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The Mail Bag 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.Dario, Dario, say it ain't so DarioAn open letter to Dario Cioni: I believe in you!!!!!It is absolutely unbelievable that Dario has been declared unfit torace (see "Cioniout of world's" in Friday's EuroFile). He works so hard and everythingI know about Dario Cioni leads me to believe

The Professional Cycling Council (CCP), one of the most influential decision-making bodies in the sport, announced Friday that the impending ProTour series would now include 20 and not 18 teams. The CCP's decision here at the world cycling road race championships follows a request by the International Association of Professional Cycling Teams (AIGCP) to increase the number of teams to 20 in 2005 instead of 2006, as was initially planned. It means the likes of Saeco, which announced its merger with Lampre on Friday, will be virtually assured of a place and other teams can aspire to join

Crank Brothers cyclocross series takes on European flairBOSTON – Reigning Italian national champion Daniele Pontoni is planningto race all six events in the inaugural Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix ofCyclocross, bringing all the luster of a former two-time world championto the series, which kicks off on Saturday Oct. 9th with the CannondaleStumptown Cyclocross Classic, in Portland, Oregon.Pontoni, who finished fourth in the World Championship last February,is no stranger to either the American cyclocross scene or the North Americanfavorites. He raced here in Supercup events in 1999 and 2000,

MORGAN HILL, CA –October 1st, 2004.  The Gerolsteiner Teamhave selected Specialized as their bicycle supplier of choice for 2005and beyond. The partnership ensures that Specialized S-Works bikes willbe present and highly visible in all Pro Tour cycling events in comingyears, including the Giro, Tour, Vuelta, and every major internationalrace. The team is presently third in UCI rankings and boasts World Cupleader Davide Rebellin and USA standout Levi Leipheimer, who will ridewith Specialized optics as well as the team frame.As the agreement between the German-based team and the Morgan Hill

A classic setting for the road opener

Simeoni (front) now says his testimony was worth the cost

Found guilty of malpractice, Ferrari leaves the courtroom in Bologna.

Dekker takes the sprint for second.

I'm always amazed by how different roadies look wearing a cross-country kit...

Oh, there's Sayers!

Alison Dunlap, relaxed, an hour before the cross-country race.

JHK quenches his thirst with the true breakfast of champions.

Chris Del Bosco and his race winning LenzSport ride.

The plan of attack has been formulated. Reinforcements put on notice. Theweaponry checked twice. Notebooks and pens held at the ready… Yup, Interbike kicks-off next week (October 4th-8th) and the crack staffat VeloNews are ready and waiting… With two days of On Dirt Demo and three days of convention floor timescheduled for this year, look for daily reports from several of us attendingthe show. Indeed, with more than half of the editorial staff attendingthe Las Vegas, Nevada trade show, you can be sure we’ll do our best tohave every angle of the show covered: from the latest technology to

UCI officials are set to present the ProTour to the world’s press in a lavish press conference Friday, but sources close to cycling’s governing body say negotiations are still franticly underway to try to bring renegade grand tours into the fold. Last week, race organizers from the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España wrote a letter to the UCI saying they don’t want to be part of cycling’s redesign as the much-vaunted ProTour stands now. While UCI president Hein Verbruggen has publicly said the ProTour will go on “with or without” the grand tours, others have kept the

Olympic champion Paolo Bettini will not be the biggest loser if he is beaten to the road race title by Italian compatriot Davide Rebellin at the world championships' blue ribbon event on Sunday. Instead, the sword is likely to fall on national team selector Franco Ballerini. Ballerini, a former winner of the tough Paris-Roubaix one-day classic, has created huge pressure for himself following Rebellin's defection to represent Argentina around the city made famous by Romeo and Juliet. There will certainly be no love lost between the Italian public and Ballerini if Rebellin, the current World

Mike Van Abel, a former national vice president for the American DiabetesAssociation, has been selected to head the International Mountain BicyclingAssociation (IMBA). Mike was picked from a field of more than 350 candidates,following a nationwide search conducted by T. Malouf & Company.He replaces long-time IMBA executive director Tim Blumenthal, who recentlyassumed the top role at Bikes Belong, the bicycle industry's trade association.Hill Abell, president of IMBA's board and owner of the Bicycle SportShops in Austin, Texas, said, "We couldn't be happier that Mike has acceptedthe position.

Tech Report: Getting soaked before going to 'Vegas

Tech Report: Getting soaked before going to 'Vegas

Tech Report: Getting soaked before going to 'Vegas

Tech Report: Getting soaked before going to 'Vegas

Tech Report: Getting soaked before going to 'Vegas

Franco Ballerini may have a lot to think about on Monday.

