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Roberto Laiseka doesn’t win often, but when he does, it’s usually pretty good. Take Tuesday’s climbing stage to Cerler, as an example. The Euskaltel-Euskadi veteran attacked a group of five cautious favorites with 3km to go in the grueling 12km finishing climb high in the rainy Pyrénées to sneak away with another impressive mountain top victory. “I attacked because I knew the others would be worried about each other. It was an opportunistic win,” said Laiseka, after finishing 15 seconds ahead of Carlos Sastre (CSC). “I had some luck because I knew the last kilometer was kind of downhill, so

Could Lance Armstrong return to racing next year to clear his name of doping allegations leveled by the French newspaper L’Equipe two weeks ago? Discovery Channel sport director Johan Bruyneel didn’t shoot down that possibility after reports that Armstrong is mulling a comeback surfaced Tuesday. “I’m not counting out anything,” Bruyneel told Spanish television at the conclusion of Tuesday’s 11th stage at the Vuelta a España. “With what’s happened in France, he would have a little extra motivation.” In a story in Tuesday’s Austin American-Statesman, the Texas newspaper reported that

Sorry about the last two days. It’s been hectic and I haven’t had a chance to write much. The first was the TT and that went pretty well for me and the team. My wife Leah and my dad were there, so I spent some time with them. Dad spent the day hanging out window yelling, as usual, behind me. By the end of the day, the team had three people in the top-15 overall including me! I had dinner with my wife and life was good. So the next day, yesterday, we were ready to do what was necessary to help Carlos in the mountains. I still don't know what happened at the bottom of the first climb,

Sweet win for veteranRoberto Laiseka is elusive figure in Basque cycling. Skinny and emaciated to the point of looking undernourished, the 36-year-old simply shows up when he wants to. No one on the Euskaltel-Euskadi can tell him where and when he must race. The veteran races when he feels good. Laiseka felt good enough Tuesday to deliver a much-needed victory for his troubled team, which suffered through the Tour de France and this Vuelta with little to cheer about. So far in this Vuelta, Iban Mayo has abandoned and team leader Aitor González has faded out of contention. “We needed this

While most eyes have been turned to the Vuelta a España thismonth, the smaller six-stage Tour of Britain (August 30–September 4) featuredsome of the most competitive racing the European continent has witnessedin 2005. When all was said and done, only 40 seconds separated the race’stop six finishers. Although the Tour of Britain does not carry ProTour status, a handfulof peloton's top squads, including T-Mobile, CSC, Quick-Step and MrBookmaker,did send riders. Present were some heavy hitters, including reigningworld time trial champ Michael Rogers and Belgian strongman Nick Nuyensof

We are over halfway through the Vuelta and have reached the first rest day. The last two days were tough, with lots of climbs, and a relentless pace in the peloton. Tonight we are staying at the ski station of Benasque, a small little village that attracts Spanish royalty during the ski season and bike racers during the summer. The last two days Liberty Seguros has controlled the race from start to finish despite the fact that they don’t have the race lead. Rabobank, the race leader Menchov’s team, has helped them a little but essentially it is Liberty that has chased everything down. I am

Seat tubes and lube?Dear Lennard,I have been in the bicycle industry for many years and have consistently had conflicting advice about using grease in a frame's seat tube when using a carbon seatpost. With the many materials that frames are using now, are there some frames that should have grease in the seat tube when using a carbon seatpost, or is using grease in a seat tube with a carbon seatpost a big no-no? What do the majority of frame and carbon seatpost manufacturers have to say about this and why isn't it more clear? Also, if grease is a good idea, is there any particular

Heras, Sastre and Menchov were almost inseparable on Tuesday

Pena and Pereiro joined the day's long break

Menchov did exactly what he had to.

The chase didn't begin in earnest until the penultimate climb

Hushovd has enough

Tuesday's stage offered a heavy dose of climbing

After Beloki blew, Scarponi picked up the job at the front

Laiseka goes on the attack.

