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Tyler Hamilton will start next month’s Giro d’Italia—at least, that’s what his Tinkoff Credit System management insists in the face of growing pressure to suspend riders linked to the Operación Puerto doping scandal. The names of both Hamilton and new addition Jörg Jaksche showed up in police documents released by Spanish authorities last May, but Tinkoff officials denied reports in the Italian media that the team has sidelined the two riders ahead of the May 12 start of the Giro. “For me, Tyler and Jörg can start the Giro. Stories that they are suspended are not true,” Tinkoff general

The final and deciding stage of the 29th La Vuelta de Bisbee unfolded Sunday on the high desert terrain of Southern Arizona. In past years, a familiar script had played out — a group would leap off the front, build a sizable gap in the rolling terrain west of Bisbee and be reeled back in as the mountains approached and the climbers took over. But this year, the gap was bigger, and there were able climbers in the breakaway. At the first intermediate sprint, a group of nine driven by three RideClean riders worked to build a 4:30 lead. In the break were Daniel Ramsey (Successful Living) and

When Tom Danielson joined VeloNews for a cup of coffee in an Athens java shop on the Monday following the Tour de Georgia’s final stage, it was evident that he felt a touch of remorse over failing to repeat his 2005 victory. “I love Tour de Georgia and I love Georgia. Every time I come here I tell my wife, Kristen, ‘Man, we should get a house up here in the Brasstown area.’ It’s just so beautiful and the climbs are amazing and the pavement is nice,” said the 29-year-old Discovery Channel rider, who was in town for a fun ride out of The Hub bicycle shop. “I love to fish and I see these lakes

Basso has asked for and been granted his release from Discovery

Ramsey takes the overall

Munoz wins the final stage

Danielson: 'Hey, look, man, there goes your race'

Jeff Frost and Tom Spiegel took over race organization responsibilities for NORBA in 2003; the year after the governing body’s national series saw its major cash sponsors jump ship. Since then the continent’s largest off-road racing series — now called the National Mountain Bike Series or NMBS — has operated solely under their direction. That was supposed to have changed at this weekend’s Santa Ynez Valley Classic mountain-bike festival, which hosted the second round of the NMBS’s cross-country competition. Spiegel and Frost outsourced organization of the event out to local promoter Mike

The final round of the Ardennes Classics went off Sunday morning in Liège. VeloNews senior writer was at the start and sent in these images.

Coming into the 93rd Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the number of riders named as potential race favorites was almost overwhelming. Nearly a dozen men were believed to have a serious shot at winning the hilly classic on its demanding course that suits a variety of riders. In the end, the cadre of serious contenders proved to be a hindrance for all the favorites, except one — Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas). The Italian, who won the Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallone in 2005, completed a career triple of the Ardennes Classics by bridging across to a late attack by CSC’s Frank Schleck and then jumping away

Tony Cruz is back in the European peloton after racing last season on the domestic circuit with Toyota-United. The 35-year-old Californian says he still has unsettled business in Europe and rejoins Discovery Channel more motivated than ever. Cruz talked to VeloNews at length about his career, why he refuses to compromise his integrity and how he still hopes to race the Tour de France this year. Here are excerpts from the recent interview: VeloNews.com: How are you recovering following your classics campaign? Tony Cruz: I have a little problem with the tendon that covers my left knee. It

Riding an early breakaway Sunday, Colombian Javier Zapata held onto the GC leader’s jersey to win the 2007 Tour of Virginia. Zapata (Caico) came into the 100-mile stage 7 with just an eight-second lead over second-place Alejandro Borrajo (Rite Aid), but 40km into the race, Zapata latched on to a 10-man breakaway. Borrajo did not, a problem his team attributed to a technological breakdown. “We had problems with our radio and never got word that Zapata was in the break,” Rite Aid director Jonathan Wirsing said. Showing no signs of slowing down, the breakaway stretched its lead to 2:45

A patient Geoff Kabush used his experience to win the Santa Ynez Valley Classic, the second round of the 2007 National Mountain Bike Series. The Canadian, suffering from admittedly bad legs, spent the day riding in the draft of Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher) and Barry Wicks (Kona), before out sprinting the two Americans for the win. “I took one pull today and it was in the last 50 meters of the race,” Kabush conceded after the win. “Something wasn’t right with me from the get go, and I just tried to hang on today as long as I could. Luckily I just let Wicks and JHK chase each

Floyd Landis claimed Sunday that electronically stored data from disputed dope tests conducted on his 2006 Tour de France stage 17 samples had been destroyed at a French laboratory. Simon Davis, a technical consultant for Landis, told the cyclist that "critical evidence stored as electronic data files had been erased from the hard drive and the original data destroyed at the Laboratoire National de Depistage du Dopage (LNDD)," according to a release issued by Landis spokesman Michael Henson on Sunday. "The existing data bears indication of alteration," the release said. Davis was at the

The Future of the NMBS: A Conversation with Jeff Frost

Gilberto Simoni is well suited to the roads of Liège-Bastogne-Liège .

