Road

For the bulk of Thursday morning Nathalie Schneitter was just trying to salvage something out of nothing. The Swiss rider crashed hard during the start lap of the junior women’s cross-country race in Les Gets, France, leaving her 30th in the 36-rider field. But give Schneitter credit for not mailing it in. Backed by some serious descending skills, and bolstered by an untimely mechanical for Czech rider Tereza Hurikova, the 17-year-old Schneitter clawed her way back to the front, winning the first individual title at the 2004 world mountain bike championships. “When I crash I thought my race

Another day, another jersey. Ever since Saturday's opening team time trial the U.S. Postal team has been in what team director Johan Bruyneel describes as "a very comfortable position." "The time trial gave us the lead and we really don't feel like we need to protect it," Bruyneel told VeloNews before the start of Thursday's 157km stage from Benicarló to Castellón de la Plana. "We're here to see what happens, but there really is no pressure on any of us." Pressure or not, the Posties again succeeded in keeping one of their own in the leader's jersey when a group of nearly 80 riders charged

Three national champions were crowned Wednesday during the USCF Elite Track National Championships at the Superdrome in Frisco, Texas. Nerac.com – Colby Pearce of Boulder, Colorado, Jame Carney of Durango, Colorado, Robert Lea of Taneytown, Maryland, and Guillaume Nelessen of Bellemead, New Jersey – turned a 4:31.9 to win the team pursuit. Team Veloworx – Douglas Beck of Maynard, Ohio, Curtis Gunn of Tucson, Arizona, Julian Cushing of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Kenneth Williams of Kirkland, Washington – raced to the silver in 4:36.4. The bronze went to Cody Racing – Marcus Black,

The sporting director of the Spanish team Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme has reacted angrily to their omission from next year's Pro Tour. Kelme, relegated from cycling's elite division by the UCI this year, was not included on the list of four squads named by the UCI on Wednesday to join the Pro Tour. Spanish team Euskaltel-Euskadi, Belgium's Davitamon-Lotto, and Italian teams Liquigas and Fassa Bortolo were granted provisional licenses. They joined 13 other teams named to form the Tour, a new grand-prix-style cycling calendar comprising 28 races, including the three big Tours and former

It was all a matter of timing, and Denis Menchov knew he had timed it right when he looked over his shoulder near the finish line of the fifth stage of the Vuelta a España on Wednesday and saw that Alejandro Valverde wasn't with him. Menchov (Illes Balears-Banesto), was not in the minority at the start in Zaragoza when he pegged the Kelme rider as the day's favorite. "This course suits a rider like Valverde," Menchov said of the 186km haul to Morella. It wasn't the wind-blown flats that opened up the stage, or the seemingly endless run of tough, but un-rated, climbs that peaked out with

If depth is the true measure of a country’s cycling strength, then Canada certainly deserves the nod as one of the world’s best. Despite fielding a team that included just one world’s team relay veteran, the Canadians powered to a 24-second win over Switzerland in the opening event of the 2004 world mountain bike championships at Les Gets, France on Wednesday. It was the third relay victory in four years for Canada, which also took the world’s title at Vail in 2001 and Kaprun in 2002. “We know we have good depth,” said Geoff Kabush, who rode the opening leg of the four-lap race, giving

Dear Lennard,I just installed a new Wippermann 10-spd chain on an otherwise Campy Record group. All the components are one year old. I'm trying to eliminate an annoying "tinging" that I'm getting when climbing hard out of the saddle or sprinting. No success with the "tinging" but I introduced a new problem ... the new chain jumps and skips and won't stay engaged in the larger cogs. Have I worn out the rear cogs? I'm now thinking that the "tinging" noise may be coming from the engagement of the chain with the chainrings (30-42-52 ); the old Campy chain engages the rear cogset okay, but perhaps

Olympic bronze medalist Bobby Julich could be joining compatriot Fred Rodriguez at the new Belgian super-team Davitamon-Lotto in 2005. The Belgian newspaper Het Niewsblad reported that Julich is close to inking a deal with the team and the 32-year-old Coloradan’s name was linked to the team in a press release by new bike sponsor Ridley Damocles. Julich did not reply to an e-mail query Tuesday from VeloNews but his current team, Team CSC, said there was no contract yet for Julich to stay with the Danish team. In 2004, Julich enjoyed his finest season since finishing third in the 1998 Tour de

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Winds were the star of the fourth stage of the 59th Vuelta a España, all but smothering the action in the 167.5km stage from Soria to Zaragoza. Heavy cross- and headwinds made escape all but impossible. Several tried in vain, but the stage finally came down a mass sprint with Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) taking his second win in three days. And the day wasn’t without mishaps. Several riders hit the deck, including Olympic time trial champion Tyler Hamilton (Phonak), who crossed the line with a bloodied right knee and hip. Zaragoza equals wind Wind is always a protagonist in

Juan Jose Haedo of Colavita Olive Oil took the overall title at the World Children's Cycling Classic in Georgia over Labor Day weekend, while U.S. Postal Service's George Hincapie won the weekend's final event, the U.S. 100K road race in Marietta.

