News

Well, if Cippo' isn't wearing these next year it will be because of contractual obligations. These are stylin'

Genevieve Jeanson won’t be spending the second week of October in Portugal after all. The 20-year-old Jeanson opted not to contest the world road championships in Lisbon. An ongoing problem with a tendon problem will keep her home.

Team Mercury's season came to an end on Monday, when it was announced that the UCI has suspended the team for failing to meet financial obligations. After co-sponsor Viatel went bankrupt in the middle of the season, Mercury was left short on funds, and eventually had to draw on the escrow account required by the UCI. Once the team began to draw on those funds, it had 30 days to replenish the account, which must contain an amount equal to three months of staff and rider salaries. When the team failed to do so, it was suspended beginning October 1. "We actually knew it was coming. My

Saturn director Jim Copeland was all smiles when he announced the signing of BigMat's Aussie sprinter Jay Sweet for the 2002 season.

The end-of-season transfer announcements have picked up in recent days, and a couple of big names were in the news on Tuesday: Johan Museeuw and Frank Vandenbroucke. Museeuw was reportedly close to signing a one-year deal with Mapei, his team of five years before he joined the Domo team for the 2001 season. Looking to replace Museeuw, Domo team manager Patrick Lefevre has offered a contract to the talented but troubled Frank Vandenbroucke, who was let go by his Lampre team a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, the CSC-Tiscali team had actual signings to announce this week. The team added Spaniard

With his three stage victories at the beginning of the Vuelta a España, Telekom’s Erik Zabel accrued enough UCI points to move him to the top of the UCI road rankings, displacing former No. 1 Lance Armstrong (U.S. Postal Service), who dropped to fourth. Davide Rebellin (Liquigas-Pata) moved into second place, with fellow Italian Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo) third. Several other riders used the Vuelta to propel themselves upward in the UCI standings, including Oscar Sevilla (Kelme-Costa Blanca), who lost the race on the final day but moved from 30th to sixth in the UCI standings. The

Navigators' Vasilli Davidenko, the winner of the BMC Software series, has been suspended by the Russian Cycling Federation for two months following the final adjudication of a positive drug test reported April 7 after a BMC race in Austin, Texas. USA Cycling chief operating officer Steve Johnson confirmed Tuesday that Davidenko had tested positive for nandrolone (19-norandrosterone and 19-noretiocholanolone) at the BMC criterium. The Russian Federation formally suspended Davidenko for two months on September 17. Johnson said the UCI reported the positive to USA Cycling following the

In a written statement issued on Tuesday, the Navigators cycling team addressed the suspension of team rider Vassili Davidenko for a positive drug test dating back to April 7. According to the release, the team believes that the positive test was the result of an "over-the-counter herbal food supplement that did not have a full accounting of the ingredients on the label." The statement went on to emphasize that Davidenko had been tested several times before and after the April 7 test, all with negative results. "The Navigators Team has full confidence that this result was due to the

This time they’ll be sporting their own labels. While Litespeeds have been a part of the European peloton for years, the American framebuilder will now actually be supplying a team of riders on bikes that are marked as such. Lotto, the pro team sponsored by the Belgian national lottery, has announced a three-year sponsorship agreement with Tennessee-based Litespeed. The Belgian team had been riding GTs since July of 1999, but the recent bankruptcy and sale of Schwinn/GT left the future of that sponsorship in doubt. Litespeed director of marketing Herbert Krabel has been actively courting

Wordin says Moninger will be back.

Zabel

New Sticker: Litespeed marketing director Herbert Krabel applies a new decal to a Blade, the TT bike to be used by the team next season.

Gary Fisher has not lost his fondness for expensive and distinctive clothes. Fisher can be easily prodded to talk about his own pet project, namely bikes with 700C wheels.

Two Italian road greats hit the dirt. Colnago and Ferrari teamed up to make the off-road successor to last year's road model.

Meeting with hundreds of independent bicycle dealers (IBDs) for the first time since his company’s successful bid to acquire Schwinn and GT, Pacific Cycles CEO Chris Hornung pitched his Profit Plus Program at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas on Sunday. Hornung focused on the decreased prices that his company will charge dealers for bikes saying, "You pay too much for your bicycles. You can pay less." But added that dealers will have to "forecast more efficiently than in the past." Hornung also confirmed that Pacific will utilize "dual-channel" distribution, meaning Schwinn and GT will

Pacific CEO Chris Hornung listens to a dealer's question.

Big Change: Casero took over in the TT

Making history: Casero got the win and Leipheimer became the first American to take the Vuelta podium.

4 for 9: Risi took another points title

It all comes down to these two

Contreras made it a first for Mexico

1,2,3: The French sprinters filled the podium

For the past few years, his name has popped up in results occasionally - Guido Trenti (USA) - prompting U.S. race fans to ask, "What's the story?" Now that he has scored the biggest win of his career - a stage victory at the Vuelta - that question is sure to be asked again. Well, here's the scoop: Trenti's mother is an American who married an Italian and moved to Italy. Trenti took out an American passport in the hopes of making the U.S. team for the 1999 world's. VeloNews first spoke with the Cantina Tollo rider at the 1999 Giro d'Italia, in this very brief interview

Guido who?

Elli leads the escape

Leipheimer is the only non-Spaniard in the top-10

Simeoni

Sevilla holds the lead

The gates of Cuenca

Zabel's escape gave him back the points jersey

The French Olympic sprint team heads for gold.

The Olympic sprint podium.

