Road

Valley of the Sun has grown into the American racing season’s “opening day.” The warm Arizona weather, relatively flat terrain and consistently enjoyable racing has made it a natural for early season race miles in preparation for the California races in March. This year’s edition, however, won’t be remembered for Chris Wherry’s (Mercury) overall victory, or another dominating ride by Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson. Instead, controversy plagued the event from the start of the professional men’s road race, Saturday afternoon in Casa Grande, south of Phoenix. Two words: Mercury, Jeanson The

Michele Bartoli (Fassa Bortolo) won the 29th edition of the Tour of the Mediterranean, after finishing in the field in the fifth and final stage, won by his teammate Alessandro Petacchi. The Italian team had dominated the Med Tour from start, winning the opening team time trial and maintaining procession of the yellow leader’s jersey throughout. Petacchi won a field sprint into the French city of Marseilles at the end of a 120km stage that began in Rousset. Bartoli locked up the win on Saturday as won the race’s toughest stage, a 167km race that ended atop the steep slopes of Mount

Fassa Bortolo and Michele Bartoli scored a double win Saturday as the Italian won the fourth stage of the Mediterranean Tour, 1:07 ahead of his own teammate and regained the yellow leader’s jersey he earned on the opening day of the five-day French stage race. Under cold, wet and windy conditions Bartoli soloed in for the win at the end of the 147km stage between Londe and Toulon, finishing well ahead of teammate Paolo Tiralongo. With his win, Bartoli moves solidly into the lead, 1:11 ahead of Tiralongo and 2:05 up on Rabobank’s Michael Boogerd. A field of 166 riders contested the difficult

Acqua e Sapone’s Giovanni Lombardi won the third stage of the MediterraneanTour, Friday, sprinting in ahead of a group led by Australian Robbie McEwen(Lotto) and La Française Des Jeux’s Baden Cooke. Alessandro Petacchi(Fassa Bortolo) maintains his hold on the overall lead.Starting in Villeneuve-Loubet, 170 took on the 142km stage to Hyeresriding toward the day’s first climb, the col de l'Esterel at 38km. On thedescent, none other than cycling’s most regular early escapee, Jacky Durand(La Française Des Jeux), joined forces with Philippe Gaumont, buildinga lead of 1:45, by the 65km mark. The

Mario Cipollini added another check in his win column Thursday as the Acqua e Sapone sprint star edged-out Crédit Agricole’s Thor Hushovdat the end of the 176km second stage of the Mediterranean Tour.The rain-soaked stage from Bouc-Bel-Air to Cannet got off to a quickstart when Thierry Loder (AG2R) launched an early attack just 9km fromthe start. The French rider built his advantage to more than three-and-a-halfminutes by the 80km mark. But racing alone in the rain against a pelotondriven by the Fassa Bortolo squad of race leader Michele Bartoli took itstoll and Loder was reeled back in by

The Italian Fassa Bortolo team won the opening stage of the 29th Mediterranean Tour, besting Creddit Agricole by seven seconds in a 36km team time trial from Salon-de-Provence to Berre-l'Etang. The team’s Michele Bartoli assumed the race leader’s jersey on the strength of the team’s performance as they covered the stage in 38:10. Italy’s Mapei-Quick Step squad rounded out the top three, finishing 10 seconds behind the winning team. The 176 riders, representing 22 teams left the start in Salon-de-Provence at three-minute intervals. A small Category III climb two kilometers after the start

American George Hincapie got his season off to a strong start this weekas the U.S. Postal Service rider took third overall in Portugal’s Tourof Algarve, which ended Wednesday in Loule.Hincapie finished fourth in the 166.8km fifth and final stage of theearly season race. The American nearly pulled off the overall win, whenhe escaped from a lead group that had included the race’s overall leader,L.A. Pecol's Candido Barbosa. Hincapie started the day nearly seven minutesbehind the overall leader.At one point in the final stage Hincapie's escape group of four enjoyedenough of an advantage to make

With the 2002 Tour de Langkawi now in the books, it was time to empty the contents of the digital camera. Here’s a sampling of the sights and scenes from the final six days of racing at this 10-day race in Malaysia.

Surely Robbie Hunter would have preferred the overall title, but a look at the prize payout list for the 2002 Tour de Langkawi shows that second place isn’t so bad. Even though Hunter finished behind overall winner Hernan Dario Munoz in the standing, he made out far better in the bank account. After winning three stages and the green point’s jersey, the 24-year-old South African pocketed 119,750 ringgit ($31,513 based on exchange rate of RM3.8 to $1). Munoz was a distant second on the list, earning RM78,925 ($20,769). Third was South African national team member David George, who banked

With Kuala Lumpur’s mighty Petronas Towers shadowing the course, the 2002 Tour de Langkawi concluded with Sunday’s 75.6-kilometer criterium. When racing was done Australian Graeme Brown had his second stage win, while Colombian Hernan Dario Munoz made it home safely in the bunch, winning the overall title of this 10-day, 1310-kilometer race in Malaysia.

