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Longo took charge of the winning break

Jean Delatour rider Laurent Roux won the second stage of the Dauphiné Libéré in France Tuesday. Roux outsprinted Axel Merckx of the Domo-Farm Frites team to win the 170km race between Bron and Firminy. Roux takes over the overall lead, with a pad of seven seconds over Merckx. Swede Glen Magnusson, also a Domo-Farm Frites rider, is third overall, at 1:31. American Bobby Julich (Credit Agricole) finished 22nd Monday and sits 33rd overall, 1:58 off Roux’s time.

In a three-sentence press release, LeMond Cycling announced that it has ended its contract with John Wordin Sports and the Mercury cycling team. Even when announcing the split, there were details that the two parties didn't agree on. The press release carried a June 12 date, but according to LeMond's manager, Warren Gibson, the termination was effective June 5. "Greg wanted the guys to get through the national championships," before the contact news was announced, Warren said. According to Wordin, the termination date is today, June 12, and said his office would distribute a

Roux took the yellow jersey in Firminy.

Danish rider Bo Hamburger, silver medalist at the 1997 road world’s, said Monday that he intends to take the UCI to court in a bid to clear his name after it was confirmed he failed a dope test. Hamburger looks set for a long suspension after his B sample Monday confirmed he had failed a dope test for EPO in Belgium on April 19. The 31-year-old had already been suspended by his Danish team CSC-Tiscalis on May 10 when it was revealed he had failed the test. But the classics and one-day specialist said he is "very surprised" at the test result. "I didn't expect the result of the B test

Fabian De Waele of the Lotto-Adecco team won the 227km first stage of the Dauphiné Libéré in Bron, France, on Monday. Prologue winner Didier Rous, a member of the Festina team ejected from the 1998 Tour de France for doping, retained the overall leader's jersey after winning Sunday's prologue. Rous now rides for the French Bonjour team. De Waele, a 26-year-old Belgian, won the stage in a sprint, holding off the challenges of Damien Nazon (Francaise des Jeux) and veteran Christophe Agnolutto (AG2R), who had tried to make a break for it on the final approach.

3:02 p.m. With half a mile to go Fred Rodriguez broke away from the lead group and held on to win the 17th USPRO Championship. Rodriguez finished the 156-mile race. Second place went to Saturn’s Trent Klasna. George Hincapie came across third, after winning a sprint with Fabrizio Guidi. Check back soon for full reports on both the men's and women's races. 2:54 The gap between the six leaders and the field has now grown back up to 22 seconds with just three miles to go. 2:51 The gap between the group of six and the field has been whittled to 15 seconds. Mercury’s Henk Vogels, who launched

12:42 p.m. German Petra Rossner has done it again. Saturn's German sprint power won the Liberty Classic in Philadelphia for the fifth straight time. Rossner's finishing time was 3:01:47. The good news for Saturn continued as Australian Anna Millward finished second to retain her overall World Cup lead. Dutch rider Debbie Mansfeld was third, followed by Canadian Sandy Espeseth (Intersports) and Mirjam Melchers (Acca Due-O). Stay tuned for a complete report on the race. 12:03 p.m. The sun has broken through the clouds, the temperature is 80 degrees, and the women's field went over the

The banned substance found in the personal belongings of sacked Italian rider Dario Frigo is used to regulate blood, according to the Italian press Sunday. Frigo was banned from all further participation in the Tour of Italy and sacked by his Fassa Bartolo team on Friday two days before the end of the three-week race when he was in the runners-up spot behind ultimate winner Gilberto Simoni. The name of the substance is Emassist, "a synthetic haemoglobin modifier, created by a genetic genius", according to the medical explanation for the drug on Sunday by Pierluigi Fiorella, a heart

Mario Cipollini won a sprint spread across the full width of the road to take the final stage and his fourth win of the 2001 Giro d’Italia and the 34th of his career. Once again, Danilo Hondo was right alongside him but lacked that little bit of extra speed and forcefulness. And eight years after he won the amateur Giro d’Italia, Gilberto Simoni has won the professional Giro by 7:31 over Abraham Olano, the largest margin since 1973, when Eddy Merckx beat Johan De Muynck by 7:42. Stage 21 traversed a flat, straight trajectory from Arona along Lago Maggiore and southeast to Milano, where 10

At the opening World Cup downhill of the 2001 season at Maribor, Slovenia, GT’s Steve Peat finally beat France’s Nicolas Vouilloz on this high-speed course, while Anne-Caroline Chausson (Volvo-Cannondale) did what she usually does — win. Vouilloz won at Maribor the first two years races had been held here, but Peat was fast enough to edge Vouilloz to win the year’s season opener. "I had a clean run; you have to, to beat Nico," said Peat, who won in 2 minutes, 54.30 seconds. Vouilloz was just 0.44 seconds slower. "I knew I had to go fast. I was clean through most of the run, just made one

