Road Racing

Slipstream-Chipotle came within two seconds of a Hollywood ending in Sunday’s opening team time trial at the seventh Tour of Qatar in the first race of what will be an ambitious 2008 campaign. Anchored by big engines Magnus Backstedt and David Millar, Australia’s Chris Sutton crossed the line first for the argyle gang in 6 minutes, 37 seconds, and looked to have the win in the bag with only defending champion Quick Step still on the short but fast 6km out-and-back course along Doha’s palm-lined corniche.

Never did the man who came to the 2008 Tour Down Under with aspirations of winning a sprint or two believe it was possible to win the race overall. But on a picture-perfect Sunday in Adelaide, that's exactly what happened to Andre Greipel.

It was a hat trick, but not quite the hat trick some might have predicted at the beginning of the year. Dutchman Lars Boom scored his third world cyclocross title Sunday, adding an elite gold medal to the junior title he earned in 2003 and the U23 rainbow jersey he scored at last year’s world’s in Belgium. His Rabobank teammate, Sven Nys, however, had to settle for third, missing out on an impressive triple of his own — a world title to add to his World Cup crown and the Belgian national championship — losing a sprint for second to Czech rider Zdenek Stybar.

If women’s cyclocross racing has just one rule, it has to be “never, never, never count out Hanka.” Germany’s Hanka Kupfernagel racked up an impressive win at the world cyclocross championships on Sunday after a season of insisting that her training was focused entirely on qualifying for the road and time-trial events at this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing.

Niels Albert had just one question heading into the world cyclocross championships in Treviso, Italy, this year: Whether to jump into the elite category or ride his final year as an under-23. He now says he made the right choice. “I’m glad I did what I did,” said the 21-year-old Belgian. “I had considered making the jump, but now I can add this to the junior title (he won in 2004) and set my eyes on getting the third one.”

It appears Andre Greipel is a man who can do no wrong. Before this week, the palmarès of the 25-year-old from Rostock amounted to five wins in much smaller stage races. But all of a sudden, he's stepped up to the ProTour level in a very, very big way. And after a third stage victory Saturday in Willunga, he finds himself the likely champion of the 2008 Tour Down Under with just one stage remaining.

Arnaud Jouffroy lined up as the odds-on favorite on Saturday at the world junior cyclocross championship in Treviso, Italy. He didn’t disappoint, but he had to fight to live up to expectations. Based largely on the strength of his sixth-place finish at world’s last year, the fact that the five men who finished ahead of him had graduated to the U23 category, and his stellar results all season, the 17-year-old Frenchman was the pick of many in a sport often dominated by Belgians.

The stage has been set for a showdown of epic proportions. In searing heat, a highly animated fourth stage of the Tour Down Under had the potential to impose time gaps, but the finale in Strathalbyn saw the fourth bunch gallop in as many days. High Road's Andre Greipel took a convincing win over race leader Mark Renshaw, who kept his ochre jersey, thus leaving the door to overall honors wide open for Saturday's stage in Willunga.

The finish may still be three days away, but there's every possibility the 10th edition of the Tour Down Under will come down to the wire. And get this: The winner may well be the sprinter who can climb best.

So far, it's a Tour Down Under like we've never seen before. In years past, after two stages there's been only a handful of riders left in contention. But this year is clearly different: After Andre Greipel's scintillating stage victory in Hahndorf, three riders have the same time overall - all of them sprinters.

Dear Lennard,
I'm interested in buying the Deda Zero 100 stem you recently reviewed. However I noticed that the clamp size is listed as 31.7mm. The bar I wanted to use is the FSA K-Wing Carbon which has a clamp size listed as 31.8mm. Will the 0.1mm difference in size make this combination incompatible?
Steve Dear Steve,

It's been four years coming, but on a baking hot Tuesday in Angaston, Mark Renshaw finally delivered on what he'd long set out to do. Maybe it was the hours spent behind a motorbike over the Australian summer, paced by his father over the dead roads of Bathurst in country New South Wales. Maybe it was the added strength that comes with three full seasons as a professional, under the wise-old wings of team manager Roger Legeay.

