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Confident: Horner said his team is ready to defend.

Mark Walters (Navigators)

Lyne Bessette (Saturn)

Tom Boonen (U.S. Postal)

Mark McCormack (Saturn)

Mari Holden (Cannondale - USA Cycling)

Fassa Bortolo’s Fabio Baldato won the Tour of Etna in Catania, Italy, Tuesday, sprinting clear of the peloton to triumph in the closing 100 meters.

Lotto’s Aussie sprint ace Robbie McEwen won the second stage of Paris-Nice, edging out overall race leader Alessandro Petacchi in a charge to the line in Belleville, France, Tuesday. McEwen finished ahead of Petacchi, who retained the leader's overall jersey, and Estonia's Jaan Kirsipuu following a hilly 170km stage from Moulins to Belleville. Andrea Tafi of Italy and Germany's Danilo Hondo finished fourth and fifth. "I'm doing a lot better this year than last when I fell three times and had a really disrupted season,” McEwen said after the finish. “It's my eighth victory of the season but

Fresh off of his three-stage win streak at the Tour of Murcia, Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi grabbed the overall lead at Paris-Nice after winning a field sprint at the end of stage one, a 176km ride from Blois to Saint-Amand-Montrond on Monday. Petacchi took the leader’s jersey from Hungary's Laszlo Bodrogi, who won Sunday's prologue. The 28-year-old took the honors in the 176km stage, a slight climb, after holding off the challenge of Estonia's Jaan Kirsipuu and Australian Robbie McEwen. The stage win was Petacchi's fifth of the season following previous successes in the Tour of the

French cycling coach Bernard Sainz, refused bail last week amid fresh dopingallegations, and then released on appeal, has been jailed again for non-compliancewith his bail conditions, Belgian judicial sources said Monday.Sainz, physiotherapist to Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke, was arrested10 days ago after police found amphetamines and syringes in his car whenhe was stopped for a speeding offence. He was taken into custody last Thursday. A court in Termonde, northernBelgium, on Tuesday ruled Sainz would remain behind bars because of theseriousness of the allegations, and because of

Saturn’s Petra Rossner won the women's World Cup race in Hamilton, New Zealand, Sunday, making it two from two for the German sprinter in this year’s series. As was the case at the World Cup even last week in Canberra, Austrai, the race came down to a field sprint and Rossner, edged out the same rider, Australian Rochelle Gilmore second. Hanka Kupfernagel, riding in an international composite team, was third. The first New Zealander was Rosalind Reekie-May, who finished 11th. The Saturn team worked hard throughout the 107 km race to protect Rossner and to have her in the right position

The U.S. Postal team’s Victor Hugo Pena won the Tour of Murcia as the five-stageSpanish stage race wrapped up with a time trial in the city of Murcia onSunday. Czech rider Rene Andrle (ONCE), won the 12.9km time trial. Full race report to follow Stage 5, Murcia TT1. Rene Andrle (Cze) 15:22.69;2. Rubens Bertogliari (Swi) at 0:02;3. Victor Hugo Pena (Col) at 0:09;4. Jan Hruska (Cze) at 0:105. Grisha Niermann (Ger), at 0:16;6. Thomas Liese (Ger) at 0:18;7. Levi Leipheimer (USA) at 0:19;8. Oscar Camenzind (Swi) same time;9. Javier Llorente Pascual (Spa) at 0:21;10. Claus Michael Moller (Dk) at

Mapei's Laszlo Bodrogi won the prologue of Paris-Nice in Issy-Les-Moulineaux day, edging out Frenchman Didier Rous by 0.28sec after the 5.32km run. Spaniard Javier Pascual placed third, 4sec adrift with Belgian Nico Mattan, who won the prologue last year, fifth. Last year's winner, Dario Frigo, coming off a six-month doping suspension just in time to compete, kept well in touch and came in only five seconds off the pace. Bodrogi, 25, who has spent several years in France honing his skills, is the first Hungarian to turn professional in the cycling world. He has come to the fore over the

