Valverde did everything wrong

Valverde Piti

I wish I didn’t have to write this. Alejandro Valverde has yet to race in 2012 but is already pedalling some bold claims. The outrageous display of denial by at a Movistar team presentation yesterday can’t go unmentioned. He told the press:

“I haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve always respected the law, my conscience is clean”

For the record, remember he was banned by the Italian Olympic authority CONI in 2009 and then tried to appeal this with the Court of Arbitration for Sport and lost. Then both the UCI and WADA successfully got the ban extended worldwide for 2010 and 2011 via the CAS.

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The 2012 peloton in numbers

There are 18 UCI Pro Tour teams for 2012 comprising 505 riders. Here you can see the oldest and youngest riders, the average age in the bunch and which nation sends the most riders into the top flight of men’s road cycling.

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2012 Race Calendar

World Tour + Olympics

Here is the calendar of 2012 men’s pro races, beginning with the UCI World Tour races, the highest-ranked events and I’ve added the road events from the world championships and the Olympic games. In addition you’ll find the categorisation and points system behind the races explained.

EDIT: a helpful reader has put these races into a Google calendar and there is also an .ics file which can be downloaded and imported, for example with Microsoft Outlook, Apple iPhone or Lotus Notes. See here for more.

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2012 team bikes

Happy New Year!

The season is now just two weeks away with the Tour Down Under. Today marks the day when riders officially start their new jobs and are able to wear the colours of their new teams. With this in mind, here is the list of 2012 Pro Tour team bikes.

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