Bobby Lea (T.E.A.M. Fuji) and Annette Hanson (Team Rubicon) won national individual-pursuit titles on Tuesday during the USCF Elite Track National Championships at the Superdrome in Frisco, Texas. Defending champ Lea, of Taneytown, Maryland, and Hanson, of Kirkland, Washington, each posted the fastest times in the morning’s qualification rounds. Lea went on to beat Kenny Williams (First Rate Mortgage) of Kirkland in the evening’s finals. Tucson’s Curtis Gunn (Veloworx Racing) won the bronze from Boulder’s Colby Pearce (TIAA-CREF-5280). In the women’s pursuit, Hanson defeated North

Fresh off winning Tuesday’s rainy stage into Soria in the 59th Vuelta a España, Alejandro Valverde said he will leave the troubled Valenciana-Kelme team if it’s not included in next year’s UCI Pro Tour. “I still don’t know what I am doing. I still have three years of contract with Valenciana-Kelme and in principal I have to continue with them,” Valverde told the Spanish daily AS. “The team has asked for a racing license to be in the Pro Tour but it appears it’s not sure they’re going to get it. And if I am going to be among the best then it’s obvious that I have to go.” Several teams have

There’s never a dull moment in the Vuelta a España. Well, not if you slept through the first 100km of Monday’s soggy 157.1km third stage from Burgos to Soria. For the first half of the stage it seemed the peloton was on siesta as a four-man breakaway that included U.S. Postal Service foot soldier Benoit Joachim chalked up a lead of nearly 10 minutes. But the bunch awakened from its slumber when it got a sniff of the finish line and the lead quickly dwindled against headwinds and heavy pressure from T-Mobile, Valenciana-Kelme and Cofidis – but not before Joachim gobbled up all three

Passing around the Vuelta a España leader’s jersey wasn’t necessarily in the plan for U.S. Postal Service, but Floyd Landis was more than happy to pass the lead to teammate Max Van Heeswijk in Sunday’s second stage. Van Heeswijk chased time bonuses during the longest stage of the 2004 Vuelta and earned a six-second bonus to slip into the lead. Postal’s Benoit Joachim was third in the intermediate sprint to grab a two-second time bonus and moved ahead of Landis into second overall. “It wasn’t part of the plan that I would take the lead,” Van Heeswijk said on the Vuelta’s official race page.

Some riders would have packed it in after having struggled the way Anna Milkowski (Rona) did for the first three days of Vermont’s Green Mountain Stage Race. The first-year pro suffered through every stage, losing time to the leaders she knew she should be riding with. On Monday, however, the former schoolteacher from Maine soloed off the front with three laps remaining to win the Burlington criterium, the fourth and final stage of the 2004 Green Mountain Stage Race. “I entered the race with absolutely nothing to lose because I was very far down [on GC] and I really wanted to race hard and

By the morning of day three, with the Eurobike show in Friedrichshafen, Germany, only half over – the show opens its doors to the public for a day after three business-only days – the consensus was already firm: This was one of the best bike shows in years. Some of that good cheer is a spillover from the general heartiness in the industry. Through June, 2004 was on track to be a banner year, with bikes of all kinds selling well at all prices. Sales went suddenly soft in July and August, in Europe and the U.S., but the slowdown in spending affected all discretionary purchases, not just bikes,

Mit der golden and silver people yet.

Floyd Landis was the center of attention Sunday morning in the Vuelta a España start village as the U.S. Postal Service rider proudly showed off his leader’s jersey. It’s the first time an American has worn the Vuelta’s leader’s jersey and the first time for Landis to wear a European race leader’s jersey since the Tour de l’Avenir in 1999. Landis won the Volta a Algarve in Portugal in February but took the lead in the final stage, not giving him much time to enjoy the spotlight. “I didn’t sleep in the jersey, but it’s nice to have it,” Landis joked to VeloNews before Sunday’s second stage

Anne-Marie Miller is old enough to know better, but the 49-year-old Verizon Wireless-Wheelworks rider still thought a solo breakaway in Sunday’s Mad River Road Race might be worth a shot. The third and most demanding day of the 2004 Green Mountain Stage Race, which started and finished in Waitsfield, took the elite women’s field up two major climbs in the Green Mountains, with the finishing ascent of the insidious Appalachian Gap the nail in many riders’ coffins. Miller knew she couldn’t climb with the leaders and instead chose to hit the base of the App’ Gap climb with nearly four minutes

