Longo and French bias

Jalabert + Lappartient

Yesterday Jeannie Longo’s husband Patrice Ciprelli was buried alive under newsprint allegations from L’Equipe but strictly speaking, Jeannie Longo is not named. For the time being, I’ll put that aside and want to revisit the first allegation, of three no shows for anti-doping controls. I’m concerned about favouritism.

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Leopard boss Becca’s merger history

FC Dudelange

If the “merger” between Radioshack and Leopard took people by surprise, perhaps it shouldn’t be too much of a revelation. Because Leopard team boss Flavio Becca has already made a name for himself in the world of sports thanks to combining teams.

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The Copenhagen circuit, for sprinters?

That’s a video of the World Championship circuit in Rudersal near Copenhagen. Note the on-screen altitude profile so if you are pressed for time, fast forward to the hills.

Yes, the hills. When you see the rises en route they are certainly not big. But the Worlds is all about repetition and attrition. They’ll do 17 laps and by the last three laps I suspect the bunch will be thinned down. As much as everyone says this is a course for sprinters, it is clearly hillier than Zolder, perhaps the last true Worlds finish for sprinters in 2002. The course could suit the likes of Philippe Gilbert and Robert Gesink.

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What do you look for in a review?

A quick item to ask what you look for in a clothing review. Some clothing has turned up from Hincapie Sports and I intend to give it a full and thorough review. My starting point is some long term testing and checking all the small things, like the quality of every seam to how easy … Read more

Was it worth it?

Kasheckin Vuelta

A follow-up to the story of Astana, the UCI’s and Andrey Kireyev. The Vuelta a España is over and Andrey Kasheckin finished the Vuelta in 89th place.

As background the Kazakh rider transferred from Lampre to Astana in August, a mix of push and pull. He wanted to ride the Vuelta and wasn’t entirely happy with the Lombard team; Astana wanted more Kazakh riders.

Regular readers will know this prompted a small farce whereby Astana was allowed to recruit Kasheckin in breach of UCI rules on team size… yet oddly the UCI approved the move. Once the breech of rules was pointed out, first by L’Equipe, you could hear the sound of back-pedalling and faced with a surplus rider, suddenly Roman Kireyev developed a back injury, rendering him permanently unable to race again. Soon after finishing the gruelling Tour de l’Ain in a 40th place.

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The French media landscape

Kiosk

The Tour de France is such a big event that you’d think cycling is a big sport in France. Perhaps but it’s a long way from other sports. Here’s a scan across the airwaves, news stands and servers.

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For new readers

Tour de Suisse 1956
Before Hoogerland

In my absence this week I have queued up a few articles but for today I’m raking up the past.

The number of readers seems to go up and up so chances are that many of you have missed a few past pieces, especially from the early days of the blog. Much content is related to the news and results but there are some pieces that are still relevant today.

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Padania, the flag and the tour

I am away so it’s time to reprise and old item from October 2010 but relevant to the sport today…

Followers of cycling will note that the finish of a race often sees many flags and banners being waved. My favourite is the “Dirk Hoffman Motorhomes” board, a common sight in Belgian classics. It’s inevitable, the finish line is filmed in detail and the images are repeated on news broadcasts. In other words, it’s valuable airtime.

I’ve written before about the Lion of Flanders flags and how these are often openly political symbols. Well the same is true in Italy too. Anyone watching the arrival of the Tour of Lombardy can’t have missed the giant Padania flags waving over the finish line.

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