Road

After watching the five time trials at the 2003 road world’s, and witnessingthe damage done by the climbs up Hamilton’s Niagara Escarpment, everyoneis wondering what many more repetitions of those climbs will effect onthe road-race fields.The first opportunity to see what will happen on the 12.3km road-racecircuit comes on Friday, particularly in the under-23 men’s 14-lap, 172.2kmevent. Fourteen times up the 1.5km, 6-prcent Beckett Drive and 14 timesup the 2km, 5-percent Claremont Access adds up to virtually 10,000 feetof climbing.The feeling among seasoned race observers is that not many

There was a very telling remark made by David Millar after he trounced the opposition in Thursday’s elite men’s time trial at sunny Hamilton, Ontario. “I’ve been like a junior the past 10 days,” he said, “just scared.” He was scared because he didn’t want to come up short again, as he did two years ago in Lisbon, Portugal, where Jan Ullrich made a desperate last push to snatch the victory from Millar. There was no doubt this time. He defeated an excellent Michael Rogers of Australia by 1:25 — it would have been closer to a minute had Rogers not flatted with 8km remaining — with Germany’s

Specialists are changing the face of cycling, particularly the world championships, UCI president Hein Verbruggen said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday. Verbruggen noted that “specialists,” who focus on big events such as the Tour de France, have changed the dynamic of the season. Verbruggen’s comments come as five-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and many of cycling’s top stars are giving this week’s world championships a pass. Since the UCI moved the road racing championships from late August and early September to early October, riders often complain the season is too

After Judith Arndt finished second to take the silver medal in the elite women’s time trial at the Hamilton road world’s on Wednesday, the German rider said what everybody already knew about Joane Somarriba, the woman who had beaten Arndt to take the world title. “Joane prepares herself for two or three events during the year,” Arndt said. “And then she wins.” It made perfect sense that Somarriba, the Spanish climbing specialist you usually see winning grand tours, not one-day events like the world time trial championship, circled this day on her calendar. Hamilton is not your average TT

In this 10th year of elite men’s time trialing at the road world’s therehas been an alternation between wins by specialists and all-rounders. SpecialistsChris Boardman (1994), Abraham Olano (1998), Sergei Gontchar (2000) andSantiago Botero (2002) took the title on courses that were devoid of seriousclimbs, while grand tour winners Miguel Induráin (1995), Alex Zülle(1996), Laurent Jalabert and Jan Ullrich (2001) won on tougher courses.Of the 44 starters in Thursday’s 41.3km elite men’s TT (two laps ofthe hilly circuit raced by elite women and junior men on Wednesday), thereare two riders who

PreservationistDear Lennard;I have several repair books including your “Art of Road Bike Maintenance,”and I can’t find the answer to this question. I have a nice late '80s Stronglightcrank that has the threads stripped on the drive side where you put thetool in to extract the crank. Is there anything I can do to get the crankoff and save the BB and crank?--Drew Dear Drew;Were you ever a trumpeter or other brass instrument player? I was,and I frequently managed to get my mouthpiece stuck in my trumpet. To removeit, you had to slip two notched steel plates around the tube of the mouthpiece,one

Looking like a young Viatcheslav Ekimov, compact and powerful, 18-year-old Mikhail Ignatiev put in an impressive performance to win the junior men’s time trial for the second year in succession on Wednesday. This second world TT title goes with the four rainbow jerseys he has won in the past two track world’s: two team pursuit titles along with the points race (2002) and Madison (2003). In 2002, on the flat Zolder, Belgium, TT course, the dark-haired Russian won by 10 seconds over Australian Mark Jamieson. On Wednesday in Hamilton, Ignatiev was already 12 seconds ahead of the competition

The 12-man Spanish national team left for Hamilton with high hopes ofdelivering Oscar Freire into his third world championships in five years. “We are going with the intention of winning. We know it’s not easy,but we have a team that can do it and we’re going to fight for the gold,”said Spanish national team coach Paco Antequera in the Spanish dailyAS. “If we get another medal, we’ll welcome it.” Freire, without a doubt, will be the Iberians leader. Since the Rabobankrider won his first world title in Verona in 1999, he’s won a second in Lisbon (2001) and took bronze at Plouay (2000). Last

The 2003 world road championships opened Tuesday morning with three first-time medalists in the junior women's time trial. Racing in only her "fourth or fifth" time trial, German Bianca Knöpfle, 18, finished the 15.4km course in 22:17.08 to take gold, while a pair of Dutch riders - Loes Markerink and Iris Slappendel - finished second and third respectively. "I can't even imagine I've won this medal," said Knöpfle after taking the win on the hilly course in Hamilton. "It's incredible, I don't know what to say." With a time that was more than 16 seconds faster than Markerink's, Knöpfle was

Ever since the individual time trial was introduced to world championshipracing at Palermo, Italy, in 1994, a list of familiar names have won thewomen’s event. French perennial Jeannie Longo has won the TT title fourtimes, Dutch world hour record holder Leontien Van Moorsel has two goldmedals and, last year, 1996 Olympic champion Zulfia Zabirova of Russiacame out on top. Perhaps that was the last big result for the old guardof women’s cycling.Knocking on the door with two silver medals at the past two world’shas been Switzerland’s Nicole Brändli, who’s now 24. Her compatriotKarin Thürig, a

