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Stefano Garzelli (Vini Caldirola) outfoxed – and outsprinted – Denis Menchov (Illes Balears) to snatch overall victory in the 49th Tour of Aragon in Spain. Garzelli finished third behind stage-winner Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) to earn a four-second time bonus to put him in a tie with Menchov, who held the lead since winning the opening stage Wednesday to the ski area at Valdelinares. Based on stage placements, however, Garzelli earned the tie-breaker and the overall title in an important victory as he prepares for next month’s Giro d’Italia. “The objective was to arrive in good

With two separate gravity events on the agenda for Sunday, the pro men and women were scheduled to tackle the characteristically short Sea Otter downhill course at an early 9 a.m. start time, with Aussie Mick Hannah (Haro-adidas) and American Marla Streb (Luna) atop the podium as the day's downhill runs finished up. On short course, with sub-three-minute times for both men and women, small mistakes could cost riders a lot, a point underscored by the sub-one-second-time-gaps separating first and second places in both categories. Early on it looked as though Eric Carter’s (Hyundai-Mongoose)

Veteran Tara Llanes (Giant-Pearl Izumi) and newcomer Donny Robinson (Avent) capped off the weekend's gravity racing at the Sea Otter classic with victories in Sunday afternoon's mountain cross event. Racing on what many riders said was one of the most exciting courses ever constructed for the four-up gravity discipline, Llanes earned her win in a dramatic pass over the course's final obstacle: a six foot wide water-filled moat, while BMX pro Robinson scored his in a three-up sprint for the finish. Most impressive is the fact that, until this trip to the Sea Otter, Robinson had never ridden a

Alison Dunlap and Filip Meirhaeghe entered Sunday’s cross-country races with the same goal but entirely different strategies. Dunlap needed do little more than follow the wheels in front of her, knowing that as long as she stayed close her 1:03 lead in the overall standings was safe. Meirhaeghe, meanwhile, had some work to do. Trailing GC leader Seamus McGrath by 14 seconds, and with three other riders in front of him, the reigning world champion would need to go on the attack if he hoped to end up with the day’s biggest prize. In the end both plans worked, as Dunlap and Meirhaeghe left

Bettini's move had promise

Di Luca tried his luck on the Keutenberg

Of the two leaders, Rebellin had just a bit more at the finish

The Amstel is a big draw for Dutch fans all along the route

Landis finishes in 29th

Rabobank at the helm

Wesemann still leads the World Cup

Streb credits an 'intense off-season' for her win

Australia's Mick Hannah took second in the mountain cross and won the Downhill Domination Omnium title

Some riders weren't so lucky getting over the infamous 'moat' section of the mountain cross course

Mick Hannah

Dunlap

Filip Meirhaeghe

Geoff Kabush

Katerina Hanusova

Reigning champion Alexandre Vinokourov leads a growing list of contenders for victory at Sunday's Amstel Gold Race, where the Dutch hosts will be hoping that Michael Boogerd's ship comes in. Along with compatriot and Rabobank teammate Erik Dekker, the 31-year-old Dutchman is the most popular rider in the country, but since his only win here in 1999 he has had to stop short of the top step on his other three visits to the podium. Dekker has also won the race, in 2001. Last year, “Boogie,” a stage winner on the 2002 Tour de France, had to shuffle with Lance Armstrong in the final kilometers

A day after losing a stage by inches in the Tour of Aragon, Spanish rider Oscar Laguna (Relax-Bodysol) got it right in Saturday’s 192km fourth stage from Huesca to La Muela. Laguna, who lost to compatriot Constantino Zaballa (Saunier Duval) in a photo-finish Friday into Sabiñanigo, nipped Colombian rider Ivan Parra (CV-Kelme) to take his team’s first win of the 2004 season. Laguna and Parra were the only survivors out of a seven-man break that split away early in Saturday’s relatively flat stage. The hard-working main bunch slowly picked off the break, but the two stayed away. Parra started

Today, instead of “Jammin’ with Julie: Back in the dirt,” it was more like “Hurtin’ with Hudetz: Off the back in the dirt.” Have you ever had one of those days when it’s like, “What is wrong with me? Why won’t my legs go fast?” You check your bike over and over, hoping to find your brakes rubbing or a slow leak in a tire to explain why you feel like crap. But to no avail – your bike is in fine working order. On top of that your wonderful support person tells you, “Oh, by the way, I lubed your chain with White Lightning today to make sure you go extra fast!” Today, during the six-mile time

