Road

To say that Rik Verbrugghe’s prologue speed of almost 59 kph makes him the fastest time trialist of all time is both accurate and misleading. Never before in the history of major prologue time trials (introduced to the Tour de France in 1967, the Giro in 1977) has there been one that wasn’t on a circuit or out-and-back course. The previous prologue record of 55.152 kph set by world hour record holder Chris Boardman at the 1994 Tour was on a 7.2km course that had five 90-degree turns, a complete traffic circle turnaround and even some cobblestones to negotiate! The course at Pescara on

The 20 teams and riders at the 2001 Giro d’Italia, and the route they’ll face in the next 23 days. ALESSIO Italy Top GC rider: Gotti Top sprinter: Leoni Best stage-win hopes: Leoni, Zanetti Giro will be a success if: Gotti finishes top 5. Equipment: DeRosa bikes Sponsor: Alloy automobile wheels Director: Bruno Cenghialta Giro team: Stefano Casagrande (I); Davide Casarotto (I); Pietro Caucchiolo (I); Ivan Gotti (I); Martin Hvastija (Slo); Ruslan Ivanov (Mol); Endrio Leoni (I); Alexandr Shefer (Kaz); Mauro Zanetti (I). ALEXIA Italy Top GC rider: Hervé Top sprinter:

Belgian Rik Verbrugghe of the Lotto-Adecco team continued his spring tear Saturday, winning the 7.6km prologue on the opening day of the Giro d’Italia. Verbrugghe, who also won the Flèche Wallone classic on April 18, beat out Italian Dario Frigo by nine seconds. The 26-year-old averaged more than 58 kph on the flat course. Tune in shortly for a full race story and results.

If there ever was a day to break some records for time trialing, this was it. The course for the prologue of the 84th Giro d’Italia was short, completely flat and straight as an arrow. The weather was overcast and cool, with a tailwind. Always an opportunist, Rik Verbrugghe took advantage of the conditions to set a record that will probably stand for a very long time. The Lotto-Adecco rider covered the 7.6km along the Abruzzi coast at a blazing pace of 58.874kph, the fastest average time trial speed in professional cycling history, eclipsing the storied record Tour time trial speeds of

The weather has been perfect for cycling the last few days in the Adriatic coast town of Pescara and should hold for Saturday’s start of the 84th Giro d’Italia. This race promises to be highly competitive, with no clear favorite and a course that does not favor any particular type of rider. Fassa Bortolo’s world no. 1, Francesco Casagrande, really wants to win the Giro to erase the memory of last year’s bitter loss on the second-to-last stage, as well as to place himself among the grand champions. The climber from Tuscany has an incredible team backing him, including Paris-Nice and Tour de

Hernan Buonahora (Col), Selle Italia-Pacific, 34This Colombian veteran likes long, hard, hilly races. He hasn't won many races in Europe, but his sixth place overall at the 2000 Giro is testimony to his endurance. Giuseppe Di Grande (I), Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola, 27When Di Grande had four victories in 1997, including a stage win at the Giro, his Mapei team expected much more. But it didn't happen, and in 2000 he had another mediocre season with Festina. It's time for things to pick up again. Danilo Di Luca (I), Cantina Tollo-Acqua & Sapone, 25Di Luca showed promise in his Giro debut as a

Italy's Marco Pantani and Germany's Jan Ullrich are the two stars in the field as the 84th running of the Giro d'Italia gets underway in Pescara on Saturday. But while Pantani and Ullrich's pedigree is beyond reproach it would be a surprise if either was to cross the line wearing the leader's pink jersey on June 10. Pantani, assailed by legal and health problems, has had a miserable campaign so far while Ullrich insists he is only using the Giro as a stepping stone for the one race that is more important in the cycling calendar, the Tour de France. Pantani has not been invited to the

Saturn's Anna Millward pulled on the leader's jersey of the 10-day Tour de l'Aude after putting in the fastest time on the 3km prologue course in Gruissan, France, on May 18. The Australian's time was 4:23, with New Zealand's Sarah Ulmer the surprise of the day, coming in for second place, three seconds back. Germany's Judith Arndt and Petra Rossners -- two know as TT specialists, finished third and fourth, 4 and 8 seconds slower. Canadian Lyne Bessette (Saturn) was the day's top North American, finishing sixth, 9 seconds slower than Millward. Tomorrow's first stage is a 106km loop at

With one day to go, Dane Jakob Piil (CSC) retains his overall lead at the Peace Race, heading in to Saturday's 166km stage with an 18-second margin. Saturn's Michael Barry dropped two spots on the GC standings, and now is fourth overall, down 45 seconds. The peloton faced a 25.8km morning TT and a 97km afternoon stage on May 18. Germany's Thomas Liese (Nuremberg) won the morning's event, clocking in at 34:27, while Spain's Aito Arbillo Garmendia was second, four seconds slower. Piil rode in at 34:57 to protect his lead and finish fifth for the stage. Later in the day, Ukrainian Bogdan

Francesco Casagrande is an old-fashioned racer. He comes from a different school than pro cycling's other stars, despite his No. 1 UCI ranking. His passion for the profession is rooted in an appreciation of the great riders of the past (remember last year's Giro when he dedicated his victory on the Abetone to Gino Bartali?), and his understanding of the sport's traditions. That said, one of the most important developments in Casagrande's career is his new partnership at Fassa Bortolo with Giancarlo Ferretti, one of Europe's most celebrated and esteemed directeurs sportifs. Casagrande is one

