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This break had promise.

Farrar is heading to the big leagues

Domina Vacanze’s Maxim Iglinsky won the 171.3km sixth stage of the Tour of Germany from Friedrichshafen to Singen on Saturday. The 24-year-old Kazakh won a frantic sprint involving nine riders, finishing ahead of Belgian Jurgen van der Broeck (Discovery Channel) and Italian Alessandro Ballan (Lampre-Caffita). Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner), sixth in this year's Tour de France, retains the yellow jersey with an 18-second lead over teammate Georg Totschnig of Austria. Germany's Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) is third in the standings, 56 seconds behind Leipheimer. Sunday's seventh stage

The seventh round of the 2005 Shimano NORBA National Mountain Bike Series is under way at Snowshoe Mountain Resort in central West Virginia, where Australian gravity riders Mick Hannah and Katrina Miller rode to wins in the mountain cross and Chris Eatough (Ellicott City, Maryland) and Monique Sawicki (Calimesa, California) officially closed out the ’05 marathon season with overall NORBA National Series titles. On Friday, Brian Schmith (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) came within a whisker of his first pro NORBA national win after taking an early lead in the final heat ahead of the top-seeded

Tyler Hamilton, in his first race in 11 months, pedaled away from the field to win the Volkswagen Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb on Saturday. Behind him, Aimee Vasse was blown off her bike by the famous Mt. Washington winds but managed to remount and maintain a strong lead to win the women's race for the second consecutive year. And Ned Overend celebrated his 50th birthday by placing fourth overall and chopping several minutes off previous masters’ records. It was the 34-year-old Hamilton’s first trip to Mt. Washington since 1999, and he was after Tom Danielson’s record of

NORBA cross-country racing continued Saturday at the seventh round of the series at Snowshoe Mountain, West Virginia. Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) repeated his 2004 win here to take over the series lead from Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Gary Fisher-Subaru), who withdrew following a severe crash on the first of three laps. In the women’s race, Luna’s Shonny Vanlandingham continued her tear through the series by taking her fourth cross-country victory of the year. Horgan-Kobelski crashed just minutes into the men’s race while negotiating the slippery, root-strewn bottom half of the course, ending his

Hiding somewhere in Lara Kroepsch’s compact 5 foot 2 inch frame is one of the most ferocious finishing sprints in the North American professional women’s peloton. But the 26-year old from Boulder, Colorado usually keeps the goods under wraps — as a support rider for T-Mobile, Kroepsch usually plays second fiddle to teammates Kim Baldwin, Kristin Armstrong and Ina Yoko Teutenberg. But at the Pro-Am Challenge criterium, held on the eve of the USPRO criterium championships in Downers Grove, Illinois, Kroepsch let her guns do the talking, and walked away with the biggest victory of her

Iglinsky wins a frantic finish

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.Lance should reconsider riding with prezEditor:I honestly don’t care how Lance Armstrong decides to spend his long and comfortable retirement, but I do have some unsolicited advice regarding his future adventure in politics: Don’t go riding with the president, at least not right

Italian Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Caffita) won a sprint finish in the fifth stage of the Tour of Germany on Friday, collecting his second victory in this year's race. Roger Hammond (Discovery Channel) took the runner-up slot in the 219.2km stage from Sölden in Austria to Freidrichshafen in Germany. Baden Cooke (Française des Jeux) was third. Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner), sixth in this year's Tour de France, retained the overall lead after his triumph in Thursday’s mountainous fourth stage. He leads teammate Georg Totschnig of Austria by 18 seconds with German Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile)

Levi Leipheimer safely defended his leader’s jersey in Friday’s sixth stage, but he remains cautiously optimistic about his chances for overall victory with three stages left in the Tour of Germany. Just a day after his dramatic victory in Thursday’s epic climbing stage high in the Austrian Alps, the Gerolsteiner rider says 1997 Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) remains dangerously close. Leipheimer won 50 seconds ahead of Ullrich, pushing the race favorite into third overall at 56 seconds back going into this weekend’s action. “Having 50 seconds’ advantage on Ullrich isn’t

Have you ever gotten to the bottom of a mountain or canyon road descent and had to wait several minutes for the rest of your group to catch up? Have you ever thought that you might be the fastest descender on a road bike? Then this is the race for you. The Red Bull Road Rage, slated November 5 in Malibu, California, is an inaugural all-downhill road race performed on road-racing bicycles. Malibu’s Tuna Canyon is a highly technical, one-lane, European-style descent that drops 2000 feet over two miles. It will definitely be enough time to separate the men from the boys. This is an elite event

