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It ain't pretty, but it works ... or so Gilberto Simoni hopes

Cancellara takes Tour prologue

Armstrong blazed the course, taking early time from his rivals

Cancellara was the fastest man in the Tour today

Gutierrez was good enough for third

Everyone's early fave, McGee, finished one spot behind Gutierrez ...

... while Hushovd was next in line, crossing fifth

Armstrong's nemesis, Ullrich, conceded 18 seconds to the Texan ...

... as did former lieutenant Hamilton

Strong performances by Hincapie and other Posties brought the squad today's team prize

On paper the upcoming weekend’s worth of racing in Calgary is just another mountain bike World Cup. But if you happen to be one of a dozen North Americans still immersed in Olympic cross-country spot battles, stop No. 6 of the 2004 series could well be the most important race of the year. If things go well then that lifelong Olympic dream lives on. But blow up on the (ironically) Canada Olympic Park course and Beijing in 2008 becomes your best hope. On the men’s side there’s plenty of intrigue for both the Americans and Canadians, who each have two start spots in Athens. In the case of the

Lance Armstrong on Friday lost his appeal against a ruling denying him the right to insert a denial against accusations of doping published in a book released last week. The five-time Tour de France winner's lawyer, Christian Charriere-Bournazel, took action over the book "L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong" by award-winning Sunday Times of London journalist David Walsh and Pierre Ballester, a cycling specialist formerly with French sports daily L'Equipe. The book, which alleges Armstrong used banned drugs, focuses on statements attributed to Emma O'Reilly, a soigneur who

A confident Tyler Hamilton says he believes he can win the Tour de France. "No question, I'm here to win. I'm here with a strong team, we're motivated and they expect me to do well. There's more pressure, but I like that," he said. " When asked if he could be the ride to topple Lance Armstrong, Hamilton said he would give it a try. "Lance will be stronger than last year, so we have to be stronger than last year," said the Man from Marblehead. "Lance and I are friends off the bike, but on the bike we're competitors." Hamilton said Armstrong's troubles in 2003 give him and other rivals

Let’s start things off with a first-look at Tyler Hamilton’s freshly unveiled BMC time-trial bike, which he will ride at this year’s Tour de France (from a BMC press release): The core structure of the bike is a 100% carbon-fiber monocoque frame — and when we say carbon-fiber, we really mean it: Even the smallest details, such as our fork drop-outs and derailleur cage, are made of carbon-fiber. The revolutionary new fork-stem design (patent pending) sets the standard in cycling technology. In addition to perfect aerodynamics, we also achieve maximum rigidity from the minimum possible

US Postal (team manager: Johan Bruyneel) 1. Lance Armstrong (USA)2. Jose Azevedo (POR)3. Manuel Beltran (Sp)4. Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus)5. George Hincapie (USA)6. Floyd Landis (USA)7. Benjamin Noval (Sp)8. Pavel Padrnos (CZE)9. Jose Luis Rubiera (Sp) T-Mobile (team manager: Mario Kummer) 11. Jan Ullrich (G)12. Rolf Aldag (G)13. Santiago Botero (COL)14. Giuseppe Guerini (I)15. Serguei Ivanov (Rus)16. Matthias Kessler (G)17. Andreas Kloden (G)18. Daniele Nardello (I)19. Erik Zabel (G) Phonak (team manager: Alvaro Pino) 21. Tyler Hamilton (USA)22. Martin Elmiger (Swi)23. Santos Gonzalez (Sp)24.

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com, appearing each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 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 frivolity continuesEditor:If a court — even a French one — sanctions a litigant for frivolously abusing the legal process, isn't the abuse compounded by continuing to pursue the matter? Just wondering. Deborah KleinSan Antonio,

Calling Lance Armstrong “an authentic champion” but a selfish one, Liberty Seguros team manager Manolo Saiz has declared that he doesn't want to see the 32-year-old American win an unprecedented sixth Tour de France. Saiz, who managed the Spanish ONCE team until the company pulled out of the sport last year after 11 years' involvement, feels that former race greats such as five-time winners Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault were cut from very different cloth than Armstrong. "Thanks to his experience, his mental strength and his nose for racing, I would say that Armstrong has an 80 percent

Italian Danilo Di Luca (Saeco) intends to sue Tour de France organizers for barring him because he is under investigation in Italy for doping offences. Di Luca was among 14 riders charged by Italian police earlier this year. "I'm going to sue the Tour de France and ask for considerable damages," Di Luca told Reuters after returning to Italy from Liège, where the Tour will start on Saturday. "I decided to take legal action after the meeting with race director Jean Marie Leblanc. Not being able to ride the Tour de France has caused huge damage to my image. I've been working hard for two

