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Look's new Quartz pedal.

Two of Crank Brothers’ new directset headsets, the Cobalt SL (Left, at $130) and the Cobalt Ti (at $300).

The Cobalt SLI is one of Crank Brother’s two new integrated cranks.

The Cobalt S is the other and set with a single ring.

Crank Bros' prototype Cobalt wheel.

Crank Brothers should be shipping the Speedball - now called the Iodine - seatpost by the begining of the year.

Happy anniversary SID, even the original was out for the party

The new SID

Its new carbon low-speed adjuster.

The “Hollow Bottom” lower.

You can see the difference between the new SID and current Reba lowers.

The BlackBox Motion Control damper.

Ever since the Vuelta a España moved to September in the racing calendar a decade ago, the Spanish race has been trying to reinvent what a three-week grand tour should look like. High-octane shorter stages, opening day team time trials, closing day time trials, finales inside 80,000-seat football stadiums, nothing wasn’t worth a try for season’s third big tour. There was once an even a zany idea about having 26 or so teams starting and then get rid of the four slowest squads through elimination rounds. It all gave the Vuelta an exciting, unpredictable edge. No one really knew what to

SRAM finally unveiled its top-of-the-line component group last month. The company outlined details of the "Red" group during the Tour de France, where the group - still in prototype - saw action. Now, on the eve of the industry tradeshow season’s start, at Eurobike in Friedrichschafen, Germany, SRAM introduced a round of ready-to-ride pre-production parts, manufactured on the line's final tooling. Red’s specifications were finalized in conjunction with SRAM’s entry into the ProTour, by means of its sponsorship of Saunier Duval-Prodir. The relationship proved challenging to say the

Erik Zabel's inclusion in a preliminary squad for the world road cycling championships has led to the resignation of German cycling federation vice-president (BDR) Dieter Kuehnle. Zabel, a six-time winner of the Tour de France's green jersey, was named Wednesday in a preliminary 21-man squad for the competition to be held in Stuttgart from September 26-30. However the fallout from Zabel's recent confession to having "briefly" used the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) in 1996, when he won the first of his six points competitions at the Tour de France, has failed to

The 2007 Vuelta route

The ceramic bottom bracket costs more than half of what the arms and rings cost.

The backside of the crank features rather flashy graphics. “We wanted to do something to make it fun,” said Ron Ritzler, SRAM’s road product manager.

Backside of the driveside

The ultra-light (and ultra-expensive) Red rear derailleur.

Looking at its backside reveals its ample use of carbon.

The PowerDome cassette is one of the coolest items in the new group.

The Red brakes are svelte, powerful and ultra smooth.

Spring tension is adjusted here.

The brake can be centered here.

Red’s front derailleur will only be available as a braze-on, but two band clamps will be available.

The brake lever’s reach is adjusted here.

And the shift lever is adjusted just below the levers’ pivot.

Controversial cyclist Erik Zabel looks set to take part in next month's World Road Championships after the German Cycling Federation (BDR) named him to its provisional squad on Wednesday. The 37-year-old, who won silver at last year's world championship road race in Salzburg, has been named in a preliminary 21-man squad which will be trimmed down before the championships which are in Stuttgart from September 26-30. Despite his close finish last year, Zabel's inclusion was opposed by many because of confession in May to using banned blood-booster EPO (erythropoietin) for a short

Cyclists rightfully focus their dietary attention on consuming the properfoods in adequate amounts so that they can sustain energy during long trainingrides, and replenish muscle fuel stores and recover nutritionally duringthe season.  But you should also consider how your daily food intakeand on-bike nutrition can affect and feed your brain. Just like your heart,your brain is an organ that benefits from optimal nutritional care. Nutritioncan affect brain chemicals, brain cell structure and function and theability of the brain to transmit electrical messages. Though nutritionalneuroscience is

