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The MTBchicks are at it again, bringing passion and advocacy for women’s cycling to the trail. This weekend the MTB chicks hit Snowmass Resort, near Aspen, in what will be the seventh of nine races in the 2004 NORBA National Mountain Bike Series. Following the competitive mountain bike events on Sunday, August. 8, the girls of MTBChick invite beginner and junior women to “come get dirty” in a free one-hour mountain bike skills clinic. “Women’s clinics didn’t exist when I began mountain biking,” says founder and pro mountain bike racer Tonya Laffey. “I want to give others the opportunity to

Alejandro Valverde (Kelme) stormed to his second consecutive victory Tuesday in the second stage of the four-day Tour of Burgos in northern Spain. A day after winning atop the Alp de Altotero on Monday, Valverde took a bunch sprint coming into Aranda de Duero to conclude the 170km stage. Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears), fresh off his sixth-place finish in the Tour de France, fractured his left wrist in a crash and was forced to abandon. Vuelta a Burgos (SPA 2.1), Stage 2, Lerma to Aranda de Duero, 170.45km1. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 3:46:132.

New York, NY -- Help celebrate the completion of the Tour of Hope Team’s cross-country journey across America this October, with a 25-30-mile recreational fundraising ride. You can be one of 1500 people to go the distance for cancer research in Washington, D.C. on the morning of Saturday, October 9! Following the recreational ride, join Lance Armstrong, the Tour of Hope Team, and special guests at the grand finale on the Ellipse, open to the public. The ride route is being finalized with the National Park Service and other jurisdictions; more details are coming soon. All of the funds raised

Dear Lennard,There was much discussion before the Tour about Lance's mountain TT bike. In “The Lance Chronicles” he was trying several different models and he used the aero' bars on Mont Ventoux. What happened to them? Was it something at Ventoux that made him change?Anthony Dear Anthony,I’ll let Trek’s team liaison, Scott Daubert, field that one: There are two answers here. Steve Hed used one of the formulas we developed through F-One and learned that the clip-on’s weight would cost Lance six or seven seconds during his assault up L’Alpe d’Huez. Their aerodynamic advantage is impossible to

Another closeup

A closeup

Nazon's busted bike

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. How many suffered for Meirhaeghe’s drug use?Editor:It is expectedly disappointing to look back at Filip Meirhaeghe's past performances through the cloudy filter of drug abuse and wonder, "What if?" (See “Meirhaeghe tests positive, admits guilt, retires”). How many clean riders have

U.S. Postal Service – soon to be Discovery Channel – got its man after Ukraine sensation Yaroslav Popovych agreed to a three-year contract to join the team beginning in 2005. Following weeks of speculation that the 24-year-old rising star was set to join Lance Armstrong at Postal Service, the team announced the news Monday. “I’m really excited to get Yaroslav on the team,” said team director Johan Bruyneel. “He’s a young rider who has shown his talent on numerous occasions. … I’m sure he still has a great margin of progression (to make), and I see him as a future contender for the Tour de

After narrowly missing a rainbow jersey in the 200-meter sprint at the junior world track championships on Saturday, Michael Blatchford was looking toward Sunday night’s team sprint as an opportunity for redemption. “We’ll get another chance tomorrow,” said the 18-year-old U.S. junior national sprint champion after taking the silver behind Australia’s Shane Perkins at the ADT Event Center velodrome near Los Angeles, California. Come Sunday, once again it was the U.S. versus Australia – but this time, the race was for bronze, after Germany and Japan advanced to the gold-medal round. In the

Disgraced cyclist Jobie Dajka on Monday will appeal against being dumped from the Australian team for this month's Athens Olympics, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said Monday. Earlier Monday the Court of Arbitration for Sport said that the deadline had passed for the 22-year-old Dajka to appeal against his banishment from the cycling team after admitting to lying to an official doping inquiry. But late Monday a fax from Dajka's legal team was located at the AOC's office in Sydney, the AOC said. "Please be advised a fax from Jobie Dajka's legal team has been located in the AOC

With a final stage breakaway at the International Tour de 'Toona in Pennsylvania, Health Net’s John Lieswyn and Scott Moninger were able to snatch the race lead away from Webcor Builders’ Chris Horner, with Moninger capturing the stage win and Lieswyn nailing down the overall title. In the women’s race, Quark’s Lyne Bessette led the seven-day event from start to finish, beating Canadian Olympic teammate Sue Palmer-Komar (Genesis Scuba) by 34 seconds in the overall. In the men’s race, Colavita Olive Oil’s Nathan O’Neill made an impressive return to the race where he suffered a crash that