Lotto’s Robbie McEwen (Lotto) locked up the overall title at the Etoile de Besseges on Sunday, after finishing second in the fifth and final stage. The Australian finished behind AG2R’s Jaan Kirsipuu, the Estonian’s second win in two days. copyright AFP2002

You won’t find a more bizarre place for a finish-line, and if you happened to be in the outdoor lobby of the First World Hotel in Malaysia’s Genting Highlands, you won’t soon see a better finish. Following the brutal hors categorie climb up to the Las Vegas-style resort, Colombia’s Hernan Dario Munoz slipped away from South Africa’s David George in the last 100 meters of the 133.3-kilomoter trip from Kuala Lumpur to Genting, taking a 4-second win in Stage 9 of the 2002 Tour de Langkawi on Saturday.

Australian Robbie McEwen took control of the Etoile de Besseges stage race in France Saturday with his second consecutive second-place finish in the five-day race. The Lotto-Adecco rider finished second to stage winner Jaan Kirsipuu. The AG2R sprinter took the 146.5km stage with a finishing time of 3:20:19. With the second-place finish, McEwen earned a time bonus that put him two seconds ahead of Italian Andrea Ferrigato, who led at the start of the day. For McEwen, who is in his first year with Lotto, it’s been a stellar start to the season. He had four stage wins at the Tour Down Under

It was just a coincidence that the torrential rains came precisely at the moment Andrea Tafi stepped onto the award’s podium. But when word came down an hour later that the Mapei-Quick Step rider had been relegated to the back of the bunch for an irregular sprint, it seemed awfully appropriate. The penalty — handed down for throwing an elbow on the final straightaway — cost the 35-year-old Italian the green jersey, and continued what has been a frustrating trip to Malaysia for the aging star.

Belgian Glenn D’Hollander of Lotto-Adecco held off a charging pack to win the third stage of the Etoile de Besseges stage race in France Friday. Italian Andrea Ferrigato, winner of the second stage on Thursday, maintained the overall lead with two days left in the five-day race. D’Hollander attacked from a lead group of nine with 20km to go in the 148km race between Nimes and Fumades. The Belgian was nearly caught, but held on for the win. The on-form Australian, Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Adecco) finished second.

The lesson for the day was this: spend too much time hanging around the back of the peloton and you’re bound to end up in trouble. Among those in attendance were three former occupants of the top-10 overall here at the 2002 Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia.

Italian Andrea Ferrigato took over the lead of the Etoile de Besseges stage race in France Thursday with a win in the 143km second stage. Riding for Alessio, Ferrigato outsprinted fellow Italian Lorenzo Bernucci (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) to the finish. The two finished 15 seconds ahead of the field, which was led by stage 1 winner Robbie McEwen of Australia. Aided by a tailwind for most of the day, riders averaged close to 45 kph during Thursday’s stage between Marseille and Sainte-Tulle. Belgian Jurgen Vermeersch (Landbouwkrediet) tried an escape with 25km to go but never gained more

The warning came courtesy of Andrea Tafi at the team dinner Tuesday night. "Don’t eat too much for breakfast tomorrow," he announced. "Wednesday will be a hard day."

The list of contenders for the 2002 Tour de Langkawi overall title was drastically diminished Tuesday, following a major shake-up on the race’s fifth day, a 129.7-kilometer trip south from Bangi to Melaka. Those still alive include Mapei-Quick Step’s Robbie Hunter, who retained the yellow jersey he’s owned since the first day of this race, last year’s TDL overall winner Paolo Lanfranchi (Alexia Alluminio), and even young Canadian mountain biker Ryder Hesjedal.

With two more stages in the books at the Tour de Langkawi, here's another sampling of sights unique to this 10-day race in Southeast Asia.

While sports fans across America were taking in the final moments of one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history, racing was just getting underway on Monday here in Malaysia. And while Stage 4 wasn’t as dramatic as the New England Patriots stunning win over the St. Louis Rams, it was by far the most exciting day of racing yet in the 2002 Tour de Langkawi.

Another day, another sprint at the Tour de Langkawi. But for the first time this year someone other than Robbie Hunter crossed the line first. Led by a strong chase, then lead-out from his Panaria team, Italian Enrico Degano emerged from the peloton on the final straightway to take the win on Sunday in Malaysia. Degano and 131 others were all credited with the finishing time of 2:38:44 in the 129.6-kilometer stage.

