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Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux) joined an early breakaway effort in the 203km second stage of the Dauphiné Libéré Tuesday and not only managed to stay away but now holds a solid five-minute lead in the traditional warm-up race for the Tour de France. Gilbert finished more than five minutes ahead of the peloton on a generally flat stage from Bourgoin-Jallieu to Saint-Galmier in eastern France. Gilbert, winner of this year's Het Volk in Belgium, joined a three-man break with teammate Sebastien Joly and Quick Step's Cedric Vasseur at the 44km mark, but was the only survivor,

The United States Cycling Team captured a continental title on Tuesday as Amber Neben (Irvine, California) rode to a win in the time trial at the Pan American Cycling Championships in Cabreuva, Brazil. Kori Seehafer (Louisville, Colorado) earned her second medal of the week, riding to a bronze in the race against the clock. On Sunday, Seehafer gave the U.S. its first medal of the championships with a silver-medal performance in the 87km elite women’s road race in Indaiatuba. Seehafer finished behind Ymari Gonzalez of Cuba among a final group of 15 riders. Teammates Sarah Uhl (Philadelphia,

Ivan Basso thoroughly trounced the field to the mountaintop finish of Monte Bondone using a 36-52 in front and an 11-23 in back.

Basso and his CSC domestiques were not the only ones riding Monte Bondone on compact chainrings. Among others were the Bouygues Telecoms...

... and some Euskaltel-Euskadi riders (inexplicably using FSA compact chainrings on Shimano compact cranks); Euskaltel-Euskadi's Anton Luengo Celaya stuck with a 39-53, though.

Carlos Sastre's TT rig. Riding the identical bike, Basso turned in a strong performance, finishing second only to Jan Ullrich

Little man, big solid wheels. A potato chip in a crosswind?

Leonardo Piepoli may be tiny, but don't mess with his big friend, Mario Cipollini.

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn: A Giro Gallery

Millar won't be racing until July

...but he's not fighting off-season weight issues, is he?

Michael Rasmussen relaxing after the time trial... not his favorite event.

Milram has a friend watching over things

Basso fans come in all shapes and sizes

Now you know where they get those delicious cuts of beef from.

You may recognize this as Maxwell Smart's Vespa helicopter.

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn: A Giro Gallery

Who thought this one up?

Vespa did make a car, too...

...although it may not do well...

... in an encounter with a Hummer inyour local WalMart parking lot.

Them's the breaks... and sometimes an early break succeeds

The break built up a substantial advantage, but only Gilbert was able to hold it.

Gerolsteiner's chase came a bit too late

Barry and Hincapie are both back after injuries

Alexandre Vinokourov will race the Tour de France one way or another, but said he supports team manager Manolo Saiz despite allegations that the Spanish director is linked to an alleged blood-doping ring. Saiz was detained two weeks ago by Spanish authorities after making an alleged exchange of suitcases with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes in a Madrid café. Police later found one suitcase with $60,000 in cash while another was an insulated bag allegedly filled with containers of blood and doping products. Vinokourov spoke to reporters ahead of Sunday’s start at the Dauphiné Libéré, where

We know that it’s been a while since our last weekly contest and we’ll try to get these back on track, folks. 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. Of all of the submissions several of us – and many of you – kept coming back to Kenneth Alan’s “Work Vehicle,” a nicely composed tribute to the bikes some of us actually use to earn a living. Congratulations Mr.

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.Drug-raid stats astoundingEditor:After reading the articles regarding the recent Liberty Seguros drug bust I was completely surprised by the magnitude of the findings. Found were more than 200 containers of blood and a few thousand capsules of EPO. Are that many riders risking their

Monday’s longest stage of this very mountainous Dauphiné Libéré looked to be one for the sprinters. The 207km course from Annecy to Bourgoin-Jallieu was only interrupted by three rather innocuous Cat. 4 ripples late in the course profile. Early on, a lone avenger, in the form of Frenchman Nicolas Inaudi (Cofidis), stole away at 15km and at one point boasted a lead of nearly 18 minutes.CompleteResults That prompted Team CSC and Credit Agricole to cooperate, with Bjarne´s Army anxious to either keep prologue winner Dave Zabriskie in the race leader’s jersey or bounce Stuart O´Grady, who

Editor's Note: We began corresponding with Major Jason A. Bryan during the Giro d'Italia. Bryan, a fan of VeloNews.com's Live Coverage, is currently deployed to Iraq.As you can see from Bryan's most recent e-mail, the major is a cyclist, a fan of the sport and a guy just trying to maintain his legs despite some rather unusual obstacles.The perimeter is 18.5 km. My goal for June is 1000 km, which means many, many 18.5 km intervals. I’ve been riding a lap every morning and night to steadily eat away at the target. It is way too hot now to even think about riding during the

Two-time Giro d'Italia winner Gilberto Simoni on Monday retracted accusations that new champion Ivan Basso asked him to pay for a win during the 20th stage of this year's race. Last month, Simoni claimed Basso had asked for money to let him win the 20th stage of the Giro after the pair were left alone on a breakaway to slug it out for victory. Basso went on to win the stage by more than a minute but was stung by his fellow Italian's accusations after the finish. But after being grilled for more than an hour by an Italian disciplinary commission in Rome, Simoni retracted his

