The reason of course is Lance.

This is a story that has been building ever since Lance climbed back on his bike post cancer in 1998.  I was as shocked as the rest of the universe to see the former world-champ return to the professional ranks.

In 1997 at a stage start in Pau, I bumped into a barely recognizable Lance.  My old Motorola team-mate had just finished a course of chemo and had no hair.  Thinly disguised in a baseball hat, I hailed him down.  In an earlier life we had been room-mates.  I the senior member on the team and Lance the young prodigy.  .

Lance’s cancer was a shock and we chatted a little about how he was fairing. I asked Lance if he missed the sport, he said no, and in fact he didn’t care if he ever rode again saying he only wanted to beat the disease.  With that in mind I was curious as to his presence at  Le Tour.  Illness Lance said had given him the time to reflect on his career and realizing he had been a right prick to many people along the way, and he was back to make amends.  At that stage I knew Lance was in litigation with the French Cofidis team who had cut his contract, but he sounded sincere, he was on a journey to heal some broken relationships.

Twelve months later, Lance was back on the circuit and performing better than he had pre-cancer.  By the Vuelta of that year, the Texan was featuring like a man possessed, placing 4^th on GC.

If the Spanish result didn’t have the skeptics fired up, winning the 1999 TdF certainly did.  From the moment Lance looked like winning his first TdF he has been under suspicion. He had not only survived cancer, he was now a better rider, how was this possible?  Lance was a prodigious talent, so it was not unreasonable in my mind that he could indeed return to not only cycling but to this very elite level.

Pre-cancer, we were very close and I’m sure he wasn’t indulging in illicit products but remember he had already won a world championship, his talent not a question.  It is difficult to imagine that as team-mates and room-mates I was not aware that he was cheating.  Post cancer, I had lost contact with Lance and I like most didn’t want to believe the rumor’s were true but like most I am being forced to reconsider.

Lance has had a massive impact on the sport of cycling, for me it has not been just about the drugs.  He has changed the sport and perhaps not for the best.  Like this years Tour de France, it was a great race for Wiggins but not so exciting for the rest of us.  During the Lance era it was much the same, Lance really only appeared for Le Tour, his racing was predictable and it could be said the racing was boring despite his achievements.

During this era the UCI protected its asset and Lance became godlike, infallible.  He pushed the boundaries to suit himself and the powers that be it would appear were complicit.

There is talk now of an amnesty but really, why, the suggestion is that the authorities were involved.  We all want to know the truth one way or another and as occurred during his cycling career Lance is pushing the boundaries to suit himself yet again.  He may indeed wish to get on with his life, but if that is the case why continue to present himself as a 7 times winner of Le Tour.

Perhaps the UCI should not consider an amnesty at all but take a long hard look at their own role even in current events.  Surely Alberto Contador should have been pulled abruptly from the 2010 tour.  Instead the story was leaked months later.  Who is the UCI protecting, the riders or their own career structure?

The Lance case is setting a new precedent in that all riders with exceptional results are under suspicion.  The cycling public believe that it is only a matter of time as to who is next and the real interest lies in the associations and the method. If a rider can’t be nailed through conventional anti-doping methods, then the ex-parte evidence that has fueled the Lance fire and the protocol’s around the giving of this evidence, will make life for a pro-rider murky and the witch hunts of darker days come to mind.

The Lance issue is sad for cycling regardless of which side of the fence you sit on.  It is sad because he was a great athlete and the ongoing saga has sapped the life blood from a great and passionate sport.  Lance will get on with his life, he has an astounding number of supporters, his cancer cause great but his impact on cycling now more than ever questionable.

I have read all the stories, the allegations and note that not unlike his pre-cancer day’s Lance is the same guy and he rubbed many people the wrong way.  The story will possibly continue unabated because Lance hasn’t changed at all.

I have had to deal with my own share of the same.  Personal scandals, team scandals, everything other than the race.  Really there should be a cycling glossy at the super market aisle checkouts.  In Europe, particularly Belgium where the fanaticism is strong this is actually the case.

The pre tour preamble built to an unprecedented level this year, the focus not on the tour itself but Lance Armstrong.  Any rider or official associated with him and his teams has become tainted by the association.  This is an appalling state of affairs, the wheels of due process will slowly reveal the truth but we must be patient and pay attention to le tour.

The 2012 tour is well underway now and my hope is that Cadel will remain strong and pull back the time he has lost.

