Now he attacks: Cadel Evans just can't win

In hindsight, it may have been the wrong time to attack... but then again, who was going to bridge the gap if he didn't? As Cadel says, "Funny, usually people tell me I don't attack...".

Post-race it's always easy to pull things apart and make declarations about what would have happened if.... but until we can set up some parallel universe and trial all of the options, we'll never really know. At 5th, Evans was ahead of some big names. (Worth noting too that Simon Gerrans had another good race, finishing 8th.)

And come July we'll get to see Cadel defend his now traditional 2nd place in Le Tour. He may even attack!

Join your own Open Source-style pro cycling team #cycling

Not such a new idea for pro cycling fans as is made out on the Crowdriders site, but a good idea nonetheless that (admittedly) takes the fan-as-owner idea a step further than before, where the crowd will (in theory) manage the pro cycling team as well as provide sponsorship (or capital, if you prefer). That should be interesting - 40,000 people voting on what to do with the cash raised! Basically if enough people get together and raise enough money they'll sign up riders and start a UCI-registered team. It's certainly not impossible, but others have tried to crowd-source and failed. Especially tricky will be getting the management side right - balancing the "democracy" that is promised for the crowd against the professional management and governance that is required. What if the majority want to do something crazy, or risky, or just sub-optimal? What if the guy starting this idea off is not the best guy to run the show yet remains at the epicentre just because he, umm, started it? Who will tell him that he's just one voice and what will he do - change the rules? I guess that will be explored in the fullness of time.

For a previous take on a subscription-based sponsorship of a cycling team, check out David McKenzie and iTeamNova

London invests in cycling

Go London. Frankly, whilst I love cars I'm realistic enough to realise that they take up too much space and are out of step and scale with both the people they are meant to serve and the environment we live in. There should be a better balance struck between the use of private cars and the alternatives, like public transport, walking and cycling. For our health and well being if not for the planet's survival we have to act soon to reclaim the streets for people, not over-subsidised, over-weight machines. (And yes, we subsidise car production, distribution and use to an enormous extent, far more so than for any other manufactured good. If you think that's not so, try reducing the subsidies and protections for car manufacturing, petrol refining or road building and see who squeals - you'll find a lot of people are addicted to the free cash we dole out to the car industry in the name of "freedom to move". So 'Go London!'
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said: “The aim of this programme is nothing short of a cycling and walking transformation in London. We will spend something like £500 million over the next decade on cycling - the biggest investment in cycling in London’s history, which will mean that thousands more Londoners can cycle in confidence, on routes that take them quickly and safely to where they want to go. “The cycle hire scheme in Paris has proved a huge success, and I have now instructed Transport for London to work with the London boroughs and interested parties to develop and implement a bike hire scheme in central London, accessible to all Londoners. By ensuring that Londoners have easy access to bikes in the centre of the capital, as well as making our city a safer and more enjoyable place to cycle, we will build upon London’s leading position as the only major world city to have achieved a switch from private car use to public transport, cycling and walking.

The dopes who dope and why they do it

I do understand why they do it, I really do. It's simply human nature to cheat. We cheat ourselves, our families, our friends, usually to gain some advantage or to simply prove ourselves. Sometimes with real consequences, sometimes not. If you know as an athlete that you can achieve great things, know it in your heart, yet fail to deliver on the day(s) in question - be it because of poor judgement, tactics, illness or injury - you are left with a lot of 'what-ifs'. If you are open to temptation, if the EPO or other enhancing substance is available, you have a choice. And choice is what it is all about, and where we become much more black and white, good or evil about these things. Iban Mayo appears to have chosen EPO to gain, or perhaps regain, what he displayed in the Tour. He looked reborn as a rider, best he'd been in years. And now we may know why.

Vinokourov faced the same pressure, but worse; that of a favourite in possibly his last shot at the title. What if he couldn't deliver? What if he injured? What happens then?

And Rasmussen? Well he didn't test positive, he just don't look or sound honest. Or perhaps we don't know the full story? We do know he chose to train away from the spotlight and to appear to prevaricate over his location. This is not illegal, and is our perception only. He wasn't proven to have cheated, and he continues to deny it.

vote4cycling in NSW Elections 2007

Aussie track titles - Thuaux report

Phil Thuaux is doing well after getting in those miles at the Tour of Siam...

Men 4000m Individual Pursuit - Final

Gold & Silver Medals
1 Phillip Thuaux 4.24.955
2 Zakkari Dempster 4.30.070

Bronze Medal
3 Cameron Meyer 4.29.691
4 Michael Ford 4.30.686

Phil set a PB of 4.23.555 (54.64 km/h) in qualifying.

Jayco Bay series 2007

Renshaw won the big race of the day but (being parochial and all) Central Coast CC rider Dale Scarfe has had a great win and jointly leads the support races at the Bay series. There's a nice shot on the Cyclingnews.com site of Dale winning, too: http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2007/jan07/bayseries07/index.php?id=bayseries072/DSC_0379

Looks like he won by the throw!

That crash in Surfers

When Astana rider Davis went down 5 metres shy of getting on the back of the breakaway, 2 things happened. 1, an opportunity was lost and hard work was wasted. And 2, they were relegated to the chase bunch (ie the peleton). Now from Davis and company's viewpoint it was unfair. 5m is hardly a gap at all and for riders of this caliber they would have made it across, for sure. So morally they expected to join the break after the lap out (which they duly did, but got pulled out by race officals). Now I can see their point - a crash is a race incident deserving of lap-out consideration; but equally they should have taken due care to negotiate the corner without incident, just like the breakaway did. After all, if that breakaway was able to make the corner safely at similar pace then maybe they should also expect not to be penalised for their skill in doing so.

Now it may have been a mechanical incident that brought Davis down, but it didn't look mechanical. And why didn't the chasers simply pass Davis and continue the chase? I can understand Davis taking a lap out and (in theory) rejoining the chase bunch, but what about Brown and co? I'm not sure what held them up (did they all fall, or have 'mechanicals'?) but by taking a lap out and they rejoining the breakaway that they had nearly caught seems a bit rich. 5m is still 5m guys. Now if it had been a club race we'd just get up and chase again. Or did I miss something?

Catchup on some news

Where do I start? CN has reported that Tyler Hamilton has signed (maybe at Tinkoff?) and expects to race in 2007. CN also reports that Riis has laid down the law on doing at CSC. And it's been widely reported that Aussie rider and stair-climber Paul Crake has broken some vertebrae in NZ. And the FRF boys are racing in Hainan with Josh Marden taking a stage. Did I mention Basso went to Discovery?