Team Sky will be dressed by Rapha next season.

Interesting choice; it fits well with Sky's wish to assert a British identity and should raise Rapha's profile, but will Rapha's core customers see it as a step too far into the mainstream?

A pat on the back is warranted for Adidas (or rather the external designers that they used); Sky have looked very smart since their debut and their pared down look has clearly influenced other teams. No reason to suppose that Rapha won't follow a similar course, unless they follow their retro-camp urges and send the team out in three piece tweed cycling suits.

Are there marginal gains to be found in merino wool?

Or pink n purple?

(/cynical about sky/)

Just catching up with the Vuelta after a cycling tour of Nederland: what a climb at the end that was yesterday. Rodriguez defending his lead very impressively. Froome flagging a bit (good).

Contador now in red, very unlikely he'll lose it from here. Froome nearly 10 minutes behind in fourth. Valverde in second, Rodriguez third.

Vicarious Thrillseeker wrote:


A six month ban for doping and a win in his comeback, was he tested whilst he was out? Cheating cunt.

Yesterday's stage pace does not seem believable, finishing about 20kms ahead of schedule.

Rodriguez could not handle the pace set by convicted drugs cheat Alberto Conatador.

Average speed of 48kmh too.

At least the commentator on Eurosport mentioned the tainted nature of the sport in the past 25 years and Contador's doping but surely they have to go further now with Armstrong being stripped of his titles.

Going back to this, I am not surprised Adidas have not, kept pushing for this.
Adidas towers were supposedly rather uneasy about being re associated with cycling after the T Mobile years, and it seemed only the GB Olympic tie up rather forced their hand.

But it was 'scheduled' to be a bogstandard intermediate stage, no involvement of the leading favourites etc.

While I also wanted Purito to win, it was such an incredible Vuelta, way more exciting than a Sky procession, full of twists and turns right up to the end. Great stuff. Let's hope the World Championships are half as good.

This may not be the place but following on from my family's excitement from the Olympic Road Races going through our town I was thinking of following it up by taking them to see some of the last stage of the Tour Of Britain tomorrow.

Any advice for a novice on good places to head for? Is it even worth trying take children in to Guildford for the finish or will the crowds be too large?

With the impressively named Jonathan Tiernen-Locke winning the TdB, and being picked for the Worlds for GB,I started reading about him, as I had never heard his name before, and was suprised to see a piece about him, from March in Cycling News.
Basically, where did he come from? and what suspiciously good performances from someone coming from nowhere.
Reading his March interview again , it makes a compelling story; but as it says "Trial by You Tube" is damning him what ever he does or says.
If what he says is true, and I have no reason to think it is not, I feel really sorry for him, and any up and coming guys who immediately get this treatment.

Be interesting if JTL does go to Sky as rumoured , with their policies, I can see him doing daily tests to try and "clear" his name.
Cycling News link from March
To be honest , before the Vuelta 2011, no one had heard that much about Chris Froome either, and I can't remember such "speculation" like I see with this guy..

It's a real shame, albeit understandable, that this is the almost the default response to an unfamiliar face making a mark. It does serve to underline that because of the history there can be no clean slate for the sport, only a gradual rebuilding of trust that will almost certainly suffer some setbacks along the way.

It is unfortunate for Tiernen-Locke that his story includes a return from debilitating illness, which can't help but bring Lance to mind.

First time I'd heard of him was at last year's Tour of Britain, since when he has gone from strength to strength. At the moment he looks like a big fish in the small pond of the UCI Europe Tour. Riding in the World Tour might be a different matter for him.

There is an unfortunate parallel with Lance though, very good as a young rider, some career disruption with illness and injury, and now looking very good indeed.

On an unrelated front, its the mens time trial at the Worlds this afternoon. For those of us with Freeview BBC are choosing to use the red button stream to show "Doctors Extra" instead. FFS.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more suspicion of Froome, tbh; it wasn't that he came from nowhere, it's that he was around for a while, and never looked like more than a journeyman.

JTL has been getting bigged-up by British riders on Twitter and that for a while now, they all seemed to think it was only a matter of time before he became a big name...

So JTL finshed 19th, none too shabby, on a pig of a course, with the GB team losing members like a Saturn 5 loses stage rockets.
Gilbert rode a peach of a race and he was simply unstoppable at the end.
Amazing seeing his mid season - either he decided early doors, to peak for this; as after the cobble classics he rather nose dived.
He only seemed to perk up during the Vuelta.
But 250 odd kms with some recurring nasty up and downs argh!

in tyler hamilton's book, he talks about a 1000-day rule, where a cyclist typically rides clean for about 1000 days before realising that if they don't start doping they might as well go home.

froome's grand tour record

2008 giro - / tour 84 / vuelta -
2009 giro 36 / tour - / vuelta -
2010 giro WD / tour - / vuelta -
2011 giro - / tour - / vuelta 2
2012 giro - / tour 2 / vuelta 4

So, Cavendish looks like he'll move to Omega Pharma Quick-Step next season to resume his pursuit of stage wins, rather than being the world's highest paid bidon carrier at Sky. And Bernard Eisel stays, marking the end of a beautiful relationship.

Apparently Sky have waived his £1.2m release fee (and presumably the divorce costs), although Gazzetta dello Sport originally said Specialized would pay it - on the grounds that they provide the bikes for OPQS, and did for HTC, and were keen to have him back on their bikes.

OPQS have a team doctor with a particularly dodgy past, in the form of José Ibarguren Taus...

I wonder what Boonen will think of this.

Would it really be a big problem for Boonen if Cav joined Omega though? They would have mainly differing objectives, especially as Boonen rarely participates in bunch sprints these days. Boonen would go for the classics as usual, Cav's main targets would be Grand Tour stage wins and maybe some of the flat one-day races. About the only race they might both reasonably target is Gent - Wevelgem.

In other news, the worst kept secret in the sport is out as JTL signs for Sky.

100th TDF looks a little interesting. Starts in Corsica and first stage is a sprint stage, allowing (for the first time since 1966 apparently) the chance for a sprinter (Cav hopefully) to wear the yellow jersey. Finishes in Paris as per - At night! - 21.45pm, sunset in summer (they'll also be going around the Arc de Triomphe). Ventoux on Bastille day, Alpe d'Huez twice in a day!. TTT in Nice. Epicness, bravo.

Really like that route. Much more promising than this years was. Might go a bit flat in the second week with a load of sprints broken up by a time trial, but the final week should be magnificent. Can only hope the 9.45 finish in Paris goes a bit more successfully than the last time the Tour tried to hold a stage in prime time (the 1995 prologue where it rained like mad, Boardman crashed out and Indurain trundled round a deserted course on his road bike at the climax)