I’ve sometimes wondered about Aldo Sassi. He’s an Italian sports scientist who today runs the Mapei Sport centre, a training service offered to pros and amateurs alike. He’s hung around with some suspicious types in the past but today he’s seen at the forefront of clean sport. He makes a virtue of coaching riders … Read more
Pat McQuaid might be a familiar name to you. The Irishman is President of cycling’s governing body the UCI and by definition one of the most powerful men in the sport. But he’s not the only McQuaid in the sport. Allow me to introduce the other McQuaids. Next in the series is David McQuaid, the … Read more
Towers of strength Etorre Torre is the chief prosectutor for the Italian national Olympic commission. The fact that the Olympics organisation has its own chief prosecutor should tell us enough. Torri is their anti-doping terrier. Here’s American writer Sam Abt on the man: Italy, for the past two decades the hub of doping scandals and … Read more
Don’t know much about history,Don’t know much biology,Don’t know much about a science book,Don’t know much about the French I took Sam Cooke clearly wasn’t a follower of pro cycling. One of the weirder aspects of following pro cycling is that as well as learning about 11 speed gearing, European geography and foreign languages, you … Read more
Two quick points I’ve been thinking about. Too long to put on Twitter, too short for a separate blog post. Here goes…Electric BikesThe Cancellara electric bike story was one of the most read items on here in the Spring, especially since I think the Inner Ring was first to break the story in English. The … Read more
Only a few days ago I was singing the praises of the UCI World Tour as an idea that had its merits given the way the ProTour flopped. For me the biggest attraction of the new World Tour is a calendar finally including all the big races like the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, Paris-Roubaix … Read more
It’s been an incredible year for Cadel Evans. His success a year ago in Mendrisio, Switzerland was a home win with his European home is minutes away from the circuit. Coincidently his Australian home is also minutes from the circuit in Geelong. The world title in 2009 transformed him, something that’s been pointed out by … Read more
I’d been led to believe that the UCI was working behind the scenes to clear Alberto Contador and wrote about in the piece below. The idea was simple, that the damage of seeing the reigning Tour de France champion being banned would be huge and therefore heaven and earth plus the WADA code was being … Read more
Will Contador take aim at the WADA code? Cui bono? That’s Latin for “who benefits”. The phrase has lasted for over 2,000 years because when people do things you need to understand the incentives behind their actions. In this case, let’s ask ourselves who benefits from seeing Contador banned? Arguably WADA and fans who want … Read more
Cycling fans might have been close to despair this week. Contador’s news was an earthquake and Mosquera and others were big aftershocks. On top of this we’ve seen UCI bumbling and Armstrong’s case continues to attract headlines for the wrong reasons. It’s been a terrible week. But the sun also shone this weekend. First up … Read more