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The peloton is lethargic due to the heat and racing in the south and center of Spain makes it is easy to understand why the country invented the siesta; it is simply too hot to move. On the road today, our computers read between 44-47 degrees Celsius (111-116F) all day. Yet, because everyone is off work during siesta, it is a great time to have a bike race as they can all come out and watch it live or on television (most Spaniards opt to watch it on television as it is even too hot to stand out in the heat all day). Unfortunately, the show must go on no matter the temperature, we slog

Pile o’ Sidis. Ergo 1, Ergo 2, Genius 6.6, TR2.6

Comparing the soles. Old on top, new on the bottom.

ALINE footbeds

Ben Turner and Brandon Dwight making it look “real.”

Cyclo-cross pictures in a park

Ventoso

Ventoso nails it, as Hushovd appears content to keep his jersey.

The stage was marked by another long - ultimately unsuccessful - escape effort....

... and the long, hot chase that followed.

Hesjedal on bottle duty

Horner hits the windshield washer

Crédit Agricole on the hunt

Hushovd and Danielson enjoy the sweltering day

As Filip Meirhaeghe rolled to the starting line of the men’s cross-country world championship, an awkward silence hushed over the few hundred fans surrounding the start/finish. A few uttered muffled boos. Some clapped. The race announcer briefly mentioned the Belgian’s 2003 world championship victory and then hurriedly moved on to the next racer. He said nothing of Meirhaeghe’s 2004 positive test for EPO. It’s the typical greeting Meirhaeghe has received at non-Belgian mountain-bike races this year. With his 18-month suspension up, and his motivation to race returned, Meirhaeghe returned

The world’s two most-dominant cross-country racers, Norwegian Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesja and France’s Julien Absalon, wrote themselves into the pages of mountain biking history at the 2006 World Mountain-bike Championships in Rotorua, New Zealand, with each claiming a third-consecutive world title Sunday. Absalon, who took the title in 2004 and 2005, became only the second man ever to take three individual world cross-country titles. Denmark’s Henrik Djerins won three consecutive titles during the sport’s primordial years, from 1992-’94. Dahle-Flesja, the world champion in 2002, ’04 and ’05,

This year’s Vuelta a España has attracted a world-class lineup of sprinters, but one rider looking ahead to next month’s world championships surprised the favorites in Sunday’s heated charge into Córdoba. Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) sprang past front-runners Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) and Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) to win the 176km second stage, marked by an early unsuccessful breakaway and glaring heat. FULLRESULTS "I am not a pure sprinter and I don’t plan to make a sprint until I know the legs feel good," said Bettini, who grabbed his second career Vuelta stage. "I am

Magnus Bäckstedt sees the Vuelta a España with very clear objectives: to take home a scalp. The 2004 Paris-Roubaix winner has suffered through a difficult season and is looking to the Vuelta for redemption. “I’m here for a stage win,” Bäckstedt told VeloNews. “I so want one now, after having a seriously shitty year, it’s all I can think about.” Bäckstedt helped motor his Liquigas troops to a ninth place finish in Saturday’s team time trial and said he feels good after the short, but intense effort in Málaga. “I felt good up at Holland [Eneco Tour], now if I have the legs I want to try to do

Up-and-coming Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Bianchi) stunned a host of favorites to win the Grand Prix Ouest-France Sunday in Plouay. Nibali claimed his first victory in the ProTour series after 217km of racing on the tough Britanny circuit. The 22-year-old Sicilian held off experienced Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) in a two-man sprint after Flecha's long-distance dash for the finish line ran out of steam. Italian Manuele Mori (Saunier Duval-Prodir) finished third. Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, who is taking part in the Vuelta a España, retained the lead of the ProTour

Dahle-Flesja, as usual, riding on her own

The world champion is congratulated by her husband

Yet another for Absalon, too.

Bishop had a good day...

... JHK did not.

