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Alejandro Valverde has been uncharacteristically quiet so far this season, winning just one stage at the Vuelta a Murcia back in March. Instead, the usually prolific Illes Balears rider has been diligently preparing for the Ardennes classics and the Tour de France, his two major goals for the first half of the 2006 season. Monday’s opening stage of the Vuelta al País Vasco presented a nice testing ground for both challenges. With a bumpy 130km four-climb stage to open hostilities in the six-day race across northern Spain’s Basque Country, including the Cat. 1 Alto de Jaizkibel – an old

How many people can find the silver lining in having cancer? Not many people are as impressive as 8-year-old Joshua Alfaro. When asked about his battle with leukemia, which is a blood cancer, Joshua is very matter-of-fact and composed. "There are some good parts and some scary parts, but in the end it all balances out," says Joshua. With jaw-dropping confidence, he even points out his "favorite parts of having cancer." He adds that if he hadn't had cancer he wouldn't have ever met so many nice people (like his favorite nurse), he wouldn't have learned to make bracelets at Camp

Bait the hook well: this fish will bite. — William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing If you didn't see Tom Boonen stomping the pommes frites out of cycling's finest during the Tour of Flanders on TV Sunday, it may be because ESPN2 was busy in Manning, South Carolina, watching Preston Clark crush the Bassmasters four-day catch record during the Santee Cooper Showdown. Clark landed 115 pounds, 15 ounces of fish during the event, eclipsing Dean Rojas's piddling mark of 108 pounds, 12 ounces, set in 2001 on Florida's Lake Tohopekaliga. And ESPN2 was there to bring us all the

Heras

Monday's Mailbag: Photos and a tragic loss

Bishop's rig

Haywood's Top Fuel

Posner's Fuel Ex 9.5

The Dual Control lever

The XTR pedal

The rear derailleur

The newest player in the high-end-wheel game

Valverde nips Freire in a photo finish

The Bassmasters version of a podium wave

Proving once again that he thrives under pressure, Belgian superstar Tom Boonen shouldered the hopes of Belgium’s cycling fans and delivered a win for the home team. With the world champion’s rainbow stripes wrapped around his chest, and a real live rainbow arching in the sky overhead, Boonen beat the odds on Sunday to become the first man to win the Tour of Flanders two times in a row since Eric Leman did it in 1972 and ’73.

Boonen repeats

Melchers-Van Poppel celebrates

Auger and Marichal in the escape

Bettini and Hincapie up front

Klier on the Grammont

Marichal leads

Marichal and Schmidt

Pozzato and Quick Step

Bruges

Ichtegem

Boonen attacks

The world champ and Hoste

Boonen comes around Hoste for the win

Hincapie crosses third

The podium

Boonen takes over the ProTour lead

A year ago, Danilo Di Luca stormed through the month of April, winning the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Fleche Wallone and Amstel Gold Race that laid the foundation for his overall ProTour title. As the Liquigas rider lines up for Saturday’s GP Miguel Indurain in Spain, Di Luca says his priorities have changed. Don’t expect to see him winning many races until May, when he’ll target the overall crown at the Giro d’Italia. “I’ve changed my preparation this season, so I don’t expect much at Pais Vasco because I am there more for training for the Giro,” Di Luca told VeloNews. “I might try to go for a

Despite claims to the contrary, it’s pretty rare these days that a magazine or website will get an exclusive look at a new product. “Sneak previews,” and “spy photos,” tend to be just so much manipulation handed out to us hacks by some cagey character in the PR department, whose giving out the same “exclusive” shots to some other hack, with another magazine’s logo on his pile vest. So we were especially pleased to have an honest-to-gawd exclusive look at the latest creation from an old friend. VeloNews technical writer Lennard Zinn and wheel guru Steve Hed go back quite a few years and it

It didn’t take nearly as long as some expected for Belgium’s rabid cycling fans to find a new hero to cheer in the wake of Johan Museeuw’s exit from the sport. Here in northern Belgium, known until recently as Lion of Flanders country, one need only witness the support banners and newsstand racks to see the new face of Belgian cycling. Gracing the cover of L’Equipe magazine, which comes with the Saturday edition of the French sports daily, is Tom Boonen, a cycling star with enough wattage to make people forget about the doping controversies that have surrounded Museeuw’s retirement. On the

On the Caribbean island of Curacao the cross-country World Cup started the 2006 season today, with Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida) continuing her winning ways in the women's field, and Bart Brentjens (Giant) taking a popular win in the men's race, both in front of a swimsuit-clad crowd on the beach. Both Dahle and Brentjens don the leader's jerseys for the World Cup series. Top North American performers were Canadians Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) in 4th for the women, and Seamus McGrath (Canadian National) 9th in the men. Mary McConneloug (Seven

This year is about a lot more than just ProTour points

Product review - A new idea from Steve Hed

Boonen's had plenty of practice doing the winner's pose this season.

