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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.Masters can help grow sport through schoolsEditor:I would like to offer my input on the subject of improving participation in the sport of cycling. I am a teacher at A. C. Flora High School. I am also a U.S. Cycling Federation racer and have been one for 25 years. During my 16 years of

World champion Tom Boonen (Quick Step) won the opening 131km stage of the Tour of Qatar between Doha and Al Khor Corniche on Monday. The 25-year-old Belgian proved too strong for German veteran Eric Zabel and Robert Hunter of South Africa in a sprint finish. Top 10 resultsStage1. Tom Boonen (B) Quick Step, 131km in 2:56:342. Erik Zabel (G), same time3. Robert Hunter (RSA), s.t.4. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), s.t.5. Fabrizio Guidi (I), s.t.,6. Aurelien Clerc (Swi), s.t.7. Nick Ingels (B,) s.t.8. Sebastien Lang (G,) s.t.9. Aart Vierhouten (Ned), s.t.10. Steven de Jongh (Ned), s.t.Overall (after

The 14th annual John Earley Memorial Valley of the Sun Stage Race kicks off next month in and around Phoenix, Arizona. The February 17-19 race, hosted by the White Mountain Road Club, boasts more than $15,000 in cash and prizes, a kids competition and a Special Olympics bike race. Last year’s event drew some 850 competitors; Kristin Armstrong (T-Mobile) took the elite women’s race while Ryan Blickem (Health Maxx) claimed the men’s victory. Stage 1 is the Buckeye Time Trial presented by Trillium, a 12-mile race at Sun Valley Parkway, west of Phoenix. "Buckeye is proud to be hosting the

Our man Casey Gibson has been tagging around with the Discovery Channel boys as they conduct a training camp in and around Solvang - including almost-daily climbs of Figueroa Mountain - in advance of the upcoming Tour of California. Like any veteran road-tripper, Casey takes a lot of snaps; here's a peek at his latest portfolio.

Ullrich - seen here training in Spain this month - is still the favoirte for the 06 Tour

VeloNews Photo Contest: A new winner and a new gallery

Boonen pips Zabel at the line

Michael Barry and George Hincapie are working hard, leading the riders preparing for the Tour of California

Tom Danielson checks with Johann during a ride

Viatcheslav Ekimov is working out alone, recovering from his terrible accident in the fall

Beltran and Azevedo put in the miles getting ready for the stage races later in the year

Danielson is working hard, getting ready for a breakout year

With 28 bikes to wash each day, even head mechanic Julien Devries pitches in

Newcomer Trent Lowe takes a turn at the front with Tom Danielson

Jose Rubiera climbs on toward the top of Figueroa Mountain

Training rides are always the same; pairs of riders rolling along lonely agricultural roads near Solvang

Assistant DS Sean Yates leads the boys in a training ride; not bad for a guy in his mid-40s

Giro winner Paolo Savoldelli and Pavel Padrnos chat as they put away the miles

Jason McCartney also preps for the Tour of California, looking to build on his first season with Discovery

Discovery heads for home after a cool ride in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley

For the second time in 24 hours the Dutch national anthem of Wilhelmus was played for the assembled crowds at Zeddam, in the Netherlands, as the host country celebrated another victory at the World Cyclo-cross Championships, after Marianne Vos outsprinted defending champion, German Hanka Kupfernagel, to take the women’s title on Sunday. Indeed, Dutch riders dominated the women’s event as Daphny van den Brand and Mirjam Melchers-van Poppel rounded out the top-four. The top North American result was recorded by U.S. champion Anne Knapp in ninth, while pre-race podium hopeful Lyne Bessette

Belgian pride was salvaged at the cyclo-cross world championships on Sunday when Erwin Vervecken led home countryman Bart Wellens to claim the elite men's title. Defending champion and pre-race favorite Sven Nys (Bel) did not finish, crashing on the final lap while in the lead group. American Jonathan Page put in a strong performance, moving up through the field to finish 10th. The Belgians were expected to dominate the men's 60-minute, nine-lap race, but the first half of the race was wide open, with riders from France, Holland and the Czech Republic all coming to the front. The

The trio of Van den Brand, Kupfernagel and Vos quickly gapped the rest of the field.

Knapp takes ninth...

... and Bessette rounds out the top-10.

