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Colavita comes to the front with five to go

Health Net was out front most of the day . . .

. . . in defense of Chris Wherry's lead

Brice Jones (Jelly Belly) had a go, and hung on for third

But the win went to Juan Jose Haedo (Colavita)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - With speculation building that Lance Armstrong will retire, the six-time Tour de France champion finds himself facing yet another doping allegation. On Thursday, attorneys for Armstrong denied allegations made by a former personal assistant that he found a steroid in Armstrong's Spanish apartment early last year. “It's a shakedown and it has been from the very beginning,” Armstrong's attorney, Timothy Herman, said. Mike Anderson, who worked for Armstrong for about two years, has been in a legal fight with the cycling great over alleged promises Armstrong

You will eat, bye and bye,When you've learned how to cook and to fry;Chop some wood, 'twill do you goodAnd you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye (that's no lie).- from “The Preacher and the Slave,” by Joe Hill The announcement that a Tour of California is planned for 2006 has triggered an interesting discussion in the VeloNews.com mailbag about race promotion, particularly as it pertains to Colorado. I had the great good fortune to live in Colorado when the Coors Classic was still on its wheels, and managed to catch an occasional stage in person. Watching high-gloss

A chance encounter at an airport, a heated exchange of words and hastily issued challenge… and the cycling world may never be the same. UCI president Hein Verbruggen on Friday announced plans to resign his post at the end of June – on the eve of the world’s premier cycling event – and hand the reins of the organization over to his arch nemesis, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) boss Dick Pound. “I think it’s clear that I don’t like the man,” Verbruggen said at a press conference at UCI headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland, on Friday, “but, frankly, this is not about my liking or disliking

T-Mobile TeamDirector: Mario Kummer1. Steffen Wesemann2. Rolf Aldag3. Andreas Klier4. Daniele Nardello5. Jan Schaffrath6. Stephan Schreck7. Serguei Ivanov8. Erik ZabelBouygues TelecomDirector: Christian Guiberteau11. Laurent Brochard12. Chavanel Sébastien13. Mathieu Claude14. Anthony Geslin15. Christophe Kern16. Franck Renier17. Thomas Voeckler18. Unai Yus KerejetaCofidisDirector: Alain Deloeuil21. Jimmy Casper22. Jimmy Engoulvent23. Peter Farazijn24. Jans Koerts25. Thierry Marichal26. Stuart O'Grady27. Staf Scheirlinckx28. Matthew WhiteCredit AgricoleDirector: Serge

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.NORBA should provide neutral supportEditor:I personally don't what the big deal is in trying to figure out the appropriate level of support for NORBA racing. The most equitable solution seems clear. Allow neutral support only so that the aspiring independent racer isn't put at a

German sprinter Danilo Hondo has been suspended by his Gerolsteiner team in the wake of a failed anti-doping control taken March 1, team manager Hans-Michael Holczer confirmed Friday. Team officials said Hondo will remain on suspension until results from a B-test are received. Hondo, 31, faces a two-year racing ban if found positive. Officials have refused to reveal the name of the substance. Hondo, second at Milan-San Remo last month, failed a test during the Vuelta a Murcia in early March where he won two stages. “Danilo swears he cannot explain the positive sample,” Holczer told the

Armstrong delivers another win for PostalLance Armstrong may be riding for the Discovery Channel now, but the six-time Tour de France winner recently delivered another win for the U.S. Postal Service – with a little assist from the rising price of gasoline. Faced with spiraling costs due to rising energy prices, USPS has been experimenting with mail delivery via bicycle in a few select cities – San Francisco, Denver and Boston – and the savings have been such that the agency is considering expanding the pilot program to other communities. Armstrong’s bike sponsor, Trek, has supplied

The buildup for the April 19-24 Dodge Tour de Georgia sure took some interesting turns this week. First, cycling’s biggest star announced that he … okay, well, he didn’t actually make an announcement, but he said he would make an announcement about something important at the Tour de Georgia. Everyone’s buzzing about the possibility that Lance Armstrong will either announce his impending retirement, following the 2005 Tour de France, or, given his recent visit to Italian magistrate Giuseppe Quattrocchi, announce an attempt at a Giro d’Italia-Tour double this year — and then ride off into the

