After two years of testing the waters in their Amgen Tour of California, race owner Anschutz Entertainment Group and race organizer Medalist Sports are ratcheting up the difficulties for the third edition next February. Until now the highest climb on the course was the 2155-foot San Marcos Pass into Santa Barbara in 2006, while the ruggedly steep Sierra Road, prior to the stage 3 finish in San José, tops out at 1943 feet. Sierra Road remains for 2008, but prior to tackling this redoubtable ascent, the riders will have already climbed the 4360-foot Mount Hamilton; and on the eight-day race’s

Georgia Gould (Luna) and Davide Frattini (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light) reprised their victories at Saturday’s Beacon Cyclocross by winning the second round of a New Jersey double-header, Sunday’s HPCX in Jamesburg. As on Saturday, Gould tackled both the men’s Category 2-4 and elite women’s races. But while she roared through the men’s field to beat the men on Saturday, on Sunday she was never a factor, finishing 10th and fueling speculation that she was tired. But the former Verge MAC champion proved that wasn’t the case a few hours later when she stomped to victory in the SRAM Elite

Luna’s Georgia Gould and Davide Frattini (Colavita) were the big winners in the Verge Mid-Atlantic Cyclo-cross series event in Bridgeton, New Jersey on Saturday. A former Verge MAC champion, Gould returned to the series in spectacular fashion, starting her day by “warming up” in the men’s category 2/3/4 race. Starting near the back of the field of 55 riders, Gould steadily improved her position until she caught the leading pack of Jeremy Dunn (Cambridge), Patrick Bradley (Beacon), Kevin Kralik (Guys Cycles), John Brewer (Squadra Coppin/IM SAAB) and Verge MAC points leader Eric Linder (Hunt

Chris Sheppard (Santa Cruz-CMG) and Emily VanMeter (River City Bicycles) won their respective races during the fifth stop of the 2007 Cross Crusade November 4 at Barton Park outside Estacada, Oregon. The men’s race saw a neck-and-neck finish between Shannon Skerritt (Vanilla Bicycles) and Carl Decker (Giant), with Skerritt taking the runner-up spot by a few inches. In the women’s event, it was a sweep by the River City Bicycles team with Emily VanMeter taking the win ahead of teammates Bridgette Stoick and Dani Dance. The next Cross Crusade race, slated for November 11 at Estacada Park,

With many of their usual competitors in Colorado for the second weekend of the U.S. Grand Prix of cyclo-cross, Lyne Bessette (cyclocrossworld.com) and Chris Jones (Nerac) took big wins in Connecticut’s Chainbiter UCI Cyclo-cross race, hit by wet weather as Hurricane Noel moved up the Atlantic coast on Saturday. Bessette back in formNoel threatened to turn the Chainbiter into a messy affair. Less than 50 miles away, the winds whipped across southern Connecticut. The skies were ominous though relatively calm during the earlier events, but as the women’s race began the rain and winds picked up.

Former T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz has admitted having banned blood transfusions and using illegal blood-booster erythropoietin (EPO) since 2003 in an interview slated to appear on Monday. The 27-year-old was fired by T-Mobile during this year's Tour de France after he failed a doping test when it was discovered he had abnormally high levels of testosterone. Sinkewitz spent five hours giving evidence to the German Cycling Federation's (BDR) disciplinary committee ten days ago in an effort to get his expected two-year ban reduced. And in Monday's edition of magazine Der

Reigning U.S. cyclocross champions Katie Compton (Spike Shooter) and Ryan Trebon (Kona-Yourkey.com) scored crushing wins at Boulder, Colorado’s Redline Cup on Saturday. A dusty Boulder Reservoir played host to the UCI Category 2 race, and what its long 1.5-mile course lacked in mud and climbing, it made up for with sections of loose sand. Riders powered through rim-deep sediment in a volleyball court and a long beach section — the latter forced less-skilled racers to dismount and run.

