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Flying Dutchman Erik Dekker measured his efforts just right to pull off a stunning victory in Sunday’s Paris-Tours. The 34-year-old Rabobank veteran was off the front all day as part of a five-man breakaway across the Loire Valley in France. When his fellow escapees dissolved under pressure from the fast-charging peloton, Dekker hitched a ride with a counter-attack late in the 252.5km race. Dekker sprinted hard with 500 yards to go to hold off the peloton and notch his first major victory since his injury-plagued 2002 season. “In the end, everybody was chasing me thinking I was tired,

Ex-Armstrong teammate to be questioned in bonus spat The ongoing dispute between a Texas insurance company and Lance Armstrong involving an unpaid $5 million Tour de France bonus is taking another twist. According to a report in the New Zealand Herald, officials from SCA Promotions Inc. will travel to New Zealand this month to interview ex-Motorola rider Stephen Swart about doping allegations revealed in a book published this summer. SCA has refused to pay following the publication of an unauthorized biography in France, “LA Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong,” which alleges the

At 4:45 a.m. Sunday morning, 23-year-old cross-country sensation Adam Craig woke up in Lake Tahoe, California, after a long night spent as the best man at his high-school friend’s wedding. Less than 12 hours later, the Maxxis-Giant rider crossed the finish line as the winner of the Grand Prix of Cyclo-Cross held at Fort Steilacoom Park in Tacoma, Washington. Clear skies and warm weather marked a contrast to Saturday’s Cannondale Stümptown Gran Prix, held in Portland, Oregon, as did the fast, spread-out 4.4km course that differed from the muddy hairpin turns found surrounding the Alpenrose

It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. With the new 10-racecyclo-cross World Cup kicking off on Belgian turf and Belgians sweepingthe world’s podium for the past three years, one might suspect that itwould be a Belgian who would take top honors at Wortegem-Petegem,Belgium, on Sunday. But the Czech Republic’s Zdenek Mlynar emerged at the front of a 20-ridergroup to take the first round of the 2004/05 World Cup. Because it hadn't rained for days in the usually wet environs of thisFlemish hamlet, the course was unusually hard and fast. Indeed, coupledwith the UCI’s recent aversion to tough

Dekker holds them off

Bettini had a lot at stake.

Dekker was in the early break, too

The chase is on.

Cofidis in pursuit

Adam Craig gets away

Kabush

Kabush leads on the run-up

Craig, Hall victorious in Tacoma 'cross

Even in white, everyone stayed clean in these conditions

Zdenek Mlynar

Mlynar went down, too, but managed to chase back

Page

Olympic champion Paolo Bettini will be out to prove a point this Sunday when he bids to overhaul his World Cup rival Davide Rebellin at Paris-Tours. Rebellin, the Gerolsteiner rider who recently gained Argentine citizenship in a futile attempt to compete at last week's world road championships, leads Bettini by six points in the standings with only two races left in the series. Bettini, the two-time World Cup winner and defending champion, did not have to go to such unpatriotic measures having already been picked for the Italy team by national team director Franco Ballerini.

Austrialia's Wade Bootes has been suspended for six months after testing positive to a banned stimulant. Bootes, a serious contender on the MTB 4-Cross and BMX circuits, tested positive for a banned stimulant at the Mont Sainte Anne Mountain Bike World Cup in Canada earlier this year. The 30-year-old from Queensland has contested the result, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport imposed the ban on Friday. Bootes is a former world champion in the now-defunct mountain bike discipline of dual and a former Australian mountain bike and BMX cyclist of the year.

[nid:29504]If the standard perception of Northwestern cyclo-cross racing conjures images of mud splattered riders battling it out in the driving rain, then the opening round of the inaugural Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross did nothing to change that image.

Both men have made the podium quite often this season

Knapp fights her way up through the mud

Decker and Wicks

Pontoni on the run-up

Kabush takes the early lead

The sun broke through right after the elite men's race

The men's podium

Days of life under bright fluorescent lighting, breathing air-conditioned air and listening to the thump, thump, thump of “tunes” emerging from the BMX section of the showroom floor is enough to put even the cheeriest bike geek in a foul mood. And, were the Interbike International Bicycle Expo anything else, say, a convention of ladder salesmen or mobile home dealers, we’d have lost it by now. But the great thing about the country’s largest bicycle industry trade show at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas is that it’s all about bikes and that part can make the lights, the air and the