Following Saturday’s team time trial to kick start the 59th Vuelta a España, the peloton hit the road Sunday with the 207km second stage, the longest of the three-week romp across Spain. With a largely flat course across the treeless expanse of northern Spain, two factors proved to be decisive in the Vuelta’s first road stage: the wind and Fassa Bortolo’s silver train. Both were protagonists, with heavy crosswinds buffeting the peloton in the second half of the stage before the bunch came in for a mass gallop. Alessandro Petacchi was back to his old tricks, winning his eighth career Vuelta

Tyler Hamilton could become the first American racer to win a stage in each grand tour if he can roll out of the 59th Vuelta a España with a stage victory. The 33-year-old New Englander already has stage wins in the Giro d’Italia (a time trial in 2002) and in the Tour de France (a mountain stage in 2003) and said he’s motivated to make it a hat trick. “I have won stages in the other grand tours, so I wouldn’t mind to win one here to complete the circle,” Hamilton said before Friday’s opening ceremony. “We’ll see how things go. I’m here thinking about the overall but I will also work for

On a day when all signs pointed to bunch sprint finishes, the finales of the elite men’s and women’s circuit races at day two of the Green Mountain Stage Race produced something else altogether. Men did 72 miles and the women 52 on Saturday’s undulating 19.4-mile circuit in Moretown, Vermont. On paper, the course was hard, but not hard enough to break up the respective fields. All previous editions of the race had ended in furious field sprints, but the 2004 edition was an exception. Joe Papp (ACT-UPMC) soloed off a group of four to win the men’s race, finishing off a 10km breakaway effort

We have started the Vuelta on the right foot with a nice stage win in the team time trial. The TTT is one of my favorite events as it takes a complete team effort; and, the feeling when everything is running smoothly is incredible. During the effort the whole team is completely focused- it feels as if we are riding in a tunnel with nothing but the open road in front of us with the voice of Johan encouraging us over the radio, the noise of the disc wheels, the sound of the wind and our breath blocking out all other noises and distractions. In the last two years we have lost the Vuelta

History has a way of repeating itself at U.S. Postal Service and now Floyd Landis is hoping that trend continues after he became the first American to wear the leader’s jersey at the Vuelta a España on Saturday after his team roared to victory in the opening team time trial. “We didn’t have a particular plan about who would come across first, but we had a plan on how to ride the time trial,” said Landis, who enjoyed some quality time on the podium following the stage. “Johan called in on the radio in the last 500 meters and he was generous enough to give me the lead, so I wasn’t

Levi Leipheimer has signed a two-year contract to join the German squad Gerolsteiner for the 2005-06 seasons. After two top-10 finishes in three Tour de France starts, the 30-year-old American will join rising star Georg Totschnig as team leader going into the ProTour inaugural next season. “This is a major coup,” said team manager Hans Michael Holczer on the team’s web page. “We’ll have a strong reinforcement for the grand tours, secondly he will be able to share leadership duties with Totschnig and finally his strong experience can help young riders on our team.” Leipheimer couldn’t be

With the Canadian border less than a two-hour drive away, it stands to reason that the Green Mountain Stage Race, September 3-6 in Vermont, would attract a sizable contingent from the Great White North. But the opening day of the fourth annual race looked more like a trans-provincial climbing championship than anything else. Canadian riders have come in droves to this year’s four-day stage race, run in the heart of Vermont’s Mad River Valley, and two of them – Dominique Perras (Ofoto-Lombardi Sports) and Amy Moore (Quark Cycling) – won Friday’s prologue hillclimb. The 8.1-mile, mass-start

More items of note from the shores of the Bodensee: personal trainers, power measurement devices, saddles — do you detect a theme here? Tacx i-Magic Fortius trainerThe i-Magic Fortius trainer from Tacx is billed as a "virtual reality trainer," a claim that may seem overly modest when you witness the stunning capabilities of this amazing device. Hooked up to your PC or projection television, the Fortius can put you in the middle of a virtual reality race that you program, or a ride up the Alpe d'Huez taken with real-life video. You can also load in training software that analyzes and

Italian star Francesco Casagrande (Lampre) and Spanish rider Carlos Golbano (Paternina-Costa de Almería) won’t be starting the Vuelta a España on Saturday after UCI blood tests conducted Wednesday evening revealed the pair “unfit” to start. The 189 starting riders in the Vuelta, which starts Saturday with a team time trial in León in northern Spain, were given blood screening to test levels of hemotacrit, hemoglobin and reticulocytes. While not considered a positive doping test, inconsistent indicators can suggest, but not prove, the use of EPO, Nesp or other banned blood boosters. Vuelta

We are now in the hotel in Léon sitting and waiting for the Vuelta España to begin on Saturday. We arrived in Leon last night, as we had to be at the hotel three days prior to the start for the medical testing-which is essentially a blood test. This year the Vuelta starts out with several flat to rolling stages as we race across the middle of Spain towards the Mediterranean and the coastal town of Valencia. Valencia will host the first of three individual time trials, one being up to the peak of Sierra Nevada, the other being the final stage in Madrid. Today we rode our time trial bikes

The Eurobike show, held annually in Friedrichshafen, Germany, has become the traditional kick-off to the new-bike season since its somewhat tentative start as a mainly mountain-bike event back in 1991. These days, the mountain bikes are overwhelmed by the flood of road machines that compete for space in the show's handsome 10 main halls. But no matter what's on display, Eurobike's early place on the calendar — September 2-5 this year — means that extra importance is accorded each intro. Have a good show here and you can relax on the ride as the show carnival bumps along to ANCMA Milan and

Stefano Zanini (Quick Step) team has won the 128-mile opening stageof the Tour of Britain in Manchester city centre. The Italian out-sprintedKevin Van Impe of Belgium and Alejandro Borrajo of Argentina. British national champion Roger Hammond, of Oxford, finished sixthin the same time as Zanini. By winning the first stage Zanini pulled onthe race leader's jersey which he will wear during tomorrow's stage fromLeeds to Sheffield over 107 miles.Navigators are thereThe Navigators will be racing this week in the revival of the BritishTour that began Wednesday and concludes with a circuit course in

My fellow VeloNews editor Neal Rogers and I just got back from the final round of the NORBA national points series down in Durango, Colorado. Since this was the final opportunity for many of the racers to score some very-needed points, many pulled out all the stops when it came to equipment choices. So, while Rogers was running willy-nilly from racer to racer getting quotes for his cross-country and short track race reports, I found myself sneaking around the start and finish lines scouring every inch of some of the fastest bikes in the business. Both the men and women showed up to Durango

The past six weeks have been a rollercoaster of emotions for the Tyler Hamilton. The bitter experience of abandoning the Tour de France for the first time of his career in July was quickly forgotten in the glow of his gold medal winning performance in the Olympic time trial race on Aug. 18. Rather than hit the party circuit, the 33-year-old New Englander went straight back to work to prepare for the Vuelta a España. Even before leaving for Athens, Hamilton was considering racing the season’s finale grand tour. Rather than throw away the remainder of the season, Hamilton decided to take a

Dear Lennard,I read with interest your article "Wobble? Not!" in the September 20issue of VeloNews.Of special interest was your side bar on page 61 in which you discuss smallpads inserted in your shoes to relieve pedaling induced foot pain.I too suffer from what I describe as "hot foot" which becomes very problematicon longer rides. I use custom footbeds in my cycling shoes, but theyoffer little relief. I live in Denver - can you share more informationabout the pads that you use and where you got them?RayDear Ray,It is a small, foam metatarsal pad that lifts the metatarsal arch (atthe "ball

Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero will bein León this weekend to officially kick off the 2004 Vuelta a España,which begins Saturday with a 27.7km team time trial. Teams are expected to begin arriving in the northern Spanish city byWednesday as many want to get a good look at the rolling time trial course.Stage favorites include Phonak, led by Olympic time trial champion TylerHamilton, Team CSC, Liberty Seguros and T-Mobile. Spanish riders top the list of favorites for the overall title (seestart list below), but there’s a growing number of foreign riders who couldspoil the

The start list for the 2004 Vuelta a España has been released. The race is scheduled to begin with a 27km team time trial in León on Saturday, September 4 and finish in Madrid on the 26th. Changes in team rosters can be made through Friday. LIBERTY SEGUROS1. HERAS HERNANDEZ Roberto (Sp)2. NOZAL VEGA Isidro (Sp)3. ANDRLE René (Cz)4. CARUSO Giampaolo (I)5. GIL PEREZ Koldo (Sp)6. GONZALEZ DE GALDEANO ARANZABAL Igor (Sp)7. HRUSKA Jan (Cz)8. SERRANO RODRIGUEZ Marcos Antonio (Sp)9. VICIOSO ARCOS Angel (Sp) COMUNIDAD VALENCIANA. KELME11. VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro (Sp)12. BLANCO David (Sp)13.

The Belgian Cycling League has recommended that retired star Johan Museeuw be banned from the sport for four years because of doping, the Belga news agency reported Tuesday. The LVB has also demanded a similar punishment of professional riders Jo Planckaert and Chris Peers, as well as mountain biker Filip Meirhaeghe. LVB, contacted by AFP, would neither confirm nor deny the news from the Belgium agency, which gave no source. The Belgian press claimed the homes of these cyclists had been searched and doping products found. The 38-year-old Museeuw is the record holder for cycling's World Cup

Hi Joe and Dirk,I recently had arthroscopic surgery on my left knee to repair my medialmeniscus and to have some plicaeremoved. The cause of the damage is not known, although I'm pretty sureI did it in the weight room during the winter. The pain I felt in my knee did not manifest itself until late March/earlyApril when my cycling training was ramping up and I started hitting biggerhills (6- to 8-percent grades). I'm a relatively new cyclist (this is mythird season) and I have aspirations of road racing. I'm 29 years old, 6 foot 2 inches and I weigh about 185 pounds, withrelatively low body

