Road

Heading into stage 1 of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, Navigators Insurance rider Phil Zajicek had never heard of Devon Vigus. Neither had defending champion Nathan O’Neill of Health Net-Maxxis, nor Toyota-United veteran Burke Swindlehurst. But Vigus, who races for the amateur team California Giant Strawberries-Specialized, was the surprise winner of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic’s 3-mile stage 1 time trial — the only rider to finish in under six minutes, with a time of 5:50. O’Neill finished second, 12 seconds back, with Priority Health-Bissell’s Ben Jacques-Maynes in third at 20 seconds

Armed with the cunning – and innate sense of timing – that come from 11 years as a professional, 33 year-old Stefano Garzelli, just as he did three days before in Bergamo, gave a textbook display of controlled aggression Tuesday in Lienz, Austria. The reward? His second victory of the 2007 Giro.

John Devine followed in the footsteps of some of America’s best young talent following his overall victory at the four-day Ronde de l’Isard this weekend in France. Devine, who is set to join the Discovery Channel team in July, won Friday’s 170km third stage to claim overall victory with a 49-second margin ahead of Belgian Francis De Greef. Foul weather cancelled a morning sector of Saturday’s action, but Devine finished 13th in the 24km time trial to retain his lead. The former mountain biker finished sixth in Sunday’s finale, 14 seconds off the pace set by stage-winner Oscar Sanchez of

In the shadow of the state Capitol, an enthused North Carolina crowd watched Frank Travieso (AEG-Toshiba-Jet Network) take one of the most uncompromising wins of his career at this year's Raleigh Downtown Criterium May 25. Running over a six-turn, L shaped course, the 3-year-old event took place on the front end of the Memorial Day weekend. A high pace did not discourage breakaway attempts, and eventually six men got away —Travieso, Tom Soloday (Kelly Benefit Strategies) John Delong (Alliance), local boys Rich Harper (Abercrombie & Fitch) and David Duncan (Time), and Jittery Joe's

We should have known. Ever since the opening day of Giro in Sardegna, when the Liquigas leader shouted at his team-mate Enrico Gasparotto to peel off the front of the train so that he could take the first maglia rosa, we should have known Danilo Di Luca really wanted to win the race more than anyone. The events on that day were downplayed somewhat, with Di Luca saying: "I was not upset, it is important that we as a team win." But out of all the pre-race favorites - Gilberto Simoni, Damiano Cunego, Paolo Savoldelli, and Di Luca - it is the latter who has arguably the weakest team. Each

The next stage race on USA Cycling’s National Racing Calendar, the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, kicks off Tuesday in Hood River, Oregon. Now in its fifth year and its third as an NRC event, the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic has quickly emerged as one of the top stage races in the U.S., drawing professional and amateurs from several different categories. But with the Commerce Bank Triple Crown series beginning in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, June 3, the final day of Mt. Hood, many teams are either splitting their squads or simply skipping the Oregon race. That’s not to say that the six-stage

High up the savage slopes of the Tre Cime Di Lavaredo, 23-year-old young gun Riccardo Riccò came of age with a brilliant victory in the 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday. In a show of strength, unity and sportsmanship, the Saunier Duval duo of Riccò and Leonardo Piepoli out-foxed and out-climbed all others on the queen stage of the race in the Italian Dolomites. With arms aloft, Riccò crossed the line just ahead of maglia verde Piepoli, followed by Ivan Parra (Cofidis), 10 seconds adrift, and Mexican Julio Pérez (Ceramica Panaria-Navigare), a further 32 seconds behind.

Russian rider Vladimir Karpets (Caisse d’Epargne) won the Volta a Catalunya Sunday in Madrid. Spaniard Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) won the seventh and final stage, a 119.3km ride from Lloret de Mar to Barcelona. Karpets, the 2004 winner of the Tour de France's white jersey for the best young rider, thus picks up his fourth victory of the season. "To win such an important race like the Volta a Catalunya is something significant in a rider's career,” said Karpets. "The team started perfectly well, by being the best in the team time trial. After that we were able to control the

Tina Pic gave the United States Cycling Team its ninth medal and sixth continental title with a victory in the elite women's road race at the 2007 Pan American Road and Track Championships on Saturday. Pic won the 72-kilometer road race to conclude competition for the American squad by outsprinting silver medalist Yumari Gonzales of Cuba and bronze medalist Gina Grain of Canada. Pic's victory gave the American women a sweep of the road events after Alison Powers won Friday's time trial. Given the relatively flat course and short distance of the road race, Pic was designated as

If Danilo Di Luca expects to ride into Milan a week from Sunday wearing the maglia rosa on the final stage of the Giro d’Italia he’s going to have to fight for it before that. Had there been any doubt about that, it was certainly erased during Saturday’s 192-kilometer ride from Cantu to Bergamo. In one of the most exciting stages in modern Giro history, Acqua & Sapone's Stefano Garzelli took the fourteenth stage in emphatic fashion Saturday in Bergamo, barely edging out Saunier Duval's Gilberto Simoni and world road champ Paolo Bettini of Quick Step-Innergetic.

