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The lead group in the men's race.

Under gray skies that intermittently wet the course, Talgo America’s Susan Palmer-Komar won stage three of the women’s road stage race—however the real victory belonged to the women of Team Saturn. Going into Friday’s Fort Ord Road Race, the Saturn women held the number two, three, and four spots on the general classification after Thursday’s time trial and criterium. Standing in their way was the 20-year-old cycling phenom from Quebec, Genevieve Jeanson (Rona), who had shown her strength by not just winning the time trial but setting a new course record—by a full minute. A fourth place in

After 14 seasons as a professional, 35-year-old Mario Cipollini finally won the race he wanted to win more than any other. Cipollini, riding in the zebra-esque colors of his new team, Acqua & Sapone, survived a long day that saw many pre-race favorites succumb to crashes and injuries to win the 93rd Milan-San Remo. [nid:21955]Cipollini and the lead sprinters reeled in a two-man breakaway of Mapei’s Paolo Bettini and Panaria’s Giuliano Figueras with less than a kilometer to go after the pair had pulled away on the Poggio climb just seven kilometers from the finish.

Dutch racer Mirjam Melchers (Farm Frites-Hartol) won the 118km Primavera Rosa, winning a three-up sprint. The win puts her into second place overall in the women’s World Cup, 32 points behind Germany’s Petra Rossner. The race, the third in the nine-race World Cup, basically followed the final half of the men’s route of the Milan-San Remo. Melchers pulled away late in the race with Diana Ziliute (Acca Due) and Chantal Beltman (Acca Due) and beat the teammates in the sprint.

Chris Horner wrapped up the men’s road title at the Sea Otter Classic as he finished in the main field of the Laguna Seca circuit race Saturday, easily protecting the nearly three-minute lead he had in the overall standings. Saturn’s Mark McCormack took advantage of a final-lap charge and held off a closing field to earn a win in the final stage of the three-day, four-stage event, near Monterey, California. With just 20 laps around the twisting tarmac of the Laguna Seca speedway, there was little chance that anyone would come close to making a dent in Horner’s substantial 2:49 lead over

Mari Holden, Sue Palmer-Komar and Kimberly Bruckner

Jeanson gambled and lost.

Cipollini beats out U.S. champ Rodriguez

Rodriguez, Cipollini and Zberg

On the road to San Remo

McCormack

O'Bee

And the winner is....

Herr San-Remo, aka Erik Zabel, says he's ready for the race he's won four times since 1997. Zabel, 31, told La Gazzetta dello Sport he thinks he can win again despite winning just the opening stage at Tirreno-Adriatico. "I've already ridden 5000 kilometers this season and I feel strong. I felt strong in the climbs at Tirreno, and although I didn't win a stage [after the first day], I just lost to Bettini and Cipollini in sprints, but I was close." Zabel is one of 200 riders from 25 teams lining up for the 93rd Milan-San Remo. Zabel called Milan-San Remo the "the world’s of the

“There are a lot of guys in the peloton who are fit right now,” Ed Beamon remarked. “It’s just that Chris Horner is about two levels above that.” Had there been doubts about the Navigators director’s assessment of the Prime Alliance star’s form before, Horner surely put them to rest on the rolling hills of the Fort Ord road race at the Sea Otter Classic on Friday. The 30-year-old from Bend, Oregon and his team started the day as if he already had the leader’s jersey on his shoulders and by race’s end he did, well padded with a comfortable three-minute margin. By the strength of his

Used to be the Sea Otter Classic served as the final tune-up for the mountain-bike World Cup season, and that meant the stage race in Monterey, California was a prime indicator of who had gone hard and who had gone soft during the off-season. But this year, without the Napa Valley cross-country looming a week away, there was talk that some of the top riders might not be in top form when they arrived at the Laguna Seca Raceway for the Sea Otter’s four-stage affair, March 21-24. But following the second day of racing here, all but a few of the big names were right were you expected them to be.

In pursuit: Barry put in a heroic effort to protect Zabriskie's hold on the lead.

Alexander won the time trial.

