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USA Cycling sent out a memo Thursday announcing two more additions to the 2002 AMBC schedule: the Big Shark Challenge, May 4-5, in St. Louis, Missouri, and the Schweitzer Dirt and Rock Tour, in Sandpoint, Idaho. That brings the total number of races to 26 for the year. Here is the updated AMBC calendar. Asterisks denote races awarding UCI points. February 24 — Spring Series, Gainesville, FloridaApril 19-21 — NOC Knobscorcher, Bryson City, North Carolina April 26-28 — The Twilight, Athens, GeorgiaApril 28 — High Point Ranch Roundup, Ada, OklahomaMay 4-5 -— Big Shark Challenge, St. Louis,

It’s still a long way from being resolved, but at least one scenario for the shaken-up 2002 mountain-bike World Cup schedule has emerged, and it might bring another North American venue into play. Here’s how it would work. First the two Canadian Gestev-run events, Mont-Ste-Anne and Grouse Mountain, would each move forward one weekend on the World Cup calendar. This would place the Grouse Mountain "triple" on the weekend that had originally been occupied by the downhill in Arai, Japan, which was cancelled two weeks ago. Mont-Ste-Anne would then jump into Grouse’s spot, opening up the weekend

The U.S. Postal service team kicks off its 2002 campaign on Wednesday with the start of the team’s first training camp of the season, held in Austin, Texas, hometown of three-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. The week-long camp has been held in Austin for each of the last three seasons, with Armstrong and company training on many of his favorite rides, typically in the Texas "Hill Country" west of Austin. The riders scheduled to attend are: Lance ArmstrongMichael BarryTom BoonenDylan CaseyAntonio CruzDavid ClingerGeorge HincapieBenoit JoachimSteffen KjaergaardChann

Riding the coattails of its performance at the 2000 Olympics, British cycling hit the jackpot when it was announced that money from the National Lottery will fund a four-year development program at the rate of 4 million pounds (approximately $5.6 million) annually. Cycling, for many years the redheaded stepchild of British sport, is reaping the reward for its medal-winning efforts at Sydney 2000. The team emerged with one gold — won by Jason Queally in the 1km time trial — a silver in the Olympic sprint; bronzes in the team pursuit and women’s pursuit, plus a couple of fourth place

It’s not going to be long before people start wondering if the 2002 mountain bike World Cup series is going to happen at all. First the stop in Arai, Japan was cancelled because of what the UCI called financial reasons. Now the loss of a key sponsor has tabled the event in Leysin, Switzerland. According to mountain bike World Cup coordinator Christophe Burri, the recent withdrawal of event sponsor Club Med was the primary reason behind Leysin's decision to pull out of the 2002 World Cup schedule. "With this sort of financial hit, the organizers in Leysin no longer saw themselves as

Three-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong busted out the mountain bike last Saturday to compete in the Dirty Duathlon, held at the Rocky Hill Ranch, just 40 minutes east of Armstrong’s hometown in Austin, Texas. And were it not for a little bad luck, the U.S. Postal Star probably would have won the race. Armstrong was sitting third coming out of the first of two three-mile runs in the run-bike-run format, and a third of the way through the 12-mile ride he had made up that time and was in the lead. But a flat tire cost Armstrong a big chunk of time, and he eventually finished sixth

Team Sports announced Monday that it has hired Eric Wallace to head up the Volvo-Cannondale mountain bike racing team in 2002. Wallace takes over for the departed Charlie Livermore who left the position after seven years to pursue other business interests. Wallace comes to the Volvo-Cannondale from Team Sports Events, where he led the Timex Event marketing program. Prior to running the promotional tour for Timex, Wallace worked in the marketing department of Derby Cycle Corporation. Wallace's competitive and bicycle specific background includes management of several bike shops in Texas

Reigning Vuelta a España champion Angel Luis Casero announced Monday that he would be joining the German outfit Team Coast next season. The 29-year-old said he had received offers from Italian teams Lampre and Maglieria but preferred Team Coast because they had hired members of his former Festina team which disbanded at the end of last season. Casero joins up with Juan Fernandez and Roberto Torres who were team managers at Festina. "The offers of the other teams were tempting but I was more concerned with sporting rather than financial aspects," Casero said. Apart from the 2001 Vuelta,

With the national championships just two weeks away, many of America’s best cyclo-cross riders showed up in Wayland, Massachusetts for the fifth stop of the Verge New England Cyclo-Cross Series last Saturday. In the men’s pro race, a group of 11 moved to the front early, with Todd Wells (Mongoose-Hyundai), Saturn’s Mark McCormack and Tim Johnson the most well known names. But it was Matt Svatek (Wheelworks-Cannondale) surprising the group by launching an attack that saw him go clear for two laps. But unwilling to let Svatek ride away with the race, Wells took it upon himself to reel in the

The men's podium.

