Self Portrait in Ocotillo CA
Self Portrait in Ocotillo CA
All Content
Component maker Thomson dies
L. H. “Ronnie” Thomson, president of the L.H. Thomson Company, died on Sunday. He was 68. Thomson was born on January 17, 1939, in Byron, Georgia. An entrepreneur, inventor, and philanthropist, he was best known in cycling circles for the high-end seat posts and stems his company made. The L.H. Thomson Company holds numerous patents on its components, and has sold more than 1 million Thomson-label products.
Boogerd, Menchov reject German TV report
Retired Dutch cyclist Michael Boogerd and his former teammate Denis Menchov have denied any connection to a laboratory targeted by anti-doping authorities for storing athletes' blood. The duo were among a number of athletes, including former Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen and a number of biathletes and cross country skiers, named in a report Tuesday by German television channel ARD as clients of Vienna-based laboratory Humanplasma.
Wrenches, rallies and the law
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Scottish cyclist killed in collision
Scottish time trialist Jason MacIntyre has died after a collision with a van while training in Fort William, according to reports in the British press. The 34-year-old Scot, a multiple British and Scottish time-trial champion who had hoped to make the British Olympic team, died while being airlifted to the hospital. His death came a day after he had been given funding to train for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Police said prosecutors will decide whether charges should be brought against a 35-year-old man.
Bettini aims high for ’08
Paolo Bettini already has back-to-back world titles, so why not aim for a repeat with the Olympic gold medal? Better yet, why not go out big and shoot for the double-gold and bag the world title and Olympic title in one final blaze of glory? That’s the Italian’s thinking, at least, as he rattles off top goals for the 2008 campaign.
Gerolsteiner heads into its final year
Gerolsteiner enters what will be its swan-song reason getting attention for all the wrong reasons. Following the departure of T-Mobile from the German cycling landscape, the team can expect to move up as Germany’s most important team. But the squad faces an uncertain future with title sponsor water-bottler Gerolsteiner closing its sponsorship at the end of the season as well as some lingering questions about star rider Stefan Schumacher.
Lab, Rabobank dismiss Vienna reports as ‘rumors’
The wires were crackling Tuesday with headlines of another possible illicit blood bank after a German television station went public with a long-whispered story that as many as 30 elite athletes were using a Vienna-based laboratory to dope. ARD reported that dozens of top biathletes and cross-country skiers and a trio of Rabobank riders were part of an elaborate blood-doping ring, but provided few details. All those involved vehemently denied the story.
Site of the Day – Sheldon’s take on torque
On Tuesday, we ran Lennard Zinn's discussion on torque and the options riders have to tighten - but not to over-tighten - those touchy little bolts on pricey components. Reader Ed Buffington wrote in to "tell Zinn to forget about his fancy Italian torque wrenches and check out the Tork-Grip from ShelBroCo!"
Polka-dotted David de la Fuente suffers on l’Alpe, 2006
Polka-dotted David de la Fuente suffers on l'Alpe, 2006
German TV alleges blood doping
The new year is just days old and cycling is already looking head-on at another potentially explosive doping story.
The German public television station ARD reported Tuesday that Michael Rasmussen, along with his former Rabobank teammates Denis Menchov and the now-retired Michael Boogerd, were among 30 elite athletes said to have used an Austrian-based laboratory for banned blood-doping practices.
ARD also alleged that biathletes and Nordic skiers used the Humanplasma lab, which has facilities in Vienna.
Spanish teams regroup for ’08
It was a rocky 2007 season for the three ProTour Spanish teams. Inconsistent results and nagging questions over the Puerto doping investigation overshadowed many of the highlights for the Spanish Armada during last year’s campaign. None of the three Spanish squads – Caisse d’Epargne, Saunier Duval-Scott and Euskaltel-Euskadi – managed to win a major tour or classic, though Samuel Sánchez saved what was an otherwise lackluster season for the Basque team with a late-surge in the Vuelta a España to finish third.
Questions of torque
Questions about torque wrenches, torque and threadloc
Stefan bound for Sausalito
Stefan bound for Sausalito
Kickin it Old School
Kickin it Old School
The things we do!
The things we do!
Fabian’s Canterbury Tale
Fabian's Canterbury Tale
Checkpoint flat at the NACCC
Checkpoint flat at the NACCC
Racing and the rant
The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in
USA Cycling names elite men’s ‘cross squad
USA Cycling on Monday named its elite men's team slated to compete at the cyclocross world championship on January 27 in Treviso, Italy.