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is noticeably absent from the worldchampionships in Hamilton as the Union Cycliste Internationale followedthrough on its threat to ban the world agency from cycling events followingthe recent leaking of a confidential document on this year's Tour de France(see "UCInow seeks to ban WADA" - September 23, 2003).A sport regularly tainted by doping scandals, the UCI's decision notto invite an independent WADA observer could cast a shadow of suspicionon results.WADA president Dick Pound told Reuters he has scheduled a meeting with the UCI in Hamilton on Friday to

Michigan got a good taste of international cyclo-cross racing on Saturday with the Michael R. Rabe Midwest Cyclo-Cross Championships. Promoted by Robert Linden of Tailwind Enterprises, the first-time UCI event saw racers come from Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Massachusetts. To make it a true international event, riders even came from as far as Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The junior men's event saw a tightly fought battle among the top three. Konrad Lebas (Richard Sachs) had to take a change early on due to a problem with his rear wheel,

Germany finished the first day of the world road championships undefeatedas 22-year-old Marcus Fothen won the men’s under-23 time trial on a breezyTuesday afternoon in Hamilton, Ontario. Fothen beat Niels Scheuneman ofthe Netherlands by the comfortable margin of 18.99 seconds to score a secondgold medal of the day for Germany, after Bianca Knöpfle’s win in the junior women’s time trial. Fothen, who finished fifth in the U23 time trial at last year’s worldchampionships, was confident before the 30.3km race. In addition to beingthe 2003 German U23 time trial champion, he had won the time trial

Here in Colorado, the leaves are certainly turning but there sure isn’t a crisp in the air-at least not yet. Take, for example, this past weekend. Sunday was the official ‘cross season kick-off here in Boulder. Held at the local reservoir, it somehow felt a bit odd hoofin’ about while jet skiers slalomed past and Eliminator jet boats shot up mile-high rooster tails under a relentless 80-degree sun. Somehow racing seems so much easier when you’re not forced to watch attractive women sipping lemonade and laying out on the very beach you’re running across. While not in the hunt for the lead

Jan Ullrich says there is only one reason for his move back to the Telekomcycling team -- to beat Lance Armstrong in next year's Tour de France. "I just want to beat Lance and to do that I need a strong team," saidthe 29-year-old German. Of course, the financial side of the deal probably helped his decisionto return to the team with which he spent the bulk of his professionalcareer. German media reports say Ullrich will earn 2.5 million Euros ($2.9million) a year with Telekom. Ullrich, who won the 1997 Tour as a Telekom rider, will be bringingwith him his teammates from the Italian Bianchi

Two young Americans, Larssyn Staley from Beaverton, Oregon and MichaelCreed from Colorado Springs, have a great chance of giving the U.S. teama winning start to the 2003 world road championships when the first timetrials are held in Hamilton, Ontario, on Tuesday.Staley, 18, is the top favorite in the junior women’s 15.3km time trialover one lap of Hamilton’s demanding course. She has already won a worldtitle this year, the points race at the world junior track championshipsin Moscow, and her Polish coach Merik Mazur (who lives in Hamilton) believesshe will be ready for the road time trial. On

The World Cup stop long hyped as a sprinter’s race finally delivered on its promise after successful breakaways have ruled the undulating Paris-Tours course since 1996. The sprinter teams led by Fassa Bortolo, Telekom and Saeco worked in harmony to keep an eight-man break that included the indefatigable Jacky Durand (Fdjeux.com) at arm’s length until 13km to go when the real fireworks started. Despite two attacks in the final 8km by World Cup leader Paolo Bettini (Quick Step), the 97th running of Paris-Tours came down to a mass gallop on Tours´ wide Avenue de Gammont. Bettini's 11th place,

World champion Mario Cipollini won't defend his title next weekend in Canada, he told reporters Friday in a press conference in Milan. "The course is very difficult for my characteristics," Cipollini told reporters. "I don't want to divert interest from my teammates who prepared for the Canadian race." Cipollini, 36, has hardly raced since crashing out of the Giro d'Italia in May. The popular Italian sprinter was forced into starting last month's Vuelta a España, but was clearly not in shape. His team was forced to wait for him during the opening team time trial and Cipollini didn't start

Former Tour de France winner Marco Pantani has been cleared of sporting fraud for a case of doping during the 1999 Giro d’Italia, by a court in Trentino on Thursday. Pantani was charged after high hematocrit levels were found in his blood on the penultimate day of the 1999 Giro d’Italia. The hematocrit limit was imposed in 1997 as an indicator that a rider might be using the endurance-enhancing drug EPO. The Italian, winner of both the Giro and Tour de France in 1998, had already served a six-month ban for his failed drugs test but faced prosecution charges as doping in Italy is a criminal

The collision of two mega-events is quickly approaching. No need to uncoverthe ol’ bomb shelter in the backyard, just be on the lookout for the avalancheof cycling news about to come hurtling your way. Yep, early October is approaching and both the 2003 World Road Championships(“world’s” for those of you about to jump all over my inclusion of anapostrophe in the title) in Hamilton, Ontario, and Las Vegas's 2003Interbike trade show are coming up on the same weekend. If you’re not ableto attend either, your best bet to get the latest news is right here atVeloNews.com (as well as the print

