Road Racing

What a place!The new Bootleg Canyon venue near Boulder City for the 2003 Interbike On-Dirt Demo made for great mountain-bike riding, no matter what you’re into – unless it’s trials. Where the Blue Diamond Ranch venue west of Las Vegas of the past few years had limited trail mileage, all of which were cross-country trails, this location southeast of Vegas has a vast number of challenging cross-country loops, many of which are many miles long. In addition, it boasts a half-dozen steep downhill trails (with names like Kevorkian, Poopchute and Elevator Shaft) dropping down from the top of a

Sweden’s Susanne Ljungskog scored her second consecutive world championship on Saturday, winning a physical, bar-to-bar sprint over a group of five other survivors at the end of the 124km elite women’s road race in the streets of Hamilton, Ontario. For the thousands gathered in front of Hamilton City Hall to witness the finish on Main Street, it was an electric ending to the day, but the final sprint was just one part of the most scintillating race seen so far at the 2003 road world’s. The real drama of the day was provided by a very familiar face, one that has been thrilling racing fans

Located 23 miles southwest of Las Vegas’(in)famous Strip, Boulder City’sBootleg Canyon park was ground zero for the 2003 Interbike Expo’s OutDoorDemo. Brimming with over 150 exhibitors this year, the event has grownalmost exponentially over its eight years. In fact, Interbike organizers felt the Outdoor Demo had outgrown bothits old location and its single-day format, expanding the event to a muchlarger venue and two-day format. This year offered not only a three loopcross-country mountain bike track and closed two mile road circuit, butalso boasted a 750 foot BMX track and shuttle-served

Racing in the United States for the first time in two years, Belgian 2001 world cyclo-cross champion Erwin Vervecken (SpaarSelect) dominated an impressive list of domestic ‘cross racers Saturday, taking a 13-second victory over former national champion Marc Gullickson (Redline) at the Clif Bar Grand Prix, held in Tacoma, Washington’s Fort Steilacoom Park. The only UCI Cat-2 event on the west coast for the 2003 season, the event drew former national champion Todd Wells (Mongoose-Hyundai), Andy Jacques Maynes and Jackson Stewart (Clif Bar), local favorite Johnny Sundt (K2), Ben Jacques-Maynes

With a powerful finishing kick disguised by her small build, 17-year-old Loes Markerink of the Netherlands won Friday’s junior women’s road race, adding a gold medal to the silver that she collected in Monday’s time trial. Markerink survived several crashes, 12 trips up Hamilton’s steep Niagara Escarpment, and a flurry of last-lap attacks to become the first double medal winner at the 2003 world road championships. “This race was very hard,” Markerink said of the six-lap, 73.8km race through the streets of Hamilton, Ontario. “In Holland there are no hills. For me, this was

No one can know how a world’s road circuit will perform until it is really tested. Although the one at Hamilton was used for the Canadian nationals a couple of months ago — and produced solo winners in both the men’s and women’s races — the world’s are different. Happily, the hilly Hamilton course proved its worth Friday afternoon, when three of the most aggressive riders in the 173.6km under-23 men race took the three medals: gold for Sergey Lagutin of Uzbekistan, silver for Johan Van Summeren of Belgium, and bronze for Thomas Dekker of the Netherlands. Lagutin, the most talented rider to

There was a very telling remark made by David Millar after he trounced the opposition in Thursday’s elite men’s time trial at sunny Hamilton, Ontario. “I’ve been like a junior the past 10 days,” he said, “just scared.” He was scared because he didn’t want to come up short again, as he did two years ago in Lisbon, Portugal, where Jan Ullrich made a desperate last push to snatch the victory from Millar. There was no doubt this time. He defeated an excellent Michael Rogers of Australia by 1:25 — it would have been closer to a minute had Rogers not flatted with 8km remaining — with Germany’s

PreservationistDear Lennard;I have several repair books including your “Art of Road Bike Maintenance,”and I can’t find the answer to this question. I have a nice late '80s Stronglightcrank that has the threads stripped on the drive side where you put thetool in to extract the crank. Is there anything I can do to get the crankoff and save the BB and crank?--Drew Dear Drew;Were you ever a trumpeter or other brass instrument player? I was,and I frequently managed to get my mouthpiece stuck in my trumpet. To removeit, you had to slip two notched steel plates around the tube of the mouthpiece,one

Looking like a young Viatcheslav Ekimov, compact and powerful, 18-year-old Mikhail Ignatiev put in an impressive performance to win the junior men’s time trial for the second year in succession on Wednesday. This second world TT title goes with the four rainbow jerseys he has won in the past two track world’s: two team pursuit titles along with the points race (2002) and Madison (2003). In 2002, on the flat Zolder, Belgium, TT course, the dark-haired Russian won by 10 seconds over Australian Mark Jamieson. On Wednesday in Hamilton, Ignatiev was already 12 seconds ahead of the competition

Michigan got a good taste of international cyclo-cross racing on Saturday with the Michael R. Rabe Midwest Cyclo-Cross Championships. Promoted by Robert Linden of Tailwind Enterprises, the first-time UCI event saw racers come from Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Massachusetts. To make it a true international event, riders even came from as far as Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The junior men's event saw a tightly fought battle among the top three. Konrad Lebas (Richard Sachs) had to take a change early on due to a problem with his rear wheel,

