Road

Lance Armstrong won the final stage of Languedoc-Roussillon Sunday, picking up the pace in preparation for a July attempt at a sixth-straight Tour de France title. The Postal team leader finished in sixth place in the five-day event, finishing 1 minute, 44 seconds behind winner Christophe Moreau of France. "I've had some ups and downs this week," Armstrong said. "I felt good the first two days, the next two ... not so good. Even at the start of today, I didn't feel very well." Viatcheslav Ekimov, Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service teammate, was second overall, with Spain's Iker Flores

In a brilliant effort in tandem with Ofoto’s Dominique Perras, Chris Horner (Webcor Builders) won the Housatonic Valley Classic, the final stage of the Tour of Connecticut, on Sunday, while Mark McCormack (Colavita Olive Oil) held on to the overall leader’s yellow jersey. On the demanding, up-and-down course through the narrow, twisting, tree-lined roads of southwest Connecticut, Horner and Perras stayed away for close to the final 70 miles of the 100-mile road race, benefiting from Colavita’s tactics aimed largely at keeping McCormack in yellow. Perras and Horner escaped around the

Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi equaled the Giro d’Italia’s post-war record of seven stage wins in a single edition of the race by claiming the 14th stage in the ancient Croatian coastal city of Pula on Sunday.The 30-year-old sprint ace timed 4:08:58 to come in ahead of American Fred Rodriguez. Petacchi’s teammate and lead-out man, Marco Velo, rounded out the top three. Ukrainian Yaroslav Popovych of Landbouwkrediet finished in the main field and continues to hold the overall leader's jersey, the maglia rosa, which he earned after a strong time trial performance on Saturday. It was the

Paul Rowney finally broke through, while Shonny Vanlandingham made it two wins in two days, as each grabbed short track wins on the final day of NORBA National No. 3 in Big Bear Lake, California. In the opening race Vanlandingham (Luna) and teammate Katerina Hanusova broke away from a group of eight early in the 11-lap race, slowly expanding their advantage all the way to the finish. It wasn’t until the final lap that Vanlandingham attacked off the front, easily outpacing Hanusova for the victory. “There really wasn’t any plan as far as who we wanted to win or anything,” said Vanlandingham,

For the second time in two days, American Eric Carter and Frenchwoman Sabrina Jonnier were the top gravity racers at NORBA National No. 3, after each scored wins in Sunday’s downhill mania race at Snow Summit Resort. Racing a format that hadn’t been used with any regularity since the mid-1990s, Carter was the fastest man down the hill in the four-up event that was part downhill, part mountain cross. Riders started the day running a solo qualifying run for bracket seeding, then went four-up with the top two riders advancing into each successive round. “It was pretty much a hole-shot race,”

It was a good sprint. For the last few days I’ve been really frustrated by not being able to get into position to do my own sprint. Today, it was different. The team really rallied out there to get me up to the right spot going into the last few hundred meters and they did a great job. Our main focus was to stay together today, so that we could set up for the sprint as a team and we did it. And for a while there, we had good little train going toward the finish. We were lacking a little power toward the end, maybe, and we allowed Fassa Bortolo to take over the front of the peloton again,

Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole) won the fourth stage of the Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon on Saturday and took the overall lead for good measure. Moreau, who outkicked U.S. Postal’s Viatcheslav Ekimov at the end of the 161km stage from Le Pont du Gard to Mende, said: “I used my mental strength, my experience and my energy to win. This is like a rebirth for me.” The Frenchman now has an overall lead of 12 seconds on Ekimov and 27 seconds on Iker Flores (Euskaltel-Euskadi) with just one stage remaining. Meanwhile, Lance Armstrong finished 15th on the day, 2:08 behind Moreau, advancing

Ukrainian Serhiy Honchar (De-Nardi) powered along 52km of rain-slick roads to win the 13th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday, while the Giro’s 22-year-old revelation, Damiano Cunego (Saeco) surrendered the maglia rosa to Yaroslav Popovych (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago), who finished third on the day. The 52km Trieste-Altopiano Carsico individual time trial began with a flat 4km, then segued into a 12km climb followed by a 26km descent, concluding with a flat run to the finish. And once the rain began to fall, it proved a tough stage indeed. "The rain bothered me; I hadn't planned attacking

After 30 miles of going toe-to-toe on the steep hills of Waterbury, the protagonists in Saturday's Waterbury circuit race ended up deciding things in a cat-and-mouse sprint, with Jeff Louder (Navigators Insurance) scoring a big win for the New Jersey-based team, ahead of breakaway companions Chris Wherry (Health Net-Maxxis) and Will Frischkorn (Colavita Olive Oil) in the Tour of Connecticut. Stage 4 of the tour brought the race back to the Waterbury circuit introduced last year, featuring a brutal climb averaging around 9 percent and twisting its way through Waterbury neighborhoods before a

