Road

Lance Armstrong wasn’t at Thursday’s 2006 Tour de France presentation, but the recently retired seven-time champion was still on everyone’s mind. Riders talked of a wide-open race without Armstrong’s dominating presence while race organizers tried not to talk about him at all. Armstrong, who is in New York preparing to host this week’s edition of "Saturday Night Live," chose not to attend the annual ceremony in Paris. If he wanted to relive moments of past glory, he didn’t miss much. The American was largely ignored in a slickly produced 10-minute highlight film to introduce the 93rd

The 2006 Tour de France could well be called a tour of western Europe,with stages venturing into Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland and Spain.Long heralded as an international event, the Tour begins this year in thetown of Strasbourg, arguably a symbol of European reunification.Home of the European Parliament, Strasbourg first hosted a Tour stagein 1919 following the Treaty of Versailles, which returned Strasburg andthe surrounding Alsace region to France from German control.This isn’t Strasbourg’s first time hosting the Tour’s start, either.In 1953, the year the green jersey competition

The speculation is over. Some of it was right, much of it was wrong. Either way, the organizers of the Tour de France on Thursday unveiled the route of the 2006 race, officially kicking off the post-Armstrong era at France's national tour. It will be the first Tour since 1999 not to feature seven-time winner Lance Armstrong, who is now retired, but the American was nonetheless a hot topic despite the presence of several of his potential successors. Ivan Basso, of the CSC team, was present and was largely favorable to a race route which will feature the two traditional individual time

Paris (AP) - Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc has predicted an exciting 2006 race in the absence of Lance Armstrong and taken another shot at the seven-time champion. Leblanc announced the 2006 Tour route Thursday, with the notable points being the absence of a team time trial, the return of L'Alpe d'Huez, and the matter of which rider takes the start line in the No. 1 jersey now that Armstrong has retired. “It is a classical, well-balanced course. There are five wonderful mountain stages,” Leblanc said. “It is a change of era. A period of long domination is over. There

Alberto Contador of Liberty Seguros has been hailed in Spain as the rider most likely to bring back the stage-racing glory days of Miguel Indurain. If such a thing is even possible, it may well be that Contador is the man to do it. And if not him, it may well be his younger teammate Luis Leon Sanchez. Able to climb as well as time trial, Contador is a big prospect for team director Manolo Saiz, who gave him his first pro contract with ONCE in 2003 and just signed him again for an extended contract. Contador, 22, and Sanchez, 21, made the trek from Spain to Boston in late September, with

Speculation about the route for the upcoming Tour de France is always high in the days before it is officially announced. This is particularly so this year because for the first time in eight years the Tour will start without its dominant champion. So the layout of the 2006 Tour course, to be announced Thursday, will play a much bigger role in determining what type of rider will emerge as the successor to Lance Armstrong. Will the course favor a time trialist like Jan Ullrich, a climber like Ivan Basso, experienced challengers like Levi Leipheimer, Francisco Mancebo or Alexander Vinokourov,

The route for the 2006 Tour de France will be unveiled Thursday in a glittery ceremony in the Palais des Congrès in Paris. That is, if the leaks appearing in the European press don’t ruin the surprise before then. What’s officially known is that the 93rd edition of the French national tour will run from July 1st to the 23rd, with a 7.5km prologue along the Rhine in Strasbourg to get the party started. A road stage starting and finishing in Strasbourg on July 2 will dip into Germany. Beyond that, reports in a variety of European newspapers have the Tour route pushing north into Holland and

Olympic kilometer champion Chris Hoy is planning an attempt on Arnaud Tournant’s world kilo' record in 2007, The Scotsman reported Monday. Tournant became the first man to record a sub-minute time in the kilometer track event when he clocked 58.875 seconds at 3,658 meters altitude in La Paz, Bolivia in October 2001. “Bolivia is the only place to do it,” Hoy told The Scotsman newspaper. “It needs to be at altitude because it’s just not feasible to try at sea level.” Hoy said first he’ll try to win the kilometer title at the Commonwealth Games and the world championship in 2006, events

Magnus Backstedt said he’s ready for his attempt to break the derny-paced world hour record set for next week on the Welsh track of the Newport Velodrome. "I am in peak form," Backstedt said in a Liquigas-Bianchi team report. Training is going well, and he’s meshed well with his pacer, Britain’s Spender. The 2004 Paris-Roubaix champion is hoping to break the mark of 66.114km set by Dutchman Matthé Pronk. Backstedt is one of the largest riders in the peloton and said his power will be the deciding factor in the record attempt. While Pronk managed 140 pushes on the pedal per minute, Backstedt

Gilberto Simoni will ride the 2006 season with Spanish ProTour team Saunier Duval. The two-time Giro d’Italia champion announced his decision at a press conference Friday morning in Italy. Simoni, 34, said the team will secure him a place in the season’s most important races. Simoni was the focus of interest from several teams in the wake of the collapse of the Sony Ericsson team, which evaporated last week and left a dozen riders looking for a job. Simoni drew offers from Unibet.com and Naturino-Sapore, two continental teams looking to break into the 20-team ProTour league. But Simoni

