Road

The U.S Open Cycling Championship got under way on Saturday after snow and cold forced a 90-minute delay to the start in Williamsburg, Virginia. Wet snow and steady winds kept the television helicopter grounded, prompting the delay. Same-day television coverage is to be broadcast from 2:30 to 5 p.m. on NBC. More pictures “I agreed with the rider boycotts at Sea Otter [in 2003] and San Dimas [in 2004],” said Health Net-Maxxis team director Jeff Corbett. “But no one wants to look like a wimp on national television.” Happily, the race got rolling, albeit a bit late, and the race caravan

The calendar says it's spring — but you wouldn't have known it by the conditions at the start of the inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championship on Saturday in Williamsburg, Virginia. Senior writer Neal Rogers snapped a few pics of the peloton preparing for heavy weather; they're arrayed below.

Heading into the inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championships in Richmond, Virginia, a few names of race favorites were on everyone’s lips: Toyota-United strongmen Henk Vogels and Ivan Dominguez topped the list. Other riders, such as Health Net-Maxxis riders Karl Menzies and Kirk O’Bee and current NRC leader Ben Jacques-Maynes of Priority Health-Bissell were also tossed around. But in the end, two riders not considered favorites — Svein Tuft of Symmetrics and Patrick McCarty of Slipstream-Chipotle — turned the race upside down after forming a winning two-man breakaway more than 15 miles from

Tom Boonen dares to dream of making it three in a row as he lines up as a five-star favorite for Sunday’s Ronde van Vlaanderen. The Quick Step-Innergetic captain talked to the Belgian media Thursday about his chances. “Over these last few days I’ve realized that I really could do something unique – winning the Flanders for the third time in a row, but I’ll also need a bit of luck on my side to do this. It won’t be an easy feat,” Boonen said. “I’m approaching the Ronde in good condition. I’ve done everything possible to be at the Ronde in excellent form.” Boonen has snagged his fair share

In what is being billed as the “true North American Championship,” the inauguralU.S. Open CyclingChampionships are set for Saturday, April 7, in Richmond, Virginia.The 112-mile men’s race, a stop on the international UCI Americas Tourand the national USA Cycling Pro Tour, will begin in colonial Williamsburg,Virginia and follow the route along the historic Jamestown Plantationsand Civil War battlefields, ending with eight 5.5-mile circuits in downtownRichmond including a brutal cobblestone climb up Libby Hill. The men’s race begins at 8:10 a.m., and the men are expected to enterthe Richmond

Mikhail Ignatiev is barely old enough to buy a drink (at least in the U.S.), but his palmares are already overflowing with impressive results. The 21-year-old delivered Russia’s only medal at the recent world track cycling championships with a bronze medal in the men’s points race. Although he’s the defending Olympic gold medalist in the points race, Ignatiev says his future remains firmly planted on the road. In the meantime, the lure of another Olympic gold medal is too great to ignore. “I want to defend my title in Beijing, so I will race more track events early next year to qualify and

Michaelsen’s last ride loomingLars Michaelsen – the 38-year-old Team CSC rider – will retire after competing in Paris-Roubaix later this month. A winner of the 1995 Ghent-Wevelgem and a two-time top-five finisher at Roubaix, Michaelsen said he couldn’t think of a better scenario to end his career. “The spring classics have always been where my heart beats, so it’s a good way to say goodbye to this fantastic sport,” he said. “Paris-Roubaix will be my last race. I’m hoping to have the legs and be up there in the Arenberg forest and to be in the selection, then we’ll take it from there. The

After a seven-year partnership, Nike and Trek will part ways at the end of 2007. The decision, a result of the $15 billion sports giant’s new exclusive focus on high-end cycling shoes and apparel, sparked rumors that Nike is abandoning the sport altogether. Since 1999, Trek has been a Nike licensee and the primary distributor for Nike Cycling, the marketing of which had centered on seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong. Nike recently downsized its in-house cycling division. However, the Nike-Trek split doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the Nike’s cycling division, said Maggie

The first big mountain-bike race of the season isn't just a chance to see which racers have been following their off-season training programs — it's an opportunity for gearheads to gauge which manufacturers have been doing their homework. For most companies, design, prototyping and testing generally take place one, two, even three years ahead of production. So the racecourse is one of the best places to get a look at what may be coming down the production pike. At this week’s NOVA National at McDowell Mountain Regional Park in Fountain Hills, Arizona, there were plenty of

The sourceDear readers,I received a boatload of great responses on creaking noises from the March7 column, and it is something so commonly plaguing all of us as cyclists that I’m running a whole list of the fixes for them that I did not mention.LennardIt's the headsetI also have a Basso Diamante that I occasionally have creaking issueswith. Like many creaking issues, it's hard to track down where the noiseis coming from. I suggest it isn't coming from the seat area with the riderwho sent you the question. I would check the front of the bike. First,make sure the quick release

