All Content

To celebrate the 40th edition of the Amstel Gold Race, the Dutch organizers are hosting this weekend as many of the past winners as could come. Among those who could accept the invitation are the inaugural 1966 winner Frenchman Jean Stablinski, now a septuagenarian, and the event’s most prolific winner, Dutchman Jan Raas, who won the race five times between 1977 and 1982. The Amstel champion who has traveled the farthest, literally from halfway around the world, is 1983 winner Phil Anderson. “This is the first time I’ve been back since I retired,” said the bronzed Aussie, who’s growing his

A few weeks ago, organizers of the Sea Otter Classic road stage race decided to change the course on the final road stage in hopes of sparking more action for a climactic finale. That objective was achieved, and if the final stage was much more difficult than in years past, that’s just fine with overall winners Doug Ollerenshaw (Health Net-Maxxis) and Kristin Armstrong (T-Mobile). For each, Saturday’s arduous final stage, which took riders from the start at the Laguna Seca Raceway into the surrounding hills of Fort Ord, overlooking California’s Monterey Bay, proved decisive. For the

After an ambitious off-season spent training and racing down under in the Australian summer, Aussie Trent Lowe (Subaru-Gary Fisher) entered the 2005 season expecting early victories. After a slew of podium finishes and near-wins at the two opening NORBA nationals, Lowe finally snagged his first win of the season at Saturday’s Sea Otter Classic short track. “This is what I’ve been waiting for my whole year. I came over here in really good form and I came so close to Geoff (Kabush) so many times,” he said. “I think this is showing that my form is starting to come back. The work of the summer

Rebellin hopes to repeat his 2004 Amstel victory

Ollerenshaw and the Health Net boys were in good shape up front . . .

. . . until they got the word that Stevic was on his way up, closing a six-minute gap all by himself

That meant it wouldn't be Fraser's day

Instead, Ollerenshaw attacked the break, and got the stage and the overall

Wherry, meanwhile - GC leader going into the stage - may have suffered from a bit of course confusion

Gaggioli has a go with an early break in the women's race

But once Teutenberg caught and passed the break, Pic and Thorburn launched a chase of their own

But the day would go to Armstrong, who hit the climb fresh and ready to rock

Boogerd launches his attack on the Cauberg

Thick as pea soup...

Freire

Moreau and Thijs kept up the effort for nearly 200km

Etxebarria on the attack

On the Cauberg

Today was the first day of the Sea Otter Bicycle Classic in Monterey, California. This has always been one of my favorite races. I love the atmosphere. It is the only race on the calendar where we have both mountain biking and road racing. It creates a carnival-type scene, complete with a great expo, where sponsors and exhibitors have tents set up so spectators can browse and buy. Okay, so you get the picture – lots of bikes, tents and people. But what really sets the Sea Otter apart from other races is its location. The race is held on the Laguna Seca Speedway, which for most of the year is

I was in my office on Boulder Wednesday afternoon wondering what I was going to write about this week when the phone rang. “Art Valencia here,” said the Spanish-accented voice on the other end of the line. “Do you remember me?” “Of course,” I replied, “Tour of Baja.” I met Art in the early 1980s at the sorely missed Tour of Baja in Mexico. Art was the promoter of the weeklong event (and its main benefactor) for seven years. So, yes, I remember Art. He’s now 68 and retired, but still enjoying the many bikes that always hung in the garage of his suburban home near San Diego. “I’m still

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. The Outdoor Life Network will carry live coverage of Lance Armstrong's April 18 press conference at approximately 3 p.m. Eastern time, following OLN’s live coverage of the 2005 Boston Marathon. As to just what Armstrong plans to announce, speculation has ranged from his

Rebellin: Don't expect a repeat of '04Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) lines up Sunday at Amstel Gold Race as defending champion, something he’ll do all week during the Ardennes run, which also includes Flèche Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Last year, Rebellin became the first racer to sweep the Ardennes treble, but he says repeating the feat is unlikely. “To have the same success I had last year I believe is almost impossible. These are races I like very much, but what happened is once in a lifetime,” Rebellin said earlier this year. Rebellin has had some close calls this year,

At 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, German Michael Rich has made an improbable career as a time trialist. Dating back to his participation in Germany’s Olympic gold-medal-winning team time trial squad at the Barcelona Games in 1992, the 35-year-old Gerolsteiner rider has missed out on the world champion’s rainbow jersey five times – three times in the individual time trial, and twice when it was contested as a team event. On the eve of Paris-Roubaix, I sat down with Rich to ask him his thoughts on Roubaix, the controversial finish at the recent Ghent-Wevelgem and about his unusual preparation for