Fresh off a successful European road trip, the professional continental Navigators squad announced its return to domestic criterium racing with a dominant performance at Saturday’s Kelly Cup in Baltimore, Maryland. The team put six men in a 20-strong escape that formed with 15 laps of the 1-mile course remaining, and it was Aussie Hilton Clarke (Navigators) that struck the winning blow, soloing the final four laps to victory and nearly lapping the field in the process. Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) won the women’s event in tight field sprint over U.S. national criterium champion Theresa

Till this 13 kilometer uphill race of truth, surprises have been few at this 90th Giro d'Italia. But Marzio Bruseghin's performance Friday was exactly that. With nowhere to hide on the slopes leading to the Santuario Di Oropa, 32 year-old Bruseghin defied the odds to win the thirteenth stage and stun everyone including himself with a superlative ride against the clock.

[nid:38705]Liquigas leader Danilo Di Luca has emerged unscathed and on top in the Giro's first big day in the mountains, taking the stage in Briançon and the maglia rosa to boot. Only five riders finished within 20 seconds of Di Luca, and only two-time Giro champion Gilberto Simoni was able to match him stroke for stroke on the savage slopes of the Col d'Izoard.

This is the Alessandro Petacchi we all remember, the world-class sprinter delivered to the line by a well-orchestrated machine of a lead-out team and fending off a field of the world’s best over the last meters of a stage. It’s enough to make a guy forget the last 12 months.

Jennie Reed won her second medal of the week at the 2007 Pan American Roadand Track Championships on Wednesday, adding a silver medal in the matchsprint to the gold she won on Monday in the keirin.After securing a spot in Wednesday's semifinals on Tuesday, Reed tooktwo out of three head-to-head sprints from Mexico's Nancy Contreras toadvance to the gold-medal final against Cuba's Lizandra Guerra.  Guerra,who finished second to Reed in the keirin two days ago, got the best ofReed to claim the gold.In his first race since announcing his return to competitive cycling,Colby

Showing a bit of its strength, the Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team, presented by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. stamped its mark on stage three of the FBD Insurance Ras. Team racer Dominique Rollin had a convincing stage win, extended his lead in the points contest and moved up to third in the general classification while 21-year-old Jesse Anthony moved into the race leader’s yellow jersey, extended his lead in the King of the Mountain contest and took the lead in the competition for best young rider. The field rolled out of the village of Loughrea under dark skies and with a sense of anticipation

Old Wives’ Tales; Traditions; Superstitions: Most people have a few they abide by, knowing that they’re not really factual, but they like the ideas or the story behind them. Euros, and particularly those in the cycling world, have a particular affinity to odd beliefs and one of the most joked about topics by Americans racing in Europe is “Euro Logic”. When a country is specified it normally becomes “Belgian Logic”. Most likely the fond memories of the time that most of our generation spent in Izigem with the u23 National team have something to do with this. While most people admit that

In a Giro d’Italia that’s being hyped as a showdown between the young guns, a pair of grizzled veterans stole the spotlight in Tuesday’s grueling 250km climbing stage sun-baked mountains above Genova. Leonardo Piepoli and Andrea Noè, two unsung workhorses in an age of millionaire GC captains, clawed their way to the podium at the end of an explosive battle that saw the end of Marco Pinotti’s pink jersey run.

Side steppin'Dear Lennard,Regarding your April 10, 2007 article "Whatis it?", I was wondering if you had any thoughts or opinions on modern-daypedal systems which are attempting to bring the ball of the foot directlyto where the pedal spindle typically is. The two that cometo mind are SideMount pedal (SMP) of Pasadena, CA and VistaMagic X of France.DavidDear David,I have not used the Vista Magic X, but I’ve used Steve Lubanski’s SideMount Pedal and Tom Slocum’s HighSierra dropped pedal built into a Speedplay. Both of them feel absolutelyfantastic to pedal with; most riders would be amazed

In a nation that’s produces sprinters like Texas churns out linebackers, Danilo Napolitano hardly rated on the power rankings in the Italian sprinter hierarchy. All that changed Monday for the 26-year-old Sicilian when he bullied his way past Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) and Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) to win the 177km ninth stage by a whisker.