Two-time Giro d’Italia champion Gilberto Simoni is the flavor of the month these days as teams compete to sign the 34-year-old veteran. Just a day after Belgian continental team Unibet.com announced it was trying to lure Simoni, the Spanish wires were reporting that Spanish ProTour team Saunier Duval has also made an offer. Simoni had penned a deal to ride with Giancarlo Ferretti in 2006, but Sony Ericsson – touted as title sponsor of the team – pulled out of the deal, leaving Simoni and a dozen others without contracts. Simoni has had no trouble capturing the attention of the top teams,

Russian Pavel Tonkov announced his retirement from professional cycling. Tonkov, 36, won the 1996 Giro d’Italia and was one of the most successful Eastern European riders to break into the pro ranks following the fall of the Iron Curtain in the early 1990s. “The moment has arrived to say enough is enough with racing,” Tonkov told Europa Press. “I’m sure my future will be in cycling, where I will try to put my experience at the disposition of young riders.” Tonkov was born in 1969 in the Russian town of Ichevsk and won the world junior championships in Bergamo in 1987, which soon became his

Spanish continental team Comunidad Valenciana will pass on trying to make a jump to the ProTour in 2006. According to an interview in the Spanish sports daily AS, team officials say the ProTour demands are simply beyond their budget. “They demand that we considerably increase our budget to enter the ProTour and at this moment we’re not ready to do it,” said team manager José Luis Aznar in AS. “We saw what happened to Giancarlo Ferretti and we’ve opted to remain prudent and wait one more year.” The announcement comes as a surprise as Comunidad Valenciana has been one of the most vocal critics

Can I just have the new crank?Dear Lennard,I have an older Serotta Legend with 9 speed Dura-Ace and I wonderedif I can replace the crank set-up to the new stiffer 10 speed without compatibilityissues as I would like to leave the 9 speed rear end as is. Seems likeI remember Velo doing an article on this subject last year but I have forgottenthe particulars as to efficiency and effectiveness.GeorgeDear George,I have done it, and it works fine.LennardLong legs and lots of climbingDear Lennard,I'm 6 foot 4 with a 36-inch inseam and I prefer to run 180mm cranks. I also ride a lot of

Center-pull cantilever brakes, once common on mountain bikes, are now completely gone from the racing circuit. However, as summer winds down, the leaves turn and cyclo-cross bikes come out of hiding, the center-pull cantilever can once again enjoy the spotlight. To understand what makes a good cyclo-cross brake, you first have to understand some of the intricacies of cantilever geometry, lever ratios and the whole idea of mechanical advantage. At the most basic level, a brake and its lever must be matched in terms of mechanical advantage. A prime example is a linear-pull brake (the

Riders and staff are scrambling to try to find new jobs in the wake of news last week that the Sony Ericsson deal to take over the sponsorship for Fassa Bortolo fell through. The mobile communications giant issued a terse statement Friday saying it had no intention of sponsoring a professional racing team despite news that Italian manager Giancarlo Ferretti had already penned more than a dozen riders to long-term contracts. Ferretti was on the verge of tears when he told La Gazzetta dello Sport that an intermediary had misled him and others in believing that a multi-year, multimillion

Before Saturday’s Tour of Lombardy, which was celebrating its centennial, Olympic champion Paolo Bettini was totally relaxed, chatting with friends and signing autographs for the fans who gathered at the start in Mendrisio, Switzerland. Asked by RAI television how he saw the day going, the 31-year-old Quick Step-Innergetic team leader said he would see how things went, follow the wheels, and maybe go for the final sprint. More than six hours later, on the misty lakeside in Como, Italy, he was there for the final sprint, but he didn’t just "follow the wheels." Bettini exploded the race on the

Ace cycling shooter Graham Watson was on hand as the inaugural ProTour wrapped up with the Tour of Lombardy on Saturday - here's a sampling of what he saw through the lens.

The new Sony Ericsson team headed up by cycling legend Giancarlo Ferretti looks to be on the verge of collapsing. The veteran Italian team manager is reportedly in Sweden for emergency meetings with Ericsson officials after it was learned that high-level officials were threatening to pull the plug on the recently announced six-year deal to sponsor the team. In fact, the mobile communications giant couldn’t have put it more bluntly Friday on its web page. “There have been a number of press reports across Europe speculating that Sony Ericsson will sponsor a cycling team. Sony Ericsson can

When the Tour of Lombardy was first held in November 1905, bike racing was in its infancy. The Tour de France had just been held for the third time, while the Giro d’Italia was still four years away from its first edition. And the only one-day classic being organized on an annual basis was Paris-Roubaix, which had been held 10 times. The first Giro di Lombardia was held on an almost flat loop, starting and finishing in the region’s capital, Milan. The winner, in a long solo break, was a solid local with slicked-back straight hair, Giovanni Gerbi, who covered the 230km course in a little over