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich has pulled out of Sunday's world road race championship in Italy with the same stomach sickness which caused him to pull out of Wednesday's time-trial. "He can't race, it's impossible," said his business manager Rudy Pevenage. Ullrich, 30, the 1997 Tour de France winner is a two-time world time-trial champion - in 1999 and 2001 - but has never won the road race, although he won the Olympic road title at Sydney in 2000. “The season is over for me,” Ullrich said on his on website. “I am so weak that I lose my breath just climbing up stairs.” “The

This time there will be no asterisks, no waiting on failed doping tests and no doubt for Michael Rogers. Just hours after officially receiving the 2003 world champion’s rainbow jersey, the 24-year-old roared across the finish line Wednesday with his right arm shot into the air to emphatically score his second. “I don’t know how many people have won two rainbow jerseys in one day, but it’s very satisfying,” said Rogers, who beat German Michael Rich by 1:12. “Since the Olympics there haven’t been five minutes that I haven’t thought about this race.” Rogers finished runner-up to David Millar

Many people were wondering what Tom Danielson, the American road pro known for his feats on the feared mountain steeps, was doing in the time trial at the world championships in Italy on Wednesday. Danielson, who finished 35th, said afterward that, like much of his inaugural season of racing in Europe, the idea was to gain some experience. The 46.75km race in the hilly wine region near Lake Garda was the longest time trial Danielson had ever raced. “For me, coming here is just a great experience to try and practice,” Danielson said after his ride. “I’m not a time trial specialist, and I

Hermida EPO tests negativeSpanish mountain biker José Antonio Hermida was cleared Wednesday of suspicion of taking EPO after urine samples taken at the world mountain bike championships earlier this month came back negative. Spanish national team officials confirmed that samples taken Sept. 11 in Les Gets, France, did not show traces of the banned blood booster. The Olympic silver medalist was not allowed to start the 2004 world championships after two blood screenings revealed a high hematocrit count and he was given a 15-day “cooling off” period which derailed his world’s hopes. Hermida

Bardolino is the host town of the time trials this week.It is situated on Lake Garda and loaded with good cafes and gelato shops. After being a part of the Olympic Games in August, the World Championships seem relatively small, but the relaxed ambiance is enjoyable. Team USA is staying on a hillside above Lake Garda. Fall has arrived here, the leaves are already beginning to change colors and the air is crisp and cool. I am four days away from the finish of the season and thoughts of hikes in the woods, mountain bike rides and lazy mornings with the New York Times are dancing in my head.

"I've never tested positive." We've all heard this statement (or some variation) from any number of athletes. A lot of athletes and their supporters seem to think this is a meaningful argument. Certainly many people seem to be persuaded by those four simple words. But it’s sad to say that these days, the statement "I’ve never tested positive" is very nearly meaningless. So far, that is. There are signs of progress that may some day give real meaning to the claim of never having tested positive. Of course some athletes move from this falsely persuasive argument to outright lies of denial

The Mail Bag 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. At times, silence is goldenEditor,While I will be greatly disappointed if Tyler Hamilton is guilty ofdoping, what I find most disturbing about the whole scandal—and most ofthe previous ones, too—is that the IOC and UCI released preliminary resultsbefore getting a confirmation from the B

Ullrich's Coast kit is actually paying off now.

This time he gets the jersey first

Rich

Compared to the road to Caravaca de la Cruz, this was easy for Zabriskie

But are you experienced? Danielson tests his legs in Italy

This is show season, and between traveling a lot and writing the fourth edition of “Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance” (due this week) as well as building a few bikes, I have had my hands full. Although I have received your questions, I am filing them away for now in favor of answering the questions people have been asking about new products at the shows. This, combined with my article in the print version of VeloNews, will conclude my coverage of the 62nd annual Milan bike show, held this year September 17-20. Next Monday, it’s off to a week at Interbike! Among all of the cool

How times change. Just last week, EPO was the talk of the town. Now you can’t open the sports page without reading something about transfusion blood doping. Sport doping is going old school. Out with the new, in with the old. Blood transfusions have long been used to enhance athletic performance. Transfusions are an extremely straightforward, simple, and effective method of increasing the blood’s oxygen carrying capacity. Physiologists believe that it is the rate at which hemoglobin delivers oxygen to the exercising muscle that limits muscle performance. Blood transfusions address this

He’s officially the reigning world time-trial champion, but Michael Rogers has only managed to slip on the rainbow jersey once in competion. Nonetheless, the 24-year-old Australian refuses to be bitter about his late acquisition of cycling's rainbow jersey following David Millar's admission that he won it using EPO (erythropoietin). Instead, the Canberra native intends to show he was worth the prize anyway by bringing it home after Wednesday's 46.75km time-trial at the world road race championships in Italy. Millar, the 27-year-old former Cofidis rider, was stripped of the title won last

The stalemate between cycling's ruling body and organizers of the sport’s three grand tours took a new twist Tuesday after UCI president Hein Verbruggen conceded that he may have to downsize plans for the new ProTour. But Verbruggen, who has met opposition to his proposals for a new-look ProTour which would radically shake up the sport when it is introduced in 2005, conceded Tuesday that he could be forced to introduce a slimmed down version of his initial plans for the race calendar. Verbruggen's project would see 20 top cycling teams buy four-year licenses to ride in a 22-race annual

Bleach blond hair was the look of the day Tuesday as German riders PatrickGretsch and Stefan Schäfer finished first and third in the juniormen’s category at the world time trial championships in Bardolino, Italy. Gretsch, a German talent of unknown quantity before the race, surprisedeveryone, including himself, by posting a winning time of 30:29.37 in the24.05km race. “I was very surprised with my race,” said Gretsch, who just turned 17in July. “Normally I race on the track, so I was just hoping for a placein the top ten.” Even more surprising than his win was Gretsch’s margin of victory.

