All Content

Friday’s foaming rant: Losin’ my religion

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 18th stage of the Vuelta a España. Today’s 193-km 18th stage to the ski area at La Covatilla will be Roberto Heras' best chance to seal the Vuelta a España and the last chance for everyone else narrow their losses in what will be Heras' backyard.The stage features four rated climbs: the Category 1 Puerto de Honduras at 116 km, two Cat. 2 climbs at 150 km and 168 km, respectively, and the summit finish up the "especial" climb to La Covatilla. The 9.5-km climb rises 760 meters with an average grade of 8 percent with ramps as steep

The 57th Vuelta a España is coming down to the wire for the second year in a row. Race leader Roberto Heras got time on his closest rival, Aitor Gonzalez, in Thursday’s 193-km 18th stage to the summit finish at La Covatilla. The 37 seconds he gained mean that he has extended overall lead to 1 minute, 12 seconds over the Kelme rider – but will it be enough? “I climbed as well as I could, but this is not the Angliru,” said Heras, who lives in nearby Bejar. “We tried to do some damage on Kelme on the previous climbs, but Aitor was strong today. It went as well as it could today. We got some

The wife of Tour de France third-place finisher Raimondas Rumsas lost another appeal here Thursday to be released from the prison where she has been detained since her July arrest on drug possession charges. Edita Rumsas has been held in custody at Bonneville women's prison for nearly eight weeks on suspicion of provoking, inciting and offering drugs for consumption. Her lawyer Veronique Coudray said that a new appeal, the third by her legal team, had been rejected by the court of appeal here Thursday. The mother-of-three was picked up in the French Alps on July 29 - the day the Tour

Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich said Thursday he has already received several job offers, just a day after announcing that he was leaving the Telekom team after seven years. Ullrich said he is now considering several offers and is certain to make a decision within two weeks. Both the Danish CSC team of Bjarne Riis and German team Coast have publicly confirmed interest in signing the 28-year-old world time-trial champion and Olympic road race titleholder. "I have not yet decided," said the East German-born rider, who won the 1997 Tour de France and has finished second in four

Britain’s Chris Hoy won the men's kilometer time trial in dramatic fashion in Copenhagen on Thursday with a blistering time which left France's world champion Arnaud Tournant in second place by the slimmest of margins. The Scot clocked 1:01.893 - the first time of the evening under 1:02 - to relegate Australian Shane Kelly from top spot on the leader board. Kelly, the former three-time world champion, had set the early pace with an impressive 1:02.18. Tournant, the first kilo rider ever to break the minute barrier in a ride at altitude last October in La Paz, is considered the world's

Tick, tick, tick... every second Heras gained today is one less second he has to worry about on Sunday.

Survivor - Blanco lost five minutes on the climb, but still had 30 seconds to spare.

Sevilla dropped back to lend a hand.

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 16th stage of the 2002 Vuelta a Espana. Today’s 145-km 17th stage starts in Benavente and rolls over northern Spain's vast meseta to Salamanca, a bustling university town. There are no rated climbs in this stage. The course climbs some 200 feet with two kilometers remaining, but the final kilometer is flat with one gentleleft turn.3:20 p.m. -- We are now 61km into today'sstage. The hoped for respite of a flat stage has been somewhat disruptedby strong crosswinds today. The wind has forced the peloton into echelonsat one point and

It’s 17 down and four to go for the 2002 Vuelta a España. With Thursday’s climbing stage and Sunday’s final-day time trial looming, Wednesday’s 145-km 17th stage worked just about how everyone was hoping: fast, no crashes, no splits and a bunch sprint. Italian Angelo Furlan (Alessio) was the surprise winner in the very fast stage into Salamanca (49.079 kph), nipping aging warrior Erik Zabel (Telekom) by a half-bike length in the final charge to the line. A sweeping left turn 400 meters to go threw the roaring sprinters into a mess. Zabel started first, but Furlan came around his right side

