Australian Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) won Thursday’s second stage of the Tour de Romandie in a sprint finish marred by a fall in the final yards. Italian Paolo Savoldelli (Astana) escaped unscathed to retain the leader's yellow jersey after Colombian Leonardo Duque took a tumble in the last 150 meters, bringing down several riders in the bunched pack, including Briton David Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir). Slovenian Borut Bozic (Team LPR) was second, followed by Italian Enrico Gasparotto (Liquigas). "In the sprint I got into a good position. And I'm really happy because it's

Fresh from his fourth-place finish at the 2007 Tour of Virginia, Rite Aid's Alejandro Borrajo made his presence felt at Tuesday’s Beaufort Memorial Cycling Classic, pipping Cuban sprinter Frank Travieso (AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork) at the line. "I'm very happy. Now I'm getting the outcome that I was hoping for,” said Borrajo. “I think the racing in Virginia served me very well. I'm recovering well and I have momentum now, so I'm very content."

Markus Fothen (Gerolsteiner) won the first stage of the Tour de Romandie on Wednesday. The German outsprinted Spaniards Francisco Perez and Joaquin Rodriguez (Caisse d'Epargne) to win the 157.8km stage from Granges-Paccot to La Chaux-de-Fonds. Italian Paolo Savoldelli (Astana) retained the leader's yellow jersey. Fothen's win in the northern Swiss town took him to third place in the general standings behind the 32-year-old Savoldelli and Czech Roman Kreuziger. Five riders broke away just 18km into the stage and their valiant effort only came to an end 125km later. Veteran

Fothen takes the sprint

The Giro d'Italia and Tour de France may be a long way off for some - but the conclusion of the spring classics season on Sunday has brought the pink and yellow jerseys that much closer. The Tour of Romandie begins Tuesday with six of days of mostly climbing in the Swiss mountains signaling the steady run in to the first two Grand Tours of the season. The three-week Giro begins on May 12, and the tour of Romandie gives the race's pink jersey aspirants a chance to test their legs over some tough climbing terrain. Cadel Evans of the Predictor-Lotto team is the reigning champion, but

Italian Paolo Savoldelli (Astana) won the prologue of the Tour de Romandie on Tuesday, leaving his main rivals trailing in the hilly 3.5km time trial through the streets of Fribourg. The 34-year-old, two-time Giro winner claimed his fourth prologue win in the Swiss race, finishing with a five-second lead over Czech Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) and seven seconds ahead of third-placed American Chris Horner (Predictor-Lotto). Complete results "I didn't come here to win but to test myself and to do the best possible," Savoldelli said after tackling the long steep climb and a flat sprint to

An astounded and elated Mark Hekman stood in the floodlit streets of Athens, Georgia, on April 28 as the winner of the Heyward Allen Toyota Athens Twilight Criterium. The 29-year-old Abercrombie & Fitch rider was one of the few in the elite men's field to walk away unscathed by an evening of spectacular crashes.Two significant pileups, one of which led to the neutralization and subsequent restart of the race, changed the fortunes of many hopefuls who came geared up for the kickoff race to this year's USA Crits and USA Crits Southeast series. At one point, dozens of riders went down

The final and deciding stage of the 29th La Vuelta de Bisbee unfolded Sunday on the high desert terrain of Southern Arizona. In past years, a familiar script had played out — a group would leap off the front, build a sizable gap in the rolling terrain west of Bisbee and be reeled back in as the mountains approached and the climbers took over. But this year, the gap was bigger, and there were able climbers in the breakaway. At the first intermediate sprint, a group of nine driven by three RideClean riders worked to build a 4:30 lead. In the break were Daniel Ramsey (Successful Living) and

Coming into the 93rd Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the number of riders named as potential race favorites was almost overwhelming. Nearly a dozen men were believed to have a serious shot at winning the hilly classic on its demanding course that suits a variety of riders. In the end, the cadre of serious contenders proved to be a hindrance for all the favorites, except one — Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas). The Italian, who won the Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallone in 2005, completed a career triple of the Ardennes Classics by bridging across to a late attack by CSC’s Frank Schleck and then jumping away

