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The calendar may say December but the weather said otherwise at Sunday’s final round of the 2006 Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series, the Caster’s Cyclocross in Warwick, Rhode Island. The ’06 Series closed out just as it began, with temps in the 50s and Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com) and Tim Johnson (Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com)stamping their authority all over the Elite Women’s and Men’s events. Bessette’s win, her fifth in five Series starts, cemented her position as the 2006 Verge NECCS overall champion while Mark McCormack (Clif Shot) took home the overall title

Nys looks to be on track to win the Superprestige, the World Cup, the Belgian national title and World's. What's left?

Guo Shuang won the women's 500-meter time trial in record time and teammate Feng Yong took the men's 1-kilometer time trial with another Asian Games' record as China claimed both titles contested Saturday in track cycling. Guo, who trains at the UCI's world cycling center in Switzerland, won her event in 35.175 seconds, an Asian Games record, well ahead of silver medalist Hsiao Mei Yu of Taiwan, who was clocked at 36.190. You Jin-a of South Korea, racing with a knee injury, was third with a time of 36.961. "I feel good and proud," she said. "I tried my best to win the

Verge titles on the line this weekendComing into the final weekend of the 2006 Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series, the race for the elite championships hangs in the balance. Both races of the Rhode Island doubleheader, Saturday’s W.E. Stedman Grand Prix in South Kingston and Sunday’s Caster’s Cyclocross in Warwick, offer very different race experiences in which series titles will be decided. The W.E. Stedman course, a fast, open, and often blustery tour around the grounds at the Curtis Corner Middle School, favors sheer strength over technique while Sunday’s Caster’s track

Picking up where they left off two weeks ago, the wife-husband duo of LyneBessette (Cyclocrossworld.com) and Tim Johnson (Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com)won Saturday’s W.E. Stedman Grand Prix in South Kingston, Rhode Island,the sixth round of the 2006 Verge New England Championship Cyclo-CrossSeries. Less than 20 miles from the site of next week’s U.S. national Championships,the penultimate Verge NECCS race went to form, with Bessette dominatingthe Elite Women’s field and Johnson forming an early breakaway and thensoloing in for the Elite Men’s win.On a dry afternoon with temperatures

The soon to be infamous Dam Run-up

Jon Card (Cane Creek) celebrates his win

Anne Schwartz (Flying Rhino Cycling Club) collects her fourth straight win

Sachs wins the Illinois title

Bessette

Spain's sporting media has reacted quickly to reports from the French newspaperLe Monde that claimed four top Spanish football clubs were linkedwith Dr Eufemiano Fuentes who is alleged to have masterminded a vast blood-dopingnetwork.The four clubs in the firing line are Real Madrid, Barcelona, Real Betisand Valencia.Fuentes denied the Le Monde report, which was written after oneof the newspaper's reporters procured documents containing allegationswhich have as yet been unfounded. However in a separate interview with the newspaper Fuentes claimedthat Barcelona, the current

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. 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 do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, Inside

Bart Wellens (Fidea) showed his heels to Sven Nys (Rabobank) in round eight of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup on Friday in Milan. Wellens finished more than a minute ahead of the World Cup leader, who in turn was trailed five seconds later by teammate Sven Vanthourenhout, making for yet another all-Belgian podium. American Ryan Trebon (Kona) finished 22nd at 5:34. UCI Cyclo-cross World CupRound 8 — Milan, ItalyTop 101. Bart Wellens (B), Fidea, 1:06:202. Sven Nijs (B), Rabobank, at 1:023. Sven Vanthourenhout (B), Rabobank, at 1:074. Francis Mourey (F), Française des Jeux, at 1:145. Klaas

Former Coors Classic competitors, team personnel, race officials and media from all over the country descended on the University Bicycles store in Boulder, Colorado, Thursday night, for the launch of a new DVD that chronicles the complete 1977-88 history of the pioneering stage race. The store was an appropriate location for the launch, being only a half-mile from the North Boulder Park circuit that nearly always hosted the finish of the Classic. Photo contestWe noticed a lot of you brought your cameras to the Coors Classic DVD release bash, which inspired us to declare a special photo

