News

Organizers unveiled the route of the 2006 Tour de Georgia on Tuesday, highlighting the addition of three new host cities – including Chattanooga, Tennessee – and the legendary steep climb up Brasstown Bald Mountain. Scheduled for April 18-23, 2006, the fourth edition of the Tour de Georgia, North America’s only UCI Hors Classe (2.HC) stage race, will include 12 Southeastern cities in two states. The Tour de Georgiawill begin in Augusta on Tuesday, April 18, and conclude its 650-plusmiles of racing with in Alpharetta on Sunday, April 23. The race will returnto the Georgia communities of

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.Confidence in WHAT?Dear Editors,I would hope that the UCI has internal review of its press statements (not to mention its doping tests).The UCI'srecent statement regarding Heras' B sample could be telling. TheUCI is quoted that it has "full satisfaction with the way the

The VeloNews Interactive race calendar is back up and running. If you are a race promoter and would like to have your event listed on the web and in the print edition of VeloNews, free of charge, please submit your race details under the Calendar subheading at VeloNews.com.

Celebrating a decade of racing partnership that produced not only the most enduring team association, but also the most successful, in off-road racing history, the Trek Volkswagen team is proud to announce its 2006 team lineup. Building on our celebrated tradition of fostering new talent and American champions, we are happy to welcome recently crowned NORBA U-23 national champ Lea Davison to the squad. The 22-year-old rider recently graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont and she is looking forward to her first season as a full-time professional racer. "I am absolutely ecstatic about

North American News: Georgia details unveiled; Osipow Discovers Bears; Colorado troubles?

North American News: Georgia details unveiled; Osipow Discovers Bears; Colorado troubles?

Talking to le Boss

Davison's happy to be wearing Trek-VW red

Davison is happy to be wearing Trek colors

Rhode Island Hosts Verge NECCS FinalsA state better known for its yacht racing, Rhode Island will becomethe center of American cyclo-cross with this coming weekend’s Verge NewEngland Championships Cyclo-Cross Series Finals, the W.E. Stedman GrandPrix of Cyclo-Cross, on Saturday, and the Castor’s Grand Prix of Cyclo-Cross,on Sunday. Building up to the following weekend’s Liberty Mutual U.S. NationalChampionships, the Ocean State twin bill will provide perfect preparationfor Nationals as well as a race-heavy end to the six-race Verge NECCS.With top riders from all across the U.S. flying in to

Saiz says he continues to believe in Heras

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn - Not-so-Simple Green

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn - Not-so-Simple Green

Ford Cycling is pleased to announce its roster of riders and sponsors for the 2006 season. Seasoned professionals Kelli Emmett and Sara Bresnick-Zocchi will both return to ride for the Ford Team in 2006. Joining the team this season will be fourth-year pro Kathy Sherwin. Additionally, the Ford team continues its mission to develop talented female riders by welcoming U-23 rider Melanie Meyers to the squad for 2006. Title sponsor Ford Motor Company has supported the program from its start in 2000 as a grass-roots initiative to its current level as one of the top teams in the U.S. "This team

Welcome Race Fans

Lavenu never doubted he'd win a ProTour slot

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.Demanding rigorDear Editor.It is a shame that in this day and age we cannot support a true hero. Having followed Roberto Heras' career over the past few years from thedays of supporting Lance Armstrong in the U.S. Postal squad to the lastwin in the Vuelta. I was so happy that he had

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. One image that jumped out at us last week was “Welcome Race Fans,” by Jake Benardot. Perhaps in this days of shifting race venues, unpaid bills by promoters and the accompanying political controversy it’s sometimes easy to forget that this sport can just be a real blast to watch… especially events like the Athens Twighlight. Congratulations Jake! Drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.com to work out the details and we’ll send

University Bicycles will host a party for Boulder's own master bicycle framebuilder Lennard Zinn on the evening of Wednesday, December 7. The launch party will celebrate the publication of three books and an instructional DVD that Lennard has authored over a year of almost non-stop writing and video production. The cycling community is invited to attend. Refreshments will be provided, and Lennard will sign books and DVDs. Lennard Zinn, senior technical writer for Boulder-based magazines VeloNews and Inside Triathlon, published new editions of two books with VeloPress this season, "Zinn &

Johnson loves the tough conditions

McCormack nearly caught up, but fell just short

Bessette raced twice: once with the guys, and again with the women

Starting his second Tour de France on June 28, 1985, Greg LeMond was ready to show his new team sponsor, Bernard Tapie, that he was worthy of the near-$1 million, three-year contract given him by the French businessman. Racing in the Mondrian-design red-yellow-and-black La Vie Claire team jersey, LeMond had already come in third at his debut Giro d’Italia while helping his teammate Bernard Hinault win the race for the third time. Now, after Italy’s maglia rosa, it was the Tour’s maillot jaune that was on the team’s horizon. Eighteen 10-man teams started the ’85 Tour with a hilly prologue

