Bruyneel sprints - Postal director helps Matt White regain his momentum.

Good morning to our American audience. Welcome to another day of live updatesfrom the Vuelta a España. Today's third stage is another short one:a 134.2 km from San Vicente del Raspieg to Murcia, dead flat along Spain'sCosta Blanca for the first 80 km, then heading west to the finish in Murcia.There are three "hot sprints" along the route and no mountain points. Thefinish is flat and straight on for the final two kilometers. The peloton'swill have a golden opportunity to measure their strength against each otherin one of the flattest stages in the whole Vuelta. This third stage, betweenSan

The Lion King came out of hibernation Monday to win the third stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España in an exciting shootout between the top sprinters. Mario Cipollini's retirement plans are definitely on hold again as the Italian superstar showed that missing more than 90 days of competition doesn't mean that much to cycling's top sprinter. "I'm here to prepare for the world championships. That is my mission, but it's nice to show I can still win. It's important for the sponsor and it's a good test," Cipollini said after winning in 3 hours, 7 minutes, 37 seconds with an average speed of 42.917

Good morning to our U.S. audience and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the second stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España. The second stage is a short 144.7km from Valencia to Alcoi.Sunny skies and huge crowds welcomed the peloton for the start of the second stage of the 57th Vuelta a Espana. Big cheers for Oscar Sevilla, Joseba Beloki and Roberto Heras as the joined the 206riders who signed in.It's warm today, highs in the upper 80s, and Mario Cipollini started with a sleeve-less Acqua & Sapone jersey. The race winds through some spectacular countryside just inland from the Med, passing

The first road stage of the 57th Vuelta delivered just what everyone expected since the advent of shorter stages and a peloton packed with 23 teams and more than 200 riders: attacks and more attacks.The final 27-km circuit of the 144-km second stage from Valencia into the finale at sun-baked Alcoi saw a string of blistering attacks over narrow roads. With 16 km to go, Kelme’s Oscar Sevilla shot off the front to try to grab a gap with five other riders and ONCE put the pedal to the metal to preserve its golden jersey for Joseba Beloki.The beneficiary of this in-fighting was Saeco’s Danilo Di

Okay, done with Stage 2. It didn't start out too fast so that was good, the field is really big here207 riders. The first climb was very hard but it broke up the field a littlebit. I went up the hill with Cipo's team knowing that they would ride sometempo to bring him back to the group for the sprint. After that hill therace went very fast, and on the last hill I was at my limit and the groupwas descending super fast too. My roommate, housemate, and dear friend Antonio Cruz hit the pavement hardtoday. I didn't know this until after the race and he walked into the roomreally bloody and in

Svetlana Boubnenkova (Edilsavino) took the win in the eighth round of the women’s road World Cup in Embrach, Switzerland, on Sunday, but Mirjam Melchers’ (Farm Frites) fourth place in the 118.8km event means that the back-and-forth contest for dominance in the nine-race series will continue down to the wire. The race drew a large and talented field, but the focus of early attention was largely on the two women vying for the Cup lead, with just six points separating Rossner and Melchers. Changed from previous years, the 10.8 kilometer course for 2002 featured narrow roads and two main

World champion Oscar Freire won’t be going to CSC-Tiscali after all,according to reports in the Spanish sports daily AS. Freire and the Danish team have been going back and forth for weeks and seemedpoised to sign a two-year deal. But according to AS, Freire sent an e-mailto Johnny Weltz declining the offer so the two-time world champion couldconsider others. Reportedly deals from Quick Step, worth more money and forthree years, and iBanesto.com are on the table. Banesto only has one yearleft with its title sponsor and seems to looking to reduce its roster nextyear, but a chance to grab

Germany’s Telekom team is on the verge of signing Giro d’ Italia winnerPaolo Savoldelli, team manager Walter Godefroot said Tuesday.Godefroot said the team has also offered a new contract to 1997 Tourde France winner Jan Ullrich, who is sitting out a six-month banafter he tested positive for amphetamines in June. Godefroot said Savoldelli, of the Italian Index-Alexia team, has agreedterms with Telekom. "All we need is his signature," he said.The 29-year-old Italian is likely to be called to work for former Tourwinner Ullrich once and if he officially returns to competition on March23, 2003.It

Marty Nothstein and Sarah Uhl each ended a week of frustration by taking gold medals and national championship jerseys in the final men’s and women’s events of the 2002 U.S. Track Cycling Championships on their home track at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, PA. Nothstein easily outsprinted nemesis Jame Carney in the final sprint of a crash-marred men’s 10-mile scratch race to secure his spot at the World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark at the end of September. Uhl, the former junior world women’s sprint champ competing in her first year as an elite senior, won a

Jeff LeBauve (Focus 2004) powered over teammate Gideon Massie in the second ride of the match sprints finals to take the national championship Friday night at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome. LeBauve joins teammates Tanya Lindenmuth (women’s match sprint) and Garth Blackburn (keirin) on top of the podium this week at the track nationals in Trexlertown, PA. "It was a lot tougher than it looked," the 23-year-old New Orleans native said. He was concerned, he said, about Massie’s ability to hold a long sprint but also confident in his superior speed. LeBauve’s win made it three of four in the speed

The United States Anti-Doping Agency announced Friday that a three-member arbitration panel has ruled that track sprinter Tammy Thomas has committed a doping violation, her second in two years, and ordered the 32-year-old Colorado Springs resident be banned from competition for life. The three member panel of the American Arbitration Association (AAA)/North American Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found sufficient evidence to support a positive doping test involving the prohibited substance norbolethone.

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across something in the pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.com thatcauses you to want to write us, dropus a line.Please include your full name and home town. By submitting mail tothis address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.Cipo's back. Oh happy dayEditors;Great News! (See "World'sfastest retiree turns in world's shortest 'retirement'")The cycling world needs Cipo’. We al hope to see him in the Tour nextyear and hope to see him win more races in 2003 including a new recordat the

Two rain delayed sessions have tightened the schedule and resulted in the cancellation of the final round of the team pursuit at the U.S. National Track Championships in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. Rains on Wednesday evening forced the postponement of the semi-finaland final rounds of the women's match sprint; the team pursuit finals andthe men's kilometer final. Re-scheduled for this morning, those eventswere further delayed because of weather. Facing an already compressed trackschedule, officials decided to award the men's team pursuit medals basedsoley on teams' performances in the

Rains in Trexlertown reshuffled the schedule at the national track championships, but competition resumed on Thursday night, with Jame Carney, Mike Beers and Tanya Lindenmuth taking home national titles. For Carney, it was a night of double duty, as the points race semifinals and finals were both contested in the Thursday evening session. After qualifying in the 60-lap semifinals, competitors had to turn right back around for the 120-lap final later in the evening. In the final, Carney (Prime Alliance) lapped the field twice to take the win. Navigators’s Marty Nothstein wassecond, and

At the Chris Thater Memorial Criterium in Binghamton, New York, on Sunday, Navigators Mark Walters and Trek Plus’s Laura Van Gilder took the wins at the National Racing Calendar event, each adding to an impressive season résumé. Walters, the winner of the USPRO road championship in Philadelphia, was part of a nine-rider breakaway group at Chris Thater that lapped the main field as the 50-mile race wound down. With 10 laps to go, the Navigators began to set things up for Walters, delivering him to the win on the last lap. Mercury’s Mike Sayers took second, while last year’s winner, John

England’s Jeremy Hunt sprinted to the biggest win of his career Sundayin the GP de Plouay, charging to the head of a field dominated by riders from English-speaking countries in the French race deep in the heart of Brittany. Hunt, 28, edged Australians Stuart O’Grady (Credit Agricole) and BadenCooke (FDJeux.com) in a bunch sprint in front of a raucous crowd undersunny summer skies. American Fred Rodriguez (Domo) finished fifth in one of France’s mostimportant one-day races on the calendar. “I stayed in the pack all day hoping it would come down to a sprint,”Hunt told French television. “I

Hunt led an anglophonic sprint to the line in Plouay

In a battle of wills, Petra Rossner was able to overcome a series of attacks from World Cup leader Mirjam Melchers Saturday and overtake her in the overall standings at the GP de Plouay in France. And at the finish line, it was fellow German, Regina Schleicher just edging out Rossner for the win. Rossner finished second in front of Susanne Lunjskog, hot off her second place finish in the Grand Boucle. Melchers was fourth. The seventh stop in the nine race series was held on a circuit course around the quaint town of Plouay. The field raced eight, 14 kilometer laps for a total of 113

Plouay hosted the Worlds in 2000 and I loved the course, the ambienceat the race and the support of the crowd.This year is the first year they have hosted a women’s World Cup eventhere. It seems a natural place for one since Brittany is the center ofcycling in France and I think Plouay is the center of cycling in Brittany.Each year the men’s race draws massive crowds and is one of the highlightson the French cycling calendar.The area brings back a lot of fond memories for me as Michael and Ispent a few good days here with our mothers in 2000. Earlier this year,when I started racing as a

Some of my friends and family at home seemed to think that the French WorldCup took place in a village called "Poulet" today. Pouletmeans chicken, and no, we really weren’t racing in a town called “chicken.”The race took place in the village of Plouay. I’m not sure if Plouay canbe translated into anything English, but I know it doesn’t mean chicken.Our five-woman Saturn squad came into this race motivated and excited.You just couldn’t tell by looking at us. We were all still quite worn outfrom La Grande Boucle. Ina had been telling me all week that I looked likehell. Hey thanks, Ina!I spent

Fassa Bortolo’s Kim Kirchen followed the wheel of Rabobank’sMichael Boogerd to ride all the way to final overall victory inthe final stage of the Tour of Holland. Kirchen earned valuable time bonusesalong the 205-km course through the hills of southern Holland to grab hisfirst major victory of his young career.Boogerd won the stage after he attacked with about 30 km left in thestage, but Kirchen followed and U.S. Postal Service rider Victor HugoPena, who started the day in the race lead, couldn’t reel in the breakand lost the race by 14 seconds. Kirchen started the day 40 seconds behindPena,

Oscar Sevilla suffered in the Tour de France and abandonedin the Alps when he was expected to give Lance Armstrong a run forhis money. Instead, “El Nino” went back to Spain a frustrated and unhappyracer. This week, the Kelme rider is racing in Italy and finished fourth inthe Copa Agostini, a result that gives the Manchego rider some animationcoming into the Vuelta a  España.  “The most important this I have recovered the good sensationsI had in June,” Sevilla told the Spanish sports daily AS. “It givesme morale once again on the bike.” He races again Sunday in the Clasica a los Puertos

George Hincapie was forced to skip Sunday’s Meisterschaft von Zürichand the Tour of Holland this week as the U.S. Postal Service rider is stillaching from injuries suffered during a fall in the Clasica San Sebastianon Aug. 10.Hincapie, however, says he still hopes to defend his title at the GPSan Francisco next month. “I’m trying to recover and be able to race there,”Hincapie told VeloNews on Tuesday from his European base in Girona,Spain. “I’m riding now a couple of hours a day. I just need to take iteasy and make sure it heals up right.”Hincapie put the rest of the 2002 season in doubt when

Telekom's Erik Zabel  won the opening stage of the 2002Tour of Holland in a bunch sprint in Monday’s 220-km stage from Utrechtto Leeuwarden. Zabel edged Alexandre Usov (Phonak) and Jan Koerts,who came across the line third. The race will be a showdown between some of the hottest sprinters inthe game. With the world championships in early October, riders will beramping up their form. Joining Zabel at the start line Tuesday in Utrecht were 128 racers from16 teams, including Robbie McEwen (Lotto), world champion OscarFreire (Mapei), defending champion Leon Van Bon (Domo), IvanQuaranta

Italian Dario Frigo's victory in the Zurich championship, the eighth eventof cycling's World Cup, hoisted him five places from ninth to fourth inthe UCI world rankings released Monday.The status of the top three riders remains unchanged, however, as Paolo Bettini's second place behind Frigo, and Lance Armstrong's third-place finish, solidified their position behind last year's reigning world number one Erik Zabel.1. Erik Zabel (Ger), 2224 pts2. Paolo Bettini (Ita), 21483. Lance Armstrong (USA), 20734. Dario Frigo (Ita), 15295. Erik Dekker (Ned), 15116. Oscar Freire (Spa),

The French police that have been assigned to this Tour have been the most professional staff I've ever encountered. They've done a superb job of keeping the roads safe, waving flags around all hazards, and guding the whole race caravan smoothly throughout the country. We've never had one problem with a random car that has snuck onto the course. The "gendarmerie" have traveled with us throughout the entire race, and during each transfer after the stage, we often see them speeding up behind us in groups of four. They draft very well off each other with their motorcycles! My teammate Ina

A massive crash helped shape the outcome of the USPRO Criterium Championship in Downers Grove, Illinois, on Sunday, with Mercury's Henk Vogel's emerging as the race winner and 7UP-Nutra Fig's Kevin Monahan taking the U.S. champion's jersey in a photo-finish for second place. Earlier in the day, the Diet Rite's Tina Mayolo snagged the women's championship, and James Baldesare (West Virginia-Gomart) won the elite amateur title. The 62-mile USPRO title race began as a wide-open affair, with almost all of the top teams boasting a legitimate contender for the race win, if not for the U.S. title.

With the USPRO Criterium Championship set for Sunday, VeloNews sat down with one of the favorites on the eve of the race, Canadian Gord Fraser of Mercury. Fraser won the event in 1999. In 2000, he finished second, setting up teammate American Derek Bouchard-Hall for the win and the national championship. Who are your favorites? Who are you going to be watching out for? I think the usual suspects. First of all, I think if our team does its job properly, we’ll be in really good shape. Obviously, I think the major threat would be the Prime Alliance team, with their three sprinters -- McCook,

With the only real threat to their overall crowns coming from catastrophe, Alison Dunlap and Ryder Hesjedal each did just what they had to do Saturday at the NORBA NCS finals in Mount Snow, Vermont. Both riders entered the day's short track races with comfortable leads in the standings, then held on to take home the series titles. Dunlap also won the U.S. national title, while the men's stars-and-stripes jersey went to Mongoose-Hyundai rider Todd Wells. Meanwhile, Canadians Roland Green and Chrissy Redden were fastest on the day, each winning the final stop of the 2002 series on a scalding

Mark McCormack (Saturn) and Tina Mayolo-Pic (Diet Rite) took the race wins on Saturday night in Downers Grove, Illinois, as the warm-up events for the national criterium championships came down to field sprints for both the men and women. In the women’s race, there were attacks almost every lap up the sharp climb midway through the one-mile course, and several threatening breakaways, with the Talgo America squad usually the instigators. However, in the end, none of the breaks could stay away, setting up a battle between sprinters Mayolo-Pic, Nicole Freedman (Rona), Suzanne Sonye (Saturn) and

“Allez les filles! Allez les filles!”The number of French cycling fans that come out to cheer us on continuouslyamazes me. They really love this sport over here. What race director PierreBoué has done for women’s racing is really incredible.When I think of all the planning and organization and effort he andhis staff have put into this race, I really admire the man....even if hedid give us those long neutrals in the beginning.Each day Pierre rides in the front caravan vehicle and when we cometo the end of our neutral section, he’s the one that stands up in the carwaving the big “DÉPART” flag.

In all honesty, this year’s La Grande Boucle is pretty exciting.Unlike the men’s Tour de France of the last four years, where Lance hasbeen the clear-cut winner, this women’s Tour winner is still completelyup in the air. The top four are separated by just over one minute, thetop five, by 2.5 minutes. It’s still anybody’s race. Zinaida Stahurskaia,Susanne Ljugskold, Edita Pucinskaite, Joanne Sommariba, or Nicole Brandliare all within range. And this even with all the climbing days we’ve had.Very impressive, ladies.Our little Saturn team was made even smaller today with Cathy Marsalfinally

Even though this morning’s stage was short, just 32 kilometers, it was an abrupt wake-up call to the legs after resting for a day. I forced myself to ride the trainer before the start, not to scare anyone that I was going to attack from the gun, but just so I wouldn’t get dropped from the gun. Ina’s been talking about winning this stage since she first saw our race bible. She knew it could be a stage for her. And seeing that she’s about 2.5 hours down in GC, is not a super threat to anyone! I’m sure a lot of the sprinters were looking forward to this day after suffering in the mountains, but

While the mountain goats were in Colorado over the weekend for the Saturn Cycling Classic, the criterium specialists were in Southern California for the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix. Now in its 41st year, the criterium is a fixture on the Southern California racing calendar, and a yearly stop on the National Racing Calendar. In the men’s race, Gord Fraser took Mercury’s second win of the weekend, adding to Chris Wherry’s victory in Colorado the day before, while in the women’s race, Saturn’s Suzanne Sonye took top honors. In the men’s race, 188 riders lined up for 90 minutes on the 1.4-mile

George Hincapie is scraped and bruised after a dangerous spill in Saturday’sClasica San Sebastian race, but he’s quietly relieved because he knowsit could have been much worse. Hincapie suffered perhaps the worst spill of his career when he slippedon a wet portion of asphalt while descending at speeds topping 70 mph offthe Jaizkibel, a Category 1 climb late in the race. He actually slid under a U.S.-style traffic guard rail, disappearedoff the road, avoiding very serious injuries by inches. “I just hit a slippery patch on the road and that was it,” Hincapietold VeloNews on Monday. “There

Laurent Jalabert scored the big victory Saturday in the Clasica San Sebastianthat eluded him during three weeks at the 2002 Tour de France. After a string of close calls in his final Tour, Jalabert can go tothe retirement home a happy man. The Frenchman helped break the race onthe category-one Jaizkibel climb in the 223-km seventh stop of the 2002World Cup and was fastest in a five-up sprint coming into the windy finishin San Sebastian. Jalabert scored his second straight Clasica victory in what is his first-- and last -- race in Spain this year. Jalabert’s CSC-Tiscali team won’tbe racing

You probably couldn’t have scripted a better finish if you had tried. The Saturn Cycling Classic, easily the toughest bike race in America, with what is arguably one of the most challenging courses in the world, was won Saturday by one of the most deserving competitors in the field: Chris Wherry, the man who has twice finished third in this grueling climber’s epic; Chris Wherry, the man who saw his shot at a U.S. Pro title evaporate when he flatted in Philadelphia this year; Chris Wherry, the quintessential team rider who has stuck with his Mercury squad through thick and thin and Chris

Stage 6 Today was the Tour’s first major day in the mountains. Rain was fallingwhen we woke up, but by the start the skies were just plain gray and therewas no rain.It was another odd start. They had us ride three laps along the boulevardthat ran in front of the start stage for  5km. Then they stopped usagain, and restarted us for 11km of neutral heading out of town and finallya running start into the actual race.Attacks started even before the first sprint bonus at 10km, with a brilliantone coming from Dede Demet-Barry.That started the trend and attacks kept going well into the first

VeloNews.com welcomes your letters. If you run across somethingin the pages of VeloNews magazine or see something on VeloNews.comthat causes you to want to write us, dropus a line. Please include your full name and home town. By submittingmail to this address, you are consenting to the publication of your letter.  A crime of omission Editors: You forgot to mention Mariano Friedick in your article (see "Dominguezwins, but Lance is the hit on Wall Street") on the race today...JellyBelly is a hard working team (remember the U.S. Pro) on a small budget,they need to be  the exposure when they

Bike riders, tramps and thievesYesterday, after a long day in the saddle and a long drive afterward,we arrived at our very quaint French hotel last night only to find outthat the front desk manager had mistakenly been told that our team wasa bunch of thieves. So he refused to open any of our phone lines for fearthat we wouldn’t pay our bills. And he asked our team director for paymentin full as soon as we arrived. As we later found out, after a bit of argument, one of the Italian teamshad left the Dutch hotel without paying for about 200 euros worth of phonecalls. So the faxes had been

ONCE’s Joseba Beloki says he wants to be in position to win Saturday’sClassica San Sebastian. That means he has to be in the front over the punishingJaizkibel climb towering over the Atlantic Ocean just east of the finishline in San Sebastian. “Maybe this is my year, at least to try to be at the front at the Jaizkibel,which is where everything is decided,” Beloki told the newspaper El Dario Vasco. “I really hope to be at the front over the climb and then we’ll see what happens.” The Jaizkibel is a long, difficult climb up a lonely, windswept summitsome 20 kilometers from the finish line on

Stage 4 - What a long day in the saddle. I think we pedaled close to fivehours today, including the neutral. Granted, the 20km of neutral was casualpace at best, while the actual race yo-yo’d depending on the terrain andthe mood of the riders. The Saturn girls were kind of hoping a non-threatening break would beallowed up the road so we wouldn’t have to cover attacks all day. Afterthe first sprint at 12km, American Mari Holden and a French national teamgirl made a break and got up to 50 seconds before the pack got nervousand chased them down. Mari’s done very well at this race before and

While he would have loved to have raced in New York close to family andfriends last Sunday, U.S. Postal's George Hincapie opted to stayin Europe and take on Germany's World Cup race, the HEW Cyclassics in Hamburg. The choice appears to have paid off nicely. Hincapie made the rightmove, joined the winning break on Sunday and rose to third in the overallUCI World Cup standings after finishing fifth behind winner Johan Museeuw. “I really wanted to race in New York. It would have been great to seeall of my friends and family and the people I grew up racing with. Beforethe Tour started,

Stage 3 -- So to sum up yesterday, now that I have the resultsin front of me, Judith is in the yellow jersey with 28 seconds over Polkhanovafrom Iterra. Leontien Van Moorsel is in third, 1:28 back. Judith’s moveyesterday was great, as it put many of the GC threats a few minutes behindher..which is a great cushion to have before heading into the mountains.Every day is a good day when it starts off with our soignuer, Ellen,making us Swiss muesli. She made a huge bowl of it for us to share...withyogurt, rice pudding, cereal, and fruit. With that kind of breakfast inour stomachs, we can make it

Editor's note: T-Mobile's Dede Demet-Barry is sending regular reports back from the Grande Boucle Feminin -- once called the Women's Tour de France. This is the first of her reports I am three days and four stages into La Grande Boucle Feminin.It’s been neat to be back at this race, as it presents the utmost challengesin women's cycling. We will race for fifteen days – starting in S’Hertogendenbosch, The Netherlands traveling through Belgium and into France, hitting the Alps and the Massifs Centrales before finishing in Paris. All the best women in the world are here.I am

Two-time Paralympian Dan Nicholson of the United States won a world title and set a world record for CP3 cyclists Monday, August 5, at the International Paralympic Committee’s World Cycling Championships in Altenstadt, Germany. Nicholson captured the 1 kilometer time trial for cyclists with cerebral palsy in a world record time of 1 minute, 19.75 seconds. Meanwhile, teammate Dory Selinger also claimed gold in the LC2 1 km time trial for cyclists with a single-leg amputation below the knee in 1:12.67. Selinger led an impressive U.S. barrage in the LC2 category. Paul Martin (Boulder, Colo.)

Stage 2For reasons I still don’t fully comprehend, the race director – whose name I really should learn – just loves to make long stages even longer by adding 20km of neutral before our actual race begins. So we need toremember to not pay attention to depart rèal in our racebibles, but to depart fictif, the actual time of departure withhowever many extra neutral kilometers he’s decided to tack on. Mr. Race Director really wants longer stages for the women, but as theUCI won’t let him make stages too terribly long, he just adds onmore neutral kilometers to make up for it. Fortunately, the

Johan Museeuw skipped the Tour de France to be fresh for the second half of the season. The 36-year-old veteran proved just how fresh after winning Sunday’s HEW Cyclassics race, the sixth round in the 2002 World Cup series. On a 253-km flat course that was supposed to be a rematch of the battle for the Tour’s green points jersey between Lotto’s Robbie McEwen and Telekom’s Erik Zabel turned into another inspiring win by the Belgian, who consolidates his lead in the 10-round World Cup. The hyped showdown between the Australian and the German wasn’t in the cards. McEwen crashed early in the

Top five –1. Ivan Dominguez (USA), Saturn, 62km in 2:04:402. Vassily Davidenko (Rus), Navigators3. Gord Fraser (Can), Mercury4. Alex Candelario, (USA), Prime Alliance5. Kevin Monahan, (USA), 7UP-Nutrafig Check back soon for a complete race report from VeloNews editorial director John Wilcockson and photos from Casey Gibson. 3:40 p.m. Wow! Saturn, which was no where to be seen on that last lap, timed it perfectly. As Navigators and Mercury fought it out, Saturn's Ivan Dominguez scoots right up the middle and takes the win. 3:39 p.m. Mercury is still leading the front of the field. 3:38

Editor’s note: - Saturn’s Kimberly Bruckner will bewriting a regular diary for VeloNews.com throughout this year’s La GrandeBoucle Feminin International – originally known as the Women’s Tour de France.This is her first report. Sunday August 4 And so it begins...15 stages in 14 days, one “rest” day, 12 transfers,racing our bikes through Holland, Belgium, and, for the most part, France.They call it La Grande Boucle Feminin International ...the "bigloop." And this is my first time racing it...the women’s version of LeTour de France. Seven Saturn women and our support crew are ready to

Lance Armstrong was the biggest draw of the inaugural New York City Cycling Championship presented by BMC Software, which was the first major sports event to take place in lower Manhattan since September 11. But on a hot, humid Sunday afternoon after a 50-lap, 100km circuit race watched by a crowd estimated to be anywhere between 50,000 and 125,000 fans, the four-time Tour de France champion was 16 seconds and 27 places behind the brilliant sprint winner, Ivan Dominguez, the 26-year-old Cuban who races from Saturn. The $10,000 winner’s check along with the prestige of a nationally televised

There was no change in the overall GC at Sunday’s final stage of the International, a 30-mile criterium won by Charles Dionne of 7UP/Nutrafig and Sarah Konrad of DeFeet/Cycles de Oro. Prime Alliance’s 23-year-old Danny Pate took top honors over the seven-day event, finishing 1:45 ahead of teammate Matt Decanio, while on the women’s side Heather Albert of Goldy’s finished an impressive 8:42 in front of Maria Calle, largely on the strength of her solo breakaway in Wednesday’s road race. In the men’s criterium, Prime Alliance set the pace and led the pack, looking to guard their team lead,

Not bad for a guy who doesn't like field sprints

Goldy’s Heather Albert assumed her race leader’s jersey with style Saturday, winning the hilly 100-mile sixth stage at the International in severe heat. In the men’s race, Jason McCartney of Bianchi-Grand Performance pulled off a surprise victory 16 seconds ahead of race leader Danny Pate (Prime Alliance.) “Winning ‘The International’ has been my intent since the beginning of the cycling season,” said Albert moments before the women’s race, adding that she was ready to take on any challengers. “To see my goal reaching fruition is quite gratifying.” From the gun, Team Rona began attacking,

Start with the fact that the short track at NORBA NCS No. 4 was held almost entirely on the track around a football field, then add the kind of extremely muddy conditions usually reserved for wintertime European cyclo-cross races, and you have a picture of the racing in Durango, Colorado on Saturday. After a torrential mid-afternoon rainstorm soaked the Fort Lewis College campus, riders lined up in front of the small stadium's grandstand for a 20-minutes, plus 3 laps race that was thoroughly entertaining to watch, but hell to ride in. When all was done Alison Dunlap (Luna) and Ryder Hesjedal

One got here 10 days ago, while the other arrived at 2 a.m. this morning. But when racing on Friday was done, the result was the same for Jimena Florit and Roland Green, as both took impressive cross-country wins at NORBA No. 4 in Durango, Colorado. Florit (RLX-Polo Sport) was the early arrival, rolling into this tourist town in southwest Colorado more than a week ago to get used to the altitude and learn the ins and outs of the tough Durango course. And when race day finally did arrive, she was on form from beginning to end, out-dueling reigning world champion Alison Dunlap in a

For the third time in five stages, the leader’s jersey of the seven-day International stage race traded hands within the Prime Alliance team. After sweeping the opening stage’s time trial-- Svein Tuft narrowly edged out teammate Matt Decanio, and U-23 world time trial champion Danny Pate finished third – the team has led the race consecutively in that order. Tuft passed the jersey to Decanio after the opening two stages, and Friday, it was Pate’s turn. Riders began the day tentatively, slowly rolling into the scenic four-lap, 80-mile circuit race around Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, a few

“You have hurt my feelings with your filthy fish-wrapper….”a cane--wielding Patrick Fitzpatrickto editor Deke Patwell inThomas McGuane’s "Nobody’s Angel" Lance Armstrong’s fourth consecutive Tour triumph was the prelude toa cacophony of chin music in the public prints, a symphony scored for smallminds playing big mouths, over who is the world’s greatest athlete — indeed,over who is an athlete and who is not. It didn’t help that Lance makes Le Grande Boucle look like aSunday spin on the bike path. A miser where his physical capital is concerned,Scrooge McTour spends no more than is

The Prime Alliance cycling team maintained race leadership today at the fourth stage of the International, a 60-mile circuit race in Holidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Taking the approach of covering moves, instead of riding a defensive tempo, Prime Alliance effectively forced the other teams in the peloton to ride at the front to keep the field intact. Right from the gun, race leader Matt Decanio covered a four-man break away group, which was caught after five miles. Soon after, a nine-man escape formed containing Svein Tuft, Prime Alliance’s former race leader. The group gained a maximum of 1:45

The seven-day International stage race continued on Tuesday with the 74-mile second stage in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with Rona’s Nicole Freedman and 7UP-Nutra Fig’s Charles Dionne taking the stage wins in the women’s and men’s races, respectively. The women’s race came down to a big field sprint finish in Johnstown, with Goldy’s Heather Albert the first to jump, with about 400 meters to go. Freedman came through 150 meters from the line to take the win, followed by Gina Grain (Boise) and Andrea Hannos (Rona). Race leader Manon Jutras stayed in the yellow leader’s jersey for her Rona

Editor's note: Prime Alliance's Jonas Carney checked in with VeloNews.com throughout Super Week in Wisconsin. This is his wrap-up report.The International Cycling Classic is over. There weren't any big surprises in the last four days of racing. Chad Gerlach maintained his lead in the sprint competition, and The Russian Concussion finished up strong to take the overall. Thursday in the Sheboygan criterium a large group took a lap. Apparentlya group of riders was being caught in one of the final corners and it gota little chaotic, with Joe Papp sprinting to the win. Friday was the Kenosha

Australia scored another 1-2 in the women's points race at the Commonwealth games in Manchester, England, Tuesday with Kathy Bates and Rochelle Gilmour winning gold and silver. Canada's Clara Hughes took the bronze medal. Hughes initiated a break approximately 20 laps into the race, and was joined by Bates, Nicole Cooke (Wales) and Frances Newstead (England). The foursome lapped the field to gain ten points each, but Bates and her teammates proved to be dominant in the sprints, with the winner figuring in almost every one. With 20 laps to go, the race for gold was essentially over, but

Lance Armstrong is king for a day once again in the City of Light. The Texan confirmed that he’s cycling’s most dominant force in a generationafter winning four stages en route to his fourth consecutive Tour de Francevictory. Armstrong basked in his moment in the sun on a brilliant summerafternoon in Paris. Surrounded by thousands of his fans on the Champs-Elysées,Armstrong was clearly enjoying his day. President George W. Bush even calledto congratulate him. “It’s an honor and it makes me happy to be able to win again,” Armstrongsaid. “It was a long three weeks. With so many mountains, it

5:15 p.m. Robbie McEwen takes his second stage win on the Champs-Elysées and his second stage win of this Tour, but more importantly, he has broken Erik Zabel's six-year hold on the points jersey. 5:13 p.m. Zabel and McEwen ...McEwen wins the stage and wins the jersey! Lance Armstrong wins the Tour de France. It's done. 5:12 p.m. We are one kilometer from the line. Armstrong can now not lose the Tour with less than 1km to go. The field is together and Telekom is leading. 5:11 p.m. Rumsas is now off on his own. He will be caught. 5:10 p.m. We have 3.5 km to go, Rumsas and Ivanov are

Jonathan Vaughters (Crédit Agricole) came all the way back to Colorado from the Tour de France to tackle one of his favorite races, the 38th running of the Bob Cook Memorial Mount Evans Hill Climb, only to find Scott Moninger (Mercury) there waiting for him. Named in honor of its five-time winner, the late Bob Cook, the 28-mile race ascends from 7540 feet at the start in Idaho Springs to 14,265 feet at the finish atop Mount Evans. Noting the windy conditions at the bottom on Saturday, neither Vaughters nor Moninger expected to topple Mike Engleman’s course record of 1:45:30, set in

The 2002 Tour de France drew to a close with a great sprint on the most famous boulevard in cycling. Robbie McEwen’s win on the Champs Elysees signaled a changing of the guard in the peloton; but regardless of those changes, Lance Armstrong plans on continuing to lead the Tour de France. McEwen is the first Australian to win the green jersey in the Tour de France, and the first man other than Erik Zabel to win it in the past seven Tours de France. That battle went right down to the wire, and McEwen left no doubt as to who the faster man was by showing the entire field his back wheel and

One prize. Two men. Three sprints. That should be the story of the finalstage of the 2002 Tour de France.The prize is the green jersey for winning the prestigious points competition.The men are six-time defending sprint champion Erik Zabel and his Australianchallenger Robbie McEwen. And the sprints that will settle things are twointermediate ones and the final showdown on the Champs-Elysées.In recent years, the last stage has had a familiar pattern: an openinghour when the riders let their hair down, and the winners of the yellow,green and polka-dot jerseys ride alongside each other for photo

Paris in July is a hot and wondrous city. After weeks of traveling with the three-ring circus that is the Tour de France, through little towns and villages all over France, arriving in Paris is a definite culture shock. When you’re this close to the Tour, you sometimes forget that other people are simply not interested. The Tour is a major event in Paris, but the city doesn’t shut down completely for it. There are even people here who don’t know the Tour is coming tomorrow. That’s fine, and at this point it is even a bit refreshing. I have had little chance to think or talk about anything

In some ways, the 2002 Tour de France is pretty much ending the way it started. The first road stage of the Tour de France way back on July 7 was muchlike the final true road stage Friday: long, hard and very hilly over narrowroads. Nearly three weeks ago in Luxembourg, the peloton hit the difficultfirst stage of the Tour with Lance Armstrong in the yellow jerseyafter winning the opening prologue. Friday’s 176.5km stage 18 ended thelast real day of hard racing with Armstrong back in yellow. All that remains in the 89th Tour de France is Saturday’s final timetrial and Sunday’s frolic back to

Preliminary Stage Results1. Thor Hushovd (Nor), C.A, at , 176.5 km in 4:28:28 (39.446kph) 2. Christophe Mengin (Fra), FDJ, at ˆ 00:00. 3. Jakob Piil (Dk), CST, at 00:05. 4. Leon Van Bon (Nl), DFF, at 00:33. 5. Jorg Jaksche (G), ONE, at 00:33. 6. Nicki Sorensen (Dk), CST, at 00:33. 7. Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita), TEL, at 00:40. 8. Erik Dekker (Nl), RAB, at 00:40. 9. Thierry Loder (Fra), A2R, at 00:40. 10. Nicola Loda (Ita), FAS, at 06:59. 11. Robbie McEwen (Aus), LOT, at 11:42. 12. Erik Zabel (G), TEL, at 11:42. 13. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), C.A, at 11:42. 14. Jan Svorada (Cz), LAM, at 11:42. 15.

Guest columnist Jonas Carney of Prime Alliance has been reporting on this year's International Cycling Classic in Wisconsin. This is his latest report. Every year the races at Super Week are difficult to win. This year is no exception. There are no teams with enough power to control the field, and so it's almost always a break. No matter what, you have to plan on some serious suffering. First, you've gotta make the break and go pull for pull with Viktor Rapinski or Hilton Clarke or John Lieswyn until you lap the field. After that you have to cover every attack. Then it's time to fight it

It was another heartbreaker for CSC-Tiscali. It would have been great to see Jacob Piil give it a real go there in the final sprint - but yet again, our team was the victim of unfortunate circumstance. On the brighter side of things however, we're lucky Jacob wasn't hurt. Seeing him clip out of his pedals like he did and then recover, was nothing short of incredible. Great bike handling on his part. I'm sure he rode into the finish with shaky hands though. I can't imagine what was going through his head during those final meters. We've had so many close calls in this race, but that's all

There was a relaxed feeling at the start of Thursday’s stage 17 deep inthe French Alps. The hardest mountain stage of the Tour to La Plagne wascomfortably behind everyone. But four hard climbs still stood between theracers and the finish line in Cluses. From there it might be a relativelyeasy ride back to Paris for Sunday’s conclusion on the Champs Elysées. Lance Armstrong again defended his yellow jersey as his U.S.Postal Service team worked hard to cover every move made by his most dangerousrivals. In the end, a three-man break slipped away from the clutches of thepeloton and Dario Frigo

Preliminary stage results1. Dario Frigo (Ita), TAC, 142 km in 4:02:27(35.141 kph)2. Mario Aerts (Bel), LOT, at 00:00.3. Giuseppe Guerini (Ita), TEL, at 00:02.4. David Moncoutié (Fra), COF, at 02:55.5. Thor Hushovd (Nor), C.A, at 02:58.6. Laurent Lefevre (Fra), DEL, at 02:58.7. Unai Osa (Sp), BAN, at 02:58.8. Marcos Serrano (Sp), ONE, at 02:58.9. Jorg Jaksche (All), ONE, at 02:58.10. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CST, at 02:58.11. Santiago Botero (Col), KEL, at 02:58.12. José Enrique Gutierrez (Sp), KEL, at 03:14.13. Laurent Brochard (Fra), DEL, at 04:36.14. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), BAN, at 04:36.15.

Paris is getting closer and the chance for an opportunist's stage winhas come down to Friday’s stage across the limestone hills of the Jura.That’s because the final two stages are reserved for the specialists —Saturday’s time trial will probably go to race leader Lance Armstrong andSunday’s finale on the Champs-Elysées is the likely showdown betweenRobbie McEwen and Erik Zabel for the green jersey.That means that, like stage 17 through the Alps, we will see a stageof incessant attacks on the hilly roads of Friday’s stage. The attackson stage 17 were so numerous that Armstrong’s Postal

The steepest and most difficult mountains of the 2002 Tourde France delivered yet another long breakaway that held out to the endfor victory. Rabobank’s Michael Boogerd attacked on a descent towin his first Tour stage victory on a summit in Wednesday’s 16th stage.The big-toothed Dutch rider held off a late-stage charge by overall leaderLance Armstrong to take what he called the best moment of his professionalcareer. Just like Richard Virenque at Mont Ventoux, Boogerd’s escapegave him a nice cushion at the bottom of the beyond-category climb to LaPlagne, deep in the heart of the French

PRELIMINARY RESULTS 1. Michael Boogerd (Nl), RAB, 179.5km in 5:48:29. (30.905 kph) 2. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CST, at 1:25. 3. Lance Armstrong (USA), USP, at 01:25. 4. Joseba Beloki (Sp), ONE, at 02:02. 5. Raimondas Rumsas (Lit), LAM, at 02:02. 6. Levy Leipheimer (USA), RAB, at 02:10. 7. Ivan Basso (Ita), FAS, at 02:14. 8. Jose Azevedo (Por), ONE, at 02:14. 9. Santiago Botero (Col), KEL, at 02:23. 10. Roberto Heras (Sp), USP, at 02:25. 11. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), BAN, at 02:51. 12. Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Sp), ONE, at 04:39. 13. David

Jonathan Boyer, the first American to compete in the Tour de France, has been charged with 10 felony counts of child molestation in Monterey County, in California. According to a report in the Salinas Californian,Boyer, who first raced in the Tour in 1981, was arrested in May in Seaside, California, after a 16-year-old girl alleged that the 46-year-old Boyer had molested her for at least a year, beginning five years ago. Boyer posted $300,000 bail in the case and was released. Last week Boyer made his first court appearance in the case, where the presiding judge scheduled a preliminary

The longest stage in the Tour de France wasn’t the longest day on the bike.That honor goes to last Friday’s stage to Plateau de Beille that lastedfor almost seven hours. The peloton was in a hurry to finish the seven rated climbs in Tuesday’shot 226km stage 15, a day that looked harder in the road book than it didon the road. They just made it through in less than six hours. A seven-man breakaway pulled off the front with about 150km to go andnever looked back over the rural, rolling roads that took the Tour throughsome of the most spectacular scenery so far in this year’s race. Santiago