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Aitor Gonzalez delivered the stage-win but Oscar Sevilla delivered the time trial of his life to retain the jersey oro by less than one second in Monday’s stage of the 57th Vuelta Espana. Nearly a year after he lost the Vuelta in a final-day time trial to Angel Casero, Sevilla ripped the 36.5-km course on a rainy Monday afternoon to conserve the race leader’s jersey by less than 1 second. “I’m very content. I went as hard as I could,” said Sevilla, who conceded 40 seconds to Kelme teammate Gonzalez in finishing second. “To keep the lead by one second after so many kilometers, it’s a great

While those racers who own "tradtional" cross country forks will be able to benefit from Mavic's new hyperlight 2003 CrossMax SL Disc wheelset, Cannondale Lefty owners have been left out in the cold. That is, until now. Mavic just announced development of a Lefty-specific 750 gram CrossMax SL Disc front wheel. According to Mavic, "The Crossmax SL Disc is a concentrate of Mavic know-how and features technology such as the Fore concept, which provides a sealed rim and added strength, ISM (inter-spoke milling) which reduces inertia and rim weight (30-40g), a Maxtal rim for strength and

After two years directing the men's Saturn Cycling Team, Jim Copeland has decided to resign from the job. Copeland said he expects to shift his focus from cycling and on to other aspects of his life. "I have been involved in the cycling industry for the better part of the last 20 years, both as an athlete and manager," he said in a release issued Monday, "and I, along with my wife, Alisa, have decided that it's time to reduce the travel schedule and come home and stay for a while." While directing the Saturn Cycling Team, Copeland led the team to wins at the Redlands Cycling

Sevilla has improved as a time trialist over the past year

Millar set an early standard

Gonzalez

CVV had a great TT

The CrossMax SL Disc for Lefty will be based on the regular CrossMax SL Disc (shown)

Good morning to our American audience. Welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 2002 Vuelta a Espana. Today’s ninth stage, from Ubrique to Cordoba, is a 130 km ride that begins rolling terrain for the first 100 km until the course hits the main obstacle of the day, the category-two Alto de San Jeronimo at 113 km. It's all downhill to Cordoba and the final three km are flat with a slight downhill for a fast finish. We would like to apologize for yesterday's lapse. We were experiencing server problems while trying to do live updates during the stage. We believe we have solved these

Good morning. Welcome to VeloNews’s live coverage of the 2nd annual SanFrancisco Grand Prix. VeloNews’s John Wilcockson and Bryan Jew are on site and will be sending in updates throughout today’s 109-mile race. We are starting undertypical Bay Area conditions: foggy, cool temperatures and cloudy skies, causing many riders to wear leg- and arm-warmers. 8:45 a.m. --  And they're off! Man, the crowd is huge here in San Francisco. We are doing a quick paradelap and then will be hitting the hilly streets of San Francisco, but nobody is waiting for the hills. The early attacks have already

Now everyone knows who can win this Vuelta a España. Sunday’s fast and furious 130-km ninth stage on a circuit course around Cordoba brought the real challengers to the fore and swept aside the pretenders to the throne. The peloton was split early on in the windy, fast course and less than 40 riders made with the first group over the category-two Alto de San Jeronimo with 17 km to go and into the finish in Cordoba, one of Spain’s jewels. iBanesto.com’s Pablo Lastras attacked without fear on the tricky descent off San Jeronimo to hold off Coast’s Luis Perez and Milaneza’s Fabian Jeker to

Saturn’s Petra Rossner left no doubt about who was the world’s strongest woman during the 2002 World Cup finale September 15, scoring a come-from-behind victory at the Rotterdam Tour and claiming the series title. Rossner and Mirjam Melchers (Farm Frites Hartol) were separated by just 13 points going into the ninth and final round, held on a windswept, 141km course. An early break of 10 riders with four Farm Frites riders and three Saturns was reeled by Team Nurnberger, and Saturn spent the next few kilometers chasing down a flurry of attacks. At 50km, a pileup split the bunch, and Rossner