The cycling world should see the real Roberto Heras in this year's Tour de France, Liberty-Seguros directeur sportif Manolo Saiz said Friday. And if all things go according to Saiz's plan, the new model will not look anything like the Heras who helped Armstrong win three of his five Tours. Saiz says he will look more like the rider Heras planned to be before switching from Kelme to U.S. Postal after 2000, when he recorded a best overall Tour placing of fifth. Saiz said Heras has prepared differently for this year's Tour than in the past. Asked for specifics, Saiz declined to elaborate,

For those of you keeping track of the Tour de France at work, we're giving you another window to hide when the boss walks in. Beginning with Saturday's prologue time trial in Paris, VeloNews.com, in cooperation with AFP and Art Movies Inc., will be offering an INTERACTIVE FLASH MAP of Tour coverage to supplement our exsisting coverage of the Tour de France. Rest assured, the graphics, bells and whistles are in addition to VeloNews.com's already strong coverage. We'll begin every day with live reports from the road by by our onsite editors. As soon as each stage is complete, we'll have

I went out to the kitchen to make coffee — yards of coffee. Rich, strong, bitter, boiling hot, ruthless, depraved. The lifeblood of tired men. Raymond ChandlerThe Long Goodbye It was the day before the start of the Tour de France, and the pre-race coverage on VeloNews.com read more like a Miami Herald police blotter. I was chasing the sour doping news with bitter black coffee, trying to work myself up to something like a rant, when an authoritative knock rattled the door. “UCI — open up!” boomed a voice that sounded as though it would have been right at home in a burning bush. Opening the

Former Italian sprint king Mario Cipollini will be one of the big names expected to get into the sprint action when the first stage of the Tour de France (July 3-25) gets under way here on Sunday. However, the 37-year-old admits that his long-anticipated roar back to the front line could be kept in check by a number of heirs apparent. Following Saturday's 6.1km prologue around Liege, the peloton faces a testing 202.5km ride across mainly flat terrain from Liège to Charleroi that will give the sprinters their first chance to start bumping elbows. Flamboyant veteran Cipollini, the “Lion

Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen is getting just about fed up with all this talk of Italian "super sprinter" Alessandro Petacchi - and the Lotto rider intends to do something about it. McEwen, the winner of the Tour de France green jersey for the highest-placed daily finisher in 2002, has lived in Belgium for most of his professional career and is valued as one of their own. But with that familiarity comes some pressure — for his own success, and for his appraisal of his main rivals. Petacchi, who in this year’s Giro D’Italia set a postwar record of nine stage wins in a single edition of

With the 90-meter Nordic ski jump used at the 1988 Winter Olympics serving as a backdrop, Czech rider Michal Prokop and Frenchwoman Sabrina Jonnier cruised to convincing four-cross wins at round No. 5 of the UCI World Cup series at Calgary's Canada Olympic Park on Friday. It was the second straight World Cup win for Prokop and third straight for Jonnier, pushing both riders over the top in the race for the series crown. Both now have insurmountable leads with one race to go. Despite qualifying third behind Eric Carter and Roger Rinderknecht, Prokop (Author) had little trouble in his run to

Tyler's clock-stopping BMC

You need a cup of my java

Prokop

Hi Bob-I have had some bad luck with a new bicycle purchase and was wonderingif there is a type of Lemon Law with bicycles similar to those concerningthe purchase of motor vehicles?Thanks,M.B. Dear M.B.,So, you got a lemon, huh? It is hard to contemplate this question (orfor that matter, life) without mentioning that hackneyed, homespun advicethat if life gives you... no, no, I will refrain. Lemon laws were designed to protect consumers who may not be able toassess possible defects in an automobile prior to the purchase. The inabilityof consumers to obtain fair and prompt redress for

Euskaltel’s Gorka Gonzalez has been barred from riding the Tour de France, which starts in Liège on Saturday, after a pre-race blood screening test on Thursday. Gonzalez was the only rider among the 189 riders from 21 teams registered for the July 3-25 race to raise suspicion. The rest were declared fit to race. Pre-race screening controls test the volume of red blood cells. If the hematocrit level is above the permitted threshold of 50, a rider is barred from racing for two weeks and will undergo further tests. The hematocrit test is merely an indicator of doping, though offers no

