Daily Cycling Facts 13.10.2013

Johan Museeuw

Johan Museeuw

Born in Varsenare, Belgium on this day in 1965, Johan Museeuw is the son of Eddy Museeuw who  dreamed of a career in cycling and rode as a professional for a year and three months with the Okay Whisky-Diamant-Simons in 1968 and 1969, but achieved no results better than third place at the Omloop van de Westhoek Ichtegem (he did, however, make a return 20 years later and was second on Stage 4b at the Tour of Luxembourg, beating Roman Kreuzinger's father - also named Roman - into third place). Like many riders whose careers did not live up their ambitions, he encouraged his son to race and supported him all the way; Johan was second at the Debutants' National Cyclo Cross Champion in 1982, then became National Military Cyclo Cross Champion and won stages at the Ronde van West-Vlaanderen and amateur's Ronde van België and overall at the Omloop van de Westhoek Ichtegem in 1986.

In 1988, Museeuw made his professional debut with ADR-Mini Flat-Enerday, riding alongide Eddy Planckaert, Frank Hoste and Alfons de Wolf; he impressed right from the start with several podium places and victory at the GP Briek Schotte, and thus earned his place on the team when it became ADR-W Cup-Bottecchia-Coors Light for 1989. That year, they were joined by American star Greg Lemond, who had recovered from a shotgun accident that nearly killed him the year after his Tour de France victory in 1986. Museeuw, who had ridden the Tour in 1988 but failed to impress, supported him through the race and was an instrumental part of the American's second Tour triumph - and along the way, he found time to announce his presence with third place on Stage 3. The following year he switched to Lotto-Superclub, where he would remain for three seasons, and won the Tour's Stages 4 at Mont-St-Michel and 21 on the Champs Elysées; he was 81st overall but second in the Points competition, leaving no doubts that he was a serious new talent. In 1991 he won stages at the Tours of Britain and Ireland, then returned to the Tour de France where he was on track for another good Points competition result with seven top ten stage finishes, including five in a row between Stages 3 and 7, but abandoned before the end of the race.

In 1992, his final year with Lotto, Museeuw became National Road Race Champion and put in another consistent performance at the Tour, once again taking second place in the Points competition. However, earlier in the season it had become apparent that he was developing into a different sort of rider to the sprint specialist he had been - while still able to generate a blistering pace on the run in to the finish line, his endurance had improved dramatically. This gave him an advantage in the Classics and he had been third at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Milan-San Remo, won the E3 Harelbeke and then finished second at Scheldeprijs and the Amstel Gold Race. The next year, when he joined GB-MG Maglificio and was second in the World Championship, he won the Dwars door Vlaanderen and then the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the latter being frequently considered the second toughest (and often the second most prestigious) after Paris-Roubaix. He was second for a third time in the Points competition at the Tour, but when he won Paris-Tours late in the season he confirmed that he was a Classics specialist rather than a stage racer. He could still hold his own in a stage race sprint, though - in 1994 he won the Classics Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and the Amstel Gold Race, was second at the Ronde van Vlaanderen and third at Gent-Wevelgem; but he also won a stage at the Tour de Suisse and picked up more good results at the Tour de France.

In 2006, following retirement

Museeuw became World Road Race Champion in 1995 and won a second Ronde van Vlaanderen, then a week later took third place behind Franco Ballerini and Andrei Tchmil at Paris-Roubaix; in 1996 he successfully defended the Worlds title (and became National Champion), then won Brabantse Pijl, was eighth at Milan-San Remo and third at the Ronde van Vlaanderen and at the Amstel Gold Race, and he also won Paris-Roubaix. In 1997 he won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne again and was second at Scheldeprijs and third at Paris-Roubaix, then in 1998 he won the Ronde van Vlaanderen a third time. This placed him in an interesting position: he now shared the record for victories at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, and his continuing success suggested he could beat it with a fourth. But, with one Paris-Roubaix already under his belt and several years at the top of the sport still to go, could he become the first man in history to win both four times?

But Paris-Roubaix is not like other races. Its harsh, usually muddy granite cobbles take their toll every year and have done ever since the race was first held in 1896; every year bones and careers are broken on them and no man who sets out to achieve a record there will do so unscathed. For Museeuw it happened in 1998, only a week after his success at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, upon the notorious jagged stones of the Trouée d'Arenberg, the most dangerous section of a parcours that is dangerous for its full 260km length: a crash at 60kph smashed his left knee like a bone china teacup. He needed an operation to repair it, then it became infected and for a while, doctors were certain they would need to amputate. The Queen of the Classics demands terrible tribute from her subjects, but Museeuw proved worthy - following a long and very painful recovery, he began riding again and in 1999 he won the Dwars door Vlaanderen and - a symbol that his career was starting again if ever there was one - the GP Briek Schotte; then he came second at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and third at the Ronde van Vlaanderen.

Winning Paris-Roubaix, 2000

In 2000 he went back to Paris-Roubaix and won, unclipping his foot from the pedal and listing his leg in the air to point at his knee as he crossed the finish line, then in 2001 he was second behind Servais Knaven. In 2002 he won for a third time - only Roger de Vlaeminck, the greatest Classics rider of all time in the opinion of many people - had won four. In 2003 he won the Omloop Het Nieuwesblad, but then a doping allegation arose and put paid to the rest of the season. At the beginning of the 2004 he was 38 years old, too old to win the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix, so he chose to go for the greater prize at Paris-Roubaix. Once again, the Queen had other ideas: he was with a 21-strong break at Arenberg, then attacked and gained a lead on Auchy-Lez-Orchies before being captured. With only 15km to go he attacked hard on the Carrefour de l'Arbre, the last section of difficult cobbles before the comparatively easy route into Roubaix, thus reducing the lead group to only himself, Fabian Cancellara, Tristan Hoffman, Magnus Bäckstedt, Roger Hammond and George Hincapie (who soon lost contact); but then with 6km he suffered a puncture and his opportunity to realise his dream of equaling de Vlaeminck's record was gone forever. He retired three days later.

Museeuw's commemorative pavé on the Chemin des Géants

Just as Eddy Museeuw encouraged a younger rider to go for the glory he'd been unable to attain, so too did Johan. In his case his protege was not son but Tom Boonen, born in the Belgian town of Mol two days after Museeuw's birthday in 1980. Like Museeuw, Boonen learned well at the foot of the master and went on to achieve things his mentor had never done, included Tour de France Points competition victory in 2007 and, in 2012, a fourth victory at Paris-Roubaix.

