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Cannondale USA has become Team T-Mobile after USA Cycling announced a three-year exclusive sponsorship deal with VoiceStream Wireless, T-Mobile’s U.S. subsidiary. The first-year elite women’s squad, announced on January 28 as Cannondale USA - complete with pink Cannondale bikes and matching clothing from the Bethel, Connecticut company – will compete as “Team T-Mobile” through 2004, according to a USA Cycling press release dated April 5. VoiceStream will begin operating under the T-Mobile brand name in this country beginning this summer. And if that logo appears familiar, it’s because the

Deutsche Telekom's ace sprinter Erik Zabel regained top spot in the world cycling rankings on Monday as Italy's Paolo Bettini staked his claim for respect from the world elite after jumping one place into third behind Lance Armstrong. Zabel, of Telekom team, had been second behind Erik Dekker when the rankings were last released on March 25 however the Dutchman, who rides for Rabobank, has been out since breaking his hip during the Milan-San Remo classic. Three-time Tour de France winner Armstrong also moved up one place to fourth while German Jens Voigt, of the Credit Agricole

The 24 Basque riders starting the five-day Vuelta a Pais Vasco (the Tour of the Basque Country) believethey own this race.For a Basque racer, losing this week in this race issomething akin to an American team folding to France in baseball. So youcould say the New York Yankees lost to Paris today.The local boys in orange from the Euskaltel-Euskadi team tried theirbest to pull off a victory in the opening stage of the 2002 Vuelta a PaisVasco on Monday, but it was another team in orange - that of the DutchRabobank team - that triumphed. The best the locally sponsored squad couldmuster was fourth

Whenever Johan Museeuw says he's retiring from bike racing, we take it with a grain of salt, right? Remember October 1996 when a frustrated Museeuw said he was quitting after losing the Paris-Tours classic? Well, a week later, in Lugano, Switzerland, he made his comeback to the sport ... and won the world title. Now, he's at it again. Before this year began, Museeuw said that it would be his last, ending with the world road race championship in Zolder, Belgium, which just happens to coincide with his 37th birthday. He also said that he wanted to go out on a high note -- and winning

With the cash-poor Tour of Willamette on hiatus, the Colorado racing season got off to a star-studded start April 6-7, with riders from Mercury, Rona, 7UP, Luna, and Prime Alliance contesting the Stazio Criterium and Boulder-Roubaix Road Race. In Saturday’s men’s crit at the Stazio softball complex in Boulder, Mercury’s Chris Wherry soloed away from an early break on the 1.1-mile circuit to triumph in 1:02:17, trailed seconds later by teammate Henk Vogels, then Alex Candelario (Prime Alliance). In the women’s race, world mountain-bike champ Alison Dunlap (Luna) outkicked Karen Bockel (Rona)

Cannondale USA becomes Team T-Mobile

End of the road? The Lion of Flanders may be ready to call it quits.

Good morning. Welcome to our updated reports from this year’s Ronde van Vlaanderen. There were 192 riders at the starting line today, with Gerolsteiner’s Saulius Ruskys the only rider on the original start list not to make the race. There are 264 kilometers of racing ahead, punctuated throughout the last half by short, but brutally steep climbs that will cut the peloton down to just a few by the time they reach the finish.Postings are now in chronological order At the start The weather in Flanders is bright and sunny and there is a cold wind, which should place the peloton into a head wind

George Hincapie seems to be making a habit of collecting fourth places in World Cup classics. It's a habit he wants to break. But each time he looks to be in with a chance of victory, he comes up against a team with superior numbers, or loses out to one of the sport's veteran stars. In his fourth-place finishes at Paris-Roubaix, superior numbers have been the problem, while his frustration at Sunday's Tour of Flanders was due to both a stronger team (Mapei-Quick Step) and an experienced, aging winner -- in this case, Mapei's 35-year-old Andrea Tafi.

