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LA back in saddle in FranceLance Armstrong (USPS) returns to action in Wednesday’s opening stage of the Tour du Languedoc-Rousillon (FRA 2.1) in southern France. The race signals the rebirth of the GP Midi Libre, which Armstrong won in 2002 but was not held last year. It’s also the five-time Tour de France winner’s first race since winning the Tour de Georgia in April. “Lance seems to me very well mentally. Physically, he’s fitter than last year, which is not difficult given the problems he had,” Bruyneel told Reuters. Armstrong returned to Europe last week and promptly went to Alpe d’Huez

Alessandro Petacchi applauded as he crossed the line a victor for the fifth time of the 2004 Giro d’Italia. He wasn’t clapping for his fast legwork, but rather for his teammates in the trenches. The gentleman sprinter was full of praise of his Fassa Bortolo “Silver Train,” who pushed the Italian to a relatively easy sprint victory in the hilly 146km 10th stage from Porto Sant' Elpidio to Ascoli Piceno. “I clapped my hands in praise of my teammates. I really want to thank them for the work they did today,” said Petacchi, who finished ahead of compatriot Marco Zanotti (Vini Caldirola) and

The 2004 Trek Bikes Collegiate Road National Championships kick off Friday in Madison, Wisconsin, with the TIAA-CREF Downtown Criterium. The crit, a mostly flat circuit, starts and finishes on State Street, with racing starting at 1 p.m. An open category, new for 2004, will allow all licensed male collegiate cyclists to compete. Saturday’s road race starts and finishes in the town of Black Earth. The 15-mile loop winds through well-paved, hilly country roads just 20 minutes west of Madison. The weekend’s competition wraps up on Sunday with the team time trial, on a fast, flat 32km

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.Single-speeding offers a challengeEditor: I am writing in response to Andrew Juskaitis’s single-speed article. I race a single speed in the Wisconsin WORS series . Personally speaking, if I had to race my age group (40 plus) rather than in a

One of the beautiful things about a stage race is that there are so many races going on within the race. To be sure, the big race at the Giro d’Italia is for the maglia rosa. To start, there’s always the scramble for a stage win – of which Alessandro Petacchi has now scored five – but there are also competitions for the Intergiro and King of the Mountain jerseys, as well as team classifications. Just because you may not be in contention for the overall prize does not mean that you don't have a lot to race for. Much of the excitement on today's stage or the previous stage was the long

You never really know how you’ll feel until you give it a go at the line. Yesterday for the rest day, I gave up plans to go out on a short ride and actually stayed in my bed from morning until the evening. I had a bit of a sore throat, a sore knee and I wanted to let the ankle heal up, so I spent the day in bed sleeping and watching a couple of DVDs. I didn’t do a single meter on the bike yesterday, which is normally not a good thing to do on a rest day, but I really needed to give the ankle a rest. The ankle problem also caused some small knee problems for me – that usually happens when

After failing to lock in a title sponsor, the Colorado stop of the Pro Cycling Tour – Vail’s Rocky Mountain Classic – has been cancelled for 2004, though promoters hope to resurrect the event for next year. The planned three-day, $1.6 million Labor Day weekend cycling event was to include a citizen’s ride from Denver and two pro races which had also secured an appearance commitment from U.S. Postal star Lance Armstrong. But on Tuesday, promoters announced the cancellation of the event. “We just couldn’t land that big sponsor,” Rick Chastain of Vail-based Legacy Sports Marketing told the

AUSTIN, Texas — As a tribute to Lance Armstrong’s inspirational fight against cancer as well as his historic attempt at a sixth Tour de France win, the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) and Nike will launch the Wear Yellow Live Strong campaign. Nike will donate $1 million to the Foundation and lead efforts to raise an additional $5 million through the sale of yellow wristbands engraved with Lance’s mantra, Live Strong. All proceeds will benefit LAF programs that help young people with cancer live strong. "Young people with cancer should be empowered to fight hard, dream big and live

It’s been a long time since I competed in a 10-day tour. The approach is a little different from the shorter tours – in a race this long, it’s important to conserve one’s energy for the critical moments. So at the start of the Tour de L’Aude, I took a good look at the race bible, which contains all of the stage distances and course profiles. With my team, we determined what we thought would be the most significant stages based on the difficulty of the mountain passes and the time trials. We have broken the race up into segments. The first stage did not look too difficult, so we agreed that

Give the man a hand. Petacchi gets another.

