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Michael Rasmussen's big win in Friday's seventh stage of the Vuelta a España further reinforces his belief that he made the right decision to leave behind mountain bike racing at the end of the 2000 season and take a chance on the road. While bigger names such as Cadel Evans and Miguel Martinez have garnered more attention in their transition from fat to skinny tires, Rasmussen's proven the most successful. He scored a big victory in the "queen's stage" of the 2002 Tour of Burgos and capped his conversion with the historic win Friday. "This is the Formula 1 of bicycle racing. It's the best

The international mountain bike season will slide to a wet and muddyfinish this weekend with the World Cup Final in Kaprun, Austria, site ofthe last year's world championships. Nearly all of the teams and riders have arrived from the world’s inLugano, Switzerland to pre-ride the courses. Unfortunately, it is raining,and been doing so for most of the week, with no relief in sight. Indeed,so much rain had fallen by Friday, that the UCI was still debating whetheror not to even run the 4-cross final, because course conditions were sobad. This does not bode well for the weekend - last year, rain

The first time trial is over, we are in the Pyrénées, and the race for the overall is starting to sort itself out. The two big tests for the team leaders have taken place over the past two days: a time trial and a hard mountain stage. Thankfully, our leaders have come out near the top in both tests. Yesterday’s time trial looked easy on paper. The profile showed a flat course on straight roads with a few 180-degree turns in the center of the roadway. We woke up to howling gale-force winds, and when Floyd, Roberto and Triki returned from previewing the course the warning was that it was

Friday's escape.

Nozal still up there.

Perez, Beltran and Cardenas

Fixing the 4-Cross

Coffee with the rainbow club

The Vuelta a España always serves up surprises and Isidro Nozal’s winning ride in Thursday’s 43.8km individual time trial ranks as the biggest so far this year. To be sure, Nozal promised he’d put everything into defending his 50-second hold on the race leader’s jersey, but no one expected him to do it in such dominant fashion. Not even Nozal himself. “I thought I had good chances to limit my losses and keep the jersey, but I never dreamed of winning like this,” said Nozal, who powered through fierce winds to beat David Millar by an impressive 1 minute, 20 seconds. Nozal, whose lone

Dear Bob;I was hit by a car while riding my bike. The driver had insurance,but his insurance company told me that while I can get my medical billspaid, I can’t collect for anything else because I chose the “verbal threshold”on my car insurance. How can my policy affect my ability to recover againstthe other driver?B.G.,New JerseyDear B.G.,Unfortunately, it may be difficult for you to sue the driver or hisinsurance company in New Jersey for so-called non-economic medical injuries—whichinclude such things as pain and suffering, scarring, loss of sexual functioning,or even the temporary loss of

I had an incredible week between the two mountain-bike world championships. It was very hectic, but I enjoyed every minute of being the marathon world champion. I can't really say I was recovered perfectly, but I had big motivation to give it all again in the cross country. Unfortunately, my race went wrong before it even started. The UCI was too lazy to update the world-ranking list after the marathon world championship, which had a huge impact for me. With my points from the marathon I should have been ranked as the best Swiss rider and started in the first row. Instead, I was 11th,

Frischy had a bad start and a disappointing finish in the cross-country ... but he's still the marathon world champ

That hurt!

Millar's time stood up to all but one

Gonzalez rode well, but couldn't match Millar and Nozal.

Landis finished in 30th at 4:33

Galdeano was expected to end the day in gold

Two-time Vuelta winner Alex Zülle (Phonak) finished 13th

The king is dead; long live the king No, those weren’t obscene gestures from Alessandro Petacchi as he roared across the finish line victorious in Wednesday’s 165km fifth stage of the Vuelta a España. Two fingers, then six and another four followed by another two -- that was Petacchi’s version of sign language for what has been his history-making season. Petacchi became the first rider in history to win at least two stages in every major tour and wanted the rest of the world to know. “I made signs to show that it wasn’t by chance that I won. If you win once you can say it’s just luck,”

Roland Green (Trek-VW), the former world cross-country mountain-bike champion and World Cup champ, is heading home from Europe and will skip this week's World Cup final in Kaprun, Austria. According to his team manager, Eric Wallace, "the prostate infection he has had is not clearing up, and the course of antibiotics he is on means that he is tired and unable to sleep. We decided that it was best just to send him home so that he can get healthy for the road world’s." Green has been named to the Canadian time-trial squad for the world road championships in Hamilton, where he will join

With two stage wins and the points jersey lead to his credit, Alessandro Petacchi vows he won’t abandon the Vuelta a España as the race heads Friday into three decisive and very difficult climbing stages in the Pyrenees. Petacchi was heavily criticized after abandoning the Tour de France in the opening mountain stage in the Alps, pulling out on the first major climb of the race after winning four stages and controlling the points jersey. “I like this jersey a lot and I want to arrive in Madrid to win the jersey,” Petacchi said after winning Wednesday’s fifth stage. “This is like the jersey