Just where Jan Ullrich will ride next season is still unknown, but his chances of returning to Telekom took a blow this week when peace-making efforts between Rudy Pevenage and Walter Godefroot fell a bit short of the mark. Godefroot has refused to allow Pevenage to return with Ullrich to Telekom (next year to be called T-Mobile), but Ullrich’s manager said Wednesday the door remains open. “Ullrich’s return remains an option,” said Wolfgang Strohband, Ullrich’s manager who’s leading the negotiations. “Maybe we have to find another solution for Pevenage. What that could exactly be, we don’t

Dear Monique;I wanted to learn more about how quickly I can rehydrate once I'vebecome dehydrated. I'm more concerned with how long before a workout orrace, I need to start to get my cells fully replenished. An example mightinclude a scenario where an athlete had some wine with dinner the nightbefore and coffee in the morning. At what rate does the body absorb waterand re-hydrate and replace the water used and lost from processing thealcohol and caffeine?Thanks for your helpJCDear JC;That's an interesting question. In matters of dehydration, it is bestnot to fall too far behind, as there is

More than 3000 people turned out in Béjar, Spain, to give Roberto Heras a hero’s welcome Tuesday after he returned to his hometown following his dramatic victory in the 58th Vuelta a España. The city’s fathers are considering naming a city street after the two-time Vuelta champion. His mother, wife and daughter joined Heras as he toasted his fans from the city hall balcony. He dedicated his victory to his father, who died in May from cancer. The U.S. Postal Service celebrated Heras’s victory with a team dinner at a popular restaurant in Madrid on Sunday night. Five-time Tour de France

Last week, you saw some of the new things from the Milan bike show, whichis primarily a fantastic display of road bikes, surrounded by a massivemotorcycle show. While most of the two-wheeled enthusiasts attending theshow are there to ogle bikes with motors, there is still plentyof passion in Italy for the human-powered bikes side as well. The movement toward making more and more elements of the high-end bicycleout of carbon continues unabated. Now, however, you see an increasing useof highly reflective white carbon (it actually looks more silver than white)and systems for damping the

U.S. Postal's Roberto Heras has dropped in the world cycling rankings released Monday despite clinching his second Vuelta a España title this past weekend. Heras, who also won the 2000 Vuelta, dropped from 19th to 25th spot because the world rankings take into account the number of days spent leading the event. As a result, Heras earned fewer UCI points than he did last year when he finished runner-up because he held the leader’s jersey for less time. By contrast, Spain's Isidro Nozal (ONCE), who finished second this year despite leading until the final day, jumped from 303rd to 19th

After three weeks of racing, thousands of kilometers, climbs and time trials Roberto came out on top and won in the final hours. In an uphill time trial of 11 kilometers, he achieved what most thought was impossible: overcoming what was nearly a two-minute deficit. Hoping against hopeGoing into Saturday’s time trial we thought he had a slim chance of beating Nozal. For Roberto to win the Vuelta, Nozal would have to have a bad day and he would need a great day. All of us on the team were dreaming that it would happen but nobody would say they thought it was possible for the fear they would

For the second time in two months, U.S. Postal Service was celebrating victory in one of cycling's major stage races. Just eight weeks after Lance Armstrong won his record-tying fifth Tour de France, Roberto Heras rolled through Sunday's 148.5km finale into Madrid to claim his second career Vuelta title. "We never gave up fighting and made up time little by little and we were finally able to make up the difference," said Heras, who erased a 5 minute, 13 second difference to Isidro Nozal (ONCE) after the second time trial at Albacete. "This Vuelta victory means more to me than the first one

Moments after the taking second place overall in the Vuelta a España, Isidro Nozal said he's already thinking about the world championships. "I'm ending this Vuelta a little bit tired, but after a few days of rest I will be very motivated for the worlds," said Nozal, who will race in the time trial. "After my successes here in the time trials I think I will have good chances to earn a medal." Nozal won both of the Vuelta's longer time trials, relegating David Millar (Cofidis) into second both times. The pair is sure to duel again in Hamilton. Petacchi to end season at Paris-Tours

Roberto Heras (U.S. Postal Service) delivered the time trial of his life to win Saturday's penultimate stage of the Vuelta a España and vaulted into the overall lead after erasing a seemingly insurmountable gap to Isidro Nozal (ONCE). A year after losing the 2002 edition on a final-day time trial, Heras is about to claim his second career Vuelta title after obliterating Nozal's lead of 1 minute, 55 seconds, in an emotional victory that puts him 28 seconds into the race leader's golden jersey with one stage to go. "I wanted to win the stage but instead we saw a miracle," said Heras, who won

Fred Rodriguez (Caldirola-Duval) has left the door open for a possible start at the October road world championships. Earlier this month, Rodriguez told U.S. national team coach Jim Ochowicz he wasn't interested in racing in Hamilton, but has since changed his mind after finding his legs in the second half of the Vuelta a España. "Ochowicz needed to know by September 15 and at that point I thought I needed to shut it down. But I'm feeling better now and I told George (Hincapie) if he needs me, if he feels like the team isn't strong enough, to give me a call," Rodriguez told VeloNews before

Editor’s note: Six months ago, Rob Jones, editor of Canadian Cyclist, issued a report card on the world road championships scheduled October 6-12 in Hamilton, Ontario, assigning an overall grade of B-minus. With the world’s just two weeks off, Jones decided it was time to re-examine Hamilton 2003, and his evaluation follows below. He’ll issue a final grade after the event ends. Course: A-plus (previously an A) The course was used for the Canadian road national championships in June, attracting a number of foreign riders, and produced the most exciting racing in recent memory for a