Germany finished the first day of the world road championships undefeatedas 22-year-old Marcus Fothen won the men’s under-23 time trial on a breezyTuesday afternoon in Hamilton, Ontario. Fothen beat Niels Scheuneman ofthe Netherlands by the comfortable margin of 18.99 seconds to score a secondgold medal of the day for Germany, after Bianca Knöpfle’s win in the junior women’s time trial. Fothen, who finished fifth in the U23 time trial at last year’s worldchampionships, was confident before the 30.3km race. In addition to beingthe 2003 German U23 time trial champion, he had won the time trial

Here in Colorado, the leaves are certainly turning but there sure isn’t a crisp in the air-at least not yet. Take, for example, this past weekend. Sunday was the official ‘cross season kick-off here in Boulder. Held at the local reservoir, it somehow felt a bit odd hoofin’ about while jet skiers slalomed past and Eliminator jet boats shot up mile-high rooster tails under a relentless 80-degree sun. Somehow racing seems so much easier when you’re not forced to watch attractive women sipping lemonade and laying out on the very beach you’re running across. While not in the hunt for the lead

The World Cup stop long hyped as a sprinter’s race finally delivered on its promise after successful breakaways have ruled the undulating Paris-Tours course since 1996. The sprinter teams led by Fassa Bortolo, Telekom and Saeco worked in harmony to keep an eight-man break that included the indefatigable Jacky Durand (Fdjeux.com) at arm’s length until 13km to go when the real fireworks started. Despite two attacks in the final 8km by World Cup leader Paolo Bettini (Quick Step), the 97th running of Paris-Tours came down to a mass gallop on Tours´ wide Avenue de Gammont. Bettini's 11th place,

The collision of two mega-events is quickly approaching. No need to uncoverthe ol’ bomb shelter in the backyard, just be on the lookout for the avalancheof cycling news about to come hurtling your way. Yep, early October is approaching and both the 2003 World Road Championships(“world’s” for those of you about to jump all over my inclusion of anapostrophe in the title) in Hamilton, Ontario, and Las Vegas's 2003Interbike trade show are coming up on the same weekend. If you’re not ableto attend either, your best bet to get the latest news is right here atVeloNews.com (as well as the print

Last week, you saw some of the new things from the Milan bike show, whichis primarily a fantastic display of road bikes, surrounded by a massivemotorcycle show. While most of the two-wheeled enthusiasts attending theshow are there to ogle bikes with motors, there is still plentyof passion in Italy for the human-powered bikes side as well. The movement toward making more and more elements of the high-end bicycleout of carbon continues unabated. Now, however, you see an increasing useof highly reflective white carbon (it actually looks more silver than white)and systems for damping the

For the second time in two months, U.S. Postal Service was celebrating victory in one of cycling's major stage races. Just eight weeks after Lance Armstrong won his record-tying fifth Tour de France, Roberto Heras rolled through Sunday's 148.5km finale into Madrid to claim his second career Vuelta title. "We never gave up fighting and made up time little by little and we were finally able to make up the difference," said Heras, who erased a 5 minute, 13 second difference to Isidro Nozal (ONCE) after the second time trial at Albacete. "This Vuelta victory means more to me than the first one

Roberto Heras (U.S. Postal Service) delivered the time trial of his life to win Saturday's penultimate stage of the Vuelta a España and vaulted into the overall lead after erasing a seemingly insurmountable gap to Isidro Nozal (ONCE). A year after losing the 2002 edition on a final-day time trial, Heras is about to claim his second career Vuelta title after obliterating Nozal's lead of 1 minute, 55 seconds, in an emotional victory that puts him 28 seconds into the race leader's golden jersey with one stage to go. "I wanted to win the stage but instead we saw a miracle," said Heras, who won

Roberto Heras (U.S. Postal Service) pumped some excitement into the Vuelta a España, perhaps making things a little too exciting for race leader Isidro Nozal (ONCE). Heras charged up the Category 1 Alto de Navacerrada and quickly put Nozal into trouble in the 164km 19th stage. Luckily for Nozal, it was a long 23km back down to the finish line in Collado Villalba and Heras could only reduce the gap to 1 minute, 55 seconds going into Saturday’s decisive climbing time trial at Abantos. “The time that I got back from Nozal was okay considering the circumstances, but ONCE was able to make the

It´s not often the little teams can knock off the big Division I powerhouses, but Pedro Diaz Lobato made just the right move to win Thursday´s short and very fast 18th stage around the hills west of Madrid. Lobato jumped ahead of a five-man leading break with 20km to go and held on to claim the biggest victory of his career and give his Paternina team a huge boost in the final week of the Vuelta a España. Paternina´s been riding like a D1 all season, snagging wins at Bicicleta Vasca and the Tour of Cataluyna, but emerging star Jose Antonio Pecharroman pulled out of the Vuelta early with a

David Millar perfectly timed an attack on the Category 2 Alto de Jerónimo and turned on the turbos in the snaking descent into Córdoba to win Wednesday’s 17th stage of the Vuelta a España. In a day that saw no major shake-ups in the overall standings, the Cofidis rider made up for two close calls in the individual time trials to score his third career Vuelta stage victory. Millar jumped off the front of the main bunch early up the 11km Jerónimo climb and later held off a chase group that included Oscar Sevilla (Kelme) and Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank). “I told my team this morning I wanted

