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The Mail Bag 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.It's more than medalsEditors,Stephen Burke claims to be mystified by Stuart O'Grady's block in thefinal lap of the Olympic Madison race (see Burke’s letter “O'Grady blockedBrits in Madison” Friday’sMailbag). Well mate, it shouldn't be too hard to work that one out. Aa any Aussiewill

The Closing Ceremonies.

Main map

More from the Closing Ceremonies.

Danielson showed his stuff on Mt. Evans

It's all over. Party time.

The men's 50-rider field...

Bigmap

...which only briefly contained Hesjedal.

Sauser, with broken chain in hand, was out early as well.

Absalon's winning ride.

Growing suggestions by critics before the Athens Games that IOC president Jacques Rogge would falter in his attempt to carry out his promised war on doping in the Olympics have been proved wrong. The 62-year-old former surgeon did more than wage a war - he oversaw a massacre that will be felt for years by those athletes who remain convinced that cheating and drug taking is the way to gold. While the 20-plus victims might have spilled tears instead of blood as they queued up to file out of the athletes' village in disgrace, their Olympic futures were dead and buried. Greek sprint idols

Mirabella in the points race

Three-up

Kabush

Minnaar

Pruitt had a helluva margin

In this case, it is about the bike.

Brentjens had to settle for bronze

The medalists in the final cycling event of the 2004 Athens Olympics

Julien Absalon gave France something to cheer about

And he gave the credit to his late father

Jose Antonio Hermida took the silver

Bart Brentjens collected the bronze

Liam Killeen gutted it out for fifth

Thomas Frischknecht had a bad start, then fought his way to seventh

Seamus McGrath cracked the top 10 in ninth

Little Mig cracked, period; he would not finish

A flag-waving Absalon celebrates his triumph

Wells got gapped on the start loop but finished 19th

Absalon paid homage to his late father at the finish

Wells

Absalon doling out the pain on the descents ...

Vanlandingham all by her lonesome

... and through the woods

Kabush cracks a cold one

Hermida and Brentjens battled for the silver . . .

Carter takes the risks – and the win

. . . and Hermida won

Kinter shows her heels to the field

This is the view the field had of Gunn-Rita Dahle all day long

Keeping the dust at bay.

Until they saw her here, that is

The 30-rider women’s field.

Dahle blazes the berm on the start lap

The Norwegians were out in force, but notice the inside-out jersey.

Alison Sydor just missed medaling, crossing fourth

Dahle’s cheer squad.

Two-time Olympic medalist Paola Pezzo bailed after finishing the first lap in 11th place

The winning moment.

Jimena Florit finished 12th.

Dahle celebrates with sister Peggy.

Maybe the best thing about the mountain bike venue for Friday’s women’s cross-country was that it wasn’t in Athens. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t have anything against the Olympic host city. I’m just not a city boy at heart, so it was nice to get up in the hills for a day. The course was set at the base of Mount Parnitha, which (fittingly) kind of looks like the hills east of Los Angeles (air pollution reference there). It’s barren, dusty, dry terrain. But when the sun finally tucked in behind the hills and the temperature came down, it was a pretty pleasant place to be. And the sky is

Mary McConneloug's family dons their war paint

McConneloug takes a moment to collect herself before facing the media.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (August 27, 2004)- Event producers Tailwind Sports and Threshold Sports announced today that a record 42 number of men’s and women’s teams will compete in the 2004 T-Mobile International, presented by BMC Software, on September 12th. The internationally diverse field will be comprised of 22 women’s teams and 20 men’s teams with riders representing the United States, Canada, Spain, and Italy, among others. Six-time Tour de France champion and U.S. Postal Service team leader Lance Armstrong will highlight the men’s field along with other standout Americans such as Olympic

The lone American racing climbed to a top-10 finish

Jose Antonio Hermida’s new carbon Merida.

The Mail Bag 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.Olympics coverage much worse than Tour TV Editor:Having read your mailbag and other cycling forums with all the whining about Al, Bob, Phil and Paul during the coverage of the 2004 Tour de France, I found the comments quite comical after hearing some of the butchered commentary during

Mary McConneloug

Frischkorn bundles up for the brisk stage

The last three weeks Paolo Bettini and Davide Rebellin have done some serious racing - especially Bettini, who has competed in the Olympics on top of the three World Cups. The Championships of Zürich was the last of the World Cups until the two final weekends in October - Paris Tours and Tour of Lombardy. Rebellin and Bettini have been dueling for the lead the last few weeks, and Bettini is slowly tugging Rebellin’s leader’s jersey from his shoulders, consistently placing in front of him in the races. Zürich is a tough race with one large rolling loop and then four hilly 40km loops. The

Mary McConneloug

Whatever happened to the 'sunny' part of 'sunny Colorado?'

Marie-Helene Premont grabbed silver

Dahle bobbled once, but was otherwise unstoppable

The heat sucked the legs right out from under Sydor

McConneloug crossed in ninth, more than nine minutes back

Dahle shows off her prize.

The medalists

Premont shows off her smile.

Dahle's winning streak continues

Athens is down there…somewhere.

Spitz beat the heat to claim the bronze medal

The cross-country course traced through these hills.

France's Bourgai made the final, but didn't reach the finish line...

...but Australia's Bayley sure did.

American Erin Mirabella took fourth in the points race