Road

Bulgarian Plamen Stoianov (Big Mat) endured the heat, a crash and a string of attacks to win the mass gallop in Monday’s 198km first stage of the 55th Criterium du Dauphine Libere. Temperatures soared into the 90s as the peloton drove south out of the mountains near Grenoble into Vaison La Romaine, a quaint Provencal village nestled at the base of Mont Ventoux. Riders went down on a sharp corner just 300 meters from the finish line, cutting the peloton as the bunch came in for the sprint. “I came through clear from the crash and was in good position,” said Stoianov, who raced with Mercury

SUNDAY: It’s been over a month since my last race, so it’s good to be getting back to business. However, I’m not sure I’ll be riding at the level I was at Liege-Bastogne-Liege or the Tour of Romandie this week. But that’s okay; my goals aren’t quite the same here at the Dauphine-Libere. When the first leg of the season came to a close in early May, I took a week long break from the bike to allow my body a little time to recuperate. After the down time, I started training specifically for the Tour de France. The goal being, to allow my body to recover and to slowly rebuild my strength in a

On the biggest single day of racing in the U.S., the Europeans may have slowed the Saturn train a bit, with Saeco’s Stefano Zanini winning the Wachovia USPRO Championship in a field sprint, but Saturn still took home the stars-and-stripes jersey, with 10-year Saturn veteran Mark McCormack earning the right to wear the American champion’s jersey for the next year. It was a somewhat unexpected ending to a day in Philadelphia that early on began to unfold like recent editions of the race. Of the European teams, CSC was pegged as the favorite, after Jakob Piil and Julian Dean winning Lancaster

Euskaltel's Iban Mayo held off a bunch of favorites including Lance Armstrong to win the prologue time trial of the Dauphine Libere race in Villard-De-Lans, France on Sunday. Mayo, one of the up and coming riders from Spain, dons the race leader's jersey after the short 5.1km ride. The Dauphine, long regarded as a prime warm-up for the Tour de France, ends next Sunday. Prologue results(Click here for FullResults)1. Iban Mayo (SPA), at 0:Euskaltel 8:442. David Millar (GBR), at 0:053. Lance Armstrong (USA), at 0:114. Alberto Lopez de Munain (SPA), at 0:145. Francisco Mancebo (SPA), at 0:156.

Like all streaks, it had to come to an end sometime. Since 1997, German Petra Rossner has held a virtual monopoly on the Wachovia Liberty Classic, the 56 mile former World Cup run concurrently with the USPRO men’s championship in Philadelphia. This year, it was not to be, as Rossner, riding for Equipe Nürnberger this year after five years with Saturn, faced stiff competition from her former team as well as the all-American T-Mobile squad. After a year away from the Saturn squad, Lynne Bessette returned home to end her former teammate’s reign and continued Saturn’s, jumping away from three

Jose Azevedo (ONCE-Eroski) claimed Saturday's fifth stage of the Tour of Germany to capture the overall lead in the seven-day race. The Portuguese rider beat teammate Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, last year's winner, at the end of the day's bumpy, 191km ride from Ravensburg, at the foot of the German Alps, to Feldberg, in the Black Forest. The two finished in the same time. Spain's Isidro Nozal Vega and German Joerg Jaksche came third and fourth, 24 and 25 seconds back, to give ONCE four of the top five places. Azevedo takes over from Swiss Gregory Rast at the top of the overall standings,

Rain poured down on Philadelphia on Saturday, putting a damper on the pre-race festivities at the Wachovia USPRO Championship, but rain or shine, Sunday’s race promises to be just as much of a classic as any of the previous 18 editions. As always, the U.S. professional teams have brought out their "A" squads, and they will be tested by six European teams intent on winning the most prestigious race in America. Heading the list of contenders will be the Danish CSC team, which won both of the lead-up events to USPRO, with Jakob Piil winning in Lancaster on Tuesday and Julian Dean taking a

Saturn’s Sarah Uhl and Prime Alliance’s Jame Carney were the stars of the show Friday as the Nicole Reinhart Women's Cycling Classic came to the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. The event was held in memoriam of Saturn cyclist Nicole Reinhart, who died after a crash in September 2000 at the BMC Tour of Boston. Uhl won the keirin, the points race and the 3-mile race, the first track-cycling event to offer National Racing Calendar points. In men's racing, Carney took the points race and the keirin, but came up short in the miss-and-out, where he finished third behind

The Tour de Montréal, a three-day, four-stage event, started in Lachine, the hometown of Geneviève Jeanson, with a short, windy prologue. As we all finished, we all received cheers, but the crowd was by far the loudest when she came through with the winning time. She smoked us all, but we were not too worried, as the time gaps were small. After the prologue, the race moved to “Little Italy” in the evening, where we pedaled past the Madonna Della Defesa (Our Lady of Protection) cathedral. This church was built and named to commemorate a miracle said to have occurred in 1898 in Casacalenda,

