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I’m relieved… I think my heart has finally started to beat again. As you might recall, the other day I said that I was not feeling up to contesting the sprint, figuring that it was not my day and I wanted to stay out of it, mostly out of respect for the guys who were in a position to contest it. Well, today I was feeling up for it, got myself into the mix and had a very, very, very close call when Cipo’ went down. I even had his bike clipping my foot as he went down, so I just missed it. I stopped breathing there and my heart is just now starting up again. Some times it is just so, so close

One thing you have to keep in mind about tactics is that they have to change to suit the circumstances. All teams start the day with a general plan, but then everyone has to be ready at a drop of a pedal stroke to change that plan and improvise. This is certainly what happened in today’s stage at the Giro. I can fully imagine the Fassa Bortolo team meeting this morning before the start of the stage. “This should be an easy day. All we have to do is keep the group together and set up Alessandro for the sprint with 10 kilometers to go. Every one knows their job on the lead out, so let’s get

Although the UCI revealed its new 2005 Pro Tour schedule on April 22, very little information has yet to come forth on how this top-down restructuring will affect the burgeoning domestic race scene here in North America. With races like the Dodge Tour de Georgia and the T-Mobile International popping up over the last few years, North America has drawn some heavy hitters, including Lance Armstrong, Jens Voigt, Gilberto Simoni and Mario Cipollini. A look at the UCI’s Web site reveals that the presentation of the “new rules to the management committee” for the continental circuits, of which

Petacchi had his own trouble along the way

Conditions were not always ideal

Petacchi scores as Cipo' hits the tarmac

Petacchi scores as Cipo' hits the tarmac

Simoni played it safe all day

Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) sent another shot across the bow with a dramatic win in Tuesday’s Subida al Naranca one-day climbing race in northern Spain’s rugged Asturias region. Just days after sweeping to victory in the Clasica Alcobendas in the mountains north of Madrid last weekend, the Basque rider punched the accelerator with 2km to go to drop the bunch on the short, but steep climb. In further proof that the Alpe d’Huez stage-winner from last year’s Tour de France is hitting some fine early season form, Mayo set a new record up the 5.2km climb to the Naranco summit, covering the distance

Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) erased any doubts of his form with a dramatic victory in Tuesday’s summit finish at Corno Alle Scale and slipped on his favorite color in May. The two-time Giro d’Italia champion was uncharacteristically quiet in the spring, letting teammate Damiano Cunego take the spotlight while he calmly prepared with the idea of arriving to July’s Tour de France with fresher legs than last year’s disappointing meltdown. But first comes the Giro, and Simoni made a clear demonstration Tuesday that he’s the man to beat, gapping pre-race favorites Yaroslav Popovych

Let’s set the stage. Gilberto Simoni, a former winner and climbing specialist of the Saeco Team had already said that he intended to make his first mark on the Giro on this stage. He began the day wanting to put some time between himself and the man in the leader’s jersey, Bradley McGee (FDJeux) and more importantly, his closest rivals. Now McGee is a flatlander and pursuiter, who is a respectable climber, but no specialist and was not expected to challenge on a day with a long difficult climb to the finish. Of course, Simoni had a host of other climbers to contend with, including the

Los Angeles-based cycling club Veloworx Racing will hold an online auction to benefit one of its sponsors, the Tyler Hamilton Foundation (THF), beginning Sunday, May 16th on eBay (www.ebay.com). Bidding closes Sunday, May 23rd, the same day an open house and closing reception will be held at the Veloworx bike shop from 3-6 p.m., which is free and open to the public. All of the proceeds from the auction will benefit THF, a charity launched in January by professional cyclist Tyler Hamilton, perhaps best known for his heroic ride in the 2003 Tour de France when he incredibly finished the

Well, a guy can’t be too disappointed with that. Today worked out nicely for the team. It was actually a bit better than we might have expected for the first mountain-top finish. Despite all of that heavy Saeco firepower driving at the front of the field, our little Alessio team got two of our guys - Franco Pellizotti and Andrea Noe' – into the top ten. Franco crossed in third, 16 seconds behind Simoni and Andrea took tenth at 34 seconds. Not bad. I’m sure that if you’ve seen any of this on television, you can tell that it’s really hard going up against Saeco right now. As far as I am

Saeco hit the last climb with all guns firing

Mazzoleni: Lots of TV time in a 136km solo break

Cunego kept tabs on Popovych

Saeco stayed near the front when it counted

McGee finished 2:21 off of Simoni's pace

The final push

A long day in the saddle

Tim Johnson (Saunier Duval) gets back into action this week with two races in Spain. The American was hoping to earn a start in the Giro d’Italia, but flu then a rotten stomach in March delayed his preparation by nearly a month. “Having a bad month in the lead-up like that set me back. To start a grand tour when you’re not exactly as strong as you need to be is almost worse,” Johnson told VeloNews. “I wish I were doing it, but I almost know enough to be smart. Going when you’re not ready it could screw up your whole season.” Instead, he’ll be racing at the Subida al Naranco on Tuesday and

