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Italy's 1998 Tour de France champion Marco Pantani on Saturday had his eight month suspension for drugs lifted by the Italian Cycling Federation after a successful appeal. The 32-year-old, who also captured the 1998 Tour of Italy, had been sanctioned on June 17 by the Federation after allegedly using the banned substance insulin during the 2001 Giro d’Italia. The commission said there was no real proof that the cyclist, better known as 'Il Pirata' for his shaven head, gold earring and colourful bandanas, had taken insulin despite police finding a syringe with traces of it in his

PMU sponsors the green jersey

Friday’s recycled rant: Riding through the vehicular jungle wearing a pork-chop jacket

Well, there was another pileup, two to be exact, in the final kilometersof Saturday’s stage to Avranches. And there was a last-kilometer attack,two to be exact, on the uphill finish — resulting in a breakthrough stagevictory for Aussie Brad McGee. Both the crashes and the attacks were predictable,but no one likes to see riders climbing into ambulances, nursing injuredlimbs as they struggle to the finish, or stopping to help their fallenteam leaders. The crash 5km from the finish that dumped riders in ditches was a resultof the symptoms that caused similar mass pileups in 1997. Back then,

Waiting for the peloton

For all the things Tour de France race sponsors will do to maximize the value of their investment, there are days when the effort must seem wasted. Take the bosses of the Norman cheese manufacturer, Coeur de Lion, who must have been wondering what the worth of their public performance was today. Having alerted media 24 hours earlier that 700 workers from their factory would line the road donned in their trade mark red T-shirts in what was called "Operation Coeur de Lion," what response they ever really expected is anyone's guess. But there they stood. As promised, with 15km to go in

The day's main break formed at 22km - (l - r) Renier, Van Bon and Morin

VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson is at the Tour de France and is taking time to shoot not just the race, but also the scenes along the road and the activity just outside of the peloton.

Olano and the other ONCE boys powered the chase.

The first week of the Tour is always dangerous, and this year is proving to be no exception. Christophe Moreau has been hitting the ground like a paid-off prizefighter. Usually the peloton is somewhat nervous on the first two days, resulting in a few crashes, and then things calm down by this point. I am hoping people are getting their crashes out of the way early and the rest of the race will go more smoothly. This year, the final kilometers of a few stages have included small roads and several tight turns. Almost the entire peloton is reaching the final kilometers en masse too. Without a

Big field, small roads = bad combination.

The first week of the Tour de France is always full of crashes. It’s just an accepted part of the race. I just wish it weren't, though. Crashes in pro’ bikin' are no fun. Unlike when I was a junior and I overlapped someone’s' wheel and scraped myself up, crashes at this level tend to be into fixed objects at 40 miles an hour. Everyone ends up either in a ditch or in an ambulance and the rest jump up to catch the peloton as fast as they can so they won't miss next wreck. It's a little ironic, how dangerous it is to ride a bike with a bunch of people who make hundreds of thousands of dollars

Christophe Moreau - After the crash

Canada’s Geneviève Jeanson will miss the Commonwealth Games, which will be held in Manchester, Great Britain, from July 25 to August 4, her team announced on Saturday. The leader of the RONA Cycling Team has a tendonitis behind her left knee. The cause of which is not yet known. Jeanson experienced pain during the last stage of the Hewlett Packard Women’s Challenge, on June 23. The pain then subsided but reappeared during the Fitchburg Longsjo Bicycle Classic the following week. "I am extremely disappointed by this turn of events," said Jeanson. "This injury happens at the worst of

Dunlap wins again...

One fire burns out another's burning,One pain is lessen'd by another's anguish.- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet I don’t often ride with other cyclists. I ride with racers. The distinction is subtle, finer than a legal hair being split by aUSA Cycling attorney. Yet the yawning gulf that separates these subsetsof the group, "people who ride bicycles," is as wide as, say, Monica Lewinsky'sbutt in a Naugahyde jumpsuit with a D.C. phone book in each hip pocketafter six months on a diet of Twinkies, Schlitz Malt Liquor tallboys, andjumbo buckets of the Colonel's

Leuchs took the overall.

Riders stayed out of the intense sun for as long as they could.

Finally a break built up more than a few seconds' lead.

Vanlandingham came from behind to take second.

Armstrong is right where he needs to be.

iBanesto.com's TT bike -- with the offending bars

Landis is enjoying his first Tour

Sauser was untouchable.

Zabel has reason to smile.

The men take on the opening climb.

Look, it's Lance... or Floyd... or... oh, take his picture anyway.

