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Olympic champion Paolo Bettini will not be the biggest loser if he is beaten to the road race title by Italian compatriot Davide Rebellin at the world championships' blue ribbon event on Sunday. Instead, the sword is likely to fall on national team selector Franco Ballerini. Ballerini, a former winner of the tough Paris-Roubaix one-day classic, has created huge pressure for himself following Rebellin's defection to represent Argentina around the city made famous by Romeo and Juliet. There will certainly be no love lost between the Italian public and Ballerini if Rebellin, the current World

Mike Van Abel, a former national vice president for the American DiabetesAssociation, has been selected to head the International Mountain BicyclingAssociation (IMBA). Mike was picked from a field of more than 350 candidates,following a nationwide search conducted by T. Malouf & Company.He replaces long-time IMBA executive director Tim Blumenthal, who recentlyassumed the top role at Bikes Belong, the bicycle industry's trade association.Hill Abell, president of IMBA's board and owner of the Bicycle SportShops in Austin, Texas, said, "We couldn't be happier that Mike has acceptedthe position.

Tech Report: Getting soaked before going to 'Vegas

Tech Report: Getting soaked before going to 'Vegas

Tech Report: Getting soaked before going to 'Vegas

Tech Report: Getting soaked before going to 'Vegas

Tech Report: Getting soaked before going to 'Vegas

Franco Ballerini may have a lot to think about on Monday.

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich has pulled out of Sunday's world road race championship in Italy with the same stomach sickness which caused him to pull out of Wednesday's time-trial. "He can't race, it's impossible," said his business manager Rudy Pevenage. Ullrich, 30, the 1997 Tour de France winner is a two-time world time-trial champion - in 1999 and 2001 - but has never won the road race, although he won the Olympic road title at Sydney in 2000. “The season is over for me,” Ullrich said on his on website. “I am so weak that I lose my breath just climbing up stairs.” “The

This time there will be no asterisks, no waiting on failed doping tests and no doubt for Michael Rogers. Just hours after officially receiving the 2003 world champion’s rainbow jersey, the 24-year-old roared across the finish line Wednesday with his right arm shot into the air to emphatically score his second. “I don’t know how many people have won two rainbow jerseys in one day, but it’s very satisfying,” said Rogers, who beat German Michael Rich by 1:12. “Since the Olympics there haven’t been five minutes that I haven’t thought about this race.” Rogers finished runner-up to David Millar

Many people were wondering what Tom Danielson, the American road pro known for his feats on the feared mountain steeps, was doing in the time trial at the world championships in Italy on Wednesday. Danielson, who finished 35th, said afterward that, like much of his inaugural season of racing in Europe, the idea was to gain some experience. The 46.75km race in the hilly wine region near Lake Garda was the longest time trial Danielson had ever raced. “For me, coming here is just a great experience to try and practice,” Danielson said after his ride. “I’m not a time trial specialist, and I

Hermida EPO tests negativeSpanish mountain biker José Antonio Hermida was cleared Wednesday of suspicion of taking EPO after urine samples taken at the world mountain bike championships earlier this month came back negative. Spanish national team officials confirmed that samples taken Sept. 11 in Les Gets, France, did not show traces of the banned blood booster. The Olympic silver medalist was not allowed to start the 2004 world championships after two blood screenings revealed a high hematocrit count and he was given a 15-day “cooling off” period which derailed his world’s hopes. Hermida

Bardolino is the host town of the time trials this week.It is situated on Lake Garda and loaded with good cafes and gelato shops. After being a part of the Olympic Games in August, the World Championships seem relatively small, but the relaxed ambiance is enjoyable. Team USA is staying on a hillside above Lake Garda. Fall has arrived here, the leaves are already beginning to change colors and the air is crisp and cool. I am four days away from the finish of the season and thoughts of hikes in the woods, mountain bike rides and lazy mornings with the New York Times are dancing in my head.

