Steve Tilford collected his fifth cyclocross national championship on Friday at wind-whipped, mud-spattered Wyandotte County Park in Kansas City, Kansas. The KCCX-Verge-Eriksen Cycles rider won the masters 45-49 race in 43:03, nearly two minutes ahead of Kevin Hines, with another veteran ’crosser — two-time masters national champion Gunnar Shogren (Fort Factory Team) — taking third at 4:03 back.
Like Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador, Trek Bicycles has chosen to stick with Johan Bruyneel and join the Astana team. The Wisconsin-based manufacturer will become the team’s official bicycle supplier on January 1, 2008. Trek Travel will also partner with Astana, offering behind-the-scenes access to the team. SRAM announced its sponsorship of Astana on November 25.
The Milan show had a lot more to offer than I could cover in the brief column I posted last week. Here are few more items from the trade show that celebrates both the technology and style of some of Italy's most respected bicycle companies. 1988 World Champion Maurizio Fondriest’s face, half of which is made of components, graces the booth promoting the bikes that bear his name.
Men's 200-meter sprintDutchman Theo Bos easily beat Frenchman Mickael Bourgain 2-0 to take gold in the men’s sprint at the second stop of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics that concluded Sunday. In both finals heats Bos overtook Bourgain on the final straightaway, winning each time by less than half a wheel length. After the second heat the reigning world sprint champion pulled off his helmet and sunglasses, then raised his arms in triumph, acknowledging the crowd at Beijing’s Laoshan Velodrome. In the bronze medal round German Stefan Nimke defeated France’s Kevin Sireau
American Michael Friedman won the men’s scratch race on Saturday at the UCI Track World Cup Classics in Beijing, China. Friedman beat Walter Fernando Perez of Argentina and Tim Mertens of Belgium to score the second U.S. medal of the meet. On Friday, Sarah Hammer rode to the bronze in the women’s individual pursuit. In other racing, Great Britain collected two medals, winning the team pursuit and the keirin with Chris Hoy. France scored thrice, with Francois Pervis winning the kilometer time trial, Arnaud Tournant placing second in the keirin and Sandie Clair and Clara Sanchez claiming
American Sarah Hammer rode to a bronze medal in the individual pursuit as the second round of the UCI Track World Cup Classics series opened Friday in Beijing. Australian Katie Mactier took the gold with Britain’s Rebecca Romero second. In men’s racing, Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain took the individual pursuit ahead of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Dyudya with Russian Alexander Serov winning the bronze-medal round against American Taylor Phinney. Wiggins, the reigning Olympic and world champion, made a late-race comeback to take the gold. Dyudya led at the 2000- and 3000-meter marks, but Wiggins
Due to having my computer stolen and losing a ton of information, photos, time and momentum, I had not yet posted anything about last month's Milan bike show. Scheduled in early November, its relevance as an important international bike show has declined over the years, but given the rich history and passion of the Italian bicycle industry, it nonetheless had much to offer in the way of eye candy.
Campy’s Red Shifters Red is, and always has been, the color preferred by Italian auto racing teams, says the Italian bicycle components manufacturer Campagnolo. And using this symbolism Campy will turn the Record shifters it supplies to its professional teams red. The letters on the shift bodies of both shifters will be changed from white to red.
Saturday Afternoon - It was drizzling in Oz this morning. That’s okay, because the track is covered making us feel less guilty about being inside. The scratch race has no consequences for the Olympics but it’s a popular event and full of surprises. Travis Meyer squeaked through in his heat. We remember him from his days at Junior Worlds when he won three world track titles in a 10 hour time span. His brother Cam took the bronze last night in the points. A poignant moment for me yesterday came when a struggling Magnus Bäckstedt (bronchial infection) was working with Travis to regain the
Mickael Bourgain led a French domination of the men's sprint on the final night of the opening leg of track cycling's World Cup in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday. Bourgain fought off team-mate Kevin Sireau, winning both his races in the final. England's world keirin and kilometer time trial champion Chris Hoy prevented a French clean sweep of the medals, beating world team sprint champion Gregory Bauge of France for the bronze medal. "I felt very very good and I am happy with the tournament," Bourgain said. "My hardest match-up was against Greg Bauge, but that is how it goes.
