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Las Vegas, the beacon in the desert, is a particularly bright one for the bicycle industry in this challenging year. Coming into the fall, the bike business was already reeling from high-profile bankruptcies like Schwinn and GT and from having many other companies on life support. Then came September 11, and it seemed unlikely that many would even be willing to fly to Las Vegas for the major selling event of the entire year and the only time that small and mid-sized companies get to put their products in front of bike dealers. The heaving of a collective sigh of relief was almost audible

Wordin says Moninger will be back.

Zabel

New Sticker: Litespeed marketing director Herbert Krabel applies a new decal to a Blade, the TT bike to be used by the team next season.

Gary Fisher has not lost his fondness for expensive and distinctive clothes. Fisher can be easily prodded to talk about his own pet project, namely bikes with 700C wheels.

Two Italian road greats hit the dirt. Colnago and Ferrari teamed up to make the off-road successor to last year's road model.

It's all in the presentation: Crank Bros. showed off the new EggBeaters.

The Speedplay Zero has less float than standard Speedplay, and it is adjustable.

Aussie is contributing 100 percent of the proceeds from sales of this jersey to the American Red Cross for relief of the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Well, if Cippo' isn't wearing these next year it will be because of contractual obligations. These are stylin'

Genevieve Jeanson won’t be spending the second week of October in Portugal after all. The 20-year-old Jeanson opted not to contest the world road championships in Lisbon. An ongoing problem with a tendon problem will keep her home.

Saturn director Jim Copeland was all smiles when he announced the signing of BigMat's Aussie sprinter Jay Sweet for the 2002 season.

Meeting with hundreds of independent bicycle dealers (IBDs) for the first time since his company’s successful bid to acquire Schwinn and GT, Pacific Cycles CEO Chris Hornung pitched his Profit Plus Program at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas on Sunday. Hornung focused on the decreased prices that his company will charge dealers for bikes saying, "You pay too much for your bicycles. You can pay less." But added that dealers will have to "forecast more efficiently than in the past." Hornung also confirmed that Pacific will utilize "dual-channel" distribution, meaning Schwinn and GT will

Stage 17 I woke up pretty slow this morning. Benoit, who usually out sleeps us all, was out the door before I even sat up. The hotel we were in was the same one we stayed at during the Vuelta Murcia. The town of Murcia is very nice and they love cycling. After breakfast it was back to the room to stretch and watch Benoit doze in and out of sleep as the radio speaker in the bathroom blared out with Europop songs that never make it back home. Benoit woke up for a second, stared at me in wonder and said, "Man you stretch too much." Soon after we were downstairs and on our bikes to the

Pacific CEO Chris Hornung listens to a dealer's question.

There were tears of joy and tears of disappointment Sunday in the final stage of the 56th Vuelta a Espana. U.S. Postal’s Levi Leipheimer broke down in tears moments after finishing second in the 38km time trial and discovering he passed teammate Roberto Heras to vault onto the final podium, the first-ever American finish in the top-three of the three-week Spanish tour. Kelme’s Oscar Sevilla shed tears of disappointment after forfeiting the race leader’s jersey to rival Angel Casero in the 21st stage and losing the 3012km race by just 47 seconds. Casero cemented the biggest victory of his

Here’s a look at Saturday and Sunday’s action at the track world championships from Antwerp, Belgium. — Frenchman Arnaud Tournant upset pre-race predictions to win the world sprint title on Saturday, the main event of the world track championships. The 23-year-old from Roubaix near the Belgian border dominated compatriot and race favorite Laurent Gane over three heats after Gane won the first round and Tournant pulled level in the second. Another Frenchman, Olympic keirin champion Florian Rousseau grabbed bronze after he beat Germany's Jens Fielder in the match for third place. Gane, the

In the final day of competition at the world track championships in Antwerp, Belgium, a dramatic keirin final ended with only two men left upright. Australian Ryan Bayley was first across the line ahead of France’s Laurent Gane. The other four finalists — Jens Fiedler, Jobie Dajka, Pavel Buran and Florian Rousseau — were lying in a tangle of bikes and bodies on the back straight. The high-speed pile-up saw bike parts and riders flying through the air. Fiedler ran the final 125 meters carrying his bike to become possibly the first track cyclist to win a world bronze medal on foot. France’s

Big Change: Casero took over in the TT

Making history: Casero got the win and Leipheimer became the first American to take the Vuelta podium.

