Road

With just three days until the first of 18 cycling gold medals are handed out at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, Tyler Hamilton and the rest of the U.S. team were set to get their first look at the Olympic road race course late Wednesday afternoon. But no matter what they found on the streets of the downtown Athens course, both the men’s and women’s squads like their chances. Six of the team’s eight riders spent part of the afternoon in the International Zone (where the media is allowed) at the Olympic Village, doing interviews. Hamilton was the first to show up, and says that though

Here's a look at some of the sights on the days leading up the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Cunego wins Due Giorni Marchiagiana-GP Fred MengoniDamiano Cunego (Saeco) was back to his winning ways on Tuesday, outsprinting Team Italia’s Daniele Nardello and Cristian Moreni to win the Due Giorni Marchigiana-GP Fred Mengoni in Castelfidordo, Italy. It was the 11th win of the season for the young winner of the Giro d’Italia, who now is looking forward to the final part of the season, with his big objective the world championships in Verona. “Even I didn’t think I’d get back to form and win so quickly, even if I rode well at Camaiore and San Sebastian,” said Cunego, who capped his

Former world champion Oscar Camenzind (Phonak) has tested positive for EPO and was immediately removed from the Swiss Olympic team, according to information released Monday by the Swiss Olympic committee. Camenzind, 32, showed traces of the banned blood booster in a urine sample from a July 22 test conducted by the Swiss anti-doping agency. Under Swiss cycling rules, a rider can be suspended without a second follow-up test being conducted. Phonak also immediately suspended Carminzind from the team. “Every rider that gives a positive test during a race or during training for a product that

To revisit the COVERAGE OF THE 2004 TOUR DE FRANCE.

Arvesen wins Tour of DenmarkNorway’s Kurt-Asle Arvesen (CSC) won the Tour of Denmark on Sunday, finishing just two seconds ahead of German teammate Jens Voigt. Arvesen overhauled Voight by taking three bonus seconds in the final 195km stage, which was won by France’s Jimmy Casper (Cofidis). Australia's Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis), winner of the fifth stage of last month's Tour de France, finished third overall. Tour of Denmark1. Jimmy Casper (F), Cofidis, 195km in 4:34:502. Tomas Vaitkus (Lit), Landbouwkrediet-Colnago3. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Cofidis3. Giosue Bonomi (I), Saeco5. Jeremy Hunt

Alison Dunlap (Luna) held off an impressive late-race charge by Jimena Florit (RLX Ralph Lauren) to collect her 14th career NORBA short-track win Sunday at Snowmass Village near Aspen, Colorado. With a stiff wind kicking up clouds of dust on the slopes of Snowmass, Dunlap's Luna team put in a show of power that only Florit was able to challenge. After two laps on the dry, dusty course, which climbed one of the lower ski slopes and then descended through a series of loose, rocky S-turns, Dunlap launched a vicious attack. “I could just tell there wasn't anyone feeling really gung-ho today,”

Overcoming the disappointment of mechanical problems that might have cost him the win in Saturday's cross-country race at round seven of the NORBA series in Snowmass Village, Colorado, Maxxis rider Geoff Kabush put in a show of power to win the men's short-track event on Sunday. Riding his gold full-suspension Turner bike, Kabush wasted little time fighting his way to the front, while the other 55 pro men swapped elbows and swallowed dust behind him. “I watched the women's race and saw that there wasn't going to be much drafting in this race,” said Kabush after beating GT-Hyundai's Todd

Kathy Pruitt completed the Luna-team double at Snowmass Village, Colorado, on Sunday, winning the women’s NORBA downhill race and adding to Alison Dunlap’s win in the short-track earlier in the day. In the men’s downhill, Australian Nathan Rennie (Santa Cruz Syndicate) ended Greg Minnaar’s three-race unbeaten streak to collect his second career NORBA downhill win. On a super-fast course that reminded riders of NORBA downhills of old, Pruitt edged her Luna teammate Marla Streb by 1.79 seconds for the win. “The key was to be consistent and not go off the course,” said Pruitt, the 2000 world

On Saturday in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, Ivan Dominguez displayed his knack for winning big-time money criteriums, as he took the win at the inaugural Bank of America Invitational, featuring one of the biggest one-day payouts in the world. With $125,000 in prizes on the line, including $25,000 for first place, the Colavita Olive Oil rider beat out Health Net-Maxxis's Gord Fraser and Navigators Insurance's Henk Vogels in the mad dash to the finish. In the closing 10-laps of the 44-lap, 53-mile race, Health Net took control of the race, chasing down the late-race break that included

Spanish rider Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero (Saunier Duval) uncorked a vicious sprint with 250 meters to the line in Saturday’s Clasica San Sebastián to surprise pre-race favorite Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) for the biggest win of his career. Martin Perdiguero was part of a seven-man break that cleared the always-decisive Category 1 climb up Alto de Jaizkibel with 31.5km to go in the sweltering 227km race across the verdant hills of northern Spain’s Basque Country. “I sprinted at 250 meters, it wasn’t too far,” said Martin Perdiguero, the first Spanish winner since 1990. “I was confident I