My fear is not that Wiggins is better but that Froome and Porte are better than Cadel, they are in their own right general classification contenders.  Sky is dominating the race.  Pre-tour it always looked to be the case, the strength of the support team formidable.

As the tour changes, the style of rider and team must change to satisfy the demands of this modern epic.  We rarely see the teams and riders perform together until the Tour.  Cadel took an enormous risk with limited racing and there have been many changes to his team.  Wiggins too has raced little but his lieutenants have been doing the work, early season results revealing great strength and a cohesive approach.

I have wondered in previous articles if Sky were ambitious enough to put up a team that would pursue yellow and green.  The team to beat has always been Sky.

Ryder Hesjedal is now out of the tour, Nibali is showing strong form, Peter Sagan is quite simply an astonishing talent and Cavendish has had bad luck.  Both green and yellow jerseys are being heavily contested.

Cadel is not out of this race by any means but the question in my mind, from an Australian perspective is “why has Richie Porte not been selected for our Olympic team?” For that matter, where is Renshaw, he remains one of the best lead out men/sprinters in the world.

There are some real and apparent problems in the Australian selection process, this is becoming almost as scandalous as the continuing Lance saga.  Token efforts have been made in appeasing and appalled cycling public after the last World championship selection process but in my opinion the team put forward to represent Australia in this years Olympics is second rate.  Richie and many others have arrived on the cycling circuit without the assistance of the AIS.  Is this the reason they are overlooked.

Orica GreenEdge have been riding with confidence in their firs tour taking responsibility in some of the chases and fully committing to Matt Goss in the sprints.   He has been consistent with his top 5 results and the team have reappeared now that we are leaving the Alpes however it is going to be difficult to get that win.

None of the breakaways have been successful because the peleton has been controlling the for their sprinters while Sky have controlled the race overall.

Cadel has been sitting pretty with his team has avoiding the carnage that litters the roads of the first week and I am still prepared to hope he can ride to victory.  The tour has a long way to go with the Pyrenees to come, he needs some luck but if there is a chance he will take it.

Prime time allocations on the networks are given to cycle sport. Despite our howls of protest the commercial networks are paying attention and the sponsors are far happier with a commercial outcome.  That aside the News pieces and highlight packages have been excellent.  Couple all this with Orica GreenEdge’s backstage pass, if you are such a dedicated fan and you can be as close to being in the peleton without having to crème up you chamois.

Heinrich Haussler was a remarkably consistent performer in the Tour of California against the ever dominant Peter Sagan.  He is possibly peaking at the right time and his quest for selection as an Australian rider in our Olympic team and he should not be overlooked by Green aligned selectors.  I have harped on this before.  In my opinion, management, coaches or any other member of the GreenEdge staff should not be on the National Selection Committee.  There are far too many very good Australian riders who are more noticeable by their omission from national teams for us to consider that nepotism does not play a hand here.

Michael Matthews although always in the mix, hasn’t continued the rise that was expected given his credentials at sub-protour level.  I may sound harsh but if he is going to mix it with the big boy’s he really has to sit at the front.  Inexperience may have caught him half-way down the food chain in the mix for the line but a nasty crash should teach him that inevitably, that was not the place to be.  I suspect he is a fast learner and we will see more of him.

Currently Mark Renshaw has proven that being the fastest leadout man to the worlds best sprinter doesn’t necessarily equate to winning. However I keep hoping to see him edging out sprint all the contenders of the 2000 kilowatt club.  It maybe just a matter of time but for Renshaw but if you included him with Haussler, Goss and some of the young guns like Michael Mathew’s, the Olympic road squad would look strong.  Let’s not see the same old formulae applied to the selection of our road team, and the next question, who is directing.  There have been a number of blunders at recent Olympic races, but whether this has come from the team director or the riders themselves, I’m not sure.

Back to the tour of California where we saw GreenEdges Cam Meyer having his first foray as a GC rider.  Despite grooming as a future potential team leader for Greenedge we did not see him at the top of the leader board the team rather the Dutchman Pieter Weening finished top of the team.

At the Giro, Matthew Goss did well with one stage win. How many times did he finish behind the Manx man, what can you do?  The Giro is becoming a far better race than the stage managed Tour de France and it was disappointing that GreenEdge did not really have a crack at supporting or grooming a rider for GC.  GreenEdge did confirm at inception that they don’t have General Classification aspirations this year but no Aussies made it through to week three of the Giro.  This is clearly an area for development.

As the circus heads to the Dauphine, a great tour prelude, I am really wondering what will be the outcome of this years tour.  Despite the organization’s best efforts for an exciting race and harking back to my previous articles, I wonder now if the tour is more about the directors than the riders.

Surely a new jersey should be designed.  Possibly Platinum for the winning director/strategist.  It goes without saying these roles are very important but given the amount of discussion on the relationships between directors, riders, the media and the Le Tour organization’s own expectations for the event, I suspect it could all become a farce this year.

Andy and Frank are emotional as Anderson and Bruyneel bat it out.  Cadel, well, who knows, nobody has seen him and his emotional state is always a concern.  A banned Contador has become a vegetarian, we won’t see him and he is upset about the donut regime.

The Giro was almost a relief, a beautiful old school win.  A fresh face, no expectations, a new way to manage a team and riders.  Alan Piper is a man of my time and perhaps I should look to putting my money on him for the Platinum jersey.

At the Giro Mark Cavendish has proved to be unbeatable in the field sprints.  He has been able to replicate the awesome skill of his HTC lead-out train tohis new team and the results are there for all to see.  Doubt is always present when there is a reshuffle of jerseys and team affiliations but the Manx-man seems to have taken that winning confidence with him and this would suggest he is able to organize his riders just the way he wants.  Cavendish has proven to be an awesome practitioner in both sprinting and leading a sprint team.

Le Tour will be a challenge for the British team as it is rare that a team sets its sights on more than one jersey.  Besides their sprinter, Team Sky have Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and let’s not forget our own Richie Porte who are all able to challenge for the top spot.  Team Sky are really issuing a challenge as the team to watch in this year’s tour as they vie for both the yellow and green overall jersey’s.

The ever strong Richie Porte has begun the season strongly proving to be Wiggins’ greatest asset when he was isolated in the hills of both the Paris-Nice and Tour of Romandie.  Should Wiggins faulter, as he has in the past then I believe Richie is more than capable of stepping up to the plate.  A professional rider like Richie Porte has to sacrifice his own ambitions in a team like Sky.  It is the ultimate sacrifice but part of a team’s strength and proving to be one of Sky’s keystones.  Richie has to earn his loyalty and the respect he deserves will come, when he needs it.  Should Cadel faulter BMC must certainly plan to fill his shoes as Sky must do with Wiggins.  Richie could be faced with the mantle of leadership, ready or not, that’s racing.

As easy as it is for many to comment and criticize I believe that unless you have been a professional rider, understanding the dynamics of a team and the sacrifice of a rider is impossible.  I may seem like a harsh critic at times but there is so much more than nationalities and professional allegiances at stake here.  The interpersonal relationships within a team can have a huge impact on results.   Let’s not forget Cadel’s emotional outbursts in previous tours, his numerous team changes and the enormous pressure he has put himself under in this year with his limited racing.   How will the Schlecks fare at this year’s tour without the support of their director Kim Andersen and under the harsh leadership of Brunel.

Let’s us also look at GreenEdge, Goss has been earning his keep showing to have been consistently competitive in the Tour of Turkey and now at the Giro.  The team have been doing well to position Goss at the pointy end in the final kilometer.  Despite their best efforts in Italy, it has been Cav’s Sky Team controlling the flatter stages as the race approaches the hillier second half of this 3 week event.  As the finishes are approached, Sky are able to ride at such a high tempo, no-one can step out of the line and each day solo breaks are controlled.

At this point of the race, GreenEdge has been doing an epic job of finding their way to the front in the closing kilometres at the right time.  We are seeing this in the Tour of California as well. If it’s a field sprint, you don’t wish to be seen until the final 200metres however to win against the likes of Cavendish GreenEdge needs to do more than just be there, you need to be there with very strong kick to finish it off.  Hopefully this is the IP that Robbie McEwen is bringing to the team and with time will drill into the team the methodology required to win.  There is always a certain madness s to a sprint and I have been involved in my fare share but it is the hard work that produces the consistent results.

Of course I must speak of GreenEdge, and their new sponsor Orica.  It could only have been expected that should there be a new Australian based sponsor that it would have to have come from the resources sector. Congratulations to the GreenEdge management for achieving this goal as the team will now at least have financial certainty for a little longer.

