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The chase for the overall World Cup downhill title has come down to one run — fastest man take all. That’s because Global Racing’s Greg Minnaar closed the gap between himself and Nicolas Vouilloz (Vouilloz Racing) to just eight points after posting the top time in Saturday morning’s semifinal at the World Cup finals in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec. By winning the semis Minnaar picked up 50 points, while Vouilloz was third earning just 30 points, finishing 3.02 seconds behind Minnaar’s time of 5:03.76. The point differential between any of the first six places in the finals would be enough push

If you believe Erik Dekker, the Championship of Zurich on Sunday is the decisive race in the 2001 World Cup. Dekker, a Dutch rider on the Rabobank team who leads the 10-race World Cup series, has 269 points going into the eighth round. Dekker, a winner at the Amstel Gold Race this year, is 69 points ahead of last week’s HEW Cyclassics winner, Erik Zabel. With Telekom’s Zabel missing the Meisterschaft von Zurich, as it’s called in Swiss German, Dekker’s nearest rivals are more than 100 points in arrears. "I think if I can finish among the top eight at Zurich, it could be the end of the

For the first time in the nine-year history of the World Cup downhill series, someone from outside the European continent has captured the men’s overall title. On Saturday, 19-year-old South African Greg Minnaar, finished second on the sun-soaked slopes of Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, at the World Cup finals. But the man ahead of him wasn’t named Nicolas Vouilloz, which meant the Global Racing rider had overtaken the Frenchman in the overall points standings. "I thought I had a chance today and it worked out," said an elated Minnaar, moments after seeking out his parents in the large crowd and

If every dual on the World Cup circuit came off like the one on Saturday at Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, there might actually be some hope for this much-maligned discipline. In front of a crowd that was three and four deep along both sides of the course, and included several hundred more fans sitting in the finish-line grandstands, fellow Southern Californians Leigh Donovan and Eric Carter came out on top of an event that featured plenty of exciting bar-banging action. In the woman’s bracket Donovan emerged to pick up her fourth win of the year, and put an exclamation point on a stellar season

Minnaar was fastest in qualifying.

Vouilloz on his way to third in the semis.

Minnaar and members of the Global Racing team celebrate his overall title.

Jonnier crosses the line for the win.

Donovan sails to another win.

Lopes would eventually lose to King, but that didn't stop him from taking the overall title.

Minnaar hoists his hardware while a stoic Vouilloz looks on.

The party begins.

A rider makes his way down towards the St. Lawrence river below.

Chausson gets some medical attention.

Chausson's busted brake.

Stage 2 of the Grand Prix Feminin International du Quebec was a 123km circuit race starting and finishing in Frelighsburg, near the U.S.-Canadian border southeast of Montreal. The peloton split on the first of two climbs, approximately 20km into the stage. At the 50km mark, Intersports rider Catherine Marsal initiated a break from the front group that would eventually put her in the leader's jersey. The group of five riders also included Ina Teutenberg (Saturn), Nicole Cooke (UK National Team), Katrina Berger (AutoTrader.com) and Nicole Demars (800.com). Within the first 5km they put 30

Two weeks ago Greg Minnaar earned a place in history when he won the downhill at Kaprun, Austria, becoming the first rider from the African continent to win a World Cup race. Now the 19-year-old is chasing an even bigger achievement, the World Cup overall title. When the curtain raises on the men’s downhill at the World Cup finals in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec on Saturday, the Global Racing rider will find just 28 points separating himself from a storied place in the annals of mountain-bike racing. That’s the margin the unassuming teenager — currently second overall — needs to make up to overtake

American Chris Wherry took second in the final stage of the Tour du Limousin, a stage won by Frenchman Gilles Bouvard (Jean Delatour). Another Frenchman, Franck Bouyer (Bonjour), held on for the overall win at the four-day race in France. Despite a brutal heatwave, six riders went on the attack in the middle of the race: Laurent Paumier, Pierrick Fedrigo, Christophe Mengin, Stéphane Goubert, Eddy Seigneur and Juan Manuel Cuenca. When their lead grew to over three minutes, that put Cuenca into the race lead on the road, forcing Bouyer’s Bonjour team to chase. The escapees were finally caught