With a stiff crosswind blowing across the Laguna Seca Raceway, the third event of the Sea Otter Classic mountain-bike stage race saw a former (Alison Dunlap) and current (Filip Meirhaeghe) world champion take short track wins on a cool Saturday afternoon. In the women’s race it was overall race leader Dunlap (Luna) breaking away from a lead group of four on the last lap, earning her second stage win in three days. Right on Dunlap’s wheel was Canadian Melanie McQuaid, who made the initial last-lap move that would eventually spring Dunlap to the win. “Melanie really split the field by

On a dual-slalom course considered a very technical lung-burner, the Sea Otter Classic saw its first gravity competition of the weekend on Saturday afternoon. As the sun set on the Laguna Seca Raceway, it was Australian Mick Hannah (Haro-adidas) and Frenchwoman Sabrina Jonnier (Intense) taking the opening event of the three-race gravity omnium. It came as no surprise to find the two fastest qualifiers of the day - Hannah and Wade Bootes (Trek-Volkswagen) - going head-to-head in the men's final. What did come as a surprise was to see crowd favorite Shaun Palmer (Palmer Snowboards) out of the

Chris Horner wasn’t shy when talking about his strategy for today’s 100-mile road race finale to the 2004 Sea Otter Stage Race: wait as long as possible to attack for the stage and overall win. Neither was he coy when discussing the reason for his simple plan: save his legs as much as possible for the Tour of Georgia, which starts on Tuesday. The beauty of Horner’s simple plan was that it actually worked, giving the 32-year-old Webcor rider the stage and overall victories in the three-stage event. With a few fruitless breaks punctuating the first three-quarters of the stage, and with the

Vinokourov, shown en route to winning the last stage of Paris-Nice last month, is defending champ at Amstel Gold

Horner waited until the last minutes of the final stage to seize overall victory in the Sea Otter

Sierra Nevada and Health Net try to defend against the inevitable Horner assault

Bessette, too, played a waiting game

... and it brought her the top spot on the Sea Otter podium

After Bessette launched, Pic led the chase

Jonnier took down Miller to claim the win

Hannah outcornered Bootes

Dunlap in her usual spot: right out front

Meirhaeghe celebrates his win

The action was hot despite the cold and rain in Friday’s third stage of the Tour of Aragon in Spain. Constantino Zaballa (Saunier Duval) won a photo-finish, seven-up sprint against Oscar Laguna (Relax-Bodysol) as Denis Menchov (Illes Balears) retained the overall lead. Zaballa and Laguna were part of a seven-man break that peeled away from the main bunch over the final Category 3 climb about 25km from the finish line, and the chase was on. Illes Balears checked an early move that chugged away over the day’s main obstacles – two Cat. 1 climbs in the opening 90km. Menchov was part of the

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com, appearing each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 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.April's greatest hitsDear VeloNews,The broken record spins again, and once more the tune is "George Hincapiedoesn't get enough support from Postal" (see "Monday'smail bag" and "Wednesday'smail bag"). It hits the Top-Ten every April. C'mon

After four weeks off, there’s still a lot to catch up on, such as, why is Krispy Kreme developing a low-sugar donut? For the health-conscious? Um, excuse me, it’s a donut. Reminds me of the vegan “donuts” you get with a vegetarian breakfast on the airplane (not that they ever serve breakfast on a plane anymore, or that I would ever admit to eating a vegetarian airline meal). If anything, in this age of downsized super-sizing, shouldn’t the donut industry strive to be the last bastion of truly fattening, bad-for-you eating? Here in Boulder, a new place has opened up with a sign out front

Having not been to the Sea Otter since 2000, I was quickly reminded why this event is such a success: It’s fun! Cyclists in general are crazy. Whether we ride mountain bikes, road bikes or go flying down the dual slalom course, we all have one thing in common – we love to ride our bikes and just can’t get enough of it! This is why Sea Otter, which claims to be “the most celebrated bicycle festival in North America,” is the perfect gathering for us wacky two-wheel addicts. It has something for everyone. When I was here last, I was racing on the road with Team Saturn. That year we worked hard

A Spanish judge will launch an investigation into the accusations of professional cyclist Jesus Manzano that a system of organized doping existed while he was riding for the Kelme team. Although Spain has no specific anti-doping laws, an unnamed Madrid judge said through a statement that he had opened the investigation because of a possible breach of public-health legislation. According to the penal code, such offenses can carry a sentence of up to six years in prison. Manzano, who rode with the Kelme team for three years but was dropped from the squad last September, published his

