Road

Julich season over after pulling plug at BeneluxBobby Julich’s season is likely over after the veteran American didn’t start the 185km third stage at the Eneco Benelux Tour on Saturday. Team CSC officials said the defending champion has been struggling with his form since coming back from a broken wrist suffered in the first time trial of the 2006 Tour de France. “You could see he was empty both in the head and in the body and he was afraid of getting caught up in a crash and decided it was just better to go home and prepare for next season,” Team CSC sport director Tristan Hoffman told

Pinkham Notch, N.H. (AP) Tyler Hamilton, who's been suspended from sanctioned races for the past two years, returned to the White Mountains Saturday to win the only race he has been free to ride the 7.6-mile Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb. Grosse Point, Mich.-native Aimee Vasse won for the women, coming in at 1:08:31 to place 22nd overall in a field of almost 600 riders. Hamilton's time was 52:21. His suspension over a blood doping offense ends Sept. 22, just in time for the World Cycling Championships on Sept. 24. For Hamilton, of Marblehead, Mass., the race was a

Manuel Quinziato (Liquigas) unleashed a late-stage attack to surprise the bunch to steal home his first career victory in Friday’s second stage while Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) finished safely in the main pack to retain the overall lead at the Eneco Tour. The 26-year-old Italian jumped clear with just over 2km to go go and held off the main pack to snatch the victory while scores of riders finished more than a minute off the winning time after a crash late in the stage. “When I saw there were just 40 riders on the last lap and that everyone was tired and no team was able to set the

The doping case against former road cycling world champion Oscar Camenzind has been reopened. The state court of Schwyz ordered investigative magistrate Martin Eichenberg to take such action. The decision was first reported in the Swiss news magazine Facts on Thursday and confirmed by Eichenberg on Friday. Camenzind rode for the Phonak cycling team, Floyd Landis's squad at the 2006 Tour de France. Landis tested positive for a skewed testosterone-epitestosterone ratio after winning the Tour and was fired. The team will shut down at the end of the season because of a lack of

Boonen nails itWorld champion Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) won his first race since abandoning the Tour de France and surged into the overall lead Thursday at the Eneco Tour. Boonen earned a 10-second time bonus with the relatively easy sprint victory in the first stage and overtook Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) in the overall standings. The big Belgian received a textbook-perfect leadout and easily held off Simone Cadamuro (Milram) and Enrico Gasparatto (Liquigas), who came through third. “This is my first race after the Tour and after the problems that I’ve [had] in France, now

Tom Danielson will headline a strong Discovery Channel team for the upcoming Vuelta a España. Team boss Johan Bruyneel revealed the starting lineup that’s a strong mix of veterans and ambitious younger riders hungry for success in the 61st Vuelta. “Selecting this team was not easy for me as we have a lot of guys that are riding very strong at the moment, but I feel that we have a very solid team in place that will work well together,” Bruyneel said in a team release. “Tom Danielson is set to be our leader for this race and I believe he has prepared very well. With the team that we have to

George Hincapie narrowly missed another big victory by the smallest of margins in Wednesday’s opening prologue to kick start the ENECO Benelux tour. Hincapie – who lost the Tour de France opening prologue by less than one second to Thor Hushovd – was once again on the wrong end of the bargain in the 6.1km prologue course Wednesday, finishing one second behind winner Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner). Schumacher, 25, covered the distance in seven minutes to achieved his fifth win of the year and 14th of his career. “It’s great to come in ahead of several time trial specialists, but I'm

Millar eyes Vuelta stageDavid Millar couldn’t score his dream comeback stage victory at the Tour de France, but he’s hoping to at the upcoming Vuelta a España. Millar survived the Tour in his first race back from a two-year racing ban for admitting to using the banned blood-booster EPO and enters the August 26 start of the Vuelta much stronger. “I would like to win a stage, a road stage or a time trial, it doesn’t matter,” Millar told VeloNews at last weekend’s Clásica San Sebastián. “I came out of the Tour feeling strong, stronger than I expected and I have recuperated well. I think the

Floyd Landis might be able to keep his Tour de France crown if he wins his doping case in arbitration, but his Phonak team won’t be around next season even if he does. Team owner Andy Rihs announced Tuesday that Phonak will fold at the end of the 2006 season after its new title sponsor pulled out of the deal in the wake of Landis doping scandal.

Phonak was flying high three weeks ago with the dramatic comeback Tour de France victory of Floyd Landis, but now the team is facing an uncertain future in the wake of Landis’ disastrous failed doping control. Phonak team owner Andy Rihs and team manager John Lelangue have scheduled a Tuesday morning press conference at a Zurich hotel to discuss the team’s future, but many insiders believe the Landis scandal could spell the end of the beleaguered Swiss squad. Unconfirmed reports were flying at last weekend’s Clásica San Sebastián that iShares – the San Francisco-based online investment

George Hincapie, who roared to a best-ever ninth place in the Clásica San Sebastián race in northern Spain on Saturday, confirmed he’ll start the U.S. national championships next month. The Discovery Channel captain told VeloNews he will race in next week’s ENECO Tour in Holland (Aug. 16-23) and end his season with the U.S. national championships September 3 in his adopted hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. Hincapie won the U.S. title in 1999, but hasn’t raced in the event since. USA Cycling has switched the race from its traditional June date to later in the season, in part to attract

