Vuelta News

--Angel Casero, the 2001 Vuelta winner, did not start today's Stage 13. He is the 30th rider to abandon this grand tour.

--According to the daily newspaper Het Niewsblad, Spanish bank Banesto could remain another year as a sponsor to the team. José-Miguel Echavarri, manager of the team, should confirm at a press conference during Vuelta when he would also announce the name of a new sponsor. Now if the same would happen to ONCE, after their solid performance so far in this edition, there might some breathing room for Spanish cycling. (Het Nieuwsblad, Velo Club)

--Tomorrow's Weather:
Sunny, blue skies and...you guessed it - wind. There will be light southerly to southeasterly winds during the whole stage. For most of the stage the wind will be from the left of the riders to a slight headwind.

Temperatures: Hot tomorrow with temperatures around 28ºC mid-stage, 31ºC or 32ºC in the lower elevation areas at the stage beginning and in the final 50 kms.

--Isidro "Guri" Nozal on today's time trial: "As I approached the finish and they were telling me the [time] differences I couldn't believe what was happening. I have used high morale and a lot of force and if I have overcome Millar it means that I am very strong. If I stay on form as now on La Pandera [in Spanish "The Tambourine"], but it is necessary to be wise because the highway is the race, and even with a lot of advantage  you can have a bad day, a fall or a mishap." (Todociclismo)

Javier Otxoa Silvers

Javier Otxoa, former Kelme rider, won a silver medal in the 3 km individual pursuit Wednesday at the International Paralympic Committee Cycling Open European Regional Championships in the Czech Republic. 

Otxoa's time was 4.11.909, behind champion Darren Kenny (Great Britain), who won gold with a time of 4.06.031. Third was the American Daniel Nicholson, with 4.20.946.

Otxoa's delighted former team director, Vicente Belda, said, "This is news that cheers my day and my life. He was clinically dead and, with sacrifice, he is moving ahead. He must have a great physical and mental strength to do this."

Oscar Sevilla, Kelme team leader said, "It's been months since I spoke with him, but I already knew he was cycling again. The last time I spoke with him he mentioned the possibility of riding in this other way, but simultaneously he was sad because what he really would want is to be with us, in the team, like before the accident. If I win something this year [in the Vuelta], I would dedicate the victory to many people, but also to Javier Otxoa, because he deserves it".

This weekend are the Championship road events. For more about the Paralympic Games, please visit http://www.paralympic.org/start.asp.  (Marca, Todociclismo)

Tidbits of news and rumor heard at the San Rafael Cycling Classic

It's official, Trent Klasna has signed with Sierra Nevada for 2003, and thinks it's only a positive thing when the talent in the peloton spreads out. It's a great move for Trent, who will raise the level for Sierra Nevada. Klasna won just about everything on the US circuit in 2001, but he's been outshined the past two seasons by his now teammate and good friend Chris Horner. He'll be the rockstar on Sierra Nevada, something tells me that's gonna jumpstart this hard man, and I'd be willing to bet there's more fire in those legs.

Asked if he had plans for next year, Mike Sayers told the assembled fans in San Rafael: "Let's just say I'm gettin' the band back together." Rumor has it that HealthNet is combining with 7-Up/Maxxis, and there's going to be a new (well, kind of) superteam on the US circuit. Gord Fraser and Mike Sayers are in, and Chris Wherry confirmed that he is rejoining the ex-Mercury boyz, and then there's the little matter of Scott Moninger. Add to that the best of the 7-Up squad, and all I can say is, be afraid... very afraid. (Courtesy Jaime Nichols)

Final US Men's Road Race Team for the Worlds, more...

Colorado Springs, Colorado, September 19, 2003--The following riders have been selected as the final nominees to represent the U.S. at the UCI World Championships in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in the men's elite road race on October 12, 2003.

Bobby Julich (Reno, Nevada)
Chris Baldwin (Bouder, Colo.)
Chris Horner (Bend, Ore.)
Christian Vandevelde (Boulder, Colo.)
David Clinger (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Floyd Landis (San Diego, Calif.)
George Hincapie (Greenville, S.C.)
Guido Trenti (Milan, Italy)
John Leiswyn (Ames, Iowa)
Levi Leipheimer (Sant Rosa, Calif.)
Mark McCormack (Northeaston, Mass.)
Tim Johnson (Boston, Mass.)

