Road Racing

Swiss rider Nicole Brandli won the 2003 Giro d’Italia Femminile in dramatic fashion on Sunday, overtaking Edita Pucinskaite on the final day of the race to win by a scant 17 seconds. Trailing by five seconds heading into the 22.9km stage 9 time trial, Brandli put enough time on her Lithuanian rival to take the final pink jersey in Venice. The Giro had become a two-woman race after the mountainous stage 3, won by Brandli, when Pucinskaite assumed the race lead with the Swiss just five seconds behind. Following that came a sprinting display by German Regina Schleicher, who posted four

With the Tour raging on less than 100km away, it seems fitting that Shimano chose the sleepy salt-mining town of Bex, Switzerland, to hold its official Dura-Ace unveiling. As the Japanese group gets thoroughly put through its paces by the world's fastest racers just over the Swiss border in France, a few journalists are quietly getting the official lowdown on the high-end group. And while many of its technical details are already known, this is the first opportunity for us to ride the next-generation road group. The sleek new Dura-Ace boasts some pretty bold promises. Shimano claims its

On the morning of Saturday July 12, had you called up your bike-race bookie (if such a person existed) and told him you wanted some action on the five-rider World Cup podium parlay of downhillers Gary Houseman, Ivan Oulego, Kirt Voreis, Colin Bailey and Stu Thomson, Mr. Bookie would have laughed, then given you some astronomically high odds figuring he’d just made a quick buck. But when it comes to downhill racing, there’s one factor that even the world’s wisest odds makers (or best riders) cannot completely account for — rain. And that’s just what happened on the steep slopes of British

The yellow-and-red of the Saturn Cycling dynasty remains atop the general classification at the Cascade Cycling Classic, with Tom Danielson and Lyne Bessette all but assured victories heading into Sunday’s final criterium stage after a Friday night criterium and Saturday’s hilly circuit race. The Twilight ZoneA volatile twilight criterium held Friday night in downtown Bend, Oregon, yielded no change in the overall, with Heather Albert (Team Basis) and Chris Horner (Saturn) taking the stage wins. Bessette powered off the front halfway through the women’s 45-minute race, followed by Albert

Ya know, it’s important to be noticed. Sure, it’s great for everyone, fans included, for riders at the Tour de France to have good equipment. The riders go faster with a higher margin of safety with properly designed equipment. But it doesn’t do the equipment sponsor any good if no one knows whose equipment they are using. And sometimes, it takes someone unfamiliar with the intricacies of the sport to point out the very obvious. A case in point involves the winningest rider in both the Tour and the Giro this year, Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi. Everyone knows that Petacchi won six

Stage 3 of the Cascade Classic was held Friday morning in Tumalo, Oregon. Just outside of Bend, the 7-mile time trial loop began and ended with a gradual climb, forcing riders out of the saddle immediately. The masters Cat. 3 racers raced first, followed by the pro/1-2 women, who rolled out in 30-second increments. As expected, race leader Lyne Bessette (Saturn), the Canadian national time trial champion, posted the fastest time of the day — 15:31 — a time that would have beat all but three of the masters men. Teammate Jessica Phillips was second in 16:26, followed by Team Basis rider

Mike King said that it only took a few practice runs to figure out his strategy for the World Cup four-cross at Grouse Mountain. With a short, fast course providing the stage for the event on British Columbia's famed North Shore, King knew qualifying would be key. “That was my focus the whole way,” said King of the Friday night event, “and that was the race.” Indeed, after posting the top preliminary time of 23.44, the Haro-Lee Dungarees rider/manager surged through the finals bracket, riding his No. 1 seed all the way to a World Cup win. It was the 34-year-old’s first Cup win of 2003, and

Chris Horner (Saturn) won stage four of the Cascade Cycling Classic, a 60-minute-plus-five-laps criterium held Friday evening on a six-turn course in downtown Bend, Oregon. Horner outsped the bunch to finish in 1:05:31, dogged by Alex Candelario (Prime Alliance) and Jackson Stewart (Ofoto.com-Lombardi), who were awarded the same time – as were the first 81 riders to cross the line. Horner’s teammate Tom Danielson retained the overall lead, 49 seconds up on Jonathan Vaughters (Prime Alliance) and nearly a minute ahead of Chris Wherry (Navigators). In the women’s stage-three crit, Heather

