Tag: Le Tour de France 2009

Fourth in the Worlds Elite TT, second only to Zabriskie in the US TT champs and with a Garmin contract neatly signed. But scratch all of the above and file under, "Another one bites the dust!" albeit the 'B' sample might just be 'clean.' We asked Paul Coats, who's a lecturer at Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy & Biomedical Sciences, for an expert view.

Rest in Peace, Dutchman Harm Ottenbros who died recently at 78 years-of-age.

Watched by 75,000 spectators over the course of the event in the velodrome Landsberger Allee, Andreas Müller and Kenny de Ketele won the 103rd edition of the Berlin Six Day. On the last day and the last race they overtook the long-time leaders Leif Lampater and Jasper de Buyst with a race winning attack - exciting stuff. Third place went to Robert Bartko, which was his last time in Berlin at the Six with his young partner Theo Reinhardt.

Bar Clemenceau was open again today, for our afternoon 'snifter.' The bar tender must have had a heavy Sunday session, he was asleep at one of his own tables. I went for a Ricard today; it reminded me of the time John and I were in the Bar Britanique on Alpe d'Huez. We drank so much pastis that we only just made it outside in time to catch Pantani on his way to the stage win - those were the days!

Bike broken, nearly poisoned and having to face 'Kermesse King' Mario Willems four times in a week-it ain't easy when you forsake the smooth tarmac of Westferry for the hard granite sets of Flanders - but 'a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.' Dooley's Michael Nicholson is just back from the flatlands; he took time to tell VeloVeritas the story...

I was fortunate enough to get an interview with Steele Bishop back in 2017, at which time he told me he was writing a book about his career: ‘Wheels of Steel.’ The book takes us from his first tentative rides right up to the current day by way of his amateur and pro careers and goes into the fascinating ‘small print’ of his three big bids for the Worlds, culminating in his Zurich success.