French Alpe d'Huez resort has the pleasure of inviting you to Alpe d'Huez climb promotional cocktail from 4.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. at the TRATTORIA GIRASOLE restaurant, 1430 Pearl Street in Boulder, Colorado on Wednesday April 6th. At this occasion, Jean-Louis LEGER-MATTEI (Alpe d'Huez Tourist Office manager) will show you some videos on the mythic Alpe d'Huez climb where Lance ARMSTRONG and Greg LEMOND wore the yellow jersey of the TOUR DE FRANCE race. Different assets and cycling activities of the Alpe d'Huez resort will be shown and an organized free drawing with

Positive changes continue to be implemented for USA Cycling’s track program as the national governing body revealed today a qualification process that will be in place for the 2005 USCF Elite National Track Cycling Championships later this year in Carson, Calif. Riders who want to compete on the track for stars and stripes jerseys must qualify for nationals through the 2005 Velodrome Championship Series, a schedule of 17 races to be held at 22 velodromes across the nation. This initiative is a major step toward tying together all of the nation’s facilities and forming a true national

While bike racing in the British Isles was making breakthroughs into continental cycling through the late 1950s and early ’60s, most American road racers were still using fixed-gear track bikes. I recently had an e-mail from VeloNews reader Prosper Bijl who said that when he began road racing in the Washington, D.C., area in 1963, it was on a single-gear track bike with a front brake. It wasn’t until 1966 that the Amateur Bicycle League of America ended the use of fixed-gear bikes in road racing. No wonder riders from North America were slow in making an impact on the world scene. Across the

Health Net-Maxxis rolled into stage 2 of the Redlands Bicycle Classic as the clear favorites for a stage win. After putting four riders into the top 10 at Thursday’s time trial up Mt. Rubidoux, Health Net seemed a sure bet to defend Chris Wherry’s 12-second overall lead, and even extend its dominance over the Redlands field, in Friday’s 107-mile Oak Glen road race. That is, until luck and Trent Lowe (Jittery Joe’s-Kalahari) took a hand. The former left Health Net bruised, battered and ill, and the latter took the stage win. Scroll down for a photo gallery from Casey Gibson Luck launched

A souvenir of the good old days

Pound: Anything Hein can do, I can do better

Verbruggen on Friday: Wait until (Pound) gets the reality check

Leipheimer's crossing the pond to go marching through Georgia

Lowe on the ascent

Beutler heads for the hills

Wherry and Moninger couldn't hold Lowe back

The young Aussie soloed to the win

Fraser at the front

Candelaria takes the lead

Kileen on the climb

On the road again, with Lake Mathews in the background

Just a slight hazard at the base of the climb

Thorburn has a dig

... as do Thorburn and Baldwin

Lance Armstrong voluntarily appeared before an Italian magistrate in Tuscanyon Wednesday in an effort to “clear up questions” regarding an unusualexchange between the American and Filippo Simeoni at last year’s Tour deFrance. The Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport reported Thursdaythat Armstrong requested a meeting with magistrate Giuseppe Quattrocchiin order to clear up threatened charges of “witness intimidation” afterArmstrong chased down a break that included Simeoni for the express purposeof bringing the Domina Vacanze rider back into the peloton. (see "Mercadowins, but

Green will likely be the dominant color at the 21st edition of the Redlands Bicycle Classic, as it kicks off Thursday and runs though Sunday in and around Southern California’s “Inland Empire,” the San Bernadino Valley. The usually brown valley – normally dried out by dry Santa Ana winds and the burning SoCal sun – shows something of an emerald tint this year, largely a result of the wettest California spring in recent memory, with more than double the region’s usual annual precipitation in just three months. But green hills aside, the moisture has brought unwelcome hardships to the race