Sastre gets company when he tries

Danielson and Beltran eventually lost contact with the lead group

Mancebo and Garcia Quesada fought to regain position

Hail Britannia: Zajicek enjoyed his time at the Tour of Britain

Francisco Mancebo was dropped at least twice on the grinding climb to the Arcalís ski station high in the Andorran mountains, but each time he fought his way back to rejoin a lead group composed of all of the Vuelta a España’s top players. The Illes Balears captain put everything into a last-gasp dig to bridge back to three-time Vuelta champion Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) and race leader Denis Menchov (Rabobank) with 3.5km to go, then found the legs to sprint to victory in Monday’s four-climb, 206.3km 10th stage. “I won more today with the heart than the legs,” said Mancebo, who nudged

Mancebo gets his winIt’s been a long time coming, but Francisco “Paco” Mancebo finally got his first big-time, grand tour stage victory in Monday’s hump to Arcalis. They eight-year pro has been close before, including second in last year’s final time trial and third in the seventh stage of the 2004 Tour de France, but the 29-year-old Spanish rider had never won a stage in a grand tour. “I’ve been close over the years so it feels good to finally win one,” said Mancebo, who out-sprinted Roberto Heras and Denis Menchov to win. “I’m not one of those explosive riders who can blow up the race. I

The riders are now in the midst of the toughest mountain stages of the Vuelta and the race organization and drug testers are not making it any easier on them, as they put the riders in lousy hotels over the weekend, with loud music playing all night long, making for a lousy night sleep and then woke them up at the crack of dawn for blood testing. While visiting Michael this weekend in Lloret de Mar, I felt like I was having a bad nightmare, in which I was brought back to the ‘70s and stuck in a cheesy all-inclusive family resort. Normally, the guys stay in nice hotels, so this was totally

Menchov continues to lead

Danielson at today's finish

Osa's crash took him out of the break and out of the Vuelta

Danielson fought hard to stay in the front group

It's still a tight race between Heras and Menchov

Liberty drives the chase

Quesada, Mercado and Sevilla fighting to stay in contact

Verbrugghe's had a great Vuelta

And then there were three

Mancebo goes for it

Scarponi gives chase

Andorra to E. E. Aramón Cerler, (186.6Km)

Denis Menchov isn’t one to show too much emotion, but the hard-nosed Russian pumped his fist in elation moments after roaring to victory in Sunday’s 48km time trial along Spain’s Costa Brava. The Rabobank captain took 49 seconds on overnight race leader Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) to win his second time trial of this year’s Vuelta. The victory shot him back into overall lead and pumped new life into the race as the Vuelta heads to back-to-back summit finishes in the Pyrénées starting Monday. “I’m very satisfied with this victory,” said Menchov, who was nine seconds faster than Ruben

While it might not make for thrilling storytelling, defending world champions Julien Absalon and Gunn-Rita Dahle confirmed on Sunday that when the stakes are highest, they are, respectively, the top cross-country racers in the world. Both riders took Olympic and world championship titles last year, and both crossed the finish line in Livigno, Italy, alone to repeat as world champs. It was the third world title for the 32-year-old Dahle (Norway), who also won in 2002 and lost her lead in 2003 after a pair of punctures, and the fifth title for the 24-year-old Absalon (France), who was the

For our third day at the Eurobike show in beautiful Friedrichshafen, Germany, let’s take a quick tour of some new brands coming to the U.S., and new products from some established brands. Then, in our final report, we’ll take a look at the scene here, inside the halls and out in the courtyard, in an attempt to convey the unique flavor of this terrific show, now in its 14th year. AX LightnessAX Lightness components, much coveted by weight freaks, have been trickling into the U.S. for a couple of years. Production quantities are small, so they are sometimes hard to find. But if you have your

Allegations of doping against seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong appear to be continuing, with a former soigneur from the American's team adding fuel to the scandal which has rocked cycling. Dutchman Ron Jongen, who worked with Armstrong's former team US Postal in 1999 - the year in which it has been alleged he tested positive six times for banned blood booster EPO (Erythropoietin) - claims he witnessed "strange occurrences" during that year's race, which was Armstrong's first victory on the Tour following his recovery from cancer 18 months previously. Jongen

