Road

Organizers of the 2007 Amgen Tour of California on Wednesday released a list of riders* slated to compete in this year’s event, slated to begin in San Francisco.  North American riders in bold*Team rosters are subject to changeProTour TeamsDiscovery Channel Pro Cycling Team [USA]The Discovery Channel’s big off-season news was the controversial signing of Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso from CSC — controversial because, despite his being cleared to race by the Italian authorities, his status regarding the Spanish blood-doping scandal Operación Puerto could change through 2007. Basso won’t be

The ongoing feud between the grand tours and the UCI turned nastier this week when Giro d’Italia organizers said they will guarantee invitations to only 18 of the 20 teams in the ProTour league for the upcoming edition of the corsa rosa. The decision shows just how deep the divisions are between cycling’s most important race organizers and the sport’s governing body. While there’s been no official word from the UCI, a strong reaction is expected. Giro organizer RCS Sport said new ProTour team Unibet.com won’t be allowed to race the season’s first grand tour (May 12-June 3) and said the

When half a dozen of the world’s top professional cycling teams showedup for the start of the inaugural Amgen Tour of California in February2006, they didn’t quite know what to expect. Was this going to be an early-seasonevent only half-heartedly contested by Tour de France riders nervous aboutpeaking too soon? Or would the stars allow their lieutenants to race forthe win while using the race as training for themselves?In the end, the efforts made by overall winner Floyd Landis and hismain challengers DaveZabriskie, BobbyJulich, GeorgeHincapie, LeviLeipheimer and Cadel Evans proved they could

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18: PROLOGUEINDIVIDUAL TIME TRIALPresented by Union BankSTART: Justin Herman Plaza,San Francisco, 1 p.m. to 3:23 p.m.DISTANCE: 1.9 milesLifestyle Festival Presented by Health NetHOURS: 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19: STAGE1Presented by HerbalifeSTART: Sausalito, 11 a.m.DISTANCE: 96.7 milesSPRINTS: Point Reyes, Tomales, Bodega BayFINISH: Santa RosaETA: 3:13 p.m. to 3:50 p.m.Lifestyle Festival Presented by Health NetHOURS: 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20: STAGE2START: Santa Rosa, 10 a.m.DISTANCE: 116.3 milesSPRINTS: Winters, DavisFINISH:

You can’t rest on your laurels in the world of cycling. The old adage that you’re only as good as your last race appears to apply doubly in the product world these days. Barely have consumers had time to get their hands on the stuff introduced at Interbike, when new, lighter, faster (and probably pricier) product is making early appearances in the peloton. This year’s Mallorca Challenge turned into a prime opportunity for manufacturers to try out new gear on teams and to offer reasonably orchestrated “sneak peeks” at the some beautiful product that will likely appear in shops by year’s

Not much has been revealed about the new stage race due to take place on the East Coast this August, but the Montréal-Boston Tour is likely to be the biggest cycling event New England has seen since the second Tour de Trump finished in Boston in May of 1990. The eight-day, 1200km race will feature four days in Canada’s Québec province, followed by one day in Vermont, two days in New Hampshire, with the finale in Massachusetts. Race organizer Daniel Manibal, who also runs the women’s Montréal World Cup race and Tour du Grand Montréal stage race in June, has indicated that there will be a

For the past few days, VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood has been chasing feature stories on the Balearic Island of Mallorca, a big draw for professional cycling teams hoping to shake out their winter kinks under sunny skies. The Mallorca Challenge serves as an early season warm-up that boasts an unusual format, allowing riders to compete in individual races or to vie for an overall title. This weekend saw a victory by ace sprinter Oscar Freire, who hasn’t raced since August. The three-time world champion hopes for a big year after injuries have forced him to miss the 2005 and 2006

David de la Fuente only found he was going to the 2006 Tour de France a week before the start, but the plucky 25-year-old Spaniard made the most of the opportunity. The Saunier Duval-Prodir rider snagged the best climber’s jersey in the third stage only to recapture it in the Pyrenees and nearly ride it all the way to Paris before Michael Rasmussen surged late to take it away for good. His panache earned him the most combative rider’s prize and lots of attention from the Spanish press. “It was an amazing experience and once that I took advantage of from the start,” De la Fuente told VeloNews.

Less than a week after SRAM announced a voluntary recall of a limited numberof Force frontbrake calipers, the company has expanded the recall to include rearcalipers. The expansion is due to incorrect grain structure in the titaniumused to manufacturer the caliper mounting bolts of both front and rearbrakes.SRAM urges consumers not to ride a bicycle equipped with the affectedbrakes. The mounting bolt can fail causing the brake caliper to detachfrom the frame of fork.SRAM assures its partners that the issue has been corrected and thatit has ended its relationship with the suspect supplier. The

German attacker Stefan Schumacher says his planned Tour de France debut later this season will help him decide where his future lies. If he can get through the Tour in good shape, he might try to focus on improving his skills to perhaps battle for the overall prize in the future. If not, he’ll instead focus his energy into winning stages and shining in the classics. It all depends on how things go in July. “I don’t know if I can ever challenge for the Tour, but what happens this year will tell me a lot,” Schumacher told VeloNews before the start of Monday’s stage at the Mallorca Challenge.

