Road Racing

Roberto Heras and Oscar Sevilla put the fiesta back into the Vuelta a Españain Thursday’s difficult 153-km climbing stage to La Pandera. The duel between U.S. Postal Service’s Heras and Kelme’s Sevilla isshaping up as the story of the 57th Vuelta. Heras attacked with 5 km togo up the “category especial” climb to La Pandera to win while Sevillafinished third at 18 seconds back to move into the “jersey oro” race leader’sjersey. Heras’ victory is the first stage-win by an American-sponsored teamat the Vuelta a España and his first Vuelta stage since 2000, whenhe won two stages and the overall

Today's Live UpdatesGood morning to our U.S. audience. Welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverageof the fifth stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España, 198km between El Ejido and Sierra Nevada. Today’s stage includes two climbs of intermediate difficulty – the Category 2 climb of Bérchules at 62km and the Cat. 3 at Lanzarón at kilometer 117 – before the long “Special Category” climb to Sierra Nevada at the finish.That final climb will be the first real opportunity for those hoping to challenge Joseba Beloki for the overall lead in the Vuelta to mount a serious attack.The slopes on the way to Sierra

Kelme's Oscar Sevilla finally did Wednesday what he couldn't do at theTour de France. Sevilla attacked hard on the first major climbing stage in the 2002Vuelta a España and, although he didn't deliver a knockout blow,he let everyone else know he's now the man to beat. Sevilla jumped with five kilometers to go and left the rest of the favoritesin his wake. U.S. Postal's Roberto Heras, ONCE's Joseba Beloki and ItaliansGilberto Simoni and Francesco Casagrande all lost nearly a full minuteto "El Nino." Sevilla couldn't reel in Cofidis' Guido Trentin, who scored Italy'sfourth straight stage at

La Vuelta: Live updates from Stage 4 Good morning to our American audience. Welcome to VeloNews.com's live coverage of Stage 4 of the 2002 Vuelta a España, another short and fast day that should favor sprinters like Erik Zabel and Mario Cipollini, who took yesterday’s 134-km stage to Murcia. Today’s 149.5-kilometer ride from Aguilas to Roquetas de Mar opens witha 60km jaunt along the Mediterranean and then cuts inland, across the Cabode Gata and then heads to a finishing flat again along the Mediterraneanat Roquetas de Mar. There are three "hot sprints" along the route and no mountain

For the third day in a row, an Italian won a stage in the 57th Vueltaa España. For the second day in a row, it was Mario Cipollini witharms wide spread. El Rey Leon, as the Lion King is called in Spanish, made it lookeasy in Tuesday’s 149-km fourth stage from Aguilas to Roquetas de Mar alongSpain’s white-hot Mediterranean Coast. Cipo easily won the stage and senta strong signal to his would-be rivals for next month’s world championships. “It was another fabulous work by my team. They put me in perfect positionand (Giovanni) Lombardi did great work as the last man,” said Cipolliniafter

The Lion King came out of hibernation Monday to win the third stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España in an exciting shootout between the top sprinters. Mario Cipollini's retirement plans are definitely on hold again as the Italian superstar showed that missing more than 90 days of competition doesn't mean that much to cycling's top sprinter. "I'm here to prepare for the world championships. That is my mission, but it's nice to show I can still win. It's important for the sponsor and it's a good test," Cipollini said after winning in 3 hours, 7 minutes, 37 seconds with an average speed of 42.917

Svetlana Boubnenkova (Edilsavino) took the win in the eighth round of the women’s road World Cup in Embrach, Switzerland, on Sunday, but Mirjam Melchers’ (Farm Frites) fourth place in the 118.8km event means that the back-and-forth contest for dominance in the nine-race series will continue down to the wire. The race drew a large and talented field, but the focus of early attention was largely on the two women vying for the Cup lead, with just six points separating Rossner and Melchers. Changed from previous years, the 10.8 kilometer course for 2002 featured narrow roads and two main

VeloNews technical writer Lennard Zinn is a frame builder, a formerU.S. national team rider and author of several books on bikes and bikemaintenance. This is Zinn's VeloNews.com column devoted to addressing readers'technical questions about bikes, their care and feeding and how we as riderscan use them as comfortably and efficiently as possible. Readers can sendbrief technical questions directly toZinn. We'll try to print a representative sample of questions regularly.Question: One of my riding partners had a ticking (not a creak)sound in his ride.  It would only happen when pedaling

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A massive crash helped shape the outcome of the USPRO Criterium Championship in Downers Grove, Illinois, on Sunday, with Mercury's Henk Vogel's emerging as the race winner and 7UP-Nutra Fig's Kevin Monahan taking the U.S. champion's jersey in a photo-finish for second place. Earlier in the day, the Diet Rite's Tina Mayolo snagged the women's championship, and James Baldesare (West Virginia-Gomart) won the elite amateur title. The 62-mile USPRO title race began as a wide-open affair, with almost all of the top teams boasting a legitimate contender for the race win, if not for the U.S. title.

