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Vuelta a España winner Aitor Gonzalez is now set to end his relationship with the Kelme team and about to sign on with Fassa Bartolo, the rider told Spanish reporters on Saturday. "Signing for Fassa is 99 percent certain. I have a definite agreement and there are just a few minor things to finalize before I sign," said Gonzalez in Valencia, where he was participating in a promotional event. Gonzalez denied that he was moving teams after repeated disputes with his teammates and manager during the Vuelta. "I've reached the end of my time with Kelme. I'm looking for some more

Raimondas Rumsas, third place at the 2002 Tour de France, was a “nowhere man” in Thursday’s Tour presentation in Paris. Not only was he not there for the unveiling of the 2003 Tour route, his photo was reportedly not shown as well. Typically, the Tour shows photos of the top-three podium finishers, but this year organizers only showed pictures of winners of each individual classification with nary a pic of the Lithuanian. Rumsas has also been fired from his Lampre team after his wife, Edita, was caught by French police at the French-Italian border in late July carrying alleged doping

Rumsas's podium appearance wasn't shown Thursday.

American Lance Armstrong's quest for a fifth straight Tour de France willbegin next year at the foot of the Eiffel Tower - the famous Paris landmarkhaving been chosen to mark the race's 100th anniversary.Organizers unveiled details of the 2003 Tour in Paris on Thursday and presenteda race that will include seven mountain stages with the peloton tacklinga total of 21 major climbs.Next year's 3350km edition will call in on seven towns which figured in thefirst edition of the Tour: Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux andNantes.In contrast nine stage venues will be used for

Monique Ryan is the nutrition columnist forVeloNews andInsideTriathlon magazines and is founder of Personal Nutrition Designs, a consulting company based in the Chicago area. Ryan will try to answer selected questions each week in her regular on-line question-and-answer column.Readers are welcome to send questions to Ryan atWebLetters@7dogs.com.Is uni-sex nutrition advice really a help?Dear Monique;It seems that most nutrition plans I’ve seen are geared to the male athlete or are supposedly “generic” to both sexes. The problem is that they are geared to a heavier carbohydrate intake than is

Following the demise of the Giant Global mountain bike team, the squad’s biggest name has found a new home, signing a deal with German-based T-Mobile. Brentjens, who won a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and was subsequently given knighthood in his native Holland, inked a two-year deal with T-Mobile on Wednesday. He’ll replace Peter Riis Anderson, who is leaving the team after a less-than-spectacular 2002 season.After a lackluster 2001 campaign, Brentjens rebounded in 2002, winning the opening race of the World Cup series in Madrid, adding two more podium performances, and finishing

The structure of the 2003 Tour de France may be based on the inauguralTour route in 1903, but the organizers have included so many new stagesand climbs that there will be nothing old-fashioned about it. Most of theearly comments from personalities in the packed audience of 3000 at thePalais de Congrès in Paris, where the centennial Tour was announcedThursday, were somewhat familiar though.“It’s not the course, it’s the riders that make the Tour de France great,”said five-time winner Bernard Hinault. “It’s a very interesting course,built for a complete racer,” said another quintuple winner,

After three legendary seasons with Team Volvo/Cannondale, Anne-Caroline Chausson, 10-time and current Downhill and Four-Cross World Champion has signed with French bike manufacturer Commencal for the 2003 race season. For the French native, her return completes a sponsorship loop that began in 1999 when Chausson left Sunn Bicycles (owned by Max Commencal) to join Team Volvo/Cannondale. According to Cannondale's Scott Montgomery, her decision to leave the American manufacturer for Commencal is fueled by her contentment of accomplishment in the sport and a desire to settle down with her

Twenty-one Tour de France winners will be present in Paris on Thursday for the unveiling of the 2003 Tour route to mark the race’s centenary. The Tour’s 100th birthday will be marked with pomp and circumstance leading up to July, beginning with Thursday’s race announcement. The route is expected to start and end in Paris, with ascents up such legendary cols as Izoard, Galibier, Alpe d’Huez, Tourmalet and Aubisque. Among the former winners expected to attend include Italians Marco Pantani (1998) and Felice Gimondi (1965), German Jan Ullrich (1997), Dane Bjarne Riis (1996), Spaniards Miguel

