Road

Bettini already has Madrid on his mind Olympic champion Paolo Bettini is already putting the 2005 world championships at the top of his list of goals for the upcoming season. The “Cricket” was a disappointing DNF in last fall’s worlds on the Verona course, but hopes to earn the rainbow jersey that’s so far eluded him. “The worlds are always one of my objectives, but after my win at the Olympics, I’m more tranquil than the other favorites,” Bettini said during a break at the Quick Step training camp in Italy. “Petacchi has already gone to see the course and he says it’s a course that’s

What police called an “important network” of drug trafficking between Belgium and France was dismantled Tuesday and Wednesday, with 25 people being arrested for questioning in the two countries and several of them being caught red-handed. “This trafficking seems unhappily to involve cyclists at different levels, both amateurs and semi-professionals,” confirmed Denis Chausserie-Laprée, a vice procurator with the Bordeaux branch of the specialist interregional judiciary (JIRS), at a press conference held with the police investigators. The magistrate refused to give the identities of the people

Robbie McEwen overcame a rogue civilian and a near crash into the barriers to win an unprecedented 10th stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under in Tanunda on Wednesday. In another bunch sprint finish, McEwen just had too much power for Italian Paride Grillo and Queenslander Allan Davis. The Tour de France sprint champion won clearly, but the margin would have been greater had he not had to change direction about 250m from the line. “We nearly hit some bloke on his bike with about 800m to go,” McEwen said. “He was just riding along the road. It's bad enough with the parked cars and then

Tour de France chief Jean-Marie Leblanc admits it is only a matter of time before Australia’s ever-improving cycling contingent can finally produce a Tour winner. “I never say this or that guy is going to win the Tour, but a rider like Michael Rogers, who is young, who knows how to climb, who is good in the time trial and who is in a Quick Step team which is very professional and focused has a great chance,” Leblanc told AFP. “He's got everything needed to do it, and he knows what's required of him. In two or three years he can get on the podium in Paris. I'm almost certain of

Robbie McEwen continued his brilliant early season form with a thrilling victory in the opening stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under in Adelaide's East End Tuesday evening. In an All Australian trifecta, McEwen beat Queenslander Allan Davis with South Australian hero Stuart O'Grady third after 25 frenetic laps of a 2.5km circuit before a crowd estimated at close to 65,000. It was McEwen's ninth stage victory in seven years and followed closely on his win in the Australian Open road championship in Echunga on Saturday.

Dear Lennard,I recently converted to wheels with bladed spokes, and now my speedometermagnet no longer fits onto the spoke (I have a Performance brand Axiom8.0C). Is there any solution where I don't have to buy an entire new computer?If I do have to upgrade, can you recommend one that will mount to a bladedspoke?AndrewDear Andrew,You can buy separate magnets for this type of spoke. For example, lookingin the Quality Bicycle catalog, and estimating the retail price, it lookslike you could get a hand-tightening Campagnolo magnet for $27 that I ampretty sure I have used on bladed spokes, a

Two-time Giro d’Italia winner Gilberto Simoni was among the top names to underline his aims for the coming season a day ahead of the start of cycling's Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia, Monday. The Italian joined local hope Stuart O'Grady, a two-time winner of the season's first stage event, Spaniard Isidro Nozal and Australian all rounder Cadel Evans in singling out the race as an increasingly significant date on the growing global calendar. "I've noticed in the past that when McEwen and O'Grady compete here they tend to have successful seasons, do well at the Tour de France and even

Discovery Channel officials are still unsure how long 2002 Giro d’Italia champion Paolo Savoldelli will be sidelined after breaking his collar bone in three places during a training ride in California over the weekend. Savoldelli was scheduled for surgery on Sunday in a Santa Barbara hospital and officials are still waiting to find out how long the Italian will be set back. Savoldelli crashed in a training ride Saturday during the team’s annual training camp near Solvang when his front tire exploded after hitting a pothole. He was initially seen by team doctors on the scene and then

Recently-crowned Olympic track champion Stuart O'Grady is among the contenders who will find the going tough when the first stage race of the season begins at the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia, on Tuesday. O'Grady, the 31-year-old local rider who had blistering form with his French Cofidis team last season, has been tipped for overall success in the race which takes the peloton through the wine-growing regions of southern Australia. The Adelaider, the winner in 1999 and 2001, came a close third when he last took part in 2003. But during six days of racing, O'Grady's ambitions will

The Discovery Channel pro cycling team has reported that Paolo Savoldelli crashed during a training ride at the team's training camp in Solvang, California, on Saturday, breaking his collarbone. Savoldelli, winner of the 2002 Giro d'Italia, crashed after his front tire blew out. He had apparently damaged his tire when he hit a pothole on a climb. "It happened suddenly while we were climbing up a short hill at about 20kph," Michael Barry, one of Savoldelli's new teammates recalled. "He went down immediately and never had a chance to react. His collar bone took the entire blow of the fall

