News

At night the project images on this thing kind of like Freemont Street in Vegas.

Demet-Barry scored the day's first medal

The cycling schedule doesn’t have a whole lot of gaps here at the Olympics. Three days of road racing, six of track and two of mountain biking keeps you running from beginning to end. But there were two down days after the weekend road races, which afforded me a chance to take in some non-cycling events. Tuesday night I managed to score a ticket to the swimming finals at the Aquatic Center in the main Olympic complex (Thank you USOC). I have to admit swimming has never much interested me. I can’t do it very well, and watching it isn’t exactly compelling drama. But at the Olympics all that

Thorburn finished a strong 4th in the women's time trial

Dear Readers,On this great day for U.S. Olympic Cycling I would like to congratulateTyler Hamilton, Dede Demet and Bobby Julich, who won the Gold, Silver andBronze Medals in their respective Individual Time Trial events in Athens. They all have great stories and are deserving medal winners.  I would also like to acknowledge the brave ride by Dede’s husband and fellowVeloNews contributor, Michael Barry who competed for Canada in lastSaturday’s Men’s Olympic Road Race where he finished a very respectful32nd.While everyone knows about Bettini, Paulinho and Merckx winning thegold, silver and

Ekimov adds a silver to his TT gold from 2000

PHILADELPHIA, PA- August 18, 2004- Lance Armstrong and Pro CyclingTour Fans can get up to 10% off of America West Airlines already low faresto and from the T-MOBILE INTERNATIONAL, presented by BMC Software, setfor Sunday Sept 12th in downtown San Francisco.  Lance Armstrong,the six-time winner of the Tour de France, and his US Postal Service CyclingTeam are part of a powerful international field competing in the race.The offer, set up by the Pro Cycling Tour, can be accessed three differentways by using the Convention and Meetings Services (CAMS) Code AP3617:Go to americawest.com and

Julich's bronze caps a great season for a man who recently thought about retirement

Tyler Hamilton's gold-medal performance

G-O-L-D!

Barry shows off her hardware.

Olivia Julich: Dad's biggest fan

Zijlaard-van Moorsel's machine.

Ullrich, considered an odds-on fav' for a medal, was disappointed

Big-time swim meet.

Today in Athens

The Greeks root on their own.

Olympic Tech: Bobby J and his funky chainrings

Stark gets time with Phelps...

Tyler, Bobby and Dede will be here on Thursday.

...others just wait.

Waterworld.

VN made the cut on the media center magazine rack.

USA Cycling has scheduled its cyclo-cross national championships for the next four years, selecting New England for 2005-06 and Kansas City, Missouri, for 2007-08. The 2004 national championships are scheduled for December 10-12 in Portland, Oregon. Spin Arts will handle the championships in New England. Race director Tom Stevens organized the 1995 and 1998 national ’cross championships, and assisted with planning in 1983, 1988, 1991 and 1999-2001. Stevens is also the founder of the New England Cyclo-cross Championship Series, the premier regional cyclo-cross series in North America. "Our

Cruz expects to sign with Discovery

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to another installment into the all-encompassing grab bag known as my weekly Web column. It’s been a busy time for me, as the “neighborhood” has twice in the past two weeks extended to California — two trips that reconfirmed my view of my native state as simultaneously the best and worst in our nation. (I think Robert Pielke put it best in the epilogue to his 1996 book “You Say You Want A Revolution” when he wrote: “California has been cursed and blessed with virtually every paradox imaginable. Physically, the state is an incomparable paradise as well as a

Mike “Bling-Bling” Jones

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Arndt’s childish display hurts the sportEditor:After seeing the salute Judith Arndt decided to give the world Sunday, I felt a comment was needed. The Olympics occur only every four years the last time I checked, which makes election for them and representing your country a great honor.

Arndt was relentless

The podium

... and then there are other salutations

A leisurely start on a hot day

The women hit the road in Athens

But not before the Yanks had their morning java

Dede's fans were in town ... and they weren't getting arrested for painting the road like some riders' fans

Thorburn hustles despite the heat

This Armstrong chose to race in Athens ... and cracked the top 10

Bessette, sadly, was taken out in a crash and DNF'd

Cooke and Melchers missed out

But Carrigan didn't miss a trick

Casey Gibson was at it again in Athens on Sunday, enjoying the women's road race and its surprise ending. Below you'll find a sampling of what he saw.

Palmer-Komar had a go, but wilted in the heat

There are victory salutes ...

Officials used this shot to justify the penalty.

Then Van Moorsel and Brandli hit the deck after a touch of wheels

Van Moorsel and Arndt led the charge past Huguet

Bettini wins the gold

Racing past the Acropolis

Running men.

Laurels for the podium

Canadian pride.

The big man, Backstedt, had an early go

The calm before kickoff.

And then there were three

The media vantage point.

A wiseguy suggested that the course was designed to show off the monuments ... like the Acropolis

The photographers perch.

It certainly suited Paolo Bettini

Excitement piqued.

Defending Olympic champ Jan Ullrich crossed 19th

Athletes of the world.

Just in front of Ullrich was Tyler Hamilton, the top U.S. finisher

The U.S. men's hoops squad.

Bobby Julich had himself a go

The ATHOC president addresses the world.

As did Levi Leipheimer

Stoneface prior to his metamorphosis.

The Germans and Aussies chased everything with a pulse

It’s an oft overused expression, but in this case it really did apply. Getting the chance to watch the Opening Ceremonies from a seat inside the Olympic Stadium was truly a once in a lifetime deal. The pre-Athlete procession show was like Cirque du Soleil on steroids with a Greek history lesson thrown in for good measure. My vantage point was a lower-level seat on the opposite end of where the torch was eventually lit. Not the greatest spot to see all in the action in the middle of the giant “lake,” but a good place to catch the expressions on athletes faces as they made their way around the

Macgregor takes the title

The top three and their laurels

It was a hot one out there in Athens on Saturday, and not just for the riders – Casey Gibson found himself schlepping a few jillion pounds of camera equipment around the men's road race in 90-plus temps and using public transportation: "Way too hot and the first race I ever covered using the subway," Casey reports. After a day like that, what could we do but run everything he sent us?

The podium

old stuff

Bettini and Paulinho work their gap

The Greek flag goes up