News

The bunch rolls through the start-finish

Ciaran Power (Navigators) was the emphatic winner of Rás Turcaí in Carraroe, Ireland, on Sunday. On a 10km circuit, Power took control over the 89-man field when he attacked on each climb of the six laps and comfortably set himself into a 20-second lead just after the halfway point. Power was reproducing the sort of form that saw him take two stages in last year's Milk Rás as he powered away to increase his lead to more than a minute at the finish. The former Ofoto Lombardia rider David O'Loughlin came second after taking the first prime of the day, but he couldn't match Power, who was a

Grishkin and Aitken – and a few of their closest friends - have at it in stage five

Italian Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) has been named cyclist of the year for 2003 by a panel of readers of the sporting newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport. The Italian sprinter was favored by 31.7 percent of the 5527 people consulted on the Milanese daily newspaper’s website. Petacchi beat out compatriot Paolo Bettini, who garnered 23 percent of the votes, and American Lance Armstrong, who drew 19.3 percent. German Jan Ullrich got only 6.2 percent, while Italian Gilberto Simoni polled just 5.1 percent. Petacchi, who will celebrate his 30th birthday on January 3, won 24 times this

Wellens has been winning everything this season – until now

Today was Berden's day to shine

Richard Groenendaal shot away from the gun on Sunday

But he was shadowed by a host of Belgians, including the eventual winner, Ben Berden

Bart Wellens was having an off day, and could only manage fourth

Erwin Vervecken, meanwhile, copped the last step on the podium

And Jonathan Page flew the stars and stripes to 19th place

De Clercq doesn't look overjoyed to finish second again

The Health Net Pro Cycling Team, presented by Maxxis, announced on Thursday the signing of former Prime Alliance rider Danny Pate. The announcement came from Gregory Raifman, Chairman & CEO of Momentum Sports Group, LLC, a Piedmont, California, based company that owns and operates the Health Net cycling team. A resident of Colorado Springs, Pate, 24, has shown great promise as a professional, riding in Europe for Saeco in 2000 and returning to the U.S. to take the No. 2 ranking in the NRC Standings in 2002 while riding for Prime Alliance. To date, Pate is perhaps best known for his win at

Wellens claimed his fourth Superprestige race of the season

Vervecken found himself settling for the lowest step on the podium ...

... while Nijs missed the podium altogether

Vannoppen was right behind Nijs in fifth

U.S. champ Page wore his Santa hat for the Christmas Day race

American cyclist David Clinger has sealed a ride with Mario Cipollini's Domina Vacanze team for next season, the Italian team announced Wednesday. The 26-year-old from California, a former member of U.S. Postal, has been a professional for six years and rode with the Festina team before moving to Postal in 2002. He left Postal to race for Prime Alliance during 2003. –Copyright 2003/AFP

Quark will pick up where Saturn is leaving off – Team Sports Inc. announced today that it has signed the shoe company to a three-year deal as the title sponsor of a women's pro cycling team. Canadian Lyne Bessette will captain the team, which has also signed 2003 national champion Sarah Uhl. Quark is negotiating with three other athletes and looking for two additional riders. The Quark team will kick off the 2004 season with a March training camp in California, and make its racing debut on March 13 at McClane Pacific, in Merced, California. Team Sports will manage the team; former Saturn

Armstrong: Looking for No. 6

In fact, everyone had that look on his face ...

Wellens did it again on Saturday

... even Wellens, who was winning

De Clercq had to settle for second

Groenendaal still can't get a break

And U.S. champ Page wasn't having a banner day, either

Although he signed with the domestic Health Net squad just six weeks ago, 26-year-old David Clinger is now rumored to be in negotiations with Mario Cipollini’s Domina Vacanze squad for the 2004 season. Health Net team management would neither confirm nor deny the rumor. “We can’t completely comment on that,” said Thierry Attias, President and COO of Momentum Sports Group, the organization that owns and runs the Health Net cycling team. “I’d say it’s half true. We have a completely valid and enforced contract with David. He does now have an opportunity to ride with Cipollini, and we’ve been

