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California’s coastal winds bombarded the hundreds of riders, spectators and vendors gathered at the Laguna Seca speedway near Monterey for the opening day of the17th annual Sea Otter Classic. But despite the threatening conditions, the skies offered sunshine and no rain, leaving the Otter’s traditional footwear of choice — knee high mud waders — nowhere to be seen. Traditionally, gravity and cross-country mountain-bike riders use Sea Otter’s opening day to pre-ride the courses crisscrossing Laguna Seca’s grounds. This year was no different — long lines of full-face-helmet wearing gravity

Farrar broke his patella on the drop off of the Kemmelberg.

Matt Wilson escaped with only a sprained wrist.

Gary Fisher’s new HiFi Carbon Pro

The non-drive side of the new bike. Check out the co-molded link and shock attachment points.

Cut-aways illustrating the co-molding process, these are for the seat tube link.

Fisher’s new Superfly carbon 29er hardtail, it’s designed in the Waterloo, Wisconsin, but will be made overseas.

Fox Racing Shox new 29-inch fork built exclusively for Gary Fisher and Trek, featuring a 51mm offset, this one relies on F Series RLC internals.

Fisher’s new HiFi 29er

Bontrager was showing a Prototype Rhythm 29 wheelset with a modified crow’s foot lacing pattern with 24 spokes.

The new Paragon hardtail

And its shaped tubing

Trek’s new full-suspension 69er, there is rumor that one will be spec’d how Brown races his, with a single front chainring.

The geared 69er hardtail...

..shares its seatstays with the original single-speed 69er hardtail.

Giants among their peers: Craig and Emmett made their sponsor proud

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you havea comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen incycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write toWebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name andhome town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writersare encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.The letters published here contain the opinions of the submittingauthors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positionsof VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Juan José Haedo was the center of attention Wednesday at the start of Ghent-Wevelgem as journalists scrambled to get word with the “man who beat Petacchi” in Monday’s Rund um Köln. The Argentine ace made easy work of Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) and Graeme Brown (Rabobank) to win for the first time on European roads. The victory boosted his profile as he makes the leap from domestic racing in the United States to a largely European schedule with Team CSC. “It was an important victory in front of people like Petacchi and Brown, I can only be happy with the win,” Haedo told VeloNews before

It’s sort of like cycling’s version of the swallows coming back to Capistrano… well, at least it’s been that way for the past 17 years. Just like clockwork, every spring a large contingent of North American cyclists - of all stripes - descends on the Laguna Seca speedway outside of Monterey, California for the Sea Otter Classic. This year’s edition, easily the largest cycling festival in North America, kicks off on Thursday, April 12 and runs through Sunday, April 15. For 2007, the event boasts a new look, new events and a new, somewhat brash, motto: “The greatest Celebration of Sport in

During Paris-Nice, one of the Saunier Duval riders, Francisco José Ventoso, asked me what races I would be competing in the coming month. I ran down the list and at the mention of Pays Basque he stopped me and said, “this year is hard, una puta madre, and my teammates all tell me the climbing is incredible.” I am now two days into the race and I can attest to the fact that Francisco was right. The last two days have been hard, hard days of racing with nonstop climbing: yesterday we had nine categorized climbs and today eight. There is no time to chat in the bunch once the break is gone and

Solve the issue of cramping by trying out these tips.

German rider Marcus Burghardt outfoxed one of the savviest riders in the peloton to win a crash-marred Ghent-Wevelgem ahead of three-time world champion Oscar Freire. The T-Mobile prospect scored the first win of his career in impressive manner after powering away from Freire and three other escapees with 1.3km to go in the 220km march across western Flanders.

The embattled ProTour team Unibet.com was officially warned it had broken Belgian law Wednesday, just as several of its riders fell victim to the cobbles in the Ghent-Wevelgem semi-classic. The Belgian-Swedish outfit, sponsored by an Internet betting company, had initially been caught up in a dispute between race organizers and the sport's world ruling body the UCI over the number of teams in the ProTour. But lately the team has fallen victim to the strict interpretation of laws in France and Belgium governing betting. Internet betting is illegal in both countries and the teamwas

Tyler Farrar broke his left kneecap Wednesday in a harrowing crash on the dangerous Kemmelberg cobblestone descent in Ghent-Wevelgem. Farrar, 22, was transported to a hospital in Ieper, Belgium, where X-rays found a fracture to his patella. Cofidis officials said surgery isn’t required, but he’ll likely be sidelined for at least a month. “He was behind [Jimmy] Casper when he crashed and everyone started to brake, but I don’t know precisely what caused him to fall,” said Cofidis sport director Alain Deloeuil. “There are no other broken bones.” Deloeuil said Farrar should be able to return

Wednesday’s spectacular crashes on the sketchy Kemmelberg cobblestone descent in Ghent-Wevelgem had some critics suggesting the road is too dangerous to be part of the otherwise flat 220km route across western Flanders. More than a dozen riders crashed in two harrowing descents off the narrow, twisting road. Among the victims in the spectacular, high-speed spills were American Tyler Farrar (Cofidis), who broke his kneecap, and Frenchman Jimmy Casper (Unibet.com), who suffered major cuts to his face and nose and was in hospital awaiting surgery. But UCI officials said they had no intention

Is 'the man who beat Petacchi' now a favorite to win in Wevelgem?

