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Paris-Roubaix director Jean-Marie Leblanc said he will be protesting at the lack of medical personnel to carry out doping tests following one of professional cycling's great classics on Sunday. In an ironic twist to a sport which has had its reputation tarnished by doping controversy’s, Paris-Roubaix race director Leblanc, said he would be complaining to the French sports ministry, the country's cycling federation and the sport's world governing body the UCI after no tests were carried out following Sunday's race which was won by Belgian Johan Museeuw. The lack of medical

Good Morning. The 100th edition of Paris-Roubaix is underway. All190 starters listed on the startlist left Compiègne at 10:50 this morning.11:07 a.m. The weather is chilly (7 degrees Centigrade) and thereis a brisk wind coming from the Northwest, which translates into a head/crosswindcoming across the left side of the course.There was an early attack at kilometer 10 this morning from rider 177- Steffen WEIGOLD (Gerolsteiner) who was soon joined by 222 - StéphaneAUGE (Jean Delatour) . They were quickly caught and the peloton is intact.It should be fairly quiet for the opening kilometers. The

Museuuw (left) outdueled Hincapie and U.S. Postal

Museeuw waits to make his move

Museeuw attacked with 41km to go.

Museeuw earns his third cobblestone

Wesemann outsprinted Boonen for second place

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something inthe pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.comthat causes you to want to write us, drop us a line at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Zebra in waitingOn the cover of your most recent issue you show a jubilant Cipolliniwinning at San Remo.His jersey interests me and I wondered if you might know where ( andif) anyone offers it for sale? All of the places I know only offer onlythe old Acqua &

U.S. criterium champion Kirk O’Bee (Navigators) augmented his European palmares on Friday with a victory in Belgium’s G.P. Pino Cerami. As team director Ed Beamon described it, the 192km course featured a tough opening circuit of 128km with several sections of pavé, some climbing, “and more wind than Thor could muster on a bad hair day.” It then segued into four laps on a 16km circuit that included two climbs, the second a 15 percent grade on pavé. An early break of nearly 30 riders moved forward in the strong cross winds, but never gained more than a minute, and was reabsorbed as the

Team mechanics were busy in Compiègne Saturday as they prepared each of their squad's bikes for Sunday's 100th edition of Paris-Roubaix. The most common modifications for tackling the French classic's giant cobblestones are a bigger inner chainring than normal (a 44 or 45 in lieu of a 39); wider, tougher tires (up to 25mm, and the majority appear to be clinchers); and slightly padded handlebar tape instead of the normal thinner variety. Other similarities aimed at making the bike less rigid are the use of titanium or aluminum tubing (with narrower gauges and thicker wall thicknesses than

DOMO-FARM FRITES001 KNAVEN Servais (Nl)002 CASSANI Enrico (I)003 CRETSKENS Wilfried (B)004 KOERTS Jans (Nl)005 MILESI Marco (I)006 MUSEEUW Johan (B)007 RODRIGUEZ Fred (USA)008 VAN HEESWIJK Max (Nl)MAPEI -QUICK STEP011 TAFI Andrea (I)012 BODROGI Laszlo (Hun)013 DE WAELE Fabien (B)014 FORNACIARI Paolo (I)015 HORILLO Pedro (Sp)016 HUNTER Robert (SA)017 NARDELLO Daniele (I)018 ZANINI Stefano (I)LAMPRE-DAIKIN 021 DIERCKXSENS Ludo (B)022 BERTOGLIATI Rubens (Swi)023 LODDO Alberto (I)024 PAGLIARNI Luciano (Bra)025 SCIANDRI Maximilian (GB)026 SERPELLINI Marco (I)027 SPRUCH Zbigniew (Pol)028 VERSTREPEN

After trying in every stage, Euskaltel finally scored a victory for the home team when David Etxebarria won a five-up sprint in the morning sector of Friday's two-part finale of the 42nd Vuelta al Pais Vasco. Etxebarria's victory lifts him into second-place overall going into the afternoon's 15.2-km time trial. Aitor Osa of ibanesto.com finished with the lead group to all but guarantee overall victory. "I'm very glad to win this stage because we've been working hard all week to secure a victory," Etxebarria said after winning the six-climb, 96-km stage. "Now all I will think about is

