Defending Tour de France points champion Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole)was relegated from his fourth-place finish in Stage 4 of the Tour de France Wednesday after officials ruled him guilty of irregular sprinting.Hushovd, who wore the yellow jersey after winning the race prologue and again two days later, was ruled to have blocked Austrian sprinter Bernhard Eisel as both riders raced to the finish line in a bunch sprint.Robbie McEwen, of Davitamon, won the sprint well ahead of his rivals to claim his second stage of the race and tenth of his career, allowing him to reclaim the race's

Weather sunny, very warm again, brisk crosswinds Stage winner Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto), 4:59:50, 41.423kph – McEwen earned his second win in three days to make it an even Tour 10 on his career. Second-place Isaac Galvez (Caisse d’Epargne) shook up a late crash to finish second, but was no match for McEwen’s top-end speed. Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) was relegated for dangerous sprinting. Race leader Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic), 19:52:13, 42.445kph – The world champion could only muster a disappointing fifth in the sprint, but he retained his one-second lead to Michael

Course: This is another long stage (216.5km), which starts in Luxembourg,passes through Belgium and finishes in the Netherlands. The first halfof the course is mainly on straight, wide highways, while the second half,from where it joins the Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic routeat Vielsalm (107km), is mostly on winding, often narrow, back roads. Withsix climbs in the last 90km — starting with L-B-L’s Haute-Levéeand ending with the Amstel Gold Race’s Cauberg 2km from the finish — thepeloton is almost certain to be split by attacks. History: An almost identical finish to a stage came in 1992,the

The cycling gods were both generous and horribly cruel in dealing out their judgments on the Tour de France peloton in Tuesday’s stage 3 from Esch-sur-Alzette to Valkenburg. Generous to those like stage winner Matthias Kessler (T-Mobile) and Belgian world champion Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic), whose fourth place and time bonuses earned him the overall lead. Fittingly, Boonen’s feat has come in time for him to wear the yellow jersey in Wednesday’s stage through his home country before the Tour re-enters France. “[Wearing the yellow jersey in Belgium] is something that might happen once

At this point in the 2005 Tour de France, Tom Boonen had already given his Quick Step team a couple of stage wins and taken the green jersey. Twelve months later, he again leads the points competition and he starts Wednesday’s stage 4 in Huy, Belgium, wearing the yellow jersey of race leader — but without winning any of the opening stages. The world champion would like to change that win-less record as soon as possible. But, first, let’s see what has kept Boonen from adding to his list of 17 season victories. After coming an excellent 12th in Saturday’s prologue, the tall Belgian was the

Course: The Tour’s second longest stage (228.5km) opens with two significant Cat. 3 climbs in the forested hills of the Vosges and closes with two shorter Cat. 4 climbs on the France-Luxembourg border just before the finish. In between is 150km of rolling terrain through the agricultural Lorraine region. There’s bound to be an early breakaway on such a long stage, but the straight wide roads favor the sprinters’ teams in pulling things back together before the final 20km. The two Cat. 4 climbs with 16km and 13.5km to go, followed by two smaller, unrated ones in the last 5km, could spawn a

After suffering a stroke of bad luck in a finishing sprint for the second straight day at the Tour de France, it might seem like the gods are against Thor Hushovd. If that’s the case, they’ll have to try harder to hold back the big Norwegian, who snatched the yellow jersey back from American George Hincapie with a third-place finish behind Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) and Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) in the 228.5km stage 2 from Obernai, France, to Esch-sur-Alzette in Luxembourg. In a long jaunt north from the Alsace region of eastern France to the industrial mining and steel

It didn’t last very long, but George Hincapie enjoyed every second of his run in the yellow jersey. The 33-year-old ceded the maillot jaune back to Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) after not contesting Monday’s sprint into Esch-sur-Alzette with 21st place and dipped to fourth overall at 16 seconds back. “I didn’t sleep in it, but I was very happy,” Hincapie told VeloNews before Monday’s start. “The night was so different than the night before, when I was thinking about how everything I could have done different (after losing the prologue by less than one second). To be so close to the yellow

WeatherSunny, into low 90s, light to moderate winds Stage winnerRobbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto), 5h36:14, 40.775kph – The plucky Aussie sprinter won his ninth Tour stage in his ninth career Tour start, improving on his second place from Sunday. The 34-year-old proved he still has the best finish-line kick, relegating world champion Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) to second. Those two are sure to knock heads again. Sunday’s winner, Jimmy Casper (Cofidis), got dropped and finished 172nd at 9:14 back. Race leaderThor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole), 9h54:19 – The Norwegian brushed off a cut to

When Levi Leipheimer first looked at the course for the 2006 Tour de France he fingered Stage 3 from Esch-sur-Alzette to Valkenburg as the one he would study the most in the first week. Starting in Luxembourg, crossing Belgium and ending in the Netherlands, the 216.5km stage saves its teeth for the end: six categorized climbs and two sprints in the final two hours of racing. And these are not just any old climbs. The first is the Côte de la Haute-Levée, one of the key climbs of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and the last, 2km from the finish, is the infamous Cauberg that concludes another spring

