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Edita Rumsas, the wife of Lithuanian cyclist Raimondas Rumsas and charged with drugs offences, has been freed from the Bonneville women's prison on bail, her lawyer Veronique Coudray said Friday. Lithuanian Rumsas had been held in the French prison since her arrest in July after investigators found a large variety of performance-enhancing drugs in her car following the Tour de France, in which her husband placed third. Bail was fixed at 20,000 euros ($20,000) and, according to Coudray, the 28-year-old Rumsas intends to go to Italy once the sum has been paid. The mother-of-three was

All but one of the seven stops on next year’s mountain bike World Cup have been set, and like last year North America will be the site of three of those events. Back for another go round are Mont-Ste-Anne, Grouse Mountain and Telluride, which will all host triple events (cross country, downhill and four-cross) in 2003. Both the Canadian locales have hosted triples in the past, but this will be Telluride’s first three-race event after debuting on the circuit with downhill and four-cross last year. (There was a non-World Cup cross-country stage race at the Colorado resort that was run in

Chicchi wins, but Dekkers (L) was later DQ-ed

Creed

The feed zone - Nutrition Q&A with Monique Ryan

Once lost, now found. Lost in transit, the new CF3 by Colnago and Ferrari was delivered safely to 'Vegas afterall.

Russia’s Mikhail Ignatiev took the world TT title for junior men Wednesday in Zolder. Australian Mark Jamieson (L) and Italian Vincenzo Nibali (R) took silver and bronze.

Zabirova took the top prize

Brändli nearly pulled off a major upset

Longo

Kimberly Bruckner

Thürig -- From Swiss duathlons to the podium at Zolder

Clothes Horse - Gary Fisher made his usual stylin' appearance at Interbike.

No, this isn't Bicycling magazine, but every once in a while even we run across a motorcycle we like.

Stella Azzurra's new carbon 'Tirreno' road bar turned quite a few heads in 'Vegas.

VeloNews photo editor Galen Nathanson rushing to get that last shot.

LOOK! Now it says Cervelo.

Interbike winding down in 'Vegas

Interbike winding down in 'Vegas

Interbike winding down in 'Vegas

Interbike winding down in 'Vegas

The Interbike International Bicycle Expo moved into its second day at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas on Monday. The mood, despite signs of a troubled economy, have been generally upbeat as crowds of buyers, shop owners and plain old bike geeks work their way through aisles of new product. While manufacturers both big and small got down to the business of selling bikes, the aisles at Interbike also hosted serious negotiations of another kind. At this annual cycling confab, teams and racers have either been seeking new sponsors or putting the final touches on deals to set them up for

The Posties were a big draw at the Sands

Even the famous Marzocchi girls took time off to visit George.

Interbike: Bikes, gossip and the art of the deal

Interbike: Bikes, gossip and the art of the deal

Interbike: Bikes, gossip and the art of the deal

Interbike: Bikes, gossip and the art of the deal

Viva Italia: Zugno led a one-two punch for Italy's junior women

No contest: Vaitkus won by 42 seconds.

The Lampre cycling team members who were Sunday questioned by police after the Paris-Tours World Cup race, on Monday blasted the operation as part of a doping witch hunt to placate the media. Police sources said they wanted to question the riders about the ongoing investigation into Edita Rumsas, the wife of Lithuanian rider Raimondas Rumsas. She has been held in a French prison since her arrest in July and is to be questioned by an investigative magistrate on Tuesday after investigators found a large collection of performance-enhancing drugs in her car following the Tour de France, in

Cipo' has won everywhere but at world's

Lampre's Ludo Dierckxsens is escorted by police after the entire team was arrested by French police in Tours.

