Road

In setting up what is sure to be one of the big battles of the 2006 Tour de France, Alexandre Vinokourov has inked a deal with the Spanish Liberty-Seguros team. In leaving Jan Ullrich's T-Mobile squad, Vinokourov said he joined Liberty with the expressed goal of winning the Tour within the next two years. The Kazakh-born Russian, fifth in last week's Tour after winning two stages, said he had realized in the third week of this year's Tour his career was going nowhere as long as he remained a part of Ullrich's support network. "I've given myself two years to win the

Following the Tour de France, the UCI has relased its latest ProTour rankings: 1. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 184 Pts.2. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 139 Pts.3. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), T-Mobile, 136 Pts.4. Tom Boonen (B), QuickStep, 120 Pts.5. Alessandro Petacchi (I), Fassa Bortolo, 111 Pts.6. Jan Ullrich (G), T-Mobile, 98 Pts.7. Santiago Botero Echeverry (Col), Phonak, 95 Pts.8. Oscar Freire Gomez (Sp), Rabobank, 94 Pts.9. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Discovery Channel, 92 Pts.10. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, 89 Pts.11. Davide Rebellin (I), Gerolsteiner,

Two of the Australian cyclists seriously injured in a road accident in Germany last week have surprised doctors with their recovery, the clinic where they are being treated said on Monday. Alexis Rhodes and Louise Yaxley were hurt in the accident caused by an out-of-control teenage driver that killed their international team colleague Amy Gillett during training in eastern Germany for the Thuringen Rundfahrt last week. Rhodes, 20, and Yaxley, 23, are no longer in intensive care. “They are doing surprisingly well. They no longer need assistance to breathe and they are talking," said

Australian cycling is crippled in pain by the death of national road team member Amy Gillett and the injuries of her five teammates from an out of control car plowing into them while training in Germany on Monday. The healing process for the sport and the many individuals affected by what happened has only just begun - if at all it can be ever completed. So great are the ramifications likely to be from what must surely be one of the most unimaginably horrific tragedies to ever hit Australian sport. It is a process that began within 24 hours of the incident when organizers of the event

Scott Moninger (Health Net-Maxxis) won the annual Bob Cook Memorial Mount Evans Hillclimb on Saturday. Run under warm temperatures and sunny skies, the 28-mile race – which starts at 7540 feet in Idaho Springs and climbs to the 14,264-foot summit of Mount Evans - was a far cry from last year’s cold and stormy conditions. But that doesn mean Moninger's win came easily. Team TIAA-CREF went on the attack early, sending national champ Ian MacGregor up the road. A chase group containing Moninger, former world mountain bike champion Ned Overend (Specialized), Boulder racer Burke Swindlehurst

The reasons behind those long stemsDear Lennard,Judging from photos, it seems that the pros favor longer stems than the rest of us. Is there any truth in this observation? If so, does it have to do with pros being fitted with smaller frames than amateur/recreational riders, or just preferring a longer reach?Tom Dear Tom,Yes, they definitely do favor long stems. For instance, all of the Bontrager carbon stems on the Discovery team bikes are 140mm. Riders on the team using shorter stems (130mm mostly) do not have carbon stems because only 140mm stems were delivered at the team training camp in

Sprinter Alessandro Petacchi ended his six-season stay with Fassa Bortolo by signing with the team's top Italian rival, Domina Vacanze, on Friday. The 31-year-old cyclist, who opted out of the Tour de France to keep himself fresh for the world road race championship in September, has agreed a three-season deal. Petacchi received other offers but wanted to stay in Italy. Having lost their top rider and with their main sponsor pulling out, the Fassa Bortolo team will fold at the end of the current season.

Simon Gillett has gone to the University Clinic in Jena, Germany, to visit five Australian cyclists injured in the tragic accident that claimed the life of his wife, 29-year-old Amy Gillett, on Tuesday. Gillett died instantly when a teenage driver lost control of her vehicle, crossed to the other side of the road and plowed into the six-member Australian women's team, which was training for the Thuringen Rundfahrt, which was to start the next day. Gillett's funeral will be held July 29 in Ballarat. South Australian Alexis Rhodes, 20, and Tasmanian Louise Yaxley, 23, remain in