Cunego is his own man

Rolling hills and great scenery marked the Giro's 10th stage

The Koppenberg Circuit Race lived up to its namesake on Sunday, dishing out rough dirt roads, wind and a leg-breaking climb that shattered fields and crowned two new champions in the elite men's and women's events: Will Frischkorn (Colavita-Bolla) and Ann Trombley (Excel Sports). The women's race didn't stay together long, as Trombley, a former Olympic mountain-bike racer, Shannon Tupa (Tokyo Joe's) and Erin Huck (Denver Spoke) surged up the rutted Koppenberg on the first lap and found themselves away early on. Huck eventually dropped back, but even with the second group chasing hard,

Giro d'Italia leader Damiano Cunego planned to kick back and relax on Tuesday’s first of two rest days in Porto Sant'Elpidio, Reuters reported. "I will try to recover during the rest day," said the Italian, who leads Saeco teammate Gilberto Simoni by 10 seconds in the general classification. “I'll do one and a half to two hours on the bike, eat a little and rest.” But the Italian is already looking ahead at the challenging week.“I'm thinking about the next few stages, for example the one in Cesena [stage 11], which could be more difficult than it looks,” he said. Nevertheless, Cunego is

Concerns about venue readiness at this summer’s Olympics have been well documented, but it appears that at least the cross-country mountain-bike course is ready to go. That was certainly the sentiment following this past weekend’s E1 test event at the Parnitha Olympic Venue where Frenchman Julien Absalon and Norway’s Gunn-Rita Dahle each grabbed victories. Absalon outgunned a field that included reigning Olympic champ Miguel Martinez, and 1996 Games victor Bart Brentjens. Absalon’s final mark of 1:57:07 was 11 seconds better than Martinez, with Swiss rider Ralph Näf in third at 0:57,

Cunego on his way to Monday's finish

“Fast” Freddy Rodriguez was fast enough Monday to score the biggest win of the 30-year-old Californian’s career after snatching victory in the ninth stage of the 87th Giro d’Italia. Rodriguez surprised sprint master Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) by jumping with 300 meters to go. The two-time U.S. champion buried his pedals to open up a two-bike gap and had enough in the tank to hold Petacchi by a wheel. “It’s the best day of my career,” Rodriguez beamed in Italian to TV interviewers. “I tried to take Petacchi by surprise, rushing from behind, and it paid off.” Petacchi, a winner of

A banged up and dejected Mario Cipollini hinted at retirement following his early withdrawal from the 87th Giro d’Italia. The 2002 world champion hit the deck hard in Wednesday’s fourth stage, but couldn’t muster the will to overcome the pain and frustration and didn’t take the start in Saturday’s climbing stage. While Cipollini earned a long sought after bid to return to the Tour de France, the dejected Lion King said he might retire instead. “It is possible that my career will stop here. It is difficult to find stimulation. For now, I don't want to think about the Tour de France,”

Bob Roll fans rejoice! THE TOUR DE FRANCE COMPANION is the essential guide to the world’s greatest sporting event, from former Tour de France racer and gonzo cycling journalist Bob Roll. It’s all here in a handy, comprehensive insider’s guide to the Tour de France, a sporting event that makes the Super Bowl look like a pajama party. Roll will cover everything from the yellow jersey to the broom wagon, the role of the peloton, and the most important behind-the-scenes aspect—food. Bob Roll delivers the lowdown on the high-speed time trials, cyclists’ body and mind games, and even the secrets

Well now, this is a nice note to start these Giro diaries on. Even though I won in the last couple hundred meters of today’s stage, this really began yesterday. For the last 24 hours, I’ve been very upset. Because of that, I’ve been totally focused on winning today. Yesterday was a very disappointing day for me. Coming into the finale yesterday I felt really good – better even than I felt today – and as we hit the last corner, McEwen hooked me really hard and I had to shut down my sprint. Last night, after that, we had a big discussion on the team, trying to decide how we were going to

Tour de L’Aude is a 10-day stage race in the South of France. The Aude region contains a portion the Midi canal, which stretches from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and is situated in the Pyrenees and along the Mediterranean coast. This region is famous for it’s Mistral winds along the Mediterranean that make the wind surfing spectacular and also make the cycling quite challenging at times. The Mistrals greeted us on day one, as we started in the coastal town of Gruissan. Our bikes were tilted all day in the direction that the wind was blowing. My T-Mobile teammates traveled here from

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.Who was that Phonak rider on Highway 36?Editor:Any reason Tyler Hamilton would be back on U.S. soil? I saw him riding north on Highway 36 on May 11. I would be surprised if anyone not only had full cold-weather Phonak gear, but also a BMC team

Fassa assumed its usual position at the front.

