Road Racing

Anne-Caroline Chausson took her second World Cup victory of the day,and Eric Carter was the surprise men's winner at the Mont Sainte-Anne WorldCup four-Cross, held Saturday evening.  Chausson and Brian Lopes bothextended their leads in the overall standings.From the start, the course drops from the ramp into a large left handberm. The strategy for the majority of the winners was to be the firstinto this turn. It also meant several crashes as riders jockeyed to bethat first person. From here there was the first of several double jumps,more berms and then a huge double jump where the better

First Starter at: 10:30 a.m. then 2-minute intervals.

Flying Start: 2:05 p.m. on D.932

On day two of the Fitchburg-Longsjo classic, three-time defending champion Lyne Bessette (Quebec Selection Team) moved a little closer to her fourth consecutive win, beating out Kimberly Bruckner (Saturn) in a head-to-head battle in the 40-mile women’s circuit race. In the men’s race, Prime Alliance’s Chris Horner edged out former teammate Mike Sayers (Mercury) for the stage win while Navigators Chris Baldwin grabbed the orange race leader’s jersey. After Thursday’s time trial, Bessette led Bruckner by one second in the general classification, so she was content to keep an eye on Bruckner

Swiss veteran Alex Zülle (Coast), won the Tour of Switzerland which ended with a time trial in Bienne on Thursday. Zülle finished third in the stage – behind Tobias Steinhauser (Gerolsteiner) and American Bobby Julich (Telekom) – which was good enough to give him a lock on the overall title. The 1995 Tour of Switzerland runner-up had shrugged off a six month ban imposed in 1998 as a result of the Festina doping scandal when taking second to Lance Armstrong in the 1999 Tour de France. But Zülle had a less than satisfactory season last, with just one win all season, a stage in Paris-Nice.

Mercury’s Phil Zajicek and Quebec’s Lyne Bessette took the wins in the opening time trial on Thursday night at the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, to take the leaders’ jerseys heading into Friday’s Aubuchon-Glidden Circuit Race. Defending champion Bessette (Quebec Selection Team) narrowly edged out her former Saturn teammate Kimberly Bruckner, covering the 7-mile time trial in 17:49.53, just over a second faster than Bruckner. Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson was third, 44 seconds behind Bessette. In the men’s race, Zajicek beat out defending champion Eric Wohlberg (Saturn)

Telkom’s Erik Zabel won the eighth stage of the Tour of Switzerland, a 235km stretch from Vevey to Lyss on Wednesday, continuing a pattern of wins that the German sprinter vowed to carry into next week’s Tour de France. Alex Zülle (Coast) retained the leader's yellow jersey, holding only a three-second advantage over Laurent Dufaux (Alessio) and 19 over Domo's Piotr Wadecki. Considered a strong strong time trialist, Zülle holds the advantage going into Thursday’s final stage a 34.5 km between Lyss and Bienne. Zabel said win on Wednesday gives him confidence going into the Tour de France,

More solutions to mystery noises.

Spaniard Juan Manuel Garate (Lampre) took the seventh stage of the Tour of Switzerland Tafter Italian Gianluca Bortolami (Tacconi) was stripped of victory. Bortolami was ruled to have swayed from his line as he sprinted towards the finish and pushed back to 18th spot, handing victory to Garate, of team Lampre. Swiss star Alex Zülle of Coast maintains his lead at the top of the standings but the real talking point on Tuesday was Bortolami's demotion to back of the finishing group. The panel, chaired by Belgian Marc Vandevyvere, decided to punish Bortolami for coming out of the final bend

The U.S. track team continued to add to its string of strong performances this year, taking the team title at the latest round of the World Cup in Cali, Colombia, June 21-23. It’s been a remarkable season for the Americans, starting with a team title at the opening World Cup in Monterrey, Mexico in April. The success continued in Sydney and Moscow, and, most recently, Cali, where the U.S. squad claimed their second World Cup title at the series’ fourth stop. With one World Cup competition remaining in Kunming, China (August 9-11)—the United States squad sits unofficially atop the World Cup

Phonak’s Alexandre Moos beat turned the tables on Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo), reversing the results from the day before to take the 176.9km sixth stage of the Tour of Switzerland as it finished in Verbier on Monday. Casagrande had beat Moos to the line at the end of Sunday’s stage and looked set to the same as he and Tacconi Sport’s Peter Luttenberger reeled Moos in as he neared the finish. Mooos had been active in the closing kilometers of the race, attacking with Telekom’s Giuseppe Guerini and Gerolsteiner’s Davide Rebellin on the day’s final climb, just 9 km from the finish. But

Rabobank's American co-captain for the TOur de France, Levi Leipheimer, appears to be coming into form at just the right time as he took over control of the 2002 Route du Sud on Monday. With one stage remaining, Leipheimer assumed the overall lead by 50 seconds after winning a short but tough mountainous time trial from Aston to the Plateau de Beille. Leipheimer beat second-placed Aitor Kintana (BigMat) by 48 seconds as he averaged 23 kph over the 18 km course that ended with the 1200 meter climb to the top of the Plateau. Cofidis’s David Millar finished the day in third place at 55 seconds

