Road

In a women’s field that boasted some heavy duty résumés, a virtual unknown almost walked off with the top prize on another calm sunny day in Zolder, Belgium. Indeed, it wasn't until the closing minutes of the women’s world time trial championship, 1996 Olympic champion Zoulfia Zabirova claimed the top prize ahead of Switzerland’s Nicole Brändli, who bumped her surprising countrywoman Karin Thürig down to the bronze medal position. Lost in the shuffle were the two favorites, France’s Jeannie Longo and the Netherlands’ Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel, who had combined to win six of the seven

Fred Rodriguez is the U.S.’s best hope for a world championship title in the elite men's road race. The Domo-Farm Frites rider had an awesome spring, finishing second at Milan-San Remo and Ghent-Wevelgem, but struggled through the Tour de France after coming down with bronchitis during a trip home to the United States in June. Rodriguez, 29, now says he's fully recovered and believes he has as good a chance as anyone to win at Zolder, a course that's been hyped as the "sprinters" worlds since it was revealed. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood spoke with Rodriguez by phone Tuesday

Ryder Hesjedal, the mountain bike pro who won the four-day, five-stage Volta Cataluyna de l'Avenir road race in mid-September, won't be racing for the Canadians at the Zolder world’s. Hesjedal was expected to race in both of the under-23 events, but crashed during a stage of the Tour de Seine et Marne (Sept. 27-29) and was too banged up to come to Zolder. Canadian team officials said Hesjedal didn't break any bones but was seriously scraped up during the spill and wouldn't be in top form for the worlds. Madrid to host 2005 road worlds The mean streets of Madrid will be the site of the 2005

Tears of joy opened the 2002 road cycling world championships Tuesday as Italian Anna Zugno won the gold medal in the junior women's individual time trial. Starting in the penultimate position in a field of 41 starters, Zugno covered the flat 11.2-km course from Hasselt to Zolder in 15 minutes, 54.21 seconds (42.255 kph) to edge compatriot Tatiana Guderzo by 6.54 seconds. German rider Claudia Hecht finished third at 7.21 seconds slower. Zugno burst into tears after realizing she came across the line with the fastest time. The emotions didn't stop there as she hugged and cried her way

With the sun shining and a daylong wind having died away, a triumphant Tomas Vaitkus flew across the line at the Circuit Zolder racetrack in Belgium to take home the men’s under-23 time trial title on the first day of competition at the world road championships. The 20-year-old Lithuanian, the only rider to crack 39 minutes for the 33.2km course on Tuesday, obliterated the competition, finishing 42 seconds better than runner-up Alexandr Bespalov of Russia. Starting second-to-last on the point-to-point course from Hasselt to Zolder, Vaitkus was spared much of the wind that buffeted riders who

The Interbike International Bicycle Expo is wrapping up in Las Vegas Tuesday afternoon. As VeloNews editors fold up their laptops and lend a hand breaking down our booth, we thought we’d put up a few more shots of items that caught our interest today. Cervelo – When the Toronto-based frame builder signed on as bike sponsor of the CSC-Tiscali team, Cervelo earned the distinction of being the smallest manufacturer supplying the Division 1 peloton. The company doesn’t reveal its precise numbers, but its safe to say that annual production is somewhere in the mid-four figures. Precise numbers or

Gentlemen, and ladies, start your engines. Beginning Tuesday at noon with the junior women's individual time trial and concluding Sunday with the elite men's road race, the automobile racetrack in Belgium's Flanders region is the center of the world for road racing. Road racing with two wheels and no motor, that is. The 2002 road cycling world championships are set to get underway. Perhaps it's no mistake that Zolder rhymes with Boulder. During the next six, action-packed days, 10 rainbow jerseys and 30 world championship medals will be awarded. Twenty-five American athletes will be going

Jakob Piil took his most important victory of his career while Paolo Bettini widened his overall World Cup series lead to nine points over rival Johan Museeuw in Sunday's Paris-Tours race. Piil, a 29-year-old Danish rider on the CSC-Tiscali team, was the worthy winner over Frenchman Jacky Durand, who played rope-a-dope over the final 10km in the 253-km World Cup race on a sunny, brisk autumn day in France. Durand refused to take a pull after the pair dropped two riders from an original five-man break that attacked with just 5 km in the monster 252-km race. Durand, who won Paris-Tours in

The doors opened on the 2002 Interbike International Bicycle Expo on Sundayas crowds of dealers, industry types and shop rats descended on the SandsConvention Center in Las Vegas. In the mix, VeloNews editors scouredthe halls for a glimpse at what will by plying the roads and trails inthe coming year. We'll offer updates throughout the show, but these are things that jumpedout at us on our first day. Pinarello Dogma: With a front triangle built using Dedacciai'snew magnesium tubeset, the Dogma stole show today as every roadie in Vegasmade a pilgrimage to visit this near-holy beauty. With

Marc Gullickson of Mongoose/Hyundai flew across the country to start in the DownEast Cyclo-Cross. His competition saw him fly away early in the race. The former U.S. National Champion and Overall SuperCup champion grabbed the lead on lap 1, breaking away with the newly married Jonathan Page (Richard Sachs), and never looked back as he claimed the race title. With that win, Gullickson also takes the blue leader's jersey in the 2002 Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series. Gullickson had an atypically poor start in his first 'cross race of the year, and had to work hard to pull back

