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VeloNews: How have things been going since we last spoke? You sound as though you’re in pretty good spirits. Chris Horner: The racing has been going pretty well. The finish today was incredible. All the spectators that were there … you cannot imagine! All of Germany must have been out for it. VN: Even though it was wet, everyone came out? CH: Yeah, it was wet from the start to about 70km to go. It was pretty good after that. VN: It’s funny because when we spoke a few days ago, you said that with everyone fighting for position, you couldn’t imagine how the peloton could continue to ride

The Canadian National Road Championships opened Thursday with the individual time trial in Kamloops, and both the men's and women's elite titles were successfully defended. Sue Palmer-Komar (Colavita) beat Genevieve Jeanson (Rona-Colnago) by a mere 76 one-hundredths of a second to take the women's title, while Svein Tuft defeated his Symmetrics teammate Eric Wohlberg by 53 seconds for the men's title. Ryder Hesjedal (Discovery Channel) was third in the men's race and Felicia Greer (Webcor) third in the women's. Unlike last year, when temperatures of over 40 Celsius

Kirk O'Bee and his Navigators teammates sat back and waited for the finish. They weren't going to work hard if they didn't have to. O'Bee and Navigators let Health Net-Maxxis do most of the work throughout Friday night's Twilight Criterium in downtown Bend. Then O'Bee broke from the pack with one lap to go and stayed ahead to win the criterium, the fourth stage of the Cascade Cycling Classic, by 10 meters over second-place Remi McManus of Subway and third-place Gord Fraser of Health Net-Maxxis. Rain poured down throughout the race as O'Bee patiently waited for

Ina Yoko Teutenberg and Sarah Uhl were both out front battling the rain, but Teutenberg had one advantage: Teammates. With about 20 minutes left in the women's Twilight Criterium of the Cascade Cycling Classic in downtown Bend on Friday night, Uhl and Teutenberg broke away from the field and developed a lead of almost one minute. A group of six riders - three of them Teutenberg's T-Mobile teammates - gained some ground on the two leaders as the finish neared. Knowing she had the help of her teammates, Teutenberg was able to sit on Uhl's wheel, then make her move just in time,

The Taos Valley, a picturesque network of canyons and grassy plains in northern New Mexico, has attracted its share of tourists over the centuries. By the time the first Europeans dropped by in 1540, under the command of Spanish conquistador Hernando de Alvarado, the area was already a bustling center of commerce and culture. But in the small realm of elite mountain-bike racing, northern New Mexico has a less impressive résumé. Although the tiny town of Angel Fire (population 1007) has seen several Mountain States Cup races over the years, it has never even hosted a NORBA National. But all

In the three days since Discovery Channel won the team time trial at Blois, its riders have had a relatively easy time defending Lance Armstrong’s yellow jersey. After another stage that ended in a field sprint Friday, Armstrong talked about “riding a medium tempo” and “getting a lot of help” from the sprinters’ teams. That’s not going to be the case in any of the next five stages, starting with this weekend’s two days in the climbs of the Black Forest and Vosges mountains. Armstrong admitted Friday: “I don’t know these stages.” That’s unusual for the master of knowing all there is to know

On Friday, as the Tour de France headed to Karlsruhe, Germany, Gerolsteiner’s Fabian Wegmann rode solo for hours on his carbon Specialized S-Works Tarmac. However, once the race hits the mountains, two of his teammates, namely Levi Leipheimer and Georg Totschnig will be riding the even lighter, next-generation S-Works Tarmac SL frame and all-carbon S-Works fork. The SL shares the Tarmac’s geometry. Yet, because Specialized tweaked both tube shapes and dimensions while custom tuning the orientation and number of layers of carbon, the SL has been designed for maximum shock absorption, road

Stage 7 - Lunéville to Karlsruhe >228.5km

Boonen was feeling the weight of the green jersey today

Wegemann led the peloton into Germany - but couldn't stay out front

The Boss would like a sprint-free finish on Saturday

Wet railroad tracks right after the border caused this one.

Fast Freddy and his own personal 'fast' food

Do the Germans like the Tour? Oh, ja, ja

Whoopsadaisy . . .