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. — Mark Twain, “Pudd’nhead Wilson” Frank Vandenbroucke plans to appeal his suspension for dope, I hear. The sap apparently misread the paperwork. He’s being suspended for being a dope. This guy puts the “loon” in “Walloon.” The badges find everything from EPO to morphine in his crib, his homey Bernie Sainz gets popped with a car full of crank and spikes, and Frankie’s bitching about six months off and a four-figure fine. If he were black and from Watts,

North 55th Street Circuit RacePatrick O’Grady (Dogs at Large Velo) claimed a controversial victoryin Sunday’s North 55th Street Circuit Race in Boulder, Colorado, afterrunner-up Charles Pelkey (VeloNews Interactive) claimed the portly Irishspeedster tried to shoulder him into an open manhole in the final cornerof the three-mile industrial-park circuit.Two minutes later, Twining’s John Wilcockson outsprinted Mike Blair(Pixel Twiddlers) for third.

Hey, local race promoters - after you get done folding up the registrationtable, taking down the sponsors’ banners and picking up all those orangecones, peel the race results off the car window you taped them to and e-mailthem to us here at VeloNews.com. There’s more to bike racing than the Tour, and we’d like to tell our readers about how you’re mixing it up, from Maine to Spokane.Weekend race reports e-mailed by Monday morning to veloresults@maddogmedia.comwill appear on the VeloNews.com Web site later that day as part of ournew Finish Line column. Tell us where and when the race took place

The final time trial in the 42nd Vuelta al Pais Vasco turned out to be a 15-km victory parade for home boy Aitor Osa, who sealed a dramatic victory Friday just down the road from his home in Elgoibar. The Basque cycling fans came out in their best orange to bring homethe first local overall victory at this race since Inigo Cuesta in 1998. Long riding in the shadow of his younger brother, Osa tore apart therace in a shattering attack in the cold, wet third stage. Osa's iBanesto.com squad protected his lead through the final climbing stages and the 27-year-old withstood an aggressive attack

A cold north wind was howling across the open fields of northernFrance Friday afternoon; but there was no sign of rain. That probably meansthat riders in Sunday's 100th edition of Paris-Roubaix will most likelyhave to face stinging dust blown in their faces rather than the gooey mudthrown up by the wheels in front of them. Either way, the infamous Hellof the North classic is bound to create its usual toll of terror and destruction.In fact, the course that the 190-or-so starters will face is probablythe hardest that the organizers have ever mapped out. Last year, they "discovered" three nasty

(Exchange rate as of April 12, 2002:  1€ =  $0.87)1st - 30000 €2nd - 22000 €3rd - 15000 €4th - 7500 €5th - 3000 €6th - 1600 €7th - 1320 €8th - 1250 €9th - 1120 €10th - 1050 €11th - 920 €12th - 785 €13th - 650 €14th - 585 €15th - 385 €16th - 335 €17th - 335 €18th - 335 €19th - 335 €20th - 335 €21st - 270 €22nd - 270 €23rd - 270 €24th - 270 €25th - 270 € 

Km 99.8 - TROISVILLES | rue de la Sucrerie - 2200 metersKm 106.3 - VIESLY | rue de la Chapelle - 1800 metersKm 108.5 - QUIEVY | rue de Valenciennes - 3700 metersKm 113.7 - QUIEVY à SAINT-PYTHON - 1500 metersKm 121.9 - HAUSSY - 900 metersKm 128.6 - SAULZOIR - 1200 metersKm 132.9 - VERCHAIN-MAUGRE à QUERENAING - 1600metersKm 136.0 - MAING - 2500 metersKm 139.2 - MONCHAUX SUR ECAILLON - 1600 metersKm 145.8 - HASPRES - 1700 metersKm 158.3 - HAVELUY - 2500 metersKm 166.5 - FORET D'ARENBERG | Drèves des Boules d'Herin- 2400 metersKm 173.2 - WALLERS - 1000 metersKm 179.5 - HORNAING à

