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Seventh Heaven - or What?

Anything can happen on the road to Paris

Curi takes the win.

Kroepsch's attack sent off the day's early break

T-Mobile did its best to control the day

Decker has a good week in Utah.

Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) will enter this year’s Tour de France with a much different profile than his three previous starts. After what he calls a three-year apprenticeship at Rabobank, a newly confident Leipheimer is ready to aim for the podium After his impressive performance at the Dauphiné Libéré, where he finished third overall and missed winning two stages by less than a second, Leipheimer knows he can ride with the best under any conditions. Leipheimer answered journalists’ questions about his past, his present and his future… at least through July. Here’s what he had to

Damiano Cunego won’t be taking on Lance Armstrong in this year’s Tour de France after all. His Lampre-Caffita team confirmed Tuesday what many observers had already guessed: the Epstein Barr virus that sapped young Cunego’s strength is still nagging the Italian. “Tests carried out on June 17 have shown a fall in the number of Epstein Bar Virus anti-bodies from 580 to 170, but this is still far from normal values of 0 to 20 and Cunego is still diagnosed as 'recovering,’” the team said in a statement Tuesday. “As a result the Lampre-Caffita team management and medical staff have changed

Dropped chains - Why? Dear Lennard,

Antelope Island, Utah –While last year’s elite time trial championships were held in Southern California’s sweaty 100-degree heat, this year’s event was held on a remote, windy rock in the middle of the Great Salt Lake –the uninhabited Antelope Island. Despite the clouds of biting flies and ever-present stench created by the coastal marsh, most riders saw the venue as a major upgrade from last year. “The course is great. With the climb and descent it really fit me well because I’m a bigger rider,” said T-Mobile’s Kristin Armstrong. Armstrong, who won the 2005 Pan American time trial

Leipheimer at the Dauphiné

Cunego at this year's Tour of Romandie

Armstrong rides to a U.S. Title

Traffic is not an issue on Antelope Island

Mr. Baldwin snags a TT title

Well, I’m happy. My last – and most difficult – test before the Tour de France is now over. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to defend my yellow jersey at the Tour of Switzerland this year, but I have to admit it wasn’t a major goal for me, either. Finishing in third was more than satisfactory and I am pretty happy with my form… besides, the yellow jersey I want is the one you wear into Paris at the end of July. As far as that goes, I think I am well on my way to being ready for that challenge. The Tour of Switzerland was a great test for me. While winning again there wasn’t in the cards, for

Overall ProTour leader Danilo Di Luca will return to the circuit on July 31 for the HEW-Cyclassics in Hamburg, Germany, his Liquigas team announced on Monday. The 29-year-old Italian has not raced since the Giro d’Italia, which finished earlier this month when he finished fourth. "I returned to training on Sunday because I wanted to rest after the Giro," he said. "If it isn't too hot I will train in the Appennine mountains. "I will return at Hamburg in order to rediscover my rhythm and then I will race in San Sebastian, Spain, and the Tour of Germany so I can pick up more points,"

Riding into form, Ullrich says he's primed for France

Di Luuca had several jerseys to choose from in May. He wants the white one at the end of the year.

It was an aggressive Aitor Gonzalez (Euskaltel – Euskadi) who took the overall title of the 69th edition of the Tour de Suisse. Showing the same willingness to attack – and to gamble – he displayed Saturday, Gonzalez won the ninth and final stage on Sunday by 45 seconds, more than the 36 seconds he needed to surpass Michael Rogers (QuickStep) in the general classification. “In the first climb I wasn’t sure of my legs, but I was confident after that,” said Gonzalez. “I crossed the line and I thought it was great to have won the stage, but that I could only hope to win the whole tour.” Second

Dave Zabriskie and Bobby Julich have earned tickets to the Tour deFrance, Team CSC officials confirmed to VeloNews on Sunday. While Julich's participation was never in doubt, the 26-year-old Utahanwill make his Tour debut following his strong performance in last month'sGiro d'Italia. Zabriskie has flowered under the tutelage of Team CSC boss Bjarne Riis,winning an individual time trial and providing strong support to team leaderIvan Basso at the Giro. Zabriskie bounced back from a horrible car crashin 2003 to win a stage in last year's Vuelta a España and take fifthin the

Alex Candelario (UCICT-Jelly Belly) launched an early attack in the final stage of the 13th Annual Tour de Nez in Reno, Nevada, and still managed to fend off his breakaway companion to take the win, as Health Net’s Scott Moninger finished in the field to keep the overall title. After two days of racing in wet, cold conditions, riders welcomed the sunny skies and moderate winds that greeted them in downtown Reno for the final stage of the Tour de Nez. Such favorable weather drew the largest crowds yet, with hundreds of spectators lining the .8-mile course. With beer gardens, a cycling expo,

