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Thursday's Eurofile: Valverde recovering; So is Trenti; Menchov low-key

The gutsy Landis finally slipped back a bit on Thursday

Heras didn't plan to win – but did it anyway

See The Man With No Name out there anywhere?

Liberty went to the front and charged up the final climb

Valverde attacked despite his painful injuries

Heras knows it's a long way to Madrid

Following an out-of-competition test two days before the Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup, the then-reigning world cross-country champion Filip Meirhaeghe found out that he had tested positive for EPO on July 27. Meirhaeghe didn’t fight the result, immediately announcing his retirement from the sport. Since then he’s spent time working on his neighbor’s farm while he tries to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. Meirhaeghe also made a surprise appearance at the world mountain bike championships in Les Gets, France, where he hoped to clear the air with some of his former sponsors and

Two-time Vuelta a España winner Roberto Heras (Liberty (Seguros) appears to be the favorite to join Swiss racer Tony Rominger as the only triple victor after a stage-11 crash left chief rival Alejandro Valverde (Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme) battered and bruised. Wednesday is a rest day in the Vuelta, the first since the tour began September 4 in León, and the teams and race staff will travel from Caravaca to Almería, where Thursday’s decisive mountain stage will start. The 145km route between Almería and Observatorio Astronómico de Calor Alto, with two Category 1 climbs and a beyond-category

Two weeks ago, when we arrived at the start of the Vuelta, we sat down as a team, had a meeting and talked about our goals for the race. The team time trial was our first goal — from there, we would aim for stage victories, first in the field sprints with Max and second as individuals trying to win out of breakaways. Max pointed to the third and 11th stages as ones he was looking to win. The third stage ended up being too hard an uphill sprint for him, and he didn’t make it to the 11th — but Dave did, and he took the stage in his grasp and rode away with the victory. Dave has had a lot of

World champion Igor Astarloa (Lampre) will not be starting the grueling stage 12 of the Vuelta a España on Thursday – instead, he plans to concentrate on defending his title at the world road championships next month. "I need to polish my form with some specific training for (next month's) world championships in Verona." Astarloa told Reuters. "Last year I pulled out two days earlier in the Tour of Spain and won the worlds, so this year I will adopt the same strategy." Hushovd extends contract with Credit AgricoleNorwegian Thor Hushovd has extended his contract with Credit Agricole until

The Shimano “Little 100” is a short-track, 4-team member bicycle relay race for middle school children. It is based on the 50+ year-old “Little 500” event, a premier intramural collegiate cycling event at Indiana University, and is an expansion of the existing “Little 100” junior racing program in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The “Little 100” will be held on a 1/8-mile indoor track at the Denver VeloSwap. Heats for this demonstration event will be held throughout the day. Racers will ride custom single-speed bicycles provided by Indiana University. 2004 Olympic Time Trial Gold Medal winner, Tyler

SOUDERTON, Pa., September 10, 2004—Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania (listed on NASDAQ: UVSP), today announced that Jonathan Vaughters, a former professional rider and a stage winner at the 2001 Tour de France, will lead the Cyclosportif 100K ride at the seventh annual Univest Grand Prix on Saturday, September 18. All proceeds from the ride will benefit the Indian Creek Foundation in Harleysville, Pa. Vaughters, considered one of the greatest mountain racers in U.S. history, was a long-time record holder on the famous Mt. Ventoux (France) climb, a record he set in the 1999 Dauphiné

Friday, September 10, was a day of both good and bad news for the T-Mobile International, now in its fourth year. While Lance Armstrong’s withdrawal due to tendonitis certainly diminished the number of spectators and media attention the race had expected, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s surprising enthusiasm for the event — a lingering question mark following the departure of former Mayor Willie Brown, a major advocate for the costly race — was underlined by Newsom’s announcement that the race would return in 2005 and beyond. As late as August of 2003, the future of that year’s event was

