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A week after filing a formal complaint with USA Cycling, NetZero riders have begun to see some of the back pay and expenses owed to them from the second half of the season, with the remainder promised to them by the beginning of next week. According to NetZero team rider Mike Tillman, "A percentage of what was owed was deposited into my account this week," and he had been told by team manager Marty Church that the balance would be paid by next week. Another rider, Michael Johnson, was also told by Church that "all of us will have our money by next week," as was Jamie Paolinetti. The

At the races, the NetZero cycling team was one of the success stories of the early season, highlighted by Jamie Paolinetti and Graeme Miller sweeping the Shelby-Athens weekend in April. Off the bike, though, things weren't quite so rosy, as several NetZero riders didn't get paid their salary or expenses since late spring. According to rider Michael Johnson, the team management stopped paying in June. Later in the year, he received a check for prize money from the USPRO criterium, and the check bounced. "I signed a contract and did what I was told," said Johnson. "They didn't

Ten months after accepting the position as chief marketing officer for USA Cycling, Mary Monroe has resigned. Contacted on Tuesday, Monroe declined to comment, other than to say she was pleased with her decision. Monroe’s departure marks the second time in less than a month that a management-level employee has left in frustration. USCF and USPRO managing director Evan Call resigned at the end of September. He has since moved to Utah and is working on projects associated with the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Now in its 16th year, Greenville, South Carolina’s two-day Michelin Cycling Classic has become one of America’s greatest events, a true season-ending classic. Cyclists from across the country and overseas gathered to join battle for one of the last times in 2001, with the streets of beautiful downtown Greenville as their battleground. And, though both days were contested on the same course, they led to very different results, with Juan-Carlos Pineda (7UP-Colorado Cyclist) and Jonas Carney (Prime Alliance) emerging victorious in the men’s events, while Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Saturn) and Robin

The election results are in and tallied, but the dispute over the future direction of USA Cycling is far from over, says Les Earnest, the man who forced the governance issue on the organization’s annual election ballot. Earnest said that despite the lopsided defeat of Proposition B, his democratic reform initiative, he plans to continue a legal fight challenging the means by which USA Cycling and the supporters of the competing Proposition A presented the issues on the ballot and campaigned for their proposal. Proposition A, which was supported by San Francisco investment banker Thomas

Home team Great Britain topped the medals chart at the world masters track championships in Manchester, England, but U.S. riders reached the top step of the podium more than anyone else. In all, the U.S. team scored 19 gold medals and 47 total, while Great Britain took 16 gold and 68 total medals. For results from the final two days of competition, click on "View Race Results."

Now that the big trade shows – Germany’s Friedrichshaffen, Italy’s Milan trade show and the Interbike in Las Vegas – are over, we’re finally taking the time to sort through our hard drives, pick through our suitcases and look through the few hundred pictures and thousand brochures we brought home. While not everything will make it into the pages of VeloNews, we thought we might just pop a few of these on to the web for your perusal. Of course, this is just a quick glance at the innumerable cool products, goofy ideas and strange characters that popped up in the aisles at the Sands Convention

Speedplay's Richard Bryne has been cutting back the weight on his 'ongoing project' bike. His 650c-wheeled Holland is now under 11 pounds... and quite rideable.

Masi is back in a big way, since the folks at Haro picked up U.S. distribution. Competing for attention with the classic Masi models, like the Volumetrica, are new aluminum/carbon models, boasting flashy graphics and even (GASP!) flat bars!

It says it's a Masi, but where did those bars come from?

It's an Italian combo: Last year, Colnago and Ferrari teamed up to produce a limited edition carbon road bike, the CF-1. This year, they figured it was time to go off-road, with the CF-2. No word yet on the Ferrari SUV.

While Masi, Ferraris and others made flashy appearances, the buzz of the show seemed to focus on these things. Every other company from Taiwan had something in minature.

GT's loss.... Back when GT signed a deal to produce frames for the Lotto team, the work fell to the talented hands of Dave Tiemeyer. The old GT is bankrupt, Lotto's on Litespeeds and we can buy bikes direct from Dave.

Padding: A few years ago Gipiemme released a super-light all carbon 100-gram saddle that made weight freaks happy, but did little to make a long ride anything other than torture. Now, they've added a scant 20 grams, but put it in the right places

Time had to rethink the Star-Fangled nut since its all-carbon steerer tube is reinforced with an 'X' of carbon. So, they've devised a spacer with a bit of a grip. It's elegant and they say it holds just fine.

