With Philly week behind us, all eyes — well, okay, at least those focused on domestic road racing — now turn to the four-day, five-stage Nature Valley Grand Prix. The premiere component of the twin cities’ Great River Energy Bicycle Festival, Nature Valley begins Thursday, June 12, in Two Harbors, Minnesota. Last year’s event, a three-day omnium — scored on cumulative finishing positions, rather than overall time — was won by John Lieswyn (7UP-Maxxis) and Laura Van Gilder, who rode for Trek Plus but now rides for Saturn. For 2003, the event sees several important changes: the event has been

Strong winds moved riders up the Rhone Valley in a hot and toasty stage Tuesday, with Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) winning the bunch sprint into Vienne. The brisk tailwinds pushed the peloton into Vienne nearly a half-hour faster than expected and Hushovd held off Alexandre Usov (Phonak) and Baden Cooke (Fdjeux.com) to grab the victory. A familiar moveJacky Durand (Fdjeux.com) just couldn't help himself and went on the attack in the opening kilometers, quickly followed by U.S. Postal's Victor Hugo Pena and three others, but the move was just as quickly snuffed. But Durand

TUESDAY: Stages one and two of the Dauphine-Libere were fairly similar. Both featured rolling terrain, and ended with field sprints. There was a nasty crash inside one kilometer to go yesterday. I was lucky to stay out of trouble. Overall, the day went better than I expected, mainly because I felt better than I thought I was going to. I’m still not firing on all cylinders, but at least I’m starting to come around. Today we had a nice tail wind all day, which was good, considering it’s been ridiculously hot here in France. I finished yesterday’s stage feeling, and probably looking like a

Bulgarian Plamen Stoianov (Big Mat) endured the heat, a crash and a string of attacks to win the mass gallop in Monday’s 198km first stage of the 55th Criterium du Dauphine Libere. Temperatures soared into the 90s as the peloton drove south out of the mountains near Grenoble into Vaison La Romaine, a quaint Provencal village nestled at the base of Mont Ventoux. Riders went down on a sharp corner just 300 meters from the finish line, cutting the peloton as the bunch came in for the sprint. “I came through clear from the crash and was in good position,” said Stoianov, who raced with Mercury

An in-form Australian, Michael Rogers, wrapped up the Tour of Germany in Sarrebruck on Monday, adding to his victory in the Tour of Belgium two weeks ago. The 23-year-old finished in the peloton at the end of the seventh stage, the 173.2km ride from Bad Durkheim being taken in a mass sprint finish by Germany's Olympic track champion Olaf Pollack. Rogers ended with a one-minute and 19-second advantage over Portugal's Jose Azevedo while Telekom’s Alexander Vinokourov was third, a further 33 seconds adrift. Vinokourov’s former Telekom team-mate, the 1997 Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich

On the biggest single day of racing in the U.S., the Europeans may have slowed the Saturn train a bit, with Saeco’s Stefano Zanini winning the Wachovia USPRO Championship in a field sprint, but Saturn still took home the stars-and-stripes jersey, with 10-year Saturn veteran Mark McCormack earning the right to wear the American champion’s jersey for the next year. It was a somewhat unexpected ending to a day in Philadelphia that early on began to unfold like recent editions of the race. Of the European teams, CSC was pegged as the favorite, after Jakob Piil and Julian Dean winning Lancaster

Like all streaks, it had to come to an end sometime. Since 1997, German Petra Rossner has held a virtual monopoly on the Wachovia Liberty Classic, the 56 mile former World Cup run concurrently with the USPRO men’s championship in Philadelphia. This year, it was not to be, as Rossner, riding for Equipe Nürnberger this year after five years with Saturn, faced stiff competition from her former team as well as the all-American T-Mobile squad. After a year away from the Saturn squad, Lynne Bessette returned home to end her former teammate’s reign and continued Saturn’s, jumping away from three

Rain poured down on Philadelphia on Saturday, putting a damper on the pre-race festivities at the Wachovia USPRO Championship, but rain or shine, Sunday’s race promises to be just as much of a classic as any of the previous 18 editions. As always, the U.S. professional teams have brought out their "A" squads, and they will be tested by six European teams intent on winning the most prestigious race in America. Heading the list of contenders will be the Danish CSC team, which won both of the lead-up events to USPRO, with Jakob Piil winning in Lancaster on Tuesday and Julian Dean taking a

The Tour de Montréal, a three-day, four-stage event, started in Lachine, the hometown of Geneviève Jeanson, with a short, windy prologue. As we all finished, we all received cheers, but the crowd was by far the loudest when she came through with the winning time. She smoked us all, but we were not too worried, as the time gaps were small. After the prologue, the race moved to “Little Italy” in the evening, where we pedaled past the Madonna Della Defesa (Our Lady of Protection) cathedral. This church was built and named to commemorate a miracle said to have occurred in 1898 in Casacalenda,

Two cycling team managers, one of whom works with the team of Yaroslav Popovych, third in this year's Giro d'Italia, were being held under house arrest Thursday as police continue a widespread doping investigation in Brescia, Italy. Olivano Locatelli and William Dazzani are suspected of buying and selling illicit substances for riders, according to Brescia magistrates at a press conference. Locatelli, 47, has resigned his position as manager with the Belgian outfit Landbouwkrediet, while Dazzani runs the women's squad Team 2002. The revelations will prove damaging for the Belgian team,

It struck me as I sat on top of the world. Well, at least the top of the world according to San Bernardino, California. You see, I had positioned myself at the top of the cross-country course at Big Bear a few weeks ago on a technological mission. I wanted to take count of exactly how many riders would actually use their fork lock-out. A nit-picky mission at best, but with all the talk of suspension efficiency, I wanted to see which riders cared enough to take the time to "flip the switch." My very informal results were very surprising, to say the least. As the lead breakaway pack crested

For the second week running, Australian Andy Graham absolutely owned theWednesday Worlds circuit race in downtown Denver, Colorado. Over 100 riderslined up on a drizzly, cold evening to decide who would be the championfor this, the second edition of the 2003 Wednesday Worlds.The women’s turnout was dismal, but a few brave souls jumped in themen’s races, getting some valuable mid-week training around the enormousInvesco Field at Mile High. T-Mobile’s Lara Kroepsch stayed in the men’smasters race, then lasted a few laps in the pro-I-II race.“It’s gonna be a hard,” she said just before the start

In a last-minute compromise in the ongoing legal battle between the promoters of Sunday’s Wachovia USPRO Championship and Health Net’s Canadian sprint ace, Gord Fraser, Threshold Sports has extended an invitation to the team’s American riders. The Health Net squad had been formally uninvited to the Philadelphia race, as well as to other races promoted by Threshold Sport, six weeks ago when team officials objected to a request that they not bring Fraser to any of the Threshold races. Fraser is currently embroiled in a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Threshold resulting from a canceled

The CSC squad made it two-for-two at the Wachovia Cycling Series on Thursday, setting up the race for Julian Dean to take a sprint finish ahead of Navigators’ Oleg Grichkine and Saturn’s Viktor Rapinski, and now the Danish squad will have its sights set on Philadelphia’s USPRO Championship and a Wachovia sweep on Sunday. CSC had set the tone for the week with a strong performance in the opener in Lancaster, and the tune kept playing on the fast streets of Trenton. After Jakob Piil’s win at Lancaster, other teams were tipping their hats to CSC, which had both the strength and the numbers in

Telekom's Erik Zabel won the opening stage of the Tour of Germany on a day overshadowed by the death of 23-year-old French rider Fabrice Salanson, who was found dead in his hotel room before the start (see story below). Salanson's Brioches la Boulangere team opted not to start Tuesday's 184km stage, but the race continued as planned. Zabel won ahead of Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole) and Gerrit Glomser (Saeco) to grab the bunch sprint and take the overall lead. Jan Ullrich finished 23rd safely in the main bunch. The German tour continues Wednesday with the 183km second stage from Altenburg

The 2003 Wachovia Cycling Series kicked off Tuesday on a rainy evening in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the Danish CSC squad quickly served notice that it would be a force to be reckoned with at the three-race East Coast series. After dominating the numbers game in the main breakaway of the day, CSC sprung team leader Jakob Piil to a solo victory in downtown Lancaster. Piil, the winner of both Lancaster and the Philadelphia USPRO Championship in 1999, was just part of an all-out assault by the CSC squad, which squashed the hopes of the major American teams in Lancaster. One American teams

The 2003 Wachovia Cycling Series kicks off on Tuesday in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And while there are few certainties in bike racing, one thing you can be pretty sure of is that no matter how the race develops, Gord Fraser will not be winning it in a sprint - or in any other fashion, for that matter. Fraser also won't repeat his win from last year at the Wachovia event in Trenton, New Jersey, two days later. Nor will he - or any other member of the Health Net squad - be contesting the finish in Sunday's USPRO Championship in Philadelphia. No, Gord Fraser hasn't lost his finishing kick, and

For nearly two weeks now, there has been little doubt who has been in charge of this Giro d’Italia. On Sunday, the man poised to ride into Milan to claim the final maglia rosa of this race would leave no one on the side of the road wondering just who the race leader might be. Wearing his pink jersey, astride a pink Cannondale, with pink Mavic wheels, Gilberto Simoni had plenty of room to spare as he left the starting gate of Sunday’s 33km time trial through the streets of Milan. By the time he arrived at the finish, the Saeco man had lost a bit of his eight-minute buffer, but easily took the

Team Bianchi said Marco Pantani won't be racing with them during July's Tour de France. The Pirate had hoped to join Bianchi to get into the Tour, but team officials shot down the notion this weekend. "There was never a meeting between the directors of Bianchi and the directors of Mercatone Uno to plan for the next Tour," Bianchi associate Felice Gimondi told Reuters. "There was only a meeting in view of a reunification in 2004-2005." The words come as a blow to Pantani, who desperately wants to get back to the Tour de France. Pantani's Mercatone Uno team is buried deep in the Division II

On a sunny, but windy, day, Prime Alliance’s Jonas Carney and Saturn’s Laura Van Gilder overcame 30-mile-per-hour gusts and formidable competition to claim the Clarendon Cup, the latest round of the National Racing Calendar. Van Gilder, known for her speed in bunch sprints, drew on some lesser known time trialing skills to solo away from the field early in the women’s race, despite strong and constantly shifting winds on the .6 mile course. Though Van Gilder is no breakaway artist, she could be comfortable knowing that if she faltered, Saturn had its bases covered with 2001 and 2002

With the 86th Giro d’Italia essentially a foregone conclusion, and most of the sprinters having been eliminated in Thursday’s giant mountain stage, stage 20 was a chance for the domestiques to shine. And at the finish, it was Giovanni Lombardi who outkicked three breakaway companions to seize another victory of opportunity, further distinguishing himself as one of the world’s shrewdest, fastest, and consequently most dangerous riders to have in a breakaway. The Italian with the broad, smiling face is normally the final leadout man in the Domina Vacanze train, charged with delivering Mario

Gunn-Rita Dahle (Merida) solidified her lead and Filip Meirhaeghe (Specialized) put himself back into contention at the Fort William UCI World Cup race Saturday in Scotland. Both riders took extremely hard-fought victories in front of nearly 6,000 spectators, under the most perfect conditions imaginable. Fort William, in the Scottish Highlands, held its first World Cup – a downhill/four cross – just last year. This year, the organizers added a cross country in the shadow of Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the United Kingdom. The 8.5km course, built by the Scottish Forestry Service at a

Memo to: Maynard HershonFrom: Geneviève JeansonSubject: “The New Cannibal” Hi, Maynard! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re about as shy as I am. Otherwise you’d have come up to me and at least said hello at some point. It would have been great to chew the fat and clear a few things up. As things stand now we’ve never even exchanged the time of day, which is kind of a shame, I think. I mean, it must make it real tough for you to write a whole page about me without ever having said boo, even once. In light of what you wrote about me (see "The New Cannibal," by Maynard Hershon, in

This is one of those days that they will be talking about for years to come. Sure, the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia had many of the elements in place before the start: the mountains, among them the Cima Coppi, marking the Giro's highest spot; the weather, with touches of wet snow marking the highest climbs and a contest that, despite the apparent dominance of a single rider, could still be altered on the 174 mountainous kilometers between Santuario DiVicoforte and Valle Varaita. But when you take the human element and throw it into the mix, well... suddenly you see why Thursday at the

Alessandro Petacchi showed once again that he is the man to beat in sprint stages at this Giro, even if he’s bruised, battered and bandaged from that fall in Sunday’s time trial. The big man from La Spezia got a great leadout by his Fassa Bortolo team and held off Lampre’s Jan Svorada for a tire-width win after the short, 117km run westward through the level Po valley. Despite the short, relatively flat stage, “Peta’” said it was far from easy for him. “It was another hard victory, because I am still in so much pain on my left side and it was so hot,” Petacchi said. “I am very fatigued

Tuesday is a rest day at the Giro d’Italia, a time for riders to recuperateas well as jawbone with each other and the media. VeloNews's Lennard Zinnis making the rounds and seeing what riders and teams have planned forthe final push to Milan, where the 86th edition of the Giro ends with anindividual time trial on Sunday.Simoni’s eating pizza, feeling good and thinking of FranceTo celebrate his good form and excellent positioning to take this Giroback home with him, Gilberto Simoni plans to go and eat a pizza."I have a strong desire to change the menu today," he says.Pizza is a variation from

Navigator's Burke Swindlehurst and Becky Broeder (Intermountain) both held on through the final stage to take the overall titles in Montana's Ecology Center Classic on Monday. Ryan Guay and Joy Shaffer (Los Gatos) took the race's finale, a miss-and-out through the streets of Missoula. While a miss-and-out might be unusual in a stage race, organizers said the format has a lot of crowd appeal. The Navigators squad was at the head of the field throughout most of the men's race Monday, setting tempo for Swindlehurst, who had a 54-second lead going into the final stage over Colby Pearce

Petacchi took full advantage of the Domina Vacanze train to launch his own sprint

This was supposed to be one of those days where we found out whether the 86th Giro d’Italia would continue to be a race or not, depending largely on whether Stefano Garzelli could take a minute or so out of the guy in the pink jersey. But rather than nip away at the lead of Gilberto Simoni, Garzelli – regarded as the superior time trialist of the two – actually lost to the Saeco rider in a 42.5km time trial from Merano to Bolzano. No, the Giro d’Italia is far from over, but it sure took a big step in that direction Sunday. Unlike a Tour de France contest between, say, Lance Armstrong and

Nurnberger's Judith Arndt wrapped up the Tour de l'Aude, Sunday as Saturn’s Ina Teutenberg put a strong exclamation point on the race after taking the final stage in Limoux on Sunday. Six riders chugged away from the main bunch early in the race and held the lead until three other riders bridged out on the final lap. There were several attacks in a frenetic charge to the line, Saturn's Teutenberg snuck ahead to win her second stage win of the race and the fourth for Team Saturn. It was a positive ending for the team, which also won the overall team competition and saw Lyne Bessette take

Saeco’s Gilberto Simoni started Saturday’s decisive 14th stage decked out head to toe in pink, his helmet, socks and cycling shorts matching the maglia rosa he obviously has no intention of giving up. Simoni attacked with 5km to go on the steep, 8.8km climb to Alpe de Pampeago high in the Italian mountains to win his second stage in three days and extend his overall lead to 1:19 over second-placed Stefano Garzelli (Vini Caldirola-Sidermec). Simoni once again dropped his rivals on the steepest roads of the Giro d’Italia, and only Garzelli remains close enough to be a threat. Going into

Laurent Brochard (Ag2r) outsprinted Colombian Felix Cardenas (Orbitel) to win the final stage of the Tour of Castilla y Leon on Saturday in a difficult mountain stage in Avila. Francisco Mancebo (iBanesto.com) scored his first victory of the season after finishing seventh at just three seconds back of the winning pair. Mancebo finished tied with teammate Denis Menchov, but gets the win based on stage placements after the pair won as part of the team time trial earlier in the week. The 182km stage featured three Category 1 and one Category 2 climbs, and Kelme’s Oscar Sevilla, still

Editor:In reference to Jed Schneider’s article regarding USA Cycling and possible porn magazine sponsorship, I really don't think it's realistic to think that the porn industry is going to lower itself to that point. Joe Erwin San Fernando is porn's hideawayEditor:Jed Schneider may hold a master's degree in geography from the University of Kansas, which keeps him from getting lost in Flanders, but he's way off on where his porn comes from (see "Tales from the gutter: Mark gets the win!"). San Fernando Valley is the porn capital of the world, not Orange County. Orange County is a

Liza Rachetto (Intermountain) and the Navigators’ Jeff Louder won the second stage of the Montana Ecology Classic Saturday near Missoula, Montana on the demanding and tricky Perma road course. Rachetto’s teammate Becky Broeder and Louder’s fellow Navgator, Burke Swindlehurst, retained their overall leaders’ jerseys. The Perma course is demanding, due in great part to the two Category 3 climbs that are on this 89-kilometer circuit. The course offers a tricky run-in to the finish, which has in years past played a role in breaking the hearts of many would-be stage winners and general

Friday’s calm after the storm at Monte Zoncolan served up another chance for Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) to strut his stuff. And strut he did in the 149km 13th stage from Pordenone to Marostica. With Mario Cipollini out of the Giro d’Italia with injuries after setting a new record with 42 career stage victories, it was up to Cipo’s heir apparent, Daniele Bennati, to make a run at derailing Petacchi. At just 22, Bennati is going to be very good someday. But Petacchi is already very good, and he proved it by outsprinting the young protégé to win for the fourth time in this year’s

The UCI has cleared the way for Jan Ullrich to race in July’s Tour de France. On Friday, the UCI officially approved the registration of Ullrich’s new team, Bianchi, and awarded the team Top Club status, essentially guaranteeing it a spot in the Tour. Bianchi stepped in after Team Coast was suspended May 9 after not paying riders' salaries. “As a result of this decision, Team Bianchi retains, as of today, all rights of participation to races on the international calendar, and rights in general linked to a Top Club status,” a UCI statement said. A decision on Bianchi’s status wasn’t

Gilberto Simoni delivered on his promise to be the main protagonist up Monte Zoncolan, winning Thursday’s 12th stage in the epic shootout between the stars to tighten his grip on the overall lead. The Saeco rider attacked with 3km to go from the menacing summit. The Giro’s strongest men were trading shots on the steepest road in Italy and the tifosi were eating it up. Simoni hoped for more, but he finished 34 seconds ahead of pesky Stefano Garzelli (Caldirola-Sidermec) and Francesco Casagrande, who came across third at 39 seconds in arrears. The win consolidates Simoni’s hold on the

Dutch rider Jans Koerts won Thursday's second stage of the Tour of Belgium, but the headlines tomorrow will be Axel Merckx taking the leader's jersey. Landbouwkrediet seemed to have the stage under control, in order to protect the lead of stage 1 winner Tom Steels. But once the race hit a finishing circuit in Knokke, riders began counter-attacking, including runs by Johan Museeuw (Quick Step), Geer Verheyen (Marlux) and Max Van Heeswijk (USPS). Merckx and Koerts finally escaped the grip of the peloton with 8km to go and quickly opened up a 20-second gap. Koerts gets the win, Merckx gets the

Editor:Last year I went to France to follow the Tour. I was well aware of the history of Mario Cipollini in the Tour, good and bad - but my feeling was that the Tour de France went beyond what was reasonable and into the realm of personal vendetta when spots for additional teams opened up after the 2002 Giro and Cipollini's team was not selected. I enjoyed my trip to the Tour immensely, but in every sprint, I knew that the best was not there, though Cipollini had done what the Tour had demanded, reinventing himself with breakaway wins, courageously traversing mountains, a grand-tour finish

“Life is what happens when you’re making other plans,” John Lennon once said. Words of wisdom, Lennon’s fortune-cookie philosophy, and lately it seems I’ve been experiencing plenty of life - which, I suppose, beats the alternative. Maybe I should stop making other plans. For starters, with mortgage rates dipping to a 40-year low last week, I’ve been actively looking into buying my first place, which means applying for my first home loan - a procedure that has thus far involved countless conversations with various real-estate agents, lenders, sellers, and my mother - who, in my case,

Domina Vacanze team owner Ernesto Preatori says he's trying to convince Tour de France organizer Jean-Marie Leblanc to include Mario Cipollini in July's race by adding a 23rd team to the peloton. "I think we've got less than a 50 percent chance of getting a place but I'm optimistic and think our chances are increasing," he told Eurosport. "I'm doing everything I can." UCI president Hein Verbruggen and Leblanc are reportedly set to meet to Friday to discuss several issues, including the international outcry at Domina Vacanze's exclusion from four wild-card bids that were announced

There's never an easy day in the Giro d'Italia. Wednesday's 222km dead-flat stage from Faenza to San Dona Di Piave was supposed to be a relatively light day in the saddle before Thursday's difficult stage to Monte Zoncolan. Bad weather and a poorly designed finish with a left turn just 160 meters from the finish line served up a messy conclusion for the 11th stage, with Mario Cipollini (Domina Vacanze) crashing out after Kelme's Isaac Galvez slid into him. Cipollini was later transported to a local hospital for X-rays on his left shoulder, which he was cradling after the spill. No word yet

The course profile alone was enough to strike fear in the hearts of many a rider … or at least enough to make you think the promoter was nuts. Either way, the 140-mile climbers’ fest between Boulder and Breckenridge, Colorado, became a favorite in its three-year history. Unfortunately, race promoter Len Pettyjohn said Wednesday, he has been unable to secure a replacement for title sponsor Saturn after the auto manufacturer pulled out in March, forcing him to cancel the race for 2003. “We had a number of companies interested in replacing Saturn as the titlesponsor, but current economic

I just got back in from Team Big Bear's 15th consecutive National Points Series race. And if you've been following Jason Sumner's online race reports, you know the weekend was full of extremely high-highs (a bevy of fresh faces on the podium) and devastating lows (namely the tragic death of Japanese downhiller Haruko Fujinaka). One event that took place over the weekend that Jason didn't get a chance to write about was the much-vaunted "Super D" downhill held late Saturday afternoon. The event was conceived three years ago by promoters Pat Follet and Tom Spiegel after they saw the need to

Saeco’s Gilberto Simoni wrestled the maglia rosa from Stefano Garzelli after a daring attack in a dramatic shoot-out Tuesday between the Giro d’Italia’s two strongest riders. Simoni jumped hard on a steep but unrated climb 40km from the finish in the difficult, four-climb 202km 10th stage from Montecatini Terme to Faenza. Simoni took an 8-second time bonus after finishing third behind winner Kurt Asle Arvensen (Team fakta) to erase a 31-second deficit to move two seconds ahead of Garzelli. With Thursday’s difficult climbing stage to Monte Zoncolan on the horizon, Simoni took the race into

Coming into the finishing stretch of Stage 9 of the Giro d'Italia, MarioCipollini drove all of his frustration and anger into his pedals as henegotiated the narrow streets of Montecatini Terme Monday afternoon. No one was going to beat him. Not Robbie McEwen, not AlessandoPetacchi and certainly not that Frenchman in Paris, who just hours earlier had once again denied the world champion a spot in the Tour de France. In an angry gesture against his Tour snub, Cipollini won his secondconsecutive stage and established a new mark with 42 career Giro d’Italiavictories. “What motivated me last

How completely bogus (yet entirely predictable) that Mario Cipolliniwas again denied an invitation to this year's Tour de France. Not invite the world champion? I'll bet they wish they didn't have toinvite Lance either. Not to worry Mario, because everyone knowsyou deserve to be there; the fact that you won't be only makes the Tourdirectors look more petty and foolish than they already do. So, they wanted to "give a little boost to the French cycling?" Maybethey should invite only French teams - that way they can be sure of a win.Time to re-run that cartoon from last year - "Le Tour de

In the real world, the choice would have been simple. Do you select a second-rate team with no stand-out riders to start the world’s most important event instead of a squad that’s led by the reigning world champion? Do you select a team that has an outside chance of winning a stage instead of one that will almost guarantee a bunch of victories, along with a likely yellow jersey? The answer doesn’t need to be spelled out. Mario Cipollini’s Domina Vacanze squad should have been a shoo-in; the Frenchmen from Jean Delatour should have been given the boot. And after selecting The French team,

World champion Mario Cipollini did Sunday what everyone expected him to do last weekend: win a stage at the Giro d'Italia and equal the 41-win record held by the late Alfredo Binda. In Sunday's eighth stage, Cipollini shook a monkey off his back that, to some, seemed to be quickly growing into a gorilla after he failed to win a stage in six consecutive sprints that opened the 86th Giro. Domina Vacanze's zebras shot the 36-year-old toward the line and this time no one beat him to the tape. Lotto-Domo's Robbie McEwen took second while three-stage winner Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo)

Teams are holding their collective breath going into Monday’s announcement of the final four teams to race in July’s Tour de France. Several teams are on the bubble to be selected by the Societe du Tour de France for the four wild-card invitations to join 18 other teams already lined up for the July 5 start of the centenary Tour. One of the major question marks is the status of 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich and his now defunct Team Coast, which was suspended two weeks ago by the UCI for not paying riders’ salaries. Bike manufacturer Bianchi stepped forward last week to take over sponsorship

David Clinger and his Prime Alliance team fended off a day of attacks and other pressure to hold on to the overall lead as the inaugural Tour of Connecticut wrapped up with the Houstonic Valley Classic on Sunday. On paper, this wasn’t a day that was supposed favor the sprinters. Nope, Danbury’s Housatonic Valley road course, with its rolling terrain and formidable length shouldn’t have podium that looks like the winners’ list at a typical criterium. Still, the sprinters shined in both the men’s and women’s events Sunday with Russian Vassili Davidenko (Navigators) repeating his win of a year

Mayolo-Pic takes the sprint

Germany’s Steffen Wesemann won the Peace Race for the fifth time of his career after finishing safely in the lead bunch in Saturday’s final stage. Wesemann won one stage and broke apart the race when he attacked with defending Ondrej Sosenka in stage 4. Sosenka won the stage, but Wesemann grabbed the lead. He never let go and even widened his gap in Friday’s difficult climbing stage. Saturday’s 160km flat stage from Bad Elster to Erfurt offered little chance to shake up the overall standings. Italian rider Enrico Degano (Mercatone Uno) won ahead of Rene Hasselbacher (Gerolsteiner) while

Alessandro Petacchi is pretty in pink yet again Friday after winning his third stage of the 86th Giro d’Italia in what was another disappointing finish for world champion Mario Cipollini. The world champ’s Domina Vacanze zebras burst out of the herd in the finale to sling Cipollini toward the finish line in customary fashion, but when final set-up man Giovanni Lombardi finished his pull, Cipollini stopped pedaling. Super Mario didn’t have the legs to contest the sprint and rolled across sixth. Petacchi, meanwhile, was right on Cipo’s wheel and dashed ahead of Kelme’s Isaac Galvez to clinch

It looks like Jan Ullrich will at least have a team after a new sponsor stepped forward Friday to take over the cash-strapped Team Coast. Whether he starts the Tour de France now depends on race organizers. According to an agreement taken Friday by the Council of Professional Cycling, Bianchi will take over the sponsorship from Team Coast, which was suspended last week by the UCI for not paying riders’ salaries in April, L’Equipe reported. Sport director Rudy Pevenage is reportedly working on a deal to hire the entire Team Coast staff, from the racers on down. The professional body awarded

Host nation Australia was rolling in medals after the first day of competition in the fourth and final round of the 2003 UCI World Cup track-racing series, May 16-18 at Dunc Gray Velodrome in Sydney. Australia has won two gold medals and one bronze in the six finals contested so far in the three-day event, which features almost 200 riders representing 42 countries. Mark Jamieson, Australia’s 19-year-old 4km individual-pursuit champion, posted the fastest qualifying time in the morning - 4:24.425, good enough for selection to the national team for July’s senior world championships in

Saturn's Eric Wohlberg of Canada won the fastest of two heats in the opening stage of the inaugural Tour of Connecticut Friday evening in New Haven. The 75km criterium was run in two heats due to the tight half-mile circuit around New Haven's famed Green. Wohlberg, by virtue of winning the fastest heat, was awarded the yellow jersey, while teammate Ivan Dominquez of Cuba, winner of the slower heat in a terrific sprint battle with Gord Fraser (Health Net), was given the green jersey of best sprinter. Brice Jones (7UP-Maxxis), second in the fast heat, was given the best-climber jersey. Stage

The first of two rest days comes early in the 86th Giro d’Italia, just six days into the three-week march to Milan. There’s been plenty of action and story lines both on and off the bike in what’s been a scandal-free Giro, including Cipollini’s stalled motor, McEwen’s relegation and subsequent redemption, Pantani’s helmet hatred and Petacchi’s run in pink. Here’s a look at where some of the major players stand nearly a week into the Giro: Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) 1st overall Two stage-wins and the maglia rosa, not bad for a guy who’d never won a Giro stage before this year.

One of the greatest all-around athletes in cycling history, Hendrik (“Rik”) Van Steenbergen, died in an Antwerp, Belgium, clinic on May 15 after a long illness. He was 78. At 6-foot-3 and 183 pounds, Van Steenbergen was big for a professional cyclist, but his renowned resilience made him a formidable rider on both road and track throughout his exceptionally long career. In 24 seasons as a professional (1943-1966), Van Steenbergen won 270 times on the road, including three world road championships, eight classics, and 25 stages of the grand tours; and 715 times on the track, including 40

What a great week it’s been for Alessandro Petacchi and what a bad one for Mario Cipollini. Petacchi, deep in the best run of his career, beat the world champion in Wednesday’s fifth stage even before the peloton roared into Catania for the mass sprint. Super Mario’s Domina Vacanze zebras took firm control of the race with 6km to go, and typically the battle among the would-be contenders is the fight to grab Cipollini’s wheel. But Petacchi weaseled his way in front of Cipollini, and when lead set-up man Giovanni Lombardi pulled up, it was Cipollini who was forced to come around

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich has split from the financially-troubled Team Coast, his manager said Wednesday. “A Team Coast containing Jan Ullrich does not exist any longer,” Wolfgang Strohband told the SID sports news agency. Ullrich signed a four-year contract with the German team in January, but the team was suspended by the UCI last week for non-payment of riders’ salaries in April. Ullrich, winner of the Tour in 1997, left Telekom in September after a dismal season during which he was sidelined by a knee injury and tested positive for amphetamines. Whether this means

We are preparing for the first stage race of the year: the Fleche de Sud, in Luxembourg. The longer that I spend in Europe, the greater appreciation I have for the incredible support needed to race. Going to a stage race in the U.S. is a lot easier, really. Yes, it is comforting to have someone in the feedzone to hand up a bottle, but not necessary. I know plenty of riders, good riders, that have done races like Gila, or Fitchburg unassisted. Well, that’s just not possible in Europe. At a minimum, you need someone in the feedzones, and someone driving the team car in the caravan (that

Spanish rider Jose Manuel Maestre (Relax Fuednlabrada) won the opening stage Tuesday of the 47th Vuelta a Asturias in northern Spain after barely holding on to a long escape. Joining Maestre were Fabrice Salanson (La Boulangere) and Julien Laidoun (AG2R), but Maestre dropped them with 25km to go in the 166km course with several rated climbs from Oviedo to Llanes. Phonak and Milaneza-MSS worked hard in vain to bring him back. Maestre finished just two seconds ahead of the peloton, led by Angel Edo (Milaneza-MSS). "I tell you, the final 15km were brutal," Maestre said. "I gave it everything

They can’t take this one away from Robbie McEwen. Just two days after the Aussie was relegated for dangerous sprinting, McEwen drove past Alessandro Petacchi’s left shoulder for the win. He didn’t bump him or barge him nor did he stick out his tongue, so the race judges can’t say a thing. “It was a very, very difficult sprint. It was very fast in the last kilometer. I grabbed Petacchi’s wheel and I saw a good moment to make a move,” McEwen told AFP. “This victory helps me to forget the disqualification in Matera. No, this isn’t revenge for what happened there.” On Tuesday, race judges took

Italy Fassa Bortolo rider Alessandro Petacchi (L) puts his head down during the final sprint with Australian Lotto domo's Robbie McEwen (R)

Stefano Garzelli erased memories of his controversial ejection from last year’s Giro d’Italia in a dramatic gesture Monday over the oven-hot roads of southern Italy. The 2000 Giro champion peeled away from peloton in the steep final 400 meters of the 145km third stage to grab the victory and vault into second place overall. Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi fought hard to retain the maglia rosa, but Garzelli’s win is a clear message that he’s a legitimate contender for the overall prize. “It’s an important victory for me because after 11 months without competing it gives me confidence.

Jason McCartney scored a big win for team 7UP-Maxxis over the weekend, while Lynn Gaggioli (Velo Bella) continued a strong 2003 campaign at the Joe Martin Stage Race NRC event in Fayetteville, Arkansas. McCartney beat out Saturn's Eric Wohlberg, while the women's race was a two-rider battle between Gaggioli and Sue Palmer-Komar (Genesis Scuba). Wohlberg jumped to the early race lead when he won the 113-mile stage 1, four seconds ahead of McCartney and Jelly Belly-Carlsbad Clothing's Ben Brooks, with the next closest group more than four minutes behind. McCartney would come back, however,

Robbie McEwen’s feisty style cost him a victory in Sunday’s second stage of the Giro d’Italia. Alessio’s Fabio Baldato was awarded the win after race judges stripped McEwen of the victory for dangerous riding in the closing 200 meters of the stage. McEwen, known for his aggressive riding style, was relegated to 70th place. McEwen edged Baldato by a bike-length at the end of the 177km stage from Copertino to Matero in Italy’s “heel,” but replays showed the Lotto-Domo man pressing Baldato into the race fences in the frenetic charge to the line. “McEwen told me after the race he didn’t see

With Team Coast slapped with its second racing ban in two months, 1997 Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich could soon be heading to a new team. The UCI banned Coast from racing Thursday until the team can provide money up front for team expenses through the end of the season. The team was en route to the Peace Race when the news broke Thursday evening and didn’t start Friday’s first stage. For Ullrich, who has returned from knee surgery and a doping ban, the news could mean he’ll be looking for a few team in time to start the Tour in July. “If the situation remains what it is, we will have

If your rooting interests were on a solely regional basis, the first day of the 2003 National Collegiate Cycling Association Road National Championships was a good day no matter what time zone you were pulling for. The breakdown of winners from the Treasure Island Criterium covered all reaches of the country, with Yale’s Marissa Kellogg, Midwestern State’s Stephanie Hannos, Colorado College’s Robbie King, and UC-Santa Cruz’s Ben Jacques-Maynes each grabbing victories on Friday in Northern California. Kellogg’s was the first of the day, as the cognitive-science major from the Ivy League

Dane Lars Michaelsen won his first race since the 2000 season after he edged Ag2r’s Jaan Kirsipuu to take the 200km second stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk on Thursday. The Team CSC rider overcame a back injury in February but missed the spring classics and only returned to competitive racing last weekend. Michaelsen, 34, cracked a vertebra when he crashed when a time trial handlebar snapped during a team training camp in Tuscany. “He tried to come back for the classics and tried to race at Harelbeke (March 29) and De Panne (April 1-3), but he just wasn’t up for it,” said Team CSC sport

Giro news: Colombia-Selle Italia Division II Colombia-Selle Italia is hoping for big things from its fleet of sleek Colombian climbers. It’s been a few years since the glory days of the Colombian mountain goats (even Santiago Botero is better in the time trial than on the steeps), so it’s hard to tell if this team can bring back the mystic. John Freddy Garcia was the rider race judges ruled that Francesco Casagrande barged into the fences on a Category 3, leading to Casagrande’s early exit from last year’s Giro.Colombia-Selle Italia José J. Castelblnaco (Col)Freddy González (Col)John Freddy

They say the Salad Days of mountain bike racing are dead and gone... whoever "they" are. If you've been following Jason Sumner's recent reports on the current state of the NORBA National Points Series, it's clear that the current model of "prime time" pro racing is currently on life support. Even World Cup events (Telluride) are not immune from decreased sponsorship involvement. Like it or not, big-time (i.e. cash, big rigs, gala events and liberal TV coverage) pro mountain bike racing ain't what it used to be. Even our very own Patrick O'Grady has chimed in on current events, claiming,

Frenchman Frederic Finot (Jean Delatour) won the 190-kilometer stage fromDunkirk to Roost Warendin as part of a two-man break that held off themain peloton in Wednesday's opening stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk. With the win and time bonuses, Finot grabs the race lead of the five-day,six-stage race across the flats of northern France after finishing aheadof Stephane Berges (Ag2r). Tom Steels (Landbouwkrediet) led the main bunchat 2:05 back. The 49th Four Days of Dunkirk continues Thursday with the 200-kilometersecond stage from Sin le Noble to Bapaume. Stage 1, Four Days of Dunkirk,

Tyler Hamilton is back at his home-base in Spain after an amazing run when he became the first American to win Liege-Bastogne-Liege and then pulled off the rare double to take the overall title at the Tour of Romandie. Only Ferdi Kubler (1951) and Bernard Hinault (1980) have equaled the feat and Hamilton’s the first to do it since Liege was bumped back a week in this year’s racing calendar. “It’s been an incredible eight days,” Hamilton told VeloNews on Tuesday. “I didn’t have time to really reflect on my Liege win before I started Romandie. I didn’t want to rest on my laurels and relax too

For decades, there has been a friendly but heated rivalry between theU.S. and Canada in bicycle racing. Nowhere has that been more evident thanin the Pacific Northwest, where riders from both sides of the border havedone battle in such storied races as the Cascade Classic, Gastown GrandPrix, Tour of White Rock, and the Tour of Willamette. Another skirmish between the North American rivals took place this pastweekend at the three-day, four-stage Columbia Plateau Stage Race, and theCanucks unquestionably came out on top, winning seven of a possible eightstages and taking all six overall podium

Two of the most common questions we get at Hamilton 2003 are “why aren’t your tickets on sale?” and “when will they be?” The answer is, they are now and we still have more than six months to go. Now, let me explain why it took longer than you might expect and where the best places are to see the race. Like most other busy downtown cores, Hamilton, Canada’s eighth largestcity with a population of over 500,000 people, doesn’t normally have grandstands for more than 10,000 lining its Main Street. What it does have is big, bustling city hall, a very beautiful and well-attend performing arts

I can sum up the last week in Belgium with one word: wind. Windier than average, which is to say "lots of wind." Luckily, the wind has been blowing from the south, which means that the temperature has been relatively mild. Some Belgians will tell you that the reason for so much wind (irrespective of global circulation models and regional weather patterns) is that France sucks, and Holland blows. Perhaps it is for this explanation that actual weather forecasting seems even more voodoo here than in the good ol' USA. Weather on the 8's, forget about it. Doppler radar, no way. Hey man, we

Danes celebrated cycling during its most important weekend of racing in fine fashion, with national riders Frank Hoj (fatka) winning Saturday’s GP S.A.T.S. and Jakob Piil (CSC) taking the big win in Sunday’s CSC Classic. The two Danish powerhouses dominated both races, the most important one-day races on the Danish cycling calendar. The only things bigger are the Danish national championships and the Tour of Denmark. Saturday’s race took the peloton over gravel and dirt roads around Herning, the hometown for 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis. But it was fatka’s Hoj that stole the show

A gutsy solo move in the final three laps of Saturday’s fourth stage of the Tour of the Gila propelled Tecos’s Florencio Ramos Torres to a win, robbing the field’s prominent sprinters from an opportunity to strut their stuff… and earn their paychecks. Of course the day’s biggest and most unexpected development came during the women's race when Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson did not win. We repeat: Jeanson did not win. At least that’s how the news should probably sound with Jeanson so dominant in U.S. women’s cycling these days, but that story line would take due credit from the strength and