With the only real threat to their overall crowns coming from catastrophe, Alison Dunlap and Ryder Hesjedal each did just what they had to do Saturday at the NORBA NCS finals in Mount Snow, Vermont. Both riders entered the day's short track races with comfortable leads in the standings, then held on to take home the series titles. Dunlap also won the U.S. national title, while the men's stars-and-stripes jersey went to Mongoose-Hyundai rider Todd Wells. Meanwhile, Canadians Roland Green and Chrissy Redden were fastest on the day, each winning the final stop of the 2002 series on a scalding

American Brian Lopes and Australian Katrina Miller picked up the first ever NORBA mountain cross season titles in style Saturday, each taking wins on a twisty and treacherous track at Mount Snow Resort in southern Vermont. Lopes's win also gave him the U.S. national title, while 20-year-old Melissa Buhl did just enough to capture the women's U.S. crown. After qualifying first earlier in the day, Lopes (GT-Fox) cruised through his half of the bracket, getting into a final that included Haro-Lee Dungarees teammates Mike King and Mick Hannah, and little known rider Chris Powell (Profile

Mark McCormack (Saturn) and Tina Mayolo-Pic (Diet Rite) took the race wins on Saturday night in Downers Grove, Illinois, as the warm-up events for the national criterium championships came down to field sprints for both the men and women. In the women’s race, there were attacks almost every lap up the sharp climb midway through the one-mile course, and several threatening breakaways, with the Talgo America squad usually the instigators. However, in the end, none of the breaks could stay away, setting up a battle between sprinters Mayolo-Pic, Nicole Freedman (Rona), Suzanne Sonye (Saturn) and

Not since the days of Juli Furtado has the NORBA National Championship Series seen the kind of dominance that concluded with the circuit's final cross-country race of 2002 on Friday at Mount Snow Resort in southern Vermont. Following a runaway win by Argentinean Jimena Florit in the women's race that gave her the overall title, Canadian Roland Green captured his seventh straight NORBA cross-country race on a tough and technical Mount Snow track to take his second-straight overall crown.

In all honesty, this year’s La Grande Boucle is pretty exciting.Unlike the men’s Tour de France of the last four years, where Lance hasbeen the clear-cut winner, this women’s Tour winner is still completelyup in the air. The top four are separated by just over one minute, thetop five, by 2.5 minutes. It’s still anybody’s race. Zinaida Stahurskaia,Susanne Ljugskold, Edita Pucinskaite, Joanne Sommariba, or Nicole Brandliare all within range. And this even with all the climbing days we’ve had.Very impressive, ladies.Our little Saturn team was made even smaller today with Cathy Marsalfinally

Even though this morning’s stage was short, just 32 kilometers, it was an abrupt wake-up call to the legs after resting for a day. I forced myself to ride the trainer before the start, not to scare anyone that I was going to attack from the gun, but just so I wouldn’t get dropped from the gun. Ina’s been talking about winning this stage since she first saw our race bible. She knew it could be a stage for her. And seeing that she’s about 2.5 hours down in GC, is not a super threat to anyone! I’m sure a lot of the sprinters were looking forward to this day after suffering in the mountains, but

While the mountain goats were in Colorado over the weekend for the Saturn Cycling Classic, the criterium specialists were in Southern California for the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix. Now in its 41st year, the criterium is a fixture on the Southern California racing calendar, and a yearly stop on the National Racing Calendar. In the men’s race, Gord Fraser took Mercury’s second win of the weekend, adding to Chris Wherry’s victory in Colorado the day before, while in the women’s race, Saturn’s Suzanne Sonye took top honors. In the men’s race, 188 riders lined up for 90 minutes on the 1.4-mile