Two cycling team managers, one of whom works with the team of Yaroslav Popovych, third in this year's Giro d'Italia, were being held under house arrest Thursday as police continue a widespread doping investigation in Brescia, Italy. Olivano Locatelli and William Dazzani are suspected of buying and selling illicit substances for riders, according to Brescia magistrates at a press conference. Locatelli, 47, has resigned his position as manager with the Belgian outfit Landbouwkrediet, while Dazzani runs the women's squad Team 2002. The revelations will prove damaging for the Belgian team,

In a last-minute compromise in the ongoing legal battle between the promoters of Sunday’s Wachovia USPRO Championship and Health Net’s Canadian sprint ace, Gord Fraser, Threshold Sports has extended an invitation to the team’s American riders. The Health Net squad had been formally uninvited to the Philadelphia race, as well as to other races promoted by Threshold Sport, six weeks ago when team officials objected to a request that they not bring Fraser to any of the Threshold races. Fraser is currently embroiled in a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Threshold resulting from a canceled

It struck me as I sat on top of the world. Well, at least the top of the world according to San Bernardino, California. You see, I had positioned myself at the top of the cross-country course at Big Bear a few weeks ago on a technological mission. I wanted to take count of exactly how many riders would actually use their fork lock-out. A nit-picky mission at best, but with all the talk of suspension efficiency, I wanted to see which riders cared enough to take the time to "flip the switch." My very informal results were very surprising, to say the least. As the lead breakaway pack crested

The CSC squad made it two-for-two at the Wachovia Cycling Series on Thursday, setting up the race for Julian Dean to take a sprint finish ahead of Navigators’ Oleg Grichkine and Saturn’s Viktor Rapinski, and now the Danish squad will have its sights set on Philadelphia’s USPRO Championship and a Wachovia sweep on Sunday. CSC had set the tone for the week with a strong performance in the opener in Lancaster, and the tune kept playing on the fast streets of Trenton. After Jakob Piil’s win at Lancaster, other teams were tipping their hats to CSC, which had both the strength and the numbers in

Former mountain-bike world champion Michael Rasmussen is now firmly entrenched on the road. Last season, he rode in support of Tyler Hamilton’s second-place finish at the Giro d’Italia and won a difficult mountain stage at the Tour of Burgos in August. The Dane penned a two-year deal to join Rabobank and has eyes of making the 2003 Tour de France team and lending help to another American – this time Levi Leipheimer. Unfortunately for Rasmussen, he crashed during a team training camp in May and broke his hand, throwing in doubt his start for July’s Tour de France. VeloNews European

For the second week running, Australian Andy Graham absolutely owned theWednesday Worlds circuit race in downtown Denver, Colorado. Over 100 riderslined up on a drizzly, cold evening to decide who would be the championfor this, the second edition of the 2003 Wednesday Worlds.The women’s turnout was dismal, but a few brave souls jumped in themen’s races, getting some valuable mid-week training around the enormousInvesco Field at Mile High. T-Mobile’s Lara Kroepsch stayed in the men’smasters race, then lasted a few laps in the pro-I-II race.“It’s gonna be a hard,” she said just before the start

A two-man breakaway slipped away from the grip of the peloton in the Tour of Germany and ended up with the stage-win and the race leader’s jersey in the 183km second stage. Gerben Löwik (Bankgiroloterij) won the stage, finishing just one second ahead of Gregory Rast (Phonak). Rast jumped into the overall lead, moving more than two minutes ahead of Erik Zabel (Telekom), the winner of Tuesday’s first stage. The German tour continues Thursday with the 188km third stage from Coburg to Ansbach. Tour of Germany (UCI 2.2)Stage 2, Altenburg to Kronach, 183km1. Gerben Löwik (Ned), Bankgiroloterij,

It’s been a good week so far for Threshold Sports and the Pro Cycling Tour, with the renamed Wachovia Cycling Series kicking into high gear and the announcement of a million-dollar triple crown prize linking together the PCT events in Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco. At the same time, however, Threshold and CEO Dave Chauner have had to deal with details of Gord Fraser’s lawsuit against Threshold, BMC Software and USA Cycling, and the subsequent disinvitation of Fraser’s Health Net team from the Wachovia Series, all going public as the week kicked off. On Wednesday, Chauner spoke

