Ruben wrote:
Nah, they lack any talents.

Aquarius wrote:
Agree. It's been scientifically proved that French people < other people, physically speaking, which implies we'll never get any top sportsman again. :cry:

Aquarius wrote:
Agree. It's been scientifically proved that French people < other people, physically speaking, which implies we'll never get any top sportsman again. :cry:

Ruben wrote:


No, it's really their attitude and determination, that's also part of talent. And that part most of them lack, except the physical weak ones, they do have determination and the right attitude, but are ofcourse stopped by their physique.

Contador and Valverde called to testify

Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde are among the 50 riders who will be called to testify before the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) about their possible involvement with Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes, according to the Gazzetta dello Sport. The CONI prosecutor's office has already received the dossier on Operación Puerto from the Spanish Guardia Civil, and has announced it will call about 50 cyclists to testify, as well as the five principal actors: Fuentes, his sister Yolanda, Manolo Saiz, Merino Batres and Alberto Leon. The questioning is expected to take place in early February.

The new Italian anti-doping law allows actions against non-citizens, but the sanctions could only affect their actions in Italy. For example, riders could be prohibited from entering such races as the Giro d'Italia or Milano-Sanremo, or the 2008 World Championships in Varese. It could even affect the Tour de France, which this year has a stage finish in Patonevoso, Italy.

Unibet reborn as UCI Pro Continental

The UCI approved the former Unibet.com team as an additional 2008 Professional Continental Team on Wednesday. Unibet also gets a new name for 2008: Cycle Collstrop.

The UCI added three other Professional Continental Teams to their list including Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo (of Spain), Preti Mangimi (of Luxembourg), Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce of Italy and Cycle Collstrop (of Sweden).

Those three teams had already applied, but the UCI had deemed their applications previously incomplete. Upon appeal to the UCI's Management Committee per Article 2.16.017 and on the basis of additional information provided, the Committee approved the three registrations.

samtheman wrote:
Even if your German was perfect you probably wouldn't have understood much....

Gent-Wevelgem race organizers are doing their best to prevent a repeat of the "Slaughter on Kemmelberg" from 2007, when numerous riders went down on the cobbled descent, resulting in many serious injuries.

The Kemmelberg remains in the race, but the descent will this year be on a paved road instead of the treacherous cobblestones.

"It was never an option to remove the Kemmelberg from the parcours," race director Hans de Clercq said, according to the "Belga" press agency. "Gent-Wevelgem is the Kemmelberg. But we had to make it safer."

This year the race will approach it from the other direction. The descent is longer but not as steep, and the speed is expected to be lower.

The pursuit race on the track is generally regarded as an extremely technical discipline for which team must practice for years, in order to get their timing and coordination down pat. But Tom Boonen seems to think that he and three Quick Step team-mates can pick it up in a few weeks in time to ride it in the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer.

"We are the most explosive riders in Belgium and Europe," the 2005 World Champion told the Belgian newspaper "Le Derniere Heure". "I am sure that we can pull it off in Beijing." His track team-mates would be Gert Steegmans, Sébastien Rosseler and Wouter Weylandt. Instead of years to work together, they would have about three weeks, because "before August we naturally have other things in mind", like the Tour de France.

Belgian national track racing coach Michel Vaarten didn't reject the idea outright. "When such riders offer themselves, you of course have to listen." Quick Step team manager Wilfried Peeters saw it otherwise. "It all began as an idle idea over the dinner table and all of a sudden it is in the newspaper. On paper it is perhaps a beautiful idea, but it doesn't seem practical to me."

The short-lived maglia nera ('black jersey' of the Giro d'Italia will make its return this May when the three-week race departs from Palermo according. The honour – this time being awarded as a number instead of a racing jersey – will be bestowed on the rider who finishes last each day in the overall classification.