Cycling 2012

[Mr A]

May as well get it rolling

Tour Down Under starts next week, Brammeier taking part. http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/...der-start-list

Meanwhile, after a load of hype about spreading it out, the Giro selects three out of four Italian teams as wildcards. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/2012...ildcards-named

I guess the big questions for the year are.. Will the Contador case ever end? Can Gilbert keep winning? Can Roche notch more wins? Can Martin keep progressing?

[Dodge]

Meanwhile, after a load of hype about spreading it out, the Giro selects three out of four Italian teams as wildcards. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/2012...ildcards-named

Eh, I think you'll find one Italian team, one Irish team, one British team and the german team

[Mr A]

Indeed. Call me unpatriotic but strangely enough I never get all that attached to Colnago-CSF Inox.

Meanwhile leaks about the Vuelta Route indicate that it will have ten uphill finishes with 7 on summits. Should suit Roche and especially Martin very well. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/2012...phill-finishes

[Macy]

Would Dan Martin do the Tour and Vuelta? Mind you, the Tour is hardly ideal for him, so wouldn't be too surprised if he was left out again. Danielson is going to be Vaughters leader for the Tour anyway.

[Dodge]

He might be leader but he isn't a GC contender so Dan should have a pretty free reign to challenge for stages (he wasn't leader in Vuelta for example)

[Real ale Madrid]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cas-...enbuterol-case

Wowzers!

[Mr A]

Bloody hell, I really don't know what to make of this. The report apparently says that transfusions or micro dosing were unlikely and that the source was probably a food supplement. And wasn't there a case of five Mexican footballers getting contaminated meat last year and being let off?

What a fecking mess whatever way you look at it.

[Mr A]

A good analysis here: http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/...berto-contador

I wasn't previously aware of the plasticisers.

This bumps up Dan martin to a 3rd place on a stage and second overall for Catalunya last year. There may be also small gains but not in terms of top three placings. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/new-...ors-suspension

[Macy]

If there were inconsistencies in the blood values as mentioned in that article, it really doesn't say much about the blood passport, imo.

The bans a joke - time of the offence should only count if the rider has been suspended*. The fact that he carried on riding and taking wins (whilst asking for more time for the appeal) really damages the sport. I'm disgusted with the reaction of Mandy and Scarponi (and others).

*I think I've heard that the UCI are changing this - putting in an initial UCI appeal level before CAS. So if a national federation doesn't suspend a rider in such a case, it can go to a UCI court who would have the option of a suspension. And then the cyclist would be suspended pending an appeal to CAS.

[Dodge]

THey gave him the max ban, let's hope they get the 2.5 mill back

Roche gets 4 more points for 2010, Martin gets 11 more for 2011. He goes up to 8th overall, overtaking Wiggins but being leapfrogged by Nibali
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/11...-Contador.aspx

[Macy]

THey gave him the max ban, let's hope they get the 2.5 mill back

The length of the ban isn't the issue, it's the back dating that's the problem. Have to admit I don't know the rules, but if they had any discretion on starting it from the time of the test, they should've used it. Expunging results is one thing, but he still raced, got endorsements, gifted a few stages etc, and it just looks like a very short ban it took so long to come through (mainly at the request of his team). Hopefully, the procedures will be put in place that will stop this happening again with suspensions pending CAS decisions.

[Mr A]

Roche 5th on first stage in Algarve. Decent.

[passinginterest]

Roche 5th on first stage in Algarve. Decent.

I see there's a few more Irish in the race too;
Ronan McLaughlin finished 66th,
Philip Deignan 89th,
and Connor McConvey 141st.

Nice start for Roche, hopefully he avoids any major crashes this year and picks up a few more wins.

[Macy]

Roche not having a great time of it at Paris - Nice. Poor opening time trial and got shelled out of the break on the opening (flat) road stage. Finished in the main bunch yesterday. A bit disappointing to be honest, on a few levels.

[Dodge]

Wasnt shelled out the back in that first road stage. Wind caused echelons to break and he was in the second group behind about 30 or so in the leading group. Still disappointing but better to have those kind of breaks now

[Macy]

Wasnt shelled out the back in that first road stage. Wind caused echelons to break and he was in the second group behind about 30 or so in the leading group. Still disappointing but better to have those kind of breaks now

I read he was in the first echelon and couldn't hold it when the pressure went on. Happy to be misinformed though, as it sounded pretty bad!

[Mr A]

There's a bit on it here: http://www.independent.ie/sport/othe...e-3040042.html

From this and the twitter comments I got the impression he blew after having had to expend serious energy making that front group. Early days in the season yet though.

[Mr A]

Roche was 7th today.. a bit better..

[Mr A]

Q+A with Roche here: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/...013501034.html

[Mr A]

Kelly talks about the Paris-Nice here: http://nos.nl/video/350400-kelly-en-...arijsnice.html

I heard on Eurosport I think that Kelly's time on the final TT would have put him third yesterday.