Recent content by Vanspringel

Its a simple fact that the big mountain stages are by far the best and most interesting stages to watch. The flat ones with the sprinters coming out in the last 200 metres are sleep inducing. The only way to make it "fairer" would be more rouler stages that mimic one day events, like PR or the...

Bordry spoke to German television ZDF earlier this week, saying UCI ant-doping controls at the Tour de France were "predictable and ineffective", which in turn was qualified as "pure bull****" by UCI president Pat McQuaid to Cyclingnews. (cyclingnews 11/6/10) Is the UCI now going overboard with...

Go back another generation and the sprinters were Leman, De Vlaeminck, Godefroot etc. These blokes could sprint as fast as any AND win classics AND ride and challenge in stage races AND ride all year AND ride through a brick wall if needed. Cipo et al? They wouldnt have beaten the Flandrians...

Contributers to forums have a tendency to think that only the winner of a GT rode well and all other efforts were rubbish. They then bring into play their personal likes or dislikes of particular riders and let this colour their judgement and get into huge arguments back and forth. If you look...

I think you must really have a secret crush on Cadel but just don't know how to express your deep and personal feelings for him! Come on. Be brave and let the love out.

Hey don't you ever watch cop/spy movies? They always try to get the bad guys to dob on other bad guys. Their information is still valid. Of course Landis is a cheat and liar and a fraud. Doesn't mean what he says about others isn't true. It still has to be investigated.

My main point is that there is nothing wrong with races like TOC but people tend to get too jingoistic about them and the UCI should do more to protect the monuments. Hey I'm an Aussie but I wouldn't like to see the TDU ever be in opposition to the classic events. More power to the TOC and I...

+1 It shows this is a mickey mouse race when there are 37 finishers out of 130 starters. Kudos to Rogers but a high proportion of non finishers usually means a) extreme weather conditions or b) no one except a hand full really care. At least races like the TDU are realistic about their...

Leave it alone As an Aussie I love my cycling but I want it to stay as it is. Sure have a few races outside Europe beginning and ending the season but dont mess with Paris-Roubaix, LBL, Giro, Tour etc. 40 years ago when I started my love affair with cycling there was nothing on the TV or in...

WTF!! The UCI has played down media speculation that a type of mechanical doping could already exist in the peloton, saying that there is no evidence that riders are utilising small motors to power their bikes and thus gain an unfair advantage. However the UCI have confirmed to Cyclingnews that...

To broaden the debate a bit, besides the Giro and TOC, English speaking riders were 8 out of first ten in the Olympia Tour, leading the Tour of Japan, won the Tour of Picardie. Is this a serious and sustainable shift in the cycling world towards English speaking countries and away from...

Poms maintain usual standards After stage 8 of the Giro Aussies: 2nd and 6th GC 1st Points classification 1st Young Rider 1st Mountains 1st Azzuri d'Italia 1st Combativity How are the Poms doing?

Anyone know if there is any livestream with English commentary?

It was a fantastic ride by Porte. Great to see a young bloke do so well in such a tough stage. Even if he fades later on it was a good indicator for the future. If any of you weren't just content to witness a classic stage by ALL the riders without the sniping you should give up cycling and...

As an old timer it just struck me that if anyone had told me 30 years ago that English speaking riders would dominate a stage of a race like the Giro they would have been laughed at. The balance of power has well and truly shifted.