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The pall thrown over the Canadian team at the world championships Saturday, when its star rider Geneviève Jeanson was declared “inapt” to compete after a high hematocrit reading in a UCI blood test, was partially lifted at a press conference given by the team Saturday evening. Jeanson attended the press conference and said that her above-47-percent hematocrit level can only be due to her sleeping in an altitude tent — a common practice among top riders, including Lance Armstrong. “I started using the tent in 1998,” she said, “and I use it all the time.” Jeanson said she was in a state of

The future of Dutch cycling appears to be in capable hands. A strong team effort by the Netherlands helped Kai Reus win the junior men’s road world title on Saturday morning in Hamilton, Ontario. Reus’s win brought the medal total for the Netherlands to six, all captured in junior and under-23 race categories. Anders Lund of Denmark came second after outsprinting others in the chasing group with Lukas Fus of the Czech Republic placing third to take the bronze medal. Reus attacked on the final climb of a hard-fought 124km race to take the first solo road victory of the 2003 road world’s.

Sweden’s Susanne Ljungskog scored her second consecutive world championship on Saturday, winning a physical, bar-to-bar sprint over a group of five other survivors at the end of the 124km elite women’s road race in the streets of Hamilton, Ontario. For the thousands gathered in front of Hamilton City Hall to witness the finish on Main Street, it was an electric ending to the day, but the final sprint was just one part of the most scintillating race seen so far at the 2003 road world’s. The real drama of the day was provided by a very familiar face, one that has been thrilling racing fans

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Located 23 miles southwest of Las Vegas’(in)famous Strip, Boulder City’sBootleg Canyon park was ground zero for the 2003 Interbike Expo’s OutDoorDemo. Brimming with over 150 exhibitors this year, the event has grownalmost exponentially over its eight years. In fact, Interbike organizers felt the Outdoor Demo had outgrown bothits old location and its single-day format, expanding the event to a muchlarger venue and two-day format. This year offered not only a three loopcross-country mountain bike track and closed two mile road circuit, butalso boasted a 750 foot BMX track and shuttle-served

Racing in the United States for the first time in two years, Belgian 2001 world cyclo-cross champion Erwin Vervecken (SpaarSelect) dominated an impressive list of domestic ‘cross racers Saturday, taking a 13-second victory over former national champion Marc Gullickson (Redline) at the Clif Bar Grand Prix, held in Tacoma, Washington’s Fort Steilacoom Park. The only UCI Cat-2 event on the west coast for the 2003 season, the event drew former national champion Todd Wells (Mongoose-Hyundai), Andy Jacques Maynes and Jackson Stewart (Clif Bar), local favorite Johnny Sundt (K2), Ben Jacques-Maynes

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Scramble for the line

Longo lit up the final 20km

The DH Shuttle

InterBike kicks off with On-Dirt Demo'

InterBike kicks off with On-Dirt Demo'

NRS Air

Clif Bar's Andy Jacques-Maynes and Jackson Stewart lead Vervecken (1), Wells and Gullickson on the first lap

Gullickson, Wells and Vervecken approach the run-up...

...while a chase group struggles 13-seconds behind

And then there were two

Dunlap, in a league of her own

Rad Racing's Will Freeman and Tucker Thomas

Specialized on a tear

Spain’s Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano stopped just four kilometers from Thursday’s finish line in the men’s elite world champion time trial race because of acute pain in his lower back prevented him from breathing properly. According to ONCE team doctor Pedro Celaya, who was following behind in a support car, said Galdeano suffered an intense muscle contraction in his lower rib cage soon after the Spanish star worked his way through a tricky corner. While it was initially reported that last year’s bronze medalist crashed in the turn, Celaya reports that Galdeano simply stopped because he

This is the one and only time during my cycling career that I have had the opportunity to race the world championships on home soil (or almost home). The host city, Hamilton, Ontario, is just 30 minutes from the center of Toronto, where my husband, Michael Barry, grew up and just a stone’s throw from my own hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. For Michael and me, it is a dream to race a world championship with our friends and family on site to push us up the hills. Michael grew up riding along the Niagara escarpment that we will race up and down in Hamilton. He has shared these roads with me

Dear Bob;I raced as a professional this past season. The team is going to changecomposition for next year and most of us are not being asked back. Theteam owes many of us reimbursement for expenses incurred throughout theseason.I have kept two team bikes and will not return them until they pay mefor my travel expenses (which the team is responsible for paying accordingto our agreement). The team sent me a letter that has threatened to turnthe matter over to collections. Is it legal for me to keep these bikesuntil I am paid? Can the team simply turn their claim over to a collectionagency?T in

