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Horner had fans out there, too.

Saturn's Ivan Dominguez gets the final countdown.

Stefano Garzelli (Sidermec) won Thursday's opening stage of the Tour of Trentino in northern Italy in a dramatic comeback for the Italian star. Garzelli, who was kicked out of last year's Giro after testing positive for a banned diuretic, beat compatriot Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) and Slovenian Tadej Valjavec (Fassa Bortolo) in a sprint in the 170km stage from Arco to Moena. Tour of Trentino (UCI 2.2), Stage 1, Arco to Moena1. Stefano Garzelli (I), Sidermec, 170.5km in 4:582. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saeco, at 6 seconds3. Tadej Valjavec (Slo), Fassa Bortolo, same time4. Sabaliauskas (Lit), Saeco,

Philadelphia Flyers general manager Bobby Clarke once said that, “I havediscovered the less I say, the more rumors I start.” The folks at USA Cycling would be wise to heed the implied lesson here.In the past few weeks, a period of great silence at USAC headquarters inColorado Springs, the rumors have flown fast and furious regarding thestate and fate of the 2003 NORBA National Championships Series. Among thebest tittle-tattle: cancelled races, no prize money, no TV, no UCI pointsand even no series at all. Of course the truth — as it usually does — liessomewhere in between. After extensive

Hey Bob,Can I get in any legal trouble, or am I breaking any laws, by motor-pacingmy friend behind my Subaru? --PatHillsboro, Oregon Dear Pat;As you will read, I do not recommend that you motor pace your friend,but if you do, I offer the legal ramifications as well as some basic advice.This is the classic “do as I say not as I do” lecture. In fact, when Iwas racing and training, I was not even smart enough to limit my motorpacing to willing and complicit drivers. I was riding a borrowed cyclo-cross bike with limited gearing and wasspun out going downhill with my head down, when the woman I

From looking at the Navigators team car in the closing minutes of stage 2 of the Dodge Tour de Georgia, you’d have been hard pressed to pick it out as the car of the race leader. Sure its windshield was marked with the No. 1, thanks to Henk Vogels starting the day in the yellow jersey, but pulled over by the side of the road in Columbus, Georgia, its rear right tire going flat, the team’s silver wagon looked like just another sign that things were slipping away. Team directors Ed Beamon and Ray Cipollini, and mechanic Mike Spilker, could only watch as the race disappeared up the road,

What a sense of timing. Here after a week of talking about safety, helmets, course closures and otherwise, I figured what the heck, why not start the Tour of Georgia by making myself look like a complete Fred and taking myself out in a prologue? Yes, it really was a first for me, crashing in a time trial, and hopefully a last too. It was the old 'I don't need to brake for that corner' that was my fatal error on that lovely sunny day. I have a history of taking risks in time trials, especially short ones like prologues> I figure if I lose much speed in the corners, I really don't have a

What? No prize list?

Hey, winners still get flowers...

...but now only the pros get those nifty plastic number plates

The incredible shrinking NORBA NCS

The incredible shrinking NORBA NCS

Garzelli crosses the finish line to win the first stage from Arco to Moena of the 27th Tour of Trentino ahead of second placed Italian Gilberto Simoni

Moreno DiBiase

The peloton heads down the road... as the Nav's tire goes flat.

Navigators in pursuit

The men in the break

Cross-cultural exchange: One Italian rider tries his best to make a good impression on the natives.

Go for broke... just don't let your wife watch. Vaughters in 2000

2002 Giro d’Italia champion Paolo Salvodelli (Telekom) is expected to be back in action by late May, officials from Team Telekom said. Savoldelli crashed while training in the Canary Islands this past winter. Savoldelli is penciled in to start the Tour of Bavaria on May 21-25 and the team hopes the Italian will be ready in time to start the Tour de France. Telekom also lost Cadel Evans for at least two weeks, who fell in Sunday’s Amstel Gold race and broke a clavicle. Dekker sidelined againErik Dekker’s health problems to give the Rabobank star problems. Dekker pulled out of the Amstel

To breakaway on the first climb of a very hilly road race is usually not a smart tactic, especially when there are still 134km and nine more climbs to go. It’s usually even more stupid to attempt such a long shot in a classic as difficult as Belgium’s Flèche Wallonne. Luckily, the little Basque rider Igor Astarloa doesn’t think much of conventional wisdom. On Wednesday, he became the first Spanish cyclist to win the Flèche; indeed, no Spaniard had ever won a classic in Belgium, France or the Netherlands. And Astarloa did it by being strong, audacious, confident, and very, very smart. You

