Road

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme doesn’t go to many team presentations, but he found time in his schedule to travel to Mallorca this weekend to be there for the unveiling of a re-vamped T-Mobile squad. The Tour leader lauded the team’s dramatic house-cleaning following alleged links between Jan Ullrich and Operación Puerto. Prudhomme said T-Mobile’s latest efforts to reshape the team, with increased internal doping controls and a strong emphasis on clean racing, is just the tonic to help regain cycling’s credibility. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood joined a

Twenty-three-year-old Darren Lapthorne claimed the biggest success of his career to win the 163km men's elite road race at the 2007 Australian Open Road Championships in Bunninyong, near Ballarat, Victoria, on Sunday. "It's the happiest day of my life," said Lapthorne who is studying a Bachelor of Business at RMIT in tandem with pursuing his cycling career. "It is an unbelievable moment for me and I'll never forget it." Lapthorne crossed the line well clear at the end of 16 laps in a time of 4hr16min18sec with his Drapac Porsche teammate and Barcelona Olympian, Robert McLachlan,

Embattled Tour de France champion Floyd Landis says he his riding withoutpain for the first time in four years, following his hip operation lastSeptember. Physician Brent Kay said that Landis, who suffered a fracture at theneck of his femur in acrash four years ago, has reclaimed top form for the first time sincethen. "He has regained full strength, power and range of motion and is completelypain free," Kay said. "His one-leg power tests now show that the new hipis actually stronger than the other side. "With normal length restored to his femur and the elimination of hischronic pain, Floyd

Olympic and Commonwealth Games track star, Katie Mactier and Wesley Sulzberger claimed top honors in the women’s and U23 men’s races at the Australian Open Road Championships in Bunninyong, near Ballarat, Victoria on Saturday. The 31-year-old Mactier, the 2001 road champion, out gunned eleven rivals, including the reigning Olympic and reigning Commonwealth Games road Champions, to win the title in a time of 3hr10min35sec ahead of 2003 U23 Olympic Distance Triathlon World Champion, Nikki Egyed, 24, with Mactier's Victorian teammate Emma Rickards third. "When you come out and take a win

The ghost of Jan Ullrich has been fully exorcized and a reborn T-Mobile team is boldly riding into the 2007 season without the franchise rider that carried the team to greatness for a decade. The downfall of the 1997 Tour de France champion and the ensuing housecleaning that followed Ullrich’s expulsion ahead of the start of last year’s Tour was officially closed in Saturday’s team presentation of T-Mobile. Out is talk of the winning the Tour and in are choice words about teamwork and clean competition. With 13 new riders and five new staff members, T-Mobile manager Bob Stapleton introduced

Even bigger things are expected for T-Mobile this season as eight new riders and an all-female management staff carry the team’s ambitions into 2007. Following on the heels of last year’s success in its inaugural season at international competition, the women’s team expects for even more victories this year. Back are Kim Anderson, Judith Arndt and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg. Five up-and-coming racers join established stars Oenone Wood, Kate Bates and Chantal Beltman for the season. “If we can achieve what we did last year, we’ll be satisfied,” said Teutenberg. “We’ll always be at the front at all

Over the course of the week several staff and riders from the Spanish ProTourSaunier Duval-Prodir team have been in Mali, West Africa, to help inauguratethe ambitious “100years for a million trees” re-forestation project as a way of markingthe 100th anniversary of the program's title sponsor.We've received several written reports from VeloNews editorialdirector John Wilcockson. Paris-based photographer Glenn Myrent was alsothere to document the events of the week and has been kind enough to sharesome of his images with VeloNews.com. The week was highlighted by a racebetween seven of

In an unusual step, Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has been summoned  to appear before the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) on February 8, the organization's president Pierre Bordry told AFP on Friday.The 32-year-old American won the Tour de France last July, due in no small part to a remarkable effort on the 17th stage of the race.

With the holiday season officially over, cyclists are back to work or school and planning ahead for the coming race season. Perhaps you ate and drank your way through December’s seemingly endless string of parties and events, with both your training volume and frequency in a state of consistent decline. Because of these calorically challenging dilemmas, mid- January often greets many cyclists with an extra and unwanted layer of adipose fat. But no need to panic, there is plenty of time to get your diet and nutrition plan in order for the 2007 season. Weight, fat, and goal settingFirst take

The International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT) has reversed its month-old decision to exclude the Discovery team from its ranks. In December, the group voted to strip Discovery of its membership over the team’s signing of Italian Ivan Basso, who is implicated in the Operación Puerto inquiry, according to a source that attended the meeting in Brussels. Lat Thursday, with Discovery director Johann Bruyneel present, the group opted to reverse the December decision. “After a long discussion, the voting members of the group have opted not to exclude Tailwind Sports (Discovery Channel)