In 2007, Museeuw decided it was time to admit the truth about what had happened in 2003 and called a press conference at which he admitted he had resorted to using human growth hormones in order to have a good final full season, then resigned from his job as PR manager at the QuickStep team - he was handed a suspended ten-month prison sentence and a fine. He now has his own business producing a range of highly-desirable road race, cyclo cross, time trial and mountain bikes based on frames made using a combination of carbon fibre and flax. The company's logo includes a lion, Museeuw's nickname having been The Lion of Flanders.

Nelson Vails

Nelson Vails

Born in Harlem, New York on this day in 1960, Nelson Vails was a professional on road and track between 1988 and 1995. Prior to that, he won a gold medal at the PanAmerican Games in 1983, won the National Sprint Championship in 1984 and shared the National Tandem Sprint title in 1984, 1985 and 1986.

In 1984, Vails was selected for the National Team at the Olympic Games and came second in the Sprint final. This was the first time in the history of the Games that a cycling medal had been won by an African-American.

Prior to his racing career, Vails was a cycle courier in New York where he earned the nickname "Cheetah" due to the speed he rode at when delivering packages - he can be seen playing a courier in the 1986 film Quicksilver.

Mark French
Born in Melbourne on this day in 1984, had already won four Junior World Championship titles in Sprint, Team Sprint and Keirin by 2003, the year he made it through into the upper ranks of track cycling by winning the National Keirin Championship at Elite level. In 2004 he was again the subject of newspaper headlines, but this time for all the wrong reasons - cleaners found vitamins, used syringes and 13 phials of an equine growth hormone on the doorstep of his boarding room, Room 121, at the Australian Institute of Sport.

French denied that he had doped and claimed that the drugs and equipment did not belong to him, then swore under oath that they belonged to fellow riders Sean Eadie, Graeme Brown, Shane Kelly and Jobie Dajka whom, he said, had been using his room to inject themselves with drugs for some months. Nevertheless, he was found guilty of doping and trafficking the growth hormone and corticosteroids, receiving a two-year ban. No evidence to support his claims regarding the other riders could be found and none of them were prosecuted for doping or supply - however, Dajka was found to have "failed to be specific" (as opposed to outright lying) when giving evidence in an effort to mislead the investigation; he too was banned for two years. He launched an appeal and, in 2005, the Court of Arbitration found in favour, deciding that there had been no reliable evidence to prove he owned or part-owned the drugs and syringes, then lifted both his two-year ban from competition and his lifetime ban from taking part in the Olympics; he returned to his sport and went on to win one silver and one gold medal at the National Championships in 2007 and three golds in 2008 (in the latter year, he won the Team Sprint riding with Shane Kelly).

Dajka launched an appeal against his own ban, but was not successful and became increasingly depressed, dealing with his disillusionment by drinking heavily. His weight increased dramatically and he began suffering further emotional problems that led to him carrying out a physical assault on Australian Track Team coach Mike Barras, for which he was banned for another three years. After an arrest for vandalising his parent's home he was placed under a restraining order and sought treatment, spending time in hospital in Adelaide. On the 22nd of December 2006, the two-year ban came to an end and, as he had strictly complied with the conditions of the restraining order and made efforts to retrieve his life, the three-year ban was ended early. Gradually, his health improved and he began to consider a return to racing; but on the 7th of April 2009 he was found dead at his home by police. He was 27 and is believed to have died three days before he was found. Though his death is not thought to have been suspicious, a cause has never been established.

In 2008, French was awarded Aus$350,000 defamation payment after being called a "dirty, stinking, dobbing cyclist" on radio; in 2010 he was awarded another Aus$175,000 paid by the Herald and Weekly Times newspaper, which had labelled him "un-Australian" and a "drugs cheat."


Linda Brenneman, born in San Juan Capistrabo, USA on this day in 1965, won the Tour de Toona and a stage at the Women's Challenge in 1991, was third at the National Road Race Championship in 1992, won the Redlands Classic in 1993 and 1995 and was third at the National Individual Time Trial Championship and 11th in the Individual Time Trial at the Olympics in 1996.

Other cyclists born on this day: Max Götze (Germany, 1880, died 1944); John Becht (USA, 1886); Walter Richard (Switzerland, 1939); Dick Cortright (USA, 1929, died 2009); Bilal Akgül (Turkey, 1982); Axel Hornemann Hansen (Denmark, 1899, died 1933); Raoul Fahlin (Sweden, 1966); Daniel Rogelin (Brazil, 1972); Andrew Hansson (Sweden, 1882, died 1964); Milan Kadlec (Czechoslovakia, 1974); Franco Giorgetti (Italy, 1902).

Daily Cycling Facts 24.09.2013

Victoria Pendleton

Victoria Pendleton

Born in Stotfold on this day in 1980, Victoria Louise Pendleton is a multiple World, European, National and Olympic Champion and one of the few female British cyclists to have become a household name at home and around the world. Her father, Max, was once National Grass-Track Champion, Victoria began her career in the same discipline, riding her first race - a 400m event - at Fordham near Cambridge when she was nine years old. Aged 16, she was spotted by a coach from British Cycling but chose instead to complete her education, not becoming a professional rider until she'd graduated in Sport Science at Northumbria University.

In 2003, Pendleton won the Scratch race at the Sydney round of the World Cup, also coming second in the Sprint; the latter being the event in which she would later specialise and which she won at the Manchester round a year later. In 2005 she won the Keirin at Los Angeles, then the Sprint at the World Championships and at Manchester, and in 2006 at the Commonwealth Games. 2007 would be her real break-through year, starting off victories in the Sprint, 500m TT and Keirin at Manchester, followed by the Sprint and Keirin (and Team Sprint, riding with Shanaze Reade - whose birthday falls one day before Pendleton's) at the World Championships, the Sprint and 500m at the Nationals and Keirin at Sydney. in 2008, again riding with Reade, she won the Team Sprints at Copenhagen and the Worlds, also winning the Individual Sprint at the Worlds and the Olympics; at the Nationals she won the Sprint, Team Sprint and Keirin and at Manchester the Sprint, 500m and Keirin. 2009 was a quieter year with two victories - the Sprints at Copenhagen and the Worlds. She successfully defended the latter in 2010 and won the Keirin and Team Sprint (with Jess Varnish) at the Cali round of the World Cup, then rode with Varnish again to win the Team Sprint at the 2011 European Championships where she also won the Keirin.

