Road

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

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

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

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

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 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,"

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

Hi Monique,
In your column about weight loss and body composition monitoring, you mentioned that scales that compute body fat should use a formula appropriate to athletes. Can you comment further about that means? What errors can be induced? I have an electronic scale that I know shows variability with hydration levels,but I was wondering what other errors could be involved.
Thanks,
DHDear DH,

Alessandro Petacchi hopes a return to form at the Tour of Qatar will help him erase a disappointing 2006 campaign that saw him riddled with injuries. The Milram sprinter will bring his full train to the desert race (January 28 to February 2) with ambitions of snagging a victory and boosting his confidence ahead of what the “gentleman sprinter" hopes will be a comeback season. “I want to regain the sensations I had at the beginning of last year. I’ve had a good training block and I am motivated for the coming season,” Petacchi said. “I haven’t been able to raise my arms in victory since last

Tuesdays at VeloNews.com usually feature Lennard Zinn's "Technical Q&A"column, in which VeloNews' senior technical writer fields questionsfrom you, our readers. But this week, Boulder, Colorado, is playing hostto the first (and hopefully annual) CyclingScience Symposium and Expo, organized by the Serotta InternationalCycling Institute. Yup, it's a sort of bike geek Woodstock (albeit on a much smaller scale) and we knewexactly where we'd find our friend Lennard. For the next few daysZinn will be attending the seminar and, when he gets some time, even sendingus a few reports

Two-time Giro d’Italia winner Gilberto Simoni is hoping to earn a berth on the Italian Olympic team to compete for a gold medal in mountain biking in 2008. The veteran Italian has enjoyed recent success on fat tires, including the Italian national marathon championship last year. “We are hoping to make a special program for Gilberto next year and give him some time to race more mountain bikes to gain selection to the national team for Beijing,” Saunier Duval-Prodir general manager Mauro Gianetti told VeloNews. “We believe he can win another Giro and we hope he will race next year through

A Belgian newspaper Tuesday leveled dramatic allegations of illicit doping practices dating back 30 years against Quick Step-Innergetic manager Patrick Lefevere, one of cycling’s most powerful team managers. Lefevere vehemently denied the allegations, calling the front-page report in Het Laatste Nieuws “complete rubbish” and quickly promised legal action against the Belgian national daily. The paper alleges Lefevere, current president of the international professional team’s group, of taking drugs during his own racing career (he admitted to taking amphetamines) in the 1970s as well as

Last season was perhaps the worst year professional cycling has ever experienced. Victories achieved with panache were overshadowed by media headlines relating to positive drug tests, doping investigations and political strife between the sport’s governing body and the race organizers. It was a tough year to be a professional cyclist and with each news story my pedal stroke seemed to get heavier from the negativity. The sport I had gone to bed dreaming about as a kid was, very sadly, in the public’s perception, a sport full of cheaters and hoaxes. And, it now needs to change. T-Mobile, is a

David Millar lost two weeks of his pre-season prep’ time to a training crash earlier this month in Spain, but he’s hoping that will be little more than a speed bump in what will be his first full season of racing since 2003. Millar -- the 29-year-old Scot who served a two-year racing ban after admitting to French authorities that EPO fueled some of his biggest professional exploits – took a forced rest after high-siding onto his left leg in a spill in a round-about earlier this month. The mishap postponed training, but Millar said he’s motivated more than ever as he hopes to put his

American Sarah Hammer’s trophy case could soon need structural reinforcing. The world individual pursuit champion added another gold medal to her stack with a win in her signature event during day two of the track World Cup in Los Angeles. Earlier in the day, Hammer set a new U.S. record of 3:32.058. After the effort Hammer said she would just "put it on cruise" in the evening’s gold-medal match against Germany’s Verena Joos. Sure enough, Hammer quickly made up time against her rival, gaining time with every lap to build such a comfortable lead she sat up well before the line and waved to

Another day, another gold for Sarah Hammer — our man Casey Gibson was on hand and snapping away. Here's what he saw.