The Giro is a race in touch with history, and its organizers love to use it as a vehicle to mark important dates. Five years ago, for example, they decided to commemorate the centennial of the modern Olympiad by starting the Giro in Athens, Greece, and having the race visit Lausanne, Switzerland, home of today’s Olympic movement. Last year’s event opened at the Vatican, to mark Jubilee Year, the 2000-year celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. And this year, the Giro remembers Italy’s most-loved composer, Giuseppe Verdi, who died 100 years ago. That’s why the course for the 2001 Giro was

Denmark's Jakob Piil (CSC- World Online) won the 209.2km seventh stage of the Peace Race, which ran from Pilsen, Czech Republic, to Zwickau, Germany. Piil took the sprint ahead of Poland's Zbigniew Piatek and Australian Scott Sunderland. This was Piil's second stage win of the race, and the day's effort moved him into third-place overall. Germany's Enrico Poitschke (Wiesenhof) finished 4:10 down for the day but retains the overall lead going in to Friday's 25.8km time trial. Saturn's Michael Barry remains in second place on the overall standings. Copyright AFP 2001

German rider Enrico Poitschke (Wiesenhof) moved into the overall lead of the Peace Race after stage 6 in Pilsen, Czech Republic, on Wednesday, while Canadian Michael Barry of Saturn moved into second-place overall, just 10 seconds behind. Poitschke began the day fifth on general classification, but finished fourth on the 234.5km stage, the longest of the race, to take the overall lead. Poitschke's countryman Christian Lademann won the stage, outsprinting his four breakaway companions, while Barry took third on the stage. The main peloton finished 4:47 behind the breakaway. The race saw one

Disgraced Colombian climber Jose Jaime Gonzalez Pico has been recruited by Italian team Mobilvetta only days prior to the start of the Giro d'Italia. The 32-year-old, known as Chepe Gonzalez, who won the Giro's mountains plaudits in 1997 and 1999, was sacked by team Selle Italia last month after he was charged with possession of doping products. Gonzalez was charged by Modena (Italy) magistrates after the discovery of a range of doping products in his hotel room at the end of March during the Coppi-Bartali International Cycling Week. He was sacked days later by Selle Italia, who

Italy's Dario Frigo, riding for the Fassa Bortolo team, had little trouble holding onto his overall lead during the final stage of the Tour of Romandie Sunday in Switzerland. Paris-Nice champion Frigo, 27, first took the overall lead during the race’s thrid stage, when he put 21 seconds on compatriot Paolo Savoldelli. Meanwhile, Saeco’s Mario Cippolini won a sprint finish to take the fifth stage, a 178km run between Saxon and Geneva. Copyright AFP 2001

Didier Rous (Bonjour) easily held on to win the 47th running of the Four Days of Dunkirk in France on Sunday. Rous assured himself victory by winning back-to-back stages Saturday (stage 5) and Sunday morning (stage 6). Former world No. 1 Laurent Jalabert (CSC-World Online) ended up second overall, 40 seconds behind Rous. Stephane Heulot (BigMat) was third. The win in the final stage, a 103.4km ride from Saint-Pol-sur-Mer to Dunkirk, went to Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu (Ag2r). Kirsipuu, who won four stages and finished sixth overall, outgunned Damien Nazon (Bonjour) and Zoran Klemencic

At an awards ceremony in Madrid on Saturday, five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain criticized race organizers for not keeping Italian climber Marco Pantani in the 2001 race. Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc a week ago named five wild-card teams, but did not include Pantani's Italian outfit, Mercatone Uno. "As a supporter, it upsets me that such great riders as Pantani are not going to the Tour de France," Indurain said. "The organizers have followed the rules, taking the top 15 teams and invitations are their affair. It all depends on their sponsors. (The organizers)

Italy's Gilberto Simoni riding for Lampre won a sprint finish in the fourth stage of the Tour of Romandie, a 171.5km run between Saint-Aubin and Nendaz, Switzerland on Saturday. The 29-year-old produced a blistering sprint to beat Spain's Manuel Beltran into second and Switzerland's Sven Montgomery into third while Italy's Dario Frigo of Fassa Bortolo held onto the overall lead. Simoni's finishing flourish was testament to his fitness as he builds up to his main objective the Giro d'Italia in which he has finished third the past two years. But Frigo, who finished sixth 14 seconds adrift, on

French rider Didier Rous grabbed the overall lead in the Four Days of Dunkirk cycling race after Saturday's fifth stage, a 170.5km run from Outreau to Boulogne-sur-Mer. Rous, one of the Festina riders expelled from the 1998 Tour de France, now riding for Bonjour, finished in 4:10:35, narrowly beating out Dutchman Jeroen Blijlevens and Frenchman Stephane Heulot, while French veteran Laurent Jalabert finished fourth. Former world No. 1 Jalabert, still recovering form after an injury earlier this year, took on the race with 45km remaining after young Frenchman and Rous's teammate Sylvain