Course: After a parade-style ride from the start outside Strasbourg’s 1000-year-old cathedral, the racing begins on the western edge of the city. The riders then make a counterclockwise loop around the quaint Alsatian towns and vineyards, cross the Rhine River into Germany and then head back across the river for the finish on part of the previous day’s prologue course. The day’s only categorized climb, a Cat. 4, is in the foothills of the Vosges mountains. History: The last time a road stage finished in Strasbourg, in 2001, the 211km stage 6 from Commercy was won by Estonian sprinter Jaan

In the absence of his friend and longtime Tour de France team leader Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie proved on Sunday that he has no problems taking things into his own hands. In the first road stage of the 2006 Tour, the Discovery Channel rider made a crafty move at an intermediate sprint spot to grab a small time bonus and launch himself into the race lead to become just the fourth American to wear the yellow jersey in Tour history. Stage 1, a mostly flat 184.5km loop that started and finished in the city of Strasbourg, was billed as a sprinters’ affair and that’s how it turned out as the

Norwegian Thor Hushovd, wearing the yellow jersey, was injured during the first stage of the Tour de France held over 184.5km here Sunday. Hushovd was lying on the ground conscious after the dramatic end to the stage but with blood pouring out of what appeared to be a cut on his right arm. Saturday's prologue winner was taken to hospital after he appeared to have been hit by a promotional item held by spectator as he prepared to sprint for victory. Video shows the Norwegian brushing up against a giant cardboard hand distributed by sprint jersey sponsor PMU. The items have caused

Jimmy Casper has abruptly stopped the rather unfair but now annual bet in the Tour de France press room: that being how long would it take for a Frenchman to win a stage. His win in Sunday’s first stage silenced those who relish French misery in the Tour whenever foreign riders win stages – not to mention the 21-year drought for an overall win. Now the French can boast one out of one stage wins – not including the prologue – and face the rest of the Tour knowing that the possibility of a winless Tour won’t be raised for at least another year. Casper, 28 and a professional since the age of

WeatherSunny, with slight breeze. Stage winnerJimmy Casper (Cofidis), 184.5km, 4h10:00 (44.280 kph) – Twice the lanterne rouge and three times DNF, the 28-year-old Frenchman shot to his biggest win of his career into Strasbourg. Casper started a long sprint to shoot past a dying Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) to relegate Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) to second and deliver the eternal Erik Zabel (Milram) another third. Race leaderGeorge Hincapie (Discovery Channel), 4h18:15 – Took third in the day’s final time bonuses to move into the virtual lead. It all came down to the final bonuses

We’ll never forget that the pre-race favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso left Strasbourg in public disgrace and private disgust the day before the 93rd Tour de France began. But their departure, and that of the other 11 athletes barred from the race, will begin to be a distant memory when the remaining 176 riders leave their Strasbourg hotels Monday morning and head to the stage 2 start in Obernai. In other words, the Tour is finally getting on the open road, to begin its three-week counterclockwise loop around France. But first stop on the trip is Luxembourg’s second-largest city,

Casper prevails in an insane sprint(Hushovd's arm is already bleeding in this photo)

A year after finishing the Tour de France in the sprinters’ green jersey, Thor Hushovd will start the opening road stage of the 2006 rendition in yellow. The burly Norwegian earned initial possession of the maillot jaune Saturday, taking victory in the 7.1km prologue that kicked off this year’s race in Strasbourg. On a steamy day in the Alsace region of eastern France, Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) blistered the flat, lollipop shaped course, posting a finish time of 8:17. That was just enough to eclipse American George Hincapie, the last of 176 riders to start the 93rd Tour de France. Hincapie

Perhaps it’s premature to look ahead to the afternoon of July 23, 2006, when a new champion of the Tour de France will be crowned on the Champs-Élysées. Perhaps it’s naïve to look past the latest doping scandal to bring professional cycling to its knees. But for the continued popularity of our sport — which has never been at a higher point in the United States — we have to move on. It takes months, sometimes years before the judiciary resolves complicated cases like Operación Puerto; for instance the Cofidis team scandal of January 2004 is only going to court a few weeks from now, 30 months

Strasbourg, France, (AFP) - Australian Cadel Evans is being urgedby his growing band of fans to build on his impressive top-ten finish fromhis Tour de France debut when he saddles up for this year's race here Saturday. However the 29-year-old, who last year single-handedly revived Australianyellow jersey hopes after years of waiting for a new Phil Anderson, remainscautious over his chances. "I'd like to do better than my eighth place finish last year - thisyear with (Lance) Armstrong not racing it's going to be a bit different,"said Evans shortly after his recent victory in the

It was a busy weekend in Europe as most nations held their respective national road championships. The main exception was in Spain, where riders refused to race after leaks concerning the doping investigation "Operación Puerto" were published Sunday in a national newspaper (see below). In Italy, Paolo Bettini won his second national jersey since 2003 on a 231km course in Gorizia. The Quick Step rider beat Mirko Celestino (Milram) in a sprint of 10 riders after animating the race with an attack over the San Floriano climb. "This is one of the most beautiful victories of my career," Bettini