Ongarato sprints to win in PortugalAlberto Ongarato (Fassa Bortolo) won the 147.2km ninth stage of the Tour of Portugal between Figueira da Foz and Alcobaca on Saturday. The Italian outkicked Pedro Costa (ASC-Vila do Conde) and Ramon Zaragosa (Imoholding-Loule Jardim Hotel) to win in 3:18:48. With only Sunday’s final stage remaining, David Bernabeu (Milaneza-Maia) held onto his eight-second overall lead on David Arroyo (L.A. Pecol), with Rui Lavarinhas (Milaneza-Maia) third at 0:36. 66th Volta a Portugal (POR 2.2), Figueira da Foz to Alcobaca, 147.2km1. Alberto Ongarato (I) Fassa Bortolo,

It was a good day for Olympians at the Snowmass NORBA National event near Aspen, Colorado, on Saturday. Todd Wells (GT-Hyundai) and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (RLX Ralph Lauren), the two American men selected for the Olympic mountain bike race in Athens later this month, finished first and second in the 24.6-mile men’s cross-country race. Jimena Florit (RLX Ralph Lauren), who will represent Argentina at the upcoming Olympic Games, won the 20-mile women’s cross-country race to move into the overall series lead in the women’s standings. It was the climbing strength of the 29-year-old Wells that

Bernabeau seizes lead in PortugalDavid Bernabeau (Milaneza-Maia) grabbed the overall lead from José Miguel Eliaz (LA Pecol) after finishing second to Elias’s teammate David Arroyo on Friday in the Tour of Portugal. Bernabeu now leads Arroyo by eight seconds with two days of racing remaining. His teammate, Rui Lavarinhas, finished third on the day and sits third overall at 36 seconds back. 66th Volta a Portugal (POR 2.2), Fundao to Torre, 143.4km1. David Arroyo (Sp) L.A. Pecol, 4:13:052. David Bernabeu (Sp) Milaneza-Maia, at 0:153. Rui Lavarinhas (Por) Milaneza-Maia, at 0:354. Nuno Ribeiro

Italian cyclist Massimiliano Lelli (Cofidis) was charged Thursday with drug importing and trafficking, and with inciting the use of doping products, French judicial sources said. The 36-year-old was one of nine subjects of a judicial inquiry into the alleged use of illegal substances by the Cofidis team, which has been under investigation in France since March 2003. Lelli was implicated by British rider David Millar and French rider Philippe Gaumont, both of whom have been sacked by Cofidis. Millar was handed a two-year ban and stripped of his world time trial title by the British cycling

Clerc takes Burgos finaleAurélien Clerc, a Swiss flier on the Quick Step team, sprinted to victory in the final stage of the Vuelta a Burgos in northern Spain on Thursday. Clerc was a clear winner ahead of Alexandre Usov (Phonak) and Roger Hammond (Mr Bookmaker.com) in the rolling stage to cap the four-day Burgos tour. Alejandro Valverde (Kelme) finished safely in the main bunch, choosing not to contest the final sprint after charging to three consecutive victories to claim the overall title for his 14th win of the 2004 season. Early in the rolling stage a group of 16 riders tore away from

Dear Monique,In your recent article regarding daily fluid consumption (June 10, 2004) you briefly mentioned alcohol. I was wondering if studies have been made that confirm whether alcohol is beneficial or detrimental to athletic performance. I drink beer and wine regularly and am more concerned with the caloric aspect of the beverage rather than the chemical aspect. What are the effects on muscular recovery when consuming alcoholic beverages? Does consuming alcoholic beverages affect the body’s physiology during performance? What are the diuretic effects of alcohol

Spanish sensation Alejandro Valverde earned a hat-trick Wednesday in the Vuelta a Burgos after taking his third consecutive stage in the difficult 139km climbing finish up the narrow, twisting roads to Lagunas de Neila. Valverde, a winner of the opening two stages of the four-day Burgos tour, faltered within the final kilometer of the steep climb with ramps as steep as 14 percent, but bounced back to catch the wheel of Italian Leonard Piepoli (Saunier Duval) and Denish Menchov (Illes Balears). Valverde caught back on with less than 200 meters to go and shot ahead of Menchov to score his

Chris Stockburger (U.S. National Team) rode to victory in the 36th edition of Le Tour de l’Abitibi after seizing the lead on the fifth of nine stages in the weeklong race. The race, run July 19-25 in Québec, Canada, is the only UCI Junior World Cup Race in North America. Stockburger, of Fort Collins, Colorado, took an eight-second lead on Zach Taylor (Hot Tubes) after the 83.5km road race from Senneterre to Val-d’Or, Québec. As part of a 14-rider breakaway, Stockburger picked up 1:31 on the rider from Marietta, Georgia, who had held the brown leader’s jersey since the first-stage team time

The British cycling federation on Thursday banned David Millar from cycling for two years and stripped him of his world time trial for taking the banned performance enhancer EPO. The 27-year-old Scot's use of the blood booster erythropoietin was uncovered when French police raided his Biarritz home in June as part of their drug investigation into his team, Cofidis. Two empty capsules of Eprex, a commonly used form of EPO, were found in his flat. He later confessed to taking the prohibited substance in 2001 and 2003, an admission that led to his sacking by Cofidis. After the British cycling

