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Unlike past Vuelta time trials, which tend to be run on courses that don’t attract spectators and are mainly on highways, the 33 kilometer Time trial today was somewhat technical, varied in terrain and scenic for both the television spectators and those at the side of the road. The course was technical as we had to climb two kilometers on a cobbled road, and then descend to the finish on a road that was fast with a few tight corners. This morning my roommate, Jani Brajkovic, got up at nine to preview the course with Tom, Gusev and Stijn. The rest of us had the morning to sleep in and have a

Navigators second-year pro Shawne Milne closed out the North American UCI season in style, taking a close victory in Souderton, Pennsylvania’s Univest Grand Prix. Milne came around breakaway companion Fausto Munoz (Tecos-Alderfer Auction) in the steep uphill sprint to the line following an arrow-straight, screaming downhill.

The 2006 World Cup cross-country series finished up in Schladming, Austria, Saturday.Taking the win in the women’s race was Canadian Marie-HélènePrémont (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects), who took the fourth WorldCup win of her career and her second of 2006. The victory bumped her up tofinish second place in the overall, behind world champion Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesja of Norway (Multivan Merida). The 4.9 kilometer circuit consisted of about one-fifth asphalt, andran through the town, including through the local brewery, Schladminger.The women raced seven laps of the circuit. After the first

Is Millar coming close to his old form?

By a hair: Cancellara was but a fraction of a second back.

Danielson improved his GC position by a bit

Kashechkin lost ground to Valverde

Valverde held his own and then some

Sastre held on to third on GC

Floyd Landis’s solo Stage 17 victory at the Tour de France at Morzine-Avoriazeasily ranked as one of the most mythic comebacks in the history of cycling.This stage win and Floyd’s subsequent Tour de France victory confirmedthe vibrancy of American cycling après Lance.Of course, all that changed when Floyd’s positive test for testosteronewas revealed. Now the elation turned to horrendous disappointment and disbelief.The issue of Floyd’s Tour win is hardly a closed book; Floyd may well stillprevail and I hope that he does.Regardless of the outcome, though, the damage has been done to the

Move over, Paolo Savoldelli. Euskaltel’s Samuel Sánchez is ready to give the Italian – nicknamed “the Falcon” for his fearless runs down Europe’s steepest mountain roads - a run for his money as road racing’s king of the downhill. Sánchez put down a kamikaze attack with 5km to go on a harrowing descent off the Cat. 3 Alto de Castillo to claim victory in Friday’s hilly 180km 13th stage thanks to fearless descending skills. “If you don’t take risks, you won’t win,” Sánchez said after just holding off a lead group of 30 riders from the busted up peloton. “I’ve always been good in the

It’s been a season of close calls and falls for Fred Rodriguez. The three-time U.S. champion has piled up a armload of seconds and thirds as well as gotten caught up in his fair share of pile ups this season, including one that sent him tumbling out of the Tour de France. Rodriguez, who celebrated his 33rd birthday on Sunday, is back in action at the Vuelta a España where he’s looking for a stage victory to save what he’s called a “sour season.” The Californian came into the Vuelta to help teammate Robbie McEwen to hunt for a stage victory in the first week. The Aussie sprinter missed the

French anti-doping chief Pierre Bordry has branded the number of cyclists taking authorized doping products on the Tour de France as “suspicious.” Bordry said in comments to be published in Saturday's edition of Le Monde newspaper that 12 of the 13 cyclists who tested positive for banned substances at this year's Tour had a "Therapeutic Use Exemption" (TUE) to permit their use of otherwise-banned substances. Most commonly, riders have prescriptions for Salbutamol and other asthma drugs, which are banned because the drugs improve a user's ability to breathe. World Anti-doping

German prosecutors charged Friday that former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich has been taking banned substances since 2003. Ullrich was sacked by his T-Mobile team and kicked off the Tour this year after being implicated in a doping probe launched in Spain. In July, German officials took up the investigation, which linked Ullrich to tainted Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, and now they seem convinced that Ullrich, who continues to protest his innocence, is guilty. "Since 2003 unauthorized products were bought by Ullrich," said a spokesperson for Bonn prosecutors. "These are not

Floyd Landis’s attorney Howard Jacobs said Wednesday that he intends to request the dismissal of the doping case against client based on “inconsistencies in the testing protocol and methodology” used to show that the 2006 Tour de France was positive for testosterone. Jacobs said he will file a formal request with USADA on Monday, September 11 asking that the anti-doping agency drop the allegations against Landis and cease further disciplinary action. In a press release issued Friday, Jacobs’s office noted that upon “review of 370 pages of documentation provided by the LNDD laboratory at