Riding an early breakaway Sunday, Colombian Javier Zapata held onto the GC leader’s jersey to win the 2007 Tour of Virginia. Zapata (Caico) came into the 100-mile stage 7 with just an eight-second lead over second-place Alejandro Borrajo (Rite Aid), but 40km into the race, Zapata latched on to a 10-man breakaway. Borrajo did not, a problem his team attributed to a technological breakdown. “We had problems with our radio and never got word that Zapata was in the break,” Rite Aid director Jonathan Wirsing said. Showing no signs of slowing down, the breakaway stretched its lead to 2:45

A patient Geoff Kabush used his experience to win the Santa Ynez Valley Classic, the second round of the 2007 National Mountain Bike Series. The Canadian, suffering from admittedly bad legs, spent the day riding in the draft of Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher) and Barry Wicks (Kona), before out sprinting the two Americans for the win. “I took one pull today and it was in the last 50 meters of the race,” Kabush conceded after the win. “Something wasn’t right with me from the get go, and I just tried to hang on today as long as I could. Luckily I just let Wicks and JHK chase each

Anthony nails the sprint

“It’s the best one-day race in cycling.” American Chris Horner, who placed eighth at last year’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, says this weekend’s coming edition is the highlight of the season. But the Predictor-Lotto man’s assessment could just as easily come from world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) or defending Liège champion Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne), or any of the 192 riders expected to start the 93rd edition of Liège Sunday, the final race of the spring classics season. “It’s a race almost any type of rider can win — a climber, a Tour rider, a time-trial

With just one stage remaining, Michael Grabinger (Successful Living) and Meshy Holt (Expresscopy.com) lead their respective categories in the 29th La Vuelta de Bisbee. Grabinger scored a pair of runner-up finishes on Saturday’s wind-whipped, double-stage day to move into the overall lead, just five seconds ahead of Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance). The victory in the Stage 1 Sulphur Springs Road Race went to Mexico’s Antonio Aldape (Halcones). Adalpe, countryman and teammate David Salomon and Grabinger had been part of a 13-man break that formed at the first bonus sprint in the 79-mile

Australian sprinter Jonathan Cantwell won his second stage in as many days Saturday at stage 6 of the Tour of Virginia, as Alejandro Borrajo continued to cut into Colombian Javier Zapata’s general classification lead. “It’s getting a little surreal by now,” said Cantwell (Kahala-La Grange), who trails Borrajo (Rite Aid) by six points in the sprint classification. Borrajo finished third in Saturday’s criterium stage, earning a four-second time bonus. Zapata (Caico) finished 11th, with the same time as the pack. Borrajo now trails Zapata in the GC standings by eight seconds. The 35-mile

At just 22, Canadian cross-country rider Max Plaxton (Rocky Mountain-Haywood) already owns palmarès worthy of envy. He is twice the Pan-American U-23 champion (2006 and ‘07) and owns a bronze medal from the 2006 world championships U-23 cross-country race. Now, with countrymen Geoff Kabush and Seamus McGrath entering their 30s, Plaxton is undeniably the future of Canadian cross-country racing. “Young Max,” as his peers call him, took another step toward the big time by winning his first NMBBS race — Saturday’s short-track cross-country at the National Mountain Bike Series’s Santa Ynez

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you havea comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen incycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write toWebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name andhome town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writersare encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.The letters published here contain the opinions of the submittingauthors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positionsof VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Aussie Jonathan Cantwell claimed a sprint victory at stage 5 of the Tour of Virginia Friday, as Argentinean Alejandro Borrajo continued to whittle down Colombian Javier Zapata’s overall lead. Taking second and the resulting time bonus in a group sprint, Borrajo (Rite Aid) shaved six seconds off Zapata’s (Caico) lead, bringing the Colombian’s GC advantage to just 12 seconds. Cantwell, originally riding support for Kahala-La Grange, was able to take advantage of the group sprint, thanks to the peloton re-materializing in the final kilometers of the race. Early on in the drizzly, 99-mile