Dear Monique;I have read that you should drink only water with gels. In the past, I’ve taken gels with Gatorade or R4 on the bike and have quite often developed stomach cramps on the run. Why is this? Are there other foods that shouldn’t be ingested with sports drinks while training and racing? Thanks, -- MikeDear Mike;Sports drinks are formulated to provide just the right balance of both carbohydrate and fluid when you are exercising. When you add gels to the mix, the additional carbohydrate can prolong the amount of time it takes for the mix of gel and sports drinks to empty from your

As former Euro peloton rider Nathan O’Neill continues his winning ways here in the States— so far undefeated in a time trial this year, proven again at the Tour of Georgia’s prologue — it’s only natural we would run a profile of the Aussie from Toowoomba, Queensland. Look for a two-page feature of the Saturn rider to land in mailboxes and bike shops next weekend, detailing his move from the D-2 Italian Panaria team to Saturn, the most dominant domestic team of 2003. In the mean time, we thought we’d offer up a few quick responses from his recent VeloNews interview… Five Questions with

In a field of 144 women packed with Olympic, world and European champions, and with the best professional teams all out to win, the incredible Nicole Cooke did it again. The British prodigy won the sixth edition of the women’s Flèche Wallonne, held over the same 97.5km that formed the final loop of the pro men’s race, only three days after doing the same at the Amstel Gold race, and only 10 days after her 20th birthday. Cooke won the race by attacking on the closing one-kilometer climb up the formidable Mur de Huy, which averages 13 percent and has a couple of 19-perecent switchbacks. And

The U.S. pro peloton hasn’t seen much of the Navigators this spring, but the squad made a big impact in its first major road stage on home soil this year, with Henk Vogels winning stage 1 of the Tour de Georgia and taking the race leader’s jersey in the process. Vogels emerged from a lead group of about 30 riders and beat out Schroeder Iron’s Miguel Meza at the end of the 136-mile stage from Augusta to Macon, heading east to west across the center of the state. While the rest of the U.S. domestic teams were out in California in full force for the opening of the season, Navigators had only

Julich leads the break that decided the day

Rumsas leads the chase

Astarloa on the attack

Working with Osa

Ullrich

Cooke makes her move

The new World Cup leader

Aussie in yellow

Vogels held his own on the climbs and nailed them all in the sprint

Starting a U.S. with a full crew of Navigators in the mix was new to most of the field.

The sprint at Meza

Aussie in yellow

This time, the Nav's had the full crew at the start

Miguel Meza

Vogels held his own on the climbs and nailed it in the sprint.

Damon Kluck and fan

Rabobank’s Levi Leipheimer will be at the start line for this week’s Ardennes classics to cap what’s been a solid buildup throughout the spring for the American. The hilly courses suit Leipheimer’s strengths better than the cobbles and Liege-Bastogne-Liege will be his World Cup debut. Leipheimer said his role will be to help Rabobank teammate Michael Boogerd as much as possible and perhaps look for an opportunity if it presents itself. Otherwise, Leipheimer said he’s happy with his form coming out a series of Spanish races and he’s already looking ahead to the Tour de France. “I’m happy

Dear Lennard Zinn,I just upgraded from Ultegra 8-speed to Ultegra 9-speed. I replacedthe shifters, cassette, chain, and crankset/BB. I checked the derailleurmodel numbers and they didn't need replacing. My problem is that with thechain on the small chainring it rubs on the large chainring when I shiftto the 7th or 8th cog on back. I don't mind losing the 9th cog and maybethe 8th, but not having the 7th really cramps my shifting style. Any suggestions?--Bob Dear Bob,You can eliminate the rub by moving the crank outward by putting aspacer between the BB drive-side cup and the BB shell to

As he sat under a shade tree along the start-finish straight of the Tour de Georgia prologue, John Lieswyn couldn’t help but reflect on the last major professional stage race in the U.S., the Tour du Pont. "This is just as professional as the Tour du Pont, and it’s only the first year. They’re obviously using the same blueprint for this race," he said. And while the Georgia race has a long way to go before it reaches du Pont proportions, it still had Lieswyn and all of the other 139 starters excited for the upcoming six days. "I don’t get nervous before a race anymore very often," Lieswyn

Three days after Alexandre Vinokourov of Telekom clipped the wings of the climbers at last Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race, and four days before the more prestigious Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the 67th edition of the Flèche Wallonne has a very uncertain outcome this Wednesday. What we do know is that after his impressive Amstel performance Lance Armstrong is back home in Spain preparing himself for an assault at Liège, while his perennial Tour rival Jan Ullrich is using the Flèche as a tune-up for Sunday after scoring a stunning solo victory at Tuesday’s Tour of Cologne. Other stars who have said they

Still reeling from the product overflow that was this year's Sea Otter. Sure, the racing action was great and all, but for the die-hard tech head, it's hard to beat the "Otter" for an opportunity to see the latest and greatest componentry and bikes. While the masses are content perusing the rows of exhibitors tables, really sharp tacks head deep into the pits for sneak-peeks at 2004 prototype equipment gracing racer's steeds. In fact, thinking more about it, those intent on catching a glimpse at future innovation are better served venturing out to Monterey in early April instead of trying

Leipheimer

O'Neill

Hamilton will be there.