Brad Huff and Jennie Reed scored two gold medals for the United States as the Pan American Road and Track Championships got under way Monday in Valencia, Venezuela. Huff won the men’s omnium with 15 points, narrowly beating Colombia’s Juan Arango (16) and the Dominican Republic’s Jorge Perez (16) in the five-event competition. In the omnium, the lowest score wins. Huff finished second in the 200-meter time trial, fifth in the scratch race, third in the individual pursuit and fifth in the points race before clinching his overall victory with a close win in the kilometer time trial. In the

Dr. Brent Kay, heretofore Landis’ personal physician, steps into Geoghegan’s role.

For the first time of his career, Dave Zabriskie is making a serious stab at the overall classification of a grand tour. Without putting too much pressure on himself, Zabriskie is hoping to be able to stay close to the Italian mountain goats for as long as possible and make a solid showing when the Giro ends June 3 in Milan. “I know I can finish a three-week tour. I am going to try harder than I have in the mountains,” Zabriskie told VeloNews. “We’ll see how I can do in the GC. I want to see how I can do, but I don’t want too much pressure, either.” Team CSC entered the 2007 Giro with a

In its first day of racing in Europe the Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team presented by Sierra Nevada Brewing came out swinging at the FBD Insurance Ras on Sunday, with young rider Jesse Anthony capturing the King of the Mountain jersey and team sprinter Dominique Rollin taking fourth place on the stage. On an uncharacteristically sunny day, the field set off from Naas after a brief morning transit from Dublin. Enthusiastic crowds assembled to greet the race as the riders took a neutralized parade ride through the village streets. Once outside of town, it didn't take long for the racing

Kurt-Asle Arvesen doesn’t win very often, but when he does, he has a knack for beating some pretty big names. The 32-year-old CSC rider scored his 15th professional win in Sunday’s 200km eighth stage ath the Giro d’Italia with style, out-sprinting reigning world champion Paolo Bettini (QuickStep) in a stinking hot stage that saw a 22-man breakaway featuring George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) take four minutes out of the main peloton.

George Hincapie is enjoying his first crack at the Giro d’Italia. The American national champion sat on the hood of the Discovery Channel team car Saturday morning as he soaked up the sights ahead of the start of the 254km seventh stage. The hilltop town of Spoleto was bathed in pink for the partenza and Hincapie was clearly digging the scene. “I am really enjoying the Giro,” Hincapie told VeloNews. “The racing is good but it’s a lot more relaxed here than the Tour. This is just what I needed.” Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise that Hincapie’s never raced the Giro during his

It was a bike stab to turn the page on a year of suffering. Alessandro Petacchi jammed his bike across the line in Saturday’s seventh stage to win for the second time in a week and officially close the book on his long comeback from injury in last year’s Giro d’Italia. The Milram rider timed his move perfectly to win a high-octane sprint on the Mugello race circuit ahead of Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) and Paolo Bettini (QuickStep-Innergetic) by a half-wheel length.

Landis' friend and business manager Geoghegan admits to calling former Tour de France champion Greg LeMond, pretending to be his abusive uncle.

Danilo Di Luca called this one. Secure in his leader’s jersey at the end of Thursday’s stage to Frascati, the Liquigas rider said that Friday’s stage – with three moderate to tough climbs spread along the route – would be a prime opportunity for a break-away effort to succeed and perhaps relieve him of the pressure of defending the maglia rosa for a while. Right, on both counts.

How can I duplicate my position on a new bike (more tips)?

Tyler Hamilton’s status with Tinkoff Credit Systems appears doubtful in the wake of his departure from the team just days before the start of the90th Giro d’Italia.

Tinkoff folded to pressure from Giro organizers over Hamilton’s alleged links to the Opera?ion Puerto doping scandal and dropped him from what would have been Hamilton’s first grand tour since he tested positive for homologous blood doping in the 2004 Vuelta a España.

