Road

The 60th Dauphiné Libéré lives up to its tradition of serving up a mountainous challenge that continues to serve as the best barometer of fitness ahead of July’s Tour de France. With Mont Ventoux and a seven-climb “queen’s stage” over the Croix de la Fer and the Télégraphe, the eight-day Dauphiné will give a clear indication of where everyone stands less than a month before the Tour’s start. There’s no shortage of candidates, but like every June, it’s sometimes hard to read who’s firing at all cylinders and who’s simply looking to make some tests of fitness ahead of July’s big show. First

German telecommunications company T-Mobile announced on Saturday that it wants to withdraw its sponsorship of the Tour de France's television coverage in Germany in a damage-limitation exercise. Cyling's image in Germany has been rocked by several high-profile doping admissions from cyclists competing for the former Team Telekom, now known as Team T-Mobile, and the company is keen to prevent any further damage to its image. But German state broadcasters ARD/ZDF do not want to accept the withdrawal of the Bonn-based team, according to an article to appear in Monday's edition of

A booming thunderstorm cleared out the humid, 95-degree air above Philadelphia Friday night, making way for cooler, breezy weather at this weekend’s climax of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling. Also Friday evening, Giant Bicycles hosted a dinner at Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant, where the mighty T-Mobile team’s general manager Bob Stapleton introduced the eight men and six women who are seeking to give their team a perfect record in this year’s Triple Crown. Already this past week, Austrian Bernhard Eisel and German Ina Teutenberg have notched up victories in Lancaster and

Michael Barry couldn’t figure out why he had trouble breathing nearly all spring. His doctors told him it was likely allergies or perhaps asthma. Like professionals often do in the face of pain or setback, he kept pushing on. His breathing problems became so bad, however, he was forced to abandon the Giro d’Italia after just one stage. He finally went to see a local doctor in his European home in Girona, Spain. The diagnosis: pneumonia. “I got really sick at Paris-Nice and I never really felt normal all spring. I had problems with my breathing,” Barry told VeloNews. “It was about 10 days

Valverde simply works harderIt seems a day doesn’t go by without someone accusing beleaguered defending ProTour champion Alejandro Valverde of being linked to the Operación Puerto doping investigation. Spanish authorities have never publicly connected Valverde to the alleged blood doping ring orchestrated by Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, but some are insisting that codenames and bags of blood rounded up in police raids last year correspond to the Spanish phenomenon. The latest was a full-page interview published this week in L’Equipe with Spanish cycling whistleblower Jésus Manzano

T-Mobile’s Bernhard Eisel and Ina Teutenberg are well on their way to clinching the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling after they both won Thursday afternoon’s Reading Classic in central Pennsylvania. They also won the first leg of the Triple Crown series last Sunday in Lancaster. One big difference between Sunday and Thursday was the weather. Following tropical rainfall that drenched the men in Lancaster, the 172 starters enjoyed sunshine, low humidity and 80-degree temperatures in Reading for the second edition of the Reading Classic. The change in the weather didn’t faze Eisel, the

Jesús Manzano – the former Kelme rider and whistleblower about alleged doping infractions within Spanish cycling – has leveled new allegations against Alejandro Valverde with a month to go before the start of the 2007 Tour de France. Manzano, who blew the whistle in a series of paid interviews in 2004 about the practices of alleged Puerto ringleader Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes, told the French sports daily L’Equipe that “nothing’s changed in Spanish cycling.” The ex-pro continues to push his story that “those incriminated (in doping) continue to do their work” and accused Valverde of being

The T-Mobile team has opted not to select Ukrainian time trial specialist Sergei Honchar for next month's Tour de France following a suspicious blood test last month. Honchar, the winner of two time trial stages in last year's Tour, was sidelined from T-Mobile’s Giro d'Italia squad last month after a blood test showed “abnormalities,” suggesting that he had doped. T-Mobile manager Bob Stapleton said the one-time Soviet rider, who will turn 37 four days before the July 7 start of the Tour, will not race for the team next season. "A blood health check showed abnormalities four

