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Jorge Ferrío (Almería Paternina) won the one-day classic Vuelta a los Puertos on Sunday in the mountains north of Madrid that will play a starring role in next month’s Vuelta a España. Almería Paternina delivered a one-two punch in the 146km race that started and finished Guadarrama with teammate Ramón Golbano taking second. The teammates opened up a two-minute gap on the mostly Spanish peloton on the lower ramps of the Alto de Navacerrada, which will see a summit finish in the Vuelta’s penultimate day. Ferrío and Golbano stayed away for the rest of the day, with Gustavo César coming through

Dear Dirk and JoeLast year I bought a copy of your "MountainBiker's Training Bible" and structured a training plan around the advisein your book. I contact you and you gave me some valuable information onhow to tweak the program to suit my needs. I participated in my first MountainBike stage race. The Cape-Epic race held in March 2004. The total distancecovered was 800 km over eight days and approximately 17,000m cumulativeelevation gain. The event is staged along the same lines as the Trans-Rockiesin Canada and the Trans-Alp in Europe. Incidentally the organizers of theCanadian and European

The Mail Bag 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.All Americans all the timeEditor:What's up with the lack of Olympic track event coverage on the majorAmerican networks? It was great that some of the networks covered the roadrace and time trial, but track coverage has been almost non-existence onAmerican TV. Track events have been some

In the battle for supremacy at the Olympic velodrome in Athens, the men from Australia beat back the challenge of Great Britain, claiming gold in the team pursuit. The Aussies’ effort didn’t match their world record time from qualifying the day before, but their mark of 3:58.233 on Monday was easily enough to outclass the Brits, who trailed throughout on their way to a 4:01.760. That left the gold medal count for the two countries at two apiece, with Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins having each taken wins for Great Britain, while Anna Meares and now the team pursuit squad of Graeme Brown, Brett

I lost the services of the digicam for a day after its memory card bit the dust. But I managed to find another one while walking around Pireas before Monday’s track racing. Pireas is Greece's main port and the jumping off point for trips to the Greek Islands. Here’s some of the sights, plus some odds and ends from the velodrome.

This place is as busy as Penn Station.

The green line of Athens tram line.

Canada's Lori-Anne Muenzer breaks down her day.

The track is sold out all week.

Sarah Ulmer embraces Katier Mactier after the individual pursuit final.

McGee's daughter wants to check out daddy's gold.

Spain beats the once unstoppable German to take bronze

The Brits are second once again

Great Britain's Chris Hoy explains his 1km win.

Leontien Zijlaard-van Morsel gets ready to roll.

With all of the hype and excitement at the Athens Olympics, athletes still have to spend their down time getting ready for events, training or just relaxing with friend. During the Olympics, most of that down time takes place in the athletes' village. One frequent VeloNews contributor recently sent us a photo essay of life in the village.

It’s been a long road to the summit for Sara Ulmer of New Zealand. As a callow 20-year-old in Atlanta, she was an anonymous seventh in the 3000-meter individual pursuit final. Four years ago in Sydney, 24-year-old Ulmer finished the 3000-meter individual pursuit in the cruelest Olympic position — eight-hundredths of a second out of bronze. Ulmer lost third to 39-year-old Yvonne McGregor’s of Great Britain with just 125 meters to go, and remained deep in the shadow of Sydney’s golden girl of cycling, Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel, who crushed silver medalist Marion Clignet by five seconds

Fassa Bortolo’s Juan-Antonio Flecha took advantage of a the ongoing World Cup duel between series leader Davide Rebellin and his nearest challenger, Olympic champion Paolo Bettini, to charge out of the field in the final meters of Sunday’s 241km event in Zürich, Switzerland. Bettini, who finished second in the Zürich Championships, has now moved to within six points of leader Rebellin, after eight rounds of the 10-race series. The Gerolsteiner rider figured in the final break and now stands on 314 points to Bettini's 308, with Rabobank's Oscar Freire a distant third with 198 points. With

Depending on the venue you happen to be at, there are two ways the post-race press conferences can go. At some events, including the men’s and women’s road races, the press conference room is outfitted with hearing devices that allow members of the media to hear translation of what the athletes are saying in Greek and French, while up on the podium is a translator taking care of English-language needs. It’s a reasonably smooth process that keeps things moving along at a decent clip. On the other hand, you have the venues that are not outfitted with hearing devices, like the velodrome.

Hot, humid and blazing fast. Track racing in Athens Sunday was all that and more as three world records toppled in a single day. Casey Gibson was there to capture some of the highlights

If you were looking for a sentimental favorite for this year’s USPRO Criterium Championships, there were several good choices, but the two best candidates were probably Jonas Carney and Robbie Ventura. Postal’s Ventura has been going after the title in Downers Grove all his career, but has always fallen short, coming closest two years ago when he lost the USPRO title to Kevin Monahan in a photo finish. Carney does have a pro criterium title to his name, winning in Downers Grove in 1997, but having announced his retirement earlier this season, the Jelly Belly rider was shooting for one last

A diverse community in Athens

The Brit's brought a bit of flavor from home...

... as did the Cubans.

The Dutch team were all given some pretty hip recumbents...

... just for cruising around the village

Michael Barry stops for lunch in the cafeteria.

Kristin Armstrong, Dede and Michael Barry along with Gord Fraser on a training ride outside of Athens

Oh Canada: Gord and Michael

The U.S. women: Barry, Christine Thorburn and Armstrong

The Sponsor: Oakley's Steve Blick striking a pose with the TT medalists

Mactier, Ulmer and the soon-to-be-retired Zijlaard-van Moorsel

Reed

Ulmer has come a long way since her Olympic debut

Last year's surprise at world's - Katie Mactier - made the final again

Van Moorsel settled for bronze

Four men from Oz set a new mark of 3:56:342

The Brit's break 4:00 and still turn in the day's second-best

France gets some unwelcome company

Germany manages to field a team - something they couldn't do a year ago

Ng represents Malaysia in Athens.