The Saeco team knew it had a real talent on its hands this spring when Damiano Cunego scored a string of wins - five over the course of just 10 days - leading up to the Giro d'Italia. Last Friday, just before the start of Italy's national tour, the team added another two years to the young rider's contract and just in time, too. The 22-year-old from Verona scored on Monday what will surely be the first of a string of grand tour stage wins in coming years, as he edged Brad McGee in a sprint into Pontremoli. The day's 184-kilometer stage began in Novi Liguri, not far from Castellania, the

DANBURY, CT – (May 9, 2004) The Tour of Connecticut is proud to announce the addition of the US Armed Forces Cycling Team to their roster. “The team is racing now with a focus on preparation to compete at the U.S. Elite Nationals and Olympic Team selection race in June,” said Debra Ponzio, Manager, U.S. Armed Forces Cycling. “Following this, six of the men will be chosen to represent the United States at our International Military World Championships, July 1-5 in Slovakia.” The team represents a cross-section of the United States as well as rank within the Armed Forces. For the TOC, Ponzio

As always, Cicli Pinarello spa of Treviso, Italy has something special for the athletes of the Fassa Bortolo team who will start the 87° Giro d’Italia next Saturday in Genoa riding Pinarello Dogma bicycles in magnesium. Naturally, all eyes will be focused on the performance of team captain, super-sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, who is also featured in Pinarello's new Dogma bicycle. Last year, Petacchi rode his Dogma to 30 wins, including a total of 15 in the three Grand Tours: six at the Giro d Italia, four at the Tour de France and five at the Vuelta di Spagna). Petacchi will count his loyal

Okay, so it didn’t go so great today. I mean I sort of knew that this was going to be a tough one, but I figured I might last a bit longer than I did. I knew this day was going to come… it’s just a little hard to take. I’ve been feeling pretty good up until now, but, to be honest, I was in grovel mode pretty much after the first climb started. It was pretty hard today and I wasn’t too happy with how things went, but that’s normally the case for me on the first day into the mountains… it’s just at this tour, the climbing kicked in a bit earlier than usual. We’d been talking about getting

03 May 2004 (Pozzoleone, Ital) – While Saeco’s Gilberto Simoni and Vini Caldirola’s Stefano Garzelli are making final preparations for this years Giro d’Italia and with the media pitting the two race favorites, fi’zi:k finds themselves in a téte a téte competition with: The Battle of the Saddles – Aliante vs Arione. Having assisted fi’zi:k with the development of the alleged number one selling road saddle in the world, the saddle that carried Simoni to the top of the 2003 Giro d’Italia podium, his 2004 choice is clear - the Arione. Defending champion, Simoni, will be riding on a red

McGee: Back in the lead

The day's first break had some horsepower

Pollack had a tough day in the leader's jersey

Stangelj was the last of the escapees to be caught

Cunego wanted to be certain

Rising star Cunego grabs Giro stage at Pontremoli

Alessandro Petacchi picked up right where he left off last season, winning the first grand tour sprint finish of the year and setting himself up for a repeat of his spectacular record-setting 2003 season when he earned at least three stage victories in each of the three grand tours. The first road stage of the Giro d’Italia covered 143 stunningly beautiful kilometers between Genoa and the truffle capital of Alba. While the peloton took a moderate approach to the opening kilometers of the stage, a great deal of intensity was reserved for a hard-fought touch-and-go sprint battle between

It was a chaotic day… pretty much like every first stage in a big tour. You’ve probably already read about the way today’s stage went and, as you know, the day started out at a very easy pace and just got faster and faster and faster as we got closer to Alba. At least for me, it wasn’t exactly the best course on which to start a three-week tour. I mean I do feel good – actually really good – on the road right now. It’s just that on a three-week tour it always takes me at least a day or two to get into the rhythm of it. In the big tours, the final 10 or 15km are just so much faster than

Pollack moves into the lead

McGee: One day in pink

A scenic start along the Gulf of Genoa

Perez makes his move

1. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saeco2. Leonardo Bertagnolli (I), Saeco3. Damiano Cunego (I), Saeco4. Paolo Fornaciari (I), Saeco5. Eddy Mazzoleni (I), Saeco6. Alessandro Spezialetti (I), Saeco7. Gorazd Stangelj (Slo), Saeco8. Sylvester Szmyd (Pol), Saeco9. Andrea Tonti (I), Saeco11. Ruggero Marzoli (I), Acqua & Sapone 12. Andrea Ferrigato (I), Acqua & Sapone 13. Rinaldo Nocentini (I), Acqua & Sapone 14. Bo Hamburger (Dk), Acqua & Sapone 15. Crescenzo D'Amore (I), Acqua & Sapone 16. Fred Rodriguez (USA), Acqua & Sapone 17. Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr), Acqua & Sapone 18. Ondrej Sosenka (Cz), Acqua & Sapone