Clinger

Houseman racing at Grouse Mountain

Pablo Lastras models the new Balears-Banesto jersey

Angel Casero

Will Frischkorn at Redlands

Will Frischkorn has signed with Colavita-Bolla for 2004, rejoining former Saturn teammates Mark McCormack, Ivan Dominguez and Nathan O’Neill. "I am very excited that both Will and Nathan (O’Neill) will be joining Ivan and I on the Colavita-Bolla team for 2004,” said McCormack. “We all shared in a magical season during 2003, and it will be great to be able to build upon the accomplishments we achieved together.” The 22-year-old Frischkorn turned pro with Mercury in 1999 while still a junior. He has won five national championships, including the under-23 national road-race title in 2002. In

As this is the time of year when many race promoters/directors are finalizing their 2004 dates, this is also prime time for VeloNews to update its 2004 race calendars. If you haven’t already, have a look at our web submission page or send us an email at vncalendar@7dogs.com. Please include the following information:Race category (i.e., road, mountain bike, cyclo-cross)Region (i.e., Pacific Northwest)Race nameDate(s) of eventContact nameContact emailContact phoneRace web site URLCity and state of race (not promoter) All race listings are free; magazine listings are subject to space

La Vuelta 2004: A route only a mountain goat could love

Two-time champ Roberto Heras gets the star treatment

Iban Mayo practices giving a Lancesque 'look'

Carlos Sastre: Is he already feeling the pain?

Pavel Tonkov sports an ... interesting ... hairdo

The agony of technologyEditors;There is no other sport that I know of (including alpine skiing, whichis crowded with "tech weenies") in which athletes/participants would writesentences like those offered by Keith, Metallurgist or Ben, (apparent)physicist (see "TechnicalQ&A, 12/16/03"), for publication in a magazine of general circulation.My head hurts - I think I'll go for a ride.Kevin KinnearBoulder, ColoradoSure, go ride, but will you know precisely how much drag your out-datedsteel bearings will be generating? - EditorGood luck TJ!VeloNews;Congratulations to Tim Johnson, I am so happy to

After his solo breakaway victory at the 2003 Univest Grand Prix, team rider/manager Ted Huang explained he was just pretending he was Chris Horner at the T-Mobile International. Next season, Huang and rest of the Webcor squad will have a much more intimate opportunity to work on their Horner impressions, as the 2002 and 2003 NRC winner has signed to ride for the Bay Area-based team in 2004. It’s a major acquisition for Webcor, a team that finished 16th in the 2003 national rankings, with Huang, ranked 39th, its highest-placed rider. “We’re looking forward to racing with him and for him,”

The Webcor Professional Cycling Team announced Tuesday that 2003 T-Mobile International Winner and NRC overall standings leader Chris Horner will join the Northern California-based team for 2004. “I look forward to racing with the Webcor Cycling Team and helping them bring it up to the next level,” said Horner. “This is a huge step forward for Webcor Cycling,” said Ted Huang, team rider and manager. “We’re looking forward to an epic season and to making Chris feel at home here.” “We’re going to have a great time,” Andy Ball, CEO of Webcor Builders, the team’s title sponsor added.”

Not yet available in the U.S., Tyler's bike will look similar to this production version.

Horner (left) with O'Neill and Roland Green after the 2003 Redlands Classic Oak Glen stage

Employed!

