Road

Seventeen-year-old Taylor Phinney can pen another page in his quickly growing book of cycling successes. Riding just the seventh individual pursuit of his career, the high school senior rode with the calculated panache of a veteran to grab his first-ever World Cup victory, defeating Dutchman Jenning Huizenga in a winning time of 4:26:09. “I just suffered through it. I think the person who can suffer the most wins this race,” Phinney said. “I didn’t expect to win when I was six or seven laps in.”

Think back to your first impressions of Floyd Landis. Possibly they trace back to his days as a scrappy pro mountain biker. Perhaps you first took note of him when he was a bleached-blonde star of the sea foam-green Mercury domestic road squad. Or maybe you came to know Floyd as Lance Armstrong’s lieutenant at U.S. Postal Service, or as he developed into the underdog GC rider at Phonak who broke through to win the 2006 Tour de France. Remember the permanent grin, the cunning observational comments, and the sarcastic laughter? Those days, at least for the time being, are over.

American Sarah Hammer, the two-time defending world pursuit champion, posted the fastest time of the day in the women’s pursuit at the opening day of the UCI track World Cup at the ADT Events Center in Carson, California. Unfortunately for Hammer, her 3:38:00 in the 3000-meter event took place in the bronze medal round rather than the gold medal final.

When American Mike Friedman takes to the ADT Event Center Velodrome in Los Angeles for the qualifying round of the men’s World Cup scratch race Saturday afternoon, he’ll do so with the confidence that comes with winning a gold medal at the previous round in Beijing, China, in December.

...previous NR: You’re not the first to suggest there’s a bit of vigilantism on the side of the anti-doping agencies, all in the name of protecting clean athletes. FL: Honestly, in my heart, I don’t believe they are trying to convict innocent athletes. I don’t think they have the wrong intentions. But when you look at it in a black and white context, the way they are doing things, no one could know. How could you know if they have the right intentions or not? What are they trying to do?

...previous NR: I think the reason people still hold the suspension against Tyler is because he denied having doped, and even had a campaign to believe in him, and

Former world champion Mario Cipollini could be back in the saddle as a professional at next month’s Tour of California as the long-rumored comeback with Rock Racing looks closer to being a done deal. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the 40-year-old colorful Italian has signed a contract to join the U.S. domestic team in a dual role of manager and racer. A formal announcement could come as soon as today at the opening day of the team’s training camp in Malibu, California.

Team CSC, ranked No. 1 in the world, heads the list of 17 squads slated to race this year’s Amgen Tour of California, organizers AEG announced Thursday. The 650-mile stage race starts February 17 in Palo Alto and ends seven days later in Pasadena. The field includes teams that compete on the UCI ProTour as well as U.S. domestic squads. Hoping to defend his 2007 title will be Levi Leipheimer, riding this season for the newly reformed Astana team.

North America’s only stop on the 2007-08 UCI track World Cup kicks off Friday at the continent’s premier velodrome, the ADT Event Center Velodrome at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, just south of Los Angeles. As the third of only four World Cup rounds on the 2007-08 calendar, the LA World Cup stands as an important stepping-stone in Olympic qualification for the 2008 Beijing Games. Series winners will earn automatic qualifications for the Games. USA Cycling is to name its track Olympic long teams on Tuesday.

I just crawled out of bed after two days of racing and for some funny reason I’m sore. Back, legs, triceps, ego. They all tingle with a slightly bruised sensation. Now, unless you consider repeated swigs of beer followed by swallowing fat-laden hors d’oeuvres a unique type of interval training, I haven’t done much to keep myself in race shape since U.S. cyclocross nationals, and let me tell you, I could feel the burn. Although I suffered like an American cross racer in Belgium (hey, wait a sec’) it felt great to have my tubies rolling on foreign soil.

Early season European races keep adding top names to their start lists as the 2008 campaign nears closer to opening. Spain’s Vuelta a Murcia, a longtime favorite for Tour de France challengers to kick-start their respective season, will once again see its fair share of marquee riders in 2008. Euskaltel-Euskadi announced this week that Vuelta a España podium man Samuel Sánchez and top-10 Tour de France finisher Mikel Astarloza will both be among the starters for the orange-clad Basques.

