The 2003 T-Mobile International presented by BMC Software

Because "Grand Prix" was just so wordy...

This year, on a beautiful Sunday, September 14th, the San Francisco Grand Prix got a whole lot more sponsorship, several more European teams, a Women's race that finished with many more riders and an hour sooner than expected, and a much longer name.

Official page. Results: Men's, Women's. Rosters are available in Excel format from the official site.


Each smaller c. 190x300 image links to a c.650x1024 image.

The women's race.
Your winner! Nicole Cooke, champion of Great Britain, of the AUSRA GRUODIS SAFI team.
The pack sprint for the remaining places.
I need to find someone who lives in one of these apartments some year. We parked ourselves on Taylor, across the street from these lucky folks, next to a big tree, for the whole of the men's race.
The first time up Taylor!
That's Navigator's #47, Chris Wherry, USA, on an early attempt at a break
 
How do you say "Dude, nice shorts!" in Italian?
Saeco rider: #82 Leonardo Bertagnoli, ITA, Domina Vacanze Elitron rider: #31, Massimo Guinti, ITA
Go, Postal!
Rolf Aldag (26) of Telekom, Chris Wherry (47) of Navigators and Cesar Grajales of Jittery Joe's start the long breakaway.
That's #35, Ruben Elvira Lobato, ESP, DOMINA VACANZE ELITRON; #14, Guennedi Mikhalov, RUS, USPS; and #5, Trent Klasna, USA, Saturn.
#14, Guennedi Mikhalov, RUS, USPS is chasing two folks whose numbers I can't make out.
Next Lap: Aldag and Wherry, and I think that's Jason Lokkesome starting what will probably be the best day of his professional cycling career.
 
"Would you like some mechanical assistance?"
#17, USPS, Matthew White, AUS
"Yes, please!"
(Lots of chains dropped around this spot)
 
#198, Doug Ollerenshaw, USA, Health Net followed by #17, Matthew White, AUS, USPS.
#113, Gregory Wolf, USA, COLAVITA BOLLA, and many friends.
Another lap! #122, Grajales, Wherry, Aldag and Lokkesome stay together for quite some time.
 
I think that's Eki leading the peloton's chase.
The expectant crowd between laps, plus an excuse to use my wide angle lens.
Thanks to Mark VandenBerghe's page, I know this is Greg Drake of WebCor having a little fun on his last lap.
Your leaders on another lap.
Aluminum? Carbon Fiber? Titanium? Bah! Wood is the only way to go!
#192, Gordon Fraser, CAN, Health Net, so presumably he has good health insurance, and seems to need it.
#55, Matt DeCanio, USA, Prime Alliance giving chase.
#22, Giuseppe, Guerini, ITA, Telekom, and don't those forks just look strange? When watching the coverage at home which I taped on a rather old tape, I kept thinking those forks looked that way due to my crappy old tape.
#172, Matthew Svatek, USA, Sportsbook.com. Never heard of them either, but here's some free publicity for them.
Can't see the number on this LEMOND FITNESS CAPT'N CRA Z SOAP rider.
Aldag & Lokkesmore break off from the rest of the lead group.
 
 
Grajales & Wherry try to re-join Aldag and Lokkesmore.
DeCanio having "fun" getting up the hill.
Saeco decides they've been in the pack too long and lead the chase. That's #83, Damiano Cunego, ITA with a visible number.
 
 
 
 
Everybody wave to Frank!
Lokkesmore tries to make a solo break, Aldag has a bit of trouble keeping up with the neo-pro.
What's left of the chase chasing after what's left of the breakaway.
You know it's a bad day at work when someone has to lean out of a car and put a stethoscope to your back.
#54, David Clinger, USA, Prime Alliance. I think that's him in several other shots where the number's obscured.
This is one of those pictures where you wonder what they're looking at, and I wonder why I wasn't photographing whatever it was they were looking at.
 
That's #124, Jonny Sundt, USA of Jittery Joe's helping #122, Cesar Grajales, COL win his KOM prize. By this time Grajales had gotten enough points to win the KOM, but had to finish to collect, so the two of them just stayed on near the back for the last few laps.
 
Your eventual winner, #3, Chris Horner, USA, Saturn, looking way too fresh. He flatted, caught the new breakaway and then pulled ahead all in one lap, so by the time he got to Taylor, he had a good lead.
#6, Mark McCormack, USA, Saturn, US National Champion looking towards a second place finish.
 
De agony of de knees! (If you don't get it, you're probably too young to remember "Wide World of Sports," whippersnapper!)
The feet probably hurt too!
 
 
One of these years I'll get a photo of Viatcheslav Ekimov that's actually in focus. At least there's motion blur too so that absolutely nothing's in focus in this shot.
Even though they won't win, these fellows are still fighting their way up that hill.

Camera Nerd Stuff: Leica M6TTL 0.58, this year with a motor winder (expensive, but cheaper than wrist surgery). Most shots with a 50/2 Summicron-M, a fair bit with a 35/2 Asph, the women's race shots with a 90/2.8 Tele-Elmar, and a couple o' crowd shots with a 24/2.8 Asph. Some shots with a Yellow filter, others with a Red, can you spot them? (I can't remember). All shot this year with fresh Ilford Delta 400, scanned on an Epson 3200, and with this many to scan, it's clear I didn't get too upset about wee bits of dust.

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