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Pau - La Mongie

Pau - La Mongie

Lannemezan - Plateau de Beille

Lannemezan - Plateau de Beille

Lodève - Mont Ventoux

Lodève - Mont Ventoux

Lavelanet - Béziers

Lavelanet - Béziers

Vaison-la-Romaine - Les Deux-Alpes

Vaison-la-Romaine - Les Deux-Alpes

Les Deux-Alpes - La Plagne

Les Deux-Alpes - La Plagne

Aime - Cluses

Aime - Cluses

Cluses - Bourg-en-Bresse

Cluses - Bourg-en-Bresse

Régnié-Durette - Mâcon (TT)

Régnié-Durette - Mâcon (TT)

Melun - Paris Champs-Elysées

Melun - Paris Champs-Elysées

Chausson

Peat

Kovarik

Aiming for another yellow jersey in Paris.

Horner

Navigators patrolled most of the race

Épernay - Château-Thierry (TTT)

Épernay - Château-Thierry (TTT)

Chris Carmichael has been synonymous with Lance Armstrong’s success at the Tour de France. Carmichael’s been Armstrong’s trainer and coach since the early 1990s, helping guide him to three consecutive Tour de France victories. A former 7-Eleven pro and U.S. national cycling team head coach, Carmichael works closely with Armstrong and another dozen or so top athletes in cycling, triathlon, athletics and more recently in such mainstream sports such as NHL hockey. VeloNews’s Andrew Hood caught up with Carmichael for an interview a week before the start of the 2002 Tour de France. Here are

Reigning world downhill champion Nicolas Vouilloz will be forced to skip the upcoming World Cup events in Mont Ste Anne, Quebec, and Telluride, Colorado after undergoing surgery for hand injuries sustained earlier this month. Vouilloz injured himself during a practice run in Maribor, Slovenia, during the World Cup event in that former Yugoslav republic on the weekend of June 8. Vouilloz Racing team manager Stéphane Gerard confirmed that the 26-year-old French downhiller had undergone surgery for torn ligaments and tendons on the small finger on his hand last week. “This happened during a

“How about something positive to say — about anything? You wear me down.” — a critical e-mail from VeloNews.com reader Cary Smith I love a good, long road ride, especially one of those midweek flights of fancy that gobbles up the better part of a perfectly good workday while the proletariat slouches in its cubicles, staring forlornly into space, like trailer-park mutts on short chains. When I lived in Colorado Springs, and had teammates who were either entrepreneurs or slackers and thus could set their own schedules, I could count on two or three of these rides a week, generally on

On day two of the Fitchburg-Longsjo classic, three-time defending champion Lyne Bessette (Quebec Selection Team) moved a little closer to her fourth consecutive win, beating out Kimberly Bruckner (Saturn) in a head-to-head battle in the 40-mile women’s circuit race. In the men’s race, Prime Alliance’s Chris Horner edged out former teammate Mike Sayers (Mercury) for the stage win while Navigators Chris Baldwin grabbed the orange race leader’s jersey. After Thursday’s time trial, Bessette led Bruckner by one second in the general classification, so she was content to keep an eye on Bruckner

'Mr. Baughman, execute The Marksheffel Plan.'

Baldwin

Bessette got the better of Bruckner (r)

Baldwin follows Lieswyn in the break

Horner takes the win

A Lithuanian appeals court on Thursday released Latvian Olympic cyclist Juris Silovson on bail pending further hearings into charges that he tried to smuggle nearly 80,000 undeclared Euros across the border. Silovs had been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail for failing to declare cash he carried across the border. "You have to be there. You have to see the food there. Pigs get better feed," Silovs was quoted as saying by the Baltic News Service of the maximum-security prison where he was held. Silovs had been found guilty for failing to declare 76,750 euros (75,660 dollars) hidden

The French retail chain BigMat became the second high profile sponsor to turn its back on cycling this week, the decision taken at a shareholders meeting in Paris on Thursday. The news is a blow to the sport, coming as it does 24 hours after Italian firm Mapei announced the end of its near-decade involvement in cycling. BigMat partly blamed the pull-out on the decision by the Tour de France organisers not to grant them an invitation for next month's race. "It's the second time that we haven't taken part in the Tour," BigMat's director general Jean-Luc Leroy told

