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Just days before the start of the Tour de France, former winner Jan Ullrich has been dragged into Spain's blood-doping scandal. Spanish newspaper El País claimed Monday that documents found in a raid ona laboratory run by tainted doctor Eufemiano Fuentes could relate to the 1997 champion. However Ullrich said in a team statement: "That has nothing to do with me," and his T-Mobile sporting director and mentor Rudy Pevenage added: "We have done nothing wrong." T-Mobile's director of communication Christian Frommert added: "These are serious accustions. We are in contact with all the

The 93rd edition of the Tour de France begins Saturday July 1 in Strasbourg. Here is the list of the winners of the past 92 editions of what most say is the greatest bicycle race in the world. 1903 Maurice Garin (F) 1904 Henri Cornet (F) 1905 Louis Trousselier (F) 1906 René Pottier (F) 1907 Lucien Petit-Breton (F) 1908 Lucien Petit-Breton (F) 1909 Fran?ois Faber (Lux) 1910 Octave Lapize (F) 1911 Gustave Garrigou (F) 1912 Odile Defraye (B) 1913 Philippe Thys (B) 1914 Philippe Thys (B) 1919 Firmin Lambot (B) 1920 Philippe Thys (B) 1921 Léon Scieur (B) 1922 Firmin Lambot (B) 1923 Henri

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Frankie should write a bookEditor:Every time you turn on the news, another cyclist is getting caught for doping. Yet the only guy who can beat all of them is as pure as the snow atop Mt. Everest? As reported by Alan Abrahamson of the Los Angeles Times, Frankie and Betsy Andreu were

On the eve of his sixth Tour de France start, Fred Rodriguez wants to giveback what he’s been fortunate enough to experience at the highest levels.The 32-year-old Californian is doing more than just winning races in Europeand the United States. (see Part1 of Andrew Hood's interview with Rodriguez.) Working with his Fast Freddy Foundation, Rodriguez is hoping to help young American cyclists to be able to develop their racing skills and still stay in school. Rodriguez wants to boost collegiate racing and development programsso riders won’t have to make the choice that he and so many of

It was a busy weekend in Europe as most nations held their respective national road championships. The main exception was in Spain, where riders refused to race after leaks concerning the doping investigation "Operación Puerto" were published Sunday in a national newspaper (see below). In Italy, Paolo Bettini won his second national jersey since 2003 on a 231km course in Gorizia. The Quick Step rider beat Mirko Celestino (Milram) in a sprint of 10 riders after animating the race with an attack over the San Floriano climb. "This is one of the most beautiful victories of my career," Bettini

June total at week’s end: 1,250 km, leaving me with 350 km to achieve the 1,600 km (1,000 mile) goal. With five days remaining in June (roughly 19 circuits), this is going to be tight. I’ll provide the final report for June next week; unless I didn’t make it, then you’ll never hear from me again. The intramural softball league is killing my distance numbers, with three game nights a week, right in the middle of prime riding time (twilight). Oddly enough, work has no impact on my miles-- the daily 12 hour inferno aligns pleasantly with my air conditioned staff job. The primary reason I

All 20 cyclists on a Spanish cycling team expelled from next month's Tour de France voluntarily gave blood tests Monday, looking to clear their names in a nationwide doping scandal. "The cyclists are fed up with being mistreated," Comunidad Valenciana team director Vicente Belda said. "They are innocent and there is no reason for all cyclists to be lumped together." Comunidad Valenciana was tossed from the Tour de France, which begins July 1, after deputy director Jose Ignacio Labarta was arrested as part of the investigation. The blood tests taken Monday will be compared with those

Just as he is nearing the end of a two-year suspension for blood-doping, American Tyler Hamilton is back in the news after a Spanish newspaper charged Monday that he had worked with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes between 2002 and 2004. In Monday’s edition of El País, the paper cited secret police and court documents alleging that Hamilton not only engaged in banned blood transfusion practices, but also used EPO, anabolic steroids, human growth hormones and IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1) during his collaboration with Fuentes. Fuentes was among five people detained on May 23 as part

