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Day three

Day four

Going up: There's more of this sort of thing in the 2008 Tour of California

José Luís “Chechu” Rubiera – who rode in six of Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour de France teams – said he’ll decide this week whether he’ll continue with his career. The veteran Spanish climber already told VeloNews during this year’s Vuelta a España that he was facing difficulties finding a new contract for 2008 following the dissolution of Discovery Channel. With job offers scarce, Rubiera said he would rather not race than to compete on a smaller team with a low salary. So far, he admits that the market is tough. “The situation is pretty bad. It isn’t so much that offers aren’t coming in,

The committee empaneled to review Michael Rasmussen’sfiring and ejection from this summer’s Tour de France issued a report Mondaysupporting the actions of Rabobank team officials, but questioning theirdecision to allow the Danish rider to start the race in the first place. After a three-month review, the Vogelzang committee of inquiry – organizedby the team’s sponsor, the Dutch financial firm Rabobank – concluded that team officials acted properly when they firedRasmussen at the height of the Tour, while he was wearing the yellow jersey.“The report is critical and extremely thorough,” said

Sorry for my tardiness with this journal entry. It’s been more than a week since the double-header UCI weekend in my hometown of Boulder and I think I have finally caught my breath. Once again, Chris Grealish and his Denver/Boulder Courier Events crew put together quite a show. Saturday’s Redline Cup and Sunday’s Boulder Cup offered contrasting and challenging courses, huge crowds and tough competition. Not to mention, some sore legs and lungs for yours truly. And, despite the lactic-acid buildup still lingering in my quadriceps, it was nice to have some big races close to home. Sure, I

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. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Georgia Gould (Luna) and Davide Frattini (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light) reprised their victories at Saturday’s Beacon Cyclocross by winning the second round of a New Jersey double-header, Sunday’s HPCX in Jamesburg. As on Saturday, Gould tackled both the men’s Category 2-4 and elite women’s races. But while she roared through the men’s field to beat the men on Saturday, on Sunday she was never a factor, finishing 10th and fueling speculation that she was tired. But the former Verge MAC champion proved that wasn’t the case a few hours later when she stomped to victory in the SRAM Elite

There were some big men on campus Sunday at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Among the 26 elite male riders in attendance for the UCI C2 Squawker Cross were national champion and Durango resident Todd Wells (GT Bicycles), mountain-bike star Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Litespeed), 2005 U23 cyclocross champion Troy Wells (Clif Bar) and Danish national champion Joachim Parbo (CCV-Protek). The warm, welcoming weather attracted a modest number of spectators, who watched Wells and Kabush battle it out to the end. The two former Olympians broke away quickly, with Durango’s Joey Thompson (Rocky

Rubiera says he's at a turning point.

The Vogelzang committee concluded that Rasmussen shouldn't even have been allowed to start the Tour.

A rough and dusty start as the Redline Cup

Colorado mud

Geoff Kabush signs a juiced-up VeloNews cover at the post-race party

Big crowds turned out for the soon-to-be legendary Boulder Cup

Busted

That ain't no cyclocross bike

Brothers Frank and Andy Schleck confirmed Sunday they have extended their deals with the CSC team until 2010. The two Luxembourgers had reached the end of their contracts with the Danish outfit. Andy, 22, finished second in the Giro d'Italia this year and is being touted as a future Tour de France champion, while classics-specialist Frank, 27, won the Amstel Gold Race in 2006.

American Katie Compton and Dutchman Lars Boom took top honors in Sunday's muddy UCI cyclocross World Cup in Pijnacker, the Netherlands. For both, it was their first victory in a World Cup event. Compton (Spike Shooter), the reigning U.S. women's cyclocross champion, took the lead from the gun, surrendering it only briefly in a sandy section that was faster to run than to ride. “The course was very hard, really muddy and sandy, so your skills and power had to be on; lose focus for a second and you crash into a barrier or dump it in the mud,” Compton told VeloNews. Compton regained

Compton wins her first World Cup

Boom beat a top field, including Sven Nys

Luna’s Georgia Gould and Davide Frattini (Colavita) were the big winners in the Verge Mid-Atlantic Cyclo-cross series event in Bridgeton, New Jersey on Saturday. A former Verge MAC champion, Gould returned to the series in spectacular fashion, starting her day by “warming up” in the men’s category 2/3/4 race. Starting near the back of the field of 55 riders, Gould steadily improved her position until she caught the leading pack of Jeremy Dunn (Cambridge), Patrick Bradley (Beacon), Kevin Kralik (Guys Cycles), John Brewer (Squadra Coppin/IM SAAB) and Verge MAC points leader Eric Linder (Hunt

Gould knocked off the competition in the men's 2/3/4 race before dominating the women's event.

