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With the USPRO Criterium Championship set for Sunday, VeloNews sat down with one of the favorites on the eve of the race, Canadian Gord Fraser of Mercury. Fraser won the event in 1999. In 2000, he finished second, setting up teammate American Derek Bouchard-Hall for the win and the national championship. Who are your favorites? Who are you going to be watching out for? I think the usual suspects. First of all, I think if our team does its job properly, we’ll be in really good shape. Obviously, I think the major threat would be the Prime Alliance team, with their three sprinters -- McCook,

With the only real threat to their overall crowns coming from catastrophe, Alison Dunlap and Ryder Hesjedal each did just what they had to do Saturday at the NORBA NCS finals in Mount Snow, Vermont. Both riders entered the day's short track races with comfortable leads in the standings, then held on to take home the series titles. Dunlap also won the U.S. national title, while the men's stars-and-stripes jersey went to Mongoose-Hyundai rider Todd Wells. Meanwhile, Canadians Roland Green and Chrissy Redden were fastest on the day, each winning the final stop of the 2002 series on a scalding

American Brian Lopes and Australian Katrina Miller picked up the first ever NORBA mountain cross season titles in style Saturday, each taking wins on a twisty and treacherous track at Mount Snow Resort in southern Vermont. Lopes's win also gave him the U.S. national title, while 20-year-old Melissa Buhl did just enough to capture the women's U.S. crown. After qualifying first earlier in the day, Lopes (GT-Fox) cruised through his half of the bracket, getting into a final that included Haro-Lee Dungarees teammates Mike King and Mick Hannah, and little known rider Chris Powell (Profile

Mark McCormack (Saturn) and Tina Mayolo-Pic (Diet Rite) took the race wins on Saturday night in Downers Grove, Illinois, as the warm-up events for the national criterium championships came down to field sprints for both the men and women. In the women’s race, there were attacks almost every lap up the sharp climb midway through the one-mile course, and several threatening breakaways, with the Talgo America squad usually the instigators. However, in the end, none of the breaks could stay away, setting up a battle between sprinters Mayolo-Pic, Nicole Freedman (Rona), Suzanne Sonye (Saturn) and

Hesjedal stood atop the overall short track podium.

Redden takes another win at Mount Snow.

Wells held on to take the jersey.

Dunlap helped pass out medals to the juniors after winning the national title.

Lopes heads to the mountain cross title.

Carter crashes out in the first turn.

Miller leads Jonnier and Buhl in the finals.

Not since the days of Juli Furtado has the NORBA National Championship Series seen the kind of dominance that concluded with the circuit's final cross-country race of 2002 on Friday at Mount Snow Resort in southern Vermont. Following a runaway win by Argentinean Jimena Florit in the women's race that gave her the overall title, Canadian Roland Green captured his seventh straight NORBA cross-country race on a tough and technical Mount Snow track to take his second-straight overall crown.

This Sunday, the top U.S. professional road teams will gather in theChicago suburb of Downers Grove for the USPRO Criterium Championship. Ninety-fourriders are on the start list for the 62-mile (100km) race on the difficultone-mile, eight-turn Downers Grove circuit, including last year's winnerHarm Jansen (Saturn) of the Netherlands.Absent from the roster, however, is the defending USPRO criterium champion,Kirk O'Bee (Navigators), the first American finisher last year, who isserving a suspension for a positive doping test.Like the USPRO road championship in Philadelphia, USPRO Crit is opento

The eighth round of the 2002 World Cup will be disputed on a hilly coursearound Zürich, Switzerland, on Sunday. The Meisterschaft von Zürichis the most challenging of the three remaining World Cup races and overallleader Johan Museeuw (Domo) will be starting simply with the intentionof trying to score points.Second-place rival Paolo Bettini (Mapei-Quick Step) at 68 pointsback is the main challenger for the veteran Belgian rider. Bettini is thedefending champion but pulled out of the Tour of Denmark earlier this weekcomplaining of tendonitis. Bettini needs to score the win or finish secondand

