Road

A Spanish cycling armada is threatening to spoil Dutch hopes of securing an elusive victory in the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday. The eighth race on the ProTour, and the fifth one-day classic of the series is the only Dutch race on the calendar apart from the Eindhoven time trial. But the hosts’ annual expectation of seeing a tough challenge from the orange-clad home riders, most of whom ride for Rabobank, has taken on special significance this year. Former winner Michael Boogerd will saddle up for his home race for the final time having announced in midweek that he will retire at the end of

It was a long day in the saddle on the way to the Confederate Memorial at Stone Mountain, near Atlanta in Georgia. Our man Casey Gibson was, as always there from start to finish. Here's what he sent home.

Lest any doubt remain about Discovery Channel’s Tour de Georgia dominance after the team took the stage win and the race lead on Thursday, the team repeated the feat Friday atop Brasstown Bald. Storming away from the peloton on the heels of an all-day breakaway, Levi Leipheimer and then Tom Danielson roared up the mountain to finish one-two. And the mountain roared back. Throngs of fans created a wall of sound up the steepest parts of the hors categorie climb to Georgia’s highest point, Brasstown Bald, at 4784 feet.

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said Friday that Ivan Basso's chances of competing in this year’s edition of the race could be hampered by a failure to resolve the Italian star’s implication in the Spanish doping affair. Basso and 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich were among dozens of cyclists implicated in Operación Puerto, which uncovered an alleged blood doping and doping network run by a doctor, Eufemiano Fuentes, in Spain. Both riders were among over a dozen banned from racing last year's Tour de France, which also ended in controversy when American winner Floyd Landis

Boogerd to retire Holland will lose another one of its biggest stars to retirement at the end of this season after Michael Boogerd says his days as a professional are winding down. The big-toothed Rabobank rider, who turns 35 next month, told Dutch journalists Thursday this will be his last season in the peloton. Erik Dekker, who along with Boogerd carried the Dutch torch in the peloton for much of the past decade, retired last year. “It’s a special moment, emotional but not dramatic,” Boogerd said at a press conference. “I want to finish this season in style starting on Sunday.” Boogerd

The second phase of the Spring Classics season begins Sunday with the 42nd running of the Amstel Gold Race on a 252km route of three differing but concentric circuits that begin in the city of Maastricht and end in nearby Valkenberg. Left behind with the cobbled classics are the unseasonable heat and dust of Paris-Roubaix; the weather forecast for Sunday’s race through the rolling green hills of Dutch Limburg in the southeastern Netherlands is 74 degrees and sunny. Also absent will be the majority of hard men who spent the past few weeks racing over the cobblestones of Belgium and northern

While it was another Discovery Channel dominated day at the Tour de Georgia, Colavita-Sutter Home rider Anthony Colby earned a measure of respect for the domestic ranks Friday, placing third on stage 5’s run to the top of Brasstown Bald. The climbing specialist from Durango, Colorado, made it into the day’s prominent breakaway, then held his ground while the rest of that eight-rider move were pushed out of the top five. “Honestly, I did something different,” said the 28-year-old Colby who won a pair of collegiate mountain bike racing titles in 2003 before making his move to the road. “I

It was a tough day in the saddle on Brasstown Bald – not just for the racers, but for the shooters, like our man Casey Gibson, who once again was there from start to finish. Here's what he sent home.

The Discovery Channel juggernaut continued its rampage through the 2007 race season on Thursday, with American Levi Leipheimer taking victory in the Tour de Georgia’s stage 4 time trial, while teammate Janez Brajkovic moved into the overall race lead. Now, with massive climbing horsepower behind him in the form of Leipheimer and Tom Danielson, it’s all but assured that the lithe, 23-year-old Slovenian will be wearing yellow three days from now when this seven-day race finishes up in downtown Atlanta.

Magnus Bäckstedt was hoping for more in Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix when he finished 47th at 9:39 back, but simply finishing the punishing “Hell of the North” tasted almost like victory for the big Swede. Bäckstedt has been cursed with bad luck and injuries since his breakthrough 2004 Roubaix victory. He missed last year’s Roubaix after crashing early in the season and then blew out his shoulder in a nasty, high-speed track racing accident in October. And then doctors found a melanoma on Bäckstedt’s chest that required two surgeries. “Stuff keeps getting thrown at me,” Bäckstedt told VeloNews.

[nid:38252]Janez Brajkovic wasn’t even supposed to be at the Tour de Georgia. Originally the lithe Slovenian climber was slotted to race Pays Basque for Discovery Channel, while Tour de France veteran Jose Rubiera was coming to America.

