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If Danilo Di Luca expects to ride into Milan a week from Sunday wearing the maglia rosa on the final stage of the Giro d’Italia he’s going to have to fight for it before that. Had there been any doubt about that, it was certainly erased during Saturday’s 192-kilometer ride from Cantu to Bergamo. In one of the most exciting stages in modern Giro history, Acqua & Sapone's Stefano Garzelli took the fourteenth stage in emphatic fashion Saturday in Bergamo, barely edging out Saunier Duval's Gilberto Simoni and world road champ Paolo Bettini of Quick Step-Innergetic.

Former Telekom soigneur Jeff d’Hont said he injected 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich with the banned blood booster erythropoietin (EPO), adding another element to a series of damaging revelations regarding Germany’s top pro cycling team. D'Hont, the former Telekom soigneur whose recent published memoirs led to a string of stunning confessions from former team riders, said in an interview published in Sunday's Bild magazine that he injected Ullrich with EPO. "I injected him once with EPO in the arm," said D'Hont. “It lasted around 10 seconds. It was as if I was injecting

Tina Pic gave the United States Cycling Team its ninth medal and sixth continental title with a victory in the elite women's road race at the 2007 Pan American Road and Track Championships on Saturday. Pic won the 72-kilometer road race to conclude competition for the American squad by outsprinting silver medalist Yumari Gonzales of Cuba and bronze medalist Gina Grain of Canada. Pic's victory gave the American women a sweep of the road events after Alison Powers won Friday's time trial. Given the relatively flat course and short distance of the road race, Pic was designated as

Fresh off a successful European road trip, the professional continental Navigators squad announced its return to domestic criterium racing with a dominant performance at Saturday’s Kelly Cup in Baltimore, Maryland. The team put six men in a 20-strong escape that formed with 15 laps of the 1-mile course remaining, and it was Aussie Hilton Clarke (Navigators) that struck the winning blow, soloing the final four laps to victory and nearly lapping the field in the process. Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) won the women’s event in tight field sprint over U.S. national criterium champion Theresa

Garzelli wins the stage, Simoni wins time

Di Luca dodges a bullet

Lake Como

Krauss tries to get a jump on the big hill

Rubiera and others give chase

Di Luca's not too worried...

but maybe he should be.

Garzelli's Giro is already a success

Simoni puts in an attack in Bergamo.

More climbing ahead on Sunday

Britta Bannenberg, the legal expert who launched a fraud charge against Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich last July, said on Friday revelations about practices in the Telekom team may lead to those charges being dropped. Bannenberg, a Criminology specialist, lodged a complaint in July 2006 against the 1997 Tour de France winner after packets of blood found in the offices of doping-scandal doctor Eufemiano Fuentes were linked to the German. But Bannenberg is having second thoughts after it emerged the use of EPO, the blood-booster agent, was rife within Telekom. Erythropoietin stimulates the

Till this 13 kilometer uphill race of truth, surprises have been few at this 90th Giro d'Italia. But Marzio Bruseghin's performance Friday was exactly that. With nowhere to hide on the slopes leading to the Santuario Di Oropa, 32 year-old Bruseghin defied the odds to win the thirteenth stage and stun everyone including himself with a superlative ride against the clock.

Bjarne Riis, winner of the 1996 Tour de France, admitted Friday that he had taken the banned blood-boosting drug EPO while competing for the German team Telekom. "I have taken banned substances, I have taken EPO. I bought it and took it myself," he said, Riis said at a press conference, adding that team doctors bore no responsibility for his actions. "It is ultimately the cyclists themselves who must take responsibility," he said. Riis said he took EPO from 1993 until 1998, including the 1996 season when he won the Tour de France. Asked if he was a worthy Tour de France winner, Riis

In an emotional press conference Friday, Bjarne Riis became the first racer to admit he took banned performance-enhancing products on his way to winning the Tour de France. Riis ended Miguel Indurain’s five-year streak in 1996 and admitted Friday he used the banned blood booster EPO, steroids and human growth hormones from 1993 to 1998. Riis, now owner and manager of Team CSC, verged on tears as he publicly recanted his drug use. The 43-year-old Dane said he always regretted using the banned substances. “It’s possible that I’m not a hero anymore,” he said. “I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed

The Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) has recommended a 21-month suspension for 2006 Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso for his involvement in the Operación Puerto blood-doping scandal, the ANSA news agency reported on Friday. Coni's anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri has asked the Italian cycling federation to hand out the suspension because of Basso's guilt in "using or attempting to use banned substances," according to the same source. The UCI's ethics rules would keep Basso from signing a contract with ProTour teams for an additional 21 months, but the grand tours do

Stage 13

Bruseghin powers in for a win

[nid:38705]Liquigas leader Danilo Di Luca has emerged unscathed and on top in the Giro's first big day in the mountains, taking the stage in Briançon and the maglia rosa to boot. Only five riders finished within 20 seconds of Di Luca, and only two-time Giro champion Gilberto Simoni was able to match him stroke for stroke on the savage slopes of the Col d'Izoard.

One of the top cyclists of the past 15 years, Erik Zabel of Germany, admitted on Thursday that he had taken the banned blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO) while competing for German team Telekom in 1996. "I took EPO in 1996 but I stopped taking it after a week because of secondary effects," a visibly emotional Zabel told a press conference. "It was my only experience with doping in my whole career." The Telekom team was a major force in 1996, when one of its riders, Bjarne Riis of Denmark, won the Tour de France. Zabel, one of the world's leading sprinters, said he was unsure what

Greetings Bob,Coming from Germany and now cycling in Atlanta, mostly as a commuter, I havethe following question: Would you know of an insurance I could enroll in that covers two example situations:Aa car hits me and my bike - I am injured, the bike is damaged and the driver does not have insurance (does happen, yes ...).I cause an accident (my fault) and the car crashes into something - driver is hurt, car is damaged, I am fine.Any info would be very much appreciated - thank you very much!RegardsC. L.Georgia Dear C.L.,Your question could not be more timely! This Memorial Day weekend marks

Perhaps it was with no small measure of irony that Allan Davis – one of the nine riders kicked out of last year’s Tour de France for being implicated in the Operación Puerto blood doping ring – won stage three at the Volta a Catalunya on Wednesday one year to the day the scandal exploded on front pages across Europe. The investigation into the alleged blood doping ring has since paralyzed cycling and the sport is grappling on how to tread the confusing and treacherous legal waters spawned by the scandal. Despite the tough language coming out of the UCI that confirmed Puerto riders such as

Di Luca attacks on the Col D'Izoard.

DiLuca takes the win and the jersey, beating Simoni - who trails on GC by 2:34 - at the line..

Not an easy day on the Agnello

Piepoli drives an elite group

With two low-risk escapees ahead, Saunier kept tabs on anyone else that tried to get away.

Piepoli provided a lot of power

Di Luca charges off near the top of the Izoard.

Simoni tried a couple of digs on the lower slopes of the Izoard.

This is the Alessandro Petacchi we all remember, the world-class sprinter delivered to the line by a well-orchestrated machine of a lead-out team and fending off a field of the world’s best over the last meters of a stage. It’s enough to make a guy forget the last 12 months.

OLYMPIC CYCLIST TEACHES KIDS ABOUT CYCLING AND TEAMWORKColorado Cyclist Erin Mirabella Debuts Children's Book AboutBike RacingBoulder, CO, May, 2007 - VeloPress is pleased to announce thepublication of Olympic cyclist Erin Mirabella's first children's book,Gracie Goat's Big Bike Race. The book is now available at VeloGear.comand will be available in bookstores throughout North America in June 2007. Inspired by Mirabella's own Olympic experiences, Gracie Goat's Big BikeRace addresses teamwork and facing one's fears with a creative and lightheartedtouch that

Showing a bit of its strength, the Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team, presented by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. stamped its mark on stage three of the FBD Insurance Ras. Team racer Dominique Rollin had a convincing stage win, extended his lead in the points contest and moved up to third in the general classification while 21-year-old Jesse Anthony moved into the race leader’s yellow jersey, extended his lead in the King of the Mountain contest and took the lead in the competition for best young rider. The field rolled out of the village of Loughrea under dark skies and with a sense of anticipation

It’s over — for now. After nine long days that gyrated wildly between mundane and melodramatic, the Floyd Landis arbitration hearing concluded Wednesday with lawyers from both sides making impassioned closing arguments. Lead USADA prosecutor Richard Young said it was a case of simple science that should lead the three-person arbitration panel to rule against Landis, and find him guilty of using synthetic testosterone to win the 2006 Tour de France. The Landis side countered that the results produced at the French national anti-doping lab were completely unreliable, and that anything but a

