News

King of the Mountain, Egoi Martinez

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) officials decided Saturday not to ban hypoxic tents, which may allow athletes to gain endurance-boosting results of altitude without the travel. WADA president Dick Pound announced the decision not to include the tents on the banned training method list, but said scrutiny on the matter will continue. Three WADA commissions examined the tents and suggested not banning them, conforming to the vast majority of committee members in saying they should not be on the prohibited list for 2007. "The biggest item for discussion was whether we should put on the list

The last start line of the year. Parker marks the end of the 2006 NRC season.

American Floyd Landis, who tested positive for testosterone after winning the Tour de France, said Sunday he is confident of proving his innocence. Landis was making an appearance at the final stage of the Vuelta a España and was mobbed by journalists as he watched Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov secure the race's gold jersey on the final day. The American is facing being stripped of his yellow jersey crown after tests showed abnormal amounts of testosterone in his body after his stunning victory on stage 17 which allowed him to re-launch his bid for the overall victory. But following

Newly crowned national criterium champ Brad Huff was one of a few riders to hit the deck in the criterium.

Vinokourov's golden moment.

Stevic went clear alone, but an ill-timed bee sting on his forehead took him out of the race.

New brakes, new crank, new bottom bracket... Campagnolo is making changes

Sarah Uhl, out in Colorado for three weeks in preparation for the national track championships, showed good form in winning the crit.

This is what a No. 245 looks like.

Revelation of the 2006 season, Alison Powers stomped the women’s field and won the road race to wrap up the omnium. Powers will be riding for Colavita next year.

Vittoria's Pit Stop Corsa is the solution for punctured tubulars.

Blue Streak: TIAA-CREF had 9 riders in the race — every last one of whom lined it up for the last dozen or so laps.

SpeedyReedy to Host Power Meter Clinic for Cyclists and TriathletesBoulder, CO, September 15, 2006 — Seattle's top triathlon retailerwill host a workshop with one of the world's leading power meter coaches.Hunter Allen will lead a workshop on the benefits and methodology of trainingand racing with a power meter on Friday, September 22 beginning at 7:00p.m. After the presentation, Allen will answer questions and autographcopies of Training and Racing with a Power Meter. The event is free ofcharge and is open to interested triathletes and cyclists.SpeedyReedy is located at 1100 N.

Vinokourov stayed calm, pounded through the TT and keeps the lead going into Madrid on Sunday.

Danielson maintained his spot on GC

Bodrogi sets the early standard

Zzzzooooom. Vinokourov powers through the tough part.

CSC tried the old attack-into-the-crosswind gag

Andalucia

Vino' on the job

Services slated for Dechau

IRVINE, Calif. 9/13/06 -- Long-time sales and management executive David Pfeiffer has been named the new president for Shimano American Corporation, the Irvine, Calif.-based bicycle component and fishing tackle manufacturer, announces Kozo Shimano, current Shimano American president. Pfeiffer’s new role is effective December 1, at which time Kozo Shimano will move into a senior executive position for corporate advocacy and public relations, enabling him to pursue both his personal and company interests in growing the bicycle and fishing tackle markets. “David has extensive experience in all

The Discovery Channel Pro Cycling team will investigate former team lieutenant Frankie Andreu's admission that he used EPO in preparing for the 1999 Tour de France, team officials announced Friday. In a statement released by the team, officials said lawsuits were possible as a result of Andreu's admission of doping to the New York Times and asked for probes by the International Cycling Union and US Anti-Doping Agency. "Team management will be investigating this issue and considering all legal options and trust that the relevant authorities (USA Cycling, USADA and the UCI) will be

Every cyclist's worst fear was realized for Jon Dechau on the evening ofSeptember 13. Dechau, 33, was killed after being struck from behind bya motorist. The accident occurred in Lima, New York, about 20 miles southof Rochester.The Livingston County sheriff’s office said that Dechau was riding westbound on the shoulder of route 20 approximately two feet to the right of the white line. A sheriff’s spokesman said a westbound vehicle driven by Sharon Cameron, 61, crossed the white line and struck Dechau from behind at approximately 45-50 mph, and Dechau died at the scene. Cameron could not

Arrieta wins

Astana controlled the bunch

Vino' holds the gold

The one-two Astana punch

Vinokourov added to his advantage over Valverde...

... and was joined by compatriot and teammate Kashechkin

They proved to be a formidable pair...

...putting another 32 seconds into Valverde.

Danielson says if the climb had been longer, he might have made it back up to Vinokourov.

Kaisen leads the escape...

...while Valverde's Caisse d'Epargne boys give chase.

Passing through Jaen.

Merckx to autograph copies of 'Cycling's Golden Age' at Interbike

The World Anti-Doping Agency can only watch and wait as the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency considers Tour de France champion Floyd Landis' request to have the case against him thrown out, WADA president Dick Pound said Thursday. "I think we have to wait and see what happens," Pound said in a teleconference from Montreal, where the WADA executive committee will meet on Saturday. "We're kind of a monitoring agency in these things. This is a UCI process. Pound said that USA Cycling's "procedure is to punt to the national anti-doping agency, which in this case is USADA. USADA will

Tyler Hamilton, whose two-year ban for blood doping is due to end on September 22, is now facing another investigation, USA Cycling said today (AEST). A statement from the US federation said it has received information from the International Cycling Union (UCI) "regarding Tyler Hamilton and his alleged involvement in 'Operation Puerto', along with a request to move forward with disciplinary action". "Operation Puerto" was the Spanish doping affair that saw 13 riders, including Italy's Ivan Basso, Germany's 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich and Spain's Francisco