The day started out slowly

Strazzer finished on Monday, but won't start on Tuesday

Cunego goes into the rest day with the jersey

Freddy more than fast enough for Petacchi

Freddy more than fast enough for Petacchi

Freddy more than fast enough for Petacchi

Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi once again dominated a sprint finish at the Giro d’Italia to win the eighth stage of Italy’s national tour, a 210km race from Giffoni Valle Piana to Policoro. It was Petacchi's fourth victory of this year's race, which was still being led by 22-year-old Saeco team rider Damiano Cunego. Petacchi, who last year became the first rider in history to win at least three stages in the three major Tours of Italy, France and Spain in same year, proved simply too fast for Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen as he surged towards his tenth-ever Giro stage victory.

We had Alessandro (Bertolini) up in the break today. Actually, we were hoping it was going to hold and, for a while there, it looked like it might. They were up there hovering at around five minutes and then, even when two or three teams threw their guys to the front of the peloton, they managed to hold the gap for a long time. There were points when we were doing 55 to 60kph and we were still not putting any time on them for the first 35, 40 kilometers, but no one can hold that for too long in a breakaway and the peloton eventually pulled them back in. It makes sense, too, since Petacchi

Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) scored his second win of the month after snatching the overall title Sunday in the final stage of the Vuelta a Asturias in northern Spain after a remarkable demonstration of attacking style. A winner last weekend at the Clasica Alcobendas, Mayo erased a 46-second deficit to Colombian Felix Cárdenas (Cafés Baqué) in an attack-filled final stage over steep hills from Cangas del Narcea to Oviedo. Mayo made a surprise attack on a steep climb out of the seaside fishing village at Cudillero with 50km to go. Cárdenas was unable to follow the explosive move and could only

Reigning USPRO champion Mark McCormack (Colavita Olive Oil) put in a strong performance Sunday to win the 137-mile opening stage of the Tour of Connecticut. The stage began with a 117-mile opening loop around scenic Litchfield County, with the start and finish in Torrington. The day threatened rain, but instead provided beautiful sunshine for the 120 cyclists at the start. After just five miles, a nine-man break went away and forged a 4.5-mile lead on the field by mile 20. Olympic champion Marty Nothstein (Navigators) won the first and second sprints of the day just before the break was

Adding a short track win to her cross-country victory one day earlier, 2001 world cross-country champion Alison Dunlap (Luna) made a clean sweep of the weekend at the second round of the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series, held Sunday in Sonoma, California. Giant-Pearl Izumi’s Carl Decker took the men’s event, his biggest win to date, taking a tight bunch sprint aboard a borrowed road bike. The short track was but one component of the two-day California Outdoor Sports Championships at Sonoma's Infineon Raceway, which also saw the return of a NORBA dual slalom race, won by Sabrina Jonnier

Special delivery: The Fassa Bortolo team is built entirely around Petacchi this Giro

Cunego gets another day in the jersy

A rare 10-man sprint at a mountain-bike race

Decker, standing on his borrowed road bike during staging

The flags at the start/finish say it all

Dunlap comes around Barnholdt to take the women's short track sprint

Saturday was a day of out with the old, in with the new at the 87th Giro d’Italia. A banged-up Mario Cipollini (Domina Vacanze) didn’t take the start, still smarting from his dramatic crash in stage 4, while young gun Damiano Cunego (Saeco) snatched his second stage victory in a week and slipped on the maglia rosa after winning atop the climbing finish to Montevergine di Mercogliano near Naples. The 37-year-old Cipollini’s early exit left the proud Lion King without a Giro stage win for the first time since 1989 and some were wondering if he’d be back next year for another shot at the

American Jennie Reed claimed the 200 World Cup keirin title on Saturday after finishing second to China's Shuang Guo during the fourth and final round of the series in Sydney, Australia. Germany’s Katrin Meinke was third. Meanwhile, another American, Colby Pearce, lapped the field not once, but twice to win the men's 30km points race in the Dunc Gray Velodrome. Pearce ended rwith 50 points, 14 ahead of 2002 world champion Chris Newton of Great Britain (36 points plus1 lap). Two-time world champ Juan Llaneras Rosello, last year’s silver medalist in Stuttgart, was third (35 points plus1 lap),

VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood dropped by for a peek at the Vuelta a Asturias in northern Spain on Friday and captured a few shots of the riders at stage 3. For a brief report on today's stage, see Saturday's EuroFile – meanwhile, enjoy the pictures.

