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Following the path of greats such as Nicolas Vouilloz and Cédric Gracia, the French downhill machine churned out a new pair of potential stars on Saturday morning, as Romain Saladini and Florent Payet grabbed the top two places in the junior men’s downhill at the world mountain bike championships in Les Gets. The No. 3 qualifier, Saladini blasted his way down the steep, 1.3-mile Mont Chery course, posting a 2:48.69, just 0.89 second ahead of countryman Payet. American Kyle Strait grabbed the final podium spot, finishing 2.46 seconds back of the winner. It was a one-place improvement for

Maybe it was the Olympic rings on the shoulders of his skinsuit. Perhaps it’s that the guy just thrives when he’s in pain. Whatever the reason, Phonak’s Tyler Hamilton had a near-perfect time trial Saturday, becoming the first American to win a stage in each of the world’s major tours. Hamilton, fresh from taking the Olympic gold medal in the individual time trial in Athens, vaulted up the Vuelta’s general classification Saturday, winning the seventh stage of Vuelta a España, a flat 40.1km time trial around the massive Ford Motor factory in Almussafes. The performance moved him from 10th in

Olympic silver medalist José Antonio Hermida tearfully defended his innocence of doping after failing blood tests with high hematocrit levels on the eve of Sunday’s world championship cross-country race. Hermida broke down in tears during a press conference Saturday evening as he tried to explain that he’s been fighting the UCI for years to certify his naturally high hematocrit, which hovers around the official speed limit of 50 percent. “I have not taken any drugs, I have not done anything wrong,” said Hermida as he choked back tears. “At the moment, I feel like my career is in the hands

If you like Hollywood endings, then the men’s downhill at the world mountain bike championships gets a big thumbs up. You had the classic hero in Frenchman Fabian Barel, who helped design the world’s course and is in part sponsored by the world’s host town of Les Gets here in the Rhone-Alpes region of France. And you had the villain, Great Britain’s Steve Peat, who at the end of the day was the only man separating Barel from a date with the rainbow jersey, not to mention the joy a Barel win would spread around a town the downhiller calls his second home. After posting a middle-of-the-pack

With six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong out of Sunday’s T-Mobile International in San Francisco, the 108-mile race is wide open. And while defending champion Chris Horner (Webcor Builders) was hesitant to predict victory, as he did a year ago, Horner’s teammate Charles Dionne was less reluctant. The Canadian sprinter, who won the race in 2002 and has enjoyed a strong showing this season after an injury-plagued 2003, said his form “is similar, if not better than in 2002.” “I’ve been training on the hills in Québec, which is similar to San Francisco but with less traffic,”

For the first time in nearly a decade, the elite women’s world championship downhill race started with an air of suspense. Downhill’s unrivaled queen of the piste and eight-time defending elite women’s champion Anne-Caroline Chausson was KO’d with injuries, and suddenly the women’s field was wide open. “I hate to admit it, but it’s true,” said American Marla Streb. “When we heard that Anne-Caroline had crashed out, then everyone else started thinking we have a chance. That’s how much she’s dominated this sport.” Chausson dislocated her shoulder and fractured her arm after crashing during

Eric Carter isn’t ready to retire just yet, but whenever the American does decide to call it a career he’ll do so a fulfilled man. After winning every other meaningful title on offer in the gated-racing world, Carter finally added the elusive rainbow stripes to his long list of accomplishments after winning the four-cross at the world mountain bike championships in Les Gets, France Saturday night. In the final heat Carter made a daring inside move, pulling clear of 2003 world champion Michal Prokop and French veteran Mickael Deldycke. From there Carter ran for his life, holding his lead all

"Hora who?" That was the question on everyone’s mind Saturday evening in Les Gets when unheralded Jana Horakova of the Czech Republic literally came out of nowhere to win the women’s four-cross world title. “I’ve done four international events before this race, so it’s a bit of a surprise that I won,” said Horakova, who barnstormed to victory at the expense of Americans Jill Kintner and Tara Llanes, who took silver and bronze. “I honestly didn’t know what to expect. After practice I liked the course and I focused on the start and just hoped to make it to the finish without making a

Belgian Nick Nuyens (Quick Step-Davitamon) won the 84th edition of Paris-Brussels on Saturday, edging Philippe Gilbert (Fdjeux.com) and Denmark’s Allan Johansen (BankGiroLoterij). Briton Jeremy Hunt (MrBookmaker.com) won the field sprint for fourth a few seconds later. The race really began 60km from the finish when the favorites’ teams decided to end a long breakaway by Netherlander Rudie Kemna (BankGiroLoterij) and Frenchman Benoit Poilvet (Crédit Agricole), who had an 11-minute lead on the bunch. Quick Step worked particularly hard to bring them back. Meanwhile, Italian Paolo Bettini

Chausson two days before her crash.

Tyler takes the TT

Chausson is taken off the course.

Barel brought the title home.

Peat was left to wonder what went wrong.