Pendleton and Shanaze Reade

Since the 2008 Olympics, when Anna Meares got through to the finals due to the relegation of Guo Shang, she and Pendleton have been rivals. Lurid tales of sworn enmity and blistering hatred have been somwhat over-embellished by the media - presumably, these are the journalists who don't bother to actually watch women's racing and thus have to invent drama rather than reporting the real drama taking place on the track, but it's probably safe to say that they don't exchange Christmas cards. As a result, when they competed against one another in the Sprint in London at the 2012 Games, the race was immediately termed a grudge match, the decider and all sorts of other poetic things. It did not pass without incident: during the race, Pendleton veered very slightly out of her lane, crossing into Meares'. Meares reacted by pushing her away, using her elbow on Pendleton's leg. Some fans - mostly British, but a fair few from elsewhere including Australia - were initially angry at the judges' decision to relegate the British rider; however, once the slow-motion replay had been aired, all but the most die-hard Pendleton fans admitted that Meares had won fair and square. Pendleton had announced that, after many years of hinting that she would retire after the Games, this would be her last race; it was not the best note upon which to leave. However, having won the Keirin four days earlier and the Sprint at the Worlds in Melbourne in April, she undoubtedly left cycling at a highpoint in her career.

Whilst Pendleton is widely admired in the media - often as much for her looks as for her athletic achievements - her career has not been without controversy. Her decision to appear in glamourous photo shoots published by FHM and Esquire magazines, at a time when many female athletes are demanding to be taken seriously for their sport and not depicted as sex symbols, was widely criticised. Likewise, she has occasionally been accused of appearing on too many TV shows and advertisements; however, she has also been congratulated for raising the profile of women's cycling in this way.


Oenone Wood

Oenone Wood in 2007

Born in Newcastle, New South Wales on this day in 1980, Oenone Wood won the silver medal at both the National Road Race and Individual Time Trial Championships and was third overall at La Flèche Wallonne and the Trophée d'Or Féminin in 2003, then in 2004 she won both the National titles, the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, the Bay Classic, the Geelong Tour, Stage 1 at the Giro Donne and the World Cup. The following year, she turned professional with Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung.

In 2005, she won the World Cup, the National ITT Championships and Geelong for a second time, Stages 1, 3a and 6 at the Tour de l'Aude and Stages 1b, 2 and the General Classification at Le Tour du Grand Montréal; in 2006 - still with Nürnberger Versicherung - a third Geelong, the GP International Dottignies, Stage 8 at the Giro Donne and a silver medal for the Road Race and a gold for the ITT at the Commonwealth Games. She then moved to T-Mobile for 2007 and won Le Tour du Grand Montréal. Wood remained with the team, which began the year as Highroad and ended it as Columbia Women, through 2008; winning another National Road Race Championship and two stages as well as second place overall at the Tour of New Zealand. She retired at the end of the year, having achieved 81 podium finishes in her short professional career.



Michelle Ferris, born in Warrnambool, Australia on this day in 1976, won silver in the Women's Sprint at the Olympics in 1996 and 2000.

Erich Maechler, born in Hochdorf, Switzerland on this day in 1960, won Stage 21 at the Tour de France in 1986. The following year he won Milan-San Remo, then returned to the Tour and wore the maillot jaune for six days. Over the course of his career he also won stages at the Tour de Suisse, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Stef Clement, born in Tilburg, Netherlands on this day 1982, was National Individual Time Trial Champion in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011.

Other cyclists born on this day: Neurouth (France, 1881, died 1914); Michel van Haecke (Belgium, 1971); Donald Allan (Australia, 1949); Jorge Mariné (Spain, 1941); Karsten Stenersen (Norway, 1971); Dirk Heirwegh (Belgium, 1955); Ivano Maffei (Italy, 1958); Marie Purvis (Great Britain, 1961); Morten Therkildsen (Denmark, 1983); Jacques Gestraut (France, 1939); Lorenzo Bosisio (Italy, 1944); Gunnar Sköld (Sweden, 1894, died 1971); Charles Hewett (USA, 1929).

Daily Cycling Facts 10.11.2012

Happy birthday to Simon Richardson, the Welsh paralympian professional cyclist born in 1966. Richardson returned to cycling in 2005 after a serious car accident in 2001, going on to set a new world record at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing. In August 2011 he was hit by a car while cycling and sustained a broken pelvis fractures to the spine, a detached lung, a broken breast bone and cuts to his legs, leaving him un able to compete in the 2012 Games in London. The driver of the car, who did not stop after hitting Richardson, was subsequently sentenced to 18 months in prison.

On this day in 1905, Emile Bouhours covered the 100km between Orleans and Vierzon at an average speed of 61.291kph - considerably faster than the current UCI Hour Record for a standard upright bike, which stands at 49.7kph. Taking into account that bikes in 1905 had more in common with farm gates than today's ultra-lightweight, multi-geared carbon fibre machines, this suggests that Bouhours achieved his remarkable feat through either a very fortuitoius tailwind, cheating (perhaps by using a shortcut) or faulty timing on the part of the race judges.

Happy birthday also to Amets Txurruka, the Basque rider who was born in 1982. Txurruka began his career with the British-based Barloworld team and has been awarded the Combativity jersey in both the Tour de France (2007) and the Vuelta a Espana (2011).

On this day in 2010 it was announced that the Barclays Bike Hire Scheme - also known as the Boris Bikes after London Mayor Boris Johnson despite the fact that the scheme was invented by his predecessor Ken Livingstone  - would be extended to cover East London with an extra 2000 bikes and 4200 "docking stations."

Daily Cycling Facts 13.10.12

Johan Museeuw

Johan Museeuw

Born in Varsenare, Belgium on this day in 1965, Johan Museeuw is the son of Eddy Museeuw who  dreamed of a career in cycling and rode as a professional for a year and three months with the Okay Whisky-Diamant-Simons in 1968 and 1969, but achieved no results better than third place at the Omloop van de Westhoek Ichtegem (he did, however, make a return 20 years later and was second on Stage 4b at the Tour of Luxembourg, beating Roman Kreuzinger's father - also named Roman - into third place). Like many riders whose careers did not live up their ambitions, he encouraged his son to race and supported him all the way; Johan was second at the Debutants' National Cyclo Cross Champion in 1982, then became National Military Cyclo Cross Champion and won stages at the Ronde van West-Vlaanderen and amateur's Ronde van België and overall at the Omloop van de Westhoek Ichtegem in 1986.

In 1988, Museeuw made his professional debut with ADR-Mini Flat-Enerday, riding alongide Eddy Planckaert, Frank Hoste and Alfons de Wolf; he impressed right from the start with several podium places and victory at the GP Briek Schotte, and thus earned his place on the team when it became ADR-W Cup-Bottecchia-Coors Light for 1989. That year, they were joined by American star Greg Lemond, who had recovered from a shotgun accident that nearly killed him the year after his Tour de France victory in 1986. Museeuw, who had ridden the Tour in 1988 but failed to impress, supported him through the race and was an instrumental part of the American's second Tour triumph - and along the way, he found time to announce his presence with third place on Stage 3. The following year he switched to Lotto-Superclub, where he would remain for three seasons, and won the Tour's Stages 4 at Mont-St-Michel and 21 on the Champs Elysées; he was 81st overall but second in the Points competition, leaving no doubts that he was a serious new talent. In 1991 he won stages at the Tours of Britain and Ireland, then returned to the Tour de France where he was on track for another good Points competition result with seven top ten stage finishes, including five in a row between Stages 3 and 7, but abandoned before the end of the race.