It was supposed to be a battle of the world champions – the defending world cyclo-cross champion Hanka Kupfernagel from Germany and the reigning world mountain-bike champion from the U.S., Alison Dunlap. Instead, it was a former rainbow jersey winner from France who bided her time, made her move at the right moment and scored the win in the world women’s cyclo-cross championship in Zolder, Belgium on Sunday morning. In the end, Kupfernagel and Dunlap had to settle for second and fourth as 1998 world women’s mountain-bike champion Laurence Leboucher soloed in for the win, nearly a minute

To call it a sweep is something of an understatement. The Belgians were much more dominant than that. Mario De Clercq led an all-Belgian field sprint to the finish line Sunday, scoring his third rainbow jersey in five years in front of wild and very partisan crowd in Zolder Belgium. The 35-year-old De Clercq cruised across the line ahead of fellow Belgians Tom Vannoppen and World Cup winner Sven Nijs. The trio managed to put aside the usual Belgian infighting to cooperate nearly all the way to the finish, crossing just ahead of a hard-charging Richard Groenendaal of the Netherlands.

You could see this one coming a mile away — or 183.5 kilometers for that matter. That was the distance of the Tour de Langkawi’s Stage 2 run north along the western cost of Malaysia from Klang to Sitiawan. But one look at the dead flat course profile, and you knew the final kilometer would be the only one that mattered. And with a sprint in the cards, no one holds a stronger hand here in Southeast Asia than Mapei-Quick Step and its South African speedster, Robbie Hunter.

Far from the traditional cycling battlegrounds of Europe and North America, Malaysia provides a steady stream of unfamiliar sites and scenes. Here’s a sampling from the first two days of racing at the 10-day Tour de Langkawi.

Score one for the home team. The Belgian cyclo-cross squad began what fans hope will become a pattern for the weekend when 17-year-old Kevin Pauwels soloed in to take the junior men’s race at the cyclo-cross world championships in Zolder, Belgium, on Saturday. Pauwels had spent the bulk of his 45-minute race cutting away at a sizeable lead group that was eventually pared down to just two. After a furiously fast start on the paved start/finish straight of Zolder’s local auto track, Pauwels emerged at the head of a lead group that hit the steep, sandy opening climb that quickly broke apart

Davy Commeyne thought he had it in the bag. After dangling at the frontsmall group of leaders over the final two laps of the Under-23 men's worldcyclo-cross championship race in Zolder, Belgium, on Saturday, the youngBelgian had succeeded in fighting off a last-minute charge by Czech riderTomas Trunschka and closing sprint by Italian Franzoi Enrico."I looked to my left," Commeyne said. "There was no one coming."The problem was, he hadn't looked to his right. Had he glanced in thedirection of the wall lining the finishing straight at Zolder's motor speedway,he might have noticed the blaze

Robbie Hunter is best known for his sprinting, but on Friday the blond South African showed he has other talents, taking the 20.3km Stage 1 time trial at the Tour de Langkawi. Hunter’s win meant that once again the Mapei-Quick Step crew would be defending the race’s yellow jersey. A year ago the Italian-based team won just about everything meaningful in Malaysia, led by Paolo Lanfranchi’s overall crown.

Ryder Hesjedal’s journey to the other side of the world started with a snowstorm in British Columbia. The 21-year-old was supposed to fly from his hometown, Victoria, to Los Angeles, where he would connect with a Malaysian Airlines flight headed to Kuala Lumpur, and the Tour de Langkawi. But the bad weather forced a detour via Las Vegas, and by the time it was all done, Hesjedal figured that even without taking into account all the hours lost to crossing multiple time zones, he’d been traveling for 45 hours without a minute of decent sleep. Add in the fact that none of his bags — including

With the enchanting sounds of the "Call for Prayer" rising from the ornate Blue Mosque, festivities surrounding the 10-day Tour de Langkawi got underway in Shah Alam, Malaysia on Wednesday. By now all of the 22 teams competing in the UCI 2.3 race have arrived in this mostly-Muslim nation of 21.4 million in Southeast Asia. Adapting to the climate will be the riders' primary focus leading up to the start of the race on February 1. Malaysia lies just north of the equator, meaning riders can expect daytime temperatures in the mid-80s with 90 percent humidity. Beating the heat will be well worth

They were the kind of cyclo-cross conditions the UCI once said it washoping to get away from: pure, unadulterated slop; mud that sprayed a mist of brown muck over everyone and everything from the moment the gun wentoff; gunk that clogged up derailleurs; the kind that forced a bike changenearly every time the course wound past the pits. In other words, Sunday'sGrand Prix Holland, the final round of the UCI's World Cup, was tailor-madefor Richard Groenendaal.And while the seasoned cyclo-cross veteran thrived in the muddy conditionsin front of an enthusiastic home field crowd, American Alison

German Thorsten Wilhelms erased a 1-second deficit during the final stage of the Tour of Qatar to take the overall win on Friday. Wilhelms was first across the line in the 123.5km run from Sealine Beach to Doha, posting a winning time of 3:18:22. That was good enough to give the Team Coast rider a 5-second bulge over second-place finisher Damien Nazon in the final standings. Rudi Kemna of the Netherlands was third. Nazon had entered the day in the lead, but finished ninth in the final stage. Other notables included Laurent Jalabert, who was 15th on Friday and finished fifth overall, and Jan