Chris Hoy won the men's keirin event as British cyclists claimed two goldmedals on the second night of the UCI World Cup track meet in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday. Hoy, the reigning keirin and kilometer time trial world champion,downed compatriot Ross Edgar and world sprint champion Theo Boss of theNetherlands to take gold. Great Britain followed up with gold in the men's team pursuit, beatingNew Zealand. The British team of Edward Clancy, Stephen Cummings, Chris Newton andindividual pursuit world champion Bradley Wiggins won in a time of 4:01.196seconds over 4000 meters. Team
Chris Hoy won the men's keirin as British cyclists claimed two gold medals on the second night of the UCI World Cup track meet Saturday in Sydney, Australia. Hoy, the reigning keirin and kilometer time trial world champion, downed compatriot Ross Edgar and world sprint champion Theo Boss of the Netherlands to take gold. Great Britain followed up with gold in the men's team pursuit, beating New Zealand. The British team of Edward Clancy, Stephen Cummings, Chris Newton and individual pursuit world champion Bradley Wiggins won in a time of four minutes 01.196 seconds over the
Editor’s Note: - Connie Carpenter is at the UCI World Cup in Sydney, Australia, this week, accompanying her son, 2007 world junior time trial champion Taylor Phinney, as he enters his first elite level track competition. The 1984 Olympic gold medalist has agreed to send us reports throughout the event. Friday Morning - All the buzz is in the infield as the Track World Cup got under way on Friday morning. The track is outside Sydney, further than the Olympic Park complex – in a quiet zone known as Bass Hill. It’s familiar, but oh so strange, to be here in my first trip to Oz. Everyone is
Dual Olympic champion Ryan Bayley and Athens silver medalist Katie Mactier delivered Australia a golden opening night at the cycling World Cup season opener in Sydney, Australia, here Friday. Bayley continued his build-up to next year's Beijing Games by spearheading Australia's Team Toshiba to victory in the men's team sprint final, while Mactier claimed gold in the women's individual pursuit. Australia's time trial world record holder Anna Meares took silver in the women's sprint as she seeks to make the event her own for the Olympics after her favorite event, the
Twenty Americans will compete in the opening round of the 2007-08 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, which runs from Friday through Sunday in Sydney, Australia. The U.S. national team and seven American pro track teams are among the 48 nations and 23 trade teams set to compete in the season’s first major international event, which factors into Olympic qualification. The U.S. national team includes Adam Duvendeck (Momentum), Brad Huff (Slipstream-Chipotle), Bobby Lea (Toyota-United), Giddeon Massie (T-Town Express), Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light), Liz Reap (T-Town
Much of what I do in life is collect information about bicycle technology, and earlier this month I went to the Milan bike show to do just that. But when my week-old MacBook Pro computer was stolen from me on November 7, I learned about some new technology that compromised my collections of bicycle information. I want to tell you what I learned with the intentionof saving somebody else the stress and hassle I went through.
The newest player in the road component market is apparently not being hesitant in its efforts to make a name for itself in racing circles. SRAM announced that it has signed a second ProTour-level cycling sponsorship after having reached an agreement to supply the reorganized Astana team with components. In a release issued Monday, the Chicago-based component company pointed to the light weight of its RED group as the reason Astana director Johan Bruyneel showed interest in the deal.
Katie Compton is on a crusade in the motherland of ’cross. She won round three of the Cyclocross World Cup in Pijnacker, The Netherlands on November 3. Daphny Van Den Brand, winner of the previous round in Kalmthout, Belgium, was second by almost a minute. This past weekend, Compton again put her stamp on an international field at the third round of the Superprestige Series in Gavere, Belgium. At the world cup, Compton won, but in Gavere, she dominated, taking first by a hefty 2 minutes and 46 seconds.
Rain, 30-degree temperatures, and a course greased so slick with mud that racing turned cartoonish at times caused words like "real" and "'cross race" to commingle during Sunday’s fourth round of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross near Trenton, New Jersey. Sloping hairpin turns that posed little threat during Saturday's dry conditions turned treacherous, and running them became faster than risking wipeouts. Defying the weather and the gossip that he can't race in mud, Ryan Trebon (Kona–YourKey.com) took his second victory in as many days.
Georgia Gould (Luna) and Ryan Trebon (Kona – Yourkey.com) claimed their first U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross victories of the season Saturday at Mercer County Park. Fit and fast, both Gould and Trebon rode races marked by power, technique and perhaps a little luck on a course that required rhythm, balance and acceleration. An interesting mix of twists and turns forced racers to stitch together angles and "highways" for an interesting race; a gigantic sandpit the size of three volleyball courts and eight 12-inch vertical steps made sure to drain them of any reserved energy.