Bettini takes the sprint

Hushovd gets the lead

De Serraga chases mountain points

Joachim has a go

The peloton

Cheering the riders on

Race leader for a day: Sastre

Bettini wins

To the victor belong the spoils

As downhill racing’s fastest couple on two wheels, Sam Hill and Sabrina Jonnier spend most weekends each year racing bikes around the world. After racking up scores of wins over the past three years, the couple still had never claimed corresponding victories at a major race. Before a crowd of several thousand in Rotorua, New Zealand, that drought ended, as both scored wins, and more importantly rainbow stripes, at the 2006 World Mountain-bike Championships. “When I was won, I was happy, but I wanted Sam to win too,” said Jonnier, who was first to earn her title. “When he won, my heart

Andréas Klöden, third in this year's Tour de France, confirmed Saturday that he will join the Astana team next season from T-Mobile. "What clinched the decision for me is that I'm going to a very strong team which includes Alexandre Vinokourov and Andrey Kashechkin with whom I can go far next season," he said on his website. Klöden’s contract with T-Mobile expires at the end of the 2006 season. The 31-year-old Klöden’s first major success came at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney when he collected bronze in the road race. In 2004 the German finished second in the Tour de France behind

Team CSC’s Carlos Sastre pulled within 12 seconds of the yellow jersey in last month’s Tour de France but later faded to a no-glory fourth place, so perhaps it was only fitting that the mild-mannered Spaniard took the gold jersey Saturday in an thrilling team time trial to kick-start the 2006 Vuelta a España. Sastre made a late decision to start the Vuelta – his third grand tour of this season and his fifth in a row dating back to the 2005 Tour de France – and he’s glad he did. "I am not thinking about the Tour anymore," Sastre said. "This is a childhood dream to take the Vuelta jersey,

For the last three days we have been waiting in a hotel in Málaga, anticipating the start of the Vuelta a España. Over the last weeks we finished our final training sessions in preparation for the event, and during the final run in to the race all that was left to do was test our time-trial equipment and keep our legs loose by riding a little every day. Those final three days are long ones, as we need to rest, so we aren’t walking around town and visiting the city. We're sitting in our beds, reading with our legs up and minds focused on the coming weeks of racing. Why do we have to be

Tom Danielson expressed satisfaction with the opening salvo of the 2006 Vuelta a España. Discovery Channel finished a solid fourth place, nine seconds behind winners Team CSC, which was good enough for Danielson in his first stage as an outright team leader in his European career. VeloNews.com caught up with him after the stage: VeloNews.com: An interesting first stage of the Vuelta. How did things go for you in the team time trial? Tom Danielson: I think it was exciting and we posted a good time. It was challenging. As you could see from the mistakes the team made, Team CSC was just so

Sastre scores the first leaders jersey of the Vuelta

CSC rode like a machine

Caisse d'Epargne drills it for second

Milram's sprinters cranked out a surprising third-place finish

Discovery and Danielson rolled it in for fourth

T-Mobile finishes fifth

Astana scores sixth

Riis seems happy

And so does Sastre

Tom Danielson will line up Saturday as an outright protected team captain for the first time of his career, poised to improve on his seventh place finish in last year’s Vuelta a España. The 28-year-old says it’s all systems go for a three-week Vuelta laden with mountains and short on time trials, a recipe that could serve up Danielson with the chance to become just the second American to stand on the final Vuelta podium. Fresh off his first European victory at the Tour of Austria, Danielson will lead a strong and motivated Discovery Channel team keen to make up for disappointment from this

Tom Danielson will line up Saturday as an outright protected team captain for the first time of his career, poised to improve on his seventh place finish in last year’s Vuelta a España. The 28-year-old says it’s all systems go for a three-week Vuelta laden with mountains and short on time trials, a recipe that could serve up Danielson with the chance to become just the second American to stand on the final Vuelta podium. Fresh off his first European victory at the Tour of Austria, Danielson will lead a strong and motivated Discovery Channel team keen to make up for disappointment from this