It's all in the details. Below you'll find links to each stage of the 2006 Tour de France. Each page contains maps and details of the course. LIVE COVERAGE LINKSTAGE DETAILS LINK Prologue - July 1Strasbourg (7.1 km) Stage 1 - July 2Strasbourg > Strasbourg (184.5 km) Stage 2 - July 3Obernai > Esch-sur-Alzette (228.5 km) Stage 3 - July 4Esch-sur-Alzette > Valkenburg (216.5 km) Stage 4 - July 5Huy > Saint Quentin (207 km) Stage 5 - July 6Beauvais > Caen (225 km) Stage 6 - July 7Lisieux > Vitré (189 km)

Tune in every day throughout the Tour de France for live, up-to-the-minute coverage of all 21 days of the world's greatest sporting event. VeloNews.com will continue its long tradition of providing insightful commentary throughout the final three hours of each stage, including interviews from the starting line, observations from current and former pros and updates from our reporters in the field. Check in with VeloNews.com every day at 8:00 a.m. (Eastern time in the U.S.). There will be a link right off the front page. LIVE COVERAGE LINKSTAGE DETAILS LINK Prologue - July

Vinokourov wants to race

Work Vehicle

Major Bryan, in his team kit...

Wegmann nails it

With sprinters' teams nipping at his heels, even an 18-minute lead wasn't enough for Nicolas Inaudi

Voeckler on the attack, wih Wegmann on his wheel.

Zabriskie and Landis

Spring in France

... and dressed for a day at the office.

Course Details

Course Details

When it’s straight and flat, there aren’t many better against the clock than Dave Zabriskie. On a 4.1km out-and-back course Sunday in Annecy, the American picked up where he left off in last year’s Tour de France, beating George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) in the opening prologue of the Dauphiné Libéré by two seconds – the same margin he had over Lance Armstrong last July. "Two is my magic number," said Zabriskie, after his first win of the season. "I won the Tour’s opening time trial by two seconds last year, and now I’ve beaten George by two seconds as well." Zabriskie won in 4 minutes,

Christian Vande Velde (CSC) secured the biggest victory of his European career Sunday after locking up the overall title at the five-day Tour of Luxembourg. Vande Velde grabbed the lead in Saturday’s difficult climbing stage and finished with the favorites Sunday to secure the first European stage-race victory of his career. Team CSC put four teammates to support Vande Velde in the winning 15-man break to ensure victory for the American. "I was a bit nervous before the stage, but as soon as we started, I was okay," Vande Velde said. "Right from the beginning of this race I've been

Jackson Stewart (KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada) scored a breakthrough win at Sunday’s Lancaster Classic ahead of Toyota-United’s J.J. Haedo and Navigators’ former U23 world champion Sergey Lagutin. With the win at Lancaster, Stewart becomes the leader of the newly-created Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling, which continues with the Redding Classic on Thursday and the Philadelphia International Championship on Sunday. Contested over 13 laps of its traditional 6.5 kilometer circuit from the town’s historic downtown to the Lancaster County Central Park, Lancaster is known as one of the

Hood River, Oregon -- If the men's race was predictable, the women's was anything but, Sunday at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic near Hood River, Ore. Symmetrics rider Leah Goldstein, still recovering from a crash from almost ayear ago, rolled clear of race leader Alison Powers of the Rio Grande/SportsGarage team on the last of three climbs to win her first big race in 2006. "I've won some local races, but this is the first NRC race I've done since crashing at (the Cascade Classic in Bend, Ore.) last year," Goldstein said."I needed 45 seconds to win (the overall) and that's

Zabriskie dons the first yellow jersey of the Dauphiné

Hincapie took the runner-up slot

O'Grady slotted into third

A surprise winner for sure

At the start

Sayers on the attack

Toyota at the front

The Union Cycliste Internationale hit back at the World Anti-Doping Agency Saturday amid ongoing hostilities over a report that cleared Lance Armstrong of 1999 Tour de France doping allegations. In a statement, the UCI called on WADA to clarify whether it had put pressure on a French laboratory to take steps that would have enabled the identification of athletes in subsequent research on doping samples. Moves to bypass confidentiality and conduct research without an athlete's consent would have violated the World Anti-Doping Code, it added. "WADA should not be allowed to divert the

Based solely on his performances thus far this season - winning every week-long stage race he’s started - Floyd Landis (Phonak) would have to be the favorite for victory in the 58th Dauphiné Libéré when it kicks off on Sunday. A flat, 4.1km prologue marks the start of an impressive route that hits some of cycling’s established giants, serving up the perfect backdrop as the Tour de France favorites go through a final dress rehearsal before July’s big show. In all, 168 riders from 21 teams will be in Annecy for the start. Joining the 20 ProTour teams will be Agritubel, which lines up with