A Spanish judge has ordered the French daily Le Monde to pay a fine of 300,000 euros ($440,000) to FC Barcelona after it reported that the soccer team was linked to the Operación Puerto doping scandal. The ruling stems from stories published December 7 and 8, 2006, when the paper reported that several of the top soccer team’s stars were working with controversial Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, the ringleader of the alleged blood doping ring. The paper couldn’t back up the claims and was subsequently sued by the club, one of the most powerful in European soccer.

Team CSC had already closed out its lineup for 2008, but 24-year-old Lasse Bøchman was so impressive at the team’s training camp this month in Mallorca that team boss Bjarne Riis decided to offer him a contract.

Thomas Voeckler knows he’ll never win the Tour de France, but he’d sure love to win a stage someday. Voeckler rose to prominence with his brave run in the maillot jaune in the 2004 Tour de France. Since then, he’s been trying to confirm that scrappy performance with a stage victory. Despite some daring attacks and close calls, he’s come up empty in the hunt for the rare Tour stage win. Voeckler, 28, enters the 2008 campaign as one of the top riders at Bouygues Telecom, the French team lacking GC contenders but packed with riders eager to make a mark on the race.

Paolo Bettini already has back-to-back world titles, so why not aim for a repeat with the Olympic gold medal? Better yet, why not go out big and shoot for the double-gold and bag the world title and Olympic title in one final blaze of glory? That’s the Italian’s thinking, at least, as he rattles off top goals for the 2008 campaign.

Gerolsteiner enters what will be its swan-song reason getting attention for all the wrong reasons. Following the departure of T-Mobile from the German cycling landscape, the team can expect to move up as Germany’s most important team. But the squad faces an uncertain future with title sponsor water-bottler Gerolsteiner closing its sponsorship at the end of the season as well as some lingering questions about star rider Stefan Schumacher.

The wires were crackling Tuesday with headlines of another possible illicit blood bank after a German television station went public with a long-whispered story that as many as 30 elite athletes were using a Vienna-based laboratory to dope. ARD reported that dozens of top biathletes and cross-country skiers and a trio of Rabobank riders were part of an elaborate blood-doping ring, but provided few details. All those involved vehemently denied the story.

The new year is just days old and cycling is already looking head-on at another potentially explosive doping story.

The German public television station ARD reported Tuesday that Michael Rasmussen, along with his former Rabobank teammates Denis Menchov and the now-retired Michael Boogerd, were among 30 elite athletes said to have used an Austrian-based laboratory for banned blood-doping practices.

ARD also alleged that biathletes and Nordic skiers used the Humanplasma lab, which has facilities in Vienna.

It was a rocky 2007 season for the three ProTour Spanish teams. Inconsistent results and nagging questions over the Puerto doping investigation overshadowed many of the highlights for the Spanish Armada during last year’s campaign. None of the three Spanish squads – Caisse d’Epargne, Saunier Duval-Scott and Euskaltel-Euskadi – managed to win a major tour or classic, though Samuel Sánchez saved what was an otherwise lackluster season for the Basque team with a late-surge in the Vuelta a España to finish third.

Questions about torque wrenches, torque and threadloc

Tour de France champion Alberto Contador and 2006 ProTour winner Alejandro Valverde are to be called before the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) prosecutor Ettore Torri over their implication in the infamous Operación Puerto doping scandal. Torri said on Monday that he wanted to speak to certain foreign-based cyclists, as well as the man central to the whole sorry scandal, Dr Eufemiano Fuentes.

Australia’s Sports Anti-Doping Authority Monday announced anti-doping initiatives to be used at this month's Tour Down Under. The new rigorous program is being implemented in partnership with the UCI and Events South Australia, where the tour will be held, ASADA said in a statement. The 2008 Tour Down Under, from January 22-27, is the first stop on the UCI-sanctioned world professional cycling calendar and the first time that a UCI-sanctioned ProTour event has been held in Australia.

José Rujano, the diminutive Venezuelan climbing sensation who almost rode away with the 2005 Giro d’Italia, hopes he can return to form in 2008 following two second-rate campaigns when he failed to live up to expectations. Caisse d’Epargne is the latest European team to give Rujano a chance following below-par runs at QuickStep-Innergetic in 2006 and Unibet.com last year. Rujano didn’t finish either the Giro or the Tour de France in 2006 and didn’t race a grand tour last year as his Unibet team was excluded from all ProTour events.

Johan Bruyneel, the eight-time Tour de France winning directeur sportif, will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the end of the month with two of his new projects: Astana and the Johan Bruyneel Cycling Academy.

