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Aaron Olson always seems to save the best for last. Last year, some of his best results came late in the 2006 campaign, capped by second in a Tour of Poland stage. The T-Mobile rider scored his best-ever result in a European stage race with third overall at the inaugural Tour of Ireland. Olson snatched second place in the race-winning breakaway in stage one and hung on to the podium spot in the surprisingly tough five-day Irish tour. “It’s not bad considering I crashed 10 days ago,” said Olson, referring to a nasty training spill in Spain. “It’s a nice way to finish off the European

Brazilian Luciano Pagliarini (Saunier Duval-Prodir) won the fifth stage of the Eneco Tour of Benelux over 180km from Terneuzen to Nieuwegein on Monday. Pagliarini edged out Britain's Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile) and Australia's Graeme Brown (Rabobank) in a sprint finish. "This is the best win of my life. My first bunch of flowers in a ProTour race," said an elated Pagliarini, who dedicated the win to his newborn daughter. "This week has been fantastic for me. I've waited for such a long time for a win like this. These last months were really difficult." Belgium's Nick Nuyens

Tom Danielson, whose Discovery Channel team is disbanding at year’s end, will join Team Slipstream for 2008. The decision means a shift in bosses, from Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel to Jonathan Vaughters. And the lanky Coloradan, who spends half the year living outside of Girona, Spain, hopes it also means a ticket to the Tour de France, the one race Danielson never had a chance to do with Discovery. This year, a stomach ailment kept him off the Tour team. VeloNews caught up with Danielson as he was enjoying some altitude-tent time in preparation for next month’s Vuelta a España.

Backstreets of Grenade, France

Olson will be headed Stateside

Pagliarini takes the flowers

Belgian Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step-Innergetic) won the fourth stage of the Eneco Tour of Benelux on Sunday. Weylandt crossed the line ahead of Norway's Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) and Matthew Goss (CSC) after 182km of racing from Maldegem, Belgium, to Terneuzen, Netherlands. Belgian Nick Nuyens (Cofidis) kept the leader's red jersey. "It's revenge for the previous stages where I failed in the final meters," said Weylandt after his sixth success of the season. "I feared Thor Hushovd was coming back strong as we neared the line but I held on." A breakaway containing Italian

Stijn Vandenbergh (Unibet.com) won the Tour of Ireland on Sunday as Marco Marcato (Team LPR) won the final stage, outsprinting two breakaway companions on the finishing circuit in Dublin. Vandenbergh finished safely in ninth place to clinch the overall with Marcus Ljungqvist (Team CSC) second and Aaron Olsen (T-Mobile) third. David O’Loughlin (Navigators Insurance) put the hammer down just after the intermediate sprint in Kinnegad, some 60km into the 147km stage from Athlone to the Irish capital, where Matti Breschel (Team CSC) scored five points to take the lead in the points

Proving that he is one of the stronger American crit racers, Kyle Wamsley won the 24th edition of the Chris Thater Memorial on Sunday in Binghamton, New York. "I'm ecstatic ... just ecstatic!" the Navigators Insurance rider said as he caught his breath. Wamsley figured into every part of the race, leading out the first lap, hanging in the day's major break, and pulling a "caution to the wind" move at the end of the race. "This season's winding down, so I thought I'd through everything into the race. If I didn't make it, so be it. But I really wanted to win today,” he

Weylandt holds Hushovd off for the win

The final podium

O’Loughlin takes a dig

Marcato gets the stage

Danny Pate rode all but four kilometers of Saturday’s epic 232.5km fourth stage over the foggy mountains of Galway on the attack, but it was Norwegian hope Edvald Boasson Hagen (Maxbo-Bianchi) who took the cake at the Tour of Ireland. The Slipstream captain attacked 2km into the spectacular route across Ireland’s rugged Connamara country and was reeled in with about 2km to go as the heralded Boasson Hagen surprised the veterans with an early sprint to snag the win. “It was a lot of work for not a lot of reward,” said Pate, who was part of a five-man breakaway that dominated the Irish tour’s

Australian Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) won Saturday's third stage of the Tour of Benelux in a sprint finish ahead of Italian Francesco Chicchi and Thor Hushovd of Norway. Britain's Mark Cavendish, winner of the second stage on Friday, took fourth with Belgian Nick Nuyens, of the Cofidis team, finishing in the main peloton to keep the leader's red jersey. Despite his stage victory, McEwen expressed anger at his team's decision not to enter him in the Vuelta a España. "I was not ready to race this Tour of Benelux," he protested. "I would have preferred to do the Vuelta

There's a reason they call this place the 'Emerald Isle.'