Justin Spinelli goes over a barrier.

Thorne heads for the win.

Armstrong takes on the Dirty Duathlon run.

Ferguson finished third.

Belgian Sven Nijs made it 2-for-2 on Sunday, holding off countryman Bart Wellens to take the win at the second round of the cyclo-cross World Cup in Igorre, Spain. Two weeks ago Nijs won the World Cup opener in Monopoli, Italy. Nijs now has a 20-point lead in the overall standings of the six-race series, with Wellens in second, followed by Richard Groenendaal, Mario De Clercq and Jiri Pospisil. In the race in Spain Nijs finished with a time of 1:02:42, 50 seconds faster than Wellens. Reigning world champion Erwin Vervecken was third, at 1:25, followed by De Clercq at 1:35, and Groenendaal

Nijs heads to the win in Spain

After a run of bad news from the mountain-bike racing world — cancelled races, rider defections, folding teams, etc. — finally some good news. Word from the West Coast is that the newly formed all-women’s squad, the Luna Chix featuring world champion Alison Dunlap, have inked a deal with Santa Cruz as its bike supplier for 2002. Dunlap rode for GT last year, but that team’s status is much in doubt for the upcoming season following the company’s bankruptcy and ensuing purchase by the Pacific Cycles, which has shown just a marginal interest in supporting racing. Meanwhile, on the others side

The Saturn women's team announced its roster for the 2002 season on Friday, with the big news being the addition of former world pursuit champion Judith Arndt. Arndt's 2001 season highlights included a win at the Rotterdam Tour World Cup race, second in the HP Women's Challenge and the Tour de L'Aude, and third in the women's Tour de France, the Grande Boucle Feminine. Riding for the German national team last year, Arndt ended the season ranked No. 2 in the UCI world rankings behind Saturn's Anna Millward. Saturn also adds up-and-coming American rider Jessica Phillips,

Whether it was Geneviève Jeanson’s amazing performance at Redlands or cross country day at the world championships in Vail, North America and North Americans provided some of the year’s best bike racing. In this final installment of the 2001 VeloNews Awards we reveal the winners of the North American Awards. Note: All awards are for performances on North American soil. RIDE OF THE YEARGeneviève Jeanson entered the 99km final stage of the Redlands stage race with a healthy lead of nearly two minutes. Well, she didn't rest on her laurels. Within a kilometer of the start of the tough

Former Italian cyclist Annibale Brasola died Friday, according to the ANSA news agency. Brasola, 76, was a leading support rider of two of the most legendary names in Italian cycling, Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali. His brother Elio, who died some years ago, was also a top rider. Brasola, who was born in Padua, had some successes of his own, too, with 16 wins including three Giro d'Italia stages, most notably the Campobasso to Naples run in the 1950 race. Copyright AFP 2001

The list of names leaving mountain biking behind to pursue road-racing glory has grown to four with the additions of Bas Van Dooren and Michael Rasmussen. Rasmussen, the 1998 cross-country world champion who raced a limited road schedule last year, will be a full-time member of the CSC-Tiscali team in 2002. "We might try to get him to ride for us at the world’s in Kaprun but right now he’s very committed to the road," said Haro-Lee Dungarees team manager Mike King, Rasmussen’s boss in 2001. Rasmussen helped design the course that will be used for this year’s world championships in

Jeanson rode away from the field at Redlands

Klasna had the best season of career.

Grigson won another NORBA title.

Candelario's amateur exploits earned him a pro contract.

Wells has even shown abilities in cyclo-cross.

Rasmussen will try his hand on the road.

One of the most well-attended events on the mountain bike World Cup schedule that last few years won’t be around come 2002. Without outlining any reasons the UCI has informed VeloNews that the World Cup stop at Arai Mountain in Japan has been cancelled. The downhill/four-cross event was originally slated for July 13-14. And though the UCI would not confirm it, a British mountain biking Web site is reporting that Fort William in Scotland has been chosen as the replacement site. Check back to VeloNews.com for updates, as more information becomes available.