Belgian racing is unique in such a way that I often forget just how unique it is until I am standing on the start line: The crowds are fervent and passionate, huge, the racing intense and dangerous, the wind constantly blowing, and the roads rarely straight for more than 10km. It had been a year since I last raced in Belgium when I crashed and ended up in hospital with a broken back at the Tour of Flanders. Oddly, it somehow, felt good to be back racing in Belgium, and despite images of last year’s accident, I was motivated to race; perhaps, because the Belgian racing feels like — and is,

Pat McDonough will be a very busy man in the coming months. With the Beijing Summer Olympic Games on tap for the summer of 2008, the director of athletics for USA Cycling will have his hands full as he prepares teams to compete in track, road, mountain bike and the inaugural BMX medal events. A former director at the Lehigh Valley velodrome, USA Cycling tapped McDonough to take over the moribund U.S. track program in 2004. Then last summer, he was promoted as director of athletics for USA Cycling to oversee all disciplines. McDonough, a silver medalist in the team pursuit at the 1984

Jens Voigt (CSC) won the Critérium International on Sunday after soloing to victory in stage 2 and taking seventh in the final time trial. With his victory, the German became the first man to win the race three times since Sean Kelly in 1987. "Ever since I was a little kid Sean Kelly was my hero," Voigt said afterward. "Because he was a rider who was successful from the start to the end of the year, ready to compete for the win at each race, like Jaja [Laurent Jalabert] later on, or Erik Zabel.

Chris Hoy continued Great Britain’s gold medal rush at the Palma de Mallorca world track cycling championships after laying claim to his fourth career world title in the men’s kilo. Already a surprise winner this week in the men’s keirin, Hoy dominated his favorite event with the winning time of 1:00.999 in what was his final competitive kilo. “This is the last time I will race kilo, so it was really important that I won,” Hoy said. “I felt really good all day and I just tried to relax before the race. I felt strong right to the end and I’m relieved and happy to win.” Jamie Staff (Great

Defending Olympic champion Anna Meares beat her own world record with a new time of 33.588 to win Australia’s first gold medal at the Palma de Mallorca world championship. Meares set the previous record in November with 33.944, but shaved nearly a half-second off on the new boards at the Palma velodrome. “I felt really good right from the gun,” said the tearful Meares. “Just as this season has progressed, I’ve gotten better and better. "I wasn’t sure if a world record would be possible because I didn’t know the condition of this track. I didn’t think about it. I just went through the

German Olaf Pollack (Wiesenhof) won the first stage of the Critérium International on Saturday. Pollack took the 179km leg from Asfeld to Charleville after a violent storm pounded the racers in the final 15km, disrupting what proved to be a bunch sprint. The German easily outpaced Italian Angelo Furlan (Crédit Agricole) and Spaniard Mikel Gaztanaga (Agritubel), all of whom were given the same time as the winner.

"The Apartment" Sound like a reality-TV show? Fortunately it’s not, at least not this one … yet. Instead, it’s about our main team apartment in Girona, Spain. While a few riders have places of their own, Slipstream has a couple of apartments scattered around town for our use. I’m on the long program this spring, roughly three months, and pulled a bit of seniority to grab one of the choice rooms (read: big-ish with some sunlight). With seven – that’s SEVEN! - riders in the joint right now, having a little spot that is all your own becomes increasingly more valuable. First, a bit of history:

What should have been the third consecutive day of medal celebration for the resurgent U.S. track team turned into bitter disappointment Saturday when Rebecca Quinn was relegated in the women’s 10km scratch race after sprinting to third. Quinn made a spectacular finishing surge to squeeze between two riders coming out of turn four to earn what most observers thought was a well-deserved bronze medal. Moments after celebrating with her coaches, however, a UCI official whispered to USA Cycling’s athletic director Pat McDonough the bad news. By the time McDonough had a chance to review the

It was another full day at track world's in Spain — the Aussies finally got themselves a medal, as did the host nation, and the Brits continued their winning ways. Casey Gibson was on the job once again and sent us the following photos.

Sarah Hammer put down a dominating performance Friday in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, defending her world title in the women’s individual pursuit Friday and putting the world on notice that she’s the rider to beat going into next year’s Olympic Summer Games. Hammer becomes the first American to defend a world track title since Rebecca Twigg in 1984-85. She also set a new U.S record and personal best with 3:30.213. “I wanted that so bad. To do it twice is amazing,” Hammer told VeloNews at the finish. “I thought going in I was going to win. I was confident in myself.” Hammer was fastest in

As it stands, China's hopes of an unprecedented Olympic gold medal in track cycling currently lie with women's sprint star Shuang Guo, women who turned in the fastest time in Friday’s sprint qualifying round. But in 17 months time, the medal odds could look decidedly better for the hosts of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and it could be thanks to one of the sport's biggest legends. China's first Olympic track medal came through Yong Hua who won silver in the women's 500 meter time trial at Athens in 2004. But former four-time Olympic champion Daniel Morelon, who also amassed

It was raining gold in Spain, and the U.S. and Britain had their buckets out. Casey Gibson was on hand with his array of cameras and lenses; here's what he sent home.