On a dry and dusty Saturday afternoon, Americans Shonny Vanlandingham and Travis Brown each grabbed cross-country wins at NORBA National No. 3 in Big Bear Lake, California. In the women’s race, Vanlandingham broke away from a group of four near the end of the first of two 11-mile laps up and down Snow Summit Resort, then held strong to the finish. Originally the Luna rider had planned to make the trip to Spain for the opening round of the World Cup, but on Monday during a flight from Denver to her home in Durango, Colorado, Vanlandingham got a big scare when the plane’s hydraulics failed and

Eric Carter and Sabrina Jonnier put on gated-racing clinics Saturday evening, grabbing convincing wins in the dual slalom at NORBA National No. 3 in Big Bear Lake, California. In the men’s bracket Carter (Mongoose-Hyundai) won every heat in the preliminary rounds, cruising into the finals, where he met up with Aussie Sam Hill. Hill had been the benefactor of some good fortune, getting past Steve Peat and Mick Hannah after both suffered mechanical issues. Peat had a problem with his front tire, while Hannah snapped his chain at the start of his first semifinal heat against Hill. That allowed

After Wednesday’s time trial, I found itself in the leader’s jersey in the Tour de L’Aude, with my teammates Kimberly Bruckner and Kristin Armstrong in second and fourth overall, just a few seconds behind. For T-Mobile it was a great place to be, as it gave us many options tactically. Defending the jersey is a challenge that requires a lot of work, and for us, it has been a bigger challenge than normal because we are down to five riders here. Fortunately, our team has been extremely motivated and is getting stronger each day. On Thursday, we did a circuit race. We let a breakaway full of

Seventh. Not too bad, not too bad at all. Even so, I may be close to the point of heading home. I’m still feeling pretty rough today. I had a pretty good ride, but I sure didn’t feel good. I had an early start, so I was pretty lucky with the weather this time out. It started raining towards the end, so some of the big GC boys had to do the whole thing in the rain and I had relatively dry roads the whole time. Then again, I had more wind than they did, so maybe it all comes out even. The course itself was bloody hard. The first 18 or 19 kilometers were all uphill, and a pretty hard uphill

Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) is a step closer to tying a Giro d’Italia stage-win record after claiming his sixth victory on Friday. The Italian speedster once again held off Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo), who finished second to the seemingly unstoppable Italian, with Alexandre Usov (Phonak) finishing third. "I'm really happy to have won for the sixth time here, which equals my record here last year," said Petacchi after coming a step closer to becoming the fourth rider of the modern era to claim seven stages in a single edition of the race. "I don't know what the

Ivan Dominguez (Colavita Olive Oil) powered to the win in the third stage of the Tour of Connecticut in Friday in New Haven, Connecticut, beating Charles Dionne (Webcor) by less than a wheel in a spectacular hour of racing. Mike Sayers (Health Net) crossed third. The victory, Colavita's second, kept team leader Mark McCormack in the leader's yellow jersey going into stage four Saturday in Waterbury. The race was fast and furious from the first lap as the 87 cyclists fought for position on the technical circuit. On the final laps a break of eight finally stuck, and race leader McCormack saw

I’m honored. No, really, I am. I’ve finally made it to the big time. I’m talking about getting my name plastered all over the most prestigious cycling website there is (aside from velonews.com, of course): www.drunkcyclist.com. A warning before you go dashing gleefully over there: This site is definitely not for the eyes of minors or those ultra-conservative types who are not big fans of pornography. My column last week apparently struck an off-key chord with the single-speed audience. To boil down my side of the argument, I mentioned that I’m not a believer in racing classes specifically

It might have been wise for organizers to hand out name tags to go with the medals they passed around at Friday’s awards ceremony following the stage 1 time trial at NORBA National No. 3 in Big Bear Lake, California. With many of the top cross-country pros absent this weekend to compete in the opening round of the World Cup in Madrid, Spain, it was a pair of relatively unfamiliar names — Heather Irmiger and Jimi Mortenson — standing atop the podium when racing was done at Snow Summit Resort. Mortenson (Specialized), who lives in Eagle, Colorado, took advantage of opportunity, posting the

With the laps counting down on Friday night's New Haven criterium and the peloton breathing down the necks of a seven-man breakaway, overall race leader Mark McCormack took it upon himself to keep the lead group out front, and in the process delivered teammate Ivan Dominguez to Colavita Olive Oil's second win in three stages of the Tour of Connecticut. The Friday night festivities in Connecticut featured 60 laps of a pancake-flat, four-corner, half-mile circuit around the New Haven Green, starting and finishing at the steps of the state courthouse. From the gun, the pack set a blistering

With a coveted spot on the TIAA-CREF Cycling team on the line for the overall men’s and women’s individual champions, the 2004 collegiate national road cycling championships kicked off Friday afternoon with a round of criteriums on the streets of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Early morning thunderstorms threatened to stop the races before they started, but the weather was only the beginning in what would be one of the most dramatic days in all of collegiate racing. After a heart-breaking second-place finish at last year’s collegiate national championship road race, the University

