Road

Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis) took his third stage win of the 2007 Tour de Toona at Sunday’s stage 7 criterium, out-kicking Canadian Charles Dionne (Colavita Sutter Home) and Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefits) in downtown Altoona, Pennsylvania. The victory capped off a week of dominance by the big Australian and his Health Net team, as Menzies and his teammate Rory Sutherland took the top two spots in the final general classification. American Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) took the women’s victory, out sprinting Canadian Gina Grain (Expresscopy.com) and Lauren Franges (Lipton). It was

Team Discovery, currently America's lone ProTour team, capped its best-ever Tour de France on Sunday, locking down the yellow jersey, the white jersey, two places on the final podium and the overall team classification. Discovery Channel's impressive quartet of achievements - highlighted by Alberto Contador's GC victory - exceeded any of the Lance Armstrong years, and gave the team formerly known as U.S. Postal Service eight Tour wins in nine years.

Throw in the two rest days, and Alberto Contador's winning margin at the 2007 Tour de France is destined to equal one tick of the watch per day. Those 23 seconds will represent the second smallest final time difference in the race's 94 renditions, trailing only Greg LeMond's eight-second triumph over Laurent Fignon in 1989. This year's near-record breaker came to pass during a breathtaking stage-19 time trial that left the outcome in doubt until the final kilometer, when Contador narrowly held off stiff challenges from Cadel Evans and Levi Leipheimer to maintain his slim overall lead.

Health Net-Maxxis rider Karl Menzies took his second official – and third unofficial – win at the International Tour de ’Toona Friday, retaining the leader’s jersey in the process. Menzies recently returned from visiting his father, who has terminal cancer, in his native Tasmania.“When I say I’m motivated, people don’t necessarily understand what I mean,” Menzies said. “He told me, ‘I don’t want you sitting here watching me die. I want you back racing and winning.’” Winning Friday’s 77-mile stage 5 Martinsburg Circuit Race in a bunch sprint earned Menzies a five-second bonus in a race where

In a battle among two Frenchmen and a pair of soon-to-be retirees, Française des Jeux's Sandy Casar was fastest of the four, taking victory in stage 18 of the 2007 Tour de France. Casar, who crashed into an unleashed dog early in the day, launched a cunning attack late in the 211km ride from Cahors to Angoulême, then held off the chasing trio of Axel Merckx (T-Mobile), Laurent Lefevre (Bouygues Telecom) and Michael Boogerd (Rabobank). It was the 29-year-old Frenchman's first career Tour stage victory, and the second for the host country at this year's race.

Iban Mayo and Cadel Evans, among others, demonstrated some important aerodynamic concepts for us in the stage 13 time trial in Albi. Specifically, they showed us about what to do - and what not to do - with the knees and elbows. We learned a few more subtle lessons from Levi Leipheimer and from the Astana team, and we saw once again that a wet road does not slow a fast rider… well, except on corners. Two distinct styles: Evans vs. MayoLong TV shots from the front allowed us to see how Evans maintained a compact, narrow position throughout his body, and how Mayo did not. Evans has wide,

At 12:40 p.m. local time Thursday, organizers of the Tour de France officially accepted the withdrawal of Michael Rasmussen, thus closing the book on one of the most controversial yellow-jersey runs in race history. In the wake of the Rasmussen affair came stage 17, a mostly flat run from Pau to Castelsarrasin. No one wore the maillot jaune.

The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) on Thursday lodged an appeal against the decision to clear Alessandro Petacchi of doping by Italy's cycling federation (FCI). Milram’s Italian sprinter escaped punishment from the FCI on Tuesday despite being charged with doping by CONI on July 4. CONI had recommended to the FCI that Petacchi be banned from cycling for 12 months after a urine sample he gave at the Giro D'Italia on May 23 showed an unusually high level of salbutamol, a substance primarily used to treat asthma. Ettore Torri, CONI's chief anti-doping prosecutor, has lodged an

Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis) came first across the line at the two most recent stages of the International Tour de Toona, but the record books only show him as winning one. After Health Net won the race’s opening team time trial, Menzies moved into the leader’s yellow jersey with his second-stage sprint win ahead of Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance) and Charles Dionne (Colavita-Sutter Home). On stage 3 Wednesday, Menzies came to the finish of the 96-mile race from Johnstown as part of a 47-man group. What happened next depends on who you ask. The stage finished in the Logan Valley

