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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.Clay Mankin: Passionate, generous and gentleEditor:Last Sunday, cyclists and decent human beings everywhere lost a wonderful friend, advocate, instigator, visionary and an all-purpose do-gooder in Clay Mankin, loving father and husband, proprietor and icon of the San Francisco institution

An ambitious Jan Ullrich hinted Thursday he wants to win both the Tour de France and the Tour of Germany in 2006. Speaking via a video feed during the presentation of the 2006 Deutschland Tour, Ullrich said the nine-day, 1400km course better suits his style than the mountainous 2005 version, which saw Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) take the overall. "I rate the German tour almost as high as the Tour de France," Ullrich said via video during the presentation of the 2006 Deutschland Tour. "After finishing second this year, next time I want to win it." The 2006 German tour – featuring two

While it won’t make for the epic imagery usually associated with cyclo-cross, sunny, warm weather is expected in the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend, the site for the finale of the 2005 Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross series. Instead of the snowstorm conditions racers faced at race 3 of the series October 29 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, competitors will revel in the sunbathed tradition of West Coast cyclo-cross. Saturday’s Surf City Cyclocross, at the Watsonville Fairgrounds just outside of Santa Cruz, and Sunday’s Clark Natwick Grand Prix, in San Francisco’s Golden Gate

Greg LeMond had a surprise visitor at L’Alpe d’Huez during the 1984 Tour de France. He was relaxing in his hotel room after placing sixth on the stage up the fabled alpine climb when there was a knock on the door. He recognized the female visitor as a motorcycle driver on the race. She said to the young American, then 23, "Greg, do you know who Bernard Tapie is? He’d like to see you in private." Yes, LeMond did know that Tapie was the mysterious, ambitious French businessman who that year had started a new pro cycling team, La Vie Claire, which had hired four-time Tour winner Bernard

Ullrich doesn't want to finish behind Leipheimer in the 2006 Tour of Germany

LeMond in La Vie Claire kit

Ask your average die-hard cyclo-cross fanatic to comment on the burning social, political or economic issues of the day and you may not get much of a response. Ask, “Tubular or clincher?” and you’re bound to get an earful. Of course, much of what you hear is as likely to confuse as to enlighten. Old-school Euros will, without a doubt, defend their motto, “Tubulars or death!” North American racers with a mountain-bike background will thoughtfully explain that the tubular's advantages can be matched by superior rubber technology and the advanced tread patterns of today’s clinchers. No

Attorneys for Roberto Heras promise they’re ready for a fight if a counter-analysis scheduled for Monday confirms the four-time Vuelta a España champion used the banned blood-booster EPO. Andreu Garriga, the attorney for four-time Vuelta a España, is promising a lengthy legal battle if tests come back positive. “We will enter judicial and sporting (actions) and will support it with all the available resources,” Garriga told the Spanish daily AS. Heras is denying allegations that he used EPO en route to a record fourth Vuelta crown in September. Spanish cycling has been rocked following

Some days just beg for clinchers ...

... while others demand fancy tubulars.

Vittoria's EVO XG

Vittoria's EVO XN is designed for dry conditions and comes in both tubular and clincher (this one is a tubular)

The Dugast `cross Typhoon

The original Michelin Mud has taller knobs with no siping perfect for those really mucky days

Tufo's Elite LPS Tubular is a very popular tire

The suberb Michelin Mud 2. This tire is being run tubeless with sealent on a Shimano 7801-SL wheel set

Geax's Mezcal semi-slick

Hi Monique,Now that coffee has been recommended as a good source of antioxidants, in moderation, of course, do you have any information regarding how the decaffeinating process may affect the antioxidant effect of coffee?LW Dear LW,As you are aware there was a recent headline grabbing study, which was actually presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society this past summer. This study received widespread attention and Americans were informed that coffee is the number one source of antioxidants in the American diet. As is often the case, this study begs that we once again “read the

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.Small change for big eventEditor,This is disheartening. If San Francisco fails to continuewith its support of this imrpressive race I have lost hope in thiscountry ever truly caring for, or even respecting, cycling.Sad, sad, sad!I know that we need to run our cities efficiently, but