After a few narrow misses, the Vuelta a España King of the Mountains Felix Cardenas (Labarca-2) finally got a stage win on Tuesday, but he didn’t make any friends in the process. Just like he did to Roberto Heras (U.S. Postal Service) going up La Pandera on Sunday, Cardenas sat on the wheels of Kelme’s Oscar Sevilla and Alejandro Valverde up the grinding 30km climb to Sierra Nevada before making a strong solo attack with 1km to go to reel in local hero Juan Miguel Mercado (iBanesto.com) to snag the victory. Heras, meanwhile, used Tuesday’s 16th stage to make the most of what was his last

Dear readers;I am writing this from Italy, a few days after I had the chance to visit Milan for what has to be one of the world’s best bike shows. So if you don’t mind, I would like to start my weekly column with a look at fewof the treasures I spotted at Milan’s EICMA show. Conducted under gorgeous warm, sunny weather, the 61st EICMA bicycleand motorcycle show marks the official launch of a new road season. Italy is a great place for a show, and Milan in particular, because of the heritage of great design. As always, gorgeous Italian bicycles are in abundance, and the theme of ever more

Last week I expressed my enthusiasm for the upcoming October 10th-14thInterbike trade show. After checking out the list of exhibitors forthis year’s show, I got to thinking about the host of manufacturers whoweren’t going to make it to Vegas this year. In speaking with afew of the manufacturers who couldn’t/wouldn’t make this year’s show itbecame clear to me why so many companies won't be making the trip outto Interbike: Cost. Even on the cheap, when all is said and done, to lease the smallestspace available; design, build and ship even the most a modest booth; paythe mandatory set-up

The 8.3km final hump to La Pandera to cap the 172km 15th stage of the Vuelta a España proved too short for Roberto Heras (U.S. Postal) and too steep for Isidro Nozal (ONCE), but just right for Alejandro Valverde (Kelme). Heras attacked as promised, but couldn't make up the time he needed to against Nozal on the steepest climb of the Vuelta. The young race leader forfeited some time to his rival - 1 minute, 11 seconds - but retained a comfortable 4:02 margin over Heras. "We're still pretty happy with how things went," said Johan Bruyneel, U.S. Postal's sport director. "The team controlled

Alessandro Petacchi just can’t help himself. Even in the sloppy sprint finish at the end of Saturday’s 14th stage, the Fassa Bortolo strong man still had the legs to claim his fourth stage of the Vuelta a España. Giovanni Lombardi (Domina Vacanze) tried to surprise Petacchi with an early sprint, but the Italian surged late to hold off Fred Rodriguez (Caldirola) by a half-bike length to claim victory. “This certainly was the hardest stage to win,” said Petacchi, who came through in 3 hours, 44 minutes, 16 seconds (44.9 kph). “It was a very strange sprint. Lombardi started very early and I

Now there's no doubt at all who's the strong man of the Vuelta a España. After some pesky questions regarding who was the true leader at ONCE, Isidro Nozal roared to his second time-trial victory in little more than a week and firmly established himself as the man to beat with nine days left in the 21-stage Vuelta. Nozal covered the windy 53.3km course - the Vuelta's longest in 35 years - in 1 hour, 2 minutes, 3 seconds (51.5 kph) and relegated time-trial specialist David Millar (Cofidis) into second place yet again by 13 seconds. No one else could come within 40 seconds. Nozal’s closest

They’re called abanicos in Spanish – echelons to the rest of the cycling world – and U.S. Postal Service played the peloton like a fiddle in the brisk cross-winds of Thursday’s 168.8km 12th stage of the Vuelta a España. With 50km to go, Postal Service massed at the front as the peloton roared across the bleak, treeless plains of Castilla-La Mancha. Strong winds were cracking from the left and the Posties' blistering pace quickly blew the peloton into three groups. Caught out of position were Fassa Bortolo’s Dario Frigo, who started the day fourth at 3:05 back, and defending champion Aitor

Erik Zabel made it through three stages in the Pyrénées to win Monday’s frenetic stage into Sabadell and snagged another victory after he got over a tough cobble-stoned Category 3 climb late in Wednesday’s 162km 11th stage. Zabel’s Team Telekom did great work to reel in the attacking David Etxebarria (Euskaltel) and Santos Gonzalez (Domina Vacanze), erasing a 39-second gap with 10km to go put Zabel in position to win. Gonzalez and Etxebarria were caught with 500 meters to go and Zabel charged up the left hand side of the finishing straight to nip a surging Tom Boonen (Quick Step) by inches.