Floyd Landis's appeal of the doping ban that cost him the 2006 Tour de France title is scheduled to be heard by a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel in New York on March 19. "We are really looking forward to appealing the (U.S.) decision and optimistic the CAS panel will view favorably for Floyd," Landis attorney Maurice Suh told Reuters. The hearing represents Landis’s final opportunity to overturn a two-year doping ban. Last year, a U.S. arbitration panel upheld findings by a French laboratory that Landis had used synthetic testosterone in winning the 2006 Tour.

Dutchman Lars Boom (Rabobank) won the seventh and penultimate round of the UCI World Cup of cyclocross on Sunday, scoring his second win of this year’s series in a race in Léivin, France. Last year’s winner of the world under-23 cyclo-cross and road championships has enjoyed a solid year in his first year in the elite ranks, winning a World Cup round in Pijnacker, in the Netherlands, in November. Boom said the win puts him in solid position for a podium spot at the world’s in Treviso, Italy, later in the month.

Just when you thought it was safe to start clearing your mind of tubulars, tire pressure, mud, sand, dismounts, remounts, clipping in, clipping out and all things ‘cross, I’m back. That’s right, now you can waste more time at work while reading Chocolate, Waffles and ‘Cross in the next few days coming straight at you from the motherland of cyclocross. I’m back in Belgium to get my butt kicked again. I can feel the pain – and taste the beer – already. [nid:71232]For the past year, Greg Keller, a buddy of mine and the brain child of

Former world champion Mario Cipollini has been ordered to pay 1.1 million euros in back taxes for the years 1998 and 1999, the Italian news agency Ansa reported on Sunday. An Italian tax court found that Cipollini owed taxes despite claims that he was a resident of Monaco for the years in question. Cipollini, whose 42 stage wins at the Giro d’Italia appears to be an almost unassailable record, won the world championship in 2002 and retired in 2005.

Former Astana rider Matthias Kessler has been handed a two-year ban after testing positive for testosterone, the Swiss Olympic authorities said Friday. The 28-year-old German will be suspended until July 26, 2009 following the positive test for the banned male sex hormone during a random doping control in April 2007. The day after the test Kessler finished fourth in the Belgian one-day classic Fleche Wallonne. In 2006 Kessler won a stage on the Tour de France while racing for T-Mobile, which has since pulled out of sponsoring cycling due to a series of doping cases.

Happy New Year! 2008 is here and it’s time to capitalize upon your 2007 training files and training log entries. For those of you who didn’t keep a training log in 2007, this is your chance to get started.

Former world road race champion Tom Boonen is reported to be launching an audacious bid for an Olympic medal as part of a new Belgian team-pursuit squad in Beijing this summer. According to La Derniere Heure newspaper, the one-day specialist, one of cycling's best-known faces, will team up with Gert Steegmans, Sebastien Rosseler and Wouter Weylandt in a bid to score what would be a major upset. Australia holds the Olympic team-pursuit title, having won gold in Athens ahead of Great Britain and Spain.

Disgraced German cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz intends to appeal a one-year ban for testing positive for testosterone, the German cycling federation (BDR) said on Friday. Sinkewitz crashed out of the Tour de France in 2007, and days later it was disclosed that he had tested positive for the banned male sex hormone during a test taken in June. In November the BDR's disciplinary commission banned Sinkewitz, formerly of T-Mobile, for the reduced sentence of one year because of his tell-all confession about doping methods.

Disgraced Kazakh cyclist Andrey Kashechkin has pleaded for a team to sign him despite facing a ban over a positive test for blood doping following the Tour de France. Kashechkin was sacked from the drug-tainted Astana team after he tested positive for homologous blood doping at an out-of-competition control in Turkey last August. Although he has contested the validity of that test, Kashechkin is facing a ban from the sport, a fate that seems likely to befall his former teammate, compatriot Alexander Vinokourov, after he too tested positive for blood doping.

After more than a year of waiting for Spanish authorities to complete their work, Italy's anti-doping authority announced this week that it intends to take action against suspected offenders in the Operación Puerto doping scandal. Spanish judicial officials dropped charges against several riders in October of 2006, noting that use of performance-enhancing drugs was not illegal at the time of the alleged infractions. Other riders, including Alejandro Valverde and 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador were cleared after a review of documents in the case.