Three riders - Jonathan Page, Tim Johnson and Ryan Trebon - earned automatic spots on the team, while USA Cycling coaching staff named Jeremy Powers to fill the remaining discretionary slot.
Page qualified as a silver medalist from the 2007 world championships while Johnson and Trebon earned their spots as the next two Americans in the UCI Cyclo-cross Rankings.
CONI has questions for Contador
Tour de France champion Alberto Contador and 2006 ProTour winner Alejandro Valverde are to be called before the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) prosecutor Ettore Torri over their implication in the infamous Operación Puerto doping scandal. Torri said on Monday that he wanted to speak to certain foreign-based cyclists, as well as the man central to the whole sorry scandal, Dr Eufemiano Fuentes.
Australian authorities promise extra-clean Tour Down Under
Australia’s Sports Anti-Doping Authority Monday announced anti-doping initiatives to be used at this month's Tour Down Under. The new rigorous program is being implemented in partnership with the UCI and Events South Australia, where the tour will be held, ASADA said in a statement. The 2008 Tour Down Under, from January 22-27, is the first stop on the UCI-sanctioned world professional cycling calendar and the first time that a UCI-sanctioned ProTour event has been held in Australia.
Rujano aims for Giro; Menchov wants Tour
José Rujano, the diminutive Venezuelan climbing sensation who almost rode away with the 2005 Giro d’Italia, hopes he can return to form in 2008 following two second-rate campaigns when he failed to live up to expectations. Caisse d’Epargne is the latest European team to give Rujano a chance following below-par runs at QuickStep-Innergetic in 2006 and Unibet.com last year. Rujano didn’t finish either the Giro or the Tour de France in 2006 and didn’t race a grand tour last year as his Unibet team was excluded from all ProTour events.
VeloNews Photo Contest 1/14/08
Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of our most recent contest. Larry Rosa managed to capture a terrific moment of cyclocross in “Mayhem,” reminding how much we love the discipline… perhaps as a spectator in instances like this, though. Thank you, Larry. Terrific work!
Bruyneel brings Astana, Cycling Academy to Albuquerque
Johan Bruyneel, the eight-time Tour de France winning directeur sportif, will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the end of the month with two of his new projects: Astana and the Johan Bruyneel Cycling Academy.
A spot of window shopping in Lucca, Tuscany
A spot of window shopping in Lucca, Tuscany
Mello Velo in Provece
Mello Velo in Provece
Wedding Limo
Wedding Limo
T’was a great summer – Jasper 2007
T'was a great summer - Jasper 2007
Enjoying CX at SA, Texas Cup Finals
Enjoying CX at SA, Texas Cup Finals
A Very Well Marked Course Through the Woods
A Very Well Marked Course Through the Woods
Greenbriar River Rail-Trail Tunnel
Greenbriar River Rail-Trail Tunnel
NC winter cup cyclocross pro/1/2/3 race
NC winter cup cyclocross pro/1/2/3 race
Landis appeal set for March
Floyd Landis's appeal of the doping ban that cost him the 2006 Tour de France title is scheduled to be heard by a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel in New York on March 19. "We are really looking forward to appealing the (U.S.) decision and optimistic the CAS panel will view favorably for Floyd," Landis attorney Maurice Suh told Reuters. The hearing represents Landis’s final opportunity to overturn a two-year doping ban. Last year, a U.S. arbitration panel upheld findings by a French laboratory that Landis had used synthetic testosterone in winning the 2006 Tour.
Boom takes World Cup race in France
Dutchman Lars Boom (Rabobank) won the seventh and penultimate round of the UCI World Cup of cyclocross on Sunday, scoring his second win of this year’s series in a race in Léivin, France. Last year’s winner of the world under-23 cyclo-cross and road championships has enjoyed a solid year in his first year in the elite ranks, winning a World Cup round in Pijnacker, in the Netherlands, in November. Boom said the win puts him in solid position for a podium spot at the world’s in Treviso, Italy, later in the month.
Chocolate, waffles and ‘cross – Road trip!