American Mike Friedman of the Slipstream-Chipotle team out sprinted his breakaway companions to take the Hollidaysburg Circuit race, the fourth stage of the 2007 Tour de Toona. Mark Walters (Kodakgallery-Sierra Nevada), Scott Nydam (BMC), Trent Wilson (Jittery Joe’s) and Christopher Jones (Nerac) collected the second through fifth spots on the day. Australian Karl Menzies of the Health Net-Maxxis team finished with the group, 1:37 in arrears, to hold his overall lead. Walters opened the initial gap on the first of three 20-mile circuits, dangling a minute off the front. But Friedman, a

In 1986, Greg LeMond became the first American to win the Tour de France; he did it wearing a pair of Oakley Eyeshades. That victory propelled the company into the spotlight and prompted Oakley to dedicate Dana “The Duke” Duke to its athletes full time as the company’s first sports marketing representative. He knew how to take care of his athletes and they repaid him grandly. Its partnership with a Tour de France winner showed Oakley that it could rely on high-profile athlete endorsements, rather than advertising, especially when marketing its products’ performance or technological

Despite tepid support from fans, race organizers, fellow riders and even his own team, Michael Rasmussen is just one steady time trial away from winning the 2007 Tour de France. The beleaguered Dane, who's been dogged by doping allegations since taking the yellow jersey on stage 8, strengthened his grip on the race lead Wednesday after his convincing win of stage 16's 218.5km ride from Gourette to the top of the hors categorie Col d'Aubisque.

Organizers of the Amgen Tour of California, scheduled for February 17-24,unveiled the names of cities slated to host stages for the 2008 editionof the event on Wednesday. For its third year, the eight-day tour will include 700 miles of racing(up from 650 in 2007) and be hosted by 12 official stage start and finishcities, including three new locales – Modesto, Palo Alto and Pasadena –that will join Sacramento, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, SantaClarita, Santa Rosa, Sausalito, Seaside and Solvang as host communitiesalong the route."We are committed to making the Amgen Tour of

Despite the extensive gap in his 2007 racing calendar, Ivan Dominguez left no doubt during this year’s Wells Fargo Twilight Criterium in Boise, Idaho, that the 31-year-old Cuban has returned to form. Dominguez flew out of the final corner of the course, lined with 25,000 spectators, after a textbook leadout from Toyota-United teammate Caleb Manion. It was his second NRC-level victory and his first win in this year’s USA CRITS Series after having been sidelined from racing following a crash during May’s Tri-Peaks Challenge. Dominguez says he’s finally feeling like his old self again. “I was

Barring catastrophe on the bike or unforeseen events off it, the 2007 Tour de France has become a two-man race with five stages to go. The combatants are yellow-jersey holder Michael Rasmussen and rising star Alberto Contador, who for the second day in a row waged an epic battle on the steep slopes of the Pyrénées.

Switzerland's supreme court on Monday gave authorities the green light to hand over details of Jan Ullrich's Swiss bank accounts to German magistrates examining doping-related offenses. The Federal Tribunal rejected an appeal by the 1997 Tour de France winner against the judicial assistance from Switzerland, where Ullrich was resident and licensed with the Swiss cycling federation. Ullrich retired in February having been sacked by Team T-Mobile last year when he was linked to the Spanish Operación Puerto doping investigation, which has also engulfed several other riders since May

The sorting out continued at the Tour de France on Sunday as Alberto Contador and Michael Rasmussen emerged as the race’s most serious contenders, finishing one-two atop the Plateau de Beille at the end of a dramatic 197km stage from Mazamet. On the Tour’s first foray into the Pyrénées, it was Discovery’s Contador, the leader in the best young rider competition, who proved the only man capable of staying with race leader Rasmussen of Rabobank.

The atmosphere at our T-Mobile team camp in Badenweiler, Germany took a serious dive as we learned of Patrik Sinkewitz’s positive drug test. Like one of those moments that get etched in the memory for life, I will likely not forget where I was when I found out. I hope that in a few weeks the consequences of this test will not be as drastic as we fear and that the memory will fade. We were out on a ride, having just finished up an interval, when Jan Shafferath, our director who was following in the car behind stopped us, to tell us the news. It was also being announced across the country on

After nine days at 2000 meters or more above sea level and 1343 kilometers, Selle Italia's Gabriele Massaglia has emerged triumphant in this year's Tour of Qinghai Lake by a single second. The final stage in Xining proved a formality for Discovery's Allan Davis, who took an unprecedented fifth stage victory and was the best sprinter by a country mile, winning the classification by a massive 16-point margin. It was a calculated win by the 36-year-old Massaglia, whose 13-year professional career includes a stage win at the 1997 Giro d'Italia, overall victory at the 1998 Tour de

