Race Report

Jumbo-Visma rider defeats Pogačar on summit finish of Slovenian national championships.

The German Bora-Hansgrohe rider maintains his 58 second margin in the general classification.

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A couple of years ago Ryder Hesjedal was a surprising young talent, a quiet kid from Canada with the physique of a high school basketball player, not a professional mountain biker. When interviewed, he didn’t say much. Now Hesjedal’s 21, and he’s won some big races. When he speaks, as he did after winning his first NORBA cross-country race at Deer Valley, Utah, Friday afternoon, you can’t believe the bravado. Even more surprising, however, is the aggression with which Hesjedal rides. Sometimes that has hurt the 21-year-old Subaru-Gary Fisher rider, but sometimes it can be crushing to the

Lance Armstrong became only the second American to win the Tour of Switzerland, 14 years after Andy Hampsten took the second of his consecutive victories. In Thursday's final stage, Armstrong finished safely in the main pack, some three minutes behind a five-man break that resulted in a stage win for Oskar Camenzind of Lampre-Daikin. Camenzind was defending champion of the Swiss tour, but this year played a support role to teammate Gillberto Simoni, who finshed second overall, 1:02 behind Armstrong. To win the 176km stage 10, out and back from Lausanne, Camenzind escaped with Frenchmen

While Lance Armstrong rode in for the final victory at the Tour of Switzerland on Thursday, one of his possible Tour de France rivals won the Tour of Catalonia in Spain on the final day of the race. ONCE’s Joseba Beloki, third in last year’s Tour de France, won the last-stage time trial to capture the Catalonia title in Alt de la Rabassa, Spain, on Thursday, beating out teammate Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano and Coast’s Fernando Escartin for the overall victory. Beloki was the only rider to crack the 34 minute barrier on the 13.9km uphill time trial on the Col de Rabassa, with a time of 33:47,

Twenty-five-year-old Ernie Lechuga picked out a true classic for his first big win since coming back from testicular cancer last year. The DeFeet-LeMond rider added his name to the long list of top riders who have won the Nevada City Classic when he beat out Jelly Belly’s Damon Kluck in the Northern California race, June 24. "So many famous people have won this race, and I’m hoping one day I’ll be one of those famous riders," said Lechuga, whose co-sponsor Greg LeMond is one of those former winners. Lechuga was well on his way three years ago, as one of the top under-23 riders in the U.S.,

Italian Daniele de Paoli (Mercatone Uno) took a solo win at the seventh stage of the Tour of Catalonia, 1:20 ahead of Spaniards Fernando Escartin (Coast) and Joseba Beloki (ONCE). Beloki’s ONCE teammate Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano retained the leader’s white jersey. On the queen stage of the tour, passing over four passes in the Pyrenees before the finish atop Els Cortals de Encancamp, de Paoli escaped just 29km into the stage along with Andreas Kloden (Telekom), Santiagor Botero (Kelme-Costa Blanca), Roberto Laiseka (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Pavel Tonkov (Mercury-Viatel) and Daniel Clavero

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

Two-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong put himself in a commanding position Tuesday as he won the eighth stage of the Tour of Switzerland, a 25.5km uphill time trial to Crans-Montana. The 29-year-old American, who will be bidding for a third successive Tour de France triumph next month, took the overall leader's yellow jersey off Italian Wladimir Belli (Fassa Bortolo), who could finish in only the fifth fastest time. Armstrong now leads Giro d’Italia champion Gilberto Simoni, second on the stage, by 1:02 overall. Simoni was 1:25 back of Armstrong on the stage, followed by Tyler

Ivan Gotti (Alessio) took the win at stage 6 of the Tour of Catalonia while Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (ONCE) took over the race leader’s jersey from teammate Marcos Serrano after the hot, mountainous 184km stage between Les Borges Blaques and Boi Taull in Spain. Gotti was part of a dozen-rider break that escaped 42km into the race. The break would gain up to four minutes as it headed toward the final climb at Boi Taull, with grades of 12 percent. There, Gotti and Spaniard Aitor Kintana (Jazztel) would attack, while behind, the rest of the break began to get caught by the remnants of the

"Tuft by name, tough by nature," was overall winner Henk Vogels' comment about GP Cycliste de Beauce final stage winner Svein Tuft (Team Canada). While Tuft took stage 7, Vogels was able to give Mercury-Viatel its first ever win at Beauce after Saturn was unable to exert enough pressure to crack its rivals. Mercury had good reason to worry - last year they had Scott Moninger in the lead going into the final stage, only to lose it all when they succumbed to relentless attacks by other teams. This year the course seemed custom made for such a situation; 15 laps of an 11km circuit with 2.5km

Spain’s Oscar Laguna (Relax-Fuenlabrada), soloed in for victory at the fifth stage of the Tour of Catalonia on Monday, coming in 10 seconds ahead of New Zealander Julian Dean of the U.S. Postal Service. Laguna was part of an eight-man breakaway group, and the Spanish rider escaped 12km from the finish to capture the victory, while ONCE’s Marcus Serrano retained the leader’s white jersey. On the flat, 178km transitional stage from Granada to Vila Seca, the breakaway group attained a maximum lead of more than nine minutes, which made Laguna the virtual leader on the road. However, Serrano’s

