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Tim Johnson leads the peloton up one of the beautiful climbs in the rain.

Wow, McCormack snatched the stage and GC from Navigators on a cold, miserable day in CT.

Well, well, well, this Giro d’Italia just keeps getting more interesting by the day. In Saturday’s 218km grind-fest high in the spectacular Dolomites, Discovery Channel’s Paolo Savoldelli snatched the leader’s jersey away from CSC’s Ivan Basso with a powerful attack on the day’s final climb and proved yet again he’s a top candidate for the overall victory. Savoldelli followed a move by two-time Giro champion Gilberto Simoni (Lampre-Caffita) midway up the day’s fifth and final climb on the Cat. 1 Pontives. A struggling Basso, weakened by a stomach bug, couldn’t answer as “Il Falco” surged

French rider Anthony Charteau (Bouygues Telecom) won the battle in Saturday’s 198km sixth stage but Yaroslav Popovych (Discovery Channel) edged closer to winning the war of the Volta a Cataluyna. Charteau was part of a 10-man breakaway that dominated the late going of the 198km hilly run from Llivia to Pallejá. The fifth-year veteran shot clear with just over a kilometer to go to surprise the leaders, including such names as Santiago Botero (Phonak), Christophe Moreau (Crédit Agricole) and Paco Lara (T-Mobile). No one reacted immediately and Charteau threw everything into the attack to win

Two days, two dramatically different courses - same result. Vassili Davidenko (Navigators Insurance) took the second stage of the Tour of Connecticut almost as easily as he took the first. The “almost” is because on Saturday, he had to climb nearly 8000 feet in 60 miles to win. Still, while he conceded that his form “is good,” Davidenko added that the victory “was about my team.” After a flurry of early attacks, the race found its rhythm - steady-hard at the front, attrition at the back. TIAA-CREF’s Timmy Duggan took off on his own on the third of 15 laps and stayed away for eight.

The Dolomites have taken their toll on the peloton. The legs are aching and the energy is waning. There were 40 riders popped off the back on the first climb of stage 13 and it was not even a categorized climb. The riders were trudging up this steep ascent in their 39x25s and they had five categorized climbs and more than 200km ahead of them. I always know from the sound of my husband’s voice when the fatigue has set in during a grand tour. There is little if any response when I ask Michael questions and the conversation generally becomes fairly dull - I can talk at him, but his energy

Savoldelli goes it alone

Savoldelli leads Simoni

Savoldelli in pink

Basso struggled in the finale

Cunego and Simoni on the attack

Zabriskie labors on Basso's behalf

Passa Gardena - what a view, eh?

And here's another postcard

Barry and VeloNews diarist Vande Velde

Bettini in the break

Parra on the podium

Chris Baldwin (Navigators) and Geoff Kabush (Jittery Joe's) bridging to the break with about five laps remaining

Race leader Vassili Davidenko (Navigators) cornering

Tim Duggan (TIAA-CREF) on a solo

Davide Frattini (Colavita-Sutter Home) and Baldwin in the break

Jittery Joe's rider Craig Wilcox's bike with sheared off carbon fork, after hitting another rider on the descent

The Navs' Oleg Grichkine leads the peloton

Mark Walters (Navigators) suffers on the climb

Tim Johnson (Jittery Joe's) heads down the descent

Dominique Perras (Kodak-Sierra Nevada) earning the best climber's jersey

Davidenko winning again, and looking glad to have the race over

The podium: Davidenko, Frattini and Baldwin

The submissions continue and we've posted another new Photo Gallery., the fourth one this week. As you know our winner from last week's contest was "Ace assaultsHogpen," by Ronnie Fields, an excellent shot that reflects both great composition and creative "dark room" work in PhotoShop. Congratulations to Ronnie Fields, who will receive a signed copy of Graham Watson's "Landscapes of Cycling." As we said, it was a difficult choice and there were several photoswe thought worthy of mention. Our list of honorable mentions includes:Jay Christy's "Giro d'Italia 2004: Stage 4,

Iñigo Cuesta gave Saunier Duval its second consecutive stage victory in Friday’s 17km climbing time trial high in Andorra while Discovery Channel’s Yaroslav Popovych solidified his hold on the leader’s jersey. Cuesta won in 37 minutes, 18 seconds, some 26 seconds faster than teammate Leonardo Piepoli, Thursday’s winner. Popovych, making his first race appearance since March because of visa problems, came through fifth and holds a 20-second lead on Piepoli and 59 seconds on David Moncoutie (Cofidis). "I am as surprised as anybody, I never expected this," the former amateur world champion

