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The warm-up band.

Fans at 60 mph.

Looking down on the finish of Stage 2.

The next generation.

Box seats.

Timing transponder.

Jesse Anthony gets a good luck kiss from Mom before the start in Zolder.

Pauwels

Is that bat in your hand or are you just happy to see Verhagen? Dutch fans celebrate a win over rival Belgians

(from left to right: A shocked Commeyne, Verhagen and Trunschka

Robbie Hunter is best known for his sprinting, but on Friday the blond South African showed he has other talents, taking the 20.3km Stage 1 time trial at the Tour de Langkawi. Hunter’s win meant that once again the Mapei-Quick Step crew would be defending the race’s yellow jersey. A year ago the Italian-based team won just about everything meaningful in Malaysia, led by Paolo Lanfranchi’s overall crown.

Welcome home. If cyclo-cross has a home, Belgium has to be it. This is where cyclo-cross belongs. The assembly of broadcast towers outside of the pressroom might tell you that. Or maybe it’s Belgian Television’s two hour prime time special devoted to cyclo-cross and this weekend’s world championship in Zolder. If not, maybe the 3000 fans lined up to watch practice laps on Friday might tell you that, in Belgium, cyclo-cross is more than just a pastime. And now that the world championship is home again in Belgium, the Flemish hosts are pulling out all the stops. This weekend’s world

Hunter dons the yellow jersey.

Tafi gets his countdown.

The streets weren't always clear.

Welcome race fans

The four world championship races start and finish on pavement directly in front of the grandstands.

The hills start within a few hundred meters of the start.

Ann Grande scoots past on of the many homes that dot the course.

American Jonathan Page surveys one of the trickier descents

Even in practice laps, this tree at the bottom of one tough hill led to a few close calls.

Back on pavement, the course goes over itself before heading into the woods again.

The Sacramentskapel sits at the top of a short but tough climb.

The grounds of the Sacramentskapel will be off limits to fans this weekend.

Ryder Hesjedal’s journey to the other side of the world started with a snowstorm in British Columbia. The 21-year-old was supposed to fly from his hometown, Victoria, to Los Angeles, where he would connect with a Malaysian Airlines flight headed to Kuala Lumpur, and the Tour de Langkawi. But the bad weather forced a detour via Las Vegas, and by the time it was all done, Hesjedal figured that even without taking into account all the hours lost to crossing multiple time zones, he’d been traveling for 45 hours without a minute of decent sleep. Add in the fact that none of his bags — including

After announcing last Friday that the first major stage race of the 2002 season, Paris-Nice, scheduled March 10-17, would "almost certainly be canceled," race owner Laurent Fignon recommenced negotiations with the Société du Tour de France this week. On Thursday evening in Paris, an agreement was reached between the two parties for Paris-Nice to be sold to ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation), parent company of the Tour society, which will do its utmost to ensure that the race takes place this year. Discussions broke down last week between ASO and Fignon, the two-time Tour de France winner, who

The 2002 Pro Cycling Tour (PCT) schedule was announced Wednesday, and it has a decidedly different look than last year’s series. In a move toward more high-profile events in major U.S. cities, the PCT has dropped the Sea Otter Classic, the Downtown Criterium in Austin, and two East Coast events, the Capital Cup and Clarendon Cup, from this year’s season-long points competition. On the schedule again this year are the four races that constitute the First Union Cycling Series in June, culminating with the stars-and-stripes weekend of the men’s First Union USPRO Championship and women’s First

You might just call it the rough equivalent of trash talk… only in Flemish. Holland’s Richard Groenendaal was quoted in Thursday’s edition of the Belgian humor magazine Humo as encouraging Dutch fans to bring bats and other weapons to this weekend’s world championship cyclo-cross race in Zolder, Belgium. Groenendaal, who has had at least one violent encounter with a Belgian fan this season, described the Flemish hordes as “the enemy.” The 31-year-old Rabobank cyclo-cross star went on to say that Dutch fans would be arriving in Zolder “armed with bats” to counter the interference of Belgians

Hesjedal

Andrea Tafi and Francesco Moser.

The Tour de Langkawi welcoming committee.

