Australia is assured of the gold medal in the women's 3km individual pursuit at the UCI world track cycling championships after Katie Mactier and Katherine Bates qualified for the final. Theo Bos of the Netherlands, meanwhile, rocketed to a 10.192 in 200-meter sprint qualifying and will look to add a second gold medal to the one he collected on Friday in the kilometer time trial. Mactier posted the best time of the Saturday-morning session at the ADT Center velodrome in Carson, California, finishing well ahead of her compatriot in 3 minutes, 38.325 seconds. Bates was second in

I want to start this week’s column off by saying thanks to Health Net-Maxxis riders Gord Fraser and Tyler Farrar. Since the pair of sprinters appeared on the cover of our domestic road season preview, both are having a great start to the season, taking multiple wins and making us editors here at VeloNews look like we know what we’re talking about. Resplendent in the Canadian national champion’s jersey, Fraser has won three races this year, one each at the McLane Pacific in Merced, the Central Valley Classic in Fresno and the San Dimas Stage Race in, well, San Dimas. Farrar has won twice,

Bos was the man in sprint qualifying

The fans that almost filled Carson, California’s ADT Event Center velodrome on Thursday night had come hoping to cheer homeboy Colby Pearce to a world championship medal in the points race. But when the Colorado rider failed to break into the top 10, the crowd turned its attention to the last race of the night: the men’s team sprint. With no American team entered, locals chose Great Britain’s Jamie Staff (also a world BMX champion) who lives just down the road, near San Diego, as a local favorite. Staff has been something of a fixture at the new Carson velodrome, training two or three times

Liquigas’s Magnus Bäckstedt charged into the public eye last year when he won the most revered of all the spring classics, Paris-Roubaix, the Hell of the North. In preparing an in-depth feature for thecurrent issue of VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hoodsat down with Bäckstedt earlier this year at Liquigas's team camp.In this, the second part of a two-part interview (clickhere to see Part 1), Bäckstedt recalls the experience of winningwhat has become the most prestigious single-day bicycle race in the world.VeloNews: Were you tapped to be the guy for the cobbles? Magnus

Morgan Hill, Calif. - Specialized Bicycles will bring Liam Killeen and Sid Taberlay, the British and Australian national mountain bike champions, to compete at the Specialized Morgan Hill Grand Prix, Sunday April 10, for a day's racing that is expected to attract over 1,000 spectators for events studded with top national and international racing cyclists. Amateur races are also scheduled. In a move to accommodate requests from pro mountain bikers looking for a pre-Sea Otter Classic leg-sharpener, this week organizers extended the race categories to include the Morgan Hill Fat Boy Crit, a

Chris Hoy anchors the British Team Sprint to first place.

Magnus Bäckstedt turned a childhood dream into reality at Paris-Roubaix last April. To just about everyone watching the Hell of the North that day, the big man from Sweden was a surprise winner, but when you listen to Bäckstedt and appreciate the hard work and focus he brings to his job, that win over the cobbles to Roubaix may not have been such a long-shot after all. In preparing an in-depth feature for the current issue of VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood sat down with Bäckstedt earlier this year. In a two-part interview on the eve of the spring classics, Bäckstedt recounts how

Editor's Note: Nineteen-year-old Larssyn Staley - the 2003 world champion in the junior women's points race - is the only American riding for theSwiss-based Andeer team. Throughout her first season on the continent,the Beaverton, Oregon, native will be sending us updates about life inthe women's peloton and providing a newcomer's perspective on racing in Europe.It’s spring here in Switzerland and the air is filledwith… with… well, it’s filled with fertilizer.It seems like every field I ride past is getting covered in fertilizerby the same means by which we water our fields.