Big Shark Racing’s Jeff Hartman survived triple-digit temperatures to win the Overland Park Grand Prix Sunday at the Tour of Kansas City, while Brian Jensen (Jelly Belly) became the race’s first repeat overall champion since Scott Moninger in the late 1990s. Hartman and Jensen were among a group of nine riders that broke from the pack halfway through the 75-minutes-plus-five-laps criterium. The two eventually escaped from their breakaway companions, though somewhat reluctantly, on a day when the mercury soared to 103 degrees on a shadeless course featuring newly paved blacktop roads. "I had

The 2006 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah concluded Saturday with the much-anticipated Stage Six Snowbird Road Race, won by TIAA CREF rider Blake Caldwell. The 91-mile stage included three very difficult climbs and more than 12,000 feet of climbing as it traversed the Wasatch Mountains from Deer Valley Resort to Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort. The decisive third climb of the day, in Little Cottonwood Canyon affected the final General Classification as Scott Moninger took the yellow jersey from teammate and hometown favorite Jeff Louder. Team TIAA CREF forced an early break with four riders in

A year ago, Jelly Belly’s Brian Jensen gutted it out through a torrential downpour to win the lightning-shortened Cliff Drive Classic at the Tour of Kansas City. On Saturday, the conditions were considerably different, but the result was the same. Jensen, who calls Lawrence, Kansas, his home, soloed to victory in the 50-mile Pro-I-II race in two hours and 40 seconds, beating Team Mack’s Clark Priebe of Eagle Grove, Iowa, by more than a minute. In addition to earning his sixth victory of the season, Jensen also pocketed an additional $225 cash for winning the "King of the Mountain"

Aussie Hilton Clarke (Navigators Insurance) edged Christian Vande Velde (CSC) on Saturday to win the Alexian Brothers International Cycling Classic, the first of two days of racing in the Tour of Elk Grove. Canada’s Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis) took third in the 100km, 27-lap circuit race, run on a 3.7km course through the Illinois town. Rachel Heal (Victory Brewing) of Great Britain won the 60km women’s event ahead of Mackenzie Dickey (Aaron’s) and Christina Dekraay (Team Fuji). Racing continues on Sunday with the American Airlines International for women and the Gullo International

There were a lot of smashing fists on handlebars Saturday as the relatively unheralded Xavier Florencio (Bouygues Telecom) surprised a host of favorites with an early sprint to win the Clásica San Sebastián. The 26-year-old held off Stefano Garzelli (Liquigas) and Andrey Kashechkin (Astana) to score just his second victory of his professional career, leaving the frustrated runner’s up to bash their handlebars in an opportunity missed. “I wouldn’t have bet on it,” Florencio said with a smile when asked if he thought he was going to win the 225km, five-climb classic around the hills of

Spain’s top stars are converging on the posh resort town for Saturday's big one-day race to kick-start San Sebastián’s summer festival, but it’s no guarantee fans will have the chance to cheer on a hometown winner. While Spanish riders have won the past two editions, the 225km race around the hills of Spain’s Basque Country has long been dominated by foreign riders. Take away the 2004-05 wins by Martín Perdiguero and Constantino Zaballa, respectively, and you have to go all the way back to Miguel Indurain’s win in 1990 to find another Spaniard who won this race. One of those foreigners

Stage Five of the 2006 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah entertained an estimated crowd of 30,000 fans in downtown Salt Lake City, Friday night, as the Twinlab Circuit Race tested riders with six laps of a 6.3 mile course that included a very steep climb to the Utah State Capitol before plunging and twisting back to the wide avenues of downtown. A wide and slightly downhill finishing straight encouraged sprints and attacks, making for a very fast race, won by Toyota-United rider Chris Baldwin. The stage was slotted between two of the toughest climbing stages in American cycling, but was not the

It seems either Oscar Freire is winning races or facing some career-threatening health problem. There’s no in between for the three-time world champion who seems snake-bit when it comes to debilitating pain. The Rabobank sprinter – fresh off winning two stages at the Tour de France and the Vattenfall Cyclassics race in Hamburg – will miss Saturday’s Clásica San Sebastián due to strange headaches and dizzy spells that have been dogging him since the Tour. For a rider who’s suffered through back problems and infected saddle sore that kept him out of last year’s world championships, it’s just

The 2006 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah earned its reputation as one of the country’s toughest Thursday as the race entered the mountains of the Wasatch Front with the 67.5-mile 101.9 The End Road Race, which began in Provo and finished at Nebo Loop, pitted some of the best climbers in U.S. against each other as the stage culminated with a 20-mile ascent through Payson Canyon to the 9000-foot Nebo Loop summit. HealthNet-Maxxis rider Scott Moninger won the stage with a time of two minutes thirty-eight seconds at an average speed of 22.48 miles per hour. Moninger's teammate and Salt Lake