Tim Johnson

Green

Fred Rodriguez

Leiswyn

Henderson

Check out those levers...

Sub-16 pounds and steel? You betcha!

Profile

Flèche-Wallonne: A tough one to call

More from Sea Otter; Lance's glimpse of the future

More from Sea Otter; Lance's glimpse of the future

More from Sea Otter; Lance's glimpse of the future

More from Sea Otter; Lance's glimpse of the future

Jan Ullrich, of the Coast team, claimed his first victory in 18 months on Monday attacking 55km from the finish to win the 88th edition of the Tour of Cologne. Ullrich, the 29-year-old Olympic champion and the only German to have won the Tour de France (1997), recently returned from a long lay-off due to a drugs ban and undergoing operations on a troublesome knee. In his first competition on native soil in 19 months, a slimmed down Ullrich showed he could soon be a force to be reckoned with by initiating a breakaway with around 55km to go on one of the 203km course's numerous small

The inaugural Dodge Tour de Georgia begins Tuesday with a short, technical prologue through the streets of Savannah, kicking off the 605.7-mile journey that starts in Savannah and finishes five days later in Atlanta. Tuesday’s prologue will set the early tone for the race before things get underway in earnest on Wednesday, with a 136.4-mile road race between Augusta and Macon. If the racing goes anything like the early-season U.S. races, the top of the leader board could be colored red-and-yellow by the end of the day, as the Saturn men hope to continue the run that saw them take 1-2-3 sweeps

Over the last few days I've been reading letters a few of you have writtenin response to my column regarding the situation in Redwood city (see“ Vaughters' view: Safety first!"). Most of them are positive and complimentary, but a few promoters have expressed concern about my painting the whole group with a very broad brush. Well, not to contradict myself in the same week, but some of these concerns voiced are valid. I will be the first to admit that I threw all race promoters in thesame bin by suggesting that they had their priorities skewed by not appearingto care about rider safety and

Vinokourov dedicated this one to Kivilev, too.

Ullrich, Mikael Reihs (Fakta) and Bert Scheirlinckx (Iteamnova) ride through Bensberg near Cologne on Monday.

They don't all end up like this.

The Tour of Aragon seemed stuck on rewind for Sunday's final stage. Leonardo Piepoli finished safely in the middle of the bunch sprint to wrap up his third overall title while Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) finished at the front of the mass gallop to win his third stage of the week. Piepoli won Wednesday's opening stage up the Category 1 summit finish to Cerler and saluted to the heavens with three fingers held high. The rest of the week became nothing more than a defensive battle for iBanesto.com to keep a lid on things until everyone arrived to Zaragoza for the final stage. Winds

No one expected Telekom’s Alex Vinokourov to win Sunday’s 38th Amstel Gold Race. Least of all him. “I’ve never won a one-day race until today,” the 29-year-old Kazakh said after the finish. [nid:24206]That is, except for a criterium or two in post-Tour de France appearances. But a criterium is little league compared with the mega-status of a classic like Sunday’s. “I rode the last 80km of the course on Friday,” Vinokourov said. “I learned that you have to be at the front all the time. It’s very technical, turning, left, right, up, down, on very narrow roads.”

Former two-time world junior road champion Nicole Cooke of Great Britain won the biggest event of her young pro career on Sunday: the Amstel Gold Race, fourth round of the 2003 World Cup. The 20-year-old Welsh rider on the Ausra-Safi team – which is affiliated to the Italian Acca Due O squad – bridged up with the Spanish rider Teodora Ruano of Prato-Marathon to solo leader Oenone Wood of Australia, who went clear on the Keutenberg with 11km to go. The three joined forces on the descent of the Sibbergrubbe with 4km to go, then Cooke attacked on the finishing climb, the Cauberg. “We could

With 5km remaining, Vinkourov gambles all... and wins.

Armstrong and Boogered

Sacchi leads

Casagrande attacks

Rubiera was in the first break

On the Cauberg