With a victory in stage 4, Argentinean Alejandro Borrajo cut race leader Javier Zapata’s overall lead to 18 seconds Thursday in the 2007 Tour of Virginia. Zapata (Team Caico) came into the stage boasting a 58-second lead over the second-place Borrajo (Rite Aid), but the Argentinean joined an early break on Thursday’s 103-mile stage from Douthat to Waynesboro and stayed away to win. Borrajo, who finished fifth in the points classification in the 2004 Giro d’Italia, rolled through the three Cat. 1 and two Cat. 3 climbs. Sprinter Kayle Leogrande (Rock Racing) mounted a successful chase effort

After a stage in the lead at the Tour of Virginia, Russ Langley gave up the general classification leader’s jersey to Team Caico’s Javier Zapata of Colombia after stage 3 Wednesday. Zapata, down six seconds heading into the third stage, rode clear from an early breakaway on the 110-mile stage through the Alleghany Highlands, the first true road race and the longest of the seven-stage tour. Heading up the Cat 1. Warms Springs Mountain, Zapata launched himself off the front and didn’t look back. Zapata came into stage 3 in 11th place overall after a tough performance in stage 2, a 25-mile

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of our most recent contest. This week’s winning photograph captures the essence of competitive cycling, even the participants aren’t actually going anywhere. Take a look at Luke Seemann’s “Chicago IRO Sprints,” and see if you agree. Nice work, Luke. Please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work out the details and we’ll send you a copy of our new Coors Classic DVD. Meanwhile, go ahead and take a look at our latest gallery,decide what

The 71st Flèche Wallonne is set to start Wednesday morning in Charleroi, Belgium, amid swirling controversy surrounding the non-participation of both Discovery Channel’s Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso and the embattled Unibet.com team. The race’s name, meaning the “Walloon Arrow,” stems from its eastwardly course direction from the industrial city of Charleroi to Huy, in the French-speaking Walloon, or Wallonia, region of Belgium — an area that represents roughly one-third of Belgium’s population and one half of its territory. The UCI ProTour race will feature a start list of 24 teams

Chicago IRO Sprints

It would take a true trivia buff to remember the last time a rider won a spring classic with a dozen stitches in his knee, but 26-year-old German Stefan Schumacher of Gerolsteiner did just that at the 42nd Amstel Gold Race on Sunday in the Netherlands. Schumacher, who crashed during the final stage of the Tour of the Basque Country on April 14, came into the Ardennes Classics quite unsure of his fitness, after taking four days completely off the bike in the week before Amstel Gold. He rode on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday leading into the race, and decided to give it a go.

Discovery’s Janez Brajkovic cruised across the line at the end of the 66.8-mile circuit race that capped off the fifth edition of the Tour de Georgia, comfortably ensconced in the overall leader’s jersey as the sprinters in the peloton battled for the day’s stage honors and points.

It’s been a long dry spell for the man they call “Fast” Freddie Rodriguez. But on Saturday the American blazed back into the winner’s column, taking a blistering bunch sprint that concluded the Tour de Georgia’s stage 6 run from the Lake Lanier Islands to Stone Mountain Park. The win was Rodriguez’s first since stage 4 at this same race exactly a year ago to the day. The victory also moved the Predictor-Lotto rider out of a first place tie with Canadian Gord Fraser on the race’s all time stage wins list. Rodriguez now stands alone with four.

Freddie leads out the sprint, 12 wide.

Carl Menzies wins the day's first sprint and $2000.