USA CYCLING HIRES GARY WEST AS HEAD TRACK COACHVeteran Enjoyed Success During Career with Australian and JapaneseProgramsColorado Springs, Colo. (March 31, 2005)—In a move expectedto significantly bolster the competitiveness of USA Cycling’s nationaltrack program, the national governing body announced today the additionof distinguished track coach Gary West to its staff.  As head trackcoach for USA Cycling, West hopes to revive a modest program that was onceconsidered one of the strongest in the world.West’s name has become synonymous with success in the internationaltrack cycling arena

Discovery Channel successfully defended its title at the Three Days of De Panne and barnstormed through the final stage to score important victories ahead of this weekend’s Tour of Flanders. Rising Belgian rider Stijn Devolder scored a major win with the overall title while veteran workhorse Viatcheslav Ekimov proved yet again he’s still one of the best after taking the win in the afternoon time trial. Devolder went into the time trial finale trailing Alessandro Ballan (Lampre-Caffita) by four seconds following the morning road stage won by Belgian national champ Tom Steels

He lived the frenetic life of a celebrated sports icon. He died the solitarydeath of a drug-dependent depressive. Marco Pantani’s ending faithfully reflected his star-crossed life andtimes. The quirky, pugnacious Italian climber was frequently alone at theend of punishing mountain stages in cycling’s greatest races, minutes aheadof the opposition. And he was alone again, tragically so, when he diedin the fifthstory room of a hotel called Le Rose in the afternoonof a somber St. Valentine’s Day in February 2004. Outside his window, lifestill bustled in the streets of Rimini, while waves

USA Cycling chief executive officer Gerard Bisceglia confirmed Thursday that he and the organization’s vice president for marketing, Bryan Cook, have “reached a mutual agreement” resulting in Cook’s immediate resignation. Cook’s departure comes less than a year after he was hired, largely on the strength of his business background. Cook had more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience, most recently as associate director of sales and planning for a Kellogg's Corporation division. But Bisceglia said that over the past few months it became apparent that Cook’s background, rich as

Following what could only be described as a disastrous effort at the world track championships last week in Carson, California, it was clear something had to change with the U.S. national team. On Thursday what is being called the first of many changes came, as USA Cycling announced the hiring of Australian Gary West to serve as the program’s new head coach. The 44-year-old West comes to USAC after a four-year stint with the Japanese Cycling Federation, where he helped lead the lightly-touted cycling nation to a team sprint silver at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Prior to his stay in Japan,

Rising like a rocky turret from the flat floor of Riverside Valley, Mt. Rubidoux – site of Thursday’s Redlands prologue – was battered by constant westerly winds that gusted up to 50 mph. It took a combination of strength, perseverance and the right equipment to give Health Net’s Chris Wherry and Webcor’s Christine Thorburn the honors on a more-than-blustery day in Southern California. For the nearly 200 riders who worked their way up the 5km asphalt corkscrew to Rubidoux’s summit, the trip up the mountain was like rolling into a sandy tornado. Riders were initially greeted by a strong

The incident that has developed a life of its own.

At age 14, Marco rode his red Vicini racing bike to his very first victory.

Pantani’s hair was still thick when he won the amateurs’ Giro d’Italia at age 22.

Wherry picked the right equipment, too

Thorburn's TT gives the team a boost going into Oak Glen on Friday

Moninger rides into second

Clinger is here in all of his splendor

Pic takes ninth at 32 seconds

Wherry and Thorburn tops at Redlands opener

Depending on your current training cycle, resistance training or weighttraining is often part of the program, while the goals and emphasis ofthe resistance session may progress from an endurance to a power emphasisduring your season. Following specific nutrition guidelines for weighttraining can make the most of these muscle and power building sessions.Hormones in your body, specifically growth hormone, testosterone, insulin,and insulin like growth factor, largely control muscle growth. Nutritioncan very effectively support your efforts to increase lean body mass byaffecting these hormone

