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In what is being described as “part of a continuing effort to streamlineour services,” USA Cycling CEO Gerard Bisceglia this week eliminated threetop management positions at the organization’s main office in ColoradoSprings, including that of Jeff Pierce, vice president of athletic performance.Bisceglia, who started as chief executive officer on July, told Pierce,membership vice president Lisa Herdelin-Doherty  and MIS directorChuck Henry that they were fired and that their positions would not befilled. Bisceglia, who is traveling to the NORBA finals in Mount Snow,Vermont, could not be

Green is after his second straight NORBA XC championship.

Florit could win the XC overall.

Reigning world cross-country champion Alison Dunlap will race this weekend at the NORBA NCS finals in Mount Snow, Vermont with a broken wrist and badly bruised hip, both injuries she sustained while riding near her home in Colorado Springs last Friday. The incident occurred when Dunlap came upon a man walking his dog on a trail that Dunlap was training on. To avoid hitting either of them, Dunlap veered off the trail and crashed. Doctors later discovered a hairline fracture at the tip of her left ulna bone. According to team officials, the break is not severe and her physician has designed a

Jan Ullrich was operated on again Tuesday on his troublesome right knee,the German news wires reported Wednesday. Telekom team officials calledthe operation “a success.”The 1997 Tour champion is currently serving a six-month suspension fortesting positive for amphetamines after he took ecstasy pills in a nightout partying in June. Ullrich said he took the pills because he was depressedafter his last knee surgery in May didn’t relieve the pain that sidelinedhim from the 2002 Tour. Just last week, Ullrich said in an interview witha German newspaper he recognized it will be difficult for him to

Dunlap

Rasa Polikeviciute soloes to a stage win.

The on-again-in-off-again career of Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke is off again – sort of – after the Flemish Community’s disciplinary commission rejected his appeal of a six-month drugs ban on Tuesday. The suspension, which only applies to events in the north of Belgium, starts on September 1. The ban follows the discovery in a police raid on Vandenbroucke's home in March of quantities of EPO (erythropoietin), clenbuterol (anabolic steroid), morphine, and Nesp, EPO's newly-arrived chemical cousin. According to Vandenbroucke’s agent, Paul de Geyter, said he was disturbed by

Banesto’s Jose Ivan Gutierrez won Tuesday’s 172-km second stageof the Tour of Burgos in northern Spain while Fassa Bortolo’s MicheleBartoli moved into the overall lead. The stage was marked by a crash in the final five kilometers that causedmajor splits in the peloton. Defending champion Juan Miguel Mercado(Banesto) lost 16 seconds while U.S. Postal’s Roberto Heraslost 1:48. Two riders – Gerrit Glomser (Saeco) and Alessandro Bertolini(Alessio) – stayed away in a long break until 7 km to go and the bunchcame in together when a crash split the group. Wednesday’s stage featuresa team time

It was a bit delayed, but late Tuesday USA Cycling released the complete roster for its 2002 mountain bike world championships team, adding 20 discretionary picks to a roster that already included 30 automatic qualifiers. Among the late additions were 2000 short track national champion Carl Swenson and 2000 world downhill champion Myles Rockwell. Membership on the team does not necessarily include expenses (juniors typically receive more support than seniors) so don’t be surprised if some of the 50 riders don’t make the trip to Kaprun, Austria, where competition commences August 28. One

George Hincapie is scraped and bruised after a dangerous spill in Saturday’sClasica San Sebastian race, but he’s quietly relieved because he knowsit could have been much worse. Hincapie suffered perhaps the worst spill of his career when he slippedon a wet portion of asphalt while descending at speeds topping 70 mph offthe Jaizkibel, a Category 1 climb late in the race. He actually slid under a U.S.-style traffic guard rail, disappearedoff the road, avoiding very serious injuries by inches. “I just hit a slippery patch on the road and that was it,” Hincapietold VeloNews on Monday. “There

