Road

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

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

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,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Images from Giro Stage 17 - May 28, 2003

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

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

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

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

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,

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,

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

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,

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Domina Vacanze team owner Ernesto Preatori says he's trying to convince Tour de France organizer Jean-Marie Leblanc to include Mario Cipollini in July's race by adding a 23rd team to the peloton. "I think we've got less than a 50 percent chance of getting a place but I'm optimistic and think our chances are increasing," he told Eurosport. "I'm doing everything I can." UCI president Hein Verbruggen and Leblanc are reportedly set to meet to Friday to discuss several issues, including the international outcry at Domina Vacanze's exclusion from four wild-card bids that were announced

It’s a story we’ve seen in the U.S. all season long: the complete and total domination of the podium by a single team uniform. But no, this time it wasn’t the yellow-and-red of the Saturn men sweeping the top spots. On Wednesday, the all-American T-Mobile squad took the top five places at the elite time trial national championships, with two-time defending champion Kimberly Bruckner leading the charge. The Saturn men, meanwhile, were denied the top spot at the awards ceremony, as Navigators’ Chris Baldwin had a breakthrough victory, beating Saturn phenom Tom Danielson by 42 seconds. On a

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

I just got back in from Team Big Bear's 15th consecutive National Points Series race. And if you've been following Jason Sumner's online race reports, you know the weekend was full of extremely high-highs (a bevy of fresh faces on the podium) and devastating lows (namely the tragic death of Japanese downhiller Haruko Fujinaka). One event that took place over the weekend that Jason didn't get a chance to write about was the much-vaunted "Super D" downhill held late Saturday afternoon. The event was conceived three years ago by promoters Pat Follet and Tom Spiegel after they saw the need to

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

Saeco’s Gilberto Simoni wrestled the maglia rosa from Stefano Garzelli after a daring attack in a dramatic shoot-out Tuesday between the Giro d’Italia’s two strongest riders. Simoni jumped hard on a steep but unrated climb 40km from the finish in the difficult, four-climb 202km 10th stage from Montecatini Terme to Faenza. Simoni took an 8-second time bonus after finishing third behind winner Kurt Asle Arvensen (Team fakta) to erase a 31-second deficit to move two seconds ahead of Garzelli. With Thursday’s difficult climbing stage to Monte Zoncolan on the horizon, Simoni took the race into

Dear Lennard,I've seen recent photos of Tyler's TT bike he used in the prologueat the Tour of Romandie and I noticed he had three shifters mounted tohis bars.He had bar-end shifters on his aero bar, and a Dura-Ace STI shifteron the right side of his bullhorn bar. Is it actually possible to threadtwo shifters into the same rear derailleur, and if so, what would the advantagebe even on what was described as a technical course? Of course he did revert back to a traditional brake on the right sidefor the final TT, so maybe CSC needed a replacement lever and didn't haveone other than the STI?

Breaking the all-time Giro d’Italia stage win record couldn’t ease the disappointment Mario Cipollini felt after being snubbed by Tour de France officials Monday. “I want to speak to Tour boss Jean-Marie Leblanc face to face to find out why he didn’t invite me to the Tour de France,” Cipollini told Reuters. “I spoke to him on the telephone in March and he told me that if I wanted to ride the Tour and if I was competitive he’d be happy to (give) my team a place. I think I’ve been competitive but now he has changed his mind. “I’ve heard the reasons he has given for not inviting me and my team

Coming into the finishing stretch of Stage 9 of the Giro d'Italia, MarioCipollini drove all of his frustration and anger into his pedals as henegotiated the narrow streets of Montecatini Terme Monday afternoon. No one was going to beat him. Not Robbie McEwen, not AlessandoPetacchi and certainly not that Frenchman in Paris, who just hours earlier had once again denied the world champion a spot in the Tour de France. In an angry gesture against his Tour snub, Cipollini won his secondconsecutive stage and established a new mark with 42 career Giro d’Italiavictories. “What motivated me last

In the real world, the choice would have been simple. Do you select a second-rate team with no stand-out riders to start the world’s most important event instead of a squad that’s led by the reigning world champion? Do you select a team that has an outside chance of winning a stage instead of one that will almost guarantee a bunch of victories, along with a likely yellow jersey? The answer doesn’t need to be spelled out. Mario Cipollini’s Domina Vacanze squad should have been a shoo-in; the Frenchmen from Jean Delatour should have been given the boot. And after selecting The French team,

It was bound to happen sooner or later, and on Sunday in Big Bear Lake, California, it finally did. After combining for 20 straight wins on the NORBA national championship series circuit, neither Roland Green or Ryder Hesjedal had the guns to stay with Jose Adrian Bonilla, as the Costa Rican grabbed the first NCS win of his career with a victory in the short track. In the women’s race it was another first-timer, Trek-Volkswagen’s Sue Haywood, who beat back the challenge of fellow American Alison Dunlap. Bonilla’s win came courtesy of a perfectly timed attack with 2 laps to go in the