In 1992, his final year with Lotto, Museeuw became National Road Race Champion and put in another consistent performance at the Tour, once again taking second place in the Points competition. However, earlier in the season it had become apparent that he was developing into a different sort of rider to the sprint specialist he had been - while still able to generate a blistering pace on the run in to the finish line, his endurance had improved dramatically. This gave him an advantage in the Classics and he had been third at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Milan-San Remo, won the E3 Harelbeke and then finished second at Scheldeprijs and the Amstel Gold Race. The next year, when he joined GB-MG Maglificio and was second in the World Championship, he won the Dwars door Vlaanderen and then the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the latter being frequently considered the second toughest (and often the second most prestigious) after Paris-Roubaix. He was second for a third time in the Points competition at the Tour, but when he won Paris-Tours late in the season he confirmed that he was a Classics specialist rather than a stage racer. He could still hold his own in a stage race sprint, though - in 1994 he won the Classics Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and the Amstel Gold Race, was second at the Ronde van Vlaanderen and third at Gent-Wevelgem; but he also won a stage at the Tour de Suisse and picked up more good results at the Tour de France.

In 2006, following retirement

Museeuw became World Road Race Champion in 1995 and won a second Ronde van Vlaanderen, then a week later took third place behind Franco Ballerini and Andrei Tchmil at Paris-Roubaix; in 1996 he successfully defended the Worlds title (and became National Champion), then won Brabantse Pijl, was eighth at Milan-San Remo and third at the Ronde van Vlaanderen and at the Amstel Gold Race, and he also won Paris-Roubaix. In 1997 he won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne again and was second at Scheldeprijs and third at Paris-Roubaix, then in 1998 he won the Ronde van Vlaanderen a third time. This placed him in an interesting position: he now shared the record for victories at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, and his continuing success suggested he could beat it with a fourth. But, with one Paris-Roubaix already under his belt and several years at the top of the sport still to go, could he become the first man in history to win both four times?

But Paris-Roubaix is not like other races. Its harsh, usually muddy granite cobbles take their toll every year and have done ever since the race was first held in 1896; every year bones and careers are broken on them and no man who sets out to achieve a record there will do so unscathed. For Museeuw it happened in 1998, only a week after his success at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, upon the notorious jagged stones of the Trouée d'Arenberg, the most dangerous section of a parcours that is dangerous for its full 260km length: a crash at 60kph smashed his left knee like a bone china teacup. He needed an operation to repair it, then it became infected and for a while, doctors were certain they would need to amputate. The Queen of the Classics demands terrible tribute from her subjects, but Museeuw proved worthy - following a long and very painful recovery, he began riding again and in 1999 he won the Dwars door Vlaanderen and - a symbol that his career was starting again if ever there was one - the GP Briek Schotte; then he came second at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and third at the Ronde van Vlaanderen.

Winning Paris-Roubaix, 2000

In 2000 he went back to Paris-Roubaix and won, unclipping his foot from the pedal and listing his leg in the air to point at his knee as he crossed the finish line, then in 2001 he was second behind Servais Knaven. In 2002 he won for a third time - only Roger de Vlaeminck, the greatest Classics rider of all time in the opinion of many people - had won four. In 2003 he won the Omloop Het Nieuwesblad, but then a doping allegation arose and put paid to the rest of the season. At the beginning of the 2004 he was 38 years old, too old to win the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix, so he chose to go for the greater prize at Paris-Roubaix. Once again, the Queen had other ideas: he was with a 21-strong break at Arenberg, then attacked and gained a lead on Auchy-Lez-Orchies before being captured. With only 15km to go he attacked hard on the Carrefour de l'Arbre, the last section of difficult cobbles before the comparatively easy route into Roubaix, thus reducing the lead group to only himself, Fabian Cancellara, Tristan Hoffman, Magnus Bäckstedt, Roger Hammond and George Hincapie (who soon lost contact); but then with 6km he suffered a puncture and his opportunity to realise his dream of equaling de Vlaeminck's record was gone forever. He retired three days later.

Museeuw's commemorative pavé on the Chemin des Géants

Just as Eddy Museeuw encouraged a younger rider to go for the glory he'd been unable to attain, so too did Johan. In his case his protege was not son but Tom Boonen, born in the Belgian town of Mol two days after Museeuw's birthday in 1980. Like Museeuw, Boonen learned well at the foot of the master and went on to achieve things his mentor had never done, included Tour de France Points competition victory in 2007 and, in 2012, a fourth victory at Paris-Roubaix.

In 2007, Museeuw decided it was time to admit the truth about what had happened in 2003 and called a press conference at which he admitted he had resorted to using human growth hormones in order to have a good final full season, then resigned from his job as PR manager at the QuickStep team - he was handed a suspended ten-month prison sentence and a fine. He now has his own business producing a range of highly-desirable road race, cyclo cross, time trial and mountain bikes based on frames made using a combination of carbon fibre and flax. The company's logo includes a lion, Museeuw's nickname having been The Lion of Flanders.

Nelson Vails

Nelson Vails

Born in Harlem, New York on this day in 1960, Nelson Vails was a professional on road and track between 1988 and 1995. Prior to that, he won a gold medal at the PanAmerican Games in 1983, won the National Sprint Championship in 1984 and shared the National Tandem Sprint title in 1984, 1985 and 1986.

In 1984, Vails was selected for the National Team at the Olympic Games and came second in the Sprint final. This was the first time in the history of the Games that a cycling medal had been won by an African-American.

Prior to his racing career, Vails was a cycle courier in New York where he earned the nickname "Cheetah" due to the speed he rode at when delivering packages - he can be seen playing a courier in the 1986 film Quicksilver.

Mark French
Born in Melbourne on this day in 1984, had already won four Junior World Championship titles in Sprint, Team Sprint and Keirin by 2003, the year he made it through into the upper ranks of track cycling by winning the National Keirin Championship at Elite level. In 2004 he was again the subject of newspaper headlines, but this time for all the wrong reasons - cleaners found vitamins, used syringes and 13 phials of an equine growth hormone on the doorstep of his boarding room, Room 121, at the Australian Institute of Sport.