Another world's road race is over. And, for the third year running, the blue-ribbon event came down to whom was fastest in the final straightaway. Two years ago, in Verona, Italy, a dozen riders were still together when "unknown" Spanish rider Oscar Freire sprinted out of the last turn to win by four seconds. In 2000, at Plouay, France, there were two dozen that fought out the finish, with Latvian Romans Vainsteins taking the sprint and Freire in third. Now, in Lisbon, Portugal, almost four dozen riders were still together to contest the finish -- an unimaginable outcome for a race that had

Erwin Vervecken and Lyne Bessette each made it 2-for-2 for the weekend by winning the second stop of the ECV Cyclo-Cross series on Sunday at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester, Massachusetts. A day earlier, the pair took victory in the opening round of the SuperCup series held on a slightly different track at the same seaside park in the famous New England fishing town.

It’s called 24 Hours of Moab, but it actually took the Trek-Volkswagen team of Travis Brown, Chris Eatough, Sue Haywood and Alison Sydor 25 hours and two minutes to take the Coed Pro/Am title in one of the most exciting 24-hour team races to date. After 25 hours of four-person relay racing (two male, two female) in the Utah desert, it all came down to a last-lap showdown between Sydor, a 24-hour rookie despite her three world titles and multiple World Cup wins, and Gretchen Reeves of Team Beaver Creek II. When Brown finished the team’s 21st lap at 11:53 a.m. on Sunday and handed the baton

Bessette has won every 'cross race she's entered.

Grande was second for the second straight day.

Vervecken leads Johnson over a pair of barriers.

Feel the love: Teamwork earned the Trek crew the win in the desert.

There have been some most unusual numerical coincidences at the 2001 world road championships here in Lisbon, Portugal, this week. Of the five time trials contested on the first three days, four of the eventual winners were fourth fastest at the first time split. The exception was elite women's winner Jeannie Longo, who was second at that first time check. The road races started in similar vein on Friday: Both of the races ended in solo winners who finished exactly 17 seconds ahead of the runner-up. Could this trend continue through the final three races of the weekend? That might be too

After losing the junior men's time trial by 44 hundredths of a second last Wednesday, 18-year-old Oleksandr Kvachuk from Ukraine was in tears. So close, but so far. On Saturday, Kvachuk put that disappointment behind him and made a blistering solo break, to win the 121km road race by 1:07 over a chase group of four that was brought home by Dutchman Niels Scheuneman — whose silver medal joins the bronze he scored in the time trial. Commenting on his win, Kvachuk said, "After the time trial I was sad -- so today I decided to show that I am a real champion." He proved that with an astonishing

In a long career at the elite level Lithuanian twin Rasa Polikeviciute has almost won a host of big races -- a time-trial bronze medal at last year's world's, second at the women's Tour de France in 1994 and ’96, a silver medal in the road race at the 1996 world's, and third overall at this year's Hewlett-Packard Challenge and the Tour of Tuscany. Finally, on Saturday afternoon, the 31-year-old sprinted to her own rainbow jersey in an ultimately exciting elite women's 121km road race. Polikeviciute knew she was in good form -- fourth in the time trial on Wednesday -- but as she said: "In the

For the past eight years, the Italian national pro men's road squad has been the team to beat at the world's. And each time, the team has been beaten. The closest the famous azzuri have come to taking the supreme rainbow jersey was a silver medal by the now-retired Claudio Chiappucci in 1994. Two others have won bronze medals: Marco Pantani in 1995 and Michele Bartoli in 1996 and ’98. Bartoli is back as one of the Italian team's leaders, and his recent transfer to the Fassa Bortolo trade team should bring some focus to his newest assault on the title. That's because Fassa Bortolo also has

Trek-Volkswagen took the most dramatic win of the day, but when the dust settled in Moab, there were hundreds of other images and stories to be shared among the finishers. Here are a few:

One has nearly a lifetime’s worth of experience. The other was riding in the second cyclo-cross race her career. Still, the results were the same, as reigning world champion Erwin Vervecken and ‘cross newby Lyne Bessette walked away with wins at the opening round of the SuperCup series on a foggy Saturday afternoon in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Longo leads the escape

Rock, paper, scissors: The common method to decide who starts.

