KING CAV will ride the SKY in 2012

 

 

Delighted to read that “ King Cav ” is going to ride for Team Sky in 2012 . So much speculation in the last weeks about which team and which “ Sponsors ” will be involved in the deal .

My source was “ Podium Café ” and here is the link :

 

 

 

http://www.podiumcafe.com/2011/10/11/2483390/confirmed-mark-cavendish-to-team-sky  

Cav is a popular Racer with a Huge Future and so far all that is missing in his career are the Olympic Medals that he had hoped for in Beijing !

More importantly is that Berny Eisel will be with Sky to help build the Train that has been a hallmark of the success of HTC team these pass several years . Cav can win by himself as Robbie Mc Ewen was in the habit of doing but there is something special about watching the various trains fighting to get their man in place to WIN on the line . Gossy , Renshaw and others from the HTC team train will of course be working hard to disrupt the continual success of Cav’s sprints . Andre Greipel must be heaving a sigh of relief that “ Specialised ” did not convince Mark to join the Quickstep / Lotto team so as to have him continue riding their bikes .

Will Sky have King Cav at the Tour Down Under must be a key question for the media at present as they will be looking to see the results of Cav wearing the “ Rainbow Jersey ” which tends to have been a jinx for the wearer in past seasons . So many of those wearing it have had difficult seasons and then enjoyed success when it passed on to the next Racer .

Have waited until now to offer congrats to Mark on his winning the “ World Champs ” since I felt certain that he and the British team regarded the result as a certainty barring accident or injury .

Now as another of my favourite Bloggers has pointed out recently we are less than 100 days from the start of the TDU !

OAF of AIGLE

“ Bull in CHINA ” shop , causing more controversy by forgetting he signed correspondence and his spokesman “ mis-spoke ” when saying there was no such letter/s ?

LOST ME MARBLES !!

Don’t think so ! Whilst Deignan comes second to Nicholas Roche in stage 3 of the Tour of Beijing , the “ Trick Cyclist ( denied his Olympic ride by appearing in South Africa under an assumed name ) ” is grabbing all the headlines with a letter that must have caused ALL the Pro Team Management Angst .

When Cycling news.Com and Inrng.com published their articles they were in denial that such behaviour could be allowed by the UCI let alone be published !

Threatening reprisals at the end of 2011 on Teams that did not choose to participate in the “ Tour of Beijing ” with a review of their “ Status ” for 2012 was not only STUPID but contravenes the “ Rules and Regulations ” that the UCI pretends to operate under .

Seems to me that there are going to be more than Stapleton’s HTC team having difficulty finding “ Main Sponsors ” in future years !

Oh , by the way , I found this item a little later on the CNF ( mushroom farm ) :




"There was a deal to do pre-competition and in-competition testing," the source told Cyclingnews. "That deal was struck with the deputy director of USADA and the UCI and that was in writing.'...'Then there was a press conference and there was the comment about the fox guarding the henhouse. McQuaid went crazy and demanded an apology. One wasn't forthcoming and there was a huge thing. It was seen as an affront to Pat McQuaid's honour and **** the sport if Pat McQuaid's honour is impeached. "The deal that had been agreed in writing was pulled off the table.'...'"

So the key points are:

1)Pat puts himself and his ego ahead of the interests of cycling.

2)The UCI president appears able to cause the operational anti-doping plans of the UCI to be overridden at whim.

3)The UCI don't honor written agreements, and this is encouraged by it's president.

IMO, Pat McQuaid is not an appropriate person to head a not-for-profit organisation. He appears to lack personal integrity or a basic understanding of best practice in the not-for-profit sector. Pat McQuaid, NO CONFIDENCE or RESPECT. Resign you ******* ****-***** ******.

Seems I am not in the minority when considering UCIless’ current conduct

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011

 

 

 

 

Copenhagen is where HTC Team are showing the “ Sponsors “ that they have missed the boat ! Nearly every race has shown the depth of Talent in this team ! That is just the Individual Time Trials thus far and the Road Races are yet to come with speculation that “ Ina “ will win the Ladies and of course “ King Cav “ will win the men’s Elite Race !

