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MTB News and Notes: Alternative racing

MTB News and Notes: Alternative racing

Gunn-Rita Dahle

Tick, tick, tick, tick...

The 'nerve center'

The camera sees all

On the Côte de la Redoute

This part really hurt.

'Felony ugly?' But Obi-Wan . . .

Yuriy Krivtsov takes stage 2 at Romandie.

Rona in charge

Sayers

Ang Sheldrake

Editor:Is Eddy Merckx a protective daddy or a bitter has-been (See "Merckxcritical of Armstrong after Liège)? Either way, why does the cycling community give so much credit to his babblings? In his day he wasgreat. In today's era he would only be slightly more successful than hisson. He wouldn't stand a chance at the Tour, and only the rolling classicswould offer him a chance (no big climbs and no pure sprints). He calls Lance Armstrong arrogant. That goes to show you Merckx's ownarrogance, to think that he knows all and that we really care what he thinks.Any athlete at the top of his game

With the nation’s newest and richest stage race — the Dodge Tour de Georgia — just wrapped up, the five-stage Holiday Inn Express Tour of the Gila, held in Silver City, New Mexico, won’t be pulling in the same caliber of road teams as it has in years past. “It’s going to be a mountain bikers’ training ground this year,” noted race director Jack Brennan, regarding the absence of top domestic teams like Saturn, Prime Alliance and Navigators in the men’s NRC event. “With [NORBA National Championship Series #1] Big Bear two weeks away, it’s a perfect chance for them to get in some racing

Rarely do suicidal solo breakaways pay off, but it did for Lampre’s Simone Bertoletti in Wednesday’s 181km first stage of the Tour of Romandie. The Italian jumped away from the group in the opening 25km and built up a lead that went north of 15 minutes over the rolling stage in the rain-drenched hills of Switzerland. Phonak and CSC finally started to chase, but it was too late to catch Bertoletti. He had plenty of time to roll across the finish-line for a full celebration ritual: straighten the jersey, do a Holy Cross, kiss toward the heavens, pump his arms and blow kisses to the crowd. “At

ONCE’s sport director Manolo Saiz says Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano will race at this summer’s Tour de France despite a six-month racing ban in France handed down Wednesday by a French anti-doping agency. “I am tranquil and I am convinced that Igor will be present at the start line of the Tour de France,” Saiz told the Efe news agency Wednesday. “Neither the racer nor we have had any communication, so there’s not a lot to say or worry about right now. From the first day, the UCI has said this is not a question of doping, but of health.” On Wednesday, Gonzalez de Galdeano -- the ONCE rider who

Hi Monique;As an active cyclist and sometimes runner, I love reading your magazinecolumn. Your nutritional advice has proven very useful.My stomach is my dilemma. During the work week, I usually exercise earlyin the morning (pre-work) then I eat a sensible breakfast (banana/OJ/yogurtsmoothie), lunch (apple/pear/ham or turkey sandwich) and am able to makeit through the day. Unfortunately, when I get home at about 6 p.m., I immediatelygrab a snack, followed by a larger than should be allowed dinner, followedby desert (and a nice serving of guilt as an aperitif).When I commute, the evening

There seems to be no shortage of bad news when it comes to mountain-bike racing these days. Just a week after it was announced that there would be no pro prize money at this year’s NORBA NCS races, VeloNews has learned that the World Cup stop in Telluride, Colorado has been cancelled. According to Annie Kuhles, communications manager at the Telluride Ski Resort, “basically the lack of a title sponsor for the event led to its demise. I don’t know all the exact details, but it’s definitely not happening.” The Telluride World Cup, stop No. 4 on what was to be a five-race circuit, was

Genevieve Jeanson continued her sweep through the southwest Wednesday as she dominated a tough 15.7-mile time trial that opened New Mexico’s Tour of the Gila Wednesday. Though renowned as a tough sprinter, Health Net’s Gord Fraser proved he was no slouch in a hilly time trial as he took the men’s event. Kicking off in Silver City, New Mexico Wednesday, Jeanson (Rona-Esker) left few doubters as she cruised to an apparently easy win in the first stage of the 17th running of the Tour of the Gila, a 15.7 mile out-and-back climbing time trial with a time of 40:00:68. Ex-teammate Manon Jutras

Saturn's Viktor Rapinski rode to the top spot on the podium at the first race of the inaugural South Carolina Heritage Cycling Series in Anderson, S.C., Tuesday, April 29. Rapinski took the win in a two-man break with Danny Pate of Prime Alliance. Rapinski, Pate, Saturn's Chris Horner and Roberto Gaggioli of Monex landed the first four spots after lapping the main field 1-1/2 times. Saturn dominated the race from the beginning, with Trent Klasna attacking after the initial lap. His attack went unchallenged and grew into a lead of more than 20 seconds before he rejoined the peloton.