Richard Virenque may have surprised the field last year, but a peloton full of anxious sprinters is unlikely to allow the once-shamed climber to escape for another win in the relatively flat Paris-Tour World Cup race on Sunday. Virenque, 32, shocked the rest of the field to win last year's Paris-Tours, the penultimate race of the season-long World Cup, after an audacious breakaway in the company of feisty French compatriot Jacky Durand. Welcomed by a legion of fans who have supported him through the agonies of the Festina drugs trial two years ago, Virenque's victory had little effect in

This is the first in what will become a regular question-and-answer column by sports nutritionist Monique Ryan, MS, RD. Ryan is a regular columnist for VeloNews and Inside Triathlon magazines andis founder of Personal Nutrition Designs, a nutrition consulting companybased in the Chicago area. Readers are welcome to send questions to Ryan at WebLetters@7dogs.com.Question - I am concerned that I may develop sodiumdepletion during my longer rides and runs, and also during competition.It seems that it is a more common problem for cyclists and triathletes.What  can I do to prevent this from

It's been almost a full year since Manitou (in conjunction with Cane Creek, RaceFace, and Chris King) unveiled the evolutionary OnePointFive standard. And while most of the initial gee-whiz (or so-what?) factor has worn off, most of us are left wondering how an oversize headset, steerer and stem (not to mention frame) will really improve our riding? We’ve seen an increasing number of manufacturers producing OnePointFive standard components and forks, (a surprise move with once-skeptical Marzocchi adopting the standard) but most of us are still searching for some harder reasoning to

VeloNews technical writer Lennard Zinn is a frame builder, a former U.S.national team rider and author of several books on bikes and bike maintenance.This is Zinn's regular VeloNews.com column devoted to addressing readers'technical questions about bikes, their care and feeding and how we as riderscan use them as comfortably and efficiently as possible. Readers can sendbrief technical questions directly to Zinn. We'll try to print a representativesample of questions regularly.First, some follow-up from previous columns:Comment on rim weight:Froma July, 2002 column,"As an aside- the old wheels

Australia is now assured both gold and silver medals in the main event of the world track cycling championships after Jobie Dajka joined compatriot Sean Eadie in the final in Copenhagen Sunday. Dajka, the 20-year-old keirin champion, dominated reigning champion Arnaud Tournant of France over the two legs of their semi-final, minutes after 33-year-old Eadie had ousted Florian Rousseau twice in their semi. Australia, who are leading the gold medals charge here, have not won the men's sprint title since Darryn Hill won in Bogota in 1995.

Australia's Sean Eadie won the world sprint title at the world track cycling championships in Copenhagen Sunday after beating compatriot Jobie Dajka in a third leg decider. It is Australia's first medal in track cycling's main event since Darryn Hill won the sprint title in Bogota in 1995. France, who won all three medals last year, took the bronze when Florian Rousseau held off his compatriot and the reigning champion Arnaud Tournant in their two-heat match. Meanwhile, French duo Jerome Neuville and Franck Perque handed France their only gold medal here when they retained their world

More than 35,000 fans poured into Madrid’s largest soccer stadium Sunday to watch Kelme’s Aitor Gonzalez become crowned the 2002 Vuelta a Espana champion on a dramatic final-day time trial duel. Gonzalez won the 41-km individual time trial and erased a 1 minute, 8 second-deficit to Roberto Heras to grab the race leader’s jersey away from the U.S. Postal Service rider who held the lead since the treacherous Angliru stage a week ago. "I came to this Vuelta to win," said Gonzalez, who beat defending champion Angel Casero by 1:23 in the time trial. "Nobody counted me among the favorites, and

Good Morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s coverage of the 21st and final stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España. It’s all come down to a contest between race leader Roberto Herras of the U.S. Postal team and Kelme’s Aitor Gonzalez. The two men are separated by a scant 1:08… possibly enough of a buffer for a super-motivated Herras to save his overall lead in the Vuelta. But Gonzalez has already beat Herras in this tour’s other individual race against the clock, besting the Postal man by 1:34 over the course of the 36.5km timer trial on September 16. Today’s 41 km individual time trial from

The Miami Cycling Classic, Sunday, September 29, went a little bit coconuts when Saturn’s Eric Wohlberg pedaled to victory in the course’s first solo finish, according to race manager and producer, Lee Marks of Velo Racing. Chris Wherry of Mercury followed for second and Saturn’s Ivan Dominguez took out Mercury’s Henk Vogels on the line in a bunch sprint for third place in the final race of the Pro Cycling Tour. “That was a great race. It was the first time the race hasn’t ended in a bunch sprint, except for '99 when Mercury with Fraser and Sayers pulled it off,” said Marks. “The race was

Today was the last stage of the Tour of Spain. The plan was for me to go out as hard as I could for the first 20km to give Johan some split times for Roberto. After that, I just kept on going to the finish, it was dicey going into the soccer stadium and I was glad I was wearing clear lenses or I would've been blind in the dark. We went into Real Madrid locker room. Matt White was pretty excited and jumped in the hot tub. We took showers and made our way back to the hotel, but first we made a Dunkin’ Donuts stop, they were tasty but didn't sit to well in my stomach. Once back at the hotel

