Squier

Personally, I think his performances are in line with that of a clean rider. If you have a look at this year's TdF again; he put in massive efforts and performances but was then not seen or heard of for two days at least. If he did it every day I'd be suspicious, but his big efforts are usually followed up by hiding in the peleton for a couple of days. To me, that just looks more 'natural'.

And this wasn't done by Festina and Operation Puerto? From all accounts it seems that the major culture shift in the sport happened way before the USADA Lance bomb exploded. The only real effect this has had was that the 'the professional sport of bike racing' (Sherwen quote for effect) saw the back of some major sponsors.

Yup, but the problem is that the contract stipulated that he had to be the official winner of the Tour, which he no longer is.

I love this part. Nothing ambiguous about this! "And to avoid the impression that I don’t want talk about the past, or want hide my past, here I am saying very loudly: Keep my samples, test them, and re-test them, in 10 years or in 100 years from now. Go back in time and open my sample from five years ago or 10 years ago. Feel free to do so! There will never be any surprises because I have nothing to hide."

A good read. Jens detailing his whole career wrt not doping. http://bicycling.com/blogs/hardlyserious/2012/10/30/turbulent-times/ Firstly, I believe him (yes, I'm a fan) but I do find it strange that he was never even approached to dope. He was racing throughout the "dark era". Secondly, is it wrong that I can't help but wonder how great he would've been if his path somewhere crossed with EPO?

Will be interesting to see. Off topic; I'm assuming you lost a bet with the new avatar?

Question for the peeps who has done a couple: For a team of 4; what have you found is the optimum way of splitting up the riding. It seems as if doing an hour at a time is too little riding to get into it but doing two hours at a time will have each member have a 6 hour wait between rides. How have you done this in the past?

They said it was the quad that broke it. Saw the bridge still in working order on Miway MTB last night when the A bunch went over it. Looked fine then.

Brandon's experience will make a big difference, somthing they lacked in RE:CM. Neil and Waylon did make a good team though. All the best to them!

I dunno, I'm even less of a Sky fan now that they're firing people all over the show, but I can believe that Wiggo was clean. At no point did he do anything spectacular (excl. the TTs where we knew he would be). He was sitting on a team mates wheel all through the Alpes and Pyrenees. Hardly evidence of a doped rider. However, this is just my opinion based on what I saw, not any numbers. Care to elaborate on the VAM numbers?

We're in as well! Our first 24 hour. Looking forward!

Missed VG this year but remember it from last year. If you enjoyed that you must do Cradle Quest on 24 Nov. Nissan VG is tame compared to Crade Quest. Hopefully the terrain is such that the climbs are rideable. It should be, judging by swartpiet's comments. Wonder if these trails will be open over weekends after the race.

Gmail send these mails straight to your spam folder. So check it. Got a B batch start for the Marathon! Looking forward! 1300m is a decent amount of climbing, especially since most of it is in the last half. Should be a good one!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/wiggins-compares-armstrong-to-father-christmas The Giro has 3 TT's totalling 88km (albeit one is an uphill TT) while the Tour has one 33km TT. It makes sense from that perspective, but the Tour is usually a lot tougher that the Tour so we'll see how that works out for him. Excited to see Froomedog taking to the likes of Contador and Schleck. Andy could actually be in with a shout with such a short TT, though the Tour is Contador's to lose.

2 ITTs and 1 TTT will favor Sky. Somehow I doubt they will have 2 ITT's again. I'm hoping for a TTT start like at the Vuelta and then an ITT to finish things off before they hit the Champs. The normal "recipe"! This should be a big one with all the iconic climbs being included. Alpe d'Huez, Ventoux, Galibier, etc etc etc! I'm predicting a massive amount of climbing and a couple more summit finishes than what we are used to.

Not much is being said about possible perjury charges. I'd assume that is why it's not possible for him to confess as then he will be subject to the penalty of perjury. IMO that is currently his biggest risk as he testified under oath during the SCA hearing that he never used any PEDs. If they can prove that he lied, which has pretty much been done, he could be in really hot water. Perjury can, and usually does, lead to jail time. I find it strange that the media has not made a big hoohaa about it.

Not to detract, but looking at Merckx's record you can't help but wonder what the level of competition was like in those years. For one rider to be so dominant in so many different phasets of the sport... it's unheard of in the modern era.

Wonder what his next move is going to be? He doesn't really have many options. Can't talk this away.

There is no defence, agreed, but he still is being charged and subsequently banned. Being provided with the details of the charges against you surely isn't too much to ask?

It's a sad day! She won a stage of the women's Tour de France. That's massive! And now this... Sad sad day. She's going to kill on the MTB!

"Armstrong lawyer Tim Herman has sent a letter to USADA complaining that they should send their entire file of evidence gathered in a probe of Armstrong to the global cycling governing body rather than simply a limited report." Is that really too much to ask?

Looks good Clive! Loking forward to tomorrow!

Winning this one takes them to 16.

I picked the Boks for the win but then saw the highlights of NZ vs Arg again this morning and now I'm not too sure...

Looks like a good one! Looking forward!