Gord Fraser and his Mercury team finally got the win at the Grand PrixCycliste de Beauce that they have been searching for all week, however, to do it he had to hold off Charles Dionne (7Up-Nutra Fig). Michael Rogers (Mapei-Quick Step) finished safely in the pack, and the stage produced no significant changes to the general classification. After being robbed of the chance for victory in the morning stage, when a mix up sent the enter peloton off course in the final 300 meters, the sprinters were anxious for a last chance to claim a stage before tomorrow's concluding road race. Therefore,

Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo), snatched victory in the fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland from the hands Phonak’s Alex Moos just 150 meters from the finish in Meiringen on Sunday. The two had broken away from the rest of the field on the descent of the day’s toughest climbm the Susten, just 10km from the finish. Casagrande outsprinted the Phonak rider at the end of the 147.7km race to beat Moos by a matter of inches, for a winning time of 4:37:35. Domo’s Piotr Wadecki took the field sprint 15 seconds later to finish third. Coast’s Alex Zülle maintains his grip on the

Under a hot midday sun, the nine-stage 2002 H.P. Women’s Challenge wrapped up Sunday, with Saturn’s Judith Arndt maintaining her 1:20 overall lead over Rona’s 20-year-old Genevieve Jeanson. Both teams raced the final stage conservatively, with Rona intent on preserving Jeanson’s three leader’s jerseys – overall points, mountain points, and best young rider – while Saturn looked after Arndt. During Sunday’s road race - a 56.5-mile sojourn from Emmett to Boise’s historic Hyde Park district – several attempts were made early on, but Rona swiftly shut them down. The real racing began after the

John Kirkcaldie (Maxxis) finally broke through "a lot of second places" to snag his first career NORBA downhill win on a rocky, rooted, but dry Snowshoe Mountain course. Meanwhile, French dominance continued on the women’s circuit, as Sabrina Jonnier (Intense) won her second consecutive NORBA race in the wake of Anne-Caroline Chausson’s first round win. After qualifying fourth, New Zealander Kircaldie finally broke Chris Kovarik’s (Intense) stranglehold on the downhill series posting a time of 4:02:39 over the 2.25-mile, 1400-vertical foot course. Kovarik suffered a flat tire in the bottom

Domo’s Leon Van Bon won the fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland, a mountainous 160-kilometer run between Coire and Ambri on Saturday. Italy's Daniele Nardello came in second ahead of Briton Charles Wegelius. Coast’s Alex Zülle retained the overall leader's yellow jersey. Van Bon and Nardello slipped the peloton, with 80km of the stage remaining, but this pair were caught by a select group including Wegelius, who led the sprint for the line, only to be retaken by a tireless Van Bon.

Under the figure of Boise’s Idaho State Capital building, Saturn’s Anna Millward took stage eight of the H.P. Women’s Challenge Saturday in a two-up sprint against T Mobile’s Katrina Berger. It was Millward’s second win - and Saturn’s seventh - of the nine-stage tour. The annual Saturday event, which circumnavigates downtown government buildings, drew out the local Boise cycling community to cheer on the riders and seek out autographs from the world-class field. With the overall GC more or less decided – Saturn’s Judith Arndt in first, 1:20 ahead of Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson, and Saturn’s

First rider start: 4 p.m., then at one-minute intervals for 189 riders.

Alison Dunlap (Luna Chix) and Jimena Florit (RLX-Polo Sport), the two dominant women on the NORBA circuit this year, spiced things up by flip flopping Friday’s long course cross country result, with Dunlap taking a commanding victory in the short track cross country. In the men’s race, Ryder Hesjedal (Subaru-Gary Fisher) sprang back from the cramps that plagued him on the long course to reclaim his top spot in the intense short track competition. Dunlap enjoyed an uncluttered view for the majority of the 20-minute-plus 3-lap women’s event, going away on the third lap and riding

The Snowshoe Mountain Mountain cross course did not leave a great deal of room for error. With nothing close to flat and only slightly doglegged corners, it was a matter of getting the holeshot, take the win, plain and simple. That tactic paid off for Brian Lopes (GT) and Katrina Miller (Jamis) both of whom qualified first, won each of their heats, and enjoyed their choice of lane position throughout the competition on the way to the top of the final brackets. In the women’s race, racers were offered an alternate line in order to avoid, if desired, the enormous double jump a scant 70 feet

Roland Green (Trek-VW) continued his dominance of the NORBA circuit on Friday, taking his second consecutive victory at Snowshoe, West Virginia, and netting his sixth straight NORBA cross-country title. In the women’s race, Jimena Florit (RLX-Polo Sport) built on a commanding early lead to score her second cross-country race of the series. The men’s race began with a familiar look, as Green streaked out to a holeshot trailed by countryman and training partner Ryder Hesjedal (Subaru-Gary Fisher) and a third dangerous Canadian, Geoff Kabush (Kona). Hesjedal briefly took a solo lead towards

Telekom's Alexander Vinokourov, won the third stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Friday, the first of four days in the mountains that usually define the Swiss race. Vinokourov finished ahead of Swiss riders Alex Zülle and Laurent Dufaux at the end of the mountainous 157.6km stage from Domat-Ems to Sammaun. Zülle, winner of the opening prologue, took over the leaders’ jersey with a six-second lead over Vinokourov and nine seconds over Dufaux in the overall classification. The stage proved to be difficult for several Italian cyclists, among whom were some of the favorites for the

The Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce selected its fourth leader in five days on today, as Michael Rogers (Mapei-Quick Step) slipped in front of yesterday's leader Matt Decanio (Prime Alliance). Rogers finished third on the individual time trial stage to German national champion Thomas Liese (Nürnberger), but gained enough time on eighth place finisher Decanio to take the yellow jersey. Phil Zajicek pulled Mercury back into contention with a fourth place result and moved into 7th overall. Canadian national time trial champion Eric Wohlberg (Saturn) was fifth in the stage and moved into tenth

After two consecutive mountaintop finishes, the 83 riders remaining in the H.P. Women’s Challenge were given a slight respite Friday, as an early thirteen-rider break without GC contenders was allowed to slip away and contest for the stage win. At the line, it was Anita Valen, a 33-year-old fitness instructor from Norway, who took the 88-mile stage in a field sprint. Early on, the Norwegian team Sponsor Services came out swinging. First the team’s Finnish rider Pia Sundstedt took a solo flyer at mile 18, opening a gap of 25 seconds before being caught three miles down the road. However, the

Lubor Tesar (Nürnberger) chalked up his second win in as many days atthe third stage of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce, winning a field sprint over Tuesday's second place finisher - David McKenzie (iTeamNova.com). The pace was fast from the start and, coupled with the seemingly endless rolling two-kilometer climbs of 6%-8%, saw the field split. In the end, only 40 riders made the cut for the front group, with the remainder of the field finishing over 21 minutes back, and putting themselves out of contention. After some early solo and duo break attempts, the serious work beganDuring the

The U.S. Postal team continued its run at the Tour of Catalunya as Roberto Heras took over the lead at the Spanish stage race, the third Postie to do so in as many days. Heras took over the race lead from teammate George Hincapie after finishing second in Wednesday's 10.8 kilometer mountain time trial that finished in Boi Taull, six seconds back of winner Aitor Garmendia of Coast. In the overall classification, Heras leads Garmendia by 15 seconds. "At this point of the race, the right rider is in the jersey for our team," said Dirk Demol, the USPS team's assistant director sportif. "Going

Erik Zabel won a hotly-contested sprint at the end the191km second stage of the Tour de Switzerland, beating Phonak's Sven Teutenberg by a tire-width on Thursday. Zabel outsprinted the field after 4:15:30 in the saddle, leaving Teutenberg to accept the runners-up place for the second day running. But the win still wasn't enough to take the yellow jersey away from the gutsy young French rider Eddy Lembo (Oktos) who holds on to a 49-second lead over prologue-winner Alex Zülle (Coast), after winning Wednesday's stage by slightly more than one minute. Lembo finished in the field Thursday as

Saturn’s Judith Arndt won a second stage at the H.P. Women’s Challenge Thursday, breaking the course record by more than twenty-one minutes, and more importantly, reclaiming the overall lead for her powerful team. If there was one defining image from Thursday’s 60-mile road race – or the entire H.P. Women’s Challenge, to this point – it was that of the Saturn women united, driving an unreachable team time trial through strong crosswinds, while former teammate Lyne Bessette (Canadian National) and Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson struggled in vain to hang on. Opening with 40 miles of windy flats

Stage four of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce saw a complete revision in the overall standings, with unheralded American rider Matt Decanio (Prime Alliance) taking the lead away from Lubor Tesar (Nürnberger). Former U.S. Postal rider Stephane Barthe (Saint-Quentin-Oktos) took the stage after a 130 kilometer two man breakaway effort. The 171.7 kilometer stage is the "Queen" stage of the race, the one that reduces the number of contenders to a handful. The long rolling climbs from the first few stages wearing down the riders, and the final 5 kilometers to the top of Mont Megantic is rated

Eddy Lembo, of the Division II Oktos squad, survived a long breakaway at the Tour of Switzerland Wednesday to steal a win in a stage that was expected to be a natural for sprinters. The 21-year-old Lembo finished more than a minute ahead of the field at the end of the day’s 172 kilometer stage from Lucerne to Schaffhausen. The win gave the young French rider the overall lead, bumping Coast’s Alex Zülle, winner of Tuesday's prologue, out of the top spot. Lembo covered the course in 4:18:36, finishing 1:08 ahead of the field. Phonak’s Sven Teutenberg, won the field sprint, while many of the

Genevieve Jeanson, the powerful 20-year-old from Quebec, finally had the day she’s been looking for at her first H.P. Women’s Challenge, winning a tough mountain stage and putting nearly one-minute between her and the overall leaders. Rising from the flatland town of Shoshone, Idaho, to the base of the Pomerelle ski resort, the 86-mile stage five – the longest of the nine-stage event – delivered the most action yet, resulting in a shakeup in the general classification and yielding the first non- Saturn stage winner. As the peloton rolled out of Shoshone under sunny blue skies and perfect