Dear Monique,In your April 25th column (More prepping for long rides), you mentionweighing before and after a ride. Is the weight differential entirely fluidor food in the stomach? Can you say a bit more about this differential?Should riders shoot for some change, no change, under what circumstances?Thanks,JoelHi Joel,The difference between your weight before and after a training riderepresents the amount of sweat that you did not replace with fluid intakeduring the ride. Even losing 2-percent of your body weight, about 3.5 poundsfor a 165-lb. cyclist can decrease your endurance, particularly

I remember a line from the movie, "The Right Stuff." It went something like this: "There's a demon out there, he lives out there in the thin air, right around Mach One ..." I was thinking about that last Sunday on my second attempt on Squaw Pass Road near Bergen Park. It's not that the road is impossible, plenty of people were doing it, sailing past me like nobody's business, and it's not that it was impossible for me, because, despite grunting and groaning and being overly dramatic about it all, I was doing it as well. Slowly, perhaps, but doing it nonetheless. I had

Following the string of revelations from former Telekom riders that they used banned performance-enhancing products during the team’s heyday in the mid-1990s, former team manager Walter Godefroot has denied having a role in the doping bonanza. Godefroot, who was the Telekom’s team manager from 1992 before retiring in 2005, held a press conference Tuesday in Ghent, Belgium, to refute speculations that the team had systematic doping. Seven former Telekom riders, including 1996 Tour de France champion Bjarne Riis, have admitted to doping following the revelations of a former soigneur, Jeff

“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

For those who didn’t know him before last year’s Tour de France, David de la Fuente was just another Spanish journeyman who happily did the unglamorous work of a domestique with the occasional breakaway thrown in for good measure. No one could have guessed that the son of a butcher would be one of the main protagonists, winning the most agressiver rider prize and giving climbing king Michael Rasmussen a run for his money in the hunt for the polka-dot best climber’s jersey. De la Fuente gained his 15 minutes of fame last year in the Tour’s second stage, when the Saunier Duval-Prodir rider

Organizers of the 2007 Teva Mountain Games were quick to credit the “Floyd Factor” for the record number of participants registered for the Trek Hill Climb, a 9.8-mile road time-trial up Colorado’s Vail Pass. More than 150 elite and amateur cyclists showed up for the event — 40 more than in 2006. For all riders, the race was a unique chance to test their legs against that of Floyd Landis, the embattled 2006 Tour de France Champ. For Landis, the ride marked his first road race since he learned that he had tested positive for exogenous testosterone after stage 17 of the 2006 Tour. The

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

Discovery Channel rider Vladimir Gusev won the overall title in the Tour of Belgium on Sunday. The Russian classics specialist finished 39 seconds ahead of Maaten Tjallingii with Leif Hoste nabbing third at 40 seconds back. Tom Boonen (Quick Step) snagged his first win since returning to competition after a three-week break to recover from injury after sprinting to victory in the 148.8km final stage from Aywaille to Putte. Kenny Van Hummel (Skil-Shimano) was second with Allan Davis (Discovery Channel) coming through third. Tyler Farrar (Cofidis) was 10th. “This morning I asked my teammates

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.

Consolation was the theme for the winners of Sunday’s finale in the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, the stage-6 Downtown Hood River Criterium. For men’s winner Heath Blackgrove of Toyota-United, the win was a welcome return to racing after a spring season derailed by a nagging knee injury. The win was also a gift to his Toyota-United team, which had not yet won a stage and was not able to land a rider on the podium overall. For women’s criterium winner Katherine Carroll, who collected her second stage victory, it was the next best thing to her Aaron’s Corporate Furnishings team winning the