Fred Rodriguez will be lining up Saturday in Strasbourg for what will be the sixth Tour de France start of his career. Since joining Mapei in 1999, the 32-year-old Californian has established himself as one of the top American pros in the European peloton. His Davitamon-Lotto team might be Belgian in its roots, but its two team leaders – Robbie McEwen and Cadel Evans – are Aussies while Rodriguez and top lieutenant Chris Horner are both Americans. Rodriguez returns to his role of helping position McEwen in the sprints, but doesn’t discount opportunities for himself. Last year, Rodriguez

Australia’s Hilton Clarke (Navigators Insurance) won a wild, 40-rider pack sprint on Saturday to take the Saturn Rochester Twilight Criterium. In the women’s race, Sarah Uhl, the reigning collegiate national road champion, won a three-up dash to the line. Now in its third year, the New York crit is on USA Cycling’s National Racing Calendar. With a crowd estimated at 40,000, and $20,000 on the line in the pro-am men’s race, it earned its spot in the limelight. In the fading evening sun, 102 riders started the two-hour pro-am men’s race. It was game on from lap one, with teams including Kodak

Saturday’s final stage of the Tour de Nez, the Reno Criterium, was filled with surprises and upsets. Successful Living’s Curtis Gunn outsprinted Christian Valenzuela (Monex) for the win, while Tony Cruz (Toyota-United) took the field sprint for third, earning the points needed to secure the omnium victory. Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis), who crashed in the field sprint, wound up second in the omnium. Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) took third. The 90-minute finale featured a 0.8-mile course through downtown Reno. Each lap, riders negotiated 10 turns, including a downhill chicane that led

It was a busy weekend in Europe as most nations held their respective national title championships ahead. The main exception was in Spain, where riders held a strike and refused to race after leaks concerning the doping investigation “Operación Puerto” were published Sunday in a national newspaper (see below). In Italy, Paolo Bettini won his second national jersey since 2003 on a 231km course in Gorizia. The Quick Step rider beat Mirko Celestino (Milram) in a sprint of 10 riders after animating the race with an attack over the San Floriano climb. “This is one of the most beautiful victories

Any doubts about George Hincapie’s Tour de France form after an injury forced him to miss nearly two months of racing this spring were erased by a solid 10th-place finish at the Dauphiné Libéré stage race in early June. Hincapie, who suffered a separated shoulder and torn tendons in a crash at Paris-Roubaix in early April, followed his Dauphiné performance by helping his Discovery Channel team power to a second-place finish at last Sunday’s ProTour team time trial race in The Netherlands. And this week the American, who has been named by Discovery Channel director Johan Bruyneel as one of

Chris Wherry (Toyota-United) racked up an impressive win with his solo victory in Friday’s grueling 108-mile Tahoe Road Race, Stage 3 of the Tour de Nez. Wherry was followed by Aaron Olsen (Saunier Duval) and Michael Carter (Team Einstein’s Cycling), who came in together, roughly three and a half minutes off the pace. Finishing fourth a few minutes later was Jelly Belly’s Alex Candelario (a man more-often known for his sprinting talents than road-racing prowess). Tom Zirbel (Priority Health) rounded out the top five, winning the bunch sprint over what was left of the main field, about 20

Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis) outkicked Tony Cruz (Toyota-United) and Andrew Bajadali (Jelly Belly) to win stage 2 of the Tour de Nez on Thursday. The fast, flat, six-corner 1km criterium in downtown Truckee was strung out from the start. And with the first 20 minutes of the hourlong race fraught with numerous crashes, the rear two-thirds of the field shattered in short order; officials eventually pulled 82 riders from the race. Up front, the lead group of 36 included most all the top competitors. Over the next 20 minutes, Toyota-United, Jelly Belly, and Health Net-Maxxis all tried to

Fred Rodriguez and Chris Horner are both heading back to the Tour de France as Davitamon-Lotto announced its nine-man Tour roster. Both Americans have known all season that the Tour was on the radar, with Rodriguez expected to lead out Robbie McEwen in the sprints and Horner to watch out for Cadel Evans in the mountains. “If I can get him in the right place, chances are we’ll win,” Rodriguez told VeloNews about McEwen. “Robbie has such a snap. I cannot think of any other sprinter in the peloton that has Robbie’s snap and the endurance to be there. … If you get him into the 200 meters fresh,

While all 21 teams have yet to announce their official Tour de France rosters, it appears that eight Americans will be lining up July 1 in Strasbourg for the start of the 93rd Tour. Reflecting a growing depth and diversity among the American contingent in Europe, the eight riders are represented by five teams while three of them will be racing with legitimate chances for the final podium when the Tour ends July 23 in Paris. Ninth last year, Floyd Landis (Phonak) is getting the most hype among the European press as the American most likely to succeed Lance Armstrong in the Tour hierarchy.