For the second year in a row, the NORBA series ventured north to Idaho’s Schweitzer Mountain Resort in Sandpoint, Idaho. This time around it was stop No. 6 on an eight-race slate that will conclude at the end of August with the series finals in Durango. Here’s a look at all the action from Idaho. Hesjedal, Koerber finish on topCanadian Olympian Ryder Hesjedal and American Willow Koerber each took wins on a dusty and technical Sandpoint cross-country course to open racing in Idaho. Hesjedal (Subaru-Gary Fisher), who will be a surefire medal contender in Athens, took the lead early during the

Popovych after assuming the maglia rosa in the 2004 Giro d'Italia

Stuart O’Grady continued on his winning ways Sunday after pipping pre-race favorites Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and Igor Astarloa (Lampre) in a much tougher version of the HEW Cyclassics race in Germany. A new course took the World Cup riders over the short but steep Waseberg climb five times, including the final pass that broke up the main bunch in the final 15km. In a sprint finish, O’Grady shot ahead of last year’s winner, Bettini, to win his first World Cup victory of his career. World Cup series leader Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) came through sixth to retain the overall lead while

Surviving an early crash on the slippery, rain-drenched New York streets, New Zealand’s Greg Henderson (Health Net-Maxxis) came back to win the third annual New York City Cycling Championships in a massive field sprint. Henderson shot off the wheel of countryman and teammate Hayden Godfrey in the final 50 meters of the 60-mile race through New York’s financial district for his highest-profile win of the year. Another teammate, designated sprinter Gord Fraser, said he wasn’t feeling great but still slotted in for second behind Henderson. “We wanted to be patient in the sprint,” said Fraser.

Surviving an early crash on the slippery, rain-drenched New York streets, New Zealand’s Greg Henderson (Health Net-Maxxis) came back to win the third annual New York City Cycling Championships in a massive field sprint. Henderson shot off the wheel of countryman and teammate Hayden Godfrey in the final 50 meters of the 60-mile race through New York’s financial district for his highest-profile win of the year. Another teammate, designated sprinter Gord Fraser, said he wasn’t feeling great but still slotted in for second behind Henderson. “We wanted to be patient in the sprint,” said Fraser.

With the overwhelming support of a partisan home crowd, all signs seemed stacked in favor of American junior national sprint champion Michael Blatchford securing a rainbow jersey at the junior track world championships Saturday, held at the ADT Event Center velodrome near Los Angeles, California. Blatchford, who hails from the nearby city of Cypress, was first in the 200-meter qualifying sprints Friday, laying down a 10.696 ahead of Australia's Shane Perkins, winner of Thursday night's keirin, who rode a 10.701. And when both Blatchford and Perkins required just two rides in the

Hamburg is probably the easiest of the World Cups…but it is not easy. The race draws massive crowds and is always a welcome home race for Jan and the Telekom team after the Tour. The race starts out with a large flat loop and then several smaller loops with some tight turns and a steep climb. It is not the difficulty of the climb that splits the race up, but the fight for position going into the climb and the tight corners after the climb. As the World Cup script pretty much dictates, the race started off quick, a break got away, the peloton settled down and cruised along, and then teams

Hamburg is probably the easiest of the World Cups...but it is not easy. The race draws massive crowds and is always a welcome home race for Jan and the Telekom team after the Tour. The race starts out with a large flat loop and then several smaller loops with some tight turns and a steep climb. It is not the difficulty of the climb that splits the race up, but the fight for position going into the climb and the tight corners after the climb. As the World Cup script pretty much dictates, the race started off quick, a break got away, the peloton settled down and cruised along, and then

O'Grady pips 'em at HEW

The break had 14 minutes at one point

And then the peloton got seriously busy

O'Grady pips 'em at HEW

The break had 14 minutes at one point

And then the peloton got seriously busy

O'Grady pips 'em at HEW

The break had 14 minutes at one point

And then the peloton got seriously busy

Henderson sprints to victory ...

... an outcome that seemed unlikely earlier in the race

Meanwhile, as the women's field hesitated ...

Henderson wins in NYC . . .

