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You’ve got to feel for Chris Kovarik. Three times now the Australian has entered the final day of the NORBA NCS series with the overall lead and three times he has finished the day without the overall crown. Instead it was South African Greg Minnaar grabbing the series prize, after the Haro-Lee Dungarees rider finished second to Kovarik’s third at Durango Mountain Resort in southwest Colorado. That meant the pair finished deadlocked atop the final overall standings, but with Minnaar owning the advantage Sunday, the tiebreaker fell his way. “I had a mistake free run, but it was on a wet

A year ago, when Kevin Monahan crossed the line at the USPRO Criterium Championship in Downers Grove, everything was up in the air. After a late-race crash took out half the field, Henk Vogels took the race win, with Monahan and Robbie Ventura (U.S. Postal Service) in a photo finish for second place. What a difference a year makes. After winning the race outright, Monahan began the celebration almost immediately, riding up and down Main St. Downers Grove and high fiving the crowd. It capped a day that saw another repeat victory – Tina Mayolo Pic (Diet Rite) taking the women’s crown – and

Nardello outlasts a late charge from Ullrich

Bettini was content to let others make the race

Hincapie made two bids for freedom

Nardello burns his matches

Ullrich was a marked man

McGrath leads Horgan-Kobelski on the first lap

Horgan-Kobelski running his bike across the finish line

Men's 2003 short track overall champs, from left: Chris Sheppard, Paul Rowney, Seamus McGrath, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Geoff Kabush

Sydor makes it two in a row

Women's 2003 short track overall champs, from left: Dara Marks, Chrissy Redden, Sue Haywood, Katerina Hanusova, Mary McConneloug

Minnaar toasts teammate Seamus McGrath, who won the short track overall.

Kovarik nearly caught the rider in front of him.

Carter and Streb are the national champs.

Griffiths soaks in the glory.

Looks can be deceiving, especially when it comes to one of the most volatile weather locations in the U.S. With 70-degree temperatures and light winds at the bottom of the Mount Washington Auto Road, it looked like the 600-plus racers would have a relatively pleasant trip up the 7.6-mile ascent. But the final 2.5 miles found riders battered by 50-mph winds and blinded by near-whiteout fog. The weather took the steam out of Tom Danielson’s assault on his year-old course record, though the Saturn rider did win the race for the second year in a row. Danielson dropped the field in the first 500

Two dominating rides — one by Canadian Ryder Hesjedal (Subaru-Gary Fisher) and the other by Luna rider Shonny Vanlandingham — capped off the NORBA cross-country series final in Durango, Colorado on Saturday. Hesjedal’s win, by a 1:07 margin, secured the overall NORBA series title, while RLX-Ralph Lauren rider Jimena Florit, eighth on the day, took the women’s overall honors for the second consecutive year. In the national title chase, Florit’s teammate Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski clinched a second consecutive title of his own, finishing third on the day, while Seven Cycles’ Mary McConneloug was

Angel Edo of Spain won the penultimate stage of the Tour of Portugal on Saturday. He covered the 130km ride from Mondim de Basto to Favaios in a provisional time of 3:19:13. Danail Petrov of Bulgaria was second. Portuguese Nuno Ribeiro, who finished third in the stage, retained the yellow jersey as overall leader. Sunday’s final stage will be a 36.7km time trial in Viseu. Results1. Angel Edo (Sp), Milaneza-MSS, 130km in 3:19:13. (average speed: 39.153 km/h)2. Daniel Petrov (Bul), at 0:013. Nuno Ribeiro (Por) s.t.4. Claus Moller (Den), at 0:045. Pedro Arreitunandia (Sp), at

Judith Arndt (Nürnberger) easily won Saturday’s penultimate stage of the Grande Boucle Féminin, a 36.2km individual time trial in Flers. The German finished nearly a minute faster than Russian Olga Zabelinskaïa and 1:43 ahead of Swiss Susanne Ljungskog. Overall leader Joane Somarriba of Spain, who finished fourth on the day, consolidated her position on GC; she seems unlikely to lose her lead in Sunday’s final stage, which concludes in Paris. Meanwhile, Arndt’s stage-winning performance on Saturday elevated her to third overall. Results>1. Judith Arndt (G), 36.2km in 51:30 (average speed:

