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Giro favorites lining up: Every year pundits invariably say, "This is the most-widen open (fill in race name) ever." Well, the 85th Giro d'Italia might not meet that clichè, but it certainly will be very competitive. A trio of dominant Italians will be fighting for the spoils while a half-dozen outsiders will be trying to spoil the party. The top favorites are Gilberto Simoni (Saeco-Longoni), Stefano Garzelli (Mapei-Quick Step) and Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo) and all three enter the Giro with something to prove. The defending champion Simoni wants to win back-to-back Giros

Armstrong recon mission: Lance Armstrong will survey key stages in the 2002 Tour de France in the coming weeks, just as he's done every year since 1999. Armstrong is scheduled to travel in June with U.S. Postal Service directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel and possibly other teammates to examine new climbs and time trial courses in the 2002 route. Bruyneel says this year they've slightly tweaked a strategy that's paid off for the three-time defending Tour de France champion. "We've changed it a little bit from past years," Bruyneel told VeloNews. "We're going to do it later

Former winner Jan Ullrich (Telekom) revealed Wednesday that he has pulled out of this year's Tour de France because of an injury to his right knee, giving Lance Armstrong a huge boost in his bid to win a fourth successive Tour in July. The 28-year-old German, winner of the world's toughest bicycle race in 1997 and reigning Olympic road race champion, has been fighting the injury for some time and feels that he will be unable to regain full fitness in time for the July 6-28 race. "It makes no sense, every time I increase my effort the pain comes back," he revealed on his Web site. It

With her dominating win at the Tour of the Gila, Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson closed to within six points of Saturn’s Lyne Bessette in the latest stage-race standings of the VeloNews Bro Tour, VeloNews’s unofficial, season-long "virtual" series tracking the U.S. road scene.Bessette’s teammate Kimberly Bruckner moved into second place, just one point behind Bessette, while Jeanson is fourth.In the men’s standings, Prime Alliance’s Chris Horner continues to hold a commanding lead over 7UP-Nutra Fig’s John Lieswyn. VeloNews Bro Tour: Stage Races (after 4 of 7 events) Men 1. (1) Chris Horner,

Hamilton

Juan Miguel Mercado just keeps winning races. The 23-year-old Spanish phenom clinched the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon on Monday to add to his Setmana Catalana victory in March. Mercado's victory is the fifth stage-race win of the season for ibanesto.com. Too bad the Spanish team won't be going to the Giro d'Italia, where Unai Osa finished third overall last year. Joining Mercado on the final podium were Joan Horrach (Milaneza) and Leonardo Piepoli (ibanesto.com), second and third respectively. Mercado won Sunday's climbing stage to take the overall lead. Angel Edo won the final

Frigo held on for the win.

The final podium.

Mercury controlled for Wherry (in purple)

Climbing through the Gila national forest

Zulle takes the stage.

Frigo remains in front.

Evans on the attack.

The peloton.

Brice Jones leads the Mercury train

German newspapers are reporting that Jan Ullrich is facing disciplinary action from his Telekom team after the cyclist was stripped of his driver’s license following a hit and run incident early this week. The 1997 Tour de France champion reversed his Porsche 911 into a row of parked bicycles and hit a railing in the center of the southwestern city of Freiburg early Wednesday and drove off, his manager Wolfgang Strohband confirmed. An eyewitness took the number of the car and contacted police who took a blood sample from the cyclist and subsequently withdrew his license. The 28-year-old

In vino veritas.– proverb quoted by Plato, Symposium 217 No doubt many of us had a bad moment over our morning eye-openers today when a cycling Web site offered the headline, “Ullrich loses his license.” Happily, it wasn’t his racing license – but it might as well have been.Apparently the 1997 Tour de France champ got overserved on Tuesday, hopped into his Porsche 911 with teammate Alexandre Vinokourov and a couple of hotties, then backed into a bicycle rack near Freiburg. A bike rack, of all things. Then he did what many twenty-something guys with a snootful of vino would do – he left the