After a frustrating finish to Monday’s opener, Toyota-United was rejoicing on Tuesday as Ivan Stevic sprinted to victory in stage 2 of the 2007 Tour de Georgia. J.J. Haedo (Team CSC) and Freddie Rodriguez (Predictor-Lotto) crossed second and third, while Daniele Contrini (Tinkoff Credit Systems) retained the leader’s jersey after a 135-mile day filled with crosswinds, crashes and a long, three-man break that wasn’t mopped until the peloton began marching on Rome. Complete results

Daniele Contrini (Tinkoff Credit Systems) won stage 1 of the 2007 Tour de Georgia on Monday, leaping away from a breakaway to cross the line alone in downtown Macon. The 33-year-old Italian made his move during a series of finishing circuits, using a brick climb to spring away from Ben Day (Navigators Insurance), Doug Ollerenshaw (Health Net-Maxxis) and Mike Sayers (BMC) to win the 98.5-mile stage from Peachtree City to Macon. Full results

It’s not often a rider enters the Roubaix velodrome alone, and an Australian has never done it in the 105-year history of cycling’s hardest one-day race. Stuart O’Grady did both Sunday in an emotional and powerful victory to become the first Aussie to win Paris-Roubaix in the hottest “Hell of the North” as far as anyone can remember.

Canadian Geoff Kabush and American Georgia Gould continued their strong early season run in cross-country events by winning at the Sea Otter Classic on Sunday. The two won their respective races in different fashion — Kabush in a sprint and Gould in a breakaway. Both riders left the Sea Otter Classic with an elevated sense of confidence heading into next week’s World Cup opener in Houffalize, Beligium. Unlike previous years, the 2007 Sea Otter Classic’s cross-country race was not part of a multi-day stage race, but the event held extra importance for cross-country riders looking to qualify

The sprint for second

Don’t discount Team CSC’s Stuart O’Grady as a candidate for the win in Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix. The 33-year-old Aussie might not be one of the five-star favorites to win the “Hell of the North,” but he can be a wildcard, behind teammate and defending champ Fabian Cancellara. (VeloNews.com will offer up-to-the-minute live coverage of Paris-Roubaix on Sunday. – Editor) “Stuey” barreled into this year’s classics season in his best form in years. After a string of top-five finishes, O’Grady is intent on snagging his first victory since 2004, when he won a stage at the Tour de France, two at the

Dan Ramsey took a big win for his Successful Living team in at the Sea Otter Classic NRC men’s circuit race. After spending the majority of the race off the front in a two-man move, Ramsey was caught by a small group, but soon attacked again, hoping to set up one of his three teammates who had been brought across. Instead, Ramsey held his solo gap for the final six laps. “I knew I had to be the first one to attack because I had been off the front all day,” Ramsey said. “I was guessing one of my teammates would take the race, not me. I’m really happy for the team. We needed this. I’d like to

It looked like strong, cool breezes and sunny skies were to be the reward for those who still retained the sour memories of the torrential rains and near constant crashes of the 2006 Jacksonville Cycling Classic. "You would come around a turn and be hit with a 30 mile an hour wind that would all but knock you down," recalled AEG-Toshiba-Jet Network rider Todd Henriksen. But Henriksen and the rest of the Pro Men's field got at least a small reminder of last year's event when two small but thorough cloud bursts soaked the one-kilometer-long course just minutes before the start. Those

Canadian Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) and Czech Katerina Nash (Luna) showed off their early season fitness by winning a short cross-country time trial at the 2007 Sea Otter Classic on Friday. Once an important component of the Sea Otter Classic’s mountain-bike stage race, the time trial provided the first serious separation in general classification. But with Sea Otter ditching the stage-race format for 2007, the time trial offered little more than an opportunity to tests their legs and to give winners bragging rights and a chance to stand atop a podium. That’s not to say the riders didn’t take

Juan José Haedo was the center of attention Wednesday at the start of Ghent-Wevelgem as journalists scrambled to get word with the “man who beat Petacchi” in Monday’s Rund um Köln. The Argentine ace made easy work of Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) and Graeme Brown (Rabobank) to win for the first time on European roads. The victory boosted his profile as he makes the leap from domestic racing in the United States to a largely European schedule with Team CSC. “It was an important victory in front of people like Petacchi and Brown, I can only be happy with the win,” Haedo told VeloNews before

Solve the issue of cramping by trying out these tips.