Australian Stuart O'Grady, former Tour de France leader and gold medalist in the 2002 Commonwealth Games road race, has signed for top French team Cofidis. O'Grady, 30, wore the yellow jersey of the Tour in 1998 and 2001, winning a Tour stage to Grenoble in 1998. This year he took third in the Tour of Flanders, the best finish for an Australian in the prestigious one-day event since Phil Anderson was second in 1988. "We will be concentrating on the Belgian classics with Stuart," team manager Francis Van Londersele told Reuters. "Then after that, perhaps the green jersey or perhaps stages

ONCE team director Manolo Saiz has been ejected from the Vuelta a España for “behavior not in keeping with the spirit of cycling in general and the Vuelta in particular,” after he tried to physically block a television motorcycle during the 19th stage of the race on Friday. Jean-Michel Voets, president of the jury of the race commissaries, announced the decision Friday evening after two hours of deliberation in which race officials reviewed video tapes of Saiz trying to force a motorcycle from riding too close to Roberto Heras after the U.S. Postal rider attacked overall race leader Isidro

Roberto Heras (U.S. Postal Service) pumped some excitement into the Vuelta a España, perhaps making things a little too exciting for race leader Isidro Nozal (ONCE). Heras charged up the Category 1 Alto de Navacerrada and quickly put Nozal into trouble in the 164km 19th stage. Luckily for Nozal, it was a long 23km back down to the finish line in Collado Villalba and Heras could only reduce the gap to 1 minute, 55 seconds going into Saturday’s decisive climbing time trial at Abantos. “The time that I got back from Nozal was okay considering the circumstances, but ONCE was able to make the

Everybody in the peloton is still waiting for an early breakaway to stick and go to the line. It still hasn’t happened and as a result three quarters of the peloton is trying to get in the elusive break. The race is still going from the gun each day and never relents. Because of that, we averaged close to 48kph on a hilly circuit on Wednesday. We have now left the olive groves in the south and are on a train to Madrid. The entire peloton and most of the staff is aboard a bullet train and are headed from Cordoba towards the capital. We’ll be in Madrid for the next four days-until the race’s

It´s not often the little teams can knock off the big Division I powerhouses, but Pedro Diaz Lobato made just the right move to win Thursday´s short and very fast 18th stage around the hills west of Madrid. Lobato jumped ahead of a five-man leading break with 20km to go and held on to claim the biggest victory of his career and give his Paternina team a huge boost in the final week of the Vuelta a España. Paternina´s been riding like a D1 all season, snagging wins at Bicicleta Vasca and the Tour of Cataluyna, but emerging star Jose Antonio Pecharroman pulled out of the Vuelta early with a

With ONCE firmly in control with only five days of racing left, U.S. Postal Service is readjusting its target for the Vuelta a España. While the team vows to keep fighting, sport director Johan Bruyneel is realistic when he admits the 3:09 gap between Roberto Heras and race leader Isidro Nozal might be too much to overcome. "After surviving the stage to Sierra Nevada, Nozal has nearly won the Vuelta," Bruyneel told reporters following Tuesday's 16th stage. "Unless something unexpected happens, our objective now is second place." Heras attacked in the final steep switchbacks up the 30km

This week I opted to provide a few more vegetarian nutrition tips providedby the many cyclists and triathletes who responded to our request to hearfrom vegetarian endurance athletes. Of course, any athlete interested innew snack and meal ideas can use the healthy and nutritious suggestionsbelow. Well-planned vegetarian diets are also a great of nutrients suchas fiber, carbohydrate, vitamin A and phytochemicals, and contain healthyfats.Some favorite vegetarian meals:Tofu tacos- use extra firm tofu, cubed and cooked in a little olive oil,mix with Spanish rice, refried beans, tomatoes, onion,

David Millar perfectly timed an attack on the Category 2 Alto de Jerónimo and turned on the turbos in the snaking descent into Córdoba to win Wednesday’s 17th stage of the Vuelta a España. In a day that saw no major shake-ups in the overall standings, the Cofidis rider made up for two close calls in the individual time trials to score his third career Vuelta stage victory. Millar jumped off the front of the main bunch early up the 11km Jerónimo climb and later held off a chase group that included Oscar Sevilla (Kelme) and Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank). “I told my team this morning I wanted

After a few narrow misses, the Vuelta a España King of the Mountains Felix Cardenas (Labarca-2) finally got a stage win on Tuesday, but he didn’t make any friends in the process. Just like he did to Roberto Heras (U.S. Postal Service) going up La Pandera on Sunday, Cardenas sat on the wheels of Kelme’s Oscar Sevilla and Alejandro Valverde up the grinding 30km climb to Sierra Nevada before making a strong solo attack with 1km to go to reel in local hero Juan Miguel Mercado (iBanesto.com) to snag the victory. Heras, meanwhile, used Tuesday’s 16th stage to make the most of what was his last

Dear readers;I am writing this from Italy, a few days after I had the chance to visit Milan for what has to be one of the world’s best bike shows. So if you don’t mind, I would like to start my weekly column with a look at fewof the treasures I spotted at Milan’s EICMA show. Conducted under gorgeous warm, sunny weather, the 61st EICMA bicycleand motorcycle show marks the official launch of a new road season. Italy is a great place for a show, and Milan in particular, because of the heritage of great design. As always, gorgeous Italian bicycles are in abundance, and the theme of ever more