Oscar Pereiro – the man poised to be named Tour de France victor in the wake of the Floyd Landis doping scandal – hasn’t had much time to train lately. After giving an endless stream of interviews (more than 200, by his count) and a half-dozen press conferences not to mention a string of public celebrations, Pereiro has hardly had any time to think about what’s in store for the rest of the season. While he waits word from cycling authorities on the Landis case, Pereiro is committed to race the Vuelta a España, set to start on Saturday, August 26 in Málaga. “I am going to race it with a lot

Veteran German rider Jens Voigt said winning the Tour of Germany for the first time was the finest achievement in his long cycling career, surpassing even his three stage victories at the Tour de France. The 34-year-old Voigt, riding for the Danish CSC team, cruised through the eighth and final stage of the Tour on Wednesday to maintain his 98 second lead over American Levi Leipheimer and collect the title. Australia's Graeme Brown of the Rabobank team won the final stage - a 172.1km ride from Bad Krozingen to Karlsruhe - but it was Voigt's day and he was overcome with emotion

T-Mobile will introduce a new, groundbreaking blood test that officials say will allow the team determine if its riders have been blood doping. The German ProTour team will conduct the test internally on its own riders within the coming weeks. T-Mobile is thought to be the first major cycling team to use the new detection method developed by Walter Schmidt, a professor at the University of Bayreuth. “All riders will be required to undergo a newly developed test which will be able to determine whether the individual has transfused his own blood,” T-Mobile doctor Lothar Heinrich said on the

Jan Ullrich's blood samples won't be turned over to Spanish police investigating a doping scandal, the president of the world cycling body said Wednesday. Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner, was among the top riders implicated in May when police arrested five people at a Madrid clinic after seizing drugs and frozen blood. The UCI samples could be used for a DNA comparison with the frozen blood found in the raid. Police suspect the samples were to be prepared for performance-enhancing transfusions to still-unidentified riders. "The blood of the riders in our possession from

After two years spent with Davitamon-Lotto as Robbie McEwen’s lead-out man at the Giro d’Italia, Australian veteran Henk Vogels will return to the North American peloton as a member of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team. Vogels is the first new addition to the Toyota-United roster for the 2007 season. “The Toyota team looks as though they’ve done a great job this year,” Vogels said. “I was impressed with them at the Tour of Georgia. They’ve done well by themselves. I think the team wanted me for a few reasons. My physical ability is still very good, but I think what I bring in terms of

U.S. National Road Champion Chris Wherry won his second consecutive stage in the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, the KJZZ Individual Time Trial, finishing ahead of Toyota-United teammate and U.S. National Time Trial Champion Chris Baldwin. Wherry finished the stage in 15 minutes 50.67 seconds, blistering the mostly flat course with an average speed of 31.9 miles per hour - eight hundredths of a second faster than Baldwin. The race leader entering the day's stage, Sergey Lagutin of Team Navigators Insurance stopped the clock with the third fastest time of the day, 18 seconds behind Wherry.

German Jens Voigt of the CSC team is on the brink of winning the Tour of Germany for the first time after winning the seventh stage - a 38.2 kilometer time-trial - of the Tour in Bad Sackingen on Tuesday. It was a third stage win for Voigt, 34, and he is now one minute and 38 seconds ahead of nearest rival Gerolsteiner's Levi Leipheimer of the United States, heading into Wednesday's final stage. "I am delighted because this could be my last chance to win this Tour," Voigt said. "The conditions were ideal - not too warm and not too cold. I started really quickly to motivate myself

Alexandre Vinokourov and his cadre of Astana riders will race this weekend’s Clásica San Sebastián as the team picks up the pieces in the wake of the “Operación Puerto” investigation left the squad at the edge of implosion. Vinokourov wraps up the Tour of Germany on Wednesday – his first stage race since the Dauphiné Libéré in early June – and will race in Spain’s one-day classic as final preparation for the Vuelta a España. “I can feel a lack of rhythm of competition,” Vinokourov told El Diario Vasco. “The Tour of Germany has been perfect to return to racing, because I haven’t race since

Stage Two of the 2006 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, the Steve Williams Memorial Road Race, was a hot and dry 97-mile stage from Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, to the newly constructed Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele. Riders battled shifting winds and temperatures topping 100 degrees as they raced along a portion of the historic Pony Express Trail through Utah's West Desert. The race began with a series of gradual climbs out of Lehi, then onto rolling terrain as it moved toward the finish at the motorsports park. Attacks were launched almost immediately as the race climbed out of Lehi,

German Jens Voigt (CSC) consolidated his lead in the Tour of Germany by winning Monday's sixth stage by just two seconds over defending champion Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner). Kazakh Andrej Kashechkin (Astana) crossed third after the 196.6km run from Seefeld to St Christoph in the Austrian Alps. Voigt, winner of the third stage and the overall leader since Sunday, holds a 24-second advantage on Leipheimer ahead of Tuesday's penultimate stage, a time trial in Bad Sackingen. Evgeni Petrov (Lampre) sits third at 56 seconds back. The 34-year-old Voigt, who has worn the leader's

