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Belgian cyclist Frank Vandebroucke on Wednesday won an appeal to the Belgian supreme court in Brussels, overturning a judgment that he pay a 250.000-euro fine for possession of doping products, according to his lawyers. Last June, an appeals court in Ghent had ordered the fine, saying that Vandenbroucke "was to be judged as a drug addict, not as a doped sportsman." It was a first for a high-level athlete facing doping charges in Belgium. On Wednesday, the higher court overturned the judgment, finding the lower court’s reasoning "insufficient," said Me Luc Deleu, one of Vandebroucke’s

Editor’s note: We received the following as an e-mail from former Jelly Belly rider Adam Bergman, who began serving a suspension for EPO on July 27, 2004. The e-mail was prefaced with the statement: "If you could put this out in your publication it would mean a lot to me. This has been a long time coming, but I know it is the right thing to do." After speaking with Bergman to confirm that he was indeed its author, we agreed to publish it as an open letter. He declined to elaborate, saying: "I'm not going to answer anything else right now, I just wanted to get that out there." Almost two

Hunter Allen and Dr. Andrew Coggan will present material covered in their new book, "Training and Racing with a Power Meter," at Fast Splits, one of New England’s leading multisport training and retail centers. The event is scheduled for 7-8:30 p.m. Friday, March 3, at the Fast Splits location in West Newton, Massachusetts. Allen and Coggan will discuss the benefits of training with power and explain basic theory and techniques. Using real-life power meter data, they will review case studies and show how power meter data reveals strengths, weaknesses, and what kind of rider a cyclist can

Boulder, Colo. - The Colorado Premier Training-Colnago (CPT-Colnago) cycling team is preparing to start its first race of not only the year, but ever. This weekend?s event in which the team will compete -- the Valley of the Sun Stage Race in Phoenix, Ariz. -- will be the new Colorado-based team?s inaugural race. The three-day stage race, to be held Feb. 17-19, is often referred to as the unofficial kickoff to the domestic pro cycling season. Seven of the team?s 10 members will line up at theValley of the Sun event not only to show off the new team but also to prepare for upcoming races on

The organizers of the Amgen Tour of California on Wednesday announced the initial roster for the race, which begins Sunday in San Francisco. Sixteen teams comprising 128 riders from more than 25 countries will tackle the inaugural tour, which concludes February 26 in Redondo Beach. Among the athletes scheduled to compete are two winners of the Giro d’Italia — Gilberto Simoni (Prodir-Saunier Duval), 2001 and 2003, and Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel), 2002. Also taking the start will be three of the top-10 finishers in last year’s Tour de France — Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner), sixth;

After winning the Tour of Germany, Leipheimer is training harder than ever

Petacchi wins another

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Hruska in a break

Joachim was active, too

As were VDB and Hruska once again

Milram gets busy

Boonen in his stylish world-champ kit

The rivals have one more duel slated for Thursday

'I did it': An open letter from Adam Bergman

Editor’s note: When America’s biggest bike race, the eight-day Amgen Tour of California, starts this weekend in San Francisco, some of the world’s leading riders will be starting their 2006 seasons at the head of major ProTour teams. In the current issue of VeloNews, you can read detailed profiles of two of these men: Discovery Channel’s George Hincapie and Team CSC’s Dave Zabriskie. Here on velonews.com, we will feature three of the other major contenders, starting with this in-depth interview with Phonak team leader Floyd Landis. Floyd Landis, the American leader of Swiss team Phonak, is

The much-anticipated battle of the sprinters finally materialized in stage 3 of the Ruta del Sol on Tuesday as Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) pipped world champion Tom Boonen (Quick Step) in the final dash to the line. Petacchi took the 174.1km stage from Cabra to Cordoue in just under four hours, with Boonen second and Graeme Brown third in the same time. Spaniard Carlos Garcia Quesada (Unibet) retained the overall lead. Stage1. Alessandro Petacchi (I), Milram), 174.1km in 3:52:582. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step, s.t.3. Graeme Brown (Aus), Rabobank, s.t.4. Baden Cooke (Aus), Unibet, s.t.5.