After California was battered by wet, wind and colder-than-normal weather, some had doubts that the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling team would be holding its scheduled training camp in Solvang, California, this week. Doubts? Why most of these guys used to ride for a sponsor whose motto was "Neither rain, nor snow nor..." Well, the weather has cleared and even though it's still chillier than usual, most of the Discovery team is in Solvang working out the post-holiday kinks and getting ready for a full season of racing as a part of the UCI's new ProTour. Photographer Casey Gibson is in

Danielson: ‘Repeat will be difficult’Tom Danielson will be starting his season early with a return trip to the Tour de Langkawi (January 28-February 6), the race he won in 2003 that proved to be his springboard to the big-time for the Colorado climber. Now embarking on the 2005 season with Discovery Channel, Danielson said he’s traveling to Malaysia with the idea of building fitness for what will be an important season in Europe. “In 2003, the plan all along was to try and have a good ride in Genting. Nathan (O'Neill) was in incredible form throughout and through his and the team's support,

Cipo' in South Africa, Liquigas gets goingItaly’s latest super-team is putting the finishing touches on its preparations for the 2005 season. Liquigas will have its official unveiling later this month and the team is revving up for its final training camps ahead of its first races of the season. Most of the team will be honing their strength at a training camp starting this weekend in Donoratico in Italy while 2002 world champion Mario Cipollini continues with his personal training program in South Africa. The team’s official presentation will be in Milan on January 25 before Cipollini,

French police on Thursday searched the offices of the weekly news magazine Le Point and the sports daily L’Equipe in connection with a doping affair that rocked French cycling team Cofidis last year. Journalists at the two publications said police led by investigating magistrates spent several hours in their offices. At Le Point, police seized two computers and ordered two journalists to report for questioning. At L’Equipe, journalists declined to reveal whether any equipment had been seized during the search. Sources close to the investigation said the searches were linked to an

Like the annual return of the swallows to Capistrano, this is the time of year that VeloNews staff get to pump-out another edition of our Buyer’s Guide. In its third year of production, the VeloNews Buyer’s Guide has grown from a “let’s see if it works” publication to a “keystone property,”or so our marketing staff likes to call it. To me, the tremendous amount of work we put into it is well worth it because of the Guide’s sheer usefulness and “drool factor.” You won’t see a larger collection of “to-die-for” bikes anywhere in 2005 than our Buyer’s Guide. This year we’ve enlisted the help of

Levi Leipheimer is getting to know his new Gerolsteiner teammates at the team’s annual training camp in Mallorca off the Spanish coast. After three seasons with Rabobank, the 31-year-old Californian said he’s excited about the new opportunities after joining the German team for what’s a two-year deal. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood sat down with Leipheimer this week. Check back later this week for the complete interview. VeloNews: You’ve reached a point where you want to step up your goals? Levi Leipheimer: “Definitely, eighth in my first Tour, ninth in my second to confirm

Navigators’ Nathan O'Neill won the Australian Professional National Time Trial Championship on Wednesday, clocking 47:41 over the course of the 40km route. Oenone Wood took the women’s 30km championship in 41:18. O’Neill, the most recent recruit to the U.S.-based Navigators team, Nathan, beat Rory Sutherland and Russell Van Hout to take his third title in four years. Indeed, Wednesday’s win marks O’Neill’s ninth national championship, seven of which were earned in the discipline against the clock. Wood started the 30km time trial at the Adelaide hills town of Echunga as the strong favorite

Citing serious safety concerns, organizers of Paris-Roubaix have removed one of the most revered sections of cobbles from the route of this year’s race. Noting that the condition of a large stretch of pavé through the Forest of Arenberg has degraded over the past year the Amaury Sport Organization has pulled the famous portion of cobbles from this year’s Queen of the Classics, scheduled for April 10. "Organizers have decided not to ride on the 2400 meters of the famous Arenberg trench for safety reasons," ASO noted in a statement. "The condition of the road has seriously deteriorated in

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - The inaugural United Texas Tour cycling race was postponed indefinitely Wednesday because organizers were reluctant to seek sponsorship money while massive aid is going to the tsunami relief effort. American officials had hoped the stage race in Lance Armstrong's home state would become a showcase event in a sport concentrated in Europe. "We are simply uncomfortable asking companies to fund the race when those dollars could be used for more immediate social concerns," said Eddie Owens, executive director of the United Texas Tour. Organizers had raised about half the

Olympic champion Paolo Bettini, Belgian classics star Tom Boonen and world time trial champion Michael Rogers will headline the Quick Step team in the 2005 season, but the Belgian team is investing heavily in young stars for future success. The 2005 roster was officially unveiled Monday in Belgium with a solid mix of youth and maturity to take over the mantle with the departure of retired stars Richard Virenque and Johan Museeuw. “With the maturity of our young stars and the recruitment of new talent, we will be as strong as we were last year,” said team manager Patrick Lefevere during the