Bradley McGee easily beat fellow Aussie Luke Roberts to win the world individual pursuit title at the world track cycling championships at Copenhagen' Ballerup velodrome Wednesday night. Roberts took silver while German Jens Lehmann won bronze after he beat Ukrainian Volodymyr Dyudya in their final. American Mike Tillman failed to recover from a slow start to his pursuit qualifying ride and was timed at 4:33.955, 16th in a field of 21. The all-Australian final promised plenty of drama from Tour de France stage winner McGee, who is also the Commonwealth champion and a three-time Olympic

Germany's 1997 Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich has left the Telekom team "by mutual consent" Wednesday, following a remarkably successful seven-year career with the squad. The 28-year-old four-time Tour de France runner-up has had a miserable year - including two knee operations - which culminated in him being suspended for six months on July 23 after he tested positive for amphetamines. Telekom had also frozen his wages since the ban had come into force although they had been making overtures to the Olympic road race champion about renewing his contract when the current one

Juan Pineda, formerly of the 7UP-Nutra Fig team, has been suspended from competition for two years after testing positive for two "anabolic agents,” the US Anti-doping Agency announced Wednesday. Pineda, 27, tested positive at a road cycling competition in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on June 4, for 19-norandrosterone and 19-noretiocholanolone, which are considered prohibited anabolic agents under Union Cycliste International rules. Pineda was already fired by his 7UP team three days after he and his team director, Jeff Corbett, learned of the positive test. Pineda was suspended for two years

At the line. Zabel and Petacchi weren't expecting to see Furlan.

Wind Blown -- Crosswinds at the mid-way point made for some nervous moments.

Heras is one day closer to Madrid.

Heras still has opportunities to add to his lead before the time trial.

McGee goes back to his roots

McGee and family.

It may not be a high-altitude velodrome in Bolivia, but Arnaud Tournant -the world's fastest man on two wheels over a kilometer - will be the mainattraction when the world track cycling championships click into gear inCopenhagen on Wednesday.Tournant, one of only two cyclists to have won the kilometer world titlefour times, took the event to new heights last October when he smashed hisown record at altitude in La Paz in the first sub-minute time of 58.850secs.Now at a more reasonable height above sea level, Tournant is still everybit as lethal.The 24-year-old Frenchman is the latest star to

Good morning and welcome to today’s live coverage of the 16th stage of 2002Vuelta a España. Today's 154-km 16th stage from Aviles to León takes the peloton fromSpain's lush northern coast to the high meseta that dominates northern-centralSpain. The stage features the category-one Puerto de Pajares at 89 km. Speeds shouldbe very high as the peloton drops from the Pajares to León. The finalthree kilometers are flat with two hard left turns in the closing kilometer,but straight in the final 800 meters.3:20 p.m. –  We are now 76 kilometers into today's stage. A leadgroup of 13 riders are now on

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in the pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com that causes you to want to write us, drop us a line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter. Stop the whining!Editor;Millar is a whiner, who needs to go home and shut up. I recall him whining about how “f---ing ridiculous" a particular stage of the Tour was (last year), and here he goes again.Were I his coach, he would be gone. Steve MoningerGeorgetown, TexasEpic and

Colombian Santiago Botero came to this Vuelta a España a favorite for overall victory. After all, he beat Lance Armstrong in a Tour de France time trial and then won a mountain stage and finished fourth overall. Instead, the Kelme rider came into Tuesday’s stage languishing more than 90 minutes behind the leaders. Botero found the winning legs after working a long breakaway to give himself a little redemption and his Kelme team its third stage victory in this Vuelta. “It’s been difficult to keep racing when I was suffering so much, especially up Angliru. I almost quit, but I know that my

Botero finds his legs.

Another day in gold.

Botero leads the key escape.

Heras says he has faith in his team.

