Road

Joseba Beloki is unlikely to start Saturday's 14th stage of the Vuelta a España, a source close to the Spaniard's ONCE team reported Friday. Beloki, who has placed third in the past two editions of the Tour de France and was a co-favorite for the Vuelta here, is thought to have a viral infection. ONCE team officials sent blood tests away for analysis on Wednesday afternoon and Friday's subsequent results indicated that Beloki had the start of a respiratory infection. Beloki was seen in tears on Tuesday as he struggled in the 12th stage in the Pyrenees while he was wearing the leader's

My rest day started at 9:30 on Monday morning with a knock on the door from one of our staff. I think I could have easily slept another 10 hours. That probably wouldn't have been too wise. Breakfast was more on the light side, since in the past I've had a tendency to eat too much between races and then paid the price. Juice, bread, cereal, and fruit were plenty for the training we had planned. Roberto Herras knew exactly where to ride in the busy streets of Barcelona to get us out of town quickly and into the surrounding hills. Johan thought between two and two-and-a-half hours was plenty

Riders from the U.S. Postal Service team went on a three-hour training ride during Monday’s rest day to keep their legs fresh for the upcoming battle in the Pyrenees. The 56th Vuelta a España hits a trio climbing stages Tuesday to Thursday that will determine whether or not Roberto Heras can repeat as Vuelta champion. So far, the quiet Spanish rider has had difficulty in the Vuelta’s first two climbing stages and sits in eighth place overall at 2:47 back. “I haven’t thrown in the towel yet,” Heras said. “It’s true I am not going well right now. I don’t know exactly why, but at the same

My apologies for not having any reports for the last few days. Due to the tragedy in New York and the spotty phone and Internet service that followed, my agent – who lives about a mile away from the World Trade Center – was unable to consistently reach me. I will be filing a catch up report tomorrow along with the daily report. Yesterday was the last day before the rest day. The peloton was definitely not ready to rest quite yet. We set a record time of around 55km an hour! The day was extremely windy and everyone -- including our team -- seemed to be on the attack, hoping to split up

Kelme´s Santiago Botero got revenge Friday in the hills overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and regained the overall lead of the 56th Vuelta a España after a blistering victory in the 44-km individual time trial. The Colombian won his first stage of this year’s Vuelta after finishing second twice to Cofidis´ David Millar. Pre-race pick Millar was not in peak form, finishing 8th, but American Levi Leipheimer continued to surprise the Europeans with another electrifying ride, finishing second on the hilly, technical course just 29 seconds behind Botero. "I normally start slow in a time trial and

David Millar continued on his winning ways Thursday, taking his second stage of the 56th Vuelta a España. Spain’s Oscar Sevilla of Kelme retained the overall lead in the speedy 180-km (112-mile) 6th stage from Cangas de Onis to Torrelavega that finished 25 minutes ahead of schedule. But this time it wasn’t a prologue or even a time trial for the determined Cofidis rider. Millar proved he’s more than a one-trick pony, winning a fast, tough stage across the foothills of the Cantabria Mountains in northern Spain, holding off Kelme’s Santiago Botero in a two-up sprint. "This proves I am one of

The first mountain stage of any grand tour typically reveals who won’t win, thinning out the pretenders from the contenders. But after Wednesday’s 160-km (99-mile) climbing stage to Lagos de Covadonga, a beyond-category finish high in Spain’s Picos de Europa, the only thing that was clear is that it would probably be a Spanish rider atop the winner’s podium in Madrid when the Vuelta ends Sept. 30. Thirteen Spanish riders filled out the top of the leader board at the end of the Vuelta’s fifth day, with Tour de France revelation Oscar Sevilla holding a narrow 15-second lead over Wednesday’s