I just competed in my hometown race, the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge (AVC). The AVC has always been one of my favorite races, but it wasn’t in my plans for the season until I broke my back and was given a leave of absence my team in Switzerland. I returned to Portland, thinking there’s no place like home to recover. I got back on the bike after a couple weeks, and figured that since I was here and on the bike again, maybe I’d be able to race. My coach argued that normally, one should get a full month of just riding before even thinking about the sort of intensity that a race like this

Ten-speed chains and ConneX linksDear Lennard,I've broken two 10-speed chains, but since using ConneX links I have not had a problem. I use the ConneX chain and the Campy chain and the connecting link seems like one of the best bits of design ever. Are they being used in the peloton, and if not, why not?Peter Dear Lennard,Given the tight tolerances of 10-speed chains and the importance of correct reassembly, why don't teams use ConneX links? I understand that these work very well with either Campy or Shimano chains, as well as with Wippermann.Mark Dear Mark and Peter,Master links

How many Pro Tour teams ride tubies?Dear Lennard,Approximately what percentage of Pro Tour teams rides tubular tires? A friend and I recently debated this topic. We agreed that team members rode whatever tire sponsors provided, but we couldn't agree on what percentage of Pro Tour teams rode tubular tires. A ballpark estimate would be appreciated and will determine who buys post-ride ales for the next few weeks.Bart Dear Lennard,I realize from your recent article that several teams are using tubeless tires at this year's Tour. That seems like the way of the future, but as for the ways

Czech rider Ondrej Sosenka set a new world hour cycling record at Moscow's Krylatskoye Olympic indoor track on Tuesday, Russian cycling federation deputy president Yury Kucheryavy told AFP. Sosenka covered a distance of 49.700km, beating British cyclist Chris Boardman's mark of 49.441km, set in 2000 in Manchester, England. The Czech rider was under Boardman's record from the outset, recording a time of 1:15.01 (to 1:17.891) for the opening kilometer. He went through the 5km point over three seconds up, and by 25km had extended his advantage to just under seven seconds. This

For most of the 10 Australians in this year’s Tour de France, Tuesday's 180.5km 16th stage from Mourenx to Pau marked the second time in 48 hours they mourned the tragic loss of a fellow rider. On Sunday's 15th stage, many wore an armband to commemorate the 1994 death of Italian Olympic gold medallist Fabio Casartelli who was killed in a horrible crash descending the Pyrénées on July 18 of that year. On Tuesday, they did so again, this time to mark the passing of a compatriot, Amy Gillett, who was killed in Germany as she and her teammates were preparing for the Thuringen Rundfahrt.

Top Australian cyclist Amy Gillett was killed and five compatriots injured on Monday when a car plowed into them when they were training in eastern Germany. Gillett, 29, took up competitive cycling in 2000, having rowed for Australia at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The rider from Ballarat, Victoria, was married to world champion oarsman Simon Gillett and was considered a medal favorite for next year's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Gillett won bronze in the 2005 Australian road time trial championship and had been racing at top level for five years. "Amy was a unique athlete who

Three Consecutive records close out a spectacular Alpenrose Velodrome Blazing sunny skies and blustery winds greeted the riders on Sunday for the final day of the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge in Portland, Oregon. The women’s competition kicked off with 200-meter time trials to begin the sprint tournament. U.S. Olympian Jennie Reed (Gregg’s-Trek-VW) was the top qualifier in 12.84, followed by Becky Quinn (Southbay Wheelmen) in 13.24 and Alpenrose local Heather VanValkenberg in 13.38. The men, meanwhile, began what would prove to be arguably the most spectacular event of the weekend, the

German cyclist Danilo Hondo has appealed a two-year doping suspension to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland. But both the UCI, which governs cycling, and the World Anti-Doping Agency have asked CAS to increase the penalty. Switzerland's sports disciplinary body, Swiss Olympic, banned Hondo for two years in June for testing positive twice for the stimulant carphedon during the Tour of Murcia in March, where he won two stages and wore the leader's yellow jersey. But Hondo can start racing again next year on probation. Hondo, who has denied knowingly

With dark clouds, cool temperatures, and the threat of rain looming, the men’s sprint qualifiers kicked off Saturday’s racing at the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge in Portland, Oregon. Josiah Ng (Bike Central), the Malaysian Olympian and recent graduate of a Japanese keirin school, posted the fastest 200-meter time (11.44), just 0.1 second off Jeff LaBauve’s 2001 track record. Close behind was the ageless Stephen Alfred (Family Cycling Center), the AVC defending champion in the match sprint, with 11.46. Gideon Massie, the 2004 U.S. Olympian, was just behind in 11.57, and with nine more

