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.

If there is such a thing as a psychological advantage in bike racing, Ivan Basso now has it. The Team CSC leader also now owns the maglia rosa of race leader and no less than a 1:34 edge on his chief rivals in the 2006 Giro d’Italia. All this came courtesy of a stunning display of climbing force at the close of the 171km stage 8 run from Civitanova Marche to the 1289-meter summit finish at Maielletta-Passo Lanciano. Following a sharp attack from fellow Giro favorite Damiano Cunego 4km from the finish, Basso latched onto the Lampre-Fondital rider’s wheel, and then mercilessly dropped the 2004

Spectators lining the start/finish line of today’s 2006 collegiate road national championships at Perry Lake, Kansas, saw four very different race finishes, with Brent Bookwalter (Lees-McRae), Sarah Uhl (Penn State), Mark Hardman (Virginia) and Mara Abbott (Whitman College) emerging as winners. The day kicked off promptly at 8 a.m., with the women’s Division I and Division II fields taking to the road at Perry Lake, a boating and fishing destination about 15 miles west of Lawrence. Both women’s divisions circled the rolling 28-mile loop twice, with the 75-woman Division I race hitting the

Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan-Merida) once again made it a race for second place in the Madrid women’s cross-country race, but the all-powerful Norwegian is finally finding some challengers nipping at her heels. Dahle dropped a revived Marga Fullana (Spiuk-Illes Balears) on the first of five laps and then held off a late charge by nemesis Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain) to win for the second time this World Cup season. "This course is so fast you can never let up even for a moment or they’ll get you back," Dahle said after winning in 1:39:11. "I thought maybe I went out too hard and I was

After a double day of competition on Saturday at the Joe Martin Stage Race, Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis) retained his overall lead in the men’s race and Erinne Willock (Webcor-Platinum) moved into the top spot in the women’s general classification. Fraser won the field sprint of a 92-mile road race in the morning, then finished ninth in the 2.5-mile uphill time trial – 19 seconds behind teammate Scott Moninger – to stay in the lead. Meanwhile, Tina Pic (Colavita-Cooking Light) took the women’s 69-mile road race, but Willock won the afternoon’s time trial to move into first overall, 20

Timing is everything, especially on a fast, high-speed course in Madrid’s Casa de Campo, where passing lanes are as rare as they are on a Spanish mountain highway. Reigning world champion Julian Absalon (Bianchi) took some choice words of advice from his coach in the closing half-kilometer and sneaked past arch-rival Christoph Sauser (Specialized) to secure victory Sunday in the second round of the men’s World Cup mountain bike series. "I tried to drop him on the final hard climb, but he was too strong and I thought it would be a sprint, but my coach told me to get past him in the last flat

Arkansas has been good to Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis). In the final event of the Joe Martin Stage Race, a technical downtown criterium, Fraser won his third sprint finish and maintained his overall title. In the women’s race Erinne Willock finished fourth, 10 seconds down on race winner Kori Seehafer, to maintain first in general classification. Entering the final stage with the top two riders on general classification, Fraser and Scott Moninger, the Health Net-Maxxis racers had one thing on their mind – playing defense. On a criterium course in downtown Fayetteville featuring eight

Brent Bookwalter out-sprints Todd Yezefski for the win

Saturday’s 236km stage from Cesana to Saltara certainly won’t decide the overall winner of the 2006 Giro d’Italia, but it may have revealed some cracks in at least one of the pre-race favorites. While Belgian Rik Verbrugghe was off the front gunning his way to a hard-fought solo stage win, Italian Danilo Di Luca was noticeably absent from a fast-closing group that included the rest of the Giro’s big GC guns — Paolo Savoldelli, Gilberto Simoni and Damiano Cunego. At the finish Di Luca (Liquigas) managed to limit his losses to second-place finisher Savoldelli (Discovery Channel) to 20