Lance Armstrong will look to hone his form for the 2005 Tour de France in the 57th Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, a demanding, weeklong race in June that the American has won twice before going on to claim victory in the Tour. Organizers on Friday announced the route for the June 5-12 race, which should have the 33-year-old American salivating with anticipation – in addition to a climb up the legendary Ventoux, it has a time trial that is slightly shorter than the Tour’s 55km time trial around Saint Etienne, to be held on the penultimate day. It’s the Tour’s only true time trial, barring the

It’s the toughest job in sports—riding for Lance Armstrong in pursuit of a Tour de France victory. But as Michael Barry demonstrates, it is also the most rewarding.A member of the U.S. Postal team from 2002 to 2004, Michael rode in support of Lance Armstrong, Roberto Heras, and George Hincapie, among others. Now he opens the door to reveal what life on the U.S. Postal bus was really like. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to meet Michael and purchase "Inside the Postal Bus" at the event. Michael will sign books on Sunday, April 24, at the Roswell Bicycles expo booth immediately following the

Chains rarely left the big ring during the 2005 Sea Otter Classic’s off-road time trial on Friday as riders powered through the short, technical course around Laguna Seca Speedway. Friday’s course was trimmed to two miles from last year’s six to keep the general classification closer going into Saturday’s short-track cross country, said Jeff Frost, part of the management team that runs the NORBA schedule. “We wanted a tighter, faster course this year,” he said. “Last year the time gaps were a little too big on the course, which went all over the place.” Last year’s course spun riders out

Michael Boogerd and Erik Dekker have a job on their hands if they are to win the only Dutch one-day classic in the 27-leg Pro Tour series, the Amstel Gold Race, which takes place Sunday in Maastricht. Boogerd, the winner in 1999, and reigning Paris-Tours champion Dekker, the winner here in 2001, are among the favorites for the 250.7km race, especially as a host of other contenders have opted out of the ProTour's eighth race. ProTour series leader Tom Boonen (Quick Step) - the recent winner of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix last week - is among those giving Amstel Gold a miss.

When it comes to pro road racing at the Sea Otter Classic, you can always expect the unexpected. Things are just different at the Otter. On Thursday the pro stage race kicked off in Monterey, California, with a rollicking downhill time trial that sent riders spiraling through the famous “corkscrew,” a twisting section of banked turns at the Laguna Seca Raceway. On Friday, more than 100 riders in the pro men’s field were pulled after a Health Net-Maxxis-fueled break lapped the majority of riders in the 96.5km, 27-lap race. Scroll down for a photo gallery from Casey Gibson As expected, Health

From the May 25, 1979 issue of Velo-news: Bob Cook, John Howard and Jonathan Boyer race at La Vuelta de Bisbee

Michael Rich

Serbia's Stevic puts the hammer down

Pic shoots ...

... and scores

Fraser was left behind with four to go

Health Net's attack surprised Clinger

Not the weather we've become accustomed to at Sea Otter

Armstrong shadowed by Webcor

Wherry on the climb . . .

. . . and getting seriously aero on the descent

The war of words between the UCI and the three major grand tours is heating up again, threatening to derail the ProTour just as the new series is gaining traction. The organizers of the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia issued a strongly-wordedcommuniqué Wednesday that resists what they call “the UCI’s maneuvers designed to divide them.” It’s a real alphabet soup as the three businesses behind the grand tours – ASO for the Tour, RCS for the Giro and Unipublic for the Vuelta – have once again closed ranks to resist changes that they insist are imposed in an top-down

It’s Wednesday, the day before the start of the 2005 Sea Otter Classic, and the Laguna Seca start area is already jammed with intricately decaled tents, trailers, trucks, team cars, vans and Winnebagos. Anything and everything that can possibly display a sponsorship logo is here, shining in the California spring sun. But this annual conglomeration of corporate garb is what helps make the Sea Otter the premier bike festival in North America. Tens of thousands of spectators don’t just come to watch the races. It’s time to gawk at new product and to do a bit of shopping, too. Teams and

Dear readers,This week’s column offers a slightly different perspective on a problem described in last week’s (See “LegallySpeaking - with Bob Mionske: Bad Shipping News: Part 1”). While the circumstances may appear to be similar and some of the same case law applies to both situations, the details are not exactly the same and hence my reason for doing two columns on troubles with shipping.BobDear Bob,I brought a road bike in to a local bike shop and asked them to box up and ship my bike via FedEx. I specifically asked for insurance, as I had done before when I had them do the same thing. I

Editor's Note: Ordinarily a regular feature in VeloNews magazine, we figured that Chris Horner’s most recent “Talking the talk” column is timely enough to warrant a bit of attention on VeloNews.com and would go a long way toward answering the spate of "Where's Horner?" letters filling up our mailbox. We'll post this one on-line, but for die-hard Horner fans, you'll usually have to check the magazine, where his column will appear throughout the 2005 season.Now we’re into the season and we’re starting to see which teams have started the year with good form and which teams are