American Jenny Reed owns a trophy case full of World Cup medals — 17 to be exact. But before Sunday night, only one of them was gold. The 29-year-old Reed doubled that Sunday night by winning the keirin, holding off a hard charging Willy Kanis of the Netherlands in the finals. “With the keirin I’ve always had a good level of confidence,” said the Momentum Cycling ace, who took her other World Cup gold in the keirin at the Manchester World Cup in 2004. “But when I know my sprint is going good, that bumps my confidence up even more.”

Hanka Kupfernagel and Lars Boom (Rabobank) won the mud-splashed eighth round of the UCI cyclocross World Cup on Sunday in Hoogerheide, the Netherlands. Coming just one week before the world championships in Treviso, Italy, the race was an important benchmark for checking who is on form — and two riders definitely not up to snuff were U.S. champions Katie Compton (Spike Shooter) and Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com). Compton was a non-starter, reportedly suffering from jet lag after returning to Europe. And Johnson was a DNF, thanks to an untimely cold.

It was an unpredictable precursor to the Tour Down Under as Germany's André Greipel, a relative unknown to most, upstaged his more fancied local talent to claim first blood among the sprinters in the Down Under Classic. The fourth-year pro, not quite as muscled as his Australian counterparts Robbie McEwen and Mark Renshaw - the two riders he convincingly beat to the line Sunday evening in Glenelg - patiently waited for Graeme Brown's Rabobank train to tire before his High Road crew placed him in the hot seat two-and-a-half laps from home.

Scott Sunderland’s ride of a lifetime in the men’s 1000 meter time trial netted the young Australian his first-ever World Cup gold medal, and smashed his existing personal best time by nearly one second. The effort also sent the hulking 20-year-old back to the Australian team pits with a trash can in-tow. Sunderland, whose massive legs and enormous neck appear better suited for a football game than a bike race, spent the next 15 minutes buckled over, losing his lunch after his winning ride.

Seventeen-year-old Taylor Phinney can pen another page in his quickly growing book of cycling successes. Riding just the seventh individual pursuit of his career, the high school senior rode with the calculated panache of a veteran to grab his first-ever World Cup victory, defeating Dutchman Jenning Huizenga in a winning time of 4:26:09. “I just suffered through it. I think the person who can suffer the most wins this race,” Phinney said. “I didn’t expect to win when I was six or seven laps in.”

When American Mike Friedman takes to the ADT Event Center Velodrome in Los Angeles for the qualifying round of the men’s World Cup scratch race Saturday afternoon, he’ll do so with the confidence that comes with winning a gold medal at the previous round in Beijing, China, in December.

North America’s only stop on the 2007-08 UCI track World Cup kicks off Friday at the continent’s premier velodrome, the ADT Event Center Velodrome at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, just south of Los Angeles. As the third of only four World Cup rounds on the 2007-08 calendar, the LA World Cup stands as an important stepping-stone in Olympic qualification for the 2008 Beijing Games. Series winners will earn automatic qualifications for the Games. USA Cycling is to name its track Olympic long teams on Tuesday.

Questions about torque wrenches, torque and threadloc

Dutchman Lars Boom (Rabobank) won the seventh and penultimate round of the UCI World Cup of cyclocross on Sunday, scoring his second win of this year’s series in a race in Léivin, France. Last year’s winner of the world under-23 cyclo-cross and road championships has enjoyed a solid year in his first year in the elite ranks, winning a World Cup round in Pijnacker, in the Netherlands, in November. Boom said the win puts him in solid position for a podium spot at the world’s in Treviso, Italy, later in the month.

Former world road race champion Tom Boonen is reported to be launching an audacious bid for an Olympic medal as part of a new Belgian team-pursuit squad in Beijing this summer. According to La Derniere Heure newspaper, the one-day specialist, one of cycling's best-known faces, will team up with Gert Steegmans, Sebastien Rosseler and Wouter Weylandt in a bid to score what would be a major upset. Australia holds the Olympic team-pursuit title, having won gold in Athens ahead of Great Britain and Spain.