Vervecken was smooth over the barriers.

Bessette was good enough on the run-ups.

Johnson goes up and over.

Vervecken leads the early break through the sand pit.

Grande makes her way through the sand.

Gloucester provided a picturesque setting for 'cross.

Team Beaver Creek makes a transition in an early night lap.

Campfire tales: Subaru-Gary Fisher brought the big rig.

Into the night: That's when things get interesting.

Dualies: Two lights are better than one.

Fans

Men's solo winner Grewal heads out for his 17th and final lap.

Group hug: Trek-VW won by just two minutes.

What it's really all about

What me worry? Gretchen Reeves moments before the final showdown with Alison Sydor

As night fell on Lisbon Thursday, workers at the world cycling championship venue in Monsanto Park were busy changing its configuration from an intricate time-trial course of 19.5km to a more straightforward road-race circuit of 12.1km. The final five events all use the same circuit, starting Friday morning with the shortest (six laps totaling 72.6km for junior women) and closing on Sunday with the longest (21 laps totaling 254.1km for elite men). Heading in a clockwise direction, the peloton rides on a flat smooth highway to reach the first climb after 1.2km. In two parts, this hill has an

After taking her second rainbow jersey of the week, and her fourth world title in 12 months, Nicole Cooke said something quite insightful about the key to her amazing success. The defending junior women's road race champion was asked if she had an idol. After thinking for a few seconds, she replied, "Not really.... I set my own targets rather than following the lead of others." And that's exactly what the 18-year-old Brit did in the six-lap, 72.6km race on Friday morning. After the 64 starters rode as a pack for two easy laps, they reached the start of the main climb on lap 3. Feeling

He's only 21, but Yaroslav Popovich from Ukraine already seems like a seasoned veteran. And he should fit right into the pro peloton when he joins the Domo team next year. One quality that will stand him in good stead in the paid ranks is his ability to overcome the pressure of expectation. He was expected to win Friday's grueling under-23 road race -- and he did. A year ago, he came up short by three seconds at the world's, beaten into second place by the young Russian Evgeni Petrov. And if Popovich hadn't had to race the final lap-and-a-half stuck in the 53 chainring after his front

Results from day 4 of the world master's track championships in Manchester, England. Click on "View race results."

Professional cyclists will be guaranteed an annual minimum wage for the first time after an accord was signed in Lisbon, Portugal Friday between the professional cyclists association (CPA) and the AIGCP, which represents professional cycling teams. The accord was signed at the world road race championships between CPA chief Francesco Moser and Manolo Saiz, who runs the Spanish ONCE team and who is also head of the AIGCP. "We've managed to come to an agreement which allows for identical rules for each country," former professional Moser said after the meeting. "Riders now have much

Familiar territory for Cooke

It all came down to Wloszczowska, Cooke and Möhlmann

Cooke makes her move

Pate was a threat

With 6.2km remaining of Thursday's elite men's time trial, at the high point of the Lisbon course, 770 feet above sea level, it looked as though the race was over. Leading the 38.7km world championship by seven seconds over Colombia's Santiago Botero was Britain's David Millar, while prerace favorite Jan Ullrich seemed to be fighting a losing battle in third place, 10 seconds back. All that remained was a steep descent, a short uphill and a fast downhill to a tail-wind run to the finish, 500 feet below. And when Millar crossed the line to improve Botero's earlier best time of 52:01 by five

Les Earnest may have triumphed in the courts, but he lost big at the ballot box as the reform initiative he championed was defeated by a margin of nearly 14-1 during the 2001 USA Cycling member elections. Proposition A, which was supported by San Francisco investment banker Thomas Weisel, Lance Armstrong, the USA Cycling Development Foundation and others, garnered 6007 "yes" votes, easily defeating Earnest's Proposition B, which drew only 432 positive votes. Indeed, Proposition B didn't even fare as well as a couple other major reform and legislative measures on the ballot, including

The world masters track championships continue this week in Manchester, England. The U.S. continued its strong performance, with American riders picking up five more gold medals on day 3. For results from day 3, click on "View race results."