Man, do I feel like crap today. I started the day out feeling like I was coming down with something. I've had a sore throat for a few days and now it's beginning to take a toll. Despite the easy terrain, I made it through the stage just sitting there in the field, feeling really, really average on the bike the whole day. The only thing I managed to do was to bring my teammate, Angelo Furlan, up to the front with about 3km to go. I wanted to do as much as I possibly could, so I just went up and took a big turn with the hope that Angelo was on a good wheel. I figured since I was losing steam

This was not a very good day for me. The frustrating thing was that I had great legs. I felt great. I thought I’d put myself into just the right spot coming into the finish and help up there and then it just didn’t happen. The finish today was just chaotic. I almost killed myself coming in. The day was pretty much under the control of Fassa Bortolo all the way from the start. They allowed a small break to get away, mostly just to keep things under control in the field, and then they just held a very moderate pace. Actually, it really slowed down toward the last 30km today. It was more like

Swiss rider Martin Elmiger handed his Phonak team a welcome victory in the 162km third stage of the Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon in Aigues-Mortes on Friday. Elmiger, a 25-year-old mountain-bike specialist who also plays golf and skis cross country, welcomed the win with open arms after believing he had been pipped at the line. Ukrainian Yuryi Krivtsov (AG2r Prevoyance) threw everyone, including the race announcer, into disarray when he raised his arms in victory after crossing the finish line. But Elmiger was given the decision after a photo finish indicated he had won by three

Stage races are like a crash course in tactics and Racing 101. If you really want to learn fast, sign up for some stage races. Depending on the length of the race, you can learn three or four months’ worth of lessons in just one event. Today’s Giro d'Italia stage finished in another beautiful lead-out by Fassa Bortolo, sending Alessandro Pettachi off to his sixth stage win this year. But there are other lessons to be learned, aside from the picture-perfect lead-out. What do you do if you are on a team that does not have a powerful sprinter or isn’t strong enough to provide the 10km

We had a good day today. It was a long day, quite hot at times, but our guy, Cristian Moreni, finished second to that young kid none of us knew anything about. Cristian has been looking good here at the Giro and a day like today really suited his abilities to a tee. He’s really good on the short, steep climbs that marked the last half of the route today. As you know, those aren’t exactly my cup of tea, but Cristian just loves that stuff. After about 50 kilometers this morning – which was only an hour or so into the race! – he said he was feeling pretty good and so we tried to get him in

It was a long day in the saddle. A long day, a hot day and a day with a lot of climbing. It was a lot harder than I expected. We built our strategy for the day on the assumption that the race would be won in a breakaway today. Most of our guys were working hard to get into anything that went and we were always represented when something did go. Before the start my teammate, Rinaldo Nocentini, came up and said “I’ve already made the deal. There are four or five of us going to go right at the start!” Of course, our strategy was the pretty much the same as everyone else’s and the speed was

Lance Armstrong's U.S. Postal team gave an indication of their collective force on the second stage of the Tour of Languedoc-Roussillon, won in Narbonne, France, on Thursday by Thor Hushovd. Hushovd has been a force to be reckoned with all spring, so victory after 188km of riding in hot temperatures between Port-Leucate and Narbonne came as little surprise for the Norwegian. The Credít Agricole sprinter came over the finish line ahead of French duo Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R) and Jerome Pineau (Brioches La Boulangere) to tighten his grip on the race leader's jersey. However, the day was marked

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Another rider from Generation Next made an exhibition in Thursday’s hilly 11th stage of the 87th Giro d’Italia, providing yet another glimpse at a possible future Italian star. First-year pro Emanuele Sella (Panaria) won an emotional stage in a poignant reminder of the fighting spirit of Marco Pantani as the 228km stage finished in the birth-place of the fallen star. The 23-year-old Sella roared away from the main bunch with 60km to go and blew past a faltering 20-man breakaway to earn his first win as a pro in a very Pantani-esque display of racing. “I can’t believe it. I am beyond

You never really know how you’ll feel until you give it a go at the line. Yesterday for the rest day, I gave up plans to go out on a short ride and actually stayed in my bed from morning until the evening. I had a bit of a sore throat, a sore knee and I wanted to let the ankle heal up, so I spent the day in bed sleeping and watching a couple of DVDs. I didn’t do a single meter on the bike yesterday, which is normally not a good thing to do on a rest day, but I really needed to give the ankle a rest. The ankle problem also caused some small knee problems for me – that usually happens when

It’s been a long time since I competed in a 10-day tour. The approach is a little different from the shorter tours – in a race this long, it’s important to conserve one’s energy for the critical moments. So at the start of the Tour de L’Aude, I took a good look at the race bible, which contains all of the stage distances and course profiles. With my team, we determined what we thought would be the most significant stages based on the difficulty of the mountain passes and the time trials. We have broken the race up into segments. The first stage did not look too difficult, so we agreed that

LA back in saddle in FranceLance Armstrong (USPS) returns to action in Wednesday’s opening stage of the Tour du Languedoc-Rousillon (FRA 2.1) in southern France. The race signals the rebirth of the GP Midi Libre, which Armstrong won in 2002 but was not held last year. It’s also the five-time Tour de France winner’s first race since winning the Tour de Georgia in April. “Lance seems to me very well mentally. Physically, he’s fitter than last year, which is not difficult given the problems he had,” Bruyneel told Reuters. Armstrong returned to Europe last week and promptly went to Alpe d’Huez