Frenchman Didier Rous of the Bonjour team won the 4km prologue at the rain-soaked curtain raiser to the 53rd edition of the Dauphine Libere cycle race in Morzine, France, on Sunday. Rous, France's No. 1 rider this season who won the Four Days of Dunkirk race and the Climbers Trophy, finished a second faster than Australian Bradley McGee. Britain's David Millar, who won the Tour de France prologue last year in his first appearance in the world's greatest cycling race, came in third, 3 seconds adrift of Rous. Copyright AFP 2001

While the NBA Finals fever generated by the Sixers-Lakers series has swept over Philadelphia, a couple hundred thousand boisterous spectators used the First Union USPRO Championships as the perfect tailgate party. The fans were out in force, and they were treated to a spectacular show. In the finale, defending USPRO champion (and runner-up last year to winner Henk Vogels) Fred Rodriguez (Domo-Farm Frites) beat out Saturn’s Trent Klasna and U.S. Postal’s George Hincapie in an all-American, 1-2-3 finish. Rodriguez slipped away in the final 500 meters to became the first American winner since

It’s seems like it’s become one of those inevitable things in cycling, just like Domo (and before them Mapei) winning Paris-Roubaix, the Belgians dominating cyclo-cross and Mario Cipollini winning Giro stages. Petra Rossner will win the First Union Liberty Classic World Cup. If it’s the beginning of June and there are women racing in Philadelphia, you might as well just write Rossner’s name down in the win column. The crew-cut Saturn rider made it four in a row – and five overall - in Philadelphia, winning the inevitable field sprint while towing teammate Anna Millward into second place, to

After coming close twice, Peat finally won at Maribor.

Chausson made 2-for-2 on the weekend.

Decked out in pink, Simoni takes the Giro.

Rodriguez

Rodriguez was all alone at the finish

Hincapie, Rodriguez, Klasna

Friday's firing of Italian rider Dario Frigo by his Fassa Bortolo team after he admitted ownership of illegal drugs found in his possession during police raids Wednesday night is just the latest doping-related scandal to rock Italian sport this year. On Saturday it was reported that five riders of the Italian Liquigas team are under judicial investigation for doping-related matters after the police blitz on hotel rooms used by riders at the Giro d'Italia. Another Italian cyclist Ivan Gotti, twice a Giro winner, is also reportedly being probed. It is only recently that the Italian

I had not realized how much I had wanted to believe in Dario Frigo until the news came of his departure from the race. For weeks, I had been attending daily press conferences with him – every day that he was in the pink jersey and after his time trial stage win. I had started mulling over in my mind what I would be writing about him on Sunday night or Monday to wrap up the Giro in VeloNews. I would have been writing, whether he had managed to take back the jersey on the (cancelled) stage 18 or stage 20 or not, about what a breath of fresh air he had been. This young man’s appeal was

Spaniard Iban Mayo of the Euskaltel team eased over the finish line to win the 11th edition of the Alps Classic, a 175 km run between Aix-les-Bains and Chambery, France on Saturday. The 23-year-old Mayo, who recently collected his first major race win when victorious in the Grand Prix Midi-Libre last month, held off American double Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong to finish first. Armstrong beat Russian Pavel Tonkov in a sprint finish to come second, with Tonkov third. Mayo, who comes from the Basque country, launched a solitary attack in trying weather conditions and held off the

With Dario Frigo fired for doping, there was nobody else to worry about, and Gilberto Simoni could throw caution to the wind and make an audacious 49km solo to get the stage win he felt had been missing from his Giro victory. After this rainy, 181km stage amid dampened spirits, Simoni now leads second-placed Abraham Olano by 7:31. The riders ascended twice the first-category Mottarone climb rising above the western shore of Lago Maggiore. The first time up, Matthias Kessler broke away, and Danilo Di Luca caught and dropped him. Giuliano Figueras (Panaria) and Marzio Bruseghin (iBanesto.com)

Ina Teutenberg won the New York City Women's Challenge on Saturday. The race in New York is considered a warm-up event for Sunday’s First Union Liberty Classic, the sixth stop on the Women's World Cup Tour. Teutenberg got the win by taking the final sprint out of a five-woman break. The small group contained Teutenberg her Saturn teammate Kim Davidge, plus Jenny Eyerman (Jane's Cosmetics), and Intersports teammates Elizabeth Emery’ and Erin Carter. That group escaped half way through the race after a solo break by Saturn’s Anke Erlank was absorbed. In the final sprint, it was Teutenberg

