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Aussie Michael Rogers won Monday’s 34km individual time trial and grabbed the overall lead of the Route du Sud race in southern France. Rogers was fastest over the rolling course to score his fourth win of the 2003 season. “The route was tricky. There wasn’t even a meter of flat,” Rogers said. “The roads were narrows and dangerous, making it easy to make mistakes. I was very cautious and thankfully everything turned out well.” Rogers moves 1:51 ahead of Frenchman Nicolas Vogondy (Fdjeux.com) with one stage to go. “Tomorrow there are two up hill sections roughly half way through the

Telekom’s Sergei Yakovlev won the seventh and longest stage of the Tour du Suisse on Monday while Lampre’s Francesco Casagrande finished safely in the main bunch to retain the overall lead. The Kazakh rider was part of a six-man breakaway that led for 160 km of the 231-km stage which began in Switzerland and ended just over the German border. Yakovlev’s American teammate, Bobby Julich, was part of an eight-man chase group that was sent down the road in case the leaders wilted under the long distances. Yakovlev jumped out of the break with 15km to go and hung on to score the win while

A solo win

Casagrande still in charge

Phonak’s Oscar Pereiro held off his pursuers to take a solo victory in the sixth stage of the Tour of Switzerland Sunday, a 135km ride around Silvaplana. Bianchi’s Jan Ullrich came in just over a minute later followed by the promising Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg. Francesco Casagrande (Lampre) retained the overall lead of the race ahead of Tuesday's 33km time trial where second-placed Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom) is aiming to regain the lead. Kazakh rider Vinokourov may well keep his promise. His 37-second deficit will seem like almost nothing given his excellent season so far, having won

Paternia’s Jose Antonio Pecharroman held off the best efforts of U.S. Postal's Roberto Heras to claim overall victory in the Tour of Catalunya after Sunday's seventh and final stage in Barcelona. The 25-year-old Pecharroman beat Heras by 43 seconds with two more Spaniards Koldo Gil and Rafael Casero coming third and fourth in the overall standings. Angel Vicioso (ONCE) won the final stage after holding off Postal’s George Hincapie in the sprint. Both Heras and Hincapie will be key elements in the American team in the next fortnight as Lance Armstrong gets his record-equalling bid for a

It may have come a day later than he would have liked, but Seamus McGrath (Haro-Lee Dungarees) finally won his first NORBA race, taking Sunday’s short track at Mount Snow. After finishing second to Roland Green (Trek-Volkswagen) in Saturday’s cross-country, McGrath left nothing to chance today, attacking breakaway compatriot Filip Meirhaghe (Specialized) with three laps to go, just as Green was about to bridge to the leading duo. McGrath kept his margin through to the finish, celebrating a win that was a long time coming only after checking to make sure Meihaghe was well in the rearview

Not even losing the ability to sit down could slow Cedric Gracia at Mount Snow. The 25-year-old Siemens-Cannondale rider closed out the weekend’s racing by winning the men’s downhill, even though he broke off his saddle midway through his winning run. “I tried sitting back down [on the rails],” said the charismatic Frenchman. “But it was no good, I just had to ride standing up, which isn’t so easy.” With the infamous Yard Sale rock garden section of the course shortened due to safety concerns, riders depended on skill more than luck. In order to negotiate what remained of the Yard Sale

John Lieswyn and his 7UP-Maxxis squad successfully defended the yellow jersey in the final stage of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce, Lubor Tesar (Ed's Systeme-ZVVZ) just holding off Charles Dionne (Canadian National) to take the final stage victory. Lieswyn had held the jersey from stage one, and started the final stage47 seconds in front of Chris Baldwin (Navigators). Tomas Konecny (Ed'sSystem-ZVVZ) and Danny Pate (Prime Alliance) were also less than a minute behind, so 7 Up could not afford to rest, despite having spent a week at the front of the peloton. The final stage of Beauce is no