With the news of Chris Horner joining fellow American Levi Leipheimer at Astana just hours old, another staple of American cycling also has also been linked to Kazakh team — Trek Bicycles. “We’ve definitely looked at it,” said Scott Daubert, Trek’s former Discovery Team Liaison and current road bike brand manager. “Johan Bruyneel was here right after the Tour of Missouri two months ago.” With the Discovery Channel sponsorship concluding in 2007, Trek officials knew they needed something else for next season. Daubert said Trek had three options: quickly find a ProTour team; take a year off;
David Zabriskie is the only guy in the world who has earned a very special yellow sticker shaped like the map of France for his top tube. The sticker proclaims “Fastest Time Trial Ever: 54.676kph, David Zabriskie.” Ever since he won the 19km prologue at Noirmoutier in 2005 at that record speed, beating a stellar Lance Armstrong and donning the yellow jersey, cycling fans have marveled at his great bike position. But despite having a very low, narrow, incredibly aerodynamic position, his first time ever in a wind tunnel was Monday, November 12. That will probably come as a surprise to many,
Boulder, Colorado didn’t get a USGP this year, but Chris Grealish and his team of Boulder-Denver Couriers put on a weekend of UCI ’cross racing that rivaled the best of the series. Crowd estimates were put over 2000 and CrankBrothers even made the trip out to set up a tent in the venue and do some racing. Since it’s more than midway through the domestic season there are not too many unseen tech’ secrets, but we spotted a few new items, mostly in the form of tires.Click Image for Full Gallery
There are some things I really like about this job and my regular trips to Italy have to be on the top of that list. I visited the offices of Guerciotti in Milan this week. Company founder Paolo Guerciotti and his son Alessandro welcomed me to the downtown facility that also serves as a showroom and warehouse. In its heyday in the 1980s, Guerciotti bicycles had a huge presence in the U.S., due in no small part to Ten Speed Drive Imports in Florida. At the time, Guerciotti was building 8000 bikes a year. Now, annual production is down to 1500, but the company continues to thrive thanks to
Repeating their dominant performances from 24 hours earlier at Saturday’s Redline Cup, reigning U.S. national cyclocross champions Ryan Trebon and Katie Compton crushed the competition on Sunday at the UCI C1 Boulder Cup cyclocross in Boulder, Colorado.
Reigning U.S. cyclocross champions Katie Compton (Spike Shooter) and Ryan Trebon (Kona-Yourkey.com) scored crushing wins at Boulder, Colorado’s Redline Cup on Saturday. A dusty Boulder Reservoir played host to the UCI Category 2 race, and what its long 1.5-mile course lacked in mud and climbing, it made up for with sections of loose sand. Riders powered through rim-deep sediment in a volleyball court and a long beach section — the latter forced less-skilled racers to dismount and run.
If you live in the three-country economic union known as Benelux – and ride a bike – odds are good that it’s a Ridley. The Belgium-based bike maker owns a 45-percent share of the road and ’cross market in its homeland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, according to the company’s international sales manager David Alvarez.
Consumers have more choice than ever when buying road components. Campagnolo, Shimano, SRAM all have viable options for those looking to equip a performance road bike. And those options may broaden even further in the near future with Eric Sampson’s plans to deliver a road group by January 2008. Will Sampson’s soon to be introduced Stratics road group be able to compete with the big three? It’s hard to tell by comparing his preproduction prototypes, but Sampson has the right attitude to compete. He says that he’s not trying to shave every possible gram. He wants to build it light but, first
Thanks to impressive finishes by its downhillers, Fort Lewis College defended its Division I collegiate mountain-bike national title during the 2007 USA Cycling collegiate national championships in Banner Elk, North Carolina. The Skyhawks defeated Lees-McRae College, host of the championships, 730 to 635. Taking the Division II title was the Colorado School of Mines, which edged Warren Wilson College, 636-626. Fort Lewis took the lead in the team omnium competition after Benjamin Sonntag grabbed the win in the cross-country on Friday. But Lees-McRae answered the challenge on Saturday with
Stu Thorne couldn’t call the weekend anything but a success, with Tim Johnson taking the second race of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross to make it a sweep for Thorne’s Cyclocrossworld.com team. And Katie Compton showed she needed no team to complete her one-woman domination of the races in Louisville, Kentucky, although Georgia Gould gave her a run for her money, finishing 26 seconds back despite a third-row start.