An eerie calm returned to the 56th Vuelta a España Wednesday, a day after terrorist attacks back in the United States. Riders from the U.S. Postal Service and Cofidis teams arrived at the start Wednesday morning in sunny Gijon with black armbands. The Vuelta’s fifth stage started with a minute of silence to pay homage to the victims. The troubles back in the United States seemed far away, but the images burned in the minds of many here at the Vuelta. “Last night wasn’t a good night for the team,” admitted U.S. Postal Service director Johan Bruyneel. Members of Spain’s Guardia Civil,

I woke up at around 10 am. My weight is still at 64 kilos. Breakfast of rice, eggs, croissants and coffee. Felt pretty good, not tired at all. Rode to start for sign in. Lots of cheers, even songs for Roberto. We had a team meeting in the bus. Basically the same plan as yesterday, keep Roberto near the front and out of trouble. Today Benoit and Victor would be his shadows. There was a small hill at start of the race so Johan stressed the importance of keeping Roberto up front early on. Matt White offered a little entertainment on the bus when he put a techno tape on the sound system,

Woke up felling pretty good. Weight still at 64 kilograms. Breakfast was bread with honey, bread with Nutella, cereal combo of muesli and Special K and an omelet. Sign in was at the traveling village similar to the one at the Tour de France. My assignment today was to be with Roberto for the entire race. Benoit and I were to be his shadows. We have to stop with him if he pees, flats or has some other mechanical and take him back to the group. Basically we are supposed to make sure that Roberto never has to hit the wind, we have to close all the gaps for him move him up in the field when he

Today was an early start to the day by Spanish standards with an 8am wake up and 9am team ride to preview the TT course. I felt a little odd this morning with an upset stomach. I'm not sure if it was from something that I ate last night or just nerves. A lot of people turned out today to watch stage 1 lining the course from start to finish. The course itself was very technical with a minimum of 15 turns, many of them narrow or tight after the apex. I came off the start ramp ready for a good ride repeating in my head, "Seize the day." I accelerated quickly with my heart rate at 170, which is

The last major three-week stage race of the 2001 season kicks off Saturday under the intense Iberian sky of this bustling college town in western Spain. The 21-stage, 2986-km (1851-mile) Vuelta a España is a climber’s paradise, featuring seven summit finishes on some of the steepest roads race organizers could find this side of the Pyrenees. There’s no Lance Armstrong or Jan Ullrich, but some of the top names in cycling are here to duke it out in the 56th running of the Vuelta. Among the 21 teams will be two troubled riders looking to regain past glory, Mercatone Uno’s Marco Pantani and

EDITOR’S NOTE: Antonio Cruz is a 29-year-old American racing in his first season in Europe with the U.S Postal Team. He will be sending VeloNews readers daily updates throughout this year’s Vuelta a España. Welcome to my Vuelta Journal. This will be both my first grand tour and my first on-line journal. I will be calling my agent, Max Burgos, every day to file these reports; he will then transcribe them and send them to VeloNews. From my mouth to your computer all in the same day. As this is all a new experience for me, I will try to give a sense of what I am going through day by day. Not

Saturn’s Petra Rossner scored her third successive stage win at the women’s Tour of the Netherlands on Thursday, taking the first of the day’s two stages, a wind-blown 85-kilometer road race in Bergeijk. Rossner, who earned stage wins on both Tuesday and Wednesday, now leads the six-day, seven-stage event by 16 seconds over Vlaanderen’s Debbie Mansveld and 29 over Acca Due’s Diana Ziliute. That lead may endangered, however, later on Thursday as competitors take on a 26-kilometer time-trial, one of Ziliute’s specialities. With such a slim margin in the overall standings between the top five

The 2001 Tour de l’Avenir, or "Tour of the Future," begins on Thursday in France, with 21 teams of six riders, or 126 riders total, enrolled in the premier stage race for riders 25-years-old and younger. The 10-day race will begin in the town of Cosse-le-Vivien in western France and then cross the country from west to east before finishing in Morteau, near the German border. The race will really heat up in the final four days, beginning with the 26km stage 7 time trial in Rambervillers. That will be followed by three days in the Vosges mountains, including the final day’s circuit race that

The line-up for the 38th Tour de l’Avenir in France was released on Friday, and two American teams will be among the 21 squads. Both Mercury and the U.S. National Team will field six-man teams in the 10-day west-to-east trip across France. The Mercury team will consist of Australians Baden Cooke and Matt Wilson, Americans Will Frischkorn, Ernie Lechuga and Phil Zajicek, and Canadian Svein Tuft. The U.S. National Team will feature Matt Decanio, Mark Fitzgerald, Damon Kluck, Jeff Louder, Danny Pate and David Zabriskie. Among other riders to watch will be Hungarian Laszlo Bodrogi, world

If you believe Erik Dekker, the Championship of Zurich on Sunday is the decisive race in the 2001 World Cup. Dekker, a Dutch rider on the Rabobank team who leads the 10-race World Cup series, has 269 points going into the eighth round. Dekker, a winner at the Amstel Gold Race this year, is 69 points ahead of last week’s HEW Cyclassics winner, Erik Zabel. With Telekom’s Zabel missing the Meisterschaft von Zurich, as it’s called in Swiss German, Dekker’s nearest rivals are more than 100 points in arrears. "I think if I can finish among the top eight at Zurich, it could be the end of the

It was a tale of two Erik’s in the HEW Cyclassics World Cup race Sunday. Erik Zabel finally won the race that was missing on his extensive palmares while Erik Dekker finished third and took a decisive lead in the 2001 World Cup series with just three races to go. Both Eriks were jubilant. Erik the First verified his status as German sports hero, while Erik the Second is en route to becoming the first Dutch rider to win the overall World Cup title. The 251-km (155-mile) race burned with a slow fuse. The seventh stop of the 10-round World Cup series started sluggishly but ended loud like a

Jan Ullrich could walk down just about any street in America unrecognized. The 28-year-old German with distinctive red hair doesn’t have that luxury in his home country. More than 50 fans cheered Ullrich early Saturday afternoon as he pulled up in front of the posh Hamburg Park Hyatt for the 6th Annual HEW Cyclassics bike race. Dressed in a leather coat, jeans and designer shoes, Ullrich patiently signed autographs and posed for pictures. Ullrich is one of Germany’s major sports stars, outranked only by top soccer players and Formula One racer Michael Schumacher. Ullrich, who lived here

Lance Armstrong is still feeling the effects of his post-Tour de France jet-setting and is skipping Saturday’s Clasica San Sebastian, the traditional kick off to the second half of the World Cup racing season. Armstrong returned to Europe this week after celebrating his third consecutive Tour victory with a whirlwind American visit and had been expected to race here. But U.S. Postal Service director Johan Bruyneel said Armstrong barely rode his bike during his U.S. tour and decided he didn’t have to legs to compete at the highest level in the gruelling 227-km (137-mile) race through Spain’s

Here's the complete 2001 Tour de France site, written by VeloNews editors -- plus the race diaries by Tyler Hamilton, Fred Rodriguez, and Kevin Livingston. Check it out right here.

The USCF Masters National Road Championships got underway July 7 in Spokane, Washington. Nearly 600 men and more than 100 women are expected to compete during the six-day event, which includes age-group road races, criteriums and timer trials. For all the latest results click here.

Francesco Casagrande (I) Fabio Baldato (I) Ivan Basso (I) Wladimir Belli (I) Sergei Ivanov (Rus) Dmitri Konyshev (Rus) Nicola Loda (I) Alessandro Petacchi (I) Country: ItalyIn the peloton since: 2000Sponsor: Cement companyBudget: $4.1 millionManager: Giancarlo FerrettiDirecteurs sportifs: Alberto Volpi and Stefano ZanattaAssistant: Oscar Pirazzini

Joseba Beloki (Sp) Santos Gonzalez (Sp) Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Sp) Jörg Jaksche (G) Marcos Serrano (Sp) Carlos Sastre (Sp) Ivan Gutierrez (Sp) Ivan Parra (Col) Rafael Diaz Justo (Sp) Country: SpainIn the peloton since: 1989Sponsor: National lottery run by the society for the blindBudget: $4.1 millionManager: Pablo AntonDirecteur sportif: Manolo SaizAssistants: Santiago Garcia and Sebastian Pozzo

Jan Ullrich (G)Erik Zabel (G)Udo Bölts (G),Giuseppe Guerini (I)Jens Heppner (G)Andreas Kloden (G)Kevin Livingston (USA)Steffen Wesemann (G)Alex Vinokurov (Kaz) Country: GermanyIn the peloton since: 1991Sponsor: International telecommunications corporationBudget: $7 millionManager: Walter GodefrootDirecteur sportif: Rudy PevenageAssistants: Frans Van Looy and Mario Kummer

Michael Boogerd (Nl) Erik Dekker (Nl) Bram De Groot (Nl) Steven De Jongh (Nl) Maarten Den Bakker (Nl) Marc Lotz (Nl) Grischa Niermann (G) Geert Verheyen (B) Marc Wauters (B) Country (Netherlands)In the peloton since: 1996Sponsor: Dutch banking corporationBudget: $3.5 millionManager: Jan RaasDirecteur sportif: Theo De RooyAssistants: Adri Van Houwelingen and Joop Zoetemelk

It's live: VeloNews's exclusive pre-race coverage of our sport's biggest event. There's also a link to this area from every page on the site; look for the red box at the top, left-hand side of the page. Here's what you'll find: Exclusive live minute-by-minute coverage of each stage by VeloNews editors on location in France. Revealing profiles on the top contenders in the race, including a close look at two-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong. Daily diary entries from Americans Tyler Hamilton (Armstrong's right- hand man on the U.S. Postal Service team), Kevin Livingston (Ullrich's right-hand

Lance Armstrong (USA)Viatcheslav Ekimov (RUS)Tyler Hamilton (USA)Roberto Heras (ESP)George Hincapie (USA)Steffen Kjaergaard (NOR)Victor Hugo Pena (COL)Jose Luis Rubiera (ESP)Christian Vande Velde (USA) Reserves: Cedric Vasseur (F), Matthew White (Aus) Country: United StatesIn the peloton since: 1995Sponsor: American postal serviceBudget: $6.5 millionManager: Mark GorskiDirecteur sportif: Johan BruyneelAssistants: Dirk Demol and Dan Osipow

Didier Rous (F)Walter Bénéteau (F)Sylvain Chavanel (F)Jean-Cyril Robin (F)François Simon (F)Franck Renier (F)Damien Nazon (F)Franck Bouyer (F)Olivier Perraudeau (F) Country: FranceIn the peloton since: 2000Sponsor: Chain of free newspapersBudget: $3.4 millionManager: Philippe RaimbaudDirecteur sportif: Jean-René BernaudeauAssistants: Thierry Bricaud, Christian Guiberteau and Christophe Faudot

Raivis Beohvosciks (Lat)Rubens Bertogliati (Swi)Ludo Dierckxsens (B)Robert Hunter (SA)Marco Pinotti (I)Marco Serpellini (I)Zbigniew Spruch (Pl)Jan Svorada (Cz)Johan Verstrepen (B) Reserves: Matteo Frutti (I) and Gabriele Missaglia (I) Country: ItalyIn the peloton since: 1999Sponsors: Lampre: sheet metal manufacturer; Daikin: air conditioningBudget: $2.7 millionManager: Giuseppe SaronniDirecteur sportif: Pietro AlgeriAssistants: Maurizio Piovani and Brent Copeland

Laurent Brochard (F)Patrice Halgand (F)Olivier Trastour (F)Laurent Roux (F)Gilles Bouvard (F)Eddy Seigneur (F)Christophe Oriol (F)Jérôme Bernard (F)Stéphane Goubert (F) Country: FranceIn the peloton since: 2000Sponsor: chain of jewelry storesBudget: $2 millionManager: Serge BarleDirecteur sportif: Michel GrosAssistant: Jean-Luc Jonrond

Mario Aerts (B)Serge Baguet (B)Jeroen Blijlevens (Nl)Fabien De Waele (B)Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus)Kurt Van de Wouwer (B)Paul Van Hyfte (B)Rik Verbrugghe (B)Stive Vermaut (B) Reserves: Koos Moerenhout (Nl), Robbie McEwen (Aus), Steve De Wolf (B) Country: BelgiumIn the peloton since: 1984Sponsors: Lotto: National lottery; Adecco: temp agencyBudget: $3.2 millionManager: Christophe SercuDirecteurs sportifs: Jos Braeckvelt, Claude Criquélion and Walter Planckaert

Ludovic Capelle (B)Sébastien Demarbaix (B)Jaan Kirsipuu (Est)Alexander Botcharov (Rus)Christophe Agnolutto (F)Benoît Salmon (F)Ludovic Turpin (F)Stéphane Bergès (F)Gilles Maignan (F) Country: FranceIn the peloton since: 1996Sponsors: AG2R: Provident insurance company; Décathlon: chain of bicycle and athletic clothing storesBudget: $3 millionManager: Vincent LavenuDirecteurs sportifs: Laurent Biondi and Gilles Mas

David Etxebarria (Sp)Unai Etxebarria (Ven)Roberto Laiseka (Sp)Alberto Lopez de Munain (Sp)Haimar Zubeldia (Sp)Iñigo Chaurreau (Sp)Angel Castresana (Sp)Txema Del Olmo (Sp)Iker Flores (Sp) In the peloton since: 1994Sponsors: Euskaltel: telecommunications company; Euskadi: government of the Basque CountryBudget: $2.6 millionManager: Miguel MadariagaDirecteur sportif: Julian GorospeAssistant: Ruben Gorospe

Laurent Jalabert (F)Michael Blaudzun (Dk)Francisco Cerezo (Sp)Marcelino Garcia (Sp)Nicolas Jalabert (F)Jakob Piil (Dk)Nicki Sörensen (Dk)Rolf Sörensen (Dk)Plus: Nicolai Bo Larsen (Dk) or Martin Rittsel (S) Country: DenmarkIn the peloton since: 1998Sponsor: Computer systems companyBudget: $5.5 millionManager: Bjarne RiisDirecteur sportif: Alex PedersenAssistant: Johnny Weltz

Enrico Cassani (I)Servais Knaven (Nl)Axel Merckx (B)Marco Milesi (I)Johan Museeuw (B)Fred Rodriguez (USA)Romans Vainsteins (Lat)Max Van Heeswijk (Nl)Piotr Wadecki (Pl) Reserves: Koos Moerenhout (Nl), Robbie McEwen (Aus), Steve De Wolf (B) Country: BelgiumIn the peloton since: 1986Sponsors: Domo: carpet and vinyl flooring; Farm Frites: producer of French friesBudget: $6 millionManager: Patrick LefévèreDirecteurs sportifs: Hendrik Redant, Marc Sergeant and Fons De Wolf

Michele Bartoli (I)Paolo Bettini (I)Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun)David Cañada (Sp)Stefano Garzelli (I)Daniele Nardello (I)Tom Steels (B)Bart Leysen (B)Stefano Zanini (I) Country: ItalyIn the peloton since: 1993Sponsors: Mapei: Chemical building products; Quick Step: Parquet flooringBudget: $7 millionManager: Alavaro CrespiDirecteurs sportifs: Roberto Damiani, Fabrizio Fabbri, Serge Parsani, Eric Vanderaerden, Jesus Suarez Cueva and Matxin Fernandez Rodriguez

Oscar Sevilla (Sp)Santiago Botero (Col)Felix Cardenas (Col)Laurent Desbiens (F)Aitor Gonzales (Sp)José Gutierrez (Sp)Javier Pascual Llorente (Sp)Antonio Tauler (Sp)José Vidal (Sp) Country: SpainIn the peloton since: 1980Sponsors: Kelme: sports clothes and shoes; Costa Blanca: Valenciaregion of SpainBudget: $3.5 millionManager: Vicente BeldaDirecteurs sportifs: José Ignacio Labarta and José Luis Laguia

Daniel Atienza (Sp)Iñigo Cuesta (Sp)Andrei Kivilev (Kaz)Massimiliano Lelli (I)Guido Trentin (I)Nico Mattan (B)David Millar (GB)David Moncoutié (F)Christophe Rinero (F) Country: FranceIn the peloton since: 1997Sponsor: Telephone credit bankerBudget: $4.8 millionManager: Alain BondueDirecteur sportif: Bernard QuilfenAssistants: Alain Deleoeil and Francis Van LonderseleConsultant: Tony Rominger

Stéphane Heulot (F)Xavier Jan (F)Guillaume Auger (F)Ludovic Auger (F)Thierry Gouvenou (F)Christophe Capelle (F)Sébastien Talabardon (F)Loïc Lamouller (F)Alexeï Sivakov (Rus). Country FranceIn the peloton since: 1994Budget: $2.6 millionSponsors: BigMat: chain of building materials stores; Auber 93: City and general council of Seine Saint-Denis.Manager and directeur sportif: Stéphane JavaletAssistants: Thierry Bourguignon, Jean-Jacques Henry

The French dictionary of place names tells us that Dunkirk, city of 70,000 inhabitants, county seat of the Nord department, takes its name from a Dutch word meaning "church of the dunes." According to the same source, the region was reunited with France in 1658, after being ruled by the Spanish monarchy. But other sources tell us that it wasn’t until 1911, with the first appearance of the Tour de France in Dunkirk, that the city actually felt itself to be French. After this, the Tour’s history took its course: Charles Crupelandt, stage winner here in 1912, succeeded Gustave Garrigou; Marcel

St. Omer has grown up around the Notre Dame basilica and St. Denis church. It is a city of art and history, a city that holds, in its Sandelin Museum, beautiful ceramics from Delft, paintings, archaeological artifacts and a masterpiece in gold -- the foot of the cross of St. Bertrin. In short, despite its history of considerable suffering (St. Omer was bombed during both World Wars), life here is good. We suppose it would be even better were it not for a small problem -- never, in 87 editions, has the city hosted the Tour de France! But St. Omer will emerge instantly from its anonymity

If the words carry a double meaning, this hamlet of Le Tap-Cul, which the race swallows in the guise of an hors-d’oeuvre, could be much more than a simple point on the map: an invitation, a warning…. Because in cycling, "tape-cul" (literally "slap-ass") means potholes and cobblestones, potholes and echelons, potholes and pitfalls -- in short, everything the vocabulary can imagine as soon as the peloton rides the back roads of the North. Leaving Calais, this Monday stage heads directly toward Flanders; at 1:30 p.m. it will cross the Belgian border. In Leisele, Gijverinkhove and Hoogstade,

The first time that the Tour de France came to Belgium, on June 26, 1947, a fiery sun was broiling the countryside and Frenchman René Vietto from the Côte d’Azur gave everyone a lesson. Vietto, a natural climber, transformed himself into a flatlander, or should we say a Flandrian; and the best Belgians of the time -- Raymond Impanis, Briek Schotte, Albert Sercu and Prosper Depredomme -- lived the supreme humiliation of being dropped 100km from the finish. "My old friend René," wrote Jacques Goddet for L’Équipe the next day, "you have just accomplished the finest exploit of your career,

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

When the team time trial returned to the Tour schedule last year, someone wrote of the Nantes-St. Nazaire stage: "We no longer count the big ships that never returned to port, sunk along the way by relays too strong, or not strong enough!" The ONCE team -- clear winners last year (in 70km, they beat U.S. Postal by 46 seconds, Telekom by 1:26, Crédit Agricole by 1:32 and Rabobank by 2:12) -- finished the Tour de France utterly exhausted, while their Spanish rivals, Kelme, Festina and Banesto, came back into the picture and took the first three places in the final team classification. How can

Stage 6 starts in the center of Commercy, which the Tour is discovering for the first time. A rolling start occurs five minutes later, followed by the Void-Vacon hill at the 10th kilometer, and a long trek across the Meuse, Meurthe-et-Moselle and Vosges regions. Certainly, the stage is set, but we know nothing of the strength and the standings of the principal players. Because on this day after the team time trial, like the day after a party, it’s time to take stock -- the optimists find the bottle half-full, the pessimists judge it to be half-empty. Reading the general classification is

Nothing has changed on the face of the Tour, and the questions that arose yesterday still arise today: Who is in command, who has lost time, who wants to hold on and who wants to do it over? In other words, what remains of the team time trial -- which was presented as the Tour’s first big showdown? Without the ability to foresee the placings, we can still make the following statement: This new stage is short (162.5km); it plays out on terrain that begins to show some elevation, since it connects the Col du Kreuzweg at kilometer 48, the Col de Fouchy at kilometer 67, the Haut-de-Ribeauvillé

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

Would they already need to take a breather? In any case, on paper, the 222.5km between Colmar and Pontarlier evoke what we call the "stages of transition" — in other words, stages that should just exist to move the race between the more important stages, and so not be a threat to the team leaders. In some way, St. Omer–Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais–Antwerp, Huy–Verdun, Commercy–Strasbourg, Pontarlier–Aix-les-Bains, Pau–Lavaur and Brive–Montluçon also fall into that category this year. It remains, though, that once on the road, maps tend to merge; the history of cycling doesn’t place less

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,

We finally notice it once it enters its second week: this Tour de France is not like the others, and even if it does not claim, with its 3462km, to be the shortest in history (the first editions, almost a century ago, were less than 2500km), it nevertheless equates to a rather low average stage distance. Therefore, since the team time trial, the succession of fairly short stages, multiplying the number of stops, creates the impression that we are postponing, day by day, the head-on collision with the race’s core. A second reading would lead us to believe that the organizers are controlling

Results from urine and blood samples provided by Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and the rest of his US Postal team at last year's Tour de France will not be released for "at least another month", prosecutors in Paris announced Thursday. The decision means that any remaining suspicion surrounding the American team will have to be allayed until after this year's 88th Tour de France which starts in Dunkirk on July 7 and ends in Paris on July 29. "The results from tests made on the urine and blood samples provided by the US Postal team in last year's Tour de France are not

Return to the mountainsSince this morning, they are no longer the same, and since we must write what they have become in less than a night, we will portray them as tense, nervous, irritable, distrustful and even elusive, which a psychologist would translate into a simple formula: The racers are scared! Yes, from the first to the last, from the smallest to the biggest, from Jacky Durand who still keeps his good mood, to those who have proven themselves in the mountains -- Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich, Roberto Heras and Francesco Casagrande -- all are apprehensive of this day that brings to

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.

The last three years have presented American Tour de France hopeful Bobby Julich with a long and rocky road. As a member of the French outfit Cofidis in 1998, Julich surprised nearly everyone with a third-place finish, but crashes and illness have taken their toll on the man from Colorado ever since. At last year’s Tour, Julich was a glum figure, out of the headlines until Jeroen Blijlevens decided to punch him on the Champs Elysées. But if memories of that, and the year before when Julich crashed out of the Tour in the stage 8 time trial, were on his mind this past March, it didn’t show.

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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

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

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

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,

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

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

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