Tom Boonen (Quick Step) won stage 1 of Paris-Nice on Monday, sprinting to victory ahead of a peloton that had been cracked into thirds by a pair of crashes in the final kilometers. Chilly weather, with temperatures barely above freezing, greeted the Race to the Sun as the peloton set off on the 186.5km stage, a relatively flat affair from the Parisian suburb of Etampes south to Chabris, with only the very small Category 3 Cote de Graviers at 10km to stretch the legs. American Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon) took the first intermediate sprint at 42km, edging Rabobank's Erik Dekker and

Jens Voigt (CSC) ripped the short, 4km prologue Sunday to win the Paris-Nice opener and earned the distinction of being the first winner on cycling’s new ProTour while six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong played it safe 27 seconds slower. Voigt was the hottest thing going on a sunny, but cold day in the Parisian suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux to kick off the season-long ProTour series with the 63rd Paris-Nice. The concise course featured a short punchy climb to start and some tight corners, but it was the on-form Voigt who delivered the winning ride of 5 minutes, 15 seconds. Tour

Beautiful sunny weather and a near absence of wind opened the door for the sprinters as T-Mobile’s Ina Teutenberg and Juan Jose Haedo of Colavita scored wins in the McLane Pacific Foothills Road Race in California’s Central Valley on Sunday. The course, a 24-mile loop with a long flat stretch on the back side, was full of power hills that kept racers’ legs humming as the fields threw attacks and kept the pace high for the NRC’s season-opener. In the women’s race, active was the key word for the day as T-Mobile, Quark, and Webcor threw off a steady stream of attacks. Usually a windy race,

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (T-Mobile) and Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis) sprinted to victory on Saturday in the McLane Pacific Cycling Classic Downtown Grand Prix in Merced, California. The course, a flat, fast, 0.8-mile loop, had just enough turns to keep it interesting, and a slight southerly headwind on the one longer straightaway turned the end of most races into a field sprint. In the women’s pro/1-2 race, T-Mobile kept the pace high, launching attacks from the first lap and finishing with a clean set-up for their sprinter, Teutenberg. “It’s early in the season and it still hurts! It’s

Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) and three-time world champion Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) continued to dominate the NORBA National opener on Saturday, winning the short-track race in Boerne, Texas. Sydor, who easily found victory in Friday’s time trial, proved she was not only the fittest woman in the pack, but also the best tactician. After American Olympian Mary McConneloug (Seven Cycles-Kenda) pushed the pace through the first three laps of the hilly course, an elite group of six riders formed, with Sydor, McConneloug, Katerina Hanusova (Luna), Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna), Willow

The opening stage of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen was called off Friday some 50km into the race due to heavy snow. Heavy snow started piling down and created dangerous race conditions, leaving organizers with the undesirable choice of canceling the 159km opening stage after it already started. It was a second bit of ill fortune for the Belgian race, which coincides with the ProTour debut of Paris-Nice on Sunday and Tirreno-Adriatico later next week. As a consequence, just five ProTour teams - among them Navigators and Discovery Channel - were among the squads taking today's

2005 Junior PCT Grand Prix AnnouncedEvent Features Riders 18 years and Under, Sunday June 5, 2005, AtWachovia USPRO ChampionshipThe Junior Pro Cycling Tour is inviting boys, ages 18 and under, totest their cycling skills at qualifying events for a chance to race inthe Junior PCT Grand Prix.  The event is an invitational points racefor 20 junior male cyclists scheduled to take place at the Wachovia USPROChampionship on June 5, 2005 in Philadelphia.The top 20 qualifiers will race for prizes valuing $1000 on June 5thin the Junior PCT Grand Prix on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway after

Allan Davis ended Danilo Hondo’s winning streak at the Vuelta a Murcia on Friday, scoring his first win of the 2005 season in the 155km third stage from Mula to Fortuna. The Aussie sprinter shot past Hondo with 250 meters to go to win easily. Hondo finished second to retain his 21-second overall lead after winning Wednesday’s opening sprint and Thursday’s time trial. “I’m very happy to win,” Davis said on Spanish TV. “The team did great work today, so I really wanted to win for them. It was hard today, with a lot of wind and rain, but the team did a great job setting up the sprint, so I

It was no surprise Danilo Hondo (Gerolsteiner) won Wednesday’s opener in a bunch sprint at the Vuelta a Murcia in Spain, but no one expected him to beat the specialists in Thursday’s 22km individual time trial. But that’s just what happened as Hondo laid down the fastest time on the flat course of 25 minutes, 35 seconds. No one even came close, with Spanish national time trial champion Rubén Plaza stopping the clock in second some 19 seconds slower. “It’s a surprise for me,” Hondo admitted. “I knew all the split times and had information from my teammates who were among the favorites. I am

American Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner), three-time Tour de France podium man Joseba Beloki (Liberty Seguros) and defending Giro d’Italia champion Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Caffita) headline Tuesday’s start of the five-day Vuelta a Murcia in Spain. Leipheimer is just getting his season started and will be looking to reach peak fitness in time for a top 5 at the 2005 Tour de France. Cunego, meanwhile, officially kicked off his season in Sunday’s Clasica de Almeria and will race Murcia to continue to build form to his title defense at the Giro in May. “I feel I have done a good job in the build

The sponsorship of domestic cycling teams is a volatile venture. In the past few years, it seems that almost every brand-name team lost its marquee sponsor. Saturn and Mercury, for example, were dismantled and their riders, some of the most competent and successful racers in America, were scattered to the four winds. But turmoil, as tough as it can be, almost always leaves a vacuum. And a vacuum can be an opportunity in the right hands. One group of racers and their sponsors taking advantage of this vacuum is Health Net-Maxxis. Formed only three years ago on a shoestring budget and around

German sprint ace Danilo Hondo (Gerolsteiner) drew first blood at theVuelta a Murcia in Spain on Wednesday, scoring his first win of the 2005season.Cloudy skies gave way to afternoon sun, but cool temperatures and strongwinds reminded everyone of the cold front that swept through Spain overthe weekend leaving high mountain roads clogged with snow.Several riders tried in vain to slip away from the peloton, includingaging classics warrior Andrea Tafi (Saunier Duval) and Peter Wuyts (Mr.Bookmaker), who were away in a breakaway but reeled in with 15km to go.The pace was torrid for so early in the

Bobby Julich enjoyed a very successful comeback season in 2004, winning a stage in the Tour of the Basque Country, finishing third overall at Paris-Nice and taking home the bronze medal at the Olympic time trial. For Julich, a return to the elite levels of racing was especially sweet. Since his 1998 Tour de France podium ride, the popular Colorado rider struggled to find the winning legs. In joining Team CSC and Bjarne Riis, Julich discovered the team he was always looking for. With his feet firmly planted on the ground, the 33-year-old enters the 2005 campaign with high hopes of building

Discovery Channel’s George Hincapie won the 58th edition of the Belgian semi-classic Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne on Sunday, as the American outsprinted his breakaway partner Kevin Van Impe (Chocolade Jacques). The two men slipped off the front of an elite group of riders nearing the end of the 190-kilometer race through the Belgian countryside. The two leaders finished 14 seconds of a hard-chasing Bert Roesems (Davitamon-Lotto). The race, held in cold and cloudy conditions, threw riders into tough conditions including a brutally icy headwind at points. The day was a battle of attrition with

Rochelle Gilmore claimed opening World Cup honors with victory in the first round of the series in Geelong, Australia, on Sunday The 23 year old, riding for the New South Wales Institute of Sport team, outsprinted defending World Cup Series champion and 2004 Geelong winner, Oenone Wood, 24, (Team Nürnberger) with Katherine Bates (Ton van Bemmelen) coming home third to give Australia a clean sweep of the podium. Ninety-three riders from 16 countries started the race including the reigning World Champion, Judith Arndt of Germany (Team Nürnberger) and Olympic Champion Sara Carrigan (Ton van

"Go get him." "No, you get him...." And so it went.... The last 15km of the 60th edition of the Omloop Het Volk presented the peloton with a classic dilemma: Chase the one man off the front and risk setting up a win for the competition, or hope someone else chases and risk losing if no one does. They opted for the latter, and that gave 25-year-old Nick Nuyens all he needed to stay away to claim victory, just seconds ahead of a field of pre-race favorites, including his Quick Step teammate and compatriot Tom Boonen.

Italian Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo), stamped his final mark of authority on the sixth edition of the Volta Communidad Valencia on Saturday, winning the fifth and final stage and claiming the overall victory to boot. It was the Italian speedster’s third stage win of the Volta. "For me, with my characteristics, it is very difficult to win a small tour like this one, but I have been very fit since the beginning of the season and I knew that I could race a good tour,” Petacchi said. Spain’s Francisco Ventoso (Saunier Duval) was second on the stage, a 149.5km circuit around Valencia,

Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha defied a spirited chase and wintry weather to claim stage 4 of the sixth annual Volta Ciclista Comunidad Valencia on Friday Bitter weather, a mixture of rain and snow, marked the stage from Alzira to Valada, and though organizers trimmed the route from 161km to 156km, the conditions nevertheless took a heavy toll on the field. Among those who abandoned were Christophe Moreau, Andreas Klöden, Erik and Thomas Dekker, and Stefano Garzelli, along with seven of Kaiku’s eight riders. Flecha and fellow Spaniards Xabier Zandio (Illes Balears) and Rafael Casero (Saunier