Juan José Haedo admits that winning in Europe wasn’t as easy as he expected after he made the high-profile switch from the U.S. domestic scene to join Team CSC for the 2007 season. The Argentine ace won six races – four in the U.S. and two in Europe – in his first of two years with the Danish outfit, but he admits victories were harder to come by than on the U.S. domestic scene where he says he could snag wins when he wasn’t at 100 percent. “Some things were harder than I thought they would be while others were slightly easier than expected. It’s a whole other way of doing things over here

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Stu Thorne couldn’t call the weekend anything but a success, with Tim Johnson taking the second race of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross to make it a sweep for Thorne’s Cyclocrossworld.com team. And Katie Compton showed she needed no team to complete her one-woman domination of the races in Louisville, Kentucky, although Georgia Gould gave her a run for her money, finishing 26 seconds back despite a third-row start.

Jeremy Powers and Katie Compton finished the first round of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross the way they started it – at the front. Those similarities aside, the pro races in Louisville, Kentucky, played out very differently. For the first half of the pro men’s event, it was two-on-two competition as Powers and cyclocrossworld.com teammate Tim Johnson traded blows with Kona’s Ryan Trebon and Barry Wicks. Then, it was just two as Powers and then Johnson rode clear.

“We want to create a race that is not predictable.” So said Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme Thursday inannouncing the course for the 95th Tour, which takes place next year fromJuly 5 to 27. Prudhomme should get his wish because the 21-stage, 3554kmroute he presented has a plethora of stages that hark back to the dayswhen breakaways usually succeeded and the yellow jersey changed hands manymore times than it does in modern times.

The German-based T-Mobile women’s team completed its 2008 roster last week, with ten returning riders and three new signings, including American national champion Mara Abbott. After finishing the season at the top of the UCI rankings, the powerhouse T-team women’s is aiming even higher in 2008. In addition to Abbott, who spent 2007 with Webcor Builders, team director Anna Wilson and team manager Kristy Scrygmeour added German national champion Luise Keller as well as young talent Madeleine Sandig. “We are extremely happy to have finished the season accomplishing our goal to be the number

When, earlier this week, the Tour de France directors Patrice Clerc and Christian Prudhomme embraced an initiative by the Union Cycliste Internationale and World Anti-Doping Agency to create a biological passport in the fight against doping, there was hope that three years of polemic were about to come to an end. Instead, in their presentation of the 2008 Tour at the Palais des Congrès in Paris on Thursday, Clerc and Prudhomme again spoke about their displeasure with the way cycling is being run. Although an invitation to the glitzy presentation was extended to UCI president Pat McQuaid, the

The 2007 Verge MAC Series headed to the rural suburbs of Philadelphia on Sunday for the Wissahickon Cyclocross, a UCI C2 cyclocross at the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show Fairgrounds. On a day when New Englanders were talking about the previous night’s victory by the Red Sox, another regional team, CyclocrossWorld.com, pitched a no-hitter by finishing one-two for the second consecutive day. Not to be outdone, Colorado’s Kerry Barnholt (Tokyo Joe’s-Van Dessel) imitated her home state’s baseball team, the Colorado Rockies, by sweeping the weekend women’s series. The fairgrounds are nearly perfect

Neither Lyne Bessette (cyclocrossworld.com) nor Greg Reain (Ride withRendal/Colnago/Time) were able to defend their titles at the Canadian Cyclocross Nationals Sunday in Kamloops, British Columbia, despite riding from the front in their respective races. Instead, Mike Garrigan (Jetpower/Epic Ride) took his first ever national title, while Wendy Simms (Kona-Yourkey.com) returned to the top step of the podium for the first time since back-to-back victories in '03 - '04. With very little elevation change to work with, the organizers went for a tight and twisty circuit. The circuit was

Matthew Wilson was at a loss for words when, after seven of the most challenging days in his sporting life, it was finally announced he was the winner of the 2007 Jayco Herald Sun Tour. "I don't know what to say... It's the best feeling... I've only had a few victories in my career, and they're all special for different reasons, but this one goes down as probably the best," said the Unibet pro, overjoyed with his victory but also relieved a turbulent week was finally over. From the first stage to the last, won by Astana's Aaron Kemps from a three-man breakaway that

