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The team takes a training ride on Park Avenue in Moab, Utah

The team as it prepared to race the Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico

Dekker wins the finale and the overall

Horner rode well enough to stay in the top five overall

The men's podium

Moninger wins the stage and takes third overall

O'Neill celebrates his overall victory

Asplund wins the women's finale

The women's podium

Alejandro Borrajo (Rite Aid) scored his second victory in the 2007 USA Crits Southeast series on Friday, crossing the line with relative ease on a cool, cloudy night in Spartanburg, South Carolina. With some of the more well-known squads exiting the series for other races and rest blocks (among them Health Net and BMC), the dynamic throughout the SmithBarney Classic was a mixture of agitation and fatigue as tired riders looked for fresh opportunities in a shrinking assembly.

Ukrainian Yaroslav Popovych will lead Discovery Channel during the Giro d’Italia following the departure of last year's champion, Ivan Basso. The 27-year-old heads up a team with great experience - 58 grand tours among them - with a view to winning at least one stage and wearing the overall leader's pink jersey at some point during the race, which runs from May 12 to June 3. Popovych, third in the 2003 Giro, replaces Basso after the Italian quit the team last Monday, saying that ongoing suspicions regarding his alleged connection to the Operación Puerto scandal were damaging the

Chris Horner (Predictor-Lotto) seized the overall lead of the Tour of Romandie on Saturday as Igor Anton Hernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) won the penultimate stage in Morgins. "The Tour of Romandie is a great race and this was a great mountain stage, so it's a great win for a climber like me," Anton told Reuters afterward. Anton Hernandez was off the front with a lead of some 10 seconds when Horner attacked with 3km remaining in stage 4, a rain-soaked, crash-marred 155.9km leg between Charmey and Morgins. Thomas Dekker (Rabobank) and John Gadret (Ag2r) quickly grabbed his wheel, and soon

Brice Jones (Jelly Belly) and Jill McLaughlin (Touchtone Climbing) took commanding wins at the Downtown Silver City Criterium, the fourth stage of the 2007 Ben D. Altamirano Tour of the Gila. The stage did little to shake up the general classification, with Nathan O’Neill (Health Net-Maxxis) and Mara Abbott (Webcor) retaining their pink leader’s jerseys. Wind and blowing dust assaulted both the professionals and amateurs who raced around the 1.1-mile downtown circuit, which included two short, punchy climbs. The small ascents created separations in both pro races — but the course’s long,

Georgia Gould (Luna) and Canadian Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) won the May 5 National Mountain Bike Series cross-country race at Southridge Park in Fontana, California. The two, who both won the NMBS cross-country rounds in Fountain Hills, Arizona, and Santa Ynez, California and claimed the April 15 Sea Otter Classic cross-country, are unbeaten this year on North American soil. As she has done all season, Gould simply rode away from the women’s field from the get-go. Her teammate Katerina Nash held Gould’s wheel for the first of two laps around the 7.5-mile course, but then Gould powered away on

The podium at Spartanburg

Dekker gestures as Anton goes for the win

Horner in yellow

Horner, Dekker and Gadret

Going up

Gould rode away from the competition

Kabush struggled on the climbs, but still had enough in the tank to take the win

While they may disagree about the structure of the ProTour, race organizers, team representatives and the UCI joined in what they called “a sacred union” to fight doping by excluding suspect riders and stepping up random drugs tests in the run-up to the grand tour season. Representing their respective constituencies, UCI president Pat McQuaid, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme, and Quick Step manager Patrick Lefevere said there is near universal agreement that teams will at least temporarily bar riders formally implicated in the Spanish 'Operación Puerto' doping

After several close calls, AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork finally cracked the code on day 5 of the 2007 USA Crits Southeast series. Taking a good 5-meter gap on Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefits), Keith Norris blasted through a serious headwind that swept through Greenwood, South Carolina, during the final moments of Thursday's Uptown Greenwood Pro Cycling Challenge. "With 15 laps to go the wind started kicking up really bad, and going through the turn you could actually feel it catching your wheels,” Norris said. “At turn number four I jumped and started sprinting. The cookie crumbled the right