Good morning and welcome to stage 20 of the Vuelta a España. Saturday's 141.2-km 20th stage from Avila to the Warner Bros. theme park in the outskirts of Madrid features two category-three climbs — Alto de la Paramera at 15 km and the Alto Navas del Rey at 66 km. It's rolling flat to the finish with a sharp descent about 5 km from the finish. With tomorrow's time trial to come, all expectations are that today's stage will end in a sprint. 3:35 p.m. Just 3km into the race Oscar Laguna (Relax) has gone off the front. Behind him the peloton seems uninterested. 3:45 p.m. With 60km to go Laguna

The penultimate stage of the 57th Vuelta a Espana went to script: a long breakaway and the sprinter teams taking control for a mass gallop to the line. But Alessio’s Angelo Furlan ruined the storyline for Fassa Bortolo Alessandro Petacchi and Telekom’s Erik Zabel as he pipped the favorites for his second victory in the final week of the Vuelta. But for everyone fighting for the final spoils in the Vuelta, Saturday’s 141-km stage couldn’t have been better. Sunday’s final-day time trial was on the minds of everyone. U.S. Postal’s Roberto Heras will put all of his frail climber’s body into

Chris Newton bounced back from a disappointing performance in the men's team pursuit qualifying to win the points race crown at the world track cycling championships here on Saturday to hand Britain their third gold medal in as many days. Newton, who celebrates his 29th birthday on Sunday, collected a total of 76 points in the 40km endurance race in which 20-30 riders race for bonus points every 2000 meters, or eight laps of the track. Austria's Franz Stocher came second with 50 points while Argentine Juan Curuchet finished third on 49. Newton, who said it was mainly his fault that

It ain’t over ‘til it’s over, and this Vuelta a España isn’t over yet. Kelme’s Aitor Gonzalez squeezed four seconds out of the final ramps along the medieval walls of historic Avila in Friday’s 177-km 19th stage to remind everyone that Roberto Heras shouldn’t be crowned the winner of the 57th Vuelta yet. If the tension wasn’t enough going into Sunday’s final-day time trial, second-place Gonzalez made it that much more interesting, reducing Heras’ margin to 1 minute, 8 seconds. “No pasa nada,” said an unfazed Heras at the finish line. “Four seconds, that’s nothing. I was a little blocked in

The 60th annual Milan International Bicycle Show fulfilled expectations of beautiful Italian designs in bicycles, components and soft goods. It also exceeded expectations of visitor interest. The aisles were constantly packed with passionate Italian cyclists who could not help but caress thecolorful two-wheeled creations in the booths. In general, the Italian show is better at showing off whatever is cool about our sport than other shows, and the visitors respond to it. There was even an entire hall devoted to road racing – including mass-participation Gran Fondo races. Paradigm-shattering

Australia's world record holders in the men's team pursuit event won the gold medal at the world track cycling championships in Copenhagen Friday holding off Germany in an exciting final. Australia, who are the medals pace-setters in the competition so far, timed an impressive 4min 00.362sec to add the world crown to the Commonwealth title they won in world record time in August. Germany finished in 4:07.384 with Britain claiming the honors in the match-up for the bronze medal against a sluggish Ukraine. Australia and Britain have emerged as the main attraction at these world

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s Live coverage of the 19th stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España.Today’s 177-km 19th stage from Bejar to Avila is a difficult, up-and-down climbing stage with three rated climbs: the category-three Alto de la Hoya at 8 km; the category-one Puerto de Serranillos at 115 km; and the category-two Puerto de Navalmoral at 155 km. The final kilometer is flat, but there's a sharp climb up to the city with 3 km to go. The finish at Avila is much tougher than it looks. It's quite steep coming into Avila, a beautiful city surrounded by the best-preserved medieval

The 57th Vuelta a España is coming down to the wire for the second year in a row. Race leader Roberto Heras got time on his closest rival, Aitor Gonzalez, in Thursday’s 193-km 18th stage to the summit finish at La Covatilla. The 37 seconds he gained mean that he has extended overall lead to 1 minute, 12 seconds over the Kelme rider – but will it be enough? “I climbed as well as I could, but this is not the Angliru,” said Heras, who lives in nearby Bejar. “We tried to do some damage on Kelme on the previous climbs, but Aitor was strong today. It went as well as it could today. We got some

Britain’s Chris Hoy won the men's kilometer time trial in dramatic fashion in Copenhagen on Thursday with a blistering time which left France's world champion Arnaud Tournant in second place by the slimmest of margins. The Scot clocked 1:01.893 - the first time of the evening under 1:02 - to relegate Australian Shane Kelly from top spot on the leader board. Kelly, the former three-time world champion, had set the early pace with an impressive 1:02.18. Tournant, the first kilo rider ever to break the minute barrier in a ride at altitude last October in La Paz, is considered the world's

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 18th stage of the Vuelta a España. Today’s 193-km 18th stage to the ski area at La Covatilla will be Roberto Heras' best chance to seal the Vuelta a España and the last chance for everyone else narrow their losses in what will be Heras' backyard.The stage features four rated climbs: the Category 1 Puerto de Honduras at 116 km, two Cat. 2 climbs at 150 km and 168 km, respectively, and the summit finish up the "especial" climb to La Covatilla. The 9.5-km climb rises 760 meters with an average grade of 8 percent with ramps as steep