Healthy again, Kabush is a favorite to take Sunday's cross-country

Gould has been dominant so far this season.

Burghardt shows off his prize

Brard and Mengin in the break

Mathew Hayman (Rabobank) was one of many victims of the cobbled Kemmelberg

Burghardt on the cobbles

Matt Wilson (Unibet.com) was another

Farrar's classics debut was cut short by a crash on the cobbles

Boonen says he's ready for Sunday

Ventoso and Hammond driving it hard

They call it a 'sprinters' classic,' but there's a long ride before that last 200 meters.

The two trips down the back side of the Kemmelberg took their toll.

The peloton got close... but not close enough.

PressureDear Lennard,Regarding your March 27 column, I work for Boeing and have traveled a lot with my altimeter. At cruising altitude (41,000 feet) the internal fuselage altitude is effectively 6600ft, and will be even lower with the new 787. We all climb passes that high.I also wanted to point out that the entire fuselage is the same pressure, that includes the lower cargo section and passenger space. Think of it as one big balloon. So, I travel with inflated tires, primarily to provide that extra measure of rim protection.JohnDear John,Thanks; you've answered the one question I had

Several big-name riders who skipped Tour of Flanders will be the main protagonists Wednesday for Ghent-Wevelgem in the midweek, sprinter-friendly classic. The 210km route from Deinze to Wevelgem is mostly flat except for two passages over the Kemmelberg at 153km and 174km. The climb almost always splits the bunch and it’s sometimes a close call before the peloton comes back together again before roaring into Wevelgem for the sprint. Defending champion Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole), Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto), Allan Davis (Discovery Channel), Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) and Baden

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. This week’s winning photograph is one of those that prompted a response from everyone to whom we showed it. Usually, it was “OUCH!” Leslie Karnowski’s “Pedal strike Maryville Tenn crit” isn’t your usual gratuitous crash photo. Instead, it beautifully captures one of those moments all of us as racers have either experienced or continue to dread. Nice work, Leslie. Please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work

Nico Mattan scored a big win in 2005

Hushovd charges to victory in 2006

Pedal strike Maryville Tenn crit

The driver pretended not to see the red light nor hear the honking black and white which followed him for a block until Calvin angrily blasted him to the curb with the siren. “Watch him say ‘who me?’” said Calvin as he got out of the car and approached from the driver’s side while Francis advanced on the passenger side, shining his light, distracting the driver to protect his vulnerable partner on the street.— “The Choirboys,” by Joseph Wambaugh How many of you laughed out loud when Jan Ullrich’s lawyer said we shouldn’t leap to any conclusions just because his client has been inextricably

Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich insisted Sunday that he is above reproach despite blood bags seized in a Spanish doping scandal having been proven to be his by German prosecutors. DNA tests on blood seized in the offices of Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes last year have proven that the samples are Ullrich's, say Bonn prosecutors, who are investigating the rider for possible fraud. But in a letter addressed to his fans on his website, the 1997 Tour de France winner said: "These latest findings change strictly nothing of the fact that I'm blameless. "I've never lied

Only at the northern classics would people hope for bad weather. While Americans were wrestling with the possibility of cancelling a snow-boundU.S. Open, northern Europe was basking under temperatures in the 70s, clear skies and almost no wind. For many, it seemed Sunday’s weather was too nice – at least according to several protagonists queried by VeloNews after the Tour of Flanders. “It might have been great for fans and some of the racers, but today’s race was kind of flat and it lacked the spark that makes Flanders such a great race,” said Fabian Cancellara (CSC), who tried to break

The UniBet.com ProTour cycling team faced another setback Monday after being excluded from two more Classics. Unibet.com was already denied participation at Paris-Nice race last month and this coming Sunday's edition of Paris-Roubaix. The team learned on Monday that it will not be allowed to participate in Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege as well. All four events are promoted by Tour de France organizer ASO which said that the exclusions are due to French and Belgian laws barring the advertisement of out-of-country betting and lotteries. The Belgian-Swedish team is sponsored

Instant podium — just add water

And the livin' is easy: Warm weather made for great spectating - and weird racing - at the Tour of Flanders this year.