A golden homecoming for Bradley Wiggins; a podium appearance by an ailing Brad Huff; and a French team-sprint defense that barely registered on a chronometer. It was a busy day at the track world championships in Spain, and our man Casey Gibson was all over it like a sweaty skinsuit. Here's what he sent home.

David Millar says the only way to rid doping from cycling will be if the major teams and sponsors drive change from within the sport. “To me, the buck stops at team management. They can’t just go around and blame it on the riders,” Millar told VeloNews. “They should know what’s going on, they should sign the right kind of riders. [It won’t stop] until the teams and the sponsors take responsibility.” Millar, 30, returned to competition before last year’s Tour de France after serving a two-year ban for admitting to using the banned blood booster EPO. He’s since become an outspoken proponent

Charles Bradley Huff couldn’t quite believe it when he ended up with a bronze medal in the inaugural world track championship omnium. The Slipstream-Chipotle rider has been suffering through a chest cold, a two-day bout of diarrhea and self-described “bad legs,” but consistency and a third-place in the day’s fifth and final event in the kilometer time trial pushed him onto the medal’s podium. “To have such bad legs today yet it’s exciting that I was able to get third somehow,” said Huff. “It just shows in cycling as much as you suffer, you have good days and bad days, you gotta get on your

At least when it comes to business, Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James is something of a multi-sport athlete. The 22-year-old NBA star has purchased an undisclosed ownership stake in the bicycle manufacturer Cannondale, the company announced this week. The 6 foot 8 inch James is no stranger to the bike, according to a Cannondale spokesman. James, a number-one draft pick by the Cavaliers in 2003, spends a lot of time riding in the off-season and organizes the annual “King for Kids Bike-a-thon” in Akron, Ohio, a fundraiser designed to generate funds for local single mothers and their

With the arrival of spring and warmer weather for many North American cyclists, longer weekend rides are an enhanced and improved part of the training plan. While you may be wisely planning on carrying plenty of sports drinks and gels for the ride itself, what you eat in the hours before and the day before the ride can also provide an important nutritional boost. Ideally, any long ride begins with adequate fuel stores, namely muscle glycogen, liver glycogen, and even adequate muscle fat or triglyceride levels. Chances are most all of us are beginning this phase of training with more than

The 2007 Tour of Germany will include new highs in its nine-day, 1315km route revealed Tuesday by race organizers. The race starts Aug. 10 in Saarbrücken and ends Aug. 18 in Hannover in a challenging, varied route sure to give the German tour even more prestige as the event continues to gain momentum among fans and racers. “The race will be extremely difficult,” said 2006 winner Jens Voigt (CSC). “To defend my title won’t be easy.” The route will feature a team time trial for the time (42.2km in the second stage) as well tackle the 15km, 2600m climb at Rettenbachferner in the fifth stage

Russian motor Vladimir Karpets was more than pleased with his first win since 2004 in Monday’s rainy 10km time trial opener at the Vuelta a Castilla y León in northern Spain. The Caisse d’Epargne rider faced slick roads as rain fell on the late starters in the five-day stage race that saw solid performances by Discovery Channel captains Ivan Basso (7th at 9sec) and Levi Leipheimer (8th at 10sec). “I’m very happy because last year I finished second and third a lot in time trials, but I could never win any of them,” Karpets said. “Despite the change in the weather, I was able to pull it off.

Flying Dutchman Theo Bos will be among the riders hoping to blaze a gold-medal trail on the freshly laid Siberian pine boards that will host the world track cycling championships this week in Palma de Majorca, Spain. The four-day competition begins on a note of novelty on Thursday when the inaugural, five-race omnium event, the team pursuit and men's individual pursuit are raced in a brand-new velodrome on which the paint is still drying. Bos, who will shoulder the Netherlands’ gold-medal hopes on his lithe frame at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will be hoping to leave a big

Help packingDear Lennard,I am preparing to take a trip to Puerto Rico with my family and, for the first time, my bike (a LeMond Zurich). I bought a Pro Bike Case to pack the bike in. I was wondering about my tires – do I have to deflate them in order to prevent blowouts in the plane? Also, are there any subtleties regarding things to bring (or not) that I haven’t thought of (eg. CO2 cartridges, pumps, etc)?Thanks,Tom Dear Tom,Even if you live at sea level, your atmospheric pressure is at most one bar, or about 14psi. That means, if you were to go all of the way out of the atmosphere to