Veteran campaigner Mark McCormack (Colavita-Sutter Home) drew on years of criterium experience to win the 9th edition of the CSC Invitational in Arlington, Virginia, on Saturday. The 35-year-old led out the sprint in front of a decimated field and held off Carl Menzies (Health Net) and Alex Candelario (Jelly Belly) to give the Colavita men’s squad its second win in three days. Davide Frattini (Colavita) won the CapTech Classic in Richmond on Thursday. CapTech winner Tina Pic (Colavita) rounded out the Colavita squad’s day by taking her second victory of the week in a bunch-sprint win over

Hood River, Oregon-- For Alison Powers, winning the fifth stage of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic before an estimated 10,000 spectators in downtown Hood River was bitter sweet.The Rio Grande/Sports Garage rider soloed with two laps remaining in Saturday's criterium to hold off a charging field and capture the win, but five laps prior, race leader Dotsie Bausch of the Colavita/ Cooking Light Cycling team crashed on a sweeping downhill turn and was unable to continue. Preliminary reports indicate that Bausch, who was leading Powers by 43 seconds on general classification, suffered a broken

Stage 4 visits the slopes of the Ventoux

McCormack celebrates his win

Huff takes a flyer

Cruz gives it a shot

McCormack bides his time

Pic has been celebrating wins all season

After illness forced him to abandon the Giro d’Italia with just two stages to go, Tom Danielson will return to the United States this month to take a break before rebuilding his form with eyes toward a run at the overall at the Vuelta a España later this summer. Danielson, 28, will return to Colorado and then visit Connecticut for the first time in several years to visit his parents’ home and take advantage of the proximity to watch his wife take on NORBA races in the Northeast. Any chance of the former mountain biker getting back on fat tires? “No way. Johan might not like that,” Danielson

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.Vino’ didn’t steal anything: He got it fair and squareEditor:What does Andrew Hood mean when he writes that "Alexandre Vinokourov swiped [Levi Leipheimer's] hard-earned fifth place at the Tour de France" last year (see "Eye on the prize: A conversation with Levi Leipheimer")? Before

Manolo Saiz has found a new sponsor to underwrite his ProTour team, barely a week after insurance giant Liberty Seguros pulled the plug on its $8.5 million-a-year deal. A consortium of five of Kazakhstan’s largest companies will immediately take over as title sponsor, and the team will ride under the name Astaná-Würth, likely debuting its new colors at the Dauphiné Libéré beginning Sunday in France. Astaná is the name of the Kazakh capital. The team made a brief announcement Friday, but didn’t provide details of which companies are contributing or how much they will contribute, saying only

Phonak riders Santiago Botero and Giro d’Italia runner-up José Enrique Gutiérrez will not race again until their relationships with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes are clarified, team officials announced Friday. Both riders have been linked by the Spanish media to Fuentes, who was among five people detained last month as part of an alleged blood doping ring. Phonak team officials said Friday that neither racer will compete until “examinations bring more clarity to the picture.” “Botero and Gutiérrez are neither dismissed nor suspended. In the interests of the team and to ensure calm for

World Anti-Doping Agency chairman Dick Pound rejected the conclusions from an investigation that cleared cyclist Lance Armstrong of 1999 Tour de France doping allegations, saying Friday it "borders on farcical." Dutch attorney Emile Vrijman was appointed by the International Cycling Union (UCI) last October to investigate the credibility of reports by the French newspaper L'Equipe claiming Armstrong used EPO in 1999, the first of his seven successive Tour wins. The newspaper said urine tests purportedly from Armstrong tested positive for EPO once tests not available in 1999 were applied

Liberty Seguros cycling team director Manolo Saiz, arrested on doping charges, was released Wednesday after being questioned by police, the Civil Guard said. — The Associated PressManolo Saiz has found a new sponsor to underwrite his ProTour team, barely a week after insurance giant Liberty Seguros pulled the plug on its $8.5 million-a-year deal. — Andrew Hood, VeloNews So, Lance Armstrong is innocent and everybody else is guilty. Thank God we finally got that settled. Now we can say to hell with bicycle racing and find a respectable sport to follow, like cockfighting. Being a clean cyclist

Golden, CO - Bigfoot Productions (BFP), a newly formed event production and promotional company founded by industry veterans and Yeti Cycles principals Chris Conroy and Steve Hoogendoorn, today announces the acquisition of the assets of Cycle Cyndicate, owner and operator of the Mountain States Cup (MSC), one of the premier mountain bike (XC, STXC, DH, MX, DS, SD) race series in the United States. Mike McCormack, bicycle and ski industry veteran and co-founder of Breckenridge, Colorado-based Maverick Sports Promotions will serve as managing director of the new venture. Series originators Eric

Hood River, Oregon -- If there's a chink in Nathan O'Neill's armorthus far at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, it's not easy to spot.On Friday near Hood River, Ore., the Health Net rider -- a burly manfor climbing purposes -- climbed with the first group and sprintedfor second place earning a 10-second time bonus and thus tightening hisgrip on the general classification.How discouraging it must be to discover that one of the best time trialistsin the world can stay with the best climbers at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classicon a 95-mile day when the course features 9,000 feet of

Danielson was a worker bee at the Giro, not the role he will play in the Vuelta.

Saiz has a new title sponsor