French denied that he had doped and claimed that the drugs and equipment did not belong to him, then swore under oath that they belonged to fellow riders Sean Eadie, Graeme Brown, Shane Kelly and Jobie Dajka whom, he said, had been using his room to inject themselves with drugs for some months. Nevertheless, he was found guilty of doping and trafficking the growth hormone and corticosteroids, receiving a two-year ban. No evidence to support his claims regarding the other riders could be found and none of them were prosecuted for doping or supply - however, Dajka was found to have "failed to be specific" (as opposed to outright lying) when giving evidence in an effort to mislead the investigation; he too was banned for two years. He launched an appeal and, in 2005, the Court of Arbitration found in favour, deciding that there had been no reliable evidence to prove he owned or part-owned the drugs and syringes, then lifted both his two-year ban from competition and his lifetime ban from taking part in the Olympics; he returned to his sport and went on to win one silver and one gold medal at the National Championships in 2007 and three golds in 2008 (in the latter year, he won the Team Sprint riding with Shane Kelly).

Dajka launched an appeal against his own ban, but was not successful and became increasingly depressed, dealing with his disillusionment by drinking heavily. His weight increased dramatically and he began suffering further emotional problems that led to him carrying out a physical assault on Australian Track Team coach Mike Barras, for which he was banned for another three years. After an arrest for vandalising his parent's home he was placed under a restraining order and sought treatment, spending time in hospital in Adelaide. On the 22nd of December 2006, the two-year ban came to an end and, as he had strictly complied with the conditions of the restraining order and made efforts to retrieve his life, the three-year ban was ended early. Gradually, his health improved and he began to consider a return to racing; but on the 7th of April 2009 he was found dead at his home by police. He was 27 and is believed to have died three days before he was found. Though his death is not thought to have been suspicious, a cause has never been established.

In 2008, French was awarded Aus$350,000 defamation payment after being called a "dirty, stinking, dobbing cyclist" on radio; in 2010 he was awarded another Aus$175,000 paid by the Herald and Weekly Times newspaper, which had labelled him "un-Australian" and a "drugs cheat."


Linda Brenneman, born in San Juan Capistrabo, USA on this day in 1965, won the Tour de Toona and a stage at the Women's Challenge in 1991, was third at the National Road Race Championship in 1992, won the Redlands Classic in 1993 and 1995 and was third at the National Individual Time Trial Championship and 11th in the Individual Time Trial at the Olympics in 1996.

Other cyclists born on this day: Max Götze (Germany, 1880, died 1944); John Becht (USA, 1886); Walter Richard (Switzerland, 1939); Dick Cortright (USA, 1929, died 2009); Bilal Akgül (Turkey, 1982); Axel Hornemann Hansen (Denmark, 1899, died 1933); Raoul Fahlin (Sweden, 1966); Daniel Rogelin (Brazil, 1972); Andrew Hansson (Sweden, 1882, died 1964); Milan Kadlec (Czechoslovakia, 1974); Franco Giorgetti (Italy, 1902).

Daily Cycling Facts 24.09.12

Victoria Pendleton

Victoria Pendleton

Born in Stotfold on this day in 1980, Victoria Louise Pendleton is a multiple World, European, National and Olympic Champion and one of the few female British cyclists to have become a household name at home and around the world. Her father, Max, was once National Grass-Track Champion, Victoria began her career in the same discipline, riding her first race - a 400m event - at Fordham near Cambridge when she was nine years old. Aged 16, she was spotted by a coach from British Cycling but chose instead to complete her education, not becoming a professional rider until she'd graduated in Sport Science at Northumbria University.

In 2003, Pendleton won the Scratch race at the Sydney round of the World Cup, also coming second in the Sprint; the latter being the event in which she would later specialise and which she won at the Manchester round a year later. In 2005 she won the Keirin at Los Angeles, then the Sprint at the World Championships and at Manchester, and in 2006 at the Commonwealth Games. 2007 would be her real break-through year, starting off victories in the Sprint, 500m TT and Keirin at Manchester, followed by the Sprint and Keirin (and Team Sprint, riding with Shanaze Reade - whose birthday falls one day before Pendleton's) at the World Championships, the Sprint and 500m at the Nationals and Keirin at Sydney. in 2008, again riding with Reade, she won the Team Sprints at Copenhagen and the Worlds, also winning the Individual Sprint at the Worlds and the Olympics; at the Nationals she won the Sprint, Team Sprint and Keirin and at Manchester the Sprint, 500m and Keirin. 2009 was a quieter year with two victories - the Sprints at Copenhagen and the Worlds. She successfully defended the latter in 2010 and won the Keirin and Team Sprint (with Jess Varnish) at the Cali round of the World Cup, then rode with Varnish again to win the Team Sprint at the 2011 European Championships where she also won the Keirin.

Pendleton and Shanaze Reade

Since the 2008 Olympics, when Anna Meares got through to the finals due to the relegation of Guo Shang, she and Pendleton have been rivals. Lurid tales of sworn enmity and blistering hatred have been somwhat over-embellished by the media - presumably, these are the journalists who don't bother to actually watch women's racing and thus have to invent drama rather than reporting the real drama taking place on the track, but it's probably safe to say that they don't exchange Christmas cards. As a result, when they competed against one another in the Sprint in London at the 2012 Games, the race was immediately termed a grudge match, the decider and all sorts of other poetic things. It did not pass without incident: during the race, Pendleton veered very slightly out of her lane, crossing into Meares'. Meares reacted by pushing her away, using her elbow on Pendleton's leg. Some fans - mostly British, but a fair few from elsewhere including Australia - were initially angry at the judges' decision to relegate the British rider; however, once the slow-motion replay had been aired, all but the most die-hard Pendleton fans admitted that Meares had won fair and square. Pendleton had announced that, after many years of hinting that she would retire after the Games, this would be her last race; it was not the best note upon which to leave. However, having won the Keirin four days earlier and the Sprint at the Worlds in Melbourne in April, she undoubtedly left cycling at a highpoint in her career.

Whilst Pendleton is widely admired in the media - often as much for her looks as for her athletic achievements - her career has not been without controversy. Her decision to appear in glamourous photo shoots published by FHM and Esquire magazines, at a time when many female athletes are demanding to be taken seriously for their sport and not depicted as sex symbols,  was widely criticised. Likewise, she has occasionally been accused of appearing on too many TV shows and advertisements; however, she has also been congratulated for raising the profile of women's cycling in this way.


Oenone Wood

Oenone Wood in 2007

Born in Newcastle, New South Wales on this day in 1980, Oenone Wood won the silver medal at both the National Road Race and Individual Time Trial Championships and was third overall at La Flèche Wallonne and the Trophée d'Or Féminin in 2003, then in 2004 she won both the National titles, the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, the Bay Classic, the Geelong Tour, Stage 1 at the Giro Donne and the World Cup. The following year, she turned professional with Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung.