The small town of Zamora in northwest Spain will play host to some of the biggest names in the peloton for Monday’s time trial start of the Vuelta a Castilla y León. Ivan Basso and Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel), Carlos Sastre (CSC), Denis Menchov and Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) and Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d’Epargne) are some of the bigger names taking part in the five-day race across Spain’s northern meseta and rugged mountains. Christian Vande Velde (CSC), Tom Danielson and Jason McCartney (Discovery Channel) are also penciled in for the start. Alberto Contador – fresh off winning

Amber Neben was simply too strong for the opposition at the Redlands Classic. Wearing the yellow jersey since the prologue on Thursday, she crowned her second overall win in two years by answering every attack from the powerful Webcor Builders team on Sunday’s final stage around nine laps of the grueling Sunset Loop. Runner-up Mara Abbott of Webcor eventually broke away with Neben, and after a long chase they were joined by T-Mobile’s Kim Anderson and Team Lipton’s Kori Seehafer. These four fought out the stage win in downtown Redlands, with Seehafer looking the likely winner until she

Stefan Schumacher is one of Germany’s brightest hopes for the future. The burly Gerolsteiner is an all-rounder who can sprint as well as climb, as he revealed in his grand tour debut in last year’s Giro d’Italia with two stage wins. “Schumi” returned to the elite ranks last year after racing in smaller German continental teams when his two-year run at Telekom (now T-Mobile) didn’t pan out as well as hoped in 2002-03. He made the most of his chance, taking the overall at the Circuit de la Sarthe, the Tour of Poland and his controversial victory at the Benelux Tour when he swiped out George

At 40 years of age and in his 19th season as a professional, Scott Moninger thought he had seen it all. He began his pro career at Team Crest with an overall victory at the Redlands Classic in 1989, and he has since done the rounds with American pro teams: four years with Coors Light, two with Chevrolet-L.A. Sheriff, four years with Mercury, three with HealthNet, and now his first season at Team BMC. Moninger has taken some 250 victories in his incomparable career, and it looked like he had his hands on one more trophy — it would have been his third overall win at Redlands — going into

This time there won’t be an asterisk next to his victory. Oscar Freire (Rabobank) unleashed a masterful sprint to win Saturday’s centenary celebration of Milan-San Remo ahead of Allan Davis to claim victory in emphatic style to erase the memories of 2004 when he won by a whisker ahead of the celebrating Erik Zabel.

The men’s and women’s criterium stages of the Redlands Classic on Saturday had almost identical results, with each dominated by a small breakaway group (five for the men, four for the women) that finished half-a-minute ahead of the pack.

David Millar – fresh off his victory in the prologue at Paris-Nice – says he’s taking aim at the overall title at next month’s Tour de Georgia. The Saunier Duval-Prodir rider – who vows he’s left behind his cheating ways after serving a two-year ban for admitting to French authorities he used EPO – says Georgia is an ideal race for his characteristics. “I’m going for the overall at Georgia,” said Millar, who ended up 12th overall at the Race to the Sun. “It’s a good race for me. I’m feeling good at Paris-Nice, things went better than expected there.” First, he’s going to take in a few

Some of cycling’s brightest stars will be absent or battling injury on Saturday as Milan-San Remo celebrates its centenary. While defending champion Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) will be on hand, absent from the 2007 edition of “La Primavera” will be last year's Giro d’Italia winner, Ivan Basso (Discovery Channel), and former ProTour series winner Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas). Basso, 29, has struggled to recover from spraining a wrist at Tirreno-Adriatico last Friday, while Di Luca is still experiencing the after-effects of flu. Meanwhile, world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic)

Two climbers from Boulder, Colorado, won the pro men’s and pro women’s Oak Glen stage of the Redlands Classic on Friday afternoon. But that’s where the similarity ends. Men’s winner (and new race leader) Scott Moninger is 40 years old and has won about 250 races in his 18 seasons as a professional. Mara Abbott is 21, still at college, and in only her second season as a road racer. Her victory over prologue winner (and still race leader) Amber Neben moved Abbott into second place overall. After he out-kicked Toyota-United’s Justin England for the stage win, the omnipotent Moninger (BMC)

I remember an old Bill Cosby routine where he was "just walkin' down the street and they yanked me into the room."A lot of my life has played out that way."How'd you get your job?" (I was ...) How'd you meet your wife?" (...just walkin'...)"How'd you sell your books?" (...down the street...)"How come you're doing live shots from a snowbank?" (...and they...)"How'd you wind up replacing Larry Green on Ride the Rockies?" (...yankedme into the room.")That last one is the one that surprises me most of all. I've been tryingto tie myself to Ridethe Rockies, the

Outside of the USA Cycling Pro Tour events, which include the Tours of California and Georgia, Southern California’s venerable Redlands Classic boasts one of the best fields and most challenging courses of the season. Particularly this week’s 23rd edition, when, following its absence in 2006, the climb to Oak Glen is back. It will host the mountaintop finish of the 156.6km stage 1 on Friday, following Thursday afternoon’s 5km prologue, while the familiar Redlands criterium and Sunset Road Race complete the four days of racing this weekend.