The last two days’ races have proved to be the toughest of my entire shortcareer so far. I came very close to throwing in the towel todayand hopping in the team car. Only because the team car was so very farbehind me did I stay in the race. I was contemplating stopping at the nextcafe and begging them through my very blue lips for a cup of tea untilmy team car came by, but of course, there were no cafes to be seen onceI had made that decision. Now that the race is over and we have a RESTDAY on Monday (hurray!), I’m glad I stayed in. It was no small feat. Stage 7 Aix-les-Bains to Courcheval,

Laurent Jalabert scored the big victory Saturday in the Clasica San Sebastianthat eluded him during three weeks at the 2002 Tour de France. After a string of close calls in his final Tour, Jalabert can go tothe retirement home a happy man. The Frenchman helped break the race onthe category-one Jaizkibel climb in the 223-km seventh stop of the 2002World Cup and was fastest in a five-up sprint coming into the windy finishin San Sebastian. Jalabert scored his second straight Clasica victory in what is his first-- and last -- race in Spain this year. Jalabert’s CSC-Tiscali team won’tbe racing

You probably couldn’t have scripted a better finish if you had tried. The Saturn Cycling Classic, easily the toughest bike race in America, with what is arguably one of the most challenging courses in the world, was won Saturday by one of the most deserving competitors in the field: Chris Wherry, the man who has twice finished third in this grueling climber’s epic; Chris Wherry, the man who saw his shot at a U.S. Pro title evaporate when he flatted in Philadelphia this year; Chris Wherry, the quintessential team rider who has stuck with his Mercury squad through thick and thin and Chris

Stage 6 Today was the Tour’s first major day in the mountains. Rain was fallingwhen we woke up, but by the start the skies were just plain gray and therewas no rain.It was another odd start. They had us ride three laps along the boulevardthat ran in front of the start stage for  5km. Then they stopped usagain, and restarted us for 11km of neutral heading out of town and finallya running start into the actual race.Attacks started even before the first sprint bonus at 10km, with a brilliantone coming from Dede Demet-Barry.That started the trend and attacks kept going well into the first

Bike riders, tramps and thievesYesterday, after a long day in the saddle and a long drive afterward,we arrived at our very quaint French hotel last night only to find outthat the front desk manager had mistakenly been told that our team wasa bunch of thieves. So he refused to open any of our phone lines for fearthat we wouldn’t pay our bills. And he asked our team director for paymentin full as soon as we arrived. As we later found out, after a bit of argument, one of the Italian teamshad left the Dutch hotel without paying for about 200 euros worth of phonecalls. So the faxes had been

The espoir and junior national road championships concluded on Sunday in Clemson, South Carolina with the time trials for all categories. In the men's espoir race, Prime Alliance's Michael Creed beat Saturn's Will Frischkorn by more than a minute to take the national champion's jersey. In the 17-18 races, Saturn Development riders Zak Grabowski and Larsynn Staley won the men's and women's races, respectively. Grabowski beat teammate Oliver Stiller-Cote, while Staley beat Magen Long, to whom she had finished second in both the road race and criterium. For results from other categories,

Johan Museeuw skipped the Tour de France to be fresh for the second half of the season. The 36-year-old veteran proved just how fresh after winning Sunday’s HEW Cyclassics race, the sixth round in the 2002 World Cup series. On a 253-km flat course that was supposed to be a rematch of the battle for the Tour’s green points jersey between Lotto’s Robbie McEwen and Telekom’s Erik Zabel turned into another inspiring win by the Belgian, who consolidates his lead in the 10-round World Cup. The hyped showdown between the Australian and the German wasn’t in the cards. McEwen crashed early in the

The USCF junior national championships continued on Saturday in Clemson, South Carolina, with Mercury's Josh Kerkhof taking the men's 17-18 road race and Magen Long (OBRU-The Bicycle Store) winning the women's race. Long's win made her a double winner on the weekend, with her road victory going along with the criterium title she earned on Thursday. Kerkhof, meanwhile, bounced back from a crash in his criterium race to take the road national title. The championships conclude with the junior and espoir time trials on Sunday. For road race results from all categories, click on "view results"

There was no change in the overall GC at Sunday’s final stage of the International, a 30-mile criterium won by Charles Dionne of 7UP/Nutrafig and Sarah Konrad of DeFeet/Cycles de Oro. Prime Alliance’s 23-year-old Danny Pate took top honors over the seven-day event, finishing 1:45 ahead of teammate Matt Decanio, while on the women’s side Heather Albert of Goldy’s finished an impressive 8:42 in front of Maria Calle, largely on the strength of her solo breakaway in Wednesday’s road race. In the men’s criterium, Prime Alliance set the pace and led the pack, looking to guard their team lead,

