All Content

EuroBike: By the sea, by the beautiful sea

Stefano Zanini (Quick Step) team has won the 128-mile opening stageof the Tour of Britain in Manchester city centre. The Italian out-sprintedKevin Van Impe of Belgium and Alejandro Borrajo of Argentina. British national champion Roger Hammond, of Oxford, finished sixthin the same time as Zanini. By winning the first stage Zanini pulled onthe race leader's jersey which he will wear during tomorrow's stage fromLeeds to Sheffield over 107 miles.Navigators are thereThe Navigators will be racing this week in the revival of the BritishTour that began Wednesday and concludes with a circuit course in

The Colombian government and its national Olympic committee announced plans to appeal the disqualification of track cyclist Maria Luisa Calle Williams after she tested positive for a stimulant following the women’s points race. Calle Williams was stripped of her bronze medal in the event after testing positive for the stimulant Heptaminol. The bronze medal was then awarded to American Erin Mirabella, the only U.S. podium spot in an Olympic track event this year. Colombia earned just one other medal in the games, a bronze won by Mabel Mosquera in the 53kg category of women's weightlifting.

The past six weeks have been a rollercoaster of emotions for the Tyler Hamilton. The bitter experience of abandoning the Tour de France for the first time of his career in July was quickly forgotten in the glow of his gold medal winning performance in the Olympic time trial race on Aug. 18. Rather than hit the party circuit, the 33-year-old New Englander went straight back to work to prepare for the Vuelta a España. Even before leaving for Athens, Hamilton was considering racing the season’s finale grand tour. Rather than throw away the remainder of the season, Hamilton decided to take a

My fellow VeloNews editor Neal Rogers and I just got back from the final round of the NORBA national points series down in Durango, Colorado. Since this was the final opportunity for many of the racers to score some very-needed points, many pulled out all the stops when it came to equipment choices. So, while Rogers was running willy-nilly from racer to racer getting quotes for his cross-country and short track race reports, I found myself sneaking around the start and finish lines scouring every inch of some of the fastest bikes in the business. Both the men and women showed up to Durango

Hamilton at the Tour

The loose gravel start of the short track required the front row to 'dig in' to avoid wheelspin. Looked just like the start of a 250 main moto

Hydration packs might not be the coolest pro accessory but the Hydrapak Air Scoop Team is the sleakest option available with its customizable outer flap

Shonny Vanlandingham turned her Vetta computer into this minature shrine to The Artist Formerly Known As Prince for little on-trail motivation

Adam Craig chose to run a stock '04 Giant singlespeed frameset ($500) and a 40x16 gear in the short track

Talk about keeping yourself occupied during your race....

Travis Brown also chose to race a single speed. His Trek 9.8 Elite hardtail came eqquiped with a wild assortment of parts including this Russian titanium Sibex fork (www.sibexsports.com)and 34x14 gearing

Both Craig and Brown ran Sibex titanium forks. Craig with the disc brake version and Brown with the canti version

Sibex Sports's Scott Mares showed his clean-looking Cossack cyclocross bike. At only $1200 for frame and fork, this Russian-made titanium rig seems like a steal

Brown found himself running the steep climb early on in the race after getting stuck behind slower riders, but later in the race could power up it in his monster gear

Legend Ned Overend chose to run the slightly heavier than a SID World Cup, but much stiffer and Motion Control equipped, '05 RockShox Reba

Maverick riders Abby Hippley and Ariel Lindsley were spotted riding Maverick American's new SC 32 race/ride fork. It features 125mm of travel and can be on-the-fly adjusted down to 80mm for climbing

Giant-Pearl Izumi rider Jared Rando was seen running the long-time ultra secretive Michelin 'System'. To date, no one outside of Michelin techs have seen was lurks inside this self-sealing, semi-tubeless downhill tire system

Held at pen-point Maxxis tire developer Chris Wyatt revealed the prototype tires on the Luna riders' bikes will be called 'ADVantage' and will offer higher volume and agressive tread patterns for loose terrain. Vanlandigham and Dunalp both rode them

