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Lars Boom’s second bike sits along with a gaggle of Rabobank’s spare wheels.

At the world cup in The Netherlands, Legg snapped a shot of the Italian national team mechanics making coffee. This is the electric Moka model from Bialetta and can be bought at Williams Sonoma for around $100.

Enrico Franzoi (Lampre-Fondital) rode Fulcrum’s Racing Light carbon wheels with 32c Dugast Rhinos at the muddy world cup in The Netherlands.

A Fidea mechanic works on a team bike, a Ridley prototype with an integrated seat mast. Also notice the green tinted sidewalls on the Challenge Grifo tires. The tint is special for the team, but the tires’ treads are also on production models.

rides Ridley’s house-brand 4ZA brakes, however, the mechanics do add a custom barrel adjuster to the right cable stop.

More Fidea Ridleys with integrated masts. These are Petr Dlask’s bikes.

A tighter shot of the new seat masts. The feature is rumored to be standard equipment for 2009 consumer models.

Bart Wellens (Fidea) has his own rack; two of the bikes have integrated masts, the closest doesn’t. They also sport the team issue tires; the closest has Challenge’s Grifo XS and the others sport standard Grifos.

Another shot of the Belgian champion’s Ridleys.

Jared Bunde, a 31-year-old member of the GS Mengoni Cycling team, accepteda two-year doping ban by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) on Tuesday after testing positive for the banned substance clomiphene. Bunde, a member of the GS Mengoni Cycling team, tested positive July 28 at the International Cycling Classic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His two-year ban began October 15, the day he accepted a provisional suspension. As a result of testing positive for the anti-estrogenic drug, Bunde forfeits all results since July 28, including his win in the Masters National Track Championship, Points

Daphny van den Brand (ZZPR.nl), winner of World Cup #2, rides a titanium Merida equipped with SRAM Force components.

Bennati has had a string of impressive wins in grand tours this year.

Katie Compton (SpikeShooter) warming up for the third round of the 2007 World Cup...

Compton’s winning ride

... and winning Gavere.

Rabobank’s Sven Nys sets the bar on the cyclocross course; therefore many look to his equipment choices. He rides Colnago C50s with Shimano Dura-Ace groups and WH-7801-C50 wheels with Dugast Typhoons 34c tires. with his name on them. Brakes by Spooky

Compton uses Enduro’s ceramic pulleys in her Campagnolo Record rear derailleur.

Shimano makes a special 46-tooth outer ring for its sponsored ’crossers. Nys’ inner ring is a standard 39-tooth ring.

Ending months of speculation, Kazakh ProTour team Astana announced Fridaythat it had signed American Chris Horner for 2008. The move, which putto rest rumors that Horner was on the verge of signing with U.S. continentalsquad Rock Racing, will see Horner ride alongside Tour de France winnerAlberto Contador as well as compatriot and U.S. national champion LeviLeipheimer. The signing also raised more than a few eyebrows, given Astana’sscandal-plagued 2007 season. After two seasons with Predictor-Lotto that saw Horner take stage winsat the Tour of Switzerland and Tour of Romandie — as well as

Horner says the Astana offer came as a surprise.

Horner will bring his unique style to Astana.

Ramirez rollin' it

The final sprint

Crossing the Rio Pacuare

Dietsch takes a dip

Trebon, not a mudder? Guess again

Gould wins, but not without suffering

Let's go surfin' now, everybody's learnin' how . . .

Johnson in pursuit

After a month of political maneuvering, speculation and more than a healthy dose of good old-fashioned rumor mongering, the World Anti-Doping Association did as expected on Saturday and elected former Australian Finance Minister John Fahey as the organization’s president for the next three years. Predicted opposition to Fahey’s candidacy by European members of the WADA Foundation board of directors resulted only in formal abstentions by four members and no vote by Russia’s representative on the panel. The board also elected International Olympic Committee medical commission head Arne

Fahey meets with reports after his election on Saturday.

Gould nails it

Plenty of challenges on an interesting course.

Trebon and Wicks built an early advantage

VeloNews Podcast 34 - Charles Pelkey at the 2007 WADA Conference, cyclocross interview with Tim Johnson plus the latest on the women's Team Advil squad for 2008.

Dick Pound says only one thing is certain about the presidency of the World Anti-Doping Agency. “My term ends at midnight on December 31, 2007,” the current WADA president said during the Third World Conference on Doping in Sport in Madrid this week. “Beyond that, I’m not sure what is happening. “ European governments on Friday nominated former French Sports Minister Guy Drut as a candidate to stand in opposition to Australian finance minister John Fahey to fill the post. Until two months ago, neither man was being considered for the position, which most observers said would go to

La Ruta de los Conquistadores

Federico Ramirez

Juan Solis

Sinkewitz got of lighter than expected, largely because of his cooperation with authorities.

