Road

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

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

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

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

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. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay, done with Stage 2. It didn't start out too fast so that was good, the field is really big here207 riders. The first climb was very hard but it broke up the field a littlebit. I went up the hill with Cipo's team knowing that they would ride sometempo to bring him back to the group for the sprint. After that hill therace went very fast, and on the last hill I was at my limit and the groupwas descending super fast too. My roommate, housemate, and dear friend Antonio Cruz hit the pavement hardtoday. I didn't know this until after the race and he walked into the roomreally bloody and in

Joseba Beloki is back in the lead of the Vuelta a España. The question now is whether or not he’ll be wearing it when the race ends Sept. 29 in Madrid. Nearly a year after he abandoned the 2001 Vuelta in tears while leading the race into Andorra, Beloki grabbed the first “jersey oro” of the 57th Vuelta a España after his ONCE squad won the 24.6-km team time trial. Beloki enters the Vuelta with the pressure of an entire nation on his shoulders after finishing second in the Tour de France for his third consecutive podium appearance in cycling’s most important race. But Beloki’s never been

Today was the team time trial. The big debate the team has been having is if we should do a double line or a single line. So we did a little bit of both, we did a double line as long as we could because it is faster and then when guys started getting tired we called the audible for a single line. I'm so glad the race has started. I was going out of my head sitting in this hotel for the past few days. Victor and I were so bored we went swimming naked in the hotel pool. At lunch today my nerves started acting up and I was getting a lot of butterflies in my stomach. We rode to the start of

The last major stage-race of the 2002 season kicks off Saturday in typicalSpanish fashion with fiesta, paella, pretty podium girls and bicycles alllined up and ready to go. Final destination: Madrid.The 57th Vuelta a España promises to be one of the most hotlycontested races of the year, perhaps topping the 2002 Giro d’Italia inthe nail-biter category. A bevy of stars come loaded to the 21-stage, 3128-kmSpanish tour looking for redemption, salvation, confirmation or simplyresults to snag a contract for next year.Only three Americans are scheduled to start – four if you count GuidoTrenti of

The U.S. Postal team’s Dave Zabriskie is in Valencia, Spain, getting ready to ride in thisyear’s edition of the Vuelta a España, the American’s first major tour.The Postal squad will consist of team leader Roberto Heras, fellow Spaniard Jose Luis Rubiera, Americans Antonio Cruz, Christian Vande Velde and Zabriskie, Colombian Victor Hugo Pena, Steffen Kjaergaard of Norway,Canadian Michael Barry and Australian Matt White. Zabriskie will be sendingdiary entries to VeloNews.com throughout the Vuelta, which begins on Saturdaywith a team time trial in Valencia.Monday, September 2 -- So I'm getting

Editor's Note: Joe Friel is author of the successful "TrainingBible" series of books, a regular columnist for VeloNews and InsideTriathlon magazines and the founder of www.ultrafit.com. Dirk Frielraces professionally and coaches along with Joe at Ultrafit Associates.The Friels also offer answers to a selection of questions in this weeklycolumn here on VeloNews.com. Readers can send questions to Joe and DirkFriel in care of VeloNews.com at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.(Be sure to include "Friel" in the subject line.)Dear Joe,I will be eligible for social security benefit next year and currentlyusing

VeloNews technical writer Lennard Zinn is a frame builder, a formerU.S. national team rider and author of several books on bikes and bikemaintenance. This is Zinn's 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 toZinn. We'll try to print a representative sample of questions regularly.Question: One of my riding partners had a ticking (not a creak)sound in his ride.  It would only happen when pedaling

There were no late-race flat tires, no mysterious illnesses and no bad luck Sunday for Gunn-Rita Dahle, as the Norwegian won the world championship title that’s eluded her throughout her up and down career. Following last year’s heartbreak at Vail when she flatted while leading late in the race, the popular Norwegian pulled away from 1999 world junior champion Anna Szafraniec of Poland on the third lap to seal the deal. Heavy rain turned the women’s cross-country race into a two-hour hike-a-bike and Dahle simply endured the troubles better than her rivals. "I was focusing on easy pedaling

