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Editor at large Patrick O'Grady is roaming the halls of Interbike again this year and threatens to send occasional updates whenever he finds a tavern with wireless Internet access. Here's the first installment. — Editor LAS VEGAS, Nevada — It beats me how they always manage to assemble this monstrous trade show in time for opening day, especially considering that some outfits (not VeloNews.com) can't even arrange a hotel room for barnstorming libel artisans who turn up at dark-thirty with a Subaru full of electronica, drawing tools and attitude. After sorting out my living

Moonscape: A perfect spot to test out new off-road rigs

Mongoose’s Canaan Team

Mongoose's Freedrive system

The Felt Equilink system

Jim Felt (right) and senior design engineer, Jeff Soucek

Santa Cruz Nomad with its 1.5-inch headtube

The Santa Cruz Superlight

The swingarm on the Santa Cruz Superlight

Intense’s new Spider FRO

Intense’s Spider 29

Maverick Durance

Maverick Matic

Giant's Anthem Advanced

Bettini will race in his new jersey this Sunday.

Industrial Wastrel: O'Grady on Interbike

Remember, we want a nice, clean carpet for people to drop slobbery PowerBar crumbs on

The Big White Box Company (below) specializes in (what else?) big white boxes. Now that's what he call marketing

On the eve of the 25th annual Interbike trade show, set to kickoff in Las Vegas, Nevada, this week, Cannondale got a bit of a jump on the competition and formally released its new Rush Carbon bicycle at a company event held over the weekend at Brian Head, Utah. The new bike is the evolution of the aluminum Rush introduced last year in Park City. The Rush platform, with 110 millimeters of travel front and rear, is specifically built for the needs of the long haul racer. All aspects of the bike are designed for ultra-endurance racing, though Christoph Sauser demonstrated the aluminum bike’s

Six VeloPress Author Events at Interbike Include Eddy Merckx BookSigningBoulder, CO, September, 2006 — VeloPress will host six authorevents during Interbike featuring top cycling and triathlon coaches andexperts. All events will take place at the VeloNews booth # 3359 and allbooks except Cycling's Golden Age will be available for sale at a discountprice. Wednesday, September 27, 2:00-3:00 p.m.: Meet Hunter Allen, oneof the world's top power meter coaches and co-author of Trainingand Racing with a Power Meter. This is the first and only bookthat fully explores the benefits and

Basso case long from overIvan Basso could be taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) if he is cleared of suspected doping at ahearing in Italy due to a lack of evidence. A top Italian federation official told AFP Sunday at the world road cycling championships there was no concrete evidence against Basso, one of a reported 58 riders alleged to be implicated in Operación Puerto in Spain. The Giro d’Italia winner was suspended by his CSC team a day prior to the start of the Tour de France because of supposed evidence linking him to the Spanish affair. Basso has not turned a pedal in

The seemingly unstoppable Tinker Juarez is excited to race his new Rush Carbon at the upcoming 24 Hour of Moab.

The new Rush Carbon

Cannondale’s new Si stems

The carbon fiber front triangle is massive at the head tube, yet flows to a rather normal diameter at the seat tube.

Cycling’s history is full of racers who wilted under the curse of the rainbow jersey after winning the world championships. Perennial pre-race favorite Paolo Bettini seemed fated to never win cycling’s most prized tunic, but after several close calls – including second in 2001 at Lisbon – the Italian pocket rocket bolted past Erik Zabel and Alejandro Valverde on Sunday in Salzburg, Austria, to erase any hint of a jinx. “It’s so satisfying to win after coming close so many times. It was almost an obsession for me,” Bettini gushed. “I’ve won the world’s and the Olympics, the classics and some

Nearly a week of racing and celebrations came to an end Sunday, when the UCI World Championships ended in Salzburg, Austria, with Paolo Bettini's victory in the 265-kilometer prefessional men's road race.As always, photographer Casey Gibson was there to capture the feel of what it's like to spend a day at the world's.

Britain's David Millar said he could have done more to boost a doomed Australian bid for an historic first world crown here at the world road championships on Sunday. Italy's Paolo Bettini kept to his pre-race promise by adding the world crown to his Olympic title on the final day after a tactical finale in which he out-sprinted German veteran Erik Zabel. Spaniard Alejandro Valverde of Spain finished third, with Robbie McEwen and Stuart O'Grady finishing fifth and sixth having been outfoxed by the sly Spanish outfit after 265.9 km of racing. Going into the final bend, Spaniard

He gets it! Bettini adds the world road title to his Olympic medal.

You think he's happy?

American Guido Trenti on the attack

Motivated: Bettini tried, failed, tried, failed, tried again and won.

Despite the weather and the stunning scenery, it was not an easy day in the saddle.

There were quite a few CSC riders in the day's big break

Almost. Moises Aldape and Kanstantsin Siutsou charge ahead before being joined by David Loosli and then the rest of the field.

... and Rebellin tries his hand, too.