Jeremy Powers and Katie Compton finished the first round of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross the way they started it – at the front. Those similarities aside, the pro races in Louisville, Kentucky, played out very differently. For the first half of the pro men’s event, it was two-on-two competition as Powers and cyclocrossworld.com teammate Tim Johnson traded blows with Kona’s Ryan Trebon and Barry Wicks. Then, it was just two as Powers and then Johnson rode clear.
Dear Lennard,I recently experienced a sudden blowout of my road bike front tire that led to a crash and lots of injuries. I’m writing in an attempt to determine what went wrong and why. Although I do not remember the crash here’s what I do know. I was with two friends and we were about three minutes into a descent and traveling at about 35 mph. My two riding partners tell me that I was in the front and we were on a sweeping turn when they heard a loud “pop” and suddenly I was down. My front tire had blown. As a result my inner tube has about a four- to five-inch slit in it but the tire
Think back to what you were riding off-road a decade ago; you’ll probably chuckle. Maybe you had a 130mm stem, a 48-tooth big ring, or a Flite saddle — all of which were probably anodized purple — and none of which have any business being on a mountain bike. If you were at the cutting edge of suspension technology for cross-country racing you were riding an elastomer sprung fork with a cartridge damper. It’s a good bet it was a RockShox Judy. Back in 1997, I was riding for John Kemp’s RockShox DEVO team. I was a junior expert racer at the time. I had a Judy SL with 63mm of travel, and I was
Matthew Wilson was at a loss for words when, after seven of the most challenging days in his sporting life, it was finally announced he was the winner of the 2007 Jayco Herald Sun Tour. "I don't know what to say... It's the best feeling... I've only had a few victories in my career, and they're all special for different reasons, but this one goes down as probably the best," said the Unibet pro, overjoyed with his victory but also relieved a turbulent week was finally over. From the first stage to the last, won by Astana's Aaron Kemps from a three-man breakaway that
It appears to be a case of expect the unexpected at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. Friday in Wangaratta, a town a stone's throw away from Glenrowan, home of great Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, early race leader Matt Wilson and his Unibet.com team piled on the pressure on a short transitional stage through the north-eastern Victorian countryside. By the day's end and with two stages remaining, the 30-year-old found himself back at the top of the leader-board. The finale was equally exciting, with a breakaway group of three fighting out the finish. Two DFL-Cyclingnews riders, Cameron
The 2007 Jayco Herald Sun Tour is looking every bit the nail-biter it was last year. At the close of play Thursday, the top five riders on general classification are separated by half a minute. Matthew Wilson of Unibet may have lost his golden tunic his race is far from over, with just eight seconds between him and new race leader, Joost Van Leijen of the Dutch national team. However, on the 116.5 kilometer fourth stage to Falls Creek, Astana's Steve Morabito was the man of the moment. Into a block headwind and 10km from the line, the 24-year-old boldly attacked a lead group that was
Wednesday in Beechworth, Astana's Aaron Kemps timed an uphill dash for cash to perfection, overcoming a technical, bumpy ride to the finish and taking advantage of a late recapture to assert his authority as the in-form sprinter of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. For those vying for overall honors four days from now, the 139.5-kilometer third stage ended without incident, as race leader Matthew Wilson of Unibet.com maintained his 17-second advantage over teammate Baden Cooke, with SouthAustralia.com-AIS young gun Simon Clarke a further five seconds back. Whether Wilson, diagnosed with
Despite riding for different teams, Tasmanian brothers Wesley and Bernard Sulzberger wanted to make sure one of them ended up the winner in Mansfield on Tuesday. Working alone in the escape, each stood a 1-in-8 chance of success, but as a family unit, they became the odds-on favorites to win the second stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. Aussie Matthew Wilson (Unibet.com), benefiting from a decisive escape in Monday’s stage, maintained his grip on the overall lead, despite finishing more than three minutes down on Tuesday’s stage winners. Blood is thicker than...After more than 60
There was so much to see at Interbike that I wanted to take some time to features some of the show's more unique items that might not have made it into the wealth of coverage of the show here on Velonews.com or in print in VeloNews magazine.