Marty Nothstein and Sarah Uhl each ended a week of frustration by taking gold medals and national championship jerseys in the final men’s and women’s events of the 2002 U.S. Track Cycling Championships on their home track at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, PA. Nothstein easily outsprinted nemesis Jame Carney in the final sprint of a crash-marred men’s 10-mile scratch race to secure his spot at the World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark at the end of September. Uhl, the former junior world women’s sprint champ competing in her first year as an elite senior, won a

It would have been tough enough on a normal day, but put Julien Absalon in the muck and mud of Sunday's under-23 cross-country race at the world championships in Kaprun, Austria, and the rest of the field never had a chance. For the second straight year the Frenchman proved he is the top young rider in the world, taking a decisive win in brutal conditions he likened to his "backyard" in northern France. Absalon finished the 28.8km race in 1:59:01, 2:32 ahead of Swiss rider Ralph Naef. Canadian Ryder Hesjedal, the silver medalist last year, settled for bronze this time around, coming across

Roland Green on Sunday did what only one other male mountain biker has done since 1990 – win the world championships back to back. Whether or not he can three-peat to match Henrik Djernis’ record will have to wait another year. For now, the Canadian is going to soak up his victory, at least as soon as he can wash off all the mud. "That’s the best race I ever had. The race conditions were so hard. After awhile it turned into a running race," said Green, after winning 19 seconds ahead of Belgian Filip Meirhaeghe. "I couldn’t feel my legs in the last lap there was so much adrenaline. I

Jeff LeBauve (Focus 2004) powered over teammate Gideon Massie in the second ride of the match sprints finals to take the national championship Friday night at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome. LeBauve joins teammates Tanya Lindenmuth (women’s match sprint) and Garth Blackburn (keirin) on top of the podium this week at the track nationals in Trexlertown, PA. "It was a lot tougher than it looked," the 23-year-old New Orleans native said. He was concerned, he said, about Massie’s ability to hold a long sprint but also confident in his superior speed. LeBauve’s win made it three of four in the speed

Australia had another banner day in the junior men's downhill, taking twoof the three medals for the second year in a row. The French junior womenfinished 1-2 with American Leana Gerrard finishing fourth to post the bestAmerican result so far in the 2002 UCI world mountain bike championships.Sam Hill gave the Aussies their third junior men's gold medal in fouryears, proving that Australia has replaced France as the source of hotyoung downhill talent. Hill rode cleanly on the 1.99-mile course to winin 5 minutes, 22.01 seconds with an average speed of 22.23 mph."I made a couple of little

What can you say? When the pressure is on, there is no one better than Nicolas Vouilloz and Anne-Caroline Chausson. The latest evidence came Saturday at the world championships in Kaprun, Austria, where the pair of French downhillers blazed their way to two more rainbow jerseys. Between them they now own 14 elite titles (seven apiece) and six junior crowns (three each) for an amazing total of 20. Vouilloz was the first to hit double digits, as the men's race was slotted ahead of the women to accommodate live TV coverage, including an hour on the BBC. The English TV network had tuned in in

Put their names in the history books. American Brian Lopes and Frenchwoman Anne-Caroline Chausson are the first ever four-cross world champions after each took victory on a warm Saturday night in Kaprun, Austria. In the men's final Lopes squared off against compatriot Eric Carter, Frenchman Cédric Gracia and Czech rider Michal Prokop, but none had the skills to stay with Lopes who took the lead early and never looked back. "EC killed me out of the gate but he didn’t block me out of the natural line and I bumped him a little and came by," Lopes explained. "Then I just held on." Behind

A pair of teenagers from Down Under proved Australia isn’t just for downhillers, sweeping the junior cross-country races at the mountain bike world championship in Kaprun, Austria on Friday. Inspired by the likes of Cadel Evans, Mary Grigson and Paul Rowney, youngsters Lisa Mathison and Trent Lowe each took wins on a sunny and muggy day in this picturesque ski town an hour drive from Salzburg. For Lowe it was his second trip to the world's podium, adding rainbow stripes to a bronze-medal effort last year at Vail. The 17-year-old took the lead on the first of three laps around the tough