Carney

Pipp

Pic

Talk about your close calls. On Friday afternoon disaster nearly struck the Olympics, when a fire broke out at the Mount Parnitha mountain-bike venue, tearing through a kilometer of the 6.1km course. According to a source that was at the site, the blaze came within 100 meters of several of the venue’s buildings, and the course, which will play host to the men’s and women’s cross-country races on August 27 and 28, has been shortened to 5.3km. The source, who requested anonymity, said arson was being blamed for the fire and that at least one Athens Olympic Committee employee had been

Cycling was the teen-age Colby Pearce's therapy. He'd take long weekend rides in the Colorado mountains, a distraction from losing his mother to cancer when he was 8 and his father to a heart attack five years later. Pearce never stopped riding. Now, nearly two decades later, he's reached the Olympics as part of a seven-rider American track contingent. Competition at the velodrome opened Friday, with the first U.S. cyclists set to begin competing Saturday. “Everybody, to a degree, has their childhood wrapped up in them,” Pearce said. “They're a product of their past. That's inevitable. I

As his mentor and one-time gold medalist Chris Boardman looked on from inside the velodrome at the Olympics in Athens, Bradley Wiggins scored the second gold medal in two days for the team from Britain, winning the individual pursuit. Wiggins beat back the challenge of Aussie Brad McGee in the final, while Spain’s Sergi Escobar topped the U.K.’s Rob Hayles in the bronze-medal round. Wiggins said his Olympic dream first began while watching Boardman win gold at the 1992 Games in Barcelona. Since then the two have become good friends, as Boardman helped guide his protégé to Saturday’s golden

Jan Ullrich has pulled out of Sunday's World Cup race in Zürich following his disappointing performance in the 2004 Olympic Games. "I had trouble sitting during the Athens time trial but hoped to make the race in Zürich," Ullrich wrote on his Web site. "Unfortunately, that is not possible. "I will use the break to sit down with (coach) Rudy Pevenage and Mario Krummer (sporting director at T-Mobile) to discuss how we will finish the season." The 1997 Tour de France winner flopped in the Olympic Games, finishing 19th in the road race and seventh in the time trial, after going into the Athens

On a day when it wasn’t clear whether the riders were heading up towards the clouds or the clouds down to the riders, Justin England (Webcor) and Phillip Wong (Fior di Frutta) staged an epic mano á mano fight at the Mt. Washington Hillclimb in Conway, New Hampshire. England and Wong rode side-by-side for more than half of the 7.6-mile climb, with England sprinting away with 500 meters to go for the win in near-whiteout conditions. “I knew I only had one attack left in me,” said England. “And so with 500 to go I gave everything I had, and it was just enough.” England’s last-ditch attack

VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson is more than a shootist – occasionally, he's an ironist. In sending his shots from Saturday's record-shattering day at the Olympic velodrome, he noted: "Too bad this track is slow, and the heat keeps them from going fast."

If the “warm-up” races in Downer's Grove, Illinois, were any indication, the national criterium championships on Sunday could see an unprecedented hat trick in the elite women's category, while the men's USPRO Criterium Championship could be a rough-and-tumble affair among the major domestic teams gunning for one of the last big races of the season. Saturday night's Ice Mountain USCF International Women's Open saw two-time defending national criterium champion Tina Pic (Genesis Scuba-FFCC) take a convincing victory on the eve of her title defense, while in the men's American Airlines Pro-Am

Colby Pearce practices for Tuesday's points race

Ulmer en route to another world record

Wiggins grabs the gold for Britain

McGee joked that he felt caught with his pants down

The German juggernaut

The U.S. team rode its fastest, but not fast enough

Fiedler and his son celebrate with a victory lap

Mirabella turned a personal best, but missed qualifying

Mactier cracked Ulmer's record, but didn't keep it

Escobar rode to the bronze

England and Wong grind up Mt. Washington in near-whiteout conditions

Wiggins just rolled away from McGee – then praised him for raising the bar in the individual pursuit

McGee said it was a pleasure to battle without harming their friendship

Ulmer briefly lost her world record – then took it right back

No more golds for Van Moorsel – she will be racing for bronze

The Germans started in the team sprint and just kept on going

The Japanese proved surprisingly strong

The French outfought the Aussies for bronze

The Aussies were, after all, up against the defending Olympic champs

Tina Pic

Haedo

Bobby Julich, fresh off his bronze medal in the Olympic time trial, won’t start Sunday’s World Cup race, Zürich Metzgete. According to information from Team CSC, a medical check found another fracture in the wrist he broke in a fall during the Tour de France last month. Julich will likely get the wrist into a cast, but said earlier this week he wants to keep racing and is scheduled to race the GP Eddy Merckx later this month. Team CSC said Fränk Schleck is also questionable for the Swiss race, as he has not been able to train in a couple of days due to a knee injury. Replacing Julich in

For most Olympic athletes in Athens the heat is a hindrance, but when it comes to track racers, the balmier the better. The heat makes the boards of the 250-meter wooden track expand and tighten, and that makes conditions fast. That was certainly the case on the opening day of competition at the Olympic velodrome, where two Olympic records and one world record were eclipsed on a sizzling Friday afternoon in Greece. The new world’s best came in the women’s 500-meter time trial, with Aussie Anna Meares becoming the first woman to complete two laps in under 34 seconds. Her time of 33.952 also