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Six returning riders from last year’s Tour de France team will line up for U.S. Postal Service to support Lance Armstrong in his quest to win a record sixth Tour. There’s an added emphasis on strength in the mountains as Armstrong will be looking to get all the support he can in a decisive second half of the race, which starts July 3 in Liège, Belgium. “We will have a very strong team in the mountains, stronger than last year,” said U.S. Postal Service sport director Johan Bruyneel in a team press release. “We have six riders from last year and two new guys. Lance is confident he has a

Aiming for six.

Aiming for six.

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) banned Australian cyclist and former world junior champion Mark French for life on Monday over doping offenses, including the trafficking of banned substances. French, 19, was found guilty by the Court of Arbitration for Sport last month of trafficking gluco-corticosteroid and equine growth hormone and was handed a two-year suspension. Trafficking, however, attracts a lifetime ban under AOC rules. The AOC noted that the lifetime ban, the first time such a penalty has been imposed, could be reduced to a minimum of eight years if French gave evidence

A French judge on Monday rejected a bid by attorneys representing Lance Armstrong to insert a denial of accusations of doping published in a book released last week. Armstrong, 33, seeking a record sixth consecutive Tour de France in July, has vowed to take legal action over the new book "L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong" which alleges he used banned drugs. Armstrong's lawyer Christian Charriere-Bournazel told AFP on Monday he had filed an appeal of the ruling. "I am very disappointed," he said. "I don't share the court's view." Charriere-Bournazel said he hoped the

The Olympic trials this past weekend in Redlands, California, offered two automatic Olympic team nominations to the winner of the road race and the time trial. Having raced for 16 years, I have competed in a few Olympic trials. In past years, I felt a lot of pressure while trying to make the team; this year, as the first American in the UCI international points standings, I was fortunate enough to be automatically qualified before the trials began. This is not to say I was completely pressure-free, however. My T-Mobile team wanted all three slots on the women’s road squad, which meant we had

The last week I have been racing in the Volta Catalunya, a six-day race that starts on the Costa Brava, climbs through the Pyrénées and finishes back along the coast in downtown Barcelona. For me, and several of the other North Americans in the peloton, it is a race that is close to home, as several of us live in the Catalan town of Girona. This year, Martin Perdiguero dominated the first half of the week’s racing. He won stage 2’s uphill sprint finish, went on to take the mountaintop finish in Andorra with an explosive acceleration in the last meters, and then won the next day’s mountain

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.O’Grady isn’t a puppetEditor:Patrick, thank you for not joining the "Lance is a cycling god" chorus of the press (See "Friday's foaming rant: Shooting the messenger). Being a cyclist and a racing fan I have enjoyed watching Lance win the Tours

Two riders that are sure to face off in the Tour de France prologue July 3 in Liège went head-to-head in Monday’s 23.5km time trial in Stage 3 at the Route du Sud. Mark one up for Bradley McGee. The FDJeux.com rider held off world time trial champion David Millar (Cofidis) to win the stage from Loures-Barousse to Sarp and take the overall lead with one stage to go. McGee, 28, posted a time of 31 minutes, 45 seconds to take his fourth win of the season. Millar stopped the clock 23 seconds slower while German Andreas Kloden (T-Mobile) came through third at 27 seconds slower. McGee -- a winner

The recent announcement that Discovery Communications would be sponsoring Lance Armstrong and his mates for the next few seasons got me to wondering…. Do you suppose Armstrong might pop in from time to time as a special guest host on one or another of the TV network’s 14 channels, like Animal Planet or Discovery Español? Can’t you just imagine the wily Texan wrestling with an endangered white rhino and somehow relating his past Tour experiences to getting a friendly mauling from the giant albino beast? Or instead of trying to make a Tour de France winner fit its programming mold, might the

Five-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong heads the list of cyclists named to the U.S. Olympic team for the Athens Summer Games August 13-29, a spokesman for USA Cycling said on Monday. Armstrong, who will be competing in his fourth Olympics, has a bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Games. He will be accompanied in Athens by Tyler Hamilton, George Hincapie, Bobby Julich and Jason McCartney. Armstrong and Hamilton were selected on the basis of their first- and fourth-place finishes in last year's Tour de France, while Julich and Hincapie qualified based on top-five finishes at

French in better times.

Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) pulled off a one-second triumph in the 68th Tour de Suisse over a bitterly disappointed Fabian Jeker (Saunier Duval) after winning Sunday’s 25.6km race against the clock along the lakeshore at Lugano. Ullrich, who’s using the Swiss tour to fine-tune his form going into next month’s Tour de France, edged time-trial specialist Laszlo Bodrogi (Quick Step) by eight seconds to win the stage. Then all eyes were on the clock. Jeker, who began with a 41-second head start on Ullrich, quickly lost 26 seconds in the opening section, but seemed to be just hanging on to his

Paul Rowney (Yeti) took the adage of quitting while you’re ahead to heart in Sunday’s short-track race at Mount Snow, grabbing a solo win over Canadian Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) in the final race of his career. The 33-year-old attacked a lead group of nine with four laps to go and was quickly joined by Kabush. The duo worked together as the chasers failed to organize a concerted pursuit and pushed their gap out to nearly 10 seconds going into the last lap. Rowney attacked Kabush on the final run up the course’s small climb, and that was enough for the win. Rowney announced earlier in the year

Mount Snow drew a small women’s downhill field – only 26 riders – and Luna’s Kathy Pruitt made it feel even smaller. The former junior world champion smoked the course and the 25 other women, winning by an astonishing 18 seconds over runner-up Bernadita Pisaro (Red Bull-Michelin). Pruitt posted the fastest qualifying time and followed that up with a final run that would have put her in the top 50 of the men’s race. “This course was so fast, it suited someone who had raced motocross,” said Pruitt, who raced pro motocross as a teenager. “I was able to carry a lot of speed through the woods,

Aaron Olson took the biggest win of his career in the final stage of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce on Sunday, giving Colavita-Bolla its third stage win of the race. Olson jumped off the front of a disintegrating breakaway to solo in, just ahead of a fast closing peloton. Viktor Rapinski (Navigators) beat Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics) in the field sprint for second, wrapping up the points jersey in the process. In the overall standings, Tomasz Brozyna (Action ATI) faced no serious threats to his hold on the race lead, and retained his 41-second margin over Nathan O'Neill

Ullrich won the TT and took the overall by a single second

Rowney bows out with a win

Sydor skips the cross country and rules the short track

No one even came close to Pruitt

Minaar bounced back from an early miscue to win

Olson closes out Beauce with a win

Tomasz Brozyna (Action ATI) solidified his lead at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce after finishing second behind Radoslaw Romanik (Hoop CCC) on the difficult climb up Mont Megantic. Scott Moninger (Health Net) managed a strong performance to finish third, and take over third in the general classification. The 5km climb to the Observatory at 1100 meters above sea level has become legendary at Beauce. Averaging 10 percent, with sections as steep as 16 percent in the final 2km, it usually reduces the contenders for the overall title to a handful. This year was no exception, with only Romanik

Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) scored a victory in the penultimate stage of the Tour de Suisse on a rainy day that saw Fabian Jeker (Saunier Duval) widen his lead going into Sunday’s time-trial finale. Bettini was part an early break that chugged away from the main pack early in the hilly stage, which pushed south into Switzerland’s Italian-speaking region of Ticino. The break dwindled, and Bettini dropped compatriot Alessandro Cortinovis and Switzerland’s Patrick Calcagni with 5km to go to claim the stage win in the 191km stage from Buchs to Bellinzone. “This is the first time in my career