Veteran Erik Zabel said Wednesday that his old teammate Jan Ullrich and others should be permitted to ride at the ProTour level rather than wait for a flawed Operación Puerto case to move forward. Speaking at the Milram team presentation in Germany on Wednesday, Zabel said it was unfair for riders to languish in a legal purgatory, given the absence of hard evidence that they had doped. “As long as there is no formal evidence accusing any of them of doping, what is the purpose?” he said. “It appears that all that (investigators) have to work with are rumors, innuendo and assumptions. As long

Bamako, Mali — The Niger, the biggest river in West Africa, is more than 4000km long.For a third of its length the Niger cuts a giant swathe through the nationof Mali. On Tuesday, the kilometer-wide waterway served as the backdropto a very unusual bike race at the bustling river port of Mopti. Most ofthe starters would be from Mali, a country that is so impoverished thatits 11 million population includes only 60 or so cyclists with the meansto compete at a national level.Two dozen of them will be taking on seven Saunier Duval-Prodir teamprofessionals in a road race to launch the UCI ProTour

Any chances of a deal between T-Mobile and Alejandro Valverde may have been derailed Monday as Spanish news reports suggest that the Illes Balears rider, too, has been implicated in the Operación Puerto affair. A spokesman for T-Mobile on Monday denied suggestions by Valverde’s agent that the team was prepared to pay 3 million euros to buy out the rider’s contract with his Spanish team. Early on Tuesday, the Spanish newspaper ABC reported that documents seized from Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes showed a cryptic reference to “Valv,” followed by “Piti,” the name of the rider’s dog. Fuentes was once

The UCI has filed a complaint with the European Commission alleging that organizers of cycling's three biggest races have conspired to sabotage the ProTour series. The move is the latest chapter in the long running dispute between the sport's ruling body, which launched the ProTour in 2004, and the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana. In a statement Tuesday the UCI asserted that the three tour organizers are acting as an illegal monopoly. "The UCI has today decided to prepare an official complaint which it will lodge with the European Commission, against the

Well so far it's been quite the eventful cyclo-cross season. Racing the UCI events, having the bikes stolen, the wonderful support I received from sponsors and friends, a new sponsor (sort of, more on that later) and something that I still can't believe actually happened, a dry, fast cyclo-cross nationals in Providence, Rhode Island! While racing in the mud can be a lot of fun, I’ve decided the dry fast courses are much better as I’ve become a bit delicate after living in Colorado. I really enjoyed not having to wash the chamois three times afterwards, and waking up the next morning

Questions regarding Hincapie's broken steerer and slipping carbon seatposts.

Alejandro Valverde, currently under contract with the Illes Baléares-Caissed'Epargne, may be leaving the team to join a re-vamped T-Mobile squad. According to Monday’s edition of El Pais, the team is activelycourting the ProTourwinner as a replacement for Jan Ullrich, who the team fired this pastsummer. Ullrich was barred from the Tour de France after he and severalother riders were implicated in the Operación Puerto druginvestigation. The newspaper quoted Valverde’s agent as saying the T-Mobile team hasmade an offer significant enough to “put aside any reservations we mighthave about

I knew that this wasn’t going to be the usual bike-racing trip when the neatly dressed Arab businessman sitting next to me on the Royal Air Maroc flight from Paris-Orly to Casablanca Sunday night began chanting a prayer before we took off. He ended his salutation by blessing both me and his other neighbor, a young black West African. Perhaps the man’s prayers ensured a safe trip, even though we were an hour late touching down in the Moroccan city. It took another 20 minutes before the plane’s door opened and we stepped down into a cool, misty night, lit by a waning, watery moon. After

Without any new offers since the end of his contract with Bouygues Telecom at the end of 2006, Walter Bénéteau has decided to retire. The 34-year-old Frenchman turned pro in 2000 when he joined the newly formed Bonjour team. He has raced his entire pro career for current Bouygues boss Jean-René Bernaudeau. Bénéteau has finished every Tour de France since turning pro and raced the Giro d'Italia-Tour double in 2005 and the Vuelta a España-Tour double last season. Dessel, defending champ Gerrans target Tour Down UnderCyril Dessel, who wore the yellow jersey for a day during the 2006 Tour

A website launched by a trio of Floyd Landis supporters aims to raise $2 million to defend the 2006 Tour de France champion against charges that he doped to win the race. Landis, who tested positive for a skewed testosterone-epitestosterone ratio after the 2006 Tour de France and is preparing for arbitration before the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, needs the money to cover legal fees and expenses, according to spokesman Michael Henson. "Despite their lack of adherence to individual rights and due process ... the sports bureaucracies pursuing Floyd are funded in large part by multimillion-dollar

