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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.

McGee goes back to his roots

McGee and family.

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.

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

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

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.

Smetanine wins after impressive break

Peschel

Bodrogi

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

All of the action up front mattered little to Sevilla.

The Gemini 900

The 2003 Scalpel

Fassa and Telekom drove the chase

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.

Zabel could only look on as Petacchi sprinted for the line.

18 riders made an early escape.

Still in the lead -- with that comfortable 1-second margin.

Six of the escapees finally decided to venture out on their own.

Lastras caught a fading Zubeldia just before the line

Di Luca

Sevilla defends his jersey

Sevilla defends his jersey

It was the wind that defined the character of the early part of the stage.

Kelme management says there is no war on the team

The team is completely behind its leader, says Belda. For now, that's Sevilla

Gonzalez after his first of two stage wins in this Vuelta

After two years directing the men's Saturn Cycling Team, Jim Copeland has decided to resign from the job. Copeland said he expects to shift his focus from cycling and on to other aspects of his life. "I have been involved in the cycling industry for the better part of the last 20 years, both as an athlete and manager," he said in a release issued Monday, "and I, along with my wife, Alisa, have decided that it's time to reduce the travel schedule and come home and stay for a while." While directing the Saturn Cycling Team, Copeland led the team to wins at the Redlands Cycling

Sevilla has improved as a time trialist over the past year

Millar set an early standard

Gonzalez

CVV had a great TT

The CrossMax SL Disc for Lefty will be based on the regular CrossMax SL Disc (shown)

Live Updates: San Francisco Grand Prix

Lastras attacked on the downhill and stayed away

Eat, drink and get ready for that TT tomorrow.

no, don't Relax - The wind and the speed split the field apart.

After the split -- ONCE set out to maximize the gap.

Happy Man -- Dionne played this one to perfection

Hincapie left with 29 miles to go

The Filmore climb

Saturn’s Petra Rossner left no doubt about who was the world’s strongest woman during the 2002 World Cup finale September 15, scoring a come-from-behind victory at the Rotterdam Tour and claiming the series title. Rossner and Mirjam Melchers (Farm Frites Hartol) were separated by just 13 points going into the ninth and final round, held on a windswept, 141km course. An early break of 10 riders with four Farm Frites riders and three Saturns was reeled by Team Nurnberger, and Saturn spent the next few kilometers chasing down a flurry of attacks. At 50km, a pileup split the bunch, and Rossner

Barry - in Stage 8

Lotto’s Robbie McEwen won the 82nd edition of the Paris-Brussels classic on Saturday, winning a sprint finish to see off German Olaf Pollack and Dutch racer Jans Koerts after a grueling 270km ride. McEwen's patience paid off handsomely as he warmed up for the world championships at Zolder, Belgium, in a month's time. Frenchman Jacky Durand set off on an early solo attack and spent 180 kilometers out in front on his own but the peloton reined him in and McEwen seized the moment and the race after brief attacks from Italian pair Daniele Nardello and Michele Bartoli. Over the final 10

America's latest road world championships team member doesn't speak a word of English, but that's not slowing him down. Guido Trenti, 29, will be racing in his first world championships, but his selection to the US road worlds team has created a firestorm back in the States because he was picked instead of another American. Trenti's name has popped up in Euro-side results sheet for years, always listed as an American rider even though he was born and raised in Italy. His stage victory in last year's Vuelta is recorded as the only American stage-win in the Spanish

Who me? Gonzalez thought he finished second.

Now he gets to celebrate.

Sevilla and Heras

Trenti wouldn't mind repeating this pose in Zolder.

In the shadow of the Mission

Van Gilder made the final turn first

Fraser