Hopefully the legacy of GreenEdge will assist in the image of this Mining Service and explosives company.  The resources sector via Santos have been involved as a title sponsor of the TdU for a couple of years now but it is good to see more of this lucrative industry’s profits filter down to sports and other sectors of the community.  Hopefully others will follow.

SBS coverage has been a real treat.  After years of struggling to find footage of the classics bootlegging off some US subscribed cable network, we should never take the ethnic channel’s coverage for granted. The commercial networks should be paying attention and they are.

The coverage of the Paris Roubaix’s kicked off just prior to the peleton hitting the Foret de Arenberg.  I didn’t hear what happened to the boys in green because once the race hits the cobbles, it is very difficult to transmit vision of anyone else other than the riders at the front of the lead groups.  If you are following riders or teams this is where we Aussies miss out as the coverage is a live feed contracted from a European network.

I found it surprising that the team veteran Stuey O’Grady was the best placed GreenEdge rider with only one other finisher.  I would have expected that Stuey’s role would have been that of a mentor and leader, there to guide the younger riders, using his expertise to keep the young guns focused and well positioned leading into the business end of the day’s proceedings.  Last year Mitch Docker rode a very commendable Paris Roubaix and yet he didn’t get a ride.  Without knowing team tactics it does seem odd. Despite the team’s failings, and it has to be said it was not a good overall performance, it was good to see the old-dog up front in the closing kilometres.

Staying with GreenEdge the results have been steady and I think the team should be pleased with the start of the season.  The women’s results have been outstanding while Gerro’s Milan-Sanremo was extraordinary.  This early start gave the team a good standing in the points ratings.  Without a rider to star in the overall results in the Grand Tours, the classics were where the team was expected to gain strong early season’s results, having Goss for Flanders and Roubaix and Gerro traditionally a place getter in the Ardennes classics.

With the Spring classics now behind them, GreenEdge would be taking stock of their results, and focusing on the build up to the Giro and Tour of California in the upcoming preparation races such as the Tour of Romandie and theTour of Turkey.

GreenEdge needs to focus on maintaining some results as the season heads towards the Euro summer and steadying a potential slide to the lower end of the rankings as we hit the Tour season.  A new strategy is required to maintain the momentum as without significant wins a team starts to focus on points and a negative pressure can start to build.  We do have 2 years but consistent results alleviates this pressure allowing a team to focus on big tour results and grand achievements by riders like Cadel.   He does not have to endure the worry of a team making enough points to maintain their pro-tour license and he is able to focus solely on Le Tour.

I would say GreenEdge has a way to go before they are able to confidently put forward one rider to lead the team into an event like Le tour and have that rider considered seriously.

Since I retired in the mid-nineties, the season has kept pretty much the same shape and once the Spring Classics were over I would take a short break of about 3 weeks from hard racing before picking up the next block of races that I would use to sharpen the form leading into the Tour de France.  I put a lot of emphasis on the classics and achieved considerable results. A break was needed both physically and mentally.  Training the first week of the break would be pretty light recovering enjoyable rides, with the kilometers starting to build after 10 days and finally intensity creeping in the week prior to entering competition again towards the end of May.

Things have changed though, I raced close to 110 days a year, we had to.  Pro-tour has an extended season but protected riders like Cadel hardly get their face in the wind until the tour.

Cadel has been out of the spotlight for a few weeks due to illness and is probably a few weeks behind where he was this time last year, He is back into race-mode at the Tour of Romandie in Switzerland. Traditionally he will ride the hilly Ardennes classics leading into Romandie, however even without his health problems, Cadel has been racing less and less as he matures.  This does put additional pressure on him in the few events he does race as he is not only judging his condition but that of his team.  Not having finished a race since winning Criterium International in March a few weeks ago, I’m sure the 2011 Tour de France winner will be eager to see where his fitness level is when riding beside some of the other Tour favorites, such as Bradley Wiggins and Ivan Basso.

I was in Sydney riding with a recreational group the other week and heard about plans to place speed bumps in sections of Centennial Park to restrict the speed of cyclists.  There is already a speed limit in the park which is policed by rangers.  Seeing such growth in the sport of recent times, it is so disappointing to hear that this sanctuary for cyclists could potentially be taken from them.  I have memories of seeing the Australian Road championships being held in the Park during the seventies and each time I visit the harbour city, I usually head to Centennial Park for a run or ride.