Imagine for a moment that Lance Armstrong didn’t ride the 2005 Tour de France. And then imagine what happens on the first big stage in the Pyrénées. Approaching the foot of the giant Port de Pailhères climb, Jan Ullrich’s T-Mobile team makes a strong acceleration (just as it did last year). Thepeloton is splintered into several groups. Two-thirds the way up the 15km, 8-percent grade climb, only three riders are left alongside Ullrich: Ivan Basso, Floyd Landis and Levi Leipheimer. Other contenders like Francisco Mancebo, Alexander Vinokourov, Cadel Evans and Michael Rasmussen are left behind.

Bobby Julich, David Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde each earned a return ticket to the Tour de France after Team CSC boss Bjarne Riis named them Monday to the nine-man team that enters the July 1 start as one of the heavy favorites. With Team CSC captain Ivan Basso looking to follow up his Giro d’Italia victory, the three Americans will be part of a formidable team that will ride to support Basso’s ambitions of becoming the first racer since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the Giro and Tour in the same year. “We go to France this year with one ambition: to win with Ivan Basso,” Riis said

Two weeks ahead of the Tour de France, Jan Ullrich of the T-Mobile team is the winner of the 2006 Tour of Switzerland. The German endured bad weather to conquer the final stage of the nine-day race, a 30.7-kilometer time trial into the Swiss capital of Bern. “It’s so close before the Tour de France, and it proves to me that I have the performance and I’m ready for the Tour,” he said. “It’s the last little bit. It’s really the last polishing…Now I already feel that I’m at 90 percent and I can work on the last 10 before the Tour de France.” Hearing the sound of the thunder, the German star

Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics) scored what he terms "the biggest win of my career" in the final stage of the Tour de Beauce on Sunday when he outsprinted breakaway companion Will Frischkorn (TIAA-CREF) after 132 kilometers of racing. Valeriy Kobzarenko (Navigators) easily hung onto the Yellow Jersey after finishing with the main peloton 58 seconds behind Pinfold. In the final stage riders faced 12 laps of an 11 kilometer circuit through the host town of St Georges. In addition to a steep 2.8 kilometer climb each lap, riders had to contend with 30 degree (Celsius) temperatures and humidity

While nearly 100 racers began the day’s race, a group of three riders – Armstrong, Ulmer, and Team Biovail’s Anne Samplonius – broke out in front after the second lap. They would remain out in front by as much as 20 seconds from the chase group, headed by Webcor-Platinum Builder’s Christine Thorburn, until the final lap. Chilkoot Hill proved to be challenge even for the most experienced of riders. “I felt like my heart was going to come out of my chest,” Armstrong said of the push up the hill. With huge crowds on the hill yelling at the riders, Armstrong said she found assistance with her

Sometimes you have to let the race go to win. At least, that is what Health Net thought in the last stage of Great River Energy’s Nature Valley Grand Prix. With three guys sitting one, two and three on the general classification – and another 26 seconds out in fifth place – the National Racing Calendar event was theirs to lose. And while Greg Henderson eventually lost the jersey finishing 12 seconds off the pace, the jersey stayed in the team and gave Karl Menzies the overall victory. And Health Net finished 1-2-3 at the end. “It’s not often you can sweep the podium at an NRC event,” said

After a day like Friday, when everything was almost perfect for Navigators at the Tour de Beauce, today's race saw two members of the team involved in a potentially serious accident with a car that wandered onto the course. Mark Walters and Glen Chadwick were at the front of the peloton setting tempo on the third lap to keep a six rider breakaway in check, when a car ignored traffic cones and swerved out beside them. Chadwick managed to avoid going down, but Walters was sandwiched between Chadwick and the car and had nowhere to go. The Blue Jersey holder (Top Canadian) went down,

On Thursday, KarlMenzies said Health Net’s win was a gift to the team’s director,who was celebrating his birthday. On Saturday, it was Menzies's birthday and apparently, too, it was histurn to receive. The birthday boy fought through four 1-kilometer climbs pitching at14 percent to roll through the finish of the fourth stage of Great RiverEnergy’s Nature Valley Grand Prix. Menzies gave all the credit to his teammateand new overall leader, GregHenderson. “I think Hendie wrapped [the victory] up, put a bow on it and deliveredit to me,” the Tasmanian said after the 86-mile road race in

Tilford tackles elements to take win in fourth stage of Nature Valley Grand PrixBy James Lockwood Officials, spectators and racers knew it was coming, but the question was when. And 17 minutes into the hour-long race for the men’s third stage of Great River Energy’s Nature Valley Grand Prix, the race was called while sheets of rain drenched a happy Steve Tilford who laughed at the elements and won the Minneapolis Downtown Classic. “It’s like FatBoys at night,” he said, referencing the mountain bike races he also does. “You never know what’s going on. You have to watch the lap

For the third consecutive year, rain played a major factor in the Minneapolis Downtown Classic, the third stage of the Great River Energy’s Nature Valley Grand Prix. Heavy rain and hail hit the course about an hour before the scheduled start, delaying the start of the race by 15 minutes and shortening it from 45 to 30 minutes. The shortened race, though, didn’t short-change the spectators or racers from the drama, as TEAm Lipton’s Laura Van Gilder took the hotly contested finish from Victory Brewing’s Katharine Carroll. Van Gilder’s victory continued TEAm Lipton’s dominance, with overall

