All Content

Trips for Kids National Signs its 50th Local ChapterAnother community gears up to take inner-city kids mountain bikingSAN RAFAEL, Calif.  – March, 2007 – Trips for Kids Nationaltoday announced a significant milestone with the formation of its 50thchapter - Trips for Kids Rochester, New York.Rochester, New York-based Friends Helping Friends is now the newestTrips for Kids chapter in North America. Like all Trips for Kids chapters,Friends Helping Friends will provide underserved youth a chance to experiencethe joy and challenge of mountain biking in the woods, something inner-citykids

USA Cycling announced on Thursday its selection of riders who will representthe United States at the 2007 UCI Track World Championships in Palma deMallorca March 29-April 1.Headlining the roster for the women’s squad is defending world championin the three-kilometer individual pursuit, Sarah Hammer (Ouch Pro Cycling). Hammer captured the world title last year in Bordeaux, France – the firstfor an elite American track rider since 1996 – where her mark of 3:37.227in the gold-medal final was just fast enough to edge Olga Slyusareva (RUS)for the rainbow jersey.This year, Hammer will have her

Leipheimer comes to Paris-Nice with momentum from California.

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 do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policies or positionsof VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, InsideCommunications,

Floyd Landis Is Coming To Bicycle Village Westminster!Bicycle Village in Westminster, Colorado, will host a special appearanceby 2006 Tour de France Champion Floyd Landis and the Floyd Fairness Fund(FFF) will be in Denver for a FFF Town Hall as part of a national tourto discuss Landis’ efforts to attain a fair hearing in his fight against doping allegations.• Town Hall Q&A with Floyd and the Floyd Fairness Fund (FFF)• Exclusive Free Autograph Session Sponsored by Bicycle Village andGiro• Silent Auction• Admission $35 at the door benefits the FFFFloyd Landis Town Hall Fairness Fundraiser

It’s Alejandro Valverde against a galaxy of stars at the five-day Vuelta a Murcia starting in Spain on Wednesday. The Spanish sensation won his “hometown” race in 2004 and is fresh off overall victory at last week’s Tour of Valencia, but the lack of a summit finish and the inclusion of a tough individual time trial could spoil the chances for Balaverde. “I am not in optimum conditions to win,” Valverde told the Spanish daily AS. “After looking at the route, everything points that the climbing time trial between Alhama and Aledo will be decisive and there will be other favorites. This will

Colorado Springs, Colo. (March 6, 2007)—USA Cycling has paid out more than $260,000 to Local Associations based on 2006 license sales with another $59,000 expected to be distributed. USA Cycling has agreements with 33 Local Associations that represent 85% of its road, track and cyclo-cross racing members. "The Local Associations do a terrific job managing the racing and recruiting new members in communities across the U.S.," said USA Cycling chief executive officer, Steve Johnson. "It's only natural that we invest a significant portion of our members' license fees back into the

Red Five Sports Group, the organizer of the U.S. Open Cycling Championships, has announced the appointment of John Eustice as Executive Director for the U.S. Open Cycling Championships to be held in Williamsburg and Richmond, Virginia, and broadcast nationally via the NBC network on April 7, 2007. Mr. Eustice is a cycling expert whose company, Sparta Cycling, has produced over thirty professional races in addition to providing technical consulting to many others. His Univest Grand Prix is a live television production and is listed on the USA Cycling Pro Tour calendar. The race is celebrating

2004 Murcia winner Alejandro Valverde says this year's edition may not suit his talents

The Unibet.com team has slammed the agreement reached between the UnionCycliste Internationale and cycling's three grand tour organizers.Called to an emergency meeting organized by ProTour teams in Belgiumon Monday, the UCI and ASO, the organizer of the Tour de France, reachedan agreement to end a dispute that threatened the entire 2007 season. The agreement allowed for 18 of the 20 ProTour teams - all those exceptthe two most recent, Astana and Unibet.com - to be selected for eventsrun by ASO, RCS (Giro d’Italia) and Unipublic (Vuelta a España).In return, all three agreed to consider