Roll call of past Tour de France winners: 1903 Maurice Garin (F) 1904 Henri Cornet (F) 1905 Louis Trousselier (F) 1906 Rene Pottier (F) 1907 Lucien Petit-Breton (F) 1908 Lucien Petit-Breton (F) 1909 Francois Faber (LUX) 1910 Octave Lapize (F) 1911 Gustave Garrigou (F) 1912 Odile Defraye (B) 1913 Philippe Thys (B) 1914 Philippe Thys (B) Stopped because of WWI 1919 Firmin Lambot (B) 1920 Philippe Thys (B) 1921 Leon Scieur (B) 1922 Firmin Lambot (B) 1923 Henri Pelissier (F) 1924 Ottavio Bottechia (I) 1925 Ottavio Bottechia (I) 1926 Lucien Buysse (B) 1927 Nicolas Frantz (LUX) 1928 Nicolas

World time trial champion David Millar was formally placed under judicial investigation on Thursday for illegal possession of toxic products, his lawyer said. Millar told a court west of Paris that he had used the banned blood booster Erythropoietin (EPO), a fact he had already revealed during 48 hours of police custody last week, lawyer Paul-Albert Iwens said. The 27-year-old rider was released with no restrictions on his freedom of movement, Iwens said. Millar was detained last week over allegations he had used EPO, and was subsequently barred from racing in the Tour de France which

Five-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong fended off questions Thursday about doping allegations two days ahead of the race’s prologue time trial. The 32-year-old American, who will saddle up for Saturday’s 6.1km time trial without the yellow jersey in a bid to win a record sixth crown, said he had little comment to make about the book, “LA Confidentiel - les secrets des Lance Armstrong”, which cites several former colleagues who allege that he has taken the banned blood booster erythropoietin (EPO). One of the book’s co-authors, David Walsh, was present ,and Armstrong reiterated

BMC, the leading, high-end Swiss brand, has developed a new time-trial cycle for Tyler Hamilton to use during the Tour de France. Because seconds can often mean the difference between victory and defeat in the Tour de France, BMC has spared no expense in making the best materials available to Hamilton & Co. Together with leading Swiss aerodynamics and ergonomics technicians and engineers, we have developed a radical riding machine, blazing new paths at the same time. The aim was not only to set new records in terms of aerodynamics. We also wanted to use revolutionary technologies in the

A confident Tyler Hamilton says he believes he can win the Tour de France. “No question, I’m here to win. I’m here with a strong team, we’re motivated and they expect me to do well. There’s more pressure, but I like that,” he said. “ When asked if he could be the ride to topple Lance Armstrong, Hamilton said he would give it a try. “Lance will be stronger than last year, so we have to be stronger than last year,” said the Man from Marblehead. “Lance and I are friends off the bike, but on the bike we’re competitors.” Hamilton said Armstrong’s troubles in 2003 give him and other rivals

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Legally Speaking - with Bob Mionske: Velo citron

PRESS RELEASE - BMC has a new secret weapon for Tyler Hamilton and Team Phonak

PRESS RELEASE - BMC has a new secret weapon for Tyler Hamilton and Team Phonak

PRESS RELEASE - BMC has a new secret weapon for Tyler Hamilton and Team Phonak

PRESS RELEASE - BMC has a new secret weapon for Tyler Hamilton and Team Phonak

As mentioned in the nutrition column for June10th, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and National Academy of Sciencesrecently made recommendations for sodium intake that are targeted primarilyfor sedentary Americans. In this column we will take a look at a few keypoints regarding sodium and sodium sweat losses as it relates to enduranceathletes.The IOM has recommended that sodium intake be at 1500 milligrams daily.This recommendation is based on the fact that research supports that reducedintake of sodium coupled with increased potassium intake can help preventthe increase in blood pressure

BOULDER, CO, --Tim Blumenthal, executive director of theInternational Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), has been picked froma pool of more than 500 applicants to lead The Bikes Belong Coalition.Bikes Belong is the industry trade group dedicated to putting more peopleon bikes more often. Blumenthal will begin work as the organization's executivedirector in September.Blumenthal has served as IMBA's chief staffer since 1993, followingfive years as a board member. When he began as IMBA's first fulltime employee,the organization had a $70,000 annual budget and fewer than 1,000

Former U.S. Postal rider Stive Vermaut died early Wednesday morning in Roeselaere, Belgium. Vermaut suffered a heart attack on the morning of June 13, while out on a training ride. The heart attack deprived Vermaut's brain of oxygen and his death Wednesday was the result of the effects of the resulting damage. Doctors had initially expressed hope of an eventual recovery and kept the 28-year-old Belgian on life support in an artificial coma, but Vermaut's condition deteriorated over the past three days and he died on Wednesday. Vermaut suffered from a congenital heart defect, first detected

Gilberto approaching Tour de France. He reveals his favorite for theoverall classification, his ambitions, and his “secret weapon”: “I’ve muchmore energy than last year”Q- Gilberto, this year’s Tour is different for you compared tolast year. Then you’d triumphed at the Giro and had clear ambitions todo well in the overall. This year?A- ”I’m still convinced I’ve got the right characteristics tobe a contender at the Tour. Naturally the experience of last year taughtme a lot and I’m trying to use it all this year”.Q- What are your objectives?A- ”I’m going to start the race quietly and prudently.

