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Just back from covering the fourth round of the NORBA NCS in Sandpoint, Idaho — an aptly named region — and I think I’ve finally cleaned the chalky silt out of my clothes, equipment and ears. Held at 4500 feet elevation in the quaint Schweitzer ski-resort village, pro and elite-level racers couldn’t have asked for much more in a venue: easily accessible race courses and lodging, live music, a welcoming community, beautiful vistas overlooking Lake Pend Oreille and perfect weather. Spokane-based Round and Round Productions has been hosting the NORBA regional championships at Schweitzer for

One of the great reasons to ride for the Cycling Center is the partnerships that Bernard has made with other Belgians in the cycling community here. One such person is Frans van Merke. Frans has fit many of the great Belgian professionals, including Nico Mattan, Frank Vandenbroucke, Axel Merckx and Tom Steels. Not too shabby a clientele, eh? And he is nice enough to work with us crazy Americans, with the weirdest equipment he has ever seen. Of course, if it isn’t Campy and isn't steel, well, it is just a little odd. I am poking fun at him a bit, but he definitely likes the most normal

No sooner has the bunting been cleared from the streets of Paris after a dramatic Tour de France, than the world's top sprint and pursuit cyclists are heading for Stuttgart, Germany, for the world track championships. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) moved the event to Germany from China because of the SARS virus - but the Hanns-Martin Schleyer Hall should provide a fitting venue for five days of fierce competition. Australia will again be expected to dominate the medals table, although without Bradley McGee they face a strong challenge from a British squad, buoyed by three gold

Frans fusses with Jed's LeMond

Jan Ullrich was hailed as the real winner of the 2003 Tour de France in the German press after a sensational comeback saw the Bianchi captain push defending champion Lance Armstrong all the way to the finishing line. Although the Olympic champion finished second in the Tour, for a record fifth time, the German media expressed their amazement at how he had turned the clock back and once again become a major force in the sport of cycling. "Jan you are the best as far as we are concerned," declared Germany's best-selling Bild zeitung. Bild claimed Ullrich had captured the imagination of the

Germany's two-time Olympic cycling track champion Jens Lehmann has been dropped from the individual pursuit team for this week's world championships it was announced by the national cycling federation (BDR) on Monday. The 35-year-old, 75-time national and international medalist, finished second in the recent German trials but was replaced by another double Olympic champion in Robert Bartko. Bartko did not compete in the trials but team coach Bernd Dittert opted for Bartko after he timed faster in a private test on June 30. Bartko will line-up alongside Daniel Becke, who won the national

Lehmann at last year's world's in Copenhagen

The Ruler of Retro: If you think this looks bad – click for the larger version

The curtain has just fallen on Lance Armstrong's fifth and hardest Tour de France victory, and the American is already setting his sights on an unprecedented sixth. The 31-year-old cancer survivor joined the sport's select club of five-time champions when he won the centenary Tour on Sunday; now, he hopes to inaugurate a new century of the world's showcase cycling event. Neither Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, nor Spaniard Miguel Induráin, the only rider before him to have won five straight Tours – not even Eddy "The Cannibal" Merckx, the greatest rider ever – were able to

Remember our "Out-of-the-Way" contest from the other day, when we offered a free copy of our 2003 Tour de France book to the "viewer" following the Tour via VeloNews.com from the most unusual spot on the planet? After verifying his mailing address and checking a few other things – including the pictures posted here – the winner is Army Captain Rick Trimble, who is doing a Tour of Baghdad at one of Saddam Hussein's former presidential palaces in the Iraqi capital. “There are a large number of palaces all over the country and in Baghdad,” says Rick. “This particular one is called the Main

Ho-hum

Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and his U.S. Postal team mates were each fined for sporting an illegal jersey during the last stage to Paris. The nine U.S. Postal riders wore a jersey showing the emblem of their sponsors, an eagle, instead of their regular gear on Sunday. They were fined 200 Swiss francs ($148.5) while the U.S. Postal team was handed a 4,500-franc fine. Armstrong won 400,000 euros ($459,500) for his Tour victory.

Ohhhhhhkayyyyyyyy

You don't see this too often...

To see how Stage 20 of the Tour unfolded live, just go to our Live Update window and follow the action all the way to the finish.