Keeping ten-speed chains intactAll of the teams contesting the Tour de France this year are, of course,are using 10-speed chains on their 10-speed Shimano or Campagnolo groups. While you rarely see a broken chain in the professional peloton, youcertainly do see it among everyday enthusiasts nowadays with 10-speed chainsfar more frequently than you used to with 9-speed chains, and especiallymore so than in the old days when riders used 5-, 6-, 7-, and 8-speed chains.Back then breakage on a road bike was practically unheard of. You knowthat if there is any time you would not want to break a

Tool bag?Dear Lennard,The other day during stage 9 I noticed a small black box under the saddle on Jens Voigt's Cervelo. Obviously he wasn't carrying a tool kit like us mortals, so what was it? A radio?Brett Dear Brett,I am posting this since I continue to get this question every day, even though I answered it already. For the answer, check out this link. You really ought to check out the daily SRM telemetry, especially in the Pyrenees and the final time trial. There are a lot of riders hooked up with them. The display isonly live during the stage and there is no file to see

Under sunny skies, 80-degree temperatures, and a rising breeze, the seventh annual Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge kicked off Friday in Portland, Oregon. One of the richest track races in North America, the three-day meet is held on one of the continent’s quirkiest velodromes, a 268-meter concrete oval with 42-degree banks situated on the grounds of the Alpenrose Dairy. Friday was for the time trialists with riders competing in the 500 meter time trial, the kilometer time trial, and the pursuit, as well as a points-race qualifier. One of the track’s oldest records, the women’s 3000-meter

Many people have been asking what those wheels with red hubs like old Mavic Heliums were on David Moncoutie’s bike. The Cofidis rider won stage 12 on the new Mavic Ksyrium ES Dixieme Anniversaire wheels, which indeed are supposed to honor and carry on the tradition of those Heliums, which premiered 10 years ago in the Tour as special climbing wheels, ridden by luminaries like Laurent Jalabert and Richard Virenque, among many others. The front and rear rims of the 10th Anniversary Ksyrium ES are different, with the front being lighter. Mavic says the tubular version weighs 625 grams () and

Each Tour team has a bus and a slew of station wagons. But otherwise, teams vary widely in the other vehicles they bring along, and this has changed even further with the advent of the Pro Tour. And of critical interest to all of the teams is security of all of those bikes and expensive wheels and parts they carry along. Most teams have a bus and a big truck. The buses for the riders are roomy inside and have comfortable seats, tables and other amenities, such as espresso machines. Teams use them as conference rooms for entertaining guests or negotiating team sponsorships, as well as for

First, a question or two: Dear Lennard,The Liberty Seguros shifters: What’s up with them? They aren't any Campy ones I've seen before. Are they the 2006 edition? I first noticed them on the stage to Courcheval.Ignacio Dear Lennard,I noticed today while watching the Tour that Liberty Seguros's Record shifters didn't look all carbon. They appeared to have a metallic streak of some sort near the top of the actual shift lever. Did you see anything like that? The rider’s bike I saw was Jorg Jaksche's. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, as I was going crazy with Lance

First, a question: Dear Lennard,What does Jens Voigt carry in his seat bag? Do any of the other TdF riders carry a seat bag?Steve C. Dear Steve,That is the transmitter that sends telemetric data live from Voigt's SRM. And yes, some of the other Tour riders are doing the same thing. Voig, Matthias Kessler (T-Mobile), Gerrit Glomser (Lampre) and Sebastian Lang (Gerolsteiner) all have been wired for live SRM data on various stages. This is one of the (few) benefits of the UCI weight limit on bikes; since the riders can have bikes below the limit, they can add components of their choosing

A train of light-green jerseys swept through Bend's Old Mill District on Sunday, as Scott Moninger of Health Net-Maxxis cruised behind his teammates to secure his fourth overall victory in the Cascade Cycling Classic. Moninger, who had an 11-second lead on Navigators' Cesar Grajales coming into Sunday's Old Mill District Criterium, stayed with his team in the front of the main pack on the tight, 1.2km loop. "That's two days in a row they've just absolutely ridden amazing," Moninger said of his five teammates. "They were going so fast the last four or five laps, I