Samuel Sánchez believes someday he might be able to challenge for the Tour de France, but first he wants to prove himself in the Vuelta a España. After years nipping at the edges of major success, the Euskaltel-Euskadi attacker broke through last year to finish third overall in the 2006 individual ProTour standings after an season that included victory at the GP Zürich, second at Flèche Wallone, two stages at the Vuelta al País Vasco, a stage at the Vuelta and seventh overall. He also played a key role in last year’s world championships, springing teammate Alejandro Valverde toward the

March, 2007  - You are invited to view an NBC documentary ofthe 2004 Race Across America (RAAM) to celebrate VMG Cycling, a Boulder–based team that will be racing in this year’s RAAM. The screening will also serve as a fund-raiser for the Davis Phinney Foundation. Date:  March 15, 7:00PMLocation:  First Presbyterian Church in Boulder, CO, 182015th St., Oerter Hall - entrance located at the west end of the buildingAdmission:  Free, but a donation to the Davis Phinney Foundationis requested

TorqueDear Lennard,I recently purchased my first full carbon bike, absolutely love it. Yet, I'm scared of over-torquing the seatpost clamp. Is there a torque wrench you could recommend that works on Allen wrenches? What's the worst that happens, the seatpost clamp needs replacing or I have this fear of the actual seat tube deforming, I'm not doing the Samsonite luggage monkey torque on it, but "hand tighten" is just too open to quantify.ThomasDear Thomas,First of all, carbon frames generally have a separate band clamp to tighten the seatpost, and, yes, the worst that can happen,

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (March 7, 2007) - Terry Madden, Chief ExecutiveOfficer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) since its creation in April2000, submitted his resignation to the USADA Board of Directors duringits March 1-2, 2007 meeting in Colorado Springs. Madden will continueto lead the anti-doping agency through September 2007.“Terry has been instrumental in the creation and successful developmentof USADA,” said Board Chair Dr. Ralph W. Hale. “Under his leadershipUSADA has become the recognized standard for national anti-doping agencies.While we understand his decision to leave this

Hannegraaf was left frustrated and angry by the solution offered on Monday.

Sánchez

Our latest reader-submitted PhotoGallery is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of our most recent contest. Like this week, we received a wealth of images from the Tour of California, among them Melanie Chang’s beautifully composed black-and-white image of Priority Health’s Scott Zwizanski taking on the San Francisco prologue. We would, however, be remiss if we failed to credit the humor of Karen Bauer’s “Road Hazards.” Nice timing, Karen. Congratulations to both of you. Please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work

Alexandre Vinokourov just wants to win the Tour de France, but it seems all these other annoyances keep getting in the way. The reigning Vuelta a España champion expressed frustration over the escalating battle between the UCI and Tour de France organizers ASO and said he dreads the thought of a scenario that it might boil over to keep him out of the Tour yet again. He’s had enough of that already. “I can understand both sides of the conflict,” Vinokourov told VeloNews in an interview during last week’s Tour of Valencia. “It’s a difficult time for cycling. All the time the news is filled

This is the first of what we hope will become a regular feature on VeloNews.com. There are cyclo-cross races for cross-dressers in California, stage races named after dearly departed canines in Wyoming and a host of other events across America that offer a look into what it's like to race bikes at all levels. You don't necessarily need top pros to make it interesting. In order for the "Local Scene" to succeed, we need your help. If a race in your area deserves notice, drop us a short story, highlighting not only the racing, but some of the local character that makes it unique. Mail

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 do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policies or positionsof VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, InsideCommunications,

This being my first VeloNews.com journal, let me start by introducing myself. I’m 25; hail from Boulder, Colorado, where I live with my wife, Cheynna; and ride for Team Slipstream Sports-Chipotle. The past two years, under the banner of TIAA-CREF, our program has made a slow and steady progression towards a full bi-continental program, and this year we have full schedules in both the States and Europe. As a Professional Continental team we’ll be doing some of the biggest non-ProTour races in the world and hoping for the occasional ProTour wildcard invite. In this journal I aim to provide a