The UCI’s ProTour Council shot down plans for a final split-stage proposed as part of the 2006 Giro d’Italia, saying rules don’t allow for more than one stage to be held a day in ProTour races. On Saturday, Giro race organizers announced the route for the 2006 edition that included a final stage with a morning 11km time trial on the Ghisallo climb and a 116km road finale into Milan. The decision came after sharp criticism from the Italian cycling riders federation as well as other riders, who insist the 2006 Giro finale was too demanding after such a long and challenging course. Giro race

Oh happy days again. I’m glad to be back in Belgium this winter racing `cross. I am actually stoked to be here, but I wasn't so hot on the ass kicking I received this weekend at the Pijnacker World Cup in The Netherlands. The legs just haven't really wanted to turn over lately, but that is bike racing and I am sure things will turn around shortly. That’s the hope anyhow. Jeremy POOOWERS! (as the French like to say) and I decided we would head down to Chateau Bernard last Friday to do a C2 race there. It was kind of a long drive at 800km, but as they say, “When in France I guess you

Clay Mankin died Sunday November 13 of natural causes doing what he loved:riding his bike. He was just a week shy of his 50th birthday and to celebrate,Clay was treating himself to a solo ride from the San Francisco Bay Areato Santa Barbara when he died.Clay was a gift to cycling and as I pause to remember him – I feel honoredto have ridden with him. As the owner of CityCycle bike shop in San Francisco, he was legendary for his abilityto pull people into cycling.The last time I saw Clay he was also shoving off for a big ride. Hewas riding from our Bike Camp hotel in Tuscany to meet a former

Clay Mankin

Giro `06: That last day can include a time trial or the usual parade into Milan, but not both

Clay doing what Clay loved to do.

After considering your opinions* regarding the magazine's top honor, international cyclist of the year, the North American male cyclist of the year and North American female cyclist of the year awe now move on to the category of Best men's road team of the year. After a full season of covering bicycle racing, the VeloNews crew hunkers down in a secret location and takes stock of the events and standout performances of the year. The 18th annual VeloNews awards will appear in the December 5 issue. Sometimes brilliant, sometimes not, our picks often trigger a flood of reader responses.

With a host of common – and not-so-common – questions already answered in earlier Technical Q&A columns, I've been asked to touch on a few other topics now and then. In that vein, I will take this opportunity to tell you about the Gran Fondo Campagnolo, a very difficult mass-participation race I did for the third time this past June. The Italian Gran Fondo is a mass-participation event, but it is distinct from mass-participation rides here in the U.S. in that it is a race, and everyone wears a timing chip on his or her leg. The Triple Bypass in Colorado, for example (which I also did

November 12, 2005 (Minneapolis) - Women and their supporters gatheredin Las Vegas at the Interbike trade show in September for the sixth YoplaitNouriche Women’s Cycling Summit. The fall 2005 Yoplait Nouriche Summitfocused on a highly successful entry-level racing program and on how teamscan give more value to their sponsors.   The full proceedingscan be found at WomenCyclists.comCycling Made Real – a grassroots program that worksPast Yoplait Nouriche Summits have identified Cycling Made Real asthe country’s most successful program for recruiting novice women to bicycleracing. 

A cyclist operates on an entirely different calendar than do most people. Two weeks ago, my year began as I started training again. At Christmas, when everyone else is relaxing, raising a glass in front of the tree, enjoying time away from work, we’ll be back on our bikes getting ready for team training camp, which begins only a few weeks into January I woke up the morning of November 1st to find a training program in my e-mail inbox. That month off my bike had passed a whole lot quicker than the last month of the season in which I raced a very fast Vuelta and a miserably cold

We’ve been getting quite a few inquiries here at velonews.com about thefuture of the USPRO road championship. Just last week USA Cycling announcedthe time and location of all of next year's events except for USPRO.And as reported earlier this year, big changes are in store for the eventas the event will no longer be open to foreign racers. Over the years, the national championship, organized by Pennsylvania-basedrace promoter Threshold Sports, has been held as an open internationalevent in Philadelphia that has grown into the most important one-day eventin North American racing. But all

See anyone you know?

You remember this guy, don't you?

The victors.

Not your typical Sunday ride, eh?

