1. He’s dressed in red and makes his way through the snow but it’s not Santa. Can you name the rider pictured above?
Andy Hampsten of the 7-Eleven team in the Giro. The American won the race outright in 1988 but the photo looks like it’s from 1989. Among other things today he runs a successful travel company in Italy. The after-dinner tales must be good
The Christmas Quiz
Here’s a selection of questions to test your memory and knowledge of pro cycling, ranging from geography to history, family to money, tech to trivia.
Some are easy, some just can’t be googled and for one or two maybe there’s just no correct answer.
Book Review: Nouveau Cycle
Nouveau Cycle by Pierre Carrey
How was last summer’s Tour de France for you? Chances are the response varies by nationality. It was supreme for many Italians and fantastique for the French with successes, drama and the crowning triumph of two compatriots on the Champs Elysées podium.
This book uses the Tour de France’s summer limelight as means to profile Jean-Christophe Péraud, Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot. It’s not the story of their race but a fuller biography where at times the Tour is almost forgotten. It’s in French but worth sharing with readers of this blog for the insights.
Monday Shorts
Forget Tinkoff-Saxo’s temporary training kit, here’s the real deal on camouflage cycle clothing: the French army cycling team. They’ve been an amateur squad but now turn pro for 2015.
Who Speaks for the Riders?
That’s Luca Paolini and Manuel Quinziato in discussion with officials from the Giro d’Italia following the treacherous circuit around Bari where riders were sliding over the road. It’s often difficult to know who speaks for the riders and there are regular calls for a rider union, a collective body to protect and strengthen the rights of professional cyclists. Only this exists already, it’s called the CPA and every pro is compelled to pay for it. Only few seem to know about it.
As the sport reorganises there’s an alphabet soup of acronyms, each fighting for competing interests. There’s the UCI itself then race organisers like ASO and RCS who themselves are part of the AIOCC, a lobby group for race promoters. There are the teams, the employers, who form several groups for example their collective lobby is the AIGCP and many also subscribe to the MPCC and there’s the newly created Velon too. Will the riders and their union have a say too?
Europcar’s Difficult Ride
Europcar have a training camp in Spain. Only you’d never know, while other teams broadcast the news, the green team is keeping a low profile. Amid all the fuss about Astana’s licence Europcar’s ejection from the World Tour has been a smaller story. It might hope to win wildcard invitations to the top races but that requires a UCI licence and it’s yet to get one of any kind for 2015. This won’t be easy.
Review: Merckx-Ickx Expo
An exhibition depicting the sporting careers of Eddy Merckx and Jacky Ickx, a motorsport champion. Much more than a celebration of two men with -ckx in their name, the pair are friends and approaching their 70th birthdays and this show is tribute to the two and features a lot of material from their private collections.
If you’re in Brussels you must visit, if you’re not in Brussels you should visit.
The ISSUL Performance Criteria
What’s the good news of this week? One improvement is the new audit of the Astana team by the Institute of Sport Sciences of the University of Lausanne (ISSUL) imposed by the UCI as a condition of its licence. As well as the investigation audit which will be finished by February, the team has to sign up for a wide-ranging set of “operational requirements” for the whole year.
The ISSUL guidelines imposed on Astana aren’t just a mechanism to save the team’s licence. Instead they’re set to become a core part of the proposed UCI cycling reforms, compulsory for all teams in a few years. They cover a lot of territory from job insecurity to coaching with the twin themes of doping and money. An article in L’Equipe does a great job in explaining some of these changes and here are some of the highlights.
Spot the Difference
Look closely at the two screengrabs from La Gazzetta dello Sport and see what’s different. Sure see one is more pink, the font is different and the picture changes. But the headlines about Michele Ferrari and a €30 million web of suspect payments and pro cyclist contracts are the same. So what is the big difference? Time.
The first image is from 2012 and the second is from Thursday. Having read both stories they’re almost the same, only the 2014 version has just a bit more detail on the payments and drops more names. Why has the same story come back again?
Licensed to Ride
Astana have got their World Tour licence for 2015 following a late review from the UCI. A shock? Not really because the rules don’t give the Licence Commission much room to exclude a team. It takes a smoking gun, or in the case of Team Europcar, denied a World Tour place, cold arithmetic.
It’s worth remembering a licence is primarily an administrative exercise. The team can exist on paper but it’s going to face headwinds in the coming weeks and months. In fact you wonder whether the sponsors will want to continue?