I wrote something last year about Garmin’s “no needles” policy and promised to ask every team what their policy was regarding the use of needles with a view to seeing who is doing what. The results were frankly boring and not worth following up, the standard reply was “we comply with WADA guidelines” over and … Read more
The image is from yesterday’s Paris-Nice. With 1.7km to go, the HTC-Highroad sprint train is trying to set the pace and race leader Thomas de Gendt interrupts things with an impulsive late attack. In less than 90 seconds’ time Sky’s Greg Henderson will win the stage. But look closely and HTC-Highroad’s Matt Goss is having … Read more
You might already have heard of Jérôme Coppel. If not, then maybe you’ll be hearing a lot more about him. Twice a medallist in the U-23 World Time Trial Championships, the Frenchman turned pro with FDJ and after two years moved to Saur-Sojasun for 2010. Although he was relatively discreet results-wise, FDJ’s Marc Madiot was … Read more
The Giro will invite Acqua et Sapone, Androni Giocatelli, Farnese Vini, Colnago-CSF Inox and Geox. It was hard to leave any of these teams out, given the presence of Garzelli, Serpa, Visconti, Modolo and Belleti, Menchov and Sastre respectively. Indeed normally only four wildcards would be announced as the race is capped at 200 riders … Read more
I’ve just heard French journalist Jean-Paul Brouchon announce that the wind is “terrible, blowing at 80km/h” near the finish of Stage 2 in Paris-Nice. Conventional weather reports suggests it’s much calmer but that a 20km/h breeze is possible. Note the map of the stage, in particular the section at the end. The race heads in … Read more
The Swiss voted recently on a referendum for tighter gun controls. They rejected the proposal. The small Alpine state has one of the highest gun ownership rates in the world, a figure especially high for Europe. I can’t help wonder if a ready supply of firearms explains why the UCI is limping. The Swiss-based governing … Read more
When I wrote the piece for Bicycling, I put a copy of it here on The Inner Ring too. I included a quote from Dutch rider Theo De Rooij who described the misery of riding Paris-Roubaix… but he’d jump at the chance to come back the following year and do it again. 25 years ago … Read more
I feel like I’m running out of Roman numerals with these reviews. There are more and more. That’s a good thing. Next is the Velo Club Don Logan podcast. I’ve written before that I was a fan of the now-defunct Velocast. When it died, the VCDL sprung up and it’s gone from strength to strength. … Read more
I got an email from the guys at Bicycling asking if I’d consider submitting some words for a guest blog. As Bicycling Magazine puts it, “editor Bill Strickland is taking a short break from his blog The Selection to do a little extra work on the print magazine for Bicycling” and they’ve got some other … Read more
Tuesday’s item on TV broadcasts and pirate internet streams generated plenty of comments and reaction. It became clear fans around the world appreciate any kind of video. Did you know many race organisers pay for TV coverage? Whilst events like the Tour de France or Giro d’Italia can name their price in front of the … Read more