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The September 3 issue of VeloNews included an editorial supporting one of several propositions that appear on the annual election ballots mailed to voting members of USA Cycling. While the editors of the magazine have expressed support for Proposition A, we welcome comment from those who might hold a different opinion. Les Earnest, the primary author of Proposition B took advantage of our offer to present his views. VeloNews editorial on Propositions A and BBy Les Earnest, co-author of Proposition BThe 9/3/01 issue of VeloNews contains an editorial recommending the adoption of Proposition A

It’s already been an epic year for Canadian mountain bikers, with Roland Green winning the World Cup overall, and Ryder Hesjedal and Chrissy Redden having breakout seasons. Come September those three, plus a host of others will be making the trip south to Vail for the world championships, trying to bring rainbow stripes back to Canada for the first time since 1996 when Alison Sydor won the cross country. Green and Hesjedal will be trying to become the first Canadian males to ever win a world championship. For a look at the complete lineup that the Canadians will be bringing to Colorado click

Davide Rebellin, the number-2 ranked rider in the world, has quit the cash-strapped Italian Liquigas team Wednesday and joined Gerolsteiner, the German squad's sports director Rolf Golz said. The 30-year-old has signed a one-year deal and will be joined by three of his Liquigas teammates Gianni Faresin, Daniele Contrini and Ellis Rastelli. "The signing is all organized and we have his (Rebellin) agreement," Golz said. The management of ambitious Gerolsteiner squad hopes the signings will lift it into cycling’s top ranks for the 2002 season. There will be 30 Division I teams in 2002,

Crank up those VCRs. The Saturn Cycling Classic will be hitting the airwaves on Thursday, August 30. If you missed seeing it live, or just want to re-live the suffering caused by a 140-mile-long course that covers 14,000 feet of climbing and twice crests climbs at altitudes over 11,000 feet, ESPN2 will be broadcasting a 30-minute recap of the race at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time. Crédit Agricole’s Jonathan Vaughters – riding for the HandleBar and Grill squad – battled down to the wire with Mercury’s Chris Horner for the first prize, a brand-new, yet-to-be-released Saturn VUE Sport Utility

Spicoli or Kovarik?

On Monday, USA Cycling announced the 77-racer team that will represent the U.S. at the world mountain bike championships in Vail, Colorado, September 8-16. Among the cross-country team is two-time Olympian Alison Dunlap (GT), who finished sixth in this year’s overall World Cup standings. Fellow Olympian Ruthie Matthes (Trek-Volkswagen), who just won the national championship, also made this year's squad. Matthes announced her retirement earlier this year, making the world championships the last race of her professional career. Other automatic qualifiers included Susan Haywood (Trek-West

Listening to Lance Armstrong, you get the sense that in a not-so-distant past, when Texas Rangers rode horses, he would have been a gunslinger. Not a raw, do-it-for-kicks Billy the Kid, but a character like Paladin, portrayed by Richard Boone, the black-dressed hero of the mythical TV Western, "Have Gun, Will Travel." Like Paladin, the man called Lance is very intelligent, has a veneer of sophistication -- and shoots from the hip. Only Lance uses words, not bullets. At the ripe young age of 29, Armstrong commands the attention of a worldwide audience largely because the Tour de France has

Chann McRae found deliverance in the form of the U.S. Postal Service team from what's been a frustrating few months with Mercury. McRae, who hasn't been paid since June, signed a one-off deal to race with the Posties in the upcoming Vuelta a España, Sept. 8-29. "I finally got a good break after some hard times," McRae said from his home in the mountains outside of Madrid. "I always seem to have good form late in the season, so it works out well for everyone." McRae's surprise addition to the Postal Service team bolsters efforts to defend the Vuelta title for Roberto Heras.

In addition to his Sports Illustrated cover, Armstrong has gotten plenty of press since his third win in Paris. This 'Five Years From Now' spoof appeared in ESPN: The Magazine.

