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Fullana blows a kiss to the Italian crowd after winning World Cup No. 2.

Martinez beat Green by three seconds.

Martinez beat Green by three seconds.

The final podium.

Another stunning scene from Switzerland.

World champions Marga Fullana and Miguel Martinez started the European World Cup season right where they left off last year. Fullana beat her Specialized teammate and reigning World Cup champion Barbara Blatter by 22 seconds in the qualifying time trial in Sarentino, Italy, while Martinez (Full Dynamix) finished ten seconds up on Roland Green (Trek-Volkswagen). The time trial was held in order to seed the riders for tomorrow’s cross country. The course in Sarentino has changed for this year, and 10th-placed Thomas Frischknecht (Ritchey-Yahoo!) called it "the toughest World Cup course in

At an awards ceremony in Madrid on Saturday, five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain criticized race organizers for not keeping Italian climber Marco Pantani in the 2001 race. Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc a week ago named five wild-card teams, but did not include Pantani's Italian outfit, Mercatone Uno. "As a supporter, it upsets me that such great riders as Pantani are not going to the Tour de France," Indurain said. "The organizers have followed the rules, taking the top 15 teams and invitations are their affair. It all depends on their sponsors. (The organizers)

Italy's Gilberto Simoni riding for Lampre won a sprint finish in the fourth stage of the Tour of Romandie, a 171.5km run between Saint-Aubin and Nendaz, Switzerland on Saturday. The 29-year-old produced a blistering sprint to beat Spain's Manuel Beltran into second and Switzerland's Sven Montgomery into third while Italy's Dario Frigo of Fassa Bortolo held onto the overall lead. Simoni's finishing flourish was testament to his fitness as he builds up to his main objective the Giro d'Italia in which he has finished third the past two years. But Frigo, who finished sixth 14 seconds adrift, on

French rider Didier Rous grabbed the overall lead in the Four Days of Dunkirk cycling race after Saturday's fifth stage, a 170.5km run from Outreau to Boulogne-sur-Mer. Rous, one of the Festina riders expelled from the 1998 Tour de France, now riding for Bonjour, finished in 4:10:35, narrowly beating out Dutchman Jeroen Blijlevens and Frenchman Stephane Heulot, while French veteran Laurent Jalabert finished fourth. Former world No. 1 Jalabert, still recovering form after an injury earlier this year, took on the race with 45km remaining after young Frenchman and Rous's teammate Sylvain

Fullana dusted her teammates and the rest of the world.

Little Mig had a lot of power in the time trial.

Simoni crosses the line in Nendaz.

The mountains of Switzerland provide a picturesque backdrop for a bike race.

Estonia's Jaan Kirsipuu of the AG2R team won a sprint finish that saw 12 riders fall to take the fourth of seven stages of the Four Days of Dunkirk cycling race in Saint-Vanant, France on Friday. Sprint specialists Jo Planckaert and Jeroen Blijlevens fell in the mass tumble in which US Postal's Stephen Barthe broke his wrist and Irishman Ciaran Power suffered a concussion. In the first stage of the race, fellow Postal rider Dylan Casey crashed into a TV soundman, and broke his pelvis and collarbone. Casey's agent has said the rider may file suit against the TV station the soundman works

Festina's Spanish rider David Plaza won a sprint finish to take the third stage of the Tour of Romandie in Payerne, Switzerland on Friday. The 30-year-old Plaza completed the 25.5km time-trial course in 31:20, outsprinting Italy's Dario Frigo of the Fassa Bortolo team by 0.72. Third place finisher Andrei Teteriouk of Kazakhstan was 16 seconds back. Paris-Nice champion Frigo, 27, took the overall lead with a 21 second advantage on compatriot Paolo Savoldelli. Plaza is in third position, at :26. Copyright AFP 2001

Barthe is the second Postal rider to break bones at the Four Days of Dunkirk

CSC-World Online cyclist Bo Hamburger has been suspended after failing a drugs test last month in Belgium, his team boss Bjarne Riis said Thursday. Hamburger tested positive for a banned substance following a race in Belgium on April 19, Riis said. CSC-World Online is one of the teams that was given a wildcard into this year's Tour de France, and includes former world No. 1 Laurent Jalabert. Copyright AFP 2001

Czech rider Jan Svorada of the Lampre team won a sprint finish to take the third stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk cycling race in Landrecies, France. Svorada clocked a time of 4:35:10 to pip Italian Endrio Leoni of Alessio, and Slovenian Zoran Klemencic of Tacconi, to the post after the 189km run. Estonia's Jaan Kirsipuu of AG2R, winner of the first two stages, had difficulty throughout the stage and was overwhelmed some 100 meters from the line. He holds the overall leader's pink jersey ahead of Australians Baden Cooke (Mercury-Viatel) and Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole) at 13 and 14

