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In his element. McEwen relishes a big win

The RockShox Pike in its element

Rockwell in the world champion's jersey.

Moment of panic - Cunego's flat came in the closing kilometers

Giro d'Italia: McEwen has a perfect day

The flattest day so far

Three trips through Spoleto gave McEwen ample time to figure out the finish

Cipollini was ready to ride Thursday morning.

Simoni was wear he needed to be all day

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Luis León Sanchez (Liberty Seguros) surprised the big guns forthe second time in a week after taking victory in the opening stage ofthe 48th Vuelta a Asturias in northern Spain. Less than a week after winning the final time trial of the ClasicaAlcobendas last weekend in Madrid, the 20-year-old shot clear with DavidNavas (Illes Balears) with 3km to go to take the stage between Oviedo andLlanes along Spain's northern coast. Despite the victory, León Sanchez said he's racing to help teamcaptains Isidro Nozal and Roberto Heras in the five-day stage race thatconcludes Sunday. León Sanchez says

What’s the difference between a fall and a crash? Ask Alessandro Petacchi and Mario Cipollini. The former suffered a fall midway through the rainy 184km fourth stage of the 87th Giro d’Italia, but rebounded to win his second stage in four days. The latter crashed 200 meters from the line, landing hard on his left side before getting hit by another rider in the hard-charging bunch. Cipollini finished the stage – 150th at 1:35 back -- and didn’t suffer any broken bones, but the cycling world will have to wait until Thursday to see if Cipollini’s spirit was crushed in the horrific high-speed

Colorado Springs, Colo. (May 12, 2004)--USA Cycling announced today its entry of a junior national road team in three European events throughout May beginning with this weekend’s Le Trophée Centre Morbihan in France. The following week, the team of six will compete at the Internationale Junioren Driedaagse van Axel in the Netherlands May 21-23 and then return to France to close out their European campaign with the Tour de Larriance May 28-31. Riding for the U.S. Junior National Team will be Chad Beyer (Peoria, Ariz.), Mike Chauner (West Chester, Pa.), Taylor Lane (Cloudcroft, N.M.), Chris

Colorado Springs, Colo. (May 11, 2004)--USA Cycling announced today the addition of Bryan Cook as its new Vice President of Marketing. Cook, most recently the Associate Director of Sales and Planning for Kellogg’s Food Away From Home, a consumer products division of Kellogg’s Corporation, brings to USA Cycling over twenty years of sales and marketing experience. As V.P. of Marketing, Cook’s focus will primarily be aimed at expanding brand and property development of USA Cycling and its many assets. Like the United States Olympic Committee and most other National Governing Bodies, USA

Marblehead, MA. (USA) – The Tyler Hamilton Foundation, today announced the Pedal for Progress Cycle Series; three fundraising bike rides to be held in Massachusetts, Colorado and California during the summer and fall months. The first event on June 13 is in Tyler’s home state of Massachusetts; the remaining two will take place in October. Individuals can register online now at www.tylerhamiltonfoundation.org. Tyler is scheduled to join the rides in Colorado and California. “The Tyler Hamilton Foundation is very excited to announce the Pedal for Progress Series of fundraising rides,” said

RIDE WITH GREG LEMOND! A once in a lifetime opportunity to ride with a legend brought to you by Bicycle Village. Before there was Lance there was LeMond!!! Greg LeMond, three time Tour de France winner and 2 time world champion, will be leading the Saturday morning ride, then holding an autograph session at the Bike Expo at Bicycle Village in Aurora on Saturday, May 15th. This is an amazing opportunity to meet one of the true legends of cycling. Pre-register to ride with Greg LeMond --online at www.bicyclevillage.com or by calling Bicycle Village-Aurora 303-337-1734 In honor of this

I’m relieved… I think my heart has finally started to beat again. As you might recall, the other day I said that I was not feeling up to contesting the sprint, figuring that it was not my day and I wanted to stay out of it, mostly out of respect for the guys who were in a position to contest it. Well, today I was feeling up for it, got myself into the mix and had a very, very, very close call when Cipo’ went down. I even had his bike clipping my foot as he went down, so I just missed it. I stopped breathing there and my heart is just now starting up again. Some times it is just so, so close

One thing you have to keep in mind about tactics is that they have to change to suit the circumstances. All teams start the day with a general plan, but then everyone has to be ready at a drop of a pedal stroke to change that plan and improvise. This is certainly what happened in today’s stage at the Giro. I can fully imagine the Fassa Bortolo team meeting this morning before the start of the stage. “This should be an easy day. All we have to do is keep the group together and set up Alessandro for the sprint with 10 kilometers to go. Every one knows their job on the lead out, so let’s get

