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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

Vuelta a España organizer Unipublic released a preliminary start list for the three-week national tour, which begins on September 1 with a team time trial in Vigo, Spain. Americans Christian Vande Velde (CSC), Chris Horner (Predictor-Lotto) and Tom Danielson (Discovery) are scheduled to start the race. Horner and Vande Velde both completed the Tour de France last month. Americans Tyler Farrar (Cofidis) and Jason McCartney (Discovery) are listed as reserves for their respective teams. 2007 Vuelta a España - Preliminary Start ListAg2r Prevoyance1. Arrieta Lujambio José Luis, (Sp)2. Deignan

It was during the 72nd kilometer of stage 5 of the TransRockies Challenge that my go juice ran out. The once-rolling trail had turned abruptly skyward, clawing its way vertically over loose sand and boulders. My bike was no longer a means of transportation; it became an awkward, heavy anchor that I pushed and all-too-often banged into. The sun emerged from behind the clouds, and the haze from a nearby forest fire lifted. It was hot. I hiked. And hiked. I imagined my brains boiling in my head and puffs of steam blowing out of my ears, like Yosemite Sam might do after swallowing a stick of

After a way-too-long 15-year hiatus, the Tour of Ireland is back on the international racing calendar with a race worthy of one of Europe’s most colorful and rich cycling traditions. Twenty years after Stephen Roche won cycling rare treble of the Giro, Tour and world title and more than a decade after Sean Kelly finally hung up his cleats, Irish cycling could see a big boost from the return of a popular national tour marking its return after the 1992 demise of the Nissan Classic. A new generation of racers will be writing a new page in Irish cycling history with Wednesday’s start in

Millar had a bad start on Stage 19 through no fault of his own.

The full rock-garden treatment.

The day began with an easy enough start so as to lull the unsuspecting into complacency.

Some made the meistake of looking forward to the descent

Does it track blood-loss, as well?

Share the road!

Spent....

The only thing that will get these guys to stand up...

... is food.

Irish tour back with flourish

For now, we're using this as our press room... really.

Ireland has a lot to offer. Adding bikes is just a bonus

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. Sorting through this last round of images, we found ourselves checking back in with Beki Titus Waisath’s “The sky's the limit . . . or is it?” Check it out. The picture is not only in a beautiful setting, it leaves you wondering… wondering about what’s over the horizon and what’s around the next corner. Beki, please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work out the details and we’ll send you a copy of our new

American Brian Lopes (GT) and Dutchwoman Anneke Beerten (Bikepark.ch) took the second round of the 2007 Jeep King of the Mountains competition, held August 18 in San Luis Obispo, California. Each now hold their respective series leads with one race remaining in the three-race series. Lopes and Beerten both took easy wins with winners of the opening Jeep KOM races — American Jill Kintner and Czech Michal Prokop — missed the competition. Both Kintner (GT) and Prokop (Author) are hoping to make their country’s respective BMX Olympic teams, and participated in an Olympic tune-up event in Beijing

VeloNews Photo Contest: A new winner and a new gallery

Lopes heads to a win,

Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans and three-time world time-trial champion Michael Rogers say next year's road race at the Beijing Olympics will be tougher than expected. The Australian pair made their assessments after racing on the circuit Saturday as part of at the Good Luck Beijing Road Cycling International Invitational, the official 2008 Olympic test event. Italian Gabriele Bosisio won the race, three seconds ahead of Kazakh Alexandr Dyachenko with Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali third at 0:47. Evans took fifth in the same time. Jon Garcia was the top finisher for the six-man U.S.

The anticipated rain did indeed make an appearance during Saturday afternoon's 50km Pro/Am Challenge in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove. Undaunted, our man Casey Gibson was there, doggedly snapping away. Here’s what he saw through a very soggy lens indeed.

Rainy conditions soiled Saturday’s pro/am “test-run” criteriums in Downers Grove, Illinois, prompting many riders to either pull out early or opt out of racing altogether in order to save themselves for Sunday’s national-championship events. At the end of the day a pair of winners — Ken Hanson (BMC) and Brooke Miller (TIBCO) — each emerged from breakaways to take waterlogged wins. Rain was heaviest during the women’s 40-minute race, where Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home rider Alison Powers slipped off the front early. Miller was first to jump across, followed by Katharine Carroll (Aaron’s

Alessandro Ballan (Lampre-Fondital) had to work hard to win the 12th Vatttenfall Cyclassics on Sunday in Hamburg. The 27-year-old Italian held off Spaniard Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and German Gerald Ciolek (T-Mobile) to win a bunch sprint at the conclusion of the 229.1km race around Hamburg. Ciolek, 20, the world under-23 road champion, said he chose the wrong moment to make his move. "It is always tough to judge when to attack and I guess I didn't quite time my attack properly this time," said Ciolek. "But I am very pleased with third. Against such strong competition this is a giant