I was definitely more awake for today’s stage. Of course it was mainlydue to the fact that we got lost on our way to the start.Directions from the hotels to the start are not clear at all. We shouldhave followed the three other teams that were staying at our same hotellast night, but they all snuck out before we could tag along. Thank goodnessfor the stickers on our car that say “La Grande Boucle.” Randompeople out on the street saw those stickers, could tell we were lost, andpointed us in the right direction. “A droite!” or “A gauche!”We finally found it with plenty of time to spare. But my

Green went 5-for-5 in 2002.

Horgan-Kobelski is your national champion.

Florit celebrates another win.

Redden suffers up one of the Mount Snow climbs.

Dunlap was slowed by her cast.

Three days. Eight pro races. Sixteen series titles on the line. That's the slate for this weekend's NORBA National Championship Series finals at Mount Snow Resort in southern Vermont. Racing opens Friday with the women's cross country at 11 a.m., followed by the men at 2 p.m. Saturday brings short track in the afternoon and mountain cross in the evening. Then it's downhill day Sunday with the finals set for 1 p.m. In every case but one the races for the overall and U.S. national titles have yet to be decided, so with that in mind here's an event-by-event breakdown for all four disciplines,

Despite missing the final event, The International, with a broken collarbone,Prime Alliance's Chris Horner won the inaugural VeloNews Stage RaceBro Tour with an eight point cushion over International winner and teammateDanny Pate, with John Lieswyn (7UP-Nutra Fig) finishing third. The women'sstandings were unchanged at the top after the final race, with KimberlyBruckner (Saturn) beating out Lyne Bessette.August also saw the fifth round of the (single-day) Road Race Bro Tour,the Saturn Cycling Classic. After his emotional victory in the 140-mileepic, Mercury's Chris Wherry moved

Women riders can take their cycling to the next level this fall at theAlison Dunlap Adventure Camp in Moab, Utah.The "girls' weekend" will include four instructional and rigorous daysof riding with 2001 World Champion and coach, Alison Dunlap and six ofWestern Cycling's women coaches. In addition to daily rides on some ofMoab's most grueling trails, the Alison Dunlap Adventure Camps offer educationalseminars on nutrition, health, stretching and trail maintenance."I want women to walk away as more competent riders. I hope that theyfeel inspired with not only a better love of

Editor's note -- Last Saturday's Saturn Cycling Classic (see"Wherrytakes emotional win at Saturn Classic") will be the subject of ahalf-hour television report by veteran sports producer Ric LaCivita thisSunday, August 18, at 2:30 p.m. (Eastern time) the on ESPN-2television network. While LaCivita is concerned about cramming seven hoursof racing into less than 25 minutes of television, the man who enteredthis year's race as defending champion is concerned that the programmay end up showing just a little too much.Getting in touch with my inner two-year-oldBy Jonathan VaughtersRight

Former mountain bike world champion Michael Rasmussen shined inthe mountains of Spain on Thursday, winning the “etapa reina” or queen’sstage of the 2002 Vuelta a Burgos. iBanesto.com’s Francisco Mancebotakes the overall lead with just one day left in the key Vuelt a Españawarmup race.CSC-Tiscali’s Rasmussen, who skipped the 2002 Tour de France to be freshfor the second half of the season, made a big impression in the difficult165-km climbing stage to the Lagunas del Neila high in the Sierra de laDemanda mountains of northern Spain. He finished with a time of 4 hours,11 minutes, 4 seconds,

“Allez les filles! Allez les filles!”The number of French cycling fans that come out to cheer us on continuouslyamazes me. They really love this sport over here. What race director PierreBoué has done for women’s racing is really incredible.When I think of all the planning and organization and effort he andhis staff have put into this race, I really admire the man....even if hedid give us those long neutrals in the beginning.Each day Pierre rides in the front caravan vehicle and when we cometo the end of our neutral section, he’s the one that stands up in the carwaving the big “DÉPART” flag.