Talk about winding up the 2002 Allen Group Sequoia Classic with a bang … and a clang, and a clatter. Mercury came up bruised and battered in the 49-mile Visalia Criterium March 10 after a pair of crashes in the final laps derailed its famous train, and 31-year-old Jonas Carney (Prime Alliance) snatched a victory in a race that he hadn’t won since he was 19. Action on the six-corner, L-shaped 0.7-mile course is always fast and furious, and this year was no exception, with the field in single file, attacks on nearly every lap and nothing staying clear for long. With a field sprint in the

Angel Edo won the fourth stage of the Tour of Murcia here on Saturday, extending his overall lead after an easy winning a sprint finish following a grade one hill climb 20km from home. Edo, not renowned for his climbing, registered a time of 4hr 16min 32sec over the 173.6km course, his compatriot David Etxebarria came second and Swiss rider and former world champion Oscar Camenzind came third. Beaten on the line twice in earlier sprints Edo, who leads the overall standings by 23 seconds ahead of Sunday's time trial final stage, was delighted. "They must have heard my victory cry way up in

Edo

The race is on to find the winner of the cycling seasons first major stage race when the Paris-Nice (March 10-17) kicks off Sunday. Italian Dario Frigo, who would later go on to become embroiled in the nastier aspects of last year’s drug-tainted Giro d’Italia, won Paris-Nice last year coming in ahead of Raimondas Rumsas of Lithuania and Belgian Peter Van Petegem. Frigo was sacked by his Fassa Bartolo team when he was leading the Giro last June while he was discovered to be in possession of a host of banned substances. Like Frigo, the Paris-Nice was almost doomed this year when race

Three-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong will make his seasonal debut at the Milan-San Remo classic on March 23, his U.S. Postal team told AFP on Friday. Armstrong had been due to compete in this week's Tour of Murcia in Spain but withdrew with a stomach bug and now has switched his attention to Milan-San Remo. "Lance will race Milan-San Remo for his European season debut," USA Postal team director Dirk Demol told AFP on Friday. “Then he'll take part in the Criterium international (March 30-31), then the Tour of Flanders (April 7) and then also the Gand-Wevelgem (April

After winning the second stage of the Tour de Murcia, Saeco’s Fabio Sacchi the 178.5km stage from Molina to Alguazas on Friday. As was the case yesterday, Sacchi benefited greatly from the help of his teammates, who controlled the early part of the stage and then sent Salvatore Commesso away in a three-rider break, Lampre and Phonak to chase. The three were caught with just three kilometers to go as Lampre tried to set up its ace sprinter, the Czech Jan Svorada for the finish. Sacchi spotted the lead-out, moved in on the Lampre man’s wheel and sprinted with 150m to go. "I was well

Kenneth Kwan Doc Jew

Sacchi in a familiar pose

Let's help out a friend.Friends of Kelli Turcotte, UCI Technical Delegate, former employee ofCastelli, GaleForce and the Alt Bike and Board in Minneapolis are gatheringitems for auction and donations to help pay for costly Cancer Treatmenttherapy that Kelli's insurance does not cover.Turcotte, who most recently was the Technical Delegate at the Downhilland Dual World Championships in Vail, has been fighting ovarian cancerwhich has now spread to her liver, lungs and lymph nodes. The type of chemotherapy recommended by her doctor is not covered by her insurance carrier. As she is not

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something inthe pages of VeloNews, or see something on VeloNews.com that causesyou to want to write us, drop us a line at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mailto this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Friday's mailApples, Oranges, Campy and SimplexEditor;Just got the latest print issue of VeloNews and loved the retrospective.But I had to take exception to your comparing the Peugot PX-10 to the latestand greatest from Specialized.My first "real" race bike was a

Fabio Sacchi of Italy, riding for Saeco, took the second stage of the Tour of Murcia after a 160km trek from Beniel to San Javier on Thursday, clocking 3hr 43min 04sec to hold off Spaniard Angel Edo in a sprint for the line. But Maia racer Edo was still smiling afterwards as he leads the field by five seconds from the Italian with Sacchi's compatriot Danilo Di Luca 5sec further back. Edo thought he had won the stage but lost out by a wheel rim in a photo finish after they just squeezed ahead of Dutchman Marc Lotz. Belgian Rik Verbrugghe had made a dash for the line 2km from the finish but