Ferguson DNF'd but still drew atttention from the local media.

Go to France, go to the Tour and ...

4:55 p.m. Zabel! It came down to a three-up sprint between Zabel, Oscar Friere and McEwen. Zabel beat Friere to the line, but more importantly outscores the Aussie in the points race and has kept the green points jersey as a result. It's Tour stage win number 12 for Zabel. 4:54 p.m. Telekom is leading out Zabel. 4:53 p.m. We are in the final kilometer. Lampre's Dierckxens is at the front and charging. 4:52 p.m. 2.5km to go... there is still a big scramble at the front. Telekom is still up there. McEwen is hanging in a good spot near the front. 4:51 p.m. Rolf Aldag is at the front for

Richard, meet Richard.... Richard, meet Richard

The Nicole Reinhart Memorial Fund recently established a collegiate scholarship fund and will award seven $1000 scholarships in 2002 to young cyclists attending an institution of higher learning. The deadline for application is July 20. The official press release follows: Nicole Reinhart Memorial Fund Announces Collegiate Cycling Scholarships (Lehigh Valley, PA) – The Nicole Reinhart Memorial Fund has established a collegiate scholarship fund, for top young cyclists to pursue the dream of the competing in Olympic Games and attending a higher education institution. Seven $1000

Radio Colombia

Watching the so-called flat stages of the Tour this week may seem alittle boring. The same scenario seems to play out every day. It startswith lots of attacks, none of which gain more than a few seconds. By thetime live TV comes on, a small breakaway will have developed, generallywith a few of the regional French riders prominent. Then the peloton, pulledby the sprinters’ teams, starts to close in, usually resulting in a masssprint finish.The only real excitement for the casual viewer is what happens in thefinal few meters, which Friday resulted in a hard-earned stage win forworld No. 1 Erik

Dark descent

As was to be expected, we went hard all day today. Everyone figured that this would be a tough stage given that it is one of the last relatively flat races of this Tour and the sprinters would be eager to show their strength before we hit the mountains. The rain made things a little dicey at times. There were points when it was coming down in buckets. I think the big pile up in the final twenty kilometers was probably due to the wet roads. Yesterday, our team was bombarded with the same questions over and over regarding the team time trial. We expected as much considering we had a pretty

Lance in the rain

VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson is at the Tour de France and is taking time to shoot not just the race, but also the scenes along the road and the activity just outside of the peloton.

Zabel on the podium

Interviews. Getting them on the Tour de France is a crap-shoot, contrary to the impression that television coverage gives. Riders don't simply stop at the first sight of a reporter, wipe the sweat from their brow after another day in the saddle and give an unsolicited account of their day's highs and lows. Behind the mob scenes where a stage winner is encircled and forced to talk before being released - as was Erik Zabel after winning today's sixth stage to Alençon - another race has already begun off-screen between reporters and riders as they dash to a waiting team van. However, for

Miss Europe on the podium

The sprint finishes of this year’s Tour have been exciting, but no team seems able to control the front of the peloton the way the old Saeco train could. As a result, the final three kilometers are chaotic and dangerous, and I’m surprised we haven’t seen more crashes in the final kilometer. The lack of a dominant lead-out team could be due to more evenly matched sprinters’ teams than we have seen in past years. Whatever the reason, this year has seen cooperative efforts from Lotto, Telekom, and now Crédit Agricole to keep the pace high enough to dissuade attacks in the final 20 kilometers.

The 'exclusive' interview.

The world's number one outsprinted the world champion in Alençon

Coordinated effort - coordinated equipment

Gonzalez de Galdeano still safe in the yellow jersey.

Dunlap on her way to the win.

“Some idiot in front of me fell,' Millar recalled.

The women head out with the beautiful San Sophia mountain range as a backdrop.

The 47km mark of Friday's sixth stage will mean a lot more to six membersof the Tour entourage. Possibly more than what it will for those riderswho will race across it to contest the first of the day's three intermediatesprints.Sure, the mark may see German Erik Zabel's narrow lead in the sprinters'green jersey competition come under siege. Or it may be where the day'swinning break will escape.But when the Tour races towards the PMU banner in the town of Les Andelysin Normandy, the hearts of six among the media will be racing - hopefullynot at tachycardiac levels!One of the most picturesque

Just cuz it looks cool

Normandy, the region of France the Tour de France entered Thursday andexits on Saturday, has probably seen more bike racing than anywhere elsein the world. The very first cycling road race took place between Parisand Rouen in 1869 when the roads were dusty and rocky, and the bikes werecrude, chainless velocipedes — pedal cranks were attached directly to thefront wheel hub. The winner of that inaugural Paris-Rouen race was an Englishmanliving in Paris, Dr. James Moore, who customized his hubs with ball bearings,made for him by prisoners in a Paris jail.Paris-Rouen gave birth to a series of

Ya almost don't recognize the guy without the Stars-and-Stripes.