Jennie Reed won her second medal of the week at the 2007 Pan American Roadand Track Championships on Wednesday, adding a silver medal in the matchsprint to the gold she won on Monday in the keirin.After securing a spot in Wednesday's semifinals on Tuesday, Reed tooktwo out of three head-to-head sprints from Mexico's Nancy Contreras toadvance to the gold-medal final against Cuba's Lizandra Guerra.  Guerra,who finished second to Reed in the keirin two days ago, got the best ofReed to claim the gold.In his first race since announcing his return to competitive cycling,Colby

Petacchi wins the drag race

Press Release - Olympic cyclist teaches kids about cycling and teamwork

The aftermath of an ugly crash at the line

Bettini hasn't had a lot of luck in this Giro.

Buffaz on the attack.

Noe was grateful for an easy day in the saddle.

Not exactly a frantic chase, the peloton gradually picked up the pace and got their man when they needed to.

Petacchi nails it.

Stage 12. Can you blame anyone for leaving?

In a Giro d’Italia that’s being hyped as a showdown between the young guns, a pair of grizzled veterans stole the spotlight in Tuesday’s grueling 250km climbing stage sun-baked mountains above Genova. Leonardo Piepoli and Andrea Noè, two unsung workhorses in an age of millionaire GC captains, clawed their way to the podium at the end of an explosive battle that saw the end of Marco Pinotti’s pink jersey run.

German rider Danilo Hondo said on Tuesday he was abandoning his legal fight against a two-year suspension for doping and would concentrate on resuming his career next year. "There are too many uncertainties to continue with legal appeals," Hondo said. "I am now going to wait for the end of my suspension. I'm sure I can ride for another three or four years." His ban ends in January 2008. Hondo, 33, who rode under a Swiss license for the Gerolsteiner team, was suspended after he twice tested positive for the banned stimulant carphedon during the Tour of Murcia in Spain in March 2005. He

Michael Rasmussen hasn’t raced a mountain bike since the 2001 world championships, when he flatted 2km from what looked like an all-but-certain second world title. Since switching to the road, the Dane has evolved into one of the most consistent climbers in the peloton, winning back-to-back best-climber’s jerseys and a stage each year at the 2005-06 Tours de France. For 2008, Rasmussen will be taking another stab at the fat tires in a bid to earn a spot on the Danish Olympic team for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. “I just received my mountain bike from Colnago yesterday at my bike

Side steppin'Dear Lennard,Regarding your April 10, 2007 article "Whatis it?", I was wondering if you had any thoughts or opinions on modern-daypedal systems which are attempting to bring the ball of the foot directlyto where the pedal spindle typically is. The two that cometo mind are SideMount pedal (SMP) of Pasadena, CA and VistaMagic X of France.DavidDear David,I have not used the Vista Magic X, but I’ve used Steve Lubanski’s SideMount Pedal and Tom Slocum’s HighSierra dropped pedal built into a Speedplay. Both of them feel absolutelyfantastic to pedal with; most riders would be amazed

Old Wives’ Tales; Traditions; Superstitions: Most people have a few they abide by, knowing that they’re not really factual, but they like the ideas or the story behind them. Euros, and particularly those in the cycling world, have a particular affinity to odd beliefs and one of the most joked about topics by Americans racing in Europe is “Euro Logic”. When a country is specified it normally becomes “Belgian Logic”. Most likely the fond memories of the time that most of our generation spent in Izigem with the u23 National team have something to do with this. While most people admit that

American Olympic cross-country hopeful Heather Irmiger (Subaru-Gary Fisher) of Boulder, Colorado, scored an impressive third place finish at the sixth round of Germany’s Budesliga national series in Albstadt on May 20. Irmiger finished four minutes down on Russian Irina Kalentyeva (Ergon-Topeak) and three minutes behind German national champion Sabine Spitz (Ghost International). “The course really suits me,” Irmiger said. “The long climb mentally is very [good] for me. The people were screaming so loud, it was amazing. I never had [a race] like this.” Irmiger’s podium performance came