Whether you believe the pro-am event on the eve of the USPRO Criterium Championship in Downers Grove, Illinois, is a preview to the main event or simply just a tune-up, the Navigators put on a show, delivering Vassili Davidenko and Marty Nothstein to the line one-two in the men’s race, while in the women’s event, former national champion Nicole Freedman (Team Basis) showed she’s ready to take on the big teams in Sunday’s national title race. Freedman struggled with the hot, humid conditions in the suburbs of Chicago, but when the race boiled down to a field sprint after 45 minutes, the

Day one of the NORBA National Championship Series finals closed with an action-packed mountain cross that saw Eric Carter and Sabrina Jonnier walk away with the overall series titles. Carter and fellow American Jill Kintner took the U.S. national titles, with Jonnier and Frenchman Cédric Gracia earning the race wins at Durango Mountain Resort in Colorado on Sunday. Carter’s titles sweep came after he faced off with fellow American Mike King in the men’s final. The pair came into the day first and second in the overall standings, and if King had won the final, Carter needed to finish no worse

Danielson powers his featherweight bike up Mount Washington

Jeanson tried to stick with Danielson, but couldn't match his speed

The weather kept Danielson from breaking his record and blew Jeanson off her bike

Hesjedal rolls through the DMR village.

Your 2003 national cross country champions.

Vanlandingham won in her hometown.

With a base elevation of 8793, the Durango cross country was a lung buster.

Florit was gassed from the altitude, but still won the overall.

Carter on his way to the overall title.

King settled for second overall.

The 2003 national mountain cross champ.

There will be a subtle change at this year’s USPRO Criterium Championship in Downer’s Grove, Illinois, this weekend, but it could make an impact on the competition. In a departure from years past, the race organizers have pared the maximum team size down from 10 riders down to eight riders, while the minimum team size goes from six to five. By limiting the team sizes, USPRO Crit hopes to level the playing field and keep the big teams from completely dominating the action. While the difference between eight and 10 may not seem like much, it will add up over the course of a 100km criterium.

Quick Step’s Paolo Bettini saddles up for a crucial eighth leg of the World Cup in Zürich, Switzerland, on Sunday knowing that Jan Ullrich could throw a major wrench into the works and end his impressive run of victories. The 29-year-old Italian champion took the World Cup lead last week after his stunning victory in the San Sebastian Classic. That win, which Bettini timed to perfection with a winning sprint ahead of compatriot Ivan Basso - Italy's best placed rider in the recent Tour de France - gave Bettini a 97-point lead over Lotto-Domo’s Peter Van Petegem. However on Sunday Bettini's

American Giddeon Massie has advanced to the semifinal of the men’s sprint with a successful ride against Venezuela’s Johnny Hernandez Thursday. Teammate Stephen Alfred was narrowly defeated by Colombian sprinter Jonathan Marin in the third heat of the morning session. Massie will ride in the sprint semifinal set to start at 9:00 a.m. Friday morning. Later Thursday morning Massie led the team sprint with one of his fastest laps this season, posting a 23.669 to start the U.S. team off. Stephen Alfred rode the second leg with Christian Stahl anchoring the three-man team. The team advanced to

A capacity field of 600 is expected for Saturday’s Mt. Washington Auto Road Hill Climb near North Conway, New Hampshire. Despite the full field, most of the attention will be paid to the favorites as Tom Danielson (Saturn) and Genevieve Jeanson (RONA-Esker),work to to defend their titles and evensurpass their own record-breaking performances of twelve months ago. It was then that, under near-perfect conditions- a rarity for the mountain infamous for having some of the worst weather on the planet- that Danielson and Jeanson shattered the course records held by Tour de France hero Tyler