Regina Scheleicher (Chirio Forno D’asolo) outkicked breakaway companions Tina Mayolo-Pic (Team Sats) and Andrea Bosman (Ondernemers Van Nature-Powerplate/Bik) in the fourth stage of the women’s Giro d’Italia on Tuesday. The three escaped in the final kilometers of the 141.1km stage on the climb from the Via Adriatica gate to the old town of San Vito Chietino. Schleicher launched her sprint in the last 200 meters, neatly passing her rivals. The 141.1km stage, from Frosolone to San Vito Chietino was animated from the start – indeed, the first hour was spent racing at over 40kph. Overall

Nicole Braendli (Prato Marathon Bike) and Edita Pucinskaite (Michele Fanini) broke away from the bunch and fought their way through terrible weather to finish one-two in the third stage of the women’s Giro d’Italia on Monday. Braendli took the stage win, while Pucinskaite took the pink jersey of overall leader away from Rasa Polikieviciute (Team 2002 Aurora Rsm). "It is a dream come true," said the new race leader. The 84.2km third stage from Monteroduni to Castelpizzuto had three mountain-points primes, but the race was characterized primarily by terrible weather. When the riders

Zinaida Stahurskaia (Chirio Forno D’asolo) outsprinted the major contenders on the final climb to San Marco dei Cavoti to win the second stage of the women’s Giro d’Italia on Sunday. Lithuanian Rasa Polikieviciute (Team 2002 Aurora Rsm) remains in the pink jersey despite having given up nine seconds to her closest rival, countrywoman Edita Pucinskaite (Michele Fanini). American Amber Neben (T-Mobile) holds 10th place overall. The attacks were continuous on the 85km stage. All were in vain, though, and the stage concluded with Stahurskaia just barely beating Pucinskaite to the line. "I am

Dear Lennard Zinn,I currently suffer from iliotibial band syndrome, which tends to affecthigher-mileage runners and cyclists. It causes a pain on the outside ofthe knee due to the repetitive motion of bending the knee. There is quitea bit of info on the problem with regard to runners but very little concerningcycling. I have gone to physical therapy and received a cortisone injectionfrom a knee specialist. Not much has helped. Have you heard of this affectingother riders? If so, do you know of any potential treatment options thatI have not tried? I can give up running but not cycling.

For a reasonably flat island, Great Britain produces some fast downhill racers. British riders Steve Peat (Orange) and Fionn Griffiths (Foes) swept to victory in their respective downhill events today at the Mont -Ste-Anne World Cup. The new 1.2km course made for brief races and left little margin for error. Peat, who missed most of the early season with a wrist injury, scored his first win of 2003 with a scintillating final run that evicted South Africa’s Greg Minaar (Haro-Lee Dungarees) from the leader’s hot seat by a scant .06 second. “I’ve won here twice before so I definitely like

Racing on a course that favored the riders who could combine cunning and strength, Eric Carter (Mongoose-Hyundai) and Katrina Miller (Jamis) took Saturday’s World Cup four-cross event in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec. Despite racing with a broken hand, Carter continued his winning ways, adding to his mountain-cross win from last weekend’s NORBA event in Mount Snow, Vermont, and his win from the World Cup stop in France. “I was really struggling to figure out this course yesterday in practice, but I didn’t take any ibuprofen yesterday, and I did today,” said Carter, “That seemed to make a big

With three teams in the Tour de France, Fausto Pinarello is very busy in the months leading up to the race, especially this season. Pinarello's company builds the bicycles for the Telekom, iBanesto.com and Fassa Bortolo teams, and the preparation details are almost too numerous to comprehend. Every single bike requires custom dimensions, and specific needs have to be addressed with each rider, particularly high-profile stars like Erik Zabel, Ivan Basso and Unai Osa. This year, the task has been particularly challenging because Pinarello planned to deliver a fully custom version of his