On the heels of FSA's introduction of its BB30 bottom bracket system, Van Dessel has announced that its new BB30 Rivet frames are in now production, with delivery slated for late March. Built around the BB30 bottom bracket shell, Van Dessel’s Rivet will also feature a 1.5-inch lower headset bearing, in keeping with the recent trend of manufacturers moving to larger diameters at both bottom bracket and head tube.

You may not have ever heard of Giovanni Pelizzoli, but it’s likely you have seen his work on Ciöcc or Guerciotti frames, either one of which would be sufficient introduction of this small, graying, bespectacled framebuilder and frame painter. Pelizzoli’s shop is located in Curno, the village on the outskirts of Bergamo in north-central Italy that has long served the finish for the final classic of the season, the Tour of Lombardy.

Editor’s note: Tech editor Matt Pacocha is on vacation in Belgium racing cyclocross for two weeks. Upon his return, he will be buried in producing the 2008 VeloNews Buyer’s Guide. I won’t spill the beans about what he is working on, but I will say it involves thousands of dollars of product, highly calibrated tools and a band saw. Until the Buyer’s Guide ships in early February, I will be filling in for him on Tech Reports. — Ben Delaney

Two of Lennard's favorite new products.

The 91st edition of the Giro d'Italia will begin in Palermo and end in Milan after covering 3423.8km over 23 days, it was announced on Saturday. The exact course for the 2008 Giro, which begins May 10, was presented at a ceremony in Milan's Arcimboldi Theatre. It will begin with a team time trial and end with a 23.5km race against the clock. There will also be two other time trials throughout the race, including a 13.8km mountain time trial finishing atop the famous Plan de Corones.

Sven Nys further solidified his lead in the UCI World Cup of cyclocross Wednesday, winning the latest round in Hofstade, Belgium. Nys, who also won in Koksijde and Igorre and racked his total World Cup tally to 39 victories.

It took Tim Johnson seven years to return to the top of American cyclocross, and it was fitting that the Massachusetts native grabbed his second-career elite ’cross title on a snowy day in Kansas City.

Bjorn Selander (Ridley Factory Team) came from behind to outkick Jamey Driscoll (FiordiFrutta) for the title in the under-23 men’s race Saturday at the windblown, snowswept USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships in Kansas City, Kansas.

Steve Tilford collected his fifth cyclocross national championship on Friday at wind-whipped, mud-spattered Wyandotte County Park in Kansas City, Kansas. The KCCX-Verge-Eriksen Cycles rider won the masters 45-49 race in 43:03, nearly two minutes ahead of Kevin Hines, with another veteran ’crosser — two-time masters national champion Gunnar Shogren (Fort Factory Team) — taking third at 4:03 back.

Like Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador, Trek Bicycles has chosen to stick with Johan Bruyneel and join the Astana team. The Wisconsin-based manufacturer will become the team’s official bicycle supplier on January 1, 2008. Trek Travel will also partner with Astana, offering behind-the-scenes access to the team. SRAM announced its sponsorship of Astana on November 25.

The Milan show had a lot more to offer than I could cover in the brief column I posted last week. Here are few more items from the trade show that celebrates both the technology and style of some of Italy's most respected bicycle companies. 1988 World Champion Maurizio Fondriest’s face, half of which is made of components, graces the booth promoting the bikes that bear his name.

Men's 200-meter sprintDutchman Theo Bos easily beat Frenchman Mickael Bourgain 2-0 to take gold in the men’s sprint at the second stop of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics that concluded Sunday. In both finals heats Bos overtook Bourgain on the final straightaway, winning each time by less than half a wheel length. After the second heat the reigning world sprint champion pulled off his helmet and sunglasses, then raised his arms in triumph, acknowledging the crowd at Beijing’s Laoshan Velodrome. In the bronze medal round German Stefan Nimke defeated France’s Kevin Sireau