No one seemed particularly happy with the finish of the fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia on Thursday - except the guy who won it. Gerolsteiner’s Robert Förster emerged at the front of a mad dash through a frightening closing kilometer at the end a 173-kilometer stage from Teano to Frascati to score the second Giro stage victory of his career. Overall race leader Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas) finished comfortably in the main field to hold on to his 26-second advantage over teammate Franco Pellizotti on general classification.

In the tech world, there’s always something newer, lighter and lustier right around the corner. In the marketing world, thousands of dollars are spent to create a good buzz at just the right moment to drum up sales for the new stuff without cannibalizing sales of a company’s existing product. Recently, SRAM may have gotten its tech and marketing wires crossed, as a 42-page document detailing its yet-to-be-released, top-end road group, Red, began circulating on the Internet well ahead of SRAM’s planned launch. When SRAM unveiled its Force and Rival groups in April of 2006, company spokesmen

Danilo Di Luca repeated his victory atop the Montevergine climb from 2001 in Wednesday’s rainy and crash-marred fourth stage, but things have changed a lot for “The Killer” since those heady days six years ago. Back then, Di Luca was the hot, emerging star who everyone predicted would one day win the Giro d’Italia. Other than come close with fourth overall in 2005, Di Luca has never delivered on that promise.

Can I use the same brake pads on my aluminum and carbon rims?

What can I do about saddle soreness?

Why does my bike shimmy at high speed?

Can I rebuild my Mavic freehub? (More feedback)

You could almost hear the “delete” buttons being tapped in the Giro d’Italia pressroom in Cagliari on the Island of Sardinia on Monday. All of those stories about how Milram’s Alessandro Petacchi was a washed-up version of yesterday’s news were sent to the trash can as the man known as Ale-Jet scored his 20th Giro stage win at the end of a largely flat, 181-kilometer stage from Barumini to Cagliari.

It was weekend devoted to road racing at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships in Perry, Kansas, Saturday and Sunday. In addition to hundreds of riders, our guy, Casey Gibson, was there to record it all for posterity.

Stanford University claimed the Division I road racing national championship this weekend in Lawrence, Kansas, while Western Washington University took the Division II crown at the 2007 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships. After three days of racing, May 11-13, Stanford didn’t win any of the individual events – the team time trial, road race nor criterium – but instead won the Division I championship by the virtue of the consistency of its finishes. “We finally had the depth in both men and women to do it,” Stanford’s Devin Flaherty said. “Usually it’s one or the other, but

Robbie McEwen doesn’t speak much Italian, but he knows enough to tell TV reporters at the finish line in a hot and challenging 205km second stage along the west coast of Sardinia that was he was tickled pink with his 12th career Giro d’Italia stage victory. The Australian pocket rocket bolted past a wilting Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) and held off a late burst by Paolo Bettini (QuickStep) to notch his 153rd career victory.

The Giro d’Italia just wouldn’t be the same without a good dose of polemica, the favored pastime of this passionate nation of 60 million souls, and there was plenty of it in Saturday’s opening stage of the 90th corsa rosa. [nid:38529]UCI president Pat McQuaid got things off to a good start when he showed up an hour before the team time trial between the Caprera and La Maddalena islands to tell Italian journalists there would be no deal-making for scandal-marred Ivan Basso (see "McQuaid:No breaks for Basso").

Now that Saturday’s team time trial has sorted out the field, the peloton in the 2007 Giro d’Italia hits the road with a 205-kilometer stage from Tempio Pausania to Bosa on the island of Sardinia. The stage offers a prime opportunity for renowned sprinters like Alessandro Petacchi, Robbie McEwen and Paolo Bettini, but the outcome is by no means a forgone conclusion. The favorites are joined in the field-sprint stakes by several impressive talents, including Thor Hushovd, Danilo Napolitano and Giro newcomer J.J. Haedo. These and others are likely to be the names we'll see contesting

Managing the heat and an aggressive peloton, Midwestern State University’s Alex Boyd captured the men’s Division I road race national title Saturday in Perry, Kansas. Racing a rolling, 28-mile circuit for three laps (84 miles), Boyd remained dormant through most of the race, the second race of the 2007 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, which began on Friday and wraps up Sunday. An eager peloton unleashed attack after attack on the country roads of east Kansas, but no riders could open up any significant gaps early on. Under an unforgiving sun, fatigue set in, and the

Our man Andrew Hood found himself with a little extra time on his hands Friday (okay, a lot of extra time), and so he shot a few snaps of what he called the "unique" opening ceremonies of the 2007 Giro d'Italia, which entailed ferrying the riders, support staff, organizers, officials and press to the deck of Italy's only aircraft carrier — to say nothing of a fair amount of just sitting around, waiting for something to happen. Finally, it did, and Andy sent us the pix to prove it.

