News

Meyer's stack-up was the day's worst

Carter debuts the latest in denim-skinsuit technology

Decker had it all - a fairing and a water bottle filled with pennies taped to his down tube

Craig rides in on his own

Amgen Inc. and USA Cycling are rebutting critics who say the drug manufacturer’s three-year sponsorship of the Tour of California sends a mixed message to athletes. Amgen pioneered the making of EPO, arguably cycling's most famously abused substance, to help cancer and kidney patients recover more quickly. Both the UCI and USA Cycling, which is sanctioning the California race, ban use of the synthetic hormone. "Many people think the EPO drug was invented to be used in doping," Amgen spokeswoman Mary Klem said on Friday. "We are opposed to the inappropriate use of Amgen’s EPO

Saturday's VeloBriefs: Amgen, USA Cycling defend sponsorship deal; NORBA schedule announced; Colavita-Sutter Home signs Wams

Nine and counting: No one has figured out a way to beat Bessette yet this year

Simms regained the lead... for a bit

Wedge resumed his winning ways

Lopes tearing it up (or down)

The winners

Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;But he that filches from me my good nameRobs me of that which not enriches himAnd makes me poor indeed.—William Shakespeare, Othello The predictably Shakespearean sound and fury has erupted over the announcement that biotech giant Amgen Inc., maker of a certain synthetic hormone all too familiar to cycling fans, has signed on as title sponsor of the 2006 Tour of California. Jeez, it must be true — irony is dead. Not even EPO could save it. The World Anti-Doping Agency

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.Amgen Tour: Truth is stranger than fictionEditor:My first glance at the news of Amgen sponsoring the Tour of California caused me a moment of confusion; it smacked of a classic VeloNews April Fool's headline. Then my imagination got the best of me; can you picture the AMGEN PR tent

A few months ago I wrote a column focused on Red Bull’s one-of-a-kind downhill road race, the Red Bull Road Rage, to be run on Saturday in sunny Malibu, California. For those not up to speed on the Rage, it’s a downhill road race. First comes a time trial; fastest man takes the prize. Next is a four-up competition similar to mountain biking’s mountain-cross. Four athletes shoot out of the gates at once and make their way down the treacherous descent; the first two advance to the next round while the second two retire for drinks at the bar. Our good friends at Red Bull invited top-level road

No, it's not an early April Fool's Day gag

Tech Shorts: That mystery pedal; surprising the GQ crowd

Tech Shorts: That mystery pedal; surprising the GQ crowd

Tech Shorts: That mystery pedal; surprising the GQ crowd

Going down

Dear Bob,I am involved with a charity. In my case, it’s the Lance Armstrong Foundation Peloton Project, but for purposes of this question it could be any charity. The extent of my involvement is raising funds. Instead of asking for donations all the time, I would like to hold an event such as a bike ride. Since the event is designed to raise money for the charity but is not an event conducted by the charity, I would need to do this on my own. Therefore, I would need participants and sponsors to write checks to me personally and I would send the money, after expenses, to the charity. While I

Valverde at this year's Tour de France

Rumors surrounding the rather unusual sponsorship of the upcoming Tour of California, appear to be true. USA Today and other media are reporting that Tuesday’s route announcement of February’s Tour of California will also include the revelation of the race’s title sponsor: AMGEN, the biotech firm that pioneered the manufacture of recombinant Erythropoietin, or EPO. One of the most widely abused drugs in endurance sport, EPO has been at the heart of cycling’s doping scandals since the early 1990s. The company, which boasts more than $2 billion in annual sales, says that its sponsorship is

Organizers have unveiled the route of the upcoming Tour of California and confirmed speculation that one of the world’s largest biotech firms has signed on as title sponsor of the event. Scheduled for February 19-26, 2006, the Amgen Tour of California has signed16 professional cycling teams from around the world to compete across 700 miles of scenic California roadway from San Francisco to Redondo Beach, California. Among the 16 teams competing in the inaugural event are six ProTour teams – Discovery, Gerolsteiner, Davitamon-Lotto, Phonak, Saunier Duval Prodir and the T-Mobile - and the

What happens now that Lance has retired? Many cycling fans in this country have been repeating that refrain since Lance Armstrong hung up his cleats after winning his seventh Tour de France. Lance is gone, but the inheritors of his American dream — including George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, Floyd Landis, Chris Horner, Fred Rodriguez and Saul Raisin — will have a jump start to show their strengths and characters at next February’s Amgen Tour of California. With a one-hour nationwide broadcast on espn2 every evening during the eight-day race, the U.S. standouts will have their best