Two days after being involved in a crash that left him with a broken pelvis and a broken clavicle, US Postal Service rider Dylan Casey is on his way back to America. Casey, who was originally taken to a hospital in Hazebrouck, France, will be transferred to Paris today via ambulance with a personal nurse attending to his injuries. From Paris, Casey will fly direct to San Francisco where he will be taken to the Stanford University Medical Center to be examined by specialists. The crash happened at the conclusion of the opening stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk. At the end of the 164.8km

Italian cyclist Michele Bartoli confirmed on Thursday that he would be taking part in July's Tour de France despite pulling out of the Giro d’Italia, which gets underway May 19. The 30-year-old leader of the Mapei team, who won the Het Volk Classic in March, pulled out of the Giro complaining that he was exhausted and did not want to run the risk of competing before the Tour de France. He also announced that he would be racing in the Tour of Germany from May 29 to June 4, the Tour of Switzerland from June 19-28 and the Italian road race championship on July 1. Copyright AFP 2001

Italy's Paolo Savoldelli won a sprint for the second stage of the Tour of Romandie in Vevey, Switzerland on Thursday. The Saeco rider, winner of the opening prologue, covered the 171.7km run between Tramelan and Vevey in 4:04:48 to come in ahead of Spaniard Manuel Beltran and Italian Dario Frigo, plus a pursuing peleton of eight riders. The Italian recaptured the overall leader's green jersey from Australian Bradley McGee, but has just a seven-second lead on second-placed compatriot Dario Frigo. "Everything is to play for in Friday's time-trail at Payerne. If the rider who has the green

Bartoli will be ready come July

Casey

Savodelli takes stage 2 in Switzerland

Italy's Fabrizio Guidi, of the Mercury-Viatel team, won the 165km first stage of Switzerland’s Tour of Romandie between Pfaffnau and Tramelan. The 29-year-old Guidi won in a sprint finish, just nipping Swiss riders Oscar Camenzind (Lampre-Daikin) and Niki Aebersold (Team Coast), then used the opportunity to take a swipe at Tour de France organizers who did not select his American team as a wild card entrant last week. "It was a political and not a sports decision," said Guidi. The Italian added that he hadn't thought Camenzind would be the main danger but quickly readjusted his target. "My

Estonia's Jaan Kirsipuu (AG2R) won his second successive stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk cycling event Wednesday to hold on to the leader's pink jersey. The 31-year-old, who held the Tour de France yellow jersey for several days in 1999, won in a sprint finish against Australia's Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole) and Mercury-Viatel's Dutch rider Jans Koerts. The day’s stage was a 192.2km run between Roost Warendin and Haines-Les-La-Bassee in France. Copyright AFP 2001

The stage 1 winner.

On the road in Switzerland.

AG2R’s Jaan Kirsipuu captured the leader’s pink jersey after winning a sprint for the first stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk on Tuesday. The Estonian rider covered the 164.8km between the northern French towns of Dunkirk and Steenvoorde in 3 hours, 46 minutes, pipping Australia's Baden Cooke (Mercury-Viatel) and French champion Christophe Capelle of BigMat-Auber. Meanwhile, American Dylan Casey (US Postal) crashed just after crossing the line when he collided with a sound engineer from a French television station. According to early medical reports Casey suffered a fractured pelvis and

Defending champion Paolo Savoldelli of Italy won the opening 6.9km prologue of the six-day Tour of Romandie in Pfaffnau, Switzerland, on Tuesday. The 28-year-old Saeco rider was clocked in 9:00.63 between the towns of St. Urban and Pfaffnau to lead compatriot Dario Frigo by 0.83 and Australia's Bradley McGee by 1.15. "I didn't think I had the right rhythm. The first 4km uphill really broke my legs," said Savoldelli, who won last year's prologue here, but does not feel in top form this time around. "I didn't take part this year in the Tour of the Basque Country, which is a really hard race

Savoldelli on his way to the prologue win.

Savoldelli pulls on the leader's jersey.

The 2001 Tim Schoeny's Tour of the Gila ended on Sunday with the Gila Monster road races, an epic 100-mile test for the men and 66 miles for the women. The final stage gave the overall race winners one last chance to show who was strongest, as Scott Moninger (Mercury-Viatel) and Genevieve Jeanson (Rona) each added to their win totals en route to the overall, with Moninger taking his third and Jeanson her fourth stage win. Jeanson dominated the final day in the same way that she did every other road race stage, ending the day with a 5:56 advantage over Saturn's Kimberly Bruckner and 17

Jeanson

The Mercury men worked to protect Moninger's lead.