The fifth stage at the Tour de Beauce – formally “Stage 4-b,” since it followed a morning TT - was pretty much a non-factor in terms of the overall standings, however, bragging rights and UCI points were still on the line, so serious racing did take place. The 60 kilometer criterium is a tradition in the host town of St Georges, and takes place on a four corner, 1.5 kilometer circuit, with a sharp climb at the end of the start straight and a steep descent with a 110 degree left hander at the base. Richard Faltus (Sparkasse) took a last lap gamble and attacked the small lead group he was

Gord Fraser and Mike Sayers each got something special for this year’s Tour of Georgia (April 19-23), new bikes from their sponsor Cannondale. Now approaching mid-June, it’s hard to miss the growing number of big neon green sixes adorning the head tubes of many of Health Net-Maxxis riders’ bikes. In April, both racers were on pre-production prototypes, but now in less than a month, Cannondale is set to have the new rig ready for retail. The new bike, which mates aluminum and carbon utilizing the same process as Cannondale’s Six13, combines a complete carbon front end with a new CAAD 9

The second stage of Great River Energy’s Nature Valley Grand Prix ended as expected, with some of the most talented and most experienced female riders in the world in a mad sprint for the finish. In the end, though, it was a rookie and a local amateur who stood atop two of the three podium places. Palo Alto Bicycle Works/TIBCO’s Brooke Miller seized the moment to capture the 58.6-mile Cannon Falls Road Race, ahead of Jazz Apple Cycling’s Sarah Ulmer and local women’s legend and Flanders/MBRC racer Teresa Moriarty. An overjoyed Miller was at a loss after the race. She screamed after

Chris Horner rode out of the Dauphiné Libéré ready for next month’s Tour de France. The Davitamon-Lotto didn’t score a stage victory, but he was active on the hardest climbs in the week-long race to show his form is on the rise ahead of July. Horner’s second Tour will be in marked contrast to his debut last year with Saunier Duval. He’s been assured of a Tour spot all season long, eliminating the stress and doubt of last year of not knowing whether he had spot until he won a stage in the Tour de Suisse to sew up his place. “It’s completely different for me compared to last year,” Horner

While Discovery Channel’s George Hincapie continues on his evolution from sprinter to spring classics strongman to Tour de France super-domestique to Tour contender, world champion Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) says he has no intention of following in his footsteps. Responding to a question from VeloNews, Boonen said he won’t try to become a GC contender someday in cycling’s biggest race. The reigning world champion said he’s more than happy where he is right now. “I have no plans at all to become the next George Hincapie. Let me just do what I do best: riding the classics and

The 21st edition of Canada's premier stage race, the Tour de Beauce, began on Tuesday with a 164 kilometer stage through the rolling hills south of Quebec City. Valeriy Kobzarenko (Navigators Insurance) won the stage and yellow jersey of race leader after dropping three breakaway companions in the final five kilometers of the stage. Kobzarenko finished 21 seconds ahead of second place Fausto Esparza Munoz (Tecos Trek VH), who out sprinted Kobzarenko's teammate Sergey Lagutin and Stefan Parinussa of the German Team Sparkasse. The first of the small groups which made up the remnants

Belgium's Nick Nuyens (Quick Step) won the third stage of the Tour of Switzerland at Arlesheim on Monday, also claiming the leader's jersey. Nuyens beat fellow escapees Koldo Gil (Saunier Duval) and Germans Linus (T-Mobile)Gerdemann and Jörg Jaksche (Würth) in a sprint finish. The peloton, led home by Spaniard Oscar Freire (Rabobank), crossed the line 11 seconds behind the lead breakaway. Thanks to bonus seconds for winning the stage, Nuyens did just enough to overhaul Italy's Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital)to claim the leader's jersey. The breakaway group made their move

Levi Leipheimer realized a childhood dream Sunday, winning the Dauphiné Libéré after finishing safely in the lead bunch of 55 riders in the wild and woolly 131km finale over four short but steep climbs into Grenoble. The Gerolsteiner rider received a congratulatory handshake from Russian nemesis Denis Menchov (Rabobank) after the pair rolled across the line behind stage winner Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole). Leipheimer becomes the fourth American to win the Dauphiné Libéré, joining Greg LeMond, Tyler Hamilton and Lance Armstrong in the winner’s circle. "I am very proud to win this race,"

Racers at Philadelphia’s Liberty Classic would be wise to beware of the Germans. Following the retirement of Petra Rossner, who won seven editions of this race, Ina Teutenberg (T-Mobile) stepped in to defend her country’s honor, winning out of a break in the 2005 edition. This year, it was reigning world champion Regina Schleicher (Nürnberger) who would deliver the win for Germany in the 57.6 mile contest. Teutenberg looked primed for the win until the closing 50 meters, having received a picture-perfect lead-out from three of her T-Mobile teammates. But the world champion was lined up on