Defending World Cup dual champions Brian Lopes and Anne-Caroline Chausson picked up where they left off last year, winning the opening round races of the 2001 season in Maribor, Slovenia. More than 10,000 fans lined the course under the lights in Maribor to cheer on racers in the World Cup season opener for dual downhill. Lopes didn’t put down his customary fastest time in the qualifier, so the Californian had tougher than usual competition, including a hard crash with Mickael Deldycke in the semis, to reach the finals against former Volvo-Cannondale teammate Cedric Gracia. Gracia crashed

George Hincapie, teammate of two-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, has signed a contract extension with the U.S. Postal team through the end of the 2004 season, it was announced Saturday. "George has been our team's leader for the World Cup and classic races for the past two years and this year he proved that he can win a big classic race," said the U.S. Postal team's director, Johan Bruyneel, in a statement. "His physical potential is still improving and he can count on all the support of the team in his attempt to win what we consider his race, Paris-Roubaix." The

Simoni on his winning solo effort.

The tifosi happy see the Giro on the move.

Savoldelli on the attack.

Chausson gets another World Cup win.

Flyin' Brian gets it done again.

Cyclists in the Giro d'Italia Friday arrived in Alba for the start of the 19th stage Friday, moving to put behind them the events that had led to the cancellation of Thursday's 18th stage. The riders arrived for the start just before at 1:00p.m. for the 163km run from Alba to Busto Arsizio with only Italian Marco Pantani, of the Mercatone Uno team, and Belgian Rik Verbrugghe of the Lotto outfit absent. Both had already indicated they would withdraw for health reasons in decisions that had nothing to do with the events that had briefly put the entire Giro in danger on Wednesday and

The Giro is continuing as scheduled today, although the atmosphere is almost surreal. At the start, it was if nothing had happened, yet everything had. There were crowds there as usual, the sign-in happened as usual, and riders hung out in the tent city next to the sign-in booth... all just as usual. What was different was the subject of every conversation going on, whether it was among the riders in the start village or among people in the cafés. Nobody was talking about whether Simoni would win the Giro or who would win this stage. Everyone was talking about the drug scandal. Even

After a gut-wrenching break from it, the riders got back to business today, and if anything is business as usual at the Giro, it is Mario Cipollini crossing the line with his arms upraised after a beautifully executed sprint. Marco Zanotti and Danilo Hondo followed the Lion King in after the 163km stage to Busto Arsizio. Marco Pantani had gone home the night before complaining of the flu, and Rik Verbrugghe also did not show up at sign-in. Otherwise, the setting was normal, but at the start in Alba the subject of every conversation among riders, fans, journalists and officials was the same,

The main contenders have two races under their belts at First Union Week and now turn their attention to the main event, the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia on Sunday. The two U.S. Division I teams, U.S. Postal Service and Mercury-Viatel, have each taken one win so far this week, and will again be two of the major players in Philadelphia. Of the two opening races, the First Union Invitational in Lancaster is the better indicator of who’s on form, and there were no big surprises. Leon Van Bon and Baden Cooke (Mercury-Viatel), George Hincapie (U.S. Postal Service), Trent Klasna (Saturn) and

Cycling's latest drug scandal widened late Friday as Fassa Bortolo's Dario Frigo was fired by his team and forced to withdraw from the Giro d'Italia on the heels of new drug allegations. Frigo, who was in second place in the Giro's overall standings, was released by his squad after admitting to team officials that Italian authorities had discovered performance-enhancing drugs in his room during the police sweep conducted in San Remo Wednesday night. In a telephone news conference Friday, Fassa Bortolo team manager Giancarlo Ferretti confirmed that Frigo had admitted to him that authorities

Cipo does it again.

Despite an assist from Ullrich, Hondo finished third.

Olano remained in third in the overall.

Giro: Frigo out

Well it was supposed to be a dramatic day at the Giro d'Italia... it's just that we expected the drama to involve bikes, mountains and athletes instead of police, drugs and lawyers. Stage 18, slated to be the most difficult of the 2001 Giro, has been cancled after police staged a series of raids on team hotels in San Remo last night. But according to reports from teams now arriving at what was supposed to be the finish of today's stage in Anna di Vinadio, the Giro will resume tomorrow, picking up with stage 19's 184km ride from Alba to Busta Arsizio. According to sources close to the