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.In Monday’s Mailbag, Mike Brunken of Morrison, Colorado, in applauding the announcement of an upcoming Tour of California, posed the question: “How do we get something similar in Colorado?” We thought it was a good one, and passed it along to USA Cycling CEO Gerard Bisceglia and American

Media speculation about Lance Armstrong’s cycling future hit a fever pitch Wednesday following an interview with the French daily Le Figaro when the six-time Tour de France champion advised journalists to turn up at a press conference April 18 ahead of the Tour de Georgia. “If I were you, I’d go there. I have something important to say,” Armstrong said. “I won’t be doing the Tour forever. But it’s still too early to talk about it. I will announce it to you, to the world, only later.” Armstrong, who turns 34 in September, only reluctantly announced he’d be returning to the Tour this year for a

My father Joe and I had the great pleasure of visiting South Africa for two weeks in March. What started out as a business trip became an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience. We not only came face to face with lions, but also saw a cycling-crazed country and took part in a world class Ironman experience. The trip was organized by our friend Stewart Miller, who lives in Johannesburg and has started www.expertonline.co.za, a training web site for South Africa. Stewart contacted us to see if we would conduct some presentations the week of the Cape Argus bike race and the Ironman South

Armstrong: I have something important to say.

Dirk (right) and the crew from www.expertonline.co.za,

The guys from Jittery Joes in South Africa

Laurent Brochard (Bouygues Telecom), won the Paris-Camembert semi-classicrace in Vimoutiers, France, for a third time Tuesday.Former world champion Brochard crossed the line after 200km of ridingwith a lead of a few seconds over the first group of pursuers, includingsix-time Tour de France winner American Lance Armstrong.Brochard, 37, also won the French Cup event - a one-day race from Magnanville,west of Paris, to Vimoutiers in Normandy - in 2001 in 2003."I have really found my form," Brochard said afterwards. "PhysicallyI feel just as good as a few years ago and mentally I'm

Editor's Note: Nineteen-year-old Larssyn Staley - the 2003 world champion in the junior women's points race - is the only American riding for the Swiss-based Andeer team. Throughout her first season on the continent,the Beaverton, Oregon, native will be sending us updates about life inthe women's peloton and providing a newcomer's perspective on racing in Europe.Two weeks ago I had my first race in Italy. After that race, I couldn’t get over the chaotic mess of the field. However, having that race under my belt, I rode in the field with ease this weekend at The Trofeo Alfredo

Clamping powerDear Lennard,I am hearing that disc brakes can cause the axel to shift within thedropouts when paired with standard quick release skewers causing alignmentproblems in the rotor/caliper interface. Is this true? If so, is movingto a beefier mechanism (such as a new Marzocchi QR20 fork) the only fix?Is there a difference between steel and titanium skewers in this respect?I am thinking of making the change to discs and need to know how much hiddencost there is, new fork, hub, etc.BlairDear Blair,Yes, that’s true. Indeed, the clamping force is definitely less withsome skewer designs

Hincapie took the trophy in 2004

The final stage in 2004

Score one for the Mullet Man

Armstrong seems healthy again.

Things are looking up for Christian Vande Velde and his chances to race in the Giro d’Italia next month. The 28-year-old American re-injured his back early in the season, but returned to racing over the weekend with eyes toward helping Team CSC captain Ivan Basso in the season’s first grand tour. “My main goal is still the Giro, even though Bjarne (Riis) is trying to keep the pressure off me, which I totally appreciate,” Vande Velde said. “I know that as long as I’m healthy, I’ll be a great asset to the team, but I don’t want to go there if I'm not a 100 percent for Ivan, because I know

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.How about a tech piece on track gear?Editor:In some of the articles about track world’s there are comments about gear selection; some bigger, some smaller. It would be interesting to know what gearing is being used in the various events by some of the participants. A technical article

On March 4, the eve of the 2005 NORBA opener in Boerne, Texas, a handfulof USA Cycling members and team managers gathered for a powwow – the customarypre-race meeting to discuss any new regulations or course changes thatneeded addressing.The only reporter in attendance, I rolled in about half an hour late,and the meeting was already in full debate mode. The topic of choice: USACycling’s recent decision to allowing for outside mechanical assistanceduring races – thus negating the age-old NORBA rule barring any sort ofmechanical assistance.Everyone in the room appeared to have an opinion, a