Oh my achin' backDear Lennard,My bones are getting stiff and achy, and I am looking for a way tosoften my every day/training bike, a Cannondale CAAD 5 with the stock all-carbonfork. The bike fits me like a glove and is very responsive.Would a carbon bar and stem combination damp the ride and add comfort,or are carbon bars just as stiff and noncompliant as alloy bars?Are any carbon bars "softer" than others? Have you ridden Specialized'sRoubaix? Is there a significant improvement in the ride? Isthere a real tradeoff in performance? My 59-year-old neck, arms andback thank you!Bill Dear Bill,I

German star Jan Ullrich lined up with his T-Mobile teammates this weekend to kick start the team’s 14-day training camp in Mallorca. The 1997 Tour de France champion already has 2,500km in his legs after spending the holidays in South Africa to prepare for the 2005 season. An assault on the 2005 Tour remains Ullrich’s top goal for the upcoming season and he said toppling six-time champion Lance Armstrong gives him extra motivation. Last year, Ullrich failed to finish on the podium for the first time in his Tour career. Despite recent reports that Armstrong is hinting at skipping the 2005

The team formerly known as the U.S. Postal Service entered a new era onMonday when Lance Armstrong and Company unveiled its new look and identityin Silver Spring, Maryland. In a flashy introduction ceremony at the AmericanFilm Institute’s Silver Theater, just outside of Washington D.C., and acrossthe street from its new corporate sponsor, the most successful pro cyclingoutfit in the U.S. was officially introduced as the Discovery Channel ProCycling Team. After taking the stage, one team veteran marveled at how far the teamhad come since its inception nine years ago. “Back at our first team

Americans Rebecca Quinn and Jenny Reed won medals Sunday, the final day of competition at the third round of the track cycling World Cup.Quinn won the silver behind Australian Katherine Bates in the women's scratch race, with France's Virginie Moinard third.Reed claimed the bronze in the women's Keirin, which was won by Belarus' Natalia Tsylinskay. Germany's Susann Panzer took the silver.The British trio of Chris Hoy, Jason Queally and Craig Maclean won the team sprint in the final event of the World Cup leg at the Manchester Velodrome on Sunday to give the hosts enough points to win the

The British Guardian newspaper reported Saturday that Lance Armstrong had scored “a significant victory” in his libel suit against The Sunday Times and its chief sportswriter, David Walsh. The suit stems from a Times article published in June 2004 that repeated allegations made in the book, “LA Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong,” co-written by Walsh and Pierre Ballester and published in France. A judge in London’s high court struck down the newspaper’s defense, that the article was true, saying that the tone of the article was “sensational” and intended “to stir things up,”

Colby Pearce grabbed a share of the overall World Cup lead on Saturday in the men's points race with a bronze medal effort behind Vasil Kiryienka (BLR) and Nikita Eskov (RUS) at the penultimate stop of the four-race series. Pearce scored points in half of the 12 intermediate sprints and lapped the field once to score 35 points. Silver medalist Eskov also scored 35 points but bested Pearce in the final sprint to take the tiebraker. Kiryienka scored 39. Pearce's performance moves him into a tie for the overall world cup lead with 2004 Olympic gold medalist Russian Mikhail Ignatiev. The

Former Belgian cycling great Johan Museeuw took the blood-boosting drugs EPO and Aranesp in the 2003 season, the Belgian media reported on Friday, quoting judicial sources. The Belgian television station VRT and De Morgen newspaper carried excerpts from the official record of the prosecutor in the case that probed text messages sent between Museeuw and veterinary surgeon Jose Landuyt, who is under investigation for trafficking illegal drugs. "In the exchange of faxes and SMS (text messages), interrogations and admissions of Landuyt and other people, it is established that Johan Museeuw took

Record six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has hinted again that he may not bid for a seventh yellow jersey on the race this July as he wants to beef up his honors list with one-day classics wins. Armstrong, 33, will continue his hugely-successful career with his new Discovery team, the nucleus of which comes from the U.S. Postal team, when the season begins. However since eclipsing the likes of Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain - all of whom won the Tour five times - Armstrong's desire to bid for a record seventh victory seems to be on the

First off, a while back in (almost) sunny Southern California for Christmas, I managed to pull Shimano PR guy Jasen Thorpe out of his cubicle for a morning of off-road riding and tech chit-chat. Thorpe came to the famed Aliso Viejo riding trails armed with one of his truly fish-out-of-water bicycle creations–a one-size-too-small GT Ruckus hardtail fully equipped with 2005 Shimano Hone components. “It is too early in the year to start riding fast, so I’d rather stick to my hucking bike for general trail riding,” Thorpe offered. Oddball or not, the point of the Ruckus was to show off

Australian sprint cyclist Jobie Dajka will return to international competition later this week at the Manchester World Cup after serving a ban for lying to a doping inquiry. On Tuesday the former world keirin champion was named to a team of six riders slated to compete in the January 7-9 UCI Track Cycling World Cup. Dajka was thrown off Australia's Athens Olympics team last year and suspended until January 1 when it was found he had lied to a doping inquiry headed by Justice Robert Anderson.

