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There were no late-race flat tires, no mysterious illnesses and no bad luck Sunday for Gunn-Rita Dahle, as the Norwegian won the world championship title that’s eluded her throughout her up and down career. Following last year’s heartbreak at Vail when she flatted while leading late in the race, the popular Norwegian pulled away from 1999 world junior champion Anna Szafraniec of Poland on the third lap to seal the deal. Heavy rain turned the women’s cross-country race into a two-hour hike-a-bike and Dahle simply endured the troubles better than her rivals. "I was focusing on easy pedaling

Marty Nothstein and Sarah Uhl each ended a week of frustration by taking gold medals and national championship jerseys in the final men’s and women’s events of the 2002 U.S. Track Cycling Championships on their home track at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, PA. Nothstein easily outsprinted nemesis Jame Carney in the final sprint of a crash-marred men’s 10-mile scratch race to secure his spot at the World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark at the end of September. Uhl, the former junior world women’s sprint champ competing in her first year as an elite senior, won a

It would have been tough enough on a normal day, but put Julien Absalon in the muck and mud of Sunday's under-23 cross-country race at the world championships in Kaprun, Austria, and the rest of the field never had a chance. For the second straight year the Frenchman proved he is the top young rider in the world, taking a decisive win in brutal conditions he likened to his "backyard" in northern France. Absalon finished the 28.8km race in 1:59:01, 2:32 ahead of Swiss rider Ralph Naef. Canadian Ryder Hesjedal, the silver medalist last year, settled for bronze this time around, coming across

Roland Green on Sunday did what only one other male mountain biker has done since 1990 – win the world championships back to back. Whether or not he can three-peat to match Henrik Djernis’ record will have to wait another year. For now, the Canadian is going to soak up his victory, at least as soon as he can wash off all the mud. "That’s the best race I ever had. The race conditions were so hard. After awhile it turned into a running race," said Green, after winning 19 seconds ahead of Belgian Filip Meirhaeghe. "I couldn’t feel my legs in the last lap there was so much adrenaline. I

Three years ago, Bernard Unhassobiscay woke up and knew something was wrongin his chest.  The next day he was on the operating table having twoof his heart valves replaced.This Sunday, Unhassobiscay, who lives in California, rode faster thananybody else in his 40 to 44 age category to win the masters world mountainbike downhill championship in Bromont, Quebec.Unhassobiscay's story underlines what makes the masters worlds so special.Many of the athletes here never had a chance at a cycling career whenthey were younger, and some, like Unhassobiscay, are fortunate to be hereat all."My objective

Dahle takes the cross country in Kaprun.

Dunlap strugles up one of the slick climbs.

One of the brutal creek crossings.

Nothstein

Uhl's win was close

Green

Absalon wins again.

Hesjedal has seen better days.

Naef was the surprise of the day.

Jeff LeBauve (Focus 2004) powered over teammate Gideon Massie in the second ride of the match sprints finals to take the national championship Friday night at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome. LeBauve joins teammates Tanya Lindenmuth (women’s match sprint) and Garth Blackburn (keirin) on top of the podium this week at the track nationals in Trexlertown, PA. "It was a lot tougher than it looked," the 23-year-old New Orleans native said. He was concerned, he said, about Massie’s ability to hold a long sprint but also confident in his superior speed. LeBauve’s win made it three of four in the speed

Australia had another banner day in the junior men's downhill, taking twoof the three medals for the second year in a row. The French junior womenfinished 1-2 with American Leana Gerrard finishing fourth to post the bestAmerican result so far in the 2002 UCI world mountain bike championships.Sam Hill gave the Aussies their third junior men's gold medal in fouryears, proving that Australia has replaced France as the source of hotyoung downhill talent. Hill rode cleanly on the 1.99-mile course to winin 5 minutes, 22.01 seconds with an average speed of 22.23 mph."I made a couple of little

What can you say? When the pressure is on, there is no one better than Nicolas Vouilloz and Anne-Caroline Chausson. The latest evidence came Saturday at the world championships in Kaprun, Austria, where the pair of French downhillers blazed their way to two more rainbow jerseys. Between them they now own 14 elite titles (seven apiece) and six junior crowns (three each) for an amazing total of 20. Vouilloz was the first to hit double digits, as the men's race was slotted ahead of the women to accommodate live TV coverage, including an hour on the BBC. The English TV network had tuned in in