The road to the Vuelta a España goes through the Tour de l’Ain for Discovery Channel’s Tom Danielson. The 28-year-old is racing in the French event this week in his final competition ahead of the August 26 start of the Vuelta, where he will line up as a grand-tour team captain for the first time. "This is the best race I could do before the Vuelta," Danielson told VeloNews. "The race has shorter stages and it’s always up and down, so it’s good to get some good racing in the legs without being too taxing." Danielson won the Tour of Austria in July for his first European victory since

Reigning champion Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) won the fifth stage of the Tour of Germany on Sunday, a 163km leg between Bad Tolz and Seefeld. The American crossed just two seconds ahead of Kazakhstan's Andrei Kaschechkin (Astana) and Italy's Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre-Fondital). A riders' protest ahead of the start of Sunday's decisive climbing stage prompted organizers to eliminate the day's hardest ascent, the 2,020-meter Kühtaisattel climb, which was pelted with high winds, freezing temperatures and icy roads. "You have to think of the safety of the riders. The

Shawn Milne (Navigators Insurance) and Tina Pic (Colavita-Cooking Light) won their respective events Saturday evening during the Bank of America Invitational criterium in Charlotte, North Carolina. [nid:36034]In the 53-mile men’s race, Milne bridged to Jackson Stewart (Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada) and Rahsaan Bahati (TIAA-CREF) with about 15 laps of the 1.2-mile course remaining, and the three began to extend their lead over the bunch.

Astana is Vuelta-bound and Alexandre Vinokourov will be team captain. The troubled team filed the necessary paperwork Friday with Vuelta a España organizers to get the green light to start the season’s third grand tour, set to start Aug. 26 in Málaga. While the issue of the team’s ProTour license has yet to be settled, Vuelta organizers will allow the team to race if none of the riders are implicated in the ongoing “Operación Puerto” doping investigation in Spain. Vinokourov, currently racing in the Tour of Germany, said he’s unsure what to expect in the mountainous Vuelta. The Kazakh was

Swiss Fabian Cancellara (CSC) won the Tour of Denmark on Sunday, while German Robert Forster (Gerolsteiner) won the sixth and final stage. In the overall standings, Cancellara, who grabbed the yellow jersey in Saturday's fifth stage, finished 20 seconds ahead of Australian teammate Stuart O'Grady and 51 seconds ahead of German Thomas Ziegler (T-Mobile). Forster won Sunday's 154.5km final stage between Gilleleje and Copenhagen. T-Mobile's Olaf Pollack came in second, followed by Magnus Backstedt (Liquigas-Bianchi). Sixteen teams and 128 riders competed in the 872.3km route

Australia's Graeme Brown (Rabobank) won the fourth stage of the Tour of Germany on Saturday, a 203km leg between Heidenheim and Bad Tolz. Brown won a tense sprint finish against German duo Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) and Erik Zabel (Milram), finishing in four hours, 34 minutes and 38 seconds. The 36-year-old Zabel took the overall lead from Russian Vladimir Gusev (Discovery Channel). Gusev slipped back to second, seven seconds behind Zabel, with German Linus Gerdemann (T-Mobile) third, eight seconds down. "It was my last chance to take the lead before the mountains," Zabel told

Team CSC made what’s likely cycling history on Thursday when the team won three races in three different events all on the same day. With ProTour squads boasting enough riders on their roster to run three programs, Team CSC scored an unprecedented “hat-trick” Thursday, taking stage-wins at the Deutschland Tour with Jens Voigt, Tour of Denmark with Fabian Cancellara and Paris-Corrèze with Marcus Ljungqvist. “It’s a very special time for the team,” Team CSC sport director Tristan Hoffman told VeloNews. “We have a good combination of riders on the team who can win races. We have a very good

A prosecutor in northern Italy has asked for an investigation into a group of Spanish cyclists suspected of using doping products during competition in Italy, Spanish daily El Pais reported on Friday. Other investigators have also asked to question Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso later this month. According to the paper, the cyclists targeted by a Bergamo prosecutor are Marcos Serrano, Joseba Beloki, Unai Osa and Angel Vicioso. Italian police, according to El Pais, "have received documents sent to them by Spanish police which indicate several Spanish riders used doping products

Gerald Ciolek, of the continental Wiesenhof team won a frantic sprint at the end of the third stage of the Tour of Germany, Friday, a 203.3km race from Witzenhausen to Schweinfurt. The stage was marked by a long 145km solo break by Saunier Duval’s Marco Pinotti, who was eventually reeled in with 25km to go, setting up a fast closing stretch with none of the top sprinters’ teams able to control the field as it rushed through the final kilometers into Schweinfurt. Ciolek - who at 19 is seen as the next great hope of German cycling - clinched his first victory on the ProTour after pipping

Five North Americans are among a preliminarystart list for the 61st Vuelta a España Released Friday by race officials in Spain, all 20 official teams have outlined their early starting riders and substitutes for the season’s third grand tour, set to start Aug. 26 in Málaga. Getting the nod are Ryder Hesjedal (Phonak), MichaelBarry and TomDanielson (Discovery Channel), ChrisHorner and FredRodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto). AaronOlson (Saunier Duval) is listed as a substitute. Barry will back for his fifth Vuelta start while Danielson is expected to line up as team captain for Discovery Channel