Former Olympic and world champion Bart Brentjens isn’t showing any signs of slowing down after soloing to victory in the men’s Super Cross-Country to open the 2005 Sea Otter Classic. At 36, the Dutchman is more than fifteen years older than some of his competitors, including 20-year old Trent Lowe of Subaru/Gary Fisher, who was in the lead group that tried in vain to chase Brentjens down for three of the race’s six laps. The five-mile laps were divided evenly between dirt and pavement, with a tough climb up asphalt to the top of the famed “corkscrew” of the Laguna Seca raceway. At the top,

The 2005 Sea Otter road stage race got off to a 60 kph start on Thursday afternoon when the pro men and women tackled the unique 3km stage 1 time trial, covering a stretch of the Laguna Seca race track in Monterey, California. In a race that took less than three minutes for the fastest riders to complete, Health Net’s Gord Fraser improved on his 2004 showing of second place, clocking a time of 2:47 on the wind-blasted, mostly downhill time trial. Known more for his finishing kick than his ability to race against the clock, Fraser said the shorter time trial format favors him. “There’s a lot

Seattle (AP) - It was supposed to be a grand affair: 900 athletes from nine nations competing in nine sports, including cycling. But just two months before the Pacific Rim Sports Summit was scheduled to take place June 7-12, the event was canceled Thursday, apparently over a lack of funding and a lack of sports. The Colorado-based U.S. Olympic Committee said it received word from the Seattle organizing group, led by former Goodwill Games organizer Bob Walsh, that it was pulling the plug. The Seattle Times had reported in Thursday editions that governing officials with two of the four

Apparently, UCI president Hein Verbruggen and the Giro's Carmine Castellano aren't hearing each other.

Lunch is served.... or will be, starting Thursday

Support vehicle for the support vehicles

Our own shameless commercial plug...

Packing into Laguna Seca: Sea Otter's ready to roll

Packing into Laguna Seca: Sea Otter's ready to roll

Wherry

Teutenberg took second

Quark's Tina Pic takes fourth

Fraser focuses on the task at hand

David Clinger

A week after abandoning the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, last year’s Tour de France runner up Andreas Klöden will make changes to his training program ahead of July’s Grande Boucle. His racing program, however, won’t change and he’s expected to race next week at Flèche Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The 29-year-old underwent extensive testing at a clinic in Freiburg on Monday which showed the German all-rounder is behind in his preparation for the Tour. “Andreas’s test results are not bad at all,” reported team doctor Andreas Schmid on T-Mobile’s web page. “Based on these insights, we will now

Lance Armstrong is set to drop a bombshell on the cycling world in a press conference before the start of the Tour de Georgia. Or is he? According to hints to the French press last month, the six-time Tour de France champ coyly suggested the Euro media might want to show up in Georgia on April 18 to get the real story. Ever since Armstrong took his time before committing to racing in this year’s Tour, any hint of retirement sends the cycling press spinning into a speculating frenzy. Especially in Europe, where cycling is one of the major sports and platoons of journalists cover the sport

The team start list for the third annual Dodge Tour de Georgia reminds me of the guest list for a trendy Hollywood club on a Friday night. In are the superstars, hometown heroes, good-looking up-and-comers, more Euro-trash than a Kraftwerk concert and a few darn lucky regular Joes. Who's out? The somewhat jaded schmoes of the domestic peloton. Now, being kept out of a club is an easy enough concept to grasp – it’s usually explained by a beastly man with forearms as big as your thigh. But being shot down by the Georgia crew is a tad more on the subtle side. Take the Webcor Builders

As your training program progresses to a build phase and your trainingrides increase in time and especially intensity for development of speedand strength, your nutritional requirements also move up a notch. Hardertraining burns more fuel, and the amount of carbohydrate you consume hasa direct impact on your muscle glycogen levels and recovery. Hard trainingdays and heavy training weeks, also require a step-up in your protein intaketo build and repair muscle tissue. Putting it all together nutritionallyduring a build week in your training cycle, means not only consuming adequatecalories,

Boonen Storms Roubaix on HutchinsonApril 11, 2005—Boulder, CO— It’s hard to find a more demandingtest of both rider and equipment than the brutal Paris-Roubaix.  After258km and 26 sections of cobbles Tom Boonen out sprinted George Hincapieto win the 103rd addition of this great spring classic and in doing sobecame only the 9th rider in history to pull the Tour of Flanders/Paris-Roubaixdouble, all on Hutchinson tires.In a race that is often decided by untimely punctures, last year beinga perfect example when Johan Museeuw’s late race flat tire crippled hischances at a record fourth