Happy New Year, everybody! It's 2005, training camp is less than two weeks away, the ProTour is going to make its debut and I get to speak English with my teammates again. Last year at this time I was studying my Spanish as much as possible while fretting about being at the dinner table and understanding nothing. I'll be riding for CSC this year, where we all speak English at some level. It makes life much easier on me, and the fact that the native English speakers only take up one-sixth of the team is downright strange, if not a dream. I'm very excited about sitting at the dinner table or

Phonak cycling team officials announced Monday that manager Urs Freuler and director Alvaro Pino have been replaced by Belgian John Lelangue, an employee of the Amaury Sport Organization, which promotes the Tour de France. After a tumultuous season, in which three of Phonak’s top stars were charged with doping violations and the team excluded from the upcoming UCI ProTour, team owner Andy Rihs announced that the employment contracts of Freuler and Pino “were terminated by mutual agreement.” "The team's owner Andy Rihs has decided ... to install a new management at the heart of the Phonak

Belgian Sven Vanthourenhout (Rabobank) won the eighth round of the UCI’s cyclo-cross World Cup on Sunday, beating his compatriots Sven Nijs and Erwin Vervecken in Aigle, Switzerland. Vanthourenhout scored the win on a 2.6km course that encircled the World Cycling Center, the headquarters of the Union Cycliste Internationale, cycling’s world governing body. Ben Berden and Italian Enrico Franzoi finished respectively in fourth and fifth places. It was those five riders who dominated throughout most of the race, staying together in a lead group until the penultimate lap when Nijs and

Joe and Dirk answer questions on four-hour trainer sessions and how to count weight training

Where is that table?Dear Lennard,Where can I find the torque charts that the latest issue of VeloNewssaid were on the Web site?CharlesDear Charles,Hereyou go!LennardAsking SantaDear Lennard,I'm suggesting an inch pounds torque wrench from Santa for Christmasand I'm a little confused on which to put on my list. The one I want isa 1/4" twist knob type US, but they have a few options on the increments.Should I go with a 40-200 or 10-50? I'm most doing all the stuff onmy road and mountain bike, stems, cranks bolts etc.PaulDear Paul,Sorry if my answer is too late for Santa, but click on the torque

Merry Christmas everyone. It’s that time of year when a guy can look back on the past season, take a short break and then start thinking about the next year. Last year was an amazing time for me, highlighted by that win at Paris-Roubaix and the birth of our second daughter, Zoe. Zoe was born on September 24, just before I came to Las Vegas this year – my first trip to the U.S. We also have three-year-old Alynor, so this is a big Christmas for us. We’ll be hanging out at home here in Wales for the holiday, although we did just get back from a visit with my parents and my sister in

The Russian girlfriend of cyclist Marco Pantani is being accused of complicity in supplying the cocaine that authorities said was the cause of his death in February. Elena Korovina was among five others accused of supplying cocaine by investigator Paolo Gengarelli. The five may face charges of trafficking and distribution of drugs, although the judge in charge of the preliminary investigation has yet to decide on whether to prosecute. Pantani, the last rider to win both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the same year, was found dead in a hotel in Rimini on February 14, from an

Dear readers,I have gotten so many questions on fork rake and front-end geometryfrom my Nov. 23 posting that I realized the need to fully address thissubject again. I have written about this before, both here and in the magazine,but there obviously remains a bit of confusion out there about the subject.Consequently, I have posted a number of the recent questions I have receivedabout it as well as the “block” I wrote on the subject from my most recentbook, Zinn’sCycling Primer. I hope it clarifies some handling questions for a lot of you out there.Merry Christmas,Lennard Dear Lennard,I'm

The Bay-area based Webcor Builders Cycling Team has announced that September’s T-Mobile International winner Charles Dionne will remain with the team in 2005. The team also announced Monday that it will switch from LeMond to Specialized bicycles and equipment, and it has added the strength of American David Clinger to its roster. Webcor will race S Works Tarmac road and Transition TT bicycles as well as a wide array of accessories from Specialized. “The Webcor Builders cycling team is extremely excited and proud to work with Specialized,” said Andy Ball, CEO of Webcor Builders. “Our

In a letter to UCI president Hein Verbruggen, the Professional Cyclists Association (CPA) has complained about being excluded from discussions on the structure of the 2005 ProTour. A working group of nine members – including representatives of the UCI’s Council of Professional Cycling (CPC), the International Association of Cycle Race Organizers (AIOCC) and the International Association of Professional Cycling Groups (AIGCP) – is to be set up to resolve the problems remaining with the ProTour, particularly the dispute between the UCI and the organizers of the three grand tours – the Tour of

Heras wants fourth Vuelta ... and a Tour to go with itSpain's Roberto Heras has his eyes firmly fixed on a record-breaking fourth Vuelta a España title after organizers unveiled the course Wednesday, but admitted the Tour de France was an even bigger goal. Last year's win was the 30-year-old's third in five seasons and he now has the chance to go one better than Swiss racer Tony Rominger, who bagged a hattrick of crowns from 1992. "The Vuelta motivates me a great deal, but the Tour (de France) is an obsession," Heras told sports daily Marca after the presentation for the event, which will

Organizers of the Vuelta a España on Wednesday unveiled the course for the 60th edition of the Spanish national tour, which will see 21 teams tackle a 3239km (2012.71-mile) course in 2005. With the UCI world road championships taking place in the Spanish capital of Madrid one week after the event, which starts on August 27 and ends on September 18, the race will be a meaty hors d'oeuvre and the riders will get a chance to check out the championship course over the final stretch in Madrid. The racers will work up an early sweat right from the word go, opening with a 9km individual time trial

“That’ll work,” I told Keith Novello about an hour before the start of the elite men’s race at the U.S. Cyclo-cross National Championships this past weekend in Portland, Oregon. I was referring to his $7000 Moots Psychlo-X cyclo-cross bike, which I had just taken for a 45-second spin. He asked whether the seat height needed adjusting, and I said, “Nah, it’ll do,” drawing a chuckle from him in response. “Now I have to ride fast,” I said. Keith replied, “Don’t worry, man, it’s all gravy after this morning.”

Stronger teams, hotter weather and a much larger audience will be the likely result of the changes in store for the Vuelta a España, whose 2005 route was presented in Madrid on Wednesday. At 3239km, the course itself is 200km longer than this year’s race, with three stages over 200km (compared with one in 2004), six mountaintop stage finishes (the same), and three individual time trials (as opposed to two). The most significant change is the inclusion of the Vuelta in the UCI’s infamous ProTour. Even though the organizers of the Vuelta and the other grand tours have yet to sign off on the

More tire talkDear Lennard,I really enjoyed your recent wet-road tire discussion with Tom Petrie and Alberto De Gioannini. Just the topic I was looking for, but I'm still a little confused. I thought the cord compound made a big difference and it wasn't mentioned at all. I recall racing in the rain in a crit next to a friend who was running cotton-cord sew up tires as opposed to my silks. While we'd been comparable in bike handling otherwise, I found myself nearly sideways in corners while hewent around like on a rail. We'd pumped our tires to comparable pressures.I'm taking a group over for

Tour de France organizers have ruled out breaking new ground by starting the 2008 edition of the race in Québec City. The Tour has ventured out of France before, but only within Western Europe and never before has it crossed the Atlantic Ocean. But with American Lance Armstrong having won the last six Tours and Québec looking to celebrate its founding in 1608 by Frenchman Samuel de Champlain, the project was examined. The conclusion, however, was that it would be too difficult to organize from a logistical point of view with scores of people, bikes and equipment to move and the time zone

Theo Bos closed the Los Angeles round of the 2004-05 UCI World Cup the way he started it, with an outstanding win, to lead the Netherlands to a convincing overall victory. After setting an astounding personal-best kilometer TT time of 1:01.768 on Friday night, Bos anchored his Dutch team to a winning 45.163 seconds for the three-lap, 750-meter team sprint on Sunday afternoon. Bos did not compete in the sprint, the discipline in which he is the current world champion, although he will defend his title on this same track in March; he will also do the kilometer and team sprint. “Today we did

Indoor track cycling, which was one of America’s most popular sports until World War II, is starting to rediscover its roots at the ADT Event Center in Carson, California. On Saturday, the second night of the three-day UCI track World Cup saw a near-capacity crowd entertained by a variety of world-class performances. And the new fans were on their feet at the end of the evening, cheering all the riders in the men’s 30km points race in which Colorado’s Colby Pearce almost pulled off a stunning victory against Russia’s immaculate Mikhael Ignatiev. After both men had gained three laps on the

There were only a couple of hundred people left in the ADT Event Center when Dutchman Theo Bos, the world sprint champion, burst out of the starting gate in the men’s kilometer time trial. It was the last event of Friday night on the first day of the Los Angeles round of the UCI track World Cup. On the other side of the track was Jason Queally of Great Britain, the 2000 Olympic kilo champion, who was using this ride on the newest American indoor velodrome as a nice try-out before the world championships at this venue in March. Bos is notorious for his bad starts in the kilo, but this time

Australian sprinter Ryan Bayley, who won the sprint and keirin gold medals at the Athens Olympics in August, and the women’s 500-meter TT champion Anna Meares star in the three-day UCI World Cup track classic this weekend in Los Angeles. This will be a dress rehearsal at the ADT Event Center indoor velodrome in Carson for the full-blown UCI track world’s next March. The three-day track meet on the 250-meter Schurmann-designed wood track with its 45-degree bankings should provide a feast of racing from most of the nations that will race at the world’s. Qualifying round take place Friday and

Lance Armstrong said Wednesday he will wait until May to decide whether to go for a seventh successive victory in the Tour de France next year. Armstrong won a record sixth Tour title in July, surpassing a host of Tour legends such as Belgian Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain of Spain, who was the only rider before Armstrong to claim five straight Tour de France victories. However since setting the outright race record, and with family life and his personal relationship with rock star girlfriend Sheryl Crow becoming more important, rumours have been rife that Armstrong may ditch the Tour to