Russian Zoulfia Zabirova (RRG Lobili) won Friday’s 12th stage of the Grande Boucle Féminin, a 128.5km run from Trélazé to Gorron. Spaniard Joane Somarrib (Bizkaia) held onto the overall lead with two days remaining in the race. Zabirova, racing in her fifth Tour Féminin, attacked the group 3km from the finish to win the stage. Somarriba took a three-second bonus sprint to remain the favorite for the overall going into Saturday’s 37km time trial in Flers. –Copyright 2003/AFP Results:1. Zoulfia Zabirova (Rus), RRG Lobili, 128.5 km in 3:10:42. (average speed: 40,430 km/h)2. Petra Rossner (G)

After two straight years at the East Coast mountain-biking hotbed of Mount Snow, Vermont, the NORBA National Championship Series has come west for its series finale. The locale is Durango, Colorado, no stranger to big-time racing itself. The southwestern tourist town was the site of the first UCI-sanctioned world championships back in 1990, and has played host to both World Cup and NORBA stops over the years. It’s also the site of the annual Iron Horse Bicycle Classic. Pro racing begins Friday with qualifying for the mountain cross. The men’s and women’s cross country finals are Saturday

When it comes time for the world championships in September, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more motivated racer than American Brian Lopes. And that’s assuming Lopes will be able to race at all. After breaking his left ankle at the Fort William World Cup in June, the Hyundai-GT rider has faced a longer than expected rehabilitation process that will keep him out of this weekend’s NORBA NCS finals in Durango, Colorado. That leaves only the world’s and World Cup finals for Lopes to contest this year “The plan had been to come back for Durango,” Lopes said. “I even had a plane ticket.” But

Cofidis’ David Millar roared to his third time trial victory of the season in Thursday’s 14.4km fourth stage of the Vuelta a Burgos while iBanesto.com’s Pablo Lastras all but sewed up overall victory with just one stage to go. Millar held off a list of favorites for the upcoming Vuelta a España, easily beating defending Vuelta champion Aitor Gonzalez (Fassa Bortolo) by 12 seconds, Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (ONCE) by 21 seconds and Angel Casero (Bianchi) by 23 seconds. Millar, who won a time trial at the Tour of West Flanders and the final time trial of the 2003 Tour de France earlier this

Hi Bob,My racing bike was stolen from my garage and my insurance company hasasked for the original purchase receipt, which I no longer have. What shouldI do?Tim J.Dear Tim;I am assuming you have made a proper claim with your insurance carrierand that you have standard homeowner’s coverage. You are not required toproduce the original receipt in order to recover for your loss.You should go to a shop that sells the make and model of bicycle thatwas stolen and ask if they can provide a replacement cost estimate. Schedulea time for your visit and be ready to provide the make, model and yearof the

ITS-Santa Cruz team director Derin Stockton checked in with VeloNews on Thursday with an update on downhiller John Waddell. The 22-year-old Aussie spent nearly a month in a coma following a crash at the end of his run at the Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup downhill on June 28, when carried too much speed into the finish-area jump and overshot the landing. The majority of the impact was to Waddell's head, which led to an extensive stay in a Quebec City hospital. Waddell was checked out of the Quebec hospital in mid-July, and then flown home. It wasn’t until then that he came out of his coma and woke

The U.S. Pan American Cycling Team added three more medals to the medal count Wednesday starting off with a silver medal ride in the women’s 500m time trial by Chris. The winning momentum continued later in the afternoon when sprinters Tanya Lindenmuth and Giddeon Massie each won medals in the keirin. The Olympic medallist in speed skating found her form on the track and stayed steady throughout the 500m test to clinch the silver medal in 36.304. Nancy Contreras (Mex) won the event in 35.463. Yumari Gonzalez (Cub was third clocking a 36.559. Witty’s silver medal at the Pan Am Games is the

Hesjedal is the men's XC leader.

Green was slowed in the early season, but has been hot lately.

Florit could win back-to-back crowns.