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com, appearing each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 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.Drugs driving this fan away from sportEditor:I'm a long-time Canadian athlete who competed in triathlons for over 10 years before switching to cycling. It's the most exciting sport I've ever done, and I've turned into a huge fan. Over the past

Tour de France chief Jean-Marie Leblanc said Tuesday that he doubted claims in a recently-published book which alleges that five-time winner Lance Armstrong has been involved in doping. "I'm skeptical," Leblanc told AFP of the book "La Confidential - The Secrets of Lance Armstrong" which alleges the 32-year-old American has used the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) since his recovery from cancer in 1998. The allegations caused such a storm that Armstrong's U.S. Postal team launched a futile attempt to have a note inserted on the book cover instructing readers of its supposed

CSC and Phonak have both announced their teams for the Tour De France. And, Boy, Oh, Boy are we happy to be apart of helping both teams perform at their best! ZIPP Speed Weaponry is proud to be a part of the biggest bike event ever. We can see it all now, like a window on the world, the stage wins and the glory of combat as the winners of each team step up into the light. And we can see them trying out the best wheels ever: ZIPP 202, 303 and 404's for the every day rigors of the road and the ZIPP 909's for the rough Time Trial stages. We are proud to be the supplier of these wheels and

Tuesday's EuroFile: Leblanc voices support for Armstrong

PRESS RELEASE - Phonak and CSC set up teams for the Tour De France

Zipp 303s

Zipp 404s

Zipp 909s

June has been a little hectic. We started out the month in the Alps previewing the Tour de France climbs. Our training camp finished just in time for the challenging one day Classique des Alps race, which I decided to sit out, since I had done so much riding in the days proceeding. But it was a successful race for our team, with four Phonak guys in the top 10. My teammate Oscar Pereiro won, which was a big victory for the entire organization. So we headed to the Dauphine Libere on a high note, which started a day later. My personal goal was to try and test myself as well as some new

June has been a little hectic. We started out the month in the Alps previewing the Tour de France climbs. Our training camp finished just in time for the challenging one day Classique des Alps race, which I decided to sit out, since I had done so much riding in the days proceeding. But it was a successful race for our team, with four Phonak guys in the top 10. My teammate Oscar Pereiro won, which was a big victory for the entire organization. So we headed to the Dauphine Libere on a high note, which started a day later. My personal goal was to try and test myself as well as some new

Christian Vande Velde will be back to the Tour de France for the first time since 2001 after getting the news Monday afternoon that he’s part of the nine-man squad lining up in Liège for Saturday’s start. After weeks of waiting to hear his Tour fate, the 28-year-old was nervously awaiting news from Liberty Seguros manager Manolo Saiz and finally couldn’t take it anymore. He called the Spanish team manager and learned the good news. Also getting a last-minute thumb’s-up is Aussie sprinter Allan Davis, so now at least Vande Velde will have someone to talk to at the team dinner table. Vande

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com, appearing each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 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.A Millar’s tale: It just doesn’t fitEditor:I hope it's not true, just more silly gossip. We love David Millar here. The archetypal “whingeing pom,” who tells it like it is and moans when it hurts. The great British hope, who we all expect to

Tyler Tunes: Getting ready to ride

When Tyler Hamilton’s name is mentioned as a potential winner of theTour de France, the suggestion is usually followed by the qualification:But he’s too nice. That’s not to say that nice guys never win the Tour. For example, there are few cyclists as gentlemanly as Miguel Induráin,and didn’t he win the race five times? The question of “niceness” comesup with the well-mannered Hamilton because people do not see the same killerinstinct in him as they do in defending champion Lance Armstrong. Hamilton is a late developer, a little like Induráin. In hisfirst six Tours, the great Spanish rider

