Fred Rodriguez (Caldirola-Duval) has left the door open for a possible start at the October road world championships. Earlier this month, Rodriguez told U.S. national team coach Jim Ochowicz he wasn't interested in racing in Hamilton, but has since changed his mind after finding his legs in the second half of the Vuelta a España. "Ochowicz needed to know by September 15 and at that point I thought I needed to shut it down. But I'm feeling better now and I told George (Hincapie) if he needs me, if he feels like the team isn't strong enough, to give me a call," Rodriguez told VeloNews before

Everybody in the peloton is still waiting for an early breakaway to stick and go to the line. It still hasn’t happened and as a result three quarters of the peloton is trying to get in the elusive break. The race is still going from the gun each day and never relents. Because of that, we averaged close to 48kph on a hilly circuit on Wednesday. We have now left the olive groves in the south and are on a train to Madrid. The entire peloton and most of the staff is aboard a bullet train and are headed from Cordoba towards the capital. We’ll be in Madrid for the next four days-until the race’s

Dear readers;I am writing this from Italy, a few days after I had the chance to visit Milan for what has to be one of the world’s best bike shows. So if you don’t mind, I would like to start my weekly column with a look at fewof the treasures I spotted at Milan’s EICMA show. Conducted under gorgeous warm, sunny weather, the 61st EICMA bicycleand motorcycle show marks the official launch of a new road season. Italy is a great place for a show, and Milan in particular, because of the heritage of great design. As always, gorgeous Italian bicycles are in abundance, and the theme of ever more

Saturday’s stage started at the gravesite of Michela Fanini, an Italian rider who I raced against a few times in the early 1990s before she died instantly in an automobile accident. Cathy Marsal and I were reminiscing about the last race we both competed in with Michela. It was the 1994 World Championships in Sicily. Cathy was in a breakaway with her and they both crashed just a few kilometers from the finish. Michela was a super talented bike racer and from what it seems like; she came from a cycling family. Since her death, her father has been promoting the Tour of Tuscany in her memory

The 8.3km final hump to La Pandera to cap the 172km 15th stage of the Vuelta a España proved too short for Roberto Heras (U.S. Postal) and too steep for Isidro Nozal (ONCE), but just right for Alejandro Valverde (Kelme). Heras attacked as promised, but couldn't make up the time he needed to against Nozal on the steepest climb of the Vuelta. The young race leader forfeited some time to his rival - 1 minute, 11 seconds - but retained a comfortable 4:02 margin over Heras. "We're still pretty happy with how things went," said Johan Bruyneel, U.S. Postal's sport director. "The team controlled

Stage 2 has historically been the most decisive in the Giro Toscana — often, the race has been won or lost on this day. It was hot at the start of the stage, which took us up two short category-3 climbs followed by two 10km ascents to the picturesque town of Volterra. We had a laugh at the start of the stage, as Svetlana Boubnekova and Zita Urbanaite had a bit of a cat fight on the bike and were yelling and hitting each other. I am not really sure what they were arguing about, but everyone gave them a little space in the bunch and they finally seemed to work it out and quiet down. Mountain

Germany's Michael Rich (Gerolsteiner) won the 67th Grand Prix des Nations time trial Sunday in Dieppe, France. Rich, who will celebrate his 34th birthday on Tuesday, won the 70km race,the biggest time trial in the world, by a second from Belgian specialist Bert Roesems. Ukrainian veteran Serhiy Honcher came third ahead of defending champion Uwe Peschel of Germany, with Hungarian Laszlo Bodrogi finishing fifth and Australian Michael Rogers sixth. Rich is also the reigning German time-trial champion. Switzerland’s Karin Thuerig won the 35km women’s race, outpacing last year’s winner, German

Alessandro Petacchi just can’t help himself. Even in the sloppy sprint finish at the end of Saturday’s 14th stage, the Fassa Bortolo strong man still had the legs to claim his fourth stage of the Vuelta a España. Giovanni Lombardi (Domina Vacanze) tried to surprise Petacchi with an early sprint, but the Italian surged late to hold off Fred Rodriguez (Caldirola) by a half-bike length to claim victory. “This certainly was the hardest stage to win,” said Petacchi, who came through in 3 hours, 44 minutes, 16 seconds (44.9 kph). “It was a very strange sprint. Lombardi started very early and I

They’re called abanicos in Spanish – echelons to the rest of the cycling world – and U.S. Postal Service played the peloton like a fiddle in the brisk cross-winds of Thursday’s 168.8km 12th stage of the Vuelta a España. With 50km to go, Postal Service massed at the front as the peloton roared across the bleak, treeless plains of Castilla-La Mancha. Strong winds were cracking from the left and the Posties' blistering pace quickly blew the peloton into three groups. Caught out of position were Fassa Bortolo’s Dario Frigo, who started the day fourth at 3:05 back, and defending champion Aitor

