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Polish cyclist Piotr Wadeckj, who needed brain surgery after a horrific fall in the first stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race last Thursday, says he will return to the saddle when he can, Gazzetta dello Sport reported Tuesday. Wadeckj had been kept in an artificial coma by doctors amid reports that his career might be ended by the fall near the finishing line at Sorrento but, speaking from his hospital bed, he made it clear he intended to carry on riding. The bruised-and-battered-looking Pole said: "I am already thinking of the day when I can start again. It's not just a job, it

Alessio’s Franco Pellizotti won Tuesday's sixth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, a 208km run from Rapagnano to Montegranaro. Pellizotti held off compatriots Rinaldo Nocentini and Paolo Bettini in an all-Italian podium after a sprint finish but Holland's Erik Dekker retains the leader's red and yellow jersey. It was a red-letter day for the mop-topped 24-year-old from Bibbione in the northern region of Friuli near the Slovenian border who punched the air as he crossed the line for his first professional win in his second year. He had impressed greatly in last year's Tour of Spain when he

Health woes continue for Jan Ullrich. According to a statementreleased from Team Telekom on Tuesday, the 1997 Tour de France championwill not start the Tour de la Sarthe in France on April 9 because he isrecovering from a stress injury to his right knee.Team Telekom doctor Lothar Heinrich said Ullrich will ease on up ontraining schedule to take pressure off the knee in the coming weeks. Ullrichhas been plagued with minor injuries and illnesses since winning the Tourin 1997.Ullrich seems to have reined in his off-season eating problems, buthe continues to struggle to find the winning formula

A proposal to introduce further transparency in the Tour de France by allowing independent doctors to rule on the use of medically-prescribed products by riders was rejected by the president of the sport's governing body Tuesday. It effectively means no new anti-doping measures will be introduced for this year's Tour de France. "We have ruled out accepting the idea of such a (doctor's) panel exclusively for the Tour de France," Hein Verbruggen, the president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), told AFP following a meeting Tuesday with the French sports minister

Dr Michele Ferrari, alleged to be at the hub of a widespread doping operation in cycling, entered the witness box Tuesday to give evidence in his own defense against charges of knowingly administering illegal products to riders. Ferrari, who counts three-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong among his many reported clients, spoke for about an hour. "Being a professional cyclist is a tough job which is bad for your health," said Ferrari who denies the charges. "There are products, not necessarily doping products, which can limit these damages." In a marathon day, which lasted nine

Saeco's Fabio Sacchi -- one of six riders who had their hotel rooms and homes searched by anti-doping investigators in Rieti, Italy on Sunday -- has been suspended by his team following the “presumed discovery of illegal performance enhancing drugs” in the search of his home. Police have also announced that Sacchi and the other five riders -- Italians Stefano Casagranda, Davide Rebellin, Davide Casarotto, Endrio Leoni and Slovenian Gorazd Stengelj – have been placed under formal judicial investigation. Padua prosecutor Paola Cameran, who is conducting one of two judicial probes into

Editor's Note:VeloNews’s European correspondent Andrew Hood has landed back at his home base in Spain, just in time for the kick-off of the World Cup season.Once he gets his feet on the ground, Hood will be heading to Milan, for this weekend's Milan-San Remo, the first of the major Spring Classics.Throughout the coming months, Hood will be sending back daily reports on what’s happening in the European peloton.Italy's Danilo Di Luca got some revenge a day after losingthe overall lead of the 37th Tirreno-Adriatico, winning the 150-km5th stage from Rieto to Torricella Sicura. The

Riding in her first season in the senior ranks, Britain’s Nicole Cooke (Deia-Pragma Colnago) has won the 12th Trofeo Citta' Di Rosignano, a major event on the women's road calendar in Italy. The 19-year-old Cooke, a winner four rainbow jerseys as a junior, dominated the race which had over one hundred starters, including some of the best of the women’s peloton. Cooke rode aggressively throughout the hilly course, but it was on the final climb that she truly showed her strength and forced the pace. Only one-time world champion Rasa Polikeviciute (H2O-Pasta Zara) could follow. The

