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Robic arrives in Atlantic City

T-Mobile rolls into this week’s Tour de France with a stronger focus than ever. The German team will leave sprinter ace Erik Zabel at home to fortify its Tour objective of beating Lance Armstrong in his final run at the maillot jaune. Alexandre Vinokourov said the team is more motivated than ever, with Jan Ullrich, Andreas Klöden and Vino’ sharing the load on the road to Paris. “I don’t have individual objectives. The whole team is geared up for one objective: winning the Tour de France. I won’t be there to ride my own race, but to ride for the team,” Vinokourov said on the team’s web page.

 BMC with a new Secret weapon for the Tour de FranceBMC, the leading Swiss high-end bicycle brand, has developed for thenumber 1 Pro Tour Team Phonak a new secret weapon for the Tour de France.Last year, BMC had already introduced the revolutionary “Time Machine“during the Tour de France, which set the new standard for time trial bikes.This year, we can present another revolutionary bike the BMC “Pro Machine”.The “Pro Machine is the first bicycle frame in the world which is madeentirely using the revolutionary Easton CNT-Nanotechnology.Nanotechnology is the next frontier in scientific

One Monday morning, about three months ago, I was browsing through the weekend’s papers, and feeling not too interested in the day’s work ahead of me when something landed on my desk to break the boredom. An invitation from a man by the name of Paul McQuaid. From Ireland. To ride nine century rides with his tour company in June, right around the coast of Ireland. Heck, this was the sort of thing I needed and I immediately contacted Paul by email to see what it was all about. The response was swift and encouraging. “What we do is we take people on nine century rides around Ireland,” was his

YELLOW JERSEYThe yellow jersey — or maillot jaune — is worn by the overall raceleader, the rider who has covered the overall distance in the least amountof cumulative time. Time bonuses (20 seconds for winning a road stage,six seconds for winning an intermediate sprint) are deducted, and timepenalties (for infractions like dangerous riding or accepting pushes fromspectators on the climbs) are added to riders’ stage times before calculatingtheir GC (general classification) times.2004 WINNER: Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service POINTS LEADERThe green points-leader’s jersey is awarded to

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.Flesh heals . . .Editor:Wow, I just read your article on Lance's crash. I guess I'd ask the same question that I ask when any of my buddies crash: "Is the bike okay?” All kidding aside, we're looking forward to your coverage of the Tour. Good luck to the riders. Corbett

Athens, Ohio - Juré Robic’s grizzled, sun baked body resisted. It wanted to stay on the soft grass, out of the sun, relaxed by the side of the road in Athens, Ohio. But the mind of the Insight Race Across America’s defending champion had other ideas. So Robic rose, with the help of two crew members, threw a leg over his Italian race bike, and pedaled on the down the road as he has for the previous seven-and-a-half days, towards time station 45. With the departure of second place Mike Trevino from the race earlier in the day, due to a separated shoulder, Robic’s second consecutive RAAM win

Vinokourov says T-Mobile wants to pull out all the stops

Press Release: Nine Centuries in Ireland (with a bit of Guinness thrown in for good measure)

Press Release: Nine Centuries in Ireland (with a bit of Guinness thrown in for good measure)

The fight for the jerseys

Do I have to get up again?

Greenville, Illinois – There’s an accepted truth in the annals of the Race Across America: the race really begins once the riders hit the Mississippi River. While it’s not the mathematical half-way mark, the Mississippi is the most obvious indication that there’s still a heap of riding yet to go. If that’s so, then the leader through day seven, Slovenia’s Juré Robic, is just getting warmed up to repeat his win of a year ago. As potential challengers have fallen by the wayside, brought low by unreasonable early efforts, extreme heat, and the simple fatigue of riding 20 to 22 hours a day for a

First-year senior Gerald Ciolek ended T-Mobiles long running dominanceof the German national road championships on Sunday, beating such Germansprinting stalwarts like Gerolsteiner's Robert Forster and especially T-Mobile's Erik Zabel in the final charge to the line at the end of a 204-kilometer road race in Manheim. The German event comes on the same day as all European national championship races.With 75 meters to go, it appeared that Zabel had the national titlein the bag. But suddenly Ciolek, who has still contested junior events thisseason, charged out of the field to catch and