A month ago, New Zealander GregHenderson didn’t know whether or not he would race at the CommerceBank Triple Crown series, which culminated in Sunday’s 156-mile PhiladelphiaInternational Championship. A broken hip, suffered in a crash in March,had sidelined the Health Net-Maxxis rider for most of April and May, missingout on important races like the Ford Tour de Georgia, where he won thepoints jersey last year. On Sunday, Henderson won one of the biggest races of his career in aphoto-finish field sprint, just beating out former teammate IvanDominguez of Toyota-United. Navigators Insurance

Belgian world champion Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) won a bunch sprint to claim the leader's jersey at the end of the first stage of the Tour of Switzerland, held over 154.8km around Baden on Saturday. Italian Daniel Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) was second with Spanish sprinter Oscar Freire (Rabobank) third. Boonen, 25, paid tribute to his Quick Step-Innergetic team for cranking up the tempo to dominate potential rivals such as Australian Robbie McEwen and Austria's Bernhard Eisel on the final slope. Lead-out man Matteo Tosatto took him to within 250 meters of the line. The

Since 1985, the image of an international peloton charging up Philadelphia’s Manayunk Wall, with a healthy prize list and a USPRO national title on the line, has become woven into the fabric of the national road-racing community. But in 2005 the event ran up against multiple walls of another sort, including the loss of its national-title status, the departure of its title sponsor and financial troubles with its organizer, Threshold Sports. Originally sponsored by regional bank CoreStates, the title sponsor behind the Philadelphia event evolved over the years, from CoreStates to First Union

Two victories in four days are helping David Zabriskie secure a return ticket to the 2006 Tour de France. Last year, Zabriskie won the opening stage in his Tour debut to become just the third American to wear the yellow jersey, but the 27-year-old finds himself on the Tour bubble because of the depth of talent on Team CSC. CSC manager Bjarne Riis is mulling which eight riders will support Ivan Basso in pursuit of July’s crown as the Italian aims to become the first rider since 1998 to win the Giro d’Italia and the Tour in the same season. Zabriskie’s impressive victory in Wednesday’s 43km

Experience the 2006 Tour de France by riding it… from home!Carmichael Training Systems Launches New Interactive Training LineWithDo the Tour…Stay at Home.™ Audio Workouts, Presented by AMD COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado – This July instead of sitting onthe couch watching the Tour de France on OLN, set your bike up on an indoortrainer and “ride” the Grand Tour itself. No plane ticket or world-classfitness level required. All you need are Carmichael Training Systems’ (CTS)Do the Tour…Stay at Home.™ audio workouts, presented by AMD, which canbe downloaded onto a digital music player directly

Coming off of a fractured hip suffered in March, Health Net-Maxxis sprinter Greg Henderson showed the domestic peloton that he’s back with a vengeance in Reading, Pennsylvania, Thursday, easily winning the Reading Classic, the second leg of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown, out of a 10-man group ahead of Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance) and Danny Pate (TIAA-CREF). Henderson, the 2004 world scratch-race champion from Dunedin, New Zealand, chose to race at the Mt. Hood Classic stage race last week, helping teammate Nathan O’Neill take the overall win, rather than return to defend his title

The Mailbag 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.Drug-raid stats astoundingEditor:After reading the articles regarding the recent Liberty Seguros drug bust I was completely surprised by the magnitude of the findings. Found were more than 200 containers of blood and a few thousand capsules of EPO. Are that many riders risking their

Monday’s longest stage of this very mountainous Dauphiné Libéré looked to be one for the sprinters. The 207km course from Annecy to Bourgoin-Jallieu was only interrupted by three rather innocuous Cat. 4 ripples late in the course profile. Early on, a lone avenger, in the form of Frenchman Nicolas Inaudi (Cofidis), stole away at 15km and at one point boasted a lead of nearly 18 minutes.CompleteResults That prompted Team CSC and Credit Agricole to cooperate, with Bjarne´s Army anxious to either keep prologue winner Dave Zabriskie in the race leader’s jersey or bounce Stuart O´Grady, who

Editor's Note: We began corresponding with Major Jason A. Bryan during the Giro d'Italia. Bryan, a fan of VeloNews.com's Live Coverage, is currently deployed to Iraq.As you can see from Bryan's most recent e-mail, the major is a cyclist, a fan of the sport and a guy just trying to maintain his legs despite some rather unusual obstacles.The perimeter is 18.5 km. My goal for June is 1000 km, which means many, many 18.5 km intervals. I’ve been riding a lap every morning and night to steadily eat away at the target. It is way too hot now to even think about riding during the

Christian Vande Velde (CSC) secured the biggest victory of his European career Sunday after locking up the overall title at the five-day Tour of Luxembourg. Vande Velde grabbed the lead in Saturday’s difficult climbing stage and finished with the favorites Sunday to secure the first European stage-race victory of his career. Team CSC put four teammates to support Vande Velde in the winning 15-man break to ensure victory for the American. "I was a bit nervous before the stage, but as soon as we started, I was okay," Vande Velde said. "Right from the beginning of this race I've been