Although the UCI revealed its new 2005 Pro Tour schedule on April 22, very little information has yet to come forth on how this top-down restructuring will affect the burgeoning domestic race scene here in North America. With races like the Dodge Tour de Georgia and the T-Mobile International popping up over the last few years, North America has drawn some heavy hitters, including Lance Armstrong, Jens Voigt, Gilberto Simoni and Mario Cipollini. A look at the UCI’s Web site reveals that the presentation of the “new rules to the management committee” for the continental circuits, of which

Petacchi had his own trouble along the way

Conditions were not always ideal

Petacchi scores as Cipo' hits the tarmac

Petacchi scores as Cipo' hits the tarmac

Simoni played it safe all day

Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) sent another shot across the bow with a dramatic win in Tuesday’s Subida al Naranca one-day climbing race in northern Spain’s rugged Asturias region. Just days after sweeping to victory in the Clasica Alcobendas in the mountains north of Madrid last weekend, the Basque rider punched the accelerator with 2km to go to drop the bunch on the short, but steep climb. In further proof that the Alpe d’Huez stage-winner from last year’s Tour de France is hitting some fine early season form, Mayo set a new record up the 5.2km climb to the Naranco summit, covering the distance

Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) erased any doubts of his form with a dramatic victory in Tuesday’s summit finish at Corno Alle Scale and slipped on his favorite color in May. The two-time Giro d’Italia champion was uncharacteristically quiet in the spring, letting teammate Damiano Cunego take the spotlight while he calmly prepared with the idea of arriving to July’s Tour de France with fresher legs than last year’s disappointing meltdown. But first comes the Giro, and Simoni made a clear demonstration Tuesday that he’s the man to beat, gapping pre-race favorites Yaroslav Popovych

Let’s set the stage. Gilberto Simoni, a former winner and climbing specialist of the Saeco Team had already said that he intended to make his first mark on the Giro on this stage. He began the day wanting to put some time between himself and the man in the leader’s jersey, Bradley McGee (FDJeux) and more importantly, his closest rivals. Now McGee is a flatlander and pursuiter, who is a respectable climber, but no specialist and was not expected to challenge on a day with a long difficult climb to the finish. Of course, Simoni had a host of other climbers to contend with, including the

Los Angeles-based cycling club Veloworx Racing will hold an online auction to benefit one of its sponsors, the Tyler Hamilton Foundation (THF), beginning Sunday, May 16th on eBay (www.ebay.com). Bidding closes Sunday, May 23rd, the same day an open house and closing reception will be held at the Veloworx bike shop from 3-6 p.m., which is free and open to the public. All of the proceeds from the auction will benefit THF, a charity launched in January by professional cyclist Tyler Hamilton, perhaps best known for his heroic ride in the 2003 Tour de France when he incredibly finished the

Well, a guy can’t be too disappointed with that. Today worked out nicely for the team. It was actually a bit better than we might have expected for the first mountain-top finish. Despite all of that heavy Saeco firepower driving at the front of the field, our little Alessio team got two of our guys - Franco Pellizotti and Andrea Noe' – into the top ten. Franco crossed in third, 16 seconds behind Simoni and Andrea took tenth at 34 seconds. Not bad. I’m sure that if you’ve seen any of this on television, you can tell that it’s really hard going up against Saeco right now. As far as I am

Saeco hit the last climb with all guns firing

Mazzoleni: Lots of TV time in a 136km solo break

Cunego kept tabs on Popovych

Saeco stayed near the front when it counted

McGee finished 2:21 off of Simoni's pace

The final push

A long day in the saddle

Tim Johnson (Saunier Duval) gets back into action this week with two races in Spain. The American was hoping to earn a start in the Giro d’Italia, but flu then a rotten stomach in March delayed his preparation by nearly a month. “Having a bad month in the lead-up like that set me back. To start a grand tour when you’re not exactly as strong as you need to be is almost worse,” Johnson told VeloNews. “I wish I were doing it, but I almost know enough to be smart. Going when you’re not ready it could screw up your whole season.” Instead, he’ll be racing at the Subida al Naranco on Tuesday and

The Saeco team knew it had a real talent on its hands this spring when Damiano Cunego scored a string of wins - five over the course of just 10 days - leading up to the Giro d'Italia. Last Friday, just before the start of Italy's national tour, the team added another two years to the young rider's contract and just in time, too. The 22-year-old from Verona scored on Monday what will surely be the first of a string of grand tour stage wins in coming years, as he edged Brad McGee in a sprint into Pontremoli. The day's 184-kilometer stage began in Novi Liguri, not far from Castellania, the