If Alex Zülle intends to use the Tour of Switzerland as evidence that he and his Coast team should have been invited to the Tour de France, he got off to a good start as he blazed through the opening prologue through the streets of Lucerne Tuesday. Zülle held off Alexia’s Giuseppe Di Grande and Allesio’s Laurent Dufaux to win the 5.7km prologue in 7:37. Zülle, who finished second in the 1999 Tour de France, upped his tempo over the last three kilometers following a challenging 800 meter climb to beat Di Grande and Dufaux by six and seven seconds respectively. Despite its 10th place in UCI

Adding a fourth consecutive stage win at this year’s HP Women’s Challenge, the talent-rich Saturn squad continues to redefine the meaning of dominance in the peloton, seemingly taking control of any stage at will. Long before Petra Rossner sprinted to the line to take stage four’s Stanley to Ketchum road race, it was all too clear that the Saturn women’s cycling team is, in effect, unstoppable. And while Rossner flew across the line to take her second field sprint victory in four days, setting a new course record by over two minutes, it was teammate Kimberly Bruckner that animated the

Gord Fraser (Mercury), has qualified for his fourth Commonwealth Gamesby finishing third in the second stage of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauceon Tuesday. The 162 kilometer stage began in the town of Levis, south ofQuebec, and finished in the village of Ste-Marie after nearly four hoursof racing. Czech rider Lubor Tesar (Nürnberger), won the stage, anddonned the yellow leader's jersey, approximately 15 seconds in front ofFraser.An early breakaway of two - Johan Coenen (Marlux - Ville de Charleroi),and Doug Ziewacz (7Up-Nutra Fig), were allowed to go away at the 37 kilometermark and build up

When Lance asks, you have to be ready to deliver. Take, for example thisstory of Armstrong’s new time trial handlebar. The day after the finish of the Midi Libre, U.S. Postal team managerJohan Bruyneel calls Deda Elementi, the team’s handlebar sponsor, to reportthat Lance is unhappy with his current equipment and wants something lighterfor the upcoming Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour. The next day, May 28, representatives from Deda drive from their factoryin Campagnola Cremasca, Italy, to Les Deux Alpes to meet with Armstrong,Bruyneel and Lance’s mechanic, Jean-Marc Vandenberge. At the

The powerhouse that is the Saturn’s Women Cycling Team swept the Stanley Time Trial at the H.P. Women’s Challenge Monday, with Judith Arndt taking the third stage and teammate Anna Millward three seconds back, remaining in the overall lead. It is the third consecutive Saturn victory at this year’s Women’s Challenge. National TT champion Kimberly Bruckner finished in second, just one tick of the clock off Arndt’s pace. Conditions on the false flat 40 km out-and-back course were cool and windy, embarking into a strong headwind and returning with a crossed up tailwind. In customary time trial

Three-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong warmed up for next month's Tour by finally conquering the Dauphiné Libéré stage race, which ended Sunday in Geneva, Switzerland. Armstrong led a 1-2 for both the United States and the U.S. Postal team as Floyd Landis came second overall, 2:03 behind the team leader, following the 150km seventh and final stage between Morzine and Geneva. Armstrong crossed the line in 37th position behind Spanish winner Jose Enrique Gutierrez of Kelme, but it was enough to finally secure a race that has escaped him during his career. Armstrong once again

It was probably the shortest course you’ll ever see on the professional downhill circuit, but that didn’t stop the world’s hottest rider from adding another win to his resume. For the fourth time in four tries Australian Chris Kovarik was the fastest man down the hill, taking round No. 2 of the NORBA National Championship Series. Kovarik has now won both stops of the 2002 NCS and the opening two rounds of the World Cup series. In the women’s race Frenchwoman Sabrina Jonnier posted the quickest time, giving the Intense team a pair of wins at Alpine Valley Resort in southern Wisconsin on

Saturn’s Anna Millward, two-time overall winner of the HP Women’sChallenge (1996 & 2000), won the Lowman to Stanley road race Sunday, out sprinting a select group of general classification contenders for her first sprint victory of the 2002 season. In nearly perfect weather conditions and mild wind, the 56.6-mile stage with a lone saw tooth-shaped profile guaranteed action, delivering over 3000 feet of climbing in the opening 33 miles. Once over the 7000-foot elevation Banner Pass, the course flattened out, with a long, gentle straightaway descent into the small alpine valley town of

Saturn's Petra Rossner is on a streak. Fresh off of her sixth win at Philadelphia's Liberty Classic, the German national champion took the opening took the opening stage of the H.P. Women's Challenge Saturday, winning the field sprint into Idaho City by more than five bike-lengths. The 69.5-mile first stage, which last year shattered the field with strong winds, offered very little in action today. With temperatures soaring into the mid-90s, and very little wind to influence the deep field of talented riders, today's peloton was content to ride together. The only true climb of the day, a

Lance Armstrong romped to victory in the sixth and penultimate stage of the Dauphine Libere, from Albertville to Morzine on Saturday to tighten his grip on the overall lead. The American held off a late challenge from Frenchman Christophe Moreau and Andrei Kivilev of Kazakhstan to claim his first stage victory on a day that included the Cols de Saisies, des Aravis, de la Colobière and Joux-Plane, the famous climb where Armstrong suffered his worst day of the 2000 Tour de France. "I was thinking about the climb of Joux-Plane all week," he said. "I told my teammates, don’t do anything stupid.