Jelly Belly’s Mariano Friedick earned a long-sought-after win on the fourth day of the Tour of the Gila after outsprinting three breakaway companions at the end of a 43-mile criterium Gila in Silver City, New Mexico on Saturday. In the women’s race, Saturn’s Ina Teutenberg crossed the line ahead of teammate Anna Millward as this season’s top women’s team enjoyed a win in a stage race dominated by the young Canadian phenom’ Genevieve Jeanson. Jeanson maintains a seven-minute lead in the overall standings, while Mercury’s Scott Moninger maintains a grip on the overall lead in the men’s

Gorazd Stangelj of the Liguigas team won the Tour of Tuscany in Italy Sunday. Stangelj came to the finish with Alexia’s Pascal Herve and beat the Frenchman in a sprint to win the 194km race with a time of 4:50:45. Spaniard Garcia Lastras (iBanesto.com) finished third, another 41 seconds back.

Union Cycliste International president Hein Verbruggen said Friday that Tour de France organizers have placed parochial interests ahead of the sport in their decision to issue wildcard invites to two Division II French teams and not to the teams of Italy's 1998 champion Marco Pantani and sprint ace Mario Cipollini. Verbruggen, in an interview with the Dutch news agency ANP, said that in the future different measures will be in place as to who was invited to the major Tours if they did not qualify automatically through the world rankings. "The Tour organizers placed chauvinistic and

For Saturn’s Eric Wohlberg and the rest of the men’s field chasing Scott Moninger at the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico, any hopes of overtaking Mercury’s race leader will most likely have to wait until Sunday’s finale. For the women, any slim hopes of catching race leader Genevieve Jeanson pretty much vanished after another solo victory by the Canadian teenager. Friday’s men’s race saw a south-of-the-border sweep, as a trio of Mexicans went 1-2-3 on the day. Jesus Zarate of the Tecos team took the win, outsprinting his breakaway partner Siddharta Camil of Corona. Mostly, though, it was a

On Friday, Mercury-Viatel’s team director at the Tour of the Gila spoke to VeloNews about the recent news of Viatel’s bankruptcy filing. Eddy Borysewicz, one of the men behind the Mercury-Viatel merger over the off-season, said that the news will not affect operations of the cycling team. "It’s only the U.S. division that filed [Chapter 11] for protection," he said. "The division in Euorpe, with its own network, is fine. So, we have money in the bank, everything is fine …. With the team, everything’s fine. And the European [division of Viatel] is very happy with the team." Borysewicz also

The men cruised through the forest

At least Jeanson was tired at the finish

Viatel Inc., the co-title sponsor of the Mercury-Viatel cycling team, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday. The New York-based telecommunications company, which specializes in European telecommunications networks, lost $1.57 billion last year. On Wednesday, the company fired 350 people, adding to the 700 people that were cut in February. In a statement issued Wednesday, Viatel claimed that the Chapter 11 filing will not have any effect on its business in Europe, conducted by separate European subsidiaries with enough liquidity to continue normal business operations. The bankruptcy

Tour de France race director Jean-Marie Leblanc ruled out any chance of reversing Wednesday’s decision not to invite Mercatone Uno and their team leader Marco Pantani, Italy’s1998 Tour champion, to this year’s race. Leblanc admitted the choice hadn't been easy, but in the end was unanimous among the electors. "However, we mustn't go back on the decision because that would be admitting we were wrong," LeBlanc said on Thursday. "Anyway, if we made an exception of Mercatone-Uno [Pantani's team] why not then Saeco [the team of ace sprinter Mario Cipollini]?" he added. Defending

On Thursday, the racers at New Mexico’s Tour of the Gila encountered their second test of the five-day stage race, and once again, Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson and Mercury’s Scott Moninger came out on top. Jeanson and Moninger each won their second consecutive stage, increasing their overall leads over chasers from Saturn. In the women’s race, Jeanson had already established a big lead with her day 1 time trial, which meant that the other teams would be on the offensive, trying to wear down the 19-year-old Canadian. Saturn took the initiative early, launching Lyne Bessette at the first bonus

Moninger opened things up on Thursday

The race leader, and her bike

Dream ride for Price

The Société du Tour de France on Wednesday surprised many by announcing the names of five wild-card teams that will be invited to compete in the 2001 Tour. The announcement brings the total number of participants to 189 riders, representing 21 teams. As expected, the Belgian Lotto-Adecco team topped a list that also includes Denmark’s CSC-World Online, the Basque country team of Euskaltel-Euskadi and two additional French teams, BigMat-Auber 93 and La Française des Jeux. Notably absent from the list are the Mercatone Uno team of 1998 Tour winner Marco Pantani, the Saeco squad of super