Last week I expressed my enthusiasm for the upcoming October 10th-14thInterbike trade show. After checking out the list of exhibitors forthis year’s show, I got to thinking about the host of manufacturers whoweren’t going to make it to Vegas this year. In speaking with afew of the manufacturers who couldn’t/wouldn’t make this year’s show itbecame clear to me why so many companies won't be making the trip outto Interbike: Cost. Even on the cheap, when all is said and done, to lease the smallestspace available; design, build and ship even the most a modest booth; paythe mandatory set-up

We are in Granada and will be staying here for the next few days. Today we have another rest day that has been sandwiched between the final two big mountain days. To the PanderaYesterday’s stage to the summit of the Pandera was tough and left much of the team drained as we spent much of the race on the front controlling the peloton. Our goal going into stage was to keep the peloton together, or at least ensure it was together by the bottom of the final ascension to the top of the Pandera, so that Roberto could race for the stage victory. After chasing an early breakaway of 16 riders we

Saturday’s stage started at the gravesite of Michela Fanini, an Italian rider who I raced against a few times in the early 1990s before she died instantly in an automobile accident. Cathy Marsal and I were reminiscing about the last race we both competed in with Michela. It was the 1994 World Championships in Sicily. Cathy was in a breakaway with her and they both crashed just a few kilometers from the finish. Michela was a super talented bike racer and from what it seems like; she came from a cycling family. Since her death, her father has been promoting the Tour of Tuscany in her memory

George Hincapie won’t be starting Tuesday’s 16th stage of the Vuelta a España. The U.S. Postal Service rider left the Vuelta following Sunday’s stage to La Pandera and returned to his European home base in Girona, Spain. “We discussed it before that if Roberto was leading the Vuelta in the final week I’d stay and help,” Hincapie told VeloNews. “Now I’m going home to prepare for the world’s.” With Heras sitting third overall at 4:02 back, the team decided it was better for Hincapie to rev up for the road world championships than stay on for the Vuelta’s final run into Madrid. “This way I

The 8.3km final hump to La Pandera to cap the 172km 15th stage of the Vuelta a España proved too short for Roberto Heras (U.S. Postal) and too steep for Isidro Nozal (ONCE), but just right for Alejandro Valverde (Kelme). Heras attacked as promised, but couldn't make up the time he needed to against Nozal on the steepest climb of the Vuelta. The young race leader forfeited some time to his rival - 1 minute, 11 seconds - but retained a comfortable 4:02 margin over Heras. "We're still pretty happy with how things went," said Johan Bruyneel, U.S. Postal's sport director. "The team controlled

Stage 2 has historically been the most decisive in the Giro Toscana — often, the race has been won or lost on this day. It was hot at the start of the stage, which took us up two short category-3 climbs followed by two 10km ascents to the picturesque town of Volterra. We had a laugh at the start of the stage, as Svetlana Boubnekova and Zita Urbanaite had a bit of a cat fight on the bike and were yelling and hitting each other. I am not really sure what they were arguing about, but everyone gave them a little space in the bunch and they finally seemed to work it out and quiet down. Mountain

Germany's Michael Rich (Gerolsteiner) won the 67th Grand Prix des Nations time trial Sunday in Dieppe, France. Rich, who will celebrate his 34th birthday on Tuesday, won the 70km race,the biggest time trial in the world, by a second from Belgian specialist Bert Roesems. Ukrainian veteran Serhiy Honcher came third ahead of defending champion Uwe Peschel of Germany, with Hungarian Laszlo Bodrogi finishing fifth and Australian Michael Rogers sixth. Rich is also the reigning German time-trial champion. Switzerland’s Karin Thuerig won the 35km women’s race, outpacing last year’s winner, German

Alessandro Petacchi just can’t help himself. Even in the sloppy sprint finish at the end of Saturday’s 14th stage, the Fassa Bortolo strong man still had the legs to claim his fourth stage of the Vuelta a España. Giovanni Lombardi (Domina Vacanze) tried to surprise Petacchi with an early sprint, but the Italian surged late to hold off Fred Rodriguez (Caldirola) by a half-bike length to claim victory. “This certainly was the hardest stage to win,” said Petacchi, who came through in 3 hours, 44 minutes, 16 seconds (44.9 kph). “It was a very strange sprint. Lombardi started very early and I

Yesterday was a second big test for Roberto and Triki. To place on the podium they both need to ride well in the time trials. They can climb without difficulty so it is against the clock that they need to limit their losses. Going into the time trial both of our leaders had the two Fassa leaders breathing down their backs. The course was fairly flat, a loop that started and ended in downtown Albacete. Most of the 53 km course was on roads wide open to the wind with a few rolling hills. It was a nice circuit but not a particularly spectator friendly one - most of the loop was devoid of human

Now there's no doubt at all who's the strong man of the Vuelta a España. After some pesky questions regarding who was the true leader at ONCE, Isidro Nozal roared to his second time-trial victory in little more than a week and firmly established himself as the man to beat with nine days left in the 21-stage Vuelta. Nozal covered the windy 53.3km course - the Vuelta's longest in 35 years - in 1 hour, 2 minutes, 3 seconds (51.5 kph) and relegated time-trial specialist David Millar (Cofidis) into second place yet again by 13 seconds. No one else could come within 40 seconds. Nozal’s closest