Over the years the NORBA National Championship series has become a very international affair, but on the second day of racing at Alpine Valley Resort in Wisconsin it was all North Americans on top of the podium. Racing on a mostly sunny Saturday started with the short track, and like they did the day before in the cross country, reigning world champions Alison Dunlap and Roland Green came out on top. In the evening the other rainbow-striped rider in attendance — American Brian Lopes — took the debut NORBA mountain cross race, with Tara Llanes winning the women’s event. Short TrackDunlap

La Française des Jeux’s Frederic Guesdon scooted ahead of his jostling breakaway to take the fifth stage of the Dauphine Libere in Grenoble on Friday. Guesdon was lying fifth as the line loomed when an incredible jostle for position by his fellow riders 300 meters out cleared the way for him to win in a time of 5hr 7min and 59sec. Colombian Santiago Botero had been trailing Laurent Jalabert for most of the 206km when he decided to make a move to grab second spot on the final climb. He used his wheel to knock Jalabert out of the way, forcing the Frenchman to take his feet out of his pedals

There were times when it looked more like cyclo-cross than mountain biking. But when the day was done there was no mistaking the names at the top of the podium, as reigning world mountain-bike champions Roland Green and Alison Dunlap took cross-country wins at NORBA NCS No. 2 at the Alpine Valley Resort in southern Wisconsin. Friday’s racing began with the women taking on 3.5 laps of the slick, muddy 6-mile course, and right from the outset it was Dunlap (Luna) charging off the front. The Colorado Springs resident led the 60-rider field up the first climb, and a third of the way through the

Jean Delatour's Patrice Halgand scored an impressive stage victory Thursday at the Dauphiné Libéré, while Lance Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service teammate Floyd Landis vaulted nine places in the overall standings to move into second place, just behind Armstrong. Landis and Halgand were part of an 18-rider group that was away for almost the entire day, 196km of the 206km stage from l'Isle-sur-la Sorgues to Digne in the southeast of France. Halgand escaped on the Category 2 Col de Corobin, just 15km from the finish, while Landis chased with Frenchmen Stéphane Heulot and Frédéric Bessy. After

Team Mercury’s Tom Danielson continued to manhandle the competition Thursday at the Colorado Cyclist Estes Cycling Challenge, in stage two of the five-day race that borders Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. Danielson--the former SoBe-Cannondale mountain-bike racer picked up by Mercury last month after a strong performance at the Tour of the Gila--won Wednesday’s opening prologue, a 2.7-mile uphill time trial, besting the times of teammates Chris Wherry and Scott Moninger and completing a podium sweep. In the absence of other top domestic teams such as Navigators and Prime Alliance,

With a long time trial awaiting him, Denis Menchov knew his time in the yellow jersey at the 54th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré would be finite after his win on Mount Ventoux yesterday. And the young Russian was right as he lost more than two minutes to U.S. Postal’s Lance Armstrong, the new overall leader of the eight-day Tour de France warm up. Perhaps a bigger surprise, however, was that Armstrong finished only second in Wednesday’s 41-kilometer time trial losing by 42 seconds to Kelme’s Santiago Botero, winner of last weekend’s Classique des Alpes. Haimar Zubeldia

IBanesto.com’s Russian climber Denis Menchov made his mark on the 54th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré on Tuesday, winning the toughest stage of this traditional Tour de France warm up, a 174 km race from Tournon to the top of Mount Ventoux. On top of his stage win Menchov took the overall lead from La Francaise Des Jeux’s Jacky Durand. Menchov, the winner of the Tour de l'Avenir in 2001, took second place in the stage on Mont Ventoux in that race. On Tuesday, he and Spaniards Felix Garcia-Casas, Aitor Kintina Zarate and Una Osa were out in front of the race on the slopes of

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again… or if you’re Jacky Durand try, try, try and try even more. Durand is easily the French peloton’s most renowned “head banger,” those brave souls who try a break early in a race and just pray it sticks. Today, the first stage of Dauphiné Libéré, turned into one of those rare occasions when the 35-year-old Frenchman hit pay dirt, beating Kelme’s Alexis Rodriguez in a two-man sprint at the end of a 151-kilometer escape. The Française des Jeux rider and Rodriguez slipped off the front of the 110-rider field at the 22km mark of Monday’s 173 km stage

The Tissot-UCI Mountain Bike World Cup wrapped up a four-week European spring tour Sunday, as Maribor, Slovenia hosted round two of the Downhill and 4X series. After the rain and mud of Scotland's downhill last week, riders were looking forward to the typically sunny weather of this scenic country north of Italy. But with sporadic rains keeping mechanics scrambling to choose correct tires and bolt-on fenders for the downhill finals, many got a bit more than they bargained for. Chris Kovarik (Intense) got the most, winning his second race in a row — right after Anne-Caroline Chausson

