When Ed Hood said he and VeloVeritas editor Martin Williamson were going out to watch the Tour de Trossachs it brought back my memories of watching the race for the first time in 1978. When I started my reminiscences it was going to be all about the Trossachs but one thing led to another and now we are looking at the early career of Robert Millar and the state of Scottish cycling.
The last time we spoke to ex-pro Tom Southam he was Rapha Condor’s press officer - but he’s moved on again and is now the man behind the steering wheel in the Drapac team car. The team have been rampant with stage wins in the Tour Down Under and most recently the Jayco Herald Sun Tour courtesy of Wouter Wippert and Will Clarke, respectively. Tom took time recently to chat to VeloVeritas about his move from word processor to team car.
Jörg Jaksche is an interesting man to talk to; a top rider in his day - until he was one of the relatively few actually punished as a result of being implicated in Operatión Puerto. But unlike most, Jaksche didn’t, ‘deny, deny, deny.’ He did the ‘right thing’ and ‘fessed up’ – but the UCI twisted his words and to the teams he was a pariah.