Saeco-Longoni Sport team manager Claudio Corti and Gilberto Simoni willbe in Paris tomorrow representing the Saeco team at the presentation ofthe 2003 Tour de France."Everybody in the team and Gilberto in particular are ver keen to seethe route of the Tour de France," Corti said. "We want revenge for whathappened this year. We were hoping to do well at the Tour but our exclusion­ which turned out to be unjustified, affected a large part of ourseason. As a result the Tour is already one of our major objectives forthe 2003 season."Sacchi, Astarloa and the young Saeco riders end the 2002

Ever since the organizers of the Tour de France decided four years agothat the centennial Tour in 2003 would include the same cities that therace visited in 1903, people have been speculating where the rest of therace would go. You see, the original Tour had only six stages (albeit verylong ones) and had no mountain climbs.Today, there are 20 stages, in addition to the prologue, which meansthat there are at least 14 other stage towns at next year’s Tour.The official route is being announced Thursday, but an early clueto the 90th Tour de France’s course came four weeks ago, when the

The official invitation to Thursday's announcement

One-time Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich is close to signing a new deal with Danish CSC team, his manager Wolfgang Strohband said on Tuesday."Everything has been discussed and clarified and I am expecting a signature soon," Strohband told the German news agency SID.The 28-year-old Ullrich, the only German to win the Tour de France when he triumphed in 1997, will again link up with Denmark's Bjarne Riis.The two rode together when Riis clinched the Tour de France in 1996 with the Telekom team and Strohband added that the deal had been smoothed by Riis finding a new sponsor for CSC to

Ullrich

Sunday - Redline Cup-Round 1 It didn’t take long for Todd Wells to dismantle the field at the first round of the Redline Cup in Tacoma, Washington, on Sunday. The Mongoose rider and 2002 national cyclo-cross champion broke clear of the field on the first lap with Andy Jacques-Maynes (Clif Bar), then dropped Jacques-Maynes a half lap latter and rolled to a 26-second win in the UCI-sanctioned event. "Todd is way too strong," said Jacques-Maynes, who finished second. "He’s obviously the strongest guy out here. It’s really a race for second. I was feeling great and had a great day yesterday (at

Shimano’s next-generation XTR website lets you see the functional capabilities of this revolutionary component group in cyber-space.  Simply click on drive train, shifting or braking for systems demonstrations and the company’s philosophy on developing these cutting edge mountain biking tools. “What impresses me most about how the new website came together is it’s about as close as you can come to actually riding the product.  It’s like a virtual test ride.” Says Devin Walton, Product Manager for Shimano American Corporation. This futuristic cyber bike ride lets you see action diagrams of

Beglian Sven Nys (Rabobank) won the first round of the Super Prestige cyclo-cross series in Ruddervoorde, Belgian on Sunday. Nys controlled the race from the start and held off biggest rivals, including Richard Groenendaal and Erwin Vevecken, to score the win. Results 1. Sven Nys (B), Rabobank, 57 minutes, 30 seconds 2. Richard Groenendaal (Ned) at 0:20 3. Erwin Vervecken (B) at 1:03 4. Sven Venthourenhout (B) at 1:03 5. Tom Vannoppen (B) at 1:03 6. Danny Wellens (B) at 1:05 7. Gerben de Knegt (B) at 1:23 8. Peter van Santviliet (B) at 1:27 9. Ben Barden (B) at 1:27 10: Mario de Clercq (B)

As he readies to take the next big step in his professional road career, Tom Danielson, the Mercury road pro who demolished Tyler Hamilton’s course record on Mount Washington this year, is also closing in on graduation from Fort Lewis College in Colorado. Indeed, like Hamilton, Danielson got his start in the collegiate ranks. Last weekend’s collegiate mountain-bike championships in Angel Fire, New Mexico, marked the end of Danielson’s 2002 season and the end of his collegiate career. We asked him to send us a diary from Angel Fire. My 2002 season ended this weekend with a celebration in the

Nijs

Captain America: Nationa; 'cross champ Wells had a good weekend.

Lloyd

Grande said Sunday was a 'reality check.'

