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The Disco boys sign autographs

Crowds were sparse at the Brickyard

The winning bike

Hincapie will race the U.S. national championships

Houseman celebrates

Nash takes the series

Schnell styles through the finale

JHK scores a win

Jimena had time to show of some handling skills as she crossed the line.

Bishop made his mark on the descents.

Former VeloNews European correspondent Rupert Guinness is now editor and publisher of PelotonPress.net but rejoins our crew each year at the Tour de France. Unlike past years, however, the story of the 2006 Tour is far from over and Guinness will continue to contribute to VeloNews.com over the coming months. Recently, Guinness spoke with fellow Australian, Union Cycliste Internationale vice-president Ray Godkin, who is still sorting through the fall-out from the doping scandals that book-ended this year’s Tour. In this conversation, which took place in Belgium just days before Landis’s B

Jan Ullrich may be forced to pay money back to his former team Coast, who he rode with in the 2003 season, with former team sponsor Gunther Dahms accusing him of a breach of contract. The 32-year-old former Olympic champion was barred from competing in this year's Tour de France after being implicated in a doping scandal when he was accused of collaborating with a doctor organizing a blood-doping network. Dahms is now keen to discover whether Ullrich breached his contract when he rode for the Coast team and could seek financial compensation if evidence is forthcoming. "In the Coast

There’s growing uncertainty about the future of the Phonak team following the Floyd Landis doping scandal and rumors are flying that the team’s new title sponsor – iShares – has pulled the plug on its commitment to take over the squad in 2007. Andy Rihs, the Swiss magnate who owns the beleaguered team, has scheduled a press conference this week as Landis faces the real possibility of having his Tour de France victory stripped away. Rihs and team manager John Lelangue are scheduled to outline the team's future at an 11 a.m. press conference in Zurich, but until then most riders and staff

UCI vice-president Ray Godkin

Florencio becomes the third Spanish winner here in as many years

A surprise winner.

Garzelli, Florencio and Kashechkin

A quiet moment before today's start

Garzelli showed good form on Saturday

Bettini has had a long season

Mayo - recovered from a poor Tour - is back

Zaballa scored in 2005.

The XC course is a toughy

More celbrations for the happy couple?

Pereiro may end up with a new jersey, too.

Burbank, California - Jay Leno didn't let Floyd Landis off easy, and the embattled Tour de France champion responded with yet another theory as to why he flunked a drug test. Questioned by the "Tonight Show" host Tuesday, Landis said he may have unknowingly ingested something that made him test positive for a high testosterone ratio. "I see you on these shows and I do want to believe you and evidence seems - I don't know if it's overwhelming - but it seems pretty conclusive, right?" Leno said. Landis said yes, if one goes by the tests, and Leno shot back, “Why should we not go

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.Floyd’s neither stupid nor immoralEditor:After reading about the leak, the tests, the excuses, etc., etc., it all boils down to one thing. Whom do you believe? I choose to believe in Floyd Landis. Someone could have made an error marking the samples or someone could have slipped him

Dear ReadersThis week, because of all the legal questions raised by the racing news, we’ll be taking a look at a legal issue I haven’t covered before—the anti-doping code in professional cycling. The Anti-Doping Code has its origins in the Olympic movement; as a result of the International Olympic Committee’s concern about doping in sports, the World Anti-Doping Agency (“WADA”) was created, followed by the World Anti-Doping Code. The International Cycling Union (“UCI”) adopted the World Anti-Doping Code in July of 2004. Let’s take a look at how the system works. The UCI Anti-Doping Ruleshe

Team manager Olaf Ludwig was fired after sponsors demanded a major shake-up on the T-Mobile team.

T-Mobile seems prepared to stay in cycling... if major changes occur on the team.