The 2004 Trek Bikes Collegiate Road National Championships kick off Friday in Madison, Wisconsin, with the TIAA-CREF Downtown Criterium. The crit, a mostly flat circuit, starts and finishes on State Street, with racing starting at 1 p.m. An open category, new for 2004, will allow all licensed male collegiate cyclists to compete. Saturday’s road race starts and finishes in the town of Black Earth. The 15-mile loop winds through well-paved, hilly country roads just 20 minutes west of Madison. The weekend’s competition wraps up on Sunday with the team time trial, on a fast, flat 32km

One of the beautiful things about a stage race is that there are so many races going on within the race. To be sure, the big race at the Giro d’Italia is for the maglia rosa. To start, there’s always the scramble for a stage win – of which Alessandro Petacchi has now scored five – but there are also competitions for the Intergiro and King of the Mountain jerseys, as well as team classifications. Just because you may not be in contention for the overall prize does not mean that you don't have a lot to race for. Much of the excitement on today's stage or the previous stage was the long

Alessandro Petacchi applauded as he crossed the line a victor for the fifth time of the 2004 Giro d’Italia. He wasn’t clapping for his fast legwork, but rather for his teammates in the trenches. The gentleman sprinter was full of praise of his Fassa Bortolo “Silver Train,” who pushed the Italian to a relatively easy sprint victory in the hilly 146km 10th stage from Porto Sant' Elpidio to Ascoli Piceno. “I clapped my hands in praise of my teammates. I really want to thank them for the work they did today,” said Petacchi, who finished ahead of compatriot Marco Zanotti (Vini Caldirola) and

The Koppenberg Circuit Race lived up to its namesake on Sunday, dishing out rough dirt roads, wind and a leg-breaking climb that shattered fields and crowned two new champions in the elite men's and women's events: Will Frischkorn (Colavita-Bolla) and Ann Trombley (Excel Sports). The women's race didn't stay together long, as Trombley, a former Olympic mountain-bike racer, Shannon Tupa (Tokyo Joe's) and Erin Huck (Denver Spoke) surged up the rutted Koppenberg on the first lap and found themselves away early on. Huck eventually dropped back, but even with the second group chasing hard,

Giro d'Italia leader Damiano Cunego planned to kick back and relax on Tuesday’s first of two rest days in Porto Sant'Elpidio, Reuters reported. "I will try to recover during the rest day," said the Italian, who leads Saeco teammate Gilberto Simoni by 10 seconds in the general classification. “I'll do one and a half to two hours on the bike, eat a little and rest.” But the Italian is already looking ahead at the challenging week.“I'm thinking about the next few stages, for example the one in Cesena [stage 11], which could be more difficult than it looks,” he said. Nevertheless, Cunego is

Well now, this is a nice note to start these Giro diaries on. Even though I won in the last couple hundred meters of today’s stage, this really began yesterday. For the last 24 hours, I’ve been very upset. Because of that, I’ve been totally focused on winning today. Yesterday was a very disappointing day for me. Coming into the finale yesterday I felt really good – better even than I felt today – and as we hit the last corner, McEwen hooked me really hard and I had to shut down my sprint. Last night, after that, we had a big discussion on the team, trying to decide how we were going to

Tour de L’Aude is a 10-day stage race in the South of France. The Aude region contains a portion the Midi canal, which stretches from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and is situated in the Pyrenees and along the Mediterranean coast. This region is famous for it’s Mistral winds along the Mediterranean that make the wind surfing spectacular and also make the cycling quite challenging at times. The Mistrals greeted us on day one, as we started in the coastal town of Gruissan. Our bikes were tilted all day in the direction that the wind was blowing. My T-Mobile teammates traveled here from

A banged up and dejected Mario Cipollini hinted at retirement following his early withdrawal from the 87th Giro d’Italia. The 2002 world champion hit the deck hard in Wednesday’s fourth stage, but couldn’t muster the will to overcome the pain and frustration and didn’t take the start in Saturday’s climbing stage. While Cipollini earned a long sought after bid to return to the Tour de France, the dejected Lion King said he might retire instead. “It is possible that my career will stop here. It is difficult to find stimulation. For now, I don't want to think about the Tour de France,”

“Fast” Freddy Rodriguez was fast enough Monday to score the biggest win of the 30-year-old Californian’s career after snatching victory in the ninth stage of the 87th Giro d’Italia. Rodriguez surprised sprint master Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) by jumping with 300 meters to go. The two-time U.S. champion buried his pedals to open up a two-bike gap and had enough in the tank to hold Petacchi by a wheel. “It’s the best day of my career,” Rodriguez beamed in Italian to TV interviewers. “I tried to take Petacchi by surprise, rushing from behind, and it paid off.” Petacchi, a winner of

