Sympathy for the Devil I’m not an especially big fan of the UCI, but don’t let the apparel fool you—they’re far from useless. In the past two decades, the governing body has actually made some pretty solid steps for the sport. When I began following cycling about a decade ago, most sponsors were essentially unknown…
Tag: Drama
It's Good Not To Be The King
I got to guest post on The Selection today, and my basic thesis was that, despite the fact it means going slower and not winning, being a mid-pack racer is kind of awesome. Further reinforcement of that theory from today’s Paris-Nice finish: it’s several hours later and the Twitterati still can’t believe it—Sammy Sanchez lost…
Why Strade Bianche Won't Be A WorldTour Event
Craig Lewis is dead-on about the outright quality of Montepaschi Strade Bianche in his most recent Versus post. The race is sensational, but unfortunately, that’s why the UCI will likely do everything in its power to keep it out of cycling’s top tier for the foreseeable future. Strade Bianche was founded and is organized by…
Raw Documents – The Verbruggen/Landis Exchange
When Paul Kimmage released the full transcript of his interview with Floyd Landis earlier this week, it didn’t take a PR expert to predict what the UCI’s response would be. Pat McQuaid flatly denied all allegations made in the interview, claimed that “there has never been corruption in the UCI”, and went on to take…
Ball's in Your Court, McQuaid
NY Velocity has published a tremendous, unedited, transcript of Paul Kimmage’s interview with Floyd Landis. There’s a ton of information in there—stuff from Floyd accusing Oscar Pereiro of calling the kettle black to more details on that whole “blood down the drain” story—but what really struck me was this exchange: Kimmage: How many of the…
2011: A Record Year for Drama?
Did I not mention a little something about there being plenty of room for forthcoming drama at the head of my last post? Good gravy, it’s been a busy week—and it’s only Thursday. Leadoff: Alberto Contador gets a one-year suspension from the Spanish Federation, or RFEC for those of us who don’t like typing. The…
Floyd Landis Never Was A Master Of Timing
Whatever else you might think of Floyd Landis, you’ve gotta give him this—the dude does not hedge. In 2006, he was totally and completely innocent—a clean rider from a pair of clean teams, mistakenly charged. “Positively False” was his now-smirkingly-appropriate campaign mantra. Then last year, his confessed his unequivocal guilt, and went on to catalogue…
The UCI is UC-Less
UPDATE 10 Feb 2015: the UCI—or more likely, their low-bid legal agents—have taken down the “UCI-Less” bumper sticker from Zazzle. Strangely, they seem not have have found the t-shirt. Can’t complain about that. Ah, the UCI. Perhaps no governing body is held dear in the hearts of those it lords over, but is any so…
Contador, Criteriums, and Clenbuterol
Let’s see…suspended rider to participate in unsanctioned criterium. Why does that sound familiar? Ah yes—the Tyler Hamilton case. I wish I could tell you more about it, but the massive number of dead links from this otherwise excellent summary article is clouding my memory. Am I the only cycling site on the Internet that knows…
Maybe We Should Test For Accountability
What is it about this sport that cultivates such an aversion to accountability? It must be drafting or something. Let’s start with the UCI, who flatly denied a Contador positive to ARD after they were aware of it, and before the story broke. Ignore the fact that most third-graders know to spit back “neither-confirm-nor-deny” boilerplate…