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.



.

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

Clean, cleaner, cleanish

LA, that's the once and future rider, not the place in America, was interview recently about 'the return' and said that the generation he rode with was the dirty generation...

'There's this perception in cycling that this generation is now the cleanest generation we've had in decades, if not forever. And the generation that I raced with was the dirty generation.' Says Lance.

This then will be the same Lance then, who rode against Filippo Simeoni in 2004 because Simeoni had chosen to testify against Ferrari (at that time LA's doctor), or maybe it's a different LA, maybe he's got Tyler Hamilton twin syndrome?

Indeed it makes deeply disturbing reading to look through the lists of podiums and jersey winners of the 3 grand tour over the last decade and play the caught, banned and disgraced game. Well actually disturbing is perhaps the wrong word, more like 'very annoying where's the baseball bat'. Remove those that are now disgraced from the list and you have a very, very different set of podiums, let alone stage winners.
Now this obviously makes me and I'd guess the average fan at the roadside angry, so what the hell does it do to the guys in the peloton? I am amazed that there hasn't been a in peloton fight yet. What I do know from reading various blogs, interviews etc after this years Le Tour is that is a lot of anger and it's starting to come out, Interviews with Robbie Hunter, Geraint Thomas and Jerome Pineau's blog leave you in no uncertain terms that there is a lot of ill feeling, not just to dopers, but to the 'old ways' of doing things.

So is the sport any cleaner now than in 1999? Well, yes I think it is. Tests are more advanced and far more comprehensive, riders are speaking out against dopers, sponsors have pulled out citing failed drug tests as their reason, fans are openly abusing riders that fail tests and cheering those that take a stand against drugs. So are we there yet? No far from it, but we have come a long way.
IMHO the UCI need to push for longer bans and a comprehensive testing and education programme to be introduced by all national federations (with removal from the worlds as the non compliance option).
A long way then? Yes, but we are so far ahead of the other sports in this area that we can at least feel some satisfaction there.
By the way, Filippo Simeoni's win in the 08 Italian championship is a win that we should all celebrate. At 37 he came back from ridicule to be a national hero, a ride that shows two things, one that determination and good training will pay off and secondly.... well, secondly, maybe things are getting cleaner.

On the racing front it's all happening in Spain isn't it, er... is it? Once again the Tour de Spain fails to rouse any excitement, other than climbing 20%/25% climbs in a bid to attract a TV audience. For God sake move it back to the start of the season, it at least had a value there and riders and fans weren't knackered by a long season.
I would be hoping by now to offer a detailed blow by blow account of the racing, but within minutes of switching on I've fallen asleep. Nope, move it back and leave the end of the season to the short week long stage races and Autumn classics.
Speaking of week long races the Tour de Britain is due to be 9 days long in 09. It was a good race this year and the general feeling from the riders was positive. Hopefully next year we'll have closed road finish circuits for the fans enjoyment and the riders safety. A few extra fully closed miles couldn't go amiss either. Still the relationship the organisers are building with host towns is very strong, hence the return of City Centre racing in 09 and with any luck as the years progress the race will move towards more closed road.

Cav has pulled out of the Worlds road, can't blame him can you, though doubtless there will be posters on the cycling weekly forum who do, the poor lad is totally knackered, 17 wins and racing since Feb (well he was riding World cups and six's over the winter, so it's a bit longer than he claims if you ask me). If anyone deserves a few beers and a bit of a lie in it's the Canonball. Take it easy Cav and see you at the Revolutions.