Aussie speedster Robbie McEwen continued his dominating run at the 2006 Giro d'Italia, grabbing a convincing stage-6 win at the finish of the dead flat, 227km run along the Po Valley from Busseto to Forli. The triumph gave the "Pocket Rocket" three victories at this year’s Giro, bring his career total to 11. One spot back of McEwen was T-Mobile’s Olaf Pollack, who was no match for the Davitamon-Lotto speedster. Still, he could take solace in the new pink jersey he would be taking back to the team hotel. Coming into the day, Pollack had trailed teammate and GC leader Sergei Honchar by 10

Tina Pic (Colavita) and Health Net’s Gord Fraser won their opening stages at the Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Friday, the opener in a growing three-day event with a healthy fan base and an increasing prize list. In a hard fought up-hill sprint to the line, Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis) won the 110-mile men’s road race, beating Ivan Stevic (Toyota-United) and Alex Candelario (Jelly Belly) to the line. Fraser’s win came thanks to the help of his Health Net-Maxxis teammates Scott Moninger and Nathan O’Neill, who worked to chase down a dangerous break of four riders that

With many of the top favorites for the Tour de France racing this month in the Giro d’Italia, one name absent is that of the tenacious attacker Alexandre Vinokourov. After last racing in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Vinokourov is continuing with his patient and quiet preparation for the Tour. The demands of the 21-stage Giro don’t figure part of that plan. “We never thought of racing the Giro. In fact, our thinking is the opposite,” Vinokourov told VeloNews. “We want to stay away from the stresses of racing and prepare specifically for the Tour.” Vinokourov, 33, is putting everything this year on

After a transfer by charter plane from Liège, Belgium to Parma, Italy, on Tuesday night and a rest day in Cremona — the city of the 17th-century violinmaker Antonio Stradivari— the 89th Giro d’Italia continues Thursday with a crucial team time trial. The opening four stages resulted in a series of surprises — Paolo Savoldelli’s stage 1 time trial win; Robbie McEwen easily defeating Alessandro Petacchi at Charleroi; Stefan Schumacher’s brilliant stage win at Namur; and Petacchi’s crash that fractured his left kneecap and put him out of the sport for a likely couple of months. So can we expect

Following his second stage win at the 2006 Giro d'Italia, Robbie McEwenbrushed off the idea that he had ascended the crown of world's fastestbike racer. But there was no denying that the Australian Davitamon-Lotto man hasalready made an indelible mark on this year's tour of Italy. In the waning moments of the hilly 193km run from Wanzee to Hotton,McEwen calmly bided his time, then launched across the line to take secondstage win in three days, and his 10th career victory at the Giro. "I've won two sprints here this year, sure, but there are still a lotof tough rivals," said

Metaphorically, the 2km, 400-foot cobblestone ascent up Namur’s Citadelle hill represented the end of a very long climb for Stefan Schumacher. In a literal sense, it marked the passage from up-and-coming rider to the new holder of the 2006 Giro d’Italia’s maglia rosa. Indeed, the 24-year-old Gerolsteiner’s win of the rain soaked, stage 3 slog from Perwez to Namur was as big and bold as they come. Following a day marred by crashes — including one that left Italian sprint star Alessandro Petacchi nearly 15 minutes off the back and eventually out of the race — Schumacher jumped away from

Sprint ace Alessandro Petacchi is out of the Giro d’Italia after fracturing his left kneecap during a fall in Monday’s stage to Namur in Belgium. The Milram speedsters, who has 19 career stage wins in the Giro, may be out of the Tour de France as well, a team spokesman said. "The doctors did not say how long he would be out for," said the spokesperson. "We will have to wait for the next examination in Italy. However, it looks almost certain he will not be fit for the Tour de France." Earlier, the 32-year-old sprinter had tried to sound optimistic about his chances of making it through

Our friends over at the Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com) have come up with a few definitions for two-time NORBA champion Geoff Kabush’s last name: 1. Kabush(1) The sound of an explosion(2) What you say when something explodes(3) When you are about to f.s.o. up. You show him the fingerA: Kabush!B: You are about to get kabushedC: This building exploded and I was like 'Kabuuuuush' After watching Kabush’s performance at Sunday’s short-track cross-country during the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series opener in Fontana, California, I think they hit the nail on the head. While