Bike Durango and Todd Wells are proud to announce that the TWells CX Camp will be held September 28-October 2 in Durango, Colorado. Todd was on the 2004 Olympic mountain biking team and won the 2001 national cyclo-cross championship. He is perennially one of the top cyclo-cross racers in the U.S.. He believes that cyclo-cross is a sport where technique is more important than pure horsepower and has a specific training regimen to hone skills and fitness. Camp attendees can expect: two-a-day skills sessions; training seminars by Rick Crawford; SRA presentation by Dr. Frank Jerrell; Q&A’s with

I’m back before you had a chance to miss me. I haven’t done an update in I can’t remember how long. I think the last time I checked in was after the Joe Martin Stage race in Arkansas. I have done quite a few races between then and now. I’ll try to get back up to speed with the highlights/lowlights. I think I’ll start out with one of my best performances of the year, the Tour of Connecticut. It’s the perfect day here in Durango to reflect on Connecticut, cold and rainy. I managed to stay pretty high up in the overall going into the last day but was still about a minute out of the lead. That’s

A few irate letter-writers have suggested that we keep politics out of cycling here at VeloNews.com, and we can see their points, once they’ve removed their Bush-Cheney 2004 caps. After all, the liars, cheaters and dopers infesting politics might teach cycling’s liars, cheaters and dopers a few new tricks, and God knows it’s already tough enough to tell who’s on the up and up these days, no matter how much blood gets drawn or spilled. Still, if the daily papers are going to cover the Recreationist-in-Chief’s mountain-bike rides as though they were actually news, it’s only right that cycling

VeloNews.com breaks two records in JulyBoulder, CO - It was bound to happen eventually, but no one atVeloNews.com thought it would happen this soon: For the month of July,VeloNews.com not only recorded its first 1 million+ unique visitormonth, but the site's advertising billings topped those of a printedition of VeloNews for the first time.During a month largely driven by Tour de France traffic, VeloNews.comrecorded some 1.1 million unique visitors, up 27% from the 860,000 uniqueslast July, and delivered 26 million page views -- up 24% from the 21 millionpage views delivered in July

Bennati wins his second stage of the German tour

Cyclist of the year?

Two Australian cyclists who have been in a German hospital for more than a month after a car accident that killed a teammate are well enough to return home this week, cycling officials in Sydney said Thursday. Doctors treating Alexis Rhodes, 20, and Louise Yaxley, 23, in the University Clinic in the German city of Jena had deemed it safe for them to come home, Cycling Australia said. They were badly hurt in July when a teenaged driver ploughed into them and four other women training for the Tour of Thüringen. Amy Gillett, 29, was killed instantly. The other injured women, Kate Nichols, 20,

Vande Velde ready for VueltaChristian Vande Velde (CSC) is pumped for the Vuelta a España, which kicks off later this month in Granada, Spain. “I’m psyched to have a good Vuelta,” Vande Velde said. “We’re going to be helping Carlos. He’s looking strong for the race.” Vande Velde will be part of a motivated Team CSC for the Vuelta, the season’s final grand tour. Spanish rider Sastre will be looking to post a strong result in the GC while the always-ambitious CSC will be on the hunt for stages. Joining Sastre and Vande Velde will be former Tour de France stage-winner Jakob Piil, Nicki

American Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) won the most difficult stage of the Tour of Germany on Thursday, a tough 171.6 kilometer Alpine race from Kufstein and Sölden in Austria. Leipheimer, sixth at this year’s Tour de France, also grabbed the overall leader’s jersey as he rode away from race favorite Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) on the brutally difficult 15-kilometer final climb to the finish. Ullrich, who had made the German Tour his main post-TdF objective, conceded 50 seconds to the American on the final climb, which rises 2670 meters with an average grade of 12 percent. Only Leipheimer’s

Hi Bob,I rent a loft in the Bay area and I often ride my rollers or turbo at night after work. One of the other tenants stopped me in the hallway and asked what I was “doing up there." What is the law about noise in a private building?Rob,California Dear Rob,Ah, the joys of riding a bike that goes nowhere, but still manages to make you numb and anger your roommates and neighbors. Now that should be against the law! Still, I was so enthusiastic when I began racing that I used to spend more than four hours a stint on rollers on dark December days back in Madison. I can’t say I miss it. If

GREENVILLE TO CELEBRATE GEORGE HINCAPIE DAY! The City of Greenville cordially invites you to participate ina special celebration September 9, 2005, at 6:00 p.m.  Downtown GreenvilleGreenville’s own George Hincapie, Tour de France Stage Winner and theonly teammate to faithfully accompany Lance Armstrong during a record sevenTour de France victories, will be honored on September 9 in recognitionof his extraordinary victory on Stage 15 of the 2005 Tour de France.You are welcome to take part in a unique evening of fun and entertainmentfor the entire family.  George Hincapie Day

Totschnig (l) and Leipheimer soon after ridding themselves of Ullrich's company

Ullrich fought to stay with the two Gerolsteiners, but faded near the top.