Italian cyclist Claudio Salvi tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone, the anti-doping panel of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) announced Thursday. The presence of the substance norandrosterone was detected at a level of two nanograms per milliliter — a result confirmed by an analysis on the second sample. Salvi gave the sample in a random test on July 24 at Salice Terme a training camp for the Italian national under-23 cycling team. Copyright AFP 2001

Here’s a look at the rest of the VeloNews International Awards. Check back tomorrow when we will reveal the remainder of the North American Awards. MALE ROAD RACER OF THE YEARIn winning 24 races and taking his nine-year career total to 139, Erik Zabel was by far the most successful pro road racer in 2001. Among his major achievements this year: winning Milan-San Remo for the fourth time in five years; extending his tenure in the Tour de France green jersey to six years (and adding three stage wins); winning the Hamburg World Cup race for the first time; and taking three stage wins on his

The state famous for its potatoes may need a new slogan. For the second straight year, Idaho received the top grade in the International Mountain Bicycling Association's Mountain Bike Access Report Card, solidifying its status as the best state for mountain biking. Serpentine trails, expansive public lands and a low population are key components in Idaho's success. Idaho received the top grade in the inaugural 2000 IMBA Report Card, but that didn't make the local cyclists complacent. Riding opportunities improved this year around Boise, Idaho's largest city, as mountain

Zabel won his sixth straight green jersey in 2001.

Chausson added another rainbow jersey.

The Postal squad delivered Lance Armstrong to his third straight Tour win.

Vaughters after his wasp encounter.

Yikes!

Dekker

Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke signed a one-year contract, with an option year, with the Belgian team Domo, team manager Patrick Lefevere announced Wednesday. The 27-year-old, who won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic in 1999 and two stages in the Tour of Spain the same year, admitted that after a couple of lean years this could well be his last chance to revive his career. Vandenbroucke joins Richard Virenque and a number of other new arrivals at the Belgian outfit. However, Vandenbroucke will be expected to produce better results for Domo than he did for Lampre the past two

The 14th Annual VeloNews Awards issue hits the streets this week featuring three-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong as the VeloNews International Cyclist of the Year. This is the second consecutive year the U.S. Postal Service rider has won VeloNews’s top honor, making him just the second athlete to win the award twice. Past winners of the award, which started in 1988, include Greg LeMond (1989), Miguel Indurain ('92, '94) and Juli Furtado ('93). To reach his new point of excellence and win his third consecutive Tour de France, Armstrong worked harder than ever during

The December 17 issue of VeloNews, the 14th annual VeloNews Awards issue, includes our "10 best" list, the things we will remember most about bike racing in 2001. Of course each of us had our own ideas about what stood out this year, so in addition to the final list, here is a look at some other memorable happenings according to the writers and editors of VeloNews. KIP MIKLER, EDITOR1. It’s rare for me to take in a race as a spectator, but in September I left the notebook behind and went to San Francisco for the Grand Prix. I joined thousands of rowdy fans soaking in the atmosphere and the

Lance Armstrong

Dunlap's win was the best of the best.

San Francisco treat

Rasa Polikeviciute wins world's.

Longo wins again.

Hincapie wins a classic.

Green crosses the line in Quebec.

Perez wins at the Giro.

The downhill at world's.

Afghan cycling enthusiasts, forced off their bikes by the Taliban, are back in the saddle. About 20 cyclists in full gear staged their first race in five years from the capital, Kabul, on Sunday after the city fell to forces of the Northern Alliance. Braving a potholed road that crosses the heavily mined former front line, they traveled 40 km (25 miles) north to the town of Charikar at the base of the Panjsher valley. The Taliban had outlawed public sports events in line with their strict interpretation of Islamic law that also obliged men to wear beards and women to leave their homes only

Spain's Olympic track cycling champion Juan Llaneras said that on Monday he would take legal action after being cleared of doping. Llaneras, who won the men's points race title at the Sydney Olympics and holds five world titles, had been suspended on September 30 after, in official parlance, testing "non-negative" for the endurance-boosting drug EPO at the world championships in Antwerp, where he won the silver medal. But last week the UCI cleared him of all accusations after analysis of a second urine sample. "I've lived through a nightmare," Llaneras said. "I was innocent and