Hall

Danielson closes out season in style: a collegiate nationals diary

Tom Danielson and Kristin Johnson

Beloki scores win in season finaleJoseba Beloki had one more good race in his legs for the 2002 season. The ONCE rider who finished on two grand-tour podiums this year (2nd at Tour, 3rd at Vuelta) won Sunday’s Escalada Montjuic in Barcelona, the final big race on the Spanish road calendar. The race opened with climb up the Montjuic mountain in the morning sector and ended with afternoon time trial. Beloki won the morning sector and only Kelme’s Oscar Sevilla could beat him in the climbing time trial at Montjuic. The race featured an all-star starting lineup, including 2002 Vuelta champion

John Parker, legendary founder of Yeti Bicycles, dropped us a line to inform us that his world-class cadre of old Yeti race bikes and prototypes have begun showing up on e-bay. Highlights includeJulie Furtado's 1990 Durango World Championship-winning Yeti C-26 (with an opening bid of $7500), complete with all original equipment including a prototype Manitou fork, Yeti quill stem and Onza Ti bar ends. Other bikes to be auctioned at a later time- include those built for John "The Eagle" Tomac, Myles Rockwell, Paul Tracy and Carolyn Curl. For more visit www.yetifan.com or click straight on

Italian cycling team Fassa Bortolo will have a massive post-season shake up with up to nine riders set to leave and a host of new ones set to join on. Among the younger recruits, the team have signed world under-23 champion Francesco Chicchi, who won his world title at the road race championships in Belgium last week. Fassa Bartolo are also awaiting an answer to a proposal to Tour of Spain winner Aitor Gonzalez of Spain, who rides for Kelme. Chicchi will be joined at the team by compatriots Dario Cioni, 27, and under-21 rider Filippo Pozzato as well as 21-year-old Swiss Fabian Cancellara --

What a week Italian Michele Bartoli has had. A week after being left off the victorious "Squadra Azzurri" at the world championships, rather than slip into "polemica" Bartoli let his legs do the talking. He won Milan-Turin on Wednesday and culminated his revenge tour with a dramatic victory in Saturday's Giro di Lombardia. Bartoli held off compatriot Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) and Swiss rider Oscar Carmenzind (Phonak) in an exciting sprint to win the finale of the 10-round World Cup series. The victory was Bartoli's second World Cup victory this season (he won Amstel Gold in April) and

Bettini

Bartoli

Saturday’s final round of the 2002 World Cup was supposed to be a final showdown between Paolo Bettini and Johan Museeuw, but an early start list reveals the Lion of Flanders isn’t taking the start. Bettini heads into the 96th Giro di Lombardia with a nine-point lead over Museeuw, but the Belgian isn’t starting so all the Italian has to do is finish the race and avoid a victory by Spain’s Igor Astarloa – who could bounce into first place if he wins and Bettini finishes out of the points.1. Paolo Bettini, 279 points2. Johan Museeuw, 2703. Igor Astarloa, 180.It isn’t clear yet why Museeuw

When the returning top 10 triathletes at the Ironman Hawaii press conference were asked if there might be any surprise contenders emerging from the field on Saturday, returning second place finisher Cameron Brown of New Zealand took the microphone and mentioned 31-year-old Austin, Texas resident Chann McRae. "Yeah, there's a guy called Chann McRae, he's a U.S. Postal rider, and he's here," said Brown. "He could be a new Steve Larsen. He was a fabulous triathlete as a junior, when I was racing as a junior as well. I heard when his contract's up for U.S. Postal, he's coming

What is Johan doing on Saturday?

Just a week after the world championships in Zolder, Saturday’s Giro di Lombardia may turn out to be to be another celebration of the new cooperation among Italian pros.Recently crowned champion Mario Cipollini promises to be at thestart line showing off his rainbow jersey and to help compatriot Paolo Bettini(Mapei) secure the World Cup title. Lombardia wraps up the 10-round WorldCup series and Bettini holds a slim 9-point lead over Belgian Johan Museeuw(Domo). The Lion of Flanders won two World Cup rounds (Paris-Roubaix and HEW Cyclassics)while Bettini won Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Bettini,

Museeuw and Bettini bring the World Cup fight down to the wire.