World Cup leader Nicole Cooke was knocked out of the Tour de Grande Montreal on Tuesday after colliding with a motorcycle. The 20-year-old Welsh cyclist suffered a seven-stitch gash on her knee and a bruised shoulder after slamming into a parked motorbike during the third stage of the Tour de Grande Montreal. She is expected to be out for 10 days. "My arm was hurting so much, I thought it was broken," said Cooke. Cooke was taken to hospital but X-rays showed no broken bones. The motorcycle belonged to a race official who was monitoring the progress of the riders, said race spokesperson

Dear Lennard Zinn;I am looking for a recommendation for a good chain to use with a '95 Campy Chorus 8-speed EXA-Drive system. The cassette and chainrings are previously unridden, but a new SRAM PC-58, which I believe is intended to be an 8-speed chain, runs a little rough. Any better suggestion? --Bill Veihmeyer Dear Bill;I have found that 8-speed Shimano chains always worked great on that system. --Lennard A mystery skipDear Lennard;I have Campy record 10-speed on two of my bikes, the chain started skipping on one of them, so I figured it was the cog set, I put that same wheel on the

Telekom's Erik Zabel won the opening stage of the Tour of Germany on a day overshadowed by the death of 23-year-old French rider Fabrice Salanson, who was found dead in his hotel room before the start (see story below). Salanson's Brioches la Boulangere team opted not to start Tuesday's 184km stage, but the race continued as planned. Zabel won ahead of Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole) and Gerrit Glomser (Saeco) to grab the bunch sprint and take the overall lead. Jan Ullrich finished 23rd safely in the main bunch. The German tour continues Wednesday with the 183km second stage from Altenburg

The U.S. Pro Cycling Tour is offering a one million dollar prize to the athlete able to win American cycling's version of horse racing's Triple Crown, USA Today reported on Tuesday.To win the bonus, a rider must win Sunday’s USPRO championship in Philadelphia, the New York City Cycling Championship on August 3 and the San Francisco Grand Prix on September 14."We know the one million will guarantee some excitement," said PCT chairman Dave Chauner. "This will help define the sport in the U.S."This is not the first time a million dollar bonus was offered. In 1993, the Thrift Drug series went to

The 2003 Wachovia Cycling Series kicked off Tuesday on a rainy evening in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the Danish CSC squad quickly served notice that it would be a force to be reckoned with at the three-race East Coast series. After dominating the numbers game in the main breakaway of the day, CSC sprung team leader Jakob Piil to a solo victory in downtown Lancaster. Piil, the winner of both Lancaster and the Philadelphia USPRO Championship in 1999, was just part of an all-out assault by the CSC squad, which squashed the hopes of the major American teams in Lancaster. One American teams

Tyler Hamilton had just finished riding to the top of grueling climb of Luz Ardiden, the summit finish for what will be Stage 15 in the Tour de France still nearly six weeks away, but he wasn’t done yet. Hamilton had already climbed the Col d’Aspin, a snowy and muddy Col du Tourmalet and then motor-paced up Luz Ardiden. But he wanted one more look at the final climb in what’s sure to be a decisive stage in the 2003 Tour. “I’ll race you down,” Hamilton says half-joking to Team CSC sports director Johnny Weltz. It was no contest. By the time Weltz and soigneur Josep Salgueda reached the

The 2003 Wachovia Cycling Series kicks off on Tuesday in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And while there are few certainties in bike racing, one thing you can be pretty sure of is that no matter how the race develops, Gord Fraser will not be winning it in a sprint - or in any other fashion, for that matter. Fraser also won't repeat his win from last year at the Wachovia event in Trenton, New Jersey, two days later. Nor will he - or any other member of the Health Net squad - be contesting the finish in Sunday's USPRO Championship in Philadelphia. No, Gord Fraser hasn't lost his finishing kick, and

The name may have changed but the Wachovia Cycling Series remains the sameas it ever was: the highest-profile week of racing on the U.S. domesticcalendar. Over the years, through two bank mergers, the title sponsor haschanged from CoreStates to First Union to Wachovia, but the three-raceseries has consistently been the biggest target of the season for the topU.S. pro teams. The series begins Tuesday evening in Lancaster, Pennsylvania,continues on Thursday in Trenton, New Jersey, and culminates Sunday inPhiladelphia with the USPRO Championships and the Liberty Classic women’srace. On Tuesday,

For nearly two weeks now, there has been little doubt who has been in charge of this Giro d’Italia. On Sunday, the man poised to ride into Milan to claim the final maglia rosa of this race would leave no one on the side of the road wondering just who the race leader might be. Wearing his pink jersey, astride a pink Cannondale, with pink Mavic wheels, Gilberto Simoni had plenty of room to spare as he left the starting gate of Sunday’s 33km time trial through the streets of Milan. By the time he arrived at the finish, the Saeco man had lost a bit of his eight-minute buffer, but easily took the