In just two years, the San Francisco Grand Prix has established itself as the biggest race in America. It may not have the biggest prize list – that belongs to the USPRO Championships in Philadelphia – but San Francisco draws the biggest crowds and the biggest stars. But amidst the huge fanfare, it was the littlest team in the field that came away with the day’s win. 7UP-Nutra Fig may have brought only six riders to San Francisco, but they came out on top, as Charles Dionne sprinted away from a group that included U.S. Postal’s Lance Armstrong and Viatcheslav Ekimov to take the $10,000 first

Today was a short day, but we knew it would not be easy. Erik Zabel wanted the win today and Team Telekom started drilling it from the gun with Kelme to keep all the attacks from going too far. It was a wicked cross-wind and there was complete carnage in the back of the field. Fortunately, I was up front with the rest of the team helping to keep Roberto out of trouble. It was very intense but we made it and Roberto didn't lose any time to his danger guys on the stage. Before the race I was giving a private concert in the bus, sometimes I like to take the mic and bust out a few tunes to

Barry - in Stage 8

Live Updates: San Francisco Grand Prix

Lastras attacked on the downhill and stayed away

Eat, drink and get ready for that TT tomorrow.

no, don't Relax - The wind and the speed split the field apart.

After the split -- ONCE set out to maximize the gap.

Happy Man -- Dionne played this one to perfection

Hincapie left with 29 miles to go

The Filmore climb

When Kelme's Aitor Gonzalez crossed the finish line of Saturday’s difficult eighth stage of the Vuelta a España, he didn't look particularly excited. The reason why? He hadn't realized he'd won. Gonzalez chased hard in the very technical finishing 20 km into Ubrique, a white-washed Andalusian village surrounded by rugged mountains, and was so exhausted that he thought someone had slipped past him in frantic charge to the line. "At first I didn't know I had won, because I thought riders had come around me. Well, it's a nice surprise," Gonzalez said after reeling Team Coast's Luis Perez with

Lotto’s Robbie McEwen won the 82nd edition of the Paris-Brussels classic on Saturday, winning a sprint finish to see off German Olaf Pollack and Dutch racer Jans Koerts after a grueling 270km ride. McEwen's patience paid off handsomely as he warmed up for the world championships at Zolder, Belgium, in a month's time. Frenchman Jacky Durand set off on an early solo attack and spent 180 kilometers out in front on his own but the peloton reined him in and McEwen seized the moment and the race after brief attacks from Italian pair Daniele Nardello and Michele Bartoli. Over the final 10

America's latest road world championships team member doesn't speak a word of English, but that's not slowing him down. Guido Trenti, 29, will be racing in his first world championships, but his selection to the US road worlds team has created a firestorm back in the States because he was picked instead of another American. Trenti's name has popped up in Euro-side results sheet for years, always listed as an American rider even though he was born and raised in Italy. His stage victory in last year's Vuelta is recorded as the only American stage-win in the Spanish

On a sunny day in the shadow of Mission San Rafael, the men’s professional road teams warmed up for Sunday’s San Francisco Grand Prix, but for the women, it was an important showdown in the Pro Cycling Tour at the San Rafael Cycling Classic. Overcoming full teams from Saturn and Diet Rite, Laura Van Gilder (Trek Plus) pulled off a convincing win and moved into the overall lead of the PCT. In the men’s race, Mercury launched Gord Fraser past the Prime Alliance leadout train and delivered the Canadian to the win. In the absence of Tour leader Petra Rossner (Saturn), Van Gilder was poised to

Who me? Gonzalez thought he finished second.

Now he gets to celebrate.

Sevilla and Heras

Trenti wouldn't mind repeating this pose in Zolder.

In the shadow of the Mission

Van Gilder made the final turn first

Fraser

It was a repeat performance for the Lion King on Friday as Mario Cipollinitook his third stage win at the 2002 Vuelta a España taking a furiousfield sprint into the coastal city of Málaga.Cipollini and his Acqua e Sapone team held back until the final two kilometersbefore launching a text-book lead-out for their super sprinter. On the wheelof his reliable lead-out man Giovanni Lombardi, Cipollini easily beat theVuelta's points leader Erik Zabel (Telekom). Kelme's Oscar Sevilla finishedwith the main field and retains the overall lead in the Vuelta.Check back soon for complete results, a stage