Ever since Mario Cipollini, adorned in the yellow jersey of the Tour de France leader, leaned into a television camera during a 1997 stage and said, “Cannondale is best bike,” it was clear that the Bedford, Pennsylvania, company could make bikes capable of scoring victories in the Tour. Cannondale paved the way for other American bike makers such as Trek, Specialized, Klein, GT and Litespeed into the European peloton. But then came the bankruptcy. Following an ill-fated decision to enter the motorsports market, Cannondale found itself deeply in debt with an unsalable motorcycle, struggling

They rode 2922 miles, climbed more than 82,000 feet, and crossed 14 states to get from San Diego to Atlantic City. Some sped across, fighting to be first. Others crawled across, battling simply to finish. A few withdrew, their bodies failing their intentions. One lost his life on a desolate stretch of New Mexico highway. They were drenched by rain, slowed by wind, and torched by the desert sun. But everyone who crossed the finish line of the 2003 Insight Race Across America on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City shared a victory for even completing what Outside magazine once called the world’s

Saturn made it a double on the first day of the Canadian nationalchampionships, with Eric Wohlberg and Lyne Bessette taking the men's and women's national time-trial titles. The event is being held in Hamilton, Ontario, on the same course planned for the road world’s in October, so in addition to the numerous titles on the line, the organization was trying out its plan to close down the center of a city of more than 600,000 people for the first time. Overall, the indications are that the test was successful. The 21km course that the elite men and women raced (two laps and one lap,

It was hot, hot, hot at the second stage of the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic – so hot, in fact, that the officials clipped three laps from the women’s race and one from the men’s as temperatures boiled past the 100-degree mark. Despite the trimmings, the racing would get even hotter on the 3.1-mile course, with its sharp finishing climb. The 74-mile men’s race saw attacks from the gun, though nothing stuck until Mike Sayers (Health Net) and Chris Horner (Saturn) got away. The twosome opened a gap of about a minute on a chase group containing race leader Chris Baldwin (Navigators), until

Stage 1 of the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic, a seven-mile out-and-back time trial finishing with a 500 meter climb, was held Thursday in scorching New England heat and humidity, with Navigators Chris Baldwin and Kiwi Sarah Ulmer (TDS) taking their respective leaders jerseys. In the women's race, Saturn's Jessica Phillips was the first to set a time that looked to stick on the leader's board with an 18:26:29. Phillips remained the leader until Ulmer (TDS) flew across the line fourteen seconds faster. Ulmer’s time of 18:12:88 remained untouched as Phillips’ Saturn teammate Katie Mactier finished

Alexander Vinokourov just couldn't help himself. Leading the Tour of Switzerland since regaining the overall lead in Tuesday's time trial, the Kazakh jumped with less than a kilometer to go in Wednesday's 152km final stage into Aarau and was caught 300 meters from the line. It's not that he really needed the stage win. Second-place rider Francesco Casagrande (Lampre) didn't start the ninth and final stage due to high fever and a urinary infection and all Vinokourov had to do was finish safely in the main bunch to claim final victory. "I tried to win the stage but I'm not disappointed at

Dear Lennard Zinn;Is it true that the Zipp clincher 404/303s will break up when tire pressure exceeds 140? --JV Dear JV;Below is a long answer to your question, but it is worth reading, as it addresses, in addition to the specific Zipp question, the general question many of us have about how much pressure a clincher rim can handle.--Lennard Answer from ZippDear Lennard and JV;In short, no, a ZIPP 303 or 404 clincher will not break up when tire pressure exceeds 140psi. The source of this concern may stem from one or both of two sources: either from the Maximum psi sticker ZIPP now applies to

Alexandre Vinokourov regained the overall lead of the 67th Tour of Switzerland on Tuesday after erasing a 37-second gap to Italian Francesco Casagrande in the 33km individual time trial. Australian Brad McGee (Fdjeux.com) surprised Germans Uwe Peschel and 1997 Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich to claim the stage victory. American Bobby Julich (Telekom) was seventh. Riding in 90-degree heat, McGee was timed in 42 minutes, 20.77 seconds, 23 seconds faster than Peschel (Gerolsteiner) and 50 seconds faster than Ullrich (Bianchi). Vinokourov was poised to recapture the lead from Casagrande