It looks like Brazil might have its first real break-out star on its hands after another thrilling victory by Murilo Fischer. Just last weekend, Fischer beat Paolo Bettini in the GP Beghelli and he quietly finished fifth in the world championships in Madrid last month. Taking advantage of his late-season form, Fischer shot to another impressive win in Thursday’s Giro del Piemonte in northern Italy. An early breakaway was reeled in with just 8km to go to set up the sprinters. The South American held off Steven De Jongh (Rabobank) to carve his eighth win on the year. “This win is very

Insisting on an embargo until Thursday, the SRAM corporation has releasedadditional information on the shifting mechanism behind the company’s newroad components, first introducedat the Eurobike tradeshow in September.While show-goers and consumers have had a look at the group,bikes equipped with the new components were kept behind glass and thosewho who were allowed to play with the shifters were asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Few chose to argue the point with SRAM's six-foot-five-inch media rep' Michael Zellman.Now that the embargo is lifted SRAM is touting what calls its

With Lance Armstrong firmly in cycling’s retirement home, Discovery Channel reloads for the 2006 with very different goals. The team won seven consecutive Tour de France titles, but without the Texan’s dominant presence, the team will ride into next season with the same ambition of being among the peloton’s main protagonists only without the assurance of a clear candidate for Tour victory. The team officially released its 2006 roster that includes 27 riders from 16 nations. The leading American team lost five riders, including Armstrong, but four new recruits bring fresh

The 92nd edition of the Giro di Piemonte is drawing a top field ahead of Saturday’s Giro di Lombardia to close the 2005 racing season. Big names to take the start in the 20-team field include Gilberto Simoni (Lampre-Caffita), Alejandro Valverde (Illes Balears) and Oscar Sevilla (T-Mobile). Americans in the field include Christian Vande Velde (CSC) and Chris Horner (Saunier Duval). Damiano Cunego is on the provisional start list, but he’s doubtful with nagging health problems. The race winds in and around the steep hills in northern Italy’s wine country, taking in difficult climbs at Mango

Dear Lennard,Regarding your TechnicalQ&A with Lennard Zinn: Carbon tubes and lubes the consensusis unanimous that no grease be used on carbon seat posts, one thingwas not shared is how you remove grease from a seat tube if you want tochange to a carbon post from an aluminum post. If solvents shouldn’tbe used what can be used to safely remove grease that has already beenapplied? And on new frames should any prep be done to ensure thatthe frame is free of any contaminates before assembly.I want to share what I personally ran into with a new frame and carbonpost. Knowing that no grease was

Luca Paolini (Quick Step) won’t start Saturday’s Giro di Lombardia while ProTour leader Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi) is in doubt for Saturday’s season closer. Paolini injured his hand in a collision with a T-Mobile team car in Sunday’s Paris-Tours and has pulled the plug on his racing season. Quick Step, meanwhile, will enter Lombardia looking to win the season’s last big race with a determined Paolo Bettini. Di Luca, meanwhile, promises to start despite a knee injury that prompted his early departure from Paris-Tours after 200km of racing. L’Equipe reported that Di Luca was scheduled

Viatcheslav Ekimov is like a good wine, he just keeps getting better with age. Or so he’s hoping after telling Eurosport he’s eyeing a spot on the Russian national team for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. If he scores a spot on the team, Ekimov would be the ripe age of 42. The Discovery Channel rider said he feels like a “25 year old” after his recent comeback from injury. “I going to keep racing because I feel great after coming back from injury,” the Discovery Channel rider told Eurosport at the Criterium of Astana in Kazakhstan. “I am full of enthusiasm and optimism and was

German sprint king Erik Zabel sensationally brought the curtain down on his career with the T-Mobile team by claiming a record-equallng third victory in Paris-Tours Sunday. Zabel, riding his last race for the German outfit after 13 stellar seasons, dominated a rare bunch sprint in the one-day classic to beat Italian Daniele Bennati of Lampre by half a wheel. Australia's Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros) finished third with Australian champion Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) fourth. Zabel, the winner here in 1994 and 2003, produced a powerful burst in the final meters of the 253.5km race to

Erik Zabel gave himself a going-away present on Sunday, winning his third Paris-Tours as he wraps up a 13-year stint with T-Mobile. Graham Watson was on the scene; here's a sampler of what he saw through the lens.