It’s 17 down and four to go for the 2002 Vuelta a España. With Thursday’s climbing stage and Sunday’s final-day time trial looming, Wednesday’s 145-km 17th stage worked just about how everyone was hoping: fast, no crashes, no splits and a bunch sprint. Italian Angelo Furlan (Alessio) was the surprise winner in the very fast stage into Salamanca (49.079 kph), nipping aging warrior Erik Zabel (Telekom) by a half-bike length in the final charge to the line. A sweeping left turn 400 meters to go threw the roaring sprinters into a mess. Zabel started first, but Furlan came around his right side

Bradley McGee easily beat fellow Aussie Luke Roberts to win the world individual pursuit title at the world track cycling championships at Copenhagen' Ballerup velodrome Wednesday night. Roberts took silver while German Jens Lehmann won bronze after he beat Ukrainian Volodymyr Dyudya in their final. American Mike Tillman failed to recover from a slow start to his pursuit qualifying ride and was timed at 4:33.955, 16th in a field of 21. The all-Australian final promised plenty of drama from Tour de France stage winner McGee, who is also the Commonwealth champion and a three-time Olympic

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 16th stage of the 2002 Vuelta a Espana. Today’s 145-km 17th stage starts in Benavente and rolls over northern Spain's vast meseta to Salamanca, a bustling university town. There are no rated climbs in this stage. The course climbs some 200 feet with two kilometers remaining, but the final kilometer is flat with one gentleleft turn.3:20 p.m. -- We are now 61km into today'sstage. The hoped for respite of a flat stage has been somewhat disruptedby strong crosswinds today. The wind has forced the peloton into echelonsat one point and

Good morning and welcome to today’s live coverage of the 16th stage of 2002Vuelta a España. Today's 154-km 16th stage from Aviles to León takes the peloton fromSpain's lush northern coast to the high meseta that dominates northern-centralSpain. The stage features the category-one Puerto de Pajares at 89 km. Speeds shouldbe very high as the peloton drops from the Pajares to León. The finalthree kilometers are flat with two hard left turns in the closing kilometer,but straight in the final 800 meters.3:20 p.m. –  We are now 76 kilometers into today's stage. A leadgroup of 13 riders are now on

It may not be a high-altitude velodrome in Bolivia, but Arnaud Tournant -the world's fastest man on two wheels over a kilometer - will be the mainattraction when the world track cycling championships click into gear inCopenhagen on Wednesday.Tournant, one of only two cyclists to have won the kilometer world titlefour times, took the event to new heights last October when he smashed hisown record at altitude in La Paz in the first sub-minute time of 58.850secs.Now at a more reasonable height above sea level, Tournant is still everybit as lethal.The 24-year-old Frenchman is the latest star to

Colombian Santiago Botero came to this Vuelta a España a favorite for overall victory. After all, he beat Lance Armstrong in a Tour de France time trial and then won a mountain stage and finished fourth overall. Instead, the Kelme rider came into Tuesday’s stage languishing more than 90 minutes behind the leaders. Botero found the winning legs after working a long breakaway to give himself a little redemption and his Kelme team its third stage victory in this Vuelta. “It’s been difficult to keep racing when I was suffering so much, especially up Angliru. I almost quit, but I know that my

Okay, the Angliru was pretty hard. The race started from the gun again and it never let up. Johan came on the radio and said guys just for your information at the top of Angliru it is sunny and dry. Golly that was really making me look forward to it. I was already using my triple chain ring on the first Cat.1 climb of the day. On the downhill I was chasing back on with a group, I don't think it's very smart to do try and chase on these downhills. The guy I was following was going really fast and I could see a hard right turn in front of us but he wasn't slowing down the road was wet by

With less than a week to go, the 57th Vuelta a España is going to be a nail-biter. Following the fireworks on the soggy, melodramatic climb up Angliru on Sunday, race leader Roberto Heras (USPSP) and the other remaining 140 riders in the Vuelta enjoyed their last day off the bikes before Sunday’s finale in Madrid. Tuesday and Wednesday’s stages take the Vuelta south into Spain’s traditional Castilla y Leon region, home of castles, ancient churches and wind-swept plains. Thursday’s climbing stage to La Covatilla and Sunday’s final-day time trial are the remaining decisive stages. Angliru’s

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s Live Coverage of the 15th stage of the Vuelta a España. Today is the big one, the climb that is likely to define the outcome of the entire race, the 176km ride from Gijón to the mountaintop finish on the Alto de Angliru. We’re going to try something new for our coverage today be joined by Jonathan Vaughters, who is retiring from the Credit Agricole team after a long career in the European peloton. Today’s 176-km stage finishes off with what, in Spain at least, is called the "Hell of the North," and they're not talking about cobbles. There are three

Roberto Heras chugged and ground his way to his second stage-victory and the overall race leader’s jersey Sunday in the 2002 Vuelta a España after an impressive display of mind over pain in the 176-km 15th stage that finished with a climb up the brutally steep Angliru. Heras followed a surprising attack by Aitor Gonzalez against Kelme teammate and race leader Oscar Sevilla with eight kilometers to go on the feared Angliru summit hidden in fog and rain. The U.S. Postal Service captain erased a 1:42 deficit to Sevilla and moved 35 seconds ahead of Gonzalez to take the jersey oro for the first

Cofidis’s David Millar stopped half a meter short of the finish line of the Tour of Spain's killer 15th stage on Sunday in protest at the conditions on the Vuelta's most feared and notorious climb. Millar refused to cross the line after climbing to the top of Angliru. According to Victor Cordero, sport director for the Vuelta a Espana race organization, Millar arrived to the finish line but declined to cross it.