Van den Brand looked strong... until she flatted

Vos merely had to sit on the defending champion's wheel

The podium

Vervecken wins, Wellens celebrates

Wellens seemed the strongest, but would up playing a defensive role

Not such a good day for Nys

The final escape

Page makes the top 10

The Dutch hosts wasted no time getting on the podium, with a win in the opening Junior Men's race at the Cyclo-cross World Championships in Zeddam. The appropriately named Boy van Poppel dropped the rest of the leaders to solo across the finish line in front of a cheering crowd. Bjorn Selander was the top U.S. finisher in seventh place. The 40-minute race began, as expected, very fast, with eight riders gapping the rest of the field by the halfway point in the opening lap. Van Poppel was there, as was Selander. Others in the lead group included Robert Gavenda (Slo), the leading rider

Zdnek Stybar of the Czech Republic took his second straight world title in the under-23 category at the cyclo-cross world championships on Saturday, outsprinting Lars Boom (Ned) and a bitterly disappointed Niels Albert (Bel), the favourite going into the race. American U-23 champion Troy Wells went down in a crash at the start of the race, cutting open his forehead and nose and eventually finishing a lap down. This was expected to be a race between Stybar, Albert and Boom, and they did not disappoint. Albert opened a lead in the first half lap on the downhill, and had a 10-second lead over

Mayo eyes return to gloryIban Mayo – the once-mighty Basque who seemed to have Lance Armstrong in his sights for two years – is hoping for a return to form in 2006 after an abysmal season last year. In 2005, the dashing Euskaltel-Euskadi rider was a shadow of his former self that saw him surge to a stage victory up Alpe d’Huez in the 2003 Tour de France and later toppled Armstrong en route to the 2004 Dauphine Libere win. But he later abandoned the 2004 Tour in humiliation and limped through the 2005 campaign with poor form and injury, never to rediscover his spark in a frustrating

Van Poppel took advantage of his long stride.

Selander stayed up front throughout

Stybar

Stybar nips Boom at the line

The lead trio

Stybar on the front

Albert and Boom

The podium

Wells soldiers on despite a gash to the face

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany - Here we go again with Bode Miller. Just as the brash World Cup champion skier decided to skip this weekend‘s events to rest up for the Turin Games and get away from media scrutiny, Miller suggested in an interview with Rolling Stone that Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong took performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds‘ agent, Jeff Borris, declined to respond to Miller‘s comments. Telephone and email messages left with Armstrong representatives were not immediately returned Thursday. Miller, who competed in 136 straight World Cup races and last missed a race in

Michael Rogers, the promising Australian rider on T-Mobile, said he will hold his Tour de France ambitions in check to help team captain Jan Ullrich try for another maillot jaune. The three-time world time trial champion said the team would rally behind the German captain in his quest to win a second Tour crown. “My goals are the team’s goals,” Rogers said in an interview on the team’s web page. “Jan Ullrich is the leader and the team is 100 percent committed to supporting him.” Rogers has been hailed as a potential Tour winner himself, but has so far struggled to stay with the best

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.Don’t dilute the sport for fad fansEditor:Being an avid cyclist and motorsports fan/participant, I found the recent comparisons between the two interesting. When comparing NASCAR to cycling when it comes to spectator attraction, it is important to understand that NASCAR is successful

"I call 'em as I see 'em, and if I don't see 'em, I make 'em up." — George Carlin as sportscaster Biff Barf One of the bad things about traditional publishing is that once you’ve put something out there, whether it’s a story, a photo or a cartoon, well … you’re stuck with it, for good or ill. But with the Internet, all things are possible. Make a factual error? Fix it. Don’t like being seen in a photo with, say, Jack Abramoff? Make it go away. Got a couple different takes on a cartoon? Give the folks a look at all of them. Tom Toles of The Washington Post may not be the

With the world cyclo-cross championships this weekend in Zeddam, The Netherlands, I can’t help but pull for Canadian Lyne Bessette to bring home a medal. While the elite North American men may not have strong chances to podium this year, Bessette does. After dominating the North American circuit in October and November, Bessette has shown she can ride with the world’s best, taking third behind Daphny Van Den Brand at the January 15 World Cup in France and seventh last weekend at the World Cup final at Hoogerheide, The Netherlands, 1:14 behind repeat winner Van Den Brand. In a quick e-mail

At T-Mobile, Rogers knows he may not get too much podium time for the immediate future.

The first idea ...

... and the last one

Bessette: North America's best shot at an elite 'cross-world's medal this year?

Eric Wallace, sporting a Canadian national jersey at last year's MTB worlds

The mystery team

Lithuanian cyclist Raimondas Rumsas, who finished third in the 2002 Tour de France, was given a four-month suspended prison sentence by a court in the French Alpine village of Bonneville on Thursday. Rumsas and his wife Edita were both convicted on charges of importing prohibited doping substances in connection with a case that began on the final day of the 2002 Tour. Both Rumsas and his wife were given the same suspended sentences and fined 3000 euros ($3675), while Polish doctor Krzysztof Ficek was handed a 12-month suspended sentence for prescribing the drugs. During the trial on

We’re leaving camp at dark-thirty. It is cold; cold like the winter Olympics will be here in two weeks. Oh yeah, they will be. Actually, we had great weather here in Tuscany and given the fact that I am going back to my home in Spain I can’t really complain, especially since some of the others, like Jens Voigt, are heading back to a brutal cold spell in Germany, where it’s been hitting minus 38 degrees. Speaking of Jens, to add insult to injury (no pun intended), he had the screws taken out of his shoulder this morning. Jens is one serious badass and showed some real character gritting