American Michael Friedman won the men’s scratch race on Saturday at the UCI Track World Cup Classics in Beijing, China. Friedman beat Walter Fernando Perez of Argentina and Tim Mertens of Belgium to score the second U.S. medal of the meet. On Friday, Sarah Hammer rode to the bronze in the women’s individual pursuit. In other racing, Great Britain collected two medals, winning the team pursuit and the keirin with Chris Hoy. France scored thrice, with Francois Pervis winning the kilometer time trial, Arnaud Tournant placing second in the keirin and Sandie Clair and Clara Sanchez claiming

American Sarah Hammer rode to a bronze medal in the individual pursuit as the second round of the UCI Track World Cup Classics series opened Friday in Beijing. Australian Katie Mactier took the gold with Britain’s Rebecca Romero second. In men’s racing, Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain took the individual pursuit ahead of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Dyudya with Russian Alexander Serov winning the bronze-medal round against American Taylor Phinney. Wiggins, the reigning Olympic and world champion, made a late-race comeback to take the gold. Dyudya led at the 2000- and 3000-meter marks, but Wiggins

Due to having my computer stolen and losing a ton of information, photos, time and momentum, I had not yet posted anything about last month's Milan bike show. Scheduled in early November, its relevance as an important international bike show has declined over the years, but given the rich history and passion of the Italian bicycle industry, it nonetheless had much to offer in the way of eye candy.

Campy’s Red Shifters Red is, and always has been, the color preferred by Italian auto racing teams, says the Italian bicycle components manufacturer Campagnolo. And using this symbolism Campy will turn the Record shifters it supplies to its professional teams red. The letters on the shift bodies of both shifters will be changed from white to red.

Saturday Afternoon - It was drizzling in Oz this morning. That’s okay, because the track is covered making us feel less guilty about being inside. The scratch race has no consequences for the Olympics but it’s a popular event and full of surprises. Travis Meyer squeaked through in his heat. We remember him from his days at Junior Worlds when he won three world track titles in a 10 hour time span. His brother Cam took the bronze last night in the points. A poignant moment for me yesterday came when a struggling Magnus Bäckstedt (bronchial infection) was working with Travis to regain the

Mickael Bourgain led a French domination of the men's sprint on the final night of the opening leg of track cycling's World Cup in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday. Bourgain fought off team-mate Kevin Sireau, winning both his races in the final. England's world keirin and kilometer time trial champion Chris Hoy prevented a French clean sweep of the medals, beating world team sprint champion Gregory Bauge of France for the bronze medal. "I felt very very good and I am happy with the tournament," Bourgain said. "My hardest match-up was against Greg Bauge, but that is how it goes.

Chris Hoy won the men's keirin event as British cyclists claimed two goldmedals on the second night of the UCI World Cup track meet in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday. Hoy, the reigning keirin and kilometer time trial world champion,downed compatriot Ross Edgar and world sprint champion Theo Boss of theNetherlands to take gold. Great Britain followed up with gold in the men's team pursuit, beatingNew Zealand. The British team of Edward Clancy, Stephen Cummings, Chris Newton andindividual pursuit world champion Bradley Wiggins won in a time of 4:01.196seconds over 4000 meters. Team

Chris Hoy won the men's keirin as British cyclists claimed two gold medals on the second night of the UCI World Cup track meet Saturday in Sydney, Australia. Hoy, the reigning keirin and kilometer time trial world champion, downed compatriot Ross Edgar and world sprint champion Theo Boss of the Netherlands to take gold. Great Britain followed up with gold in the men's team pursuit, beating New Zealand. The British team of Edward Clancy, Stephen Cummings, Chris Newton and individual pursuit world champion Bradley Wiggins won in a time of four minutes 01.196 seconds over the

Editor’s Note: - Connie Carpenter is at the UCI World Cup in Sydney, Australia, this week, accompanying her son, 2007 world junior time trial champion Taylor Phinney, as he enters his first elite level track competition. The 1984 Olympic gold medalist has agreed to send us reports throughout the event. Friday Morning - All the buzz is in the infield as the Track World Cup got under way on Friday morning. The track is outside Sydney, further than the Olympic Park complex – in a quiet zone known as Bass Hill. It’s familiar, but oh so strange, to be here in my first trip to Oz. Everyone is

