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Boonen attacks

The world champ and Hoste

Boonen comes around Hoste for the win

Hincapie crosses third

The podium

Boonen takes over the ProTour lead

Boonen repeats

Melchers-Van Poppel celebrates

Auger and Marichal in the escape

Bettini and Hincapie up front

Klier on the Grammont

Marichal leads

Marichal and Schmidt

This year is about a lot more than just ProTour points

Product review - A new idea from Steve Hed

Boonen's had plenty of practice doing the winner's pose this season.

Dahle remains the one to beat in the cross-country world

Brentjens

Absalon conceded that Brentjens was the stronger man.

McConneloug finishes fifth

Defending World Cup champion Christoph Sauser has moved to Specialized

One of the more interesting local restaurants

The 2006 World Cup mountain-bike race season gets underway this weekend on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. Located just off the coast of Venezuela, Curaçao is known primarily for tourism (it is a regular cruise ship stop), oil (a large refinery dominates the main town of Willemstad) and, for this weekend, mountain biking. The World Cup circus has descended on the island, with 114 men and 52 women scheduled to enter the cross-country race Saturday. All of the world’s top riders have made the trip, led by world champions Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan-Merida) and Julien Absalon (Bianchi), and

Flanders in 2005: Will the cycling gods grant a repeat?

The rainbow curse is something that doesn’t exist, says Boonen. Who can argue with that?

Hoste en route to winning the stage and the overall

There is a chance Petacchi will switch roles with Zabel at Flanders

Team photo

Eisel takes the win and the lead

Hoste proves fastest in a three-up sprint

The 105 pedal

The compact crank

LX

XT

105 wheels

Ultegra wheels

Dura-Ace carbon

The final jerseys

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 ourlast contest. Take the time to wander through that gallery and see if you agree or disagree with our choice of winner. We felt especially good about “Passing the torch,” a photo Mike Jacoubowsky took at the 2003 Tour de France. Nice work. Congratulations Mike! Drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.com to work out the details and we’ll send you a copy of Graham Watson's "Landscapes of Cycling."Go ahead and take a look at our latest

We received the following letter this morning. - EditorWe are deeply saddened to inform you of the tragic passing of Bill Corliss, Director of Development for Specialty Electronics, for Bell Specialty. Bill was riding his bike with 7 other cyclists on Saturday morning near his home in Park City, Utah. A sudden stop by other cyclists led to a collision and ultimately Bill was fatally hit by oncoming traffic. Greg Shapleigh describes Bill this way: “He was a passionate and dedicated cyclist, and raced at a National level. Like many of us, cycling was the thread that connected all the

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. Rogers is an entertaining storytellerEditor:Kudos to Neal Rogers and his latest "Neighborhood" piece. That he has earned the trust and respect of professional riders is apparent, as is his innate ability to tell a story, share an experience, and entertain the cycling reader/websurfer.

Cycling's world governing body has reinstated the doctor who admitted supplyingdocuments to a journalist who used them in anarticle to accuse Lance Armstrong of doping.Doctor Mario Zorzoli, who works as a manager at the medical serviceof the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), was reinstated in his postMonday. Zorzoli had been provisionally suspended at the end of Februaryafter admitting he had unwittingly given the results of doping controlsto a journalist from the French sports daily L'Equipe.The journalist used them to illustrate a damning article in August 2005which alleged that

Basso finished second in Sunday's time trial, good enough to seal the deal after winning the morning's road stage.

Passing the Torch

Neben's bold move pays off

Haedo got a second chance and made the most of it

Armstrong and Neben make nice early on

Neben goes it alone

Armstrong found herself outgunned

O'Neill, in contrast, was well protected

The Health Net-Maxxis chain gang

TIAA-CREF on the chase

Toyota working it for Haedo

Basso made things tough on Dekker in the morning

Basso's showing good form.

Zaballa and Gutierrez

Dekker and Sastre

Dekker on the podium

Menzies en route to winning two sprints and the crit

Did I really get it? Say, where is everybody?

Armstrong assumes the women's lead

Pic wasn't at all excited about winning the crit

Health Net working it . . .

. . . in defense of O'Neill's lead

Dekker returns to form in France

Haedo lookin' good before laying it down

Voigt in an early break

Jelly Belly on the front

Voigt and CSC kept busy in the miserable conditions

The men roll through the start-finish

Schleck and Sastre in an escape

Sayers and Baldwin

Landis looks like he'd prefer to be elsewhere

Van Gilder leads

The bunch rolls along

They worship this race here in Redlands

The Basso-Astarloa group

Our intrepid foaming rantist, about to go batty, bids his bride adieu before flapping off alone on a sorely needed road trip

The ultra-swank Mad Dog Media spring training camp headquarters