T-Mobile’s Erik Zabel said Friday that he enters the 84th edition of Paris-Tours on Sunday with mixed emotions, realizing that it will be his last event racing under the magenta colors of a team he’s been part of for 13 years. The 35-year-old Zabel said Friday that it was “almost beyond comprehension” that he would be riding for another team – the German/Italian Milram squad – after being part of the Deutsche Telekom/T-Mobile program since its inception. “For a long time, I couldn’t even imagine having to find a new team after 13 years in the same program,” he said. Zabel said it was only

In an industry increasingly dominated by mega-corporations, pumping outhi-tech, relatively affordable, but admittedly soulless bikes, you haveto wonder if there’s still a place for the small frame builder.How does a guy in a worn shop apron, often operating out of a garage,manage to compete against a sub-$1000 Chinese-made carbon frame?Quite nicely, thank you.“I do maybe 100 frames a year,” notes Ashland, Oregon's Mike DeSalvo.“That's not a lot for Specialized, maybe, but I sure stay busy.”DeSalvo Cycleswill never rival any of the biggies, but its owner and founder says that’snot the

At the ripe age of 22, Saul Raisin is putting the finishing touches of his first season in the elite ranks inside the European peloton. The Georgian rode to impressive results in his neo-pro season with Crédit Agricole, finishing ninth overall at the Tour of Germany and winning the best climber’s jersey at the Tour de l’Avenir. All that came after overcoming a horrible crash at the Four Days of Dunkirk in May when he was hit by a motorcycle in the race caravan that left him with several broken bones. The strong late-season results only fuel the fire within Raisin, who is looking ahead to

Geneva, Switzerland (AP) - The Court of Arbitration for Sport hopesto reach a decision on Tyler Hamilton's appeal by the end of the year orthe beginning of 2006.A first hearing was held in Denver on September 6-8 but, because notall the evidence could be presented at the time, it was decided arbitrationwould resume at a later date."We still need to co-ordinate the date of the second hearing with allthe parties involved, the witnesses, the members of the tribunal, the experts,etc., which can be difficult," CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb toldThe Associated Press in a telephone

The Brits are already hyping the expected showdown between Bradley Wiggins, the good trooper who won gold, silver and bronze medals for Queen and country on the Olympic track, and David Millar, the dark star and confessed doper. Wiggins, 25, will leave Crédit Agricole next year in a two-year deal to join Cofidis, which just happens to be Millar’s former team. Millar, 28, penned a deal to return to the elite ranks with Saunier Duval when his two-year racing ban expires just days head of the start of the 2006 Tour de France. Millar admitted he took the banned blood booster EPO and later had

Former world champion Johan Museeuw Belgium was charged Monday with possession of banned doping substances, Belgian prosecutors said. The 1996 world road race champion was accused of possessing 2000 units of the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) and two other banned performance enhancers. Museeuw was suspected of being at the head of a ring of drug traffickers including a veterinary surgeon and three-time world cyclo-cross champion Mario De Clerq and eight other riders and go-betweens. They are suspected of supplying human growth hormones, stimulants, steroids and testosterone to

As VeloNews.com has shown over the past week, Interbike offers a smorgasbordof cutting edge, high-end bikes and related goodies. It’s also filled withbizarre, who-would-possibly-buy-that type gizmos. Wading through the blinkingplastic safety vests to find the 100-gram rear derailleur is just partof the fun.

Paolo Bettini pumped all the frustration and anger from last weekend’s road world championships into his pedals Sunday to score his biggest win of the 2005 season at the 92nd Championships of Zürich. The “Cricket” wasn’t given the freedom to jump until it was too late in last week’s battle in Madrid, but no one was holding him back in the rainy, 241.8km race over the hills near Zürich. The Olympic champion attacked with 38km to go, and by the time the main bunch reacted, it was game over. “I am over the moon,” Bettini said after taking a dramatic solo win. “The weather today was dreadful,

Thankfully, there’s still some bike racing on tap for those true junkies who are simply can’t get enough. Three ProTour races highlight the dwindling 2005 racing calendar along with a handful of other races in Belgium and Italy to close out the racing season with the Giro di Lombardia in the middle of October. Sunday’s Züri Metzgete (or Championship of Zürich for the rest of the world) is the first of three one-day races to conclude the inaugural ProTour series. The hilly course always seems to deliver a surprising, but deserving winner. The 236km circuit course loops in and around Zürich

While the 2005 Interbike International Bicycle Expo has wrapped upanother busy week in Las Vegas, we're still sorting through our briefcases,hard drives and digital cameras for those things that left a big impressionon us. Here's a list of stories that our staff produced over a week inthe desert, but keep checking back, we'll be adding to the list for thenext few days.Interbike - Las Vegas '05Leaving Las VegasHighbrow saddles; Hi-Zoot technology; High-end carbonMore product; more photosOrbea:High-end bikes from the Basque countryInsidethe hall, a Day 1 photo galleryTanned,

It looks like Christian Vande Velde will be staying with Team CSC for at least another year. The 29-year-old confirmed to VeloNews that he reached a verbal agreement with Bjarne Riis’s red and white team Wednesday night and will likely sign the contract during this weekend’s GP Zürich to make it official. Vande Velde joined Team CSC this year along with compatriot Dave Zabriskie and rode strongly in both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España. Despite crashing three times, Vande Velde toughed it out to help Carlos Sastre finish third overall. In other team news, Sastre has decided to

