Flanders weather forecast

The prince owns everything in the kingdom, except the wind.Victor Hugo. Cold weather and rain showers are forecast for Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. The top temperature on the day won’t go beyond 13°C and there will be showers all weekend to keep the cobbles dry. The wind could also play a part in the race, … Read more

The Brits are coming (back)

With the confirmation of Team Sky’s selection for the Tour de France one thing is almost July already: Sky will do better than the last British team to take part. Blue Peter greenhorns(image from Cycling Weekly) Back in 1987, for near-inexplicable reasons, the Tour de France invited British team ANC-Halfords. Allied National Couriers was a … Read more

Glancing back

Here are the three most popular postings from the past month: Bradley Wiggins: The Low Down, a look at how the British rider’s position on the bike has changed substantially. Who’s Peter Sagan? I wrote a small profile following his second place in the bunch sprint in the Paris-Nice stage into Limoges, only for him … Read more

The wealthiest men in cycling

I don’t get too excited by money but I am interested in business. So here’s a question, who is the wealthiest man in cycling? In looking for the answers, we can see some clues into yesterday’s Tour de France team selections. It’s vintage Krug, you know I can almost hear people saying Lance Armstrong. Good … Read more

Le Tour teams: Prudhomme explains

So we know the teams who have been picked for the Tour. But why did Prudhomme take BMC? Well for ASO’s Race Director it was a “logical” choice. In an interview with L’Equipe (in French) he explains things. I’ll translate… Was the last spot between Cadel Evans’s team and the others?“As soon as Cadel Evans … Read more

Radioshack brings Armstrong out of hiding

I’ve written about the way US retailer Radioshack has no mention of Armstrong and Team Radioshack on its website. Despite signing a sponsorship deal nine months ago, one of the most marketable men in sport was almost in hiding. Later on I added an update mentioning that the company had been reading my words. Well … Read more

Bottled hypocrisy

Liquigas have won a court case againt Manuel Beltran, see cyclingnews.com for the full story. I think they were right to take taken Beltran to court following his positive test for doping in the midst of the 2008 Tour de France. The Spaniard caused the team embarrassment and reputational damage and if grounds exist to … Read more

Trackside Gossip

– Cervélo Test Team’s Theo Bos did a track test the other day and clocked 10.2s for the 200m. He’d broken the world record with 9.7s in the past so he’s slower these days… but only just. – France’s Grégory Baugé is thinking of swapping the track for … track and field. Not cycling but … Read more

Fédrigo frustration

Frenchman Pierrick Fédrigo won the Critérium International over the weekend thanks to a strong display on the Col de l’Ospedale when he left the likes of Evans, Contador and Rogers trailing. Bravo! FlashbackI’ve long kept an eye on him since he beat me in a race a good 10 or 12 years ago. I remember … Read more

The wrong sort of rivalry: Armstrong vs. Contador

The history of our sport has some wonderful rivalries, think of Bobet and Coppi, Anquetil and Poulidor (pictured) or Moser and De Vlaminck. Today we see Contador and Armstrong but for me this contest is not the same. These two are not disputing the biggest races of the calendar, they are disputing the headlines. It’s … Read more