Dear Lennard;I have 1990 Campagnolo 8-speed set-up, which still works fine, but,I have beaten my two sets of wheels to a pulp and they can no longer betrued to round. I would like some lighter, new-fangled (and hopefully round)wheels, however none of the new-fangled wheelsets are compatible with Campy8-speed and you can't buy new Campy 8-speed hubs anymore. Now,  I’mtoo cheap to drop $700+ to upgrade the whole drive-train to Shimano 9 orCampy 9/10, then another $300 to $800 on wheels. Do you have any feedback on how well the "Wheels Manufacturing CassetteConversion Kit" works? Excel Sports

October is just around the corner and, if you’re a cyclist, that can meanonly one thing. No, not road world’s. I’m talking about the Interbike tradeshow. Coincidentally, the powers that be at Interbike were either unable orunwilling to reschedule their event (October 12 -14) around the road world’sin Hamilton, Ontario, (October 6 -12) the first time that event has hitNorth America since 1986. So, die-hard techie/race fans must choose betweenthe elite men’s road race or the opening day of Interbike. I suppose thosetruly devoted could hop on a plane immediately after the eventand scoot on out

Erik Zabel might not be as fast as he used to be, but the Telekom veteran still got around the man who is regarded as the peloton’s fastest these days to win Monday´s 10th stage of the Vuelta a España. Fassa Bortolo´s Alessandro Petacchi delivered on his promise to get through the Pyrénées and almost rewarded his team with his third Vuelta victory, but Zabel had his own plans. After Fassa and ONCE worked hard to reel in a six-man break early in the race and control a frenetic final 10km, Petacchi shot to the line with 400 meters to go up a slightly rising finish into Sabadell, a Barcelona

Coming into the final stretch of the T-Mobile International, Saturn’s Chris Horner knew he’d won the race, he just didn’t know preciselywhen. Away on a solo break — with a one-minute advantage over teammate Mark McCormack and loud crowds drowning out his earpiece — Horner passed through the start/finish area on San Francisco’s Embarcadero and kept right on rolling until spectators lining the area waved him around. “I absolutely believed I had another [5-mile] lap to ride,” Horner smiled, adding, “And I would have held them all off if I had to.” Course understanding aside, Horner and USPRO

Gunn-Rita Dahle (Merida) has completed her streak of World Cup victories, taking the fifth and final race in Kaprun in decisive fashion, ahead of teammate and new world champion Sabine Spitz of Germany. Marie-Helene Premont (Oryx) confirmed her status among the elite women riders by finishing third. The weather gods finally smiled, and for the first time in a week racegoers were treated to sunshine. Marga Fullana led the charge up the first steep climb, but by the end of the first of four laps it wasDahle at the front and pulling away. Fullana steadily dropped back, leaving Spitz and Premont

Who could have imagined a bunch sprint atop a 2410-meter chunk of rock in the heart of the Pyrénées? But that's just what happened in Sunday's 174.8km ninth stage. Okay, it wasn't a classic Mario Cipollini train, but Kelme phenom Alejandro Valverde won a 13-up sprint in an exciting summit finish up the "especial" Port d'Envalira climb in Andorra. "I'm very happy. I don't know what to say," said Valverde after nipping Italian Dario Frigo (Fassa Bortolo). "This stage was full speed all day. The team had a lot of confidence in me. I'm very happy with what's happened so far." Despite efforts

Someone needs to tell Isidro Nozal he's not supposed to be leading the Vuelta a España. Nozal retained the overall lead in Saturday's eighth stage on a day when all of the Vuelta's main players stayed on equal footing in the four-climb romp across the Pyrénées except U.S. Postal's Manuel Beltran, the one man poised to step into his shoes. Nozal powered the lead group across the line in the sun-blasted Plá de Beret ski area at 3:51 behind stage-winner Joaquin Rodriguez (ONCE-Eroski). Beltran couldn't match the accelerations initiated by a re-energized Aitor Gonzalez (Fassa Bortolo) and lost

The Bay Area is heating up as riders from across the globe have amassed in San Francisco for the T-Mobile International, an event that, in just its third year, is being hailed as the strongest field ever assembled on American soil. Organized and directed under San Francisco Cycling LLC, a joint cooperative of Tailwind Sports, the management company that runs the U.S. Postal Service Cycling Team, and Threshold Sports, organizing body of the Pro Cycling Tour, the event has again drawn Postal’s Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, as well as first-time appearances from two-time Giro

Sabrina Jonnier and Nathan Rennie are the 2003 World Cup downhill champions, each battling it out on the final run of the season in what were possibly the tightest races in the history of the World Cup. Marla Streb (Luna) and David Vasquez Lopez (MSC Bikes) won their respective races on a muddy, strength-sapping course in Kaprun, Austria, but all attention was on the overall standings. The bottom portion of the course gave many riders problems. If they slid too far down in the final corner, they would get bogged in a swampy dip just before the drop to the finish, with some riders coming to

With five kilometers to go to victory in Friday’s difficult four-climb stage, Michael Rasmussen knew he had it in the bag. The former mountain bike world champion held off a counter-attack from U.S. Postal’s Manuel Beltran and Cofidis’ Luis Perez on the Category 1 summit finish to the Cauterets Cam-Basque ski station and slipped across the line to win the seventh stage of the Vuelta a España. “This is a dream come true for me, to win a stage with a mountain top finish in a grand tour,” said Rasmussen, who won in 5 hours, 1 minute, 14 seconds. “By far this is the most important victory of my

The Vuelta a España always serves up surprises and Isidro Nozal’s winning ride in Thursday’s 43.8km individual time trial ranks as the biggest so far this year. To be sure, Nozal promised he’d put everything into defending his 50-second hold on the race leader’s jersey, but no one expected him to do it in such dominant fashion. Not even Nozal himself. “I thought I had good chances to limit my losses and keep the jersey, but I never dreamed of winning like this,” said Nozal, who powered through fierce winds to beat David Millar by an impressive 1 minute, 20 seconds. Nozal, whose lone