I'll just lie here for a bit - you guys go on without me

Freddy and Vino' test the front of the bunch

The ever-shy Horner reluctantly grants an interview

Lance at lunch

Ullrich and Vino' out front early on

And McEwen out front when it mattered

McEwen decided it would be suicide to stay out all day. Wegmann thought it was worth the effort.

The road ahead: Stage 8- Pforzheim to Gerardmer, 231.5km

Another tumble at the finish.

Calzati took a hit, but carried on.

Welcome to Germany

Robbie decided to wait this one out.

McEwen again,

The Specialized Tarmac SL

A glimpse of the carbon cockpit

Oversized spindle and bottom bracket

Carbon crank

Course: Still heading east, this 199km stage finally has someterrain conducive to long breakaways. The day’s four Cat. 4 climbs areevenly spaced, but there are plenty of undulations in between, particularlyin the 40km before the final, and longest, hill — the Côte de Maron— which comes just before the finish. History: There have been 13 stage finishes at Nancy in the past100 years, including wins for Tour champs Fausto Coppi, Louison Bobet,Joop Zoetemelk and Bernard Hinault. The last visit was in 1988, when abreak on the climb before Nancy produced a stage win for German Rolf Gölz(now a

Most people have figured out by now that Tom Boonen and Robbie McEwen are the hottest two sprinters at this year’s Tour de France, and that’s why their Quick Step and Davitamon-Lotto have done the bulk of the work on the three road stages to date, chasing down each day’s main breakaway with respectively 12km, 2km and 11km to go. That picture could change on Thursday because stage 6 from Troyes to Nancy is the hilliest one yet. Still heading east (with the wind), this 199km stage finally has some terrain conducive to long breakaways. The day’s four Cat. 4 climbs are evenly spaced, but there

Wet roads, tight corners and a nervous peloton are always a recipe for disaster. Add a gang of hard-charging sprinters anxious to reel in a breakaway, and you’ll come up with the crash-derby finish to Thursday’s 199km Tour de France stage 6 from Troyes to Nancy. It was a veritable otter slide on the rain-soaked final right-hander 700 meters from the finish line as a score of riders slipped, skidded and piled into the metal barriers. “It was like ice on that corner, there was nothing you could do,” said Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto) who ended the day with a nasty scrape on his right knee.

1. Lorenzo Bernucci (I), Fassa Bortolo, 4:12:52 2. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), T-Mobile, 00:003. Robert Förster (G), Gerolsteiner, 00:074. Angelo Furlan (I), Domina Vacanze, 00:075. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 00:076. Kim Kirchen (Lux), Fassa Bortolo, 00:077. Gianluca Bortolami (I), Lampre, 00:078. Egoi Martinez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 00:079. Gerrit Glomser (A), Lampre, 00:0710. Arvesen Kurt-Asle (Nor), CSC, 00:07 11. Laurent Brochard (F), Bouygues Telecom, 00:0712. Jérome Pineau (F), Bouygues Telecom, 00:0713. Massimo Giunti (I), Fassa Bortolo, 00:0714. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp),

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission,in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recallof the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalledproducts immediately unless otherwise instructed.Name of product: 2003 Rolf Prima Vigor and Elan Bicycle Wheels(rear wheel only)Units: About 870Manufacturer: Rolf Prima Inc., of Eugene, Ore.Hazard: The rear wheel freehub mechanism can malfunction causingno resistance when pedaling. The bicycle rider could lose balance, falland suffer injuries.Incidents/Injuries: No injuries

Former cycling great Rudi Altig has added to the pressure on Jan Ullrich by saying the German is uncommitted in his bid to win back the Tour de France yellow jersey. Ullrich, 31, has come runner-up five times in the Tour de France - which he won in 1997 - and three of those have come behind American Lance Armstrong. Armstrong currently leads the race with more than a minute's advantage over Ullrich ahead of two crucial medium mountain stages this weekend, where the German could - if he's ambitious - try to attack the 33-year-old Texan and upset his plans for a seventh consecutive