Spanish star Alejandro Valverde will return to competition next weekend for the summer classic Clásica San Sebastián, but isn’t expected to race the weeklong Vuelta a Burgos. Valverde, 26, fractured his clavicle in stage three of the 2006 Tour de France and will use the one-day race on Aug. 12 in northern Spain to prepare for his run at the Vuelta a España title. Illes Balears-Caisse d’Epargne officials said Valverde isn’t quite in condition to race the Burgos tour, set for Aug. 6-10. “As of today he won’t race the Vuelta a Burgos but he will be at the Clásica,” sport director Eusebio

Fields have been announced for the two biggest races on the North American road-racing calendar, the Bank of America Invitational Criterium and the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah. With the Tour of Utah beginning just 36 hours after the Charlotte, North Carolina, B of A Criterium ends — and with the August 13 Tour of Elk Grove Criterium, held near Chicago, taking place the day after Utah ends — it’s a good bet that the North American peloton will be split into two, with sprinters looking to bring home cash from the calendar’s biggest prize lists. The Bank of America Invitational Criterium,

German CSC rider Jens Voigt on Thursday won the second stage of the Tour of Germany over 181.5km between Mindent and Goslar ahead of Italian Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) and Kazakh Andrey Kaschechkin (Astana). The German CSC rider clinched victory after mounting a bold attack on the final climb before outpacing Rebellin and Kaschechkin in a sprint finish at the end of the 181.5km stage. Voigt, 35, a stage winner at this month's Tour de France and a yellow jersey holder during the 2001 and 2005 editions of cycling's most prestigious event, was delighted with his victory. "To

Kazakh rider Assan Bazayev gave the Astana team a much needed boost as he landed the first stage of the Tour of Germany ProTour cycling race, over 198.2km between Dusseldorf and Bielefeld, on Wednesday. The 25-year-old beat home Lampre's Danilo Napolitano and veteran Germansprint specialist Erik Zabel (Milram) to give the team its first victory under its new sponsor. The win lifted some of the gloom surrounding the squad since the team was unceremoniously thrown out of the Tour de France on the eve of the race because several of their proposed line-up had been implicated in a doping

Sastre unsure as Vuelta expects heavy Spanish accentWith the “Puerto Nine” not welcome and a host of foreign stars expected to skip the season’s final grand tour, Vuelta a España organizers are putting a heavy Spanish accent of the 2006 edition. Race organizers revealed a preliminary start list Tuesday that’s laden with Spanish stars and lean on foreign riders. Defending champion Denis Menchov and his Danish climbing Rabobank counterpart Michael Rasmussen are the biggest foreign stars expected for the Aug. 26 start in Málaga. Confirmed Spanish riders include Tour de France runner-up Oscar

Discovery Channel's Vladimir Gusev won the 5.5km prologue of the Tour of Germany in Dusseldorf on Tuesday. The 24-year-old time-trial specialist timed 6minutes 42.61seconds and finished ahead of Linus Gerdemann (T-Mobile) and German national time trial champion Sebastian Lang (Gerolsteiner). Defending Tour of Germany winner Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) finished in 111th place, 42 seconds off the Russian's pace, though he raced cautiously because of the persistent rain and strong winds. Gusev, who has been a professional since 2004 and joined the Discovery team at the beginning

Levi Leipheimer lines up as defending champion Tuesday at the nine-day Tour of Germany with hopes of erasing a disappointing Tour de France. The 33-year-old Gerolsteiner captain will be looking to redeem himself after finishing a distant 13th overall at the Tour, the first time he’s not been among the Tour’s top 10 in four arrivals on the Champs Élysées. This could be Leipheimer’s last major race for Gerolsteiner, after penning a deal to join Discovery Channel for 2007. The Californian won last year’s Deutschland Tour after a strong performance in a brutal climbing stage in Austria and

Comunidad Valenciana – the continental team which has taken more licks than most in the fallout of “Operación Puerto” – received some good news late last week from the Spanish courts. The team was notified that none of 13 riders supposedly implicated in the ongoing police investigation have any pending legal action against them, essentially clearing them of allegations that have dogged the team since mid-May. Thirteen riders were cleared after a court secretary notified the team with an official document dated July 28. The riders cleared include: Vicente Ballesteros, David Bernabéu, David

While Floyd Landis traveled back to the United States this weekend, his fate and the outcome of his counter-analysis are still pending in Europe. The test results of the “B” sample could be known as early as Monday, but a bank holiday in France could delay the test another day or two if it already hasn’t been carried out. Landis’s lawyers said in a Saturday press conference that they don’t expect any changes in the counter-analysis. “We’re expecting that [counter-analysis] will return positive because he produced it,” said José María Buxeda, one of two Spanish attorneys Landis has

T-Mobile said Sunday it would part company with manager Olaf Ludwig as it seeks to clean up the team's image following the drugs scandal that embroiled sacked rider Jan Ullrich. T-Mobile said in a statement that it would terminate its contract with Ludwig's OLC company, which is responsible for its men's cycling team, one year ahead of schedule after a loss of confidence in the organisation. "After long discussions before and after the Tour de France, we have decided to terminate our contract with OLC from October 31 this year," T-Mobile said in a statement. The contract had