Saturday's World Cup opener Milan-San Remo promises to be one of the most competitive in years. A baker's dozen of cycling's biggest Classics riders are roaring into the traditional kick off to the European racing season. Topping the list of favorites is Mario Cipollini, hot off his impressive victory in the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico on Wednesday. The 35-year-old Tuscan has new colors (check that zebra-striped kit), a new bike (Specialized) and a new lease on life (Acqua e Sapone). Cipo is desperate for a victory at Milan-San Remo. Erik Zabel has owned Milan-San Remo,

Eight days after breaking the time trial course record at the Redlands Classic, Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson was at it again on Thursday, taking down the all-time mark at the opening stage of the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California. Jeanson sailed around the Sea Otter’s 17-mile time trial circuit in 42:50, setting a new course record and putting 1:27 into Saturn’s Kimberley Bruckner, who came across in second despite suffering a puncture. The rest of the top five included Saturn riders Lyne Bessette (at 1:34) and Judith Arndt (at 2:06), and Cannondale-USA’s Mari Holden (at

With just a few hours of rest after this morning’s opening time trial, riders tackling this year’s edition of the Sea Otter Classic moved down to Monterey as Mercury’s Gord Fraser and Katrina Berger (Cannondale-USA) won on the tough and grinding criterium course through the streets of the historic Cannery Row district. After two stages, the day ended with U.S. Postal’s David Zabriskie and Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson maintaining their hold on the overall lead. Depth of field Seeing Fraser take a sprint finish in a criterium has been not an unusual sight in American racing over the past few

The first stage of the Sea Otter Classic mountain bike stage race, a criterium raced on mountain bikes with slick tires, was won Thursday by a pair of Americans — current world champion Alison Dunlap, and veteran pro Steve Tilford. Marking the inaugural year of the Fatboy Crit at California’s Sea Otter, the course was identical to that used by the roadies — a fast half-mile lap around downtown Monterey’s Cannery Row. In the men’s 50-minute race, cross-country world champion Roland Green (Trek-Volkswagen) got things started early, jumping out front and controlling the pace. But after 15

Jeanson prepares to take on the TT.

Zabriskie on the downtown streets of Monterey.

New colors, same old Gord

Berger timed her move just right

Seems like old times. Tilford has a knack for these things.

Cannery Row

Tina Mayolo-Pic

Damon Kluck

 VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something inthe pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.comthat causes you to want to write us, drop us a line at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Cycling can clean up like football and baseball didWe all reallyneed to decrease our focus on the UCI to help solve thedoping issue in cycling, and look far more to the team ownership and sponsors.Like the NFL, or Major League Baseball, the anti doping rules

George Hincapie enters what will be his most important World Cup campaign at the Milan-San Remo season-opener Saturday, March 23. It will be the eighth time Hincapie's entered the traditional start of the European racing season. Following his breakthrough season last year, when he won Ghent-Wevelgem and the San Francisco Grand Prix as well as helped teammate Lance Armstrong win a third-straight Tour de France, Hincapie has high hopes for 2002 season. Last week, however, Hincapie was sidelined by a stomach virus that struck March 12 and kept him in bed for two days and out of the

Rabobank’s rider Erik Dekker won the 37th edition of Tirreno-Adriatico in San Benedetto Del Tronto Wednesday. Dekker triumphed overall after the 162km stage around San Benedetto on Italy's Adriatic coast which was won by Italian veteran Mario Cipollini. Cipollini, riding for the Acqua e Sapone team, pipped Germany's Erik Zabel and Lithuania's Saulius Ruskys in a sprint finish. Dekker had stamped his authority on the race by winning Sunday's time trial in Rieti, taking over the leader's red and yellow jersey from Italian Danilo Di Luca. Many had expected Di Luca to take it back but

Joe Friel is author of the successful "Training Bible" series ofbooks,  a regular columnist for VeloNews and Inside Triathlonand the founder of www.ultrafit.com. This marks the start of Friel's weekly Question-and-Answer column here on VeloNews.com. Friel will answer a selected group of questions each week. Readers can send questions to Friel in care of VeloNews.com at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.Be sure to include "Friel" in the subject line. Q: I am finding that my biggest weakness is in recovery afterrepetitive hill climbs and being able to respond to attacks before crestingthe hill. Although,

Ghent-Wevelgem

Friel

Italian cyclist Fabio Sacchi, suspended by his Saeco team after banned substances were found at his home at the weekend, needed the products to help his wife become pregnant, his teammate Mirko Celestino said on Tuesday. Sacchi was one of six riders whose hotel room at Rieti was raided Sunday morning at Rieti before the fourth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico but the products were found at a simultaneous search of his home. Amid reports that the substances found were gonadotropina and profasic - which help stimulate testosterone - Celestino revealed that his teammate had confided in him that

Polish cyclist Piotr Wadeckj, who needed brain surgery after a horrific fall in the first stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race last Thursday, says he will return to the saddle when he can, Gazzetta dello Sport reported Tuesday. Wadeckj had been kept in an artificial coma by doctors amid reports that his career might be ended by the fall near the finishing line at Sorrento but, speaking from his hospital bed, he made it clear he intended to carry on riding. The bruised-and-battered-looking Pole said: "I am already thinking of the day when I can start again. It's not just a job, it