With just one stage to go, Matthew Wilson of Unibet.com is poised to take the biggest victory of his career in the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, riding what may well have been a race-saving, race-winning time trial Saturday in Melbourne. Though the margin is small: a superlative performance against the clock saw Steve Morabito the fastest rider around the short but testing 8.6 kilometer course, his time of 11:32 moving the Astana all-rounder within three seconds of Wilson by the day's end. Right now, however, the yellow jersey appears to have all the confidence in the world in what has been a

It appears to be a case of expect the unexpected at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. Friday in Wangaratta, a town a stone's throw away from Glenrowan, home of great Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, early race leader Matt Wilson and his Unibet.com team piled on the pressure on a short transitional stage through the north-eastern Victorian countryside. By the day's end and with two stages remaining, the 30-year-old found himself back at the top of the leader-board. The finale was equally exciting, with a breakaway group of three fighting out the finish. Two DFL-Cyclingnews riders, Cameron

While two-time defending world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) is heavily favored to score his third consecutive Tour of Lombardy victory on Saturday, the venerable 242km fall classic is not the only title in play. The 2007 ProTour series is also up for grabs because the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) this week handed longtime ProTour leader Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas) a three-month suspension for his implication in the 2004 Oil for Drugs scandal, which caused the UCI to drop him from the standings. These developments put the consistent Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) into the

Wednesday in Beechworth, Astana's Aaron Kemps timed an uphill dash for cash to perfection, overcoming a technical, bumpy ride to the finish and taking advantage of a late recapture to assert his authority as the in-form sprinter of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. For those vying for overall honors four days from now, the 139.5-kilometer third stage ended without incident, as race leader Matthew Wilson of Unibet.com maintained his 17-second advantage over teammate Baden Cooke, with SouthAustralia.com-AIS young gun Simon Clarke a further five seconds back. Whether Wilson, diagnosed with

Italian sprint ace Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) won the 101st edition of the Paris-Tours classic on Sunday. Led out by his German teammate Eric Zabel, Petacchi edged compatriot Francesco Chicchi in the sprint to claim the victory in the 256km fall classic. It was his second classic victory, after Milan-San Remo in 2005. Former three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) was third. The penultimate ProTour race of the season saw several breakaway attempts, the last of which, involving Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux), Karsten Kroon (CSC) and Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas), took off

[nid:41019]Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com) again outpaced her competition during day two of the Gloucester Grand Prix of Cyclocross on Sunday, while Jesse Anthony (Jamis) came back to claim a win that eluded him the day before. The second round in the 2007 Verge New England Championship Cyclocross Series saw racers battling windier conditions and fatigue left over from Saturday's fierce pace. Fueled by a frustrating opening day, Anthony bore down on the elite men's field with enough pressure to shuck all but a stunningly strong Chris Jones (Nerac).

The Kazakh Cycling Federation formally announced Friday that former Discovery manager Johan Bruyneel will take over the helm of the troubled Astana team starting with the 2008 season. Kazakh officials have vowed to continue an estimated $15 million per year sponsorship, despite doping positives involving star riders Alexander Vinokourov and Andrey Kashechkin, and have hired Bruyneel to usher in a new management team. “As we recall this year some of team’s riders were linked to using performance enhancing drugs. In spite of these issues the KCF firmly decided to move forward, having

T-Mobile phenom’ Mark Cavendish confirmed his arrival to the big leagues over the weekend by reaching his pre-season target of 11 victories on the year. The 22-year-old Brit surged to victory in Saturday’s stage at the Circuit Franco-Belge to put an exclamation point on what’s been a dazzling rookie season. “I’ve reached my target and I’m about delighted about that,” Cavendish said on T-Mobile’s web page. “We miscalculated things a bit in the sprint yesterday and that cost me, but things ran so smoothly today.” Cavendish opened the year with an eye-catching second at the Etoile des

Barry Wicks (Kona-YourKey.com) took advantage of world champion Erwin Vervecken’s derailleur failure with half a lap to go to take the win at the second day of the Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup on Sunday at Southampton, New York. Wicks, who lost to Vervecken (Fidea) by a wheel in the previous day’s sprint finish, was never out of contention on the much more technical course featured on the second day at the Southampton Youth Services Center.