Sarah Hammer put to rest any ideas that she’s not a top mass-start racer with a gold medal in the Los Angeles World Cup scratch race, her third win of the three-day event. Hammer won the opening-night points race and followed it up with gold in the individual pursuit. Hammer and American Becky Quinn repeated the tactic that put them one-two at last year’s World Cup scratch race in Los Angeles. Hammer hit the front with a few to go, Quinn battled to get on her wheel, then Hammer dialed up the pace so high no one could come around her. There was no need for the UCI officials to check the photo

Former Swiss cycling champion Martin Elmiger relaunched his professional career by winning the Tour Down Under after some thrilling final-day drama on Sunday. Australian sprint king Robbie McEwen meanwhile claimed victory in the 81km, 18-lap final stage, extending his record victory tally in the race to 12. McEwen, a three-time winner of the Tour de France green jersey, held off fellow Australian Mark Renshaw, who gestured prior to the finish line about being squeezed into the barriers by the Predictor-Lotto sprinter. McEwen was unapologetic.

That's a wrap — three days of racing, three golds for Sarah Hammer and three cheers for our man Casey Gibson, whose shutter kept clicking from lights on to lights out.

It may be the off-season to you, but not to the intrepid Casey Gibson, who has lugged his bag of camera bodies, lenses and computer gear from snowy Colorado to the ADT Event Center in Carson, California, for the UCI track World Cup. Here's a peek at what he sent home.

World individual pursuit champion Sarah Hammer (Ouch Pro Cycling) set a national record in a qualifying ride on day two of the Los Angeles World Cup. Hammer turned a 3:32.058 on Saturday to beat the old mark of 3:32.865, which she set in October at the 2006 track national championships. The record-breaking ride followed Hammer's victory in the points race the night before. "I really didn’t expect to break the record after doing the points race last night," Hammer said while getting her legs rubbed down after the effort. "It wasn’t a good ride, legs-wise. I was hurting. But the goal

It turns out there is a little something to those rainbow stripes. At the opening night of the Los Angeles Track World Cup, American Sarah Hammer, Brit Chris Hoy and Aussie Anna Meares showed their respective fields just why their biceps are circled with cycling’s most powerful design. Tour de France winner Floyd Landis and his friend, CSC rider Dave Zabriskie, were among the crowd of thousands at the Home Depot Center velodrome. Hammer, a world champion in the individual pursuit, won the January 19 women’s points race with some last-lap assistance from her American teammate Becky Quinn.

Swiss racer Martin Elmiger was rewarded for his persistence with the lead of the Tour Down Under after the fourth and penultimate stage on Saturday. On another rain-soaked day in the hills around Adelaide, Elmiger took the ochre jersey from overnight leader Karl Menzies of UniSA after the Australian managed only to finish 11th in the 147 kilometer stage. The 24-year-old Belgian Pieter Ghyllebert won the stage, picking up his maiden professional win and the second in the five-stage race for his Chocolade Jacques outfit. Teammate Steven Caethoven celebrated a fine win on Thursday. A former

The arrival of Iban Mayo helps bolster Saunier Duval-Prodir as a major player going into the 2007 season and gives the Spanish team more options in the grand tours. With Gilberto Simoni focusing on the Giro d’Italia and rising star José Ángel Goméz Marchante the man for the Vuelta a España, team management can only hope the troubled Basque climber can return to the same heights he enjoyed when winning Alpe d’Huez at the 2003 Tour and the overall at the 2004 Dauphiné Libéré. “Mayo is a major ‘star’ but we have 28 riders on this team who will be able to achieve goals,” said Saunier

The on-again, off-again courtship between Russian businessman Oleg Tinkov and Jan Ullrich may be back on again, if recent press reports are to be believed. Back in November 2006, Tinkoff Credit Systems team manager Omar Piscina told Agence France Presse that title sponsor Tinkoff was "a huge fan" and wanted to sign Ullrich, but that the former Tour de France winner didn’t seem interested. "It has been more than a month since we spoke," Piscina said at the time. On Friday, during a team presentation in Moscow, Tinkov confirmed reports that he had tried to sign Ullrich and said the major

Unibet sprinter Baden Cooke underlined his early season ambitions by claiming a well-deserved victory onthe rain-soaked third stage of the Tour Down Under Friday. Cooke, a former Tour de France green jersey winner, flew first over the finish line of the 128km stage, drenched but happy having stayed true to his morning pledge to claim a win in the early part of the season. Five seconds further back was Australian Chris Jongewaard (UniSA), one of six riders contending the finale, who was initially part of a 19-man breakaway but whose powerful riding left the peloton trailing 14 minutes

