News

Proper respect is due. Having lifted the heading for this weekly web column from the man himself, I have to acknowledge the memory of Fred Rogers, otherwise known as “Mister Rogers,” who died last week at the age of 74 after a brief battle with stomach cancer. After Rogers’ death, I was asked if it might be appropriate to rename my weekly web column. I don’t think so, and my hope is that, after reading this short homage, no one else will, either. Like so many young people today, I grew up watching “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” humming along with his cheery songs and digging on magical

Hincapie wants to be healthy so that he can have fun in April

Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood:Here stays the neighborhood

Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood:Here stays the neighborhood

Spring in Spain... and the livin' is easy

Contrini was caught with 50km to go

Svorada gets the win

Avid's Juicy 7

Ritchey's WCS carbon road bars

IRC's Mythos XC II

Four-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong makes his season debut in the five-stage Tour of Murcia in southern Spain on Wednesday. Armstrong’s been training in his European home-base in Girona since February and his presence at the Murcia tour will certainly bring a lot of media attention to the otherwise modest early-season race. Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service team will be looking to put last year’s winner Victor Hugo Pena back in the top spot of what’s a much more difficult, mountainous race than the 2002 edition. Hugo finished second overall at the Tour d’Algarve in Portugal in

Under pressure from International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge,both the Union Cycliste International and soccer’s Federation Internationalede Football Association have tentatively agreed to adopt a new internationaldoping code that includes a minimum two-year suspension for first offenses.While neither Hein Verbruggen nor FIFA president Sepp Blatter were inattendance Monday at the opening day of the second world conference on dopingin sport in Copenhagen, representatives of both organizations concededthat Rogge’s threat of banning non-complying sports from Olympiccompetition

Bartoli at Amstel Gold in 2002

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn

Making it work: Using a torque wrench

Soon to appear on the roads of France

Nike's Poggio II

Four years after reaching an impasse on the establishment of a universal anti-doping policy, Olympic and government officials have pretty much resumed where they left off: stalled due to the opposition of cycling and soccer. Meeting in Copenhagen this week, delegates to the second world conference on doping have been reviewing a 53-page document from the World Anti-Doping Agency outlining uniform testing procedures and sanctions that can be applied across all sports and international borders. But one key element of the proposed World Anti-Doping Code is a mandatory two-year suspension for

Mountain biker Carl Swenson of Boulder scored a career-high fifth-place finish in the 50km freestyle race this weekend at the 2003 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy. Swenson, 32, a two-time Olympian and six-time U.S. national champion who raced mountain bikes for RLX-Polo Sport last season, snapped a pole in a crash early in Saturday’s race, but recovered to finish just 1:24 behind Czech Martin Koukal, who claimed the gold in 1:54.25.3. Swedes Anders Soedergren and Joergen Brink took the silver and bronze, respectively. Swenson’s performance was icing on this year’s

Employees began returning to Cannondale’s bike factory in Bedford, Pennsylvania, on Monday as the company resumed full-scale bike production after the company declared bankruptcy in January. A Cannondale press release issued Monday noted that employees had worked sporadically over the past several weeks building frames for the Connecticut-based company's European subsidiary, but Monday’s shift signaled that the company is well on its way to resuming full production. After taking a risky dive into the motorcycle business, Cannondale was forced into bankruptcy in January as the company

At the world's in Zolder in 2002

Ever since he burst on the scene with a surprise win in the prologue of the 2000 Tour de France, many have believed that David Millar could be cycling’s next superstar. There’s no doubting the Cofidis rider has the charisma and the look of the next big thing. On top of edging Lance Armstrong in the Tour prologue, he won a Tour road stage last year and consistently challenges in week-long stage-races. Despite his reputation as party animal, Millar says he’s more serious than ever and insists he’s on a trajectory that will take him even higher in 2003. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew

Dutch racer Roy Sentjens (Rabobank) won Sunday’s 56th Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, finishing alone 19 seconds ahead of Belgian Leif Hoste (Lotto-Domo) in the semi-classic that shares the same weekend with Het Volk to open the Belgian season. With 2km to go, the 22-year-old Sentjens attacked the remnants of a group of eight riders that escaped early in the race to score the first victory of his career. Eight riders, including Postal’s Tony Cruz, broke clear early in the race in horrible weather and built up a 12-minute gap with 80km to go. Volker Ordowski (Gerolsteiner) accelerated and trimmed the

Clear Channel Entertainment Television will be overseeing production and distribution of Threshold Sports’ Pro Cycling Tour events in Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco, in partnership with ABC affiliates in each city. Clear Channel’s credits include ESPN’s Boston Marathon and NBC’s Michael Jordan Celebrity Golf Tournament, said David Chauner, Threshold Sports president and chief operating officer. ���Their experience will not only ensure the best production value but will also open new national and international distribution channels for Pro Cycling Tour programming,” he said. ABC

Johan Museeuw showed no signs of age as he roared to victory in Saturday’s Het Volk, the opener of the Belgian racing season. His Quick Step team dominated the 200km course across the cobbles of Belgium, finishing with four riders in the top-five. Only U.S. Postal’s Max Van Heeswijk challenged the team’s gauntlet and there was little he could do on his own but hang on to finish second ahead of Paolo Bettini at 16 seconds back. Het Volk marked the Quick Step debut of Tom Boonen and the return of Franck Vandenbroucke, who crossed the line hand-in-hand to take fourth and fifth, respectively, at

The first break was started by the peloton's chief headbanger, Jacky Durand (rear)

Bettini leads what is almost a Quick Step TTT

Van Heeswijk fought to stay with Museeuw

Alessandro Petacchi takes the final sprint into Valencia

Frigo's back.