Just when you thought it was safe to start clearing your mind of tubulars, tire pressure, mud, sand, dismounts, remounts, clipping in, clipping out and all things ‘cross, I’m back. That’s right, now you can waste more time at work while reading Chocolate, Waffles and ‘Cross in the next few days coming straight at you from the motherland of cyclocross. I’m back in Belgium to get my butt kicked again. I can feel the pain – and taste the beer – already. [nid:71232]For the past year, Greg Keller, a buddy of mine and the brain child of
Cipo’ ordered to pay back taxes
Former world champion Mario Cipollini has been ordered to pay 1.1 million euros in back taxes for the years 1998 and 1999, the Italian news agency Ansa reported on Sunday. An Italian tax court found that Cipollini owed taxes despite claims that he was a resident of Monaco for the years in question. Cipollini, whose 42 stage wins at the Giro d’Italia appears to be an almost unassailable record, won the world championship in 2002 and retired in 2005.
Kessler gets two years
Former Astana rider Matthias Kessler has been handed a two-year ban after testing positive for testosterone, the Swiss Olympic authorities said Friday. The 28-year-old German will be suspended until July 26, 2009 following the positive test for the banned male sex hormone during a random doping control in April 2007. The day after the test Kessler finished fourth in the Belgian one-day classic Fleche Wallonne. In 2006 Kessler won a stage on the Tour de France while racing for T-Mobile, which has since pulled out of sponsoring cycling due to a series of doping cases.
Gullickson joins USA Cycling
Marc Gullickson has been named program manager for USA Cycling’s mountain bike and cyclocross programs effective January 14, the national governing body announced Saturday. Gullickson replaces Matt Cramer, who left USA Cycling late last year. Before his retirement in 2002, Gullickson raced for 13 seasons on the domestic and international mountain-bike and cyclocross circuits. He represented the United States at 10 world championships during his racing career — five times as a mountain biker and five as a cyclocrosser.
Friday’s Mailbag: Landis and Johnson
The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.
Performance Management Chart
A Performance Management Chart from a pro rider showing the months of January-March, ‘07. The blue line is his Fitness (Chronic Training Load), the Pink line tracks Fatigue (Acute Training Load), and the Yellow bar graph is Form (Training Stress).
Year-end review: Power analysis tips
Happy New Year! 2008 is here and it’s time to capitalize upon your 2007 training files and training log entries. For those of you who didn’t keep a training log in 2007, this is your chance to get started.
Boonen eyes team pursuit
Former world road race champion Tom Boonen is reported to be launching an audacious bid for an Olympic medal as part of a new Belgian team-pursuit squad in Beijing this summer. According to La Derniere Heure newspaper, the one-day specialist, one of cycling's best-known faces, will team up with Gert Steegmans, Sebastien Rosseler and Wouter Weylandt in a bid to score what would be a major upset. Australia holds the Olympic team-pursuit title, having won gold in Athens ahead of Great Britain and Spain.
Sinkewitz will appeal
Disgraced German cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz intends to appeal a one-year ban for testing positive for testosterone, the German cycling federation (BDR) said on Friday. Sinkewitz crashed out of the Tour de France in 2007, and days later it was disclosed that he had tested positive for the banned male sex hormone during a test taken in June. In November the BDR's disciplinary commission banned Sinkewitz, formerly of T-Mobile, for the reduced sentence of one year because of his tell-all confession about doping methods.
Facing ban, Kash’ still seeks team
Disgraced Kazakh cyclist Andrey Kashechkin has pleaded for a team to sign him despite facing a ban over a positive test for blood doping following the Tour de France. Kashechkin was sacked from the drug-tainted Astana team after he tested positive for homologous blood doping at an out-of-competition control in Turkey last August. Although he has contested the validity of that test, Kashechkin is facing a ban from the sport, a fate that seems likely to befall his former teammate, compatriot Alexander Vinokourov, after he too tested positive for blood doping.
CONI to investigate Puerto allegations
After more than a year of waiting for Spanish authorities to complete their work, Italy's anti-doping authority announced this week that it intends to take action against suspected offenders in the Operación Puerto doping scandal. Spanish judicial officials dropped charges against several riders in October of 2006, noting that use of performance-enhancing drugs was not illegal at the time of the alleged infractions. Other riders, including Alejandro Valverde and 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador were cleared after a review of documents in the case.
This Week in Pro Cycling – January 11, 2008
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the staff and editors at VeloNews.com.
Despite it being the off-season, it's been an interesting week in cycling. Our own Neal Rogers had an unusual set of interviews this week, triggered in part by last week's report on Frankie Andreu's decision to leave his director's position at Rock Racing.