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Simoni's plans for next year probably don't include wearing a Lampre jersey.

The first day of the Vuelta a España’s shootout of the Pyrénées ended with puff instead of bang in the first of three-straight climbing stages, but everyone expects the fireworks to begin for real in Wednesday’s six-climb etapa reina. Santiago Blanco won his biggest stage of his career, delivering a dramatic solo victory high in the Catalan Pyrénées during Tuesday’s 168-km (104-mile) 10th stage from Sabadell, a suburb of Barcelona, to La Molina, a ski resort already sprinkled with the first snow of the season. ONCE’s Joseba Beloki easily retained his overall lead for the third day when he

My rest day started at 9:30 on Monday morning with a knock on the door from one of our staff. I think I could have easily slept another 10 hours. That probably wouldn't have been too wise. Breakfast was more on the light side, since in the past I've had a tendency to eat too much between races and then paid the price. Juice, bread, cereal, and fruit were plenty for the training we had planned. Roberto Herras knew exactly where to ride in the busy streets of Barcelona to get us out of town quickly and into the surrounding hills. Johan thought between two and two-and-a-half hours was plenty

The final day of the Tour de l’Avenir in France belonged to a Russian and an Australian, who dashed French hopes at the world’s premier stage race for riders 25 years and younger. iBanesto.com’s Denis Menchov snuck away for the overall victory, snatching the race lead from Frenchman Florent Brard (Festina), while Mercury’s Baden Cooke took his second stage win of the race and the green points jersey. Cooke and Menchov escaped the peloton on the last of five climbs up the Cat. 1 Côte du Chauffaud, escaping 4km from the summit of the climb. They crested the climb with 28 seconds on the chase

Germany’s Judith Arndt won the final round of the UCI Women’s World Cup, the 140km Rotterdam Tour in the Netherlands on Sunday. Saturn’s Anna Millward took the overall World Cup title, despite abandoning the final round on a rainy, windy day in the Netherlands. At the start of the final finishing circuit, with about 20km to go, Arndt escaped from a group of seven which had gone off earlier in the race. Despite the wind and the rain, the German powered away on the final lap, putting more than three minutes on the closest chaser in those closing kilometers. At the finish, Arndt had her first

Riders from the U.S. Postal Service team went on a three-hour training ride during Monday’s rest day to keep their legs fresh for the upcoming battle in the Pyrenees. The 56th Vuelta a España hits a trio climbing stages Tuesday to Thursday that will determine whether or not Roberto Heras can repeat as Vuelta champion. So far, the quiet Spanish rider has had difficulty in the Vuelta’s first two climbing stages and sits in eighth place overall at 2:47 back. “I haven’t thrown in the towel yet,” Heras said. “It’s true I am not going well right now. I don’t know exactly why, but at the same

My apologies for not having any reports for the last few days. Due to the tragedy in New York and the spotty phone and Internet service that followed, my agent – who lives about a mile away from the World Trade Center – was unable to consistently reach me. I will be filing a catch up report tomorrow along with the daily report. Yesterday was the last day before the rest day. The peloton was definitely not ready to rest quite yet. We set a record time of around 55km an hour! The day was extremely windy and everyone -- including our team -- seemed to be on the attack, hoping to split up

Heras

Leipheimer

Strong crosswinds and tailwinds blasted the peloton in Sunday’s 179-km (111-mile) ninth stage of the Vuelta a España from Logrono to Zaragoza, splitting the race into echelons across the flats of northern Spain. ONCE’s Igor Galdeano shot free of the lead group of 40 riders in the final three kilometres. He finished alone to earn his third career Vuelta stage victory as well as the record for the fastest-ever road race at an average speed of 55.17kph. Teammate Joseba Beloki retained the overall lead Sunday and Galdeano says his ONCE team is reinvigorated following Beloki’s big ride

Spanish junior Iñaki Lejarreta says, "Of course my uncle (former Teka and ONCE star Marino Lejarreta, the 1982 Vuelta champion and the last man to complete the Tour, Giro and Vuelta in the same year – all in the top ten) is my hero." Well, the way his nephew dominated the junior men’s field, maybe the roles will soon be reversed. But unlike Marino in his famous 1990 mountain stage win in the Tour at Pontarlier, Iñaki knew that there was nobody ahead of him and raised his arms victoriously as he crossed the line more than two minutes ahead of his nearest competitor. At the end of the first