Mapei is introduced.

Members of the Mapei team watch the highlights from last year’s race.

A clear and present danger? Does it take a bat to control these men?

With the enchanting sounds of the "Call for Prayer" rising from the ornate Blue Mosque, festivities surrounding the 10-day Tour de Langkawi got underway in Shah Alam, Malaysia on Wednesday. By now all of the 22 teams competing in the UCI 2.3 race have arrived in this mostly-Muslim nation of 21.4 million in Southeast Asia. Adapting to the climate will be the riders' primary focus leading up to the start of the race on February 1. Malaysia lies just north of the equator, meaning riders can expect daytime temperatures in the mid-80s with 90 percent humidity. Beating the heat will be well worth

At 462 feet, the four minarets of the Blue Mosque are the tallest in the world. It can hold up to 24,000 worshippers.

Members of the Lotto-Adecco team pose for the press.

The new Lotto Litespeeds.

The women’s domestic road racing scene will have a new addition this year in the form of a U.S. national team sponsored by Cannondale. The team will go by the name Cannondale USA and will be led by Olympic silver medalist Mari Holden. Supported by grants from the United States Olympic Committee, the team will tackle an ambitious international schedule, focusing on World Cups and major stage races including La Grande Boucle Feminine (women’s Tour de France) and the HP Women’s Challenge. Jeff Pierce, former director of sports marketing at GT and recently hired by USA Cycling as vice

Holden highlights Cannondale USA women’s team

They were the kind of cyclo-cross conditions the UCI once said it washoping to get away from: pure, unadulterated slop; mud that sprayed a mist of brown muck over everyone and everything from the moment the gun wentoff; gunk that clogged up derailleurs; the kind that forced a bike changenearly every time the course wound past the pits. In other words, Sunday'sGrand Prix Holland, the final round of the UCI's World Cup, was tailor-madefor Richard Groenendaal.And while the seasoned cyclo-cross veteran thrived in the muddy conditionsin front of an enthusiastic home field crowd, American Alison

Dunlaps's ready for world's. Is Kupfernagel?

'Muddy,' was Gully's take on Heerlen

On Thursday we heard from the American Bicycle Group regarding the disbanding of Team Tomac. On Friday Johnny-T himself checked in to explain what happened. "It recently became financially impossible for me to field a pro team for the 2002 season," Tomac wrote in an e-mail. "The reasons being that sufficient funding from not only the main sponsor of the team (American Bicycle Group/Parent company to Tomac) have along with other industry sponsors, had to cut back on sponsorship dollars to the point where putting together a reasonable operating budget for Team Tomac was not possible. "Things

UCI, NORBA. NORBA, UCI. You two have something in common, so we thought you ought to meet. After trying to find a host for its last cancelled event, the UCI has opted not to reschedule the June 1-2 cross-country originally slated as part of the "triple" event at Leysin, Switzerland. That means this year’s World Cup calendar will consist of six downhill-mountain cross events, but only five cross-country races — the same number that NORBA has planned. "The (UCI) mountain bike commission decided not to change the fixed dates for the World Cup in order to avoid any conflict with any other

Italian cycling team Mapei-Quickstep launched its campaign for the 2002 season Friday with a vow to dominate the world - but also hinted its days in the doping-tainted sport might be numbered. Officially the message coming out of the Mapei team was one of world domination - the desire to regain their world number one spot, success in the two major races they have never won, a vow to compete on all five continents. But team president Giorgio Squinzi then went off-message, admitting his involvement in the scandal-hit sport might be numbered. Squinzi did not hide behind a poor 2001 season,

German Thorsten Wilhelms erased a 1-second deficit during the final stage of the Tour of Qatar to take the overall win on Friday. Wilhelms was first across the line in the 123.5km run from Sealine Beach to Doha, posting a winning time of 3:18:22. That was good enough to give the Team Coast rider a 5-second bulge over second-place finisher Damien Nazon in the final standings. Rudi Kemna of the Netherlands was third. Nazon had entered the day in the lead, but finished ninth in the final stage. Other notables included Laurent Jalabert, who was 15th on Friday and finished fifth overall, and Jan

The first major stage race of the 2002 season, Paris-Nice, scheduled March 10-17, will "certainly canceled" according to the event organizer Laurent Fignon, who broke off negotiations on Friday to sell the event to the Tour de France promoters. The discussions started last week between Daniel Baal, director-general of the Société du Tour de France, and Fignon, the two-time Tour de France winner, but came to an end for financial reasons after appearing to start out well Friday morning. A press release issued by the Tour's parent company, ASO (Amaury Sport Organization) stated: "Despite a

While the rest of us were heading off to work Thursday morning, Alison Dunlap was boarding a plane bound for Europe. Already the holder of a rainbow jersey for her win at the mountain-bike world championships last September in Vail, Dunlap is off to Zolder, Belgium, hoping to add a world cyclo-cross title to her resume. Just a week before she left, VeloNews sat down with Dunlap in the dining room of her home in Colorado Springs. Here’s what she had to say about trying to win her second rainbow jersey in six months, her new mountain-biking team, and a few other topics. VeloNews: What do you

Behind a strong second-place effort in the fourth stage, Frenchman Damien Nazon moved into first place overall at the five-day Tour of Qatar. Lampre rider Alberto Loddo took the stage win, a 125.5km run from Ras Laffan to Doha. Nazon’s lead is a scant one second over German Thorsten Wilhelms. Sweden’s Magnus Backstedt is six seconds back. Previous day’s overall leader, Brazilian Luciano Pagliarini, had a rough day during the fourth stage, falling out of the top 10 all together. Other notables include Telekom’s Jan Ullrich who finished 12th on Thursday and is 13th overall, and Laurent

Lance Armstrong, tennis player Jennifer Capriati, and the U.S. Postal Service Team have been voted the 2001 USOC SportsMan, SportsWoman and Sports Team of the Year. The USOC SportsMan and SportsWoman of the Year awards have been presented annually since 1974 to the top overall male and female athlete from within the USOC member organizations. The team award was added in 1996. Voters for the awards include national media, the USOC Executive Committee, the USOC Board of Directors and the USOC Athletes' Advisory Council. Armstrong won his third consecutive Tour de France in 2001, the first

ESPN has "Sports Center." CNN has "Wolf Blitzer Reports." VeloNews now has (drum roll please) "VeloNews Week." No, don't check the TV listings for broadcast times -- the debut edition of this e-mail newsletter will hit your in-box on February 7. "VeloNews Week" gives you immediate access to the breaking news on the site as well as links to the latest interviews, training tips, equipment reviews and media critiques, along with inside news from VeloNews. Sign up in less than a minute (click here to sign up ), and you can look forward to road, track, mountain biking and cyclo-cross stories

He was one of the most successful riders in the sport’s history, but that wasn’t enough to keep the team that bears John Tomac’s name in business. Just two months before the opening of the 2002 season, Team Tomac has been disbanded, leaving downhilling brothers Gary and Rich Houseman looking for work. "We decided that we’d rather do grassroots racing then spend the money on two downhillers," said Herbert Krabel, director of marketing for American Bicycle Group, the parent company of Tomac Bicycles. "Yes we sell downhill bikes, but we sell a lot more cross-country bikes. We also had some

Dunlap's first rainbow jersey ride.

The old uniform.

At home in the Springs.

Jalabert takes a ride.

Brazilian Luciano Pagliarini now shares the overall lead with Sweden's Magnus Backstedt in the Tour of Qatar after the third stage on Wednesday. Lampre team rider Pagliarini put in a surge midway through the 179km stage to end the day tied with Backstedt of the Fakta team, who finished fourth behind winner Thorsten Wilhelms of Germany. In the stage from the dromedary racetrack in Camelodrome to Doha, Laurent Jalabert finished 31st to leave the Frenchman seventh overall, seven seconds behind the leaders in a tightly packed first 10 who are separated by just eight seconds. Jan Ullrich of