Britain's Mark Cavendish claimed his biggest road race win to date by outsprinting Australian ace Robbie McEwen into Schoten, Belgium, in the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen semi-classic on Wednesday. T-Mobile's Cavendish thus succeeds Belgium's former world champion TomBoonen as the Scheldeprijs champion on the 100th anniversary of the Flemish semi-classic. The 21-year-old from the Isle of Man, who won Commonwealth Games track gold in the men's scratch race in Melbourne last year, inched past McEwen in the closing meters of the largely flat 197km race to seal a surprise

After a frustrating finish to Monday’s opener, Toyota-United was rejoicing on Tuesday as Ivan Stevic sprinted to victory in stage 2 of the 2007 Tour de Georgia. J.J. Haedo (Team CSC) and Freddie Rodriguez (Predictor-Lotto) crossed second and third, while Daniele Contrini (Tinkoff Credit Systems) retained the leader’s jersey after a 135-mile day filled with crosswinds, crashes and a long, three-man break that wasn’t mopped until the peloton began marching on Rome. Complete results

Last Friday afternoon, under dark gray skies that made the moment feel as if night were about to fall, I stepped aboard our team bus, gingerly, and sat down. The bus was empty except for one soigneur who pulled out a washcloth and lotion and began scrubbing the grime off of my tender legs. Moments later Axel and Scott stepped on the bus, neither smiling, and sat down, legs outstretched, leaning way back in the chairs waiting their turn to get cleaned up. They looked beat, and if I could have seen my own face I would imagine it was just the same. Beat, but relieved. The last road stage of a

Slipstream earns wild-card for CataluynaTeam Slipstream earned an important wild-card bid for next month’s 87th Volta a Catalunya race in Spain. The U.S. team’s invitation was among five issued Tuesday by organizers for the ProTour race set for May 21-27 in Spain’s Catalunya region. Other teams earning nods to join the 20 ProTour teams are Spanish teams Andalucia-Caja Sur, Relax-Gam, Fuerteventura-Canarias and Karpin-Galicia. Slipstream’s European base in nearby Girona, Spain, probably helped the squad to obtain the important invite. Earlier this year, Slipstream earned a berth in the

Stage 2 of the Tour de Georgia was a long one, and Casey Gibson was there from start to finish. Here's a sampler of what he saw in the middle.

It’s a sign of the times. It used to be that the 29-inch mountain-bike was the thing of the fringe elements of the cycling world. No more… at least if the tech expo at Sea Otter was any indication. Major labels – Mavic, Hutchinson and Manitou among them – have recently embraced the concept and have rolled out a host of products including tubeless 29er wheel and tire sets and new long-travel 29er forks. Another theme is that of the event itself as well as many of the products promoted at it being ever more green. Clif Bar ran all of its vehicles for the event on recycled-cooking-oil Bio

Last Friday afternoon, under dark gray skies that made the moment feel as if night were about to fall, I stepped aboard our team bus, gingerly, and sat down. The bus was empty except for one soigneur who pulled out a washcloth and lotion and began scrubbing the grime off of my tender legs. Moments later Axel and Scott stepped on the bus, neither smiling, and sat down, legs outstretched, leaning way back in the chairs waiting their turn to get cleaned up. They looked beat, and if I could have seen my own face I would imagine it was just the same. Beat, but relieved. The last road stage of a

As the countdown to the fifth edition of the Tour de Georgia hit its final hours, riders in need of a one last spin had to endure a blustery, damp Sunday in Peachtree City. But Monday’s forecast calls for clearing skies and temperatures in mid 60s, good news considering that already the event’s team presentation had to be scrapped because of rain. They did manage to hold a pre-race conference Saturday, where a mix of media, VIPs and team officials were treated to video presentation featuring marquee moments from the race’s first four years. Highlights included Mario Cipollini strutting his

Tyler Hamilton’s long absence from top-level racing in the U.S. finally came to an end Monday during the first stage of the Tour de Georgia. Following a five-plus year absence from UCI racing in the States, the 36-year-old finished safely in the bunch (56th for the record) on the 98.5-mile run from Peachtree City to Macon. Afterwards, Hamilton, who recently finished a two-year ban for blood doping, said it was an extraordinary day for him. “It was really emotional seeing [Daniele] Contrini there at the finish line,” said Hamilton of his Tinkoff teammate who took the stage 1 victory. “It was

Daniele Contrini (Tinkoff Credit Systems) won stage 1 of the 2007 Tour de Georgia on Monday, leaping away from a breakaway to cross the line alone in downtown Macon. The 33-year-old Italian made his move during a series of finishing circuits, using a brick climb to spring away from Ben Day (Navigators Insurance), Doug Ollerenshaw (Health Net-Maxxis) and Mike Sayers (BMC) to win the 98.5-mile stage from Peachtree City to Macon. Full results

Extra pix Roubaix

It’s not often a rider enters the Roubaix velodrome alone, and an Australian has never done it in the 105-year history of cycling’s hardest one-day race. Stuart O’Grady did both Sunday in an emotional and powerful victory to become the first Aussie to win Paris-Roubaix in the hottest “Hell of the North” as far as anyone can remember.

