It’s turning into the never-ending story. What could have been a quick medical matter is turning into an ethical saga that’s now being played out across the British media. The leaked revelation that Bradley Wiggins injected cortisone on the eve of major races shows a grey area where private medical needs meet a history of steroid abuse in sport. This matter should have been cleared up but rumbles on.
Jack Bobridge is the next to have a go at cycling’s Hour Record. Once the record was very prestigous but today it seems to be a record cherished within cycling rather than beyond it. However it is the ultimate chance to define and redefine a career.
Last year I nominated a dozen riders to watch for 2014 from promising neo-pros to established world champions. It’s been a mixed year with success, surprise and some misfortune. What happened?
As the 2014 season approaches here is a selection of riders to watch for. I’ve picked six established riders who face different challenges in the new year and six young riders who could impress but first have to bunnyhop the chasm from amateur and pro.
Where’s Wiggo? A year ago Bradley Wiggins was all over the media. But now he’s almost vanished from sight, understandable if he wants a quiet family life away from being doorstepped by the paparazzi. But he’s dropped off the radar too in the quieter and normally more reasonable world of cycling world. We know Chris Froome’s aiming to repeat his Tour success and Richie Porte wants the Giro. But the best journalists don’t know what Wiggins has planned. Some talk of Paris-Roubaix, the Tour de France, maybe a return to track cycling and maybe a look at the Hour Record?
What’s the secret of Team Sky’s success? One element is money as the squad has one of the highest budgets in the sport.
Sky are the only major pro team to publish their accounts and the latest set have just been filed. So here’s a look at the numbers from the headline budget down items like the spend on travel, rider transfers and equipment.
Strava Doping – Wiggins spotted – Contract Time – Team Rankings – Europcar’s lease ending – Corsica – Novikov – New EPO test
Can you imagine what it feels like to lose a race to an EPO user? The doper gets the trophy, the cash prize and the salary boost. If it feels far away then perhaps many more ordinary cyclists will now get the same feeling of rage with the advent of Strava doping. The popular online network allows users to record their times on various segments, such as a local hill. But there’s now a website called Digital EPO which promises to “juice your ride.”
With the race four days away, time to run through the list of contenders for the race. Bradley Wiggins and Vincenzo Nibali appear to stand above the others but fortunately there’s no script.
One big difference this year is amount of foreign contenders. In recent years the Giro has looked like the Italian stage race championships but now riders are coming from as far as Canada, Britain and Australia to win the race.
Bradley Wiggins is reaching audiences well beyond the circle of pro cycling with his guitar performances. For years he would take a guitar from race to race and now the effort looks worthwhile.
But he’s not the only Tour de France winner to get musical. The image above is a record sleeve with with five times Tour winner Bernard Hinault in a relaxed lean on the right of the image. Laurent Olivier is the “musician,” a term that merits quotation marks as you will discover below. Renault team manager Cyrille Guimard stands on the left.
Having covered the highlights of year over the past few days, time to reflect on what went wrong. There’s less to celebrate but more to learn. Here are five of the lows, again a personal selection.