Former Durango resident Missy Giove and Australian Chris Kovarik each captured downhill wins on the final day of racing at NORBA No. 4 in Durango, Colorado on Sunday. After two days of racing on and around the Fort Lewis College campus, the pros headed 30 miles up highway 550 to compete on the same downhill track that was used at last year's World Cup race here. And like last year there were plenty of eye-popping problems that wowed fans, but gave many riders fits. One such section was a tricky off-camber rock garden that killed all your speed if you didn't find a clean line. Giove was one

Goldy’s Heather Albert assumed her race leader’s jersey with style Saturday, winning the hilly 100-mile sixth stage at the International in severe heat. In the men’s race, Jason McCartney of Bianchi-Grand Performance pulled off a surprise victory 16 seconds ahead of race leader Danny Pate (Prime Alliance.) “Winning ‘The International’ has been my intent since the beginning of the cycling season,” said Albert moments before the women’s race, adding that she was ready to take on any challengers. “To see my goal reaching fruition is quite gratifying.” From the gun, Team Rona began attacking,

The inaugural year of NORBA's new mountain cross discipline rolled on Saturday in Durango with some big crashes by two of the sports top stars, and a pair of big wins for Eric Carter and Sabrina Jonnier. Before racing even began, then series leader Tara Llanes met with disaster, going down hard during the warm-up session on the steep Chapman Hill course and suffering what was initially diagnosed as a broken collarbone. According to several eyewitnesses Llanes came up short on one of the big double jumps that preceded the finish line and went sailing over her bars. The Yeti-Pearl Izumi rider

Start with the fact that the short track at NORBA NCS No. 4 was held almost entirely on the track around a football field, then add the kind of extremely muddy conditions usually reserved for wintertime European cyclo-cross races, and you have a picture of the racing in Durango, Colorado on Saturday. After a torrential mid-afternoon rainstorm soaked the Fort Lewis College campus, riders lined up in front of the small stadium's grandstand for a 20-minutes, plus 3 laps race that was thoroughly entertaining to watch, but hell to ride in. When all was done Alison Dunlap (Luna) and Ryder Hesjedal

One got here 10 days ago, while the other arrived at 2 a.m. this morning. But when racing on Friday was done, the result was the same for Jimena Florit and Roland Green, as both took impressive cross-country wins at NORBA No. 4 in Durango, Colorado. Florit (RLX-Polo Sport) was the early arrival, rolling into this tourist town in southwest Colorado more than a week ago to get used to the altitude and learn the ins and outs of the tough Durango course. And when race day finally did arrive, she was on form from beginning to end, out-dueling reigning world champion Alison Dunlap in a

For the third time in five stages, the leader’s jersey of the seven-day International stage race traded hands within the Prime Alliance team. After sweeping the opening stage’s time trial-- Svein Tuft narrowly edged out teammate Matt Decanio, and U-23 world time trial champion Danny Pate finished third – the team has led the race consecutively in that order. Tuft passed the jersey to Decanio after the opening two stages, and Friday, it was Pate’s turn. Riders began the day tentatively, slowly rolling into the scenic four-lap, 80-mile circuit race around Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, a few

The Prime Alliance cycling team maintained race leadership today at the fourth stage of the International, a 60-mile circuit race in Holidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Taking the approach of covering moves, instead of riding a defensive tempo, Prime Alliance effectively forced the other teams in the peloton to ride at the front to keep the field intact. Right from the gun, race leader Matt Decanio covered a four-man break away group, which was caught after five miles. Soon after, a nine-man escape formed containing Svein Tuft, Prime Alliance’s former race leader. The group gained a maximum of 1:45

Australia smashed the world 4000 meter team pursuit record in the final of the Commonwealth Games at Manchester Thursday night. Graeme Brown, Peter Dawson, Mark Renshaw and Stephen Wooldridge clocked 3:59.483 to beat the old world mark of 3:59.710 set by Germany at Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. Australia took the gold medal ahead of England, whose 4:02.665 was a national record. "At last year's world's we didn't even finish the first round because we crashed -- and I caused it -- so this is great," said Renshaw. "For Australia to pitch four guys together, get them to train for three weeks