Young Belgian Steven Caethoven swept past two-time race winner Stuart O'Grady less than 300 meters from the finish line to claim victory in stage two of the Tour Down Under Thursday. A textbook team tactic by Caethoven's Chocolade Jacques riders stunned the Australian after he had led a brave attack to close out the day's racing. CSC team leader O'Grady had worked hard throughout the day in pursuit of a stage win, a consolation of sorts after he finished Wednesday’s stage more than 26 minutes in arrears. However, O’Grady’s hopes were scuppered when Pieter Ghyllebert, one

Australian Baden Cooke is hoping that an off-the-bike battle will not prevent him unleashing the kind of form that won him the Tour de France green jersey on the European cycling scene. The 28-year-old's chances of challenging in major one-day classics, and the Tour de France, have been put in doubt because of a long-running dispute between cycling’s biggest players, and they’re not men on bikes. Cooke joined Swedish-registered Unibet last season, after leaving Francaise des Jeux. Cooke brought with him an impressive resume, including the 2003 Tour de France points jersey. Unibet

Top Australian cyclist Baden Cooke is hoping an off-the-bike row will not prevent him unleashing the kind of form that won him the Tour de France green jersey in 2003. The 28-year-old's chances of challenging in major one-day classics and the Tour may be scuppered by a dispute between cycling bosses. Cooke joined Swedish-registered Unibet last season from Française des Jeux, with whom he won the Tour points competition four years ago. Unibet became the latest addition to the UCI ProTour at the end of 2006, thus paving the way for automatic inclusion in 27 of the series' biggest

A successful early breakaway effort blew a hole in the hopes of many race favorites at Australia’s Tour Down Under on Wednesday as powerful Tasmanian rider Karl Menzies claimed one of the biggest wins of his career. The UniSA rider held off Swiss ace Martin Elmiger (Ag2r) in a sprint for the line and then exploded with joy after picking up the race leader's ochre jersey. "This is as big as it gets for me, this is the best result for a long way," beamed the big 29-year-old, who finished more than 26 minutes ahead of 93 of the race's 111 riders. “That was everything I had on Sunday at

The 2008 Tour de France cycling race, sans prologue, will start in Brittany on Saturday, July 5, going from Brest on the Atlantic coast to Plumelec, organizers announced Wednesday. The second stage will run from Auray to St. Brieuc on Sunday, July 6, while the third stage starts at St. Malo. Further details about the early stages of the 2008 Tour will be unveiled January 25 in Rennes. Discovery announces 28-man rosterDiscovery Channel has fleshed out its roster for 2007, signing Spanish climber Alberto Contador, British trackie Steve Cummings and U.S. mountain biker-turned roadie John

Saul Raisin - the 25-year-old American climber who nearly died from a brain hemorrhage after a high-speed crash last April – continues to defy expectations. This week, Raisin joined his Crédit Agricole teammates for the team’s preseason camp along France’s Cote d’Azur and is laying plans for a comeback to racing this season. “I’ve just been surprising everyone, including myself on how well I am doing,” Raisin told VeloNews. “The doctors can’t believe it. Statistically, I should be dead or in a wheelchair. At first I just wanted to be able to live a normal life again. Now I think I can race

World champion Paolo Bettini skipped training in Spain on Tuesday as a precaution after smashing his left knee into his handlebars during a ride Monday, but team officials were quick to say it won’t keep the Grillo off his bike for too long. The Quick Step-Innergetic captain donned his rainbow jersey and rode for about 10 minutes during the team rollout Tuesday morning to pose for pictures for the assembled media, but quickly returned to the team hotel to rest the knee. “It’s nothing serious, but we don’t want to take any unnecessary risks,” said team spokesman Alessandro Tegner. “It’s

Questions about cutting carbon, shifting problems, chain length and more

Former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis has pleaded for cycling to get its house in order, or face losing further credibility in the eyes of an increasingly suspect public. The CSC team manager led his Danish-based team to the top of the ProTour rankings last year, despite losing his star rider, Ivan Basso, following the release of allegations from a doping investigation in Spain. Basso, last year's Giro d’Italia winner, was released by CSC. After Italian sporting authorities cleared the Italian ace, who was tipped as Lance Armstrong's successor, he has since moved to Discovery