After talking with her teammate Ina Yoko Teutenberg the other night, Kristin Armstrong of T-Mobile knew it was coming. She knew Teutenberg would put on a display of raw power en route to winning the Old Mill District Criterium in Bend on Sunday, lapping the field with teammate Katie Mactier. Teutenberg's second victory of the Cascade Cycling Classic – she also won Friday's Twilight Criterium - also helped secure the overall victory for Armstrong in the women's portion of the Cascade Cycling Classic. "We were all talking and Ina goes: 'You know what? I haven't lapped the

As Jeff Louder of Navigators and four other cyclists broke away from the pack, Scott Moninger and his Health Net-Maxxis teammates sat at the front of the peloton and waited. And waited. Finally, during the final climb to the finish of Saturday's Awbrey Butte Circuit Race in the Cascade Cycling Classic, Health Net made its move. Moninger, the race leader coming in, was propelled to the front by his teammates and finished second in the stage to hang onto the overall lead. "It's a lesson in patience," Moninger said. "My teammates just rotated through. We've been in this position a

The strongest team in United States women's cycling is poised to make a clean sweep of the podium in Central Oregon's Cascade Cycling Classic. Kimberly Baldwin of T-Mobile won the 58-mile Awbrey Butte Circuit Race on Saturday in 2 hours, 23 minutes, 10 seconds, and her teammate Kristin Armstrong finished second to retain the overall lead. T-Mobile now has the top three spots in the general classification, and six riders in the top 10. T-Mobile riders have won all four stages thus far. Armstrong's overall time is 7:04:58, and Baldwin is in second, 42 seconds back. Kori Seehafer of

Lance Armstrong looked around near the summit of the rather anonymous Cat. 2 Col de la Schlucht in the chilly Vosges Mountains and couldn’t find many friendly faces. In the big front group he was with, there were no other Discovery Channel riders. No Chechu, no Triki, no Popo. Not even his 2005 favorite mountain goat, José Azevedo. What the six-time Tour champion did see were lots of riders licking their chops. For the first time in years at the Tour de France, Armstrong was isolated. “It was not a great day. I didn’t feel very good and the other teams did feel good,” said Armstrong, who

Dutchman Pieter Weening (Rabobank) gave a glimpse of his potential and ended a frustrating streak of runner-up places with a well-taken win on the eighth stage of the Tour de France Saturday in Gerardmer. Weening had to wait an agonizing few minutes before finding out for sure if he had really won a two-man sprint with Germany's Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile) - and when the result came he could still not quite believe it. "In a two-man sprint nothing's decided until it's over so I just tried to hold on for as long as possible," said Weening, who is the first Dutchman to win a stage

The Canadian National Road Championships opened Thursday with the individual time trial in Kamloops, and both the men's and women's elite titles were successfully defended. Sue Palmer-Komar (Colavita) beat Genevieve Jeanson (Rona-Colnago) by a mere 76 one-hundredths of a second to take the women's title, while Svein Tuft defeated his Symmetrics teammate Eric Wohlberg by 53 seconds for the men's title. Ryder Hesjedal (Discovery Channel) was third in the men's race and Felicia Greer (Webcor) third in the women's. Unlike last year, when temperatures of over 40 Celsius

Kirk O'Bee and his Navigators teammates sat back and waited for the finish. They weren't going to work hard if they didn't have to. O'Bee and Navigators let Health Net-Maxxis do most of the work throughout Friday night's Twilight Criterium in downtown Bend. Then O'Bee broke from the pack with one lap to go and stayed ahead to win the criterium, the fourth stage of the Cascade Cycling Classic, by 10 meters over second-place Remi McManus of Subway and third-place Gord Fraser of Health Net-Maxxis. Rain poured down throughout the race as O'Bee patiently waited for

Ina Yoko Teutenberg and Sarah Uhl were both out front battling the rain, but Teutenberg had one advantage: Teammates. With about 20 minutes left in the women's Twilight Criterium of the Cascade Cycling Classic in downtown Bend on Friday night, Uhl and Teutenberg broke away from the field and developed a lead of almost one minute. A group of six riders - three of them Teutenberg's T-Mobile teammates - gained some ground on the two leaders as the finish neared. Knowing she had the help of her teammates, Teutenberg was able to sit on Uhl's wheel, then make her move just in time,

On Friday, as the Tour de France headed to Karlsruhe, Germany, Gerolsteiner’s Fabian Wegmann rode solo for hours on his carbon Specialized S-Works Tarmac. However, once the race hits the mountains, two of his teammates, namely Levi Leipheimer and Georg Totschnig will be riding the even lighter, next-generation S-Works Tarmac SL frame and all-carbon S-Works fork. The SL shares the Tarmac’s geometry. Yet, because Specialized tweaked both tube shapes and dimensions while custom tuning the orientation and number of layers of carbon, the SL has been designed for maximum shock absorption, road