1896   J. FISCHER (GER) 1897   M. GARIN (FRA) 1898   M. GARIN (FRA) 1899   A. CHAMPION (FRA) 1900   E. BOUHOURS (FRA) 1901   L. LESNA (FRA) 1902   L. LESNA (FRA) 1903   H. AUCOUTURIER (FRA) 1904   H. AUCOUTURIER (FRA) 1905   L. TROUSSELIER (FRA) 1906   H. CORNET (FRA) 1907   G. PASSERIEU (FRA) 1908   C. VAN HAUWAERT (BEL) 1909   O. LAPIZE (FRA) 1910   O. LAPIZE (FRA) 1911   O. LAPIZE (FRA) 1912   C. CRUPELANDT (FRA) 1913   F. FABER (LUX) 1914   C. CRUPELANDT (FRA)Cancelled due to World War I 1919   H. PELISSIER (FRA) 1920   P. DEMAN (BEL) 1921   H. PELISSIER (FRA) 1922   A. DEJONGHE

Friday’s foaming rant: Putting the “loon” in “Walloon”

Osa

Etxebarria was a double winner Friday

Hincapie in '01

Former Tour de France winner Marco Pantani was on Thursday interviewed by officers from Florence's anti-doping unit that carried out a blitz on team hotels at San Remo during last year's Tour of Italy. Pantani, who won both the Tour and the Giro in 1998, was giving evidence as part of an inquiry into doping during last year’s Tour of Italy. In May of last year police officers discovered, among a host of other substances collected, traces of insulin in a syringe at the hotel where Pantani and his team were staying. However the Mercatone Uno team leader on Thursday played down the

It seems Cadel Evans is making friends quickly in his first season with the Mapei powerhouse. During the Vuelta Ciclista a Pais Vasco the 25-year-old Australian is roommates with fellow mountain biker-turned-roadie Dario Cioni. Evans says he earns a different nickname every race he starts from the Italians on the team. His nickname this week? Gianni, as in Gianni Bugno. "They say I have a head like Bugno, who isn't a bad guy to be compared to," Evans said. Evans continues on his impressive trajectory, riding strong at the Basque race where he comes with illusions of overall victory.

Franco Pellizotti won Thursday's fourth stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco that was shortened due to cold weather while Aitor Osa widened his overall lead. Several inches of snow fell overnight on the high peaks surrounding the start of the stage at Alsasua, prompting officials to shorten it by 64 kilometers and taking out climbs over the category-two Alto de Zuarrarrate (780 meters) and the category-three Alto de Huitzi (792 meters). A major descent to the coastal plain of northern Spain was also eliminated after several riders suffered minor hypothermia in Wednesday's frigid stage,

Good morning. The 64th edition of Gent-Wevelgem is underway. At the start Defending champion George Hincapie is in the field along with seven of U.S. Postal teammates, including Lance Armstrong. The wind is a steady and brisk breeze from the north and the day is still quite sunny. The official start time is now listed as 11:43 a.m. Almost from the start Lotto’s Nico Eeckhout made an attack. Now by kilometer 35, he has about a 4:20 lead. Behind the escapee, the wind is forcing the field into echelons. VeloNews editorial director John Wilcockson remarks that the day is already somewhat

Outrageous. That's the only way to describe the "new" Mario Cipollini. Dressed in his zebra-stripe tights, he engaged the media in a light-hearted post-race press conference Wednesday evening, discussing his, yes, outrageous, victory in the 64th edition of Ghent-Wevelgem. He has won this Belgian classic twice before, in 1992 and ’93, beating out first Johan Capiot and then Eric Vanderaerden, both in massive field sprints. Wednesday was different.

Aitor Osa was about the only guy smiling at the finish line of Wednesday's brutally cold third stage of the Vuelta Ciclista a Pais Vasco. After all, he won the stage and took the overall lead. But even the iBanesto.com rider was shivering as he slipped across the line ahead of Cofidis' Bingen Fernandez. "I've never been so cold on the bike," said a disappointed Fernandez, shivering from the front seat of the team car after Osa held him off for the stage-win and the leader's jersey. "I had no strength at the end to fight Aitor. I simply wanted the stage to be over." Don't believe those

Giro d'Italia champion Gilberto Simoni is hoping to arrive at the May 11 start of the Italian tour in top form, but the 30-year-old is nursing a sore knee he suffered during a fall at Setmana Catalana on March 26. Simoni returned to racing this week for the climb-riddled Vuelta a Pais Vasco which the Saeco rider is hoping to use as a spring-board back to winning form in time for the Giro, his top goal of the season. "I have to be very careful now. I have to watch how I prepare and be very careful how I race. The Vuelta Ciclista a Pais Vasco is very important for my preparation,"

