WeatherCloudy to partly cloudy all day, fog on Soudet summit, temperatures in mid-20sC Stage winnerJuan Manuel Mercado (Agritubel), 4h49:10, 39.527kph – Spanish mountain goat Mercado outsprinted Cyril Dessel (Ag2r) after the pair snuck away in the day’s winning breakaway. Mercado won a Tour stage in 2004, but was otherwise unproductive in two years with Quick Step. The victory gives his wild-card team a big boost. Race leaderDessel, 1,850.6km in 43h07:05, 42.916kph – Dessel started the stage 28th at 3:50 back and now leads Mercado by 2:34. Ukraine Sergei Gontchar (T-Mobile) saw his

Course: After a long transfer and rest day in Bordeaux, the race continues with the last stage likely to have a mass finish until the Tour is two days out from Paris. The sprinters won’t waste the opportunity, especially on a completely flat stage like this one. It barrels southwest through the pine forest of the Landes almost to the Atlantic coast before turning south. Any breakaways are likely to be swept up after the route turns southeast for the final 35km — where winds off the ocean could split the peloton into echelons (perhaps CSC will make one of its trademark surges) and possibly

Oscar Freire (Rabobank) won the battle of the sprinters in Tuesday’s turbo-charged prelude to the Pyrénées, stabbing his wheel ahead of Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) to win stage 9 in a heart-stopping charge to the line. It was the Spanish sprinter’s second stage win of this year’s Tour de France, while Erik Zabel (Milram) snuck past a frustrated Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) to grab third place on the 169.5km stage from Bordeaux to Dax. “I’ve good and bad memories from finishes like that,” said Freire, referring to other photo finishes in his career. “I had good luck at Milan-San

Weather Sunny in morning, partly cloudy in afternoon, temperatures in high 70s, very humid Stage winner Oscar Freire (Rabobank), 3h35:24, 47.214kph – The three-time world champion won his second stage of this year’s Tour in a wild, wide-open sprint into Dax. Freire won in a bike stab against Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto), with Erik Zabel (Milram) taking third in the fastest road stage of the race so far. Race leader Sergei Gontchar, 1,660.1km in 38h14:17, 43.415kph – The Ukraine with an oft-misspelled name had another easy day in the saddle, finishing 32nd safely tucked in the main

Australian Robbie McEwen has been lauded for his “explosive” top-end speed by Mario Cipollini, arguably the greatest sprinter of modern Tour de France history. Such praise from the retired Italian superstar was all the more meaningful considering that McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) actually lost the sprint at the end of Tuesday’s 169.5km ninth stage from Bordeaux to Dax. But McEwen’s lightening come-from-behind surge in the last 50 meters of Tuesday's stage to come from fifth wheel and then dart 10 meters across to his left and still challenge for the win was “astonishing,” said

If you ask six different experts who is going to win the 2006 Tour de France, you get six different answers. No one knows. Not even the athletes or their team officials know which rider is going to emerge in the mountains to take command. T-Mobile would appear to have the advantage with four riders in the first six, including yellow jersey Sergei Gontchar, but even the German squad has no real idea. Asked if his team will operate in the mountains like Lance Armstrong’s did for seven years, T-Mobile team manager Olaf Ludwig told VeloNews, “No, we don’t do the same as Discovery Channel or

A real break. Yesterday's rest day, followed by a nice flat day like today, is bonus. It means that the rest day could be treated like a true rest day, one in which we only ride for 90 minutes or so, eat, get a little sleep and have no cars, planes or trains involved in our day. We took advantage of it, had a nice stroll through the vineyards yesterday and even stopped for a coffee. It was most likely to be the last day of this Tour in which we can actually “rest.” Tomorrow we head into the Pyrénées, and our next rest day on Monday is going to be followed by a brutally difficult

When Tour de France points leader Robbie McEwen of Davitamon-Lotto was asked Monday what he thought about rival sprinter Tom Boonen saying after Sunday’s stage 8 in Lorient that he was giving up on the green jersey, the little Aussie stated, "He’s lying." McEwen knows that Quick Step’s Boonen has been frustrated by not winning a stage in the Tour’s opening week and that he’ll come back — maybe starting on Tuesday, during the 169.5km stage 9 from Bordeaux to Dax. The stage is the flattest of the 2006 Tour, its highest point being 223 feet above sea level. It will be tough for breakaways to

While the big news coming out of the Phonak camp on Monday’s Tour de France rest day centered on Floyd Landis’s health and future in the sport, there was also a race to discuss. In an afternoon press conference held on the outskirts of Bordeaux, the American praised his team and said the goal remains the same: wear the yellow jersey on the final podium in Paris. "We are in the position we hoped for from the start," said Landis, who sits second overall after eight stages, a minute behind T-Mobile’s Sergei Honchar. "But now it gets complicated. The Tour is dynamic and we cannot predict what

