My first thought is that Alex Rasmussen looks like a lazy idiot, he could throw away a career and a decent contract with a top team simply because he didn’t think about updating his Whereabouts. It’s annoying but it is the duty of a pro .
But as ever, there are rules and after taking a look at them, my thoughts are a bit more confused. You see, there’s a chance that Rasmussen is free to ride.
Here’s the press release issued by the HTC-Highroad team. I don’t normally copy n’paste press releases but many were asking what is happening via twitter and so here’s the press release and some thoughts from myself tacked on below.
Yesterday Jeannie Longo’s husband Patrice Ciprelli was buried alive under newsprint allegations from L’Equipe but strictly speaking, Jeannie Longo is not named. For the time being, I’ll put that aside and want to revisit the first allegation, of three no shows for anti-doping controls. I’m concerned about favouritism.
If the “merger” between Radioshack and Leopard took people by surprise, perhaps it shouldn’t be too much of a revelation. Because Leopard team boss Flavio Becca has already made a name for himself in the world of sports thanks to combining teams.
That’s a video of the World Championship circuit in Rudersal near Copenhagen. Note the on-screen altitude profile so if you are pressed for time, fast forward to the hills.
Yes, the hills. When you see the rises en route they are certainly not big. But the Worlds is all about repetition and attrition. They’ll do 17 laps and by the last three laps I suspect the bunch will be thinned down. As much as everyone says this is a course for sprinters, it is clearly hillier than Zolder, perhaps the last true Worlds finish for sprinters in 2002. The course could suit the likes of Philippe Gilbert and Robert Gesink.
A quick housekeeping post, it’s not cycling related and feel free to ignore if you’re not a reader via RSS.
A quick item to ask what you look for in a clothing review. Some clothing has turned up from Hincapie Sports and I intend to give it a full and thorough review. My starting point is some long term testing and checking all the small things, like the quality of every seam to how easy … Read more
A follow-up to the story of Astana, the UCI’s and Andrey Kireyev. The Vuelta a España is over and Andrey Kasheckin finished the Vuelta in 89th place.
As background the Kazakh rider transferred from Lampre to Astana in August, a mix of push and pull. He wanted to ride the Vuelta and wasn’t entirely happy with the Lombard team; Astana wanted more Kazakh riders.
Regular readers will know this prompted a small farce whereby Astana was allowed to recruit Kasheckin in breach of UCI rules on team size… yet oddly the UCI approved the move. Once the breech of rules was pointed out, first by L’Equipe, you could hear the sound of back-pedalling and faced with a surplus rider, suddenly Roman Kireyev developed a back injury, rendering him permanently unable to race again. Soon after finishing the gruelling Tour de l’Ain in a 40th place.
The Tour de France is such a big event that you’d think cycling is a big sport in France. Perhaps but it’s a long way from other sports. Here’s a scan across the airwaves, news stands and servers.