Lance Armstrong is not looking too good these days: He has a black eye, a cut over his right eyebrow and abrasions on his hands and knees. The six-time defending Tour de France champion crashed at low speed during the start of a training ride last week. He lost control on his time-trial bike and sailed over the handlebars, his helmet splitting in two on impact. Armstrong shrugs it off. After all, for someone who's beaten cancer and rewritten cycling's record book, bumps and bruises are small stuff. “I'm excited about the race. I feel very good on the bike,” Armstrong said

The crew from Kona dominated the downhill at Mont-Sainte-Anne Sunday, with Tracy Moseley winning the fourth round of the World Cup for the women and Fabien Barel the men's for the Kona Les Gets Team. Competitors were nearly universal in their praise for the course. The reason for their positive comments was simple – it was a long course. "Real mountain biking" was often mentioned. The return of the start at the top of the mountain after three years was clearly a crowd-pleaser. WomenThe favorite going into this round of the World Cup was the series points leader Sabrina Jonnier of

There was quite a contrast on the final day of festivities at the Crested Butte Fat Tire Bike Week on Sunday afternoon. While a mix of amateur and pro downhillers competed in the final event of the fifth annual Wildflower Rush up on the tacky slopes of Mount Crested Butte, a band of 63 riders were contesting the final hours of the first annual Bridges of the Butte 24 Hour Townie Tour. The downhill event was preceded by a Super D race held on a cloudy morning here in the cradle of the Elk Mountains. Rain rolled through on and off, delaying the downhill several times, and delaying final

>PUTNAMVILLE, Indiana (10:47 a.m. EST, June 26, 2005) Second-placesolo racer, Mike Trevino, announced his withdrawal from RAAM this morning.According to information on his website, Trevino fell off his bikearound 8:30 a.m. EST and separated his shoulder."He was looking back for just a second and hit a little bump that tookhim down," explained a member of Trevino's crew. "We talked about continuingbut he would've had to ride with one arm the rest of theway and that's just not safe."RAAM rules also prohibit riders from taking any kind of pain medicationand with the pain quickly on

Chris MacDonald suffers in the heat

A member of the CBFD team heads out on another lap at the 24 hour townie tour

This was one of three sweat suits that Than Acuff donned during the 24-hour townie tour in which he was the only rider to compete as a soloist.

A bib used at the Bridges of the Butte 24 Hour Townie Tour

The bikes come in all shapes and sizes here at Crested Butte Fat Tire Week

Three members of the 16-rider Crested Butte FD relay team that won the 24-hour townie race.

With Mount Crested Butte in the background, a racer heads toward the finish during the Wildflower Rush downhill race on Sunday.

A racer holds on for dear life during the downhill race at the Wildflower Rush at Mount Crested Butte.

Bike racks packed with clunkers and cruisers of all shapes and sizes are commonplace in Crested Butte.

Riders in the 24 hour townie race head down Elk Avenue in Crested Butte toward the finish, where much beer drinking quickly commenced.

Crested Butte local Than Acuff was the only rider to complete the 24-hour townie race as a soloist. He claimed that his secret to success were Backwoods Cigars, which helped him stay awake in the wee hours of the night.

Roberto Heras enters next week's Tour de France an enigmatic figure among the list of favorites. The three-time Vuelta a España champion has kept a very low profile so far this season, leaving many to wonder if he'll be ready to face Lance Armstrong and the other Tour contenders on the same level. During the recent Dauphiné Libéré, Heras hardly left any impression at all as he rode well back in the pack during the big climbs at Mont Ventoux and Joux Plane. He insists, however, he'll be ready for the Tour. "It's not something worrisome because the mountains in the Tour are

Kyle Gritters (Team Seasilver) won the under-23 criterium on Friday at Utah’s Park City Cycling Festival, while Kimberly Geist (Victory Brewing) claimed the 17-18 win with a last-minute attack. During the 37-mile U-23 race, Gritters lapped the field with last year’s road-race champion, Ian MacGregor (TIAA-CREF), then pipped his breakaway companion at the line. Geist, meanwhile, spent much of the afternoon in a five-woman breakaway, then used the final 400-meter ascent as a springboard to victory. Other winners on the day included Rebecca Much (U-23 women); Karla Lopez (junior women 10-12);