Heras leaving a Friday press conference in which he criticized the EPO test

The wily Hinault outfoxed his rivals in the Alps

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.Will Americans ever be ready for a great bike race?Editor:I may be being overly dramatic and Euro-worshipping, but don't you think the residents of Roubaix or Flanders may have had to "subsidize" those races a couple of times? This feels to me like another reminder that Americans may

Heras faces a two-year ban

Prosecutors branded Lithuanian cyclist Raimondas Rumsas "a coward" during a criminal trial in the Alpine resort of Bonneville on Thursday after describing how the third-place Tour de France finisher had allowed his wife to sit in jail as he avoided facing charges for the importation of prohibited doping substances. Rumsas finished third overall on the 2002 Tour de France, on the last day of which his wife Edita was caught by customs police with a car boot full of growth hormones, EPO (erythropoietin) and other banned substances. She claimed they were medicine for her mother and was

The organizers of the Thueringen Rundfahrt women's race have presented a check for 25,000 euros (USD $29,537) to the Amy Gillett Foundation at the official launch of the 2006 event overnight in Zeulenroda. The foundation was established in the wake of the tragic accident in July t when an out-of-control car ploughed into the Australian women's cycling team, who were training the day before the start of the Thueringen event. Champion cyclist and rower Amy Gillett was killed in the crash and her five teammates were seriously injured. Retired Australian cyclist Margaret Hemsley, a

Dear Bob;I commute to work every day, and other than the occasional "get offthe road!" I haven't had any problems until now. While riding to work afew days ago, I heard a vehicle approaching fast from the rear. Once thisguy was a foot off my rear wheel, he started laying on the horn. This guyhad two lanes free of traffic, but he insisted on riding my tail for nearlya mile before taking off … so he could catch another cyclist a bit fartherup in the right lane. This guy cut off two other drivers to get behindthe cyclist, who then got the same horn treatment.Next light I pull up to, this guy

Raimondas Rumsas works his way through a gauntlet of reporters on his way to court on Thursday. The Lithuanian rider could face three years in prison.

Heras faces a two-year ban if the B sample proves positive

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.Why lose a great race?Dear Velo,Wow, it look's like we have to wait for another Lance Armstrong tocome along and bring cycling back to this gorgeous city (see “Chaunerpulls plug on `06 SFGP”). Sure, it cost money, but what doesn’t? On the other hand, I'venever seen a single

Those racers motivated enough to push away from a second helping of turkey and toe the line at the Gearworks Bay State Cyclo-Cross Saturday in Sterling, Massachusetts, will get a sneak preview of what to expect from December’s U.S. Cycling Federation Cyclo-cross National Championships in Rhode Island. Round four of the 2005 Verge New England Championships Cyclo-Cross Series, presented by Cycle-Smart, Gearworks will use a course designed by veteran Tom Stevens, the man also responsible for laying out the course at nationals. "The two courses are very, very similar and the weather conditions

One of the most adrenaline-inducing sounds at a track race, particularly in a European six-day, is the ring of the lap bell. Whether it’s for an intermediate prize in a Madison, a lap to go in a points race, or entering the very final lap of the six-day, the bell gets spectators on their feet and sends the racers into a sprinting frenzy For the last several years that exciting “clang-clang-clang” has been missing at Belgium’s Ghent Six (the Z6s Daagse Vlaanderen-Gent), replaced by an electronic buzzer. A fire caused considerable damage at the velodrome, including destruction of its old brass

It’s been almost a decade since Canadian cycling’s elder statesman, Steve Bauer, hung up his cleats and headed into retirement. Since that time, Bauer has kept himself busy on the bike, most notably running a series of successful international and domestic cycling tours. That’s right, for a pretty penny cycling fans can ride the Tour de France route with Bauer-Power himself. It’s a fruitful business, and one that has him putting a good number of miles on those 46-year-old legs of his. Now, filling the Steve’s trophy case are an Olympic silver medal, a handful of yellow jerseys from the

Promoters of the Liberty Mutual U.S. National Cyclo-cross Championships have organized one final pageant for elite men in this 2005 season. The Liberty Cup, to be held Sunday, December 11, right before the elite women's championship, is a showcase for all the national champions. "Any national champion over the age of 15 will be invited to race with no entry fee," said Tom Stevens, race director. "The one caveat is that we ask them to wear their national championship jersey. If they do that we give them a front row start position. We will pay a good prize list and reward the top masters