Under the innovative drive of title-sponsor Crank Brothers and the collaborativevision of both the organizers and the promoters, the 2004 U.S. Gran Prixof Cyclocross Series is poised for take-off. With cooperation from USACycling and the UCI, the landmark USGP of Cyclocross seeks to bolster thethriving regional U.S. cyclocross scene by incorporating six races intoa national series with USA Cycling automatic world championship selectiongoing to series overall winners."Our hope," according to Series Marketing Director Bruce Fina, "is tobring out the best of USA cyclocross-the top riders

Vuelta profiles

GIRONA SPAIN It was a little bit sad to see them extinguishing the flame in the Olympic Stadium in Athens last night. My wife and I watched the closing ceremonies on television from Spain. It seemed like weeks since we had been in Athens. I have always been a fan of the Olympic Games, ever since I was a kid. It’s a little like watching the Tour de France in the summer time, I guess. You get into a routine of checking in every day and get sort of addicted to the drama of it all. I have always found myself watching the sports that seem to take a four-year hiatus from being covered, like

American hope Tom Danielson won’t be making his grand tour debut in the Vuelta a España this weekend, after all. Danielson had hoped to take part in his first three-week tour, but was once again disappointed after Fassa Bortolo brass left him off the nine-man team. The 26-year-old Coloradan was told last week he wouldn’t be starting the Vuelta (September 4-26). The news comes as a blow to the promising racer who’s been making steady progress in his first year in Europe with expectations of starting at least one of the season’s major three-week tours for the silver train. “I’m completely

Colombian cyclist Maria Luisa Calle Williams, bronze medalist in last week's Olympic women's points race, has tested positive for a banned stimulant and has been stripped of her medal, the International Olympic Committee announced on Sunday. As a result, American Erin Mirabella has been awarded the bronze medal, the only American track-cycling medal of this year’s Games. Mirabella's bronze brings the total medal count for American cyclists to four along with Tyler Hamilton's gold, Dede Demet Barry's silver and Bobby Julich's bronze in the individual time trial on August 18. Traces of

Julich, Voigt second at GP Eddy MerckxThe Dutch tandem of Thomas Dekker and Koen De Kort (Rabobank) edgedrecently crowned bronze Olympic time trial medalist Bobby Julich and JensVoigt (CSC) in Sunday’s two-man time trial race GP Eddy Merckx.Dekker and De Kort covered the 49km course 20 seconds faster than Julichand Voigt while George Hincapie and Viatcheslav Ekimov (U.S. Postal Service)came through fifth at 52 seconds slower.GP Eddy Merckx (BEL 1.2), two-man timetrial1. Thomas Dekker, Koen De Kort (Ned) – Rabobank, 43.9kmin 52:35 (50.07kph)2. Jens Voigt (Ger), Bobby Julich (USA) – CSC +0:203.

Canadian Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) and local favorite Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna) each took convincing cross-country wins Saturday at the final event of the NORBA National Series in Durango, Colorado, both securing their respective titles in the eight event series. In the absence of NORBA Nationals regulars Todd Wells, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Seamus McGrath, Ryder Hesjedal, Mary McConneloug and Jimena Florit — all in Athens for the Olympic Games — the pressure was on for series leaders Kabush and Vanlandingham to maintain their leads. Kabush’s main concern was the possibility of a DNF, as his

Erik Dekker (Rabobank) won the final stage of the Tour of Holland on Saturday, overtaking U.S. Postal’s Viatcheslav Ekimov for the overall victory by just a single second. Dekker proved fastest of the bunch at the end of the 202km sixth stage from Geelen to Landgraaf, crossing the finish line in 4:58:16, ahead of teammate Marc Wauters and CSC’s Fabrizio Guidi, both of whom were given the same time as Dekker. Ekimov crossed in fifth position, also in the same time, and slipped to second on the overall. American Bobby Julich (CSC) finished fifth overall at 21 seconds back. Stage 5 results1.

Leon van Bon (Lotto-Domo) won the fifth stage of the Tour of the Netherlands on Friday, a 221km stage from Dusseldorf, Germany, to Sittard, Netherlands. Van Bon soloed in for the victory in five hours, 10 minutes and 28 seconds. Marc Streel (Lanbouwkrediet-Colnago) was second at 1:06, with Manuel Quinziato (Lampre) third at 1:43. Viatcheslav Ekimov (U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor), retains the overall lead going into Saturday’s finale, a 197km stage from Sittard-Geleen to Landgraaf. The silver medalist in the recently completed Olympic time trial bounced into the overall lead after winning