Wednesday’s spectacular crashes on the sketchy Kemmelberg cobblestone descent in Ghent-Wevelgem had some critics suggesting the road is too dangerous to be part of the otherwise flat 220km route across western Flanders. More than a dozen riders crashed in two harrowing descents off the narrow, twisting road. Among the victims in the spectacular, high-speed spills were American Tyler Farrar (Cofidis), who broke his kneecap, and Frenchman Jimmy Casper (Unibet.com), who suffered major cuts to his face and nose and was in hospital awaiting surgery. But UCI officials said they had no intention

Several big-name riders who skipped Tour of Flanders will be the main protagonists Wednesday for Ghent-Wevelgem in the midweek, sprinter-friendly classic. The 210km route from Deinze to Wevelgem is mostly flat except for two passages over the Kemmelberg at 153km and 174km. The climb almost always splits the bunch and it’s sometimes a close call before the peloton comes back together again before roaring into Wevelgem for the sprint. Defending champion Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole), Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto), Allan Davis (Discovery Channel), Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) and Baden

Don’t tell Alessandro Ballan he’s heir to Italian classics heroes such as Andrea Tafi and Franco Ballerini after his dramatic sprint victory ahead of Leif Hoste in Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. The panache shown by the 27-year-old in winning the crash-laden 91st edition is just the stuff Italian journalists love to turn into legend, but Ballan sees himself as more than a one-trick pony after the biggest victory of his career.

The absence of one the Tour of Flanders' crucial climbs in Sunday's second one-day classic of the season is unlikely to reduce the threat of a possible hat-trick for Tom Boonen. Boonen has won the Belgian epic for the past two years, but even he might be applauding the organizer’s decision to bypass the mythical, and strategically significant Koppenberg. At only 600 meters long, it can hardly be labeled a climb - at least to those more used to watching the big stage racer. But climbing at an average gradient of 11.6 percent on the cobbles makes the Koppenberg a challenge you cannot

In what is being billed as the “true North American Championship,” the inauguralU.S. Open CyclingChampionships are set for Saturday, April 7, in Richmond, Virginia.The 112-mile men’s race, a stop on the international UCI Americas Tourand the national USA Cycling Pro Tour, will begin in colonial Williamsburg,Virginia and follow the route along the historic Jamestown Plantationsand Civil War battlefields, ending with eight 5.5-mile circuits in downtownRichmond including a brutal cobblestone climb up Libby Hill. The men’s race begins at 8:10 a.m., and the men are expected to enterthe Richmond

Michaelsen’s last ride loomingLars Michaelsen – the 38-year-old Team CSC rider – will retire after competing in Paris-Roubaix later this month. A winner of the 1995 Ghent-Wevelgem and a two-time top-five finisher at Roubaix, Michaelsen said he couldn’t think of a better scenario to end his career. “The spring classics have always been where my heart beats, so it’s a good way to say goodbye to this fantastic sport,” he said. “Paris-Roubaix will be my last race. I’m hoping to have the legs and be up there in the Arenberg forest and to be in the selection, then we’ll take it from there. The

The sourceDear readers,I received a boatload of great responses on creaking noises from the March7 column, and it is something so commonly plaguing all of us as cyclists that I’m running a whole list of the fixes for them that I did not mention.LennardIt's the headsetI also have a Basso Diamante that I occasionally have creaking issueswith. Like many creaking issues, it's hard to track down where the noiseis coming from. I suggest it isn't coming from the seat area with the riderwho sent you the question. I would check the front of the bike. First,make sure the quick release

With five gold, two silver and two bronze medals the Australian track squad was the talk of the Athens Olympic velodrome in 2004. Just 17 months ahead of the Beijing Olympics, however, the talk at the end of the four-day competition world track championship in Mallorca was all about how the team’s dominance had all but evaporated. This time around, the Aussies scored two golds and four bronze medals. That’s not a bad tally – good enough for second on the final medals count - but it pales in comparison to past performances and to the seven golds, two silvers and two bronzes earned by