Estonia's Jaan Kirsipuu of the AG2R team won a sprint finish that saw 12 riders fall to take the fourth of seven stages of the Four Days of Dunkirk cycling race in Saint-Vanant, France on Friday. Sprint specialists Jo Planckaert and Jeroen Blijlevens fell in the mass tumble in which US Postal's Stephen Barthe broke his wrist and Irishman Ciaran Power suffered a concussion. In the first stage of the race, fellow Postal rider Dylan Casey crashed into a TV soundman, and broke his pelvis and collarbone. Casey's agent has said the rider may file suit against the TV station the soundman works

Festina's Spanish rider David Plaza won a sprint finish to take the third stage of the Tour of Romandie in Payerne, Switzerland on Friday. The 30-year-old Plaza completed the 25.5km time-trial course in 31:20, outsprinting Italy's Dario Frigo of the Fassa Bortolo team by 0.72. Third place finisher Andrei Teteriouk of Kazakhstan was 16 seconds back. Paris-Nice champion Frigo, 27, took the overall lead with a 21 second advantage on compatriot Paolo Savoldelli. Plaza is in third position, at :26. Copyright AFP 2001

Italian cyclist Michele Bartoli confirmed on Thursday that he would be taking part in July's Tour de France despite pulling out of the Giro d’Italia, which gets underway May 19. The 30-year-old leader of the Mapei team, who won the Het Volk Classic in March, pulled out of the Giro complaining that he was exhausted and did not want to run the risk of competing before the Tour de France. He also announced that he would be racing in the Tour of Germany from May 29 to June 4, the Tour of Switzerland from June 19-28 and the Italian road race championship on July 1. Copyright AFP 2001

Czech rider Jan Svorada of the Lampre team won a sprint finish to take the third stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk cycling race in Landrecies, France. Svorada clocked a time of 4:35:10 to pip Italian Endrio Leoni of Alessio, and Slovenian Zoran Klemencic of Tacconi, to the post after the 189km run. Estonia's Jaan Kirsipuu of AG2R, winner of the first two stages, had difficulty throughout the stage and was overwhelmed some 100 meters from the line. He holds the overall leader's pink jersey ahead of Australians Baden Cooke (Mercury-Viatel) and Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole) at 13 and 14

Italy's Paolo Savoldelli won a sprint for the second stage of the Tour of Romandie in Vevey, Switzerland on Thursday. The Saeco rider, winner of the opening prologue, covered the 171.7km run between Tramelan and Vevey in 4:04:48 to come in ahead of Spaniard Manuel Beltran and Italian Dario Frigo, plus a pursuing peleton of eight riders. The Italian recaptured the overall leader's green jersey from Australian Bradley McGee, but has just a seven-second lead on second-placed compatriot Dario Frigo. "Everything is to play for in Friday's time-trail at Payerne. If the rider who has the green

Italy's Fabrizio Guidi, of the Mercury-Viatel team, won the 165km first stage of Switzerland’s Tour of Romandie between Pfaffnau and Tramelan. The 29-year-old Guidi won in a sprint finish, just nipping Swiss riders Oscar Camenzind (Lampre-Daikin) and Niki Aebersold (Team Coast), then used the opportunity to take a swipe at Tour de France organizers who did not select his American team as a wild card entrant last week. "It was a political and not a sports decision," said Guidi. The Italian added that he hadn't thought Camenzind would be the main danger but quickly readjusted his target. "My

Estonia's Jaan Kirsipuu (AG2R) won his second successive stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk cycling event Wednesday to hold on to the leader's pink jersey. The 31-year-old, who held the Tour de France yellow jersey for several days in 1999, won in a sprint finish against Australia's Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole) and Mercury-Viatel's Dutch rider Jans Koerts. The day’s stage was a 192.2km run between Roost Warendin and Haines-Les-La-Bassee in France. Copyright AFP 2001

AG2R’s Jaan Kirsipuu captured the leader’s pink jersey after winning a sprint for the first stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk on Tuesday. The Estonian rider covered the 164.8km between the northern French towns of Dunkirk and Steenvoorde in 3 hours, 46 minutes, pipping Australia's Baden Cooke (Mercury-Viatel) and French champion Christophe Capelle of BigMat-Auber. Meanwhile, American Dylan Casey (US Postal) crashed just after crossing the line when he collided with a sound engineer from a French television station. According to early medical reports Casey suffered a fractured pelvis and

Defending champion Paolo Savoldelli of Italy won the opening 6.9km prologue of the six-day Tour of Romandie in Pfaffnau, Switzerland, on Tuesday. The 28-year-old Saeco rider was clocked in 9:00.63 between the towns of St. Urban and Pfaffnau to lead compatriot Dario Frigo by 0.83 and Australia's Bradley McGee by 1.15. "I didn't think I had the right rhythm. The first 4km uphill really broke my legs," said Savoldelli, who won last year's prologue here, but does not feel in top form this time around. "I didn't take part this year in the Tour of the Basque Country, which is a really hard race

The 2001 Tim Schoeny's Tour of the Gila ended on Sunday with the Gila Monster road races, an epic 100-mile test for the men and 66 miles for the women. The final stage gave the overall race winners one last chance to show who was strongest, as Scott Moninger (Mercury-Viatel) and Genevieve Jeanson (Rona) each added to their win totals en route to the overall, with Moninger taking his third and Jeanson her fourth stage win. Jeanson dominated the final day in the same way that she did every other road race stage, ending the day with a 5:56 advantage over Saturn's Kimberly Bruckner and 17

