Bernhard Kohl - your spaceship has landed.

Under the cardboard box, down the dark alley, live the UCI.

So Alexander Vinokurov is starting a 'charm offensive'. Christ that's something I'd like to see, must be some offensive.
He's been on on the bike with Andrei Tchmil. Andri though is none to keen on a linkup with the Kasak smack head as his team is registered in Switzerland, apparently down the same dark alley as the UCI, so it might be a tad embarrassing.

But help is at hand, it looks like he's about to get his ban jacked up from one to two years, as it should have been in the first place, but then hey, you expect the UCI to abide by or even understand it's own rules? Have you learnt nothing?



Bernhard Kohl - your spaceship has landed.

Bernhard Kohl is in trouble again! It would seem his manager is suing him for damages, allegedly. So having been banned for two years by the Austrian anti doping agency, the Alien now has to go to France to go through the whole process again.
You'd have thought with all this going on Kohl would have been busy, well apparently he is. But not too busy to whinge to the press about his treatment. FFS,
"In my testimony, I didn't protect anyone who could receive a sports sanction," said the Alien, the implication is of course that he did protect people who could receive a non sports sanction.

It's the whinging that pisses me off. I kind of hope that when they catch some twat for doping that should be the last we hear of them until they either return after a ban or die, which ever is sooner. But sadly this isn't the case, look at Landis, look at the Hamilton twins, the rubber chicken, the list goes on an on and on and on... Maybe the UCI should introduce additional penalty time for whinging, maybe stick an extra 2 months on the ban for every instance of winging. At that rate we'd all be saying Tyler who? Floyd who? Oh happy day.

Full House, tickets available via touts only.

For those of us who are regular at Manchester Velodrome, as riders, coaches or spectators the sudden influx of fans is, well, somewhat surprising, not surprising as in yuck, but surprising as in where have you been!
This years world cup sold out with the kind of rapidity that you normally expect for a boy band reunion tour and the Revolution is going just as fast. Rev 21 was sold weeks before the event as has 22 and I expect 23 and 24 will go the same way.
So how's the track fairing in Europe? Well 6 days are booming as always in Belgium and Holland, brim full most nights in Italy and uneven in Germany. So maybe there's a lesson to be learned. Maybe in some countries filling a hall for 6 consecutive nights is a lot harder than it used to be. Maybe a shorter programme 4 nights, 3 nights is the way to go.

Whilst I love the 6 day scene I have never understood why they have to be 6 days, why not 7 or 5, or 4? After all how many days does the four days of Dunkirk last? Not four I can tell you.
Would a 3 day event revitalise the track scene in parts of Germany?
With new tracks starting to pop up not just in the UK, but across Europe maybe more Revolution style events is the way to go, each week across the continent Friday, Saturday and Sunday could be Revolution nights. New fans, less stress for the riders, more marketing opportunities? Why scrap a 6 day race because you can only fill seats for 3 or 4 days? Why not make it a 3 or 4 day race?



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What's going on in Spain?

I have no idea, Contador is in the lead, but to be honest I've been paying to more attention Paris-Bruxelles.
You see Paris-Bruxelles is the race, that, for me marks the start of the racing season, almost over are theses events when you need a triple chain set and panniers, due to long climbs and weeks in the saddle, from now on it's real racing, one day classics, track and cross all the way through until May, when we can go on our summer holidays and spend a few weeks riding round France and Italy in the sunshine.

And in the real world Swifty is about to sign for Katyusha, that is once Dave Brailsford has had a look at the contract. Not that unusual, BC tends to cast an eye over all the contracts of it's academy riders and a few of the others as well. The riders in the academy are also taught how to negotiate a contract and when they 'move on up' so to speak, they have the option of negotiating their own, most of them don't and chose to get BC involved. I'm guessing this allows for clauses about riding for the national team for worlds and Olympics' etc to be inserted. How many other national federations do that? I'll tell you - 0 that's how many. Can you imagine an Italian or French team allowing a rider to miss most of the season to prepare for the Olympics? no neither can I, over in (mainland) Europe the teams hold sway and the sponsor trumps all, so even if you're a hot favorite for an Olympic event the chances are your preparation will be compromised, oh and guess what? it was.
Yet another reason for the Nat Pro set up, so many good things to look forward to.

Talking of sponsors, I like to support them where I can, I mean they support our sport out of the goodness of their hearts don't they? Ha, ha, ha. In all seriousness when I'm out and about my business (normally standing at the side of the road shouting at cyclists) I tend to spot anything with the slightest connection to cycling and as a result am often on the lookout for the products of our more obscure sponsors. Thus I am often disappointed in our local supermarket when I am unable to find the Milram, I've never seen any Milram, have you?