We had Alessandro (Bertolini) up in the break today. Actually, we were hoping it was going to hold and, for a while there, it looked like it might. They were up there hovering at around five minutes and then, even when two or three teams threw their guys to the front of the peloton, they managed to hold the gap for a long time. There were points when we were doing 55 to 60kph and we were still not putting any time on them for the first 35, 40 kilometers, but no one can hold that for too long in a breakaway and the peloton eventually pulled them back in. It makes sense, too, since Petacchi

Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) scored his second win of the month after snatching the overall title Sunday in the final stage of the Vuelta a Asturias in northern Spain after a remarkable demonstration of attacking style. A winner last weekend at the Clasica Alcobendas, Mayo erased a 46-second deficit to Colombian Felix Cárdenas (Cafés Baqué) in an attack-filled final stage over steep hills from Cangas del Narcea to Oviedo. Mayo made a surprise attack on a steep climb out of the seaside fishing village at Cudillero with 50km to go. Cárdenas was unable to follow the explosive move and could only

Reigning USPRO champion Mark McCormack (Colavita Olive Oil) put in a strong performance Sunday to win the 137-mile opening stage of the Tour of Connecticut. The stage began with a 117-mile opening loop around scenic Litchfield County, with the start and finish in Torrington. The day threatened rain, but instead provided beautiful sunshine for the 120 cyclists at the start. After just five miles, a nine-man break went away and forged a 4.5-mile lead on the field by mile 20. Olympic champion Marty Nothstein (Navigators) won the first and second sprints of the day just before the break was

Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi once again dominated a sprint finish at the Giro d’Italia to win the eighth stage of Italy’s national tour, a 210km race from Giffoni Valle Piana to Policoro. It was Petacchi's fourth victory of this year's race, which was still being led by 22-year-old Saeco team rider Damiano Cunego. Petacchi, who last year became the first rider in history to win at least three stages in the three major Tours of Italy, France and Spain in same year, proved simply too fast for Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen as he surged towards his tenth-ever Giro stage victory.

VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood dropped by for a peek at the Vuelta a Asturias in northern Spain on Friday and captured a few shots of the riders at stage 3. For a brief report on today's stage, see Saturday's EuroFile – meanwhile, enjoy the pictures.

Lance Armstrong wasted no time upon his return to Europe on Monday – he’s already been on a scouting mission to L’Alpe d’Huez. The five-time Tour de France winner said the 15km climbing time trial will be a decisive stage in the upcoming Tour, when Armstrong will try to win an historic sixth victory. L’Equipe reported Armstrong rode the legendary climb several times solo on Wednesday before being joined Thursday by teammates Manuel Beltran, Chechu Ruiera and Jose Azevedo. Armstrong will return to racing next week for the Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon (May 19-23) in southern France with

Saturday was a day of out with the old, in with the new at the 87th Giro d’Italia. A banged-up Mario Cipollini (Domina Vacanze) didn’t take the start, still smarting from his dramatic crash in stage 4, while young gun Damiano Cunego (Saeco) snatched his second stage victory in a week and slipped on the maglia rosa after winning atop the climbing finish to Montevergine di Mercogliano near Naples. The 37-year-old Cipollini’s early exit left the proud Lion King without a Giro stage win for the first time since 1989 and some were wondering if he’d be back next year for another shot at the

American Jennie Reed claimed the 200 World Cup keirin title on Saturday after finishing second to China's Shuang Guo during the fourth and final round of the series in Sydney, Australia. Germany’s Katrin Meinke was third. Meanwhile, another American, Colby Pearce, lapped the field not once, but twice to win the men's 30km points race in the Dunc Gray Velodrome. Pearce ended rwith 50 points, 14 ahead of 2002 world champion Chris Newton of Great Britain (36 points plus1 lap). Two-time world champ Juan Llaneras Rosello, last year’s silver medalist in Stuttgart, was third (35 points plus1 lap),

Italian police on Friday arrested four alleged drug dealers suspected of supplying cocaine to Italian cycling great Marco Pantani, who died of an overdose in February. Police sources had said they were pursuing one person they believed supplied the deadly dose to the 1998 Tour de France winner. Pantani was found dead in a hotel room in the coastal resort town of Rimini on February 14. "Searches are still under way," a Rimini police official told Reuters. He added there would be a news conference later in the day. Pantani won the Giro d'Italia in 1998 but was disqualified while leading

A bit of a crazy day, wasn’t it? With all the rain those last 20km were just absolutely unbelievable. It was amazing how much water was on the road heading into the finish, and that made things incredibly dangerous; but even if it had been dry, that course was right on the limit of what might be considered safe. Wet roads just made it crazy, and that’s where I figure I should start my thoughts here today. It really wasn’t the finishing straight itself, it was the route we covered coming into town. The last 3km were fine. I mean the rain made that dicey, but the closing stretch was just

Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) overcame rain-soaked roads and a fast downhill finish to win the 164km sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia from Spoleto to Valmontone on Friday. Petacchi beat Olaf Pollack (Gerolsteiner) and Alejandro Borrajo (Ceramiche Panaria) to the line in a bunch sprint for his third stage win of this year's race. Last year's winner, Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) retained the overall race lead after finishing in the same time as Petacchi. Teammate Damiano Cunego is second, 13 seconds behind, and Yaroslav Popovych (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) is third, a further eight seconds

Spanish rider David Herrero (Paternina-Costa Almería) won the 153km second stage of the Vuelta a Asturias in northern Spain on Thursday while Luis León Sánchez (Liberty Seguros) retained the overall lead. Herrero attacked with 4km to go coming off the descent on the Puerto de El Infanzón to deliver a big stage-win for the modest Division II team against the larger teams. Miguel Angel Martín Perdiguero (Saunier Duval) and Josep Jufré (Relax-Bodysol) came through second and third, respectively, as the main bunch crossed the line two seconds slower. The race continues Friday with the 166km

It’s been a bit of an eventful day. First off, I really twisted my ankle last night. The thing is, I was just walking down the stairs to dinner. So I had to have that taped up and it’s a bit swollen and a bit sore to walk around on. I spent the early part of the day trying to test that out a bit. In fact, it was my ankle that really made me try a shot at that break today. I really wanted to do the sprint today, but early on I tried a couple of times to do a couple of good accelerations. It hurt my foot a little too much when I really accelerated, so I figured I should try something else… if

Robbie McEwen couldn’t have asked for a better finish than the one that was handed to him at the end of stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia on Thursday. For sure, the 177-kilometer ride from Civitella in Val di Chiana to Spoleto, featured one of the flattest courses of this year's Giro, but the peloton was treated to a challenging finishing circuit that seemed to suit the Lotto-Domo rider’s talents more than anyone else’s in the peloton. By the time riders had completed three trips around the 7.3km loop through Spoleto, the steep 1.4km hill had taken its toll on some of the field’s better

Replace those face-plate boltsDear Lennard,I have heard that 3TTT has recalled their Zepp stems. I have an XL version of this stem – how can I find out if it is on the recall list? Can you tell me more about the problems associated with the stems? Should I pull this puppy off the bike?William Dear William,Yes, there has been a recall of those stems. You do not necessarily need to remove it from the bike, but you must replace the face-plate bolts with longer ones.Lennard Wippermann chain with Dura-Ace?Dear Lennard,I’ve got a Shimano 7800 drivetrain on my Seven Elium. In your most recent

Why can't I climb?Dear Joe,I'm a recreational roadie who spends some time on a mountain bike as well. I've been actively riding for four years. I put in 100-150 miles a week, with mostly mixed rides - by virtue of living in remote Wyoming, I don't get many flat, easy spins! Here is my challenge. I feel fit, but I cannot climb hills. I'm 5'11", approximately 160 pounds, resting HR of 44, no chronic illness, and I can't ride up hills! I do well on the flats between any rises, which means I make my pulls when riding with a group, I can spin around 22-24 mph, and am reasonably comfortable at

As luck would have it, a few members of the VeloNews staff and I were able to sneak away two weeks ago to Moab for a little product testing/vacation mountain bike riding. But before we hit hit the legendary slickrock, I wanted to make sure to bring along a fair share of mountain bike product to test in the harsh desert environment. Coincidentally, RockShox is nearing final production of its 2005 Pike and Reba suspension forks, which provided me the perfect opportunity to beg to borrow one for a bit of test riding. A quick call to one of the RockShox product managers resulted in a

Hi, Monique:What is the best strategy for pre-training fueling in regards to timing and low and higher glycemic index foods? Thanks.DV DV,Often pre-training timing is a product of your work or school and training schedule. Depending on the timing of your workouts, you may decide to eat something two to four hours beforehand, or your schedule may even require that you ingest some fuel in the hour before training. Depending on the timing, you can adjust your food choices and portions. You can also decide if the glycemic index of foods is something that you also want to consider when making

A few members of the VeloNews staff and I were able to sneak away two weeks ago to Moab for a little mountain-bike product testing that was part work, part vacation. Coincidentally, RockShox is nearing final production of its 2005 Pike and Reba suspension forks. And as luck would have it, a quick call to a RockShox product manager resulted in a freshly-built, long-travel Pike being delivered just in time for our departure. I planned to install the Pike on my 2004 Specialized S-Works in the classy digs of Moab’s Apache Motel, then head for the trails. Silly me – I forgot that Pike is a

Giro

I’m relieved… I think my heart has finally started to beat again. As you might recall, the other day I said that I was not feeling up to contesting the sprint, figuring that it was not my day and I wanted to stay out of it, mostly out of respect for the guys who were in a position to contest it. Well, today I was feeling up for it, got myself into the mix and had a very, very, very close call when Cipo’ went down. I even had his bike clipping my foot as he went down, so I just missed it. I stopped breathing there and my heart is just now starting up again. Some times it is just so, so close

