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A beautiful day for cycling in Italy.

Marco Velo and Lombardi make a bid for freedom.

Eddy Mazzoleni tries to lose Lombardi ... to no avail.

The men start on the $150,000 cross-country course built by the Scottish Forestry Service.

How Geneviève Jeanson usually looks to the field ... this time, in Montréal.

Jeanson's Rona-Esker team masses at the front on the Mont Royal climb.

Saeco's Gilberto Simoni won one for himself today, punching the air to underscore the statement he had just made by launching the move that mattered during a final flurry of attacks in the Giro d’Italia’s 19th stage. "I did not plan on going for the stage win, but when the race exploded with 3km to go and everyone was attacking, I decided to give it everything I had to win,” Simoni said. “This win was for me, not for my team or my sponsors.” The Cascata del Toce was the longest stage of this year’s Giro, at 239km, ending with a hard climb to an awesomely powerful waterfall on the Toce

Sometimes I wonder about this town I live in. A couple of weeks ago, a letter was published in Boulder’s Colorado Daily. It began as follows: While on a walk recently, I came upon hideous-looking, twisted, tortured, distorted remnants of living beings. I encountered this scene, block after block. It looked like a war zone, in many ways it was. The stench burned my mouth, my sinuses, and my lungs while inflaming and swelling the lining of my brain. I often experience an un-coordinated walk after such exposure as well, compounded by profound exhaustion. I saw the twisted scene as an astute

Upon completing a damp, three-hour solo ride this past weekend, I returned to happily inform my housemate that I had discovered the best training tool ever invented. No, it isn’t a German power meter, a palm-reading heart-rate monitor or any sort of output-measuring device. Rather, it is an energy-inducing device, one that, when used properly - and responsibly - can introduce a whole new element to long miles spent in the saddle. And while I’m not usually one to cover bike tech, and it’s still only May, I hereby cast my vote for the VeloNews Technological Innovation of the Year: Apple’s

Memo to: Maynard HershonFrom: Geneviève JeansonSubject: “The New Cannibal” Hi, Maynard! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re about as shy as I am. Otherwise you’d have come up to me and at least said hello at some point. It would have been great to chew the fat and clear a few things up. As things stand now we’ve never even exchanged the time of day, which is kind of a shame, I think. I mean, it must make it real tough for you to write a whole page about me without ever having said boo, even once. In light of what you wrote about me (see "The New Cannibal," by Maynard Hershon, in

Gilberto Simoni claims the final mountain stage.

Nowitzki and Voight: Separated at birth?

iPod, therefore iRide.

Simoni at the start

During the climb

The final climb of the day ... and of this Giro.

Marco on the attack...

.. but Simoni is the man to beat in this Giro.

Pantani after crossing the finish line

Simoni celebrates

Looking to Milan.

First escape

Zabella group

Mazzoleni and Rumsas

Pantani break

Simoni Solo Charge

Belgian Peter Van Petegem will skip July's Tour de France in order to focus on a run for the overall World Cup title. Van Petegem, a winner at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in April, will instead race in the Tour of Wallonne (July 28-Aug. 1) going into the second half of the World Cup series. Van Petegem has never won a Tour de France stage, but the World Cup title is too tempting. The Lotto-Domo rider has 200 points and holds a 70 point lead over second place Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) with Dario Pieri (Saeco) third in the series with 117 points. Tyler Hamilton (CSC), Alexandre

Dear Bob;If there is a bike lane and I choose to ride in the lane, can I beticketed?Mark O,Portland, Oregon Dear Mark; If I understand correctly, you are asking two questions: 1) If there is a bicycle lane, and the state has a “ride as farto the right as practiable” statute, should you legally follow the lane,or move to the right “as far as safe and practical” on the roadway?2) Is the bicycle lane a part of the roadway, and do the rulesof the road govern it? I’ll take the second question first, because it’s easier. The answer is yes, a bicycle lane is part of the roadway. A few

This is one of those days that they will be talking about for years to come. Sure, the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia had many of the elements in place before the start: the mountains, among them the Cima Coppi, marking the Giro's highest spot; the weather, with touches of wet snow marking the highest climbs and a contest that, despite the apparent dominance of a single rider, could still be altered on the 174 mountainous kilometers between Santuario DiVicoforte and Valle Varaita. But when you take the human element and throw it into the mix, well... suddenly you see why Thursday at the

More news from this summer’s biggest buzz race, the Jeep King of the Mountainmountain-bike event. Organizers have now settled on two of the three sites,with the opener slated for Wintergreen, Virginia on June 28-29 andthe finals taking place at Lake Tahoe, California, August 23-24. The middle event will be held somewhere in Colorado, and with EclipseTV’s headquarters being in Vail, expect it to be somewhere in that vicinitywith Beaver Creek a strong possibility. Eclipse has also released a preliminary line-up of the two-rider teamswho will be competing in the gated-racing format. In the

Pantani recovered and finished.