The judge investigating the case of Edita Rumsas, the jailed wife of Lithuanian cyclist Raimondas Rumsas, has rejected a request for her release, her lawyers said Monday. Lawyers acting for Edita Rumsas had asked magistrates to free her from the women's prison at Bonneville in the French Alps where she has been held for the past two week on suspicion of drug smuggling. But the judge in charge of the affair offered a negative recommendation to the judge who authorizes the release of prisoners. The latter will make his decision known on Tuesday or Wednesday. Lawyer Veronique Coudray said

Valentina Polkhanova wins Sunday's 8th stage

The key break on stage 11 -- Valentina Polkhanova; Zinaida Stahurskaia; Joane Somarribade and race leader Zinaida Stahurskaia

Soon-to-be-retiree: Jalabert knows how to exit in style.

Always a team rider, Wherry won this one for his family.

Boulder's marquee cycling event kicked off in front of the Boulder Theater.

In Harm's way -- Jansen was one of the early escapees

Wherry drives the chase on Guanella.

Zarate earned the climber's prize, while his teammate took the win.

On his way -- Wherry had a healthy lead on the final drop into Breckenridge.

Vaughters was probably the fastest on Guanella.

For Jalabert this was 'a good course.'

Jalabert tries his luck.

The whole family was waiting at the finish in Breckenridge.

Steve's ring.

More than a hundred Lithuanians, including politicians and show-business figures, gathered in front of the French embassy in Vilnius on Friday against the detention of Edita Rumsas, wife of cyclist Raimondas Rumsas. Carrying national flags and with the French national anthem blaring the protesters criticized France’s judicial system and demanded the immediate release of Edita Rumsas from her French jail. She was incarcerated on July 30 after being caught with performance-enhancing drugs in her car. "We gathered here to pay attention to violation of human rights in France and to demand: let

UCI president Hein Verbruggen, who recently resigned from the world anti-doping agency (WADA) reportedly as a protest of the administration of the organization’s president, said on Friday that he actually resigned for purely personal reasons. Verbruggen, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) who is in Beijing this week to assess the city's preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games, said his decision to resign from WADA two months ago was unrelated to differences with the agency's president over an allegation that a cyclist took drugs. "I took a decision two months ago

“I think we’re just gonna bank on a horrible day that makes everybodywant to quit, go home and cry.” Saturn’s Tim Johnson, discussing this weekend’s Saturn Cycling Classic during an interview with VeloNews senior writer Bryan Jew In the wake of public outrage over revelations that steroids are ascommon in pro baseball as televised cup adjustments, the players’ unionhas finally proposed submitting to a regimen of unannounced dope testingthat at first glance seems every bit as rigorous as the accounting oversightat WorldCom. This should be entertaining. Judging from the tone of the ongoing

Of the hundred or so starters, most are happy to be there!

OUCH!

Defending Vuelta a Espana champion Angel Casero is currentlyracing in the two-week Tour of Portugal to get ready for Spain's three-weeknational tour.Casero has been dogged with injuries this year and underwent knee surgery in April. His Team Coast was overlooked for an at-large bid for the Tour de France and Casero has a lot riding on a strong Vuelta.“This Tour of Portugal is 14 very demanding days and is perfect formy preparation for the Vuelta,” Casero told the Portuguese daily Publico.“The Tour of Portugal is very hard and it will help me recover from myknee operation I had in

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across somethingin the pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.comthat causes you to want to write us, dropus a line. Please include your full name and home town. By submittingmail to this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.  A crime of omission Editors: You forgot to mention Mariano Friedick in your article (see "Dominguezwins, but Lance is the hit on Wall Street") on the race today...JellyBelly is a hard working team (remember the U.S. Pro) on a small budget,they need to be  the exposure when they

Welcome to VeloNews's live coverage of the Saturn Classic, a 140-mile nightmare from Boulder to Breckenridge. Stay with us for updates as often as technology permits until the last dawg is dead. 11:00 a.m. Jesus returns and decrees Tammy Thomas the winner. 10:50 a.m. Scott Moninger explodes after being struck by an Iraqi Scud missile.

