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Bogota, Colombia - October 19 (AFP) - Colombian cyclist Maria Luisa Calle has won back the Olympic bronze medal she lost at the Athens Games after she tested positive for a banned stimulant, her coach Jose Julian Velasquez said Wednesday. A spokesman for cycling's international governing body, the UCI, confirmed the news which was also confirmed by the athlete's lawyer. Calle won the bronze medal in the track points competition but was disqualified after she tested positive for heptaminol. Afterwards the 35-year-old protested her innocence and said she had taken paracetamol for a

1996 Giro winner, Pavel Tonkov sent a message to doubters when he won a stage in the 2004 edition

Spanish continental team Comunidad Valenciana will pass on trying to make a jump to the ProTour in 2006. According to an interview in the Spanish sports daily AS, team officials say the ProTour demands are simply beyond their budget. “They demand that we considerably increase our budget to enter the ProTour and at this moment we’re not ready to do it,” said team manager José Luis Aznar in AS. “We saw what happened to Giancarlo Ferretti and we’ve opted to remain prudent and wait one more year.” The announcement comes as a surprise as Comunidad Valenciana has been one of the most vocal critics

Can I just have the new crank?Dear Lennard,I have an older Serotta Legend with 9 speed Dura-Ace and I wonderedif I can replace the crank set-up to the new stiffer 10 speed without compatibilityissues as I would like to leave the 9 speed rear end as is. Seems likeI remember Velo doing an article on this subject last year but I have forgottenthe particulars as to efficiency and effectiveness.GeorgeDear George,I have done it, and it works fine.LennardLong legs and lots of climbingDear Lennard,I'm 6 foot 4 with a 36-inch inseam and I prefer to run 180mm cranks. I also ride a lot of

Center-pull cantilever brakes, once common on mountain bikes, are now completely gone from the racing circuit. However, as summer winds down, the leaves turn and cyclo-cross bikes come out of hiding, the center-pull cantilever can once again enjoy the spotlight. To understand what makes a good cyclo-cross brake, you first have to understand some of the intricacies of cantilever geometry, lever ratios and the whole idea of mechanical advantage. At the most basic level, a brake and its lever must be matched in terms of mechanical advantage. A prime example is a linear-pull brake (the

VeloSwap moves to San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center for October29 eventFor Immediate ReleaseOctober 18, 2005San Francisco -- VeloSwap, the world's largest consumer bicycleshow and swap, will move to the acclaimed San Francisco Concourse ExhibitionCenter in downtown San Francisco for its October 29 event. The 3rd annualSan Francisco VeloSwap and Sports Expo will fill 100,000 square feet andhost some 250 vendors and exhibitors, and attract an estimated 8,000 cyclingenthusiasts.The SF Concourse Exhibition Center is a striking contemporary glassand steel pavilion highlighted with sand

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Carlos Garcia Quesada and Javier Pascual during this year's Vuelta. The team plans to remain a Continental squad for `06.

Avid's perfect for dry and fast courses. Not great in the mud, though.

Empella: Lots of clearance

Spooky has it, too.

Shimano's low-profile is the right tool for some conditions

SRP's submission to the canti' market

Cane Creek's short canti'

Linear-pull brakes are cheap and strong, but you have to jump through a few hoops to make them work on a 'cross bike

Wicks, Gould tops in Verge Mid AtlanticOctober 16, 2005, Bridgeton, NJ, USA-Kona riders dominated Sunday’s second race of the $30,000 Verge Mid Atlantic Cyclocross Series with wins in both UCI Elite races, and a convincing podium sweep in the UCI Elite Men’s event in Bridgeton, New Jersey. The three-century-old river port town is the county seat and boasts a city park almost as large as the town itself. Within the park, residents can find a riverside beach, an amphitheater and even a small zoo. Unfortunately for the eastern regulars of the Verge Mid Atlantic Cyclocross Series, the zoo wasn’t

Riders and staff are scrambling to try to find new jobs in the wake of news last week that the Sony Ericsson deal to take over the sponsorship for Fassa Bortolo fell through. The mobile communications giant issued a terse statement Friday saying it had no intention of sponsoring a professional racing team despite news that Italian manager Giancarlo Ferretti had already penned more than a dozen riders to long-term contracts. Ferretti was on the verge of tears when he told La Gazzetta dello Sport that an intermediary had misled him and others in believing that a multi-year, multimillion

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.Land of the rising cyclist?Hey Guys,I was looking at Discovery Channel’s line up and saw a cyclist fromJapan. For me this is a first, seeing a pro rider from the land of therising sun.Can you tell us more about him and have there been others? Could youimagine Mr. Beppu in yellow?