Australian sprinter Mark Renshaw announced his aims for the five-day Tour Down Under stage race by winning a 50km inner-city criterium in Adelaide, Australia on Tuesday. The on-form Credit Agricole rider got the better of sprint heavyweight Robbie McEwen in a tight bunch finish to continue his sizzling early season form. The criterium is classified as the TDU’s “prelude,” and does not count toward the Tour’s overall classification. Hilton Clarke, of Navigators, finished second just ahead of SouthAustralia.com rider Simon Clarke, a promising 20-year-old who is no relation. Early in the race

Veterans Robbie McEwen and Stuart O'Grady are among the favorites whenthey saddle up for Australia's Tour Down Under on Wednesday. Sprint king McEwen is well known for his exploits at the Giro d'Italiaand his three points jersey wins at the Tour de France. But McEwen, whowill debut his Predictor-Lotto team's new pink and black jersey this week,has big obstacles to overcome if he hopes to extend his record tally of11 stage wins at this five-day home race. The Belgium-based Australianfailed to win any stages last year, when the speed of Allan Davis, ridinghere for the UniSA

Twenty-three-year-old Darren Lapthorne claimed the biggest success of his career to win the 163km men's elite road race at the 2007 Australian Open Road Championships in Bunninyong, near Ballarat, Victoria, on Sunday. "It's the happiest day of my life," said Lapthorne who is studying a Bachelor of Business at RMIT in tandem with pursuing his cycling career. "It is an unbelievable moment for me and I'll never forget it." Lapthorne crossed the line well clear at the end of 16 laps in a time of 4hr16min18sec with his Drapac Porsche teammate and Barcelona Olympian, Robert McLachlan,

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme doesn’t go to many team presentations, but he found time in his schedule to travel to Mallorca this weekend to be there for the unveiling of a re-vamped T-Mobile squad. The Tour leader lauded the team’s dramatic house-cleaning following alleged links between Jan Ullrich and Operación Puerto. Prudhomme said T-Mobile’s latest efforts to reshape the team, with increased internal doping controls and a strong emphasis on clean racing, is just the tonic to help regain cycling’s credibility. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood joined a

Embattled Tour de France champion Floyd Landis says he his riding withoutpain for the first time in four years, following his hip operation lastSeptember. Physician Brent Kay said that Landis, who suffered a fracture at theneck of his femur in acrash four years ago, has reclaimed top form for the first time sincethen. "He has regained full strength, power and range of motion and is completelypain free," Kay said. "His one-leg power tests now show that the new hipis actually stronger than the other side. "With normal length restored to his femur and the elimination of hischronic pain, Floyd

Olympic and Commonwealth Games track star, Katie Mactier and Wesley Sulzberger claimed top honors in the women’s and U23 men’s races at the Australian Open Road Championships in Bunninyong, near Ballarat, Victoria on Saturday. The 31-year-old Mactier, the 2001 road champion, out gunned eleven rivals, including the reigning Olympic and reigning Commonwealth Games road Champions, to win the title in a time of 3hr10min35sec ahead of 2003 U23 Olympic Distance Triathlon World Champion, Nikki Egyed, 24, with Mactier's Victorian teammate Emma Rickards third. "When you come out and take a win

The ghost of Jan Ullrich has been fully exorcized and a reborn T-Mobile team is boldly riding into the 2007 season without the franchise rider that carried the team to greatness for a decade. The downfall of the 1997 Tour de France champion and the ensuing housecleaning that followed Ullrich’s expulsion ahead of the start of last year’s Tour was officially closed in Saturday’s team presentation of T-Mobile. Out is talk of the winning the Tour and in are choice words about teamwork and clean competition. With 13 new riders and five new staff members, T-Mobile manager Bob Stapleton introduced

Even bigger things are expected for T-Mobile this season as eight new riders and an all-female management staff carry the team’s ambitions into 2007. Following on the heels of last year’s success in its inaugural season at international competition, the women’s team expects for even more victories this year. Back are Kim Anderson, Judith Arndt and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg. Five up-and-coming racers join established stars Oenone Wood, Kate Bates and Chantal Beltman for the season. “If we can achieve what we did last year, we’ll be satisfied,” said Teutenberg. “We’ll always be at the front at all

Over the course of the week several staff and riders from the Spanish ProTourSaunier Duval-Prodir team have been in Mali, West Africa, to help inauguratethe ambitious “100years for a million trees” re-forestation project as a way of markingthe 100th anniversary of the program's title sponsor.We've received several written reports from VeloNews editorialdirector John Wilcockson. Paris-based photographer Glenn Myrent was alsothere to document the events of the week and has been kind enough to sharesome of his images with VeloNews.com. The week was highlighted by a racebetween seven of

In an unusual step, Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has been summoned  to appear before the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) on February 8, the organization's president Pierre Bordry told AFP on Friday.The 32-year-old American won the Tour de France last July, due in no small part to a remarkable effort on the 17th stage of the race.