. . . although the outcome seemed unlikely earlier in the race

Meanwhile, Holden cruised to a rain-soaked win

Sprint Podium

Aussie team pursuiters

Sprint Podium

Aussie team pursuiters

T-Mobile leader Jan Ullrich and his manager Walter Godefroot have talked through their differences and will continue to work together, Godefroot said here Saturday. "It was a good discussion. In the future we're going to speak more often together. Jan will continue to race for T-Mobile," said Godefroot. Both men refused to comment on the nature of the talks. Despite being heralded as Lance Armstrong's main rival on the Tour de France, former champion Ullrich finished fourth and a massive nine minutes behind the six-time winner, his lowest placing ever in seven races. Godefroot has

When American Kimberly Geist took third place in the women’s 2km individual pursuit Friday, USA Cycling officials could breathe a sigh of relief. Though it was a narrowly won bronze medal, the host country was “on the board” at the junior track world championships, held in Los Angeles at the new world-class ADT Event Center velodrome. After qualifying fifth behind Marlijn Binnendijk (Netherlands), Geist beat out Australian Amanda Spratt, winner of the points race Thrusday, to enter the 3-4 final against New Zealand's Paddy Walker. Though Geist seemed to fade slightly during the middle

Geist gets the U.S. on the board with a bronze medal in the pursuit

Barth rode a smart points race

Blatchford was smokin' in the sprint

Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) will be among the starters Sunday for the sixth round of the 2004 World Cup stop in Hamburg, Germany for the HEW Cyclassics event. Also joining Ullrich, fresh off a somewhat disappointing fourth place finish in the Tour de France, will be T-Mobile teammates Andreas Klöden and Erik Zabel. Also set to race are two-time World Cup defending champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step), current leader Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Peter Van Petegem (Lotto-Domo), Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole), Tom Boonen (Quick Step), Danilo Hondo (Gerolsteiner) and Milan-San Remo Oscar Freire

Cyclist Jobie Dajka was dropped from Australia's Olympic team after being found to have lied to a doping inquiry involving the country's top cyclists, the Australian Olympic Committee announced on Friday. Dajka admitted on Thursday he had been untruthful when he told an inquiry that he had not injected himself with performance-enhancing drugs in the room of a former teammate at the Australian Institute of Sport's cycling base in Adelaide. DNA evidence subsequently contradicted Dajka's statement to the inquiry, which was chaired by lawyer Robert Anderson, QC, the AOC said. "Given Anderson's

Comparisons are odious. –John Fortescue As surely as the Christmas decorations go up after Halloween, so too do the “Lance Armstrong is not the world’s greatest athlete” tirades go out after the Tour de France. The latest yahoo to dust off this apples-versus-oranges claptrap is Mike Imrem, who scribbles for a thing called The Daily Herald, a suburban-Chicago sheet whose founder, Hosea C. Paddock, proclaimed that his goal was to “fear God, tell the truth and make money.” Paddock’s successors may indeed fear God and make money, but they have fallen short of telling the truth in running

After giving way to the World Cup and the final battles for Olympic team berths, the NORBA series is back this weekend with round No. 6 at Schweitzer Mountain Resort in Sandpoint, Idaho. Pro racing kicks off Saturday with cross-country and mountain cross action. The downhill and short track will be contested Sunday. This being an Olympic year, some of the regular NORBA series contenders have been off chasing UCI points elsewhere and that has opened the door for some new — and old — faces at the top of the overall standings. Former national champion and 2000 Olympian Travis Brown

While Australia’s elite track program continues to facehardships and scandal, the country’s juniors have taken a strongholdat the junior track world championships, held at the new Home Depot Center’sADT Event Center velodrome in Carson, California, outside of Los Angeles. Two days into the five-day event, held July 28 through August 1, Australiahas taken three gold medals in six events; Germany leads the medal countwith five. Perhaps the greatest beacon of hope for the program’s new blood comesin the form of Michael Ford, the reigning junior world record holder inthe 3km individual pursuit.

Heading to Hamburg. Ullrich will ride the HEW Cyclassics

The next winner of the Tour de France: Ricky Williams, late of the Miami Dolphins

Ford (right) celebrates with keirin winner Shane Perkins

Reigning world cross-country champion Filip Meirhaeghe has failed a test for EPO and announced he will retire immediately from racing. The 33-year-old Belgian won three World Cup races this year and was one of the favorites for the gold medal in the upcoming Olympic Games in Athens, but tested positive for EPO two days before the World Cup at Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec in late June. At a press conference on Thursday in Nazareth near Gent in Belgium Meirhaeghe admitted his guilt and said it was time for him to stop racing. “I wanted to win them all, and in order to succeed I made the wrong