Even though 1997 Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich walked away from Telekom, his future direction remains undecided. Ullrich is continuing in negotiations to rejoin former Telekom teammate and 1996 Tour champion Bjarne Riis, who now runs the CSC-Tiscali team. Riis, however, is still trying to sign a co-sponsor for the 2003 season. Riis attended the road world championships in Zolder and had hoped to announce the completion of a deal with the man who helped him win the Tour in 1996, but it wasn't to be. Riis is now working hard to bring Tiscali back for 2003 after negotiations with

Monique Ryan is the nutrition columnist for VeloNews and InsideTriathlon magazines and is founder of Personal Nutrition Designs, a consulting company based in the Chicago area. Ryan will try to answer selectedquestions each week in her regular on-line question-and-answer column.Readers are welcome to send questions to Ryan at WebLetters@7dogs.com.Feeding during a 24-hour raceDear Monique;I have a 24-hour mountain bike race coming up soon. Do you have a simpleplan of hydration and nutrition I could follow? Recommendations of typesof foods would be greatly appreciated. -- TMDear TM;I will

Bologna, Italy -- Two-time Giro d’Italia winner Ivan Gotti spoke out in defense of controversial doctor Michele Ferrari in a court hearing related to organized doping in the professional peloton on Wednesday. Gotti, the Alessio team leader who won the Giro in 1997 and 1999, told presiding judge Maurizio Passerini that his hematocrit (volume of red blood cells in blood) reading of 50.7 percent during the Giro in 1998 was probably due to an infection. The elevated reading eventually forced him out of the Giro, and the ensuing Tour of Switzerland. Ferrari, a former employee of the Italian

Jim Rabdau, race director of the largest women’s stage race in North America, has confirmed dates for the 2003 Women’s Challenge, the 20th anniversary edition of the Idaho-based race. Rabdau also noted that the race is close to finalizing a deal with a new title sponsor for the event, support that was in question at the end of the 2002 race, when computer maker Hewlett-Packard ended its sponsorship. Next year’s 10-day, 11-race stage is slated to begin with a prologue on Friday, June 13 and will end in Boise on Sunday, June 23. Rabdau told VeloNews that he will be ready to announce the name

Will ride for Euros -- Ullrich still looking

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across somethingin the pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.comthat causes you to want to write us, dropus a line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.So that's why they're blueDear VeloNews,The light blue colour of nearly all Italian national sporting teams (see"Why so Blue?" in Monday's mail - below) comes from the coat-of-arms ofthe Savoia former royal family; the colour stayed after Italy became a republicin 1946 and

The post-world’s party for Mario Cipollini will continue through at least next season. Cipollini says he wants to race next year so he can return to his favorite spring classic as world champion. “I want to go back to win Milan-San Remo next year wearing the rainbow jersey,” Cipollini told the Italian press. The 35-year-old roared into the world title Sunday and will race Saturday in the World Cup closing race at Giro di Lombardia in what could be his last race with Acqua & Sapone. “I will race Lombardia out of respect to the World Cup and the rainbow jersey and to help (Paolo) Bettini

A reader asks about regaining confidence after a race crash

Mark your calendars, but don’t buy your tickets quite yet. USA Cycling has announced the dates for next year’s Chevy Trucks NORBA National Championship Mountain Bike Series, but the venues “have yet to be determined.” Promoted by GaleForce Sports Marketing, the 2003 NORBA season will include five races starting on May 15. GaleForce president Rick Sutton said that the sites of those five events will be announced soon. “We’re working on a number of venues,” said Sutton. In the meantime, spectators planning to attend and riders planning to participate in next year’s NCS events can get

Retirement is no longer in the picture.

Where can I get large mountain bike shoes?

Italian newspapers were not in short supply of superlatives Monday after sprinter Mario Cipollini won the men's world championship road race title for the first time in his career. Cipollini, 35, exploded clear of the pack in a mass sprint finish to win the 159-mile race in Zolder, Belgium by two bike lengths on Sunday to become the first Italian since Gianni Bugno in 1992 to win the coveted rainbow jersey. Nicknamed the 'Lion King', Cipollini won with an average speed of 46.538kph, the fastest ever in a world championship, and saw him beat joint favorites Australian Robbie McEwen and

How can I stop my Look pedals from creaking?

What a year. On Sunday in Zolder, Belgium, Mario Cipollini capped an incredible, sometimes turbulent season by taking the world champion's crown that he has coveted ever since the Zolder course was announced. Cipollini was carried along by a unified Italian squad that delivered him to the line with the precision usually reserved for a well-oiled professional trade team. And at the finish, Cipollini easily beat out Australian Robbie McEwen and German Erik Zabel for the rainbow jersey, and left his two rivals fighting for the scraps. The Zolder course had "sprinter" written all over it, with

Marc Gullickson (Mongoose-Hyundai) won his second straight Verge New England championship cyclo-cross series race of the year at the ECV Cyclo-cross in Gloucester, MA. Unlike last week when "Gully" attacked on the opening lap and rode alone for the rest of the race, this was a tactical win where U.S. National Champion Todd Wells was instrumental in setting up his teammate's victory.

