The Giant-Alpecin team is off to a great start with Marcel Kittel winning the first race of the year. New for 2015 is sponsor Alpecin, a brand of shampoo from Germany. It’s got caffeine inside, the idea is it will stimulate the roots of your hair. Does it work?
The Shark of the Straits. If you followed the Tour de France you’ll have heard or read about Vincenzo Nibali’s nickname, perhaps to the point of exhaustion at the repetition.
Such nicknames have a long tradition, they bring a touch of character and caricature as well as a sense of place.
South Africa’s Ballz Radio has an interview with Phil Liggett. After yesterday’s send up of James Bond by Cipollini, now it’s the turn of the “voice of cycling” with explosive claims that secretive agents attempted to bribe and corrupt witness testimony against Lance Armstrong.
After all the talk of statistics, probability and law, here’s something quite different courtesy of French TV show Les Guignols. Fast forward to 3m35s for the relevant bit in the clip above (Flash Player needed).
I’ve been away for the last two weeks and in my absence cued up series of posts including a caption competition for the above photo from cyclingnews.com.
I had to reach back in time to find this photo as normally not much happens at this time of year. Little did I know Alberto Contador would jump out of a plane during this time providing many caption-worthy photos.
For me the winning comment was OJT:
McQuaid: Where should I aim?
Di Luca: I don’t care, just try to avoid your foot this time
They say a picture says a thousand words and I think this one from cyclingnews.com says plenty.
We have Alberto Contador in a yellow jersey branded with the Discovery channel, UCI President Pat McQuaid holding a gun, Danilo Di Luca winner and the man in the grey suit is Jan Jannsen, the first Dutchman to win the Tour de France.
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Skil-Shimano will become Project 1t4i in 2012, a holding name until the new sponsor is named. They revealed their kit over the weekend.
This is worth watching as the squad is trying something new. Once a small Dutch squad, they’ve got ambitions for more. They aim to create a team based in one place with open access for fans and the media. The new sponsor will be a “European multinational” but its identity is not yet known. But the team’s press releases come in four languages: English, French, Dutch… and German.
Rumours say it’s likely to be Bosch, the German industrial group that owns the Skil brand amongst others. Speculation aside, Skoda and HP are on board as well as Shimano. Despite Kittel’s wins the team probably doesn’t have enough points for the top league for 2012 but hopefully this is a long term story.
The Tour of Britain is riding through Wales. A fan stands by the roadside with a smartphone to record the moment and HTC-Highroad’s Bernhard Eisel rides past. Then something happens. The clip has been doing the rounds on twitter but social media can be a bit of closed loop with everyone following each other so … Read more
Jimmy Casper races a trotting horse over 500m in Amiens. This time the horse wins but it seems course played a big part with Casper struggling to get full traction. Note a typical trotting rig can have as much carbon technology as race bike. French manufacturer Corima makes both carbon bike wheels and disc wheels … Read more
I feel like I’m running out of Roman numerals with these reviews. There are more and more. That’s a good thing. Next is the Velo Club Don Logan podcast. I’ve written before that I was a fan of the now-defunct Velocast. When it died, the VCDL sprung up and it’s gone from strength to strength. … Read more