The 2007 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships concluded on Saturday as the final five national titles were awarded in one individual and four team events. Just six weeks before making its debut on the UCI World Cup program in Sydney, the women's 3km team pursuit was introduced to the national championships. The trio of two-time world champion Sarah Hammer (Ouch Pro Cycling), Thursday's individual pursuit national champion Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light) and this year's sprint and keirin national champion, Jennie Reed (Momentum), rode to a victory in

Eight more national champions were crowned Friday on day three of the 2007 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships as elite and U23 categories of the men's and women's sprint and points race were contested. After qualifying second behind Adam Duvendeck (Momentum) in the 200-meter time trial on Thursday, Michael Blatchford (Cody Racing) captured both the elite and U23 national titles in the men's sprint. Blatchford dispatched silver medalist Ben Barczewski (T-Town Express) in two straight rides in the finals to claim the national title while Duvendeck took two straight

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Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the world of competitive cycling by your friends at VeloNews.com.

He’s certainly off to a good start. World junior time trial champion, Taylor Phinney captured the national elite men's individual pursuit title on Thursday evening, competing in his first-ever event on the track. The 17-year-old Phinney (TIAA-CREF) earned the number-two seed in Thursday morning's qualifying session at USA Cycling’s Elite Track National Championships in Carson, California, with a time of 4:35.550 Phinney’s time set up a head-to-head match against top-seed Brad Huff, who had earlier set a mark of 4:34.976. In the gold medal, Phinney rode to an early advantage in

T-Mobile general manager Bob Stapleton is taking a “wait and see” attitude toward the ongoing power struggle between the UCI and the organizers of the three grand tours. Last week, the UCI announced a restructured 2008 ProTour calendar that excludes the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a España and major one-day classics associated with the big three race organizers. Stapleton said the news of a watered-down ProTour calendar caught teams by surprise, but added this likely won’t be the last row in the ongoing battle over the controversial ProTour. “I think this is round one of what’s

Oscar Pereiro finally feels comfortable enough to put on the yellow jersey from the disputed 2006 Tour de France. The Spanish rider donned the maillot jaune for a photo shoot with the Spanish daily AS and said it rightfully belongs to him following last month’s ruling against Floyd Landis. “A lot of time has passed but I feel good. And I’m not afraid to put it on,” Pereiro said. “Since I received a fax from the UCI (on Sept. 21) informing the news about the 2006 Tour, I know that putting on the yellow jersey again isn’t a provocation. I have nothing to hide.” In the eyes of the UCI,

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Paolo Bettini shot back at critics and rivals alike in an electrifying five-up sprint victory on Sunday, defending his world championship. The 33-year-old Tuscan gestured as if he were firing a machine gun as he crossed the line in Stuttgart after rocketing past the brawny shoulders of Alexandr Kolobnev, relegating the Russian to second and local rider Stefan Schumacher (Germany) to third. “Everyone’s been shooting at me all week, so I decided to try myself,” said Bettini, who became only the fifth rider in world’s history to successfully defend the rainbow jersey. “It wasn’t directed at

Bettini sprints . . .

What had been a tumultuous week for the Italian national team took a sweeping turn for the better Saturday as 20-year-old Marta Bastianelli held off pre-race favorites to win the elite women’s world road championship in Stuttgart, Germany. Italy’s “squadra azzura” has been under fire in recent days as defending men’s champion Paolo Bettini refused to sign the UCI’s voluntary “commitment to a new cycling” pledge, and ProTour leader Danilo Di Luca was taken off the Italian team while facing a suspension for working with doctor Carlo Santuccione. But the Italians, whose national federation

Alejandro Valverde starts Sunday’s world championship as an outside favorite to win the rainbow jersey. With three-time defending champion Oscar Freire back and a favorite to win a record fourth title if the race comes down to a sprint, Valverde will play the joker on a strong Spanish squad. Of course, it hasn’t been an easy lead up to the world’s for ’Balaverde’. It took a CAS ruling Wednesday to assure his start Sunday after the UCI wanted to ban Valverde over alleged links to Operación Puerto. Valverde admits the pre-race controversy proved to be distracting, but he vows to get revenge