Thecustom 11.9-pound bike on which Tyler Hamilton won the 2005 Mt. WashingtonHillclimb was on display in the Parlee booth (Parlee makes a Tyler HamiltonFoundation model, the proceeds from which go to Hamilton’s foundation).Parlee also showed a carbon bike with sculpted carbon lugs decorated withthe new superlight Alpha Q orange metallic GS-10 fork and matching Orangemetallic panels on the frame. Built up with Lightweight wheels, there washardly a steel part on it, but it was meant to evoke the steel frames ofold with sculpted lugs and painted frame panels. All Parlees can be

Produced in the heart of the Basque country, Orbea has a long history of producing carbon fiber bicycles. The company has invested heavily in monocoque molding technology and constantly refines and updates one of the broadest lines of carbon bikes in the business. The company is sure enough of its quality to offer a lifetime warranty on all of its frames, even the lightest of its carbon models.

Italian national team coach Franco Ballerini got the boot Wednesday after the fall-out following the Madrid world championships. Paolo Bettini’s 13th was the second-worst world’s result since Giuseppe Saronni was 17th in 1983. Ballerini joined the national team in 2001 and earned two gold medals, with Mario Cipollini taking the world title in 2002 and Paolo Bettini the Olympic title in 2004. The Italians also scored a silver with Bettini in 2001 and bronze with Luca Paolini last year. That wasn’t good enough for the demanding Italians and the national cycling federation didn’t renew his

The heavy and retroSurely the most elegant, no-holds-barred booth at the 2005 Interbike Trade Show in Las Vegas has to bethat of Brooks Saddles. The recreation of an English sitting room (exceptfor the fact that smoking is not allowed in the show) drove home the pointof how English this product remains since its purchase and re-vitalizationby an Italian saddle company, Selle Royal.The factory remains in Smethwick, on the outskirts of Birmingham, whichis where the gawdy red carpet with yellow flowers for the booth came from.All of thesaddles remain the same, made entirely out of thick leather

By now, Phil Zajicek is somewhere in Europe checking out the sights in a 10-day trip around the continent after racing in Sunday’s world championships. The 26-year-old admitted it was tough going in the hilly 273km circuit course in Madrid after flying to Europe just three days before the race. Zajicek did his job protecting team captain Fred Rodriguez before dropping out with two laps to go. “My legs were kind of blocked, but I was there to keep Freddie out of the wind as long as possible,” he said. “When the attacks started, it just blew up the bunch.” Zajicek’s season is over, and after

Aitor González, the flamboyant Spanish rider who won the Tour de Suisse in June, could be the latest star rider caught up in the anti-doping web. The online edition of the French sports daily L’Equipe is reporting that González failed a control for unnamed banned substance during the Vuelta a España. González, who won the 2002 edition of the Vuelta, abandoned this year’s race with three stages to go. Officials from the Spanish cycling federation would not comment on the case while officials from Euskaltel-Euskadi, where González raced this season after two sub-par years with Fassa Bortolo,

As Day 2 dawned on the most fun part of Interbike, namely riding cool bikes all over the great trails in Bootleg Canyon, the mechanical bull waited, its single horn barely attached but its pride and determination intact. Soon enough, in Yakima’s Bucking for IMBA promotion, one attendee after another came to be spun and tossed about by it while hanging onto a little stub of rope, all under the laughing gaze of people wearing pink foam Yakima-labeled cowboy hats. And sure enough, every would-be bull rider found themselves on his or her back soon enough, thrown off into an inflatable swimming

Fighting desert heat and a big afternoon windstorm, bike manufacturers did their darndest to keep Interbike tradeshow attendees happy for the second day of Outdoor Demo Tuesday, a task made easier by offering up a ton of new and interesting equipment. Giant Bicycles has big news for 2006, two new mountain bikes based on the company’s Maestro suspension technology. Our old colleague, Andrew Juskaitis, now Giant’s communications manager, said the two new bikes are the “bookends” of the Maestro series, offering the suspension design on both cross-country and downhill models. Billed as

Ibis is back and doing its thing... but this time in carbon.Tuesday marked the official return of both Ibis and its founder, ScotNicol, to the bike industry after a three-year absence. The brand thathad a devoted following in the 1990s and floundered on hard times sinceNicol sold the company in 2000.While Ibis fans have suffered the absence of a favorite, Nicol has spent the last few years most constructively: "retired and riding my bike." Not bad work if you can get it. Still Nicol has felt the itch and finally found his way back into bike biz' as a "partner" (read unpaid employee) in a