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,

Italian rider Matteo Bono (Lampre-Fondital) won the third stage of the Tour de Romandie on Friday, but his breakaway group narrowly failed to deprive Paolo Savoldelli (Astana) of the yellow jersey after they squandered a 19-minute lead. The experienced Savoldelli held on to his overall lead by just a handful of seconds over fellow Italian Marco Pinotti (T-Mobile) after his rivals tired and hesitated in the final kilometers. Pinotti had been more than four minutes behind Savoldelli in the overall standings, in 98th place, at the start of the day. Bono and third-placed Pinotti had led for

Michael Rasmussen’s road back from a career-threatening crash in last October’s Giro dell’Emilia continues in the Giro d’Italia. The Danish climbing specialist is hoping to be back in peak form in time for a run at a third consecutive King of the Mountains crown at the Tour de France, and the mountainous profile of the Giro provides the perfect training ground. “I am doing the Giro, only as preparation for the Tour, though,” Rasmussen told VeloNews in an e-mail. “If the legs are good, I might try something in a few stages. If not, I am prepared to take a beating. I guess the latter scenario

Web programmer/developerSports publisher seeks web programmer/developer for its high-profile web sites. Successful candidate would be responsible for website maintenance, site design/architecture/presentation, development of a new corporate site, and application development. Must have three to five years' experience with Internet-based businesses and strong knowledge of the Internet, emerging technologies and computers, including: MySQL, including phpMyAdmin web interfacePERL programming, including DB, XML, and librariesProcess management and scheduling via cronHTML, php

The National Mountain Bike Series heads to dusty Southridge Park in Fontana, California, this weekend for its third round of 2007. The Fontana NMBS runs from Friday through Sunday and features the full collection of series events: Super D, short-track, cross-country, downhill and mountain cross. Southridge Park has a long history in off-road racing, and each winter hosts a popular winter mountain-bike series. In 2006, the park made its debut as a NMBS stop, and the event gave the continent’s premier off-road series a new foothold in the lucrative Southern California market. The NMBS lost

"Breaking Away." "American Flyers." "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure." "The Triplets of Belleville." Cinematic history is replete with paeans to the sport of bicycle racing. Okay, so those are the only four we could think of. And to be honest, "Pee-Wee" is pushing the envelope. But this weekend brings a new cycling flick — the Graeme Obree biopic "The Flying Scotsman — and we'd like to know what you think of it, if only because we can't see it ourselves (it's being released in a few select cities, one of which ours is not). Send your capsule reviews to us at

Tom Peterson (Slipstream-Chipotle) and Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Sutter Home) survived brutal winds — and in Peterson's case, a softening rear tire — to win the Fort Bayard Inner Loop road race, the third stage of the 2007 Ben D Altamirano Tour of the Gila. Peterson’s victory came after his Slipstream-Chipotle squad shattered the entire men’s field within the first 10 miles of the 80-mile race. With gusting winds bombarding the peloton from the race’s start in Fort Bayard, five miles east of Silver City, New Mexico, Slipstream-Chipotle flexed their muscles on the opening climb to nearby

They may disagree about much, but Prudhomme, McQuaid and Lefevere agree on the doping question.

Bono takes the stage

Savoldelli holds the overall lead, but just barely

The break rolls

Pinotti goes it alone

Bono and Beppu chase

Kabush and Vanlandingham hit the line at the same time last year

Peterson takes the win on a softening tire

Bausch defies the women of Webcor

O'Neill wasn't worried

Abbott keeps that pink jersey

UCI president Pat McQuaid said he expects the Operación Puerto doping investigation to haunt this year’s Tour de France and other major races. With reports of a larger, 6000-page dossier poised to be released by Spanish authorities, The Associated Press reported that McQuaid said it might take the rest of the year to fully digest the mountain of new evidence and documents as part of the ongoing investigation. Until then, cycling’s governing body might not be able to do much to keep riders out of racing action because it needs more time to figure out which riders might be sanctioned and

In recent weeks, American Floyd Landis leveled several serious charges against staff and testing procedures at the French national anti-doping laboratory - National de Depistage du Dopage at Châtenay-Malabry- alleging that samples and data have been mishandled throughout the nine-month probe of the doping case stemming from an apparent testosterone positive following his victory on stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France.