Boasson Hagen wins it. The Tour of Ireland has provided plenty of opportunities for young talents to come to the fore.

Five men on the run. The escape looked like it might succeed, until the peloton 'came down on us like a steel train,' said Pate (center).

The Unibet biys did what it took to protect the jersey

Schleck put the pressure on

CSC's Bochmann was one of the riders who didn't finish.

Pate and Beauchat try to hold off the chase

The peloton starts to pick up the pace...

DBC Events Announces Excel Sports CrossVegasWorld Class Cyclocross Racing in Las Vegas on September 26August, 2007 (Boulder, Colo) — Boulder-based event organizerDBC Events has announced details about Excel Sports CrossVegas scheduledfor September 26 in Las Vegas. The UCI Category 2 race will attract topU.S. Cyclocross racers as well as Europeans chasing all important UCI pointsto the "Entertainment Capital of the World" for an early cyclocross seasonshowdown. The title sponsor is another Boulder company, Excel Sports, a leadingonline and catalog retailer of bicycles, parts and accessories.

For the past three years, Christoph Sauser has been the almost man at the UCI world mountain-bike championships. The 31-year-old Specialized rider lost close duels with Frenchman Julien Absalon in 2005 and 2006 — in ’05 a poorly timed flat tire derailed Sauser, while in ’06 Absalon simply climbed away from him on the last lap. The bad luck followed the Swiss rider to the 2006 marathon world championships, where a mechanical knocked him out while he was riding in the lead with eventual winner Ralph Naf. Sauser finally grabbed his first rainbow stripes as an elite at the 2007 UCI marathon

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,

T-Mobile’s Mark Cavendish won the second stage of the Eneco Tour of Benelux, prevailing in a sprint here on Friday. The British rider beat American Fred Rodriguez (Predictor-Lotto) and Belgian Wouter Weylandt after the 200-kilometer race from Antwerp. Cofidis’ Nick Nuyens retained the leader's red jersey. It is the second win in Belgium this year for the 22-year-old Cavendish after the Escaut Grand Prix, and his eighth success this season following wins in the Four Days of Dunkirk, Tour of Denmark and Ster Elektrotoer. "The team worked very well at the end. My teammates put me in an

The Tour of Ireland continued Friday with a 194-kilometer stage from Tralee to Ennis. Our man Andrew Hood is there covering what he has described as his "favorite race of the year... maybe my favorite since I began doing this." Given his annual work schedule - which includes all of the classics, the Tour, the Giro and the Vuelta - those are pretty high marks.

Sprints are always a question of timing. Go too soon, you might get caught. Wait too long, you’re sucking fumes. A day after going too soon at the Tour of Ireland, Slovenian speedster Borut Bozic (LPR) timed it just right to pip a pair of ProTour boys in Friday’s undulating and windy 194km third stage from Tralee to Ennis. The main pack roared in for a bunch sprint after a promising six-man break featuring Pat McCarty (Slipstream) and Ben Day (Navigators Insurance) was reeled in with less than 10km to go. Baden Cooke (Unibet.com) bolted away with 300 meters to go on a rising right-hander

'Cross race set for Interbike

Sauser's still chasing rainbows.

The local offices of Ireland's oldest political organization, Sinn Fein.

The boys from Navigators Insurance are ready to rock

Bernard Eisel would like a stage win...

... so would Baden Cooke, but he says his priority is protecting the jersey.

Stijn Vandenbergh chillin pre-stage

Aaron Olson and Pat McCarty relaxed pre-stage.

There is nothing stilted about the Tour of Ireland.

Crosswinds were a factor along the shore of the Shannon River

The Ross Castle near start in Kilkenny

Bozic wins

Racing alongside the Shannon

Send in the clowns

CSC ramps up the chase on the narrow Irish roads

Hunt in the hunt

Pasamontes and Vandenbergh

Pate does a little stretching in preparation for a late break

Vandenbergh keeps the leader's jersey for another day

Dear Readers,

Welcome to this week's edition of The Prologue, the weekly news summary from the world of competitive cycling by your friends at Velonews.com.