All the talk of Australia supplanting France as the world's No. 1 downhilling nation was squelched for at least a day Thursday, after French riders took seven of the eight top places in men's and women's qualifying at the world championships in Kaprun, Austria. On the men's side it was a clean sweep of the top three, with Cédric Gracia posting the day's fastest time of 5:23.88 down the 2-mile course. Less than a second behind the Volvo-Cannondale rider were countrymen Mickael Pascal and Nicolas Vouilloz. This is just the second race back for the reigning world champion Vouilloz, who missed

Two rain delayed sessions have tightened the schedule and resulted in the cancellation of the final round of the team pursuit at the U.S. National Track Championships in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. Rains on Wednesday evening forced the postponement of the semi-finaland final rounds of the women's match sprint; the team pursuit finals andthe men's kilometer final. Re-scheduled for this morning, those eventswere further delayed because of weather. Facing an already compressed trackschedule, officials decided to award the men's team pursuit medals basedsoley on teams' performances in the

It's no secret that Lance Armstrong never used Shimano's SPD-R system. He rode what he liked and those were his old Look-compatible Shimanos. After three successive Tour de France wins, the Japanese manufacturer finally decided it had enough of watching its decade old equipment bring Armstrong to the podium and set out to build a pedal Lance would approve of. It looks like the new design got the nod of approval: Armstrong has kept them on his bike since spring. The svelte 276-gram/pair (plus 60 grams for the cleats, screws and washers) pedals are the fruit of their radical redesign labor.

Rains in Trexlertown reshuffled the schedule at the national track championships, but competition resumed on Thursday night, with Jame Carney, Mike Beers and Tanya Lindenmuth taking home national titles. For Carney, it was a night of double duty, as the points race semifinals and finals were both contested in the Thursday evening session. After qualifying in the 60-lap semifinals, competitors had to turn right back around for the 120-lap final later in the evening. In the final, Carney (Prime Alliance) lapped the field twice to take the win. Navigators’s Marty Nothstein wassecond, and

While we thought 2003 couldn't get any brighter for Shimano and its highly redefined XTR group, the Japanese manufacturer surprised us again this morning with the announcement that it would be producing its first XTR-level wheelset. Sources report the wheelset should go for around $850 and be available about the same time as the component group (around January, 2003.) Vital stats include: total wheelset weight of 1650 grams, both 24 spoke count in a paired lateral crossover pattern and, most significantly, are both tubeless and traditional-tire compatible. Although the wheels were not

At the Chris Thater Memorial Criterium in Binghamton, New York, on Sunday, Navigators Mark Walters and Trek Plus’s Laura Van Gilder took the wins at the National Racing Calendar event, each adding to an impressive season résumé. Walters, the winner of the USPRO road championship in Philadelphia, was part of a nine-rider breakaway group at Chris Thater that lapped the main field as the 50-mile race wound down. With 10 laps to go, the Navigators began to set things up for Walters, delivering him to the win on the last lap. Mercury’s Mike Sayers took second, while last year’s winner, John

Marin Bikes just announced the launch of its patented Quad technology which will be featured on the company's XC full suspension bikes. The Quad was developed with chief designer John Whyte, an ex-Formula One engineer and cycling enthusiast. The Quad, named for its four-bar linkage system, four inches of rear wheel travel and quadratic wheel path equation will be available in four models including the East Peak, Rift Zone, Mount Vision and Mount Vision Pro. According to Marin, the Quad suspension design is a four-bar linkage system with a patented Intelligent Pivot (i.e. similar to VPP

GP Ouest France - 2002Results GP Ouest France -- Plouay1. Jeremy Hunt (GB), Big Mat, 4:44:022. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Credit Agricole3. Baden Cooke (Aus), FDJeux.com4. Martin Elmiger (Swi), Phonak5. Fred Rodriguez (USA), Domo6. Jo Planckaert (B), Cofidis7. Peter Van Petegem (B), Lotto8. Serge Baguet (B), Lotto9. Laurent Jalabert (F), CSC-Tiscali10. Andrea Tafi (I), Mapei11. Raphael Schweda (G), Team Coast12. Luca Paolini (I), Mapei-Quick Step13. Björn Leukemans (B), Palmans-Collstrop14. Emmanuel Magnien (F), Bonjour15. Franck Renier (F), Bonjour16. Laurent Brochard (F), Jean-Delatour17.