A six-day is a special thing, especially in Ghent

Ring in the new

Ready, set go... Bauer takes on the (paved) downhill

Ullrich pulls an Indiana Jones in the Austrian Alps

Hondo maintains his innocence

Rumsas on the Tour podium in 2002

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. While racing is our usual focus, Albert Raine’s “Tents and Bikes at Mt. Everest” reminds us of the great potential the bicycles have for bringing joy and adventure into our lives. On top of that, it’s just a beautiful shot, isn’t it? Congratulations Albert! 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

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.Supervisors to blame for SFGP’s demiseEditor:What a complete shame about the GP San Francisco. As a patron the last four years at the event, I will miss the sight of riders on Fillmore and Taylor, begrudgingly riding 25s when mere mortals would prefer MTB gearing. I will miss the sights

Colby Pearce of Boulder, Colorado, has been named USA Cycling’s endurance track coach. Pearce, 33, will be involved in all phases of the endurance track program, including working with the elite men’s and women’s programs, the U23 program, and developing junior racers, said director of track cycling Pat McDonough. "He’s worked for the last year with TIAA-CREF as a rider-coach and has brought a number of athletes and top road talent to the track," McDonough said. "We hope he can take us to the next level." McDonough noted that Pearce, a former road rider himself, will be instrumental in

It looks like Taylor street will be a little less crowded on September 10, 2006

Tents and Bikes at Mt. Everest

Tyler Hamilton's fight to clear his name will enter its final round in January, nearly a year-and-a-half after he was found positive for injecting donor blood at the Vuelta a España. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced on Monday it would listen to closing arguments on January 10 in Denver. A final decision will be made at the end of the panel's deliberations, which may last a few weeks. Hamilton has asked the CAS, world sport's top tribunal, to overturn a two-year ban imposed last year. Hamilton tested positive for illicit blood transfusions during the Tour of

There will be no San Francisco GP in 2006, the race organizer announced Sunday. An ongoing dispute with City Hall over police costs and billing practices has proved to be "a no-win situation, and we simply cannot go forward," said David Chauner, director of San Francisco Cycling LLC, which founded and ran the annual race. "There is considerable uncertainty regarding the amounts we will be billed after each year’s race, making it impossible to accurately forecast budgets or question charges beforehand," Chauner said. "On top of that, the periodic, emotionally charged Board of Supervisors’

Nice jersey. Will he get to keep it?

Simms breaks the streak.

Bessette finally showed she was human.

Wells takes the sprint; Wicks takes the series

Johnson put in a good fight

Horner improves in his second outing

Wicks wants the whole enchilada.

This is `cross season, isn't it?

Wells in pursuit

Horner tries something different.

Bessette's streak hits 12

Simms made it a real race on Saturday.

Why we love `cross: TIAA-CREF-Clif Bar's Troy Wells grimaces while a competitor gets a face full of dust.

LeMond in La Vie Claire kit

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.Clay Mankin: Passionate, generous and gentleEditor:Last Sunday, cyclists and decent human beings everywhere lost a wonderful friend, advocate, instigator, visionary and an all-purpose do-gooder in Clay Mankin, loving father and husband, proprietor and icon of the San Francisco institution

Greg LeMond had a surprise visitor at L’Alpe d’Huez during the 1984 Tour de France. He was relaxing in his hotel room after placing sixth on the stage up the fabled alpine climb when there was a knock on the door. He recognized the female visitor as a motorcycle driver on the race. She said to the young American, then 23, "Greg, do you know who Bernard Tapie is? He’d like to see you in private." Yes, LeMond did know that Tapie was the mysterious, ambitious French businessman who that year had started a new pro cycling team, La Vie Claire, which had hired four-time Tour winner Bernard

Ullrich doesn't want to finish behind Leipheimer in the 2006 Tour of Germany

Some days just beg for clinchers ...

... while others demand fancy tubulars.

Vittoria's EVO XG

Vittoria's EVO XN is designed for dry conditions and comes in both tubular and clincher (this one is a tubular)

The Dugast `cross Typhoon

The original Michelin Mud has taller knobs with no siping perfect for those really mucky days

Tufo's Elite LPS Tubular is a very popular tire

The suberb Michelin Mud 2. This tire is being run tubeless with sealent on a Shimano 7801-SL wheel set

Geax's Mezcal semi-slick

Clay Mankin

Giro `06: That last day can include a time trial or the usual parade into Milan, but not both

Clay doing what Clay loved to do.