Just picture the 1000s of riders that use the park daily for training sessions out on the metropolitan roads of inner Sydney.   The roads of Sydney are unfriendly enough but imagine, the odds of carnage would increase, the drivers would be inadvertently held up even more due to accidents and the traffic would be reduced to a standstill.  I do not believe anyone would want to hit a cyclist and I certainly do not want to be hit by a car so where to ride!

Why is it that the Sydney community cannot embrace the uses of Centennial Park.  Most if not all of these people are up before dawn to train safely, to avoid traffic and to avoid the pedestrians who use the park later in the day.  These are fit and healthy people who are contributors to the community, their efforts should be celebrated.

Hopefully, during the consultation process the policy makers take to the roads of Sydney on a bicycle before any decision is made.

Cycling fans are far too busy at the moment watching The European Spring Classics, it is the season of the one day races.  Careers are made and teams are broken.

Simon Gerran’s win in Milan San Remo was fantastic but it was against the odds and Green Edge fans have had a quiet time in the classics since, despite some momentum being carried over into Spain with some team wins there.  Mention must be made once again of the women’s GreenEdge team, they are performing above all expectations and are currently dominating the early European season events.

During the tour of Flanders the GreenEdge apparent team leader, Sebastiaan Langeveld crashed out when trying to move up the field.  We have all seen the pro’s jumping the bike paths, kerbs and traffic island in their quest for a place in the front of the field.  I have done it myself but this time it didn’t work and it looked like once again all the green eggs where in this one basket we didn’t see much of the boys in Green after they were spotted chasing back an early break in the race.

The tour of Flanders organisers of course changed the finale of the race this year.  A circuit is a much easier race to manage in terms of traffic, crowds and of course live broadcast but to my mind it was all a bit of a fizzer and to be quite frank it was a boring finish.  This is a pet event of my mine that I aspired to win on a number of occasions.  Second twice.

The Belgian fans madly chase the race from beginning to end, screaming around the country in cars to keep up with their favourite riders.  Clearly the roads are madness but this loss of tradition could have been minimised with a final exciting circuit that included the Koppenberg, the most famous and most difficult climb of the day.

Simon is starting to rack up some impressive palmeries. He is now a rider that can never be underestimated.

Historically the Milan San-Remo is a beautiful straightforward race.  Instructions to win have been pretty much the same for many years.  Simon would have been a protected rider whose goal was to look for opportunities from the Cipressa climb to the finish.  2011 winner Matt Goss would have been protected even more, keeping out of trouble and waiting for a sprint to the finish.  GreenEdge riders have impressively done their job by keeping the two out of the wind and close to the front as the field approached the Cipressa and Poggio climbs.

Milan San Remo is not a race I ever aspired to win, it was far too early in the long season ahead of me and my goal at that point of time was of course the Tour of Flanders, a far more select race with far fewer opportunities to win and far fewer riders who could win it. In a race like the Milan San Remo, I would, like Simon have seized an opportunity if it came my way and often finished well placed in the field but never at the pointy end.

The field had come together after a break away and the contenders were strung out on the final climb, the infamous Poggio when Nibaldi attacked.  Simon’s instructions would have been clear, look for opportunities should the race break up and he was of course, quick to react, closely followed by none other than race favorite Fabian Cancellara.

Simon has always been considered to be a tactically smart rider and he was well placed at the most critical time of the race.  When racing for the finish against riders of the caliber of Nibaldi and particularly Fabian Cancellara Simon could only do what he does best, use his brains.  The result a classic David and Goliath battle where brain was the victor over braun.

Fabian Cancellara on the other hand is racking up an impressive list of races that he has been runner up, or close too.  While he dominates in time-trials, he has made some major judgment errors in very important career races.  Time-trial riders are often not tactically prepared for a race like the Milan San Remo. He clearly expects to dominate races and ride contenders off his wheel with the extraordinary show of strength which he has become famous for. Fabian Cancellara is an awesome athlete but his arrogance has started to cost him dearly and the lessons must be learnt if he is to achieve further wins in the major classics.

After posting an awesome result by the diminutive Simon Gerrans for Greenedge the Milan San-Remo organizers have already announced that perhaps the race was not hard enough and their desire was for the strongest rider to win.  This outcome could be achieved by moving the finish line closer to the bottom of the Poggio descent.  To be considered by the organizers, is that this year Simon Gerrans was the strongest.