Last week, I wrote about some of the pioneer American racers who had ambitions of professional careers in Europe. One of them was Michael Hiltner, who was sampling the Italian cycling scene in the early 1960s at the same time as several cyclists from the British Isles were already breaking into the then-exclusive ranks of continental pro racing. Among the most successful were Englishmen Brian Robinson and Tom Simpson. Robinson was the first English-speaking rider to win a stage of the Tour de France (in 1958), while Simpson was the first to win a monumental classic and the first to wear the

Some days it pays to take chances and in the third stage of the Volta ComunidadValenciana on Thursday an early gamble paid off nicely for Kaiku’sAndoni Aranaga and David Blanco (Valencia-Kelme).Blanco charged out of the main field just 2.5km into the day’s stage. He was joined by Aranaga at 10km and the two set about building what turned into a solid 15-minute lead.Usually able to calculate precisely when to pull in a break, the FassaBortolo team of race leader Alessandro Petacchi waited just a little too long to begin its chase and the two escapees managed to reach the finish with a margin

Alessandro Petacchi continued to show-off his early season form Wednesday,winning his second successive stage at Spain’s Volta Ciclista Comunidad Valenciana. With a day of frequent attacks ending in another field sprint, Petacchi easily beat Isaac Galvez (Illes Balears - Banesto) and Liquigas’s Luciano Pagliarini to the line.The day's stage featured a largely flat, 178-kilometer route from largely flat route from Xàbia to Port de Sagunt. The only rated climb was a Cat. 2 ascent with 33km remaining.The day featured several attacks, with the Saunier Duval team of race leader Constantino

Gerolsteiner’s sprint ace, Danilo Hondo says, it’s only a matter of time before he scores a major win, with a victory in one of the major classics or a stage in the Tour de France topping his wish-list. “I am more self-confident now, that’s now doubt. Riding on this team is very helpful for me, because I am a team leader,” Hondo said during the team’s training camp last month. “When I was riding at Telekom (1999-2003), I was often the helper even though I won two stages in the Giro (in 2001). I was never given many chances to have the team working for me. That’s the way it was on that team,

The Netherlands emerged the overall winners of track cycling's World Cupafter finishing second to Australia in the fourth and final event in Sydneyon Sunday.The Australians ended the Sydney leg with 132 points after claimingfour gold, two silver and three bronze medals and six other top ten placingsto finish 12 points clear of the Netherlands.The Dutch came away from the final event with six gold medals and 120points but it was enough to crown them overall World Cup champion nationwith 360 points from Russia (324), Great Britain (297) and Australia (281).Australian Anna Meares won her

Portuguese rider Hugo Sabido (Paredes-Beira Támega) upset some biggernames to take the final stage and the overall title as the Tour of theAlgarve wrapped up Sunday. A year ago, U.S. Postal Service swept to victory with Floyd Landis.Discovery Channel tried to use the same strategy with José LuisRubiera, but “Chechu” couldn’t quite match the pace set by Sabido in thefinal ramps of the Cat. 2 climb in the 165km stage from Lagoa to Alto doMalhao. Rubiera earned a spot on the final podium thanks to his efforts, takingthird just behind Stuart O’Grady (Cofidis), who finished second overallto

World sprint champion Theo Bos claimed his second win of the Sydney UCI World Cup track cycling meet in Sydney with victory over Australian Jobie Dajka in the sprint on Saturday. Bos won his final 2-0 and led another night of Dutch success at the Dunc Gray Velodrome with compatriots Marlijn Binnendijk winning the women's individual pursuit and Yvonne Hijgenaar claiming the 500m time trial. Bos, who won the world title in Melbourne last May, beat eight-time world champion Laurent Gane of France for the keirin title on Friday's opening night along with Levi Heimans win in the

Eisel back on top in AlgarveA day after slipping back into the overall lead, Austria’s Bernhard Eisel (FDJeux.com) emphatically won his second stage of the Tour of the Algarve to confirm his lead with one day to go. Eisel held off Stuart O’Grady (Cofidis) and Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner) to take the victory and consolidate his hold on the overall lead. The win marked Eisel’s third win during his early season stop in Portugal, with one stage win in the GP Costa Azul and two in Algarve. Sunday’s finale ends with a climb, giving the climbers a chance to make up some lost time on the

Ina Teutenberg (T-Mobile) and John Murphy (Krystal-SCV) took their respective field sprints on Saturday to win the Landis Cyclery Road Race, stage 2 of the Valley of the Sun. The stage, run on a 16-mile loop in the desert near Casa Grande, south of Phoenix, was rolling to flat with a moderate climb to the finish line. Teutenberg handed T-Mobile its second consecutive stage victory in the 57-mile women’s race, beating Genevieve Jeanson and stage-1 winner Kristin Armstrong to the line. Armstrong held onto her overall lead, with teammates Kimberly Baldwin and Mari Holden second and third at