Race officials don’t want Astaná-Würth to take Saturday’s start of the 93rd Tour de France following damning reports this weekend in a Spanish newspaper that linked as many as 15 of the team’s riders to a Spanish doctor under investigation on doping charges. Astaná-Würth team manager Pablo Anton confirmed to Spanish sports daily AS late Monday evening that officials from Tour organizer ASO faxed the team a letter saying it is no longer welcome to participate in the race despite a guaranteed start position as part of the 20-team ProTour league. Anton is preparing to challenge the decision to

Lance Armstrong denied Monday that he threatened three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond, calling the allegation "ridiculous." "Greg is just not in check with reality," Armstrong said Monday from New York City. "It's ridiculous. Greg is obsessed with foiling my career. I'm apoplectic when I read stuff like that." LeMond was the first American to win the Tour de France with victories in 1986 and 1989-90. Armstrong came back from life-threatening testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain to win seven in a row, from 1999 to 2005, before retiring last year. LeMond

El Pais says Ullrich may be linked to Spain's doping scandal

Hamilton, overcome by emotion at the 2004 Olympics, was found positive for blood-doping at the 2004 Vuelta.

A fax sent to Haven Parchinski

Monday's El País

The Hamilton story

Racer 4142's racing schedule

Racer 4142's medical log

Will Vino' be there?

Fred Rodriguez will be lining up Saturday in Strasbourg for what will be the sixth Tour de France start of his career. Since joining Mapei in 1999, the 32-year-old Californian has established himself as one of the top American pros in the European peloton. His Davitamon-Lotto team might be Belgian in its roots, but its two team leaders – Robbie McEwen and Cadel Evans – are Aussies while Rodriguez and top lieutenant Chris Horner are both Americans. Rodriguez returns to his role of helping position McEwen in the sprints, but doesn’t discount opportunities for himself. Last year, Rodriguez

Australia’s Hilton Clarke (Navigators Insurance) won a wild, 40-rider pack sprint on Saturday to take the Saturn Rochester Twilight Criterium. In the women’s race, Sarah Uhl, the reigning collegiate national road champion, won a three-up dash to the line. Now in its third year, the New York crit is on USA Cycling’s National Racing Calendar. With a crowd estimated at 40,000, and $20,000 on the line in the pro-am men’s race, it earned its spot in the limelight. In the fading evening sun, 102 riders started the two-hour pro-am men’s race. It was game on from lap one, with teams including Kodak

Saturday’s final stage of the Tour de Nez, the Reno Criterium, was filled with surprises and upsets. Successful Living’s Curtis Gunn outsprinted Christian Valenzuela (Monex) for the win, while Tony Cruz (Toyota-United) took the field sprint for third, earning the points needed to secure the omnium victory. Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis), who crashed in the field sprint, wound up second in the omnium. Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) took third. The 90-minute finale featured a 0.8-mile course through downtown Reno. Each lap, riders negotiated 10 turns, including a downhill chicane that led

Former Tour de France champion Greg LeMond alleged Sunday that Lance Armstrong threatened him for having criticized the seven-time race winner's association with a doctor implicated in doping affairs. LeMond, the first American to win the Tour — he won in 1986, 1989 and 1990 — said that he had come under pressure from Armstrong and his circle of friends after saying in 2001 that he was disappointed at the cyclist's association with Italian sports doctor Michele Ferrari. LeMond said that the threats continued after 2001. "Lance threatened me. He threatened my wife, my business, my

Spanish daily El Páis dropped a bombshell in its Sunday edition, reporting that 58 cyclists — among whom are said to be 15 riders from the Astaná-Würth team and others who competed in last month’s Giro d’Italia — are named in police and court documents as part of the "Operación Puerto" doping investigation in Spain. The story did not name the riders, but described court documents – which still have not been publicly released – purporting to outline a "criminal network" said to be organized and administered by five people accused of involvement in the distribution of banned substances, such

