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Olympic pursuit champion Sarah Ulmer produced a stunning solo ride to demolish a class international field in the second round of the women's World Cup road cycling series Sunday. Ulmer, who switched to road racing less than a year ago, proved peerless against a field containing riders with numerous Olympic and world titles. Among those left in her wake were the world's top three road riders in 2005 - Australia's Oenone Wood, Sweden's Susanne Ljungskog and Germany's Judith Arndt. Ulmer clocked three hours 16 minutes 45 seconds for the 124-kilometer race on an inner-city

Mike Jones (Health Net-Maxxis) and Laura Charameda (McGuire Cycling) won the McLane Pacific Cycling Classic Downtown Grand Prix on Saturday. The race was run on a flat, fast, 0.8-mile loop in downtown Merced, California. In the men’s race, Jones soloed to victory ahead of Jackson Stewart (Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada) and Mark McCormack (Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home). It was a good day for Health Net, which put four riders into the top 10, including last year’s winner, Gord Fraser. The new Toyota-United Pro squad was right behind them, with three of the top 10, including Juan Jose

Defending champion Bobby Julich (Team CSC) roared to victory Sunday in the 4.8km opening prologue of the 64th Paris-Nice on a day he didn’t expect to win. Julich – who enjoyed his best season last year with wins at Paris-Nice, Criterium International and the Tour of Benelux – said earlier this year he wouldn’t be chasing the smaller races, but that could change very quickly. “This is a surprise win for me today because this was not among my main goals this season,” Julich told reporters. “I only came here to gear up for other objectives later in the year.” Emboldened by the sensations of

Santos González (3 Molinas) sewed up his first career stage-racevictory Sunday after finishing safely in the bunch in the final stage ofthe five-day Vuelta a Murcia.German wunderkind Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner) out-kicked ArielRicheze (Panaria) to claim his second stage of the Spanish race in a masssprint despite heavy winds that forced race organizers to neutralize partof the course.New Discovery Channel rider Egoi Martínez featured in a five-manescape that pulled away at 22km to build up a 2:30 lead at 80km. The movewas neutralized at 112km, just before heavy winds

Runner-up Kashechkin

Third-placed McGee

Fourth-placed Contador

Boonen finished fifth

Vaugenerard took eighth

Steegmans crossed ninth

Landis just missed the top 10, finishing 11th

Julich dons the leader's jersey

Tom Boonen has been enjoying some quality training sessions around his new home in Monaco and hopes to roll into Sunday’s start of Paris-Nice ready to pop for a win or two during the eight-day “Race to the Sun.” “The weather is great and the area in and around Monaco is perfect for this important training as there are some good up hill sections,” Boonen said in a Quick Step-Innergetic release. “My teammates Kevin Hulsmans, Kevin Van Impe and Steven De Jongh have also joined me here in Monaco. It’s certainly more fun and stimulating training together.” The reigning world champion will head

Carlos Garcia Quesada (Unibet.com) won the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Murcia on Saturday as Santos González (3 Molinos Resort) seized the overall lead from Jose Iván Gutiérrez (Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears) with just one stage remaining. Garcia Quesada edged Italian Damiano Cunego (Lampre) in the final meters of the 146.6km stage from Caravaca to Collado Bermejo, which featured a trio of Category 1 climbs. Gutiérrez, who assumed the leader’s yellow jersey after winning the Stage 3 individual time trial, could not counter the attacks from the climbers despite the help of teammates

Boonen is everywhere.

Garcia Quesada takes the victory

Gutierrez hits the finish too late to keep his yellow jersey

Caisse d'Epargne working it

Cunego and Gonzales

Martinez on the front

Lampre chasing

VDB and Vino'

Valverde, Hruska and Gutierrez

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Especially if you're Garcia Quesada and winning a stage

Or Gonzales, seizing the lead

Gonzales on the podium

In what’s sure to be one of the most-watched comebacks in recent racing history, David Millar is expected to roll down the start ramp for the opening prologue of the 2006 Tour de France on July 1, just days after his two-year racing ban ends. Some think the former world time trial champion - who admitted to French police in June, 2004, he took the banned blood booster EPO en route to some of his biggest victories – should never race again. Others, however, believe Millar can return to the elite of the sport as a clean rider. Millar has promised as much in a pair of emotional testaments at

Cross-country pros rejoice, your prayers have been answered. USA Cycling is putting up more than $33,000 this year so that the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series can actually award prize money in the pro men’s and women’s cross-country races for 2006. And with the prize money also comes the awarding of UCI points. The NORBA series has awarded neither since 2002. Here’s the skinny:Prize money and points will be available at six of the seven NORBA National races in 2006. Because the NORBA No. 5 in Sonoma, CA (July 14-16) conflicts with the Canadian national championships, it will not offer

José Iván Gutiérrez (Illes Balears) surged into the overall lead at the Vuelta a Murcia on Friday after ripping through an impressive early season win in the 21.3km individual time trial. Gutiérrez – a four-time Spanish national time trial champion and world championship silver medalist last year in Madrid – showed off the best time-trial position of any Spanish rider going, taking more than 1 minute out of teammate Alejandro Valverde during Stage 3. Also showing good early season form was Alexandre Vinokourov, making his presence felt for the first time this season with a strong

Aussie Anna Meares outfought American Jennie Reed to take the gold medal in the sprint on Friday at the fourth and final round of the UCI World Cup Series, being staged at Sydney's Dunc Gray Velodrome through Sunday. The Athens Olympic time trial champion, who qualified fourth fastest, claimed the victory without conceding a single race, winning every match along the way. In the semi-finals Meares defeated Tamilla Abassova of Russia, the 2005 world championship silver medalist, to set up her gold-medal showdown with Reed. In their first match, Meares attacked from the front and Reed was

Millar joined teammate Gilberto Simoni at the Saunier-Duval presentation.

José Iván Gutiérrez now has the overall lead

Runner-up Vino'

Third-placed Rich

Valverde slipped to sixth overall, more than a minute back

Santos Gonzales moves into second on GC

Bernabeu slots into third overall

Gomis

Hruska

Markus Fothen

Van den Broeck

Vicioso . . .

. . . and the victor

Alejandro Valverde, the Spanish sensation who’s getting cartloads of hype back home, admits he’s starting to feel the pressure still four months away from the start of the Tour de France. Valverde, who nipped Lance Armstrong in a climbing stage up Courchevel before abandoning his Tour debut last year, said he hopes he can live up to expectations among Spanish fans and media. “I am starting to note the pressure, and to tell the truth, I am a little scared, but I am working so that everything turns out okay.” Valverde told the Spanish sports daily Marca. Valverde has been unofficially

Dear Bob,Riding by that corner in Los Altos Hills where Dan Plummer was killed (CyclistKilled In Storm ID’d) caused me to wonder who, if anybody, was responsible for that Eucalyptus tree on the corner of Natoma and Black Mountain roads. Would a falling branch be considered an “Act of God,” or is the landowner responsible for any and all wayward branches. Often times the cities restrict cutting down “Heritage” trees with diameters over 12 inches. How might that factor into the equation?Sincerely,S. R. California Dear S.R.;You know, we all try to be conscious of riding safely, but what happens

It was early March and the questions were already beginning: When was Alejandro Valverde going to win his first race of the season? The Spanish sensation usually roars out of the gate, as he did two years ago when he won a stage just hours after getting off a plane at the Mallorca Challenge in February. This year, Valverde is taking aim at bigger fish, but the 25-year-old couldn’t help himself when he smelled the finish line in the bumpy 172.4km second stage of the Vuelta a Murcia. Following the wheel of compatriot Santos González (3 Molinas) over the Cat. 1 climb some 16km from the finish

