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.
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."
"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.
"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.
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.
A Clean La Vuelta? I hope so, but let's look at the facts: The Spanish sports papers quote Oscar Freire; "Rabobank want a stage win in Holland" and I'm sure all the other teams want the same, but the Dutch bank have spent a lot of money bringing La Vuelta a España to Holland for the race start.
"A Dog in a Hat," has to be one of the best books about pro cycling ever written. Author Joe Parkin took some time to talk to VeloVeritas about life, bike racing, his next book-yes, and Lance!
Eufemiano Fuentes, Jesus Manzano, Operaciõn Puerto, Alejandro Valverde, Alberto Contador... and now Manuel Beltran. All Spanish, all hot topics - but what's the buzz in España? We turned to VeloVeritas Iberian correspondent Al Hamilton for the low down, and asked him some questions on just what the current Spanish perspective is.
It was completely surreal. It was the 26th of July last year, and we were in Lourdes, sitting in a neon-lit, scruffy, greasy-spoon café at 1:00 in the morning. Our pizzas were cooking in the oven, but we weren't really that hungry anymore. We had travelled to the summit and back down again today, both literally and metaphorically; we'd had a wonderful day working on Stage 16 of the Tour de France which took the race to the ski station, 5,600 feet high, at Gourette - Col d'Aubisque in the Pyrenees, and it had been turned completely on its head.
Every year I write a route preview of the up and coming Vuelta a España, normally I talk to the locals in my village and last year I had the input of Alex Coutts (Babes Only-Flanders) and David Harrigan (DFL). This year I managed to enlist the help of ex-pro, Fabian Jeker, and we spoke about next year's Vuelta - but as these things often go, we spoke at length on many other topics: life; cycling; Festina; and the future.
With the crucial 'B' sample test result due on Saturday, VeloVeritas thought we would take a look at some of the key rant-points in 'L'affaire Landis'. We know it isn't Scottish, but it's the biggest cycling story on the planet so here goes".
When Belgium's biggest fan of Aussie bike racing, Mr. Dirk Van Hove asked us to publish his interview with Australian ladies' champion Amanda Spratt there was no way we could refuse. He's chaperoned us around Het Nieuwsblad given us some of our best Aussie contacts and most importantly, introduced us to 'Orvelo' beer - and a fine brew it is.
The Belgian championships are special: as with the Worlds, there's just such a sense of occasion and expectation. There are a lot of ladies present, all immaculately presented. This is on the principle of, 'go to the race, or sit in the hoose!' The organisers are expecting 30-40,000 fans today...the bar-owners are rubbing their hands. There's only one man going to win the right to wear that red, yellow and black jersey for the next twelve months.
Having had Michael Mørkøv’s take on de Ronde, we thought we’d chat to a man a bit closer to home about his experiences in what is at least in the top three of the world’s single day races – along with Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix. The Tour of Flanders was one of the few races left on Russell Downing’s ‘to do’ list – but now he can wear the T-shirt.
The Lake APR: 63 riders took to the start on a bitterly cold - but dry - morning in the village of Bulclyvie. Split into six groups, with a fast scratch which included the previous week's Rosneath winner, Gordon Murdoch of East Kilbride Road Club, as well as the inform Paul Coates of Squadra Via Mazzini Racetool, myself: Stuart Macgregor and Edge pairing of Paul Rennie and Graham McGarritty (who won this race 25 years ago when still a junior!).
Here we are at the start of this year's Vuelta a España in the Galician Town of Vigo - if you don't know where that is, its on the most westerly coast at the most northern bit, just above Portugal, in fact it's only 30 kilometers from Portugal.
Rapha-Condor-Sharp rider James McCallum has pledged his intention to defend his title at the Davie Bell Memorial 2012 Memorial, a 'monument' of Scottish cycling aspiring to join the Premier Calendar series in 2013. The promoting club, Ayr Roads-Harry Fairbairn BMW have already secured 'National A' status for the 47th running of the 100mile event to be held on Sunday June 10th 2012, guaranteeing the best possible line up of British professional and elite cyclists.