Under darkness of night and illuminated by the bright lights of this World Cup slope, American Mike King (Haro-Lee Dungarees) won round 2 of the new 4x World Cup series in Maribor, Slovenia. King’s win, his major victory since 1996, showed that he still has the goods when it comes to head-to-head racing. On the women’s side, Anne-Caroline Chausson (Volvo-Cannondale) captured her second win in as many weeks. Beating perennial favorite Brian Lopes (Fox-GT), King used his years of BMX, downhill and dual racing experience to take the lead away from the world champion in turn one, then hold it

Francaise Des Jeux's Bradley McGee fought off the close challenge of his fellow Aussie and teammate Baden Cooke to win the Dauphine Libere prologue in Lyon, France, on Sunday. McGee, who has had a troubled year since his debut Tour de France last year, completed the 3.6km course a second ahead of Cooke in 4min 14sec. "I'm astonished. After such a long time without winning, it has been hard to stay confident," said McGee. U.S. Postal’s Lance Armstrong, who is strongly favored to retain the Tour de France title he has won for the last three years, finished in fifth some four seconds off

After two years of seeing Fred Rodriguez walk away from Philadelphia with the USPRO champion’s jersey, the U.S. Postal Service reclaimed the stars-and-stripes. And after years and years of trying, the Navigators squad finally got everything right and won the big one. In the end, it wasn’t Rodriguez or George Hincapie, but rather Chann McRae and Mark Walters who stole the show at the First Union USPRO Championship in Philadelphia on Sunday. Hincapie and Rodriguez have been the big favorites at Philadelphia the last few years, but for two-time defending champion Rodriguez, the week hadn’t

Everyone knew who to watch at the First Union Liberty Classic, and they’ll have plenty of opportunities to watch her again in the highlight reels, as Petra Rossner (Saturn) rode to victory in the 57.6-mile women’s race. Run concurrently with the USPRO men’s road championship, the Liberty Classic has known only four winners in its nine-year history, and the Leipzig, Germany native has held a monopoly on the top step of the podium since 1998. Her first victory, came in 1996. Unlike Rossner’s 2001 victory, which came in a massive field sprint to the line, this year’s race came down to one key

Gord Fraser has had bad luck at the First Union Classic in Trenton, New Jersey before, but on a day when it seemed that anything possible could go wrong, everything went right for the Canadian Mercury rider. Fraser held off a charging pack at the end of a wet, treacherous race on Thursday evening to give his Mercury team its first Trenton win. The race got off to a rocky start, when, just minutes after the 164 riders rolled off the line in front of the New Jersey State Art Museum, they were called back to the start. A fatal automobile-pedestrian accident had occurred on the downtown end of

Features: The Mag00 is a superlight magnesium stem for an oversized31.7mm handlebar diameter. It is machined from AZ 80 A, T5 temper magnesium,under a controlled inert-gas atmosphere and immediately coated afterwardsto prevent the oxidation and consequent weakening of the magnesium.The four-bolt front cap is made of carbon fiber with, according to Deda,the fibers oriented along the lines of force. All bolts are 6/4 titaniumfor a 4mm hex key.The Mag 00 comes in an 80-degree angle with lengths of 90, 100, 110,120, 130 and 140mm.Likes: The stem is extremely light while being adequately stiff.I

When a carbon fiber handlebar breaks, it makes a sound like a snapped twig.There’s a sharp “crack!” followed by a hollow splintering sound, just asif you’d broken a dry stick over your knee. Then, silence.The similarity in sound is due to the similarity in structure. Carbonfiber, like wood, is made of long strands of high-strength material surroundedby a resin matrix. Trees do it with cellulose and sap. Engineers do itwith synthetic polymers and glue.The difference, of course, is that carbon fiber is considerably strongerthan wood; in fact, carbon’s raw tensile strength figures typically

The U.S. Postal Service squad drew first blood at the First Union Cycling week on Tuesday night, as David Clinger rode away from breakaway partner Chris Wherry (Mercury) on the final lap of the First Union Invitational in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Clinger and Wherry were the two survivors of a typical Lancaster race -– fast, difficult and hard-fought. Coming off his spring European campaign, including a strong support ride for Lance Armstrong at the Midi Libre, Clinger took his first win of the season in the streets of Lancaster. "Everybody wants to win, and everybody’s here to win," he

From the start, the Tour of Greater Montreal was a battle of seconds– or tenths of seconds -- decided by intermediate sprints, timebonuses and tie breakers. That’s why the overall standings of Canada’snewest stage race for women has the top three riders listed has havingthe same time. But having won two of the event’s three stages gave LauraVan Gilder (Trek Plus VW) the edge in the final break down.Van Gilder, U.S. criterium champion for 2000, won Tuesday’s closingstage, a relatively flat 113 km road race, edging out Clara Hughes (ÉquipeQuébec) and Anna Millward (Saturn) in a sprint.The stage

What a long, strange race it’s been.Starting in Holland on May 11 and ending 20 stages and 3363 km later,the 2002 Giro d’Italia ended pretty in pink Sunday in Milan. From doping scandals to inspirational racing, there was never a dullmoment in the 85th Giro. American Tyler Hamilton made history, scoring an historic podium finishand winning a Giro stage. Bolstered by the support of CSC-Tiscali teammanager Bjarne Riis, the 31-year-old Bostonian emerged from Lance Armstrong’sshadow. "Bjarne and I worked so hard to get here, so it was a special momentafter yesterday’s time trial. I had to