Harreither-VAV Versicherung won the 2003 Insight Race Across America team competition Sunday night when the four men crossed the finish line on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey at 10:13 p.m.(EST). The four Austrian cyclists rode a relay from San Diego over the course of six days, six hours and 13 minutes. After initial head-to-head battles with Team Vail-Go Fast in the deserts of Southern California, Harreither has led the race since Vail withdrew after one of its riders was killed in a tragic accident in New Mexico. (see "RAAM rider killed in New Mexico") The members of the

Casagrande leads

Ullrich took second on Sunday

Gracia

Steb

Jose Antonio Pecharroman (Paternina) virtually secured victory in the Tourof Catalunya on Saturday after winning a time trial to take the overalllead from defending champion Roberto Heras.Pecharroman covered the 8.14-mile sixth leg in 21 minutes and 49 seconds.Heras, the defending champion riding for the U.S. Postal Service team,finished 52 seconds back. The time lag cost Heras the nine-second overalllead he held over Pecharroman for the last two days.With one stage remaining, Pecharroman now holds a comfortable 43-secondoverall lead over Heras in Spain's oldest bike race. Sunday's final

Lampre’s Francesco Casagrande won the 177m fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland Saturday, reaching the summit finish at La Punt with enough of a margin to take the overall lead in the Swiss national tour. Casagrande, who began the day six seconds behind overall leader, Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom), at the start of the stage, finished 39sec ahead of the Kazakh following the 20km ascent of the Col du Albula at 2315m altitude. When Casagrande attacked only Vinokourov could stay with him though he soon concluded the effort was taking a toll on him and eased off as the Italian continued

France’s Sabrina Jonnier (Fox Racing) took advantage of a bottleneck atthe start of the mountain cross finals and cruised to an easy win on thehigh speed Mt. Snow course near Dover, Vermont. With everyone keen to get the holeshot to the first corner, Jonnier,Katrina Miller (Jamis), Marla Streb (Luna) and Jill Kitner (Staats Bike-Fox)tangled in the first 50 meters of the finals, with only Jonnier exitingthe scrum cleanly. From there, the 22-year-old woman from Nice just hadto stay upright, which she did. “Everyone was leaning all over each other,” said Jonnier, “I pushedback and that’s how I

John Lieswyn continues to hold onto the lead at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce after two stages back-to-back on Saturday. In the morning's 15-kilometer time trial, the 7UP-Maxxis rider finished second to Navigator's Chris Baldwin, the U.S. national time trial champion. Baldwin, the reigning U.S. time trial champion, professes to be surprised at his performances in the race against the clock this year. "I don't know why, but this year I'm really hot,” Baldwin said. “I guess a good bike equals good results." Eric Wohlberg (Canadian National), the perennial Canadian national time trial

As you slept last night, they rode. As you ate breakfast three days ago, they rode. As you commuted to work all last week, they rode. Think of anything you’ve done over the last week, and while you’ve been doing it, riders in the 2003 Race Across American have been riding. They have endured rainstorms, burning deserts, headwinds, crosswinds and even the joy of the occasional tailwind. They have crossed more than a dozen mountains. They have hammered through the night on roads so straight they could not tell how far they’d gone. They have plummeted in and out of rolling hills so steep,

Riding for a local New England bike manufacturer and cheered on by a crowd that could sense an upset, Mary McConneloug (Seven Cycles) won Saturday’s Mount Snow NORBA cross-country. McConneloug, who spends half her year training on Martha’s Vineyard, dropped three-time world champion Alison Sydor (Trek-Volkswagen) on the last climb of the last lap and held her advantage on Mt. Snow’s infamous, rooty, rocky, singletrack descent. “I’d always thought I could do this,” said McConneloug of her win, “but actually doing it never seemed to happen.” The win was McConneloug’s first ever podium in

