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Media speculation about Lance Armstrong’s cycling future hit a fever pitch Wednesday following an interview with the French daily Le Figaro when the six-time Tour de France champion advised journalists to turn up at a press conference April 18 ahead of the Tour de Georgia. “If I were you, I’d go there. I have something important to say,” Armstrong said. “I won’t be doing the Tour forever. But it’s still too early to talk about it. I will announce it to you, to the world, only later.” Armstrong, who turns 34 in September, only reluctantly announced he’d be returning to the Tour this year for a

My father Joe and I had the great pleasure of visiting South Africa for two weeks in March. What started out as a business trip became an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience. We not only came face to face with lions, but also saw a cycling-crazed country and took part in a world class Ironman experience. The trip was organized by our friend Stewart Miller, who lives in Johannesburg and has started www.expertonline.co.za, a training web site for South Africa. Stewart contacted us to see if we would conduct some presentations the week of the Cape Argus bike race and the Ironman South

Armstrong: I have something important to say.

Dirk (right) and the crew from www.expertonline.co.za,

The guys from Jittery Joes in South Africa

Laurent Brochard (Bouygues Telecom), won the Paris-Camembert semi-classicrace in Vimoutiers, France, for a third time Tuesday.Former world champion Brochard crossed the line after 200km of ridingwith a lead of a few seconds over the first group of pursuers, includingsix-time Tour de France winner American Lance Armstrong.Brochard, 37, also won the French Cup event - a one-day race from Magnanville,west of Paris, to Vimoutiers in Normandy - in 2001 in 2003."I have really found my form," Brochard said afterwards. "PhysicallyI feel just as good as a few years ago and mentally I'm

Editor's Note: Nineteen-year-old Larssyn Staley - the 2003 world champion in the junior women's points race - is the only American riding for the Swiss-based Andeer team. Throughout her first season on the continent,the Beaverton, Oregon, native will be sending us updates about life inthe women's peloton and providing a newcomer's perspective on racing in Europe.Two weeks ago I had my first race in Italy. After that race, I couldn’t get over the chaotic mess of the field. However, having that race under my belt, I rode in the field with ease this weekend at The Trofeo Alfredo

Clamping powerDear Lennard,I am hearing that disc brakes can cause the axel to shift within thedropouts when paired with standard quick release skewers causing alignmentproblems in the rotor/caliper interface. Is this true? If so, is movingto a beefier mechanism (such as a new Marzocchi QR20 fork) the only fix?Is there a difference between steel and titanium skewers in this respect?I am thinking of making the change to discs and need to know how much hiddencost there is, new fork, hub, etc.BlairDear Blair,Yes, that’s true. Indeed, the clamping force is definitely less withsome skewer designs

Hincapie took the trophy in 2004

The final stage in 2004

Score one for the Mullet Man

Armstrong seems healthy again.

Things are looking up for Christian Vande Velde and his chances to race in the Giro d’Italia next month. The 28-year-old American re-injured his back early in the season, but returned to racing over the weekend with eyes toward helping Team CSC captain Ivan Basso in the season’s first grand tour. “My main goal is still the Giro, even though Bjarne (Riis) is trying to keep the pressure off me, which I totally appreciate,” Vande Velde said. “I know that as long as I’m healthy, I’ll be a great asset to the team, but I don’t want to go there if I'm not a 100 percent for Ivan, because I know

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.How about a tech piece on track gear?Editor:In some of the articles about track world’s there are comments about gear selection; some bigger, some smaller. It would be interesting to know what gearing is being used in the various events by some of the participants. A technical article

On March 4, the eve of the 2005 NORBA opener in Boerne, Texas, a handfulof USA Cycling members and team managers gathered for a powwow – the customarypre-race meeting to discuss any new regulations or course changes thatneeded addressing.The only reporter in attendance, I rolled in about half an hour late,and the meeting was already in full debate mode. The topic of choice: USACycling’s recent decision to allowing for outside mechanical assistanceduring races – thus negating the age-old NORBA rule barring any sort ofmechanical assistance.Everyone in the room appeared to have an opinion, a

