Trek-Volkswagen tops the Trade Team Standings, just 2 points ahead of Merida.

Top American male finishers? Well there were only two racing, Todd Wells (USA, Mongoose/Hyundai) and Walker Ferguson (USA, Subaru-Gary Fisher). They finished 27th and 109th, respectively.

"Oh we talk all the time!" -Roland Green's response to the question of whether he and ex-teammate Roel were talking to each other during their long ride together.

The fine folks at Team Bianchi-Motorex held a press dinner in downtown Madrid to introduce their new team for the year, which contains youngsters Julien Absalon and Jose Hermida. Watch out for this Italian/French/Spanish team this year.

We also had some speck (ham), cheese and vino tinto with the new Rainer-Wurz team's chief, Markos Rainer at their cool new truck. They've hired Roel Paulissen, and are being managed by '97 World Champion Hubert Pallhuber. The "Wurz" in their name is Alexander Wurz, a famous Formula-One racecar driver and tester for McLaren. They just signed Siemens as a sponsor, and are out to conquer the sport.

Gert-Jan Theunisse, who had been running the Specialized program until this season, is now working just for Fullana and sporting a shaved head to replace his previously long hair. Theunisse, who has a storied history with cycling since his road racing days, was also training Barbara Blatter (SUI, Specialized), Elsbeth Vink (NED) and Caroline Alexander (GBR, GBR Nat'l Team) last year.

Fullana's training was interrupted this winter by a combination of cold and wet winter weather in Mallorca, and a persistent flu and bronchitis.

Blatter was missing from competition this weekend, reportedly also because of a chest cold and/or bronchitis. You might also recall that Elsbeth Vink suffered a severe case of asthma at a race in Sarantino two seasons ago.

So how did Miguel Martinez(FRA, Full Dynamix) flat out of the race? He punctured his tire then, when he went to fix it he realized his tube (taped to his saddle) had fallen off the bike. Doh!

Giant is about to introduce some light new carbon fiber components, known as P.A.T. Lightweight stems, seatposts and handlebars will be hitting the market in a couple weeks, but we got a sneek peek. Sweet!

RockShox has a new remote damping lockout for their forks, using a cable remote thumb-shifter. Look for it on several top riders' forks.

Miguel Martinez (FRA, Full Dynamix) tells MountainZone that he'll be racing at the Tour de France on the Mapei team, but will continue to race MTB as he aims for another gold medal in Athens.

"All he wants to talk about is road racing!" -Martinez, when asked what he and former bitter rival (and former mountain biker) Cadel Evans talk about as new Mapei road teammates.

Tissot, title sponsors of the World Cup, were showing off their new T-Touch watch this weekend. We'll try to get our hands on one to review here, but meanwhile go buy one and support MTB racing!

— Ari Cheren, MountainZone.com Correspondent