Colby Pearce has a great chance to set the standard for the home country when the 2005 UCI World Track Championships get underway Thursday in the ADT Event Center, Carson, California. Pearce, 32, has had a successful World Cup season, with second and third places in the points race at two rounds of the competition. His chance to claim a world’s medal comes Thursday evening. The final of the men 40km points race is the likely highlight of this opening session of the March 24-27 track world’s, and Pearce is going to need all the vocal support the home crowd can muster. Earning a medal will be

Chris Horner (Saunier Duval) let his presence be known in dramatic fashion in Tuesday’s second stage of the Setmana Catalana, starting an early sprint and nearly sneaking away with the stage victory. Horner was part of a larger group that chased back on to a front group of 25 riders with 2km to go in the mountainous 168.8km stage from Lloret de Mar to Empuriabrava. Horner started an early sprint, but was swarmed by Italian Claudio Corioni (Fassa Bortolo) at the line to take eighth in his best result so far in his European return. Corioni held off Aitor Perez (Spiuk) to score his first

Talk of major changes in the Milan-San Remo route look closer to becoming reality after race officials publicly acknowledged that the Cipressa and Poggio climbs just don’t pack the punch they used to. Race director Angelo Zomegnan told reporters “we’re thinking about” adding another major climb in the final run of the 294km Milan-San Remo which ended Saturday in a bunch sprint for the sixth time in seven years. “A race as long as this and it’s decided in the final meters, does that seem normal?” Zomegnan said. “If you think about it, in 10 years nothing much has happened or not much, except

Many of the stories I’ve told in the first 10 weeks of this new column have concerned people and events that few Americans had known about. The story I’m going to tackle this week is one about which most cycling fans think they know all they want to know: The death of Tom Simpson on Mont Ventoux at the 1967 Tour de France. “Oh, yeah,” I can hear some of you saying. “That drug cheat.” I’m not going to detail everything that led to Simpson’s collapse just before the summit of the mountain in southeast France. Whole books have been dedicated to the purpose. But in these 1500-or-so words I want

Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis) and Erinne Willock (Webcor Builders) took the rain-soaked second stage of the San Dimas Stage Race on Saturday. Fraser won a 24-man dash to the line at the end of the 98-mile Incycle-Cannondale Road Race, run on a 7-mile loop with a flat 1km straight to the finish line. Willock had a wider margin of victory in the 56-mile women’s race, crossing 19 seconds ahead of the raging pack. Tina Pic (Quark) took the bunch sprint with Magen Long (The Bicycle Store) third. General-classification standings were not available. Racing concludes Sunday with the San Dimas

Alessandro Petacchi is now the undisputed king of the sprints following his emotional victory down the Via Roma in Saturday’s Milan-San Remo. Mario Cipollini, who finished with the lead bunch in what he promises will be his last Milan-San Remo, was quick to tip his hat to Petacchi in a clear passing of the baton in the power rankings of the Italian sprinter hierarchy. “I can imagine what he feels at this moment,” Cipollini said Saturday on the Via Roma just three years after he won. “It’s his consecration as a rider of high quality.” It’s also chaos at the finish when an Italian wins the

[nid:30483]There is no longer an asterisk next to Alessandro Petacchi’s palmares. For the sprinter who’s dominated the speed game since his breakthrough 2000 season, Petacchi was being pegged as a man who couldn’t win a mass gallop in long-distance races. The naysayers only pointed to the 2004 Milan-San Remo and the 2003 Paris-Tours, two occasions when the “gentleman sprinter” died – or some say choked – at the line.

World champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) will saddle up for Milan-San Remo on Saturday as perhaps the smartest bet for victory after the 29-year-old won three stages at Tirreno-Adriatico last week on his way to taking the overall honors. In a race where those who took part were guaranteed long, uninterrupted days of racing, unlike at Paris-Nice, Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) also showed his form, beating the likes of Freire, Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis), Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) and Norway's Thor Hushovd on his way to matching Freire's stage tally of

Tom Boonen says Quick Step teammate Paolo Bettini enters Saturday’s Milan-San Remo as the leader, but didn’t discount his chances if it comes down to a sprint on the Via Roma. “The past two times I’ve raced here I lost a lot on the Poggio, losing my position. The key will be at the front,” Boonen said in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport on the eve of the classic kickoff. “I’m sure I will be able to hang on going over the Cipressa and the Poggio.” Boonen downplayed the hint of rivalry between himself and Olympic champion Bettini, who enters La Primavera after struggling with an

Lance Armstrong received yet another award this week after receivingthe Grand Prix de l’Academie des Sports in Paris on Tuesday, where he toldreporters he’s behind in his preparation for the Tour de France. Armstrong said wintry weather at the recent Paris-Nice wasn’t the idealsetting for his return to Europe. Cold weather and a fever prompted theTexan to not start the fourth stage. “Maybe I shouldn’t have started Paris-Nice. It was a hard race, veryfast, intense and with bad weather,” he said. “I must admit I’m a littlebit behind, more than I normally would be.” Armstrong insisted he’ll