Emotions ran high at the ADT Center velodrome Saturday night in Carson, California, when all four finals produced first-time world champions: Great Britain scored gold in the team pursuit and women’s sprint, Australia won the women’s pursuit, and Denmark took the men’s scratch race. The British pursuiters won in grand style, crushing a young Dutch squad in the final by a four-second margin, Defending champion Australia took bronze ahead of New Zealand. “We’ve been getting silver medals year in, year out,” said British veteran Chris Newton. “We were nearly there last year, so this makes up

Dutchman Thomas Dekker, of the Rabobank team, stunned a host of established professionals by winning the 98.5km second stage of the Criterium international race between Vieilles Forges to here on Sunday. The 20-year-old Dutchman's victory gave him the race lead and he is now well primed to take the overall honours after the third and concluding stage, an 8.3km time trial held on Sunday afternoon. (Results are now posted.) Dekker, the winner of last year’s Tour of Normandy and the prestigious GP Eddy Merckx two-man time trial (with Koen de Kort), beat out Liberty's Jörg Jaksche and

UCI president Hein Verbruggen has launched a scathing attack on World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Dick Pound over the extent to which they both perceive the problem of doping in cycling.And Verbruggen, also an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, conceded that the UCI has taken to issuing "red card" warnings to cyclists whose blood test results appear suspect.Officials have confirmed, for example, that the governing body sentat least two warning letters to the Phonak team regarding suspicious testresults from Tyler Hamilton and other riders last spring.Pound has in the past

CSC's Bobby Julich continued his great early season form by winning the Criterium International three-stage race as it wrapped up in Charleville-Mezieres, France, Sunday, after dominating the concluding time trial. Julich, the winner of Paris-Nice less than a month ago - the first leg of the 27-race Pro Tour series - won the 8.3km time trial to overhaul Dutchman Thomas Dekker, the winner of the 98.5km second stage which was held in the morning. Julich had come third in Sunday's second stage behind Liberty rider Jörg Jaksche and Dekker. It left the American with a three-second

Reigning world road race champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) warmed up for next week's Tour of Flanders by winning the Fleche Brabanconne one-day classic held over 198km between Zaventem and Beersel, Belgium, on Sunday. The 29-year-old Freire, who a few weeks ago won the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race, held off Dutchman Marc Lotz of QuickStep and Davitamon’s Belgian Axel Merckx, who took third place after 3:38:56 of racing. Freire was one of the day's main animators, the Spaniard forming part of a 15-strong group that charged out of the main field in the latter stages of the race. The

Bobby Julich is enjoying the finest form of his career, scoring his most important victories in the past month after picking up where he left off last summer with the bronze medal in the Olympic time trial. Over the winter, Julich fully recovered from a broken wrist he suffered during a fall in the stage to Plateau de Beille in the Tour de France. He snatched victory in Paris-Nice earlier this month and confirmed he’s in top form with an equally impressive win in the “mini-Tour de France” in this weekend’s Critérium International. “It’s as if I’m riding a wave after Paris-Nice and I really

The final day of racing at the world track championships in Carson, California, featured two themes which had been gaining momentum throughout this four-day event. One was good for Great Britain, the other not-so-hot for the host country. On the upside was the continued rise of the British squad. After placing a solid second behind the Australians on the track at last summer’s Olympic in Athens, the Brits climbed the final hurdle in Southern California, snagging four gold — double that of any other nation racing at the ADT Event Center velodrome. The final win came courtesy of Rob Hayles

The British pursuit squad: Silver no more

Vicky Pendleton came out of nowhere to take gold in the sprint

This time it's gold for Mactier

Carney takes a gamble

Carney on his own, getting encouragement from Danny Van Haute

Rusmussen had a perfect race

Dekker scrambles ahead for the win

A grey day in the Ardennes

Dekker's teammate Michael Boogered tries to bridge

The escape

Jakshe set the pace for much of the day

After winning Paris-Nice, Julich was a favorite

Still favored in the TT, Julich may face a fight from Dekker

T-Mobile tries to chase... but it's a little too late.

Phonak's Floyd Landis encounters a bit of trouble early in the day

Dekker has the jersey... for the first half of the day at least

Julich vaulted past the surprising Dekker on GC

Dekker showed great form in the yellow jersey, but lost 11 seconds to Julich.

Kurt-Asle Arvesen takes third in the TT

Jens Voigt finishes second.

American Levi Leipheimer

Julich wins CI for the second time in his career

Freire makes it look easy.

Britain's Rob Hayles on his way to victory in the Madison

The U.S. now boasts one of the world's best track venues.