The whole Barry-Demet family stopped by VeloNews international headquarters to discuss a new book deal.

Pay to the order of.....

Is this guy a DOPER?

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. We could wax academic about the superior compositional elements of Ed Subias’s “SoCalCyclo-cross 2000,” but mostly we like it because we can taste metallic lactic acid just looking at it. Congratulations Ed! 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."Go ahead and take a look at our latest gallery,decide what you like and let us

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.Lack cycling heroes? Look for heroes who cycleEditor:A couple of letters in Friday's mailbag lamented the lack of cycling heroes. This reader long ago gave up on the "athlete hero." They're mostly overpaid, egotistic, pampered rich people. I do admire their athletic prowess -

Jan Ullrich will decide by next week whether or not he will start the 2006 Giro d’Italia. The 1997 Tour de France champion is still undecided about his racing schedule, but T-Mobile sport director Rudy Pevenage said Ullrich ought to ride the Giro. “He should ride it, for him it would be good,” Pevenage said. “It’s one of two options to get ready for the next Tour, either the Giro or the Tour de Suisse. He needs to decide soon.” Casero hangs it upSpanish veteran Angel Casero ended his career Sunday with a victory in the Criterium Internacional de Ciclismo de la Comunidad Valenciana. Igor

Thomas Frischknecht (Swisspower) has ended a 12-year Costa Rican winning streak at La Ruta de los Conquistadores, becoming the first foreign rider to win the three-day event. The Marathon World Champion bounced back from a disastrous second stage, when three flats on the final descent caused him to lose 15 minutes to Costa Rican Marvin Campos (IBP), and drop to second in the standings - more then seven minutes back.

VeloNews Photo Contest: Last week's winner and a new gallery

Ullrich - seen here in Austria during the Tour of Germany - is trying to decide whether the Giro will help or hinder his Tour chances.

It’s going to be a climber’s paradise in the 2006 Giro d’Italia, with a return to such hallowed ground as the fearsome Mortirolo, the Gavia and a final-day showdown with a climbing time trial on the Madonna del Ghisallo. Giro organizers have delivered an innovative, if somewhat controversial course that blends the best of the Giro’s colorful legacy and the novelty of a split stage on the final day. The 89th edition of the corsa rosa features 21 stages, five summit finishes, a team time trial and three individual time trials in a battleground already being hailed as the most challenging Giro

Rabobank’s Sven Nijs easily won the third round of the UCI’s cyclo-cross World Cup in Pijnacker in the Netherlands on Sunday. Nijs rode away from his Dutch Rabobank teammate Richard Groenendaal and fellow Belgian Gerben De Knegt, after the trio moved off the front of the field early in the race. The win represents yet another in the Belgian’s recent domination of the discipline. Nijs, winner of cyclo-cross’s “triple crown” – Belgian national championship, world championship and overall World Cup title – won the first two rounds of the World Cup this year, taking the opener in Kalmthout,

Johnson and Bessette tops in ConnecticutFarmington, Connecticut -An a ending as rare as it was exciting,Tim Johnson (Cyclocrossworld.com-Louis Garneau) closed out the Elite Men’srace at ChainBIter 7.0 in Farmington, Conn. with a narrow sprint finishwin over Todd Wells (GT-Hyundai). Stop two on the 2005 Verge New EnglandChampionship Cyclo-Cross Series presented by Cycle-Smart, Farmington’sfinal race came down to the final meters with Johnson leading out Wells,racing in his first UCI categorized event of the year, and just barelyholding off the 2004 mountain bike Olympian.“We were trying to

The Gavia was the scene of an epic showdown in the 2000 Giro...

... a battle won by none other than Lampre's Gilberto Simoni

The sprint king may take a pass on the Giro

Sunday's EuroFile: A climbers' Giro; Reactions mixed

Nijs strikes a familiar pose.

Groenendaal set an early pace...

... and helped establish the winning break...

... but always had that teammate of his right on his wheel.

In 11th place on Sunday, Wellens has not had the season he'd hoped for.