With Operación Puerto eliminating defending champion Ivan Basso and potential contenders Michele Scarponi and Tyler Hamilton, the list of potential winners is much shorter. This will lead to a more uncertain Giro, but the podium is almost sure to be contested by the big four: Cunego, Simoni, Savoldelli and Di Luca. TOP FAVORITES Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre-Fondital Age:25 Giro highlights: Overall winner, four stage wins and 11 days in the maglia rosa in 2004, 4th overall in 2006 (but almost 20 minutes back), 18th in 2005, 34th in 2003. The skinny: After being zapped by mononucleosis in

UCI PROTOUR TEAMSAg2r (F)Race numbers: 51-59GC contender: New team leader Rinaldo Nocentini (I) is most interested in winning a stage.Best sprinter: Alexandre Usov (Blr) had a top-three stage finish in the 2004 Giro. Other rider to watch: Carl Naibo (F), a late replacement, is a useful climber.Giro will be a success if: Nocentini wins a stage.Astana (Swi)Race numbers: 11-19GC contender: Paolo Savoldelli (I) is looking for his third Giro title after contending and then falling sick in 2006Other rider to watch: Eddy Mazzoleni (I) is a strong climber riding support for Savoldelli.Giro will be a

A Milan court announced Friday that it expects to issue a ruling on Unibet's legal challenge of its exclusion from the Giro d'Italia on May 21... nine days after the race starts. The delay effectively ends any hope the team had to contest the Italian national tour, which is slated to begin on Saturday. The Belgian-Swedish team is one of 20 ProTour squads recognized by the UCI, but it has served as focal point of an ongoing dispute between the international governing body and the "big three" race organizers who promote the Giro, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.

It seems no one was happy 24 hours before the start of the 2007 Giro d’Italia. As if this week's startling admissions by defending champion Ivan Basso weren’t enough to cast a pall over the season’s first grand tour, riders were complaining first about the narrow and dangerous roads for Saturday’s team time trial, and then about being ferried out to an aircraft carrier for an opening ceremony in front of about 200 sailors and VIPs. “I expected more from the Giro d’Italia,” said Argentine sprinter J.J. Haedo, who’s making his grand-tour debut with Team CSC. “We’ve been waiting for hours

The 2007 Giro d’Italia starts Saturday without its defending champion and without any clear candidate to fill the void left by the scandalous fall of Ivan Basso. Riders polled during Friday’s opening ceremony pointed to two-time Giro champion Gilberto Simoni (Saunier Duval-Prodir) as the point man in a peloton reeling from doping scandals and uncertainty ahead of the season’s first grand tour. That seems fine for Simoni, who’s finished no worse than third in seven of the eight preceding Giros and is the best-placed returning rider from last year’s Giro in the 198-rider peloton. “I feel

The state of Colorado swept the men’s podium and the Mara Abbott-led Whitman women made their first step to an overall repeat on Friday at the 2007 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships. Friday’s race, a team time trial and the first race of the three-day championship, saw teams navigating a banking, gradually sloping, 12-mile stretch on the grassy outskirts of the muggy college town. In the Division I men’s race, the upper-80 temperatures and humid weather seemed to favor the riders from Colorado. Colorado State finished third on the course, which was sandwiched between a

Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) and Katherine Carroll (Aaron’s) took their respective openers as the 30th Joe Martin Stage Race kicked off Friday in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The 110-mile pro men’s race started in 80-degree heat and gradually grew hotter, but rains late in the stage dropped the temperature to a more comfortable 70 degrees. Dominguez, who took the sprint finish ahead of teammate Ivan Stevic and Alex Candelario (Jelly Belly), said the rains were a welcome relief. “The beginning was a little bit hot, but it was great when the rains came. It really cooled down,” Dominguez said.