Dahle remains the one to beat in the cross-country world

Brentjens

Absalon conceded that Brentjens was the stronger man.

McConneloug finishes fifth

Tom Boonen can rest easy this weekend knowing that his Quick Step-Innergetic teammates will be backing him 100 percent as he enters Sunday’s Tour of Flanders as the heavy favorite. The defending Flanders champion – who didn’t race the final stage at Three Days of De Panne on Thursday to avoid a crash – will count on support from teammates Paolo Bettini and Filippo Pozzato to protect him in the hectic Flanders finale. “I’m in better condition this year as opposed to the same time last year,” Boonen said in a team release. “Last year I fell during the De Panne, injuring my hand. This year

Most of the rabid cycling fans lining the Halsesteenweg at Meerbeke, Belgium, this coming Sunday afternoon, will be hoping for a repeat of the 2005 Tour of Flanders result: a win for favorite son Tom Boonen. Those fans know that Quick Step-Innergetic’s Boonen’s not a shoo-in because the 258km course that faces the likely 200 starters is full of potential pitfalls: diabolical pavé stretches like the Paddestraat, steep hills like the 400-meter, 12.5-percent Paterberg, and countless off-camber blind turns that guide the riders through a maze of narrow back roads through the lush green

The 2006 World Cup mountain-bike race season gets underway this weekend on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. Located just off the coast of Venezuela, Curaçao is known primarily for tourism (it is a regular cruise ship stop), oil (a large refinery dominates the main town of Willemstad) and, for this weekend, mountain biking. The World Cup circus has descended on the island, with 114 men and 52 women scheduled to enter the cross-country race Saturday. All of the world’s top riders have made the trip, led by world champions Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan-Merida) and Julien Absalon (Bianchi), and

Flanders in 2005: Will the cycling gods grant a repeat?

Defending World Cup champion Christoph Sauser has moved to Specialized

One of the more interesting local restaurants

Tom Boonen is the new leading light of cycling. The strapping world champion seems to be the sparkle in everyone’s eye, from salty old cycling fans to Belgian beauties who swoon at the very sight of him in his rainbow jersey. At 24, Boonen has replaced the retired Lance Armstrong as the top draw among fans, at least if crowds outside team buses at spring races are any fair barometer of riders’ magnetism. Boonen-mania seems to be in full flight and there’s no sign of it abating anytime soon. Dubbed a Merckx for a new century, Boonen is poised to defend his double Flanders-Roubaix titles

Belgium's Leif Hoste (Discovery Channel) won the Three Days of De Panne Thursday after claiming victory in the fourth and final stage. Hoste dominated the final leg of the race, an 11km individual time trial, finishing ahead of teammates George Hincapie and Stijn Devolver, who crossed 14 and 18 seconds slower, respectively. Austria's Bernhard Eisel (Française des Jeux) took second overall at 30 seconds back with Luis Leo Sanchez Gil (Liberty Seguros) third at 1:05. —Agence France Presse Stage1. Leif Hoste (B), Discovery Channel, 14:17:992. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel,

The rainbow curse is something that doesn’t exist, says Boonen. Who can argue with that?

Hoste en route to winning the stage and the overall

Bernhard Eisel (FDJeux) made a ferocious sprint Wednesday to win the 227km second stage at the Three Days of De Panne and grabbed the overall lead for the effort. Eisel – who finished second in Tuesday’s opener -- came around Baden Cooke (Unibet.com) and out-kicked Danilo Napolitano (Lampre) to score the emphatic victory and nudged into the leader’s jersey thanks to time bonuses. A three-man break dominated most of the day’s action with Discovery Channel glued at the front of the peloton to protect the jersey for overnight leader Leif Hoste. Lampre, Quick Step and Davitamon-Lotto surged to

T-Mobile’s Tour de France hopeful Jan Ullrich has had to delay the start to his 2006 season as a knee problem has forced him to withdraw from the circuit de la Sarthe in France on April 4. T-Mobile team doctor Andreas Schmid confirmed Wednesday that Ullrich had irritated an old injury to his right knee sustained in early March and was not fit to race at Sarthe. "I was really looking forward to competitive racing," said a disappointed Ullrich. "From now on I will pay more attention to ensure the irritation is fully healed, then I can progressively increase the training load,” he said. "When

There is a chance Petacchi will switch roles with Zabel at Flanders

Team photo

Eisel takes the win and the lead

Dear readers, Back at Christmas, I threw in a letter from a reader claiming that rotating weight makes almost no difference on a wheel – that it takes negligible energy to bring it up to speed, and that the only thing that really matters when climbing is the overall weight of the bike, not how it’s distributed. Since then, I have gottena lot of mail about this, and a trip to France last week piqued my interest in this subject again. Perhaps some of you remember when I did a test in VeloNews seven years ago (in the 6/28/99 issue) of wheel inertia by building a rotational pendulumin my garage.