Pinarello Dogma

Specialized's S-Works Epic

It's show time in Las Vegas

French police arrested the entire Lampre cycling team in Tours, France, on Sunday two days before the wife of one of their riders is scheduled to be questioned about a host of doping products found in her car. Police swooped on the Italian team's cyclists after the Paris-Tours World Cup race won by Denmark's Jakob Piil, riding for CSC. A police source said they would be questioned about the investigation into Edita Rumsas, the wife of Lithuanian rider Raimondas Rumsas. She has been held in prison since her arrest at the French-Italian border in July and will be questioned by an

Telekom has signed Italian classics specialist Daniele Nardello on a one-year deal, the team announced Saturday. Nardello, who was Italian champion last year, has been recruited to "reinforce the team mainly in the (one-day) classics," said Telekom team spokesman Olaf Ludwig. As well as 30-year-old Nardello Telekom, who failed to re-sign their troubled former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich last week, have also signed Australian Cadel Evans and Italian Paolo Savaldelli, this year’s Giro d’Italia winner. Both of the latter arrived from Mapei while Belgian Mario Aerts and German

Canadian mountain biker Ryder Hesjedal is returning home a little earlier than expected, due to injuries suffered in a crash at last week’s Tour of Seine et Marne. Hesjedal was in a lead group when he went down, bruising ribs, his back and his wrist. The incident will force him to miss the world road championships. The 21-year-old had been penciled in to ride in the under-23 time trial in Zolder, and was also in contention for one of the three starter positions for the U23 road race. Following his win at the mountain bike World Cup finals at the beginning of September, Hesjedal had been

Oscar Sevilla told 800 fans Thursday night in his hometown that he’d like to leave his Kelme team because he said the team hasn’t lived up to its promises.Disappointed that he finished fourth, just off the 2002 Vuelta a España podium, Sevilla said he’s fed up with Kelme and wants to get out of the one year remaining on his contract.“I’d like to change teams, but I know it would be complicated,” Sevilla told more than 800 people in a fiesta in his honor at his hometown in Ossa de Montiel.“I still have a year left on my contract, but if Kelme would let me out of if, but it’s not just up to me,”

Bettini is in a tight race with Museeuw for World Cup dominance.

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in the pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com that causes you to want to write us, drop us a line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter. The truth is out thereEditor'Cross as a winter Olympic sport? (see Monday's Mail bag "Why not?")hmmmmm.....Why were the 2000 'cross nationals held on the frozen Kansas tundra back in2000? Then why was Lisa Voight released from her CEO position, but still takes home

The 96th Paris-Tours on Sunday will be an exciting preview for the upcoming world championships in Zolder. The 257-km course from Saint Arnoult en Yvelines, just south of Paris, rolls through the lush wheat fields in central France to Tours. The course is similar in length to Zolder and doesn’t feature challenging features to break the race, so it will likely be a final chance for the sprinters to stretch their legs before heading to Belgium for the worlds Oct. 8-13. Domo’s Richard Virenque will be back to defend his surprise victory last year when he held on for victory after making an epic

BOULDER, CO -- VeloNews.com, the online Web site for VeloNews magazine,is headed for a 60-percent increase in page views this year after recordingrecord traffic levels for the month of July. The numbers, as audited byABC Interactive (ABCi), show significant increases over July 2001 in impressionsand unique visitors, the two most important metrics for measuring Web traffic.Total ABC Interactive-audited page impressions for the site hit 8,206,533in July 2002. In addition, the VeloNews.com site recorded 4.8 million pageviews of its minute-by-minute race coverage during the Tour de France,for a

Can Virenque repeat or is there another surprise winner in store?

The feed zone - Nutrition Q&A with Monique Ryan

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across somethingin the pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.comthat causes you to want to write us, dropus a line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.From the pulpitGuys,I don't want to drag this out any longer than need be.But I just wanted to say to O'Grady that as a Christian pastor and acyclist, I wasn't offended in the least by your "Losing my religion" column.(see Friday's foaming rant: "Losin'my religion"

Just three days after winning the Vuelta a España, Aitor Gonzalez is getting some heat from his Kelme sport director Vicente Belda. Gonzalez is likely to leave Kelme at the end of this season and, considering the fallout from his controversial Vuelta victory, he likely won't be leaving many friends behind. Belda, speaking to the Spanish sports daily MARCA, called Gonzalez "undisciplined" and criticized him for celebrating his Vuelta victory with Miguel Antonio Martin Perdiuguero, the Acqua & Sapone rider who helped U.S. Postal's Roberto Heras at La Covatilla. "What do his teammates

With offers from everywhere, Gonzalez is likely to kiss-off Kelme for 2003

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across somethingin the pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.comthat causes you to want to write us, dropus a line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.More Olympic ‘crossDear Editor;Cyclo-cross in 2006? Yes!Dan Kerner (see Monday'sMailbag -- "Why Not?") is on to something with his suggestion thatcyclo-cross be introduced to the Winter Olympics. As a citizen of Winnipeg,Canada, where it is not uncommon to reach -30 F in the winter

Aitor may have been thinking of his bank balance when he celebrated in Madrid.