The course for the 90th Giro d’Italia offers something for everyone — but the climbs in the final week should decide the winner. The May 12-June 3 grand tour has eight “flat” stages, five “mixed” stages, five mountain stages (with four summit finishes), two individual races against the clock (one of them a hill climb), and an opening team time trial that could see a bitter battle between the top teams — with CSC, starting with world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara and U.S. TT champ Dave Zabriskie, the favorite. Indeed, the opening stage TTT is a challenging 25.6km long, linking the

American continental road team BMC made history on Thursday when it won the team time trial at the May 9-13 Giro del Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy. It was a round of firsts for the team — its first European race, its first European win, and, according to team consultant and USA Cycling president Jim Ochowicz, BMC was the first all-American squad to win a team time trial in Europe. The win launched BMC’s Jonathan Garcia to the top of the general classification and landed Scott Nydam in second place overall. Both Garcia and Nydam were members of a 20-man breakaway during stage 1 that

More than 500 riders will be on the roads of east Kansas this weekend,all vying for the title of “college cycling’s best” at the 2007 USA CyclingCollegiate Road National Championships. For the third straight year, racers will travel to Lawrence, hometo the University of Kansas, for the three-day event, held May 11-13.The University of California-Davis (Division I) and Whitman College(Division II) will look to defend their team titles in the event, whichfeatures a team time trial, road race and criterium. Awards are given tomen and women in the individual events, and teams in the TT and

Dear Monique,I just finished reading large sections of your book, which I find fantasticand will highly recommend to friends. With regards to supplements, onethat I take, but did not see mentioned is conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).Any thoughts on whether this is needed in a reasonably healthy diet? Iam an 80 kg, 46-year-old competitive road racer.Best regards,ChrisHi Chris,At this point there is no reason to add conjugated linoleic acid toa healthy diet or training diet as based on the current research. CLA hasbeen studied fairly extensively, but mostly in animals.  In theseanimal

How can I record my bike position so I can duplicate it?

Making the transitionDear Lennard,I have spent a couple of years "tinkering" with my position on thebike. I feel like my position is now as close to perfect as possible.I am now worried that if I change shoes or damage my bike, etc. that Iam going to lose my "perfect position". What measurements shouldI record in order to duplicate my current setup on a new bike in the future?Also, I currently wear Sidi cycling shoes. How difficult is it toduplicate my cleat placement on a different manufacturer's shoes if I chooseto switch brands in the future?RyanDear Ryan,This is a perfect question for

Curtiss Gunn (Successfulliving.com) and Sarah Uhl (Cheerwine) won the finale to the USA Crits Southeast Series on Sunday, the Decatur Daily Downtown Criterium in Decatur, Alabama. Gunn spent most of the men’s race off the front with Mike Olheiser (Memphis Motor Werks), soaking up all the primes, then took an easy sprint win over the Cat. I from Huntsville. The women’s race saw Uhl and five other riders escape the field, with Uhl proving strongest at the finish, as the contenders for the overall sat on behind. When the final points were tallied, the overall titles went to Mark Hekman

Giro d’Italia organizers on Monday released a preliminary start list for this year’s national tour of Italy, which is slated to begin on Saturday. In the absence of Ivan Basso, who on Monday confessed to his involvement in the Operación Puerto doping scandal, organizers have given the returning champion’s number plate – the No. 1 – to reigning world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step). There are four North Americans on the 188-rider list, including Americans George Hincapie (Discovery), David Zabriskie (CSC), Aaron Olson (T-Mobile) and Mexican Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (Ceramica Panaria –

Thousands of people beat the barriers lining downtown Anniston, Alabama, on Saturday as AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork's Frank Travieso roared across the line to win the Sunny King Criterium. With several teams having abdicated their top-10 positions (among them Kodak Gallery's Dominique Rollin and Josh Thornton, Health Net's Kyle Gritters, and Rock Racing's Rahssan Bahati), the large crowd witnessed a decidedly revitalized field battling for points in the 2007 USA Crits Southeast series. Breakaway action came in the form of a quartet that included Yosvany Falcon

Argentina’s Juan Jose Haedo (CSC) won a sprint finish in Denmark’s Colliers Classic on Sunday. The Argentinean sprinter outkicked Alex Rasmussen (Team Odense Energi) and Jens-Erik Madsen (Team Designa Køkken) to win the 199.5km race, run around Aarhus. Top five1. Juan Jose Haedo (Arg), CSC, 199.5km in 4:41:102. Alex Rasmussen (Den), Team Odense Energi, same time3. Jens-Erik Madsen (Den), Team Designa Køkken, s.t4. Staffan Loffler (G), Team Sparkasse, s.t.5. Kurt Asle Arvesen (Nor), CSC, s.t.Complete results Nibali wins Giro di ToscanaItalian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) won the 80th Giro di