A decision made at a special meeting of the International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT) group on Friday could threaten the future status of the Discovery Channel team. The group voted to exclude Discovery from its membership over its signing of Italian Ivan Basso, who is implicated in the Operación Puerto inquiry, according to a source that attended the meeting in Brussels. However, the vote does not mean that the American team loses its UCI ProTour license, which enables it to race in all of the ProTour events. The IPCT, a business group chaired by Quick Step’s Belgian team manager

Phinney signs autographs

The teeming hordes at University Bicycles in Boulder

Screening the new Coors Classic DVD

From right, Steve Tilford with Andy Hampsten and Hampsten's 10-year-old daughter Emma

From left, Thomas Prehn, Marianne Martin and John Bowen, a former Boulder Spoke amateur racer turned Boulder radiologist

Alexi Grewal obliges a fan

Len Pettyjohn and Kent Fonda, the former program manager for the Coors Light team, now doing private advertising and marketing in Colorado

Fans kept Phinney scribbling

Basso and Bruyneel

Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle announces Pro Continental statusand roster for 2007Boulder, CO, December 6, 2006 - In a bold move upward for 2007,Team TIAA-CREF not only becomes Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle, but movesup a big notch into the UCI's Professional Continental category. The team'sunique cross-Atlantic schedule consists of racing the USACycling ProfessionalTour, the European Continental Tour and hopefully a few ProTour wildcardstarts. This schedule will prove challenging but rewarding for both ridersand sponsors.“We are happy to be growing - and growing at a rate that

World and Olympic champion Paolo Bettini said Thursday he would rather quit cycling than have to produce a DNA sample as part of the sport's fight against drugs. "If they ask me for my DNA I'm ready to call time on my career. I've already won a lot," Bettini told the Italian news agency ANSA. In October the professional cycling teams association came out in favor of its members having to produce a DNA sample to help prove their guilt or innocence in any drugs case. The move is part of wider efforts by the UCI to eradicate doping after a season in which the Operación Puerto

Tour de France sprint champion Robbie McEwen has been confirmed to spearhead his team's bid for stage victories at the Tour Down Under, to be held over a week of sun-soaked racing in January. McEwen won the Tour de France green jersey, the sprinters' top prize, for the third time this year, along with three stages and three stages at the Giro d'Italia. The 34-year-old could appear as one of the big names at the Tour Down Under, held around Adelaide on January 16-21, wearing a re-designed team jersey. Lotto, McEwen's team for the past few seasons, has a new main sponsor in

VeloNews Chosen to Produce Official Amgen Tour of California GuideFor immediate release:December 6, 2006 Boulder, CO – The Amgen Tour of California, North America’spremier professional stage race, has chosen VeloNews to produce its officialevent guide. Hitting the roads from February 18-25, the 2007 event willbe even bigger than the 2006 inaugural race, which saw an estimated 1.3million spectators watch the eight-day stage race. The 2007 Amgen Tourof California will again host 16 professional teams, headed by the world’stop UCI ProTour teams CSC and Discovery Channel, which are making the

Bettini winning stage 2 of the 2006 Vuelta a España

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.Steve Tilford: The man, the myth, the old guySteve,You raised the bar man! (see "Dunkedbut undaunted, Tilford wins KLM 'cross") All of my old stories racing just got smaller. How fast I used to bejust got a

100 years for a million treesA new humanitarian project for Saunier Duval´s 100th anniversary.The team raced the 2006 season in support of the 30 fundamental HumanRights around the world. Next year is the team´s main sponsor 100thanniversary, and the SAUNIER DUVAL-PRODIR team will celebrate it in a remarkableway as a token of their gratitude to Saunier Duval, which is not only supportingthe team but cycling in general as well. Is there any better way to doit than becoming involved in an initiative aimed at saving our planet?The project, to be carried out thanks to the support of