German cyclist Jorg Jaksche said Monday he is ready to follow compatriot Jan Ullrich into retirement. The 2004 Paris-Nice winner has been struggling to find a team since being caught up in the Spanish Operación Puerto blood-doping scandal that broke before last year's Tour de France. "I can't really see what options I have other than stopping. My career is in ruins. I know when I'll officially announce my decision but I'll keep it to myself," he said. Jaksche is in negotiations to join second-tier Austrian team Volksbank, which has employed Ullrich as a

It took nine hours of intense haggling, but the UCI and cycling’s biggest race organizers signed a truce Monday that will save the 2007 racing season and avert a major crisis that threatened to split the sport. Next week’s Paris-Nice will start as planned without the possibility of sanctions against participating teams after cycling’s governing body and Tour de France organizer ASO hammered out a temporary agreement to keep cycling’s racing calendar intact through the 2007 season. “I am happy that the sport has got out of this crisis and look forward to a season where cycling can be the

Scott Zwizanski ToC2007 Prologue

Road Hazards

Klöden and Vinokourov at this year's team camp in Mallorca

McQuaid and Clerc

If Alejandro Valverde is the here-and-now in Spanish cycling, Alberto Contador is the big hope for the future. The 24-year-old has been nipping at the edge of major success the past few seasons and since signing a two-year deal with Discovery Channel, the Madrileño seems poised for a breakthrough season. Contador revealed he’ll be a factor this season, winning Friday’s “queen stage” in the Volta a la Comunidad Valenciana ahead of Valverde. Only a crash earlier in the week kept him from taking the overall. A pro since 2003, Contador nearly died in the Vuelta a Asturias in 2004 when he

A day after losing Het Volk, Tom Boonen took revenge in Sunday’s Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne. The Quick Step-Innergetic captain took an emotional sprint victory to earn a valuable confidence-booster in the opening weekend of Belgian racing. Gert Steegmans gave him a perfect leadout and Boonen dramatically finished off the job to finish ahead of Marcel Sieberg (Milram). “Winning in Belgium always gives me a special buzz,” Boonen said. “I wasn’t sure how things would go today after yesterday’s falls as I was still suffering with a bit of a backache at the beginning of the race. My teammates were

Is the Madrileño poised for a breakthrough season?

Boonen takes the win

Past Winners – Het Volk2006 - Philippe Gilbert (B) 2005 - Nick Nuyens (B) 2004 - cancelled (snow) 2003 - Johan Museeuw (B) 2002 - Peter Van Petegem (B) 2001 - Michele Bartoli (I) 2000 - Johan Museeuw (B) 1999 - Frank Vandenbroucke (B) 1998 - Peter Van Petegem (B) 1997 - Peter Van Petegem (B) 1996 - Tom Steels (B) 1995 - Franco Ballerini (I) 1994 - Wilfried Nelissen (B) 1993 - Wilfried Nelissen (B) 1992 - Johan Capiot (B) 1991 - Andreas Kappes (G) 1990 - Johan Capiot (B) 1989 - Etienne De Wilde (B) 1988 - Ronny Van Holen (B) 1987 - Teun van Vliet (Nl) 1986 - cancelled

World number one and defending World Cup champion Nicole Cooke from Wales won the opening round of the 2007 World Cup road series in Geelong, Australia, Saturday. Her performance comes two days after becoming the first non-Australian to win the lead-up three-day Geelong Tour, outsprinting Oenone Wood and fellow Australian Nikki Egyed to win Saturday's 120-kilometer race. Cooke and her Raleigh team have been training here for a month, giving her plenty of time to prepare for the first round race. "The way it all panned out, holding off the bunch, beating such a fantastic sprinter like