February is the perfect time to come out to Arizona and test the early-season fitness. The temperature is ideal, the variety of terrain staggering, and the level of competition at the early races is typically top-notch. Pros, too, flock to Tucson for their warm weather training tune-up, and will often race a few local events before joining their teams for the full-on race calendar. Although the caliber of racing is typically high, participants were caught a bit off guard when Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel) and his wife Kristin (Velo Bella) showed up for the Bartlett Lake Time Trial on

With the 2007 Tour de Langkawi now a memory, it’s time to consider the event’s future. Now 12 and counting, Malaysia’s national tour almost didn’t happen this year. Bad debt and the inevitable bad blood that follows had the race on life support for most of 2006. Only an 11th-hour bailout from the government — and some hard work by the Malaysian National Cycling Federation — saved the race from a fate that’s claimed plenty of its brethren over the years. These are expensive propositions that don’t yield the more quantifiable revenue streams of stadium sports. Ask a dozen people whether the

Basque climbing sensation Iban Mayo once had the cycling world on edge. With his dramatic stage victory at Alpe d’Huez in the 2003 Tour de France and his impressive victory at Dauphiné Libéré in 2004, Mayo was hyped as potential candidate to dethrone Lance Armstrong at the Tour. But Mayo fell on hard times, abandoning the 2004 Tour in humiliation and struggling through health issues in 2005. He rebounded in 2006 with a stage victory at La Toussuire in the Dauphiné and overall victory at the Tour of Burgos to show glimpses of the former giant-killer This year, the Basque climber is hoping

Crédit Agricole’s Anthony Charteau wrapped up the overall victory at the Tour de Langkawi on Sunday as Alberto Loddo added yet another win to his tally, equaling the record of five stage wins in a single year.

While soon-to-be overall winner Anthony Charteau and four-time stage winner Alberto Loddo will be the names most remembered from the 2007 Tour de Langkawi, arguably the most newsworthy accomplishment belongs to the Giant Asia Racing Team. By placing three riders in the top 30 on Saturday, the Taiwan-based squad all but locked up the 10-day race’s team title. And we are not talking about the Asian team title. They are going to beat everyone. Giant Asia entered stage 9 one second back of Charteau’s Crédit Agricole team, but more than made up that deficit during Saturday’s 173km run from

Some of cycling’s biggest names are scheduled to line up Sunday for the opening stage of the five-day Mallorca Challenge, but a breakout of the flu is keeping some top stars away from the annual Spanish season opener. A nasty bout of flu is taking its toll on the European peloton, with such riders as Oscar Pereiro and two-time champ Alejandro Valverde (both Illes Balears) and Gilbert Simoni (Saunier Duval-Prodir) all doubtful for Sunday’s 100km opener along Palma de Mallorca´s historic bay. "Several of our riders have been very sick with the flu and they’ve been sent home," Illes Balears

Anthony Charteau is well on his way to winning the Le Tour de Langkawi overall title, following a largely tactical ride from Putrajaya to Seremban on Saturday. Although the ninth – and penultimate – stage of the Tour put the Crédit Agricole rider up against the winding roads of Kuala Klawang, he kept up with the leaders over the course of day’s many climbs to maintain his 1:02 over Jose Serpa (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovannio), who won Thursday’s decisive stage to the Genting Higlands.

For the second time in as many years Jose Serpa was first man across the line at the top of the hors categorie Genting Highlands stage, but the Colombian Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni rider couldn’t make up enough time to unseat the overall race leader Anthony Charteau.

Due to a quality issue with the titanium alloy used in the mountingbolt of a limited number of the new Force road group’s front brakes, SRAMhas issued a voluntary recall to consumers in possession of the brakes.Roughly 10 have failed. SRAM asks consumers discontinue riding until the front Force brake caliperhas been replaced.According to SRAM' media manager, Michael Zellmann, the problem was identifiedthrough SRAM’s internal quality process. A small number of the titaniummounting bolts failed during the installation process. There have beenno injuries associated with the defect. Affected

Japan’s Shinichi Fukusima proved that persistence and hard work are the key to success as he became the first Asian to win a stage in this year’s Tour de Langkawi following a strong 174km ride from Kuantan to Karak. The stage win for the rider from the Nippo-Meitan Hompo team was only the third stage victory for an Asian rider in the 12-year history of the tour, following wins by Wong Kam Po in 2000 and Koji – the younger brother of Shinichi – Fukushima in 2005.