Canadians Seamus McGrath and Kiara Bisaro walked away with stage wins on day two of the Sea Otter Classic mountain bike stage race. But Friday’s time trial didn’t change the names at the top of the overall standings, as American Alison Dunlap and Swiss rider Thomas Frischknecht maintained their GC leads. The women kicked off racing, taking on the 5-mile TT course under mostly clear skies at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. The course started next to the finish of the dual slalom track, heading up a slight rise before dumping riders onto the raceway tarmac. There another short

pe-des|trian (pi des´tre an) adj. lacking interest or imagination; prosaic; ordinary and dull … n. one who goes on foot.Webster’s New World College Dictionary Happy Day After Income Tax Day. I hope that, unlike me, you aren’t cowering in a corner of a suddenly empty living room with your shredded undies puddled around your ankles, wondering if you’ll ever be able to sit on a saddle again without sliding all the way down to the top tube. Hold on a second – don’t start composing that nasty letter to the editor yet. I’m not going to rail against The Leader’s much-ballyhooed tax cuts and their

For 16 of the 17 laps in Friday’s women’s circuit race at the Laguna Seca Raceway it seemed that the winner would emerge from the lumbering pack. But after a disappointing ride in yesterday’s prologue, Lyne Bessette (Quark) decided that leaving her fortunes to a field sprint was a bad idea. So with less than a lap to go, Bessette launched a go-for-broke attack on the course’s main climb. And it worked. “I wanted to take one shot,” said Bessette. “I didn’t want to do two attacks at 80 percent, I wanted to do one at 100 percent. I knew it wasn’t going to come down to a field sprint, because

Representatives of French cycling, which has been rocked recently by the Cofidis doping affair, have agreed that doping testers should be allowed to carry out random controls at riders' homes. Random dope testing at athletes' homes is against the law in France – however, since the Cofidis affair exploded in January, a number of top riders have spoken out about the need for harsh measures. A roundtable meeting held in Paris Friday brought together the management of top teams, the French cycling federation, riders and race organizers in a bid to thrash out the possible solutions to the

Jammin' with Julie: Back in the dirt at Sea Otter

Bisaro en route to the first major win of her pro mountain-biking career

McGrath was having some fun out there, including jumping waterbars

Dunlap's front derailleur tripped her up short of the finish, but she held onto the overall lead

Frischknecht is enjoying his first-ever stint in the Otter's leader's jersey

The Mud Stud appears regularly in the trade magazine Bicycle Retailer and Industry News

Bessette gambles ...

... and the gamble pays off

Jones finds himself leading Klasna out in a two-up sprint

... and Klasna finishes him off

But the guy Klasna's worried about is Horner

After a one-month respite following the NORBA season opener in Waco, America’s professional mountain bike circuit reconvenes this week at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California. Racing commences Thursday with the opening stage of the four-event cross-country stage race. The gravity gang gets into the act Saturday with dual slalom. The opening XC event is the new-for-2004 super cross-country, a hybrid criterium-style race where competitors will split time between dirt trails and the Laguna Seca Raceway tarmac. The women will race for 75 minutes, while the men will be out there for 90

“Whoever said life was fair? Life is not fair.”Lt. Colonel S.G. Rogers, USMC ret.Oft-used saying, 1975 to 1990 Growing up, one of my father’s favorite mottos — right up there with “We hate waste,” and “Because I said so” — was to remind my sister and me that life is, indeed, not fair. Somewhere early on I must have seemed exceptionally unclear on the concept, because the Lt. Colonel, known as “Major Dad” to my apprehensive high school buddies, made it a point to remind me of this any time I felt I had been the victim of a grave injustice. “Whoever said life was fair?” the Marine of the

Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) was the easy winner in Thursday’s 167kmsecond stage in the Tour of Aragon in Spain. Russian Denis Menchov (IllesBalears), winner of Wednesday’s climbing stage, easily retained the leader’sjersey in the sunny day in the saddle.Petacchi won by two bike lengths ahead of Massimo Strazzer (SaunierDuval) in the Italian’s first victory since his dramatic breakdown in lastmonth’s Milan-San Remo.“I’m very happy to win today,” Petacchi said. “Illes Balears helpedus control the stage and my team worked perfectly for me in the sprint.The team said this was a stage for

Last Friday we finished up racing in the Tour of the Basque country. Nice terrain, green hills, and cold wet weather. The race is a five-day Hors Categorie UCI race which many teams have as an objective for the early season or use as a trampoline to gain fitness before the Ardennes classics. The race offers up undulating and mountainous terrain, with several climbs each day - 25 over the five days - with much of the distance of the race being covered on narrow farm roads. Our team went to Pays Basque with loose objectives. Floyd knew he would be able to race for the overall but the rest of

World road champion Igor Astarloa appears set to leave the embattled Cofidis team if he cannot compete in two one-day classics next week. Cofidis president Francois Migraine announced last Friday that France's top team would be suspended from all racing while an investigation into alleged doping among several former and current riders is held. The decision meant that another of the team's reigning champions, Britain's David Millar - who won the time trial title in Canada - was prevented from competing in his World Cup track debut at Manchester on Saturday. Millar has expressed support for