A field of the continent's top riders were readying for a 19km time trial on Saturday, August 25, when warm-ups were interrupted by the day's buzz: Geneviève Jeanson (Rona) was abandoning the race. Rumor was confirmed as fact when Jeanson's directeur sportif Andre Aubut announced that his star rider would not be starting the TT in Bedford. In a statement, Aubut said that Jeanson experienced pain on the back of her right thigh. The decision was made a few minutes into Jeanson's warm-up when the pain and discomfort became obvious. "Geneviève wanted to start in spite of the pain, but it would

It’s been a good swing up the East Coast for Canadian Chrissy Redden. A week after the Ontario resident won the cross-country and short track at the NORBA finals in Mount Snow, Vermont, Redden thrilled the home-country fans, winning the cross-country at the World Cup finals in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec. Redden (Subaru-Gary Fisher) trailed an on-form Caroline Alexander (Specialized) for much of the six-lap, 32.5km race. But Alexander dropped her chain on the final trip up race’s main climb, and surrendered all but 15 seconds of what had been a 30-second lead. From there, Redden was able to close

Jan Ullrich is becoming cycling's second-place hero. The 28-year-old German finished second behind Paolo Bettini of Mapei in a four-up sprint in Sunday's Championship of Zurich, giving the Telekom rider his third second-place finish in this World Cup race. "I am very angry I finished second again," Ullrich said after losing by a bike length to an ecstatic Bettini. "This race is tailor-made for me. Some day I will come back here to win." The bitter disappointment for Ullrich comes just weeks after finishing second to Lance Armstrong in the 2001 Tour de France, where he's finished second four

Saturday’s double stage of the Grand Prix Feminin du Quebec saw Saturn sweep the two stages, Intersports Pia Sunstedt move into the race lead, and Canadian teenager Genevieve Jeanson withdraw from the race due to a knee injury. Saturn won each of the day’s stages, with Lyne Bessette winning the morning’s 19.1km time trial, seven seconds ahead of AutoTrader.com’s Amber Neben and 31 seconds better than Sunstedt. With her third place, Sunstedt moved ahead of another Saturn rider, Anke Erlank, into the overall lead. In the afternoon, Sunstedt protected her 21 second lead in the 40km criterium.

Canadian Lori-Ann Muenzer took her second gold medal at the World Track Cup round No. 5, in Ipoh, Malaysia, on Sunday. Muenzer, who had already won the match sprint gold earlier in the weekend, won the women’s 500-meters, ahead of German Katrin Meinke and China’s Wang Yan. In other racing, Americans Colby Pearce and Jame Carney took silver in the Madison, behind the Swiss pair of Franco Marvulli and Alexander Aeschbach, and Marty Nothstein took bronze in the keirin, behind 19-year-old Australian Jobie Dajka and France’s Florian Rousseau.

The race billed as ‘an extreme sporting event before there were extreme sports’, the Audi Mount Washington Bicycle Hillclimb, was held Sunday in unusually fair weather conditions - particularly for the mountain known by Native Americans as "the home of the storm." While neither the men’s nor women’s records fell, both divisions found themselves worthy winners, as Saturn pro Tim Johnson and first-year racer Karen Bockel (Gatorade/Olbas) emerged victorious in the 7.6-mile, 12 percent average grade event. The men’s race was over nearly before it started, as Johnson put into practice lessons

Back in late July at the fourth stop of the NORBA national championship series, Roland Green made it known that he was planning on skipping the two upcoming World Cup races in Europe even though he was the overall leader at the time. Green said he wanted to concentrate on his preparation for September’s world championships in Vail, and though he knew he was giving up something big, it would pay off later. Well guess what? Turns out Green didn’t give up a thing. On Sunday at the World Cup finals in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, the Trek-Volkswagen rider won the tough, technical men’s cross country

Redden celebrates her first World Cup win.

Alexander settled for second.

Bettini wins

Ullrich, Bettini and Casagrande (r-l)

Hincapie in the lead group

Dekker

Green won the battle and the war on Sunday.

Hesjedal and Green: Two names to remember come worlds.

