Be Excellent To Each Other

According to two witnesses, the US Postal team doctor Pedro Celaya (who is charged by Usada and will face a hearing later this year) was thrown into a panic at the 1998 Tour de France by the Festina scandal, in which the French team was caught red-handed with a vast medicine cabinet of illegal drugs. Celaya flushed tens of thousands of dollars' worth of drugs down the toilet – though this would not have been much help if the French police had raided the team, because the toilet was in a camper van.

As set forth in the affidavit of Tyler Hamilton, after Mr. Hamilton had testified about Mr. Armstrong’s doping and after Mr. Hamilton’s cooperation with federal law enforcement officials
had been publicly reported, on June 11, 2011, Mr. Hamilton was physically accosted by Mr. Armstrong in an Aspen, Colorado restaurant.819 Mr. Hamilton has testified that in connection
with this altercation Mr. Armstrong said, “When you’re on the witness stand, we are going to fucking tear you apart. You are going to look like a fucking idiot.”820 Hamilton further testified
that Armstrong said, “I’m going to make your life a living . . . fucking . . . hell.”821 Mr. Armstrong’s statements and actions plainly constitute an act of attempted witness intimidation.

British cyclist Alex Dowsett believes Lance Armstrong remains "a legend of the sport" despite the doping accusations against the American.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency banned Armstrong for life and stripped him of his seven Tour de France titles.

Team Sky rider Dowsett, 24, said: "He is still a legend of the sport. A guy who had cancer came back and won the Tour de France.

"I think it's not really important and I really don't think it matters."

All Tour titles gone, and now people want their money back. Oh my.

2013 route looks tough.

I'd put money on Alberto to win it, Froome comes in second after losing time on the antepenultimate day. Cavendish loses interest about halfway through and Wiggins is in 10-20th.

That's a long way to drive for a sweater.

Romantic weekend away?

I tried to be assuring but there was no way I could because I knew at that moment that LeLangue said “you” that my life was fucked and would never be the same. I was cold and sweating and unable to make any decision but I did my best to promise Amber that we’d both be okay, and I’d do whatever it would take to make sure of that, but I have never felt anything like that. I wasn’t okay for about a month. I didn’t sleep at all for at least two weeks; I would just lie there awake. And the longer it went, the worst it got and the harder it was for me to make decisions. I couldn’t think clearly.

Even if he went on there and said sorry I wouldn't believe that he meant it. By all accounts he seems like a manipulative, bullying twat who hides behind his illness and his charity work.

He hasn't for this long, why now?

OTOH, I still think a lot of Virenque, Millar, Pantani, Riis, Simeoni, Zabel, Moreau, Zuelle, Hamilton, Basso, Landis, Ullrich, Vinokourov, Mayo, Moreni, Petacchi....

Rumours abound that Armstrong has admitted to doping in the Oprah interview to be aired later this week.

The arse is bound to try and make himself look the victim though. Grrrr.

Discovery Channel or online via Oprah.com at 2.00am GMT, early on Friday morning.

If anyone's mental enough to give that much of a fuck about what a cheat has to say then...

huh. i have friday off..

Forecast looks good. Ignoring that shite for a reasonable bed time then getting up & going for an epic bike adventure seems the sensible way to spend it.

And already we have our first complaint about the cost to Yorkshire hosting the start of the Tour, Yorkshire, really is wasted on the Yorkies.

Total cost £6.5 Million…sounds like a bit of a bargain to me.

"After careful review of the terms of reference and the commission's proposed work programme, Wada reached the conclusion that the UCI was not allowing the commission to conduct a proper and independent investigation,"

Manzano dropped an early bombshell when he produced his UCI health card from 2003. This, he said, showed that he had a working relationship with Eufemiano Fuentes, who had previously testified he had no relationship with Manzano. The card bore Fuentes’s signature, indicating he was the rider’s doctor. Although the doctor’s lawyer attempted to have the card struck out as evidence, the judge overruled this protest and Fuentes confirmed the signature was indeed his.

visiting the giro next month.. on the pantani stage