Twitter Dropping Knowledge on Cycling

Ah, I love twitter. Practically does my job for me. Yesterday, I posited to the Internets that Rock Racing was little more than a drain-sieve for washed up dopers. And some dude said I was crazy. Oh yeah, Rayh62? Then what about this? Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael Ball went so far as to exhume the body of Marco Pantani for cloning to shore up his roster and supporting cast. And has anyone seen Richard Virenque recently?

Speaking of some fishy deals, did anyone see Juan Jose Cobo at Castilla y Leon yesterday? I know at least one Twitterer did, though they didn’t go the extra mile to say exactly what this might mean. More interesting, perhaps, was the race behind, in which Alberto Contador politely escorted Levi Leipheimer to the line with the American’s race lead intact. All you people flapping your gums about the supposed Astana Drama this season, please—have you ever seen Johan Bruyneel DS a stage race before? He can screw up a Classic like nobody’s business, but for multi-day events, no one keeps it locked down tighter.

Now Damiano Cunego—there’s a guy who’s stirred up some drama. Every time I see him win a mountaintop finish, I reflexively search for the obligatory whine quote from Gilberto Simoni. I never thought I’d say this, but I miss Simoni. I can’t wait for the Giro to start, just to get him back in the headlines. He’s probably the cleanest rider—along with Alessandro Petacchi—to ever serve a dope suspension. Though with WADA’s ever-growing vigilance, I think we can expect a few more riders to be unwittingly added to their club.

As I look forward to the weekend, things seem a bit “>soft on the racing front, at least in light of the fireworks awaiting us in the weeks upcoming. The only thing killing my enthusiasm for the spring classics is, as always, race organizers shutting the key players out of their biggest races. I realize organizers have reasons, everything from past indiscretions to being too awesome, but it’s a backward attempt.

And I’ll leave off expanding on that until later…

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