Amstel Gold winner, Stefan Schumacher

Horner loves this race

Rabobank's three-time world champion Oscar Freire was relaxed at the start.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège - A view from the start

Liège-Bastogne-Liège - A view from the start

DiLuca has to be among the favorites

World champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) said he's recovered from the food poisoning that saw him vomiting from the bike at Fleche.

Riding in his last LBL, Rabobank's Michael Boogerd is hoping for a good result.

CSC rider Frank Schleck learned Saturday that he broke a vertebra in his fall at last Sunday's Amstel Gold Race, but he's riding anyway.

Cruz readying up for Paris-Roubaix

A healthy gap. Di Luca has time to relish his win

Kiriyenka leads the day's early break

Often called the greatest of the one-day classics, Liege is marked by a series of tough, narrow climbs like the Cote St. Roche

Vinokourov was here to test his legs for his biggest goal of the year.

Gerolsteiner gives chase on the Haute Levee

The big names began to appear at the front on the Stockeu and Redoute

Horner puts the pressure on

Schumacher gets a gap

Liquigas and Quick Step remember last week and put on a big chase.

Schumacher finally bridges to the leaders

His gamble paid off

Di Luca decides it's now or never

Anthony nails the sprint

left to right: Christopher Jones, Javier Zapata, Nathan Bowman

Kabush takes his pull.... when it counts.

SWEEEEP! Luna does it again

“It’s the best one-day race in cycling.” American Chris Horner, who placed eighth at last year’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, says this weekend’s coming edition is the highlight of the season. But the Predictor-Lotto man’s assessment could just as easily come from world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) or defending Liège champion Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne), or any of the 192 riders expected to start the 93rd edition of Liège Sunday, the final race of the spring classics season. “It’s a race almost any type of rider can win — a climber, a Tour rider, a time-trial

Southern California’s picturesque Santa Ynez Valley is internationally renowned for its miles of grapevines and upscale wineries. But this weekend it’s the area’s singletrack earning the attention, as the National Mountain-Bike Series rumbles into town for the April 28-29 Firestone Santa Ynez Classic mountain-bike festival. In its eighth year, the Santa Ynez Classic has become the largest off-road festival in Southern California. The weekend features cross-country, short-track, downhill and Super D competition. New for 2007, all the events are part of USA Cycling’s National Mountain-Bike

A former trainer who once worked with now-retired Jan Ullrich has claimed that the 1997 Tour de France winner was injected with erythropoietin during the 1996 edition of the race. Jeff d' Hont, a Belgian soigneur employed by the Telekom team from 1992 till 1996, claimed in the German weekly newspaper Der Spiegel that Ullrich took the banned blood booster in 1996. He also claims the German team's medical supervisors, who coninue to work for the team under its current name T-Mobile, encouraged use of EPO. D'Hont accused two doctors, Lothar Heinrich and Andreas Schmid, of having

With just one stage remaining, Michael Grabinger (Successful Living) and Meshy Holt (Expresscopy.com) lead their respective categories in the 29th La Vuelta de Bisbee. Grabinger scored a pair of runner-up finishes on Saturday’s wind-whipped, double-stage day to move into the overall lead, just five seconds ahead of Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance). The victory in the Stage 1 Sulphur Springs Road Race went to Mexico’s Antonio Aldape (Halcones). Adalpe, countryman and teammate David Salomon and Grabinger had been part of a 13-man break that formed at the first bonus sprint in the 79-mile

Australian sprinter Jonathan Cantwell won his second stage in as many days Saturday at stage 6 of the Tour of Virginia, as Alejandro Borrajo continued to cut into Colombian Javier Zapata’s general classification lead. “It’s getting a little surreal by now,” said Cantwell (Kahala-La Grange), who trails Borrajo (Rite Aid) by six points in the sprint classification. Borrajo finished third in Saturday’s criterium stage, earning a four-second time bonus. Zapata (Caico) finished 11th, with the same time as the pack. Borrajo now trails Zapata in the GC standings by eight seconds. The 35-mile