Australian Tour de France hope Cadel Evans isn’t going to become Mr. July. The ex-mountain biker – fresh off finishing a solid seventh at Paris-Nice - is eyeing two form peaks this season, with the first one coming just around the corner, in time for next month’s Ardennes classics. “I’ll race Pais Vasco to get ready for the Ardennes,” Evans told VeloNews. “I want to be good in April this year. Last year, I had some headaches in the races. I am hoping for some good results in the spring classics.” The bumpy Ardennes races obviously best suit Evans’ explosive climbing capabilities and he’s

On a new uphill 5km prologue course, which was made tougher by strong SantaAnna winds Thursday, defending Redlands Classic champion Amben Neben (Stahl-SCVelo) took out a strong option on a repeat victory with a resounding 33-secondwin over runner-up Christine Thorburn (Webcor Builders). Race favoriteOenone Wood (T-Mobile) placed only eighth, with a 1:07 deficit on Neben.

Things are coming together nicely for Tyler Farrar despite an early departure last week from Paris-Nice with a cold. The second-year pro is a key part of Cofidis’ 10-man classics unit and he’s looking forward to working for team captain Nick Nuyens. “It was nice when Nick (Nuyens) won the first race of the season [Etoille de Bessèges in France] – so that’s good for the motivation for everyone,” Farrar told VeloNews. “He’s a great captain and he’s real easy to work for.” So far in 2007, he’s been busy with nearly 20 days of racing in his legs with the meat of his spring classics program

Still suffering from the after effects of the flu, former ProTour champion Danilo Di Luca has been ruled out of Saturday's 100th anniversary edition of Milan-San Remo. The illness forced the 31-year-old Italian to miss Tirreno-Adriatico one-week stage race, which ended on Tuesday. Di Luca, who rides for the Liquigas team, won the Milano-Turin one-day semi-classic earlier this month. His best season was in 2005 when he was crowned ProTour champion. That year he won the Tour of the Basque country stage race and the Amstel Gold and Fleche Wallonne one-day classics, before finishing

Oakley has produced its incredibly popular M-Frame sunglasses for 17 years, and while the design has been tweaked over its long lifetime, the M-Frame has always held onto its distinct shape and reputation as one of the best functioning sport shields on the market. Now, the M-Frame has a little brother — Radar, which even in its infancy seems to be reaching for grandeur. Look for Oakley’s newest sports shield on riders from Team CSC, T-Mobile and Slipstream-Chipotle during 2007. “In the beginning we sponsored 7-Eleven, then Motorola, Saturn, Rabobank, ONCE and Phonak,” said Steve Blick,

Quick Step-Innergetic stars Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini promise to be in the mix at this weekend’s Milan-San Remo, but both men readily admit they won’t be 100 percent for the Italian classic. Boonen pulled out of Paris-Nice ahead of Sunday’s finale after not winning a stage for the first time in three years with nagging back pain. The Belgian sprinter underwent chiropractic back treatments Monday and Tuesday and plans a long six-hour training ride Wednesday to test his condition. “Tom has some nagging back pain and that’s never easy for the longest race of the season,” team spokesman

Australian Scott Sunderland brought his rich and at times dramatic cycling career to an end just over two years ago. But in a few days Sunderland, now in his second year working as a manager with CSC, will be hoping that 15 years of racing among Europe's elite proves decisive once more for his riders in the big spring classics. Milan-San Remo opens cycling's one-day race season with a bang this Sunday. At nearly 300km long, it is crucial for anyone hoping to contend throughout a tough month of April. Sunderland never won the race known as La Primavera (the Spring), but that

George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer and Tyler Hamilton will be among the headliners racing the 2007 Tour de Georgia April 16-22, Medalist Sports announced today. Fifteen teams have accepted invitations to race the seven-stage, 667-mile event, including ProTour teams CSC, Discovery Channel, Saunier Duval-Prodir, Quick Step-Innergetic and Predictor-Lotto, according to the sports management agency. “The stature of the Tour de Georgia field continues to grow year after year,” said Jim Birrell, race director and managing partner of Medalist Sports. “That says something as to the quality of the

Andreas Klöden (Astana) retained his overall lead after the seventh and final stage to win the 42nd Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race on Tuesday. Koldo Fernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) won the 177km stage between Civitella del Tronto and San Benedetto del Tronto in four hours, 38 minutes and 43 seconds after a bunch sprint. It was the Spaniard's first win since he turned professional in 2004. Australian Stuart O'Grady (CSC) came in second and Italian Gabriele Balducci (Acqua e Sapone) was third. Italian sprint king Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) was knocked out of contention for the stage