Spaniard Juan Miguel Mercado (iBanesto.com) won the Vuelta a Burgos in Spain, which concluded on Friday in Burgos with the 164km fifth stage, won by former world champion Oscar Freire (Mapei-Quick Step). Mercado, just 23 years old, took over the violet leader’s jersey on the second day of the five-day race. Friday’s final stage was animated by Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, who made a break at the 17km mark and was joined by Czech rider Pavel Padrnos, Dane Bjarke Nielsen, Italian Elio Aggiano and Spaniard Miguel Angel Pena. The five built up a lead of up to four minutes, but

Though still very preliminary, the 2002 mountain-bike-racing schedule is beginning to take shape. After several conversations with sources close to NORBA and the World Cup, VeloNews has drawn up a possible picture of what next year’s racing calendar will look like. The biggest wild card appears to be Durango, Colorado, which hosted a World Cup "triple" this summer. Initially organizers in the small tourist town seemed enthusiastic about a repeat visit in 2002. But since then things appear to have shifted, and now there are indications that Durango will pass on holding another World Cup

Though six events will be contested at this weekend’s World Cup finals in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, only two will have significant bearing on the top of the overall standings — the men’s downhill and the men’s cross-country. Saturday will feature a battle between Nicolas Vouilloz (Vouilloz Racing) and Greg Minnaar (Global Racing) to decide the downhill championship. Coming in Vouilloz has a slim 28-point lead over the 19-year-old from South Africa. Vouilloz has won five of the last six overall titles, including three straight, but has struggled this year, winning just one race. Minnaar,

Minnaar

Minnaar's winning run at Kaprun.

His future's so bright he's...

Marsal

The latest rendition of four-rider gated racing took place Wednesday afternoon on the sun-drenched slopes of Les Relais Ski Resort in Lac-Beauport, Quebec, just 15 minutes north of Quebec City. The event, dubbed the Schwinn-Toyota Biker-Cross, served as a prelude for the upcoming World Cup finals slated for Saturday and Sunday at nearby Mont-Ste-Anne. After nearly three hours of delay-marred racing, it was Schwinn’s Mickael Deldycke and Jamis rider Katrina Miller who walked away with the bulk of the $10,000 pot offered up at the made-for-TV affair. The longest delay occurred when a semi-pro

Julie Young (Autotrader.com) donned the leader's jersey at the end of the first stage of the Grand Prix Feminin International du Quebec. Young was a member of a nine-rider breakaway that got away 18km into the 97km stage around the town of Farnham, south and east of Montreal. The break was initially composed of Young, her teammate Sarah Ulmer, Julia Farell (VeriZon), Andrea Hannos (VeriZon), Pia Sundstedt (Intersports), Charlotte Hopkinson (Great Britain), Melissa Holt (Rona), Ina Teutenberg (Saturn) and Anke Erlank (Saturn). Holt was called back to the peloton to support an unsuccessful

Italy's Massimo Apollonio, riding for the Vini Caldirola team, won a spectacular sprint finish to take the fourth stage of the Tour of Burgos in Medina de Pomar, Spain, on Thursday. Spaniard Juan Miguel Mercado of the ibanesto.com team retains the overall leader's purple jersey after the 184km run between Ona and Medina de Pomar. Apollonio won a bunch sprint finish on the descent into Medina De Pomar to edge ahead of Argentine Martin Garrido and Spain's former world champion Oscar Freire in 4:33:55. The iBanesto.com team blocked most breakaway attempts during the day to conserve Mercado's

French amateur Franck Laurance won a sprint finish at the third stage of the Tour du Limousin in France on Thursday. Bonjour’s Franck Bouyer retained the overall lead, six seconds ahead of Patrick Jonker (Big Mat) after the 193.2km stage between Ussel and La Souterraine. The 193km stage saw a breakaway of almost 160km, starting at the 25th km when eight riders escaped. That group gained a lead of 4:20, but was brought back into the fold with 10km to go, setting up the sprint finish won by Laurance. American Bobby Julich (Crédit Agricole) took fifth in the sprint, and held onto eighth place

Deldycke out in front in the finals.