Missy 'The Missile' put in a lightning-fast qualifying run, but some course tape delayed her arrival to the final run finish lin

The start list for the 2004 Vuelta a España has been released. The race is scheduled to begin with a 27km team time trial in León on Saturday, September 4 and finish in Madrid on the 26th. Changes in team rosters can be made through Friday. LIBERTY SEGUROS1. HERAS HERNANDEZ Roberto (Sp)2. NOZAL VEGA Isidro (Sp)3. ANDRLE René (Cz)4. CARUSO Giampaolo (I)5. GIL PEREZ Koldo (Sp)6. GONZALEZ DE GALDEANO ARANZABAL Igor (Sp)7. HRUSKA Jan (Cz)8. SERRANO RODRIGUEZ Marcos Antonio (Sp)9. VICIOSO ARCOS Angel (Sp) COMUNIDAD VALENCIANA. KELME11. VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro (Sp)12. BLANCO David (Sp)13.

Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero will bein León this weekend to officially kick off the 2004 Vuelta a España,which begins Saturday with a 27.7km team time trial. Teams are expected to begin arriving in the northern Spanish city byWednesday as many want to get a good look at the rolling time trial course.Stage favorites include Phonak, led by Olympic time trial champion TylerHamilton, Team CSC, Liberty Seguros and T-Mobile. Spanish riders top the list of favorites for the overall title (seestart list below), but there’s a growing number of foreign riders who couldspoil the

Dear Lennard,I read with interest your article "Wobble? Not!" in the September 20issue of VeloNews.Of special interest was your side bar on page 61 in which you discuss smallpads inserted in your shoes to relieve pedaling induced foot pain.I too suffer from what I describe as "hot foot" which becomes very problematicon longer rides. I use custom footbeds in my cycling shoes, but theyoffer little relief. I live in Denver - can you share more informationabout the pads that you use and where you got them?RayDear Ray,It is a small, foam metatarsal pad that lifts the metatarsal arch (atthe "ball

The Belgian Cycling League has recommended that retired star Johan Museeuw be banned from the sport for four years because of doping, the Belga news agency reported Tuesday. The LVB has also demanded a similar punishment of professional riders Jo Planckaert and Chris Peers, as well as mountain biker Filip Meirhaeghe. LVB, contacted by AFP, would neither confirm nor deny the news from the Belgium agency, which gave no source. The Belgian press claimed the homes of these cyclists had been searched and doping products found. The 38-year-old Museeuw is the record holder for cycling's World Cup

Vuelta profiles

American hope Tom Danielson won’t be making his grand tour debut in the Vuelta a España this weekend, after all. Danielson had hoped to take part in his first three-week tour, but was once again disappointed after Fassa Bortolo brass left him off the nine-man team. The 26-year-old Coloradan was told last week he wouldn’t be starting the Vuelta (September 4-26). The news comes as a blow to the promising racer who’s been making steady progress in his first year in Europe with expectations of starting at least one of the season’s major three-week tours for the silver train. “I’m completely

With the Olympics done I finally got around to emptying out the digicam from the last few days. Below you’ll find a sampling of sights from the men’s cross-country, the final night of track and field and scenes from the Closing Ceremonies and the main Olympic Complex.

GIRONA SPAIN It was a little bit sad to see them extinguishing the flame in the Olympic Stadium in Athens last night. My wife and I watched the closing ceremonies on television from Spain. It seemed like weeks since we had been in Athens. I have always been a fan of the Olympic Games, ever since I was a kid. It’s a little like watching the Tour de France in the summer time, I guess. You get into a routine of checking in every day and get sort of addicted to the drama of it all. I have always found myself watching the sports that seem to take a four-year hiatus from being covered, like

The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and Museum is excited to announce the2004 INDUCTEES TO THE MOUNTAIN BIKE HALL OF FAME & MUSEUM.They are as follows;Matt Hebberd-PioneersPat Follet and Tom Spiegel-PromotionKurt Loheit-AdvocacyPaul Thomasberg-IndustryTheir biographies are listed below.They join fellow mountain bike legends who are all listed at mtnbikehalloffame.com.Plan to attend the 17th Annual Mountain Bike Hall of Fame InductionCeremony in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 7th, 2004 at 6:30 P.M. The ceremonyis held during the annual Interbike Trade Show which is located at theSand's Expo and