It’s been a long time since the French haven’t owned at least one of the World Cup downhill leader’s jerseys, but that’s just what happened in Scotland Sunday after a pair of Commonwealth riders stormed away with wins at round one in Fort William. Aussie Chris Kovarik and Great Britain’s Tracy Moseley are now on top of the series standings, after each took dramatic victories on the steep slopes of the Nevis Range Ski Resort. For Kovarik it was his second straight World Cup win. The Intense rider closed the 2001 season on top of the podium at the finals in Mont-Ste-Anne. "I’ve managed to

When temperatures in Arlington, Virginia had reached 80 degrees at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning, the professional cyclists gathered for the fifth edition of the Clarendon Cup knew they were in for a tough day. Undaunted, racers made a hot, windy summer day even harder on themselves as strong fields in the men’s and women’s events came out punching. German Ina Teutenburg (Saturn) and Russian Vassili Davidenko (Navigators) emerged from the fray to take the top podium spots. Few of the locals had forgotten last year’s spectacle in the women's race, when Teutenberg went away early and lapped the

Tyler Hamilton needed a super time trial Saturday to win the 2002 Girod’Italia. Instead, the CSC-Tiscali captain was “OK” in the race againstthe clock – 4th place at 1:31 slower than stage-winner Aitor Gonzalez -- but he still bounced to second-place overall going into the Giro’s finaleSunday in Milan. That was more than OK for Hamilton, however, who endured three crashesto win a stage and will become only the third American to finish on thefinal podium when the 85th Giro concludes Sunday. “I knew ahead of time it was going to be difficult. I knew I would haveto have a super, super day,”

The names may have been the same and the riders still had their usual course complaints, but when Saturday’s racing at World Cup No. 1 in Fort William, Scotland was done, the debut of four-cross had to be considered a big success. The day’s biggest winner was Volvo-Cannondale, which swept the top of the podium after French riders Anne-Caroline Chausson and Cédric Gracia took wins on the short course near the base area of the Nevis Range Ski Resort. But the huge gathering of fans (3500 tickets were sold) also fared well, getting to watch an hour of exciting back-and-forth racing that included

Live Updates1:15 p.m. -- Good morning to our U.S. readers. Welcome to VeloNews.com's live coverage of Stage 18 of the 2002 Giro d'Italia. Start time is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Rovereto. Today's 18th stage from Rovereto to Brescia offers something of a breather between yesterday's seven-and-a-half-hour stage in the mountains and tomorrow's time trial. Only 143 km, it features just one ranked climb, the Category II 638-meter Molina di Ledro at 32 km and finishes with three laps on a 6-km circuit in Brescia. 1:35 p.m. -- The peloton is leaving Rovereto. There are 141 riders remaining in

After 3178 kilometers, the 85th Giro d’Italia will really come downto 43.9 km of pavement. After 18 stages and at least 84 hours, 49 minutesand 55 seconds of racing, this Giro will likely be decided by just a handfulof seconds. It’s Tyler Hamilton vs. Paolo Savoldelli. The Bostonian vs. the Bergamasco. It’s sure to be an exciting finish to an already emotional and drama-filled Giro. Savoldelli has two advantages going into Saturday’s 43.9-km decisiveindividual time trial; one with the clock and another with emotion. Savoldelli has a 1 minute, 28 second lead on third-place Hamilton andwears

Everyone here keeps calling Tyler Hamilton a Xerox copy of Lance Armstrong, but more than anyone else, the CSC-Tiscali team captain seems to have borrowed from the Miguel Indurain school of tactics: stay close in the mountains and then kill ‘em in the time trial. Hamilton stayed close in Thursday’s final big day in the mountains,but maybe not close enough. If he wants to become only the secondAmerican to win the Giro d’Italia, he’s going to have put down a super time trial this coming Saturday. Dario Frigo (Tacconi Sport), the man who began the day in second placein the overall standings,

Italian police carried out hotel raids in the Dolomite town of Covara Wednesday evening, target four teams competing in the Giro d’Italia. The teams targeted after the finish to the 16th stage were all Italian Panaria, Mercatone Uno, Mapei and SAECO, a police source reported. Each of those teams has had at least one rider already excluded from the race for doping. At the Mapei team hotel police seized the medical files belonging to Stefano Garzelli, the 2000 winner who was thrown out of this year's race after testing positive for a masking agent after the Giro's second stage. SAECO's

Cadel Evans came to the Giro d’Italia to help Mapei teammate StefanoGarzelli, but the 2000 Giro champion got the boot for failing a dopingtest. Now Evans is the first Australian to wear the maglia rosa and isAmerican Tyler Hamilton’s most dangerous rival for overall victory. The former mountain biker jumped into the race lead in an exciting stagethrough the jagged, snow-covered Dolomites, finishing seventh, 58 secondsbehind stage-winner Julio Perez Cuapio. Hamilton hung with the Giro’s bestclimbers over four punishing climbs to remain in third-place overall, nowjust 18 seconds behind