Cyclists are rightly concerned with eating foods that maximize energy and optimize recovery. But eating the right foods can also give your immune system a supportive boost. Unlike your heart and lungs, which are strengthened by training, your immune system may be a bit fragile. Combining training with work and a personal life can often overtax your resources, stress your body, and compromise your ability to fight off infection. A healthy immune system consists of a defending army, always prepared to protect your body against attacks from viruses, bacteria and other foreign invaders. Your

Beginning two years ago there was a sudden increase in elite athletes testing positive for metabolites of the steroid nandrolone. Many of these positive tests have occurred in Great Britain, where in 1999 alone there were 17. Several athletes, including U.S. Postal Service rider Benoit Joachim, have claimed these positive doping tests occurred inadvertently through the use of dietary supplements. Experts continue to speculate over the recent increase in nandrolone positives. Is such a sudden increase in intentional nandrolone use likely? Testing techniques allowing the period of nandrolone

Saeco’s Danilo Di Luca, riding for the Saeco team, won Monday's fifth stageof Tirreno-Adriatico, a 150km ride from Rieti to Torricella Sicura.Di Luca, who posted a winning time of 3:39:51, finished ahead of second-placed Erik Zabel (Telekom) and Italian rider Giuliano Figueras who came third.Dutch rider Erik Dekker retains the leader's yellow and red jersey.Di Luca, who won Saturday's onerous mountain climb in his native Abruzzoregion, was among a group of eight riders who made the first significantmove on the Passo delle Campanelle climb.But the 27-year-old and his fellow escapees were soon

If you want to make it simple, the basics of training come down to three steps: Step 1: Early in the season, gradually increase the weekly volume of training with medium and easy rides while including strength work. Step 2: Once a solid base of aerobic fitness and strength is established, include a few high-effort workouts weekly, gradually making them more race-like. Step 3: Significantly reduce the weekly volume starting a few weeks before an important race while keeping intensity race-like.Pretty simple, huh? Even Elmer Fudd could understand it. But perhaps you're the scientific type.

Taj (left) and Habibullah unwrap new bikes

Afghanistan is slated to compete in Athens in 2004. This could be the road squad.

Italian drug squad officers swooped in the early hours of Sunday morning on the hotel rooms of several cyclists competing in the Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race, the ANSA news agency reported. In scenes mirroring last year's drug-tainted Giro d’Italia, police searched the rooms of cyclists Davide Rebellin, Fabio Sacchi, Gorazd Stangelj, Davide Casarotto, Stefano Casagranda and Endrio Leoni at 0500GMT. But all six riders were later cleared to start the 12.7km time trial around the central town of Rieti, stage four of the Tirreno-Adriatico. An inhaler was found in Rebellin's room but

Rabobank’s Erik Dekker won Sunday's fourth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race to take the overall lead in the “Race of Two Seas.” Dekker won the individual time trial, pushing Moldova's Ruslan Ivanov and American Floyd Landis (U.S. Postal)into second and third place respectively and taking the overall lead from Italian rider Danilo Di Luca. Dekker had finished a close second to Di Luca in Saturday's mountain stage, considered the most onerous in the race that started Thursday on the Tyrrhenian coast near Naples and will finish next Wednesday at the usual place of San Benedetto del

Deutsche Telekom’s Alexandre Vinokurov rode into Nice to secure his first Paris-Nice triumph Sunday on the seventh and final stage won by Australian national champion Robbie McEwen of Lotto. After 157km of racing around Nice, McEwen held off Belgian sprinter Tom Steels, who finished second, and fellow Australian Baden Cooke to win his second stage of the first major stage race of the season. Vinokurov, a 28-year-old from Kazakhstan who honed his trade in France, took the lead of the "Race to the Sun" on Thursday on the climb to the summit finish at Eze, and took care to maintain his

Chris Horner defended his yellow leader’s jersey in the final stage of the Redlands Classic five-day stage race Sunday, but not without a scare from mountain biker Roland Green. The dedicated soldiers of Horner’s Prime Alliance team were forced to shut down the world cross-country champion after he spent much of the day in the 88-mile Sunset Road Race as the leader on the road. "It feels great," said Horner who could finally celebrate his second overall win at the traditional season opener of major American road racing. "Our guys refused to give up, and that was the difference." After

Old Teammates: Moninger and Horner both used to wear sea-foam green

Bessette in pursuit. Working with Arndt, the two Saturns eventually reeled Jeanson back in.

Prime Alliance worked to protect Horner's jersey.

