Road

It was two former champions winning it all on Sunday in the fifth and final stage of the Outside Magazine Tour of the Gila, The Gila Monster Road Race. The pro men’s race offered an exciting finish with Team Seasilver’s Burke Swindlehurst coming from behind to win for the third time. Starting the stage 23 seconds behind overall leader Andrew Bajadali of Vitamin Cottage, Swindlehurst won the 106.4-mile stage in 4:55:38. Tecos’ Ubaldo Mesa followed Swindlehurst 25 seconds later to take second while Aerospace Engineering-VMG’s Ivan Stevic finished third, 33 seconds behind the leader. Bajadali

Phonak’s Santiago Botero signaled his return to winning ways by claiming overall victory in the Tour of Romandie, the 11th race of the 27-leg Pro Tour series. Botero claimed victory after winning the final stage time trial held over a 20.4-kilometer route in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Sunday. The Colombian, a former world champion in the discipline, came over the finish line to beat Australian specialist Brad McGee, with overnight race leader Damiano Cunego of Italy finishing third on the stage. Botero's victory comes in the wake of a relatively barren spell, most of which he endured

Until recently I had forgotten how much fun it is to just get out and ride for the sake of riding. Over the past 10 winters (give or take a few) I have been logging mile-upon-mile, all in the name of establishing a good base to support my body throughout the next six to eight months of torture it would be put through racing. You see for the last 15 years, right up until about 8 months ago, I was working hard to be a professional cyclist. In some ways I made it, and lived a small part of the dream I had been chasing. I have raced in the pro-class at NORBA Nationals, and I have stood atop

Erik Zabel won for the first time this season after taking Sunday’s Rund um den Henninger Turm in Frankfurt for the third time of his career. The 34-year-old German ace has been stuck a cold spell this season, unable to score a victory despite some close calls. The T-Mobile rider slipped away with a group of 20 riders with 35km to go in what proved to be the winning move of the 211km race. Zabel broke free with a 300-meter sprint to the line and was timed in 5 hours, 10 minutes, 34 seconds in a ride through Frankfurt's streets to score his 149th career victory. Alejandro Borrajo

David Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde will be spending much of May plying the roads of Italy after being selected as part of the nine-man Team CSC squad for the upcoming Giro d’Italia. The two Americans will be riding in support of Team CSC captain Ivan Basso in the hunt for the maglia rosa in the season’s first three-week tour which kicks off with a short prologue May 7 in Reggio Calabria. It will be the first Giro for both riders. “I think we have a strong team and I know for sure that all our riders are extremely motivated to go all out for Ivan,” said Team CSC boss Bjarne Riis. “No

Mario Cipollini said if he couldn’t live up to his own expectations, he didn’t want to let down the legion of fans who’ve followed his 17-year career. The 38-year-old -- the winner of a record 42 stages on the Giro d’Italia and 189 career victories – decided to pull the plug just a week before the start of the 2005 Giro. “I didn't feel up to my usual standard," Cipo said during a press conference Friday. “Two months ago I gave my best to win the Milan-San Remo race but on the same day I understood that it was time to admit to my limits. My mind was still competitive, but I didn't

Ina Yoko Teutenberg (T-Mobile) and Jose Delarosa (Tecos) claimed victories on Friday in stage 3 of the Outside Magazine Tour of the Gila. The Fort Bayard Inner Loop Road Race added up to 80 miles with 5781 feet of climbing for men, and 77.9 miles with 5854 feet of vertical for women. The men’s stage wound up as a 26-man dash for the line, with Delarosa’s teammate Gregorio Ladino crossing the line first. But when Ladino was relegated for a centerline violation in the final kilometer, the victory went to Delarosa, with Neil Shirley (Team Seasilver) second and David Clinger (Webcor Builders)

Spaniard Alberto Contador (Liberty Seguros) won the 144km fourth stage of the Tour de Romandie on Saturday between Chatel St-Denis and Les Paccots ahead of Italians Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre). In finishing third and picking up bonus time, Cunego took the overall race lead from Santiago Botero (Phonak) as the Lampre rider warms up for the defense of his Giro d'Italia title next month. Botero crossed sixth on the stage and slipped to second overall, three seconds back, with just Sunday's 20.4km individual time trial in Lausanne remaining. Denis

As if the torrents of rain that soaked last week’s Tour of Georgia weren’t enough to dampen the state’s bicycle racing fan base, the clouds once again offered up soggy conditions for the 25th running of the Athens Twilight Criterium, in downtown Athens, on Saturday. The estimated crowd of 15,000 was noticeably smaller for this race – in past years it had swelled to more than 40,0000. “It’s a little smaller this year, but Twilight night is still the biggest non-football event in this town,” said race director Gene Dixon, who has organized the race every year since it’s inception in 1980.

