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This guy really wanted to win today

Ever wonder why a lot of finishline photos look like a lot of other finishline photos?

Yahoooooo!

Unlike The Star Spangled Banner, the Italian national anthem does not end with the words 'play ball.'

For who's a jolly good fellow...

Paolo Bettini has won just about everything in his career – World Cup titles, cycling’s monuments, stages in all three grand tours and the Olympic gold medal – but he still hasn’t been on the top step at the world championships. Fresh off winning a stage at the Vuelta a España, Bettini will headline the always powerful Italian team in Sunday’s elite men’s road race. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood sat down with Bettini at the Vuelta earlier this month to gauge the Cricket’s hopes of bouncing into the rainbow jersey. Here are excerpts from the interview: VeloNews.com: After

Life is good for Gerald Ciolek. A year ago he was working 10 hours a day as an 18-year-old apprentice electrician at the Ford auto factory in Cologne, Germany. Today he is the world under-23 road race champion with a big, two-year contract on T-Mobile in his pocket. He won the title on Saturday afternoon by easily out-sprinting a six-man break that formed halfway through the final 22km lap in the eight-lap, 177.2km race in Salzburg, Austria. When Ciolek was clocking in at 6 a.m. to his Ford Motor Company job last year, he would train for bike racing in the evening. He was on a low-budget

Teams face self-bans in doping casesThe international cycling teams association will adopt new stringent measures that could see entire squad being barred from competition in the event of positive doping tests. The fight against doping was reinforced on Saturday when the International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT) body accepted changes to the UCI Pro Tour rules concerning doping. Teams have agreed that as of January 2007, they will automatically suspend their participation in a race if one or several of their riders tests positive or returns an abnormal blood screenings. A statement

Dutch teen sensation Marianne Vos surprised her elder rivals to kick to an impressive sprint victory of an elite group of 15 to become the youngest elite women’s world champion. Vos, just 19, relegated German sprinter Trixi Worrack into second with world No. 1 Nicole Cooke settling for bronze in the hard-fought, 132.9km race. “With 150 meters to go, I saw Oenone (Wood) taking the sprint and I just went as hard as I could,” said Vos, winning in 3 hours, 20 minutes, 26 seconds (39.783kph). “I didn’t see anyone around me, so I knew I had won.” Amber Neben led the way for the Americans,

Amber Neben was the top American in Saturday’s elite women’s road race, claiming 12th after sneaking into the day’s winning breakaway of 15 coming home for victory into Salzburg. Neben (Irvine, Calif.) was strong enough to follow accelerations by Nicole Cooke (England) and Nicole Brandli (Switzerland) on the decisive Tiefenbach climb that delivered the winning group. The strong performance capped another successful season for the 32-year-old, who defended her title at the Tour de L’Aude, overall victory at Redlands and second at the Gracia-Orlova Tour. VeloNews caught up with Neben at the

Salzburg, Austria, has been pleased with uncharacteristically beautiful weather for the world's road championships this week. Between his frequent day trips to Alpine villages in the neighborhood, our guy Casey Gibson has been covering some of the world's best cyclists racing to decide which of them should be crowned champion. Gibson was there to cover today's world championship women's road race and to witness a victory by the youngest world champion in the history of women's racing.

Rainbow with Gold highlights: Bettini wants a world champion's jersey to add to his Olympic medal.

It was a tough day on some.

Yehaww! Vos enjoys the moment.

Neben joined the winning break, earning the best U.S. finish since Dede Barry placed 11th in 2003.

Arndt was aggressive throughout, but Vos ensured that there would be no German winner for the first time in three years.

Maybe disappointed, but Cooke still holds the distinction of making the world's podium for the third time.

The day's most dangerous break formed on the Tiefenbach.

The combination was dangerous and caused concern in the peloton.

Nearing the top of the climb.

Americans at the front

Neben and crew

Armstrong

Cooke on the attack

The peloton at a calmer moment

The charge to the line.

You just won the world championship!

