Thursday Shorts

Here’s a film about another sport. Only the clip seems all too familiar given the subject matter. There’s no doubt other sports have big problems when it comes to doping but I’ve got mixed views when cyclists start saying “look at other sports!” as it can look like deflection when we need to focus on the problems at home.

Cross-country skiing is similar to cycling in that it is one of the most aerobic sports going and therefore blood doping turns the results upside down as the advantages are so big. As well as the theme of doping, the idea of national heroes being taken down seems familiar too, no?

Read more

Riders To Watch for 2012 – What Happened?

Amstel Gold Race Jelle Vanendert

Last year I nominated a dozen riders to watch in 2012, from promising neo-pros to Chris Froome and Thomas Voeckler to see how these two would fare after their Vuelta and Tour de France performances in 2011. It’s been a mixed year and now it’s time to check in on their performances this year.

Read more

Urs Freuler, Moustache World Champion

Several pro riders are taking part in “Movember” the sponsored charity attempt at growing a mustache. It’s hit many of the Aussie bunch including honorary members like Koen de Kort and more. For a good view of their progress, head over to Cycling Tips.

But these pros have a long way to go if they want to rival Urs Freuler, a man who made the ‘stache his trademark. In fact he’s still got it today.

Read more

2012 in Statistics

André Greipel Cavendish sprint

I enjoy cycling for the suspense, drama and action. But analysis sometimes means using cold numbers and hard data and often these  confound what we think. Here’s a look back at 2012 via some numbers, from the most victorious rider of the year to the nation with the most pro wins as well as other stats from the season.

Read more

Sunday Shorts

Gianni Meersman

Gianni Meersman had a great start to the season, proving a useful finisher with a stage win in Paris-Nice for example. Now he’s leaving Lotto-Belisol, exploiting a break clause in his contract if the squad does not make it into the World Tour for 2013. The team seem to think they will and as set out during the week on here, his ranking points count for the squad on the 20 October deadline. Now he’s gone the team get to keep his points whilst the licence is decided but are liable for a giant fine, from 10,000 to 500,000 Swiss Francs (about the same sum in US dollars) under UCI rules. Ouch.

Read more

Cyclocross Magazine review

cyclocross magazine

This blog covers road cycling but given a trial subscription of Cyclocross Magazine for review I thought it was worth a look. The sport is growing fast in the US and this magazine covers plenty of the scene there as well as covering the international races in Belgium and beyond.

Read more

The Last Kilometer

The Last Kilometer is a documentary film featuring Davide Rebellin and Ignazio Moser, two riders with over 20 years of age in between. It also includes press room legend Gianni Mura, sometimes known as one of the few journalists to still use a typewriter but hopefully better know for his great prose and knowledge.

Read more

Wednesday Shorts

Frank Schleck

With news this week that Andy Schleck will ride the Tour Down Under there’s no word on his older brother. The update on the Frank Schleck case is that there is no update. He tested positive in the Tour de France 120 days ago now and he’s yet to be cleared or convicted of an anti-doping violation. The case should be a black and white case because the rules say any rider who tests positive for the banned substance in question gets punished unless they can prove to comfortable satisfaction where it came from and that ingestion was wholly accidental. But when the news broke Schleck said he didn’t know where it came from, throwing this defence out of the window. Therefore a two year ban awaits.

Read more

Advertise on The Inner Ring

The website’s been well supported by Selle Italia in recent times but all good things come to an end and there will soon be space for someone else to follow in the slipstream of Strada Wheels, Competitive Cyclist, Seven Cycles, Ride Cycle Review and Selle Italia.

Read more