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You couldn’t ask for a more exciting start to the men’s World Cup cross-country season. Spectators at the Domaine Chandon winery in Yountville, California, were treated to a thrilling opener Sunday that featured seesaw battles for the lead, a touch of weather drama and a first-time winner in Spanish sensation Jose Antonio Hermida. The 22-year-old Hermida, riding for Bianchi Motorex, experienced a career high last year in Spain when he won the world title in the under-23 category. But even that, said an emotional Hermida after completing the 25.2-mile course in 2:02:06, doesn’t compare to

Blatter's sensational climbing ability won her another race.

Say who? Hermida, Bui and Hanisch lead at Napa.

An estimated crowd of 30,000 fans lined the streets of the entertainment district in Austin, Texas, to watch the Navigator’s Cycling Team take control with 10 minutes to go and never look back at the opening event of the BMC Software Cycling Grand Prix, the Lance Armstrong Criterium. Russian rider Vassili Davidenko was on the receiving end of a near perfect leadout from the Navigators Squad. Mercury-Viatel rider Baden Cooke took second, while Charles Dionne rounded out the podium spots. Several breaks managed to escape with only the final break attempt gaining significant time. With 20

A cold rain fell on the cobbled streets of Brugge on Saturday, possibly a sign of things to come for Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, which traverses the famed cobblestone climbs of northern Belgian. The 269km World Cup classic includes 16 sharp hills, almost half of them on steep, narrow pitches of cobblestone roads through the countryside of Flanders. If conditions are wet, the slick, treacherous climbs become even more of a challenge as the race favorites slug it out. Wet or dry, there will be plenty of contenders to choose from, including the past five Tour of Flanders winners — Andrei Tchmil

According to a report in the Sunday edition of the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich thinks the end of his career may be in sight. Ullrich says he believes he is not up to the challenge of competing at the top level "as long as other riders." "I think I already took my body to the limit of physical extremes when I was 22 and 23," the Telekom rider said. "But I can't keep that (kind of effort) up as long as other riders. This year I'm going to try to beat Lance Armstrong in the Tour. But maybe near the end of my career I'll no longer

Everyone knows that in World Cup cross-country racing, nothing is more important than the start. On Saturday, for the first time since 1993, a time trial was held to determine starting positions for the Tissot-UCI World Cup opener, scheduled for Sunday at Domaine Chandon winery near Napa, California. There were winners and there were losers, and at the end of the day Italian Marco Bui and Canadian Chrissy Redden had earned the pole positions. Bui, riding for AS Marin-Helly Hansen, is best known for being the rider who collided with Cadel Evans before the final descent at the 1999 world

Former winners head list of favorites for Flanders

Canada's Chrissy Redden rode the Gary Fisher Sugar to a TT win.

Marco Bui slipped on the new Tissot-UCI World Cup yellow leader's jersey.

Italian rider Andrea Tafi will take part in this Sunday's Tour of Flanders, the second event in the World Cup season, alongside Mapei teammates Michele Bartoli and Paolo Bettini. The 34-year-old Tafi, who had been doubtful for the race due to intestinal problems, was finally declared good to go by his Mapei team Friday. The Tuscany rider, who already has four World Cup victories to his name, pulled out of this week's Trois jours de Panne last Tuesday. Copyright AFP 2001

One of the staples of the summer racing season is no more. The Killington Stage Race, which was first run in 1987, has been cancelled due to financial problems. "It was just costing to much to do the race," said Tom Vinson, USA Cycling’s North Atlantic regional coordinator, who added that he was informed of the news by race organizers on Thursday. "I didn’t know it was coming, but it wasn’t a surprise either. It’s been a financial battle every year." The race, which was held over Labor Day weekend, made its debut 14 years ago as a two-day event. In its heyday it ballooned to a four-day,

Following the bankruptcy of its European division, the owners of the Schwinn/GT Corporation announced plans to sell the company, retaining Credit Suisse First Boston as an advisor in discussions with several potential buyers of both the cycling and fitness businesses. Last month, Schwinn/GT's European division ceased operation and went into receivership, leaving several retailers and suppliers uncertain as to the entire company's future. In particular, the European difficulties put into doubt the firm's relationship with bike suppliers in Taiwan. Schwinn has faced financial