Sitting in a plush hotel lobby several hours before the final stageof the Dodge Tour de Georgia, CSC’s Bobby Julich is acutely aware thathe’s just one flat 75-mile ride away from a well-earned rest. It’s beena tough but successful spring campaign for Julich, and tomorrow he’ll beback at his home in Reno, Nevada, taking a week off the bike with teammateand good friend Jens Voigt. If all goes as planned today, Julich will finish the Tour de Georgiafourth overall behind race leaders Lance Armstrong, Voigt and Chris Horner.Coming into the weeklong race, his CSC team was aiming to ride in

Team Action Sports set a cross-country cycling record when they rolled onto the boardwalk at 1:17 a.m. Sunday at Atlantic City, New Jersey, defeating rivals Team Vail-Go Fast to win the four-man-team competition in the 2004 Insight Race Across America. The record for the category, set in 1995, had been 2905 miles in five days, six hours, and four minutes. This year, Action Sports completed 2959 miles in five days, eight hours, 17 minutes. Vail Go-Fast finished in five days, 10 hours and 26 minutes. “We learned a few things the hard way,” said Nat Faulkner of Action Sports. “We started out

Most of Europe was racing Sunday as several countries capped a week’s racingwith the men’s road race taking center stage. Here’s a round up of themajor nations:France: Thomas Voeckler (La Boulangere) won a three-up sprintagainst Cyril Dessel and Benoît Salmon after the leading trio hada large enough cushion to play games over the final sprint. Sylvain Chavanel(LaBoulangere) led the main bunch through three minutes back.Belgium: Tom Steels (Landbouwkrediet) won his second title inthree years after winning a three-up sprint on a flat 240km course. GeertOmloop (MrBookmaker) and Geert Verheyen

For a guy who spends the month of July under the klieg lights of the Tourde France, Jan Ullrich’s preparations for the Tour are largely unknown.In fact, apart from a plethora of pre-season interviews arranged at hisT-Mobile team’s Spanish training camp back in January, followed by hisonly pre-Tour clash with Lance Armstrong reported en masse by the Germanmedia at the Tour of Murcia in March, Ullrich’s plans for his annual July rendezvous with the Tour have mostly fallen below the radar. The 30-year-old German looked good at his training camp, having alreadyspent two months of alternating his

A few weeks off from competition clearly didn’t hurt Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan-Merida). The reigning World Cup champion, who skipped last weekend’s race in Schlamding, Austria, repeated her cross-country win of a year ago here at Mont Sainte-Anne with a win over hometown favorite Marie-Helen Premont (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects). Premont, who grew up only 15 minutes away from the race venue, pushed the pace on the opening lap, leading Dahle and teammate Alison Sydor up the opening climb. But it was on the climb that Dahle’s incredible form came into play. The 31-year-old Norwegian, who

The harder and longer the race, the more Levi Leipheimer likes it. And the 30- year-old Rabobank rider thinks he’ll really like the 2004 Tour de France. With the first serious mountains not coming until the climbing finish to La Mongie in stage 12, Leipheimer figures he’ll be firing on all cylinders just in time for the Tour’s decisive moments. “Each grand tour I’ve done, I’ve always been better in the third week,” Leipheimer told VeloNews. “It’s a strong point for me and I like it if the final week of the Tour is the most difficult. It favors me.” Leipheimer has made a mark for himself

Gord Fraser's smile said it all as he crossed the finish line during the Canadian national road race Sunday in Kamloops, British Columbia — the Health Net-Maxxis rider was finally the national champion, and had moved into strong contention for a spot on his country’s Olympic team. Fraser played a waiting game in the 180km race, sprinting away from a small lead group over the top of the final hill and soloing away to the finish lline. Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) took second, with Alexandre Lavallee (Volkswagen-Trek)third. In the women's race, meanwhile, Lyne Bessette (Team Québec) was dominant,

Hamilton - Too nice to beat Lance?

On the bike, Hamilton is as tough as they come.

Hamilton - Too nice to beat Lance?

Hamilton - Too nice to beat Lance?

Vande Velde may be headed back to the Tour

Ullrich has spent much of 2004 training outside of the public eye.

Voeckler tops in France

Leipheimer - He loves a tough race

Leipheimer will be Rabobank's sole GC man at the '04 Tour.

Juré Robic continues to lead the soloists in the 2004 Insight Race Across America, and the four-time Slovenian national road champion appears to be on track to break the solo average-speed record in just his second outing. "Physically he was good in 2003, but not mentally," said crew member Janez Slapar. "This year he is very good, both physically and mentally." The current average-speed record for solo men is 15.40 mph. At present Robic is maintaining a pace of 15.53 mph. And veteran crew members say Robic's pace will only improve once the road turns skyward in the Appalachian Mountains.