Pearce took a shot, but the Americans dropped the ball.

The British team of Hayles and Cavendish went on to win

Mickaël Bourgain and Grégory Baugé in the semi's

Bourgain meets Wolff in the final

Wolff takes the win

In 6th, Reed becomes the top U.S. finisher at world's

Quinn started as one of the U.S.'s top hopes for a medal

Never in the 40-year history of the kilometer time trial or 25-year history of the keirin had a Dutchman won a world title. Remarkably, within the space of a few minutes on Friday night at the ADT Center velodrome in Carson, California, the men in orange raced to gold medals in both of those disciplines. First Theo Bos, 21, won a superb kilo competition in 1:01.165, a record performance in North America, and then Teun Mulder, 23, took a dominant win in the keirin. “We can train together now in the same jersey,” quipped Bos, whose latest rainbow jersey complements the world title he won in

Normally if a group of event organizers announced a multi-day bike race that was slated to commence in less than year, but had no title sponsor, a route or even exact dates, you’d chalk it up as the standard baseless hyperbole that has so often characterized proposed cycling events in the U.S. But when AEG president and CEO Tim Leiweke backed up the announcement of what will be the inaugural Tour of California with the boldest of statements, you have to believe this event is actually going to get off the ground as planned come February 2006. “The decision we had to make at AEG, and with

Boonen takes E3 Prijs VlaanderenBelgian sprinter Tom Boonen coasted to victory in the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen Saturday as he warms up for next weekend's Tour of Flanders, the fourth race in the 27-leg Pro Tour series. Boonen, who rides for Quick Step, crossed the finish line of the 200km race ahead of Germany's Andreas Klier (T-Mobile), who had been the 24-year-old Belgian's breakaway companion for nearly a third of the race. Belgian Peter Van Petegem (Davitamon-Lotto) crossed 10 seconds later for third. Boonen's second consecutive victory here, his fifth win this year, followed

Spaniard Isaac Galvez (Illes Balears) drew first blood on Saturday as the three-stage Critérium International opened in Charleville-Mezieres. In claiming his first victory on French soil, the former track racer handed another disappointment to one-time sprint king Erik Zabel (T-Mobile), who crossed in second place. Robert Forster (Gerolsteiner) took third. Illes Balears was looking to add another Mallorcan to the roster when it recruited 29-year-old Galvez, a 1999 world track champion in the Madison. And after pulling out of the UCI world track championships being held in Los Angeles

Australia is assured of the gold medal in the women's 3km individual pursuit at the UCI world track cycling championships after Katie Mactier and Katherine Bates qualified for the final. Theo Bos of the Netherlands, meanwhile, rocketed to a 10.192 in 200-meter sprint qualifying and will look to add a second gold medal to the one he collected on Friday in the kilometer time trial. Mactier posted the best time of the Saturday-morning session at the ADT Center velodrome in Carson, California, finishing well ahead of her compatriot in 3 minutes, 38.325 seconds. Bates was second in

I want to start this week’s column off by saying thanks to Health Net-Maxxis riders Gord Fraser and Tyler Farrar. Since the pair of sprinters appeared on the cover of our domestic road season preview, both are having a great start to the season, taking multiple wins and making us editors here at VeloNews look like we know what we’re talking about. Resplendent in the Canadian national champion’s jersey, Fraser has won three races this year, one each at the McLane Pacific in Merced, the Central Valley Classic in Fresno and the San Dimas Stage Race in, well, San Dimas. Farrar has won twice,

Teun Mulder celebrates a first-ever Dutch win in the keirin...

... while Teammate Bos takes the kilo

Jobie Dajka tried to put on the brakes in the kierin, but too late. He goes down and takes out Tournant.

Mulder gets the win.

Mirabella

Bartko still has it

AEG president and CEO Tim Leiweke

USA Cycling CEO Gerard Bisceglia

Galvez takes the win ...

... and the leader's jersey

Finot has a go ...

... and collects some company

Levi enjoys a day in the saddle

And why not? It was beautiful in the Ardennes

There's art (here) and real life (click the image), and Fraser and Farrar can handle both

Stahl's collarbone-popping crash

Mactier qualified fastest in the women's individual pursuit

Bos was the man in sprint qualifying

Mirabella was feeling the effects of Friday's racing