10 rounds, points decision or total knock out?

A lot of hot air.


For God sake just shut up and ride your bike.

It would seem that everybody is down at their local wind tunnel in an effort to shave a second off something or the other in an attempt to prove they're serious about winning a Grand Tour in 09.

First up the Lance moved to into the tunnel, quickly followed by AC (that's Alberto Contador and not AC from operation Puerto).
I don't recall AC (that's Alberto Contador and not AC from operation Puerto) spending tunnel time before, so I can only guess that this is an attempt to show Lance he's a worthy leader for Le Tour, I doubt Lance gives a toss, but hey, it's nice to be thought of.

Someone else thinking of Lance is Linus Gerdemann, he's not been in the wind tunnel, but there a hell of a lot of hot air about.
He thought Lance shouldn't be doing a 'return', then when challenged about this he replied:
'No, no, I did not say Lance shouldn't make a return, I was misquoted, what I actually said was, Lance shouldn't make a return. I hope that clears everything up.'
Then Lance says 'Gerdemann, who's he?' You mean he hasn't bought the Tour 07 highlights (extended version) DVD? Shame on you Lance.

But then in weighs Kloden, who says: "I don't have to go up to every camera and present myself as the savior of cycling", no Andreas, that's because if you did the cameraman would piss him self laughing.

Andreas Klöden was of course at T-Mobile between 98 and 2006, a time where the pills were popping like there was no tomorrow, lets have a quick roll call, Rolf Aldag, Erik Zabel, Udo Bolts, Christian Henn, Mr 60%, fat Jan and team doctors Andreas Schmid and Lothar Heinrich all admitted to being on the juice or giving it away like sweets during their time a Telecom / T-Mobile.
So no, Andreas, I think the best thing for you to do is keep your mouth closed, your head down and see out the rest of your career in the hope people ignore you.

Personally, and call me old fashioned if you like, I don't see whats wrong with young Linus saying 'hey look, I'm clean, you can believe in me and the future of cycling.'
I actually think his stand is brave, especially when he'll have to ride in the same peloton as Kloden and any of his pill poping chums from yester year.

I notice that Kloden hasn't cast comment on other riders who take an open and strong anti drugs stance, say Cav or Brad Wiggins. Maybe he only picks on skinny climbers, yes I know Brad is on the slim side, but he's a boxing fan from the mean streets of London, I know who my money would be on in a fight. (TKO Wiggins inside two rounds)

Personal hygiene - so important for today professional cyclist.

When Lance announce his return, the one thing that I was looking forward to wasn't a le Tour ride, oh no. The thing that got me excited was the inevitable re-match with Filippo Simeoni.


And when the opening bell sounded last week I sat back and waited for the blood to flow. But what happened? It's three years since these two great champions went toe to toe, you'd have thought that over that time they could have built up a little more aggression, a little more tactical awareness, but no. What a damp squib, the abuse meter hardly moved and I was left feeling well and truly let down.
My only hope is that Simeoni gets a Giro ride next summer and with this in mind I will start petitioning the organisers. Come on, forget the inevitable side show of dope testers chasing skinny climbers down side streets, what we want is a good old fashioned fist fight, if nothing else guys, think of the TV ratings.

In all the fuss about nothing there was one interesting point made by Lance, that was why has Filippo Simeoni not got a ride with a major team? OK I know hes 37, but he's national champion. Is it because of his anti drugs line? Well no, there are plenty of other riders in the peloton that take a similar line, is it cos of his age? Well there are plenty of 'older gentlemen' as well (say hi Lance), so it can't be that.
I'd welcome any suggestions, perhaps his personal hygiene isn't what it could be and maybe when Lance rode up to him in 04 and did the hand across the mouth gesture he was telling him to clean his teeth more regularly.

Discount city: Name names and get a year off your next holiday.

It would appear that Mr Emanuele Sella has got of lightly. He has 'named names' and as a result the Italian Olympic Committee are just slapping his wrists, in other words giving him a 12 month ban, so good news then, he'll be back with us next year, I can hardly wait.
To quote "He collaborated and named names, so he got a reduction, according to the WADA codes," well that's OK then is it?
Who are these names he's named? That's my question, well actually my question is what next? Well here's the latest betting on what next:
The Italian Olympic Committee to do nothing: Evans
The Italian Olympic Committee to chase and arrest several high profile sportsmen and doctors: 1000 -1
This drags on for year, no arrests and then it's all forgotten about: 1 - 100