Quick, in the long illustrious mountain-bike racing career of Eric Carter, how many big-time downhill races has the American won? Got your answer? Well if you said anything but zero before this weekend, you would have been wrong. But Carter changed that on the steep slopes of Snow Summit Resort on Sunday, earning the first major downhill victory of his career. In doing so the Hyundai-Mongoose rider ended a long slump for U.S. riders that dated back to Myles Rockwell's win at the 2000 world championships. The last NORBA DH win for an American male was at round No. 2 in 2000 (also

Teams are holding their collective breath going into Monday’s announcement of the final four teams to race in July’s Tour de France. Several teams are on the bubble to be selected by the Societe du Tour de France for the four wild-card invitations to join 18 other teams already lined up for the July 5 start of the centenary Tour. One of the major question marks is the status of 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich and his now defunct Team Coast, which was suspended two weeks ago by the UCI for not paying riders’ salaries. Bike manufacturer Bianchi stepped forward last week to take over sponsorship

David Clinger and his Prime Alliance team fended off a day of attacks and other pressure to hold on to the overall lead as the inaugural Tour of Connecticut wrapped up with the Houstonic Valley Classic on Sunday. On paper, this wasn’t a day that was supposed favor the sprinters. Nope, Danbury’s Housatonic Valley road course, with its rolling terrain and formidable length shouldn’t have podium that looks like the winners’ list at a typical criterium. Still, the sprinters shined in both the men’s and women’s events Sunday with Russian Vassili Davidenko (Navigators) repeating his win of a year

World champion Mario Cipollini did Sunday what everyone expected him to do last weekend: win a stage at the Giro d'Italia and equal the 41-win record held by the late Alfredo Binda. In Sunday's eighth stage, Cipollini shook a monkey off his back that, to some, seemed to be quickly growing into a gorilla after he failed to win a stage in six consecutive sprints that opened the 86th Giro. Domina Vacanze's zebras shot the 36-year-old toward the line and this time no one beat him to the tape. Lotto-Domo's Robbie McEwen took second while three-stage winner Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo)

With the Big Bear cross-country course offering predominantly dry, fast fireroad conditions, it was no surprise that most of pro men chose to run hardtail rigs. In fact, a straw poll of the top-20 call-ups revealed 17 hardtails and only three full-suspension rigs (two Giant NRS's and one Specialized Epic). Coincidence or not, both the Giant and Specialized pro teams mandate that their riders ride full-suspension technology–like it or not. By the end of the race, the winner and top nine finishers rolled across the line on hardtails. Full suspension was nowhere to be found. And while the

Germany’s Steffen Wesemann won the Peace Race for the fifth time of his career after finishing safely in the lead bunch in Saturday’s final stage. Wesemann won one stage and broke apart the race when he attacked with defending Ondrej Sosenka in stage 4. Sosenka won the stage, but Wesemann grabbed the lead. He never let go and even widened his gap in Friday’s difficult climbing stage. Saturday’s 160km flat stage from Bad Elster to Erfurt offered little chance to shake up the overall standings. Italian rider Enrico Degano (Mercatone Uno) won ahead of Rene Hasselbacher (Gerolsteiner) while

This time, it was revenge for Stefano Garzelli. A year after his days in the Giro d’Italia were numbered because of a positive doping test, Garzelli returned to the top of the mountain in Saturday’s 146km stage to Terminillo. The 2000 champion is back in the pink jersey after an emotional victory ahead of Saeco’s Gilberto Simoni in the Giro’s first mountain stage, which saw the chances for many pre-race favorites fade to black. “It was a great stage for me and a very special day,” said Garzelli after racking up his second stage win in a week. “Exactly one year ago I won the stage to Limone

On a perfect blue-sky day in Southern California, Canadian Ryder Hesjedal and American Alison Dunlap each took wins at the NORBA NCS season opener at Snow Summit Resort. Hesjedal’s triumph brought an end to the seven-race win streak of fellow Canadian Roland Green, who hadn’t lost an NCS cross-country since he was a no show at race No. 3 in 2001. Green, still suffering the effects of a bad crash at the Tour de Georgia, did not finish Saturday’s race. But while Hesjedal’s win ended Green’s streak, it kept alive the run of consecutive NORBA victories the pair of training partners have strung

For the first eight of the 15 laps in Saturday’s Waterbury Circuit Race in Waterbury, Connecticut, it looked like racing as usual on the men’s pro circuit. That is, Saturn’s Chris Horner was dancing all over the field on a brutal course that saw an attrition rate of nearly 75 percent. But in the end, a potent combination of patience and strength finally paid off for Prime Alliance, the team that has spent the better part of the past three months watching Horner and his Saturn teammates ride away from them. David Clinger (Prime Alliance) sprung loose from the dwindling pack on lap 12 and