The bike on which Jaan Kirsipuu wonn stage five is a Decathlon aluminum bike, the brand of the largest sports retailer in Europe, the huge FrenchDecathlon chain. Decathlon has its own brand of much of what it sells. For instance,the wheels are “dPr,” or “Decathlon Penta” wheels, built up onto deep-section rims and hubs with the dPr logo on it. The headsets are integrated on the road bikes and external on the time trial bikes, also with the Decathlon brand on them. Otherwise, the bikes have Time pedals and carbon forks, CampagnoloRecord 10-speed groups, ITM stems and bars, Michelintires and

Another day in yellow

Final overall: Men: 1. Brent Dawson, Jelly Belly 2. Graeme Miller, Mercury 3. Andrew Crater, OFOTO-Lombardi 4. Dan Schmatz, 7UP-Nutra Fig

VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson is at the Tour de France and is taking time to shoot not just the race, but also the scenes along the road and the activity just outside of the peloton.

The road to Rouen.

Maybe the peloton took its cue from yesterday’s team time trial; today’s stage was just plain fast. Five men put in an impressive ride to hold off the charging sprinters, but these are the days when riders start falling apart. Tom Steels was the first rider to abandon the 2002 Tour de France. He hasn’t been feeling well during any stage and he had been coming off the back every time the road tilted even slightly. When the speed increases toward the end of the first week, struggling riders start cracking. It is a normal process. Some riders get stronger with a few days of racing in their

What would the Tour be without our man Didi?

Robbie’s Ride

Kirsipuu makes it to Rouen.

Five men on a mission

They stayed away with 33 seconds to spare.

AG2R's Decathlon TT bikes-

The team truck still shows last year's bike.

Go Packers! .... uhhhh okay...

5:08 p.m. -- Estonian national champion Jaan Kirsipuu (AG2R) won the fifth stage of the Tour de France Thursday after he and the other members of a five-man break managed to hold off a hard charging peloton at the end of a 195km stage from Soissons to Rouen. ONCE’s Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano retained the race leader's yellow jersey. Former Danish champion Michael Sandstod of the CSC team came second in the stage with Belgian Ludo Dierckxsens, who rides for Lampre, third following 199.5 km of racing from Soissons to here. The main peloton arrived around 20secs later. Preliminary stage

Tail gate party... maybe the Packer fan knew something we didn't.

Lotto’s powerful sprinter, Robbie McEwen, surprises with his choice of bikes. He rides – and sprints very fast – on the superlight compact-geometry climbing frame of Litespeed, the Ghisallo. It does help that he is short, and the flex in the thin tubes is reduced by virtue of being on such a tight little frame, in addition to having the compact geometry to further reduce weight and flex. McEwen wears white shorts and the white jersey of the Australian national champion, and he also chooses a white saddle and white handlebar tape while the rest of his team uses black saddles and tape. The

Grand Mere...coffee for Everyone!

1. KIRSIPUU Jaan (Est), A2R en 4h 13:332. SANDSTOD Michael (Dk), CST, at 00:003. DIERCKXSENS Ludo (B), LAM, at 00:004. CASAGRANDA Stefano (I), ALS, at 00:035. EDALEINE Christophe (F), DEL, at 00:086. MC EWEN Robbie (Aus), LOT, at 00:337. COOKE Baden (Aus), FDJ, at 00:338. O'GRADY Stuart (Aus), C.A, at 00:339. ZABEL Erik (G), TEL, at 00:3310. HAUPTMAN Andrej (Slo), TAC, at 00:3311. PIZIKS Arvis (Lit), CST, at 00:3312. SVORADA Jan (Slo), LAM, at 00:3313. MATTAN Nico (B), COF, at 00:3314. HUNTER Robert (SA), MAP, at 00:3315. PAGLIARINI Luciano (Brz), LAM, at 00:3316. MAGNIEN Emmanuel (F), BJR,

Ya gotta do something while waiting for the peloton.

Teamwork

Postal kept it all together

Should we stay or should we go now?

Ready to roll

Mitered tubes ready for the bottom bracket shell