The difficult opening to this stage, with its Ardennes climbs of Celles, Marquisette, Ave-et-Auffe and Rendu, should not fool us. The day’s 215km are theoretically reserved for the sprinters, and the renowned Tom Steels could again make his strength known, as long as the German Erik Zabel -- already a record five-time winner of the green jersey -- doesn’t decide to lay the foundations for a sixth triumph in the points competition in Verdun. Aah, Verdun. With or without cycling, for every Frenchman Verdun remains a name that defies understanding, where thousands of soldiers were

Since a certain Greg LeMond took out Laurent Fignon in the final moments of the 1989 Tour, thus imitating Jan Janssen in 1968 and Jacques Anquetil in 1964, everyone demands that the Tour’s final time trial have some degree of drama. Yet this requirement is rarely well received; the Tour plays tricks in its own way, and that way may not necessarily be the way one expects! Besides, how can we demand suspense for the finale, given that a successful Tour de France assumes that the time spent in the mountains has revealed the best riders? And unless we envision that the Alpe d’Huez stage was a

The questions that we were asking three weeks ago have since found their answers, questions about race contenders Armstrong, Ullrich, Heras and Casagrande; about Zabel, the man seeking a sixth green jersey, and Laurent Jalabert, the flag-carrier of French cycling. The report card is ready, and we now know whether the American has become a three-time Tour winner, matching his compatriot Greg LeMond. We also know how the race shaped up, and whether the organizers dealt us some winning cards. "This will be a very complete Tour, with a prologue, 10 flat stages, three semi-mountain stages, four

George Hincapie is no stranger to the Tour de France. The popular American racer rode his first Tour in 1996 with Motorola when he was just 23, and he has been a fixture at the July race ever since. In his first year, Hincapie had a bad crash and didn’t finish, but he has made steady progress in each of the following years. In 1998, the spring classics specialist had one of his best Tours from an individual standpoint, narrowly missing a chance to wear the leader’s yellow jersey after featuring in a winning breakaway on stage 3. The next two years, however, weren’t about individual goals.

Telekom’s Erik Zabel won the ninth stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Wednesday, 166.8km between Sion and Lausanne, Switzerland. Zabel beat out Gerolsteiner’s Saulius Ruskis and Domo-Farm Frites’ Robbie McEwen in the mass field sprint finish. U.S. Postal Service’s Lance Armstrong retained the leader’s yellow jersey with only one stage to go. Zabel profitted from the work of the Saeco, Domo and Cofidis teams who chased down lone escapee Bert Grabsch (Phonak) before the finish. Grabsch had escaped along with Rolf Huser (Coast) in the town of Martigny, but the German dropped Huser on the one

There will be only one American team at the Tour de France this year, Lance Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service formation. The expected debut by Mercury-Viatel was thwarted in May by the Tour organizers’ jingoistic wild-card choice of two extra Division II French teams, as opposed to a second Division I team from the U.S. Despite that, there could still be as many as nine Americans on the start line in Dunkirk. Here is a quick look at each of them, with a review of their 2001 preparation and prospects. Lance ArmstrongAge: 29Height: 5 ft. 11 in. Weight: 165 lbs.Hometown: Austin, TXTeam: U.S.

Several of the major players in the sprints changed teams this year, something that is sure to shake up the dynamics of the Tour’s field sprint finishes. But five-time green jersey winner Erik Zabel hasn’t gone anywhere, and it’s this German rocket who tops our list of the Tour’s best sprinters. 1. Erik Zabel (G), 31, Telekom Until last year, Zabel had won four straight green points jerseys, but hadn’t won a Tour stage since 1998. Perhaps the arrival of leadout man Gianmatteo Fagnini -- formerly Mario Cipollini’s right-hand man -- made the difference: Zabel won the second-to-last stage last

Without incident. That was my biggest goal in the HP Women's challenge this year. Certainly I had people tell me otherwise. "That's a pretty small goal," I heard, or "30th place isn't worth defending." Well, it is to me. This is my fourth consecutive try at this race. The first one saw me starved, dehydrated and hooked up to an IV on day two. The second was supposed to be revenge. It was perfect until a flat on the last day in the first kilometer of the race forced me to chase all day and lose 20 spots. That was pure heartbreak. Last year, well, that crash was famous enough that the

Trek-Volkswagen rider Roland Green continued his dominance of the second leg of the NORBA National series by adding a short track title to Friday’s cross-country victory, while Chrissy Redden (Subaru-Gary Fisher) took the women’s race. The highly tactical men’s race began with Green sitting on the front of the fast-moving group in the early laps, challenged strongly by Snow Summit short track champ Ryder Hesjedal (Subaru-Gary Fisher) and his teammate Pavel Tcherkassov. In those first several laps, Hesjedal fell victim to trouble with his single-chainring setup. He was forced to dismount

Russia's Sergeui Ivanov, of the Fassa Bortolo team, won a sprint finish to take Sunday's 174km sixth stage of the Tour of Switzerland, which started and finished in Mendrisio, Switzerland. Ivanov came from behind to cross the line in 4:00:27, just ahead of Kazakhstan's Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom), France's Laurent Jalabert (CSC-World Online) and Switzerland's Alexandre Moos (KIA-Swiss) in the sprint to the line. Ivanov’s Italian teammate Wladimir Belli, who finished in 11th position at five seconds behind the leaders, retained the overall leader's yellow jersey with a one-second advantage