Kazakhstan, which won the men's team time trial when it was last held in the Asian Games in 1994, did it again on Wednesday. The Kazakh team completed the flat 70.3km course in a time of 1:24:40.7 to win by more than a minute over Iran. Japan took bronze, just five seconds behind the Iranians. South Korea, which won the 2006 Asian Championships, finished out of the medals in fourth. "Our expectations were only to win," said Andrey Mizurov, who was a bronze medalist in the individual time trial in 1994, a feat he repeated in this year's edition. "Since 1994 we haven't changed

Six new cities, an increase in difficulty, a reshuffling of stages and a new, elaborate network television contract were unveiled Wednesday for the second Amgen Tour of California. Veteran pro Mike Sayers (BMC Cycling) was the only pending race competitor present among a dozen city officials and sponsor representatives as the route was detailed in the new City Hall chambers in Sacramento, where the second stage will conclude. Sacramento, Stockton, Seaside, Solvang, Santa Clarita and Long Beach are new venues. San Francisco, Sausalito, Santa Rosa, San Jose, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara

Los Angeles, CA., December 6, 2006 — The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team and United Bicycles, LLC, today announced an exclusive sponsorship and licensing agreement with Fuji Bicycles/Advanced Sports Inc., (ASI) manufacturer and distributor of Fuji Bicycles, a global brand with over 40 international distributors. As part of the multi-year agreement, the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team will be racing on Fuji carbon frames with graphics and design featuring Toyota-United colors. The Fuji-United bicycle will be the official team issue bicycle of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling team during the

It's just that riding fast was the only way he knew how to stay warm.

Wednesday's Mailbag: Tough old guy; Friends in faraway places

Last year's stage 4 takes the peloton along the coast

The 2007 Fuji-United Team Issue bike

The 2007 route

Sure, they're all like that, sirDear Lennard,I go through at least two chains (Shimano 7701) every year and replacethem myself. They have always come sealed in a plastic package withtwo connecting pins. I recently ordered a couple of Shimano 9-speedchains (7701) from an Internet retailer. When they arrived they werein boxes for a 10-speed chain (CN 7800) and were not sealed in the usualplastic wrapper. The connecting pin was also already partially insertedinto the outer link with the guide snapped off. All 116 links werestill there. The customer service rep’ told me this is the way

Few of the hundreds of journalists and cycling dignitaries who attended the unveiling of the 2007 Giro d’Italia in Milan on Saturday would disagree with the view that there’s likely to be a repeat winner. The past seven editions of the Giro d’Italia have been won by five Italian racers — Ivan Basso (2006), Paolo Savoldelli (2005 and 2002), Damiano Cunego (2004), Gilberto Simoni (2003 and 2001) and Stefano Garzelli (2000) — all of whom posed for the paparazzi in the futuristic Teatro degli Arciboldi on December 2. Those five men were the headliners at the glitzy gathering — particularly

China's Li Meifang successfully defended her Asian Games cycling individual time trial title here on Tuesday to add the gold to her 2004 and 2005 Asian Championship crowns. Kazakhstan's Zulfiya Zabirova won silver with South Korea's Lee Min Hye claiming bronze. Li covered the flat 23.86km course in a time of 31:17:85 to win by almost a full minute from Zabirova. "From the beginning I planned to win," said Li after extending China's record in the event to a perfect four gold. "The road felt good, the surface was beautiful and being flat is good for the required

I normally don’t enjoy writing journal articles about my day-to-day activities, because I think it would be quite boring. However, today is a bit different for me because it’s Sunday and I had the day off from the bike shop, so I thought I’d give you a peek at a day off from work in the life of a shop owner and cyclo-cross racer. 7:30 a.m.There’s nothing like waking up to some bright Colorado morning sunshine. Although the sun is shining, it has been quite cold here in Boulder and snow that fell earlier in the week has yet to melt. My girlfriend Heather and I walked our dog, Oban, through

Gilberto Simoni made his mark on the 2003 Giro on the Monte Zoncolan.