Roaring voices, clinking beer bottles — even a clattering marching band — pierced Friday’s late-afternoon air, as several thousand spectators watched the finals in Four-cross at the 2006 world mountain-bike championships in Rotorua, New Zealand. The immense crowd was there to see Czech Michal Prokop and American Jill Kintner — both pre-race favorites — take easy victories in their respective events. Prokop and Kintner have already sewn up the 2006 World Cup titles, even with the September 9-10 World Cup finals in Schladming, Austria, remaining. Prokop was dominant in the men’s

The Vuelta a España clicks into gear on Saturday for three weeks of racing which organizers hope provides the sport's beleaguered fans drama on the bike, and not off it. After a summer of doping scandals, the Vuelta hopes to avoid following in the controversial slipstream of the Tour de France. After a scandal-plagued start, when race favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso were among those suspended over doping suspicions, American Floyd Landis won the Tour's yellow jersey in July only to test positive for after stage 17. Landis is likely to lose that title, which would then go to

Former up-and-coming cycling star Frank Vandenbroucke's colorful career has taken on a new hue after it was revealed he has been riding incognito among Italian amateurs, using a license bearing the photo of none other than reigning world champion Tom Boonen. Vandenbroucke, who in the past has been implicated in several doping affairs, was recently sacked by the Belgian Unibet.com team. His desire to race has not abated, but it was to general surprise that he began racing in the tough Italian amateur scene thanks to a false racing license with Boonen's photo on it. Widespread media

Danielson will be Disco's sole leader in this Vuelta

Danielson will be Disco's sole leader in this Vuelta

A big, fast course and huge crowds highlighted Friday's 4X

Kintner took the women's title with ease

Still another Swiss win in the cross-country

Unlike last year, when Heras was ultimately denied his win, Vuelta organizers want to know for certain who won the race by the time the peloton reaches Madrid.

Vandenbroucke at this year's Unibet presentation. He's since been fired.

With a single Swiss flag hanging from the tallest of three flagpoles, a trio of Switzerland’s top young talents stood as their country’s national anthem — Sweitzerpsalm — played in honor of their sweep of the world junior cross-country championships on Thursday. Standing proudly in the crowd, 1996 world champion Thomas Frischknecht — Switzerland’s elder statesman of mountain-bike racing — couldn’t contain his tears. “We have a lot of riders who are already accomplished by the time they come to the junior level,” explained Frischknect, as to why his country’s junior ranks are so deep. “We

If the 2006 World Mountain-bike Championships were to have a poster boy, Clinton Avery would be the local’s choice. While Kiwi cross-country star Kashi Leuchs may garner the brunt of his country’s attention, Avery is Rotorua’s hero. The hulking 18-year old is a long-time member of the New Zealand national cycling team (both road and mountain), and the best up-and-coming mountain-bike racer in this small island nation. As a born-and-raised Rotoruan, Avery is the pride and joy of his community — especially of late. As the 2006 games got underway, Avery’s face graced the cover of the local

The 61st Vuelta a España kicks off Saturday with a different twist. Rather than a short opening prologue or a road stage, the season’s third grand tour debuts with a team time trial that’s only 7.2km long. The pancake-flat course should create some interesting splits in what’s sure to be a wild first week of the Vuelta, with two summit finishes and a series of hard, flat stages across the stinking heat of Spain’s western plains before the second weekend closes. Nine-man teams will start at 7 p.m. in four-minute intervals on a course that’s expected to take about eight minutes at speeds

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEBikes 4 Kids Utah Event Just Around the Corner; 1,000 UnderprivilegedChildren to Receive BicyclesAgenda released for bike giveaway, rides and other event detailsSALT LAKE CITY - August 24, 2006 - Bikes 4 Kids Utah, a non-profitorganization, today announced details of its upcoming fundraiser for underprivilegedchildren in the Salt Lake Valley. Bikes 4 Kids Utah will provide new bicyclesfor 1,000 pre-qualified, underprivileged children from the Boys & GirlsClub of Murray, the Guadalupe School, Holy Cross Ministries, the HispanicRotary and Rose Park Elementary.Along with

The race goes on…BMC sponsors Astana professional road racing team.New team will have office in Switzerland and be led by Marc Biver.BMC, the leading innovative high-end bike manufacturer based in Grenchen/SO,has signed a contract to supply the Astana professional cycling team throughto 2009, seamlessly continuing their engagementin the international race circuit.The Astana cycling team, based in Neuchâtel is being assembledunder the leadership of Marc Biver and will be one of the strongest teamson the international race circuit.BMC is proud to provide the Astana team with the best

Avery has been getting a lot of attention in Rotorua

After a tumultuous season, will Vinokourov still be considered a favorite?