Jelly Belly’s Mariano Friedick earned a long-sought-after win on the fourth day of the Tour of the Gila after outsprinting three breakaway companions at the end of a 43-mile criterium Gila in Silver City, New Mexico on Saturday. In the women’s race, Saturn’s Ina Teutenberg crossed the line ahead of teammate Anna Millward as this season’s top women’s team enjoyed a win in a stage race dominated by the young Canadian phenom’ Genevieve Jeanson. Jeanson maintains a seven-minute lead in the overall standings, while Mercury’s Scott Moninger maintains a grip on the overall lead in the men’s

Gorazd Stangelj of the Liguigas team won the Tour of Tuscany in Italy Sunday. Stangelj came to the finish with Alexia’s Pascal Herve and beat the Frenchman in a sprint to win the 194km race with a time of 4:50:45. Spaniard Garcia Lastras (iBanesto.com) finished third, another 41 seconds back.

Union Cycliste International president Hein Verbruggen said Friday that Tour de France organizers have placed parochial interests ahead of the sport in their decision to issue wildcard invites to two Division II French teams and not to the teams of Italy's 1998 champion Marco Pantani and sprint ace Mario Cipollini. Verbruggen, in an interview with the Dutch news agency ANP, said that in the future different measures will be in place as to who was invited to the major Tours if they did not qualify automatically through the world rankings. "The Tour organizers placed chauvinistic and

For Saturn’s Eric Wohlberg and the rest of the men’s field chasing Scott Moninger at the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico, any hopes of overtaking Mercury’s race leader will most likely have to wait until Sunday’s finale. For the women, any slim hopes of catching race leader Genevieve Jeanson pretty much vanished after another solo victory by the Canadian teenager. Friday’s men’s race saw a south-of-the-border sweep, as a trio of Mexicans went 1-2-3 on the day. Jesus Zarate of the Tecos team took the win, outsprinting his breakaway partner Siddharta Camil of Corona. Mostly, though, it was a

On Friday, Mercury-Viatel’s team director at the Tour of the Gila spoke to VeloNews about the recent news of Viatel’s bankruptcy filing. Eddy Borysewicz, one of the men behind the Mercury-Viatel merger over the off-season, said that the news will not affect operations of the cycling team. "It’s only the U.S. division that filed [Chapter 11] for protection," he said. "The division in Euorpe, with its own network, is fine. So, we have money in the bank, everything is fine …. With the team, everything’s fine. And the European [division of Viatel] is very happy with the team." Borysewicz also

Tour de France race director Jean-Marie Leblanc ruled out any chance of reversing Wednesday’s decision not to invite Mercatone Uno and their team leader Marco Pantani, Italy’s1998 Tour champion, to this year’s race. Leblanc admitted the choice hadn't been easy, but in the end was unanimous among the electors. "However, we mustn't go back on the decision because that would be admitting we were wrong," LeBlanc said on Thursday. "Anyway, if we made an exception of Mercatone-Uno [Pantani's team] why not then Saeco [the team of ace sprinter Mario Cipollini]?" he added. Defending

On Thursday, the racers at New Mexico’s Tour of the Gila encountered their second test of the five-day stage race, and once again, Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson and Mercury’s Scott Moninger came out on top. Jeanson and Moninger each won their second consecutive stage, increasing their overall leads over chasers from Saturn. In the women’s race, Jeanson had already established a big lead with her day 1 time trial, which meant that the other teams would be on the offensive, trying to wear down the 19-year-old Canadian. Saturn took the initiative early, launching Lyne Bessette at the first bonus

In selecting two more French teams and excluding Mercatone Uno and Mercury-Viatel, Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc has devalued this year’s 88th Tour. Wednesday morning in Paris, Leblanc announced five wild-card selections — not four as originally scheduled — to create a field of 21, nine-man teams that will contest the race, July 7-29. The “new” teams are BigMat-Auber 93 and La Française des Jeux of France; CSC-World Online of Denmark; Euskaltel-Euskadi of Spain; and Lotto-Adecco of Belgium. “To invite 21 teams is a circumstantial measure,” said Leblanc, in explaining that French

The Tour of the Gila stage race got underway in Silver City, New Mexico, with a 15.7-mile time trial contested under typical windy conditions. On day 1 of the five-day race, Mercury’s Scott Moninger and Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson jumped out to the early race leads. Moninger beat Saturn’s Eric Wohlberg by 36 seconds on the out-and-back course that featured a climb on the way out and the way back. 7UP-Colorado Cyclist’s Doug Ziewacz and Clark Sheehan took third and fourth, respectively. In all, the top eight consisted of three 7UPs, three Saturns and two Mercurys before Landis-Trek-VWs Scott

The Société du Tour de France on Wednesday surprised many by announcing the names of five wild-card teams that will be invited to compete in the 2001 Tour. The announcement brings the total number of participants to 189 riders, representing 21 teams. As expected, the Belgian Lotto-Adecco team topped a list that also includes Denmark’s CSC-World Online, the Basque country team of Euskaltel-Euskadi and two additional French teams, BigMat-Auber 93 and La Française des Jeux. Notably absent from the list are the Mercatone Uno team of 1998 Tour winner Marco Pantani, the Saeco squad of super