France still rules supreme when it comes to the downhill, although the names on the top step of the podium in Fort William were different from the usual ones. Anne-Caroline Chausson did not race, and Nicolas Vouilloz retired at the end of last year, but Cedric Gracia (Siemens Mobile Cannondale) and Celine Gros (Morzine Avoriaz) made sure that the French national anthem was playing after the first downhill World Cup. French riders went 1-2-3 in the women's race and 1-2 in the men's. Americans David Klaassenvanoorschot, Eric Carter, Todd Bosch and Todd Leduc finished 13th, 17th, 49th and

Telekom’s Cadel Evans has been forced to withdraw from the Tour de France after breaking his collarbone in a fall during a race in Germany, his team announced on its website on Sunday. The 26-year-old rider took a heavy fall in a race in Erfurt on Saturday and fractured his collarbone for the second time in six weeks. Evans, who was tipped as a contender for the leading places in July's Tour, had said earlier on Sunday that his chances of recovering from his latest fall in time for the big race in France were not good. "The chances of riding the Tour now are pretty slim because it took me

Team Bianchi said Marco Pantani won't be racing with them during July's Tour de France. The Pirate had hoped to join Bianchi to get into the Tour, but team officials shot down the notion this weekend. "There was never a meeting between the directors of Bianchi and the directors of Mercatone Uno to plan for the next Tour," Bianchi associate Felice Gimondi told Reuters. "There was only a meeting in view of a reunification in 2004-2005." The words come as a blow to Pantani, who desperately wants to get back to the Tour de France. Pantani's Mercatone Uno team is buried deep in the Division II

On a sunny, but windy, day, Prime Alliance’s Jonas Carney and Saturn’s Laura Van Gilder overcame 30-mile-per-hour gusts and formidable competition to claim the Clarendon Cup, the latest round of the National Racing Calendar. Van Gilder, known for her speed in bunch sprints, drew on some lesser known time trialing skills to solo away from the field early in the women’s race, despite strong and constantly shifting winds on the .6 mile course. Though Van Gilder is no breakaway artist, she could be comfortable knowing that if she faltered, Saturn had its bases covered with 2001 and 2002

Before traveling on Friday, I looked up the forecast for Montreal on weather.com. It said rain for the next seven days. I was pleasantly surprised by the sunshine that greeted me as I stepped off the plane and even more excited to wake up to sunshine for the race on Saturday. Each time I have competed in the MontrealWorld Cup, the crowd has grown. The Canadian fans are passionate and were lining the course today, cheering everyone – first to last- and yelling out the names of the home favorites – Genevieve Jeanson, Lyne Bessette and Manon Jutras. The energy on the course was

Saturn’s Charles Dionne and Velo Bella’s Lynn Gaggioli were victorious in the inaugural CapTech Classic Friday in Richmond, Virginia. The NRC event's four-corner, 0.9-mile downtown circuit was challenging, with nearly 100 feet of climbing per lap. The 22.5-mile women’s race boiled down to a two-woman battle between Saturn's Ina Teutenberg and Gaggioli, and with the German sprinter still weary from the 10-day Tour de L'Aude Feminin, which concluded last Sunday in France, it was Gaggioli - riding as a one-woman team, as usual - taking the win at the line The 45-mile men’s race was controlled

Telekom’s Santiago Botero won’t be defending his title at the Alps Classic or go up against Lance Armstrong in next week’s Dauphine Libere. Instead, the Colombian will be racing at the Tour of Germany and then the Tour of Catalunya as he prepares for the Tour de France. “It’s a shame because I would have preferred to have raced the Dauphine, but the team isn’t planning on going,” Botero told VeloNews. “The Cataluyna race is a good one, but the climbs aren’t quite as long as the Dauphine, which is better preparation for the Tour.” Botero won last year’s Alps Classic, beat Armstrong in the

With the 86th Giro d’Italia essentially a foregone conclusion, and most of the sprinters having been eliminated in Thursday’s giant mountain stage, stage 20 was a chance for the domestiques to shine. And at the finish, it was Giovanni Lombardi who outkicked three breakaway companions to seize another victory of opportunity, further distinguishing himself as one of the world’s shrewdest, fastest, and consequently most dangerous riders to have in a breakaway. The Italian with the broad, smiling face is normally the final leadout man in the Domina Vacanze train, charged with delivering Mario

