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Julich had a good TT, taking third on the day

The 28th annual La Vuelta de Bisbee got under way Friday afternoon with the Mule Pass Prologue. Uncharacteristically cool weather greeted the cyclists for the 2.8-mile climb, but a stiff headwind on the course erased any thoughts of a course record despite the mild temperatures. Phil Zajicek (Navigators) posted a time of 10.25 in the elite men’s division to take the top spot on general classification. Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly) stands three seconds back, with Corey Collier (Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory) eight seconds down. The women’s prologue saw Felicia Gomez (Webcor) put 15 seconds

The young Spanish phenom’ Alejandro Valverde maintained the momentum of his outstanding April campaign on Saturday to win the monster climbing stage of the Tour of Romandie, setting up what is sure to be a dramatic showdown in Lausanne. This week-long stage race, now in its 60th edition, will finish up there on Sunday with a 20-kilometer individual time trial. Race leader Alberto Contador said he will do his best to hold off his talented countryman Valverde. “Tomorrow if I win that’s great, but if not I’m still content,” said Valverde, adding that he learned to respect the steep streets of

Phil Zajicek (Navigators) pushes the last 100 meters to the finish

Felicia Gomez (Webcor) starts her successful prologue

Jeremy Powers (JellyBelly) shows the pain of riding uphill into a headwind

Mari Holden (T-Mobile) looks ahead to a successful start to LVDB

Valverde makes it look easy

Contador's grip on yellow has been loosened a bit

A perfect day - and place - for a bike race.

Ullrich: riding into shape.

Garate leads the attack

Still Smiling: Horner leads the chase. The American now sits in 10th place at 1:14.

Kashechkin

PARIS, France -- It sounds unlikely, but even after the retirement of Lance Armstong, interest in the Official Guide to the Tour de France produced by VeloNews is considerably ahead of what it was at the same time last year. With two weeks left until space close, the 2006 Official Tour Guide has already sold more advertising pages, the newsstand draw has approximately doubled, bike shop interest is at a record high, and the issue looks likely to set an all-time record for paid circulation for the ABC-audited magazine. While VeloNews's long-time status as the official publication of

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.What a shot!Velo,I love the picture of Chris Horner crossing the finish line totowin Stage 2 at Tour de Romandie. That photo captures what I’ve alwaysthought of Chris Horner…loose in the saddle and guns-a-blazing! Congratulations,Chris.Scott WellsHampton, Virginia The year of the

Preliminary start list - 2006 Giro d'Italia(North Americans in Bold)DISCOVERY CHANNEL1. Paolo Savoldelli, (ITA)2. Tom Danielson, (USA)3. Manuel Beltran Martinez, (SP)4. Viatcheslav Ekimov, (RUS)5. Benoit Joachim, (LUX)6. Jason Mccartney, (USA)7. Pavel Padrnos, (CZE)8. José Luis Rubiera Vigil, (SP)9. Matthew White, (AUS)AG2R PREVOYANCE11. Sylvain Calzati, (FRA)12. Inigo Chaurreau Bernardez, (SP)13. Philip Deignan, (IRL)14. Renaud Dion, (FRA)15. Hubert Dupont, (FRA)16. John Gadret, (FRA)17. Yuriy Krivtsov, (UKR)18. Carl Naibo, (FRA)19. Tomas Vaitkus, (LTU)BOUYGUES TELECOM21. Giovanni

Alberto Contador Velasco, the 23-year-old Spaniard on the Liberty Seguros squad, won the third stage of the Tour de Romandie on Friday, attacking midway up the 9km climb to the finish at Leysin, Switzerland. Contador took the yellow jersey away from Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto), who had won the previous day’s stage. The American now sits in ninth, 57 seconds off the pace, with two more days of racing to come: a mountain stage on Saturday and a time trial on Sunday. The Spanish climber now has a fragile lead on a pair of dangerous men who finished second and third in Friday’s race:

There’s a lot of sniffling, sneezing, coughing and wheezing going on at VeloNews world headquarters lately. I suspect the first two ailments (sniffling and sneezing, that is) are due to the onset of Colorado’s allergy season two weeks ago. Our first bout with prolonged sunshine and balmy temperatures sent every flower, blade of grass and tree (not to mention college kid) into hormone hyper-drive, and the air is now a sea of pollen. One local news station suggests minimizing outdoor exposure on warm days and avoiding inhaling truck and car exhaust. Good thing you never encounter either of

VeloNews sees expanded interest for 2006 Official Tour de France Guide

VeloNews sees expanded interest for 2006 Official Tour de France Guide

Winning Horner style

Contador takes the stage and the lead

Horner's stay in the yellow jersey was a short one

Where'd you ride today?

The Evans group

Sevilla solo

Contador attacks

Paco chasing down national U-23 rider Colin Cares

The bad, black Scott USA Sportsmobile

Kintner, up close and personal

Lopes, in living color

Photo or sculpture?