In what is being described as “part of a continuing effort to streamlineour services,” USA Cycling CEO Gerard Bisceglia this week eliminated threetop management positions at the organization’s main office in ColoradoSprings, including that of Jeff Pierce, vice president of athletic performance.Bisceglia, who started as chief executive officer on July, told Pierce,membership vice president Lisa Herdelin-Doherty  and MIS directorChuck Henry that they were fired and that their positions would not befilled. Bisceglia, who is traveling to the NORBA finals in Mount Snow,Vermont, could not be

Green is after his second straight NORBA XC championship.

Florit could win the XC overall.

Hesjedal is the favorite in short track.

Kirkcaldie has a shot at DH overall title No. 2.

Jonnier is tops in both downhill and mountain cross.

Lopes is looking for a double in mountain cross.

Reigning world cross-country champion Alison Dunlap will race this weekend at the NORBA NCS finals in Mount Snow, Vermont with a broken wrist and badly bruised hip, both injuries she sustained while riding near her home in Colorado Springs last Friday. The incident occurred when Dunlap came upon a man walking his dog on a trail that Dunlap was training on. To avoid hitting either of them, Dunlap veered off the trail and crashed. Doctors later discovered a hairline fracture at the tip of her left ulna bone. According to team officials, the break is not severe and her physician has designed a

Jan Ullrich was operated on again Tuesday on his troublesome right knee,the German news wires reported Wednesday. Telekom team officials calledthe operation “a success.”The 1997 Tour champion is currently serving a six-month suspension fortesting positive for amphetamines after he took ecstasy pills in a nightout partying in June. Ullrich said he took the pills because he was depressedafter his last knee surgery in May didn’t relieve the pain that sidelinedhim from the 2002 Tour. Just last week, Ullrich said in an interview witha German newspaper he recognized it will be difficult for him to

In all honesty, this year’s La Grande Boucle is pretty exciting.Unlike the men’s Tour de France of the last four years, where Lance hasbeen the clear-cut winner, this women’s Tour winner is still completelyup in the air. The top four are separated by just over one minute, thetop five, by 2.5 minutes. It’s still anybody’s race. Zinaida Stahurskaia,Susanne Ljugskold, Edita Pucinskaite, Joanne Sommariba, or Nicole Brandliare all within range. And this even with all the climbing days we’ve had.Very impressive, ladies.Our little Saturn team was made even smaller today with Cathy Marsalfinally

Dunlap

Rasa Polikeviciute soloes to a stage win.

Even though this morning’s stage was short, just 32 kilometers, it was an abrupt wake-up call to the legs after resting for a day. I forced myself to ride the trainer before the start, not to scare anyone that I was going to attack from the gun, but just so I wouldn’t get dropped from the gun. Ina’s been talking about winning this stage since she first saw our race bible. She knew it could be a stage for her. And seeing that she’s about 2.5 hours down in GC, is not a super threat to anyone! I’m sure a lot of the sprinters were looking forward to this day after suffering in the mountains, but

The on-again-in-off-again career of Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke is off again – sort of – after the Flemish Community’s disciplinary commission rejected his appeal of a six-month drugs ban on Tuesday. The suspension, which only applies to events in the north of Belgium, starts on September 1. The ban follows the discovery in a police raid on Vandenbroucke's home in March of quantities of EPO (erythropoietin), clenbuterol (anabolic steroid), morphine, and Nesp, EPO's newly-arrived chemical cousin. According to Vandenbroucke’s agent, Paul de Geyter, said he was disturbed by