With a powerful finishing kick disguised by her small build, 17-year-old Loes Markerink of the Netherlands won Friday’s junior women’s road race, adding a gold medal to the silver that she collected in Monday’s time trial. Markerink survived several crashes, 12 trips up Hamilton’s steep Niagara Escarpment, and a flurry of last-lap attacks to become the first double medal winner at the 2003 world road championships. “This race was very hard,” Markerink said of the six-lap, 73.8km race through the streets of Hamilton, Ontario. “In Holland there are no hills. For me, this was

Why do I suddenly feel like I’ve got someone looking over my shoulder? Okay, quick show of hands: How many who wrote letters last week had ever read my column before? Hmmm. You’re free to go back to the live world’s coverage now. And I’ll sit back and have a few more donuts. Before I go any further, just one question: If I make fun of Arnold, am I lampooning a Republican, a Kennedy, or just a state everybody thinks is crazy anyway? * * * They came up empty in the time trial, and we won’t know any more until the weekend’s up, but I’d have to say that top-to-bottom, this is the strongest

No one can know how a world’s road circuit will perform until it is really tested. Although the one at Hamilton was used for the Canadian nationals a couple of months ago — and produced solo winners in both the men’s and women’s races — the world’s are different. Happily, the hilly Hamilton course proved its worth Friday afternoon, when three of the most aggressive riders in the 173.6km under-23 men race took the three medals: gold for Sergey Lagutin of Uzbekistan, silver for Johan Van Summeren of Belgium, and bronze for Thomas Dekker of the Netherlands. Lagutin, the most talented rider to

Conciliatory moves were made to heal the rift that has grown between the World Anti Doping Agency and cycling's world ruling body during meetings between WADA president Dick Pound and his UCI counterpart here Friday. Union Cycliste Internationale president Hein Verbruggen had banned independent observers from WADA from attending the world road championships here this week following the leaking of a damaging report in the French press three weeks ago. However, after a meeting between the two sports officials, Verbruggen said that opportunities for "future co-operation" ahead of the 2004

Mass-start road racing begins in Hamilton

Lagutin went early

Van Summeren tries his luck

Van Summeren stuck with Lagutin...

... but Lagutin takes the win

The U.S. chase came a little too late

There was a very telling remark made by David Millar after he trounced the opposition in Thursday’s elite men’s time trial at sunny Hamilton, Ontario. “I’ve been like a junior the past 10 days,” he said, “just scared.” He was scared because he didn’t want to come up short again, as he did two years ago in Lisbon, Portugal, where Jan Ullrich made a desperate last push to snatch the victory from Millar. There was no doubt this time. He defeated an excellent Michael Rogers of Australia by 1:25 — it would have been closer to a minute had Rogers not flatted with 8km remaining — with Germany’s

Two-time Giro d’Italia champion Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) said he wants anothershot at the Tour de France, but wouldn’t elaborate on reports that he’llskip the Giro to prepare solely for the Tour.“I still haven’t made my program for next season, but with a preparedteam I could be closer to winning the Tour de France,” Simoni said duringa press conference in Palermo. “It’s too early to say what I will racenext year because this season is still not over.”Simoni barnstormed to a dominate Giro victory last May, but sputteredagainst winner Lance Armstrong in the Tour. Simoni rebounded to win a

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It wasn’t your normal weekday morning in the city of Hamilton, Ontario. “I need a German-English dictionary,” said the waitress at the Sunrise Restaurant as she topped off a cup of coffee. “And French, Italian and Swiss….” The streets of this no-nonsense center of industry, which usually goes by the name “Steel City,” have been taken over by foreigners, some wearing bug-eyed Rudy Project helmet shields and others asking where they can get a decent espresso. The local media seems mostly delighted with the spotlight on Hamilton, and the Hamilton Spectator newspaper is even printing special

After watching the five time trials at the 2003 road world’s, and witnessingthe damage done by the climbs up Hamilton’s Niagara Escarpment, everyoneis wondering what many more repetitions of those climbs will effect onthe road-race fields.The first opportunity to see what will happen on the 12.3km road-racecircuit comes on Friday, particularly in the under-23 men’s 14-lap, 172.2kmevent. Fourteen times up the 1.5km, 6-prcent Beckett Drive and 14 timesup the 2km, 5-percent Claremont Access adds up to virtually 10,000 feetof climbing.The feeling among seasoned race observers is that not many

The only woman to ever win Olympic cross-country gold is looking to keep it that way. Two-time Olympic champion Paolo Pezzo recently met with several key members of the Italian cycling federation and has committed herself to making a run at next year’s cross-country race in Athens, Greece. Pezzo, the winner at both Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, retired from high-level racing following the 2000 season, then gave birth to her first child — a boy named Kevin — in the fall of 2002. But now the 34-year-old Italian is feeling the lure of racing once again. “I am very happy with this choice,” said