Bootes and Gracia get a little air-time.

Chausson and Llanes fight for second, while Donovan fights gravity.

Frenchman David Moncoutié took the second stage of the four-day Tour de Limousin in France, while stage 1 winner Franck Bouyer (Bonjour) held onto the race lead. Mercury’s Chris Wherry and Crédit Agricole’s Bobby Julich both finished in the top 10 on Wednesday, and moved into 10th and eighth, respectively, in the overall standings. Wednesday’s 166.5km stage from Saint-Just-le Martel to Ussel was a relatively calm one. The main breakaway of the day — containing Bruno Thibout (Jean Delatour), Gilles Maignan (Ag2R) and Gilles Canouet (French national team) — was caught shortly before the

Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo) won the 55th edition of the Coppa Agostoni, a UCI 1.2 race in Lissone, Italy. Casagrande beat last year’s winner Jan Ullrich (Telekom), catching the German 200 meters from the line after Ullrich had attempted a long attack at the finish of the race. "To beat Ullrich, it’s a double success," said the Italian, whose main objective for the end of the season is the world road championships in Lisbon, Portugal, in October. As for Ullrich, he thought he would be able to hold on with his late-race move. "I’m satisfied with my performance," he said, "but really,

Spaniard Carlos Sastre of ONCE won the 154km third stage of the Vuelta a Burgos on Wednesday in San Juan del Monte, Spain. Juan Miguel Mercado (iBanesto.com) retained the overall lead, ahead of U.S. Postal Service’s José-Luis Rubiera. Wednesday’s stage from Briviesca to San Juan del Monte finished with a 4km climb, with the attacks starting from the base of the hill. Spaniards Santos Gonzalez and Francisco Cerezo tried in vain, before Belgian David Bruylandts gained a lead of a few dozen meters. Bruylandts finally cracked about 400 meters from the finish, where he was passed first by

Jackie Simes II, 1936 national road champion and U.S. Bicycling Hall of Famer, died August 10 at age 87 of heart failure following a series of strokes. He died in a hospital near his home in New Tripoli, Pennsylvania. A second-generation racer, Simes inspired his son, Jack Simes III, to compete in a career that spanned three Olympics and a silver medal in the pursuit at the 1968 world championships, and grandsons, Ryan Simes Oelkers and Jack Simes IV to make the Simes family span more than a century of racing. Referred to by friends as Jackie, he was born John Weston Simes II on January

Jackie Simes II, with Joe Murray at the 1999 induction in to the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame.

Spaniard Juan Miguel Mercado of the iBanesto.com team won the Tour of Burgos second stage as Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong eased over the 158km ride from Covarrubias to Lagunad de Neila Tuesday. Armstrong’s teammates Jose-Luis Rubiera and Levi Leipheimer put in a strong showing for the American team, finishing second and seventh, respectively, on the stage. Mercado, who takes hold of the leader's purple jersey from Italy's Andrea Tafi of the Mapei team, broke away from two compatriots, Rubiera and Eladio Jimenez (iBanesto.com) on the Lagunas de Neila climb. Mercado crossed the

Tour de France prologue winner Christophe Moreau on Monday joined his old Festina teammate Florent Brard and inked a two-year contract with France's Crédit Agricole squad. Australian Stuart O'Grady and American Jonathan Vaughters had earlier extended their contracts with the team. The 30-year-old Moreau, who has rebounded from serving a six months drug suspension for his part in the 1998 Festina drugs scandal to win this year's Tour prologue. He had finished fourth overall in 2000. O'Grady, who barely missed winning the Tour de France's green jersey for points this