Roller Coaster - Wet or dry, the Saturn Classic will be tough

Wet and wild: Tim Johnson's Saturn Classic predictions

It's gotta be the suit.

Okay, so maybe when the rain started it helped Van Moorsel.

ONCE’s Joseba Beloki says he wants to be in position to win Saturday’sClassica San Sebastian. That means he has to be in the front over the punishingJaizkibel climb towering over the Atlantic Ocean just east of the finishline in San Sebastian. “Maybe this is my year, at least to try to be at the front at the Jaizkibel,which is where everything is decided,” Beloki told the newspaper El Dario Vasco. “I really hope to be at the front over the climb and then we’ll see what happens.” The Jaizkibel is a long, difficult climb up a lonely, windswept summitsome 20 kilometers from the finish line on

Four days after her brutal practice run crash at the NORBA mountain cross race in Durango, Colorado, American Tara Llanes updated VeloNews with her final injury tally. The damage: broken left collarbone, three fractured ribs, two partially collapsed lungs, one severely bruised lung, torn MCL in the right knee. Her season — and her shot at the NORBA mountain cross title — are almost certainly done. Llanes suffered her injuries on one of the huge double jumps near the finish on Durango's famed Chapman Hill. "The crash happened in the last five minutes of mountain cross practice before the

The escapees - Madeleine Lindberg (Farm Frites), Iryna Chuzhynova (Edilsavino) and Ghita Beltman (Accua Due O) -- were either five minutes up the road or just ahead of the field, depending who was looking at the watch.

While he would have loved to have raced in New York close to family andfriends last Sunday, U.S. Postal's George Hincapie opted to stayin Europe and take on Germany's World Cup race, the HEW Cyclassics in Hamburg. The choice appears to have paid off nicely. Hincapie made the rightmove, joined the winning break on Sunday and rose to third in the overallUCI World Cup standings after finishing fifth behind winner Johan Museeuw. “I really wanted to race in New York. It would have been great to seeall of my friends and family and the people I grew up racing with. Beforethe Tour started,

Hein Verbruggen, the president of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), has resigned from the board of the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) in protest at Dick Pound's leadership, he told AFP Monday. The UCI president strongly criticized WADA and its Canadian president for what he termed recent "irresponsible" statements concerning cyclists and said that future association with the UCI was uncertain. "Pound maybe thinks that he can run the WADA presidency like a sheriff in the Wild West, firing with a revolver at all targets," complained the cycling chief, one of WADA's founding

Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel made the home crowd happy in Sunday’sopener of the the 2002 Grande Boucle Feminine, winning the secondhalf of the two-part opening day stage to take the race lead. Saturn’s Petra Rossner won the morning sector and Zijlaard-VanMoorsel’s Farm Frites team won the team time trial to put the Dutch riderinto the leader’s jersey. The Grande Boucle Feminine is the most important stage race on the women’scalendar and continues through Aug. 18. After starting in Netherlands onSunday, the race heads through eastern France toward the Alps for a pairof tough climbing days

Two-time Paralympian Dan Nicholson of the United States won a world title and set a world record for CP3 cyclists Monday, August 5, at the International Paralympic Committee’s World Cycling Championships in Altenstadt, Germany. Nicholson captured the 1 kilometer time trial for cyclists with cerebral palsy in a world record time of 1 minute, 19.75 seconds. Meanwhile, teammate Dory Selinger also claimed gold in the LC2 1 km time trial for cyclists with a single-leg amputation below the knee in 1:12.67. Selinger led an impressive U.S. barrage in the LC2 category. Paul Martin (Boulder, Colo.)

Monday's Euro-file: Grande Boucle; Euro MTB titles; Dekker in doubt and Horrillo is out

Arndt takes the stage and the lead.

Museeuw solidifies his hold on the World Cup lead.

