire wins, takes the lead

Bennati got caught up in the crash . . .

. . . as did Vande Velde . . .

. . . and Castaño

The break

Lampre chases

Vande Velde's first spill of the day

Milram clocks in and goes to work

Freire dons the golden leader's jersey

Leipheimer caps his season with a stars-and-stripes jersey

He hit the afterburners on Paris Mountain and that was all she wrote

Bajadali was right there — almost

Devine on the front, winding it up

Julich took a last-minute dig

But it would be Leipheimer's day in the sun

All alone out front

Man, that was some thirsty work

Dear Readers,

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

[nid:40251]Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) picked up where he left off, putting a nice bookend victory in Saturday’s 154.4km opener at the Vuelta a España to go along with his triumph in the final stage on the Champs Elysées at the Tour de France. The brawny Italian hitched a ride on Milram’s setup train and out-kicked a superstar field to win for the eighth time this season ahead of three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Alessandro Petacchi (Milram), who came through third.

...but it was more than adequate.

Bennati picks up where he left off. After winning the final stage of the Tour de France, Bennati scores a victory at the Vuelta opener.

Danielson is out of the Vuelta

Cunego got back to the peloton

A nice sunny start to the third grand tour of the year

No clear fav's in this bunch.

A year of scandal in cycling, but the fans still turn out.

The day's break rolls away... but never got more than 3:20 on the field.

Martinez tries his luck with a solo effort. He is eventually caught, but now has the KOM jersey for his efforts.

The chase wasn't furious...

Bennati gets a jersey to boot

Cunego hopes to be back on Sunday

Vuelta a España organizer Unipublic released the final start list for the three-week national tour, which begins on Saturday, with a 146.4-kilometer stage in Vigo, Spain. 2007 Vuelta a España - Start ListAg2r Prevoyance1. Arrieta Lujambio José Luis, (Sp)2. Deignan Philip, (Irl)3. Dion Renaud, (F)4. Mandri Rene, (Est)5. DuPont Hubert, (F)6. Goubert Stéphane, (F)7. Krivtsov Yuriy, (Ukr)8. Usov Alexandre, (Blr)9. Turpin Ludovic, (F)Andalucia - Cajasur11. Perez Rodriguez Luis, (Sp)12. Lopez Gil José Antonio, (Sp)13. Martinez Perez Francisco Jose, (Sp)14. Olmo Menacho Juan, (Sp)15. Ortega Ocana

It looks like Johan Bruyneel’s planned retirement could be a short one. The Belgian sport director of Discovery Channel is in talks with the troubled Astana team to take over as general manager just weeks after announcing he would retire from cycling at the end of the 2007 season. Bruyneel confirmed he’s been contacted by officials from the Astana team to join the Kazakhstan-sponsored squad for the 2008 season and beyond. “It’s true I’ve had conversations with them but I’ve just returned from vacations and I haven’t had a chance to fully consider it,” Bruyneel told journalists ahead of

Slipstream Sports LLC has announced the Slipstream-Chipotle cycling team’s roster for 2008. The team includes David Millar, Christophe Laurent, Julian Dean, David Zabriskie, Christian Vande Velde, Magnus Backstedt, Tyler Farrar, Maartijn Maaskant, Tom Danielson, Dan Martin, Chris Sutton, Trent Lowe, Ryder Hesjedal, Danny Pate, Pat McCarty, Will Frischkorn, Jason Donald, Lucas Euser, Tom Peterson, Mike Friedman, Huub Duyn, Kilian Patour, Timmy Duggan and Steven Cozza. “We are poised for an outstanding year and are excited to have grown our relationship with Chipotle,” said Doug Ellis,

This year hasn’t been stellar, results-wise, for Team CSC’s David Zabriskie. But his second consecutive time-trial win at the 2007 USA Cycling Professional Championships on Saturday may have brightened things up a bit.

If the scale of parking problems are an indication of interest, then Eurobike qualifies as a success. The line just to park at the Messe Friedrichshafen on the second day of the trade show was an hour long. Bumper-to-bumper traffic, all of it bound for Eurobike. The show, held on Germany’s southern border, attracts exhibitors from more than 36 countries — and that includes everyone, from the biggest players to the most obscure little guys. Here’s what caught our attention on Friday. LightweightThe famous German Lightweight wheels have a new look these days. The new black all-carbon spokes

Some people think time trials are boring. But not us — especially not when Dave Zabriskie pips Danny Pate by a second to score his second consecutive stars-and-stripes jersey, and Saul Raisin returns to racing after a long convalescence. Casey Gibson was there, too, and sent us these shots of the day's action.

CEO and directeur sportif Jonathan Vaughters announces the Slipstream-Chipotle roster for 2008 at the USA Cycling pro championships