Heras looks good for a third Vuelta

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and some bike racer

It’s as predictable as the swallows to Capistrano: Big tour, flat stage, early break, heart-breaking capture and a field sprint. It happens so often that one begins to wonder, why bother? But every now and then one of those early gambles pays off. This time it was U.S. Postal’s David Zabriskie who hit the jackpot in the 11th stage of the Vuelta a España with an exhausting 161km solo ride to the finish. The win added another to the team’s laurels this Vuelta, as team leader Floyd Landis stayed in the maillot de oro for another day, keeping the jersey in Postal hands, where it’s been since

The United States could host the world cyclo-cross championships within five years and will likely see a World Cup stop as soon as next year. Peter Van den Abeele, the UCI’s cyclo-cross coordinator, says a world championships and a World Cup stop in the United States is a real possibility. “I will be traveling to America and seeing about what kind of interest there is there,” Van den Abeele told VeloNews. “I would like to see a World Cup race in USA sooner, maybe even next season, and why not the world championships? Cyclo-cross is really growing in the United States and I’d like to take the

A spent, salty Zabriskie crosses the line after 160km off the front alone

Valverde crashed shortly after Zabriskie took off

And the peloton waited just a little too long to get serious about chasing . . .

Time trial champ Zabriskie pushed all the way to the line

Race leader Landis, trailing teammate Barry, stayed in the bunch

A weary Zabriskie salutes from the podium

It almost had to be. Not only had Kelme’s Eladio Jimenez won when the 2000 Vuelta finished here at Xorret de Catí, he had done so while working for his then Banesto team leader, the late Jose Maria Jimenez, who won the stage in 1998. On Monday, after winning the tenth stage of the 2004 Vuelta a España, Eladio Jiminez took his laurels from none other than the great 1960s climbing sensation Julio Jimenez. Are we beginning to see a pattern here? Unlike his win in 2000 – a battle of top climbers – Jimenez’s win this time around came at the end of a long, long, break that began in the first

The race is now into the mountains and things are beginning to really shake up in the overall classification. The race is moving along nicely for us as Floyd is in gold and Triki is in the top 10. After their incredible rides in the TT they have managed to maintain their positions at the top of the classification for the last week. It has been an awesome ride for the team so far – we have won a stage and carried the leader’s jersey since the start in Leon. In the time trial it was expected that Victor, Floyd and Dave would ride well but it was a real surprise when Vic finished a close

Jimenez takes his second career victory on this mountain

Two-time world champ Friere was in the sprinters' break on this mountain stage

. . . including Heras, who slipped away with Valverde and Piepoli on the final grind

Mancebo was back in the bunch with the challengers for the overall . . .

Thirsty work for Valverde

Well, they said the Vuelta a España would open up when it hit the hills. It was, after all, in the script. Sunday’s 162km ride from Xátiva to the beyond-category mountaintop finish at Alto de Aitana was put there for a reason, and, simply put, that reason was to shake up the general classification in a way that no stage in this race has thus far managed to do. And it should come as no surprise that it was defending champion Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) who did much of the shaking. While he may have finished four seconds in arrears of the day’s winner, Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval),

Gunn-Rita Dahle almost didn’t start the world championships after coming down with a cold following her gold medal performance in Athens, but she’s glad she did. The Norwegian shook off a week in bed and post-Olympic letdown to become the first woman mountain biker to pull off the world title-Olympic champion double. And now she’s a week away from sewing up the World Cup and delivering an unbeatable triple. “Today was a matter of getting rhythm and being very careful with bike,” said Dahle, who covered the 30km course in 2 hours, 2 minutes, 12 seconds. “I felt good from the start and did my

Australian Oenone Wood finished third in the Tour of Nüremberg on Sunday to claim the 2004 women's World Cup title. The ninth and last leg of the series was won by Germany’s Petra Rossner, who outsprinted a 21-rider lead group at the end of the 116.1km race. But the overall title went to Wood, with 334 points. Rossner was second overall with 293, while countrywoman Allemande Angela Brodtka wound up third with 229. Tour de Nuremberg1. Petra Rossner (G), 116km in 2:53:492. Angela Brodtka (G), s.t.3. Oenone Wood (Aus), s.t.Final World Cup overall (after 9 of 9 rounds)1. Oenone Wood (Aus), 334