Iban Mayo will race the Vuelta a España (Sept. 4-26) after a meeting with team bosses Miguel Madariaga and Julián Gorospe on Wednesday. According to a report in the Diario Vasco, Mayo will be looking to make up for his disappointing performance in the 2004 Tour de France, which he abandoned during the Alps. Haimar Zubeldia, Euskaltel-Euskadi’s other star rider, will also start the Vuelta. Gorospe said he believes there’s enough time for both riders to recover from their problems in the Tour in time to be competitive for the Vuelta. McEwen discovers cause of back troubleLotto’s tenacious

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.Your 15 minutes are up, AdamEditors:How exciting is this? After what seems like dozens of maybe Nandrolonepositives or maybe just contaminated supplements, a good old fashionedEPO case. Headline reads: Young cyclist rockets through the ranks, findshimself second only to Chris Horner,

Dear readers,When I think of riding my bike I think of exercise, freedom, all thethings that have kept me riding for over 20 years and hopefully 20 more.What I don’t think of is danger and death. But the truth is, whether youare riding a bike, driving a car or even taking a shower, the possibility of anaccident always exists. This column is not about how to avoid mishaps,but instead how to be prepared, in advance, for the worst.Ken Rosskopf, an excellent attorney from Georgia, who has handledhis share of bicycle-related legal issues, has submitted the followingcolumn on Living Wills. This is

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJuly 29, 2004Release #04-189  Bicycle Helmet Recall Hotline: (866) 432-7832Ext. 195CPSC Consumer Hotline: (800) 638-2772CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908CPSC, Geartec/Mackarl Announce Recall of Bicycle HelmetsWASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commissionannounces the following recall in voluntary cooperation with the firm below.Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unlessotherwise instructed.Name of product: DBX Engage (VT-3), DBX Ravage (FX-2), and Geartec ESPYbicycle helmetsUnits: 4,600Distributor: Mackarl Enterprises Inc., of

Meirhaeghe at Sea Otter

Meirhaeghe arrives at a press conference in Nazareth Thursday

Meirhaeghe wins at world's last year

An irritated Gilberto Simoni said he might never return to the Tour de France after a three-week debacle that saw the two-time Giro d’Italia champion never rate as a challenger to Lance Armstrong’s dominance. Simoni said his performance was hampered by the exclusion of Danilo Di Luca, two crashes – first in the team time trial and another crash at Angers -- then the exclusion of his domestique and friend Stefano Casagranda. “The Tour started badly and then was characterized by all the arguments and the bad weather rather than by the riders,” Simoni said in an interview on Saeco’s web page.

Former Jelly Belly rider Adam Bergman has accepted a provisional suspension from cycling pending review of a positive for EPO on April 6 of this year. Bergman, 23, accepted and began serving the provisional suspension on July 27, 2004. By accepting the provisional suspension, Bergman agreed not to compete in any competitions under the jurisdiction of UCI, USA Cycling or the United States Olympic Committee. According to the agreement, Bergman is not admitting guilt and will receive credit for the period of the time he has served the provisional suspension should a doping violation be

Simoni on the attack during stage 17 of the Tour

Bergman accepts provisional suspension for EPO positive

Before coming to Germany, I had a month-long break from racing. I took one week completely off the bike and then started to ramp up my training. I packed in some heavy mileage weeks, riding mostly with Michael each day. Riding with Michael pushes me into fitness, as he rides quite a bit faster than I generally do on my own. We would go out the door together each day, although often when we hit a major climb, or he needed to do some intensity, he would speed off ahead and I would keep going at my pace. It is neat to be able to share so much time together on the bike. Cycling has allowed us

GIRONA- Being home during the month of July for the first time in nine years felt a little strange to say the least. Watching theTour on television was something I had hoped would be reserved for retirement. But life throws you a curveball every so often. The trick is making the catch and hucking the ball back where it came from. I’m getting ready to do just that. Give me another week or so to mend. My wife and I traveled north to Paris to see the finish of the Tour.I stopped in my tracks when Haven informed me that I would need a “pass” to get near the finish line. I had never been a

Sue Haywood has formally notified USA Cycling that she will challenge arecent ruling by the American Arbitration Association naming Mary McConnelougto the U.S. Olympic Mountain Bike Team on July 20, 2004.In a statement issued Tuesday, USA Cycling officials said that the governingbody "supports and respects both athletes’ rights to fully pursue all oftheir options in resolving this matter. USA Cycling will cooperate throughoutthis process and respect the decision of the court."