[nid:41019]Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com) again outpaced her competition during day two of the Gloucester Grand Prix of Cyclocross on Sunday, while Jesse Anthony (Jamis) came back to claim a win that eluded him the day before. The second round in the 2007 Verge New England Championship Cyclocross Series saw racers battling windier conditions and fatigue left over from Saturday's fierce pace. Fueled by a frustrating opening day, Anthony bore down on the elite men's field with enough pressure to shuck all but a stunningly strong Chris Jones (Nerac).
Italian sprint ace Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) won the 101st edition of the Paris-Tours classic on Sunday. Led out by his German teammate Eric Zabel, Petacchi edged compatriot Francesco Chicchi in the sprint to claim the victory in the 256km fall classic. It was his second classic victory, after Milan-San Remo in 2005. Former three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) was third. The penultimate ProTour race of the season saw several breakaway attempts, the last of which, involving Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux), Karsten Kroon (CSC) and Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas), took off
After a two-year hiatus, the Gran Prix of Gloucester rejoined the Verge New England Championship Cyclocross Series Saturday with Round 1 of a doubleheader race weekend, with victories by Cylcocrossworld.com’s Jeremy Powers and Lyne Bessette. Fending off attack after attack by a quartet containing Jesse Anthony (Jamis), Germany's Multe Urban (Focus) and Chris Jones (NERAC), it was Powers who outsprinted them all in the final kilometer of the men’s race to win his second Gloucester 'cross.
Jon Baker is living the dream. That is, if you consider spending fourmonths chasing some of the world’s fastest cyclocross racers around mud-and manure-filled European fields in sub-zero temperatures. The dream? Luckily he looks at it that way. Up until about a month ago the 33-year-old Baker was leading an averageAmerican life, happily married to Cyndi with two kids, Leah, 9, and Axel,1. He was a software engineer for BEA Systems, and he balanced his passionfor cycling with his family life and a full-time career, as most of usdo. He was a weekend warrior, albeit a darn good one. Baker
Barry Wicks (Kona-YourKey.com) took advantage of world champion Erwin Vervecken’s derailleur failure with half a lap to go to take the win at the second day of the Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup on Sunday at Southampton, New York. Wicks, who lost to Vervecken (Fidea) by a wheel in the previous day’s sprint finish, was never out of contention on the much more technical course featured on the second day at the Southampton Youth Services Center.
Katie Compton (Spike Shooter) and world champion Erwin Vervecken (Fidea Assurance) took two very different paths to winning their respective races at the Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup on Saturday in Southampton, New York. Vervecken did battle with three reigning national champions — American Ryan Trebon (Kona-YourKey), Canadian Greg Reain (RWR-Colnago-Time) and German Malte Urban (Heinz von Heiden) — and it proved to be a fight to the finish for the jet-lagged rainbow jersey.
The 2007 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships concluded on Saturday as the final five national titles were awarded in one individual and four team events. Just six weeks before making its debut on the UCI World Cup program in Sydney, the women's 3km team pursuit was introduced to the national championships. The trio of two-time world champion Sarah Hammer (Ouch Pro Cycling), Thursday's individual pursuit national champion Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light) and this year's sprint and keirin national champion, Jennie Reed (Momentum), rode to a victory in
Eight more national champions were crowned Friday on day three of the 2007 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships as elite and U23 categories of the men's and women's sprint and points race were contested. After qualifying second behind Adam Duvendeck (Momentum) in the 200-meter time trial on Thursday, Michael Blatchford (Cody Racing) captured both the elite and U23 national titles in the men's sprint. Blatchford dispatched silver medalist Ben Barczewski (T-Town Express) in two straight rides in the finals to claim the national title while Duvendeck took two straight
He’s certainly off to a good start. World junior time trial champion, Taylor Phinney captured the national elite men's individual pursuit title on Thursday evening, competing in his first-ever event on the track. The 17-year-old Phinney (TIAA-CREF) earned the number-two seed in Thursday morning's qualifying session at USA Cycling’s Elite Track National Championships in Carson, California, with a time of 4:35.550 Phinney’s time set up a head-to-head match against top-seed Brad Huff, who had earlier set a mark of 4:34.976. In the gold medal, Phinney rode to an early advantage in
Thanks 'Vegas — for kicking my butt. I almost made it. After six days in the Sin city I was as close as I could have come to making it out unscathed. I spent two days in Bootleg Canyon, Nevada, where the trails are known for their brutality. Crashing there is like riding a razor blade covered Slip-and-Slide into a wading pool of glass. It’s a good place to practice the 80-percent rule — riding at only 80-percent of your ability to ensure that you’re not the guy — you know, that guy who crashes at an event where you have no reason putting it all on the line. Plenty of the attendees
As is usually the case with web reports from Interbike, we managed only to scratch the surface of all of the latest and greatest we saw at the show this year. Here are a few more items for you save your pennies for in the coming year. Be sure to take look at VeloNews issue 20 when it becomes available later this month, too. We’ll have a lot in there as well.
