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The obligatory bite-the-medal pose.

Compton: 'It's pretty exciting.'

Compton, Salvetat and Leboucher

Vervecken keeps the jersey in Belgian hands, but it was close.

Franzoi hits the deck and Vervecken sets off in pursuit of Page.

Kerry Barnholt dashes through the sand

Compton, too, found it easier to run than fight the sand

Kupfernagel had a great start

... but had her troubles, too.

Van den Brand takes a push

Vos powers through

Salvetat knew Compton was coming on fast...

... and held her off for the win.

Belgians and Americans got off to a great start at the world cyclo-cross championships in Hooglede-Gits, Belgium, Saturday, as host-country prospect Joeri Adams and U.S. rider Danny Summerhill sprinted to a tight finish in the junior men’s event. Summerhill battled back from a crash with two laps to go to earn second, as pre-race favorite Jiri Polnicky (Czech Republic) crossed the line one second later in third.

"Last year," said Lars Boom, "I was not happy with second." On Saturday, the young Dutchman made up for that disappointment by finally winning the under-23 title at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, in his final year as an espoir. Belgium's Niels Albert took the silver and Roman Villa of France the bronze, while defending champion Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic) could manage no better than fourth.

Danny Summerhill’s explosive second place at Saturday’s 2007 UCI Cyclo-cross Junior World Championships in Hooglede-Gits, Belgium, may be best remembered not for the 17-year-old’s raw talent in the four-up sprint but rather for his composure with two laps to go. Sitting in the lead group of four on the penultimate lap, Summerhill washed out his front wheel on one of the course’s three slippery drop-offs. Coming completely off his bike, Summerhill hit his head and twisted his stem. But rather than panic, the two-time U.S. junior national champion showed poise, straightening his bars,

Everybody gets to see the winners as they cross the line, with arms raised — but what about the rest of the field? They're out there suffering too, right? Happily, Graham Watson captured today's cyclo-cross action from front to back, thoroughbreds to draft horses, and we present his collection from the under-23 race below.

American cyclist Floyd Landis has asked French anti-doping officials to delay proceedings against him, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday. A spokesman for Landis told the newspaper that his defense team wants to complete his appeal of charges from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) before facing the French inquiry, rather than deal with both cases at once. WADA president Dick Pound said earlier this month that his agency had asked the French organization AFLD to suspend its hearing. While lacking the power to compel the French government group to comply, Pound was optimistic about the

Rob Jones did double duty for us on Saturday, serving as both scribe and shooter. Here's his visual take on the action in the under-23 race.

Joeri Adams took the sprint, but Summerhill made a big impression in Belgium, too.

The stairs proved decisive.

Summerhill and Sinkeldam joined the winning break

Boom takes the win

Summerhill killin' it in the sandbox

Payday

Albert gave it his best, but conceded that Boom was stronger

Boom on a descent

On the run

Albert, Boom and Villa take the U-23 podium . . .

. . . while Japan's Tetsuya Fujioka takes a header

Jamey Driscoll, top Yank at 36th, and the only North American that the relentless Boom didn't lap

Chance Noble had a good start, but found himself feeling a bit burned out and finished 39th

Daniel Neyens works the sandbox en route to 46th place

Charles Marzot finished one spot behind Neyens

Boom and Albert hit the stairs together

And then it was just Boom, off on his own

Villa rode to third on the day

The fans were loving every minute of it

Driscoll works the staircase

As does Marzot

Marzot tackles the sand

Ditto Neyens

Sporting a modified team logo, a new bike sponsor and four new riders, the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team presented its 2007 roster to the media Thursday in Agoura Hills, California. The team introduced four marquee additions to its roster — Australians Henk Vogels and Caleb Manion, Irishman Mark Scanlon and American Burke Swindlehurst. Both Vogels and Scanlon come from ProTour teams — Vogels from Davitamon-Lotto and Scanlon from Ag2r. Gone are Argentinean sprinter J.J. Haedo, to CSC, and all-rounder Tony Cruz, who returned to Discovery Channel. Returning riders include 2005 USPRO champion

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Sprinters Tom Boonen and Alessandro Petacchi will fight their first duels of the season when the Tour of Qatar clicks into gear Sunday in Doha. Boonen, the 2005 world champion who rides for Quick Step, shook off the opposition to win four of last year's stages and the overall crown. However, this year the Belgian's hopes will be tempered by 33-year-old Milram sprinter Petacchi, who will be burning to get a few wins under his belt following a 2006 season blighted by injury. "I'm back and in top form. I hope this year will be as successful for me as 2005," said the Italian, who

Tour de France runner-up Oscar Pereiro wants an apology from French authorities after what he says was a smear campaign to slight his reputation. The Spanish rider expressed satisfaction that the French anti-doping agency Thursday threw out cases of 10 riders after it was confirmed that riders had medical clearances to use certain banned substances that popped up in anti-doping controls during last year’s Tour de France. "The damage can be repaired from France," Pereiro told the Spanish news agency EFE. "I could have my name cleared by an apology and regret fromLe Monde and the French

It should come as no surprise to find out that the course for this weekend’s UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Hooglede, Belgium, is going to be muddy. Just how muddy is the big question. Located between the towns of Hooglede and Gits in southwestern Flanders, the 2007 world’s course is not new. It was the site of a World Cup mud-fest in 2006, with this year’s elite men’s favorite, Sven Nys, winning ahead of Erwin Vervecken. The soupy mud made for long laps — more than 10 minutes for the elite men. And while this year’s lap may be a bit shorter distance-wise, the mud will be heavier and