The World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) withdrew from the steering committee of next month's World Road Race Championships on Wednesday, after a disagreement with the UCI. There were no WADA representatives at Tuesday's meeting of the steering committee, responsible for over-seeing drugs tests during Stuttgart's four-day event at the end of September. WADA informed both the steering committee and the German Ministry of the Interior of its withdrawal in a letter, but gave no details of the reasons behind the fall-out. Susanne Eisenmann, president of the organising committee, said

Imagine one morning you woke up to find you had been transformed into one of the best cyclists in the world. Were that the case, you might just feel like Mara Abbott. Obviously, Abbott’s transformation from novice to national champ’ didn’t happen overnight (it took two years), but the 21-year-old admits sometimes feels that way. Abbott started the 2007 season off hoping to gain some knowledge and experience in her freshman year in the pro ranks. Four months later, she had racked up palmarès most racers dream of. She won the Oak Glen stage of the Redlands Bicycle Classic, finishing second

Spanish rider Jose Ivan Gutierrez beat Britain's David Millar to claim the Tour of Benelux title on Wednesday. The Caisse d'Epargne rider claimed victory after finishing seconds behind Belgian Sebastien Rosseler in the seventh and final stage, a 29.6km time-trial. It was the first professional success for 26-year-old Rosseler who timed 36:50 with Gutierrez two seconds behind. Millar crossed in fourth to finish 11 seconds behind the Spaniard with Sweden's Gustav-Erik Larsson completing the podium. Overnight leader Thomas Dekker (Rabobank) paid the price of his fall on Tuesday,

The UCI announced Wednesday that it has barred Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, the UCI ProTour champion in 2006, from riding in next month's world championships in Stuttgart, Germany. A UCI statement issued Wednesday noted that investigators suspect Valverde may be involved in the Spanish police's Operacion Puerto inquiry into Eufemiano Fuentes, the doctor said to have designed doping programs for athletes in several sports. "During the meticulous studying of the 6000-page Puerto dossier, the UCI has concluded that several documents may show the involvement of Alejandro Valverde in

Friedman avoided a potentially fatal result.

Predictor-Lotto star Cadel Evans came within a scant 23 seconds of winning this year’s Tour de France and narrowly held on to second place, a mere eight seconds ahead of third-place Levi Leipheimer. It’s fair to say that Evans’ podium performance is thanks in part to his two breakthrough time trial rides. Evans placed second in both long time trials, behind Alexandre Vinokourov in stage 13 and behind Leipheimer in stage 19. With final time differences that slim, it is interesting to look at small time contributions among the top three riders overall, especially in long time trials, where

Dutch rider Thomas Dekker grabbed the overall lead in the Eneco Tour as Spaniard Pablo Lastras of the Caisse d’Epargne team won a crash-marred sixth stage from Beek to Landgraaf on Tuesday. Rabobank rider Dekker took the red leader’s jersey from Belgian Nick Nuyens (Cofidis), who was forced to abandon after a fall 40km into the penultimate stage of the race through the so-called Benelux countries. The Spaniard went it alone about 10km from the line after attacking an earlier breakaway and held off a push by Dutch rider Maarten Tjallingii to finish ahead of Belgian Steven Caethoven and

Former mountain-bike star Miguel Martinez – known as Little Mig for his small stature but big winning ways – looks to be coming out of retirement for another stab at the road scene. Martinez flirted with road racing in the 2002 and ‘03 seasons, as a member of Mapei, before returning to the mountain bike circuit disillusioned with his inability to secure results on skinny tires. Martinez, 31, retired from competitive cycling at the end of last season, but is poised to return to road racing for the 2008 season with Agritubel. “I was already pro’ on the road in 2002 and 2003, but all the

Figure A

Figure B

Figure C

Figure D

Evans made a few significant changes in position and equipment this year.

Despite the crash, Dekker got up, finished and moved into the lead.

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,

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of our most recent contest. Michael Johnson’s “Backstreets of Grenade, France” is one of the week’s most beautifully composed images. The tidy little house with a stylin’ and very utilitarian ride parked in front has us pining for a few weeks of time in France… maybe even without a race to cover. Nice shot. Michael, please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work out the details and we’ll send you a copy of our new Coors Classic DVD.