In 2005, she won the World Cup, the National ITT Championships and Geelong for a second time, Stages 1, 3a and 6 at the Tour de l'Aude and Stages 1b, 2 and the General Classification at Le Tour du Grand Montréal; in 2006 - still with Nürnberger Versicherung - a third Geelong, the GP International Dottignies, Stage 8 at the Giro Donne and a silver medal for the Road Race and a gold for the ITT at the Commonwealth Games. She then moved to T-Mobile for 2007 and won Le Tour du Grand Montréal. Wood remained with the team, which began the year as Highroad and ended it as Columbia Women, through 2008; winning another National Road Race Championship and two stages as well as second place overall at the Tour of New Zealand. She retired at the end of the year, having achieved 81 podium finishes in her short professional career.



Michelle Ferris, born in Warrnambool, Australia on this day in 1976, won silver in the Women's Sprint at the Olympics in 1996 and 2000.

Erich Maechler, born in Hochdorf, Switzerland on this day in 1960, won Stage 21 at the Tour de France in 1986. The following year he won Milan-San Remo, then returned to the Tour and wore the maillot jaune for six days. Over the course of his career he also won stages at the Tour de Suisse, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Stef Clement, born in Tilburg, Netherlands on this day 1982, was National Individual Time Trial Champion in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011.

Other cyclists born on this day: Neurouth (France, 1881, died 1914); Michel van Haecke (Belgium, 1971); Donald Allan (Australia, 1949); Jorge Mariné (Spain, 1941); Karsten Stenersen (Norway, 1971); Dirk Heirwegh (Belgium, 1955); Ivano Maffei (Italy, 1958); Marie Purvis (Great Britain, 1961); Morten Therkildsen (Denmark, 1983); Jacques Gestraut (France, 1939); Lorenzo Bosisio (Italy, 1944); Gunnar Sköld (Sweden, 1894, died 1971); Charles Hewett (USA, 1929).

Armitstead on the issues facing women's cycling

Lizzie Armitstead

In an interview with Cycling News, Olympic silver medalist Lizzie Armitstead has hit out at "sexism and inequality" in cycling. That inequality exists is beyond doubt - it's common knowledge that many women even at the top level receive no salary at all while their male counterparts are paid a guaranteed minimum wage and the prizes awarded to race winners in women's cycling are, quite frankly, laughable compared to those in the majority of men's races. Many people will say that Armitstead is wrong in linking this to sexism and insist it's due to the harsh realities faced by the sport resulting from the simple fact that there is far less money in women's cycling. However, what the article doesn't make immediately clear is that she isn't saying that race organisers and UCI officials are overtly sexist (some of them may well be sexist, of course, but few of them would allow themselves to be seen as such) - she's saying that women's cycling's problems stem from a more deeply-rooted sexism, a belief in society that athletic competition between females can never be as exciting as athletic competition between men, and that the resulting smaller audience is why women's cycling doesn't get the attention it deserves. This  is a point of view that may not necessarily be correct; but it's a valid one shared by many and the UCI, as the body responsible for developing competitive cycling, has a duty to explore it.

Armitstead believes that one possible solution would be "forcing ProTour teams to have a women's team." That is certainly an option, and seems a good one at first - many people also support the idea of forcing race organisers to hold women's races alongside their men's events. But would it work? Would teams devote the time, money and media to their female riders as they do to their men?

When whether Team Sky should sponsor a women's team, Armitstead hits the nail on the head - "I think Team Sky is missing an opportunity," she says. That is the real answer: persuading, rather than forcing, teams that it is in their interest to have a women's team. That way, they'll give them the backing they deserve. Force them to run women's teams and they'll do so resentfully, fielding athletes who have been given the cheapest minimum of coaching, riding bikes that are only a fraction of the value and quality that the men on the team ride. Result: in the eyes of the public, who in many cases will not understand the underlying issues, female cyclists appear less talented and less competitive than the men. Sky have had plenty of opportunity to put together a women's team and have a budget more than high enough to run several; it seems clear, therefore, that they have no interest in doing so (note that they do sponsor female track cyclists - who enjoy a higher public profile than female road cyclists).

So, how can they be persuaded that women's teams will bring them more glory and, crucially, more sponsors? The riders themselves are already doing all they can - they ride to their limits, even if they've had to work a forty-hour week in order to be able to afford to be at the races in which they compete, and they raise the issues facing their sport whenever they can, just as Armitstead is doing. There are a few team officials and managers doing a superb job too - Stefan Wyman, owner of Britain's Matrix-Prendas, is a glowing example and has recently written a series of informative articles on the subject (the latest of which can be found here); so to is Karl Lima, manager of the Hitec Products-Mistral Home - both have fought for many years to get a fair deal for the athletes on their own teams and in women's cycling in general. Rabobank is another admirable case and provides excellent support for its highly successful women's team.

"The race with the Dutch girl and the English girl" -
Armitstead and Vos follow Olga Zabelinskaya

It seems, then, that it's up to fans. We can do a very great deal to save and improve the sport we love, especially right now - it's notable that people who have previously had no interest in cycling at all suddenly know the names Marianne Vos and Lizzie Armitstead because of the Women's Road Race at the Olympics (or at the very least are talking about "the race with the Dutch girl and the English girl" - hey, it's a start). We can help to make sure they keep talking about it - all we need to do is tell anyone who will listen why women's cycling is as great and as fascinating a sport as it is, write blogs about it, Tweet anything we find about it, share our knowledge and enthusiasm, go to races and encourage others to do so too. That way, we pass on the love to new fans and increase the audience, which in turn makes women's cycling far more tempting to potential sponsors - and it's their money that will persuade the teams and race organisers to make space for the women.

Congrats Lizzie!

Lizzie's success in winning Team GB's first Olympic medal of 2012 - even if she was unable to beat the fantastically-talented Marianne Vos of the Netherlands - is the best advert that British women's cycling could ever have hoped to receive. Many people who watched the race will have had little or no interest in cycling prior to Bradley Wiggins' historic Tour de France victory and were probably unaware that there is a whole world of professional cycling existing just beyond the range of most media; Lizzie's triumph and appearances on the nightly news brings the sport to the public's attention and attracts new fans.

Chapeau to her and the entire women's team!

Left to right: Lizzie Armitstead, Marianne Vos and Olga Zabelinskaya

Idiocy at the Olympics does women's cycling no favours

So here we are, a week after a British rider won the world's greatest race and with cycling enjoying more popularity than ever before in Britain - and there's a major, international race going on courtesy of the Olympics. Great. Loads of people will be watching.

Which means loads of people will have just heard Chris Boardman's idiotic and destructive suggestion that the reason Jeannie Longo is still taking part in - and winning - races at the age of 54 must mean that women's cycling isn't as competitive as the men's.