Mike Jones (Health Net-Maxxis) won the 80-mile third stage of the Colorado Cyclist Classic stage race on Friday in a four-up dash to the finish line in Estes Park, Colorado. After 10 laps of the hilly, 8-mile Devil’s Gulch Road Race circuit, Jones took the victory in 3:23:48, with Jeff Louder (Navigators Insurance) second, Aaron Olson (Ofoto-Colavita) third, and Michael Sayers (Health Net-Maxxis) fourth, all in the same time. Will Frischkorn (Ofoto-Colavita) retains the overall lead by five seconds over Danny Pate (Health Net-Maxxis) with Dan Bowman (TIAA-CREF/5280) third at 1:42. In the

ScrewedFirst off, you’re probably wondering why you’re looking at a photo of VeloNews’s Lennard Zinn drilling a hole into the sole of a perfectly good $400 pair of cycling shoes. Good question. As we put the finishing touches on our 2004 carbon road shoe comparison, we’ve begun to notice that actual sole thicknesses seem to vary a bit from numbers claimed in advertising. Because most manufacturers want their numbers to reflect the lightest/stiffest/thinnest “interpretation” of the measurements, Zinn and I decided that the only way to find out exactly how thick the soles were was to measure

Track racing at the 2004 Olympics in Athens wrapped up Wednesday with the Madison, the keirin finals and the women's points race. As has been the case throughout these Olympics, VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson has been there to record his impressions on film... well... a really large array of digital pixels.

In almost the same style with which he took the overall victory at lastyear's edition, U.S. Postal's Viatcheslav Ekimov won the time trial stageof the Tour of Holland, Thursday, taking the overall lead in the race fromDutch Max van Heeswijk.Ekimov's win in the fourth stage time trial, 22.2km race agains theclock in Goch, was the third Postal victory in the Tour. Van Heeswijk scoredsprint wins in the first and second stages and retained the leadafter Alessandro Petacchi's stage 3 sprint win on Thursday morning.Ekimov's win comes on the heels of his silver-medal ride in the Olympictime trial in

For the second straight day the Russians proved to be the masters of the points race. This time it was Olga Slyusareva, who powered to a six-point win over Mexico’s Belem Guerrero in the 100-lap race at the Olympic velodrome on Wednesday. Slyusareva was quiet early in the race, while Guerrero and Colombian Maria Luisa Calle Williams were trading the lead, but the Russian won two straight sprints at lap 80 and 90, putting her over the top. Guerrero came back to score two points in the final sprint snagging the silver, with Calle settling for bronze. Slyusareva is a four-time world champion,

In the moments after a tacitly perfect run to Olympic glory in the Madison, Aussie Graeme Brown could barely stand. Minutes earlier he and teammate Stuart O’Grady had given Australia its fifth gold medal of these Athens Olympics, but now Brown needed help getting his shoes off. “It was the most painful race I’ve ever ridden,” said Brown. “I never been in so much pain in my life.” Clearly the pain was worth it, though. Brown and O’Grady started fast, gaining a lap along with the German duo of Robert Bartko and Guido Fulst. From there the Aussies picked their spots wisely, winning the fourth

Aussie Ryan Bayley affirmed his status as world’s fastest man on a bike, taking his second gold medal of the 28th Olympiad by winning the keirin on the final day of track racing in Athens on Wednesday. The shaggy haired 22-year-old shot out from the bunch in the final of the keirin, cruising across the line well ahead of second-place finisher Jose Escuredo of Spain. German Rene Wolff was third, but was later relegated by the judges giving Shane Kelley the bronze, yet another medal for the green and gold. Paired with the Madison win by Graeme Brown and Stuart O'Grady, Australia will leave

Whispers that U.S. Postal Service strongman Floyd Landis is leaving theblue train took on more weight Wednesday when sport director Johan Bruyneelconfirmed reports that Landis is poised to join former teammate Tyler Hamiltonat Phonak.In an interview with the Spanish daily MARCA, Bruyneel all butconfirmed Landis´s departure from Postal Service, where he rode thepast three years alongside Lance Armstrong en route to Tour de France victories.“We had an option to keep him and we were ready to equal the offer madeto Phonak, but at the same time we didn´t want him to force him tostay with us,”

Olympic cover-upDear Lennard,After watching the Olympic road race and time trial, I noticed an abundanceof tape covering helmet, bike and component logos. Why would countriesgoverning bodies force this on riders knowing that they race professionallyfor other teams?Some examples: Julich and Hamilton covering up the Bell logo on thesides of the TT helmet but not the front. While it looks like most peoplein the TT field were covering up bike and fork logos on the headtubes andfork legs. What gives?ShawnI’ll let Bell Sports answer that:It basically comes down to limits on equipment logo sizes

The Spanish newspaper MARCA is reporting that Tyler Hamiltonwill race next month´s Vuelta a España to make up for his disappointing Tour de France, when he was forced to pull out after injuring his back after falling in the first week.Hamilton is fresh off his gold medal performance in the Olympic time trial race and said last week he still wasn´t sure about which races he would start in the second half of the season.Hamilton told VeloNews editor Jason Sumner last week in Athens he was considering racing the Vuelta and had even gone to check out some of the routes after he returned to his

