When Cofidis slid from Pro Tour to Pro Continental, they shed a few riders; it looked like it was the end of his pro career for Alex Blain. Enter Brian Smith and Endura - followed by some strong performances from the man from the South. He spoke exclusively to VeloVeritas after his excellent ride in the Tour of Murcia.
Our man in the peloton - Endura's Evan Oliphant - took us through the rigours of The Med and Haut Var. Murcia may have been no cake walk but it had a happy ending for Endura - taking the sprints jersey and numerous top ten finishes. Here's what Wick's finest had to say...
"Goodie bag!" I'm not used to "freebies;" by the time Dave or Martin and I stumble into the press room, all the goodies have gone - but we have the best sun tans. However, when Jim McFarlane mentioned "goodie bag" I was out to Livingston like a ferret. It seemed like a shame to waste a trip to Endura and not interview the main man. The timing was perfect, Jim was just back from seeing his boys in action at Haut Var.
What a day; when we heard Millar was in the break, we knew he was definitely capable of beating three of his companions - Gautier was the only one we didn't know about.
But when we saw him, we knew he'd win - it was there in his eyes, if you knew what you were looking at.
At Le Tour de France 2006 I was involved with TV - no, no, not like that, cycling dot TV - the Internet TV guys. I met their guy, Steve Masters in the press room yesterday and he scrounged a lift off me to the start at Obernai with his camera man, James.
Following on from our interviews with Scotland’s 2022 Commonwealth Games selections we caught up with a man who’s enjoyed a great start to 2022 and who’ll be riding the road race in Birmingham, Ribble Weldtite’s Finn Crockett.
It seems like a lifetime ago that we (that's the 'royal we' i.e me, Helen Wyman and hubby Stef) were packing the car and heading off for the first world cup of the season in Aigle, Switzerland.
VeloVeritas interviewed Scottish Legend John McMillan, last year – doing some research into the 'Peace Race' recently we asked John if he’s ever ridden the Warsaw-Berlin-Prague. He said he hadn’t - but he had ridden the Okolo Slovenska, the seven day Tour of Slovakia, which in 1965 was part of Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia and which had the aim of celebrating the liberation of Slovakia by the Red Army in 1945.
Peter Jacques used to be the track judges nitemare; but he's mellowed with age and is now easing open - rather than breaking down - the door on a management and promotion career. We heard there were a few commissaires went for a celebratory beer when you quit, Pete?