Behind a strong second-place effort in the fourth stage, Frenchman Damien Nazon moved into first place overall at the five-day Tour of Qatar. Lampre rider Alberto Loddo took the stage win, a 125.5km run from Ras Laffan to Doha. Nazon’s lead is a scant one second over German Thorsten Wilhelms. Sweden’s Magnus Backstedt is six seconds back. Previous day’s overall leader, Brazilian Luciano Pagliarini, had a rough day during the fourth stage, falling out of the top 10 all together. Other notables include Telekom’s Jan Ullrich who finished 12th on Thursday and is 13th overall, and Laurent

Brazilian Luciano Pagliarini now shares the overall lead with Sweden's Magnus Backstedt in the Tour of Qatar after the third stage on Wednesday. Lampre team rider Pagliarini put in a surge midway through the 179km stage to end the day tied with Backstedt of the Fakta team, who finished fourth behind winner Thorsten Wilhelms of Germany. In the stage from the dromedary racetrack in Camelodrome to Doha, Laurent Jalabert finished 31st to leave the Frenchman seventh overall, seven seconds behind the leaders in a tightly packed first 10 who are separated by just eight seconds. Jan Ullrich of

Swedish Fakta rider Maagnus Backstedt took over the lead in the five-day Tour of Qatar on Tuesday, while Frenchman Damien Nazon got the win in the second stage. Nazon completed the 131km run from Al Zubarah to Doha in 3:04:16, outgunning Brit Jeremy Hunt at the finish. Backstedt’s lead is two seconds over Brazilian Luciano Pagliarini, while Nazon is four seconds back. Day one leader Ivan Quaranta was ninth on Tuesday and fell to fourth in the overall.

Ivan Quaranta of Italy picked off the 117km opening stage of the five-day Tour of Qatar in Doha on Monday, winning a sprint finish at the expense of Brazilian Luciano Pagliarini and Jean-Patrick Nazon of France. Quaranta crossed the line in 2:43:44. Sweden's Magnus Backstedt led a nine-man escape after 26km and Frenchman Laurent Jalabert also joined the hunt as the leading pack held out until some 8km from the finish. Quaranta, a junior world track champion a decade ago, then chose his moment to snatch the victory. The Index-Alesia rider has been in good form over the past two seasons with

Belgian Sven Nijs put everything together on Sunday to win the fifth round of the cyclo-cross World Cup series, the Grand Prix of Switzerland, in Wetzikon. Nijs beat countrymen Mario De Clercq and defending champion Erwin Vervecken to solidify his position at the top of the World Cup standings. Nijs, who hadn’t had a top finish in the past few weeks, took matters into his own hands from the start at Wetzikon. His early aggression left behind everyone but Rabobank teammate Richard Groenendaal. Groenendaal, however, fell victim to a crash, allowing Nijs to solo home for the victory, while De

You couldn't blame Michael Rogers for demanding a spare bike be ready for immediate use as he rode the final kilometers to victory in the Jacob’s Creek Tour Down Under in Australia on Sunday. After all, he learned 24 hours before winning the 733km race how "Lady Luck" can abruptly barge her way in unannounced and throw every winning hope into disarray. That a quick-minded spectator was there to lend Rogers his own bike on the previous stage was the most poignant moment behind his overall victory - by 21 seconds over Russian Alexandre Botcharov (AG2R) and 30 seconds on South Australian

Australian Michael Rogers overcame scorching heat, a near disasterous crash with a race marshal’s motorbike and his rivals to take overall leadership of the Jacob’s Creek Tour Down Under in Australia on Saturday. In the toughest stage of the race, 156km from Gawler to Tanunda, Rogers (AIS) finished second, 10 seconds behind Australian and former mountain-biker Cadel Evans (Mapei). Then 11 seconds behind him in third-place came Italian Daniele Nardello (Mapei). Going into the sixth and final stage, Rogers will now lead the race by 21 seconds from Russian Alexandre Botcharov (AG2R) and 30

Australia’s new generation of road racing stars came under fire from veteran Scott Sunderland on Friday for allegedly causing a bone-chilling crash that could endanger his 2002 season. For Robbie McEwen (Lotto) Friday’s 141km fourth stage in the Jacob’s Creek Tour Down Under brought his third victory in the race and sixth in 15 days, but it was a different story for Sunderland (Lotto), Australia’s second-highest ranked rider on the world standings who has also been leading the climbers’ category here. McEwen won the stage from the Adelaide suburb of Unley to the former whaling station of

Belgian champion Ludovic Capelle has been sent home in disgrace from the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under for being overweight and in "embarrassing" form. All anyone saw of the 26-year-old during his brief appearance in the 733km race was his red face of exhaustion - or his backside as he spent most time off the back of the pack. But after he abandoned 40km into Wednesday's 150km second stage - on the approach of the steep ascent of Checker's Hill - the red on his face was one of humiliation. And by Thursday, the 85kg rider's backside was seen heading across the tarmac of Adelaide airport,