World champion Romans Vainsteins (Domo-Farm Frites) won the third stage of the Tour of Catalonia in a sprint finish at the end of a 148.6km day between Blanes and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat on Saturday, while ONCE’s Santos Gonzalez took the leader’s white jersey from teammate Marcos Serrano. Finishing 22nd on the stage, Gonzalez was credited with the same overall time as Serrano at the end of the day, but took the race lead by virtue of his standing in the overall points classification. Meanwhile, Spaniards Roberto Heras (U.S. Postal Service) and José Maria Jimenez (iBanesto.com) were caught

“Everyone said that the Dutchies were supposed to win the criterium,” Marielle van Scheppingen said after the 12th stage of the HP Women’s Challenge, “so we felt some pressure to do it… and we did.” Scheppingen (Dutch National) was part of a winning break of six that formed about two-thirds of the way into the 34.7-mile State House Criterium, a fixture at the 18-year-old women’s stage race through Idaho. Race leader Lyne Bessette (Saturn) was an early factor in the success of the small group. Not only did the 26-year-old Canadian in the blue race leader’s jersey power the group for two laps,

The list of potential winners for the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce has been reduced to 21 riders from the 118 who started stage 4 Thursday morning. The reason? Only 21 riders were in the break that finished over 33 minutes ahead of the peloton, a margin so great that the entire field was within a couple of minutes of missing the time cut. David McKenzie (Ficonseils-RCC Conseils Assurance) gave his team its first win of the season by outsprinting Artour Babaitsev (Team Nurnberger) and Eric Wohlberg (Saturn), but every one of the breakaway members is virtually assured of finishing in the

Domo-Farm Frites’ Max Van Heeswijk won the second stage of the Tour of Catalonia in Spain, a 173.5km day ending in a sprint finish in Blanes on Friday. ONCE’s Marcos Serrano retained the race leader’s jersey. Van Heeswijk beat out Telekom’s Danilo Hondo, winner of two stages at this year’s Giro d’Italia, with Sven Teutenberg (Festina) in third, and the rest of the peloton, including Serrano, just behind. Friday’s transitional stage saw a long breakaway from Fabio Roscioli (Jazztel), who attacked just after the start and gained almost 10 minutes on the peloton, with Simone Masciarelli

Henk Vogels (Mercury) has been to Canada exactly twice: The first time was in 1994 when, as a member of the Australian team, he won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, BC, in the team time trial. The second is his current trip to the GP Cycliste de Beauce, where he won Wednesday’s third stage and took the overall lead in the race. Obviously, Canada agrees with him…. The third stage, at 190km, was the longest of the race. A single loop around the town of Lac Etchemin, it promised long rolling climbs of 7-8 percent, and strong winds. With less than a minute separating the first 35

Italian Gianluca Bortolami (Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola) took the overall race lead at the Tour of Switzerland after scoring the stage win in a two-up finishing sprint with breakaway companion Peter Wrolich (Gerolsteiner). Bortolami’s win came on the third stage of the Swiss race, 162.7km from Reinach to Baar. Australian Robbie McEwen (Domo-Farm Frites) won the field sprint for third, 2:53 behind Bortolami. Bortolami and Wrolich escaped at the 70km mark, from a group of six that also included Laurent Jalabert (CSC-World Online), and at one point extended their advantage to 9:19 over the

Ina Teutenberg flew into the finish of the 10th stage of the HP Women's Challenge Thursday at the head of this 12-day stage race's first full field sprint, adding yet another win to a race that has been almost completely dominated by her Saturn team. Saturn, which has pretty much controlled the race since the start more than a week ago, continues to protect Lyne Bessette’s very substantial 3:20 overall lead over second-place Judith Arndt (German national). It was nearly 100 degrees and almost 100 miles at the HP Women's Challenge on Thursday. And while the long trip from Twin Falls to

Intersports worked to protect Marsal's hold on the sprint jersey.

Mercury's Gord Fraser ended his longest winless streak in four years on Tuesday in convincing style, taking the second stage in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce - Canada's only UCI-sanctioned stage race. Canadian Charles Dionne (7UP-Colorado Cyclist) finished third in the stage, behind Robert Foster of Team Nurnberger. Remegijus Lupeikis of Lithuania, riding for the Mroz-SupraDyn team, replaced his teammate Piotr Chmielewski in the overall leader's position by 1 second after receiving a time bonus during the stage. The 162km stage began in Charny, on the outskirts of Quebec City, and

Lance Armstrong retained his lead at the Tour of Switzerland Wednesday, after German Erik Zabel of Telekom won the opening road stage, 178km from Europa Park (Rust) to Basel. In a mass sprint finish, Zabel outsped Italian Paolo Bettini of Mapei-Quick Step and Saulius Ruskys of Team Gerolsteiner to take his 15th win of the season. Armstrong -- winner of Tuesday’s stage 1 time trial -- retained his overall lead by just three seconds, after Paris-Roubaix winner Servais Knaven of Domo-Farm Frites picked up a pair of two-second time bonus. The stage started in Rust, Germany, and passed through

Former Festina rider Richard Virenque has hit back at claims alleging he bribed Germany's former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich to allow him to win a stage in the 1997 Tour de France, while Ullrich said Wednesday he is "sick and tired" of being implicated in "unproven" indirect claims that he took drugs and accepted bribes.The bribery claims were made by former Festina team manager Bruno Roussel, who also claimed that other offers made by Virenque to riders who could have helped him win the Tour in 1997 were laughed off.In his tell-all book "Tour of Vices," which went on sale

Editor's note: Jen Dial, riding as a teammate of Jeannie Longo on Office Depot at the HP Women's Challenge, is providing an inside-the-race look at the biggest women's stage race in America. The latest from her diary: The warm ups are getting shorter as the days get longer and hotter here at the HP Women's Challenge. It's the time in the race when everyone has had a great day and a not-so-great day. Everyone is tired, and people become easily amused and excited by things other than the bike race. As we left Twin Falls on the way to Buhl, Idaho, Trout Capital of America, we crossed a

Lyne Bessette took advantage of a small opportunity in the closing kilometers of Wednesday’s Twin Falls to Buhl stage of the HP Women’s Challenge and scored her first stage win of this 12-day tour through Idaho. Overall race leader since last week’s head-to-head time trial, Bessette has played her hand carefully while racking up an advantage of more than three minutes on second-place Judith Arndt. “It’s nice,” said Bessette, the winner of this year’s Tour de l’Aude. “Usually if I win a tour, I don’t end up winning a stage, so when I saw the opportunity, I took it.” Bessette finished seconds

Prime Alliance’s Jonas Carney won the Nature Valley criterium in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday after a controversial finish to the 90-minute event. Carney topped Navigators’ Franky Van Haesebroucke and U.S. Postal Service’s Robbie Ventura in the downtown event, the second race in the Nature Valley Grand Prix, part of the Touchstone Energy Classic which included the U.S. elite track nationals in Blaine, Minnesota. Sunday’s event came down to a field-sprint finish, with the Navigators train leading the way on the final lap. Heading into the final turn, Carney dove to the inside, touching off

Trixi Worrack of the German national team sprinted out of an elite group of leaders Monday to take the seventh stage of the 2001 HP Women’s Challenge as it finished atop a long climb up to southern Idaho’s Pomerelle ski area. The 19-year-old’s win did little to alter the overall standings of this race, with Saturn’s Lyne Bessette now leading by more than three minutes. But included in the group of top finishers was Worrack’s teammate Judith Arndt who has moved past Acca Due O’s Rasa Polikeviciute to take over second place. Worrack and Arndt were among a group of five, including Bessette,

The Classique du Quebec is a one-day road race that was held Saturday as a lead-up event to the Grand Prix de Beauce, which begins Monday. The UCI ranked race was held around the island of Orleans, just outside the city of Quebec. Riders headed out from Quebec to complete two loops around the island before heading back to the city, for a total of 165 kilometers. On the second loop of the island a lead group of 14 formed, including Canadians Gord Fraser (Mercury), Dominique Perras (Team G.S. Ficonseils), Eric Wohlberg (Saturn), Czeslaw Lukaszewicz (Team Canada) and Mark Walters (Navigators),

He did once say that "it ain't over till it's over," but the Saturn team is putting that old Yogi-ism to the test at the HP Women's Challenge. Until today, the 12-day Idaho stage race had been a two-woman contest between Saturn's Lyne Bessette and the venerable French champion Jeannie Longo, competing with a composite team, sponsored by Office Depot. But by the end of today's flat and wind-blown 80-mile stage – won by Saturn’s Petra Rossner – Longo was knocked back to tenth place overall, more than 11 minutes back and Bessette now enjoys a lead of more than two minutes over second-place Rasa

There was yet another repeat winner at the USCF elite national track championships on Saturday morning. Jame Carney won his second straight national crown in the men’s points race at the National Sports Center Velodrome in Blaine, Minnesota. Carney has now won the title five times (1991, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2001). Saturday’s race came down to a battle between Carney, Prime Alliance teammate Colby Pearce, and NetZero’s Mike Tillman. The trio was part of a four-rider break that got away from the field in the early going and quickly put a lap on the field. The break’s other member was Tim

The Dutch National Team’s Chantal Beltman sprinted out of a lead group of three to take a stage win at the HP Women’s Challenge Elkhorn Circuit Race Saturday. However, the big news of this fifth stage is that overall race leader Lyne Bessette (Saturn) was among that group of three that finished 1:20 ahead of the field and second-placed Jeannie Longo (Office Depot). Bessette had just moved into the leader’s jersey Saturday morning in a head-to-head time trial against Longo. As the 18-lap, 28.8-mile stage began on Saturday evening, Bessette enjoyed just a small 12-second advantage over the

News flash: Marty Nothstein actually lost a race at the USCF elite track national championships. But before that happened the Olympic gold medalist added to his unprecedented cache of stars-and-strips jerseys by taking the top spot in the Keirin. That win gave Nothstein his 30th national title, one for every year of his life. In the Keirin final Nothstein was content to sit back during the moto-paced lead-out laps. But when the small motorcycle dropped off the track it was on, and as usual so was Nothstein. The 30-year-old seems to possess a gear not in his foe’s repertoires and he showed it

Britain's David Millar became the fourth race leader to lose the coveted yellow-and-blue jersey of the Dauphiné Libéré stage race in France on Friday. Frenchman Christophe Moreau, riding for Festina, did the honors of stealing the jersey after the 151km fifth stage between Romans and Grenoble. Moreau finished sixth on the day, 33 seconds behind stage winner Andrei Kivilev. The Cofidis rider from Kazakhstan won a sprint finish to grab his first professional stage win. Moreau’s overall lead is tenuous, as Mercury-Viatel’s Pavel Tonkov sits just one second behind Moreau. Millar has made

Fred Rodriguez maintained his overall lead as Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu won the second stage of the Tour of Luxembourg Friday. Rodriguez, the Domo-Farm Frites rider who won the USPRO championships in Philadelphia June 10, is on a roll. He took the overall lead at Luxembourg when he won stage 1 on Thursday. Kirsipuu, riding for the AG2R team, won Friday’s 214km stage between Wormeldange and Beckerich in a sprint finish. Finishing second was Italian Alessandra Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo). Rodriguez holds a lead of 9 seconds over Frenchman Eddy Lembo of the Jean Delatour team. Bulgarian Ivaila

Tanya Lindenmuth’s stranglehold on women’s sprinting in America continued on Friday morning at the USCF elite track national championships. The diminutive 22-year-old from Trexlertown, Pennsylvania easily dispatched Jennie Reed in back-to-back heats to win her third straight national championship at the National Sports Center Velodrome in Blaine, Minnesota. "Jennie let me keep the front and that’s dangerous with me," Lindenmuth said. "I like to ride up there and today that worked for me." Earlier in the week Lindenmuth won her third straight 500-meter time trail title, giving her six

“You know, I think I really like this stage,” said Alison Dunlap as she stood in the middle of the main street through downtown Ketchum, Idaho. She should like this stage, she’s now won it three times. Dunlap, riding for a composite squad sponsored by Boise Cascade Office Products, won the 62.3-mile Stanley to Ketchum road in a fashion similar to the way she’s done before: stay in the mix up Galena Pass, rejoin the leader or leaders, notch the speed up on the long downhill and then time her sprint perfectly. While Dunlap did her stuff, the two women atop the overall standings – Jeannie Longo

It sounds outrageous, but one more national title and Marty Nothstein will have a stars-and-stripes jersey for every year of his life. On Friday night the 30-year-old added title No. 29 when he took the men’s sprint at the USCF elite track national championships at the National Sports Center Velodrome in Blaine, Minnesota. It was his third title at these championships. Already he’s won the kilometer time trail and the Olympic sprint. He’ll get the chance to add No. 30 on Saturday when he competes in the Madison. Like so many of the others, Friday night’s win came easy. After advancing to

Lindenmuth takes out Reed to win the sprint.

It’s a good day for Americans racing in Europe. Just four days after winning the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia, Fred Rodriguez won stage 1 of the Tour of Luxembourg on Thursday. The Domo-Farm Frites rider covered the 182km stage in 4:26:22, beating Frenchman Eddy Lembo (Jean Delatour) in a sprint finish. Friday’s 214km stage is considered the most difficult of the four-day stage race in the small country of Luxembourg.

Marty Nothstein was just about to roll down the wooden start ramp for the time trial at the First Charter Criterium. "Hang on!" yelled a Mercury-Viatel staff support person. "Won’t need these." The staff member quickly removed a pair of water bottles from the two cages on Nothstein’s team issue LeMond race bike. It was a no-brainer that refreshments could wait until after Nothstein made his less-than-two-minute trip around the 1.4km TT course, but cut the guy some slack for not shedding the unnecessary weight. He’s used to racing bikes that don’t have water bottles — or gears for that

Lately, Josiah Ng has become known as "the guy who beat Nothstein." And beat him he did — twice. Sort of. But there’s a lot more to the 21-year-old from Carlsbad, California, than that simple label conveys. In April, Ng did surprise Olympic sprint champion Marty Nothstein at the American Velodrome Challenge in San Jose, California. In a three-up, one-ride final, Ng caught his two opponents eyeing each other and charged. He got a great jump and for 400 meters held off Nothstein and Jeff Solt to take a surprising win. "There was a lot of luck involved, but that’s part of bike racing, too," Ng

Jeannie Longo has held on to her overall lead in the HP Women’s Challenge, but the 42-year-old French rider may be facing serious challenges from three riders -- Germany’s Judith Arndt, Rasa Polikeviciute (Acca Due O-Hewlett-Packard) and Saturn’s Kimberly Bruckner – who joined a winning break in the closing miles of the 58-mile Lowman to Stanley road race on Thursday. Arndt powered in to the sprint of the lead group of four that included Longo’s Office Depot teammate, Joan Wilson, the last member of a break that started just a few miles into this hilly and wind-blown stage near the Sawtooth

Day 3 of the five-day USCF elite track national championships came to an abrupt halt at 6:35 p.m. local time when ever-threatening skies finally opened up and drenched the track at the National Sports Center velodrome in Blaine, Minnesota. Racing was immediately postponed until Friday, because even if the rain had receded quickly, there was no hope of the wooden track drying during the nighttime session. The men’s sprint 1/8th final was the only portion of the evening’s program contested. Those moving on to the next round were Olympic gold medalist Marty Nothstein, Garth Blackburn, Giddeon

Marty Nothstein added another national title to his resume Tuesday at the Great River Energy USCF track nationals in Blaine, Minnesota. While you might expect to see Nothstein, America’s only Olympic gold medalist in cycling at the 2000 Sydney Games, walk through the sprint competitions, his newest title is in the kilometer time trial. "I haven’t been able to spend much time on the track since the Olympics, but things came together," said Nothstein. "I didn’t consider myself the favorite out here today and I haven’t ridden the kilo in a long time. I really didn’t feel any pressure but I

The Saturn women’s team has had a run of things this season, dominating individual events, stage races and even the World Cup. 2001 has pretty much belonged to Saturn, save the occasional run-in with a French-speaking rider usually willing to take on the entire squad by herself. And that’s what happened on the opening day of the 2001 HP Women’s Challenge…. Nope, Genevieve Jeanson is back training in Arizona. This time it was Jeannie Longo. Longo, riding for a composite team sponsored by Office Depot, joined and then dominated a decisive early break in the 69.5-mile road race from Boise to

Fabian De Waele of the Lotto-Adecco team won the 227km first stage of the Dauphiné Libéré in Bron, France, on Monday. Prologue winner Didier Rous, a member of the Festina team ejected from the 1998 Tour de France for doping, retained the overall leader's jersey after winning Sunday's prologue. Rous now rides for the French Bonjour team. De Waele, a 26-year-old Belgian, won the stage in a sprint, holding off the challenges of Damien Nazon (Francaise des Jeux) and veteran Christophe Agnolutto (AG2R), who had tried to make a break for it on the final approach.

3:02 p.m. With half a mile to go Fred Rodriguez broke away from the lead group and held on to win the 17th USPRO Championship. Rodriguez finished the 156-mile race. Second place went to Saturn’s Trent Klasna. George Hincapie came across third, after winning a sprint with Fabrizio Guidi. Check back soon for full reports on both the men's and women's races. 2:54 The gap between the six leaders and the field has now grown back up to 22 seconds with just three miles to go. 2:51 The gap between the group of six and the field has been whittled to 15 seconds. Mercury’s Henk Vogels, who launched

12:42 p.m. German Petra Rossner has done it again. Saturn's German sprint power won the Liberty Classic in Philadelphia for the fifth straight time. Rossner's finishing time was 3:01:47. The good news for Saturn continued as Australian Anna Millward finished second to retain her overall World Cup lead. Dutch rider Debbie Mansfeld was third, followed by Canadian Sandy Espeseth (Intersports) and Mirjam Melchers (Acca Due-O). Stay tuned for a complete report on the race. 12:03 p.m. The sun has broken through the clouds, the temperature is 80 degrees, and the women's field went over the

Mario Cipollini won a sprint spread across the full width of the road to take the final stage and his fourth win of the 2001 Giro d’Italia and the 34th of his career. Once again, Danilo Hondo was right alongside him but lacked that little bit of extra speed and forcefulness. And eight years after he won the amateur Giro d’Italia, Gilberto Simoni has won the professional Giro by 7:31 over Abraham Olano, the largest margin since 1973, when Eddy Merckx beat Johan De Muynck by 7:42. Stage 21 traversed a flat, straight trajectory from Arona along Lago Maggiore and southeast to Milano, where 10

While the NBA Finals fever generated by the Sixers-Lakers series has swept over Philadelphia, a couple hundred thousand boisterous spectators used the First Union USPRO Championships as the perfect tailgate party. The fans were out in force, and they were treated to a spectacular show. In the finale, defending USPRO champion (and runner-up last year to winner Henk Vogels) Fred Rodriguez (Domo-Farm Frites) beat out Saturn’s Trent Klasna and U.S. Postal’s George Hincapie in an all-American, 1-2-3 finish. Rodriguez slipped away in the final 500 meters to became the first American winner since

It’s seems like it’s become one of those inevitable things in cycling, just like Domo (and before them Mapei) winning Paris-Roubaix, the Belgians dominating cyclo-cross and Mario Cipollini winning Giro stages. Petra Rossner will win the First Union Liberty Classic World Cup. If it’s the beginning of June and there are women racing in Philadelphia, you might as well just write Rossner’s name down in the win column. The crew-cut Saturn rider made it four in a row – and five overall - in Philadelphia, winning the inevitable field sprint while towing teammate Anna Millward into second place, to

Spaniard Iban Mayo of the Euskaltel team eased over the finish line to win the 11th edition of the Alps Classic, a 175 km run between Aix-les-Bains and Chambery, France on Saturday. The 23-year-old Mayo, who recently collected his first major race win when victorious in the Grand Prix Midi-Libre last month, held off American double Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong to finish first. Armstrong beat Russian Pavel Tonkov in a sprint finish to come second, with Tonkov third. Mayo, who comes from the Basque country, launched a solitary attack in trying weather conditions and held off the

With Dario Frigo fired for doping, there was nobody else to worry about, and Gilberto Simoni could throw caution to the wind and make an audacious 49km solo to get the stage win he felt had been missing from his Giro victory. After this rainy, 181km stage amid dampened spirits, Simoni now leads second-placed Abraham Olano by 7:31. The riders ascended twice the first-category Mottarone climb rising above the western shore of Lago Maggiore. The first time up, Matthias Kessler broke away, and Danilo Di Luca caught and dropped him. Giuliano Figueras (Panaria) and Marzio Bruseghin (iBanesto.com)

Ina Teutenberg won the New York City Women's Challenge on Saturday. The race in New York is considered a warm-up event for Sunday’s First Union Liberty Classic, the sixth stop on the Women's World Cup Tour. Teutenberg got the win by taking the final sprint out of a five-woman break. The small group contained Teutenberg her Saturn teammate Kim Davidge, plus Jenny Eyerman (Jane's Cosmetics), and Intersports teammates Elizabeth Emery’ and Erin Carter. That group escaped half way through the race after a solo break by Saturn’s Anke Erlank was absorbed. In the final sprint, it was Teutenberg

After a gut-wrenching break from it, the riders got back to business today, and if anything is business as usual at the Giro, it is Mario Cipollini crossing the line with his arms upraised after a beautifully executed sprint. Marco Zanotti and Danilo Hondo followed the Lion King in after the 163km stage to Busto Arsizio. Marco Pantani had gone home the night before complaining of the flu, and Rik Verbrugghe also did not show up at sign-in. Otherwise, the setting was normal, but at the start in Alba the subject of every conversation among riders, fans, journalists and officials was the same,

Yes, the First Union Invitational in Trenton, New Jersey, came down to a field sprint once again this year, but it was a long early breakaway that played a major role in shaping the outcome at the finish. After the Mercury team spent most of the day chasing after five escapees, U.S. Postal took advantage, launching New Zealander Julian Dean to the win on a warm Thursday evening in New Jersey’s state capital. It was a big win for Dean, who battled knee problems for most of last season, and hadn’t won a race in more than a year. "That’s the thing that means the most," said Dean. "It’s my first

5:41 Caucchioli wins his second stage of this Giro d'Italia. Azevado takes second and Telekom's Jan Ullrich leads the chase group by taking third, 27 seconds later. There will be no change in the overall standings, as both race leader Gilberto Simoni (Lampre) and his nearest challenger, Dario Frigo (Fassa Bortolo) finished in the main group at 39 seconds. Stay tuned for a complete race report, coming up. 5:40p.m. Nearing the finish, the two are being chased by a trio including Jan Ullrich. 5:39 p.m. The two leaders are in San Remo and heading to the finish. While Azevado has been

Pietro Caucchioli (Alessio) earned his second stage win of this Giro d'Italia on Wednesday. Caucchioli, previously thought to be a slow finisher, has joined sprinters Ivan Quaranta, Danilo Hondo and Mario Cipollini with two Giro stage victories apiece by outsprinting fellow breakaway José Azevedo (ONCE) in the Circuit of Flowers. Jan Ullrich, healthier after a day of rest, nabbed his second third place of the Giro, outsprinting Gianni Faresin (Liquigas), who was 27 seconds back. Ullrich’s teammate, Matthias Kessler, was dropped in the sprint for third and finished nine seconds behind Faresin

First Union week continues on Thursday evening with the fastest of the three races, the 91-mile First Union Classic in Trenton, New Jersey. The flat, fast, 7-mile circuit seems to ensure a field sprint finish year after year, while the high speeds string out the peloton for most of the three-hour race, making positioning crucial throughout the race. Defending champion Fred Rodriguez (Domo-Farm Frites) will be on hand to try to defend his title, but a loaded Mercury-Viatel team, fresh off its Lancaster win, will be tough to beat. The race begins on State Street in Trenton, in front of the New

Mercury-Viatel fired the opening salvo at the First Union Cycling Series, with Leon Van Bon taking the win at the 91-mile First Union Invitational in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. With two men in a five-man break, Mercury faked out its competition, launching Van Bon to the win with less than a half mile to go through the streets of downtown Lancaster. The Dutch champion soloed across the line, three seconds ahead of breakaway companions George Hincapie (U.S. Postal Service), Trent Klasna (Saturn), Jakob Piil (CSC-World Online) and Baden Cooke (Mercury-Viatel). The five leaders escaped on the 12th

Even in a good old-fashioned American downtown criterium, Mercury-Viatel’s strengthened European line-up was clearly evident on Sunday. Mercury’s Dutch champion Leon Van Bon sprinted to victory in the second edition of the U.S. Postal Service Capital Cup in Washington D.C. Van Bon was followed closely by fellow Mercury Dutchman Jans Koerts and U.S. Postal’s Kiwi sprinter Julian Dean. The Capital Cup field included strong lineups from all of the U.S. professional mainstays. Postal, Mercury and Saturn, as well as Navigators and 7UP-Colorado Cyclist all have their Philadelphia men racing

Team Mercury-Viatel’s Jans Koerts battled swirling winds and a blistering pace to win the mass field sprint at Sunday’s Clarendon Cup criterium in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Koerts’s teammate Gord Fraser finished second, nudging out Vassiliy Davidenko of the well-organized Navigators team. A group of five broke off the front 12km into the race, but that group was caught almost immediately. Next to try an escape was local D.C. rider Russ Langley (National Capital Velo Club), who fired up the crowd with a solo break. For nearly nine laps around

Ivan Quaranta joined Danilo Hondo and Mario Cipollini with two Giro stage victories by winning the field sprint at the end of this 142km stage finishing in Parma, the birthplace of Giuseppe Verdi, to whom this Giro is dedicated in the 100th anniversary of his death. Endrio Leoni (Alessio), Cipollini, and Hondo followed Quaranta in at the finish. This 16th stage from Erbusco had one small climb with a KOM at km 4.7, won again by green jersey Fredy Gonzalez (Selle Italia), and it was flat the rest of the way. The first hour was traversed at a crawl — 30 kph — and it did not pick up a lot after

If you happened to be one of the many race fans who took in either of late-April’s big domestic races — the First Charter Criterium in Shelby, North Carolina, or the Twilight Criterium a day later in Athens, Georgia — you might have come away asking yourself, "Who the heck is NetZero?" Entering the weekend, most people had regarded this Los Angeles-based team as little more than pack fodder in the rough-and-tumble domestic racing scene. This territory belonged to teams like Mercury-Viatel and Saturn, the Navigators and Prime Alliance. Certainly the new NetZero pro team, made up of

Salient features: The Deda Magic bar has a 31.8mm clamping area (rather than the standard 26.0mm) and comes in a medium-depth ergo bend or a deep-drop round bend. The bar has a "K.E.T." (Kinetic Energy Treatment) that hardens the metal by "bomb-peening" it with heavy shot. The Magic stem is cold-forged in three dimensions, a process that allows Deda to create unique shapes without compromising the strength-to-weight ratio. Likes: The stiffness of this stem and bar combination is immediately noticeable, especially in long sizes. When sprinting or climbing out the saddle there is no noticeable

Canada’s hockey teams may not have fared very well in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, but America’s neighbors to the north are having quite a spring when it comes to racing mountain bikes. Two weeks after Roland Green became the first Canadian male to win a World Cup cross-country race, countryman Ryder Hesjedal led a Maple-Leaf sweep of the short track cross country at NORBA national No. 1 at Snow Summit Resort in Big Bear Lake, California. Hesjedal got his win by making a gutsy pass to overtake Seamus McGrath at the top of the climb on the race’s last lap. The 20-year-old Subaru-Gary

Gilberto Simoni has been saying for two days, ever since he took over the pink jersey, that he would not lose much time in the time trial. He was good on his word, crushing former world time trial champions Abraham Olano and Sergei Gontchar and losing only 29 seconds to specialist and second-placed Dario Frigo in a 55.5km time trial on the southwestern shore of Lake Garda. If it was not already apparent, especially after the disqualification of third-placed Wladimir Belli yesterday, this has become a two-man race. Frigo’s best hand to play was the time trial, so Simoni might very well have

The day after climbing four first-category passes, the riders hit two more, and the results were once again devastating for some top riders. The top two on GC, however, showed that they can recover overnight from a brutal stage, and once again, Simoni was the strongest climber and Frigo was almost as good. Carlos Contreras (Selle Italia-Pacific) won the 166km stage in a sprint from five others, just barely beating Wladimir Belli. Unai Osa (iBanesto.com) followed in third ahead of Simoni, Frigo and Contreras’s teammate Hernan Buenahora. But Fassa Bortolo’s co-captain Belli was thrown out of

Quebec's bicycle racing phenomenon Geneviève Jeanson has answered all naysayers to her abilities with a race-dominating performance at the Montreal Women's World Cup on June 2, which saw her finish over seven minutes ahead of her closest rival. Quebec's other cycling star, Lyne Bessette, finished third, losing a sprint to Sweden's Susanne Ljungskog. Jeanson came into the race, the fifth in the season long series, with fans anxious to see how the young Lachine rider would do against a full field of the top pros in the world. Among the 80 assembled riders was Bessette's Saturn racing team,

After coming as close yesterday as one could without actually getting the maglia rosa, Gilberto Simoni took it from Dario Frigo by 48 seconds on a tough day in the Dolomites under sunny skies. And Mexican Julio Perez, already the sentimental hero of this Giro, finally broke through with the stage win he has shown himself so deserving of. Simoni finished with him, while Frigo placed third, 45 seconds back. The 225km stage climbed four first-category passes and totally shook up the overall standings. While at the start in Montebelluna there were a couple dozen names clustered within two

Gilberto Simoni once again showed attentiveness, sharp wits, courage and great descending skills to turn a sudden rainstorm to his advantage on final descent of the May 31 stage. The Lampre-Daikin team captain came up one second short of taking Frigo’s shirt from him, but he is poised ideally to take it tomorrow on the tough, long stage tomorrow in the high Dolomites. The 139km 12th stage was won by Frigo’s teammate Matteo Tosatto in a three-up sprint from Slovenian Zoran Klemencic and Simoni. The stage was animated by the other Verbrugghe, Ief, who made two long solo breakaways today, the

Pablo Lastras escaped a 10-man breakaway group with four kilometers to go and held a solo advantage of a handful of seconds to win this 187km stage that crossed the Slovenian-Italian border seven times. Giovanni Lombardi won the sprint from Uros Murn and the rest of the nine pursuers. The stage rolled east through hilly and beautiful forested country along the Austrian border north of Slovenia’s Triglavski national park and crossed into Italy before heading south up a large first-category climb of the Passo del Predil at 63km. At the top of the pass, it crossed back into Slovenia and

Telekom's sprint ace Erik Zabel won a field sprint to take the second stage of the Tour of Germany, on May 30. Today's 173km stage ran between Goslar and Erfurt. The German gained revenge on Belgian rider Tom Steels -- who beat him to the line on Tuesday -- to record his 12th win of the season and take the overall race lead. Zabel, the current World Cup leader, stopped the clock after 4:21:06 of racing, to come in ahead of Moldova's Igor Pugaci (Saeco) with Russian Guennadi Michailov (Lotto) in third position. The race centered around the early solo break of Swiss rider Roger Beuchat

With 7km left in the 212km stage, Denis Zanette of Liquigas-PATA attacked eight breakaway companions he had been with for 123km and rolled in alone through the streets of the Lubljana, the capitol of Slovenia. He crossed the line, arms upraised, throwing kisses to the huge crowd that was happily welcoming the Giro on this warm, sunny day. Mario Manzoni (Alexia) outsprinted Isidro Nozal (ONCE-Eroski) three seconds later, and the rest of the breakaways finished at 15 seconds – 10 minutes up on the main pack. The top rankings didn't change, with a dozen riders wedged within a minute of overall

It couldn’t have been easier for Mario Cipollini. Instead of having to duke it out in another physical sprint like other flat stages have ended in, the Lion King was able to roll to an easy sprint win because of a crash behind him in the last corner. While most of Italy is as up and down as a crumpled rug, over the millennia the mighty Po River has ground down every bit of topography in a crosswise swath where the country widens at the top of the boot. Consequently, stage nine, which ran northeast for 142km in the Po valley and crossed the river once, was flat as a pancake and certain to

The Tour of Somerville is famous for the names that dot its deep winners list. Olympians, national champions, and trendsetters have all won this race that has taken place on Memorial Day for nearly 60 years. But the 2001 edition of the race paid tribute to a rider who will never have the chance to put her name in the event's record books: Nicole Reinhart. Reinhart, a star sprinter for the Saturn women’s team, died from injuries sustained in a crash in a race last fall. But now, thanks to the committee that organizes this quintessential American race, the spirit of Reinhart - a rider who

On a day when a tireless 40-year-old animated the action all day long, it was an up-and-coming 26-year-old on a first-year team who stole the show at the elite men’s national road race championship in Redding, California, on Saturday. A teary-eyed Remi McManus of the Boise Stars team accepted the national championship jersey after outsprinting four breakaway companions at the end of the 111-mile race. The finish came down to McManus and four others: Brice Jones (Mercy Fitness), Patrick Heaney (Lombardi Sports), Tim Unkert (Capital Velo Club) and Chris Walker (Triathlete Zombies). Of those,

Once again, Julio Perez was the animator of a pivotal stage and came agonizingly close to winning it. The pack had not even left the vacation spa town of Montecatini Terme when the Mexican Panaria rider attacked with five others just two kilometers into this difficult 185km stage. Among those with him was Pietro Chaucchioli, who rolled into Reggio Emilia alone 183km later. Behind, in a small chase group finishing a minute behind the 26-year-old Alessio winner was ONCE’s José Azevedo, who came within a whisker of taking over the maglia rosa. After 9km, a group of 11 took off after Perez’s

Stefano Zanini outsprinted a group of 49 riders to win the longest stage of the Giro, beating Gabriele Missaglia and Jan Ullrich after a great leadout from Stefano Garzelli. For the first time in the race, the Olympic road champion was feeling well enough again to come over the top of a big climb with the front group and even to mix it up in the sprint. The 239km stage started in Rieti in the province of Lazio, headed north through the entire length of Umbria and finished in Montevarchi in Tuscany. It started slowly, winding along picturesque roads in hilly country along lakes and past

Scott Price seemed to be smiling all the way from Durango to Silverton on Saturday. The Team Landis rider's grin was even wider after he won a three-man sprint in the 30th annual Iron Horse Bicycle Classic road race. Price, 31, nipped Federico Ramirez (Cafe de Costa Rica/Pizza Hut), part of a four-person Costa Rican contingent, and Durango favorite Ned Overend (Specialized), who at 45 was looking to add to his four Iron Horse road race titles that he began accumulating in 1983. The three riders, along with Price's teammate, Drew Miller, crested Molas Pass, the course's last long climb,

At Saturday’s national road race championships, Saturn’s Kimberly Bruckner demonstrated again that she was the strongest woman on the roads of Redding. Two days after winning the national time trial championship, Bruckner broke away with Harbour Lights’ Amber Neben 27 miles into the 69-mile championship road race and eventually soloed in for her second national title in three days. Saturday’s women’s race consisted of four laps of a hilly, 14-mile circuit west of Redding, with a six-mile starting and finishing tail from town to the circuit. The 64-woman field was content to stay together at

Canadian Lyne Bessette held on to her overall lead in the Tour de L’Aude as AutoTrader.com's Sarah Ulmer won eighth stage of the French stage race. A break of 10 riders escaped the field at the halfway point of the 122km stage between Limoux and Espéraza. None of the escapees posed a threat to Bessette’s grip on the overall lead. The American Autotrader team had two of its riders in the break – Ulmer and the team’s new recruit Katrina Berger. Berger attacked as the lead group -- now down to eight riders -- reached the final finishing circuit. With her teammate ahead, Ulmer sat on as the