The big manufacturers always wheel out their new weaponry at the Grand Tours to catch all those eager lenses - and here's the latest TT machine from Scott, the "Plasma2"... Riccardo Riccò, the young team leader for Saunier Duval - Scott and winner of Stage 1 on Sunday, used the new bike in the opening Team Time Trial last Saturday.
Grand Tour Time Trial Bikes 2007... With the prologue of the Tour taking London by storm, we thought it would be good to take a look at some of the hardware used. These shots came from the Giro.
The alarm goes at 03.45, and it's almost painful. Davie arrives bang-on 04.45 and we're off to Glasgow in the Peugeot, the roads are a bit slippery and Dave makes things more interesting by driving with dipped head lights all the time; even when there's nothing coming in the opposite direction.
You know you're in Belgium at the Kuurne Brussels Kuurne when the barman is Iljo Keisse's dad - and when there are posters for bike races in the loo! But I'm getting ahead of myself; "live cargo", that's how the airlines refer to their passengers. And that's how we feel: the flight is two hours late and we're sitting on the floor at Prestwick Airport, or 'Glasgow South' as Ryanair would have it, despite the fact that we're 50 kilometres from the city on the Clyde.
It's the start of the season proper with UCI World Tour Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday and UCI 1.1 HC Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday. It was a tad savage when the alarm blasted at 03:10 on Friday but on the other side of the scales we were on Belgian soil bright and early.
So what brings a surfer dudette to West Flanders? The smart answer would be-ha! The team car! Robyn Taylor is a CSC soigneuse, she comes from Brisbane and has arrived in the male dominated world of pro cycling via water polo, surfing, The AIS (Australian Institute of Sport), and the now-defunct Team Fakta. Robyn found a few minutes to talk to us between stages at the 2006 de Panne 3 Day.
We always try to spotlight young Scotsmen who are ‘just doing it’ – especially if they come from one of our favourite parts of Scotland, The Brahan and wearing the Ribble Weldtite squad’s blue jersey – or perhaps it will be ‘Tour of Britain Splatter?’ - for 2022 will be Scotland’s Finn Crockett.
Whilst the Pro Tour marches on at the Dauphine and the Tour de Suisse, the ‘other’ races just keep taking care of business. Take the 2.1 Delta Tour Zeeland in The Netherlands, the overall went to Garmin fast man, Tyler Farrar, but the strong man from Washington State didn’t have it all his own way; stage one saw a break through win for Skil’s 23 year old Aussie, Mitch Docker.