Sacchi

Di Luca was aggressive all day

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something inthe pages of VeloNews, or see something on VeloNews.com that causesyou to want to write us, drop us a line at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mailto this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Wednesday's MailJust a little too much information, thank youIs it just me, or do we know more about RomanVainsteins’s scrotum than we needed?This just in Pantani's halitosis debilitates small girl...Armstrongskips tour of Murcia due to case of green apple

Saturn’s Judith Arndt overcame a 54-second deficit on the final day to take the overall win in Australia’s Tour de Snowy. Early race leader Mirjam Melchers had to settle for second, at 0:14, while Sweden’s Susanne Ljungskog (Vlaanderen) was third, at 0:29. Racing started Wednesday morning with an 87.2km run from Adaminaby to Cooma, and Arndt’s Saturn team came out swinging from the very beginning. After a series of attacks, Arndt shot off the front and quickly gained 30 seconds on the peloton. Behind her a group containing Melchers, Mari Holden (Cannondale-USA) and Ljungskog chased hard. But

The Navigators cycling team announced Wednesday that Olympic match sprint champion Marty Nothstein has signed on for the 2002 season. The 31-year-old Nothstein, who most recently raced for Mercury, won the match sprint gold medal at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney, Australia, and was also a silver medalist at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Nothstein has also earned three world titles, in the match sprint and Keirin. The Navigators signing continues Nothstein’s gradual shift in emphasis away from the track to the road. According to a news release issued Wednesday by the team, Nothstein has

An Italian judicial probe into doping during the 2001 Giro d'Italia has used hidden TV cameras to catch cyclists obtaining banned substances for their use during the race, La Republica newspaper reported Wednesday. The recordings tape cyclists openly asking a doctor for substances before their evening meal after the conclusion of one stage and ahead of another one the day after. The paper reports one conversation between two unnamed cyclists. "Tomorrow we're in the mountains so I need some Kena (Kenakort, a banned corticosteroid) to pick me up," says one cyclist. A second rider

Arndt

Three-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has been ruled out of this week's Tour of Murcia after coming down with a stomach bug. The U.S. Postal team leader was due to make his first competitive appearance in Europe of the year in the classic, which gets underway on Wednesday, but has been weakened by a bout of gastro-enteritis. Armstrong's absence further depletes a field already missing 1997 Tour de France champion and 2000 Sydney Olympics gold medallist Jan Ullrich of Telekom. The German announced his withdrawal of the race on Monday after failing to recover from a

Bernard Sainz, the man whose arrest triggered a search of the home of Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke, was refused bail Tuesday after a judge determined that drug charges against the French horse trainer were too serious to allow his release. Sainz was arrested last week after police found amphetamines and syringes in his car when he was stopped for a speeding offense. Following Sainz's arrest, police raided the home of cyclist Vandenbroucke and seized banned substances, including the blood-boosting drug EPO, morphine, and the steroid clenbuterol. Sainz and Vandenbroucke were

Australians Alison Wright (AIS) claimed stage 2 honors and Emma James (NSWIS-Trek) won stage 3 on Tuesday at Australia’s Tour de Snowy. But there was no change in the overall standings, with Dutchwoman Mirjam Melchers holding onto the lead she first took with her stage 1 win. Stage 2 began in the town of Tumbarumba with the locals out in force to support the field of 67 riders, but as the field rolled out of town a pile up in the middle of the bunch brought down more than a dozen riders including race leader Melchers. All but one rider got back in the race, and the riders waited until

Former world road race champion Romans Vainsteins is set to undergo an operation to remove an abscess from his scrotum in the next few days, his Domo-Farm Frites team announced in Brussels Tuesday. The Latvian rider will then be forced to take a rest from the saddle for at least two weeks, meaning he will miss the opening World Cup event of the season — Milan-San Remo on March 23. Copyright AFP 2002