A conversation with Melissa Buhl: A matter of balance

Vogels signs with Toyota-United

World cycling chief Pat McQuaid has vowed to conduct a sweeping review of the drug-tainted sport after a series of high-profile doping scandals that have left it in crisis. In an interview to be published Wednesday, McQuaid admitted that doping had been an "an integral part" of professional cycling for decades and that it was time for the sport to confront the scourge. The UCI president said the planned review could produce a major upheaval in professional cycling within two years. McQuaid told the Swiss weekly L'Illustre that the length of races, the number of rest days, the

Vinokourov will take on this weekend's Clásica San Sebastián

Voigt is on a roll

Chilean downhiller Bernadita Pizarro lies in a coma in Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital after suffering complications during surgery to repair a broken leg. Pizarro, 20, was competing in last month’s Crankworkx Freeride Festival in Whistler, British Columbia, when she lost control during a warm-up on the mountain’s A-Line trail. Pizarro flew over her handlebars and landed on a large pile of rocks, breaking her right femur. According to Michelle Leroux, a spokesman for Whistler-Blackcomb quoted in the Vancouver Sun, safety patrollers set Pizarro’s leg in a splint and took her by ambulance to

A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for.— W.C. Fields I have an announcement to make. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a Foaming Rant lauding Floyd Landis for beer-drinking his way to a Tour de France-winning comeback. I have subsequently tested positive for wine. White wine. French white wine. No doubt you feel shocked, astonished, perhaps even betrayed. But imagine my dismay when the Ancient and Honorable Brotherhood of Rounders, Roisterers and Rumormongers informed me that both my "A" and "B" samples — taken immediately after my having finished the column and traded it to

Ellis Kahn (7) downtube shifting on La Toussiure

Voigt makes a successful late charge

This beer tastes ... French

Floyd Landis, whose Tour de France triumph was followed by a positive doping test, ripped UCI and WADA officials over the public release of his "B" sample in an interview with USA Today. The newspaper posted comments Sunday on its website from the embattled U.S. cyclist after Saturday's release of his test results, Landis saying he has been treated unfairly and cannot properly defend himself against doping accusations. Landis tested positive, reportedly for synthetic testosterone, and showed a testosterone/epitestosterone ratio well above the level that triggers suspicion in a test

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 man is innocent!Dear VeloNews,Floyd Landis will be exonerated of all doping charges! I can only wonderwhy all the information that was "leaked" before any formal announcementswere made about this debacle was all negative.I still haven't heard anything about the results of the six

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now up for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of ourmost recent contest. Take the time to wander through that gallery and see if you agree or disagree with our choice of winner. Maybe it’s just the timing, but for some reason, we were drawn to Anthony Kahn’s photo of his seven-year-old son Ellis riding an old road bike on La Toussiure. (For one thing, it’s good that Anthony is teaching the boy to shift like a real man before he graduates to integrated levers.) The shot just seemed to remind us

Leipheimer wins the shortened mountain stage

Bad weather triggered a rider protest and a shortened stage

Pic in the early going

Pic wins

Stewart leads as the rain starts

Health Net chases

With two laps remaining, Stewart drives the break

Milne wins

Cavalier (left) gave the retiring Kirkcaldie no freebies

Buhl and Hill celebrate downhill wins

Reeves is back.

JHK solos for the win

Green and gold signs celebrating Floyd Landis' Tour de France victory still hung by a freeway off-ramp and on the gates of the private community in Murrieta, California, where the cyclist holed up Saturday. The festive billboards stood in sharp contrast to the doping scandal that has enveloped Landis, and heated up Saturday when a second test disclosed abnormal testosterone levels, putting his title in jeopardy. "I don't think he's guilty after knowing the guy, who he is, what he's about," said Matt Barringer, the owner of I.E. Bikes in Murrieta, a bedroom community of

Haywood scores a short-track win

USA Cycling has referred Floyd Landis’s case to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the national governing body announced in a press release Saturday. USADA is responsible for opening a formal disciplinary procedure against Landis based on the analysis and subsequent positive result of both the "A" and the "B" samples provided by Landis following Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France. USA Cycling said it would have no further comment and would refer all questions on the matter to USADA. "To maintain the same level of sensitivity and respect for both the rights of all athletes and due process as the