Gunn-Rita Dahle (Merida) solidified her lead and Filip Meirhaeghe (Specialized) put himself back into contention at the Fort William UCI World Cup race Saturday in Scotland. Both riders took extremely hard-fought victories in front of nearly 6,000 spectators, under the most perfect conditions imaginable. Fort William, in the Scottish Highlands, held its first World Cup – a downhill/four cross – just last year. This year, the organizers added a cross country in the shadow of Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the United Kingdom. The 8.5km course, built by the Scottish Forestry Service at a

Geneviève Jeanson (Rona-Esker) showed once again why she is considered to be one of the best women cyclists in the world by decisively beating a world-class field at the Montréal World Cup on Saturday. British strongwoman Nicole Cooke (Ausra Gruodis-Safi) finished second to Jeanson and extended her overall lead in the World Cup. The 8.2km circuit around and up Mont Royal has been used repeatedly for some of the most celebrated races in cycling-the world championships (1974), the Olympics (1976) and multiple World Cups. This year, the women had to ride the 1.2km climb 12 times, with the

Saeco's Gilberto Simoni won one for himself today, punching the air to underscore the statement he had just made by launching the move that mattered during a final flurry of attacks in the Giro d’Italia’s 19th stage. "I did not plan on going for the stage win, but when the race exploded with 3km to go and everyone was attacking, I decided to give it everything I had to win,” Simoni said. “This win was for me, not for my team or my sponsors.” The Cascata del Toce was the longest stage of this year’s Giro, at 239km, ending with a hard climb to an awesomely powerful waterfall on the Toce

This is one of those days that they will be talking about for years to come. Sure, the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia had many of the elements in place before the start: the mountains, among them the Cima Coppi, marking the Giro's highest spot; the weather, with touches of wet snow marking the highest climbs and a contest that, despite the apparent dominance of a single rider, could still be altered on the 174 mountainous kilometers between Santuario DiVicoforte and Valle Varaita. But when you take the human element and throw it into the mix, well... suddenly you see why Thursday at the

Belgian Peter Van Petegem will skip July's Tour de France in order to focus on a run for the overall World Cup title. Van Petegem, a winner at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in April, will instead race in the Tour of Wallonne (July 28-Aug. 1) going into the second half of the World Cup series. Van Petegem has never won a Tour de France stage, but the World Cup title is too tempting. The Lotto-Domo rider has 200 points and holds a 70 point lead over second place Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) with Dario Pieri (Saeco) third in the series with 117 points. Tyler Hamilton (CSC), Alexandre

Dear Doc;I was recently diagnosed with pneumonia. I was pretty ill for a several days, including a 102-degree temperature, general aches and pains, a pulse of 80 (versus my normal resting pulse in the high 40's/low 50's) and some nasty stuff to hack up.A few days of antibiotics and a methylprednisolone [steroid]dose-pack have me on the mend.Given my schedule, my usual training session is short but intense. Now, I'm concerned with when and how hard I should resume training. Any advice would be helpful, Doc.Thanks,Hacking up phlegm in CTDear Hacker;In general, when you are sick, you should

Dear Monique;I know it is not great to try to lose weight and train hard right before a major event. However, does this make sense. My weight recently rose to about 10 pounds more than usual (about 15 pounds more than "race weight" for me, 6 feet, 165 lbs.) Exactly one month before running a marathon (on May 18) I put myself on a strict diet and have lost 7 pounds in two weeks.Though this may be fast weight loss, it seems reasonable to me. I am mainly losing, I think, from cutting out the beer, chocolate and pizza I had been eating over the past few months. I am now eating more fruit, more

Alessandro Petacchi showed once again that he is the man to beat in sprint stages at this Giro, even if he’s bruised, battered and bandaged from that fall in Sunday’s time trial. The big man from La Spezia got a great leadout by his Fassa Bortolo team and held off Lampre’s Jan Svorada for a tire-width win after the short, 117km run westward through the level Po valley. Despite the short, relatively flat stage, “Peta’” said it was far from easy for him. “It was another hard victory, because I am still in so much pain on my left side and it was so hot,” Petacchi said. “I am very fatigued

Images from Giro Stage 17 - May 28, 2003

Kelme’s Vicente Belda said Oscar Sevilla won’t know if he’ll race the Tour de France until the end of June. Sevilla has been dogged with problems following surgery this spring to remove a cyst in his groin area. Belda said Sevilla returned to racing too early, and after abandoning the Tour of Aragon, had to go under the knife yet again. Sevilla returned to racing at the Tour of Castilla y Leon last week and rode stronger, but still lacks racing miles. “At Castilla y Leon, he rode well even though he still hurts a little bit. This gives us optimism, but we’re still not sure about his