Silver City, N.M. - Silver City residents handed over the streets of their historic downtown for the fourth stage of The Outside Magazine Tour of the Gila Saturday. In return, they got the chance to see something special, both Todd Wells and Cat Malone winning their first National Race Calendar stage victories. Wells sprinted across the finish line, leading a peloton of 83, to finish the race at 1:34:33 in the men’s pro. A former national mountain bike champion, Wells said this win gave him a little vindication as a road racer. “I do a lot of cyclo-cross racing, which is similar to

It seems international politics can even trickle down to stymie bicycle racers. Yaroslav Popovych, the promising grand tour rider in his first season with Discovery Channel, has been having problems getting the proper visa following the recent political upheaval in his native Ukraine that made headlines worldwide. After some early season racing, Popovych had returned to the Ukraine to settle some paperwork issues, an ordeal that won’t keep him from starting this summer’s Tour de France. “It’s been difficult for him to obtain the necessary visa due to the change in governments but I talked

Mexico’s Team Tecos crossed one-two in stage 2 of the Outside Magazine Tour of the Gila on Thursday, while T-Mobile’s Kim Baldwin collected both the stage win and the overall leader’s pink jersey. Ubaldo Mesa (Tecos) won the mountainous, 94-mile Silver City-Mogollon Pass Road Race in 4:11:43, 29 seconds ahead of teammate Gregorio Ladino. Ivan Stevic (Aerospace Engineering-VMG), second overall at last week’s La Vuelta de Bisbee stage race in Arizona, finished third. Andrew Bajadali (Vitamin Cottage), sixth on the day at 48 seconds back, moved into the overall lead, three seconds ahead of

It was a comeback of sorts for both protagonists in Friday’s hard-fought third stage at the Tour de Romandie. Damiano Cunego – winless so far in the 2005 season – emphatically put to rest any notion that he’s not up to the task of defending his Giro d’Italia title. Santiago Botero, meanwhile, slipped into the leader’s jersey after two frustrating and unproductive seasons in the T-Mobile/Telekom team. For both, it was a return to the winner’s circle. And it bodes well for both riders as they look to larger goals later in the season. Cunego slipped ahead Russia's Denis Menchov

Ryan Blickem and Geneviève Jeanson began their respective races at the Outside Magazine Tour of the Gila Stage Race on Wednesday with victories in the Dan Potts Memorial Time Trial. Blickem, racing for Healthmaxx-BOOM Enterprises, turned a time of 36:42 for the 16.15-mile, out-and-back TT, which started and finished in Tyrone, New Mexico, ascending 6394-foot Little Burro Pass in each direction. Andrew Bajadali (Vitamin Cottage) took second at 37 seconds slower, with teammate Jon Tarkington third at 0:52. Jeanson cranked out a 40:25.92 to take the win by 45 seconds over Kimberly Baldwin

If there was any doubt that Alessandro Petacchi wouldn’t be ready for the Giro d’Italia, he’s erasing those at alarming rate in the Tour de Romandie. The Italian won his second stage in a row and pulled on the yellow jersey in Thursday’s second stage. Italians Daniele Colli (Liquigas-Bianchi) and Mirco Lorenzetto (Domina Vacanze) were second and third, respectively. Overnight leader Oscar Pereiro (Phonak) lost his lead on time bonuses. “I’m feeling good,” Petacchi said. “I still don’t have the form I did at Tirreno or San Remo, but I have good rhythm for this time of year. I need to work on

Oscar Pereiro kept the yellow jersey in Wednesday’s first stage of the Tour de Romandie despite Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) moving into a tie with the Spanish prologue winner. Pereiro won the opening prologue in Geneva by less than a half-second over the surprising Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel), but to Pereiro, it was no surprise at all that he won. “I told the team and also my wife that I'd celebrate my first win of the season in Geneva. I'm in good shape. Also, the course, which is very demanding technically, is ideal for me. The fact that I was the last rider to

Alessandro Petacchi continued on his winning ways, charging to his 15th win of the 2005 season in Wednesday’s first stage of the Tour de Romandie. And it’s not even May yet. The Milan-San Remo champion out-kicked Tom Steels (Davitamon-Lotto) on the 167km circuit course to snag a soggy victory in central Switzerland. "Winning is never easy when you're the favorite, but my team did a great job yet again," Petacchi said. “It was a tough stage because we raced hard and the weather was pretty bad all day. Fortunately we went through the finish area three times during the stage and so I knew

The Vuelta Ciclista a Castilla y León starts Wednesday in northern Spain, but don’t expect to see any big names among the 15 starting teams. Without ProTour status, the relatively minor stage race is verging toward extinction after being excluded from cycling’s new super-league. Like so many other smaller races left out of the 20-team series, event organizers are finding it difficult to keep the race above water. “We are facing a dark future for many of the races not in the ProTour,” said Gregorio Morena, president of the Spanish races association. “Without the ProTour, the races can’t

Just a year ago, Phonak rider Tyler Hamilton roared through the final time trial at the six-day Tour de Romandie to defend his title. The emotional victory gave the Swiss team a huge boost in the run up to what would be its first Tour de France. A year later, Hamilton wasn’t in Geneva for Tuesday’s short opening prologue for the 2005 edition. Instead, he’s fighting to save his cycling career after receiving a two-year racing ban for homologous blood doping. That left it up to unsung and under-rated Oscar Pereiro to save the day for the Phonak team in the second most-important stage race in

