Sunday update

ToC was total mayhem today due to the atrocious weather, and I felt sorry for all the riders suffering in that cold. Big-time chaos on the road, as no one seemed to know the time gaps, or who was in what group, or even the basics of what was happening in the race. Frankie Andreu was attempting to commentate on the Tour Tracker, and was pulling his hair out in total frustration as they had no video, seemingly no accurate race radio much of the time, and were just trying to talk about anything and everything to fill the time. Johan Bruyneel was also losing his temper in the team car, taking the ToC race radio to task, because he had no accurate info on who was in the front chase group and who wasn't. I am not sure that the eventual sketchy reports of who was in that front group of favorites were totally accurate either, so we will have to wait for the official results later to gauge the extent of the carnage.

As for Mancebo, he's not part of the bio-passport, and he's a known Puerto doper, so his "win" means nothing at all to me. Rock can preen and crow all they like, but an empty victory by an unrepentant doper is hardly something to be all joyful about. Sometimes the ends do not justify the means. And the anarchy symbol on the Rock jersey has to be the lamest and most inappropriate appropriation of a supposed counter-culture symbol for commercialized marketing purposes ever. Although I would admit that anarchy is a fairly good description of the state of pro cycling at the moment. With the Italians taking on the prosecution of a Spanish doping scandal, the UCI bio-passport stalled somewhere in mystery-limbo-land (free Anne Gripper!!), Damsgaard-run anti-doping programs at Saxo and Astana on the chopping block of oh-so-convenient expediency, Madame Amaury chasing profits over truth at L'Equipe and ASO, and the Second Coming's groundswell of vituperative nastiness threatening to drown us all in a tidal wave of sewage.....well, you get the idea. And the next person who mentions the damn word "transparency" should be sentenced to 24 hours straight locked in a room with nothing to do but read Basso's twitter. I go to sleep...I get massage...I eat dinner...I go to race...I go to sleep...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....I die of boredom. I tell you, the only twitters actually worth reading are the many Fake Floyds and a certain cycling reporter who shall go unnamed to save him from being ex-communicated by the Second Coming.

Meanwhile, if the latest El Periodico article can be trusted, CONI seems poised to deal the sport a few new crushing body blows. CONI is said to have 42 of the Puerto bloodbags and is working on the DNA matches, testing against samples from the Tour, Giro, and (the Italian fans tremble in horror...) the World Championships as well. The article specifically states that CONI is proceeding with 4 additional cases beyond Valverde, and makes special mention of an unnamed star rider who has worn the yellow jersey. Hmmm, so hard to guess who that might be...really, help me out, it is just too puzzling? OK, OK, so maybe it isn't Frank, lots of guys have worn the yellow jersey over the years, right?

Steroid Nation lays it on the line, talking about the Kimmage vs Armstrong incident: "Pro cycling will never rid itself of doping...while the cycling mafia controls the enterprise (and rooms like this). Cycling fans and various groupies will adorn Armstrong with attention. Pro cycling will ignore doping, to the detriment of the fairness of the sport. Denial is a powerful force. Death and disability from doping is powerful too. Remember, doping kills -- just like cancer."

Poor Garmin, mechanical incidents and problems with the UCI TT bike rules are haunting their time trials lately...with the latest victim being Peterson with a flat at the ToC. Maybe one of these would be worth getting?

Why do I blather on and on, when others manage to say it all in a few concise sentences? Er...don't answer that.

Svein Tuft interview.

Toto, will you be my Valentine?