As the 87th Giro d’Italia got under way, Saeco announced that it has signed Damiano Cunego for 2005-06 and given him a raise “reflecting the value of the rider and the results he has already obtained.” "Damiano Cunego has again his seriousness and maturity and has rightly valued the way we have helped him develop and improved in our team,” team manager Claudio Corti said. "The agreement will guarantee this development in the next few years and should give us both a successful and important future.” "Obviously I’m very happy,” Cunego said after signing his new contract. "I know I’ve made the

Brad McGee (FDJeux.com), winner of the prologue in last year’s Tour de France, added the Giro d’Italia prologue to his palmares in Genoa on Saturday. The 28-year-old Australian won the difficult 6.9km prologue through the streets of this city and donned the overall leader's maglia rosa, finishing10 seconds faster than Germany's Olaf Pollack (Gerolsteiner) and 20 seconds up on Yaroslav Popovych (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago). It wasn’t exactly a ride in the park for the young Aussie. McGee said he banged his left knee against the frame of his bike when he braked hard to avoid hitting spectators

The fast men had their day in the sun on Saturday during the prologue of the 87th Giro d’Italia as, one at a time, 169 riders from 19 teams fought for the right to wear the leader’s pink jersey going into Sunday’s first stage. Bradley McGee (FDJeux.com), who won the prologue in the 2003 Tour de France, had been widely favored in the short, technical 6.9km race. Other hopefuls included Tomas Vaitkus (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago), Magnus Backstedt (Alessio–Bianchi), Rubens Bertogliati (Lampre), Florent Brard (Chocolade Jacques), and the elder statesman of speed, Mario Cipollini (Domina

Well, here we go. This is the first big race I’ve done after Paris-Roubaix, and despite the fact that I’ve done the Giro d’Italia before, this time it’s all new to me. It’s just been a pretty strange time, these last few weeks, leading up to the Giro. Winning something like Paris-Roubaix really does a job on your life (see "Backstedt a big surprise at Paris-Roubaix"). For one thing, people are actually paying attention to me when I’m just doing little things like warming up for the prologue. That never really happened before. Today, media were constantly coming by to ask questions, others

Nicole Freedman, the 2000 U.S. national road champion and Sydney U.S. Olympic team member, filed an appeal Saturday against the UCI with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The appeal takes issue with the Team Basis rider’s latest UCI ranking, which in effect prevents Israel from sending anyone to the elite women's road race in the Athens Olympic Games this August. Freedman, who holds dual citizenship with Israel and the United States, says her UCI point total is off by three. According to UCI Olympic rules, since Israel is ranked outside of the top 21 nations in the world for

2004 Giro d'Italia Start List

McGee and his daughter celebrate his quick start to the Giro

Pretty in pink?

The Lion King in his latest getup, which helped him finish 11th on the day and drew the traditional fine from the UCI

But McGee was the man of the hour

McGee scores the first maglia rosa of the 2004 Giro

Two riders have been excluded from the Giro d'Italia two days before Saturday's start in Genoa after failing pre-race blood tests. Colombian Uberlino Mesa Estepa (Colombia-Selle Italia) and Slovenian Jure Golcer (Formaggi Pinzolo) were found with blood values above the limits allowed in tests carried out by the Union Cycliste Internationale. The UCI said on Thursday the two riders had been suspended for 15 days and would have to undergo further blood tests before being allowed to race again. –Reuters French judge orders Rumsas arrestedA French judge has issued international arrest

This story appears in the current issue of VeloNewsAFTER A COUPLE of rough-and-tumble years that included doping scandals, challenges from the Vuelta a España and snubs from Tour de France stars, the Giro d’Italia seems poised toreclaim its rightful position as one of cycling’s legendary events.Following an exciting 2003 edition that saw Gilberto Simoni return todominance over a strong field, the 87th Giro will cover a balanced 20-stage,3435km route that has only three summit finishes during its May 8-30 run,yet contains more climbing than last year’s race (61,000 feet versus 57,000).And with

GILBERTO SIMONI (I)SAECO: WINNER 2001, 2003The two-time Giro champion took his time finding his racing legs goinginto May. Typically firing on all cylinders by early April at the Tourof the Basque Country, “Gibi” was still pack fodder at the Tour of Aragon, just three weeks before the Giro’s start. Simoni blamed rain andcold weather for his sluggish start, but that’s all part of his plan. Afterstorming to victory in the Giro last year, Simoni suffered an equally dramaticmeltdown in the Tour de France, despite his confident declarations thathe would derail Lance Armstrong. “This year we are

So let me get this straight. Lance Armstrong is the world's greatest athlete, but cycling barely makes the top 20 in a ranking of the most demanding sports? Yes, according to a recent series on ESPN.com. In a tournament-style fan poll, Armstrong beat out Atlanta Falcons quarterback Mike Vick in the finals this week. Yet on the same site, an expert panel chose boxing as the toughest sport in the world, with cycling coming in a meager 20th, sandwiched between figure skating and volleyball. It's funny, but many people, before they launch into a defense of their own sport, seem to grudgingly (or

This story appears in the current issue of VeloNews MARIO CIPOLLINI AND ALESSANDRO PETACCHI are a study in contrasts. Cipollini is the flamboyant showman who brings kitschy glam to cycling,while Petacchi is the hardworking pupil, anxious to fulfill his potential.Super Mario is cycling’s extroverted showman, the man who showed up atthe start of a stage in the 1999 Tour de France dressed in a toga and waspulled around by his similarly clad teammates in a rigged-up chariot. “Veni,vidi, vici [I came, I saw, I conquered],” Cipollini boasted after scoringfour stage wins, then promptly abandoning

Important Recall Notice of SM-SH92 Cleats sold as after marketproduct for Shimano SPD-R Pedals Shimano has recently become aware of a potential problem with SM-SH92cleats (Shimano part# Y43Y98030). Please read below for details.Name of product: SM-SH92 (10° total float) cleats designedfor Shimano SPD-R road pedals. Potential Hazard: Unable to clip out ofthe pedal if the rear protrusion tab breaks on the SM-SH92 cleat from prolongeduse.Description: The affected cleat has an engraved marking with the model SM-SH92 that is visible from the backside of the shoe. The SM-SH92 cleats were sold

The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com, appearing each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 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.What really sucks is not taking a standEditor:Patrick O’Grady’s column made me smile, even if it did bash my organization. Correction, though: Bush wouldn't do a campaign press conference here . . . we're a nonprofit. So, we're left to praise

Alessandro Petacchi and Mario Cipollini aren’t the first to spar in the Giro d’Italia. The first great Giro rivalry was between Constante Giradengo, a Giro winner in 1919 and 1923, and Alfredo Binda, Italy’s first cycling superstar.

Nutrition isn’t usually my department (love of brats and beer notwithstanding) but earlier this week the higher-ups down here at VN cube-land asked me to track down a few pros and find out what they eat during the races. The difference here is that the people I was talking to aren’t your usual cross-country specialists, but folks who prefer to drag their suffering out a little longer. Among the query respondents were reigning 24-hour solo national champion Chris Eatough, Iditarod Trail record holder Mike Curiak and 2002 La Ruta de los Conquistadores women’s winner Hillary Harrison. Now I

In Thursday night’s unseasonably chilly night air at Porto Antico, Genoa, 189 cyclists shivered through the official presentation of the 19-team lineup for the 87th Giro d’Italia. Waiting for their stage call, the Lampre team clipped in and out, bounced on their forks, and mused about this year’s Giro, observing that stages 3 and 7 would be key. Vladimir Miholievic (Alessio-Bianchi) agreed about stage 3, which finishes atop the Corno alle Scale in the Apennines. The final 3.2km of that 12km climb is on a 14-percent grade, and Miholievic noted, “It’s hard to have a big climb so early on,

87th Giro d'Italia: Back in the Pink

Simoni: Ready for No. 3?

Scote one for the young guy

Fausto Coppi

Mmm...mmmm... lunch time!

Harrison

Garzelli and Simoni: The two favorites are still friendly

FDJeux.com rolls up for the presentation

Hi Bob,When I come to a lighted intersection while riding my bicycle my presencedoes not “trigger” the light. What are my options under the law? Do I havethe right to break the law by running the light or do I have to get offthe bike and hit the pedestrian walk button?ScottPennsylvania Dear Scott,You are not alone in the problem of traffic sensors failing to recognizethe presence of your bicycle. This very same problem faces thousands ofcyclists across the country every day. Coincidentally, Pennsylvania, thePennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) issued a press releasejust four

Belgian rider Marc Streel (Landbouwkrediet) pulled a “DuDu” in Thursday’s 183km second stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk, holding off an epic solo breakaway typical of teammate Jackie Durand to grab the stage and take the overall lead. Streel opened up a 12-minute lead in the stage before the peloton woke out of its slumber, but it was too late. Streel nursed a 1:37 gap coming into the finish ahead of sprinting Jean Patrick Nazon (Ag2r), second for second consecutive day. U.S. Postal’s Max Van Heeswijk came through fourth while overnight race leader Jimmy Casper (Cofidis) drops to second at