Dual Olympic champion Ryan Bayley and Athens silver medalist Katie Mactier delivered Australia a golden opening night at the cycling World Cup season opener in Sydney, Australia, here Friday. Bayley continued his build-up to next year's Beijing Games by spearheading Australia's Team Toshiba to victory in the men's team sprint final, while Mactier claimed gold in the women's individual pursuit. Australia's time trial world record holder Anna Meares took silver in the women's sprint as she seeks to make the event her own for the Olympics after her favorite event, the

Twenty Americans will compete in the opening round of the 2007-08 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, which runs from Friday through Sunday in Sydney, Australia. The U.S. national team and seven American pro track teams are among the 48 nations and 23 trade teams set to compete in the season’s first major international event, which factors into Olympic qualification. The U.S. national team includes Adam Duvendeck (Momentum), Brad Huff (Slipstream-Chipotle), Bobby Lea (Toyota-United), Giddeon Massie (T-Town Express), Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light), Liz Reap (T-Town

Much of what I do in life is collect information about bicycle technology, and earlier this month I went to the Milan bike show to do just that. But when my week-old MacBook Pro computer was stolen from me on November 7, I learned about some new technology that compromised my collections of bicycle information. I want to tell you what I learned with the intentionof saving somebody else the stress and hassle I went through.

The newest player in the road component market is apparently not being hesitant in its efforts to make a name for itself in racing circles. SRAM announced that it has signed a second ProTour-level cycling sponsorship after having reached an agreement to supply the reorganized Astana team with components. In a release issued Monday, the Chicago-based component company pointed to the light weight of its RED group as the reason Astana director Johan Bruyneel showed interest in the deal.

Katie Compton is on a crusade in the motherland of ’cross. She won round three of the Cyclocross World Cup in Pijnacker, The Netherlands on November 3. Daphny Van Den Brand, winner of the previous round in Kalmthout, Belgium, was second by almost a minute. This past weekend, Compton again put her stamp on an international field at the third round of the Superprestige Series in Gavere, Belgium. At the world cup, Compton won, but in Gavere, she dominated, taking first by a hefty 2 minutes and 46 seconds.

Rain, 30-degree temperatures, and a course greased so slick with mud that racing turned cartoonish at times caused words like "real" and "'cross race" to commingle during Sunday’s fourth round of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross near Trenton, New Jersey. Sloping hairpin turns that posed little threat during Saturday's dry conditions turned treacherous, and running them became faster than risking wipeouts. Defying the weather and the gossip that he can't race in mud, Ryan Trebon (Kona–YourKey.com) took his second victory in as many days.

Georgia Gould (Luna) and Ryan Trebon (Kona – Yourkey.com) claimed their first U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross victories of the season Saturday at Mercer County Park. Fit and fast, both Gould and Trebon rode races marked by power, technique and perhaps a little luck on a course that required rhythm, balance and acceleration. An interesting mix of twists and turns forced racers to stitch together angles and "highways" for an interesting race; a gigantic sandpit the size of three volleyball courts and eight 12-inch vertical steps made sure to drain them of any reserved energy.

With the news of Chris Horner joining fellow American Levi Leipheimer at Astana just hours old, another staple of American cycling also has also been linked to Kazakh team — Trek Bicycles. “We’ve definitely looked at it,” said Scott Daubert, Trek’s former Discovery Team Liaison and current road bike brand manager. “Johan Bruyneel was here right after the Tour of Missouri two months ago.” With the Discovery Channel sponsorship concluding in 2007, Trek officials knew they needed something else for next season. Daubert said Trek had three options: quickly find a ProTour team; take a year off;

David Zabriskie is the only guy in the world who has earned a very special yellow sticker shaped like the map of France for his top tube. The sticker proclaims “Fastest Time Trial Ever: 54.676kph, David Zabriskie.” Ever since he won the 19km prologue at Noirmoutier in 2005 at that record speed, beating a stellar Lance Armstrong and donning the yellow jersey, cycling fans have marveled at his great bike position. But despite having a very low, narrow, incredibly aerodynamic position, his first time ever in a wind tunnel was Monday, November 12. That will probably come as a surprise to many,