A look at the Tour of the Gila

A look at the Tour of the Gila

Small towns, big fields

Bertoletti: Now and then riding like Jacky Durand actually does work.

The chase came just a little too late

Saiz

The Mail bag: Of Cowboys and Cannibals

Will Hincapie be ready for July?

Last year's event included pro cross-country as well.

Jeanson: She just keeps going and going and going and...

Jeanson, Fraser take Gila opener

The warm ties between Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx and Lance Armstrong appear to have hit a rough stretch following Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège World Cup race. Merckx, who won the Tour de France five times over a career that included three world titles, seven victories at Milan-San Remo and five wins at La Doyenne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, said that Armstrong may have "overestimated" his abilities. "He was supposed to sail to victory. To have listened to him, it was a formality and his rivals never even had a look in," said Merckx, in a story published in Tuesday's edition of

Dear Lennard Zinn;As an on again, off again frame builder and repairer for the past 20+years I have a dilemma. A friend brought me a ‘60s era Atala with a failedbraze at the down tube, head tube lug. The friend wants it fixed withoutdestroying the original finish. Will JB Weld or something similar provideand adequate fix and will the frame be rideable?? --Dave Dear Dave;No and no. The surface area is too small and the forces too great foran epoxy glue like JB Weld to hold it. It would not last through one ride.He’s going to have to grit his teeth, get fixed right and then look forreliable

Fabian Cancellara (Fassa Bortolo) led an all-Swiss sweep Tuesday in the opening prologue of the Tour of Romandie on the streets of Geneva. The former Mapei protégé was fastest over the short, 3.4km course, nipping compatriot Alexandre Moos (Phonak) by just two seconds. Laurent Dufaux (Alessio) was third at three seconds in arrears. Tyler Hamilton, fresh off his triumph at Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday, had trouble finding his racing legs on the short technical course, but finished safely in seventh-place. Team CSC sport director Sean Yates said Hamilton is motivated to take advantage of

USA Cycling has secured a second venue for NORBA's 24-hour national championship after a scheduling dispute resulted in the withdrawal of the event's original promoter. Originally scheduled for May 17 and 18 at California's Laguna Seca raceway, the NORBA event has been re-scheduled to be run in conjunction with the“Round The Clock” 24-hour race on Memorial Day weekend, May 24-25, 2003at Riverside State Park in Spokane, Washington. The Spokane race is organized by Round and Round, promoters of past NORBA Nationals and UCI World Cup events. Meanwhile, the Laguna Seca race, organized by

Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, the ONCE rider who wore the leader's yellowjersey in last year's Tour de France, has been suspended for six monthsin France by its national anti-doping body CPLD. Tuesday’s announcement means that Galdeano will have to miss this summer'sTour de France, the most prestigious cycling event in the world. The Basque rider, who finished fifth in last year's race having spentseven days in yellow, was punished after positive tests for Salbutamol,including one from after the sixth stage of last season's race. Cycling's world governing body UCI did not ban the rider,

On a whim, decided to head out West to Fruita, Colorado for a little get-away before the racing season slams into high gear. Didn't realize our little rendezvous coincided snack-dab with the 2003 Fruita Fat Tire Festival. "All the better," I figured. I mean, the more the merrier when it comes to riding bikes–or so I thought until I tried to reserve a hotel room in a sold-out town. Lucking out with a last-minute cancellation at the ol' Super 8, VeloNews's own Jason Sumner, my old riding pal, Vegan Bob, and I were off to be a part of one of the largest off-road festivals in the United States

Eddy Merckx

Dirty is bad

Clean is good!

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn

Fabian Cancellara

Laurent Dufaux

Hamilton

Moos

Cancellara takes Romandie opener

Galdeano can't race in France for six months.