At just 22, Canadian cross-country rider Max Plaxton (Rocky Mountain-Haywood) already owns palmarès worthy of envy. He is twice the Pan-American U-23 champion (2006 and ‘07) and owns a bronze medal from the 2006 world championships U-23 cross-country race. Now, with countrymen Geoff Kabush and Seamus McGrath entering their 30s, Plaxton is undeniably the future of Canadian cross-country racing. “Young Max,” as his peers call him, took another step toward the big time by winning his first NMBBS race — Saturday’s short-track cross-country at the National Mountain Bike Series’s Santa Ynez

Valverde won in 2006, taking a race that favors all-around talents

Liège-Bastogne-Liège - The Classic closer of the Ardennes

Horner calls La Doyenne 'the best one-day race in cycling.'

Bettini says he's recovered from the stomach problems that ailed him at Flèche

Bettini's right when he calls Liège 'the hardest classic by far.'

Evans says he may be riding in support of Horner

The Santa Ynez Classic is drawing more attention this year

Barry Wicks

JHK astride his 29-er

Gould has had an amazing early season

The men's break charges back to Bisbee

Holt, all alone out front and loving it

Zajicek driving the break

Nash, Plaxton score wins at Santa Ynez short-track

Nash, Plaxton score wins at Santa Ynez short-track

I felt like Bullwinkle J. Moose just after he had pulled his Mr. Know-It-All act and Rocky had made him look like an idiot. I am that idiot. I got signed up for a medical bike fit at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine the other day, part of my preps for Ride the Rockies this summer. I wanted to be ready. I wanted to make sure the bike was ready for me. Andy Pruitt, Ed.D, an internationally known expert in bike fit and cycling physiology, looked me over to try and determine a physical baseline for how I felt and why I felt the way I did on the bike. An X-ray from Boulder Community

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you havea comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen incycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write toWebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name andhome town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writersare encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.The letters published here contain the opinions of the submittingauthors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positionsof VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Defending Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso’s career is on hold ashe awaits an appearance before an Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) investigatingpanel next Wednesday in Rome. The panel has reopened an investigation into alleged ties between the29-year-old Italian and Eufemiano Fuentes, the infamous sports doctor atthe center of the Operación Puerto scandal in Spain. Basso was among nine riders barred from participation in the 2006 Tourde France when notes seized in the police raids that marked the Puertoinvestigation appeared to link them to an apparent doping ring headedby Fuentes. While

Corey Collier (Team Einstein’s) and Meshy Holt (Expresscopy.com) took top honors on Friday as the 29th La Vuelta de Bisbee got under way in southern Arizona. Beautiful weather greeted the 240 riders starting the Mule Pass prologue, a 2.8-mile time trial along Main Street from the heart of Old Bisbee to the top of Mule Pass. Collier was fastest among the elite men with a time of 9:56, besting David Solomon (Halcones) by 14 seconds. Third on the day was Michael Grabinger (Successful Living) at 16 seconds. Only 20 seconds seperate the top eight riders. The women’s field saw Holt finish in

Aussie Jonathan Cantwell claimed a sprint victory at stage 5 of the Tour of Virginia Friday, as Argentinean Alejandro Borrajo continued to whittle down Colombian Javier Zapata’s overall lead. Taking second and the resulting time bonus in a group sprint, Borrajo (Rite Aid) shaved six seconds off Zapata’s (Caico) lead, bringing the Colombian’s GC advantage to just 12 seconds. Cantwell, originally riding support for Kahala-La Grange, was able to take advantage of the group sprint, thanks to the peloton re-materializing in the final kilometers of the race. Early on in the drizzly, 99-mile

Wrist healed, George is back!

“The Puerto Nine” (From top, L-R) Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla (T-Mobile), Ivan Basso (CSC), Francesco Mancebo (AG2R), Joseba Beloki, Isidro Nozal, Australia's Allan Davis, Sergio Paulinho and Alberto Contador (Astana-Wurth).

Will Basso be in a position to defend his Giro trophy?

Basso's future may hang by a strand - so to speak.

Last September, Basso was elated after his last appearance before CONI investigators.

Holt starts her ride in downtown Bisbee

Collier climbs to the top of Mule Pass

GC leader Javier Zapata is congratulated by Staunton police chief Jim Williams.

(From left to right) Alejandro Borrajo, Jonathan Cantwell, Ben Raby.

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