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After what seems like months, finally, a column about … cycling. Last week, after the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia, VN.com reader Michael Batley e-mailed the following question: “Do you think it’s time for us to go to a U.S.-citizen-only pro championship? It seems like we have the numbers in the peloton to do it now. Why the continual inclusion of the Euro pros?” It’s a topic that comes up from time to time, often as a reaction to the “race within a race” situation, such as this year, where the USPRO champion and the race winner aren’t necessarily one and the same. So, I figured I’d

USA Cycling has announced its automatic selections for the U.S. team attending the 2003 World Track Championships July 30-August 3 in Stuttgart, Germany. Many of the automatic selections earned their world's-team selections by winning their respective events at the 2003 Pan Am and World Championship Qualifier last weekend in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The U.S. team includes: Giddeon Massie (Colorado Springs) - team sprint, sprint,keirinJames Carney (Boulder, Colorado) - scratch raceColby Pearce (Boulder) - points raceStephen Alfred (Santa Cruz, California) - team sprint and keirinAnton

An all-American USPRO championship probably ain't gonna happen.

Sandy Casar (FDJeux) outkicks the bunch in stage 4.

A beautiful day for a bike race ...

This just in: Rahsaan Bahati (Saturn) will be featured in People's25 “Hottest Bachelors” issue, on stands Friday, June 20. For Bahati, 21,it won’t be his first non-cycling magazine appearance — he was featuredin Details magazine a few months back, and was named by Outsideas one of 2003’s “New All-Stars.” “I’m trying to get on the podium next,” joked Bahati, one of a selectfew African-American cyclists to be signed to a pro U.S. cycling team. Bahati came to the attention of Saturn in 2000 when he was only 17 and won the Junior National Road Racing and National Criterium Championships, in

Hi Bob,I have been following your column and appreciate the legal advice you offer to cyclists. Do you have any advice about avoiding accidents for cyclists?Ted G.Menasha, WIDear Ted;That's a great question and one that I thought might best be answered by an expert. So, I went to forensic engineer James Green who specializes in reconstructing bicycle and pedestrian accidents. So here's James's list of the most effective steps you can take to avoid accident and injury:Helmet - One of the absolutely dumbest things a cyclist can do is ride without a helmet. There is no excuse for not having one

Am I hot?

Lampre's Francesco Casagrande celebrates his stage-3 victory

Can you believe a broken foot was the worst injury to come out of this wreck?

Slip-slidin' away in Colombia.

A Team Harreither/VAV Versich rider roars through El Centro, California, late Monday evening

Prototype rear derailleur gets beefed up too

Disc brakes see oversize calipers and rotors

Tech report: Overwhelming developments!

Deore-XT goes two-piece in 2004

2003 vs. 2004 Dura-Ace – which do you like better?

Six forks put to the test

Cockpit controls – looks like 'pumped-up' XTR to us

I am a Planckaerts fan. These days, such a comment will certainly turn a few heads here in Belgium,especially among the more conservative Flemish. But in my case, I am compelledto watch it. I laugh for an hour straight at all the whacky shenanigans that goon at the Planckaerts house. “DePlanckaerts” is a reality TV show on VTM featuring cycling legend,Eddy Planckaert and his family in the struggle of bankruptcy, living ina little cabin in the Ardennes. There is no argument; they are a hillbillyfamily, barely getting by. The story I heard is that Eddy lost his moneyfrom cycling in a bad

You’ve got to feel for Tara Llanes. Less than a year removed from a crash at the Durango NORBA that brought a premature end to her 2002 season, the gated-racing specialist has had another season halted mid-stride, after the Giant-Pearl Izumi rider suffered a broken foot in a car accident on Monday in Pennsylvania. Llanes, teammates Jared Rando and Dustin Adams, and team mechanic Matt Duniho were on their way to Vermont for the third stop of the NORBA NCS when their Ford F350 was involved in a crash with another vehicle. According to Giant team director Steve Westover, Adams and Rando escaped

Ullrich

Millar preserved his podium spot

The Col du Lauteret

Armstrong stayed with his competition

Legendary 18-time RAAM racer Rob Kish at Sunday's solo field start

A couple hundred cyclists and supporters showed up Sunday morning up to follow the solo field through it's 15-mile nuetral start

The lone female solo racer, Rebecca Smith

2003 RAAM solo racer Allen Larsen kisses wife and baby goodbye on Father's day

Mayo and shadow

Lance Armstrong tests his legs on the Galibier.

Mercado celebrates.