The seven-day International stage race continued on Tuesday with the 74-mile second stage in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with Rona’s Nicole Freedman and 7UP-Nutra Fig’s Charles Dionne taking the stage wins in the women’s and men’s races, respectively. The women’s race came down to a big field sprint finish in Johnstown, with Goldy’s Heather Albert the first to jump, with about 400 meters to go. Freedman came through 150 meters from the line to take the win, followed by Gina Grain (Boise) and Andrea Hannos (Rona). Race leader Manon Jutras stayed in the yellow leader’s jersey for her Rona

In the third stage of the seven-day International stage race (formerly known as Tour de ‘Toona), Prime Allliance’s Mattt Decanio took the stage win, and overall race lead, by winning the 101-mile Jonestown-to-Altoona road race. An early breakaway gained almost seven minutes before reabsorbed, while at the 70-mile mark four men broke free at the base of the day’s second big climb. The group consisted of Decanio and teammate Danny Pate, Mercury’s Plamen Stoyanov and Sierra Nevada’s Ben Jacques-Maynes. The four worked together until Pate attacked in the final 5 kilometers, forcing Stoyanov

Australia scored another 1-2 in the women's points race at the Commonwealth games in Manchester, England, Tuesday with Kathy Bates and Rochelle Gilmour winning gold and silver. Canada's Clara Hughes took the bronze medal. Hughes initiated a break approximately 20 laps into the race, and was joined by Bates, Nicole Cooke (Wales) and Frances Newstead (England). The foursome lapped the field to gain ten points each, but Bates and her teammates proved to be dominant in the sprints, with the winner figuring in almost every one. With 20 laps to go, the race for gold was essentially over, but

Canadians Manon Jutras(Rona) and Svein Tuft (Prime Alliance) took the first leaders' jerseys at The International(formerly the Tour de 'Toona) in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday. Jutras completed the opening 5.67km time trial less than a second ahead of Leah Goldstein (Team Boise), with recently crowned U.S. road champion Jessica Phillips (Saturn) in third. In the men's race, Tuft led a Prime Alliance sweep, followed by teammates Matt DeCanio and Danny Pate. 7UP's John Lieswyn and Doug Ziewacz rounded out the top five. Both Jutras and Tuft were stepping up in the absence of their

The maple leaf was a common sight on the podium this weekend at the Commonwealth Games, as Canadian riders took both gold medals and asilver in the cross-country. Chrissy Redden held off a late charge bySusy Pryde (New Zealand) to take the women's gold, and Roland Green andSeamus McGrath easily cruised to a 1-2 finish in the men's race before acrowd of over 50,000. The 6.5 kilometer circuit around the village of Rivington, north ofManchester, wasn't regarded as technical, but certainly demanding with its relentless intensity. A long gravel and pavement climb followed by a sharp descent

Lance Armstrong is king for a day once again in the City of Light. The Texan confirmed that he’s cycling’s most dominant force in a generationafter winning four stages en route to his fourth consecutive Tour de Francevictory. Armstrong basked in his moment in the sun on a brilliant summerafternoon in Paris. Surrounded by thousands of his fans on the Champs-Elysées,Armstrong was clearly enjoying his day. President George W. Bush even calledto congratulate him. “It’s an honor and it makes me happy to be able to win again,” Armstrongsaid. “It was a long three weeks. With so many mountains, it

(Editor's Note: - North American riders listed in bold;Riderson North American teams underlined)1. Robbie McEwen (Aus), LOT, 144 km in 3:30:47 (40.990 kph)2. Baden Cooke (Aus), FDJ, at at 00:00.3. Damien Nazon (Fra), BJR, at 00:00.4. Fabio Baldato (Ita), FAS, at 00:00.5. Davide Casarotto (Ita), ALS, at 00:00.6. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), C.A, at 00:00.7. Erik Zabel (Ger), TEL, at 00:00.8. Jan Svorada (Cze), LAM, at 00:00.9. Arvis Piziks (Lat), CST, at 00:00.10. Nicola Loda (Ita), FAS, at 00:00.11. Christophe Agnolutto (Fra), A2R, at 00:00.12. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita), TAC, at 00:00.13. Danilo

Jonathan Vaughters (Crédit Agricole) came all the way back to Colorado from the Tour de France to tackle one of his favorite races, the 38th running of the Bob Cook Memorial Mount Evans Hill Climb, only to find Scott Moninger (Mercury) there waiting for him. Named in honor of its five-time winner, the late Bob Cook, the 28-mile race ascends from 7540 feet at the start in Idaho Springs to 14,265 feet at the finish atop Mount Evans. Noting the windy conditions at the bottom on Saturday, neither Vaughters nor Moninger expected to topple Mike Engleman’s course record of 1:45:30, set in

