Lance Armstrong has long been a figure of suspicion but today’s revelations in Sports Illustrated include new allegations and more detail on stories that you might have seen before. Down and out? Rather than comments on the specifics, although I’d urge to read the article, I wanted to take a longer look at things. Federal … Read more
The image below is a cropped screenshot from cyclingnews.com this evening. I’ve annotated it to show where the stories come from. You can click on it to enlarge the image. In summary of the 20 headlined stories, only one – a chat with Mark Renshaw – is certainly original to cyclingnews.com and perhaps a second … Read more
Winning is very difficult in cycling. With 200 riders on the start line your chances are low. So it’s no surprise to see many take satisfaction in the lesser places, finishing in the top-10 in the Tour de France is a great result. Indeed it’s not uncommon to see a rider aim for the top-10. … Read more
More is known about the Loch Ness monster than Team Luxembourg A follow up to the piece about the backers of the Luxembourg team. I got a comment saying I was right about the business biographies of the trio… but wrong about their involvement in the team. If so then it goes without saying I’ll … Read more
“We have more signings still to come. So far we’ve signed Alex Dowsett, who’s a great prologue rider and has come through the British system, we have the Spaniards, Xabier Zondo and Rigoberto Uran and Mick Rogers” So went Team Sky’s Dave Brailsford in an interview with Velonews’s Steve Thomas. It’s in quotation marks, implying … Read more
Towers of strength Etorre Torre is the chief prosectutor for the Italian national Olympic commission. The fact that the Olympics organisation has its own chief prosecutor should tell us enough. Torri is their anti-doping terrier. Here’s American writer Sam Abt on the man: Italy, for the past two decades the hub of doping scandals and … Read more
Just a brief point. Obviously Alberto Contador’s reputation is on the line, or more appropriately at steak. In situations like this, goodwill matters. You need support, friends, luck and the benefit of doubt. The Spaniard might have the backing of his national federation, after all they stood by Alejandro Valverde for way too long. Only … Read more