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It appears Andre Greipel is a man who can do no wrong. Before this week, the palmarès of the 25-year-old from Rostock amounted to five wins in much smaller stage races. But all of a sudden, he's stepped up to the ProTour level in a very, very big way. And after a third stage victory Saturday in Willunga, he finds himself the likely champion of the 2008 Tour Down Under with just one stage remaining.

Arnaud Jouffroy lined up as the odds-on favorite on Saturday at the world junior cyclocross championship in Treviso, Italy. He didn’t disappoint, but he had to fight to live up to expectations. Based largely on the strength of his sixth-place finish at world’s last year, the fact that the five men who finished ahead of him had graduated to the U23 category, and his stellar results all season, the 17-year-old Frenchman was the pick of many in a sport often dominated by Belgians.

LOS ANGELES - January 25, 2008: Wheelbuilder is proud to announce it has entered its second season as the official sponsor of the UCLA Cycling Team. They have enjoyed a close relationship with the team over the 2006-07 season and look forward to continuing to help the team develop into a Regional and National Championship contender in the coming years.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency faces a lawsuit claiming that it overstepped its own rules by intending to test a cyclist’s B urine sample after the A-sample test came back negative. Associated Press sportswriter Eddie Pells reported Thursday that an anonymous professional cyclist has filed a lawsuit against USADA on behalf of “John Doe,” seeking an injunction to prevent the anti-doping agency from ever testing the B sample.

Dear Readers,
Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the world of competitive cycling by your friends at VeloNews.com.

The road season seems to start earlier and earlier every year. It's not even February, and the ProTour stars are already logging the race miles.

Maureen Bruno-Roy, winner of the masters women’s 30-34 race at December’s USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships, has been stripped of her title because she was ineligible to compete in that category. Runner-up Josie Jacques-Maynes has been declared the winner, with Sally Annis second and Kristi Berg third. The problem stems from a violation of rules 1H4 and 1A29 of the 2007 USA Cycling Rulebook, the national governing body noted in a press release.

Belgian police this week questioned former world cycling champion Tom Boonen and searched his parents' home as part of a drugs investigation involving another cyclist. The Tour de France green jersey winner's name came up during a police inquiry into Belgian cyclocross rider Tom Vanoppen. On Wednesday, Belgian police carried out a search of Boonen's parents' home in the northern town of Retie, a move described by prosecutor Marc Rubens on Friday as routine.

The stage has been set for a showdown of epic proportions. In searing heat, a highly animated fourth stage of the Tour Down Under had the potential to impose time gaps, but the finale in Strathalbyn saw the fourth bunch gallop in as many days. High Road's Andre Greipel took a convincing win over race leader Mark Renshaw, who kept his ochre jersey, thus leaving the door to overall honors wide open for Saturday's stage in Willunga.

It hasn’t rained all week in Treviso and that could mean that this weekend’s world cyclocross championships could be settled on what is probably the fastest world’s course since the 2002 championships in Zolder, Belgium.

The Trevosiso course is designed by former world champion Adrie Van der Poel.

The 3.25km course is expected to be fast... unless it rains.

The course begins with a 150 meter slight uphill to the finish area.

The surface is made up of a sand and gravel mix, that could muck up in wet conditions.

After a quick ride through the grandstands, the course drops onto grass...

.. and takes a long sweep through a meadow.

Riders were picking up a lot of mud on Friday.

The course turns back up a slight rise...

... and transitions back to that sandy gravel.

The world's at treviso

Another twisting route through another section of grass.

And then on to the day's biggest obstacle, a 26 percent slope

that many riders find too tough to ride.

Try to imagine the traffic jam on the first lap.

A brief rest, again on gravel.

Then comes a quick drop onto asphalt...

... and into the pits.

The world's at treviso

After the pits, a twisting ride through hill and meadow and a fast drop to the lake

A short, but steep hill, features a tough off-camber drop.

The final 200 meters features a sharp right-hander...

... and that uphill charge to the finish.

We counted 26 TV cameras on the course, including this arial trolley along the lake

As teams roll out their new squads for 2008, VeloNews.com is rolling out its new Web site, packed with new features.

Interbike could be looking at Las Vegas in a whole new way come 2009 —in the rear-view mirror. The trade show’s contract with the Sands Convention Center ends when the ’09 expo closes its doors, and Interbike industry consultant Lance Camisasca reviewed a couple of options for alternative venues — including Denver, Colorado, and Anaheim, California — during the 11th annual Bicycle Leadership Conference January 19 in San Diego, California. Camisasca said Interbike's top venue requirements include:

With a crowd of past, present and future BMX stars proudly looking on, USA Cycling CEO Steve Johnson and Steve Roush of the U.S. Olympic Committee officially opened the Olympic BMX training track on January 21 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California. Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, four members of the U.S. BMX Olympic talent pool sped down the 19-foot-high starting ramp and onto the 370-meter course, which is dotted with berms and sizable jumps.

A group of roughly two-dozen women will converge on the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs on Friday to learn what they can do to encourage female leadership in cycling. They will be exposed to information from an impressive slate of attendees and speakers presenting an array of topics like health concerns for female athletes, opportunities and realities in women’s racing, as well as unique considerations when training moms.

It’s rather comical how meticulously I pack my bikes and gear for a big race trip, such as this recent adventure to Belgium. Everything is cleaned, wrapped, folded, and hermetically sealed, then put in its perfect place. However, on the return leg of trips such as this one, it’s a different story.

Could Levi Leipheimer and defending champion Alberto Contador be left out of the 2008 Tour de France because of the bad-news legacy of the Astana team? That’s what French and Spanish media reports are suggesting as the Tour de France organization mulls its invitations for the upcoming edition. Sources say lingering questions over whether Contador is linked to the Operación Puerto investigation and Astana’s scandalous legacy from 2007 might prompt Tour organizers to leave the team out of the season’s most important race when invitations are announced in the coming weeks.