Wearing thick gloves, long tights and hats beneath their helmets, New Mexican cyclists of all ages crowded the parking lot of the Anderson-Abruzzo Balloon Museum in Albuquerque on a brisk Saturday morning on February 3. They awaited the arrival of the Navigators Insurance and Lipton professional cycling teams, both of which had come to Albuquerque for a winter training camp. When both squads rolled up, accompanied by riders from the neo-pro Cycling Center team, the entire group of 200 hit the streets for a group ride. It isn’t often that professional cycling teams spin alongside locals

Damiano Cunego has marked two very clear goals for his 2007 racing. Cunego, who said he enjoyed “excellent” winter training, is motivated to have a strong run at the Giro d’Italia podium and shine in the spring classics. “Compared to 2006, it’s true there are less difficult stages but I don’t agree with those who said it’s less difficult,” Cunego told the Italian web page cicloweb.it. “It’s a balanced course with a few decisive days.” Cunego won the 2004 Giro in spectacular fashion, but suffered through media pressure and health issues in 2005 only to bounce back with a solid campaign last

Making the leap from top-flight amateur to ProTour neo pro is never easy. But throw in a continent’s worth of distance from cycling’s European epicenter and the task becomes exponentially harder. That’s the challenge that faces South African Daryl Impey, one of the top national team riders at this year’s Tour de Langkawi. Through seven stages, the 22-year-old from Johannesburg has scored three top 10 finishes in the five bunch sprint finishes, and he is one of only two riders to sprint ahead of the race’s dominant force, four-time stage winner Alberto Loddo (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni). On

After a spending a day in their normal team kits, riders from the Belgian-Swedish Unibet.com team were forced back into their distinctive question-marked jerseys Thursday at the Etoile de Bessèges. Oddly enough, the team resumed its winning ways with the switch, as Unibet’s Baden Cooke easily won the sprint at the end of the 155km second stage from Nîmes to Saint-Ambroix. The team was once again required to wear jerseys sans the name of its title sponsor because French authorities said the team – sponsored by an online betting site - was promoting gambling and “lotteries,” which are banned

The man is on a streak. Alberto Loddo scored his fourth win at the Tour de Langkawi Wednesday, again frustrating Ceramiche Panaria’s Maximiliano Richeze in a charge to the line at the end of a 137-kilometer ride from Kuala Terengganu to Cukai. Loddo (Selle Italia-Serramenti) charged across the line ahead of the main field, which included Crédit Agricole’s Anthony Charteau, the overall race leader who was more than content to finish in 59th place, secure in the knowledge that he holds a four-minute buffer with Friday’s short, but decisive, ride to the Genting Highlands ahead.

You could never tell by talking to him, but Julian Dean is a man under the gun. New Zealand’s reigning national road race champion is in the final year of his contract with Crédit Agricole and knows he needs to perform if he wants keep his place with the French ProTour team. But instead of worrying too much about the future, Dean remains the same laid-back rider that made him a fan favorite on the U.S. Pro circuit during his days with Mercury and U.S. Postal. “It’s the first race of the season so some guys have done a bit more prep than others,” said the soft-spoken Dean on the morning of

Tyler Hamilton is savoring his first days back in the peloton after more than two years in exile in what was one of the most controversial doping cases in cycling history. Riding in Tuesday’s GP Marseillaise and today’s opening stage of the five-day Etoile de Besseges in southern France, Hamilton told French journalists he wants to put his troubles behind him and focus on earning a slot in the Giro d’Italia (May 12-June 3). “I have to be realistic and it will take a little time. I especially hope to ride the Giro d’Italia, that will be a big challenge,” he told AFP. “I hope to be there, but

Riders endured all the elements in Wednesday’s opener at the l’Etoile de Bessèges with Italian Angelo Furlan delivering the victory through rain, sleet, wind and eventually sun. The Crédit Agricole sprinter out-kicked Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile) and compatriot Ruggero Marzoli (Tinkoff Credit Systems) to win the 148.2km stage from Pezenas to Palavas-les-Flots in a bunch sprint. Several riders tried in vain to escape the clutches of the peloton in France’s first stage-race of the season. The bunch rejoined for three finishing circuits with Unibet.com working hard to try to control any escapes

Dear Monique:I have read your column in VeloNews for a while and have bothenjoyed and appreciated the knowledge. I have a questions about weightloss and it’s effect on the immune system.For the past few years I have been competing in the sport of triathlon.This year I decided to race bikes for the first six months. I knew thatbecause of the importance of the power to weight ratio, I would need tolose both “after season” weight from last year and some additional bodyfat to be competitive in the climbs.I set out to lose most of the weight (was 180 lb.) during the first12 weeks. I wrote down

Italian Alberto Loddo pulled off a hattrick of stage victories at the Tour de Langkawi Tuesday, winning the Tour’s fifth stage in a field sprint at the end of a 167-kilometer race from Kota Bharu to Kuala Terengganu. With the most of the field finishing together, Crédit Agricole’s Anthony Charteau easily held on to the comfortable four-minute lead in the overall standings, a buffer he earned on Sunday in the stage to Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands.