Belgium cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke appeared before a disciplinary commission in Brussels on Thursday as part of his campaign to return to the saddle after an appeals court overturned his recent ban for possession of doping products. Vandenbroucke was suspended for six months by the Belgium cycling federation after prohibited substances were found at his home at the start of the season. The ban was overturned on a legal technicality by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Tuesday, but it is the Belgium authorities who have the final say on whether to accept

Swiss veteran Alex Zülle (Coast), won the Tour of Switzerland which ended with a time trial in Bienne on Thursday. Zülle finished third in the stage – behind Tobias Steinhauser (Gerolsteiner) and American Bobby Julich (Telekom) – which was good enough to give him a lock on the overall title. The 1995 Tour of Switzerland runner-up had shrugged off a six month ban imposed in 1998 as a result of the Festina doping scandal when taking second to Lance Armstrong in the 1999 Tour de France. But Zülle had a less than satisfactory season last, with just one win all season, a stage in Paris-Nice.

Mercury’s Phil Zajicek and Quebec’s Lyne Bessette took the wins in the opening time trial on Thursday night at the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, to take the leaders’ jerseys heading into Friday’s Aubuchon-Glidden Circuit Race. Defending champion Bessette (Quebec Selection Team) narrowly edged out her former Saturn teammate Kimberly Bruckner, covering the 7-mile time trial in 17:49.53, just over a second faster than Bruckner. Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson was third, 44 seconds behind Bessette. In the men’s race, Zajicek beat out defending champion Eric Wohlberg (Saturn)

Zülle wraps up Swiss Tour; Julich second in TT

The Italian building materials company Mapei has announced plans to end its sponsorship of cycling at the end of the current season, bringing to a close nearly a decade of successful involvement with the professional peloton. "The Mapei group have decided to end their sponsorship of (the) sports team at the end of the current season," a statement released from the team said Wednesday three weeks after the drug-tainted Giro d'Italia. Mapei chief Girogio Squinzi said the sport was finally beginning to get its house in order but not enough was being done to convince him that Mapei's

Telkom’s Erik Zabel won the eighth stage of the Tour of Switzerland, a 235km stretch from Vevey to Lyss on Wednesday, continuing a pattern of wins that the German sprinter vowed to carry into next week’s Tour de France. Alex Zülle (Coast) retained the leader's yellow jersey, holding only a three-second advantage over Laurent Dufaux (Alessio) and 19 over Domo's Piotr Wadecki. Considered a strong strong time trialist, Zülle holds the advantage going into Thursday’s final stage a 34.5 km between Lyss and Bienne. Zabel said win on Wednesday gives him confidence going into the Tour de France,

Zabel beatsTeutenburg and Hauptman to take his second stage win.

The on-again-off-again career of Belgian Frank Vandenbroucke may be on again after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) annulled a six-month ban from the sport for doping offences. Vandenbroucke had been suspended by the Belgian cycling federation following the discovery of a cache of drugs at his home at the start of the season. The panel, to whom Vandenbroucke had appealed, annulled the ban because of a legal technicality. "... CAS came to the conclusion that the body who banned the rider in the first place did not have the legal status to do so," CAS said in a statement.

A day after dominating the mountain time trial and taking the overall race lead, American Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) sealed the overall victory at the Route du Sud with another strong climbing performance on Tuesday as he readied for the upcoming Tour de France. Leipheimer finished ninth on the final stage, but more importantly conceded just six seconds to his closest rivals in the general classification, Andrei Kivilev (Cofidis) and Aitor Kintana Zarate (BigMat-Auber 93). Tuesday's 189.5km stage 4 began in Luzenac and finished with the Cat. 1 climb of the Plateau de Bonascre, above the town

Spaniard Juan Manuel Garate (Lampre) took the seventh stage of the Tour of Switzerland Tafter Italian Gianluca Bortolami (Tacconi) was stripped of victory. Bortolami was ruled to have swayed from his line as he sprinted towards the finish and pushed back to 18th spot, handing victory to Garate, of team Lampre. Swiss star Alex Zülle of Coast maintains his lead at the top of the standings but the real talking point on Tuesday was Bortolami's demotion to back of the finishing group. The panel, chaired by Belgian Marc Vandevyvere, decided to punish Bortolami for coming out of the final bend

More solutions to mystery noises.

Bortolami (center) thought he had won, but the jury ruled for Garate (left).