The man who might be king. European sports ministers nominated Guy Drut to replace Dick Pound.

Horner says he has a reason to smile.

The Third World Conference on Doping in Sport kicked off in Madrid, Spain, on Thursday, beginning a three-day international meeting that will focus on revisions in the World Anti-Doping Code and signal the end of Dick Pound’s tenure as the sporting world’s top doping cop. Nearly nine years after the first World Conference on Doping in Sports, in February of 1999, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has grown from a one-page document, issued largely as a panicked response to cycling’s Festina scandal, to a $25 million-a-year organization with authority over all Olympic sport and the legal

Pound addresses a conference charged, in part, with picking his replacement.

Rogge says doping remains a serious threat to Olympic ideals.

Dear Readers;When I wrote Bicycling& the Law, one of my main goals was to tackle the problem of anti-cyclistbias. As I discussed in "Bicycling & the Law," there is an institutionalizedsocial bias against cyclists, which is manifested in a road infrastructurethat discriminates against cyclists, law enforcement bias against cyclists,and even a media bias against cyclists. In my previous Legally Speakingcolumn (see A Fatal Bias?), I discussed some recent car-on-bike crashes,and the textbook examples of police and media bias in response to thosecrashes.In Portland, the cycling community,

Alejandro Valverde’s successful challenge to ride in this year’s world championship road race should not be seen as an end to the doping investigation surrounding the Spanish cyclist, World Anti-Doping Agency president Dick Pound said Thursday. Valverde successfully fought an effort by the UCI to keep him from riding the world’s road race in Stuttgart in September after cycling’s international governing body said he was a suspect in the 18-month-old Operación Puerto case. Valverde took his case to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, and overturned the

Rasmussen might be suspended, says McQuaid.

Riis says it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that without the biggies, the ProTour doesn't mean much.

How come we never see podium ceremonies like this in the Tour?

Never uncork the champagne . . .

. . . until you've crossed the line

Stephen Taft, 63, of Toronto, is racing his first La Ruta. I like to set an objective each year. Last year it was an 800-mile ride. This year it's La Ruta.

John Wong, 42, of Vancouver, is tackling his first La Ruta as part of a three-week vacation cycling Costa Rica's western coast. This is more of a vacation where I get to do a bike race, not just a bike race on my vacation.

Each of this year's 520 participants will receive the famous yellow gear bag

Williams models her rainbow, uh, bikini

The profile for day one

Day two

Day three

Day four

Going up: There's more of this sort of thing in the 2008 Tour of California

The U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross presented by Crank Brothers has partnered with sponsors Clif Bar and Crank Brothers to reduce the amount of trash produced at its events. The goal of the USGP’s “Zero Waste” program is to recycle and compost as much waste as possible, keeping it from landfills or incineration. Each event will have multiple stations for recycling and composting with signs letting spectators know which items go in each station. The series is also using “greenware” and other products that can be recycled or composted. At the first USGP event in Louisville, the program yielded a

The '08 route is a mix of old and new.

Only one person can have a 'Fastest Time Trial Ever: 54.676kph, David Zabriskie' sticker on his bike.

Zabriskie undergoing Retul’s 3D analysis of his pedaling style

Millar mounting his bike with Retul LED emitters in place for 3D pedaling analysis

Jim Felt makes a point to David Millar while Retul’s Todd Carver sticks LEDs on his leg

A 14-foot cooling-tower fan blows air in a circuit around the tunnel

Styrofoam vanes bend the air around the tunnel’s 90-degree corner

The entire route

The Vogelzang committee concluded that Rasmussen shouldn't even have been allowed to start the Tour.

A rough and dusty start as the Redline Cup

Colorado mud

Geoff Kabush signs a juiced-up VeloNews cover at the post-race party

Big crowds turned out for the soon-to-be legendary Boulder Cup

Busted

That ain't no cyclocross bike

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Rubiera says he's at a turning point.

Brothers Frank and Andy Schleck confirmed Sunday they have extended their deals with the CSC team until 2010. The two Luxembourgers had reached the end of their contracts with the Danish outfit. Andy, 22, finished second in the Giro d'Italia this year and is being touted as a future Tour de France champion, while classics-specialist Frank, 27, won the Amstel Gold Race in 2006.