D'Hon't claims Pevenage knew of Ullrich dopingA former Deutsche Telekom soigneur says that the head of the German cycling team knew about Jan Ullrich’s use of EPO in the mid-1990s, according to a report slated for publication in Monday's edition of German weekly magazine Focus. Former Telekom soigneur Jef d'Hont said Rudy Pevenage, the ex-boss of the team, was fully aware of the fact that the 1997 Tour de France winner had used the banned-blood booster. D’Hont, whose memoirs led to a string of high-profile doping confessions earlier this year, said Pevenage told him Ullrich

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 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. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

German sportswear giant Adidas will end its sponsorship of the T-Mobile cycling team at the end of 2008 at the latest, and perhaps earlier, after a raft of recent doping controversies that have rocked the team. Adidas said its contract would be not be extended beyond its 2008 expiration date and added that the company was seeking to terminate it with immediate effect. "This has been relayed to T-Mobile officials this week," said Adidas in a statement. "It's the result of the revelations of the last few days." Adidas was referring to the doping confessions of rider Patrik Sinkewitz,

Tour de France hope Michael Rogers got a reprieve Friday when the UCI officially cleared him of any suspicion following testimony by ex-T-Mobile teammate Patrik Sinkewitz last week. Some media reports suggested that Sinkewitz, following testimony he gave to the Germany cycling federation (BDR), hinted that Rogers could be among riders who might have undergone banned blood transfusions ahead of and during the 2006 Tour. On Friday, the UCI issued a statement confirming that Rogers is not implicated in any doping affair. “Contrary to reports in certain sections of the media, the Australian

The president of the UCI, Pat McQuaid, told Danish television on Fridaythat Michael Rasmussen had no place in the sport after lying before theTour de France.Rasmussen, a former two-time winner of the race's polka dot jersey forthe best climber, was pulled out of this year's race by Rabobank whilewearing the fabled yellow jersey due to major doping suspicions arousingfrom revelations that he had missed several random doping controls.Rasmussen said Thursday helied over his whereabouts - having insisted he was in Mexico when anti-dopingcontrollers failed to find him in Europe to carry

USA Cycling released its 2008 National Racing Calendar (NRC) on Wednesday, outlining a schedule that offers more than $1.2 million in prizes for elite cyclists competing in the U.S. next year. Entering its 12th season, next year’s NRC features 35 events across 23 states and will again crown the nation’s top domestic individuals and teams. Of those 35 races, 31 of them will feature women’s events while 28 will include men’s racing. Beginning February 19 with the Santa Rosa Women’s Grand Prix in California, the 2008 NRC spans seven months, concluding with the Priority Health Grand Cycling

Rogers rides during Stage 8 of the 2007 Tour

Jef d’Hont -- the former Telekom soigneur who spilled the beans on extensive doping practices within the German powerhouse during the 1990s -- plans to reveal more accusations against Jan Ullrich in a new book. The Belgian plans to publish in early 2008 new allegations that will point the finger squarely at 1997 Tour de France champ Ullrich. “There will be new information incriminating Jan Ullrich in the book,” d’Hont told the German sports magazine, Sport Bild. “Jan Ullrich doped with EPO in 1996.” D’Hont’s first book, “Confessions of a Soigneur,” released this spring, blew the lid on

In yet another bizarre twist of just where Michael Rasmussen was in the weeks and days before the start of the 2007 Tour de France, the Danish climbing specialist now says he never went to Mexico as he previously insisted and says that his Rabobank team knew about it all along. Rabobank fired Rasmussen while wearing the yellow jersey just four days shy of a likely Tour victory over alleged discrepancies in reports of his whereabouts during critical, pre-Tour testing windows for surprise anti-doping controls. “First of all, I would like to clearly state that I was not in Mexico in June. I

Dear Bob,Thank you for penning the column. I read with interest your notes on cycling deaths notes on cycling deaths . You raise an interesting point: many cycling deaths result in no criminal legal accountability. I think we all know cyclist who have died on the road. In every instance that you bring up had there been a vehicle involved instead of a cyclist I am sure charges would have been filed as a result of material damage. A question I have, is there a statistic or information on what percentage of cycling deaths result in criminal charges (or any for that matter) being filed? And as a

Ullrich continues to deny allegations that he doped

Jef d'Hont insists Ullrich and others doped on Telekom

Rasmussen was not in Mexico... but he says his boss knew that.