Turns out all is not lost for the gravity racers that had planned on attending the downhill events at the Grouse Mountain World Cup in British Columbia. Following some last minute scrambling, Whistler-Blackcomb Resort has announced that it will be hosting two days of pro racing during the week leading up to the Grouse Mountain event, effectively replacing the World Cup downhill events that were cancelled because of too much snow. Grouse will still be hosting junior and elite cross-country races. Racing in Whistler will start Wednesday, July 3, with the Joyride Biker X, a four-rider gated

A day after the 2002 HP Women’s Challenge wrapped-up in Boise, Idaho, on Sunday, the promoters of the race announced that they are seeking a new title sponsor after Hewlett-Packard ended a six-year run as the event’s largest financial supporter. “We found out just before the beginning of this year’s race,” Women’s Challenge director operations Robyn Browne told VeloNews. “We just were not going to make the announcement until it was over and detract from this year’s mood.” Browne attributed the HP pullout to the company’s recent merger with Compaq, which “has put the entire company’s sports

The U.S. track team continued to add to its string of strong performances this year, taking the team title at the latest round of the World Cup in Cali, Colombia, June 21-23. It’s been a remarkable season for the Americans, starting with a team title at the opening World Cup in Monterrey, Mexico in April. The success continued in Sydney and Moscow, and, most recently, Cali, where the U.S. squad claimed their second World Cup title at the series’ fourth stop. With one World Cup competition remaining in Kunming, China (August 9-11)—the United States squad sits unofficially atop the World Cup

Phonak’s Alexandre Moos beat turned the tables on Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo), reversing the results from the day before to take the 176.9km sixth stage of the Tour of Switzerland as it finished in Verbier on Monday. Casagrande had beat Moos to the line at the end of Sunday’s stage and looked set to the same as he and Tacconi Sport’s Peter Luttenberger reeled Moos in as he neared the finish. Mooos had been active in the closing kilometers of the race, attacking with Telekom’s Giuseppe Guerini and Gerolsteiner’s Davide Rebellin on the day’s final climb, just 9 km from the finish. But

Rabobank's American co-captain for the TOur de France, Levi Leipheimer, appears to be coming into form at just the right time as he took over control of the 2002 Route du Sud on Monday. With one stage remaining, Leipheimer assumed the overall lead by 50 seconds after winning a short but tough mountainous time trial from Aston to the Plateau de Beille. Leipheimer beat second-placed Aitor Kintana (BigMat) by 48 seconds as he averaged 23 kph over the 18 km course that ended with the 1200 meter climb to the top of the Plateau. Cofidis’s David Millar finished the day in third place at 55 seconds

The U.S. Postal team released its roster for the Tour de France on Monday, naming a mix of veterans and newcomers to defend the Tour championship of three-time winner Lance Armstrong. Joining Armstrong at the start line of the Tour de France in Luxembourg on July 6 will be Americans George Hincapie and Floyd Landis, Spain's Roberto Heras and Jose Luis Rubiera, Colombia's Victor Hugo Pena, Russian Viatcheslav Ekimov, Czech Pavel Padrnos and Luxembourger Benoit Joachim. "It was a tough decision to select the nine riders because we have 12 riders that are ready to ride the Tour,"

This time it's Moos

Gord Fraser and his Mercury team finally got the win at the Grand PrixCycliste de Beauce that they have been searching for all week, however, to do it he had to hold off Charles Dionne (7Up-Nutra Fig). Michael Rogers (Mapei-Quick Step) finished safely in the pack, and the stage produced no significant changes to the general classification. After being robbed of the chance for victory in the morning stage, when a mix up sent the enter peloton off course in the final 300 meters, the sprinters were anxious for a last chance to claim a stage before tomorrow's concluding road race. Therefore,

Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo), snatched victory in the fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland from the hands Phonak’s Alex Moos just 150 meters from the finish in Meiringen on Sunday. The two had broken away from the rest of the field on the descent of the day’s toughest climbm the Susten, just 10km from the finish. Casagrande outsprinted the Phonak rider at the end of the 147.7km race to beat Moos by a matter of inches, for a winning time of 4:37:35. Domo’s Piotr Wadecki took the field sprint 15 seconds later to finish third. Coast’s Alex Zülle maintains his grip on the