T-Mobile’s Austrian sprinter Bernhard Eisel, fresh off his flight from Europe, shook off his jet lag by winning the first race of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown series, the Tom Bamford Lancaster Classic in Pennsylvania. Riders were greeted by rain as the remains of a tropical storm passed through the area, leading to numerous flats and a few tumbles over the early stages of the 13-lap race. Eisel first emerged with 3 laps of the 6.5 mile circuit remaining, going clear of the field in a seven-rider move that rolled away following a series of brief attacks. With Sergey Lagutin (Navigators),

The Mt. Hood Cycling Classic’s Wy’East Road Race lived up to all expectations, delivering suffering, anguish and heartbreak for many of the day’s stage and overall contenders, and ultimately relief for the GC leaders of the pro men’s and women’s fields. Saturday’s epic 89.5-mile slog from Cooper Spur Mountain Resort to Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort dished up 9200 feet of elevation gain and saw a pair of first-time Mt. Hood stage winners in Darren Lill (Navigators Insurance) and Felicia Gomez (Aaron’s Corporate Furnishings). Neither rider was able to take over the general classification,

Rashaan Bahati delivered his first-year Rock Racing team its biggest win yet on Saturday afternoon in Arlington, Virginia, blazing to the head of a field sprint to take home the 10th edition of the CSC Invitational. Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) won the women’s race, outsprinting race-long breakaway companion Rebecca Larson (Aaron’s Corporate Furnishings). Sarah Uhl (Cheerwine) was third. Bahati in the heatWith temperatures hovering around the 90-degree mark, it was once again a race of attrition on the notoriously difficult 1km, five-turn course, which winds its way through Arlington’s

Italian Fabiana Luperini (Menikini-Selle Italia-Gysko) ignited the definitive break and outsprinted American Mara Abbott (Webcor) to win the sixth round of the Women's World Cup series in Montréal on Saturday. Luperini rode Abbott's wheel into the finishing straight and easily came around her in the final 100 meters for the win. Once again, the quality of the Montréal course came to the forefront. With 11 laps of an 11km circuit, including the famed climb up Mont Royal, attrition is always the name of the game here. Numerous attacks always take place, but it is a difficult course to

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.

Spanish star Alejandro Valverde finds himself treading increasingly dangerous water in the face of increasing speculation that he might be one of the unnamed riders among the Operación Puerto papers that continue to haunt cycling. Valverde admitted that he knows controversial doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, the alleged ringleader at the center of the Puerto doping scandal, during his tenure at Kelme from 2002-04 when Fuentes worked as the team’s doctor. Valverde even said he has a dog named Piti, but denied it links him to the ongoing doping scandal. “I know Fuentes from my time at Kelme, but

The individual time trial is often referred to as the race of truth, and after two time trials in four days at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, Health Net-Maxxis rider Nathan O’Neill has a pair of yellow leader’s jerseys to testify to his dominance over the pro-1-2 field assembled in Hood River, Oregon. As expected, the race’s defending champion won the 18.5-mile Scenic Gorge individual time trial on Friday. But the eight-time national Australian time-trial champ didn't quite dominate the stage as had been predicted by many, including O’Neill. Instead O’Neill’s time of 40:25 narrowly beat

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.

Exactly a week after his EPO confession, German cyclist Erik Zabel admitted he was emotional after claiming his first victory of the season when he won the second stage of the Tour of Bavaria on Thursday, AFP reported. It has been an emotional week for the six-time winner of the green jersey in the Tour de France, who confessed last Thursday that he took the banned blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) while competing for German team Telekom in 1996. His current employers, Team Milram, only announced Tuesday they would honor his contract for the remainder of the 2007 season after a crisis

Tyler Farrar is racing his “home tour” this week in his adopted country of Belgium in his return to major European competition since crashing out of Ghent-Wevelgem in April. The budding Cofidis classics rider sprinted to third in Thursday’s second stage at the Tour of Belgium and fourth in Wednesday’s first stage in a clear sign that he’s doing better than expected after his nasty fall on the notorious Kemmelberg cobblestones last month. “After my crash, I went back to the U.S. to see a specialist and tests showed it wasn’t as bad as first that, so I was back on the bike after three weeks