Haywood is the short track leader.

Griffiths must make up some ground.

Carter has his sights on the mountain cross.

Marlux rider Dave Bruylandts got a well-deserved victory in Wednesday'sgrueling climbing stage from Huerta del Ray to Lagunas de Neila high abovethe Spanish meseta in the third stage of the Tour of Burgos.Bruylandts, 27, has been close since finishing second in Sunday's Subidaa Urkiola behind iBanesto.com's Leonardo Piepoli. In Tuesday's climbingstage, he was second behind yet another Banesto, Chente Garcia Acosta.There was no stopping the determined Belgian, who worked himself intoa six-man break that hit the bottom of the 20km climb with an 8 minutegap on the main bunch. Bruylandts finally

C’était un très mauvais coup pour George Hincapie d’avoir du renoncer aux Classiques du printemps. Le New-Yorkais de 30 ans, qui habite en Caroline du Nord à présent, se sentais capable de remporté une de ses courses d’avril préferée: Paris-Roubaix ou le Tour des Flandres. Mais il a été battu par un parasite, tellement qu’il avait du mal à respirer, et il a manqué trois mois de compétition. Pardon moi, but I — like the rest of the VeloNews editorial staff — seem to be stuck in the language land of the French. No, not because we’re suffering withdrawals from Le Tour, but because we have been

Dear Monique;My questions is about Thermotabs or salt replacement pills. Duringmy last 1/2 IM race I took 2 tabs at the two-hour mark and then 2 at the4 hour mark of a 6 hour race. I noticed a big difference in my performancefrom my prior races and had no cramping or fatigue like I did before.I have heard varying recommendations about how much salt/tablets thebody can take in during a race like that and I would like to know if thereis a limit - or if it just condition specific. I've heard professionalssay that you can take a lot of them as long as you are drinking water....but,I've also heard

Tranquility. It is not something I would always associate with a densely populated county like Belgium. According to my handy CIA Factbook, there are 10.2 Million Belgians in a country the size of Maryland. Yet, more often than not I am astounded by how quiet it can be here. Tonight we are cooling off from a “heat wave” that equates to standard summer temperatures in the Midwest. The air is perfectly still and out in the fields you might here a tractor cutting hay but beyond that all you hear is the clatter of bicycle chains. Enjoy the national pastime: a bicycle ride. How quiet it can

So just putting the finishing touches on our power measurement system test and gotta admit that, for the last few days on a bike, I feel like a true dork (yes, even more than usual). This embarrassing fact struck me this past Sunday while huffing up one Boulder’s beautiful local canyons. The eight-mile grind from my house up to the small town of Ward offered plenty of time to contemplate the assortment of flashing signals, heart rate limit alarms and 60-times-per-second-acquired wattage data from the three (yes, three!) power systems strapped to my bike. With more wiring than the

OVERALL GAME WINNER     Team Maxigaz   34050       OVERALL SPRINT WINNERS   18th Green   2106

It seems that pro mountain bike racers will finally be racing for more than bragging rights now that USA Cycling and GaleForce have signed a new sponsor, adding cash prizes to the final round of the 2003 NORBA National Championship Series. Mountain Bike TV and The 9to5 Race Day, a new Florida based mountain bike marathon racing series, will provide cash at the NCS final for top finishers in all pro disciplines – cross country, downhill, short track, and mountain cross. A full announcement will be made at the NORBA series final at Durango Mountain Resort, August 14-17. Mountain Bike TV

Pecharromán at Catalunya

Mr. Rogers' neighborhood: Pardon my French

Spectacular...and pretty darn quiet.

Power Up!

Local cyclist Vitor Gamito has won the sixth stage of the Tour of Portugal race. His compatriot Rui Lavarinhas finished second in the stage to take over the race leader's yellow jersey. Gamito covered the 136.5 kilometre ride from Fundao to Gouveia in a provisional time of three hours 33 minutes 30 seconds, also taking a 10 second bonus. (c) 2003 Australian Broadcasting Corporation >> Pan American Games Results - Cycling Men's 50Km Time Trial 1. Jose Serpa, Colombia, 1:04:452. Chris Baldwin, United States, 1:05:243. Raul Chacon, Venzuela, 1:05:404. Jose Medina, Chile, 1:06:105.