The 2005 Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California, pumped millions of dollars into the area economy, according to a recently released economic-impact report. "The Sea Otter Classic has become one of our area’s major events, enhancing Monterey’s tourism business in our off-peak season," says Julie Armstrong, marketing communications director for the Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau. "With 69 percent of the audience coming from outside our local market, it not only brings in new revenue but helps in the marketing exposure of our destination." The report, prepared by Fredric

Paris-Nice will be on the tube March 5 as OLN kicks off its cycling coverage for 2006. "Cycling continues to be an important part of OLN programming," said OLN president Gavin Harvey. "With Lance Armstrong’s retirement, fans are eagerly waiting to see who will emerge as the sport’s next star. Through our coverage of the spring classics, we will be able to chronicle the drama leading up to, and including, the Tour de France." Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen and Bob Roll will host OLN’s Sunday cablecasts, which will include the classics, the Giro d’Italia and the Tour; Discovery Channel Team news;

After straying from the usual question-and-answer format a couple of times recently, I have been encouraged to continue to mix things up a bit, so I’ll do it again today. This column does involve a technical question, one I have pondered considerably of late, so I thought I would share it with you, since I may not be the only one considering it. One of my favorite things to do in the summertime is to go on long road rides in the mountains. However, we all eventually get the message — sometimes subtly, sometimes not — that perhaps we are not as young as we think we are, especially when it

Landis feels more comfortable as Phonak's leader

Petacchi outkicks Boonen . . .

. . . and collects the winner's kisses

Quesada holds onto the leader's red jersey . . .

. . . while Boonen rides with a diamond in his helmet

Montoro just ahead

Joachim in a break

Mikhail and Bernucci, too

Vasquez and Peiro on the prod

Hoste in the final escape

Milram moves to the fore

And VDB heads the chase

The birthday-ride profile

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.Hamilton can follow Millar’s leadEditor:I am saddened for Tyler Hamilton and all those who continue to believe an innocent man was convicted of a crime. Science and the Court of Arbitration for Sport have determined what most non-Kool-Aid drinkers have suspected — that Hamilton was guilty

Spanish rider Manuel Lloret (Comunitat Valenciana) grabbed the first win of his career in the second stage of Spain's Ruta del Sol on Monday. Lloret won in a long breakaway, slipping away from Santos González Capilla (3 Molinos Resort) to win the 157km stage from La Guardia to Jaénin 3:48:19, while the main bunch came through more than six minutes slower. Despite the margin, the breakaway was no threat to the contenders for the overall. Carlos García Quesada (Unibet.com) collected the leader's jersey from brother Adolfo García Quesada (Andalucía-Paul Versan), who slipped to third

French veteran Cyril Dessel (Ag2r) collected the overall victory in the 33rd Tour Méditerranéen after finishing safely in the main bunch in Sunday's 111km finale, which started and finished in San Remo, Italy. Italian Elia Rigotti (Milram) snagged the final win in a stage that hit much of the route of the Milan-San Remo classic, crossing ahead of Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Caffita) and teammate Erik Zabel. A breakaway was reeled in on the Poggio, one of the classic climbs of Milan-San Remo, bringing together a big group for the final sprint. Dessel was the first Frenchman to win the Tour Med

Lloret takes the win

Where did you ride today, and did it look anything like this?

Boonen: Good guys wear white

The peloton rolls along

Beltran and Gonzales

Calvente on the march

Dominguez has a dig

Gonzales and Dominguez

T-Mobile all lined up

Quesada

High speeds, paving bricks and torrential rain were not the right combination for Sunday’s final stage of the 11th Tour de Langkawi. The final-stage criterium was called early after multiple crashes and rider caution split the 102-strong peloton on the ninth of 18 laps of a 3.1km circuit in downtown Kuala Lumpur. The stage winner’s first prize went to Spaniard Angel Vallejo of Relax-Gam, who was on a solo break when “rain stopped play,” while South African David George took overall victory in the 10-day race by 1:52 over Italian Francesco Bellotti of Credit Agricole.