Frenchman Stephane Auge of Cofidis claimed the 192km fifth stage of the ProTour's Tour of Poland from Legnica to Jelenia Gora on Friday.Auge edged out fellow escapee American AaronOlson (Saunier Duval) with Max van Heeswijk (Discovery)  leadinghome the peloton 21 seconds back.Italian Daniele Bennati held on to the leader's yellow jersey after finishing sixth.Auge broke away from the peloton after just 12km and was soon joined by Olson. The pair gradually increased their advantage to over 14 minutes before the peloton put on a serious chase, but the pair just held off the pursuit

The stage to Cuenca is a Vuelta classic as the finish is challenging, picturesque and always provides and exciting finale with a cobbled climb, a fast descent and a slightly uphill sprint to the line. The last two stages have been fast, uncomfortably fast, and the peloton has spent much of the races lined out in single file. The attacks in the first hour are relentless as everybody still wants to get into the breakaway that makes it to the finish. Yesterday’s break made it, so why not again today? In my last diary I think I mentioned that the 12th stage to Guadalajara would be flat and a

'If you don't take risks, you don't win,' says today's winner.

Coming into Cuenca.

Boogerd and crew tried to make a go of it...

Valverde tightened his grip a bit on Friday

The biggies were not about to be left behind

..until the peloton decided it was time to chase

Quick Step leads the chase

Milram in pursuit

Luca Paolini left his role as Paolo Bettini’s sidekick at Quick Step-Innergetic last season to sign a big-money contract with Liquigas to become a team leader. Save for a win at the GP Citta di Camaiori, the glory has been sparse. But on Thursday the 29-year-old Italian attacked early out of a 11-man breakaway featuring none other than Bettini to claim a victory in a major stage race for the first time in his career. "It’s great to finally win in a big tour," Paolini said after holding off an attack with 4km to go in Thursday’s hilly 12th stage. "I’ve been trying to win with many attacks in

More than 50 cyclists implicated in Operación Puerto could be hauled before a Spanish court to give testimony, if the prosecution gets its way. Prosecutors have asked a Spanish judge to call riders connected to an alleged blood-doping ring headed up by Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes to give testimony, Spanish daily El País reported Thursday. Riders would be required to take an oath to tell the truth in court or face possible perjury charges. Otherwise, riders implicated in the Puerto case are not facing any legal sanctions in Spain because the nation has no anti-doping laws. More than 50

Dear Bob,I don't remember if you've covered this question. This has come up a number of times in our club lately. Is it legal to ride across an intersection in the crosswalk? Are you considered a pedestrian or bicyclist if you are hit by a vehicle while riding your bicycle across an intersection in the crosswalk? Tucson, Arizona, has a number of crosswalks, with their own crossing lights, that are situated in the middle of the blocks and some in our club claim that you must walk across rather than ride across. Quite a few people have been killed in these crosswalks by vehicles not

Paolini had time to sit up and celebrate

The Horner move

The break that stuck

Astana presses the chase

Valverde enjoys another golden moment

Rolling along the Spanish roads

Paolini salutes

Don’t expect to see Paolo Bettini in Madrid. The Quick Step-Innergetic rider told VeloNews in a rest-day interview Monday he’s planning an early Vuelta exit to put the finishing touches on his preparations for the Salzburg world championships later this month. “I will probably leave around the stage near Granada,” Bettini said, referring to stage 17. “The (Italian) team is arriving in Salzburg on Sunday and I need to go home at least one day to see my wife, or she’ll kill me!” Such is the life of one of cycling’s superstars as he prepares for what’s the last major race that the 32-year-old

Discovery Channel doesn’t have the Lance Armstrong guarantee anymore, so the squad has to find satisfaction in more modest goals. The team no longer rules the Tour de France like it did seven Julys in a row, but a gutsy solo victory by Egoi Martinez in Wednesday’s 11th stage of the Vuelta a España delivered the team a unique accomplishment in the first year of the post-Armstrong era - stage victories and stints in leader’s jerseys in all three grand tours. “This victory was important for the team,” said Martinez, who shot away from a pair of riders with 12km to go. “Even without Armstrong,

