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The champ enjoys a moment on the podium

Vanthourenhout puts the hurt on the field on Saturday

McConneloug in her first real 'cross ride of the season

McCormack has returned running to his training regimen

Finale to decide World Cup battleSaturday’s Giro di Lombardia marks the final stop in the 10-round World Cup series with the fight for the overall title coming down to a showdown between Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner). Bettini is nursing a 13-point lead over Rebellin going into the difficult Italian classic. A new course design has added some muscle to the climbs, making for what should be an exciting showdown in northern Italy. “My strategy is to stay glued to Rebellin’s wheel,” Bettini said. “The course is more difficult than it’s been in the past, but the

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Is a DNA test too ‘CSI’ for cycling?Editor:If the claim is that Tyler doped with someone else's blood, seems like the lab could extract the DNA of the other person from the blood samples and prove it conclusively. Then again, maybe I have seen too many episodes of “CSI” on TV. Larry

All things on earth point home in old October: sailors to sea, travelers to walls and fences, hunters to field and hollow and the long voice of the hounds, the lover to the love he has forsaken.–Thomas Wolfe, Of Time and the River It’s finally October, and like you I’m hoping for a few treats come Halloween, because we’ve already gotten more than enough tricks this racing season. Actually, the entire year has had a costume-party air to it, with dope fiends dressed up as pro bicycle racers, George W. Bush masquerading as the president of the United States and Iraq all tricked out like

Our editor at large dressed up as a journalist at Interbike ... a bit early for Halloween, it's true, but he drew cheers anyway

The past two months haven’t been easy for Phil Zajicek. On August 18, threeweeks after the easygoing 25-year-old Tucson, Arizona, resident took thebiggest stage race win in the 12-year history of the Navigators Insurancecycling team when he won the overall at the UCI 2.3 Tour of Qinghai Lake,Zajicek received word that he had failed a drug test after stage 6, onJuly 22, while wearing the leader’s jersey. No, Zajicek didn’t test positive for the red-blood cell boosting Erythropoietin(EPO). It wasn’t Human Growth Hormone (HGH), anabolic steroids or a diureticmasking agent, either. Zajicek

In this week’s column we explore Part 1 of a two-part answer to a reader’s question about professional sports contracts. While the analysis is a bit in-depth, should make for good and informative reading now that a lot of you are on break.Dear Bob,How is it that racers can negotiate deals for the following seasonwhen they are under contract with a team for the current season. When arider is thinking about jumping to another team it can't make for the bestteam chemistry.In professional leagues there rules against this, aren't there?J.R.New HampshireDear J.R,Yes, there are rules against it in

Australian sprinter Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros) has been getting close to a big one for the past several weeks, taking fifth at the recent world championships and fourth at last weekend’s Paris-Tours. On Thursday, he finally put all the pieces together, earning a breakthrough victory in the Giro di Piemonte in northern Italy. With fine support from his team – fresh off its victory in Wednesday’s Milano-Torino with Marcos Serrano -- Davis held off Italian duo Alberto Ongarato and Francesco Chicchi (both Fassa Bortolo) in a sprint for the finish line. The second race of the autumn

I am still settling back in from last week’s non-stop insanity - otherwise known as the 2004 Interbike International Bicycle Expo in Las Vegas. Sleep deprived, fighting a cold, I am only today regaining an ability to see in full color. But enough whining… I thought I would share a few notes I gathered while attending all five days Interbike. After two days at Outdoor Demo and three days in the Sands Convention Center, I knew what the standard question would be: “So what was cool this year?” I would usually find myself responding with something like, “well, it’s not like it used to be in

Climbing sensation Cesar Grajales is the latest addition to the Navigators Insurance cycling team's 2005 roster. Grajales made his mark as a world-class climbing specialist when he attacked Lance Armstrong, Jens Voigt, and Chris Horner to win the Dodge Tour de Georgia's stage 6 at the top of Brasstown Bald Mountain this past April. The Colombian highlander joins Aussie stars Nathan O'Neill and sprinter Hilton Clarke as three of the Navigators squad's new recruits. The full roster that will include many returning players and a few new names will be announced shortly. “The Navigators

Wearing the leader's jersey at the Tour of Qinghai Lake

Specialized’s Kevin Franks gives a sneak peek at at 2005 1/2 S-Works Roubaix which is said to weigh in at less than 1000 grams (for a 56cm).

