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Tour de Snowy: Bruckner takes over

It was supposed to be another match up between Tour de Snowy race leader Anna Millward and reigning world road champion Zinaidaia Stahurskaia … and it was, to a point. As the season-opening Australian stage race moved into serious climbing, Stahurskaia challenged Millward and forced her out of the leader's jersey. But Millward's Saturn team was ready and just as she faltered, her teammate Kim Bruckner was ready to take up the challenge winning the stage and keeping the jersey in the family. Saturn has clearly dominated the race from the start, with Millward winning the first three stages and

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Tour de Snowy: Stahurskaia takes stage, Millward fights back

World women’s road champion Zinaida Stahurskaia (GAS Sport) showed that this year’s Tour de Snowy would not be the exclusive realm of Saturn’s hometown favorite Anna Millward as she rode away from the field on the first major climb of this five-day, season opening Australian stage race. But Millward, too, proved herself to be a worthy competitor as the Australian worked tirelessly to catch Stahurskaia in the closing kilometers of the day’s 77.3 km stage, preserving her lead in the overall standings. Stahurskaia had been touted as Millward’s biggest threat, even as the Australian charged her

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Mercury-Viatel, Saturn roll in Merced

The two top teams from last year’s National Racing Calendar kicked off the 2001 NRC season with impressive sweeps at the McLane Pacific Cycling Classic in Merced over the weekend. On the men’s side, Australian Baden Cooke took both the road race and criterium for Mercury-Viatel, while Ina Teutenberg and Lyne Bessette took one win apiece for the Saturn women’s team. The weekend began with the Downtown Grand Prix on Saturday. With 19 laps remaining in the 45-lap, 36-mile women’s race, a group of seven escaped on the fast, eight-turn, 0.8-mile circuit. Teutenberg made an attempt at a solo

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Tour de Snowy, day two: it’s still Saturn and Millward

Sunday, the second day at Australia’s five-day Tour de Snowy offered a bit of a repeat of the first: a two stage day, marked again by the dominance of the Saturn women’s team and by Anna Millward in particular. The morning kicked off with a very short 35.9km stage from Jindabyne to Thredbo. Despite a series of breakaway attempts, the Saturn squad kept reign on the field and reeled in the final attackers with just a kilometer to go. Again, the stage was set for a Saturn-led field sprint and the team followed its script as written: Millward scooted home to take her third successive stage in

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Bartoli marks comeback with Het Volk win

Mapei’s Michele Bartoli won Saturday's Het Volk semi-classic, a 200km race between Ghent and Lokeren.The Italian champion won a sprint finish to come in ahead of Belgian Hendrik Van Dijck (Lotto) Matthe Pronk (Rabobank). Bartoli, who suffered a serious injury to his right leg after an accident in the 1999 Tour of Germany, is now back in top form following this result in Belgium's season-opening event. At 30, he is now in the kind of shape which saw him top the world rankings at the end of the 90's. The result upstaged Belgian riders who have only been beaten five times in 55

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Bartoli proves he’s back with convincing win at Het Volk

Italian national champion and multi-classic winner Michele Bartoli sent a strong message today with a convincing win over a world class field in the Belgian season opener Het Volk. The 30 year-old Mapei-Quick step rider returned to form late last season following a difficult knee injury, and with today’s win showed that he may again be on the level that has already placed him among the sport’s legendary classics riders. The 200 kilometer test between Gent and Lokeren, covering much of the same terrain as the classic Tour of Flanders, got off to a chilly start with temperatures barely

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Boogerd takes rainy stage 4 at Valencia

Showing fine form heading into the spring classics, Rabobank’s Michael Boogerd won the toughest stage of the Tour of Valencia on a rainy day in Spain. The Dutch World Cup threat won Friday’s 147.2km stage 4, a mountainous journey between Benidorm and Campello pass. Boogerd, who also won the first stage, beat Fabian Jeker of Switzerland, Italian rider Leonardo Piepoli and Alexandre Vinokurov of Kazakhstan in a sprint finish to tighten his grip on the overall lead. Mercatone Uno’s Marco Pantani had failed to start Friday's stage because he was suffering from a high fever and bronchitis.