Anyone who has ever watched a women's bike race will know that this is about as wrong as it's possible to be - so it's a pity that absolute morons come out with such utter tripe and discourage people who haven't seen a women's race before from doing so. It's precisely because of the smaller audiences, caused by this sort of thing, that women's cycling has difficulties in attracting sponsors and teams exist of annual budgets that wouldn't even cover the cost of the mood lighting on Sky's team buses.

Team GB prepare for the Games

For more photographs by Chris Davies, click here

Trouble is a-brewin'...

David Millar ‏@millarmind
Dear Cyclingnews, please stop ripping off every story about me & the Olympics. I think I'd be correct in saying it's getting rather boring.


David Millar ‏@millarmind
If you choose to continue, avoid making shit up, it reflects badly on both of us. Makes me look like a wanker and you look like amateurs.


David Millar ‏@millarmind
Although some would argue I need no help when it comes to making myself look like a wanker. So stop it for your sake.


Laura Weislo ‏@Laura_Weislo
@millarmind if you have specific points in that story to address, please email cyclingnews@cyclingnews.com. It's only what DT reported.


Laura Weislo ‏‏@Laura_Weislo
@millarmind we're all professionals here, and calling CN out on Twitter is kind of wanker-ish. You've got all our contact information.

No surgery for Vos, will race Giro Donne

Marianne Vos will not need surgery to repair the broken collarbone she suffered at the Parkhotel Valkenberg and has already returned to training, her Rabobank team have revealed.

The Dutchwoman, who finished the race in second place despite obvious pain, was fortunate enough to sustain a "good break," with a simple fracture that will heal rapidly on it own, doctors at the Meander Medisch Centrum in Amersfoort said last Friday; a prognosis since confirmed by the Centre's Dr. van Olden after further tests were carried out.

Image credit: Rabosport

Vos, who celebrated her 25th birthday two weeks ago and is widely considered the best rider of her generation, also revealed that she will make her comeback at the Giro Donne - the last Grand Tour of women's cycling and due to start on the 29th of July, fans had worried she might miss it in order to concentrate on the Olympics. "My participation in London is in no doubt whatsoever," she said , "but it now looks like I'll be able to ride at the Giro Donne too. It's my next planned race and an excellent course with a view to the Olympics. In the Giro, I can gain hardness and rate rhythm. There you go - that what I'll now be focusing on."

Meanwhile, she does not plan to defend her National Road Race Championship title as the race will be held on the 23rd of June. "That's a little bit too soon," she explained. When you're Marianne Vos, missing out on a National Championship isn't a problem - you can always win it next year instead.

Evening Cycling News 09.05.12

Giro d'Italia Stage 4 - Tour of Chongming Island Stage 1 - 2004 Olympic dope samples may be retested - Tchalykh wins controversial Azerbaijani TT - Best evidence yet for Contador return to SaxoBank - Other racing news (links) - Cycling:  Fahrradi Farfall FFX supercar...er...bike - News you might have missed - RIP 108

Racing
Giro d'Italia Stage 4

Ramūnas Navardauskas, now with
Garmin-Barracuda

On Wednesday, the Giro returned to Italy for a 33.2km team time trial around Verona - another fast, flat course with only a little pimple of a hill shortly after the first time check and several long straights on the outward and return journeys, followed by a flat and a straight 800m section to the finish line.

Verona, a World Heritage Site, has a great deal of history and monuments even by the standards of ancient Italian cities. Not all of the history makes pleasant reading - it has been ruled by blood-thirsty tyrants, suffered an earthquake and numerous plagues and, in the Second World War, was the site of unspeakable horror when large numbers of captured enemy soldiers, anti-fascists, left-wingers and Jews were tortured at what was then a fortress and has since been converted into a church, the Santuario della Madonna di Lourdes.

Garmin-Barracuda, many fans' favourite today, performed sufficiently well to both win the stage and put their 24-year-old Lithuanian Ramūnas Navardauskas into the maglia rosa with an advantage of 10", bringing the four-day reign of BMC's Taylor Phinney - who is no doubt still in pain following the crash caused by Robert Ferrari in Stage 3 - to an end. Navardauskas' team mates Tyler Farrar, Robert Hunter and Ryder Hesjedal take 2nd, 3rd and 4th places behind him.

"The jersey is a very big thing for me," a smiling Navadauskas told the cameras during his post-race interview. "I really love this team. They take care of me."

Top Ten
1 Garmin-Barracuda 37'04"  
2 Katusha +5"  
3 Astana +22"  
4 SaxoBank ST  
5 Omega Pharma-QuickStep +24"  
6 Orica-GreenEDGE +25"  
7 Liquigas-Cannondale +26"  
8 RadioShack-Nissan +28"  
9 Sky +30"  
10 BMC +31"
(Full stage results and GC)

Stage 5 is the last flat parcours for a few days as 6, 7 and 8 all rate as medium mountain stages. Beginning in Modena, it's a strange sort of stage being 209km in length with hardly any corners - the first 172km looks rather like a massively scaled-up sprint with the only sizable deviation from the line being made necessary by the existence of Bologna. There's a little Category 4 hill at 172.1km, rising to 109m, then three gentle and uncategorised climbs in the 16km after it before the final 14km, which are as flat and as straight as the earlier part of the race all the way to the last kilometre when the terrain rises almost imperceptibly. (History along the route)

Stages 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21

Tour of Chongming Island Stage 1
It's funny, really, that the UCI pour so much money into their efforts to "globalise" cycling (which really means "globalising" the UCI) and refuse to put more into women's cycling, because women's cycling has been blazing a trail in the Far East ever since 2007 and the first Tour of Chongming Island - athree-stage event that has become one of the most important fixtures on the calendar and is followed by the Tour of Chongming Road World Cup.

Melissa Hoskins

Melissa Hoskins (Orica-GreenEDGE) faced stiff competition in the bunch sprint to the finish line with both Rochelle Gilmore (Faren-Honda) and Monia Baccaile (MCipollini-Giambenini-Gauss) chasing her all the way, but proved the fastest of the three on the first of the three pancake-flat stages that are ideally suited to a sprint specialist such as herself - she also won the first intermediate sprint and took second place on the second, picking up useful points for her team.

Despite the near-inevitability of a sprint finish, Hitec Products-Mistral Home and AA Drink-Leontien.nl fired off numerous attacks during the race. None got far as the teams with the best sprinters kept things under control, making sure the race ended how they wanted it to end. In the last couple of kilometres, as they got the sprinters into a position, a crash back in the pack threw Sarah Düster (Rabobank) high into the air and for a second looked horribly like a repeat of the crash at the 2010 Herald Sun Cycling Classic which left her with a broken pelvis. A rider from the Taiwan team also went down, creating a domino effect that saw several others also crash - fortunately, it appears that nobody was badly hurt; but as of yet there has been no confirmation.