Alessio’s Franco Pellizotti won Tuesday's sixth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, a 208km run from Rapagnano to Montegranaro. Pellizotti held off compatriots Rinaldo Nocentini and Paolo Bettini in an all-Italian podium after a sprint finish but Holland's Erik Dekker retains the leader's red and yellow jersey. It was a red-letter day for the mop-topped 24-year-old from Bibbione in the northern region of Friuli near the Slovenian border who punched the air as he crossed the line for his first professional win in his second year. He had impressed greatly in last year's Tour of Spain when he

Health woes continue for Jan Ullrich. According to a statementreleased from Team Telekom on Tuesday, the 1997 Tour de France championwill not start the Tour de la Sarthe in France on April 9 because he isrecovering from a stress injury to his right knee.Team Telekom doctor Lothar Heinrich said Ullrich will ease on up ontraining schedule to take pressure off the knee in the coming weeks. Ullrichhas been plagued with minor injuries and illnesses since winning the Tourin 1997.Ullrich seems to have reined in his off-season eating problems, buthe continues to struggle to find the winning formula

A proposal to introduce further transparency in the Tour de France by allowing independent doctors to rule on the use of medically-prescribed products by riders was rejected by the president of the sport's governing body Tuesday. It effectively means no new anti-doping measures will be introduced for this year's Tour de France. "We have ruled out accepting the idea of such a (doctor's) panel exclusively for the Tour de France," Hein Verbruggen, the president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), told AFP following a meeting Tuesday with the French sports minister

Dr Michele Ferrari, alleged to be at the hub of a widespread doping operation in cycling, entered the witness box Tuesday to give evidence in his own defense against charges of knowingly administering illegal products to riders. Ferrari, who counts three-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong among his many reported clients, spoke for about an hour. "Being a professional cyclist is a tough job which is bad for your health," said Ferrari who denies the charges. "There are products, not necessarily doping products, which can limit these damages." In a marathon day, which lasted nine

Saeco's Fabio Sacchi -- one of six riders who had their hotel rooms and homes searched by anti-doping investigators in Rieti, Italy on Sunday -- has been suspended by his team following the “presumed discovery of illegal performance enhancing drugs” in the search of his home. Police have also announced that Sacchi and the other five riders -- Italians Stefano Casagranda, Davide Rebellin, Davide Casarotto, Endrio Leoni and Slovenian Gorazd Stengelj – have been placed under formal judicial investigation. Padua prosecutor Paola Cameran, who is conducting one of two judicial probes into

Editor's Note:VeloNews’s European correspondent Andrew Hood has landed back at his home base in Spain, just in time for the kick-off of the World Cup season.Once he gets his feet on the ground, Hood will be heading to Milan, for this weekend's Milan-San Remo, the first of the major Spring Classics.Throughout the coming months, Hood will be sending back daily reports on what’s happening in the European peloton.Italy's Danilo Di Luca got some revenge a day after losingthe overall lead of the 37th Tirreno-Adriatico, winning the 150-km5th stage from Rieto to Torricella Sicura. The

Riding in her first season in the senior ranks, Britain’s Nicole Cooke (Deia-Pragma Colnago) has won the 12th Trofeo Citta' Di Rosignano, a major event on the women's road calendar in Italy. The 19-year-old Cooke, a winner four rainbow jerseys as a junior, dominated the race which had over one hundred starters, including some of the best of the women’s peloton. Cooke rode aggressively throughout the hilly course, but it was on the final climb that she truly showed her strength and forced the pace. Only one-time world champion Rasa Polikeviciute (H2O-Pasta Zara) could follow. The

Cyclists are rightly concerned with eating foods that maximize energy and optimize recovery. But eating the right foods can also give your immune system a supportive boost. Unlike your heart and lungs, which are strengthened by training, your immune system may be a bit fragile. Combining training with work and a personal life can often overtax your resources, stress your body, and compromise your ability to fight off infection. A healthy immune system consists of a defending army, always prepared to protect your body against attacks from viruses, bacteria and other foreign invaders. Your

Beginning two years ago there was a sudden increase in elite athletes testing positive for metabolites of the steroid nandrolone. Many of these positive tests have occurred in Great Britain, where in 1999 alone there were 17. Several athletes, including U.S. Postal Service rider Benoit Joachim, have claimed these positive doping tests occurred inadvertently through the use of dietary supplements. Experts continue to speculate over the recent increase in nandrolone positives. Is such a sudden increase in intentional nandrolone use likely? Testing techniques allowing the period of nandrolone

