News

The Union Cycliste Internationale on Friday confirmed that it will now make helmet use compulsory for professional cyclists following the death last month of Kazakh rider Andrei Kivilev. The wearing of a helmet had been advised but not compulsory, but there had been increasing calls for a change in the rules following the death of Cofidis rider Kivilev from head injuries sustained in a crash during Paris-Nice. Cofidis team doctor Jean-Jacques Menuet said that the rider's injuries would have been reduced if he had been wearing a helmet. "My medical colleagues in other teams will agree

Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s nothing like playing hooky from work to turn something you generally enjoy into something really special. And I’m not talking planned-vacation, got-everything-squared-away time out of the office; no, I’m talking about I’ve-got-the-flu-and-was-throwing-up-all-night stealth maneuvers. I write all this, of course, as I work from home and take care of my one-year-old on a Friday, with the prospect of the Rockies opening day at Coors Field in Denver staring me in the face as I peruse the morning paper. I know, my three readers who have inexplicably stuck with

It all worked perfectly. Our devious plan of attack was devised with utmost intelligence, and detail. We carried out the plan exactly as it was devised, and everything went right to a number. And we still lost. I hope this isn't the case as to what's happening in Iraq. Actually it can't be, as team Saturn seems to be the superior of the Fedayeen. Anyhow, we decided the best policy today was to attack early and often. We had nothing to lose, as the saying goes. We figured by getting Matt Decanio, and Mike Creed up the road as soon as the pistol fired in Friday's Panorama

Hi Bob;I took my bike to be repaired at a local shop. The owner told me it would be done in a week. When I returned the shop was closed, although I couldstill see the entire shop inventory (including my bike!!!) were still in the store. A sign on the door simply said "out of business." I have tried to contact the shop owner, but his line is disconnected.Any advice would be helpful.Thanks,KevinNew York Dear Kevin;In legal jargon, what you need to do is initiate an action in replevin. In replevin, the owner of an item of personal property seeks to recover it from someone who did not

With one more week before mountain-bike racing really gets rolling at the Sea Otter Classic, there seems to be two alternatives for North America’s top cross-country pros this weekend. Either grab the road bike and head out to Southern California for Redlands, or make the trek to eastern Utah, for Moab’s Tour of Canyonlands. Redlands appears to be the most popular choice, a fact born out by the startlist for the six-stage race. By my count 25 riders who will earn the bulk of their money on the dirt this year, showed up for the first day of Redlands. Most prominent among that group were

Dear Doc;I recently had something strange happen and wanted to get your thoughts. Two days after my last ride I noticed that a golf ball sized "bump" started to grow right where the saddle and the underside of my left cheek come into contact. By late afternoon it had grown significantly in size and I went to the local emergency room. The diagnosis was that a vein (or several) had burst and that I had a fair amount of internal bleeding. The doctor operated on the wound (which was by now quite black and blue) to release some of the pressure and later told me that the damaged veins had sealed

The United States Anti-Doping Agency announced Thursday that a three-member panel of the American Arbitration Association-North American Court of Arbitration for Sport has recommended a one-year suspension for Scott Moninger, who tested positive for norandrolone after last year’s Saturn Classic. Moninger will receive credit for the period of time that he was provisionally suspended, starting on October 6, 2002. The former Mercury rider was able to demonstrate that the 19-norandrosterone positive had resulted from a contaminated food supplement, something which the panel was allowed to

JHK is going to Utah

Filip's pointers: Always wear your helmet.

Haywood

Jeanson is all alone

O’Neill on his own

Saturn in control

No one, not even Bruckner, was close on Thursday

Raivis Belohvosciks put down an excellent final time trial in the Three Days of La Panne to score the biggest win of his career and for his upstart Marlux team after beating Italian veteran Gianluca Bortolami by just 1 second. Thursday's final stage was split, with a morning sprint sector and an afternoon time trial to decide the overall winner. Poor weather continued to plague the race and four riders decided not to start, including Michele Bartoli (Fassa Bortolo). More than 50 riders abandoned the three-day stage-race, leaving just 88 riders finishing the race. Rabobank's Steven

Italian Fabio Baldato (Alessio) won the second stage of the Three Days of La Panne on Wednesday, a blustery, sunny day in Belgium. Gianluca Bortolami (Sidermec) continued his hold on the overall lead after finishing safely in the lead bunch. Two riders were reeled in with 22km to go in the 228km stage from Zottegem to Koksijde to set up the mass sprint. A strong tailwind pushed the bunch along nicely over the final circuits, with speeds reaching nearly 70 kph on the flats. Fassa Bortolo drove things home, but the veteran Baldato had the legs to beat Gerben Lowik (Bankgiroloterij) and Jimmy

Now in its 19th year, the Redlands Classic has just shifted its schedule and is no longer the season-opening NRC stage race. More changes are on the way, too, as next year it is set to merge with Sea Otter next year to form the two-week UCI “American Cycling Classic.” But in a lot of people’s books, this race is already a true “classic.” There’s no shortage of good stories at Redlands, and this year, the big story is the combined firepower of Saturn’s Tom Danielson and Chris Horner. With Danielson winning in Langkawi and Pomona, Horner taking McLane and Solano, and plenty of climbing at

A photograph published by the Italian journal La Gazzetta dello Sport this past week started me thinking about how there are double standards rampant in cycling, just as there are in everyday life. The photograph was nothing dramatic, just a shot of a rider waiting at the start of the Coppi & Bartali Cycling Week in Tuscany. The rider was Marco Pantani — clean shaven, doo rag on his pate, and a smile on his face — and he was clearly pleased to be back in the peloton after 10 months on the sidelines. They call him il Pirata, the Pirate. For many, the nickname is appropriate because of his

If anyone was ever curious as to what takes more time to complete, a 100-mile road race or a 2-mile prologue, the answer is simple: the 2-mile prologue. It all starts the day before. First, you drive to the course. Next ,change into your gear, and begin the endless BS that doing a prologue involves. Ride the course, then ride the course again, and again, and again, and again, and.... A tricky, short, uphill course like the one here at Redlands is always tough to figure out, even for the most analytical among us (especially so). So, when you're finally numb from seeing the same corner 84

Bortolami

Tech report: Crit' crazy

Tech report: Crit' crazy

Tech report: Crit' crazy

McRae gets ready for TT.Hey, whose disembodied head is that over his front wheel?

Baldato

Ina wins another

Jeanson was the focus of Saturn's efforts

Fraser on the podium - again

There's power in numbers

Nathan O’Neill

Tony Cruz is back for his third season with U.S. Postal Service and he’s more optimistic than ever. Cruz caught the attention of America’s elite team following his breakout 2000 season when he won a berth on the U.S. Olympic team and stages at the Tour of Langkawi and the Solano Classic. After getting used to racing European-style, Cruz says the best is yet to come. Cruz has already been racing nearly two months in Europe and finished 11th in the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne semi-classic in Belgium. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood caught up with Cruz at Paris-Nice, just before the

Editor's Note: In keeping with traditions established at VeloNews more than a decade ago, VeloNews.com posted several "news" stories on this site on Tuesday, April 1. We have repackaged all of that content into a single file for your enjoyment.

A conversation with Tony Cruz

Even our reporter at Redlands was greeted by protestors

It's actually real - sorta

Another win for Geneviève

Bruckner

Danielson

With the classics season now in full swing, U.S. Postal Service is regrouping with its consistent heavy-hitter George Hincapie out of the picture. Hincapie returned to the United States just days after it was announced March 15 the 29-year-old he would not be competing in the spring classics due to a lingering viral infection that left the 2001 Gent-Wevelgem champion rundown and tired. With Hincapie undergoing tests for a possible return by May, however, the Posties will be entering Sunday’s Tour of Flanders in uncharted territory. “We have to rethink our tactics because George was

This has been a pretty busy week at the Cycling Center. We moved this week from Oostende 20 miles east to Hertsberge. Things are still in disarray as we are trying to settle into the new place, but the place gets better by the day. In December our director Bernard and his Wife Ann bought an old hotel and restaurant that is now the home of the Cycling Center. To put it kindly, the hotel had a … uhhhh … a reputation. A reputation of ill repute. So the last few weeks, between training and racing, we have spent some time turning this trashed hotel into our new home. The first task was

Editor:O’Grady turned 49, from his writings (see "Friday's foaming rant: Down with O'Grady") it sounds like he turned 79, what a bore. Perhaps you need some young blood in that office, because this person is not only boring, he is another reason why young people are not getting into cycling, he represents the majority, that is sad.Will BeemanBaton Rouge, LAActually, O’Grady is another reason why people of all ages are getting out of cycling. - Editor Old slow guys unite!... or retireEditor:Patrick, you have described me! Sold the mountain bike last year and did not replace it,

Not this year - Hincapie at Paris-Roubaix in 2002

The new digs: Rooms with a view... and a history

The restaurant.

If you move the bikes out, you can even use it at dinner time.

T-Mobile's Cowden and Bruckner

With a win on Stage 2, Brochard took the lead on GC

A well-timed move

Voigt scores a win in the TT

Hamilton's TT gave him sixth overall.

Bruckner had plenty of buffer to take the overall

Saturn in charge

Teutenberg makes it look easy

You guys get paid yet? Zülle was there, too, in a new uniform

The 'mini Tour' kicks off

If it's spring, that must be Chris Horner off the front

Saturn kept tabs on Vaughters (in red)

Wohlberg led the Saturn charge

Van Gilder

Saturn in charge

Bessette and Bruckner will do battle on Sunday

The Criterium International, aka the “mini Tour de France,” opened Saturday with the 187km rolling stage through the French Ardennes and ended in a mass gallop with Frenchie Damien Nazon (La Boulangere) repeating his brother’s win in the same stage last year and taking the victory. Nazon rode off the wheel of Fdjeux’s Jimmy Casper to win ahead of Swiss rider Aurelien Clerc (Quick Step) and Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner). With just about all the riders wearing a helmet, Nazon rode sans helmet and it was easy to spot the nearly bald-headed rider in the red jersey. The race was animated with

What, me worry?

German sprint ace Erik Zabel added one more to his palmares in the rain in Spain on Friday while Dario Frigo wrapped up the overall title at the Setmana Catalana. Zabel’s faced criticism all spring that he’s lost his touch. His first win didn’t come until Tour of Murcia, then he finished sixth at Milan-San Remo before losing his top-spot in the world rankings. Zabel, however, stayed quiet and simply let his legs – and his professionalism - do the talking. On Friday, he took his second win of the week by charging to an easy victory in the 176km fifth and final stage of Catalana week. Rain

For a story on the Health Net team in the upcoming issue of VeloNews I had the pleasure of speaking to Mike Sayers this week for the first time this season. Long the unsung worker on the Mercury team, Sayers has taken his act to the new Health Net squad after the dissolution of Mercury. But it almost didn’t happen, Sayers said. “Basically, I told [Health Net] I was retired in December,” Sayers said. In a winter that he called “poor and frustrating,” Sayers got tired of hearing the same things from prospective teams. “I talked to every team,” he said. “It was always the same story: Take it

Well he went down down downand the devil said where you beenhe went down down downhe screamin' down around the bend.-Tom Waits, "Down Down Down" I would make a poor match for Lucifer, though judging from the mailbag lately a number of readers would be delighted to see me "hurl'd headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky/With hideous ruin and combustion down" to race that fallen angel around the Lake of Fire. Alas, the best I could expect from any head-to-horns competition with the Prince of Darkness - a descender of legendary ability who became directeur sportif down below after

Editor:Your photo of the '04 Dura-Ace rear derailleur, (not that you evenhave such a photo yet, nor would publish it) was intriguing.Without a cable attached, it was in what would normally be the extremeposition. So, either someone had been majorly jacking with the set-limitscrews... or it is Rapid Rise? Can you comment? I happen to like RapidRise on the dirt, but I'm not sure I'd like the idea on the road.Steen RoseA conspiracy theorist speculatesEditor:Just when I was starting to think, “What devious upgrade will Shimanocome up with to compel people to buy the new Dura-Ace?"

Mike Sayers

Goin' down, down, down....

Don't write him off yet

Cipo' has a new outfit he wants to bring to the Tour

Bruckner on her own

Bessette

Gaggioli

Vaughters managed to hold off Horner, but by only a small margin

Jonas Carney may be happier on Saturday

Dear Bob Mionske;While riding a local canyon here in Salt Lake City, we were stopped by a police officer in a car who told us (two of us riding side by side) it is not legal to do so. I ask him why? Just because it is unsafe for us. We could be a hazard. I also ask why then if we have the same right to the road as any motor vehicle can we not ride as our local police do on the motorcycles. Thank you,Kenny GSalt Lake City, UT Dear K.G. To quote my old coach Eddie Borysewicz, you and your friend were riding “side by each.” Before I answer your question, let me start with the general state

The green hills of spring.