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 14th stageof the 2002 Vuelta a España. Today’s 190km stage from Santander to Gijón follows the spectacularrugged northern coast along the Atlantic Ocean with three point sprints andtwo, Category 3 climbs in the closing 50 km. We can expect another sprinters’ battle, though today’s finish is a bit moretechnical than most. The finish is straight in downtown Gijón, a bustlingport city, but features three hard left turns in the closing two kilometers.This is this year’s first stage in the Principality of Asturias. The secondedition

Stage 14: 5km ride to start + 9km of neutral + 190km of racing = 204km. And it actuallyt feels like a million. On the profile today it looked fairly flat, but it was far from flat, it was more like a rollercoaster. I'm glad we are up north a little bit and out of some of the heat, but I'm sure I'll be eating my words tomorrow when it's freezing rain going up the famous Angliru. Today started out again balls to the wall from the first kilometer. It's important to be at the front in the neutral because of that. Guys will start coming off the back from the beginning, but after a while,

Uwe Peschel rolled back the years to stun a host of younger favorites by winning the Grand Prix des Nations, a 67km time-trial, for the second time in Le Havre, France, Saturday. The 33-year-old Gerolsteiner rider clocked 1hr 24min 4sec to relegate Mapei’s Hungarian time trial specialist Laszlo Bodrogi to second and Yuriy Krivtsov of Jean Delatour to third. Laszlo, 25, was 36secs adrift and 23-year-old Krivtsov at 54sec, with Olympic time trial champion Viatcheslav Ekimov down in sixth at over a minute adrift. Peschel last won the high profile end-of-season event in 1997 when it was held

After being put on hold for a year due to the September 11th attacks, the Univest Grand Prix roared back to life on Saturday, and the American contingent in the men’s peloton came out swinging. The country’s biggest event for elite amateur men rated a 1.6 on the UCI scale this year, and drew teams from the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. A revolving door break began within a mile of the start, when U.S. Elite national champion Scottie Weiss (Go-Mart-West Virginia) went away and was soon joined by Gregorio Bare (UPMC-Fuji), Cedric Barez (France-Alderfer Auction), Jon

A bad crash marred Saturday’s 190-km 14th stage that was supposed to be a reasonably calm prelude to the storm that awaits the Vuelta a España in Sunday’s epic climbing stage to Angliru. Instead of a relatively easy day in the saddle before Sunday’s feared “Hell of the North,” the rolling stage from Santander to Gijon along Spain’s northern coast meant an early departure from the Vuelta for scores of riders. Race leader Oscar Sevilla, along with all the top favorites, survived unscathed, but it wasn’t what the peloton wanted the day before the most decisive stage of the Vuelta. “It was a

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com's live coverage of today's 189-km 13th stage of the Vuelta a Espana. The stage from Burgos to Santander takesthe Vuelta to Spain's lush northern coast, which looks more like Irelandthan Spain's postcard image of sunny beaches and olive groves. The stage features three point sprints and four rated climbs - three Category 3 climbs and the Cat. 1 Alto Portillo de la Sia at 106 km. Today's weather is partly cloudy with wind throughout the day. We can expect the chance of rain to increase as we near the finish. 3:28 p.m. -- We are at kilometer 115 of

All of Spain was livid over what racing fans called a clear case of collusion in Friday’s 189-km 13th stage from Burgos to Santander. Four Italians ganged up on a breakaway and Acqua & Sapone’s Giovanni Lombardi snuck away with a stage victory while Spanish fans cried foul. Six riders escaped off the front of a 15-rider breakaway with 80 kilometers to go and looked to have enough time to arrive over the final flats into Santander, but Italian Pietro Caucchioli refused to work. When the chase group caught on, Caucchioli then counter-attacked with Lombardi and two other Italians to arrive at

Building on the success of its single-pivot, light, but burly 2002 Gemini freeride models, Cannondale is adding a third Gemini model for 2003, the Gemini 900 (with Manitou Breakout, Fox Vanilla RC, Hayes HFX-9 w/8" rotor). This OnePointFive Standard-equipped bomber uses the same frame technology as last year's Gemini, but takes the entry-level price down from $2,975 last year down to $2,199.The Jekyll line, which offers adjustable full-suspension and all-mountain performance, has also been re-engineered. For ’03, the Jekyll’s maximum rear wheel travel increases from 115 mm to 135mm, and is

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 12th stageof the Vuelta a Espana.At 210.5km, today’s stage from Segovia to Burgos is the longest of the VueltaThis is a long rolling transition stage across Spain's meseta. Thereare three point sprints and no rated climbs. The finish is straight on overthe final last kilometer.3:25 p.m. -- We are already 160km into today's stage. The averagespeed for the first two hours was well over 51kph. The pace continued atalmost the same speed over the following hour.Right now, we have a break of 18 riders off the front of the field.