Italian Filippo Pozzato proved he’s the strongman of the early season after taking an impressive victory Saturday in the Belgian season opener at Het Volk ahead of Spanish headbanger Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) and pre-race favorite Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic). A winner last week at the Tour du Haut-Var, the Liquigas captain delivered on his promise to be a protagonist in the 62nd Het Volk thanks to a brilliant finale that combined strength with savvy. “This victory was sensational because it came in front of some big names – Flecha, Boonen, Nuyens, O’Grady – who will be favorites

Surprise was the word of the day in the final stage of the five-day Volta a la Comunidad Valenciana, which wrapped up Saturday in sunny Spain. Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) expressed his delight in winning his first stage race of the 2007 campaign when he came to Valencia without any intention of doing so while Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) bowled over everyone with yet another sprint victory over Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) in the final charge into Valencia. “I am very happy that I was able to achieve it with the help of the team. The truth is at the start I never imagined I

Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) floored it in the finale to win the Merco Credit Union Cycling Classic’s Downtown Grand Prix on Saturday in Merced, California. Dominguez outkicked Ricardo Escuela (Successful Living.com) and Daniel Schmatz (BMC) at the end of the 50-lap criterium, run on an 0.8-mile circuit in downtown Merced. Brooke Miller (Team TIBCO) won the 40-lap women’s race ahead of Elis Bradshaw (Metromint Cycling) and Suzanne de Goede (T-Mobile). Sunday brings the Foothills Road Race, run on a rolling, 24-mile circuit. Elite men will cover 120 miles, elite women 72. Merco Credit

Pozatto nails it in the final meters

Boonen was hoping to add Het Volk to his palmarès

O'Grady and Flecha almost made it

Boonen and Nuyens driving the chase

A big turn-out for the opening round of Belgian classics

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 do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policies or positionsof VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, InsideCommunications,

ProTour cycling teams, caught up in a dispute that has led to a major schism in the sport, are hoping to hold a "last chance" meeting Monday in a bid to pacify the warring parties. The primacy of the Union Cycliste Internationale and the ProTour are being challenged by the three grand tour organizers, which control nearly half of the series’ 27-race calendar. ASO, RCS and Unipublic respectively own the Tours of France, Italy and Spain as well as a number of other races on the ProTour calendar. Nonetheless, they have virtually broken away from the ProTour after deciding not to invite

"Races are like films. You need actors to make them happen. The teams have all the actors, and without us there are no races." — pro-teams president Patrick Lefevere The drudgery of a daily newspaper job is starting to look pretty good these days, and not just because the PETA contingent in the VeloNews.com audience objects to my habit of running a cute little puppy or kitty through a blender with some yogurt and fresh fruit so I can have a delicious protein shake for breakfast. Next weekend’s Paris-Nice is in turmoil, with the grand tours and the UCI locked in an infantile squabble that

Alberto Contador gave Discovery Channel its first win of the season on European roads after taking an impressive victory in Friday’s 162km stage of the Volta a Comunidad Valenciana. The Spanish prodigy outclassed the likes of Damiano Cunego (Lampre) and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) in the seven-climb “queen stage” that ended with the short but steep Cat. 1 summit at Alt del Campello. Valverde finished 13 seconds back to sneak into the leader’s jersey thanks to time bonuses and could walk away with the overall title with just one sprinter’s stage left. Tadej Valjavec

It looks like UniBet isn't the only team wondering what the heck is going on in cycling.

Clerc and McQuaid shoot for break

Contador

There were plenty of power meters being used at this year’s Tour of California, largely because it offered a unique early season opportunity for riders to test themselves against some of the world’s best. Indeed, four teams made racing with a power meter a very high priority at the eight-day California race, because this would be the best field the world would see prior to Paris-Nice. What better opportunity to start collecting crucial numbers? The professional teams Predictor-Lotto (Belgium), T-Mobile (Germany) and Slipstream (USA) as well as the U.S. National Team each stressed the