It could be an option if California officials ever have to find a solution to a drought. Hold an edition of the Sea Otter Classic and then just wait for rain. This year the rains came on Saturday, just in time for a weekend of serious racing. The rain came quickly and biblically, temporarily shutting down the dual slalom and ending the women’s road circuit race prematurely. The heavy rain also sent the cross-country racers scrambling for the right tire for the short-track event. Thomas Frischknecht (Swisspower) pulled out a special weapon for the race; a pair of 26-inch Dugast Rhino tubular

Sunday’s Sea Otter downhill race served as the gravity season’s opener. While the cross-country competitors had a chance to dust of the cobwebs at the NOVA National in Fountain Hills, Arizona, a couple of weeks ago, the gravity crew had yet to meet up. The short two-and-a-half minute course produced a surprise win for Brit Rachel Atherton (Animal-Commençal), while Nathan Rennie (Santa Cruz Syndicate) took his third Sea Otter downhill win. Saturday’s rain exacted chaos over the road, short-track and dual slalom races. The latter was postponed four hours — gravity riders finally took to the

Dan Ramsey took a big win for his Successful Living team in at the Sea Otter Classic NRC men’s circuit race. After spending the majority of the race off the front in a two-man move, Ramsey was caught by a small group, but soon attacked again, hoping to set up one of his three teammates who had been brought across. Instead, Ramsey held his solo gap for the final six laps. “I knew I had to be the first one to attack because I had been off the front all day,” Ramsey said. “I was guessing one of my teammates would take the race, not me. I’m really happy for the team. We needed this. I’d like to

It looked like strong, cool breezes and sunny skies were to be the reward for those who still retained the sour memories of the torrential rains and near constant crashes of the 2006 Jacksonville Cycling Classic. "You would come around a turn and be hit with a 30 mile an hour wind that would all but knock you down," recalled AEG-Toshiba-Jet Network rider Todd Henriksen. But Henriksen and the rest of the Pro Men's field got at least a small reminder of last year's event when two small but thorough cloud bursts soaked the one-kilometer-long course just minutes before the start. Those

Bumping elbows with the pros — that’s what Sea Otter is about. Subaru-Gary Fisher professional racer Sam Schultz knows the feeling. The young racer was at Laguna Seca raceway on Friday for SRAM’s launch of its new Monarch air shock platform. He recounted a time not so long ago when he would come to the big events looking around to see what the fast guys were riding. Now we’re checking out what he’s riding, whether he knows it or not. But Sea Otter is about more than just who's using the stuff. The cycling festival gives tech geeks a chance to check in with a host of industry engineers,

Don’t discount Team CSC’s Stuart O’Grady as a candidate for the win in Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix. The 33-year-old Aussie might not be one of the five-star favorites to win the “Hell of the North,” but he can be a wildcard, behind teammate and defending champ Fabian Cancellara. (VeloNews.com will offer up-to-the-minute live coverage of Paris-Roubaix on Sunday. – Editor) “Stuey” barreled into this year’s classics season in his best form in years. After a string of top-five finishes, O’Grady is intent on snagging his first victory since 2004, when he won a stage at the Tour de France, two at the

It’s hard to believe that a strike by firefighters and security personnel on another continent could be mucking up race director Jim Birrell’s day. But that was just the case Friday — the 13th — as Birrell worked from his office, dealing with the final i’s and t’s ahead of Monday's start of the Tour de Georgia. A 10-hour work stoppage at the Brussels International Airport forced the delay or cancellation of almost every arriving and departing flight Friday. That meant major headaches for holiday travelers, and scrambled plans for members of the CSC, Quick Step-Innergetic and

Former world champion Tom Boonen will be among the Belgians feeling the weight of expectation going into Sunday’s edition of Paris-Roubaix, arguably the toughest one-day cycling race in the world. The 26-year-old Belgian has already won once at the “Hell of the North,” as the 111-year-old race is known. But given his frustrating run through the Belgian one-day classics this month, Boonen and compatriots Leif Hoste and Peter Van Petegem will be eager to redress the balance. The three are among a handful of contenders — including defending Roubaix champion Fabian Cancellara and Italians