Legally Speaking - with Bob Mionske: A fatal bias?

If Jonathan Baker could press the reset button, he would have started his European cyclocross odyssey by hitting a few more easy races back in the United States. As it was Baker opted for a tough final tune-up schedule before making the move to Belgium in early October (see "Livingthe 'cross dream"). Since then the 33-year-old software engineer, who sold his house and took a four-month leave of absence from his job, has been mixing it up with the world’s best, taking his lumps and learning along the way. Back home Baker is a top-level amateur racer who can hang with most of the U.S.

With such Tour de France veterans as Magnus Bäckstedt, Julian Dean, David Millar, Christian Vande Velde and Dave Zabriskie on its 2008 roster, Slipstream-Chipotle appears to be a certain starter at next year’s Tour — taking over the role as “the American team” previously played by Discovery Channel, U.S. Postal, Motorola and 7-Eleven. At the Tour presentation in Paris last month, both Slipstream’s American team manager Jonathan Vaughters and Danish directeur sportif Johnny Weltz were confident of performing well. “My first big wish is of course to get the invitation to the race,” said Weltz,

Chris Sheppard (Santa Cruz-CMG) and Emily VanMeter (River City Bicycles) won their respective races during the fifth stop of the 2007 Cross Crusade November 4 at Barton Park outside Estacada, Oregon. The men’s race saw a neck-and-neck finish between Shannon Skerritt (Vanilla Bicycles) and Carl Decker (Giant), with Skerritt taking the runner-up spot by a few inches. In the women’s event, it was a sweep by the River City Bicycles team with Emily VanMeter taking the win ahead of teammates Bridgette Stoick and Dani Dance. The next Cross Crusade race, slated for November 11 at Estacada Park,

Hamburger admits to EPO abuseBo Hamburger, the ex-rider who holds the distinction of being the first to test positive for the banned blood booster EPO in 2001, admits that he started using the drug back in the 1995 season. Hamburger said the EPO use continued through the 1997 season. The revelations come as part of a tell-all book he’s just released in his native Denmark. “Doping was part of cycling in the middle of the 1990s and the victories back then came as at a level playing field because we all took it,” he writes in his book. “It was a general practice. My alternative would have been

Baker on the run in Tabor

Dominant in the U.S., Trebon struggled to keep pace in Kalmthout

It's hard to get the 'hole shot' when you start in the 15th row

Baker's father is lending a hand on this trip

The Slipstream crew might even give Backstedt a bigger bike

Zabriskie made the jup from CSC

Millar brings experience - both good and bad - to the Slipstream roster

Will this route suit the boys in argyle? Vaughters seems to think so.

Vaughters is hoping for a Tour invitation in '08

Boulder, Colorado didn’t get a USGP this year, but Chris Grealish and his team of Boulder-Denver Couriers put on a weekend of UCI ’cross racing that rivaled the best of the series. Crowd estimates were put over 2000 and CrankBrothers even made the trip out to set up a tent in the venue and do some racing. Since it’s more than midway through the domestic season there are not too many unseen tech’ secrets, but we spotted a few new items, mostly in the form of tires.Click Image for Full Gallery

There are some things I really like about this job and my regular trips to Italy have to be on the top of that list. I visited the offices of Guerciotti in Milan this week. Company founder Paolo Guerciotti and his son Alessandro welcomed me to the downtown facility that also serves as a showroom and warehouse. In its heyday in the 1980s, Guerciotti bicycles had a huge presence in the U.S., due in no small part to Ten Speed Drive Imports in Florida. At the time, Guerciotti was building 8000 bikes a year. Now, annual production is down to 1500, but the company continues to thrive thanks to