So we awoke this morning to the sound of rain again. Today (Saturday) was the 57-mile road race, held – not without some irony – in the desert of Casa Grande. The team was psyched and ready to start the day. We started with the normal team meeting where director Andrezj asked us all “so what are you going to do today team?” To which Brooke quickly replied “whatever we feel like, gosh.” I don’t think she got enough sleep last night. We decided that rain or shine we were going to race hard. Lesson Number 1 from the Rex Kwan Do School of fighting. We wanted to win and maintain our

Alexei Markov (Milaneza-Maia) won the third stage of the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal on Friday, outkicking Bernard Eisel (Française des Jeux) and Hans Dekkers (Rabobank) in the bunch sprint to claim the victory. By finishing second on the 200km stage from Vila do Bispo to Lagos in southern Portugal, meanwhile, Austria’s Eisel collected a six-second bonus and took the overall lead from Belgian Tom Steels (Davitamon-Lotto). Steels, who crossed in 25th place, slipped to second overall, at two seconds behind. Australian Stuart O’Grady (Cofidis) sits third at three seconds back. –Agence France

World sprint champion Theo Bos led a Dutch hat-trick of victories on the opening night of the fourth and final UCI World Cup track event at Dunc Gray Velodrome on Friday in Sydney. Bos claimed the keirin title while Levi Heimans won the men's 4km individual pursuit and Wim Stroetinga took out the men's 15km scratch race. Bos beat eight-time world champion Laurent Gane of France in the ride-off for first and second place with Czech Republic's Pavel Buran beating Australian Joel Leonard for third. “We've trained very hard here and done a lot of kilometers on the road,” said

Earlier this week, on this site, Peter Nye told the fascinating story of Joseph Magnani, an American pioneer whose European racing career was virtually unknown back home. That’s because Magnani moved to Europe in his mid-teens and learned how to race in France, where he lived from 1928 until the end of his cycling career 20 years later. Magnani’s impoverished Illinois family sent him to live with friends in the south of France, where he took up bike racing at age 16. He turned pro seven years later because he could make more money racing bikes than he could in his job of delivering coal and

Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) used his stalwart train to catapult him to his second straight stage win in the Ruta del Sol while Francesco Cabello (Comunidad Valenciana) realized a career-long dream of winning on home roads after securing the overall title. The rolling course from Sevilla to Chiclana de la Frontera in Spain’s Andalucía region looked to favor the sprinters, but two riders slipped away early and nearly stole the spotlight. José Antonio López (Kaiku) and Carlos Castaño (Paul Versan) attacked early and built up a 3-minute advantage halfway through the stage, but the pair

Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) blazed to victory in Wednesday’sfourth stage of the Ruta del Sol. It’s the second win of the year for theItalian sprinter, who kept Max Van Heeswjk (Discovery Channel) from snaggingthe win. Tom Boonen (Quick Step) came through third while Oscar Freire(Rabobank) and Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) rounded out the top 5. The pace was furious in the 161km stage from La Guardia de Jaénto Córdoba, with the peloton finishing some 30 minutes faster thanexpected. Petacchi’s winning time came with an average time of 44.3 kphthanks to a gusting

From the era of snub-nosed cars and dirt roads, of cyclists wearing goggles over their eyes to keep out the ubiquitous dust from the roads and racers wrapping spare tires over their shoulders and across their backs in a figure-eight, a lone U.S. rider enjoyed success as a professional on the roads of Europe. Joseph Magnani of Illinois raced professionally from 1935 to 1948 on French and Italian teams. He was so ahead of his time that few in his homeland knew of him. In the 1947 world championship professional road race in Reims, northeast of Paris and famed for its champagne vineyards,

Before I launch into my special Valentine’s Day column, I’ve got to ask – did anyone else watch The Grammy Awards last night? Obviously I did, which is why I’m typing away after midnight on a Monday morning instead of sleeping. But since I once fancied myself a music journalist in a past life, I have to point out a few of the highlights from a not-bad broadcast — even if it did dish up an agonizing live performance of “Free Bird” by the remaining members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Sorry, but what year is this? Best acceptance speech: Kanye West, winner of best rap album for “The College Dropout.”