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Frigo

BJ Wohl

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Rogers

(L-R) Rogers, Millar, Peschel

Nozal got passed by Millar, but still finished fifth

PreservationistDear Lennard;I have several repair books including your “Art of Road Bike Maintenance,”and I can’t find the answer to this question. I have a nice late '80s Stronglightcrank that has the threads stripped on the drive side where you put thetool in to extract the crank. Is there anything I can do to get the crankoff and save the BB and crank?--Drew Dear Drew;Were you ever a trumpeter or other brass instrument player? I was,and I frequently managed to get my mouthpiece stuck in my trumpet. To removeit, you had to slip two notched steel plates around the tube of the mouthpiece,one

Specialists are changing the face of cycling, particularly the world championships, UCI president Hein Verbruggen said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday. Verbruggen noted that “specialists,” who focus on big events such as the Tour de France, have changed the dynamic of the season. Verbruggen’s comments come as five-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and many of cycling’s top stars are giving this week’s world championships a pass. Since the UCI moved the road racing championships from late August and early September to early October, riders often complain the season is too

So the world road championships are officially under way, and as you may have noticed, the seventh-place finisher in the men's under-23 time trial was Belarussian Viktor Rapinski, who spent the 2003 season racking up wins for Saturn, including overall victory in the Fitchburg-Longsjo Stage Race and the International Cycling Classic (Super-Week). It was announced Tuesday that the former junior world champion has signed with Navigators for 2004. With a return to Europe planned in the spring, team director Ed Beamon thinks Rapinski may just find his niche in the classics. “Viktor is absolutely

On goatheads and tech-headsEditor;Andrew's musings on 'cross (see "Acrisp in the air?") are a nice sign that our "fringe of a fringe" sportis growing up. I like to think I've earned the right to have a 'cross bikethat makes my road bike look like old tech. There must be some joy in workingeveryday and if it takes the form of a "more-money-than-brains" 'crossbike, then so be it.After three decades of active 'crossing I've watched tire technologyrun the gamut from Clement Grifos and homemade cross clinchers (think oldGrifo tread glued to Michelin Elan tires) in the '70s  to the modern-dayTufo

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After Judith Arndt finished second to take the silver medal in the elite women’s time trial at the Hamilton road world’s on Wednesday, the German rider said what everybody already knew about Joane Somarriba, the woman who had beaten Arndt to take the world title. “Joane prepares herself for two or three events during the year,” Arndt said. “And then she wins.” It made perfect sense that Somarriba, the Spanish climbing specialist you usually see winning grand tours, not one-day events like the world time trial championship, circled this day on her calendar. Hamilton is not your average TT

Looking like a young Viatcheslav Ekimov, compact and powerful, 18-year-old Mikhail Ignatiev put in an impressive performance to win the junior men’s time trial for the second year in succession on Wednesday. This second world TT title goes with the four rainbow jerseys he has won in the past two track world’s: two team pursuit titles along with the points race (2002) and Madison (2003). In 2002, on the flat Zolder, Belgium, TT course, the dark-haired Russian won by 10 seconds over Australian Mark Jamieson. On Wednesday in Hamilton, Ignatiev was already 12 seconds ahead of the competition

Dear readers;As cyclists we are all familiar with those occasional and quite memorable moments of enmity between motorists and cyclists.  For many, this is not a particularly new subject, but in view of several examples of cyclist-bashing comments recently broadcast by radio stations across the country, there is concern that some misguided motorists may have acted or will act upon this encouragement (See "Legally Speaking - with Bob Mionske: Shock jocks"). The letters we've received on the subject, prompted us to wonder ifyou have been harassed, threatened or even assaulted by a motorist

In this 10th year of elite men’s time trialing at the road world’s therehas been an alternation between wins by specialists and all-rounders. SpecialistsChris Boardman (1994), Abraham Olano (1998), Sergei Gontchar (2000) andSantiago Botero (2002) took the title on courses that were devoid of seriousclimbs, while grand tour winners Miguel Induráin (1995), Alex Zülle(1996), Laurent Jalabert and Jan Ullrich (2001) won on tougher courses.Of the 44 starters in Thursday’s 41.3km elite men’s TT (two laps ofthe hilly circuit raced by elite women and junior men on Wednesday), thereare two riders who

The latest set of UCI mountain bike ranking came out Wednesday, and theyincluded some bad news for Canada. In the women’s cross-country nationrankings Switzerland has jumped into third place ahead of Canada, meaningif things stay as they are now, the Swiss would get three start spots forthe 2004 Olympic cross-country race while Canada would settle for two.But don’t count this race as over just yet. The gap between the twocountries is just six points and there is still a smattering of races tobe contested. Because of that, Canada has sent three of its best, AlisonSydor, Kiara Bisaro and

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn - Repair, replace, restore?

Rapinski in Hamilton

view from the press room

TT Profile

TT Map

image files - world's women's TT

Dutch

Soma

Longo

Focused

Jeanson. Home-field advantage didn't help.