It's a long way from Copenhagen to Sanremo. Last autumn we saw Saxo Bank's Michael Mørkøv ride the classic 'sit in and sprint' race in the Copenhagen Worlds netting 18th and best home rider among the absolute cream of world cycling.
Susie, my chow chow would love these meat balls; cold, greasy, smelly with around one percent meat content; it's a pity she's not here - but think how awful it would be if she bit Danny Stam. Dinner time at the restaurant; day one the food was cool, but as the week goes on, the menu refuses to budge and the temperature of the food drops; 'not good for riders to eat cold pasta,' says Ronnie our number two soigneur.
On a picture postcard perfect Autumn Sunday, hospital consultant Arthur Doyle (Dooleys Cycles) gave a lesson in how to ride a technical time trial with a two minute plus beating of the field in the classic Tour of the Trossachs. Ever consistent Jim Cusick (Glasgow Couriers) was second with Plowman Craven professional and Scottish road race champion, Evan Oliphant taking bronze.
Vik's latest nod to us is regarding an Englishman, Douglas Dewey. Douglas won the British U23 time trial championships last season, but the other week he pulled off a major win in Belgium-Gent Staden, the first major amateur classic of the year.
In the recent Scottish 50 Mile Time Trial Championships the names in first and second spots were ones we’ve spoken too many times on VeloVeritas – winner Silas Goldsworthy and silver medallist, Alan Thomson (both Sandy Wallace Cycles); but the bronze medallist, Tom Gordon of Dooleys was new to individual TT honours.
As road racing in Scotland and the UK thinks about making a start to the year, over in mainland Europe the season is already well underway. Young Scot and Rayner Foundation man, Morgan Bown has been racing in France with his EC Saint-Etienne Loire team since early February.
Today is the first out and out sprint stage. Today we find out if the form Gossy and Greipel showed yesterday relative to Mark Cavendish was true, or if Cav was holding back a little. (For those out of the loop, Greipel showed that his train is beautifully organised and disciplined; and Gossy showed that he can bop a win over the great one when at the Tour.)