Mick Hannah cashed in on his world-champion potential Monday, signing a deal to ride for the Haro-Lee Dungarees mountain bike team in 2002. Hannah, who just turned 18, first made waves in the gravity-racing world at last March’s Sea Otter when he nearly knocked off Brian Lopes in the dual slalom. Three months later Hannah hit the mark, taking out Lopes — and everybody else — at the NORBA season opener at Big Bear, where he won the downhill and dual slalom. The young Aussie also took third at the World Cup downhill in Vancouver, but saw his season cut short at the NORBA finals in Vermont

Ten new races highlight the 2002 AMBC schedule, which was released by USA Cycling on Monday. All told the series will consist of 25 stops, starting in Gainesville, Florida in February, and finishing up at the Piney Hills Fall Classic in Ruston, Louisiana in late October. New events on the calendar include the High Point Ranch Roundup in Ada, Oklahoma, The Stump Jump 2002 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the Chile Challenge in Angel Fire, New Mexico, and Blast the Mass in Snowmass, Colorado. AMBC events are good places for those riders who are just entering the racing scene. The races allow

For the past four years, University of Colorado doctoral student Allen Lim has been conducting research on some of the top cyclists in the U.S. pro peloton. This Friday, Lim will give a lecture on the use of power meters in cycling training, to be followed by a roundtable discussion featuring several top professionals. The evening, entitled "The science and art of training with power," will feature a presentation by Lim on his doctoral research, followed by a panel featuring Jonathan Vaughters, Clark Sheehan, Doug Ziewacz, Michael Barry, Dede Demet Barry and Colby Pearce. The event will take

Hannah in his new duds.

Hannah is one of the numerous talents to come out of Australia recently.

Rabobank’s Sven Nijs won his second consecutive Superprestige cyclo-cross race, taking the fourth round of the series in Gieten, the Netherlands. The young Belgian beat out compatriots Bart Wellens and Tom Vannoppen. Nijs increased his lead in the overall series. He now holds a 16-point advantage over Wellens. In Gieten, Nijs took advantage of an excellent start, and only Sven Vanthourenhout and Richard Groenendaal could keep his wheel early on, but both would drop back late in the race. Wellens mounted a late challenge, but couldn’t catch Nijs, falling seven seconds short. Round 5 of the

Belgian Matthew Gilmore and Australian Scott McGrory won the 61st edition of the Six Days of Ghent, which concluded Sunday. They beat out the Swiss duo of Bruno Risi and Kurt Betschart, while Etienne De Wilde and Andreas Kappes took third, the only other team on the same lap as the winners. Page ninth in Switzerland American Jonathan Page (Richard Sachs) took ninth at the UCI Category 2 race in Meilen, Switzerland on Sunday. On a cold, rainy day, Page picked his way through the pack on a muddy, grassy course to record his best result of his European campaign. Page will contest the second

Former world champion Richard Groenendaal (Rabobank) scored his first win of the season on Saturday at the UCI race in Coxyde, Belgium, on the North Sea. Groenendaal took a solo win, finishing 29 seconds up on world champion Erwin Vervecken (Spaarselect).

The doping case against Spanish track cyclist Juan Llaneras has been closed by the UCI, according to the Spanish cycling federation. Llaneras had tested "non-negative" at the world track championships in Antwerp, Belgium, on September 30. However, Llaneras’s second sample showed no trace of erythropoietin (EPO) according to the Spanish federation, and the case has been closed.

The chief executive officer of USA Cycling is close to signing a new two-year extension of her employment contract, the organization’s outgoing president Mike Plant confirmed this week. According to sources, the board of directors of USA Cycling voted to renew the contract of chief executive officer Lisa Voight in an executive session during the organization's October meeting. Plant reportedly proposed offering Voight a two-year deal, a recommendation later endorsed by a majority of the board. Voight confirmed that the board had approved the extension proposal, though the contract was

On Tuesday night, Kristin Armstrong gave birth to her and Lance Armstrong’s twin daughters, Isabelle Rose and Grace Elizabeth, who arrived at 8:54 p.m. and 8:57 p.m. respectively. Isabelle Rose weighed in at 5 lb. 12 oz., Grace Elizabeth 5 lb. 2 oz. Parents and children are doing well.