Eddy Merckx to Autograph Copies of Cycling's Golden Age at Interbike Boulder, CO, September 13, 2006 — Cycling legend Eddy Merckx will autograph copies of Cycling's Golden Age: Heroes of the Postwar Era, 1946-1967 at Interbike. Merckx, who wrote the foreword to the book, will sign books on Wednesday, September 27th from 4 p.m. until 5 p.m. at the VeloNews booth # 3359. Featuring previously unpublished vintage photographs, trophies, race-worn jerseys, and other invaluable cycling artifacts from The Horton Collection, Cycling's Golden Age offers a fresh appreciation of the

German authorities secured samples of former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich's DNA when they raided his Swiss residence Wednesday, according to a report released Thursday. Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung said in an advance release of its Friday edition that authorities plan to compare the German rider's DNA with frozen blood seized at a Madrid clinic as part of a doping investigation that forced Ullrich and eight other riders to withdraw from this year's Tour. Authorities could not immediately be reached to comment on the report. On Thursday, Germany's Federal Crime

Two former members of the U.S. junior national cycling team are settlingfederal lawsuits after contending their coaches injected them with steroidswithout their knowledge.Gregory Strock and Erich Kaiter were completing a settlement agreementwith USA Cycling and former coach Rene Wenzel, a lawyer for the riderssaid in a court filing late Wednesday. U.S. District Judge John Kane onThursday gave both sides until Sept. 27 to file papers dismissing the case.Attorney William Senter, who represents the defendants, confirmed thesettlement but said terms were confidential. John Pineau, an attorney

Raids were carried out Wednesday in private houses and offices in Germany and abroad in the framework of a crackdown on doping in cycling, the Bonn prosecutor's office announced. "In total, 10 private houses and offices were raided in Germany as well as overseas," the office said. "These raids follow the investigation of a complaint lodged in Bonn for fraud after the investigations by Spanish authorities into people suspected of having had access to banned products to improve their performances in cycling." The German daily Focus reported Wednesday that one raid took place in

Danielson gets the stage . . .

. . . and Vino' gets the gold

Vino' and Danielson rocket toward the finish

Danielson and Martinez working the earlier break

Paulinho and Danielson in the break

Kash' goes up the road

Valverde attacks

Valverde puts Sastre in the hurt locker

Vino' on the march

The race leader got no help in the hunt

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.The truth... the whole truthDear VeloNews,Thanks to Frankie for opening this box, now please find the courageto spill the contents. When did you do it? How often? Other drugs? Whogot them for you? Who else did it? Did the team know? Did Lance know? Wasit encouraged? How much did it help?

On the way to the Atlantic

Will there be a La Ruta repeat

Bishop was 5th in 2005

Coast-to-coast racing

Cuesta drives hard for Sastre... but they couldn't shed Valverde.

Then, Sastre tried on his own...

Two former U.S. Postal riders admitted taking EPO in preparation for the 1999 Tour de France, the first of seven one by their teammate Lance Armstrong, the New York Times reported Tuesday. In a story posted on its website, the newspaper said Frankie Andreu, a now-retired lieutenant of the U.S. Postal Service team, and another rider who did not want his name disclosed both admitted wrongdoing in interviews with the Times. "Everybody's afraid to talk because they don't want to implicate themselves but there are guys out there who love the sport and who hate doping. They are the guys

...and again.

Following news reports that he admitted to the use of EPO early in hiscareer, former U.S. Postal team, rider Frankie Andreu released the followingstatement explaining his reasons for his admission. Turning the sport around.As hard as it is, sometimes putting something on the line is the onlyway to help. My confession of taking EPO when I was younger is not meantto drag anyone down but to raise awareness of the problems that existedand still exist. I don't have to tell you this because in the last fewyears some big profile names have brought this to all of our attention. I took EPO to help

Stage 1 profile

The attorney for Floyd Landis is questioning the accuracy of the positive testosterone tests attributed to the Tour de France winner and asks that doping charges be dismissed. In a letter sent to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, attorney Howard Jacobs disputed the accuracy of the carbon isotope ratio tests performed on Landis' urine sample at a lab in France. Jacobs also argued that the analysis of a different test, the testosterone-epitestosterone analysis, "is replete with fundamental, gross errors," including mismatched sample code numbers. Jacobs said the positive finding on the backup

Stage 2 profile

A year ago Thomas Frischknecht ended one of cycling’s longest streaks, becoming the first foreign rider to triumph at Costa Rica’s famed La Ruta de los Conquistadores mountain bike race. Fast forward 12 months, and the Swiss legend will try to make it two in a row in November when he returns to defend his title at one of the world’s toughest stage races. Among the Swisspower rider’s chief challengers at La Ruta’s 14th rendition will be Colombian Leonardo Páez and American Jeremiah Bishop (Trek-Volkswagen). Páez is currently No. 1 in the UCI’s marathon rankings, while Bishop is coming off a

Stage 3 profile

Following news reports that former U.S. Postal team rider, Frankie Andreu admitted to the use of EPO early in his career, his former teammate Lance Armstrong released the following statement charging the New York Times with efforts to impugn his reputation: Today’s article in the New York Times was a blatant attempt to associateme and implicate me with a former teammate’s admission that he took bannedsubstances during his career. The recycled suggestion that former teammatestook EPO with my knowledge or at my request is categorically false anddistorted sensationalism. My cycling victories are

CSC turns up the heat

Andreu - seen here at Paris-Nice in 2000 - said his brush with EPO use was limited, but wanted to come clean to help the sport.

Martinez is closing in on the climber's jersey.

A sweet, if slightly soggy victory

.. but there was no interest in seeing an early break get anywhere.

Vinokourov is now in second on GC, but that 1:42 might be a tough hurdle.

Landaluze works to bridge the gap...

The climb up the Calar Alto is among Europe's great climbs.

Big win for Euskaltel's new guy.

Danielson is riding back into form - and the top-10