Applications for inclusion on the 2007 Alison Dunlap Junior Olympic Mountain Bike (ADJOMTB) Race Series are now available to race promoters in PDF format by clicking here. Entering its eighth year, the series was created by USA Cycling to provide racing opportunities for aspiring junior mountain bike athletes across the country. In 2003, world and national champion off-road cyclist Alison Dunlap endorsed the program and has since helped the series reach new levels. In 2007, USA Cycling hopes to add more events to the calendar by continuing to foster relationships with race promoters that

Patrick Lefévère, the manager of the Quick Step cycling team, launched a passionate defense of his squad on Friday after it was made the target of doping accusations by a Belgian newspaper. Lefévère said he would seek damages against the daily newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, which made the allegations, and which quoted an anonymous rider as saying that a doping culture was allowed to flourish because the team had an informant at the UCI who tipped them off when tests were to be carried out. "The riders don't just take doping products (EPO, growth hormones), but also drugs like ecstasy,

Elite menHe’s Belgian, he’s the current king of ’cross, and he’s the massive favorite to win Sunday’s elite men’s title at the 2007 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Hooglede-Gits, Belgium. All that being said, Sven Nys is a long way from pulling on the rainbow jersey Sunday afternoon. Apart from the course-related challenges, for which Nys is perhaps better suited than any other rider, a cadre of hungry Belgian countrymen and a few interlopers will be doing their utmost to keep him off the top step of the podium. Nys has chalked up an impressive season in 2006-07, winning two-dozen

[Watch Video]

[Watch Video]

Mark Scanlon brings some ProTour horsepower to Toyota-United

Close friends Chris Wherry and Henk Helmethead Vogels will ride as co-captains.

Harm Jansen, Ivan Dominguez and Kirk Willett discuss the 2007 season.

The team cars feature Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive

Ivan Stevic proudly sports his new Serbian national champion's jersey, the second of his career.

The man, the myth, the Moocher

This is what a Belgian 'crosser calls 'fun'

More of the same

Don't like mud? How about sand?

The backside climb

The corner preceding the bridge staircase

Under the bridge

One sketchy dropoff

And another, the third on this course

The view from on high

Can Nys add to his rainbow collection on Sunday?

Juan José Haedo is busy packing his bags as he prepares for his big European adventure with Team CSC, but first he has a detour through the United States and some old haunting grounds at the Tour of California. The Argentine ace, who turns 26 on Friday, will be traveling to California for a two-week training camp with his new Team CSC teammates before making his team debut at the Tour of California, where he won two races last year to attract the attention of several European teams to his aggressive, fearless sprinting style. “It’s a big step to take, to come from racing in the USA to

Erwin Vervecken radiates calm as he goes about the business of final preparation for the defense of his world cyclo-cross title. A tall genial man with an overwhelming sense of ease both on and off the bike, Vervecken wore the rainbow stripes for the second time in his career in 2006-07. While his year in the jersey in 2001-02 saw the Belgian win a fair number of big events, including the Belgian GVA Series, this season has been more modest, with Vervecken having the privilege of spraying the winner’s champagne only twice, despite frequent appearances in the top three. Vervecken has taken

Tour de France runner-up Oscar Pereiro is among a group of 10 riders cleared of doping charges, the president of France’s anti-doping agency, Pierre Bordry, announced Thursday. The cases were thrown after it was confirmed the riders had official medical clearances to use certain banned substances. Records leaked to the media last week indicate Pereiro had tested positive for salbutamol, a banned substance often prescribed for asthma sufferers, after the 14th and 16th stages of last year's Tour. Pereiro quickly responded that he that he had been issued a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE)

The ProTour-level Quick Step-Innergetic squad is battling to defend its reputation after a Belgian newspaper alleged that the team structured an elaborate internal doping system, which is being protected by an informant at the sport's world ruling body. The damaging claims have been made in Belgian paper Het Latste Nieuws, which this week launched a salvo at the team, its former star rider Johan Museeuw and the current team manager Patrick Lefévère. Museeuw, the former world champion — known as the 'Lion of Flanders' — surprised many observers on Tuesday by confessing to

Following a year when far too many of cycling’s biggest stars were entangled in doping controversies, the sport’s first major drug-stained newsflash of 2007 centers on influential Belgian team boss Patrick Lefévère. In a series of articles published this week in the Belgian daily Het Laatse Nieuws, the Quick Step manager stands accused of three decades worth of involvement in illegal doping. The Brussels-based newspaper claimed that Lefévère used drugs during his own racing days in the 1970s, and has since overseen their use as team director of the once-mighty Mapei outfit, and then his

Haedo - here winning the finale of the 2006 Tour of California - says time spent in the U.S. is like going to 'racing school.'

Haedo's new look. He will be CSC's only pure sprinter this season.

Vervecken has moved into the role as 'cross's veteran.

Alessandro Petacchi hopes a return to form at the Tour of Qatar will help him erase a disappointing 2006 campaign that saw him riddled with injuries. The Milram sprinter will bring his full train to the desert race (January 28 to February 2) with ambitions of snagging a victory and boosting his confidence ahead of what the “gentleman sprinter" hopes will be a comeback season. “I want to regain the sensations I had at the beginning of last year. I’ve had a good training block and I am motivated for the coming season,” Petacchi said. “I haven’t been able to raise my arms in victory since last