British national champion Nicole Cooke (Safi Pasta-Zara Manhattan) broke away on the final climb up San Francisco's steep Taylor Street to win the T-Mobile International on Sunday. It was the second consecutive win here for the 21-year-old Cooke, who soloed in for the victory ahead of the charging field in the 51.6-mile race, which started and finished on the Embarcadero, near San Francisco's famous Ferry Building. After Quark’s Manon Jutras spent a lap away with a maximum lead of 50 seconds, the French Canadian was brought back with two laps remaining. T-Mobile’s Dede Barry then

You might think a weekend that included a broken arm for Anne-Caroline Chausson, a DNF for Miguel Martinez and no podiums for Cédric Gracia would be considered a disaster for French mountain biking. And you might think it was even worse when you added in the fact that this was the weekend of the world mountain bike championships — and the event was being held in France. But clearly a new era has dawned for the country that puts on the world’s biggest cycling show each summer. And while the French may continue to search for new stars at their grand tour in July, their fat-tire ranks are thick

The third time was not a charm for Jason McCartney, who was off the front alone and apparently bound for victory in the final miles of the T-Mobile International in San Francisco Sunday. His Health Net-Maxxis team had put five riders - McCartney, Danny Pate, Mike Sayers, John Lieswyn and Mike Jones - into an early 15-man break in the hilly 108.4-mile race, the finale of the 2004 Pro Cycling Tour. With nine 8.8-mile laps and five five-mile laps, the course dished up a total of 23 trips up the steep Fillmore and Taylor Street climbs, peaking at gradients of over 20 percent. Also in the break

A California teen-ager is America's newest national sprint champion as the USCF Elite Track National Championships concluded this weekend at the Superdrome in Frisco, Texas. Eighteen-year-old Michael Blatchford of Cypress, California, began his season by setting records in the 200-meter qualifying rounds at the Pan Am Championships and went on to become the junior national match-sprint champion and the silver medalist in the sprint at the junior world championships. On Friday, he added an elite-level national title to his collection, beating 2004 Olympian Giddeon Massie (Lansdale,

Piepoli pips Heras in the finale

Heras was in the driver's seat on the final climb

Absalon heads to the end of the rainbow.

Frischknecht made the podium once again.

Landis fights his way back to hold onto the overall lead

Heras charges toward the finish with Piepoli in tow

Cardenas and Lastras kept going after Phonak pulled Valjavec back

Barry drives the Postal train

Hamilton shows the strain of a hard day in the hills

Cardena, Lastras and Valjavec

Menchov took a skidder some 10km in, and got back up to finish seventh

Is Blatchford fast?

Fast enough to beat Olympian Massie

Mercy Cycling didn't show any . . .

. . . Mercy beat the TIAA-CREF-5280 duo

Quinn took the scratch race . . .

. . . while Goodwin claimed the keirin

Cooke solos to victory yet again

The Brit just nicked Mayolo-Pic for the win

Dionne repeats in San Francisco

McCartney went long again . . . but this time, it didn't pay off

Postal got busy . . .

. . . but so did Horner and Dionne

And there you have it

Barry climbs

Bessette won the QOM

Jackson attacks

There will not be a ninth elite world downhill title for Anne-Caroline Chausson this year. According to a team staffer the Frenchwoman crashed hard in Saturday morning’s downhill practice session in Les Gets, and will not be able to race in either the downhill of four-cross finals this afternoon. According to the team source, Chausson injured her shoulder and was taken off the course in an ambulance before being transferred to a helicopter for the trip to a nearby hospital. Coming into the day, Chausson was the overwhelming favorite to win both the downhill and four-cross titles, after

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.