Scores of attacks in the final laps in the chaotic men’s U23 world championships failed to break the elastic to the sprinters and 22-year-old Peter Velits of Slovakia confidently snagged the rainbow jersey in a crash-marred bunch sprint. The pace wasn’t hard enough over the hilly, 19.1km circuit for several late-race breakaway attempts to stick. The Norwegians did most of the heavy lifting to reel in the remnants of a 12-man group in the final lap, but their work was all for naught. Pre-race favorite Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway tumbled in a finish line crash behind French and Swiss

Slovakia's Peter Velis (center) and Australia's Wesley Sulzberger (left) sprint

Although the clouds overhead were heavy and gray in Stuttgart Friday, there was a hint of optimism surrounding the three U.S. national teams that hasn’t been felt at a world championships in recent years. Perhaps that is because in addition to perhaps the best women’s team USA Cycling has ever sent, for the first time since 2003 Discovery Channel rider George Hincapie is spearheading the men’s elite team heading into Sunday’s road race. Hincapie’s 2007 season took saw him take an unceremonious and unplanned break after fracturing his wrist at the Amgen Tour of California, but he has

Ryan Trebon (Kona-Les Gets) and Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com) won the inaugural Excel Sports CrossVegas Wednesday in Las Vegas. [nid:40750]A thousands-strong crowd journeyed to the Desert Breeze Soccer Complex to watch the first major cyclo-cross race to be held in conjunction with the Interbike trade show, running this week at the Sands Expo & Convention Center. CrossVegas was the brainchild of Coloradan Chris Grealish, a longtime 'cross promoter who organized the 2006 Boulder Cup, the fifth round of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross Series.

Big names and big teams have dominated the world’s for the past several years, with established stars such as Oscar Freire, Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini from Spain, Belgium and Italy, respectively, taking the rainbow jersey in the elite men’s road race. Is it time for an outsider to hold off the favorites? On paper, the 19.1km circuit in Stuttgart looks like it could be challenging enough to serve up an attack-laden finale and perhaps deliver a breakaway victor to end the run of relatively large bunch sprints that have dominated the world championships for the better part of a decade. Each

After three long weeks of sometimes exciting racing, the remaining 145 riders rolled into a festive welcome in the heart of downtown Madrid to conclude the 2007 Vuelta a España with an exhilarating finishing sprint. Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) used his lethal bike stab to hold off Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) to win his third stage in Sunday’s final romp into Madrid and bring an end to the season’s final grand tour.

17 professional years, with some 275 victories.

A second sprint victory in the Vuelta a España couldn’t erase disappointment for Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) after being overlooked for a spot on the Italian national team for next week’s world championships. The Liguigas-bound rider found out overnight he was left off the Stuttgart squad and smashed that frustration into his pedals Wednesday to beat the men whom he wanted to support, Paolo Bettini, and compatriot Alessandro Petacchi in the 175km 17th stage from Ciudad Real to Talavera de la Reina.

Rabobank left chasing duties to the teams that want a sprint win, but always stays near the front.

Normally I try and refrain from writing race reports. I figure that most people read enough “this guy attacked and then those teams chased that guy and then this team did the lead out and those guys sprinted and that guy won” and if I can come up with something about our lives or experiences that give insight into what racing a bike is all about it might be more interesting. At least I tell myself that… I figure that I update my blog with all the standard race report action and have tried to maintain the philosophy that if writing is on a real web site rather than a blog I should put some

Colombians made a name for themselves in the 1980s and 1990s by winning when the road turned uphill. Such stars as Lucho Herrera, Fabio Parra and the latest incarnation in the form of Mauricio Soler put Colombia on the international cycling map thanks to their bird-like builds and innate ability to soar like condors up Europe’s steepest roads. Santiago Botero broke the mold with his consistency in the race against the clock, but Colombians and summit finishes were synonymous in the peloton.

[nid:40552]Ivan Dominguez put an emphatic stamp on his run to the Tour of Missouri's sprint points title, winning the final stage of this 562.2-mile, six-day race, which concluded Sunday in downtown St. Louis. Dominguez (Toyota-United) emerged from a scrambled sprint along Market Street, comfortably holding off Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics) and Dominique Rollin (KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada), who were second and third in the 74.2-mile, seven-lap circuit race.