I am sitting in the warmth and sunshine of Gerona, Spain now - far away from Les Alpes, where I was competing in the La Grande Boucle Feminin just yesterday. Yesterday’s stage was perhaps one of the most epic days on the bike I have ever experienced. It was our third day in the rainy, cold Alps. It was the most difficult stage on the race profile, heading up three major climbs: le col de Madelaine, le col de Glandon, and Vaujuny. It was cold and pouring rain at the start, and the organizers decided to allow us to skip the first fifteen kilometers of the stage, which traveled down a steep

Banesto’s Jose Ivan Gutierrez won Tuesday’s 172-km second stageof the Tour of Burgos in northern Spain while Fassa Bortolo’s MicheleBartoli moved into the overall lead. The stage was marked by a crash in the final five kilometers that causedmajor splits in the peloton. Defending champion Juan Miguel Mercado(Banesto) lost 16 seconds while U.S. Postal’s Roberto Heraslost 1:48. Two riders – Gerrit Glomser (Saeco) and Alessandro Bertolini(Alessio) – stayed away in a long break until 7 km to go and the bunchcame in together when a crash split the group. Wednesday’s stage featuresa team time

It was a bit delayed, but late Tuesday USA Cycling released the complete roster for its 2002 mountain bike world championships team, adding 20 discretionary picks to a roster that already included 30 automatic qualifiers. Among the late additions were 2000 short track national champion Carl Swenson and 2000 world downhill champion Myles Rockwell. Membership on the team does not necessarily include expenses (juniors typically receive more support than seniors) so don’t be surprised if some of the 50 riders don’t make the trip to Kaprun, Austria, where competition commences August 28. One

While the mountain goats were in Colorado over the weekend for the Saturn Cycling Classic, the criterium specialists were in Southern California for the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix. Now in its 41st year, the criterium is a fixture on the Southern California racing calendar, and a yearly stop on the National Racing Calendar. In the men’s race, Gord Fraser took Mercury’s second win of the weekend, adding to Chris Wherry’s victory in Colorado the day before, while in the women’s race, Saturn’s Suzanne Sonye took top honors. In the men’s race, 188 riders lined up for 90 minutes on the 1.4-mile

George Hincapie is scraped and bruised after a dangerous spill in Saturday’sClasica San Sebastian race, but he’s quietly relieved because he knowsit could have been much worse. Hincapie suffered perhaps the worst spill of his career when he slippedon a wet portion of asphalt while descending at speeds topping 70 mph offthe Jaizkibel, a Category 1 climb late in the race. He actually slid under a U.S.-style traffic guard rail, disappearedoff the road, avoiding very serious injuries by inches. “I just hit a slippery patch on the road and that was it,” Hincapietold VeloNews on Monday. “There

The judge investigating the case of Edita Rumsas, the jailed wife of Lithuanian cyclist Raimondas Rumsas, has rejected a request for her release, her lawyers said Monday. Lawyers acting for Edita Rumsas had asked magistrates to free her from the women's prison at Bonneville in the French Alps where she has been held for the past two week on suspicion of drug smuggling. But the judge in charge of the affair offered a negative recommendation to the judge who authorizes the release of prisoners. The latter will make his decision known on Tuesday or Wednesday. Lawyer Veronique Coudray said

…and then there were four. It feels like there’s a big void in our team; an emptiness that can only be filled by a certain person. Our teammate, Petra Rossner, finally headed home today. She dropped out of the Tour two days ago because she was too sick to go on. But she remained with the team for a few more days and was, as always, our biggest source of support and direction. Her knowledge, humor, kindness, and tactical brilliance have guided this team to so many wins. Petra is priceless. We are really going to miss her. It was especially hard for Petra to say good-bye to another incredible

The last two days’ races have proved to be the toughest of my entire shortcareer so far. I came very close to throwing in the towel todayand hopping in the team car. Only because the team car was so very farbehind me did I stay in the race. I was contemplating stopping at the nextcafe and begging them through my very blue lips for a cup of tea untilmy team car came by, but of course, there were no cafes to be seen onceI had made that decision. Now that the race is over and we have a RESTDAY on Monday (hurray!), I’m glad I stayed in. It was no small feat. Stage 7 Aix-les-Bains to Courcheval,