Former 7-Eleven and Motorola team boss Jim Ochowicz was elected president of USA Cycling’s board of directors at the organization’s spring meeting Tuesday. Ochowicz, a representative of USPRO defeated National Bicycle League board trustee Nigel Blair-Johns. Ochowicz takes over from former Tour DuPont race director Mike Plant, whose term ended after seven years. The office carries a two-year term, with the next election slated for the spring of 2004. Former USA Cycling technical director John Tarbert, a trustee of the USCF was elected as the board’s vice president. Topping the agenda for

The peloton rolls through the Australian countryside.

Wright wins the stage 2 sprint.

Starting Monday, March 4 at 7 pm ET, the Outdoor Life Network will broadcast a stage-by-stage recap of the 2001 Tour de France. Lance Armstrong sits down with OLN cycling experts Phil Liggettt and Paul Sherwen to review in detail the race that gave him his third consecutive Tour de France win and moved him into company of some of cycling's greats. "Le Tour Encore with Lance Armstrong: A Personal Look at the 2001 Tour de France" will air Monday through Friday from 7-8pm ET for the entire month of March, so there's little chance that you'll miss this important program. The Tour

In his first race back from the offseason, Kashi Leuchs scored a win in the Karapoti Classic near Wellington, New Zealand. The 17-year-old event took place on a single 50km loop through the New Zealand countryside. This year’s field included nearly 1000 riders. “I had no idea about how my body would be feeling, as this was my first mountain-bike race in over four months,” Leuchs said. “I went into it cautiously.” At the first steep climb Leuchs broke free from the lead group and set off in pursuit of the course record, which he set back in 1998. However, his asthma, which had troubled him

Dutchwoman Mirjam Melchers took the early overall lead in the fifth running of the Tour de Snowy after winning stage 1’s 77km ride from Khancoban to Tumbarumba in Australia on Monday. The 26-year-old crossed the line in 2:22:27, proving too strong in the sprint for Switzerland's Priska Doppmann, with reigning Australian national champion Margaret Hemsley in third. All told, 69 riders lined up for the first of five stages. After some early but unsuccessful attacks, a group of seven riders broke away at the 43km mark, just as the peloton approached the first of the day's two climbs. It was

Telekom’s Jan Ullrich has opted to postpone his re-entry to the European circuit due to a troublesome knee injury. Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner and the reigning world time trial champion, pulled out of the Tour of Murcia in Spain Monday citing recurring pain while racing. "While in training I'm okay. But as soon as I'm cycling in race conditions the pain comes shooting back," said the 28-year-old German who is now set to undergo tests at a Freiburg clinic. Team spokesman Olaf Ludwig added: "The most important thing is not to strain the knee. There's no point in

Frank Vandenbroucke, who was chargedThursday with possession of drugs and fired by his Domo-Farm Frites team,could possibly return to action with another team if drug tests administeredby Belgian law enforcement turn up negative. Two Belgian Division 2 teams,Marlux-Ville de Charleroi and Palmans-Collstrop, have already expressedinterest in the troubled rider."Frank has never wanted to bring up the end of his career. At the sametime, the state of the judicial procedures doesn't permit anyone to saywhat his sporting future will be," said the company that has managed Vandenbroucke's

Melchers takes stage 1.

The peloton heads across the Australian countryside..

Some of the day's selection survivors.

The peloton gives chase.