On a day when timing was everything, Jason McCartney and Kristin Armstrong picked the most important moments to shine. Each took impressive wins at the 2004 Pool Gel USCF National Road Championships, and now both are headed to Athens come August to represent America in the Summer Olympics after winning the Team USA Selection races on Saturday in Redlands, California. Armstrong also picked up a national-championship jersey for her efforts. The genesis of Armstrong’s win came on the third of six laps during the 116.8km women’s race. Taking instructions from T-Mobile team manager Jim Miller to

Nathan O'Neill (Colavita-Bolla), won stage 5 of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce on Saturday, less than a year after suffering a life-threatening injury at the Tour de 'Toona. O'Neill won the 14km individual time trial with a time of 17 minutes and 9.09 seconds, less than a second ahead of Viktor Rapinski (Navigators). Svein Tuft (Symmetrics), was the top North American finisher, in fifth place, 22.41 seconds behind O'Neill, and one spot ahead of Scott Moninger (Health Net). Overall race leader Tomasz Brozyna (Action ATI), finished third in the stage, and continues to hold the yellow

The Mount Snow cross-country has gained fame for a couple of disparate, but perhaps not unrelated, qualities. First there’s the course: the infamous East Coast single-track makes Mount Snow one of the most grueling and technical races in the NORBA series. Second, there’s the history: the Vermont NORBA has been the first big win for many racers on the circuit. Today saw both course and history in full effect. Before today, Willow Koerber (RLX Ralph Lauren) had snagged a handful of NORBA top-fives, but had never broken through for a win. But from the start of today’s three-lap women’s race

Photographer Casey Gibson spent a long, long Saturday clicking shutters in Redlands, California, as America's racing men and women fought for spots on the U.S. Olympic team bound for this summer's Games in Athens. Here's a sampling of what he saw.

Brozyna put the hurt on the field in defense of his leader's jersey, working with countryman Romanik

Tuft had an early go with a small group, only to be caught at the base of Megantic

The Poles went to work on the final grind

O'Neill seems to have left last year's injury behind him ... way behind him

Race leader Brozyna finished third on the day and retains his yellow jersey

Koerber scores a breakthrough victory

As did Killeen

Meanwhile, Green was happy to simply finish

The winner — McCartney, once again, with a late solo attack

Armstrong scores the stars and stripes

Athens bound

Armstrong and Thorburn worked up front as T-Mobile controlled the chase

Thorburn said she was feeling the effects of winning Thursday's time trial

An early break went in the men's race

But McCartney has a habit of attacking such breaks

The break which hesitates has lost ...

... as had Horner, who was not at all happy about it

Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) revealed some chinks in his pre-Tour armor in Friday’s difficult climbing stage and lost control of the race leader’s jersey at the 68th Tour de Suisse. Ullrich lost contact with the climbing specialists on the very steep 13km summit finish to Malbun, on an average grade of 8.7 percent, and surrendered the lead he’s held since the prologue to Fabian Jeker (Saunier Duval). Georg Totschnig (Gerolsteiner) reeled in fading leaders Erwin Thijs and Ben Day (both Mr. Bookmakers.com) as he jumped out of a 10-man chasing group. The Austrian started the day just 25 seconds

Fresh off the announcement that the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, will be hosting a road racing series this summer, I summoned up an interview that I’d conducted last month with Rick Sutton, GaleForce Sports Marketing’s chief operating officer and Sea Otter race organizer, regarding the future of motorsports venues in North American bicycle racing. Pieces of the interview made it into my VeloNews story on the Sonoma NORBA National in issue 10 (”Work in Progress: Solid infrastructure not enough to draw crowds to NORBA National at Sonoma speedway”), but I present it to you here in

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. This reader believes LanceEditor:I find the almost evangelical fervor with which some readers have come to the defense of Lance’s character a little distressing. The reasoning, if cited, for this faith is not, in my view, supported by what