Some of Oscar Freire’s biggest wins have come at the expense of one man: That perennial German warrior Erik Zabel. The Spanish sprinter took his third world title in 2004 in Verona in Italy with Zabel taking second, a win that came months after Freire out-stabbed Zabel on the Via Roma to win Milan-San Remo that spring. In Sunday’s Vattenfall Cyclassics, Freire once again revealed he has one of the best bike stabs in the game, sneaking away with a photo-finish mass sprint with Zabel getting the worse end of the bargain. Last year’s winner Filippo Pozzato came through third.FULLRESULTS “I

Normally, the final stage of a stage race is supposed to be more of a celebratory parade than a decisive day in the saddle. But that's never been the case at the International Tour de Toona. Coming into the final stage, the top-2 men overall - Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance) and Chris Baldwin (Toyota United) - were separated by only 3 seconds on general classification with 52-seconds of time bonuses up for grabs. Any one individual could win a maximum of 30-seconds. Kyle Wamsley (Colavita - Sutter Homes) would take the stage win, but the battle for yellow continued throughout the

T-Mobile boss Olaf Ludwig on Saturday denied speculation his cycling team's sponsors had demanded his dismissal for his apparent defense of tainted star rider Jan Ullrich. "There has been no sacking or breaking of contract," Ludwig said before a meeting of sporting directors on the eve of the HEW Cyclassics in Hamburg. "There have been discussions and there will be more in the days to come." The former professional cyclist, the team's owner via his OLC company, has a contract until 2008 with phone company T-Mobile. But Ludwig angered the sponsors by suggesting things could

Saturday's epic 145.9km point-to-point road race was all it was cracked up to be - causing a decisive shift in the men's overall classification, although not without controversy. Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance) won the race from a 6-man group sprint, snatching a 20-second time bonus and the yellow jersey along with it. Chris Baldwin (Toyota United) finished second, taking a 15-second time bonus, and putting him into second overall. Baldwin now trails Lagutin by only 3 seconds in general classification going into tomorrow's criterium, which has a total of 52 seconds of time

Floyd Landis is poised to make the wrong kind of history if his counter-analysis comes back positive: he could become the first Tour de France winner to lose his crown for a doping violation. On Thursday, Landis vehemently denied allegations he doped en route to winning the wild 2006 Tour, but if results of his “B” sample confirm initial tests that revealed “unusual” testosterone levels in his urine, Landis could lose his Tour victory. “All I want to do is ask that everybody take a step back,” Landis said. “All I'm asking for is just that I be given a chance to prove that I'm

The first ProTour cycling event since the Floyd Landis positive doping test, the Vattenfall Cyclassics, takes place in Hamburg, Germany, on Sunday when team and UCI officials will surely be talking about the matter. Though Sunday's 250km, 11th edition of the HEW Cyclassics in theory should be the main event, it is likely that the cycling world will still be taking stock of the news of the positive test for testosterone by the Tour de France winner which broke on Thursday. Of course Landis will not be present at the race but team staff, sponsors, UCI officials and riders will have

UCI ready to release ‘Puerto’ documents Amid the Floyd Landis doping scandal, the UCI released a communiqué late Thursday outlining the next steps in the “Operación Puerto” doping investigation in Spain. With Spanish authorities continuing its investigation, the UCI is moving forward with its own process to discipline riders with alleged contacts with the suspected blood doping ring operated out of Spain. “The UCI is preparing to send the files of riders involved in [Operación Puerto] to the national federations concerned and has asked for disciplinary proceedings to be started in

The Astana cycling team, thrown out of the Tour de France when several of its riders were linked to a Spanish doping scandal, will compete in this weekend's Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg, the team announced on Friday. Led by Kazakh star Alexandre Vinokourov and directed by Australian Neil Stephens, the team will also take part in the Tour of Germany on August 1-9. The UCI on Thursday announced the team, formerly known as Liberty Seguros, could continue competing as long as none of its riders or officials were linked to Spain's Operation Puerto investigation. The UCI's

Friday's fifth stage at the International Tour de Toona ended in breakaway finishes for both the men and women with no effect on general classification. The men raced four 20-mile circuits through the Mennonite farmlands of Martinsburg, Penn. Bernard van Ulden (Navigators Insurance) outsprinted Mark McCormack (Colavita/Sutter Homes) in a 3-up breakway that was out in front for 79 of the stage's 80 miles. For the women's race, it was Brooke Miller (Palo Alto Bicycles/TIBCO) who nipped Webcor's Felicia Gomez at the line in The pro men's race started off aggressive from

(Hollidaysburg, Penn.) - The Tour de 'Toona's fourth day of racing took place Thursday in Hollidaysburg - where the Slinky toy is manufactured - and did not result in any significant changes on general classification, allowing the sprinters to take center stage. Juan Jose "JJ" Haedo (Toyota United) easily took the uphill sprint, scoring the team's second stage victory. The men's race saw several mutt breakaways go up the road, but none posed a serious threat on the undulating course. In the women's race 4-time national criterium champion Tina Pic (Colavita) maintained