Earlier this week, I wrote a piece about controversial domestic team Rock Racing, discussing the departure of Frankie Andreu, the signings of Oscar Sevilla and the relationship between team owner Michael Ball and suspended 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis.

German sprint ace, Erik Zabel, said Thursday the 2008 season could very well be his last in the professional peloton. Zabel, a record six-time consecutive winner of the Tour de France's green jersey, discussed his future plans as his Milram team unveiled a significantly restructured squad for the upcoming season. The 37-year-old German, who hit the headlines last year when he admitted to having "briefly" used the banned blood booster EPO early in his career while he raced with Deutsche Telekom, said he is already thinking about life away from the bike.

On the heels of FSA's introduction of its BB30 bottom bracket system, Van Dessel has announced that its new BB30 Rivet frames are in now production, with delivery slated for late March. Built around the BB30 bottom bracket shell, Van Dessel’s Rivet will also feature a 1.5-inch lower headset bearing, in keeping with the recent trend of manufacturers moving to larger diameters at both bottom bracket and head tube.

Rubber has yet to hit the road in ’08, but second-year continental road team Rock Racing continues to generate considerable attention, this time because of reports that owner Michael Ball has been courting Floyd Landis to fill an unspecified team advisory position. Word of the deposed 2006 Tour de France champion’s involvement with the team came in the wake of director sportif Frankie Andreu’s departure based on “differences” in philosophy with Ball.

You may not have ever heard of Giovanni Pelizzoli, but it’s likely you have seen his work on Ciöcc or Guerciotti frames, either one of which would be sufficient introduction of this small, graying, bespectacled framebuilder and frame painter. Pelizzoli’s shop is located in Curno, the village on the outskirts of Bergamo in north-central Italy that has long served the finish for the final classic of the season, the Tour of Lombardy.

Spain’s national cycling federation announced Monday that it has no plans to pursue further action against Iban Mayo regarding an alleged positive for EPO during the 2007 Tour de France. The Saunier Duval climbing specialist was cleared of charges that he used EPO during the Tour after a B sample test, analyzed by the Belgian national anti-doping lab in Ghent last October, apparently came back negative. However, the UCI said it questioned the outcome of the test and had the sample re-tested at the French national anti-doping laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry.

Citing differences “with business strategies and the direction the team is headed,” director Frankie Andreu has ended his contract with Rock Racing.

Editor’s note: Tech editor Matt Pacocha is on vacation in Belgium racing cyclocross for two weeks. Upon his return, he will be buried in producing the 2008 VeloNews Buyer’s Guide. I won’t spill the beans about what he is working on, but I will say it involves thousands of dollars of product, highly calibrated tools and a band saw. Until the Buyer’s Guide ships in early February, I will be filling in for him on Tech Reports. — Ben Delaney

Two of Lennard's favorite new products.

With six weeks of solid riding and several five-hour rides in my legs, my bike is starting to once again feel part of my body, and it now also seems to be moving more fluidly.

Just two weeks after announcing plans for an unusual twist for the 13th edition of the Tour de Langkawi, the organizing committee of the early season Malaysian stage race has issued a revised route more in keeping with the traditions of the event. On December 18, the committee released a route that included a stage 2 race to the hors catergorie Genting Highlands, a move that critics said would have decided the race too early.

The 91st edition of the Giro d'Italia will begin in Palermo and end in Milan after covering 3423.8km over 23 days, it was announced on Saturday. The exact course for the 2008 Giro, which begins May 10, was presented at a ceremony in Milan's Arcimboldi Theatre. It will begin with a team time trial and end with a 23.5km race against the clock. There will also be two other time trials throughout the race, including a 13.8km mountain time trial finishing atop the famous Plan de Corones.

Sven Nys further solidified his lead in the UCI World Cup of cyclocross Wednesday, winning the latest round in Hofstade, Belgium. Nys, who also won in Koksijde and Igorre and racked his total World Cup tally to 39 victories.

It’s that time of year for roadies. This month, many of the world’s top professional teams have made the move to warmer climes to reassess their 2007 campaigns and to get ready for the coming season.

Spanish cyclist Joseba Beloki, a three-time podium finisher on the Tour de France, announced his retirement on Friday. The 34-year-old had been without a team since being implicated, along with dozens of other cyclists, in the Operación Puerto doping affair which has dominated the sport's headlines over the past 18 months. Beloki finished runner-up to Lance Armstrong in 2002, having finished third in 2000 and 2001.

