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Hand-off. Bettini lost his yellow jersey, but it was to teammate Lanfranchi.

How far the mighty... Koerts, once in yellow, found himself racing the clock. He lost.

Wherry still holds on to fifth.

McEwen scores one against Kirsipuu

Paolo Lanfranchi (Mapei-Quick Step) was the substitute rider for an ill Andrea Tafi at the Tour de Langkawi. So far this 'substitute' has won both mountain stages and taken the yellow leaders jersey from team mate Paolo Bettini. Meanwhile, Mercury miscalculated big time by not paying attention to the time cutoff and losing Jans Koerts, Gord Fraser and Henk Vogels. The Genting Highlands stage - this year stage 9 - is legendary. After a 107 kilometer run up the riders face a 25 kilometer Hors Category climb that averages 8 percent and max's out at over 15percent. In the past, riders such as

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.

Spanish rider Ricardo Otxoa was killed Thursday in a training accident while his twin brother and Kelme team mate Javier was taken to hospital with serious injuries, a team spokesman said. The two racers were hit by a vehicle as they trained at Cartama in the southern province of Malaga. Ricardo died on the spot while Javier, winner of the 10th stage of last year's Tour de France, suffered serious injuries to his head and body and was reported to be in a coma. Copyright AFP2001

As Frankie Andreu stood outside Tucson’s Westin La Paloma hotel on January 11, he looked introspective. For the first time in 13 years, he wasn’t suited up, heading off into the sunshine on a crisp, bright morning with the rest of his pro team colleagues. Instead, Andreu was in jeans and a windbreaker, watching the U.S. Postal Service squad start its first group ride of 2001. At that moment, a chapter in North American cycling closed. Andreu was officially starting a new career as Postal’s domestic program directeur sportif — thus ending a racing career that began in 1989 with America’s

The U.S. Postal Service team opened its 2001 season at the Tour of Algarve, a five-day, five-stage event in Portugal that ended Thursday in Loule. In a press release issued Thursday, the team’s assistant director sportif Dirk Demol reported that the squad is showing good form and riding better than they were at this time last year. Led by Viatcheslav Ekimov's 10th place finish in the overall standings, 25 seconds behind overall winner Andrea Ferrigato (Alessio), the Postals turned in a strong performance for their first race of the season, said Demol. George Hincapie finished sixth in

You’re on a descent, hitting speeds over 40 mph, with a 90-degree turn at the bottom. Suddenly, your glasses fog up.... If you’re a cyclist who wears glasses or contact lenses, you’re well aware of the special problems you face in a sport where clear vision is critical. Cyclists are exposed to a great deal of wind, which often carries debris. If this debris lodges itself underneath a contact lens, it can cause severe discomfort and affect your vision and depth perception — not something you want during training or racing. Eyeglasses offer an alternative to contacts, but they can get dirty,

Fassa Bortolo’s Yvan Basso took the opening stage of the 28th Mediterranean Tour, stage between Antibes (the Alpes-Maritimes) and Mount Faron in the hills of the Cote d’Azur.Basso took charge on the final climb, a six-kilometer ascent of Mount Faron. 1. Ivan Basso (I) Fassa Bortolo, 3:13:252. Davide Rebellin (I) Liquigas, s.t.3. David Moncoutie (F) Cofidis, at 0:014. Laurent Brochard (F) Jean Delatour, at 0:165. Francisco Mancebo (Sp) Banesto, at 0:19

Wherry (center) finished with the leaders

The duel between Hervé and Lanfranchi set the stage for a Mapei win.

Mercury-Viatel brought along plenty of climbing talent.

French cycling star Laurent Jalabert has started walking, just two short days after breaking three vertebrae in a freak accident, his team boss said Wednesday. While changing a light bulb, Jalabert fell six feet from a ladder at his home near Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday, fracturing three vertebrae and putting the 32-year-old's immediate career plans on hold. Hospital officials in Geneva have declined to comment on Jalabert's condition, but the CSC-World Online team manager Bjarne Riis said Jalabert’s injuries are a cause of great concern. "Something serious has happened to him,"

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

The U.S. Postal team and the management of Kelme have settled their differences over payment terms for the remainder of Spanish rider Roberto Heras’s contract, Kelme’s manager told the French wire service AFP on Tuesday. The U.S. Postal, led by two-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, bought out Heras' contract with the Spanish team which had been due to expire in 2002, Juan Mas said. Heras had been due to join US Postal last October but the two teams had been unable to agree terms. Last month, Kelme announced Heras would be staying at the Spanish team for the upcoming season, a

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.

Laurent Jalabert will be off of his bike for at least a month after fracturing three vertebrae in a freak accident while changing a light bulb in his home in Geneva, Switzerland late Monday. The 32-year-old Jalabert was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors diagnosed the fractures in his lower back during a CAT scan on Tuesday. Jalabert was changing a light bulb when he lost his balance and fell. The one-time world’s number one is a member of the Danish CSC team — a team that most recently competed under the sponsorship of the computer component manufacturer Memory Card. The team is

Mercury-Viatel's Koerts holds a 42-second lead over Quaranta

This isn't the Giro, is it?

Lochowski was on his own for 85km.

After nearly two decades and seven world titles astride those venerable Ritchey steel frames, the Ritchey-Yahoo! Squad will not be riding Tom’s bikes in 2001. Thomas Frischknecht — 1996 world cross-country champion — and Martino Fruet will not only be riding bikes from other builders, it looks like they’ll be riding — GASP! — aluminum frames. Frishi for one, however, will have to wait a bit before racing on the scandium Scott that he is having built. Doctors have told him that he’ll be unable to race for at least a month after a February 7 training ride accident resulted in a dislocated joint

Red Zinger Bicycle Challenge race director Len Pettyjohn, said Monday that the 2001 edition of the race is “a 100-percent certainty,” though the event will probably take place under the name of a new title sponsor. Pettyjohn told VeloNews that he would be ready to announce the identity of the race’s new title sponsor within a month. He, however, did offer one hint, noting that this year’s winner “will probably be driving home in a new car,” from a race now scheduled for August 11. Pettyjohn was also the director of the former Mercury Tour, a mountain-bike stage race in Steamboat, Colorado,

Moninger took the 2000 Zinger. If he wins this year, he may be driving home in style.

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

Belgian cyclist Nico Eeckhout (Lotto) won the 31st edition of the Etoile de Bessèges by the slimmest of margins on Sunday after a final stage raced on a circuit around Molieres-sur-Ceze and Bessèges. France's Florent Brard (Festina) took the stage victory, and his compatriot Damien Nazon (Bonjour), who won the third and fourth stages, came in only 21 seconds behind his Belgian adversary from the Lotto team. However it was too little too late as Eeckhout put the finishing touches to a campaign which he got off to a perfect start with victory in the first stage. Eeckhout held on to

Belgian Bart Wellens (Spaar-Select) won the eighth and final round of the Superprestige cyclo-cross series in Harnes, France, on Sunday. Wellens outsprinted Dutchman Richard Groenendaal, who had already wrapped up the overall title after round 7 in Diegem, Belgium. 30 seconds later came Belgian Sven Nijs, followed by world champion Erwin Vervecken. With his win, Wellens finished second in the overall standings, one of eight Belgians in the top 10.

The race leader has everyone's attention

Tuft, Okazuki and Langella

The peloton enjoyed the scenery on the way to Melaka

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.

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

Degano had time to celebrate

The break stayed out for nearly 200km

Barry has been active all week

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).

French rider Damien Nazon of the Bonjour team won the third stage of the season-opening Etoile de Bessèges race on Friday but Belgium's Nico Eeckhout kept the leader's jersey he has held from the start. Nazon leapt into second place overall after winning the 140km stage from Nimes to Ales in southern France. Jan Svorada of the Czech Republic was second in Friday's stage and lies third overall. The stage was marked by a number of falls, before a group of 22 riders broke away 10km from Ales. Denmark's Nicolay Larsen led in the closing kilometers before falling, allowing Nazon to pedal to

In the VeloNews road season preview issue (February 5, 2001), we inadvertently left Massachusetts’s Kevin Monahan off of the 7-Up-Colorado Cyclist team roster, and we heard about it quickly from some of our readers. We caught up with the entire team on Thursday at its Boulder, Colorado, training camp. Six inches of new snow on the ground and temperatures in the teens put a damper on the festivities. "This sucks," said newcomer Dave McCook. "I didn’t come here to ski." The team made plans for a snowshoe excursion on Friday, but Thursday was a day for indoor training, testing and team

Koerts scored Mercury's second stage win

Moninger leads the Mercury chase

Sure enough, Monahan was there.

Killing time in the meetings.

Juan-Carlos Pineda

No ride on Thursday

The yellow jersey takes it to the line

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

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

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

After getting off to a late start, Prime Alliance continues to round out its team, and on Thursday it announced the addition of 20-year-old Ryan Miller, the 1999 under-23 national time trial champion. In addition to his 1999 title, Miller also won 15 national championships as a junior. The Kirkland, Washington, rider was a member of the Nutra Fig team in 2000. With the addition of Miller, Prime Alliance now boasts three of the top young Americans in Miller, 20-year-old Michael Creed (runner-up at the U-23 national road and time trial championships) and 21-year-old Danny Pate (1999 elite

Koerts and Fraser feel the heat

Frank McCormack keeps an eye on things for Saturn

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

U.S. national criterium champion Laura Van Gilder will race for the TalgoAmerica.com squad for the 2001 season. In 2000, Talgo America, a North American train manufacturer with corporate offices in Seattle and Washington, D.C., signed on as a sponsor of the Altoona Cycling Team’s women’s squad. This year, Talgo takes over title sponsorship. The team will be called TalgoAmerica.com. Earlier this year, Van Gilder was expected to ride for the Canadian Intersports team, along with Catherine Marsal, Elizabeth Emery and Anne Samplonius. However, that team has yet to be finalized, and Van Gilder

There has still been no official word from the UCI regarding the fate of the cancelled mountain bike World Cup triple in Whistler, but VeloNews has learned that at least two Canadian locations, Sun Peaks Resort and Grouse Mountain, are in the process of submitting bids to replace Whistler, and are being considered by cycling’s world governing body. Sun Peaks, a ski area 45 minutes from Kamloops, British Columbia, has already been awarded this year’s Canadian national mountain biking championships. "They’ve been running Canada Cups there for a long time," said Aaron McConnell of Altitude

Koerts holds onto yellow for another day

Stage 1 winner Fraser leads the peloton

In a deal that’s been rumored for some time, Tomac USA, the bicycle company owned and operated by legendary rider John Tomac and pioneer designer Doug Bradbury, has joined forces with American Bicycle Group, which owns Litespeed, Merlin and Quintana Roo. The deal will shift most of the marketing, production and day-to-day operations responsibilities from Tomac to American Bicycle Group. "It’s not a buyout where they own the business," Tomac said. "It’s a licensing agreement that gives us access to resources we were lacking in the past." The Tomac USA product line consists of three aluminum

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.

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

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.

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,

The 7-Up-Colorado Cyclist team training camp got off to a rough start on Monday when rider-manager Jeff Corbett crashed hard on the first team ride of the year outside Boulder, Colorado. Corbett fractured the L1 and T12 vertebrae in his back and sustained other assorted lacerations and bruises. He’s expected to miss at least three months of the season. Riding in gusty winds, the squad was in a tight echelon when Corbett knocked bars with teammate Kevin Monahan. "Before I could back off or anything, I was on my way down," said Corbett. The team flagged down a passing motorist, who gave

Team rosters for the 2001 Tour of Langkawi. Ag2R PREVONYANCE (France) GILLES MAS, Manager LINAS BALCINUS STEPHANE BERGES PHILIPPE BORDENAVE LAURENT ESTADIEU ALEXANDRE GRUX THIERRY LODER INNAR MANDOJA ALEXIA ALLUMINIO (Italy) LEONARDO LEVATI, Manager IVAN QUARANTA ANDREA BROGNARA SERGUEI OUTSCHAKOV MARIO MANZONI CORRADO SERINA CHRISTIAN AURIEMMA TBA BONJOUR (France) CHRISTIAN GUIBERTEAU, Manager WALTER BENETEAU FREDERIC GABRIEL CHARLES GUILBERT OLIVIER PERRAUDEAU MICKAEL PICHON JEAN-CYRIL ROBIN THOMAS VOECKLER CANTINA TOLLO (Italy) ENRICO PAOLINI, Manager CLAUDIO ASTOLFI CESARE DICINTIO

Fraser takes stage 1

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

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

Gully did himself proud

Czech cyclo-cross fans in Tábor had plenty to celebrate this morning when their countrymen Martin Bina, Radomir Simunek Jr. and Jan Kunta grabbed all three podium spots in today’s junior men’s race. Indeed, Czech riders took four of the top six spots in the race and now added to the home team’s overall dominace of the championships thus far. Of the nine medals awarded to this point, Czech riders have won five. When the junior men’s team arrived in Tábor to prepare for their world championship event this morning, it looked as though attendance might be a bit on the sparse side. A week of cold

Djernis cheering section. He came from Copenhagen to cheer on Henrik

How many chickens died for these Belgian fans' toppers?

Lion in winter. More than a fan this Dutchman works for the national squad

She almost wins on intimidation alone. When asked how they assessed their chances at start of the women’s race at the 2001 World Cyclo-cross Championships in Tabor in the Czech Republic, most riders framed their responses in terms of how they might fare against Hanka Kupfernagel. As the sport’s first world champion, the German has come to dominate the relatively young women’s side of cyclo-cross. And, in its second year as a world championship event, Kupfernagel made sure that the biggest competition of the day would be for second place.

If you keep count, Belgian colors are most prevalent

It was all a matter of keeping his cool, said Sven Vanthourenhout about winning the men’s Under-23 world cyclo-cross title on Saturday. The 20-year-old Belgian said that when he came to Tabor for the world championships, he was beginning to have doubts about his chances. But it was the pros on the formidable Belgian squad, he said, who told him to relax and convinced him that he could do it. “I was nervous even when I rode warm-up laps this morning,” Vanthourenhout said. “I wasn’t taking the right lines, I wasn’t keeping my footing….” But after the start, when he ran into trouble,

Long drive: they drove straight through from Brittany.

Cyclo-cross, an admittedly small niche in a relatively small sport, has a passionate fan base, especially in Europe. The world championships this weekend in Tabor in the Czech Republic have attracted fans from across the continent. Busloads of Belgians, trainloads of Dutch and long car caravans of Swiss have descended on this Czech city. And with them, they bring all the markings of true fans, hoping to make their affiliations quite clear. Flags are everywhere, but hats and the occassional spike-spined orange jumpsuit can do a lot to clarify who it is you're cheering for. Racing

Djernis cheering section. He came from Copenhagen to cheer on Henrik