First, a question: Dear Lennard,I was wondering why the Saunier Duval team is allowed to wear their yellow outfits in the Tour. I thought that teams that had yellow in their colors had to change them for the Tour, as ONCE did in the past.Peter Dear Peter,Here is the official answer from Virginie Geinoz, the press officer for Saunier Duval-Prodir: “The Tour asked us to make a new jersey with less yellow. Therefore, we have designed this special edition for the Tour with the shoulders in white.”Lennard Ag2R on carbon clinchersTeam Ag2R is using unmarked Reynolds carbon clincher wheels

Scott Moninger had that familiar feeling as he stood atop the podium at Mount Bachelor after stage 2 of the Cascade Cycling Classic on Thursday. Moninger (Health Net-Maxxis) was the overall champion at the Cascade Classic during 1999-2001, and his experience in Central Oregon - plus a miscue by Cesar Grajales (Navigators), who thought the finish was 10km up the road - allowed him to overtake Grajales and win the 90-mile stage to Bachelor’s Sunrise Lodge in 3 hours, 31 minutes, 28 seconds. "I've won this particular stage a few times, so I know it pretty well," Moninger said. "It's

The Cascade Cycling Classic women's race got off to a scary start on Thursday, as an early 20-rider pileup sent two racers to a local hospital. "It was one of the worst sounds I've heard in a long time," said Kristin Armstrong (T-Mobile), who won the 81.6-mile Cascade Lakes Road Race stage in a time of 3 hours, 40 minutes, 33 seconds. Leah Goldstein (Trek-Red Truck Beer Racing) sustained hip, shoulder and arm injuries in the crash, according to race director Brad Ross. She and Cat Malone (Webcor) were both taken to St. Charles Medical Center-Bend. "She'll be in the hospital for

As if taunting them, Pilot Butte loomed in the distance as Gord Fraser and Phil Zajicek raced toward the finishing climb with the peloton closing fast behind them. But the two riders stayed ahead of the pack, and they raced neck and neck for the mile-long climb up the steep road on the cinder cone in east Bend. Fraser then held off Zajicek by half a bike length to claim the 118-mile stage 1 of Central Oregon's Cascade Cycling Classic on Wednesday. The winning time was 4 hours, 38 minutes, 19 seconds. The two top finishers had broken away from a lead pack of eight cyclists at the

Tuesday’s stage was a showdown between the powerhouse time-trial teams, as well as a battle between old and new philosophies about racing against the clock. At the beginning of Lance Armstrong’s Tour victory run, the time-trial powerhouses were Telekom (now T-Mobile), ONCE (now Liberty Seguros) and U.S. Postal (now Discovery). But Liberty Seguros has become only a shadow of its former time-trialing self, and T-Mobile has also slipped a number of notches. The new guard still contains Discovery, but CSC, Phonak and Gerolsteiner are the new young bucks trying to kick the door in. All these

After David Zabriskie’s first day in the yellow jersey, I ran into Allen Lim, Floyd Landis’s personal coach, who described some of Zabriskie’s mental preparation leading up to the Tour. According to Lim, Landis repeatedly told Zabriskie that the yellow jersey was his for the taking. “Floyd lives with Zabriskie in Girona, and ever since the Giro, Floyd’s been telling David, ‘Dude, you’ve gotta aim for winning that prologue at the Tour.’ David was nervous about doing the Giro and the Tour back to back, but that helped ease his concerns. Floyd told him that if he won the prologue and got the

David Zabriskie’s third brake lever probably did not play a role in Saturday’s opening time trial, although his bunny-hopping entire traffic circles instead of riding around them certainly raised a few eyebrows (just kidding). But the extra brake lever on the handlebar extensions has been a source of great interest (see VeloNews, June 27, 2005), and a number of the teams are using them. In a flat individual time trial like the one that opened the 2005 Tour de France, the third lever may not help much beyond taking a little speed off for a corner here or there. It is very useful in courses