Michele Scarponi won’t be among the starters for Tuesday’s prologue at the Tour de Romandie, the Italian rider who will lead Liberty Seguros in the upcoming Giro d’Italia. For many riders, the Romandie tour is the ideal warm-up before the season’s first grand tour, but that’s not the thinking of Liberty Seguros boss Manolo Saiz. Only Joseba Beloki will be racing this week in Switzerland among the Liberty riders heading to the Giro start May 7. “I believe the Giro will be decided between the second and third weeks, so I preferred (the Giro leaders) to come slightly short of form and they

This time he means it. One-time super sprinter Mario Cipollini announced plans to retire from cycling on Tuesday, exiting the peloton before this year’s edition of the Giro d'Italia. The 38-year old, whose 42 stage wins in the Giro is a record, retired two years ago before coming back and breaking the Giro stage-win mark established by Alfredo Binda. However, this time, the flamboyant Italian, known as the “Lion King,” to many of his fans, appears to be serious about his decision. "Announcing my withdrawal less than two weeks before the Giro d'Italia is a painful but honest

Many of the top contenders for next month’s Giro d’Italia will be looking to hone their form in the mountainous Tour de Romandie, the next stop on the ProTour series. With five stages and a prologue, the 656-kilometer Romandie race zips around Switzerland on a challenging course that provides a perfect setting for Giro-bound riders to test their legs. The race opens Tuesday with a short prologue in the narrow streets of Geneva before rolling over scenic farm roads on circuit courses in west-central Switzerland in stages one and two. Stage three is the most difficult day, with three Cat. 1s,

After leading La Vuelta de Bisbee through the first three stages, Ivan Stevic (Aerospace Engineering-VMG) and Maatje Benassi (Excel Sports) found their dreams of overall victory buried in the closing Tombstone Road Race. Stevic, who held a 30-second overall lead after sweeping all three stages going into Sunday’s 87.2-mile showdown, could manage only third in the finale, conceding more than two minutes and the overall win to teammate Clemente Cavaliere, who simply rode away from the field and leapt from 16th to first overall. Benassi, winner of the prologue Mule Pass time trial, took a lead

Final overall standings
1. Tom Danielson (USA) Discovery Channel 26:53:44
2. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner at 4sec
3. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak 9sec
4. Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 1min 10sec
5. Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel 1min 41sec
6. David Zabriskie (USA) Team CSC 3min 4sec
7. Marco Pinotti (ITA) Prodir-Saunier Duval 3min 11sec
8. Nathan O'Neill (AUS) Navigators Insurance 3min 14sec
9. Michael Blaudzun (DEN) Team CSC 3min 51sec
10. Jose Azevedo (POR) Discovery Channel 3min 58sec

Tom Danielson isn't all that interested in hearing the talk, but it is the inevitability that every great up and coming athlete must face. Following his overall victory at the 2005 Dodge Tour de Georgia, the young American cyclist who can climb and time trial with the best of them, must endure the reality that will come with riding for a Discovery Channel team that is about to lose its No. 1 rider. Whether Danielson likes it or not, the comparisons to Lance Armstrong begin now.

Alex Vinokourov’s exciting victory over Jens Voigt in Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège not only ended the T-Mobile’s season-long losing streak, but also laid to rest the assumption that a long-range breakaway couldn’t succeed in this super-hilly classic. Vinokourov was not among the top favorites to win this 10th race of the UCI ProTour, but his rising form and savvy racing brain allowed him to take advantage of a race that was in flux after the trilogy of climbs that were restored to the 260km course.

Jan Ullrich will be back to defend his title at the Tour de Suisse (June 11-19), meaning his first chance in a showdown with Lance Armstrong won’t come until the Tour de France. The 1997 Tour winner was debating between racing the Swiss tour or the Dauphiné Libéré (June 5-12), but finally opted to return to the friendly mountains of Switzerland, which he now calls home. Ullrich recently raced in the Vuelta a Aragon, where team officials said he looks buff, motivated and confident, the best since 1997. Up next he’ll return to Spain to race in the Volta a Cataluyna (May 16-22). Alexandre

[nid:30845]On a day of high drama, riveting plot twists and an outcome that was literally undecided until the last second, the most telling moment may well have come during the ascent of the category 1 Hogpen Gap climb, 96 miles into stage 5 of the Dodge Tour de Georgia. It was there that the world’s most famous bike racer went to the front of a four-rider break and started hammering away for one of his teammates, American Tom Danielson.