Kirk O’Bee and Vassily Davidenko (Navigators) scored a one-two punch Sunday in the 24th Grand Prix Cycliste de la Ville de Rennes, a thriller that went right down to the wire … and only missed being a top-five Navigators sweep by a single placing. Team director Ed Beamon called the 189.4km race, which winds up with five laps of a 6.3km circuit in the city of Rennes, “a great event for the sprinters.” And with U.S. crit champ O’Bee in the mix, it proved to be a great event for the Navigators as well.An early break by Arturas Kasputis (AG2R) and Eddy Seigneur (Jean Delatour), followed by a

Come the final stage of the Tucson Classic on Sunday, Geneviève Jeanson and her Rona teammates didn’t rest on Jeanson’s laurels from the previous two days of racing. Though the powerful young Canadian held an insurmountable overall lead of more than 11 minutes, the squad dropped the hammer in the closing Speedway/Artisan Prosthetics Circuit Race, sweeping the top four spots on the day and finishing 1-2-3 on general classification. Gord Fraser, meanwhile, had a sweep of his own going. Mercury’s very own quick Canadian won his third consecutive race on Sunday, ending as he began, in a battle

The first half is flat.

It gets tough near the finish

Thijs's 225km effort ended just 19km from the finish.

Fresh from winning the Three Days of de Panne race, Lotto team rider Peter Van Petegem leads a Belgian cast of potential champions for Sunday's second leg of the World Cup, the Tour of Flanders. But pretenders beware -- the one-day race known affectionately by locals as the "Ronde" and described by French cycling legend Bernard Hinault as a "circus" -- is not for the faint-hearted. Lots of cobblestones, unpredictable windy conditions and 16 climbs spread over 264km of racing that begins in Bruges and ends in Meerbeke will separate the boys from the men. It's a "nightmare" of a race, as

The sun is shining in Belgium, although a wickedly cold east wind makes you remember that this is Tour of Flanders weekend. This annual spring classic, which celebrates its 86th edition Sunday, is a national institution here. There were even crowds out on the course Saturday, most of them visiting the Koppenberg, the legendary cobbled climb that hasn't been included in the 264km course since 1987. People here remember very clearly what happened that last time. You just have to look at two words painted in huge white letters on the road at the Koppenberg summit: "Remember Skibby." The

The U.S. Postal Service cycling team on Saturday fired Gianpaolo Mondini following the revelation that the Italian rider was under investigation for doping. Mondini, who only joined the star-studded American team in the off-season, was one of 13 riders for whom the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) has requested lengthy bans for doping. The 29-year-old Italian was one of the riders caught up in the police blitz on team hotels that brought the Tour of Italy into disrepute at San Remo on June 6 last year. A number of products were seized, although it has not been revealed which products

Fierce desert winds couldn’t blow Mercury’s Gord Fraser and Rona’s Genèvieve Jeanson off the podium on Saturday as the two won their second consecutive stages at the 17th annual Tucson Classic. Fraser and Jeanson kicked off the weekend’s racing by winning their respective prologue time trials on Friday – Jeanson by an astounding 46 seconds over the legendary Jeannie Longo (Vitalli) – then punched back in Saturday morning and went straight to work in the Gates Pass Road Race. The tough up-and-down course, a 21-mile circuit with a short 12 percent climb up the backside of Gates Pass, was made

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something inthe pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.comthat causes you to want to write us, drop us a line at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter. A guy who's been there enjoyed news from the gutterDear Editor;Michael Scherer says that the racing in Europe is much faster, longer,against fields over 200 riders, and it's fast from the gun: "no first hourof walking the dog like in the states." (see

Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner whose nagging knee problems have left his early season preparations in tatters, says he is hopeful of returning fully fit for this year's Tour de France. "If I have no more problems between now and July I'll be at the Tour start line," affirmed the 28-year-old German in an interview Friday with French sports daily L'Equipe. But for many observers, Ullrich's dream of breaking American Lance Armstrong's three-year grip on the most prestigious yellow jersey in world cycling is already seriously compromised. Ullrich, who came