In selecting two more French teams and excluding Mercatone Uno and Mercury-Viatel, Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc has devalued this year’s 88th Tour. Wednesday morning in Paris, Leblanc announced five wild-card selections — not four as originally scheduled — to create a field of 21, nine-man teams that will contest the race, July 7-29. The “new” teams are BigMat-Auber 93 and La Française des Jeux of France; CSC-World Online of Denmark; Euskaltel-Euskadi of Spain; and Lotto-Adecco of Belgium. “To invite 21 teams is a circumstantial measure,” said Leblanc, in explaining that French

The Tour of the Gila stage race got underway in Silver City, New Mexico, with a 15.7-mile time trial contested under typical windy conditions. On day 1 of the five-day race, Mercury’s Scott Moninger and Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson jumped out to the early race leads. Moninger beat Saturn’s Eric Wohlberg by 36 seconds on the out-and-back course that featured a climb on the way out and the way back. 7UP-Colorado Cyclist’s Doug Ziewacz and Clark Sheehan took third and fourth, respectively. In all, the top eight consisted of three 7UPs, three Saturns and two Mercurys before Landis-Trek-VWs Scott

Jean-Marie Leblanc: Tour de France or Tour FOR France?

Pantani: Leblanc asks 'Is he still a cyclist?'

2001 signals a new kind of Tour

Five years after his brother Beat won here, Marcus Zberg (Rabobank) of Switzerland ended Telekom's two-year home monopoly to win the Frankfurt Grand Prix on Tuesday ahead of Italy's Davide Rebellin (Liquigas) and Kurt Van de Wouwer (Lotto-Adecco) of Belgium. Zberg and Rebellin made the decisive move 70km from the finish as they broke away from a group of ten riders, which included last year's winner Kai Hundertmarck (Telekom), while ascending Mammolshainer, a climb leading to the Taunus mountains. On the final approach a fresh looking Zberg beat off Rebellin while Van de Wouwer put

The Navigators came knockin’ all week long, but never quite got the door down at the Circuit des Mines in France, April 26-May 1. On the final stage, Tuesday’s stage 8 112.3km road race in Hayange, the American team’s Russian connection of Vassiliy Davidenko and Oleg Grishkine took second and third, respectively, behind Robert Sassone (Cofidis) of France. For Davidenko, it was his fourth podium finish of the race, to go along with second place on stage 2 and third place on stages 3 and 5. In the overall, Great Britain’s Chris Newton (British National) took the race lead after then-race leader

While America is asleep Wednesday morning, six French officials from the Société du Tour de France will be meeting in Paris for a couple of hours to select the final teams that will contest this year's Tour. By 11 a.m. local time, at the Maison du Nord-Pas de Calais in the 9th Arondissement, their director, Jean-Marie Leblanc, will address a news conference, announcing the four wild-card picks -- or will it be five? When Leblanc revealed the first 16 teams in January (see list below), he said that the number of starters at the 88th Tour de France would, as last year, be limited to 180 -- 20

The U.S. national team placed two riders in the top 10 of the Under-23 Tour of Flanders on Sunday, with Danny Pate finishing second and Josh Thornton taking sixth place. Pate finished second to Dutchman Roy Sentjens in the 174km race over many of the same roads and climbs as the professional Tour of Flanders World Cup. The U.S. team had a total of four finishers in the race, with Brice Jones in 29th place and Pat McCarty 44th. Last Wednesday, Pate took eighth place at the French race, La Cote Picarde. The U23’s will be in action again on Tuesday, at their version of Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Lance Armstrong climbed a notch in the UCI rankings, which were updated and posted on Monday. The defending Tour de France champion’s second place finish in Saturday’s Amstel Gold World Cup put Armstrong at No. 2, up from his previous ranking of No. 3. Dutch Rabobank rider Erik Dekker, who squeaked by Armstrong to win Amstel Gold, was the big mover, climbing five spots to No. 3. Fassa Bortolo’s Italian Francesco Casagrande kept his No. 1 tag, while two of his compatriots, Mario Cipollini and 1998 Tour de France winner Marco Pantani, wallow in 73rd and 179th respectively. Germany's

Nancy Brunner, a 45-year-old cyclist from Broomfield, Colorado, died Sunday morning from injuries sustained in an accident in a road race near Boulder, Colorado. According to police, Brunner lost control on a descent and crashed into a guardrail during the Carter Lake Road Race. She was attended to by paramedics immediately after the crash, but died from head and neck trauma. Andrew Rosen, chief referee of the Carter Lake race, told the Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper that it was the first death from an accident in a Colorado road race that he was aware of. Brunner, a member of the