Having struggled through disappointment on the 2006 World Cup circuit, reigning World Cup champ Christoph Sauser (Specialized) finally found victory on Sunday, winning the men’s cross-country at the Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup. "Oh, I struggled through the cold and mud of the last two races, it was not my type of conditions," said Sauser, who finished seventh at the third and fourth events in Spa Francorchamps, Belgium, and Fort William, Scotland. "I was not wanting to give up because I did not have a chance to win the World Cup [overall] anymore." But after a week of constant rain, the weather

It was a busy weekend in Europe as most nations held their respective national title championships ahead. The main exception was in Spain, where riders held a strike and refused to race after leaks concerning the doping investigation “Operación Puerto” were published Sunday in a national newspaper (see below). In Italy, Paolo Bettini won his second national jersey since 2003 on a 231km course in Gorizia. The Quick Step rider beat Mirko Celestino (Milram) in a sprint of 10 riders after animating the race with an attack over the San Floriano climb. “This is one of the most beautiful victories

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Rodriguez celebrates as he takes third behind McEwen in Stage 13 of last year's Tour

The newspaper recounts Saiz's testimony before a Spanish judge

Prémont is overjoyed to win on home turf

The Specialized boys work it at the front

Any doubts about George Hincapie’s Tour de France form after an injury forced him to miss nearly two months of racing this spring were erased by a solid 10th-place finish at the Dauphiné Libéré stage race in early June. Hincapie, who suffered a separated shoulder and torn tendons in a crash at Paris-Roubaix in early April, followed his Dauphiné performance by helping his Discovery Channel team power to a second-place finish at last Sunday’s ProTour team time trial race in The Netherlands. And this week the American, who has been named by Discovery Channel director Johan Bruyneel as one of

Chris Wherry (Toyota-United) racked up an impressive win with his solo victory in Friday’s grueling 108-mile Tahoe Road Race, Stage 3 of the Tour de Nez. Wherry was followed by Aaron Olsen (Saunier Duval) and Michael Carter (Team Einstein’s Cycling), who came in together, roughly three and a half minutes off the pace. Finishing fourth a few minutes later was Jelly Belly’s Alex Candelario (a man more-often known for his sprinting talents than road-racing prowess). Tom Zirbel (Priority Health) rounded out the top five, winning the bunch sprint over what was left of the main field, about 20

Although he snapped his right ankle at the 2005 world championships only 10 months ago, Czech Mikal Prokop (Author) has assumed control of World Cup four-cross competition this year. The part-time BMX star continued his dominance Saturday at the No. 5 race in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, winning all of his heats, including the finals. Prokop defeated Dutchman Jurg Meijer (Rabobank), Swiss Roger Rinderknecht (GT) and Brit Gee Atherton (Animal-Giant) to take his third World Cup victory of the year. "This year has been amazing so far," said Prokop, who lives and trains in Prague. "I had to go easy on

Hincapie has been riding his TT bike several days a week

Two French magazine stories slated for distribution this weekend charge that seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong allegedly admitted taking banned doping products after being diagnosed with cancer. The stories are based on evidence given under oath to a court in Dallas in late 2005 and early 2006. The charges appear in Saturday's edition of the French daily Le Monde and in this weekend's edition of L'Equipe magazine.

Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis) outkicked Tony Cruz (Toyota-United) and Andrew Bajadali (Jelly Belly) to win stage 2 of the Tour de Nez on Thursday. The fast, flat, six-corner 1km criterium in downtown Truckee was strung out from the start. And with the first 20 minutes of the hourlong race fraught with numerous crashes, the rear two-thirds of the field shattered in short order; officials eventually pulled 82 riders from the race. Up front, the lead group of 36 included most all the top competitors. Over the next 20 minutes, Toyota-United, Jelly Belly, and Health Net-Maxxis all tried to

