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The Classics are traditionally hard men’s races held over tough courses under miserable spring conditions. This morning, the day after the Amstel Gold Race, we woke up to another day of glorious sunshine, pulled on our shorts and t-shirts and headed down to the hotel lobby breakfast—not the weather we expected and we nearly all had sunburns from the race. Half of the team from Amstel is staying in Belgium for Fleche and Liege while the others closed the door on their Classics campaign and headed home, as they had been up here since mid-March. Generally teams trade their sprinters and

During this month’s Sea Otter Classic, Princeton Tec invited some of us on a night ride to roll out its new Switchback lights. Princeton Tec’s Sean Leslie lined up local Monterey bike mechanic, single-speed devotee and high-school senior Erik Ebberoth to lead the ride. Ebberoth took us on some great trails, perfectly suited to testing lights, weaving in and out and up and down through thick underbrush and overhanging trees laden with long strands of moss dangling low over the trail. We slapped the lights on our borrowed full-suspension Konas, which was easy thanks to the quick-open slotted

Following the announcement that the Italian Olympic Committee has made additional inquiries regarding Ivan Basso’s involvement in the Operación Puerto case, the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team issued the following news release:DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM MANAGEMENT ASK BASSO TO FOREGO COMPETITION PENDING INVESTIGATIONTeam management at Tailwind Sports has requested that Italian rider Ivan Basso not compete pending further information in a new investigation coming out of Italy. The Italian Cycling Federation and Italian Olympic Committee conducted a full review last fall of Basso’s implication

A Spanish magazine reported on Tuesday that bags allegedly containing the blood of defending Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso will be taken from Spain to Italy for DNA analysis. Basso was suspended by the Discovery Channel team on Tuesday, after theItalian authorities announced they wanted to question him further over his involvement in the Operación Puerto. In May 2006 Madrid police seized bags of blood and doping productsduring a laboratory raid, along with codenames of cyclists and documents that seemed to indicate the existence of a program of organized doping and blood doping.

The 71st Flèche Wallonne is set to start Wednesday morning in Charleroi, Belgium, amid swirling controversy surrounding the non-participation of both Discovery Channel’s Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso and the embattled Unibet.com team. The race’s name, meaning the “Walloon Arrow,” stems from its eastwardly course direction from the industrial city of Charleroi to Huy, in the French-speaking Walloon, or Wallonia, region of Belgium — an area that represents roughly one-third of Belgium’s population and one half of its territory. The UCI ProTour race will feature a start list of 24 teams

American Russ Langley won the opening stage of the 2007 Tour of Virginia this morning, taking the five-mile time trial along South Lee Highway through the town of Natural Bridge. With seven stages over six days this year, the Tour of Virginia is the new name of the Tour of Shenandoah.Langley (Battley Harley Davidson-Hudson) posted a time of 8:04 in the opening time trial, edging out second-place finisher Eddy Hilger (Priority Health-Bissel) by just more than a second. Racing continues Tuesday evening with a 25-mile criterium in the heart of Lynchburg. Road racing begins tomorrow with a

Chicago IRO Sprints

Basso - seen here at the unveiling of the 2007 Giro route - won't be at Flèche Wallone or Liège-Bastogne-Liège and may not be at the Tour in July.

Enlightened: Former VeloNews editor Kip Mikler hit the trails with us, too.

Fred lights up: Planet Dirt editor Fred Dreier sees where he's heading

Freire has to be considered a favorite whenever he starts... no matter what he's riding.

Flèche Wallonne marked by no-shows, new hills

Flèche Wallonne marked by no-shows, new hills

Flèche Wallonne marked by no-shows, new hills

Floyd Landis said Monday that recent news leaks from the French national anti-doping laboratory underscore his claim that staff at the facility cannot be trusted to carry out their work in an unbiased fashion. Landis called an afternoon telephone press conference Monday to voice concern about procedures used in the testing of seven unexamined B samples left over from this year's Tour de France. The French sports daily L'Equipe reported Monday that "several" urine samples taken during Landis's contested win in the 2006 Tour have tested positive for the presence of exogenous

UCI president Pat McQuaid made his strongest appeal yet for resolution to the Operación Puerto doping scandal when he asked Spain’s sports minister Monday to allow samples from nearly 100 bags of blood and plasma be made available for DNA testing. In an open letter addressed to sports minister Jaime Lissavetzky, McQuaid insisted that Spanish authorities collaborate with the UCI to try to identify whose blood was found during police raids last May of offices and apartments used by controversial Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. “The UCI wants to ensure that all the blood that was found in

Landis is congratualted by Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme after winning the 2006 edition of the race.