A steady rain that started in Liège Saturday afternoon is forecast to return Sunday, which - combined with a 20-kph wind from the south - should make the Belgian super-classic even tougher than it already promises to be. The new 260km course has 10 major hills compared with eight last year, and the restoration of the Wanne-Stockeu-Haute-Levée trilogy of climbs has added meat to what was becoming a less demanding race. Even the hot race favorite, Italy’s Danilo Di Luca, seems to agree. The Italian, who is hoping to increase his UCI ProTour lead in this 10th race of the series, said Saturday:

Foggy final 250 meters Road sign for Lance Light reading at the top of the climb clearing up

Astarloa patched up, but not packing it itIgor Astarloa is all screwed up – literally. The 2003 world champion is trying to kick-start his season after crashing hard at the Haribo Classic in February, leaving him with a fractured arm. To keep things all in one piece, he’s racing with five screws and a metal plate in his left arm. “Things are going better, but it still hurts,” Astarloa told the Spanish daily MARCA. “I was with the lead group going up the Cauberg (at Amstel Gold), but I wasn’t in good enough shape to challenge for the win. I was upset, because there are going to be few

Ivan Stevic must like La Vuelta de Bisbee. The 24-year-old Aerospace Engineering-VMG racer has won all three stages so far in this year’s race, held in and around Bisbee, Arizona. Stevic started his weekend with a win in the Mule Pass Individual Time Trial on Friday, then added insult to injury by winning both stages on Saturday – the morning’s 79.3-mile Sulphur Springs Road Race, outsprinting Scott Blanchard (Eclipse Racing) and David Clinger (Webcor), and the afternoon’s 8.3-mile Warren Time Trial, ahead of Ryan Blickem (Landis-Trek-VW) and Mike Dietrich (Fiordifrutta). The women spread

Image Files Fleche Wallone

Last year, Davide Rebellin hit a winning streak that all the pundits thought was once a generation. The Amstel-Flèche-Liège hat-trick had never been done before and no one thought it could be matched anytime soon, certainly not Rebellin himself who said he doubted he could repeat the treble. Now, a year on, and just a week or so after Tom Boonen (Quick Step) delivered the Flanders-Roubaix double, Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi) is on the verge of repeating the unrepeatable. The question going into Sunday’s Lìege-Bastogne-Liège is: Who can stop Di Luca? After a frustrating 2004 season, Di

Stocking up for a day's worth of racing Dalton Georgia native and Credit Agricole rider Saul Raisin has plenty of fans here in Georgia Pate in his new cycling shorts Health Net looking pro It's Earth Day Disco bus gets mobbed at start

The sun was shining from a clear blue sky Friday on the 260km course of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the 91st edition of which takes place on Sunday. It was almost like summer, with early tourists hiking the wooded trails of the Ardennes, anglers out in the trout streams, and cows lounging around their meadows of lush, green grass. But this sort of weather is unusual for Belgium, a country that on average has 203 days of rainfall a year, and only three days of what the locals call “excessive heat” — warmer than 30 degrees C (or 86 degrees F). It was great weather for the 25 teams that will contest

Ivan Stevic (Aerospace Engineering-VMG) and Maatje Benassi (Excel Sports) opened the 27th edition of La Vuelta de Bisbee with victories in the Mule Pass Individual Time Trial on Friday. The prologue climbs 837 feet in just 2.8 miles, and Stevic wasted no time in getting to the finish, clocking a 9:39, nine seconds better than Phil Wong (Fiordifrutta) and 16 faster than Cody Peterson (3D Racing). David Clinger (Webcor) finished 13th, 37 seconds back . In the women's race, meanwhile, Benassi crossed the line in 12:13, 20 seconds ahead of Brooke Ourada (T-Mobile) and a further seven

The results sheet for stage 4 of the Dodge Tour de Georgia showed CSC’s Brian Vandborg as the day’s winner. And indeed the Dane did win the wicked 133.4-mile test from Dalton to Dahlonega, finishing in 5:33:02. But the bigger victor on a Friday afternoon where racers were brutalized by wind, rain and hail, was American Floyd Landis.

The smooth running of this year's Giro d’Italia appeared further assured Thursday after an agreement between the race organizers and the 20 ProTour teams who had been threatening to boycott the season’s first grand tour. Giro organizers had been under threat of a possible boycott of the race, which begins in three weeks time in Reggio de Calabria because of a dispute over appearance fees. According to the professional cycling teams' union, represented by Liberty Seguros boss Manolo Saiz and Quick Step's Patrick Lefevere, agreement with Giro d'Italia director Angelo Zomegnan

There were two definite declarations to be made following the third stage of the Dodge Tour de Georgia in Rome on Thursday. First, if it wasn’t already, American Floyd Landis made it clear that with or without the services of the now-suspended Tyler Hamilton, the future of the Phonak team is in solid hands as it heads into the important months of the 2005 season.