In a battle of wills, Petra Rossner was able to overcome a series of attacks from World Cup leader Mirjam Melchers Saturday and overtake her in the overall standings at the GP de Plouay in France. And at the finish line, it was fellow German, Regina Schleicher just edging out Rossner for the win. Rossner finished second in front of Susanne Lunjskog, hot off her second place finish in the Grand Boucle. Melchers was fourth. The seventh stop in the nine race series was held on a circuit course around the quaint town of Plouay. The field raced eight, 14 kilometer laps for a total of 113

Some of my friends and family at home seemed to think that the French WorldCup took place in a village called "Poulet" today. Pouletmeans chicken, and no, we really weren’t racing in a town called “chicken.”The race took place in the village of Plouay. I’m not sure if Plouay canbe translated into anything English, but I know it doesn’t mean chicken.Our five-woman Saturn squad came into this race motivated and excited.You just couldn’t tell by looking at us. We were all still quite worn outfrom La Grande Boucle. Ina had been telling me all week that I looked likehell. Hey thanks, Ina!I spent

Plouay hosted the Worlds in 2000 and I loved the course, the ambienceat the race and the support of the crowd.This year is the first year they have hosted a women’s World Cup eventhere. It seems a natural place for one since Brittany is the center ofcycling in France and I think Plouay is the center of cycling in Brittany.Each year the men’s race draws massive crowds and is one of the highlightson the French cycling calendar.The area brings back a lot of fond memories for me as Michael and Ispent a few good days here with our mothers in 2000. Earlier this year,when I started racing as a

American Andy Lakatosh jump-started Team USA's performance at the 2002 World Junior Track Championships by winning a silver medal in the keirin on Wednesday. The keirin was the first event of the championships in Melbourne, Australia. Australia's Mark Jamieson won the gold to the delight of the hometown crowd. Lakatosh, who originally won the bronze medal, secured the silver after Colombia's Hernan Sanchez was disqualified for dangerous riding in the final heat. "I'm so excited about this," said a jubilant Lakatosh, whose parents and sister traveled to Australia to cheer him on. "Today's

The French police that have been assigned to this Tour have been the most professional staff I've ever encountered. They've done a superb job of keeping the roads safe, waving flags around all hazards, and guding the whole race caravan smoothly throughout the country. We've never had one problem with a random car that has snuck onto the course. The "gendarmerie" have traveled with us throughout the entire race, and during each transfer after the stage, we often see them speeding up behind us in groups of four. They draft very well off each other with their motorcycles! My teammate Ina

Belarussian Zinaida Stahurskaia (USC Chirio) won the 2002 women's Tour de France in Paris on Sunday after the 14th and final stage, a 7.4km individual time trial. Sweden's Susanne Ljungkog (Vlaanderen-T Interim) won the time trial. Stahurskaia topped the overall standings ahead of Ljungkog and Spanish two-time winner Joane Somarriba, who won in 2000 and last year. Letters from the Big Loop - The final entry of Kimberly Bruckner'srace diaryEvery team and the entire race organization stayed at the Ibis lastnight in Port de Clichy, just outside of downtown Paris. When our teamcame down for

Two Italians and an American were the main protagonists Sunday in the eighth round of the 2002 World Cup disputed on a hilly course under warm sunny skies in Zurich, Switzerland. Winning the 236km Meisterschaft von Zurich was Dario Frigo (Tacconi Sport), the Italian who’s been on a hot streak this season. Frigo attacked on the final ascent of the hardest climb in the 41km circuit up the Pfannenstiel with 18km to go. Frigo’s form has been excellent since May, when he won the Tour of Romandie. That carried into the Tour de France, where he won a stage, and into the Clasica San Sebastian last

Discretion was the better part of valor Sunday, as John Kirkcaldie and Sabrina Jonnier did what they had to do to hold on for overall downhill titles at the NORBA National Championship Series finals in Mount Snow, Vermont. Kirkcaldie entered the day tied atop the standings with Australian Chris Kovarik, meaning the fastest of the two would likely walk away with the crown. That honor went to Kirkcaldie who finished fourth on the day, while Kovarik ran into mechanical problems and ended up 49th. The chain of events was a near duplication of the 2001 finals when Kovarik also blew his chance at