The final stage of the 2007 Ben D. Altamirano Tour of the Gila ended with two pairs of winners — stage winners Scott Moninger (BMC) and Marisa Asplund (Tibco), and overall winners Nathan O'Neill (Health Net-Maxxis) and Mara Abbott (Webcor). The infamous Gila Monster stage began at Gough Park in Silver City and finished in Pinos Altos. The pro men’s field followed a 105.7-mile loop to its turnaround point at the Gila Cliff Dwellings Visitor Center, then went on to the finish in Pinos Altos, climbing 9131 feet. Pro women followed an abbreviated loop of 71.8 miles, bypassing the Gila Cliff

Thomas Dekker (Rabobank) won the final time trial and the overall on Sunday at the Tour of Romandie. The lanky Netherlander, who was Dutch time-trial champion in 2005, covered the 20.4km course around Lausanne in 26 minutes and 36 seconds to leap past overnight leader Chris Horner (Predictor-Lotto) in the overall standings. Horner’s 27:31 put him in seventh position on the day and dropped him to fifth overall. He could console himself with having correctly predicted the final outcome after taking the leader's jersey in Saturday's stage. "If I had to pick someone now, I would pick

Ukrainian Yaroslav Popovych will lead Discovery Channel during the Giro d’Italia following the departure of last year's champion, Ivan Basso. The 27-year-old heads up a team with great experience - 58 grand tours among them - with a view to winning at least one stage and wearing the overall leader's pink jersey at some point during the race, which runs from May 12 to June 3. Popovych, third in the 2003 Giro, replaces Basso after the Italian quit the team last Monday, saying that ongoing suspicions regarding his alleged connection to the Operación Puerto scandal were damaging the

Brice Jones (Jelly Belly) and Jill McLaughlin (Touchtone Climbing) took commanding wins at the Downtown Silver City Criterium, the fourth stage of the 2007 Ben D. Altamirano Tour of the Gila. The stage did little to shake up the general classification, with Nathan O’Neill (Health Net-Maxxis) and Mara Abbott (Webcor) retaining their pink leader’s jerseys. Wind and blowing dust assaulted both the professionals and amateurs who raced around the 1.1-mile downtown circuit, which included two short, punchy climbs. The small ascents created separations in both pro races — but the course’s long,

Alejandro Borrajo (Rite Aid) scored his second victory in the 2007 USA Crits Southeast series on Friday, crossing the line with relative ease on a cool, cloudy night in Spartanburg, South Carolina. With some of the more well-known squads exiting the series for other races and rest blocks (among them Health Net and BMC), the dynamic throughout the SmithBarney Classic was a mixture of agitation and fatigue as tired riders looked for fresh opportunities in a shrinking assembly.

Chris Horner (Predictor-Lotto) seized the overall lead of the Tour of Romandie on Saturday as Igor Anton Hernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) won the penultimate stage in Morgins. "The Tour of Romandie is a great race and this was a great mountain stage, so it's a great win for a climber like me," Anton told Reuters afterward. Anton Hernandez was off the front with a lead of some 10 seconds when Horner attacked with 3km remaining in stage 4, a rain-soaked, crash-marred 155.9km leg between Charmey and Morgins. Thomas Dekker (Rabobank) and John Gadret (Ag2r) quickly grabbed his wheel, and soon

While they may disagree about the structure of the ProTour, race organizers, team representatives and the UCI joined in what they called “a sacred union” to fight doping by excluding suspect riders and stepping up random drugs tests in the run-up to the grand tour season. Representing their respective constituencies, UCI president Pat McQuaid, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme, and Quick Step manager Patrick Lefevere said there is near universal agreement that teams will at least temporarily bar riders formally implicated in the Spanish 'Operación Puerto' doping

After several close calls, AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork finally cracked the code on day 5 of the 2007 USA Crits Southeast series. Taking a good 5-meter gap on Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefits), Keith Norris blasted through a serious headwind that swept through Greenwood, South Carolina, during the final moments of Thursday's Uptown Greenwood Pro Cycling Challenge. "With 15 laps to go the wind started kicking up really bad, and going through the turn you could actually feel it catching your wheels,” Norris said. “At turn number four I jumped and started sprinting. The cookie crumbled the right

Italian rider Matteo Bono (Lampre-Fondital) won the third stage of the Tour de Romandie on Friday, but his breakaway group narrowly failed to deprive Paolo Savoldelli (Astana) of the yellow jersey after they squandered a 19-minute lead. The experienced Savoldelli held on to his overall lead by just a handful of seconds over fellow Italian Marco Pinotti (T-Mobile) after his rivals tired and hesitated in the final kilometers. Pinotti had been more than four minutes behind Savoldelli in the overall standings, in 98th place, at the start of the day. Bono and third-placed Pinotti had led for