Filippo Simeoni was questioned by investigators from the Italian drug squad on Tuesday over an incident between him and six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong during the race last Friday. The investigators grilled Simeoni for three hours about what happenedwhen Armstrongchased down an early attack by the Italian on the 18th stage of theTour last week. In an unusual move for a race leader confronted with a rider who isno threat to his overall lead, Armstrong had chased after the Domina Vacanzeteam rider who had made a breakaway and the pair exchanged words beforeSimeoni later dropped

T-Mobile’s Jan Ullrich said he has to speak with his team manager about comments questioning his commitment. T-Mobile manager Walter Godefroot had criticized Ullrich, saying the 1997 Tour de France winner "cycled to live", while six-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong "lives for cycling" after the German failed to gain a top-two finish at the Tour for the first time in his career. "I cannot let that go," Ullrich said late on Monday on a television talk show. "You should ask the people who I work with and not someone like Walter Godefroot who I speak to on the telephone twice a year

Sabrina Jonnier, the current leader in the World Cup downhill and four-cross series, will be on the sidelines indefinitely after lacerating her liver at a 4X event in Whistler, British Columbia on Sunday. According to her Intense team manager Jeff Steber, the Frenchwoman crashed hard in a high-speed section, taking her handlebars in the abdomen. “She already had one blood transfusion and there may be another,” said Steber, adding that Jonnier is being treated at a hospital in Vancouver and that on Tuesday afternoon doctors were still considering surgery. “With an injury like this you have

Before coming to Germany, I had a month-long break from racing. I took one week completely off the bike and then started to ramp up my training. I packed in some heavy mileage weeks, riding mostly with Michael each day. Riding with Michael pushes me into fitness, as he rides quite a bit faster than I generally do on my own. We would go out the door together each day, although often when we hit a major climb, or he needed to do some intensity, he would speed off ahead and I would keep going at my pace. It is neat to be able to share so much time together on the bike. Cycling has allowed us

Aggressive, maybe, but is it intimidation?

Australian trackster Ben Kersten will have his appeal to be reinstated to the Athens Olympic team heard by a Cycling Australia (CA) tribunal on Thursday, his manager said on Monday. Kersten is appealing the decision by CA to remove his nomination for the Olympic team after Sean Eadie, the man he was called up to replace, was renominated by CA after being cleared of trying to import banned human growth hormones. The appeal is not connected with Eadie’s drugs tussle, but based on the assertion that Kersten should have been picked ahead of Eadie in the first place. Kersten originally missed

Lance Armstrong may have left the Tour de France with a record six victories under his belt, but the American has also left a huge question mark over his future participation in the race. Armstrong recently signed a contract to ride for a team which will be backed by the Discovery television channel following U.S. Postal's announcement last year they would not continue into 2005. For most teams sponsored by internationally recognized companies, the Tour de France is a must. However, it is not known what his new contract stipulates and whether or not Discovery has made the Tour de France one

Jan Ullrich has got only himself to blame for sub-par performance on the Tour de France which left him with his lowest placing ever in his seven starts. Eclipsed by his friend and teammate Andreas Klöden and up-and-coming CSC star Ivan Basso, T-Mobile's team leader ended the race in fourth, a massive nine minutes behind six-time winner Lance Armstrong. Despite being heralded as the 32-year-old American's main rival after his close second place last year, Ullrich disappointed from day one - on the 6.1km prologue in Liege he lost 15 seconds to the U.S. Postal leader, and from then on he never

Mondays. No, I don't have to go to work. Quite the opposite, but it still hurts. They (Mondays) have to be much worse for NFL players, but I'm feeling like I put the pads on for a few quarters. Flying home right now thinking of my bed and what kind of state I left the apartment in. And where is my car? I know that I parked it somewhere in Girona. I'm serious. Do I have coffee in the house? Ah man it's another holiday in Spain, so nothing will be open, so no milk for the coffee even if I do have beans. I've grown pretty used to being taken care of for the last month, but it’s time for

Euskadi bikesDear Lennard,I have noticed that the Euskaltel team is riding a bike called Orbeathat looks very much like the new Kestrel full carbon frames I have seenin my local stores. Is the design just a common configuration of the tubedesign or are these companies in some way connected?Steve Dear Steve,Orbea is a large bike manufacturer. Indeed, it’s far bigger than Kestrel.Located in the Basque country of Spain, Orbea is part of the CooperativoMondragón, the world’s largest worker’s cooperative. Being co-ownersof their companies, workers tend to work harder and more devotedly thanthey