In addition to the elite men's roster being finalized, the long list for the elite
women's road race has been expanded to include two additional riders:

Elite Women Road Race (6 Start Positions)
Automatic Qualifiers:
Kimberly Bruckner (Boulder, Colo.)
Kristin Armstrong (Boise, Idaho)
Tina Mayolo-Pic (Dahlonega, Ga.)

Long list for remaining 3 start positions:
Dede Barry (Boulder, Colo.)
Mari Holden (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Kim Anderson (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Amber Neben (Irvine, Calif)
Christine Thornburn (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Dotsie Cowden (Santa Monica, Calif.)
Jessica Phillips (Missoula, Mont.)
Katrina Grove (Solana Beach, Calif.)
Heather Albert (Eagle, Idaho)
*Kimberly Bruckner will not compete due to injury

For a complete listing of nominees for the World Championships, click here. (Courtesy USA Cycling)

Mexican National Team News

The Mexican Cycling Federation leaded by Guillermo A. Gutierrez Martinez appointed Daniele Zammicheli, an Italian cycling manager, "Delegado Tecnico" of the National Mexican Team - a real pleasant surprise both in the Italian two-wheel world and in the Mexican one too.

Daniele Zammicheli successfully leaded an Italian group at the recent Vuelta de las Américas (March 2003), greatly impressing the Mexican managers. Talent, enthusiasm and brilliant ideas will be necessary next year to reach important results in Track World Cup and World Championship.

The Mexican Team will also take part to the Road World Championship (Verona 2004) and to the Olympic Games (Athens 2004).

A qualified staff formed by an Italian-Mexican mix is already at work in Italy to prepare the training season of a new "peloton" of young promises.

Last but not least, the female team leaded by Nancy Contreras, twice medal winner in the Track World Championships. The staff was officially presented to the the press two days ago during the 61st EICMA- Milan Cycling Exibithion, while the Team will be presented next month in Aguascalientes (Mexico).

Bike Against the Odds 2003

The Breast Cancer Fund has organized the first annual Bike Against the Odds event.

The folks at The Breast Cancer Fund could really use the support of the cycling community.  This is their inaugural cycling event, and registrations are only trickling in.  So ladies (and gentlemen), let's get behind this event and get some clubs registered. Velo Girls, Oakland Yellow Jackets and Left Coast all have teams organized for this event. I'd love to see some other clubs & teams jump in and get involved.

 And if you need a little healthy competition, let's see which club can register the most riders and raise the most money for this great cause!  You can find more information here.  (Courtesy: Lorri Lee Lown, USACycling Expert Coach, www.VeloGirls.com)

Cesar Grajales of the Bean Team - The King of the San Francisco Hills

Update by Micah Rice--Cesar and I have been talking about the San Francisco Race since May. Everything he has done training-wise has pointed toward September 14th at the T-Mobile International. I always hate to put all of our eggs in one basket, but it paid off for Cesar. The fact that he was racing against 5-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, Giro de Italia winner Gilberto Simoni, former Giro winner Stefano Garzelli, and Tour de France 3rd place finisher Alex Vinokourov (not to mention these guy’s teams and all of the other domestic teams) didn’t seem to faze him. There are two tough climbs on this course and the crowd was estimated at 600,000 spectators this year. The climbs are so steep that sometimes the riders “serpentine” their way up the hill just to make it up. Many riders ride with a mountain bike cassette in the back to be able to handle the road. All of our guys used a 38 tooth chainring in the front and a special 12-26 SRAM cassette in the back.

We were racing under the name Jittery Joe’s/Kerley Ink for this weekend. Kerley Ink is an ink company based in Chicago that sponsored us for this race. We participated in the San Rafael Criterium on Saturday, but with Jeff under the weather and most of the team thinking about the next day, we were a bit underpowered. Sunday morning greeted us with slightly cooler weather than we expected, but that was fine with everyone. Our entire goal was to get Cesar up the road early, hopefully with a decent-sized group with one more of our riders in it. The next goal was for Cesar to do well in the KOM competition and then try to hold on for a good spot for the finish.

Our race started by Jeff Hopkins killing it in the lead group over the first climb up the dreaded Filmore climb riding about 5th wheel. Where the heck did that come from? Is it a sign of things to come? Will Jeff be our star climber next year?

Well, Cesar did get up the road, but with only one other rider at first. Chris Wherry from the Navigators went on the first lap and Cesar joined him. Cesar dropped him on the 2nd KOM and was leading the race solo for a short time. Rolf Aldag from Telecom and two HealthNet riders caught up with Wherry and the foursome joined Cesar at the head of the field. This group of five would hold the field off for more than half of the race, with Cesar getting first in every single KOM sprint during that time. For the first few sprints, Aldag and Wherry would attempt to take the KOM points, but Cesar blasted past them each time. In the end, they made a deal with Cesar that he could have the points if he would just stop attacking them, and he agreed.

Meanwhile, a chase group formed behind that included seven riders plus Chad Hartley. Chad was having a great ride with a very strong group. The chase held at about two minutes back from Cesar’s group, while the peloton rode about 5 minutes behind.

Gord Fraser from HealthNet was the first rider to get dropped from the break at about the halfway point in the race. Then, Aldag made a hard attack that dropped our original two breakaway riders, Cesar and Wherry. About this time Chad’s group was losing time and eventually was caught by the field. With the chase group still over two minutes behind them, Cesar continued to take 3rd place points in the KOM’s to secure his lead in the competition. Now all he had to do was finish.

In the closing laps, the race all came back together. Chris Horner from Saturn ended up attacking the field solo and won with over a minute over the field. His teammate Mark McCormick soloed in for 2nd with Ekimov from Postal getting 3rd. Cesar was dropped from the field at the end, and Jonny made some selfless pulls to keep him in the race, sacrificing his own finish. Jake had the worst luck of everyone—he broke a chain on the 2nd lap of the race and was unable to continue. I know he had looked forward to this race for a long time.

Closing comments—It was great to see Cesar on the podium with the flowers and a big check in front of thousands of people. It was fun to go to the post-race press conference and only have Saturn, Postal, and Jittery Joe’s/Kerley Ink represented. It is difficult for a smaller team like us to get publicity at a race that features Lance Armstrong, but we did well. We made out great while many other domestic (and European) teams did get much coverage at all. Most of you have seen the Maxxis Tire ads in the latest issues of Pro Cycling Magazine, VeloNews and Cycle Sport—look for a new Truvativ ad featuring Cesar in the upcoming issues. Clif Bar is going to put Cesar in their “hot seat” (their featured rider) on their website—look for him soon at www.clifbar.com. Thanks to them for lending us one of their vans for the weekend!

The season is starting to wind down! Look for a few of our guys to do the big Univest race this weekend under the title sponsor of Ready Pac. Then some crits like West Palm Beach and the Michelin Classic, and we will be done. Visit the Bean Team.

UPMC 9th in Tour of Venezuela

September 18, 2003--Alvaro Tardaguila, one of four Uruguayan riders competing on the UPMC Cycling Team, sits in 9th overall after 10 stages in the Regularity Classification in the Tour of Venezuela. The "Clasificacion General de la Regularidad," as it is known in Spanish, is a uniquely Latin American component of UCI stage racing, with points awarded to the top finishers at the end of each day's stage.

However, it does not include the points won during the intermediate sprints contested as part of the day's racing, which instead count towards a separate "sprint" competition. This is unlike the green jersey competition in the Tour de France. The leader of the regularity is currently the Cuban Gil Cordoves, who also enjoys a connection to the UPMC team: Mike Fraysse, coach and sponsor of the squad, is godfather of Cordoves' son!

The UPMC Cycling Team is an elite squad fielded by the America's Cycling Team (ACT) program. ACT is dedicated to providing racing opportunities for riders of all ages and abilities, but a special emphasis is placed on developing America's next class of professional cyclists. ACT's top riders may belong to a variety of affiliate clubs, but all compete under the program's trade name. (Courtesy Joseph Papp, Mike Fraysee Sports)

Armstrong Autographed Jersey on Auction to Help Save Northbrook Velodrome

Cyclists collect more than $25,000 in pledges in 6 weeks--Efforts to save the Ed Rudolph Velodrome in Northbrook, Illinois have taken a big step forward with the kickoff of a silent auction hosted by Vision Quest Coaching Services, LLC. On offer are two signed United States Postal Service team jerseys: one from five-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong; the other from 9-year pro and Vision Quest head coach Robbie “The Rocket” Ventura.