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. We could probably come up with any assortment of artistic and aesthetic reasons for naming this week’s winning photograph. Hey, some of you might even buy it. Bottom line, though, is that after a week of tawdry doping news, the thought of heading to Moab with our young son had a lot more appeal than did a picture of some top-of-the-heap pro’ bike racer racing to the line for a paycheck. Sorry. So we’re naming Matthew

What’s more important, character or science? That was the principal question on the penultimate day of the Floyd Landis arbitration hearing, and could be the crux of whether or not Landis is found guilty of using synthetic testosterone to win the 2006 Tour de France. In one corner was USADA attorney Matt Barnett, who used most of Tuesday’s morning session to attack Landis’s integrity, wondering about the spate of doping offenses on his Phonak team, why he’d penned a hateful Internet post directed at Greg LeMond, and what motivated him to stand by when his business manager made a

German doctors Lothar Heinrich and Andreas Schmid, implicated in systematic doping by a former Telekom team cyclist, were suspended on Tuesday by their employer, the University Hospital Freiburg. "This measure was taken in consultation with the two interested parties: it is provisional, the time for the independent commission of inquiry to make its conclusions known," the hospital said in a statement, adding that they were ending their association with the team that evolved out of Telekom, T-Mobile. Heinrich and Schmid ended their association with T-Mobile after revelations by a former

Piepoli held off some powerful climbers.

'Chicken' wants to race the road and the trail in Beijing

Di Luca reeled in and ultimately passed the young Schleck

Noè wasn't feeling too grumpy after the stage finish.

This was the second long break for Hincapie in this Giro

Liquigas put a lot into the chase

Parra tries to hold off the inevitable...

Piepoli makes contact first.

A good day for Saunier Duval

Hincapie has been busy.

The escapees

Irmiger is improving on the international scene.

My 14-year-old-son riding the porcupine 4X4 trail, Moab, Utah

In a nation that’s produces sprinters like Texas churns out linebackers, Danilo Napolitano hardly rated on the power rankings in the Italian sprinter hierarchy. All that changed Monday for the 26-year-old Sicilian when he bullied his way past Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) and Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) to win the 177km ninth stage by a whisker.

Dr. Brent Kay, heretofore Landis’ personal physician, steps into Geoghegan’s role.

For the first time of his career, Dave Zabriskie is making a serious stab at the overall classification of a grand tour. Without putting too much pressure on himself, Zabriskie is hoping to be able to stay close to the Italian mountain goats for as long as possible and make a solid showing when the Giro ends June 3 in Milan. “I know I can finish a three-week tour. I am going to try harder than I have in the mountains,” Zabriskie told VeloNews. “We’ll see how I can do in the GC. I want to see how I can do, but I don’t want too much pressure, either.” Team CSC entered the 2007 Giro with a

In its first day of racing in Europe the Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team presented by Sierra Nevada Brewing came out swinging at the FBD Insurance Ras on Sunday, with young rider Jesse Anthony capturing the King of the Mountain jersey and team sprinter Dominique Rollin taking fourth place on the stage. On an uncharacteristically sunny day, the field set off from Naas after a brief morning transit from Dublin. Enthusiastic crowds assembled to greet the race as the riders took a neutralized parade ride through the village streets. Once outside of town, it didn't take long for the racing

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,

If Floyd Landis is cleared of charges that he used synthetic testosterone to win the 2006 Tour de France, Monday could go down as the arbitration-hearing version of stage 17. Bolstered by scientific testimony from a pair of defense side experts, the Landis team appeared to poke significant holes in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s allegation that he cheated his way to victory on the Champs-Elysees. Landis had been scheduled to take the stand on the seventh day of this nine-day hearing at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, but his turn didn’t come up until late afternoon, and the

Brad Huff and Jennie Reed scored two gold medals for the United States as the Pan American Road and Track Championships got under way Monday in Valencia, Venezuela. Huff won the men’s omnium with 15 points, narrowly beating Colombia’s Juan Arango (16) and the Dominican Republic’s Jorge Perez (16) in the five-event competition. In the omnium, the lowest score wins. Huff finished second in the 200-meter time trial, fifth in the scratch race, third in the individual pursuit and fifth in the points race before clinching his overall victory with a close win in the kilometer time trial. In the

Napolitano nails it at the line in Lido Di Camaiore.

Milram worked hard to deliver Petacchi to the line.