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Saturn and Navigators both came to the Uptown Greenwood Professional Cycling Challenge expecting to win. And so it was no surprise that between them, the two teams had five riders in a 14-man break that led the 50-mile race from midway on. But when push came to shove Thursday night on the streets of Greenwood, South Carolina, in the third race of the South Carolina Heritage Cycling Series, it was Ofoto-Lombardi pulling off an upset as the big boys concentrated on each other. Ofoto’s Erik Saunders took a flyer out of the front group with less than eight laps remaining, building a 10-second

It was just another day at the office for Geneviève Jeanson (Rona-Esker), who soloed off the front of the pack 12 miles into the 76-mile third stage of the Tour of the Gila on Friday morning, tacking an additional 5 1/2 minutes onto her overall lead. But Gord Fraser (Health Net) had to win his race in company, pouncing at the line on Steve Cate (Mathis Brothers) and Todd Wells (Hyundai-Mongoose) like a famished tabby on a pair of field mice, showcasing to whoever is paying attention that he is to be considered a racer of note in domestic cycling and is in top form early in the season. For

Tyler Hamilton (CSC) leads the charge.

Francisco Perez Sanchez (Milaneza) fights toward the line.

Laurent Dufaux takes the win and the lead.

Dufaux wins stage, seizes Romandie lead

No, Geneviève Jeanson has not taken to racing cars.

Gord Fraser had the legs today.

Used to be events like those put on by energy drink maker Red Bull were strictly diversions for pro racers, something to do when there were no mainstream (read NORBA and World Cup) races going on. But with the recent NORBA debacle (no pro prize money) and the shrinking World Cup (the cancellation of Telluride leaves just five races on the calendar), events like the Red Bull Downtown are becoming more and more important. The Downtown, a gravity race that will be run on the streets of Lisbon, Portugal, May 11, will bring together a world class field (Peat, Gracia, Lopes, and Chausson are just

Dear Mr. Mionske,Has anyone ever legally defined just what it means to "stop" at a stopsign when on a bicycle? Do you have to stop pedaling, stop rolling, stopand get out of your saddle, put one foot on the ground, count to ten andsay a hail mary before proceeding, what? I had a vehement argument withan officer for citing me the other day because he said I "ran thru traffic",meaning, from what I could understand, that he felt I was suppose to yieldlonger before crossing the street in the face of a car approaching frommy left who did not have a stop sign. He implied that I should have let the

Mario Scirea is one of cycling’s hardest-working pros. The 37-year-old veteran has only won two races in his career that started in 1989, but for a rider like Scirea, it’s not his victories that he’s paid to earn. Scirea is the man that drives Mario Cipollini’s train to the finish line in cycling’s fast and furious sprinting stages. Last year, with Scirea’s uncompromising help, Cipollini enjoyed his best season ever. Next week, Scirea will line up for the start of the Giro d’Italia and will have the pressure on his shoulders as Cipollini eyes breaking the stage-win record set by Alfredo

For most people, the 2003 World Cycling Championships being held up and down the Niagara Escarpment in Hamilton, Ontario will begin October 6. For me, they began February 7 in Montreal when I loaded a few necessities in a U-Haul trailer and my big dog in my old truck and drove up the 401, the Trans-Canada Highway, as hundreds of thousands of other Quebec Anglophones have done, to join the Hamilton 2003, the Organizing Committee (OC) for the Worlds as the Competition Coordinator. What will follow in this space for the next few months will be a blog-typecolumn (web log) of how one goes about

Ukrainian Yuriy Krivtsov won the second stage of the Tour of Romandie on Thursday but Italian rider Simone Bertoletti retains the overall lead with three days of the event remaining. Krivtsov, riding for Jean Delatour, put in a dominant performance after breaking from the pack early in the race and sprinted home to claim a comfortable victory. He finished the 178.2km test from Couvet to Lucens in four hours, 19 minutes and 36 seconds to finish 12 seconds ahead of Swiss Phonak rider Martin Elmiger. The chasing pack were one minute and 23 seconds behind Krivtsov, with Italian Angelo Furlan,

I think for the rest of my life, April 27th, 2003, is going to stay with me as something special. Achieving victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège is something my team and I will always look back on with amazement and pride. It sounds kind of trite to say it like this, but it's true - everything came together perfectly for us on Sunday. The entire CSC team rode incredibly well together. There wasn't one guy on our squad who didn't play a role. All in all, it was a fantastic day, top to bottom. Heading out, I was a little concerned about the weather. It rained hard on Saturday and the forecast for

Editor:I knew that it was only a matter of time before some uninformed dolt would write in to discuss Lance Armstrong’s superiority over Eddy Merckx in response to Eddy's critique of Lance. In response to Justin Maines’s inept letter (see “Of Cowboys and Cannibals”) - duuuude, put down the bong, turn off the Limp Bizkit, pull out your nose ring and listen up. Here are the stats. Eddy's wins: Five Tour victories (including a record 35 stage wins and 96 days in yellow), five Giros, one Vuelta, three world championships, the hour record, three Paris-Nices, one Tour of Switzerland, seven

Organizers of the 2003 Capital Cup have been forced to cancel the Washington, D.C. Pro/Am event due to an eleventh-hour withdrawal of an unspecified sponsor. Given the short notice, the likelihood of finding a replacement is unlikely, and Arlington Sports, Inc., the promoting organization, is unwilling to take on the financial risk of finding another sponsor at this late date. “It’s too late now,” explained race director Rob Laybourn. “We’re hoping that we can bring the race back next year.” Laybourn added that Arlington Sports will now focus its efforts on continuing to develop the sister

Geneviève Jeanson (Rona-Esker) did her solitary thing Thursday, extending her overall lead to nearly four minutes in just the second stage of New Mexico’s Tour of the Gila. Meanwhile, Drew Miller relied upon his Trek-VW All Stars team to keep the race under control and leave him free to do what he does best - climb. With perfect weather (clear, with temperatures in the 70s), the 92-mile men’s race offered up two sprint bonuses for riders with GC aspirations. Early on, a 13-man group that included Mike Sayers, two Health Net teammates and a couple of strong Mexican climbers from Team Tecos

MTB News and Notes: Alternative racing

The course map

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