The 11th annual 24 Hours of Moab saw a few upsets to pre-race predictions and witnessed the emergence of new contenders in the men's and women's solo category. Usually a bridesmaid at the 24 Hours of Moab, Keith Bontrager's Masters' team has routinely placed second, with the exception of a win five years ago. After two victories at Granny Gear races earlier this year in California and West Virginia, Bontrager stood in position to sweep all three races. This time team Bontrager Wheelworks succeeded in steadily building a lead until this morning when the team received

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. Jeremy Furman’s shot “Cycling’s Future” stood out for us. You can’t tell whether the young rider won or lost… and it really doesn’t matter. He’s got a fan base and that counts for everything.Congratulations Jeremy! Contact us and you win 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 know what you think by dropping a noteto

Lennard Zinn book signing at Veloswap DenverOctober 17, 2005 – Denver, CO – Lennard Zinn, bicycle framebuilder and technical guru, will sign copies of his two new books at theVeloGear booth during Veloswap Denver on Saturday, October 22 from11:00 a.m. until noon.Lennard Zinn is the author of Zinn& the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, newly updated in its secondedition and just published this fall. He has also written Zinn& the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance, published this summer inits fourth edition.Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance covers every component ofa road

Will Sprint For Food: Collapse of the Sony deal means O'Grady and others are scrambling for contracts

Before Saturday’s Tour of Lombardy, which was celebrating its centennial, Olympic champion Paolo Bettini was totally relaxed, chatting with friends and signing autographs for the fans who gathered at the start in Mendrisio, Switzerland. Asked by RAI television how he saw the day going, the 31-year-old Quick Step-Innergetic team leader said he would see how things went, follow the wheels, and maybe go for the final sprint. More than six hours later, on the misty lakeside in Como, Italy, he was there for the final sprint, but he didn’t just "follow the wheels." Bettini exploded the race on the

Ace cycling shooter Graham Watson was on hand as the inaugural ProTour wrapped up with the Tour of Lombardy on Saturday - here's a sampling of what he saw through the lens.

Imagine escaping a weekend of cyclo-cross racing in the Pacific Northwest with nary a raindrop having fallen on your head. You’d feel pretty lucky, right? Well, that luck ran out, way out, for any racer that showed up for Saturday’s opener of the 2005 Verge New England Championships Cyclo-Cross Series, the Downeast Cyclo-Cross in New Gloucester, Maine. Fields already sodden from a week of rain greeted racers, and the rain grew steadier and heavier as the day went on, peaking in intensity for the most anticipated events: elite men and women. But even the hub-deep puddles and wheel sucking

Bettini closes out the ProTour with a win

The Bettini group

Simoni and Bettini

DiLuca atop his final ProTour podium of 2005

Schleck fought the good fight

Bettini launches

'The race of the falling leaves' runs around the shores of Lake Como

The peloton motors along

Rebellin led the chase and took the bunch sprint for fifth

Schleck had a late go, hoping to foil Bettini and Simoni

American Vande Velde was among the 101 starters who failed to finish; just 91 riders made it to the line

Voight working the feed zone

DiLuca took a stab at it, but had to abandon with knee pain

And the race boiled down to a three-sided contest

Bessette credited mountain biking for showing her the way through the goo

Bruno Roy found Bessette's performance daunting

When McCormack found a line that worked, he stuck to it

Johnson's rough start gave the steady McCormack an insurmountable lead

The new Sony Ericsson team headed up by cycling legend Giancarlo Ferretti looks to be on the verge of collapsing. The veteran Italian team manager is reportedly in Sweden for emergency meetings with Ericsson officials after it was learned that high-level officials were threatening to pull the plug on the recently announced six-year deal to sponsor the team. In fact, the mobile communications giant couldn’t have put it more bluntly Friday on its web page. “There have been a number of press reports across Europe speculating that Sony Ericsson will sponsor a cycling team. Sony Ericsson can

Reporters Without Borders said it was "concerned and shocked" after an examining magistrate in the Paris suburb of Nanterre placed five journalists under investigation after questioning them earlier this week. Three reporters from the weekly Le Point, Christophe Labbé, Olivia Recasens and Jean-Michel Décujis, as well as two from the sports daily L’Equipe, Damien Ressiot et Dominique Issartel, are accused of "violation of the confidentiality of investigation" in the Cofidis cycle team doping case. Ressiot has recently gained international attention as the reporter who linked positive test

When the Tour of Lombardy was first held in November 1905, bike racing was in its infancy. The Tour de France had just been held for the third time, while the Giro d’Italia was still four years away from its first edition. And the only one-day classic being organized on an annual basis was Paris-Roubaix, which had been held 10 times. The first Giro di Lombardia was held on an almost flat loop, starting and finishing in the region’s capital, Milan. The winner, in a long solo break, was a solid local with slicked-back straight hair, Giovanni Gerbi, who covered the 230km course in a little over

The leaves are orange and yellow and barely hanging on the trees. The morning chill stings a little more than usual. Everyone but the hardcore riders (and nutty cyclo-crossers) have already traded in the usual morning ride for some additional snooze time in the comforts of a warm bed. The mountain-bike season, my friends, is in the books. That’s not to say that our favorite fat-tire sport is unworthy of attention at the moment. After all, the off-season is when some of the juicier news comes out. And the biggest news for North Americans and Europeans alike is the release of the 2006 UCI