For the last two stages we have had 54 tooth chainrings fitted on our bikes. On Tuesday we left the coast and headed directly south towards Burgos. The wind howled at our backs as we headed inland towards the center of the country. Thankfully, we had those bigger gears on our bikes, as we were often rolling along in the 54x11 at 70kph. Tuesday’s stage was nervous from the start, as everybody was anticipating a battle for the front on the hills and in the wind. Racing in a nervous peloton drains your energy. We were constantly fighting to push to the front and keep everybody together and

Quite a bit of attention is being given to this weekend’s T-Mobile International (formerly the San Francisco Grand Prix). With Tour winner Lance Armstrong, Alexander Vinokourov (Telekom), Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) and Stefano Garzelli (Vini Caldirola-Sidermec) expected, the demanding course should be as exciting as a World Cup event. “Possibly the best field ever gathered in the U.S. for a one-day race,” suggested T-Mobile’s sports manager Herwig Reus. But for all the attention that is being paid to the men’s race, it should be noted that the women’s field stands to see some of the bigger

Dear Monique:What is your opinion regarding the effect of sodium phosphate loadingon cycling performance for a time trial?Thanks,LKDear LK;Sodium phosphate is a phosphate salt, and phosphate salts can playan important role in metabolism at it relates to sports performance. Phosphatesalts may buffer lactic acid and produce energy via the oxygen energy system-and consequently enhance performance during aerobic endurance activities.The important questions regarding the use of phosphate salts are the following.Does the research support that phosphate salt loading actually improvesperformance? Are

Madrid bound?

A long finish line celebration today

The escape

Bobby J and the Telekom squad in pursuit

Nozal gets another day in the jersey

That's us on Stage 4...

...and us on Stage 5.

Barry on the bus

Winning a stage in any grand tour used to be a big deal for the Euskaltel-Euskadi team until the orange-clad Basques barnstormed through this summer’s Tour de France. Haimar Zubeldia and Iban Mayo were the Tour revelations, with Mayo winning at Alpe d’Huez and Zubeldia and Mayo finishing 5-6, respectively. Since both have pulled the plug on their seasons, stage victories might be all Euskaltel can hope for in the 2003 Vuelta a España. Euskaltel worked two riders into the winning move Tuesday and Unai Etxebarria slipped away from an eight-man break with just under 15km to go in the 151km

Australian Cadel Evans (Telekom) has retired from the Vuelta a España after breaking his collarbone in a fall, it was revealed on Tuesday. The former mountain bike World Cup champion, considered an outside bet for overall victory, did not start the fourth stage from Santander to Burgos following a fall in the closing stages of Monday’s race in rainy conditions. The Australian, who had been ambitious to excel in stage races –even leading the 2002 Giro d’Italia for a day - has had an unfortunate season, breaking his collarbone three times this year, first at the Amstel Gold race in April and

French rider Pierrick Fedrigo (Credit Agricole) won the 136km sixth stage of the Tour of Avenir from Saint Flour to Mende on Tuesday. Spanish rider Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel) retained the overall lead. Ullrich expected to sign with Bianchi Despite threats to move to another team, Tour de France runner-up Jan Ullrich is expected to sign a three-year contract extension with Bianchi. Ullrich, 29, has complained that he needs a stronger team if he wants to dethrone Lance Armstrong in next year’s Tour. His former Telekom team came out last week with public comments that he’s welcome back at the

First off, let's correct an oversight:Last week when I mentioned ceramic bearings (see "TechnicalQ&A with Lennard Zinn: Campy's Carbon Clincher"), I forgotto mention Zipp’s ceramic bearings in the Z3. I wrote about it in a "TourTech" report during this year's Tour de France.--LennardKeeping a classic on the trailsDear Lennard;My question concerns my desire to keep my old Bridgestone MB1 runningas a single speed. I'm afraid during the five years of hard use it underwent,it developed quite a bad case of "indexed steering" and an inability tokeep the headset tight. My local shop informed me that

I just got back to VeloNews's almost fully re-carpeted headquartersafter a bit of time over in Europe covering the 2003 Eurobike trade show.My first time to the show, I was impressed by the superb organization (those crafty Germans!) of the event. Promoters had the foresight to place similar categories of product ineach of the halls (for example, clothing was mostly in one hall, whileItalian manufacturers were mostly placed in another). This organization made the show easier to digest for us ever-complaining journalists as well as the attending professionaland citizen crowds. Look for

Evans on Monday, after his crash

The break

Evans on Monday

Jeker

The jersey is still in ONCE's hands

FIR was just one of a few compaines exhibiting all-carbon clincher wheelsets

Casco's new TT helmet (as modeled by VeloNews' own Nick Ramey)

A twenty pound race rig is hard to ignore

Carbon for 'cross? Yep-you betcha'

Clean lines for Shimano levers

Shimano stopped SRAM cold in its trigger-shifting tracks in Germany

Fassa Bortolo's Alessandro Petacchi won the third stage of the 2003 Vuelta a España, a 154.3km race from Cangas de Onís to Santander on Monday. By easily out-sprinting Telekom's Erik Zabel and Quick Step's Tom Boonen, Petacchi became only the third rider in history to win stages in all three grand tours in the same season and the first to do it since 1958, when Italian Pierino Baffi achieved the feat 45 years ago. Petacchi won six stages in the Giro d'Italia and four in the Tour de France this year. "I'm very happy because I wanted to win in the three big races and give this win to the