Suspended T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz left hospital this weekend, his lawyer said on Sunday. The 26-year-old was informed last Wednesday that abnormal levels of the hormone testosterone had been found in his blood sample, taken on June 8, and the cyclist has since asked that his B sample be tested. The result is not expected to be known until Monday at the earliest. Sinkewitz suffered serious head, shoulder and knee injuries after colliding with a spectator just after finishing last Sunday's stage of the Tour de France in Tignes and was hospitalized in Hamburg. The German, who has

To no one's surprise the first individual time trial of the 2007 Tour de France proved a decisive affair. What was unexpected was the ride of yellow-jersey holder Michael Rasmussen. Instead of cracking under the weight of ongoing doping allegations and questionable time-trialing abilities, the beleaguered Rabobank leader had the ride of his life on Saturday, ceding only 2:55 to stage winner Alexander Vinokourov during the 54km race against the clock in and around Albi.

Alexander Vinokourov was clearly feeling better during stage 13’s individual time-trial. He had been suffering through a weeks worth of stages after a brutal crash on stage 5 that left him with dozens of stitches in his knees and elbows. Vino and the rest of the Astana team raced on a brand new time-trial machine from BMC. The new bike seemed to pay off. It allowed the team to place three riders within the top four in the first race of truth in this year’s Tour. While it’s hard to improve upon a custom time-trial bike that’s custom made to complement the unique physique of each Astana

Maintaining his two-second advantage over DFL Cyclingnews' Daniel Lloyd, overall victory in China’s Tour of Qinghai Lake is all but assured for Italian climbing veteran Gabriele Massaglia. For the second day in succession, a breakaway before the day's main climb worked in his favor, and once on the mountain, the 36-year-old was strong enough to fend off his adversaries. "I wasn't the strongest - that was Relax - but I worked with my head, because I knew the others did not want to risk everything," said Massaglia of the events on Daban mountain, who was shivering so badly at the

Belgian superstar Tom Boonen grabbed his second stage win of the 2007 Tour de France on Friday, nailing a perfectly executed sprint at the close of stage 12's 178.5km ride form Montpellier to Castres. The victory was the fourth this Tour for Boonen's blue-kitted Quick Step-Innergetic team, and solidified his lead in the chase for the green jersey. Boonen is first with 195 points, with South African Robbie Hunter (Barloworld) second (175), and German Eric Zabel (Milram) third (174).

On a day all the GC favorites watched each other, waiting for a move that never came, four men decided to play their own game of chance up the 3792-meter-high, hors catégorie Daban mountain. The way things have turned out the past few days during the Tour of Qinghai Lake, they didn't really stand much hope. But in cycling, hope, however small it may be, is enough to drive someone to success — and on Friday in Menyuan, success became a reality for 24-year-old Martin Mares. "Every time I hoped," said the Czech rider from PSK Whirlpool, who was in fact the overall winner from 2005. "It was

The 11th stage of the 2007 Tour de France dealt a cruel blow to one GC contender and welcomed a new country into its hall of champions on Thursday. The newcomer was South Africa and top sprinting star Robbie Hunter, who won a mad dash to the line that concluded the pan-flat, 182.5km ride from Marseille to Montpellier.

No one expected Barloworld to be in the Tour de France, let alone win a mountain stage in the Alps and field a contender for the points jersey. Indeed, the continental pro team’s season goal was merely to be invited to cycling’s biggest show. But when it found out it was the last team invited, its goals evolved. Riders and management alike promised to be on the attack everyday, until they won a stage. Now the team has won two. “The goal originally was to get into the Tour,” said Gary Blem, a mechanic with three years tenure at Barloworld and the first South African to spin wrenches for a

A continent away, as drugs and scandal appear to be perennially linked to the Tour de France, we hope - perhaps now even pray - that what we are seeing at China’s Tour of Qinghai Lake is the real deal. Allan Davis' name was linked to Operación Puerto, but he was cleared to race late last year. Despite taking an unprecedented fourth stage win in Xining Thursday ahead of the Ukraine's Yuriu Metlushenko and Wiesenhof's André Schulze, it's hardly what one would call inhuman: the Discovery rider lost the lead three days ago because he wasn't climbing well enough, but stuck to

A decade after his first Tour de France stage win, 36-year-old Frenchman Cedric Vasseur gave the host country something to cheer about on Wednesday, taking the 10th stage of the 2007 Tour, a 229.5km rolling run from Tallard to Marseille. Vasseur (Quick Step-Innergetic) shot out the right side of a five-man breakaway 200 meters from the finish, narrowly holding off countryman Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux); the difference at the line barely more than a tire width. It was the first victory by a Frenchman at the Tour since Pierrick Fedrigo took stage 14 into Gap a year ago.

You will never see a general classification rider hooked up to SRM’s telemetric data system. By beaming real-time power meter data directly to SRM’s servers television stations and websites can see the exact effort whatever rider on the other end is expending. The transmission provides all of the information a SRM power meter can gather to commentators, but it gives anyone, including other teams a look at the wired rider’s cards. It’s up to the team and the individual rider to decide if they want to participate in the program. This year riders from a handful of teams including, T-Mobile,

Until Wednesday, many believed overall victory in China's Tour of Qinghai Lake would go to one of two teams: Selle Italia with Gabriele Massaglia, or Relax-Gam with Francisco Mancebo. But a 26-year-old Englishman by the name of Daniel Lloyd, a relative unknown who hails from a small London suburb a stone's throw from Heathrow Airport, has set out to prove them wrong. Courtesy of a five-second bonus after finishing third in a 42-man sprint, won for the third time by Discovery Channel's Allan Davis, the DFL-Cyclingnews rider earned the privilege to don the yellow jersey on

The last wild-card team picked for the 2007 Tour de France showed Tuesday that the organizers made the right choice, after Barloworld's Colombian climber Juan Soler earned an impressive solo win in the 159.5km stage 9 haul from Val-d'Isère to Briançon.

On the eve of the U.S. National championships RockShox has quietly put a new cross-country fork into the hands of its top sponsored athletes. Reports put at least four riders onto the new fork for the upcoming Mount Snow, Vermont event. The championship race will not be the first competitive event the fork has seen, it is currently being raced in the European Transalp race by Karl Platt. Gary Fisher-Subaru’s Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski has had one of the new forks for roughly a week. He was shipped the fork to ride during the week leading up to the national championship race, and had it mounted

Mountain bike racer, Barry Wicks was the first to sign on with Giro for eyewear. But in the week prior to the Tour de France, Giro signed Discovery Channel’s Alberto Contador and Caisse d’Epargne’s Nicolas Portal. At the prologue in London the ink was still wet on both contracts. Nonetheless, Giro produced a special pair of green glasses to go along with Contador’s Discovery Channel team’s newfound eco’ conscience.

On Tuesday, the first real day in the high mountains at the Tour of Qinghai Lake, the expected assault on Discovery Channel saw overnight leader Allan Davis knocked off the top spot on the overall classification, and replaced by Selle Italia's mountain man Gabriele Massaglia. A late offensive on the 3880-meter-high Laji mountain by Selle Italia and Relax-Gam, the team of race favorite Francisco Mancebo, almost saw the blond-haired Aussie rejoin the front group on the 50km-long descent. Though unfortunately for Davis, just as his group began to close in on the front 17, he wiped out on

Keith Norris (AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork) won the U23 stars-and-stripes jersey in a field-sprint of 174 riders on Sunday, July 15, at the USA Cycling National Festival in Champion, Pennsylvania. It was a close call for Norris, who jumped out front early to position himself for the final sprint, proving his strength and holding the lead without a lead-out. Cody O’Reill (Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada) and Jacob Keough (CL Noonan-Coast to Coast) finished second and third, respectively. “The whole race was much faster than I anticipated,” Norris said. “My plan was to be in the top three coming out of

It’s tough to tell what Rabobank’s Michael Rasmussen is better known for: His aptitude for winning the Tour’s climbing jersey or his phenomenal meltdown in the 2005 Tour’s final time-trial. [nid:39592]On Sunday’s stage 8, Rasmussen once again established the former, and placed doubts in everyone’s mind that anyone else will be able to take the Tour’s polka-dot jersey in the near future. He also established a solid foundation for his newly proclaimed aspirations to win the overall classification.

Despite a barrage of attacks designed to ruffle their feathers, Discovery Channel has again emerged on top at the Tour of Qinghai Lake, as race leader Allan Davis claimed his second stage triumph with a last-minute lunge to the line in Xihaizhen. After 152 kilometers in the saddle, the plucky Australian learned his lesson from yesterday, this time going head-to-head with Stage 2 winner André Schulze and matching each other meter by meter - with only a perfect throw of the bike deciding the outcome. "It was close, but I knew I had it," said Davis. "I've got really good legs - a lot better

On the lead-up to the 2007 Tour de France, Michael Rasmussen proclaimed that a third straight polka-dot jersey was not his No. 1 ambition. The Danish climbing specialist was targeting a place on the final podium in Paris. Sunday Rasmussen took a big step to making that dream come true, winning the brutal stage 8 run between Le Grand Bornand to Tignes, and taking over the race lead in the process.

With another mountain-top finish on the schedule, Saturday’s fifth stage at the Cascade Classic held the promise of shaking up the overall standings in the men’s race. But while Jeff Louder (Health Net-Maxxis) won the day, Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance) retained his GC lead by coming across on his wheel for second in the stage, followed closely by Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United), Scott Moninger (BMC)and Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health-Bissell).

Opening up the throttle 200 meters from the line in Bird Island, Weisenhof's Andri Schulze chose to sprint long and hard towards the finish of the second stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake, and his result surprised everyone but himself. Immediately gapping the peloton right behind him, the German's bold move and strong legs combined in perfect unison to deliver the 32-year-old his second season victory and his second at Qinghai Lake, out-sprinting race leader Allan Davis (Discovery Channel) and Selle Italia's Alberto Loddo. "The team worked the last 10 kilometers for me, and in

In what he described as “the most painful 3k I’ve had in quite awhile,” Kirk O’Bee (Health Net-Maxxis) outsprinted second place Ricardo Escuela (SuccessfulLiving.com-ParkPre) and third place Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health-Bissell) to take the sixth and final stage of the Bend Memorial Cascades Cycling Classic on Sunday.

In the Tour de France's first foray into the mountains, it was race newcomer Linus Gerdemann stealing all the headlines. The baby-faced German wunderkind escaped a 15-rider breakaway late in stage 7, and then rolled solo to the finish in Le Grand Bornand, taking the stage win and possession of the yellow and white jerseys.

In the eponymous town that gives this race its name, a perfectly timed move 150 meters before the line delivered Discovery Channel's Allan Davis to victory on the opening stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake. The 26-year-old Australian, who hails from the Queensland town of Bundaberg, beat Intel-Action's Denus Kostyuk and Denmark's Casper Jorgensen to claim his second victory of the season. It was by no means an easy one because of the altitude - the Qinghai Lake finish being some 3,231 meters above sea level – and Davis said he left his finishing sprint a little later than

Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance) beat teammate Ben Day by just one second in Friday morning’s Cascade Classic stage 3 time trial, but put enough time on the other GC contenders to take the leader’s jersey away from Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United), retaining it through the evening’s stage 4 twilight criterium in downtown Bend. As the sun set in Central Oregon, Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) returned to stage racing after his mid-May crash at the Tri-Peaks Challenge with a resounding win in a dramatic bunch sprint at the crit. Time trial

Expect to see more North American riders on T-Mobile next season. That’s according to team manager Bob Stapleton, who told VeloNews the once-heavily-German team wants to bolster its profile in the United States and Canada by bringing on big-name domestic talent for next season. “We’re expanding our North American presence because we want more riders from where T-Mobile has strong markets,” Stapleton said Friday. “There are a lot of talented North American riders. It’s a win-win for us. We can gain top cycling talent and increase our exposure in one of our key markets.” Several top American

All the talk of big Tom Boonen not being able to hang with the pure sprinters was silenced Friday, as the burly Belgian took a commanding win at the finish of Stage 6 of the 2007 Tour de France, a mostly flat, 199.5km run from Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse. The Quick Step-Innergetic star burst from the right side of a scrambled sprint, took the front, then drifted left and right, keeping second-place finisher Oscar Freire (Rabobank) at bay. German Eric Zabel (Milram) was third on a day when the bunch spent 5:20:59 in the saddle.

After the finish of stage 2 in Ghent, Belgium, the Quickstep-Innergetic team bus was mobbed. At the sight of Tom Boonen leaving the podium pen with the green jersey, a father and his teenaged daughter opened into a full sprint trying to get to their country’s hero for an autograph. One can only imagine what the scene was like yesterday after his stage 6 win in Bourg en Bresse. Tom Boonen will never pay for a beer in Belgium. Tom Boonen has Belgian pop songs written about him. For god sakes, in Belgium he has his own breakfast cereal — the man is a god. And he will probably stay that way for

Billed as “the highest race in the world,” the Tour of Qinghai Lake kicks off Saturday from Xining, 2,200 meters above sea level and the capital of China's stunning Qinghai Lake province. Situated in the northeast region of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, Qinghai Lake is the largest inland saltwater lake in the country, and much of the nine days of racing to follow are centered around this remarkable natural wonder. This year marks the sixth edition of the race; inaugural winner Tom Danielson was said to be back for another crack at the title, but a nagging virus that saw him miss out on a

While Italian heartthrob Filippo Pozzato earned a hard-fought sprint win in stage 5 of the Tour de France, Thursday's big news developed at the back of the pack, where pre-race favorite Alexandre Vinokourov lost 1:20 to his fellow GC contenders after crashing hard with 26km to go in the testing 182.2km run from Chablis to Autun.

One year ago, how could I possibly have dreamed where my life would be taking me? I’m living in the shadows of Utah’s beautiful Wasatch Mountains beside the love of my life, Aleeza. This area is a bicyclist’s paradise. There are lots of great climbs through the mountains, bike paths and bike lanes throughout the city, and a big population of fellow cyclists. I love meeting people while I ride. It’s amazing what a “hello” can lead to. The other day, for instance, I got into a conversation with a guy I happened to ride past. He mentioned that he was a cinematographer and I told him a bit about

As a child I loved watching the videos of the champions in the wake of their teammates as they shredded the peloton while setting a violent tempo. To me, there was something unique about the complete physical sacrifice as they selflessly emptied their energy on the road for their teammates until they could no longer pedal fluidly. Lance Armstrong had eight riders who did this to the utmost every year for him, never questioning his leadership while totally devoting themselves to the goal of victory in Paris. In many ways they were the reason he won seven Tours with barely a hiccup. Riding on

The year is barely half over, but it's already been a busy one from a technical perspective. Campagnolo finally dropped the square taper for Ultra Torque, one of the smartest outboard-bearing, two-piece, bottom-bracket-and-crank combinations in the industry. And SRAM has sent its Force group to its first Tour de France while unveiling a premium performance group called Red. What about Shimano, you ask? Well, they’ve been busy, too. The company’s updated carbon wheels blossomed in spring, and an electric group and a prototype carbon crank appeared at the Dauphiné Libéré. All of these

For Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health-Bissell), patience was truly a virtue on Thursday, as he jumped at just the right moment to pass a string of GC hopefuls and take the second stage of the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Classic. He didn’t put enough time on Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United), however, to keep him from slipping on the leader’s jersey when he came across the line just three seconds later.

Two days after being caught behind the mass pileup on the run into Ghent, Thor Hushovd had a much better view of the finish line on Wednesday. Bolstered by a blistering leadout from Crédit Agricole teammate Julian Dean, Norway's No. 1 cycling star was first across the line in Joigny on stage 4 of the Tour de France.

After experiencing problems getting service to riders in need within the peloton, Bruno Gormand had an idea — why not devise an means of offering immediate neutral assistance to race leaders and serving as a liaison between the caravan vehicles and racers? And so he created Service Course, Mavic’s neutral race-support system. The first race handled by Mavic Service Course was the 1973 Paris-Nice, and since it has become one of the company’s most revered legacies. This year Mavic has three of its Service Course cars in the Tour de France peloton. VeloNews caught up with Nate Field, four-year

Ricardo Escuela (SuccessfulLiving.com-ParkPre) crossed the line alone on Wednesday to take the 92-mile first stage of the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic atop Pilot Butte, just outside Bend, Oregon.

In a stunning display of tactics, courage and pure power, race leader Fabian Cancellara timed his jump to perfection, overtaking a four-man breakaway with 500 meters to go and then holding off the hard charging sprinters to win stage 3 of the Tour de France Tuesday.

By now, it’s pretty clear that T-Mobile is moving in a new direction. Of course, there was little choice after a year of scandal that started with the ejection of Jan Ullrich from last year’s Tour.

Two first-time road champions were crowned Tuesday at the Canadian national road championships in St-Georges, Québec. Gina Grain (Expresscopy.com), a rider better known for her sprinting and track results than her road racing, took the elite women's title, while Christian Meier gave Symmetrics its first title of the 2007 nationals when he took the espoir men's national jersey. An espoir women's title was also awarded to Emilie Roy (Vinci Specialized Menikini), although the UCI does not officially recognize that category. The heavy rain that plagued the time trials Monday

If things had gone as scripted, Quick Step’s Tom Boonen would have burst out of a huge, fast-moving peloton into Ghent, in front of thousands of adoring fans, as the Tour de France made its sole foray into Belgian territory on Monday.

Canada’s elite and espoir categories began their national road championships on Monday with the individual time trial, and the elites saw two new faces on the top step of the podium — though both are longtime top performers, surprisingly neither has won an elite national title. Anne Samplonius (Expresscopy.com), took the women's title over an “unretired” Lyne Bessette (Equipe du Québec) at St-Georges de Beauce, Québec, while Ryder Hesjedal (Health Net-Maxxis), finally beat Svein Tuft (Symmetrics), for the men's title. David Veilleux (Jittery Joe's), repeated for the men's

Judging by his incredible acceleration away from the rest of the world’s best sprinters, you would never know that just a few kilometers before, Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) had been off the back, chasing with an injured wrist after a crash. Nonetheless, the Aussie handily won stage 1 of the 2007 Tour de France from London to Canterbury, collecting his 12th career stage victory in the world’s greatest race. CSC’s Fabian Cancellara finished safely in the bunch to retain the overall lead.

After 38 grueling laps through the streets of West Chester, Pennslvania, Priority Health rider Emile Abraham parlayed a bid for a standard race prime into a 22-lap kamikaze effort that brought him first place in this year’s Iron Hill Twilight Criterium. “After winning a few primes, I went for an attack and got a gap. I didn’t think it would stay away but I kept rolling,” he said.

Many riders finished their 7.9km prologue effort with an all-out sprint;world time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara began his winning ridewith a furious sprint, and maintained that blazing pace throughout thewinding course among London's historic sites to take the first yellow jerseyof the 94th Tour de France. Before the race, Cancellara said he wanted to show the world why he wore theworld-champion skinsuit for the time trial. And indeed he did.

The Cervélo’s P3 Carbon just keeps on winning races, leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that this is indeed a fast bike… especially when you put a motor like Fabian Cancellara on top of it. Cancellara also powered the same P3 Carbon to a victory in the world time-trial championship. Indeed, the rest of the team was riding an even newer version of the P3 Carbon emblazoned with the world champion’s rainbow. Funny thing, Cancellera’s was an older bike without the famed arc en ciel, prompting teammate Jens Voigt to ask one obvious question. “Why is it actually that Fabian is the only one

While some team mechanics were scrambling to deal with the UCI’s clarification of equipment regulations, others were still building special bikes for the prologue late Friday afternoon. With dinnertime rapidly approaching Aussie Michael Rogers of T-Mobile was seen in conference with his team’s mechanics. They were speaking in front of a half-built aluminum time-trial bike. Across the parking lot, Saunier-Duval Prodir mechanics were busying themselves with tidying up the team truck. All of the bikes were snugly packed and ready for tomorrow’s ride into the heart of London. The common bond

The tires are glued and bikes are prepped, but at 5 p.m. on the eve of the 2007 Tour de France. Many teams still have plenty to do. Earlier in the day, teams were scrambling because of an 11th-hour “clarification” of an equipment regulation that effected time-trial position. The problem is a poorly written rule that governs hand position when using the aero’ extensions on time-trial bikes. As the rule stood, at Dauphiné and the Tour de Suisse, teams were left to interpret what was within the boundaries for positioning when using the aero‘ position that Floyd Landis pioneered last year. At

While the days leading up to Saturday’s prologue and start of the Tour de France is a time for the racers to go for easy spins and top off their stores of energy with nice meals and daily naps, its truly crunch time for their staff — especially those responsible for the bikes. We caught up with Gerolsteiner mechanic Rajen Murugayan, while he was loading one of the team’s sprinter vans with time-trial bikes for a pre-prologue reconnaissance session, and got a special tour of the team’s gear. MORE IMAGES BELOW The Tour de France is cycling’s biggest show so naturally it’s a perfect time to

It’s easy for forget that SRAM’s Force group has never been used in the Tour de France. The company had such a strong entry into the road market, and ProTour competition, it’s easy to assume that it’s old hat for the brand. But come Saturday, even if it’s overlooked, SRAM will achieve the final milestone in its coming-of-age party on the road — starting the sports biggest event, the Tour de France. “SRAM Force is in its first Tour,” said Michael Zellmann, SRAM’s road PR manager. “This is a big deal for the Force [group]. I just want to remind people that Force did well in the Giro and we

Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes – the controversial doctor at the center of the Operación Puerto doping scandal – made his first public appearance since the alleged doping ring was uncovered last May in Spain. Fuentes refused to answer journalists’ queries as he left a conference at the University of King Juan Carlos in Aranjuez on Wednesday. “I support protecting athletes’ health, and the professional life of an athlete is 10 to 12 years, and after that, they have the rest of their lives to live, and doping can go against your health,” Fuentes said after participating in a conference titled,