Sea Otter & Redlands to Combine Men's Elite Road Events2004 Will Launch New Two-Week Stage Race in CaliforniaMONTEREY, Calif. (Feb. 28, 2003) - Sea Otter Classic and Redlands BicycleClassic are combining their Elite Men's Road Stage races in April 2004for a joint venture, the American Cycling Classic, presented by the twopromoting organizations.The new stage race, scheduled at the time of this release to kick offin Southern California on March 23, 2004, will travel through southern,central, and northern California, running in tandem with the Redlands BicycleClassic en route to its

Spain's Martin Perdiguero came out of nowhere to win Friday's difficult climbing stage in the Tour of Valencia while Dario Frigo moved back into the overall lead. The pint-sized Domina Vacanze rider is known more for his sprinting prowess, but vaulted past Frigo in the final 50 meters to claim a surprising stage-win. Perdiguero insisted the win shouldn't come as any surprise. "I've lost a lot of weight and came into this season with a lot of motivation to show I can climb better. Look what happened today. I was at the front and now I have won," Perdiguero said. Frigo drove

Frigo held on for second and on to the lead

“You have to pay to learn things.” – Joseph and Mary, the Patrón, in “Sweet Thursday” by John Steinbeck What a season it’s been. And we haven’t even made it to Het Volk yet. Lance and Kristin Armstrong are feeling the strain, Manolo Saiz proclaims today’s Tour too grande and its riders too pequeño, The Shirt of Many Colors seems a wee bit heavy for Mario Cipollini, David Millar and team manager Alain Bonduer hiss at each other in the press like cats in a sack, Elefantino gets his ears pinned back again (by a plastic surgeon this time), Jan Ullrich, Frank Vandenbroucke and Erik Dekker have

Petra Rossner, leading Germany's strong Nürnberger team, is a clear favorite heading into Sunday's opening round of the women's road cycling World Cup at Geelong, south of Melbourne. Rossner won the Canberra round last year on the way to claiming the overall World Cup title. The powerful Nürnberger team also features German Judith Arndt, who like Rossner moved to the team after a successful run at the American Saturn squad. The team also includes Australian Margaret Hemsley, who won stage two of this week's Geelong tour. The Nürnberger riders featured prominently in that

Three years ago, if you were to name off the U.S. domestic “powerhouse” teams, it would be a pretty easy, and short, list. Mercury and Saturn, followed by Shaklee and Navigators.The following year, Shaklee folded, but adding 7UP to the list, you got: Mercury, Saturn, Navigators, 7UP. Then last year, Prime Alliance, in its second season, pretty much made it the “Big 5.” But what about this year?Mercury is gone, but who steps up? Schroeder Iron, in its second season, with the additions of Chann McRae and Miguel Meza, for sure. The first-year Health Net team? With former Mercury riders Mike

Would you consider doing an article on a generic disclaimer thatmany small triathlon or bicycle race directors could use for their races?Thanks,J.M.Dear J.M.;When a legal matter arises in a participation sport event, the waiverand pre-event release that the participants were required to sign as acondition of entering the contest, is often at issue. This is a developingand unsettled area of law that differs from state to state. In general,releases of liability are disfavored in law and are strictly construed,but this seems to be changing.If a "perfect waiver" existed, it might read something

Saeco's Igor Astarloa sprinted to victory in the third stage of the Tour of Valencia on Thursday, charging out of a lead group of 52 riders that finished in Puerto de Sagunto 30 minutes sooner than organizers had originally expected. The lead group flew over a difficult three-climb stage and came into this industrial port ready for a sprint. Saeco teammate Santos Gonzalez put down a strong lead-out and Astarloa held out against compatriots Angel Edo (Milaneza-MSS) and Angel Vicioso (ONCE) to score his first win of the season. "I was afraid that I might have gone too early, but I had a

How’s this for a sobering thought: If America’s male cross-country riders have another year like they did in 2002 (top World Cup finish 17th, top world’s placing 28th), the country that gave birth to mountain-bike racing could have only one space on the men’s starting grid come the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Just like in 2000, the number of entrants in the 80-rider field will be determined by each country’s place in the UCI nation rankings at the end of the year prior to the Olympics (that’s this year). Countries in the top five will receive three entries, while those ranked six to 15 will get

Editor:Fred Baldassare wrote that "one of the beautiful things about our sport”is that “those who can cut it do it because they have a passion for cycling."Oh, yeah, beautiful. While some superstar juniors in Europe can make a nice amount of money to race, our guys are forced to survive on passion and motivation.Expecting guys to race for $5000 a year (or less), plus some travel, and thinking that those with the determination and passion to persevere will be the most deserving, is pure horse crap. It is one thing to make six figures and be mediocre, a la U.S. ball-and-stick sports, but it is

Fast times in Puerto de Sagunto

Rafael Casero still in command

De los Angeles scoots away on the Alto de Alcudia de Veo

The great American hope?

