Monday, December 11, 2023

Tag: Arthur Campbell

When Scotland had a National Stage Race: Part 2 – The Pro-Am Years

In Part 1 of "When Scotland had a National Stage Race" we saw the domination of the East Europeans that ended with the introduction of Professionals in to the Scottish Milk Race. The first year it was the British based pro's, then the big boys in the shape of the Belgian Isjberk-Gios team arrived in 1978 and set fire to the race, so instead of an East European domination we now had a Continental Pro domination, but they had something the Czechoslovakians, Poles, East Germans or Russians didn't have: style; class; and that "Pro-appeal".

At Random

Le Tour de France 2012 – Stage 2: Visé – Tournai, 207 km.

Visé"Tomorrow is a sprinters’ stage – Lotto showed real motivation today, GreenEDGE look good too. But love Cav or loathe him, he’s special." . . . was what we said yesterday. Lotto were motivated and GreenEDGE were good – but Cav was better.

Ryszard Szurkowski

It's with sadness that we learned that, at 75 years-of-age Ryszard Szurkowski, the man who you can argue was the greatest amateur rider in the history of the sport, has passed away.

Grenoble Six Days 2011 – First Night

'The track door will open at 09:30,' we were told, but this is the Grenoble Six Days 2011 - in France, and you have to give or take 45 minutes - and sure enough, we got in around 10:15. Bring the last of the gear down from the camper, set up the track cabins, go to the shops for supplies, help the guys with their bikes, go to the shops for razors so Franco can shave his legs, help with the dinner, do the washing up and then slip out quietly when the riders all descend upon our cabin for their pre-race meeting.

La Vuelta a España 2012 – Stage 9: Andorra – Barcelona 196.3 km

Joaquim Rodriguez is building on the foundation of respect he laid at the Giro. The little Catalan isn’t sitting around waiting on Froome bludgeoning him in the ‘contra reloj’ on Wednesday; he’s riding like a champion, ‘la course en tete’ – at the head of the race, especially when heading 'home' to Andorra.