Pro Tour standings following the final day of Tirreno-Adriatico on Tuesday:1. Alberto Contador (Sp), Discovery 56 points2. Andreas Klöden (G), 533. Davide Rebellin (I), 424. Kim Kirchen (Lux), 415. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kz), 386. Luis Sanchez (Sp), 387. Stefan Schumacher (G), 358. Tadej Valjavec (Slo), 309. Franco Pellizotti (I), 2810. Janez Brajkovic (Slo), 2511. David Lopez (Sp), 2312. Jens Voigt (G), 2013. Cadel Evans (Aus), 1514. Frank Schleck (Lux), 1015. Riccardo Ricco (I), 6

After a long lasting back and forth argument, the UCI finally came to an agreement with the ASO, the organizers of Paris-Nice, and we got the call that we would be starting Paris-Nice. The politics are complicated and at the end of the day we are neither politicians nor businessmen and most cyclists don’t really understand the issues and just want to race their bikes—so, the team, and the peloton were excited to be warming up and then rolling down the starting ramp at the prologue of the first ProTour race on the season’s calendar. Prior to leaving for Paris-Nice I had been sick and, as a

Component manufacturer Full Speed Ahead has confirmed plans to join the drivetrain market with full road and mountain-bike groups. There were plenty of rumors as far back as last year’s Taipei Cycle Show. We even reported a few, but as the industry entered last year’s fall trade show season the buzz had quieted. “We just don’t want too much attention because the worst mistake we could make would be to come out too early,” said Ric Hjertberg, FSA’s new technology manager. Although the tricky parts of the drivetrain — the shifters and the derailleurs — have not surfaced, FSA will introduce

Lampre’s Matteo Bono won the 162km sixth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race between San Benedetto del Tronto and San Giacomo-Monti della Laga on Monday. German Andreas Klöden(Astana) grabbed the overall race lead after he finished the stage in ninth place. Bono, who has only two professional seasons under his belt and claimed the first win of his professional career, set the pace on the final 11km climb to San Giacomo-Monti della Laga. The 23-year-old Lampre rider kicked into action with four kilometers to the line and left the breakaway group, which had formed at 27km and included

[nid:37799]The future is now for Alberto Contador after the Spanish climber pulled the double at Paris-Nice on Sunday to win the final stage and claim the overall prize that positions him as Spain’s next great hope. The 24-year-old Discovery Channel rider uncorked a searing attack on the Cat. 1 Col d’Eze to gap overnight leader Davide Rebellin and drove home a stirring victory on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais to turn a six-second deficit into a 26-second winning margin.

German Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) won the fifth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico on Sunday to take a slender overall lead of the weeklong Italian stage race. Schumacher edged out compatriot Andreas Klöden (Astana) in an individual time trial over 20.5km from Civitanova to Civitanova Alta. Schumacher finished in 27 minutes and eight seconds, a second ahead of Kloden. He now leads the overall standings with Klöden in second place and Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov (Astana) third. Tirreno-AdriaticoStage 51. Stefan Schumacher (G) Gerolsteiner, 20.5km in 27:082. Andreas Klöden (G) Astana, at

Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) showed why he is rightly regarded as one of the most feared sprinters in the U.S. as he charged out of the field at the Visalia Criterium on Sunday, the last day of the Quad Knopf Sequoia Cycling Classic. Dominguez, who took an impressive win in the final stage of the Amgen Tour of California three weeks ago, topped an all-Toyota podium, along with teammates Ivan Stevic and Henk Vogels. In a women's race that ran full throttle for the first of 43 laps around the 0.7-mile, six-turn course in downtown Visalia, Suzanne de Goede (T-Mobile) took the win, and

[nid:37790]The Spanish armada threw down an attack in Saturday’s brutal 200km sixth stage at Paris-Nice, but Davide Rebellin stood firm to retain the overall lead with one stage to go. Climbing sensation Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) unleashed a brutal acceleration on the last of nine rated climbs, the Col du Tanneron with 20km to go, to gap the Gerolsteiner leader by 25 seconds. Rebellin never panicked and found some friends in the lead pack to check the aggression with less than 2km to go to retain his six-second grip on the maillot jaune.

