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... at Valverde's expense.

The break got away early... and shrank all the way to the finish.

Liberty had chase duty for the day

Once into the climb, the peloton continued to shrink.

Perez now sits in second

Phonak’s Tyler Hamilton, who won the Olympic time trial gold medal last month, said he was totally innocent of the charge of blood doping after it was revealed on Tuesday he had become the first athlete to test positive for it. The 33-year-old faces a two year ban after testing positive after winning the Tour of Spain's eighth stage time trial on September 11 and he pulled out of the Tour six days later apparently due to stomach problems. Hamilton's Swiss Phonak team confirmed the positive result and news of the second sample is expected within 48 hours. However Hamilton insisted he was

Heras: Still in charge... barely

Cruz joins the day's big move

Hamilton at the Vuelta

Yes that's an American on the XC podium.

Lance Armstrong is suing an insurance company over a $5 million bonus supposed to have been given for winning the Tour de France, the Dallas Morning News reports. The lawsuit - filed in Dallas Count on Tuesday by Armstrong and Tailwind Sports Inc., which owns the U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team - reportedly asked that SCA Promotions Inc. fulfill the contract. The company told the newspaper that it is withholding payment until it has been given some reassurance that Armstrong has not used performance-enhancing drugs as alleged in the book "L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance

Prescott, AZ – Inside Communications, publisher of VeloNews and other sports magazines, has teamed up once again with the Thunderhead Alliance for a celebrity event that will benefit Thunderhead’s 50 States, 50 Cities Project for bicycle advocacy. On Friday October 29th at La Strada – Top of the Plaza in downtown Chicago, Graham Watson, world renowned bicycle race photographer, will entertain guests with stories and the very first viewing of his 2004 race season photographs, 38 floors above Lake Michigan as guests enjoy hors d’oeuvres and a four course Italian dinner. Maxxis International

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.Drugs aren’t a black-and-white issueEditor:It is a shame that any professional cyclist feels compelled to use controlled substances to aid their performance. However, the harsh reality is that it is likely rampant in the pro ranks. If you were to take two athletes of equal physical

The Ford Cycling Women’s Mountain Bike Team will be hosting two events for women during the US Nationals at Mammoth Mountain on September 23-26. The first, a Last Minute Race Cram, will be held Friday, September 24, at 7:30 p.m. at McCoy Sports in the Village at Mammoth. This one-hour-long talk will cover topics such as nutrition, visualization, warm-up, tool kits and more. Joining the discussion will be the technical staff from Shimano Service. The second Ford event will be a Sunday morning recovery spin beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the start/finish area on the mountain. This easy 45-minute

The last couple of days have been for the climbers, the pure climbers, with one hard day in the mountains followed by a 29.6km uphill time trial. And on both days, Santi Perez of Phonak dominated the stages winning with ease and boosted himself into the first three overall Two weeks into a three-week race and everyone on the team is getting a bit homesick. We have been together for nearly three weeks straight now, as we arrived at the start in Leon three days before the race began, and we are ready for a change of pace, a change in diet and a change in schedule. The morale is still good, and

Heras plans to fight to the end

(l-r) Felice Gimondi, Marino Basso, Mario Cipollini, Fiorenzo Magni, Vittorio Adorni, Gianni Bugno, Ercole Baldini, Francesco Moser, and Maurizio Fondriest

One of the streetlights for Milan's auto-free zone

It says Fulcrum, but it's a Campy

Look's new pedal

Perez may start thinking in terms of the overall

Perez does it again

Heras escaped with the jersey – but just barely

Vino' had the best time for a good, long while

Valverde rode a stunning TT, nearly swiping the jersey

But the day belonged to Perez

Perez took off on the final Cat. 1 climb and held off the chase on the descent

A mountainous menu

Perez saw his chance and took it

Landis lost more ground today

Heras and a resurgent Valverde dueled on the ups and downs

Nozal was doing a job of work for Heras once again

When you’re engrossed in the cycling world most of the time, a few pop-culture items sometimes slip through the cracks. But, leave it to David Zabriskie to spark some Guns N’ Roses research and discussion in the VN editorial department. Following his epic 160km solo stage win in the Vuelta, one of Zabriskie’s post-race comments was “I had a Guns N’ Roses song in my head. I’m not sure which one, though. It’s the one where he says, ‘They can’t catch me, I’m innocent.’” First came the frantic scramble over the “N”. For the record, it’s not “Guns ‘N Roses” or “Guns N Roses”; it’s Guns N’

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.‘Meirhaeghe speaks’ interview stunkEditor:Gotta say, I couldn’t be more disgusted with your magazine – at least, since I decided to stop buying it until it took a more progressive role in helping the sport solve its doping problem. That interview with Filip Meirhaeghe just stunk. How

Petacchi drives to No. 4

Race leader Heras relaxes going into Saturday's mountain stage

The break was doomed from the start – but a guy's gotta try, right?