Tyler Hamilton didn’t start at the Tour of Romandie this week because oflingering problems with allergies, but CSC-Tiscali team officials say hisGiro d’Italia preparations remain on schedule.Team boss Bjarne Riis told Danish journalists Friday at pressconference for this weekend’s CSC Classic in Denmark that the team didn’twant to take any chances before the May 11 start of the Giro, where theteam hopes he can finish in the top-5.“His training program has been perfect except for these problems,” Riissaid. “We didn’t want to risk anything for the Giro and our ambitions arestill the

Ullrich: better on the bike than behind the wheel

Winer (left) and Whiner (right)

Lombardi

Men at work: Lozano and Pronk were caught with 26km to go

Jeanson

Marco Pantani and Mario Cipollini will be on the sidelines for this summer's Tour de France after their teams again failed to receive one of the five wildcard invitations handed out Thursday by Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc. The Mercatone Uno team of Pantani, winner of the 1998 Tour de France and Giro d'Italia, and the Acqua e Sapone team of sprinter Mario Cipollini, winner of the Milan-San Remo race in March, failed to receive wildcards. French teams Jean Delatour and BigMat and the German Team Coast outfit of reigning Tour of Spain champion Angel Casero similarly failed to make

The final team selection for the 2002 Tour de France brought a wide rangeof reactions from the top players in Europe. Here's a sampling of someof the reactions in the wake of Thursday's announcement: Johan Bruyneel, director sportif U.S. Postal Service:"I think it's what was expected," Bruyneel told VeloNews fromSpain. "Everybody knew that it was going to be Saeco with Simoni and withseven French teams still to be selected, at least four of them going becausethere's an unwritten rule that says that Tour de France has to have asmany French riders as possible. There are no

Learning from their mistakes of a year ago, Tour de France director Jean-MarieLeblanc and his team selection committee at least explained thistime why they are snubbing Italy’s most popular cycling stars Mario Cipolliniand Marco Pantani.You may remember that in May last year, when announcing the five wild-cardteam selections for the 2001 Tour, Leblanc said that he took the numberof French teams up to eight because his committee favored the potentialof young-generation home teams over the possible failure of older-generationforeign teams. This year, in his announcement in Paris Thursday

Marco Pantani’s day went from bad to worse on Thursday after the anti-doping panel of Italy's Olympic Committee (CONI) recommended a four-year ban for the former Giro d'Italia and Tour de France winner for allegedly using insulin to boost his performace in last year's Giro. The recommendation came just hours after the Tour de France again snubbed Pantani’s Mercatone Uno squad when race director Jean-Marie Leblanc announced the final five wild-card slots for the 2002 Tour. While the Tour decision was disappointing, it was not entirely unexpected. So, too, the CONI recommendation

Not at the Tour: Come July, Cipollini won't be doing this in France (but the two guys behind him might).

Graham Watson

Another wet day.

Wherry (l) and Moninger tackle the climb

USA Cycling’s chief operating officer Steve Johnson has been named as the organization’s interim chief executive officer until a permanent replacement for the departing Lisa Voight is named later this year. Voight announced her intention to resign from the CEO’s post on May 1st, in order to devote time to her family. Voight is now nine-months pregnant with twin girls. Following her parental leave, Voight is slated to take on the job of USA Cycling’s Senior Advisor for Olympic and International Relations to USA Cycling. Johnson, who is also a candidate for the CEO post, assumed the

Telekom's Erik Zabel won the Rund um den Henninger Turm in Frankfurt on Wednesday, nipping Jo Plankaert (Cofidis) and Serguei Ivanov (Fassa Bortolo) in a sprint finish.The Telekom squad pulled back a three-man break with 30 km to go andthe race came down to a bunch sprint, with the world No. 1 rider pushingPlankaert into another loss. The Belgian has been active throughout thespring without securing a victory. Ivanov, second at Amstel Gold, continuedon his fine form with third. World champion Oscar Freire (Mapei)crossed the line fourth.1. Erik Zabel (G), Telekom, 206 km in 5:00:17 (41.26