Just when things seemed to be getting back to normal after the expulsionsof Stefano Garzelli and Gilberto Simoni, Francesco Casagrande pulls a Mike Tyson and gets kicked out of the race. No, he didn’t bite anybody’s ear off, but he’s out of the Giro afterallegedly running Colombian John Freddy Garcia (Colombia-Selle Italia)into the fences and sending him to the hospital with 20 stitches to thechin. Casagrande started the day wearing the green best-climber’s jersey infourth-place at 1:07 back. His “aggressive riding,” as the UCI called it, ended his Giro early. The incident happened early

Jonas Carney (Prime Alliance) overtook a commanding Navigators leadout train to edge Vassili Davidenko (Navigators) and Graeme Miller (Mercury) and take a record fourth win in the Tour of Somerville in Somerville, New Jersey. Carney also won Somerville in 1992, 1998, and 2000. The women's Mildred Kugler Memorial Open also saw a repeat winner, as 1999 winner Laura Van Gilder (Trek Plus) nipped 2000 champion Tina Mayolo-Pic (Diet Rite) by a wheel's width at the line. Tania Duff-Miller (Freddie Fu) put in a personal best Somerville performance to finish a close third. Now in its 59th running,

What can I do about a ticking noise?

Saturn’s Judith Arndt completed Saturn’s dominant run at the Tour de L’Aude on Sunday, taking the overall title, while teammate Petra Rossner won the final stage in Limoux, France. Arndt finished the 10-day race 1:16 ahead of Russia’s Valentina Polkhanova (Itera) and 1:24 over Lithuania’s Edita Pucinskaite (Figurella). On Sunday, the five-woman Saturn team set things up perfectly for Rossner, chasing down late breakaway Pia Sunstedt (Figurella) and then leading out Rossner for the sprint win over Angela Brodtka (Redbull). The win was the sixth in 10 stages for Saturn. The Saturn run began

She may not be the world champion, but right now there’s little doubt who the best female cross country rider in the world is. For the fifth time in her last six tries, Spain’s Marga Fullana took victory in a World Cup, this time beating Great Britain’s Caroline Alexander by 40 seconds to take round two of the 2002 series in Houfallize, Belgium on Sunday. Fullana (Orbea) turned her four laps around the 7.7km course in 1:46:20. After Alexander (Great Britain National) came Annabella Stropparo (Be One) in third at :48, then Alison Dunlap (Luna) at 1:21 and Barbara Blatter (Specialized) at

Tyler Hamilton had the biggest day of his professional cycling careerSunday and catapulted into contention for overall victory in the 85th Girod’Italia. Hamilton won Sunday’s 14th stage, a beautiful, but difficult, 30-kmindividual time trial along Italy’s rugged Adriatic Coast, and bouncedfrom 11th to third place overall. On the same day Hamilton’s longtime mentor Lance Armstrong won the overalltitle in the Midi Libre in France, Hamilton burst out of the Texan’s shadowforever and won the first American stage victory at the Giro since 1988. “To win today was incredible. It was my biggest

It wasn’t the finish the cycling mad Belgian fans were hoping for, but with two riders in the top three it wasn’t a bad day either. The man spoiling the party at World Cup cross country No. 2 in Houffalize was Christoph Sauser, who bested home-country heroes Roel Paulissen and Filip Meirhaeghe in the 38.5km race on Sunday. After spending four laps dueling with a powerful lead group that also included the likes of Roland Green and Bart Brentjens, Sauser (Volvo-Cannondale) and Paulissen (Lanabau-Rainer-Wurz.com) broke away together, building a gap that hovered around 15 seconds. From there

The clouds parted over the Giro d’Italia in more ways than one Saturday. After two days of rain and cold, it was sunny and warm at the startwith rowdy crowds, just the way the Giro should be. And, more importantlyfor the worn-down Giro, there were no doping scandals. Life almost seemedto return to normal on the Giro. Saturday’s difficult 186-km climbing stage through Italy’s spectacularAppennini Mountains with views to the Adriatic Sea helped capture everyone’sattention. With the Giro’s decisive final week looming, none of the favorites could afford to be caught watching the scenery. With

Lance Armstrong (USPS) has moved into the overall lead at the Midi Libre after finishing third in Saturday’s fourth stage, five seconds behind the day’s winner Laurent Brochard (Jean Delatour) and Andrei Kivilev (Cofidis).On the strength of today’s performance, coupled with a second-place finish in yesterday’s time trial. Armstrong took over the lead from ONCE’s Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano.Armstrong said he had been disappointed by his second place in Friday’s TT and was hoping to do well enough to take the overall lead on Saturday."I spent all last night thinking about why I failed in the time

How many punches can the Giro d’Italia take? The race lost its second superstar in four days, suffered through agrowing chorus of detractors who want the race canceled and faces the prospectof overall victory by Francesco Casagrande or Dario Frigo – both riderswho’ve served doping suspensions in the past. Gilberto Simoni was the latest victim of doping’s tightening noose. The defending Giro champion was kicked out of the race by his Saeco team Friday morning following pressure from Giro organizers and other teams. Mercatone Uno’s Roberto Sgambelluri, who failed a doping test for Nespon the