myshkin

Can't really bring myself to watch the cycling anymore but I flicked over between races at Yarmouth and Lingfield yesterday and caught a bit of that freaky weirdo Froome (only a few minutes mind). That was enough for me. I would like to think he will be caught sooner rather than later but it's impossible to have any faith in the testing procedures so are probably looking at years down the line before they catch up.

Richard Moore and David Walsh more than likely.

If Sky had any sense they would make Henao the team leader now rather than anchor him on that miserable p***ks front wheel. The last time a knight of the realm worked for someone from the 3rd world would have been Mark Thatcher on one of his ill fated military ventures so it's not going to happen. Brailsford must be raging that he sacked paracetamol distributor Gert Leinders. What a dreadful mistake. At least they still have their comfy pillows. The Shark looks pretty strong with Tiralongo, Kessiakoff, Kangert and Agnoli all defending now that it goes uphill. Cadel looks a bit isolated unfortunately but good to see him back. Dupont and Pozzovivo to win stages and keep up their good start to the season.

True, it was almost as if Clasicomano Luigi was still a client of Fuentes. Marvellous stuff, for my bank balance at least. Roll on Paris Roubaix so we can do it all again. And god bless the new generation (sic) like Porte, Sagan, Froome, Cancellara. It's like betting on US horse racing with lasix, only it's more accurate.

I didn't say I was surprised. Indeed, having seen all the early season races the performance of team Sky was exactly what I was expecting. The only surprise was that Michael Rodgers didn't do better in the time trials........... A performance spike to me is when a rider that has won nothing significant in the first eight or nine years of his career wins everything after shedding a fifth of his body weight and his team employ Gert Leinders.

I've just finished reading David Walsh's Seven deadly sins. Highly reccomend it. Among many interesting things was a quote from Christophe Bassons: 'The spotlight now should not be on Lance Armstrong but on a sport that is still gangrenous with doping and deceit. The Tour de France 2012 did not reassure me'. He couldn't possibly be referring to the huge performance spike but one rider in particular could he? Shurely not..................

Vincenzo Nibali will have a go at some point. Nothing surer.

Excellent race again this year. Felt really bad for Purito, can only assume Bertie's rest day was much more 'fulfilling' as I just couldn't see Purito losing it. Sadly the Tour de France has dropped to the bottom of my grand tour list now. The Giro has always been my favourite and the Vuelta just seems to get better as they find these new routes (although Bertie being in it certainly helped this year). Tour de France centenary next year and it will be interesting to see what the ASO will do to try and inject a bit of life into it. Being greedy I would say get them uphill a lot earlier and vastly cut down the time trialing but that's probably a forlorn hope. They have to do something though because when you compare the excitement of this year's Tour to the other two it's a no contest.

I never thought I would hear myself say this but if Purito can repeat the sort of time trials that he did in the Giro then he will win this race. Time bonifications are going to be huge and there isn't anyone I would rather be with in the uphill finishes.

I'm so happy for Christophe Bassons and Fillipo Simeone today. They were right all along and must feel great at the vindication. Just think, if other had shown the same sort of fortitude and backbone as those two did, bike racing might not be the rotten swamp that it was and continues to be. f**k Lance Armstrong, his acolytes and his wee yellow wrist bands.

McQuaid getting himself tied up in knots again............. http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/12563/USADA-denies-UCI-request-to-take-control-of-ArmstrongUSPS-doping-proceedings.aspx USADA denies UCI request to take control of Armstrong/USPS doping proceedings by Shane Stokes at 1:29 PM EST McQuaid previously stated case had ‘nothing to do with the UCI’ The US Anti Doping Agency has rejected a call by the UCI to allow it to assume responsibility for the doping investigation into Lance Armstrong and others in relation to the US Postal Service team, and had also turned down a request for it to hand over the entire case file. The UCI’s president Pat McQuaid had previously indicated that USADA had jurisdiction but, in two letters dated July 13th, had said that it wanted to take over the case. On June 29th Armstrong, former US Postal Service general manager Johan Bruyneel, doctors Michele Ferrari, Pedro Celaya and Luis Garcia Del Moral plus the coach Pepe Marti were all officially charged with a range of doping-related offences. Ferrari, Del Moral and Marti failed to respond to the charges and were handed lifetime bans on July 10th. Bruyneel and Celaya opted to go for arbitration and will face hearings in the coming months, while Armstrong has tried to overturn the charges in a federal court. A response sent by USADA to the UCI on July 26th has today been published on the Pacer.gov website (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), in which USADA’s general counsel William Bock turns down the request, stating that the anti-doping guidelines are very clear in this area in relation to jurisdiction, and also pointing out what he said is at least one conflict of interest on the part of the UCI. The UCI has itself been linked to the case following claims made by former USPS riders Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton that it was involved in covering up a positive test by Armstrong for EPO during the 2001 Tour de Suisse. Despite that claim, which it denies, and despite previous assertions rubbishing the suggestion of doping on the team, the UCI has said it should be the authority in determining if wrongdoing was committed. This contrasts with McQuaid’s statement to Sporza in a video interview published on July 11th during the Tour de France. “The position of the UCI is that we are not involved in this…it is a USADA investigation, they are doing all the process in the United States. It is nothing to do with the UCI and we will wait and see what the eventual outcome is.” According to USADA, two days later McQuaid said the opposite in its letter to the agency and sought to assume control of the investigation from the anti-doping authority. This request has now been rejected. A request to the UCI for a copy of its request to USADA has not yet been answered. USADA’s CEO Travis T. Tygart has said the agency would not deviate from its investigation. “The USPS Doping Conspiracy was going on under the watch of UCI, so of course UCI and the participants in the conspiracy who cheated sport with dangerous performance enhancing drugs to win have a strong incentive to cover up what transpired,” he said. “The participants in the conspiracy have lashed out in the press, gone to Congress and filed a lawsuit to avoid a public display of the evidence before neutral judges. Efforts to intimidate, scare or pressure us to conceal the truth will not stop us from doing the job we are mandated to do on behalf of clean athletes and the integrity of all sport. “The participants of the USPS Doping conspiracy made their decisions to use dangerous banned drugs to win and our job is to apply the rules whether someone is famous or anonymous. We will do that on behalf of the millions of people who demand clean sport despite these external pressures.”

Team Sky's moto......'Marginal gains and lost in translation'

I agree, he didn't tell Hines to cheat. He told Hines to deny he cheated after admitting he cheated.

That was the worst coverage of a bike race I've ever seen. Did they film it from the back of Boris Johnston's pushbike? The people that do the racing on the continent must have been pishing themselves. Who says the olympics isn't for amatuers.... Cancellara looked good until he, er, forgot to turn the corner. Really weird bit at the end when David Harmon said Uran wasn't even on the UCI startlist! Vino winning it was a fucking laugh you have to say. The UCI must have been spewing when he crossed the line. f**k goes their cycling is getting cleaner line

It will be hard to try and control the race throughout and I think the non sprinter teams will try and make it as messy as possible. Would not be a surprise at all to see a super break containing Nibali, Cancellara and Luis Leon Sanchez at one point.