Final Overall Standings
1. Janez Brajkovic (SLO), Discovery Channel, 1058.9km in 25:26:33 (41.619kph)
2. Christian Vande Velde (USA) CSC, at 0:12
3. David Canada Gracia (Sp) Saunier Duval, at 3:04
4. Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Saunier Duval, at 3:06
5. Kevin Seeldraeyers (B) Quick Step-Innergetic, at 4:22
6. Scott Nydam (USA) BMC, at 5:35
7. Jeff Louder (USA) Health Net Maxxis, at 6:00
8. Timothy Johnson (USA) Health Net Maxxis, at 6:59
9. Lucas Euser (USA) Slipstream-Chipotle, at 10:08

All eyes will be on the home squad of Rabobank at the 42nd Amstel Gold Race Sunday, the biggest cycling event of the year in The Netherlands. Won last by Rabobank in 2001 by now-retired national hero Erik Dekker, the team brings Milan-San Remo winner Oscar Freire and his compatriot Juan Antonio Flecha, as well as 1999 winner Michael Boogerd, who beat Lance Armstrong to win Amstel in 1999. Boogerd – who this week announced plans to retire at the end of the season – has since finished on the podium seven times, a source of pride and also frustration for the Dutch national champion. The Amstel

As the ProTour’s Amstel Gold Race was underway a couple of hours away, mountain-biking’s top pros were starting their own season with the opening World Cup race in Houffalize, Belgium. Often viewed as the European classic of the World Cup circuit, Houffalize stands as the one race every rider wants to win. This year saw two new faces at the top of the podium, as Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida) overcame mechanical problems and a crash with the lead motorcycle to beat Julien Absalon (Orbea) for the men's title, and China's Chengyuan Ren (China National team) won the first World Cup

It would take a true trivia buff to remember the last time a rider won a spring classic with a dozen stitches in his knee, but 26-year-old German Stefan Schumacher of Gerolsteiner did just that at the 42nd Amstel Gold Race on Sunday in the Netherlands. Schumacher, who crashed during the final stage of the Tour of the Basque Country on April 14, came into the Ardennes Classics quite unsure of his fitness, after taking four days completely off the bike in the week before Amstel Gold. He rode on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday leading into the race, and decided to give it a go.

Discovery’s Janez Brajkovic cruised across the line at the end of the 66.8-mile circuit race that capped off the fifth edition of the Tour de Georgia, comfortably ensconced in the overall leader’s jersey as the sprinters in the peloton battled for the day’s stage honors and points.

Breukink

Demol at the Maastricht Markt Town Hall

The home-town fans will be showing their colors on Sunday

With three riders in the final seven, Amstel was Gerolsteiner's to lose

Warm, but windy, the Amstel features 39 climbs ... and a 1000 turns.

The pace stayed high all day.

The day's first escape

Boogered and Sinkewitz dug deep on the Schweiberg

Gerolsteiner serves up a 1-2 punch

There were big names driving the peloton up the Cauberg.

Voigt and company posed a serious threat

With Boogerd, Bettini and Di Luca in the mix, it was almost certain that the winner would emerge from the lead group.

Wesemann and Voigt about to be caught

Schumacher takes it.

Rebellin was hoping for a win...

... but had to settle for the ProTour lead.

Haedo makes it look easy

odium girls beware! Georgia could signal a long string of big wins for the 23-year-old from Slovenia.

Millar was aggresive all week...

... but Grajales got the prize.

Chengyuan Ren is one of the few mountain-bike racers to beat Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa

José Antonio Hermida Ramos scores

It’s been a long dry spell for the man they call “Fast” Freddie Rodriguez. But on Saturday the American blazed back into the winner’s column, taking a blistering bunch sprint that concluded the Tour de Georgia’s stage 6 run from the Lake Lanier Islands to Stone Mountain Park. The win was Rodriguez’s first since stage 4 at this same race exactly a year ago to the day. The victory also moved the Predictor-Lotto rider out of a first place tie with Canadian Gord Fraser on the race’s all time stage wins list. Rodriguez now stands alone with four.