The Salzburg circuit serves up a potentially explosive platform for this weekend’s world championship road races. The 22.3km circuit provides two climbs, the second of which is a short, but very steep wall, with grades up to 15 percent, that could blow open the races. Road racing starts on Saturday and wraps up on Sunday:SaturdayUnder-23 men(7:00 a.m. to 11:40 a.m.)- 176.8km (8 laps), 1864m of climbingWomen (12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.)- 132.6km (6 laps), 1398m of climbingSundayMen (8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) - 265.2km (12 laps), 2796m of climbing In order to convey a feel of what riders will be

A delegation of six Iranian riders due to compete at the world road cycling championships have yet to arrive in Austria because of reported visa problems. Officials in the host city of Salzburg received a letter from the Iranian delegation after they failed to show up on Monday saying their travel plans had been upset by visas which could not be processed in time. According to reports in the Austrian media the Iranian federation claimed it did not receive the documents for visa applications until September 10. However the world championships organising committee said it sent the necessary

The UCI announced Friday that it intends to seek ways to oblige riders to submit DNA samples and undergo physiological profiling in a bid to stamp out doping. After a summer of serious doping allegations and affairs which are still ongoing, the International Cycling Union is desperate to stamp cheating out of the sport. After a series of meetings on Friday between the body which distributes team licenses for the Pro Tour and the racing series' legal advisers, the UCI's Pro Tour council announced that DNA profiling and physiological profiling of riders would be one of the measures

Michael Barry is set to join T-Mobile next season in a new contract that could earn him a start in the Tour de France. Barry, 30, joined Discovery Channel in 2002, but never got the chance to ride the Tour despite strong performances in both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España. The Canadian suffered a horrible crash at the Tour of Flanders in April, but returned to racing in June and bounced back to finish third overall in Germany’s Sachsen Tour in July and rode well at the Vuelta. Barry’s departure comes as Discovery Channel shakes up its post-Armstrong roster, with 11 riders

When the UCI world road championships were last held in Austria in September 1987, Irishman Stephen Roche shocked a lead group of 13 riders with a lightning acceleration a kilometer from the finish of the 276km pro road race. Roche, who had already won that year’s Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, held on to a narrow lead to take Ireland’s first (and still only) rainbow jersey. As Roche crossed the line, another rider in green also raised his arms in triumph. It was the top race favorite, Sean Kelly, whose presence in the break forced the other fast finishers, none of them left with

Floyd Landis will seek a public arbitration hearing after learning his bid to have doping charges against him dismissed had failed, a spokesman for the Tour de France winner said Friday. A statement issued by Landis spokesman Michael Henson said Landis "received notice that the Anti-Doping Review Board (ADRB) has recommended that the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) move forward in the disciplinary process related to Landis' alleged positive drug test of July 20, 2006. "Howard Jacobs, lawyer for Landis, will request an open hearing by the American Arbitration Association to

Casey Gibson has been checking out the scenery while waiting for the marquee events to take the stage at the UCI road world's in Salzburg, Austria. He sent us a few shots of the countryside in and around Salzburg, along with some snaps of a trip to Halstatt. It kinda makes the riding around here look . . . well . . . oh, never mind.

Start-finish is in the same spot in front of the Mirabellgarten along the Salzach River.

Ample grandstands should keep journalists and fans alike out of the sun with the best possible views.

The opening kilometers wind through the newer part of Salzburg on the north side of the river.

Flat and wide open, the roads skirt the Kapuzinerberg hill just across the river from the old town. There’s a McDonald’s along the route where Chris Horner can load up on carbohydrates before the race.

The first of two climbs comes at Oberesch at 7.1km on a wide-open road with grades as steep as 8 percent . . .

. . . , but it’s really just a moderate push up a large hump.

Imaginative locals have dressed up their farm fields with life-sized cyclists made of wood.

Look, there’s the Eddy Merckx campground!

The road narrows as it pushes off the main highway toward the most decisive sections of the course.

There’s a rolling flat at Zilling at 8.4km while crews were putting on the finishing touches at a huge viewing area replete with good, old-fashioned Austrian beer tents. It is Oktoberfest, after all.

You might skip the brew and stop for lunch, or if you have deeper needs...

...there’s a classic Austrian church at Hallwang at 9.3km for riders who need a spiritual boost before the real suffering begins.