A well-managed, properly officiated and expertly driven road-race caravan can be a beautiful thing. It is a choreographed vehicular ballet, balancing cars, drivers, riders, roads and the climatic elements in a colorful montage moving along at 40kph to sometimes 80kph. On the other hand, a poorly organized and badly handled one can be a dangerous cluster … er… flick. At the Hamilton World Road Championships we’re hoping for the former. If we get the latter, I will have really screwed up. But I won’t be alone, and indeed I will be in very esteemed company, as the other guy – the guy with the

I’m sitting here waiting. I know the news is coming, it’s just a matter of when. When will Boulder begin its prairie-dog, monkeypox hospice program? For those of you unfamiliar with VeloNews’s hometown, this is the city that banned the killing of prairie dogs and enacted a “relocation” program in 1999. It was the constant inundation of stories about prairie dogs -- and the guy whose goal in life was to locate by GPS every single dog dropping in city open space -- that eventually led me to cancel my subscription to the local Boulder Daily Camera. Since the monkeypox outbreak, though, I’ve been

Going up: Ron Hudson (Sportsbook.com) and Drew Miller (Landis-Trek-VW) reach the last of 11 switchbacks on the climb to Onion Valley in the Death Valley Road Stage Race.

Lance Armstrong gets a little doctoring after a spill in stage 5.

The consequences of laying it down at 70kph ...

Laurent Lefevre scores for his Jean Delatour squad.

Bjarne's back

Bob;Is it possible to get comprehensive bicycle insurance that will cover theft, injuries to me caused by a motorist, and liability arising from any damage I might cause to someone else while riding?GW Dear GW;In general, there is no such thing in the United States as “comprehensive bicycle insurance,” although it’s pretty common in the United Kingdom. In fact, a quick internet search indicates that “consumer report” type comparisons exist between policies offered by different firms in the UK. Unfortunately, to obtain comparable insurance in the U.S. requires that one “cobble together”

This story originally appeared in the July, 2003, issue of Inside Triathlon magazine Chann McRae pulls off his cycling jersey and pauses a minute before putting on his running clothes. There, on McRae’s spare, sinewy arms, shoulders and hips, you can see a veritable oad map of his past. And if you know what you’re looking for you can see the marks of his future. After 14 years as one of the top bike racers in the U.S., McRae has taken his share of tumbles. Faded scars dot his body, the faint reminders of scrapes with the roads of France, Italy, Spain and most of North America. But what you

Health Net’s Gord Fraser will no longer be barred from some ofNorth America's most prestigious road races, after a legal settlement reached on Tuesday. Fraser, long regarded as one of the top road racers in North America, had been relegated to the sidelines by Threshold Sports because of a mounting legal argument with the company. (See "Why Gord Fraser and Health Net won't be in Philly" - June 2, 2003) "I'm just glad it's finished," Fraser said yesterday in a telephone interview from Ottawa, where he is visiting his mother. "I'm looking forward to racing in Threshold events again." Fraser

You can't make me....

The freshest win on days like this

Still in yellow. Still in control.

The team is finding its form, too.

Mancebo makes a charge.

The move of the day

Fans

The Iron Range Road Race

The Stillwater Criterium

The Winona Road Race

Congratulations are in order to Saturn’s Lyne Bessette and Mark McCormackon their performances in Philly last weekend — Bessette for her LibertyClassic win ahead of former teammates Petra Rossner and Judith Arndt (bothnow with Nürnberger) and McCormack for his fourth-place at the USPROChampionships, good enough for a year in the stars-and-stripes jersey. In addition to being long-time Saturn athletes, both are down-to-earth,hard-working riders from the Northeast deserving of their successes. 2002wasn’t an easy year for either of them: On April 1st of last year, McCormackwas struck by a car

Armstrong in his favorite color

Looking to Paris?

The Kivilevs joined Armstrong on the podium

Millar still in second

Mayo didn't expect to keep the jersey

Pro roadies declare 'Condition Orange' at Sea Otter - Published in VeloNews - May 5, 2003

One team emerged dominant this spring - Published in VeloNews - May 19, 2003

NORBA's National Championship Series begins another successful season - Published in VeloNews - June 2, 2003

Jan Ullrich gets a new team, but the jerseys are late - Published in VeloNews - June 16, 2003

Patrick O'Grady cartoons from recent issues of VeloNews magazine.

Cannondale falls off the edge of bankruptcy -- and lands it (but they had to use a bicyle to pull it off) - VeloNews - February 24, 2003

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