Jackson Stewart (KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada) scored a breakthrough win at Sunday’s Lancaster Classic ahead of Toyota-United’s J.J. Haedo and Navigators’ former U23 world champion Sergey Lagutin. With the win at Lancaster, Stewart becomes the leader of the newly-created Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling, which continues with the Redding Classic on Thursday and the Philadelphia International Championship on Sunday. Contested over 13 laps of its traditional 6.5 kilometer circuit from the town’s historic downtown to the Lancaster County Central Park, Lancaster is known as one of the

Hood River, Oregon -- If the men's race was predictable, the women's was anything but, Sunday at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic near Hood River, Ore. Symmetrics rider Leah Goldstein, still recovering from a crash from almost ayear ago, rolled clear of race leader Alison Powers of the Rio Grande/SportsGarage team on the last of three climbs to win her first big race in 2006. "I've won some local races, but this is the first NRC race I've done since crashing at (the Cascade Classic in Bend, Ore.) last year," Goldstein said."I needed 45 seconds to win (the overall) and that's

Based solely on his performances thus far this season - winning every week-long stage race he’s started - Floyd Landis (Phonak) would have to be the favorite for victory in the 58th Dauphiné Libéré when it kicks off on Sunday. A flat, 4.1km prologue marks the start of an impressive route that hits some of cycling’s established giants, serving up the perfect backdrop as the Tour de France favorites go through a final dress rehearsal before July’s big show. In all, 168 riders from 21 teams will be in Annecy for the start. Joining the 20 ProTour teams will be Agritubel, which lines up with

Veteran campaigner Mark McCormack (Colavita-Sutter Home) drew on years of criterium experience to win the 9th edition of the CSC Invitational in Arlington, Virginia, on Saturday. The 35-year-old led out the sprint in front of a decimated field and held off Carl Menzies (Health Net) and Alex Candelario (Jelly Belly) to give the Colavita men’s squad its second win in three days. Davide Frattini (Colavita) won the CapTech Classic in Richmond on Thursday. CapTech winner Tina Pic (Colavita) rounded out the Colavita squad’s day by taking her second victory of the week in a bunch-sprint win over

Hood River, Oregon-- For Alison Powers, winning the fifth stage of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic before an estimated 10,000 spectators in downtown Hood River was bitter sweet.The Rio Grande/Sports Garage rider soloed with two laps remaining in Saturday's criterium to hold off a charging field and capture the win, but five laps prior, race leader Dotsie Bausch of the Colavita/ Cooking Light Cycling team crashed on a sweeping downhill turn and was unable to continue. Preliminary reports indicate that Bausch, who was leading Powers by 43 seconds on general classification, suffered a broken

The Mailbag 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.Vino’ didn’t steal anything: He got it fair and squareEditor:What does Andrew Hood mean when he writes that "Alexandre Vinokourov swiped [Levi Leipheimer's] hard-earned fifth place at the Tour de France" last year (see "Eye on the prize: A conversation with Levi Leipheimer")? Before

Hood River, Oregon -- If there's a chink in Nathan O'Neill's armorthus far at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, it's not easy to spot.On Friday near Hood River, Ore., the Health Net rider -- a burly manfor climbing purposes -- climbed with the first group and sprintedfor second place earning a 10-second time bonus and thus tightening hisgrip on the general classification.How discouraging it must be to discover that one of the best time trialistsin the world can stay with the best climbers at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classicon a 95-mile day when the course features 9,000 feet of

Davide Frattini took advantage of a moment’s hesitation in a four man break and slipped away to victory on the final lap of the 100k CapTech Classic in Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday. A few seconds behind Frattini (Colavita-Sutter Home), Uzbekistan national champion Sergey Lagutin (Navigators) out sprinted Ivan Stevic (Toyota-United) for second place. The winning break, initially containing Ben Jaques-Maynes (Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada), Mark Walters (Navigators), Frattini, Lagutin, and Stevic, emerged mid-way throughout an attrition-heavy race. The demanding 2k-course featured a

Hood River, Oregon -- It didn't take Dotsie Bausch long to figure out that she placed herself in the leader's jersey at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic in Hood River, Oregon on Thursday.The women's race, like the men's, ended in bunch sprint with Bausch earning second place on a technical downhill run-in over twisting, chip-seal roads. She was nipped by Brooke Miller of the PABW powered by TIBCO team, but second was enough to earn the 10-second time bonus that vaulted her past Alison Powers (Rio Grande/Sports Garage) and into the overall lead by seven seconds.Health Net's

Team CSC’s Ivan Basso barnstormed to victory Saturday in the final hard stage of the 89th Giro d’Italia in the style of the man everyone expects Basso to succeed – Lance Armstrong. Basso wasn’t in a giving mood when he dropped an exasperated Gilberto Simoni (Saunier Duval) with about 4km to go in Saturday’s grueling, 211km 20th stage to win for the third time and widen his grip on the maglia rosa to more than nine minutes with just one day left. An angry Simoni called Basso an "extraterrestrial" for his crushing performance and accused him riding unfairly by asking him to ride easy on the