Alessandro Petacchi catapulted to his second stage win of the 88th Giro d’Italia in what turned out to be a slow 178km roll between giants. Following the sparks in Thursday’s stage to Zoldo Alto and the epic climbs lying in wait in the Dolomites this weekend, the peloton seemed content to enjoy Friday’s sunny passeggiata from Alleghe to Rovereto. “These sprints after the mountains are always difficult, but the team was motivated to win. I could still feel yesterday’s stage in my legs,” said Petacchi, who won easily ahead of Paride Grillo (Panaria). “This year it’s been harder to win stages,

If you’re not racing mountain bikes in Europe during May, you’re not doing any big races. I’m not heading over until the third round of the World Cup May 29 in Houffalize, Belgium, so that means some serious down time. You might think I’d take some time off, maybe go to a warm beach somewhere, or even just hang out in Durango. But I can’t seem to sit still for a single weekend, so I’ve been hitting the road circuit. It’s a good thing I’m a bike racer. I already got in some good road racing this past February with a six-day race in Mexico. Then, after Sea Otter, I headed to New Mexico for the

After Thursday’s mountainous throw-down, it looks as though the Giro d’Italia is coming down to a two-man battle, eh? Funny, for all the hype built up around the double-pronged danger of Lampre’s Damiano Cunego and Gilberto Simoni, the winners of the past two years, it’s now CSC’s Ivan Basso, a rider who has never won a grand tour, wearing the maglia rosa. While the Giro is far from over, it appears Basso is the strongest man in the race, with only Discovery Channel’s Paolo Savoldelli, the 2002 Giro winner, able to hang with him in the mountains. And while no one wins a grand tour by luck,

Davitamon-Lotto’s Australian sprint ace Robbie McEwen, winner of three stages of this year's Giro d’Italia, announced Friday that he was quitting the race after the day's 12th stage. "I'm going home," said McEwen, who is wearing the points leader's jersey. "The plains are behind us now. I'm sorry to leave but after the Giro I've still got the Tour de France and the world championship. To race everything would be too much. It's a big and beautiful Giro. Goodbye to the tifosi!" During his three previous appearances in the Giro McEwen, 32, also quit before the

The Discovery Channel team had a special visit on the rest day, as Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel flew in for dinner at the team hotel. The two unexpected visitors provided a little extra motivation and shared some laughs with team, especially when the usually shy and conservative looking Tony Cruz showed up to dinner with a Mohawk. After the Giro's first rest day, several other riders in the bunch had trimmed their manes to cool themselves in the mountain stages ahead. Rain threatened much of stage 10, but very little actually fell on the peloton. Aside from the wild ride

“I came around the last corner, saw the line, and knew I had to go." Winning stage 1 of the Tour of Connecticut on Friday was that simple for Vassili Davidenko (Navigators Insurance). The Russian sprinter has been on a tear of late, but he needed his team to make the victory happen. The 80-lap race around the half-mile rectangle around the New Haven commons was a festival of speed. Despite a fairly steady stream of attacks, no one could get more than a handful of seconds, and not for very long. With both the Navigators and Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home squads looking to keep things together

Fassa's fast man does it again

Who is that man in the plain white jersey?

Basso enjoys a day in the pink

Going up

Hey, mate... are those mountains up ahead?

Schnyder goes for a little free publicity

McEwen and friends in a happier moment, before the sprint was lost, the law called and his ticket for home punched

That's one packed peloton

McCartney bellies up to the rolling Discovery bar

Fassa finishing fast

Baldwin leads his Navigators mob through a corner with five laps to go

Davidenko early in the race, looking relaxed

Tim Johnson rippin' it early on

Geoff Kabush airing out his sideburns

An early crash has everyone sorting out bike parts

Grishkin and Haedo hassle for the same space

.... with Davidenko and Artacho waiting behind

Navigators on the front with two to go . . .

. . . and Davidenko wins

As Paolo Savoldelli was winning a stage in the Giro d’Italia, understudy Yaroslav Popovych slipped into the race leader’s jersey in the Volta a Cataluyna in what was a big day for the Discovery Channel team. Popovych finished second to stage winner Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval) in the 237km march across the Catalan Pyrénées, which ended with the long summit finish to the Pal ski area in Andorra. “I was more interested in getting the stage win than the lead,” said Popovych, who holds an 11-second lead going into Friday’s 17km climbing time trial to the Arcalis ski area. “I've only

And then there were two. After months of hype and 10 exciting stages of pyrotechnics, 150 kilometers of pavement up the grinding Passo Duran and to the summit finish to Zoldo Alto turned the 88th Giro into a two-man race. It wasn’t supposed to be that way, but Ivan Basso’s piston-shot legs spun a tale of destruction in his wake. Only the inspired Paolo Savoldelli, the 2002 Giro winner wracked by two seasons of injury and frustration, could hang on. Team CSC’s Basso surged into the maglia rosa after a string of vicious accelerations left his rivals withered on the steep roads in the