Count Robbie McEwen among a very select group. He is one of the few people with the power to make Alessandro Petacchi nervous. That ability paid big dividends on Sunday, as the Aussie sprint star easily beat Petacchi to the line during the bunch sprint that concluded stage 2 of the 2006 Giro d’Italia. “I think I may be the only rider that can force Alessandro to make small mistakes or try to change his tactic,” said McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) after taking victory in the 197km run from Mons to Charleroi-Marcinelle. “When [Petacchi] looked around and saw me on his wheel, I think it made him a

Credit Fontana with a first in the history of the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series: Defending cross-country champions Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) and Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna) coasted across the finish line side by side to win the first round of the 2006 series. Kabush, who was leading the four-lap men’s race, caught Vanlandingham just as she was wrapping up the victory in the three-lap women’s event. “I saw her coming through the last couple of whoops and heard people cheering for her,” Kabush said. “It’s pretty rare that two winners get to roll across together so I gave it some gas.”

Health Net-Maxxis teammates Gord Fraser and Scott Moninger went one-two on Friday during the Teleperformance Tour of the Gila’s Inner Loop Road Race. Michael Dietrich (KodakGallery.com-Sierra Nevada) took third with race leader Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) fourth. The top four were all given the same time, and Baldwin retained his grip on the overall. Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Cooking Light) outsprinted Rachel Heal (Victory Brewing) and Laura Van Gilder (Team Lipton) to win the women’s race. GC remained unchanged, with Team Lipton’s Kristin Armstrong leading Anne Samplonius (Team Biovail) by

Davitamon-Lotto grabbed another win after big Belgian Gert Steegmans outkicked recently crowned Madison world champion Isaac Galvez (Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears) to win the third stage at the Four Days of Dunkirk. Four riders – Geoffroy Lequattre, Jimmy Engoulvent, Frédéric Finot and Mathieu Drujon – tried their luck at 59km into the 181km march from Fontaine-au-Pire to Hénin-Beaumont. The French quartet built up a two-minute lead, but they needed a bigger head start than that to hold off the sprinters. Race leader Roberto Petito’s teammates on Tenax led the charge and then stepped

With the 2006 Giro d’Italia kicking off with a 6.2-kilometer individual time trial in Seraing, Belgium, on Saturday, teams are at their hotels and now all that’s left is the waiting… and a bit of prognosticating. Our editors take a detailed look at this year’s Giro in the current issue of VeloNews. Here’s an updated look at the teams and their chances for success in the first of this year’s grand tours. DISCOVERY CHANNEL (USA)Race numbers: 1-9GC contender: Paolo Savoldelli (I): Il Falco is looking for his third Giro win. Last year he showed his ability to come into form as the race went

After the race, I transferred all my stuff from my team car to the USA Cycling team car and began my journey with them. Shannon Koch and I decided to head to our hotel by bike. Jim, the national team coach, told me it was a short ride. He was right. It was just 12km, but it was over a climb and after just finishing my first World Cup, it felt more like 50. The general morale with the team was good, though, and I was happy to be racing with them in the coming week. The next day we headed to Salzburg, Austria. The stage race in the Czech Republic did not start until Thursday and Jim didn?t

Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto) just missed a victory in Wednesday’s 161km opener of the Four Days of Dunkirk after Italian Francesco Chicchi (Quick Step-Davitamon) out-kicked him in a bunch sprint.The rival Belgian teams went head-to-head not for the first time this season and once again it was Quick Step getting the better end of the bargain. It was Chicchi’s second win of the season to go along with a stage he won in the Drie Daagse Van West Vlaanderen in March.“Today I had the ‘pilot’ of Wouter Weylandt. I lost the wheel and then followed the wheel of teammate Steven de Jongh, only