Tuesday is a rest day at the Giro d’Italia, a time for riders to recuperateas well as jawbone with each other and the media. VeloNews's Lennard Zinnis making the rounds and seeing what riders and teams have planned forthe final push to Milan, where the 86th edition of the Giro ends with anindividual time trial on Sunday.Simoni’s eating pizza, feeling good and thinking of FranceTo celebrate his good form and excellent positioning to take this Giroback home with him, Gilberto Simoni plans to go and eat a pizza."I have a strong desire to change the menu today," he says.Pizza is a variation from

Dear Lennard Zinn;I have the original Specialized version of the Hed 3, 3-spoke carbon fiber rear wheel. It is rear 700C tubular rim with a Regina 7-speed freewheel on a chrome-moly frame. The problem lies with the binding of the wheel when the quick release is clamped down. If the quick release is tightened so that the wheel does not move when jarred from the side, the wheel is very reluctant to spin, and you can feel the friction when the wheel is spun. When the quick release is loosened so that the wheel spins freely, the wheel is easily dislodged to the side. In fact, at Ironman Florida,

Seems like the whole staff from Avid (including the company's outspoken tech-savvy president Wayne Lumpkin) stopped by the office just a short time ago to go over the details of its anticipated Juicy 7 hydraulic disc brake. While still not 100 percent production ready (we're expecting the first production set in two weeks) Lumpkin wanted to make darn-sure we were fully up-to-speed on the details of the brake's design and features. Most importantly, Lumpkin went over the motivation behind and the use of the pad contact point adjustment dial. First off, Lumpkin was clear to point out that

With or without Mario Cipollini here, Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) is continuing his reign as the dominant sprinter of the Giro, despite being in the hospital for an evening following a hard crash in Sunday’s time trial. In the process, Petacchi taught a good lesson in courage in this most learned town, “the Cambridge of Italy,” Pavia. “I can’t believe I won; I couldn’t even walk after yesterday’s race,” said “Peta,” who finished dead last in the time trial and has now won his fifth stage the following day. “I thought I had broken my hip, and I didn’t even think I could

Navigator's Burke Swindlehurst and Becky Broeder (Intermountain) both held on through the final stage to take the overall titles in Montana's Ecology Center Classic on Monday. Ryan Guay and Joy Shaffer (Los Gatos) took the race's finale, a miss-and-out through the streets of Missoula. While a miss-and-out might be unusual in a stage race, organizers said the format has a lot of crowd appeal. The Navigators squad was at the head of the field throughout most of the men's race Monday, setting tempo for Swindlehurst, who had a 54-second lead going into the final stage over Colby Pearce

Memorial Day racing in the U.S. was highlighted by a pair of classic criteriums on the NRC calendar, the Tour of Somerville in Somerville, New Jersey, and the Quad Cities Criterium in Rock Island, Illinois. On a dismal day in New Jersey, Jonas Carney defended his title at the 60th Tour of Somerville, beating out Jittery Joe's Jeff Hopkins to take the Somerville crown for a fifth time. In the women's race, Saturn took a 1-2 sweep, with Sarah Uhl and last year's winner Laura Van Gilder beating out another former champion, Diet Rite's Tina Mayolo-Pic. Meanwhile, at the Quad Cities races,

This was supposed to be one of those days where we found out whether the 86th Giro d’Italia would continue to be a race or not, depending largely on whether Stefano Garzelli could take a minute or so out of the guy in the pink jersey. But rather than nip away at the lead of Gilberto Simoni, Garzelli – regarded as the superior time trialist of the two – actually lost to the Saeco rider in a 42.5km time trial from Merano to Bolzano. No, the Giro d’Italia is far from over, but it sure took a big step in that direction Sunday. Unlike a Tour de France contest between, say, Lance Armstrong and

Nurnberger's Judith Arndt wrapped up the Tour de l'Aude, Sunday as Saturn’s Ina Teutenberg put a strong exclamation point on the race after taking the final stage in Limoux on Sunday. Six riders chugged away from the main bunch early in the race and held the lead until three other riders bridged out on the final lap. There were several attacks in a frenetic charge to the line, Saturn's Teutenberg snuck ahead to win her second stage win of the race and the fourth for Team Saturn. It was a positive ending for the team, which also won the overall team competition and saw Lyne Bessette take

The Navigators’ Glen Mitchell and Suz Weldon (Ashmead College) took the third stage of Montana’s Ecology Classic near Missoula on Sunday. It was a day of racing that saw the scheduled fourth staged cancelled due to severe thunderstorms. Race leaders Burke Swindlehurst (Navigators) and Becky Broeder (Intermountain) held on to their positions as overall race leaders. While Mitchell and Weldon both won on Sunday’s technical, 8.3-mile time trial course, the two riders come from different ends of the spectrum in terms of experience. Mitchell, a two-time New Zealand national road champion,

