Katusha Chaos

Rodriguez

A quick post to examine what’s next for the sport after the Court of Arbitration ruled last Friday that the Russian teams should go back in World Tour.

The ruling might have left the team celebrating their good news but there’s still a smoky veil of uncertainty over what comes next and a headache for the UCI and others. If they are promoted will someone get relegated? And how can a professional sport have promotion and relegation scenarios that get decided during the season by Swiss court hearings?

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Sunday Shorts

Chris Froome Oman

Chris Froome won the Tour of Oman. Watching him attack with 1km to go on Stage 5 was a strange moment. It was exciting but not the usual “safety-first” tactics deployed by Team Sky where a rider will often only attack if backed-up by a team mate or if it’s clear they’ll go away. Froome’s move had risk all over it, if caught he left himself exposed to a counter-attack. But it all worked out and he won his first ever stage race.

More urgently perhaps, Thor Hushovd’s win was his first win since September 2011. All of a sudden we’re seeing old and new comes coming to the fore ahead of the classics season that’s now less than a week away with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad next Saturday.

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Roads to Ride – Col de la République

As the seventh part of a series to explore the famous roads of cycling, here is the Col de la République in the France’s Massif Central. The idea is to discover the road and its place in the world, whether as part of cycling’s history or to look at the route on a day without racing and it is open to all.

The République has a grand name, as if it is the pass of the entire French republic but in fact its origins are more bizarre. Also known as the Grand Bois, it lacks altitude but when it comes to cycling it’s arguably one of the most influential roads in France. It was the first ever high altitude col to be used by the Tour de France in 1903 and is the spiritual home of Paul de Vivie, the man who invented the word cyclotourisme and whose seven commandments of cycling still form the basis of any pre-race team briefing.

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A Team With a Difference

Saturday sees the Trofeo Laigueglia race, now the season-opening race in Italy now the GP Etruschi has vanished. Only it’s not just the start of the Italian season but also the arrival of a new team from Africa MTN-Qhubeka. Each term has a story to tell behind the kit and branding but this one stands out.

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Thanks to Seven Cycles

Seven Cycles are advertising for February and it’s a custom to say thanks in public for their support. The US framebuilder is here for a month with their ad on the top right of the page. They offer a range of custom built carbon, titanium and steel frames and to find out more, click on the ad to visit their site and learn more. You’ll land on a custom page, a nice touch.

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Katusha CAS Crash Course

Joaquim Rodriguez Oman

Joaquim Rodriguez won the Queen Stage of the Tour of Oman today but his future and that of his team is being decided this week. The latest is that Switzerland’s Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will announce its verdict on the Katusha team tomorrow morning. The Russian team was surprisingly ejected at the eleventh hour from the UCI World Tour with little explanation given.

The shocked team appealed the decision. What can we expect from this verdict? It seems the team has the odds against them but if they do win it could turn undermine the very concept of the World Tour. Here’s a look at the likely scenarios, the rules and more.

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Book Review: The Death of Marco Pantani

Marco Pantani book

It might be St Valentines today but scanning Twitter it’s Pantani day to commemorate his death on this day in 2004 and the excitement he generated during his life.

There are a lot of books about Marco Pantani. Most are Italian. There’s a French one by Philippe Brunel, La Vie et Mort de Marco Pantani which is a good account. Brunel shuttles back and forth between France and Italy, Paris and Rimini to piece together the last moments of Pantani’s life and seems so suggest Pantani was a victim of conspiracies, whether his ejection from the Giro whilst leading the race, or his death in a hotel room.

But The Death of Marco Pantani is surely the best, being well-researched and a full biography of Pantani, from his early days to the post mortem.

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Hein Verbruggen’s Olympic Rant

Hein Verbruggen

The UCI’s Honorary President Hein Verbruggen delivered a letter to the members of the International Olympic Committee’s 15 member board yesterday, a copy of which has been obtained by insidethegames.biz.

Verbruggen denies involvement in any cover-up involving Lance Armstrong and doping although the explanations furnished are, as we’ll explore, not exactly firm arguments. But above all the letter is an extraordinary attack on the World Anti-Doping Agency, both in substance and tone.

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The Outskirts of France

Cycling is a great way to see France, not only does the scenery change but so does the food in your plate. The Tour de France in July is the obvious highlight but the season stretches across 118 days from the GP d’Ouverture La Marseillaise in January to the Chrono des Nations in October.

But if France often prides itself on a reputation for tourism and gastronomy the pro cyclist rarely sees this side. Whilst TV images show châteaux and vineyards, the riders face concrete motels and oleaginous pasta.

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Pro Cycling Calendar – Download and Update

Here’s the calendar for the 2013 season. You’ll find all the prime pro races in the world for men and women. This was first published last October. Since then races have been cancelled, others have been abbreviated or seen the dates change. Some of the dates on the UCI calendar were provisional and a few were wrong.

So if you downloaded the iCal file before be sure to get the latest edition as the calendar is regularly updated to reflect changes on the calendar. You can also subscribe so this is done automatically for you.

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