Lithuanian cyclist Raimondas Rumsas, who finished third in the 2002 Tour de France, was given a four-month suspended prison sentence by a court in the French Alpine village of Bonneville on Thursday. Rumsas and his wife, Edita, were both convicted on charges of importing prohibited doping substances in connection with a case that began on the final day of the 2002 Tour. Both Rumsas and his wife were given the same suspended sentences and fined 3000 euros ($3675), while Polish doctor Krzysztof Ficek was handed a 12-month suspended sentence for prescribing the drugs. During the trial on

The Rumsases leave the Bonneville court house in November

Rumsas already knew of the arrest as he stood on the podium in 2002

The Rumsases leave the Bonneville court house in November

In mylast column we discussed proper meal timing around evening training. Many cyclists also train in the early morning hours with little time to eat and drink before heading out on the road. Let’s take a look at some nutritional strategies that address the food and fluid challenges of early morning training. One of the biggest dilemmas confronting morning training is that you wake up in the morning with low liver glycogen stores. A major function of your liver is to maintain a steady level of glucose in the blood. Your liver releases glucose into your bloodstream during exercise and

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.Millar as role model? A bit early, no?Editor:David Millar's comment that he wants to "become an icon for clean cycling as well as an example to young people" is preposterous. Everyone deserves a second chance (and Millar has served his time), but it's a bit premature for him to

Adjustable or disposable?Dear Lennard,Can you tell me if the bottom brackets on the two-piece style Shimano cranks have adjustable bearings, like those used in a hub or pedal or are they a non-adjustable sealed cartridge, like that used in the current Octalink bottom brackets? I don’t see separate bottom bracket bearings being sold for the new style cranks, so I’m guessing they are adjustable rather than disposable, but it’s just not clear. I need new mountain-bike cranks, but I chew through the Octalink bottom brackets pretty quickly, so a non-disposable bottom bracket would probably make

The crown jewel of French sport, the Tour de France, is to start for the first time in London next year, mayor Ken Livingstone confirmed on Tuesday. It will be only the third time that the race has come to England in its 103-year history and the first time that the prestigious Grand Depart will be given on English soil. Livingstone said that London would host the prologue time trial on July 7, 2007 and the first stage of the race the following day. The tour finishes as usual on the Champs-Elysees in central Paris on July 23 after crisscrossing the French countryside from the Atlantic Ocean

Lance Armstrong and Discovery team director John Bruyneel reaffirmed the team’s commitment to fighting for victory at the spring classics, the Giro and the Tour at the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team’s presentation Tuesday morning in Beverly Hills, California. "The Tour de France is still the focus; I am not prepared to not win it," Bruyneel said. "But there are definitely other races. The Giro is an important race, as are the spring classics. There is a new race this year, the Tour of California. There are definitely going to be other races that are important, but for the Tour we have a

Are these bearings serviceable? Nope.

The final leg of the 2005 Tour of Britain used a one-mile circuit in Central London that took in Trafalgar Square, Nothumberland Avenue, Victoria Embankment and Parliament Square

Armstrong may be in civvies, but he still has a role with the team

Danielson will be one of Discovery's go-to guys in the Tour of California

Retired? Not hardly. Armstrong will advise the team, work with Discovery Channel and continue his fight against cancer

Discovery 2006

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.Remember the Wheat Thins series?Editor:The concept of cycling events on short, spectator-friendly courses in major cities is hardly new - anyone remember the Wheat Thins Mayors Cup Series? It had major corporate sponsorship (Nabisco) in big-city downtowns, short, fast circuits, and lots

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Syntace USA, has announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. Name of Product: F99 (Force 99) Bicycle Handlebar Stems Units: About 2,300 Distributor: Syntace USA, of Olney, Ill. Hazard: The recalled bicycle stems can crack or break under normal conditions, causing the rider to fall and suffer serious injury. Incidents/Injuries: No incidents or injuries have been reported. Description: The recalled bicycle

The 2007 Tour de France will begin in London next year following an agreement by city mayor Ken Livingstone and race organizers ASO, the Lettre de l'Expansion economic journal reported on Monday. The most prestigious cycling race in the world has never started in London, though it twice visited England, in 1974 and 1994. In 1998, the tour started in Dublin before immediately going back to France. Tour de France organizers, questioned by AFP, did not comment. T-Mobile names five to Tour teamT-Mobile has named five of its nine riders for the 2006 Tour de France, with Jan Ullrich

Off-season cyclists, spin fanatics, and exercise bicyclists can keep their New Year's resolutions and get in stronger shape for the spring with a new book from VeloPress - "Workouts in a Binder for Indoor Cycling" by Dirk Friel and Wes Hobson. Spending time on the trainer can get a little stale. "Workouts in a Binder for Indoor Cycling" will rescue indoor rides. Riders can choose from 60 workouts. Each one tackles a different training objective with enough variety to keep indoor sessions fun and productive. Athletes can follow one of six training plans in the book or pepper workouts