Lombardi wins one in the rain

Mr. Prologue remains in the lead

Jeanson

Rik Verbrugghe won the opening prologue Tuesday in the Tour of Romandie, the top race of the week in Europe. The Lotto racer posted a time of 4:13 in the prologue course in Geneva, Switzerland, edging two national riders to take the leader’s jersey. The six-day race through the Romandie region of Switzerland is the final warm-up before the May 11 start of the Giro d’Italia and many of the Giro contenders are here honing their form. Results:1. Rik Verbrugghe (B), Lotto, 4:132. Alexandre Moos (Swi), Moos, at 0:013. Martin Elmiger (Swi), Phonak, at 0:024. Saulius Ruskys (Ltu), Gerolsteiner, at

Sierra Nevada-Cannondale rider Ryan Smith was stabbed to death in theearly morning hours of Sunday, April 28, in Sacramento. According to team director Mike Neel, the 23-year-old first-year pro was fatally wounded during an argument inside his girlfriend’s apartment building and collapsed in the street. Police later arrested the woman’s formerboyfriend, 21-year-old Ryan Moreno. “From talking to his roommate who witnessed the whole thing, Ryan wasn'teven aware he had been stabbed," Neel told VeloNews. Smith collapsed in the street in front of his girlfriend's apartment building as

The National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA) announced three changes this week to the 2002 Chevy Trucks NORBA National Championship Series. The U.S. pro national dual slalom champion will be crowned in a one-day showdown at the season opener at Snow Summit, California. The Snow Summit event goes down May 9-12 in Big Bear Lake, California. The top American finisher in the pro men's and women's categories on Saturday, May 11, will be awarded the 2002 pro national dual slalom title. The five-race series traditionally uses all its stops to determine pro champions in various

Telekom’s Jan Ullrich will start his European season on May 22 in the Tour of Bavaria after difficult spring season punctuated by a nagging knee injury. According to a Telekom statement released Monday, Ullrich will not race at the Giro d’Italia (May 11 to June 3), but will begin his season with the Bavarian race and then go on to the week-long Tour of Germany which begins on June 3. “We have opted for caution," said Telekom team doctor Lothar Heinrich, who said that competing in the Giro might compromise Ullrich’s chances in the Tour de France later in the year. The 1997 Tour de France

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in thepages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com thatcauses you to want to write us, dropus a  line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Hoping to see DaveI've heard worse...In reference to Patrick O'Grady's recent OLN rant (see "Friday'sFoaming Rant: Indoor living with Outdoor Life"), I'd have to agreeand add that the only thing worse than having to listen to Eurosport'scommonwealth

Bartoli continued Italy's hot streak at the classics.

Bartoli leads the final group on the Cauberg

Armstrong was there in the end but outmatched by Fassa Bortolo

Amstel: Gold for Armstrong?

David (Duffield) is a really nice guy, but he's losing it. Apartfrom pointing out Lance Armstrong after 10 minutes or so, we learned nothingof the (Liège-Bastogne-Liège) participants until Eurosport put up a caption naming the breakaway riders. We had, however, a lecture on mussels, Hotel Mercur, sprockets and past winners of the race. – Julie Jones, on the newsgroup rec.bicycles.racing Hey, now wait a minute! Remember the bad old days of televised cycling coverage in the United States? Of course you do. Our demographic is composed almost entirely of forty-something masters racers, USA

Ángel Casero could have a very busy summer, especially if thingsgo well for his Team Coast. The 2001 Vuelta a España champion isalready planning to race in the Giro d’Italia in May and the Vuelta a España in September and might even go to the Tour de France in July if his team earns a wild-card bid in May. “I will race in the Giro, because I have focused my preparation on thisrace. If we are invited to the Tour, I will also have to go. Of course,I want to defend my title at the Vuelta,” Casero told the Spanish sportsdaily AS. “It’s obvious that you cannot race all three at the highest