Tina Pic (Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home) collected her fifth national title in six years while Daniel Holloway (VMG Racing) picked up his first on Sunday at the USA Cycling Professional Criterium Championship in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove. As in Saturday’s Pro-Am Challenge, rain played a starring role — particularly in the 80km elite men’s race, which saw crashes in each of the last four corners and perhaps half the 163 starters finish. The field mostly stayed together during the 50km elite women’s race, until trackie Anna Lang (Karl Strauss-SDBC) took a dig with four laps

Canadian Martin Gilbert brought his Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast team its biggest win yet on Sunday by winning the USA Cycling Professional Criterium Championship in Downers Grove, Illinois. Kirk O’Bee (Health Net-Maxxis) finished second to collect the national-championship jersey as first American across the line. Teammate Shawn Milne took third. As in the earlier races, rain was a factor — a light drizzle was the best the heavens had to offer during the 100km race, and crashes were commonplace. The Kelly Benefit squad had hoped to put Dave McCook into the jersey, but he was having

It was a wet weekend in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, as the country's zippiest assembled to name the champions of American criterium racing.Soaked to the bone, our man Casey Gibson was there for Sunday's big events.

Women's winner Brooke Miller (Team TIBC) leads in the rain

Ken Hanson (BMC) wins the men's pro-am event

Will Frischkorn (Slipstream) leads the break

Colavita chases

Brad Huff with a unique radio mount

Eventual winner Miller leads the bunch

Frischkorn in the men's break

Colavita chases

Hansen wins

Ballan outspeeds the bunch

O'Bee enjoys a stars-and-stripes moment

Tony Cruz leads the chase.

Martin Gilbert has a little powergel at the start. Must work pretty well.

Galloway winning the men's elite for VMG. Velocity Made Good.

Health Net's Tim Johnson takes a dig.

Kelly goes to the front with 10 laps to go, and held it for the win.

National Champion Paul Martin leads the Elite Men's field.

The Pro peloton snakes down the hill.

Kirk O'Bee and crew.

A wet day. The elite men's peloton heads up between the umbrellas.

Tina Pic handles another wet corner with grace...

... on her way to the podium, again.

Laura Van Gilder leads the women's peloton.

Slipstream drives the peloton when Dominguez slips off the back, hoping to drop him for good.

The ageless Steve Tilford contemplates another podium in his long career.

Pic wins a fifth title

Holloway takes the V

A clash of generations is theatening to usurp an anticipated Italian win at the Hamburg one-day cyclassics Pro Tour race this Sunday. But for reasons perhaps better explained by the Italians, the likelihood of up-and-coming German sprinter Gerald Ciolek (T-Mobile) claiming victory ahead of aging compatriot Erik Zabel (Milram) appears an outside bet. In 11 previous editions Italian riders have won five times, and always made it on to the podium of a race which, thanks to its mainly flat profile, is favored by the sprinters and late breakaway specialists. If a bunch sprint is on the cards at

Defending champion Jens Voigt (CSC) sealed his second consecutive victory in the Tour of Germany and German sprinter Gerald Ciolek (T-Mobile) picked up his third stage win as the 2007 race concluded Saturday in Hanover. The 35-year-old Voigt had all but sealed victory after winning Friday's time trial in Fuerth. The German finished the 1292.5 km tour in 30 hours, 57 minutes and 21 seconds, 1:57 ahead of American Levi Leipheimer (Dscovery Channel). Third was Spaniard David Lopez Garcia (Caise d’Epargne) at 2:10 back. "I enjoyed a pretty quiet day today, I was able to appreciate the

Colombian Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) won the 29th edition of the Vuelta a Burgos on Saturday. Vasil Kiryenka (Tinkoff) won the fifth and final stage, a 158km leg between Ona and Burgos. Vuelta a BurgosStage 51. Vasil Kiryenka (Blr), Tinkoff, 158km in 3:39:422. Francisco Perez Sanchez (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, at 0:093. Stefano Garzelli (I), Acqua & Sapone, at 0:114. Daniele Nardello (I), LPR, same time5. Antonio Olmo Menacho (Sp), Andalucia-Cayasur, s.t.Final overall1. Juan Mauricio Soler (Col), Barloworld, 14:31:372. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, at 0:023. Carlos