Interbike’s International Expo opened Tuesday, with more than 10,000 attendees swarming in among next season’s bikes on the red carpets of the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas. After two dusty days of testing product at the Outdoor Demo in nearby Bootleg Canyon, the show moved indoors to get down to business. More than 10,000 buyers for about 3500 bike shops have registered to check out the 2006 wares that some 750 companies — representing more than 1000 brands— have on display. The business they do here determines what will be cropping up in your local shop in the coming months. That

Following an excellent neo-pro season, which includes the best climber’s jersey at the Tour de l’Avenir and ninth overall at the Tour of Germany, Saul Raisin has decided to stay where he feels most comfortable. The 22-year-old Georgian signed a two-year extension with Crédit Agricole that will keep him on the French team through the 2008 season. “I had a lot of offers from other teams after the Tour of Germany, I decided I just wanted to stay focused and not have to worry about changing teams,” Raisin told VeloNews after his impressive world’s debut when he was part of the day’s early

The tradeshow season culminates with the start of the Interbike tradeshow in Las Vegas. Although the majority of the show takes place at the Sands Expo and Convention Center - in Sin City itself - the show actually starts a couple of days early, with bike demos in Bootleg Canyon roughly 20 miles outside the city limits. The area is renowned for exceptional mountain bike trails (a few have even earned IMBA’s renowned “Epic Rides” label to prove it). The Interbike folks have been coming to Bootleg canyon for the past few years, because the area offers demo’ riders the opportunity to try out

The 2005 Interbike show kicked off with a warm, cloudless day over the rocky, serpentine singletrack trails of Bootleg Canyon above Lake Mead. The venue has a short section of closed, divided paved road for road-bike testing and a vast area riddled with interesting singletrack for testing mountain bikes. The trail system offers so much mileage that, despite the large crowds at this well-attended Outdoor Demo, many of the nicest trails I had almost completely to myself all afternoon. Ah, the freedomA revelation for me was riding the Santa Cruz VP Free, the company’s all-out freeride bike.

Do you ever feel like the clock has slowed down? The last few days have all but crept to a halt for me, with the exception of last Friday, however, when, I slept all day. After the Vuelta I was looking at my schedule, thinking positively about how the last month would go by fast and that it wouldn't be too painful to stay focused. And I still believe that and am trying to go through with it. However, when the schedule is thrown off, no matter how small a change it might be, it can be hard to recover. For me, Friday morning melted into Saturday. I woke up, went straight to the bathroom

Britain's David Millar, currently serving a ban for drug use, will make his professional cycling comeback at next year's Tour de France after signing for the Spanish team Saunier Duval, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Monday. Millar was banned for two years after admitting using the banned hormone EPO (Erythropoietin) but his two-year sanction ends in June 2006. Millar has now signed to race the Tour with the Spanish team that is run by Italian brothers Pietro and Vittorio Algeri. Millar said last week he has been studying a number of offers from teams, reportedly

Tom Boonen was among the top-line favorites for the 2005 world road cycling championships, but with less than three kilometers to go in Sunday’s 272km race, it didn’t look like he, Alessandro Petacchi or Robbie McEwen had a chance. A six-man break had slipped away from the sprinters in a chaotic, attack-filled final lap, but Boonen’s Belgian bodyguards saved the day, hurling him onto the finishing straight to catch the attacking Alexandre Vinokourov with 600 meters to go. Boonen finished off the job with a long, 300-meter sprint and roared across the line to claim the coveted rainbow

It was a big day in Madrid on Sunday. Casey Gibson was there to capture some of the day's best moments on film.

At the CD&P Bermuda Grand Prix racers come with two priorities: racing hard and having a bit of fun in the process. This is, after all, Bermuda. The four-day stage race is the final stop of the Women’s Prestige Cycling Series. The top ten teams after the International Tour de Toona are provided free airfare and accommodations to come race on the remote tropical island. The relatively short stages allow plenty of time for the competitors to experience the island, but the demanding courses provide exciting racing action. In Thursday’s first stage, a criterium through the streets of downtown

Amber Neben dared to try to hold off the sprinters in Saturday's elite women's road racing world championships on the 21km Madrid circuit course that almost everyone agrees favors a mass gallop. Neben, winner of the Tour de L'Aude earlier this season, sprung away after the second climb with about 7km to go to nearly catch the sprinters by surprise. Neben clung to a five-second gap, but was reeled in with 4km to go before the powerful German team sling-shot Regina Schleicher into the rainbow jersey. "I was able to get a gap there, but I didn't have the legs to stick it," said

It was a double dose of disappointment Saturday for the American U-23 men's team in the 168km world championships as Ukraine's Dmytro Grabovskyy soloed to an impressive victory. The motivated five-man team missed an early breakaway in the second of eight laps and then American captain Tyler Farrar crashed out in a high-speed pileup in the final kilometers. U.S. team doctor Eric Heiden reported Farrar had some "pretty bad road rash," but no broken bones, but the disappointment was obvious when teammate John Murphy led the Americans across the line 119th some 11 minutes down. "We were

Most observers agree there are three favorites for the elite men's road race: Alessandro Petacchi, Robbie McEwen and Tom Boonen. But every world's delivers at least one surprise. Here's a look at some of the characters who could rock the sprinter's boat: Alejandro Valverde, SpainThe enigma of this year's world's, the 2003 silver medalist has only raced once since pulling out of the 2005 Tour with a sore knee. With three-time defending champion Oscar Freire sidelined, the Spanish team will be doing everything to avoid a sprint. Valverde and other Spanish riders such as

The world championships always provide provide photographers with ample subject matter, especially when they're in a city like Madrid.