The new leader

San Bernardino Pass

Casagrande wins stage and takes lead in Switzerland

Pecharroman

McConneloug

Green and McGrath

Rabobank’s Oscar Freire outkicked the bunch to win the fifth stage of the Tour of Catalunya Friday. Freire finished the 166.3km stage from Llivia to Manresa in 3:46:37, ahead of Angel Vicioso (ONCE-Eroski) and Rene Haselbacher (Gerolsteiner). Results:1. Oscar Freire (Sp), Rabobank, 3:46:372. Angel Vicioso (Sp), ONCE-Eroski, same time3. Rene Haselbacher (Aut), Gerolsteiner, s.t.4. Roberto Lozano (Sp), Kelme, s.t.5. Inaki Isasi (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, s.t.6. Carlos Torrent (Sp), Paternina-Costa Almeria, s.t.7. Filippo Pozzato (I), Fassa Bortolo, s.t.8. George Hincapie (USA), U.S. Postal.

Up-and-coming Frenchman Sandy Casar held off a bunch of big-name sprinters to win the fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland between Viege and Losone on Friday. Casar, the 24-year-old Fdjeux.com rider who made his name when finishing second in last year's Paris-Nice, held off Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen and Australian Stuart O'Grady after the 166.5km ride. Coming in just behind was Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen, the winner of last year's Tour de France green jersey, and CSC's talented Kiwi Julian Dean - both of whom had battled at the finish on Thursday. Alexander Vinokourov of

After what seems like months, finally, a column about … cycling. Last week, after the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia, VN.com reader Michael Batley e-mailed the following question: “Do you think it’s time for us to go to a U.S.-citizen-only pro championship? It seems like we have the numbers in the peloton to do it now. Why the continual inclusion of the Euro pros?” It’s a topic that comes up from time to time, often as a reaction to the “race within a race” situation, such as this year, where the USPRO champion and the race winner aren’t necessarily one and the same. So, I figured I’d

USA Cycling has announced its automatic selections for the U.S. team attending the 2003 World Track Championships July 30-August 3 in Stuttgart, Germany. Many of the automatic selections earned their world's-team selections by winning their respective events at the 2003 Pan Am and World Championship Qualifier last weekend in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The U.S. team includes: Giddeon Massie (Colorado Springs) - team sprint, sprint,keirinJames Carney (Boulder, Colorado) - scratch raceColby Pearce (Boulder) - points raceStephen Alfred (Santa Cruz, California) - team sprint and keirinAnton

As Insight Race Across America leader Allen Larsen passed a time station Friday morning in Jefferson City, Missouri, he was nearly 200 miles ahead of second-place Rob Kish. And once again, thanks to back and neck pain from an old traffic accident, he was wearing a back and neck brace – but not the homemade wood-and-duct-tape kind that made his rookie-of-the-year finish last year so memorable. At his current pace, which has fallen a little from challenging Pete Penseyres's 1986 transcontinental record of 15.4 mph, Larsen should win RAAM by Monday. In the team competition, the four-man

John Lieswyn successfully defended his yellow jersey today at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce on the tough Mont Megantic stage, finishing second to former Beauce winner Tomas Konecny, who moved up to second in the general classification. Lieswyn credited his 7UP-Maxxis teammates with inspiring him to ride so well on the feared final climb, which reaches 18 percent in places. "I'm just happy that I didn't let the team down,” he said. “The closer I got to Megantic, the more pressure I felt, because the guys were killing themselves for me. They gave me the confidence and inspiration to do

An all-American USPRO championship probably ain't gonna happen.

Sandy Casar (FDJeux) outkicks the bunch in stage 4.

A beautiful day for a bike race ...

... even for Vinokourov, who crashed but held onto the leader's jersey.