World champion Gunn-Rita Dahle led her Merida team to a 1-2-3 finish in the opening round of the women's cross-country World Cup in St Wendel,Germany, while Christophe Sauser (Siemens Mobile Cannondale) surgically dissected the men's field to earn the right to don the blue Series leader jersey. Top North American finishers were Alison Dunlap (Luna) and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (RLX-Polo Sport), a distant 12th and 15th respectively. St Wendel, nestled among the rolling hills in the picturesque Saarsland region, just south of the Mosel River, is a regular stop on the World Cup circuit, with 2003

Laurent Brochard (Ag2r) outsprinted Colombian Felix Cardenas (Orbitel) to win the final stage of the Tour of Castilla y Leon on Saturday in a difficult mountain stage in Avila. Francisco Mancebo (iBanesto.com) scored his first victory of the season after finishing seventh at just three seconds back of the winning pair. Mancebo finished tied with teammate Denis Menchov, but gets the win based on stage placements after the pair won as part of the team time trial earlier in the week. The 182km stage featured three Category 1 and one Category 2 climbs, and Kelme’s Oscar Sevilla, still

Liza Rachetto (Intermountain) and the Navigators’ Jeff Louder won the second stage of the Montana Ecology Classic Saturday near Missoula, Montana on the demanding and tricky Perma road course. Rachetto’s teammate Becky Broeder and Louder’s fellow Navgator, Burke Swindlehurst, retained their overall leaders’ jerseys. The Perma course is demanding, due in great part to the two Category 3 climbs that are on this 89-kilometer circuit. The course offers a tricky run-in to the finish, which has in years past played a role in breaking the hearts of many would-be stage winners and general

Saeco’s Gilberto Simoni started Saturday’s decisive 14th stage decked out head to toe in pink, his helmet, socks and cycling shorts matching the maglia rosa he obviously has no intention of giving up. Simoni attacked with 5km to go on the steep, 8.8km climb to Alpe de Pampeago high in the Italian mountains to win his second stage in three days and extend his overall lead to 1:19 over second-placed Stefano Garzelli (Vini Caldirola-Sidermec). Simoni once again dropped his rivals on the steepest roads of the Giro d’Italia, and only Garzelli remains close enough to be a threat. Going into

The UCI has cleared the way for Jan Ullrich to race in July’s Tour de France. On Friday, the UCI officially approved the registration of Ullrich’s new team, Bianchi, and awarded the team Top Club status, essentially guaranteeing it a spot in the Tour. Bianchi stepped in after Team Coast was suspended May 9 after not paying riders' salaries. “As a result of this decision, Team Bianchi retains, as of today, all rights of participation to races on the international calendar, and rights in general linked to a Top Club status,” a UCI statement said. A decision on Bianchi’s status wasn’t

Race director Jean Marie Leblanc says the door is not completely shut on the prospect of reigning world champion Mario Cipollini riding in the 100th Tour de France. "The decision at the moment is not 100 percent 'no' to Cipollini," Leblanc said at a Tour de France sponsor's dinner near Marostica, where the 13th stage of the Giro d'Italia ended on Friday. Cipollini's Domina Vacanze team was not given one of the four wildcard spots in the sport's showpiece event which were announced on Monday, but Domina president Ernesto Preatoni had tried to persuade Tour organizers to include the team.

Friday’s calm after the storm at Monte Zoncolan served up another chance for Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) to strut his stuff. And strut he did in the 149km 13th stage from Pordenone to Marostica. With Mario Cipollini out of the Giro d’Italia with injuries after setting a new record with 42 career stage victories, it was up to Cipo’s heir apparent, Daniele Bennati, to make a run at derailing Petacchi. At just 22, Bennati is going to be very good someday. But Petacchi is already very good, and he proved it by outsprinting the young protégé to win for the fourth time in this year’s

Burke Swindlehurst (Navigators) and Becky Broeder (Intermountain Cycling Organization) won the first stage of Montana’s Ecology Center Classic Friday in a race that was cut short after support vehicles ran out of spare wheels. The 100-mile Pintler Road Race stage near Phillipsburg, Montana, about 40 miles southeast of Missoula, included a seven-mile stretch of newly graded gravel road called Rock Creek Road - and 25 wheel changes on that section alone, almost all the result of punctures. The race had been slated to cover Rock Creek Road once more, but after support vehicles for both the