Italy’s national team manager Franco Ballerini made his name as a tacticalgenius in 2002 by building his world championship squad around sprinterMario Cipollini. Boldly, Ballerini did not include four riders whowere in the top 10 of that year’s UCI world rankings — Michele Bartoli,Davide Rebellin, Franco Casagrande and Dario Frigo — because he wantedriders who could unselfishly set a fast tempo for 250km and set up Cipollinifor the win. The gamble paid off beautifully, with the Lion King roaringhome on Belgium’s flat Zolder circuit well clear of two other world-classfield sprinters, Robbie

Italian Alessandro Petacchi, one of the favorites to take the men’s road race title in Madrid on Sunday, has inked a three-year deal with the newly formed Milram professional team. The 31-year-old Italian, who has been the Fassa Bortolo team's shining star for the past few years winning stages in all three big Tours, will be joined by German rival Erik Zabel. Zabel, 35, the former six-time winner of the Tour de France green jersey for the sprinters' points competition, also signed a three-year deal. Petacchi, however, failed to show at the team presentation because he was due to

They’re already calling it the "McEwen Corner," the tricky, 180-degree U-turn that comes 450 meters from the finish line in the road world championships course in Madrid. There’s a growing consensus that the technical finish favors the puckish Australian, known for his tenacity both on and off the bike. McEwen is scheduled to arrive to Madrid on Thursday and head up a motivated and well-disciplined Australian team built around setting him up for a sprint finish. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood spoke with McEwen on Tuesday evening via telephone at his home in Belgium to get the

Madrid - The UCI announced Thursday that the Italian city of Varesewas awarded the 2008 world road race championships.Varese was given the nod ahead of another Italian town, Lucques-Viareggio,and the Dutch city of Valkenburg.Varese hosted the world championships in 1951 when Swiss great FerdiKubler won the title.The UCI has also awarded the BMX championships in 2008 to Taiyuan, China.That discipline will make its Olympic debut that same year in Beijing. Upcoming UCI World cycling championship schedule2006Road - Salzburg, AustriaTrack - Bordeaux, FranceMountain bike - Rotorua, New

Bobby Julich sat alone in the U.S. team tent after finishing Thursday’s 44.1km men’s elite world time trial championships not quite believing his eyes as he watched the final riders come through the finish line. His time of 55:19.86 would only be good enough to stick for 11th, 1:45 behind winner Michael Rogers and nowhere near the top podium spots where he expected he’d finish. “Right now I have to admit it stings, because I wanted to end the season on a high note,” Julich said after toweling down for the final time of the 2005 season. “I shouldn’t have even bothered to come if I knew I was

Wandering around the streets of suburban Madrid, who did we stumble upon but our old buddy Casey Gibson. The man from Colorado Springs is keeping a heavy schedule, spending time at world's and then flying to Las Vegas next week for InterBike. With American hopes pinned on Bobby Julich, Gibson spent the afternoon following the CSC man around and then spotted a few other interesting sights along the way.

Dear Monique,I have a very distended stomach after cycling for more than an hour. I used to think that it only happens on very long rides like the Leadville 100, but have noticed that it occurs on much shorter rides too. It doesn’t seem to matter if I only drink water or any combo of energy drinks and gel or bars. I am a bit concerned that the nutrition I take in isn’t getting past my stomach until I am done riding. I have experienced severe cramping in my legs about three-fourths of the way through a race and have wondered if the bloating is related and what to do about it. Thanks for your

The U.S. national team got off to a roaring start in the 2005 world championships, putting three riders into the top 10 in Wednesday's elite women's time trial, including a bronze medal with Kristin Armstrong. Karin Thürig of Switzerland defended her title while soon-to-be retired Spanish star Joanne Somarriba took silver at 5.8 seconds off the winning pace on the 21.9km rolling course in Madrid's sprawling Casa de Campo park. Amber Neben was fifth, less than one second slower than fourth-place Judith Arndt, and Christine Thorburn was eighth to cap the U.S. team strong world's