The Belgian cycling association handed out two-year bans on Friday to three riders caught up in Jose Landuyt affair, the vet who admitted selling performance-enhancing drugs. They include Johan Museeuw, one of the most renowned one-day performers in the sport until his retirement earlier this year. The others are Chris Peers and Jo Planckaert. All three were also fined 10,000 Swiss francs ($8000). The riders were each given four-year bans, but two years were subsequently suspended from the sentence. Museeuw appeared in August before the Belgian association after being questioned by police

The World Championships is usually my final race of each season, but in Verona last weekend, I pinned my numbers and lined up on the start line for the final race of my career. To be a part of the World Championships in Verona was very special for me, as the cycling fans in the heart of Europe, and especially in the North of Italy are passionate. The road racecourse, which winded through the streets of the city of Love, was spectacular. It passed through the center of the city, by the arena, close to the house of Juliette, where she was courted by Romeo, and winded up the Torrecelli

With the 2004 road season just about in the books, the moves that will shape the U.S. scene in 2005 are well underway. There have been plenty of rumors flying around, but a couple of moves became official this week. First, the Colavita squad has announced the signing of Italian Davide Frattini for next year. The 2001 Baby Giro winner, Frattini came over to the States this season and spent the year with Team Monex, with the overall title at the Vuelta de Bisbee his biggest result. Colavita also noted that the team will bring back Mark McCormack, Sebastian Alexandre, Gustavo Artacho, Juan

(Lehigh Valley, PA) — The Northwestern Mortgage Corporation announced today that it will be the Title Sponsor of an Elite track endurance team for the 2005 season. The team will consist of six elite men/women riders and six developmental/junior, men/women riders. The team will have 12 riders total that will be focused on track endurance and some NRC races for 2005. The Northwestern Mortgage Cycling Team will be under the direction of two time Olympiad Jame Carney, who currently rides for Northwestern Mortgage Corp. Jame Carney will serve as coach and rider for the team. The team will be

The six-race Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross kicks off Saturday, with top 'cross racers from across the country convening in Portland, Oregon, for the first event, the Cannondale Stümptown Gran Prix. Racing continues Sunday in Tacoma, Washington, at the Clif Bar Grand Prix of cyclo-cross. "We're excited that the first weekend of the inaugural Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross has finally arrived,” said Paul Salvucci, director of operations for the series. “It's expected that there will be a great turnout of racers cranking up the competitive heat to the delight of the

Tell the world what you think

Interbike: Well worth the effort

Gravy

Get them out on the road!

Light and beautiful

Interbike: Well worth the effort

Interbike: Well worth the effort

Zabel out for seasonErik Zabel won’t be lining up to defend his title in Sunday’s Paris-Tours World Cup stop. The German ace broke his heel after falling off a ladder in his home in Unna, Germany. “That puts an end to my season. It is annoying. I was in good form and well-prepared for the Paris-Tours World Cup race,” said the 34-year-old Zabel. T-Mobile team doctors said no surgery is necessary, but it means an early end to Zabel’s season. “Basically the injury is a bone splinter on his heel,” explained team physician Andreas Schmid from the University Clinic in Freiberg. “The injury will

“That last shot turned out like crap,” the shop owner from Ohio said. “Can we take another one?” Towering over the shop owner and his mechanic, Magnus Bäckstedt rested his arms over the shoulders of the two men and smiled. “Thank you! And congratulations on Paris-Roubaix!” “Thank you,” Bäckstedt said and waved. “You know, I’m just not used to this,” he said, ducking out of a booth at the Interbike Trade Show in Las Vegas. “It’s great, but I’m not even too sure how I’m supposed to respond when they tell me what a great rider I am.” Bäckstedt said he has been somewhat overwhelmed by this,

Bäckstedt was surprised at the reception he's received in the U.S.

Bringing kids into the sport is one of Bäckstedt's big interests

Day two of the 2004 Interbike Exposition kicked-off with hundreds of enthusiastic retailers packing shuttle busses and heading 35 miles out of Las Vegas for another day of road, mountain and ‘cross bike test rides in the Nevada desert. With attendance numbers nearing and possibly surpassing last year’s numbers at the increasingly popular Outdoor Demo, manufacturers were kept busy setting up rides on Bootleg Canyon’s miles of tricky singletrack and twisty paved roads. Here’s a look at what made news today. Giant NewsOne thing is standard at Interbike, no matter what the year. It’s the