Mariano Friedick (Toyota United) scored a 10-second winner's time bonus to take the lead at the International Tour de Toona on Tuesday. Meanwhile, four-time national criterium champion Tina Pic (Colavita) took the stage-2 field sprint ahead of Lipton's Laura van Gilder, but Alison Powers (Advil-Chapstick) retained the yellow jersey heading into Wednesday’s decisive 98-mile stage, which features a Category 1 climb over Blue Knob ski resort at mid-race. In the men’s race, a five-man breakaway got away early and nearly made it until the end. Stefano Barberi (Toyota-United) and Bernard

Americans returned from the 38th Tour de l'Abitibi this weekend where some of the nation’s best junior cyclists claimed three stage wins and fifth place overall. One of the most prestigious junior stage races in the world, the 2.HC rated UCI event is the only North American junior race on the UCI Calendar and is often referred to as the "Tour de France for juniors." More than 160 junior cyclists, including 54 Americans, from seven countries lined up for eight stages in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of northern Quebec. U.S. National Team rider Kevin Soller (Breckenridge, Colorado)

Five Astaná riders who were forced out of the 2006 Tour de France because of alleged links to a blood doping investigation have been formally cleared by Spanish courts. Joseba Beloki, Isidro Nozal, Sergio Paulinho, Allan Davis and Alberto Contador have all received a written document officially clearing them of any links to the ongoing “Operación Puerto,” the Spanish newspaper El Diario Vasco reported Wednesday. The five riders received a legal document signed by Manuel Sánchez Martín, secretary for the Spanish court heading up the “Operación Puerto” investigation, stating, “there are not

Wednesday’s 96-mile point-to-point road race took the riders through four counties starting from the Johnstown Galleria Mall and finishing at the Logan Valley Mall in Altoona. The yellow jersey would change hands in both the men's and women's race on a day of attrition over an undulating course. Frank Pipp (Target Training) was the surprise winner in the men's race, nipping prologue winner Karl Menzies (Health Net) and Ciaran Powers (Navigators) at the line. The 20-second time bonus was enough to put Pipp into second place overall. But Menzies second place finish was good enough

Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis) and Alison Powers (Advil-Chapstick) scored the opening victories on Monday as the International Tour de Toona got under way with the Altoona Beasley prologue in downtown Altoona, Pennsylvania. Organizers welcomed a record number of pre-registered participants to central Pennsylvania for the evening 3.1-mile (5.6km) time trial, which saw riders leaving the start house every 30 seconds. Just over five seconds separated the top five pro men contenders. Menzies turned the fastest time of the day, 5:09.19, followed by Shawn Milne (Navigators Insurance) in

Jan Ullrich has vowed to win the Tour de France before he retires from pro cycling — and he has been in contact with seven-time champion Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel team. ''I have always said, 'I will finish with a Tour victory,' '' Ullrich told the Swiss daily Blick. ''Unfortunately, this year I was prevented from doing so. That's why I will try to add another year.'' While he has been in contact with Discovery Channel, Ullrich said that no concrete agreement had been reached. The team is said to have hired Gerolsteiner rider Levi

I promised in my July 3 column to follow up about bruising, inflammation, Tyler Hamilton’s lower back and heart attacks. I set it aside for the Tour, but I’ve been reminded enough that it’s time to spell it out. I was in Europe at the time, having come over with my wife to visit a dear friend in Germany who had just barely survived a massive heart attack a few weeks before. He is an extremely strong man, former Olympian and many-time German national champion in judo who was almost never sick. He was one of the last people you might expect to suffer a heart attack, as is Hugh Walton, another

Next year is going to be a good one for tech-heads. We already have so much 2007 stuff to ride and talk about — and we’re still more than a month away from the season’s first trade show. The latest look ahead came this past week when Michael Zellmann, SRAM’s PR and media manager, visited VeloNews HQ in Boulder showing off SRAM’s new Force road group. At the Sea Otter classic in April, both Lennard Zinn and I had the opportunity to ride a pre-production version of the new components, which were very close to the finished product. The group Zellmann dropped off is from the first official

New Tour de France champion Floyd Landis leapt to second in the latestPro Tour standings released on Monday.The American's victory moves him to just 20 points behind leader AlejandroValverde of Spain, while Australian Cadel Evans's top five finish on theTour propelled him to sixth in the standings. Standings1. Alejandro Valverde (ESP) 195 points2. Floyd Landis (USA) 1753. Frank Schleck (LUX) 1504. Tom Boonen (BEL) 1455. Ivan Basso (ITA) 1386. Cadel Evans (AUS) 1207. Christophe Moreau (FRA) 1188. Jsrg Jaksche (GER) 1109. Alessandro Ballan (ITA) 11010. Damiano Cunego (ITA) 10611.