Paolo Bettini shot back at critics and rivals alike in an electrifying five-up sprint victory on Sunday, defending his world championship. The 33-year-old Tuscan gestured as if he were firing a machine gun as he crossed the line in Stuttgart after rocketing past the brawny shoulders of Alexandr Kolobnev, relegating the Russian to second and local rider Stefan Schumacher (Germany) to third. “Everyone’s been shooting at me all week, so I decided to try myself,” said Bettini, who became only the fifth rider in world’s history to successfully defend the rainbow jersey. “It wasn’t directed at
What had been a tumultuous week for the Italian national team took a sweeping turn for the better Saturday as 20-year-old Marta Bastianelli held off pre-race favorites to win the elite women’s world road championship in Stuttgart, Germany. Italy’s “squadra azzura” has been under fire in recent days as defending men’s champion Paolo Bettini refused to sign the UCI’s voluntary “commitment to a new cycling” pledge, and ProTour leader Danilo Di Luca was taken off the Italian team while facing a suspension for working with doctor Carlo Santuccione. But the Italians, whose national federation
After five days of riding, racing, selling and showing bikes, Interbike concluded Friday in Las Vegas. Watch for the full report in the next issue of VeloNews, but in the meantime, here are a few samples of what we saw on the showroom floor. Leaving Las Vegas - PartILeaving Las Vegas - PartIII
After five days of riding, racing, selling and showing bikes, Interbike concluded Friday in Las Vegas. Watch for the full report in the next issue of VeloNews, but in the meantime, here are a few samples of what we saw on the showroom floor.Leaving Las Vegas - PartILeaving Las Vegas - PartII
Scores of attacks in the final laps in the chaotic men’s U23 world championships failed to break the elastic to the sprinters and 22-year-old Peter Velits of Slovakia confidently snagged the rainbow jersey in a crash-marred bunch sprint. The pace wasn’t hard enough over the hilly, 19.1km circuit for several late-race breakaway attempts to stick. The Norwegians did most of the heavy lifting to reel in the remnants of a 12-man group in the final lap, but their work was all for naught. Pre-race favorite Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway tumbled in a finish line crash behind French and Swiss
After five days of riding, racing, selling and showing bikes, Interbike concluded Friday in Las Vegas. Watch for the full report in the next issue of VeloNews, but in the meantime, here are a few samples of what we saw on the showroom floor.Leaving Las Vegas - PartIILeaving Las Vegas - PartIII
During Wednesday evening’s CrossVegas event Kona’s Ryan Trebon won on a brand new pair of wheels from FSA, providing a good excuse to look at a few new deeper section carbon rims that debuted at this year’s show. Besides FSA, both Easton and Reynolds have new or refined wheels for 2008. Titanium has also been a prominent product at this year’s show, could it be that some, more traditionally minded riders are suffering from too much carbon fiber in their diet? We wouldn’t go quite that far yet as it seems most of the industry is still gaga over string and glue construction for all types of
A hall brimming with almost 20,000 people eager and optimistic about bikesis a rarified atmosphere for a bike enthusiast to hang out in. and allof those people buying bikes makes it possible for a number of bike-relatedphilanthropic organizations to thrive as well.Interbike began with a talk by six organizations doing work in third-worldcountries to make a difference with bikes. Left to right, F.K. Day of www.WorldBicycleRelief.org,Steve Madden of BikeTown from www.bicycling.com,Hans Rey of www.Wheels4Life.org,Bradley Schroeder of www.CaliforniaBike.org,Ben Capron of www.TrueOverdrive.com,and
A perfect weather day yesterday ended with a road ride back to the stripwith three friends from SRAM, and today started for me with a ride backout to the Outdoor Demo at Boulder City’s Bootleg Canyon. After 5-10 minutesof standing around, I took off with maybe 100 other riders for the annualTourof Lake Mead, formerly known as The Hangover Ride. Still cool, verywindy and hilly, this 24-mile out-and-back offers some great views andcan offer a punishing pace at the front. I may have gotten a great warmup to riding mountain bikes at the pre-Interbikedemo, but before I got to ride my first bike
Ryan Trebon (Kona-Les Gets) and Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com) won the inaugural Excel Sports CrossVegas Wednesday in Las Vegas. [nid:40750]A thousands-strong crowd journeyed to the Desert Breeze Soccer Complex to watch the first major cyclo-cross race to be held in conjunction with the Interbike trade show, running this week at the Sands Expo & Convention Center. CrossVegas was the brainchild of Coloradan Chris Grealish, a longtime 'cross promoter who organized the 2006 Boulder Cup, the fifth round of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross Series.