Twenty-one teams – including five ProTour squads – have signed up for the 12th edition of Malaysia's Tour de Langkawi, promoters announced Thursday. Organizers said the field will be the largest to contest the 10-day event in six years. The Ag2r, Bouygues Telecom, Crédit Agricole and Française des Jeux teams will line up with one of the ProTour’s newest members, Unibet.com, and 16 regional and continental teams for the 10-stage season opener that begins February 2. Joining the five ProTour squads will be five European continental, seven Pacific regional and four national teams. Hong

Iban Mayo announced plans to take on this year’s Giro d’Italia as preparationfor the Tour de France. The 29-year-old has shown promise in the past, but often left the Tourwith what he called disappointing results.Mayo made the announcement Tuesday at the presentation for hisnew Saunier Duval team, which he joined after a long career on the BasqueEuskaltel-Euskadi team.Mayo, who impressively won the grueling 8thstage of the 2003 Tour de France, has been frustrated in his effortsto make a mark on the race. Participating in three Tours, Mayo has abandonedtwice and finished the 2005 Tour in 60th

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

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich said Saturday that he is determined to make a comeback despite the cloud of doping suspicion hanging over him. "I know very well that returning to professional sport will be difficult but I'm determined to fight and to succeed," said Ullrich on his website. The 33-year-old German wrote a festive greetings message to his fans and thanked them for supporting him through his latest troubles. The former Olympic champion, who won the Tour de France in 1997, was barred from competing in this year's Tour de France. Documents leaked to the press

Gonzales draws 2-year suspensionFormer Vuelta a España winner Aitor Gonzalez was suspended for two years Friday on doping-related offenses after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld an appeal by the UCI. Spaniard Gonzalez, the 2002 winner, tested positive for methyltestosterone during the Vuelta last year and during an earlier out-of-competition test in August 2005. The Spanish cycling federation decided only to fine him in May after he presented a research report saying that a food supplement he had been taking had been contaminated. However, the CAS said in a statement that Gonzalez

It’s over. The USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships are all wrapped up and the 2006 season is in the books. I finished without any spills, frozen fingers and unplanned trips to the ambulance to fight the onset of hypothermia. Before I recap the weekend’s events, I would like to say thanks to the entire race staff, which put on a very well organized and professional event. My hat also goes off to all the racers and fans that made the trip to Rhode Island and made the 2006 season finale one to remember. On Thursday, my girlfriend Heather and I drove down to Roger Williams Park,

Swiss cycling chief Lorenz Schlaefli said Thursday that he was likely to halt anti-doping proceedings against former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich next month unless new evidence comes through. Schlaefli said he was not able to use existing evidence received from the legal probe into the Operación Puerto doping ring in Spain because the Spanish investigating magistrate had forwarded it on condition that it was not used officially. "Since these documents cannot be used, there's no sense in continuing this process. With these documents, officially we cannot do anything," the director

The international sporting world's top appeals court on Wednesday rejected the UCI's bid to overturn a decision by the Spanish cycling federation to acquit rider Iñigo Landaluze on a doping charge. The Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) said in a statement that it rejected the UCI's appeal in the Landaluze case, which involved flaws in the dope testing procedure carried out by the internationally-accredited French laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry. The Euskaltel cyclist was found to have high testosterone levels in tests made during the 2005 Dauphine Libéré stage race which he

The Astana team of Vuelta a España winner Alexandre Vinokourov was granted a reprieve on Tuesday as the UCI announced the squad’s holding company, Zeus Sàrl, had submitted a required set of documents and was issued a four-year ProTour license. The team, which emerged from the remnants of the collapsed Liberty Seguros program, had initially been denied its license application after the UCI determined that its application didn't fulfill all of the UCI's required conditions for a ProTour license. But instead of rejecting the application outright, the UCI extended the team’s deadline in

For a little pre-Christmas change of pace, I thought I’d share with you some new technology I’ve been using in a different context that I think could be a great tool for studying efficiency of movement in cycling and triathlon. From December 6-10, I was at Tamarack, a beautiful ski resort near McCall, Idaho for a technique-intensive masters cross-country ski retreat. Three-time Olympian and eight-time masters world champion Jon Engen, a Norwegian transplant to Sun Valley, Idaho, led the camp. JoAnn Hanowski, who has won more ski marathons than any other American, and Jim Fredericks, former

Dutch track cycling star Theo Bos on Saturday set a new world record for the 200 metres flying start in a time of 9.772 seconds. Bos set the new benchmark during the second leg of the track cycling World Cup here, smashing the 11-year record of Canadian Curt Harnett, who clocked 9.865 seconds at altitude in Bogota, Colombia, on September 28, 1995. Bos, the 23-year-old world champion in the men's coveted speed events of the sprint and keirin, came close to topping Harnett's record in the morning heats for Saturday's race, in a time of 9.892. That time was the fastest ever