With just 10km remaining of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic’s hilly stage 3 Cooper Spur Circuit Race, Navigators Insurance rider Glen Chadwick was the virtual race leader on the road, nursing a 45-second lead over a dwindling peloton. But the final climb proved to be a few kilometers too long for Chadwick to take the yellow jersey from Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health-Bissell) — and almost a bit too long for Chadwick to take the stage win. Chadwick entered the day seventh on GC, 24 seconds behind Jacques-Maynes. Three and a half hours later, the Aussie attacked off the front of a dwindled

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.

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said it would be "shocking" if Bjarne Riis, who has admitted doping when he won the 1996 Tour de France, was involved in this year's race as CSC's sporting director. Riis did not include Ivan Basso at the start of the 2006 Tour de France because of suspicions hanging over the Italian rider in the wake of the Operación Puerto blood-doping scandal. "We have the right to challenge whichever rider or team official we want to," Prudhomme told AFP. "We are speaking with teams and sponsors, but at this time, it would be shocking to have Riis

NRC individual points leader Ben Jacques-Maynes showed that he is one of the top riders in America by winning stage 2 of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic Wednesday. The Priority Health-Bissell team leader's bunch-sprint win, ahead of Navigators Insurance rider Phil Zajicek, came with a 15-second time bonus, propelling Jacques-Maynes into the race lead. Wednesday's Columbia Hills Road Race, a long, hot affair at 112 miles in dry 90-degree heat, began with a correction in general classification after race officials determined that overnight leader Devon Vigus (California Giant

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.”

Tour de France organizers on Wednesday announced the three wild-card teams that will join 18 others for this year's race. Agritubel and Barloworld will join 19 of the 20 teams from the UCI ProTour series for the three-week epic, which begins July 7 in London. Astana, which competes in the Pro Tour, was the third team to be handed a wild-card invitation although its invitation was at the discretion of the organizers as Astana was not ranked on the ProTour last season. It means there will be no place in the Tour de France peloton for the Swedish-registered team Unibet, which this season

Heading into stage 1 of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, Navigators Insurance rider Phil Zajicek had never heard of Devon Vigus. Neither had defending champion Nathan O’Neill of Health Net-Maxxis, nor Toyota-United veteran Burke Swindlehurst. But Vigus, who races for the amateur team California Giant Strawberries-Specialized, was the surprise winner of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic’s 3-mile stage 1 time trial — the only rider to finish in under six minutes, with a time of 5:50. O’Neill finished second, 12 seconds back, with Priority Health-Bissell’s Ben Jacques-Maynes in third at 20 seconds

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.

John Devine followed in the footsteps of some of America’s best young talent following his overall victory at the four-day Ronde de l’Isard this weekend in France. Devine, who is set to join the Discovery Channel team in July, won Friday’s 170km third stage to claim overall victory with a 49-second margin ahead of Belgian Francis De Greef. Foul weather cancelled a morning sector of Saturday’s action, but Devine finished 13th in the 24km time trial to retain his lead. The former mountain biker finished sixth in Sunday’s finale, 14 seconds off the pace set by stage-winner Oscar Sanchez of

In the shadow of the state Capitol, an enthused North Carolina crowd watched Frank Travieso (AEG-Toshiba-Jet Network) take one of the most uncompromising wins of his career at this year's Raleigh Downtown Criterium May 25. Running over a six-turn, L shaped course, the 3-year-old event took place on the front end of the Memorial Day weekend. A high pace did not discourage breakaway attempts, and eventually six men got away —Travieso, Tom Soloday (Kelly Benefit Strategies) John Delong (Alliance), local boys Rich Harper (Abercrombie & Fitch) and David Duncan (Time), and Jittery Joe's