Great Britain’s Nicole Cooke, the reigning world junior road champion, added another laurel to her collection in the junior women’s cross-country in Vail on Sunday morning. As in Plouay last October, she finished alone, but this time, she got a little help from the confusion of her breakaway companion on the course’s final turn. From the start, Maja Wloszczowska of Poland, last year’s world junior cross-country champion and the reigning European champion, applied pressure on the long, 700-vertical-foot climb of the Vail Village Loop. Wloszczowska crashed on the technical descent but

The under-23 men’s cross-country category is one that breeds rivalries. It’s this middle ground between junior and elite categories where young riders looking to make a career of it have a lot to prove. Junior achievements spell potential, under-23 achievements spell contracts. Past all-star rivalries have included Cadel Evans versus Miguel Martinez, and today’s top battle seems to be the one between 21-year-old Julien Absalon of France and 20-year-old Ryder Hesjedal of Canada. Both are top World Cup threats — Absalon scored his first win at Durango this year — and both came to the world

Alison Dunlap said she started thinking about the 2001 world championships when she hit a tree during the cross-country race at last year’s Olympics in Sydney. On that day, the Colorado Springs, Colorado resident would have to settle for seventh, but she vowed things would be different when the world championships came to her home state. A year later, the 32-year-old made good on that pledge, putting together a stunning last-lap charge to win the cross country on the damp slopes of Vail Mountain. Dunlap entered the final lap of the race in third place, 54 seconds behind race leader Gunn-Rita

With the sun setting on the Vail Valley and the 2001 UCI World Mountain Bike Championships in Colorado on Sunday, Canadian Roland Green put the finishing touches on an historic season that saw many firsts for him and for Canada. First Canadian male to win a World Cup, first Canadian male to win the overall World Cup, and now, first to win the world championship. Green, who made it clear all year long that the world championship was the main focus of his season, started the day as one of a handful of favorites. In the end, the man who put up the toughest battle against the Canadian was Dane

Galdeano

Wind forced the peloton into echelons

Beloki: still Golden

Postal and ONCE drove the train

Lejarreta wore his uncle's picture during the race.

Absalon repeated the 1998 win over Hesjedal when both were juniors.

Hesjedal couldn't match Absalon on the climbs.

Cooke (right) bides her time before making the winning move

Dunlap powers to the win.

Ferguson heads down Vail Mounatin.

Sydor led early, but settled for second.

Dahle ended up dropping out.

Green is the first Canadian male to win a rainbow jersey.

Frischknecht picked up yet another silver medal.

On Saturday morning, members of the French national team reported that reigning world and Olympic champion Miguel Martinez would be arriving at the venue after all. According to team officials, the diminutive climber would be in Vail by Saturday evening. In other news, the schedule for Saturday morning has been pushed back to allow more training time on the downhill course. The junior women’s downhill, originally scheduled for 10:30 a.m., was pushed back to noon. The elite women will start at 1:10 p.m., followed by the elite men at 2:05 p.m. The schedule for the dual finals remains

The topsy-turvy 2001 Vuelta a España delivered up its fifth leadership change in eight days in Saturday’s 195-km (121-mile) stage from Reinosa to the first-category summit finish at Alto Cruz de la Demanda. Joseba Beloki (ONCE) took the “maillot oro” after finishing second behind stage-winner Jose Maria Jimenez (ibanesto.com), marking the first time the young Basque rider has ever led a major three-week stage race despite twice finishing third overall in the Tour de France. Beloki accelerated with two kilometers to go and opened up a gap on the struggling Oscar Sevilla (Kelme), who started

In one of few sporting events happening worldwide only four days after Tuesday’s tragic terrorist attacks, Japan gets to celebrate its first downhill world championship. Eighteen-year-old Mio Suemasa beat the heavily-favored Céline Gros of France by almost two seconds on the difficult American Flyer course at Vail. Suemasa had already thrown down the gauntlet in Thursday’s seeding run by posting the fastest time by 7.33 seconds. She rides for Team GT in Japan and improved on the fifth place she managed at the 2000 world’s in Sierra Nevada, Spain by handling the large rock drops on the