Dutch rider Jans Koerts won Thursday's second stage of the Tour of Belgium, but the headlines tomorrow will be Axel Merckx taking the leader's jersey. Landbouwkrediet seemed to have the stage under control, in order to protect the lead of stage 1 winner Tom Steels. But once the race hit a finishing circuit in Knokke, riders began counter-attacking, including runs by Johan Museeuw (Quick Step), Geer Verheyen (Marlux) and Max Van Heeswijk (USPS). Merckx and Koerts finally escaped the grip of the peloton with 8km to go and quickly opened up a 20-second gap. Koerts gets the win, Merckx gets the

Italian Fabiana Luperini (Aurora RSM) outkicked Nathalia Boyarskaya of the Russian national team in stage 6 of the Tour de l’Aude Feminin, while Saturn’s Lyne Bessette collected her second leader’s jersey with a little help from her team. Luperini and Boyarskaya got away 76km into the 115km circuit race around Castelnaudary, on the Fanjeaux climb, and since neither was a threat to Bissette, Saturn couldn’t have been happier, according to assistant general manager Giana Roberge. “Riding tempo and looking after Bessette's safety, Ina Teutenberg, Katie Mactier and Manon Jutras spent the

Gilberto Simoni delivered on his promise to be the main protagonist up Monte Zoncolan, winning Thursday’s 12th stage in the epic shootout between the stars to tighten his grip on the overall lead. The Saeco rider attacked with 3km to go from the menacing summit. The Giro’s strongest men were trading shots on the steepest road in Italy and the tifosi were eating it up. Simoni hoped for more, but he finished 34 seconds ahead of pesky Stefano Garzelli (Caldirola-Sidermec) and Francesco Casagrande, who came across third at 39 seconds in arrears. The win consolidates Simoni’s hold on the

Thursday’s elite national road championships in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, saw a continuation of the T-Mobile dominance on the women’s side with Amber Neben leading a 1-2-3 sweep by the women’s national team. In the men’s race, Mike Voight brought home the first-ever elite national road champion’s jersey for the longtime East Coast regional powerhouse Snow Valley team, after an epic day of racing that ended in the rain after five hours in the saddle. The brutal 28-mile course beginning and ending in the Seven Springs ski resort featured a wide variety of climbs, from short, steep power

In contrast to the broad, sweeping curves of last Saturday’s Terminillo climb, the road ascending to Thursday’s stage 12 finish on Monte Zoncolan is narrow and twisty. This mountain in the remote northeast of Italy, close to the Austrian border, has never been raced up before, so the field will literally be riding into the unknown. The race reaches the base of the climb at Sútrio after already crossing the flank of the mountain on a 6km uphill, followed by a sharp descent to the valley at 1750 feet elevation. The ascent to the finish is 13.3km long (half a kilometer shorter than the Tour de

The U.S. Military National Cycling Championships are under way in Pennsylvania - but with America’s armed forces otherwise occupied in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, is anyone wearing Lycra instead of desert camo’? The 2002 road-race champ, Mike Easter, isn’t defending his crown this year, according to Debra Ponzio, the U.S. armed forces liaison to USA Cycling. Happily, it’s not because he’s somewhere getting shot at - it’s just because the Marine lieutenant separated from the Corps last fall. One of last year’s medalists is overseas, Ponzio says. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jim Sharp, who took

Saturn’s Lyne Bessette seized the lead in the Tour de l'Aude Féminin Wednesday after finishing fifth in stage 5, a 31.5km time trial in Caustenaldry. “As the times came in it was clear that Sara Carrigan would be the time to beat,” said Saturn’s Giana Roberge. Indeed, at the halfway mark, the Bik Powerplate rider was 1:20 faster than her closest competitor, and Carrigan would win the stage in 45:19, 43 seconds ahead of Olivia Gollan (Australian National) and a further four seconds up on Judith Arndt (Nurnberger Versicherung). Bessette, meanwhile, began the day just nine seconds behind race

There's never an easy day in the Giro d'Italia. Wednesday's 222km dead-flat stage from Faenza to San Dona Di Piave was supposed to be a relatively light day in the saddle before Thursday's difficult stage to Monte Zoncolan. Bad weather and a poorly designed finish with a left turn just 160 meters from the finish line served up a messy conclusion for the 11th stage, with Mario Cipollini (Domina Vacanze) crashing out after Kelme's Isaac Galvez slid into him. Cipollini was later transported to a local hospital for X-rays on his left shoulder, which he was cradling after the spill. No word yet

Eating and drinking properly in the hours before training and racing offer several advantages, from topping off your liver and muscle glycogen levels to minimizing the onset of dehydration. And working out your race-day nutritional strategies in the course of your daily training — what, how much and when to eat — will spare you some unpleasant surprises on the race course. “It is not a good idea to start with too much in the stomach, as it tends to come right back up with a hard effort on the bike,” says U.S. Postal pro Michael Barry. “I generally eat three hours before the start. I try and