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Austrian Christiane Soeder (Univega) claimed opening honors in stage one of the Geelong Tour Tuesday, an 8km time trial at bayside Portarlington. Soeder, who in a former sporting career claimed the German title in 800m and 1500m running and has medaled twice at the World Duathlon Championships, posted a time of 11:07.510c to defeat Russian Svetlana Bubnenkova by five seconds with New Zealand's Melissa Holt third in 11:12.820. Soeder, a qualified doctor, has been in Australia during the summer to take advantage of the good weather and training conditions in her bid to be in top form this

George Hincapie of the Discovery Channel team lit up the Amgen Tour of California stage race on Tuesday with an electrifying sprint win in downtown San Jose. Hincapie’s win came with a 10-second time bonus, which leapfrogged him past race leader Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) and into the golden race leader’s jersey.

The overall lead changed hands at the Tour of California on Tuesday as George Hincapie and his Discovery Channel teammates took command of the95-mile stage to San Jose, at precisely the point most would have predicted. Designated as the make-or-break mark in the stage, the steep climb up Sierra Road rose 1800 feet in just 3.8 miles for an average pitch of 10 percent, with a couple of points along the way hitting 16 percent. As always, photographer Casey Gibson was there to record the action from start to finish. Yesterday's Gallery

It's been a great year for Page.

Hincapie proves fastest in the finale

The Discovery Channel captain takes the overall lead from Gerolsteiner's Levi Leipheimer

Kaggestad, Creed and Jacques-Maynes launched an early break

Creed leads

Savoldelli working on Hincapie's behalf

There are worse places to race your bicycle

Kohl, Leipheimer and Landis, going up ...

... and the same trio rolling it toward San Jose

Leipheimer gave no ground on the hills

Credit Agricole's Saul Raisin signs an autograph for a fan

Freddie Rodriguez takes a look up the climb and doesn't like what he sees.

Man of many talents: CSC director Bjarne Riis does a little bit of everything. Here he pushes Cancellara back into the race after an early crash.

Discovery's Tom Danielson leads the climbers above San Jose.

Hincapie suffering to stay with the leaders and get to the finishing sprint...

Nicely recovered, Hincapie makes his move in the final meters...

... and takes the stage and the leader's jersey.

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. We especially liked “Tennessee District RR,” By Bill Parsons.” Yeah sure, the guy was bound to be caught, but we appreciate and empathize with the desire to make the break. Congratulations Bill! Once you thaw out, drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.com to work out the details and we’ll send you a copy of Graham

Havana - Cuba's longserving president Fidel Castro won't be able to excuse himself from physical exercise after he was given a bike by Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx on Monday. Castro, who will be 80 in August, was given the bike by the five-time Tour de France winner for his promotion of the sport in the country. Merckx, known as the 'Cannibal' during his bicycling days and who was anointed best cyclist of the 20th century by the sport's governing body the UCI, presented the blue Merckx, adorned with two small Cuban flags, to the President of the Cuban Olympic

It didn’t take long for the upstart Toyota-United team to make an impact on the American road-racing scene. Just a couple of weeks after announcing its team name and roster, Toyota-United’s four-time Argentinean champion, Juan Jose Haedo, scored the biggest win of his career in Monday’s opening road stage at the Amgen Tour of California, an 81.5-mile jaunt north from Sausalito to Santa Rosa.

Boulder, CO, February 20, 2006 — Discovery Channel rider Michael Barry and Graham Watson, the internationally known cycling photographer, will autograph copies of their books on the last day of the Amgen Tour of California. On Sunday, February 26, both authors will meet fans and autograph their books at the VeloNews booth in the expo area, which is near the stage finish in Redondo Beach, CA. Barry wrote Inside the Postal Bus about his experience riding with Lance Armstrong and the U.S. Postal Cycling Team during the 2004 season. Barry will meet fans and autograph copies of Inside the Postal

Boulder, CO, February 20, 2006 — Specialized Bicycle Components will host a benefit reception featuring a bike fit demonstration by VeloPress author, Andrew Pruitt. VeloPress has published Pruitt’s new book, Andy Pruitt’s Complete Medical Guide for Cyclists. Following the conclusion of Stage 2 of the Tour of California on February 21, Specialized is hosting a reception at the San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation benefiting the California Bicycle Coalition and Paul David Clark Bicycle Safety Fund. The event will give cyclists, fans and special guests the opportunity to learn about the

Sunshine and blue skies marked Sunday's finale to the 14th annual John Earley Memorial Valley of the Sun Stage Race, the Landis Cyclery Downtown Capital Criterium in Phoenix. Attacks and breaks were the order of the day in both men’s and women’s races, run on a 1.6km, figure-eight course at Wesley Bolen Plaza, but nothing stuck. In the 70-minute men’s crit, Neil Shirley (Jittery Joe’s) proved best of the bunch, taking the win ahead of Emile Abraham (AEG-Toshiba-JetNet) and Wes Hartman (Targetraining). The 40-minute women’s crit went to Laura Downey (America’s Dairyland), who outkicked

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.Fox covers fishing and poker, but cycling? NahEditor:I wasn't able to watch the taped coverage of the Tour of California last night and assumed I'd be able to catch up on it this morning. I was at the Fox News web site and thought for sure they'd have something on it. Their

The Tour of California hit the roads north of San Francisco on Monday, heading out of Sausalito to cover a scemic route up the coast and into Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County. Toyota-United's four-time Argentinean champion, Juan Jose Haedo savored his new team's first-ever victory. By winning Sunday's prologue time trial, local star Levi Leipheimer made certain that he would be dressed perfectly as he rode into his home town. Photographer Casey Gibson was there from start to finish.