Lance Armstrong wasted no time upon his return to Europe on Monday – he’s already been on a scouting mission to L’Alpe d’Huez. The five-time Tour de France winner said the 15km climbing time trial will be a decisive stage in the upcoming Tour, when Armstrong will try to win an historic sixth victory. L’Equipe reported Armstrong rode the legendary climb several times solo on Wednesday before being joined Thursday by teammates Manuel Beltran, Chechu Ruiera and Jose Azevedo. Armstrong will return to racing next week for the Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon (May 19-23) in southern France with

Americans Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (RLX Ralph Lauren) and Alison Dunlap (Luna) took solo cross-country wins at the second round of the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series, held Saturday in Sonoma, California. The cross-country race served as the marquee event for the first of the inaugural two-day California Outdoor Sports Championships at Sonoma's Infineon Raceway, which also hosted a NORBA mountain-cross event, won by Jill Kintner (Yeti) and Wade Bootes (Trek-Volkswagen), and a pro-1-2 road circuit race held on the venue's motorway, won by Kiwi Glen Mitchell (Sierra Nevada) and Lisa Norris

Cunego celebrates his victory

Riders can't get enough of that 'American champagne' after finishing another hard stage at the up-and-down Vuelta a Asturias in northern Spain

Credit Agricole's Mads Kaggested signs an autograph for a young Spanish fan after the stage. Team captain Christophe Moreau abandoned Friday's stage, another DNF for the French rider who pulled out of Four Days of Dunkirk earlier this month

Luis Leon Sanchez (Liberty Seguros) won the opening stage at Asturias and held the lead going into Saturday's climbing stage

Iban Mayo and Haimar Zulbedia (Euskaltel-Euskadi) are all smiles back at the team hotel after another hard day in the challenging Asturias race. Mayo won Tuesday's one-day Subida a Naranco, but lost more than 1 minute in the opening stage

Christian Vande Velde (Liberty Seguros) had to carry his bike across the finish line Friday after smashing his rear wheel on a pothole in the final 500 meters. Vande Velde didn't crash and said he's feeling 'better and better'

David Herrero (Costa Almeria-Paternina) is all smiles as he enjoys some quality podium time. The young Spanish rider won the second stage into Gijon with a well-timed attack and grabbed the points jersey as an added bonus

As the Lion King exits, the big three – Simoni, Garzelli and Cunego – battle it out

Figuera launched attack after attack on the final ascent

But Cunego proved strongest at the end

Horgan-Kobelski grinds out out through the allergenic Sonoma County countryside

Dunlap leads a group of seven riders on the first lap

Bad luck: A disappointed Todd Wells is driven off the race course after dropping out

Others in my generation took drugs and perhaps expanded their consciousness, that was open to question, and I drank and contracted my brain into halts and stutters, a gray fist of bitterness. Jim HarrisonWolf Myles Rockwell may be off on another kind of downhill run altogether, if you believe what you read in the papers. According to The Durango Herald, the 2000 world-champion downhiller was briefly jugged on Tuesday in connection with the discovery of a marijuana farm that the cops said would’ve been good for 200 large on the street, and that ain’t hay, as they mostly don’t say any

Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) overcame rain-soaked roads and a fast downhill finish to win the 164km sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia from Spoleto to Valmontone on Friday. Petacchi beat Olaf Pollack (Gerolsteiner) and Alejandro Borrajo (Ceramiche Panaria) to the line in a bunch sprint for his third stage win of this year's race. Last year's winner, Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) retained the overall race lead after finishing in the same time as Petacchi. Teammate Damiano Cunego is second, 13 seconds behind, and Yaroslav Popovych (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) is third, a further eight seconds