The Cable GuyDear Lennard,To my untrained eye, Vision Tech brake cables look strikingly similarto Shimano STI derailleur cables. I notice that Team CSC uses Nokoncables with the Vision Aero Brake Levers. What are my options fordifferent brands of cables (and housings) to use with the Vision levers,other than the Vision cables. (I already have extra STI cables, soinstead of buying new Vision cables, if it is safe and compatible, I wouldthink I could use these.)ChrisDear Chris,The Vision DragOn Brake Cable is just a brake cable with a shift cableend to fit into one of those little tiny Vision

Peiper positive on Olson, BarryT-Mobile sport director Allan Peiper is raving about the possibilities for new team members Michael Barry and Aaron Olson. Both are part of the team’s new international profile that includes riders from a dozen nations. Speaking on the team’s web page, Peiper said both riders can expect plenty of room to stretch their wings in the refitted T-Mobile organization. Barry is hoping to earn his first berth for the Tour de France this July. “It is a new challenge from Michael. He is a seasoned pro, having raced for so many years at U.S. Postal/Discovery Channel,”

As directeur sportif for the top team in North America, JeffCorbett has carved out a nice position for himself at Health Net-Maxxis.A former pro racer, Corbett, 36, founded the 7Up team in 1998, managingand racing on its various incarnations, as the team became 7Up-ColoradoCyclist in 2000 and 7Up-Nutra Fig in 2001. Corbett’s last year as a rider-managerwas 2002, the year Canadian Charles Dionne put the 7Up-Nutra Fig team onthe map with a win at the San Francisco Grand Prix ahead of Henk Vogelsand Lance Armstrong. In 2003 Corbett focused solely on directing the 7Up-Maxxisteam, which merged

Cycling woke from its winter-long hibernation Tuesday with just enough drama on and off the bike to christen the 2007 season in appropriate fashion. A behind-the-scenes row involving Unibet.com’s jerseys at the GP d’Ouverture La Marseillaise couldn’t spoil an exciting victory by Jeremy Hunt and the return to racing by Tyler Hamilton. Hunt out-kicked Hamilton’s new Tinkoff Credit Systems teammate Mikhail Ignatiev to give Unibet.com the win on the 126km course from Gardanne to Luminy near Marseille to officially open the 2007 European racing season. The French calendar opened with

The directive for the day was simple. If a promising move peeled off the front of the peloton during the early portions of the Tour de Langkawi’s stage three run from Kuala Kangsar to Cameron Highlands, Slipstream team director Johnny Weltz’s wanted one of his six riders to be there. Beyond that he asked only that they make sure to “help each other out.” Weltz knew that the first climbing test of this 10-day event in Malaysia would challenge his young team in ways it hadn’t yet faced in 2007. He was cautiously optimistic that they would be up to the task. “I feel like we can be

Italian Alberto Loddo claimed his second stage victory at the Tour de Langkawi Monday in an intense bunch sprint that resulted in at least 10 riders crashing just 50-meters from the finish line.

The 2007 road racing season kicks off this week in Europe after a long winter full of doping innuendo and infighting between cycling’s major powers. First up is the French traditional opener Tuesday at the Grand Prix d’Ouverture La Marseillaise followed by the five-day Etoile de Bessège. Seven ProTour teams are among the 18-team field for the 140km La Marseillaise opener, including Ag2r, Bouygues Telecom, Crédit Agricole, Cofidis, FDJeux, T-Mobile and Unibet.com. Etoile start Wednesday in Pézenas and wraps up Sunday in Bessèges with a mix of stages across southern France. The expansive

Tyler Hamilton will likely race on European roads Tuesday for the first time since serving a two-year racing ban in what’s sure to be an emotional comeback after one of the most contentious doping cases in cycling history. Hamilton (Tinkoff Credit Systems) is expected to start Tuesday’s Grand Prix de La Marseillaise and then line up for his first European stage race since 2004 in the five-day Etoile de Bessèges on Wednesday. Hamilton, 35, is named on start lists for both French races that will mark his first European-level competition since the 2004 Vuelta a España when he pulled out after

Welcome to a new and regular feature on VeloNews.com. Each Sunday throughout the race season we expect to be interviewing major players within the cycling community, from racers to team directors to race organizers and retired stars. This first installation we catch up with Tyler Farrar, the up-and-coming sprinter/would-be classics specialist entering his second elite pro season with trademark enthusiasm and energy. Of the new generation of Americans breaking in the European scene, Farrar’s enjoyed the highest profile. Even when racing among the espoirs ranks, he already had a pro contract

Ask Pat McQuaid if he’s happy he took the job of UCI president and his first reaction is laughter. During a tenure that began in the fall of 2005, the Irishman has seen his sport saddled by doping controversies and internal squabbling. The latest row is the UCI’s ongoing battle with ASO, the organization that owns the Tour de France and several smaller races, including Paris-Nice. ASO recently balked at allotting a Paris-Nice start position to Unibet.com, the newest ProTour team. McQuaid has countered that ASO is being deceptive about their true intentions, and are intent on breaking the

Anthony Charteau Sunday became the first Frenchman to claim the yellow jersey after conquering stage three of the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia, which saw racers ride up the popular Cameron Highlands. It was an unexpected finish for Charteau, who is not considered to be among the more renowned climbers in the race and was to have set the pace for teammate and main rider, Francesco Bellotti.