Halfway through a Laguna Seca circuit race that started under sunny skies, officials cancelled the pro women’s event after hard driving rains sent rivers of mud streaming across the auto racetrack. About 8 laps into a 22-lap event, rain started falling and temperatures plummeted. Soon, the water was coming down so hard riders had difficulty seeing while descending the famed Corkscrew, which sends riders screaming down 300 winding vertical feet in a matter of seconds. Instead of shortening the event — by announcing one lap to go as riders came through the start/finish on the 2.2-mile course —

The 17th edition of the Sea Otter Classic opened Thursday under sunny skies and blustery winds. The wind brought cooler temperatures, but no one was complaining too much after a soggy setup on Wednesday. For the VeloNews tech crew, our day opened offsite at the re-launch of Tomac Bicycles, during an event hosted by Joel Smith, a former employee of Answer Products, and brand namesake John Tomac. The company is taking it small this time, testing the waters with only eight employees and a product line built around three core frames. Tomac’s name first graced the down tube of a bicycle in 1999

Fabian Cancellara (Team CSC) is still steaming over missing victory in Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. The reigning world time trial champion tried to will his way to the top podium spot, but a mix of tactics, a lack of cooperation from breakaway partners and simply too nice of weather that made for a larger than normal peloton foiled his chances. The 26-year-old will line up Sunday as defending champion at Paris-Roubaix. He told VeloNews he has one aim. “I want to double,” he said flat out. “I don’t know if my form is as good as last year, I was a little sick at Tirreno that set me back a little,

Here we are, just getting ready to head full steam into the 2007 racing season, and the 2008 product is already starting to ship. When did we have a chance to enjoy our '07 bikes? Trek just started shipping copies of Travis Brown’s 69er single-speed to its dealers last week. And here in Santa Cruz, California, just north of Monterey and the Sea Otter Classic, we’re seeing 69ers with gears and even suspension. It’s the same on the Gary Fisher side. There was hardly even time to get excited about its new economical aluminum trail bike, the HiFi, a bike with great value and even greater

The carnage from crashes Wednesday on the Kemmelberg descent during Ghent-Wevelgem has triggered calls for the treacherous cobblestoned section to be removed from the spring classic. Opinions were split. Some felt the harrowing pavé descent was just too steep for today’s high-speed peloton. A seeming majority felt that such hazardous, yet historic landmarks should remain in the northern classics despite the danger. Regardless of the opinions, the facts remained harsh. Dozens of riders fell and nearly all earned a trip to local hospitals, most with broken bones. Here’s an official list of

During Paris-Nice, one of the Saunier Duval riders, Francisco José Ventoso, asked me what races I would be competing in the coming month. I ran down the list and at the mention of Pays Basque he stopped me and said, “this year is hard, una puta madre, and my teammates all tell me the climbing is incredible.” I am now two days into the race and I can attest to the fact that Francisco was right. The last two days have been hard, hard days of racing with nonstop climbing: yesterday we had nine categorized climbs and today eight. There is no time to chat in the bunch once the break is gone and

Solve the issue of cramping by trying out these tips.

German rider Marcus Burghardt outfoxed one of the savviest riders in the peloton to win a crash-marred Ghent-Wevelgem ahead of three-time world champion Oscar Freire. The T-Mobile prospect scored the first win of his career in impressive manner after powering away from Freire and three other escapees with 1.3km to go in the 220km march across western Flanders.

Juan José Haedo was the center of attention Wednesday at the start of Ghent-Wevelgem as journalists scrambled to get word with the “man who beat Petacchi” in Monday’s Rund um Köln. The Argentine ace made easy work of Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) and Graeme Brown (Rabobank) to win for the first time on European roads. The victory boosted his profile as he makes the leap from domestic racing in the United States to a largely European schedule with Team CSC. “It was an important victory in front of people like Petacchi and Brown, I can only be happy with the win,” Haedo told VeloNews before

Tyler Farrar broke his left kneecap Wednesday in a harrowing crash on the dangerous Kemmelberg cobblestone descent in Ghent-Wevelgem. Farrar, 22, was transported to a hospital in Ieper, Belgium, where X-rays found a fracture to his patella. Cofidis officials said surgery isn’t required, but he’ll likely be sidelined for at least a month. “He was behind [Jimmy] Casper when he crashed and everyone started to brake, but I don’t know precisely what caused him to fall,” said Cofidis sport director Alain Deloeuil. “There are no other broken bones.” Deloeuil said Farrar should be able to return