They say curiosity killed the cat but, as I write this, I still feel pretty good. It's one of those trivial little technical details that's been plaguing me this entire race season: why on earth is the men's world cross-country mountain bike champion wearing mid-level shoes both racing on the road and off? Earlier this year, we saw Roland Green compete in the Tour de Langkawi not sporting Shimano's top-of-the-line SH-R214 carbon road shoe, but instead, the Canadian was seen donning the single strap SH-TR01 triathlon shoe. Later in the year, we see Green roll up to both NORBA and world cup

Telekom’s Sergei Yakovlev won the seventh and longest stage of the Tour du Suisse on Monday while Lampre’s Francesco Casagrande finished safely in the main bunch to retain the overall lead. The Kazakh rider was part of a six-man breakaway that led for 160 km of the 231-km stage which began in Switzerland and ended just over the German border. Yakovlev’s American teammate, Bobby Julich, was part of an eight-man chase group that was sent down the road in case the leaders wilted under the long distances. Yakovlev jumped out of the break with 15km to go and hung on to score the win while

Phonak’s Oscar Pereiro held off his pursuers to take a solo victory in the sixth stage of the Tour of Switzerland Sunday, a 135km ride around Silvaplana. Bianchi’s Jan Ullrich came in just over a minute later followed by the promising Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg. Francesco Casagrande (Lampre) retained the overall lead of the race ahead of Tuesday's 33km time trial where second-placed Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom) is aiming to regain the lead. Kazakh rider Vinokourov may well keep his promise. His 37-second deficit will seem like almost nothing given his excellent season so far, having won

John Lieswyn and his 7UP-Maxxis squad successfully defended the yellow jersey in the final stage of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce, Lubor Tesar (Ed's Systeme-ZVVZ) just holding off Charles Dionne (Canadian National) to take the final stage victory. Lieswyn had held the jersey from stage one, and started the final stage47 seconds in front of Chris Baldwin (Navigators). Tomas Konecny (Ed'sSystem-ZVVZ) and Danny Pate (Prime Alliance) were also less than a minute behind, so 7 Up could not afford to rest, despite having spent a week at the front of the peloton. The final stage of Beauce is no

Jose Antonio Pecharroman (Paternina) virtually secured victory in the Tourof Catalunya on Saturday after winning a time trial to take the overalllead from defending champion Roberto Heras.Pecharroman covered the 8.14-mile sixth leg in 21 minutes and 49 seconds.Heras, the defending champion riding for the U.S. Postal Service team,finished 52 seconds back. The time lag cost Heras the nine-second overalllead he held over Pecharroman for the last two days.With one stage remaining, Pecharroman now holds a comfortable 43-secondoverall lead over Heras in Spain's oldest bike race. Sunday's final

Lampre’s Francesco Casagrande won the 177m fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland Saturday, reaching the summit finish at La Punt with enough of a margin to take the overall lead in the Swiss national tour. Casagrande, who began the day six seconds behind overall leader, Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom), at the start of the stage, finished 39sec ahead of the Kazakh following the 20km ascent of the Col du Albula at 2315m altitude. When Casagrande attacked only Vinokourov could stay with him though he soon concluded the effort was taking a toll on him and eased off as the Italian continued

John Lieswyn continues to hold onto the lead at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce after two stages back-to-back on Saturday. In the morning's 15-kilometer time trial, the 7UP-Maxxis rider finished second to Navigator's Chris Baldwin, the U.S. national time trial champion. Baldwin, the reigning U.S. time trial champion, professes to be surprised at his performances in the race against the clock this year. "I don't know why, but this year I'm really hot,” Baldwin said. “I guess a good bike equals good results." Eric Wohlberg (Canadian National), the perennial Canadian national time trial