Jame Carney scored the bronze medal in the points race on Saturday, the highlight of the U.S. squad’s performance in the first two days of the fifth and final round of the UCI World Track Cup, in Ipoh, Malaysia. Mathew Gilmore, riding for Belgium, won the points race on Saturday night, with Denmark’s Jimmi Madsen edging Carney for second place by one point, 16 to 15. The next best U.S. performance came from Erin Mirabella, who finished fourth in the women’s pursuit, won by Germany’s Christina Becker. Canadian Lori-Ann Muenzer won the match sprint.

After two stages of rolling terrain, the climbers came to the forefront in stage 3 of the Grand Prix Feminin International du Quebec on Friday. The 99km stage began in Richford, Vermont, and ended in stage winner Lyne Bessette's (Saturn) hometown of Knowlton, Quebec.

The chase for the overall World Cup downhill title has come down to one run — fastest man take all. That’s because Global Racing’s Greg Minnaar closed the gap between himself and Nicolas Vouilloz (Vouilloz Racing) to just eight points after posting the top time in Saturday morning’s semifinal at the World Cup finals in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec. By winning the semis Minnaar picked up 50 points, while Vouilloz was third earning just 30 points, finishing 3.02 seconds behind Minnaar’s time of 5:03.76. The point differential between any of the first six places in the finals would be enough push

If you believe Erik Dekker, the Championship of Zurich on Sunday is the decisive race in the 2001 World Cup. Dekker, a Dutch rider on the Rabobank team who leads the 10-race World Cup series, has 269 points going into the eighth round. Dekker, a winner at the Amstel Gold Race this year, is 69 points ahead of last week’s HEW Cyclassics winner, Erik Zabel. With Telekom’s Zabel missing the Meisterschaft von Zurich, as it’s called in Swiss German, Dekker’s nearest rivals are more than 100 points in arrears. "I think if I can finish among the top eight at Zurich, it could be the end of the

For the first time in the nine-year history of the World Cup downhill series, someone from outside the European continent has captured the men’s overall title. On Saturday, 19-year-old South African Greg Minnaar, finished second on the sun-soaked slopes of Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, at the World Cup finals. But the man ahead of him wasn’t named Nicolas Vouilloz, which meant the Global Racing rider had overtaken the Frenchman in the overall points standings. "I thought I had a chance today and it worked out," said an elated Minnaar, moments after seeking out his parents in the large crowd and

If every dual on the World Cup circuit came off like the one on Saturday at Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, there might actually be some hope for this much-maligned discipline. In front of a crowd that was three and four deep along both sides of the course, and included several hundred more fans sitting in the finish-line grandstands, fellow Southern Californians Leigh Donovan and Eric Carter came out on top of an event that featured plenty of exciting bar-banging action. In the woman’s bracket Donovan emerged to pick up her fourth win of the year, and put an exclamation point on a stellar season

Minnaar was fastest in qualifying.

Vouilloz on his way to third in the semis.

Minnaar and members of the Global Racing team celebrate his overall title.

Jonnier crosses the line for the win.

Donovan sails to another win.

Lopes would eventually lose to King, but that didn't stop him from taking the overall title.

Minnaar hoists his hardware while a stoic Vouilloz looks on.

The party begins.

A rider makes his way down towards the St. Lawrence river below.

Chausson gets some medical attention.

Chausson's busted brake.

Stage 2 of the Grand Prix Feminin International du Quebec was a 123km circuit race starting and finishing in Frelighsburg, near the U.S.-Canadian border southeast of Montreal. The peloton split on the first of two climbs, approximately 20km into the stage. At the 50km mark, Intersports rider Catherine Marsal initiated a break from the front group that would eventually put her in the leader's jersey. The group of five riders also included Ina Teutenberg (Saturn), Nicole Cooke (UK National Team), Katrina Berger (AutoTrader.com) and Nicole Demars (800.com). Within the first 5km they put 30