Tim Johnson, the Saturn rider who signed with the U.S.-based Division III Colavita-Bolla squad last month, is now poised to ink another deal with the new Spanish-based Division I Saunier Duval team. “This is the kind of thing I’ve been hoping to land ever since I started riding,” the 26-year-old Johnson told VeloNews on Monday. “I’ve always wanted to get on a European team, and suddenly this opportunity came up.” Johnson, who recently won the Vic Roads Herald Sun Tour in Australia, said he was pleasantly surprised when he brought word of the offer to Colavita owner John Profaci. “Man, my

Johnson at Dulles airport on Monday

Johnson wins the Sun Tour

Wellens

Sven Nijs

Erwin Vervecken

Britain's Roger Hammond

Mario DeClerq missed the big move

Czech Republic's Peter Dlask

Wellens leads the series

Page plows puddles

Dunlap digs deep

That's the face of a national champion under all that mud

Wet conditions made for a strongman's course

I don’t know why there’s all this furor over the BCS. I’m confident the college football will come down to a satisfactory conclusion. After all, the BCS, co-created by ABC Sports, is really nothing more than reality-TV programming, and as we’ve seen in the past few years, there’s nothing reality TV likes better than changing the rules of the game as it goes along. Latest case in point — “Average Joe,” where model-good-looking “ringers” were introduced mid-show to go head-to-head with the average Joes wooing the show’s blonde beauty. Big surprise, one of the pretty boys won out over the No. 1

Armstrong meets the press in Brussels

Looks like rain...

'Cross Nationals race director Brad Ross knows how to get into the spirit

Hi Bob;I was riding on a sidewalk in downtown Portland last month and a policeofficer, riding on the same sidewalk “pulled me over.” At first I thoughthe was kidding and said something like “how fast was I doing officer?”It turns out he wasn't all that amused and said it was against the lawto ride on sidewalks in downtown. I had entered the sidewalk to get arounda huge construction hole. Should I fight this ticket and what advice doyou have? By the way, the cop was also riding on the sidewalk!M. EisenhartPortland, OregonDear M. Eisenhart;In the words of Shakespeare you were “hoisted with your

Verge Sport and the American Cyclo-cross Foundation (ACF) have teamed up to help send American racers to the cyclo-cross world championships January 31-February 1 in Pont-Chateau, France. Verge has produced and is selling a commemorative ACF T-shirt designed by cartoonist and ’cross fiend Patrick O’Grady. The shirts go for $19.95, and $10 of every sale goes to the ACF’s fund for underwriting the U.S. team’s annual trip to world’s. USA Cycling will be financing six athletes’ travel to the world’s — one elite man, one elite woman, two under-23 men and two junior men. Any discretionary picks

Questioning the Jimenez diagnosisDear VeloNews;I was truly saddened and stunned in reading about the untimely passingof Jose Maria Jimenez at the age of 32. Not unlike Denise Zanette'sdeath last year at a similarly young age, it makes one come face-to-facewith the reality that youth and athletic fitness are not the only factorsin overall health.On this note, I did want to clarify something that I suspect regardingJose Maria Jimenez’s mental health condition leading up to his death. Fromreading about his stunning emotional and performance highs and the tremendouslows that followed, his

See ya

Indy Fab's new 'Top Secret' full suspender with 4 inches of rear travel 'might be' available in April

'Full of character,' those IF boys...

Ritchey's new Adjustable Stem has more angles than a Pan Anderson photo shoot

Never too late for 'cross goodies

Verge T-shirt helps cover 'cross-world's costs

Wehave just posted the on-line version of this year's edition ofGrandTours, a taste of what cycling vacations are all about. We callthem “Grand Tours” because they encompass the grandeur of breathtakingrides through some of the most beautiful and culturally rich locales onearth. They offer what you’re really looking for when you decide to takea bicycle vacation — the chance to make your dreams come true.You will need AdobeAcrobat Reader to enjoy the on-line version of "Grand Tours."

Looking for a Christmas gift for that hard-to-buy-for cycling enthusiastin your life? Interested in owning a piece of American cycling history?Either way, you’re in luck, as Rabobank’s Levi Leipheimer has two of his2003 jerseys up for auction on eBay, with proceeds to go to a pair of charities,Forgotten Felines Of Sonoma County and the USA Cycling Foundation."These auctions are important for my wife Odessa and me,” he said. “Sincewe have had our share of success, this is a way for all of us to give backand say 'thank you.'"The first item, Leipheimer’s  2003Vuelta Jersey, signed by the