Hi Joe and Dirk,I recently had arthroscopic surgery on my left knee to repair my medialmeniscus and to have some plicaeremoved. The cause of the damage is not known, although I'm pretty sureI did it in the weight room during the winter. The pain I felt in my knee did not manifest itself until late March/earlyApril when my cycling training was ramping up and I started hitting biggerhills (6- to 8-percent grades). I'm a relatively new cyclist (this is mythird season) and I have aspirations of road racing. I'm 29 years old, 6 foot 2 inches and I weigh about 185 pounds, withrelatively low body

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.It's more than medalsEditors,Stephen Burke claims to be mystified by Stuart O'Grady's block in thefinal lap of the Olympic Madison race (see Burke’s letter “O'Grady blockedBrits in Madison” Friday’sMailbag). Well mate, it shouldn't be too hard to work that one out. Aa any Aussiewill

Under the innovative drive of title-sponsor Crank Brothers and the collaborativevision of both the organizers and the promoters, the 2004 U.S. Gran Prixof Cyclocross Series is poised for take-off. With cooperation from USACycling and the UCI, the landmark USGP of Cyclocross seeks to bolster thethriving regional U.S. cyclocross scene by incorporating six races intoa national series with USA Cycling automatic world championship selectiongoing to series overall winners."Our hope," according to Series Marketing Director Bruce Fina, "is tobring out the best of USA cyclocross-the top riders

Main map

Danielson showed his stuff on Mt. Evans

The men's 50-rider field...

...which only briefly contained Hesjedal.

Sauser, with broken chain in hand, was out early as well.

Absalon's winning ride.

Hermida got all choked up...

...talking about the crash that almost cost him a medal.

Crotia's No. 1 high jumper (she didn't win).

The Olympic flame above the stadium entrance.

A fountain in the Olympic Complex.

Haven and Tyler Hamilton and that souvenir they picked up in Athens

Not a bad day's haul: Dede gets silver, Tyler gold and Bobby grabs a bronze

Lots of interesting architecture in this place.

Olympic Complex walkway.

The Closing Ceremonies.

More from the Closing Ceremonies.

It's all over. Party time.

Bigmap

Colombian cyclist Maria Luisa Calle Williams, bronze medalist in last week's Olympic women's points race, has tested positive for a banned stimulant and has been stripped of her medal, the International Olympic Committee announced on Sunday. As a result, American Erin Mirabella has been awarded the bronze medal, the only American track-cycling medal of this year’s Games. Mirabella's bronze brings the total medal count for American cyclists to four along with Tyler Hamilton's gold, Dede Demet Barry's silver and Bobby Julich's bronze in the individual time trial on August 18. Traces of

Growing suggestions by critics before the Athens Games that IOC president Jacques Rogge would falter in his attempt to carry out his promised war on doping in the Olympics have been proved wrong. The 62-year-old former surgeon did more than wage a war - he oversaw a massacre that will be felt for years by those athletes who remain convinced that cheating and drug taking is the way to gold. While the 20-plus victims might have spilled tears instead of blood as they queued up to file out of the athletes' village in disgrace, their Olympic futures were dead and buried. Greek sprint idols

Julich, Voigt second at GP Eddy MerckxThe Dutch tandem of Thomas Dekker and Koen De Kort (Rabobank) edgedrecently crowned bronze Olympic time trial medalist Bobby Julich and JensVoigt (CSC) in Sunday’s two-man time trial race GP Eddy Merckx.Dekker and De Kort covered the 49km course 20 seconds faster than Julichand Voigt while George Hincapie and Viatcheslav Ekimov (U.S. Postal Service)came through fifth at 52 seconds slower.GP Eddy Merckx (BEL 1.2), two-man timetrial1. Thomas Dekker, Koen De Kort (Ned) – Rabobank, 43.9kmin 52:35 (50.07kph)2. Jens Voigt (Ger), Bobby Julich (USA) – CSC +0:203.

