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Gullickson showing his 'cross skills.

Horgan-Kobelski took second.

The doping investigation into the U.S. Postal team may be near its completion after judicial sources in Paris said Friday that the case "was going nowhere." The team headed by three-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and has been under investigation since tapes produced by a France 3 television crew were released in November 2000. The tapes showed Postal team staff disposing of a bag of medical waste at a highway rest stop during that year’s Tour de France. After the Postal team car left the area, the television crew retrieved the bag and eventually turned it over to investigators.

Lance Armstrong is poised for his second major victory of the 2002 seasongoing into this weekend's finale of the Criterium du Dauphine Libere. Thethree-time Tour de France champion retained the overall lead in Friday'sfifth stage and remains 16 seconds ahead of U.S. Postal Service teammateFloyd Landis.Armstrong, a winner at the Midi Libre in May, faces an old nemesis inSaturday's 145-km climbing stage through the French Alps: the Col de JouxPlane. Armstrong "bonked" on the narrow, steep climb on Joux Plane in the2000 Tour and nearly lost the race when he didn't eat enough

And then I saw a bike-car altercation that went from horn-honking togiving the finger to full-on hit-and-run. The late-model, white SUV withlicense plate 007-something full on took this cyclist out. Drove rightinto him, knocked him down and drove away.- Big Jonny recounting a Sundaytraining ride on www.drunkcyclist.com(a site bound to give your porn filter a coronary)Ah, ’tis spring, and the psychos are in bloom. A correspondent recently forwarded alink to a cheery column by Wendy Crooks, a contributor to a thing calledThe Villager, in The Woodlands, a subsidiary of Houston. In it,Mrs.

The resurgent Dede Demet-Barry has signed a multiyear agreement with Team T-Mobile following a string of podium appearances, according to USA Cycling. The 29-year-old Boulder resident, a former Saturn rider who had been racing in Talgo America kit after taking nearly two years off from racing to continue her education, scored a victory in the Montréal World Cup on June 1, then followed that up with a second place at Le Tour du Grand Montréal June 3-4 and a third place at the First Union Liberty Classic June 9 in Philadelphia. Her first race with Team T-Mobile will be at the U.S. Elite

Jalabert leads the break before the collapse of civility

Friday's Foaming Rant: Share the Road

Dunlap running towards the win.

Redden was a solid second.

The 'Liquid Launch' claimed many victims.

Green chose to walk across the finish.

Bonilla was in line for the podium before falling to a mechanical.

Must be in Wisconsin.

The top of Alpine Valley Resort.

With HQ nearby, Trek has a bigger than usual presence here.

Tom Danielson

The 7-Eleven Velodrome in Colorado Springs, Colorado, will host theU.S. Cycling Federation’s Masters National Track Cycling ChampionshipsAugust 6-10, according to USA Cycling.The original venue, the Superdrome in Frisco, Texas, was closed in Mayafter a deteriorating surface rendered the track unsafe for riders.The race dates and event schedule for the championships remain unchanged,and the registration deadline has been pushed back one week to July 30,according to national events director Eric Moore. For more informationon the revised event, see USACycling's website.“This is still ranked

Patrice Halgand

Armstrong holds the lead

Landis, strongest in the mountains

Armstrong takes second to Botero, but takes the jersey.

The TT was Botero's big goal for the Dauphiné.

Armstrong's favorite color

Four-time world champion Shane Kelly, Olympic gold medallist Scott McGrory and mountain bike rider Sid Taberlay have all filed appeals against being their omission from Australia's Commonwealth Games cycling team. Cycling Australia chief executive officer Graham Fredericks said the appeals would be heard Thursday with a decision to be released on Friday. The three riders were notable omissions when the 33-strong team for the Manchester Games in July and August was announced last week. Kelly, a former 1,000 metre time-trial world record holder, is expected to argue special circumstances

Citing an ongoing medical problem and an opportunity to pursue a new career, Mercury's Derek Bouchard-Hall has confirmed his decision to retire after finishing the First Union USPRO championships in Philadelphia on Sunday. The 31-year-old Bouchard-Hall underwent surgery in January 2000 to correct a problem caused by the narrowing of an artery in his left leg, a condition that had resulted in decreased blood flow and chronic pain. A 1999 Pan-Am Games gold medallist in the team pursuit, he recovered beautifully and went on to win the 2000 USPRO criterium championship and a spot on the

A court in Freiburg, Germany, on Tuesday fined Telekom’s Jan Ullrich two-and-a-half month’s salary over a drunk driving incident that occurred earlier this spring. Ullrich was found guilty of driving his Porsche 911 under the influence of alcohol when he backed into a bike rack and hit a roadside curb after leaving a restaurant in Freiburg on the evening of April 30. Police also cited the 1997 Tour de France winner for leaving the scene of an accident. German courts often base driving penalties on a defendant’s income. In Ullrich’s case he will have to pay an amount equal to 70 days of his

Bouchard-Hall at Philly

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