Happy birthday.

Yesterday was the birthday of Alexander Vinokourov, I celebrated by dressing in black and taking a load of drugs, I'm sure the great man would approve.
It's a shame the rumors of Vinos comeback proved to be exaggerated, still, there's time yet. LA was out for 3 years and Mr Landis has had his feet up for a couple (apart from the bits where he was in court throwing the toys out of the pram).

So the GB (over 23) squad has been announced. It's a shame Rob Hayles didn't make the cut, with the only home based rider being Russell Downing, who lets face it has had a great season, several wins out in Europe, plus a stage and 2nd on GC in Ireland. It's a shame that Rob didn't get the chance to ride as many events as there is no doubt that he'd have pushed Russ close for the 'home' place, indeed it's a shame that most of the home based riders don't race in Europe more. Of the rest of the squad, there's not much to argue with, it pretty much picks itself. (well I think it does, so there...)

Meanwhile over in Germany - broadcaster ARD goes, yuck, at the mention of an LA return....
"For us Armstrong is part of history; we don't want to see that [era] again."
"The future belongs to the young riders," "It certainly doesn't lie in the return of the Armstrong generation, which we hoped to move on from.""The return of Armstrong is obviously not a credible action in the struggle for a future without doping,"
What ever are they driving at.....