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Extebarria wins stage 3 at Valencia

Euskatel-Euskadi rider David Etxebarria gave Spanish fans a home win in the third stage of the Tour of Valencia Thurday. The Spaniard won a sprint for the line at the end of the 149.5km stage between Denia and Benidorm. Extebarria outsprinted fellow Spaniard Aitor Gonzalez and an on-form Erik Dekker (Rabobank) to win from the lead group of seven with a time of 3:43:59. Dekker’s teammate and fellow Dutchman Michael Boogerd, who won Tuesday's first stage, holds the overall leader's yellow jersey, ahead of Switzerland’s Fabian Jeker and Italian Leonardo Piepoli. Thursday's stage, featuring

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Zabel racks up another win at Valencia

For Telekom’s sprint star Erik Zabel, it almost looks too easy. Zabel took stage 2 of the Tour of Valencia in Spain Tuesday, adding to his pile of early season victories by winning a sprint finish in the 179.5km race between Segunto and Denia in eastern Spain. U.S. Postal Service rider George Hincapie finished third, just behind second-placed Biagio Conte of Italy. Rabobank’s Dutch classics rider Michael Boogerd retained the overall lead by finishing sixth. Right behind Boogerd in the overall are Swiss riders Fabian Jeker and Alex Zulle, along with Italian Leonardo Piepoli, all with the

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Celestino takes Trofeo Laigueglia

Italian cyclist Mirko Celestino, riding for the Saeco team, won Tuesday's Trofeo Laigueglia, a 173km run starting and finishing in the town of that name. It was an all-Italian podium with last year's winner Daniele Nardello of the Mapei team finishing second, and Davide Rebellin, of the Liquigas outfit, in third. The 26-year-old Celestino, who joined Saeco from the now defunct Polti outfit, nipped his rivals in a sprint finish to clinch victory in the race that has historically been the curtain-raiser on the Italian cycling season, though other races have already been staged this

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Dekker remains in front at Ruta

German Erik Zabel (Telekom) won a sprint to capture the third stage of the Ruta del Sol on Tuesday. But in the overall standings Erik Dekker (Rabobank) was able to preserve his lead, staying six seconds ahead of Belgium Marc Wauters. Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Sheffr, Belgian Andrei Tchmil, and German Jan Schaffrath round out the top five in the general classification. The stage was an 180km ride between Luque and Jaen. Zabel was the overall winner of the race in 1997. Max Van Heeswijk of The Netherlands and Italian Endrio Leoni finished second and third in Tuesday’s stage. Tomorrow’s 175km

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Lanfranchi wraps up Langkawi

The 2001 Tour de Langkawi has ended. After 12 stages and 1836 kilometers, Paolo Lanfranchi has led Mapei-Quick Step to a clean sweep of the overall awards. The final stage was anti-climactic, as expected, with the 7.6-kilometer circuit in downtown Kuala Lumpur, which the riders covered 12 times, not having any effect on the overall standings. Federico Colonna of Cantina Tollo took the field sprint to win the final stage.

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Bettini takes another at Langkawi

Paolo Bettini (Mapei-Quick Step) became the fourth rider to win two stages in the 2001 Tour de Langkawi, consolidating his lead in the green jersey points competition, while his team mate Paolo Lanfranchi easily finished in the pack, protecting his yellow jersey.

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Rebellin takes lead at Tour Méditerranéen

Liquigas’s Davide Rebellin (Liquigas), winner of the 2000 Tour Méditerranéen, took over the lead of this year’s edition from Ivan Basso (Fassa Bartolo) after Basso suffered a crash in the first of Saturday’s two stages, a 108km race from Aigues Mortes to Beziers. The day’s stage wins were still the property of the peloton’s top sprinters as Gabriel Balducci (Tacconi) and Jaan Kirsipuu (AG2R) won stages four and five respectively.Rebellin moved from second overall after Basso’s crash and now holds an eight second advantage over David Moncoutie and 23 seconds over Laurent Brochard.Basso was the

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Casper outsprints ’em at Med Tour

La Française des Jeux’s sprinter Jimmy Casper took the third stage of the Tour of the Mediterranean, a 127km race between Gréasque and Salon-de-Provence, on Friday. Casper outsprinted a tough field of top sprinters, beating Czech Jan Svorada of Lampre and AG2R’s Jaan Kirsipuu, the Estonian who lead the opening week of the 1999 Tour de France. Ivan Basso (Fassa Bortolo) maintained his hold on the overall standings with a four-second advantage over Liquigas’s Davide Rebellin. American David Clinger finished 8th in Friday’s bunch sprint, while Bobby Julich (Credit Agricole) holds on to

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McEwen gets one at Med Tour

Australian Robbie McEwen (Domo) took the second stage of the 28th Mediterranean Tour on Thursday, finishing the 139km stage between La Garde and La Seyne by outsprinting Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu and France’s Damien Nazon. Fassa Bortolo’s Ivan Basso maintains his lead over Liquigas’s Davide Rebellin in the overall standings. The finishing sprint was marked by serious crash in which Basso’s teammate, Alessandro Pettacchi suffered a broken collarbone.

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Bettini takes over at Langkawi

The mountains have spoken and the Tour de Langkawi has a new leader Paolo Bettini (Mapei-Quick Step). Bettini finished third in the frontgroup of four, behind his teammate Paolo Lanfranchi and Pascal Hervé(Alexia Alluminio), and ahead of American Chris Wherry (Mercury-Viatel). The riders faced 154 kilometers on stage 8 from Kuala Kubu Baru to Tanah Rata, climbing 2000 meters over the final 53 kilometers. There were a few attempts to get away before the climb, but Mapei and Mercury quickly brought them back, so that at the start of the first KoM (King of the Mountain) the peloton was

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Quaranta takes crash marred stage at Langkawi

Ivan Quaranta (Alexia Alluminio) finally got on the winner's podium, but unfortunately a large crash marred the end of stage 7 at the Tour de Langkawi. Jans Koerts (Mercury Viatel) finished second and continues to hold the yellow jersey after the last stage before the mountains. The 172-kilometer stage from Melaka to Klang (on the outskirts of KualaLumpur) had a profile like a saw blade. None of the rollers wasparticularly long, but with over 1100 kilometers on their legs, and twomajor climbing stages to come, no one was in the mood for a fast run.

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All Koerts, all the time

So far, the Tour de Langkawi could be named the Tour de Jans Koerts, as the yellow jersey holder from Mercury-Viatel won his second stage on Sunday, the sixth day of racing in Malaysia. Koerts' victory came despite hitting the barriers 150 meters from the finish line and getting bopped on the head in the sprint. Sunday's stage from Kluang to Melaka was relatively short at 150km. It was probably also one of Koerts’s last days in the leader’s jersey - after Monday’s rest day there is one more day of relative flat and then two days of massive climbs, something Koerts is the first to admit is

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Degano wins stage, chips away at Langkawi

All it took was one little mistake in the race map, and Enrico Degano (Ceramiche Panaria) beat out powerhouses Mercury Viatel and Mapei-Quick Step in a bunch sprint to take his second stage of the Tour de Langkawi. Jans Koerts (Mercury Viatel) continues to hold the yellow jersey, although his lead over Degano has been cut to 18 seconds from 25.

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Two straight for Nazon at Etoile de Bessèges

Frenchman Damien Nazon (Bonjour) won for the second straight day at the Etoile de Bessèges as he took the fourth stage in Les Fumades in a sprint from Jo Planckaert and Steffen Radochla. Lotto’s Nico Eeckhout held onto the race leader’s jersey. The stage featured a 10-rider break – Peter Farazijn (Cofidis), Bert Scheirlinckx (Collstrop), Chris Peers (Cofidis), Sebastien Demarbaix (AG2R), Lenaic Olivier (Jean Delatour), Thierry Gouvenou, Loic Lamouller (both BigMat), Andy Flickinger (Festina), Franck Perque (Francaise des Jeux) and Stuart O’Grady (Credit Agricole) -- that went off at the 20km

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Koerts tops fastest stage in Langkawi

Average speed: 51.95 kilometers per hour for 135.5km. That’s all you need to know to understand stage 4 of the Tour de Langkawi. It was fast, brutally fast, more than a kilometer and a half per hour faster than Mario Cipollini's record Tour de France stage last year. And at the finish, overall leader Jans Koerts (Mercury-Viatel) added a stage win to his honors, easily outdistancing Ivan Quaranta (Alexia Alluminio) and Andris Nauduzs (Selle Italia-Pacific).

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McEwen finally nips Zabel in Majorca

Australian neo-pro Mathew Hayman (Rabobank) won the overall title at the Majorca Challenge, while another Australian, Robbie McEwen (Domo-Farm Frites), finally beat Germany’s Erik Zabel in a field-sprint finish. The final stage was a 153.4km circuit around Palmanova, which the peloton covered in 3:45:04, for an average of 38.104kph. With Hayman holding a 1:46 lead over Francisco Cabello, the Kelme team was the animator of the race, placing five of its riders into a 15-man break, which rode out to a three minute lead over the day’s three climbs. Behind, the Rabobank squad organized the chase

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Bettini scores for Mapei in Malaysia

Mapei-Quick Step finally made it onto the winner’s podium Thursday at the Tour de Langkawi, with Paolo Bettini just nipping Phonak's Alexandre Usov at the line. Mercury Viatel's Jans Koerts continues to hold onto the yellow leader's jersey, with stage 2 winner Enrico Degano (Ceramiche Panaria) and Bettini 10 seconds back. The 177km third stage along the east coast of Malaysia, from Kota Bharu to Kuala Terengganu, was led for much of the day by the breakaway duo of Svein Tuft (Team Canada) and Soren Petersen (Saturn). Tuft initiated the break a mere 6km into the stage, and was soon joined by

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Festina captures stage two of Etoile des Besseges

Festina’s Steffen Radochla won the second stage of the Etoile des Bessèges, 151km between Septèmes-les-Vallons and Miramas in France. Belgian Nico Eeckhout (Lotto-Adecco) retained the leader’s jersey. Under sunny but windy conditions, the 22-year-old German Radochla won a sprint finish at the end of an animated stage marked by many aggressive, but failed, breakaways. After a 45km breakaway by Jean Delatour’s Christophe Edaleine was brought back, the attacks kept coming until the final kilometer, but the peloton regrouped in time to set up the field sprint, with Radochla edging out Jaan

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Degano takes stage at Langkawi

Mercury-Viatel’s Jan Koerts held onto the yellow leader’s jersey at the Tour de Langkawi on Wednesday, but Italian Enrico Degano rocketed up to second-place when he beat out Koerts for the stage 2 win in Kota Bharu. The 226.3km stage featured two long climbs early in the race, one of about 14km and another of 19km, making for a hard day in the saddle. However, the 171 riders were all together for field sprint finish. Koerts and Mercury were looking for another stage win, but Degano shot ahead in the last 250 meters to take the win.

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Boogerd sits on for win in Majorca

With his Rabobank teammates chasing behind, Dutchman Michael Boogerd was able to sit in for a free ride in the lead group up front, and he emerged freshest from a five-man breakaway to take the win on stage 4 of the Majorca challenge. The Boogerd group also included Swiss Fabian Jeker and Spaniards Felix Garcia Casas, Francisco Cabello and Juan José de los Angeles. Those four were forced to do the bulk of the work when Rabobank took up the chase late in the race, and at the finish, Boogerd took the sprint from Jeker with relative ease. Two minutes behind, Telekom’s Erik Zabel beat out Luca

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Euro season opens with Etoile de Besseges

Lotto-Adecco’s Nico Eeckhout took the leader’s jersey at the Etoile de Bessèges after winning the 141km first stage from La Ciotat to Aubagne. Eeckhout won a six-up sprint from fellow breakaways Nicolas Reynaud (Festina), Jakob Piil (CSC-World Online), Nicolas Jalabert (CSC-World Online), Chris Peers (Cofidis) and Christophe Bassons (Jean Delatour). Reynaud and Cyril Dessel (Jean Delatour) embarked on a long breakaway just 10km into the stage, on the climb of Ceyreste, eventually building a lead of 6:25. At the 100km mark, they were caught by the five other riders that made up the final

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Mercury-Viatel on top at Langkawi

Defending champion Mercury-Viatel has picked up where it left off last year at the Tour de Langkawi, with Gord Fraser winning the first stage and teammate Jans Koerts taking the yellow leader's jersey.

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Zabel scores again in Majorca

Telekom’s Erik Zabel scored his second stage win at the Majorca Challenge on Tuesday, winning the field sprint at the end of the 163km stage three from Cala Bona to Cala Rajada on the island of Majorca. Zabel, who also won the opening stage on Sunday, again outsprinted fellow German Sven Teutenberg, with Australian Robbie McEwen grabbing third for the second day in a row. Following a last-kilometer attack by Juan José de los Angeles (Kelme-Costa Blanca), the peloton regrouped, only to be splintered into several small groups due to a crash in the closing meters. Zabel escaped harm, however,

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Zabel starts season with a win in Majorca

Telekom’s Erik Zabel scored his first win of the season on Sunday, taking the first stage of the Majorca challenge, an 80km circuit race in Palma de Majorca, the capital of the Balearic Islands. Zabel beat out Germany’s Sven Teutenberg in the final sprint, while American David Clinger scored a 10th-place finish. In Monday’s second stage, Australian Mathew Hayman (Rabobank) scored his first professional victory with a long solo breakaway. Run on a 10km circuit, the season-opening stage 1 was a nervous affair, and was marked by a big crash on the fourth of eight laps. That, coupled with the

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Vervecken gets his stripes

You start fast and stay out front. Simple and obvious words to live by in cyclo-cross. Here in Tábor that fast start has counted for everything. Hanka Kupfernagel, Sven Vanthourenhout and Martin Bina all rode like mad for the opening 800 feet of pavement and dove into the first stretch of dirt among the first and then stayed there. In the elite men’s race, Erwin Vervecken joined the winner’s club in the same fashion, but he had some pretty tough company when he rounded that critical turn. And starting his race at the other end of the 57-man field, American Marc Gullickson fought through the

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O’Grady wins second Tour Down Under

Australian Stuart O'Grady donned the yellow jersey after claiming overall victory just two seconds ahead of German Kai Hundertmark in the close fought final stage of the Tour Down Under cycling race Sunday. "I'm over the moon," said 27-year-old O'Grady who races for the French team Credit Agricole. O'Grady, who also won the event in 1999, and Team Telekom's Hundertmark entered the 90km final stage deadlocked on time with six other riders within eight seconds of the pair. Cheered on by an estimated 100,000-strong home crowd lining the 4.5km Adelaide circuit, O'Grady crossed the line in

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Hundertmark sprints to the top

A fifth race leader in as many days was christened at the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under when Germany's Kai Hundertmark took over the yellow jersey in Saturday's gripping stage. The Telekom rider's victory in the 156km leg from Gawler to the German town of Tanunda saw him depose overnight leader Nicolai Bo Larsen (CMS). Hundertmark, a former member of the now-disbanded Motorola team, won the stage by out sprinting 17 breakaway companions who finished two minutes, 47 seconds clear of Larsen's group. In second and third places were Australia's Peter Rogers (Sunsmart) and Allan Davis (United

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Larsen takes top spot from O’Grady

If Stuart O'Grady's fairytale return to winning form is to be, he will have to pull off one of the mightiest coups of his career. His bid to win the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under stumbled Friday when he lost the leader's yellow jersey to Dane Nicolai Bo Larsen (CSC). In the 157km fourth stage from Unley to Strathalbyn, O'Grady (Credit Agricole) looked set to finish with the perfect result until eight kilometers to go. That’s when Bo Larsen attacked. And missing Larsen's move was a mistake that may cost O’Grady dearly unless he can turn the tables on the red headed Dane Saturday. Larsen

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Phat, Marty and the French press winning big

With just two weeks left before the polls close on the Readers' Choice Awards, some of our contestants are in big trouble, while others are running away. Here’s a quick look at some of the early returns. In the battle between Phat and Fat relating to the upcoming season of Telekom's Jan Ullrich, Phat holds a commanding lead with 66 percent of the vote, while Fat has just 22 percent. Twelve percent of the voters abstained. On the question of who’s a scarier driver, Marco Pantani or your grandma, it’s no contest. Pantani has garnered nearly 70 percent of the votes, pulling away

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Sacchi claims overall lead in Tour Down Under

Italian rider Fabio Sacchi held off Stuart O'Grady in a thrilling sprint finish to claim the overall lead in the Tour Down Under cycling race here Wednesday. But an investigation involving Australian Olympian Graeme Brown was garnering all the attention. Brown is one of several Australian riders named in an alleged incident with a car at last year's Noumea six-day track race. After losing the race lead in stage two of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under, Brown (United Water) denied knowledge of the incident. But Cycling Australia confirmed it has received notice from the New Caledonian

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NSW’s Brown takes first stage at Tour Down Under

There's been a lot of celebratory back slapping by organizers of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under for signing up the world's number one team to race. So much so, some joked that they had beaten each other black and blue in the lead up to tonight's start to the 757km event, the stage one criterium in the Adelaide suburb of Glenelg. The 47km stage ended in a popular home win for the estimated 54,000-strong crowd that lined the tight 1.88km circuit. In balmy conditions that saw temperatures in the mid seventies, it was won by NSW's Graeme Brown (United Water). South Australia's Stuart O'Grady

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Wesemann a threat in Tour Down Under

Australian cyclist Stuart O'Grady rates German rider Steffen Wesemann as the big threat in the Tour Down Under starting in Adelaide Tuesday. Wesemann, who rides for the German Telekom team, has been training in Australia since December 3 to give himself plenty of time to become accustomed to the Australian heat and conditions. And 1999 race winner O'Grady said the 29-year-old German, who won a stage of last year's Tour Down Under and finished third overall, was giving nothing away in the lead-up to the six-stage, 757km race. "As soon as I found out Steffen was coming over this early

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