Five years after his brother Beat won here, Marcus Zberg (Rabobank) of Switzerland ended Telekom's two-year home monopoly to win the Frankfurt Grand Prix on Tuesday ahead of Italy's Davide Rebellin (Liquigas) and Kurt Van de Wouwer (Lotto-Adecco) of Belgium. Zberg and Rebellin made the decisive move 70km from the finish as they broke away from a group of ten riders, which included last year's winner Kai Hundertmarck (Telekom), while ascending Mammolshainer, a climb leading to the Taunus mountains. On the final approach a fresh looking Zberg beat off Rebellin while Van de Wouwer put

The Navigators came knockin’ all week long, but never quite got the door down at the Circuit des Mines in France, April 26-May 1. On the final stage, Tuesday’s stage 8 112.3km road race in Hayange, the American team’s Russian connection of Vassiliy Davidenko and Oleg Grishkine took second and third, respectively, behind Robert Sassone (Cofidis) of France. For Davidenko, it was his fourth podium finish of the race, to go along with second place on stage 2 and third place on stages 3 and 5. In the overall, Great Britain’s Chris Newton (British National) took the race lead after then-race leader

While America is asleep Wednesday morning, six French officials from the Société du Tour de France will be meeting in Paris for a couple of hours to select the final teams that will contest this year's Tour. By 11 a.m. local time, at the Maison du Nord-Pas de Calais in the 9th Arondissement, their director, Jean-Marie Leblanc, will address a news conference, announcing the four wild-card picks -- or will it be five? When Leblanc revealed the first 16 teams in January (see list below), he said that the number of starters at the 88th Tour de France would, as last year, be limited to 180 -- 20

The U.S. national team placed two riders in the top 10 of the Under-23 Tour of Flanders on Sunday, with Danny Pate finishing second and Josh Thornton taking sixth place. Pate finished second to Dutchman Roy Sentjens in the 174km race over many of the same roads and climbs as the professional Tour of Flanders World Cup. The U.S. team had a total of four finishers in the race, with Brice Jones in 29th place and Pat McCarty 44th. Last Wednesday, Pate took eighth place at the French race, La Cote Picarde. The U23’s will be in action again on Tuesday, at their version of Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Lance Armstrong climbed a notch in the UCI rankings, which were updated and posted on Monday. The defending Tour de France champion’s second place finish in Saturday’s Amstel Gold World Cup put Armstrong at No. 2, up from his previous ranking of No. 3. Dutch Rabobank rider Erik Dekker, who squeaked by Armstrong to win Amstel Gold, was the big mover, climbing five spots to No. 3. Fassa Bortolo’s Italian Francesco Casagrande kept his No. 1 tag, while two of his compatriots, Mario Cipollini and 1998 Tour de France winner Marco Pantani, wallow in 73rd and 179th respectively. Germany's

Nancy Brunner, a 45-year-old cyclist from Broomfield, Colorado, died Sunday morning from injuries sustained in an accident in a road race near Boulder, Colorado. According to police, Brunner lost control on a descent and crashed into a guardrail during the Carter Lake Road Race. She was attended to by paramedics immediately after the crash, but died from head and neck trauma. Andrew Rosen, chief referee of the Carter Lake race, told the Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper that it was the first death from an accident in a Colorado road race that he was aware of. Brunner, a member of the

The U.S. Postal Service has entered a three-year extension of its sponsorship of the American-based cycling team of Lance Armstrong. Tailwind Sports, the agency that owns and manages the U.S. Postal Service team, issued a release Monday stating that the Postal Service has extended its support through 2004. "We are honored and excited that this extension will enable us to continue to build an already successful program into a true dynasty in the sport," said Mark Gorski, the CEO of Tailwind Sports. "We are equally as proud of the marketing success of our program and what we have

Lance Armstrong’s bad luck run at the Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands continued Saturday with an ugly repeat of a narrow loss to a Rabobank rider. Two years ago, Armstrong lost by inches to Rabobank’s Michael Boogerd, heralding the Texan’s dramatic return to racing following his comeback from testicular cancer. In a repeat of a bad dream, Armstrong lost to Rabobank’s Erik Dekker this year as the pair charged into the finish in Maastricht clear of the chase group.

Belgian cycling was reeling on Saturday after the Belga news agency reported that Jose De Cauwer, the national coach for the professional team, was under investigation for supplying doping products. According to the report, police discovered syringes at his house and he is under investigation for breaking the law regarding the taking of growth hormones, a charge which De Cauwer denies. However, Laurent De Backer, president of the Belgian Cycling Federation, hinted that De Cauwer would be fired if the case was proved against him. "If it is proved he broke the law my organization will meet

It was closer to midnight than twilight when racing finally ended, but that didn’t stifle the celebration of the NetZero squad. The newly formed gray-and-red clad team picked up its second win in as many days when Graeme Miller rolled across the line first to win the Twilight Criterium on the streets of Athens, Georgia. A day earlier it was teammate Jamie Paolinetti getting the win at the First Charter Criterium three-and-a-half hours to the north in Shelby, North Carolina. In Athens, the 40-year-old Miller was part of an eight-rider break that slipped away from the field early in the