Alejandro Valverde (Kelme) stormed to his second consecutive victory Tuesday in the second stage of the four-day Tour of Burgos in northern Spain. A day after winning atop the Alp de Altotero on Monday, Valverde took a bunch sprint coming into Aranda de Duero to conclude the 170km stage. Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears), fresh off his sixth-place finish in the Tour de France, fractured his left wrist in a crash and was forced to abandon. Vuelta a Burgos (SPA 2.1), Stage 2, Lerma to Aranda de Duero, 170.45km1. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 3:46:132.

Dear Lennard,There was much discussion before the Tour about Lance's mountain TT bike. In “The Lance Chronicles” he was trying several different models and he used the aero' bars on Mont Ventoux. What happened to them? Was it something at Ventoux that made him change?Anthony Dear Anthony,I’ll let Trek’s team liaison, Scott Daubert, field that one: There are two answers here. Steve Hed used one of the formulas we developed through F-One and learned that the clip-on’s weight would cost Lance six or seven seconds during his assault up L’Alpe d’Huez. Their aerodynamic advantage is impossible to

U.S. Postal Service – soon to be Discovery Channel – got its man after Ukraine sensation Yaroslav Popovych agreed to a three-year contract to join the team beginning in 2005. Following weeks of speculation that the 24-year-old rising star was set to join Lance Armstrong at Postal Service, the team announced the news Monday. “I’m really excited to get Yaroslav on the team,” said team director Johan Bruyneel. “He’s a young rider who has shown his talent on numerous occasions. … I’m sure he still has a great margin of progression (to make), and I see him as a future contender for the Tour de

After narrowly missing a rainbow jersey in the 200-meter sprint at the junior world track championships on Saturday, Michael Blatchford was looking toward Sunday night’s team sprint as an opportunity for redemption. “We’ll get another chance tomorrow,” said the 18-year-old U.S. junior national sprint champion after taking the silver behind Australia’s Shane Perkins at the ADT Event Center velodrome near Los Angeles, California. Come Sunday, once again it was the U.S. versus Australia – but this time, the race was for bronze, after Germany and Japan advanced to the gold-medal round. In the

With a final stage breakaway at the International Tour de 'Toona in Pennsylvania, Health Net’s John Lieswyn and Scott Moninger were able to snatch the race lead away from Webcor Builders’ Chris Horner, with Moninger capturing the stage win and Lieswyn nailing down the overall title. In the women’s race, Quark’s Lyne Bessette led the seven-day event from start to finish, beating Canadian Olympic teammate Sue Palmer-Komar (Genesis Scuba) by 34 seconds in the overall. In the men’s race, Colavita Olive Oil’s Nathan O’Neill made an impressive return to the race where he suffered a crash that

Stuart O’Grady continued on his winning ways Sunday after pipping pre-race favorites Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and Igor Astarloa (Lampre) in a much tougher version of the HEW Cyclassics race in Germany. A new course took the World Cup riders over the short but steep Waseberg climb five times, including the final pass that broke up the main bunch in the final 15km. In a sprint finish, O’Grady shot ahead of last year’s winner, Bettini, to win his first World Cup victory of his career. World Cup series leader Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) came through sixth to retain the overall lead while

Surviving an early crash on the slippery, rain-drenched New York streets, New Zealand’s Greg Henderson (Health Net-Maxxis) came back to win the third annual New York City Cycling Championships in a massive field sprint. Henderson shot off the wheel of countryman and teammate Hayden Godfrey in the final 50 meters of the 60-mile race through New York’s financial district for his highest-profile win of the year. Another teammate, designated sprinter Gord Fraser, said he wasn’t feeling great but still slotted in for second behind Henderson. “We wanted to be patient in the sprint,” said Fraser.

Surviving an early crash on the slippery, rain-drenched New York streets, New Zealand’s Greg Henderson (Health Net-Maxxis) came back to win the third annual New York City Cycling Championships in a massive field sprint. Henderson shot off the wheel of countryman and teammate Hayden Godfrey in the final 50 meters of the 60-mile race through New York’s financial district for his highest-profile win of the year. Another teammate, designated sprinter Gord Fraser, said he wasn’t feeling great but still slotted in for second behind Henderson. “We wanted to be patient in the sprint,” said Fraser.