Craziness That’s what I was thinking on the final lap of the world championship road race when it started to rain and riders where falling down all around me. Rain is common in Belgium in October and we had been fortunate our first few days here, as the sun was shining. I arrived Zolder Thursday morning and rode the course with my American teammates. This is the flattest course I have ever raced on at a world championship and this would make the race wide open, as nearly anyone would have a chance depending on how the tactics would play out and what kind of challenges the weather may

European cycling fans never cease to amaze me. It is a total circus around here. Jiri Manus, the U.S. National team director, traveled to Zolder as soon as it was named the home of 2002 World Championships. He staked out the best hotel location for the U.S. contingent, and he did a very good job of it. Our hotels are located right on the course. We can look out our hotel window, watch the race go by, and then rush back to our TV and continue watching it live on EuroSport. I love EuroSport! The road race circuit is the same for all categories; 13.3 kilometers. The entire circuit is

Moreau

A unified Italian squad was unbeatable.

Proof that this course was made for sprinters.

What is the best saddle for ischial bursitis?

What is the best seatpost material for a titanium frame?

Can I use fiberglass tape as rim tape?

How do I adjust my Mavic rear hub?

Can I use a 10-speed rear derailleur with a 9-speed drivetrain?

The first successful breakaway of the 2002 World Road Race Championships delivered French junior Arnaud Gerard to victory on Saturday in Zolder, Belgium. Gerard emerged from a six-man group to take the sprint finish ahead of Jukka Vastaranta of Finland and Nicolas Sanderson of Australia. The weather in Zolder was cool and cloudy for the second day in a row, after three days of sunshine earlier in the week for the time trial championships. On Saturday morning, the junior men set a blazing pace from the start as the field of 164 riders exploded off the line, on their way to an average speed of

Susanne Ljungskog survived crashes, rain and a blistering pace to prevail over a three-rider break in the final kilometer to win the world title in Saturday's exciting, rough and tumble 128-km elite women's road race. The Swede didn't stop after she bridged out to three riders who were narrowing down on victory just 600 meters to the finish-line. Ljungskog roared to the gold medal in 2 hours, 59 minutes, 15 seconds (42.845 kph) while Swiss rider Nicole Brandli took her second silver at these world's and Spanish rider Joanne Somarriba hung on for bronze. "I felt strong and I just did it

It was another exciting day at the world championships Saturday under cloudy skies and cool temperatures. French rider Arnaud Gerard won the junior men's road race marred by a horrible finish-line crash that took down a half-dozen riders. Susanne Ljungskog won the women's road race that was equally blighted with spills. The 2002 world's conclude Sunday with the elite men's road race.Wauters hometown hopefulMarc Wauters, a Belgian rider on the Rabobank team, knows every inch of the Zolder world's course. Wauters lives just 5 kilometers away and first rode the course as a young boy.Since then,

U.S. national cyclo-cross champion Todd Wells of Mongoose-Hyundai flew the colors of the stars-and-stripes jersey in the first Central Massachusetts Cyclo-cross To End Homelessness. Last year's revelation picked up where he left off last year, breaking away early with his teammate Marc Gullickson, and taking his first UCI 'cross win of 2002. A steady rain on race day turned the course into a slick, muddy quagmire by the time the elite men took the line at 3:00 for the last race of the day.Wells and Gullickson both had good starts, but the real rocket on lap one was Clif Bar rider Andy

Somarriba and Carrigan

Demet-Barry was top American finisher

Ljungskog

Edita Rumsas, the wife of Lithuanian cyclist Raimondas Rumsas and charged with drugs offences, has been freed from the Bonneville women's prison on bail, her lawyer Veronique Coudray said Friday. Lithuanian Rumsas had been held in the French prison since her arrest in July after investigators found a large variety of performance-enhancing drugs in her car following the Tour de France, in which her husband placed third. Bail was fixed at 20,000 euros ($20,000) and, according to Coudray, the 28-year-old Rumsas intends to go to Italy once the sum has been paid. The mother-of-three was