DAVID O'LOUGHLIN RINGS OUT THE OLD AND BRINGS IN THE NEWHackettstown, NJ - Navigators Insurance Cycling Team's new 2005recruit, David O'Loughlin of Ireland, finished up his 2004-racing seasonwith a victory in the An Ras Turcai, held in County Galloway, Ireland lastweek.  The 150 participants cruised leisurely for the first 3 of 6laps on the 10-kilometer circuit, before the racing began in earnest. With 1-lap remaining, David and Kurt Bogarts (Carrick Wheelers RC) leftMark Scanlon (ag2r-Prevoyance), the legendary Sean Kelly, and 146 othersin arrears as the duo picked up the

Tina Pic takes a corner in the Redlands Criterium. Great form in the corners and unbeatable speed in the sprints.

Even by his lofty standards, Lance Armstrong's return to the mountaintop in 2004 was pretty special. The question now facing Armstrong and his legion of fans is whether he'll return to challenge the Pyrenees and the French Alps again in 2005. Already recognized as one of the truly inspiring athletes of his generation, Armstrong took his cycling legacy a step further when he won a record-breaking sixth consecutive Tour de France in July. And for his accomplishment, he was honored Monday as The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the third straight year. Armstrong joined

Two years ago Jonathan Page was in limbo, his up-and-down career as a bike racer was on another upswing, but he was still struggling to keep doing what he loved, and seemed destined, to do. In the winter of 2002, and without a pro contract, Page moved to Belgium to race cyclo-cross, the biggest gamble he’d taken in a cycling career that started in his teens. But the gamble paid off when the New Hampshire native won that year’s rain-soaked U.S. ‘cross nationals in California. The win, along with steadily improving results on the European circuit, earned Page a professional ‘cross contract

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.Put up or shut upDear Velo,Dick Pound needs to be set straight. I don't give a rat's rear whatyou think of Tyler Hamilton or his medical practices, but you need to shutyour mouth (see "Greekofficials investigate Hamilton case").I am not defending a possible doper - what I am doing is

The "Weekend 'Cross Wrap" is a service of VeloNews.com.Stories and results are provided by race promoters and are not producedby VeloNews or VeloNews.com. Promoters are welcome to submit race reportsthroughout the cyclo-cross season to Rosters@7Dogs.com.Reports may be edited for length and clarity. Armstrong, Cruz come to SoCalThe growth and success of the Southern California Cyclocross Cup continues to draw big names(Daniello Pontoni, Andy Jacque-Mayes, Jackson Stewart and Kris Kringle) , big fields and great races, but today's race at Pierce College in Woodland Hills featured 6 time tour

Indoor track cycling, which was one of America’s most popular sports until World War II, is starting to rediscover its roots at the ADT Event Center in Carson, California. On Saturday, the second night of the three-day UCI track World Cup saw a near-capacity crowd entertained by a variety of world-class performances. And the new fans were on their feet at the end of the evening, cheering all the riders in the men’s 30km points race in which Colorado’s Colby Pearce almost pulled off a stunning victory against Russia’s immaculate Mikhael Ignatiev. After both men had gained three laps on the

Theo Bos closed the Los Angeles round of the 2004-05 UCI World Cup the way he started it, with an outstanding win, to lead the Netherlands to a convincing overall victory. After setting an astounding personal-best kilometer TT time of 1:01.768 on Friday night, Bos anchored his Dutch team to a winning 45.163 seconds for the three-lap, 750-meter team sprint on Sunday afternoon. Bos did not compete in the sprint, the discipline in which he is the current world champion, although he will defend his title on this same track in March; he will also do the kilometer and team sprint. “Today we did

Bourgain took the sprint

Bos and the Dutch charge to a team-sprint win and the overall victory

There were only a couple of hundred people left in the ADT Event Center when Dutchman Theo Bos, the world sprint champion, burst out of the starting gate in the men’s kilometer time trial. It was the last event of Friday night on the first day of the Los Angeles round of the UCI track World Cup. On the other side of the track was Jason Queally of Great Britain, the 2000 Olympic kilo champion, who was using this ride on the newest American indoor velodrome as a nice try-out before the world championships at this venue in March. Bos is notorious for his bad starts in the kilo, but this time

Tsylinskaya won the women's sprint

Australian sprinter Ryan Bayley, who won the sprint and keirin gold medals at the Athens Olympics in August, and the women’s 500-meter TT champion Anna Meares star in the three-day UCI World Cup track classic this weekend in Los Angeles. This will be a dress rehearsal at the ADT Event Center indoor velodrome in Carson for the full-blown UCI track world’s next March. The three-day track meet on the 250-meter Schurmann-designed wood track with its 45-degree bankings should provide a feast of racing from most of the nations that will race at the world’s. Qualifying round take place Friday and