DANBURY, CT – (May 9, 2004) The Tour of Connecticut is proud to announce the addition of the US Armed Forces Cycling Team to their roster. “The team is racing now with a focus on preparation to compete at the U.S. Elite Nationals and Olympic Team selection race in June,” said Debra Ponzio, Manager, U.S. Armed Forces Cycling. “Following this, six of the men will be chosen to represent the United States at our International Military World Championships, July 1-5 in Slovakia.” The team represents a cross-section of the United States as well as rank within the Armed Forces. For the TOC, Ponzio

As always, Cicli Pinarello spa of Treviso, Italy has something special for the athletes of the Fassa Bortolo team who will start the 87° Giro d’Italia next Saturday in Genoa riding Pinarello Dogma bicycles in magnesium. Naturally, all eyes will be focused on the performance of team captain, super-sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, who is also featured in Pinarello's new Dogma bicycle. Last year, Petacchi rode his Dogma to 30 wins, including a total of 15 in the three Grand Tours: six at the Giro d Italia, four at the Tour de France and five at the Vuelta di Spagna). Petacchi will count his loyal

Okay, so it didn’t go so great today. I mean I sort of knew that this was going to be a tough one, but I figured I might last a bit longer than I did. I knew this day was going to come… it’s just a little hard to take. I’ve been feeling pretty good up until now, but, to be honest, I was in grovel mode pretty much after the first climb started. It was pretty hard today and I wasn’t too happy with how things went, but that’s normally the case for me on the first day into the mountains… it’s just at this tour, the climbing kicked in a bit earlier than usual. We’d been talking about getting

03 May 2004 (Pozzoleone, Ital) – While Saeco’s Gilberto Simoni and Vini Caldirola’s Stefano Garzelli are making final preparations for this years Giro d’Italia and with the media pitting the two race favorites, fi’zi:k finds themselves in a téte a téte competition with: The Battle of the Saddles – Aliante vs Arione. Having assisted fi’zi:k with the development of the alleged number one selling road saddle in the world, the saddle that carried Simoni to the top of the 2003 Giro d’Italia podium, his 2004 choice is clear - the Arione. Defending champion, Simoni, will be riding on a red

McGee: Back in the lead

The day's first break had some horsepower

Pollack had a tough day in the leader's jersey

Stangelj was the last of the escapees to be caught

Cunego wanted to be certain

Rising star Cunego grabs Giro stage at Pontremoli

Alessandro Petacchi picked up right where he left off last season, winning the first grand tour sprint finish of the year and setting himself up for a repeat of his spectacular record-setting 2003 season when he earned at least three stage victories in each of the three grand tours. The first road stage of the Giro d’Italia covered 143 stunningly beautiful kilometers between Genoa and the truffle capital of Alba. While the peloton took a moderate approach to the opening kilometers of the stage, a great deal of intensity was reserved for a hard-fought touch-and-go sprint battle between

It was a chaotic day… pretty much like every first stage in a big tour. You’ve probably already read about the way today’s stage went and, as you know, the day started out at a very easy pace and just got faster and faster and faster as we got closer to Alba. At least for me, it wasn’t exactly the best course on which to start a three-week tour. I mean I do feel good – actually really good – on the road right now. It’s just that on a three-week tour it always takes me at least a day or two to get into the rhythm of it. In the big tours, the final 10 or 15km are just so much faster than

Pollack moves into the lead

McGee: One day in pink

A scenic start along the Gulf of Genoa

Perez makes his move

1. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saeco2. Leonardo Bertagnolli (I), Saeco3. Damiano Cunego (I), Saeco4. Paolo Fornaciari (I), Saeco5. Eddy Mazzoleni (I), Saeco6. Alessandro Spezialetti (I), Saeco7. Gorazd Stangelj (Slo), Saeco8. Sylvester Szmyd (Pol), Saeco9. Andrea Tonti (I), Saeco11. Ruggero Marzoli (I), Acqua & Sapone 12. Andrea Ferrigato (I), Acqua & Sapone 13. Rinaldo Nocentini (I), Acqua & Sapone 14. Bo Hamburger (Dk), Acqua & Sapone 15. Crescenzo D'Amore (I), Acqua & Sapone 16. Fred Rodriguez (USA), Acqua & Sapone 17. Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr), Acqua & Sapone 18. Ondrej Sosenka (Cz), Acqua & Sapone