Here’s how to watch a professional downhill race at Mount Snow, Vermont, site of the 2001 Chevy Trucks NORBA finals. Put on some sturdy shoes and head up the hill to the section known as "Yard Sale." It’s near the bottom of the 1.5-mile course, so it’s not too far. You’ll know you’re getting closer from the roar of the crowd. Once you’re at this mangled piece of hillside, where the trail drops 100 vertical feet through tight woods, pick out a stout guy and stand behind him — there is going to be carnage. Rocks, sticks and dust will fly. Bikes will fly and riders, too. And as the experienced

After a day of intermittent rain showers, which at times drenched the early races, the sun finally shown down on Downers Grove, Illinois, for the main event on Sunday, the USPRO Criterium Championship. And on the gorgeous late-afternoon in the suburb of Chicago, a pair of riders shared the day in the sun, with Saturn’s Dutchman Harm Jansen taking the win and Navigator’s Kirk O’Bee sprinting into the national champion’s jersey. With both the prestige of the overall win and the prize of the stars-and-stripes jersey at stake, Saturn and Navigators took different approaches to the race, and it

In a season dominated by the monster Saturn team, the little guys finally had a chance to do some damage on Sunday at the women’s national criterium championship in Downer’s Grove, Illinois. It came down to a battle royale between two of the fastest women in the county, who had a total of one teammate between them. In the end, Nicole Freedman (Credit Suisse First Boston) had one move too many for defending champion Laura Van Gilder (Verizon Wireless), who struggled through a tough race to put herself in a position to fight for the win. Going into the race, everybody was looking to see what

In a wet national criterium championship that turned into a rain-soaked crash-festival, Go-Mart’s Ben Sharp was able to stay out of trouble and earn his first elite national championship jersey, outsprinting breakaway companion Tim Larkin (Lombardi Sports) for the win. The rain began 10 laps into the 50-lap championship race in Downers Grove, Illinois, on Sunday morning, and definitely contributed to the outcome of the race. Sharp’s Go-Mart squad was one of the strongest teams in the race, along with the Mercy Fitness team from Arkansas, and both squads were among the most active in the

It was a tale of two Erik’s in the HEW Cyclassics World Cup race Sunday. Erik Zabel finally won the race that was missing on his extensive palmares while Erik Dekker finished third and took a decisive lead in the 2001 World Cup series with just three races to go. Both Eriks were jubilant. Erik the First verified his status as German sports hero, while Erik the Second is en route to becoming the first Dutch rider to win the overall World Cup title. The 251-km (155-mile) race burned with a slow fuse. The seventh stop of the 10-round World Cup series started sluggishly but ended loud like a

Alfa Lum’s Joane Somarriba rode into Paris Sunday, victorious in her second successive Grande Boucle feminine cycliste after finishing the 14th and final stage with the main field. Russian cycliste Olga Slioussareva won the 117.8 km stage from Pierrelaye (Val-d'Oise) to Paris, reaffirming her hold on the overall sprint-points jersey.Somarriba was greeted by a large number of Basque fans lining the final circuit on the on the prestigious avenue Foch, west of Paris. The Basque cyclist, who has lost the leader’s jersey only between the 7th and 9th stages of the Grand Boucle, bested her

Missy Giove, U.S. downhill champion again, is not afraid.

Who? Learn the name: Todd Leduc, national champion

O'Bee, Jansen, Bouchard-Hall

The new national champion

Freedman topped the podium

Larkin and Sharp escaped on glassy roads

Zabel pleases the home crowd.

Dekker still leads the World Cup race.