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said on Tuesday it will ask Athens Olympic organizers to try and get medals for cyclists Peter Dawson and Stephen Wooldridge who missed out on a team pursuit gold medal. Dawson and Wooldridge were nearly inconsolable after missing out on Australia's gold medal win on Monday in the 4000m team pursuit after riding in the record-setting qualifying round on Sunday. Under cycling's rules, unlike swimming's relays, only those who ride in the final get the medals. The Olympic rule differs from world championship events, in which all teammates share in the

In a battle of grace and finesse versus brawn and power, the brute force of Australian Ryan Bayley was the ticket to gold in the men’s sprint at the Olympic velodrome on Tuesday. After losing the opening heat of the best-of-three final against Dutchman Theo Bos, Bayley stormed back to take two straight, giving Australia its fourth cycling gold medal of the 28th Olympiad. It’s the best ever showing for the green-and-gold clad team that had been shadowed by a drug scandal on the lead-up to the Games. “After I lost the first heat I just got really agro,” said Bayley, who fits the part of a

Lori-Ann Muenzer earned Canada's first-ever Olympic cycling gold medal in the women's match sprint on the boards of the Athens Velodrome Tuesday. To reach the podium, Muenzer first had to reverse her world championship sprint loss to Australian Anna Meares in the semifinals and then dispatch Russian star Tamilla Abassova in the final. In a sport which rewards youthful power and speed, where certified legends like Florian Rousseau (30) and Jens Fiedler (34) just retired, Muenzer climbed to her sport's summit at 38 years of age and has no plans whatsoever to quit. "Age is just a number

It's been an eventful two days at the velodrome in Athens. Photographer Casey Gibson has been there, documenting everything from Australia's team pursuit title to Lori-Ann Muenzer's ride to Canada's first-ever Olympic cycling gold medal.

Jorge Ferrío (Almería Paternina) won the one-day classic Vuelta a los Puertos on Sunday in the mountains north of Madrid that will play a starring role in next month’s Vuelta a España. Almería Paternina delivered a one-two punch in the 146km race that started and finished Guadarrama with teammate Ramón Golbano taking second. The teammates opened up a two-minute gap on the mostly Spanish peloton on the lower ramps of the Alto de Navacerrada, which will see a summit finish in the Vuelta’s penultimate day. Ferrío and Golbano stayed away for the rest of the day, with Gustavo César coming through

Dear Dirk and JoeLast year I bought a copy of your "MountainBiker's Training Bible" and structured a training plan around the advisein your book. I contact you and you gave me some valuable information onhow to tweak the program to suit my needs. I participated in my first MountainBike stage race. The Cape-Epic race held in March 2004. The total distancecovered was 800 km over eight days and approximately 17,000m cumulativeelevation gain. The event is staged along the same lines as the Trans-Rockiesin Canada and the Trans-Alp in Europe. Incidentally the organizers of theCanadian and European

In the battle for supremacy at the Olympic velodrome in Athens, the men from Australia beat back the challenge of Great Britain, claiming gold in the team pursuit. The Aussies’ effort didn’t match their world record time from qualifying the day before, but their mark of 3:58.233 on Monday was easily enough to outclass the Brits, who trailed throughout on their way to a 4:01.760. That left the gold medal count for the two countries at two apiece, with Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins having each taken wins for Great Britain, while Anna Meares and now the team pursuit squad of Graeme Brown, Brett

I lost the services of the digicam for a day after its memory card bit the dust. But I managed to find another one while walking around Pireas before Monday’s track racing. Pireas is Greece's main port and the jumping off point for trips to the Greek Islands. Here’s some of the sights, plus some odds and ends from the velodrome.

With all of the hype and excitement at the Athens Olympics, athletes still have to spend their down time getting ready for events, training or just relaxing with friend. During the Olympics, most of that down time takes place in the athletes' village. One frequent VeloNews contributor recently sent us a photo essay of life in the village.

If you were looking for a sentimental favorite for this year’s USPRO Criterium Championships, there were several good choices, but the two best candidates were probably Jonas Carney and Robbie Ventura. Postal’s Ventura has been going after the title in Downers Grove all his career, but has always fallen short, coming closest two years ago when he lost the USPRO title to Kevin Monahan in a photo finish. Carney does have a pro criterium title to his name, winning in Downers Grove in 1997, but having announced his retirement earlier this season, the Jelly Belly rider was shooting for one last

It’s been a long road to the summit for Sara Ulmer of New Zealand. As a callow 20-year-old in Atlanta, she was an anonymous seventh in the 3000-meter individual pursuit final. Four years ago in Sydney, 24-year-old Ulmer finished the 3000-meter individual pursuit in the cruelest Olympic position — eight-hundredths of a second out of bronze. Ulmer lost third to 39-year-old Yvonne McGregor’s of Great Britain with just 125 meters to go, and remained deep in the shadow of Sydney’s golden girl of cycling, Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel, who crushed silver medalist Marion Clignet by five seconds