What’s the difference between a fall and a crash? Ask Alessandro Petacchi and Mario Cipollini. The former suffered a fall midway through the rainy 184km fourth stage of the 87th Giro d’Italia, but rebounded to win his second stage in four days. The latter crashed 200 meters from the line, landing hard on his left side before getting hit by another rider in the hard-charging bunch. Cipollini finished the stage – 150th at 1:35 back -- and didn’t suffer any broken bones, but the cycling world will have to wait until Thursday to see if Cipollini’s spirit was crushed in the horrific high-speed

Luis León Sanchez (Liberty Seguros) surprised the big guns forthe second time in a week after taking victory in the opening stage ofthe 48th Vuelta a Asturias in northern Spain. Less than a week after winning the final time trial of the ClasicaAlcobendas last weekend in Madrid, the 20-year-old shot clear with DavidNavas (Illes Balears) with 3km to go to take the stage between Oviedo andLlanes along Spain's northern coast. Despite the victory, León Sanchez said he's racing to help teamcaptains Isidro Nozal and Roberto Heras in the five-day stage race thatconcludes Sunday. León Sanchez says

One thing you have to keep in mind about tactics is that they have to change to suit the circumstances. All teams start the day with a general plan, but then everyone has to be ready at a drop of a pedal stroke to change that plan and improvise. This is certainly what happened in today’s stage at the Giro. I can fully imagine the Fassa Bortolo team meeting this morning before the start of the stage. “This should be an easy day. All we have to do is keep the group together and set up Alessandro for the sprint with 10 kilometers to go. Every one knows their job on the lead out, so let’s get

Well, a guy can’t be too disappointed with that. Today worked out nicely for the team. It was actually a bit better than we might have expected for the first mountain-top finish. Despite all of that heavy Saeco firepower driving at the front of the field, our little Alessio team got two of our guys - Franco Pellizotti and Andrea Noe' – into the top ten. Franco crossed in third, 16 seconds behind Simoni and Andrea took tenth at 34 seconds. Not bad. I’m sure that if you’ve seen any of this on television, you can tell that it’s really hard going up against Saeco right now. As far as I am

Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) erased any doubts of his form with a dramatic victory in Tuesday’s summit finish at Corno Alle Scale and slipped on his favorite color in May. The two-time Giro d’Italia champion was uncharacteristically quiet in the spring, letting teammate Damiano Cunego take the spotlight while he calmly prepared with the idea of arriving to July’s Tour de France with fresher legs than last year’s disappointing meltdown. But first comes the Giro, and Simoni made a clear demonstration Tuesday that he’s the man to beat, gapping pre-race favorites Yaroslav Popovych

Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) sent another shot across the bow with a dramatic win in Tuesday’s Subida al Naranca one-day climbing race in northern Spain’s rugged Asturias region. Just days after sweeping to victory in the Clasica Alcobendas in the mountains north of Madrid last weekend, the Basque rider punched the accelerator with 2km to go to drop the bunch on the short, but steep climb. In further proof that the Alpe d’Huez stage-winner from last year’s Tour de France is hitting some fine early season form, Mayo set a new record up the 5.2km climb to the Naranco summit, covering the distance

Let’s set the stage. Gilberto Simoni, a former winner and climbing specialist of the Saeco Team had already said that he intended to make his first mark on the Giro on this stage. He began the day wanting to put some time between himself and the man in the leader’s jersey, Bradley McGee (FDJeux) and more importantly, his closest rivals. Now McGee is a flatlander and pursuiter, who is a respectable climber, but no specialist and was not expected to challenge on a day with a long difficult climb to the finish. Of course, Simoni had a host of other climbers to contend with, including the

The Saeco team knew it had a real talent on its hands this spring when Damiano Cunego scored a string of wins - five over the course of just 10 days - leading up to the Giro d'Italia. Last Friday, just before the start of Italy's national tour, the team added another two years to the young rider's contract and just in time, too. The 22-year-old from Verona scored on Monday what will surely be the first of a string of grand tour stage wins in coming years, as he edged Brad McGee in a sprint into Pontremoli. The day's 184-kilometer stage began in Novi Liguri, not far from Castellania, the

Tim Johnson (Saunier Duval) gets back into action this week with two races in Spain. The American was hoping to earn a start in the Giro d’Italia, but flu then a rotten stomach in March delayed his preparation by nearly a month. “Having a bad month in the lead-up like that set me back. To start a grand tour when you’re not exactly as strong as you need to be is almost worse,” Johnson told VeloNews. “I wish I were doing it, but I almost know enough to be smart. Going when you’re not ready it could screw up your whole season.” Instead, he’ll be racing at the Subida al Naranco on Tuesday and

Okay, so it didn’t go so great today. I mean I sort of knew that this was going to be a tough one, but I figured I might last a bit longer than I did. I knew this day was going to come… it’s just a little hard to take. I’ve been feeling pretty good up until now, but, to be honest, I was in grovel mode pretty much after the first climb started. It was pretty hard today and I wasn’t too happy with how things went, but that’s normally the case for me on the first day into the mountains… it’s just at this tour, the climbing kicked in a bit earlier than usual. We’d been talking about getting