You simply can’t get away from it. Obviously, bicycles for commuting purposes rule the earth when compared to their internal combustion engine bastard off-shoots, but who would have imagined running into a pack of dedicated mountain bike racers in the middle of nowhere? With the racing season on winter hiatus, and activity here at VeloNews a bit slower than in the heavy season, I felt it the perfect time to grab a bit of vacation time a couple of weeks ago and head south across the Mexican border aboard my motorcycle (yeah, yeah... I said motorcycle. Deal with it). My original route

Joe and Dirk,You recently mentioned that it is a benefit to sleep at a higher altitude and train at a lower altitude, but what about the opposite?Riding in Colorado I often find myself at much higher elevations than my home and I had operated on the assumption that training at a higher altitude would help me out when I am back at a lower elevation. Do you care to set me straight on this matter?Mike Dear Mike,Training at a high altitude (8500 feet or higher) may have beneficial effects on your aerobic system. This is of great benefit within your base training especially. But training at a

Need a long-valve tubie? Try VittoriaDear Lennard,I have been looking around and have been unable to find a long-stem tubular tire. Almost all the tire websites don't even mention the stem length. I thought for sure with the popularity of deep carbon rims there would be at least one company that offered a model with a long valve stem. Thanks for any help.Brian Dear Brian,My tire-aficionado friend Tom Petrie assures me that at least Vittoria offers tubular tires with 51mm long valves with a removable valve core as well as 42mm-length valves without a removable valve core. Vittoria also offers

Hamilton vows vindication after sackingAfter being fired by the Swiss Phonak team, Olympic medalist Tyler Hamilton has promised once again that he will eventually be cleared of blood doping charges. “I know I will be vindicated,” Hamilton told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “My hope is to get this past me as soon as possible. We're just waiting to have this hearing, which at the moment they haven't even set a date.” Hamilton, who tested positive for blood doping at the Vuelta a España in September, plans to contest the results at a January hearing in Colorado. He

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announced Wednesday that the organizers of the three grand tours have agreed to include their events in the 2005 ProTour calendar. The 19 teams confirmed as licensees in the ProTour “guarantee their participation in these events,” and the organizers have agreed to accept their participation, the UCI said in a press release. However, in a letter to UCI president Hein Verbruggen, dated November 29 and published in Wednesday’s edition of the French newspaper L’Equipe, the organizers of the Tour de France, Vuelta a España, and Giro d’Italia – ASO, RCS and

The Swiss-based Phonak team has lost an appeal to the Union Cycliste Internationale to race as part of the 2005 ProTour, despite its decision last week to fire American Tyler Hamilton in an effort to satisfy the governing body. The team’s hope of becoming part of cycling’s top tier was hampered after Hamilton and two other of the squad's star riders failed doping tests this year. Two weeks ago, the team’s title sponsor – a Swiss hearing aid manufacturer - hinted that it may pull out of the sport if the team were unable to compete in the UCI's new major race series. UCI officials told the

Beloki to Liberty, agent saysJoseba Beloki will sign a one-year contract soon with Liberty Seguros, run by his former mentor Manolo Saiz, AFP has learned. Pablo Arregui, the agent for the Basque cyclist, told AFP that the deal has not been completed, but added that negotiations were nearing their end. “Joseba will join Manolo Saiz,” Arregui said. Beloki, who has made the Tour de France podium three times – he was third in 2000 and 2001, and second in 2002 – crashed heavily in the 2003 Tour and has never returned to top form in stints with Brioches la Boulangere and Saunier Duval. Illes

What happened to Clement red glue?Dear Lennard,I have been riding tubulars my whole life, and I have always liked the Clement red glue. Now I cannot find it anymore. Do you know of a source? Also, I have been using the Tufo tubulars with good luck. I just don’t understand how they measure the number of threads per inch in the casing. They claim 420, yet Vittoria says their 290tpi is the highest density on the market. Any observations?Mark Dear Mark,I, too, loved that glue and have missed it. When Clement went bankrupt and was acquired by Pirelli, I think that the Clement red glue might have

Citing a “lack of motivation, two-time World Cup winner Michele Bartoli (CSC) announced his decision to retire from cycling Wednesday. I've had a lot of bumps and bruises throughout my career," Bartoli said during a press conference in Milan. Bartoli's decision was not a big surprise to those who have watched him suffer through an unspectacular season this year. The 35-year-old Tuscan didn't score a single win this season, a long way from the successive World Cup titles he earned in 1997 and 1998. Sitting next CSC director Bjarne Riis, Bartoli also said recent physical problems had