Ivan Stevic (Aerospace Engineering-VMG) and David Clinger (Webcor Builders) headline the pro men’s field in the 27th edition of La Vuelta de Bisbee Stage Race, which kicks off Friday. The three-day, four-stage event in the high-desert terrain of southeastern Arizona features an uphill prologue time trial, two road stages and an individual time trial, with more than 175 miles of racing and 10,000 feet of climbing for the pro/1-2 field. Stevic was the revelation of the Sea Otter Classic road stage race April 14-17 in Monterey, California. The 24-year-old Serb won the stage-2 circuit race and

Last year, Danilo Di Luca could only watch as rival Davide Rebellin inched away to victory on the Huy climb at the end of Flèche Wallone. Fresh off his victory in Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race, Liquigas-Bianchi rider starts Wednesday’s race as one of the favorites but Di Luca said he’s prefer to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège instead. “I won’t look for the victory at all costs. If I happened to be in good position in the final, I will fight,” Di Luca said. “The Flèche’s route is very suitable for me, but I confirm that Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the race I like the more.” Liquigas-Bianchi will come to

Start List - Flèche Wallone, 2005GEROLSTEINER1. Davide Rebellin (I)2. Marcus Fothen (G)3. Andrea Moletta (I)4. Ronny Scholz (G)5. Marco Serpellini (I)6. Fabian Wegmann (G)7. Beat Zberg (Swi)8. Marcus Zberg (Swi)DAVITAMON - LOTTO12. Serge Baguet (B)13. Christophe Brandt (B)14. Cadel Evans (Aus)15. Bjorn Leukemans (B)16. Axel Merckx (B)17. Koos Moerenhout (Nl)18. Wim Van Huffel (B)19. Preben Van Hecke (B)RABOBANK21. Oscar Freire (Sp)22. Erik Dekker (Nl)23. Thomas Dekker (Nl)24. Theo Eltink (Nl)25. LÖwik Gerben (Nl)26. Mickael Rasmussen (Dk)27. Rory Sutherland (Aus)28. Remmert Wielinga

For the hopeless romantics among us, a victory by Andrea Tafi in the second stage of the Dodge Tour de Georgia would have been a fairy tale with the classic happy-ending. Tafi, the 38-year-old one-time Paris-Roubaix champion and always one of the sport’s most compelling characters, rolling off the front and soloing home for the win in what will be one of his last events as a professional. It was almost too good to be true — and it turns out it was.

After he won the Amstel Gold Race last Sunday, a rejuvenated and revitalized Danilo Di Luca said that his next goal was this coming weekend’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège. “That’s a race I’ve always dreamed about winning,” he said. So how come he won the Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday? “Good question,” Di Luca replied. “This morning, we decided that we would see what happens in the race. Well, [Jens] Voigt was riding very, very strong in the break. It was the decision of my director [Roberto] Amadio, and me too, to make my teammates ride.”

Britain’s Nicole Cooke (Safi-Pasta Zara) once again stamped her formidable authority on the longest kilometer in cycling — the infamous Mur de Huy — taking her second win in the women’s Fleche Wallonne in Huy, Belgium on Wednesday. Cooke won her first Fleche Wallonne title in 2003. Round 5 of 11 in this year’s women’s World Cup series, the 8th edition of the Flèche Wallonne Femmes followed the final 105km and six climbs of the 201.5km men’s race. The women’s course eliminates the men’s run from Charleroi to Huy, picking up the course as it loops through the Ardennes south of Huy. On the

Start List - 2005 Tour de Georgia* Under-23Discovery Channel1. Lance Armstrong USA2. José Azevedo POR3. Michael Barry CAN4. Antonio Cruz USA5. Tom Danielson USA6. Viatcheslav Ekimov RUS7. Jason McCartney USA8. José Luis Rubiera ESPDS Johan BruyneelPhonak11. Niki Aebersold SUI12. Aurélien Clerc SUI13. José Enrique Guitierrez ESP14. Robert Hunter RSA15. Floyd Landis USA16. Tomasz Nose* SLO17. Sascha Urweider SUIDS René SavaryCSC21. Bobby Julich USA22. Christian Vande Velde USA23. David Zabriskie USA24. Andy Schleck* LUX25. Brian Vandborg DEN26. Lars Bak DEN27.

Maps, Profiles and info Tour de Georgia

Racing legend Eddy Merckx said he perfectly understands Lance Armstrong’s decision to retire at the end of this summer’s Tour de France. It’s an inevitability that every professional racer faces. “To stop or continue racing, it’s always a personal decision,” Merckx told Het Nieuwsblad. “I’m not going to judge him. It’s easy to understand that things are harder for him, with everything that he’s suffered to get to this level.” Like many, Merckx agreed that Armstrong had the physical attributes to continue if he wanted to. Merckx said Armstrong could have easily transformed himself into a

The Dodge Tour de Georgia, the biggest stage race of the 2005 domestic road-racing season — with what is arguably the most competitive field in North American history — is set to begin Tuesday morning in Augusta, Georgia. Marked by appearances from American ProTour team leaders Bobby Julich (CSC), Floyd Landis (Phonak), Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) and defending champion Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel), the race will again serve as an early season stage racing test, with the state of Georgia as the backdrop. It’s no overstatement to describe Lance Armstrong’s decision to return to

After what was more leisurely stroll than bike race, it was Phonak's Robbie Hunter taking the first stage of the 2005 Dodge Tour de Georgia on Tuesday. Hunter charged to the front at the end of the 128.9-mile stage that started in Augusta, taking the win in downtown Macon. Jelly Belly's Ben Brooks took second, with Italian Michele Maccanti (LPR) in third.