... or this

And so another Tour de France has finished. And with it we finally get time to reflect on the many highs and lows of the past three weeks – in reality, there are far too many of them to mention. But some moments deserve special mention. So we came up with a few awards to celebrate a centennial Tour that was one of the most exciting in years – perhaps ever! Ladies and gentlemen please be standing in your ovation for the followingrecipients of the VeloNews.com 2003 Tour de France Awards. Best story lead in the most exciting Tour ever:“Ho-hum,” on the Tour de France Times Web site after stage

Are the any good French wines that one can serve with Crow?

With the Tour safely arriving in Paris today, the barriers packed andthe press room door shut for another year, I think it's only fitting fora bit of the recap of the race.No, I'm not talking about highlighting phenomenal racing action whichmade up one of the more exciting Tours de France in history, I'm talkingabout a look back at the technology that made the biggest hit. As always,you can't have the good without the bad, so included are a few "All Show,No Go" items we saw this year as well.  So without any further ado,here's my top 10 list for "Most Impressive Technology at the 2003

Raise a glass to Vino'

Maybe Mario De Clercq should worry

The victories Lance Armstrong values the most are the ones he worked the hardest for, and the 2003 Tour de France yellow jersey is going to have to rank near the top of that list. Out of his five wins, this one was the most difficult. The field was stronger than it was in any of the previous four years, the heat was unbearable, and there were several incidents and near misses. Races almost never go exactly as you plan them. It is extremely rare for an athlete to be completely ready for competition and have the race unfold precisely the way he wants it to. The mark of a true champion is the

Properly clad or not, these postmen delivered

Army Captain (and Tour fan) Rick Trimble

The last break of the Tour

Saddam or Nebuchadnezzar? Captain Trimble at the presidential palace

And they thought the race for the yellow jersey was close

The 2003 Tour de France returned to where it started three weeks ago and finished with the same winner as the past four years. Lance Armstrong endured what he called a "crisis-filled" Tour to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Induráin in cycling's "five club" as five-time Tour winners. "It was the hardest victory and it's like a dream," Armstrong said at the finish line on the Champs-Élysées. "I will put everything I have into trying to win a sixth victory." Armstrong fought through a litany of problems and overcame a rejuvenated Jan Ullrich to claim final

Armstrong clearly enjoying the ride to his fifth consecutive Tour triumph

Cooke's sigh of relief

Hopes of a completely clean centenary Tour de France have been dashed by the news that an unidentified rider has tested positive for banned endurance enhancer EPO (erythropoietin), officials confirmed here Sunday. It is the first positive test of the 90th edition and centenary race that was won for the fifth consecutive time by American Lance Armstrong of the US Postal team. The first sample has tested positive for EPO although it will be a few days before the results of a B sample are known. "The rider concerned is not someone who has won a stage," a race official told AFP here Sunday,

It doesn't get much better

Results Stage 20Overall, points, Kom, Team and other standings listed below1. Jean-patrick Nazon (F), Jean Delatour, 3:38:492. Baden Cooke (Aus), FDJeux.com, 00:003. Robbie Mc Ewen (Aus), Lotto-Domo, 00:004. Luca Paolini (I), Quick Step-Davitamon, 00:005. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 00:006. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Credit Agricole, 00:007. Erik Zabel (G), Telekom, 00:008. Romans Vainsteins (Lat), Caldirola, 00:009. Gerrit Glomser (A), Saeco, 00:0010. Damien Nazon (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 00:0011. Fabrizio Guidi (I), Bianchi, 00:0012. Oscar Freire (Sp), Rabobank, 00:0013. Laurent

French cycling legend Bernard Hinault, one of five riders to have won the Tour de France five times, has hailed this year's eventful centenary edition as exceptional. And Hinault, the last Frenchman to win the race in 1985, said the increased challenge to Lance Armstrong's yellow jersey this year doesn't mean the 31-year-old American five-time winner is on the wane. "This year's race has been exceptional on all levels - as a competition and as a spectacle but also the way it has been organized,” Hinault said. "It's been one big party and there was suspense right up to the end because, even