Nearly 19,000 people packed into the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the opening day of the indoor portion of the 2007 Interbike trade show on Wednesday. Aisles were packed and booths were abuzz on the show’s opening day. And besides the goings-on inside, two races were organized alongside the show. The first was the Boulder-Denver Courier Events-produced Excel Sports CrossVegas, held Wednesday night. Kona-YourKey.com’s Ryan Trebon won the well-attended event — and in the process took some revenge on Christian Heule (Stevens), who won Star Crossed and the Rad Racing
Without the official numbers (those will be tallied by Wednesday), it can’t be claimed with any certainty that day two of the 2007 Interbike Dirt Demo in Bootleg Canyon, Nevada broke any records, but if the lines were an indication — it did. Those not lucky enough to make it onto the first round of shuttles to the demo area went on to spend more than two hours trying to get to Bootleg. In past editions of the show it has rarely taken more than 50 minutes. “They have five buses,” said Elaine, one of the senior citizens who was working for the Las Vegas chamber of commerce by making sure
Cyclo-crossers across the world, take note. A pair of past and present world champion ’cross racers, under-23 world cross champ Lars Boom and three-time world elite women’s champ Hanka Kupfernagel, each won world time trial titles in Stuttgart, Germany, Wednesday. And both credited the muddy discipline for their success. Taking it a step further, Boom said he would focus on cyclo-cross for at least two more years. Winning a world under-23 time-trial championship might be something all developing riders dream of, but Boom, a Rabobank continental professional development team rider has
The 62nd Vuelta a España wasn’t without its controversies. Carlos Sastre accused race leader Denis Menchov of forming alliances. Universal criticism rained down on a long, boring 52km time trial in Zaragoza. Riders complained that the top-heavy course, with its most important stages packed into the opening 10 days, left for a dull and unexciting second half. But one thing was largely missing from this year’s Spanish tour – doping scandals. The Vuelta has been wracked by its fair share of doping controversies the past few years, including the disastrous EPO positive of 2005 winner Roberto
Demo Days are here again as part of the 2007 Interbike trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show starts the way it should, with people riding bikes in Bootleg Canyon, Nevada, a well-maintained mountain bike trail system roughly 20 miles outside of the Las Vegas city limits. The area offers riders multiple cross-country trails, a dirt jumping area, BMX track, road course and downhill mountain bike course. The clear skies and comfortable 75-degree temperature made a perfect day for the event. For 2008 the Outdoor Demo's booth expo area moved to a more developed area with more pavement and
The weather was perfect, the venue is great and getting better, and the attendance was abundant for the first day of the Outdoor Demo at Boulder City’s Bootleg Canyon. The sunny, yet unseasonably cool 75-degree weather meant perfect conditions. Not hot, not cold, sunny, only occasional strong wind – those are nice conditions to ride a bike in. The display booth area is a lot bigger now, with much of it even paved, making road riding a more viable option for bike testing than in the past. Whereas in past years I have rarely taken a road test ride, given that the mountain bike riding is
The UCI cyclocross season had its West Coast kickoff this past weekend in Washington state with Star Crossed, a Saturday-night party disguised as a ’cross race at Marymoor Park Velodrome in Redmond, followed by Sunday’s Rad Racing Gran Prix at Steilacoom Park in Lakewood.
After three long weeks of sometimes exciting racing, the remaining 145 riders rolled into a festive welcome in the heart of downtown Madrid to conclude the 2007 Vuelta a España with an exhilarating finishing sprint. Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) used his lethal bike stab to hold off Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) to win his third stage in Sunday’s final romp into Madrid and bring an end to the season’s final grand tour.