Menchov now top rivalDenis Menchov has positioned himself to be the top rival to stop Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) from winning a record fourth Vuelta a España. Menchov, 27, had never won a time trial in his six-year pro career. Now he’s won two in the opening half of the 2005 Vuelta and he’s putting the scare in Heras and his Liberty Seguros team. “The time trial isn’t Roberto’s speciality, so he had a good ride Sunday. We can only be satisfied,” said Liberty Seguros sport director Manolo Saiz. “Menchov was strong today and we’ll see how he can do in the high mountains. He’s very

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong will donate $500,000 to help cancer patients displaced by Hurricane Katrina get treatment. Armstrong said Saturday he expects the money will be used to help transport cancer patients to hospitals and cancer centers for treatment. He said more money from his namesake cancer survivorship foundation could be donated in the future. "If you've started treatment and you miss a week or two weeks, it's potentially fatal," Armstrong said. "For me and the foundation, we just looked at that and asked not just what can we do, but how does it

My roommate, Tom Danielson had a fantastic ride and moved himself up into the top five overall. He is a great time trialist but an even better climber so he is motivated for the coming days. Both of us have been sweating up a storm the last 24 hours as our hotel has no air conditioning and gets direct sunlight for most of the day. We have the door and the windows open to try and get a breeze through the room but it doesn’t seem to be doing much other than attracting the tourists to our room who have no qualms about coming in and saying “hello.” The highlight of the time in Lloret has

Fabian Wegmann’s first trip to the United States was capped on Sunday afternoon with a tidy profit earned near San Francisco’s Financial District. The 25-year-old German, who rides for Levi Leipheimer’s Gerolsteiner squad, won the 108-mile Barclays Global Investors Grand Prix after catching John Lieswyn (Health Net-Maxxis) and Jason McCartney (Discovery Channel) in the final two miles, then outsprinting the two Americans for the $15,000 winner’s purse. While the sun finally broke through the famous San Francisco fog in time to shine on Wegmann as he sped across the finish line on the

Tom Danielson might have had trouble falling asleep Sunday night a few hours after riding the best time trial of his career, but it wasn’t because of any post-stage euphoria. A karaoke show was in full flight in his hotel courtyard, and he was hoping the singers would shut up soon enough for him to catch some shuteye before hitting two difficult climbing stages in the Pyrenees beginning Monday. Danielson shot to fifth place overall in the Vuelta a España after his strong sixth-place finish in Sunday’s 10th stage around the party town of Lloret de Mar. While revelers were bringing the Spanish

No 24-hour mountain bike race is ever easy. Yet somehow in most of his five previous 24 Hours of Adrenaline Solo World Championship victories, Trek’s Chris Eatough has made it seem so. In most years he’s crossed under the finish banner looking like someone who’s just finished a training ride, and his post-race comments have been enthusiastic. That certainly wasn’t the case as Eatough earned his sixth title on Sunday. True, while wrapping up his last lap at 12:08 p.m., he smiled and held his arms up in triumph as he broke the finish-line tape. But that jubilant moment soon gave way to

Menchov takes the stage and the lead

The unstoppable Dahle led from start to finish

A light brake, but designed well enough not to make you nervous about stopping

AX works its magic on the crankset, too

The Isaac Impulse

The Isaac Force

The Isaac Joule

Isaac's dropouts show exquisite attention to detail

Absalon repeated his 2004 triumph, too

Menchov wins his second stage of the Vuelta

Heras rode well... a little too well in some corners

Pena takes second for the day

Mancebo takes third

Sastre improved his chances for a shot at the overall

Piil showed that CSC takes these TTs seriously

Another nice example of Isaac's work

The Kysrium ES

The ES's front hub...

... and a cool new rear hub.

The Pace RC40

The RC31 keeps things light and is a perfect choice for some race situations.

The Scott Ransom...

.. and a closer look at same.

The Scott Plasma is all about aerodynamics...

... down to the smallest detail.

Seven's Diamas...

A.. and a close look.

Fans of our Live Coverage know about Spiuk's helmets...

... but the Spanish manufacturer also takes an interesting approach to saddles, like this road model...

... and the new Freeride.

Danielson's feeling strong, but knows he's still learning