We should have known. Ever since the opening day of Giro in Sardegna, when the Liquigas leader shouted at his team-mate Enrico Gasparotto to peel off the front of the train so that he could take the first maglia rosa, we should have known Danilo Di Luca really wanted to win the race more than anyone. The events on that day were downplayed somewhat, with Di Luca saying: "I was not upset, it is important that we as a team win." But out of all the pre-race favorites - Gilberto Simoni, Damiano Cunego, Paolo Savoldelli, and Di Luca - it is the latter who has arguably the weakest team. Each

The next stage race on USA Cycling’s National Racing Calendar, the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, kicks off Tuesday in Hood River, Oregon. Now in its fifth year and its third as an NRC event, the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic has quickly emerged as one of the top stage races in the U.S., drawing professional and amateurs from several different categories. But with the Commerce Bank Triple Crown series beginning in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, June 3, the final day of Mt. Hood, many teams are either splitting their squads or simply skipping the Oregon race. That’s not to say that the six-stage

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.

Russian rider Vladimir Karpets (Caisse d’Epargne) won the Volta a Catalunya Sunday in Madrid. Spaniard Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) won the seventh and final stage, a 119.3km ride from Lloret de Mar to Barcelona. Karpets, the 2004 winner of the Tour de France's white jersey for the best young rider, thus picks up his fourth victory of the season. "To win such an important race like the Volta a Catalunya is something significant in a rider's career,” said Karpets. "The team started perfectly well, by being the best in the team time trial. After that we were able to control the

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.

Tina Pic gave the United States Cycling Team its ninth medal and sixth continental title with a victory in the elite women's road race at the 2007 Pan American Road and Track Championships on Saturday. Pic won the 72-kilometer road race to conclude competition for the American squad by outsprinting silver medalist Yumari Gonzales of Cuba and bronze medalist Gina Grain of Canada. Pic's victory gave the American women a sweep of the road events after Alison Powers won Friday's time trial. Given the relatively flat course and short distance of the road race, Pic was designated as

Fresh off a successful European road trip, the professional continental Navigators squad announced its return to domestic criterium racing with a dominant performance at Saturday’s Kelly Cup in Baltimore, Maryland. The team put six men in a 20-strong escape that formed with 15 laps of the 1-mile course remaining, and it was Aussie Hilton Clarke (Navigators) that struck the winning blow, soloing the final four laps to victory and nearly lapping the field in the process. Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) won the women’s event in tight field sprint over U.S. national criterium champion Theresa

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

Showing a bit of its strength, the Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team, presented by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. stamped its mark on stage three of the FBD Insurance Ras. Team racer Dominique Rollin had a convincing stage win, extended his lead in the points contest and moved up to third in the general classification while 21-year-old Jesse Anthony moved into the race leader’s yellow jersey, extended his lead in the King of the Mountain contest and took the lead in the competition for best young rider. The field rolled out of the village of Loughrea under dark skies and with a sense of anticipation

Old Wives’ Tales; Traditions; Superstitions: Most people have a few they abide by, knowing that they’re not really factual, but they like the ideas or the story behind them. Euros, and particularly those in the cycling world, have a particular affinity to odd beliefs and one of the most joked about topics by Americans racing in Europe is “Euro Logic”. When a country is specified it normally becomes “Belgian Logic”. Most likely the fond memories of the time that most of our generation spent in Izigem with the u23 National team have something to do with this. While most people admit that

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

Dr. Brent Kay, heretofore Landis’ personal physician, steps into Geoghegan’s role.

For the first time of his career, Dave Zabriskie is making a serious stab at the overall classification of a grand tour. Without putting too much pressure on himself, Zabriskie is hoping to be able to stay close to the Italian mountain goats for as long as possible and make a solid showing when the Giro ends June 3 in Milan. “I know I can finish a three-week tour. I am going to try harder than I have in the mountains,” Zabriskie told VeloNews. “We’ll see how I can do in the GC. I want to see how I can do, but I don’t want too much pressure, either.” Team CSC entered the 2007 Giro with a

In its first day of racing in Europe the Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team presented by Sierra Nevada Brewing came out swinging at the FBD Insurance Ras on Sunday, with young rider Jesse Anthony capturing the King of the Mountain jersey and team sprinter Dominique Rollin taking fourth place on the stage. On an uncharacteristically sunny day, the field set off from Naas after a brief morning transit from Dublin. Enthusiastic crowds assembled to greet the race as the riders took a neutralized parade ride through the village streets. Once outside of town, it didn't take long for the racing

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.