Carlos García Quesada and his Comunidad Valenciana team delivered what might be the knock out punch in the opening stage Sunday in the Ruta del Sol in southern Spain. Quesada won the hilly 150.5km route from Benalmádena and Comares thanks to heavy pressure that split the peloton early, leaving only a group of 19 riders to contest for the spoils. With a start list heavy with sprinters, many of the big teams had riders present in the break and no one seemed interested in putting up a chase. Quesada, a runner-up last year to Juan Carlos Domínguez, attacked hard on the final climb coming into

While British and Irish cyclists were making breakthroughs in Europe’s top road races during the 1950s and early 1960s, North Americans were still very much in the twilight zone of world cycling. There were many reasons why road racing remained undeveloped on this side of the Atlantic; but one big reason was apparent in the very name of the body that controlled the sport in the United States, the Amateur Bicycle League of America (my italics). Professional cycling was anathema to the ABL, which was founded by a group of New York cycling clubs in 1920 to counteract alleged corruption in the

Jens Voigt (Team CSC) used his strong early season form to hold off the hard-chasing peloton and win Wednesday’s opening stage of the Tour Méditerranéen that hit the Poggio en route from San Remo to Menton. Voigt was part of a four-man break that pulled clear over the Poggio, forcing such sprinter teams as Gerolsteiner and Liquigas to chase hard to set up their men Danilo Hondo and Mario Cipollini. With the lead down to 20 seconds, the others lost their verve and were ready to give in to the inevitable, but not the irrepressible German. He shot away with 6km to go and held the peloton at

Computing CP zonesDear Joe and Dirk,My goals for the coming season are two centuries, so I have invested in a power meter. Now I am ready to start using a combo of heart rate and power to train. I am a bit overwhelmed with how to go about computing my different Critical Power zones. Do you have any advice?JTJT,The advantage of training with power is that you can make your training as objective as possible. I like to say training with power is like viewing the world in three dimensions instead of two, as most cyclists do. The addition of power to one's training metrics can elevate the

Editor’s note: In his new weekly web column, VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood takes you behind the headlines. This week he looks at Mario Cipollini’s comeback attempt, how Bobby Julich helped secure Dave Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde contracts at Team CSC, and Graeme Obree’s remarks on Lance Armstrong’s talk of making a run at the world hour record. Check back each Tuesday for more. Will the Lion King roar again?Mario Cipollini couldn’t have hoped for a better start to the 2005 season with his stage victory last week in the Tour of Qatar. After two lackluster seasons, a

It’s two for two for Oscar Freire, who scored his second straight victory in just two days of racing in the 2005 season. A day after making his season debut a winning one at the Trofeo Mallorca, the reigning world champion won Monday’s Trofeo Alcudia in similar fashion. It’s not bad for a guy who only has about 2500km in his legs when many of his competitors might have double or triple that amount. “I didn’t start training seriously until after Christmas and then I got sick with a cold, so I haven’t been able to put in the kilometers I normally would,” Freire said after Sunday’s win. “To

With the king of Malaysia looking on from the VIP seats at the finish line, Aussie Graeme Brown affirmed his status as ruler of the Tour de Langkawi sprints, easily taking the 10th and final stage of the 2005 Tour de Langkawi on Sunday in downtown Kuala Lumpur. The win was Brown’s fifth at the 10th anniversary of the Malaysian national tour, upping his all-time wins record to nine.

Freire wins season opener in Trofeo MallorcaReigning world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) got his season started on a nice note with a sprint victory against Isaac Gálvez (Illes Balears) in Sunday’s Trofeo Mallorca. With Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) and Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) also in the field for the opener of the five-day Mallorca Challenge, the three-time world champion made his season debut in the rainbow jersey a pleasant one. Freire’s win comes as somewhat of a surprise, considering just yesterday the Spanish sprinter was complaining of an early season bout with the flu. He follows in

Brown wins the final sprint

You could not have scripted a more appropriate ending for the ninth stage of the 2005 Tour de Langkawi on Saturday. The 164.8km run from Menara Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya started with the standard early attacks, continued with solid team tactics by Barloworld, and concluded with Ceremica-Panaria coming to the front to deliver yet another sprint win for Aussie Graeme Brown. The win was Brown’s fourth at the 10th anniversary of this 10-day race in Malaysia, and it extended his all-time wins record to eight.

Jose Rujano’s run at the overall Tour de Langkawi title won’t officially come to an end until the finish of Sunday’s stage 10 criterium in Kuala Lumpur. But in his mind, the pint-sized Venezuelan climber’s concession likely came with 3km to go in Friday’s stage 8 run from Kuala Kuba Baru to the top of the Genting Highlands. It was there that Rujano’s chief rival in the chase for the GC title, South African Ryan Cox, rolled up beside him and gave him a glaring gaze of confidence.

Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) finally got it right in a week dominated by sprinting’s biggest names. After watching Tom Boonen and Mario Cipollini take the glory earlier, the Aussie boxer punched his way to victory in the 153km final stage from Sealine Beach Resort to Doha Corniche. There were some early attempts at a breakaway, but the sprinter teams were anxious for one more stab at the spoils before leaving behind the oil-rich Persian Gulf nation. Boonen came through third, but McEwen scored the win that eluded him all week in Qatar. Team CSC delivered Lars Michaelsen into the overall

A sprint to the line at Genting

PROFESSIONAL AND AMATUER ROAD CYCLISTS ROLL INTO MORGAN HILL TO COMPETE IN THE MORGAN HILL GRAND PRIXSpecialized Bicycle Components Creates a Road Race in its HometownMorgan Hill, Calif, - The Morgan Hill Grand Prix, Northern California’snewest and most eagerly-awaited professional and amateur road race, willtake place on April 10, 2005, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Between 300-500pro and amateur athletes, and approximately 2,000 spectators are expectedto attend.“It's really great to be involved in the creation of a local race,"says Mike Sinyard, Founder and President of Specialized

Mario Cipollini is back at the front of the pack after scoring an importantvictory in Thursday’s fourth stage of the Tour of Qatar, his first sincelast year’s Tour de Georgia. The 37-year-old Tuscan held off 24-year-old Tom Boonen (Quick Step)in a significant objective for the Lion King, who edged near retirementbut joined the Liquigas-Bianchi team with new motivation to come back tothe elite levels of sprinting after two lackluster seasons. “Every win encourages you very much and this one in a particular waysince it comes after months full of sacrifices and a very tough training,”Cipollini

It’s been a lonely road for Spanish rider Angel Casero since his hey-day after winning the 2001 Vuelta a España. Since then, he spent two under-productive years at the ill-fated Coast and then sat out the entire season last year after Kelme couldn’t deliver its required bank guarantees and contract papers to the UCI. Casero is set to return to racing in the coming days with Comunitat Valenciana (formerly Kelme) with more modest goals. His most important step will be simply to be racing again as a professional. “I will have to suffer on the bike now to have options to win something perhaps

If organizers had to choose an alternative to the sugary Tour de Langkawi theme song that’s been a staple of the race for years, they might consider the musical “Annie Get Your Gun” and its famous tune Anything You Can Do. It would certainly be appropriate for this year’s event, which thus far has been dominated by the one-on-one battle of Panaria speedsters Graeme Brown and Ruben Bongiorno.

It’s not supposed to be this easy, but following the bunch sprint that concluded the fifth stage of the 2005 Tour de Langkawi, you got the feeling Graeme Brown and the Ceremica-Panaria crew could win these things with one foot unclipped. After Brown and teammate Ruben Bongiorno grabbed victories in stages 1 and 2, Brown earned another win on Tuesday in Kuala Terengganu. That gave the Aussie an all-time best six Langkawi stage wins.

Tom Boonen made it two in a row at the Tour of Qatar on Tuesday, out-sprinting Fabrizio Guidi (CSC) and Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) to claim his second straight win on the 2005 season. The 24-year-old Quick Step star was part of a 21-man breakaway that tore away from the main bunch at 90km into the 167.5km course from the Camel Track to the Qatar Olympic Committee headquarters. Six Quick Step riders were in the decisive 21-man group, including Kevin Hulsmans, Servais Knaven, Nick Nuyens, Guido Trenti and Wilfried Cretskens and Boonen. The group held a 40-second gap on the main bunch

Boonen outkicks Cipo' in QatarQuick Step's Tom Boonen won the first stage of the Tour of Qatar onMonday, finishing ahead of Mario Cipollini and RobertHunter, the winner of last Saturday's Doha International GP.Monday's stage, the first of five in the ASO-organized event, covered 143km from Al Khor Corniche to the Doha Hyatt Plaza. Boonen holds the leader's jersey with a four-second advantage over Cipollini."This was one of my best ever final sprints. I am extremely happy with my form and winning straightaway after the problems I had this winter certainly boosts my morale,"

The outcome of Monday’s stage 4 time trial at Malaysia’s Tour de Langkawi came as a surprise to almost no one. A naturally strong time-trialist, Aussie Nathan O’Neill has always ridden well at this early-season race in Southeast Asia, and Monday was no exception. The Navigators pro blasted his way around the flat seaside circuit, posting a day’s best 24:42 on the 20.3km course in Bachok.

It probably won’t be the big break that launches him onto a ProTour team roster. And it is not likely the signal that the dawn of Asian cycling dominance is upon us. But make no mistake about it, the fact that Japan’s Koji Fukushima finally made one of his suicide breaks stick, winning the third stage of the 2005 Tour de Langkawi on Sunday, had plenty of significance.

A day after his Ceramica-Panaria teammate Graeme Brown grabbed the opening stage of the 2005 Tour de Langkawi, Argentine Ruben Bongiorno fired back with a win of his own on Saturday. And just as they did the day before, the pair of teammates went wheel to wheel all the way to the line, with Brown settling for runner-up status this time around.