Frayed nerves and frustration poured out of Carlos Sastre at the finish line of Tuesday’s hilly 10th stage, opening up raw wounds between Team CSC and Caisse d’Epargne dating back to the 2006 Tour de France. An exasperated Sastre – third overall at 44 seconds back – couldn’t believe that it was left up to his Team CSC troops to lead the chase to trim the nine-minute difference a 15-man breakaway held midway through Tuesday’s stage. "Caisse d’Epargne wants to win the Vuelta without working," Sastre told reporters. "We were the ones who had to prevent Karpets and Paulinho from getting back

Italian Fabrizio Guidi handed Phonak what could be one of its final victories after winning the third stage of the Tour of Poland and seizing the overall lead on Wednesday. After 225.5 km of racing from Gdansk to Torun in the north of the country the Italian took possession of the leader's jersey after holding off compatriot Daniele Bennati and Spaniard Koldo Fernandez. Swiss outfit Phonak announced it would pull out of the sport shortly after American Floyd Landis tested positive for a skewed testosterone-epitestosterone ratio after winning the Tour de France in July. Meanwhile, New

Transitional stages are ideal for the opportunist as there is a good chance a breakaway will get away and make it to the line as the sprinters’ teams are not interested in chasing as the course is too hard for their sprinter, and it is interest of the overall leader’s team to let the break go as it makes it easier on them to control the race. Today, we had another transitional day, like yesterday’s stage, and we all knew the break would succeed and make it to Burgos ahead of the peloton. Egoi Martinez, our fervent Basque teammate, was the opportunist today, and took advantage of his

Attack, attack and attack again. Martinez just kept trying.

After a lengthy sorting out, the break was composed of 13 acceptable escapees...

A win and a jersey in each of the grand tours... and Disco' leads the team standings, too.

and then it was whittled down to three...

... and then there was one.

And it stayed that way to the finish.

Heading into Burgos - The peloton made an easy day of it as the escapees fought it out for the stage win.

Michael Barry

Astana – kept out of the 2006 Tour de France for alleged links to Operación Puerto - is making up for lost time with a vengeance in the 2006 Vuelta a España. Sergio Paulinho, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, attacked a 15-man group with just under 1km to go in Tuesday’s 199.3km 10th stage, leaping away over a small finishing climb to give the troubled Astana team its third consecutive stage victory of this year's Vuelta. "Things are going well for the team," said Paulinho, hailed as Portugal’s best prospect since José Azevedo. "We’ve won two stages with Alexandre (Vinokourov) and now

Germany's publicly funded television network ARD will terminate its contract with 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich at year's end. Ullrich had been paid up to $152,000 for exclusive interviews, diaries and appearances in ARD entertainment shows. ARD gave no reason for ending the contract, which had run since 1999 -- except for a one-year break in 2002, when Ullrich was banned for testing positive for amphetamines. Meanwhile, Germany's top sports official asked Ullrich to come clean about doping allegations. "Get things sorted out, take a DNA test, come out clean," urged

Reversing his fortunes of 2005, Jittery Joe’s sprinter Jeff Hopkins took his first NRC win in the US 10K Classic on Labor Day in Marietta, Georgia. Edging out last year’s winner Emile Abraham (AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork) and 26 other riders who got away from the remaining 140 finishers, Hopkins began his sprint not completely aware what was at stake. "I thought that there were still two dudes away from the (previous) break, so I thought we were sprinting for third. I didn’t get a chance to do a victory salute or anything." Hopkins said minutes after he came across the line. With three other

A rest day is the calm before the storm. As always in a grand tour, today’s stage after yesterday’s rest day was fast as it seems every rider had found renewed motivation and ‘fresh’ legs. In our team meeting Johan reminded us of what we already were envisioning: that the start would be fast. He also told us that we had to be in the breakaway as we are leading the team classification and also, having a rider in the breakaway would also give us a shot at a stage victory. We knew the stage was going to be up and down on sinuous roads along the coast but the race profile in the “Libro

A weary Paulinho enjoys his first grant-tour win

Golden boy Valverde

It’s just 10 short months until the 2007 Tour de France kicks off in London, but if this year's Tour of Britain is anything to go by, there is much to be worried about. Professional cycling is not big business in Britain and the Tour of Britain barely registers a blip on the scale next to the earth-shuddering event that is the Tour de France. In fact, it is such a small event, that roads used for the tour are only closed progressively by a largely ineffective rolling roadblock. This season's event, which finished on Sunday, was wrought with troubles, not least a protest by the