José "Chepe" Gonzalez has been fired by his team, Selle-Italia-Pacific, after Italian authorities charged him with doping offenses, his team announced Friday. The 32-year-old Colombian, a mountains specialist, was found in possession of a range of doping products at his team hotel last week. Team officials also fired Colombian doctor Nino Alberto Beltran, who was also found with a number of illegal growth hormones and anabolic steroids when police carried out a routine search of his car on March 23. Following the discovery in Beltran's car, police, acting on a recently-passed law making

If the spring storm parked over the San Francisco Bay area doesn’t move out soon, it could be a gloomy start, weather-wise, to the 2001 Tissot-UCI World Cup series, which kicks off in Napa, California, this weekend. The amateur riders will slog it out in the rain on Friday, before the pro action — featuring all but one of the six medallists from the 2000 Olympic Games — starts Saturday. A little rain — or in this case, a lot — won’t put much of a damper on an event held at the most elegant of World Cup venues, the Domaine Chandon winery. This year marks the fifth year that the series will

Cofidis’s Nico Mattan won the closing time trial at the Three Days of De Panne to overtake Lotto’s Hans de Clercq for the overall title in the three-day race in the western part of Belgium. Mattan jumped from ninth place to first on the strength of his time trial. The Belgian covered the 14km time trial course in 17:41, four seconds faster than runner-up Levi Leipheimer (U.S. Postal Service) and six seconds faster than third place Erik Dekker (Rabobank). In the overall standings, Mattan finished ahead of Dekker and Postal’s Viatcheslav Ekimov. Ekimov led a trio of Postals in the top five,

Tour de France organizers unveiled their version of cycling's Ten Commandments in Paris Thursday — a plan of action aimed at stamping out doping in the peloton this year and setting a precedent for the future. The 10-point plan, costing over 10 million francs ($1.4 million) over the next three years, focuses on banning riders who are caught doping from the start of the race, maintaining vigilance throughout the three-week event, and promoting "clean" sports practices in the future. The measures are aimed at assuring the skeptical, and preventing a fiasco similar to that which nearly

Gabriela Gonzalez de Ferrat, a 28-year-old native of Mexico who now lives near San Diego, will don the colors of Team RONA and join Geneviève Jeanson and Manon Jutras in the three-day Tucson Bicycle Classic this weekend. At the Mexican national championships in 2000, Ferrat was second in the time trial and fourth in the road race. As a member of the national team, she wore her country’s colors at the 1999 world championships in Verona, Italy. This year Ferrat was 39th overall at the Redlands Bicycle Classic. At the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California, she was 18th out of 68

The HP Women's Challenge cycling race will return to network television when CBS Sports broadcasts the 2001 race on Saturday, July 14. The one-hour telecast will highlight all 13 stages of the 12-day race, including the grueling mountain climbs. Organized by Women's Challenge, Inc. and sponsored by Hewlett-Packard Company through 2002, the event is one of the world's toughest races both for the caliber of competitors and the demanding nature of the courses. The 2001 race will be run from June 13-24 and will cover over 688 miles of tough Idaho terrain. The 2001 HP Women's

The Italian city of Verona on Tuesday officially launched its bid to stage the 2004 world road championships, ANSA news agency reported. Former cyclist Francesco Moser and bid committee co-presidents Teofilo Sanson and Giovanni Rana handed over the formal application documents to Dominique Raymond and Agostino Omini of the UCI. Sanson, president of the 1999 World Championships organizing committee, said: "No-one can beat the splendor of Verona and its lake (Lake Garda)." Verona faces competition from both home and abroad. Three other Italian cities, Cuneo, Imola and Caneva are all in the

Three cyclists with the Italian-Colombian cycling team Selle Italia have been placed under formal investigation by Modena magistrates after doping products were discovered in the team's car, judicial sources said Tuesday. The riders are José Gonzalez, Freddy Gonzalez, and Ruber Marin. Team manager Gianni Savio, sporting directors Fabio Becherini and Enzo Erluison, and team doctor Nino Alberto Beltran, who was driving the car, have also been charged. On March 22 the car was stopped for a routine police check but the officers found chemical products including anabolic steroids, corticoids