Live updates - New York City Cycling Championship

Letters from the Big Loop - Kimberly Bruckner's Grande Boucle diaries

Not bad for a guy who doesn't like field sprints

There's Tour winner in there somewhere.

Racing in the urban canyons.

Dominguez wins, but Lance is the hit on Wall Street

Hincapie joined the right break.

Simoni marked his return to the peloton in Hamburg.

Giove's signature was in high demand after her win.

Hesjedal leads the pack.

Gerolsteiner's Michael Rich and Uwe Peschel won the 72km Grand Prix timetrial in Karlsruhe, Germany, on Saturday, leaving a field of top riders,including Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and his teammate FloydLandis, in their wake.Rich and Peschel timed 1:23:02 topping the second-placed French pairLaurent and Nicolas Jalabert by 1:35 with Spaniards Joseba Beloki and Igorde Galdeano third at 2:25.Armstrong and Landis managed an eighth place finish, coming in 4:13behind the leaders and just behind another American duo, Telekom ridersBobby Julich and  Kevin Livingston, who took

Willy Voet, the man who achieved notoriety as the Festina soigneur found with a carload of drugs at the start of the 1998 Tour de France, claims that cycling is no cleaner today than it was four years ago, despite the fact that not a single rider in this summer's Tour tested positive. Voet, in an interview in Sunday's edition of the Swiss weekly Dimanche.ch, said that little has changed since the scandal that nearly stopped the 1998 Tour de France in its tracks, "I've always proclaimed loud and clear that nothing has changed in cycling,” Voet told the paper. "No one takes the

Carter heads for his third straight four-ride win.

Lopes came back from his crash and put on a show for the fans.

Jonnier was out front for the entire women's final.

Dunlap blasts through the mud.

Florit managed a smile despite the elements.

Dunlap heads around the Fort Lewis track.

Vanlandingham's look was shared by many.

Grigson pulled away from Sydor to take third.

Racing started and finished inside the Fort Lewis College football stadium.

Hesjedal had a tough day, but still managed to finish second.

Brown sails through the culvert ahead of Horgan-Kobelski.

Brown nips Horgan-Kobelski for third.

Florit leads Dunlap up the Chapman Hill climb.

O Iron Mike, Where Art Thou? Maybe Tyson is someone who could bring “athletic credibility” to cycling.

The Vuelta a Espana promises to be a highly competitive after the releaseof the official team start list this week. With the absence of Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, a dozen topriders will be looking to step up for a stab at victory in the final three-weekgrand tour of the 2002 season. Topping the list will be defending champion Angel Casero. Casero'sTeam Coast had hopes of earning an at-large bid to the Tour, but it never materialized, so the team has a lot riding on the Vuelta. Casero will be joined by two-time Vuelta winner Alex Zulle andperennial stage-hunter Fernando

Lithuania's largest daily on Friday slammed the French judiciary and media for the jailing of the wife of Lithuanian cyclist Raimondas Rumsas, calling the move revenge for his third place finish in the Tour de France. "The operation only against the wife of the cyclist appears to be an attempt to crucify him, especially as he is an upstart from a country without influence," the daily Lietuvos Rytas wrote in an editorial. Edita Rumsas, the rider's wife, was charged on Tuesday after being caught with performance-enhancing drugs in her car and is currently in police detention. She has

“You have hurt my feelings with your filthy fish-wrapper….”a cane--wielding Patrick Fitzpatrickto editor Deke Patwell inThomas McGuane’s "Nobody’s Angel" Lance Armstrong’s fourth consecutive Tour triumph was the prelude toa cacophony of chin music in the public prints, a symphony scored for smallminds playing big mouths, over who is the world’s greatest athlete — indeed,over who is an athlete and who is not. It didn’t help that Lance makes Le Grande Boucle look like aSunday spin on the bike path. A miser where his physical capital is concerned,Scrooge McTour spends no more than is

Only the TV moto could keep up with Green.