The U.S. Postal Service has entered a three-year extension of its sponsorship of the American-based cycling team of Lance Armstrong. Tailwind Sports, the agency that owns and manages the U.S. Postal Service team, issued a release Monday stating that the Postal Service has extended its support through 2004. "We are honored and excited that this extension will enable us to continue to build an already successful program into a true dynasty in the sport," said Mark Gorski, the CEO of Tailwind Sports. "We are equally as proud of the marketing success of our program and what we have

Lance Armstrong’s bad luck run at the Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands continued Saturday with an ugly repeat of a narrow loss to a Rabobank rider. Two years ago, Armstrong lost by inches to Rabobank’s Michael Boogerd, heralding the Texan’s dramatic return to racing following his comeback from testicular cancer. In a repeat of a bad dream, Armstrong lost to Rabobank’s Erik Dekker this year as the pair charged into the finish in Maastricht clear of the chase group.

Belgian cycling was reeling on Saturday after the Belga news agency reported that Jose De Cauwer, the national coach for the professional team, was under investigation for supplying doping products. According to the report, police discovered syringes at his house and he is under investigation for breaking the law regarding the taking of growth hormones, a charge which De Cauwer denies. However, Laurent De Backer, president of the Belgian Cycling Federation, hinted that De Cauwer would be fired if the case was proved against him. "If it is proved he broke the law my organization will meet

It was closer to midnight than twilight when racing finally ended, but that didn’t stifle the celebration of the NetZero squad. The newly formed gray-and-red clad team picked up its second win in as many days when Graeme Miller rolled across the line first to win the Twilight Criterium on the streets of Athens, Georgia. A day earlier it was teammate Jamie Paolinetti getting the win at the First Charter Criterium three-and-a-half hours to the north in Shelby, North Carolina. In Athens, the 40-year-old Miller was part of an eight-rider break that slipped away from the field early in the

Dekker and Armstrong

Dekker takes the win

Dekker now has two World Cup wins in less than a year

The NetZero gang rejoices.

The after-dark scene in Athens.

Monahan, Miller and Klasna acknowledge the crowd.

Millward had reason to smile.

The women take on always-hairy Turn 1.

Jamie Paolinetti thanked all the right people after his win Friday at the First Charter Criterium in Shelby, North Carolina. His sponsors were great. His teammates did their jobs. And, oh yeah, the Saturn team helped out quite a bit too. See, for all but the first few laps, plus the one that counts the most -- the last one -- a Saturn rider was near the front pushing the pace. "Having Saturn up there forced Mercury and Prime Alliance to chase all day," said Paolinetti, who rides for NetZero. "There’s no question that helped at the end because they weren’t around." And at the end it was

When most people think of Holland, they think cheese, windmills and tulips. Maastricht is all that, plus some surprisingly tough hills, that, when packed in tight make for a formidable challenge for the 36th Amstel Gold Race on Saturday, the fifth leg of the 2001 World Cup. While the hills, or beklimmingen in Dutch, at only a few hundred meters each hardly rival the giants of racing lore, 29 climbs over the 254km (152-mile) course at breakneck World Cup speed can prove punishing. In the tradition of the spring classics, weather forecasts call for a cold, blustery day with a chance

At the16th running of the Tucson Bicycle Classic, Canadian Olympian Genevieve Jeanson again showed the form that has made her a dominant force in 2001. Jeanson (RONA) easily won all three stages, plus the overall, at the race run April 6-8. Her time of 5:11.41 in the stage 1 time trail bested the previous record by 10 seconds, her nearest rival by 36 seconds, and would have been good enough for second place in the Pro-1/2 men’s field. "I felt good," Jeanson said. "The changes in rhythm were hard, the climb was not steady, but I went as hard as I could. I liked the course." Stage 2 was

There aren’t a many Americans who can claim to have beaten Olympic gold medalist Marty Nothstein at his own game. These days, there are just two American sprinters who have done so on an American track and, as luck would have it, both were at San Jose’s Hellyer Velodrome April 21, for round 2 of the American Velodrome Challenge when Nothstein made his first U.S. track appearance for Mercury. And, as luck and ability would have it, one of the two pulled it off again. Nothstein is something of the 800-pound gorilla of American track. Even when he’s not present, people keep him in mind and

Preview: Amstel Gold concludes spring classics

The top three, plus the world's most famous tire man.

Paolinetti exults.

Carney explains what happened to his leg.