Former U.S. Junior national team coach René Wenzel has formally denied charges that he doped his riders 11 years ago in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado, in response to a lawsuit filed against him by Greg Strock, a one-time member of the team. Wenzel is also seeking damages from Strock and a U.S. Olympic Committee official for public statements they made in connection with the case. In a lawsuit filed late last year against Wenzel and USA Cycling, Strock outlined a series of charges, including allegations that Wenzel and another coach had on several occasions in 1990 injected

Continuing their tour of the Golden State, Specialized teammates Barbara Blatter and Bas Van Dooren dominated the 13th Annual Sizzler Mountain Bike Classic, April 1, in San Jose, California. After finishing second in the overall at Sea Otter in Monterey a week earlier, Blatter dominated the Sizzler, winning by 3:05. "It was like a fast training session," said Blatter, who is now getting ready for the World Cup opener this weekend at Napa. "I had a flat tire, but it was good practice. My coach said I shouldn’t go 100 percent." Mary McConneloug was second, while Willow Koerber (Cane Creek)

Wenzel says Strock's illness wasn't serious enough to end career.

The American Velodrome Challenge kicked off the season this past weekend in San Diego. Throughout the year riders will compete for ranking points that will assist USA Cycling coaches in determining future U.S. national cycling teams and athletes for upcoming international races. In addition to the San Diego stop, the American Velodrome Challenge will travel to eight other velodromes. For more information on the series check out www.americantrackracing.com Here’s the rest of the year’s schedule: April 19-April 20: San Jose, California;May 4-May 5: Frisco, Texas;June 1-June 2: Houston,

The boys from Mercury-Viatel finally broke through, as Chris Horner barely edged out Saturn’s Eric Wohlberg to win the overall title at the Solano Bicycle Classic. On the women’s side it was Intersport’s Ann Samplonious winning the GC crown ahead of Susy Pryde (AutoTrader.com) and Katrina Berger (800.com). Horner earned his victory during the race’s third stage, the 90-minute GeniSoy Criterium, where he picked up a crucial intermediate time bonus. That gave him a scant 2-second lead over Wohlberg going into the race’s final day, and with the help of some hard working teammates, Horner was

Belgian Rik Verbrugghe won the third and final stage of the Criterium International stage race in France on Sunday. Verbrugghe covered the 8.5km time trial from Charleville to Mézières with a time of 10:19, one second faster than German Jens Voigt (Credit Agricole), who was second. Riding for the Lotto-Adecco team, Verbrugghe, who also won the stage 1 road race, took the overall win, 16 seconds ahead of Spaniard Alberto Martinez. He is the first Belgian to win Criterium International. American Floyd Landis of Mercury-Viatel finished third in the stage 3 time trial, just two seconds off

Verbrugghe won two of three stages to take the win

Belgian Rik Verbrugghe of the Lotto team won the first stage of the Criterium International in France on Saturday. Verbrugghe was one of 12 riders to escape with less than 15km left in the 190km stage. On a day that included three category 4 climbs, the breakaway occurred on the last climb and despite chase efforts by Saeco and ONCE, the group gained 18 seconds on the rest of the field.

The field passes the Meuse River

Rabobank’s Michael Boogerd held on to win the overall title at Setmana Catalana Friday, finishing the fifth stage safely in the main group. Italian Marco Zanotti (Liquigas) won the 152.4km stage between Berga and Cornella de Llobregrat in 3:17:34. American Lance Armstrong was the most consistent of the big-name Tour de France contenders in the five-day stage race in Spain, finishing eighth overall, 1:13 off the winning pace. Italian Marco Pantani (Mercatone Uno) showed some aggression early in the week, going wheel to wheel with Armstrong in the mountains, but he withdrew on Thursday’s

On Friday the UCI became the first sports federation to announce the employment of a test for EPO, to be introduced on April 1. The test has been developed primarily as a response to revelations of widespread EPO use in professional cycling. Former French Cycling Federation president Daniel Baal called the validation of a test for the endurance stimulant EPO "historic" and said that it will change the face of drug abuse in cycling. "Everything we've gone through the past few years would not have happened if, technically, this method of testing had been available," Baal told AFP shortly