Stage 2 (Stage 1 here)

"The girls positioned me out of the wind an they protected me extremely well," Hoskins said after the race. "Two kilometers out, they pushed it to front. Judith [Arndt] took the final left-hand turn and then handed things over to Jessie [MacLean]. Judith had taken us to the bottom of a small bridge, and Jessie took us over the bridge. Jessie gave a final push on the bridge, and then a MCipollini Giambenini attacked. I sat on her wheel for about 250-meters before stepping out of her draft with 150-meters to go. Once I was out front, I was able to hold on for the win." After bonification, Hoskins leads the General Classification with a 7" advantage over Baccaile.

There was some confusion after the race when the UCI accidentally published the General Classification results complete with bonification adjustments instead of the stage results.

Top Ten

  1.  Melissa Hoskins Orica GreenEdge 1h49'01"
  2.  Rochelle Gilmore Faren-Honda ST
  3.  Monia Baccaile MCipollini-Giambenini-Gauss ST
  4.  Liesbet De Vocht Rabobank ST
  5.  Charlotte Becker Specialized-Lululemon ST
  6.  Marta Bastianelli MCipollini-Giambenini-Gauss ST
  7.  Lucy Martin AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST
  8.  Elena Cecchini MCipollini-Giambenini-Gauss ST
  9.  Emilie Moberg Hitec Products-Mistral Home ST
  10.  Evgenia Romanyuta RusVelo ST
(Full stage result and GC)

2004 Olympic doping control samples may be re-tested
The International Olympic Council has announced that it may oblige WADA's request to re-test samples taken at the 2004 Games, utilising new procedures developed in the intervening time, prior to preserved materials being destroyed in August in line with the standing 8 year policy. The number of samples liable to be re-tested has not yet been set, but it is believed likely to between one hundred to several hundred chosen from athletes competing in what IOC medical commissioner Arne Ljungqvist terms "high risk" sports - which we can obviously assume to include cycling.

When samples taken at the 2008 Games were re-tested, five samples were found to contain traces of CERA, an EPO variant undetectable with tests available at the time. Since doping was widespread in cycling and other sports before the Operacion Puerto scandal of 2006, there's a high chance that more cases will come to light if WADA's request is successful.

Tchalykh wins in Azerbaijan

Tchalykh wins Azerbaijan TT
Elena Tchalykh (Dolmans-Boels) won the Azerbeidzjan de Heydar Aliyev Anniversary Time Trial, the first UCI women's event in Azerbaijan and one that has been controversial, not least of all because police and government authorities reportedly regular use rape (and threats of rape) against defendants and defendants' families as a means of coercing confessions from prisoners.

In fact, since the country's human rights record is extremely questionable overall (political prisoners are routinely imprisoned without proof of wrongdoing, prisoners are tortured and beaten, the media is strictly controlled by the authoritarian government, religious minorities suffer persecution despite token equality laws and thousands of citizens have been illegally evicted to make way for urban renewal in capital city Baku - more of this in the news in the coming weeks, since Baku is hosting the Eurovision Song Contest this month), organisations from any democratic nation shouldn't really be promoting anything in Azerbaijan except for popular uprising. Anyway, that's enough of that. Back to cycling...

Top Ten
  1.  Elena Tchalykh Dolmans-Boels 34'37"
  2.  Olena Pavlukhina +34" 15
  3.  Aleksandra Sosenko Vaiana-Tepso +1'00"
  4.  Maria Mishina +1'06"
  5.  Olena Sharpa +1'16"
  6.  Nicole Hanselmann +1'21"
  7.  Oksana Lesnyk +1'26"
  8.  Katarína Hranaiova +1'40"
  9.  Emma Trott Dolmans-Boels +1'48"
  10.  Katarzyna Sosna Vaiana-Tepso +2'10"
(Full result)

Daniel Navarro, now with SaxoBank:
"Alberto needs me"

Best evidence yet for Contador return to SaxoBank
According to Asturian newspaper Elcomercio, Alberto Contador - whose two-year backdated ban is due to end early in August - has confirmed that he plans to ride this year's Vuelta a Espana. What is more interesting is that SaxoBank rider Daniel Navarro told the same paper he won't take part in the Tour de France this year because: "Alberto needs me and I want to have good form for August."

Neither Contador nor SaxoBank have yet confirmed that he will return to the team, but he is widely expected to do so. Could Navarro's comments have been an accidental revelation of something he knows and we don't?



Other News
Ferrari apology a "clear PR exercise," says Cycling News

"Team Type 1-Sanofi secures repeat invite to the Tour de Suisse" (Velonation)

"Jody Cundy aims to inspire at London Paralympics" (British Cycling)

"French federation tests for corticoids at 4 Jours de Dunkerque, One rider did not start final stage as a result, says L’Équipe" (Cycling News)

"Garner happy with place on podium" (This Is Leicestershire)

Jelejah 1Malaysia - Jai Crowford wins Stage 2 as Yusup Abrekov takes GC (Bernama)

Cycling
Fahrradi Farfall FFX is not what it seems
If you opened up the bonnet of the Fahrradi Farfall FFX, what would you expect to find? A V8? A V12? A W16? What you probably wouldn't expect is what's actually in there...

Road legal in Austria, the Fahrradi FFX cost £1.2 million to build - £200,000 more than it would cost to buy the Ferrari FXX that inspired it.

The news you might have missed
Britain
"Wales gets tough over green travel" (The Guardian)

"Give pupils more room on road, says cyclist Beaumont" (The Scotsman)

"'Britain's dumbest cycle lane' isn't actually a cycle lane at all" (road.cc)

"Hotel installs bicycle-powered television" (Telegraph)

Worldwide
"Cyclofemme: A Global Day of Women's Cycling" (Huffington Post)

"Calgary hires its first cycling co-ordinator" (Calgary Herald, Canada)

"In Bibwewadi and Hadapsar, two-wheelers [motorcycles] zoom into cyclists’ space" (The Indian Express)

"New York’s Five Boro Bike Tour: We Hit the Road with 32,000 Happy Cyclists" (Wired)

"ABC 24 presenters are embroiled in controversy after claiming on Monday morning that car “doorings” of cyclists aren’t always solely the driver’s fault – they reckon sometimes the cyclist is at fault too" (Crikey)

Tweets

Giorgia Bronzini ‏ @GiorgiaBronziniTime to relax :) (pic)

Cycleboredom ‏ @CycleboredomLocal pub radio piece on Bike to School Day (loosely): "Drive gently out there today." So, the rest of the time drive like asses? #phrasing

RIP 108

Wouter Weylandt - born 27th of September 1984, Ghent, Belgium; died 9th of May 2011, Mezzanego, Italy.