Two weeks ago Greg Minnaar earned a place in history when he won the downhill at Kaprun, Austria, becoming the first rider from the African continent to win a World Cup race. Now the 19-year-old is chasing an even bigger achievement, the World Cup overall title. When the curtain raises on the men’s downhill at the World Cup finals in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec on Saturday, the Global Racing rider will find just 28 points separating himself from a storied place in the annals of mountain-bike racing. That’s the margin the unassuming teenager — currently second overall — needs to make up to overtake

American Chris Wherry took second in the final stage of the Tour du Limousin, a stage won by Frenchman Gilles Bouvard (Jean Delatour). Another Frenchman, Franck Bouyer (Bonjour), held on for the overall win at the four-day race in France. Despite a brutal heatwave, six riders went on the attack in the middle of the race: Laurent Paumier, Pierrick Fedrigo, Christophe Mengin, Stéphane Goubert, Eddy Seigneur and Juan Manuel Cuenca. When their lead grew to over three minutes, that put Cuenca into the race lead on the road, forcing Bouyer’s Bonjour team to chase. The escapees were finally caught

Spaniard Juan Miguel Mercado (iBanesto.com) won the Vuelta a Burgos in Spain, which concluded on Friday in Burgos with the 164km fifth stage, won by former world champion Oscar Freire (Mapei-Quick Step). Mercado, just 23 years old, took over the violet leader’s jersey on the second day of the five-day race. Friday’s final stage was animated by Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, who made a break at the 17km mark and was joined by Czech rider Pavel Padrnos, Dane Bjarke Nielsen, Italian Elio Aggiano and Spaniard Miguel Angel Pena. The five built up a lead of up to four minutes, but

Though still very preliminary, the 2002 mountain-bike-racing schedule is beginning to take shape. After several conversations with sources close to NORBA and the World Cup, VeloNews has drawn up a possible picture of what next year’s racing calendar will look like. The biggest wild card appears to be Durango, Colorado, which hosted a World Cup "triple" this summer. Initially organizers in the small tourist town seemed enthusiastic about a repeat visit in 2002. But since then things appear to have shifted, and now there are indications that Durango will pass on holding another World Cup

Though six events will be contested at this weekend’s World Cup finals in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, only two will have significant bearing on the top of the overall standings — the men’s downhill and the men’s cross-country. Saturday will feature a battle between Nicolas Vouilloz (Vouilloz Racing) and Greg Minnaar (Global Racing) to decide the downhill championship. Coming in Vouilloz has a slim 28-point lead over the 19-year-old from South Africa. Vouilloz has won five of the last six overall titles, including three straight, but has struggled this year, winning just one race. Minnaar,

Minnaar

Minnaar's winning run at Kaprun.

His future's so bright he's...

Marsal

The latest rendition of four-rider gated racing took place Wednesday afternoon on the sun-drenched slopes of Les Relais Ski Resort in Lac-Beauport, Quebec, just 15 minutes north of Quebec City. The event, dubbed the Schwinn-Toyota Biker-Cross, served as a prelude for the upcoming World Cup finals slated for Saturday and Sunday at nearby Mont-Ste-Anne. After nearly three hours of delay-marred racing, it was Schwinn’s Mickael Deldycke and Jamis rider Katrina Miller who walked away with the bulk of the $10,000 pot offered up at the made-for-TV affair. The longest delay occurred when a semi-pro

Julie Young (Autotrader.com) donned the leader's jersey at the end of the first stage of the Grand Prix Feminin International du Quebec. Young was a member of a nine-rider breakaway that got away 18km into the 97km stage around the town of Farnham, south and east of Montreal. The break was initially composed of Young, her teammate Sarah Ulmer, Julia Farell (VeriZon), Andrea Hannos (VeriZon), Pia Sundstedt (Intersports), Charlotte Hopkinson (Great Britain), Melissa Holt (Rona), Ina Teutenberg (Saturn) and Anke Erlank (Saturn). Holt was called back to the peloton to support an unsuccessful

