News

Di Biase (r) blasts by Galli.

The lead peloton heads for home.

Hesjedal cools off after Stage 7.

The Malaysian tifosi.

On this course, the start counted for everything.(All photos from Friday practice)

... because once on dirt, things narrowed quickly

Three-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and seven of his U.S. Postal team cyclists have rejected a call to appear before a Paris drugs' tribunal. Sources in Paris close to the 15-month investigation into possible misuse of doping agents by the American team that Armstrong had rejected the summons which had called on eight U.S. Postal riders to appear as "witnesses" in the investigation. The probe was launched in November 2000 to determine whether US Postal had broken laws relating to the use of drugs or incitement to use them, after a French television crew filmed team staff

Brown nips Hunter.

The peloton rolls by.

Hunter shows the effects of the day.

The aftermath of a crash.

France's Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole) will be out for three weeks after breaking his right collarbone in the season-opening "La Marseillaise" Grand Prix in Aubagne, in southern France, on Tuesday.The race organizers said Moreau, who was fourth in the Tour de France two years ago, fell as he came around a downhill bend during the 144km race. Moreau, 30, was due to undergo an operation on Wednesday. The former Festina rider suffered the same injury two years ago at the start of the 2000 season, when he broke his collarbone in the early season Etoile de Besseges. Tuesday's 144km

Hunter and Salomone head for home.

Hesjedal with a post-race smile.

The trip to the top of Genting could include a trip through the clouds.

The TDL cavalcade.

Di Biase after his win on Monday.

Tafi feels the effects of the climb.

The group makes the trip up Fraser Gap.

A ferry heads to the island of Penang, which sits in the Indian Ocean.

Salted fish in the market at Lumut.

Hunter meets his fans at Tapah.

Downtown Ipoh, site of Stage 3's finish.

Heading out with the family.

Racing along a plam-tree lined road.

The rules of visiting a mosque.

Dunlap missed the podium by one spot.

The women's podium

Happy Happy Belgians. Flemish fans celebrate the home team sweep.

De Clerq crosses the finish line.

Johnson's 13th-place equaled the best by an American.

The Belgians, led here by Nijs, were one big happy family.

Degano (left) takes the sprint.

Tafi drives the break.

Leboucher collected her second rainbow jersey in Belgium

Another welcoming committee.

The Malaysian Prime Minister explains bike racing.

Sponsor cars.

The warm-up band.

Fans at 60 mph.

Looking down on the finish of Stage 2.

The next generation.

Box seats.

Timing transponder.

Jesse Anthony gets a good luck kiss from Mom before the start in Zolder.

Pauwels

Is that bat in your hand or are you just happy to see Verhagen? Dutch fans celebrate a win over rival Belgians

Hunter celebrates his win.

(from left to right: A shocked Commeyne, Verhagen and Trunschka

Hunter and Tafi after another successful day in Malaysia.

The locals take in the race.

The Putra Mosque near the Stage one TT.

Hunter dons the yellow jersey.

Tafi gets his countdown.

The streets weren't always clear.

Welcome race fans

The four world championship races start and finish on pavement directly in front of the grandstands.

The hills start within a few hundred meters of the start.

Ann Grande scoots past on of the many homes that dot the course.

American Jonathan Page surveys one of the trickier descents

Even in practice laps, this tree at the bottom of one tough hill led to a few close calls.

Back on pavement, the course goes over itself before heading into the woods again.

The Sacramentskapel sits at the top of a short but tough climb.

The grounds of the Sacramentskapel will be off limits to fans this weekend.

After announcing last Friday that the first major stage race of the 2002 season, Paris-Nice, scheduled March 10-17, would "almost certainly be canceled," race owner Laurent Fignon recommenced negotiations with the Société du Tour de France this week. On Thursday evening in Paris, an agreement was reached between the two parties for Paris-Nice to be sold to ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation), parent company of the Tour society, which will do its utmost to ensure that the race takes place this year. Discussions broke down last week between ASO and Fignon, the two-time Tour de France winner, who

The 2002 Pro Cycling Tour (PCT) schedule was announced Wednesday, and it has a decidedly different look than last year’s series. In a move toward more high-profile events in major U.S. cities, the PCT has dropped the Sea Otter Classic, the Downtown Criterium in Austin, and two East Coast events, the Capital Cup and Clarendon Cup, from this year’s season-long points competition. On the schedule again this year are the four races that constitute the First Union Cycling Series in June, culminating with the stars-and-stripes weekend of the men’s First Union USPRO Championship and women’s First

You might just call it the rough equivalent of trash talk… only in Flemish. Holland’s Richard Groenendaal was quoted in Thursday’s edition of the Belgian humor magazine Humo as encouraging Dutch fans to bring bats and other weapons to this weekend’s world championship cyclo-cross race in Zolder, Belgium. Groenendaal, who has had at least one violent encounter with a Belgian fan this season, described the Flemish hordes as “the enemy.” The 31-year-old Rabobank cyclo-cross star went on to say that Dutch fans would be arriving in Zolder “armed with bats” to counter the interference of Belgians

Hesjedal

Andrea Tafi and Francesco Moser.

The Tour de Langkawi welcoming committee.

Mapei is introduced.

Members of the Mapei team watch the highlights from last year’s race.

A clear and present danger? Does it take a bat to control these men?

At 462 feet, the four minarets of the Blue Mosque are the tallest in the world. It can hold up to 24,000 worshippers.

Members of the Lotto-Adecco team pose for the press.

The new Lotto Litespeeds.

The women’s domestic road racing scene will have a new addition this year in the form of a U.S. national team sponsored by Cannondale. The team will go by the name Cannondale USA and will be led by Olympic silver medalist Mari Holden. Supported by grants from the United States Olympic Committee, the team will tackle an ambitious international schedule, focusing on World Cups and major stage races including La Grande Boucle Feminine (women’s Tour de France) and the HP Women’s Challenge. Jeff Pierce, former director of sports marketing at GT and recently hired by USA Cycling as vice

Holden highlights Cannondale USA women’s team

Dunlaps's ready for world's. Is Kupfernagel?

'Muddy,' was Gully's take on Heerlen