With the overwhelming support of a partisan home crowd, all signs seemed stacked in favor of American junior national sprint champion Michael Blatchford securing a rainbow jersey at the junior track world championships Saturday, held at the ADT Event Center velodrome near Los Angeles, California. Blatchford, who hails from the nearby city of Cypress, was first in the 200-meter qualifying sprints Friday, laying down a 10.696 ahead of Australia's Shane Perkins, winner of Thursday night's keirin, who rode a 10.701. And when both Blatchford and Perkins required just two rides in the

Hamburg is probably the easiest of the World Cups...but it is not easy. The race draws massive crowds and is always a welcome home race for Jan and the Telekom team after the Tour. The race starts out with a large flat loop and then several smaller loops with some tight turns and a steep climb. It is not the difficulty of the climb that splits the race up, but the fight for position going into the climb and the tight corners after the climb. As the World Cup script pretty much dictates, the race started off quick, a break got away, the peloton settled down and cruised along, and then

T-Mobile leader Jan Ullrich and his manager Walter Godefroot have talked through their differences and will continue to work together, Godefroot said here Saturday. "It was a good discussion. In the future we're going to speak more often together. Jan will continue to race for T-Mobile," said Godefroot. Both men refused to comment on the nature of the talks. Despite being heralded as Lance Armstrong's main rival on the Tour de France, former champion Ullrich finished fourth and a massive nine minutes behind the six-time winner, his lowest placing ever in seven races. Godefroot has

When American Kimberly Geist took third place in the women’s 2km individual pursuit Friday, USA Cycling officials could breathe a sigh of relief. Though it was a narrowly won bronze medal, the host country was “on the board” at the junior track world championships, held in Los Angeles at the new world-class ADT Event Center velodrome. After qualifying fifth behind Marlijn Binnendijk (Netherlands), Geist beat out Australian Amanda Spratt, winner of the points race Thrusday, to enter the 3-4 final against New Zealand's Paddy Walker. Though Geist seemed to fade slightly during the middle

Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) will be among the starters Sunday for the sixth round of the 2004 World Cup stop in Hamburg, Germany for the HEW Cyclassics event. Also joining Ullrich, fresh off a somewhat disappointing fourth place finish in the Tour de France, will be T-Mobile teammates Andreas Klöden and Erik Zabel. Also set to race are two-time World Cup defending champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step), current leader Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Peter Van Petegem (Lotto-Domo), Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole), Tom Boonen (Quick Step), Danilo Hondo (Gerolsteiner) and Milan-San Remo Oscar Freire

Cyclist Jobie Dajka was dropped from Australia's Olympic team after being found to have lied to a doping inquiry involving the country's top cyclists, the Australian Olympic Committee announced on Friday. Dajka admitted on Thursday he had been untruthful when he told an inquiry that he had not injected himself with performance-enhancing drugs in the room of a former teammate at the Australian Institute of Sport's cycling base in Adelaide. DNA evidence subsequently contradicted Dajka's statement to the inquiry, which was chaired by lawyer Robert Anderson, QC, the AOC said. "Given Anderson's

While Australia’s elite track program continues to facehardships and scandal, the country’s juniors have taken a strongholdat the junior track world championships, held at the new Home Depot Center’sADT Event Center velodrome in Carson, California, outside of Los Angeles. Two days into the five-day event, held July 28 through August 1, Australiahas taken three gold medals in six events; Germany leads the medal countwith five. Perhaps the greatest beacon of hope for the program’s new blood comesin the form of Michael Ford, the reigning junior world record holder inthe 3km individual pursuit.

Iban Mayo will race the Vuelta a España (Sept. 4-26) after a meeting with team bosses Miguel Madariaga and Julián Gorospe on Wednesday. According to a report in the Diario Vasco, Mayo will be looking to make up for his disappointing performance in the 2004 Tour de France, which he abandoned during the Alps. Haimar Zubeldia, Euskaltel-Euskadi’s other star rider, will also start the Vuelta. Gorospe said he believes there’s enough time for both riders to recover from their problems in the Tour in time to be competitive for the Vuelta. McEwen discovers cause of back troubleLotto’s tenacious

An irritated Gilberto Simoni said he might never return to the Tour de France after a three-week debacle that saw the two-time Giro d’Italia champion never rate as a challenger to Lance Armstrong’s dominance. Simoni said his performance was hampered by the exclusion of Danilo Di Luca, two crashes – first in the team time trial and another crash at Angers -- then the exclusion of his domestique and friend Stefano Casagranda. “The Tour started badly and then was characterized by all the arguments and the bad weather rather than by the riders,” Simoni said in an interview on Saeco’s web page.

Before coming to Germany, I had a month-long break from racing. I took one week completely off the bike and then started to ramp up my training. I packed in some heavy mileage weeks, riding mostly with Michael each day. Riding with Michael pushes me into fitness, as he rides quite a bit faster than I generally do on my own. We would go out the door together each day, although often when we hit a major climb, or he needed to do some intensity, he would speed off ahead and I would keep going at my pace. It is neat to be able to share so much time together on the bike. Cycling has allowed us

Australian trackster Ben Kersten will have his appeal to be reinstated to the Athens Olympic team heard by a Cycling Australia (CA) tribunal on Thursday, his manager said on Monday. Kersten is appealing the decision by CA to remove his nomination for the Olympic team after Sean Eadie, the man he was called up to replace, was renominated by CA after being cleared of trying to import banned human growth hormones. The appeal is not connected with Eadie’s drugs tussle, but based on the assertion that Kersten should have been picked ahead of Eadie in the first place. Kersten originally missed