A three-member arbitration panel from the International Court of Arbitrationfor Sport has unanimously rejected the appeal of American Tyler Hamilton, upholding his two-year suspension for a blood doping violation at the 2004 Vuelta a España.

Olympic champion Paolo Bettini says the upcoming Tour de France will be more interesting without the dominating presence of seven-time champion Lance Armstrong. With Armstrong retired, Bettini said the race will have suspense it didn’t during Armstrong’s unprecedented seven-year run. "That Lance won't be there is good for the spectacle," Bettini told the Spanish daily Marca. "Before you could only aspire for second place, but now there will be at least 10 riders that go for it, riders who can win. The race will have less control, there will be unthinkable battles that weren’t imaginable a

As expected, South African David George easily maintained his leadership of the 11th Tour de Langkawi on Saturday, with just one day remaining in the 10-day race. He cruised to 19th place on the completely flat 16.2km course, 77 seconds slower than the stage winner, Ukrainian Sergiy Matveyev of Panaria-Navigare.

Hamilton was found guilty of blood doping after samples submitted after this Vuelta time trial on September 11, 2004 indicated the presence of another person's blood.

With the overall leaders already focused on Saturday’s crucial time-trial stage that will decided the podium in this year’s Tour de Langkawi, the sprinters were expected to fight out the shortest road stage on Friday. Instead, the rain came tumbling down on a hot, muggy afternoon and French opportunist Sébastien Hinault gave Crédit Agricole its second stage win of the 10-day race.

When American professional road cycling was in its formative years in the early 1980s (see “Inside Cycling,” February 3, 2006), two of the first events to be sanctioned by the U.S. Professional Racing Organization were the USPRO Criterium Championship and the Tour of America. The first championship race, held with limited success in June 1982 at Baltimore, Maryland, was due to be repeated 12 months later, while the ambitiously titled stage race was set to debut in mid-April that same year on a route between Virginia Beach and Washington, DC. Both events announced $100,000 purses — which was a

Phinney wins in Baltimore

Baltimore drew a strong field.

Stephen Roche and Jonathan Boyer

Phinney leads Bauer through a turn

Phinney remained aggressive all day...

.. and gets the title.

Dear Readers;Recently, S.S., an attorney in Tennessee, drove into his garage whilehis bike was still attached to his roof rack, and his insurance companyrefused to pay his claim (see "Isit my garage or my car that's at fault?"). I received several interestingresponses to that column from readers, which I shared in last week’s column(see“Garagev. Roof Rack, Part II”). That column prompted even more commentsand suggestions from readers, as well as additional insights about theinsurance industry from industry “insiders,” so this week, we’ll revisitthe case of the Garage v. Roof Rack et.

Once again, the sprinters’ teams didn’t make it at Malaysia’s Tour de Langkawi. After being 11 seconds short of catching an eight-man break on Wednesday, they fell short by seven seconds on Thursday’s 188.2km stage 7 from Muar to Kota Tinggi won by Italian journeyman Elio Aggiano of team LPR. South Africa’s David George retained the yellow jersey with three days remaining in the 10-day race.

Turin, Italy -- Olympic gold medal speedskater Chris Witty will carry the U.S. flag at the opening ceremony of the Turin Games. The 30-year-old Witty won gold while setting a world record in the 1,000 meters at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. She won silver and bronze medals at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. "It's an amazing team to be part of, but to lead them into the opening ceremonies, I'm thrilled and I can't imagine a bigger honor than this," Witty said. Witty, a native of Waukesha, Wis., also was in the Summer Olympics, competing in track cycling at the 2000 Sydney Games --

Roberto Heras says he will appeal the two-year racing ban Spanish racing officials handed down Wednesday, saying he will fight to defend his name and honor against charges he used the banned blood booster EPO. Heras's legal team are considering challenging the ruling both in the Court of Arbitration in Sport as well as Spanish civil court, claiming there were inconsistencies in the testing procedure that could have triggered a false positive. "It's not difficult to imagine my discomfort with this federation resolution and the truly indefensible position that I am in," Heras said in a