"I've never tested positive." We've all heard this statement (or some variation) from any number of athletes. A lot of athletes and their supporters seem to think this is a meaningful argument. Certainly many people seem to be persuaded by those four simple words. But it’s sad to say that these days, the statement "I’ve never tested positive" is very nearly meaningless. So far, that is. There are signs of progress that may some day give real meaning to the claim of never having tested positive. Of course some athletes move from this falsely persuasive argument to outright lies of denial

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. At times, silence is goldenEditor,While I will be greatly disappointed if Tyler Hamilton is guilty ofdoping, what I find most disturbing about the whole scandal—and most ofthe previous ones, too—is that the IOC and UCI released preliminary resultsbefore getting a confirmation from the B

Ullrich's Coast kit is actually paying off now.

This time he gets the jersey first

Rich

Compared to the road to Caravaca de la Cruz, this was easy for Zabriskie

But are you experienced? Danielson tests his legs in Italy

This is show season, and between traveling a lot and writing the fourth edition of “Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance” (due this week) as well as building a few bikes, I have had my hands full. Although I have received your questions, I am filing them away for now in favor of answering the questions people have been asking about new products at the shows. This, combined with my article in the print version of VeloNews, will conclude my coverage of the 62nd annual Milan bike show, held this year September 17-20. Next Monday, it’s off to a week at Interbike! Among all of the cool

How times change. Just last week, EPO was the talk of the town. Now you can’t open the sports page without reading something about transfusion blood doping. Sport doping is going old school. Out with the new, in with the old. Blood transfusions have long been used to enhance athletic performance. Transfusions are an extremely straightforward, simple, and effective method of increasing the blood’s oxygen carrying capacity. Physiologists believe that it is the rate at which hemoglobin delivers oxygen to the exercising muscle that limits muscle performance. Blood transfusions address this

He’s officially the reigning world time-trial champion, but Michael Rogers has only managed to slip on the rainbow jersey once in competion. Nonetheless, the 24-year-old Australian refuses to be bitter about his late acquisition of cycling's rainbow jersey following David Millar's admission that he won it using EPO (erythropoietin). Instead, the Canberra native intends to show he was worth the prize anyway by bringing it home after Wednesday's 46.75km time-trial at the world road race championships in Italy. Millar, the 27-year-old former Cofidis rider, was stripped of the title won last

The stalemate between cycling's ruling body and organizers of the sport’s three grand tours took a new twist Tuesday after UCI president Hein Verbruggen conceded that he may have to downsize plans for the new ProTour. But Verbruggen, who has met opposition to his proposals for a new-look ProTour which would radically shake up the sport when it is introduced in 2005, conceded Tuesday that he could be forced to introduce a slimmed down version of his initial plans for the race calendar. Verbruggen's project would see 20 top cycling teams buy four-year licenses to ride in a 22-race annual

Bleach blond hair was the look of the day Tuesday as German riders PatrickGretsch and Stefan Schäfer finished first and third in the juniormen’s category at the world time trial championships in Bardolino, Italy. Gretsch, a German talent of unknown quantity before the race, surprisedeveryone, including himself, by posting a winning time of 30:29.37 in the24.05km race. “I was very surprised with my race,” said Gretsch, who just turned 17in July. “Normally I race on the track, so I was just hoping for a placein the top ten.” Even more surprising than his win was Gretsch’s margin of victory.

At last year’s world championship time trial in Hamilton, Ontario, Karen Thürig of Switzerland started off strong but faded on the final climb to finish one spot out of the medals. This year’s time trial course for the elite women, in and around Bardolino, Italy, suited the multisport competitor better, and Thürig wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice. Thürig crushed her competitors with a dominant ride on the 24.05km course on Tuesday. At 6 feet tall and 145 pounds, the rolling power climbs, and especially the terrain on the second half of the Bardolino course, seemed custom designed

The Russian Cycling Federation has announced plans to challenge the results of this year's Olympic time trial after American cyclist Tyler Hamilton was cleared last week of doping violations by the International Olympic Committee. Hamilton twice tested positive for a blood transfusion, first in Athens on August 18 after winning the Olympic time trial gold medal and then following his win in the stage 8 individual time trial at the Vuelta a España. But Hamilton’s Olympic test was not confirmed after laboratory technicians froze the B sample instead of refrigerating the vial of whole blood

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Tech Report: More from Milan

