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Zabriskie takes Giro TT, Di Luca holds on to jersey

The group was trimmed to three... and then to one

Chasing duties fell to CSC for much of the day

Rujano caught all but Gil by the top of the day's biggest climb

Cunego leads an elite group in 20 seconds after Gil takes the stage

Basso lost some precious time

Simoni thins out the herd

Di Luca is back in the jersey

Gil savors his win

Uhl hoped to stay out of trouble - and got the bronze

Brandenberg's bike - or what's left of it

Baldwin blazes the Boulder opener

Holden gets set to start

A big bunch leaves early in the day

Michael Barry made the break

As we've already mentioned several times now, so many of you have submitted entries (hundreds of them!) to our WeeklyPhoto Contest that we've now been forced to put up a gallery eachday this week in order to accommodate as many as we can. If we missed you this week, try again next week, please. Today'sGallery is now available for your viewing pleasure. We'll keepthis up all week and announce a winner on Friday. Just so we can handle what we've got, we must ask that you do not submit any more photos for this week's contest. We will begin accepting new submissions on

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.Can’t beat Bay Area/SacramentoEditor:To Neal Rogers: I couldn't resist commenting on your well-written Boulder/Orange County article. I believe everything you and others say about Boulder as a cycling Mecca, but having lived in the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento area since 1993, I

McEwen wins as Fassa falls

Bettini's back in the pink . . .

. . . displacing Di Luca

Hesjedal was one of the day's victims

And the Fassa choo-choo jumped the tracks once again

Another day at the office

Rodriguez goes it alone

My colleague John Wilcockson’s recent column, “Boulder cycling and its mountains,” got me thinking about all of the velonews.com readers who have never been to Boulder, or ridden anywhere in Colorado. Readers in places like Pennsylvania, Oregon, Florida, Wisconsin or British Columbia, who think their local riding and racing is just fine, thanks. Readers who may be sick and tired of hearing yet again about the “promised land” of Boulder. I know how they feel. I used to be one of them. This had nothing to do with Boulder, or even cycling. My irritation was with the surfing mecca that is

Score two stage wins for the man who leads both the Giro and the ProTour.

The Boulder area's fabled Morgul Bismarck course got the Hollywood treatment in American Flyers, for the two or three people who actually saw the movie

'Off Road to Athens' comes to Boulder on Saturday. Don't expect to see Kevin Costner in this one

Bettini needed to let off a little steam.

Thursday was potentially dangerous, happily uneventful

The daily ritual begins

Simoni and Garzelli stayed low key for most of the day

Danielson is looking toward the mountains.

Vasseur and Pinotti

Time to bring them back...

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.Wilcockson revives fond memoriesEditor:Kudos to John Wilcockson for his delightful column about his 62nd birthday road ride around Boulder. As a 28-year-old Colorado native, an avid mountain biker, and the son of a former recreational road racer, I grew up watching the Coors Classic.

It’s hard to believe that Stephanie Graeter has only been racing bikes for three years. After all, the 22-year-old Graeter – one of Christine Thorburn’s talented domestiques on the Webcor Builders team - has an impressive list of results that women 10 years her senior would be proud to claim. Still, the Fairfax, California, racer is only a college senior, and for the past two seasons has juggled the conflicting lives of a Cal Berkeley student and a professional cyclist. As Graeter will attest, completing two difficult degrees (one in environmental biology, another in German) is not an easy

Bettini's celebratation was short-lived...

Not in the mood to talk. Cooke declined to discuss the matter.

We think we've created a monster, albeit a talented monster.As we said yesterday, we thought the response to ourfirst VeloNews.com photo contest was overwhelming, both quantitativelyand qualitatively, but our readers have outdone themselves again.Indeed, so many of you have submitted entries (hundreds of them!) that we've now been forced to put up a gallery each day this week in order to accommodate them all. Yesterday we posted what we thought would be thefirst of maybe three galleries, but as you might guess, that triggeredanother flood of submissions. So it's likely that

Van Hout goes at 8km

A lonely time for Van Hout...

... with this bunch finally swooping him up with 25km to go

The one ranked climb of the day had an impact.

Back in the lead.

Wheelbuilding part one ...

... and part two

Record and Chorus cranks

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.Lance talks the talk and walks the walkEditor:Come on, people, whether you like him or not, you have to realize talking trash and backing it up is what has made Lance Armstrong who he is today, way before cancer came along. Think back over the last few years: When Italy's Gilberto

Well you folks never cease to amaze us.We thought the response to lastweek's photo contest was overwhelming, both quantitatively andqualitatively, but our readers have outdone themselves againthis week. Indeed, so many of you have submitted entries, that we'vebeen forced to spread the wealth a bit and add a gallery a day for at leastthe next three days. As we post a host of images over the next few days,we'll be soliciting your opinions - and the opinions of our panel of volunteerjudges - as what your favorites and their favorites might be. On Thursday,we'll announce another

Tonkov delivers a win - and a message - at the 2004 Giro.

Hey, who wouldn't be happy?

McEwen emerges victorious

Bettini and his team car were in the pink today

The escape

Lopez de Munain suffered a horrific crash

McEwen in the maglia rosa

Some travel brochure, eh?

Barry and Vande Velde enjoy the stage

Premont couldn't hang

Spitz had a slow start, but finished third

Absalon profits from Hermida's bobble

Hermida settles for second in 'a really good race'

Since starting “Inside Cycling” a few months ago, I’ve written about dozens of people instrumental in expanding modern road cycling in North America. For many readers, those pioneers are just names on the paper (or screen, in this case). So I feel privileged that I’ve known nearly all of the people I’ve written about in this column, including those who live (or have lived) in my current hometown. Boulder, Colorado, as I hinted last week, has been one of the most influential places in expanding the sport this side of the Atlantic. Among the reasons for its influence — besides it being the

Bettini won by a very comfortable margin

Bettini e buonissimo!