Alessandro Petacchi picked up right where he left off last season, winning the first grand tour sprint finish of the year and setting himself up for a repeat of his spectacular record-setting 2003 season when he earned at least three stage victories in each of the three grand tours. The first road stage of the Giro d’Italia covered 143 stunningly beautiful kilometers between Genoa and the truffle capital of Alba. While the peloton took a moderate approach to the opening kilometers of the stage, a great deal of intensity was reserved for a hard-fought touch-and-go sprint battle between

It was a chaotic day… pretty much like every first stage in a big tour. You’ve probably already read about the way today’s stage went and, as you know, the day started out at a very easy pace and just got faster and faster and faster as we got closer to Alba. At least for me, it wasn’t exactly the best course on which to start a three-week tour. I mean I do feel good – actually really good – on the road right now. It’s just that on a three-week tour it always takes me at least a day or two to get into the rhythm of it. In the big tours, the final 10 or 15km are just so much faster than

The fast men had their day in the sun on Saturday during the prologue of the 87th Giro d’Italia as, one at a time, 169 riders from 19 teams fought for the right to wear the leader’s pink jersey going into Sunday’s first stage. Bradley McGee (FDJeux.com), who won the prologue in the 2003 Tour de France, had been widely favored in the short, technical 6.9km race. Other hopefuls included Tomas Vaitkus (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago), Magnus Backstedt (Alessio–Bianchi), Rubens Bertogliati (Lampre), Florent Brard (Chocolade Jacques), and the elder statesman of speed, Mario Cipollini (Domina

1. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saeco2. Leonardo Bertagnolli (I), Saeco3. Damiano Cunego (I), Saeco4. Paolo Fornaciari (I), Saeco5. Eddy Mazzoleni (I), Saeco6. Alessandro Spezialetti (I), Saeco7. Gorazd Stangelj (Slo), Saeco8. Sylvester Szmyd (Pol), Saeco9. Andrea Tonti (I), Saeco11. Ruggero Marzoli (I), Acqua & Sapone 12. Andrea Ferrigato (I), Acqua & Sapone 13. Rinaldo Nocentini (I), Acqua & Sapone 14. Bo Hamburger (Dk), Acqua & Sapone 15. Crescenzo D'Amore (I), Acqua & Sapone 16. Fred Rodriguez (USA), Acqua & Sapone 17. Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr), Acqua & Sapone 18. Ondrej Sosenka (Cz), Acqua & Sapone

As the 87th Giro d’Italia got under way, Saeco announced that it has signed Damiano Cunego for 2005-06 and given him a raise “reflecting the value of the rider and the results he has already obtained.” "Damiano Cunego has again his seriousness and maturity and has rightly valued the way we have helped him develop and improved in our team,” team manager Claudio Corti said. "The agreement will guarantee this development in the next few years and should give us both a successful and important future.” "Obviously I’m very happy,” Cunego said after signing his new contract. "I know I’ve made the

Nicole Freedman, the 2000 U.S. national road champion and Sydney U.S. Olympic team member, filed an appeal Saturday against the UCI with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The appeal takes issue with the Team Basis rider’s latest UCI ranking, which in effect prevents Israel from sending anyone to the elite women's road race in the Athens Olympic Games this August. Freedman, who holds dual citizenship with Israel and the United States, says her UCI point total is off by three. According to UCI Olympic rules, since Israel is ranked outside of the top 21 nations in the world for

Well, here we go. This is the first big race I’ve done after Paris-Roubaix, and despite the fact that I’ve done the Giro d’Italia before, this time it’s all new to me. It’s just been a pretty strange time, these last few weeks, leading up to the Giro. Winning something like Paris-Roubaix really does a job on your life (see "Backstedt a big surprise at Paris-Roubaix"). For one thing, people are actually paying attention to me when I’m just doing little things like warming up for the prologue. That never really happened before. Today, media were constantly coming by to ask questions, others

Brad McGee (FDJeux.com), winner of the prologue in last year’s Tour de France, added the Giro d’Italia prologue to his palmares in Genoa on Saturday. The 28-year-old Australian won the difficult 6.9km prologue through the streets of this city and donned the overall leader's maglia rosa, finishing10 seconds faster than Germany's Olaf Pollack (Gerolsteiner) and 20 seconds up on Yaroslav Popovych (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago). It wasn’t exactly a ride in the park for the young Aussie. McGee said he banged his left knee against the frame of his bike when he braked hard to avoid hitting spectators

This story appears in the current issue of VeloNewsAFTER A COUPLE of rough-and-tumble years that included doping scandals, challenges from the Vuelta a España and snubs from Tour de France stars, the Giro d’Italia seems poised toreclaim its rightful position as one of cycling’s legendary events.Following an exciting 2003 edition that saw Gilberto Simoni return todominance over a strong field, the 87th Giro will cover a balanced 20-stage,3435km route that has only three summit finishes during its May 8-30 run,yet contains more climbing than last year’s race (61,000 feet versus 57,000).And with