The Monte Zoncolan marked the final attack from the once-great Marco Pantani

Locked and loaded

The best pre-race food in the world

Snow plus sun equals mud

Yuck

A clean bike is a happy bike

This load needs the heavy-duty cycle

Chow time

The Australian Cycling Federation recently named downhill mountain-bikecoach Scott Sharples as its 2006 cycling coach of the year. Sharples, whoraced downhill as a pro with Trek-Volkswagen in the 1990’s, helped guideSam Hill (Monster-Ironhorse), who claimed the country’s first-ever downhillelite world title at the 2006 World’s in Rotorua, New Zealand. Sharples runs and operates his country’s downhill training center outof his home in Nevada City, California. Most of Australia’s top gravitytalent spends half the year living and competing in the United States,and Sharples’ training center has

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now up for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of ourmost recent contest. Take the time to wander through that gallery and see if you agree or disagree with our choice of winner. Larry Rosa’s shot from a ‘cross race at Golden Gate Park nicely captures that “YEHAW!” element of cyclo-cross. Nice work, Larry! Drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.com to work out the details and we’ll send you a copy of Graham Watson's "Landscapes of Cycling." And while you’re at it, tell us a little more about

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.

The Spike professional cycling team has lost its title sponsor, according to director Bill Ramsay. Ramsay’s Cody Racing Inc. and Biotest Laboratories, both of Colorado Springs, Colorado, had a three-year contract to support the pro track-racing team, according to Ramsay. But Biotest chose to exercise its dissolution option on November 30, and Ramsay is scrambling to find a new title sponsor to rescue his program, which has signed secondary sponsors and athletes for the 2007 season. “This decision has left the best sprint athletes in America without the professional team and commitment they

Mayuko Hagiwara won Japan's first Asian Games gold medal in women's road cycling on Monday in Doha, Qatar, when a solo attack with 10km left allowed her to upstage her more fancied rivals. The 2004 Asian junior champion covered the 113.1km course in 3:06:10. China's Zhao Na took silver at 1:25 back while a photo-finish decided that South Korea's Han Song Hee had pipped Japan's Miho Oki for bronze. Kazakhstan's Zulfiya Zabirova, the pre-race favorite, was sixth. "I received a lot of support from my team, my partner and supervisor," said Hagiwara, a 20-year-old

When Steve Tilford crashed his bike into an icy lake on the second lap of Sunday’s KLM Marketing UCI Cyclocross Race, his first instinct was to get back on and start racing. A warm blanket and some dry clothing would have to wait. The Trek-Volkswagen rider from Topeka, Kansas, had another epic chapter to write in his already-storied career, which includes five world mountain-bike and four national cyclo-cross titles. Tilford tossed his waterlogged bike out of the lake and after just one lap on the 2.5km course had chased down and passed Brent Prenzlow (Celo Pacific-Salsa) en route to

Ag2r and Francisco Mancebo, excluded from the 2006 Tour de France after being implicated in the Spanish inquiry Operación Puerto, have reached an agreement ending the Spaniard’s contract with the French team. A day before the start of the 2006 Tour de France, the 30-year-old Spaniard — who finished fourth in the 2005 Tour — was suspended after he was named on a list of riders suspected of being involved in a blood-doping network. Though he had a contract with Ag2r through 2007, Mancebo said at the time that he would retire from the sport, according to team manager Vincent Lavenu. "At the

Golden Gate Park

Hagiwara celebrates at the finish

Tilford took a dunking but kept on clunking

Weary and half-frozen, Tilly collects the win

Thomas sets off on her own

Sue Butler (River City Cycles) shadowed Melissa Thomas (Maxxis) for the first half of the women's UCI race

Schneider and Murphy duke it out

Into the drink . . .

