Cycling fans might have been close to despair this week. Contador’s news was an earthquake and Mosquera and others were big aftershocks. On top of this we’ve seen UCI bumbling and Armstrong’s case continues to attract headlines for the wrong reasons. It’s been a terrible week. But the sun also shone this weekend. First up … Read more
The Irish playwright Samuel Beckett is famous Waiting for Godot, a play where two characters spend an age waiting for the unknown Godot to turn up. I can’t help feel the same is happening for the Bbox lot, the wait goes on for something that might never happen. Beckett originally wrote the play in French … Read more
Can anyone hear me? France’s largest selling newspaper Ouest France reports today that the Bbox team is heading for the buffers. Talks with a potential sponsor for 2011 have collapsed, leaving Jean-René Bernaudeau and his band of brothers stuck for next year. The newspaper suggests the sponsor in question was oil supermajor Total. All is … Read more
Fedrigo: mobile and often hands free I’ve written a couple of time that for a team sponsored by a telecoms company, Bbox-Bouygues Télécom really doesn’t showcase its products. Not one rider uses Twitter, the perfect medium to highlight the mobile network and demonstrate new phones. Weak signalWorse, it seems people on the team are struggling … Read more
Where are they going? It seems the announcement that will save the band of brothers over at Bbox-Bouygues Télécom is taking its time to get through. In today’s Equipe the team’s top rider Thomas Voeckler says he’s had his best ever season – he won in Montreal – but that he’s still waiting for news … Read more
When will J-R Bernaudeau speak?What’s going on with the BBox-Bouygues Télécom cycling team? The team has been hunting for a replacement sponsor for some time but as yet, nothing has been announced. There are rumours but there’s still some confusion. Riders have apparently been briefed that Bouygues (a media, TV and telecoms conglomerate) will back … Read more
Astana and Katusha are two cycling teams with state sponsors, sports teams that are designed to radiate the national glory of the motherland. Well now there could be a third state-sponsored cycling team: Vendée. The Vendée is a small départment in France that’s not famous for a great deal. But in order to spread the … Read more
Sorry but I’m not going to write a big Tour de France preview. They all say the same thing: Contador’s the favourite Andy Schleck’s his closest challenge Those cobbles could cost someone the race Can Wiggins go better? Eugene Christophe broke his forks in the Pyrenees …I could go on, take a look at some … Read more
Cyclingnews.com are reporting that BBox-Bouygues Télécom manager Jean-René Bernaudeau is close to a deal with a new sponsor for 2011. The existing sponsor announced some time ago it was retiring and the race has been on to find a new sponsor. Arguably it’s helped the team, they’ve been strong and taken wins when you might … Read more
Rouleur or ronin? Likeable BBox-Bouygues Télécom rider Yukiya Arashiro is increasingly popular in Japan. Having just finished the Giro, with a third place on one stage, he is now available as a plastic toy in Japan. Photo: cyclismag.com