At last year’s world championship time trial in Hamilton, Ontario, Karen Thürig of Switzerland started off strong but faded on the final climb to finish one spot out of the medals. This year’s time trial course for the elite women, in and around Bardolino, Italy, suited the multisport competitor better, and Thürig wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice. Thürig crushed her competitors with a dominant ride on the 24.05km course on Tuesday. At 6 feet tall and 145 pounds, the rolling power climbs, and especially the terrain on the second half of the Bardolino course, seemed custom designed

The Russian Cycling Federation has announced plans to challenge the results of this year's Olympic time trial after American cyclist Tyler Hamilton was cleared last week of doping violations by the International Olympic Committee. Hamilton twice tested positive for a blood transfusion, first in Athens on August 18 after winning the Olympic time trial gold medal and then following his win in the stage 8 individual time trial at the Vuelta a España. But Hamilton’s Olympic test was not confirmed after laboratory technicians froze the B sample instead of refrigerating the vial of whole blood

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Some say Rogers' Olympic performance was worthy of a medal

The podium

The course was made for a power rider like Thürig

Arndt was second at nearly a minute back

Zabirova crossed for third

Thorburn was top American in seventh

It took less than 23 minutes on a Monday afternoon in Italy for 18-year-old Rebecca Much of Chicago to make a name for herself in bike racing. Much, now a college student at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, won a silver medal in the opening race of the 2004 road world championships, finishing second to Tereza Hurikova of the Czech Republic in the junior women's time trial. After accepting her medal with the blue waters of Italy's Lake Garda shimmering in the background, Much, who was competing at the world championships for the first time, revealed a bit of inspiration that helped

Jan Ullrich has pulled out of Wednesday's time-trial at the World Championships in Verona, Italy, due to a stomach complaint, his T-Mobile team direcor Mario Kummer confirmed on Monday. Ullrich, 30, the 1997 Tour de France winner and a two-time world time-trial champion, in 1999 and 2001, will be replaced by time-trial specialist Uwe Peschel. Michael Rich, who rides for the Gerolsteiner team and for the past two years has won the GP des Nations two-man time-trial event, will be Germany's other rider. It was unclear whether Ullrich would ride in Sunday's 265.5 km road race, which he has

With shoulders hunched and eyes cast down at the ground in front of him, Thomas Dekker was not just happy to be there. Standing two feet to Dekker’s left, Janez Brajkovic of Slovenia was wiggling his arms into a white jersey with rainbow stripes, a garment that Dekker, a favorite for gold in Monday’s under-23 time trial at the 2004 world championships, must have imagined himself wearing. The 20-year-old Dekker, a rookie pro for Rabobank, was hoping to erase the disappointment of last year, when he got sick before the U23 time trial at the Hamilton world’s and struggled to a ninth-place

The directors of cycling’s three grand tours – the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España – are presenting a united front in their opposition to proposals by cycling's governing body for a major shake-up of the sport, slated for next season. Over the course of the past year, UCI president Hein Verbruggen has pushed through reforms to change the look of international cycling, including an elite-level calendar dubbed the ProTour. The proposals put forward by Verbruggen, the man who over a decade ago introduced the World Cup series which includes 10 one-day classics such as

The Mail Bag 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.Time for straight talk, TylerEditors,Regarding Haven Hamilton's defense of Tyler (see "TylerTunes: A letter from Haven"): I have some of questions for Havento pose to her hubby.Tyler has been reported as initially having said that he had a surgicalintervention that would explain his

Much waits to start a medal-winning ride

Brajkovic surprised even himself

Dekker faded on the second climb

Farrar finishes 21st.

There was never really any doubt about the outcome of the 2004 Vuelta a España. At least not in the mind of Roberto Heras, who had a 43-second head-start going into Sunday’s 28.2km final time trial through the mean streets of Madrid. Heras forfeited 13 seconds to the surging Santi Pérez (Phonak) but rode with calculated confidence to claim his record-tying third Vuelta crown in five years. He won the 2000 Vuelta as a member of the Kelme squad, joined U.S. Postal and then lost the 2002 Vuelta in the final time trial to Aitor Gonzalez, came back and won as a Postal rider in 2003 and then

Riis defends CecchiniLuigi Cecchini is name that’s likely unfamiliar to many racing fans, but the Italian doctor’s relationship with Tyler Hamilton has garnered new interest since news broke last week that the American failed two anti-doping tests for banned blood transfusions. While Hamilton is staunchly defending his innocence despite test results and vows to fight a possible two-year racing ban, the low-profile Cecchini is gaining unwanted attention. Cecchini is a publicity-shy trainer who quietly works with some of the biggest names in cycling, including Michele Bartoli, star sprinter