Wednesday’s spectacular crashes on the sketchy Kemmelberg cobblestone descent in Ghent-Wevelgem had some critics suggesting the road is too dangerous to be part of the otherwise flat 220km route across western Flanders. More than a dozen riders crashed in two harrowing descents off the narrow, twisting road. Among the victims in the spectacular, high-speed spills were American Tyler Farrar (Cofidis), who broke his kneecap, and Frenchman Jimmy Casper (Unibet.com), who suffered major cuts to his face and nose and was in hospital awaiting surgery. But UCI officials said they had no intention

PressureDear Lennard,Regarding your March 27 column, I work for Boeing and have traveled a lot with my altimeter. At cruising altitude (41,000 feet) the internal fuselage altitude is effectively 6600ft, and will be even lower with the new 787. We all climb passes that high.I also wanted to point out that the entire fuselage is the same pressure, that includes the lower cargo section and passenger space. Think of it as one big balloon. So, I travel with inflated tires, primarily to provide that extra measure of rim protection.JohnDear John,Thanks; you've answered the one question I had

Several big-name riders who skipped Tour of Flanders will be the main protagonists Wednesday for Ghent-Wevelgem in the midweek, sprinter-friendly classic. The 210km route from Deinze to Wevelgem is mostly flat except for two passages over the Kemmelberg at 153km and 174km. The climb almost always splits the bunch and it’s sometimes a close call before the peloton comes back together again before roaring into Wevelgem for the sprint. Defending champion Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole), Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto), Allan Davis (Discovery Channel), Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) and Baden

Only at the northern classics would people hope for bad weather. While Americans were wrestling with the possibility of cancelling a snow-boundU.S. Open, northern Europe was basking under temperatures in the 70s, clear skies and almost no wind. For many, it seemed Sunday’s weather was too nice – at least according to several protagonists queried by VeloNews after the Tour of Flanders. “It might have been great for fans and some of the racers, but today’s race was kind of flat and it lacked the spark that makes Flanders such a great race,” said Fabian Cancellara (CSC), who tried to break

The UniBet.com ProTour cycling team faced another setback Monday after being excluded from two more Classics. Unibet.com was already denied participation at Paris-Nice race last month and this coming Sunday's edition of Paris-Roubaix. The team learned on Monday that it will not be allowed to participate in Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege as well. All four events are promoted by Tour de France organizer ASO which said that the exclusions are due to French and Belgian laws barring the advertisement of out-of-country betting and lotteries. The Belgian-Swedish team is sponsored

Second-year pro Tyler Farrar is getting his long-awaited view of Europe’s bumpiest roads from inside the peloton during the northern classics. On Sunday, the 22-year-old Cofidis rider competed in the first Tour of Flanders of his promising career, helping push team captain Nick Nuyens to seventh in one of the most important races of the season. Farrar is an integral part of the Cofidis’ northern classics program and will be spending the next week racing across the cobblestones. Up next is Wednesday’s Ghent-Wevelgem —and next weekend, he’s scheduled to start in the Hell of the North,

Don’t tell Alessandro Ballan he’s heir to Italian classics heroes such as Andrea Tafi and Franco Ballerini after his dramatic sprint victory ahead of Leif Hoste in Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. The panache shown by the 27-year-old in winning the crash-laden 91st edition is just the stuff Italian journalists love to turn into legend, but Ballan sees himself as more than a one-trick pony after the biggest victory of his career.

The absence of one the Tour of Flanders' crucial climbs in Sunday's second one-day classic of the season is unlikely to reduce the threat of a possible hat-trick for Tom Boonen. Boonen has won the Belgian epic for the past two years, but even he might be applauding the organizer’s decision to bypass the mythical, and strategically significant Koppenberg. At only 600 meters long, it can hardly be labeled a climb - at least to those more used to watching the big stage racer. But climbing at an average gradient of 11.6 percent on the cobbles makes the Koppenberg a challenge you cannot

Peter Van Petegem lines up Sunday in what could be his last Tour of Flanders. The 37-year-old is synonymous with the Belgian classic and boasts two victories (1999 and 2003) to his list of successes during his 16-year career. Van Petegem made a big switch last year, trading his team captain’s role at Predictor-Lotto for one that’s certainly a notch or two lower in the pecking order at Quick Step-Innergetic. What’s surprising is that Van Petegem couldn’t be happier than to be in his new role of “joker” behind two-time defending Flanders champ Tom Boonen and reigning world champion Paolo

