With Pat McQuaid it's crystal balls all the way.

The mists are clearing, I can see a stranger, he's holding some rubles.

Uncle Pat has stated the cycling will be ok during the crunch - "I really don't think it's going to touch cycling hugely" and he goes on to say that "I think race organisers will have more difficulties than teams", Er, hang on Uncle Pat, race organisers have problems, so no races, so, er, what do the teams do, have 12 month long training camps?

Still no worries, apparently the Tour de China is now on the cards for 2010, just as it was on the cards for 2009 and indeed 2008. But economics guru Uncle Pat goes on to explain that the Russian economy is unaffected by the crunch, so the Tour de Russia is definately on, er sometime soon, well when I say soon I mean sometime in the next 20 years, can't wait.....

Uncle Pat does make one one good point though, sorry I should have warned you, I know it's a shock isn't it. Cycling is cheap when compared to other sports and looking and the fuss and bother in F1 you have to agree. F1 'bosses' are saying that £250million a year per team is a bit expensive. £250m? God sake, you could run the whole of cycling for a very, very long time on that.
So maybe all those cigarette manufacturers that left F1 could be enticed into cycling? And don't talk to me about 'image' since when in the history of the sport have we care about image?

Seeing as Uncle Pat has the gift of foresight it might be interesting to see exactly what else he can predict, The colour of the new Team Columbia jersey maybe (I'm saying Pink, after all they'll have a lot of old T-Mobile kit left over from 07)

Meanwhile in the sticks.....

The Sports Personality of the Year betting is hotting up, the odds on Sir Chris are coming in and the odds on Hamilton are going out. But I think the bookies are forgetting one thing, or rather the bookies are ignoring Scotland and if history teaches us one thing.....
There is a massive vote Sir Chris campaign in Scotland, all the competitors at a recent half marathon (all 20000) of em, were sent a mail by the organisers calling on them to do their patriotic duty and vote for Sir. All the main papers are calling for the punters to get behind Sir Chris and yes it's squeezed in between football, football and football, but it's there. The Scotsman says... "it would be only fitting that an Olympian be crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year. And Hoy is the Olympian most worthy of receiving the accolade.".
Me? I'm on the first train to Scotland to help stoke up the nationalist tendencies.

The 2009 Giro, a full field of 180 potential winners, apparently.

Are you riding the Giro? You're not? You must be the only one who isn't. The 2009 Giro look like having one of the juiciest fields in living memory, a field Le Tour will be hard pressed to match. It'll be Armstrong's main goal for the year apparently (yeah right) and with Evans coming along to play there will be more genuine contenders on the start line than for many a year.
Opening with a TTT and with a long ITT in the middle it's playing into the hands of Astana, but we'll have to see. The race will make 100 years and there's no way the locals are going to sit back and let Lance's boys spoil the party.
Best of all is the possible ride for Filippo Simeoni, he'll be at the route presentation on Saturday. Is this a hint that his team will get a ride, I hope so, it'll be great to see the Italian National champion compete in his home tour, but even better is the possibility of a punch-up with Lance. Forget the betting on the overall I'm offering odds on Lance to win by a KO in the 10th, but not until Simeoni has proved himself a worthy opponent by flooring him in the 5th. Hopefully the two protagonists will have let their feeling fester over the intervening years and we can expect a true title decider come May, the cycling? Pah! just a side show to the main event.

Those who ignore history are destined to repeat it.

I haven't mentioned it for a while, but the ol' whiskey drinker is back and he's riding for OUCH! The interesting thing is that there has been no mention of past misdemeanors in any of the press statements. Nothing about a fresh start, nothing about a second chance or putting the record straight and sod all on proving he can do it clean or giving people something to believe in.
I can not begin to tell you how disappointed I am by this airbrushing of history. I was hoping for the usual nonsense that you get when an ex-doper, sorry someone who likes whiskey, returns to the pro peloton. But it would seem that Floyds cycling life has consisted of having an op on his hip, recovering and signing for OUCH. Apparently he rode the bike a bit prior to the op, but that was only to pop down to the local shops for a newspaper and some milk.
Selective amesia is not a good thing, and yes I know Floyds was/is innocent, cos he said so. But even so it's bizare not to mention anything. If he was guilty it would be a good oportunity to play the Dave Millar card and if he was innocent why not mention what he did pre-op?
Perhaps the op was on more than his hip, perhaps in true Bionic fashion they totally rebuilt him, you know, faster, stronger, more ginger.



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