When most people think of Holland, they think cheese, windmills and tulips. Maastricht is all that, plus some surprisingly tough hills, that, when packed in tight make for a formidable challenge for the 36th Amstel Gold Race on Saturday, the fifth leg of the 2001 World Cup. While the hills, or beklimmingen in Dutch, at only a few hundred meters each hardly rival the giants of racing lore, 29 climbs over the 254km (152-mile) course at breakneck World Cup speed can prove punishing. In the tradition of the spring classics, weather forecasts call for a cold, blustery day with a chance

At the16th running of the Tucson Bicycle Classic, Canadian Olympian Genevieve Jeanson again showed the form that has made her a dominant force in 2001. Jeanson (RONA) easily won all three stages, plus the overall, at the race run April 6-8. Her time of 5:11.41 in the stage 1 time trail bested the previous record by 10 seconds, her nearest rival by 36 seconds, and would have been good enough for second place in the Pro-1/2 men’s field. "I felt good," Jeanson said. "The changes in rhythm were hard, the climb was not steady, but I went as hard as I could. I liked the course." Stage 2 was

Jamie Paolinetti thanked all the right people after his win Friday at the First Charter Criterium in Shelby, North Carolina. His sponsors were great. His teammates did their jobs. And, oh yeah, the Saturn team helped out quite a bit too. See, for all but the first few laps, plus the one that counts the most -- the last one -- a Saturn rider was near the front pushing the pace. "Having Saturn up there forced Mercury and Prime Alliance to chase all day," said Paolinetti, who rides for NetZero. "There’s no question that helped at the end because they weren’t around." And at the end it was

First it was foot-and-mouth disease in England. Now it’s bad weather in Switzerland. In both cases the outcome is the same: cancelled mountain bike races. The latest casualty is the second race in Switzerland’s Swiss Cup series scheduled for May 6 in Luekerbad. The cancellation came after severe weather in the last few weeks dumped six-and-a-half feet of snow on the upper section of the course, and made other sections inaccessible because of the danger of falling rocks and landslides. This latest cancellation has messed up the schedules of some of the world’s top pros. Thomas Frischknecht

Italian Endrio Leoni (Alessio) got the best of the other sprinters at the Scheldeprijs Schoten in northern Belgium on Wednesday, taking his second win in a row at the Belgian one-day race. The race was marked by several crashes, including Mercury-Viatel’s Jans Koerts, whose springtime bad luck continued. Koerts crashed with 50km remaining and was taken to the hospital with numerous cuts and abrasions. After several late-race breakaways were thwarted, the race came down to a mass sprint, and Leoni beat out Lotto’s Jeroen Blijlevens and Fakta’s Kurt-Asle Aversen. Just behind, U.S. champion

A Danish newspaper claims to have the inside line on which teams will be given the four remaining Tour de France spots and Marco Pantani's Mercatone Uno team and the American Mercury squad aren't among them. Copenhagen’s daily Berlingske Tidende reported on Monday that CSC-WorldOnline, the team of France's former world number one Laurent Jalabert, is going to get one of the four wildcard entries to this year's Tour de France. Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc will reveal the names of the four teams on May 2, but the newspaper reported that sources within the Tour

Oscar Camenzind outsprinted Davide Rebellin, David Etxebarria, Francesco Casagrande and Michael Boogerd in an exciting finish to the Ardennes classic, Liége-Bastogne-Liége. The Swiss Lampre-Daikin star followed the moves of the powerhouse Fassa Bortolo team of Casagrande and Raimondas Rumsas, who led in the bunch seconds after the first five. Another Fassa Bortolo rider, Dario Frigo, had been off the front for well over the hour in a group that shrunk from 13 down to six by the time it was caught with a mere 10km to go. Fassa Bortolo then lined the field out on the approach to the

Oscar Camenzind outsprinted Davide Rebellin, David Etxebarria, Francesco Casagrande and Michael Boogerd in an exciting finish to the Ardennes classic. Earlier in the race, American Tyler Hamilton suffered a broken elbow involved in a crash at the base of the Côte de Wanneranval. Camenzind the Swiss Lampre-Daikin star followed the moves of the powerhouse Fassa Bortolo team of Casagrande and Raimondas Rumsas, who led in the bunch 25 seconds behind the first five. Another Fassa Bortolo rider, Dario Frigo, had been off the front with Camenzind’s teammate, Max Sciandri, for well over an hour

Ukraine's Sergei Gontchar, of the Liquigas team, won the overall title in the 31st Settimana Lombarda in Bergamo, Italy Sunday. Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi, won the fifth and final stage, a 163.4km run from Colzate to Clusone. Petacchi outsprinted Latvia's world champion Romans Vainsteins and Giuseppe Di Grande, also an Italian. Copyright AFP2001

It looks to be a fine day tomorrow for Liége-Bastogne-Liége. The weather reports call for mostly sunny skies with scattered rain and temperatures in the high 40s. Expect a strong ride from Fassa Bortolo, especially Raimondas Rumsas. His teammates Francesco Casagrande, Dario Frigo, Wladimir Belli and Ivan Basso, second Wednesday in the Fléche Wallonne after a day-long breakaway, will all be dangerous on this course too. Mapei’s Michele Bartoli and Paolo Bettini, last year’s winner, Rabobank’s Michaël Boogerd, and Liquigas-PATA’s Davide Rebellin are all be riders to watch as well. The