The revamped Astana cycling team, now under the management of former Discovery director Johann Bruyneel, is in Jávea, Spain, for a training camp this week. Long-time VeloNews photographer Graham Watson is there, documenting the first meeting of a restructured team before the 2008 season... and the final glimpses of another team as it closes shop at the end of next week.

Officials in Scotland are campaigning to have cycling's premier event, the Tour de France, come to Scotland within the next few years. The summer marathon on two-wheels staged a major success this year with huge crowds turning out to see the prologue time-trial in London followed by a first stage down to the Channel coast. And with cycling a boom sport north of the border, the national events agency EventScotland believes the time is ripe to lure the Tour. The organisation's corporate communications manager Leon Thompson told The Scotsman newspaper that negotiations are underway to

So here you are in the middle of December and perhaps you already have a few holiday parties under your belt. How many rides or workouts have you already missed this month due to the change in season and a busy schedule?

Organizers released details of the 2008 Tour de Langkawi on Monday, with the riders facing the formidable hors categorie stage to the Genting Highlands on the second day of the race. The Malaysian state of Johor is expected to play a major role in the 13th edition of the Tour de Langkawi when the southern state hosts three of the nine stages in a revamped route for the race scheduled for February 9-17. The route takes a significant departure from past editions, with the stage to Genting now longer and appearing earlier than it ever has before.

The Health Net-Maxxis team made one final roster addition this week by re-signing veteran sprinter and one-day specialist Kirk O’Bee for the 2008 season. “We’re really fortunate and excited to have a rider of Kirk’s quality back with the squad for the coming season,” noted team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo. O’Bee said he, too, is pleased to be back in Health Net – Maxxis colors for next season. “I’m really comfortable working with this team,” he said. “I know everyone. I had fun racing with these guys last year. We have a good squad and I want to help keep things going.” After a

It took Tim Johnson seven years to return to the top of American cyclocross, and it was fitting that the Massachusetts native grabbed his second-career elite ’cross title on a snowy day in Kansas City.

Bjorn Selander (Ridley Factory Team) came from behind to outkick Jamey Driscoll (FiordiFrutta) for the title in the under-23 men’s race Saturday at the windblown, snowswept USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships in Kansas City, Kansas.

The 2009 Tour de France will begin July 4 in the principality of Monaco, organizers announced on Friday. This will be the first time the Tour has set out from the principality, though stages have finished there in five editions, including the famous finish between Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor when the Tour last visited Monaco, in 1964. In 2009, the Grand Départ will be a 15km individual time trial that includes a section of the famous Monaco Grand Prix circuit. Stage two will also begin in Monaco.

The sands in the 2007 cyclocross season's hourglass are rapidly sliding to the bottom chamber. With the USA Cycling Cyclocross Nationals Championships in Kansas City on deck there is nothing left to do but wait until start time. All the preparation, training and racing has been completed and there is nothing that can be done over the next few days that will make you any faster. But there are plenty of things that can be done to make you slower, and with the holiday season upon us, it’s very easy to get sucked into the ever-tempting vortex of sweets, treats and libations. Luckily for me,

Steve Tilford collected his fifth cyclocross national championship on Friday at wind-whipped, mud-spattered Wyandotte County Park in Kansas City, Kansas. The KCCX-Verge-Eriksen Cycles rider won the masters 45-49 race in 43:03, nearly two minutes ahead of Kevin Hines, with another veteran ’crosser — two-time masters national champion Gunnar Shogren (Fort Factory Team) — taking third at 4:03 back.

Aqu, Inc., organizers of The Tour of America, a coast-to-coast professional stage race, on Thursday announced revised dates and a tentative route for its inaugural event. Based upon feedback from racers, professional racing organizing bodies, the media and supporters, the tour has been shortened to 21 stages covering approximately 2200 miles (more than 3500 km) and scheduled for September 6-28, 2008. The tour will start in New York's Central Park and travel through 18 states before finishing in Palo Alto, California. Cities along the race's route include New York City, Philadelphia,

Like Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador, Trek Bicycles has chosen to stick with Johan Bruyneel and join the Astana team. The Wisconsin-based manufacturer will become the team’s official bicycle supplier on January 1, 2008. Trek Travel will also partner with Astana, offering behind-the-scenes access to the team. SRAM announced its sponsorship of Astana on November 25.

