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Tour nine shaping up for Discovery ChannelDiscovery Channel is zeroing in on its nine riders who will defend the team’s colors in the first Tour de France of the post-Lance Armstrong era. According to sport director Dirk Demol, the nine pre-selected riders include two new faces which have yet to ride the Tour with Discovery Channel. Young Russian Vladimir Gusev and promising Basque rider Egoi Martinez are both penciled in to earn a Tour start position. “It’s not like the past, when we had the whole team for Lance. The team comes with different goals,” Demol told VeloNews. “Of course, there

Joan Horrach (Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears) brought a Spanish accent to the 89th Giro d’Italia in a rough and tumble race that saw Emanuele Sella (Panaria) and Manuele Mori (Saunier Duval) crash twice while they were streaking toward victory. Horrach was the last man standing of a 15-man group that tore away from main bunch in the 171km 12th stage along Italy’s spectacular Cinque Terre coast. A frenetic final half of the stage saw the group whittled down by Sella’s and Mori’s aggression, but the pair crashed while nursing about a 20-second gap and Horrach was able to sneak through for the

In its second year at Lawrence, Kansas, the collegiate road race championships served up another weekend of unexpected winners, heartbroken losers and drama. And that was just at the Holiday Inn post-race banquet (pity anyone who ordered the steak dinner). As was the case last year, I returned from Kansas with a tape recorder and camera filled with strange college-racing tidbits — stuff far too weird and extraneous to fit into my magazine feature, but ideal for the web. So I present to you the second annual Fred’s Eye View Collegiate Cycling Awards. Stylie Guy AwardThe nationals banquet

Team 7-Eleven reunites for “Drafting for Davis”, a dinner and live auction to raise money for Parkinson’s DiseaseFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 20, 2006Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Team 7-Eleven’s entry into the Tour de France and first ever road stage win by an AmericanSAN FRANCISCO, California – In 1986, the US based 7-Eleven team became the first North American team ever to take part in the Tour de France and Davis Phinney became the first American to win a road stage of the world’s biggest bicycle race. To celebrate those momentous events, Davis Phinney will be joined by many of his

Horrach survives break to take Giro stage win

Sam Bell showing some sweet shades...

... and a great butt-patch job

CSU's danger man Patrick McGlynn

Mark Hardman, winner of the D-I road race

Will this man replace Old Dirty Bastard?

Wait? When did Lees-McRae win MTB nationals?

Duvedeck and his tune-tastic creation

Abbott (center) held off Milkowski (right) and Hutton (left)

There's no place like home!

Smelser answers the important questions

Mixed day: Sella crashed twice, lost a shot at the stage win and made big gains on GC

Basso lost seven minutes to at least a few folk who may cause him a headache or two in the closing week of the Giro

Honchar suffered after an early crash

Horrach got the gap he needed at just the right moment.

Danielson is still in the top-six

It’s hard to believe that on a day when Ivan Basso nearly doubled his hold on the overall standings at the 2006 Giro d’Italia, the big story was another rider. But that’s just what happened when German Jan Ullrich stole the show — and the stage 11 win — in the 50km time trial from Pontedera to Pisa and back. Starting long before the Giro’s top GC hopefuls on a sunny, warm Thursday afternoon near Italy’s Ligurian Sea, Ullrich blistered the flat, oval shaped course that passed by Pisa’s famed leaning tower, posting a day’s best 58:48. From there, the waiting game began. It was more than three

Spanish rider Carlos Castaño gave his Kaiku team sweet revenge for being left out of this year’s Vuelta a España with an impressive win in Thursday’s 225km “queen stage” in the Volta a Catalunya. Kaiku was overlooked for a wild-card spot to join this year’s Vuelta and the team’s been simmering ever since. Castaño poured that frustration into his pedals to reel in the attacking Christophe Moreau (Ag2r) on the final climb to Arcalis to win and snatch the overall lead. “I was just thinking about winning the stage, so to take the leader’s jersey is a double bonus for the team,” Castaño said.

Dear Bob;I have a question that has been a long standing debate over many beers at the pub, and every one seems to agree I am wrong except me. If you could set me straight I would be grateful. This is a true story. Like most cyclists I have my regular routes, designed for hills, speed, one hour, three hours etc. Part of my ride consists of a road with two lanes in each direction (four lanes total) with a posted speed limit of twenty-five (25) miles per hour. Both sides of the road are filled with small shops with parking lots. The surface is new and smooth and slopes gently down at about a

Ullrich's time trial form is back...

Despite finishing second, Basso was the day's big winner

Sure, but can he climb? Ullrich appears to be getting fitter

Tour with a view: This is one reason we just love the Giro

Olson

Ullrich is not looking back.

Pinotti, Italy's national TT champ rode to a strong third

Honchar

Gutierrez: Still 2nd on GC.