Chris Horner’s wish to return to the European peloton came true sooner than expected. Moments after crossing the finish line in Verona’s world championships, Horner told VeloNews he was hoping to sign a contract with the Spanish team Saunier Duval as soon as that night. He even joked he wanted to stay in Europe and race in the season’s final two World Cups. “I’d love [them to] slap me on some colors and go ahead and do Paris-Tours and Lombardia,” Horner said. Well, it appears that’s just what’s going to happen. The deal is signed and Horner is set to debut with Saunier Duval at Paris-Tours

The doors of the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas opened up Tuesday morning to the usual swarm of retailers looking for stock, manufacturers looking for customers and bike racers looking for contracts. (We won’t mention the usual gang looking for swag.) Two steps into the hall, many were surprised to spot Tyler Hamilton already cruising the aisles, greeting sponsors, working the crowd and signing autographs. The American Olympic gold medalist decided that even after his positive blood test at the Vuelta a España that he would be attending the trade show. "People say you're crazy to go

Interbike: Another day in the dirt

Interbike: Another day in the dirt

'See anything cool yet?' Yes, as a matter of fact, we did.

The brothers Crank

The brothers' crank

Interbike: Celeb's; bikes; retro' Ti?

Interbike: Celeb's; bikes; retro' Ti?

Interbike: Celeb's; bikes; retro' Ti?

Interbike: Celeb's; bikes; retro' Ti?

Interbike: Celeb's; bikes; retro' Ti?

Interbike: Celeb's; bikes; retro' Ti?

Interbike: Celeb's; bikes; retro' Ti?

Interbike: Celeb's; bikes; retro' Ti?

Five years away from the trade show and Bagny hasn't missed a beat

The first of two days of the Interbike Outdoor Demo kicked off on Monday, October 4 without a hitch. This was the second year at the Bootleg Canyon venue above Boulder City, NV and overlooking Lake Mead. The trail system is extensive and challenging and keeps growing, unlike the previous location, which was threatened by development and would continue shrinking until it disappeared. This year, in addition to cross-country trails, downhill trails, a BMX loop, and various large man-made jumps of different sizes, there is a cyclo-cross trail with obstacles to mimic a European ‘cross course

Seattle— RacerMate, Inc., of Seattle, Washington, manufacturer of the CompuTrainer electronic bicycle training system, will stage 4-rider indoor bike races at each of the 2004 VeloSwaps scheduled for Denver, October 23, Chicago, October 30, and San Francisco, November 13. 10km/6.4-mile races will be held throughout the day to showcase RacerMate's new MultiRider Software which allows up to 8 riders to race together using a single PC computer. Cyclists, celebrities and journalists are invited to participate in the CompuTrainer Indoor Time Trials VeloSwap Challenge to get an understanding of

Doug Bradbury

The 'Eli'

Tomac and friend

The Cake

Mechanics test their skills

Rest and RecoveryDear Joe and Dirk,Help me understand "recovery days." I know what all the training manuals,including yours, say, and my body sure seems to need them. My problem is,I never hear about pros having them. Every time I read about a pro's trainingschedule, it involves riding three to six hours a day, and none of it soundseasy. I asked a member of Sierra Nevada, our local pro team, about recoverydays and he looked at me like I was insane. Or, read Bob Roll's descriptionof training with Lance for a week in "Bobke 2" -- no recovery days there,I'll tell you. So are the pros just

The "Weekend 'Cross Wrap" is a service of VeloNews.com.Stories and results are provided by race promoters and are not producedby VeloNews or VeloNews.com. Promoters are welcome to submit race reportsthroughout the cyclo-cross season to Rosters@7Dogs.com.Reports may be edited for length and clarity.

The Mail Bag 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.Hey, how ‘bout that Horner!!!?Editors,I just wanted to make your readers aware that Chris Horner got eighthplace in this year’s World Championship Road Race (see "Three'sa charm: Freire earns his third rainbow jersey"). I am tired ofthis guy getting results with all odds against him and

How satisfying it must feel to be Oscar Freire when the days grow shorter and the leaves begin to turn. There’s something extra gratifying about winning the last big event of the year, when instead of just getting back to work in the following weeks, you can enjoy the success in the quiet off-season. Winning the world championships is cycling’s version of a walk-off homer, the buzzer beating swish. And no one in today’s pro ranks does it better than Freire, a Spaniard who put his name alongside cycling legends Alfredo Binda, Rik Van Steenbergen and Eddy Merckx by winning his third world road

As Freire wins, Horner's big grin shines through from the back