Well, the Tour wild cards are in: France’s Agritubel will be making their first appearance, while Communitat Valencia, formerly Kelme, will be returning for this first time since the Manzano Affair broke. Team CV was also invited to the Vuelta, along with Relax-GAM, while earlier this week, the Giro selected Panaria and Selle Italia, the…
Report Variation in Murica, A New Type of "Unfit"
It’s like there are two sides to every story, or something. Check out VeloNews’ write-up of Stage 1 of the Tour of Murica -“his native Australia”- then have a look at the Cyclingnews results – “1 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner”. Turns out both are right, as the kid left the Land of Oz for Deutschland…
It was Zorzoli All Along, Results, Bettini v. Boonen
After an exciting week of racing, the cycling media now turns, as it must, to doping, in the interest of holding the public’s attention. Remember back in August, when l’Equipe came out with the “Armstrong was doping in 1999” story? Then there was a big fuss between the UCI and WADA, and a lot of…
Het Volk, KBK, Tour of California Wrap-Ups
So I spent all weekend up in Burlington, after a brief-but-disorienting brewery tour of Vermont. Unfortunately, the display on my iBook broke (again) leaving me unable to post, or to feast on live internet coverage of the weekend’s much-anticipated Belgian smorgasbord. This is a shame, as it seems the racing was pretty good. At Het…
Weird Belgium, Haedo Doubles at ToC, Petacchi at Valencia
Sometimes, Belgium makes me wonder. I’ve never been, I’ve never really known anyone from there, but the place is just odd. Like (overlooking the all-white kit before Memorial Day) Tom Boonen’s celebrity – they decided to make him into a meat product and spread salesman after the whole “eat Boonen on first date” deal from…
Heavy, Light Bikes; Tour of Cali TT; Het Volk Looks Hot
Ah, that’s better – see this bike? Full carbon, with the weave showing, nice expensive SRM cranks – now that’s a pro ride. Never mind that it weighs 18lbs – you can’t weigh a bike using your eyes, and besides, this same model has to support Dario Pieri’s meaty carriage. Only slightly-built loudmouths like Gilberto…
Tours of Cali, Valencia; Interviews of Riis, Julich
So, what’d I miss by waiting until 2am to post? Interviews, with Bjarne Riis and one of his star pupils, Bobby Julich. Julich’s interview is much more interesting, as the Coloradan reveals his three remaining goals – National Title, maillot jaune and a TdF stage win. Julich was close to a vic in a couple…
United's Cervelos, Tour of Cali Stage 1 Report
Well, I don’t have internet today, thanks to the clowns over at Adelphia, who are currently charging me money so I can be taunted by that one orange light on the bottom of the cable modem that tells me it’s not working. Thankfully, I’ve got dial-up internet via cell phone thanks to the clowns over…
Cali Clarification, Haedo Takes Stage 1, Cabreira Steals Algarve
I never realized I had so many ventriloquists in my readership, but I must, for they are so adept at putting words into my mouth. “Insignificant”? Pshaw, I never called the Tour of Cali that; it’s just not a huge deal. I still found it important enough to stay up until 2am to watch. What…
Tour of Cali Prologue, Cycling TV Schedule, 1st Ever Olympic Doping Raid
Wow, Tour of California prologue – a week of hype for a mere 5 minutes of racing. And the American (I can’t imagine any foreign riders willing to go all out for a February tune-up race) who came out on top? Levi Leipheimer. He bested that lying dog Bobby Julich, who claimed just a week…