Joe Friel is author of the successful "Training Bible" series ofbooks, a regular columnist for VeloNews and Inside Triathlonand the founder of www.ultrafit.com.Friel also offers answers to a selection of questions in this weekly column here on VeloNews.com. Readers can send questions to Friel in care of VeloNews.com at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.(Be sure to include "Friel" in the subject line.) Question: I have recently (1 year) been cycling more seriously. I did an Aids Ride in Alaska (500 miles in 6 days) and every day I feltstronger. In the past 6 years I was more of a runner and I did a

Bicycles and skateboards are barred from most sidewalks, and mopeds are no-no’s on bike/pedestrian paths, but we could soon see Segway Human Transporters on both. On Thursday (April 11), the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is scheduled to vote on a measure that would permit “electric personal assistive mobility devices” to use sidewalks and paths built or maintained with federal funds “when state and local regulations permit,” according to the Bikes Belong Coalition, a group that lobbies for bicycle-friendly policies in Washington, D.C. The group says Segway has spent $741,000

The peloton early in Wednesday's third stage of the 42nd Vuelta a Pais Vasco.

Kelme riders bundle up before the start of Wednesday's cold third stage, when temperatures hovered around 7-degrees celsius.

Cipollini made it to the winning break.

Coming down the Kemmelberg

Training Bible Studies with Joe Friel

ONCE's Joseba Beloki is hoping that his troubles are behind him. The 27-year-oldhas finished third overall in the past two Tours de France (2000-2001)and hopes to do at least as well this year. Beloki has had a rocky startto the 2002 season, however. He's only recently returned to racing afterpain in his Achilles tendon kept him off the bike for much of March. Sofar this year, he's only competed in the Mallorca Challenge early in theseason before his comeback in Saturday's GP Miguel Indurain. Beloki finallyhad to resort to seeing an acupuncturist to ease the pain in his

The strongest man at the Vuelta a Pais Vasco (Tour of the Basque Country)is out of the race. Francesco Casagrande, who blew apart Monday'sopening stage of the Spanish race, crashed on a railroad crossing as severalriders went down just 12 kilometers into Tuesday's second stage and abandonedsome 40 kilometers later.The Fassa Bortolo strongman, one of the favorites for the 2002 Girod'Italia, was banged up but early reports indicate he did not break anybones."I tried to continue but it hurt too much to breathe," Casagrande saiden route to a local hospital for a checkup. "I continued

Despite a profile that looks like a roller coaster, a stage into Vitoriatypically finishes in a field sprint. That's because area's major climb- the Category I Alto de la Herrera - is nearly 40 km from the finish,giving the peloton plenty of time to set up their sprinters.Mapei's Stefano Zanini has been victorious here before, but the pelotonwas just 6 seconds late in pulling off the tried and true recipe in Tuesday'scold, windy stage of the 42nd Vuelta a Pais Vasco.Relax Fuenlabrada's Cesar Garcia Calvo outmaneuvered Euskaltel's UnaiEtxebarria to snatch the stage win after the pair

It's time to surf the web, place a bid and spend some cash to help out a friend.The friends of Kelli Turcotte -- UCI Technical Delegate, former employee of Castelli, GaleForce and the Alt Bike and Board in Minneapolis -- are currently conducting several eBay auctions of items of interest to cyclists (all of which are linked below) to help pay for costly cancer treatment therapy that Kelli's insurance does not cover.Turcotte, who most recently was the Technical Delegate at the Downhilland Dual World Championships in Vail, has been fighting ovarian cancerwhich has now spread to her

The dust is settling following Sunday's Tour of Flanders, whichsaw Andrea Tafi (Mapei) score a huge upset over local favoritesJohan Museeuw (Domo) and Peter Van Petegem (Lotto). AmericanGeorge Hincapie proved he's a Classics power, finishing an impressivefourth after making the final five-man selection.Lance Armstrong was a big help in the middle of the race, butHincapie could only watch as Mapei's Daniele Nardello neutralizedlate-race attacks to secure the victory for his teammate Tafi. Hincapiegoes into Wednesday's Ghent-Wevelgem as the defending champion and looksstrong for

Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke is to launch an appeal over his six-month drugs ban at the Sports Arbitration Tribunal (TAS) in Lausanne, the Belgian news agency reported on Monday. The ban was handed down by the country's cycling federation after a police raid in February on the 27-year-old's home discovered banned substances such as blood-boosting EPO, anabolic steroid Clenbuterol and morphine. That raid came a day after his French physiotherapist Bernard Sainz was also charged with possession of illegal substances after a large quantity of amphetamines and syringes were

Cannondale USA has become Team T-Mobile after USA Cycling announced a three-year exclusive sponsorship deal with VoiceStream Wireless, T-Mobile’s U.S. subsidiary. The first-year elite women’s squad, announced on January 28 as Cannondale USA - complete with pink Cannondale bikes and matching clothing from the Bethel, Connecticut company – will compete as “Team T-Mobile” through 2004, according to a USA Cycling press release dated April 5. VoiceStream will begin operating under the T-Mobile brand name in this country beginning this summer. And if that logo appears familiar, it’s because the

Deutsche Telekom's ace sprinter Erik Zabel regained top spot in the world cycling rankings on Monday as Italy's Paolo Bettini staked his claim for respect from the world elite after jumping one place into third behind Lance Armstrong. Zabel, of Telekom team, had been second behind Erik Dekker when the rankings were last released on March 25 however the Dutchman, who rides for Rabobank, has been out since breaking his hip during the Milan-San Remo classic. Three-time Tour de France winner Armstrong also moved up one place to fourth while German Jens Voigt, of the Credit Agricole

The 24 Basque riders starting the five-day Vuelta a Pais Vasco (the Tour of the Basque Country) believethey own this race.For a Basque racer, losing this week in this race issomething akin to an American team folding to France in baseball. So youcould say the New York Yankees lost to Paris today.The local boys in orange from the Euskaltel-Euskadi team tried theirbest to pull off a victory in the opening stage of the 2002 Vuelta a PaisVasco on Monday, but it was another team in orange - that of the DutchRabobank team - that triumphed. The best the locally sponsored squad couldmuster was fourth

Whenever Johan Museeuw says he's retiring from bike racing, we take it with a grain of salt, right? Remember October 1996 when a frustrated Museeuw said he was quitting after losing the Paris-Tours classic? Well, a week later, in Lugano, Switzerland, he made his comeback to the sport ... and won the world title. Now, he's at it again. Before this year began, Museeuw said that it would be his last, ending with the world road race championship in Zolder, Belgium, which just happens to coincide with his 37th birthday. He also said that he wanted to go out on a high note -- and winning

With the cash-poor Tour of Willamette on hiatus, the Colorado racing season got off to a star-studded start April 6-7, with riders from Mercury, Rona, 7UP, Luna, and Prime Alliance contesting the Stazio Criterium and Boulder-Roubaix Road Race. In Saturday’s men’s crit at the Stazio softball complex in Boulder, Mercury’s Chris Wherry soloed away from an early break on the 1.1-mile circuit to triumph in 1:02:17, trailed seconds later by teammate Henk Vogels, then Alex Candelario (Prime Alliance). In the women’s race, world mountain-bike champ Alison Dunlap (Luna) outkicked Karen Bockel (Rona)

Cannondale USA becomes Team T-Mobile

End of the road? The Lion of Flanders may be ready to call it quits.

Good morning. Welcome to our updated reports from this year’s Ronde van Vlaanderen. There were 192 riders at the starting line today, with Gerolsteiner’s Saulius Ruskys the only rider on the original start list not to make the race. There are 264 kilometers of racing ahead, punctuated throughout the last half by short, but brutally steep climbs that will cut the peloton down to just a few by the time they reach the finish.Postings are now in chronological order At the start The weather in Flanders is bright and sunny and there is a cold wind, which should place the peloton into a head wind

George Hincapie seems to be making a habit of collecting fourth places in World Cup classics. It's a habit he wants to break. But each time he looks to be in with a chance of victory, he comes up against a team with superior numbers, or loses out to one of the sport's veteran stars. In his fourth-place finishes at Paris-Roubaix, superior numbers have been the problem, while his frustration at Sunday's Tour of Flanders was due to both a stronger team (Mapei-Quick Step) and an experienced, aging winner -- in this case, Mapei's 35-year-old Andrea Tafi.