Lance Armstrong will not face any penalty stemming from allegations that he used EPO in the 1999 Tour de France, according to the UCI. The UCI has told The Daily Telegraph that it did not dispute the test results published last year in the French newspaper L'Equipe "The UCI does not deny the validity of the six forms printed in L'Equipe," said UCI president Pat McQuaid. "The six tests which were printed in L'Equipe were among the 15 given out by (Dr. Mario) Zorzoli." Zorzoli, the UCI’s chief medical officer, stepped down this week after admitting to giving the L'Equipe

After Ben Jacques-Mayne’s weeklong real-world test during last week’s Amgen Tour of California, SRAM’s new professional 10-speed road group comes one step closer to going public. While the group has been making waves since last fall’s EuroBike trade show in Friedrichshafen, Germany, SRAM did a good job of keeping its name — Force — under wraps. Now, with the name out there, the group once again steals the spotlight on its way to the retail market. The svelte shifters, newly designed carbon cranks and carbon-infused rear derailleur are the pro group’s highlights. The intentions to produce

Valverde is a big draw in Spain this year

Valverde at this year's team presentation

No. 1 for Valverde

The lead goes to Vicioso

A short stint in the yellow jersey for Haussler

Sorry, no sunflowers today

Gonzales has a go

Beppu and Ramirez

Beppu leads

Julia and Ramirez

Lampre on the front

And Valverde on the attack

The Force crank

The brake-shift lever

The rear derailleur

Pressure washDear Lennard,Just wondering about a brief explanation on the “dos and don’ts” associatedwith bike cleaning and pressure washers. There seems to me to be two schoolsof thoughts around this and that pressure washers are a "no-no" that canruin components -specifically bearings, yet we see a lot of pro teams mechanicscleaning their teams bikes using stands and pressure washers? What areyour recommendations using pressure washers and some simple rules?DaveCanada (land of road salt and sand!)Dear Dave,My recommendation, in general, is to stay away from power washers.Of course, there

Following SRAM’s European OEM camp in the hills above Malaga, Spain, photos of the new 2007 X.9 derailleur and shifters were leaked to European websites. In an effort to squelch rumors and hearsay, SRAM confirmed the redesign, releasing minimal information and photos of the components in question. SRAM’s official release follows: Here's some buzz that just leaked out. A well-positioned photographer snapped some sneak peeks of some of our new X.9 gear! Complete details will be released at Sea Otter. SRAM recently held a private test session in the remote hills of Malaga, Spain, where

Fresh off a podium finish at the Tour of California, defending champion Bobby Julich (CSC) heads an international field for Paris-Nice, March 5-12. Team CSC will come with a stacked squad that also includes fellow California podium-finisher David Zabriskie, compatriot Christian Vande Velde, Jens Voigt, Frank Schleck, Michael Blaudzun, Andrea Peron and Vuelta a España podium-man Carlos Sastre. Other North Americans on the preliminary start list released Wednesday by race organizers include Floyd Landis (Phonak), fresh off his overall victory in the Tour of California; Chris Horner

Spanish roads must remind Heinrich Haussler of his native Australia, because the young Gerolsteiner rider took another impressive victory in the attack-heavy opener of the Tour of Murcia on Wednesday. Haussler, whose father is German and mother is Australian, was raised Down Under until he left for Germany at 14 to chase his dream of becoming a professional racer. That dream turned into reality when Gerolsteiner signed him to a two-year deal last year and he quickly repaid the favor, winning a stage in last year’s Vuelta a España. Haussler, who turned 22 last weekend, easily outkicked Ariel

The rear derailleur

The shifter

Julich atop the final podium at Paris-Nice 2005

Haussler profits from disorder in the finale . . .

. . . and scores both the stage and the leader's jersey

Veneberg and Perez had a go

Caisse d'Epargne leads the bunch

Just rolling along

Valverde and VDB

Menchov and Vino'

Cunego