Jeanson's escape didn't succeed this year

Defending Paris-Nice champion Dario Frigo (Tacconi) marked his return from a six-month drug ban by winning the sixth stage of the race on the climb to the summit of Eze on Saturday. Frigo, who now rides for the Tacconi team, was sacked by his Fassa Bortolo team after doping products were found in his hotel room during the drug-tainted 2001 Giro d'Italia. However, the most significant event of the day was former three-time winner Laurent Jalabert losing almost a minute to race leader Alexandre Vinokurov. Vinokurov, who rides for the German Telekom team of Jan Ullrich, came in safely behind

A motorist was convicted of first-degree murder March 15 in the fatal shooting of a Denver, Colorado area cyclist during a traffic altercation two years ago, and is likely to be sentenced to life in prison without parole, according to The Denver Post. James Hall, 53, shot John Bray point-blank on May 5, 2000, after a chase that began when his pickup truck entered a crosswalk through which the 32-year-old cyclist was riding. Bray swerved around the truck, and Hall pursed him, pulling in front of the cyclist and forcing him to the ground. Witnesses said Hall then took a .25-caliber handgun

Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu, the leader of the French AG2R team, has been ruled out for several weeks after he was knocked off his bike by a car while training, his team said Saturday. Kirsipuu, who won the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne Belgian classic race two weeks ago, injured his kneecap in the incident, which occurred while he was riding downhill close to his home at close to 60kph. "Jaan will be out for at least three weeks," said team manager Vincent Lavenu, who added he expects to be without his ace card at least until the end of May. The Estonian sprinter is highly unlikely to take part in a

Saeco’s Danilo Di Luca, riding for the Saeco team, took the overall lead of Tirreno-Adriatico by winning Saturday's 180km third stage from Anagni to Rocca Di Cambio. Di Luca rolled in 14 seconds clear of second-placed Dutchman Erik Dekker who clinched runners-up spot by outsprinting another Italian Franco Pellizotti, who finished third. It was a vintage solo effort from 26-year-old Di Luca who was racing on home territory in his native Abruzzo region in the center of Italy and confirmed his form ahead of next week's Milan-San Remo classic in which he will spearhead his new team's challenge.

This early in the season, it can be considered either a major upset or a sign of things to come. Either way, Charles Dionne and his 7UP team will take it. The Canadian scored his first professional win Saturday, one day after his 22nd birthday, at stage 4 of the Redlands Bicycle Classic, the Redlands Downtown Criterium. With the help of his teammates, Dionne derailed the Mercury train on a blustery day in Southern California, giving 7UP a huge win to set the tone for its 2002 campaign. The women’s race also saw a surprise victor, though not of the same shocker magnitude, when U.S. criterium

Frigo seeking redemption

7UP sizzler: Dionne beat Gord Fraser for the win.

Rona's new weapon: Freedman gives Rona criterium speed

Horner still holds the overall...

... as does Arndt.

It’s always a delight to see a new Bob Roll column in VeloNews,and not just because I like the feverish glint in his jaundiced eye. Like some biwheeled, mutton-chopped Quasimodo popping wheelies among the stony gargoyles, ringing the Big Bell with lusty strokes from Thor’s hammer,he draws the angry, torch-waving villagers away from me for a while, giving me a moment to catch my breath and plot new outrages of my own. His “At the Back” in the 30th-anniversary edition, “Eurotrash and theTexas Tornado,” (see VeloNews, March 18, 2002, page 106)  was vintage Bobke, a red flag brandished in the

Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi continued his winning ways when he won the hilly fifth stage of Paris-Nice after holding on to his lead amid a bunch sprint into Cannes on Friday. Deutsche Telekom’s Alexandre Vinokurov of the Telekom team finished just behind but off the podium to keep hold of the leader's yellow and white jersey two days before Sunday's final stage. Vinokurov, a silver medallist at the Sydney Olympic Games, however lost a second to the man who's chasing him down - French veteran Laurent Jalabert (CSC), a two-time winner of the race now five seconds behind the Kazakh.