The U.S. Cycling Federation announced its 2002 National Championship schedule Tuesday. The championship calendar includes road, track and cyclo-cross events for junior, under-23, elite and masters riders. The season kicks off with the National Collegiate Cycling Association (NCCA) National Road Cycling Championships May 10-12 in Burlington, Vermont. The collegiate championship event will be held in the northeast for the first time since 1993. The highly populated Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference will provide some great competition in its own backyard, led by the host school, the

The Outdoor Life Network will air the 2001 SuperCup finals on Sunday, February 10, at 3 p.m. The 30-minute show will highlight both the men and women's SuperCup cyclo-cross series finals races held December 16, in Baltimore's Patterson Park. "We're excited about this show because of how many things went so well in Baltimore," said Kiron Group President Lyle Fulkerson. "We had good crowds, great weather and perhaps the most exciting SuperCup of all time."

Olympic medalists Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter will be carryingthe Olympic torch through Boulder, Colorado on Wednesday, January 30, asthe flame makes its way to its scheduled February 8th arrival in Salt LakeCity, Utah.Carpenter, who in 1984 became the first ever women's Olympic road racegold medalist, will be running with the torch at 1:45 p.m. on flat roadsin the northeast part of town. Phinney, bronze medalist that same yearin the team trial and two-time Tour de France stage winner, will carryit over a more hilly route at 2:48 p.m. near the picturesque ChatauquaPark at the base

Soft-drink maker Diet Rite is the latest entrant into the world of cycling sponsorship, as on Tuesday the company announced plans to back a women’s road team. The deal is part of an agreement with Boulder, Colorado-based Podium Sports Management, Inc. While the team is new, the names on the roster are familiar. The core is made up of the defunct Proctor & Gamble team. Among the riders are Cheryl Binney, Kori Kelly, Mina Pizzini and Joanne Kiesanowski. Also on board are Tina Mayolo-Pic and Cybil DiGuistini, who returns to North America after a season in Europe. Rounding out the roster are

Swedish Fakta rider Maagnus Backstedt took over the lead in the five-day Tour of Qatar on Tuesday, while Frenchman Damien Nazon got the win in the second stage. Nazon completed the 131km run from Al Zubarah to Doha in 3:04:16, outgunning Brit Jeremy Hunt at the finish. Backstedt’s lead is two seconds over Brazilian Luciano Pagliarini, while Nazon is four seconds back. Day one leader Ivan Quaranta was ninth on Tuesday and fell to fourth in the overall.

Marga Fullana, 2000 world cross-country champion and Olympic silver medalist, has signed a deal to ride for the Spanish team Orbea in 2002. The team’s first training camp will begin February 18, near San Sebastian, Spain. Fullana, who rode for Specialized in 2001, had a difficult year, competiting in only four of the eight World Cup races, and skipping the world championships. Still, she won three of those four World Cups, and is the No. 8 rider in the UCI cross-country rankings.

Carl Swenson hasn’t made it to the summer Olympics yet, but the cross-country mountain biker, who’s a member of the RLX-Polo Sport team, will be heading to his second winter Olympics next month in Utah. Swenson was among 16 athletes named to the U.S. Olympic cross-country ski team on Monday. The 31-year-old Boulder, Colorado resident was also a member of the 1994 team that competed in Lillehammer, Norway. Swenson has won cross-country skiing national championships three times (1994-95, 1999), and was the short-track cross-country national champ in 2000. A year ago he finished 12th in the

Bessette has been relegated to a spectator.

Ivan Quaranta of Italy picked off the 117km opening stage of the five-day Tour of Qatar in Doha on Monday, winning a sprint finish at the expense of Brazilian Luciano Pagliarini and Jean-Patrick Nazon of France. Quaranta crossed the line in 2:43:44. Sweden's Magnus Backstedt led a nine-man escape after 26km and Frenchman Laurent Jalabert also joined the hunt as the leading pack held out until some 8km from the finish. Quaranta, a junior world track champion a decade ago, then chose his moment to snatch the victory. The Index-Alesia rider has been in good form over the past two seasons with

Following a trend that has been widespread in mountain-bike racing this offseason, Specialized has announced a greatly reduced roster for the 2002 season. As it stands now only reigning World Cup cross-country champion Barbara Blatter is sure to be back in the black and red this year. There is also talk that Belgian Filip Meirhaeghe may return as well, but nothing has been finalized. As for the other four members of the European-flavored, cross-country-only team from a year ago — Marga Fullana, Caroline Alexander, Bas Van Dooren and Elsbeth Vink — all have moved on. Van Dooren will be