The powerful Italian Lampre-Caffita team will debut at Australia's Tour Down Under in January, race organizers said on Tuesday. The merger of the Saeco and Lampre teams will pull together a strong teamwith 16 Saeco riders, seven Lampre riders and a further three cycling starsfrom Italy. Saeco and Lampre competed as separate entities in the inaugural Tour DownUnder in 1999 setting the foundation for the event’s strong relationship with Italian cycling. The Saeco team has returned to Australia to compete in the event five times. With two-times Giro d'Italia winner Gilberto Simoni set to

Look Cycle, a member of the pro peloton since 1983 and always an innovator, has introduced a host of high-end products for the new season. In keeping with the company’s design tradition, the French manufacturer’s new pedals, frames and forks are extremely light and purposeful to meet the demands of pros who depend on their equipment to make a living. Look’s carbon fiber technology is particularly advanced. The company was among the first to deliver carbon steerer tubes on forks, and has now produced a fork entirely in carbon fiber, including the dropouts. Look has also introduced a new

Rake, trail and the difference between the twoDear Lennard,In your November9 Technical Q&A you said that a 44/45mm rake would steer less quicklyand be more stable than a 47mm rake. Is that a typo? I thought shorterrake would tighten up the wheelbase and make the head tube angle feel steeper--yieldingquicker handling and a more "twitchy" feeling bicycle.Jeremiah Dear Jeremiah,Sorry, but the statement is correct and your interpretation about forkrake’s effect is wrong. Indeed, a steeper head angle does make the bikehandle more quickly (reduces fork trail), yes. However, a reduced forkrake

Annual Training Plan ChallengeDear Joe and Dirk,I have a some teammates that are really into cyclo-cross racing. Theywill finish their last 'cross race the first week of December. The firstroad race will be in mid-February! Of course this will not be a "A" race for them. It won't be for me either.These guys typically do not race much in July, August and September sothey can transition and prepare for 'cross. How do you set up the AnnualTraining Plan when the last "A" race is on December 5th and their first Arace for road will be mid April? Do you skip the base periods or shortenall of them

The UCI has deferred a final decision on the question of granting a ProTour license to the Swiss-based Phonak team until November 30. Cycling’s international governing body said Monday that the ProTour applications of three teams – Phonak, the French Ag2R squad and the Belgian MrBookmaker.com team – were reviewed by the UCI licensing commission, but that a definitive action in either case would have to wait until November 30. The commission had initially rejected the Phonak application, citing concerns about the team, its structure and management, following news that three of its top riders

Rob Vandermark has always had a knack for turning the impossible into the desirable. As the head designer for Merlin Metalworks, back when Merlin was a struggling independent, he figured out how to create externally butted, seamless titanium tubing. The result was the Merlin Extralight, which for many years reigned as a benchmark in the road bike stratosphere. He also created the Merlin Newsboy, a bona fide mountain bike disguised as the most stylish of cruisers. Easy to do, you say, if you have all the money in the world to work with. So at the opposite end of the price scale, he delivered

I just returned to a very chilly Boulder, Colorado, after spending a few days in the warm sun of Santa Barbara, California, where Giant Bicycles arranged to show off its 2005 product line. While the majority of major manufacturers already paraded their 2005 wares this past summer, Giant was forced to wait until the Interbike tradeshow because its new Maestro suspension mountain bikes weren’t quite ready until then. Indeed, even the bikes that Giant brought to Interbike’s Outdoor Demo were not 100-percent ready, so I was eager to try out the actual production road and mountain models that

Time Sport International, founded in 1986, is a comparatively young company, but it has been at the forefront of the pro racing scene ever since the debut of its revolutionary TBT pedal in late 1987. The TBT was the first modern clipless pedal to allow rotational float, a common feature on high-end pedals today but one that was unheard of at the time. Despite the system’s unusual approach, the TBT was an immediate success, garnering victories in the men’s and women’s Tour de France in 1988 with Pedro Delgado and Jeannie Longo. Shortly thereafter, Time developed a clipless mountain-bike

Losing my gripDear Lennard,I am having a problem with the removal of the drive-side bottom bracketcup. It is a Shimano UN 72 and it has been removed so many times that thesplines are now gone. The bottom bracket itself works fine and I can leaveit in, but eventually it will need to be replaced. The splines are so rounded off that when pressure is applied in an attemptto remove the cup, the bottom bracket tool spins and further chews up thesplines. I am turning the tool clockwise for removal.Jeff Dear Jeff,The first thing to try would be to get your hands on a Tacx BB cupremover, since it

Belgian Sven Nys won the third round of the cyclo-cross World Cup on Sunday in Pijnakker, Netherlands. Hometown favorite Richard Groenendaal, who crashed once, crossed second at 23 seconds back, followed by Belgian Sven Vanthourenhout at 0:49. Nys finally broke the Czech stranglehold on this season’s World Cup, following victories by Zdenek Mlynar in Wortegem-Petegem (Belgium) and Kamil Ausbuher in Tabor, Czech. Groenendaal had a perfect start, riding ahead of a chase group that included Nys, Mlynar and Italian Enrico Franzoi. But Nys eventually leapt away from the bunch, and when