David Walsh declines to answer when asked if he truly believes thatLance Armstrong has used performance-enhancing drugs. The Irishman, co-author of the just-released “LA Confidential — TheSecrets of Lance Armstrong,” suggests that "it is not relevant what I think. (Pierre Ballester and I) have done what journalists are supposed to do: we have asked questions. Many, many people have helped by providing answers. We then write a book and the reader gets the chance to make up his or her own mind. What matters is the evidence of those who worked and rode with Lance Armstrong. The people who have

With the greatest spectacle in cycling just around the corner, VeloNews is pleased to announce the publication of its 2004 edition of the Official Guide to the Tour de France. Published in cooperation with the Société du Tour de France, the Official Guide puts everything you need to know about the race in one handy place for the month of July. The Official Guide includes detailed rider profiles of all the top American pros, including Lance Armstrong, Tyler Hamilton, Bobby Julich, Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie, who discuss their preparations for the Tour and their view of the race. The

Race favorite Chris Horner won’t be at his best come the USA team selection race in Redlands, California on Saturday, but that won’t stop him from showing up at the startline. On Thursday the Webcor rider said he’s had a nasty cold for about a week, and has been on antibiotics since Tuesday. That was the reason he opted to take a pass on the national time trial championship race that was won by U.S. Postal’s David Zabriskie. “I’m not sick enough to miss the race on Saturday, but it definitely wasn’t worth doing the TT,” Horner explained. “I probably could have done half decent, but it’s not

Marblehead, MA. – The Tyler Hamilton Foundation (THF) today announced that it will host a live viewing of stage 13 of the Tour de France on movie screens across the United States. Scheduled for Saturday, July 17, 2004, the nationwide fundraiser’s two lead sponsors are Outdoor Life® Network (OLN®) and Regal CineMedia™. The event will be presented in nineteen Regal Entertainment Group (REG) movie theatres, and marks the first time that U.S. cycling fans will be able to view a live European cycling race on high-definition screens. For a complete listing of cities and Regal Entertainment Group

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.John AdamsArgument in Defense of the [British] Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials [December 1770] Okay, how many of you out there have read “LA Confidential – The Secrets of Lance Armstrong?” Raise your hands. Nobody? Not a single, solitary one of you? Then shut the hell up about it already. Didn’t a teacher ever smack you down for trying to bluff your way through a question about a book you hadn’t read? Never heard the old saw

It stands to reason that when you make a mountain-cross course with flat turns, a gradually sloping start and no massive jumps, the BMX racers in the field will have good days. The newly built Mount Snow NORBA mountain-cross course had all the aforementioned qualities, and as a result, BMX pros Jill Kintner (Yeti) and Michael Robinson (Intense) copped the top spots on their respective podiums. Robinson, in his first year on the NORBA circuit, got the best start in the finals, opening a small gap in the flat, 40-meter starting straight. On a course lacking super-fast sections, a good start

Pound noted that as of Thursday, the UCI was the last holdout IGB

Walsh and another famous Irishman

Questioning the accuser - We speak with “LA Confidential” author David Walsh

Totschnig

Kintner got the jump from the gate

Robinson just rode like he rides

If there was any doubt that Jan Ullrich would be ready in time for theTour de France, the German erased it in Thursday’s grueling 185.4km sixthstage of the Tour de Suisse.The 1997 Tour winner retained the overall lead at the Swiss tour afterfine work by T-Mobile teammate Giuseppe Guerini helped break up the mainbunch on the final of two climbs that punctuated the difficult stage throughthe Swiss Alps.Swiss rider Nicki Aebersold (Phonak) held on from an early move to takethe stage victory, but all eyes were on Ullrich to see if he would wilton the mountain steeps.Ullrich, who once again faced

On a steamy, cloudless Thursday in Southern California, David Zabriskie and Christine Thorburn each grabbed time trial wins at the Pool Gel USCF National Road Championships. Besides the stars-and-stripes jersey, Thorburn also earned an automatic berth on the U.S Olympic team, which will compete in Greece in August. “I’m very surprised,” admitted Thorburn (Webcor) of a win that came at the expense of the heavily favored T-Mobile team. “I didn’t even do the time trial last year because I didn’t have the right equipment.”