Put their names in the history books. American Brian Lopes and Frenchwoman Anne-Caroline Chausson are the first ever four-cross world champions after each took victory on a warm Saturday night in Kaprun, Austria. In the men's final Lopes squared off against compatriot Eric Carter, Frenchman Cédric Gracia and Czech rider Michal Prokop, but none had the skills to stay with Lopes who took the lead early and never looked back. "EC killed me out of the gate but he didn’t block me out of the natural line and I bumped him a little and came by," Lopes explained. "Then I just held on." Behind

Close to 400 cyclists from 23 countries gathered in Bromont, Quebec,as competition got underway Saturday in the cross-country events at themasters world mountain bike championships, for athletes aged 30 and over.Americans dominated the results sheets in most of the events, includingthe first race of the day for women aged 60 to 64, won by the lone starter,Cherie Oates from Colorado.  Defending champion Ann Budge from Ontariodid not start due to a knee injury."I made it!" said Oates after crossing the line with blood running downher leg from one of several crashes.Oates said back home she

LeBauve takes the win over Massie

Nothstein and Oelkers and paired up against the Prime Alliance of Carney and Pearce in the Madison

Reed tookthe first-ever first women’s keirin national

Pearce and Carney in the Masdison

Sam Hill

Vouilloz checks out his latest hardware.

Chausson explains her win.

Racing was televised live.

Peat looks on as Nico wins again.

Vouilloz's machine.

Lopes celebrates with his family.

The women's four-cross podium.

Emmeline Ragot

Myles Rockwell’s last run will be fun, he’s sure of that. Whether or not he wins Saturday’s world championship downhill race won’t make that much of a difference to Rockwell. He’s just wants to make sure he goes out in style. “This is the big show, so why not go out with a bang?” Rockwell told VeloNews in an interview Friday. “To me, the worlds are an opportunity to leave on a really high note. I’ve been watching the people’s faces a lot this week along they course. The fans here in Europe are screaming for you and want to see you go to the limit. I’m going to enjoy it.” Rockwell, one of

A pair of teenagers from Down Under proved Australia isn’t just for downhillers, sweeping the junior cross-country races at the mountain bike world championship in Kaprun, Austria on Friday. Inspired by the likes of Cadel Evans, Mary Grigson and Paul Rowney, youngsters Lisa Mathison and Trent Lowe each took wins on a sunny and muggy day in this picturesque ski town an hour drive from Salzburg. For Lowe it was his second trip to the world's podium, adding rainbow stripes to a bronze-medal effort last year at Vail. The 17-year-old took the lead on the first of three laps around the tough

Two-time world solo 24-hour champion Chris Eatough will look to defend his title this weekend on the rugged mountains of Silver Star, British Columbia. Among those hot on his heels will be two-time NORBA national solo 24-hour champion Tinker Juarez. “I think it will be a super-interesting event,” said Brian Lee, marketing coordinator and media liaison for Trilife Sports International, the company organizing the event. One of the biggest obstacles facing competitors could be the altitude. The rocky 19km course, home to Canada’s National Altitude Training Center, tops out at 6280ft, with

Though the team has already been using its time trial bikes unofficially,CSC-Tiscali has formalized its relationship with Canadian bike manufacturerCervélo and signed a full sponsorship agreement for the 2003 season.The Danish team will be using the full roster of Cervélo bikes onthe road, in time-trials and on the track next season.Cervélo is regarded as one of the most innovative bike manufacturersthe sport has seen in years. This innovation and a focus on performancehas been the strength behind its continued success, initially in the timetrial market and more recently in the road

The United States Anti-Doping Agency announced Friday that a three-member arbitration panel has ruled that track sprinter Tammy Thomas has committed a doping violation, her second in two years, and ordered the 32-year-old Colorado Springs resident be banned from competition for life. The three member panel of the American Arbitration Association (AAA)/North American Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found sufficient evidence to support a positive doping test involving the prohibited substance norbolethone.

He's got a smile on his face ... Really.

Lowe and Mathison are 2002 world champs

The Russian Trofimov was second in the junior men's race.

Italy's Tony Longo came across in third.

Rowney and his protege.