Tour of ConnecticutMay 20-22Start listColavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home1. Mark McCormack2. Juan Jose Haedo (Arg)3. Davide Frattini (I)4. Todd Herriott5. Aaron Olson6. Derek Wilkerson7. Gustavo Artacho (Arg)8. Tyler WrenWebcor Builders11. Charles Dionne (Can)12. David Clinger13. Bernard van Ulden14. Ben Haldeman15. Lucas Euser16. James Mattis17. Marc Collard18. Ted HuangFiordifrutta21. Jon Hamblen22. Phil Wong23. Mike Dietrich24. Chris Rozdilsky25. Larry Perera26. Dan Timmerman27. Matt White28. Josh GewirtzVolkswagen-Trek31. Alexandre Lavallée (Can)32. Alexandre Cloutier (Can)33. Jean Sébastien

MAROSTICA, Italy (AP) - The Union Cycliste Internationale has risen to the defense of teams that were targeted by police raids and criticized the publicity given to the anti-doping operation. The UCI said in a statement Thursday that the hypobaric equipment found in the hotel housing the Davitamon-Lotto team is not illegal, and medicines and bottles from intravenous drips reportedly used by Lotto and Saunier Duval were believed to be legal products. The police raid was carried out after Wednesday's 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia, which was won by Davitamon-Lotto captain Robbie

Yesterday (Wednesday) was just long and boring, but today sure made up for it. Dead, dead flat and really slow. The only thing anyone was worried about on Stage 10 was that finishing circuit – three laps around a 5.2km loop – with narrow roads and tight corners. But before we got there it was just five hours of absolutely nothing. It was slow and that was it…until we started heading into the circuits. We had moved to the front, to keep Ivan out of trouble and we came to a poorly marked turn, where the peloton was supposed to go right, but a good part of the field was led into the wrong part

Mayo is taking things more slowly this spring

Savoldelli gets the stage . . .

. . . and Basso gets the shirt

A fine day for a bike race

Cunego had a disastrous day

Basso, Savoldelli and Simoni showed their strength

Joachim on the move

Savoldelli came around at the right moment

It's good to be king

Tony Cruz and Davis Phinney have a chat pre-race

Horrillo on the marchIt’s often said Spanish rider Pedro Horrillo is too smart to be a bike racer. After all, he’s a guy who reads philosophy books and studied law before becoming enamored with the bike. But his intellectual proclivities come in handy sometimes, especially in his bids to out-wit the hard-charging peloton. The Rabobank attacker took advantage of a rising finish to hold off the main bunch to snag the win in the 157.8km third stage of the Volta a Cataluyna. Coming through second was Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) while Italian Claudio Corioni (Fassa Bortolo) was third. “It

Robbie McEwen is a puckish little scrapper who’s made a career of knocking the crown off the big dogs. But pulling a hat-trick against the formidable Fassa Bortolo train in the opening 10 days of the 88th Giro d’Italia is something else. McEwen might as well be called the giant killer of the corsa rosa and the Davitamon-Lotto rider played his David card yet again in Wednesday’s 212km snoozer that started slow, got wet and ended hot across the flats of the Po Valley. With the ominous Dolomites brooding to the north, the peloton was in no hurry to go anywhere until it charged onto three laps

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.Nice to see a wide-open GiroEditor:I don't know if anybody else feels this way, but the first week of this Giro has been much more interesting than last year. Sure, I like to see the Silver Train line up and deliver Alessandro Petacchi every now and then, but not winning every stage.

Carbohydrate supplements Hi, Monique,Thanks for the info you pass along in your articles, they really help in trying to sort through the tons of info that’s out there on sports nutrition. One quick question for you, though: You refer to a "high-carbohydrate supplement" in your article; can you give me one or two examples of a supplement and what amount of carb/kg you would recommend for consumption one hour before training? Thanks.Peter Hi, Peter,Many of these high-carbohydrate supplements can be consumed in the hour before exercise for a handy source of pre-training fuel. They can

The hilarious and inspiring film – The Tour Baby! – chronicling filmmaker Scott Coady's amazing journey following the entire Tour de France, began its 2005 world tour in Ghazni, Afghanistan! U.S. troops who are diehard cyclists and big-time pro cycling fans serving in Afghanistan have a hard time getting any miles or pro race coverage. One committed cyclist, Master Sergeant Pat Gleason, is finding ways to get his cycling fix. His wife, Jill, wrote to The Tour Baby! filmmaker Scott Coady to order a copy of the film for her cycling-starved husband. In honor of Master Sergeant Gleason’s

McEwen by a hair

Darth Basso

Master Sergeant Gleason and his platoon