Boulder, Colorado didn’t get a USGP this year, but Chris Grealish and his team of Boulder-Denver Couriers put on a weekend of UCI ’cross racing that rivaled the best of the series. Crowd estimates were put over 2000 and CrankBrothers even made the trip out to set up a tent in the venue and do some racing. Since it’s more than midway through the domestic season there are not too many unseen tech’ secrets, but we spotted a few new items, mostly in the form of tires.Click Image for Full Gallery

There are some things I really like about this job and my regular trips to Italy have to be on the top of that list. I visited the offices of Guerciotti in Milan this week. Company founder Paolo Guerciotti and his son Alessandro welcomed me to the downtown facility that also serves as a showroom and warehouse. In its heyday in the 1980s, Guerciotti bicycles had a huge presence in the U.S., due in no small part to Ten Speed Drive Imports in Florida. At the time, Guerciotti was building 8000 bikes a year. Now, annual production is down to 1500, but the company continues to thrive thanks to

Repeating their dominant performances from 24 hours earlier at Saturday’s Redline Cup, reigning U.S. national cyclocross champions Ryan Trebon and Katie Compton crushed the competition on Sunday at the UCI C1 Boulder Cup cyclocross in Boulder, Colorado.

Reigning U.S. cyclocross champions Katie Compton (Spike Shooter) and Ryan Trebon (Kona-Yourkey.com) scored crushing wins at Boulder, Colorado’s Redline Cup on Saturday. A dusty Boulder Reservoir played host to the UCI Category 2 race, and what its long 1.5-mile course lacked in mud and climbing, it made up for with sections of loose sand. Riders powered through rim-deep sediment in a volleyball court and a long beach section — the latter forced less-skilled racers to dismount and run.

If you live in the three-country economic union known as Benelux – and ride a bike – odds are good that it’s a Ridley. The Belgium-based bike maker owns a 45-percent share of the road and ’cross market in its homeland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, according to the company’s international sales manager David Alvarez.

Consumers have more choice than ever when buying road components. Campagnolo, Shimano, SRAM all have viable options for those looking to equip a performance road bike. And those options may broaden even further in the near future with Eric Sampson’s plans to deliver a road group by January 2008. Will Sampson’s soon to be introduced Stratics road group be able to compete with the big three? It’s hard to tell by comparing his preproduction prototypes, but Sampson has the right attitude to compete. He says that he’s not trying to shave every possible gram. He wants to build it light but, first

Thanks to impressive finishes by its downhillers, Fort Lewis College defended its Division I collegiate mountain-bike national title during the 2007 USA Cycling collegiate national championships in Banner Elk, North Carolina. The Skyhawks defeated Lees-McRae College, host of the championships, 730 to 635. Taking the Division II title was the Colorado School of Mines, which edged Warren Wilson College, 636-626. Fort Lewis took the lead in the team omnium competition after Benjamin Sonntag grabbed the win in the cross-country on Friday. But Lees-McRae answered the challenge on Saturday with

Stu Thorne couldn’t call the weekend anything but a success, with Tim Johnson taking the second race of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross to make it a sweep for Thorne’s Cyclocrossworld.com team. And Katie Compton showed she needed no team to complete her one-woman domination of the races in Louisville, Kentucky, although Georgia Gould gave her a run for her money, finishing 26 seconds back despite a third-row start.

Jeremy Powers and Katie Compton finished the first round of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross the way they started it – at the front. Those similarities aside, the pro races in Louisville, Kentucky, played out very differently. For the first half of the pro men’s event, it was two-on-two competition as Powers and cyclocrossworld.com teammate Tim Johnson traded blows with Kona’s Ryan Trebon and Barry Wicks. Then, it was just two as Powers and then Johnson rode clear.