You may have heard about a study recently published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolsim that brought that old childhood favorite drink of chocolate milk into the headlines. This attention getting study did bring up a lot of practical questions regarding your best food and fluid recovery nutrition choices, and a good opportunity to clarify the proper use of various sports nutrition supplements. Let’s take a quick look at the study. Researchers provided subjects with either chocolate milk, a sports drink, or a commercially available recovery drink (there

Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) sat in the shade of some palm trees Wednesday morning saying he’d like to win a stage at the week-long Volta a Catalunya as "a test" before tackling more important goals later this summer. Well, if his sprint victory in Wednesday’s third stage ahead of riders he’s due to square off against in a few weeks is any indication, the big Norwegian seems to be on the right path for the Tour. "It was a tough sprint because of strong headwinds in the finale," Hushovd told reporters. "I’m particularly delighted to win, because today is Norway’s national holiday. I’m on

On the second and final rest day of the 2006 Giro d’Italia, current race leader Ivan Basso spent most of Wednesday afternoon relaxing at his team’s seaside hotel in the beach town of Lido Di Camaiore. Basso did sneak in a two-hour training ride to reconnoiter Thursday’s 50km time trial course that does an oval loop from Pontedera to Pisa and back. The 2005 Tour de France runner-up also held a short press conference at the team hotel. Here are some of the highlights along with comments from Team CSC director Bjarne Riis. Basso on his expectations for the time trial:“I expect to have a good

After the Giro d’Italia’s second long transfer, this one taking therace from Pescara on Italy’s east coast to Pisa on the west, riders wereusing the rest day in Tuscany to scout out Thursday’s time trial courseand take stock of the race before heading into the upcoming week of climbsand more climbs. Stage 11 is a Tour de France-style time trial on a completelyflat 50km circuit around the Arno Valley between Pontedera and Pisa. JanUllrich scouted the course during an April training camp and likes it alot: “Flat and straight — perfect!” Race leader Ivan Basso predicts thatUllrich will ride a

The judging is over and we’ve picked our favorite from among the 100+ submissions offered by our readers for the First Annual Tour de Georgia Photo Contest. Take the time to wander through and see if you agree with the choice we made from among the entries you, our readers, sent in from Georgia. Meanwhile, we’d like to extend our hearty congratulations to Greg Mitts for his candid portrait of this year’s Tour de Georgia winner, Floyd Landis. Greg’s shot captures the personality, character and sense of humor of one this country’s great riders. For your efforts, Greg, you win a pair of

Bass and team director Bjarne Riis

Will Basso be as happy in the Alps?

Stage 17

Landis-joking before start of TT

It wasn’t quite as painful as the Nordic ski jumper that went spiraling down the hill all those years during the intro to ABC’s Wide World of Sports, but watching poor Axel Merckx throw several backward glances as a fast-moving chase group caught the Phonak rider just 150 meters from the line clearly rated as one of cycling’s agony-of-defeat moments. Instead of a heroic solo stage 10 win for the Belgian with the famous name, it was Liquigas lieutenant Franco Pellizotti who got to pop the champagne at the end of the 190km run south from Termoli to Peschici on Tuesday at the Giro

Steep, steep, steepDear Lennard,I recently read that Discovery director Johann Bruyneel is planningon putting a 34X29 on some of his riders' bikes for Stage 17 of the Giro.I don’t think Shimano makes either a compact Dura-Ace crank or a 29 cog.Any idea what they plan on using?James Dear James,I am in Italy now putting on a bikecamp with Connie Carpenter and Davis Phinney. We will be hookingup with the Giro starting at the Pontedera time trial on Thursday. I ameager to see the Stage 17 finish climb and the gearing teams use for it,too. According to Shimano USA and confirmed by Shimano

For many of the 20 ProTour teams lining up for the 86th Volta a Catalunya, the week-long race is an obligation to fulfill their end of the ProTour bargain to get assured starts in important races like the Tour de France. For small teams like Andalucía-Paul Versan, which got snubbed in its bid to earn a start in the Vuelta a España later this summer, races like these become their Tour. Luis Perez, a 25-year-old Spanish rider who had never won a race before as a professional, earned his modest Andalucía-Paul Versan squad some bragging points after soloing to victory in the 156.8km second

While the Giro d’Italia enters its second rest day on Wednesday, noteveryone in Italy is resting.We received an e-mail from reader Igor Tavella, who was on the upper reaches of the Plan de Corones this past Sunday and saw that road crews are still working to pave the final 5km of what will be the steepest section of road in this Giro d'Italia. "Maybe it is of interest to you to know that I took some pictures aboutthe works on the new road to the Plan de Corones," Igor writes. "Now theyare working day and night to be able to finish the road. Due to the last snowfalls they had to stop

Pellizotti takes big win at Giro

Merckx had a go ... but it wasn't to be

How do you gear for Stage 17's 5km of 20+ percent grades?

And where did you ride today?

Lampre on the front

Basso and Sastre

Lampre cranking it up

The sprint was a mere formality

Danielson rolls it

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

The tough (unpaved) road ahead - A reader's look at Stage 17

Tomas Vaitkus pulled off two great feats at the close of Monday's 132km run from Francavilla al Mare to Termoli. In winning the bunch sprint down the main drag of this sleepy beach town on the Adriatic, Vaitkus became the first Lithuanian to win a Giro d'Italia stage. But maybe more impressive was the fact that Vaitkus did so ahead of Robbie McEwen, heretofore unbeatable in mass gallops at this year's Giro. McEwen actually finished fourth on stage 9, with Vaitkus (Ag2r), Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) and Olaf Pollack (T-Mobile) all besting the Davitamon-Lotto rider.

Team CSC’s Fabian Cancellara hadn’t raced since winning Paris-Roubaix more than a month ago, but nothing could stop the adrenalin and killer instincts from kicking in when the big Swiss rider clipped into the pedals ahead of Monday’s opening 12.5km time trial to open the 86th Volta a Cataluyna. Once he got his big motor warmed up, the 6-foot-3, 180-pounder just let it rip. "I never dreamed of winning today until I rode the course this morning and I thought to myself, ‘Why not risk it and try to win?’" Cancellara said. "My next big goal isn’t until the Tour, but this was an opportunity I

A fast and furious finish