Some say Rogers' Olympic performance was worthy of a medal

The podium

The course was made for a power rider like Thürig

Arndt was second at nearly a minute back

Zabirova crossed for third

Thorburn was top American in seventh

It took less than 23 minutes on a Monday afternoon in Italy for 18-year-old Rebecca Much of Chicago to make a name for herself in bike racing. Much, now a college student at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, won a silver medal in the opening race of the 2004 road world championships, finishing second to Tereza Hurikova of the Czech Republic in the junior women's time trial. After accepting her medal with the blue waters of Italy's Lake Garda shimmering in the background, Much, who was competing at the world championships for the first time, revealed a bit of inspiration that helped

Jan Ullrich has pulled out of Wednesday's time-trial at the World Championships in Verona, Italy, due to a stomach complaint, his T-Mobile team direcor Mario Kummer confirmed on Monday. Ullrich, 30, the 1997 Tour de France winner and a two-time world time-trial champion, in 1999 and 2001, will be replaced by time-trial specialist Uwe Peschel. Michael Rich, who rides for the Gerolsteiner team and for the past two years has won the GP des Nations two-man time-trial event, will be Germany's other rider. It was unclear whether Ullrich would ride in Sunday's 265.5 km road race, which he has

With shoulders hunched and eyes cast down at the ground in front of him, Thomas Dekker was not just happy to be there. Standing two feet to Dekker’s left, Janez Brajkovic of Slovenia was wiggling his arms into a white jersey with rainbow stripes, a garment that Dekker, a favorite for gold in Monday’s under-23 time trial at the 2004 world championships, must have imagined himself wearing. The 20-year-old Dekker, a rookie pro for Rabobank, was hoping to erase the disappointment of last year, when he got sick before the U23 time trial at the Hamilton world’s and struggled to a ninth-place

The directors of cycling’s three grand tours – the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España – are presenting a united front in their opposition to proposals by cycling's governing body for a major shake-up of the sport, slated for next season. Over the course of the past year, UCI president Hein Verbruggen has pushed through reforms to change the look of international cycling, including an elite-level calendar dubbed the ProTour. The proposals put forward by Verbruggen, the man who over a decade ago introduced the World Cup series which includes 10 one-day classics such as

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.Time for straight talk, TylerEditors,Regarding Haven Hamilton's defense of Tyler (see "TylerTunes: A letter from Haven"): I have some of questions for Havento pose to her hubby.Tyler has been reported as initially having said that he had a surgicalintervention that would explain his

Much waits to start a medal-winning ride

Brajkovic surprised even himself

Dekker faded on the second climb

Farrar finishes 21st.

There was never really any doubt about the outcome of the 2004 Vuelta a España. At least not in the mind of Roberto Heras, who had a 43-second head-start going into Sunday’s 28.2km final time trial through the mean streets of Madrid. Heras forfeited 13 seconds to the surging Santi Pérez (Phonak) but rode with calculated confidence to claim his record-tying third Vuelta crown in five years. He won the 2000 Vuelta as a member of the Kelme squad, joined U.S. Postal and then lost the 2002 Vuelta in the final time trial to Aitor Gonzalez, came back and won as a Postal rider in 2003 and then

Riis defends CecchiniLuigi Cecchini is name that’s likely unfamiliar to many racing fans, but the Italian doctor’s relationship with Tyler Hamilton has garnered new interest since news broke last week that the American failed two anti-doping tests for banned blood transfusions. While Hamilton is staunchly defending his innocence despite test results and vows to fight a possible two-year racing ban, the low-profile Cecchini is gaining unwanted attention. Cecchini is a publicity-shy trainer who quietly works with some of the biggest names in cycling, including Michele Bartoli, star sprinter

Italy will begin hosting the world road race cycling championships in earnestin Verona on Monday, although there will be no love lost between two ofthe country's contenders for the coveted rainbow jersey in the land ofRomeo and Juliet.With 10 titles in total up for grabs in the week-long championships- held near the scenic Lake Garda for the first three days and nearby Veronathe next four - the championships promises plenty of action.Italy is hoping that new Olympic road race champion Paolo Bettini comesto the fore in the men's road race, the main event held next Sunday over265.5km of hilly

If any question remained as to who the strongest cross-country racers in the United States were, recently crowned national cross-country champions Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Alison Dunlap erased those doubts Sunday with convincing solo wins at the national short track championships at Mammoth Mountain Resort, California. The wins brought the third national STXC titles for both: Dunlap took the stars-and-stripes jersey in 1999 and 2002, while Horgan-Kobelski took the title in 2001 and 2003.