After 20 stages and more than 1,800 miles of racing, the 56th Vuelta a España will be decided in Sunday’s final 23.5-mile individual time trial. Saturday’s final climbing stage, the 112-mile 20th stage featuring two category-one climbs up Alto de Abantos high in the mountains north of Madrid, failed to rattle race leader Oscar Sevilla (Kelme), who retained his 25-second lead over Festina’s Angel Casero. Giro d’Italia champion Gilberto Simoni (Lampre) sprinted ahead of iBanesto.com Jose Maria Jimenez on the final switchback to win while U.S. Postal’s Jose Luis Rubiera crossed the line third

Nancy Contreras gave Mexico its first ever world championship victory when she won the women's 500-meter time trial at Antwerp, Belgium on Saturday afternoon. Contreras, 23, was fastest over the first 250 metres, clocking 19.539 and finished strongly in 34.996. A student of languages based at Metepec, some 70 kilometers from Mexico City, Contreras' previous international performances include a silver medal in the Pan American Games. Her husband and coach, Guillermo Guteirrez, was in tears as Contreras received the rainbow jersey. Canada's Lori-Ann Muenther followed her sprint bronze by

Swiss six-day star Bruno Risi took the world points race title for the fourth time in nine years at the Antwerp Sportpaleis on Saturday evening. Risi controlled the race throughout. He led a nine-man group that lapped the field just before half distance and built an unbeatable points score. Argentina’s Juan Curuchet took the silver after finishing the 40-kilometer race in the same lap as Risi but with six fewer sprint points. Franz Stocher of Austria placed third, a further six points in arrears. America’s only rider, Jame Carney, led the race on points in the early stages but missed the

It all comes down to these two

Contreras made it a first for Mexico

1,2,3: The French sprinters filled the podium

4 for 9: Risi took another points title

For the past few years, his name has popped up in results occasionally - Guido Trenti (USA) - prompting U.S. race fans to ask, "What's the story?" Now that he has scored the biggest win of his career - a stage victory at the Vuelta - that question is sure to be asked again. Well, here's the scoop: Trenti's mother is an American who married an Italian and moved to Italy. Trenti took out an American passport in the hopes of making the U.S. team for the 1999 world's. VeloNews first spoke with the Cantina Tollo rider at the 1999 Giro d'Italia, in this very brief interview

The Vuelta a España’s “other American” -- Guido Trenti -- won Friday’s transition stage while the favorites held their ammunition in check for this weekend’s shootout. With everyone looking forward to the final battle for the overall title of the 56th Vuelta on Saturday and Sunday, it was a perfect day for a breakaway. The peloton followed the script perfectly. Rabobank’s Karsten Kroon and ONCE’s Mikel Zarrabeitia were the first to instigate the break just 30 miles into Friday’s 168-km (112-mile) 19th stage from Cuenca to Guadalajara. Other riders quickly bridged out to form a group of

Tammy Thomas came within one race of achieving her dream in her debut at the track world championships in Antwerp, Belgium on Friday. But instead the 31-year-old personal fitness instructor from Mississippi took the silver medal on her first world championship appearance. Thomas had to settle for a silver medal, after being beaten 2-0 by Russia’s Svetlana Grankovskaia in the best-of-three sprint finals. "I just didn’t have the legs in the race for the gold," Thomas lamented. "She was faster than me and I just couldn’t get it done. I’m happy with the silver though. This makes my

Guido who?