The U.S Open Cycling Championship got under way on Saturday after snow and cold forced a 90-minute delay to the start in Williamsburg, Virginia. Wet snow and steady winds kept the television helicopter grounded, prompting the delay. Same-day television coverage is to be broadcast from 2:30 to 5 p.m. on NBC. More pictures “I agreed with the rider boycotts at Sea Otter [in 2003] and San Dimas [in 2004],” said Health Net-Maxxis team director Jeff Corbett. “But no one wants to look like a wimp on national television.” Happily, the race got rolling, albeit a bit late, and the race caravan

Heading into the inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championships in Richmond, Virginia, a few names of race favorites were on everyone’s lips: Toyota-United strongmen Henk Vogels and Ivan Dominguez topped the list. Other riders, such as Health Net-Maxxis riders Karl Menzies and Kirk O’Bee and current NRC leader Ben Jacques-Maynes of Priority Health-Bissell were also tossed around. But in the end, two riders not considered favorites — Svein Tuft of Symmetrics and Patrick McCarty of Slipstream-Chipotle — turned the race upside down after forming a winning two-man breakaway more than 15 miles from

The calendar says it's spring — but you wouldn't have known it by the conditions at the start of the inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championship on Saturday in Williamsburg, Virginia. Senior writer Neal Rogers snapped a few pics of the peloton preparing for heavy weather; they're arrayed below.

In what is being billed as the “true North American Championship,” the inauguralU.S. Open CyclingChampionships are set for Saturday, April 7, in Richmond, Virginia.The 112-mile men’s race, a stop on the international UCI Americas Tourand the national USA Cycling Pro Tour, will begin in colonial Williamsburg,Virginia and follow the route along the historic Jamestown Plantationsand Civil War battlefields, ending with eight 5.5-mile circuits in downtownRichmond including a brutal cobblestone climb up Libby Hill. The men’s race begins at 8:10 a.m., and the men are expected to enterthe Richmond

Tom Boonen dares to dream of making it three in a row as he lines up as a five-star favorite for Sunday’s Ronde van Vlaanderen. The Quick Step-Innergetic captain talked to the Belgian media Thursday about his chances. “Over these last few days I’ve realized that I really could do something unique – winning the Flanders for the third time in a row, but I’ll also need a bit of luck on my side to do this. It won’t be an easy feat,” Boonen said. “I’m approaching the Ronde in good condition. I’ve done everything possible to be at the Ronde in excellent form.” Boonen has snagged his fair share

Mikhail Ignatiev is barely old enough to buy a drink (at least in the U.S.), but his palmares are already overflowing with impressive results. The 21-year-old delivered Russia’s only medal at the recent world track cycling championships with a bronze medal in the men’s points race. Although he’s the defending Olympic gold medalist in the points race, Ignatiev says his future remains firmly planted on the road. In the meantime, the lure of another Olympic gold medal is too great to ignore. “I want to defend my title in Beijing, so I will race more track events early next year to qualify and

After a seven-year partnership, Nike and Trek will part ways at the end of 2007. The decision, a result of the $15 billion sports giant’s new exclusive focus on high-end cycling shoes and apparel, sparked rumors that Nike is abandoning the sport altogether. Since 1999, Trek has been a Nike licensee and the primary distributor for Nike Cycling, the marketing of which had centered on seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong. Nike recently downsized its in-house cycling division. However, the Nike-Trek split doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the Nike’s cycling division, said Maggie

Michaelsen’s last ride loomingLars Michaelsen – the 38-year-old Team CSC rider – will retire after competing in Paris-Roubaix later this month. A winner of the 1995 Ghent-Wevelgem and a two-time top-five finisher at Roubaix, Michaelsen said he couldn’t think of a better scenario to end his career. “The spring classics have always been where my heart beats, so it’s a good way to say goodbye to this fantastic sport,” he said. “Paris-Roubaix will be my last race. I’m hoping to have the legs and be up there in the Arenberg forest and to be in the selection, then we’ll take it from there. The

The first big mountain-bike race of the season isn't just a chance to see which racers have been following their off-season training programs — it's an opportunity for gearheads to gauge which manufacturers have been doing their homework. For most companies, design, prototyping and testing generally take place one, two, even three years ahead of production. So the racecourse is one of the best places to get a look at what may be coming down the production pike. At this week’s NOVA National at McDowell Mountain Regional Park in Fountain Hills, Arizona, there were plenty of

The sourceDear readers,I received a boatload of great responses on creaking noises from the March7 column, and it is something so commonly plaguing all of us as cyclists that I’m running a whole list of the fixes for them that I did not mention.LennardIt's the headsetI also have a Basso Diamante that I occasionally have creaking issueswith. Like many creaking issues, it's hard to track down where the noiseis coming from. I suggest it isn't coming from the seat area with the riderwho sent you the question. I would check the front of the bike. First,make sure the quick release