Quin grabbed gold.

Saladini

Hagen

Hermida says he has a naturally high hematocrit

Hamilton was playing hurt again

Nozal bumped Grabsch out of the lead until Hamilton came along

Landis's third was good as gold . . .

. . . it put him back on top of the general classification

But Sastre had a good ride Saturday, too – and he can climb as well

Finally...

Carter on the way to the final.

This wasn't your ordinary bike race.

The French love their bike racing.

Horakova introduces herself.

Llanes made the podium once again.

For years it’s was the one thing that definitively separated mountain biking from its road-racing cousin. If you get a flat, you fix it. Bust your chain, get out the chain tool. But that will all change starting next year when the UCI introduces a rule that will allow outside technical assistance in cross-country races at World Cup and world championship events. The details of exactly how it’s all going to work are still a little murky, but Regis Alexandre, the president of the UCI mountain bike commission, says he envisions two or three pit zones where riders can swap out everything but the

If he’s there, he wins. Alessandro Petacchi may have missed the cut on a relatively tough day of climbing Wednesday, but he sure made up for it Thursday, scoring his third victory of this edition of the Vuelta a España. “I know this finish, it seemed almost perfect for me,” the Fassa Bortolo sprinter said. “I asked my team to do what they could for me and they came through and they did so on what has to be the best run to the finish at this Vuelta . . . at least as far as the sprinters are concerned.” It was one surely designed with riders like Petacchi in mind: a wide, nearly

Olympic champion Paolo Bettini of Italy and Belgian sprinter Tom Boonen, who ride for Quick Step, are among the favorites for the 225km Paris-Brussels classic cycling race on Saturday. Boonen showed his form in Wednesday's Rik Van Steenbergen Memorial race in northern Belgium where he had his 22nd victory of the season. Boonen and Bettini, despite their superb record this year, might not have it all their own way with Luxembourg's Kim Kirschen, led by an impressive Fassa Bortolo team, also a possible winner. Other challengers include Italy's Michele Bartoli, Germany's Danilo Hondo,

With its rich tradition of great road racers, you’d think the Germans would have had a few breakthroughs in cross-country racing, too. But the fact is no German man has won so much as a World Cup during the last decade, and their record in world championships is even worse: 0-for-all time. The same goes for Great Britain. The last time a U.K. rider won a cross-country World Cup (Gary Foord in 1994), Ned Overend was still a mainstay on the circuit. Outside of the junior ranks, "God Save the Queen" has never been sung at the world championships. But all that began to change on Friday in Les

It was almost like a home crowd for Nino Schurter after rowdy Swiss fans poured over the border into Les Gets to cheer the brawny 18-year-old to an impressive victory in the junior men’s cross-country race. Schurter trounced a 96-rider field under sunny skies Friday, leaving the hard-chasing French duo of Stéphane Tempier and Maxime Marotte fighting for leftovers after powering away in the first of five laps and never letting go of the lead. “I was worried before coming to the race because I was taking antibiotics for a sore throat and ears, but after Wednesday’s team relay I knew I was at

Yes, “Notes” is back, after a long inexplicable absence. But before diving back in, there’s a little catching up to do, just to remind everyone why they probably didn’t even notice the column was gone in the first place. Is “Big” the next “Monster Garage”? I don’t know, haven’t seen it yet, but if the 15-minute preview they show on United is any indication, I’m saying it is. Krispy Kreme’s taken a dive. The stock, that is. Maybe, though, the whole low-carb fad has just about run its course. Have people figured out yet that it will kill you in the long run? I sure hope so. Some of the most

A week has of racing has almost passed, we are now in Valencia on the Mediterranean, and the team has held on to the gold leader’s jersey for the entire week. Triki has now held it for a couple of days, and with each passing moment in gold he becomes more of a Spanish hero. He has been grinning like a kid that has just found a jar full of cookies. The countryside has become a little more interesting in the last two days. We have gone from Alberta-like prairie to Southern California-style hills and orange groves, from straight roads in the open wind to sinuous and undulating roads along the

Becky Conzelman continued her winning ways during the USCF Elite Track Nationals on Thursday, adding a victory in the 500 meter time trial to her gold medal in the previous day's sprint finals. The Pennsylvania native turned a 36.272 at the Superdrome in Frisco, Texas, to best silver medalist Annette Hanson (Kirkland, Washington) and bronze medalist Miranda Moon (Beaverton, Oregon). In the 200 meter time trial, 18-year-old Michael Blatchford, a resident at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, turned a 10.719 to win gold over 2004 Olympians Giddeon Massie (Lansdale,

Six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong has pulled out of Sunday’s 108-mile T-Mobile International in San Francisco, citing tendinitis in his right knee. Armstrong, who has finished the San Francisco race just once in four attempts, in 2002, thought it best to give his injury a rest and sit out this year’s race in hopes of coming back strong in 2005. The U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor captain said his injury “started acting up toward the end of the Tour, and I didn’t talk about it – obviously not the wisest thing to do when your rivals are still looking at you – but it never got

Fassa's train puts Petacchi into the station first

The seven-man break nearly made it . . .

