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Monday, July 29, 2002

By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Marty Nothstein has seven world-championship cycling medals. Marco Aledia has seven hip-hop and alternative rock bands signed to his recording label, Ma Records.

	Marty Nothstein leads the pack in a heat yesterday at the American Flying Mile yesterday on the North Shore. Nothstein won his hear, but finished second to Marco Aledia in the main event. (Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette)

Nothstein won the match sprint at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, becoming the first American in 16 years to win a cycling gold medal, and is one of the country's best-known cyclists. Aledia's resume lists 65 race victories and 250 top-10 finishes, the kind of accomplishments Nothstein hasn't added to his official biography since he was a teen-ager.

So who won the American Flying Mile yesterday on the North Shore?

Aledia, believe it or not, in a photo finish.

"You always train like you're racing the best," said Aledia, 27, who runs Ma Records out of his home in suburban Columbus, Ohio. "When you get a shot at one, you've got to take full advantage."

The flying mile opened The International, formerly known as the Tour de 'Toona, which expanded this year into Pittsburgh. Race organizers didn't raise enough sponsorship money to put on three stages as they had planned for the city, so the only part of the race here is the flying mile, which doesn't count in the overall standings.

With 53 competitors, 30 women and 23 men, the race was sparsely entered. It was even more sparsely attended -- only a few dozen people who weren't volunteers or affiliated with teams lined the course, which began on Art Rooney Way and looped around the parking lots between Heinz Field and PNC Park.

Promoter Rick Geist said the numbers were about what he had expected, and he believes that with better promotion next year and an earlier start on fund-raising, The International will return again.

"This was phenomenal," Geist said. "The finish got everybody excited."

The final of the men's race, which occurred after nearly 3 1/2 hours of double-elimination heats, sparked the most attention. The 10-man field stayed together behind the pace motorcycle for the first of two one-mile laps, and the riders began to jockey for position as they approached the final turn of lap two.

Aledia noted Nothstein's position as they came down the backstretch on North Shore Drive, and he knew he didn't want to allow Nothstein to take the lead as they came around the final corner. "I slowed down a little going into it so I could punch through the corner," Aledia said. "That's my strength, the punch."

Nothstein closed fast but not soon enough. "It was a tactical error on my part," he said. "I was positioned to win the race, but I went around the last corner in too small a gear. Basically, I waited too long to pass."

The finish was so close that neither rider was certain who won. Aledia's margin of victory was about the width of his wheel, an incremental amount that cost Nothstein $1,000. Both riders were credited with a time of 1 minute, 56.52 seconds.

"I've won races by that much, and I've lost races by that much," Nothstein said. "That's the way it goes."

Immediately after the men's final came the women's, which Nicole Freeman won in 2:33.96.

Freeman, 30, of Wellesley, Mass., still has the videotape of the flying mile she won in the 1996 Tour de 'Toona. She took a risk in that race, going off the front early in the second lap and getting so far ahead that no one could catch her in a final sprint.

She considered using the same strategy again, but the first turn was particularly tight. "I decided I would just go as fast as I could down the last straightaway," she said. "That was the right choice, obviously."

Freeman will continue to Altoona and compete in the stage race, while Aledia will return home. He and his Grange Insurance teammates had considered competing in The International, but they weren't able to find anyone to provide support. "We didn't want to do 100-mile road races without anyone to hand us water," he said. "I've done that, and it's not fun."

Although the flying mile isn't part of The International stage race, it will play a part in determining the outcome. Chris Horner, the top-ranked rider on the U.S. road-racing circuit, crashed with David Wisell on the final lap of his semifinal, and his collarbone was broken. He will be unable to compete.

Geist said Horner was "expected to run away" with the stage race.