The longest stage of the 57th Vuelta a España came down to a bike-length despite an 18-man breakaway which held the lead for most of the day in a cloudy, rolling 210-km stage from Segovia to Burgos. Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi won a bunch sprint marked by the absence of Mario Cipollini, who packed his bags for Italy last weekend after winning three stages. Without Super Mario, the Vuelta’s other top sprinters fought for left-overs and Petacchi edged Telekom’s Erik Zabel to be king for the day. “The team worked very hard for me and I made a good sprint. I startedwith 250 meters to go

Good morning. Welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 166.1km 11th stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España. After yesterday’s transfer, the Vuelta is moving to the Madrid mountain range. This stage will offer a lot of character. Halfway through today’s stage, the peloton passes through the city of Madrid is one of the cities halfway through the race and the followers will be able to see the riders full of energy and enthusiasm along these mountains. This could be a complicated stage as the first kilometers will cover the road that crosses the Manzanares nature reserve and therefore Hoyo

The 11th stage of the Vuelta a España from Alcobendas toCollado Villalba on Wednesday saw a little bit of everything; rain, sun,wind, escapes, attacks and heartache. Telekom’s Alexandre Vinokourov, suffering from a cold that derailedhis chances in Monday’s individual time trial, did not start after coldrain welcomed the peloton for the start following Tuesday’s rest day. The rain let up, but the attacks didn’t in the 166-km stage up fourrated climbs, including the day’s main obstacle, the category-one Puertode Navacerrada some 24 km from the finish in Collado Villalba. The punishing pace

The remaining racers in the 57th Vuelta a Espana traveled by high-speedtrain to Madrid following Monday's time trial stage at Cordoba. All of Spainis being hit by a major rainstorm and forecasters are calling for more showerswhen the second half of the Vuelta kicks off Wednesday with the 11th stage,166 kilometers from Alcobendas to Collado Villalba. Kelme's Oscar Sevilla retained the overall lead by just one second over Kelme teammate Aitor Gonzalez after putting down the time trial of his life. Sevilla, 25, confirmed he's up to the task of winning the Vuelta a year after he lost the 2001

Yesterday was the individual time trial. Iit was going to be an easy day for most of the guys on the team. It was raining and I'm glad I didn't have to go hard because I couldn't see much of the road during the race. I've never done a TT easy before, I got a little angry when I got caught by three guys, but there is stillone TT left and if I have the energy I might try and give it a go and see what happens. Matt White and I went off pretty early and wanted to kill some time while waiting for Roberto to start and finish. So we went to a few shops across the street rather than sit in the

Aitor Gonzalez delivered the stage-win but Oscar Sevilla delivered the time trial of his life to retain the jersey oro by less than one second in Monday’s stage of the 57th Vuelta Espana. Nearly a year after he lost the Vuelta in a final-day time trial to Angel Casero, Sevilla ripped the 36.5-km course on a rainy Monday afternoon to conserve the race leader’s jersey by less than 1 second. “I’m very content. I went as hard as I could,” said Sevilla, who conceded 40 seconds to Kelme teammate Gonzalez in finishing second. “To keep the lead by one second after so many kilometers, it’s a great

While those racers who own "tradtional" cross country forks will be able to benefit from Mavic's new hyperlight 2003 CrossMax SL Disc wheelset, Cannondale Lefty owners have been left out in the cold. That is, until now. Mavic just announced development of a Lefty-specific 750 gram CrossMax SL Disc front wheel. According to Mavic, "The Crossmax SL Disc is a concentrate of Mavic know-how and features technology such as the Fore concept, which provides a sealed rim and added strength, ISM (inter-spoke milling) which reduces inertia and rim weight (30-40g), a Maxtal rim for strength and

Good morning to our North American audience and welcome to VeloNews.com’s Live coverage of the tenth stage of the Vuelta a España. Today’s 36.5km individual time trial around Cordoba will contested under rainy skies. There is rain in Cordoba -- wet but no rain on outer edges of course. This course loops out and back, with rolling hills early on, flatter into the finish. There are no rated climbs on this course, but there are still challenging rises on course. Juan Carlos Dominguez, a Spanish rider on Phonak, just put down the fastest time so far at 47 minutes, 28 seconds. He punctured in

Good morning to our American audience. Welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 2002 Vuelta a Espana. Today’s ninth stage, from Ubrique to Cordoba, is a 130 km ride that begins rolling terrain for the first 100 km until the course hits the main obstacle of the day, the category-two Alto de San Jeronimo at 113 km. It's all downhill to Cordoba and the final three km are flat with a slight downhill for a fast finish. We would like to apologize for yesterday's lapse. We were experiencing server problems while trying to do live updates during the stage. We believe we have solved these

Now everyone knows who can win this Vuelta a España. Sunday’s fast and furious 130-km ninth stage on a circuit course around Cordoba brought the real challengers to the fore and swept aside the pretenders to the throne. The peloton was split early on in the windy, fast course and less than 40 riders made with the first group over the category-two Alto de San Jeronimo with 17 km to go and into the finish in Cordoba, one of Spain’s jewels. iBanesto.com’s Pablo Lastras attacked without fear on the tricky descent off San Jeronimo to hold off Coast’s Luis Perez and Milaneza’s Fabian Jeker to