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in the pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com that causes you to wantto write us, drop us a line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Short and to the pointRe: Chris Doig's letter. (see"But does he know the words?" in " Thursday's Mail bag ").You turd. How you can mention 9/11 and bicycle racing in the same sentence bewilders me.Ed BeaudetAustin, Texas Guido is not taking a roster spotChris Doig (USCF

Acqua & Sapone put down a text-book sprint Friday to deliver Mario Cipollini his third stage-win in the 2002 Vuelta a España that was executed so well it should be taught in Cycling 101. Cipo's boys in zebra stripes were flawless. They helped reel in a breakaway, hammered at the front leading into Malaga and then the Lion King rode the rails to victory in the 196-km seventh stage from Jaen to Malaga. With speeds topping 65kph, Mario Scirea pulled until 2 km to go, then Italian-American Guido Trenti took over until 1 km to go, followed by final set-up man Giovanni Lombardi pulled to 400

After repeatedly hinting at it during the world championships and World Cup finals, Nicolas Vouilloz made it official Friday, announcing his retirement from professional downhilling. In a news release posted on his Web site, www.NicolasVouilloz.com, the 26-year-old Frenchman said he wanted to focus more attention on product development, rally car racing, and possibly starting a family with his longtime girlfriend Sandrine. Vouilloz also said that he plans on competing in downhill marathon events like those of the Megavalanche series, where runs typically exceed an hour in length. Vouilloz

For the second year, big-time road racing hits the streets of San Francisco for Sunday’s San Francisco Grand Prix. Last year, with the presence of Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong to bolster interest, the inaugural event was a huge success, with people lining the streets of the 10-mile course, including crowds four and five deep on the two major climbs on the course, on Fillmore and Taylor Streets. This year, the hype machine has been turned up another notch. Not only will defending champion George Hincapie and U.S. Postal teammate Armstrong be on hand, but the event will feature

Three's a charm - Head-to-head against Zabel, Cipo' left no doubts.

Sevilla in Gold -- Friday was a day to relax.

Sevilla

The day was marked by another early escape.

Live updates from Stage 6 Good morning to our U.S. audience. Welcome to Thrsday’s live coverage ofthe sixth stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España. Stage six is a 153kmrace from Granada to Sierra de la Pandera. This is a difficult rolling stage leading to a "special category" summitfinish at La Pandera at 1840 meters. There are three point sprints en routeand the category-three Alto de la Encebras at 46 km, the category-two Puertode los Villares at 140 km and the eight-km climbing finish to La Pandera.The short, but steep climb features ramps as steep as 15 percent with anaverage grade of 6.4

Roberto Heras and Oscar Sevilla put the fiesta back into the Vuelta a Españain Thursday’s difficult 153-km climbing stage to La Pandera. The duel between U.S. Postal Service’s Heras and Kelme’s Sevilla isshaping up as the story of the 57th Vuelta. Heras attacked with 5 km togo up the “category especial” climb to La Pandera to win while Sevillafinished third at 18 seconds back to move into the “jersey oro” race leader’sjersey. Heras’ victory is the first stage-win by an American-sponsored teamat the Vuelta a España and his first Vuelta stage since 2000, whenhe won two stages and the overall

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in thepages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com that causesyou to want to write us, drop us a line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Trenti not unusualEditor:People are complaining about the Guido Trenti situation, but let usnot forget this is hardly an unprecedented situation. Max Sciandri is adual citizen of England and Italy. I remember him saying he took out aBritish license because he knew he would not get

Small amounts of human growth hormone and testosterone were among the bannedproducts seized by French customs officials from the car of Edita Rumsas,wife of Lithuania's Tour de France third-placed finisher Raimondas, theFrench newspaper L'Equipe reported Thursday. Edita Rumsas has been held in prison since being picked-up on July28 - the day of the final stage of the Tour de France - while her husbandhas refused to return to France to answer questions over the affair inwhich he claimed the products were for his mother-in-law. However L'Equipe now reports that Rumsas' wife

Jonathan Boyer, the first American to participate in the Tour de France, appeared in a Salinas, California, courtroom Thursday and entered guilty pleas to 10 felony counts of child molestation. During a scheduled arraignment, the 46-year-old Boyer pleaded guilty to seven counts of lewd acts with a child and three counts of penetration by foreign object in a case involving a single unnamed girl. Seaside police arrested Boyer on May 16 after the now-16-year-old girl told them Boyer had sexually molested her beginning when she was 11. At the time, Boyer posted $300,000 cash bail and was

Heras timed his move to perfection.