The latest Photo Gallery in our continuing photo contest has now been posted for your viewing pleasure. Last Week's WinnerWe’ve awarded a copy of Graham Watson’s "Landscapes of Cycling." to Kristi Henne for her photo of the Health Net train getting to work in "Crank it up Boys." Thank you and congratulations Kristi. We'll be sending you a copy of Graham Watson's "Landscapesof Cycling. This Week's ContestThe announcement of a winner also signals the start of a New Contest, so go ahead and take a look at the Gallery from this round.From all of the submitted photos, we will

Nathan O’Neill did a solid job of protecting his hold on the leader’s jersey in a tough final stage at the 20th edition of the Tour de Beauce: 12 laps of a tough 11-kilometer circuit in and around St Georges, Quebec. O'Neill, who took over the yellow jersey from Svein Tuft (Symmetrics), and his was the strongest squad in the race, but would it be enough to cover the inevitable attacks that would take place? The answer was yes, although a small group did finally creep away in the last two laps, giving Health Net's Doug Ollerenshaw the final stage win. The attacks began immediately,

Deer Valley, Utah –The final day of competition at the 2005 NORBA No. 3 came to a close Sunday, with both the cross-country and gravity events finishing in dramatic fashion. After riding away from a stacked men’s field in Saturday’s cross-country race, Kiwi Kashi Leuchs (Bianchi-Agos) looked prepared to defend his slim lead in GC over reigning American champion Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher) But as the racers left the gate and started spinning around the twisty .5-mile long course, Leuchs, more accustomed to the longer European races, was blown off the back. American Olympian

Gonzalez takes the overall because of an attack on the final climb of the final day

VeloNews Photo Contest: A new winner and a new gallery

Deer Valley NORBA wraps up in style

Shonny Vanlandingham showing 'em how it's done

OUCH! Kathy Pruitt's bandaged, velcroed hand.

Kabush's mangled rear tire after the short track.

The Friday-evening criterium had no appreciable effect on the overall standings at the Tour de Beauce, though Navigators racked up its third consecutive stage victory, with Vassili Davidenko easily coming by Evan Elken (Jittery Joe's-Kalahari) at the line. Yellow jersey holder Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) finished safely in the peloton, 17 seconds behind the breakaway of 11 riders, including Davidenko. For the first time in the race, it did not rain during the stage, to the relief of the top contenders. Attacks began immediately, with Team Canada being very aggressive - particularly

Australian world time trial champion Michael Rogers, who is considered a future contender for the Tour de France yellow jersey, is set to leave Quick Step to join the T-Mobile outfit of Jan Ullrich, according to reports. The 25-year-old is the reigning two-time world time trial champion and is currently leading the Tour of Switzerland going into Saturday's penultimate stage. Although the official announcement for his move to Ullrich's team will not be until September - the beginning of the transfer period - Quick Step manager Patrick Lefevere admitted to Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday

The second day of the 13th annual Tour de Nez omnium stage race served up a 108-mile road race of epic proportions on Friday. Strong, cold winds, hail, scattered showers, and even a few snow flurries greeted riders throughout the four-hour-plus event. Racers completed three laps of a stunning 36-mile course that began and ended in the historic town of Truckee, California. From there, riders ascended a steady 13-mile grade to Tahoe City, passing Squaw Valley, home of the 1960 Winter Olympics, then continued along rolling terrain that ran parallel to the shores of Lake Tahoe. After reaching

Pablo Lastras (Illes Baleares) won the second-to-last stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Saturday after a brutal climb to the high ski town of Verbier. The general classification did not change substantially, as race leader Michael Rogers (Quick Step) and his two closest challengers – Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) and Bradley McGee (Française des Jeux) – finished in a group, 1 minute, 20 seconds behind Lastras Garcia. “I rode 100 percent today,” said a sweaty Ullrich, who trails Rogers by 20 seconds going into the tour’s final stage Sunday. “The last mountain was hard, with lots of attacks. I was

Deer Valley –The 2005 NORBA No. 3 cross-country course crisscrossing Utah’s Deer Valley ski resort cuts a seemingly uncountable number of switchbacks into the hill as it skates 8.2-miles from start to finish. The trail is predominantly rolling single-track cut through brushy aspen groves. Unlike the muddy NORBA No. 1 course in Boerne, Texas, the Deer Valley course is dusty, non-technical and very fast. That equation proved extremely beneficial for Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna), who rode away with the win, finishing over two minutes ahead of second-place Heather Irmiger (Tokyo Joes-Go Lite).