Italian Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval) claimed his second consecutive victory in Tirreno-Adriatico by winning the fourth stage of the race, held over 158.3 km between Pievobigliana and here Saturday. Ricco also took over the race lead from Russian Alexander Areekev (Acqua e Sapone), who had claimed his own double on Thursday by winning the stage and claiming the lead. Italian star Ivan Basso, meanwhile, was forced to pull out of the event, known as the "Race of the two seas", during Saturday's stage. The Discovery Channel team leader had started despite injuring his left wrist in a

Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health-Bissell) chalked up yet another win Saturday in the 30km Exeter Time Trial that opened this weekend's Quad Knopf Sequoia Cycling Classic in Central California, while Alison Powers (Colavita/Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) took her first win of the season. Two-time national time trial champion Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) trailed Jacques-Maynes by 34 seconds, while Anthony Colby (Colavita/Sutter Home), Chris Wherry (Toyota-United), and Canadian Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics), rounded out the top five. Having just returned Tuesday from racing in

It’s obvious Yaroslav Popovych enjoys life. The Ukraine attacker usually has a smile on his face and is quick with a joke, except when he’s on his bike. Then he’s everyone else’s worst nightmare. Popovych dropped the ax with 30km to go on the last of four rated climbs in Friday’s intense 178km fifth stage from Sorgues to Manosque to motor away from a breakaway that included Dave Zabriskie (CSC) and sent a panic jolt through the peloton.

Italian Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval) won Friday’s third stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, a 213km leg between Marsciano and Macerata. Russian Alexander Areekev (Acqua e Sapone), winner of stage 2, retains the overall lead. Meanwhile, Italian Ivan Basso (Discovery Channel) crashed and injured his left wrist, according to Gazzetta dello Sport. He finished the stage, but subsequently was taken to hospital for X-rays. No fracture was found, according to press reports, but there was some question as to whether Basso would start Saturday's fourth stage. World and Olympic champion Paolo Bettini

For the second time in two weeks, Alberto Contador delivered a big win in the 2007 season ahead of some pretty heady company. Last month at the Tour of Valencia, he beat Spanish sensation Alejandro Valverde at the key climbing stage up Alto de Campello. Contador hit the repeat button Thursday in the explosive 169.5km fourth stage at Paris-Nice. The new Discovery Channel recruit dropped the likes of L’Alpe d’Huez winner Frank Schleck and Tour de France candidate Cadel Evans on the short but steep summit finish to La Croix-Neuve to take an impressive win.

Alexander Areekev (Acqua e Sapone) won the second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico on Thursday to take the overall lead of the weeklong stage race. The 24-year-old Russian took the 202km leg from Civitavecchia to Marciano ahead of Italy's Daniele Contrini (Tinkoff Credit Systems). German Sven Krauss (Gerolsteiner) was third. Areekev now leads Contrini by 32 seconds with Krauss third, a further three seconds back. Spanish rider Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne), who crashed during the bunch sprint, was taken to hospital with chest injuries. Gutierrez will be under observation for 48 hours;

Many pros traveled to warmer environs early this in 2007 for early seasonteam training camps and plenty of quality miles on the open road. You mayalso have your own travel plans sometime over the next few weeks, in orderto train and get a jumpstart on your own race preparation. Chances arethat this cycling vacation includes plenty of restaurant eating, includingthe fast food, diners, and a variety of ethnic cuisines. Like the proswho have plenty of roadside eating experience, you too can make good foodchoices and prevent greasy platter predicaments that would normally thwartyour body

You can’t blame Tom Boonen if he shot his arms up in triumph thinking that he had won a hard-fought, rising sprint into Maurs at the end of the lumpy 215.5km third stage at Paris-Nice. When he heard over his course radio that Russian rouleur Alexandr Kolobnev -- the lone holdout from the day’s four-man breakaway -- was dangling 20 seconds off the front with 7km to go, he assumed like everyone else his Quick Step henchmen would finish off the job to set up the mass gallop.

Australian Robbie McEwen held off two of his biggest rivals to win the first stage of Tirreno-Adriatico Wednesday in Civitavecchia, Italy. Predictor-Lotto’s 34-year-old sprint specialist, winner of 11 stages in the Tour de France, pulled clear of Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) on the last curve with one of his trademark bursts of speed to win the 160km race in 4 hours, 38 minutes and 24 seconds. Freire, a former three-time world champion, crossed second with the Norwegian Hushovd third. McEwen said he called on his experience of two years ago to help him win the

I spent a couple of days last week in Las Vegas, with Paul Lew, ridingand inspecting his new superlight Pro VT-1 wheels. The pair I rode weighedless than – get this - 850 grams for the set. That’s not a claimed weight, either. I pulled the tires off after theride, checked the scale by using my standard calibration unit (otherwiseknown as a good old American quarter) and then measured the front at 350.5grams and the rear at 501.1. Keep in mind that includes what I’d guessto be about 10-15 grams of rim cement on the wheels. Now here comes the hard part. The wheels cost $5000 a pair with

[nid:37751]The 177km second stage of the eight-day Paris-Nice started with a lot of high hopes. David Millar was talking a wire-to-wire yellow jersey run. Thomas Voekler almost held off the peloton to steal a dramatic breakaway win. Everyone else was looking at Daniele Bennati and Tom Boonen. No one was looking at Franco Pellizotti.