Going into the Mont-Ste-Anne round of the UCI World Cup mountain-bike series, the weather in Québec has gone through a substantial change. Friday morning's rain proved to be the leading edge of hot, hot air that has been hanging around the Great Lakes, and Saturday’s high temperature is expected to reach 31 degrees Celsius (87.8 Fahrenheit), with the humidity making it feel even warmer. Even at 9 a.m. Saturday the conditions were hot and sticky. With the heat in mind, the officials have decided the number of laps: six for pro men and five for pro women, plus a start loop for each. Most

It was easy to track where Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) was on the cross-country course at the Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup - just follow the thunderous applause from the partisan crowd. People came streaming out of the woods in droves, trying to get a spot along the finish chute to welcome Premont to the winner's circle, after she dropped World Cup leader Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida) late in the fourth lap to take the lead. Wearing her traditional ear-to-ear smile, Premont came across the line with arms in the air. She then stopped and lifted her bike in the

With the festival portion of the Crested Butte’s Fat Tire Bike Week winding down, attention turned to racing up at the ski area on Saturday. On the day’s slate was the Wildflower Rush cross-country, stop No. 5 in the Mountain States Cup. Competition commenced on an 8-mile loop that cut a figure eight across the front side of Crested Butte Mountain Resort. The bad news was that with the race starting at 9375 feet, any climb was painful. The good news was that nearly all the descents were on the windy single-track for which this mountain-biking Mecca is famous. In the pro races the women’s

Christoph Sauser (Siemens Cannondale) solidified his lead atop the men's cross-country World Cup standings with a strong ride in the fifth round Saturday in Mont-Ste-Anne, Québec. In the women's race, the field shredded early on, with Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) and Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida) swapping the lead back and forth. But the men's race became a two-man team time trial, with Sauser and teammate Fredrik Kessiakoff of Sweden building a strong lead together until Sauser pulled away on the large climb on the final lap. Sauser, the World Cup

As the Insight Race Across America rolls toward Atlantic City, Jure Robic seems likely to defend his solo title, while third-placed Marko Baloh abandoned with pneumonia. Robic, who last reported in at 2:20 p.m. EST from time station 38 in Marshall, Illinois, has fewer than 1000 miles to ride. Mike Trevino crossed the Mississippi River in second place at 1:33 p.m. Trevino has covered 2012.2 miles with 1039.5 to go. Meanwhile, Marko Baloh withdrew from the race with acute pneumonia, moving Fabio Biasolo into third place. Biasolo checked in from time station 34 in Marthasville, Missouri, at

Ian MacGregor successfully defended his U23 national championship title in Park City, Utah, Saturday with a win in the 125-mile road race at the national cycling festival. MacGregor called the victory a "100 percent team effort" after an overall performance that saw three riders from the TIAA-CREF squad in the top four. Health Net’s Tyler Farrar also rode a strong race, but in the end he was simply outnumbered by a 12-rider team that many expected to have a dominant presence on the podium by day's end. Battered by rain and severe winds, only 47 of the 117-rider field finished. After

Heras played it cool at the Dauphiné

Mighty mites at the start of the boy's 10-12 crit

Riders in the women's 17-18 crit

TIAA-CREF surrounds the eventual winner in the U-23 crit, Kyle Gritters (Seasilver)

Riders pass the flags at the entrance to Deer Valley

An outnumbered Farrar takes a corner in the U-23 crit

Geist leads the 17-18 crit

Gritters corners during the U-23 crit . . .

. . . en route to winning over Macgregor

Sarah Huang in the 10-12 race

Molly Mulch and Rebecca Much in the U-23 event

Karla Lopez wins the 10-12 title

Cesar Lopez Jr. in the boy's 10-12 crit, astride a very nice bike

Much leads the U-23 crit

The tree-lined opening climb of the Wildflower Rush in Crested Butte

With Whetstone Serving as the backdrop a rider tackles Saturday's cross-country

The town of Crested Butte seen from the Red Lady Chairlift up on the ski hill

A wet winter and spring has led to an abundance of skunk cabbage. Fortunately it doesn't smell

A racer heads into the woods along some of Crested Butte's ubiquitous single-track

A racer slices his way through a throng of Aspen trees during Saturday's cross-country

The long grind up one of several fire road climbs

Three mountain-bike racing's legends made the Hall of Fame cut in 2000

This is just one of the countless classic photos that can be seen at the MTB Hall. Can you find Gary Fisher? Hint: He doesn't have an afro

MacGregor defends

MacGregor figured the day's last climb was where he could beat Farrar

Mike Lange and Stu Gillespie on the final climb, after helping MacGregor ride to victory.