Jonas Carney (Prime Alliance) wrapped-up the American Criterium Championship Series by winning the 42nd Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix Sunday afternoon. This was his fourth win in the seven-race series which includes some of America’s longest-running and most notorious criteriums (Athens Twilight, Superweek, Tour of Somerville) and ended Sunday in Manhattan Beach. Racers competed on a 1.4 mile loop, an out-and-back course along North Valley Road which included two 180-degree turns and a short, seven-percent grade climb at the halfway mark. With a headwind along one straightaway and the

Hit 'em wear it countsEditor;In my humble opinion, the rule to adopt for all pro sports is simple:You test positive (A and B) for drugs, your annual earnings are cappedat 10-percent of what you are making or $1,000,000 a year, whichever isless (see Especially at the higher echelons, this still allows an athlete to makea substantial - albeit reduced - income from his or her talent. However,the kicker - a second positive test gets a lifetime ban from professionalsports - anywhere. Doesn't matter the sport you start out in or want toplay - cycling, baseball, anybody's national type of football

The Vuelta, unlike any other three-week race, started with a tough day in the mountains. Climbing the second day of the race is dangerous for the GC riders, especially after a tough TTT the night before. In our team meeting before the race we talked about the climbs and how the Vuelta could be lost on stage 2, but not won. At the end of the day, this was the case with several team leaders minutes off of the overall lead. The last few days we have woken up to gray skies and threatening rain. On Sunday, rain began to fall down half way through the stage, just prior to the second climb. ONCE

Jonas Carney

Money in the bank

Pay day

Petacchi had room to spare

Day 2 in gold for Rodrriguez

Leipheimer finished 5:13 back and is now 19:06 off the lead

The boys on the bus

Floyd before spending a day in the rain

Well, that was fast. World champion Mario Cipollini (Domina Vacanze) has pulled out of the Vuelta a España, missing the start of the race’s second stage Sunday and catching an early flight back to Italy. Cipollini abandoned the race after having completed only one stage, Saturday’s opening 28-kilometer team time trial. Cipollini rode poorly during the stage, having to be pushed by teammates on several occasions, leading to Domina Vacanze receiving a fine from race officials. In a statement given to Spanish radio station Onda Cero, the Vuelta’s race director, Victor Cordero characterized

Finishing second might be good enough for some riders, but not for three-timeworld champion Alison Sydor. The 37-year-old mountain biking legend missed the gold medal by a painfullysmall gap of 16 seconds behind rock solid German Sabine Spitz in Sunday's elitewomen's world championships. "It's the world championships I always want to win," said Sydor, whosuccumbed to Spitz in the final lap of the 36.9km race. "I'm not thinkingabout medals. I want to win." Sydor set a punishing pace early with two-time world champion MargaFullana but Spitz clawed back on with two laps to go to grab

Cofidis's Luis Perez scored his maiden win in the second stage of the Vuelta a España Sunday, a 148km ride between Gijon and Cangas de Onis. ONCE's Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano was overtaken as the overall race leader by teammate Joaquin Rodriguez. The 29-year-old Spaniard broke away with compatriot Carlos Sastre on the final climb of the day, the first category Fito, and then outsprinted Sastre in the streets of Cangas de Onis. His time at the end of the 148-km stage was three hours 27 minutes 32 seconds -14 seconds ahead of the peloton. The Cofidis rider said: "Last year a fall prevented

Filip Meirhaeghe had been close before. Three times in his long mountain biking career he’d walked onto the podium at the world mountain bike championships, but all three times he’d not been the winner, twice settling for bronze in the late 1990s, before grabbing silver a year ago after finishing an agonizing 19 seconds behind Canadian Roland Green. But this time, with Green not a factor and Meirhaeghe on fire again, the Belgian used a stunning charge from outside the top 10 to finally capture that elusive world title. “I’d had thoughts that I was not meant to win this,” admitted

Vasseur takes the Tour of HesseCedric Vasseur (Cofidis) took the final overall victory at Germany’s Tour of Hesse, as Telekom’s Daniele Nardello took the fifth and final stage of the race, a 170.2km run between Wetzlar and Wiesbaden.Results–Stage 51. Daniele Nardello (I), Telekom, at 170.2 km in 4:23:06 2. Franck Renier (F) 3. Serge Baguet (B), both s.t. 4. Sven Teutenberg (G), at 0:3:01 5. Rene Haselbacher (A), at 0:5:16 6. Danilo Hondo (G)Final Standings 1. Cedric Vasseur (F), Cofidis, 22:35:16. 2. Maryan Hary (F), at 0:03 3. Axel Merckx (B), at 0:07 4. Sylvain Chavanel (F), at 0:37 5.

After the fall: Cipollini at the Giro

Perez edges Sastre

The break

Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano spent just one day in gold.

Julich rode in 8:02 back.

The jersey remains in ONCE's hands.