Valentina Polkhanova wins Sunday's 8th stage

The key break on stage 11 -- Valentina Polkhanova; Zinaida Stahurskaia; Joane Somarribade and race leader Zinaida Stahurskaia

Laurent Jalabert scored the big victory Saturday in the Clasica San Sebastianthat eluded him during three weeks at the 2002 Tour de France. After a string of close calls in his final Tour, Jalabert can go tothe retirement home a happy man. The Frenchman helped break the race onthe category-one Jaizkibel climb in the 223-km seventh stop of the 2002World Cup and was fastest in a five-up sprint coming into the windy finishin San Sebastian. Jalabert scored his second straight Clasica victory in what is his first-- and last -- race in Spain this year. Jalabert’s CSC-Tiscali team won’tbe racing

You probably couldn’t have scripted a better finish if you had tried. The Saturn Cycling Classic, easily the toughest bike race in America, with what is arguably one of the most challenging courses in the world, was won Saturday by one of the most deserving competitors in the field: Chris Wherry, the man who has twice finished third in this grueling climber’s epic; Chris Wherry, the man who saw his shot at a U.S. Pro title evaporate when he flatted in Philadelphia this year; Chris Wherry, the quintessential team rider who has stuck with his Mercury squad through thick and thin and Chris

The Alps – Stage 7 - We are in the Alps and it has been pouringrain, but the scenery is incredible despite the water dumping down. Wehave been pedaling through the clouds, up and down the cols and along thelush green valley floors. We’ve covered some amazing terrain.The organization at this race gets better and better each year, althoughthere are always long transfers, sometimes before and after the stage.We had what was supposed to be a thirty-five kilometer transfer to thestart of today’s stage, but turned out to be at least sixty, on mountainroads, which turned into one hour in the cars.At

Soon-to-be-retiree: Jalabert knows how to exit in style.

Always a team rider, Wherry won this one for his family.

Boulder's marquee cycling event kicked off in front of the Boulder Theater.

In Harm's way -- Jansen was one of the early escapees

Wherry drives the chase on Guanella.

Zarate earned the climber's prize, while his teammate took the win.

On his way -- Wherry had a healthy lead on the final drop into Breckenridge.

Vaughters was probably the fastest on Guanella.

For Jalabert this was 'a good course.'

Jalabert tries his luck.

The whole family was waiting at the finish in Breckenridge.

Steve's ring.

More than a hundred Lithuanians, including politicians and show-business figures, gathered in front of the French embassy in Vilnius on Friday against the detention of Edita Rumsas, wife of cyclist Raimondas Rumsas. Carrying national flags and with the French national anthem blaring the protesters criticized France’s judicial system and demanded the immediate release of Edita Rumsas from her French jail. She was incarcerated on July 30 after being caught with performance-enhancing drugs in her car. "We gathered here to pay attention to violation of human rights in France and to demand: let

UCI president Hein Verbruggen, who recently resigned from the world anti-doping agency (WADA) reportedly as a protest of the administration of the organization’s president, said on Friday that he actually resigned for purely personal reasons. Verbruggen, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) who is in Beijing this week to assess the city's preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games, said his decision to resign from WADA two months ago was unrelated to differences with the agency's president over an allegation that a cyclist took drugs. "I took a decision two months ago

The Clasica San Sebastian always opens the summer fiesta season of thisposh seaside resort in Spain's Basque Country. The Basques are crazy forcycling and they love a good party and the two passions mix together likea good paella.With four-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong takingthe start against rival Joseba Beloki and Paolo Bettini hopingto bounce ahead of Johan Museeuw in the overall World Cup standings,the 2002 Clasica has the makings of a classic.Armstrong is back in Europe after lighting up the streets of New YorkCity last weekend. The Texan has a home in Girona on the other