Italian cyclist Danilo Di Luca has been ruled out of the Tirreno-Adriatico one-week stage race, his Liquigas team announced Tuesday. The 31-year-old rider, a former winner of the ProTour series, has been ruled out after he and teammate Leonardo Bertagnolli came down with flu. Their places will go to Francesco Failli and Finn Kjell Carlstrom. The team will be captained by Filippo Pozzato, the recent winner of the Het Volk semi-classic last week. Di Luca signaled his early season form by winning the Milan-Turin one-day semi-classic earlier this month. His best season was in 2005 when he won

[nid:37738]It was expected to be a showdown between Daniele Bennati and Tom Boonen in the first stage of Paris-Nice, but it was French sprinter Jean-Patrick Nazon who surprised everyone with a long charge to the line in Buzançais on Monday. Nazon, who’s been all but invisible since winning a pair of Tour de France stages in 2003-04, burst down the left side of the peloton after sniffing out a hole with 200 meters to go.

So here I am in Dalton, Georgia, the town where I was born and raised. Asyou probably know by now, my life was thrown into turmoil last April whenIcrashed in the opening stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe. It’s been a tough, tough year, but I count my blessings every singleday. After I began to emerge from the coma, I eventually learned that Ihad been within minutes of dying last year. I was lucky to be in one ofthe world’s greatest hospitals, with one of the world’s best neurosurgeons,who was not only on staff, but in the building when it counted. You can’tget much luckier than that.As I

At a very unexpected moment at mid-stage today in West Flanders I realized that bicycle racers can occasionally resemble ancient gladiators. When and why did this pop into my head? When: 130km into a windy, crazy-dangerous race at 500 watts bouncing over Belgian pavé. Why: I looked down at an unidentifiable rider, unconscious, his face awash in a mix of mud and blood, yet all I cared about was shoving people out of my way and getting back on my chariot and around this “obstacle.” A minute later I was at absolute maximum sustained effort and would stay that way for a few more moments,

Puerto inquiry tossed outA Spanish doping investigation that implicated 58 top cyclists two days prior to the Tour de France last year has been dismissed from court, Spanish judicial sources said Monday. The case, which came to light in May 2006 when police raids discovered an alleged blood-doping network run by a Madrid-based doctor, Eufemiano Fuentes, was thrown out due to a lack of evidence and the fact that there was no Spanish anti-doping law when the inquiry came to light. Residing magistrate Antonio Serrano ruled that five people at the center of the affair, including Fuentes, were

[nid:37731]Last year, David Millar underwent wind-tunnel testing for the first time and settled into a new, sleeker aerodynamic position that on paper should have made him faster. Instead, the Scot found he actually lost power — so this season he chucked the scientific posture and replaced it with his tried-and-true position, honed over years of trial and error.

Tom Boonen starts Sunday’s Paris-Nice as a man on a mission. The Belgian sprinter is building his form for his annual assault on the spring classics, where he has ruled with an iron fist the past two seasons. A back-to-back winner of the Tour of Flanders and the rare Flanders-Roubaix double in 2005, Boonen entered the 2007 season with new motivation and maturity. After an emotional and demanding 2006 season that saw him shine as the world champion, Boonen said he’s more than happy not to have to carry the burden of the rainbow jersey. That’s not to say Boonen is any less ambitious this

Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) won the Tour of Murcia on Sunday after finishing safely in the bunch during the final stage, a 151km leg from Ceuti to Murcia. Danilo Napolitano (Lampre-Fondital) won the finale, outsprinting Graeme Brown (Rabobank) and José Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d’Epargne). Valverde crossed 52nd to take the overall, 35 seconds ahead of runner-up Angel Vicioso (Relax-Gam). Manuel Lloret (Fuerteventura-Canari) was third at 52 seconds. Valverde, who also won Murcia in 2004, had practically secured overall victory with a triumphant show of force in Saturday's

Henk Vogels (Toyota-United) took his first win in three years on Sunday at the Tower District Criterium, the final stage of Bentley's Central Valley Classic. Multi-time national criterium champion Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) celebrated her second win in three days when she flew across the line to take the women's crit. Alejandro Acton (Colavita-Sutter Home) and Ricardo Escuela (SuccessfulLiving.com) powered to the second and third spots behind an ebullient Vogels, while Suzanne de Goede (T-Mobile) and Kori Seehafer (Team Lipton) secured the second and third spots behind Pic. Ben

Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) won the fourth stage of Spain’s Tour of Murcia and seized the overall lead on Saturday. Valverde covered the 23.3km individual time trial between Alhama de Murcie and Aledo in 32 minutes, 57 seconds, beating José Angel Gomez (Saunier Duval-Prodir) by 31 seconds and Angel Vicioso (Relax-Gam) by a further four seconds. He now has 35 seconds on Vicioso and 52 on Manuel Lloret (Fuerteventura-Canari) going into Sunday’s final stage, a comparatively flat 151km leg from Ceuti to Murcie. Di Luca wins Milan-TurinDanilo Di Luca (Liquigas) outsprinted