Tyler Hamilton expressed dismay Monday after USADA handed down a two-year racing ban for illegal blood transfusions. It’s a charge Hamilton continues to vigorously deny. “It caught me completely by surprise,” Hamilton told Rick Sadowski of the Rocky Mountain News. “Not for a second did I think it was going to turn out this way. The bottom line is an innocent athlete was suspended from competition. You could say it’s a victory for USADA, but I think it's better to say it's a tragedy for all athletes. I'm innocent.” He can return to competition April 17, 2007, but he forfeits all

The UCI ProTour has reached a turning point in its opening season. Behind us are the early (cold) stage races and the flat-landers’ spring classics. Now come the two hilly Ardennes classics (with a different set of characters, even from last Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race), followed by the summertime stage races: Switzerland’s Tour de Romandie next week; Italy’s Giro and Spain’s Tour of Catalonia in May; followed by the French Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour of Switzerland in June; and all culminating with the Tour de France in July. Like the races, the winners have also come in waves. First there

Cold-setting (that means bending to you and me)Dear Lennard,I ride a 1980's vintage Klein Quantum with an 8-speed rear. ShouldI be able to get the frame adjusted to fit a wider 9- or 10-speed wheel?BrianDear Brian,Were this question about a steel frame, it would be not be a problem,but no, you cannot adjust an aluminum frame permanently without damagingthe frame. But you can flex the stays to put in the wheel each time youdo it without hurting the frame. You just can't make fast wheel changes.However, cold-setting an aluminum rear end so that it holds 130mm rearspacing rather than the

Rudy Pevenage, the Belgian sport director and trainer who’s worked with Jan Ullrich since his amateur days, says his German pupil is in his best form since he won the Tour de France eight years ago. “He’s made great progress since January. He’s had his best preparation for the Tour de France since 1997,” Pevenage told the German wires. “We did a lot of quality work in Tuscany in February and March. Jan has got good base miles in his legs.” Just a year ago, Ullrich was forced to not start Flèche Wallone after being behind in his training due to illness and being overweight. This season has

American racer Chris Horner (Saunier Duval-Prodir) will be forced to sit out the upcoming Dodge Tour de Georgia, as well as next month’s Giro d’Italia, due to a broken hip. The hairline fracture on Horner’s left hipbone occurred at stage 2 of Tirreno Adriatico on March 10th. After returning to the U.S. following Setmana Catalana, where Horner finished 16th overall, an initial MRI revealed the fracture. At that time, he was told he could continue training on the painful injury, and that it should be healed in time for next week’s Tour de Georgia. But soon after, a panel of experts reviewed

After sucking on the fumes of Alessandro Petacchi all week, Aussie sprinter Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros) finally got a stage victory in a hard-fought battle in the final day of the 42nd Vuelta a Aragon in Spain. Petacchi, a winner of two stages in the five-day Aragon race in his return to racing since Milan-San Remo, faded out of contention in the heated final sprint more than a minute back on a gradually climbing finish to Illueca at the end of the 139km stage. Davis, who finished second twice to Petacchi earlier this week, showed off some strong finishing skills on the deceptively steep

Start List for the 40th edition of the Amstel Gold Race(as of Saturday April 16, 2005) * = ReserveProTour TeamsGerolsteiner1. Davide Rebellin (I)2. Andrea Moletta (I)3. Ronny Scholz (G)4. Fabian Wegmann (G)5. Peter Wrolich (A)6. Markus Zberg (Swi)7. Heinrich Haussler (G)8. Thomas Ziegler (G) * Marcel Strauss (Swi) * Beat Zberg (Swi)Davitamon-Lotto11. Serge Baguet (B)12. Leon Van Bon (Nl)13. Johan Vansummeren (B)14. Aart Vierhouten (Nl)15. Christophe Brandt (B)16. Bjorn Leukemans (B)17. Axel Merckx (B)18. Preben Vanhecke (B) * Mario Aerts (B) * Koos Moerenhout (Nl)Quickstep21. Kevin De Weert

You can’t help but feel the anguish of Michael Boogerd. Although he did win the Amstel Gold Race in 1999, by narrowly outsprinting Lance Armstrong, Rabobank’s lanky Dutchman has since been the runner-up no less than four times. The cruelest of those second places came on Sunday, when the latest man to beat him to the line was Danilo Di Luca, the revitalized Liquigas-Bianchi team leader who last week won the Tour of the Basque Country.

