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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

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.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"

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

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 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 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.

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

Furlan gets his second.

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

Pegoretti -- A classic beauty

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

Friday’s foaming rant: Losin’ my religion

Tick, tick, tick... every second Heras gained today is one less second he has to worry about on Sunday.

Survivor - Blanco lost five minutes on the climb, but still had 30 seconds to spare.

Sevilla dropped back to lend a hand.

The wife of Tour de France third-place finisher Raimondas Rumsas lost another appeal here Thursday to be released from the prison where she has been detained since her July arrest on drug possession charges. Edita Rumsas has been held in custody at Bonneville women's prison for nearly eight weeks on suspicion of provoking, inciting and offering drugs for consumption. Her lawyer Veronique Coudray said that a new appeal, the third by her legal team, had been rejected by the court of appeal here Thursday. The mother-of-three was picked up in the French Alps on July 29 - the day the Tour

Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich said Thursday he has already received several job offers, just a day after announcing that he was leaving the Telekom team after seven years. Ullrich said he is now considering several offers and is certain to make a decision within two weeks. Both the Danish CSC team of Bjarne Riis and German team Coast have publicly confirmed interest in signing the 28-year-old world time-trial champion and Olympic road race titleholder. "I have not yet decided," said the East German-born rider, who won the 1997 Tour de France and has finished second in four

Germany's 1997 Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich has left the Telekom team "by mutual consent" Wednesday, following a remarkably successful seven-year career with the squad. The 28-year-old four-time Tour de France runner-up has had a miserable year - including two knee operations - which culminated in him being suspended for six months on July 23 after he tested positive for amphetamines. Telekom had also frozen his wages since the ban had come into force although they had been making overtures to the Olympic road race champion about renewing his contract when the current one

Juan Pineda, formerly of the 7UP-Nutra Fig team, has been suspended from competition for two years after testing positive for two "anabolic agents,” the US Anti-doping Agency announced Wednesday. Pineda, 27, tested positive at a road cycling competition in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on June 4, for 19-norandrosterone and 19-noretiocholanolone, which are considered prohibited anabolic agents under Union Cycliste International rules. Pineda was already fired by his 7UP team three days after he and his team director, Jeff Corbett, learned of the positive test. Pineda was suspended for two years

At the line. Zabel and Petacchi weren't expecting to see Furlan.

Wind Blown -- Crosswinds at the mid-way point made for some nervous moments.

Heras is one day closer to Madrid.

Heras still has opportunities to add to his lead before the time trial.

McGee goes back to his roots

McGee and family.

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. Stop the whining!Editor;Millar is a whiner, who needs to go home and shut up. I recall him whining about how “f---ing ridiculous" a particular stage of the Tour was (last year), and here he goes again.Were I his coach, he would be gone. Steve MoningerGeorgetown, TexasEpic and

Botero finds his legs.

Another day in gold.

Botero leads the key escape.

Heras says he has faith in his team.

Let's get this straight from the get-go: I don't like to run.Running is painful, boring and slow. Okay, maybe the way that I do itis painful, boring, and slow, but even if you were to excuse the crueltricks that Mother Nature played when she shaped this particular squattylittle Irishman, the allure of running still eludes me.I guess that it all comes down to the basic question of whether, giventhe choice between strapping on running shoes and pounding out the milesor swiftly covering that same distance astride a bicycle, a rational personwould actually choose to go running. To me,

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has announced that its anti-doping review board determined last month that sufficient evidence of doping exists to proceed further in the case of former 7UP-Nutra Fig rider Juan Pineda. Pineda tested positive for the prohibited substances 19-norandrostestosterone and 19-noretiocholanolone at the First Union invitational on June 4. While Pineda is challenging the positive test result, he is no longer a member of the 7UP squad, team director Jeff Corbett told VeloNews, Monday. “He found out the Monday after Fitchburg (July 1),” Corbett said. “He called me right

Heras says he and his team are ready to defend the jersey

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in the pagesof VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com that causes you towant 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.Outraged at Trenti choiceEditor;I am outraged by the decision to put Guidi Trenti on the U.S. Worlds Team(see "U.S. names world's road squad" and "Trenti ready to ride in Stars-and-Stripes") for two reasons: 1)USA Cycling receives support (and funding) from the entire base of

Heras set his own tempo up the Angliru

This time Heras was setting tempo for Heras

Familiar view -- Beloki spends another day chasing a Postal jersey

Gonzalez fought back and minimized the damage.

Sevilla lost the jersey but held on to third overall.

Pereiro and Flecha were caught on the early part of the Angliru

Smetanine wins after impressive break

Peschel

Bodrogi

All of the action up front mattered little to Sevilla.

The Gemini 900

The 2003 Scalpel

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in the pagesof VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com that causes you towant 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. A need to clarifyDear Sir: I am writing to ask that you print a retraction in regard to a gross inaccuracy in your article "Insurance muddle leaves promoters scrambling." (By Patrick Gilsenan - VeloNews.com on July 29, 2002). It states in your article "Attempts to contact

Lombardi

Blanco leads the six-man escape while Caucchioli plays his cards close to his chest

With his second-place finish at Sunday’s San Francisco Grand Prix, Mercury’s Henk Vogels moved ahead of teammate Chris Wherry to clinch the overall title for one-day road races in the VeloNews Bro Tour. Despite not winning an event, Vogels was the most consistent over the six-races: Housatonic Valley Classic, the three races of First Union Week, the Saturn Cycling Classic and the San Francisco Grand Prix. Vogels also place second at Housatonic, fourth at the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia and eighth at the First Union Invitational in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Wherry had led Vogels by two

Vogels was always there.

Will sprint for food (and a healthy salary)

Hello, I really must be going.