Belgian racing is unique in such a way that I often forget just how unique it is until I am standing on the start line: The crowds are fervent and passionate, huge, the racing intense and dangerous, the wind constantly blowing, and the roads rarely straight for more than 10km. It had been a year since I last raced in Belgium when I crashed and ended up in hospital with a broken back at the Tour of Flanders. Oddly, it somehow, felt good to be back racing in Belgium, and despite images of last year’s accident, I was motivated to race; perhaps, because the Belgian racing feels like — and is,

Jens Voigt (CSC) won the Critérium International on Sunday after soloing to victory in stage 2 and taking seventh in the final time trial. With his victory, the German became the first man to win the race three times since Sean Kelly in 1987. "Ever since I was a little kid Sean Kelly was my hero," Voigt said afterward. "Because he was a rider who was successful from the start to the end of the year, ready to compete for the win at each race, like Jaja [Laurent Jalabert] later on, or Erik Zabel.

Chris Hoy continued Great Britain’s gold medal rush at the Palma de Mallorca world track cycling championships after laying claim to his fourth career world title in the men’s kilo. Already a surprise winner this week in the men’s keirin, Hoy dominated his favorite event with the winning time of 1:00.999 in what was his final competitive kilo. “This is the last time I will race kilo, so it was really important that I won,” Hoy said. “I felt really good all day and I just tried to relax before the race. I felt strong right to the end and I’m relieved and happy to win.” Jamie Staff (Great

Pat McDonough will be a very busy man in the coming months. With the Beijing Summer Olympic Games on tap for the summer of 2008, the director of athletics for USA Cycling will have his hands full as he prepares teams to compete in track, road, mountain bike and the inaugural BMX medal events. A former director at the Lehigh Valley velodrome, USA Cycling tapped McDonough to take over the moribund U.S. track program in 2004. Then last summer, he was promoted as director of athletics for USA Cycling to oversee all disciplines. McDonough, a silver medalist in the team pursuit at the 1984

Defending Olympic champion Anna Meares beat her own world record with a new time of 33.588 to win Australia’s first gold medal at the Palma de Mallorca world championship. Meares set the previous record in November with 33.944, but shaved nearly a half-second off on the new boards at the Palma velodrome. “I felt really good right from the gun,” said the tearful Meares. “Just as this season has progressed, I’ve gotten better and better. "I wasn’t sure if a world record would be possible because I didn’t know the condition of this track. I didn’t think about it. I just went through the

German Olaf Pollack (Wiesenhof) won the first stage of the Critérium International on Saturday. Pollack took the 179km leg from Asfeld to Charleville after a violent storm pounded the racers in the final 15km, disrupting what proved to be a bunch sprint. The German easily outpaced Italian Angelo Furlan (Crédit Agricole) and Spaniard Mikel Gaztanaga (Agritubel), all of whom were given the same time as the winner.

What should have been the third consecutive day of medal celebration for the resurgent U.S. track team turned into bitter disappointment Saturday when Rebecca Quinn was relegated in the women’s 10km scratch race after sprinting to third. Quinn made a spectacular finishing surge to squeeze between two riders coming out of turn four to earn what most observers thought was a well-deserved bronze medal. Moments after celebrating with her coaches, however, a UCI official whispered to USA Cycling’s athletic director Pat McDonough the bad news. By the time McDonough had a chance to review the

It was another full day at track world's in Spain — the Aussies finally got themselves a medal, as did the host nation, and the Brits continued their winning ways. Casey Gibson was on the job once again and sent us the following photos.

"The Apartment" Sound like a reality-TV show? Fortunately it’s not, at least not this one … yet. Instead, it’s about our main team apartment in Girona, Spain. While a few riders have places of their own, Slipstream has a couple of apartments scattered around town for our use. I’m on the long program this spring, roughly three months, and pulled a bit of seniority to grab one of the choice rooms (read: big-ish with some sunlight). With seven – that’s SEVEN! - riders in the joint right now, having a little spot that is all your own becomes increasingly more valuable. First, a bit of history:

Sarah Hammer put down a dominating performance Friday in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, defending her world title in the women’s individual pursuit Friday and putting the world on notice that she’s the rider to beat going into next year’s Olympic Summer Games. Hammer becomes the first American to defend a world track title since Rebecca Twigg in 1984-85. She also set a new U.S record and personal best with 3:30.213. “I wanted that so bad. To do it twice is amazing,” Hammer told VeloNews at the finish. “I thought going in I was going to win. I was confident in myself.” Hammer was fastest in