George Hincapie is enjoying his first crack at the Giro d’Italia. The American national champion sat on the hood of the Discovery Channel team car Saturday morning as he soaked up the sights ahead of the start of the 254km seventh stage. The hilltop town of Spoleto was bathed in pink for the partenza and Hincapie was clearly digging the scene. “I am really enjoying the Giro,” Hincapie told VeloNews. “The racing is good but it’s a lot more relaxed here than the Tour. This is just what I needed.” Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise that Hincapie’s never raced the Giro during his

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.

Landis' friend and business manager Geoghegan admits to calling former Tour de France champion Greg LeMond, pretending to be his abusive uncle.

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.

How can I duplicate my position on a new bike (more tips)?

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.

It was weekend devoted to road racing at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships in Perry, Kansas, Saturday and Sunday. In addition to hundreds of riders, our guy, Casey Gibson, was there to record it all for posterity.

Stanford University claimed the Division I road racing national championship this weekend in Lawrence, Kansas, while Western Washington University took the Division II crown at the 2007 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships. After three days of racing, May 11-13, Stanford didn’t win any of the individual events – the team time trial, road race nor criterium – but instead won the Division I championship by the virtue of the consistency of its finishes. “We finally had the depth in both men and women to do it,” Stanford’s Devin Flaherty said. “Usually it’s one or the other, but

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.

The Giro d’Italia just wouldn’t be the same without a good dose of polemica, the favored pastime of this passionate nation of 60 million souls, and there was plenty of it in Saturday’s opening stage of the 90th corsa rosa. [nid:38529]UCI president Pat McQuaid got things off to a good start when he showed up an hour before the team time trial between the Caprera and La Maddalena islands to tell Italian journalists there would be no deal-making for scandal-marred Ivan Basso (see "McQuaid:No breaks for Basso").

Now that Saturday’s team time trial has sorted out the field, the peloton in the 2007 Giro d’Italia hits the road with a 205-kilometer stage from Tempio Pausania to Bosa on the island of Sardinia. The stage offers a prime opportunity for renowned sprinters like Alessandro Petacchi, Robbie McEwen and Paolo Bettini, but the outcome is by no means a forgone conclusion. The favorites are joined in the field-sprint stakes by several impressive talents, including Thor Hushovd, Danilo Napolitano and Giro newcomer J.J. Haedo. These and others are likely to be the names we'll see contesting

Managing the heat and an aggressive peloton, Midwestern State University’s Alex Boyd captured the men’s Division I road race national title Saturday in Perry, Kansas. Racing a rolling, 28-mile circuit for three laps (84 miles), Boyd remained dormant through most of the race, the second race of the 2007 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, which began on Friday and wraps up Sunday. An eager peloton unleashed attack after attack on the country roads of east Kansas, but no riders could open up any significant gaps early on. Under an unforgiving sun, fatigue set in, and the

UCI PROTOUR TEAMSAg2r (F)Race numbers: 51-59GC contender: New team leader Rinaldo Nocentini (I) is most interested in winning a stage.Best sprinter: Alexandre Usov (Blr) had a top-three stage finish in the 2004 Giro. Other rider to watch: Carl Naibo (F), a late replacement, is a useful climber.Giro will be a success if: Nocentini wins a stage.Astana (Swi)Race numbers: 11-19GC contender: Paolo Savoldelli (I) is looking for his third Giro title after contending and then falling sick in 2006Other rider to watch: Eddy Mazzoleni (I) is a strong climber riding support for Savoldelli.Giro will be a