Lance Armstrong may have left the Tour de France with a record six victories under his belt, but the American has also left a huge question mark over his future participation in the race. Armstrong recently signed a contract to ride for a team which will be backed by the Discovery television channel following U.S. Postal's announcement last year they would not continue into 2005. For most teams sponsored by internationally recognized companies, the Tour de France is a must. However, it is not known what his new contract stipulates and whether or not Discovery has made the Tour de France one

Euskadi bikesDear Lennard,I have noticed that the Euskaltel team is riding a bike called Orbeathat looks very much like the new Kestrel full carbon frames I have seenin my local stores. Is the design just a common configuration of the tubedesign or are these companies in some way connected?Steve Dear Steve,Orbea is a large bike manufacturer. Indeed, it’s far bigger than Kestrel.Located in the Basque country of Spain, Orbea is part of the CooperativoMondragón, the world’s largest worker’s cooperative. Being co-ownersof their companies, workers tend to work harder and more devotedly thanthey

American climber-extraordinaire Tom Danielson (Fassa Bortolo) set anew record at the Mount Evans Hillclimb Saturday, taking a full four minutesand ten seconds off Mike Engleman’s 12-year-old course record. The threat of fog, rain, and snow didn’t deter Danielson, 26, who wason hiatus from his European schedule as he prepares to compete in the Vueltaa Espana in September. In his first ascent of the highest paved road inNorth America, Danielson hoped to break the mark and claim the $500 bonusfor doing so. “Given the weather, gradient inconsistencies, and the altitude change,it is too much to

Dear Lennard,Here’s a question. There was some hype about Lance’s speciallydeveloped skinsuit (Project 1 as seen on OLN) with wind tunnel testingand so forth. Special light jerseys for climbing and so on.How does that factor in when he’s in the yellow jersey? Does Nikehave to submit samples to the tour organization for approval to wear asthe yellow jersey?Charlie Dear Charlie,Yes, Nike made the white, yellow, polka-dot and green jerseys withthe same fabrics as the Postal clothing, so the TT suit is the Swift andthe jersey for mountain days is the HC, which I described in detail in the tech

Back in 1995, my parents owned a dog named Bosun. They bred him with a female named Baby. Tugboat was the pick of their litter. I chose him because he was the most animated of all the puppies. Quite often, Baby's owner would find Tugboat out of the puppy kennel and perched on its roof. He was an entertainer, even at a few weeks old. When Tugs was born back in Massachusetts, I was living in Colorado. When he was old enough to be separated from Baby and his eight siblings, he spent a brief hiatus at my parents' home in Marblehead. A couple weeks later he was loaded onto a plane, all by

Dear Lennard,How about a report on the stuff that hasn't work in the Tour? I don't think I've ever heard of more riders being injured in crashes or having to stop from broken handlebars, stems and forks and other equipment-related mishaps. One really goofy example is Phonak using track tires in the rainy team time trial. Are these folks pushing the envelope too far? I didn't used to thinkthe minimum bike weight was a good idea, but it might keep things safer. On the other hand, how about Ulrich on L'Alpe? It looks like he carriedan extra couple of pounds of useless aero stuff up the hill.

Dear Lennard,What was Ivan Basso using for a bike in today’s time trial up l’Alpe d’Huez?William Dear William,Funny you should ask, since I was just putting a few finishing touches on a piece John Wilcockson sent in last night.Lennard Readying Basso’s rideIvan Basso rode the new bike he will race on Wednesday in the Alpe d’Huez time trial for a few hours on the rest day on Monday. He was planning to ride it in the stage from Valréas to Villard-de-Lans on Tuesday, and his race number 61 was already affixed to the rear end of the carbon-fiber Cervélo. But when weighed on the UCI scales before

Watching the Tour de France, one can easily conclude that one of Lance Armstrong’s biggest strengths is he can be coldly calculating, but the same can be said of the U.S. Postal Service team, which also plays the Tour de France as if it were a game of chess. Armstrong and the team have brought many new things to the Tour, like chiropractors, team chefs, and the scouting of every single stage route prior to the race. Less publicized and perhaps as unprecedented are the tiny details of meticulous planning that the team does. As in chess, every move a team or rider makes during the Tour has

Breanna Loster (Dr. Walker) added a victory in the 200-meter sprint to her 500-meter time trial win on Sunday in the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge, while Mike Creed (U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor), fresh off winning the overall at the Cascade Cycling Classic, claimed a win in the 100-lap points race. Sunday’s racing in Portland, Oregon, began with 200-meter qualifiers for the women’s sprint. Defending champion Annette Hanson (Team Rubicon) qualified second in 13.44 behind Loster (13.28), with top local sprinter Heather Van Valkenberg’s (Sorella Forte) third in 13.80. Hanson lost in the

Drizzly Oregon weather didn’t keep Trexlertown regular Cassandra Osorio-McKenna (Hot Tubes) from winning the miss-and-out and points race Saturday at the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge, though a couple of events had to be shortened to accommodate the damp conditions, including the men’s scratch race and Madison, won by Milton Wynants and Agustin Margaleff (Uruguay National Team). Saturday’s racing at Portland’s Alpenrose Velodrome began with the 200-meter qualifiers for the sprint tournament. Dean Tracy (Team Rubicon) posted a 12.01, with Stephen McLaughry (Bike Central) upping the ante in