Let's get this straight from the get-go: I don't like to run.Running is painful, boring and slow. Okay, maybe the way that I do itis painful, boring, and slow, but even if you were to excuse the crueltricks that Mother Nature played when she shaped this particular squattylittle Irishman, the allure of running still eludes me.I guess that it all comes down to the basic question of whether, giventhe choice between strapping on running shoes and pounding out the milesor swiftly covering that same distance astride a bicycle, a rational personwould actually choose to go running. To me,

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has announced that its anti-doping review board determined last month that sufficient evidence of doping exists to proceed further in the case of former 7UP-Nutra Fig rider Juan Pineda. Pineda tested positive for the prohibited substances 19-norandrostestosterone and 19-noretiocholanolone at the First Union invitational on June 4. While Pineda is challenging the positive test result, he is no longer a member of the 7UP squad, team director Jeff Corbett told VeloNews, Monday. “He found out the Monday after Fitchburg (July 1),” Corbett said. “He called me right

With less than a week to go, the 57th Vuelta a España is going to be a nail-biter. Following the fireworks on the soggy, melodramatic climb up Angliru on Sunday, race leader Roberto Heras (USPSP) and the other remaining 140 riders in the Vuelta enjoyed their last day off the bikes before Sunday’s finale in Madrid. Tuesday and Wednesday’s stages take the Vuelta south into Spain’s traditional Castilla y Leon region, home of castles, ancient churches and wind-swept plains. Thursday’s climbing stage to La Covatilla and Sunday’s final-day time trial are the remaining decisive stages. Angliru’s

Okay, the Angliru was pretty hard. The race started from the gun again and it never let up. Johan came on the radio and said guys just for your information at the top of Angliru it is sunny and dry. Golly that was really making me look forward to it. I was already using my triple chain ring on the first Cat.1 climb of the day. On the downhill I was chasing back on with a group, I don't think it's very smart to do try and chase on these downhills. The guy I was following was going really fast and I could see a hard right turn in front of us but he wasn't slowing down the road was wet by

Heras says he and his team are ready to defend the jersey

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s Live Coverage of the 15th stage of the Vuelta a España. Today is the big one, the climb that is likely to define the outcome of the entire race, the 176km ride from Gijón to the mountaintop finish on the Alto de Angliru. We’re going to try something new for our coverage today be joined by Jonathan Vaughters, who is retiring from the Credit Agricole team after a long career in the European peloton. Today’s 176-km stage finishes off with what, in Spain at least, is called the "Hell of the North," and they're not talking about cobbles. There are three

Roberto Heras chugged and ground his way to his second stage-victory and the overall race leader’s jersey Sunday in the 2002 Vuelta a España after an impressive display of mind over pain in the 176-km 15th stage that finished with a climb up the brutally steep Angliru. Heras followed a surprising attack by Aitor Gonzalez against Kelme teammate and race leader Oscar Sevilla with eight kilometers to go on the feared Angliru summit hidden in fog and rain. The U.S. Postal Service captain erased a 1:42 deficit to Sevilla and moved 35 seconds ahead of Gonzalez to take the jersey oro for the first

Cofidis’s David Millar stopped half a meter short of the finish line of the Tour of Spain's killer 15th stage on Sunday in protest at the conditions on the Vuelta's most feared and notorious climb. Millar refused to cross the line after climbing to the top of Angliru. According to Victor Cordero, sport director for the Vuelta a Espana race organization, Millar arrived to the finish line but declined to cross it.

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in the pagesof VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com that causes you towant to write us, drop us a line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Outraged at Trenti choiceEditor;I am outraged by the decision to put Guidi Trenti on the U.S. Worlds Team(see "U.S. names world's road squad" and "Trenti ready to ride in Stars-and-Stripes") for two reasons: 1)USA Cycling receives support (and funding) from the entire base of

Heras set his own tempo up the Angliru

This time Heras was setting tempo for Heras

Familiar view -- Beloki spends another day chasing a Postal jersey

Gonzalez fought back and minimized the damage.

Sevilla lost the jersey but held on to third overall.

