VeloResults

Team Sky’s ‘Marginal Gains’ – Worthwhile, or Simply Hype?(1)

It’s great to see cycling breaking main stream – a double page colour spread in the Times.

It’s almost as if the guys that bank rolls the team, owns the newspaper.

He does? Oh!

We’re treated to nine examples of marginal gains…

What’s With the Lack of Humanity?(12)

We’ve all had them. Moments when you’re out enjoying your bike for the sake of it, or training, or simply commuting to work, when suddenly you’re reminded of just how vulnerable you are: someone driving a car – or bigger – either accidentally or deliberately gets you reaching for the brake levers.

What a Waste of a Great Career(1)

Fourth in the Worlds Elite TT, second only to Zabriskie in the US TT champs and with a Garmin contract neatly signed.

But scratch all of the above and file under, “Another one bites the dust!” albeit the ‘B’ sample might just be ‘clean.’

We asked Paul Coats, who’s a lecturer at Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy & Biomedical Sciences, for an expert view.

What are the Odds?(1)

I hope you all had a good Xmas; Viktor didn’t – but that shouldn’t surprise us.

He did make a good point though – namely that Sky are well behind with their training camps; all of the big squadra have had one, if not two camps already.

From a fitness and bonding point of view the digital vision guys are behind the eight ball already; it’ll be interesting to see if that makes a difference come flag dropping time.

Let Your Legs Do the Talking(2)

So finally Brad has signed for Sky!

Well shock horror, probably the worst kept secret in cycle racing so far this century!

My own view is it was a great move for his bank balance and now he is riding a Pinarello, mine too!

But as far as his cycling career goes mmm, I ain’t so sure!

It’s Easy to Join ‘the Black List’(0)

It’s been a good week if you read the Guardian’s cycling coverage and like a rant.

‘I’m better than Armstrong now,’ says Wiggins – reads the headline; of all the bike riders in the world that one should not make that statement about, Lance Armstrong is the absolute top of the list.

How NOT to Win Friends(4)

Ben Swift – top guy, affable, always happy to chat, looks the business and has a great career ahead of him.

But – I don’t like what’s happening with this Sky business. I might be wrong – and am probably writing my own obituary here, as far as Sky interviews goes – but it smacks to me of; ‘we can’t get Brad, so we have to get some one else who can win a bit and who’s English!’

An Iberian Update(0)

It’s funny how things work out, Alberto Contador signs a contract with Specialized bikes for 700,000 euros last week. So will he be riding for one of the teams who ride on Specialized bikes; Quick-Step or Saxo Bank? Ah! Then Quick-Step announces that they will no longer be riding on Specialized, but will be on Eddy Merckx bikes.

When Vik says ‘rant!’…(0)

‘Are you going to have a rant about this Sky carry on, on that site of yours?’ enquires Viktor.

‘Damn right!’ says I.

All pro cyclists demand respect, it’s easy to forget that even the guy who finishes stone last in any pro race has to be pretty good to get a pro contract in the first place; but the two French riders just signed by Sky leave me a tad puzzled.

Listen to the Money Talking(0)

AC/DC got it right; “Come on, come on, listen to the money talking.”

It looks like VeloResults’ hot tip on ‘Bert bolts to Garmin; Brad flies to Sky,’ has unwound.

Sky’s ‘capo,’ Rupert Murdoch has deep pockets, but at some stage he has to say- and following on from the musical intro – just like Donna and Babs did; “enough is enough, is enough!”

That Was the Week…(0)

“A week is a long time in politics,” said Harold Wilson – even longer at the wheel of a Transit; still, I’m sure that my column in L’Equipe isn’t far away, now. Lombardia was great, I love that race, and Milan – San Remo too; do yourself a favour, go and see them – you’ll thank me. However, all is not well up in the land of mountains and lakes.

Milano is apparently mightily pee-ed off by the ’strike’ in the Giro, when the riders went on a go slow because of the ‘dangerous circuit’ – but the organisers couldn’t help but notice that despite the ‘dangers,’ the peloton raced the last few laps, for the stage win.

Sundays(2)

Ronnie Boa was a God like figure, when I was a 16 year-old with Kirkcaldy and District CC.

He would come out at the start of the season and dominate – hilly time trials, road races, APR’s, two-ups and even a stage in the Girvan.

He was red hot favourite for the 25 title after banging out winning 58’s at Stirling on a track iron; but on race morning he was a DNS, leaving the way clear for Drew Brunton to take the title.

RIP, VDB(4)

“RIP VDB” said the text from John Stollery, waiting for me, when I woke up; there were others too, from Dave and Stevie all expressing sadness – for all his faults, he was a hard man to dislike.

He was just 34, cause of death is cited as a ‘blood clot.’

Paris – Tours Preview, and the Demise of the German 6-Day?(1)

The trouble with Richard Virenque was, that if he was seven times King of the Mountains; he was at least eight times King of the Erses.

The Festina scandal, that mouth of his, his idiotic tactics – all conspired against him.

This meant that when he pulled off a genuine exploit, the journos and slaggers wrote it off as a fluke or; ‘he’ll be on new stuff!’…

We’re Disappointed in You, Gabriele(1)

“Our pal Bosisio positive,’ said the text from Dave.

Gabriele Bosisio of LPR Brakes and Italy was the subject of a UCI out of competition test; “the adverse finding was a direct result of a targeted urine test, conducted immediately after a blood test triggered an unusual blood profile within the biological passport program,” said their statement.

On the Kroonplatz time trial stage of the 2008 Giro, we gave Gabriele a shout as he came down off the mountain, after his ride.

Madrid 2016? NOT!(0)

Today the capital city of Spain didn’t get awarded the 2016 Olympic Games – they went to the Brazilian City of Rio de Janeiro.

I normally have my siesta around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, but today I watched the Olympic Games conference live on TV Copenhagen where they were to vote for the next Games after London.

The Spanish contingent made a great job of convincing the Olympic Committee that Madrid would be the best place for the 2016 games.

On Cadel’s Italian-ness(1)

I had one of my secret meetings with Ivan yesterday – I can’t tell you when or where, in case the Moderator from Velo Riders tries to arrange a ‘hit!’

The man from behind the Urals was telling me that we didn’t see on Eurosport, after Cadel’s win, was the press conference he gave.

Spain Did OK, No?(2)

Some cycling pundits (aye, you Ed) have said that the Spanish team had a terrible World Championships – well bronze, a fourth, ninth and fifteenth is better than any other country than I guess Australia and Russia, although Russia only had two riders in the top twenty.

The most important Spanish National TV station (TVE 1) top-lined the result on the main evening news on Sunday evening.

Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man(1)

“Cometh the hour, cometh the man,” the hour was a sunny late September afternoon in Mendrisio, Switzerland, the man was Cadel Evans.

Al Hamilton mentioned Cadel’s name before the race and I concurred that he could be in the mix and worth a medal – but the winner?

Worlds Road Racing, so far(0)

A great ride from Peter Kennaugh; fourth is always the worst place to finish – it’s hard enough to remember silvers and bronzes; never mind who was fourth.

But a good ride and one that bodes well for his pro career.

I spoke to him after the British Elite road champs at Abergavenny, where it looked like his race, until the closing metres. I was given a tongue lashing from him for allegedly miss- quoting him.