In a symbolic sign of the times, Slipstream’s Danny Pate launched a brave solo attack inside a kilometer to go and held it all the way to the line, taking victory in stage 5 of the Tour of Missouri Saturday. Pate’s triumph is arguably the biggest win in the short history of the Boulder, Colorado-based team that is poised to take over the mantel of American cycling following the imminent demise of Discovery Channel.

Just when it looked like the Vuelta a España was stuck on the repeat button, all hell broke loose in Friday´s 176km 13th stage. Take away the wild battles in the Pyrenees, and it seemed the Vuelta had stolen the script from the movie “Groundhog Day.” Day after day, the same plot unfolded: an early break, lots of TV for Spain´s second-division no-hopers, the peloton on siesta, the sprint teams revving up the chase, the breakaway caught with 8km to go, a sprinter sweeping across the line in the fight to see who gets kisses from the podium girls.

Luciano Pagliarini took a convincing sprint win at the conclusion of stage 4 of the Tour of Missouri on Friday, moving into a tie atop the points jersey standings in the process. [nid:40511]The Brazilian Prodir-Saunier Duval rider blasted straight up the gut of the finishing straight of Columbia’s East Walnut Street, lunging his bike across the line ahead of Canadian Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics) and Cuban Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United), who were a distant second and third respectively.

If there was any doubt that Alessandro Petacchi was back at his best, he erased them with an emphatic finishing surge Thursday to claim his second straight sprint victory at the Vuelta a España. On a day when another breakaway attempt fell short, Milram did the heavy lifting to reel in the attackers to put Ale-Jet in position to win the 173km 12th stage from Algemesí to Hellín.

Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) made yet another comeback after sprinting to victory in Wednesday’s otherwise routine 11th stage at the Vuelta a España. It was his first major victory since the Italian ace tested non-negative for Salbutamol at the Giro d’Italia and his career teetered on the edge of disaster. The Italian cycling federation eventually cleared Petacchi of what could have been a two-year racing ban, but the proud Petacchi was forced to sit on the sidelines during the Tour de France.

Barring a repeat of the bad luck that has periodically plagued George Hincapie the last couple years, the American is in solid position to win the overall title at the inaugural Tour of Missouri. On Wednesday, the Discovery Channel rider was part of a 12-rider break that rolled off the front of the field early in the rolling 125.6-mile stage 2 run from Clinton to Springfield and never looked back. At the finish, when Hincapie darted out of the small pack to take the stage win, the trailing field was more than 14 minutes behind.

Hincapie nips Rollin at the first sprint

Cuban speedster Ivan Dominguez earned the first yellow jersey of the inaugural Tour of Missouri, blasting across the line at the end of stage 1 on a sun-splashed Tuesday in Kansas City. The Toyota United rider’s triumph came at the expense of Canadian Zach Bell (Symmetrics) and American Kyle Wamsley (Navigators) who were second and third respectively on the opening day of this six-stage, 600-mile race that will head west to east across the Show Me State before finishing on Sunday in St. Louis.

How much is Denis Menchov dominating the 2007 Vuelta a España? If the amount of lipstick on his cheeks from receiving kisses from the podium girls is any indication, a lot. The 29-year-old Rabobank captain won the longest and hardest stage of this year’s Vuelta on a sunny and windy Monday high in Andorra to carry a solid lead of more than two minutes to compatriot Vladimir Efimkin (Caisse d’Epargne) into Tuesday’s rest day. Just add up the quality podium time Menchov enjoyed: stage winner, race leader, mountain jersey and the combined jersey. That’s a lot of kisses.

The inaugural six-stage Tour of Missouri, the third and final of America’s three “grand tours,” kicks off Tuesday in Kansas City. The 600-mile course will travel a counter-clockwise route, ending on Sunday, September 16, in St. Louis. In between the state’s largest cities are stops in Clinton, Springfield, Branson, Lebanon, Columbia, Jefferson City, and St. Charles.

Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile) began his bid to win the Tour of Britain in style with a powerful finish to take the first stage on Monday in Southampton. Cavendish, who held the yellow jersey after the prologue, stormed away in the sprint finish after good work by teammates Roger Hammond and Frantisek Rabon had given him an ideal platform. The 22-year-old from the Isle of Man blew away Steven Caethoven and Juan Jose Haedo in the final 200 meters to clinch his 10th stage win of the season. and take a 14-second lead over Russia's Nikolai Trusov. Holland's Piet Rooijakkers, who took the

Monday’s exciting stage at the Vuelta a España saw the return of polemica, a tried and true European journalistic tradition of a battle of words fought out in headlines. The “he said-she said” tug-of-wars used to fill the pages of European sports dailies until the dirty business of doping scandals took all the fun out of being a cycling journalist. Those glory days returned briefly Monday as exhausted and frustrated riders started to point fingers at one another at the finish of the frenetic 214km “queen stage” across the Spanish Pyrenees. The first salvo came from Team CSC’s Carlos

Nearly three minutes ahead of a confusion-laden finale, and after some 160 kilometers in the breakaway, Will Frischkorn (Slipstream-Chipotle) soloed to victory in the Univest Grand Prix in Souderton, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Frischkorn launched a perfect counter following teammate Tim Duggan’s probing attack with eight laps of the race’s 5-kilometer finishing circuit remaining. Duggan and Frischkorn accounted for half of a four-man break that entered the finishing loops together following a challenging 109-kilometer loop through the Montgomery County countryside. Together with Columbian

His image projected three stories high on a massive television screen, American Brian Lopes stood atop the podium Friday evening, arms raised in triumph, having just won the men’s four-cross world championship in Fort William, Scotland. Techno music deafened the 10,000-strong crowd gathered at the base of Fort William’s fast, winding track to watch the nighttime event take place under bright lights. A display of fireworks exploded overhead, and a smoke machine churned out thick clouds of white. The scene was a stark contrast to anything Lopes has seen in North America, where mountain-cross

Perhaps Oscar Freire has a sixth sense. After winning three out of the first six stages at the Vuelta a España, the Rabobank sprinter had his crash radar up and decided to take himself out of Friday’s sprint into Zaragoza. Sure enough. There was a nasty spill with about 30km to go that took down American Christian Vande Velde (CSC) when the peloton was roaring at 65kph to erase the day’s main breakaway.

Oscar Freire (Rabobank) is slipperier than a fish in the fast-moving waters of the bunch sprints at the Vuelta a España. For the better part of Thursday’s 184.3km sixth stage across Spain’s Rioja wine country, Freire was jabbering with friends at the back of the peloton, flitting around as if killing time before getting down to the business end of the stage.

It’s going to take more than a nasty crash to keep Christian Vande Velde from finishing this year’s Vuelta a España. The 31-year-old American is racing what’s his last major European race in a Team CSC jersey before switching to the up-and-coming Slipstream squad for the 2008 season and he wants to go out on a winning note. “I didn’t want to stop the race. The truth is, I felt horrible and I’m still pretty beat up. I still don’t feel great,” Vande Velde told VeloNews. “I want to go out with CSC on a good note. I hope to feel better in the coming days.” Vande Velde crashed twice in the

With a few short weeks before the 2007 world championship road race, Oscar Freire (Rabobank) looks almost unbeatable in the sprint as he aims for his fourth rainbow jersey in Stuttgart on September 30. [nid:40358]The three-time world champ scored his second win in five days in Wednesday’s 157.4km fifth stage at the Vuelta a España with an explosive sprint that left the rest in the peloton shaking their heads in disbelief.

In 2006 the Chinese duo of Ren Chengyuan and Ying Liu shocked the women’s cross-country crowd by dominating the U23 women’s field in their first-ever world championship race, held in Rotorua, New Zealand. In 2007 the duo came into the U23 championship race in Fort William, Scotland as marked women, however the result was nearly the same. While Chengyuan crossed the line first in 2006, it was Liu who took top honors and the rainbow stripes this year. Chengyuan held the advantage over Liu at the midway point, but Liu took the lead for good on the third of four laps. Chengyuan suffered a

Rabobank worked hard to ensure Freire had a shot at a sprint... and to keep Menchov in the mix.