George Hincapie is ready for Sunday's Tour of Flanders after his strongshowing at Three Days of De Panne, where he finished third overall. A stomach virus forced Hincapie to skip Tirenno-Adriatico the week before the World Cup opener at Milan-San Remo on March 23, something that he said helpedin De Panne. "This was a good race for me. The first day I didn't feel super but the second day I felt better and today I felt much better.  I feel fresh having missed all of those races and now I'm here amped and excitedto race," "I think that has been the difference over the past years,"

One of the newest members of the U.S. Postal team is among 13 riders beingtargeted with lengthy bans for doping by the Italian cycling federation,sources in Rome said Friday. Gianpaolo Mondini, a 29-year-old former Tour de France stage winnerwho joined Armstrong's American team in the off-season, is threatened withup to a four-and-a-half-year ban following a request by the anti-dopingcommission of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). On Friday, CONI handed the files of the 13 accused riders, who fellvictim to a policeraid on team hotel rooms at San Remo during last year's Giro

"A leader who is charismatic, competitive, enthusiastic about thesport of cycling, competitions, athlete development, in addition to beingable to motivate everyone toward excellence and pride in his/her work,including one’s own, is a must."—From the convoluted help-wanted ad on USACycling's Web site, part of its search for a new CEO, which also said the ideal candidate should be “a successful communicator.” With fewer paying members than the Ramallah chapter of the Ariel Sharon Fan Club, and fewer sponsors than Pacifica Radio’s “Democracy Now!” USA Cycling has finally begun looking for a

The 17th annual Tucson Classic kicked off on Friday with the McCain Loop Prologue Time Trial, a three-mile roller-coaster ride through Tucson Mountain Park with a couple miles of uphill — on grades of 4 to 6 percent — to separate the contenders from the pretenders in the three-day Arizona stage race. Mercury speedster Gord Fraser turned the fastest time among the Pro/I-II men, crossing the line in six minutes, 48 seconds. Teammate Plamen Stoyanov was second, just 11 seconds slower, followed by Jelly Belly’s Mariano Friedick at seven minutes flat. Defending champ Scott Price (Landis/Trek-VW)

Ullirich still plans to be at the Tour

Help Wanted: A leader who is charismatic, competitive and enthusiastic.

Peter Van Petegem won a huge victory just three days before the Tour of Flanders, taking the overall title at the Three Days of De Panne in Thursday´s double-stage. Italian Fabio Baldato (Fassa Bortolo) won the morning road stage, but Van Petegem won the final time trial through the streets of De Panne to score the stage-win and the overall title. With Lotto teammate Andrei Tchmil out of Sunday´s second round of the World Cup, Van Petegem goes into Flanders as the top favorite. U.S. Postal´s George Hincapie put down the fastest time early in the time trial until Van Petegem came across and

Cycling's world governing body the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) on Thursday gave the thumbs-up to requests from teams and riders to increase out-of-competition testing for the banned endurance booster EPO (erythropoietin). "We were approached by riders, either directly or through their teams," Hein Verbruggen, the UCI president, told AFP. "And that request has officially been adopted by the organization which represents all the teams." The tests will be carried out in collaboration with the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) between April and August, meaning most of the one-day

Lithuanian Saulius Ruskys (Gerolsteiner) won Wednesday´s 232 km second stage of the Three Days of De Panne, but the big news was the crash by Belgian Andrei Tchmil Ruskys won a sprint over Belgians Tom Steels and Nico Eeckhout while Stefano Zanini, the winner of the first stage, retained the overall lead. The 39-year-old Tchmil -- a favorite for Sunday´s Tour of Flanders -- went down with six other racers – Belgians Chris Peers, Kritof Found, Italians Dario Pieri, Paolo Bossoni and Daniele Bennati as well as French racer Robert Sassone. Tchmil was the most seriously injured, with a double

Joe Friel is author of the successful "Training Bible" series ofbooks, a regular columnist for VeloNews and Inside Triathlonand the founder of www.ultrafit.com.Friel also offers answers to a selection of questions in this weekly column here on VeloNews.com. Readers can send questions to Friel in care of VeloNews.com at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.(Be sure to include "Friel" in the subject line.)Question: Your Bible has been an inspiration for us- a groupof Mexican riders – that are following your system for our first seasonand we are really getting good results on races. Thanks.Just one question:

Tchmil

Training Bible Studies with Joe Friel

Marcus Ljungqvist of Sweden won the Paris to Camembert cycling race on Tuesday. He finished the 208 kilometer race ahead of French pair Ludovic Turpin and Sandy Casar and Dane Lennie Kristensen after the quartet had broken clear. The 27-year-old Swedish champion owed his victory to a good effort by his Fakta team with particularly Denmark's Lennie Kristensen putting in a lot of work. Three-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong finished in 75th place, 8:52 behind the winner. Meanwhile 1998 Tour de France champion Marco Pantani, withdrew from the race. Copyright AFP2002

Stefano Zanini (Mapei) narrowly defeated Lotto´s Peter Van Petegemin the opening stage of Threes Days of De Panne in Belgium on Tuesday.With the victory, Zanini joins a growing list of favorites for Sunday´sTour of Flanders. Van Petegem attacked hard with 10 kilometers to go in the 181-km stage between Moeskroen to Zottegem and only Zanini could follow, dropping a break that also included Andrei Tchmil (Lotto), Christophe Mengin (Française des Jeux) et du Slovène Andrej Hauptman (Tacconi),who crossed the line third. Van Petegem and Zanini worked together to holdoff the riders coming into the

Although she admits that “no one is going to clear me,” oft-concussed downhiller Missy Giove says she’s planning to race a full World Cup and NORBA schedule this year. “I don’t want to go out like I did last year,” said the 30-year-old, who crashed in sight of the finish line at the 2001 world championships. “Right now I’m riding better than ever.” Over the years, Giove has suffered multiple injuries, including three concussions at last year’s world’s alone. During the offseason she underwent a battery of tests on her brain, which have left her doctors concerned about her continued

There was plenty of racing action throughout Europe, headlined by LanceArmstrong's second-place finish in the Criterium International,March 30-31. Spanish rider Alberto Martinez (Euskaltel) beat thethree-time Tour champ by just one second."I felt good in the race," Armstrong said Sunday.  "Yesterday'sstage was not too difficult, therefore it was hard to judge my form, butthis morning's stage was a tough one and I was happy with what I felt. The time trial was a bit of a disappointment, as it's tough to lose byhalf a second, but if you asked me before if I thought I would be

Who had the best run in March?Well, after three events of VeloNews's virtual season series,the Bro Tour, Saturn's Lyne Bessette and Prime Alliance's Chris Hornerlead the stage race rankings.No surprise there, as Horner swept the three California stage races,Redlands, Sea Otter and Solano. Sea Otter winner Bessette, meanwhile, isin a tight race with teammate Judith Arndt, who won both Redlands and Solano.The Bro Tour is three race series in one: road race, criterium and stagerace. Based on carefully selected races, the Bro series is VeloNews's unofficialtracker for the domestic

Editor's note: Michael Scherer is an American who has beenliving and racing in Oostede, Belgium, for the past month. Originally from Casper, Wyoming, Scherer spent last season riding for Prime Alliance while living in Boulder, Colorado. He moved to Belgium this year to take the next step and "to prove that I have what it takes to be a bike racer." Schererwill be sending back regular updates throughout the season.Why I'm hereAmerican racing is great, but in Europe we will get to race muchfaster races, more often with a lot less travel in between. Hopefully,we will see the benefits.

The Criterium International is called the "Mini Tour de France," so it's only natural the Tour de France champion should do well here. Lance Armstrong came within a second of scoring the overall title Sunday, but Spanish rider Alberto Martinez edged the Texan in the individual time trial of this two-day, three-stage race. Martinez, a 26-year-old on the Euskaltel-Euskadi team, finished with the same time as the three-time Tour de France champion in the morning climbing stage and barely nipped Armstrong in the 8.5-km time trial in the afternoon to claim the overall victory. A pro with

We're pretty sure that by now you've heard that USA Cycling is searchingfor a new chief executive officer to replace Lisa Voight beginning in mid-June.In a posting on USACycling's Web site, the organization says the successful candidatewill face a wide range of tasks, including: working with the USAC boardto continue American successes in elite international competition whilesimultaneously growing the sport here at home; increasing the numbers ofboth members and sponsors; and “building the athlete-development pipeline”from grass-roots juniors to elite international competition.OK,

Your top two.