Lance Armstrong's fifth Tour victory was the hardest by far, but also the sweetest in terms of his popularity on the roads of France. The Texan, a personal friend of U.S. President George W. Bush, had not exactly been France's most-loved athlete in recent years and was booed on the climb to the Mount Ventoux last year. But despite Franco-American tensions over the Iraq war, there was no animosity whatsoever from the crowds this year, and fans seemed won over by Armstrong's struggling and suffering in this year's race. The American, who made himself available to sign autographs and

He has yet to fully capture the Kazakh public's imagination but few doubtthat Alexander Vinokurov's dogged pursuit of Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrichin this year's Tour de France has given cycling a boost in his native ex-Sovietrepublic.Kazakhstan's news media have paid only limited attention to the DeutscheTelekom rider's rise to world class status, even after his victory in theTour of Switzerland earlier this year, his Olympic silver in 2000 and hislikely clinching of third place in the biggest race of all, the Tour deFrance.Exemplifying the lukewarm reaction is the weekly Vremya

Ullrich was on a record-setting pace before this turn

The start in Pornic

Stage 9 provided the rare opportunity for me to spend a bit of one-on-one time with CSC's “team behind the team” – the mechanics, coaches and soigneurs. My morning started with an introduction to the leader of the team, Bjarne Riis. After exchanging pleasantries, Riis was off on his morning jog, which he says helps him "get his mind off the Tour, even if it's only for 45 minutes." From there, I met up with New Zealander Craig Geater, one of CSC’s five mechanics, who gave me a tour of his world - the Team CSC support truck. Geater has spent most of his life working in a bicycle shop,

Ullrich never got back up to speed

Postal compound deserted before the start

Individual Results for Stage 191. David Millar (GB), Cofidis, 54:052. Tyler Hamilton (USA), CSC, 00:093. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 00:144. Jan Ullrich (G), Bianchi, 00:255. Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun), Quick Step-Davitamon, 00:266. Vjatceslav Ekimov (Rus), U.S. Postal Service, 00:567. Pena Victor Hugo (Col), U.S. Postal Service, 01:008. George Hincapie (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 01:089. Sylvain Chavanel (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 01:1210. Marzio Bruseghin (I), Fassa Bortolo, 01:2611. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Credit Agricole, 01:3812. Michael Rogers (Aus), Quick Step-Davitamon,

Armstrong stayed focused and took no risks

The umbrella crowd along the route, still in the tens of thousands

And Hamilton powered into second on the day and fourth overall

Village are of all team jerseys

To see how Stage 19 of the Tour unfolded live, just go to our Live Update window and follow the action all the way to the finish.

Stage winner Millar was delighted after a lackluster Tour

Some very wet Cutters at the start of the race

David Millar's luck finally changed with victory on the penultimate stage of the Tour de France on Saturday. The Briton won a wet 49km time trial from Pornic to Nantes in a time of 54 minutes, five seconds, nine seconds faster than Tyler Hamilton (CSC). Overall race leader Lance Armstrong (U.S. Postal) was third 14 seconds behind. Up till Saturday, Millar's luck seemed to have deserted him. The 26-year-old Cofidis rider lost the Tour prologue when his chain came off close to the finish and then went down with bronchitis in the second half of the three-week long race. "As they say in

wet, wet roads

Today's stage presented riders with a condition they have yet to deal with this Tour – rain. Had this been a regular road stage, riders might have considered using a shorter or more angled stem to give themselves a more upright position and place more weight on the rear wheel. But today, riders needed every advantage they could get, and proper aerodynamic position would be a critical choice, even in the rain. This leaves tire selection as the most factor of today's stage. Since all the riders were racing on tubular wheels today, tire selection was somewhat limited (there are quite a few

A wet ride in Nantes

The pressure is almost off

On paper, stages 17 and 18 were relatively similar, but they played out a bit differently in real life. On Thursday, the break went from the gun so the peloton rode at a controlled, but steady tempo all day. But yesterday it took about 65 kilometers for a group to get away, so the first hour and a half of the stage was pretty stressful with one attack after another. With guys fighting hard at the front, it made for a lot of work in the back. But things calmed down a lot after the group that finally got away, stayed off. It was a welcomed change by that point. We had a pretty long transfer

Ullrich's Tour went better than he expected; his time trial worse than he had hoped