Georgia on My Mind: on the very day Michael Ball takes his perpetual tantrum, this time over Rock Racing's exclusion from the Tour of Georgia, to court by way of a breach-of-oral-contract claim (pretty funny coming from a guy whose sworn solemn oath to completely change the world of cycling has manifested itself most notably to date in having his team wear some really, really rad-looking jerseys), Saunier Duval unfortunately has saved the day as it pulls out of the ToG in order to have enough upright bodies to staff its European campaign and the race organizers bow beneath the mighty weight that is Michael Ball's ego and bank account and let him in after all. Y'know, it's very nice to see Tyler Hamilton back in the saddle again for old times' sake, but *must* we deal with that arrogant wingnut Ball while we're waiting?
Like Sands Through the Hourglass...: as the clock ticks rapidly down to 2007 Giro king Danilo DiLuca's day of reckoning (and Petacchi's too incidentally), and the press bats about the possibility that modest baby Schleck could inherit Il Killer's maglia rosa, one key thing seems to go cruelly unnoticed: if DiLuca's out, and/or the recently two-year-banned Eddy Mazzoleni is stripped of his spot, this moves we dearly love 4th place finisher/smashing stage-taker/smack-talkin' road and mountain god Gilberto Simoni onto the podium where he so clearly belongs. Forza Gibo! Of course, it's only my own personal bias towards Simoni for doing anything short of, say, committing a serious violent felony that causes me enjoy this situation at all, and I certainly don't relish seeing the younger Schleck take the title that way, just as, for example, (and this is compounded by the case against Landis being incompetent crap) it made me absolutely yack to see cyclingnews so casually and cheerfully refer to the not-to-blame Oscar Pereiro as "the winner of the 2006 Tour de France" during its Paris-Roubaix live coverage. Damn, twist the knife why dont'cha? Anyhow, speaking of Simoni, as I was looking for a nice photo of him to accompany my fawning, I suddenly realized I owe (and hereby offer) poor Tom Boonen a colossal apology for ragging him over his recent beefcake Specialized ad, as, frankly, Gibo's website's got him beat (okay, no matter what I do, I can't !@#$%^ upload this !@#$%^ image, so hit the link, click "enter," main menu on the left, click on "gallery"). Holy moly, don't *any* of you people have mothers?
Question o' the Day: so it seems that, after years of relentless failure, there's been a rather astonishing uptick of late in the number of breakaways, particularly solos, successfully taking races. Is this due to:
a) a sudden decrease in the use of performance enhancing substances by the peloton due to greater paranoia and improved testing protocols, leading to the increased equalization of capabilities except by the truly natural standouts?
b) a sudden increase in the use of currently undetectable substances by only a few reckless well-connected cash-flush upstarts?
c)crap tactical dithering by DS-whipped big names too scared of being jumped by each other to keep an eye on anyone else?
d) nuthin', just a random yet highly pleasing to watch coincidence?
Just wonderin'!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
answer to question of the day: all the above.
i laughed out loud at the link photo, ooh baby check those tan lines (sarcasm for those who are unable to detect it). still yet to see the tommeke photo you referred to earlier in a previous post?
Post a Comment