Commonwealth Games records were set in both the men's 1000m time trial and the women's 500m time trial during the first night of track competition. Chris Hoy (Scotland) beat his friend and mentor JasonQueally (England) with a personal best time of 1:01.726. In the women's race, Kerrie Meares' 35.084 second ride was half a second in front of favored Lori-Ann Muenzer, who finished with the bronze, behind a surprising Julie Paulding (England). "I didn't know what to expect" said Meares, "but I did hope that I could do a personal best, that's what I was achieving for here." Muenzer was

Stage Results - Stage 19 - Régnié-Durette - Mâcon(TT)(Editor's Note: - North American riders listed in bold;Riderson North American teams underlined)1. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal, 50 km in 1:03:50 (46.997kph)2. Raimondas Rumsas (Lit), Lampre-Daikin, at 00:53.3. Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun), Mapei-Quick Step, at 01:06.4. David Millar (Gbr), Cofidis, at 01:14.5. Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Spa), ONCE, at 01:42.6. Serhiy Honchar (Ukr), Fassa Bortolo, at 01:43.7. Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat), Lampre-Daikin, at 02:09.8. Santiago Botero (Col), Kelme-Costa Blanca, at 02:11.9. Joseba

Lance Armstrong was not about to lose another time trial. The three-time Tour de France champion -- who’s about to become thefour-time Tour champion Sunday in Paris -- had some business to settlein Saturday’s 50km time trial through the spectacular wine country of France’sBeaujolais region. Armstrong roared over the final half of the difficult, challenging courseto make up a 17-second deficit on Lampre-Daikin’s Raimondas Rumsas.Armstrong’s fourth stage victory in this year’s Tour is a nice punctuationmark to the race he’s dominated from start to finish. The 2002 Tour will soon be in the

Clara Hughes surprised even herself by taking the gold medal in the women's 23.4 kilometer individual time trial today. Australia's Anne Millward was second, and another Canadian, Lyne Bessette was third. The course was an 11.7 kilometer loop, the same one to be used for theroad race next week. The riders face narrow twisting roads, witha series of stepstone climbs halfway through each loop. While thereis no extended climbing, the short power climbs range from 6% to 17%. The day began overcast and gray, but as the last riders were completingtheir second lap the sun came out. Palmer-Komar

In some ways, the 2002 Tour de France is pretty much ending the way it started. The first road stage of the Tour de France way back on July 7 was muchlike the final true road stage Friday: long, hard and very hilly over narrowroads. Nearly three weeks ago in Luxembourg, the peloton hit the difficultfirst stage of the Tour with Lance Armstrong in the yellow jerseyafter winning the opening prologue. Friday’s 176.5km stage 18 ended thelast real day of hard racing with Armstrong back in yellow. All that remains in the 89th Tour de France is Saturday’s final timetrial and Sunday’s frolic back to

Results Stage 18 -- Cluses to Bourg-en-BresseOverall, points, KOM and other results below.(Editor's Note: - North American riders listed in bold;Riderson North American teams underlined)1. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 176.5 km in 4:28:282. Christophe Mengin (F), FDJeux.com, at 00:00.3. Jakob Piil (Den), CSC-Tiscali, at 00:05.4. Leon Van Bon (Ned), Domo-Farm Frites, at 00:33.5. Jorg Jaksche (Ger), ONCE, at 00:33.6. Nicki Sorensen (Den), CSC-Tiscali, at 00:33.7. Gian Matteo Fagnini (I), Telekom, at 00:40.8. Erik Dekker (Ned), Rabobank, at 00:40.9. Thierry Loder (F), Ag2R Prevoyance, at

Results from days 1 and 2 of junior track nationals at the Major Taylor Velodrome in Indianapolis, Indiana.