The ongoing conflict between cycling's international governing body and major race organizers has prompted six national federations to call for the urgent creation of a working group ahead of key major races. With the symbolic start to the season at Paris-Nice on March 11, riders and teams have been caught in the middle of a tit-for-tat feud which has escalated to potentially dangerous levels. The Union Cycliste Internationale and three top organizers have been battling since the creation of the ProTour, cycling’s top-tier racing schedule. The companies, which organize the Tour de

Boulder, CO, March 1, 2007 - VeloNews magazine is designing thenext generation of our famous cycling training diaries and we want inputfrom you.  If you've ever used the VeloNews Training Diary, chancesare you have ideas to make it better. We're looking specifically for cyclists who have used the VeloNews Training Diary in the past. If this is you, this is your chance to voice youropinion about how you want to track your training.Fill out our online survey to help us design the training diary. The survey should take you 15 minutes or less, and the first 50 respondents will

Quick Step-Innergetic team manager Patrick Lefevere is poised to file suit against Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws for a series of articles it published about doping in the team, Belga news agency reported Thursday. In January Het Laatste Nieuws published a series of articles accusing Lefevere of complicity in doping at his team, citing blood-boosting drug EPO and cocaine as the drugs in circulation. The paper published its accusations through several anonymous sources. "No one will ever again see me in the same light they did before January,” said Lefevere. “The damages are

Two out of three ain’t bad, at least as far as Daniele Bennati is concerned. The Lampre sprinter took down Alessandro Petacchi in Thursday’s third stage of the Valencia tour in Spain, and this time there wasn’t a flat tire for Petacchi to hang the loss on. “I am happy to beat him again because it’s never easy to beat Petacchi,” said Bennati, who bolted a bike length ahead of the Milram captain in the 151.8km third stage into Vila Real. Bennati also recaptured the overall leader’s jersey with time bonuses. Bennati beat Petacchi in Tuesday’s opener, but only after Petacchi was forced to

Two major UCI-sanctioned events slated for April, the inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championships and the fifth edition of the Tour de Georgia, are struggling to land title sponsors as their respective race dates approach. And while neither has been canceled, both face financial shortfalls that could make running them cost-prohibitive. The inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championships is scheduled to run from Williamsburg to Richmond, Virginia, on Saturday, April 7. NBC Sports has slated a national broadcast for 2 to 4:30 p.m. EST. With both men’s and women’s pro fields invited, the event is

Jufre Pou gathered some critical data in California, even if it cost him a little time in the TT

A brave new world: Piles of data and the tools with which to analyze them.

Press Release - Help Design a New Cycling Training Diary

Tour de France Director Christian Prudhomme (L) and general director of ASO, Patrick Clerc

UCI president Pat McQuaid, in happier times.

Floyd Landis and Tom Danielson battle on Brasstown Bald in the 2006 Tour de Georgia

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 do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policies or positionsof VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, InsideCommunications,

Alessandro Petacchi gingerly stepped off the sign-in podium ahead of Wednesday’s second stage at the Volta a Comunidad Valenciana. Even though he says his left knee is close to 100 percent after his disastrous crash in last May’s Giro d’Italia, the Gentleman Sprinter isn’t taking any chances. “My leg isn’t yet 100 percent, but it’s getting better and better,” said Petacchi, who won a long sprint ahead of Spain’s Vicente Reynes. “At [Tour of] Qatar, I couldn’t make the sprints against [Tom] Boonen because my knee hurt, but my condition improved in Algarve and now I am feeling even better

Oscar Sevilla was all smiles at the start of Wednesday’s second stage at the Tour of Valencia in what’s his first race back in action after being kicked out ahead of the Tour de France last July. Sevilla, now 30, was among nine riders not allowed to start the 2006 Tour after his named appeared on the infamous Operación Puerto list. Like all riders implicated in the scandal, Sevilla never received any official bans or sanctions, but that didn’t stop his T-Mobile team from letting him go last year. Sevilla has since penned a deal to join Spanish continental team Relax-GAM for the 2007 season