Scroll through the list of winners from past 11 editions of the Tour de Langkawi, and there are only a few names that really jump off the page. There is the Discovery Channel’s Tom Danielson, who turned his 2003 win of the Malaysian national tour into a ProTour contract with Fassa Bortolo in ’04. Fellow American Chris Horner is also there, but he endured a sizable gap between his 2000 Langkawi victory and a return to the European peloton in 2005. Indeed, while the early-season stage race has always attracted major league talent — Tafi, Vinokourov, Bettini and Landis are names that have

Argentine Maximiliano Richeze earned an impressive win at the end of the second stage of the Tour de Langkawi on Saturday, edging out a hard-charging field at the end of a 166-kilometer stage between the Malaysian cities of Kangar and Kulim. Richeze, who along with his Ceramiche Panaria teammate, Ruben Bongiorno, were pipped at the end of Friday’s opening stage by Italian Alberto Loddo (Selle Italia), fought hard in the final 250 meters to fend off a big group of strong sprinters, earning both the checkered flag and the overall leader’s jersey.

To say it’s been a difficult past two years for Simon Donnellan would be an understatement. The Brit’ turned resident of Malaysia has been at the center of a Tour de Langkawi firestorm, which saw the race on the brink of cancellation before being rescued by the Malaysian government. Donnellan first became involved with the 10-day event while working as a radio engineer for The Events Group, a U.K.-based sports management company that helped run the race during its formative years. He then made a move he probably now regrets, agreeing to buy the event from its local organizers in late 2004.

Belgian Wilfried Cretskens (Quick Step) was crowned winner of the Tour of Qatar after the sixth and final stage on Friday. Tom Boonen, Cretskens's compatriot and teammate, won the 134km stage between Sealine Beach and Doha. Indeed, Boonen won four of the tour’s six stages. But the overall win went to 33-year-old Cretskens, the first tour success of his career. The one stage the former world champion failed to win, on Thursday, saw Cretskens leapfrog him into the leader's jersey and maintain a lead of more than two minutes. "Today was a very special day," said Cretskens. "The team

Ex-Phonak team manager John Lelangue blasted Floyd Landis in an interview with AFP and said he feels personally “betrayed” by the American Tour de France winner. In one of his first public interviews since the collapse of the Phonak team following the Landis doping case, a bitter Lelangue expressed his confidence in the anti-doping controls, adding that the American shouldn’t count on any support from him. “I suffered an enormous deception, a true human betrayal on the part of Landis,” Lelangue told AFP. “I told him at the time that I believed the tests and I believed the results and that

Italy’s Alberto Loddo (Selle Italia-Serramenti) provided a sizzling start to the 12th edition of the Le Tour de Langkawi when he charged to the line to claim the first stage on a day when Malaysia’s first continental team, LeTua Cycling, grabbed two top-10 slots in the overall classification Friday.

UCI chief Pat McQuaid says the organizers of Paris-Nice are violating international cycling rules by refusing to invite one of the 20 ProTour teams to its event, and charged that Amaury Sports Organization has hopes of "breaking" the UCI’s ProTour series. The UCI has threatened to bar ASO from running its race, which is sanctioned by the UCI and can be held only if the organizer respects all UCI rules and regulations. "The UCI will not budge on a matter of rules and the legitimate rights of teams and riders," said McQuaid from Malaysia in a telephone interview with AFP. "I hope the

After a neutral start with parade laps through Stockton’s revitalized downtown area, the peloton will head west through California’s farmlands. Riders will travel through Tracy and then encounter Patterson Pass, a new climb in this year’s race. Following Patterson Pass, they’ll pass through the city of Livermore before connecting to a climb up Calaveras Road. This long, constant grade, which was also used in the 2006 Amgen Tour of California, leads to the most difficult climb of the race, the Category 1 (most difficult) Sierra Road climb in San José. After completing this KOM (King of the

The remarkable views of Stage 4 will make it a favorite for riders and spectators alike. Beginning in Seaside with a short neutral lap and traveling along a similar route to last year’s Stage 4, the peloton will head south on scenic Highway 1 where the mountains and redwood forests flank the PacificOcean. At more than 130 miles long, and with three KOMs, this is the longest stage ofthe race and will test the riders on consistently hilly and technical terrain. The six-hour day will take the riders through Big Sur and past Hearst Castle before shifting inland toward the finish at the

