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Menchov

Armstrong tried hard to shake his unwelcome company

Vaughters

The king of the head bangers hits pay dirt

Rodriguez and Durand managed to hold the field at bay.

Lance Armstrong's toughest Tour de France competition could be comingfrom south of the Pyrenees if results the past few weeks are any indication.With Jan Ullrich out with knee surgery and top Italians StefanoGarzelli and Gilberto Simoni afoul with doping problems, thedoor is wide open for a Spanish revival.Following the 1-2 finish at the Classique des Alpes by Kelme's Santiago Botero, a Colombian on the Spanish squad and his Spanish teammate Oscar Sevilla on Saturday and ONCE's sweeps at the Tour of Germany and the Bicicleta Vasca over the weekend, Armstrong couldhave his hands

McGee

Un-retired: Ekimov is back on the Postal roster

The early breakaway climbs the Wall

Unbelievable: Walters still couldn't believe he'd won.

That expected George versus Freddy battle never did materialize.

Boonen made the cut.

Walters on Lemon Hill

'Now what do I do?’' thought McRae who was up front without Hincapie.

Boonen made the cut.

Walters on Lemon Hill

Chausson atoned for her troubles in Scotland.

Dad's a champ: McRae celebrates with his family.

Kovarik has won the last three World Cup downhills.

Rossner and men's winner Mark Walters.

Peat just missed the win.

Rossner kept tabs on the field throughout.

It was King's first big win in years.

The Saturn patrol stayed at the front

Chausson made it 2-for-2.

As a former Saturn, Demet-Barry knew her old temmates' game.

King heads to the win.

French judicial officials have said that the ongoing inquiry into allegations of doping on the U.S. Postal team may not be completed until after this year’s Tour de France, more than two years after the original incident that triggered the investigation, the French news paper Le Monde reported this week.Paris prosecutor François Franchy said in a June 1 interview with Le Monde that the investigation, initiated in November of 2000 after French television aired footage of Postal team staff disposing of medical waste at a highway rest stop, "will be finished soon." But Franchy added that"soon"

After you: Botero celebrates a Kelme 1 - 2

Greg LeMond, the first American to win the Tour de France, has called on cycling's governing bodies to stop stalling on introducing rules which could help quash the culture of drug-taking in the peloton. LeMond, who won the Tour in 1986, ’89 and ’90, slammed the failure of the sport's governing bodies to stem the flow of illicit drugs in the peloton. A week after the Giro d’Italia again displayed the propensity of cyclists to indulge in illicit doping practices, the American called for blood samples to be taken from all riders before and after races and kept for future

Just when the World Cup circuit seemed to be on a roll, word out of Switzerland Friday was that the downhill/four-cross portion of stop No. 4 in Grouse Mountain, British Columbia, has been cancelled because of too much snow. The cross-country races will still be run. According to Gestev’s Patrice Drouin, the event organizer, there is still more than 14 feet of snow in some places on the mountain, making it impossible to get all three courses cleared in time for the July 6-7 event. "We had to put a priority somewhere," Drouin said. "The downhill course is so steep and so much is in the

With all eyes are on Philadelphia this weekend, the Euros are buildingfor the season’s next big goal -- the 2002 Tour de France. Lance Armstrongreturns to racing action next weekend for the Dauphine Libere in France,his final race before trying to win a fourth consecutive Tour.The dust has settled (somewhat) following a wild and woolly Giro d’Italia.The Italians are licking their wounds and resting their legs after theGiro and, despite the expulsion of Saeco out of the Tour, the French raceis still very important to the Italian teams. Five Italian teams will beat the start in Luxembourg:

I thought, I am on top of the earth and I don’t work for the government. — Thomas McGuane, “Another Horse” If there’s one thing I can’t abide, it’s that nagging feeling of relativegood fortune. Nothing is worse for a guy who puts bread on the table bypitching a bitch about all and sundry. This deplorable state of affairs began with the abrupt and sequentialdetonation, with both Bicycle Retailer & Industry News and VeloNews in production, of my surge protector, external hard drive and 17-inch monitor. Oh, boy. With a ton of chores on deck, quarterly tax payments due onthe 15th and my

The 2001 Grouse downhill.

Always look on the bright side of life.. doo dah doo dah

Saturn's Eric Wohlberg hits the pavement in bad conditions

Fighting for position on the last lap

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in thepages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com thatcauses you to want to write us, dropus a line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Spin control and a commercial appeal?Dear VeloNews,I am writing in response to the letter sent to you from Cannondale withregards to the Gilberto Simoni fiasco (see "Itreally isn't about the bike").I am glad that Cannondale claims to be committed to clean/drug-freecycling, but the

Clinger: Can Postal make it 2-for-2?

Freddy's Forte'? Trenton could suit the tastes of the man from Domo

Ignore Fraser at your own risk.