To celebrate the 40th edition of the Amstel Gold Race, the Dutch organizers are hosting this weekend as many of the past winners as could come. Among those who could accept the invitation are the inaugural 1966 winner Frenchman Jean Stablinski, now a septuagenarian, and the event’s most prolific winner, Dutchman Jan Raas, who won the race five times between 1977 and 1982. The Amstel champion who has traveled the farthest, literally from halfway around the world, is 1983 winner Phil Anderson. “This is the first time I’ve been back since I retired,” said the bronzed Aussie, who’s growing his

A few weeks ago, organizers of the Sea Otter Classic road stage race decided to change the course on the final road stage in hopes of sparking more action for a climactic finale. That objective was achieved, and if the final stage was much more difficult than in years past, that’s just fine with overall winners Doug Ollerenshaw (Health Net-Maxxis) and Kristin Armstrong (T-Mobile). For each, Saturday’s arduous final stage, which took riders from the start at the Laguna Seca Raceway into the surrounding hills of Fort Ord, overlooking California’s Monterey Bay, proved decisive. For the

Rebellin: Don't expect a repeat of '04Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) lines up Sunday at Amstel Gold Race as defending champion, something he’ll do all week during the Ardennes run, which also includes Flèche Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Last year, Rebellin became the first racer to sweep the Ardennes treble, but he says repeating the feat is unlikely. “To have the same success I had last year I believe is almost impossible. These are races I like very much, but what happened is once in a lifetime,” Rebellin said earlier this year. Rebellin has had some close calls this year,

Today was the first day of the Sea Otter Bicycle Classic in Monterey, California. This has always been one of my favorite races. I love the atmosphere. It is the only race on the calendar where we have both mountain biking and road racing. It creates a carnival-type scene, complete with a great expo, where sponsors and exhibitors have tents set up so spectators can browse and buy. Okay, so you get the picture – lots of bikes, tents and people. But what really sets the Sea Otter apart from other races is its location. The race is held on the Laguna Seca Speedway, which for most of the year is

Lance Armstrong will look to hone his form for the 2005 Tour de France in the 57th Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, a demanding, weeklong race in June that the American has won twice before going on to claim victory in the Tour. Organizers on Friday announced the route for the June 5-12 race, which should have the 33-year-old American salivating with anticipation – in addition to a climb up the legendary Ventoux, it has a time trial that is slightly shorter than the Tour’s 55km time trial around Saint Etienne, to be held on the penultimate day. It’s the Tour’s only true time trial, barring the

Michael Boogerd and Erik Dekker have a job on their hands if they are to win the only Dutch one-day classic in the 27-leg Pro Tour series, the Amstel Gold Race, which takes place Sunday in Maastricht. Boogerd, the winner in 1999, and reigning Paris-Tours champion Dekker, the winner here in 2001, are among the favorites for the 250.7km race, especially as a host of other contenders have opted out of the ProTour's eighth race. ProTour series leader Tom Boonen (Quick Step) - the recent winner of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix last week - is among those giving Amstel Gold a miss.

When it comes to pro road racing at the Sea Otter Classic, you can always expect the unexpected. Things are just different at the Otter. On Thursday the pro stage race kicked off in Monterey, California, with a rollicking downhill time trial that sent riders spiraling through the famous “corkscrew,” a twisting section of banked turns at the Laguna Seca Raceway. On Friday, more than 100 riders in the pro men’s field were pulled after a Health Net-Maxxis-fueled break lapped the majority of riders in the 96.5km, 27-lap race. Scroll down for a photo gallery from Casey Gibson As expected, Health

The war of words between the UCI and the three major grand tours is heating up again, threatening to derail the ProTour just as the new series is gaining traction. The organizers of the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia issued a strongly-wordedcommuniqué Wednesday that resists what they call “the UCI’s maneuvers designed to divide them.” It’s a real alphabet soup as the three businesses behind the grand tours – ASO for the Tour, RCS for the Giro and Unipublic for the Vuelta – have once again closed ranks to resist changes that they insist are imposed in an top-down

The 2005 Sea Otter road stage race got off to a 60 kph start on Thursday afternoon when the pro men and women tackled the unique 3km stage 1 time trial, covering a stretch of the Laguna Seca race track in Monterey, California. In a race that took less than three minutes for the fastest riders to complete, Health Net’s Gord Fraser improved on his 2004 showing of second place, clocking a time of 2:47 on the wind-blasted, mostly downhill time trial. Known more for his finishing kick than his ability to race against the clock, Fraser said the shorter time trial format favors him. “There’s a lot

Editor's Note: Ordinarily a regular feature in VeloNews magazine, we figured that Chris Horner’s most recent “Talking the talk” column is timely enough to warrant a bit of attention on VeloNews.com and would go a long way toward answering the spate of "Where's Horner?" letters filling up our mailbox. We'll post this one on-line, but for die-hard Horner fans, you'll usually have to check the magazine, where his column will appear throughout the 2005 season.Now we’re into the season and we’re starting to see which teams have started the year with good form and which teams are

A week after abandoning the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, last year’s Tour de France runner up Andreas Klöden will make changes to his training program ahead of July’s Grande Boucle. His racing program, however, won’t change and he’s expected to race next week at Flèche Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The 29-year-old underwent extensive testing at a clinic in Freiburg on Monday which showed the German all-rounder is behind in his preparation for the Tour. “Andreas’s test results are not bad at all,” reported team doctor Andreas Schmid on T-Mobile’s web page. “Based on these insights, we will now