Italian police on Friday arrested four alleged drug dealers suspected of supplying cocaine to Italian cycling great Marco Pantani, who died of an overdose in February. Police sources had said they were pursuing one person they believed supplied the deadly dose to the 1998 Tour de France winner. Pantani was found dead in a hotel room in the coastal resort town of Rimini on February 14. "Searches are still under way," a Rimini police official told Reuters. He added there would be a news conference later in the day. Pantani won the Giro d'Italia in 1998 but was disqualified while leading

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.Magnus is magnificentEditor:Incredible. Please tell Mr. Backstedt (I believe he’s entitled to be called mister) his entries are riveting. How he competes at this elite level and is able and talented enough to compose such gripping tales could

HAVERHILL, MA - In an effort to highlight the new adidas Cycling website, www.adidascycling.net, Mavic-adidas Cycling is giving away a trip to the US Pro Championships in Philadelphia on June 6. One winner and a guest will jet to Philadelphia courtesy of adidas, for an adidas Cycling Pro weekend. The winner will receive, among other things, the opportunity to go on a training ride with adidas athlete Tim Johnson of the Saunier Duval/Prodir Cycling team, a personally fitted complete adidas cycling kit and VIP treatment at the US Pro Championships on Sunday. The new site offers the entire

MEMPHIS, TN -- True Temper Sports announced today the opening of a new titanium manufacturing facility located in Olive Branch, Mississippi. The major focus of this production operation will be to provide double-butted tubing and components to the bicycle industry. With the addition of super strength titanium, True Temper is now capable of providing OEMs and custom frame builders with a complete array of frame materials including high performance steel and carbon fiber. Commenting on the new product line, Ric Andersen, Vice President and General Manager of True Temper’s Performance Sports

A bit of a crazy day, wasn’t it? With all the rain those last 20km were just absolutely unbelievable. It was amazing how much water was on the road heading into the finish, and that made things incredibly dangerous; but even if it had been dry, that course was right on the limit of what might be considered safe. Wet roads just made it crazy, and that’s where I figure I should start my thoughts here today. It really wasn’t the finishing straight itself, it was the route we covered coming into town. The last 3km were fine. I mean the rain made that dicey, but the closing stretch was just

The first paper O'Grady ever really worked on was in this album

Petacchi notches win No. 3

Fassa Bortolo works the front for their man Petacchi ...

... as Saeco marshals its forces for overall leader Simoni

The boss remains firmly in charge

Giro

Robbie McEwen couldn’t have asked for a better finish than the one that was handed to him at the end of stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia on Thursday. For sure, the 177-kilometer ride from Civitella in Val di Chiana to Spoleto, featured one of the flattest courses of this year's Giro, but the peloton was treated to a challenging finishing circuit that seemed to suit the Lotto-Domo rider’s talents more than anyone else’s in the peloton. By the time riders had completed three trips around the 7.3km loop through Spoleto, the steep 1.4km hill had taken its toll on some of the field’s better

Why can't I climb?Dear Joe,I'm a recreational roadie who spends some time on a mountain bike as well. I've been actively riding for four years. I put in 100-150 miles a week, with mostly mixed rides - by virtue of living in remote Wyoming, I don't get many flat, easy spins! Here is my challenge. I feel fit, but I cannot climb hills. I'm 5'11", approximately 160 pounds, resting HR of 44, no chronic illness, and I can't ride up hills! I do well on the flats between any rises, which means I make my pulls when riding with a group, I can spin around 22-24 mph, and am reasonably comfortable at

Replace those face-plate boltsDear Lennard,I have heard that 3TTT has recalled their Zepp stems. I have an XL version of this stem – how can I find out if it is on the recall list? Can you tell me more about the problems associated with the stems? Should I pull this puppy off the bike?William Dear William,Yes, there has been a recall of those stems. You do not necessarily need to remove it from the bike, but you must replace the face-plate bolts with longer ones.Lennard Wippermann chain with Dura-Ace?Dear Lennard,I’ve got a Shimano 7800 drivetrain on my Seven Elium. In your most recent

(Vicenza) - Campagnolo's Neutron Carbon wheels made their first appearance last year on BMW's F1 road bikes. These bikes - of which only 100 examples were produced - form part of a select and limited bicycle series bearing the official BMW F1 graphics and colours, created by the famous German luxury car manufacturer for its Lifestyle collection. Campagnolo, asked to fit these bicycles with Record groupsets, was also commissioned to create an exclusive wheel product. This collaboration eventually gave birth to Campagnolo's Neutron Carbon: a Neutron rim in aluminium coupled with a Hyperon hub