Pereiro and Flecha were caught on the early part of the Angliru

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 14th stageof the 2002 Vuelta a España. Today’s 190km stage from Santander to Gijón follows the spectacularrugged northern coast along the Atlantic Ocean with three point sprints andtwo, Category 3 climbs in the closing 50 km. We can expect another sprinters’ battle, though today’s finish is a bit moretechnical than most. The finish is straight in downtown Gijón, a bustlingport city, but features three hard left turns in the closing two kilometers.This is this year’s first stage in the Principality of Asturias. The secondedition

A bad crash marred Saturday’s 190-km 14th stage that was supposed to be a reasonably calm prelude to the storm that awaits the Vuelta a España in Sunday’s epic climbing stage to Angliru. Instead of a relatively easy day in the saddle before Sunday’s feared “Hell of the North,” the rolling stage from Santander to Gijon along Spain’s northern coast meant an early departure from the Vuelta for scores of riders. Race leader Oscar Sevilla, along with all the top favorites, survived unscathed, but it wasn’t what the peloton wanted the day before the most decisive stage of the Vuelta. “It was a

Stage 14: 5km ride to start + 9km of neutral + 190km of racing = 204km. And it actuallyt feels like a million. On the profile today it looked fairly flat, but it was far from flat, it was more like a rollercoaster. I'm glad we are up north a little bit and out of some of the heat, but I'm sure I'll be eating my words tomorrow when it's freezing rain going up the famous Angliru. Today started out again balls to the wall from the first kilometer. It's important to be at the front in the neutral because of that. Guys will start coming off the back from the beginning, but after a while,

Uwe Peschel rolled back the years to stun a host of younger favorites by winning the Grand Prix des Nations, a 67km time-trial, for the second time in Le Havre, France, Saturday. The 33-year-old Gerolsteiner rider clocked 1hr 24min 4sec to relegate Mapei’s Hungarian time trial specialist Laszlo Bodrogi to second and Yuriy Krivtsov of Jean Delatour to third. Laszlo, 25, was 36secs adrift and 23-year-old Krivtsov at 54sec, with Olympic time trial champion Viatcheslav Ekimov down in sixth at over a minute adrift. Peschel last won the high profile end-of-season event in 1997 when it was held

After being put on hold for a year due to the September 11th attacks, the Univest Grand Prix roared back to life on Saturday, and the American contingent in the men’s peloton came out swinging. The country’s biggest event for elite amateur men rated a 1.6 on the UCI scale this year, and drew teams from the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. A revolving door break began within a mile of the start, when U.S. Elite national champion Scottie Weiss (Go-Mart-West Virginia) went away and was soon joined by Gregorio Bare (UPMC-Fuji), Cedric Barez (France-Alderfer Auction), Jon

Smetanine wins after impressive break

Peschel

Bodrogi

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com's live coverage of today's 189-km 13th stage of the Vuelta a Espana. The stage from Burgos to Santander takesthe Vuelta to Spain's lush northern coast, which looks more like Irelandthan Spain's postcard image of sunny beaches and olive groves. The stage features three point sprints and four rated climbs - three Category 3 climbs and the Cat. 1 Alto Portillo de la Sia at 106 km. Today's weather is partly cloudy with wind throughout the day. We can expect the chance of rain to increase as we near the finish. 3:28 p.m. -- We are at kilometer 115 of

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in the pagesof VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com that causes you towant to write us, drop us a line. Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter. A need to clarifyDear Sir: I am writing to ask that you print a retraction in regard to a gross inaccuracy in your article "Insurance muddle leaves promoters scrambling." (By Patrick Gilsenan - VeloNews.com on July 29, 2002). It states in your article "Attempts to contact

All of Spain was livid over what racing fans called a clear case of collusion in Friday’s 189-km 13th stage from Burgos to Santander. Four Italians ganged up on a breakaway and Acqua & Sapone’s Giovanni Lombardi snuck away with a stage victory while Spanish fans cried foul. Six riders escaped off the front of a 15-rider breakaway with 80 kilometers to go and looked to have enough time to arrive over the final flats into Santander, but Italian Pietro Caucchioli refused to work. When the chase group caught on, Caucchioli then counter-attacked with Lombardi and two other Italians to arrive at