T-Mobile suspended team doctors Andreas Schmid and Lothar Heinrich on Thursday in the wake of allegations made by a former soigneur that the pair was involved in doping practices during the 1996 Tour de France. T-Mobile general manager Bob Stapleton said the doctors would be suspended while Germany’s University of Freiburg – with which both Schmid and Heinrich are associated – conducts an independent review of the allegations. “After discussion with doctors Heinrich and Schmid, we have mutually agreed to discontinue their personal provision of medical service during the course of these

Australian Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) won Thursday’s second stage of the Tour de Romandie in a sprint finish marred by a fall in the final yards. Italian Paolo Savoldelli (Astana) escaped unscathed to retain the leader's yellow jersey after Colombian Leonardo Duque took a tumble in the last 150 meters, bringing down several riders in the bunched pack, including Briton David Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir). Slovenian Borut Bozic (Team LPR) was second, followed by Italian Enrico Gasparotto (Liquigas). "In the sprint I got into a good position. And I'm really happy because it's

The day before last week’s Flèche-Wallonne, a high-powered group met in Charleroi, Belgium, to discuss how to handle the latest developments in the ongoing Operación Puerto doping inquiry. Among those in attendance were UCI ProTour manager Alain Rumpf; Christian Prudhomme, chief of Tour de France organizers Amaury Sports Organization; and Quick Step-Innergetic’s Patrick Lefevere, president of International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT). An announcement was promised before last Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège; however, it never came. But Rumpf had a moment to chat with VeloNews in the

Ramping up to speeds of nearly 37 mph, Dominique Rollin (Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada) roared out of the darkened streets of Walterboro, South Carolina, Wednesday night to take his second win on this year's USA Crits Southeast series. Rollin, who beat Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing) by just a half a wheel in the Walterboro Cycling Classic, said the layout of the fourth leg of the series prompted the fast pace. "Since it's a long drag on both sides, it just allows us to reach speeds of 30, 31 miles per hour. And I think the heat just helped us to keep that speed,” he said.

Mara Abbott (Webcor) rode into the lead of the Ben D. Altamirano Tour of the Gila on Thursday after winning the Silver City-Mogollon Road Race. Nathan O’Neill (Health Net-Maxxis), meanwhile, solidified his grip on the overall by finishing second on the stage, 10 seconds behind winner Colombian Hernan Munoz (P&S Halcones), putting more distance between himself and his primary rivals, defending Gila champ Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) and Scott Moninger (BMC). Women raced 73.1 miles, and men 94.1 miles. But both finished with the grinding, steep Mogollon climb — a switchback-laden stretch of

McQuaid - seen here at a recent anti-doping conference in Montreal - has a big job ahead of him.

UCI ProTour chief Alain Rumpf

McEwen celebrates at the line

Crosbie gets his 15 minutes

And where did you ride today?

Milram drives the chase

The pileup

The podium

Abbott rides into the lead

O'Neill is enjoying his return to the podium after a tough early season

Munoz takes the stage

After a low-profile spring, Oscar Pereiro is getting serious about racing during this week’s Tour de Romandie as he ramps up his preparation ahead of the Tour de France. Pereiro – who could be named Tour winner if Floyd Landis loses his legal battle to clear his name of doping allegations – has been relatively quiet so far this year. After the Tour, the Spanish rider will race the Vuelta a España, so all along he’s planned his season to have a strong second half. The Caisse d’Epargne captain is hoping for a strong performance in the six-day Romandie. “I will take the start at Romandie in