With Milan San-Remo in the bag, GreenEdge has now hoisted themselves up into the credibility rankings.  While some teams may have bagged more wins, nothing comes close to the win achieved by Simon on the Italian Riviera last weekend.  While the team can relax a little, the peleton is now approaching the heat of the Spring classics and the expression “your only as good as your last race” will cruelly be echoed.

In a closing note, I see that GreenEdge has maintained the momentum post Simon’s victory with Swiss rider Michael Albasini winning a couple of stages and claiming the leaders jersey at the Volta a Catalunya.

At 3am Sunday morning the phone started buzzing.  After continual buzzing and sleepy frustration I rolled over to look at the phone and realized with astonishment and absolute joy that Simon Gerrans had posted the most significant result of his career.

Simon is starting to rack up some impressive palmeries. He is now a rider that can never be underestimated.

Historically the Milan San-Remo is a beautiful straightforward race.  Instructions to win have been pretty much the same for many years.  Simon would have been a protected rider whose goal was to look for opportunities from the Cipressa climb to the finish.  2011 winner Matt Goss would have been protected even more, keeping out of trouble and waiting for a sprint to the finish.  GreenEdge riders have impressively done their job by keeping the two out of the wind and close to the front as the field approached the Cipressa and Poggio climbs.

Milan San Remo is not a race I ever aspired to win, it was far too early in the long season ahead of me and my goal at that point of time was of course the Tour of Flanders, a far more select race with far fewer opportunities to win and far fewer riders who could win it. In a race like the Milan San Remo, I would, like Simon have seized an opportunity if it came my way and often finished well placed in the field but never at the pointy end.

The field had come together after a break away and the contenders were strung out on the final climb, the infamous Poggio when Nibaldi attacked.  Simon’s instructions would have been clear, look for opportunities should the race break up and he was of course, quick to react, closely followed by none other than race favorite Fabian Cancellara.

Simon has always been considered to be a tactically smart rider and he was well placed at the most critical time of the race.  When racing for the finish against riders of the caliber of Nibaldi and particularly Fabian Cancellara Simon could only do what he does best, use his brains.  The result a classic David and Goliath battle where brain was the victor over braun.

Fabian Cancellara on the other hand is racking up an impressive list of races that he has been runner up, or close too.  While he dominates in time-trials, he has made some major judgment errors in very important career races.  Time-trial riders are often not tactically prepared for a race like the Milan San Remo. He clearly expects to dominate races and ride contenders off his wheel with the extraordinary show of strength which he has become famous for. Fabian Cancellara is an awesome athlete but his arrogance has started to cost him dearly and the lessons must be learnt if he is to achieve further wins in the major classics.

After posting an awesome result by the diminutive Simon Gerrans for Greenedge the Milan San-Remo organizers have already announced that perhaps the race was not hard enough and their desire was for the strongest rider to win.  This outcome could be achieved by moving the finish line closer to the bottom of the Poggio descent.  To be considered by the organizers, is that this year Simon Gerrans was the strongest

With Milan San-Remo in the bag, GreenEdge has now hoisted themselves up into the credibility rankings.  While some teams may have bagged more wins, nothing comes close to the win achieved by Simon on the Italian Riviera last weekend.  While the team can relax a little, the peleton is now approaching the heat of the Spring classics and the expression “your only as good as your last race” will cruelly be echoed.

In a closing note, I see that GreenEdge has maintained the momentum post Simon’s victory with Swiss rider Michael Albasini winning a couple of stages and claiming the leaders jersey at the Volta a Catalunya.

According to the UCI, the sport of cycling is robust.  Clubs are growing in numbers, budgets are bigger for continental, pro-continental and pro-tour teams, and salaries have grown 30% in 3 years.  On reflection, when considering my own career and the state of cycling at that time I would have to conclude that I disagree.

Yes the figures look good but teams and races alike are struggling and in fact a rider used to be able to forge a successful and lucrative career in the many smaller European teams that operated in my day.  And there were so many more of them and so many more races.

Interesting too are the current difficulties some race organizers are facing at the moment.  Global economic problems aside, the sport would appear to be in crisis given the difficulties race organisers are having in raising funds.  Races with historic pedigree’s as old as the sport itself are in trouble.  In Spain, some events look like falling over due to lack of sponsors.