PRESS RELEASEThe organisers of the three major Tours (Giro d´Italia, Tour deFrance, Vuelta a España) wish to make the following observationsin response to the UCI's pressrelease dated 12 April 2005:1. The organisers of the three major Tours remain completelyunited in responding to the manoeuvers of the UCI designed to divide them.2. The organisers of the three major Tours can not and do notintend to accept the authority of a new organisation named the CUPT, designedto replace the current CCP and supposed, according to the UCI, to "representall players in professional cycling", and which

As your training program progresses to a build phase and your trainingrides increase in time and especially intensity for development of speedand strength, your nutritional requirements also move up a notch. Hardertraining burns more fuel, and the amount of carbohydrate you consume hasa direct impact on your muscle glycogen levels and recovery. Hard trainingdays and heavy training weeks, also require a step-up in your protein intaketo build and repair muscle tissue. Putting it all together nutritionallyduring a build week in your training cycle, means not only consuming adequatecalories,

American Tyler Hamilton has returned to Europe, still awaiting a decision in the case concerning his disciplinary hearing before the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. It’s been more than a month since Hamilton presented his case before a three-person panel in Denver. Hamilton is facing up to a two-year ban, charged with homologous blood doping – the injection of red blood cells from another person - after failing a doping test at last year’s Vuelta a España. In a diary entry posted April 6 on his personal web page, Hamilton said he’s patiently waiting for an announcement, just like everyone

Crank optionsDear Lennard,I am going to Corsica in September. My bike has a standard Dura-Ace10-speed drivetrain with a double chainring. I would like to put on a compactcrankset for the trip, then reinstall the original after I return. My preferencewould be to not install a new bottom bracket. I could go to a triple. Doesany compact crank fit the Dura-Ace outside bearing bottom bracket? CanI run a triple Dura-Ace or Ultegra as a double without changing out theread end? I would rather not have to get a new crank and bottom bracket(like an FSA) just for one trip.Many thanks.BobDear Bob,The

The second annual Garrett Lemire Memorial Grand Prix in Ojai, California, got a little extra star power on Sunday courtesy of a visit by six-time Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong and his companion Sheryl Crow. According to the Ventura County Star, (requires registration) Armstrong glided up to the line shortly before the start of the 90-minute pro men’s criterium. He apparently heard about the race from an old buddy, Dave Lettieri, the former manager of the Chevrolet-L.A. Sheriff’s team, now owner of FasTrack Bicycles in nearby Santa Barbara. And while, like his Roubaix-bound teammate

Tom Boonen (Quick Step) shot to the top of the ProTour standings following his dramatic victory in Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix. The 24-year-old Belgian slipped ahead of Milan-San Remo winner Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) with wins at Flanders and Roubaix. George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) moved into fourth with 75 points while Bobby Julich (CSC) sits in eighth with 50 points. Boonen was crowned king of the cobbles on Sunday and the feat made the covers of all the major Belgian dailies. Wednesday’s GP Scheldeprijs will be Boonen’s last race before he takes a “mini-vacation” before

Hundreds of collegiate cyclists from the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC) convened on the Boston area for the 6th annual Boston Beanpot Classic. The three race event once again set a new record with over 470 collegiate racers from 60 colleges and universities across 11 states and two countries. The large turnout makes the 2006 Boston Beanpot Classic the largest collegiate race in U.S. history for the third straight year.

Dominican national road champion Wendy Cruz captured the inaugural edition of the Tour of Puerto Rico Sunday, finishing third in an 84km criterium through the streets of Hato Rey. Cruz took the race lead on Friday by finishing second in the 152km race from San Juan to Mayaguez. The following morning, he won a difficult 68km mountain stage by outsprinting American Jonathan Baker, who jumped from eighth to second overall. Cruz’s margin of victory was 1:29 over Baker and 1:46 over third-placed Dominican August Sanchez of the Dominican national team. Cruz, 28, also won the race’s points and

With baby daughter Julia Paris cradled in his arms, a physically and emotionally drained George Hincapie finally stood on the Paris-Roubaix podium he’s doggedly pursued for so many years. Standing one step higher was Tom Boonen, the Belgian bomber who swept to an emotional victory in a three-up sprint that also included Spanish charger Juan Antonio Flecha.

Cycling-mad Belgians appear more than ready to embrace yet another hero as 24-year-old Tom Boonen claimed victory in the grueling Paris-Roubaix one-day classic on Sunday, his second major win in a week. It was a race for which Boonen became the favorite after his stunning victory in the Tour of Flanders last Sunday, where he decided not to rely on his formidable sprint powers to put his rivals to the sword. And after claiming victory in the 259km seventh race of the ProTour series on Sunday, in which his illustrious predecessors Roger De Vlaeminck, Eddy Merckx and Johan Museeuw have shone