"Cycling in the News" is a regular service of VeloNews.com. Readers,reporters and friends are encouraged to send links to current stories aboutcompetitive cyclists and cycling that appear in the mainstream media. Ifyou come across a news item that you believe may be of interest to otherVeloNews readers, we would be grateful if you choose to send it to Rosters@InsideInc.com. Cycling: Robinson at heart of big night of nostalgia - August 17,2005The Huddersfield Daily Examiner -Great BritainEIGHTEEN former Tour de France riders were among a 90-plus gatheringpaying homage to the pioneering British

I will be the first to admit that I have long suffered from a cycling affliction — make that addiction — brought on by fast, furious local group rides. I just can’t get enough of them. Occasionally I will sit at my desk daydreaming about the week’s ride. Will I make the front group? Will I flat? Will my legs fall off? Will my lungs exit my body by way of my mouth? I, my friends, am a group-ride junkie. Now, the group-rides that have always whetted my appetite aren’t just the ol’ cruiser-bike stroll in the park with mom ‘n pop. Nope, I love the speedy ones with plenty of muscle flexing and

It’s good to be back in Europe. This past weekend I was back racing with my team here in Switzerland. We raced the GP Oberbaselbiet. It’s the first year for this race to take place. Going over the race info, our director told us that though the course profile looked hilly the race was actually pretty flat. He also informed us that there would be no caravan, but he wasn’t exactly sure why not. Once we arrived and warmed-up, we understood the promoter’s reasoning completely. We also realized that the hills on the profile were real. The course was actually very technical, up, down and on

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.Giving backDear VeloNews,For the first time in several years, HealthNet's John Lieswyn did nottoe the start line at the Tour of Kansas City this past weekend. But hisabsence, due to a broken pelvis, did not slow his efforts to nurture participationby the sport's youngest

Lampre’s Daniele Bennati won the 227.3-kilometer third stage of the Tour of Germany from Bodenmais to the Austrian city of Kufstein on Wednesday. A frantic sprint at the end of the Tour’s longest stage saw the 24-year-old Bennati triumph ahead of compatriot and QuickStep rider Filippo Pozatto who had won Tuesday's second stage. Pozatto’s QuickStep teammate Bram Tankink of the Netherlands retains the yellow jersey he has held since winning the opening stage. T-Mobile captain Jan Ullrich lies 23 seconds behind Tankink after finishing amongst the main group of riders. American Bobby

The Phonak team announced Wednesday that Fabrizio Guidi has tested positivefor an as-of-yet-undisclosed substance. Phonak general manager John Lelangue said Guidi's A-sample has comeback positive and the 33-year-old rider has been immediately suspendedpending the outcome of follow-up tests of a B-sample. The suspension isin keeping with current UCI policy. Guidi was competing in the Tour of Germany, although the team has not disclosed when and at which event the original sample was taken from the Italian rider. Phonak has undergone major management changes since last season's

Leipheimer realistic about German tourGoing into Thursday’s grueling climbing stage at the Tour of Germany, Levi Leipheimer continues to have realistic expectations in what’s his final major stage race of the 2005 season. The 31-year-old Gerolsteiner captain went into Wednesday's action poised with the main leaders at just 23 seconds behind race leader Bram Tankink (Quick Step). Danielle Bennati (Lampre) won the bunch sprint while Tankink stayed in the leader’s jersey. “The Tour of Germany is hard. I didn’t even look at the profiles until last week. It surprised me – it’s like a

The place to be on Saturday

JHK and Heather Irmiger

Travis Brown makin' faces again

Cathy Wherry (now Pacocha) dancing with some young stud

Brother Chris approves

The happy couple

Fabrizio Guidi

Leipheimer at this year's Tour.

Bennati takes it.

Tankink remains in yellow for another day, but what's that looming over his shoulder?