It's Fraser at the line

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in the pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com thatcauses you to want to write us, dropus a line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail tothis address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.It really isn't about the bikeTo the bicycle racing community;Gilberto Simoni of the Saeco/Cannondale team, to which we are the officialbicycle and clothing sponsor, tested positive on two recent occasions fortraces of cocaine.  The first test was administered on April 24, andthe

Anger mounted in Latvia on Wednesday over neighboring Lithuania's jailing of Latvian Olympic cyclist Juris Silovs, with a national newspaper calling for a boycott of Lithuanian goods. The Latvian government has also moved quickly to assist the former member of the French team Cofidis, with the spokesman of Prime Minister Andris Berzins telling the Baltic News Service that "in the future every possible chance will be use to assist Silovs." Silovs has been sentenced to five and a half years in a maximum security Lithuanian prison for failing to declare 86,300 euros (81,430 dollars)

Once again, this so-called investigation by the French Judicial System baffles me.It was with great disappointment that I read Saturday's Le Monde article (June 1) regarding the "US Postal Affair." I am still confused as to why it has taken nearly two years to validate what I said after first learning of this investigation: the investigators will find nothing because there is nothing to find.I do not condone the use of banned substances and certainly understandhow problematic this issue has become in sport. In my case, it's unfortunatethat some people, including a few in the French

Spend any time around the European pro road scene, and chances are, it’ll get into your system. The parade of team cars crowding into a town center for the race, the blaring voice of the announcer at sign-in, the wild crowds along the sides of the roads, the media crush at the finish of a big race: This is big-time sport, with the huge buzz that goes along with it. Euro’ bike racing gets in the blood, and right now, it is coursing through the veins of Kirk O’Bee. Sitting in a Danbury, Connecticut, hotel room on the morning of theHousatonic Valley Classic in late May, the 25-year-old O’Bee is

Wherry, Clinger, Leaper

'Everybody wants to win,' said Clinger, who actually did.

'What could I do?' shrugged Wherry, 16 seconds behind Clinger

Clinger and Wherry

Not your average stroll in the park.

USPRO champion Fred Rodriguez

The Italian Saeco-Longoni Sport team has been officially dis-invited fromthe Tour de France after the team’s top GC contender, Gilberto Simoni wastwice found positive for cocaine. Organizers of the Tour issued a statement on Monday saying that thecontroversy precluded Saeco's invitation to the Tour. Instead, the French Jean Delatour team would be invited to fill the slot left open. Simoni, last year's winner of the Giro d'Italia, was ejected from thisyear's edition of the Italian tour after officials released results ofan out-of-competition drug test conducted in April.

Simoni's win at Campitello Matese was just a day before he was thrown out of the Giro

Who Else? Cipo' makes it six for this Giro and 40 for his career.

Survivors: Hamilton, Savoldelli and Caucchioli made it a great race, despite all of the troubles of the past three weeks.

Moseley celebrates her win.

Kovarik heads for home.

The aftermath of Peat's run.

Gracia and Rennie shared the hotseat momentarily.

Simoni showed positive for cocaine in May, too

Savoldelli gets a boost from the maglia rosa

Hamilton: Third American on Giro podium

Lopes led here, but Gracia won.

The view Chausson's competitors had.

Fans came out in force for the first 4X.

Gonzales makes up for the mountains

That last climb

Taconi Sport's Stefan Ruttimann is facing another ban after the Swiss Olympic Committe announced Friday that a second B sample from a previous control had tested positive. The 24-year-old Swiss rider tested positive for banned steroid testosterone on May 5 during the Tour of Romandy in Switzerland. Ruttimann first tested positive last May 1 (2001) and received a seven-month suspension from the Swiss Olympic Committee. That ban was later reduced to six months by the UCI.

“This has been a very strange Giro.” — Phil Liggett It’s been such fun, watching dopers, has-beens and thugs pile out of the Giro like clowns out of a Volkswagen, or maybe a Fiat, in some David Lynch remake of a Marx Brothers flick with Chico playing all the parts. A conspiracy buff might have seen Marco Pantani’s fine Italian hand behind all of this, sprinkling a little Peruvian marching powder over Gilberto Simoni’s müesli, squirting a touch of Probenecid into Stefano Garzelli’s water bottle, and telling Francesco Casagrande some whopper about John Freddy Garcia calling his momma a ho’.

USA Cycling's search for a new chief executive officer to replace the recently departed Lisa Voight has narrowed down to six finalists, according to USAC board president Jim Ochowicz. The short list includes interim USAC CEO Steve Johnson; Gerard Bisceglia, a food-industry veteran and former USPRO board member; Nigel Blair-Johns, National Bicycle League secretary and a USAC board member; Tom Schuler, director of Team Sports; and an unnamed sixth candidate. USAC’s board reportedly has been divided on whether to go outside the organization to fill its top staff position. But after

Peat is one of the favorites in the downhill.

It was a muddy day on Friday.

Final touches on the four-cross course.

Will Savoldelli crack?

The view from the top of downhill course.

Cipo' made it five today

Savoldelli

Hamilton and Evans before Friday's start