THE only thing that can seemingly stop Australia's Robbie McEwen from racing in full flight at the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under is the finish line. By winning Thursday's 149km third stage on the Willunga circuit south of Adelaide, McEwen (Lotto) took his tally of wins in 14 days to five. McEwen won so comfortably, he could have been sitting in an armchair sipping fine wine in one of the many bed-and-breakfasts in the region. It was also the Queenslander's second stage win for the tour. And it saw the recently crowned Australian road champion take leadership in the sprinters' points

Stuart O’Grady’s (Crédit Agricole) bid to win the Jacbob's Creek Tour Down Under a third time hangs in the balance after he lost nearly a minute in Wednesday’s blistering-fast second stage of the South Australian event. Canberra's Michael Rogers (AIS) won the 150km stage from Italian Fabio Sacchi (Seaco), who deposed Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Adecco) as overall race leader. Third at the same time was Italy's Andrea Tafi (Mapei). McEwen, the winner of stage one on Tuesday night, rode aggressively all day and was instrumental in the first major attack of the day. The overnight race leader and

Australian champion Robbie McEwen was the first to raise his hands in triumph at the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under with an emphatic win in Tuesday night's first stage. McEwen (Lotto) won the 47km criterium at the Adelaide, Australia, beachside suburb of Glenelg from Corey Sweet (Uni of South Australia) and Dutch champion Jans Koerts (Domo). The trio formed the winning breakaway after only nine of 25 laps on the 1.88km circuit and held off a chase group of 10 riders after lapping the main bunch with four laps to go.

Belgian Erwin Vervecken won the Grand Prix of France on Sunday in Nommay, besting fellow Belgian Mario DeClercq by 11 seconds. Dutchman Richard Greonendaal was third. The race was the fourth stop in the cyclo-cross World Cup series. Vervecken’s win continued his country’s dominance of the 2001-02 World Cup series, which has seen a Belgian (Sven Nijs, 2; DeClercq, 1; Vervecken, 1) win every race thus far. Nijs, held on to the top spot in the overall standings, though he finished 10th at the race in France. American Marc Gullickson finished in 14th place, while teammates Tim Johnson and

World champion Erwin Vervecken won the sixth round of the Superprestige cyclo-cross series on Sunday in Diegem, Belgium, where he beat out fellow Belgians Mario De Clercq and Peter Van Santvliet. Sven Nijs, sixth on Sunday, retained the overall lead after six of eight rounds. For Vervecken, it was his third win in the series this season, after his earlier victories in Sint-Michielgestel, the Netherlands, and Hoogstraten, Belgium. In Diegem, the Belgians dominated the race from start to finish, as they have been doing all season. In the end, it came down to a final-lap battle between

Johannes Huseby notched the biggest win of his career Saturday, beating New England cyclo-cross legend Frank McCormack in a two-up sprint to the finish line at the Castor’s Cyclo-Cross race in South Kingston, Rhode Island. It wasn’t a bad day for the McCormack family, however, as brother Mark clinched the 2001 Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series title with a third-place finish. After initiating the winning breakaway, Huseby (Independent Fabrication) had to withstand Team Saturn’s dreaded one-two McCormack punch. Huseby not only survived, but launched a series of scorching

On Sunday, the focus in Baltimore changed from cyclo-cross nationals to the SuperCup as the weekend drew to a close, but the races were no less exciting than they had been the day before. On a completely different course, newly re-crowned national champion Alison Dunlap (Clif Bar) put a cap on her weekend by completing the nationals-SuperCup double in convincing fashion, riding away from a field loaded with challengers. In the men's race, Jonathan Page (Richard Sachs) made up for a disappointing fourth-place in the nationals race by winning a fast-paced shootout that eventually boiled down to

When the clouds blew away over night, and the sun came out Saturday morning to dry the nationals cyclo-cross course in Baltimore, it looked as if some of the element of chance would be taken out of the men’s and women’s elite races at Patterson Park. Gone were the slick, muddy conditions that threw Friday’s masters races into chaos. Instead, racers on Saturday were greeted with a sure, tacky surface on a cool but sunny day. But luck would intervene nevertheless.

A day marked by sloppy conditions and sloppy racing drew to a close with an almost perfect performance, as DEVO’s Adam Craig took the men’s under-23 title at the USCF national cyclo-cross championships in Baltimore, Maryland, on Friday. Craig’s stars-and-stripes jersey was the last of 11 handed out on the first day of the nationals weekend.