Tour de Gravity at Sea Otter

The Project One division has its own production area

Normally this place is Off Limits

Roland Green's OCLV Fuel awaiting assembly before being shipped to team camp

Editor;So Bob McKinney's got a problem with the French?Apparently McKinney knows how to jump on a good trend when he sees one.As a French guy living in the U.S., I don't mind reading and hearing themoronic clichés that some Americans love to rehash (Jerry Lewis,berets, eating frogs) about the French, which they believe as gospel, nomatter how used-up and grossly stereo-typical. But I fail to see Mc Kinney'spoint about " just being French is insult enough." (see McKinney's letter"Cherchez lesFrogs" in Tuesday's mail).What the hell is your problem with us, McKinney? Did you

A prototype LeMond Tete de Course undergoing its final round of testing

Rafael Casero´s been on podiums before during his three-year pro career, but he´s never been on the podium wearing a race leader’s jersey or as a stage-winner. Typically, Casero will get the day’s best points jersey or best climber’s jersey after a long break that falls short. In Wednesday’s difficult three-climb 159km second stage of the Vuelta Ciclista a Communidad Valencia, however, he had the top spot. In fact, he pretty much hogged the podium celebration. Not only did he win the stage and take the race lead by 4 seconds over Dario Frigo, the Fassa Bortolo rider who won Tuesday’s

Despite losing its corporate backing following the 2002 season, the Global Racing mountain bike team will continue to exist, though in a significantly trimmed down version. After two years as one of the fat-tire circuit’s biggest teams, the downhill/four-cross squad will carry only four riders: Spain’s Cesar Rojo, Finnish rider Matti Lehikoinen, South African Andrew Neethling, and Australia’s Lindsay Klein. With sponsorship money harder to come by than ever, team director Martin Whiteley has been forced to fund much of the team’s expenses out of his own pocket. “I’ve decided that in the

For the second year in a row, Oregon’s Tour of Willamette, regarded as one of the premier stage races in the U.S., has been canceled. According to race director Larry Smith, the lack of a title sponsor, combined with overwhelming costs for police escorts, killed the race. “We’d been holding our breath, hoping to secure a title sponsor,” Smith told VeloNews. “But it just didn’t go fast enough. The economy is just soft right now. Everyone is holding on to their money." Without a title sponsor, Smith could not cover the cost of police escorts, which he has deemed crucial to running a safe

Casero takes over

Cuenca and Casero

Matti Lehikoinen

Lindsay Klein

Cesar Rojo

Andrew Neethling

Frigo (followed by DiLuca) began his chase a little too late

The Midwest never tasted so good

Frigo's back

Zülle

Dario Frigo is back with Fassa Bortolo and he’s back to his winning ways, taking Tuesday’s opening time trial of the Vuelta Ciclista a Communidad Valencia. Two years ago, Frigo was fired by Fassa Bortolo after he admitted he had in his possession banned doping products during the “San Remo blitz” of the 2001 Giro d’Italia. Last year he returned to racing with Tacconi Sport and won stages in Paris-Nice and the Tour de France as well as taking overall victory in the Tour of Romandie. This year, Frigo is back in the white and blue jerseys of Fassa Bortolo and easily won the flat, 9.7km

Three-time national champion Kimberly Bruckner is such a genuinely nice,friendly person, that in order to get some real dirt on her, it becomesnecessary to dice it up a bit. Catching up between the Cooma Snowy Classicand the Geelong Women's Tour in Australia, she found time to answer a fewmore “scandalous” questions thrown her wayWhen was the last time you…Felt embarrassed? Finishing fourth out of a four-woman break at the road race in Cooma. Some things never change.Ate something raw? Raw fruits and vegetables are about as faras I go. No sushi for me...I find it disgusting.  It's

Editor:Contrary to the opinion of Robert Schuchert, I believe that the explosionof Division 3 teams in the United States can only help U.S. racing.While the majority of members of these teams may not be much betterthan the top amateur racers in each region, each team surely fields sometop-notch talent. And Mr. Schuchert (see "D3'pros' make designation meaningless"), fails to understand that most NRC eventshave always had a substantial number of amateur racers filling out theirfields anyway. What's the difference if these racers are amateurs or D3pros?If being a "pro" team brings

Casagrande: out for now

Tuesday's Euro-File: Frigo marks strong return to Fassa; an American in Cuba