South Korea's Jang Sun Jae on Thursday became only the third cyclist in Asian Games history, and the first in 36 years, to win three or more golds at the same games. Jang went into the record books — and celebrated his 22nd birthday in style — when he won the Madison on the last day of action at the ASPIRE velodrome. He was already a gold medalist in the individual and the team pursuit and on Thursday teamed up with Park Sung Baek to win the Madison with 35 points. Kazakhstan took silver with Ilya Chernyshov claiming his third medal of the games following his team road race time-trial

Organizers unveiled the 2007 Vuelta a España route on Wednesday, with three mountaintop finishes among the highlights, including the return of the punishing Lagos de Covadonga ascent. The three-week race gets under way September 1 in the port city of Vigo, in the northwest province of Galicia. The finale to the 21-stage race will be the traditional finish in Madrid on September 23. But it's the first week of the 3,241km race, and the return of the Lagos de Covadonga as part of the arduous 182km fourth stage, that has next year's challengers excited. ''It will be great for

China's Guo Shuang outraced compatriot Gong Jinjie in the finals of the women’s sprint at the 15th Asian Games in Qatar on Wednesday. The 20-year-old Guo took the gold in two straight races, winning the second in 11.986 seconds. South Korea's You Jin A took the bronze. It was Guo’s second gold of this year’s games. She won the 500-meter time trial on Saturday, setting an Asian Games record of 35.175 seconds. In the men’s sprint, Japan's Tsubasa Kitatsuru took the gold ahead of South Korea's Choi Lae-seon. China's Tang Qi collected the bronze. Meanwhile, Cheung King

Questions on mix-and-match components, fraying cables, carbon comfort, compact cranks and more.

South Korea showed why they were the 4km team-pursuit favorites at the Asian Games by smashing the Asian record en route to gold on Tuesday in Qatar. The Korean quartet swapped the lead with Iran until the sixth lap before making the final their own, finishing in 4:12.746, slicing 0.016 second off the previous record, which they set in Sydney in November. Iran had to settle for silver in 4:14.226. "We weren't expecting to beat the record. We knew it was good. This was all about winning the gold medal,” Park told Reuters. Defending champions China took bronze, beating Japan in the

South Korea's Lee Min Hye won the women's 3km individual pursuit at the 15th Asian Games on Monday, breaking her own record in the process and snapping China’s perfect winning streak over the past four games. Lee won in three minutes, 44.146 seconds, beating the record by 0.073 second. She had set the previous best on Sunday. "I feel like I'm flying in the sky. I want to continue beating the Asian record and join the world stage after this," Lee told the Xinhua news agency. "In the qualifying round, I beat the Chinese riders, so I have expected today's performance.” Li

Guo Shuang won the women's 500-meter time trial in record time and teammate Feng Yong took the men's 1-kilometer time trial with another Asian Games' record as China claimed both titles contested Saturday in track cycling. Guo, who trains at the UCI's world cycling center in Switzerland, won her event in 35.175 seconds, an Asian Games record, well ahead of silver medalist Hsiao Mei Yu of Taiwan, who was clocked at 36.190. You Jin-a of South Korea, racing with a knee injury, was third with a time of 36.961. "I feel good and proud," she said. "I tried my best to win the

Bart Wellens (Fidea) showed his heels to Sven Nys (Rabobank) in round eight of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup on Friday in Milan. Wellens finished more than a minute ahead of the World Cup leader, who in turn was trailed five seconds later by teammate Sven Vanthourenhout, making for yet another all-Belgian podium. American Ryan Trebon (Kona) finished 22nd at 5:34. UCI Cyclo-cross World CupRound 8 — Milan, ItalyTop 101. Bart Wellens (B), Fidea, 1:06:202. Sven Nijs (B), Rabobank, at 1:023. Sven Vanthourenhout (B), Rabobank, at 1:074. Francis Mourey (F), Française des Jeux, at 1:145. Klaas

World and Olympic champion Paolo Bettini said Thursday he would rather quit cycling than have to produce a DNA sample as part of the sport's fight against drugs. "If they ask me for my DNA I'm ready to call time on my career. I've already won a lot," Bettini told the Italian news agency ANSA. In October the professional cycling teams association came out in favor of its members having to produce a DNA sample to help prove their guilt or innocence in any drugs case. The move is part of wider efforts by the UCI to eradicate doping after a season in which the Operación Puerto