Dear Lennard,After watching the prologue and the TTT in this year's Tour, I have noticed T-Mobile is not riding rear discs. Why is that? Everyone knows that a rear disc is faster than a non-disc. What gives?John Dear John,First, all of the T-Mobile riders I saw in the prologue used a reardisc. Here is one on the start ramp, on the new Giant time trial frame. As for the team time trial, Dirk Spiers of Giant Europe said that T-Mobile chose to not use rear discs out of concerns raised by that day's strong crosswinds on the course. He is not at all sure that it was the right choice in

Athens-bound Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) took her second consecutive title at the Canadian National Mountain Bike Championships on Saturday in Mont Sainte-Anne, while Ricky Federau (GearsRacing.com) won his first title in the elite men's category. A total of 64 men and 34 women rode through wet and muddy conditions for the chance to win the maple-leaf jersey of the nationalchampion. Premont took charge immediately in the women's 25km, five-lap race, attacking on the first climb and establishing a 10 second gap on Karen Dewolfe (Cannondale), Chrissy Redden

Annette Hanson (Team Rubicon) and Kenny Williams (First Rate Mortgage) kicked off the sixth annual Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge on Friday in Portland, Oregon, with wins in the men’s and women’s pursuit. Hanson, a multiple national and world masters pursuit champ from Kirkland, Washington, won the 3000-meter race in 4:09:87 on the 268-meter, cigar-shaped concrete track ahead of teammate Brie Gudsell of New Zealand and Hot Tubes’ Cassandra Osorio of Florence, South Carolina. In the men’s 4000-meter contest, it was Williams turning a 5:01:64 for 4000 meters to outpace a pair of Kiwis racing

Dear Lennard,What is up with Erik Zabel's shifting cables? Is he trying to hide them like Campagnolo's under the bar tape? Looking at the pics of the finish of Stage 6, looks like Zabel has his Shimano Dura Ace shifter cables routed in this cute little loop around the shifters, and back under the bar tape, a la Campy cable routing. What’s the skinny on this? Looks like he is using Nokon cable housing to make the bend, but why? Is it a visual preference, or a tactile one?Stephen Dear Stephen,Yes, Eric Zabel is one of a number of riders who has concealed shift cables with his Shimano STI

When Domina Vacanze's Filippo Simeoni scampered off the front of the peloton today, he did it astride one of Specialized's new full-carbon, 1100-gram Tarmac S-Works frame. The bike features some pretty cool touches that are worth a closer look. His teammate, Michele Scarponi, gets a special, 40-gram-lighter versionusing finer-weave carbon fabric, while sprint ace Mario Cipollini got his own custom version... well, before he pulled out of the Tour the other day. Last year’s half-aluminum/half-carbon Tarmac will still exist as the Tarmac E5, and the new one has a similar shape to the top

Genevìeve Jeanson has been left off the Canadian Olympic team bound for Athens, according to The Toronto Star. The 22-year-old from Lachine, Québec, was dropped from the squad in favor of Manon Jutras, of Drummondville, Québec. Both riders have struggled this season, but Jeanson also has been dogged by doping suspicions, the perception that she is not a team player and recent allegations that her coach spat at another rider during June’s Canadian national road championships. Jeanson won the Montréal GP World Cup race on May 29, but raced poorly a month later at the Canadian championships

Top Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi has a cracked rib and is still suffering from a badly bruised shoulder, according to his Fassa Bortolo team doctor, and may miss out on next month's Olympics. Petacchi sustained the injuries when he crashed in last Thursday's fifth stage of the Tour de France. He and fellow ace Italian sprinter Mario Cipollini (Domina Vacanze) retired from the race on Friday. An X-ray in Italy on Monday revealed the damaged rib, though the doctor said he was more concerned by the 30-year-old rider's shoulder. "It will require around 30 days for it to heal," said Dr

Dear Lennard,This isn't a technical question per se, but it's still got me scratching my head: why doesn't Lance have rainbow stripes on his sleeves like all the other former World Champions? Chris Dear Chris,He has had them on his jersey in the past. I expected him not to have them on the time trial suit and on the yellow jersey, but sure enough, he does not have it on his road jersey. I figured that since Nike prepared all kinds of special clothes for the Tour, including new versions of the Swift skinsuit for time trials and the HC jersey for mountain stages, maybe in the rush to produce

When Mike Creed won Thursday's road race to gain a nine-second overall lead at Bend's Cascade Cycling Classic, most teams didn't think that his U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor team could defend it with just four riders. But, even with Lance Armstrong and the other guys in France, Postal and Creed pulled out the overall win, making it official after Sunday's criterium in Bend's Old Mill District. Creed crossed the finish line with the first pack of riders, and his 30-second lead was never seriously challenged during the race, a 1.2km loop. "I'm sure all the other teams thought that we would