The real battle for the Vuelta a España unfolded seven kilometers from the summit of La Cobertoria in Sunday’s ninth stage when the Kazakh tandem of Alexandre Vinokourov and Andrey Kashechkin darted out of the main bunch in a daring heist. Only an explosive counter-attack by Alejandro Valverde with two kilometers saved the day for the Spanish armada. Valverde grabbed the race leader’s gold jersey and Vinokourov hung on to win the stage, setting up what’s likely going to be the dominant battle for the remainder of the Vuelta. “The Kazakhs are going to be the most dangerous rivals,” Valverde

Sunday’s stage offered up a mix of emotions for the team as we had several guys in the front, or near the front, on the last ascent to the finish, yet Janez was unable to hold on to the jersey as Valverde, and Vinokourov rode away. The stage was likely the hardest day of the Vuelta with over 5,000 meters of climbing, stifling temperatures, and little recovery between the long ascents. Today, we are fortunate to have a rest day and can have an easy day on the bike, keep our legs up and spend some time with our families. In some ways it seems the race just started as the last week has

The peloton passes by Buckingham Palace in this year's Tour of Britain.

Valverde has the jersey. Vino and Kashechkin want to see him back in the white jersey fo the ProTour leader

Day three of the Eurobike Exhibition in Friedrichschafen, Germany, marks final day that the show is closed to the public, it also marks our final day of web coverage for the 2006 edition. When the doors open on Sunday morning and the hordes pay their 19 euros each to bump elbows among the exhibitors things get crazy. Most product managers duck out to avoid the chaos, something that can be described as a shark-like feeding frenzy. At least here, the chum is merely comprised of stickers and catalogs. The Eurobike Exhibition had over 820 registered exhibitors from 69 countries, spread out over

A pair of Alexanders conquered Sunday’s epic, six-climb “queen stage” across the abrupt mountains of northern Spain to seize control of the 61st Vuelta a España. Alexandre Vinokourov – the attacking Kazakh from Astana – jumped with teammate Andrey Kashechkin with 7km to go on the final 8km La Cobertoria climb to win for the second day in a row and confirm his candidacy for overall victory despite a slow start. Alejandro Valverde – the dashing Spanish star hunting the first grand-tour victory of his career – counter-attacked with 2km to go to drop archrivals Carlos Sastre (CSC), Danilo Di

Martin Pedersen (CSC) won the Tour of Britain on Sunday, while Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) won an 82km finale marred by a collision involving two motorcycles accompanying the riders. Boonen won the final stage in 2 hours, 41 seconds. Pedersen finished in the main pack with the same time to claim the overall victory ahead of Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com) and Filippo Pozzato (Quick Step-Innergetic). Authorities said five people -- including the motorcyclists -- were hurt in the crash on The Mall in central London. Injuries included head wounds and fractured ankles. No further details

To the delight of a partisan hometown crowd, Discovery Channel’s George Hincapie won the first-ever all-American national road championship in Greenville, South Carolina, Sunday, crossing the finish line alone in front of a decimated field that produced only 31 finishers. Fellow ProTour rider Levi Leipheimer of Gerolsteiner finished second, 16 seconds behind Hincapie, with TIAA-CREF’s Danny Pate rounding out the podium, 1:20 off the winning pace. It was Hincapie’s second national road championship, following a win in Philadelphia in 1998.

It was a good week for mountain-bike racers Jill Kintner and Michal Prokop. Last weekend the red-hot gravity racers were crowned four-cross world champions in New Zealand, and on Sunday each walked away from the Jeep King of the Mountain series finals at Beaver Creek, Colorado, as a happy new owner of a 2007 Jeep Compass. The Jeep King of the Mountain series differs from NORBA and World Cup competition in a number of ways. It’s an elite, invitation-only race that features 16 of the top athletes from the gravity-racing world at each event. Each of the three races in the 2006 series is

Miriam Bengoetxea and her new baby.

Orbea’s badge/cable stop combo

EuroBike: That's a wrap

Time’s new frames, the Pro Team in front and the UL in the rear

The Ti sprung RXS UL Team Carbon Ti pedal...

...and matching UL Team shoes

Fi’zi:k Arione k:1

Fi’zi:k Free:k clothing

Bling Bling: Selle Italia’s $64,000 saddle

All three styles of Prologo’s top-end Choice Pro Ti, winter, gel and regular, keep in mind colors are abound

Castelli’s Superleggera jersey only weighs 74 grams

Christian Spolik and his latest project bike

There are brakes tucked in behind the crankset

They are slightly easier to see on the fork

One fast Felt