Defending Giro d’Italia champ Danilo Di Luca finds himself with so few contract prospects for next season that he’s made the extraordinary step of securing his own sponsors to underwrite his salary in the hopes of offering his services to a team for 2008 at a bargain-basement price. Di Luca - banned for three months by Italian authorities last month and stripped of his ProTour title by the UCI - seems too hot to handle for teams nervously watching the reaction from race organizers taking a harder line in handing out race invitations. “We’ve come up with our own solution and I have some

The case involving Andrey Kashechkin’s challenge to the fundamental structure of doping controls by sports bodies got under way on Tuesday in Belgium. Kashechkin, a former member of the Astana team, tested positive for homologous blood doping - the injection of donated blood to boost endurance - while on holiday in Turkey this past August. His teammate Alexander Vinokourov also tested positive for the same method during the Tour de France in July. The two are the first athletes to test positive for homologous blood doping since American Tyler Hamilton and Spaniard Santiago Perez were charged

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. Randall Levere sent in a terrific shot of one of our favorite riders with his shot “Tim Johnson fully focused at Cross Nationals 2006, Providence, RI.” Great work, Randall. That’s a nicely composed shot that shows the intensity of cyclocross racing quite well. Please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work out the details and we’ll send you a copy of our new Coors Classic DVD. Meanwhile, go ahead and take a look

Nathan O’Neill was terminated from the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis following confirmation of a positive test for the prescription appetite suppressant Phentermine. The team was informed on September 24 that O’Neill’s A sample returned the positive result in a test performed on August 12, following the Tour of Elk Grove. His B sample confirmed the positive result in a test performed on October 24. The team terminated his contract immediately upon notification of the positive B sample on October 29. According to UCI/WADA code, riders can legally use Phentermine out of

Redline’s new Conquest Team

TRP supplied its Euro X brake anodized Red, a special color for its sponsored athletes. The fender mounts on the seatstay bridge are new for 2008.

If you peek behind the Shimano Dura-Ace crank you can see the CNC machined chainstay yoke and chainstay bridge.

The scandium Conquest Team bike and frame comes with Ritchey’s WCS carbon ’cross fork. The consumer version of the Conquest Team bike comes with an Ultegra transmission instead of Dura-Ace.

Travis Brown (Trek-FRS) trumped the goat head thorn problem with NoTubes.com rims and sealant. The tires are the Jones Cross model by Bontrager.

Johnson (Cannondale-Leer-cyclocrossworld.com) and Jeremy Powers (cyclocrossworld.com-Leer-Ridley) rode Mavic’s R-SYS clincher wheels with Michelin tires on Saturday.

On Sunday Powers and Johnson rode the new Mavic Cosmic Ultimate wheel with Dugast Typhoon rubber. He took his seat bag off for the race, in case you were wondering.

Powers rides Ridley’s new X-Fire, the red paint scheme is custom for the cyclocrossworld.com team.

The cyclocrosswold.com riders were using Swiss Stop’s green GHP compound instead of the Yellow King carbon compound on the carbon Mavic wheels. They claimed the green compound is quieter.

Steve Elmes, former Independent Fabrications front man who's now retired from the industry, helped out Stu Thorne (cyclocrossworld.com) in the pits this past weekend. In lieu of a repair stand he demonstrates the bass guitar derailleur tuning met

Barry Wicks (Kona-Yourkey.com) rode file tread tires on Sunday.

His were from the ultra-exclusive French maker FMB.

His teammate Trebon was on the new Dugast Pipistrello.

Trebon had FSA’s new SL-K Light crank with a ceramic bottom bracket. He chooses the SL-K over the K-Force because it comes with the choice of a 130mm BCD, which he prefers.

Geoff Kabush was sporting a new cap from Dopers Suck.

Dopers Suck founder and front man Brandon Dwight was in the top 10 on Sunday.

Todd Wells (GT) was on the podium Saturday and came back from a broken chain on Sunday to finish in the top 10.

Wells was riding SRAM’s new Red group with a single 42-tooth chainring and the guts removed from the left shifter.

KORE supplies Wells with his stem, bar and brakes.

Katie Compton (Spike Shooter) spent the weekend in her new UCI points leader skinsuit made by her sponsor Vermarc.

Compton had a few new sponsors to show off including Challenge and Enduro bearings.

She rode the Grifo XS in the rear on Sunday.

Her Primus Mootry has a welded scandium rear triangle that is mated via scandium lugs to carbon top, down and seat tubes manufactured by Reynolds.