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Bontrager was showing a Prototype Rhythm 29 wheelset with a modified crow’s foot lacing pattern with 24 spokes.

The new Paragon hardtail

They call it a 'sprinters' classic,' but there's a long ride before that last 200 meters.

The two trips down the back side of the Kemmelberg took their toll.

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The peloton got close... but not close enough.

The embattled ProTour team Unibet.com was officially warned it had broken Belgian law Wednesday, just as several of its riders fell victim to the cobbles in the Ghent-Wevelgem semi-classic. The Belgian-Swedish outfit, sponsored by an Internet betting company, had initially been caught up in a dispute between race organizers and the sport's world ruling body the UCI over the number of teams in the ProTour. But lately the team has fallen victim to the strict interpretation of laws in France and Belgium governing betting. Internet betting is illegal in both countries and the teamwas

Is 'the man who beat Petacchi' now a favorite to win in Wevelgem?

Healthy again, Kabush is a favorite to take Sunday's cross-country

Gould has been dominant so far this season.

Burghardt shows off his prize

Brard and Mengin in the break

Mathew Hayman (Rabobank) was one of many victims of the cobbled Kemmelberg

Burghardt on the cobbles

Matt Wilson (Unibet.com) was another

Farrar's classics debut was cut short by a crash on the cobbles

Boonen says he's ready for Sunday

Ventoso and Hammond driving it hard

Hushovd charges to victory in 2006

Pedal strike Maryville Tenn crit

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of our most recent contest. This week’s winning photograph is one of those that prompted a response from everyone to whom we showed it. Usually, it was “OUCH!” Leslie Karnowski’s “Pedal strike Maryville Tenn crit” isn’t your usual gratuitous crash photo. Instead, it beautifully captures one of those moments all of us as racers have either experienced or continue to dread. Nice work, Leslie. Please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work

Nico Mattan scored a big win in 2005

The driver pretended not to see the red light nor hear the honking black and white which followed him for a block until Calvin angrily blasted him to the curb with the siren. “Watch him say ‘who me?’” said Calvin as he got out of the car and approached from the driver’s side while Francis advanced on the passenger side, shining his light, distracting the driver to protect his vulnerable partner on the street.— “The Choirboys,” by Joseph Wambaugh How many of you laughed out loud when Jan Ullrich’s lawyer said we shouldn’t leap to any conclusions just because his client has been inextricably

Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich insisted Sunday that he is above reproach despite blood bags seized in a Spanish doping scandal having been proven to be his by German prosecutors. DNA tests on blood seized in the offices of Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes last year have proven that the samples are Ullrich's, say Bonn prosecutors, who are investigating the rider for possible fraud. But in a letter addressed to his fans on his website, the 1997 Tour de France winner said: "These latest findings change strictly nothing of the fact that I'm blameless. "I've never lied

Instant podium — just add water

And the livin' is easy: Warm weather made for great spectating - and weird racing - at the Tour of Flanders this year.

Panache and power

It was that close

The podium

Acosta was part of an early break . . .

. . . as was Franzoi

World champ Bettini shows his rainbow colors

Knaven chases

Riders pouring into Bruges

Tyler's dream of riding the spring classics has come true

Ballan wins

Ballan and Hoste working their slim advantage

A little fog, but otherwise a lovely day for a bike race

Van Petegem says the first Flanders victory in 1999 remains one of his fondest memories.

Tuft leads McCarty

The Koppenberg was a classic hurdle, but it was never the only hurdle in the Tour of Flanders

With one to go, he's gone

Van Petegem is comfortable in his current role at Quick Step

Welcome to sunny — er, snowy — Williamsburg

U.S. Open hits the road after snow delay

Last year's race was held in epic conditions

The weather has left directors and officials wondering what to do

The peloton tackles the cobbled climb

A delay may allow snow to melt, but wet cobbles await the peloton in Richmond

Johnson leads Tuft on an early trip up the big hill

Grate weather: Riders from Equipe Vallee de l'Aluminum de Vinci stand over a heating grate to stay warm

The podium after a cold, hard day in the saddle

Slipstream-Chipotle rider Lucas Euser puts some plastic trash bags to good use

Whoops — wrong way

Justin England (Toyota-United) and Jonny Sundt (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast) wore latex gloves over their cycling gloves

Even the bikes got blankies to keep them warm

Ace photog' Casey Gibson: 'It's not the temperature that's the problem, it's the humidity.'

Navigators tackling the climb

Bernardo Colex (Tecos), from Puebla, Mexico, said he'd never ridden in the snow before

Chasing, chasing

Alex Candelario (Jelly Belly) and Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) stayed warm on a chartered bus during the delay

McCarty workin' it

Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada's Ryan Trebon wore every article of clothing he'd brought, and borrowed a few extra layers

Tuft powers through the powder

The organization representing UCI ProTour teams has asked cycling authorities to carry out DNA tests on all riders implicated in the Spanish Operación Puerto scandal. The demand comes in the wake of DNA evidence that linked former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich with blood bags found on the properties of tainted doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, as part of the Puerto investigation. In a joint statement, the ProTour teams and the International Association of Professional Cycling Groups (AIGCP) have asked all cycling authorities to use the DNA of cyclists implicated in the affair to discover

Aussie Henk Vogels (Toyota-United) looked as though there were other things he would prefer to do than race in the snow

Van Petegem is eyeing retirement, but he's not quite ready to hang up his cleats.

Tuft takes the hard-fought win

Van Petegem last won Flanders in 2003. Now he's riding for the competition

Some of the fans lining the race route seemed a little frosty

The Opener: For the men, the U.S. Open kicks off with a route through Virginia's historic countryside.

The Closer: The men's race ends with eight laps through Richmond

Toyota-United's Dominguez (center) and Vogels (left) are favorites who just might frustrate Americans' hopes of scoring a win at the U.S. Open.

Boonen won last week's E3-Prijs Vlaanderen for the fourth time. Now he's aiming for his third Tour of Flanders.

College sports fans and cycling enthusiasts will soon get the chance to meet the country’s top women’s cyclists from colleges and universities all across the United States when the Ryan Collegiate All-Star Team takes to the roads at the Nature Valley Grand Prix. This will be the first All-Star team in the history of US collegiate cycling. The Ryan Collegiate Women’s All Star Team, sponsored by development/construction giant Ryan Companies US, Inc, is the result of a partnership between USA Cycling and the Nature Valley Grand Prix, a stage race ranked at the top of USA Cycling’s National

Ignatiev - here at the Mediterranean Tour - sees his future on the road.

Collegiate women at the 2006 Beanpot Criterium in Somerville, Massachusett

Perhaps not surprisingly, German media have slammed Jan Ullrich after reports that DNA samples have definitively linked the 1997 Tour de France champion to several packets of blood seized during police raids of properties owned by Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. Ullrich, 33, retired last month, after his career evaporated due to his link to the Spanish investigation dubbed Operación Puerto. Ullrich has maintained his innocence throughout and continued to do so after a Bonn prosecutor announced results of DNA tests on Tuesday. A glance at headlines from Germany’s major news outlets,