The final stage of the CD&P Bermuda Grand Prix, the Cheerios Dockyard Criterium, was held at the old Naval Dockyard’s at the far end of the island. Cruise ships, quaint tourist shops, and various bars and restaurants now inhabit the Dockyards, at one time a base for the British fleet. The Elite women set off on a perfectly sunny afternoon for a 50-minute race with multiple sprints throughout. With both time bonus primes and sprint points in the Women’s Prestige Cycling series to contend with, the pace stayed hot throughout the event. Despite multiple chances to split the field the

Perez impressed many at this Vuelta

Perez - Goofy helmet; fast times

Heras did what he needed to do

Zabel kept his points jersey

Dunlap repeats...

... as does Horgan-Kobelski.

A new face on the block: Chris Del Bosco

The second stage of the CD & P Bermuda Grand Prix took place inSt. George Friday evening with a 700-meter time trial.  Racers sprintedup a cobbled alley before making a hard left and a swooping right intoa steep hill, then doubling back onto the fast finishing straight. Local marine insurance company, XL Capitol, sponsored an open bar and pastabuffet at a café along the course where racers mingled and unwoundafter the race..In the elite women’s event Gina Grain of Victory Brewing set the fastesttime and moved into third overall on the general classification. Grain,

The Vuelta a España is coming down to the final time trial once again. Saturday’s 178km 20th stage was the last chance for anyone to attack race leader Roberto Heras going into Sunday’s finale and Santi Pérez rose to the occasion on the steep road to Puerto de Navacerrada. The rail-thin Phonak rider started the Vuelta’s penultimate stage second at 1:13 back, but he trimmed Heras’s lead by 30 seconds after putting down a vicious acceleration with 2km to go that the defending champion couldn’t answer. Pérez couldn’t win his third stage of this Vuelta – his Phonak teammate Enrique Gutiérrez

The new-look ProTour cycling circuit will go ahead with or without the approval of Tour de France organizers, world cycling's governing body the UCI said on Saturday in response to criticism of the proposed format. The UCI reacted quickly after organizers of cycling’s three grand tours - the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España - have formally told the UCI that they will not take part in the new-look Pro Tour. Vuelta sporting director Victor Cordero told AFP on Saturday that the organizers of all three major tours have "grave reservations" about the current format of the Pro

Even though he’s facing a two-year suspension after testing positive for banned blood transfusions, Tyler Hamilton vows his racing days aren’t over yet. In an exclusive interview Saturday, Hamilton told VeloNews he “will race again” despite an admittedly uncertain future. The Phonak rider has staunchly defended his innocence against what officials say is the first positive to result from a new test designed to detect illegal transfusions. Because of the ongoing investigation, Hamilton declined to address specific question regarding the case, but he said he remains confident that he will

Gravity racing took center stage at the NORBA national championships Saturday, held at Mammoth Mountain Resort, California, with veterans Brian Lopes (Hyundai-GT-Oakley) and Tara Llanes (Giant-Pearl Izumi) claiming stars-and-stripes jerseys in the mountain cross event. The national titles brought a touch of redemption to each of the winners, who both spent much of their 2003 race seasons sidelined with injuries. In the men’s final, Lopes, the top qualifier, beat out recently crowned world Four Cross champion Eric Carter (Mongoose-Hyundai) with Chris Powell (Specialized) finishing third.

A demanding road course rearranged the general classification in boththe men’s and women’s fields at the CD&P Bermuda Grand Prix Saturday.The circuit, approximately 10 kilometers in length, contained shortsteep hills, brutal cross wind sections, and wild chickens to avoid nearthe finishing stretch.During the Women’s Elite race intermediate sprints were a main concern.With the overall classification tightly stacked together, almost twentyriders were within seconds of taking the lead. A sly counterattack after a time bonus sprint by Kenda Tire’s KateSherwin netted a large gap over the field

Perez makes his move

José Gutierrez managed to stay away