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Thanks, Elke! Trent Lowe’s tan lines get a rubdown from team soigneur Elke Brutsaert.

After losing the USPRO crit nationals by a hair, all Dave McCook could do was ponder what could have been.

Trek/VW’s Sue Haywood and Jeremiah Bishop workin the autograph table

Brian Lopes shows Jared Graves how to take a victory slug of victory champagne.

Jill Kintner enjoyed a moment to herself before the 4X in Angle Fire, New Mexico.

Can Frischknecht compete on the Costa Ricans' turf Uh huh

Guess who! Mary McConneloug sneaks up on Sue Haywood at the Sea Otter classic.

Bishop still managed fifth despite the atomic bonk

A soggy night at the Athens Twilight Criterium

Not your average mountain-bike race

Oswaldo Olmos took school pride to the next level at collegiate road nationals.

Jared Graves shows some bling and keeps the tags on.

At the end of the 2005 race season, I found myself with a hard drive chock-full of strange images from the year’s racing scene. Most (if not all) are on their way to an eternity in the digital afterlife, having been erased to make way for next year’s crop. But before I 86ed all of the images, I felt compelled to share a few with you. For whatever reason, none of these shots made it into a velonews.com race report this year. That said, more than a couple are worth looking at. Enjoy.

The NORBA XC crowd.

Descente Named Official Cycling Apparel of Team CSCTeam CSC, ranked number one professional cycling team in the world,chooses Descente for its quality, brand strength, advanced product developmentand legacy.BOULDER, CO — November 9, 2005 — Descente Cycling Apparel, licensedand distributed exclusively by Axcent Sports in North America, Europe,Australia and elsewhere, has been named the official cycling apparel supplierto the Team CSC professional cycling team, based in Denmark and run byRiis Cycling.The team, comprised of 30 of the top cyclists in the world, includesIvan Basso, a top pick to

Hincapie will enjoy a new status at the `06 Tour

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.Where is the outrage?Editor,Is it just me or is Rabobank acting quite suspiciously regarding the Heras positive? Theo De Rooy states that winning that way "wouldn'tmean anything to us."Is there no anger that their man may have been cheated out of a title by a suspected doper? No joy

Heras says he's confident that he won't have to give up his fourth Vuelta title.

Heras as he prepared to ride into Madrid this year

Menchov (L) isn't thrilled with the prospect of winning the Vuelta this way

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.Hey, business is businessVeloNews,There is an article in the Saturday, November 5th edition of the San Francisco Chronicle explaining how Health Net, the nation's largest HMO (and professional cycling team sponsor), is about to let a four-year-old child die (see "Family fights an HMO

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now up for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of ourmost recent contest. Austin Seroogy’s shot of two cyclo-cross racers remounting after clearing the sandy run-up at Boulder Reservoir was one of those rare perfectly timed photos that catches the essence of a sporting event. Congratulations Austin! Contact us and you win a copy of Graham Watson's "Landscapes of Cycling."Go ahead and take a look at our latest gallery,decide what you like and let us know what you think by dropping a noteto

Roberto Heras – winner of an unprecedented fourth Vuelta a España crown this September – has been released by his Liberty Seguros team after tests indicated that he had used EPO prior to stage 20 of this year’s Vuelta. The UCI notified the team on October 27 that Heras, 31, had tested positivefor the banned blood booster EPO in samples given after the Vuelta’s penultimatestage, an individual time trial from Guadalajara to Alcalá de Henares, in which Heras finished second, just two seconds slower than winner Ruben Plaza(Comunidad Valenciana). “Roberto Heras was released from the team

Not quite 2004, but Voeckler has no regrets

Wong loved the course

Noble shows 'em the way

VeloNews Photo Contest: Last week's winner and a new gallery

Heras tested positive after his strong performance in the stage 20 TT

Greg Reain gives chase

Boonen may retire at 30

Bessette remains the undisputed Queen of `Cross in North America

Johnson took off early and stayed off the front

Amgen Inc. and USA Cycling are rebutting critics who say the drug manufacturer’s three-year sponsorship of the Tour of California sends a mixed message to athletes. Amgen pioneered the making of EPO, arguably cycling's most famously abused substance, to help cancer and kidney patients recover more quickly. Both the UCI and USA Cycling, which is sanctioning the California race, ban use of the synthetic hormone. "Many people think the EPO drug was invented to be used in doping," Amgen spokeswoman Mary Klem said on Friday. "We are opposed to the inappropriate use of Amgen’s EPO

Saturday's VeloBriefs: Amgen, USA Cycling defend sponsorship deal; NORBA schedule announced; Colavita-Sutter Home signs Wams

Nine and counting: No one has figured out a way to beat Bessette yet this year

Simms regained the lead... for a bit

Wedge resumed his winning ways

Lopes tearing it up (or down)

The winners

Meyer's stack-up was the day's worst

Carter debuts the latest in denim-skinsuit technology

Decker had it all - a fairing and a water bottle filled with pennies taped to his down tube

Craig rides in on his own

Tech Shorts: That mystery pedal; surprising the GQ crowd

Going down

Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;But he that filches from me my good nameRobs me of that which not enriches himAnd makes me poor indeed.—William Shakespeare, Othello The predictably Shakespearean sound and fury has erupted over the announcement that biotech giant Amgen Inc., maker of a certain synthetic hormone all too familiar to cycling fans, has signed on as title sponsor of the 2006 Tour of California. Jeez, it must be true — irony is dead. Not even EPO could save it. The World Anti-Doping Agency

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.Amgen Tour: Truth is stranger than fictionEditor:My first glance at the news of Amgen sponsoring the Tour of California caused me a moment of confusion; it smacked of a classic VeloNews April Fool's headline. Then my imagination got the best of me; can you picture the AMGEN PR tent

A few months ago I wrote a column focused on Red Bull’s one-of-a-kind downhill road race, the Red Bull Road Rage, to be run on Saturday in sunny Malibu, California. For those not up to speed on the Rage, it’s a downhill road race. First comes a time trial; fastest man takes the prize. Next is a four-up competition similar to mountain biking’s mountain-cross. Four athletes shoot out of the gates at once and make their way down the treacherous descent; the first two advance to the next round while the second two retire for drinks at the bar. Our good friends at Red Bull invited top-level road

No, it's not an early April Fool's Day gag

Tech Shorts: That mystery pedal; surprising the GQ crowd

Tech Shorts: That mystery pedal; surprising the GQ crowd

Dear Bob,I am involved with a charity. In my case, it’s the Lance Armstrong Foundation Peloton Project, but for purposes of this question it could be any charity. The extent of my involvement is raising funds. Instead of asking for donations all the time, I would like to hold an event such as a bike ride. Since the event is designed to raise money for the charity but is not an event conducted by the charity, I would need to do this on my own. Therefore, I would need participants and sponsors to write checks to me personally and I would send the money, after expenses, to the charity. While I

Valverde at this year's Tour de France

Organizers have unveiled the route of the upcoming Tour of California and confirmed speculation that one of the world’s largest biotech firms has signed on as title sponsor of the event. Scheduled for February 19-26, 2006, the Amgen Tour of California has signed16 professional cycling teams from around the world to compete across 700 miles of scenic California roadway from San Francisco to Redondo Beach, California. Among the 16 teams competing in the inaugural event are six ProTour teams – Discovery, Gerolsteiner, Davitamon-Lotto, Phonak, Saunier Duval Prodir and the T-Mobile - and the

What happens now that Lance has retired? Many cycling fans in this country have been repeating that refrain since Lance Armstrong hung up his cleats after winning his seventh Tour de France. Lance is gone, but the inheritors of his American dream — including George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, Floyd Landis, Chris Horner, Fred Rodriguez and Saul Raisin — will have a jump start to show their strengths and characters at next February’s Amgen Tour of California. With a one-hour nationwide broadcast on espn2 every evening during the eight-day race, the U.S. standouts will have their best

The feed zone - That Resting Metabolic Rate

Simoni wants a win on Alpe d’Huez

A prologue in Seraing

Stage 1 from Mons to Charleroi

Tour of California route unveiled

Rumors surrounding the rather unusual sponsorship of the upcoming Tour of California, appear to be true. USA Today and other media are reporting that Tuesday’s route announcement of February’s Tour of California will also include the revelation of the race’s title sponsor: AMGEN, the biotech firm that pioneered the manufacture of recombinant Erythropoietin, or EPO. One of the most widely abused drugs in endurance sport, EPO has been at the heart of cycling’s doping scandals since the early 1990s. The company, which boasts more than $2 billion in annual sales, says that its sponsorship is

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn - Crank issues galore

Iñigo Cuesta comes from Saunier Duval

Gustov (L) chats with future teammate Ivan Basso during this year's Tour

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now up for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of ourmost recent contest. This last contest was among the best collection of submissions we’ve seen this year. As a result, we had a tougher time choosing and never could get it down to fewer than two. So for only the second time in our contest history, we’re giving two awards: Craig Forester’s shot of crowds waiting for the peloton on the Col du Galibier underscores the size and grandeur of the Tour de France. On a more personal level, Rosie Ray’s

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.Where the real problem isHey VeloFolk,To be as brief as I can… I love our sport and the pure athleticismit requires. Obviously, there is a doping problem at hand. However, itseems to me that ASO and WADA and their "War on Doping" is only perpetuatinga greater problem.With

Hushovd took a stage at the Vuelta this year, too.

Heras will be at the Giro next year

He may try again

Konecny

Luis León Sánchez

VeloNews Photo Contest: New winners and a new gallery

VeloNews Photo Contest: New winners and a new gallery

Somehow, we suspect the French won't be missing every one of those new American fans

Fignon wins the '83 Tour

Craig and Co. were nearly a minute down

New York (AFP) - Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong poked fun at French critics and their accusations of doping here Saturday, playing the controversy for laughs while hosting "Saturday Night Live." The 34-year-old American cyclist retired after capturing his seventh title in July but considered a comeback after the French newspaper L'Equipe reported 1999 urine samples from Armstrong tested positive for the banned substance EPO. Armstrong, who has steadfastly denied taking any performance-enhancing drugs, said during the opening monologue that he was worried about doing

Recovered: Trebon was back in action on Sunday

8 for 8: Bessette has been unbeatable