As it stands, China's hopes of an unprecedented Olympic gold medal in track cycling currently lie with women's sprint star Shuang Guo, women who turned in the fastest time in Friday’s sprint qualifying round. But in 17 months time, the medal odds could look decidedly better for the hosts of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and it could be thanks to one of the sport's biggest legends. China's first Olympic track medal came through Yong Hua who won silver in the women's 500 meter time trial at Athens in 2004. But former four-time Olympic champion Daniel Morelon, who also amassed

It was raining gold in Spain, and the U.S. and Britain had their buckets out. Casey Gibson was on hand with his array of cameras and lenses; here's what he sent home.

Charles Bradley Huff couldn’t quite believe it when he ended up with a bronze medal in the inaugural world track championship omnium. The Slipstream-Chipotle rider has been suffering through a chest cold, a two-day bout of diarrhea and self-described “bad legs,” but consistency and a third-place in the day’s fifth and final event in the kilometer time trial pushed him onto the medal’s podium. “To have such bad legs today yet it’s exciting that I was able to get third somehow,” said Huff. “It just shows in cycling as much as you suffer, you have good days and bad days, you gotta get on your

At least when it comes to business, Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James is something of a multi-sport athlete. The 22-year-old NBA star has purchased an undisclosed ownership stake in the bicycle manufacturer Cannondale, the company announced this week. The 6 foot 8 inch James is no stranger to the bike, according to a Cannondale spokesman. James, a number-one draft pick by the Cavaliers in 2003, spends a lot of time riding in the off-season and organizes the annual “King for Kids Bike-a-thon” in Akron, Ohio, a fundraiser designed to generate funds for local single mothers and their

A golden homecoming for Bradley Wiggins; a podium appearance by an ailing Brad Huff; and a French team-sprint defense that barely registered on a chronometer. It was a busy day at the track world championships in Spain, and our man Casey Gibson was all over it like a sweaty skinsuit. Here's what he sent home.

David Millar says the only way to rid doping from cycling will be if the major teams and sponsors drive change from within the sport. “To me, the buck stops at team management. They can’t just go around and blame it on the riders,” Millar told VeloNews. “They should know what’s going on, they should sign the right kind of riders. [It won’t stop] until the teams and the sponsors take responsibility.” Millar, 30, returned to competition before last year’s Tour de France after serving a two-year ban for admitting to using the banned blood booster EPO. He’s since become an outspoken proponent

With the arrival of spring and warmer weather for many North American cyclists, longer weekend rides are an enhanced and improved part of the training plan. While you may be wisely planning on carrying plenty of sports drinks and gels for the ride itself, what you eat in the hours before and the day before the ride can also provide an important nutritional boost. Ideally, any long ride begins with adequate fuel stores, namely muscle glycogen, liver glycogen, and even adequate muscle fat or triglyceride levels. Chances are most all of us are beginning this phase of training with more than

The 2007 Tour of Germany will include new highs in its nine-day, 1315km route revealed Tuesday by race organizers. The race starts Aug. 10 in Saarbrücken and ends Aug. 18 in Hannover in a challenging, varied route sure to give the German tour even more prestige as the event continues to gain momentum among fans and racers. “The race will be extremely difficult,” said 2006 winner Jens Voigt (CSC). “To defend my title won’t be easy.” The route will feature a team time trial for the time (42.2km in the second stage) as well tackle the 15km, 2600m climb at Rettenbachferner in the fifth stage

Flying Dutchman Theo Bos will be among the riders hoping to blaze a gold-medal trail on the freshly laid Siberian pine boards that will host the world track cycling championships this week in Palma de Majorca, Spain. The four-day competition begins on a note of novelty on Thursday when the inaugural, five-race omnium event, the team pursuit and men's individual pursuit are raced in a brand-new velodrome on which the paint is still drying. Bos, who will shoulder the Netherlands’ gold-medal hopes on his lithe frame at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will be hoping to leave a big

Help packingDear Lennard,I am preparing to take a trip to Puerto Rico with my family and, for the first time, my bike (a LeMond Zurich). I bought a Pro Bike Case to pack the bike in. I was wondering about my tires – do I have to deflate them in order to prevent blowouts in the plane? Also, are there any subtleties regarding things to bring (or not) that I haven’t thought of (eg. CO2 cartridges, pumps, etc)?Thanks,Tom Dear Tom,Even if you live at sea level, your atmospheric pressure is at most one bar, or about 14psi. That means, if you were to go all of the way out of the atmosphere to