Michael Rasmussen’s road back from a career-threatening crash in last October’s Giro dell’Emilia continues in the Giro d’Italia. The Danish climbing specialist is hoping to be back in peak form in time for a run at a third consecutive King of the Mountains crown at the Tour de France, and the mountainous profile of the Giro provides the perfect training ground. “I am doing the Giro, only as preparation for the Tour, though,” Rasmussen told VeloNews in an e-mail. “If the legs are good, I might try something in a few stages. If not, I am prepared to take a beating. I guess the latter scenario

Tom Peterson (Slipstream-Chipotle) and Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Sutter Home) survived brutal winds — and in Peterson's case, a softening rear tire — to win the Fort Bayard Inner Loop road race, the third stage of the 2007 Ben D Altamirano Tour of the Gila. Peterson’s victory came after his Slipstream-Chipotle squad shattered the entire men’s field within the first 10 miles of the 80-mile race. With gusting winds bombarding the peloton from the race’s start in Fort Bayard, five miles east of Silver City, New Mexico, Slipstream-Chipotle flexed their muscles on the opening climb to nearby

Ramping up to speeds of nearly 37 mph, Dominique Rollin (Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada) roared out of the darkened streets of Walterboro, South Carolina, Wednesday night to take his second win on this year's USA Crits Southeast series. Rollin, who beat Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing) by just a half a wheel in the Walterboro Cycling Classic, said the layout of the fourth leg of the series prompted the fast pace. "Since it's a long drag on both sides, it just allows us to reach speeds of 30, 31 miles per hour. And I think the heat just helped us to keep that speed,” he said.

UCI president Pat McQuaid said he expects the Operación Puerto doping investigation to haunt this year’s Tour de France and other major races. With reports of a larger, 6000-page dossier poised to be released by Spanish authorities, The Associated Press reported that McQuaid said it might take the rest of the year to fully digest the mountain of new evidence and documents as part of the ongoing investigation. Until then, cycling’s governing body might not be able to do much to keep riders out of racing action because it needs more time to figure out which riders might be sanctioned and

Australian Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) won Thursday’s second stage of the Tour de Romandie in a sprint finish marred by a fall in the final yards. Italian Paolo Savoldelli (Astana) escaped unscathed to retain the leader's yellow jersey after Colombian Leonardo Duque took a tumble in the last 150 meters, bringing down several riders in the bunched pack, including Briton David Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir). Slovenian Borut Bozic (Team LPR) was second, followed by Italian Enrico Gasparotto (Liquigas). "In the sprint I got into a good position. And I'm really happy because it's

Mara Abbott (Webcor) rode into the lead of the Ben D. Altamirano Tour of the Gila on Thursday after winning the Silver City-Mogollon Road Race. Nathan O’Neill (Health Net-Maxxis), meanwhile, solidified his grip on the overall by finishing second on the stage, 10 seconds behind winner Colombian Hernan Munoz (P&S Halcones), putting more distance between himself and his primary rivals, defending Gila champ Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) and Scott Moninger (BMC). Women raced 73.1 miles, and men 94.1 miles. But both finished with the grinding, steep Mogollon climb — a switchback-laden stretch of

Markus Fothen (Gerolsteiner) won the first stage of the Tour de Romandie on Wednesday. The German outsprinted Spaniards Francisco Perez and Joaquin Rodriguez (Caisse d'Epargne) to win the 157.8km stage from Granges-Paccot to La Chaux-de-Fonds. Italian Paolo Savoldelli (Astana) retained the leader's yellow jersey. Fothen's win in the northern Swiss town took him to third place in the general standings behind the 32-year-old Savoldelli and Czech Roman Kreuziger. Five riders broke away just 18km into the stage and their valiant effort only came to an end 125km later. Veteran

Last year, SRAM’s RockShox brand debuted a line of new long-travel single-crown suspension forks capable of competing with the market’s best. But at the same time SRAM admitted that it did not have the industry’s best-in-class rear-suspension components, especially after Fox Racing Shox introduced its RP23 air shock in 2006. This is what you call motivation. SRAM got busy, digging down deep into its BlackBox program. And at Sea Otter, program manager Jeremiah Boobar showed what had been unearthed: a 1998 BlackBox four-way coil-over rear shock that was ridden to two World Cup overall titles.