The feed zone - That Resting Metabolic Rate

Simoni wants a win on Alpe d’Huez

A prologue in Seraing

Stage 1 from Mons to Charleroi

Tour of California route unveiled

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn - Crank issues galore

Iñigo Cuesta comes from Saunier Duval

Gustov (L) chats with future teammate Ivan Basso during this year's Tour

VeloNews Photo Contest: New winners and a new gallery

Somehow, we suspect the French won't be missing every one of those new American fans

Fignon wins the '83 Tour

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. This last contest was among the best collection of submissions we’ve seen this year. As a result, we had a tougher time choosing and never could get it down to fewer than two. So for only the second time in our contest history, we’re giving two awards: Craig Forester’s shot of crowds waiting for the peloton on the Col du Galibier underscores the size and grandeur of the Tour de France. On a more personal level, Rosie Ray’s

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.Where the real problem isHey VeloFolk,To be as brief as I can… I love our sport and the pure athleticismit requires. Obviously, there is a doping problem at hand. However, itseems to me that ASO and WADA and their "War on Doping" is only perpetuatinga greater problem.With

Hushovd took a stage at the Vuelta this year, too.

Heras will be at the Giro next year

He may try again

Konecny

Luis León Sánchez

VeloNews Photo Contest: New winners and a new gallery

New York (AFP) - Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong poked fun at French critics and their accusations of doping here Saturday, playing the controversy for laughs while hosting "Saturday Night Live." The 34-year-old American cyclist retired after capturing his seventh title in July but considered a comeback after the French newspaper L'Equipe reported 1999 urine samples from Armstrong tested positive for the banned substance EPO. Armstrong, who has steadfastly denied taking any performance-enhancing drugs, said during the opening monologue that he was worried about doing

Recovered: Trebon was back in action on Sunday

8 for 8: Bessette has been unbeatable

Knapp and Simms could only race for second

Craig and Co. were nearly a minute down

Bessette is unstoppable this year

At the start

Johnson never looked back

McQuaid

Up we go

Dlask was one of the early animators . . .

. . . as was Ausbuher

But the Belgians went to work, and Nijs was soon up front . . .

. . . which is where he stayed

The podium

If you look at his record, you can tell that Johnson loves these conditions

Armstrong and Crow on 20-20

Radio Armstrong

The Zero G crank

Watson displays the Touareg's tail section . . .

. . . and the sound gear hidden within

Vestal and his goods

Campy gets BIG

Kabush's Turner prototype

Gone but not forgotten. I guess that’s as good a way as any to describe seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong, who, three months after he walked away from his racing career, is still the most-talked-about cyclist in the world. At Thursday’s 2006 Tour de France route unveiling, Armstrong went nearly unmentioned in a 10-minute highlight video recap of the '05 Tour — an omission Tour officials admitted was not accidental, given investigations into Armstrong’s alleged EPO use at the 1999 Tour. Even in his physical absence, Armstrong’s presence was felt throughout the Palais de Congres in

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.Radios for the fans, tooEditor:Radios must stay, and of course helmets. The sport of cycling must evolve with the rest of the modern world if it expects to maintain any kind of media presence and network coverage. Technology is a fact of life now and you can either lead or get run over by

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. — Ecclesiastes 3:1 For the first time since 2000, Lance Armstrong wasn’t the star of the show as Tour de France organizers unveiled the 2006 route on Thursday in Paris. The seven-time Tour champ, who was stateside preparing to host this weekend’s edition of NBC’s "Saturday Night Live," played only a bit part in a short highlight video prepared for the annual ceremony in Paris — and Tour organizers said that was not a simple oversight. "Of course, I cannot pretend this is just accidental," Patrice Clerc,

Landis knows what challenges he'll be facing in next year's Tour

Is Armstrong ready for prime time?

Just in time for the announcement of the route for the 2006 Tour de France, VeloPress's annual wrap up of the Tour is now ready for delivery. "The2005 Tour de France: Armstrong's Farewell," by John Wilcocksonand Andrew Hood, tells the fascinating story of Lance Armstrong and hisride to his history-making seventh-straight victory. But this plot encompasses21 teams and 188 other riders battling for stage victories and hoping tounseat the American champion. VeloNews reporters Wilcockson and Hood provide a detailed accountof the action in each stage, capturing the color and character of

Bruyneel Reaction to 2006 Tour De France Route Announcement While Lance Armstrong may be retired from professional cycling and focusing on his future away from the sport, his apparent influence on Johan Bruyneel remains as relevant now as it did when he was winning seven Tours de France. Following today's grand unveiling of the 2006 Tour de France route in Paris, the Discovery Channel team's sports manager left the Palais de Congres still smarting from what was widely perceived as a slap to Armstrong's legacy by Tour organizers during its route presentation. However, Bruyneel

2006 Tour route unveiled

Leblanc and heir-apparent Christian Prudhomme outline the 2006 Tour route

Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich - Who will this Tour favor?

Bruyneel: Felt targeted

The Tour will hit the Galibier next year