Course: Huge crowds are expected on this hilly run through cycling-mad Brittany. The stage starts at the birthplace of three-time Tour champion Louison Bobet, who worked in the family bakery at St. Méen-le-Grand before becoming a cyclist. The biggest crowds will be on the Cat. 3 Mûr-de-Bretagne and on the sprint line in Plouay — where Hincapie won the ProTour classic last year. The final 20km is on wide highways with a fast run-in to Lorient, where the finish is on the slightly curving and flat Avenue Jean Jaurès. History: Lorient last saw a stage finish in 2002 when Santiago Botero dealt

The 93rd Tour de France saw its first stage taken by a long breakaway on Sunday when the unheralded Frenchman Sylvain Calzati (Ag2r) attacked solo from a six-man move 32km from the finish of the 181km stage 8 across the hilly Brittany region. Dave Zabriskie (CSC) figured in the breakaway that escaped from just 47km after the start in St. Méen-le-Grand, with Calzati going clear when the peloton showed signs of closing down the six-man break. A week after Jimmy Casper won stage 1 in Strasbourg, Calzati earned France’s second stage win of this year’s Tour, while Ukraine’s Sergei Gontchar

WeatherCloudy in morning, some intermittent showers, but mostly sunny in afternoon, highs in upper 70s Stage winnerSylvain Calzati (Ag2r), 4h13:18, 42.874kph – The 27-year-old Calzati shot away from a six-man group with about 35km to go to solo home to win in the Tour’s first successful breakaway. It was only his second career victory to go along with a stage-win in the 2004 Tour de l’Avenir. He was the last rider named to the nine-man Tour squad. Race leaderSergei Gontchar, 1490.6km in 34h38:53, 43.021kph – Gontchar had an easy day in the saddle, finishing 100th in the main bunch to

..sh*t from Shinola is no longer in question. Apparently, I can't tell the difference. If you read my entry from yesterday, you will correctly conclude that my predictions were total crap. I admit it. Fifty-two kilometers of bad predictions and I forgot that Sergei Gontchar was even in the race! Then today the race continued to be bizarre. We raced full gas for the first 50k and then finally an acceptable break that everyone seemed to be happy with went away. Dave Z. (a.k.a. “The Green Hornet”) made the break and we were all proud of him, fighting his way to the front and joining

Kristin Armstrong (Team Lipton) and Matt Cooke (LSV-Kelly Benefit Strategies) claimed the women’s and men’s elite road race titles Saturday at the USA Cycling National Festival at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Champion, Pennsylvania. Armstrong, Thursday’s elite women’s national time trial champion, took the title at the line ahead of five riders in a sprint finish. Just one second behind Armstrong, Christine Thorburn (Webcor-Platinum) took second and Amber Neben (Buitenpoort/Flexpoint) took third in a photo finish. The final kilometer of the course featured a 250-meter climb before a

Gravity racers hopped in their trucks and headed west Friday afternoon, driving 45 miles from Deer Valley, Utah — site of the fourth National Mountain Bike Series event for 2006 — to West Jericho, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The small, dusty town is home to the Rad Canyon BMX track, which hosted the mountain-cross competition. Rad Canyon is one of the best-known BMX venues in the country — it sits on the outskirts of a housing development, and routinely hosts the ABA National Championships. And the venue had most racers talking — but not about the long commute. “It looks like they have put

Among the sheaf of communiqués issued by the Tour de France organization Saturday night, the one that the riders are probably happiest about gives details of the charter flights they will take Sunday evening after stage 8. They’re headed to Bordeaux, where they’ll enjoy a full rest day on Monday and have time to take stock of what is developing into one of the strangest Tours in living memory. But before their flights, which are scheduled to leave Lorient at 6:15 and 6:30 p.m. local time, there’s the not-small matter of a tricky 181km stage across the hills of Brittany to overcome. Huge

Course: There’s some initial fun with a visit to Camembert cheese country and a Cat. 3 hill at Vimoutiers that has a 13-percent pitch, but then the shorter (189km) stage settles into a series of long, straight, sometimes hilly highways across the open farmland of Normandy. Rolling hills precede the entry into Vitré, where the course loops around and through town to reach a slightly uphill finishing straight almost 2km long. History: There have been three stage finishes at Vitré, all won by sprinters: Belgian Rudy Matthijs in 1985, Italian Mario Cipollini in 1995 and German Marcel Wüst in

After claiming a stunning third Tour de France stage win in five days, Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen warned his shattered rivals that there is plenty of speed left in his legs. And the real bad news for Belgian Tom Boonen, Italian Daniele Bennati, Norwegian Thor Hushovd and Spaniard Oscar Freire is that he plans to use that speed again as soon as possible. But wait, there’s more from the Queenslander whose three-length victory over a frustrated Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) and Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) was clocked in an average stage speed of 45.309 kph for the 189km ride from Lisieux