DBC Events Announces “The Boulder Cup” Television ProgramAirs March 3 on Altitude Sports & EntertainmentFebruary 24 (BOULDER, Colo) DBC Events announced today the broadcastdate of “The Boulder Cup”television program, a recap show of the cyclocross race of the samename held last fall in Boulder, Colo.The 30 minute broadcast will air March 3 at 5:00 pm MT on AltitudeSports & Entertainment.Cyclocross has its roots in racers trying to maintain fitness in thecolder months by riding off-road andrunning over barriers. This niche sport has grown into the fastestgrowing segment of bicycling in

Petacchi is closing in on his old form

Sevilla is back

The season is now fully underway and I now have my first race under my belt: the Tour of California. The race was a triumph for American cycling with massive crowds attending each stage, a world class peloton (likely the best competing at any race in the world at the moment) and a hard fought battle that lasted right up until the penultimate stage. For us, the cyclists, it was a quality event that was well organized, with good hotels, short transfers, and ideal weather. The racing was tough enough for us to gain fitness and progress while not depleting ourselves too much this early in the

Belgian cycling legend Eddie Merckx has paid tribute to embattled German star Jan Ullrich, who announced his retirement from cycling. Ullrich's decision to quit came after he was implicated in an alleged blood-doping network being run by a Spanish doctor, Eufemiano Fuentes, and sacked by his T-Mobile team during last year's Tour de France race. The team said at the time that damaging evidence from Spanish investigators in Madrid prompted the decision to drop its star rider. Announcing his decision Monday, Ullrich, 33, the 1997 Tour de France winner and five-time runner-up, said he

The near-universal reaction to Patrick O’Grady’s latest Foaming Rant about Jan Ullrich was a big thumbs-down, the general sentiment being that if anyone should be dope-tested, vilified and hounded out of the sport forever, it should be our acerbic editor at large. A representative sample follows. Tune in Friday as O’Grady takes on a basket of puppies and kitties with a ball-peen hammer. —Editor Karmically bankruptEditor:Way cold. I hope you're tutoring blind orphans in your spare time because otherwise your karma bank is gonna be way upside down after that number. I'm not an Jan

Any sprint victory with Alessandro Petacchi among protagonists is one worth celebrating, especially when it comes in the run-up to the season’s most important race for Italian sprinters. Daniele Bennati (Lampre) snatched a morale-boosting victory ahead of next month’s Milan-San Remo after he surprised a leg-heavy Petacchi, who was forced to chase back from a puncture with nine kilometers to go in the 162.7km Valenciana opener in Alzira. “I knew the only chance to beat Petacchi was to anticipate his sprint and I did that today just at the right moment,” said Bennati, who held off Petacchi by

Follow this link for full Coverage of the 2007 Amgen Tour of California

Questions, and suggestions, about stuck seatposts, especially carbon posts

Our latest reader-submitted PhotoGallery is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of our most recent contest. This week, we kept checking out Jesper HV Lauritsen’s “Fighting uphill,” a picture that captures that intensity of racing one-on-one with the guy who might be beating you for a podium spot or 55th place. Jesper’s shot seemed to tell that story for us. Nice shot, Jesper. 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. Meanwhile, go ahead and

Bettini narrowly edges Gerald Ciolek in San Luis Obispo

George led an epic chase... with a broken arm

Merckx says Ullrich's retirement 'a sad way to go out'

Bennati - here winning stage 2 at the Tour of the Mediterranean - is starting his season with a bang.

Fighting Uphill

Complete Coverage - Amgen Tour of California

The early season Spanish racing calendar continues this week with the five-stage Volta a la Comunidad Valenciana. With riders anxious to put some racing miles in their legs ahead of the approaching spring classics, the race is enjoying a fine field with top sprinters and classics-hunters looking to hone their form. Among preliminary start lists are such heavyweights as Alexandre Vinokourov, making his season debut in Astana colors. The Vuelta a España champion will likely keep a low profile as Vino is betting everything on being prepared for the Tour de France. Caisse d’Epargne will have a