Tammy Thomas (file photo)

Tammy Thomas (file photo)

All the talk of Australia supplanting France as the world's No. 1 downhilling nation was squelched for at least a day Thursday, after French riders took seven of the eight top places in men's and women's qualifying at the world championships in Kaprun, Austria. On the men's side it was a clean sweep of the top three, with Cédric Gracia posting the day's fastest time of 5:23.88 down the 2-mile course. Less than a second behind the Volvo-Cannondale rider were countrymen Mickael Pascal and Nicolas Vouilloz. This is just the second race back for the reigning world champion Vouilloz, who missed

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in the pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com thatcauses you to want to write us, dropus a line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail tothis address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Cipo's back. Oh happy dayEditors;Great News! (See "World'sfastest retiree turns in world's shortest 'retirement'")The cycling world needs Cipo’. We al hope to see him in the Tour nextyear and hope to see him win more races in 2003 including a new recordat the

Two rain delayed sessions have tightened the schedule and resulted in the cancellation of the final round of the team pursuit at the U.S. National Track Championships in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. Rains on Wednesday evening forced the postponement of the semi-finaland final rounds of the women's match sprint; the team pursuit finals andthe men's kilometer final. Re-scheduled for this morning, those eventswere further delayed because of weather. Facing an already compressed trackschedule, officials decided to award the men's team pursuit medals basedsoley on teams' performances in the

It's no secret that Lance Armstrong never used Shimano's SPD-R system. He rode what he liked and those were his old Look-compatible Shimanos. After three successive Tour de France wins, the Japanese manufacturer finally decided it had enough of watching its decade old equipment bring Armstrong to the podium and set out to build a pedal Lance would approve of. It looks like the new design got the nod of approval: Armstrong has kept them on his bike since spring. The svelte 276-gram/pair (plus 60 grams for the cleats, screws and washers) pedals are the fruit of their radical redesign labor.

After more than two days on his bike, Boulder, Colorado’s Chris Grealish won the grueling 750-mile Boston-Montreal-Boston ultra-marathon event. The one-time Colorado race promoter has returned to the saddle in style taking the race, which runs through Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Canada and back, in 53 hours and 48 minutes. Grealish attacked early – at least early in ultra-marathon terms – sliding off the front of the field just 50 miles into the race. The owner of Boulder/Denver Couriers delivery service continued through the first 579 miles of the race without a sleep break. After a

Rains in Trexlertown reshuffled the schedule at the national track championships, but competition resumed on Thursday night, with Jame Carney, Mike Beers and Tanya Lindenmuth taking home national titles. For Carney, it was a night of double duty, as the points race semifinals and finals were both contested in the Thursday evening session. After qualifying in the 60-lap semifinals, competitors had to turn right back around for the 120-lap final later in the evening. In the final, Carney (Prime Alliance) lapped the field twice to take the win. Navigators’s Marty Nothstein wassecond, and

The Kaprun course has lots of places to pick up speed.

Giove had the best day of the Americans, qualifying 2nd.

Aussie Nathan Rennie gets some airtime.

Making the trip to the top of the downhill course.

Prime Qualifier -- Little did the Prime Alliance squad know that this was their gold-medal performance.

Carney and Nothstein finished 1-2 in the points race

Lindenmuth took Uhl in two.

Beers

The Canadians like to call themselves the “powerhouse of world mountainbiking” and they’re not shy about talking about it. In Wednesday’s debutof the 2002 UCI World Mountain-bike Championships, the Canadians provedit was more than just hyperbole. The defending team relay world champions led every lap except the firstand proved, at least in this event, they are on top of mountain biking’sslag heap. France finished second and the Swiss third while the U.S. teamwas 11th. “This victory says a lot about the state of Canadian mountain bikingright now,” said Roland Green, the reigning world

He’s back. You just knew it wasn’t gonna last. Slightly more than a month after angrily announcing his “retirement” from cycling, Mario Cipollini has announced he will come out of said retirement in time for the Vuelta a España and the upcoming world championships in Belgium. Cipollini, a fearsome sprinter who won the Milan-San Remo World Cup and six stages at the Giro d’Italia this season, announced during the Tour de France he was hanging up his bike. He bitterly slammed the race organizers for not according one of the wildcards for the race to his Acqua e Sapone team despite his

It's all about the stripes -- Not zebra, not tiger, Cipo' wants rainbow stripes!

ANCHOR - Sydor had ample time to celebrate.