Finally the UCI has released the coming season’s mountain-bike World Cup schedule, but they still have some work to do. In a press release sent out Monday, competitive cycling’s world governing body revealed that Fort William, Scotland and Telluride, Colorado will serve as replacement sites for the cancelled events in Leysin, Switzerland and Arai, Japan. Only problem is that the release says that both events will be downhill-mountain cross only, leaving the series one race short on the cross-country side with just five. The Fort William event will take place on June 1-2, the dates

While Belgians Sven Nijs, Mario De Clercq and Erwin Vervecken tuned up for their anticipated world championships showdown, defending women's world cyclo-cross champion Hanka Kupfernagel showed that she'll be the one to beat at world's with a convincing win at the Grand Prix of Switzerland on Sunday. Kupfernagel finished 1:35 ahead of the Netherlands' Debby Mansveld and France's Laurence Leboucher. The U.S. team for world's has yet to arrive in Europe, but another American, Christine Vardaros, posted a top-10 finish in Wetzikon, finishing in eighth place, 3:28

Editor's note: The February 4, 2002 issue of VeloNews featuresour annual Pro Road Season Preview with fullrosters for the UCI's 30-team Division I; analysis of the top ten squads;a look at Postal's new recruits; a profile of Rabobank's new hope for theTour, Levi Leipheimer and the following conversation with the man in chargeof the world's No. 1 team.He’s renowned as the wisest team boss in the business. A small man withimpeccable manners, his signature dark glasses, bald head and polo shirtare as familiar a part of cycling as the peloton itself. He has been drivingteam

Blatter may be Specialized sole pro rider.

Belgian Sven Nijs put everything together on Sunday to win the fifth round of the cyclo-cross World Cup series, the Grand Prix of Switzerland, in Wetzikon. Nijs beat countrymen Mario De Clercq and defending champion Erwin Vervecken to solidify his position at the top of the World Cup standings. Nijs, who hadn’t had a top finish in the past few weeks, took matters into his own hands from the start at Wetzikon. His early aggression left behind everyone but Rabobank teammate Richard Groenendaal. Groenendaal, however, fell victim to a crash, allowing Nijs to solo home for the victory, while De

You couldn't blame Michael Rogers for demanding a spare bike be ready for immediate use as he rode the final kilometers to victory in the Jacob’s Creek Tour Down Under in Australia on Sunday. After all, he learned 24 hours before winning the 733km race how "Lady Luck" can abruptly barge her way in unannounced and throw every winning hope into disarray. That a quick-minded spectator was there to lend Rogers his own bike on the previous stage was the most poignant moment behind his overall victory - by 21 seconds over Russian Alexandre Botcharov (AG2R) and 30 seconds on South Australian

Rogers

McEwen celebrates his fourth stage win

Rogers plays it safe

USA Cycling announced on Friday that the Lehigh Valley Velodrome will host the U.S. National Track Cycling Championships in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania, for the next two years, 2002 and 2003. The 2002 nationals are scheduled for late in the season, from August 27 to August 31. The Lehigh Valley Velodrome most recently hosted the national championships in 1999, 1996 (with the Olympic Trials) and 1990. "This is the first multi-year deal for the national championships in over a decade", said Pat McDonough, Lehigh Valley Velodrome director. "Over the next two years we will host these

Australian Michael Rogers overcame scorching heat, a near disasterous crash with a race marshal’s motorbike and his rivals to take overall leadership of the Jacob’s Creek Tour Down Under in Australia on Saturday. In the toughest stage of the race, 156km from Gawler to Tanunda, Rogers (AIS) finished second, 10 seconds behind Australian and former mountain-biker Cadel Evans (Mapei). Then 11 seconds behind him in third-place came Italian Daniele Nardello (Mapei). Going into the sixth and final stage, Rogers will now lead the race by 21 seconds from Russian Alexandre Botcharov (AG2R) and 30