The king is dead; long live the king No, those weren’t obscene gestures from Alessandro Petacchi as he roared across the finish line victorious in Wednesday’s 165km fifth stage of the Vuelta a España. Two fingers, then six and another four followed by another two -- that was Petacchi’s version of sign language for what has been his history-making season. Petacchi became the first rider in history to win at least two stages in every major tour and wanted the rest of the world to know. “I made signs to show that it wasn’t by chance that I won. If you win once you can say it’s just luck,”

Winning a stage in any grand tour used to be a big deal for the Euskaltel-Euskadi team until the orange-clad Basques barnstormed through this summer’s Tour de France. Haimar Zubeldia and Iban Mayo were the Tour revelations, with Mayo winning at Alpe d’Huez and Zubeldia and Mayo finishing 5-6, respectively. Since both have pulled the plug on their seasons, stage victories might be all Euskaltel can hope for in the 2003 Vuelta a España. Euskaltel worked two riders into the winning move Tuesday and Unai Etxebarria slipped away from an eight-man break with just under 15km to go in the 151km

First off, let's correct an oversight:Last week when I mentioned ceramic bearings (see "TechnicalQ&A with Lennard Zinn: Campy's Carbon Clincher"), I forgotto mention Zipp’s ceramic bearings in the Z3. I wrote about it in a "TourTech" report during this year's Tour de France.--LennardKeeping a classic on the trailsDear Lennard;My question concerns my desire to keep my old Bridgestone MB1 runningas a single speed. I'm afraid during the five years of hard use it underwent,it developed quite a bad case of "indexed steering" and an inability tokeep the headset tight. My local shop informed me that

I just got back to VeloNews's almost fully re-carpeted headquartersafter a bit of time over in Europe covering the 2003 Eurobike trade show.My first time to the show, I was impressed by the superb organization (those crafty Germans!) of the event. Promoters had the foresight to place similar categories of product ineach of the halls (for example, clothing was mostly in one hall, whileItalian manufacturers were mostly placed in another). This organization made the show easier to digest for us ever-complaining journalists as well as the attending professionaland citizen crowds. Look for

Fassa Bortolo's Alessandro Petacchi won the third stage of the 2003 Vuelta a España, a 154.3km race from Cangas de Onís to Santander on Monday. By easily out-sprinting Telekom's Erik Zabel and Quick Step's Tom Boonen, Petacchi became only the third rider in history to win stages in all three grand tours in the same season and the first to do it since 1958, when Italian Pierino Baffi achieved the feat 45 years ago. Petacchi won six stages in the Giro d'Italia and four in the Tour de France this year. "I'm very happy because I wanted to win in the three big races and give this win to the

Cofidis's Luis Perez scored his maiden win in the second stage of the Vuelta a España Sunday, a 148km ride between Gijon and Cangas de Onis. ONCE's Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano was overtaken as the overall race leader by teammate Joaquin Rodriguez. The 29-year-old Spaniard broke away with compatriot Carlos Sastre on the final climb of the day, the first category Fito, and then outsprinted Sastre in the streets of Cangas de Onis. His time at the end of the 148-km stage was three hours 27 minutes 32 seconds -14 seconds ahead of the peloton. The Cofidis rider said: "Last year a fall prevented

Filip Meirhaeghe had been close before. Three times in his long mountain biking career he’d walked onto the podium at the world mountain bike championships, but all three times he’d not been the winner, twice settling for bronze in the late 1990s, before grabbing silver a year ago after finishing an agonizing 19 seconds behind Canadian Roland Green. But this time, with Green not a factor and Meirhaeghe on fire again, the Belgian used a stunning charge from outside the top 10 to finally capture that elusive world title. “I’d had thoughts that I was not meant to win this,” admitted

Despite losing two riders early on, ONCE-Eroski lived up to its role of overwhelming favorite in the opening team time trial event in the Vuelta a España on Saturday. It was a repeat of the Spanish squad's 2002 victory in the same stage over American squad U.S. Postal-Berry Floor. ONCE-Eroski clocked 32 minutes, 1 second for the 28km course starting and finishing in Gijon, 10 seconds faster than Postal and 24 seconds ahead of third-placed Ibanesto.com. Spaniard Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, 29, crossed the line at the head of the ONCE-Eroski team to take the first gold leader's jersey of

Go ahead, call him the heir apparent. Greg Minnaar is more than worthy. First he shocked the downhill-racing world in 2001, snatching the overall World Cup title from Nicolas Vouilloz. Now, after hiring Vouilloz’s former coach to be his personal trainer, the South African has taken over the spot the retired Frenchman owned for so many years, winning the downhill title at the world mountain biking championships in Lugano, Switzerland, on Saturday. Taking off from the No. 3 qualifier’s spot, Minnaar blasted his way down the steep, 1.45-mile track on Monte Tamaro, posting a 4:37.78. That was

It’s probably to early to call it a full-fledged changing of the guard, but after years of gated-racing domination by the likes of Eric Carter and Brian Lopes, there was a new face atop the four-cross podium at the world mountain bike championships in Lugano, Switzerland, on Friday night. Bolstered by blazing fast starts throughout the night, Czech rider Michal Prokop earned the first major win of his career in front of an estimated crowd of 5000. In the women’s race, there was no big surprise – just the continued domination of Frenchwoman Anne-Caroline Chausson, who earned the fourth (every