Here in Vinadio, where the most difficult and perhaps most beautiful stage of the Giro was to finish, the mood is somber. The little girls proudly dressed in their bright course marshal’s vests are walking around perplexed, not understanding the explanation of why the riders won’t be coming through and everyone is leaving. People are descending from the mountain in droves – the sheer number of them that had made the trip up this remote, high and narrow road is mind-boggling – and without getting to see any of what they came for. It was heart-wrenching to see the effort that this small

Cyclists and support staff in the Giro d'Italia finally set off for Alba late Thursday to prepare for Friday's 19th stage after a day of arguments and recriminations following raids by anti-drugs police on Wednesday. The searches had kept many riders up until the early hours of the morning, leading to the cancellation of Thursday's 18th stage which had promised to be one of the key stages in the race. For a while on Thursday it looked as though the riders might boycott the rest of the Giro. World governing body the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), in a statement issued in Lausanne,

Dinner started normally enough for me and my family in the San Remo Panrama Hotel. Across the dining room sat the iBanesto.com team, eating huge dinners of pasta, tortillas and steaks. The waiter asked the riders to sign a team photo for his daughter. After obliging, the riders slowly filtered off to bed before the toughest stage of the Giro. The team managers, soigneurs and drivers continued to relax around the dinner table, having dessert and talking, when a guy in normal street clothes came in. My wife poked me and said, "That guy is flashing his police badge at those Banesto guys." Other

Yes, the First Union Invitational in Trenton, New Jersey, came down to a field sprint once again this year, but it was a long early breakaway that played a major role in shaping the outcome at the finish. After the Mercury team spent most of the day chasing after five escapees, U.S. Postal took advantage, launching New Zealander Julian Dean to the win on a warm Thursday evening in New Jersey’s state capital. It was a big win for Dean, who battled knee problems for most of last season, and hadn’t won a race in more than a year. "That’s the thing that means the most," said Dean. "It’s my first

Mario Cipollini and Hein Verbruggen discuss the future of the 2001 Giro.

All dressed up and no race to marshal.

Nobody will be at today's stage-winner press conference

Well, we're here. Let's party anyway.

People went to a lot of trouble all over Vinadio to welcome the Giro.

Bike race? What bike race?

There isn't much to promote or sell here today.

UCI president Hein Verbruggen confers in San Remo.

Dean gets a congratulatory hug.

Hincapie and Rodriguez.

Piziks, Dean and Koerts.

Van Bon on the move.

George and his dad.

5:41 Caucchioli wins his second stage of this Giro d'Italia. Azevado takes second and Telekom's Jan Ullrich leads the chase group by taking third, 27 seconds later. There will be no change in the overall standings, as both race leader Gilberto Simoni (Lampre) and his nearest challenger, Dario Frigo (Fassa Bortolo) finished in the main group at 39 seconds. Stay tuned for a complete race report, coming up. 5:40p.m. Nearing the finish, the two are being chased by a trio including Jan Ullrich. 5:39 p.m. The two leaders are in San Remo and heading to the finish. While Azevado has been

Riccardo Forconi, a member of Marco Pantani's Mercatone Uno outfit, has been pulled from the Giro d’Italia after he failed a dope test, a source close to the Italian team revealed Wednesday. Forconi was withdrawn by his team before the start of the 17th stage in San Remo. Forconi becomes the second rider to fail the new French-pioneered test for banned substance EPO after Alexia rider Pascal Herve, a Frenchman, was revealed to have tested positive Tuesday. He too was withdrawn by his team. Both men were tested on the day of the prologue at Pescara on May 19. Forconi was ejected from

Pietro Caucchioli (Alessio) earned his second stage win of this Giro d'Italia on Wednesday. Caucchioli, previously thought to be a slow finisher, has joined sprinters Ivan Quaranta, Danilo Hondo and Mario Cipollini with two Giro stage victories apiece by outsprinting fellow breakaway José Azevedo (ONCE) in the Circuit of Flowers. Jan Ullrich, healthier after a day of rest, nabbed his second third place of the Giro, outsprinting Gianni Faresin (Liquigas), who was 27 seconds back. Ullrich’s teammate, Matthias Kessler, was dropped in the sprint for third and finished nine seconds behind Faresin

Colombian cyclist Gustavo Wilches was found to have swallowed 40 capsules of heroin when stopped by customs officials at Bogota's Eldorado airport on Wednesday. The 39-year-old 1990 Tour of Colombia champion cracked under questioning and told police he had swallowed the drugs before attempting to board a flight to Mexico, he was then rushed to hospital for a stomach-pump. Wilches was a top Colombian Tour de France rider in the 1980s. Copyright AFP 2001