Italian Paolo Bettini, who rides for the Mapei team, won the 213km second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico Friday. Deutsche Telekom’s Erik Zabel, who won Thursday's opening stage, retains the lead of the overall standings after he finished second. On a largely calm day of racing - due mainly to the flat outline of the stage - the peloton did not split until the latter stages when Bettini and teammate Oscar Freire, the world road race champion, launched an attack. The two riders were soon reeled in but Bettini anticipated the timing of the peloton's return perfectly to hold on to his slender lead

Power. Think about it. It's what separates casual riders from the elite. You can be a precision bike handler, a wheelsucker extraordinaire, an elegant pedaler - but if you can't crank when the crunch comes, you'll be left behind. But how can we improve our power rating? And how do we measure it? And isn't power directly rated to out heart rate? Well, no, not exactly. By focusing on "scientific" training, we've become too wrapped up in our heart rates. Many of us have even come to believe that high heart rates are the reason for training. But when it comes to racing, it doesn't really

Chris Horner, the man with the yellow jersey at the Redlands Classic road race in Southern California, has said it several times during the five-day stage race this week: "It’s bike racing, anything can happen." Horner was referring in large part to Friday’s stage, the gnarly race to the top of Oak Glen. It’s been proven here before that he’s right, anything really can happen. Who knew, though, that Horner’s point would apply not to his own fate — the Prime Alliance leader defended the jersey just fine by finishing right behind the amazing Roland Green at Oak Glen Friday — but to that of

Our Hero

Petacchi strikes a familiar pose.

Race leader Vinokurov and his shadow, Jalabert

Duel: It came down to Green and Horner on the climb

Worker bees: Prime Alliance did their job for Horner.

Shocker: Arndt took the overall from Jeanson with an 80-mile breakaway win.

Deutsche Telekom’s Alexandre Vinokurov took the leader's jersey after sticking with an ambitious bunch that left the peloton almost 90km from the finish of the fourth stage of Paris-Nice in Toulon, France, on Thursday. The Kazakh rider came home alone following a steep climb to the summit of Mont Faron despite a late surge by wily French veteran Laurent Jalabert (CSC). Vinokurov, who takes the race lead from French champion Didier Rous, who trailed in at 1:07, had to work to make sure he did not get left behind on the 175km stage. "My legs felt good and I was able to hang in there when it

Deutsche Telekom's Erik Zabel won the first stage of Italy’s Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race over 124km between Massa Lubrense and Sorrento on Thursday. The German won a sprint finish which was littered with falls to come in ahead of Italy's Giovanni Lombardi and Jan Svorada of the Czech Republic. Polish rider Piotr Wadeckj suffered potentially serious head injuries after a heavy fall in the sprint and was transferred by helicopter to hospital where tests revealed early signs of hemorrhaging.

Bernard Sainz, the cycling physiotherapist who was jailed after being caught up in another illicit drugs affair, remains behind bars in Paris after again being denied bail by a French court. Sainz, known in the milieu of cycling as "Doctor Mabuse" and the man once accused of supplying drugs potions for professional cyclists, was arrested in Belgium on February 27 after police found amphetamines and syringes in his car when he was stopped for a speeding offence. Upon his release from a Belgian jail, he was re-arrested in France for having broken the conditions imposed on him in 1999 in the

Chris Horner and Genevieve Jeanson both tightened their grips on the yellow leaders’ jerseys of the Redlands Bicycle Classic with impressive rides during a wind-blasted circuit race in the neighborhood of Highlands, California, Thursday. Both race leaders had to chase down dangerous breaks to secure their leads before Friday’s key stage, the mountainous race to Oak Glen. With the help of his Prime Alliance teammates, Horner won his second consecutive stage, while Jeanson (Rona) finished second to Saturn’s Lyne Bessette, protecting the lead she built Wednesday when she stunned the women’s

In its 73rd year of publication, the New York Public Library¹s Books For TheTeen Age List selects the best of the previous year¹s publishing forteenagers. Lennard Zinn¹s book, "Zinn And The Art Of Road Bike Maintenance"(VeloPress) has been selected for this year's list by the young adult librarians who read and review all of the titles chosen. Indeed, we were a bit surprised by the choice, initially assuming that Zinn's mountain bike book was the one chosen. Apparently, road bikes are not passé to all teenagers. The new books on the List will be on display at a reception for the

Familiar foes: Klasna and Horner were at it again.

Close but no cigar: Klasna couldn't hold them off at the end.

Headed home: Bessette hammers up the final climb.