With a name like Charles Bradley Huff, you might expect someone with the reserve and restraint of a character in a Victorian novel, rather than a guy who likes to mix it up in the rough and tumble world of bunch sprints. But the 27-year-old TIAA-CREF rider is clearly in the latter category and is already making his presence known in his first year as a pro. Huff – he goes by Brad – scored TIAA-CREF’s first European win of the 2006 season with a sprint victory in the Tour of Normandie in April. “I was in yellow for three days and three days in green, I won a stage and near-stage win. I

The folks at Bontrager took an opportunity at last week’s Tour de Georgia to introduce additions to the brand’s high-end road racing product lineup. Major additions include an expansion of the Aeolus deep-dish aerodynamic wheel line as well as a new time trial disc wheel – all produced under a partnership with HED Cycling Products. Why aero?For the last few years riders have put a premium on weight and all but ignoring aerodynamics. Recently, even at the sports top level, aerodynamic advantage has only been considered when it comes to time trialing. But whether you look at a grand tour

American Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto) attacked with perfect timing to win the second stage of the Tour de Romandie on Thursday and take the race leader's yellow jersey from prologue winner Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel). Horner completed the rainy, 171.2km stage beginning and ending in Porrentry in 4 hours, 16 minutes, 22 seconds. Germany's Jörg Jaksche (Liberty Seguros), who claimed second place at four seconds back, beat out local favorite Alexandre Moos (Phonak), who finished third. Spain's Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears) crossed fourth, seven

The Aeolus 6.5...

... and a closer look.

Tech Talk: Bontrager and the importance of being aero’

Tech Talk: Bontrager and the importance of being aero’

Horner seizes the stage and the lead with a late break

Think he's at all happy about how things turned out?

Loosli and Beauchat get things rolling early

Moreau has a go

Ullrich falls off the pace

The 28th La Vuelta de Bisbee gets rolling beginning Friday in the high desert country of southeastern Arizona. Racing in the three-day, four-stage race begins Friday, April 28, with the Mule Pass Time Trial, an uphill charge through the heart of Old Bisbee that gains 837 vertical feet in 2.8 miles. Malcolm Elliott set the elite men’s record of 9:18 in 1993; Leslee Schenk posted the elite women’s best time of 10:33 in 1987. Saturday, April 29, is a double stage day. The Sulphur Springs Road Race (79.3 miles for elite men, 45.8 miles for elite women) tours the rolling rural roads east of

Team CSC’s Jens Voigt has been making new friends all spring. Normally, the German marauder is off the front in some suicidal attack, nose to the wind, a tactic that’s served him well with an impressive haul of 11 wins before the end of April in both 2004 and 2005. This year, he´s been uncharacteristically quiet, hidden away in the bunch and getting a new vision on the peloton. “I´ve discovered riders in the peloton I´ve never seen before,” Voigt said. “I´m finishing in groups I´ve never seen before, so it´s like a whole new view of the world!” It’s not as if the 34-year-old is getting

Last season, Dr. Massimo Testa accepted two new clients: Gerolsteiner’s Levi Leipheimer and me, a cycling coach and amateur racer. Testa worked for over a decade as a sports doctor for pro teams including 7-Eleven, Motorola and Mapei, and is now a sports-medicine physician at the University of California-Davis. Under Testa’s coaching last year, Leipheimer won the Tour of Germany and finished seventh in the Tour de France. I didn’t reach all my personal goals, but did succeed in expanding my coaching abilities. I first tried to hire Testa years ago on an Andy Hampsten bicycle tour in Italy.

German Tour de France hopeful Jan Ullrich said Wednesday that he wouldgo "through the pain barrier" to ensure he is in top condition for theTour start on July 1.A knee injury forced T-Mobile captain Ullrich to postpone his startto the season but the German rider is taking part in the Tour of Romandiein Switzerland, which began on Tuesday, and hopes to get back to his bestover the next two months."The motivation is there but the form is not. But I am glad to be backand free of my knee problems," Ullrich said at his training camp on Wednesday."I have a lot of ground to make up but I have

Australian Robbie McEwen dominated a bunch sprint to win the first stage of the six-day Tour de Romandie Wednesday in Payerne, Switzerland. The Davitamon-Lotto sprinter burst ahead of a small group of contenders in the final 200 meters of the winding, rain-soaked 169km stage finale to cross the finish line in triumph. Italian Mirco Lorenzetto (Milram) finished second ahead of Lampre's Daniele Bennati. Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) finished with the pack in his 2006 season debut, and former Romandie champion Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel), who won the prologue on Tuesday, retained the

Robbie McEwen of Davitamon-Lotto won the rainy first stage of the Tour de Romandie on Wednesday, the most important day of the race for the Australian sprinter. After his respectable finish in the previous day’s prologue in Geneva (he finished 29th, 12:53 behind winner Paolo Savoldelli), he spoke to VeloNews at length about his race, his rib injury last month, and his expectations for the Tour de Romandie. McEwen had gone early in the race, in order to leave more time for cooling down and getting a massage. The road was dry when he raced, and he said he hoped rain would arrive to impede the

Voigt finished more than 10 minutes back at Liège and he couldn't be happier.

