Australia's Sean Eadie won the world sprint title at the world track cycling championships in Copenhagen Sunday after beating compatriot Jobie Dajka in a third leg decider. It is Australia's first medal in track cycling's main event since Darryn Hill won the sprint title in Bogota in 1995. France, who won all three medals last year, took the bronze when Florian Rousseau held off his compatriot and the reigning champion Arnaud Tournant in their two-heat match. Meanwhile, French duo Jerome Neuville and Franck Perque handed France their only gold medal here when they retained their world

Australian Baden Cooke scraped home in the Paris-Correze cycle race in Brive, France on Sunday to mark up what he rated the best win of his young career. Cooke, who has had possession of the leader's yellow jersey since his opening stage success in the event devised by former Tour de France champion Laurent Fignon, had to dig deep to hold on to his one second overnight lead over Bernhard Eisel of Austria. The 24-year-old really showed his mettle though as he was going so easily he raced alone without the support of his fdjeux.com teammates for much of the stage until Nicolas Vogondy

The Miami Cycling Classic, Sunday, September 29, went a little bit coconuts when Saturn’s Eric Wohlberg pedaled to victory in the course’s first solo finish, according to race manager and producer, Lee Marks of Velo Racing. Chris Wherry of Mercury followed for second and Saturn’s Ivan Dominguez took out Mercury’s Henk Vogels on the line in a bunch sprint for third place in the final race of the Pro Cycling Tour. “That was a great race. It was the first time the race hasn’t ended in a bunch sprint, except for '99 when Mercury with Fraser and Sayers pulled it off,” said Marks. “The race was

Good morning and welcome to stage 20 of the Vuelta a España. Saturday's 141.2-km 20th stage from Avila to the Warner Bros. theme park in the outskirts of Madrid features two category-three climbs — Alto de la Paramera at 15 km and the Alto Navas del Rey at 66 km. It's rolling flat to the finish with a sharp descent about 5 km from the finish. With tomorrow's time trial to come, all expectations are that today's stage will end in a sprint. 3:35 p.m. Just 3km into the race Oscar Laguna (Relax) has gone off the front. Behind him the peloton seems uninterested. 3:45 p.m. With 60km to go Laguna

Chris Newton bounced back from a disappointing performance in the men's team pursuit qualifying to win the points race crown at the world track cycling championships here on Saturday to hand Britain their third gold medal in as many days. Newton, who celebrates his 29th birthday on Sunday, collected a total of 76 points in the 40km endurance race in which 20-30 riders race for bonus points every 2000 meters, or eight laps of the track. Austria's Franz Stocher came second with 50 points while Argentine Juan Curuchet finished third on 49. Newton, who said it was mainly his fault that

Australia's world record holders in the men's team pursuit event won the gold medal at the world track cycling championships in Copenhagen Friday holding off Germany in an exciting final. Australia, who are the medals pace-setters in the competition so far, timed an impressive 4min 00.362sec to add the world crown to the Commonwealth title they won in world record time in August. Germany finished in 4:07.384 with Britain claiming the honors in the match-up for the bronze medal against a sluggish Ukraine. Australia and Britain have emerged as the main attraction at these world

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 18th stage of the Vuelta a España. Today’s 193-km 18th stage to the ski area at La Covatilla will be Roberto Heras' best chance to seal the Vuelta a España and the last chance for everyone else narrow their losses in what will be Heras' backyard.The stage features four rated climbs: the Category 1 Puerto de Honduras at 116 km, two Cat. 2 climbs at 150 km and 168 km, respectively, and the summit finish up the "especial" climb to La Covatilla. The 9.5-km climb rises 760 meters with an average grade of 8 percent with ramps as steep

The 57th Vuelta a España is coming down to the wire for the second year in a row. Race leader Roberto Heras got time on his closest rival, Aitor Gonzalez, in Thursday’s 193-km 18th stage to the summit finish at La Covatilla. The 37 seconds he gained mean that he has extended overall lead to 1 minute, 12 seconds over the Kelme rider – but will it be enough? “I climbed as well as I could, but this is not the Angliru,” said Heras, who lives in nearby Bejar. “We tried to do some damage on Kelme on the previous climbs, but Aitor was strong today. It went as well as it could today. We got some

Britain’s Chris Hoy won the men's kilometer time trial in dramatic fashion in Copenhagen on Thursday with a blistering time which left France's world champion Arnaud Tournant in second place by the slimmest of margins. The Scot clocked 1:01.893 - the first time of the evening under 1:02 - to relegate Australian Shane Kelly from top spot on the leader board. Kelly, the former three-time world champion, had set the early pace with an impressive 1:02.18. Tournant, the first kilo rider ever to break the minute barrier in a ride at altitude last October in La Paz, is considered the world's

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 16th stage of the 2002 Vuelta a Espana. Today’s 145-km 17th stage starts in Benavente and rolls over northern Spain's vast meseta to Salamanca, a bustling university town. There are no rated climbs in this stage. The course climbs some 200 feet with two kilometers remaining, but the final kilometer is flat with one gentleleft turn.3:20 p.m. -- We are now 61km into today'sstage. The hoped for respite of a flat stage has been somewhat disruptedby strong crosswinds today. The wind has forced the peloton into echelonsat one point and

It’s 17 down and four to go for the 2002 Vuelta a España. With Thursday’s climbing stage and Sunday’s final-day time trial looming, Wednesday’s 145-km 17th stage worked just about how everyone was hoping: fast, no crashes, no splits and a bunch sprint. Italian Angelo Furlan (Alessio) was the surprise winner in the very fast stage into Salamanca (49.079 kph), nipping aging warrior Erik Zabel (Telekom) by a half-bike length in the final charge to the line. A sweeping left turn 400 meters to go threw the roaring sprinters into a mess. Zabel started first, but Furlan came around his right side

It may not be a high-altitude velodrome in Bolivia, but Arnaud Tournant -the world's fastest man on two wheels over a kilometer - will be the mainattraction when the world track cycling championships click into gear inCopenhagen on Wednesday.Tournant, one of only two cyclists to have won the kilometer world titlefour times, took the event to new heights last October when he smashed hisown record at altitude in La Paz in the first sub-minute time of 58.850secs.Now at a more reasonable height above sea level, Tournant is still everybit as lethal.The 24-year-old Frenchman is the latest star to

Good morning and welcome to today’s live coverage of the 16th stage of 2002Vuelta a España. Today's 154-km 16th stage from Aviles to León takes the peloton fromSpain's lush northern coast to the high meseta that dominates northern-centralSpain. The stage features the category-one Puerto de Pajares at 89 km. Speeds shouldbe very high as the peloton drops from the Pajares to León. The finalthree kilometers are flat with two hard left turns in the closing kilometer,but straight in the final 800 meters.3:20 p.m. –  We are now 76 kilometers into today's stage. A leadgroup of 13 riders are now on

Colombian Santiago Botero came to this Vuelta a España a favorite for overall victory. After all, he beat Lance Armstrong in a Tour de France time trial and then won a mountain stage and finished fourth overall. Instead, the Kelme rider came into Tuesday’s stage languishing more than 90 minutes behind the leaders. Botero found the winning legs after working a long breakaway to give himself a little redemption and his Kelme team its third stage victory in this Vuelta. “It’s been difficult to keep racing when I was suffering so much, especially up Angliru. I almost quit, but I know that my

Roberto Heras chugged and ground his way to his second stage-victory and the overall race leader’s jersey Sunday in the 2002 Vuelta a España after an impressive display of mind over pain in the 176-km 15th stage that finished with a climb up the brutally steep Angliru. Heras followed a surprising attack by Aitor Gonzalez against Kelme teammate and race leader Oscar Sevilla with eight kilometers to go on the feared Angliru summit hidden in fog and rain. The U.S. Postal Service captain erased a 1:42 deficit to Sevilla and moved 35 seconds ahead of Gonzalez to take the jersey oro for the first

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 14th stageof the 2002 Vuelta a España. Today’s 190km stage from Santander to Gijón follows the spectacularrugged northern coast along the Atlantic Ocean with three point sprints andtwo, Category 3 climbs in the closing 50 km. We can expect another sprinters’ battle, though today’s finish is a bit moretechnical than most. The finish is straight in downtown Gijón, a bustlingport city, but features three hard left turns in the closing two kilometers.This is this year’s first stage in the Principality of Asturias. The secondedition

A bad crash marred Saturday’s 190-km 14th stage that was supposed to be a reasonably calm prelude to the storm that awaits the Vuelta a España in Sunday’s epic climbing stage to Angliru. Instead of a relatively easy day in the saddle before Sunday’s feared “Hell of the North,” the rolling stage from Santander to Gijon along Spain’s northern coast meant an early departure from the Vuelta for scores of riders. Race leader Oscar Sevilla, along with all the top favorites, survived unscathed, but it wasn’t what the peloton wanted the day before the most decisive stage of the Vuelta. “It was a

Stage 14: 5km ride to start + 9km of neutral + 190km of racing = 204km. And it actuallyt feels like a million. On the profile today it looked fairly flat, but it was far from flat, it was more like a rollercoaster. I'm glad we are up north a little bit and out of some of the heat, but I'm sure I'll be eating my words tomorrow when it's freezing rain going up the famous Angliru. Today started out again balls to the wall from the first kilometer. It's important to be at the front in the neutral because of that. Guys will start coming off the back from the beginning, but after a while,

After being put on hold for a year due to the September 11th attacks, the Univest Grand Prix roared back to life on Saturday, and the American contingent in the men’s peloton came out swinging. The country’s biggest event for elite amateur men rated a 1.6 on the UCI scale this year, and drew teams from the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. A revolving door break began within a mile of the start, when U.S. Elite national champion Scottie Weiss (Go-Mart-West Virginia) went away and was soon joined by Gregorio Bare (UPMC-Fuji), Cedric Barez (France-Alderfer Auction), Jon

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com's live coverage of today's 189-km 13th stage of the Vuelta a Espana. The stage from Burgos to Santander takesthe Vuelta to Spain's lush northern coast, which looks more like Irelandthan Spain's postcard image of sunny beaches and olive groves. The stage features three point sprints and four rated climbs - three Category 3 climbs and the Cat. 1 Alto Portillo de la Sia at 106 km. Today's weather is partly cloudy with wind throughout the day. We can expect the chance of rain to increase as we near the finish. 3:28 p.m. -- We are at kilometer 115 of

All of Spain was livid over what racing fans called a clear case of collusion in Friday’s 189-km 13th stage from Burgos to Santander. Four Italians ganged up on a breakaway and Acqua & Sapone’s Giovanni Lombardi snuck away with a stage victory while Spanish fans cried foul. Six riders escaped off the front of a 15-rider breakaway with 80 kilometers to go and looked to have enough time to arrive over the final flats into Santander, but Italian Pietro Caucchioli refused to work. When the chase group caught on, Caucchioli then counter-attacked with Lombardi and two other Italians to arrive at

Good morning and welcome to VeloNews.com’s live coverage of the 12th stageof the Vuelta a Espana.At 210.5km, today’s stage from Segovia to Burgos is the longest of the VueltaThis is a long rolling transition stage across Spain's meseta. Thereare three point sprints and no rated climbs. The finish is straight on overthe final last kilometer.3:25 p.m. -- We are already 160km into today's stage. The averagespeed for the first two hours was well over 51kph. The pace continued atalmost the same speed over the following hour.Right now, we have a break of 18 riders off the front of the field.

With his second-place finish at Sunday’s San Francisco Grand Prix, Mercury’s Henk Vogels moved ahead of teammate Chris Wherry to clinch the overall title for one-day road races in the VeloNews Bro Tour. Despite not winning an event, Vogels was the most consistent over the six-races: Housatonic Valley Classic, the three races of First Union Week, the Saturn Cycling Classic and the San Francisco Grand Prix. Vogels also place second at Housatonic, fourth at the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia and eighth at the First Union Invitational in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Wherry had led Vogels by two

The longest stage of the 57th Vuelta a España came down to a bike-length despite an 18-man breakaway which held the lead for most of the day in a cloudy, rolling 210-km stage from Segovia to Burgos. Fassa Bortolo’s Alessandro Petacchi won a bunch sprint marked by the absence of Mario Cipollini, who packed his bags for Italy last weekend after winning three stages. Without Super Mario, the Vuelta’s other top sprinters fought for left-overs and Petacchi edged Telekom’s Erik Zabel to be king for the day. “The team worked very hard for me and I made a good sprint. I startedwith 250 meters to go

Will sprint for food (and a healthy salary)

Zabel could only look on as Petacchi sprinted for the line.

The 11th stage of the Vuelta a España from Alcobendas toCollado Villalba on Wednesday saw a little bit of everything; rain, sun,wind, escapes, attacks and heartache. Telekom’s Alexandre Vinokourov, suffering from a cold that derailedhis chances in Monday’s individual time trial, did not start after coldrain welcomed the peloton for the start following Tuesday’s rest day. The rain let up, but the attacks didn’t in the 166-km stage up fourrated climbs, including the day’s main obstacle, the category-one Puertode Navacerrada some 24 km from the finish in Collado Villalba. The punishing pace

Aitor Gonzalez delivered the stage-win but Oscar Sevilla delivered the time trial of his life to retain the jersey oro by less than one second in Monday’s stage of the 57th Vuelta Espana. Nearly a year after he lost the Vuelta in a final-day time trial to Angel Casero, Sevilla ripped the 36.5-km course on a rainy Monday afternoon to conserve the race leader’s jersey by less than 1 second. “I’m very content. I went as hard as I could,” said Sevilla, who conceded 40 seconds to Kelme teammate Gonzalez in finishing second. “To keep the lead by one second after so many kilometers, it’s a great

Saturn’s Petra Rossner left no doubt about who was the world’s strongest woman during the 2002 World Cup finale September 15, scoring a come-from-behind victory at the Rotterdam Tour and claiming the series title. Rossner and Mirjam Melchers (Farm Frites Hartol) were separated by just 13 points going into the ninth and final round, held on a windswept, 141km course. An early break of 10 riders with four Farm Frites riders and three Saturns was reeled by Team Nurnberger, and Saturn spent the next few kilometers chasing down a flurry of attacks. At 50km, a pileup split the bunch, and Rossner

In just two years, the San Francisco Grand Prix has established itself as the biggest race in America. It may not have the biggest prize list – that belongs to the USPRO Championships in Philadelphia – but San Francisco draws the biggest crowds and the biggest stars. But amidst the huge fanfare, it was the littlest team in the field that came away with the day’s win. 7UP-Nutra Fig may have brought only six riders to San Francisco, but they came out on top, as Charles Dionne sprinted away from a group that included U.S. Postal’s Lance Armstrong and Viatcheslav Ekimov to take the $10,000 first

Lotto’s Robbie McEwen won the 82nd edition of the Paris-Brussels classic on Saturday, winning a sprint finish to see off German Olaf Pollack and Dutch racer Jans Koerts after a grueling 270km ride. McEwen's patience paid off handsomely as he warmed up for the world championships at Zolder, Belgium, in a month's time. Frenchman Jacky Durand set off on an early solo attack and spent 180 kilometers out in front on his own but the peloton reined him in and McEwen seized the moment and the race after brief attacks from Italian pair Daniele Nardello and Michele Bartoli. Over the final 10

America's latest road world championships team member doesn't speak a word of English, but that's not slowing him down. Guido Trenti, 29, will be racing in his first world championships, but his selection to the US road worlds team has created a firestorm back in the States because he was picked instead of another American. Trenti's name has popped up in Euro-side results sheet for years, always listed as an American rider even though he was born and raised in Italy. His stage victory in last year's Vuelta is recorded as the only American stage-win in the Spanish

On a sunny day in the shadow of Mission San Rafael, the men’s professional road teams warmed up for Sunday’s San Francisco Grand Prix, but for the women, it was an important showdown in the Pro Cycling Tour at the San Rafael Cycling Classic. Overcoming full teams from Saturn and Diet Rite, Laura Van Gilder (Trek Plus) pulled off a convincing win and moved into the overall lead of the PCT. In the men’s race, Mercury launched Gord Fraser past the Prime Alliance leadout train and delivered the Canadian to the win. In the absence of Tour leader Petra Rossner (Saturn), Van Gilder was poised to

It was a repeat performance for the Lion King on Friday as Mario Cipollinitook his third stage win at the 2002 Vuelta a España taking a furiousfield sprint into the coastal city of Málaga.Cipollini and his Acqua e Sapone team held back until the final two kilometersbefore launching a text-book lead-out for their super sprinter. On the wheelof his reliable lead-out man Giovanni Lombardi, Cipollini easily beat theVuelta's points leader Erik Zabel (Telekom). Kelme's Oscar Sevilla finishedwith the main field and retains the overall lead in the Vuelta.Check back soon for complete results, a stage

Acqua & Sapone put down a text-book sprint Friday to deliver Mario Cipollini his third stage-win in the 2002 Vuelta a España that was executed so well it should be taught in Cycling 101. Cipo's boys in zebra stripes were flawless. They helped reel in a breakaway, hammered at the front leading into Malaga and then the Lion King rode the rails to victory in the 196-km seventh stage from Jaen to Malaga. With speeds topping 65kph, Mario Scirea pulled until 2 km to go, then Italian-American Guido Trenti took over until 1 km to go, followed by final set-up man Giovanni Lombardi pulled to 400

Live updates from Stage 6 Good morning to our U.S. audience. Welcome to Thrsday’s live coverage ofthe sixth stage of the 2002 Vuelta a España. Stage six is a 153kmrace from Granada to Sierra de la Pandera. This is a difficult rolling stage leading to a "special category" summitfinish at La Pandera at 1840 meters. There are three point sprints en routeand the category-three Alto de la Encebras at 46 km, the category-two Puertode los Villares at 140 km and the eight-km climbing finish to La Pandera.The short, but steep climb features ramps as steep as 15 percent with anaverage grade of 6.4

Kelme's Oscar Sevilla finally did Wednesday what he couldn't do at theTour de France. Sevilla attacked hard on the first major climbing stage in the 2002Vuelta a España and, although he didn't deliver a knockout blow,he let everyone else know he's now the man to beat. Sevilla jumped with five kilometers to go and left the rest of the favoritesin his wake. U.S. Postal's Roberto Heras, ONCE's Joseba Beloki and ItaliansGilberto Simoni and Francesco Casagrande all lost nearly a full minuteto "El Nino." Sevilla couldn't reel in Cofidis' Guido Trentin, who scored Italy'sfourth straight stage at

La Vuelta: Live updates from Stage 4 Good morning to our American audience. Welcome to VeloNews.com's live coverage of Stage 4 of the 2002 Vuelta a España, another short and fast day that should favor sprinters like Erik Zabel and Mario Cipollini, who took yesterday’s 134-km stage to Murcia. Today’s 149.5-kilometer ride from Aguilas to Roquetas de Mar opens witha 60km jaunt along the Mediterranean and then cuts inland, across the Cabode Gata and then heads to a finishing flat again along the Mediterraneanat Roquetas de Mar. There are three "hot sprints" along the route and no mountain

For the third day in a row, an Italian won a stage in the 57th Vueltaa España. For the second day in a row, it was Mario Cipollini witharms wide spread. El Rey Leon, as the Lion King is called in Spanish, made it lookeasy in Tuesday’s 149-km fourth stage from Aguilas to Roquetas de Mar alongSpain’s white-hot Mediterranean Coast. Cipo easily won the stage and senta strong signal to his would-be rivals for next month’s world championships. “It was another fabulous work by my team. They put me in perfect positionand (Giovanni) Lombardi did great work as the last man,” said Cipolliniafter

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