The Milan show had a lot more to offer than I could cover in the brief column I posted last week. Here are few more items from the trade show that celebrates both the technology and style of some of Italy's most respected bicycle companies. 1988 World Champion Maurizio Fondriest’s face, half of which is made of components, graces the booth promoting the bikes that bear his name.

Men's 200-meter sprintDutchman Theo Bos easily beat Frenchman Mickael Bourgain 2-0 to take gold in the men’s sprint at the second stop of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics that concluded Sunday. In both finals heats Bos overtook Bourgain on the final straightaway, winning each time by less than half a wheel length. After the second heat the reigning world sprint champion pulled off his helmet and sunglasses, then raised his arms in triumph, acknowledging the crowd at Beijing’s Laoshan Velodrome. In the bronze medal round German Stefan Nimke defeated France’s Kevin Sireau

American Michael Friedman won the men’s scratch race on Saturday at the UCI Track World Cup Classics in Beijing, China. Friedman beat Walter Fernando Perez of Argentina and Tim Mertens of Belgium to score the second U.S. medal of the meet. On Friday, Sarah Hammer rode to the bronze in the women’s individual pursuit. In other racing, Great Britain collected two medals, winning the team pursuit and the keirin with Chris Hoy. France scored thrice, with Francois Pervis winning the kilometer time trial, Arnaud Tournant placing second in the keirin and Sandie Clair and Clara Sanchez claiming

David Millar has taken a seat on the World Anti-Doping Agency's Athlete Committee, the organization announced this week. The 30-year-old Scot, who joined the Slipstream team as a part owner for 2008, has been a strong anti-doping advocate since serving a two-year suspension for confessing to using EPO. Millar, who will join elite athletes from throughout the world on the committee for one year beginning January 1, is the first athlete from Great Britain to serve on the committee. "I'm delighted to have been elected and am looking forward to getting involved," Millar told The

American Sarah Hammer rode to a bronze medal in the individual pursuit as the second round of the UCI Track World Cup Classics series opened Friday in Beijing. Australian Katie Mactier took the gold with Britain’s Rebecca Romero second. In men’s racing, Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain took the individual pursuit ahead of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Dyudya with Russian Alexander Serov winning the bronze-medal round against American Taylor Phinney. Wiggins, the reigning Olympic and world champion, made a late-race comeback to take the gold. Dyudya led at the 2000- and 3000-meter marks, but Wiggins

Alexander Vinokourov, suspended for blood doping by his national federation, announced his retirement from the sport at a press conference in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Friday. The 34-year-old and his Astana team were kicked out of the 2007 Tour de France after he tested positive for homologous blood doping. "I am stopping competition ... It's a definitive decision," he told a news conference. "I don't want this sport anymore ... I'm slamming the door and I'm leaving."

Five T-Mobile riders resorted to blood doping on the 2006 Tour de France, a newspaper report will charge on Saturday. According to the Stuttgarter Zeitung, the riders made a dash to the Freiburg University Clinic in Germany immediately after the prologue in the French city of Strasbourg. There, the report alleges, they all received transfusions of their own blood, a practice outlawed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Former T-Mobile cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz, who was convicted of doping with testosterone in July and banned for a year by the German cycling federation (BDR), recently

The UCI has expressed its surprise and astonishment at the Kazakh cycling federation's decision to ban Alexander Vinokourov for only one year for blood doping. Thursday's ruling paves the way for the disgraced Kazakh cyclist to compete at the Beijing Olympics, as his suspension runs up to July 2008, the month before the games start. In explaining how the Kazakh federation arrived at its decision, vice president Nikolay Proskurin said: "Documents and evidence presented by Vinokourov and his lawyers were not convincing. We decided to disqualify him for a year.” Proskurin added: "I

Against a backdrop of falling television audiences and dwindling roadside support, the organizers of the Vuelta a España on Wednesday called for their shrinking fan base to rally behind the race once again as they unveiled the route for the 2008 edition. "This will be the Vuelta of hope, a chance for a new cycling," said race director Victor Cordero as he unveiled the 63rd edition of the Spanish national tour. The three-week, 3173km race begins August 30 in the southern city of Grenada and ends September 21 in Madrid. Its 21 stages include three time trials, among them a team time trial,