Don’t tell Alessandro Ballan he’s heir to Italian classics heroes such as Andrea Tafi and Franco Ballerini after his dramatic sprint victory ahead of Leif Hoste in Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. The panache shown by the 27-year-old in winning the crash-laden 91st edition is just the stuff Italian journalists love to turn into legend, but Ballan sees himself as more than a one-trick pony after the biggest victory of his career.

Second-year pro Tyler Farrar is getting his long-awaited view of Europe’s bumpiest roads from inside the peloton during the northern classics. On Sunday, the 22-year-old Cofidis rider competed in the first Tour of Flanders of his promising career, helping push team captain Nick Nuyens to seventh in one of the most important races of the season. Farrar is an integral part of the Cofidis’ northern classics program and will be spending the next week racing across the cobblestones. Up next is Wednesday’s Ghent-Wevelgem —and next weekend, he’s scheduled to start in the Hell of the North,

Ballan wins

Ballan and Hoste working their slim advantage

A little fog, but otherwise a lovely day for a bike race

Panache and power

It was that close

The podium

Acosta was part of an early break . . .

. . . as was Franzoi

World champ Bettini shows his rainbow colors

Knaven chases

Riders pouring into Bruges

Tyler's dream of riding the spring classics has come true

The absence of one the Tour of Flanders' crucial climbs in Sunday's second one-day classic of the season is unlikely to reduce the threat of a possible hat-trick for Tom Boonen. Boonen has won the Belgian epic for the past two years, but even he might be applauding the organizer’s decision to bypass the mythical, and strategically significant Koppenberg. At only 600 meters long, it can hardly be labeled a climb - at least to those more used to watching the big stage racer. But climbing at an average gradient of 11.6 percent on the cobbles makes the Koppenberg a challenge you cannot

Peter Van Petegem lines up Sunday in what could be his last Tour of Flanders. The 37-year-old is synonymous with the Belgian classic and boasts two victories (1999 and 2003) to his list of successes during his 16-year career. Van Petegem made a big switch last year, trading his team captain’s role at Predictor-Lotto for one that’s certainly a notch or two lower in the pecking order at Quick Step-Innergetic. What’s surprising is that Van Petegem couldn’t be happier than to be in his new role of “joker” behind two-time defending Flanders champ Tom Boonen and reigning world champion Paolo

The U.S Open Cycling Championship got under way on Saturday after snow and cold forced a 90-minute delay to the start in Williamsburg, Virginia. Wet snow and steady winds kept the television helicopter grounded, prompting the delay. Same-day television coverage is to be broadcast from 2:30 to 5 p.m. on NBC. More pictures “I agreed with the rider boycotts at Sea Otter [in 2003] and San Dimas [in 2004],” said Health Net-Maxxis team director Jeff Corbett. “But no one wants to look like a wimp on national television.” Happily, the race got rolling, albeit a bit late, and the race caravan

The organization representing UCI ProTour teams has asked cycling authorities to carry out DNA tests on all riders implicated in the Spanish Operación Puerto scandal. The demand comes in the wake of DNA evidence that linked former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich with blood bags found on the properties of tainted doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, as part of the Puerto investigation. In a joint statement, the ProTour teams and the International Association of Professional Cycling Groups (AIGCP) have asked all cycling authorities to use the DNA of cyclists implicated in the affair to discover

The calendar says it's spring — but you wouldn't have known it by the conditions at the start of the inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championship on Saturday in Williamsburg, Virginia. Senior writer Neal Rogers snapped a few pics of the peloton preparing for heavy weather; they're arrayed below.

Heading into the inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championships in Richmond, Virginia, a few names of race favorites were on everyone’s lips: Toyota-United strongmen Henk Vogels and Ivan Dominguez topped the list. Other riders, such as Health Net-Maxxis riders Karl Menzies and Kirk O’Bee and current NRC leader Ben Jacques-Maynes of Priority Health-Bissell were also tossed around. But in the end, two riders not considered favorites — Svein Tuft of Symmetrics and Patrick McCarty of Slipstream-Chipotle — turned the race upside down after forming a winning two-man breakaway more than 15 miles from

Van Petegem is eyeing retirement, but he's not quite ready to hang up his cleats.

Van Petegem last won Flanders in 2003. Now he's riding for the competition

Van Petegem says the first Flanders victory in 1999 remains one of his fondest memories.

The Koppenberg was a classic hurdle, but it was never the only hurdle in the Tour of Flanders

Van Petegem is comfortable in his current role at Quick Step

U.S. Open hits the road after snow delay

The weather has left directors and officials wondering what to do