Course: Still heading east, this 199km stage finally has someterrain conducive to long breakaways. The day’s four Cat. 4 climbs areevenly spaced, but there are plenty of undulations in between, particularlyin the 40km before the final, and longest, hill — the Côte de Maron— which comes just before the finish. History: There have been 13 stage finishes at Nancy in the past100 years, including wins for Tour champs Fausto Coppi, Louison Bobet,Joop Zoetemelk and Bernard Hinault. The last visit was in 1988, when abreak on the climb before Nancy produced a stage win for German Rolf Gölz(now a

Our man Casey Gibson, ever the master of understatement, noted after Thursday's soggy stage to Nancy: "Rain makes things a little exciting at the end, eh?" No kidding – especially if you're Christophe Mengin (Française des Jeux), who was lookin' good until that final corner. Happily, Casey kept upright, and here's the upshot.

London bombings won’t change Tour securityNews of the terrorist bomb attacks in London shocked the Tour de France entourage - as it did the world. In memory of those killed and injured, the peloton will observe a minute's silence before the start of Friday's seventh stage, the 228.5km leg from Lunéville to Karlsruhe in Germany. While the terrorist alert level in France was escalated to the red on Thursday, it appears that security at the Tour de France is already quite high and there is little the Tour can do to make it tighter. While representatives of the Garde Republicaine

“Die Tour Kommt!” (The Tour is coming!) is the message that has been plastered across billboards in the German city of Karlsruhe for the past several months. Expect most of the city’s 300,000 people to be at the roadside Friday afternoon, along with perhaps three times that number from neighboring cities in the heavily populated valley of the Rhine. The last two times that a Tour de France stage finished in Germany (Saarbrücken in 2003 and Freiburg in 2000), crowd numbers were astronomical. They will be just as big on Friday when the final 40km of the stage are run on German roads, with the

That a bicycle race can bring out millions of fans to line rural roads and jam up the boulevards of a finishing town is actually a relatively recent phenomenon in Germany. Cycling enthusiasm did spike – albeit briefly – in Germany when Didi Thurau, the "angel face" from Frankfurt, wore the maillot jaune for 15 days in the 1977 Tour de France. But German interest faded as Thurau’s career derailed through doping scandals and fans saw a remarkable talent wasted on too much racing for quick money. Instead, in the 1980s and ‘90s, Germans returned to what they knew best: soccer. But the passion –

Scott Moninger had that familiar feeling as he stood atop the podium at Mount Bachelor after stage 2 of the Cascade Cycling Classic on Thursday. Moninger (Health Net-Maxxis) was the overall champion at the Cascade Classic during 1999-2001, and his experience in Central Oregon - plus a miscue by Cesar Grajales (Navigators), who thought the finish was 10km up the road - allowed him to overtake Grajales and win the 90-mile stage to Bachelor’s Sunrise Lodge in 3 hours, 31 minutes, 28 seconds. "I've won this particular stage a few times, so I know it pretty well," Moninger said. "It's

Well that was quite a finish in Nancy, eh? Thankfully, I missed the mess at the last turn… mostly because I got dropped on the last climb, got back on the descent and decided I didn’t have the legs to contest the sprint anyway, so I stayed back a little, think it was smarter to stay out of that last turn on wet roads. Looking at the book this morning, you could just see that thing would be trouble in wet weather… especially with that crosswalk and all that white paint right on the turn. That stuff always makes things touch-and-go. As soon as it’s raining, it doesn’t really matter if you’re

The Cascade Cycling Classic women's race got off to a scary start on Thursday, as an early 20-rider pileup sent two racers to a local hospital. "It was one of the worst sounds I've heard in a long time," said Kristin Armstrong (T-Mobile), who won the 81.6-mile Cascade Lakes Road Race stage in a time of 3 hours, 40 minutes, 33 seconds. Leah Goldstein (Trek-Red Truck Beer Racing) sustained hip, shoulder and arm injuries in the crash, according to race director Brad Ross. She and Cat Malone (Webcor) were both taken to St. Charles Medical Center-Bend. "She'll be in the hospital for