The recent winner of the 2002 Vuelta a España is certainly the man of the hour. According to reports in the Spanish press, Aitor Gonzalez is now considering offers from six teams including Telekom, Saeco, Acqua & Sapone, Quick Step, Kelme and iBanesto.com. Gonzalez earned $54,000 this season with Kelme and is said to be seeking an annual contract worth an estimated $600,000. Gonzalez said he’s interested in being the sole captain of a team. “I’m not interested in a team like U.S. Postal Service because they already have Lance Armstrong. Kelme is difficult because there are three leaders

The magic number U.S. Postal Service sport director Johan Bruyneel was 1:30. Bruyneel thought if Roberto Heras had that much time, he stood a chance to hold off Aitor Gonzalez in Sunday’s final time trial. But Heras only went in with a 1:08 margin and it quickly became clear it wasn’t going to be Heras’ day. “I had hope because the first time trial Roberto had done very well because he lost 1:36 to Aitor. I was confident he could do very well with the motivation of the yellow jersey. I knew it would be difficult because that for Roberto because this course was for specialists,” he said.

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across somethingin the pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.comthat causes you to want to write us, dropus a line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Oh Lord, what hath he wrought?Editor;Long live barriers.  (see “Friday'sfoaming rant: Losin' my religion”)I'm such a retro-grouch luddite that I sometimes frown on the bunnyhop. Barriers and portage were originally invented to thaw the frozen feetof riders who'd

Australian Robbie McEwen did enough in the final stage in Tournai, Belgium, Sunday to win the Franco-Belge cycle race. The Lotto rider, who came in fifth behind France's Sandy Cesar in the 180km fourth stage, headed the overall standings by two seconds from Belgian Tom Boonen of US Postal. The win came at the end of a month, which saw McEwen come home first in the Paris-Brussels classic. Copyright AFP 2002

Australian Baden Cooke scraped home in the Paris-Correze cycle race in Brive, France on Sunday to mark up what he rated the best win of his young career. Cooke, who has had possession of the leader's yellow jersey since his opening stage success in the event devised by former Tour de France champion Laurent Fignon, had to dig deep to hold on to his one second overnight lead over Bernhard Eisel of Austria. The 24-year-old really showed his mettle though as he was going so easily he raced alone without the support of his fdjeux.com teammates for much of the stage until Nicolas Vogondy

That last time trial rearranged the podium.

Gonzalez hammers towards the win.

Heras could not hold his lead.

Beloki overtook Sevilla to grab the last podium place.

Showtime: Sundt gives the spectators a reason to hoist their beers.

In the dark: Knapp chases up one of the two run-ups at Marymoor.

Sunset in Seattle: Two junior racers from Rad Racing negotiate the barriers.

Thighmaster: Knapp charges up one of SeaTac's natural run-ups.

Furlan gets his second.

Pinarello's compact drive allows the use of a 34 up front

Friday’s foaming rant: Losin’ my religion

For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall. – II Samuel, 22:30I’m suffering a crisis of faith. Adri Van der Poel, whom cyclo-crossers revere as God, is rewriting the Bible by supporting barrier-free course design in his role as technical director for the UCI World Cup. “I have nothing against barriers, but the simple presence of barriers doesn’t make it a cyclo-cross race,” Van der Poel told VN news editor Charles Pelkey as part of a World Cup preview to be published in the October 21 issue. “What they do accomplish is to give a huge advantage to those who

iBanesto.com's Jose Garcia Acosta

A nervous run to the finish for Heras

Yet another early escape

Pinarello's Dogma

Columbus XLR8R

Gaerne Carbon Podium Graphite.

Ferrari - New uses for carbon