I feel as if I haven’t stopped moving for the past week. Seven days ago, I was sitting tranquilly in our little apartment in Spain and since then, I have traveled to San Francisco, attended several sponsor events, visited with friends, raced in San Rafael and in the T-Mobile International, traveled to Italy, and started racing in the week-long Giro Toscana. Welcome to the world of a professional cyclist. Amazingly, I still feel energetic and am eager to get on the bike each day. While arriving at the prologue yesterday in Pistoia, we were notified of an unfortunate accident that had

Being in San Francisco this past weekend felt like a bit of homecoming, as it was my first visit to the United States since the Philadelphia Liberty Classic in June. I have been in Europe most of the summer, training and racing. It was neat to see everyone in American cycling gathered for this event. I have nice memories of the race in San Francisco. The last time I was here was to watch my husband, Michael, race through the streets and up the hills. I wasn’t racing much at the time and was attending school so I walked around the course, wandering through the hundreds of thousands of

Dear Lennard;I have 1990 Campagnolo 8-speed set-up, which still works fine, but,I have beaten my two sets of wheels to a pulp and they can no longer betrued to round. I would like some lighter, new-fangled (and hopefully round)wheels, however none of the new-fangled wheelsets are compatible with Campy8-speed and you can't buy new Campy 8-speed hubs anymore. Now,  I’mtoo cheap to drop $700+ to upgrade the whole drive-train to Shimano 9 orCampy 9/10, then another $300 to $800 on wheels. Do you have any feedback on how well the "Wheels Manufacturing CassetteConversion Kit" works? Excel Sports

Erik Zabel might not be as fast as he used to be, but the Telekom veteran still got around the man who is regarded as the peloton’s fastest these days to win Monday´s 10th stage of the Vuelta a España. Fassa Bortolo´s Alessandro Petacchi delivered on his promise to get through the Pyrénées and almost rewarded his team with his third Vuelta victory, but Zabel had his own plans. After Fassa and ONCE worked hard to reel in a six-man break early in the race and control a frenetic final 10km, Petacchi shot to the line with 400 meters to go up a slightly rising finish into Sabadell, a Barcelona

Coming into the final stretch of the T-Mobile International, Saturn’s Chris Horner knew he’d won the race, he just didn’t know preciselywhen. Away on a solo break — with a one-minute advantage over teammate Mark McCormack and loud crowds drowning out his earpiece — Horner passed through the start/finish area on San Francisco’s Embarcadero and kept right on rolling until spectators lining the area waved him around. “I absolutely believed I had another [5-mile] lap to ride,” Horner smiled, adding, “And I would have held them all off if I had to.” Course understanding aside, Horner and USPRO

Who could have imagined a bunch sprint atop a 2410-meter chunk of rock in the heart of the Pyrénées? But that's just what happened in Sunday's 174.8km ninth stage. Okay, it wasn't a classic Mario Cipollini train, but Kelme phenom Alejandro Valverde won a 13-up sprint in an exciting summit finish up the "especial" Port d'Envalira climb in Andorra. "I'm very happy. I don't know what to say," said Valverde after nipping Italian Dario Frigo (Fassa Bortolo). "This stage was full speed all day. The team had a lot of confidence in me. I'm very happy with what's happened so far." Despite efforts

Swiss Alex Zülle (Phonak), double winner of the Vuelta a España (1996 and 1997), abandoned this year’s race on Sunday and said he would not race any more grand tours. Obviously tired, the 35-year-old Zülle – who was 114th overall at more than an hour off the lead – told Spanish radio: "I can’t keep the pace. You will not see me me any more in the Vuelta. It was my last grand tour. I will re-examine my calendar the next year, and I will take part only in small tours and the classics." Twice on the podium of the Tour de France (1996 and 1999), Zülle excelled in time trials but was less

Defending Vuelta champion Aitor Gonzalez has had a season he'd like to forget. Now he's making a Vuelta he wants to remember. Although he won a stage at the Giro d'Italia, Gonzalez couldn't deliver the big win for his Fassa Bortolo team. Then his Tour de France was short-circuited by a virus that ran through the Fassa team and sent everyone home early except Ivan Basso and two teammates. Going into the Vuelta's second week, Gonzalez is slowly coming back to life, and he let the peloton see it on the Col del Portillón at 120km into Saturday's eighth stage when he rode strongly over the steep

The Bay Area is heating up as riders from across the globe have amassed in San Francisco for the T-Mobile International, an event that, in just its third year, is being hailed as the strongest field ever assembled on American soil. Organized and directed under San Francisco Cycling LLC, a joint cooperative of Tailwind Sports, the management company that runs the U.S. Postal Service Cycling Team, and Threshold Sports, organizing body of the Pro Cycling Tour, the event has again drawn Postal’s Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, as well as first-time appearances from two-time Giro

The king is dead; long live the king No, those weren’t obscene gestures from Alessandro Petacchi as he roared across the finish line victorious in Wednesday’s 165km fifth stage of the Vuelta a España. Two fingers, then six and another four followed by another two -- that was Petacchi’s version of sign language for what has been his history-making season. Petacchi became the first rider in history to win at least two stages in every major tour and wanted the rest of the world to know. “I made signs to show that it wasn’t by chance that I won. If you win once you can say it’s just luck,”