Walters gets a taste of Belgium Nokere-Koerse (1.1)The 60th edition of the Belgian semi-classic Nokere-Koerse was heldWednesday on 193Km of Belgian roads that included 11 ascents of the famedNokereberg.Navigators' Kirk O'Bee escaped in an early breakaway with 17 otherson the initial large opening lap.  The gap never climbed above 45-seconds,and the group was reeled back in on the 3rd of 10 finishing circuits. A 5-man group was able to escape and gained an advantage of over 4:00 duringthe 4-6th laps, but their advantage wasn't enough to keep the main pelotonat bay.  With a strong

Paolo Bettini would rather win the Tour of Flanders instead of another Milan-San Remo. That’s not to say the Cricket isn’t interested in Saturday’s classicissima, a race he won in 2003. “Milan-San Remo is an objective, but this year I really like the Tour of Flanders, a race I’ve never won,” he said in an interview with the Spanish daily AS. “It’s not easy to say, ‘I wan to win a race,’ and later go do it. One of my characteristics is tenacity. When I set an objective, I prepare for it 100 percent to achieve it.” The Quick Step star didn’t have his trademark bounce in Tirreno-Adriatico,

Team CSC boss Bjarne Riis took personal satisfaction in Bobby Julich’s dramatic victory in Paris-Nice. After all, it was the 1996 Tour de France winner who helped resurrect Julich’s fortunes by bringing him into the iconoclastic Danish team for the 2004 season. Julich was quick to praise Riis for his revival. When asked before the start of Sunday’s stage how he could explain his winning ways, Julich gave a precise answer. “One thing and that’s Bjarne Riis,” said Julich, who became the first American to the Race to the Sun. “Bjarne has a gift. He takes chances on people. We all believe in

Rabobanks's Oscar Freire won the overall title at Tirreno-Adriatico as the week-long event ended in Civitanova, Italy, on Tuesday. Freire was well-placed in the middle of the field at the end of a race won by Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi who, like Freire, has won three stages in this, the second event in the new UCI Pro Tour. "I did not take part in the sprint, but I am particularly pleased because, apart from winning the race, I won three stages," Freire said. "I didn't expect I would do as well as that." Earning 50 points for the overall title and one point for each of

Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi took his second stage victory of this year’s Tirreno-Adriatico on Monday, winning the sixth stage of the race, a 164km circuit near Civitanova. Rabobank’s Oscar Freire held on to the leader’s jersey finishing second to Petacchi, just ahead of Australian Robbie McEwen. Freire started from a long way out with veteran sprinter Mario Cipollini in his slipstream, but he was not able to match the speed of Petacchi. Petacchi, who has amassed stage victories in each of the three-week “grand tours” – the Giro d’ Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España –

Bobby Julich held off a flurry of vicious attacks from Alejandro Valverde (Illes Balears) and Constantino Zaballa’s entire Saunier Duval team in Sunday’s final stage of Paris-Nice, taking the overall title to the very first event in the UCI’s new ProTour calendar. But it almost didn’t happen that way. Indeed, Julich believed that the worst was behind him as he rolled to the crest of the day’s final climb, the Col d’Eze, just 16km from the day’s finish in Nice. Just a descent and a flat ride to the finish stood between him and certain victory in Paris-Nice when he suffered an unexpected

Bobby Julich was beaming in the yellow jersey at Saturday morning’s sign-in protocol before the start of the penultimate stage at Paris-Nice. The sun was shining, and with Julich holding a 19-second lead over Constantino Zaballa (Saunier Duval) and 20 seconds on Alejandro Valverde (Illes Balears), things were looking very bright indeed. “My legs are feeling good. I think if the weather stays good, I will be able to keep the jersey to Nice,” Julich said. “Today’s stage is more challenging than what happens on Sunday. I know the roads perfectly there, so I am confident.” There was some talk

World road champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) claimed his third victory in as many days on Saturday, winning the fourth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico in Servigliano, Italy. Germany's Danilo Hondo (Gerolsteiner) finished second in the 160km stage, with Italian Fabrizio Guidi (Phonak) in third. "I didn't go out to win this stage especially," said Freire. "I wasn't even that well positioned for the final sprint. I had to make a special effort to get back to the front." Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo), winner of stage 1, found the going tough once more on Saturday.

It was a showery day in much of western Europe on September 5, 1965. It was particularly wet in Spain’s Basque Country, where the men’s pro road race was being held at the UCI world championships on a 19km circuit at Lasarte, in the hills south of San Sebastian. A few hundred miles to the north, in another maritime region, Brittany, France, I was racing in a two-day stage race. That humid Sunday, our schedule was a time trial followed by the concluding circuit road race. The two protagonists in that amateur race were future French ace Cyrille Guimard and an English colleague on my French

World road champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) claimed his second victory in as many days after winning the third stage of Tirreno-Adriatico Friday. The 29-year-old Spanish sprinter had to dig deep after he struck a protruding railing in the final kilometer and had to fight his way out of the bunch before winning the sprint at the finish line. Frenchman Laurent Brochard (Bouygues Telecom) had launched a brave sprint for the finish with 500 meters to go in the 228km race from Tivoli to Torricella Sicura, but the unstoppable Freire caught the 1997 world road race champion, who eventually

The $525 Pro Elite version features Kevlar sailcloth reinforcement along the upper for increased support while sprinting or climbing

The winds of change blew through Paris-Nice in Thursday’s weather-shortened fourth stage as the peloton traded winter for the mistral. Lance Armstrong packed it in as cold and snow forced organizers to shorten the third stage in a row, but the peloton was back in shorts after the race moved into warmer climes of the Rhone valley. Fabian Cancellara (Fassa Bortolo) put down a Herculean sprint to beat veteran Jaan Kirsipuu (Credit Agricole) against a strong headwind into Montélimar while Bobby Julich (CSC) surged into contention after sneaking into the winning break late in the 101km

Oscar Freire (Rabobank) won the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race in Tivoli, Italy, on Thursday. The three-time world road race champion also takes the overall lead in the race which ends on Sunday. "I didn't have many ambitions at the start of the stage but I changed my mind during the race," Freire said. Freire, 29, held off compatriot Angel Vicioso and Laurent Brochard of France in a sprint finish over a largely flat course ending in Tivoli, 30 kilometers north of Rome. Friday will see the riders tackling a 228-kilometer stage from Tivoli to Torricella Sicura.

In what was great weather to go skiing in central France on Wednesday, the Paris-Nice bicycle stage doggedly pushed on despite frigid temperatures and snowy roads that forced organizers to shorten a stage for the second straight day. With snow piled four-feet deep alongside the road, race organizers had no choice but to cut the stage from 174km to 118km and eliminate the highest, snow-covered reaches of the course. Despite an early breakaway that included Floyd Landis (Phonak) and defending champion Jörg Jaksche (Liberty Seguros), the sprinters once again drove it home. Vicente Reynes (Illes

Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) won Wednesday’s opener of Tirreno-Adriatico to take the bragging rights in the race stacked with sprinter talent. The win gives Petacchi a big boost following his upset loss to a resurgent Mario Cipollini (Liquigas-Bianchi) in the pair’s first duel of the season in the Giro di Lucca on Monday. Fassa Bortolo was back to its dominating self, executing the perfect train to deliver Petacchi to the line unchallenged in the 160km stage in Civitavecchia. Bernhard Eisel (FDJeux.com) finished second while Australian champion Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) took

Today (March 9, 2005) the Navigators Insurance Cycling Team could finally race again afterall the bad weather in the last few days. It was only a Belgian Kermesin Wanzele, 177km, 17 laps of 11km, but all the riders were very nervousto race.The field of 200 riders took off at an unbelievable speed of over 40.The Chocolate Jacques team had 16 riders at the start and decided to gofrom the gun.The result of this fast start after the first lap left 50 riders inthe first group (including Navigators' Mark Walters and Hilton Clarke)and 45sec down a second group of 60 riders that included

Oh Mexico… I finally finished my base up and got a few days of rest before I had to leave for the Vuelta Sonora Arizona road race. This road race was unlike any I had ever done before and probably will ever do again. Like any trip with a bunch of people you barely know going to a race you’ve never done before you have to take it with a grain of salt. This was no exception. I cut my Monday golf game short to make it home in time to catch a ride to Phoenix in a big van full of my new teammates for the week. The only people I knew on the team were Tulous, Jake and Pate and Tulous wasn’t even

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