Miguel Garcia, of Peoria, Arizona, won a Giant TCR Composite Tour 100 through our online drawing, which more than 22,000 people entered. The Giant TCR Composite Tour 100 road bike retails for more than $12,000. "Being a cat. 4 road racer, this bike might be a little above my level, but I'm extremely happy to have won it," Garcia said. Giant produced 100 of the bikes to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France.

The TransRockies Challenge has lived up to its reputation of being the hardest mountain bike race in North America. Just getting here proved to be an epic adventure. Based on my years of experience managing a professional mtn bike team that traveled the globe, getting into Canada without my passport would be OK. Yes, I knew I needed it, but on the way out of Boulder, Colorado, I couldn't really ask the Super Shuttle driver to head back to my house. I have seen people get into Canada without a passport before, so I convinced myself it would be OK. Lugging our three bike boxes, three

After the agony of day one we thought there would be some reprise. We have come to find that the theme of the TransRockies is to give us as little information as possible about the day ahead of us. Conflicting reports seem to be the norm. You'll ask how many kilometers to the finish and One person will say "30", one person would say "10km", and another person would say, "Oh you don't want to know". Usually going with the last option would leave you with no surprises. Masochistic behavior seems to excite the TransRockies staff. On Monday, Calvin and I both did the longest bike ride of our

Eleven riders got a 24-minute head start in the five-day Tour of Burgos in Monday's hot and sticky 177km first stage – so much so that the entire peloton was almost eliminated. The 11-rider break pulled early, and with temperatures soaring into the high 90s, a sluggish peloton wasn't interested in bringing them back. The main bunch finished so far back - 24 minutes, 51 seconds slower - the race jury had to overrule time limits that would have eliminated the entire peloton. Carlos García Quesada gave beleaguered Kelme a victory when he attacked the lead group with 2km to go to claim the

Saturn's Tim Johnson won the 250km race from Montreal to Quebec City Sunday after attacking out of a break of three riders in the final kilometers to finish alone. The day began with a headwind driven rain facing the peloton and an estimated time of 7 hours for the 250 kilometer race. Typically, the race — which is flat except for a climb at the finish — is completed in roughly five hours. An initial break of 18 riders eventually thinned down to a group of ten, including Johnson and his Saturn teammate Phil Zajicek. Eventually the break became three with Ciaran Power (Navigators) and

Russian Olga Zabelinskaia (Vélodames-Colnago) won Monday’s ninth stage of the Grande Boucle Féminin. Zabelinskaia took the 82km run between Châteauneuf-sur-Charente and Saint-Georges-de-Didonne in 2:04:28, just three seconds ahead of Mette Fischer (Team SATS) and Norwegian Anita Valen (Bik-Powerplate). Spaniard Joane Somarriba continues to hold the overall lead. – Copyright 2003/AFP Results1. Olga Zabelinskaia (Rus) Vélodames-Colnago, 86km in 2:04:28 (average speed 39.528 km/h)2. Mette Fischer (Den), Team SATS, at 0:033. Anita Valen (Nor), Bik-Powerplate, s.t..4. Eneritz Iturriaga (Sp),

After the most grueling contest in his five conquests of the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong is resting on his laurels in Spain. But Tyler Hamilton and other top cyclists already are back on their bikes. Armstrong is spending the rest of August with his family in the Mediterranean cycling enclave of Girona, Spain. To please his European sponsors and pick up a couple hundred thousand Euros (about $200,000) in appearance fees, he raced in a few cool-down criteriums after the Tour. But the yellow jersey is in the closet, and the Trek is in the garage. After some long siestas and romps with