McEwen notches another win

McEwen's back where he likes to be, in the thick of the action

Davitamon-Lotto on the front

Savoldelli retains the overall lead

Konyshev took a good, long dig

Water SolutionDear Readers,It seems that whenever it is raining somewhere in the USA, I get questionsabout drain holes in the bottom bracket and rims. In the past, I have advisedpeople to drill their own if they are not present, but of course that isat great risk of voiding their warranties. However, here is a solutionthat might appeal to those whose bikes are filling up with water as wellas for those who do not want to void their warranties.LennardDear Lennard,I recently discovered it's not difficult to drill a hole down the centerof the set screw that holds the cable guide in place

In partone of our interview with Mauro Gianetti we spoke to the SaunierDuval manager about Gilberto Simoni and the North American talent pipeline intothe European peloton. In the second of this two-part interview, Giannettitalks about the team's newest star and the comeback of David Millar, setto return to racing in the 2006 Tour de France just days after his two-yearracing ban ends. VN: The return of Millar will be big news, how did you agree to a contract? MG: We had contact through mutual friends. They told me that Millar had started to train and that he wanted to make a comeback. In

The domestic Cannondale mountain-bike team has inked a three-year sponsorship deal with Bear Naked Granola, a natural-food company out of Darien, Connecticut. The cash sponsorship begins in mid-season for the Cannondale team, which sponsors more than 40 professional and amateur racers. "This deal is going to allow us to run the team at a greater level than we have the past two years," said team director Matt Jewett. "We already have a team that brings a lot to domestic racing. This will allow us to bring the personalities and performance of our team outside of the bike industry." The deal

Paolo Savoldelli of Italy, the pokerfaced deputy of the Discovery Channel team, won the prologue of the Tour de Romandie on Tuesday, mastering the sharp corners and hairpins of a 3.4km circuit through Geneva, Switzerland. The race saw the return of T-Mobile’s German centerpiece Jan Ullrich, who has been out of competition with a knee injury. Ullrich appeared tanned and shaggy after a week of training in Tuscany, Italy. A team spokesman said his knee was 100 percent – no pain, stiffness or swelling. Savoldelli won Romandie in 2000, when it was some 812km long. This season, the 60-year-old

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn: Water build-up and Shimmy solutions

Gianetti has put together a strong squad for '06...

... and has put a lot of stock into two of his stars.

A fan reacts as Savoldelli shifts gears en route to victory

Ullrich makes his racing debut for 2006

Valverde slots into second

McGee takes third

Pereiro grabs fourth

Bodrogi rounds out the top five

Saunier Duval-Prodir rolls into the heart of the 2006 as a dramatically different team. Eleven riders from last year are gone, replaced by big names such as Gilberto Simoni, David Millar, Koldo Gil and Luciano Pagliarini. Now in its third year in formation, Saunier Duval has matured in its goals and aspirations, taking aim for bigger fish, namely the Giro d’Italia with two-time champion Simoni. The return of Millar after a two-year racing ban is sure to attract a lot of attention, even more so if Millar can snag the yellow jersey in the opening prologue at the Tour this year in what will be

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.A pat on the editorial backEditor:Your live online coverage of the Tour de Georgia is absolutely fantastic. Well done, VeloNews. Michael DowToronto, Ontario, Canada P.S. Could you please ask John Wilcockson if he would possibly be interested in tutoring me? I'd be honored to follow

Tour de France hopeful Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) will finally launch the start of his season at the Tour de Romandie on Tuesday where a strong line-up awaits the German in the Swiss Alps. Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears), the recent winner of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Flèche Wallonne one-day classics, will be one of the headline acts in the race, which serves as a warm-up for the upcoming Giro d'Italia. Although the 653km race starts and finishes with time trials through the streets of Geneva and Lausanne, the rest of the six-day event snakes through the hills and

Mauro Gianetti

Final Overall 1. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, 24:00:54 2. Thomas Danielson (USA), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling, 00:04 3. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling, 01:55 4. Gutierrez Cataluna José Enrique (Sp), Phonak, 02:11 5. Janez Brajkovic (SLO), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling, 02:15 6. David Zabriskie (USA), CSC, 02:31 7. Nathan O'Neill (Aus), Health Net Maxxis, 03:45 8. Marco Pinotti (I), Saunier Duval, 03:54 9. Christopher Baldwin (USA), Toyota-United, 04:01 10. Augusto Cesar Augusto (Col), Navigators Insurance, 04:20

Chalk one up for the little guys. Following a five-day shutout in which domestic teams failed to win a single stage and only managed two top-three finishes against their ProTour foes, Toyota-United speedster Juan Jose Haedo earned a measure of redemption for the U.S.-based squads at the Ford Tour de Georgia, taking a bunch-sprint win on the final day of racing. The Argentine finished half a bike length ahead of Canadian Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis), with Phonak’s Aurelien Clerc third at the finish of Sunday’s 118.2-mile stage from Cumming to Alpharetta.