Despite the anomalies the UCI is continuing to push the globalization envelope, and in so doing, crowding the season, making it more and more competitive for the organisers of traditional races to gain access for the pro tour licenses that guarantee an events success.  Resources are limited for the teams and race organisers, riders are complaining, sponsors are withdrawing and yet a second pro-tour licensed event has been announced in China.  According to rumour, perhaps fact, the UCI is generating huge amounts of funds from these new events.

Additionally this event is also being organized by the UCI.

One has to question where the money is going and at the same time the direction that the UCI is taking the sport.  Is it for the best?

Hopefully funds raised will trickle back to the struggling events and the struggling clubs.  History unfortunately shows that any funding at the top level of sports management and infrastructure tends not to filter down to the local and club level.

The UCI report is also interesting in light of the difficulties that Bob Stapleton had in his failing attempts of trying to capture sponsors for his world number one team HTC Highroad. In these global times the team could not run as a financially viable business entity, it would seem.  This could shed some light on why teams are considering races other than UCI organized events where they get a share of the profit.

The successful Leopard Trek would have faced the same peril if owner Flavio Becca didn’t save face and join forces with Radioshack.  With names like Schleck and Cancellera on his payroll, it would have been a blow to the business egos if the marriage between the teams didn’t occur.  Additionally it is hoped the marriage is a long lasting one and doesn’t suffer the fate of many new relationships with an early divorce given the many strong ego’s involved.

In Australia we have seen an unprecedented growth in cycling over the last generation.  I have some pride in where we are at the moment but I also have grave doubts over the direction of the sport globally and locally.

GreenEdge may be pushing into the Global Cycling market but the likelihood of an all Australian team succeeding in the short term is very remote given the current economic conditions. Sponsors are hard to find and the UCI has determined a very high price tag for a team to purchase a pro-tour license. The conditions are tough for a team to satisfy the stringent UCI requirements, with teams and riders spread very thin indeed and it would seem many are unhappy, looking to other options.

Perhaps the UCI is taking some positive steps in generating interest in the sport in China but the question remains, is this for China or the UCI and how is cycle racing being developed in China below the world tour level.

On the World Tour circuit there is little room for new teams, wild card entries, out of the blue shocks of brave new talents.  There is only an expectation of drama, drug scandals, extra-ordinary delays in resolving these scandals and finally threats that a team that has been allowed to race/trade with a rider under investigation should now loose its license given the banning of that rider.

How is it possible that a team like Saxabank should now face such uncertainty.  Surely a license should not have been granted or points accumulated by Contador included in the licensing process while Alberto Contador was under investigation.

I suspect it is high time that the UCI took a step back from the accolades that they dole out to themselves and take a long hard look at the sport that I love and reconsider their current strategies.  The sport is booming but, where?

The world of cycling changed for ever when I acquired the yellow jersey in 1981.  A non European, an Australian, who could believe it.  In years to come this historic event would eventually pave the way for teams to be built around non Europeans like Greg  Lemond, Lance Armstrong and now Cadel Evans.  For the French, each subsequent change to their Tour de France has been difficult to swallow, regardless however  they embrace their Tour and love it.  For the cycling public the cycling world is no longer European.

Cycling now is bigger than Europe and Le Tour, or is it?  As the UCI continues to add events to the world calendar, you the punter rarely see your stars unless you target an event that a team or star targets.  We listened to the Great Eddy Mercx in Adelaide who used to race over 180 to 190 races a year.  I used to race up to 120 events.  Now if we were to travel the world to see Cadel we may only see him at the Tour de France.  We can travel to the Spring Classics to see the great one day champions but the teams are spread so thin that the best is often not on offer and the fan is the loser I think.

Is the current growth in cycling a corporate initiative?  There is significant money involved for the UCI with the advent of each new tour.

Despite these changes Le Tour matters, the pinnacle of all cycling events and yet it is not a pro-tour or UCI event.  It is this historic race that dictates many of the issues in cycling and is the focus of most media attention, the focal point of the European Season and aspiration of every cyclist, the one place we can see all of the best.

The one place we won’t see Contador.  What a charade, effectively he has been given 6 months conviction for a crime.  How is it that he has been able to race for so long under the shadow of this investigation.  The results have not changed since the press leaked the news to the cycling public some 3 months after testing during the world championships in Geelong.  If the UCI is intent on changing the face and nature of cycling maybe they should consider their own protocols and standards and make sure that in the races they have ownership of such a scandal does not occur.

Surely the organisers of the TdF have to consider initiatives that demand immediate expulsion mid race should such a result occur.  Riders then face the possibility that they risk a DNF regardless of eventual arbitration processes.