Up-and-coming Frenchman Sandy Casar held off a bunch of big-name sprinters to win the fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland between Viege and Losone on Friday. Casar, the 24-year-old Fdjeux.com rider who made his name when finishing second in last year's Paris-Nice, held off Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen and Australian Stuart O'Grady after the 166.5km ride. Coming in just behind was Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen, the winner of last year's Tour de France green jersey, and CSC's talented Kiwi Julian Dean - both of whom had battled at the finish on Thursday. Alexander Vinokourov of

As Insight Race Across America leader Allen Larsen passed a time station Friday morning in Jefferson City, Missouri, he was nearly 200 miles ahead of second-place Rob Kish. And once again, thanks to back and neck pain from an old traffic accident, he was wearing a back and neck brace – but not the homemade wood-and-duct-tape kind that made his rookie-of-the-year finish last year so memorable. At his current pace, which has fallen a little from challenging Pete Penseyres's 1986 transcontinental record of 15.4 mph, Larsen should win RAAM by Monday. In the team competition, the four-man

John Lieswyn successfully defended his yellow jersey today at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce on the tough Mont Megantic stage, finishing second to former Beauce winner Tomas Konecny, who moved up to second in the general classification. Lieswyn credited his 7UP-Maxxis teammates with inspiring him to ride so well on the feared final climb, which reaches 18 percent in places. "I'm just happy that I didn't let the team down,” he said. “The closer I got to Megantic, the more pressure I felt, because the guys were killing themselves for me. They gave me the confidence and inspiration to do

Francesco Casagrande (Lampre) won the third stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Thursday to move into second place overall. The Italian is now six seconds behind leader AlexanderVinokourov (Telekom) of Kazakhstan, after winning the 205km stage from Nyon to the Saas Fee ski resort in five hours, 10 minutes, 38 seconds. Mountain specialist Casagrande took the initiative on the final 20kmclimb in the Alps after the riders had traveled around Lake Geneva andthrough the valley of the River Rhone. He finished 13 seconds clear ofLuxembourg's Kim Kirchen (Fassa Bortolo), with leader Vinokourov

Allen Larsen continued to build his lead over the 2003 Insight Race Across America solo field Thursday – he passed through Yates Center, Kansas, 180 miles ahead of second-place Rob Kish. Larsen, last year’s Rookie of the Year, has maintained an average speed of 15.33 mph, just seven-tenths of a second off the record set by Pete Penseyres in 1986 (15.4). Meanwhile, after the tragic loss of teammate Brett Malin in an Tuesday-night accident in rural New Mexico, Team Vail-Go Fast has withdrawn from the race, handing the lead over to Team Harreither-VAV Versich. The Austrian team is also in

Gord Fraser (Health Net) rebounded overnight from a disappointing finish in the second stage of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce to record his 13th career win at the race in stage 3. John Lieswyn (7UP-Maxxis) finished with the peloton and remains in the yellow jersey. The 151km Lac Etchemin stage is one of the hardest in the race, and has been instrumental in determining the final winner in past years. In 2001, Henk Vogels took the leader's jersey during this stage after a long breakaway, and last year a split in the field put all but 20 riders out of contention. The stage is "relentless,"

Lotto-Domo's Robbie McEwen has claimed his first-ever stage win in the Tour de Suisse on Wednesday. The 31-year-old Aussie topped a Southern Hemispheric podium he beat CSC’s New Zealander Julian Dean and fellow Australian Stuart O'Grady (Crédit Agricole). Telekom’s Alexandre Vinokourov retained the overall lead. Another Australian Bradley McGee saw his hopes of playing a part in the finish ruined as he had his route blocked by a Lotto team-mate of McEwen's in the final 500 meters - it also prevented him from gaining enough bonus time to replace Vinokourov as overall leader. However McEwen

Wow! That's all I have to say when reflecting on the past seven days. My colleagues have had their hands full covering all the heated racing action going on around the world ... but I've had my plate loaded with late-breaking tech developments. Don't think tech can be as exciting as racing? You've got two choices here: Hit your browser's "Back" button to get your fill of blow-by-blow race coverage, or read on to find out why this has been one of the most exciting weeks of tech coverage since I began working with VeloNews. Dura-Ace again! First off, Dura-Ace is in the house. Well, it was

