News

Hunter shows the effects of the day.

The aftermath of a crash.

France's Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole) will be out for three weeks after breaking his right collarbone in the season-opening "La Marseillaise" Grand Prix in Aubagne, in southern France, on Tuesday.The race organizers said Moreau, who was fourth in the Tour de France two years ago, fell as he came around a downhill bend during the 144km race. Moreau, 30, was due to undergo an operation on Wednesday. The former Festina rider suffered the same injury two years ago at the start of the 2000 season, when he broke his collarbone in the early season Etoile de Besseges. Tuesday's 144km

Hunter and Salomone head for home.

Hesjedal with a post-race smile.

The trip to the top of Genting could include a trip through the clouds.

The TDL cavalcade.

Downtown Ipoh, site of Stage 3's finish.

Heading out with the family.

Racing along a plam-tree lined road.

The rules of visiting a mosque.

Di Biase after his win on Monday.

Tafi feels the effects of the climb.

The group makes the trip up Fraser Gap.

A ferry heads to the island of Penang, which sits in the Indian Ocean.

Salted fish in the market at Lumut.

Hunter meets his fans at Tapah.

Degano (left) takes the sprint.

Tafi drives the break.

Leboucher collected her second rainbow jersey in Belgium

Dunlap missed the podium by one spot.

The women's podium

Happy Happy Belgians. Flemish fans celebrate the home team sweep.

De Clerq crosses the finish line.

Johnson's 13th-place equaled the best by an American.

The Belgians, led here by Nijs, were one big happy family.

Hunter celebrates his win.

(from left to right: A shocked Commeyne, Verhagen and Trunschka

Hunter and Tafi after another successful day in Malaysia.

The locals take in the race.

The Putra Mosque near the Stage one TT.

Another welcoming committee.

The Malaysian Prime Minister explains bike racing.

Sponsor cars.

The warm-up band.

Fans at 60 mph.

Looking down on the finish of Stage 2.

The next generation.

Box seats.

Timing transponder.

Jesse Anthony gets a good luck kiss from Mom before the start in Zolder.

Pauwels

Is that bat in your hand or are you just happy to see Verhagen? Dutch fans celebrate a win over rival Belgians

Hunter dons the yellow jersey.

Tafi gets his countdown.

The streets weren't always clear.

Welcome race fans

The four world championship races start and finish on pavement directly in front of the grandstands.

The hills start within a few hundred meters of the start.

Ann Grande scoots past on of the many homes that dot the course.

American Jonathan Page surveys one of the trickier descents

Even in practice laps, this tree at the bottom of one tough hill led to a few close calls.

Back on pavement, the course goes over itself before heading into the woods again.

The Sacramentskapel sits at the top of a short but tough climb.

The grounds of the Sacramentskapel will be off limits to fans this weekend.

The Tour de Langkawi welcoming committee.

Mapei is introduced.

Members of the Mapei team watch the highlights from last year’s race.

A clear and present danger? Does it take a bat to control these men?

After announcing last Friday that the first major stage race of the 2002 season, Paris-Nice, scheduled March 10-17, would "almost certainly be canceled," race owner Laurent Fignon recommenced negotiations with the Société du Tour de France this week. On Thursday evening in Paris, an agreement was reached between the two parties for Paris-Nice to be sold to ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation), parent company of the Tour society, which will do its utmost to ensure that the race takes place this year. Discussions broke down last week between ASO and Fignon, the two-time Tour de France winner, who

The 2002 Pro Cycling Tour (PCT) schedule was announced Wednesday, and it has a decidedly different look than last year’s series. In a move toward more high-profile events in major U.S. cities, the PCT has dropped the Sea Otter Classic, the Downtown Criterium in Austin, and two East Coast events, the Capital Cup and Clarendon Cup, from this year’s season-long points competition. On the schedule again this year are the four races that constitute the First Union Cycling Series in June, culminating with the stars-and-stripes weekend of the men’s First Union USPRO Championship and women’s First

You might just call it the rough equivalent of trash talk… only in Flemish. Holland’s Richard Groenendaal was quoted in Thursday’s edition of the Belgian humor magazine Humo as encouraging Dutch fans to bring bats and other weapons to this weekend’s world championship cyclo-cross race in Zolder, Belgium. Groenendaal, who has had at least one violent encounter with a Belgian fan this season, described the Flemish hordes as “the enemy.” The 31-year-old Rabobank cyclo-cross star went on to say that Dutch fans would be arriving in Zolder “armed with bats” to counter the interference of Belgians

Hesjedal

Andrea Tafi and Francesco Moser.

At 462 feet, the four minarets of the Blue Mosque are the tallest in the world. It can hold up to 24,000 worshippers.

Members of the Lotto-Adecco team pose for the press.