There were plenty of pre-race favorites going into Saturday afternoon's under-23 race at the 2005 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in St. Wendel, Germany. And Czech Zdenek Stybar was neither at nor near the top of that list. But after soloing away from a select lead group with four laps to go, the 19-year-old from a small town near the German border showed he belonged on that list of chosen riders. Stybar wasn't even the best-known racer on the Czech squad coming into the championships. While Stybar had won his country's elite championship this year, against international

Moreau hoping for more at Credit AgricoleAfter an up-and-down career, French veteran Christophe Moreau is hoping to be on the upswing again in 2005. Fourth overall in the 2000 Tour de France, he’ll lead Credit Agricole once again in the Tour, where he hopes to nudge closer to the final podium. “I know that I can do a lot better than these last years. 2000 remains my reference year. I was not on the podium, but fourth of the Tour, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Moreau said in an interview on the team’s web page. “Since then I have not always been very lucky, but I know that sooner or later I

Imagine that if besides the backbiting that so often characterized the Kobe-Shaq era, the pair of NBA stars had literally fought for the ball during their stint with the L.A. Lakers. Sounds preposterous, but don’t think it never happens in the world of sports — including cycling. Take for example, the pair of speedsters from Italian pro squad Ceramica Panaria. Though Graeme Brown and Ruben Bongiorno sport the same bright orange jerseys, when it comes time to sprint one might as well be riding for the Hatfields, the other the McCoys.

The 10th edition of the Tour de Langkawi stage race is set to commence on Friday with an 106.9km romp around this resort island off the northwest coast of Malaysia. The stage will be over almost exclusively flat terrain, leaving the inevitable field sprint to decide the opener. This year’s race features one of the strongest fields that has ever made the trip to this predominantly Muslim nation of 22.7 million in Southeast Asia. Four ProTour squads, Credit Agricole, Discovery Channel, Domina Vacanze and Liberty Seguros, will start the 10-day affair that concludes February 6 in downtown Kuala

Joe and Dirk answer questions on cross-country skiing for cross-training and shelving the competitiveness to get through base

Italy’s jet-set cycling superstar Mario Cipollini made Milan a pit-stop Tuesday evening for his new team’s Liquigas-Bianchi official presentation en route from training in South Africa before flying off to Qatar to make his 2005 season debut. Super Mario looked ever the media maven decked out in the lime-green Liquigas-Bianchi kit as he was the star attraction during presentation of Italy’s newest super team that includes, among others, Stefano Garzelli, Danilo Di Luca, Dario Cioni and Paris-Roubaix champ Magnus Backstedt. “After two irregular seasons, I’m ready to get back to the top level

When Tom Danielson arrived on the Malaysian resort island of Langkawi two years ago, he was a little-known American climbing specialist making his debut with the Saturn team. A little more than a week later the former collegiate mountain-bike racer had announced himself to the world, winning the 10-day stage race in decisive fashion. Danielson would go on to parlay his win in Southeast Asia into a contract with Italian Division I power squad Fassa Bortolo where he was supposed to begin his ascension of pro cycling’s elite ranks. But the 2004 campaign was mostly a dud for the 26 year old.

Robbie McEwen likened the roar of the crowd in the home straight to that of a football grand final after charging home to win the final stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under on Sunday. Like he has done so many times in a star-studded career, McEwen, 32, timed his run perfectly down the 500-meter finishing straight to get over the top of Italian Paride Grillo (Ceramiche Panaria-Navigare) and Queenslander Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros).

Spaniard Alberto Contador celebrated his recovery from life-threatening brain surgery by winning the fifth stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under in Willunga Saturday. But his better-credentialed Liberty Seguros teammate Luis Sanchez will take an almost unassailable lead into Sunday’s final stage in Adelaide. And the best local hero Stuart O'Grady can finish is third, as he trails Sanchez by 47 seconds, while Queenslander Allan Davis splits them at 35 seconds off the pace. Saturday’s 147km stage, which included a torturous 3km climb to the top of Old Willunga Hill, was expected to blow

Sprint leader McEwen got into an early break

Matthew White stepped out of the shadow of teammate Stuart O'Grady Friday with a hollow victory in the fourth stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under. “I've waited six bloody years for this,” White said after he crossed the line a clear winner from fellow Australian Robbie McEwen, referring to his last major stage win in the Tour of Switzerland in 1999. Better known as a domestique on the world stage, White, 31, helped his Cofidis teammate O'Grady win last year's World Cup in Hamburg, and has carved out a profitable living for the past 10 years in that role. But Friday was his chance to

Spain's Luis Sanchez, touted as the next Miguel Indurain, is the new leader in the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under after an enthralling third stage between Glenelg and Victor Harbor on Thursday. Sanchez, 21, from the Murcia region and riding for Liberty Seguros, outsprinted Belgian Johan Van Summeren to win the stage after both riders attacked a 26-man breakaway 20km from the finish. The win catapulted Sanchez into the leader's yellow jersey after he trailed Queensland's Robbie McEwen by 12 seconds overnight. McEwen, 32, winner of the opening two stages was the day’s biggest loser, missing

Dear Readers,Last week we got a note from C.A. in Connecticut, who asked: In general, what is the legality of a group ride? If I email my friends and say, “Let’s all meet at my place at 6 AM for a century ride, I’ll lead,” and someone joins me and gets hit by a car while on my ride, to what degree can I be held legally accountable? Second, what if my group includes a university cycling team with members under 18? In response to that question, we talked about the most simple case, that of co-participant liability in a sport—what happens if you misjudge that gap in the big sprint and

Robbie McEwen overcame a rogue civilian and a near crash into the barriers to win an unprecedented 10th stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under in Tanunda on Wednesday. In another bunch sprint finish, McEwen just had too much power for Italian Paride Grillo and Queenslander Allan Davis. The Tour de France sprint champion won clearly, but the margin would have been greater had he not had to change direction about 250m from the line. “We nearly hit some bloke on his bike with about 800m to go,” McEwen said. “He was just riding along the road. It's bad enough with the parked cars and then

Robbie McEwen continued his brilliant early season form with a thrilling victory in the opening stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under in Adelaide's East End Tuesday evening. In an All Australian trifecta, McEwen beat Queenslander Allan Davis with South Australian hero Stuart O'Grady third after 25 frenetic laps of a 2.5km circuit before a crowd estimated at close to 65,000. It was McEwen's ninth stage victory in seven years and followed closely on his win in the Australian Open road championship in Echunga on Saturday.

Americans Rebecca Quinn and Jenny Reed won medals Sunday, the final day of competition at the third round of the track cycling World Cup.Quinn won the silver behind Australian Katherine Bates in the women's scratch race, with France's Virginie Moinard third.Reed claimed the bronze in the women's Keirin, which was won by Belarus' Natalia Tsylinskay. Germany's Susann Panzer took the silver.The British trio of Chris Hoy, Jason Queally and Craig Maclean won the team sprint in the final event of the World Cup leg at the Manchester Velodrome on Sunday to give the hosts enough points to win the

The British Guardian newspaper reported Saturday that Lance Armstrong had scored “a significant victory” in his libel suit against The Sunday Times and its chief sportswriter, David Walsh. The suit stems from a Times article published in June 2004 that repeated allegations made in the book, “LA Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong,” co-written by Walsh and Pierre Ballester and published in France. A judge in London’s high court struck down the newspaper’s defense, that the article was true, saying that the tone of the article was “sensational” and intended “to stir things up,”

Colby Pearce grabbed a share of the overall World Cup lead on Saturday in the men's points race with a bronze medal effort behind Vasil Kiryienka (BLR) and Nikita Eskov (RUS) at the penultimate stop of the four-race series. Pearce scored points in half of the 12 intermediate sprints and lapped the field once to score 35 points. Silver medalist Eskov also scored 35 points but bested Pearce in the final sprint to take the tiebraker. Kiryienka scored 39. Pearce's performance moves him into a tie for the overall world cup lead with 2004 Olympic gold medalist Russian Mikhail Ignatiev. The

Former Belgian cycling great Johan Museeuw took the blood-boosting drugs EPO and Aranesp in the 2003 season, the Belgian media reported on Friday, quoting judicial sources. The Belgian television station VRT and De Morgen newspaper carried excerpts from the official record of the prosecutor in the case that probed text messages sent between Museeuw and veterinary surgeon Jose Landuyt, who is under investigation for trafficking illegal drugs. "In the exchange of faxes and SMS (text messages), interrogations and admissions of Landuyt and other people, it is established that Johan Museeuw took

Subway team gears up for 2005McKenzie Bridge, Oregon, USA (January 4, 2005) – The Subwayteam returns this year as a US Continental Team with a mix of young talentand veteran racers. The team will kick off its season with a camp in Merced,California, February 25 - March 7, which will be open to additional guestsfrom March 1-7. The camp will also overlap the first NRC race of the yearMcLane Pacific, which will serve as the team’s first official race outing.Although managed by Express Racing and associated with the Express RacingClub, the team will shorten its moniker to Subway from last year’s

Australian sprint cyclist Jobie Dajka will return to international competition later this week at the Manchester World Cup after serving a ban for lying to a doping inquiry. On Tuesday the former world keirin champion was named to a team of six riders slated to compete in the January 7-9 UCI Track Cycling World Cup. Dajka was thrown off Australia's Athens Olympics team last year and suspended until January 1 when it was found he had lied to a doping inquiry headed by Justice Robert Anderson.

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.We suspect biasDear Editor,Now there's a man who knows when he's taken a special picture!!! (see"ACasey Gibson Photo Gallery: A look back at 2004") Please tell Casey that his favorite picture of 2004 is also my favoriteand will always be for the remainder of my life. Best regards to all