John Lieswyn (7UP-Maxxis) survived a scare in the final 1500 meters of stage 2 at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce to retain the overall leader's jersey, while Oleg Grishkine (Navigators) took the stage win ahead of local favorite Charles Dionne (Canadian National). The 169km stage through the rolling countryside south of Québec City unfolded as expected, with a break of five riders going clear 6km into the race. Jindrich Vana (Ed's System-ZVVZ) and Trent Wilson (Flanders-Iteamnova.com) started the break, and were quickly joined by Cam Evans (Canadian National), Jeff Hansen (Atlas Cold

Dear Lennard;I'm building a front wheel for my new FSR, and I am concerned about the torsional rigidity of the front wheel. The spare parts I have can allow me to do radial lacing or standard three-cross. I'm running a Fox Float RL 80mm fork, a standard non-disc XT front hub, and a Bontrager Valiant 32-hole rim. I have run both wheels (three-cross and radial laced) on my old bike with a 75mm Marzocchi bomber Z3, and the three-cross wheel seemed to steer much better. I would prefer to do the radial because it looks cool and I have nice butted spokes for that wheel. By the way I weigh 180, am

After an aggressive ride, Telekom’s Alexander Vinokourov took a win in the opening stage of the Tour de Suisse. Vinokourov had been on the attack throughout the latter portion of the 163km stage from Egerkingen to Le Locle, but never managed to initiate a successful break until the closing meters as the peloton charged to the finish in Le Locle. Vinokourov managed to slip away with Fassa Bortolo’s Sergei Ivanov, before beating the Russian to the line, in a winning time of 4:13:43. Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero (Domina Vacanze) took third, two seconds back. The victory was particularly

The Grande Prix Cycliste de Beauce kicked off Tuesday with a hard 125-kilometer stage around the environs of Quebec City. John Lieswyn (7Up-Maxxis) took the stage and the first leader's jersey in a two-up finish with Chris Baldwin (Navigators). The opening stage was a wake up call to the riders: you will be climbing; A lot. After four circuits of an 8-kilometer loop with a significant climb on the south side of the St Lawrence River, in the town of Levis, the peloton headed north across the river to Quebec, where they did another eight circuits, with a tough 14-percent climb each lap. The

Lance Armstrong quieted the nay-sayers Sunday and won his second consecutive Dauphiné Libéré after holding off yet more attacks from the indefatigable Iban Mayo in the 174km finale from Briançon to Grenoble. Cofidis rider Cedric Vasseur attacked on the Category 1 Col du Coq with 40km to go to win his first race of the season. Mayo tried in vain to shake Armstrong one last time but the Texan matched his every move. Mayo, Armstrong, Credit Agricole’s Christophe Moreau and iBanesto.com’s Juan Miguel Mercado rolled in at 2:09 back of Vasseur. It was an exciting and intense week for Armstrong,

After riding Saturday’s cross-country in leftover mud from Friday’s drenching rain, riders were treated to a batch of fresh mud during the NORBA NCS #2 short track cross-country at Snowshoe Mountain, West Virginia. The skies opened up at 10 a.m. Sunday, and a steady downpour created slick conditions on the short, fast track, but Subaru-Gary Fisher’ Chrissy Redden and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (RLX-Ralph Lauren) stayed upright and at the front to take the STXC titles. For Redden, it was a sixth NORBA short track win, and perhaps her hardest fought. Midway through the race, a strong front group

If the Dauphiné Libéré race is Lance Armstrong's dress rehearsal for the upcoming Tour de France, don't expect any major changes in the plot line come July. The four-time Tour winner brushed off aches and pains from Friday's spill and withstood more aggressive attacks from Euskaltel's Iban Mayo on the classic climb up the Col du Galibier. "From the moment I cycled from the hotel to the start line, I knew it would be a difficult day because my body was aching all over," Armstrong said after finishing fourth behind winner Juan Miguel Mercado. "I suppose that's why I couldn't find my proper