Tour de France sprint champion Robbie McEwen has been confirmed to spearhead his team's bid for stage victories at the Tour Down Under, to be held over a week of sun-soaked racing in January. McEwen won the Tour de France green jersey, the sprinters' top prize, for the third time this year, along with three stages and three stages at the Giro d'Italia. The 34-year-old could appear as one of the big names at the Tour Down Under, held around Adelaide on January 16-21, wearing a re-designed team jersey. Lotto, McEwen's team for the past few seasons, has a new main sponsor in

Kazakhstan, which won the men's team time trial when it was last held in the Asian Games in 1994, did it again on Wednesday. The Kazakh team completed the flat 70.3km course in a time of 1:24:40.7 to win by more than a minute over Iran. Japan took bronze, just five seconds behind the Iranians. South Korea, which won the 2006 Asian Championships, finished out of the medals in fourth. "Our expectations were only to win," said Andrey Mizurov, who was a bronze medalist in the individual time trial in 1994, a feat he repeated in this year's edition. "Since 1994 we haven't changed

Six new cities, an increase in difficulty, a reshuffling of stages and a new, elaborate network television contract were unveiled Wednesday for the second Amgen Tour of California. Veteran pro Mike Sayers (BMC Cycling) was the only pending race competitor present among a dozen city officials and sponsor representatives as the route was detailed in the new City Hall chambers in Sacramento, where the second stage will conclude. Sacramento, Stockton, Seaside, Solvang, Santa Clarita and Long Beach are new venues. San Francisco, Sausalito, Santa Rosa, San Jose, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara

Few of the hundreds of journalists and cycling dignitaries who attended the unveiling of the 2007 Giro d’Italia in Milan on Saturday would disagree with the view that there’s likely to be a repeat winner. The past seven editions of the Giro d’Italia have been won by five Italian racers — Ivan Basso (2006), Paolo Savoldelli (2005 and 2002), Damiano Cunego (2004), Gilberto Simoni (2003 and 2001) and Stefano Garzelli (2000) — all of whom posed for the paparazzi in the futuristic Teatro degli Arciboldi on December 2. Those five men were the headliners at the glitzy gathering — particularly

China's Li Meifang successfully defended her Asian Games cycling individual time trial title here on Tuesday to add the gold to her 2004 and 2005 Asian Championship crowns. Kazakhstan's Zulfiya Zabirova won silver with South Korea's Lee Min Hye claiming bronze. Li covered the flat 23.86km course in a time of 31:17:85 to win by almost a full minute from Zabirova. "From the beginning I planned to win," said Li after extending China's record in the event to a perfect four gold. "The road felt good, the surface was beautiful and being flat is good for the required

I normally don’t enjoy writing journal articles about my day-to-day activities, because I think it would be quite boring. However, today is a bit different for me because it’s Sunday and I had the day off from the bike shop, so I thought I’d give you a peek at a day off from work in the life of a shop owner and cyclo-cross racer. 7:30 a.m.There’s nothing like waking up to some bright Colorado morning sunshine. Although the sun is shining, it has been quite cold here in Boulder and snow that fell earlier in the week has yet to melt. My girlfriend Heather and I walked our dog, Oban, through

Sure, they're all like that, sirDear Lennard,I go through at least two chains (Shimano 7701) every year and replacethem myself. They have always come sealed in a plastic package withtwo connecting pins. I recently ordered a couple of Shimano 9-speedchains (7701) from an Internet retailer. When they arrived they werein boxes for a 10-speed chain (CN 7800) and were not sealed in the usualplastic wrapper. The connecting pin was also already partially insertedinto the outer link with the guide snapped off. All 116 links werestill there. The customer service rep’ told me this is the way

Mayuko Hagiwara won Japan's first Asian Games gold medal in women's road cycling on Monday in Doha, Qatar, when a solo attack with 10km left allowed her to upstage her more fancied rivals. The 2004 Asian junior champion covered the 113.1km course in 3:06:10. China's Zhao Na took silver at 1:25 back while a photo-finish decided that South Korea's Han Song Hee had pipped Japan's Miho Oki for bronze. Kazakhstan's Zulfiya Zabirova, the pre-race favorite, was sixth. "I received a lot of support from my team, my partner and supervisor," said Hagiwara, a 20-year-old

Ag2r and Francisco Mancebo, excluded from the 2006 Tour de France after being implicated in the Spanish inquiry Operación Puerto, have reached an agreement ending the Spaniard’s contract with the French team. A day before the start of the 2006 Tour de France, the 30-year-old Spaniard — who finished fourth in the 2005 Tour — was suspended after he was named on a list of riders suspected of being involved in a blood-doping network. Though he had a contract with Ag2r through 2007, Mancebo said at the time that he would retire from the sport, according to team manager Vincent Lavenu. "At the