The peloton kept the break on a short leash on this largely flat stage

And after the usual leadout, Petacchi collected his fourth win of his Vuelta

Liberty went to the front and charged up the final climb

Valverde attacked despite his painful injuries

Heras knows it's a long way to Madrid

With little fanfare, the Union Cycliste Internationale has ordered a radical change in mountain-bike racing, announcing that in 2005, cross-country racers will no longer be responsible for fixing their own mechanical problems during the World Cup and world championships. The word came down during the recently concluded world championships in Les Gets, France, when UCI mountain-bike coordinator Régis Alexandre told VeloNews associate editor Jason Sumner: “We can't accept that the best rider in the world with a lot of sponsors can lose a race just because of a puncture.” Beg pardon? The

San Francisco is one of the most culturally diverse, cosmopolitan cities in North America, and environmentally, it is one of the most beautiful as well. For a cyclist, the beauty of San Francisco is having all the conveniences of a big city, plus great riding to boot. With T-Mobile sponsoring the Grand Prix in San Francisco, I came early to take part in a few media and sponsor events, and managed to squeeze in some enjoyable training each day. We would head towards the Golden Gate Bridge on the Embarcadero, roll across the bridge and then ride up Mount Tamalpais or along the bike path after

Dear Bob,I had my bike stolen yesterday from the enclosed parking garage in my office building. It’s operated by a local company that runs several lots in the San Francisco area. It was locked up to a bike rack bolted to the floor about 30 feet from the lot attendant’s shack. The attendant, by his own admission, watched it happen and didn’t try to stop the guy or call the cops. He said that “customers park at their own risk.” It was a $4000 bike. (I commute in 26 miles one way, so I’m not about to ride a clunker.) Can I sue the building owner or the lot operator?S.M.California Dear S.M.,This

Heras charges off toward a stage win and the overall lead

Valverde

Thursday's Eurofile: Valverde recovering; So is Trenti; Menchov low-key

The gutsy Landis finally slipped back a bit on Thursday

Heras didn't plan to win – but did it anyway

See The Man With No Name out there anywhere?

Two weeks ago, when we arrived at the start of the Vuelta, we sat down as a team, had a meeting and talked about our goals for the race. The team time trial was our first goal — from there, we would aim for stage victories, first in the field sprints with Max and second as individuals trying to win out of breakaways. Max pointed to the third and 11th stages as ones he was looking to win. The third stage ended up being too hard an uphill sprint for him, and he didn’t make it to the 11th — but Dave did, and he took the stage in his grasp and rode away with the victory. Dave has had a lot of

The Shimano “Little 100” is a short-track, 4-team member bicycle relay race for middle school children. It is based on the 50+ year-old “Little 500” event, a premier intramural collegiate cycling event at Indiana University, and is an expansion of the existing “Little 100” junior racing program in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The “Little 100” will be held on a 1/8-mile indoor track at the Denver VeloSwap. Heats for this demonstration event will be held throughout the day. Racers will ride custom single-speed bicycles provided by Indiana University. 2004 Olympic Time Trial Gold Medal winner, Tyler

SOUDERTON, Pa., September 10, 2004—Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania (listed on NASDAQ: UVSP), today announced that Jonathan Vaughters, a former professional rider and a stage winner at the 2001 Tour de France, will lead the Cyclosportif 100K ride at the seventh annual Univest Grand Prix on Saturday, September 18. All proceeds from the ride will benefit the Indian Creek Foundation in Harleysville, Pa. Vaughters, considered one of the greatest mountain racers in U.S. history, was a long-time record holder on the famous Mt. Ventoux (France) climb, a record he set in the 1999 Dauphiné

Friday, September 10, was a day of both good and bad news for the T-Mobile International, now in its fourth year. While Lance Armstrong’s withdrawal due to tendonitis certainly diminished the number of spectators and media attention the race had expected, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s surprising enthusiasm for the event — a lingering question mark following the departure of former Mayor Willie Brown, a major advocate for the costly race — was underlined by Newsom’s announcement that the race would return in 2005 and beyond. As late as August of 2003, the future of that year’s event was

Heras looks good for a third Vuelta

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and some bike racer

A weary Zabriskie salutes from the podium

A spent, salty Zabriskie crosses the line after 160km off the front alone

Valverde crashed shortly after Zabriskie took off

And the peloton waited just a little too long to get serious about chasing . . .

Time trial champ Zabriskie pushed all the way to the line

Race leader Landis, trailing teammate Barry, stayed in the bunch

Jimenez takes his second career victory on this mountain

Two-time world champ Friere was in the sprinters' break on this mountain stage

. . . including Heras, who slipped away with Valverde and Piepoli on the final grind

Mancebo was back in the bunch with the challengers for the overall . . .

Thirsty work for Valverde

Heras charges toward the finish with Piepoli in tow

Postal got busy . . .

Cardenas and Lastras kept going after Phonak pulled Valjavec back

. . . but so did Horner and Dionne

Barry drives the Postal train

And there you have it

Hamilton shows the strain of a hard day in the hills

Barry climbs

Cardena, Lastras and Valjavec

Bessette won the QOM