Italian rider Stefano Garzelli (Mapei-Quick Step) came home alone in Naters, Switzerland, after escaping for 135km to win Monday's 156.5km seventh stage of the Tour of Switzerland from Locarno. The 27-year-old, who won the 2000 Giro d’Italia, crossed the line 4:22 ahead of compatriot and teammate Michele Bartoli (Mapei-Quick Step), while Czech Tomas Konecny (Domo-Farm Frites) was third 7:27 behind and just ahead of American George Hincapie (U.S. Postal Service). Fassa Bortolo’s Wladimir Belli retained his one second overall lead over this year's Giro champion, Gilberto Simoni

World champion Wade Bootes (Trek-Volkswagen) proved why he wears the rainbow stripes Saturday, topping a strong field to win the dual slalom at NORBA National No. 2 at Snowshoe, West Virginia, while Leigh Donovan (Schwinn) continued her storming farewell tour with a split-heat victory over Tara Llanes (Yeti-Pearl Izumi). The slalom got off to a shaky start when qualifying was postponed Friday evening. The same line of thunderstorms that nearly drowned cross-country competitors fed foot-deep pools in some sections of the slalom course and reduced the rest to oil-like slickness. As a

Tour de France contender Joseba Beloki (ONCE-Eroski) won the fourth stage of the Tour of Catalonia in Spain on Sunday, while his teammate Marcos Serrano re-took the leader’s white jersey from Santos Gonzalez. Beloki finished in front of Oscar Sevilla (Kelme-Costa Blanca) and Miguel Angel Martin on stage 4, a short, nervous and hilly trip over second- and third-category climbs around Barcelona. Sevilla was the instigator of an attack on the final climb, 15km from the finish, and was followed only by Beloki. The two crested the climb with about a 30 second lead, but from that point, Beloki

The 2001 HP Women’s Challenge finished in Boise, Idaho on Sunday in a style reflective the way this race has gone over the past 12 days: the Saturn women’s team in control, especially when it counted. Finishing the day’s 55.2-mile final stage from Middleton to Boise, Saturn’s Ina-Yoko Teutenberg grabbed her second stage win of the race while teammate Lyne Bessette cruised across the line in the field having secured a nearly five-minute lead in the final general classification. The Saturn team in general and Bessette in particular had been in charge ever since the first stage of this 13-stage

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

Steve Peat (GT) followed through on the promise he showed in the morning downhill practice session at the NORBA National in Snowshoe, West Virginia, where he recorded the course record of 4:55. On the money run, the British World Cup contender shattered that mark by 13 seconds and took the downhill victory in sloppy conditions on Sunday. After a hard winter of training, Peat seems on his way to a dream season. "I just feel like I’m riding so well, the bike’s just perfect, and the team is just one big family." Unfortunately, it was a scattered family this weekend, as many of the GT

Scott Moninger won the sixth stage of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce stage race on Saturday, moving into second overall behind his Mercury teammate Henk Vogels. Eugen Wacker (Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy) was second on the stage, half a second back, and John Lieswyn (7Up-Colorado Cyclist) was third. The sixth stage was a 15km individual time trial in the town of St Georges de Beauce, and Moninger was the favorite, having won the same stage in 2000. "I really wanted to try to move into second overall before tomorrow's final stage. It is crucial for us to have two riders in good position, so

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

Australian Henk Vogels (Mercury-Viatel) kept his yellow jersey for another day at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce, despite finishing five minutes and three seconds behind stage 5 winner Philippe Koehler of Mapei-Quick Step. Koehler barely managed to hold off Canadian national champion Czeslaw Lukaszewicz (Team Canada) in a two-man mountain top finish to take the stage; his first win as a professional racer. The 170km fifth stage is considered the most difficult of the seven-stage, 959km race. The stage culminates with a 5.5km climb to the Mont Megantic observatory, atop the highest paved

Aussie rider Mary Grigson (Subaru-Gary Fisher) upped her tally to five straight NORBA National victories Friday morning, showing her versatility as a rider who can excel in the tight, rooty West Virginia singletrack as well as the open and dusty western courses. If Grigson can hold her outstanding form to take the next National at Deer Park, Utah, she would tie the seemingly unassailable record of six straight NORBA victories set by Juli Furtado in the early 90s. "It’s something that’s been put in my mind, and I feel the pressure. It’s just one of those things, even though it might be

Russian veteran Dmitri Konyshev of the Fassa Bortolo team came home alone after the 220.6km fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Saturday. The 35-year-old veteran came in 1:57 ahead of Italians Gilberto Simoni (Lampre-Daikin) and Wladimir Belli (Fassa Bortolo) and Spain's Manuel Beltran (Mapei-Quick Step) following the run from Widnau to St. Gothard. Belli, Konyshev's teammate, took the overall race leader's yellow jersey but is just one second clear of Tour of Italy winner Simoni. Two-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong of the United States finished seventh at 2:34 behind to

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

Telekom’s Alexandre Vinokourov won the 144km fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland from Baar to Wildhaus on Friday, moving into second place overall and closing to within 14 seconds of race leader Gianluca Bortolami (Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola). The winner of the Tour of Germany, Vinokourov soloed in nine seconds ahead of Giro d’Italia winner Gilberto Simoni (Lampre-Daikin) and France’s Laurent Jalabert (CSC-World Online). The 144km stage finished with a 13km, second-category climb into Wildhaus, and that’s where things blew apart. After a 115km breakaway by Christian Heule (Post Swiss)

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

Saturn's Lyne Bessette further tightened her grip on the overall lead at the HP Women's Challenge in Idaho as she finished on top in Friday's 13.3-mile Emmett to Firebird time trial, gaining nearly a full minute on (G),'s Judith Arndt, the woman in second place overall. Bessette covered the course in 23:13, beating Office Depot's Jeannie Longo by 24 seconds and AutoTrader.com's Katrina Berger by 35. Arndt, who started in second-to-last position, two minutes ahead of Bessette finished fourth, covering the course in 24:07. After a short climb out of Emmett on "Freeze Out Hill," riders faced

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

The ONCE team of Joseba Beloki and Jorg Jaksche took command on day 1 of the Tour of Catalonia on Thursday, winning the stage 1 team time trial and putting Spaniard Marcos Serrano into the leader’s white jersey. Beloki and Jaksche put themselves into good position for the overall, as their ONCE team finished the difficult 20.5km stage around Sabadell 47 seconds ahead of the Festina team of Angel Casero and 53 seconds ahead of Kelme and Oscar Sevilla. Among the other favorites, iBanesto.com’s Jose-Maria Jimenez lost 58 seconds, Telekom’s Andreas Kloden 1:08, and the Crédit Agricole squad of

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

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

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

Poland's Piotr Chmielewski (Mroz) took the lead after the first stage of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce on Monday evening. The 7-day, 8-stage race is the only UCI sanctioned race (2.4) in Canada. The first stage followed a unique format, with each team covering a 13.3 km circuit in a team time trial formation. The race was staged around the historic Plains of Abraham in Quebec City. The fastest team then nominated a member who would wear the yellow leader's jersey for the next stage. Chmielewski's Mroz team finished 8 seconds ahead of the Saturn squad and 19 seconds in front of

Lance Armstrong began this year’s Tour of Switzerland in fine form on Tuesday, winning the 7.9km prologue time trial in the German town of Rust. Armstrong posted a time of 9:44.22 through the streets of Rust, and only Frenchman Laurent Jalabert prevented a Postal Service sweep of the podium. Jalabert was second in 9:49.36 followed by Armstrong teammates Tyler Hamilton and Viatcheslav Ekimov in third and fourth, respectively.

She may have been something of a surprise when she rode to a second-place finish, at U.S. road nationals in Redding, California this year, but Earthlink’s Amber Neben may have just pulled her last surprise performance. The 26-year-old mountain-bike racing immunologist is beginning to make a name for herself as a serious road racer, especially after chasing down a nearly successful break, and going to a solo win in Tuesday’s eighth stage of the HP Women’s Challenge in Idaho. Meanwhile Saturn’s Lyne Bessette maintains a tight hold on the overall lead of the Women’s Challenge, with a 3:13

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),

Frenchman Christophe Moreau won the Dauphine Libere stage race, which finished in Chambery, France, on Sunday. The Frenchman took the win by a slim one-second margin over Mercury-Viatel’s Pavel Tonkov following the seventh and final stage. German Jens Voigt of the Credit Agricole team won the 125km stage between Vizille and Chambery. Voigt’s teammate, American Bobby Julich, finished third on the day, at 1:12. Moreau, fourth in last year's Tour de France, came out on top of tough seven-day race that saw five leaders. Moreau took the overall leader's blue-and-yellow jersey on Friday from

Australian Cadel Evans might have a future on the road. Volvo-Cannondale’s star of the World Cup mountain-bike circuit completed a surprising win at the Tour of Austria stage race Sunday. The 24-year-old Evans, riding for Saeco, took the lead in the fourth stage, which finished atop the Kitzbuhl Horn. The lanky Aussie made a solo attack to win that 154km stage by 25 seconds. Mapei rider Daniele Nardello won Sunday’s seventh and final stage, but Evans maintained his overall lead to take the win with a 47-second margin over Austrian Hans Peter Obwaller. Another mountain-bike racer, Italian

GT’s Steve Peat and Volvo-Cannondale’s Anne-Caroline Chausson repeated their round one World Cup downhill victories with wins at Vars, France, Sunday. After Saturday’s dual round was cancelled due to weather, conditions were still challenging for round two of the eight-race downhill series on Sunday. Temperatures were near freezing, with occasional rain and even snow falling on the muddy course. Peat’s win, which came on his birthday, gives the British rider the upper hand on defending World Cup champion Nicolas Vouilloz of France. Vouilloz crashed near the end of his run and ended up

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