While we thought 2003 couldn't get any brighter for Shimano and its highly redefined XTR group, the Japanese manufacturer surprised us again this morning with the announcement that it would be producing its first XTR-level wheelset. Sources report the wheelset should go for around $850 and be available about the same time as the component group (around January, 2003.) Vital stats include: total wheelset weight of 1650 grams, both 24 spoke count in a paired lateral crossover pattern and, most significantly, are both tubeless and traditional-tire compatible. Although the wheels were not

Deutsche Telekom confirmed Tuesday that Australian Cadel Evans has signedwith the team for next season. The 25-year-old two-time winner of mountainbiking’s World Cup made a great first impression in his debut season asa road pro with Mapei-Quick Step.Evans and his teammates learned in July that long-time sponsor Mapeiis pulling out of the sport. However, on the heels of his impressive performanceat the Giro d’Italia, including a heroic day in the maglia rosa, Evanshas been a hot property.Evans’s signing, along with that of Flèche Wallone winner MarioAerts and 23-year-old Christian Werner,

First look: New XTR tubeless wheelset

First look: New XTR tubeless wheelset

CSC-Tiscali’s Tyler Hamilton said his season is over after breaking hisright collarbone and suffering two deep cuts in a bad crash during a trainingride Sunday before the GP Eddy Merckx time trial race in Belgium.Hamilton said he might have also suffered a mild concussion, something doctors checked for on Monday.“I look like bin Laden,” Hamilton told VeloNews on Monday justmoments after he left a hospital in Brussels where he underwent an MRI. “My arm’s in a sling. I have bandages. I look like bin Laden, but I’ll be okay.”Hamilton suffered a horrible crash Sunday while warming up on the

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was...Okay, I'll start from the beginning. I ride both road and mountain bikesprofessionally and recently I had my sanity tested by both. Here's my story.There's this race called the Saturn Cycling Classic, you may have heard ofit. It is 140 miles long and has 14,000 feet of high altitude climbing.It goes from Boulder to Breckenridge, Colorado, over seven mountain passesand up and down some pretty tore-up roads. So torn up, in fact, that atone point you actually change from a road bike to mountain bike and

At the Chris Thater Memorial Criterium in Binghamton, New York, on Sunday, Navigators Mark Walters and Trek Plus’s Laura Van Gilder took the wins at the National Racing Calendar event, each adding to an impressive season résumé. Walters, the winner of the USPRO road championship in Philadelphia, was part of a nine-rider breakaway group at Chris Thater that lapped the main field as the 50-mile race wound down. With 10 laps to go, the Navigators began to set things up for Walters, delivering him to the win on the last lap. Mercury’s Mike Sayers took second, while last year’s winner, John

One of the best teams in the history of mountain bike racing will not be returning for 2003. After nine years together, automaker Volvo and bikemaker Cannondale have announced the end of the Volvo-Cannondale racing team. According to Cannondale vice president of marketing Scott Montgomery, Volvo was the driving force behind the demise of the team. "I think Volvo has become a part of a large entity with lots of different directional requests," said Montgomery of the car company, which was bought by the Ford Motor Corporation in January of 1999. "There seems to be a contingent there

Marin Bikes just announced the launch of its patented Quad technology which will be featured on the company's XC full suspension bikes. The Quad was developed with chief designer John Whyte, an ex-Formula One engineer and cycling enthusiast. The Quad, named for its four-bar linkage system, four inches of rear wheel travel and quadratic wheel path equation will be available in four models including the East Peak, Rift Zone, Mount Vision and Mount Vision Pro. According to Marin, the Quad suspension design is a four-bar linkage system with a patented Intelligent Pivot (i.e. similar to VPP

England’s Jeremy Hunt sprinted to the biggest win of his career Sundayin the GP de Plouay, charging to the head of a field dominated by riders from English-speaking countries in the French race deep in the heart of Brittany. Hunt, 28, edged Australians Stuart O’Grady (Credit Agricole) and BadenCooke (FDJeux.com) in a bunch sprint in front of a raucous crowd undersunny summer skies. American Fred Rodriguez (Domo) finished fifth in one of France’s mostimportant one-day races on the calendar. “I stayed in the pack all day hoping it would come down to a sprint,”Hunt told French television. “I

GP Ouest France - 2002Results GP Ouest France -- Plouay1. Jeremy Hunt (GB), Big Mat, 4:44:022. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Credit Agricole3. Baden Cooke (Aus), FDJeux.com4. Martin Elmiger (Swi), Phonak5. Fred Rodriguez (USA), Domo6. Jo Planckaert (B), Cofidis7. Peter Van Petegem (B), Lotto8. Serge Baguet (B), Lotto9. Laurent Jalabert (F), CSC-Tiscali10. Andrea Tafi (I), Mapei11. Raphael Schweda (G), Team Coast12. Luca Paolini (I), Mapei-Quick Step13. Björn Leukemans (B), Palmans-Collstrop14. Emmanuel Magnien (F), Bonjour15. Franck Renier (F), Bonjour16. Laurent Brochard (F), Jean-Delatour17.

Hunt led an anglophonic sprint to the line in Plouay

Mapei's Lazlo Bodrogi (L) and Fabian Cancellara