All is back to normal in the world of downhill racing, with the rainbow jerseys draped safely over the shoulders of their rightful owners. Those owners, of course, are French. On a picturesque autumn day in Colorado’s Vail Valley, Anne-Caroline Chausson and Nicolas Vouilloz won the elite world downhill championships during the second day of competition on Saturday. Between them, the two French downhillers now have 18 world downhill championships. For Vouilloz, whose time of 3:35.20 on the 1.43-mile course was more than two seconds faster than his nearest competitor, it was a bit of

In an exciting race in front of a huge crowd on a chilly night under the lights of Vail’s Golden Peak, the two most successful riders in dual history donned the crowns once again. On a course designed by American rider Eric Carter that made for some gripping races, there were some successful passes in some of the pairings, something too often missing on the majority of World Cup dual courses. Chausson and Lopes had been the fastest qualifiers and consequently got to choose their course every run. "Lane choice was definitely key," said Lopes afterwards. "You saw some people pass, but

Beloki takes over the jersey

Leipheimer

Suemasa

Cory and Hill

It's mine: Nico took back the stripes.

She's No. 1: Chausson was nervous but she delivered again.

Night rider: Lopes took the world title in typical form.

Eric Carter was taken out by Scott Beaumont in this round two battle

Kelme´s Santiago Botero got revenge Friday in the hills overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and regained the overall lead of the 56th Vuelta a España after a blistering victory in the 44-km individual time trial. The Colombian won his first stage of this year’s Vuelta after finishing second twice to Cofidis´ David Millar. Pre-race pick Millar was not in peak form, finishing 8th, but American Levi Leipheimer continued to surprise the Europeans with another electrifying ride, finishing second on the hilly, technical course just 29 seconds behind Botero. "I normally start slow in a time trial and

After skipping the second half of the World Cup dual season because of nagging injuries, Anne-Caroline Chausson is back. On Thursday the French Volvo-Cannondale rider was fastest in dual qualifying, posting a time of 44.93 on the world championship course in Vail, Colorado. Just a breath behind Chausson was 2001 World Cup dual champion Leigh Donovan (Schwinn), who was .06 seconds behind Chausson. Australia’s Katrina Miller (Jamis) was third, followed by Tai-Lee Muxlow (Dirt Works), Tara Llanes (Yeti-Pearl Izumi) and Sabrina Jonnier (Intense). Only 13 women started on Thursday, meaning the

Festina’s Florent Brard retained the overall lead at the Tour de l’Avenir as Italian Graziano Gasparre won the second-to-last stage, 175.5km from Belfort to Montbenoit, France. Brard leads the race for the second straight day, eight seconds ahead of another Frenchman, Sylvain Chavanel (Bonjour), in the overall standings. Mercury’s Baden Cooke, already a stage winner earlier in the week, took second on the day. Another French rider, Big Mat’s Guillaume Auger, set off on the first serious attack of the day, 55km into the race, and was joined by Kevin Hulsmans (Mapei-Quick Step) and Eddy Lembo

American Kimberly Bruckner (Saturn) took the overall victory at the Tour de Suisse Féminin in Switzerland after she and her Saturn team won the prologue and three other stages in the four-day race. Saturn began the week with Anna Millward winning the prologue, and then following up with sprint wins on stage 1 and 2. Saturn was defending Millward’s lead, but on Thursday, a group of five riders escaped and gained nearly six minutes. Bruckner not only marked the break, but attacked on the final climb to take the stage win and the overall lead. On Friday, Germany’s Trixi Worrack took the win in

We were hoping it would happen and SuperCup promoter Lyle Fulkerson did not disappoint… he just kept us waiting for a while. Fulkerson said Friday that he has overcome logistical problems and the lack of a title sponsor to hammer together a four-race, three-venue series, beginning in Gloucester, Massachusetts on October 13, moving on to Chicago on November 17 and wrapping up in Baltimore on the weekend of December 14-16. No, it won’t be a truly national series, but it joins other UCI-sanctioned events in the Eastern U.S. to make for a tough group of events, that will each play a role in

There would be no racing today at the 2001 World Mountain-bike Championships. Events for the junior and under-23 cross-country riders were postponed in keeping with the national day of mourning in honor of the victims of this past Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. Instead, riders, spectators and support personnel took time, stopped, mourned the victims and celebrated each other in the beauty of this high mountain setting. As a video displayed breathtaking vistas of this great country to background music of “America the Beautiful,” the large “family”

