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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

King Kelly pressing the flesh

Green banners fly at Kilkenny start

VN.TV presenter Dave Towle is doing color at Irish tour

The spectacular Lismore castle midway through stage

Maximiliano Richeze leads Panaria-Navigare in sprints

Irish podium girls wear green

Vanderbergh wins one for a team that ends its run at season's end.

Quick recovery: Olsen on the attack.

A busy, chaotic day with a series of attacks.

Out on the Vee

Roche is a big favorite here in Ireland.

Vanderbergh in yellow

Schleck and Pate give it a shot

Panaria gives chase

On St. Patrick's Hill

Lewis crests St. Patrick's.

Unibet.com will be motivated to defend the jersey.

Leipheimer's Tour performance sure didn't hurt his marketability.

Dear Lennard,Was there any official report as to why David Millar's rear wheel fellapart during the stage 19 time trial at the Tour de France. I have neverseen anything like that. He seemed to have multiple wheels with the sameproblem right up to his mechanic riding a new bike out to him. How weirdwas that?Christopher Dear Christopher,Yes, I saw that, too. We tried to find out that day what happened,but didn't get any official word as the team handed off the wheel to themanufacturer for analysis. Fortunately, we contacted Mavic to see whatthey had learned.LennardAnswer from Mavic:As