World champion Erwin Vervecken led a Belgian sweep of the top four placings at the fifth round of the Superprestige cyclo-cross series in Hoogstraten, Belgium, Saturday. In a race which saw Belgian riders collect eight of the top-10 spots, Vervecken beat Mario De Clerq and Sven Nijs in the finishing stretch to chalk up his second win of the series. Vervecken and Nijs battled for most of the race before being joined by DeClerq on the last lap. Nijs was unable to match Vervecken’s finishing speed, but the 25-year-old’s third-place finish allowed him to retain the Superprestige lead with three

Reigning national champion Tim Johnson made the most of his last race in the 2001 stars-and-stripes jersey, darting away from two breakaway companions to claim victory at Round 6 of the Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series at Wasserman Park in Merrimack, New Hampshire on Sunday. In the women’s race, Canadian Lyne Bessette picked up another ‘cross win, locking up the overall Verge championship. More importantly, she said she’s going to take the sport a bit more seriously now, and will likely compete at next month’s world championships in Belgium. Johnson had been swapping the

With the national championships just two weeks away, many of America’s best cyclo-cross riders showed up in Wayland, Massachusetts for the fifth stop of the Verge New England Cyclo-Cross Series last Saturday. In the men’s pro race, a group of 11 moved to the front early, with Todd Wells (Mongoose-Hyundai), Saturn’s Mark McCormack and Tim Johnson the most well known names. But it was Matt Svatek (Wheelworks-Cannondale) surprising the group by launching an attack that saw him go clear for two laps. But unwilling to let Svatek ride away with the race, Wells took it upon himself to reel in the

Belgian Sven Nijs made it 2-for-2 on Sunday, holding off countryman Bart Wellens to take the win at the second round of the cyclo-cross World Cup in Igorre, Spain. Two weeks ago Nijs won the World Cup opener in Monopoli, Italy. Nijs now has a 20-point lead in the overall standings of the six-race series, with Wellens in second, followed by Richard Groenendaal, Mario De Clercq and Jiri Pospisil. In the race in Spain Nijs finished with a time of 1:02:42, 50 seconds faster than Wellens. Reigning world champion Erwin Vervecken was third, at 1:25, followed by De Clercq at 1:35, and Groenendaal

Rabobank’s Sven Nijs won his second consecutive Superprestige cyclo-cross race, taking the fourth round of the series in Gieten, the Netherlands. The young Belgian beat out compatriots Bart Wellens and Tom Vannoppen. Nijs increased his lead in the overall series. He now holds a 16-point advantage over Wellens. In Gieten, Nijs took advantage of an excellent start, and only Sven Vanthourenhout and Richard Groenendaal could keep his wheel early on, but both would drop back late in the race. Wellens mounted a late challenge, but couldn’t catch Nijs, falling seven seconds short. Round 5 of the

Former world champion Richard Groenendaal (Rabobank) scored his first win of the season on Saturday at the UCI race in Coxyde, Belgium, on the North Sea. Groenendaal took a solo win, finishing 29 seconds up on world champion Erwin Vervecken (Spaarselect).

Belgian Sven Nijs won the opening round of the 2001-02 UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup in Italy Saturday with a win over fellow Belgian Bart Wellens. Italian Daniele Pontoni finished third after Erwen Vervecken and Richard Groenendaal – the 2001 and 2000 world champions – both suffered mechanical difficulties. Groenendaal led early but was slowed on the second lap when he punctured both tires. The 2000 world champion would recover to finish fourth, just over a minute off Nijs’s winning pace. Nijs took the lead just before the halfway point of the race, which took him 58 minutes and 18 seconds

Saturday's SuperCup cyclo-cross races in Chicago showed that the Bears don't have a monopoly on down-to-the-wire finishes in the Windy City. Ann Grande (Kona-Voicestream) and Marc Gullickson (Mongoose-Hyundai) both took thrilling victories that weren't decided until the final lap of the flat, grassy course in Washington Park. The two elite races gave the loud Chicago crowd a treat to go along with the beautiful, fall-like weather in the middle of November. In the women's race, the talk going in centered around Lyne Bessette's (Saturn) undefeated streak in her first season of cyclo-cross, and

Organizers of the 2002 Tour of Italy bid to put the doping scandals of 2001 behind as details of the 2002 Giro were revealed at an announcement in Milan on Saturday. The route for the 3,333.5km race over 20 stages was unveiled by Candido Cannavo, director of the sponsoring newspaper Gazzetta dello sport and race director Carmine Castellano. The 2002 Giro will cover six countries, including Italy. It begins with a 6.5km time time in the Dutch coastal town of Groningen on May 11 and the first four stages cover Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France before entering northern Italy on May 17.

