Giro stage wins in the Rainbow Jersey

May 10, 2012

The 2012 Giro d’Italia isn’t a week old yet and Mark Cavendish has, perhaps unsurprisingly, already won two stages. But his first Grand Tour stage wins of the year are even more distinguished than usual, because he has taken these victories while clad in the rainbow jersey of world champion.

As tiny nuggets in the annals of cycling history go, winning a stage of the Giro d’Italia as world champion actually isn’t that uncommon. Cavendish’s wins means this is actually the 22nd year in which this has occurred. As it’s only been possible in 79 different years, it’s better than a one in four chance that any given world champion will win a stage (continue reading...)

Posted in Giro d'Italia, World Championships | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Cycling and Football

May 10, 2012

Cycling is a strange sport. It’s a sport for individuals organised under the guise of teams. Spectators aren’t required to pay to go and watch it. It’s very difficult to sit down and watch a race if you have no idea who the main protaganists are or haven’t a notion of which riders are there and for what reasons.

Cycling fans, for the most part don’t support teams, they simply have a selection of favourite riders. Even if a cycling fan was to build up an affinity with a particualr team, that team may be called something different next year, or it may be based in a different country or it may be gone altogether.

Football on the other hand is very (continue reading...)

Posted in Doping, Finance, Football, Tour de France, Viewing Cycling | 6 Comments

When is the leader of the Tour of Italy not the leader of the Tour of Italy?

May 7, 2012

Stage Three of this year’s Giro d’Italia ended in a massive crash caused by Roberto Ferrari. The two highest profile victims of the crash were the leader of the points competition Mark Cavendish and the leader of the entire race, Taylor Phinney.

The young American looked to have seriously hurt his ankle in the fall and actually didn’t cross the line with his bike to finish the stage. But he did climb out of an ambulance at the stage finish to collect his third Maglia Rosa of this year’s race. It remains to be seen whether Phinney will recover sufficiently to take part in the Stage Four (continue reading...)

Posted in Giro d'Italia | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The height of hypocrisy?

April 18, 2012

Two days ago it was announced that the ‘A’ sample of Denis Galimzyanov of Team Katusha, taken on the 22nd March, had contained the performance enhancing drug EPO.

Rather than the usual blind denials and wacky excuses that we have become accustomed to as cycling fans, Galimzyanov made the decision yesterday to confess and apologise:

I recognize a fact of banned substance usage. I fully realized what I did. I deeply regret about what happened, and I (continue reading...)

Posted in Doping | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Boonen vs De Vlaeminck and the undeserved victory

April 10, 2012

Tom Boonen is the first rider to ever win the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix double twice. He is the only rider to have ever won Ghent-Wevelgem, Flanders and Roubaix in the same year and he is the only rider to have won Flanders and Roubaix a combined total of seven times.

He won the latest edition of the Hell of the North by attacking with more than 50km to go and soloing the entire way to the finish. Nobody could get close to him. It was a stunning display of strength and confidence despite of (and quite possibly because of) the fact that without the presence of Fabian Cancellara, he was the outstanding favourite.

But some people are not impressed.

(continue reading...)

Posted in Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Flanders | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment