Road Racing

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

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).

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 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,

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The lightest buckle road shoe on the market, a 184-gram helmet worn by five ProTour teams and a host of new and refined bicycles were just a few of Specialized’s planned road offerings for 2008, shown to the international media late this week in Navacerrada, Spain. There was plenty to gawk at, including the Transition time-trial rig with hidden rear brake and the new Tarmac SL2 featuring a beefy 1.5-inch lower steerer tube and massive chainstays. The Tarmac SL2 also offered the first semi-public glimpse of the upcoming top-shelf road group from SRAM, dubbed Red. Although none of the demo

If the past three weeks are any indication, Trek is going to have a very good year in 2008. Earlier this month, Trek unveiled thenew 2008 Madone. It’s an impressive bike that challenges a number of age-old approaches to frame – and component - design. Lennard Zinn saw the technology first hand, reported on it here and has a more detailed impression in the latest issue of VeloNews, issue 13, due out July 9th. Following that tough act, Trek’s mountain-bike suspension designers, engineers and product managers unveiled a completely new version of the Fuel EX, as a side note to the Madone

Dear readers,I’ve been wanting to write about rolling resistance for years, and I’ve had ongoing e-mail conversations with a number of you on the subject. Indeed, I’ve built up enough of it to compile a collection of some of the most interesting.Lennard WaterDear Lennard,As I was riding though an unexpected rainstorm, I noticed that, even with the rain, it seemed to take less effort to ride on the wet road than when it is dry (all other things – especially wind and temperature – being constant). I know that there is less friction when it comes time to stop or to turn. Could it be possible

Atop the dizzying heights of the Grimselpass, 2614 meters above the sea, Discovery Channel's Vladimir Gusev emerged out of the mist, and after a 120-kilometer break, to claim the seventh leg of Tour de Suisse. A distant second was Predictor-Lotto's popular American Chris Horner, two minutes in arrears, while Astana's Andreas Klöden finished 2:37 back to round out the top three. Victory for 24-year-old Gusev came after he instigated a three-man escape less than 10 kilometers into the stage, on a day that contained three of the biggest climbs in the country. "It was my

Thursday's seventh stage of the Tour de Suisse that ended in Crans Montana saw the first sign that the fight for the overall classification is by no means decided. As overnight leader Frank Schleck faltered on what was on paper a relatively straightforward climb, Romandie champion Thomas Dekker of Rabobank showed when in Switzerland he's often at his best, victorious ahead of Volksbank's Gerrit Glomser and Saunier Duval's Gilberto Simoni. 22-year-old Dekker, who won the stage by attacking a select eight-man group towards the top of the final ascent, has no doubt cemented his

With just four victories so far, compared to many more in years before, Robbie McEwen's Tour de France form was a little suspect. On Wednesday in Giubiasco, the pocket-rocket from Predictor-Lotto took a vital step in his quest for a fourth maillot vert by triumphing on Stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse. It wasn't easy, however, the 34-year-old veteran Aussie sprinter having to use each and every part of his compact, muscled frame as he fought with his bike more than anything else to eventually overcome Lampre-Fondital's Daniele Bennati and Milram's Erik Zabel, stage winner last

Yes, Andy Schleck will one day be a great champion, but after Tuesday's fourth stage of the Tour de Suisse, one should remember that his older brother Frank is not one to be ignored, either. On the steep slopes of the finishing climb to Triesenberg-Malbun, its second category rating belying a vicious character, big brother Schleck asserted his authority with an impressive display of power climbing, and left all rivals in his wake to capture his fifth career victory and the race lead to boot. "Of course, the Tour de Suisse is a beautiful race and it's one of the biggest races of the

Maybe it’s a natural progression. Maybe it’s a response to competitive pressures from the newest player in the road market. Either way, consumers will likely be the ones to benefit as Shimano narrows the gap between its 10-speed Ultegra and Dura-Ace groups. The new Ultegra SL, sporting a new "Ice Grey" color scheme, drops close to a quarter of a pound from standard Ultegra. The new group likely comes in response to the increased competition within the mid-level road market, a direct effect of SRAM entering the fray with its economical Rival components. While the new color is striking,

He was a last-minute substitution when Paolo Bettini decided not to race, and it's a big call to fill the shoes of a current world road champion. But on Monday in the tiny Austrian village of Nauders, after the longest leg of the race, Quick Step's Alessandro Proni repaid the trust to claim victory on the third stage of the Tour de Suisse. Though it was by the barest of margins, as the Italian only just finished ahead of Bouygues Telecom's Xavier Florencio and T-Mobile's Kim Kirchen, who were part of a 28-man group that surprisingly included race leader Fabian Cancellara. So

At the start of Sunday’s seventh stage at the 59th Dauphiné Libéré, high up in Valloire in the shadow of the Galibier, it seemed like the worst was behind the peloton with just the final stage to Annecy on tap. French veteran Christophe Moreau (Ag2r) was nursing a 14-second lead to Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) and looked to have the overall in the bag if he could get through Sunday. Moreau, like everyone else, knows better than to count the cycling chickens before they’re hatched. “Sunday’s stage is difficult. Instead of just letting us ride round the lake in Annecy the organizers have

Mont Ventoux served up a dandy in Thursday’s 197km fourth stage as the Dauphiné Libéré remains anything but decided with six riders within 53 seconds of each other in the overall standings. Christophe Moreau (Ag2r) attacked to his second win in three days as Andrey Kashechkin inherited the race leader’s jersey from Alexandre Vinokourov just as Astana promised, but it didn’t come without pain.

Traces of drugs were found in the urine samples taken from three stage winners at this year’s Giro d'Italia, the Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport reported on Thursday. The paper said sprinter Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) and climber Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval) tested positive for Salbutamol, a substance primarily used to treat asthma, and Piepoli’s teammate Iban Mayo showed signs of an elevated testosterone level. Salbutamol is a banned substance, but riders with asthma may use it to certain levels if they possess a medical certificate. Basque television channel EITB confirmed

In the time-trial stage at last year’s Dauphiné Libéré, Americans swept the top four en route to Levi Leipheimer’s overall victory in a stunning display of national prowess against the clock. In Wednesday’s 40.7km undulating course with two Cat. 4 climbs, it was the Kazakhs’ turn to show who’s boss. Alexandre Vinokourov won his first race since last year’s Vuelta a España, claiming the overall leader’s jersey, while faithful sidekick Andrey Kashechkin was second to stake his claim as the leading candidate for overall victory. Dave Zabriskie (CSC) was third at 38 seconds off the pace to

Christophe Moreau started the Dauphiné Libéré hoping to test his form before next month’s Tour de France. If Tuesday’s bumpy ride into Saint-Etienne was any indication, he’s done that and more with a stage victory that also put him into the race leader’s yellow jersey. At 36, Moreau is no spring chicken, but he rode hard enough to bridge out with about 40km to go, joining a two-man breakaway that pulled away early in the 157km hilly route from Saint-Paul-en-Jarez to Saint-Etienne. Riding Moreau’s vapors were Juan Antonio Redondo (Astana) and Kevin Seeldrayers (Quick Step-Innergetic). The

Two years ago, Magura moved its suspension production out of Holland toBad Urach, Germany, where the company’s brake factory is based. This stepwas taken to ensure greater control over the new suspension fork’s production. The 2008 line will represent the second production model-year to comefrom the new German facility. Once again, it brings Magura a step closerto becoming a major player in the front suspension market. For 2008, Maguraputs its top-level cross-country fork on a radical diet, pairing closeto three quarters of a pound off of its 2007 equivalent. The Durin Race, a completely

If the Dauphiné Libéré is just as much about a preview of the upcoming Tour de France as it is about actually winning the race, then Monday’s 219km first stage changed the plotline just slightly. The 219km hilly trek from Grenoble to Roanne followed the script throughout most of the day. A two-man no-hope breakaway slipped away in the early going, built up a seemingly large lead of nearly 10 minutes, only to be reeled in by the collaborative efforts of Cofidis – looking to defend the leader’s jersey for Bradley Wiggins – and Quick Step-Innergetic – looking to slip Tom Boonen in for the

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”Henry FordIn a move surely destined to strike fear into the hearts of high-end seatpost manufacturers, Trek unveiled its new Madone road bike at a gathering of Trek dealers and cycling media on May 31. Under the soaring white trusses and glass of the stunningly beautiful Milwaukee Art Museum, Lance Armstrong joined Trek president John Burke in introducing a bike that is could alter the direction of bicycle design in a number of ways. To start, the new frame has no threads in a very unique 90mm bottom bracket

1. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas, 92:59:39
2. Andy Schleck (Lux), CSC, 1:55
3. Eddy Mazzoleni (I), Astana, 2:25
4. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saunier Duval, 3:15
5. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, 3:49
6. Riccardo Ricco' (I), Saunier Duval, 7:00
7. Evgeni Petrov (Rus), Tinkoff Credit Systems, 8:34
8. Marzio Bruseghin (I), Lampre, 10:14
9. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas, 10:44
10. David Arroyo Duran (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, 11:58
11. Emanuele Sella (I), Ceramica Panaria - Navigare, 13:08
12. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Astana, 13:30

After 3442 kilometers and 21 grueling stages, Danilo Di Luca stood above all others atop the Milan podium Sunday, as overall winner of 90th Giro d'Italia.

Maglia rosa Danilo Di Luca's victory in the 90th Giro is all but assured after his performance Saturday, which saw him finish eighth to Astana's Paolo Savoldelli in a 43km time trial to Verona. With an enviable two-and-a-half minute advantage to Team CSC's Andy Schleck at the start of the day, Di Luca was never really in danger of losing his overall lead. The Liquigas captain finished just 29 seconds slower than the young Luxembourger, with Schleck also doing more than enough to retain his second place overall.

Friday's foul weather did nothing to curb the inner aggression of Basque Iban Mayo (Saunier Duval-Prodir), whose beautiful pedaling motion returned, to the bane of his breakaway companions, on the 19th stage of the Giro, triumphing with a solo victory in Comano Terme. Not content to sit in a seven-man lead group after the midway climb of the Pian delle Fugazze, especially with Acqua & Sapone's Stefano Garzelli by his side, Mayo chose fellow Spaniard Alberto Losada (Caisse d'Epargne) as his partner in crime.

On a summery Thursday afternoon in Riese Pio X, 33 year-old La Spezia speedster Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) avoided a final corner crash to claim his fourth victory in the 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia. Largely unaided up to the line, Petacchi, seemingly unperturbed after what happened in front of him, closed the gap to Quick Step's Matteo Tosatto with casual aplomb, launching himself down the finishing straight with nearly 600 meters remaining and charged to the line largely unchallenged.

Saunier Duval's climbing king Gilberto Simoni has prevailed again on the wickedly steep slopes of the Monte Zoncolan. "To have won here on Monte Zoncolan means an enormous amount to me, more than being on the podium," the two-time Giro winner panted at the finish line on Wednesday. "It was important to win a stage, more so that it was the Zoncolan, which is the most beautiful.”

Armed with the cunning – and innate sense of timing – that come from 11 years as a professional, 33 year-old Stefano Garzelli, just as he did three days before in Bergamo, gave a textbook display of controlled aggression Tuesday in Lienz, Austria. The reward? His second victory of the 2007 Giro.

High up the savage slopes of the Tre Cime Di Lavaredo, 23-year-old young gun Riccardo Riccò came of age with a brilliant victory in the 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday. In a show of strength, unity and sportsmanship, the Saunier Duval duo of Riccò and Leonardo Piepoli out-foxed and out-climbed all others on the queen stage of the race in the Italian Dolomites. With arms aloft, Riccò crossed the line just ahead of maglia verde Piepoli, followed by Ivan Parra (Cofidis), 10 seconds adrift, and Mexican Julio Pérez (Ceramica Panaria-Navigare), a further 32 seconds behind.

If Danilo Di Luca expects to ride into Milan a week from Sunday wearing the maglia rosa on the final stage of the Giro d’Italia he’s going to have to fight for it before that. Had there been any doubt about that, it was certainly erased during Saturday’s 192-kilometer ride from Cantu to Bergamo. In one of the most exciting stages in modern Giro history, Acqua & Sapone's Stefano Garzelli took the fourteenth stage in emphatic fashion Saturday in Bergamo, barely edging out Saunier Duval's Gilberto Simoni and world road champ Paolo Bettini of Quick Step-Innergetic.

Till this 13 kilometer uphill race of truth, surprises have been few at this 90th Giro d'Italia. But Marzio Bruseghin's performance Friday was exactly that. With nowhere to hide on the slopes leading to the Santuario Di Oropa, 32 year-old Bruseghin defied the odds to win the thirteenth stage and stun everyone including himself with a superlative ride against the clock.

[nid:38705]Liquigas leader Danilo Di Luca has emerged unscathed and on top in the Giro's first big day in the mountains, taking the stage in Briançon and the maglia rosa to boot. Only five riders finished within 20 seconds of Di Luca, and only two-time Giro champion Gilberto Simoni was able to match him stroke for stroke on the savage slopes of the Col d'Izoard.

This is the Alessandro Petacchi we all remember, the world-class sprinter delivered to the line by a well-orchestrated machine of a lead-out team and fending off a field of the world’s best over the last meters of a stage. It’s enough to make a guy forget the last 12 months.

Jennie Reed won her second medal of the week at the 2007 Pan American Roadand Track Championships on Wednesday, adding a silver medal in the matchsprint to the gold she won on Monday in the keirin.After securing a spot in Wednesday's semifinals on Tuesday, Reed tooktwo out of three head-to-head sprints from Mexico's Nancy Contreras toadvance to the gold-medal final against Cuba's Lizandra Guerra.  Guerra,who finished second to Reed in the keirin two days ago, got the best ofReed to claim the gold.In his first race since announcing his return to competitive cycling,Colby

In a Giro d’Italia that’s being hyped as a showdown between the young guns, a pair of grizzled veterans stole the spotlight in Tuesday’s grueling 250km climbing stage sun-baked mountains above Genova. Leonardo Piepoli and Andrea Noè, two unsung workhorses in an age of millionaire GC captains, clawed their way to the podium at the end of an explosive battle that saw the end of Marco Pinotti’s pink jersey run.

Side steppin'Dear Lennard,Regarding your April 10, 2007 article "Whatis it?", I was wondering if you had any thoughts or opinions on modern-daypedal systems which are attempting to bring the ball of the foot directlyto where the pedal spindle typically is. The two that cometo mind are SideMount pedal (SMP) of Pasadena, CA and VistaMagic X of France.DavidDear David,I have not used the Vista Magic X, but I’ve used Steve Lubanski’s SideMount Pedal and Tom Slocum’s HighSierra dropped pedal built into a Speedplay. Both of them feel absolutelyfantastic to pedal with; most riders would be amazed

In a nation that’s produces sprinters like Texas churns out linebackers, Danilo Napolitano hardly rated on the power rankings in the Italian sprinter hierarchy. All that changed Monday for the 26-year-old Sicilian when he bullied his way past Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) and Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) to win the 177km ninth stage by a whisker.

Brad Huff and Jennie Reed scored two gold medals for the United States as the Pan American Road and Track Championships got under way Monday in Valencia, Venezuela. Huff won the men’s omnium with 15 points, narrowly beating Colombia’s Juan Arango (16) and the Dominican Republic’s Jorge Perez (16) in the five-event competition. In the omnium, the lowest score wins. Huff finished second in the 200-meter time trial, fifth in the scratch race, third in the individual pursuit and fifth in the points race before clinching his overall victory with a close win in the kilometer time trial. In the

Kurt-Asle Arvesen doesn’t win very often, but when he does, he has a knack for beating some pretty big names. The 32-year-old CSC rider scored his 15th professional win in Sunday’s 200km eighth stage ath the Giro d’Italia with style, out-sprinting reigning world champion Paolo Bettini (QuickStep) in a stinking hot stage that saw a 22-man breakaway featuring George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) take four minutes out of the main peloton.

It was a bike stab to turn the page on a year of suffering. Alessandro Petacchi jammed his bike across the line in Saturday’s seventh stage to win for the second time in a week and officially close the book on his long comeback from injury in last year’s Giro d’Italia. The Milram rider timed his move perfectly to win a high-octane sprint on the Mugello race circuit ahead of Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) and Paolo Bettini (QuickStep-Innergetic) by a half-wheel length.

Danilo Di Luca called this one. Secure in his leader’s jersey at the end of Thursday’s stage to Frascati, the Liquigas rider said that Friday’s stage – with three moderate to tough climbs spread along the route – would be a prime opportunity for a break-away effort to succeed and perhaps relieve him of the pressure of defending the maglia rosa for a while. Right, on both counts.

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Tyler Hamilton’s status with Tinkoff Credit Systems appears doubtful in the wake of his departure from the team just days before the start of the90th Giro d’Italia.

Tinkoff folded to pressure from Giro organizers over Hamilton’s alleged links to the Opera?ion Puerto doping scandal and dropped him from what would have been Hamilton’s first grand tour since he tested positive for homologous blood doping in the 2004 Vuelta a España.

No one seemed particularly happy with the finish of the fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia on Thursday - except the guy who won it. Gerolsteiner’s Robert Förster emerged at the front of a mad dash through a frightening closing kilometer at the end a 173-kilometer stage from Teano to Frascati to score the second Giro stage victory of his career. Overall race leader Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas) finished comfortably in the main field to hold on to his 26-second advantage over teammate Franco Pellizotti on general classification.

In the tech world, there’s always something newer, lighter and lustier right around the corner. In the marketing world, thousands of dollars are spent to create a good buzz at just the right moment to drum up sales for the new stuff without cannibalizing sales of a company’s existing product. Recently, SRAM may have gotten its tech and marketing wires crossed, as a 42-page document detailing its yet-to-be-released, top-end road group, Red, began circulating on the Internet well ahead of SRAM’s planned launch. When SRAM unveiled its Force and Rival groups in April of 2006, company spokesmen

Danilo Di Luca repeated his victory atop the Montevergine climb from 2001 in Wednesday’s rainy and crash-marred fourth stage, but things have changed a lot for “The Killer” since those heady days six years ago. Back then, Di Luca was the hot, emerging star who everyone predicted would one day win the Giro d’Italia. Other than come close with fourth overall in 2005, Di Luca has never delivered on that promise.

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You could almost hear the “delete” buttons being tapped in the Giro d’Italia pressroom in Cagliari on the Island of Sardinia on Monday. All of those stories about how Milram’s Alessandro Petacchi was a washed-up version of yesterday’s news were sent to the trash can as the man known as Ale-Jet scored his 20th Giro stage win at the end of a largely flat, 181-kilometer stage from Barumini to Cagliari.

Robbie McEwen doesn’t speak much Italian, but he knows enough to tell TV reporters at the finish line in a hot and challenging 205km second stage along the west coast of Sardinia that was he was tickled pink with his 12th career Giro d’Italia stage victory. The Australian pocket rocket bolted past a wilting Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) and held off a late burst by Paolo Bettini (QuickStep) to notch his 153rd career victory.