Horizontal sleet, rime ice, 87-mph gusts of wind and freezing temperatures forced the cancellation of this year’s Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb on Saturday. Six hundred cyclists had come from all over New England and from as far away as the West Coast for the chance to race the 7.6 miles to Mt. Washington’s summit in what is called, all too aptly, “the world’s toughest hillclimb.” Now they’ll wait another year to battle the Auto Road’s 12 percent average grade. “We have agonized over this decision,” said Howie Wemyss, the general manager of the Mt. Washington Auto Road, noting

Fans lining Second Street in downtown Fernie, British Columbia, greeted Roddi Lega and Tim Heemskerk with makeshift signs and cheers as the two rolled across the line to take their sixth win of the seven-stage 2007 TransRockies Challenge. With the victory, the duo, racing under the sponsorship of United Cycles, solidified their GC win over Costa Ricans Federico Ramirez and Ivan Amador of the La Ruta de los Conquistadores team, and Rocky Mountain Bicycle’s third-place team of Matt Hadley and Matt Green. “I think the biggest advantage we had was our recovery — we got a massage and rest and

Can the up-and-coming Ciolek . . .

. . . upstage the wily veteran Zabel?

Voigt wins his second consecutive Tour of Germany

The winners

And a well-deserved beer to celebrate

If Jens Voigt hangs on after Friday’s decisive 33.1-kilometer time trial and wins the Deutschland Tour, he can be grateful to reigning world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara and the rest of his CSC teammates. It’s thanks to victory in the 42.2km team time trial in stage 2 that Voigt was able to defend the yellow jersey in Wednesday’s climbing blitz up high in the Austrian Alps. Powered by Cancellara, Team CSC took 25 seconds out of runner-up Discovery Channel and 57 seconds out of Caisse d’Epargne. Those seconds gave the renowned rouleur Voigt an invaluable head start as he faced off

Ben Ollett and Simon Koster did not come to British Columbia’s TransRockies Challenge harboring hopes or dreams of winning the seven-day, 600km stage race. Heading into the 93km third stage slog around Nipika mountain resort, the duo sat in 32nd place, nearly three hours off of the leading United Cycles team of Canadians Tim Heemskerk and Roddi Lega. The two Americans, roommates and collegiate racers together at Rutgers, came hoping only for a physical challenge. “We needed another goal to train for this year,” said Koster, 26. “I was coming home from collegiate road nationals and

A TransRockies Gallery - Day 4

Jens Voigt of CSC surprised several time trial specialists by winning the Tour of Germany's eighth stage Friday and all but ensuring a repeat of last year’s overall victory. Voigt, the defending champion, dominated the penultimate stage, a 33.1km time trial, in a time of 39:42 to hold off Laszlo Bodrogi of Hungary and American Levi Leipheimer. Bodrogi finished second at 14 seconds while Leipheimer, who finished third overall in the Tour de France thanks mainly to his efforts in the race's second time trial, was third at 25. Leipheimer, who is on the lookout for a new team following

Several elite ProTour riders, who have built solid reputations in the European peloton, are slated to compete Labor Day weekend in the Greenville Hospital System USA Cycling Professional Championships. Medalist Sports confirmed that George Hincapie (Discovery Channel), Bobby Julich (CSC), Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel), and David Zabriskie (CSC) are among the athletes who will compete in one or more of the dual championship events September 1-2. "We are very pleased to see George, Dave and Levi return along with many of the top Pro Tour riders who don't often compete in the United

Brad Huff will be facing some serious competition if he intends to keep his stars-and-stripes jersey at Sunday’s USA Cycling Professional Criterium Championship in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, Illinois. National criterium titles will also be awarded in the elite men’s and women’s categories, while various amateur events will be held over the 1.2-mile course throughout the day on Saturday. Although it doesn’t offer prize money like this month’s earlier top-dollar races in Charlotte, North Carolina or neighboring Elk Grove, Illinois - overall prize money for all 13 races held over

With a kilometer to go in the sixth stage of the 2007 TransRockies Challenge, a brutal 116km journey from Elkford to Sparwood, Frederico Ramirez and Ivan Amador looked to have the stage win in their hands. The Costa Ricans, sponsored by their homeland’s La Ruta de los Conquistadores, held a 30-second advantage over GC leaders Tim Heemskerk and Roddi Lega (United Cycle) all day. The Ticos, who sat second in GC, 21 minutes down on Heemskerk and Lega, dropped the Canadians early, hoping to win the longest and hardest stage of British Columbia’s seven-day, 600km mountain-bike stage race. It

Voigt finished 4:46 behind Leipheimer in the 55km Cognac - Angoulême TT at the Tour de France last month, but he has extra motivation this time.

Ollett (left) and Koster prepare for another TransRockies stage.

A high calorie breakfast gets the riders through the day

Life ain't always easy on the TransRockies, but what the heck... they could be riding the subway in New York.

Lining up for another round