Jan Ullrich's bid to upstage six-time champion Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France got off to a bad start Friday when the T-Mobile rider crashed into a team car during training. The 1997 Tour winner was training with his team when he failed to spot a warning to brake and slammed into the car's back window. The five-time runner-up sustained minor cuts and scratches to his neck, but will start Saturday's time trial from Fromentine to Noirmoutier-en-l'Ile. “He did not see the special sign we make when the car has to brake,” T-Mobile press officer Luuc Eisenga said by

The Lithuanian cycling federation on Thursday deplored the aggressive manner in which the Baltic state's star cyclist Raimundas Rumsas was arrested in Italy this week. “Why use these hard-line tactics?" questioned Vytautas Zubernis, vice-president of the Baltic state's cycling federation. "Raimundas Rumsas lives in Europe. He is not in hiding. This kind of arrest would be justified if he had refused to attend his hearing" Rumsas was detained Wednesday in Italy on a European international arrest warrant issued by French prosecutors investigating drug trafficking. In 2002 Rumsas was

Floyd Landis isn’t one to take things too seriously; be it himself or the often-intense business of racing bicycles. The 29-year-old enters this year’s Tour de France anxious to prove to the world he deserves his shot at being a team leader, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun along the way. After a strong ride at the Dauphiné Libéré, Landis rolls into Fromentine this Saturday knowing his form is on target for the season’s big test. Phonak officials are quietly confident their man can deliver a top-five result, perhaps even claw his way onto the podium. VeloNews European

Lithuanian rider Raimondas Rumsas has been detained in Italy on a European international arrest warrant issued by French prosecutors investigating drug trafficking. His French lawyer, Alexandre Varaut, told AFP they would be appealing to a Florence court to get the 33-year-old Rumsas released. In 2002 Rumsas was involved in a scandal after his wife Edita was caught with large quantities of growth hormones and other drugs in her car after the Tour de France in which Rumsas had finished third. Rusmas had already left France but his wife was jailed for several months before being released and

PARIS (AP) -- Lance Armstrong's team director says only three riders could threaten the Texan's bid for a seventh straight Tour de France title when cycling's showcase race begins Saturday. Johan Bruyneel, Armstrong's tactical adviser in each of his six Tour wins, picked 1997 winner Jan Ullrich, Alexandre Vinokourov and Ivan Basso as the main competition. ''I think those three are the real challengers,'' Bruyneel said this week in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. Vinokourov is not as quick as his T-Mobile teammate Ullrich on time trials, but

The week before the Tour de France is finally here. The second half of the season has already begun. The Giro d’Italia is long over, along with the Dauphiné and Tour du Suisse. Before you know it, we will be at Lombardi racing the last race of the calendar. I raced – well okay, I participated – in the Dauphiné after the Giro. I stopped with one day to go and even that was a few days too late. I have been at home ever since. It's a weird feeling being home after more-or-less racing non-stop for five weeks. You find yourself ridiculously restless and then absolutely knackered all at

This is the last chance for Jan Ullrich and his lonely quest to beat Lance Armstrong. With just a few days to go before the pair’s final Tour de France showdown, Ullrich’s optimism proves yet again that hope springs eternal. “I’d love to beat him,” Ullrich, 31, told Welt am Sonntag newspaper. “He’s dominated the race for the last six years and broken the records of the century. That's my motivation -- this is the last chance.” The red-headed German has consistently been Armstrong’s top rival in the Texan’s six-year Tour reign. Ullrich nearly derailed Armstrong in the exciting 2003

The reigning champion, Jure Robic, concluded his domination of the2005 Insight Race Across America through furnace-like conditionson a refreshingly cool, cloudy evening on the Atlantic CityBoardwalk. He completed the 3,502 miles in 9 days, 8 hours and 48minutes. Throughout this unusually hot race, Robic proved far moreresilient than any of his rivals to the brutal heat that bore downfrom above and bounced mercilessly back off the road. When the Appalachian mountains rose as the final, dauntingchallenge to legs weary from 2,500 miles' racing, Robic remainedsmooth and strong. No rider at

T-Mobile rolls into this week’s Tour de France with a stronger focus than ever. The German team will leave sprinter ace Erik Zabel at home to fortify its Tour objective of beating Lance Armstrong in his final run at the maillot jaune. Alexandre Vinokourov said the team is more motivated than ever, with Jan Ullrich, Andreas Klöden and Vino’ sharing the load on the road to Paris. “I don’t have individual objectives. The whole team is geared up for one objective: winning the Tour de France. I won’t be there to ride my own race, but to ride for the team,” Vinokourov said on the team’s web page.