Italy's Massimo Apollonio, riding for the Vini Caldirola team, won a spectacular sprint finish to take the fourth stage of the Tour of Burgos in Medina de Pomar, Spain, on Thursday. Spaniard Juan Miguel Mercado of the ibanesto.com team retains the overall leader's purple jersey after the 184km run between Ona and Medina de Pomar. Apollonio won a bunch sprint finish on the descent into Medina De Pomar to edge ahead of Argentine Martin Garrido and Spain's former world champion Oscar Freire in 4:33:55. The iBanesto.com team blocked most breakaway attempts during the day to conserve Mercado's

French amateur Franck Laurance won a sprint finish at the third stage of the Tour du Limousin in France on Thursday. Bonjour’s Franck Bouyer retained the overall lead, six seconds ahead of Patrick Jonker (Big Mat) after the 193.2km stage between Ussel and La Souterraine. The 193km stage saw a breakaway of almost 160km, starting at the 25th km when eight riders escaped. That group gained a lead of 4:20, but was brought back into the fold with 10km to go, setting up the sprint finish won by Laurance. American Bobby Julich (Crédit Agricole) took fifth in the sprint, and held onto eighth place

Deldycke out in front in the finals.

Bootes and Gracia get a little air-time.

Chausson and Llanes fight for second, while Donovan fights gravity.

Frenchman David Moncoutié took the second stage of the four-day Tour de Limousin in France, while stage 1 winner Franck Bouyer (Bonjour) held onto the race lead. Mercury’s Chris Wherry and Crédit Agricole’s Bobby Julich both finished in the top 10 on Wednesday, and moved into 10th and eighth, respectively, in the overall standings. Wednesday’s 166.5km stage from Saint-Just-le Martel to Ussel was a relatively calm one. The main breakaway of the day — containing Bruno Thibout (Jean Delatour), Gilles Maignan (Ag2R) and Gilles Canouet (French national team) — was caught shortly before the

Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo) won the 55th edition of the Coppa Agostoni, a UCI 1.2 race in Lissone, Italy. Casagrande beat last year’s winner Jan Ullrich (Telekom), catching the German 200 meters from the line after Ullrich had attempted a long attack at the finish of the race. "To beat Ullrich, it’s a double success," said the Italian, whose main objective for the end of the season is the world road championships in Lisbon, Portugal, in October. As for Ullrich, he thought he would be able to hold on with his late-race move. "I’m satisfied with my performance," he said, "but really,

Spaniard Carlos Sastre of ONCE won the 154km third stage of the Vuelta a Burgos on Wednesday in San Juan del Monte, Spain. Juan Miguel Mercado (iBanesto.com) retained the overall lead, ahead of U.S. Postal Service’s José-Luis Rubiera. Wednesday’s stage from Briviesca to San Juan del Monte finished with a 4km climb, with the attacks starting from the base of the hill. Spaniards Santos Gonzalez and Francisco Cerezo tried in vain, before Belgian David Bruylandts gained a lead of a few dozen meters. Bruylandts finally cracked about 400 meters from the finish, where he was passed first by

Jackie Simes II, 1936 national road champion and U.S. Bicycling Hall of Famer, died August 10 at age 87 of heart failure following a series of strokes. He died in a hospital near his home in New Tripoli, Pennsylvania. A second-generation racer, Simes inspired his son, Jack Simes III, to compete in a career that spanned three Olympics and a silver medal in the pursuit at the 1968 world championships, and grandsons, Ryan Simes Oelkers and Jack Simes IV to make the Simes family span more than a century of racing. Referred to by friends as Jackie, he was born John Weston Simes II on January

Jackie Simes II, with Joe Murray at the 1999 induction in to the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame.

Spaniard Juan Miguel Mercado of the iBanesto.com team won the Tour of Burgos second stage as Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong eased over the 158km ride from Covarrubias to Lagunad de Neila Tuesday. Armstrong’s teammates Jose-Luis Rubiera and Levi Leipheimer put in a strong showing for the American team, finishing second and seventh, respectively, on the stage. Mercado, who takes hold of the leader's purple jersey from Italy's Andrea Tafi of the Mapei team, broke away from two compatriots, Rubiera and Eladio Jimenez (iBanesto.com) on the Lagunas de Neila climb. Mercado crossed the

