News for May 16

For cyclist, home is where the races are

by Elliott Almond
Seattle Times staff reporter

Andy Hampsten used to get so homesick for America that he stuffed his
suitcase with tortillas and beans when packing for the nine-month
professional cycling season in Europe. Now, it is doubtful that he ever
will return to the United States other than to visit.

Hampsten, 34, once one of the world's best cyclists, lives in Castneto
Carducci, an Italian coastal town about 50 miles south of Pisa. He has
lived abroad for five years. It is a bucolic setting where he and his wife,
Linda, hope to grow and raise much of their own food some day. They have
olive trees, fruit trees and a little vineyard. They also have a
2-month-old daughter, Emma.  They have built a home. "Even though it is
strange to go to a foreign country to make our home, it feels really good,"
Hampsten said.

There was a time when Hampsten could not wait to return to Boulder, Colo.,
where he owns a log cabin adjacent to the Flat Irons, slabs of granite
rising like skyscrapers above town. Although Belgium, France and Italy are
the center of cycling's universe, Hampsten missed the Rocky Mountains,
where he counted among friends artists, musicians and jugglers.  Hampsten,
who also likes to juggle, has become good at balancing two continents, two
cultures.

As his 19-year career nears the end, Hampsten is rediscovering America this
spring while racing here for the first time in many years. Next stop on his
American tour is the U.S. Olympic men's road race team trials, starting at
11 a.m. Sunday in Seattle. About 150 are expected to ride in the first of
five events in the next two weeks to help select the men's Olympic road
team.

The 126-mile loop course begins and ends at Westlake Park, and traverses
through downtown, Mount Baker, Leschi and Madrona. Hampsten, captain of the
U.S. Postal Service team, is particularly excited about the race because he
can visit his father, Richard, and brother, Stephen, who live in Seattle.
They usually have to go to Italy to see him.

But after placing sixth in the prestigious Tour DuPont last week, Hampsten
appears ready to challenge for an Olympic berth and perhaps earn another
trip to America this summer. He was the second-highest American finisher
behind winner Lance Armstrong, who already qualified for the five-member
Olympic road team because of his high international ranking. Armstrong will
not compete in the trials, instead taking a month off to rest for the Tour
of Switzerland and Tour de France.

During the 11-day DuPont race, which ended Sunday, Hampsten marveled at the
strangeness of his homeland as he rode past the verdant rolling hills of
Virginia and the Carolinas. The North Dakota native had never seen the
South and was as fascinated as a tourist. "It's really refreshing looking
at America after being out of it for so long," he said. "I appreciate the
good things and get a kick out of the idiosyncrasies more than I would if I
lived here all the time."

Hampsten has no idea whether he will make the Olympic team. He is not even
sure that it matters. "I'm not going to put padded envelopes under coaches'
doors," he said. "I can't say if I made the Olympic team or won the Olympic
road race it would be the greatest thing I accomplished as an athlete."

That's understandable considering Hampsten's remarkable achievements. He is
the only American to win the Giro d'Italia, or Tour of Italy, the world's
second biggest stage race. He also won the 1987 Tour of Switzerland and has
finished fourth in the Tour de France twice. Hampsten's perseverance on the
steep alpine mountain stages earned him admiration among fellow
professionals.

He is the only American to win the Tour de France's most prestigious stage
race, the fearsome l'Alpe d'Huez, which he did in 1992. So, the Olympic
Trials do not hold the same fascination as the super-competitive major
European races. "It turns into some negative racing at the end," Hampsten
said of the trials. "It gets a little dull. Instead of racing just for the
day to see who is the strongest, there are a few more tactics going on
behind the scenes."

This year's trials are expected to be as tactical as any because only four
spots are available. Armstrong, 24, of Austin, Texas, is the United States'
clear leader. The other eventual Olympic riders will be domestiques, or
workers, pedaling to help Armstrong earn the gold medal. The top two point
winners from the five races will automatically qualify. The other two will
be picked by U.S. coaches.

Hampsten vowed not to worry about opponents' points during the trials. He
has seen many focus so much on the trials that they faltered upon reaching
the Olympics.  "I've been there enough times to know that in a six-hour
race there's just not much use worrying on the starting line because it's
going to happen in the last hour or so," he said.

Hampsten used to struggle with the intense pressure of the Tour de France.
"He gets in the Tour and a big bomb goes off," former pro Davis Phinney
once said of his friend. "It gets to him. It's like being expected to hit a
home run every night in the World Series." Winning the Tour once was
Hampsten's obsession. It did not help that former teammate Greg LeMond won
it three times and became an icon whereas Hampsten remained relatively
unknown.

He began to change about the time he decided to live in Europe full time.
During the final stages of the 1992 Giro, Hampsten seemed more at peace
than ever in his career. Although failing during a crucial mountain stage
one day, Hampsten did not fret later while admiring a star-studded night
above Lake Maggiore in northern Italy.  Years earlier, he would not have
noticed the sparkling indigo sky while reliving the disappointing finish
over and over in a hotel room.

The change made it easier to accept the past two frustrating years.
Hampsten missed the 1994 Tour de France with an injury and the '95 event
because his team at the time, Banesto, did not select him to help leader
Miguel Indurain win his fifth consecutive Tour. It also made it easier to
walk away from the world's best competition.

"I came to a point last year where enough was enough," Hampsten said. "I
didn't just want to keep racing in Europe. I wanted to put a little more
excitement in my racing."  He said riding with the young Postal Service
team has been rejuvenating. After the Olympic trials, the team will compete
in the Tour of Switzerland, where they hope to do well enough to be
selected for the Tour of Spain in September.

Eventually, Hampsten would like to lead the team to a berth in the Tour de
France. Only the world's top 16 teams qualify for the grueling three-week
event.

Hampsten misses the grandeur of the Tour, but after riding it eight times . . .
"I don't want to get too much of a good thing, especially when it's three
weeks of torture. If I'm still racing, maybe I'll do it again. But that's
not my carrot." Not anymore, it's not.

Notes

-- Other events scheduled at this week's Microsoft Grand Prix are the
Seward Park criterium, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, and the Alki Point
criterium, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. The pro criterium starts at 1:40 p.m.


-- RiderLink web site will offer instant results of Sunday's race, as will
35 kiosks along the course. The address is:
http//www.grandprix.microsoft.com/

Want To Buy A Bike Race?

Pantani Tastes Competition