Fred Rodriguez and Chris Horner are both heading back to the Tour de France as Davitamon-Lotto announced its nine-man Tour roster. Both Americans have known all season that the Tour was on the radar, with Rodriguez expected to lead out Robbie McEwen in the sprints and Horner to watch out for Cadel Evans in the mountains. “If I can get him in the right place, chances are we’ll win,” Rodriguez told VeloNews about McEwen. “Robbie has such a snap. I cannot think of any other sprinter in the peloton that has Robbie’s snap and the endurance to be there. … If you get him into the 200 meters fresh,

Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong issued the following statement in response to allegations outlined in articles slated to appear this weekend in Le Monde and L’Equipe.Statement from Lance ArmstrongI recently won a major arbitration, defeating allegations of performance enhancing drugs, after a three week trial. Several accusations made the subject of prior rumors were fully and finally considered by an impartial panel which heard many witnesses under oath. After years of litigation and three weeks of trial, and “ having considered the evidence and testimony” the panel ordered the

The UCI mountain-bike World Cup returns this weekend to the damp single-track at Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, a quaint ski resort roughly 30 miles outside of Quebec City, set on a steep hillside overlooking the St. Lawrence waterway. The June 24-25 Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup features competition for both the endurance and gravity squads – it’s the fifth of six cross-country races in the series, and the fourth of six gravity events. The World Cup weekend is the marquee event of a two-week bloc of mountain-bike racing at Mont-Ste-Anne. On June 11 the resort hosted the No. 3 Canada Cup downhill race;

L'Equipe magazine

Click here to view this week's Shop Talk.

While all 21 teams have yet to announce their official Tour de France rosters, it appears that eight Americans will be lining up July 1 in Strasbourg for the start of the 93rd Tour. Reflecting a growing depth and diversity among the American contingent in Europe, the eight riders are represented by five teams while three of them will be racing with legitimate chances for the final podium when the Tour ends July 23 in Paris. Ninth last year, Floyd Landis (Phonak) is getting the most hype among the European press as the American most likely to succeed Lance Armstrong in the Tour hierarchy.

The Astana Würth is free to ride in the Tour de France, starting on July 1, despite being linked to Spain's blood-doping investigation after the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) decided Thursday not to revoke the team's ProTour license. The union's license commission said that without any concrete evidence from the ongoing Operation Puerto probe, it could not take a decision about the licenses of teams involved. The team formerly known as Liberty Seguros-Würth has been under a cloud since sporting director Manolo Saiz was arrested on May 23 after police raided a Madrid

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Tom Zirbel (Priority Health) won the prologue time trial as the 14th annual Tour de Nez kicked off Thursday morning in Verdi, Nevada. Zirbel posted a time of 6:02 for the 5km prologue, run under warm conditions, a welcome change from last year’s weather, which ranged from cold and windy to pouring rain to snow. Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) was second at two seconds back followed by teammate Tony Cruz, a further four seconds behind. In its fourth year on the NRC, the three-day, four-race Tour de Nez has drawn its most stellar field to date. Last year’s overall champion, Scott Moninger

Landis at this year's Tour de Georgia (VN photo contest winner)

Jan Ullrich will have the full support of his T-Mobile team as the 32-year-old German lines up July 1 in Strasbourg as the top favorite for victory in the 2006 Tour de France. A winner in 1997, Ullrich will be the only Tour winner in the peloton and enters the 93rd Tour fresh off winning the Tour de Suisse for the second time in three years. “With Jan Ullrich, we are bidding to win the overall,” said T-Mobile manager Olaf Ludwig on the team’s web page. The final four spots were decided over the weekend as Ludwig and sport director Rudy Pevenage reviewed a short list of 12 potential

Atlantic City, New Jersey - Not even looking particulary tired from his 9 day, 11 hour and 50 minute crossing of 3043 miles from Oceanside, California, to Atlantic City, New Jersey, Daniel Wyss of Brig, Switzerland rolled across the finish line at 11:57 p.m. on June 20 to become the first rookie winner in the Solo category of the Race Across America since Jonathan 'Jock' Boyer in 1985. Wyss won the Solo Traditional division, in which riders may stop as little - or as much - as they choose. Riders in the Solo Enduro division - currently led by Jonathan Boyer - are expected to finish