Aaron Olson always seems to save the best for last. Last year, some of his best results came late in the 2006 campaign, capped by second in a Tour of Poland stage. The T-Mobile rider scored his best-ever result in a European stage race with third overall at the inaugural Tour of Ireland. Olson snatched second place in the race-winning breakaway in stage one and hung on to the podium spot in the surprisingly tough five-day Irish tour. “It’s not bad considering I crashed 10 days ago,” said Olson, referring to a nasty training spill in Spain. “It’s a nice way to finish off the European

Brazilian Luciano Pagliarini (Saunier Duval-Prodir) won the fifth stage of the Eneco Tour of Benelux over 180km from Terneuzen to Nieuwegein on Monday. Pagliarini edged out Britain's Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile) and Australia's Graeme Brown (Rabobank) in a sprint finish. "This is the best win of my life. My first bunch of flowers in a ProTour race," said an elated Pagliarini, who dedicated the win to his newborn daughter. "This week has been fantastic for me. I've waited for such a long time for a win like this. These last months were really difficult." Belgium's Nick Nuyens

Tom Danielson, whose Discovery Channel team is disbanding at year’s end, will join Team Slipstream for 2008. The decision means a shift in bosses, from Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel to Jonathan Vaughters. And the lanky Coloradan, who spends half the year living outside of Girona, Spain, hopes it also means a ticket to the Tour de France, the one race Danielson never had a chance to do with Discovery. This year, a stomach ailment kept him off the Tour team. VeloNews caught up with Danielson as he was enjoying some altitude-tent time in preparation for next month’s Vuelta a España.

Backstreets of Grenade, France

Olson will be headed Stateside

Pagliarini takes the flowers

Belgian Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step-Innergetic) won the fourth stage of the Eneco Tour of Benelux on Sunday. Weylandt crossed the line ahead of Norway's Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) and Matthew Goss (CSC) after 182km of racing from Maldegem, Belgium, to Terneuzen, Netherlands. Belgian Nick Nuyens (Cofidis) kept the leader's red jersey. "It's revenge for the previous stages where I failed in the final meters," said Weylandt after his sixth success of the season. "I feared Thor Hushovd was coming back strong as we neared the line but I held on." A breakaway containing Italian

Stijn Vandenbergh (Unibet.com) won the Tour of Ireland on Sunday as Marco Marcato (Team LPR) won the final stage, outsprinting two breakaway companions on the finishing circuit in Dublin. Vandenbergh finished safely in ninth place to clinch the overall with Marcus Ljungqvist (Team CSC) second and Aaron Olsen (T-Mobile) third. David O’Loughlin (Navigators Insurance) put the hammer down just after the intermediate sprint in Kinnegad, some 60km into the 147km stage from Athlone to the Irish capital, where Matti Breschel (Team CSC) scored five points to take the lead in the points

Proving that he is one of the stronger American crit racers, Kyle Wamsley won the 24th edition of the Chris Thater Memorial on Sunday in Binghamton, New York. "I'm ecstatic ... just ecstatic!" the Navigators Insurance rider said as he caught his breath. Wamsley figured into every part of the race, leading out the first lap, hanging in the day's major break, and pulling a "caution to the wind" move at the end of the race. "This season's winding down, so I thought I'd through everything into the race. If I didn't make it, so be it. But I really wanted to win today,” he

Weylandt holds Hushovd off for the win

The final podium

O’Loughlin takes a dig

Marcato gets the stage

Danny Pate rode all but four kilometers of Saturday’s epic 232.5km fourth stage over the foggy mountains of Galway on the attack, but it was Norwegian hope Edvald Boasson Hagen (Maxbo-Bianchi) who took the cake at the Tour of Ireland. The Slipstream captain attacked 2km into the spectacular route across Ireland’s rugged Connamara country and was reeled in with about 2km to go as the heralded Boasson Hagen surprised the veterans with an early sprint to snag the win. “It was a lot of work for not a lot of reward,” said Pate, who was part of a five-man breakaway that dominated the Irish tour’s