Emotions ran high at the ADT Center velodrome Saturday night in Carson, California, when all four finals produced first-time world champions: Great Britain scored gold in the team pursuit and women’s sprint, Australia won the women’s pursuit, and Denmark took the men’s scratch race. The British pursuiters won in grand style, crushing a young Dutch squad in the final by a four-second margin, Defending champion Australia took bronze ahead of New Zealand. “We’ve been getting silver medals year in, year out,” said British veteran Chris Newton. “We were nearly there last year, so this makes up

Dutchman Thomas Dekker, of the Rabobank team, stunned a host of established professionals by winning the 98.5km second stage of the Criterium international race between Vieilles Forges to here on Sunday. The 20-year-old Dutchman's victory gave him the race lead and he is now well primed to take the overall honours after the third and concluding stage, an 8.3km time trial held on Sunday afternoon. (Results are now posted.) Dekker, the winner of last year’s Tour of Normandy and the prestigious GP Eddy Merckx two-man time trial (with Koen de Kort), beat out Liberty's Jörg Jaksche and

UCI president Hein Verbruggen has launched a scathing attack on World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Dick Pound over the extent to which they both perceive the problem of doping in cycling.And Verbruggen, also an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, conceded that the UCI has taken to issuing "red card" warnings to cyclists whose blood test results appear suspect.Officials have confirmed, for example, that the governing body sentat least two warning letters to the Phonak team regarding suspicious testresults from Tyler Hamilton and other riders last spring.Pound has in the past

CSC's Bobby Julich continued his great early season form by winning the Criterium International three-stage race as it wrapped up in Charleville-Mezieres, France, Sunday, after dominating the concluding time trial. Julich, the winner of Paris-Nice less than a month ago - the first leg of the 27-race Pro Tour series - won the 8.3km time trial to overhaul Dutchman Thomas Dekker, the winner of the 98.5km second stage which was held in the morning. Julich had come third in Sunday's second stage behind Liberty rider Jörg Jaksche and Dekker. It left the American with a three-second

Reigning world road race champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) warmed up for next week's Tour of Flanders by winning the Fleche Brabanconne one-day classic held over 198km between Zaventem and Beersel, Belgium, on Sunday. The 29-year-old Freire, who a few weeks ago won the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race, held off Dutchman Marc Lotz of QuickStep and Davitamon’s Belgian Axel Merckx, who took third place after 3:38:56 of racing. Freire was one of the day's main animators, the Spaniard forming part of a 15-strong group that charged out of the main field in the latter stages of the race. The

Bobby Julich is enjoying the finest form of his career, scoring his most important victories in the past month after picking up where he left off last summer with the bronze medal in the Olympic time trial. Over the winter, Julich fully recovered from a broken wrist he suffered during a fall in the stage to Plateau de Beille in the Tour de France. He snatched victory in Paris-Nice earlier this month and confirmed he’s in top form with an equally impressive win in the “mini-Tour de France” in this weekend’s Critérium International. “It’s as if I’m riding a wave after Paris-Nice and I really

The final day of racing at the world track championships in Carson, California, featured two themes which had been gaining momentum throughout this four-day event. One was good for Great Britain, the other not-so-hot for the host country. On the upside was the continued rise of the British squad. After placing a solid second behind the Australians on the track at last summer’s Olympic in Athens, the Brits climbed the final hurdle in Southern California, snagging four gold — double that of any other nation racing at the ADT Event Center velodrome. The final win came courtesy of Rob Hayles

The British pursuit squad: Silver no more

Vicky Pendleton came out of nowhere to take gold in the sprint

This time it's gold for Mactier

Carney takes a gamble

Carney on his own, getting encouragement from Danny Van Haute

Rusmussen had a perfect race

Dekker scrambles ahead for the win