Mountain bike racing will be without two of America's top female riders for a while after both Alison Dunlap and Tara Llanes suffered injuries that have derailed promising 2003 seasons in the span of three days. Dunlap went down first over the weekend, separating her shoulder in a crash at the NCS cross-country race in Snowshoe, West Virginia. Initially it was called a third degree separation, but when Dunlap got back to Colorado Springs doctors told her it was actually a fourth degree and that without surgery she wouldn’t be able to race at an elite level again. “I completely tore all the

This just in: Rahsaan Bahati (Saturn) will be featured in People's25 “Hottest Bachelors” issue, on stands Friday, June 20. For Bahati, 21,it won’t be his first non-cycling magazine appearance — he was featuredin Details magazine a few months back, and was named by Outsideas one of 2003’s “New All-Stars.” “I’m trying to get on the podium next,” joked Bahati, one of a selectfew African-American cyclists to be signed to a pro U.S. cycling team. Bahati came to the attention of Saturn in 2000 when he was only 17 and won the Junior National Road Racing and National Criterium Championships, in

Hi Bob,I have been following your column and appreciate the legal advice you offer to cyclists. Do you have any advice about avoiding accidents for cyclists?Ted G.Menasha, WIDear Ted;That's a great question and one that I thought might best be answered by an expert. So, I went to forensic engineer James Green who specializes in reconstructing bicycle and pedestrian accidents. So here's James's list of the most effective steps you can take to avoid accident and injury:Helmet - One of the absolutely dumbest things a cyclist can do is ride without a helmet. There is no excuse for not having one

Francesco Casagrande (Lampre) won the third stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Thursday to move into second place overall. The Italian is now six seconds behind leader AlexanderVinokourov (Telekom) of Kazakhstan, after winning the 205km stage from Nyon to the Saas Fee ski resort in five hours, 10 minutes, 38 seconds. Mountain specialist Casagrande took the initiative on the final 20kmclimb in the Alps after the riders had traveled around Lake Geneva andthrough the valley of the River Rhone. He finished 13 seconds clear ofLuxembourg's Kim Kirchen (Fassa Bortolo), with leader Vinokourov

Jesus Maria Manzano (Kelme) won the fourth stage of the Tour of Catalunya, a 157km race from Andorra to Llivia on Thursday. Rene Hasselbacher (Gerolsteiner) crossed second, followed by Matthias Kessler (Telekom) in third. U.S. Postal’s Roberto Heras finished 13th to retain the overall lead ahead of Jose Pecharroman (Paternita-Costa Almeria) and Santiago Blanco (Colchon Relax-Fuenlabrada). Heras’s teammate George Hincapie cracked the top 10 on today’s stage, crossing in sixth. Results:1. Jesus Maria Manzano (Sp) Kelme, 4:17:552. Rene Hasselbacher (A), Gerolsteiner, at 0:123. Matthias Kessler

Allen Larsen continued to build his lead over the 2003 Insight Race Across America solo field Thursday – he passed through Yates Center, Kansas, 180 miles ahead of second-place Rob Kish. Larsen, last year’s Rookie of the Year, has maintained an average speed of 15.33 mph, just seven-tenths of a second off the record set by Pete Penseyres in 1986 (15.4). Meanwhile, after the tragic loss of teammate Brett Malin in an Tuesday-night accident in rural New Mexico, Team Vail-Go Fast has withdrawn from the race, handing the lead over to Team Harreither-VAV Versich. The Austrian team is also in

Gord Fraser (Health Net) rebounded overnight from a disappointing finish in the second stage of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce to record his 13th career win at the race in stage 3. John Lieswyn (7UP-Maxxis) finished with the peloton and remains in the yellow jersey. The 151km Lac Etchemin stage is one of the hardest in the race, and has been instrumental in determining the final winner in past years. In 2001, Henk Vogels took the leader's jersey during this stage after a long breakaway, and last year a split in the field put all but 20 riders out of contention. The stage is "relentless,"

Am I hot?

Lampre's Francesco Casagrande celebrates his stage-3 victory

Can you believe a broken foot was the worst injury to come out of this wreck?

Slip-slidin' away in Colombia.