The quaint Danish village of Solvang has become a cycling destination and serves as the host city of many ProTour team training camps each winter. At only 14.5-miles long, the Stage 5 time trial in Solvang is an ideal location for spectators to view the race. Conveniently, the start and finish are located just two blocks apart. The route will highlight some of the most beautiful areas and towns of Central California, winding through quaint towns, vineyards, farms and one short but steep climb. Shorter, flatterand faster than last year’s time trial, Stage 5will be a challenging test for the

This could be the pivotal stage of this year’s Amgen Tour of California. Stage 6 is not only long, at 105 miles, but it features four King of the Mountain climbs, two sprints and a demanding finishing circuit in Santa Clarita. With this year’s individual time trial being less selective than last year’s, there could be several contenders separated by just a few seconds at this point in the race. After a start in view of the Santa Barbara shoreline, Stage 6, which is sponsored by Health Net, will be the last chance for a solid favorite to emerge before the circuit race finale in Long Beach.

The Stage 7 circuit race is flat and fast, and sure to be a favorite with spectators. This is where the sprinters will come to the fore, as the pack races 10 laps around a circuit course in downtown Long Beach. Sponsored by Amgen, the stage includes part of the famous Long Beach Grand Prix course used for CART races. These roads are wide and fast. Views of San Pedro Bay and the Pacific Ocean will be visible for the entire course, with a backdrop of the famed Queen Mary in the bay. Course designers expect a hard sprint to the finish. Just like with the grand tours of Europe, a win on the

If the rest of the 2007 Tour de Langkawi comes off like Thursday’s team unveiling, it’s a safe bet that the scandal-scarred race has put its past troubles in the rearview mirror. Following a year in which financial uncertainty and in-fighting between controlling factions put the event’s future in doubt, the Malaysian national tour popped the cork on its 12th edition during a pomp-and-circumstance filled ceremony along the boardwalk of the posh seaside Awana Hotel on the island of Langkawi. “It will difficult to make people forget the issues of unpaid debts that the race faced in the past,”

American classics hope Tyler Farrar will be staying with Cofidis through the end of his contract this season and won’t be joining Discovery Channel - at least for now. Farrar’s name was linked to the American team last week when he appeared on a list of Discovery Channel riders for the 2007 season. The 22-year-old admitted he’s spoken with Discovery Channel representatives, but denied he was poised to leave the French team just as the 2007 season kicks into gear. “I was just as surprised as everyone else. I was at the Cofidis team presentation and someone pulled out a copy of Het Laatste

Belgium's Greg Van Avermaet (Predictor-Lotto) won the fifth and penultimate stage of the Tour of Qatar on Thursday. Van Avermaet beat home German Marcel Sieberg and Frenchman Stephane Poulhies in a sprint finish to the 156km stage between Al-Zubarah and Mesaieed. Fellow Belgian Wilfried Cretskens (Quick Step), who was part of the race-deciding 10-man breakaway, took the race leader's jersey from teammate and compatriot Tom Boonen, who finished 20th, more than two minutes down, along with the main chasing pack. Tour rookie Van Avermaet was overjoyed with his stage win. "It's my

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich, who has been linked to a damaging Spanish doping inquiry, has agreed to submit to a DNA test in an effort to clear his name. "I want this affair to be sorted out quickly so that I can get back on my bike," Ullrich was quoted as saying by his agent Wolfgang Strohband in an article published by Bild. On Tuesday, Bonn prosecutors said they wanted to compare samples in Switzerland with those from blood seized by Spanish authorities during Operacion Puerto from properties owned by the infamous Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. Ullrich has agreed to

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has threatened to stop Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) holding the upcoming Paris-Nice, unless it respects the rule that states all 20 ProTour teams start every race on the ProTour circuit. The race is sanctioned by the UCI and can be held only if the organizer respects all UCI rules and regulations. According to several team managers at Doha, where the Tour of Qatar is taking place, the UCI has sent a letter to all the ProTour teams telling them that ASO's decision not to invite Unibet.com to Paris-Nice could see the French organizer banned from

Large crowds will greet the competitors of the 2007 Amgen Tour of California when the race kicks off with a short, intense time trial through the streets of San Francisco. The first rider will leave the start ramp in front of the Ferry Building at Pier 1 at 1 p.m. for the 1.9-mile prologue stage sponsored by Union Bank of California. After a fast ride down the Embarcadero, riders will make a sharp left onto Bay Street for a steep climb up Telegraph Hill. It will take most riders somewhere between five and six minutes to complete the painful effort. Last year Gerolsteiner’s Levi Leipheimer