Jay Ku leads the peloton on the chase.

National pursuit champion Bobby Lea leads the survivors on the final climb.

Nicholas Reistad of Advantage/Endeavor shows the effects of the day's effort

Lance Armstrong has been quick to point out that while he holds the record for the greatest number of overall victories by any rider at the Tour de France, Johan Bruyneel has the best winning average of any directeur sportif in the history of the race, having started his career as a director in 1999, when Armstrong earned the first of his six consecutive Tour wins. He’s been the man behind the wheel of the team car ever since. Six-for-six. Indeed, the 41-year-old Belgian was the first to believe Armstrong could win the Tour and the pair has been inseparable in their passion, focus and, some

Gerolsteiner's Michael Rich claimed his fifth national title when he dominated the field in the German national time-trial championship Friday in Schweinfurt. Rich, 35, a specialist in the race against the clock, turned a time of 47 minutes, 10 seconds for the 40km race, leaving his teammate Sebastian Lang down in second place at 1:02. CSC's Jens Voigt finished third at 1:15. Results1. Michael Rich, Gerolsteiner, 40km in 47:102. Sebastian Lang, Gerolsteiner, at 1:023. Jens Voigt, Team CSC, at 1:15 Gutierrez takes Spanish TTJose Ivan Gutierrez (Illes Baleares) won his third title in

The Park City Cycling Festival continued in Utah on Thursday with a one-two finish by Team 5280 Magazine in the men's 17-18 race and a classy display of sportsmanship in the women's 17-18 competition. After 78 miles of racing, 5280's Peter Stetina of Boulder, Colorado, crossed the line hand in hand with teammate Tejay Van Garderen of Fort Collins, Colorado. Nick Frey (Hot Tubes) took the bronze. In the 53-mile women's race, meanwhile, Kimberly Geist (Victory Brewing) sat up and waited for breakaway companion Shannon Koch ((Team LaS'port) after Koch's chain derailed in

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.It’s almost time to put up or shut upEditor:The time between the finish of the Tour de Suisse and the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré seems to bring out all the talk. Every race director thinks his guy will be on the podium in Paris. Well, only three gentlemen get that honor, and we

While there’s plenty of debate about the true origins of mountain biking, Crested Butte can stake a solid claim to one piece of fat tire history. For a quarter century now this Colorado mountain town nestled in the heart of the Rockies has hosted one of the sport’s best — and longest running — festivals. This year’s incarnation, dubbed the 25th Anniversary of Fat Tire Bike Week, kicked off in earnest on Thursday with the infamous Chainless Race. Competitors aboard every thing from legitimate 21st-century mountain bikes to Sixties-era clunkers convened on the top of Kebler Pass, then made

For Immediate Release Boulder, CO--Inside Communications (ICI) announces that Express Messenger International (EMI) will be handling all Canadian and international subscription distribution for its publications VeloNews®, Inside Triathlon®, and Ski Racing®, effective immediately. The move should improve Canadian and international delivery times by two to five business days. The faster service is a result of expedited pick-up and transit to the host country's postal system. For example, an EMI truck will pick up VeloNews at its printer in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin

Defending solo champion Jure Robic held a lead of nearly 10 hours over second-place soloist Mike Trevino as the Insight Race Across America continued on Friday. However, Robic is riding just short of an average speed record set in 1986 by Pete Penseyres. To break Penseyres' long-standing mark, Robic will have to pace himself at 15.40 mph or faster. So far, his average speed for this year's RAAM is 14.92 mph. Robic last reported in at 3:12 p.m. EST from time station 33 in Jefferson City, Missouri. In the team race, meanwhile, Team Beaver Creek-Vail - Mike Janelle, Jimi Mortenson,

Bruyneel and Armstrong at the Dauphiné

The junior men hit the road in the Kaman Valley with the Little Alps in the distance

The junior women's leaders, with Koch in the middle and Crowell out front

The 15-16 junior men climb with the reservoir in the background

Team 5280 and Hot Tubes marshal the 17-18 race