Reigning world champion Paolo Bettini says he’s not superstitious, but he was probably having his doubts after what’s been a long season for the usually prolific Tuscan tiger. Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) came into the Vuelta a España with just one victory on the 2007 season and was relieved with his sprint victory Monday ahead of Óscar Freire Gómez (Rabobank) and Allan Davis (Discovery Channel) to end a winless streak dating back to February’s Tour of California.

We are off and running. September 1st has come and gone. The Vuelta is a rare and special race with an interesting peloton, facing different circumstances. Some have raced a lot; some very little; some have a contract; some don't; some are Spanish; many are not. Racing in your own country in front of your people, eating your food and enjoying your customs can give you that little bit of an edge. As for the rest of us, this race serves as a good test of desire and mental strength. For myself, I like the Vuelta, have a friend and teammate who can win the race and I can have some success

Unlike Interbike in the United States, Eurobike’s final day is open to the public. Anyone with 20 extra euros can show up at the Messe Friedrichshafen and see the bicycle industry’s best. Because of this, most of the show's business is done by Saturday afternoon, freeing exhibitors from spec’ and sales meetings, plus the press, just in time to be thrown to an inquisitive public. We saw a lot on Saturday, some of which can be quickly explained and some that will require more attention. Over the next few weeks, in a lead-up to Interbike, we will try to explore in detail some of those

A day after finishing second, Spanish ace Oscar Freire (Rabobank) got it right in Sunday’s crash-marred second stage to win and move into the overall lead at the Vuelta a España. And a day after American climber Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel) was KO’d with a broken shoulder, it was Christian Vande Velde’s turn. The Team CSC rider crashed twice but was able to finish the hilly stage despite some nasty road rash.

[nid:40251]Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) picked up where he left off, putting a nice bookend victory in Saturday’s 154.4km opener at the Vuelta a España to go along with his triumph in the final stage on the Champs Elysées at the Tour de France. The brawny Italian hitched a ride on Milram’s setup train and out-kicked a superstar field to win for the eighth time this season ahead of three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Alessandro Petacchi (Milram), who came through third.

This year hasn’t been stellar, results-wise, for Team CSC’s David Zabriskie. But his second consecutive time-trial win at the 2007 USA Cycling Professional Championships on Saturday may have brightened things up a bit.

Tom Danielson lines up Saturday for the Vuelta a España with a clean bill of health following a painful and sometimes bizarre battle with debilitating stomach problems. Danielson missed what was expected to be a Tour de France debut this year following a series of recurring stomach problems that derailed efforts at the Volta a Catalunya and the Dauphiné Libéré earlier this season. “I was in so much pain I wanted to cut open my stomach and give birth to an alien,” Danielson told VeloNews. “June and July were really dark months. My body was screwed up, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t pedal. I was

Controversial cyclist Erik Zabel looks set to take part in next month's World Road Championships after the German Cycling Federation (BDR) named him to its provisional squad on Wednesday. The 37-year-old, who won silver at last year's world championship road race in Salzburg, has been named in a preliminary 21-man squad which will be trimmed down before the championships which are in Stuttgart from September 26-30. Despite his close finish last year, Zabel's inclusion was opposed by many because of confession in May to using banned blood-booster EPO (erythropoietin) for a short

Imagine one morning you woke up to find you had been transformed into one of the best cyclists in the world. Were that the case, you might just feel like Mara Abbott. Obviously, Abbott’s transformation from novice to national champ’ didn’t happen overnight (it took two years), but the 21-year-old admits sometimes feels that way. Abbott started the 2007 season off hoping to gain some knowledge and experience in her freshman year in the pro ranks. Four months later, she had racked up palmarès most racers dream of. She won the Oak Glen stage of the Redlands Bicycle Classic, finishing second

Aaron Olson always seems to save the best for last. Last year, some of his best results came late in the 2006 campaign, capped by second in a Tour of Poland stage. The T-Mobile rider scored his best-ever result in a European stage race with third overall at the inaugural Tour of Ireland. Olson snatched second place in the race-winning breakaway in stage one and hung on to the podium spot in the surprisingly tough five-day Irish tour. “It’s not bad considering I crashed 10 days ago,” said Olson, referring to a nasty training spill in Spain. “It’s a nice way to finish off the European