The new Lotto Litespeeds.

The women’s domestic road racing scene will have a new addition this year in the form of a U.S. national team sponsored by Cannondale. The team will go by the name Cannondale USA and will be led by Olympic silver medalist Mari Holden. Supported by grants from the United States Olympic Committee, the team will tackle an ambitious international schedule, focusing on World Cups and major stage races including La Grande Boucle Feminine (women’s Tour de France) and the HP Women’s Challenge. Jeff Pierce, former director of sports marketing at GT and recently hired by USA Cycling as vice

Holden highlights Cannondale USA women’s team

Dunlaps's ready for world's. Is Kupfernagel?

'Muddy,' was Gully's take on Heerlen

On Thursday we heard from the American Bicycle Group regarding the disbanding of Team Tomac. On Friday Johnny-T himself checked in to explain what happened. "It recently became financially impossible for me to field a pro team for the 2002 season," Tomac wrote in an e-mail. "The reasons being that sufficient funding from not only the main sponsor of the team (American Bicycle Group/Parent company to Tomac) have along with other industry sponsors, had to cut back on sponsorship dollars to the point where putting together a reasonable operating budget for Team Tomac was not possible. "Things

UCI, NORBA. NORBA, UCI. You two have something in common, so we thought you ought to meet. After trying to find a host for its last cancelled event, the UCI has opted not to reschedule the June 1-2 cross-country originally slated as part of the "triple" event at Leysin, Switzerland. That means this year’s World Cup calendar will consist of six downhill-mountain cross events, but only five cross-country races — the same number that NORBA has planned. "The (UCI) mountain bike commission decided not to change the fixed dates for the World Cup in order to avoid any conflict with any other

Italian cycling team Mapei-Quickstep launched its campaign for the 2002 season Friday with a vow to dominate the world - but also hinted its days in the doping-tainted sport might be numbered. Officially the message coming out of the Mapei team was one of world domination - the desire to regain their world number one spot, success in the two major races they have never won, a vow to compete on all five continents. But team president Giorgio Squinzi then went off-message, admitting his involvement in the scandal-hit sport might be numbered. Squinzi did not hide behind a poor 2001 season,

The first major stage race of the 2002 season, Paris-Nice, scheduled March 10-17, will "certainly canceled" according to the event organizer Laurent Fignon, who broke off negotiations on Friday to sell the event to the Tour de France promoters. The discussions started last week between Daniel Baal, director-general of the Société du Tour de France, and Fignon, the two-time Tour de France winner, but came to an end for financial reasons after appearing to start out well Friday morning. A press release issued by the Tour's parent company, ASO (Amaury Sport Organization) stated: "Despite a

While the rest of us were heading off to work Thursday morning, Alison Dunlap was boarding a plane bound for Europe. Already the holder of a rainbow jersey for her win at the mountain-bike world championships last September in Vail, Dunlap is off to Zolder, Belgium, hoping to add a world cyclo-cross title to her resume. Just a week before she left, VeloNews sat down with Dunlap in the dining room of her home in Colorado Springs. Here’s what she had to say about trying to win her second rainbow jersey in six months, her new mountain-biking team, and a few other topics. VeloNews: What do you

Lance Armstrong, tennis player Jennifer Capriati, and the U.S. Postal Service Team have been voted the 2001 USOC SportsMan, SportsWoman and Sports Team of the Year. The USOC SportsMan and SportsWoman of the Year awards have been presented annually since 1974 to the top overall male and female athlete from within the USOC member organizations. The team award was added in 1996. Voters for the awards include national media, the USOC Executive Committee, the USOC Board of Directors and the USOC Athletes' Advisory Council. Armstrong won his third consecutive Tour de France in 2001, the first

ESPN has "Sports Center." CNN has "Wolf Blitzer Reports." VeloNews now has (drum roll please) "VeloNews Week." No, don't check the TV listings for broadcast times -- the debut edition of this e-mail newsletter will hit your in-box on February 7. "VeloNews Week" gives you immediate access to the breaking news on the site as well as links to the latest interviews, training tips, equipment reviews and media critiques, along with inside news from VeloNews. Sign up in less than a minute (click here to sign up ), and you can look forward to road, track, mountain biking and cyclo-cross stories

He was one of the most successful riders in the sport’s history, but that wasn’t enough to keep the team that bears John Tomac’s name in business. Just two months before the opening of the 2002 season, Team Tomac has been disbanded, leaving downhilling brothers Gary and Rich Houseman looking for work. "We decided that we’d rather do grassroots racing then spend the money on two downhillers," said Herbert Krabel, director of marketing for American Bicycle Group, the parent company of Tomac Bicycles. "Yes we sell downhill bikes, but we sell a lot more cross-country bikes. We also had some

Dunlap's first rainbow jersey ride.