Andréas Klöden is not exactly your average big mouth. When the slender T-Mobile pro speaks, his dark brown eyes are fixed on an imaginary spot in the carpet and one has to move really close to him, to understand his almost whispering voice. He offers up sentences like, "Yes, I have the GC in the back of my mind." It's a statement that clearly falls way short of an announcement that Klöden would like to win the Tour de France. Klöden does not seem to quite grasp that after the demise of Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso and Alexandre Vinokourov he is one of the big favorites of this year's

WeatherShowers at start, mostly cloudy and some sprinkles in the afternoon, temperatures in the high 70s, light to moderate head-crosswinds Stage winnerRobbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto), 4h10:17, 45.309kph – McEwen took another dominant victory by three bike lengths to score a Tour hat-trick, winning his third stage in just six tries. Last year, McEwen also won three stages, but it took 13 stages to pull it off. Italian Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) won the battle for second place. Race leaderTom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic), 29h21:00, 42.833kph – The world champion pounded his right

McEwen, though, specializes in sprints.

Man, does he specialize in sprints.

Course: The fourth long stage in a row, this one (225km) starts on the open, windswept roads of Picardy, tackles a series of short climbs across the Seine Valley, and concludes with more undulations across Normandy. It’s likely that only seconds will separate the race leaders on GC going into this stage, and the yellow jersey could change hands with time bonuses at the intermediate sprints, the last of which is at Pont l’Evêque with 50km to go. A fast, tricky run-in to sprawling Caen, population 113,000, will make it hard for a sprinter’s lead-out train to succeed, and perhaps favor a late,

After racing through heat-wave temperatures on the Tour de France’s opening five days, the peloton will be grateful for more temperate conditions in the upcoming week — starting with Thursday’s 225km stage 5 that starts north of Paris and heads southwest into Normandy. Local forecasts call for temperatures in the low 70s, moderate west winds in the riders’ faces and a 40-percent chance of rain. Head winds don’t favor small breakaways, so expect to see another bunch finish at Caen on Thursday. The course has plenty of ups and downs in its middle section through the Seine Valley, but the

After knocking on the door for several days, Spaniard Oscar Freire finally kicked it right in on Thursday, outsprinting yellow-jersey wearer Tom Boonen to win his first Tour de France stage since 2002. The three-time world champion from Rabobank won a chaotic drag race against Boonen on the stage 5 finishing stretch down Guillou Boulevard in Caen, near France’s northwestern coast and the beaches of Normandy. After being shut out by his green-jersey rivals in previous sprints this week, the 30-year-old Freire came into Thursday’s stage with a different plan of attack. Instead of reacting to

Weathercooler, highs in low-80s, partly cloudy in afternoon, brisk headwinds in final sprint Stage winnerOscar Freire (Rabobank), 5h18:50, 42.342kph – The three-time world champion won his first stage of this year’s Tour, relegating reigning world champ Tom Boonen to second place. The Spanish rider started an early sprint against a brisk headwind to pull the surprise win for just his first Tour win since 2002 while in the rainbow jersey. Race leaderTom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic), 25h10:51, 42.423kph – The world champion fell short of victory, but was pleased to keep the yellow jersey

A lot of people are talking about why this Tour de France appears to be slower than last year’s, which reached the finish in Paris at a record average of 41.605kmh. Most people ask if it is due to the absence of those riders who would otherwise be overall favorites. What I do know is that, yes, the Tour is a hell of a lot different than last year. And the one major influence, with Lance Armstrong and a few of the main favorites not being here, is that every team now thinks they are in with a chance to win the overall. Those teams – including ours - are racing tactically quite differently

The final sprint

Course: This stage, which starts in the Belgian city of Huy on the right bank of the Meuse River at the foot of the infamous Mur de Huy, brings the Tour back to France. It traces some of the roads of the Mur’s classic, the Flèche Wallonne, climbing a couple of Ardennes hills in the opening 60km; but then it heads southeast on a flat-to-rolling route, mainly on wide, straight roads till it reaches the French border. The final two hours will be hectic, first on 80km of twisting, undulating back road through the countryside of Picardy, until the race reaches a straight, hilly highway inside 15km

It was a double-digit day for Robbie McEwen on stage 4 of the Tour de France. He uncorked a perfectly timed sprint with 200 meters to go in St. Quentin, France, to score his 10th career Tour de France stage victory in dominating fashion. The 34-year-old Australian they call "the pocket rocket" shot away in a tough, uphill sprint through a sweeping left turn to beat Spanish sprinter Isaac Galvez (Caisse d’Épargne-Illes Balears) by two bike lengths, while an exasperated Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) came through in fifth shaking his head in frustration but retaining the maillot jaune. "I

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