Wash your hands before dinner.

Don't hire ex-dopers, use your own.

I'm shocked, totally shocked, shocked and stunned. It would seen that Kayle Leogrande of Rock Racing has been caught sticking the needle up his bum (that's using EPO to you and me).
That a rider of the fine and upstanding Rock Racing team should get caught on the juice is startling and surprising news.
Now you may not be up to speed on Kayle Leogrand, but he's the Rocker with all the tattoos, that it seemed was his claim to fame, his USP as they say in the business. Well we all know how Mr Ball likes a USP, sadly if you look at the Rocker roster there seems to be just one USP for the whole squad.

What made him do it? I dunno, perhaps it was peer pressure? Perhaps he didn't want to be the only one with out a criminal record? It can't have been for the event he was busted at, I mean no disrespect to the Point Premium Root Beer International Cycling Classic, but would a decent result in that race propell you into the hall of fame?

The most entertaining bit of the story though, is that prior to the test young Kayle smeared soap over his wrist in the belief that soap in the needle would somehow mask the fact he'd taken EPO. Now I'm no chemist (and obviously neither is Kayle), but even I know that as masking agents go soap is pretty low down on the list. It's a drugs test Kayle, it's not your Mum checking too see if you washed your hands before dinner.

So, where then for Rock Racing? Well there is no way they're going to leave the sport - remember they're 'HERE TO STAY'. And where to for Kayle? Well give it a couple of years and he can make a comeback, hey I know just the team that'll take him.

Brother can you spare a million Euros?

Bad news over at Mr 60% world, or the team formally known as CSC. It seems someones run off with the IT-Factory.
Saxo have said they don't want to be sole sponsor, does that mean that there's no more cash from them? or does it mean that they are expecting bad news and want someone to stand behind when the proverbial hits the fan?
Mr 60% seems confident that he will find another sponsor and I wish him well, for the sake of the riders and staff, if not for himself. But if he needs to cut costs he could do a lot worse that sack Kim Andersen.


Whilst Riis may well be a big cheese in the sponsorship world, the real big cheese, Milram, is talking about heading for the hills. With 2 years left on their deal the German dairy queens are looking to cut their losses.

How can this be? Zabel, Petacchi, surely all theses names would do a lot to enhance their public image? Perhaps they just need to put a different spin on the news. Maybe they could take a leaf ot of Michael Balls book, the more ex-dopers you hire the more publicity you get, I may not know what a Rock is, but I spend a hell of a lot of time talking about them.



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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?