Armstrong says he's feeling fit.

Voight won the time trial.

Moncoutié won the morning stage.

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something inthe pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.comthat causes you to want to write us, drop us a line at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.A question of balanceEditor;I would like to respond to the remarks made by Gianna Roberge of Saturnin the Thursday piece about the Solano Bicycle Classic Women's race (See"Who else?Horner and Bessette atop podium at Solano.")Gianna claims that my actions in

Forced to take 15 days off the bike following his spill Tuesday in Setmana Catalana, Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) says he will certainly be at the May 11 start of the Giro d'Italia, but he's not sure how fit he'll be. "The big races for April are now a question mark. I don't like it but there's nothing I can do about it," Simoni told La Gazzetta dello Sport on Saturday. "All I can do is wait. I will try to pedal the bike on Monday, but if there's pain, I will stop right away. I just want to see how it feels. It's not worth risking further injury." The Giro

It wasn't a classic setup for a sprint, but Jean Patrick Nazon won one for his La Francaise des Jeux teammates in the opening stage of the Criterium International on Saturday in northern France. Rider after rider tried to escape the clutches of the peloton in the finale of the 192-km stage starting and ending in Charleville-Mezieres, but hard work by FDJ kept it together long enough for Nazon to win the mass sprint. In a dress rehearsal for the kickoff of next weekend's Ardennes Classics, Nazon won his first race of the season in 4 hours, 52 minutes, 26 seconds (39.39 kph) on a cool,

“Down is to hell.” — Hattie, in “Nobody’s Fool,” by Richard Russo Before I hit the road for the 2002 Sea Otter Classic, my annual respitefrom the ravages of winter in Custer County, Colorado, the boys at VeloNews gave me a jingle. They were a man short of total coverage, and asked whether I’d bang out a quick 500-worder on the Otter’s mountain-cross competition, the latest and greatest entrant in the gravity grand prix.(See "Lopes,Chausson repeat in Sea Otter mountain cross") “Have some fun with it,” they urged. Well, with all respect to the Otter, the athletes and VeloNews,I suspect the

The 2002 Solano Bicycle Classic ended with a criterium stage Saturday, and once again, Prime Alliance celebrated as Chris Horner took the overall winner’s spot on the podium, as his teammate Jonas Carney took the stage. "I did the California triple," a pleased Horner declared, referring to his March victories at Redlands, Sea Otter, and now Solano. Also celebrating a California triple were the Saturn women, who, with Judith Arndt and Lyne Bessette, collectively monopolized the women’s overall. While Saturn's Ina Teutenberg took the day by winning the final stage. From the go, Horner was up

Going down, down, down...

Berges escapes

Carney takes the win.

Arndt and Tuetenberg.

Carney moving to the front.

The spoils of victory.

Tuetenberg sports the latest in aero' wear.

The kids get in on the action, too.

Juan Miguel Mercado wrapped up the 39th Setmana Catalana, finishing with the lead group in a cold and miserable final stage, giving the young Spanish rider his first major win of the 2002 season. The 23-year-old Mercado was the revelation of Spanish cycling last year, winning the Vuelta a Burgos in August followed up by an impressive win at the Lagos de Covadonga in the 2001 Vuelta a España. The iBanesto.com rider didn't win a stage at Setmana Catalana, but earned enough time in the long climbing stage from Castello de Empuries to Pal on the third day to secure the victory. "Mercado is no

A number of top riders, including Kazakh title contenders Andrei Kivilev and Alexandre Vinokourov, have pulled out of this weekend's Criterium international race. Kivilev, who came in fourth overall in last year's Tour de France, is suffering from a virus according to his Cofidis team while Paris-Nice winner Vinokourov, who rides for Telekom, has an achilles problem. Also out are Swiss pair Oscar Camenzind (Phonak) and Alex Zulle (Team Coast). Camenzind reportedly has a cold while Zulle is suffering from a sore knee after a fall in training. Spaniard Abraham Olano (ONCE) has also