Want lighter? Sub 10 pound project bikes were the rage this year-note the carbon chainrings on this Litespeed

Chistophe Sauser’s 20.5 pound raceable full suspension Scalpel

Cedric Gracia’s pink team issue Prophet

JHK’s Olympic Tomac Buckshot, complete with fresh Athens dirt

Geoff Kabush’s custom Turner Nitrous

Jullien Absalon's gold medal rig

Who said the carbon trend is getting out of hand? You’re telling me you don’t need a carbon (or white carbon) razor?!?!?!

MAINE: Verge New England series starts SaturdayThe 2005 Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series kicks off Saturday in New Gloucester, Maine. The difficult course designed by Tom Stevens provided a shocking introduction to last year’s series, but a slightly modified version should make for a friendlier but still challenging event this year. Last year’s elite men’s winner, Mark McCormack (Clif Bar-Colavita Olive Oil), will line up alongside third-place overall Ben Turner (TIAA-CREF-Clif Bar), under-23 world’s team member Matt White (NCC-BikeReg.com), and former Canadian national

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.How about amnesty followed by lifetime bans?Editor:While it may never be possible to eliminate the use of performance-enhancing illegal substances in sports in general, and cycling in particular, perhaps we need a clean start. Anyone who confesses that he or she has used banned

Serrano upsets Italians at Milano-TorinoMilano-Torino is an Italian race if there ever was one, with Mirko Celestino and Michele Bartoli racking up the last three victories. But Liberty Seguros rider Marcos Serrano pipped the local favorites Wednesday in the 199km semi-classic from Milan to Turin across northern Italy, edging Eddy Mazzoleni and Francesco Casagrande to become just the third Spanish winner of the Italian classic that dates back to 1876. Riders were jumpy right from the start, with aging tiger Andrea Tafi (Alessio-Bianchi) going an early solo move at 70km. The former classics

Stung by criticism of its action, a high school district has reversed a decision to disqualify cross country runners for wearing Lance Armstrong LiveStrong wristbands. The decision was reversed because “adequate prior notice had not been given to the participants,” Bruce Biehl, Kellam High School's principal and chairman of Beach District cross country, said in a statement released Tuesday. More than 20 runners were declared ineligible in a meet last Wednesday for wearing the popular LiveStrong bands, sold for $1 apiece. Proceeds go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which provides

Johnson negotiates the deeper sandpit

Schwartz skirts the edge of the sand to avoid a traffic jam in mid-pit

Verbruggen, UCI confident in Hamilton caseUCI president Hein Verbruggen said he is confident doping charges leveled against Olympic time trial champion Tyler Hamilton will stand up against challenges in court. UCI officials are largely keeping mum on the Hamilton case, fully expecting the high-profile case to be challenged to the Court of Arbitration in Sport. Disciplinary hearings against Hamilton could begin as soon as this month. Verbruggen defended the use of a new testing method that can detect the presence of banned blood transfusions, which debuted at the Summer Olympic Games in

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Tell us, TylerEditor:It’s easy — Tyler Hamilton should simply say that he has never had a blood transfusion, using these words: “I did not have a transfusion of blood. I did not and do not cheat. Not by yesterday’s rules, today’s rules or tomorrow’s rules!” We all cheer the American