. . . but Rabobank and Fassa Bortolo finally shut it down

Members of the American junior men's cross-country team are all smiles after a difficult race in Les Gets

Crowded on those roads . . .

Killeen made it a race to the end...

...but Fumic was the last to lead.

Celebration time.

Schurter heads to the win.

Beltran and Landis remain tied going into Saturday's time trial

Another day in gold for Beltran ... but a shakeup's coming on Saturday

Jame Carney leads the points heat in the morning

Carney alone with his shadow in the morning session

Mark Garrett muscles up in the 200m sprint qualifier

Becky Conzelman wins the 500m TT

Gideon Massie in the men's sprint

Brent Stein wins his 1/8 men's sprint, seconds before crashing hard and ending up in the hospital with minor injuries

Colby Pearce and Jme Carney, the two best points riders in the US, go 1-2 in the nationals

Nick Chenowith, at age 51, racing for Doing Hard Time cycling

For the bulk of Thursday morning Nathalie Schneitter was just trying to salvage something out of nothing. The Swiss rider crashed hard during the start lap of the junior women’s cross-country race in Les Gets, France, leaving her 30th in the 36-rider field. But give Schneitter credit for not mailing it in. Backed by some serious descending skills, and bolstered by an untimely mechanical for Czech rider Tereza Hurikova, the 17-year-old Schneitter clawed her way back to the front, winning the first individual title at the 2004 world mountain bike championships. “When I crash I thought my race

Another day, another jersey. Ever since Saturday's opening team time trial the U.S. Postal team has been in what team director Johan Bruyneel describes as "a very comfortable position." "The time trial gave us the lead and we really don't feel like we need to protect it," Bruyneel told VeloNews before the start of Thursday's 157km stage from Benicarló to Castellón de la Plana. "We're here to see what happens, but there really is no pressure on any of us." Pressure or not, the Posties again succeeded in keeping one of their own in the leader's jersey when a group of nearly 80 riders charged

The sporting director of the Spanish team Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme has reacted angrily to their omission from next year's Pro Tour. Kelme, relegated from cycling's elite division by the UCI this year, was not included on the list of four squads named by the UCI on Wednesday to join the Pro Tour. Spanish team Euskaltel-Euskadi, Belgium's Davitamon-Lotto, and Italian teams Liquigas and Fassa Bortolo were granted provisional licenses. They joined 13 other teams named to form the Tour, a new grand-prix-style cycling calendar comprising 28 races, including the three big Tours and former

It’s definitely not the most technical test, but the cross-country course at the world mountain bike championships in Les Gets, France, isn’t a sleeper either. During the 6.3km trip up and around the Chavennes side of this quaint ski town, riders face three sustained climbs (660 feet per lap), lots of tight twists through the pine forests, and several steep drop ins that will be become treacherous with just the slightest bit of precipitation. Right now the forecast is for morning showers on race day. The women are slated to start on 11 a.m. Sunday, while the men will head out at 2:30

Three national champions were crowned Wednesday during the USCF Elite Track National Championships at the Superdrome in Frisco, Texas. Nerac.com – Colby Pearce of Boulder, Colorado, Jame Carney of Durango, Colorado, Robert Lea of Taneytown, Maryland, and Guillaume Nelessen of Bellemead, New Jersey – turned a 4:31.9 to win the team pursuit. Team Veloworx – Douglas Beck of Maynard, Ohio, Curtis Gunn of Tucson, Arizona, Julian Cushing of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Kenneth Williams of Kirkland, Washington – raced to the silver in 4:36.4. The bronze went to Cody Racing – Marcus Black,

Today was both a good and a bad day - good because Triki and Floyd were in the front group and Triki is now in the leader’s jersey, and bad because we had to battle an incredibly strong headwind for 190km and then our bus broke down as we drove down the mountain toward our next hotel. The race started out slowly again due to the wind and we pedaled along at 25 km/h for quite a while when a few attacks were launched. There were two potentially threatening breakaways today, and thankfully both times we had riders up front in the groups, which means we didn’t have to chase in the wind. It

Schneitter made time on the downhills.

Freire took advantage of the hard work his Rabobank team did in the wind

Heart break for Hurikova.

Schneitter celebrates.

Forsman made her world's debut.

The start runs along the grassy base of the ski area.

The opening climb is gradual, with plenty of passing lanes.

The first drop is the only real rocky section, but it's short and the line is clean.

After the main climb riders head back across the hill through the trees.

The second drop is rideable...for now.

Next comes more twists through the trees.

Most of the junior girls were running the next drop...

...some more graceful than others.

That leads to one of several creek crossings.

Almost everyone will run this section. High left is the line.

Then it's back into the sun.

At 1.5km to go, the course heads down the old 4X track.