How did Cyclingnews start?
Cyclingnews was started in 1995 by Professor Bill Mitchell, a professor of economics from the University of Newcastle, Internet enthusiast and active bike racer.

Prof Mitchell (aka Bill) had a drive, vision and understanding of professional cycle racing which resulted in a site that delivered the news and results without fuss and in a minimum of time. His knowledge of the sport meant it quickly gained a strong following among the cycling fraternity. Bill was opinionated (usually right), passionate and dedicated to his sport by sharing results and news around the world.

Even in the mid-'90s, it took people in some English-speaking countries three weeks to find out who won races like the Tour of Flanders! With his experience of racing and living in Europe, Bill and his contacts started a service that found a waiting audience.

What started as a passion and hobby grew to the point that dedicated servers and high-speed data links were required - in other words, the site was caught in the Web's massive growth spurt. In 1999, it had evolved to such an extent that Bill decided to move on and concentrate on family and university (see Bill's farewell) and he sold the site to Knapp Communications Pty Limited, a Sydney-based publishing company with expertise in Web site content and production. Of utmost importance to Bill, the company was run by a passionate cyclist who'd seen his fair share of races, normally from the back of the bunch (see the handover message).

Who produces Cyclingnews?
The editorial team behind Cyclingnews includes journalists with a combined total of over 60 years' reporting experience. The publisher is Gerard Knapp, 41, a journalist for 20 years who's covered cycling through to technology, the Internet, film and television. The online editorial team includes Dr Jeffrey Jones (PhD Chem), the technical editor is John Stevenson (formerly with Mountain Biking UK magazine), the chief European editor is Tim Maloney, who is based in Italy and is one of the world's most experienced cycling journalists, and our Paris-based online editor/correspondent is Chris Henry, who covers many of the major races in France and Belgium.

The Teams Database is a key feature of Cyclingnews.com and this has been produced for several years by Mr Théo Muller, based in Switzerland. This resource provides a searchable database of all male and female riders employed by professional cycling teams registered with the UCI.

The team also includes: Tomas Nilsson, a highly experienced journalist and Internet producer; Paul Mirtschin, an experienced web site designer; Karen Forman, an experienced cyclist and award-winning journalist; Gabriella Ekstrom, a cycling journalist based in Sweden as well as our photographers, including Jonathan Devich and Jeffrey Tse.

And perhaps the most important thing about the entire Cyclingnews team? They are all active cyclists and have real racing experience.

Technical support:
Cyclingnews is delivered to your screen by dedicated servers operated by Economic Outlook, a specialist IT consultancy based in Adelaide, Australia. The growth in traffic has resulted in new servers being required each year, with a resultant increase in bandwidth.

Many of the technical features that work in the background to ensure Cyclingnews pages are delivered to you as quickly as possible were specially developed by Mr Adrian Butterworth and his technical team.

About the publisher:
Knapp Communications Pty Limited is an Australian publishing company based in Sydney, with offices in Belgium, France, Italya and the USA. The head office employs 10 staff including the cyclingnews team, with journalists located on three continents and correspondents in dozens of countries. The company acquired Cyclingnews in September 1999 and quickly built on its popularity, with traffic levels in 2001 some 300 per cent higher than the previous year.

The company was founded in 1996 with the acquisition of the high-end IT publication, Image & Data Manager, as well as Australian Exhibitor magazine. The company then entered a joint venture with the US company Mecklermedia to develop and produce Internet World Australia, which was successfully launched into the Australian market in 1998. Knapp Communications has also produced official directories for organisations such as the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and the Exhibition and Event Association of Australia.

The company also owns and produces the high-end IT Web site www.idm.net.au and all design and database development was achieved in-house. The idm.net.au site was successfully launched in 2000 and has quickly established itself as the online companion to Image & Data Manager magazine, which has been published since 1994.

Cyclingnews contact details:

Web site: www.cyclingnews.com
Published by:Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited
Postal Address: PO Box 576, Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 Australia
Street Address: 1 Ridge Place, Surry Hills NSW 2010 Australia
Telephone: 61 2 9318 2644
Fax: 61 2 9310 4608
Email: cyclingnews@cyclingnews.com

European office - Belgium
Address: Gustaaf Callierlaan 60, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Telephone: 32 9 2333 299
Email: cyclingnews@cyclingnews.com

European office - Italy
Contact: Mr Tim Maloney, Cyclingnews.com
Address: Piazzale Cadorna, 20 # 234, 36061 Bassano del Grappa (VI) ITALY

European office - France
Contact: Hedwig Kröner, Online Editor, Cyclingnews.com
Address: 360, bd Edouard Daladier, 84100 Orange, FRANCE
Telephone: 33 (0)4 90 60 28 80
Mobile: 49 172 987 67 17
Email: hedwig@cyclingnews.com

Marketing - Europe
Contact: Tim Maloney, international marketing representative
Address: Piazzale Cadorna, 20 # 234, 36061 Bassano del Grappa (VI) ITALY
Telephone - Europe: 39 348 229 6236
Email: cyclingnews@aol.com

Marketing - USA
Contact: Steve Medcroft, North American Advertising Sales Manager
Address: 12592 West Coronado Road, Avondale, AZ, USA
Telephone: 1 623 628 4500
Mobile: 1 623 628 4500
Fax: 1 703 738 7789
Email: steve@cyclingnews.com

Executives:
Publisher: Gerard Knapp
Online Editors: Gregor Brown, Hedwig Kröner, Bjorn Haake, Laura Weislo, Sue George, Gregory Johnson, Paul Verkuylen, Ben Abrahams
Technical Editor: James Huang
European Marketing: Tim Maloney
North American Marketing: Steve Medcroft
Teams Database: Theo Muller
Assistant Online Editor: Tomas Nilsson
Senior correspondents: Mark Zalewski, Jonathan Devich, Shane Stokes, Ben Atkins, Susan Westemeyer

Advertising Account Manager - Europe: Tim Maloney
Advertising Sales Manager - North America: Steve Medcroft
Advertising Account Manager - Australia/New Zealand: Gerard Knapp
Accounts Manager: Jeannette Dangelico
Designers: Fletcher Guinness, Paul Mirtschin, Greg O'Connor

Web Site Administration and Hosting: Economic Outlook Pty Limited
Senior Programmer and Administrator: Mr Adrian Butterworth