Jan Ullrich could walk down just about any street in America unrecognized. The 28-year-old German with distinctive red hair doesn’t have that luxury in his home country. More than 50 fans cheered Ullrich early Saturday afternoon as he pulled up in front of the posh Hamburg Park Hyatt for the 6th Annual HEW Cyclassics bike race. Dressed in a leather coat, jeans and designer shoes, Ullrich patiently signed autographs and posed for pictures. Ullrich is one of Germany’s major sports stars, outranked only by top soccer players and Formula One racer Michael Schumacher. Ullrich, who lived here

Does a two-hour cross-country effort combining endurance and technical skills on the tricky natural terrain of a Vermont forest have anything in common with the effort required to go all out on short, flat man-made circles for 20 minutes? Doesn’t seem like it does, but Roland Green and Chrissy Redden, winners of Friday’s NORBA cross-country race at Mount Snow — the one with the woods and the roots and the endurance and all that — also won Sunday’s short-track race, proving one thing: When you’re on, you’re on. "It was all elbows," reported Redden after she completed the weekend sweep on a

Eric Carter and Leigh Donovan go way back. The two Southern California slalom racing vets each won their first NORBA dual slalom race eight years ago at Snow Summit, California. So it was fitting that, at Donovan’s last NORBA dual slalom race, the two were back on the top of a podium together. This time, they were there as dual slalom national champions -- Carter for the third time, Donovan for the fifth. The end result was the same, but the routes Carter and Donovan took at the final race of the 2001 NORBA dual slalom series at Mount Snow, Vermont were not. Donovan, riding for Schwinn, was

Mercury’s Derek Bouchard-Hall has engineering degrees from Princeton and Stanford. The guy’s no dummy. So when people around him are toying with the laws of physics, he knows what to do: hit the brakes. A little smarts went a long way for Bouchard-Hall on Saturday night in Downers Grove, Illinois, as he saved his skin and won the USPRO Criterium warm-up race, the Extran Pro-Am Challenge. Bouchard-Hall was setting up for a field-sprint finish to the 32-lap race on the tight, one-mile, eight-corner course in Downers Grove, heading into the final turn right alongside Saturn’s Ivan Dominguez and

Sweep: Redden rejoices after winning for the second time in as many days

Too much: When Green made the final attack, no one could respond.

Legends: Carter (left) took out Lopes in the final.

Perfection: Chausson was untouchable in her first NORBA dual slalom race.

Candelario, Bouchard-Hall and Clarke

Bouchard-Hall takes the win

Scrymgeour leads Teutenberg and Berger

The NORBA women’s cross-country season wrapped up in fitting fashion Friday at Mount Snow, Vermont, as the Subaru-Gary Fisher duo of Mary Grigson and Chrissy Redden dominated, just as they have all season. On a damp day in the green hills of southern Vermont, Redden attacked early and Grigson coolly defended her overall title. For the second consecutive year, Redden won at Mount Snow, while Grigson cruised behind her teammate to finish second, 1:24 behind Redden’s winning time of 2:01:00. Grigson, who won three out of five in the 2001 series, took the overall NORBA NCS National

52 to stand trial after Giro doping swoopAn Italian court is expected to try 52 defendants, mainly cyclists, for sporting fraud, after police raids during the Giro d’Italia on June 6, judicial sources in Florence announced Friday. A judicial inquiry was opened into the cases of 86 people by Florence district prosecutor Luigi Bocciolini after police raids on hotels used by cyclists at San Remo had turned up suspected banned substances. After the subsequent analysis of the suspect medications, authorities have issued the Italian equivalent of indictments against 52 of the original group

Sweden’s Susanne Ljungskog (Mixte Alverti) won the 12th stage of the Grande Boucle feminine, a mountainous 131.7-kilometer stage from Valreas to Superdevoluy, on Friday. Alfa Lum’s Joane Somarriba, who finished in sixth, more than five minutes behind Ljungskog, retains her hold on the overall lead. Ljungskog outsprinted her breakaway companion Russian Svetlana Boubnenkova to take the stage. The two escaped from a group of five that had successfully chased down a 93-kilometer solo breakaway effort by Germany’s Regina Schleicher. With just 25km to go to the finish, the five – Boubnenkova,

Maybe Roland Green’s onto something. The Trek-Volkswagen rider from Canada has taken some flak for choosing to skip several European World Cup rounds, and therefore forfeiting any shot at winning the World Cup, something no North American has done in a long, long time. But if the form Green showed while winning at Mount Snow, Vermont, on Friday afternoon is any indication, a few weeks at home have done him well. There was plenty of good racing among the 108 men’s starters at Mount Snow, but none of it involved Green, who cruised for the win and the overall NORBA cross-country title. Aboard

Susanne Ljunkskog

You can't touch this: Green was in a class of his own at Mount Snow.