Verbruggen

Paolo Bettini hasn’t won a World Cup race all season long, but he’s poised to claim his third consecutive globe in this weekend’s Giro di Lombardia in Italy. The Olympic champion finished sixth in Sunday’s Paris-Tours, enough to slip 13 points ahead of arch-rival Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) and tighten the grip on what will be the final World Cup competition as the series will be eliminated in next year’s Pro Tour. Bettini now holds a lead with 340 points after Rebellin could only finish 13th in the bunch sprint Sunday on Avenue Grammont and slipped to second at 327. The Quick Step rider

Flying Dutchman Erik Dekker measured his efforts just right to pull off a stunning victory in Sunday’s Paris-Tours. The 34-year-old Rabobank veteran was off the front all day as part of a five-man breakaway across the Loire Valley in France. When his fellow escapees dissolved under pressure from the fast-charging peloton, Dekker hitched a ride with a counter-attack late in the 252.5km race. Dekker sprinted hard with 500 yards to go to hold off the peloton and notch his first major victory since his injury-plagued 2002 season. “In the end, everybody was chasing me thinking I was tired,

Ex-Armstrong teammate to be questioned in bonus spat The ongoing dispute between a Texas insurance company and Lance Armstrong involving an unpaid $5 million Tour de France bonus is taking another twist. According to a report in the New Zealand Herald, officials from SCA Promotions Inc. will travel to New Zealand this month to interview ex-Motorola rider Stephen Swart about doping allegations revealed in a book published this summer. SCA has refused to pay following the publication of an unauthorized biography in France, “LA Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong,” which alleges the

At 4:45 a.m. Sunday morning, 23-year-old cross-country sensation Adam Craig woke up in Lake Tahoe, California, after a long night spent as the best man at his high-school friend’s wedding. Less than 12 hours later, the Maxxis-Giant rider crossed the finish line as the winner of the Grand Prix of Cyclo-Cross held at Fort Steilacoom Park in Tacoma, Washington. Clear skies and warm weather marked a contrast to Saturday’s Cannondale Stümptown Gran Prix, held in Portland, Oregon, as did the fast, spread-out 4.4km course that differed from the muddy hairpin turns found surrounding the Alpenrose

It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. With the new 10-racecyclo-cross World Cup kicking off on Belgian turf and Belgians sweepingthe world’s podium for the past three years, one might suspect that itwould be a Belgian who would take top honors at Wortegem-Petegem,Belgium, on Sunday. But the Czech Republic’s Zdenek Mlynar emerged at the front of a 20-ridergroup to take the first round of the 2004/05 World Cup. Because it hadn't rained for days in the usually wet environs of thisFlemish hamlet, the course was unusually hard and fast. Indeed, coupledwith the UCI’s recent aversion to tough

Dekker holds them off

Bettini had a lot at stake.

Dekker was in the early break, too

The chase is on.

Cofidis in pursuit

Adam Craig gets away

Kabush

Kabush leads on the run-up

Craig, Hall victorious in Tacoma 'cross

Even in white, everyone stayed clean in these conditions

Zdenek Mlynar

Mlynar went down, too, but managed to chase back

Page

Olympic champion Paolo Bettini will be out to prove a point this Sunday when he bids to overhaul his World Cup rival Davide Rebellin at Paris-Tours. Rebellin, the Gerolsteiner rider who recently gained Argentine citizenship in a futile attempt to compete at last week's world road championships, leads Bettini by six points in the standings with only two races left in the series. Bettini, the two-time World Cup winner and defending champion, did not have to go to such unpatriotic measures having already been picked for the Italy team by national team director Franco Ballerini.

Austrialia's Wade Bootes has been suspended for six months after testing positive to a banned stimulant. Bootes, a serious contender on the MTB 4-Cross and BMX circuits, tested positive for a banned stimulant at the Mont Sainte Anne Mountain Bike World Cup in Canada earlier this year. The 30-year-old from Queensland has contested the result, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport imposed the ban on Friday. Bootes is a former world champion in the now-defunct mountain bike discipline of dual and a former Australian mountain bike and BMX cyclist of the year.