Italian Danilo Di Luca of the Cantina Tollo team won the 162km fourth stage at Setmana Catalana Thursday, while Rabobank star Michael Boogerd took the leader’s jersey by finishing second, 11 seconds behind Di Luca. American Lance Armstrong put in a strong effort to finish eighth, 1:24 back, while his Tour de France rival Jan Ullrich continued to go easy in the Spanish stage race, finishing more than 20 minutes off the winning pace. The final stage of the five-day stage race is Friday. 2001 AFP

The UCI announced Thursday that it will unveil a new drug to detect EPO (erythropoietin) on Friday. According to a report by AFP, the new test will employ both blood and urine sample testing, and will first be used at the Tour of Flanders World Cup race on April 8. UCI president Hein Verbruggen announced in December that the problem of finding an acceptable test for cyclists would be "resolved before April." EPO has, until now, been relatively undetectable. Under current procedures, a rider who exceeds the hematocrit (red blood cell) threshold of 50 is given a 15-day "warning" in order to

Laurent Jalabert has chosen the April 25-29 German stage race, the Tour of Lower Saxony, as the place to start his comeback. The 32-year-old Frenchman, world No. 1 from 1995 to 2000, is putting in three to five hours of training per day after the freak accident on February 12, when he fell off a ladder and fractured three vertebrae. Jalabert says his morale is "high" and if his Danish team CSC-Online is invited, he should be ready for his main focus of the season, the Tour de France. "I'm happy, I've got back to some semblance of normal activity," said Jalabert, talking to a few

Sometimes it pays to gamble. Spaniard Aitor Silloniz, ranked 1077 in UCI standings at the start of the 2001 season, took a flyer just 50km into Wednesday’s 173.3km stage 3 at the Setmana Catalana. With a time of 4:29:25, the Euskatel rider hung on to win, beating second-place Jose Manuel Vasquez, also a Spaniard, by 6:39. Finishing third on the day was Italian Denis Zanette, 7:06 back. Zanette, of Liquigas, moved into the leader’s jersey with two stages remaining in the Spanish stage race. Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich, and Marco Pantani all finished the day with the main group, 7:06 behind

With his back-to-back wins at Redlands and Sea Otter, Saturn's Trent Klasna moved out to a sizeable early-season lead in the USCF's National Racing Calendar standings, ahead of U.S. Postal Service's Levi Leipheimer and Mercury-Viatel's Chris Horner. Meanwhile, Saturn's Kim Bruckner moved closer to Genevieve Jeanson (Rona), following Bruckner's second-place finish at Sea Otter. Jeanson skipped Sea Otter and instead raced at Another Dam Race in Parker, Arizona. Men: 1. Trent Klasna, Saturn, 435pts;2. Levi Leipheimer, USPS, 240;3. Chris Horner, Mercury-Viatel, 234;4. Eddy Gragus, Jelly Belly,

Jazztel rider Serguei Smetanine won the second stage of the Setmana Catalana stage race in Spain Tuesday, while Spain's Angel Edo held onto the overall lead in after a 169km race from Lloret to Empuriabrava. Smetanine was part of a five-man break that built up a maximum 17-minute lead before the first of two mountains, one a category 1 climb. That group was eventually pulled back to within two minutes of the main group, but Smetanine, a Russian, outsprinted teammate Carols Torrent of Spain, Italan Eilo Aggiano and Spaniard German Nieto, to the line for the win. "We took the hill at our own

Angel Edo of the Spanish outfit Maia won the first stage at the Catalan Cycling Week in Spain on Monday. Edo outsprinted Italians Denis Zanette and Stefano Garzelli at the end of the 143km route around Lloret De Mar. Earlier in the race, Marco Pantani and Lance Armstrong tested each other in the mountains, and both finished with the lead group. "I'm thrilled to win on home territory," said the Barcelona-born Edo, a 30-year-old pro who also won here in 1994. On reaching the foot of Alt de Sant Grau, a category 1 climb, Pantani attacked, leaving much of the peleton stretched out behind