A Spanish cycling armada is threatening to spoil Dutch hopes of securing an elusive victory in the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday. The eighth race on the ProTour, and the fifth one-day classic of the series is the only Dutch race on the calendar apart from the Eindhoven time trial. But the hosts’ annual expectation of seeing a tough challenge from the orange-clad home riders, most of whom ride for Rabobank, has taken on special significance this year. Former winner Michael Boogerd will saddle up for his home race for the final time having announced in midweek that he will retire at the end of

It was a long day in the saddle on the way to the Confederate Memorial at Stone Mountain, near Atlanta in Georgia. Our man Casey Gibson was, as always there from start to finish. Here's what he sent home.

Close... but Freddie gets it

Rodriguez takes a close one in Georgia

CSC chases the break with 20 k to go

Johann and Eki are feeling pretty good.

Finishing ceremonies included 'America the Beautiful' on the fiddle.

A nice finish line crowd at Stone Mtn.

This finish line fan is very happy.

Keeping priorities straight: Good friends Freddie Rodriguez and George Hincapie and daughter wait for the podium.

Freddie leads out the sprint, 12 wide.

A welcome feed on a warm day.

Carl Menzies wins the day's first sprint and $2000.

David Millar went off the front early, and worked on his time trial skills

The peloton in Stone Mtn park.

The peloton winds through rural Georgia.

Freddie Rodriguez find himself on the front of the peloton, where he does not like to be at this stage of the race.

The honor guard at the start.

Toyota sets the pace at the front of the chase.

The day's most aggressive rider, Maarten Wynants, in the break.

Wyants leads the break into the first circuit at Stone Mtn.

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said Friday that Ivan Basso's chances of competing in this year’s edition of the race could be hampered by a failure to resolve the Italian star’s implication in the Spanish doping affair. Basso and 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich were among dozens of cyclists implicated in Operación Puerto, which uncovered an alleged blood doping and doping network run by a doctor, Eufemiano Fuentes, in Spain. Both riders were among over a dozen banned from racing last year's Tour de France, which also ended in controversy when American winner Floyd Landis

Boogerd to retire Holland will lose another one of its biggest stars to retirement at the end of this season after Michael Boogerd says his days as a professional are winding down. The big-toothed Rabobank rider, who turns 35 next month, told Dutch journalists Thursday this will be his last season in the peloton. Erik Dekker, who along with Boogerd carried the Dutch torch in the peloton for much of the past decade, retired last year. “It’s a special moment, emotional but not dramatic,” Boogerd said at a press conference. “I want to finish this season in style starting on Sunday.” Boogerd

Lest any doubt remain about Discovery Channel’s Tour de Georgia dominance after the team took the stage win and the race lead on Thursday, the team repeated the feat Friday atop Brasstown Bald. Storming away from the peloton on the heels of an all-day breakaway, Levi Leipheimer and then Tom Danielson roared up the mountain to finish one-two. And the mountain roared back. Throngs of fans created a wall of sound up the steepest parts of the hors categorie climb to Georgia’s highest point, Brasstown Bald, at 4784 feet.

The second phase of the Spring Classics season begins Sunday with the 42nd running of the Amstel Gold Race on a 252km route of three differing but concentric circuits that begin in the city of Maastricht and end in nearby Valkenberg. Left behind with the cobbled classics are the unseasonable heat and dust of Paris-Roubaix; the weather forecast for Sunday’s race through the rolling green hills of Dutch Limburg in the southeastern Netherlands is 74 degrees and sunny. Also absent will be the majority of hard men who spent the past few weeks racing over the cobblestones of Belgium and northern

While it was another Discovery Channel dominated day at the Tour de Georgia, Colavita-Sutter Home rider Anthony Colby earned a measure of respect for the domestic ranks Friday, placing third on stage 5’s run to the top of Brasstown Bald. The climbing specialist from Durango, Colorado, made it into the day’s prominent breakaway, then held his ground while the rest of that eight-rider move were pushed out of the top five. “Honestly, I did something different,” said the 28-year-old Colby who won a pair of collegiate mountain bike racing titles in 2003 before making his move to the road. “I

It was a tough day in the saddle on Brasstown Bald – not just for the racers, but for the shooters, like our man Casey Gibson, who once again was there from start to finish. Here's what he sent home.

Plenty of climbing ahead

Leipheimer does it again

Vande Velde and Brajkovic stuck close to each other

Colby's face shows the pain of making the podium on Brasstown Bald

Raisin leads the rollout — by quite a margin

Saunier Duval on the front

The gritty Moos