A Team Harreither/VAV Versich rider roars through El Centro, California, late Monday evening

Brett Malin, a 30-year-old from Vail, Colorado, was killed late Tuesday when he was hit by an 18-wheel tractor-trailer rig moments after completing a leg of the 2003 Race Across America. Malin, a member of the four-man Vail-Go Fast team, was riding along a rural stretch of U.S. Highway 60, 10 miles east of Pie Town, New Mexico, when he completed a 30-minute relay leg in the race a few minutes before midnight and was quickly relieved by teammate Zach Bingham. As is the practice of teams competing in RAAM, Malin’s pace vehicle passed him to continue down the course with the team’s new rider.

Dear Monique;I just read your article on pre-race eating. I will be racing for thefirst time this July and this is a big concern for me as I am very sensitiveto low fuel levels. I have heard that it is a good idea to eat three hoursbefore a race. Most of the races I know of start around 8:00 a.m. to 8:30a.m. This requires eating at 5:00 a.m., or so. The problems I have withthis are waking up (and feeling rested) and being able to eat any kindof significant amount that early in morning. Even at my normal waking hour,I can’t eat much. Is this really the best way? Are there alternatives orother

Mario Cipollini's Domina Vacanze team on Wednesday threatened to sue the organizers of the Tour de France for being excluded from this year's race. In a statement posted on its official website, Domina Vacanze team officials said that if their appeal to the UCI to be included in the Tour was rejected they would seriously consider taking legal action in the matter. The Italian team, which was overlooked for one of the four wild card places, is unhappy that several of the teams invited to take part in this year's centenary race ranked considerably below Domina Vacanze in the UCI rankings.

Lotto-Domo's Robbie McEwen has claimed his first-ever stage win in the Tour de Suisse on Wednesday. The 31-year-old Aussie topped a Southern Hemispheric podium he beat CSC’s New Zealander Julian Dean and fellow Australian Stuart O'Grady (Crédit Agricole). Telekom’s Alexandre Vinokourov retained the overall lead. Another Australian Bradley McGee saw his hopes of playing a part in the finish ruined as he had his route blocked by a Lotto team-mate of McEwen's in the final 500 meters - it also prevented him from gaining enough bonus time to replace Vinokourov as overall leader. However McEwen

Wow! That's all I have to say when reflecting on the past seven days. My colleagues have had their hands full covering all the heated racing action going on around the world ... but I've had my plate loaded with late-breaking tech developments. Don't think tech can be as exciting as racing? You've got two choices here: Hit your browser's "Back" button to get your fill of blow-by-blow race coverage, or read on to find out why this has been one of the most exciting weeks of tech coverage since I began working with VeloNews. Dura-Ace again! First off, Dura-Ace is in the house. Well, it was

John Lieswyn (7UP-Maxxis) survived a scare in the final 1500 meters of stage 2 at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce to retain the overall leader's jersey, while Oleg Grishkine (Navigators) took the stage win ahead of local favorite Charles Dionne (Canadian National). The 169km stage through the rolling countryside south of Québec City unfolded as expected, with a break of five riders going clear 6km into the race. Jindrich Vana (Ed's System-ZVVZ) and Trent Wilson (Flanders-Iteamnova.com) started the break, and were quickly joined by Cam Evans (Canadian National), Jeff Hansen (Atlas Cold

2003 vs. 2004 Dura-Ace – which do you like better?

Six forks put to the test

Cockpit controls – looks like 'pumped-up' XTR to us

Prototype rear derailleur gets beefed up too

Disc brakes see oversize calipers and rotors

Tech report: Overwhelming developments!