Australian Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) won Saturday's third stage of the Tour of Benelux in a sprint finish ahead of Italian Francesco Chicchi and Thor Hushovd of Norway. Britain's Mark Cavendish, winner of the second stage on Friday, took fourth with Belgian Nick Nuyens, of the Cofidis team, finishing in the main peloton to keep the leader's red jersey. Despite his stage victory, McEwen expressed anger at his team's decision not to enter him in the Vuelta a España. "I was not ready to race this Tour of Benelux," he protested. "I would have preferred to do the Vuelta

There's a reason they call this place the 'Emerald Isle.'

Boasson Hagen wins it. The Tour of Ireland has provided plenty of opportunities for young talents to come to the fore.

Five men on the run. The escape looked like it might succeed, until the peloton 'came down on us like a steel train,' said Pate (center).

The Unibet biys did what it took to protect the jersey

Schleck put the pressure on

CSC's Bochmann was one of the riders who didn't finish.

Pate and Beauchat try to hold off the chase

The peloton starts to pick up the pace...

DBC Events Announces Excel Sports CrossVegasWorld Class Cyclocross Racing in Las Vegas on September 26August, 2007 (Boulder, Colo) — Boulder-based event organizerDBC Events has announced details about Excel Sports CrossVegas scheduledfor September 26 in Las Vegas. The UCI Category 2 race will attract topU.S. Cyclocross racers as well as Europeans chasing all important UCI pointsto the "Entertainment Capital of the World" for an early cyclocross seasonshowdown. The title sponsor is another Boulder company, Excel Sports, a leadingonline and catalog retailer of bicycles, parts and accessories.

For the past three years, Christoph Sauser has been the almost man at the UCI world mountain-bike championships. The 31-year-old Specialized rider lost close duels with Frenchman Julien Absalon in 2005 and 2006 — in ’05 a poorly timed flat tire derailed Sauser, while in ’06 Absalon simply climbed away from him on the last lap. The bad luck followed the Swiss rider to the 2006 marathon world championships, where a mechanical knocked him out while he was riding in the lead with eventual winner Ralph Naf. Sauser finally grabbed his first rainbow stripes as an elite at the 2007 UCI marathon

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,

T-Mobile’s Mark Cavendish won the second stage of the Eneco Tour of Benelux, prevailing in a sprint here on Friday. The British rider beat American Fred Rodriguez (Predictor-Lotto) and Belgian Wouter Weylandt after the 200-kilometer race from Antwerp. Cofidis’ Nick Nuyens retained the leader's red jersey. It is the second win in Belgium this year for the 22-year-old Cavendish after the Escaut Grand Prix, and his eighth success this season following wins in the Four Days of Dunkirk, Tour of Denmark and Ster Elektrotoer. "The team worked very well at the end. My teammates put me in an

The Tour of Ireland continued Friday with a 194-kilometer stage from Tralee to Ennis. Our man Andrew Hood is there covering what he has described as his "favorite race of the year... maybe my favorite since I began doing this." Given his annual work schedule - which includes all of the classics, the Tour, the Giro and the Vuelta - those are pretty high marks.

Sprints are always a question of timing. Go too soon, you might get caught. Wait too long, you’re sucking fumes. A day after going too soon at the Tour of Ireland, Slovenian speedster Borut Bozic (LPR) timed it just right to pip a pair of ProTour boys in Friday’s undulating and windy 194km third stage from Tralee to Ennis. The main pack roared in for a bunch sprint after a promising six-man break featuring Pat McCarty (Slipstream) and Ben Day (Navigators Insurance) was reeled in with less than 10km to go. Baden Cooke (Unibet.com) bolted away with 300 meters to go on a rising right-hander

'Cross race set for Interbike

Sauser's still chasing rainbows.