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

Prime Alliance rider Jonas Carney has been in Wisconsin since the start of the International Cycling Classic (Super Week). This is his latest report. stupor Stu"por, n. [L., from stupere to be struck senseless.] Intellectual insensibility; moral stupidity; heedlessness or inattention to one's interests. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. Four more stages are complete here at the 2002 International Cycling Classic. It looks as though Hilton Clark (Schroeder) will battle to the death with Viktor, the Russian Concussion, Rapinski. Viktor is actually the

The biggest purse track event in North America, the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge concluded Sunday. A stiff breeze made the homestretch about 3 mph slower than the backstretch and a baking hot sun further added to the difficulties. Conditions, however, did not deter the athletes from some record-breaking performances nor hundreds of fans from packing the bleachers and lining the rails of the 268-meter track located on the grounds of the Alpenrose Dairy in the Southwest hills of Portland, Oregon. The day started with sprint qualifiers for women and masters and the close proximity of

Richard Virenque of the Domo-Farm Frites team hungtough to win a remarkable stage victory on the summit of Mont Ventoux Sunday, while Lance Armstrong of the U.S. Postal Service left all of hismain rivals in the dust to consolidate his yellow jersey and pull 4:21ahead of runner-up Joseba Beloki of ONCE-Eroski. This challenging 221km stage 14 from Lodève also had its victims.Former race leader Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano of ONCE-Eroski droppedout of third place, while Colombian Santiago Botero of Kelme-CostaBlanca cracked on the above-category 21km Ventoux climb and tumbled outof fifth into 18th

5:23 p.m. PRELIMINARY STAGE RESULTS1. Richard Virenque (Fra), DFF, 221 km in 5:43:26. 38.610 kph) 2. Alexandre Botcharov (Rus), A2R, at ˆ 01:58. 3. Lance Armstrong (USA), USP, at 02:20. 4. Marco Serpellini (Ita), LAM, at 02:54. 5. Raimondas Rumsas (Lit), LAM, at 03:36. 6. Ivan Basso (Ita), FAS, at 03:39. 7. Francisco Mancebo (Esp), BAN, at 03:51. 8. Joseba Beloki (Esp), ONE, at 04:05. 9. Dariusz Baranowski (Pol), BAN, at 04:10. 10. Ivan Gotti (Ita), ALS, at 04:16. 11. Levi Leipheimer (USA), RAB, at 04:25. 12. Jose Azevedo (Por), ONE, at 04:45. 13. Stephane Goubert (Fra), DEL, at

If two days in the Pyrénées didn’t create enough heat inthe 2002 Tour de France, the sun made sure it was hot on Saturday’s fast,windy 171km stage 13 from Lavelanet to Béziers. Temperatures soared as the Tour rolled out of the foothills of the Pyrénéeswith an appointment with Mont Ventoux awaiting on Sunday. First, therewas a hot day in the saddle to finish. The French made a mass exodus for the beach as the summer holiday seasonstarted, but vacation wasn’t on the mind of Laurent Jalabert. Thesoon-to-be-retired Frenchman will have plenty of time to lie on the beachonce he hangs up the

5:24 p.m. With the sprint starting with a lead-out from Credit Agricole's Thor Hushovd for O'Grady. Telekom comes to the front. The traffic is heavy and it's a mess at the front. The two main points contenders do not win the field sprint, but McEwen nis Zabel at the line, giving him a one-point advantage for the day and putting the two men in a tie on the points standings. 5:23 p.m. We are in the final kilometer. 5:22 p.m. The peloton is heading in to town. The gap is still large. McEwen is active and antsy near the front. Zabel is close by. 5:28 p.m. Now the next big contest will be

