Tag: Tour of Britain 2010

He’s one of the men to thank/blame for the current plethora of facial hair in the pro peloton; add to that a dazzling array of pained expressions and you have one of the most photographed professionals around – Dutchman, Laurens Ten Dam (Belkin). The 33 year-old from Zuidwolde in Groningen has been on the scene for a long time but it’s only in the last few years he’s emerged as a man whose name is mentioned in connection with the GC of Grand Tours.

Representatives from British Cycling, UK Sport and EventScotland visited the Belgian city of Liège this weekend for the Grand Depart of the 2012 Tour de France. With a proposal for the opening stages of the 2017 event being developed, the British partnership experienced the spectacular the Tour first-hand.

I’m not really sure what to say about the month of May. I haven’t been training very well, I haven’t really performed in most races (best result has been 20th in a 1.12A kermesse, one of only two races I’ve finished this month), and on the whole I haven’t particularly enjoyed riding my bike all that much.

"Elusive cyclist (Robert Millar) is rediscovered as 'queen of the mountains' "- so says the headline in the Sunday paper, The Star? The News of the World? The Sport? No, it's our "quality-read" for the sabbath - Scotland on Sunday. Whilst George Best drank himself to death, and as "Hurricane" Higgins trots down the same trail, many of the gentlemen of the press struggle to conceal their admiration for these 'lads'.

Jason Macintyre (Edge RT) made it a 'double-double' on Sunday morning as he successfully defended his Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2007 with 51:58 on a sunny but airy Irvine by-pass, the win coming just two weeks after he retained his British 25 mile title.

Well no rubbish today about my trip to the track or my run in with a black cab driver, today is simply about the bike riding.