To say that Chris Horner is on a roll this spring is something of anunderstatement. A week after winning the Redlands Classic, he and his PrimeAlliance team stormed through the road events at Sea Otter. Now, Hornerseems in complete command of the Solano Classic. VeloNews’s NealRogers caught up with Horner both before the start and after the finishof Thursday’s road race at Solano.Thursday, March 28, 2002 - 8:30 a.m.VN: You’re off to an amazing start, winning the overall at Redlandsand the Sea Otter. What’s the secret to your early season success?Horner: [smiling]Totally relaxed…VN: Yeah? You

Lance Armstrong heads the lineup at the Criterium International, theso-called "mini-Tour de France" because the race features a flat stage,a climbing stage and an individual time trial, all the features of a majorstage-race.After a virus postponed his season debut until Milan-San Remo last weekend,it will be Armstrong's second appearance this season. Held this year near the French-Luxembourg border, Criterium International's climbing section the through the French Ardennes will be good preparation for the upcoming Classics. Saturday opens with a 192-km rolling stage starting and

There was no change in the overall leaders Friday as the time trial stage of the Solano Bicycle Classic was contested in the midst of an isolated agricultural area near of Fairfield, California. In the women’s field, Saturn’s Lyne Bessette held on to her overall lead by posting a time of 30:39 over the relatively flat 12.2 mile out and back course, which was good for second on the day, six seconds behind teammate and national time trial champion Kimberly Bruckner. Saturn’s Judith Arndt came in third, 10 seconds behind Bruckner, completing the Saturn sweep over the stage and securing their

Wohlberg

Tina Mayolo-Pic got a boost from the wind and then got to fight it back to the finish.

A slipped seatpost slowed Horner\'s progress.

World\'s number one, Judith Arndt

Wohlberg managed a strong start

Defending Giro d'Italia champion, Gilberto Simoni will be out of competition for at least two weeks, because of injuries sustained in a crash at Setmana Catalana, his team reported Thursday. Results of a medical exam earlier in the week suggest that the Saeco rider apparently suffered a small fracture in his leg as a result of the crash that forced his withdrawal from the early season stage race. “After carefully studying the scan (of the injury) we've discovered a micro fracture of the inside of the end of the thigh bone of the right knee," according to Simoni’s doctor Flavio

Acqua & Sapone's Miguel Perdiguero edged-out Telekom's Erik Zabel in a mass sprint and kept the Telekom ace from getting his hat-trick at the 39th Setmana Catalana. Zabel, the winner of the first two stages, couldn't get past Perdiguero while iBanesto.com’s Juan Miguel Mercado finished safely just a few seconds behind the lead group to retain his overall lead with just one stage to go. Perdiguero was satisfied with the victory in Setmana Catalana's penultimate stage after enduring some bad luck earlier in the season, with falls at the Vuelta a Valencia and Tirreno-Adriatico. "I've been

A member of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame who spent nearly 30 years on the lam from a drug-smuggling rap has pleaded guilty to federal charges of trafficking cocaine and failure to appear. Richard Gordon Bannister, 61, - better known to mountain-bike historians as Neil Murdoch, renowned for adding knobby tires and low gears to old coaster-brake bikes during the 1970s in Crested Butte, Colorado – entered his plea March 13 in federal court in Albuquerque, New Mexico. According to The Taos News, Bannister was charged in 1973 with smuggling 26 pounds of cocaine after U.S. Customs agents seized

The Solano Bicycle Classic began Thursday, with the opening stage road race ending on a familiar note: last weekend’s Sea Otter overall winners Chris Horner (Prime Alliance) and Lyne Bessette (Saturn) atop the podium. On a winding course through green foothills that can only be described as gorgeous, top domestic teams fought through gusting cross winds to decide the opening stage of this Northern California NRC event. In the men’s 91-mile race—that began and ended with two long climbs—a missed turn by the lead group at mile 67became a point of controversy, as race officials scrambled to

Fraser and Sayers were convinced their teammates' break would stick