When Danilo Di Luca and the other 197 starters in the 89th Giro d’Italialine up for the first road stage in Belgium on Sunday, they will standfor a moment of silence. Their thoughts will reach out to 262 coalminers,more than half of them Italian, who died 50 years ago in the Bois de Caziermining disaster at Charleroi-Marcinelle, where Sunday’s stage finishes.Di Luca will be particularly affected because more than one third of theItalians who lost their lives in that 1956 tragedy were from the Italianracer’s home province of Pescara. Choosing to start the 2006 Giro in the heart of Belgian’s

What a week for Davitamon-Lotto. Or, as team rider Chris Horner mightsay, what a week for Davitamon-Lotto, huh? First, Fast Freddie Rodriguez summons all of the gremlin power availablein the universe to take a stagewin at the Tour de Georgia on April 21. Unfortunately, Casey Gibson’sshutter speed was faster than Freddie’s supernatural changeling powers,and his ability to transform into a gremlin was revealed to the cyclingworld. Still, it’s a small price to pay to snap his streak of bad luckand second- and third-place sprint finishes that dated back to the 2005season. Next up was

Cadel Evans of Australia snatched victory at the 60th edition of the Tour de Romandie on Sunday, decisively winning the time trial that concluded the Swiss stage race and putting an exclamation mark on the statement his Davitamon-Lotto team made here this week. With his 22-second margin on the 20.4km course, Evans leapfrogged over the two Spaniards who preceded him in the standings at the start of the day. Those two men, Alberto Contador (Liberty Seguros) and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears), finished second and third on general classification. "This morning I woke up

Punching yet another notch in his extensive victory belt, Gord Fraser recaptured his title at this year’s Nalley Historic Roswell Criterium, north of Atlanta, on Sunday with a markedly reduced squad of riders from his Health Net team. After 40 minutes of racing, a four-man break composed of heavy hitters Alex Candelario (Jelly Belly), Viktor Rapinski (Colavita-Sutter Home), Vassili Davidenko (Navigators Insurance) and J. J. Haedo(Toyota-United Pro Cycling) lead the field for much of the remainder of the evening with gaps of up to 20seconds. But during the penultimate lap of the 0.8-mile

The young Spanish phenom’ Alejandro Valverde maintained the momentum of his outstanding April campaign on Saturday to win the monster climbing stage of the Tour of Romandie, setting up what is sure to be a dramatic showdown in Lausanne. This week-long stage race, now in its 60th edition, will finish up there on Sunday with a 20-kilometer individual time trial. Race leader Alberto Contador said he will do his best to hold off his talented countryman Valverde. “Tomorrow if I win that’s great, but if not I’m still content,” said Valverde, adding that he learned to respect the steep streets of

With a name like Charles Bradley Huff, you might expect someone with the reserve and restraint of a character in a Victorian novel, rather than a guy who likes to mix it up in the rough and tumble world of bunch sprints. But the 27-year-old TIAA-CREF rider is clearly in the latter category and is already making his presence known in his first year as a pro. Huff – he goes by Brad – scored TIAA-CREF’s first European win of the 2006 season with a sprint victory in the Tour of Normandie in April. “I was in yellow for three days and three days in green, I won a stage and near-stage win. I

American Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto) attacked with perfect timing to win the second stage of the Tour de Romandie on Thursday and take the race leader's yellow jersey from prologue winner Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel). Horner completed the rainy, 171.2km stage beginning and ending in Porrentry in 4 hours, 16 minutes, 22 seconds. Germany's Jörg Jaksche (Liberty Seguros), who claimed second place at four seconds back, beat out local favorite Alexandre Moos (Phonak), who finished third. Spain's Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears) crossed fourth, seven

Team CSC’s Jens Voigt has been making new friends all spring. Normally, the German marauder is off the front in some suicidal attack, nose to the wind, a tactic that’s served him well with an impressive haul of 11 wins before the end of April in both 2004 and 2005. This year, he´s been uncharacteristically quiet, hidden away in the bunch and getting a new vision on the peloton. “I´ve discovered riders in the peloton I´ve never seen before,” Voigt said. “I´m finishing in groups I´ve never seen before, so it´s like a whole new view of the world!” It’s not as if the 34-year-old is getting