A local politician in Italy's southern province of Puglia has made a formal protest to the government and the organizers of the Giro d'Italia over what he sees as an exclusion of the south of Italy in next year's race. The 2002 Giro will take in five European countries outside Italy (Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, France and Germany) in honor of the advent of the Euro but its southernmost point will be at Benevento near Naples in the Catania province. That means the country's four southernmost provinces - Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily - will all be excluded. "It is

Since the start of the cyclo-cross season, American Jonathan Page has been living in Switzerland, contesting a European ’cross campaign. His biggest test to date came on Saturday at the opening round of the World Cup, in Monopoli, Italy. Page finished 23rd, 3:01 behind race winner Sven Nijs. With a top 20 placing, Page would have met a selection criteria for an automatic berth on the U.S. team for cyclo-cross world’s in Belgium. The following day, Page was back in Zurich for a local Swiss race. He’ll have one more crack at a top 20 World Cup finish, in Spain, December 2, before returning

The home nation continued its domination at the ninth annual running of La Ruta de los Conquistadores, the brutal three-day, 408km off-road stage race in Costa Rica. Jose Bonilla (Pizza Hut-Costa Rica) fought off a challenge from American Tinker Juarez (Volvo-Cannondale) to win the November 16-18 race. Bonilla broke away from Juarez in the second of three stages near the base of a grueling 9000-foot climb, the crux of the 108km second day. The strategic move, planned ahead of time by Bonilla's coach Andres Brenes, extended his 30-second lead from day one to an insurmountable 16 minutes.

Belgian Sven Nijs won the opening round of the 2001-02 UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup in Italy Saturday with a win over fellow Belgian Bart Wellens. Italian Daniele Pontoni finished third after Erwen Vervecken and Richard Groenendaal – the 2001 and 2000 world champions – both suffered mechanical difficulties. Groenendaal led early but was slowed on the second lap when he punctured both tires. The 2000 world champion would recover to finish fourth, just over a minute off Nijs’s winning pace. Nijs took the lead just before the halfway point of the race, which took him 58 minutes and 18 seconds

Saturday's SuperCup cyclo-cross races in Chicago showed that the Bears don't have a monopoly on down-to-the-wire finishes in the Windy City. Ann Grande (Kona-Voicestream) and Marc Gullickson (Mongoose-Hyundai) both took thrilling victories that weren't decided until the final lap of the flat, grassy course in Washington Park. The two elite races gave the loud Chicago crowd a treat to go along with the beautiful, fall-like weather in the middle of November. In the women's race, the talk going in centered around Lyne Bessette's (Saturn) undefeated streak in her first season of cyclo-cross, and

Organizers of the 2002 Tour of Italy bid to put the doping scandals of 2001 behind as details of the 2002 Giro were revealed at an announcement in Milan on Saturday. The route for the 3,333.5km race over 20 stages was unveiled by Candido Cannavo, director of the sponsoring newspaper Gazzetta dello sport and race director Carmine Castellano. The 2002 Giro will cover six countries, including Italy. It begins with a 6.5km time time in the Dutch coastal town of Groningen on May 11 and the first four stages cover Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France before entering northern Italy on May 17.

2002 Giro to pass through six countries

Grande led Bessette for most of the race

Grande gets the jump after the 'six-pack.'

Gullickson, Johnson and Candelario

Wells' attack set up Gullickson's win

There’s a new Steve Larsen these days and he seems a heck of a lot happier than the old one.

Dutch sprint specialist and four-time Tour de France stage winner Jeroen Blijlevens signed a one-year contract with the Belgian Domo-Farm Frites squad on Friday. The 29-year-old, whose name means 'good life', has had two dreadful seasons and failed to add to his 73 career wins at all this past season, riding for Lotto. Blijlevens, who also has four career stage wins in the Tour of Spain, barely did better than that in the 2000 campaign chalking up two victories with Italian Polti team. Blijlevens has also fallen foul of the sport's authorities on more than one occasion. He

Deer Valley, July 2000

Where's the bike?!?!? With an improvement in his run, Larsen may prove to be unbeatable in triathlon.

Larsen surprised 'em all at Wildflower

After solicitations from several European teams after his third place at September's Vuelta a España, American Levi Leipheimer signed a lucrative contract with the top Dutch team, Rabobank. It was an offer that his present team, U.S. Postal Service, couldn't match. Rabobank is hoping that Leipheimer will be the Tour de France contender it has been seeking for a number of years. Giro d'Italia winner Gilberto Simoni will ride for the Italian Saeco team next season. Simoni signed a two-year contract with the team and will join Tour of Lombardy winner Danilo Di Luca, who transfers