Stage 6 Today was the Tour’s first major day in the mountains. Rain was fallingwhen we woke up, but by the start the skies were just plain gray and therewas no rain.It was another odd start. They had us ride three laps along the boulevardthat ran in front of the start stage for  5km. Then they stopped usagain, and restarted us for 11km of neutral heading out of town and finallya running start into the actual race.Attacks started even before the first sprint bonus at 10km, with a brilliantone coming from Dede Demet-Barry.That started the trend and attacks kept going well into the first

“I think we’re just gonna bank on a horrible day that makes everybodywant to quit, go home and cry.” Saturn’s Tim Johnson, discussing this weekend’s Saturn Cycling Classic during an interview with VeloNews senior writer Bryan Jew In the wake of public outrage over revelations that steroids are ascommon in pro baseball as televised cup adjustments, the players’ unionhas finally proposed submitting to a regimen of unannounced dope testingthat at first glance seems every bit as rigorous as the accounting oversightat WorldCom. This should be entertaining. Judging from the tone of the ongoing

Of the hundred or so starters, most are happy to be there!

OUCH!

Since the middle of July, New Englander Tim Johnson of Saturn has been camped out in the Boulder, Colorado, at the home of teammate Will Frischkorn, preparing for this Saturday's epic, 140-mile Saturn Cycling Classic from Boulder to Breckenridge. Four days before the race, VeloNews caught up with Johnson, who was doing his best to prepare for the nearly 14,000 total feet of climbing over seven mountain passes. "When I got out here after Cascade, the main thing was to try to get used to the altitude.," Johnson said. "I'm not an altitude boy, but given enough time, I think I can do okay. Long

Defending Vuelta a Espana champion Angel Casero is currentlyracing in the two-week Tour of Portugal to get ready for Spain's three-weeknational tour.Casero has been dogged with injuries this year and underwent knee surgery in April. His Team Coast was overlooked for an at-large bid for the Tour de France and Casero has a lot riding on a strong Vuelta.“This Tour of Portugal is 14 very demanding days and is perfect formy preparation for the Vuelta,” Casero told the Portuguese daily Publico.“The Tour of Portugal is very hard and it will help me recover from myknee operation I had in

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 submittingmail to this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.  A crime of omission Editors: You forgot to mention Mariano Friedick in your article (see "Dominguezwins, but Lance is the hit on Wall Street") on the race today...JellyBelly is a hard working team (remember the U.S. Pro) on a small budget,they need to be  the exposure when they

Welcome to VeloNews's live coverage of the Saturn Classic, a 140-mile nightmare from Boulder to Breckenridge. Stay with us for updates as often as technology permits until the last dawg is dead. 11:00 a.m. Jesus returns and decrees Tammy Thomas the winner. 10:50 a.m. Scott Moninger explodes after being struck by an Iraqi Scud missile.

Bike riders, tramps and thievesYesterday, after a long day in the saddle and a long drive afterward,we arrived at our very quaint French hotel last night only to find outthat the front desk manager had mistakenly been told that our team wasa bunch of thieves. So he refused to open any of our phone lines for fearthat we wouldn’t pay our bills. And he asked our team director for paymentin full as soon as we arrived. As we later found out, after a bit of argument, one of the Italian teamshad left the Dutch hotel without paying for about 200 euros worth of phonecalls. So the faxes had been

Quebec riders dominated the time trial event at the National Cycling Championshipson Thursday, taking three of six medals in the elite categories.Leading the way was Rona's Genevieve Jeanson, winning her first everelite national title in the women's category after battling back from aknee injury that forced her to drop out of the Commonwealth Games. Defendingchampion Lyne Bessette (Quebec) finished third in the women's category,while Alexandre Cloutier (VW-Trek) took the silver medal in the men's eventbehind Eric Wohlberg (Saturn), who took his seventh consecutive title.Mountain biker Ryder