. . . out of the drink . . .

. . . and back in the race

Wong Kam Po of Hong Kong won the Asian Games’ men's cycling road race on Sunday, giving the territory its first gold medal of the games and the second of his career. Wong outlasted Iran's Mehdi Sohrabi, the Asian road race champion, and South Korea's Park Sung-baek for the win in a time of 3:45:02 on a course shortened from 199.7km to 156.4km due to high winds. The 33-year-old, whose previous gold-medal ride came in Bangkok in 1998, followed by a silver in 2002 in Busan, said that he had enjoyed the testing conditions. "We knew beforehand that the race would be shortened from

The indomitable Sven Nys (Rabobank) added another win to his collection on Sunday, claiming round seven of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Igorre, Spain. It was the fifth World Cup victory for the Belgian national champion, and a Belgian sweep of the podium, with Fidea teammates Bart Wellens and Klaas Vantornout finishing second and third, respectively. Nys attacked on the second lap and rode faultlessly to solo across the line with nearly a minute’s gap over Wellens. "The choice of tires was decisive," Nys said, explaining that on the second lap he switched to narrower tires while his

The winner gives a thumb's-up as he crosses the line

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich announced Saturday that he will spend three days in the United States as part of a business trip. German Ullrich, who celebrates his 33th birthday on Saturday, confirmed the news on his homepage, www.janullrich.de, saying he had organized "various meetings" over the three days. "Thirty-three has always been my lucky number and I am really looking forward to this day," Ullrich said. "I am confident that my plans for next year will come off." Ullrich, who won the Tour de France in 1997, was sacked by T-Mobile in July after accusations that he was

The 2007 Giro d’Italia will kick off May 12 with a team time trial on the island of Caprera, ascend the feared Monte Zoncolan — a 10.1km ascent with an average gradient of 17 percent — and finish in Milan on June 3, organizers announced Saturday in Milan. "It will be a beautiful tour," said 2006 winner Ivan Basso, who will be racing in Discovery Channel colors next year. "It's more varied than last year and should be more open. I think it will be a spectacular race." The 90th running of the Italian national tour includes eight stages for the sprinters, five mountain stages, another five

Boulder, CO – For the 11th consecutive year Sea Otter Classic, LLChas partnered with VeloNews to produce the Sea Otter Classic Official Program.With nearly 10,000 participants and 50,000 spectators, Sea Otter is knownas the largest participant cycling competition and festival in the world.As such, the distribution of the Program will be enormous at 110,000 copies. “The Sea Otter Classic Official Program is a fantastic product foradvertisers to showcase their brand,” said VeloNews Advertising DirectorNick Ramey. “Huge distribution coupled with VeloNews’ unmatched editorialcoverage offers

Ullrich plans a birthday business excursion to the States

Basso poses before a map of the 2007 route

The map

So I had to go see a chiropractor in New York, and they're different to osteopaths, chiropractors, because of the spelling. And they crack your bones, that's what they do, they crack your bones! And they take X-rays, but it’s pointless, because whatever is wrong with you — "You've got a bad back, I'm gonna crack your bones." "You've got diphtheria, I'm gonna crack your bones." "Your head's come off! I'm gonna crack your bones." "It looks like your mother! I'm going to crack your bones."— Eddie Izzard, Dress to Kill Anybody out there have a bad back? No,

Recent Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross series winner RyanTrebon, who races ’cross and the national cross-country circuit for Kona,has been confirmed as a key member of the 2007 KodakGallery Pro CyclingTeam, presented by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. The team announced its12-rider roster Thursday, with former Canadian national champion Mark Waltersand Trebon listed as its marquee riders. Returning riders include criterium specialist and team leader Pete Lopinto,six-time national junior and U-23 cyclo-cross champion Jesse Anthony, second-yearpro Mike Dietrich and young workhorse