Elli leads the escape

Leipheimer is the only non-Spaniard in the top-10

For more than two weeks, the numerous Italians in the peloton seemed more interested in chatting with the gorgeous Vuelta a España podium girls than winning stages. The flirting stopped long enough during Thursday’s 95-mile 18th stage from Albacete to Cuenca for an Italian finally to score, a stage victory that is. Cantina Tollo’s Filippo Simeoni profited by an untimely crash by iBanesto.com Santi Blanco, who held a comfortable margin over a 12-man breakaway but slipped on an oil patch while descending off a category-three climb just 12 km from the finish. Simeoni was the lead chaser and

First-time world championship rider Tammy Thomas won through to the last four of the women’s sprint in Antwerp, Belgium on Thursday. Beaten by Germany’s Susan Panzer in the first match of the quarterfinals, Thomas hit back to level the scores and then won the decider with an attacking ride from the front, clocking 12.257 and 12.435 seconds. Also through to the semis is Canada’s Lori-Ann Muenzer, who took the first match against Szilvia Szabolcsi (Hungary) only to be relegated to second place for straying across the sprinters line. Unfazed by the upset, Muenzer took no chances in the two

Simeoni

Sevilla holds the lead

The gates of Cuenca

Zabel's escape gave him back the points jersey

The French Olympic sprint team heads for gold.

The Olympic sprint podium.

Salsa Cycles has issued a recall of 466 of the company’s Alto disc-brake specific mountain-bike rim. The company reports that a faulty extrusion in the manufacturing process could cause the rim to fail catastrophically without warning. The Salsa Alto Disc rim is a black mountain bike rim with a 543 ERD made in 32 and 36 hole models. It is a disc-brake specific rim. The rim is labeled “Salsa Alto” in yellow, red, and white. The rim also has large “Salsa” decals on the side.The rims in question were sold by Quality Bicycle Products and other distributors to retail bike shops across the

The winds of change blew through the 56th Vuelta a España and it was the U.S. Postal Service team at the center of the storm. With 35 km to go in the 159-km 17th stage, U.S. Postal Service attacked hard and split the group in the windy flats from Murcia to Albacete across Spain’s barren meseta. Juan Miguel Mercado (ibanesto.com), who started the day third, and David Plaza (Festina), who started fifth overall, were among the casualties. Postal kept driving and finished 1 minute, 12 seconds ahead the second group. Lampre’s Robert Hunter bounded out of the lead group to take his second

The first rainbow jersey of the 2001 World Track Championship went to Arnaud Tournant of France who won the kilometer time trial for the fourth straight year. Tournant, the final starter in the 21-rider field brought the event to a thrilling climax with a time 1 minute, 2.571 seconds, for a clear victory over last year’s silver medalist, German Soren Lausberg who clocked a 1:03.363 on Tuesday in Antwerp, Belgium. Tournant was the huge favorite, having dominated the event for the past four years since taking Australian Shane Kelly's title in 1998. But the Frenchman went one better than

Heras and the gang join the big move

Hunter takes the win

The 56th Vuelta a España entered its final week with another fast day in the saddle in Tuesday’s 153-km (95-mile) 16th stage that finished well under the expected time following Monday’s rest day. Domo’s Tomas Konecny was fastest to the line while Kelme’s Oscar Sevilla easily retained the overall lead for the sixth day. U.S. Postal’s Roberto Heras and Levi Leipheimer remained in their respective fourth and sixth places overall. A steady breeze pushed the peloton along at a brisk pace to the day’s major obstacle, the category-two Cresta del Gallo just 13 kilometers from the finish line in

Stage 14 This is longest stage of the Vuelta, with a nice profile to boot. The legs seem to be OK this morning on the way down for breakfast. It's a shame sometimes we are not able to enjoy our surroundings and accommodations to the fullest. We were right on the coastline just south of Valencia. After breakfast it was back to the room to try and squeeze in another half-hour of sleep. On the way over to the race everyone seemed a little quiet. I think we all had today's stage on our minds. The team meeting was short and to the point: Benoit, Victor and myself in the early breakaways. It was