Whilst this is going on though the Media is having a feast with the recent revelations timed to perfection so as to maximise their impact ! Started as usual with the French and Italian Media and then was picked up by Cyclingnewsforum on a new thread :

 

 

 

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=15363&page=10  

From there it got onto Twitter and now there are reports in Magazines such as Sporting News Illustrated :

 

 

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/more/09/21/Armstrong-paid-doping-physician.ap/index.html?eref=si_mostpopular  

Seems that “ ESPN “ the Us sports channel has got into the act as well , but I have no link for that at this time , guess someone on CNF ( mushroom farmers anonymous ) will put that out in the forum in the near future .

Disturbing for me is that there will be mud flying and “ Livestrong “ will get a bath , which will be unfair to ALL those who have contributed their efforts and monies and believed in the “ Good Work “ that could be done by this foundation ! Typical of this possibility is this link that was mentioned as “ with this “ in item #87 on the CNF thread ! Already tweeted @premierMikeRann with a link to this story .

Lance is reported to have said “ certain things “ whether they are reported correctly and in context or twisted to suit the story , we can only speculate but more questions are emerging as time passes . That Flandis and Shamilton are “ bitter and convicted ex racers “ has been a defence used by those supporting Lance & co but if as suggested there are “ Tax Evasion “ matters and these guys had monies in the scheme that they did not wish to lose caused them to keep quiet is speculation at this time .

Not being in Copenhagen through matters beyond my control is somewhat annoying although the weather in Austria has turned to the good once again and thus am getting plenty of cycling done .

NOVITZSKY is at Work !

TEXAS Monthly's Micheal Hall is pushing the boat out trying to link Lance to a lot of " hearsay, supposition and innuendo " according to "Cyclechic of CNF " ! The article she is espousing is from November 2010 saying that there would be action in January 2011 ! So far i see little of Hall's predictions becoming reality although the " mushroom farm " continues to work itself into a frenzy .

Links to the article :

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2010-11-01/michaelhall.php

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2010-11-01/michaelhall-2.php


During the past days we have seen the demise of one of the most successful road race cycle teams , HTC ,through lack of interest in " Sponsoring " Cycling Sport . Novitzsky can hardly be credited with this event BUT he has created uncertainty where there should be none ! Just about any Stage race that the " HTC team " enters a member of that squad will visit the podium perhaps each day in some cases .

Whilst there is this uncertainty created by those delving in the past Cycle Racers will now be scrambling to secure their future in 2012 if not for additional seasons . UCI & WADA are content to let the " Contador " matter drag but other racers are being dealt with in a timely way and this must weigh on the minds of those deciding where to invest to maximise their returns from " Sponsorship " of sport .

FRANCE, Grenoble for ITT

Hope someone at Facebook Admin is reading this post.

When i travel i do not carry the laptop with me so rely on logging on in Internet Cafe situations BUT this does not suit "facebook" as they do not recognise the "IP address" and thus ban me ! Of course i can give them a Mobile phone no they will attempt to ring after i have left the country . EVEN in Austria i do not get the promised call back .

Always was suspicious of facebook so this is one less site i can worry about . This is coming into facebook  on posterous if you are wondering .

French keyboards have me going at half my normal pace and that was a french snail that just galloped past , the hostel has an apple so guess why i cqn`t get into twitter ? Took 5 mins and a number of deletions to find the "@" , first attempt looked like this ;  3@3 !

Walked into the tourist office today and heard the Lady in front of me getting "we only speak french in this office"! Perhaps she was seeking directions to another country to spend her money ?

Dauphine race passed me in St Laurent du Pont today , most of the racers earned their money today as i got drenched walking the 1/2 kilo from the car . No point giving the bike an outing since those on wheels looked like they would prefer to be somewhere else . Looks like Cav has a new kid on his block since HTC won the podium in front of Demoulin and the fast fading Thomas Voekler . Surprised there were so few spills with what i saw of the street furniture .

Since leaving Austria i have seen rain each day and it was especially disappointing to arrive on "hill108" to find the lower levels slick and the top wet and misty . Finished up having lunch with my mate Bruno in Cloz before a visit to Cles and Passo Tonale each with similar conditions.

Tonight am enjoying the Auberge Jeunesse in Grenoble because i lack the enthusiasm to get out in the evening rain . Hopeful that a change of weather will allow Grenoble to follow other Dauphine ITT's with dry roads ;

A bientot .