Starting on the northern side of the San Francisco Bay, Stage 1 will cover almost 100 miles from Sausalito to Santa Rosa. The stage, sponsored by Herbalife, begins with a climb from Mill Valley up to Mt. Tamalpais State Park before turning toward Muir Beach. The course mirrors Stage 1 of the 2006 race all the way to Valley Ford, but after that it follows a longer, more difficult route into the finishing town of Santa Rosa. This year’s route will head further north to Bodega Bay and then turn onto Coleman Valley Road, a landmark climb in Northern California. That climb will provide

The pleasant roadside views of Sonoma County wineries will mark the start of Stage 2, but the scenery will soon be forgotten when the peloton hits a major climb just 12 miles into the race. The ascent of the steep Trinity Road climb followed by a treacherous descent toward more wineries in Napa Valley will be sure to break up the field. After that, the peloton will continue east toward Sacramento. Riders will pass Lake Berryessa, then head through Davis, known as one of the best cycling towns in the U.S. With a quick turn to the north, the route will then follow the Sacramento River to the

At its customary pre-season training camp in Solvang, California, the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team opened the doors of the Royal Scandinavian Inn to the media on Monday and Tuesday for an opportunity to meet the team’s riders. In lieu of an official team presentation, which will be offered via video on the team’s Web site, thepaceline.com, team representatives arranged one-on-one interviews with print, Web and video journalists in Solvang, a small Danish settlement in central California. Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, a part owner of the team, was in attendance at

Led by 2006 Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso, the Discovery Channel CyclingTeam is heading into the 2007 season with high hopes. The team is now holdingits traditional pre-seasontraining camp in Solvang, California. Earlier this week, the team openedits doors to reporters and photographers. VeloNews photographerCasey Gibson was there to capture the scene.

Come the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the entire episode could make ideal fodder for one of NBC’s sappy vignettes about struggle and sacrifice. But right now Mike Friedman is ready to put his ordeal with dangerous blood clots, doping innuendo and an aborted spring racing campaign behind him. The 24-year-old just wants to race his bike and build on a promising debut season in 2006 where he finished top American at the International Championship in Philadelphia, and won a pair of U.S. national track titles. “People hear blood and they immediately think drugs,” lamented Friedman, who last

Belgian Tom Boonen dominated Australian Graeme Brown in a bunch sprint to win an explosive fourth stage of the Tour of Qatar on Wednedsday. Quick Step’s Boonen thus picked up his third individual stage win in as many days after a mainly flat 139km of racing between the Camelodrome and the Gulf of Doha. Brazilian Murilo Fischer (Liquigas) finished third behind Rabobank’s Brown, who on Monday was accused of causing mayhem in the bunch sprint during which Predictor-Lotto’s Tom Steels crashed and was left with a broken collarbone. Boonen will take a 27-second lead over teammate Steven De Jongh

Sastre focusing on Tour-Vuelta doubleTeam CSC’s Carlos Sastre believes he can aim even higher at the Tour de France and is taking aim at the final podium for the 2007 edition. Fourth overall in last year’s Tour as well as at the Vuelta a España, the Spanish climber said he’ll skip the Giro d’Italia to focus on preparing exclusively for the Tour before rebounding for a run at the Spanish tour. “I will work for victory in both the Tour and the Vuelta,” Sastre told Spanish journalists. “These are the most important races for me and I’d honestly like to shine.” The decision will end Sastre’s

Belgium's Tom Boonen (Quick Step) won the third stage of the Tour of Qatar around Doha on Tuesday, beating Italian sprint king Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) for the second consecutive day. Austria's Bernard Eisel (T-Mobile) took third spot behind Boonen who strengthened his grip on the leader's gold jersey. Boonen said afterwards: "I was in about 50th place with three kilometers to go, which was too far back, but Matteo Tosatto helped me get up to the front. I then let the Milram team do the work before waiting for the right moment to start my sprint." Boonen refused to go

Lastweek I reported on the first day of the CyclingScience Symposium and Expo at the Hotel Boulderado in Boulder, Colorado. The conference featured a second day of lectures, followed by a third expo day at which purveyors of equipment and services for improving cycling performance offered their products for public view. Tied up by other commitments, I was unable to attend the expo, but I did find the second lecture day to be fascinating. Computer-modeling your musclesDan Heil, Ph.D., FACSM, an associate professor of exercise physiology at Montana State University in Bozeman gave a very

Tour de France officials are frustrated over the slow progress of the Floyd Landis disciplinary case and are looking at the very likely prospect that the case won’t be resolved before the start of the 2007 Tour. Speaking to the Spanish daily AS during a break at the Tour of Qatar, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme deplored the slow pace of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Asked if he expects the case to be resolved before the July 7 start in London, Prudhomme replied, “Unfortunately, I am afraid not. " “It’s the same thing that happened to the Vuelta a España with Denis Menchov,” he

Christian Vande Velde rides into the 2007 season with renewed confidence he can pick up where he left off last year, which included a stop atop a winner’s podium for the first time in his European racing career. “It’s not easy to win in Europe. Now that I’ve done it, I know it’s possible again and it doesn’t seem so far-fetched,” Vande Velde said. “The confidence is going to play a big factor. Just knowing you can do it and knowing you’ve succeeded the year before, you’re just going to have more confidence overall.” The 30-year-old all-rounder won the Tour of Luxembourg, his first victory