Stage six of the Tour de Beauce had two battles going on Saturday. Charles Dionne (Team Canada) won the fight for the stage in front of his hometown crowd, while Nathan O'Neill (Navigators) managed to wrest the yellow jersey off the back of Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) by a slim six seconds after a last, desperate attack on the final climb. The Quebec City stage was expected to be the toughest of the Tour, and it did not disappoint. The last time this circuit was used was in 1999 for the TransCanada Tour, and it has certainly not gotten easier. The riders start on the Grand Allee in the

Lastras celebrates

Quick Step and Rogers clung to the overall lead

Lastras makes his move

Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski leads Kashi Leuchs up the day's first major climb

It’s official: Chris Horner will be going to the Tour de France. Horner’s stage-winning ride in Thursday’s climbing stage at the Tour de Suisse assured the popular American rider of a spot on the nine-man Saunier Duval-Prodir team for July’s big dance. “Yes, Chris will be going to the Tour. It was looking good already, but his victory makes the decision final,” Saunier Duval sport director Joxean "Matxin" Fernández told VeloNews. Horner entered the Tour de Suisse with something to prove. After injury kept him out of the Giro d’Italia, the 33-year-old reloaded with ambitions of earning a

Editor’s Note: In January 2000 VeloNews devoted its first issue of the new century to the man who had so dominated the last. Today, on the occasion of Merckx’s 60th birthday, we thought we’d offer Ted Costantino’s personal profile of cycling’s greatest hero, along with Charles Chamberlin’s cover tribute, a photo mosaic that we’ve seen all over the world since its original publication.Eddy Merckx: To Win Them AllAn interstellar phenomenon, we may not see his like again for another 100 yearsBy Ted Costantino Here is Eddy Merckx at yet another public event. This time, it’s a store opening in

More news trickled out in the Spanish press following the tragic death of Italian veteran Alessio Galletti, felled by a heart attack Wednesday in the Subida a Naranco race in northern Spain. A five-hour autopsy Thursday confirmed Galletti died of cardiac arrest some 15km from the finish line after complaining of chest pain and breathing difficulties. It will be another three months, however, before more extensive analysis is completed on the rider’s vital organs. Galletti’s mother and wife traveled to Oviedo on Thursday to retrieve his body; they will return to Italy sometime this weekend.

The 13th annual Tour de Nez kicked off Thursday with a 5km time trial in Verdi, Nevada, followed by an hourlong criterium in Truckee, California. Now in its third year on the NRC calendar, this year’s three-day, four-race omnium has attracted its strongest field ever with a pro-Category 1-2 field of more than 100 riders, including Scott Moninger, Gord Fraser and Tyler Farrar (Health Net-Maxxis); Alexander Candelario and Dave McCook (Jelly Belly-PoolGel); and Discovery’s Steven Cozza racing with the under-23 national team. Also in attendance are full squads from Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada,

Germany’s young Linus Gerdemann of Team CSC joined an early breakaway group and then outlasted his peers in order to win Friday’s stage of the Tour of Switzerland. “I need to sleep one night and wake up tomorrow to realize what I’ve done,” said the 22-year-old, who has never won a race in major international competition. “But now it’s time for me to go back to my role of being a teammate.” The two remaining days of the nine-stage race could be the most difficult yet, according to Michael Rogers of Quick Step, who retained the yellow leader’s jersey, and still leads race favorite Jan Ullrich

It’s the eve of the third 2005 NORBA national mountain-bike race at Deer Valley, Utah, but it feels like the first race of the year. Cross-country pros shake hands and hug like they haven’t seen each other in months. Gravity racers roll out brand-new unscratched machines for their first taste of mud and rocks. Excitement is in the air – no one is sure who will have the biggest performance of the weekend. The antsy attitudes and uncertainty are well warranted for both cross-country riders and gravity racers. Although it’s mid-June, this is the first national gravity race of the season. Last

Few jobs can be as boring as that of manning a passport control booth at an airport. For hour after hour you open passports, look at the photo, match it with the person standing in front of you, and then date-stamp one of the blank pages. Next! About 20 years ago, I was in a short line at Madrid’s airport on a midweek morning. The Spanish passport control guy was a little overweight, chubby-faced and somewhat bleary-eyed (from a late-night party?). I could see him giving the passports a cursory glance and mechanically stamping them. It was as if he were in a trance. Then, with the

As expected, the 27km time trial has rearranged the general classification at the Tour de Beauce. Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) takes over the yellow jersey from Dominique Rollin (Equipe Quebec), but he is just five seconds in front of Nathan O'Neill (Navigators), who crushed the competition in the stage. O’Neill finished 52 seconds in front of runner-up Tuft, with his teammate Jeff Louder giving Navigators third place on the stage and in the overall rankings. The riders woke up to heavy rain, but by the time the first rider rolled down the ramp, it had backed off to drizzle, and halfway

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.You can’t choose what happens in an accidentEditor:This is just a note in response to the letter from Scott Hendricks, who wrote about feeling no need to wear a helmet if all the gear in the world couldn't save him from a runaway SUV (see Monday’s Mailbag: “No, he doesn’t”). Indeed,