Initial bids have been set at $1,000 for the Armstrong jersey and $250 for Ventura’s. Additionally, anyone submitting a contribution of $100 or more to the Save the Velodrome fund is eligible to receive a Vision Quest Gift Pack. All proceeds from the auction and all contributions will go directly to the Northbrook Cycle Committee (NCC), a group of volunteers dedicated to supporting the Velodrome.

Information about the auction and further rules are available at the Vision Quest web site, www.visionquestcoaching.com. As it is a silent auction, bidding is by e-mail only in $20 increments directed to mcolbert@visionquestcoaching.com. All bids must be received by 5 p.m. CDT on Monday, Sept. 22, and must include the bidder’s name, address, and telephone number, with checks made out to the Northbrook Cycle Committee.

In related news, the NCC has announced that more than $25,000 has been pledged to the Save the Velodrome Fund, with more on the way in the coming weeks. “The community has really stepped forward to show that the Velodrome is a valued facility,” says NCC President Peter Janunas. “In just 6 weeks of fundraising, we have been able to show the Park District that we’re serious about keeping track racing alive in Northbrook.”

The Northbrook Park District Ed Rudolph Velodrome has endured 14 years of harsh weather since it was last resurfaced, and is in danger of closing after the 2004 season unless improvements are made. The Northbrook Park District, which owns the facility, has offered to fund half the project, charging the Northbrook Cycle Committee (NCC) with raising approximately $150,000 to close the funding gap. The NCC has created a reserve fund for the effort, and CPA Doug Pence has donated his time to overseeing its accounting. More information is available at www.northbrookvelodrome.com.

Oakley Expands Successful Line of Prescription Eyewear

Foothill Ranch, Sept. 17, 2003--Oakley, Inc. (NYSE:OO) today announced the latest additions to the company's prescription eyewear line. Oakley's prescription business continues to thrive and expand its ophthalmic frame offerings. This fall's introductions are no exception. Consumers can now choose from a larger selection of unique, sculptured ophthalmic frames including two new debuts -- a semi-rimless design and a new concept featuring an exposed spring piston,'' commented Colin Baden, President of Oakley, Inc.

Among four new ophthalmic frames being released by Oakley, Chain will be available in three unique lens shapes. For the comfort of an ultra-lightweight design, Oakley has combined open-edge lens architecture with durable X Metal(r) Titanium. Sculptural temples lock into place with piston spring hinges, and soft Unobtainium(r) earsocks maintain a secure, comfortable fit. Ophthalmic-specific geometry maximizes the range of visual correction. The new Chain family of ophthalmic eyewear frames includes the elliptical lenses of the 2.0 version, the oval lenses of the 4.0 version, and the linear contouring lens of the 6.0 version.

For the new Box Spring ophthalmic frame, Oakley utilized a proprietary alloy called C-5. This frame material offers an exceptional strength-to-weight ratio, so comfort and durability are optimized. Sculptural enhancements include a dimensional bridge and temples, accented by the open mechanics of piston spring hinges. The ophthalmic-specific design maintains a secure fit with the soft grip of Unobtainium(r) earsocks. The new Box Spring family features two lens shapes: the tapered lens geometry of the 2.0 version and the extended lens coverage of the 4.0 version.

Further expanding its range of products for the women's market, Oakley rendered its new Halo frame with soft curves for a uniquely feminine design. The swept-back contours of durable, lightweight O Matter(r) frame material allows for a six-base lens curvature that extends peripheral vision and protection. Heat adjustable for a customized fit, the temples blend into sculpturally integrated hinges with script logo accents engraved in metal.

The fourth new addition to Oakley's expanding line of corrective eyewear, O3, features open-edge lenses and sculptural components of durable X Metal(r) Titanium. The remarkably low weight offers all-day comfort that is enhanced by soft Unobtainium(r) earsocks. An adaptable fit is achieved with specially engineered spring hinge mechanisms. Optimized for a full range of visual correction, the O3 line has been expanded to include two new models. Consumers can choose among the enhanced coverage of the Lens 1 option, the angled oval contouring of the Lens 2 option, or the softened curvature of the Lens 3 option.

The new introductions are expected to ship in late September to both domestic and international optical accounts, with the exception of Halo, which is expected to ship in mid-October.