American Olympic sprint champion Marty Nothstein and the Chinese national team will not compete at the track cycling world championships, which are slated to begin Wednesday at the SportPaleis in Antwerp, Belgium. Nothstein, who recently turned in a sub-par showing at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, has turned down the chance to race at the event in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. The move will reduce the U.S. team to just five men and four women. The Chinese, who won two medals at last year’s championships, apparently bowed

Italian cycling team Mapei announced Tuesday the signing of Kazakhstan youngster Dmitriy Muravyev. Muravyev, 21, inked a two-year deal with the outfit after winning 10 amateur races this year. Muravyev will make the move to Italy after representing his country at the world championships in Lisbon, Portugal, his last competition as an amateur. The move came a day after Mapei announced the signing of Olympic mountain biking champion Miguel Martinez. Copyright AFP 2001

There was talk of staying home, but despite the September 11 terrorist attacks, USA Cycling has decided against bowing out of this year’s world championships, and announced its 24-rider roster on Tuesday. The U.S. will be one of 35 countries competing at the final major road event of the 2001 season slated for October 9-14 in Lisbon, Portugal. The men’s squad will be led by four-time world’s team member and 2001 USPRO champion Fred Rodriguez. Rodriguez recently finished second in the Grand Prix de Fourmies in France. Jonathan Vaughters will also make the trip to Lisbon. The Colorado

Last night was another opportunity to try to catch some extra zzz's, but it wasn't to be with the heavy machinery working outside our window. At breakfast for the first time since the start of the Vuelta a Espana I was at the table before anyone else. Hey, at this point I need all the firsts I can get. Maybe this was a could sign for today’s stage. I signed a couple of autographs on our way to the start and the people replied, "Gracias Victor Hugo Pena." There's only one way to change this confusion amongst the fans: I need a stage win! Even Victor is calling me Victor in the peloton. I

Rubiera and Virenque

Nothstein won't contest world's

Citing “a breakdown in trust,” the Italian cycling team Mapei has fired former world number one Michele Bartoli on Monday. In an apparently unrelated move, the team also announced that it had signed mountain-bike star Miguel Martinez to a three-year road contract. In a statement faxed to news agencies around Europe on Monday Mapei's general manager Giorgio Squinzi said that "it would be advisable for Bartoli to negotiate with his future team right now." The parting of the ways comes at a time when speculation was running high that Bartoli was planning to join Fassa Bortolo. Squinzi

Jonas Carney (Prime Alliance) and Jenny Eyerman (jane Cosmetics) won the pro men’s and women’s races at the Mercury Cycling Classic of Irvine in California on Sunday. Held on a 1.5-mile loop at the Irvine Spectrum in Orange County in front of Mercury's newly-opened international headquarters, each lap included nine turns and an out-and-back section. With the Saturn Cycling Team virtually absent from the inaugural event, the racing was wide open. In the 90-minute men's race, Pro Cycling Tour leader Trent Klasna was the only member of the Saturn team in attendance. He faced domestic powers

Chris Eatough called it the "toughest race" he’d ever done, and Mary Grigson likely would have agreed. But that didn’t stop the pair from taking the 2001 24-hour solo world championship titles at Hurkey Creek Park in Idyllwild, California, on Sunday. Things didn’t go so well for some of the other race favorites, however, as reigning 24-hour national champion Tinker Juarez dropped out after completing just five laps, and mountain-biking legend Rishi Grewal was good for just seven laps before he bowed out. The primary culprit for all those troubles was the heat. Temperatures topped out near

Martinez is hanging up the fat tires.