The Commercial Color U.S. Women's Open will take place June 8 in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. The event will attract professional women riders from all over the world, and will also kick off the Women's Health and Fitness Weekend at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome, which will pay tribute to Nicole Reinhart, who died last September after a crash during a race in Arlington, Massachusetts. Friday night the "Spirit of Nicole" award, $3000 in scholarship money and prizes, will be presented to the rider who exudes the qualities which Reinhart exemplified during her everyday life and through her

Teams participating in the Giro d'Italia and staying in hotels outside the town of San Remo were subjected to stringent searches by Italian drug squad officers (NAS) Wednesday night. Over 200 officers, reinforced by officers from several large Italian cities, were mobilized in the operation, which involved a number of teams in numerous hotels in and around San Remo. In a hotel on the outskirts of San Remo NAS officers searched the hotels being used by the Mobilvetta and Selle Italia teams. Around 20 officers arrived and began searching all rooms occupied by team riders and team

First Union week continues on Thursday evening with the fastest of the three races, the 91-mile First Union Classic in Trenton, New Jersey. The flat, fast, 7-mile circuit seems to ensure a field sprint finish year after year, while the high speeds string out the peloton for most of the three-hour race, making positioning crucial throughout the race. Defending champion Fred Rodriguez (Domo-Farm Frites) will be on hand to try to defend his title, but a loaded Mercury-Viatel team, fresh off its Lancaster win, will be tough to beat. The race begins on State Street in Trenton, in front of the New

Caucchioli on his way to the win.

Simoni retains the pink jersey.

Up they go.

Ullrich ended up third.

The most prestigious week of road cycling in the United States kicks off Tuesday afternoon with the First Union Invitational in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia. The 91-mile race takes place on a demanding 7-mile circuit through the streets of Lancaster and through Rockford Park along the Conestoga River. The challenging and technical circuit features rolling hills and several short, sharp climbs, giving it the reputation as a tough-man’s course, ideally suited for last year’s winner and 2001’s hottest rider, Trent Klasna of Saturn. Klasna and Saturn will have their hands full

French veteran rider Pascal Herve has been pulled out of the Giro d'Italia by his team after he tested positive for a controlled substance on Tuesday, Alexia team officials announced. "Herve has been pulled out while we wait for a second analysis to show that he knows nothing about this whole affair," his team announced. The 37-year-old Herve, a former Festina rider, is no stranger to doping. He was suspended at the start of this year after he finally admitted during last October's Festina court trial that he had systematically taken EPO while a member of Festina. Herve was thought

Former Giro winner and mountains specialist Marco Pantani on Tuesday blamed flu for his lack of progress in the mountains stages of the Giro d'Italia where he has unceremoniously dropped out podium contention. Pantani also opened his heart on his team's exclusion from this year's Tour de France, saying he would love to return to the showpiece event of international cycling next year, but he first explained why this year he failed to come into his own in the Italian mountains where he dropped to 17th place overall. "I had flu," the 1998 Giro d'Italia and Tour de France winner

Mercury-Viatel fired the opening salvo at the First Union Cycling Series, with Leon Van Bon taking the win at the 91-mile First Union Invitational in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. With two men in a five-man break, Mercury faked out its competition, launching Van Bon to the win with less than a half mile to go through the streets of downtown Lancaster. The Dutch champion soloed across the line, three seconds ahead of breakaway companions George Hincapie (U.S. Postal Service), Trent Klasna (Saturn), Jakob Piil (CSC-World Online) and Baden Cooke (Mercury-Viatel). The five leaders escaped on the 12th

Pantani

Hincapie, Van Bon and Klasna

Moninger took off early.

Hincapie figured Mercury was setting up Cooke.

Even in a good old-fashioned American downtown criterium, Mercury-Viatel’s strengthened European line-up was clearly evident on Sunday. Mercury’s Dutch champion Leon Van Bon sprinted to victory in the second edition of the U.S. Postal Service Capital Cup in Washington D.C. Van Bon was followed closely by fellow Mercury Dutchman Jans Koerts and U.S. Postal’s Kiwi sprinter Julian Dean. The Capital Cup field included strong lineups from all of the U.S. professional mainstays. Postal, Mercury and Saturn, as well as Navigators and 7UP-Colorado Cyclist all have their Philadelphia men racing

Team Mercury-Viatel’s Jans Koerts battled swirling winds and a blistering pace to win the mass field sprint at Sunday’s Clarendon Cup criterium in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Koerts’s teammate Gord Fraser finished second, nudging out Vassiliy Davidenko of the well-organized Navigators team. A group of five broke off the front 12km into the race, but that group was caught almost immediately. Next to try an escape was local D.C. rider Russ Langley (National Capital Velo Club), who fired up the crowd with a solo break. For nearly nine laps around