Tour de France prologue winner Christophe Moreau on Monday joined his old Festina teammate Florent Brard and inked a two-year contract with France's Crédit Agricole squad. Australian Stuart O'Grady and American Jonathan Vaughters had earlier extended their contracts with the team. The 30-year-old Moreau, who has rebounded from serving a six months drug suspension for his part in the 1998 Festina drugs scandal to win this year's Tour prologue. He had finished fourth overall in 2000. O'Grady, who barely missed winning the Tour de France's green jersey for points this

Here’s how to watch a professional downhill race at Mount Snow, Vermont, site of the 2001 Chevy Trucks NORBA finals. Put on some sturdy shoes and head up the hill to the section known as "Yard Sale." It’s near the bottom of the 1.5-mile course, so it’s not too far. You’ll know you’re getting closer from the roar of the crowd. Once you’re at this mangled piece of hillside, where the trail drops 100 vertical feet through tight woods, pick out a stout guy and stand behind him — there is going to be carnage. Rocks, sticks and dust will fly. Bikes will fly and riders, too. And as the experienced

After a day of intermittent rain showers, which at times drenched the early races, the sun finally shown down on Downers Grove, Illinois, for the main event on Sunday, the USPRO Criterium Championship. And on the gorgeous late-afternoon in the suburb of Chicago, a pair of riders shared the day in the sun, with Saturn’s Dutchman Harm Jansen taking the win and Navigator’s Kirk O’Bee sprinting into the national champion’s jersey. With both the prestige of the overall win and the prize of the stars-and-stripes jersey at stake, Saturn and Navigators took different approaches to the race, and it

In a season dominated by the monster Saturn team, the little guys finally had a chance to do some damage on Sunday at the women’s national criterium championship in Downer’s Grove, Illinois. It came down to a battle royale between two of the fastest women in the county, who had a total of one teammate between them. In the end, Nicole Freedman (Credit Suisse First Boston) had one move too many for defending champion Laura Van Gilder (Verizon Wireless), who struggled through a tough race to put herself in a position to fight for the win. Going into the race, everybody was looking to see what

In a wet national criterium championship that turned into a rain-soaked crash-festival, Go-Mart’s Ben Sharp was able to stay out of trouble and earn his first elite national championship jersey, outsprinting breakaway companion Tim Larkin (Lombardi Sports) for the win. The rain began 10 laps into the 50-lap championship race in Downers Grove, Illinois, on Sunday morning, and definitely contributed to the outcome of the race. Sharp’s Go-Mart squad was one of the strongest teams in the race, along with the Mercy Fitness team from Arkansas, and both squads were among the most active in the

It was a tale of two Erik’s in the HEW Cyclassics World Cup race Sunday. Erik Zabel finally won the race that was missing on his extensive palmares while Erik Dekker finished third and took a decisive lead in the 2001 World Cup series with just three races to go. Both Eriks were jubilant. Erik the First verified his status as German sports hero, while Erik the Second is en route to becoming the first Dutch rider to win the overall World Cup title. The 251-km (155-mile) race burned with a slow fuse. The seventh stop of the 10-round World Cup series started sluggishly but ended loud like a

Alfa Lum’s Joane Somarriba rode into Paris Sunday, victorious in her second successive Grande Boucle feminine cycliste after finishing the 14th and final stage with the main field. Russian cycliste Olga Slioussareva won the 117.8 km stage from Pierrelaye (Val-d'Oise) to Paris, reaffirming her hold on the overall sprint-points jersey.Somarriba was greeted by a large number of Basque fans lining the final circuit on the on the prestigious avenue Foch, west of Paris. The Basque cyclist, who has lost the leader’s jersey only between the 7th and 9th stages of the Grand Boucle, bested her

Missy Giove, U.S. downhill champion again, is not afraid.

Who? Learn the name: Todd Leduc, national champion

O'Bee, Jansen, Bouchard-Hall

The new national champion

Freedman topped the podium

Larkin and Sharp escaped on glassy roads

Zabel pleases the home crowd.

Dekker still leads the World Cup race.