AG2R’s Estonian sprinter Jan Kirsipuu came home alone to win the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne 190km classic on Sunday. Second place went to Belgian Serge Baguet, with Italy's Enrico Cassani third. Kirsipuu took the risk of a solo break with 10 kilometers to go, a move that surprised his rivals Paolo Bettini of Mapei-Quick Step and Serge Baguet of Lotto, and paid dividends with Kirsipuu’s fourth victory of the season. "I was the fastest in the leading pack and everyone was keeping a close eye on me," he said. "So I made my break early, it's perhaps the best one day victory of my

Mercury’s Gord Fraser and Diet Rites’s Tina Mayolo-Pic each took the top spot in the Downtown Grand Prix Criterium in Merced, California on Saturday. The men's race was the typical early season barn burner with every team trying its hand at escaping the main group. But with the racing so aggressive, the peloton was strung out from the gun and no breakaways were allowed to escape. Saturn, Mercury, Prime Alliance, Navigators and 7-Up-Nutra Fig all contributed to the last 15 laps of furious tempo riding to keep their lead-out trains near the front. With two laps to go Prime Alliance was in

Germany's Petra Rossner (Saturn) won a bunch sprint in the 103.1km women's road cycling World Cup race from Cooma to Thredbo, Australia on Sunday. Australia's Rochelle Gilmore and world No. 3 Mirjam Melchers of the Netherlands were second and third after a punishing race culminated in an exhausting 35km climb to this ski resort in the Snowy Mountains. The 35-year-old, who took gold on the track at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and is the reigning German national road champion, won in 3:14:25. "The race was fantastic in that I had the strongest team," said Rossner. "I might not have been

Rossner takes the win.

The peloton heads up towards Thredbo.

The podium.

Team Coast’s Alex Zülle won the final stage and the overall title at the 60th edition of Spain’s Tour of Valencia, winning a 23.5km time trial through the streets of Valencia with a time of 28:34. Zülle beat second-placed Jörg Jakshe (ONCE) by 20 seconds and bested Antonio Colum, the man who began the day in the race leader’s jersey, by well over a minute. This edition of the Tour of Valencia was marked by a three-stage winning streak in the opeining stages by Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi. Petacchi was finally bumped out of the lead Friday when Saeco’s Danilo Di Luca scored a win in

Lotto’s Peter Van Petegem won Circuit Het Volk, the traditional opener of the Belgian road season in Belgium. The Belgian, who was one of the so-called ‘killer V’s” of last year’s Mercury squad, won a 10-rider sprint for the finish into Lokeren, the northern Belgian community at the end of the 202km race. Copyright AFP2002

The 23rd edition of Oregon’s Tour of Willamette has been canceled — not for lack of interest, but for lack of money, according to race director Larry Smith. “While we have the infrastructure and volunteers ready and willing, the Tour of Willamette remains far from adequately funded to present a top-quality and safe event for competitors, the community, and committed followers,” Smith wrote in a posting to the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association’s listserv. “And the economic downturn of recent months wreaked havoc not only with the sponsorship budgets of businesses here in Lane County, but

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something inthe pages of VeloNews, or see something on VeloNews.com that causesyou to want to write us, drop us a line at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mailto this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.In the end, what do they win?Is this drug use and abuse ever going to end?I want to think that, yes, it will end sometime...I just wonder with what face these cheaters will look at their grandsonsand say: "I won that race," when deep inside (or not so deep) they

Saeco’s Danilo Di Luca finally broke the three-stage winning streak of Alessandro Petacchi at Spain’s Tour of Valencia, Friday, winning the fourth stage, a tough 148km ride from Tavernes to the mountain-top finish at Sommet De Campello. Spain’s Antonio Colom (Colchon-Relax) moved into the overall lead. Di Luca again showed the good form that recently gave him a victory at the Trofeo Laigueglia, winning what is surely the toughest stage at this year’s Tour of Valencia. the hardest stage of the Vuelta Valenciana from Tavernes to Alto del Campello on Friday. The Saeco attacked with 40km to go

Di Luca

Colum now leads by 1 second

Domo Farm Frites’s troubled cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke and his personal coach have been charged with possession of drugs in Belgium, after police discovered a substantial stash of doping products during a Wednesday night search of his home. The Domo-Farm Frites team quickly fired Vandenbroucke after news of the search became public. Following the arrest of his French trainer, the infamous Bernard Sainz, Belgian police conducted a search of Vandenbroucke's home and found a variety of banned performance-enhancing and other substances, a prosecutor's office spokesman in Termonde,