Former world champion Tom Boonen won the second stage of the Tour of Qatar over 135km from Al Wakra to Doha on Monday, moving into the overall leader's gold jersey in the process. The Quick Step rider beat Milram's Alessandro Petacchi and Frenchman Jean-Patrick Nazon in a sprint finish to snatch the gold jersey from his Dutch teammate Steven de Jong, who held it after Quick Step's team time trial victory in Sunday's opening stage. The defending Tour of Qatar champion Boonen admitted he had been lucky to win after Pettachi's Milram team launched their leader's sprint

Belgians narrowly averted what could have been viewed as a national tragedy at this year’s Cyclo-cross World Championships as defending champion Erwin Vervecken came from behind to win the elite men’s race on Sunday. In an event often swept by the Belgian squad, Vervecken was the only one of his countrymen who managed to step onto the podium in front of a huge home crowd in Hooglede-Gits, Belgium, as the efforts of pre-race favorites Sven Nys and Bart Wellens were hampered by crashes and a series of difficulties throughout.

Belgium’s Quick Step-Innergetic team shrugged off this week's doping allegations to take top honors in the opening stage of the Tour of Qatar, a team time trial in Doha on Sunday. Dutchman Steven De Jongh crossed the line first after the six kilometer race against the clock to be the first to take charge of the leader's gold jersey. Quick Step, with former world champion Tom Boonen riding in Qatar, covered the circuit in a time of six minutes 33 seconds. Quick Step was followed in by Milram, four seconds adrift, with Liguigas another four seconds back in third. "It was very tough,"

Katie Compton gave the United States its second silver medal in two days at the World Cyclo-cross Championships today in Hooglede-Gits, Belgium, as France’s Maryline Salvetat overcame a rough start to battle her way to victory in the women’s race on Sunday. Salvetat’s teammate Laurence Laboucher hung on for third, while pre-race favorite Hanka Kupfernagel (Germany) faded to fifth after crashing at the halfway point while in the lead.

Belgians and Americans got off to a great start at the world cyclo-cross championships in Hooglede-Gits, Belgium, Saturday, as host-country prospect Joeri Adams and U.S. rider Danny Summerhill sprinted to a tight finish in the junior men’s event. Summerhill battled back from a crash with two laps to go to earn second, as pre-race favorite Jiri Polnicky (Czech Republic) crossed the line one second later in third.

"Last year," said Lars Boom, "I was not happy with second." On Saturday, the young Dutchman made up for that disappointment by finally winning the under-23 title at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, in his final year as an espoir. Belgium's Niels Albert took the silver and Roman Villa of France the bronze, while defending champion Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic) could manage no better than fourth.

Sporting a modified team logo, a new bike sponsor and four new riders, the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team presented its 2007 roster to the media Thursday in Agoura Hills, California. The team introduced four marquee additions to its roster — Australians Henk Vogels and Caleb Manion, Irishman Mark Scanlon and American Burke Swindlehurst. Both Vogels and Scanlon come from ProTour teams — Vogels from Davitamon-Lotto and Scanlon from Ag2r. Gone are Argentinean sprinter J.J. Haedo, to CSC, and all-rounder Tony Cruz, who returned to Discovery Channel. Returning riders include 2005 USPRO champion

Sprinters Tom Boonen and Alessandro Petacchi will fight their first duels of the season when the Tour of Qatar clicks into gear Sunday in Doha. Boonen, the 2005 world champion who rides for Quick Step, shook off the opposition to win four of last year's stages and the overall crown. However, this year the Belgian's hopes will be tempered by 33-year-old Milram sprinter Petacchi, who will be burning to get a few wins under his belt following a 2006 season blighted by injury. "I'm back and in top form. I hope this year will be as successful for me as 2005," said the Italian, who

Tour de France runner-up Oscar Pereiro wants an apology from French authorities after what he says was a smear campaign to slight his reputation. The Spanish rider expressed satisfaction that the French anti-doping agency Thursday threw out cases of 10 riders after it was confirmed that riders had medical clearances to use certain banned substances that popped up in anti-doping controls during last year’s Tour de France. "The damage can be repaired from France," Pereiro told the Spanish news agency EFE. "I could have my name cleared by an apology and regret fromLe Monde and the French

Juan José Haedo is busy packing his bags as he prepares for his big European adventure with Team CSC, but first he has a detour through the United States and some old haunting grounds at the Tour of California. The Argentine ace, who turns 26 on Friday, will be traveling to California for a two-week training camp with his new Team CSC teammates before making his team debut at the Tour of California, where he won two races last year to attract the attention of several European teams to his aggressive, fearless sprinting style. “It’s a big step to take, to come from racing in the USA to