First, a question: Dear Lennard,I was wondering why the Saunier Duval team is allowed to wear their yellow outfits in the Tour. I thought that teams that had yellow in their colors had to change them for the Tour, as ONCE did in the past.Peter Dear Peter,Here is the official answer from Virginie Geinoz, the press officer for Saunier Duval-Prodir: “The Tour asked us to make a new jersey with less yellow. Therefore, we have designed this special edition for the Tour with the shoulders in white.”Lennard Ag2R on carbon clinchersTeam Ag2R is using unmarked Reynolds carbon clincher wheels

Stage 6 - Troy to Nancy > 199km

Survivor: Bernucci celebrates his luck... and his first win as a professional

Oh the heartbreak

The break

Lucky and liking it

Kirsippu and Mengin

Mengin jumps

Armstrong didn't care for today's stage

Stage 6 - Troy to Nancy > 199km

Stage 6 - Troy to Nancy > 199km

Lance gets weighed in with champagne at the start.

Boonen and McEwen roll in together after Mengin laid it down

Lance on the front of the peloton early in the race, just outside Troyes

Lance attacks and Vinokorov follows

Floyd rolls into the start, looking relaxed and cool

Mengin on a descent in the rain

Peloton in fields near Troyes

Bernucci charges through the final corner with the first win of his career

Vinokourov in the final corner, driving for the line and precious seconds on Armstrong

Stage 6 - Troy to Nancy > 199km

Angel-faced Didi Thurau briefly ruled the '77 Tour

If you put Boonen and McEwen each on his own Laufmaschine, who would you bet your money on?

Ag2R's unmarked Reynolds carbon clinchers

Gerolsteiner takes a broad stance in the TTT

This could be the start of something ... no, let's not make that joke, please

PRO wheels

Okay, who slipped the Lawrence Welk into my iPod's playlist?

Course: This stage has one of the event’s most beautiful stagingareas. Chambord is the largest of the Loire châteaux and one of world’sfinest Renaissance buildings. The stage is on rolling roads that generallyhead eastward, with crosswinds likely on a 40km stretch next to the LoireRiver before a final with-the-wind swoop into Montargis. History: The Tour has only once ended a stage in Montargis, in1969, when it was the terminus of a giant 10-hour, 330km slog from Clermont-Ferrand on the penultimate day. The winner was Belgium’s Herman Van Springel, who also won that year’s stage over the

Emotion fuelled the windswept, rain-spattered 183km stage 5 of the Tour de France from Chambord to Montargis on Wednesday - and for a full spectrum of reasons. At the start, we had an almost reluctant overall race leader in American Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel) not wanting to wear the yellow jersey he felt that, morally, still belonged to Dave Zabriskie of CSC. But it was a gesture the Tour organizers would not allow. Then at the finish, we had an elated stage winner, Australian Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto), championing his vengeance against a race jury that relegated him to last

Stage 5 Results1. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 183km in 3:46:00 (48.584kph)2. Tom Boonen (B), Quickstep3. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole4. O’grady Stuart (Aus), Cofidis5. Angelo Furlan (I), Domina Vacanze6. Allan Davis (Aus), Liberty Seguros7. Bernhard Eisel (A), Francaise des Jeux8. Baden Cooke (Aus), Francaise des Jeux9. Jens Voigt (G), CSC10. Robert Forster (G), Gerolsteiner 11. Nazon Jean-Patrick (F), Ag2r Prevoyance12. Daniele Righi (I), Lampre13. Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz), Domina Vacanze14. Laurent Brochard (F), Bouygues Telecom15. Peter Wrolich (A), Gerolsteiner16. Daniel

Suggestions that Lance Armstrong could be showing the first signs of weakness as he bids for a seventh consecutive yellow jersey have been knocked on the head by Tour de France great Raymond Poulidor. Former French cycling ace Laurent Jalabert suggested that Armstrong's facial expression in Tuesday's hard-fought team time trial victory, which handed the American the yellow jersey, appeared to show a chink in his armor. "In the final section of the team time trial there was one thing which struck me," Jalabert wrote in L'Equipe the day after Discovery beat the CSC team by only