After two years with Mario Cipollini’s Domina Vacanze team, Specialized Bicycles announced that it was switching its sponsorship to Germany’s Gerolsteiner squad for 2005, in part because the team has added American Levi Leipheimer to its roster. Specialized also announced an expansion of its domestic sponsorship role next year, adding its support to the men’s side of USA Cycling’s under-23 development program. Specialized will supply bikes and equipment for road, mountain, cyclo-cross and track to the U-23 team. We chatted with Mike Sinyard, Specialized’s president and founder, about his

The Crank Brothers Cobalt crank was one of the big hits of this year’s Interbike trade show in Las Vegas, largely due to its unexpected and unconventional design. Eschewing carbon, the Cobalt is a composite of a different kind: an aluminum base bonded to a stainless steel cover. Like all Crank Brothers products, the Cobalt combines a striking industrial aesthetic with hardcore cycling functionality. Andrew Herrick, who serves as Crank’s marketing guy (though not officially; the company does not use job titles) gave us the lowdown on how this unusual product was created. VeloNews: When did

Questions of rakeDear Lennard,I have a 1994 Trek 5200 54 cm. I want to raise up my handlebarheight for comfort reasons. I figure I need to raise it 2 cm.I thought about the Serotta head tube extender. It's titanium, pressedin and adds 2 cm. I would have to buy a new fork. The literaturefor that model year states a 47mm fork rake.I think I could accomplish two things - more comfort and better ride- with the right fork. From a safety standpoint, is this a good idea?If so which fork? Since less rake equals more trai that would make it morestable with same head angle, right? Would a 44 mm rake

Retired racing legend Johan Museeuw said he won’t challenge a two-year racing ban handed down by the Belgian cycling federation, according to reports on the Belgian wires. Museeuw, who left competitive cycling in April, was banned along with Belgian racers Jo Planckaert and Chris Peers after being implicated in a police investigation last fall involving the distribution of banned substances involving a Belgian veterinarian. Despite clearing doping tests, authorities felt they had enough on the classics legend to issue the controversial racing ban. Museeuw had already retired by the time

Former Tour de France winner and five-time runner-up Jan Ullrich has hit out at the race's organizers for reducing the number of time trials in the three-week epic race. The 30-year-old T-Mobile rider, who won the Tour in 1997 and finished second five times, is a time trial specialist who in previous years would have looked to the discipline to put time on his rivals. Next year, however, the Tour will feature one less time trial than usual when it begins with a 19km time trial instead of the usual short prologue. After a team time trial on the fourth stage, the next opportunity for Ullrich

Lance Armstrong is unsure if he will ride in next summer's Tour de France because he'd like to compete in other races. Armstrong, who won a record sixth straight Tour de France this year, said in Saturday's edition ofL'Equipe it is “time to move onto other things.” He has previously been somewhat evasive about whether he will return in 2005, but these were his strongest comments yet about his plans. “Honestly, I don't know if I will be at the start of the next Tour,” he told the sports newspaper. “There are a lot of other things I would like to do in cycling before retiring. So I tell

Andy Ording, President of Zipp Speed Weaponry, is determined to maintain his company’s lead in lightweight composite technology, and he’s also committed to making his products in the United States. With the miniscule margins most bike companies have to work with, that’s not an easy task, especially considering that most of Ording’s competitors source their products in China, where labor and materials costs are but a fraction of Zipp’s. Moreover, in Ording’s quest to create the lightest, most advanced wheels and components possible, he does not shy away from expensive solutions. The new

The flawed process that forced Olympic officials to throw out a case againstcyclist Tyler Hamilton shows the system needs to be improved, the WorldAnti-Doping Agency said Thursday.Hamilton had a preliminary positive test for blood doping at the AthensGames, but the IOC dropped its probe because the cyclist's backup specimenmistakenly was frozen and there weren't enough red blood cells left toanalyze. That meant Hamilton was able to keep his gold medal.The American, who insists he is innocent and has vowed to clear hisname, still faces a two-year ban because of a failed blood doping testat the

Division 2 Spanish team Cafés Baqué faces an uncertain future after losing title sponsor Orbitel. The Colombian telecom company told team officials it would no longer underwrite the team for the 2005 season. Erkaitz Elcoroiribe, team manager of Cafés Baqué, said the team will search for a new co-sponsor to step up. “What’s really sad about this situation is the marvelous team of riders, mechanics, massage therapists and other who could lose their job,” Elcoroiribe told the Spanish daily MARCA. The team has brought several riders into the pro ranks and was headlined by Colombian climber

Tour wouldn’t mind if Armstrong stayed awayTour de France officials evidently aren’t losing any sleep over the prospect that six-time winner Lance Armstrong might not race in the 2005 edition. Just a week after the 92nd edition of the Tour was unveiled in Paris, race officials said in an interview in L’Equipe that they’re not concerned if Armstrong doesn’t race next year. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Armstrong races another grand tour next year and return in 2006 to try the Tour again,” said Christian Prudhomme, director general of the Amaury Sport Organisation which produces the Tour. “To