News

Not your average stroll in the park.

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

USPRO champion Fred Rodriguez

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

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

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

The first VeloNews Bro Tour criterium standings are out aftertwo events, the Athens Twilight and the Tour of Somerville, with PrimeAlliance’s Jonas Carney and Diet Rite’s Tina Mayolo-Pic leading the way.The winner in Somerville, New Jersey, and third in Athens, Georgia, Carneyleads a trio of Mercury riders: Derek Bouchard-Hall, Gord Fraser and GraemeMiller, with his Prime Alliance teammate Dave McCook in fifth place. Inthe women’s standings, Mayolo-Pic’s pair of second-place finishes was enoughto put her ahead of Somerville winner Laura Van Gilder (Trek Plus) andAthens champion Ina Teutenberg

Before the fall: Evans begins to show signs of fatigue before Hamilton's first attack.

Passo Gardena, the day's first climb

How long in Pink? Will Savoldelli keep the jersey after Saturday's time trial?

The winning move. Perez, however, didn't have it today.

He's Baaaack. Gragus will be in Philly

Today's profile

Fat-Tire Flyer: Evans is the new man in charge

Perez attacked the slopes of the Fedaia and went on to take the stage.

Another Giro Police raid

Up, up, up and up some more...

Number 38 was not the big story of the day

It was supposed to be an uneventful day

Casagrande makes his case to the press

That podium moment

Fullana heading to victory.

The opening climb.

Alexander couldn't quite catch Fullana.

Blatter makes her way up Houffalize's toughest climb.

Hamilton smokes 'em

Sauser wins his dream race.

The first climb of the day.

Paulissen leads the way early.

The Belgian fans were out in force.

One of the 205 riders who took on Houffalize.

Still in the jersey: Heppner holds a 48-second lead over a surprising Evans

The long and lonely road: Lotz on his own

At the end of a long day in the saddle.

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 this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter. Say it ain’t so, Brooke I am a former team member on the team Brooke manages. All I can sayis, I am horribly disappointed. (see Blackweldersuspended) Last year while competing with Brooke in the Women's Challenge, I commentedto friends and family about what an amazing

Find Roland's rainbows.

Meirhaeghe is one of the fan favorites.

Deep ruts could make things tricky on Sunday.

Martinez is still big in mountain biking.

Dunlap would probably take issue with this display.

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 this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter. Test results aside, thank you, Brooke Dear VeloNews, This is in response to Brooke Blackwelder's email (see "Blackwelderresponds to USADA suspension"). I was sorry to hear about her positive test -- I wish there were morepressure on the supplement industry to fully disclose

Champagne don’t make me lazyCocaine don’t drive me crazyAin’t nobody’s business but my own. -- Taj Mahal Cycling seems to have taken a speed-wobble into an endless “TwilightZone” loop, a hallucinogenic Mobius comic strip written by William Burroughs,drawn by M.C. Escher and colored by Owsley that we have to keep ridingover and over, like some Spinning® class in Hell. Trying to write about the sport these days feels like bobbing for silverfish in a septic tank on "The Ricki Lake Show" while a defrocked Catholic priestbelays you with his arms locked around your waist. The bad news

He went, but not willingly.

Things DO go better with coke... like watching the Tour de France on TV.

Yes, there was a bike race today and Denis Lunghi won

Simoni towed Casagrande in the closing kilometers and then beat him at the line.

Those last kilometers...

Steve Zampieri and Renzo Mazzolini

Perez

Still in control: Heppner did better than many would have expected.

Police on Thursday hauled off all six Mapei riders competing in the Tour of Belgium to be tested for banned products in Knokke-Heist, Belgium, after a suspect ampule was discovered in one of the riders bags on Wednesday. The detentions come hard on the heels of another drug scandal for Mapei after Stefano Garzelli was thrown out of the Giro d’Italia on Tuesday after testing positive for the banned diuretic Probenecid. The swoop took place as the riders crossed the finishing line of the first stage of the Belgian. The six riders are Italian Eddy Ratti, who discovered the suspect product in

VeloNews.com values your opinions and welcomes your letters. If you runacross something in the pages of VeloNews magazine, hear of something inthe world of cycling or see something on VeloNews.com that causes you towant to express an opinion, 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.Blackwelder responds to USADA ruling and suspensionDear VeloNews(see "Blackwelderreceives 8-month suspension") Funny thing, for the last three yearsI've spent countless hours developing a women's team

Idaho cyclist Brooke Blackwelder (Team Goldys) has been suspended from the sport for eight months following a final ruling on a case stemming from a positive drug test at last year’s Hewlett-Packard Women’s Challenge. According to a statement released by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), a three-member arbitration panel from the American Arbitration Association (AAA)/North American Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that there was enough evidence to show that Blackwelder had violated doping rules by using a banned anabolic steroid. Blackwelder, 34, tested positive for

McEwen now turns his attention to France.

Simoni fans don't care if their hero is under fire.

Green Beret Sgt. Gene Vance Jr., an avid cyclist who had worked at a West Virginia bike shop before being called up for duty in Afghanistan, was killed May 12 when his Special Forces unit came under fire. He was the first member of the West Virginia National Guard to die on active duty since World War II, according to The Associated Press. On March 4, another soldier-cyclist, Army Sgt. Phil Svitak, 31, of Clarksville, Tennessee, was among seven Americans to die when enemy fighters targeted two Chinook helicopters in separate attacks. Bruce Summers, owner of Whitetail Cycle & Fitness, said