Carney

Sunday’s 207-km (128-mile) 15th stage was the longest of the 56th Vuelta a España and the accumulation of the kilometers two weeks into the race took its toll on the peloton. It was a good day for U.S. Postal Service but a bad one for Levi Leipheimer, whose chances of finishing on the final podium suffered a setback when he lost contact with the lead group on the final climb to the beyond-category Alto de Aitana. The miles didn’t slow down Milaneza’s Klaus Moller, who followed an attack by U.S. Postal’s Jose Luis Rubiera all the way to the top of the beyond-category Alto de Aitana. “I used

Jose Maria Perez, director sportif of Relax-Fuenlabrada was suspended Sunday by his employers following controversial remarks made about the ONCE team and their former world champion Abraham Olano. Perez claimed on Spanish radio last week that Olano had won the world title in 1995 with a hematocrit reading (the percentage of red blood cells) of 62, and that ONCE had a 2.5 million dollar "pharmacy budget.” Perez, whose team only has an overall budget of 11,000 dollars, also claimed that Swiss rider Alex Zulle, with the iBanesto team, "was not riding well" because he had been deprived of his

Jens Voigt of the Credit Agricole team succeeded Lance Armstrong as Grand Prix des Nations champion when he won the 74km time trial event in France Saturday. Voigt’s American teammate Jonathan Vaughters finished 15th, 4:20 off of the German’s winning time of 1:34:13. Hungarian Laszlo Bodrogi was second, 11 seconds back. Last year, Armstrong cruised to victory in the Grand Prix des Nations while preparing for the 2000 Sydney Olympics in September. The three time Tour de France winner won that contest by 1:41.

Sevilla chases

Stage 11 Today was one of those stages that you try and put in the back of your mind until the day arrives. I remember looking at the entire Vuelta profile on line stage by stage. I thought to myself, OK, oooh, oh that's a good one, and then stage 11 comes up and you don't say anything, you just move onto the next stage as if nothing had been seen. Down at breakfast the mood was relaxed with everyone eating a little extra to help fuel those legs to victory. At our team meeting Johan gave the specific orders to each of the riders as to their role for the stage. Mine was to go with the early

There was no calm before the storm in Saturday’s transition stage along Spain’s Mediterranean Coast. Heavy rains pounded the peloton during the 170-km (105-mile) 14th stage from Tarragona to Vinaros on the eve of the difficult and decisive climbing stage to Alto de Aitana. Lampre’s Juan Manuel Garate won his first-ever professional victory, easily beating iBanesto.com’s Jon Odriozola after the pair pulled away from a 14-man breakaway. Kelme’s Oscar Sevilla retained the overall lead, but racers were already thinking about Sunday’s long, steep climb to Alto de Aitana. “It’s going to be a very

Sevilla still in the lead

Elli drives the break

Markus Zberg was the first rider to abandon the 56th Vuelta a España when he crashed in the opening time trial on Sept. 8 in Salamanca and dislocated his shoulder. In Friday’s 206-km (128-mile) 13th stage, brother and Rabobank teammate Beat Zberg won one for the family. Zberg held off seven other riders in a breakaway in a frenetic sprint to take his first stage victory in a three-week grand tour. But his victory was just as much for his brother as it was for himself. “This victory means a lot to me. My brother was very distraught when he crashed and I dedicate this victory to him,” said

Joseba Beloki is unlikely to start Saturday's 14th stage of the Vuelta a España, a source close to the Spaniard's ONCE team reported Friday. Beloki, who has placed third in the past two editions of the Tour de France and was a co-favorite for the Vuelta here, is thought to have a viral infection. ONCE team officials sent blood tests away for analysis on Wednesday afternoon and Friday's subsequent results indicated that Beloki had the start of a respiratory infection. Beloki was seen in tears on Tuesday as he struggled in the 12th stage in the Pyrenees while he was wearing the leader's

Sevilla still in the lead

Kelme powers the peloton

The great escape

Elli and the Telekoms drove the chase for Zabel

Beloki in happier times