Deore-XT goes two-piece in 2004

I am a Planckaerts fan. These days, such a comment will certainly turn a few heads here in Belgium,especially among the more conservative Flemish. But in my case, I am compelledto watch it. I laugh for an hour straight at all the whacky shenanigans that goon at the Planckaerts house. “DePlanckaerts” is a reality TV show on VTM featuring cycling legend,Eddy Planckaert and his family in the struggle of bankruptcy, living ina little cabin in the Ardennes. There is no argument; they are a hillbillyfamily, barely getting by. The story I heard is that Eddy lost his moneyfrom cycling in a bad

Dear Lennard;I'm building a front wheel for my new FSR, and I am concerned about the torsional rigidity of the front wheel. The spare parts I have can allow me to do radial lacing or standard three-cross. I'm running a Fox Float RL 80mm fork, a standard non-disc XT front hub, and a Bontrager Valiant 32-hole rim. I have run both wheels (three-cross and radial laced) on my old bike with a 75mm Marzocchi bomber Z3, and the three-cross wheel seemed to steer much better. I would prefer to do the radial because it looks cool and I have nice butted spokes for that wheel. By the way I weigh 180, am

After an aggressive ride, Telekom’s Alexander Vinokourov took a win in the opening stage of the Tour de Suisse. Vinokourov had been on the attack throughout the latter portion of the 163km stage from Egerkingen to Le Locle, but never managed to initiate a successful break until the closing meters as the peloton charged to the finish in Le Locle. Vinokourov managed to slip away with Fassa Bortolo’s Sergei Ivanov, before beating the Russian to the line, in a winning time of 4:13:43. Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero (Domina Vacanze) took third, two seconds back. The victory was particularly

The 2003 Insight Race Across America moved into it’s third day and the field strung out across Arizona and New Mexico by Tuesday morning. Allen Larsen leads the solo field commandingly, hitting the Pie Town, New Mexico time station at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Larsen’s strategy of not sleeping until New Mexico is paying off. His impressive 14.94 mile per hour average has put him about 4.5 hours in front of rookie phenomenon Marko Baloh and almost 6 hours up on 18-time RAAM racing legend Rob Kish. But such a risk can just as easily work against Larsen as for him. His support crew has

You’ve got to feel for Tara Llanes. Less than a year removed from a crash at the Durango NORBA that brought a premature end to her 2002 season, the gated-racing specialist has had another season halted mid-stride, after the Giant-Pearl Izumi rider suffered a broken foot in a car accident on Monday in Pennsylvania. Llanes, teammates Jared Rando and Dustin Adams, and team mechanic Matt Duniho were on their way to Vermont for the third stop of the NORBA NCS when their Ford F350 was involved in a crash with another vehicle. According to Giant team director Steve Westover, Adams and Rando escaped

The Grande Prix Cycliste de Beauce kicked off Tuesday with a hard 125-kilometer stage around the environs of Quebec City. John Lieswyn (7Up-Maxxis) took the stage and the first leader's jersey in a two-up finish with Chris Baldwin (Navigators). The opening stage was a wake up call to the riders: you will be climbing; A lot. After four circuits of an 8-kilometer loop with a significant climb on the south side of the St Lawrence River, in the town of Levis, the peloton headed north across the river to Quebec, where they did another eight circuits, with a tough 14-percent climb each lap. The

Monday, June 16th As the sun came up on the second day of the Insight Race Across America on Monday, the lead solo racers have already passed the time station in Congress, Arizona, 336 miles into the race. Riders weathered temperatures reaching beyond 110 degrees across the Southern California desert before making it into the steep, but cooler, roads of Arizona. By Monday morning there was a battle developing at the front of the race for the lead. Through Sunday night, the number one position on the road changed hands several times as four riders, Rob Kish, Marco Baloh, Allen Larsen, and

Fassa Bortolo’s Fabian Cancellara was the fastest Monday in the opening prologue of the 67th Tour de Suisse on a 7.1km course in Egerkingen. The 22-year-old Swiss rider won the opening prologue of the Tour of Romandie last month and pipped Spanish rider Oscar Pereiro (Phonak) just one second. Aussie Brad McGee (Fdjeux.com) came across third at two seconds slower. “The course was very hard, but the crowd carried me along,” Cancellara said. “I think my team can win this race, but maybe not me. I still have time.” Defending champion Alex Zülle finished fourth at four seconds back. It was

Ullrich