A pair of North American criterium specialists — Gord Fraser of Health Net-Maxxis and Nicole Freedman of Team Basis — showed their stuff Friday night at the Cascade Classic twilight criterium in downtown Bend, Oregon, taking field sprints in front of a festive downtown crowd. The respective races shared a few similarities: Neither had significant breakaways; both were won in field sprints; and both were won by former winners at the USPRO criterium championships in Downer’s Grove, Illinois (Freedman in 2001, Fraser in 1999). While there were time bonuses on the line in the women’s race —

Mike Creed got by with a little help from his friends on Saturday. And they weren't all on his team. With just three U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor teammates, Creed got some assistance from TIAA-CREF riders during the stage 5 circuit race to hang on to the overall lead at the Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend, Oregon. The two teams struck a deal to help keep Creed in first place and TIAA-CREF's Dan Bowman in eighth place. The plan worked, as the stage ended in a sprint finish that had little effect on GC – Charles Dionne (Webcor) outsprinted Ben Brooks (Jelly Belly-Aramark) in 2:58:48 with

Nestled away in the rugged mountain valleys of central Switzerland, the posh Euro town of St. Moritz is better known for its fur-covered, jet-setting ski bunnies than for high-tech carbon fiber. But for three days in July, carbon was en vogue as Scott showed the press its 2005 product line. The media event July 6-8 showcased the company’s impressive investment into the ever-developing world of carbon-fiber frame construction. Unlike frame manufacturers that simply day-trip over to Taiwan, pick a stock carbon configuration from a major producer, alter a few shapes and call it their own

The overall classification underwent a minor reshuffling Friday at the Columbia River Bank Cascade Cycling Classic, after a rolling 6.6-mile time trial showed who the strongest players at the race truly are. In the women’s race it was recently-crowned national time trial champion Christine Thorburn (Webcor Builders) again disproving the on-paper dominance of the heavily favored T-Mobile squad, winning by two seconds over soon-to-be Olympic teammate Kristin Armstrong of T-Mobile. In third place was defending Cascade champion Lyne Bessette (Quark), nine seconds down. T-Mobile’s Lynn Gaggioli,

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Getting a rider ready for the Tour de France, and the six- and seven-hour days in the saddle that come with it, requires a great deal of attention to detail. One detail that gets constant attention before and during the Tour involves the proper set up of new shoes and other equipment. These are often critical issues, because if a new shoe cleat is in even a slightly different position from where the old one was or a seat is a bit higher or lower or more forward or back from what the rider is used to, or the bar is positioned differently than before, it can be a big problem. Riding so hard

It’s been a tough month of racing for the T-Mobile women’s squad, which saw Webcor’s Christine Thorburn get the better of their strong U.S. national team at the Columbia River Bank Cascade Cycling Classic after she took the elite national time trial championship and nearly repeated the feat several days later, taking second in the national-championship road race. On Thursday, Thorburn, a Bay Area physician specializing in rheumatology, showed why she’s gone from a virtual unknown to Olympic team member in the span of a season, dropping the entire women’s field on the final climb into Three

As in Thursday’s Tour de France stage, which saw an early break succeed, the second stage of the Columbia River Bank Cascade Cycling Classic men’s stage race was won by a member of a break that escaped in the first 15km and stayed away. But unlike the outcome at the Tour, the Oregon win went to a U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor rider – 23-year-old Michael Creed of Colorado Springs, who assumed the overall race leadership with just his second professional win. An on-form Creed, who took fourth last weekend at the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic stage race, was clearly the strongest out of a group

As the entire field of 130 racers descended upon the finish line of the opening 93-mile stage of the Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend, Oregon, a handful of names came to mind as the likely eminent stage winner. Would it be Health Net-Maxxis sprinter Gord “Flash Gordon” Fraser, the newly crowned Canadian national champion? Or perhaps Jelly Belly-Aramark’s strongman Alex Candelario would benefit from the long downhill finish. Surely it couldn’t be Webcor’s fast man Charles Dionne, who had spent much of the day in various breakaways. Based on the numbers, a safe bet would be on a Navigators

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The 25th anniversary of the Columbia River Bank Cascade Cycling Classic — a five-day, six-stage NRC event — commences Wednesday, in Bend, Oregon. The race was swept last year by Saturn’s Tom Danielson and Lyne Bessette, and also boasts defending Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong as a former winner. Armstrong won the race in 1998, a season spent returning to the sport after battling with cancer. Other notable past Cascade competitors include Olympic gold medalists Alexi Grewal and Eric Heiden; OLN commentator Bob Roll, former NORBA national cross-country champion Steve Larsen; Bend

Today, for the team time trial, I caught a ride in the second of Saeco’s team followcars. It was very interesting from a technical standpoint, even thoughthe team had no mechanical problems until the very last moment. Saeco wasamong the first teams to start, so I watched the remainder of the teamsfrom the finish. In the end, I think that the cycling gods smiled on TylerHamilton for the second day in a row, and they did not Gilberto Simoni,both of which I will explain. The director sportif, Giuseppe Martinelli, is in the first vehicle andcommunicates with the riders over their radio