Italian cyclist Michele Scarponi has agreed to give a DNA sample to the Italian Olympic Commitee (CONI), which is investigating whether he may be connected to last year’s Operación Puerto doping scandal. A CONI statement said Scarponi had been called to the hearing "following the reopening of the investigation into Operación Puerto.” “He is suspected of having violated article 2.2 of the World Anti-Doping Code on the use and attempted use of illegal substances or methods,” the statement continued. After spending 90 minutes at CONI headquarters in Rome, the former Astana rider, now with the

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,

Fresh from his fourth-place finish at the 2007 Tour of Virginia, Rite Aid's Alejandro Borrajo made his presence felt at Tuesday’s Beaufort Memorial Cycling Classic, pipping Cuban sprinter Frank Travieso (AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork) at the line. "I'm very happy. Now I'm getting the outcome that I was hoping for,” said Borrajo. “I think the racing in Virginia served me very well. I'm recovering well and I have momentum now, so I'm very content."

Markus Fothen (Gerolsteiner) won the first stage of the Tour de Romandie on Wednesday. The German outsprinted Spaniards Francisco Perez and Joaquin Rodriguez (Caisse d'Epargne) to win the 157.8km stage from Granges-Paccot to La Chaux-de-Fonds. Italian Paolo Savoldelli (Astana) retained the leader's yellow jersey. Fothen's win in the northern Swiss town took him to third place in the general standings behind the 32-year-old Savoldelli and Czech Roman Kreuziger. Five riders broke away just 18km into the stage and their valiant effort only came to an end 125km later. Veteran

In the last couple of weeks, we have done quite some racing: Pays Basque, the Ardennes and now the Tour de Romandie. They form a beautiful stretch of races, in the heart of the spring, with some of the painfully hard courses that attract masses of spectators and all the best cyclists in the world. Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the last and most prestigious of the Ardennes trio, is the longest, most historic and toughest of the classics. The race is an endurance test at 260 km with several tough climbs in the last 90km. The climbs are not incredibly hard but after six hours on the bike they

Last year, SRAM’s RockShox brand debuted a line of new long-travel single-crown suspension forks capable of competing with the market’s best. But at the same time SRAM admitted that it did not have the industry’s best-in-class rear-suspension components, especially after Fox Racing Shox introduced its RP23 air shock in 2006. This is what you call motivation. SRAM got busy, digging down deep into its BlackBox program. And at Sea Otter, program manager Jeremiah Boobar showed what had been unearthed: a 1998 BlackBox four-way coil-over rear shock that was ridden to two World Cup overall titles.

Nathan O’Neill (Health Net-Maxxis) and Rachel Heal (Webcor) won the opening stage of the 2007 Tour of the Gila on Wednesday. O'Neill covered the hilly, 16.15-mile Tyrone Time Trial in 34 minutes, 13 seconds. Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health) took second at 15 seconds back with Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) third at 1:29. Heal finished in 39:47, 15 seconds ahead of runner-up Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Sutter Home). Mara Abbott (Webcor) took third at 30 seconds back. In its 21st edition, the May 2-6 Tour of the Gila will again send riders racing around the small southwestern New Mexican

Pereiro has his eye on July

Fothen takes the sprint

Savoldelli holds onto the jersey

Defending champ Cadel Evans says the early going suits teammate Chris Horner to a T

The Vivid long-travel, coil-over rear shock

The Monarch 4.2, RockShox’s high-end rear air shock

The new X.0 rear derailleur

The Noir, in single-speed with chain guard

The Stylo 3.3 Team crank is Truvativ’s workhorse crank

Juicy's carbon lever

The Code 5 lever

The Code 5 caliper

The Giro d'Italia and Tour de France may be a long way off for some - but the conclusion of the spring classics season on Sunday has brought the pink and yellow jerseys that much closer. The Tour of Romandie begins Tuesday with six of days of mostly climbing in the Swiss mountains signaling the steady run in to the first two Grand Tours of the season. The three-week Giro begins on May 12, and the tour of Romandie gives the race's pink jersey aspirants a chance to test their legs over some tough climbing terrain. Cadel Evans of the Predictor-Lotto team is the reigning champion, but