Botero's TT performance put him in the overall lead

Leipheimer continues to surprise 'em

The crowd at Vail shared turned their attention away from racing

American Juniors

Team Austria

Pastor Eugene Scott

Don Watson

David Millar continued on his winning ways Thursday, taking his second stage of the 56th Vuelta a España. Spain’s Oscar Sevilla of Kelme retained the overall lead in the speedy 180-km (112-mile) 6th stage from Cangas de Onis to Torrelavega that finished 25 minutes ahead of schedule. But this time it wasn’t a prologue or even a time trial for the determined Cofidis rider. Millar proved he’s more than a one-trick pony, winning a fast, tough stage across the foothills of the Cantabria Mountains in northern Spain, holding off Kelme’s Santiago Botero in a two-up sprint. "This proves I am one of

The gang from Canada wouldn’t say it, but you know they were thinking it. Thursday probably won’t be the last time O Canada gets cued up at an awards ceremony here at the UCI mountain bike world championships in Vail, Colorado. The first rendition came courtesy of the country’s team relay squad, which had little trouble taking the four-rider race where each member (junior man, under-23 man, elite man and woman) does a single shortened lap of the cross country course. With Chrissy Redden (Subaru-Gary Fisher) riding the anchor leg, the Canadians finished the 30.16km race in 1:35:13, 26 seconds

Spaniard Constantino Zaballa (Kelme-Costa Blanca) won the eighth stage of the Tour de l’Avenir on Thursday, while Florent Brard (Festina) took over the leader’s yellow jersey after the mountainous 125.5km stage from Gerardmer to Belfort in eastern France. Over the summit of the Col d’Oderen, 64km into the race, one rider was out front, Franck Pencole (BigMat-Auber), chased by Jesus Manzano (Kelme) at 50 seconds and the peloton at one minute. Manzano would catch and drop Pencole on the following climb, and the Spaniard was pursued by a chase group of seven that included Brard and Sylvain

On Thursday, it was announced that the BMC Software Tour of Houston has been cancelled following the terrorist attack against the United States that occurred on Tuesday. In a press release issued Thursday, cited uncertainty over travel as one of the main concerns of the organizers. The statement also said that the prize money from Houston would be donated to Red Cross Relief efforts in New York and Washington, D.C. The full text of the release follows: BMC Software, the City of Houston, the Houston Police Department, USA Cycling and Threshold Sports announced today that the BMC Software

Amid mass sporting event cancellations across the United States, officials at the UCI mountain bike world championships have postponed racing Friday in observance of the national day of prayer and remembrance called for by President Bush. All races scheduled for Friday have been moved to Sunday, creating an extremely full slate of racing that will start with the men’s junior cross country at 8:30 a.m., and conclude with the elite men’s cross country at 4 p.m. "Just as everyone has been extremely supportive of us continuing with the competition aspect of these championships, they have been

In a move to stamp out doping in yet another sector of the sport of cycling, the UCI announced plans on Thursday to institute a mandatory medical monitoring program in cross-country mountain bike racing. The program will be similar to the one instituted in road racing two years ago in the wake of the drug scandal at the 1998 Tour de France. As outlined by UCI vice president Daniel Baal at the mountain bike world championships in Vail, the new policy will require all trade-team affiliated riders to undergo a thorough physical examination prior to the start of the 2002 season, then submit to a

The bidding war between Huffy and Pacific Cycle over the bankrupt Schwinn and GT brands ended Wednesday when a US District Court bankruptcy judge approved a joint $151 million bid offered up by Pacific and a third firm, Direct Focus. Pacific Cycle is now slated to acquire both bicycle brands while Direct Focus will assume control of the Schwinn fitness brand. After the combined bid was accepted by Judge Sidney Brooks, Pacific CEO Chris Hornung pledged to renew Schwinn and GT’s relationship with the network of independent dealers handling the brands across the country. “This is a landmark

Millar and Botero escape

The team from Canada celebrates its victory.

Evans and Grigson led Australia to silver.

Redden takes the hand-off from Coates.

The Canadians decked out in their new duds.