U.S. Postal’s Roberto Heras knows the cards are stacked against him going into Friday’s 53.3km individual time trial at Albacete. Already at 3:28 behind race leader Isidro Nozal (ONCE), Heras admits his chances of winning the Vuelta a España are slim. “If Nozal responds like he did in Zaragoza, the Vuelta will be his. I can only hope to lose as little time as possible so I won’t be off the podium,” Heras said after Thursday’s stage. “This stage will be more decisive than the two (remaining) summit finishes. In La Pandera, if you’re in form and remain calm, you won’t lose much time.” The

SA Cycling has announced the names of riders selected to represent the U.S. in the elite men’s road race at the 2003 World Championships in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on October 12, 2003.Bobby Julich (Reno, Nevada)Chris Baldwin (Bouder, Colo.)Chris Horner (Bend, Ore.)Christian Vande Velde (Boulder, Colo.)David Clinger (Los Angeles, Calif.)Floyd Landis (San Diego, Calif.)George Hincapie (Greenville, S.C.)Guido Trenti (Milan, Italy)John Leiswyn (Ames, Iowa)Levi Leipheimer (Santa Rosa, Calif.)Mark McCormack (Northeaston, Mass.)Tim Johnson (Boston, Mass.)Care to comment? Send letters to

They’re called abanicos in Spanish – echelons to the rest of the cycling world – and U.S. Postal Service played the peloton like a fiddle in the brisk cross-winds of Thursday’s 168.8km 12th stage of the Vuelta a España. With 50km to go, Postal Service massed at the front as the peloton roared across the bleak, treeless plains of Castilla-La Mancha. Strong winds were cracking from the left and the Posties' blistering pace quickly blew the peloton into three groups. Caught out of position were Fassa Bortolo’s Dario Frigo, who started the day fourth at 3:05 back, and defending champion Aitor

While the rest of Spanish cycling is buckling under the imminent disappearance of ONCE and iBanesto.com, Kelme is poised to renew its contract with a key co-sponsor that will ensure the team's presence in the peloton through 2006. Kelme, a Spanish shoe-maker, has committed to staying with the team and the team's co-sponsor, the Valencia provincial government, is expected to sign on for three more seasons. Despite the assurance, Kelme hasn't been in the market this spring and seems committed to staying with established team leader Oscar Sevilla and rising star Alejandro Valverde. More talk

In our meeting this morning Johan told us about a stage in the Vuelta back in 1996 when Tony Rominger lost his shot at the overall due to inattention on a flat stage with crosswinds. It was the same stage we rode today from Cuenca to Albacete. Needless to say, we were all ready for a fight in the wind and an attempt at gaining Roberto and Triki a minute or so before tomorrow’s TT. Back to workAfter the rest day, Wednesday’s stage was insanely and relentlessly fast, with a never-ending succession of attacks and counter-attacks. At the end of the hilly 165km stage we had crossed the line in

Many observers at the Vuelta a España are making comparisons between the break-through performance of Isidro Nozal at this year's race and the Vuelta victory scored by Melchor Mauri in 1991. Like Mauri, Nozal rides for ONCE, is in his fifth year as a professional and was aged 25 going into the Vuelta. In his first four seasons, Nozal won a single race (a 9.7km time trial at last year’s Clasica de Alcobendas), while Mauri had just two criterium wins in his palmarès. When it was pointed out to Nozal last week that his ascendancy at the Vuelta was just like Mauri’s 12 years ago, Nozal said,

I feel as if I haven’t stopped moving for the past week. Seven days ago, I was sitting tranquilly in our little apartment in Spain and since then, I have traveled to San Francisco, attended several sponsor events, visited with friends, raced in San Rafael and in the T-Mobile International, traveled to Italy, and started racing in the week-long Giro Toscana. Welcome to the world of a professional cyclist. Amazingly, I still feel energetic and am eager to get on the bike each day. While arriving at the prologue yesterday in Pistoia, we were notified of an unfortunate accident that had

Erik Zabel made it through three stages in the Pyrénées to win Monday’s frenetic stage into Sabadell and snagged another victory after he got over a tough cobble-stoned Category 3 climb late in Wednesday’s 162km 11th stage. Zabel’s Team Telekom did great work to reel in the attacking David Etxebarria (Euskaltel) and Santos Gonzalez (Domina Vacanze), erasing a 39-second gap with 10km to go put Zabel in position to win. Gonzalez and Etxebarria were caught with 500 meters to go and Zabel charged up the left hand side of the finishing straight to nip a surging Tom Boonen (Quick Step) by inches.