Full coverage of the 2006Tour de France

Scott “Iceman” Moninger (Health Net-Maxxis) returned to Mt. Evans to takehis sixth victory in the Bob Cook Memorial Hillclimb, dropping the seemingly ageless Ned Overend (Specialized) by five seconds on the final pitches. Local mainstay Mike Carter (Colorado Velo – Denver Spoke) and Navigator’s PhilZajicek came home in third and fourth respectively. This year’s race saw beautiful Colorado weather saw the mountain’s wildlifecome out to watch the race, with reports of marmots and mountain goatsplaying chicken on the road with the racers. Some of the pro racers entertained thoughts of

German star Jan Ullrich will not be welcomed back at the T-Mobile team that has sacked him due to doping allegations against him, even if he proves he is innocent. The German T-Mobile squad has confirmed that it has terminated its contract with Ullrich after the 1997 Tour de France champion made his dismissal public first. Ullrich, 32, was sacked on Thursday night, along with his Spanish teammate Oscar Sevilla. The two had been suspended due to their implication in the Spanish drugs investigation named “Operacíon Puerto.” And Ullrich slammed the team for the way it sacked him. “I am very

A Spanish judge upheld charges Thursday against two doctors at the center of a major doping investigation in cycling. The two doctors, Eufemiano Fuentes and Jose Merino Batres, reiterated their innocence while the court upheld the charges of crimes against public health. It is up to the provincial court to decide whether to order the doctors to stand trial or to drop the case. Five people - including Fuentes and Merino Batres - were arrested and charged in May when police seized drugs and frozen blood at a Madrid clinic. The samples were thought to have been prepared for

With 16 days of hard racing behind them, the peloton is headed for the last day in mountains. From a nutritional perspective, the biggest challenge of a three week stage race like the Tour de France is not only eating to achieve full muscle glycogen recovery off the bike, when riders have large team meals and recovery snacks available to them. But they must also meet the demands of glycogen depletion on the bike, an almost impossible task given the intricacies of race dynamics, stomach and intestinal tolerances, and the gargantuan fuel demands and fluid losses that occur during a

Aren’t aero’ covers on components a no-no?Dear Lennard,Floyd Landis's aerodynamic cranks have been described as both a "fairing" and a "cover." I thought aerodynamic covers on components isn't allowed.Steve Dear Steve,It isn’t allowed to have a cover on a component that is strictly for aerodynamics, but a cover can be made that serves an aerodynamic purpose while at the same time increasing the strength or rigidity of the component. That argument could be made with Floyd’s crank cover.Lennard How do they rig those aero-bar brakes?Dear Lennard,I've seen a brake lever on the CSC

After reachinghis 1000-mile goal in June, Major Jason Bryan gets to turn hisattention to other - more important - matters, like heading home. -EditorThis week I will return my bike to the same shipping container I removedit from ten months ago - a symbolic, bitter-sweet (more sweet than bitter)end to a dreadful, wonderful year.Below are a few reflections of my cycling experience and life in generalfor the deployed Soldier — a few observations you won’t get anywhere else.Third country nationals do most of the “undesirable” work around thecamp. They are always quick with a greeting and a smile,

Talk about close finishes. On the last day of the Cascade Cycling Classic, a circuit race held on a demanding 17-mile loop, Chris Wherry (Toyota-United) won a tiebreaker based on stage finishes against Jeff Louder (Health Net-Maxxis) to win the final overall classification. Meanwhile, in the women’s race, Kristen LaSasso (Lipton) maintained her 23-second lead over teammate Kristen Armstrong to take the overall victory. MenIn the men’s circuit race Neil Shirley (Jittery Joe’s) took the stage victory, out-dueling breakaway partners Glen Chadwick (Navigators), Aaron Olson (Saunier

As T-Mobile held a team press conference on the Tour de France’s second rest day ahead of three tough days in the Alps, Jan Ullrich released his own statement, saying he should be considered innocent of doping allegations until proven otherwise. T-Mobile suspended the 32-year-old German and teammate Oscar Sevilla after they were linked to a doctor in Spain said to have organized a blood-doping and performance-enhancing network. The inquiry, dubbed Operacíon Puerto, uncovered large amounts of doping substances, packs of frozen blood and a list with some 200 names of athletes. "In any state

After a double day of competition domestique riders Jeff Louder (Health Net-Maxxis) and Kristen LaSasso (Lipton) continue to lead the Cascade Cycling Classic. Saturday’s racing included a flat, 6.6-mile time trial in the morning and a technical, downtown criterium in the evening. Men’s time trialLouder rode bravely in the morning time trial to retain the leaders jersey by a scant nine seconds over his teammate Nathan O’Neill. O’Neill now sits in second place overall, with Chris Wherry (Toyota-United) moving down to third. Louder, who seemed a bit stunned by his performance, said being in

Good friends, albeit from different teams, took the spoils on Friday in the 87-mile men’s Cascade Lakes Road Race. Burke Swindlehurst (Navigators) won stage 3 of Oregon’s Cascade Cycling Classic while Jeff Louder (Health Net-Maxxis), his Salt Lake City friend and training partner, moved into the overall lead. In the 75-mile women’s race, which was staged at the base of Mount Bachelor, 12 miles down the road from the men’s start, Kristen Armstrong (Lipton) won a sprint finish from Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Cooking Light) and Mara Abbot (Rio Grande). MenThe action in the men’s race started