Pat McDonough will be a very busy man in the coming months. With the Beijing Summer Olympic Games on tap for the summer of 2008, the director of athletics for USA Cycling will have his hands full as he prepares teams to compete in track, road, mountain bike and the inaugural BMX medal events. A former director at the Lehigh Valley velodrome, USA Cycling tapped McDonough to take over the moribund U.S. track program in 2004. Then last summer, he was promoted as director of athletics for USA Cycling to oversee all disciplines. McDonough, a silver medalist in the team pursuit at the 1984

Jens Voigt (CSC) won the Critérium International on Sunday after soloing to victory in stage 2 and taking seventh in the final time trial. With his victory, the German became the first man to win the race three times since Sean Kelly in 1987. "Ever since I was a little kid Sean Kelly was my hero," Voigt said afterward. "Because he was a rider who was successful from the start to the end of the year, ready to compete for the win at each race, like Jaja [Laurent Jalabert] later on, or Erik Zabel.

Chris Hoy continued Great Britain’s gold medal rush at the Palma de Mallorca world track cycling championships after laying claim to his fourth career world title in the men’s kilo. Already a surprise winner this week in the men’s keirin, Hoy dominated his favorite event with the winning time of 1:00.999 in what was his final competitive kilo. “This is the last time I will race kilo, so it was really important that I won,” Hoy said. “I felt really good all day and I just tried to relax before the race. I felt strong right to the end and I’m relieved and happy to win.” Jamie Staff (Great

French coach Florian Rousseau has blasted the race tactics of Australian Mark French, who was disqualified from the men's keirin at the track world championships in Palma de Majorca, Spain. French was disqualified by race officials at the world track cycling championships Friday after a potentially dangerous maneuver that effectively ended the medal hopes of Rousseau's star keirin rider Kevin Sireau. Eventual gold medalist Chris Hoy of Great Britain won the second-round heat, in which the top three go through to the finals, ahead of defending Dutch champion Theo Bos and another

Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm locked up their overall victory at the 2007 Absa Cape Epic on Saturday, finishing third in the eighth and final stage of the weeklong mountain-bike race across South Africa. While the day was won by the Swiss duo of Thomas Zahnd and Sandro Spaeth (Texner-Stoeckli), overall honors at the weeklong stage race depended on the outcome of a tough final-day battle between the two Germans from Team Bulls and Jakob Fugelsang and Roel Paulissen (Cannondale-Vredestein). While Platt and Sahm enjoyed a four-minute buffer over the pair in second place, the contest was far from

Defending Olympic champion Anna Meares beat her own world record with a new time of 33.588 to win Australia’s first gold medal at the Palma de Mallorca world championship. Meares set the previous record in November with 33.944, but shaved nearly a half-second off on the new boards at the Palma velodrome. “I felt really good right from the gun,” said the tearful Meares. “Just as this season has progressed, I’ve gotten better and better. "I wasn’t sure if a world record would be possible because I didn’t know the condition of this track. I didn’t think about it. I just went through the

German Olaf Pollack (Wiesenhof) won the first stage of the Critérium International on Saturday. Pollack took the 179km leg from Asfeld to Charleville after a violent storm pounded the racers in the final 15km, disrupting what proved to be a bunch sprint. The German easily outpaced Italian Angelo Furlan (Crédit Agricole) and Spaniard Mikel Gaztanaga (Agritubel), all of whom were given the same time as the winner.

What should have been the third consecutive day of medal celebration for the resurgent U.S. track team turned into bitter disappointment Saturday when Rebecca Quinn was relegated in the women’s 10km scratch race after sprinting to third. Quinn made a spectacular finishing surge to squeeze between two riders coming out of turn four to earn what most observers thought was a well-deserved bronze medal. Moments after celebrating with her coaches, however, a UCI official whispered to USA Cycling’s athletic director Pat McDonough the bad news. By the time McDonough had a chance to review the

It wasn’t a real Fat Boy criterium, but it sure felt like one. Call it what you like, but Georgia Gould (Luna) and Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) took convincing wins at the first NMBS short track in Fountain Hills, Arizona. The races were run in an unusual format; both the men and women started after dark. The women sprung from the line just before 8 p.m. and the men had to wait until half past eight for their start. However inconvenient the late hour, riders and spectators seemed to relish it was truly an exciting race. The surprisingly challenging course ran through an abandoned downtown lot