Race leader Isidro Nozal is the revelation of the Vuelta a España,holding onto the race leader’s golden jersey through three difficult daysin the Pyrénées despite working hard to help protect ONCE’sdesignated leader in Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano.Despite his golden run and a growing consensus that the Vuelta is histo lose, the modest rider insists he’s still a gregario for Galdeano.“I have it very clear – I work for the team and I do it with pleasure,”Nozal told journalists on Tuesday’s rest day. “Everyone dreams of winningthe Vuelta, but now I am concentrating on helping the team. I still

USA Cycling on Wednesday announced its long team selections for the 2003Road World Championships to be held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, October6-12.From this list, the final selections will be made and announced on Monday,September 22.(Selections for junior categories have been finalized.)Elite Men Road Race (12 Start Positions)Automatic Qualifiers:Mark McCormack (Northeaston, Mass.)Tom Danielson (Durango, Colo.) *Chris Horner (Bend, Ore.)Long list for remaining 10 start positions:George Hincapie (Greenville, S.C.)Floyd Landis (San Diego, Calif.)Bobby Julich (Reno, Nevada)Levi Leipheimer

Dear readers;Issue No. 17 of VeloNewsincludes an article on balanced vegetarian eating. As a result, I've received a number of great cooking suggestions and so, instead of my usual Q&A column, I thought I should provide you with some of those recipe contributions this week. Bon Appetit and thank you to everyone who provided comments, suggestions, and recipes on vegetarian diets for the endurance athlete. Monique Doug’s RajmaThis is an Indian dish, which is a bean curry.1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed2 tbsp. vegetable oil (canola oil)½ tsp. Cumin seeds1 onion, thinly sliced1 fresh

Dear Lennard;I have 1990 Campagnolo 8-speed set-up, which still works fine, but,I have beaten my two sets of wheels to a pulp and they can no longer betrued to round. I would like some lighter, new-fangled (and hopefully round)wheels, however none of the new-fangled wheelsets are compatible with Campy8-speed and you can't buy new Campy 8-speed hubs anymore. Now,  I’mtoo cheap to drop $700+ to upgrade the whole drive-train to Shimano 9 orCampy 9/10, then another $300 to $800 on wheels. Do you have any feedback on how well the "Wheels Manufacturing CassetteConversion Kit" works? Excel Sports

October is just around the corner and, if you’re a cyclist, that can meanonly one thing. No, not road world’s. I’m talking about the Interbike tradeshow. Coincidentally, the powers that be at Interbike were either unable orunwilling to reschedule their event (October 12 -14) around the road world’sin Hamilton, Ontario, (October 6 -12) the first time that event has hitNorth America since 1986. So, die-hard techie/race fans must choose betweenthe elite men’s road race or the opening day of Interbike. I suppose thosetruly devoted could hop on a plane immediately after the eventand scoot on out

Today we have a day off. And I think I can safely say that it is well deserved. Monday’s stage was, once again, fast and furious from the start. Whatlooked to be an easy stage on the course profile turned out to be a fairlyhilly nervous and aggressive day. At day’s end when we climbed in the teambus in Sabadell to travel to our hotel four hours down the road in Valenciawe were all a little tired and looking forward to a relaxed day with norace sign on, race food, or race radios plugged into our ears. Everybodyfrom the staff to the riders looked happy to be at the hotel in Valencialast

Being in San Francisco this past weekend felt like a bit of homecoming, as it was my first visit to the United States since the Philadelphia Liberty Classic in June. I have been in Europe most of the summer, training and racing. It was neat to see everyone in American cycling gathered for this event. I have nice memories of the race in San Francisco. The last time I was here was to watch my husband, Michael, race through the streets and up the hills. I wasn’t racing much at the time and was attending school so I walked around the course, wandering through the hundreds of thousands of

Erik Zabel might not be as fast as he used to be, but the Telekom veteran still got around the man who is regarded as the peloton’s fastest these days to win Monday´s 10th stage of the Vuelta a España. Fassa Bortolo´s Alessandro Petacchi delivered on his promise to get through the Pyrénées and almost rewarded his team with his third Vuelta victory, but Zabel had his own plans. After Fassa and ONCE worked hard to reel in a six-man break early in the race and control a frenetic final 10km, Petacchi shot to the line with 400 meters to go up a slightly rising finish into Sabadell, a Barcelona

Gunn-Rita Dahle (Merida) has completed her streak of World Cup victories, taking the fifth and final race in Kaprun in decisive fashion, ahead of teammate and new world champion Sabine Spitz of Germany. Marie-Helene Premont (Oryx) confirmed her status among the elite women riders by finishing third. The weather gods finally smiled, and for the first time in a week racegoers were treated to sunshine. Marga Fullana led the charge up the first steep climb, but by the end of the first of four laps it wasDahle at the front and pulling away. Fullana steadily dropped back, leaving Spitz and Premont

Who could have imagined a bunch sprint atop a 2410-meter chunk of rock in the heart of the Pyrénées? But that's just what happened in Sunday's 174.8km ninth stage. Okay, it wasn't a classic Mario Cipollini train, but Kelme phenom Alejandro Valverde won a 13-up sprint in an exciting summit finish up the "especial" Port d'Envalira climb in Andorra. "I'm very happy. I don't know what to say," said Valverde after nipping Italian Dario Frigo (Fassa Bortolo). "This stage was full speed all day. The team had a lot of confidence in me. I'm very happy with what's happened so far." Despite efforts

Swiss Alex Zülle (Phonak), double winner of the Vuelta a España (1996 and 1997), abandoned this year’s race on Sunday and said he would not race any more grand tours. Obviously tired, the 35-year-old Zülle – who was 114th overall at more than an hour off the lead – told Spanish radio: "I can’t keep the pace. You will not see me me any more in the Vuelta. It was my last grand tour. I will re-examine my calendar the next year, and I will take part only in small tours and the classics." Twice on the podium of the Tour de France (1996 and 1999), Zülle excelled in time trials but was less