The indomitable Sven Nys (Rabobank) added another win to his collection on Sunday, claiming round seven of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Igorre, Spain. It was the fifth World Cup victory for the Belgian national champion, and a Belgian sweep of the podium, with Fidea teammates Bart Wellens and Klaas Vantornout finishing second and third, respectively. Nys attacked on the second lap and rode faultlessly to solo across the line with nearly a minute’s gap over Wellens. "The choice of tires was decisive," Nys said, explaining that on the second lap he switched to narrower tires while his

Wong Kam Po of Hong Kong won the Asian Games’ men's cycling road race on Sunday, giving the territory its first gold medal of the games and the second of his career. Wong outlasted Iran's Mehdi Sohrabi, the Asian road race champion, and South Korea's Park Sung-baek for the win in a time of 3:45:02 on a course shortened from 199.7km to 156.4km due to high winds. The 33-year-old, whose previous gold-medal ride came in Bangkok in 1998, followed by a silver in 2002 in Busan, said that he had enjoyed the testing conditions. "We knew beforehand that the race would be shortened from

The 2007 Giro d’Italia will kick off May 12 with a team time trial on the island of Caprera, ascend the feared Monte Zoncolan — a 10.1km ascent with an average gradient of 17 percent — and finish in Milan on June 3, organizers announced Saturday in Milan. "It will be a beautiful tour," said 2006 winner Ivan Basso, who will be racing in Discovery Channel colors next year. "It's more varied than last year and should be more open. I think it will be a spectacular race." The 90th running of the Italian national tour includes eight stages for the sprinters, five mountain stages, another five

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich announced Saturday that he will spend three days in the United States as part of a business trip. German Ullrich, who celebrates his 33th birthday on Saturday, confirmed the news on his homepage, www.janullrich.de, saying he had organized "various meetings" over the three days. "Thirty-three has always been my lucky number and I am really looking forward to this day," Ullrich said. "I am confident that my plans for next year will come off." Ullrich, who won the Tour de France in 1997, was sacked by T-Mobile in July after accusations that he was

Recent Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross series winner RyanTrebon, who races ’cross and the national cross-country circuit for Kona,has been confirmed as a key member of the 2007 KodakGallery Pro CyclingTeam, presented by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. The team announced its12-rider roster Thursday, with former Canadian national champion Mark Waltersand Trebon listed as its marquee riders. Returning riders include criterium specialist and team leader Pete Lopinto,six-time national junior and U-23 cyclo-cross champion Jesse Anthony, second-yearpro Mike Dietrich and young workhorse

Alexandre Vinokourov’s Astana team could be forced into racing in cycling’s second division in 2007, after the UCI notified the team that it faces an automatic denial of its ProTour application. The UCI sent Astana general manager Marc Biver a fax Thursday, giving the team’s management company a preliminary negative notice that its application didn't fulfill all of the UCI’s required conditions for a ProTour license. The fax said that the team had not submitted evidence of adequate bank guarantees and added that there remains confusion regarding the status of the program’s main

Things to consider on a descentDear Lennard,What speed can a standard road bike achieve? I know there are a lotof factors. I am a 125 lb. rider and my max is 56.8 mph on a long downhill.I am talking standard road-race bike and attire. At what speed will a standard bike and rider's drag keep him from going any faster?It's hard to word this but I think you know what I mean.Chris Dear Chris,Yes, I can figure out what you are asking.When cycling, you must consider the forces of rolling resistance, airresistance and gravity, which when added together, give the power the riderputs out to

Sorry it’s been a while since my last journal entry. No excuses, just busy. It’s been a week now since I returned from the Pacific Northwest, where typical Oregon weather put an emphatic stamp on the end of another successful Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross series. Yes, it rained. Yes, it was muddy. Yes, I am still picking mud out of my ears. Last weekend, while going through the security check at Denver International Airport an agent found a half-full water bottle I had accidentally left in my backpack. The security agent asked me to leave the area and empty the bottle. I

Tyler Hamilton has signed a one-year deal with the Italian/Russian Tinkoff cycling team it was announced in Rome on Friday. The year-old continental team is bankrolled by Russian brewery magnate Oleg Tinkov and has recently been working to sign German Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich. Hamilton, once one of the sport’s top stars, completed a two-year ban for blood doping in September. Hamilton had hoped to sign with a ProTour team and return to the top level of the sport, but settled for a contract with the Continental squad as that option appeared unrealistic. In recent months UCI

Swiss anti-doping officials said Thursday that they are likely to open disciplinary proceedings against former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich in January. Bernhard Welten, the commission's legal expert, told AFP he expected the disciplinary body to deliver a ruling about two months after it takes up the case, the average for most cases its considers. Welten said he was waiting for documents to arrive from Germany before opening the procedure. "That will most probably be at the beginning of January. As soon as these documents are in I will put together the case file and petition the

You may not agree with him, but you can't accuse 1988 Tour de France winner Pedro Delgado of being shy about stating his opinions regarding the sport in which he made his living. Now a cycling commentator for Spanish national television, Delgado still works in and around cycling and he often doesn’t like what he sees. In this the second of a two-part interview with VeloNews contributor Martin Hardie, Delgado discusses the dynamics of a sport long dominated by a pair of dominant riders – Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong – and of the doping scandals now enveloping the upper reaches of

Can a smaller Q-factor help knee pain?