Winning a stage in any grand tour used to be a big deal for the Euskaltel-Euskadi team until the orange-clad Basques barnstormed through this summer’s Tour de France. Haimar Zubeldia and Iban Mayo were the Tour revelations, with Mayo winning at Alpe d’Huez and Zubeldia and Mayo finishing 5-6, respectively. Since both have pulled the plug on their seasons, stage victories might be all Euskaltel can hope for in the 2003 Vuelta a España. Euskaltel worked two riders into the winning move Tuesday and Unai Etxebarria slipped away from an eight-man break with just under 15km to go in the 151km

Fassa Bortolo's Alessandro Petacchi won the third stage of the 2003 Vuelta a España, a 154.3km race from Cangas de Onís to Santander on Monday. By easily out-sprinting Telekom's Erik Zabel and Quick Step's Tom Boonen, Petacchi became only the third rider in history to win stages in all three grand tours in the same season and the first to do it since 1958, when Italian Pierino Baffi achieved the feat 45 years ago. Petacchi won six stages in the Giro d'Italia and four in the Tour de France this year. "I'm very happy because I wanted to win in the three big races and give this win to the

Jonas Carney (Prime Alliance) wrapped-up the American Criterium Championship Series by winning the 42nd Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix Sunday afternoon. This was his fourth win in the seven-race series which includes some of America’s longest-running and most notorious criteriums (Athens Twilight, Superweek, Tour of Somerville) and ended Sunday in Manhattan Beach. Racers competed on a 1.4 mile loop, an out-and-back course along North Valley Road which included two 180-degree turns and a short, seven-percent grade climb at the halfway mark. With a headwind along one straightaway and the

The Vuelta, unlike any other three-week race, started with a tough day in the mountains. Climbing the second day of the race is dangerous for the GC riders, especially after a tough TTT the night before. In our team meeting before the race we talked about the climbs and how the Vuelta could be lost on stage 2, but not won. At the end of the day, this was the case with several team leaders minutes off of the overall lead. The last few days we have woken up to gray skies and threatening rain. On Sunday, rain began to fall down half way through the stage, just prior to the second climb. ONCE

Johan Museeuw may miss the road cycling world championships in Canada next month after his house was raided in a police drugs investigation, his manager said in an interview published on Saturday. "I still have full confidence in Johan Museeuw," Patrick Lefevere, manager of the Quick-Step team told La Derniere Heure - Les Sports. "The inquiry will prove Johan made no errors. But, on the other hand, I fear his image is damaged." Museeuw will continue with his race program over the next few days starting with the Dutch Delta Ronde this weekend, but Lefevere said his preparation for the

After three days of sitting around in a hotel and counting the hours and then minutes until the start, the Vuelta is finally under way. The course around Spain this year takes us first through the Pyrénées, then along the east coast toward the southern peaks, and then up to Madrid. The course suits our team, with six mountain stages where Chechu, Roberto and Triki can shine, some flatter potentially windy days where the rest of us can control the race from the front, and some sprint stages where Max can show his strengths. The team has come to the Vuelta this year with perhaps the

Readers who caught DedeDemet-Barry’s diary from the eighth round of the women's World Cupheld in Nürnberg, Germany, may have been concerned about the statusof Saturn rider Lyne Bessette, who was taken down in a crash just 2km intothe race and landed squarely on her head and right shoulder.Although her helmet was shattered and she remembers none of the crash,Bessette emerged relatively unscathed.“I just came back from the doctor and it’s really positive,” Bessettereported Thursday afternoon. “My head and neck are fine. It’s just a broken[right] collarbone, but nothing else. It’s broken

Veterinarian Jos Landuyt has admitted selling hormones to professional cyclists, the public prosecutor's office in Kortrijk in western Belgium has said. Landuyt, who comes from Oostrozebeke, which is about 15km from Kortrijk, was interviewed late on Thursday after police raided 20 houses, including that of the country's leading cyclist, Johan Museeuw. The prosecutors' office mentioned no cyclists by name, and Musseuw has yet to make any comment to the media on the matter. Kintana withdraws from Vuelta after B test positiveSpanish rider Aitor Kintana has withdrawn from the Tour of Spain

Tour revelation Iban Mayo looks to be staying with Euskaltel-Euskadi after all despite a flurry of reports that he was prepared to join a foreign team after last-minute haggling over his contract became too much. Mayo won the stage to Alpe d’Huez to become one of the hottest tickets in Spanish cycling. Last week, he was poised to sign a three-year contract extension to stay with the boys in orange from Spain’s Basque Country. But late bickering over the final amount almost torpedoed the deal and Mayo was prepared to join a foreign team, with such squads at Rabobank, Saeco and Quick Step

A crop of top quality, home-grown riders will be vying for top honors when the 58th edition of the Vuelta a España gets underway in the northern coastal city of Gijon on Saturday. Spanish riders have dominated the race for the past three years and with big guns Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich preferring to stay away and focus their preparations on next year's Tour de France they should have a chance to maintain their supremacy. But even without the presence of the top two from this year's French race, the Vuelta promises to be an exciting affair after the organizers again opted for a

The big news of Tyler Hamilton's transfer to the Swiss Phonak team has made headlines throughout Europe. Hamilton enjoyed a banner year, winning Liége-Bastogne-Liége, the Tour of Romandie and a stage in the Tour de France while riding with a fractured collar bone. The New Englander officially announced Monday a two-year deal to join the Phonak team, which has yet to race in the Tour. Team officials were upbeat about their chances to earn a place in the 2004 Tour. "Over the past two years our strategy has been in keeping with the marketing strategy of the sponsor: young, international, but

Injured Tour de France contender Joseba Beloki said he'll wait one more week for ONCE sport director Manolo Saiz to find a new sponsor before signing with a foreign team. Beloki, 30, told the Spanish daily AS that he wants to stay with Saiz if he can find a new sponsor to take over for the Spanish lottery ONCE, which is ending its long-running sponsorship at the end of this season. "I'll wait one more week for Saiz. If nothing happens, I'll sign with a foreign team," Beloki said. The three-time Tour podium finisher has been linked to such teams as Rabobank, CSC, Gerolsteiner and Phonak,

After a week of training with Michael and a couple of his teammates in the Pyrénées, I was feeling super motivated to race. The boys whipped me into flying form, as I followed them up col after col, panting away. They were doing long, steady rides in the mountains in preparation for the upcoming Vuelta a España, but for me, it was like two to five hours of motor pacing each day. I boarded a plane Saturday night for Nuremberg, after a slight glitch in my travel arrangements. I was happy to arrive at the hotel at a reasonable enough hour to have a good dinner and sleep. None of my T-Mobile

It took a long, long time. Fourteen years, to be precise. But finally I'm there! I started my international mountain-biking career in 1990 by winning the silver medal at the first-ever world championship in Durango, Colorado. Ever since, I have been hunting the rainbow jersey, which is a mystic emblem to any professional cyclist. So many times I was close to winning it – 1990, ‘91, ‘92 and 2001, with the silver medal. In 1994, as the favorite for the title, I broke my collarbone the day before the race. In 1996, I finished second only to become world champion four years later, due to Jerome

Mark McCormack (Saturn) and Genevieve Jeanson (Rona/Esker) left little doubt Monday as each won their fourth consecutive stage of the Mad River Valley Green Mountain Stage Race in Vermont. The Voler Burlington Criterium offered little if any rest to the riders, as the unique general classification points format required racers to stay aggressive throughout this final stage. Certainly that was true in McCormack’s case as he countered a brief early attack with Mark Walters (Navigators) and went clear to stay. McCormack and Walters rode a very smart race, working well together and maintaining

Mark McCormack (Saturn) and Geneviève Jeanson (Rona-Esker) followed their victories in Friday’s prologue by winning stage 1 of the Mad River Valley Green Mountain Stage Race, the Moretown Circuit Race. McCormack, who has won this race in each of the previous two years, got into a break with Mark Walters (Navigators), Cameron Hughes (LeMond Fitness-Cra-Z Soap), Tim Johnson (Saturn), and Alex Lavallee (Trek-Volkswagen) at the top of the second KOM sprint. With the top-three overall riders on board, the group maintained its lead, despite several attempts from riders in the field to bridge.

After 78km of racing through the foothills of the Swiss Alps in harsh, windy conditions, the battle for the World Mountain Bike Marathon Championship in Lugano came down to the final 100 meters on Sunday as hometown hero Thomas Frischknecht outsprinted Bart Brentjens of the Netherlands to claim the first-ever world marathon title. Carsten Bresser of Germany rounded out the podium in third, four minutes behind the leaders. With more than 9300 feet of climbing and strong alpine winds, the elements and topography alone provided enough opportunity for the favorites to sort themselves out at

Jan Ullrich won't be racing in October's world championships, his manager Wolfgang Strohband told the German news agency SID on Sunday. Strohband said the 29-year-old would end his season in next week's Hessen Rundfahrt in Germany to close up his 2003 season. Officials from the T-Mobile race are trying to persuade the Bianchi rider to start the Sept. 14 race in San Francisco, but SID reported Ullrich will attend the Formula 1 race in Italy the same day to kick off his vacation. "I didn't race that much this year and I don't want to overdo it," Ullrich told SID. "To prepare for the world's

Erin Mirabella (Frisco Cycling Club) lapped the field and held off a late charge by Ashley Kimmet (Colavita-Bolla) to win the women’s points race Saturday during the final night of the USCF National Track Cycling Championships in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. The race started off slowly, but soon began to break apart. An attack by Lauren Shirock (Coyote Cycling) got the action rolling. Then Mari Holden (Team T-Mobile) and Kimmet, the 2001 junior world silver medalist in the points race, got away to take the lead with 35 laps remaining. Mirabella and Sarah Hammer (Team T-Mobile) charged to

Although Mark McCormack (Saturn) really had to really work for it, he and Geneviève Jeanson (Rona-Esker) made it three wins in three days during stage 2 of the Mad River Valley Green Mountain Stage Race, the Sugarbush Chamber Mad River Road Race. The men saw lots of breakaway attempts, but none succeeded as the GC leaders kept everything tight in the pack. As the riders approached the first of the two final climbs up to Appalachian Gap, Tim Johnson (Saturn) started to drive the field and formed two break groups in hopes of stretching out the field for McCormack. But when the field caught

Cody goes for the gold in the team sprint

Alfred in the sprint semi's

It was a rough-and-tumble evening of racing at the 2003 USCF National Track Cycling Championships at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania, as T-Mobile’s Chris Witty took the win in the women’s 500 and Jonas Carney took the win in what at times was a heated points race. That points race proved to be dramatic… almost as dramatic as the fight it triggered afterward. Early on, Prime Alliance, Ofoto-Lombardi, T.E.A.M. Fuji, and Navigators spread the points across the board with each trying to make a move that would stick – none of which was successful. Prime Alliance’s

Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu (Ag2r) won the 178km third stage of the 17th Tour de Poitou-Charentes in a sprint finish Thursday. Ukraine Yuri Mitlushenko (Landbouwkrediet) remains the overall leader. Cipo' still undecided on VueltaWorld champion Mario Cipollini’s disappearing act will be decided by this weekend when he’s expected to meet with Domina Vacanze patron Ernesto Preatoni, according to reports in the Italian press. Cipollini – who hasn’t raced since crashing out of the Giro d’Italia after setting a new stage-win record -- said he will decide whether he’ll start September’s Vuelta a

The second night of the 2003 USCF National Track Cycling Championships at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania played out under beautiful skies with low humidity and moderate temperatures. The fair weather proved to be a big help as times in both the men’s kilometer and team pursuit were quicker than in 2002. Team pursuit qualifiersIn the team pursuit final, the Jelly Belly/Carlsbad Clothing team featuring Tyler Farrar, Mariano Friedick, Curtis Gunn, and individual pursuit champion Adham Sbeih proved to be unbeatable after qualifying first this morning. The squad

Keirin and pursuit highlighted the action on the opening day of the 2003 USCF National Track Cycling Championships in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday. Marty Nothstein showed that he hadn’t lost too much of his track fitness when he rode away with the U.S. keirin title, one of two events the Navigators man hopes to take on in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Tuesday’s opening events began with a strong pursuit ride by Saturn’s Sarah Uhl. Uhl, in her first individual pursuit competition, took on former national pursuit champion Erin Mirabella (Frisco Cycling Club) in the final for first

Rabobank's Levi Leipheimer is racing in this week's Tour du Poitou Charentes(UCI 2.3), a five-day stage-race that starts Tuesday in France inwhat will be his final dress rehearsal for the 2003 Vuelta a España.The 29-year-old from Santa Rosa, Calif. crashed out of the first stageof the Tour de France after fracturing a bone in his hip and damaged musclesin his abductors and was forced off the bicycle for two weeks to recover."I had to do 12 days of doing nothing on the couch so the bone couldheal," Leipheimer told VeloNews. "I was starting from zero at theend of July. When you sit around that

1996 USPRO road champion Eddy Gragus (Trek-VW All Stars) won the general classification at the Estes Cycling Challenge, held August21-24 in and around Estes Park, Colorado. In the 3-mile prologue time trial, Gragus beat Ofoto’s Andy Bajadali by a scant eight-tenths of a second, setting up a two-man contest that would carry into the race’s final stage. Gragus took sixth the following day in the hot 84-mile Masonville road race, but was penalized 30-seconds for a centerline violation, putting Bajadali — second at Estes last year to Mercury’s Tom Danielson — in the lead by 19 seconds after

Andy Flickinger (AG2R) celebrated "the most beautiful day" of his cycling career, after sprinting to victory at the Grand Prix Plouay on Sunday. The 24-year-old Grenoble resident took a hard-fought win against Anthony Geslin (Brioches) and Nicolas Jalabert (CSC) at the end of the 198-kilometer race around Plouay. The day started out fast, with the field covering the first lap on a difficult14.4km circuit at nearly 45kph. Early on, a group of 40 riders managed to build a nearly two-minute lead on the field before being reeled in. Flickinger, however, timed his move correctly when he

Britain’s Nicole Cooke sprinted to victory Saturday in the Grand Prix de Plouay, the seventh round of the women’s World Cup. The high pace, nearly 40 km/h, saw to it that there were few attacks until just before midrace, when Jeannie Longo attacked and exploded the group. She was retrieved, however, and 2002 French champion Magali Floc’h took a shot, building a gap of four minutes with four laps to go. She, too, was eventually brought back, and Longo attacked once more, again without success. Then Juliette Vandekerckhove jumped away, and with two laps remaining she held a lead of 20 seconds

Brad McGee (Fdjeux.com) edged two-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) to claim the sixth and final stage of the 43rd Tour of Holland while U.S. Postal's Viatcheslav Ekimov secured overall victory. McGee, who won the prologue in the 2003 Tour de France and held the yellow jersey for three days, was part of a six-man break that peeled away late in the hilly, difficult conclusion to the five-day, six-stage Dutch tour. Ekimov didn't miss the move in the Limburg region of southern Holland and finished sixth in the sprint to secure the overall title, his first stage-race victory since

Second-guessing strategy is half the fun of any spectator sport, and there were a couple of good examples to come out of this past weekend’s USPRO Criterium Championship in Downers Grove, Illinois. Just minutes after the race, in which Kevin Monahan (7UP-Maxxis) beat Saturn’s Chris Horner and Mark McCormack for the race win and the stars-and-stripes jersey, McCormack readily admitted that he might have done things differently if he were presented with the same scenario again. Here’s how it played out. Heading toward the final turn, Horner and McCormack are one-two. McCormack decides to open

Russian warrior Viatcheslav Ekimov (U.S. Postal Service) surged to victory and into the overall lead after winning Thursday's 23km time trial in the fourth stage of the 43rd Tour of Holland. Ekimov, the reigning Olympic time trial champion, nipped Postal Service teammate Victor Hugo Peña by eight seconds in the race against the clock. Peña and Ekimov were both part of Postal's victorious team time trial victory in last month's Tour de France. The stage victory is Ekimov's first win since the 2001 season. The 37-year-old Russian walked away from cycling at the end of that season, but quickly

Team CSC’s Tyler Hamilton received 15 stitches in his left hand after crashing hard in Wednesday’s second stage of the Tour of Holland, but didn’t seriously injure his hip as initially feared. “No broken bones but the cut was bad enough to receive 15 stitches, so it was pretty bad,” said Team CSC’s sport director Sean Yates. “He didn’t break his hip, but it’s very sore and he can hardly walk.” Hamilton went down less than 10km to go and crossed the finish line in a gruesome image with blood splattered on his bicycle and team jersey. He was transported to a local hospital for treatment and

Alessandro Petacchi picked up where he left off in the Tour de France, sprinting to victory in the opening stage of the 43rd Tour of Holland. Petacchi won four stages before packing it in at the Tour and returned to racing Tuesday against an elite group of sprinters with the same result. A breakaway was reeled in just 15km from the finish to set up the mass gallop and Petacchi showed he's a man for all seasons. Petacchi edged Erik Zabel (Telekom) and Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) to score his 18th win of the season and grab the race leader's jersey as well. In addition to his four wins at the

Daniele Nardello (Telekom) held off a late charge by Jan Ullrich (Bianchi) with just 2km to go in Sunday's eighth round of the World Cup series to win the 236.6km Championship of Zurich. Nardello jumped away from a lead group of 18 riders with 9km to go in the closing flat along Lake Zurich while the lead group sent off dozens of unsuccessful counterattacks in a cat-and-mouse game that favored the Italian. Ullrich punched the accelerator with just under 2km to go, but it was too late. Nardello won in five hours, 55 minutes and 30 seconds with an average speed of 39.932 kph to deliver his

A year ago, when Kevin Monahan crossed the line at the USPRO Criterium Championship in Downers Grove, everything was up in the air. After a late-race crash took out half the field, Henk Vogels took the race win, with Monahan and Robbie Ventura (U.S. Postal Service) in a photo finish for second place. What a difference a year makes. After winning the race outright, Monahan began the celebration almost immediately, riding up and down Main St. Downers Grove and high fiving the crowd. It capped a day that saw another repeat victory – Tina Mayolo Pic (Diet Rite) taking the women’s crown – and

Whether you believe the pro-am event on the eve of the USPRO Criterium Championship in Downers Grove, Illinois, is a preview to the main event or simply just a tune-up, the Navigators put on a show, delivering Vassili Davidenko and Marty Nothstein to the line one-two in the men’s race, while in the women’s event, former national champion Nicole Freedman (Team Basis) showed she’s ready to take on the big teams in Sunday’s national title race. Freedman struggled with the hot, humid conditions in the suburbs of Chicago, but when the race boiled down to a field sprint after 45 minutes, the

Quick Step’s Paolo Bettini saddles up for a crucial eighth leg of the World Cup in Zürich, Switzerland, on Sunday knowing that Jan Ullrich could throw a major wrench into the works and end his impressive run of victories. The 29-year-old Italian champion took the World Cup lead last week after his stunning victory in the San Sebastian Classic. That win, which Bettini timed to perfection with a winning sprint ahead of compatriot Ivan Basso - Italy's best placed rider in the recent Tour de France - gave Bettini a 97-point lead over Lotto-Domo’s Peter Van Petegem. However on Sunday Bettini's

American Giddeon Massie has advanced to the semifinal of the men’s sprint with a successful ride against Venezuela’s Johnny Hernandez Thursday. Teammate Stephen Alfred was narrowly defeated by Colombian sprinter Jonathan Marin in the third heat of the morning session. Massie will ride in the sprint semifinal set to start at 9:00 a.m. Friday morning. Later Thursday morning Massie led the team sprint with one of his fastest laps this season, posting a 23.669 to start the U.S. team off. Stephen Alfred rode the second leg with Christian Stahl anchoring the three-man team. The team advanced to

Russian Zoulfia Zabirova (RRG Lobili) won Friday’s 12th stage of the Grande Boucle Féminin, a 128.5km run from Trélazé to Gorron. Spaniard Joane Somarrib (Bizkaia) held onto the overall lead with two days remaining in the race. Zabirova, racing in her fifth Tour Féminin, attacked the group 3km from the finish to win the stage. Somarriba took a three-second bonus sprint to remain the favorite for the overall going into Saturday’s 37km time trial in Flers. –Copyright 2003/AFP Results:1. Zoulfia Zabirova (Rus), RRG Lobili, 128.5 km in 3:10:42. (average speed: 40,430 km/h)2. Petra Rossner (G)

Cofidis’ David Millar roared to his third time trial victory of the season in Thursday’s 14.4km fourth stage of the Vuelta a Burgos while iBanesto.com’s Pablo Lastras all but sewed up overall victory with just one stage to go. Millar held off a list of favorites for the upcoming Vuelta a España, easily beating defending Vuelta champion Aitor Gonzalez (Fassa Bortolo) by 12 seconds, Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (ONCE) by 21 seconds and Angel Casero (Bianchi) by 23 seconds. Millar, who won a time trial at the Tour of West Flanders and the final time trial of the 2003 Tour de France earlier this

The U.S. Pan American Cycling Team added three more medals to the medal count Wednesday starting off with a silver medal ride in the women’s 500m time trial by Chris. The winning momentum continued later in the afternoon when sprinters Tanya Lindenmuth and Giddeon Massie each won medals in the keirin. The Olympic medallist in speed skating found her form on the track and stayed steady throughout the 500m test to clinch the silver medal in 36.304. Nancy Contreras (Mex) won the event in 35.463. Yumari Gonzalez (Cub was third clocking a 36.559. Witty’s silver medal at the Pan Am Games is the

Marlux rider Dave Bruylandts got a well-deserved victory in Wednesday'sgrueling climbing stage from Huerta del Ray to Lagunas de Neila high abovethe Spanish meseta in the third stage of the Tour of Burgos.Bruylandts, 27, has been close since finishing second in Sunday's Subidaa Urkiola behind iBanesto.com's Leonardo Piepoli. In Tuesday's climbingstage, he was second behind yet another Banesto, Chente Garcia Acosta.There was no stopping the determined Belgian, who worked himself intoa six-man break that hit the bottom of the 20km climb with an 8 minutegap on the main bunch. Bruylandts finally

So just putting the finishing touches on our power measurement system test and gotta admit that, for the last few days on a bike, I feel like a true dork (yes, even more than usual). This embarrassing fact struck me this past Sunday while huffing up one Boulder’s beautiful local canyons. The eight-mile grind from my house up to the small town of Ward offered plenty of time to contemplate the assortment of flashing signals, heart rate limit alarms and 60-times-per-second-acquired wattage data from the three (yes, three!) power systems strapped to my bike. With more wiring than the

OVERALL GAME WINNER     Team Maxigaz   34050       OVERALL SPRINT WINNERS   18th Green   2106

It seems that pro mountain bike racers will finally be racing for more than bragging rights now that USA Cycling and GaleForce have signed a new sponsor, adding cash prizes to the final round of the 2003 NORBA National Championship Series. Mountain Bike TV and The 9to5 Race Day, a new Florida based mountain bike marathon racing series, will provide cash at the NCS final for top finishers in all pro disciplines – cross country, downhill, short track, and mountain cross. A full announcement will be made at the NORBA series final at Durango Mountain Resort, August 14-17. Mountain Bike TV

Coming off the biggest win of his young road career, hometown favorite Marty Nothstein returns to the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown tonight to defend his title in Nestor's Keirin Cup. Nothstein has dominated the racing in Nestor's Keirin Cup like no other rider in history. He has won the event seven times, including three in a row for the second time. Nothstein, who is seeking to win the event a fourth straight year, is fresh off a win at the second annual New York City Championships, a 100-kilometer criterium race through lower Manhattan. The Olympic gold medalist and

There's no stopping Paolo Bettini, even when he's marked as the man to beat. Bettini attacked up two decisive climbs late in Saturday's 227km Clasica San Sebastian to win his third World Cup victory of the season and his second in a week after holding off compatriot Ivan Basso (Fassa Bortolo) in a two-up sprint. "Everyone said that I was the favorite, but it's true I have great form and I wanted to attack and take advantage of the situation," said Bettini, who won in 5 hours, 44 minutes, 42 seconds. "We started the race thinking about taking the World Cup lead, but at the base of the

Judith Arndt (Nürnberger Versichering) outsprinted Susanne Ljungskog (Bik-Powerplate) and Edita Pucinskaite (Michele Fanini) on Saturday to win the seventh stage of the Grande Boucle Féminin, a 107km run between Royat (Puy-de-Dome) and Commentry. Joane Somarriba, sixth on the day, retains the overall lead going into Sunday’s 84km stage from Aubusson (Creuse) to Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat (Haute-Vienne). Among those abandoning before today’s stage were Sonia Huguet (French National Team) and Australian Sara Carrigan (Bik-Powerplate). Results:1. Judith Arndt (G), Nürnberger Versichering), 107km

Team CSC's Tyler Hamilton won't be racing in September's Vuelta a España, according to sport director Johnny Weltz. Hamilton is set to return to Europe next week after a trip back to the United States, where he was honored with a parade in his hometown, an appearance on the “Today” show and served as the starter for the New York City race last weekend. Hamilton will likely race some events in August and September, but the Vuelta is not in the plans, Weltz said. "It's too hard to focus all the way through the season. He's had a long season and he's still recovering from his injuries at the

Spanish rider Alberto Benito won Thursday's second stage of the Volta a Portugal and jumped into the overall lead. Benito relegated Spanish sprinter Angelo Edo (Milaneza-MSS) into second place in the 148.5km stage from Loule to Beja in the scorching south of Portugal. Benito finished second in Wednesday's opening stages and used time bonuses to jump into the overall lead. Another Kelme rider abandoned, Jesus Manzano, leaving the team with just two from its original eight members. Five Kelme riders quit Wednesday with stomach problems. The 65th Volta continues Friday with the 150.9km third

Italy’s Fabiana Luperini (Team 2000 Aurora) won Wednesday's abbreviated fourth stage of Le Grande Boucle Féminin, which was trimmed to 31.2km between Guillestre and Puy-Saint-Vincent because of a mudslide. By finishing third on the day, Spain’s Joane Somarriba (Bizkaia Panda Spiuk ) seized the leader’s jersey that the Russian Olga Zabelinskaia (Vélodames-Colnago) had worn since the beginning of the race. Initially envisaged between Val d'Allos (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) and Puy-Saint-Vincent (Hautes-Alpes), the stage was disturbed by a mud flow the previous day between Barcelonnette and

Italian Cristian Moreni (Alessio) won Wednesday’s first stage of the 19th Regio-Tour, a 189.4km run between the German city of Heitersheim and Guebwiller in France. Moreni was the man of the moment in this first of five stages, which cover 814km in the area of the Upper Rhine, claiming not only the yellow leader’s jersey but also those of best climber and best sprinter. The 116 racers from15 teams began the stage slowly amid hot conditions. But with the approach of the Vosges, the race became animated and breakaway attempts multiplied until a group of about 30 went clear. About 3km from

There is a gesture that symbolizes the blooming of a new era in Spanish cycling. In 1991, right after crossing the finish line in the 13th stage of the Tour of France, behind Italian Claudio Chiapucci, Miguel Indurain raised his fist to the sky in Val Louron. It was a gesture of joy and courage; the starting point of a career that led Spaniard Miguel Indurain to win five consecutive Tours of France, from 1991 to 1995. When talking about Indurain racing for Banesto you are talking about a Basque giant, born in 1964, in Villava, Navarra, to whom amateur cycling soon grew too small for him to

In many ways, it is easy to forget that I am living in a foreign country. The unfortunate thing is that it might actually be possible to exist here in Belgium without ever coming to terms with it. By now, the local shops know we are English-speaking and address us accordingly. Ann and Bernard speak English perfectly. With the Internet, it is possible to transport your mind, and therefore the essence of yourself, back to the States in a few millibits per second. The standard pastime between email checks is watching DVD's in the living room – in English, of course. Not that this is anything

Another frustration - U.S. coach Des Dickie tries to figure out what went wrong for the U.S. in the team sprint

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Jens Fiedler tries to compose himself after being relegated in the sprint competition

Stuttgart’s world track championships wrapped up on a high note for Germany as its sprinters showed the host country’s riders were still capable of a bit of teamwork. After the implosion of its team pursuit squad, Germany demonstrated the depth of its sprint program by fending off a strong challenge in the gold medal round from the French to secure the world team sprint competition on Sunday. The final in the three-lap event – formerly tagged with the somewhat confusing moniker of “Olympic Sprint” – pitted Germany’s Carsten Bergemann, Jens Fiedler and Rene Wolff against a strong French

Quick Step's Paolo Bettini tried for three weeks to win a stage at the 2003 Tour de France but fell short. Now, a week later at Sunday's HEW Cyclassics race in Germany, the Italian upstaged local favorite Jan Ullrich (Bianchi) to win his second World Cup victory of the season. "This is a great race, no matter what people say," said Bettini, who moved into second overall in the World Cup standings. "Some criticize it because the course is relatively undemanding, but look how exciting it was. I'm delighted with this victory, and I'm looking forward to winning this race again." Ullrich and

Olympic gold medalist Marty Nothstein (Navigators) outsprinted the rain and Saturn's Victor Rapinski to win the New York City cycling championship on Sunday. Winner of the match sprint on the track at the Sydney Olympics, Nothstein has been making an impressive transition to road racing and blasted past Rapinski in the final 100 meters of the 62-mile event through the streets of New York. American David Clinger (Prime Alliance-TIAA-Cref) was third. "Since winning the gold medal in 2000, this has been a big transition from the track to the road," said Nothstein. "With proper training