CSC extends Voigt contractOn the heels of re-signing American Bobby Julich, the CSC team has announced that Germany's Jens Voigt has also extended his contract until the end of 2007. Julich signed a two-year deal earlier in the week, following a remarkably successful season that included overall victories at Paris-Nice, the Criterium International and inaugural Tour of Benelux. Voigt, too, has had a good year, racking up eight wins this season. CSC has already extended the contract team leader, Ivan Basso, who finished second in this year’s Tour de France. Botcharov extends with

QuickStep’s Filippo Pozatto won the 199.3km second stage of the Tour of Germany from Pegnitz to Bodenmais, in Bavaria, on Tuesday. Pozatto, winner of the Hamburg Hew Cyclassics, frustrated the local crowd pipping German rider Jörg Jaksche of the Liberty Seguros team by millimeters on the finishing line, with both riders recording a time of 4 hours and 29 minutes. Pozatto’s teammate Bram Tankink of the Netherlands retains the yellow jersey after winning Monday's opening stage. German favorite Jan Ullrich, third in the 2005 Tour de France, was one of a 20-strong group to cross the line

PLANO, Texas (AP) -- A 52-year-old bicyclist was killed and another seriously injured when they collided head-on on a street frequently used for training and races. Local cycling enthusiasts were puzzled by the rare head-on accident, which occurred Sunday on a lightly traveled public road. Both men were wearing helmets, but it wasn't clear how fast they were going, Plano police said. Michael Mahoney, 52, of Allen, died Sunday at Medical Center of Plano. Jordan Muller, 37, of Richardson, remained in the intensive care unit at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas on Tuesday. Police spokesman

Pozatto wins a close one

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.No political news, pleaseEditor:Regarding your story, "Armstrong rules out political career... for now”: I first heard this topic discussed during the Tour coverage on OLN. Then I heard it come up during the Charlie Rose interview. Now VeloNews.com has decided to pick up the story. There

QuickStep’s Bram Tankink won the 164.2km first stage of the Tour of Germany from Altenburg to Plauen here on Monday. The 26-year-old Tankink crossed the finishing line in just over four hours to claim his first major victory since turning professional five years ago. With 15 kilometres to go the Dutchman accelerated away from Spaniard Jose Cobo Acebo and Austria's Bernhard Eisel finishing around a minute ahead of the duo. Germany's Jan Ullrich, the favorite for the overall Tour victory here, finished in the main field, three minutes behind the stage winner. T-Mobile captain

The latest Photo Gallery in our continuing photo contest has now been posted for your viewing pleasure. After reviewing a host of very notable submissions, we had to surrender to our funny bones and admit that we most enjoyed Joe David’s “Speed up or pitchfork” and declared Mr. David’s submission to be the winner of our most recent contest. Congratulations, Joe! You win a copy of Graham Watson's "Landscapes of Cycling." We’re not sure if we picked that photo because of the humor or the soft spot we have in our hearts (heads?) for that whacky ol’ German, Didi Senft – a.k.a. “The Devil.”

Dear Velo,I can't believe I read at the beginning of the Tour that Tom Boonen was given an antibiotic for the "minor infection" that had caused a major toothache. In the dawn of time, when I was racing, an antibiotic would wipe me out for about two weeks, simply due to the fact that, as a broad-spectrum bug killer, it will kill intestinal flora, too. This means that I would get diarrhea and have poorer nutritional uptake from food. The same will be true for Tom. The other point to wonder about here (and I realize the difficulty of diagnosing from an article) is what caused the toothache?

Bobby Julich, fresh off his dramatic victory in the Tour of Benelux, will ride for two more seasons with Team CSC. Julich, 33, will ride through the 2006-07 seasons under the watchful eye of 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis, the team announced Monday. “Bobby has turned out to be a real catch for us. Since he joined us his career has blossomed like I've never seen it before,” Riis said on the team’s web page. “He’s an all-round rider, who can achieve results throughout the entire season, and at the same time has the ability to inspire and help develop the other riders.” Julich’s

Carson, Calif. (August 13, 2005)-Jennie Reed rode to her third individual national championship of the week with a victory in the women's keirin, adding another stars and stripes jersey to her earlier wins in the 500 meter time trial and the sprint as the 2005 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships concluded in Los Angeles on Saturday. Reed's sweep of the three sprint-oriented events clearly distinguished her as the strongest sprinter in the field and earned her the title of most decorated rider of the week - man or woman - in terms in individual elite performances. In

Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong on Sunday dismissed reports that might enter politics by running for governor of Texas. Shortly after winning his record seventh Tour last month, the cyclist told Outside magazine that he might consider a run for governor of his home state after 2006. But he downplayed the statement as "more or less a joke" in an interview with ABC television. "The biggest problem with politics or running for the governor ... here in Austin or in Texas is that it would mimic exactly what I've done: a ton of stress and a ton of time away from my kids. "Why would I

Blakeslee, Pennsylvania – August 14, 2005 – Mountain bike racing’snew guard, Michael Prokop of the Czech Republic and Jill Kintner of Seattle,Wash., placed an exclamation point on their amazing racing seasons by earningthe title of World Professional Champion at today’s grand finale of theJeep King of the Mountain 2005 Professional Mountain Biking World Championshipsin the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. The pair, who have sat at or near the top of the world rankings allyear, maintained top form throughout the entire series, each winning twoof the three competitions and never finishing

Now that his cycling career is over, Armstrong just wants to relax

Prokop leads Bootes on his way to victory

Kintner and Katrina Miller in an early round

The drivable trophy

American rider Chris Horner, who lit up the 2005 Tour de France with an impressive string of attacks, will leave Saunier Duval at the end of this season, VeloNews has learned. Sources told VeloNews that Horner, 33, is expected to ride with Davitamon-Lotto next season, but officials from the Belgian team could not be reached before the start of Saturday´s Clásica San Sebastian. "I have a contract and it might be announced even today," Horner said as he signed in for the 227km one-day classic in northern Spain. Saunier Duval officials confirmed Horner won´t be riding with the Spanish team next

All three individual event winners on Friday captured their second elite national championships of the week as Jennie Reed (Kirkland, Washington) took a win in the women’s 500 meter time trial to go with her sprint title; Sarah Hammer (Temecula, California) won the women’s 20km points race to match her individual-pursuit victory; and Stephen Alfred (Capitola, California) took the men’s sprint crown in an encore performance to his keirin win as the USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships continued in Carson, California. After riding to the national title in the sprint on Thursday, Reed

The only question coming into the final 20km of the 25th Clásica San Sebastián on Saturday wasn’t whether a Saunier Duval rider was going to win, but rather which one. At least that’s how Chris Horner read the finale of the hilly 227km race in Spain’s Basque Country on a beautiful summer afternoon. “We just triple-teamed everyone,” Horner said after celebratory hugs at the finish line along San Sebastián’s posh Boulevard. “I hit first, then they hit after that, we started hitting and we got two in the group. I sat on everything in the back and just shut it down. It was

Belgian Nico Sijmens (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) on Saturday consolidated his lead in the Regio-Tour by finishing fourth in the penultimate stage, a 12.3km individual time trial won by German Tony Martin (Gerolsteiner). Sijmens, 27, winner of the second stage between Wehr and Müllheim, has an overall lead of 1:45 over German Torsten Hiekmann (T-Mobile) and a further seven seconds over Belgian Maxime Monfort (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) Monfort finished second in the hilly time trial in Waldkirch, Germany, which began at 250 meters and climbed through the Black Forest to nearly 1200

Horner, who spent much of his debut Tour on the attack, may shift to Davitamon

Zaballa takes the Clásica

Alfred goes for the gold

The winning team

DiLuca had a crook stomach and scored no ProTour points

The Barry break

Moreau on the front

Menchov on the march

Leipheimer and Horner at work

Rodriguez made it 1-2 for Saunier Duval

Zaballa gets the big bottle - and the even bigger Basque beret

Another ghastly locale for a bike race - yeah, right

Moncouti in the escape

For the second year running, former junior downhill world champ Kathy Pruitt (Luna) is on a tear through the NORBA downhill circuit. During NORBA No. 6 at Brian Head Resort in Utah, Pruitt destroyed the competition, finishing more than six seconds ahead of the next rider, Chilean Bernadita Pizarro (Cannondale). At the Snowmass, Colorado, NORBA, Pruitt handily gapped the rest of the women’s field by more than 11 seconds. The two wins vaulted Pruitt atop the NORBA series standings, which she leads by 14 points. Credit an injury-plagued June for Pruitt’s slimmer-than-usual margin in the

A star-studded line-up is expected for Saturday's Clásica San Sebastián, where the likes of Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile) and Ivan Basso (Team CSC) will saddle up for the one-day classic, once part of the 10-race World Cup. Now part of the UCI ProTour series, the Clásica has lost none of its allure for the big names of the sport - and with good reason. Some of cycling's biggest champions, from Laurent Jalabert to Lance Armstrong, have won the hilly race and then donned the Basque beret traditionally given to the winner. Italy’s Basso won the Tour of Denmark barely two weeks ago,