Ariadne Delon Scott to Lead Green Team at SpecializedJune 16, 2006 – Morgan Hill, CA - Ariadne Delon Scott, on boardwith Specialized in a variety of important roles for the past 7-years,has been promoted to take on a new role, Director of Advocacy and the Environmentfor the company. As part of her new position, Scott will take on the developmentand implementation of Specialized’s global green action plan and integrateit into the company’s culture, environment, products, marketing and communication.“At Specialized we know that we have a duty to preserve and protectour precious planet and

Press Release: Ariadne Delon Scott to Lead Green Team at Specialized

Christian Vande Velde earned his Tour de France ticket at the expense of Paris-Roubaix champion Fabian Cancellara when Team CSC manager Bjarne Riis made a last-minute decision to switch Cancellara for Vande Velde ahead of Monday’s announcement of the nine-man Tour squad. Vande Velde’s climbing prowess against Cancellara’s superior time trial abilities tipped the scale in the American’s favor. “Christian’s condition is getting there and I know he can climb. Until (Sunday) I was 99 percent sure that Fabian Cancellara would be on the Tour team because everyone knows him, his potential and he’s

VeloPress Publishes Heart Rate Monitor Training Book for CyclistsBoulder, CO, June 20, 2006 — VeloPress is pleased to announcethe release of HeartZones Cycling: The Avid Cyclist’s Guide to Riding Faster and Fartherby top heart rate training coaches Sally Edwards and Sally Reed. Edwardspioneered the use of heart rate monitors for training in the 1980s, andher new book helps cyclists build a personal training plan using state-of-the-artheart rate training techniques. Heart Zones Cycling takes the provenadvantages of training with a heart rate monitor one step further. Cyclists can improve

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now up for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of ourmost recent contest. Take the time to wander through that gallery and see if you agree or disagree with our choice of winner. We enjoyed Claire Milto’s “Pre-race warm-up,” as it captured that quiet, reflective moment before competition begins. That rider, whoever he might be, is getting his head together as much as he is getting his heart started for the day’s race. Nice work, Claire! Drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.com to work out the

The Traditional versus Enduro comparison continues to play out in this 25th Annual Race Across America. The overall leader, Daniel Wyss of Switzerland, continues to draw ahead at the front and is estimated to hit Atlantic City sometime late tomorrow (Wednesday). Meanwhile, some five hours back is Fabio Biasiolo, who seems destined to improve upon his sixth place finish of 2005. In third overall, just 85 minutes back is Dino Nico Valsesia. Valsesia slipped by Enduro leader Boyer in the mountains of West Virginia. Boyer who has been suffering from “Shermer’s neck” for several days now, motors

Imagine for a moment that Lance Armstrong didn’t ride the 2005 Tour de France. And then imagine what happens on the first big stage in the Pyrénées. Approaching the foot of the giant Port de Pailhères climb, Jan Ullrich’s T-Mobile team makes a strong acceleration (just as it did last year). Thepeloton is splintered into several groups. Two-thirds the way up the 15km, 8-percent grade climb, only three riders are left alongside Ullrich: Ivan Basso, Floyd Landis and Levi Leipheimer. Other contenders like Francisco Mancebo, Alexander Vinokourov, Cadel Evans and Michael Rasmussen are left behind.

VeloPress Publishes Heart Rate Monitor Training Book

Pre-race warm-up

Gerhard Gulewicz wanted to pack it in early Tuesday outside of Athens, Ohio. Desperate to keep him riding, his crew asked Tinker Juarez to stop to encourage their rider to continue. It worked!

How would the absence of the Tour's most dominant rider affect these guys?

Who will ride into Paris wearing yellow?