Bob threads the needle in Fruita

SRAM's new X-7 trigger shifter (in limited-edition red)

Buff Headwear–perfect for when you work-up a sweat

ShockDoctor Footbeds

Lance Armstrong's 2004 Trek OCLV prototype with '04 Dura-Ace

Tyler Hamilton’s dramatic victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège was the lead sports story in European newspapers Monday (well… after soccer news, of course). “Hamilton, the first,” read the French daily L’Equipe. “An American in Liège,” wrote Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport. “The Other American,” wrote Spain’s MARCA. Hamilton’s win was the first by an American at “La Doyenne,” the oldest classic in cycling. Greg LeMond finished third in 1984, beaten in a sprint by Irishman Sean Kelly and Aussie Phil Anderson. Armstrong was runner-up in both 1994 and 1996 and the Texan entered Sunday’s race as the

Podium Shots from the final day of the 2003 Tour de Georgia

Word from the Trek-Volkswagen camp is that while Roland Green is beat up pretty bad, he should be fine come the NORBA NCS season opener, May 17-18, at Big Bear Lake, California. According to Eric Wallace, the Trek-VW team manager, Green received 13 stitches in his face after crashing out of the final stage of the Tour de Georgia road race in Atlanta on Sunday. “He has three on his left orbital, two below his left eye and the rest are on his lip,” said Wallace, describing the state of the two-time defending world cross-country champion. “He’s completely bruised and battered in the face, but

Final Stage winners (left to right): Fred Rodriguez, David Clinger, & Moreno Di Biase

KOM, Overall and rookie winners

The top three overall winners (left to right): Fred Rodriguez (2nd place), Chris Horner (first place), Nathan O'Neill (3rd place)

Time to celebrate...

Horner can't contain his exuberance as he displays his custom trophy

If Tyler Hamilton doesn’t achieve any thing else in his career — and he certainly will — his stunning victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday will always hold a special place in his heart. Shortly after winning the 89th edition of the world’s oldest classics (and one of the toughest) on a rainy afternoon in the green hills of the Belgian Ardennes, he made a cell-phone call to his wife Haven at their home in Gerona, Spain. “She just screamed,” Tyler reported. “She had just as hard a job as I did of believing what’s happened.”

Saturday’s stage from Dalton to Gainesville pretty much sealed the overall Dodge Tour de Georgia victory for Saturn’s Chris Horner, but there was still some unfinished business and suspense left for the grand finale in downtown Atlanta on Sunday. In the end, though, there was no catching Horner. Meanwhile, Fred Rodriguez fell short of a third consecutive stage win when Prime Alliance’s David Clinger scored his biggest victory for his new team. The race began on a near-perfect afternoon, under sunny skies at Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park in downtown. On the docket was 10 laps of a fast

Saeco’s Gilberto Simoni won the Tour of Trentino in northern Italy on Sunday in a key warm-up race for the upcoming Giro d’Italia. Simoni, who lives in the Trentino region, won the decisive second stage ahead of the resurgent Stefano Garzelli (Sidermec) and finished safely in the main bunch Sunday to score his first stage-race of the 2003 season. Italian Michele Gobbi (De Nardi-Colpack) took the stage ahead of compatriot Rinaldo Nocentini (Pinzolo) in the 156km finale from Caldonozza to Arco. Tour of Trentino (UCI 2.2), stage 4, Caldonozza to Arco, 156km 1.Michele Gobbi (I), De

As it was in the beginning, so it was at the end of the 25th La Vuelta de Bisbee, as Andrew Miller and Manon Jutras won their respective final stages and collected their overall titles. Miller (Landis-Trek-VW) and Jutras (Saturn) were the victors in the Mule Pass prologue on Friday evening, the kickoff to the weekend’s racing in southern Arizona. But while Jutras held her lead throughout La Vuelta, winning three of four stages along the way, Miller lost his yellow leader’s jersey to Viktor Rapinski after the Saturn rider won Saturday afternoon’s Warren Time Trial. Come Sunday, and the

For the last few weeks I feel like these diaries have been my gripes, and excuses as to why Prime Alliance isn't winning. I wouldn't blame anyone who interpreted them that way, but I would give them an earful. Anyhow, I'm not really an excuse maker by nature, I just try to explain things as objectively as I can… it’s just that sometimes it comes across as an excuse. Sometimes it's just depressing, but today my “logical explanation” of events can be summed up with a resounding “good JOB!” Today also was justification and redemption for out ill-fated strategy of yesterday. Just think, if we

Hamilton enjoys a special moment.

... Armstrong was quick to follow.

Those last two kilometers were hard... but worth it.

The oldest and one of the toughest of the classics.

Merckx goes on the Côte de la Redoute...

Julich

Merckx

The man makes his move