Heras will appeal his suspension

MT. HOOD, OR (Immediate Release) -- In just four short years theMt. Hood Cycling Classic has grown from a popular regional event to a stagerace with national implications. Having received NRC status from USA Cyclinglast year and again in 2006, the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, presented byFull Sail Brewing, will modify its format and add a new stage to the alreadygrueling competition. “Last year the event attracted 475 riders, including some of North America’sbest racers – Scott Moninger, Eric Wohlberg, Sven Tuft, and Ryan Trebon,”comments event director Chad Sperry.  “This year we will

No one had an easy day on Wednesday’s stage 6 at Le Tour de Langkawi, which resulted in a tight win for one of eight breakaway riders, Laurent Mangel of AG2R. The 24-year-old Frenchman from Burgundy attacked the break in the final kilometer and just hung on to beat the fast-closing Aussie neo-pro Gene Bates of Team LPR, with a second Frenchman, Yohann Le Boulanger of Bouygues TÈlÈcom, in third.

Wide-open Paris-Nice routeHoping to live up to its name as the "Race to the Sun," Paris-Nice organizers revealed a 2006 route that skirts the snowy Massif Central and avoids summit finishes in an attempt to avoid course closures that have plagued recent editions. Instead - with seven stages and an opening prologue - the 2006 edition will drive down the Rhone Valley in search of good weather. Organizers from the Societe du Tour de France have also removed a long time trial to ensure what they hope will be a fight right to the finish. Following recent tradition, the course will open with a

The Spanish Cycling Federation on Wednesday stripped apparent winner RobertoHeras of his 2005 Vuelta a España title and suspended him for twoyears for testing positive for EPO after the 20th-stage individual timetrial at last year’s Vuelta. The punishment, handed down by the Spanish cycling federation (RFEC),means that Heras' 2005 Vuelta title goes to Russia's Denis Menchov of Rabobank.The 31-year-old Heras failed the test for EPO after the 20th stage,an individual time trial between Guadalajara and Alcala de Henares, onSeptember 17.Heras was fired by his Liberty-Seguros team after

PRESS RELEASE - Mt. Hood Classic bigger than ever

The veil of secrecy surrounding the new domestic United Pro Cycling road team was lifted Tuesday morning with the announcement of the team’s title sponsor, Toyota Motor Sales USA, as well as its team roster, equipment sponsors and unique brand of marketing and revenue initiatives. Coming off a team training camp in Thousand Oaks, California, team owner Sean Tucker was expected to introduce the new squad at a press conference at ESPN Zone in New York City’s Times Square. City sports commissioner Ken Podziba was also expected to be on hand, to welcome the team. An appearance on ESPN2’s “Cold

Those dang stripped threadsDear Lennard,What if anything can be done when the threads of a bottom bracket shellon an aluminum insert are stripped? I have not seen the bike firsthandbut I am trying to help someone out. They say that there is not enoughmaterial to cut new threads in. I assume that a tap has been runthrough already with no success. Is there any hope? I don't knowwhich side is stripped but if it is the non-drive side I can assume itis less critical. Is there a bottom bracket that will work better in thiscase?This is an old Look carbon time trial frame.JasonDear Jason,You

Colombian rookie José Serpa, 26, was racing as an amateur two weeks ago. Now, just five days into his career as a professional with the Selle Italia-Diquigiovanni team, he has won two stages of the Tour de Langkawi — including Tuesday’s prestigious ascent to Genting Highlands. Serpa’s two stage wins have impressed the whole race entourage, including Ed Beamon, Navigators Insurance team manager, who told VeloNews that “Serpa would surely be the race favorite had he not missed the break on the first day.”

The new Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team is led by reigning USPRO champ Chris Wherry

The team recently completed it's training camp near Malibu.

Dominguez knows what his role will be.

The Bike

Co-director Harm Jansen plans another day in the saddle

Training and a little PR work in California

Cruz comes over from Discovery