Cycling continued

[Theatregirl1122]

So this is final?

[NinjaTurtles]

So this is final?

He may, I believe, appeal to the Supreme Court of Switzerland.

Andy's response to the ruling is quite respectable:

"There is no reason to be happy now”, Schleck said in a RadioShack-Nissan press release

“First of all I feel sad for Alberto. I always believed in his innocence. This is just a very sad day for cycling. The only positive news is that there is a verdict after 566 days of uncertainty. We can finally move on.”

"...If now I am declared overall winner of the 2010 Tour de France it will not make me happy. I battled with Contador in that race and I lost."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy...ors-doping-ban

And this news just days after the US Feds dropped their investigation into the Armstrong doping allegations!

[Garden Kitty]

Jeannie Longo's husband arrested by French police for suspected EPO buy

But on the happier side, route details for the Tour of Cali were released

[deltask8er]

And Jan Ullrich lost his 3rd place 2005 TdF finish

...has responded following the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling which saw him hit with a two-year ban and his results from May 2005 until his retirement in February 2007 annulled, including his third-place overall finish in the 2005 Tour de France.

In a statement released on his personal website, Ullrich said that the lengthy legal wrangling over his case was "incomprehensible" while explaining that he would not appeal the CAS decision, "Not because I agree with all points in the court's opinion, but because I want to finish the issue definitively," he said.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ullr...entes-dealings

[Garden Kitty]

Nice article about rising stars in US cycling in the NY Times

[deltask8er]

Photo presentation of PCOTC (porny cyclist of the century) Tom Boonen's career in a French publication.

http://www.lequipemag.fr/EquipeMag/A...clisme_12.html

[Aussie Willy]

We just had the World Cycling Championships in Melbourne (didn't even know until it was on TV). Great event. Australia and Britain were the top nations so it is going to be very interesting coming to the Olympics.

They are also showing quite a few of the European cycling events and got to see some of the Paris Roubaix last night. What a rough bike race. You would have been happy with the result Deltask8er

[Theatregirl1122]

I saw on the Paris Roubaix broadcast that Fabian has fractured his collar bone? That's unfortunate. I hope he recovers quickly. The summer will be a lot less fun without him.

[deltask8er]

I saw on the Paris Roubaix broadcast that Fabian has fractured his collar bone? That's unfortunate. I hope he recovers quickly. The summer will be a lot less fun without him.

He posted an x-ray of the broken collarbone on Twitter

https://twitter.com/#!/f_cancellara/...05622880673793

[susan6]

Holy crap. Was it a compound fracture? That one bone looks like it's sticking up pretty high. Yikes.

Too bad this happened right before Paris-Roubaix. There was clearly no other competition for Boonen. He definitely ruled the spring.

[Theatregirl1122]

Taylor Phinney won the prologue of the Giro yesterday for his first ever Grand Tour stage win! and Cav is starting his Grand Tour season off well by winning the first stage.

[Garden Kitty]

Taylor also joins Andy Hampsten and Christian Vande Velde as the only Americans to wear pink at the Giro. This was a big goal for him and although he won't keep it long, he has another day to celebrate.

[Garden Kitty]

Tyler kept the pink today, but he's on his way to the hospital as a result of a crash at the finish, and may be out of the race. Cav also caught up in the crash, and Roberto Ferrari is relegated for changing lines during the sprint and coming across Cav.

ETA: Tweet from Taylor:

I went down, but I am NOT OUT. Couldn't feel my foot there for a couple minutes...but nothing is broken... I live to fight another day.

He's heading to Italy with the team to continue, but his Mom took him to the airport in a wheelchair.

And the race took some time at the start of the stage to remember Wouter Weylandt

[Theatregirl1122]

Just saw the sprint and Ferrari was ridiculous. He went completely sideways and just swept Cav's front wheel out from under him. Then, as usually happens in sprint crashes, someone rode over him and several more people went flying including the pink jersey. He said he felt pretty disoriented after the crash and I guess he crossed the line in an ambulance.

Cav congratulated Goss on twitter (and called him a "proper decent bloke". This is why I love Cav) and suggested that Ferrari should be sent home rather than simply relegated. Renshaw also tweeted that he got sent home for less.

[Garden Kitty]

Cav was apparently given a baby for his stage win today. What a nice prize.

Another pic of Cav and Delilah

I hadn't seen this pic from the crash before. That's scary!

[Theatregirl1122]

A baby seems like a terrible prize! Prizes should not cost you so much sleep.

Cav and Taylor both posted pictures of their injuries. Cav's road burn (and very silly cycling tan) and Taylor's ankle.

[Garden Kitty]

Video of Jens Voigt and Chris Horner

ETA: Tyler Farrar is out of the Giro after a crash early in the stage.

[Garden Kitty]

First Canadian ever to wear the maglia rosa - Ryder Hesjedal !

[Garden Kitty]

Jens Voigt on twitter:

Funny thing happened to me in today stage! A bee was sitting on my lip and i thought leave the bee in peace, she won't sting you...

Wrong guess, she did, and then i decided to live up to my image and swallowed her and did chew every bit of honey out of that bee!!!

Take that little bug as punishment for messing with me!!

And then my lips start to swell an i felt like a stupid Hollywood Starlet with my blown up lip, i looked like i just had some botox!!hahaha

[Garden Kitty]

Could Ryder Hesjedal become the first Canadian to win a Grand Tour? It could be an interesting final time trial on sunday! But Saturday's ride on Stelvio is amazingly tough and they're even predicting a chance of snow. Saturday should be the real test.