Australian Robbie McEwen dominated a bunch sprint to win the first stage of the six-day Tour de Romandie Wednesday in Payerne, Switzerland. The Davitamon-Lotto sprinter burst ahead of a small group of contenders in the final 200 meters of the winding, rain-soaked 169km stage finale to cross the finish line in triumph. Italian Mirco Lorenzetto (Milram) finished second ahead of Lampre's Daniele Bennati. Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) finished with the pack in his 2006 season debut, and former Romandie champion Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel), who won the prologue on Tuesday, retained the

Robbie McEwen of Davitamon-Lotto won the rainy first stage of the Tour de Romandie on Wednesday, the most important day of the race for the Australian sprinter. After his respectable finish in the previous day’s prologue in Geneva (he finished 29th, 12:53 behind winner Paolo Savoldelli), he spoke to VeloNews at length about his race, his rib injury last month, and his expectations for the Tour de Romandie. McEwen had gone early in the race, in order to leave more time for cooling down and getting a massage. The road was dry when he raced, and he said he hoped rain would arrive to impede the

Final Overall 1. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, 24:00:54 2. Thomas Danielson (USA), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling, 00:04 3. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling, 01:55 4. Gutierrez Cataluna José Enrique (Sp), Phonak, 02:11 5. Janez Brajkovic (SLO), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling, 02:15 6. David Zabriskie (USA), CSC, 02:31 7. Nathan O'Neill (Aus), Health Net Maxxis, 03:45 8. Marco Pinotti (I), Saunier Duval, 03:54 9. Christopher Baldwin (USA), Toyota-United, 04:01 10. Augusto Cesar Augusto (Col), Navigators Insurance, 04:20

Chalk one up for the little guys. Following a five-day shutout in which domestic teams failed to win a single stage and only managed two top-three finishes against their ProTour foes, Toyota-United speedster Juan Jose Haedo earned a measure of redemption for the U.S.-based squads at the Ford Tour de Georgia, taking a bunch-sprint win on the final day of racing. The Argentine finished half a bike length ahead of Canadian Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis), with Phonak’s Aurelien Clerc third at the finish of Sunday’s 118.2-mile stage from Cumming to Alpharetta.

Alejandro Valverde, whose fans sometimes call him Balaverde, the Green Bullet, added a second notch to his list of classics victories on Sunday in a riveting 92nd edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, raced on a splendidly sunny spring day. The verdict was always in doubt after repeated attacks in the finale failed to break up a 12-strong group that eventually contested a ragged sprint, which Valverde of Caisse d’Épargne-Illes Balears clearly won from the Italians Paolo Bettini of Quick Step-Innergetic and Damiano Cunego of Lampre-Fondital.

The amazing spring run of Floyd Landis continued on Saturday, as the American stared down a stiff challenge from Tom Danielson and the Discovery Channel team during the brutal Stage 5 climb up Brasstown Bald at the 2006 Ford Tour de Georgia.

‘Chechu’ free to fly againJosé Luis Rubiera has been a fixture at Discovery Channel since joining the team for the 2001 season, but now he’s relishing the opportunity to show what he can do. Always a loyal lieutenant to seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, “Chechu” is free to fly again this year as the team reloads in the post-Armstrong era. Speaking to journalists at the recent Tour of the Basque Country, the Spanish climbing ace says he’s looking forward to chance to stake out some results for himself. “We have a lot of experience on this team from many years and we all

Fred Rodriguez must like it in Dahlonega. For the second time in thefour-year history of the Tour de Georgia, the American speedstersprinted to a stage win in this small college town at the base of theBlue Ridge Mountains. Rodriguez burst across the line ahead of Italian Matteo Tosatto (QuickStep-Innergetic) and Discovery’s Yaroslav Popovych to grab victory inthe 118.9-mile stage that begin in Dalton.