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something inthe pages of VeloNews, or see something on VeloNews.com that causesyou to want to write us, drop us a line at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mailto this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.It's all about winning, right?Editor;How come you have so many readers that think nobody in the pro pelotondoes drugs?The plain and simple truth is everyone does drugs!!! Its called"competitive advantage."Ask yourself would you not create a competitive advantage

Fassa Bortolo's red-hot sprinter Alessandro Petacchi won his third straight stage of the Tour of Valencia, a 157.9 kilometer run from Castellon to Segorbe, on Thursday. Like his earlier two victories of the week, Petacchi charged to the line, winning a tough sprint, this time at the head of a group of 38 riders as the charged to the finish at the end of , a 157.5km stage from Castellon to Segorbe. The stage was marked by a series of unsuccessful escape attempts, particularly on the day’s climbs: the Category 1 Eslida; Montana Toras (Cat. 3), Sacanet (Cat. 2) and Montemayor (Cat. 3). The

Does this look familiar? Pettachi makes it three straight

Vandenbroucke

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something inthe pages of VeloNews, or see something on VeloNews.com that causesyou to want to write us, drop us a line at WebLetters@7Dogs.com.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mailto this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter. What goes around comes aroundEditors,Regarding the Ibisbankruptcy:Karma, Roger, Karma.Michael SylvanSeattleP.S.  My most sincere condolences to Scot Nicol and all the goodpeople who worked at Ibis.  Your bikes were beautiful, and the companyitself did not deserve this

Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi clinched the second stage of Spain’s Tour of Valencia on Wednesday; a 216km run from Calpe to Castellon. The Italian rider had also claimed the opening stage on Tuesday. The Italian rider also claimed the opening stage on Tuesday and both wins came after a sprint finish although Wednesday's lacked the first day's drama when world road race champion Oscar Freire and Mario Cipollini fell. Italian sprint king Cipollini grabbed second with German Erik Zabel in third. "I wasn't expecting a second win but I felt good at the end and I was able to exploit the

Representatives of the Société du Tour de France and the mayor of Paris are in preliminary negotitations over the possibility that next year’s centenary edition of the Tour de France will both start and finish in the French capital. Thus far, no agreement has emerged, but, if successful, the arrangement would mark the first time in 40 years that France’s grand tour began and ended in Paris. – Copyright AFP 2000 A new Postal Pedal with Lance in Mind? It looks like this year's Tour de France may mark something of a first... the first time Lance Armstrong puts some new pedals on his

Petacchi outsprinted a stellar field.

Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi won the opening stage of the Tour of Valencia in Spain on Tuesday. The Italian won a sprint at the end of a 126km stage that finished in Calpe. Petacchi came out on top in a sprint ahead of Russian Dimitri Konychev in second and Angel Vicioso of Spain in third. Spaniard Luis Perez tried to slip the peloton during the final fourth category climb 24km from the finish, but he was caught at the foot of the hill. Petacchi's Fasso Bortolo teammates, aided by riders from Acqua Sapone, Mapei and Telekom cranked up the pace to carry the specialist sprinters to

The 2002 Luna Chix mountain-bike team was officially unveiled this week in Calistoga, California. And though the collection riders — Alison Dunlap, Marla Streb Kelli Emmett and Gina Hall — weren’t news, a late addition to the team was announced by an almost-live video greeting. The newcomer was Czech Republic rider Katerina Hanusova, who attended the event remotely from her home in Truckee, California, just after returning from Salt Lake City. Hanusova was in Utah representing her country in cross-country skiing. She and her team took fourth place in the 4x5km relay last week. This was

Ibis LLC, the maker of Ibis bicycles, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on February 21 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Northern California Division. Founded by Scot Nicol in 1981, the company moved to Sonoma County in 1983, where it manufactured bikes for the next 18 years. Last year, in a bid to cut the rising cost of Northern California wages, Ibis entered into a co-production arrangement with Strong Frames of Bozeman, Montana. “As the cost of living has increased here, we decided that we cannot provide living wages any more,” Nicol told the North Bay Business Journal in 2001. “Our workers