Bobby Julich, David Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde each earned a return ticket to the Tour de France after Team CSC boss Bjarne Riis named them Monday to the nine-man team that enters the July 1 start as one of the heavy favorites. With Team CSC captain Ivan Basso looking to follow up his Giro d’Italia victory, the three Americans will be part of a formidable team that will ride to support Basso’s ambitions of becoming the first racer since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the Giro and Tour in the same year. “We go to France this year with one ambition: to win with Ivan Basso,” Riis said

It doesn’t get any easier, you just get faster.Eddie Merckx I set a personal best this week. 36:04. I was sucking for air at the end, but I’m pleased with how quickly I recover after riding hard. I’d be willing to take on just about any climb right now, my legs feel good. Instead, I’ll deal with the headwind and heat. June’s tally at week’s end: 800km. Should I go for 1600km—1000 miles? Ridiculous. This segment has opened correspondence with a number of deployed cyclists and I must admit I am blessed with a tremendous opportunity to ride here. While there are many deployed with bikes,

Lance Armstrong's dispute with World Anti-Doping Agency head Dick Pound has reached a new level. The seven-time Tour de France champion is asking the International Olympic Committee to force Pound, a Montreal lawyer, to quit over his handling of doping allegations against Armstrong. "Dick Pound has always been quick to admonish others and to call for officials accused of misconduct to be sanctioned and removed from involvement in the Olympic movement," Armstrong said in a letter to the IOC. "In my view, it is essential that the IOC executive committee and the IOC president recognize

Jan Ullrich said the best was yet to come ahead of next month's Tour de France after clinching overall victory in last week's Tour of Switzerland. When the German T-Mobile captain lines up in Strasbourg on July 1 for the start of the Tour, he will be the only past winner of the event among the 189 riders in the peloton. And the man who for years toiled in the shadow of seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong believes his narrow victory in Switzerland has set him up perfectly to add to his 1997 victory in the Grand Boucle. "I think I was 90 percent fit," said Ullrich after winning

USA Cycling has named Pat McDonough as its director of athletics effective immediately. Formerly USA Cycling’s national track programs director, McDonough replaces Steve Johnson, recently appointed chief executive officer. McDonough, a silver medalist in the team pursuit at the 1984 Olympic Games, was brought to USA Cycling in April of 2004 as part of an initiative to revive track cycling in the United States. Prior to his position as national track programs director, McDonough was the director of the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania, for 15 years. As director of

The fifth annual Colorado Eagle River Ride is set for Sunday, July 23, and early registration starts now. "Our goal has always been to produce the best organized road ride in the country," said Arn Menconi, president of the Snowboard Outreach Society. "We want people to end their day with a sense of achievement, and also a real sense of the beauty in our county as seen on this ride." The ride takes participants through the Eagle River Valley up the rural setting of U.S. Highway 131 and along the Colorado River. The one-day, 100-mile (or 100km and 50-mile option) loops from the start/finish

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Lance Armstrong: Time to call Dick Pound to accountTo those Interested in International Sports:On August 23, 2005 the French tabloid L'Equipe published an article alleging that I used performance enhancing drugs, based on a research report leaked out of a French laboratory. I knew

The wind storms are over as all riders are across the Mississippi. RAAM multiple choice: Solos and teams decide between Attrition, Appalachians, or Finish Line. Solo Enduro rider ROB LUCAS called RAAM HQ earlier this evening to announce his withdrawal (DNF) from the 2006 race due to his inability to make the race-mandated cutoff times. Rob was somewhere in near the Mississippi River and had completed nearly 2000 of the 3,043 mile course. Solo Traditionl rider GUSS MOONEN had a wild ride near Time Station 42 in Troy, Ohio. The intrepid RAAM media staff reports that Moonen skirted past the

Basso comes to Strasbourg with a solid team... and more Americans than any other Tour squad.

The horror

Two weeks ahead of the Tour de France, Jan Ullrich of the T-Mobile team is the winner of the 2006 Tour of Switzerland. The German endured bad weather to conquer the final stage of the nine-day race, a 30.7-kilometer time trial into the Swiss capital of Bern. “It’s so close before the Tour de France, and it proves to me that I have the performance and I’m ready for the Tour,” he said. “It’s the last little bit. It’s really the last polishing…Now I already feel that I’m at 90 percent and I can work on the last 10 before the Tour de France.” Hearing the sound of the thunder, the German star