With 75 percent of the 2.9-mile track on pavement, it was no surprise that road tactics played a big part in the opening mountain bike event at the 2004 Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California on Thursday. It was also no surprise that a pair of supreme riders — Alison Dunlap and Thomas Frischknecht — walked away with the inaugural wins in the first-ever super cross-country. In the women’s race, Dunlap (Luna) took a sprint win ahead of Canadian Chrissy Redden (Subaru-Gary Fisher). The pair was part of a 28-rider group that separated itself from the field early in the 75-minute race, which

On paper a three-kilometer, downhill time trial would seem perfectly suitedto a rider with power to burn and trained in the art of the short hardeffort. As it turned out, that’s exactly the type of ride that did wintoday’s prologue at the Sea Otter Classic road stage race. New ZealanderHayden Godfrey (Health Net) spends a big portion of the season racing theteam and individual pursuits, making his physiology ideally suited forthe sub-3:00 effort. Godfrey’s win, and Health Net placing all six riders in the top 10,marked the first crack in Chris Horner’s dominance of the domestic racingscene

Mr. Rogers' neighborhood: Fair? Not even close.

Zabriskie and Reich

Swiss Power: Frischknecht takes the win

Dunlap kept Redden in check

Roland Green managed to build a 30-second lead after attacking at the halfway mark

Godfrey's pursuit work helped

Armstrong went all out

The women's super XC peloton.

While scaled back in size for 2004, the Sea Otter Classic road stage race still aspires to be one of the better multi-day races in the U.S. With only three stages, down from the four in 2003, Sea Otter organizers have chosen to center all of the racing around the grounds of the Laguna Seca raceway, with every stage starting and finishing on the track’s familiar tarmac. Racing commences Thursday, and runs through Saturday. As the final event of the active California spring stage race season, Sea Otter seems the perfect opportunity for Webcor’s Chris Horner to complete the Golden State sweep.

Tom Boonen (Quick Step) proved he’s the natural successor for the departingJohan Museeuw after the young Belgian won Wednesday’s Scheldeprijs Vlaanderenon the same day his mentor, teammate and friend raced his last as a pro. In what was the final race for Belgian classics legend Johan Museeuw, fittingly, it was his 23-year-old Quick Step team-mate who took the plaudits. Boonen, whom many believe is worthy of emulating his revered compatriot, held off Lotto’s Robbie McEwen and De Nardi's Simone Cadamuro at the finish line of the 200km race between Antwerp and Schoten. It was his second

The doping investigation which prompted France’s top team to withdraw from competition has already cast a deep shadow over July's Tour de France. The Cofidis affair has stirred up memories of the 1998 "Tour of Shame" which was rocked by police raids and led to the Festina trial in 2000 in which Richard Virenque and his teammates revealed the widespread use of doping in cycling. Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc has so far declined to take any measures against Cofidis, even though he has already barred Spanish team Kelme from the race on doping grounds. "Let's be patient. Let's

Dear Monique,Since the beginning of the year, I've been exercising regularly to lose weight. As a former competitive cyclist, my preferred method, up to this point, has been to take part in "spinning" sessions, or riding my indoor trainer, four to five days per week. I've also recently started to mix in some moderate weight/resistance training two to three times per week. Here's my problem. Since the beginning of January, when I started my routine on a more regular basis, I have not been able to lose a single pound. According to my heart rate monitor, I've burned enough calories in four

Vicenza, April 14 2004 – Campagnolo’s complete wheels are renownedfor their lightness, smoothness, sturdiness and reliability. A reputationachieved thanks to the quality and performance of the Nucleon low-profilewheels introduced in 1999. Research conducted on a fully integrated projectencompassing rims, spokes and hubs, resulted in the creation of ideal bicyclewheels that are reactive during short sprints yet nevertheless comfortableeven on long rides. Basing itself on these already solid foundations, Campagnolo soon expanded its wheel collection, presenting two new low-profile models

Spain's world road race champion Igor Astarloa could be set to leave Cofidis after he was told Wednesday he can leave the embattled French outfit, who have suspended all racing amid a doping investigation, if he wants. "If he wants to join another team we'll let him go," said the manager of France's top cycling team, Alain Bondue. Bondue added that 28-year-old Astarloa, who was recruited from the Italian Saeco team at the end of last season before winning the world title in Canada in October, had not requested a move. It has been reported however that other teams have made the Spaniard

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com, appearing each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 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@7Dogs.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Monday, Monday....To Editor and the Monday Bunch:I refer to the "Monday Bunch" as the group so quick to complain aboutGeorge Hincapie’s lack of support in exchange for Tour success.I'm pretty sure that had George won or placed and one of those