Joe and Dirk,You recently mentioned that it is a benefit to sleep at a higher altitude and train at a lower altitude, but what about the opposite?Riding in Colorado I often find myself at much higher elevations than my home and I had operated on the assumption that training at a higher altitude would help me out when I am back at a lower elevation. Do you care to set me straight on this matter?Mike Dear Mike,Training at a high altitude (8500 feet or higher) may have beneficial effects on your aerobic system. This is of great benefit within your base training especially. But training at a

As racing goes, cyclo-cross is straightforward – the objective is crossing the line first. But when you get to the final race of a season-long series, as in Saturday’s WE Stedman Grand Prix of Cyclo-Cross in South Kingston, Rhode Island, sub-plots and alternative motivations can come into play. When the day was done, Mark McCormack (Clif Bar-Colavita Olive Oil) and Mary McConneloug had won their respective races and Verge New England series titles, respectively. But more was afoot than met the eye. McCormack entered the final event of the seven-race Verge New England series with a lock on

The "Weekend 'Cross Wrap" is a service of VeloNews.com.Stories and results are provided by race promoters and are not producedby VeloNews or VeloNews.com. Promoters are welcome to submit race reportsthroughout the cyclo-cross season to Rosters@7Dogs.com.Reports may be edited for length and clarity. Brown Wins Colorado 'Cross SeriesBoulder, Co (November 28, 2004 — Travis Brown won the Boulder Racing Cyclo-Cross Series Sunday, closing out the season with five straight wins for a season total of eight wins. Colorado offered three cyclo-cross series to Front Range competitors this season: The

Erwin Vervecken won the fourth round of the cyclo-cross World Cup on Saturday in Koksijde, outsprinting compatriots Sven Nys and Ben Berden. It was the 32-year-old Belgian’s first victory of the season, and the fourth time he has won in Koksijde. Belgian racers dominated on the sandy circuit, led by a six-rider group that included Vervecken, Nys, Berden, Tom Vannoppen, Sven Vanthourenhout and world champion Bart Wellens. Wellens fell victim to a puncture, while Vanthourenhout simply fell off the pace. Unwilling to trust his chances in a sprint finish, Nys tried to make a break in the

WADA reaccredits Seoul lab for steroid analysisThe World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced today in Montreal that it has granted full reaccreditation to the anti-doping laboratory in Seoul, South Korea. In April 2004, the laboratory was suspended from carrying out steroid analysis for a period of six months, following unsatisfactory performances and non-compliance with WADA’s International Standards for Laboratories. Since then, the laboratory, in cooperation with the South Korean government, has taken corrective actions. New material has been purchased and additional staff has been

With Thanksgiving upon us, it’s time to take a moment and reflect upon all that we have to be thankful for. Or so “they” tell us. I think it’s good practice to try not and take anything for granted all throughout the year, but if “they” want to designate a four-day weekend to spend counting our blessings, I’m more than happy to add the vacation to the list. First of all, I’m thankful to have finished VeloNews issue 20 last night, our 17th annual awards issue. I think it’s one of our more fun issues of the year, both to work on and to peruse, through the eyes of our readers. There are

The "Weekend 'Cross Wrap" is a service of VeloNews.com.Stories and results are provided by race promoters and are not producedby VeloNews or VeloNews.com. Promoters are welcome to submit race reportsthroughout the cyclo-cross season to Rosters@7Dogs.com.Reports may be edited for length and clarity.NEW JERSEY: Trebon, Knapp rule Beacon Cyclo-crossIf there were any doubts about just how good Ryan Trebon (Kona) is when he’s on form, they were banished Saturday at the Beacon Cyclocross in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Trebon flattened the field in the fifth race of the Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of

To keep herself motivated in races she’s comfortably winning, Mary McConneloug (Seven Cycles) often imagines racing against her top competition from the West Coast. “Ann Knapp is just around the next corner,” she thinks to herself, “and Gina Hall is right behind me. I have to keep it pegged.” Sunday’s fifth stop on the Verge New England Cyclo-cross Series looked like another day for McConneloug to race against imagined opponents, but a racer on loan from Colorado ended up giving McConneloug a real run for her money. While she spends most of her time racing multi-hour mountain bike events,

The Mail Bag 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.Letter writer praises letter writersEditor:It’s encouraging to know that people out there feel the way that I do (see Wednesday’s mailbag). First, Ian Sharp makes a great point about doping and lifetime bans. Only drastic punishments will leave athletes thinking about their mistakes and

Looking out my office window at a cold rainy, day, with the promiseof snow falling on Colorado’s Front Range once the temperature drops thisevening, it’s all too clear that winter has arrived. Forget the near-perfect70-degree weather we had over the weekend, or the fact that winter doesn’t“officially” start until December 21st. From where I come from, snow andtemperatures in the low-20s means wintertime.It’s funny, as I was driving into work today, looking out at gray daythat appeared exactly as myfavorite Internet weather service had predicted, I couldn’t help butlaugh thinking of all the

The Mail Bag 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.Cycling needs more character and fewer excusesEditor:I could not agree more with Patrick Buono’s thoughts on the state of cycling (see Monday’s mailbag, “This ain’t freakin’ rocket science!”). Richard Virenque tearfully protests his innocence, then admits to doping, and ever since we

Tour wouldn’t mind if Armstrong stayed awayTour de France officials evidently aren’t losing any sleep over the prospect that six-time winner Lance Armstrong might not race in the 2005 edition. Just a week after the 92nd edition of the Tour was unveiled in Paris, race officials said in an interview in L’Equipe that they’re not concerned if Armstrong doesn’t race next year. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Armstrong races another grand tour next year and return in 2006 to try the Tour again,” said Christian Prudhomme, director general of the Amaury Sport Organisation which produces the Tour. “To

The "Weekend 'Cross Wrap" is a service of VeloNews.com.Stories and results are provided by race promoters and are not producedby VeloNews or VeloNews.com. Promoters are welcome to submit race reportsthroughout the cyclo-cross season to Rosters@7Dogs.com.Reports may be edited for length and clarity.NEBRASKA: Wilhelm, Neville impressiveDespite a frightful beginning that included two spills in the opening lap, Tony Wilhelm (LBC-Highgear) continued to show impressive form with his third victory of the season and second in the Nebraska Cyclo-cross Series at Pioneers Park on Saturday. The

Ever since its days as a stop on the Super Cup circuit, the Gloucester, Massachusetts, cyclo-cross race has been lovingly referred to as “New England Nationals.” The implication, that every rider worth his or her salt makes an annual October pilgrimage to the seaside Gloucester course, seemed borne out by the inclusion of back-to-back Gloucester races in this year’s Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclo-cross.

Tom Vannoppen took Sunday’s round of the Superprestige cyclo-cross seriesin St-Michielsgestel, the Netherlands, out-sprinting Sven Nys in the closingmeters of the race. World champion Bart Wellens, while performing better than earlier thisseason, was still not able to stay with the two leaders at the decidingmoment of the race. Belgian Bart Aernouts began the day’s action with an early attack, ashe gained a few seconds on the field before Nys and Vannoppen charged afterhim and counterattacked. Dutchman Richard Groenendaal and Belgian SvenVanthourenhout gave chase, but the two leaders held

Davy Commeyne (MrBookmaker.com) soloed to victory in the Grand Prix de la Région Wallonne cyclo-cross on Saturday in Dottenijs, Belgium. Teammate Mario De Clercq won the sprint for second place over Sven Vanthourenhout (Quick Step-Davitamon) Commeyne escaped three laps before the finish, leaving behind a group of 10. De Clercq and Vanthourenhout kept Commeyne in sight, but could not keep up and wound up battling for the runner-up spot. Sven Nijs (Rabobank) had another spot of bad luck, taking a big fall in midrace. Luckily, he only suffered a few scrapes. Sunday brings the next round of

There’s no Mont Ventoux on the route of next year’s Tour de France so Lance Armstrong — who has often said that he wants to win on the Ventoux before he retires — perhaps will not defend his title in 2005 and wait for 2006. Then again, Armstrong’s spokesman at the official race presentation in Paris on Thursday, Discovery Channel team director Johan Bruyneel, said, “If he does a three-week race, it will be the Tour.” And one can’t see Armstrong being motivated by a season that comprises just one-day classics mixed in with a few one-week stage races. If the Texan does start the Tour next

Political pollsters take a stab at predicting the outcome of the presidential election, so we’re doing the same with the Tour de France. The official details of the 2005 Tour won’t be announced until Thursday morning in Paris, but through a little detective work, some intuition and a few wild guesses, here’s what the course could look like. With a longish time trial at the start instead of the usual short prologue, there will be only one other time trial, the day before the finish. The highlights look like being a short incursion into Germany on stages 7 and 8; the Galibier ascent on stage

Ridley bikes is not only a newcomer to the U.S. but to the professional peloton as well. Ridley’s parent company was founded in 1990 by the precocious Jochim Aerts, who was all of 18 at the time; that first business was set up to build custom frames for other, more established companies. Aerts did not launch his own brand, Ridley, until 1997 (he took the name from an English actor he liked — the name, not the actor). Since then, however, Ridley has become a frequently seen name in the professional peloton, with a buzz about its performance that eventually caught the ear of Sinclair Imports,

Illes Balears seals deal with ValverdeThe protracted negotiations between Illes Balears and Valenciana-Kelme over the fate of Alejandro Valverde were completed over the weekend, and the 24-year-old Spanish star will ride next year with the team that carried Miguel Indurain to five Tour de France victories. Illes Balears secured the services of the hottest name in Spanish cycling after Valverde let it be known that he wouldn’t want to continue with the troubled Valenciana-Kelme after the team was overlooked for the Pro Tour set to begin in 2005. The Spanish media was reporting Sunday that

The "Weekend 'Cross Wrap" is a service of VeloNews.com.Stories and results are provided by race promoters and are not producedby VeloNews or VeloNews.com. Promoters are welcome to submit race reportsthroughout the cyclo-cross season to Rosters@7Dogs.com.Reports may be edited for length and clarity.CALIFORNIA: Pontoni rules Candlestick Point 'crossFormer world champ Daniele Pontoni hammered the field on Sunday during round two of the Bay Area Super Prestige Cyclo-cross Series at San Francisco’s Candlestick Point Recreation Area. Pontoni marked Justin Robinson, David Wyandt, John Funke and

Sven Vanthourenhout (Quick Step-Davitamon) won the second heat of the Superprestige cyclo-cross series on Sunday in Hamme-Zogge, Belgium, outsprinting Tom Vannoppen (MrBookmaker.com) and Sven Nys (Rabobank) during the sprint to the finish. Nys, the series leader, had a bad start, hitting one of the iron barricades with his shoulder. It seemed to slow him somewhat initially, but soon he was back to his old self, bunny-hopping the barricades. Only Vanthourenhout and a very strong Vannoppen could keep up with Nys. The last three laps they stayed together, and it was Vanthourenhout taking a

Damiano Cunego ended his dream season much like he started it: attacking with panache and winning. The 23-year-old Saeco rider barnstormed through the 2004 Italian racing calendar, racking up 12 wins in one-day races, short stage races and the granddaddy of Italian racing, the overall title at the Giro d’Italia. And Cunego had one more surprise to cap his breakout year. Following disappointment in the road world championships two weeks ago in his hometown, Cunego couldn’t be beat in the Giro di Lombardia on Saturday. Cunego outsprinted Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) and compatriot Ivan Basso

Finale to decide World Cup battleSaturday’s Giro di Lombardia marks the final stop in the 10-round World Cup series with the fight for the overall title coming down to a showdown between Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner). Bettini is nursing a 13-point lead over Rebellin going into the difficult Italian classic. A new course design has added some muscle to the climbs, making for what should be an exciting showdown in northern Italy. “My strategy is to stay glued to Rebellin’s wheel,” Bettini said. “The course is more difficult than it’s been in the past, but the

Australian sprinter Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros) has been getting close to a big one for the past several weeks, taking fifth at the recent world championships and fourth at last weekend’s Paris-Tours. On Thursday, he finally put all the pieces together, earning a breakthrough victory in the Giro di Piemonte in northern Italy. With fine support from his team – fresh off its victory in Wednesday’s Milano-Torino with Marcos Serrano -- Davis held off Italian duo Alberto Ongarato and Francesco Chicchi (both Fassa Bortolo) in a sprint for the finish line. The second race of the autumn

Climbing sensation Cesar Grajales is the latest addition to the Navigators Insurance cycling team's 2005 roster. Grajales made his mark as a world-class climbing specialist when he attacked Lance Armstrong, Jens Voigt, and Chris Horner to win the Dodge Tour de Georgia's stage 6 at the top of Brasstown Bald Mountain this past April. The Colombian highlander joins Aussie stars Nathan O'Neill and sprinter Hilton Clarke as three of the Navigators squad's new recruits. The full roster that will include many returning players and a few new names will be announced shortly. “The Navigators

Serrano upsets Italians at Milano-TorinoMilano-Torino is an Italian race if there ever was one, with Mirko Celestino and Michele Bartoli racking up the last three victories. But Liberty Seguros rider Marcos Serrano pipped the local favorites Wednesday in the 199km semi-classic from Milan to Turin across northern Italy, edging Eddy Mazzoleni and Francesco Casagrande to become just the third Spanish winner of the Italian classic that dates back to 1876. Riders were jumpy right from the start, with aging tiger Andrea Tafi (Alessio-Bianchi) going an early solo move at 70km. The former classics

Paolo Bettini hasn’t won a World Cup race all season long, but he’s poised to claim his third consecutive globe in this weekend’s Giro di Lombardia in Italy. The Olympic champion finished sixth in Sunday’s Paris-Tours, enough to slip 13 points ahead of arch-rival Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) and tighten the grip on what will be the final World Cup competition as the series will be eliminated in next year’s Pro Tour. Bettini now holds a lead with 340 points after Rebellin could only finish 13th in the bunch sprint Sunday on Avenue Grammont and slipped to second at 327. The Quick Step rider

Flying Dutchman Erik Dekker measured his efforts just right to pull off a stunning victory in Sunday’s Paris-Tours. The 34-year-old Rabobank veteran was off the front all day as part of a five-man breakaway across the Loire Valley in France. When his fellow escapees dissolved under pressure from the fast-charging peloton, Dekker hitched a ride with a counter-attack late in the 252.5km race. Dekker sprinted hard with 500 yards to go to hold off the peloton and notch his first major victory since his injury-plagued 2002 season. “In the end, everybody was chasing me thinking I was tired,

At 4:45 a.m. Sunday morning, 23-year-old cross-country sensation Adam Craig woke up in Lake Tahoe, California, after a long night spent as the best man at his high-school friend’s wedding. Less than 12 hours later, the Maxxis-Giant rider crossed the finish line as the winner of the Grand Prix of Cyclo-Cross held at Fort Steilacoom Park in Tacoma, Washington. Clear skies and warm weather marked a contrast to Saturday’s Cannondale Stümptown Gran Prix, held in Portland, Oregon, as did the fast, spread-out 4.4km course that differed from the muddy hairpin turns found surrounding the Alpenrose

It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. With the new 10-racecyclo-cross World Cup kicking off on Belgian turf and Belgians sweepingthe world’s podium for the past three years, one might suspect that itwould be a Belgian who would take top honors at Wortegem-Petegem,Belgium, on Sunday. But the Czech Republic’s Zdenek Mlynar emerged at the front of a 20-ridergroup to take the first round of the 2004/05 World Cup. Because it hadn't rained for days in the usually wet environs of thisFlemish hamlet, the course was unusually hard and fast. Indeed, coupledwith the UCI’s recent aversion to tough

[nid:29504]If the standard perception of Northwestern cyclo-cross racing conjures images of mud splattered riders battling it out in the driving rain, then the opening round of the inaugural Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross did nothing to change that image.

Rest and RecoveryDear Joe and Dirk,Help me understand "recovery days." I know what all the training manuals,including yours, say, and my body sure seems to need them. My problem is,I never hear about pros having them. Every time I read about a pro's trainingschedule, it involves riding three to six hours a day, and none of it soundseasy. I asked a member of Sierra Nevada, our local pro team, about recoverydays and he looked at me like I was insane. Or, read Bob Roll's descriptionof training with Lance for a week in "Bobke 2" -- no recovery days there,I'll tell you. So are the pros just

The "Weekend 'Cross Wrap" is a service of VeloNews.com.Stories and results are provided by race promoters and are not producedby VeloNews or VeloNews.com. Promoters are welcome to submit race reportsthroughout the cyclo-cross season to Rosters@7Dogs.com.Reports may be edited for length and clarity.

How satisfying it must feel to be Oscar Freire when the days grow shorter and the leaves begin to turn. There’s something extra gratifying about winning the last big event of the year, when instead of just getting back to work in the following weeks, you can enjoy the success in the quiet off-season. Winning the world championships is cycling’s version of a walk-off homer, the buzzer beating swish. And no one in today’s pro ranks does it better than Freire, a Spaniard who put his name alongside cycling legends Alfredo Binda, Rik Van Steenbergen and Eddy Merckx by winning his third world road

Rafaá Chtioui dropped like a rock off the final passage over the Torricelli climb to electrify an already attack-riddled junior men's road race Saturday and make history. The tall, gangly Tunisian didn’t win. That honor went to calculating Czech rider Roman Kreuziger, but Chtioui took second and became the first African rider to win a world road championship medal. “All of Tunisia is smiling with me now,” said the happy 6-foot-3 18-year-old from a suburb of Tunis. “It’s the first time a Tunisia has won anything in cycling and it’s the first time an African has won a medal. I am very

After three days of time trial competition in Bardolino, Italy, road racing at the 2004 world championships got underway on a foggy Friday morning in the city of Verona. The first to don the rainbow stripes in Verona was Marianne Vos of the Netherlands, the winner of the 73.75km junior women’s road race. On a course similar to the one used in 1999, when road world’s were last held here, Vos won on a solo breakaway after escaping 8km from the finish near an ancient Roman arena in Verona’s Piazza Brà. After several attempts by others to get away on the Torricelle climb, the main obstacle in

After producing two solo wins in two races on the opening day of the road racing portion of the world road and time trial championships in Verona, Italy, on Friday, it’s clear that the course, with its punchy climb up the Torricelle, can be selective. In Friday afternoon’s race, the little known Belarussian Kanstantsin Siutsou became the latest gold medalist after winning with flair in the under-23 men’s road race. Siutsou, impressive in the manner in which he stood up to the powerhouse squads including Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Russia and Spain among others, outlasted everyone to

Wow, is it really October already? I guess it must be, from today’s activity in my checking account. Judging from the automatic deposit of my twice-a-month paycheck, and my impending automatic mortgage payment, it must be the beginning of the month again. Between debit and credit cards and online payments, it’s amazing how you never actually even see your money these days. Then again, the way I tend to blow through cash when it’s in hand, I suppose that’s a good thing.

Dekker takes the sprint for second.

The final stage of the CD&P Bermuda Grand Prix, the Cheerios Dockyard Criterium, was held at the old Naval Dockyard’s at the far end of the island. Cruise ships, quaint tourist shops, and various bars and restaurants now inhabit the Dockyards, at one time a base for the British fleet. The Elite women set off on a perfectly sunny afternoon for a 50-minute race with multiple sprints throughout. With both time bonus primes and sprint points in the Women’s Prestige Cycling series to contend with, the pace stayed hot throughout the event. Despite multiple chances to split the field the

A demanding road course rearranged the general classification in boththe men’s and women’s fields at the CD&P Bermuda Grand Prix Saturday.The circuit, approximately 10 kilometers in length, contained shortsteep hills, brutal cross wind sections, and wild chickens to avoid nearthe finishing stretch.During the Women’s Elite race intermediate sprints were a main concern.With the overall classification tightly stacked together, almost twentyriders were within seconds of taking the lead. A sly counterattack after a time bonus sprint by Kenda Tire’s KateSherwin netted a large gap over the field

Cruz one more year with DiscoveryTony Cruz will ride with Discovery Channel in 2005. Cruz is on the cusp of finishing the 2004 Vuelta a España and told VeloNews he’s already penned a contract to race next year as the team switches title sponsors from U.S. Postal Service to Discovery Channel. “I got a better deal with the team and I’m ready just to start winning races,” Cruz told VeloNews after Thursday’s stage into Ávila. “I’m satisfied with this Vuelta and with how the season went. I will be more confident next year to win more races.” Cruz enjoyed a banner year in 2004 which saw the

The Bermuda Grand Prix kicked off Thursday evening in downtown Hamilton. Cruise ships sat stoically near the start-finish as racers sped down the main strip and tourists cheered from the balconies of bars and restaurants lining the course. While the island has a distinctly laid-back vibe, the race did not. With a steep climb, a 180-degree turn, and thousands of dollars in primes on the line, the course took a toll on both the men and women's fields. In the 30-minute elite women's race, Webcor, Quark, Genesis and Rona all took turns attacking the front, eventually splitting the field into a

Racing again after the rest day is always a bit of a shock to the system. After a day without hard efforts in the legs, the body shuts down, therefore when the first attacks go the following day it feels quite painful. The other things that make these stages hard is that everybody is fresh, or fresher, and is eager to attack and race. We were faced with a fairly flat stage towards Careres, yesterday, the day after our rest day. As Petacchi went home on the weekend, and Zabel lost most of his teammates early in the Vuelta, there were no teams willing to control the race for a field sprint

It’s that time of year again, when the rumor mill starts spinning with tales of trades and transfers. And while the majority of domestic teams aren’t yet ready to make any official announcements yet, there appear to be a few “done deals” that should have a profound effect on next year’s North American road racing calendar. Sources indicate the biggest shakeup is taking place on the Colavita Olive Oil squad, as a pair of GC contenders, Will Frischkorn and Nathan O’Neill, as well as star-sprinter Ivan Dominguez are all reportedly moving on to different programs. Again, nothing’s yet been

The road to Madrid is always bumpy in the Vuelta a España. A day after Wednesday’s decisive stage to La Covatilla, Thursday’s four-climb 196.6km stage from Béjar to Avila was perfect for a breakaway. In fact, one stayed away with journeyman Javier Pascual Rodriguez (Valenciana-Kelme) hanging on for his team's fourth win of this Vuelta. But there was certainly no cease-fire among the favorites. While Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) was able to hold his 1:13 lead over Santi Pérez (Phonak), several challengers went on the attack on yet another blistering hot day. Fourth-place Francisco Mancebo

The UCI 1.6 Univest Grand Prix is America’s premier elite amateur event, traditionally taking top domestic and international riders around a 100km loop through the Pennsylvania countryside before taking on 13 laps of a brutal 5km finishing loop through the towns of Souderon and Telford. But when you’re at the top of your class, there’s always someone waiting to take you down a peg. In this case, it was the remains of Hurricane Ivan, which plowed its way northward to douse the Univest course with five inches of rainfall on race day. Washed-out roads, downed trees, and flooding on the long lap

Phonak came to the Vuelta a España hoping for big things from Tyler Hamilton and Oscar Sevilla. With Hamilton gone and Sevilla struggling, the Swiss team has been more than happy to watch Santiago Perez step into the void. On Thursday’s etapa reina, the three-climb monster that saw Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) claw his way into the overall lead, Perez finished an impressive second behind the two-time Vuelta champion. The result was a jolt of positive energy for the 27-year-old Spanish rider, who has had his share of hard knocks the past few years. “I was able to stay with the strongest

Alessandro Petacchi sped into Málaga Friday, outsprinting Erik Zabel, and offering up his traditional victory salute, this time raising four fingers – the number of stages he’s won thus far in this year’s Vuelta a España You’d think some days he’d lose count. The win is the 21st of the year for Fassa Bortolo’s sprint ace, the 13th in a major tour this season, joining the nine he won at this year’s Giro d’Italia. Indeed, Petacchi’s only disappointment this year is that he failed to score a single victory in this year’s Tour de France, after he tore a ligament in his shoulder in a

Hamilton goes homeOlympic time trial champion Tyler Hamilton did not take the start to Friday’s 13th stage at the Vuelta a España. Hamilton won stage eight to become the first American to win stages in all three grand tours, but faded out of contention on the steep climbing finish to Aitana the following day. Hamilton complained of stomach problems that kept him from properly feeding during the race and said he felt sapped of strength up Aitana. He suffered again Thursday, finishing uncharacteristically in the last group at 31 minutes behind winner Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros). “He had

Roberto Heras insisted that a win on the slopes of Calar Alto wasn’t in his game plan for Thursday. The defending Vuelta a España champion said after winning the 145km 12th stage from Almería to the Observatory complex at Calar Alto that he had simply hoped to “put a little time on some of my main rivals.” Whatever his game plan, the Liberty Seguros team captain found himself putting time on all of his rivals, including Kelme’s Alejandro Valverde and the man who began the day in the leader’s jersey, Floyd Landis of U.S. Postal. Landis finished 3:06 off Heras’s winning time, ending the

San Francisco is one of the most culturally diverse, cosmopolitan cities in North America, and environmentally, it is one of the most beautiful as well. For a cyclist, the beauty of San Francisco is having all the conveniences of a big city, plus great riding to boot. With T-Mobile sponsoring the Grand Prix in San Francisco, I came early to take part in a few media and sponsor events, and managed to squeeze in some enjoyable training each day. We would head towards the Golden Gate Bridge on the Embarcadero, roll across the bridge and then ride up Mount Tamalpais or along the bike path after

Two weeks ago, when we arrived at the start of the Vuelta, we sat down as a team, had a meeting and talked about our goals for the race. The team time trial was our first goal — from there, we would aim for stage victories, first in the field sprints with Max and second as individuals trying to win out of breakaways. Max pointed to the third and 11th stages as ones he was looking to win. The third stage ended up being too hard an uphill sprint for him, and he didn’t make it to the 11th — but Dave did, and he took the stage in his grasp and rode away with the victory. Dave has had a lot of

SOUDERTON, Pa., September 10, 2004—Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania (listed on NASDAQ: UVSP), today announced that Jonathan Vaughters, a former professional rider and a stage winner at the 2001 Tour de France, will lead the Cyclosportif 100K ride at the seventh annual Univest Grand Prix on Saturday, September 18. All proceeds from the ride will benefit the Indian Creek Foundation in Harleysville, Pa. Vaughters, considered one of the greatest mountain racers in U.S. history, was a long-time record holder on the famous Mt. Ventoux (France) climb, a record he set in the 1999 Dauphiné

It’s as predictable as the swallows to Capistrano: Big tour, flat stage, early break, heart-breaking capture and a field sprint. It happens so often that one begins to wonder, why bother? But every now and then one of those early gambles pays off. This time it was U.S. Postal’s David Zabriskie who hit the jackpot in the 11th stage of the Vuelta a España with an exhausting 161km solo ride to the finish. The win added another to the team’s laurels this Vuelta, as team leader Floyd Landis stayed in the maillot de oro for another day, keeping the jersey in Postal hands, where it’s been since

It almost had to be. Not only had Kelme’s Eladio Jimenez won when the 2000 Vuelta finished here at Xorret de Catí, he had done so while working for his then Banesto team leader, the late Jose Maria Jimenez, who won the stage in 1998. On Monday, after winning the tenth stage of the 2004 Vuelta a España, Eladio Jiminez took his laurels from none other than the great 1960s climbing sensation Julio Jimenez. Are we beginning to see a pattern here? Unlike his win in 2000 – a battle of top climbers – Jimenez’s win this time around came at the end of a long, long, break that began in the first

British national champion Nicole Cooke (Safi Pasta-Zara Manhattan) broke away on the final climb up San Francisco's steep Taylor Street to win the T-Mobile International on Sunday. It was the second consecutive win here for the 21-year-old Cooke, who soloed in for the victory ahead of the charging field in the 51.6-mile race, which started and finished on the Embarcadero, near San Francisco's famous Ferry Building. After Quark’s Manon Jutras spent a lap away with a maximum lead of 50 seconds, the French Canadian was brought back with two laps remaining. T-Mobile’s Dede Barry then

The third time was not a charm for Jason McCartney, who was off the front alone and apparently bound for victory in the final miles of the T-Mobile International in San Francisco Sunday. His Health Net-Maxxis team had put five riders - McCartney, Danny Pate, Mike Sayers, John Lieswyn and Mike Jones - into an early 15-man break in the hilly 108.4-mile race, the finale of the 2004 Pro Cycling Tour. With nine 8.8-mile laps and five five-mile laps, the course dished up a total of 23 trips up the steep Fillmore and Taylor Street climbs, peaking at gradients of over 20 percent. Also in the break

A California teen-ager is America's newest national sprint champion as the USCF Elite Track National Championships concluded this weekend at the Superdrome in Frisco, Texas. Eighteen-year-old Michael Blatchford of Cypress, California, began his season by setting records in the 200-meter qualifying rounds at the Pan Am Championships and went on to become the junior national match-sprint champion and the silver medalist in the sprint at the junior world championships. On Friday, he added an elite-level national title to his collection, beating 2004 Olympian Giddeon Massie (Lansdale,

With six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong out of Sunday’s T-Mobile International in San Francisco, the 108-mile race is wide open. And while defending champion Chris Horner (Webcor Builders) was hesitant to predict victory, as he did a year ago, Horner’s teammate Charles Dionne was less reluctant. The Canadian sprinter, who won the race in 2002 and has enjoyed a strong showing this season after an injury-plagued 2003, said his form “is similar, if not better than in 2002.” “I’ve been training on the hills in Québec, which is similar to San Francisco but with less traffic,”

Belgian Nick Nuyens (Quick Step-Davitamon) won the 84th edition of Paris-Brussels on Saturday, edging Philippe Gilbert (Fdjeux.com) and Denmark’s Allan Johansen (BankGiroLoterij). Briton Jeremy Hunt (MrBookmaker.com) won the field sprint for fourth a few seconds later. The race really began 60km from the finish when the favorites’ teams decided to end a long breakaway by Netherlander Rudie Kemna (BankGiroLoterij) and Frenchman Benoit Poilvet (Crédit Agricole), who had an 11-minute lead on the bunch. Quick Step worked particularly hard to bring them back. Meanwhile, Italian Paolo Bettini

If he’s there, he wins. Alessandro Petacchi may have missed the cut on a relatively tough day of climbing Wednesday, but he sure made up for it Thursday, scoring his third victory of this edition of the Vuelta a España. “I know this finish, it seemed almost perfect for me,” the Fassa Bortolo sprinter said. “I asked my team to do what they could for me and they came through and they did so on what has to be the best run to the finish at this Vuelta . . . at least as far as the sprinters are concerned.” It was one surely designed with riders like Petacchi in mind: a wide, nearly

A week has of racing has almost passed, we are now in Valencia on the Mediterranean, and the team has held on to the gold leader’s jersey for the entire week. Triki has now held it for a couple of days, and with each passing moment in gold he becomes more of a Spanish hero. He has been grinning like a kid that has just found a jar full of cookies. The countryside has become a little more interesting in the last two days. We have gone from Alberta-like prairie to Southern California-style hills and orange groves, from straight roads in the open wind to sinuous and undulating roads along the

Becky Conzelman continued her winning ways during the USCF Elite Track Nationals on Thursday, adding a victory in the 500 meter time trial to her gold medal in the previous day's sprint finals. The Pennsylvania native turned a 36.272 at the Superdrome in Frisco, Texas, to best silver medalist Annette Hanson (Kirkland, Washington) and bronze medalist Miranda Moon (Beaverton, Oregon). In the 200 meter time trial, 18-year-old Michael Blatchford, a resident at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, turned a 10.719 to win gold over 2004 Olympians Giddeon Massie (Lansdale,

Mark Garrett muscles up in the 200m sprint qualifier

Gideon Massie in the men's sprint