The reaction of the French press to the news that Floyd Landis could be stripped of his Tour de France title was muted, especially when compared to the attention the country's media gave to Lance Armstrong. L'Equipe, the biggest and most respected sports newspaper in the country, had a reference to the Landis story on its front page Sunday, with a headline proclaiming "Landis, yellow jersey dethroned." The full story of the American cyclist's positive "B" sample, which confirmed his high level of testosterone, was on page 12 with the headline, "Landis will lose his

Weather made lower altitudes uncomfortable and higher altitudes too dangerous

Floyd Landis came one step closer to losing his 2006 Tour de France title when the UCI announced on Saturday that a counter-analysis of an earlier anti-doping control also came back positive. A UCI communiqué* said that analysis of the so-called “B” sample, conducted at France's national anti-doping laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry, confirmed the original “adverse analytical finding” of urine samples taken after Landis’ remarkable Stage 17 victory into Morzine. In keeping with anti-doping procedures, the UCI has formally requested that the USA Cycling open disciplinary action against the

Floyd Landis' parents planted a "God Bless, Went Camping" sign in their front yard Saturday, leaving it to friends and neighbors to defend their son against the doping scandal that threatens his Tour de France title. Tammy Martin, one of the Landis' neighbors and closest friends, said Landis has proven his "outstanding skill" as a cyclist and that he ultimately will be exonerated. "All he has accomplished, he has attained through his hard work and discipline," she said at her home in Farmersville, a rural crossroads just outside the borough of Ephrata in eastern

Oscar Pereiro said he felt like the true Tour de France champion Saturday, after confirmation of a drug test for Floyd Landis that is expected to see the American stripped of the title. Pereiro said the fact that he now stands to win the title by default after Landis will likely lose the title for doping, would not diminish his achievement. "Right now I feel like the winner of the Tour de France," Pereiro said at a press conference in Vigo, Spain. The comments are a shift from Pereiro's initial response, when he said he would be reluctant to accept the yellow jersey after a

Landis's Stage 17 attack ranks among the most decisive in Tour history. Will it remain so once the hearings are over?

Landis heads to the doping control trailer after his stunning win in Morzine.

Brown exults

Pereiro may end up with the jersey after all

Hi, honey, I'm home

And now, while we wait for our feature presentation, a couple of selected shorts

The great German hope: At 19 Ciolek certainly has some good years ahead.

The happy couple

Minnaar

San Diego computer entrepreneur Michael Robertson on Thursday offered Tourde France winner Floyd Landis $100,000 to "clear the air" and take a polygraphexamination while addressing charges that he doped on his way to victoryin the Tour.Robertson, who made his fortune off of investments in a host of softwarecompanies - including a Linux-based operating system called "Linspire"and and VOIP system know as SIPphone - is also a former collegiate cyclistand fan of the professional peloton. Robertson sent a fax addressed toLandis on Thursday offering to test the cyclist using a set of

Former T-Mobile rider Jan Ullrich was supplied with a potent cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs by the Spanish doctor accused of running a doping ring that has left the sport in crisis, it was reported here. Former Olympic champion Ullrich, who was barred from competing in this year's Tour de France after being implicated in the scandal, was given EPO, steroids and human growth hormone by Madrid physician Eufemiano Fuentes. The allegations were made by anti-doping campaigner Werner Franke in an interview to be published in Saturday's Hamburg Morning Post. "I've seen a

Cancellara wins in Denmark

Voight wins in Germany

Big Effort: Ciolek's win wasn't an easy one

A small vial tucked away inside the Châtenay-Malabry laboratory near Paris contains what is probably one of the most-watched batches of urine in recent sports history. Officials are expecting a Saturday conclusion to a counter-analysis of Floyd Landis’ “B” samples, taken after his heroic victory in stage 17 into Morzine during the 2006 Tour de France. Lab technicians began work on the counter-analysis on Thursday. Landis’ own attorneys expect the tests to confirm the unusual T/E ratio, which was confirmed by Landis’ representatives to reflect an 11-to-1 ratio of testosterone to