Tag: Accreditation

Joe Wilson (Sandy Wallace Cycles), who successfully defended his Scottish 12 title and narrowly missed breaking his own record for the event last Sunday, on the roads near Invergordon explains; 'I was catching Carlos on that long leg out to Portmahomack, but I was feeling terrible, I had a macaroon bar and the bad patch passed quickly!' Sadly, it was an Asda macaroon bar and not the authentic Lees item, if it had been, then maybe the record would have been his?

Not much exciting so far at the World Road Championships 2006 and its gone 2.00 pm. I awoke to the bells at about 7.30 and was first in the shower room. Breakfast was fine, but there's still no small-talk in there; it's not a bad thing I guess-you are out the door pronto. I was sat in the press centre immediately it opened at 9.00 and I've been writing ever since. I did my piece about Vino, Zabriskie and Cancellara plus their respective bikes and since then I've been getting the old VeloVeritas dairy up to date.

Paul Kimmage has been a near-lone voice in the wilderness for a long time, questioning the ethics in cycling and railing against the alleged corruption amongst the riders and the people charged with running the sport for over 20 years. We thought it would be interesting to revisit a couple of interviews with Kimmage, to see if his position and message have changed any in the interim.

One of the men of the Classics Season this year has been Saxo Bank’s Danish star Michael Mørkøv. He was away for 240 kilometres in the Primavera – it would have been longer but for the 'mad breenge' in the peloton to make sure Cav didn't get back after his crisis on La Manie.

Cycling never ceases to amaze me; Frenchman Kevin Sireau’s 200 metre record of 9.572 seconds set in Moscow in 2009 looked ‘on the shelf’ – as did his compatriot Arnaud Tournant’s kilometre record of 58.875 set in La Paz in 2001. But one man didn’t just break both records within virtually hours of each other – he destroyed them. François Pervis rode a 9.347 for the 200 to take two tenths off Sireau’s time – a huge margin at this level. And not satisfied with that, he then took two-and-a-half seconds off Tournant’s time in winning the kilometre, also in the Aguascalientes World Cup meeting, in an incredible 56.303.

It’s hard to believe it’s 10 years since last I spoke to Paul Watson about a great ride he pulled off in 1987. Paul was British Amateur Road Champion in 1985, the same year as he was third in the Tour of Britain, ‘Milk Race’ behind Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner, Eric Van Lancker of Belgium and the man who should have been a super star but never quite was, Roy Knickman (USA). He rode pro with Van Lancker’s Belgian Fangio team at the end of that year but returned to Britain to ride for Raleigh in 1986.