VeloVeritas

Arbitrary Decisions (3)

‘Senna,’ is a powerful film; the man was fast, brave, committed, and ruthless behind the wheel, but religious, handsome, humble, funny, and devoted to his family, very fond of the ladies and an inspiration to a whole nation.

And all of Brazil grieved for him when he died in that horrific crash at Imola in 1994.

As well as a portrait of an amazing sportsman the film gives us a rare look at the machinations of the men – or rather man – who run the sport at the highest levels.

Meet “Velo Club Don Logan” – the Ill-Informed Podcasters (0)

The three guys behind the blog and podcasting site “Velo Club Don Logan” may be ‘foul-mouthed and ill-informed’ (their words), but they’re also nice lads and very entertaining too.

After listening to the fantastic podcast of their interview with Graeme Obree – in which Graeme talks openly about previously unexplored aspects of his life and career – we had to find out more about this site and the men behind it, and we caught up with them recently to get a bit of background and to hear their plans… okay, there aren’t any plans…

If You’re Right, You’re Right (0)

‘If you’re right, you’re right,’ said Malcolm X.

However, sometimes it’s hard to be right.

Despite the fact that I think the UCI are doing a less than brilliant job, I think cycling is right to try to eradicate the pills, potions, transfusions and suppositories that blight it.

Just What is the UCI Meant to be About? (5)

The UCI constitution is a little bit of a scary document, running to 23 pages with 87 articles, some of which have up to seven sections.

We thought we might pick out a few quotes; it’s ‘a non-profit-making organisation’ and should ‘encourage friendship between all members of the cycling world’ as well as ‘promote sportsmanship and fair play’ and there should be ‘non-interference in the internal affairs of affiliated federations.’

Just so we remember what the organisation is meant to be all about.

Off to the Berlin Six – But First, a Few Thoughts (3)

I’ll be glad to get to Berlin, and enter my six day bubble – these last couple of weeks have affected me badly.

I love the sport, all of it fascinates me, road, track, cyclo-cross; I’d get into mountain biking but I have to stop the reading, interviewing and writing, somewhere. Lance, Floyd, Alberto, Trent, Matt – and now, Graeme.

I have to get it all off my chest before I descend into the bowels of the earth in Berlin…

Smugness Or Sadness? (3)

I’ve known John for 43 years; we went to school together and although there have been spells when our lives have gone in different directions for a while, it takes us about three minutes to pick up the thread and it’s as if we’ve never been out of touch.

John has lung cancer, one tumour in his lungs and three in his brain; he starts chemo and radio therapy, this week. When his son asked me what I thought, immediately I said; ‘look at old Lance, he was at death’s door and came back to win seven Tours.’

Then I got to thinking; if the finest legal minds that Tour Down Under and Giro d’Italia start money can buy are unsuccessful and the ‘Federal probe’ nails the Texan, what will that have achieved?

How a Positive Could be Buried (6)

We’ve all been hearing recently about the riders who showed questionable figures in their Biological Passports but who have escaped any sanctions so far, whilst certain others have been lambasted, suspended, and are facing the possibility of – or are currently serving – lengthy bans. Last year the word was that a number of very big names in the sport were in the same boat, and may have been asked by officials to ‘lay low’ for a while until their numbers returned to more normal values, or until the heat died down. And now, thanks to Landis, we are presented with the allegation that Armstrong paid the UCI to bury a positive test result from the Tour de Suisse – but how is that possible?

Dan Fleeman – About his Biological Passport (1)

Oh no! Not another drugs article!

Yes, but this one is positive – ah, no, not that kind of a ‘positive!’

Dan Fleeman texted me the other day to tell me that he’ll be getting a bit of an airing on the Bike Pure site, due to his decision to continue with UCI Biological Passport level blood testing with Raleigh – at his own expense.

‘Why do you want to do that?’ I asked. His answer was enlightening.

Joe Papp – Still Atoning for His Doping (1)

A few weeks ago, Pez ran an interview with Joe Papp one of the very few riders to admit, face up to and openly discuss the fact he failed a drugs test.

Like most folks, we’re sick of the drugs scandals, but then the Tom Zirbel situation pops up and we to have accept that it’s still a problem and we need to understand it better.

Here’s what Joe had to say – and it’s scary!

What a Waste of a Great Career (3)

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.

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.

Iljo Keisse – Putting the Worst Time of His Life Behind Him (0)

The cheer from the cabin next door to ours – below the Grenoble velodrome – told us that the result Flanders had been holding it’s breath for, had arrived. Belgium’s number one six day man, Iljo Keisse’s ‘positif’ in the 2008 Gent six day race has been dismissed on the grounds of ‘insufficient evidence.’

“Cathine was not found in the ‘B’ sample and HCT was there in quantities so small as to have no effect on performance.”

VeloVeritas was granted the first face to face interview with Iljo, after the result was announced.

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!’…