As far as gravity disciplines go, dual slalom and the new mountain cross disciplines get more play than the course-challenged downhill race at the Sea Otter Classic. Nonetheless, some of the world’s best gravity racers gathered on a sunny Sunday morning for the season’s first taste of real competition at Monterey. World champion Anne-Caroline Chausson broke out the new Cannondale downhill bike; Missy Giove was sporting the nuclear green-and-blue of the new Global team (with matching blue hair); and Steve Peat was up to his old tricks with GT. Peat won the short jaunt through a series of

The final day of the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California, saw a shake-up in the women’s cross-country stage-race standings, but no change at the top of the men’s leaderboard. Specialized’s Caroline Alexander came from 17 seconds back to win the women’s overall. Alexander supplanted teammate Barbara Blatter, who entered Sunday’s race wearing the leader’s jersey. In the final stage, the 36-mile cross country, Alexander was second to GT’s Alison Dunlap, who won a sprint finish. Blatter held on for third, despite a problem with her fork that left her without front suspension for most of

Peat explains how he did it.

Chausson looks good here, but it wasn't good enough.

Dunlap won the sprint, but Alexander won the war.

It wasn't the plan, but Alexander wasn't complaining.

The top three in the men's GC -- Van Dooren, Brentjens and Green.

Susanne Ljungskog sat in for 110km of the Varazze-San Remo, but just before the top of the Poggio climb with 8km to go, the 25-year-old Swede made a blistering attack. The Vlaanderen-T-Interim rider had a 200-meter gap at the high point in the village of Poggio overlooking the green waves of the Ligurian sea below. She said later, “I am a good descender, and I thought I could hold it until the finish. When I looked back with one kilometer to go and saw that I still had a good gap, I knew that I would win.” Mirjam Melchers (Acca Due O/Lorena) won the sprint in this World Cup stop number

It looked like a magical finish in the making for the Italian throngs lined up along Via Roma in San Remo. Super Mario, the guy whose face was on half of the T-shirts being hawked in the crowd, had caught back onto the front group on the descent of the Poggio, and he had a four-man Saeco train pulling him to the front. [nid:20289]But Erik Zabel’s Deutsche Telekom train was also working well, and despite Cipollini closing the gap rapidly, he was still a half bike-length behind at the line after charging past world road champion Romans Vainsteins with 25 meters to go.

As the designated finisher for Mercury on the final day of the Sea Otter road race Saturday, Australian Baden Cooke was on the hot seat. His team – accustomed to taking wins in buckets with sprinter Gord Fraser – had been stymied by a hot Saturn squad and hadn’t won all weekend. With Fraser feeling under the weather, Cooke did just fine, outsprinting Dutchman Jeroen Blijlevens, among others, to chalk up the biggest win of his young career. In the women’s Laguna Seca circuit race, Anna Millward just kept rolling, winning the stage and the overall Sea Otter title. Joining Millward in the

It’s called the Sea Otter Classic, and Saturday the event lived up to its name, providing a pair of classic match-ups in the finals of the dual slalom. On the men’s side it was defending world champion Wade Bootes taking on reigning World Cup champ Brian Lopes. The women’s final saw American Missy Giove taking on her nemesis, Frenchwoman Anne-Caroline Chausson. Give round one to Lopes and Chausson. Each drank in the first taste of victory in 2001, after picking up wins on a warm, sunny day in the hills outside Monterey, California. For Lopes, the road to the final proved tougher than the

For the second day in a row the gang from Specialized dominated the mountain-bike stage race at the Sea Otter Classic. On the men’s side it was Fillip Meirhaeghe who was first across the line in the 8-lap short-track race on a sunny Saturday, outside Monterey, California. Meirhaeghe’s teammates, Barbara Blatter and Caroline Alexander, went 1-2 in the women’s race, a 7-lap affair, duplicating a feat they accomplished a day earlier in the time trial. The Belgium Meirhaeghe finished in a time of 20 minutes, 22.30 seconds, beating out Giant’s Bart Brentjens by 13.10. Third place went to

This is how you win Milan - San Remo four times.

Matveyev and company

Bartoli and Rebellin on the Poggio

Colombo on the Poggio

Lopes knocked off Bootes, last year's Sea Otter champ.

Giove was ahead here, but Chasson was ahead when it counted.

Bootes knocked off King and Carter to advance to the finals.