Saeco’s Danilo Di Luca, riding for the Saeco team, won Monday's fifth stageof Tirreno-Adriatico, a 150km ride from Rieti to Torricella Sicura.Di Luca, who posted a winning time of 3:39:51, finished ahead of second-placed Erik Zabel (Telekom) and Italian rider Giuliano Figueras who came third.Dutch rider Erik Dekker retains the leader's yellow and red jersey.Di Luca, who won Saturday's onerous mountain climb in his native Abruzzoregion, was among a group of eight riders who made the first significantmove on the Passo delle Campanelle climb.But the 27-year-old and his fellow escapees were soon

If you want to make it simple, the basics of training come down to three steps: Step 1: Early in the season, gradually increase the weekly volume of training with medium and easy rides while including strength work. Step 2: Once a solid base of aerobic fitness and strength is established, include a few high-effort workouts weekly, gradually making them more race-like. Step 3: Significantly reduce the weekly volume starting a few weeks before an important race while keeping intensity race-like.Pretty simple, huh? Even Elmer Fudd could understand it. But perhaps you're the scientific type.

Taj (left) and Habibullah unwrap new bikes

Afghanistan is slated to compete in Athens in 2004. This could be the road squad.

Italian drug squad officers swooped in the early hours of Sunday morning on the hotel rooms of several cyclists competing in the Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race, the ANSA news agency reported. In scenes mirroring last year's drug-tainted Giro d’Italia, police searched the rooms of cyclists Davide Rebellin, Fabio Sacchi, Gorazd Stangelj, Davide Casarotto, Stefano Casagranda and Endrio Leoni at 0500GMT. But all six riders were later cleared to start the 12.7km time trial around the central town of Rieti, stage four of the Tirreno-Adriatico. An inhaler was found in Rebellin's room but

Rabobank’s Erik Dekker won Sunday's fourth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race to take the overall lead in the “Race of Two Seas.” Dekker won the individual time trial, pushing Moldova's Ruslan Ivanov and American Floyd Landis (U.S. Postal)into second and third place respectively and taking the overall lead from Italian rider Danilo Di Luca. Dekker had finished a close second to Di Luca in Saturday's mountain stage, considered the most onerous in the race that started Thursday on the Tyrrhenian coast near Naples and will finish next Wednesday at the usual place of San Benedetto del

Deutsche Telekom’s Alexandre Vinokurov rode into Nice to secure his first Paris-Nice triumph Sunday on the seventh and final stage won by Australian national champion Robbie McEwen of Lotto. After 157km of racing around Nice, McEwen held off Belgian sprinter Tom Steels, who finished second, and fellow Australian Baden Cooke to win his second stage of the first major stage race of the season. Vinokurov, a 28-year-old from Kazakhstan who honed his trade in France, took the lead of the "Race to the Sun" on Thursday on the climb to the summit finish at Eze, and took care to maintain his

Chris Horner defended his yellow leader’s jersey in the final stage of the Redlands Classic five-day stage race Sunday, but not without a scare from mountain biker Roland Green. The dedicated soldiers of Horner’s Prime Alliance team were forced to shut down the world cross-country champion after he spent much of the day in the 88-mile Sunset Road Race as the leader on the road. "It feels great," said Horner who could finally celebrate his second overall win at the traditional season opener of major American road racing. "Our guys refused to give up, and that was the difference." After

Old Teammates: Moninger and Horner both used to wear sea-foam green

Bessette in pursuit. Working with Arndt, the two Saturns eventually reeled Jeanson back in.

Prime Alliance worked to protect Horner's jersey.

Jeanson's escape didn't succeed this year

Defending Paris-Nice champion Dario Frigo (Tacconi) marked his return from a six-month drug ban by winning the sixth stage of the race on the climb to the summit of Eze on Saturday. Frigo, who now rides for the Tacconi team, was sacked by his Fassa Bortolo team after doping products were found in his hotel room during the drug-tainted 2001 Giro d'Italia. However, the most significant event of the day was former three-time winner Laurent Jalabert losing almost a minute to race leader Alexandre Vinokurov. Vinokurov, who rides for the German Telekom team of Jan Ullrich, came in safely behind

A motorist was convicted of first-degree murder March 15 in the fatal shooting of a Denver, Colorado area cyclist during a traffic altercation two years ago, and is likely to be sentenced to life in prison without parole, according to The Denver Post. James Hall, 53, shot John Bray point-blank on May 5, 2000, after a chase that began when his pickup truck entered a crosswalk through which the 32-year-old cyclist was riding. Bray swerved around the truck, and Hall pursed him, pulling in front of the cyclist and forcing him to the ground. Witnesses said Hall then took a .25-caliber handgun

Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu, the leader of the French AG2R team, has been ruled out for several weeks after he was knocked off his bike by a car while training, his team said Saturday. Kirsipuu, who won the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne Belgian classic race two weeks ago, injured his kneecap in the incident, which occurred while he was riding downhill close to his home at close to 60kph. "Jaan will be out for at least three weeks," said team manager Vincent Lavenu, who added he expects to be without his ace card at least until the end of May. The Estonian sprinter is highly unlikely to take part in a

Saeco’s Danilo Di Luca, riding for the Saeco team, took the overall lead of Tirreno-Adriatico by winning Saturday's 180km third stage from Anagni to Rocca Di Cambio. Di Luca rolled in 14 seconds clear of second-placed Dutchman Erik Dekker who clinched runners-up spot by outsprinting another Italian Franco Pellizotti, who finished third. It was a vintage solo effort from 26-year-old Di Luca who was racing on home territory in his native Abruzzo region in the center of Italy and confirmed his form ahead of next week's Milan-San Remo classic in which he will spearhead his new team's challenge.

This early in the season, it can be considered either a major upset or a sign of things to come. Either way, Charles Dionne and his 7UP team will take it. The Canadian scored his first professional win Saturday, one day after his 22nd birthday, at stage 4 of the Redlands Bicycle Classic, the Redlands Downtown Criterium. With the help of his teammates, Dionne derailed the Mercury train on a blustery day in Southern California, giving 7UP a huge win to set the tone for its 2002 campaign. The women’s race also saw a surprise victor, though not of the same shocker magnitude, when U.S. criterium

Frigo seeking redemption

7UP sizzler: Dionne beat Gord Fraser for the win.

Rona's new weapon: Freedman gives Rona criterium speed

Horner still holds the overall...

... as does Arndt.

It’s always a delight to see a new Bob Roll column in VeloNews,and not just because I like the feverish glint in his jaundiced eye. Like some biwheeled, mutton-chopped Quasimodo popping wheelies among the stony gargoyles, ringing the Big Bell with lusty strokes from Thor’s hammer,he draws the angry, torch-waving villagers away from me for a while, giving me a moment to catch my breath and plot new outrages of my own. His “At the Back” in the 30th-anniversary edition, “Eurotrash and theTexas Tornado,” (see VeloNews, March 18, 2002, page 106)  was vintage Bobke, a red flag brandished in the

Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi continued his winning ways when he won the hilly fifth stage of Paris-Nice after holding on to his lead amid a bunch sprint into Cannes on Friday. Deutsche Telekom’s Alexandre Vinokurov of the Telekom team finished just behind but off the podium to keep hold of the leader's yellow and white jersey two days before Sunday's final stage. Vinokurov, a silver medallist at the Sydney Olympic Games, however lost a second to the man who's chasing him down - French veteran Laurent Jalabert (CSC), a two-time winner of the race now five seconds behind the Kazakh.

Italian Paolo Bettini, who rides for the Mapei team, won the 213km second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico Friday. Deutsche Telekom’s Erik Zabel, who won Thursday's opening stage, retains the lead of the overall standings after he finished second. On a largely calm day of racing - due mainly to the flat outline of the stage - the peloton did not split until the latter stages when Bettini and teammate Oscar Freire, the world road race champion, launched an attack. The two riders were soon reeled in but Bettini anticipated the timing of the peloton's return perfectly to hold on to his slender lead

Power. Think about it. It's what separates casual riders from the elite. You can be a precision bike handler, a wheelsucker extraordinaire, an elegant pedaler - but if you can't crank when the crunch comes, you'll be left behind. But how can we improve our power rating? And how do we measure it? And isn't power directly rated to out heart rate? Well, no, not exactly. By focusing on "scientific" training, we've become too wrapped up in our heart rates. Many of us have even come to believe that high heart rates are the reason for training. But when it comes to racing, it doesn't really

Chris Horner, the man with the yellow jersey at the Redlands Classic road race in Southern California, has said it several times during the five-day stage race this week: "It’s bike racing, anything can happen." Horner was referring in large part to Friday’s stage, the gnarly race to the top of Oak Glen. It’s been proven here before that he’s right, anything really can happen. Who knew, though, that Horner’s point would apply not to his own fate — the Prime Alliance leader defended the jersey just fine by finishing right behind the amazing Roland Green at Oak Glen Friday — but to that of