The first mountain stage of any grand tour typically reveals who won’t win, thinning out the pretenders from the contenders. But after Wednesday’s 160-km (99-mile) climbing stage to Lagos de Covadonga, a beyond-category finish high in Spain’s Picos de Europa, the only thing that was clear is that it would probably be a Spanish rider atop the winner’s podium in Madrid when the Vuelta ends Sept. 30. Thirteen Spanish riders filled out the top of the leader board at the end of the Vuelta’s fifth day, with Tour de France revelation Oscar Sevilla holding a narrow 15-second lead over Wednesday’s

In the wake of the terrorist attacks against the United States, the U.S. road racing scene will see the postponement of at least one, and possibly three, of the main events on the calendar for this weekend. According to USA Cycling, the amateur-only Univest Grand Prix in Pennsylvania will be "definitely postponed," with a possible make-up date in early October. Meanwhile, the Pro Cycling Tour’s BMC Grand Prix of Houston is still up in the air, and a decision whether or not to race it will be made in the next few days. The third event scheduled for this weekend on the national calendar was

Dutch triple Olympic gold medalist Leontien Van Moorsel-Zijlaard on Wednesday failed in her attempt to beat Jeannie Longo's world hour record in Manchester, England. The 31-year-old Dutchwoman covered 43.47591km, 1619m less than the veteran Longo managed in Mexico on December 7 last year when she covered 45.095km. Van Moorsel-Zijlaard set off at a cracking pace, covering the first 5km in a healthy 6:33.252 but she then gradually lost steam and was already losing ground by the time she hit the 10km mark. By 15km she was more than 20 seconds adrift and the gap had increased to a minute

USA Cycling announced Wednesdayits team for the 2001 World Track Cycling Championships. Ten athletes willrepresent the United States at the competition, which takes place Sept.26-30 in Antwerp, Belgium. Marty Nothstein (Trexlertown, Pa.), Jeff LaBauve (Frisco, Texas), GarthBlackburn (Houston), Jame Carney (Durango, Colo.), Colby Pearce (Boulder,Colo.) and Mike Tillman (Santa Monica, Calif.) comprise the men’s roster,while Tanya Lindenmuth (Trexlertown, Pa.), Tammy Thomas (Pembroke Pines,Fla.), Jennie Reed (Kirkland, Wash.) and Erin Mirabella (Chula Vista,Calif.) make up the women’s

A day after the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, officials at the mountain bike world championships have said the event will go on — but not without interruption. Racing at the Vail, Colorado venue was slated to begin Wednesday with the cross-country team relay, but that event was pushed back to Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. local time. The rest of the week’s program will remain intact for now. "There have been no plans for a massive rescheduling," said John Dakin, chief of press for the 2001 world’s. "Initially there was talk of canceling the event — and that still may be a

An eerie calm returned to the 56th Vuelta a España Wednesday, a day after terrorist attacks back in the United States. Riders from the U.S. Postal Service and Cofidis teams arrived at the start Wednesday morning in sunny Gijon with black armbands. The Vuelta’s fifth stage started with a minute of silence to pay homage to the victims. The troubles back in the United States seemed far away, but the images burned in the minds of many here at the Vuelta. “Last night wasn’t a good night for the team,” admitted U.S. Postal Service director Johan Bruyneel. Members of Spain’s Guardia Civil,

Hungarian Laszlo Bodrogi (Mapei-Quick Step) took over the race leader’s yellow jersey at the Tour de l’Avenir in France on Wednesday after winning the 26km time trial in Rambervillers, France. Bodrogi, who held the race lead for six days last year, took over from Spaniard Juan-Miguel Cuenca, who fell to fourth place overall. On the technical course in Rambervillers, Bodrogi averaged 47.561kph to finish with a time of 32:48, five seconds better than Festina’s Florent Brard. None of the remaining members of the U.S. National Team – David Zabriskie, Danny Pate, Jeff Louder, Damon Kluck and

Evan Call, the managing director of the USCF and USPRO, announced Wednesday that he is leaving his position at the end of the month. In a brief e-mail to media and others in the cycling community, Call said he had, “with great reservation, submitted my resignation to USA Cycling effective October 1, 2001.” “I appreciate the honor and opportunity to serve the sport of cycling. The ride has been unforgettable. I have enjoyed working with you and hope to do so again soon.” Efforts to reach Call by telephone were unsuccessful Wednesday afternoon. USA Cycling chief operating officer Steve

Leipheimer and McRae observe a moment of silence

Sevilla isn't just the best young rider at the Vuelta