A Swiss disciplinary committee on Friday handed down a suspension to Italian cyclist Stefano Garzelli after he failed a drugs test during this year’s Giro d’Italia. But the two-year penalty, which takes effect on Saturday, will be suspended after April 23, 2003, allowing the 29 year-old to take part in next year's Giro, the judge heading the committee, Henry Peter, said. Peter told AFP that the board had decided not to apply the full minimum two year ban for a first offence because Garzelli had no history of suspected doping, and the traces of the drug Probenecid found in the tests were

There was a relaxed feeling at the start of Thursday’s stage 17 deep inthe French Alps. The hardest mountain stage of the Tour to La Plagne wascomfortably behind everyone. But four hard climbs still stood between theracers and the finish line in Cluses. From there it might be a relativelyeasy ride back to Paris for Sunday’s conclusion on the Champs Elysées. Lance Armstrong again defended his yellow jersey as his U.S.Postal Service team worked hard to cover every move made by his most dangerousrivals. In the end, a three-man break slipped away from the clutches of thepeloton and Dario Frigo

Results: Stage 17 - Thursday, July 25: Aime - ClusesOverall, points, KOM and other results below.(Editor's Note: - North American riders listed in bold;Riderson North American teams underlined)1. Dario Frigo (Ita), Tacconi Sport, 142 km in 4:02:27(35.141 kph)2. Mario Aerts (Bel), Lotto-Adecco, at 00:00.3. Giuseppe Guerini (Ita), Telekom, at 00:02.4. David Moncoutie (F), Cofidis, at 02:55.5. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, at 02:58.6. Laurent Lefevre (F), Jean Delatour, at 02:58.7. Unai Osa (Sp), iBanesto.com, at 02:58.8. Marcos Serrano (Sp), ONCE, at 02:58.9. Jorg Jaksche (G), ONCE, at

The steepest and most difficult mountains of the 2002 Tourde France delivered yet another long breakaway that held out to the endfor victory. Rabobank’s Michael Boogerd attacked on a descent towin his first Tour stage victory on a summit in Wednesday’s 16th stage.The big-toothed Dutch rider held off a late-stage charge by overall leaderLance Armstrong to take what he called the best moment of his professionalcareer. Just like Richard Virenque at Mont Ventoux, Boogerd’s escapegave him a nice cushion at the bottom of the beyond-category climb to LaPlagne, deep in the heart of the French

Results: Stage 16 - Wednesday, July 24: Les Deux-Alpes - LaPlagneOverall, points, KOM and other results below.(Editor's Note: - North American riders listed in bold;Riderson North American teams underlined)1. Michael Boogerd (Ned), Rabobank, at 5:48:29 (30.905 kph, at2. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC-Tiscali, at 01:25.3. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal, at 01:25.4. Joseba Beloki (Sp), ONCE, at 02:02.5. Raimondas Rumsas (Lit), Lampre, at 02:02.6. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Rabobank, at 02:10.7. Ivan Basso (I), Fassa Bortolo, at 02:14.8. Jose Azevedo (Por), ONCE, at 02:14.9. Santiago Botero (Col),

The longest stage in the Tour de France wasn’t the longest day on the bike.That honor goes to last Friday’s stage to Plateau de Beille that lastedfor almost seven hours. The peloton was in a hurry to finish the seven rated climbs in Tuesday’shot 226km stage 15, a day that looked harder in the road book than it didon the road. They just made it through in less than six hours. A seven-man breakaway pulled off the front with about 150km to go andnever looked back over the rural, rolling roads that took the Tour throughsome of the most spectacular scenery so far in this year’s race. Santiago

Results - Stage 15 - Tuesday, July 23: Vaison-la-Romaine - LesDeux-Alpe(Editor's Note: - North American riders listed in bold;Riders on North American teams underlined)1. Santiago Botero (Col), Kelme-Costa Blanca, at 5:55:16 (38.253 kph)2. Mario Aerts (B), Lotto-Adecco, at 1:513. Axel Merckx (B), Domo-Farm Frites, at 02:30.4. Emmanuel Magnien (F), Bonjour, at 04:22.5. Sandy Casar (F), FDJeux.com, at 04:28.6. Vicente Garcia-Acosta (Sp), iBanesto.com, at 05:15.7. Raimondas Rumsas (Lit), Lampre-Daikin, at 06:41.8. Joseba Beloki (Sp), ONCE, at 06:41.9. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal, at

American Tyler Farrar, riding for the U.S. national team, won the eight-stage Tour de L’Abitibi stage race, which ended Sunday. Farrar won the individual time trial stage, and placed second in two other stages of the junior World Cup event. Farrar finished 16 seconds ahead of the Saturn Development team’s Oliver Stiler-Cote, with three more Saturn riders – Craig Wilcox, Jesse Anthony and the Netherlands’ Norman Meerkerk rounding out the top 5.