With a short 7.2km course, teams will have to get into their TTT rhythms quickly on Saturday evening.

Denis Menchov admits he won’t be the five-star favorite to win the Vuelta a España while Rabobank teammate Oscar Freire confirms he won’t be taking Saturday’s start. Menchov – who was named winner of the 2005 Vuelta after Roberto Heras tested positive for the banned blood booster EPO – said his efforts from the Tour de France could cost him in the mountainous Vuelta. “I’ve love to win, but the Vuelta is a secondary objective this year after the Tour and I don’t feel as fresh this time,” Menchov told the Spanish daily MARCA. “I think I have a chance, but psychologically I don’t feel as sharp

Ren Chengyuan and Ying Liu ushered in a new era for Chinese women’s cycling Wednesday, as the duo annihilated the field in the debut world U-23 women’s cross-country championships, in Rotorua, New Zealand. Chengyuan, the current U-23 points leader in the World Cup, took the win and the rainbow stripes, crossing the line with a 1:38 gap on her teammate. The win marks the first-ever world mountain-bike championship win for China. The closest pursuer, Sarah Koba of Switzerland, finished nearly five minutes in arrears. Tereza Hurikova of the Czech Republic, winner of last year’s junior world

The Eneco Benelux Tour ended bitterly for George Hincapie on Wednesday after arch-rival Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) hooked him in the final 50 meters, sending the Discovery Channel leader sprawling to the ground and causing him to lose the race on time bonuses. Schumacher started the 201km seventh and final stage three seconds behind race leader Hincapie, but the German rider bounded ahead to finish third behind winner Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux) and runner-up Manuele Mori (Saunier Duval-Prodir) to earn a four-second bonus that nudges him into overall victory in the eight-day

Discovery Channel officials said they felt “robbed” of victory in the Eneco Tour following the controversial finish to Wednesday’s finale when German rider Stefan Schumacher caused George Hincapie to crash less than 100 meters from the line. Schumacher barged Hincapie’s line and sent the race leader toppling to the ground in disbelief and anger as the Gerolsteiner rider took four bonus seconds with third-place to claim overall victory by one second. “It was so unfair what happened to him,” Discovery Channel sport director Dirk Demol told VeloNews. “George felt so strong and the team did an

Menchov will get the jersey back before the start on Saturday

Chengyuan built an early lead and kept it.

Chengyuan set a hard pace at the start and was joined by Liu

Gilbert sails to the stage win as Hincapie sprawls behind

Schumacher charges ahead for a time bonus and the overall win

Hincapie seems disinclined to hear Schumacher's explanation

New Zealand's winter weather on Tuesday offered up a wet and chilly combination before 14 teams took on the first event of the 2006 World Mountain Bike Championships, the 9.2-mile team relay, won in solid fashion by a strong and consistent Swiss team. Held near Rotorua, a geothermal resort community on New Zealand's north island, the world's got off to a somewhat stormy start on Tuesday as a strong downpour and subsequent ice storm left the course on the slopes of Mt. Ngongotaha covered with a glaze of slick mud. Conditions, however, did nothing to slow the Swiss team of Florian

It’s been 17 years since the world mountain bike championships debuted in Durango, Colorado. Since then, the discipline’s marquee event has ventured out of the mountains of North American and Europe only once, for the 1996 world’s in Cairns, Australia. For 2006, the world’s again head south of the Equator, this time to the resort town of Rotorua, on New Zealand’s north island, where a host of championship events will run through Sunday. The move underscores the UCI’s professed commitment to develop mountain-bike racing outside of traditional European and North American markets. The sport’s