Mercatone Uno’s Marco Pantani pulled out of the Settimana Lombarda prior to the start of Saturday's 187km fourth stage from Roncadelle. The 31-year-old rider, winner of the 1998 Tour de France and Giro d'Italia double, also pulled out of the Tour of the Basque Country earlier this month, because of a recurring bronchitis problem. “There was no question that he would take any risk before the Giro. It's better for him to train on roads he knows and in more favourable climatic conditions," said Mercatone team manager Giuseppe Martinelli. After three stages of the five-day event, Liquigas’s

Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo)edged out Domo’s Fred Rodriguez at the end of the second stage of the Settimana Lombarda. Petacchi finished at the head of a mass sprint after a 174-kilometer race near the city of Alzate Brianza in Lombardy. Petacchi, recently injured in the Tour of the Mediterranean, also narrowly beat Serguei Yakovlev (Cantina Tollo) and Liquigas's Daniele Contrini. With three stages of the five-stage Italian tour remaining, Tacconi Sport’s Stefan Rutimann moved into the overall lead. Copyright AFP2001

Organizers of the classic Amstel Gold Race have been forced to alter the event's course due to fears of foot-and-mouth disease, the Dutch news agency said Tuesday. New sections had to be added as roads along the border between Belgium and the Netherlands have been closed. In particular, the Pietersberg climb, the final difficulty in the race, has been eliminated as the road is closed to traffic. All bicycles and accompanying vehicles will be disinfected before the race gets underway in Maastricht on April 28. The Amstel is the fifth event in the UCI World Cup and one of the

On a day that started in the rain, passed through driving hail, and finished in bright sunshine, Fabiana Luperini confirmed that she is indeed on form this season with a dominating victory on the Mur de Huy in the women’s fourth World Cup of the season, Belgium’s Fleche Wallone, held April 18. The diminutive climber waited until the final climb to unleash a devastating attack that left her closest challengers, Anna Millward (neé Wilson) of Saturn and Trixi Worrack (German National) nine seconds back. Throughout the 93.5km race over six steep hills in the Ardennes region of Belgium, the

When Rik Verbrugghe won the Criterium International, he said he would improve on his placing in the Flèche Wallonne from last year, when he finished second to Francesco Casagrande. The lean Lotto rider kept his word, chasing down an early breakaway of eight riders alone, dropping all but three by the final climb, and finishing alone on the steep ascent of the Mur de Huy. The eight riders in the initial break were Ivan Basso (Fassa Bortolo), Grischa Niermann (Rabobank), Luca Paolini (Mapei), Koos Moerenhout (Domo), Jörg Jaksche (ONCE), Marcelino Garcia Alonso (CSC), Constantino Zaballa

With four riders in the final top-10, Saturn men appeared to have had a stranglehold on the six-stage Tour of Willamette -- but the placings didn't come without a battle. At the top of the it was Eric Wohlberg, with Matt DeCanio in third, Soren Petersen sixth and Tim Johnson, 10th. Prime Alliance's Danny Pate, and Jelly Belly's Damon Kluck squeezed in for second and fourth, respectively. And on the women's side, GT's Alison Dunlap out-rode the other squads in Sunday's snow-accented stage to take back the leader's jersey for the overall title. Hail, rain, wind and 5-foot high snow banks were

For all the exposure they receive in July, Tour de France contenders rarely cross each other's paths in the preceding months — particularly in a competitive situation. That's why the French classic Paris-Camembert on Tuesday was so unusual. Americans Lance Armstrong and Bobby Julich, along with British standout David Millar, all came to the start line with something to prove. Armstrong is nearing the end of his phase-one race preparations for this year's Tour, and wanted to improve on the second place he took in Paris-Camembert last year. Julich, too, was after a win — “This and

Lotto’s Andreï Tchmil crashed in a training accident on Tuesday and is now questionable for Sunday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege race in his home country, according to team sources in Belgium. Tchmil sustained bruises to his elbow when he collided with a camper van. He had also fallen in Sunday's Paris-Roubaix race although he remounted to finish eighth. Copyright AFP2001

Just a few hours after finishing Paris-Roubaix, George and I met for dinner. We talked about the day, about the season, and about the future. All in all, George is happy. He knows he can win Paris-Roubaix, and that the best years are still to come. Everything was going great up until the Arenberg Forest. George made a good move and said he was having no real problems finding a good line. He was leaving people behind and making it look easy. When the front tire punctured, controlling the bike was almost impossible. Johan Bruyneel told him on the radio that there were wheels waiting at the

All week long the reports from northern France promised epic conditions for the 99th edition of Paris-Roubaix, and the race on Easter Sunday lived up to all the hype. This year’s race served up 24 sections of cobblestones in absolutely awful condition, turning the race into total chaos from the beginning. Although the heavy rain at the start diminished throughout the day, and the sun finally popped out late, it truly was an epic race all day long. And once the race hit the cobbles in the second half of the race, the Belgian Domo-Farm Frites team showed that it is ready to assume the title of

This report filed at 12:06 p.m. Eastern: Domo-Farm Frites finshed 1-2-3 at today’s Paris-Roubaix. Servais Knaven won, then teammate Johan Museeuw jumped away with one kilometer to go and finished second, and then Romans Vainsteins, the world champion, outsprinted U.S. Postal’s George Hincapie for third place. Hincapie’s fourth place is the same spot he earned here two years ago. Vainsteins now has taken the lead of the UCI men’s World Cup. Domo’s Wilfried Peeters finished fifth, and Telekom’s Steffen Wesemann finished sixth. After the finish, Hincapie said: "There was nothing I