David Millar is poised to return to the professional ranks this summer in what’s sure to be one of the most-watched and controversial comebacks in recent cycling history. Nearly two years after admitting he used the banned blood-booster EPO, Millar has signed a deal with the Spanish team Saunier Duval and is expected to start to the 2006 Tour de France just days after his two-year ban concludes June 23. Speaking to The Times, Millar said he wants his comeback to prove a point. "I want my comeback to be credible and inspiring, for me and for others and for younger kids. I owe that to

Organizers on Saturday unveiled the course of the 2006 Giro d'Italia, the 89th edition of Italy's most prestigious cycling race, starting in Belgium to pay homage to the victims of a 1956 mine disaster. The first of the 21-stage grand tour will be a 6.2km individual time test in Seraing. The second of four Belgian legs will end in Charleroi-Marcinelle, where 136 Italians were among 262 miners who perished following an explosion and fire in a coal mine. Paolo Savoldelli, this year's Giro champion, did not attend the unveiling ceremony in Milan but organizers said he was expected

After day one of La Ruta de los Conquistadores, Thomas Frischknecht (Swisspower) was up over six minutes. The next day, he was down by seven. But that's La Ruta for you. After suffering three flats in the final run to the finish, Frischknecht finished fifth on stage two, while the stage winner, Marvin Campos of the powerful host Costa Rican squad IBP (an investment bank) avoided punctures and took both the stage win and the leader's jersey. The stage profile was simple - climb for about 45km, up to 3010 meters, and then descend for 34km. Starting from the outskirts of San Jose, the

Millar hopes to ride the 2006 Tour

The route of the 2006 Giro d'Italia

Two-time Giro winner Gilberto Simoni points to what he hopes will be another route to victory

Campos moves into the lead

Bishop was one of many who flatted on Saturday

Jaikel had a unique mechanical problem

2006 Giro route unveiled

The official presentation of the 2006 Giro d’Italia isn’t until Saturday, but riders are already protesting against leaked reports of a possible split stage on the final day. The Italian riders’ union got wind of a unique finale – with a climbing time trial and a road stage for the final stage of the season’s first grand tour – and it’s something they don’t like at all. “We perfectly agree with the rules of the (UCI) forbidding half-stages in grand tours, all the more reason for the last days of a race like the Giro d'Italia at the end of a tough week,” ACCPI president Amedeo Colombo

At the end of the 2005 race season, I found myself with a hard drive chock-full of strange images from the year’s racing scene. Most (if not all) are on their way to an eternity in the digital afterlife, having been erased to make way for next year’s crop. But before I 86ed all of the images, I felt compelled to share a few with you. For whatever reason, none of these shots made it into a velonews.com race report this year. That said, more than a couple are worth looking at. Enjoy.

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.Regarding Heras: Wait for the ‘B’ testEditor:Hey, guys, before you start poking Roberto Heras with sharp pointy sticks, maybe you ought to wait and see what the result of the "B" test is. I've worked in molecular-biology labs for over 30 years and there is no such thing as a test with

Prior to the start of this year's La Ruta de los Conquistadores, some wondered whether Thomas Frischknecht (Swisspower), despite being marathon world champion, would be able to overcome the home-ground advantage of the Costa Ricans. He answered that question decisively on the first stage. Frischknecht crushed the competition by nearly seven minutes, finishing ahead of local challengers Deiber Esquivel (IBP) and Marvin Campos (BP), with Jeremiah Bishop (Trek-VW) crossing fifth after overextending himself on the longest climb of the day and dropping from second place. The first stage of

While unsure of the specifics, most agree that the `06 Giro will be a tough race. Too tough?

Manzano not surprised

Cameron Chambers soaked up some mud in Boerne, Texas

A ghostly white Adam Craig won a free hosing down, not to mention the XC in Texas.

Jelly Belly’s Alex Candelario sported a sling after breaking his collar bone in Redlands.

Alison Dunlap showed she was virtually unbeatable in a paved sprint at Sea Otter.

The men in Orange: Kona’s Ryan Trebon, Barry Wicks and Peter Wedge

Thanks, Elke! Trent Lowe’s tan lines get a rubdown from team soigneur Elke Brutsaert.

Trek/VW’s Sue Haywood and Jeremiah Bishop workin the autograph table

Jill Kintner enjoyed a moment to herself before the 4X in Angle Fire, New Mexico.