A sloppy, scary sprint

Bos blasts into the sprint final

She collected a bronze in the sprint to go with it

Bourgain advanced in the sprint

Sarah Hammer put down a dominating performance Friday in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, defending her world title in the women’s individual pursuit Friday and putting the world on notice that she’s the rider to beat going into next year’s Olympic Summer Games. Hammer becomes the first American to defend a world track title since Rebecca Twigg in 1984-85. She also set a new U.S record and personal best with 3:30.213. “I wanted that so bad. To do it twice is amazing,” Hammer told VeloNews at the finish. “I thought going in I was going to win. I was confident in myself.” Hammer was fastest in

As it stands, China's hopes of an unprecedented Olympic gold medal in track cycling currently lie with women's sprint star Shuang Guo, women who turned in the fastest time in Friday’s sprint qualifying round. But in 17 months time, the medal odds could look decidedly better for the hosts of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and it could be thanks to one of the sport's biggest legends. China's first Olympic track medal came through Yong Hua who won silver in the women's 500 meter time trial at Athens in 2004. But former four-time Olympic champion Daniel Morelon, who also amassed

Germans Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm (Bulls) regained the overall lead of the Absa Cape Epic on Friday after finishing second in the penultimate stage. The stage win went to Bart Brentjens and Rudi van Houts (Dolphin), but the real contest was between the Bulls and Roel Paulissen and Jakob Fugelsang (Cannondale-Vredestein), who snatched the leaders’ jerseys from Platt and Sahm after winning the previous day’s stage. Platt and Sahm caught and passed their rivals with 30km to go in the 116km stage from Villiersdorp to Kleinmond and will take an advantage of three-and-a-half minutes into

Reed wound up 15th in the sprint and now looks ahead to the keirin

Charles Bradley Huff couldn’t quite believe it when he ended up with a bronze medal in the inaugural world track championship omnium. The Slipstream-Chipotle rider has been suffering through a chest cold, a two-day bout of diarrhea and self-described “bad legs,” but consistency and a third-place in the day’s fifth and final event in the kilometer time trial pushed him onto the medal’s podium. “To have such bad legs today yet it’s exciting that I was able to get third somehow,” said Huff. “It just shows in cycling as much as you suffer, you have good days and bad days, you gotta get on your

A golden homecoming for Bradley Wiggins; a podium appearance by an ailing Brad Huff; and a French team-sprint defense that barely registered on a chronometer. It was a busy day at the track world championships in Spain, and our man Casey Gibson was all over it like a sweaty skinsuit. Here's what he sent home.

Greg Bauge celebrates the upset Team Sprint victory.

Press awaits the British Women's sprint team.

The 2007 Tour of Germany will include new highs in its nine-day, 1315km route revealed Tuesday by race organizers. The race starts Aug. 10 in Saarbrücken and ends Aug. 18 in Hannover in a challenging, varied route sure to give the German tour even more prestige as the event continues to gain momentum among fans and racers. “The race will be extremely difficult,” said 2006 winner Jens Voigt (CSC). “To defend my title won’t be easy.” The route will feature a team time trial for the time (42.2km in the second stage) as well tackle the 15km, 2600m climb at Rettenbachferner in the fifth stage

Russian motor Vladimir Karpets was more than pleased with his first win since 2004 in Monday’s rainy 10km time trial opener at the Vuelta a Castilla y León in northern Spain. The Caisse d’Epargne rider faced slick roads as rain fell on the late starters in the five-day stage race that saw solid performances by Discovery Channel captains Ivan Basso (7th at 9sec) and Levi Leipheimer (8th at 10sec). “I’m very happy because last year I finished second and third a lot in time trials, but I could never win any of them,” Karpets said. “Despite the change in the weather, I was able to pull it off.