Kirk O’Bee and Vassily Davidenko (Navigators) scored a one-two punch Sunday in the 24th Grand Prix Cycliste de la Ville de Rennes, a thriller that went right down to the wire … and only missed being a top-five Navigators sweep by a single placing. Team director Ed Beamon called the 189.4km race, which winds up with five laps of a 6.3km circuit in the city of Rennes, “a great event for the sprinters.” And with U.S. crit champ O’Bee in the mix, it proved to be a great event for the Navigators as well.An early break by Arturas Kasputis (AG2R) and Eddy Seigneur (Jean Delatour), followed by a

Come the final stage of the Tucson Classic on Sunday, Geneviève Jeanson and her Rona teammates didn’t rest on Jeanson’s laurels from the previous two days of racing. Though the powerful young Canadian held an insurmountable overall lead of more than 11 minutes, the squad dropped the hammer in the closing Speedway/Artisan Prosthetics Circuit Race, sweeping the top four spots on the day and finishing 1-2-3 on general classification. Gord Fraser, meanwhile, had a sweep of his own going. Mercury’s very own quick Canadian won his third consecutive race on Sunday, ending as he began, in a battle

The first half is flat.

It gets tough near the finish

Thijs's 225km effort ended just 19km from the finish.

Fresh from winning the Three Days of de Panne race, Lotto team rider Peter Van Petegem leads a Belgian cast of potential champions for Sunday's second leg of the World Cup, the Tour of Flanders. But pretenders beware -- the one-day race known affectionately by locals as the "Ronde" and described by French cycling legend Bernard Hinault as a "circus" -- is not for the faint-hearted. Lots of cobblestones, unpredictable windy conditions and 16 climbs spread over 264km of racing that begins in Bruges and ends in Meerbeke will separate the boys from the men. It's a "nightmare" of a race, as

The sun is shining in Belgium, although a wickedly cold east wind makes you remember that this is Tour of Flanders weekend. This annual spring classic, which celebrates its 86th edition Sunday, is a national institution here. There were even crowds out on the course Saturday, most of them visiting the Koppenberg, the legendary cobbled climb that hasn't been included in the 264km course since 1987. People here remember very clearly what happened that last time. You just have to look at two words painted in huge white letters on the road at the Koppenberg summit: "Remember Skibby." The

The U.S. Postal Service cycling team on Saturday fired Gianpaolo Mondini following the revelation that the Italian rider was under investigation for doping. Mondini, who only joined the star-studded American team in the off-season, was one of 13 riders for whom the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) has requested lengthy bans for doping. The 29-year-old Italian was one of the riders caught up in the police blitz on team hotels that brought the Tour of Italy into disrepute at San Remo on June 6 last year. A number of products were seized, although it has not been revealed which products

Fierce desert winds couldn’t blow Mercury’s Gord Fraser and Rona’s Genèvieve Jeanson off the podium on Saturday as the two won their second consecutive stages at the 17th annual Tucson Classic. Fraser and Jeanson kicked off the weekend’s racing by winning their respective prologue time trials on Friday – Jeanson by an astounding 46 seconds over the legendary Jeannie Longo (Vitalli) – then punched back in Saturday morning and went straight to work in the Gates Pass Road Race. The tough up-and-down course, a 21-mile circuit with a short 12 percent climb up the backside of Gates Pass, was made

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something inthe pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.comthat causes you to want to write us, drop us a line at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter. A guy who's been there enjoyed news from the gutterDear Editor;Michael Scherer says that the racing in Europe is much faster, longer,against fields over 200 riders, and it's fast from the gun: "no first hourof walking the dog like in the states." (see

Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner whose nagging knee problems have left his early season preparations in tatters, says he is hopeful of returning fully fit for this year's Tour de France. "If I have no more problems between now and July I'll be at the Tour start line," affirmed the 28-year-old German in an interview Friday with French sports daily L'Equipe. But for many observers, Ullrich's dream of breaking American Lance Armstrong's three-year grip on the most prestigious yellow jersey in world cycling is already seriously compromised. Ullrich, who came