What's the advantage of ceramics?

Skibby book reveals cycling’s darker sideIn his 15 years as a professional cyclist from 1986 to 2000 Denmark’s Jesper Skibby was one of the peloton’s most respected riders. He was a hard worker who used long breakaways to earn stage wins at the Giro d’Italia (1989), Vuelta a España (1991) and Tour de France (1993). That’s why the revelations in his autobiography “Skibby: Forstaa Mig Ret” (“Skibby: Understand Me Correctly”), to be published in Denmark on Wednesday, are so shocking. The book’s publisher Ekstra Bladets Forlag said on its Web site, “Jesper Skibby admits openly and honestly that,

It’s hard to imagine that it’s been 18 years since Pedro Delgado took a hard-fought victory at the 1988 Tour de France. These days, Delgado — “Perico” as he’s known in Spain — spends much of his time serving as a regular commentator for Spanish national television’s coverage of cycling. Working with colleague Carlos De Andres, Delgado offers viewers insightful and articulate commentary, often able to add that little extra to make viewers feel like they know what it’s like to be right there in the peloton. VeloNews contributor Martin Hardie recently spent an afternoon with the former cycling

Tour de Georgia organizers unveiled the 2007 route, which will include a time trial to the top of Lookout Mountain, a stage ending in Stone Mountain Park and the finish at Centennial Olympic Park. The 965.6-kilometer event, announced Tuesday, will begin April 16 in the Atlanta suburb of Peachtree City. Expanding from six to seven days, the race finishes April 22 at the downtown Atlanta park built for the 1996 Olympics. It is uncertain whether defending champion Floyd Landis will participate. He failed a drug test after winning the Tour de France, but denied any wrongdoing and will go before

Australia finished the top nation in this weekend's opening round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics in Sydney, propelled by its women riders. Australia's women won four gold medals and their consistent performances across the board lifted the team to 103 points to finish four points clear of defending series champion the Netherlands after 16 events over three days. Russia finished third with 90 points ahead of Germany (75), France (54) and Great Britain (50). The highlight of the round was the world record ride by Australian Anna Meares, whose time of 33.944 seconds for

Anna Meares, Australia's Olympic and Commonwealth Games track cycling champion, set a world record for the women's 500-meter time trial on Saturday. Meares clocked a time of 33.944 seconds to break her own world record by eight one-thousandths of a second in the final of the event at the UCI World Cup track meet in Sydney. The 23-year-old Queenslander set her last world record when she won gold at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. Meares beat reigning world champion Natalia Tsylinskaya of Belarus in the final, and her achievement was all the more welcome after a back injury last

Did you ever experience one of those weekends in college when it seemedas though the party never stopped and you try to relive it again the followingweekend, but it just doesn’t seem to meet your heightened expectations? Well, I think most Colorado ‘cross racers are experiencing withdrawalsince the Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross swept through town,sucked all our energy and excitement, then took it to the Pacific Northwestfor the next round of races. The reason I mention this is because the racerand spectator turn out for last weekend’s local races was dismal. It couldhave been

World champion Theo Bos of the Netherlands won the keirin, beating close rival and Olympic champion Ryan Bayley on the opening night of the UCI World Cup track cycling leg in Sydney on Friday. Bayley was awarded the silver medal despite fellow Australian rider Mark French crossing the line in second place behind Bos. French was relegated from second to sixth place after he was ruled to have caused interference two laps from the finish of the final, with former world champion Rene Wolff taking the bronze medal. Bos made his move two laps from home and proved to strong, holding off strong

Australia's Olympic champion Ryan Bayley and Dutch world champion Theo Bos will highlight the opening round of the four-leg UCI World Cup track cycling in the keirin and team sprint events in Sydney on Friday. The pair's sprint match-ups have been some of the closest fought in the track cycling with Bayley upstaging the then reigning world champion Bos at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Bos is the current world champion for the sprint and the keirin but missed a medal in the teams sprint at this year's world championships in Bordeaux when the Australians defeated the Netherlands in

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis’s efforts to clear his name got a small boost Wednesday when officials at France’s national anti-doping laboratory admitted making an “insignificant” numbering error on a urine sample that later tested positive for testosterone. However the director of the IOC-accredited laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry said the "typing error" had no bearing on the finding of unusual testosterone/epitestosterone ratios in both A and B samples taken after Landis's epic victory in Stage 17 of the Tour. Since learning of the positive test Landis has consistently maintained