Judith Arndt and Genevieve Jeanson

Klasna (c) on the attack

Mari Holden (Cannondale-USA)

Lyne Bessette and Genevieve Jeanson

Horner's happy

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something inthe pages of VeloNews, or see something on VeloNews.com that causesyou to want to write us, drop us a line at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mailto this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Drooling over RollDear VeloNews;Bob Roll is a hero.As an intern at VeloNews in 1998, I transcribed Roll's handwrittenscrawl of the story of a now famous trip he took to Boone, NC. with ChrisCarmicheal and a guy named Lance, and laughed so hard I drooled on my

Army Sgt. Phil Svitak, an avid cyclist, was killed March 4 in a shootoutwith al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan. He was amongseven Americans to die when enemy fighters targeted two Chinook helicoptersin separate attacks.Svitak, 31, was a member of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment,based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and raced for the YMCA/Sun & SkiSports Cycling Team, managed by Trinity Sports Group of Franklin, Tennessee,He was an expert-class mountain biker and occasionally raced the road asa Cat. 5.In a March 11 memorial service at the Campbell Club on post,

France’s national champion Didier Rous took the leader's jersey at Paris-Nice after CSC’s Laurent Jalabert won the third stage, a 147.5km race around Saint Etienne. Rous, standing fourth at the start, came in second on the day to claim the leader's yellow and white jersey after a 4hr battle. Jalabert hit the front coming off a climb down into Croix-de-Chabouret, some 12 km out from the line. On the line the former world number one just edged out fellow escapees Rous and Aitor Osa of Spain. The chasing group fronted by Belgian Peter Van Petegem came in some ten seconds off the

The American race calendar is littered with events including the word "classic" in their titles. In some cases, it’s a stretch, but not so with the Redlands Bicycle Classic, a five-day event held in and around the hills of this Southern Californian community each spring. The list of winners in the event’s 18-year existence includes Davis Phinney, Alexi Grewal, Scott Moninger and Jonathan Vaughters. In the last two years, however, the title of Redlands men’s champion has remained in the hands of two California natives: Chris Horner and Trent Klasna. And with day one of the 2002 edition in

We’ve all seen those beat-looking guys lounging around the freewayexits, holding battered cardboard signs that read, “Will work for food,”or “Need gas money.” But how often have you seen one flourishing a placardreading, “Need $170,000 to put on national-championship bike race?”That’s what we saw posted alongside the Infobahn on March 13, as TrinitySports Group — promoter of the USCF’s 2002 Elite Road Cycling Championships,slated for July 18-21 in Nashville, Tennessee — put the event’s title andpresenting sponsorships onthe block at the Internet auction houseeBay.The minimum bid for the title

Jalabert and Rous

The race to the sun

Smashing: Jeanson beat her old course record by 22 seconds.

Confident: Horner said his team is ready to defend.

Mark Walters (Navigators)

Lyne Bessette (Saturn)

Tom Boonen (U.S. Postal)

Mark McCormack (Saturn)

Mari Holden (Cannondale - USA Cycling)

Fassa Bortolo’s Fabio Baldato won the Tour of Etna in Catania, Italy, Tuesday, sprinting clear of the peloton to triumph in the closing 100 meters.

Lotto’s Aussie sprint ace Robbie McEwen won the second stage of Paris-Nice, edging out overall race leader Alessandro Petacchi in a charge to the line in Belleville, France, Tuesday. McEwen finished ahead of Petacchi, who retained the leader's overall jersey, and Estonia's Jaan Kirsipuu following a hilly 170km stage from Moulins to Belleville. Andrea Tafi of Italy and Germany's Danilo Hondo finished fourth and fifth. "I'm doing a lot better this year than last when I fell three times and had a really disrupted season,” McEwen said after the finish. “It's my eighth victory of the season but

Fresh off of his three-stage win streak at the Tour of Murcia, Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi grabbed the overall lead at Paris-Nice after winning a field sprint at the end of stage one, a 176km ride from Blois to Saint-Amand-Montrond on Monday. Petacchi took the leader’s jersey from Hungary's Laszlo Bodrogi, who won Sunday's prologue. The 28-year-old took the honors in the 176km stage, a slight climb, after holding off the challenge of Estonia's Jaan Kirsipuu and Australian Robbie McEwen. The stage win was Petacchi's fifth of the season following previous successes in the Tour of the