[nid:29504]If the standard perception of Northwestern cyclo-cross racing conjures images of mud splattered riders battling it out in the driving rain, then the opening round of the inaugural Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross did nothing to change that image.

Both men have made the podium quite often this season

Knapp fights her way up through the mud

Decker and Wicks

Pontoni on the run-up

Kabush takes the early lead

The sun broke through right after the elite men's race

The men's podium

Days of life under bright fluorescent lighting, breathing air-conditioned air and listening to the thump, thump, thump of “tunes” emerging from the BMX section of the showroom floor is enough to put even the cheeriest bike geek in a foul mood. And, were the Interbike International Bicycle Expo anything else, say, a convention of ladder salesmen or mobile home dealers, we’d have lost it by now. But the great thing about the country’s largest bicycle industry trade show at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas is that it’s all about bikes and that part can make the lights, the air and the

The Belgian cycling association handed out two-year bans on Friday to three riders caught up in Jose Landuyt affair, the vet who admitted selling performance-enhancing drugs. They include Johan Museeuw, one of the most renowned one-day performers in the sport until his retirement earlier this year. The others are Chris Peers and Jo Planckaert. All three were also fined 10,000 Swiss francs ($8000). The riders were each given four-year bans, but two years were subsequently suspended from the sentence. Museeuw appeared in August before the Belgian association after being questioned by police

The World Championships is usually my final race of each season, but in Verona last weekend, I pinned my numbers and lined up on the start line for the final race of my career. To be a part of the World Championships in Verona was very special for me, as the cycling fans in the heart of Europe, and especially in the North of Italy are passionate. The road racecourse, which winded through the streets of the city of Love, was spectacular. It passed through the center of the city, by the arena, close to the house of Juliette, where she was courted by Romeo, and winded up the Torrecelli

With the 2004 road season just about in the books, the moves that will shape the U.S. scene in 2005 are well underway. There have been plenty of rumors flying around, but a couple of moves became official this week. First, the Colavita squad has announced the signing of Italian Davide Frattini for next year. The 2001 Baby Giro winner, Frattini came over to the States this season and spent the year with Team Monex, with the overall title at the Vuelta de Bisbee his biggest result. Colavita also noted that the team will bring back Mark McCormack, Sebastian Alexandre, Gustavo Artacho, Juan

(Lehigh Valley, PA) — The Northwestern Mortgage Corporation announced today that it will be the Title Sponsor of an Elite track endurance team for the 2005 season. The team will consist of six elite men/women riders and six developmental/junior, men/women riders. The team will have 12 riders total that will be focused on track endurance and some NRC races for 2005. The Northwestern Mortgage Cycling Team will be under the direction of two time Olympiad Jame Carney, who currently rides for Northwestern Mortgage Corp. Jame Carney will serve as coach and rider for the team. The team will be

The six-race Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross kicks off Saturday, with top 'cross racers from across the country convening in Portland, Oregon, for the first event, the Cannondale Stümptown Gran Prix. Racing continues Sunday in Tacoma, Washington, at the Clif Bar Grand Prix of cyclo-cross. "We're excited that the first weekend of the inaugural Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross has finally arrived,” said Paul Salvucci, director of operations for the series. “It's expected that there will be a great turnout of racers cranking up the competitive heat to the delight of the

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Zabel out for seasonErik Zabel won’t be lining up to defend his title in Sunday’s Paris-Tours World Cup stop. The German ace broke his heel after falling off a ladder in his home in Unna, Germany. “That puts an end to my season. It is annoying. I was in good form and well-prepared for the Paris-Tours World Cup race,” said the 34-year-old Zabel. T-Mobile team doctors said no surgery is necessary, but it means an early end to Zabel’s season. “Basically the injury is a bone splinter on his heel,” explained team physician Andreas Schmid from the University Clinic in Freiberg. “The injury will