An associate of Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, who tested positive on his way to victory in this year's race, was reported Tuesday to be under suspicion of hacking into the computer system at the French national doping testing laboratory (LNDD) of Chatenay-Malabry near Paris. Laboratory director Jacques de Ceaurriz confirmed to AFP that an investigation had begun after the discovery that their computer system had been accessed from outside. The affair is being handled by OCLCTIC, the main national investigating body in the fight against cybercrime incidents. "An inquiry is under

Former T-Mobile manager Olaf Ludwig rebuked the management of the Discovery Channel cycling team on Saturday for signing Ivan Basso, the Italian rider linked to Spain’s Operación Puerto doping scandal. The Giro d'Italia champion was one of nine riders — including 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich — excluded from this year's Tour de France after being implicated in the investigation. Doping charges against Basso were dismissed last month by the Italian Olympic Committee and Italian cycling federation. "Discovery regards dropping the legal proceedings as the same thing as being

Belgian Sven Nys (Rabobank) won Sunday’s UCI World Cup cyclo-cross in Pijnacker, the Netherlands. The Belgian national champion finished 30 seconds ahead of France’s Francis Mourey (Française des Jeux) to take the fifth round of the World Cup, with Netherlander Gerben de Knegt (Rabobank) crossing third a further 10 seconds in arrears. In the women’s race, Germany’s Hanka Kupfernagel rode to a decisive solo win some 41 seconds ahead of runner-up Daphny Van Den Brand of the Netherlands with Germany’s Birgit Hollmann third at 1:11 UCI Cyclo-cross World CupRound 5 — Pijnacker, the

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich, unemployed since being fired by T-Mobile in July, says he has been training hard for the 2007 season in hopes that a ProTour team will take a chance on him. "I am not giving up without a fight and have been cycling three hours every day and going to the gym," Ullrich told Saturday's edition of Bild. "My aim now is to release all of this pent-up frustration through cycling,” he said. “If I manage to do that I will have a hell of a lot of energy." Ullrich, Tour de France victor in 1997, was barred from the 2006 Tour de France after allegations of

Professional cycling teams eager to lend a silver lining to a blackened season were left divided Friday over the news of Italian Ivan Basso's signing for the Discovery Channel team. The 28-year-old rider, one of many riders who fell under suspicion of doping during a Spanish doping investigation this summer, will become the American team's leader and bid for a rare Giro d'Italia/Tour de France double next year. "I'm incredibly happy. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it's a new life for me - I feel reborn," Basso told Gazzetta dello Sport after signing a

Wow. What a weekend. The courses. The crowds. The competition. I’m still hung over. Not from the Boulder Beer Cyclocross Ale I had after Sunday’s race, but from the sheer energy of the whole weekend. It’s been more than six years since the Colorado cycling community has been able to host a big time cyclo-cross race and it seemed as though everyone was pumped up. I’m not sure what the estimated crowd size was, but there had to have been a few thousand on hand. The last time I raced through screaming crowds like that was at the 1999 Cyclo-cross Nationals at the Presidio in San Francisco.

Italian rider Ivan Basso has signed a two-season contract to ride for the Discovery Channel cycling team starting in 2007, team director Johan Bruyneel announced Wednesday in Austin, Texas. "We are excited about Ivan joining the team and we're looking forward to having him at Discovery Channel's training camp in Austin on December 3," Bruyneel said. The announcement came only 12 days after the Italian cycling federation dropped an inquiry into allegations that Basso was involved in the Spanish Operación Puerto investigation. Earlier, the 28-year-old Basso had been cleared by the

Well, I know it's from Europe...Dear Lennard,Last year, my coach gave me an old track frame he's had sitting inhis garage for umpteen years (I believe it's a 1976 Gitane Super Pista)on the condition I'd restore it and treat it well. I've had it powdercoated and completely rebuilt it, with the exception of the bottom bracket.Thankfully, the Campy bottom bracket was still in the frame. Ithink it's a weird thread pattern...perhaps French, but for some reasonI thought it was Swiss after doing some research.The bottom bracket has a 35x1 imprinted on it. I don't know

This past weekend, Colorado's Front Range hosted rounds three and four of the 2006 Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross, the first time national-caliber ’cross had visited the state since the 2000 SuperCup kicked off in Boulder. More than 100 men and 50 women contested the elite races, including virtually all of the top U.S. ’crossers. And with all this talent descending into VeloNews territory, most of the staff had a chance to report on some aspect of the events. Today, we'll highlight some of the top riders' equipment. While elite racers showed up with two or even