Samuel Sánchez delivered his third stage victory of this year’s Vuelta a España to secure his Basque Euskaltel-Euskadi team its first-ever podium finish in a grand tour in the team’s 14-year history. Sánchez roared over Saturday’s short 20km individual time trial in the suburbs north of Madrid to knock Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) off the podium and give compatriot Carlos Sastre (CSC) a good fright for the second spot on the podium.
Yesterday it was Vladimir Efimkin, today it was Cadel Evans. Team CSC’s Carlos Sastre played executioner for the second straight day and clawed his way ahead of Evans into second place overall Friday at the Vuelta a España after a grueling, six-climb stage finishing atop the rainy and foggy Abantos summit. Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) won ahead of ahead of Dani Moreno (Relax-GAM) to score his second stage victory of this year’s Vuelta while Sastre crossed the line third just ahead of race leader Denis Menchov (Rabobank) at three seconds back.
SRAM announced Thursday that it intends to acquire wheel and component maker Zipp within the next 60 days. The two signed a non-binding letter of intent. The purchase would add a vital piece to SRAM’s puzzle, which already includes road and mountain bike drivetrain components (branded SRAM), suspension parts (branded RockShox), brakes (branded Avid) and road and mountain bike cranks, bars, stems and seatposts (branded Truvativ). “Zipp is a great company and respected brand, with a strong management team, advanced technology and superb manufacturing capability,” said Stan Day, SRAM’s chief
Team CSC’s Carlos Sastre has been complaining all week that the 2007 Vuelta a España just wasn’t hard enough. With the top GC spots jammed in a deadlock since the climbing stage to Cerler in the Pyrénées, it seemed the relatively easy second half of the Vuelta was dooming the 32-year-old Spanish climber to yet another fourth-place result in a grand tour. Sastre – already twice fourth in the Tour de France and once fourth in the Vuelta -- was so frustrated, so fed up, that he even said he wasn’t going to attack anymore.
American Floyd Landis has been formally stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after an arbitration panel ruled against his challenge of a positive doping test result from that year’s edition of the race.
A second sprint victory in the Vuelta a España couldn’t erase disappointment for Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) after being overlooked for a spot on the Italian national team for next week’s world championships. The Liguigas-bound rider found out overnight he was left off the Stuttgart squad and smashed that frustration into his pedals Wednesday to beat the men whom he wanted to support, Paolo Bettini, and compatriot Alessandro Petacchi in the 175km 17th stage from Ciudad Real to Talavera de la Reina.
I had the chance to catch “The Flying Scotsman” at a special showing at the Boulder Theater. While the movie takes some liberties with the order of events and the details of how they unfolded, it tells the gist of Graeme Obree’s story ratherwell. In many ways, it reminded me that – as far as the UCI is concerned – the more things change, the more they remain the same. The film’s characterization of the UCI, and its troglodyte attitude toward maverick innovators like Obree, is unfortunately quite accurate, especially when those inventive types beat established cycling stars using
Colombians made a name for themselves in the 1980s and 1990s by winning when the road turned uphill. Such stars as Lucho Herrera, Fabio Parra and the latest incarnation in the form of Mauricio Soler put Colombia on the international cycling map thanks to their bird-like builds and innate ability to soar like condors up Europe’s steepest roads. Santiago Botero broke the mold with his consistency in the race against the clock, but Colombians and summit finishes were synonymous in the peloton.
[nid:40552]Ivan Dominguez put an emphatic stamp on his run to the Tour of Missouri's sprint points title, winning the final stage of this 562.2-mile, six-day race, which concluded Sunday in downtown St. Louis. Dominguez (Toyota-United) emerged from a scrambled sprint along Market Street, comfortably holding off Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics) and Dominique Rollin (KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada), who were second and third in the 74.2-mile, seven-lap circuit race.
When the road drops downhill, there’s no one faster than Samuel Sánchez. Perhaps Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Fondital) didn’t know what was in store when Sánchez disappeared off the Cat. 1 Alto de Monachil summit some 20km from the finish line in Granada. But Manuel “Triki” Beltrán (Liquigas) sure did.
In a symbolic sign of the times, Slipstream’s Danny Pate launched a brave solo attack inside a kilometer to go and held it all the way to the line, taking victory in stage 5 of the Tour of Missouri Saturday. Pate’s triumph is arguably the biggest win in the short history of the Boulder, Colorado-based team that is poised to take over the mantel of American cycling following the imminent demise of Discovery Channel.