Flying Dutchman Theo Bos will be among the riders hoping to blaze a gold-medal trail on the freshly laid Siberian pine boards that will host the world track cycling championships this week in Palma de Majorca, Spain. The four-day competition begins on a note of novelty on Thursday when the inaugural, five-race omnium event, the team pursuit and men's individual pursuit are raced in a brand-new velodrome on which the paint is still drying. Bos, who will shoulder the Netherlands’ gold-medal hopes on his lithe frame at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will be hoping to leave a big

The small town of Zamora in northwest Spain will play host to some of the biggest names in the peloton for Monday’s time trial start of the Vuelta a Castilla y León. Ivan Basso and Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel), Carlos Sastre (CSC), Denis Menchov and Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) and Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d’Epargne) are some of the bigger names taking part in the five-day race across Spain’s northern meseta and rugged mountains. Christian Vande Velde (CSC), Tom Danielson and Jason McCartney (Discovery Channel) are also penciled in for the start. Alberto Contador – fresh off winning

Stefan Schumacher is one of Germany’s brightest hopes for the future. The burly Gerolsteiner is an all-rounder who can sprint as well as climb, as he revealed in his grand tour debut in last year’s Giro d’Italia with two stage wins. “Schumi” returned to the elite ranks last year after racing in smaller German continental teams when his two-year run at Telekom (now T-Mobile) didn’t pan out as well as hoped in 2002-03. He made the most of his chance, taking the overall at the Circuit de la Sarthe, the Tour of Poland and his controversial victory at the Benelux Tour when he swiped out George

Amber Neben was simply too strong for the opposition at the Redlands Classic. Wearing the yellow jersey since the prologue on Thursday, she crowned her second overall win in two years by answering every attack from the powerful Webcor Builders team on Sunday’s final stage around nine laps of the grueling Sunset Loop. Runner-up Mara Abbott of Webcor eventually broke away with Neben, and after a long chase they were joined by T-Mobile’s Kim Anderson and Team Lipton’s Kori Seehafer. These four fought out the stage win in downtown Redlands, with Seehafer looking the likely winner until she

This time there won’t be an asterisk next to his victory. Oscar Freire (Rabobank) unleashed a masterful sprint to win Saturday’s centenary celebration of Milan-San Remo ahead of Allan Davis to claim victory in emphatic style to erase the memories of 2004 when he won by a whisker ahead of the celebrating Erik Zabel.

A volley of shouts greeted the lead group of 20 riders as they sped toward the wooded summit of the Buffelsnek climb, the first serious incline of the 2007 Absa Cape Epic. The upcoming feed zone would be the only chance for a water fill for the next 45km, they said, and anyone who had doubts about running on empty under the African sun should stop for a bottle. A collective moan came from the pack as the athletes hit their brakes. Everyone in the group stopped. The problem was caused by a broken-down truck on Prince Alfred Pass, the day’s highest and final climb. The obstacle prevented the

The men’s and women’s criterium stages of the Redlands Classic on Saturday had almost identical results, with each dominated by a small breakaway group (five for the men, four for the women) that finished half-a-minute ahead of the pack.

Some of cycling’s brightest stars will be absent or battling injury on Saturday as Milan-San Remo celebrates its centenary. While defending champion Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) will be on hand, absent from the 2007 edition of “La Primavera” will be last year's Giro d’Italia winner, Ivan Basso (Discovery Channel), and former ProTour series winner Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas). Basso, 29, has struggled to recover from spraining a wrist at Tirreno-Adriatico last Friday, while Di Luca is still experiencing the after-effects of flu. Meanwhile, world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic)

Two climbers from Boulder, Colorado, won the pro men’s and pro women’s Oak Glen stage of the Redlands Classic on Friday afternoon. But that’s where the similarity ends. Men’s winner (and new race leader) Scott Moninger is 40 years old and has won about 250 races in his 18 seasons as a professional. Mara Abbott is 21, still at college, and in only her second season as a road racer. Her victory over prologue winner (and still race leader) Amber Neben moved Abbott into second place overall. After he out-kicked Toyota-United’s Justin England for the stage win, the omnipotent Moninger (BMC)

Downing and Dominguez are off early, fighting for sprint points