The fourth round of the cross-country mountain-bike World Cup took riders to the Scottish Highlands on Saturday. Despite cold rain, which was torrential at times, the event featured some of the best racing of the World Cup so far. Julien Absalon (Bianchi Agos) took his third consecutive victory in the men's race, but perennial women's favorite Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida) ceded the top spot on the podium to her young teammate Nina Göhl after suffering a flat on the first lap. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher), meanwhile, had a breakthrough ride to finish on the podium

There’s no stopping Team CSC in this Giro d’Italia, unless they decide to stop themselves. Team CSC was everywhere in Friday’s epic seven-hour haul in the 221km 19th stage that hit such legendary climbs as the Fedaia, Pordoi and San Pellegrino. Bobby Julich and Jens Voigt were in the day’s winning 19-man break, five other Team CSC jerseys were pinned at the front of the main bunch and race leader Ivan Basso widened his hold on the maglia rosa to more than six minutes with just two days left. So what was Voigt doing when he reached over and patted Juan Manuel Garate (Lampre) on the back

Class Act: After following Garate's wheel for 5km, Voigt declined to contest the sprint.

Lately, it seems, when there’s been a doping scandal involving cycling, Italy and the Giro d’Italia figured at the center of the storm. Think of Marco Pantani’s expulsion in 1999, the San Remo raids in 2001 and the ejection of Stefano Garzelli while in the leader’s jersey in 2002. This time around, a brewing tempest in Spain involving Liberty Seguros team manager Manolo Saiz, Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes and three others reached all the way to the Giro's 18th stage, which began in the mountains of Austria Thursday morning. Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) won his second stage of

Reigning Olympic champion Paolo Bettini Quick Step) put an end to a streak of frustrating finishes this season with a decisive win at the end of Monday’s 190km 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia. Overall race leader, CSC's Ivan Basso, enjoyed what could be described as this Giro's easiest, a completely flat ride from Mergozza to Brescia in the Lombardy region in Northern Italy. Bettini, 32, ended a string of frustrating near-wins, by grabbing the victory from this Giro's other bridesmaid, Pollack, who has also come frustratingly close to victory in most of this Giro's sprint

Cañada wins Catalunya, Bennati takes finaleDavid Cañada (Saunier Duval) held on to his slender two-second lead to claim the biggest win of his decade-long career with overall victory Sunday in the 86th Volta a Catalunya in Spain. Cañada only had to follow the wheel of Santiago Botero (Phonak) in the hilly 121km march from Lloret de Mar that ended with a sprint in downtown Barcelona. Christophe Moreau (Ag2r) finished third at eight seconds back. “Winning here was complicated, there were lots of decisive moments,” the 31-year-old Cañada told reporters. “My team played a crucial role and there

Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) sat in the shade of some palm trees Wednesday morning saying he’d like to win a stage at the week-long Volta a Catalunya as "a test" before tackling more important goals later this summer. Well, if his sprint victory in Wednesday’s third stage ahead of riders he’s due to square off against in a few weeks is any indication, the big Norwegian seems to be on the right path for the Tour. "It was a tough sprint because of strong headwinds in the finale," Hushovd told reporters. "I’m particularly delighted to win, because today is Norway’s national holiday. I’m on

It wasn’t quite as painful as the Nordic ski jumper that went spiraling down the hill all those years during the intro to ABC’s Wide World of Sports, but watching poor Axel Merckx throw several backward glances as a fast-moving chase group caught the Phonak rider just 150 meters from the line clearly rated as one of cycling’s agony-of-defeat moments. Instead of a heroic solo stage 10 win for the Belgian with the famous name, it was Liquigas lieutenant Franco Pellizotti who got to pop the champagne at the end of the 190km run south from Termoli to Peschici on Tuesday at the Giro

Steep, steep, steepDear Lennard,I recently read that Discovery director Johann Bruyneel is planningon putting a 34X29 on some of his riders' bikes for Stage 17 of the Giro.I don’t think Shimano makes either a compact Dura-Ace crank or a 29 cog.Any idea what they plan on using?James Dear James,I am in Italy now putting on a bikecamp with Connie Carpenter and Davis Phinney. We will be hookingup with the Giro starting at the Pontedera time trial on Thursday. I ameager to see the Stage 17 finish climb and the gearing teams use for it,too. According to Shimano USA and confirmed by Shimano

The sprint was a mere formality

Tomas Vaitkus pulled off two great feats at the close of Monday's 132km run from Francavilla al Mare to Termoli. In winning the bunch sprint down the main drag of this sleepy beach town on the Adriatic, Vaitkus became the first Lithuanian to win a Giro d'Italia stage. But maybe more impressive was the fact that Vaitkus did so ahead of Robbie McEwen, heretofore unbeatable in mass gallops at this year's Giro. McEwen actually finished fourth on stage 9, with Vaitkus (Ag2r), Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) and Olaf Pollack (T-Mobile) all besting the Davitamon-Lotto rider.