The French finance company Cofidis will continue underwriting its cycling team until the end of 2009, it was announced on Wednesday. In a press release, the company said that supporting cycling in the long term offered a “formidable” return on its investment. Cofidis has been a part of the professional peloton since 1996. The company also vowed “to continue and intensify” its commitment to drug-free cycling. Cofidis quit the 2007 Tour de France when rider Cristian Moreni tested positive for testosterone after stage 11. The 35-year-old former Italian champion was sacked and subsequently

The Tour de Georgia is still hunting a title sponsor for 2008, but with five new host cities, a team time trial on Braselton’s Road Atlanta motorsports track and the enthusiastic backing of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, race director Jim Birrell was optimistic on Wednesday as organizers announced the route for next year’s race. The 2008 race will include five new host cities and feature a team time trial on Braselton’s Road Atlanta speedway. “We’re in a much better situation than we were last year,” said Birrell of Medalist Sports during a press conference at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at

Due to having my computer stolen and losing a ton of information, photos, time and momentum, I had not yet posted anything about last month's Milan bike show. Scheduled in early November, its relevance as an important international bike show has declined over the years, but given the rich history and passion of the Italian bicycle industry, it nonetheless had much to offer in the way of eye candy.

Campy’s Red Shifters Red is, and always has been, the color preferred by Italian auto racing teams, says the Italian bicycle components manufacturer Campagnolo. And using this symbolism Campy will turn the Record shifters it supplies to its professional teams red. The letters on the shift bodies of both shifters will be changed from white to red.

Mickael Bourgain led a French domination of the men's sprint on the final night of the opening leg of track cycling's World Cup in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday. Bourgain fought off team-mate Kevin Sireau, winning both his races in the final. England's world keirin and kilometer time trial champion Chris Hoy prevented a French clean sweep of the medals, beating world team sprint champion Gregory Bauge of France for the bronze medal. "I felt very very good and I am happy with the tournament," Bourgain said. "My hardest match-up was against Greg Bauge, but that is how it goes.

Saturday Afternoon - It was drizzling in Oz this morning. That’s okay, because the track is covered making us feel less guilty about being inside. The scratch race has no consequences for the Olympics but it’s a popular event and full of surprises. Travis Meyer squeaked through in his heat. We remember him from his days at Junior Worlds when he won three world track titles in a 10 hour time span. His brother Cam took the bronze last night in the points. A poignant moment for me yesterday came when a struggling Magnus Bäckstedt (bronchial infection) was working with Travis to regain the

Cadel Evans rates his No.1 ranking at the end of the 2007 ProTour more highly than even his runner-up finish in this year's Tour de France. "For me, personally it was better than getting second at the Tour and it's not easy to do," the 30-year-old Australian said Sunday. "It's taken from all of the big races from February to October so it's a long time to have to be good for. "In terms of races or contracts or whatever, maybe it isn't (better) but for me personally it was." Evans faces a testing 2008 season with the Tour de France and the Beijing Olympics road race just

Chris Hoy won the men's keirin event as British cyclists claimed two goldmedals on the second night of the UCI World Cup track meet in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday. Hoy, the reigning keirin and kilometer time trial world champion,downed compatriot Ross Edgar and world sprint champion Theo Boss of theNetherlands to take gold. Great Britain followed up with gold in the men's team pursuit, beatingNew Zealand. The British team of Edward Clancy, Stephen Cummings, Chris Newton andindividual pursuit world champion Bradley Wiggins won in a time of 4:01.196seconds over 4000 meters. Team

Chris Hoy won the men's keirin as British cyclists claimed two gold medals on the second night of the UCI World Cup track meet Saturday in Sydney, Australia. Hoy, the reigning keirin and kilometer time trial world champion, downed compatriot Ross Edgar and world sprint champion Theo Boss of the Netherlands to take gold. Great Britain followed up with gold in the men's team pursuit, beating New Zealand. The British team of Edward Clancy, Stephen Cummings, Chris Newton and individual pursuit world champion Bradley Wiggins won in a time of four minutes 01.196 seconds over the

Editor’s Note: - Connie Carpenter is at the UCI World Cup in Sydney, Australia, this week, accompanying her son, 2007 world junior time trial champion Taylor Phinney, as he enters his first elite level track competition. The 1984 Olympic gold medalist has agreed to send us reports throughout the event. Friday Morning - All the buzz is in the infield as the Track World Cup got under way on Friday morning. The track is outside Sydney, further than the Olympic Park complex – in a quiet zone known as Bass Hill. It’s familiar, but oh so strange, to be here in my first trip to Oz. Everyone is