You know, it figures that a day after I argue that it never happens, a two-man break gets clear and wins by four seconds. Darn that Nationale Sluitingprijs (“national slutting prize?”), or, as Velogal calls it, Putte-Kapellen. Other than that, not much racing to report on (unless you fancy the “Picolo” Tour of Lombardy, the U23 version of this weekend’s classic). ProCycling has some rider transfers to report on, but honestly, I’m so sick of trying to keep up with them that I’m just gonna feed you links. Seriously. I reported on McEwen’s extension yesterday, when it was on cyclingnews, but apparently, the “world centre [sic] of cycling” is too good to report on all the Davitamo-Lotto contract news, making more work for me the next day, when I find out half the friggin’ team extended. Whatever. I wash my hands of it and offer you instead this interview with their new teammate, Chris Horner.
Speaking of me taking umbrage to more widely-read cycling webpages, my old buddies at VeloNews are at it again. Check out this story, where Bode Miller appears to advocate the use of EPO! Let me save you the trouble of clicking on that link to Ski Racing magazine (which, by the way, is published by the same corporation as VeloNews) and tell you he’s only commented on its use in downhill skiing. Despite Miller’s claims that it would highten awareness, and the likely assumption that it would speed recovery, I feel like EPO is about as performance enhancing for a DH skier as methadone is for a cyclist. Of course, if think you know more than me about it, try to back it up with this suprisingly well-done doping quiz (link is on your lower right) over at WADA. No questions on the quiz about it, but the phrase “shot up” in cycling generally refers to hypodermic injections. Not so in the triathalon world, as a elite-level triathlete was apparently shot with a gun in Oklahoma yesterday. I’d imagine, since her clothing was able to stop the bullet, that it wasn’t nearly as big a deal as it’s made out to be, but the incedent should serve as a reminder to us that no matter how apparent it is that certain triathletes are too skinny to survive the winter, it’s up to mother nature, not us, to cull them out.