Heras was alone for the last 3km.

Sevilla didn't win this battle, but so far, he's winning the war

Simoni animated the stage.

Working man -- Vande Velde has been there when it counts

Heras timed his move perfectly

Today's Live UpdatesGood morning to our U.S. audience. Welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverageof the fifth stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España, 198km between El Ejido and Sierra Nevada. Today’s stage includes two climbs of intermediate difficulty – the Category 2 climb of Bérchules at 62km and the Cat. 3 at Lanzarón at kilometer 117 – before the long “Special Category” climb to Sierra Nevada at the finish.That final climb will be the first real opportunity for those hoping to challenge Joseba Beloki for the overall lead in the Vuelta to mount a serious attack.The slopes on the way to Sierra

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in thepages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com that causesyou to want to write us, drop usa line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail to thisaddress, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Why Guido?Hello:Just read that U.S. Cycling has appointed an Italian to the U.S. squadfor the world's just because he happens to have a U.S. license. (see"U.S. names world'sroad squad"). No wonder U.S. Cycling is in such ill repute. Theycan't even find U.S. citizens to put

Kelme's Oscar Sevilla finally did Wednesday what he couldn't do at theTour de France. Sevilla attacked hard on the first major climbing stage in the 2002Vuelta a España and, although he didn't deliver a knockout blow,he let everyone else know he's now the man to beat. Sevilla jumped with five kilometers to go and left the rest of the favoritesin his wake. U.S. Postal's Roberto Heras, ONCE's Joseba Beloki and ItaliansGilberto Simoni and Francesco Casagrande all lost nearly a full minuteto "El Nino." Sevilla couldn't reel in Cofidis' Guido Trentin, who scored Italy'sfourth straight stage at

Trentin wins.

Trentin wins.

Sevilla.

The Postal team and the rest of the peloton took a moment to remember the events of a year ago.

Zarrabeitia keeps the jersey in ONCE's hands.

La Vuelta: Live updates from Stage 4 Good morning to our American audience. Welcome to VeloNews.com's live coverage of Stage 4 of the 2002 Vuelta a España, another short and fast day that should favor sprinters like Erik Zabel and Mario Cipollini, who took yesterday’s 134-km stage to Murcia. Today’s 149.5-kilometer ride from Aguilas to Roquetas de Mar opens witha 60km jaunt along the Mediterranean and then cuts inland, across the Cabode Gata and then heads to a finishing flat again along the Mediterraneanat Roquetas de Mar. There are three "hot sprints" along the route and no mountain

For the third day in a row, an Italian won a stage in the 57th Vueltaa España. For the second day in a row, it was Mario Cipollini witharms wide spread. El Rey Leon, as the Lion King is called in Spanish, made it lookeasy in Tuesday’s 149-km fourth stage from Aguilas to Roquetas de Mar alongSpain’s white-hot Mediterranean Coast. Cipo easily won the stage and senta strong signal to his would-be rivals for next month’s world championships. “It was another fabulous work by my team. They put me in perfect positionand (Giovanni) Lombardi did great work as the last man,” said Cipolliniafter

The last two days have been pretty flat and not too hard... that is untilthe sprinters’ teams start winding it up for the finishes.Riding through one of the towns today we spotted a guy riding next tous on a side road. He was going pretty fast and not really watching wherehe was going. I said to Christian “he's going to go down.” I guess he didn'tsee the wall that suddenly stopped him. It looked painful but the bunchcouldn't help but laugh about it.On one of the downhills all I could see was the ocean down below I thinkit was a pretty steep cliff, it made me feel like I was in a video gamefor

USA Cycling on Tuesday released the U.S. team full roster for the upcoming2002 World Road Cycling Championships, Oct. 8-13, in Zolder, Belgium.Thirteen discretionary nominations were added to an earlier list ofautomatic slots released last week. The 25 athletes nominated earned theirberths on the World Championships team based on winning national road competitiontitles earlier this season and for consistent, outstanding results in internationalcompetition.The elite men's road race team, with the largest delegation of athletes(7 men), will be led by Domo-Farm Frites’ Fred Rodriquez. Among