Under a hot midday sun, the nine-stage 2002 H.P. Women’s Challenge wrapped up Sunday, with Saturn’s Judith Arndt maintaining her 1:20 overall lead over Rona’s 20-year-old Genevieve Jeanson. Both teams raced the final stage conservatively, with Rona intent on preserving Jeanson’s three leader’s jerseys – overall points, mountain points, and best young rider – while Saturn looked after Arndt. During Sunday’s road race - a 56.5-mile sojourn from Emmett to Boise’s historic Hyde Park district – several attempts were made early on, but Rona swiftly shut them down. The real racing began after the

John Kirkcaldie (Maxxis) finally broke through "a lot of second places" to snag his first career NORBA downhill win on a rocky, rooted, but dry Snowshoe Mountain course. Meanwhile, French dominance continued on the women’s circuit, as Sabrina Jonnier (Intense) won her second consecutive NORBA race in the wake of Anne-Caroline Chausson’s first round win. After qualifying fourth, New Zealander Kircaldie finally broke Chris Kovarik’s (Intense) stranglehold on the downhill series posting a time of 4:02:39 over the 2.25-mile, 1400-vertical foot course. Kovarik suffered a flat tire in the bottom

As expected, Michael Rogers (Mapei-Quick Step) successfully hung onto the yellow jersey through the final stage of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce. Lubor Tesar (Nurnberger) racked up his third stage win, ahead of Phil Zajicek (Navigators) and Matt Decanio (Prime Alliance). The final 144 kilometer stage was a tough course, offering other teams the opportunity to attack Mapei and try and crack the yellow jersey - which has happened before in this race. The riders did two laps of a 60 kilometer circuit, with three climbs per lap, and two finishing circuits in St-Georges, also with a steep

Casagrande takes it in the sprint

Ziliute and Armstrong head for the line

All the jersey holders were at the front going up the HP's last climb.

Today's podium

Domo’s Leon Van Bon won the fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland, a mountainous 160-kilometer run between Coire and Ambri on Saturday. Italy's Daniele Nardello came in second ahead of Briton Charles Wegelius. Coast’s Alex Zülle retained the overall leader's yellow jersey. Van Bon and Nardello slipped the peloton, with 80km of the stage remaining, but this pair were caught by a select group including Wegelius, who led the sprint for the line, only to be retaken by a tireless Van Bon.

Up until the final 300 meters, stage 6a of the Grand Prix Cycliste deBeauce was shaping up to be an excellent display of racing, with a long breakaway that was only shut down in the final 4 kilometers. However, a series of events at the end of the stage led to no winner being declared and all riders being given the same finishing time. The 111 kilometer stage was expected to be aggressive, as other teams took the measure of Mapei's determination to protect Michael Roger's lead. Saturn was particularly aggressive in the opening kilometers, but it wasn't until nearly the halfway point that

Under the figure of Boise’s Idaho State Capital building, Saturn’s Anna Millward took stage eight of the H.P. Women’s Challenge Saturday in a two-up sprint against T Mobile’s Katrina Berger. It was Millward’s second win - and Saturn’s seventh - of the nine-stage tour. The annual Saturday event, which circumnavigates downtown government buildings, drew out the local Boise cycling community to cheer on the riders and seek out autographs from the world-class field. With the overall GC more or less decided – Saturn’s Judith Arndt in first, 1:20 ahead of Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson, and Saturn’s

Alison Dunlap (Luna Chix) and Jimena Florit (RLX-Polo Sport), the two dominant women on the NORBA circuit this year, spiced things up by flip flopping Friday’s long course cross country result, with Dunlap taking a commanding victory in the short track cross country. In the men’s race, Ryder Hesjedal (Subaru-Gary Fisher) sprang back from the cramps that plagued him on the long course to reclaim his top spot in the intense short track competition. Dunlap enjoyed an uncluttered view for the majority of the 20-minute-plus 3-lap women’s event, going away on the third lap and riding

The Snowshoe Mountain Mountain cross course did not leave a great deal of room for error. With nothing close to flat and only slightly doglegged corners, it was a matter of getting the holeshot, take the win, plain and simple. That tactic paid off for Brian Lopes (GT) and Katrina Miller (Jamis) both of whom qualified first, won each of their heats, and enjoyed their choice of lane position throughout the competition on the way to the top of the final brackets. In the women’s race, racers were offered an alternate line in order to avoid, if desired, the enormous double jump a scant 70 feet

First rider start: 4 p.m., then at one-minute intervals for 189 riders.

Millward and Saturn in control.

Berger - Millward - Konrad

Stage 1

Luxembourg - Luxembourg