In June I discussed my concern regarding psychological effects of use of performance enhancing drugs. I had also heard from some of the riders about medical injuries related to doping. On Monday August 13th, Joe Papp, addressing a South Florida high school coaches’ conference on behalf of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, discussed the doping-related medical complications he encountered in July of 2006. I asked Papp to tell me more about his injury to illustrate the medical dangers of doping. These are injuries the riders keep to themselves as part of the shame and secrecy of doping.

Belgium's Nick Nuyens (Cofidis) won the first stage of the Eneco Tour of Benelux on Thursday after a tough day of racing over the climbs made famous by some of cycling's Belgian one-day classics. Nuyens dominated Dutch ace Thomas Dekker (Rabobank) and Spaniard Jose Luis Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne) on the uphill finish at the end of the 189.5km race from Waremme to Eupen, taking the overall lead from Dutch teammate Michiel Elijzen. Elijzen, who had won the prologue on Wednesday, finished several minutes in arrears as some of the climbs, which feature on the one-day classics

Andrew Hood has been enjoying his time in Ireland. We're glad he's camera, but a little disappointed that we didn't get the assignment, too.

It almost seemed unfair when the world No. 1 team ganged up on an untested youngster in Thursday’s hilly second stage at the Tour of Ireland. But Stijn Vandenbergh, Unibet.com’s unheralded neo-pro, proved he’s savvier than his 23 years when he fended off a collective effort by Team CSC to keep his yellow jersey dreams alive in the 166km run from Clonakilty to Killarney along Ireland’s stunning southwest coast. That’s not to say there weren’t some dicey moments for Vandenbergh, who surprised the favorites in Wednesday’s opener into Cork and take a huge 13-minute head start on all but nine

Papp in Florida

In the hospital at Pescia.

Nuyens takes the stage and the lead

Borut Bozic, who later sprinted to fourth, before the start

Unibet.com lines up in front of Clonakilty's main church

Norwegian national champ Alexander Kristoff (Maxbo-Bianchi)

The peloton couldn't stop for a pint, but we could

Craig Lewis (Slipstream) riding strong in Ireland

A view from Thursday's spectacular route

View from Healy Pass summit

Frank Schleck (CSC).

Vandenbergh had reason to celebrate after fending off a tough challenge from CSC.

Pasamontes helped tow the boss back into the field and then went to work patrolling the front of the field.

CSC's Frank Schleck

Vandenbergh held his own and survived a tough day in yellow.

Breschel best as Vandenbergh endures CSC assault

Slipstream's Lewis and Dugan

Navigators' Sergey Lagutin

The UCI is ready to renegotiate the structure of the ProTour, Pat McQuaid said Wednesday, but the organization’s president said he is not prepared to compromise on the overall “governance of cycling.” McQuaid and the organizers of the sport’s three grand tours – the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España – have argued for more than a year over the structure the ProTour, the number of teams and economic issues, including television rights. Much of that dispute involves Tour de France organizer Amaury Sports Organization (ASO), which also promotes such major races as Paris-Nice,

We finally managed to wrest our boy Andrew Hood away from his frothy, dark liquid breakfast this morning and sent him off to cover the first stage of the Tour of Ireland on Wednesday. We remembered to grab his camera before sending him on his way.

Hardship is the middle name for any professional cyclist, but Aaron Olson and Craig Lewis both overcame more than their fair share of setbacks to make it to Wednesday’s start of the reborn Tour of Ireland. Olson (T-Mobile) was broadsided by a car just 10 days ago in Spain while Lewis (Slipstream) shook off jet lag after arriving in the start in Kilkenny barely 12 hours before starting the decisive 174km stage to Cork. Despite the stumbling blocks, both managed to sneak into the winning 10-rider move with Olson slotting into second at 14 seconds behind the late-attacking Stijn Vandenbergh,

Levi Leipheimer says he is “sad” that the Discovery Channel team won’t continue after this year and that he is having to look for a new team, especially as he is enjoying his “best season ever.” But after finishing on the podium at the Tour de France and winning the Tour of California and two stages of the Tour de Georgia this year, Leipheimer should have no trouble finding a new sponsor for 2008. But he would rather stay put at Discovery. Asked to comment about the team’s departure from the sport at the end of 2007, Leipheimer said in a telephone interview with VeloNews Tuesday night, “It’s

McQuaid is willing to discuss the make up of the ProTour.

Prudhomme, McQuaid and teams' representative Patrick Lefevre tried to show unity earlier this year, but the relationship proved to be tenuous.

Nicolas Roche, racing on Irish national team, is big draw

Riders roll in for sign-in in front of the Kilkenny castle