George Hincapie is ready for Sunday's Tour of Flanders after his strongshowing at Three Days of De Panne, where he finished third overall. A stomach virus forced Hincapie to skip Tirenno-Adriatico the week before the World Cup opener at Milan-San Remo on March 23, something that he said helpedin De Panne. "This was a good race for me. The first day I didn't feel super but the second day I felt better and today I felt much better.  I feel fresh having missed all of those races and now I'm here amped and excitedto race," "I think that has been the difference over the past years,"

One of the newest members of the U.S. Postal team is among 13 riders beingtargeted with lengthy bans for doping by the Italian cycling federation,sources in Rome said Friday. Gianpaolo Mondini, a 29-year-old former Tour de France stage winnerwho joined Armstrong's American team in the off-season, is threatened withup to a four-and-a-half-year ban following a request by the anti-dopingcommission of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). On Friday, CONI handed the files of the 13 accused riders, who fellvictim to a policeraid on team hotel rooms at San Remo during last year's Giro

"A leader who is charismatic, competitive, enthusiastic about thesport of cycling, competitions, athlete development, in addition to beingable to motivate everyone toward excellence and pride in his/her work,including one’s own, is a must."—From the convoluted help-wanted ad on USACycling's Web site, part of its search for a new CEO, which also said the ideal candidate should be “a successful communicator.” With fewer paying members than the Ramallah chapter of the Ariel Sharon Fan Club, and fewer sponsors than Pacifica Radio’s “Democracy Now!” USA Cycling has finally begun looking for a

The 17th annual Tucson Classic kicked off on Friday with the McCain Loop Prologue Time Trial, a three-mile roller-coaster ride through Tucson Mountain Park with a couple miles of uphill — on grades of 4 to 6 percent — to separate the contenders from the pretenders in the three-day Arizona stage race. Mercury speedster Gord Fraser turned the fastest time among the Pro/I-II men, crossing the line in six minutes, 48 seconds. Teammate Plamen Stoyanov was second, just 11 seconds slower, followed by Jelly Belly’s Mariano Friedick at seven minutes flat. Defending champ Scott Price (Landis/Trek-VW)

Ullirich still plans to be at the Tour

Help Wanted: A leader who is charismatic, competitive and enthusiastic.

Peter Van Petegem won a huge victory just three days before the Tour of Flanders, taking the overall title at the Three Days of De Panne in Thursday´s double-stage. Italian Fabio Baldato (Fassa Bortolo) won the morning road stage, but Van Petegem won the final time trial through the streets of De Panne to score the stage-win and the overall title. With Lotto teammate Andrei Tchmil out of Sunday´s second round of the World Cup, Van Petegem goes into Flanders as the top favorite. U.S. Postal´s George Hincapie put down the fastest time early in the time trial until Van Petegem came across and

Cycling's world governing body the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) on Thursday gave the thumbs-up to requests from teams and riders to increase out-of-competition testing for the banned endurance booster EPO (erythropoietin). "We were approached by riders, either directly or through their teams," Hein Verbruggen, the UCI president, told AFP. "And that request has officially been adopted by the organization which represents all the teams." The tests will be carried out in collaboration with the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) between April and August, meaning most of the one-day

Lithuanian Saulius Ruskys (Gerolsteiner) won Wednesday´s 232 km second stage of the Three Days of De Panne, but the big news was the crash by Belgian Andrei Tchmil Ruskys won a sprint over Belgians Tom Steels and Nico Eeckhout while Stefano Zanini, the winner of the first stage, retained the overall lead. The 39-year-old Tchmil -- a favorite for Sunday´s Tour of Flanders -- went down with six other racers – Belgians Chris Peers, Kritof Found, Italians Dario Pieri, Paolo Bossoni and Daniele Bennati as well as French racer Robert Sassone. Tchmil was the most seriously injured, with a double

Joe Friel is author of the successful "Training Bible" series ofbooks, a regular columnist for VeloNews and Inside Triathlonand the founder of www.ultrafit.com.Friel also offers answers to a selection of questions in this weekly column here on VeloNews.com. Readers can send questions to Friel in care of VeloNews.com at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.(Be sure to include "Friel" in the subject line.)Question: Your Bible has been an inspiration for us- a groupof Mexican riders – that are following your system for our first seasonand we are really getting good results on races. Thanks.Just one question: