Road

A bitter two-year spell of misfortune that once threatened Stuart O'Grady's life, let alone his career as a cyclist, may be near its end. The proof for O'Grady’s (Credit Agricole) came yesterday when he took race leadership of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under. The South Australian realizes the 757km race is still a long way from him adding a second victory to the one he claimed in 1999. But the image of O'Grady on the podium and in the yellow jersey after the 165km second stage from McLaren Vale to Victor Harbor, which was won by Italian Alessio Galletti (Saeco), heralded an emphatic

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

Reigning Olympic champion and 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich's pre-season campaign has hit a bump after a briefcase containing his training plans for this year was stolen. The case was swiped from the German cyclist's trainer, Peter Becker, in Majorca, Spain. Papers detailing Ullrich's training plans for 2001, as well as a gold watch were in the briefcase. "I only hope that the program doesn't fall into the hands of the opposition. I don't care about anything else in the case," Ullrich said.

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

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

According to a tentative schedule posted on his Web site, two-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will not compete in any French races prior to the start of the Tour on July 7. The 29-year-old, whose U.S. Postal team is at the center of a French judicial investigation into drug allegations, will steer clear of races in France, racing primarily in Spain and then capping his preparations with the Tour of Switzerland, June 19-28. Last season Armstrong participated in the prestigious Paris-Nice and Dauphiné Libéré in France as part of his build-up to his second straight Tour victory. But

On Thursday the USCF announced the National Racing Calendar schedule for 2001. Among the highlights of the 52-race schedule are eight new events, including the Manhattan Invitational in New York City on August 2 and the previously announced San Francisco Grand Prix, September 9. The other new events are the Housatonic Valley Classic in Danbury, Connecticut, June 24; the San Rafael Cycling Classic in California, September 8; the Irvine Cycling Grand Prix in California, September 24; the U.S. Open Cycling Champioinships in Columbus, Ohio, September 29; the Deland Cycling Grand Prix in Florida,

When the U.S. Postal Service submitted its paperwork to the UCI at the end of last month, an unexpected name appeared on the team's official roster, former Saturn sprinter Robbie Ventura. The move was part of an effort by the team to solidify its presence on the home front. Director of operations Dan Osipow said, "We were looking for some speed in criterium racing, which we've lacked in the last couple of years, in American-style events." Osipow said that the team's U.S. schedule will resemble that of recent years -- including Redlands, Sea Otter, the BMC series, Clarendon Cup

The juxtaposition of the Festina drugs trial going on in Lille and the announcement Thursday in Paris of next year’s Tour de France route was not lost on race director Jean-Marie Leblanc. In a 5000-word speech, Leblanc made one reference to the trial that is dredging up the Festina team’s exclusion from the 1998 Tour because of its systematic drug use. Leblanc said, "After being brought down by dubious hands — as the Lille trial is showing right now — cycling … has suffered so much and worked so hard to correct things over the past two years, that it will end up with its head held high.

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