When the Crédit Agricole team’s Jérome Neuville crashed on the cobblestones at Quievy, 110km into the Hell of the North, he could not have known how close he was to becoming a human pancake. But as the bright yellow Mavic neutral service car slid toward the Frenchman’s prostrate body, the fear in his eyes registered the danger. That was the last we saw of him from inside the car, as driver Antonio Pacheco swerved to the right to avoid Neuville’s legs sprawled across the road. We hit something, and hard, but we could not tell if it was only his bike or if we had hit him as well. We jumped

Saturday’s Paris forecast called for early rain and gradual clearing. It seems the French weather experts can’t guess any better than their North American counterparts. The day was dry – until about 7 p.m. (local time) when a steady rain began to fall, with temperatures hanging around 50 degrees. Riders will likely go to sleep tonight listening to the rain, and roll to tomorrow’s start line of the 99th Paris-Roubaix with temperatures in the 30s. Sunday’s start, slated for 11 a.m. (5 a.m. Eastern), will see 248 riders from 25 squads contest the 254-kilometer route. Check back tomorrow,

Wednesday morning, a spring snow storm hit Colorado Springs. I managed to get to the airport, but soon learned that my departure for France would be delayed until Thursday. When I arrived back at the office, the entire staff was silently huddled around one computer. I peered over their shoulders to see live images of the final kilometer of Ghent-Wevelgem. Thank you, Mother Nature, for closing the airport George Hincapie is the strongest I have ever seen him. His power outputs are the highest they have ever been and his ability to maintain intense efforts is great. His strong performances

Going in to Friday's third stage of the Tour of Willamette, Jelly Belly's Damon Kluck wears the men's leaders jersey, while Intersports Sandy Expeseth holds the same distinction in the women's field. Both hold only slim leads (4 and 2 seconds respectively) with another tough climbing day slated for both fields on April 13. The men face 5000 vertical feet in its 109-mile route, with the women getting 3200 vertical in 88 miles. Kluck earned the men's lead with two second-place finishes in Tuesday's Skinner's Butte prologue (finishing 2 seconds behind Saturn’s Eric Wohlberg), and Wednesday's

George Hincapie scored a huge victory on Wednesday, becoming the first American to win Ghent-Wevelgem and the first American to win a European classic since Lance Armstrong won Fleche Wallonne in 1996. But now Hincapie turns his attention to his biggest personal objective of the season, Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix. "It gives me good confidence," Hincapie said about his win in Wevelgem. "I knew I was riding well. Obviously I’m going to be more marked now, because I’ll be one of the favorites. But it’s a good confidence booster for Sunday." And despite the hoopla surrounding his win, Hincapie

The organizers of Paris-Roubaix are constantly looking for ways of making their cobblestone classic a little more challenging. And the course for the 99th edition this Sunday looks to be the most challenging yet -- both from the perspective of its rugged route and the expected weather conditions: cold, wet and windy. From the start outside Napoleon's former palace in the town of Compiëgne -- 80km northeast of Paris -- the opening two hours of the race are on smooth, straight, rolling roads through Noyon, Ham and St. Quentin. With a forecast for west wind, the field of 190-or-so riders

Britain's David Millar (Cofidis) won the nine kilometer individual time-trial to take the overall lead at the Sarthe-Loire cycle race on April 12, at Angers, France. Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu won the 94km third stage between Tierce and Angers earlier in the day after Laurent Brochard, leader since the first stage, fell. He managed to remount and continue but was evidently hurt. Millar put in a blistering time in the afternoon's time-trial, taking just 10 minutes and 41 seconds to complette the course. The Scot, who famously won the first leg of The Tour de France 2000, finished 46 seconds ahead

The Giro d'Italia remains the top priority for Italian cyclist Marco Pantani despite his withdrawal from the Tour of the Basque Country this week. Pantani met his Mercatone Uno team president Felice Gimondi and team manager Giuseppe Martinelli Wednesday to discuss his preparation for the Giro, but is yet to define a clearcut program. Martinelli said. "Before long we will define a specific list of races he will take part in April and May that will be suited to his technical characteristics and his state of health at the moment." Martinelli hinted that the rider would next enter the

Texan Lance Armstrong has denied that strong-arm tactics with his team-mates has turned him into some kind of team despot as he aims for a third yellow jersey at this year's Tour. However the 29-year-old (who is participating in the Sarthe-Loire stage race this week), readily admits to forcing "excessive demands" on his US Postal team as a way of pushing his deputies beyond their perceived limits. "To start with, I'm hard on myself. I make a lot of sacrifices, so it's just as important that the other team members be just as professional, which is logical," said Armstrong,

At last! American George Hincapie can finally breathe a big sigh of relief, after taking home a major classics win for the first time in his career. The U.S. Postal Service rider made it look almost easy as he won the 63rd edition of Ghent-Wevelgem on Wednesday afternoon in Wevelgem, Belgium. And while it was close at the finish -- the tall New York native just barely edged Mercury-Viatel's Leon Van Bon at the line -- Hincapie had all the right moves throughout the 215km ride through western Belgium.