Rabobank’s Sven Nijs outrode a strong group of the world’s best to win the third round of the Superprestige cyclo-cross series in Asper-Gavere, Belgium on Sunday. Nijs beat countryman Tom Vannoppen and Dutch champion Richard Groenendaal. Nijs powered through a tough course in Gavere as a member of a six-man lead group made up of five Belgians -- Nijs, Vannoppen, Bart Wellens, Mario Declercq and world champion Erwin Vervecken – as well as the Netherland’s Groenendaal. Nijs took advantage of his superior handling skills in the course’s technical sections and gradually built a small, but

It was another Saturn day in U.S. cyclo-cross on Saturday as Tim Johnson and Lyne Bessette scored wins in the elite events at Lancaster, Pennsylvania’s Chameleon cyclo-cross, another in the eastern seaboard’s large number of UCI-sanction ‘cross events. The course proved ideal for Bessette, a neophyte ‘crosser with a great road resume, as she took advantage of the long, open and largely flat course. Despite a handful of off-camber sections and a tough, but short, climb Bessette cruised to an easy win, almost as if she’d been taking on another road race. Bessette attacked right from the gun

Peter Wedge (Kona) is proving to be unbeatable when it comes to the Canadian cyclo-cross national championships, having just won his fifth consecutive title on Sunday in Edmonton, Alberta. The New Brunswick rider, who rides for Sympatico.ca on the road and Kona off-road, rode away from the 32 strong field on the second lap, never to be seen again. Mountain bike pro Andreas Hestler (Rocky Mountain) battled all race with Carter Hovey (Bolla-Bianchi) for second place, finally pulling away in the last lap and a half of the 10-lap competition. Hovey took the bronze medal. The women’s event

World champion Erwin Vervecken won the second round of the Superprestige cyclo-cross series in Sint-Michielsgestel, the Netherlands, on Sunday, outsprinting fellow Belgian Sven Nijs at the finish. Vervecken and Nijs had broken clear of the rest of the field, which was led in by another Belgian, Bart Wellens, who won the opening round of the series in Ruddervoorde, Belgium, in October. In all, Belgians took the top seven places on Sunday, with Dutchman Gerben De Knegt the first non-Belgian finisher, taking eighth. With the win, Vervecken moved into a tie for the series lead with Wellens,

With no SuperCup races west of Chicago this year, a UCI race in Boulder, Colorado, on Saturday was the next best thing, and Mongoose’s Marc Gullickson and Kona-Voicestream’s Gina Hall came away with the big wins. The men’s race came down to the wire, as Gullickson had his hands full with another local favorite, Travis Brown (Trek-VW). Gullickson had just returned home to Boulder after three weeks on the East Coast for a SuperCup and some UCI races, while Brown had only done a handful of local races this fall. But when the dust cleared after the first half of the race, it was Brown hanging

When it comes to the collegiate national mountain bike championships, everybody is chasing the state of Colorado. A year ago it was the University of Colorado at Boulder and Mesa State College taking the Division I and II team titles. This time around Fort Lewis College and the U.S. Air Force Academy pulled off the sweep at the event which took place at Plattekill Mountain in Roxbury, New York, October 26-28. The 2001 championships marked the first time in its eight-year history that the event had come to the Northeast, but that didn’t stop hundreds of athletes from schools all over the U.S.

Austrian cyclist Peter Wrolich will set his sights on the 2002 Tour de France after winning Australia's Herald Sun Tour Melbourne, Australia on Sunday. Wrolich, 27, secured his first win in the 11-day race around the state of Victoria with a 15th place in Sunday's 44-kilometer street event on the Geelong waterfront. American Dave McCook won the 44km criterium. Wrolich said his regular European employer, German squad Gerolsteiner, is re-organizing over the northern winter and will try to gain a start in next year's Tour, where Wrolich aims to be a competitor. Wrolich took over the yellow

Giro d'Italia overall champion Gilberto Simoni's spurt at the end of the penultimate lap in steady rains brought him his first victory at the Japan Cup cycling road race Utsunomiya, Japan on Sunday. The 28-year-old Italian covered the 11 laps of the 14.1-kilometer course over the 151.3km race in 4:16:58, beating Australian Cadel Evans, who took second and Christophe Brandt of Belgium, who was third. Evans and Brandt both timed 4:17:49 in a photo finish. "It was a surprise victory for me, because I hadn't expected to win," Simoni said. "I'm glad I was able to show my good performance in

The top North American cyclo-cross racers were in Amherst, Massachusetts on Saturday for Round 3 of the Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series in search of UCI points, which will be used for U.S. world’s team selection. In the men’s elite race, an early attack saw Mark McCormack and Tim Johnson of Saturn joined by Marc Gullickson (Mongoose-Hyundai) break clear of the field on the University of Massachusetts at Amherst campus. For those in attendance last year,it was a familiar sight watching Gullickson take on the two Saturn riders. However, things didn’t go according to plan

The U.S. cyclo-cross scene continues to heat up, as an important month of racing on the East Coast continued over the weekend, with the Monkey Hill Cyclo-Cross race in Wilmington, Delaware, on Sunday. After the departure of world champion Erwin Vervecken, who dominated last weekend’s SuperCup-ECV doubleheader, the men’s race was wide open at Monkey Hill, with a national-level field assembled for the UCI race. Meanwhile, in the women’s race, Saturn’s Lyne Bessette remained undefeated in her first season of cyclo-cross. With the downsizing of the SuperCup series, other UCI-sanctioned domestic

The European Superprestige cyclo-cross series opened in Ruddervoorde, Belgium, on Sunday, with former world under-23 champion Bart Wellens taking the first series lead. Wellens scored a solo win in Ruddervoorde, 59 seconds ahead of runner-up Sven Nijs. World champion Erwin Vervecken, back from his trip to the U.S., was third, another 11 seconds back, while defending Superprestige champion Richard Groenendaal was fourth. The second round of the Superprestige series will take place November 4, in St. Michielsgestel, the Netherlands.

Not everyone came to race, but the ones who did gave the crowd in downtown Miami plenty to cheer about at the final stop of the Pro Cycling Tour on Sunday. In the men’s race in was recent Prime Alliance addition Chris Horner getting to the line first in the 85-minute, plus five laps criterium that snaked its way around a 1.4-mile circuit in the shadow of the city’s skyscrapers. The event was originally slated to run 90 minutes, but when CycleScience’s Joel Chavez crashed hard into a barrier near the end of the first lap and had to be taken to the hospital, the race was neutralized, then

Italian Danilo Di Luca of the Cantina Tollo team dominated a sprint finish to win the 95th edition of the Tour of Lombardy, the final event in the 2001 UCI World Cup road series. On-form Dutchman Erik Dekker lifted the World Cup trophy after finishing 13th in the 10th and final event. The 25-year-old Di Luca, an up-and-coming professional who was beaten by a whisker here two years ago, made sure of victory this time as he completed the rain-soaked 258km ride from Varese to Bergamo. He held off fellow escapees Giuliano Figueras (Panaria) and Michael Boogerd (Rabobank), who finished second

Nico Mattan of Cofidis won the Tour of Piedmont in northern Italy on Thursday after all but 17 riders were declassed for falling too far behind in the 190km race. Mattan was one of the instigators of the decisive breakaway, which began just 20km into the race. The leaders quickly began to build up their lead, until it exceeded 17 minutes. At the 135km mark, the lead had reached 17:40, prompting the rare decision from the race directors to force the peloton out of the race. The race directors said there was no justification for the passivity of the main field, and that they had to open parts

Italian Mirko Celestino (Saeco) won the 86th edition of Milan-Turin in Italy on Wednesday, as the European pro peloton prepared for the final World Cup classic of the year, Saturday’s Tour of Lombardy. Last year’s Milan-Turin was cancelled due to floods in northern Italy, but this year, Celestino won the 203km one-day classic, outsprinting Niki Aebersold (Coast) and Eddy Mazzoleni (Tacconi-Vini Caldirola) at the finish, after a lead group of nine went off the front on the final difficult climb, the Superga. Celestino won two World Cup races in 1999, the HEW Cyclassic and the Tour of

Now in its 16th year, Greenville, South Carolina’s two-day Michelin Cycling Classic has become one of America’s greatest events, a true season-ending classic. Cyclists from across the country and overseas gathered to join battle for one of the last times in 2001, with the streets of beautiful downtown Greenville as their battleground. And, though both days were contested on the same course, they led to very different results, with Juan-Carlos Pineda (7UP-Colorado Cyclist) and Jonas Carney (Prime Alliance) emerging victorious in the men’s events, while Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Saturn) and Robin

Home team Great Britain topped the medals chart at the world masters track championships in Manchester, England, but U.S. riders reached the top step of the podium more than anyone else. In all, the U.S. team scored 19 gold medals and 47 total, while Great Britain took 16 gold and 68 total medals. For results from the final two days of competition, click on "View Race Results."

Another world's road race is over. And, for the third year running, the blue-ribbon event came down to whom was fastest in the final straightaway. Two years ago, in Verona, Italy, a dozen riders were still together when "unknown" Spanish rider Oscar Freire sprinted out of the last turn to win by four seconds. In 2000, at Plouay, France, there were two dozen that fought out the finish, with Latvian Romans Vainsteins taking the sprint and Freire in third. Now, in Lisbon, Portugal, almost four dozen riders were still together to contest the finish -- an unimaginable outcome for a race that had

Erwin Vervecken and Lyne Bessette each made it 2-for-2 for the weekend by winning the second stop of the ECV Cyclo-Cross series on Sunday at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester, Massachusetts. A day earlier, the pair took victory in the opening round of the SuperCup series held on a slightly different track at the same seaside park in the famous New England fishing town.

It’s called 24 Hours of Moab, but it actually took the Trek-Volkswagen team of Travis Brown, Chris Eatough, Sue Haywood and Alison Sydor 25 hours and two minutes to take the Coed Pro/Am title in one of the most exciting 24-hour team races to date. After 25 hours of four-person relay racing (two male, two female) in the Utah desert, it all came down to a last-lap showdown between Sydor, a 24-hour rookie despite her three world titles and multiple World Cup wins, and Gretchen Reeves of Team Beaver Creek II. When Brown finished the team’s 21st lap at 11:53 a.m. on Sunday and handed the baton