The International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT) has reversed its month-old decision to exclude the Discovery team from its ranks. In December, the group voted to strip Discovery of its membership over the team’s signing of Italian Ivan Basso, who is implicated in the Operación Puerto inquiry, according to a source that attended the meeting in Brussels. Lat Thursday, with Discovery director Johann Bruyneel present, the group opted to reverse the December decision. “After a long discussion, the voting members of the group have opted not to exclude Tailwind Sports (Discovery Channel)

With the holiday season officially over, cyclists are back to work or school and planning ahead for the coming race season. Perhaps you ate and drank your way through December’s seemingly endless string of parties and events, with both your training volume and frequency in a state of consistent decline. Because of these calorically challenging dilemmas, mid- January often greets many cyclists with an extra and unwanted layer of adipose fat. But no need to panic, there is plenty of time to get your diet and nutrition plan in order for the 2007 season. Weight, fat, and goal settingFirst take

Veteran Erik Zabel said Wednesday that his old teammate Jan Ullrich and others should be permitted to ride at the ProTour level rather than wait for a flawed Operación Puerto case to move forward. Speaking at the Milram team presentation in Germany on Wednesday, Zabel said it was unfair for riders to languish in a legal purgatory, given the absence of hard evidence that they had doped. “As long as there is no formal evidence accusing any of them of doping, what is the purpose?” he said. “It appears that all that (investigators) have to work with are rumors, innuendo and assumptions. As long

Bamako, Mali — The Niger, the biggest river in West Africa, is more than 4000km long.For a third of its length the Niger cuts a giant swathe through the nationof Mali. On Tuesday, the kilometer-wide waterway served as the backdropto a very unusual bike race at the bustling river port of Mopti. Most ofthe starters would be from Mali, a country that is so impoverished thatits 11 million population includes only 60 or so cyclists with the meansto compete at a national level.Two dozen of them will be taking on seven Saunier Duval-Prodir teamprofessionals in a road race to launch the UCI ProTour

Any chances of a deal between T-Mobile and Alejandro Valverde may have been derailed Monday as Spanish news reports suggest that the Illes Balears rider, too, has been implicated in the Operación Puerto affair. A spokesman for T-Mobile on Monday denied suggestions by Valverde’s agent that the team was prepared to pay 3 million euros to buy out the rider’s contract with his Spanish team. Early on Tuesday, the Spanish newspaper ABC reported that documents seized from Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes showed a cryptic reference to “Valv,” followed by “Piti,” the name of the rider’s dog. Fuentes was once

Well so far it's been quite the eventful cyclo-cross season. Racing the UCI events, having the bikes stolen, the wonderful support I received from sponsors and friends, a new sponsor (sort of, more on that later) and something that I still can't believe actually happened, a dry, fast cyclo-cross nationals in Providence, Rhode Island! While racing in the mud can be a lot of fun, I’ve decided the dry fast courses are much better as I’ve become a bit delicate after living in Colorado. I really enjoyed not having to wash the chamois three times afterwards, and waking up the next morning

The UCI has filed a complaint with the European Commission alleging that organizers of cycling's three biggest races have conspired to sabotage the ProTour series. The move is the latest chapter in the long running dispute between the sport's ruling body, which launched the ProTour in 2004, and the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana. In a statement Tuesday the UCI asserted that the three tour organizers are acting as an illegal monopoly. "The UCI has today decided to prepare an official complaint which it will lodge with the European Commission, against the

Questions regarding Hincapie's broken steerer and slipping carbon seatposts.