Dear Lennard,I recently experienced a sudden blowout of my road bike front tire that led to a crash and lots of injuries. I’m writing in an attempt to determine what went wrong and why. Although I do not remember the crash here’s what I do know. I was with two friends and we were about three minutes into a descent and traveling at about 35 mph. My two riding partners tell me that I was in the front and we were on a sweeping turn when they heard a loud “pop” and suddenly I was down. My front tire had blown. As a result my inner tube has about a four- to five-inch slit in it but the tire

Think back to what you were riding off-road a decade ago; you’ll probably chuckle. Maybe you had a 130mm stem, a 48-tooth big ring, or a Flite saddle — all of which were probably anodized purple — and none of which have any business being on a mountain bike. If you were at the cutting edge of suspension technology for cross-country racing you were riding an elastomer sprung fork with a cartridge damper. It’s a good bet it was a RockShox Judy. Back in 1997, I was riding for John Kemp’s RockShox DEVO team. I was a junior expert racer at the time. I had a Judy SL with 63mm of travel, and I was

Matthew Wilson was at a loss for words when, after seven of the most challenging days in his sporting life, it was finally announced he was the winner of the 2007 Jayco Herald Sun Tour. "I don't know what to say... It's the best feeling... I've only had a few victories in my career, and they're all special for different reasons, but this one goes down as probably the best," said the Unibet pro, overjoyed with his victory but also relieved a turbulent week was finally over. From the first stage to the last, won by Astana's Aaron Kemps from a three-man breakaway that

It appears to be a case of expect the unexpected at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. Friday in Wangaratta, a town a stone's throw away from Glenrowan, home of great Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, early race leader Matt Wilson and his Unibet.com team piled on the pressure on a short transitional stage through the north-eastern Victorian countryside. By the day's end and with two stages remaining, the 30-year-old found himself back at the top of the leader-board. The finale was equally exciting, with a breakaway group of three fighting out the finish. Two DFL-Cyclingnews riders, Cameron

The 2007 Jayco Herald Sun Tour is looking every bit the nail-biter it was last year. At the close of play Thursday, the top five riders on general classification are separated by half a minute. Matthew Wilson of Unibet may have lost his golden tunic his race is far from over, with just eight seconds between him and new race leader, Joost Van Leijen of the Dutch national team. However, on the 116.5 kilometer fourth stage to Falls Creek, Astana's Steve Morabito was the man of the moment. Into a block headwind and 10km from the line, the 24-year-old boldly attacked a lead group that was

Wednesday in Beechworth, Astana's Aaron Kemps timed an uphill dash for cash to perfection, overcoming a technical, bumpy ride to the finish and taking advantage of a late recapture to assert his authority as the in-form sprinter of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. For those vying for overall honors four days from now, the 139.5-kilometer third stage ended without incident, as race leader Matthew Wilson of Unibet.com maintained his 17-second advantage over teammate Baden Cooke, with SouthAustralia.com-AIS young gun Simon Clarke a further five seconds back. Whether Wilson, diagnosed with

Despite riding for different teams, Tasmanian brothers Wesley and Bernard Sulzberger wanted to make sure one of them ended up the winner in Mansfield on Tuesday. Working alone in the escape, each stood a 1-in-8 chance of success, but as a family unit, they became the odds-on favorites to win the second stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. Aussie Matthew Wilson (Unibet.com), benefiting from a decisive escape in Monday’s stage, maintained his grip on the overall lead, despite finishing more than three minutes down on Tuesday’s stage winners. Blood is thicker than...After more than 60

There was so much to see at Interbike that I wanted to take some time to features some of the show's more unique items that might not have made it into the wealth of coverage of the show here on Velonews.com or in print in VeloNews magazine.

[nid:41019]Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com) again outpaced her competition during day two of the Gloucester Grand Prix of Cyclocross on Sunday, while Jesse Anthony (Jamis) came back to claim a win that eluded him the day before. The second round in the 2007 Verge New England Championship Cyclocross Series saw racers battling windier conditions and fatigue left over from Saturday's fierce pace. Fueled by a frustrating opening day, Anthony bore down on the elite men's field with enough pressure to shuck all but a stunningly strong Chris Jones (Nerac).