Gracia got knocked out in the second round, but hung around to compete in the big-air contest

Ellsworth's John Jesme didn't win, but this back flip got the biggest big-air applause

Brentjens was all smiles after the short track

Meirhaeghe gets the win

Alexander (left) and Blatter work over Dunlap (right)

When Thursday afternoon’s Cannery Row Circuit Race came down to the last of 80 laps for the men, the safe bet was on a guy in green. With the Monterey Bay to their left, the John Steinbeck Building to their right, and gray clouds rolling above their heads, the Mercury train was in full effect in downtown Monterey. It’s a common scenario: Bell banging away, five Mercury men on the front. Sure enough, less than one minute after the bell stopped clanging, that guy in green hit the Cannery Row finishing stretch with a gap that would get him through. But the Navigators wear a true green, not

It was a busy day in Monterey on Thursday as the 2001 Sea Otter Classic kicked off with a double stage day. In the morning, all the usual suspects found their way to the top of the standings after the Laguna Seca Time Trial. Fresh from two World Cup wins on successive weekends Saturn’s Anna Millward hit the ground running when she arrived in the U.S. to earn a win in the stage. On the men’s side, U.S. Postal’s Levi Leipheimer emerged on top and confidently predicted that this race will probably come down to two men: himself and Mercury’s Chris Horner.In the women's 40km crit, Saturn

Milan-San Remo is the first big classic and the chance for many riders to cop a big win. It has ended many times in a large sprint, as well as in solo victories. Erik Zabel (Deutsche Telekom) has won three of the last four editions and looks to be the strong favorite again, having shown good form in February and March races in Spain. After interviewing many team mechanics the day before the race, in fact, those who would make a prediction of a rider not on their own teams, Zabel was the one. Milan-San Remo is not only the first of the major classics, but it is also the longest. The course is

There was a time when Barbara Blatter resided in the quiet corner of obscurity. This one-time kindergarten teacher didn’t even start racing mountain bikes full time until 1998. And before last year most of her competitors viewed her as a strong rider, but not a serious podium threat. But in 2000, Blatter changed those perceptions, picking up three World Cup wins on her way to the overall title. A year later, Blatter has picked up right where she left off. The 30-year-old Specialized rider made a sparkling debut in the colors of her new team, finishing first in stage 1 of the Seagate

If early-season happenings on the domestic road circuit are any indication, we are experiencing a planetary shift. Move over, Mercury, it’s Saturn’s turn to shine. Trent Klasna is red hot, Harm Jansen is as aggressive as ever, and Anna Millward just can’t seem to lose. Those three Saturn riders led the charge in Friday’s grueling Fort Ord Road Race at the Sea Otter Classic at Laguna Seca Speedway in Monterey, California. As usual, Jansen couldn’t hold himself back in the men's race. With more than 70 miles of rugged California coastal roads still ahead of him, Jansen initiated the day’s

Levi Leipheimer, who thought the Mercury Sea Otter Classic would be a two-man race after he won the difficult opening time trial on Thursday, needed time to compose his thoughts. Sitting in the back of the U.S. Postal Service team van, Leipheimer pulled off his race leader's jersey and pulled on his dark-blue team sweats. A few minutes earlier, he had crossed the line in the company of his closest rival, Mercury's Chris Horner, but they were almost four minutes behind Saturn's two-man express: Harm Jansen and new race leader Trent Klasna. The first words out of a shattered Leipheimer's mouth

Levi Leipheimer, who thought the Mercury Sea Otter Classic would be a two-man race after he won the difficult opening time trial on Thursday, needed time to compose his thoughts. Sitting in the back of the U.S. Postal Service team van, Leipheimer pulled off his race leader's jersey and pulled on his dark-blue team sweats. A few minutes earlier, he had crossed the line in the company of his closest rival, Mercury's Chris Horner, but they were almost four minutes behind Saturn's two-man express: Harm Jansen and new race leader Trent Klasna. The first words out of a shattered

Victory for Vassiliy

Teutenberg in TT

Mercury's Gord Fraser

Chris Wherry

Women's start at Cannery Row

Teutenberg is back

Lotsa Saturn there

Leipheimer

La Primavera kicks off World Cup season