Fans have already staked out the best spots along the flats past Hallwang and painted the names of their favorite riders along the course.

Front row seats

That’s the view looking across to the 15-percent graded climb ...

... and here’s a look up the twisting, narrow descent to foot of the climb.

It’s hard to tell from this picture, but this is the steepest section of the course with ramps as steep as 15 percent.

The climb isn’t very long, perhaps 500 meters maximum, but it’s hard enough to break open the race, by the time they reach the summit, there’s sure to be a splinter in the main pack, especially late in the race and the attacks begin in earnest.

Some intrepid Italians have already staked out a good spot at the top of the climb.

This upper section could be open to winds as well.

After fast, a long, fast downhill from Elixhausen, the course rolls back into Salzburg proper with flat, wide open roads, but it might be too late to pull back a break at 13km to go.

The last kilometer banner brings the route into some tricky corners coming into the final sprint.

The final straightaway is a clear, 300-meter shot to the line.

Bettini wants to add a rainbow jersey to his Olympic gold

Nice place to go for a bike ride, eh?

Couple enjoying a little lakeside breakfast in Hallstatt

Hallstatt Village and Hallstatter Lake

Lake Halstatter

Another perspective

The gardens at Mirabell, directly adjoining the start/finish area

The fortress and the Old town section of Salzburg

St. Wolfgang resort, on Lake Wolfgang

Alejandro Valverde is not among the riders implicated in the Operación Puerto doping scandal that rocked the sport in May, Spanish federation officials insisted Thursday. Valverde, who on Sunday will bid for the men's road race crown here at the world cycling championships, had been the subject of recent reports that he was among the riders implicated in the investigation. Ahead of the Spanish team's arrival on Thursday, Spanish federation president Fulgencio Sanchez, who was accompanied by the country's Minister for Sport Angel Luis de la Fuente, was adamant the Caisse

A rider with the Austrian under-23 men's team has tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) ahead of the world road cycling championships, the Austrian federation confirmed Thursday. Marco Leonardo Oreggia tested positive for the banned blood booster last week when the Austrian federation carried out random tests on the entire under-23 team. Oreggia has yet to demand a test on his B sample. If that turns out positive, or if Oreggia declines to challenge the results of the A sample, it would force a sanction from the Austrian federation. Even if he does demand a re-test, it's unlikely

There was never any doubt that Fabian Cancellara was going to win the world elite men’s time trial championship on Thursday. From his first pedal strokes along a cobblestone alleyway backing onto the Salzach River in the historic center of Salzburg, past the house where Mozart lived most of his life, and out into the green pastoral Austrian countryside, the 25-year-old Swiss simply flew around the 50.83km course. As he raced down the finishing straight, alongside the 17th-century Mirabell Palace, known as “the Taj Mahal of Salzburg,” Cancellara was still pedaling at more than 100 revs per

The globe-trotting Casey Gibson is in Salzburg, Austria, capturing all the action from the UCI road world's. On tap today: The elite men's individual time trial. Here's what he sent home.

The two-year racing ban of Tyler Hamilton ends officially Friday and the Olympic time trial champion can immediately return to domestic competition – for now anyway. The New Englander’s troubles seem far from over, however. He is facing a possible lifetime ban if documents found in the “Operación Puerto” dossier show proof of alleged doping practices and the UCI wants to keep him out of the elite ProTour league for another two years. “He can race in USA Cycling-sanctioned events as of tomorrow,” said USA Cycling spokesman Andy Lee told VeloNews. “Until USADA makes some sort of finding in

The Discovery Channel team will undergo major changes at the end of the current season, with 11 riders leaving the outfit for which Lance Armstrong won his last Tour de France crown. Discovery Channel team manager Johan Bruyneel experienced a painful three weeks without Armstrong on this year's Tour de France, where the team struggled in the absence of the now retired Texan. Imminent recruit, Levi Leipheimer of Gerolsteiner, will lead the American team's 2007 Tour de France campaign, but Discovery have recruited with widening their scope for success elsewhere in mind. Slovenian

Cancellara blazes to the gold

Zabriskie heads for silver