A more aggressive, more exciting edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège resulted last year when the organizers restored the “Bermuda Triangle” to the Belgian classic’s 262km course. The series of three critical climbs — Côte de Wanne, Côte de Stockeu and Côte de la Haute-Levée — in the space of just 12km around the town of Stavelot split the peloton into shreds. Only 35 riders from the 180-strong pack emerged from the “triangle” with a chance of winning. As a result, none of the pre-race favorites had more than a couple of teammates to help them in the final 80km. This gave an opening for CSC’s

A more aggressive, more exciting edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège resulted last year when the organizers restored the "Bermuda Triangle" to the Belgian classic’s 262kmn course. The series of three critical climbs — Côte de Wanne, Côte de Stockeu and Côte de la Haute-Levée — in the space of just 12km around the town of Stavelot split the peloton into shreds. Only 35 riders from the 180-strong pack emerged from the "triangle" with a chance of winning. As a result, none of the pre-race favorites had more than a couple of teammates to help them in the final 80km. This gave an opening for

For the second time in two years the battle for supremacy at the Tour de Georgia is setting up as a showdown between Americans Floyd Landis and Tom Danielson after they vaulted into the top two places in the overall standings by finishing 1-2 in the Stage 3 individual time trial on Thursday.

Spanish riders virtually overran the 70th edition of the Flèche Wallonne classic on Wednesday. Whenever there was a significant break, a Spaniard was in it; and when it came to the stiff finishing climb up the Mur de Huy, one Spaniard after another attacked before Alejandro Valverde surged in the final 200 meters to score his first victory in a ProTour classic.

Yaroslav Popovych sure knows how to impress the boss. With Discovery Channel’s Lance Armstrong looking on for the first time here in Georgia, the rising star from the Ukraine made a late-race escape to win Stage 2 of the 2006 Ford Tour de Georgia on Wednesday.

Extebarria and Valverde sprint for it

Like a good real-estate agent, Lars Michaelsen knows that location is everything – especially when it comes to the waning moments of a bunch sprint. While some of the race's top sprinters were missing from the end game, the longtime CSC pro outgunned American Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto) and Aussie Caleb Manion (Jelly Belly) on Tuesday to win the 128.9-mile gallop from Augusta to Macon on day one of the 2006 Ford Tour de Georgia.

With its shorter distance and steeper finish, the Flèche Wallonne is a perfect transition from last Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race and next Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The Flèche is only 202km, compared with the Amstel’s 253km and Liège’s 262km, and that shorter distance sometimes gives early breaks a better chance of survival, but the finish on the infamous Mur de Huy (a kilometer at 9.5 percent, with two bends topping 19 percent in the middle) gives the Flèche its defining feature. The past two years, Amstel winners Danilo Di Luca (2005) and Davide Rebellin (2004) have also won the Flèche,

It’s almost difficult to believe that a year has passed since last year’sTour de Georgia, which will be remembered not only for an aggressive raceseparated by nine seconds between Americans Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimerand overall winner Tom Danielson, but also for the pre-race press conferencethat brought the world the news that Lance Armstrong would retire after attempting a historic seventh Tour de France victory. In Armstrong’s swan song American race appearance, the defending 2004Tour de Georgia champion had an admittedly sub-par time trial and rodein support of his young teammate

Theo Bos made it look easy in a daring showdown against Craig MacLean to win his second match sprint world title in three years. MacLean’s brawn was no match for Bos’s pounce. The big Dutchman sprang away from the Scot after a cat-and-mouse game in two heats to win the men’s sprint title in Sunday’s final day of action at the world track cycling championships in Bordeaux, France. "This world title comes at a high level because all the riders coming off the Commonwealth are in really good shape, so this means a lot for me," said Bos, who’s been nicknamed by the Dutch press as the "Boss of

Many experts predicted that Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race would end in a bunchsprint up the climb to the finish on the infamous Cauberg hill in Valkenberg.The experts were wrong, and after a blizzard of attacks in the final 60km,CSC’s Frank Schleck emerged from a 10-man break with 10km to go and scoredhis first-ever classics victory. “It never hurts to attack,” said Schleck, who is the first rider fromLuxembourg to win a classic in more than 50 years. “I saw that [Sergei]Ivanov attacked, I saw that [Paolo] Bettini attacked, so I decided to takemy chance.”