Alejandro Valverde, currently under contract with the Illes Baléares-Caissed'Epargne, may be leaving the team to join a re-vamped T-Mobile squad. According to Monday’s edition of El Pais, the team is activelycourting the ProTourwinner as a replacement for Jan Ullrich, who the team fired this pastsummer. Ullrich was barred from the Tour de France after he and severalother riders were implicated in the Operación Puerto druginvestigation. The newspaper quoted Valverde’s agent as saying the T-Mobile team hasmade an offer significant enough to “put aside any reservations we mighthave about

I knew that this wasn’t going to be the usual bike-racing trip when the neatly dressed Arab businessman sitting next to me on the Royal Air Maroc flight from Paris-Orly to Casablanca Sunday night began chanting a prayer before we took off. He ended his salutation by blessing both me and his other neighbor, a young black West African. Perhaps the man’s prayers ensured a safe trip, even though we were an hour late touching down in the Moroccan city. It took another 20 minutes before the plane’s door opened and we stepped down into a cool, misty night, lit by a waning, watery moon. After

Without any new offers since the end of his contract with Bouygues Telecom at the end of 2006, Walter Bénéteau has decided to retire. The 34-year-old Frenchman turned pro in 2000 when he joined the newly formed Bonjour team. He has raced his entire pro career for current Bouygues boss Jean-René Bernaudeau. Bénéteau has finished every Tour de France since turning pro and raced the Giro d'Italia-Tour double in 2005 and the Vuelta a España-Tour double last season. Dessel, defending champ Gerrans target Tour Down UnderCyril Dessel, who wore the yellow jersey for a day during the 2006 Tour

A website launched by a trio of Floyd Landis supporters aims to raise $2 million to defend the 2006 Tour de France champion against charges that he doped to win the race. Landis, who tested positive for a skewed testosterone-epitestosterone ratio after the 2006 Tour de France and is preparing for arbitration before the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, needs the money to cover legal fees and expenses, according to spokesman Michael Henson. "Despite their lack of adherence to individual rights and due process ... the sports bureaucracies pursuing Floyd are funded in large part by multimillion-dollar

Twenty-one teams – including five ProTour squads – have signed up for the 12th edition of Malaysia's Tour de Langkawi, promoters announced Thursday. Organizers said the field will be the largest to contest the 10-day event in six years. The Ag2r, Bouygues Telecom, Crédit Agricole and Française des Jeux teams will line up with one of the ProTour’s newest members, Unibet.com, and 16 regional and continental teams for the 10-stage season opener that begins February 2. Joining the five ProTour squads will be five European continental, seven Pacific regional and four national teams. Hong

Iban Mayo announced plans to take on this year’s Giro d’Italia as preparationfor the Tour de France. The 29-year-old has shown promise in the past, but often left the Tourwith what he called disappointing results.Mayo made the announcement Tuesday at the presentation for hisnew Saunier Duval team, which he joined after a long career on the BasqueEuskaltel-Euskadi team.Mayo, who impressively won the grueling 8thstage of the 2003 Tour de France, has been frustrated in his effortsto make a mark on the race. Participating in three Tours, Mayo has abandonedtwice and finished the 2005 Tour in 60th

Despite the extensive gap in his 2007 racing calendar, Ivan Dominguez left no doubt during this year’s Wells Fargo Twilight Criterium in Boise, Idaho, that the 31-year-old Cuban has returned to form. Dominguez flew out of the final corner of the course, lined with 25,000 spectators, after a textbook leadout from Toyota-United teammate Caleb Manion. It was his second NRC-level victory and his first win in this year’s USA CRITS Series after having been sidelined from racing following a crash during May’s Tri-Peaks Challenge. Dominguez says he’s finally feeling like his old self again. “I was

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich said Saturday that he is determined to make a comeback despite the cloud of doping suspicion hanging over him. "I know very well that returning to professional sport will be difficult but I'm determined to fight and to succeed," said Ullrich on his website. The 33-year-old German wrote a festive greetings message to his fans and thanked them for supporting him through his latest troubles. The former Olympic champion, who won the Tour de France in 1997, was barred from competing in this year's Tour de France. Documents leaked to the press

Gonzales draws 2-year suspensionFormer Vuelta a España winner Aitor Gonzalez was suspended for two years Friday on doping-related offenses after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld an appeal by the UCI. Spaniard Gonzalez, the 2002 winner, tested positive for methyltestosterone during the Vuelta last year and during an earlier out-of-competition test in August 2005. The Spanish cycling federation decided only to fine him in May after he presented a research report saying that a food supplement he had been taking had been contaminated. However, the CAS said in a statement that Gonzalez