With two more days in the Pyrénées under our belts, we are now on our waytoward the coast and Barcelona on Monday night.On Saturday, we once again started racing fast out of the blocks - notan ideal way to start a stage that has four climbs over 10 km long (see"ONCE'sRodriguez takes stage 8 at Vuelta").  Again, everybody onthe team, save Roberto and Triki, were to follow the attacks and keep therace under control so that they would have a good situation as we nearedthe finish.Forty kilometers into the race we began the big climbs. One after another,they hit us with little recovery in

Coming into the final stretch of the T-Mobile International, Saturn’s Chris Horner knew he’d won the race, he just didn’t know preciselywhen. Away on a solo break — with a one-minute advantage over teammate Mark McCormack and loud crowds drowning out his earpiece — Horner passed through the start/finish area on San Francisco’s Embarcadero and kept right on rolling until spectators lining the area waved him around. “I absolutely believed I had another [5-mile] lap to ride,” Horner smiled, adding, “And I would have held them all off if I had to.” Course understanding aside, Horner and USPRO

Defending Vuelta champion Aitor Gonzalez has had a season he'd like to forget. Now he's making a Vuelta he wants to remember. Although he won a stage at the Giro d'Italia, Gonzalez couldn't deliver the big win for his Fassa Bortolo team. Then his Tour de France was short-circuited by a virus that ran through the Fassa team and sent everyone home early except Ivan Basso and two teammates. Going into the Vuelta's second week, Gonzalez is slowly coming back to life, and he let the peloton see it on the Col del Portillón at 120km into Saturday's eighth stage when he rode strongly over the steep

Sabrina Jonnier and Nathan Rennie are the 2003 World Cup downhill champions, each battling it out on the final run of the season in what were possibly the tightest races in the history of the World Cup. Marla Streb (Luna) and David Vasquez Lopez (MSC Bikes) won their respective races on a muddy, strength-sapping course in Kaprun, Austria, but all attention was on the overall standings. The bottom portion of the course gave many riders problems. If they slid too far down in the final corner, they would get bogged in a swampy dip just before the drop to the finish, with some riders coming to

Someone needs to tell Isidro Nozal he's not supposed to be leading the Vuelta a España. Nozal retained the overall lead in Saturday's eighth stage on a day when all of the Vuelta's main players stayed on equal footing in the four-climb romp across the Pyrénées except U.S. Postal's Manuel Beltran, the one man poised to step into his shoes. Nozal powered the lead group across the line in the sun-blasted Plá de Beret ski area at 3:51 behind stage-winner Joaquin Rodriguez (ONCE-Eroski). Beltran couldn't match the accelerations initiated by a re-energized Aitor Gonzalez (Fassa Bortolo) and lost

The Bay Area is heating up as riders from across the globe have amassed in San Francisco for the T-Mobile International, an event that, in just its third year, is being hailed as the strongest field ever assembled on American soil. Organized and directed under San Francisco Cycling LLC, a joint cooperative of Tailwind Sports, the management company that runs the U.S. Postal Service Cycling Team, and Threshold Sports, organizing body of the Pro Cycling Tour, the event has again drawn Postal’s Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, as well as first-time appearances from two-time Giro

Michael Rasmussen's big win in Friday's seventh stage of the Vuelta a España further reinforces his belief that he made the right decision to leave behind mountain bike racing at the end of the 2000 season and take a chance on the road. While bigger names such as Cadel Evans and Miguel Martinez have garnered more attention in their transition from fat to skinny tires, Rasmussen's proven the most successful. He scored a big victory in the "queen's stage" of the 2002 Tour of Burgos and capped his conversion with the historic win Friday. "This is the Formula 1 of bicycle racing. It's the best

The first time trial is over, we are in the Pyrénées, and the race for the overall is starting to sort itself out. The two big tests for the team leaders have taken place over the past two days: a time trial and a hard mountain stage. Thankfully, our leaders have come out near the top in both tests. Yesterday’s time trial looked easy on paper. The profile showed a flat course on straight roads with a few 180-degree turns in the center of the roadway. We woke up to howling gale-force winds, and when Floyd, Roberto and Triki returned from previewing the course the warning was that it was

With five kilometers to go to victory in Friday’s difficult four-climb stage, Michael Rasmussen knew he had it in the bag. The former mountain bike world champion held off a counter-attack from U.S. Postal’s Manuel Beltran and Cofidis’ Luis Perez on the Category 1 summit finish to the Cauterets Cam-Basque ski station and slipped across the line to win the seventh stage of the Vuelta a España. “This is a dream come true for me, to win a stage with a mountain top finish in a grand tour,” said Rasmussen, who won in 5 hours, 1 minute, 14 seconds. “By far this is the most important victory of my

Jan Ullrich, second in the Tour de France this year, said he is aiming to win a triple of the Tour, the Giro d'Italia and to defend his Olympic title during the next three years. "First I would like another victory in the Tour de France," said the 1997 Tour winner said on his website Friday. "The Giro is important for me, too. The last time I raced in the event I vowed I would return and win it. I would also like to defend my gold medal at next year's Athens Olympics." The 29-year-old Ullrich, winner of the Olympic road race in Sydney, surprised many by making the 2003 Tour de France a real