Surely the issuers of Pro-Tour licenses would not issue a license to a team based on the points acquired by a rider under investigation and put the future of the team and its sponsors in such a precarious position 18 months after the fact.

In the meantime, the US federal court case against Lance has been dropped.  My understanding is that this case had nothing to do with allegations of doping, rather the provision of alleged substances as part of a systematic abuse of business practices, racketeering.

Since his return to cycling from cancer, sceptics have been seeking to debunk every result of Lance’s and it would appear that some of the scandalous allegations have been well founded.

I know Lance, I know Frankie Andrea, I know George Hincapie and the whole sorry tale remains yet to be told for better or worse.

More energy and resources will be spent by the FDA who is trying to nail Lance and the recent scandal with Alberto Contador suggests there remains a myriad of problems with the sport.   I have been asked to comment but what do you say.  The Lance saga continues and for better or worse there has to be a way to expedite this whole sorry process.

South Australia events does a brilliant job and let’s remember the TdU is an Event in SA not just a bike race.  South Australians support this event like nothing I have ever seen.  It is a media and social whirlwind and the only people who noted a comment about cyclists from a cricketer were well, just not there.

Gerro won the Santos Tour down Under with the style and energy of a great Australia champion, the nail biting finish expected on the last day not eventuating.  Gerro is a great ambassador for GreenEdge but in my opinion his victory over Alejandro Valverde was  not a masterpiece of team strategy and directorship as reported in the press but due to Gerro’s perseverance and talent.   The GreenEdge team and strategy did not impress, Simon was isolated and vulnerable to defeat for the entire race.

The Euro campaign is underway and with Australian eyes on GreenEdge there have been placing’s in the Tour of Qatar.  For those of us in Adelaide the world had turned Green and nothing else mattered.  I do hope that many of the fans aspirations are realised however I would like to see a more cohesive management strategy for the team that is longer term.

Many of the older generation of Aussies who are spearheading GreenEdge have achieved all that they are going to in cycling.  For the younger riders on GreenEdge there is a risk that this fledgling  team won’t develop and they will have to consider career aspirations elsewhere unless the results continue to flow.  For a young professional a CV is important and the prestige associated in riding with a long respected team can have significantly more value than a gig on GreenEdge. Australian fans and selectors need to bear this in mind and respect those Australian riders who have declined to ride with GreenEdge.

That aside there is time but the direction of the team would appear vague. In Adelaide there were plenty of GreenEdge patron’s, footballers, reflecting the attributes of the team but maybe they should sign up Warne to promote the team and cycling in general!

Road rage towards cyclists is growing to epidemic proportion and a real concern.  Warnie, cricketing hero and vehicle driver should consider carefully his comments.  Subject to each of our own opinions about the man perhaps ‘we’ the cyclists should take the high moral ground here, not comment and wait our turn patiently in traffic while the baboons rant in their 2 tonnes of souped up car.  Remember it has been proven that if 2 tons of steel travelling at any speed hits a cyclist the nut behind the wheel will always come out on top.  I for one hope the nut behind me is not Warnie and have faith in the intellect of the remaining drivers on the road.

With all due respect to all users of the road riders should take care and drivers beware, times have changed and we live in a congested city.  I ride and I drive, I really don’t fancy dealing with the consequences of hitting a cyclist.  Additionally I really don’t want to deal with the Warnie type bogun’s who take liberty’s with cyclists lives whether the cyclists are right or wrong.

For most of my racing career I lived in Belgium which is one of Europe’s most congested countries.  I could train for many hours at a time and I never experienced such rage.  However with due respect to all Europeans there is no such thing as road rage against cyclists, for most of them it is a familiar mode of transport, one their mother or brother uses.  Australians love their champions but consider, that young commuter could be our next hero.  Grow up.

With the Paris Nice and Torino Adriatico a few weeks away, I hope to see GreenEdge advance team synergy before the season heat’s up.  Milan San-Remo is the first of the Spring Classics.   Matt Goss won this 300k epic last year and is the man for the job but realistically GreenEdge will not have the strength or experience to control the race. Goss will have to be very smart and rely on other teams to get him well placed to finish in front.  Last year a huge pile-up split the peleton with most of the favourites out of the race before it really started and with a full contingent of favourites to contend with Greenedge and Goss will have to have a better strategy than we saw at the TdU.