You might have thought Tyler Farrar won Wednesday's U-23 time trial after a big smile creased across his face when he was told his time stuck for a top 10. The winner was Mikhail Ignatiev, the Russian gold medalist in the 2004 Olympics 30km points race, who stopped the clock at 47:24.28 on the 37.9km course. The race Farrar wants to win comes in Saturday's road race, so a strong time trial simply bodes well for things to come. "I'm really happy with how the ride went, because time trial has not been my priority this year," said Farrar, who finished 10th in 49:08.56. "My big

Tyler Farrar will end his 2005 season with Saturday’s espoirsroad race, when he lines up as one of the favorites for the gold medal. The 22-year-old sprinter from Washington state has enjoyed a fabulousseason, winning the U.S. criterium title, a stage at the Tour de l’Avenir,Belgian races Trofee van Haspengouw and Challenge de Hesbaye as well asa stage in the Ronde de l'Isard d'Ariege in France. Farrar is set to make the leap into the European pro leagues in 2006as he joins Cofidis on a two-year deal and he’s hoping he can cap his seasonwith a rainbow jersey. VeloNews European

Hey, be careful of those split tails!I just discovered a reason not to face your bike rearward on a roofrack, especially if you have a split-tail saddle. And another reason tofile the Nader hooks off of a road fork besides just the convenience ofgetting the wheel in and out! I was driving into my driveway with a bike on my roof as I have doneproblem-free for 15 years here. It’s a long gravel driveway lined withbig trees, and while leafy branches droop down, I keep the large branchescut back so no big ones cross the driveway less than 10 feet up. Both ofmy garages are full of bikes, so cars

The Vuelta finale in Madrid was an exciting climax to the three-week race, as there were thousands of fans on the final circuit, located in the north part of the city. The riders raced over this week’s 2005 World Championships road racecourse and Petacchi won in his usual style by dominating the sprint finish. Is that a foreshadowing of Sunday’s professional road race? The finish of a grand tour sometimes seems a bit anti-climatic for the riders, as after three weeks of being together pushing themselves to the limits day after day, the riders cross the line and quickly rush to shower, pack

If anyone knows the Madrid world’s road race course, it’s Giovanni Lombardi. The 36-year-old veteran Italian lives in Madrid’s trendy Cheuca neighborhood, just around the corner from the finish line in front of Real Madrid’s Bernabeu soccer stadium. The Team CSC rider was waiting for the Madrid’s world’s for what was expected to be his final race as a professional. He was intending to race in support of the Italian national team, ride straight through the finish line to his apartment, hang up his bike and officially call it quits. Those best-laid plans were dashed after he recently signed

Australian all rounder Bradley McGee has been forced out of the national team for the world cycling road race championships which begin here Wednesday due to a back injury. The 29-year-old McGee, due to compete in the 273km road race on Sunday, has been replaced by Brett Lancaster. Lancaster, 26, was a member of the Australian team which claimed Olympic pursuit gold in a world record time at Athens last year. His road credentials are impressive also, having worn the Giro d’Italia’s pink jersey for winning the race prologue earlier this summer. Simon Gerrans' late call-up to the

It’s not often the world championships are held in a bustling city of 5 million inhabitants, but that’s just the setting for the 2005 world road cycling championships which open Tuesday evening with an official celebration. Whether the Madrileños will be cursing the numerous traffic closures in the heart of this very Spanish capital remains to be seen, but a very urban flavor will be one of the hallmarks of the 2005 road world’s. Racing kicks off Wednesday with the women’s and U-23 time trials and concludes Sunday with the elite men’s road race. In between there should be plenty of

There’s an air of open rebellion as a behind-the-scenes power struggle threatens to overshadow action on the road at the eve of the 2005 world road cycling championships. A nasty catfight at the highest levels of the UCI is spilling out of the boardroom and onto the front pages just as athletes file into this thriving Spanish capital for what’s sure to be a unique and exciting venue for the battle for the rainbow jersey. The open hostilities hit rock bottom Monday when the UCI executive committee angrily notified its members to change travel plans, directing them to Geneva instead of its

It’s Monday morning and I am on the early flight to Barcelona from Madrid with all the businessmen. I am listening to my IPod on shuffle and Creedence Clearwater’s, “A traveling band” just came on. Kinda ironic, huh? I just did a lap of Spain, 15 different hotels, almost 4000 kilometers, good start, good finish, with three crashes in between. The eyes are a little red from last night and I can't wait to sleep in my own bed and eat out of my own fridge. It’s not the racing that gets under your skin or the eating. It’s a combination of all of these little things put together that really

Tom Danielson celebrated his eighth-place Vuelta a España finish on Monday night the best way he could think of: eating pizza. For the past three weeks, the 27-year-old has been on team-issued steak dinners each night while racing his way through the 21-stage Vuelta. The race ended Sunday in Madrid with Danielson in eighth overall, the third-best Vuelta finish by an American in the Spanish grand tour (Levi Leipheimer was third in 2001 and Lance Armstrong was fourth in 1998). Danielson said he can’t stop smiling since making it through his first grand tour of his budding career. VeloNews