Leif Hoste (Discovery Channel) shot to victory in Tuesday’s opener at the Three Days of De Panne with a late burst to win a three-up sprint after a 50km breakaway held off the peloton. Hoste sprang with just about 75 meters to go to come around the hard-charging Austrian Berhnard Deisel (FDJeux) and Gert Steegmans (Davitamon-Lotto) to win the 194km stage from Middelkerke to Zottegem under sunny skies that saw many riders in short sleeves. "It was nice to win today after all the second and third places," Hoste told Belgian journalists. "It was very windy today and I’m not yet thinking about

Shimano has taken a back seat to the competition’s barrage of buzz this winter. Eerily quiet until recently, declining to release any 2007 product information, Shimano began testing its new E-Dura-Ace group right as the ProTour season kicked into full swing. Now, less than two weeks away from the Sea Otter Classic, which traditionally opens the domestic mountain-bike season, Shimano has announced preliminary details of its redesigned ’07 XTR group. Though images of the complete group are unavailable (scroll down for photos of other new Shimano goodies), a trained eye can spot bits and pieces

Hoste proves fastest in a three-up sprint

The 105 pedal

The compact crank

LX

XT

105 wheels

Ultegra wheels

Dura-Ace carbon

Ivan Basso’s emphatic victory in this weekend’s Criterium International left no doubt that the Italian is right on target for more important goals later in the season. With the win, Basso joins a growing list of contenders fighting for bragging rights with impressive early season victories. For Basso, his real challenges come in May’s Giro d’Italia and July’s Tour de France, but his win at Criterium International gives clear notice to his rivals that he’ll be ready. “I know that I’m in good shape and it’s very important for my preparation before the Giro and the Tour de France,” Basso said.

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 ourlast contest. Take the time to wander through that gallery and see if you agree or disagree with our choice of winner. We felt especially good about “Passing the torch,” a photo Mike Jacoubowsky took at the 2003 Tour de France. Nice work. Congratulations Mike! Drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.com to work out the details and we’ll send you a copy of Graham Watson's "Landscapes of Cycling."Go ahead and take a look at our latest

We received the following letter this morning. - EditorWe are deeply saddened to inform you of the tragic passing of Bill Corliss, Director of Development for Specialty Electronics, for Bell Specialty. Bill was riding his bike with 7 other cyclists on Saturday morning near his home in Park City, Utah. A sudden stop by other cyclists led to a collision and ultimately Bill was fatally hit by oncoming traffic. Greg Shapleigh describes Bill this way: “He was a passionate and dedicated cyclist, and raced at a National level. Like many of us, cycling was the thread that connected all the

At the Redlands Bicycle Classic road race Sunday, Amber Neben (SC Velo), Health Net-Maxxis and Toyota-United demonstrated three of the myriad ways to win. In the 100km women’s race, Neben launched a solo attack on the second of nine technical laps and never looked back. In the 148km men’s competition, Health Net-Maxxis used its full team to successfully defend Nathan O’Neill overall lead. And Toyota-United’s Juan Jose Haedo — well, he just sprinted like hell. Scroll down for a gallery of Casey Gibson photos The road race began on Saturday’s criterium course, then climbed up out 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. Rogers is an entertaining storytellerEditor:Kudos to Neal Rogers and his latest "Neighborhood" piece. That he has earned the trust and respect of professional riders is apparent, as is his innate ability to tell a story, share an experience, and entertain the cycling reader/websurfer.

Cycling's world governing body has reinstated the doctor who admitted supplyingdocuments to a journalist who used them in anarticle to accuse Lance Armstrong of doping.Doctor Mario Zorzoli, who works as a manager at the medical serviceof the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), was reinstated in his postMonday. Zorzoli had been provisionally suspended at the end of Februaryafter admitting he had unwittingly given the results of doping controlsto a journalist from the French sports daily L'Equipe.The journalist used them to illustrate a damning article in August 2005which alleged that

Basso finished second in Sunday's time trial, good enough to seal the deal after winning the morning's road stage.

Passing the Torch

Neben's bold move pays off

Haedo got a second chance and made the most of it

Armstrong and Neben make nice early on

Neben goes it alone