Fassa Bortolo’s Juan-Antonio Flecha took advantage of a the ongoing World Cup duel between series leader Davide Rebellin and his nearest challenger, Olympic champion Paolo Bettini, to charge out of the field in the final meters of Sunday’s 241km event in Zürich, Switzerland. Bettini, who finished second in the Zürich Championships, has now moved to within six points of leader Rebellin, after eight rounds of the 10-race series. The Gerolsteiner rider figured in the final break and now stands on 314 points to Bettini's 308, with Rabobank's Oscar Freire a distant third with 198 points. With

Hot, humid and blazing fast. Track racing in Athens Sunday was all that and more as three world records toppled in a single day. Casey Gibson was there to capture some of the highlights

On a day when it wasn’t clear whether the riders were heading up towards the clouds or the clouds down to the riders, Justin England (Webcor) and Phillip Wong (Fior di Frutta) staged an epic mano á mano fight at the Mt. Washington Hillclimb in Conway, New Hampshire. England and Wong rode side-by-side for more than half of the 7.6-mile climb, with England sprinting away with 500 meters to go for the win in near-whiteout conditions. “I knew I only had one attack left in me,” said England. “And so with 500 to go I gave everything I had, and it was just enough.” England’s last-ditch attack

Cycling was the teen-age Colby Pearce's therapy. He'd take long weekend rides in the Colorado mountains, a distraction from losing his mother to cancer when he was 8 and his father to a heart attack five years later. Pearce never stopped riding. Now, nearly two decades later, he's reached the Olympics as part of a seven-rider American track contingent. Competition at the velodrome opened Friday, with the first U.S. cyclists set to begin competing Saturday. “Everybody, to a degree, has their childhood wrapped up in them,” Pearce said. “They're a product of their past. That's inevitable. I

As his mentor and one-time gold medalist Chris Boardman looked on from inside the velodrome at the Olympics in Athens, Bradley Wiggins scored the second gold medal in two days for the team from Britain, winning the individual pursuit. Wiggins beat back the challenge of Aussie Brad McGee in the final, while Spain’s Sergi Escobar topped the U.K.’s Rob Hayles in the bronze-medal round. Wiggins said his Olympic dream first began while watching Boardman win gold at the 1992 Games in Barcelona. Since then the two have become good friends, as Boardman helped guide his protégé to Saturday’s golden

VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson is more than a shootist – occasionally, he's an ironist. In sending his shots from Saturday's record-shattering day at the Olympic velodrome, he noted: "Too bad this track is slow, and the heat keeps them from going fast."

If the “warm-up” races in Downer's Grove, Illinois, were any indication, the national criterium championships on Sunday could see an unprecedented hat trick in the elite women's category, while the men's USPRO Criterium Championship could be a rough-and-tumble affair among the major domestic teams gunning for one of the last big races of the season. Saturday night's Ice Mountain USCF International Women's Open saw two-time defending national criterium champion Tina Pic (Genesis Scuba-FFCC) take a convincing victory on the eve of her title defense, while in the men's American Airlines Pro-Am

Jan Ullrich has pulled out of Sunday's World Cup race in Zürich following his disappointing performance in the 2004 Olympic Games. "I had trouble sitting during the Athens time trial but hoped to make the race in Zürich," Ullrich wrote on his Web site. "Unfortunately, that is not possible. "I will use the break to sit down with (coach) Rudy Pevenage and Mario Krummer (sporting director at T-Mobile) to discuss how we will finish the season." The 1997 Tour de France winner flopped in the Olympic Games, finishing 19th in the road race and seventh in the time trial, after going into the Athens

For most Olympic athletes in Athens the heat is a hindrance, but when it comes to track racers, the balmier the better. The heat makes the boards of the 250-meter wooden track expand and tighten, and that makes conditions fast. That was certainly the case on the opening day of competition at the Olympic velodrome, where two Olympic records and one world record were eclipsed on a sizzling Friday afternoon in Greece. The new world’s best came in the women’s 500-meter time trial, with Aussie Anna Meares becoming the first woman to complete two laps in under 34 seconds. Her time of 33.952 also

Track events kicked off in Athens on Friday, and VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson was there.

Bobby Julich, fresh off his bronze medal in the Olympic time trial, won’t start Sunday’s World Cup race, Zürich Metzgete. According to information from Team CSC, a medical check found another fracture in the wrist he broke in a fall during the Tour de France last month. Julich will likely get the wrist into a cast, but said earlier this week he wants to keep racing and is scheduled to race the GP Eddy Merckx later this month. Team CSC said Fränk Schleck is also questionable for the Swiss race, as he has not been able to train in a couple of days due to a knee injury. Replacing Julich in