In just his second year as a professional rider, Cody Warren (Haro) grabbed his first NORBA National victory by winning Friday’s dual slalom, beating Kiwi John Kirkcaldie (Maxxis) by less than half a second. With his mother and girlfriend in attendance, Warren rode almost a completely flawless five rounds on a turn-filled, gravelly slalom course described by guest announcer John Tomac as “very old school.” The label was repeated throughout the day, as the course featured a mellower incline, fewer berm turns and closer gates than most modern dual-slalom courses. “It reminds me of something

Click to purchase this poster

Merckx at 60 (2005)

Gerdemann

Merckx on a 140km solo attack that put him eight minutes ahead in the '69 Tour

Winning Roubaix

Tuft rides into the lead

Warren tops the men's podium, claiming his first NORBA National win

Kintner came from behind - twice - to win the women's dual

Biking a bobsled run

Bishop ran a modified carbon-fiber single-speed

Controversial cyclist Jobie Dajka was suspended Thursday for three years by a Cycling Australia disciplinary tribunal Thursday that determined he had assaulted head track coach Martin Barras. Cycling Australia (CA) said the incident occurred last week at the High Performance Program offices in Adelaide. The suspension would take immediate effect. CA said in a statement that the tribunal took into account medical evidence relating to Dajka's state of mental health. As a result, CA said, the tribunal determined that Dajka, 24, may apply to have the penalty suspended and reapply for his

Everyone wants to ride faster. Last week wediscussed VO2max and natural ability. Now we get to the good stuff – lactate threshold (LT). The burn. The reason we enjoy talking about LT is because it is highly trainable.Don’t get us wrong, natural ability still plays a huge role, both withVO2max and LT, but for almost every individual, training properly willramp up LT. Lactate Threshold?Lactate is a by-product of anaerobic metabolism that, despite common misconception, is produced across all exercise intensities. In fact, even when you stand up from sitting in a chair, lactate acid is

In what marks an end of era in a year that’s seen more than its fair share of big names leaving cycling, German sprinter star Erik Zabel won’t be part of T-Mobile’s Tour de France plans. The 34-year-old Berliner has ridden in 11 Tours, winning 12 stages and six green jerseys, but the decisive to leave the German ace off its nine-man Tour roster reveals T-Mobile’s real ambition – to try to beat Lance Armstrong in what will be the six-time champion’s last race. “With three riders in the team who already stood on the podium in Paris, we are clearly aiming for yellow,” said future team manager

With a veteran’s tactics and the heart of a rookie, American underdog Chris Horner (Saunier Duval – Prodir) picked up his first major European victory Thursday, crushing the competition in the mountainous sixth stage of the Tour of Switzerland. “I’m sorry I don’t know the names,” Horner said when an Italian reporter asked about the several riders he had dropped on the final climb. “This is only my eighth - wait, my fifth - race in Europe.” Michael Rogers of QuickStep took the yellow jersey away from T-Mobile’s Jan Ullrich, and now has a 20-second lead over the German in the general

Italian rider Alessio Galletti complained of breathing trouble and chest pain just moments before stepping off his bike and dying of a heart attack in Wednesday’s Subida al Naranco one-day race in northern Spain. “I feel bad, I can’t breathe,” complained the 37-year-old just 15km from the finish line in the hilly race in Spain’s Asturias region. Those were his last words as the father of one and another on the way stepped out of his pedals, sat on the side of the road and collapsed. Born March 26, 1968 in Pisa, Italy, Galletti wasn’t a natural-born winner. During his 12 years as a pro,

So here I am, back in the office after a great week of racing on the East Coast. I know, I know, Wachovia Week, culminating with the Wachovia USPRO Championship in Philadelphia, was almost two weeks ago – which equates to several light years in Internet time – but that’s about how long it takes me to unpack, catch up on riding, sleep and e-mail, and get through the magazine assignments that follow a trip of that magnitude. In addition to punching out my race story – here’s a sneak peek of the cover for issue 11 - I’ve also been working on a feature profile on USPRO second-place finisher

Dominique Rollin (Equipe Quebec) will hold onto the yellow leader's jerseyat the Tour de Beauce for a second day, after the field finished togetherin stage three.  Rollin, who won stage two on Wednesday, finishedsafely in the pack, three seconds behind winner David O'Loughlin (Navigators). Mark Walters (Navigators), who is second in the overall standings, managedto gain three seconds on Rollin after taking an intermediate time bonus,and is now only 12 seconds out of the lead.The stage was shortened from 180 kilometres to 140 due to road damage,a decision that everyone agreed

Figure 1- Courtesy Dr. Allen Lim

AFP file photo

Horner takes tough stage at Swiss Tour

VeloNews file photo

Horner escaped with Nibali, but left him at the halfway mark on the climb to Arosa

Ullrich slipped out of the jersey, but looks fit for the Tour