MTB News and Notes: Jeep KOM, Bootes back

MTB News and Notes: Jeep KOM, Bootes back

From left: Matt Marcus, Governor Bob Wise, Laird Knight, Steve Thaxton

Gonzalez and Lanfranchi lead the escapees up Montemale di Cueno

Climbing the to the Cima Coppi

On the Colle di Sampeyre

Popovych on the attack

Giro: One for the books

Garzelli rescues his day

Simoni (2R) climbing Colle D'Esischie

The pack climbing Colle Sampeyre

The pack leader Simoni (2R) climb Colle D'Esischie

Simoni (R) and Frigo climb Colle Sampeyre

Simoni rides

Pantani down after crashing

Frigo celebrates

Simoni and champagne

Motorcycle cops start drinking before the start here

Garzelli's bike. note the wheels.

Pantani's wheel

Simoni's climbing bike

Alessandro Petacchi showed once again that he is the man to beat in sprint stages at this Giro, even if he’s bruised, battered and bandaged from that fall in Sunday’s time trial. The big man from La Spezia got a great leadout by his Fassa Bortolo team and held off Lampre’s Jan Svorada for a tire-width win after the short, 117km run westward through the level Po valley. Despite the short, relatively flat stage, “Peta’” said it was far from easy for him. “It was another hard victory, because I am still in so much pain on my left side and it was so hot,” Petacchi said. “I am very fatigued

French cyclist Laurent Roux has been banned for four years after testing positive for drugs for a second time, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Wednesday. A four-year ban is the minimum punishment for a second offense. Roux, 30, tested positive for amphetamines at a UCI doping control during the Tour of Vendee in France in April last year, having previously been banned for six months for failing a drugs test in 1999. The French Cycling Federation (FFC) decided against sanctioning Roux saying that no breach of French law had been made because the UCI are a

Kelme’s Vicente Belda said Oscar Sevilla won’t know if he’ll race the Tour de France until the end of June. Sevilla has been dogged with problems following surgery this spring to remove a cyst in his groin area. Belda said Sevilla returned to racing too early, and after abandoning the Tour of Aragon, had to go under the knife yet again. Sevilla returned to racing at the Tour of Castilla y Leon last week and rode stronger, but still lacks racing miles. “At Castilla y Leon, he rode well even though he still hurts a little bit. This gives us optimism, but we’re still not sure about his

Dear Doc;I was recently diagnosed with pneumonia. I was pretty ill for a several days, including a 102-degree temperature, general aches and pains, a pulse of 80 (versus my normal resting pulse in the high 40's/low 50's) and some nasty stuff to hack up.A few days of antibiotics and a methylprednisolone [steroid]dose-pack have me on the mend.Given my schedule, my usual training session is short but intense. Now, I'm concerned with when and how hard I should resume training. Any advice would be helpful, Doc.Thanks,Hacking up phlegm in CTDear Hacker;In general, when you are sick, you should

Dear Monique;I know it is not great to try to lose weight and train hard right before a major event. However, does this make sense. My weight recently rose to about 10 pounds more than usual (about 15 pounds more than "race weight" for me, 6 feet, 165 lbs.) Exactly one month before running a marathon (on May 18) I put myself on a strict diet and have lost 7 pounds in two weeks.Though this may be fast weight loss, it seems reasonable to me. I am mainly losing, I think, from cutting out the beer, chocolate and pizza I had been eating over the past few months. I am now eating more fruit, more

Images from Giro Stage 17 - May 28, 2003

One plus five makes SIX!

Go Slovenia!

Short, flat and beautiful

Simoni: Garzelli says he's still vulnerable.

Pantani is wants Bianchi, but does Bianchi want Pantani?

Fabio Sacchi has the peloton's funkiest hair ...

... so, at the finish, he does the only logical thing and grabs the only fan he can find with a weirder do than his.

Perez Cuapio's Battaglin...

...and his new Deda bars

Paying homage to Fausto

Giro fans

Fassa Bortolo rider Alessandro Petacchi raises his arms at the finish

Fassa Bortolo rider Alessandro Petacchi shows number six on podium

Dear Lennard Zinn;I have the original Specialized version of the Hed 3, 3-spoke carbon fiber rear wheel. It is rear 700C tubular rim with a Regina 7-speed freewheel on a chrome-moly frame. The problem lies with the binding of the wheel when the quick release is clamped down. If the quick release is tightened so that the wheel does not move when jarred from the side, the wheel is very reluctant to spin, and you can feel the friction when the wheel is spun. When the quick release is loosened so that the wheel spins freely, the wheel is easily dislodged to the side. In fact, at Ironman Florida,

Jan Ullrich will top the bill when Bianchi, his third team in a year, stages its team presentation in Dresden on the eve of the Tour of Germany next Monday. Ullrich's new sponsor stepped in to replace Team Coast, recently banned by the sport's ruling body. The new Bianchi squad will make its Tour de France debut with the reigning Olympic champion in July. However, Bianchi's general manager Jacques Hanegraaf, said the team could be forced to don drab neutral jerseys for a one-day race on Saturday, then the German showpiece on Tuesday, if the new jerseys are not ready in time. "They should