Ballan gives chase...

Vinokourov was aggressive, but missed that last little gap at the finish, too.

Some folks were more relaxed than others.

Meet the press... the media swarms the front of the peloton before the start...

...while fans from the host country have to stand behind the barrier.

On the road...

Farrar joins the early break

McCartney is in the main field

Horner, as always, looks happy just to be here.

Many riders, many fans... all from many countries.

Up

Up

This guy really wanted to win today

Ever wonder why a lot of finishline photos look like a lot of other finishline photos?

Yahoooooo!

Unlike The Star Spangled Banner, the Italian national anthem does not end with the words 'play ball.'

For who's a jolly good fellow...

Paolo Bettini has won just about everything in his career – World Cup titles, cycling’s monuments, stages in all three grand tours and the Olympic gold medal – but he still hasn’t been on the top step at the world championships. Fresh off winning a stage at the Vuelta a España, Bettini will headline the always powerful Italian team in Sunday’s elite men’s road race. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood sat down with Bettini at the Vuelta earlier this month to gauge the Cricket’s hopes of bouncing into the rainbow jersey. Here are excerpts from the interview: VeloNews.com: After

Life is good for Gerald Ciolek. A year ago he was working 10 hours a day as an 18-year-old apprentice electrician at the Ford auto factory in Cologne, Germany. Today he is the world under-23 road race champion with a big, two-year contract on T-Mobile in his pocket. He won the title on Saturday afternoon by easily out-sprinting a six-man break that formed halfway through the final 22km lap in the eight-lap, 177.2km race in Salzburg, Austria. When Ciolek was clocking in at 6 a.m. to his Ford Motor Company job last year, he would train for bike racing in the evening. He was on a low-budget

Teams face self-bans in doping casesThe international cycling teams association will adopt new stringent measures that could see entire squad being barred from competition in the event of positive doping tests. The fight against doping was reinforced on Saturday when the International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT) body accepted changes to the UCI Pro Tour rules concerning doping. Teams have agreed that as of January 2007, they will automatically suspend their participation in a race if one or several of their riders tests positive or returns an abnormal blood screenings. A statement

Dutch teen sensation Marianne Vos surprised her elder rivals to kick to an impressive sprint victory of an elite group of 15 to become the youngest elite women’s world champion. Vos, just 19, relegated German sprinter Trixi Worrack into second with world No. 1 Nicole Cooke settling for bronze in the hard-fought, 132.9km race. “With 150 meters to go, I saw Oenone (Wood) taking the sprint and I just went as hard as I could,” said Vos, winning in 3 hours, 20 minutes, 26 seconds (39.783kph). “I didn’t see anyone around me, so I knew I had won.” Amber Neben led the way for the Americans,

Amber Neben was the top American in Saturday’s elite women’s road race, claiming 12th after sneaking into the day’s winning breakaway of 15 coming home for victory into Salzburg. Neben (Irvine, Calif.) was strong enough to follow accelerations by Nicole Cooke (England) and Nicole Brandli (Switzerland) on the decisive Tiefenbach climb that delivered the winning group. The strong performance capped another successful season for the 32-year-old, who defended her title at the Tour de L’Aude, overall victory at Redlands and second at the Gracia-Orlova Tour. VeloNews caught up with Neben at the

Salzburg, Austria, has been pleased with uncharacteristically beautiful weather for the world's road championships this week. Between his frequent day trips to Alpine villages in the neighborhood, our guy Casey Gibson has been covering some of the world's best cyclists racing to decide which of them should be crowned champion. Gibson was there to cover today's world championship women's road race and to witness a victory by the youngest world champion in the history of women's racing.

Rainbow with Gold highlights: Bettini wants a world champion's jersey to add to his Olympic medal.

It was a tough day on some.

Yehaww! Vos enjoys the moment.

Neben joined the winning break, earning the best U.S. finish since Dede Barry placed 11th in 2003.

Arndt was aggressive throughout, but Vos ensured that there would be no German winner for the first time in three years.

Maybe disappointed, but Cooke still holds the distinction of making the world's podium for the third time.

The day's most dangerous break formed on the Tiefenbach.

The combination was dangerous and caused concern in the peloton.

Nearing the top of the climb.

Americans at the front

Neben and crew

Armstrong

Cooke on the attack

The peloton at a calmer moment

The charge to the line.

You just won the world championship!

The Salzburg circuit serves up a potentially explosive platform for this weekend’s world championship road races. The 22.3km circuit provides two climbs, the second of which is a short, but very steep wall, with grades up to 15 percent, that could blow open the races. Road racing starts on Saturday and wraps up on Sunday:SaturdayUnder-23 men(7:00 a.m. to 11:40 a.m.)- 176.8km (8 laps), 1864m of climbingWomen (12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.)- 132.6km (6 laps), 1398m of climbingSundayMen (8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) - 265.2km (12 laps), 2796m of climbing In order to convey a feel of what riders will be