Dear readers;Just as I was about to send this column in today, I received a pressrelease that might interest a few of you, particularly if you are in needof a good carbon fix. Campagnolo announced on Thursday that its carbon Hyperon wheels are nowalso available as clinchers. "The carbon rims for clincher tires turned out to be much more complicatedthan expected," the release noted. "It was not a matter of adapting therim for tubular tires but of designed a completely new rim. The requirementsof a rim for clincher tires are completely different from those of a rimfor tubular tires. Issues of

After a two-day hiatus, racing at the 2003 world mountain bike championships in Lugano, Switzerland, got rolling again Wednesday with Australia’s Lisa Mathison running away with victory in the junior women’s cross-country in the morning, and Poland taking the team relay in the afternoon. It was Mathison’s second straight junior crown, as she also won in Kaprun, Austria last year. “I thought it would be way tougher this year because there were more second-year juniors in this race,” said Mathison about her chunky 3:54 margin over second-place finisher Eva Lechner of Italy. Almut Grieb of

American riders dominated the downhill competition at the Masters Mountain Bike World Championships, taking six of eight titles awarded. Four other categories did not have titles awarded because each had only one rider. The UCI announced shortly before the world’s that a minimum of three riders were required for a title to be awarded (originally, the organization had said six, but reduced it to three after protests). All four were upper age groups, three of them women's categories, and U.S. riders won these events also. Lars Tribus (Chumba Racing), won the hotly contested men's 30-34 group

Mark McCormack (Saturn) and Geneviève Jeanson (Rona-Esker) followed their victories in Friday’s prologue by winning stage 1 of the Mad River Valley Green Mountain Stage Race, the Moretown Circuit Race. McCormack, who has won this race in each of the previous two years, got into a break with Mark Walters (Navigators), Cameron Hughes (LeMond Fitness-Cra-Z Soap), Tim Johnson (Saturn), and Alex Lavallee (Trek-Volkswagen) at the top of the second KOM sprint. With the top-three overall riders on board, the group maintained its lead, despite several attempts from riders in the field to bridge.

After 78km of racing through the foothills of the Swiss Alps in harsh, windy conditions, the battle for the World Mountain Bike Marathon Championship in Lugano came down to the final 100 meters on Sunday as hometown hero Thomas Frischknecht outsprinted Bart Brentjens of the Netherlands to claim the first-ever world marathon title. Carsten Bresser of Germany rounded out the podium in third, four minutes behind the leaders. With more than 9300 feet of climbing and strong alpine winds, the elements and topography alone provided enough opportunity for the favorites to sort themselves out at

Erin Mirabella (Frisco Cycling Club) lapped the field and held off a late charge by Ashley Kimmet (Colavita-Bolla) to win the women’s points race Saturday during the final night of the USCF National Track Cycling Championships in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. The race started off slowly, but soon began to break apart. An attack by Lauren Shirock (Coyote Cycling) got the action rolling. Then Mari Holden (Team T-Mobile) and Kimmet, the 2001 junior world silver medalist in the points race, got away to take the lead with 35 laps remaining. Mirabella and Sarah Hammer (Team T-Mobile) charged to

Steve Tilford (Shimano-Moots) was among four Americans to claim world titles on Saturday during the first day of the Masters Mountain Bike World Championships in Bromont, Québec. Tilford took his fifth masters world’s title in the men's 40-44 age group, finishing nearly four minutes ahead of Thierry Salomon of Switzerland, with Patrick Meersschaert (Belgium) third. Other U.S. titlists were 70-year-old Frederic Schmidt (Waco Bicycle Club) in the 65-plus category, Seattle's James Wagner (Ti Cycles) in the 60-64 category and Lydia Barter (Team Bicycle Alley) in the women's 50+ age

It’s the second night of the 2003 Eurobike trade and the VeloNews crewand I just had dinner with Jan Ullrich –well, kind of…To be honest, we were seated next to him as he went about his businessentertaining a table full of Bianchi corporate brass. In Friedrichshafenfor an autograph signing session at the Bianchi booth on Saturday, it wasrefreshing to see Ullrich slurping down his pasta only a few feet awayfrom our table. Refreshing not because he ordered the same dish as I did,but because he so very nonchalantly signed autographs from the occasionalpasserby who recognized him.The highlight of

Photo Gallery: U.S. National Track Championships -Day 3

I tore the LAX airport tags off of my duffel early Tuesday morning and once again subjected myself to that little-too-close-for-comfort, very hands-on “magic wand” security screening at Denver International Airport. With the memories of my recent visit to Southern California for Giant’s2004 product introduction still fresh in my mind, I adjusted my seatbelt physically preparing myself for a bumpy ride, while psychologically amping myself for the cultural about-face that’s makes Europe so very Europe.You know, breakfast lunch and dinner featuring every meat product under the sun, showers

It was a rough-and-tumble evening of racing at the 2003 USCF National Track Cycling Championships at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania, as T-Mobile’s Chris Witty took the win in the women’s 500 and Jonas Carney took the win in what at times was a heated points race. That points race proved to be dramatic… almost as dramatic as the fight it triggered afterward. Early on, Prime Alliance, Ofoto-Lombardi, T.E.A.M. Fuji, and Navigators spread the points across the board with each trying to make a move that would stick – none of which was successful. Prime Alliance’s

The second night of the 2003 USCF National Track Cycling Championships at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania played out under beautiful skies with low humidity and moderate temperatures. The fair weather proved to be a big help as times in both the men’s kilometer and team pursuit were quicker than in 2002. Team pursuit qualifiersIn the team pursuit final, the Jelly Belly/Carlsbad Clothing team featuring Tyler Farrar, Mariano Friedick, Curtis Gunn, and individual pursuit champion Adham Sbeih proved to be unbeatable after qualifying first this morning. The squad

Keirin and pursuit highlighted the action on the opening day of the 2003 USCF National Track Cycling Championships in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday. Marty Nothstein showed that he hadn’t lost too much of his track fitness when he rode away with the U.S. keirin title, one of two events the Navigators man hopes to take on in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Tuesday’s opening events began with a strong pursuit ride by Saturn’s Sarah Uhl. Uhl, in her first individual pursuit competition, took on former national pursuit champion Erin Mirabella (Frisco Cycling Club) in the final for first

I strongly believe in the use of torque wrenches for properly and safelyassembling bicycles. However, I have become somewhat gun-shy about it dueto unexpected negative consequences of using them that have been relayedto me.Two of these unexpected consequences came from misinterpretation andmisprinting of torque information I wrote in my maintenance books. Onecase, which we went over here on this site, concerned a reader who misunderstooda torque number from the torque table in the first edition of my mountainbike maintenance book. He interpreted the torque setting for a single

1996 USPRO road champion Eddy Gragus (Trek-VW All Stars) won the general classification at the Estes Cycling Challenge, held August21-24 in and around Estes Park, Colorado. In the 3-mile prologue time trial, Gragus beat Ofoto’s Andy Bajadali by a scant eight-tenths of a second, setting up a two-man contest that would carry into the race’s final stage. Gragus took sixth the following day in the hot 84-mile Masonville road race, but was penalized 30-seconds for a centerline violation, putting Bajadali — second at Estes last year to Mercury’s Tom Danielson — in the lead by 19 seconds after

Despite crashing in the final corner of the final lap, Team USA's Larssyn Staley captured the gold medal in the women’s 20km points race Wednesday at the 2003 UCI Junior World Track Championships in Moscow. The Beaverton, Oregon, resident, who races for Hot Tubes back home, had lapped the field and accumulated 35 points before the crash – enough to win the rainbow jersey over Lithuanian Agne Bagdonaviciute, who finished with 33 points to claim the silver medal. Laura Telle of Latvia was third with 27 points. Staley was transported to the hospital for X-rays of her back, but was expected to

Tis’ the season for 2004 product intro's. Our own Lennard Zinn just got back from Specialized’s introduction in Morgan Hill, California, while I caught an early flight Wednesday morning to sunny So. Cal. Wednesday to catch a glimpse of Giant’s 2004 offerings. Located one hour north of Los Angeles, the Newbury Park based Giant USA headquarters is the main base of operations for the second most popular brand sold in the United States (behind Trek). Interesting to note is that Giant not only produces its own bikes and components, but also produces many of its direct competitor’s frames. Only

Dear Lennard,Do I have to buy Campy's new tool to properly install the new PermaLinkin a Campy 10-speed chain? I do have a Shimano 9-speed and Park 9-speedchain tools on hand.MortDear Mort,You can do it with a standard chain tool, but you have to be extremelycareful with alignment of the two chain ends with each other, somethingwhich Campy’s new tool ensures. I have done it many times with a Shimanochain tool without problems. By the way, it is just a pin, albeit it avery precisely shaped one, not a PermaLink anymore.LennardThere's gotta be an easier way to do thisDear Lennard,After a bad

A year ago, when Kevin Monahan crossed the line at the USPRO Criterium Championship in Downers Grove, everything was up in the air. After a late-race crash took out half the field, Henk Vogels took the race win, with Monahan and Robbie Ventura (U.S. Postal Service) in a photo finish for second place. What a difference a year makes. After winning the race outright, Monahan began the celebration almost immediately, riding up and down Main St. Downers Grove and high fiving the crowd. It capped a day that saw another repeat victory – Tina Mayolo Pic (Diet Rite) taking the women’s crown – and

A dramatic day of short track racing at the NORBA series finals in Durango, Colorado, saw two Americans enter the day leading the overall series, with one just managing to keep the title and the other watching it slip away in the final seconds. Canadian Seamus McGrath (Haro-Lee Dungarees) took a runaway victory in the men’s NORBA short track final Sunday, and with American series leader Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (RLX Ralph Lauren) unable to stay in the top-three after a gripping finish line crash, McGrath climbed high enough to take the series title as well. Coming into the final lap of a

You’ve got to feel for Chris Kovarik. Three times now the Australian has entered the final day of the NORBA NCS series with the overall lead and three times he has finished the day without the overall crown. Instead it was South African Greg Minnaar grabbing the series prize, after the Haro-Lee Dungarees rider finished second to Kovarik’s third at Durango Mountain Resort in southwest Colorado. That meant the pair finished deadlocked atop the final overall standings, but with Minnaar owning the advantage Sunday, the tiebreaker fell his way. “I had a mistake free run, but it was on a wet