When Eddy Merckx recently commented on his being called the greatest cyclist of all time, he played down the description in typical “modest Eddy” fashion. “Comparisons between one generation and another don’t mean anything,” he told Vélo Magazine. “For me, the most important is to be the best of your generation.” Merckx, no question, was the best of his generation. And after he retired in 1978 there was a void waiting to be filled, just as there is today on the retirement of Lance Armstrong. The après-Merckx years were marked by some fierce competition for “best in class.” The first

Giancarlo Ferretti in more stable times

Harsh duty for the fat-tire set: The '06 World Cup opens in Curaçao

Bettini hopes for a Lombardia win

Kelly put in a huge effort to take the win

With Lance Armstrong firmly in cycling’s retirement home, Discovery Channel reloads for the 2006 with very different goals. The team won seven consecutive Tour de France titles, but without the Texan’s dominant presence, the team will ride into next season with the same ambition of being among the peloton’s main protagonists only without the assurance of a clear candidate for Tour victory. The team officially released its 2006 roster that includes 27 riders from 16 nations. The leading American team lost five riders, including Armstrong, but four new recruits bring fresh

Five journalists from the French sports daily L’Equipe and the weeklymagazine Le Point were summoned to the offices of an investigatingmagistrate on Wednesday and Thursday as part of an investigation into leaksthat triggered the Cofidisscandal last year. According to judicial sources, two journalists from L’Equipewere questioned on Wednesday and three from Le Point were slatedfor interviews on Thursday by judge Katherine Cornier who has been investigatingleaks within the French police.Earlier this year, Cornier ordered police to seize notes and computersin raidsconducted at L’Equipe and Le

Sauser Sides With SpecializedWorld Cup Champion Sauser Joins Liam Killeen and Sabine Spitzon Specialized’s Factory MTB Racing Squad October 13, 2005 – Morgan Hill, CA –29 year-old Swiss cross-countryracer and UCI World Cup Champion Christoph Sauser joins top XC talent LiamKilleen and Sabine Spitz with Specialized for 2006 and beyond. A veteran10 seasons as a professional, Sauser chose Specialized knowing they couldprovide him with a technological edge. “Once I saw Liam racing a CarbonEpic this season, I knew I had to connect with Specialized for the future,”says Sauser. “Plus, they have a

Sauser Sides With SpecializedWorld Cup Champion Sauser Joins Liam Killeen and Sabine Spitzon Specialized’s Factory MTB Racing Squad October 13, 2005 – Morgan Hill, CA –29 year-old Swiss cross-countryracer and UCI World Cup Champion Christoph Sauser joins top XC talent LiamKilleen and Sabine Spitz with Specialized for 2006 and beyond. A veteran10 seasons as a professional, Sauser chose Specialized knowing they couldprovide him with a technological edge. “Once I saw Liam racing a CarbonEpic this season, I knew I had to connect with Specialized for the future,”says Sauser. “Plus, they have

It looks like Brazil might have its first real break-out star on its hands after another thrilling victory by Murilo Fischer. Just last weekend, Fischer beat Paolo Bettini in the GP Beghelli and he quietly finished fifth in the world championships in Madrid last month. Taking advantage of his late-season form, Fischer shot to another impressive win in Thursday’s Giro del Piemonte in northern Italy. An early breakaway was reeled in with just 8km to go to set up the sprinters. The South American held off Steven De Jongh (Rabobank) to carve his eighth win on the year. “This win is very

Maine Hosts 2005 Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series OpenerNew Gloucester, ME - October 13, 2005 - With one of the mostdemanding courses in New England, the Downeast Cyclo-Cross kicks off the2005 Verge New England Championships Cyclo-Cross Series, presented by Cycle-Smart,this Saturday in New Gloucester, ME. Known for its mix of fast descents,a leg crushing run-up, and sections of strength sapping mud, the Downeastcourse throws every challenge a UCI course can at the crowds of ‘crossracers anxious to kick off the Verge NECCS.The 2005 Verge NECCS opener will boast one of its best

Ride To ReuniteJoin the TEAM!!  Help bring awareness and aid to recent Gulfhurricanes victims by, supporting the Ride To Reunite.Our vision is to utilize the sport of cycling to demonstrate a commitmentto social responsibility and concern.We are uniting the cycling world in an effort to raise worldwide awareness,relief, and funds for the victims of the recent Gulf hurricanes. The RideTo Reunite specifically focuses attention on the critical need to reunitechildren and their families who were affected by Hurricane’s Katrina andRita. To quickly raise awareness we have joined forces with an

Insisting on an embargo until Thursday, the SRAM corporation has releasedadditional information on the shifting mechanism behind the company’s newroad components, first introducedat the Eurobike tradeshow in September.While show-goers and consumers have had a look at the group,bikes equipped with the new components were kept behind glass and thosewho who were allowed to play with the shifters were asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Few chose to argue the point with SRAM's six-foot-five-inch media rep' Michael Zellman.Now that the embargo is lifted SRAM is touting what calls its

Hincapie and Savoldelli during this year's Tour de France

Magistrate Katherine Cornier , seen here exciting the offices of Le Point during a January police raid

Downshfting from the drops

Upshifting from the drops

Downshifting on the hoods

Upshifting on the hoods

Shifting during a sprint

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group

Tech Report: SRAM offers more details on '07 road group