Rabobank will see a passing of the baton as Michael Boogerd, the major Dutch rider of his generation, starts his final Tour de France while emerging star Thomas Dekker makes his Tour debut. Boogerd will be starting his 12th consecutive Tour that will also be his last. The 36-year-old will retire at the end of the 2007 season. A winner of two Tour stages and twice in the top 10, Boogerd dreams of one more glory ride before hanging up the cleats this year. “In other years, I started strongly and felt weaker while nearing the end of the race. Right now, I am not feeling that well because of a

Team Fuji-Salamander teammates Shane Kline and Nik Reinert both collected their third national titles of the week Monday as the 2007 USA Cycling Junior Track National Championships continued at the 7-Eleven Velodrome in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Kline won the men's 17-18 sprint and later teamed up with Reinert to win the Madison, adding a second and third stars-and-stripes jersey to the one he won in Sunday's kilometer time trial. For Reinert, the victory in the Madison complemented his earlier wins in the individual pursuit and the points race. Kline posted the fastest time in

Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing) outsprinted Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) in the final stretch of Sunday’s Manhattan Beach Grand Prix criterium. Bahati’s teammate Kayle Leogrande hit two birds with one stone by towing Bahati into the final sprint and finishing third overall. Successful Living teammates Curtis Gunn and Daniel Ramsey dominated the first half of the race. A three-man breakaway containing Gunn formed in the first lap, and when a prime was announced for the second lap, Gunn picked up the pace, leaving the other two to be caught by the peloton. The second big attack came from

Sunday was a big day for Team Fuji-Salamander at the 2007 USA Cycling Junior Track National Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Colleen Hayduk collected her second national title of the weekend at the 7-Eleven Velodrome with a victory in the women’s 17-18 sprint. Nik Reinert also captured a second title, in the men’s 17-18 3km individual pursuit. And Shane Kline won the men’s 17-18 kilometer time trial. After earning the top seed with a 200-meter qualifying time of 12.273 seconds, Hayduk took two straight rides from Dana Feiss (Young Medalist Cycling) in the final to claim another

France — AG2R team leader Christophe Moreau continued to display his race form ahead of the Tour de France by winning his first-ever French road-race crown Sunday in Aurillac. The 36-year-old winner of last month’s Dauphiné Libéré escaped late in the race and finished with a two-minute lead on Pierrick Fedrigo and Patrice Halgand. The Netherlands — Rabobank rider Koos Mourenhout won the Dutch national road race championship Sunday in Maastricht. Mourenhout finished ahead of Sebastien Langeveld and Maarten den Bakker after a solo attack in the final lap of the race. Switzerland —

Four national champions were crowned on Friday as the 2007 USA Cycling Junior Track National Championships kicked off at the 7-Eleven Velodrome in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Colleen Hayduk (Team Fuji-Salamander) set a national record in the women’s 17-18 500-meter time trial and earned an automatic nomination to represent the United States at the UCI Junior Track World Championships later this summer in Mexico. Hayduk’s time of 36.656 seconds surpassed the old record of 37.280 previously held by Missy Thompson. Behind Hayduk, Dana Feiss (Young Medalist Cycling) took second in 38.740, while

German Jörg Jaksche, one of dozens of cyclists implicated in the Operación Puerto doping scandal that erupted last year, admitted Saturday that he used banned substances for years. In an interview published in Saturday's edition of the German weekly Der Spiegel, Jaksche admitted his involvement in the blood-doping network run by Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, where he was known by the pseudonym "Bella." "I'm Bella. It's my blood which was found in three bags (at Dr Fuentes offices). I was a client of Dr. Fuentes from 2005 to 2006 in Madrid," admitted the 30-year-old former

In an apparent vote of confidence, the Milram team has named Alessandro Petacchi to its Tour de France team despite suspending the sprinter for a suspicious doping test at the Giro d'Italia. The 33-year-old Petacchi won five stages at this year's Giro, however last week it was revealed he tested positive for elevated levels of Salbutamol, a substance primarily used to treat asthma.Salbutamol is a banned substance but riders suffering from asthma are allowed restricted use of the drug if they can provide a medical certificate. The World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list notes,

Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca and Milram sprint star Alessandro Petacchi have been asked to appear before the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) next week as part of two separate doping investigations. Petacchi hopes to to clear his name in time for the Tour de France, which begins a week from Saturday in London. The 33-year-old Italian sprinter, who as a precautionary rather than an official measure has been suspended by his team, will be interviewed on the morning of Monday, July 2 by CONI's anti-doping prosecutor, Ettore Torri. CONI is the governing body for all sport in