Building on the success of its single-pivot, light, but burly 2002 Gemini freeride models, Cannondale is adding a third Gemini model for 2003, the Gemini 900 (with Manitou Breakout, Fox Vanilla RC, Hayes HFX-9 w/8" rotor). This OnePointFive Standard-equipped bomber uses the same frame technology as last year's Gemini, but takes the entry-level price down from $2,975 last year down to $2,199.The Jekyll line, which offers adjustable full-suspension and all-mountain performance, has also been re-engineered. For ’03, the Jekyll’s maximum rear wheel travel increases from 115 mm to 135mm, and is

Lombardi

Blanco leads the six-man escape while Caucchioli plays his cards close to his chest

All of the action up front mattered little to Sevilla.

The Gemini 900

The 2003 Scalpel

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 12th stageof the Vuelta a Espana.At 210.5km, today’s stage from Segovia to Burgos is the longest of the VueltaThis is a long rolling transition stage across Spain's meseta. Thereare three point sprints and no rated climbs. The finish is straight on overthe final last kilometer.3:25 p.m. -- We are already 160km into today's stage. The averagespeed for the first two hours was well over 51kph. The pace continued atalmost the same speed over the following hour.Right now, we have a break of 18 riders off the front of the field.

With his second-place finish at Sunday’s San Francisco Grand Prix, Mercury’s Henk Vogels moved ahead of teammate Chris Wherry to clinch the overall title for one-day road races in the VeloNews Bro Tour. Despite not winning an event, Vogels was the most consistent over the six-races: Housatonic Valley Classic, the three races of First Union Week, the Saturn Cycling Classic and the San Francisco Grand Prix. Vogels also place second at Housatonic, fourth at the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia and eighth at the First Union Invitational in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Wherry had led Vogels by two

The longest stage of the 57th Vuelta a España came down to a bike-length despite an 18-man breakaway which held the lead for most of the day in a cloudy, rolling 210-km stage from Segovia to Burgos. Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi won a bunch sprint marked by the absence of Mario Cipollini, who packed his bags for Italy last weekend after winning three stages. Without Super Mario, the Vuelta’s other top sprinters fought for left-overs and Petacchi edged Telekom’s Erik Zabel to be king for the day. “The team worked very hard for me and I made a good sprint. I startedwith 250 meters to go

Vogels was always there.

Will sprint for food (and a healthy salary)

Hello, I really must be going.

Zabel could only look on as Petacchi sprinted for the line.

18 riders made an early escape.

Still in the lead -- with that comfortable 1-second margin.

Six of the escapees finally decided to venture out on their own.

Fassa and Telekom drove the chase

Good morning. Welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 166.1km 11th stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España. After yesterday’s transfer, the Vuelta is moving to the Madrid mountain range. This stage will offer a lot of character. Halfway through today’s stage, the peloton passes through the city of Madrid is one of the cities halfway through the race and the followers will be able to see the riders full of energy and enthusiasm along these mountains. This could be a complicated stage as the first kilometers will cover the road that crosses the Manzanares nature reserve and therefore Hoyo

The 11th stage of the Vuelta a España from Alcobendas toCollado Villalba on Wednesday saw a little bit of everything; rain, sun,wind, escapes, attacks and heartache. Telekom’s Alexandre Vinokourov, suffering from a cold that derailedhis chances in Monday’s individual time trial, did not start after coldrain welcomed the peloton for the start following Tuesday’s rest day. The rain let up, but the attacks didn’t in the 166-km stage up fourrated climbs, including the day’s main obstacle, the category-one Puertode Navacerrada some 24 km from the finish in Collado Villalba. The punishing pace

Lastras caught a fading Zubeldia just before the line

Di Luca

Sevilla defends his jersey

Sevilla defends his jersey

It was the wind that defined the character of the early part of the stage.

Kelme management says there is no war on the team