2010: Best Historic Re-enactment

Agitator or Agincourt? After finally landing a decent win after a very troubled season – injury, setbacks and his own brother jailed for drug smuggling – Mark Cavendish finally won a race. Only rather than celebrating with a display of relief and pride, he stuck two fingers up at the media and by extension, the … Read more

2010: Best Excuse for Crashing

Extra All riders get caught up in crashes. I’d call Haussler’s Swiss roll with Cavendish as unfair but part of the game. But sometimes riders hit the deck for stranger reasons. Indeed Christian Vande Velde is almost a connoisseur of tarmac. He’s shown flashes of brilliance and if fans are frustrated by his lack of … Read more

Highlights of 2010

I’m not a fan of all those end of year reviews, the countless lists and retrospectives. So it’s with a bit of contradiction that I want to revisit what was my best day’s racing of 2010 and during the week, a few look backs at other events. My only justification is that what’s below isn’t … Read more

Best Wishes

I’m going to take a break for a few days on here. If we saw Chris White issue an interesting press release about the Pegasus team on what was Christmas morning in Australia, I certainly won’t be on here for the holidays. Best wishes to you all and here’s hoping 2011 is a good one … Read more

Spanish Farmers Divided Over Contador

Whilst some farmers have been in uproar over the idea that their cattle are doped, it seems others are adopting a more generous stance towards Alberto Contador and his allegations. Andy Schleck preferred the lamb Cyclismactu.net reports that a letter has been sent directly to UCI President Pat McQuaid warning that some unscrupulous parts of … Read more

The Pegasus Questions

In the wake of the collapse of the Australian Pegasus project it seems plenty are willing to have their say. We’ve had a press release from Cycling Australia and even the UCI felt it worth adding its voice in a curiously worded press release. French fans never got a taste of Pegasus But despite all … Read more

The UCI and lessons from Africa

The image above is a screenshot swiped from the Osun Defender, a Nigerian newspaper. It’s exposing corruption, in this case the award of a construction contract for a sports stadium to a family member. Or look to Sierra Leone, where a contract to supply the country’s army with rice just happened to go to the … Read more

Foal Play Down Under?

Pegasus, the team named after a mythical horse, believed it secured a last minute reprise and sent new documentation to Switzerland. This turned out to be unsatisfactory and the UCI sent the team to the knacker’s yard. I could write plenty about this process being unsatisfactory, it should not be the case that a team … Read more

Housekeeping

I got an email from a reader saying the Cavendish piece below wasn’t suitable for many readers at work. I agree. It’s the first time I’d put a semi-nude pic on here and should have realised it could be sensitive for some. I’m all for a light-hearted tone at times and I suspect many readers … Read more

Cavendish makes the front pages

As well as celebrity gossip about footballers and the royal family, a regular feature of The Sun, Britain’s top selling “newspaper”, is the Page 3 Girl. Every day a big picture of a semi-naked woman appears on page 3 of the newspaper, to the delights of the largely male readership (and the desperation of the … Read more