Sea Otter Classic co-founders Rick Sutton and Frank Yohannan on Tuesday announced the formation of a new board of advisors, a step the two promoters say will movethe race to a higher level.“For the better part of 12 years, we’ve dedicated our efforts to the creationof a family-style festival, celebrating the unabashed joys of the sport ofbicycling,” said Sutton. “Today, we take a significant step toward our futuregrowth. The Classic is proud to announce a distinguished Board of Advisors.Our intent is to maximize the background and expertise that each of theseleaders brings to our

Cipo' is making his mark on the third major tour now, too.

Don't stop thinking about tomorrow. Beloki faces the hills in Stage 5.

A hot day in the saddle. Temperatures moved into the mid-90s on Tuesday.

Bruyneel sprints - Postal director helps Matt White regain his momentum.

Good morning to our American audience. Welcome to another day of live updatesfrom the Vuelta a España. Today's third stage is another short one:a 134.2 km from San Vicente del Raspieg to Murcia, dead flat along Spain'sCosta Blanca for the first 80 km, then heading west to the finish in Murcia.There are three "hot sprints" along the route and no mountain points. Thefinish is flat and straight on for the final two kilometers. The peloton'swill have a golden opportunity to measure their strength against each otherin one of the flattest stages in the whole Vuelta. This third stage, betweenSan

The Lion King came out of hibernation Monday to win the third stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España in an exciting shootout between the top sprinters. Mario Cipollini's retirement plans are definitely on hold again as the Italian superstar showed that missing more than 90 days of competition doesn't mean that much to cycling's top sprinter. "I'm here to prepare for the world championships. That is my mission, but it's nice to show I can still win. It's important for the sponsor and it's a good test," Cipollini said after winning in 3 hours, 7 minutes, 37 seconds with an average speed of 42.917

Here's an opportunity to own a collectors’ item and help out a good causeat the same time.The Ross Dillon Hope Fund is auctioning off one of Levi Leipheimer’sTour de France jerseys on E-Bay.The jersey is complete with Leipheimer’s official Tour numbers on theback. Signatures are located on the front and include all the members ofthe Rabobank tour team including Leipheimer, former Tour stage winner ErikDekker, and this year's Tour stage winners Michael Boogard and KarstenKroon. Leipheimer finished this – his first Tour de France – in eighthplace in the overall standings.All money from

Cipollini scores his first Vuelta stage win.

Beloki still in the lead.

Good morning to our U.S. audience and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the second stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España. The second stage is a short 144.7km from Valencia to Alcoi.Sunny skies and huge crowds welcomed the peloton for the start of the second stage of the 57th Vuelta a Espana. Big cheers for Oscar Sevilla, Joseba Beloki and Roberto Heras as the joined the 206riders who signed in.It's warm today, highs in the upper 80s, and Mario Cipollini started with a sleeve-less Acqua & Sapone jersey. The race winds through some spectacular countryside just inland from the Med, passing

The first road stage of the 57th Vuelta delivered just what everyone expected since the advent of shorter stages and a peloton packed with 23 teams and more than 200 riders: attacks and more attacks.The final 27-km circuit of the 144-km second stage from Valencia into the finale at sun-baked Alcoi saw a string of blistering attacks over narrow roads. With 16 km to go, Kelme’s Oscar Sevilla shot off the front to try to grab a gap with five other riders and ONCE put the pedal to the metal to preserve its golden jersey for Joseba Beloki.The beneficiary of this in-fighting was Saeco’s Danilo Di

Okay, done with Stage 2. It didn't start out too fast so that was good, the field is really big here207 riders. The first climb was very hard but it broke up the field a littlebit. I went up the hill with Cipo's team knowing that they would ride sometempo to bring him back to the group for the sprint. After that hill therace went very fast, and on the last hill I was at my limit and the groupwas descending super fast too. My roommate, housemate, and dear friend Antonio Cruz hit the pavement hardtoday. I didn't know this until after the race and he walked into the roomreally bloody and in