Hunter takes the win

Salsa Cycles has issued a recall of 466 of the company’s Alto disc-brake specific mountain-bike rim. The company reports that a faulty extrusion in the manufacturing process could cause the rim to fail catastrophically without warning. The Salsa Alto Disc rim is a black mountain bike rim with a 543 ERD made in 32 and 36 hole models. It is a disc-brake specific rim. The rim is labeled “Salsa Alto” in yellow, red, and white. The rim also has large “Salsa” decals on the side.The rims in question were sold by Quality Bicycle Products and other distributors to retail bike shops across the

Heras and the gang join the big move

American Olympic sprint champion Marty Nothstein and the Chinese national team will not compete at the track cycling world championships, which are slated to begin Wednesday at the SportPaleis in Antwerp, Belgium. Nothstein, who recently turned in a sub-par showing at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, has turned down the chance to race at the event in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. The move will reduce the U.S. team to just five men and four women. The Chinese, who won two medals at last year’s championships, apparently bowed

Italian cycling team Mapei announced Tuesday the signing of Kazakhstan youngster Dmitriy Muravyev. Muravyev, 21, inked a two-year deal with the outfit after winning 10 amateur races this year. Muravyev will make the move to Italy after representing his country at the world championships in Lisbon, Portugal, his last competition as an amateur. The move came a day after Mapei announced the signing of Olympic mountain biking champion Miguel Martinez. Copyright AFP 2001

There was talk of staying home, but despite the September 11 terrorist attacks, USA Cycling has decided against bowing out of this year’s world championships, and announced its 24-rider roster on Tuesday. The U.S. will be one of 35 countries competing at the final major road event of the 2001 season slated for October 9-14 in Lisbon, Portugal. The men’s squad will be led by four-time world’s team member and 2001 USPRO champion Fred Rodriguez. Rodriguez recently finished second in the Grand Prix de Fourmies in France. Jonathan Vaughters will also make the trip to Lisbon. The Colorado

Rubiera and Virenque

Nothstein won't contest world's

Citing “a breakdown in trust,” the Italian cycling team Mapei has fired former world number one Michele Bartoli on Monday. In an apparently unrelated move, the team also announced that it had signed mountain-bike star Miguel Martinez to a three-year road contract. In a statement faxed to news agencies around Europe on Monday Mapei's general manager Giorgio Squinzi said that "it would be advisable for Bartoli to negotiate with his future team right now." The parting of the ways comes at a time when speculation was running high that Bartoli was planning to join Fassa Bortolo. Squinzi

Martinez is hanging up the fat tires.

Carney

Jose Maria Perez, director sportif of Relax-Fuenlabrada was suspended Sunday by his employers following controversial remarks made about the ONCE team and their former world champion Abraham Olano. Perez claimed on Spanish radio last week that Olano had won the world title in 1995 with a hematocrit reading (the percentage of red blood cells) of 62, and that ONCE had a 2.5 million dollar "pharmacy budget.” Perez, whose team only has an overall budget of 11,000 dollars, also claimed that Swiss rider Alex Zulle, with the iBanesto team, "was not riding well" because he had been deprived of his

Sevilla chases

Sevilla still in the lead

Elli drives the break

Sevilla still in the lead

Kelme powers the peloton

The great escape

Elli and the Telekoms drove the chase for Zabel

Beloki in happier times

The Canadian Cycling Association announced its rider selections on Wednesday for the UCI Road Race World Championships to be held October 9-14 in Lisbon, Portugal. Roland Green, who became the first Canadian man to win a cross-country world championship with his victory at Vail, Colorado, Sunday, will ride the elite men’s time trial along with national teammate and 2000 Canadian time trial champion Eric Wohlberg. Green is not the only selected rider with impressive palmarés. Michael Barry, 1996 Canadian espoir national road race champion and Mark Walters, 1998 Canadian road race champion,

Chris Horner has been granted clearance by the UCI to leave the troubled Mercury team and finish out the 2001 season as a member of Prime Alliance. Horner is making the move to Prime Alliance in time to race this weekend in Irvine, California, and has contracted to race for the team in 2002. Horner will be joined by fellow Mercury rider John Peters for the 2002 season. Prime Alliance general manager Roy Knickman said Horner will serve as "a sort of co-leader with Danny Pate," the team's most promising young rider. Knickman said that the team's title sponsor has been pleased with the

Green will trade in the fat tires for skinny ones and head to Portugal.

Jiminez has an almost Zabel-like win streak

Sevilla's seventh was good enough to keep him in the jersey

Leipheimer continues to wow 'em

Leipheimer

The Vuelta entered Andorra Wednesday

Simoni's plans for next year probably don't include wearing a Lampre jersey.

Giro d’Italia winner Gilberto Simoni appears to be on his way out of the Lampre team, which on Wednesday released its official team roster for the 2002 season - without his name. Lampre said it had not received word from the 30-year-old Simoni about his future plans, and seemed to anticipate any decision by thanking him for his two years service and wishing him good luck for the future. The Italian outfit will also be without departing Swiss rider Oscar Camenzind, winner of Liege-Bastogne-Liege. However, Lampre will welcome back former team member Pavel Tonkov of Russia, who arrives from

Sevilla: back on top

Jimenez on his own

Heras

Leipheimer

Lejarreta wore his uncle's picture during the race.

Absalon repeated the 1998 win over Hesjedal when both were juniors.

Hesjedal couldn't match Absalon on the climbs.

Cooke (right) bides her time before making the winning move

Dunlap powers to the win.

Ferguson heads down Vail Mounatin.

Sydor led early, but settled for second.