Looks can be deceiving, especially when it comes to one of the most volatile weather locations in the U.S. With 70-degree temperatures and light winds at the bottom of the Mount Washington Auto Road, it looked like the 600-plus racers would have a relatively pleasant trip up the 7.6-mile ascent. But the final 2.5 miles found riders battered by 50-mph winds and blinded by near-whiteout fog. The weather took the steam out of Tom Danielson’s assault on his year-old course record, though the Saturn rider did win the race for the second year in a row. Danielson dropped the field in the first 500

Two dominating rides — one by Canadian Ryder Hesjedal (Subaru-Gary Fisher) and the other by Luna rider Shonny Vanlandingham — capped off the NORBA cross-country series final in Durango, Colorado on Saturday. Hesjedal’s win, by a 1:07 margin, secured the overall NORBA series title, while RLX-Ralph Lauren rider Jimena Florit, eighth on the day, took the women’s overall honors for the second consecutive year. In the national title chase, Florit’s teammate Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski clinched a second consecutive title of his own, finishing third on the day, while Seven Cycles’ Mary McConneloug was

Whether you believe the pro-am event on the eve of the USPRO Criterium Championship in Downers Grove, Illinois, is a preview to the main event or simply just a tune-up, the Navigators put on a show, delivering Vassili Davidenko and Marty Nothstein to the line one-two in the men’s race, while in the women’s event, former national champion Nicole Freedman (Team Basis) showed she’s ready to take on the big teams in Sunday’s national title race. Freedman struggled with the hot, humid conditions in the suburbs of Chicago, but when the race boiled down to a field sprint after 45 minutes, the

Day one of the NORBA National Championship Series finals closed with an action-packed mountain cross that saw Eric Carter and Sabrina Jonnier walk away with the overall series titles. Carter and fellow American Jill Kintner took the U.S. national titles, with Jonnier and Frenchman Cédric Gracia earning the race wins at Durango Mountain Resort in Colorado on Sunday. Carter’s titles sweep came after he faced off with fellow American Mike King in the men’s final. The pair came into the day first and second in the overall standings, and if King had won the final, Carter needed to finish no worse

American Giddeon Massie has advanced to the semifinal of the men’s sprint with a successful ride against Venezuela’s Johnny Hernandez Thursday. Teammate Stephen Alfred was narrowly defeated by Colombian sprinter Jonathan Marin in the third heat of the morning session. Massie will ride in the sprint semifinal set to start at 9:00 a.m. Friday morning. Later Thursday morning Massie led the team sprint with one of his fastest laps this season, posting a 23.669 to start the U.S. team off. Stephen Alfred rode the second leg with Christian Stahl anchoring the three-man team. The team advanced to

The U.S. Pan American Cycling Team added three more medals to the medal count Wednesday starting off with a silver medal ride in the women’s 500m time trial by Chris. The winning momentum continued later in the afternoon when sprinters Tanya Lindenmuth and Giddeon Massie each won medals in the keirin. The Olympic medallist in speed skating found her form on the track and stayed steady throughout the 500m test to clinch the silver medal in 36.304. Nancy Contreras (Mex) won the event in 35.463. Yumari Gonzalez (Cub was third clocking a 36.559. Witty’s silver medal at the Pan Am Games is the

So just putting the finishing touches on our power measurement system test and gotta admit that, for the last few days on a bike, I feel like a true dork (yes, even more than usual). This embarrassing fact struck me this past Sunday while huffing up one Boulder’s beautiful local canyons. The eight-mile grind from my house up to the small town of Ward offered plenty of time to contemplate the assortment of flashing signals, heart rate limit alarms and 60-times-per-second-acquired wattage data from the three (yes, three!) power systems strapped to my bike. With more wiring than the

Coming off the biggest win of his young road career, hometown favorite Marty Nothstein returns to the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown tonight to defend his title in Nestor's Keirin Cup. Nothstein has dominated the racing in Nestor's Keirin Cup like no other rider in history. He has won the event seven times, including three in a row for the second time. Nothstein, who is seeking to win the event a fourth straight year, is fresh off a win at the second annual New York City Championships, a 100-kilometer criterium race through lower Manhattan. The Olympic gold medalist and

There's no stopping Paolo Bettini, even when he's marked as the man to beat. Bettini attacked up two decisive climbs late in Saturday's 227km Clasica San Sebastian to win his third World Cup victory of the season and his second in a week after holding off compatriot Ivan Basso (Fassa Bortolo) in a two-up sprint. "Everyone said that I was the favorite, but it's true I have great form and I wanted to attack and take advantage of the situation," said Bettini, who won in 5 hours, 44 minutes, 42 seconds. "We started the race thinking about taking the World Cup lead, but at the base of the

A quick recap for those just joining the program: in my column last week I made mention that the Trek TT bikes used in the Tour de France were showing up in the worldwide media sporting modified Shimano headsets. I went on to discuss how I felt this odd, considering Chris King was the official headset sponsor for the team. Most interesting was the response I received from Chris King representative Jacki Sterner, indicating that the Postal mechanics didn’t “have time” to install headsets on the Tour bikes. A simple technical reason (stack height, cup fit) would have quelled my curiosity, but