The United States Anti-Doping Agency announced Wednesday that an independentthree-member arbitration panel from the Court of Arbitration for Sport(CAS) has handed down a two-year suspension to former Jelly Belly riderAdam Bergman after he tested positive for EPO more than a year ago.The 24-year-old Bergman tested positive for recombinant human erythropoietin(r-EPO) during an out-of-competition test conducted by USADA on April 6,2004, in advance of the 2004 Tour de Georgia.Natural erythropoietin is produced by the kidneys and, like synthenticr-EPO, stimulates the production of red blood cells,

PRESS RELEASEThe organisers of the three major Tours (Giro d´Italia, Tour deFrance, Vuelta a España) wish to make the following observationsin response to the UCI's pressrelease dated 12 April 2005:1. The organisers of the three major Tours remain completelyunited in responding to the manoeuvers of the UCI designed to divide them.2. The organisers of the three major Tours can not and do notintend to accept the authority of a new organisation named the CUPT, designedto replace the current CCP and supposed, according to the UCI, to "representall players in professional cycling", and which

Klöden

Bergman gets two-year suspension

American Tyler Hamilton has returned to Europe, still awaiting a decision in the case concerning his disciplinary hearing before the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. It’s been more than a month since Hamilton presented his case before a three-person panel in Denver. Hamilton is facing up to a two-year ban, charged with homologous blood doping – the injection of red blood cells from another person - after failing a doping test at last year’s Vuelta a España. In a diary entry posted April 6 on his personal web page, Hamilton said he’s patiently waiting for an announcement, just like everyone

Crank optionsDear Lennard,I am going to Corsica in September. My bike has a standard Dura-Ace10-speed drivetrain with a double chainring. I would like to put on a compactcrankset for the trip, then reinstall the original after I return. My preferencewould be to not install a new bottom bracket. I could go to a triple. Doesany compact crank fit the Dura-Ace outside bearing bottom bracket? CanI run a triple Dura-Ace or Ultegra as a double without changing out theread end? I would rather not have to get a new crank and bottom bracket(like an FSA) just for one trip.Many thanks.BobDear Bob,The

He’s getting closer. Discovery’s George Hincapie has always ridden well in the classics. Wins at Ghent-Wevelgem, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and consistently strong performances in the “Queen of the Classics,” Paris-Roubaix, underscore the fact that the man from New York is well-suited to riding on rough and slippery roads in northern Europe in the spring. Nonetheless, it’s that top spot at Roubaix and its hefty cobblestone trophy that have eluded Hincapie since he first rode the Hell of the North in 1995. This year, he got closer than ever, finishing in the velodrome at Roubaix right behind the

Sparta Cycling Announces 2005 Tour of ConnecticutCyclosportif Ride Added to Three Day Event Waterbury, Connecticut - The Northwest Connecticut Conventionand Visitors Bureau and event organizer Sparta Cycling of New York Cityis pleased to announce the 2005 Tour of Connecticut professional cyclingrace, from 20-22 May. The 2005 Tour of Connecticut features stops in NewHaven, Waterbury and Torrington, and the televised three-day stage racewill be featured on OUTDOOR LIFE NETWORKS’s Cyclysm Sunday bicycle raceTV series. The 2005 Tour of Connecticut will also be broadcast locallyon

Hamilton at the '04 Vuelta

Focused: Hincapie negotiates the Arenberg forest in 2001

Those last 150 meters: Boonen was just too strong.

One step to go...

"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.Easylistening - with George WThe Scotsman - Glasgow - April 11, 2005By Victoria Ward, PA, in New YorkWhen it comes to the latest trends, US President George Bush knowshow to keep up with the kids – but what exactly does the

Top Pro Cyclists Take the Stage at Specialized Morgan Hill Grand Prix       Amateur and Family Events CompleteFamous Race Revival Morgan Hill, Calif.-Specialized Bicycles, one of the pioneeringcompanies of the Mountain Bike, recently hosted a crowd of 1,000 spectatorsand entrants in its hometown for a warm Sunday filled with cycling entertainment.Some of the strongest pro cyclists and teams were breaking the speed limitsof downtown Morgan Hill as men and women riders were rounding the 1.2-milecourse at more than 35 mph in the revival of the once-famous

The second annual Garrett Lemire Memorial Grand Prix in Ojai, California, got a little extra star power on Sunday courtesy of a visit by six-time Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong and his companion Sheryl Crow. According to the Ventura County Star, (requires registration) Armstrong glided up to the line shortly before the start of the 90-minute pro men’s criterium. He apparently heard about the race from an old buddy, Dave Lettieri, the former manager of the Chevrolet-L.A. Sheriff’s team, now owner of FasTrack Bicycles in nearby Santa Barbara. And while, like his Roubaix-bound teammate

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.Where’s Mike Creed?Editor:What's up with Mike Creed? He hasn't started any races since Langkawi, and is not even on the roster for Georgia. Is he still with Discovery? Injured? Doghouse? He had some promising results last year, rode well in support at Georgia last year and