There are still lots of details to be worked out and some contracts to be signed, but all indications are pointing to a dramatically revamped NORBA National Championship Series in 2004. The biggest change will come in the determining of U.S. national champions. Instead of the season-long series format that’s been in place since 1989, next year’s stars-and-stripes winners will be decided at a one-day, American-riders-only national championship, which will be contested at Deer Valley, Utah in August. That event will be part of a nine-day cycling event that will also include road national

Spaniards Francisco Mancebo (iBanesto.com), Aitor Gonzalez (ONCE), Oscar Sevilla (Kelme), Angel Casero (Bianchi), Roberto Heras (U.S. Postal) and Swiss Alex Zulle (Phonak) are among the racers using the 25th annual Tour of Burgos as a tune-up for the Vuelta a España, September 6-28. Eighteen teams will take the start on Monday for 670km of racing over five stages. Like much of the rest of Europe, Castille is suffering through a heat wave, with temperatures topping 100 degrees – which will not make the climbing on Tuesday and Wednesday any more pleasant. Tuesday’s 169km run from Briviesca to

None of the other runners waited when Mary Decker fell after colliding with Zola Budd in the final of the 3000-meter race at the 1984 Olympics. Nor did rival jockeys slow the pace after War Emblem stumbled out of the gate at the 2002 Belmont Stakes, ruining his chance to win the Triple Crown. But when Lance Armstrong caught his handlebars on a fan's tote bag and crashed to the pavement last month during the 15th stage of the Tour de France -- a crucial climb to the Pyrenees ski village of Luz-Ardiden -- Armstrong's rivals slowed down and waited for him to recover, forsaking the chance to

Rolf Aldag (Telekom) won the Tour of Bochum on Sunday, a 175.2km race through the streets of this Rhine industrial city. In front of more than 300,000 spectators, come especially to acclaim Bianchi’s Jan Ullrich, runner-up in this year’s Tour de France, Aldag crossed more than 50 meters ahead of Dane Rene Jorgensen. Ullrich, who earlier had been given a "fair-play" award by the German Olympic Committee (DOG) for his sportsmanlike behavior in this year’s Tour, finished fifth. Results1. Rolf Aldag (G), Telekom), 175.2 km in 4:08:072. Rene Jorgensen (Dk), Team fakta, at 0:093. Lubor Tesa

Russian Zoufia Zabirova (Road Runner-Guerciotti) won Sunday’s eighth stage of the Grande Boucle Féminin, a 92km run from Aubusson to Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat (Haute-Vienne). Zabirova crossed in 2:25:18 , just seven seconds ahead of Lithuanian Rasa Polikeviciute and a further half-minute up on Australian Margaret Hemsley. Spain’s Joane Somarriba retains the overall lead.–Copyright 2003/AFP Results1. Zoufia Zabirova (Rus), Road Runner-Guerciotti, 92 km in 2 :25:18 (average speed 37,990 km/h)2. Rasa Polikeviciute (Lit), Team 2002 Aurora, at 0:073. Margaret Hemsley (Aus), Nürnberger, at 0:394.

Americans Jeremiah Bishop and Mary McConneloug scored cross-country medals Sunday as the Pan American Games came to the mountains of Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic. Bishop, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, took the gold among what USA Cycling’s Andy Lee called “a small but competitive field,” while McConneloug, of Fairfax, California, took silver behind Argentina’s Jimena Florit. Team USA’s other entry, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski of Boulder, abandoned on the first lap with a stomach infection. The 4.4km course, which wound its way through the local villages, began with a brief but technical descent,

Coming off the biggest win of his young road career, hometown favorite Marty Nothstein returns to the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown tonight to defend his title in Nestor's Keirin Cup. Nothstein has dominated the racing in Nestor's Keirin Cup like no other rider in history. He has won the event seven times, including three in a row for the second time. Nothstein, who is seeking to win the event a fourth straight year, is fresh off a win at the second annual New York City Championships, a 100-kilometer criterium race through lower Manhattan. The Olympic gold medalist and