In just two years, the San Francisco Grand Prix has established itself as the biggest race in America. It may not have the biggest prize list – that belongs to the USPRO Championships in Philadelphia – but San Francisco draws the biggest crowds and the biggest stars. But amidst the huge fanfare, it was the littlest team in the field that came away with the day’s win. 7UP-Nutra Fig may have brought only six riders to San Francisco, but they came out on top, as Charles Dionne sprinted away from a group that included U.S. Postal’s Lance Armstrong and Viatcheslav Ekimov to take the $10,000 first

Good morning. Welcome to VeloNews’s live coverage of the 2nd annual SanFrancisco Grand Prix. VeloNews’s John Wilcockson and Bryan Jew are on site and will be sending in updates throughout today’s 109-mile race. We are starting undertypical Bay Area conditions: foggy, cool temperatures and cloudy skies, causing many riders to wear leg- and arm-warmers. 8:45 a.m. --  And they're off! Man, the crowd is huge here in San Francisco. We are doing a quick paradelap and then will be hitting the hilly streets of San Francisco, but nobody is waiting for the hills. The early attacks have already

Today was a short day, but we knew it would not be easy. Erik Zabel wanted the win today and Team Telekom started drilling it from the gun with Kelme to keep all the attacks from going too far. It was a wicked cross-wind and there was complete carnage in the back of the field. Fortunately, I was up front with the rest of the team helping to keep Roberto out of trouble. It was very intense but we made it and Roberto didn't lose any time to his danger guys on the stage. Before the race I was giving a private concert in the bus, sometimes I like to take the mic and bust out a few tunes to

When Kelme's Aitor Gonzalez crossed the finish line of Saturday’s difficult eighth stage of the Vuelta a España, he didn't look particularly excited. The reason why? He hadn't realized he'd won. Gonzalez chased hard in the very technical finishing 20 km into Ubrique, a white-washed Andalusian village surrounded by rugged mountains, and was so exhausted that he thought someone had slipped past him in frantic charge to the line. "At first I didn't know I had won, because I thought riders had come around me. Well, it's a nice surprise," Gonzalez said after reeling Team Coast's Luis Perez with

On a sunny day in the shadow of Mission San Rafael, the men’s professional road teams warmed up for Sunday’s San Francisco Grand Prix, but for the women, it was an important showdown in the Pro Cycling Tour at the San Rafael Cycling Classic. Overcoming full teams from Saturn and Diet Rite, Laura Van Gilder (Trek Plus) pulled off a convincing win and moved into the overall lead of the PCT. In the men’s race, Mercury launched Gord Fraser past the Prime Alliance leadout train and delivered the Canadian to the win. In the absence of Tour leader Petra Rossner (Saturn), Van Gilder was poised to

For the second year, big-time road racing hits the streets of San Francisco for Sunday’s San Francisco Grand Prix. Last year, with the presence of Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong to bolster interest, the inaugural event was a huge success, with people lining the streets of the 10-mile course, including crowds four and five deep on the two major climbs on the course, on Fillmore and Taylor Streets. This year, the hype machine has been turned up another notch. Not only will defending champion George Hincapie and U.S. Postal teammate Armstrong be on hand, but the event will feature

It was a repeat performance for the Lion King on Friday as Mario Cipollinitook his third stage win at the 2002 Vuelta a España taking a furiousfield sprint into the coastal city of Málaga.Cipollini and his Acqua e Sapone team held back until the final two kilometersbefore launching a text-book lead-out for their super sprinter. On the wheelof his reliable lead-out man Giovanni Lombardi, Cipollini easily beat theVuelta's points leader Erik Zabel (Telekom). Kelme's Oscar Sevilla finishedwith the main field and retains the overall lead in the Vuelta.Check back soon for complete results, a stage

Acqua & Sapone put down a text-book sprint Friday to deliver Mario Cipollini his third stage-win in the 2002 Vuelta a España that was executed so well it should be taught in Cycling 101. Cipo's boys in zebra stripes were flawless. They helped reel in a breakaway, hammered at the front leading into Malaga and then the Lion King rode the rails to victory in the 196-km seventh stage from Jaen to Malaga. With speeds topping 65kph, Mario Scirea pulled until 2 km to go, then Italian-American Guido Trenti took over until 1 km to go, followed by final set-up man Giovanni Lombardi pulled to 400

Live updates from Stage 6 Good morning to our U.S. audience. Welcome to Thrsday’s live coverage ofthe sixth stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España. Stage six is a 153kmrace from Granada to Sierra de la Pandera. This is a difficult rolling stage leading to a "special category" summitfinish at La Pandera at 1840 meters. There are three point sprints en routeand the category-three Alto de la Encebras at 46 km, the category-two Puertode los Villares at 140 km and the eight-km climbing finish to La Pandera.The short, but steep climb features ramps as steep as 15 percent with anaverage grade of 6.4

Roberto Heras and Oscar Sevilla put the fiesta back into the Vuelta a Españain Thursday’s difficult 153-km climbing stage to La Pandera. The duel between U.S. Postal Service’s Heras and Kelme’s Sevilla isshaping up as the story of the 57th Vuelta. Heras attacked with 5 km togo up the “category especial” climb to La Pandera to win while Sevillafinished third at 18 seconds back to move into the “jersey oro” race leader’sjersey. Heras’ victory is the first stage-win by an American-sponsored teamat the Vuelta a España and his first Vuelta stage since 2000, whenhe won two stages and the overall