Charles Dionne (Canadian National) finally scored the result he has been hoping for - a stage win at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce. Dionne was one of the most dominant riders all day in the 180 kilometer stage that began and finished in the small town of Lac Etchemin, helping to initiate the day-long break, and then attacking repeatedly in the last 30 kilometers to finally engineer a solo win. Tomasz Brozyna (Action ATI), the overall leader, rode comfortably in the pack all day, as his team set tempo at the front. With three ranked climbs (two Category 2 and one Cat. 3), plus the

Julich is having his best year since '98

Zabriskie smoked 'em

oung Russian Vladimar Karpets (Illes Balears-Banesto) retained theoverall lead at the 84th Volta a Cataluyna in Wednesday’s summit finishup the Coll de Pal after finishing fourth behind the persistent MiguelAngel Martin Perdiguero (Saunier Duval). Martin Perdiguero, a winner in Tuesday’s roller-coaster stage,proved he can win on any terrain and put the Russian under pressure. Itlooked like Colombian Félix Cárdenas (Cafés Baqué)would win, but he was reeled in by a group of four riders. Perdiguero shotaway in the final punch and trimmed Karpets’ hold on the leader’s jerseyto just six

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.A warning!?!?!?Dear USCF, USADA and AAA/CAS:Thank you so much!I cannot express enough joy and gratitude when I finally heard thatCanadian cyclist, Genevieve Jeanson, was given a mere warning and smallfine after she failed to show up for a drug

Rabobank’s Robert Hunter continued his promising run up to Tour de France form by winning the fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland as it finished in Adelboden Wednesday. T-Mobile team leader Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner, retained the overall lead of the race that ends on Sunday. Hunter was part of a three-man break that dominated the day’s action in the 162-kilometer stage from Bätterkinden to Adelboden. Hunter, a winner in stage 3, joined Michael Blaudzun (CSC) and Murilo Fischer (Domina Vacanze) in an attack about 50 kilometers into the rolling stage that ended with a

America’s top cycling talent competes this week for a chance to representthe United States at the Olympic Games. Three athletes will earn that privilege in Redlands, Calif. at the PoolGel USCF Elite National Championships and Team USA Selection Race.This year the U.S. will be sending five men and three women to Athens to compete in road cycling. To earn a spot on that squad, it’s quite simple: Win in Redlands and a trip to Athens will follow in August. One of those five spots for the men’s team, and two for the women, will result from this week’s competition in Southern California.The winner

It’s always an interesting mix at the startline of the elite men’s road race held annually at the U.S. national road championships. For every aspiring, young Cat. 1 who’s hoping to parlay a podium performance into a pro contract, you’ll find a guy like Chris Walker. The 42-year-old was a pro with Nutra-Fig back in the mid 1990s, but today he’s sporting the kit of California-based amateur team Labor Power. The squad’s name is a reference to the law practice of primary sponsor Roger Worthington, whose client base is people who’ve been injured in the workplace. But Walker stamped his own

Tomasz Brozyna (Action ATI) took the yellow leader's jersey from Ivan Dominguez (Colavita Olive Oil) on day two of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce, after an early race split in the field reduced the number of contenders dramatically. Brozyna won the 180-kilometer stage in front of Viktor Rapinski (Navigators) and Radoslaw Romanik (Hoop CCC Polsat), while Dominguez finished a whopping 17:36 back with the decimated main peloton. Stage two was packed with the kind of terrain Beauce is infamous for a seemingly unending series of two- and three-kilometer climbs of seven and eight percent. Eric

Vermaut moved to Lotto after his Postal stint

Walker eventually rid himself of the two young guys

Tilford does his best to drive the chase

Elken and Walker