Italian sprint ace Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) won the 101st edition of the Paris-Tours classic on Sunday. Led out by his German teammate Eric Zabel, Petacchi edged compatriot Francesco Chicchi in the sprint to claim the victory in the 256km fall classic. It was his second classic victory, after Milan-San Remo in 2005. Former three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) was third. The penultimate ProTour race of the season saw several breakaway attempts, the last of which, involving Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux), Karsten Kroon (CSC) and Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas), took off

After a two-year hiatus, the Gran Prix of Gloucester rejoined the Verge New England Championship Cyclocross Series Saturday with Round 1 of a doubleheader race weekend, with victories by Cylcocrossworld.com’s Jeremy Powers and Lyne Bessette. Fending off attack after attack by a quartet containing Jesse Anthony (Jamis), Germany's Multe Urban (Focus) and Chris Jones (NERAC), it was Powers who outsprinted them all in the final kilometer of the men’s race to win his second Gloucester 'cross.

Jon Baker is living the dream. That is, if you consider spending fourmonths chasing some of the world’s fastest cyclocross racers around mud-and manure-filled European fields in sub-zero temperatures. The dream? Luckily he looks at it that way. Up until about a month ago the 33-year-old Baker was leading an averageAmerican life, happily married to Cyndi with two kids, Leah, 9, and Axel,1. He was a software engineer for BEA Systems, and he balanced his passionfor cycling with his family life and a full-time career, as most of usdo. He was a weekend warrior, albeit a darn good one. Baker

Barry Wicks (Kona-YourKey.com) took advantage of world champion Erwin Vervecken’s derailleur failure with half a lap to go to take the win at the second day of the Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup on Sunday at Southampton, New York. Wicks, who lost to Vervecken (Fidea) by a wheel in the previous day’s sprint finish, was never out of contention on the much more technical course featured on the second day at the Southampton Youth Services Center.

Katie Compton (Spike Shooter) and world champion Erwin Vervecken (Fidea Assurance) took two very different paths to winning their respective races at the Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup on Saturday in Southampton, New York. Vervecken did battle with three reigning national champions — American Ryan Trebon (Kona-YourKey), Canadian Greg Reain (RWR-Colnago-Time) and German Malte Urban (Heinz von Heiden) — and it proved to be a fight to the finish for the jet-lagged rainbow jersey.

The 2007 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships concluded on Saturday as the final five national titles were awarded in one individual and four team events. Just six weeks before making its debut on the UCI World Cup program in Sydney, the women's 3km team pursuit was introduced to the national championships. The trio of two-time world champion Sarah Hammer (Ouch Pro Cycling), Thursday's individual pursuit national champion Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light) and this year's sprint and keirin national champion, Jennie Reed (Momentum), rode to a victory in

Eight more national champions were crowned Friday on day three of the 2007 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships as elite and U23 categories of the men's and women's sprint and points race were contested. After qualifying second behind Adam Duvendeck (Momentum) in the 200-meter time trial on Thursday, Michael Blatchford (Cody Racing) captured both the elite and U23 national titles in the men's sprint. Blatchford dispatched silver medalist Ben Barczewski (T-Town Express) in two straight rides in the finals to claim the national title while Duvendeck took two straight

He’s certainly off to a good start. World junior time trial champion, Taylor Phinney captured the national elite men's individual pursuit title on Thursday evening, competing in his first-ever event on the track. The 17-year-old Phinney (TIAA-CREF) earned the number-two seed in Thursday morning's qualifying session at USA Cycling’s Elite Track National Championships in Carson, California, with a time of 4:35.550 Phinney’s time set up a head-to-head match against top-seed Brad Huff, who had earlier set a mark of 4:34.976. In the gold medal, Phinney rode to an early advantage in

Thanks 'Vegas — for kicking my butt. I almost made it. After six days in the Sin city I was as close as I could have come to making it out unscathed. I spent two days in Bootleg Canyon, Nevada, where the trails are known for their brutality. Crashing there is like riding a razor blade covered Slip-and-Slide into a wading pool of glass. It’s a good place to practice the 80-percent rule — riding at only 80-percent of your ability to ensure that you’re not the guy — you know, that guy who crashes at an event where you have no reason putting it all on the line. Plenty of the attendees