Tennessee District RR

Haedo scores a big win for the brand-new Toyota-United Pro team

The men's podium

Downey and Webb duking it out

Leipheimer salutes the hometown crowd

Leipheimer basks in the glow of his hometown support

Rolling along the coast

Julich dances on the pedals

Another type of wheeled transportation altogether

Gerolsteiner keeps a short leash on the bunch

The hometown hero

A modest Haedo downplayed his stage victory

The peloton rides past seaside fans.

Coming down to Muir Beach

Gerolsteiner was there to protect the race leader

Big crowds in Santa Rosa

Haedo makes it look easy

Haedo earns his team's first victory

Leipheimer spends another day in the leader's jersey

The big names of American road racing made their message loud and clear at Sunday’s opening day of the Amgen Tour of California. Led by Gerolsteiner’s Levi Leipheimer — one of a handful of homegrown stage racers being touted as hopefuls to take the torch from the recently retired Lance Armstrong — American riders swept the top-five of the 1.9-mile prologue in scenic San Francisco.

Mendefera, Eritrea (AFP) - Nearly 100 brightly dressed riders set out this weekend on the first stage of the sixth annual Tour of Eritrea, the cycling mad east African nation's premier sporting event. In a competition known as much for athletic prowess as oppressive heat and obstacles like rock-throwing baboons and malingering camels along a blistering course, the riders left the capital on Saturday on the nine-day race. Professionals and amateurs, Eritreans and foreigners are competing in this year's tour as they have in the five previous ones, all legacies of the Italian colonial

Stage two of the 14th annual John Earley Memorial Valley of the Sun Stage Race was a day for the sprinters to shine. The Trek Road Race near Casa Grande, run on a rolling 16-mile loop with 470 feet of climbing per lap, saw Geri Mewett (Hincapie Sports) take the victory in the men’s 89-mile race. Curtis Gunn (Team Successful Living) and Neil Shirley (Jittery Joe's) were second and third in the same time. Time-trial winner Tom Zirbel (Priority Health) finished in the bunch and held onto his overall lead. In the 57-mile women’s race, Erin Mirabella (Bicycle Johns) outkicked Miranda Duff

TOC

Riders take on the heat and rough roads in the first stage of the Tour of Eritrea

Mewett takes the victory

Mirabella's win

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Leipheimer gets congrats from the Guvernator

Leipheimer had this win in mind from the day the route was announced.

Bobby J takes on Telegraph Hill

Zabriskie finished the day nine seconds off of Leipheimer's pace.

Landis finishes in fourth

Hincapie ensures an All-American podium

Pain and Gain: Leipheimer gives it his all.

Tour Stage 1

Landis at the start

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Stage Four Map

Cannery Row start

Health Net preps

Stage 5 map

Simoni in Stage 5

The idea is not new. In fact, there was a Tour of California held as long ago as 1971. And in the three decades since then, various proposals have come and gone. One of them, which had the State of California’s backing, even got as far as an organizer being hired and a course being approved. But the race announced by the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) last March 25 finally had all the elements required to put this second Tour of California on the road. Clearly, if an event is going to succeed there has to be a need for it. That need is just as pressing today as it was in 1971, when

The 14th annual John Earley Memorial Valley of the Sun Stage Race got under way outside Phoenix on Friday, though the sun failed to make an appearance. Despite windy, chilly and dry conditions, 930 riders turned out for the opening Buckeye Time Trial, a 12-mile race at Sun Valley Parkway, west of Phoenix. Tom Zirbel (Priority Health Cycling) took the opener in 29:25. Curtis Gunn (Team Successful Living) was second at 33 seconds slower with defending champion Ryan Blickem (Targetraining) third at 39 seconds. In the women's race, Andrea Ratkovic (B1 Rocks) took top honors with a fast

Belgian Gert Steegmans (Davitamon) won his second stage of the Tour de l'Algarve on Saturday and donned the leader’s yellow jersey. Steegmans outsprinted Germans Robert Förster (Gerolsteiner) and Thomas Ziegler (T-Mobile) to claim the fourth stage, a 174.5km leg between Lagoa and Portimao. The fifth and final stage will be a 183.4km run between Vila Real Santo Antonio and Alto de Malhao à Loulé. Stage1. Gert Steegmans (B), Davitamon, 174.5km in 4:39:26 (37,469 km/h)2. Robert Förster (G), Gerolsteiner, same time3. Thomas Ziegler (G), T-Mobile, s.t.4. Markus Zberg (Swi), Gerolsteiner,

The 16 teams that will be racing the inaugural Amgen Tour of California were presented Friday during a fund-raising gala in Sausalito. The evening featured dinner, dancing, a fashion show and a silent auction, with the proceeds to benefit Trips for Kids, the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and Bikes for Kids. Photographer Casey Gibson was on hand to capture the moment.

The 2006 edition skips the northern mountains - but the coastline near Big Sur will make a stunning backdrop