When Lance Armstrong says that Mont Ventoux is “the hardest climb we’lldo this year,” you know he means it. He clarified that statement by sayingSunday’s 221km stage from Lodève to the 6273-foot Ventoux summitmay not be the most difficult stage, because there are no other climbs.But when you have already been riding on rough, rolling roads in 90-degreeheat for more than five hours, the sudden effort of scaling a 21.5km climbhas an added bite. The severity of the climb cannot be exaggerated. As the French cyclistRaphaël Geminiani said on a stage of the 1955 Tour: “Easy Ferdi, theVentoux is

The 2002 Tour de France is going to end up being a great teaching tool for cycling coaches. All you have to do is go back and watch the way the tactics have unfolded each day. The final 20 kilometers of Stage 8 and Stage 13 should be used to teach racers how to win races from a breakaway. Today David Millar pulled off a perfect counterattack to reduce the leading group from 11 to five men; thereby increasing his chances of getting the stage win. Millar’s attack was critical to the end result of the stage because he was in a breakaway with two iBanesto teammates and two Rabobank teammates.

At the start line of next weekend’s International in Altoona, PA, there will be new faces sporting the stars and stripes jersey of national champion. Team Saturn’s 24 year-old Jessica Phillips took her first win of the year-- and the biggest of her young career-- in downtown Nashville Sunday, winning the women’s USCF Elite national championship in a two-up sprint. In the men’s race, Scottie Weiss, 30, of the West Virginia/GoMart squad won a hot and sweaty 118.8-mile race, breaking away from a five-man split to cross the line alone. Taking home the title of women’s national Espoir champion

Talk about having rules to match the occasion. The Tour de France (dis)organization race jury have excelled themselves this time. A look at the green points jersey classification after stage 13 fromLavelanet to Beziers was a case in point. First glance shows Australian Robbie McEwen (Lotto) having taken the green jersey back from Erik Zabel (Telekom) after outsprinting the German for second place in the bunch sprint. McEwen's 13th place on the stage (offering 13 points) against Zabel's 14th (offering 12) now leaves them tied on 229 points and with the battle destined to go down to the

The Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge continued Saturday in Portland, Oregon in sunny and breezy conditions. Anyone who thinks that track racing is dead has not been to the AVC as hundreds of spectators packed the bleachers to enjoy the warm weather and some hot racing. The morning session began with U.S. 200 meter record holder Jeffrey LaBauve (Focus 2004) knocking down another of Marty Nothstein’s marks, and this time it was the 200 meter time trial record (11:44) that Nothstein set last year. LaBauve blazed around the track in 11:34 to best Stephen Alfred (11:77) and Canadian Keith Bruneau

The sun was shining on Lance Armstrong at Friday’s 199km stage12 of the 2002 Tour de France. The three-time defending champion woke upwearing the maillot jaune for the 37th day of his career. Movie star buddyRobin Williams kept things light at the start, joking with fans and signingautographs. And though Friday’s hot, long, five-climb stage through theFrench Pyrénées was much harder than Thursday’s two-climbstage, the result was the same. Armstrong won the stage in a much more familiar style, attacking with6km to go. He dropped a group of 11 riders and finished alone. ONCE’s Joseba Beloki

5:00 p.m. Heras attacks and takes second, 1:03 behind Armstrong. Beloki takes third at 1:05. 4:58 p.m. Armstrong wins it. 4:57 p.m. With kilometer to go, Armstrong has about 1:00 on Beloki and Heras. 4:56 p.m. Any questions? Armstrong has a lock on the stage, his 14th stage win at the Tour. 4:55 p.m. With 2km to go, Armstrong continues to power through to the finish. He has 32 seconds on Beloki and Heras. 4:51 p.m. With 3km to go, Heras has given up the chase and will shadow Beloki to the finish. Heras just could not close the gap to Armstrong, so the Postal leader will power into the

After finishing their punishing climb to the Plateau de Beille summit Friday evening, most of the 166 survivors in the Tour de France had to turn around and ride back down to their team buses, awaiting them in the valley. The only two who took alternative transport were the two most popular media interviewees Laurent Jalabert (who hitched a ride on a police motorcycle) and Lance Armstrong (who was seen heading for a helicopter). As for the press, we were still filing stories at 10 p.m., and crawled down the 16 kilometers of steep switchbacks in a slow-moving line of traffic. It’s now almost

The Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge, now the biggest purse track event in North America, opened Friday in Portland, Oregon with the time trial events. Despite cool, cloudy, and breezy conditions the steeply banked 268 meter oval and noisy crowd drew out some outstanding performances. The highlights included a new track record in the pursuit and a near-miss in the Kilometer. Perennial pursuit power Mike Tillman of Schroeder Iron won the Men’s 4000m Individual Pursuit final in 4:54:23. Chris Carlson’s old mark of 4:54:87 dated back to the EDS Cup held here in 1997. World Masters Champion

Preliminary Stage Results1. Lance Armstrong (USA), USP, at , 158 km in 4:21:57. (36.190 km)2. Joseba Beloki (Sp), ONE, at ˆ 00:07.3. Roberto Heras (Sp), USP, at 00:13.4. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), BAN, at 01:16.5. Raimondas Rumsas (Lit), LAM, at 01:16.6. Oscar Sevilla (Sp), KEL, at 01:23.7. Ivan Basso (Ita), FAS, at 01:23.8. Andrei Kivilev (Kzk), COF, at 01:34.9. Laurent Jalabert (Fra), CST, at 01:49.10. Jose Azevedo (Por), ONE, at 01:52.11. Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Sp), ONE, at 01:54.12. Christophe Moreau (Fra), C.A, at 01:57.13. Massimiliano Lelli (Ita), COF, at 01:57.14. David Moncoutie (Fra),

Lance Armstrong is back in his favorite color of summer. The three-time defending champion won Thursday’s 158km stage 11, eraseda 26-second deficit and moved into the overall race lead, just as everyonehad expected. To hear Armstrong tell the tale, however, it wasn’t quite as easy asin years past. Yes, he made his trademark move in the first mountain stage.Yes, he took time out of his opponents. But Armstrong said he couldn’thave done it without superb work from his U.S. Postal Service teammates. Hundreds of American fans showed up to watch the fireworks. And plentythere were. It was

The French finally earned their stage win in this year’s Tour de France.After being skunked on Bastille Day by the Dutch, Jean Delatour’s PatriceHalgand scored one for the home country at Pau on Wednesday. This short, 147km stage 10 was an appetizer before one of the 89th Tour’smain courses: the first climbing stage in the Pyrénées. Thoseamong the 181 riders remaining in the peloton who are hoping to fight forthe final podium know they will have to be at their best to tackle theCat. 1 climb that leads to the finish at La Mongie. On Wednesday, Spanish hero Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano

5:10 p.m. McEwen wins the field sprint and takes over the green points jersey, beating Baden Cooke and Erik Zabel to the line. 5:05 p.m. Halgand wins! Pineau takes the sprint for second! 5:04 p.m. With 1km to go, Halgand is still flying. He's got the stage win. 5:03 p.m. With 2km to go, Halgand has it in the bag. He's got a 20-second advantage over the three chasers. 4:59 p.m. Race radio gives the Jean Delatour rider an advantage of 12 seconds over the three chasers, with 4km to go. 4:55 p.m. Halgand is still out there with a 100-meter advantage with 5km to go. He could be the first

Editor’s note: Prime Alliance’s Jonas Carney will be checking in periodically from Super Week in Wisconsin. This is his first report. Some people call it Super Week. Some people call it Stupid Week. I prefer Stupor Week. Nobody calls it the International Cycling Classic. Anyway, it's happening again this year in the smarmy July heat of Wisconsin, just as it has for the last 33 years. Sixteen stages in 16 days, consisting of 11 criteriums and five road races. Some racers, like Roberto Gaggioli, love this event and return year after year. Others detest having to do 100km criteriums almost

After Sunday's final stage at Cascade-- a short criterium course won by Saturn's Chris Fisher and Hutch's Sandy Espeseth-- there was no change in the overall standings, sealing victory for Chris Wherry (Mercury) and Kimberly Bruckner (Saturn). Entering the criterium, Bruckner had the overall sealed up, leading by over six minutes as a result of her dominant performance in the opening stage's road race. Still, she came out swinging Sunday, attacking the field with eight laps to go, with only Espeseth joining her. At the line, Espeseth benefitted from Bruckner's final efforts for the stage

Sunday’s eighth stage of the Tour de France was a long, hot day in thesaddle across France’s Brittany region and the peloton wanted to get itover with quickly. It was a stage that spelled the end for Mapei’s OscarFreire and Lotto’s Aart Vierhouten, both victims of Saturday’slate-race crashes did not start on Sunday. The group roared past huge crowds of fans celebrating France’s BastilleDay and covered nearly 100 kilometers in the first two hours. A seven–manbreakaway slipped away midway through the stage and became the second successfulbreak of the 89th Tour. Rabobank’s Karsten Kroon ruined

PRELIMINARY RESULTS 1. Karsten Kroon (Nl), RAB, 217.5 km in 4:36:52. (47.135 kpm) 2. Servais Knaven (Nl), DFF, at ˆ 00:00. 3. Erik Dekker (Nl), RAB, at 00:00. 4. Franck Renier (Fra), BJR, at 00:00. 5. Sebastien Hinault (Fra), C.A, at 00:00. 6. Stephane Auge (Fra), DEL, at 00:00. 7. Raivis Belohvosciks (Let), LAM, at 00:00. 8. Robbie McEwen (Aus), LOT, at 01:55. 9. Erik Zabel (G), TEL, at 01:55. 10. Baden Cooke (Aus), FDJ, at 01:55. 11. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), C.A, at 01:55. 12. Jan Svorada (Cz), LAM, at 01:55. 13. Fred Rodriguez (USA), DFF, at 01:55. 14. Robert Hunter (SA), MAP, at 01:55. 15.

If there is hell on the Tour de France, we came close to it on 217.5km of mostly long, flat, bumpy and dead roads from St. Martin de Landelles to Plouay in Brittany on Sunday. For followers of the Tour - les suiveurs - anything longer than 200km and without a mountain in sight (let alone under our wheels) is pure and painful purgatory. Today's eighth stage to the site of the 2000 world road championships was a case in point. Okay ... the riders in the peloton behind us attacked, attacked and then some until the final break of seven finally got away. Okay, the last 10km battle between

5:30 p.m. Here are the preliminary results from today's stage. As you can see from the overall standings, Armstrong has lost some time, but the impact was not too serious. He was caught up in a crash about 2km from the finish. 1. Bradley McGee (Aus), FDJ, 176 km in 4:10:56. (42.083 kph)2. Jaan Kirsipuu (Est), A2R, at 00:00.3. Pedro Horillo (Sp), MAP, at 00:00.4. Robbie McEwen (Aus), LOT, at 00:00.5. Erik Zabel (G), TEL, at 00:00.6. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), C.A, at 00:00.7. Jan Svorada (Cz), LAM, at 00:00.8. Baden Cooke (Aus), FDJ, at 00:00.9. Fred Rodriguez (USA), DFF, at 00:00.10. Thor

Just when people were complaining that the 2002 Tour de France was gettingboring, Saturday’s seventh stage gave everyone a quick kick in the derrière. Three-time defending champion Lance Armstrong was caught up ina late-stage crash and lost 27 seconds to race leader Igor Gonzalezde Galdeano (ONCE-Eroski). Armstrong didn’t fall, but U.S. Postal Service riders George Hincapie and Roberto Heras did. Two late-race crashes sent scores of riders to the pavement and sentFrenchman Didier Rous to the hospital and out of the race. Worldchampion Oscar Freire of Mapei-Quick Step and Crédit Agricoleteam

Well, there was another pileup, two to be exact, in the final kilometersof Saturday’s stage to Avranches. And there was a last-kilometer attack,two to be exact, on the uphill finish — resulting in a breakthrough stagevictory for Aussie Brad McGee. Both the crashes and the attacks were predictable,but no one likes to see riders climbing into ambulances, nursing injuredlimbs as they struggle to the finish, or stopping to help their fallenteam leaders. The crash 5km from the finish that dumped riders in ditches was a resultof the symptoms that caused similar mass pileups in 1997. Back then,

The first week of the Tour is always dangerous, and this year is proving to be no exception. Christophe Moreau has been hitting the ground like a paid-off prizefighter. Usually the peloton is somewhat nervous on the first two days, resulting in a few crashes, and then things calm down by this point. I am hoping people are getting their crashes out of the way early and the rest of the race will go more smoothly. This year, the final kilometers of a few stages have included small roads and several tight turns. Almost the entire peloton is reaching the final kilometers en masse too. Without a

Alexandre Cloutier and Clara Hughes were among the winners at the Canadian national track championships in Bromont, with Cloutier taking the men’s 4000-meter individual pursuit and Hughes winning the women’s pursuit. Other senior winners included Lori-Ann Muenzer and Steen Madsen in the match sprints and Marc Ernsting in the points race.

4:55 p.m. Zabel! It came down to a three-up sprint between Zabel, Oscar Friere and McEwen. Zabel beat Friere to the line, but more importantly outscores the Aussie in the points race and has kept the green points jersey as a result. It's Tour stage win number 12 for Zabel. 4:54 p.m. Telekom is leading out Zabel. 4:53 p.m. We are in the final kilometer. Lampre's Dierckxens is at the front and charging. 4:52 p.m. 2.5km to go... there is still a big scramble at the front. Telekom is still up there. McEwen is hanging in a good spot near the front. 4:51 p.m. Rolf Aldag is at the front for

Watching the so-called flat stages of the Tour this week may seem alittle boring. The same scenario seems to play out every day. It startswith lots of attacks, none of which gain more than a few seconds. By thetime live TV comes on, a small breakaway will have developed, generallywith a few of the regional French riders prominent. Then the peloton, pulledby the sprinters’ teams, starts to close in, usually resulting in a masssprint finish.The only real excitement for the casual viewer is what happens in thefinal few meters, which Friday resulted in a hard-earned stage win forworld No. 1 Erik

With the second half of the 2002 Tour de France packed with mountainstages and time trials, the sprinters are hungry to get what they can whilethe stages are flat. Thursday’s l breakaway  into Rouen was the first to arrive at the finish since Rubens Bertogliati made a successful late dash to the line in Luxembourg last Sunday. Scores of riders had similar designs in Friday’s long, 199.5km (123.6-mile) stage from Forges-les-Eaux to Alençon, but the sprinting teams such as Lotto, Telekom and Mapei shut them all down. The peloton roared into Alençon with Germany’s Erik Zabelanxious to get the

The sprint finishes of this year’s Tour have been exciting, but no team seems able to control the front of the peloton the way the old Saeco train could. As a result, the final three kilometers are chaotic and dangerous, and I’m surprised we haven’t seen more crashes in the final kilometer. The lack of a dominant lead-out team could be due to more evenly matched sprinters’ teams than we have seen in past years. Whatever the reason, this year has seen cooperative efforts from Lotto, Telekom, and now Crédit Agricole to keep the pace high enough to dissuade attacks in the final 20 kilometers.

5:08 p.m. -- Estonian national champion Jaan Kirsipuu (AG2R) won the fifth stage of the Tour de France Thursday after he and the other members of a five-man break managed to hold off a hard charging peloton at the end of a 195km stage from Soissons to Rouen. ONCE’s Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano retained the race leader's yellow jersey. Former Danish champion Michael Sandstod of the CSC team came second in the stage with Belgian Ludo Dierckxsens, who rides for Lampre, third following 199.5 km of racing from Soissons to here. The main peloton arrived around 20secs later. Preliminary stage

Lotto’s powerful sprinter, Robbie McEwen, surprises with his choice of bikes. He rides – and sprints very fast – on the superlight compact-geometry climbing frame of Litespeed, the Ghisallo. It does help that he is short, and the flex in the thin tubes is reduced by virtue of being on such a tight little frame, in addition to having the compact geometry to further reduce weight and flex. McEwen wears white shorts and the white jersey of the Australian national champion, and he also chooses a white saddle and white handlebar tape while the rest of his team uses black saddles and tape. The

A long flat stage in the Tour de France can seem incredibly boring, but then something happens. It always does in the Tour.For the overall race favorites, Thursday’s 195km (121-mile) fifth stageacross the lush farm country of northern France was a relatively easy day in the saddle. But for the rest of the peloton, there was the usual mix of drama, glory and disappointment. Lance Armstrong said his U.S. Postal Service team worked wellto keep him out of heavy crosswinds, while the Spanish ONCE-Eroski teamsuccessfully defended the race leader’s yellow jersey for Igor Gonzalezde Galdeano. Up in

Normandy, the region of France the Tour de France entered Thursday andexits on Saturday, has probably seen more bike racing than anywhere elsein the world. The very first cycling road race took place between Parisand Rouen in 1869 when the roads were dusty and rocky, and the bikes werecrude, chainless velocipedes — pedal cranks were attached directly to thefront wheel hub. The winner of that inaugural Paris-Rouen race was an Englishmanliving in Paris, Dr. James Moore, who customized his hubs with ball bearings,made for him by prisoners in a Paris jail.Paris-Rouen gave birth to a series of

5:20 p.m. The ONCE team won the fourth stage of the Tour de France as it finished in Château-Thierry Wednesday after a 67.5km team time trial from Epernay. ONCE's Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano of Spain took the leader's yellow jersey. ONCE finished 16 seconds ahead of the US Postal team of reigning champion Lance Armstrong, while the CSC team of Tyler Hamilton and Laurent Jalabert finished third. Here are the final standings from today's team time trial:1. ONCE - EROSKI 01:19:492. US POSTAL SERVICE 01:20:05, at 00:163. TEAM CSC TISCALI 01:20:35, at 00:464. FASSA BORTOLO 01:21:19, at 01:305.

It seems that everyone except the race organizers is regretting theabsence of Mario Cipollini from this year’s Tour de France. So the LionKing’s decision Tuesday night to announce his retirement from cycling comesat an appropriate moment — although we all regret that his flamboyancewill no longer grace our sport’s biggest stage.Cipollini brought excitement to the Tour, whether it was with his fourconsecutive stage wins in 1999 or his four days in the yellow jersey in1997. And, on a day when this Tour focused its attention on a team timetrial, many have forgotten that it was in a team time

Oscar Freire sprinted past Robbie McEwen and Erik Zabel to win stage two aboard the mount that has brought so many victories to Mapei and Rabobank. He was riding a Shimano Dura-Ace equipped Colnago C40, the 2.5-pound frame that won Paris-Roubaix five times between 1995 and 2000. But it is not just another bonded carbon frame, since Colnago’s construction methods C40 are unique and analogous to its method of constructing steel frames. Integral to the C40 are one-piece molded, hand-finished carbon lugs that eliminate the bonding problems and weight of aluminum lugs and are stronger,

5:15 p.m. Either way, Zabel -- who finished second in the stage -- is the new overall leader of the Tour de France. 5:13 p.m. It's a huge scramble for the front. McEwen gets it.... but he's moved out of his line, and cut across Zabel's line. 5:10 p.m. All of the big players are up front. Nico Mantan is attacking. He's caught. Zabel is up front on his own... the Telekoms are not in a position to lead out their man. 5:08 p.m. With 4km to go, Lotto is at the front. Telekom is beginning to set up Zabel. 5:05 p.m. The swarm is beginning. With 5km to go, the sprinters are moving up,