It's a party: A big crowd played hooky to romp around the woods of Mount Snow.

New 'do: McGrath's new haircut is fast.

Just like home: Redden was right at home in the rain and roots.

Spain’s Joane Somarriba extended her lead in La Grand Boucle Féminine on Thursday during stage 11, a 125km run from Langogne to Vernoux en Vivarais. Somarriba (Alfa Lum R.S.M.) finished second behind Italy’s Fabiana Luperini (Edilsavino), though both riders were credited with the same time, 3:23:08. Jeanie Longo (Swam-Slovakia), who had been second in the overall G.C. entering the day’s racing, finished in a group 2:05 back, which dropped Longo to fourth overall, at 4:52. With her win, Luperini jumped from sixth to second overall, and is now 3:33 behind Somarriba in the chase for the title

Former Tour de France winner Marco Pantani will make his competitive comeback on the Tour of Burgos in Spain, according to the Web site of his Mercatone Uno team. The 31-year-old Italian, who was not invited to this year's Tour de France -- officially due to poor form and lack of positive results -- failed to shine in the recent Tour of Castille and Leon in Spain. Pantani, who won the Tour in 1998 after winning the Tour of Italy, was left trailing on most of the serious climbs and failed to hold his own among the peloton. He subsequently pulled out of the San Sebastian Classic last

Luperini takes the win with Somaribba just behind.

Once again USA Cycling’s annual election is upon us. Included on this year’s ballot is a legislative issue that will have significant effects on the national governing body of cycling in the U.S. (Proposition A vs. Proposition B). Voting information is included in the August/September issue of USA Cycling’s membership magazine USA Cycling. The election is set for Saturday, October 6, 2001, in the USA Cycling Conference Room, at the United States Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado. If you want to attend in person, RSVP the USA Cycling office at 719/578-4581 or send a letter

Three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond apologized to fellow triple Tour winner Lance Armstrong on Tuesday, saying his remarks regarding Armstrong's association with controversial Italian doctor Michele Ferrari were taken out of context, according to an Associated Press report. "I sincerely regret that some of my remarks ... seemed to question the veracity of Lance's performances," said LeMond in a written statement. "I want to be clear that I believe Lance to be a great champion and I do not believe, in any way, that he has ever used any performance enhancing substances. I

French champion Didier Rous won the oldest criterium in France Wednesday, but it was the comeback of Richard Virenque that grabbed all the headlines in Quillan. The 31-year-old Virenque, who in October at the Festina drugs trial admitted to systematic doping, then was suspended for nine months, finished fourth behind Rous, Florent Brard and third-placed Stephane Goubert. Although failing to win the 63-year-old event, which he won in 1997 and 1999, Virenque said he had paid his dues and was excited at the prospect of competing again. "I've paid my price and done my bit for cycling, now

Following the 10th stage at the 15th running of La Grand Boucle Féminine, defending champion Joane Somarriba has retaken the lead in the world’s biggest stage race for women. Entering the 10th of 14 stages, the Spanish Alfa Lum rider had found herself in second place, six seconds behind Lithuanian Rasa Polikieviciute (Acca Due O). But Somarriba won the stage 10 individual time trial to move back in front, 2:41 ahead of France’s Jeannie Longo. Previous race leader Polikieviciute fell to seventh, 4:34 behind Somarriba. Somarriba started the 15-day race by taking the opening time trial in her