It’s over. The USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships are all wrapped up and the 2006 season is in the books. I finished without any spills, frozen fingers and unplanned trips to the ambulance to fight the onset of hypothermia. Before I recap the weekend’s events, I would like to say thanks to the entire race staff, which put on a very well organized and professional event. My hat also goes off to all the racers and fans that made the trip to Rhode Island and made the 2006 season finale one to remember. On Thursday, my girlfriend Heather and I drove down to Roger Williams Park,

Swiss cycling chief Lorenz Schlaefli said Thursday that he was likely to halt anti-doping proceedings against former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich next month unless new evidence comes through. Schlaefli said he was not able to use existing evidence received from the legal probe into the Operación Puerto doping ring in Spain because the Spanish investigating magistrate had forwarded it on condition that it was not used officially. "Since these documents cannot be used, there's no sense in continuing this process. With these documents, officially we cannot do anything," the director

The international sporting world's top appeals court on Wednesday rejected the UCI's bid to overturn a decision by the Spanish cycling federation to acquit rider Iñigo Landaluze on a doping charge. The Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) said in a statement that it rejected the UCI's appeal in the Landaluze case, which involved flaws in the dope testing procedure carried out by the internationally-accredited French laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry. The Euskaltel cyclist was found to have high testosterone levels in tests made during the 2005 Dauphine Libéré stage race which he

For a little pre-Christmas change of pace, I thought I’d share with you some new technology I’ve been using in a different context that I think could be a great tool for studying efficiency of movement in cycling and triathlon. From December 6-10, I was at Tamarack, a beautiful ski resort near McCall, Idaho for a technique-intensive masters cross-country ski retreat. Three-time Olympian and eight-time masters world champion Jon Engen, a Norwegian transplant to Sun Valley, Idaho, led the camp. JoAnn Hanowski, who has won more ski marathons than any other American, and Jim Fredericks, former

The Astana team of Vuelta a España winner Alexandre Vinokourov was granted a reprieve on Tuesday as the UCI announced the squad’s holding company, Zeus Sàrl, had submitted a required set of documents and was issued a four-year ProTour license. The team, which emerged from the remnants of the collapsed Liberty Seguros program, had initially been denied its license application after the UCI determined that its application didn't fulfill all of the UCI's required conditions for a ProTour license. But instead of rejecting the application outright, the UCI extended the team’s deadline in

Dutch track cycling star Theo Bos on Saturday set a new world record for the 200 metres flying start in a time of 9.772 seconds. Bos set the new benchmark during the second leg of the track cycling World Cup here, smashing the 11-year record of Canadian Curt Harnett, who clocked 9.865 seconds at altitude in Bogota, Colombia, on September 28, 1995. Bos, the 23-year-old world champion in the men's coveted speed events of the sprint and keirin, came close to topping Harnett's record in the morning heats for Saturday's race, in a time of 9.892. That time was the fastest ever

South Korea's Jang Sun Jae on Thursday became only the third cyclist in Asian Games history, and the first in 36 years, to win three or more golds at the same games. Jang went into the record books — and celebrated his 22nd birthday in style — when he won the Madison on the last day of action at the ASPIRE velodrome. He was already a gold medalist in the individual and the team pursuit and on Thursday teamed up with Park Sung Baek to win the Madison with 35 points. Kazakhstan took silver with Ilya Chernyshov claiming his third medal of the games following his team road race time-trial

China's Guo Shuang outraced compatriot Gong Jinjie in the finals of the women’s sprint at the 15th Asian Games in Qatar on Wednesday. The 20-year-old Guo took the gold in two straight races, winning the second in 11.986 seconds. South Korea's You Jin A took the bronze. It was Guo’s second gold of this year’s games. She won the 500-meter time trial on Saturday, setting an Asian Games record of 35.175 seconds. In the men’s sprint, Japan's Tsubasa Kitatsuru took the gold ahead of South Korea's Choi Lae-seon. China's Tang Qi collected the bronze. Meanwhile, Cheung King

Organizers unveiled the 2007 Vuelta a España route on Wednesday, with three mountaintop finishes among the highlights, including the return of the punishing Lagos de Covadonga ascent. The three-week race gets under way September 1 in the port city of Vigo, in the northwest province of Galicia. The finale to the 21-stage race will be the traditional finish in Madrid on September 23. But it's the first week of the 3,241km race, and the return of the Lagos de Covadonga as part of the arduous 182km fourth stage, that has next year's challengers excited. ''It will be great for

Questions on mix-and-match components, fraying cables, carbon comfort, compact cranks and more.