There were two very different impressive displays of power shown atthe NORBA National short track cross-country event on Sunday in Durango,Colorado: one involving the dominating performance of the Luna women’ssquad, which broke away on the first lap and stayed clear to the finish,and the other surrounding a solo effort by series leader Geoff Kabush (Maxxis),proving again, after winning Saturday’s cross-country event, that he wasthe strongest man of the weekend. Luna, Luna, LunaHeading into the event, held under hot sunny skies at the Durango MountainResort, Luna’s Alison Dunlap led recently

South African Greg Minnaar (G-Cross) and Californian Kathy Pruitt (Luna)both pulled off the one-two punch of winning both the final eventin the NORBA national downhill series and taking the overall wins on Sundayin Durango, Colorado.Speed and technologyMinnaar backed-up his fastest qualifying time of the day with a 1.68second victory over Australian Nathan Rennie (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and3.86 seconds over third place Joel Panozzo (Progressive/Intense/WTB) onan uncharacteristically dry course. In past years, competitors have come to the Durango Mountain Resortfully expecting rain and the

Mirabella in the points race

Three-up

Kabush

Minnaar

Pruitt had a helluva margin

In this case, it is about the bike.

It took longer than anyone associated with French cycling would have liked. But after being shut out of the bike-racing winner’s circle for the first 14 days of the 2004 Olympic Games, France finally scored the big one with Julien Absalon taking a convincing cross-country victory on Saturday. The 24-year-old broke clear with a group of six early in the race, then slowly applied pressure until the lead was his alone. Behind Absalon, Dutchman Bart Brentjens and Spaniard Jose Antonio Hermida swapped the silver-medal position back and forth before Hermida finally shed the 1996 gold medalist on

Erik Dekker (Rabobank) won the final stage of the Tour of Holland on Saturday, overtaking U.S. Postal’s Viatcheslav Ekimov for the overall victory by just a single second. Dekker proved fastest of the bunch at the end of the 202km sixth stage from Geelen to Landgraaf, crossing the finish line in 4:58:16, ahead of teammate Marc Wauters and CSC’s Fabrizio Guidi, both of whom were given the same time as Dekker. Ekimov crossed in fifth position, also in the same time, and slipped to second on the overall. American Bobby Julich (CSC) finished fifth overall at 21 seconds back. Stage 5 results1.

The men's cross country on Saturday rang down the curtain on the cycling events at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson was on hand to catch the closing action.

Canadian Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) and local favorite Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna) each took convincing cross-country wins Saturday at the final event of the NORBA National Series in Durango, Colorado, both securing their respective titles in the eight event series. In the absence of NORBA Nationals regulars Todd Wells, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Seamus McGrath, Ryder Hesjedal, Mary McConneloug and Jimena Florit — all in Athens for the Olympic Games — the pressure was on for series leaders Kabush and Vanlandingham to maintain their leads. Kabush’s main concern was the possibility of a DNF, as his

Eric Carter (Mongoose-Hyundai) and Jill Kintner (Yeti Cycles) rode to commanding victories in Saturday night’s mountain-cross finals at the Durango Mountain Resort. Carter, nursing a swollen ankle sustained in downhill practice, admitted before the race that he “didn’t feel that great and wasn’t sure if my ankle would hold up through the night.” Still, with a thorough tape job that he said “really limited my ankle movement, but allowed me to compete,” Carter managed to qualify for the finals with his trademark inside-line passing technique. Clearly, the bum ankle stunted Carter’s starts,

A flag-waving Absalon celebrates his triumph

Absalon paid homage to his late father at the finish

Absalon doling out the pain on the descents ...

... and through the woods

Hermida and Brentjens battled for the silver . . .

. . . and Hermida won

Brentjens had to settle for bronze

The medalists in the final cycling event of the 2004 Athens Olympics

Julien Absalon gave France something to cheer about

And he gave the credit to his late father

Jose Antonio Hermida took the silver