Today's Live UpdatesGood morning to our U.S. audience. Welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverageof the fifth stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España, 198km between El Ejido and Sierra Nevada. Today’s stage includes two climbs of intermediate difficulty – the Category 2 climb of Bérchules at 62km and the Cat. 3 at Lanzarón at kilometer 117 – before the long “Special Category” climb to Sierra Nevada at the finish.That final climb will be the first real opportunity for those hoping to challenge Joseba Beloki for the overall lead in the Vuelta to mount a serious attack.The slopes on the way to Sierra

Kelme's Oscar Sevilla finally did Wednesday what he couldn't do at theTour de France. Sevilla attacked hard on the first major climbing stage in the 2002Vuelta a España and, although he didn't deliver a knockout blow,he let everyone else know he's now the man to beat. Sevilla jumped with five kilometers to go and left the rest of the favoritesin his wake. U.S. Postal's Roberto Heras, ONCE's Joseba Beloki and ItaliansGilberto Simoni and Francesco Casagrande all lost nearly a full minuteto "El Nino." Sevilla couldn't reel in Cofidis' Guido Trentin, who scored Italy'sfourth straight stage at

La Vuelta: Live updates from Stage 4 Good morning to our American audience. Welcome to VeloNews.com's live coverage of Stage 4 of the 2002 Vuelta a España, another short and fast day that should favor sprinters like Erik Zabel and Mario Cipollini, who took yesterday’s 134-km stage to Murcia. Today’s 149.5-kilometer ride from Aguilas to Roquetas de Mar opens witha 60km jaunt along the Mediterranean and then cuts inland, across the Cabode Gata and then heads to a finishing flat again along the Mediterraneanat Roquetas de Mar. There are three "hot sprints" along the route and no mountain

For the third day in a row, an Italian won a stage in the 57th Vueltaa España. For the second day in a row, it was Mario Cipollini witharms wide spread. El Rey Leon, as the Lion King is called in Spanish, made it lookeasy in Tuesday’s 149-km fourth stage from Aguilas to Roquetas de Mar alongSpain’s white-hot Mediterranean Coast. Cipo easily won the stage and senta strong signal to his would-be rivals for next month’s world championships. “It was another fabulous work by my team. They put me in perfect positionand (Giovanni) Lombardi did great work as the last man,” said Cipolliniafter

The last two days have been pretty flat and not too hard... that is untilthe sprinters’ teams start winding it up for the finishes.Riding through one of the towns today we spotted a guy riding next tous on a side road. He was going pretty fast and not really watching wherehe was going. I said to Christian “he's going to go down.” I guess he didn'tsee the wall that suddenly stopped him. It looked painful but the bunchcouldn't help but laugh about it.On one of the downhills all I could see was the ocean down below I thinkit was a pretty steep cliff, it made me feel like I was in a video gamefor

The Lion King came out of hibernation Monday to win the third stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España in an exciting shootout between the top sprinters. Mario Cipollini's retirement plans are definitely on hold again as the Italian superstar showed that missing more than 90 days of competition doesn't mean that much to cycling's top sprinter. "I'm here to prepare for the world championships. That is my mission, but it's nice to show I can still win. It's important for the sponsor and it's a good test," Cipollini said after winning in 3 hours, 7 minutes, 37 seconds with an average speed of 42.917

Good morning to our American audience. Welcome to another day of live updatesfrom the Vuelta a España. Today's third stage is another short one:a 134.2 km from San Vicente del Raspieg to Murcia, dead flat along Spain'sCosta Blanca for the first 80 km, then heading west to the finish in Murcia.There are three "hot sprints" along the route and no mountain points. Thefinish is flat and straight on for the final two kilometers. The peloton'swill have a golden opportunity to measure their strength against each otherin one of the flattest stages in the whole Vuelta. This third stage, betweenSan

Svetlana Boubnenkova (Edilsavino) took the win in the eighth round of the women’s road World Cup in Embrach, Switzerland, on Sunday, but Mirjam Melchers’ (Farm Frites) fourth place in the 118.8km event means that the back-and-forth contest for dominance in the nine-race series will continue down to the wire. The race drew a large and talented field, but the focus of early attention was largely on the two women vying for the Cup lead, with just six points separating Rossner and Melchers. Changed from previous years, the 10.8 kilometer course for 2002 featured narrow roads and two main

Good morning to our U.S. audience and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the second stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España. The second stage is a short 144.7km from Valencia to Alcoi.Sunny skies and huge crowds welcomed the peloton for the start of the second stage of the 57th Vuelta a Espana. Big cheers for Oscar Sevilla, Joseba Beloki and Roberto Heras as the joined the 206riders who signed in.It's warm today, highs in the upper 80s, and Mario Cipollini started with a sleeve-less Acqua & Sapone jersey. The race winds through some spectacular countryside just inland from the Med, passing

The first road stage of the 57th Vuelta delivered just what everyone expected since the advent of shorter stages and a peloton packed with 23 teams and more than 200 riders: attacks and more attacks.The final 27-km circuit of the 144-km second stage from Valencia into the finale at sun-baked Alcoi saw a string of blistering attacks over narrow roads. With 16 km to go, Kelme’s Oscar Sevilla shot off the front to try to grab a gap with five other riders and ONCE put the pedal to the metal to preserve its golden jersey for Joseba Beloki.The beneficiary of this in-fighting was Saeco’s Danilo Di