On a muddy day in the West Virginia mountains that claimed a couple of prominent victims, Jimena Florit and Ryder Hesjedal slipped and slid to cross-country glory, and Jill Kintner and Mike King navigated the brackets to mountain-cross wins on day one of NORBA NCS 2 at Snowshoe Mountain. Alison Dunlap, Luna’s former world champion and World Cup winner, was transported to a nearby hospital with a possibly dislocated shoulder following a crash in the cross country. Meanwhile, Trek-Volkswagen’s Wade Bootes went down hard in the evening mountain-cross competition and required several minutes to

Editor's note: Vincent Gee is mechanic for the U.S. Postal ServiceCycling Team, largely responsible for the domestic circuit. Gee will bereporting back to VeloNews.com throughout the season.June 5 - Tuesday’s race in Lancaster was raining all day long but today (Thursday), it was dry. Nonetheless, it was bike wash, followed by bike wash, followed by yet another bike wash yesterday and this morning. The Lancaster race ended really late Tuesday so we put the dirty bikes away for the night and set off to a late dinner. Wednesday morning Julien (head mechanic) Allen Buttler and I pulled them

Lance Armstrong brushed off a rare crash early in Friday’s 192km fifth stage to retain the overall lead of the 55th Dauphiné Libéré race in another blistering hot day in France. Armstrong crashed alone while coming off a descent just 14km after the start in Morzine and cut his right elbow and buttocks. Team officials said they weren’t sure what caused the crash, but the four-time Tour champion went down going an estimated 70 kph. “He’s okay. You never know what can happen when you crash going that fast,” said team spokesman Jogi Mueller. Armstrong finished the stage with rips on his

Too bad Iban Mayo isn't talking up a big game for the upcoming Tour de France. The tenacious Euskaltel rider won his second stage of the 55th Dauphine Libere on Thursday, edging out Lance Armstrong and Francisco Mancebo after attacking hard in the Alps. "In a stage like that, held in such heat it's, not the quickest who comes out on top but the freshest," said Mayo, who also won the opening prologue. "It was a good win, but Armstrong is stronger. It's clear he's going very good now and will be even better at the Tour." Mayo, Armstrong and Mancebo chugged away from the fractured peloton on

As if there was ever any doubt. Of course, just in case there was any, Lance Armstrong made a point of reminding the cycling world that he's the alpha male of the pack with a blistering performance under Texas-like heat of central France. Armstrong blasted his way to his first victory of the 2003 season in Wednesday's 33.4km individual time trial and jumped into the overall lead of the Dauphine Libere race. The win comes just in time to remind everyone that Armstrong won't be arriving at the July 5 start of the Tour in anything but winning form. "I think it's more important to show myself

Dear Lennard;I remember a while back you mentioned some auto part glue that worked well for glueing on sew-ups. What is it and any tricks to using it? --Ignacio Dear Ignacio;The glue is 3M Fast Tack.Except on Continentals (which have no coating over the base tape), scrape the base tape (instructions in “Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance”). Layer the glue on the rim and tire, letting dry between coats. After the final coat on the rim, stick the tire on. Fast Tack can be problematic with Continentals, as it has a solvent in it that can soak through the base tape and loosen the glue

Strong winds moved riders up the Rhone Valley in a hot and toasty stage Tuesday, with Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) winning the bunch sprint into Vienne. The brisk tailwinds pushed the peloton into Vienne nearly a half-hour faster than expected and Hushovd held off Alexandre Usov (Phonak) and Baden Cooke (Fdjeux.com) to grab the victory. A familiar moveJacky Durand (Fdjeux.com) just couldn't help himself and went on the attack in the opening kilometers, quickly followed by U.S. Postal's Victor Hugo Pena and three others, but the move was just as quickly snuffed. But Durand

Suspension is a funny thing. While the majority of mountain bikes soldin the United States these days are full-suspenders, talk to "the averageJoe" on the trail, and you start to get the feeling that knowledge oftenlags far behind technology. Of course, with any broad generalization, there are always exceptions–guysand girls who are 100 percent up-to-speed about rebound, compression andwheel path–but for the most part, the average mountain biker is, at best,lost in a sea of marketing-speak when it comes to understanding and adjustingtheir suspension. I'm not trying to point fingers here,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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