Casero may be on that bike a lot this summer

The Domo-Farm Frites team has pulled out of the Giro d'Italia and will be replaced by the Colpack-Astro outfit, race director Carmine Castellano announced Tuesday.The line-up of 22 teams will be: Acqua Sapone (I), Alessio (I),Panaria (I), Selle Italia (Col), Colpack (I), Fassa Bortolo (I), Gerolsteiner(G), Alexia (I), Kelme (Sp), Lampre (I), Colnago (B), Lotto (B), Mapei (I), Mercatone Uno (I), Mobilvetta(I), Phonak (Swi), Rabobank (Nl), Saeco (I), Tacconi (I), Team Coast(G), CSC-Tiscali (Dk), Deutsche Telekom (G).Kelme, the only Spanish lineup committed to the Giro, will have Aitor

Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner, was cleared of doping allegations stemming from police raids conducted during last year's Giro d'Italia by the German cycling federation (BDR). Ullrich was among a number of riders and team members who fell under suspicion following a police raid on the Tour of Italy last June where a number of illegal but also medicinal substances were seized. However the majority of the cases have led to little in the way of what could be classified real doping. The BDR's decision on Wednesday follows that of the Union Cycliste Internationale

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in thepages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com thatcauses you to want to write us, drop us a line at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Listen to the numbersI recognize that your polls are not scientific, but with such a disparitybetween road and mountain enthusiasts, why do you keep putting mountainbiking on your covers?  Maybe you should just have a section insidefor mountain stuff and leave

Training Bible Studies with Joe Friel

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something inthe pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.comthat causes you to want to write us, drop us a line at WebLetters@7Dogs.com. Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter. Of Sandbaggers and Cherry Pickers I was fortunate to witness this year's little Indy 500 in BloomingtonIN. The controversy surrounding Josh Weirs eligibility (see "Finishline: April 22") was well known by every person I spoke with in thecommunity.

It’s hard to believe Thomas Frischknecht is only 32 years old. That might seem ancient to young upstarts, but Frischknecht has been a leading figure in mountain biking since he showed up at the very first mountain bike worlds back in Durango in 1990. Since then, he’s done just about everything a mountain bike racer could accomplish. Like many big-name stars, Frischknecht now has his own team where he will he will act as coach and racer. VeloNews’ Andrew Hood caught up with Frischknecht last week as he prepares for the 2002 racing season. VeloNews: How are you feeling coming into the

The Spring Classics are winding down following the Italian sweep at Liege-Bastogne-Liege.Sunday’s Amstel Gold is the final stop of a month-long fest of epic one-dayraces across northern France, Belgium and Holland.The winners came from surprising corners, with veterans such as MarioCipollini (Ghent-Wevelgem), Johan Museeuw (Paris-Roubaix) andAndrea Tafi (Tour of Flanders) proving that experience counts. LanceArmstrong offered his hand to U.S. Postal Service teammates GeorgeHincapie and the young Tom Boonen, who surprised the cyclingworld with an impressive third-place at his Paris-Roubaix

Thirteen Italian cyclists have been effectively cleared to compete in the Giro d'Italia after the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) disciplinary commission decided not to impose bans that would prevent them from taking part, Italy’s ANSA news agency reported Monday. All 13 riders were among those implicated in last year's Giro doping scandal but only Giuseppe Di Grande was suspended, earning a six-month ban but one that is academic as the rider had already served that term. Five riders have had the cases dismissed while the disciplinary commission has asked for more information

Paolinetti calculates his chances

Mirabella

Pearce and Carney take on the Madison

Rossner, Schleicher, Melchers

At the start

One-two Mapei

Reason for concern: Bettini and Garzelli were in the day's most dangerous break.

Salanson and Kloden were off for more than 200km

Heavy traffic: the scene on the Cote St. Roche

Fast times in Little Italy: Garzelli and Bettini thrilled a partisan crowd

Belem shows off her two medals from Monterrey.

Arnaud Tournant

Josiah Ng

Thomas leads Lindenmuth in the 3-4 sprint final.

Carney

Belarus powered to a team pursuit win

Lindenmuth

Josiah Ng: a diamond in the rough?

Merckx, aggressive in Wednesday's Fleche Wallonne, drew the biggest cheers in Liège Saturday.