Those of you who watched the prologue time trial may have been wondering why some teams were using standard road helmets and others using aero’ helmets. In October 2003 the UCI passed a requirement that all time-trial helmets meet certain safety standards as of January 1, 2004. This threw out the old time-trial helmets, which were little more than thin plastic fairings with straps. Helmet companies were caught largely unprepared by the ruling, so in the spring, most pro teams were racing time trials with standard road helmets. By the Giro d’Italia, many teams were using clear plastic covers

During the Tour, you can now see exactly how hard some of the riders are pedaling, as well as how fast they are going, how fast their pedals are going around, and how fast their heart is pumping. This is due to special agreements between SRM and the Saeco and T-Mobile teams. Even though many riders would like to use SRMs in more races, it is often not possible due to it conflicting with their crank sponsor. Furthermore, the SRM cranks are not as light, and not as stiff as the latest oversized hollow cranks, so riders are reluctant to take that step backward. But now SRM’s Ulrich Schoberer

So what’s up with tubeless tires these days? A fair amount, actually. There are now three teams riding tubeless road tires at the Tour de France. As in the past, teams that have both Mavic and Hutchinson as sponsors are in a position to use them, but now, teams that have both Shimano as a wheel sponsor and Hutchinson tires could ride them as well. Shimano, it seems has joined the group of companies sharing the technology and working together on the project. That group is now Shimano, Mavic, Hutchinson and Michelin, but no Michelin-sponsored teams are racing on them. Mavic’s Chris Zigmont

On a rainy afternoon when pedaling prowess was just as important as downhilling skills, Frenchwoman Celine Gros and Spain’s David Vazquez Lopez scored World Cup wins at the final day of racing in Calgary, Alberta. The combination of a short, relatively flat course, along with extremely muddy conditions, made for a tough test on a track that paralleled the bobsled circuit used in the 1988 Olympics. “You were pretty much pedaling top to bottom,” said American Marla Streb (Luna), who spent some time in the hot seat before being knocked off by teammate Kathy Pruitt. Streb wound up sixth, while

Hi from the Tour de France! I have been in Liège for a few days, visiting the teams and taking lots of photos of bikes and equipment, sometimes even of people. There is always lots of new equipment at the Tour, since every team and sponsor focuses more on this event than any other. When team technical sponsors start developing new products for racing, they always point to the Tour start as the date for completion. There is no better place to premiere a new product, and the riders and teams place so much emphasis on Tour results that they create pressure which helps the development process

On a day with more story lines than a Tom Clancy novel, Filip Meirhaeghe and Gunn-Rita Dahle reaffirmed their status as Olympic favorites, after each took impressive cross-county wins at World Cup No. 6 at the Canada Olympic Park in Calgary. As for the litany of North American Olympic spot battles, it was Americans Mary McConneloug, Todd Wells and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski closing in on start spots in Athens, while Canadians Marie-Helene Premont, Kiara Bisaro and Seamus McGrath also looked to be a step closer to their Olympic dreams. Following the women’s race, which was yet another dominating

Lance Armstrong on Friday lost his appeal against a ruling denying him the right to insert a denial against accusations of doping published in a book released last week. The five-time Tour de France winner's lawyer, Christian Charriere-Bournazel, took action over the book "L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong" by award-winning Sunday Times of London journalist David Walsh and Pierre Ballester, a cycling specialist formerly with French sports daily L'Equipe. The book, which alleges Armstrong used banned drugs, focuses on statements attributed to Emma O'Reilly, a soigneur who

Let’s start things off with a first-look at Tyler Hamilton’s freshly unveiled BMC time-trial bike, which he will ride at this year’s Tour de France (from a BMC press release): The core structure of the bike is a 100% carbon-fiber monocoque frame — and when we say carbon-fiber, we really mean it: Even the smallest details, such as our fork drop-outs and derailleur cage, are made of carbon-fiber. The revolutionary new fork-stem design (patent pending) sets the standard in cycling technology. In addition to perfect aerodynamics, we also achieve maximum rigidity from the minimum possible

With the 90-meter Nordic ski jump used at the 1988 Winter Olympics serving as a backdrop, Czech rider Michal Prokop and Frenchwoman Sabrina Jonnier cruised to convincing four-cross wins at round No. 5 of the UCI World Cup series at Calgary's Canada Olympic Park on Friday. It was the second straight World Cup win for Prokop and third straight for Jonnier, pushing both riders over the top in the race for the series crown. Both now have insurmountable leads with one race to go. Despite qualifying third behind Eric Carter and Roger Rinderknecht, Prokop (Author) had little trouble in his run to

World time trial champion David Millar was formally placed under judicial investigation on Thursday for illegal possession of toxic products, his lawyer said. Millar told a court west of Paris that he had used the banned blood booster Erythropoietin (EPO), a fact he had already revealed during 48 hours of police custody last week, lawyer Paul-Albert Iwens said. The 27-year-old rider was released with no restrictions on his freedom of movement, Iwens said. Millar was detained last week over allegations he had used EPO, and was subsequently barred from racing in the Tour de France which