Leipheimer

Millar

In what was probably the closest finish in any world time trial championship, only 78 hundredths of a second covered the first three finishers in Wednesday morning's junior men's event. The one who came up lucky in the 19.2km time trial was Jurgen Van den Broeck, a pale-faced, crewcut, 18-year-old who bec ame the first Belgian to win any sort of medal at a world's time trial. He beat runner-up Oleksandr Kvachuk from Ukraine by less than half-a-second, while Dutchman Niels Scheuneman took the bronze medal.

Even Jeannie Longo herself said it! "This title was more emotional than the others ... the crowning of my career,” said the veteran French phenom after taking the 13th world championship in her illustrious career. Why so emotional? "Well, you know my age," added Longo, who will be 43 on October 31. It was also emotional for the manner in which she snatched the elite women's time-trial by four-tenths of a second over the startling Swiss racer Nicole Brändli -- who was just six years old when Longo won her first rainbow jersey 16 years ago! Brändli set out like a rocket on the 19.2km course

The U.S. took home five gold medals in the opening two days of competition at the world masters track championships in Manchester, England. On the men’s side, Keith Harrison (60-64) and Stan Gregg (55-59) won their respective 500-meter time trials, while Alphonso Whaley took gold in the 40-44 750-meter time trial. On the women’s side, Linelle Betts (45-49) and Suzie Tignor (35-39) won their 500-meter time trials. For results from Manchester, click on "View Race Results."

Lance Armstrong would have loved racing on the world time trial championship course here in Lisbon. It's a course that favors strong riders who, like Wednesday's winners Jeannie Longo and Jurgen Van den Broeck, also know how to climb. In Longo's assessment, it is the most difficult world's TT course since the hilly, point-to-point, into-the-head-wind affair at Tunja, Colombia, in 1995. Yes, Armstrong would have loved the 40 turns, 10 climbs and descents, and the 2450 feet of climbing that the 53 elite men will tackle in 38.7km of racing (over two laps) on Thursday. But the Texan hung up his

Frenchman Arnaud Tournant shattered his own world record for the kilometer on Wednesday morning, becoming the first cyclist to go under the one-minute mark for the distance. Tournant was one of three French riders making record attempts on Wednesday at the velodrome in La Paz, Bolivia, at an altitude of over 11,000 feet. Tournant turned in a time of 58.875 seconds, an average speed of 61.146kph (37.9mph). "Right now, I can’t believe it," said Tournant, originally from Roubaix in northern France. "I simply wanted to go under a minute. A time of 59.99 would have sufficed." Tournant beat his

Van den Broeck

A year ago in the road world’s at Plouay. France, the petite but powerful Nicole Cooke gave Britain a startling gold medal in the junior women’s road race. She expected to win, and in her press conference said that she was very upset that she hadn’t been allowed to ride at the Sydney Olympics -– she was too young. Cooke was clearly a young woman who knew what she wanted and seemed determined to go places. This year, her rabid ambition took her to the world junior women’s cross-country title at Vail a few weeks ago, and on Tuesday morning in Lisbon, Portugal, she added a third rainbow jersey

American Danny Pate won the men's under-23 world championship time-trial in Lisbon, Portugal Tuesday. Pate was an easy winner posting a time 38 seconds faster than silver medallist Sebastian Lang of Germany, while South Africa's James Perry was just one-third a second slower than Lang. Pate later said he’d had difficulty setting aside thoughts of the tragic events of September 11 as he prepared for the world championships.

On Tuesday the UCI made official what was rumored for much of the 2001 mountain biking season: dual is done. In it’s place for 2002 will be the 4-up format, which was seen at this year’s Sea Otter Classic and the NORBA finals in Vermont, and will now be a World Cup and world championship discipline. The UCI announcement was accompanied by the 2002 World Cup schedule, which sees the series shrink from eight to six races. Also of note is the absence of a stop in the United States. It will be the first time in 12-year history of the series that the World Cup won’t be coming to America. However,

Since the individual time trial first became a world championship event in 1994, there has rarely been a course quite as technical and challenging as the one laid out around the vast forested Monsanto Park in central Lisbon, Portugal. On Tuesday, opening day of the 2001 road world's, abbreviated versions of the course produced resounding victories for American Danny Pate in the under-23 category and Britain's Nicole Cooke in the junior women's division. On Wednesday, junior men and elite women will both compete over one lap of the full 19.2km time-trial course -- which is based on the main

Hammer's 19:24.27 was good enough for 12th

Pate wins world U23 TT title