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Lee is a professional cyclist with the UCI Continental CCN Cycling Team. Lee is quite possibly the world's oldest neo-pro ever - receiving a contract to ride for a UCI Continental team three years ago at 37 and has since raced around the world, from East Java to Korea, Oman to Qatar. Lee has even managed to get on a startline or three in the heartland of the sport - Belgium, where he was comprehensively and properly spanked. Lee loves the millions of lycra-clad folk around the world who head out each weekend to suffer and dream, to emulate their heroes on their local hills and descents, to become noble, dammit, even if only in their own minds. They are the true guardians of the sport. Communicating with them is what makes it all so worthwhile.
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Trickle-down theory is a term used to describe the belief that high-income earners should be thrown a bucketload of dirty cash to benefit all…
How refreshing would it be to hear a cyclist who gets busted for cheating hold up their hands and say "you know what? I…
Cadel Evans hoped when he set up the inaugural Great Ocean Road Race that it would become an integral part of an already impressive…
The 2016 Tour Down Under will be remembered for the outstanding performances of two riders from the same team. Namely by Simon Gerrans for…
There was a ruefulness about the look of Michael Matthews as he waited to accept his bouquet of flowers on the second step of…
Come September 27, millions of cycling fans around the world will be glued to TV sets for one of the most hotly anticipated men's…
When the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) came out with their report on the state of cycling not too long ago, Brian Cookson admitted…
Chris Froome has all but won the 2015 Tour de France but the rider sneaking the column inches away from him today is Nairo…
I wouldn't wish it on anyone really but, if pushed, I could think of several other candidates from the world of cycling better qualified…
This article was slated to be about Stage 17 of the 2015 Tour de France. Apologies to the editors and to those of you…
It's a bit cruel having a team time trial at any time other than on the first day. Especially when it's at the end…
I'm pretty sure I just watched Stage 7 of the Tour de France but I'm a little suspicious that it might have been some…
There seems to be no Tour de France or Giro of recent memory that hasn't been of the crash-bang-whallop variety straight from the off,…
'Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is…
A couple of week’s ago Chris Froome had a Q&A session on his already very busy Twitter page. One of the tweets asked him…
Can you feel it? It's that time of year again, and I don't mean the Tour Down Under. It's the buzz of a new…
I read a cycling article last week that rather brilliantly had the word ‘bandits' in it, not something you see every day. “Darwin Atapuma…
Philippe Gilbert got the ball rolling by saying on Thursday that he's targeting Milan–San Remo, getting us on an early start for the annual…
I recognise the legacy I have inherited is an atmosphere of distrust around our sport. You should (and you will) judge me on my…
Bill Murray was brilliant in Groundhog Day, playing the cantankerous Phil, the weatherman who woke up every day in the same day, trapped in…
Thanks Steven, thought I don’t think Richie will ever win the Tour. Far too inconsistent and too easily demoralised.
Quintana leaves it too late
Thanks for the comments guys. Miserable about all this as I seem, I do see the potential for improvements, but it’s kinda like saying ‘yes we could eradicate poverty… but…’.
We need race organisers to stop taking dopers as they did with Astana and CCC at the Tour of the Fjords earlier this year (but with every single team that employs dopers), a cultural change starting with sponsors demanding that no team employ amongst management any former dopers, the real-time release of power data, tv networks refusing work for former dopers etc.
Being a cheat is no big deal in this culture. You cheat, you ‘admit’ it, then you’re welcome back in.
None of the things I mentioned are going to ‘save’ cycling, but perhaps a combination of these and more will start to resurrect some kind of trust. Right now everyone is still denying any repsonsibility for this sorry state of affairs.
Tour de Farce indeed.
Stage 17: Who won? Who cares?
Yeah I wouldn’t start praising anyone just yet. I feel like I should be wearing a black armband through July…
http://www.dw.com/en/doping-made-easy/a-18431887
Stage 17: Who won? Who cares?
Etixx-Quickstep? In any case Porte is a very handy uber-domestique, not a true GC contender. Harsh you may think, but true.
Tour de France Stage 9: Time trials, coke and personalities
Also should be noted Cancellara of course has abandoned.
Abandonments galore at le Tour! Let the madness reign
Yes Allanthus, I thought I’d treat the Aussies to the brief fantasy that Greg ‘The Outer’ Henderson might be Aussie for 5 minutes!
Or I totally messed it up… 😉
True re all sports, though cycling has always had that fascinating physical closeness between rider and fan that pre-social media kind of let the spectator have a brush with greatness as it swept by, I always thought that made it unique amongst sports.
Ligget and The Sher need retiring, preferably somewhere without microphones…!
Abandonments galore at le Tour! Let the madness reign
Wow terrifying, both of those…
Money, pump… gun? Is a weapon necessary for a bike ride?
How about nunchucks?
http://road.cc/content/news/115374-64-year-old-cyclist-found-be-carrying-knife-air-gun-and-nunchucks-after-being
My friend suggested this: 2″ x 7/8″ x 4″ Terminator brand stun gun with 20,000,000 Volts
small, light and 15 feet range.
Money, pump… gun? Is a weapon necessary for a bike ride?
Bandits, Simon, bandits! ‘Robbers’ is so last year! Yes, I’d never given much time as to how valuable our gear could be to a thief when i’m actually riding, you just don;t imagine getting stopped and robbed like that do you? Perhaps we should keep this quiet in case any banditos read The Roar!
And yes, agree with Pete and HP, guns are not the way forward, but… but… just once or twice, lordy, would that have been fun! Would have turned those tables in a second…
Money, pump… gun? Is a weapon necessary for a bike ride?
Absolutely agree Kate, and when I had sent this one in I remembered about the lads in green. Unbelievable.
Does Cookson's call on Astana spell the death of hope?
He was a long way from great nor was it the greatest attack in modern cycling. Odd lack of pre-injury form also.
Andy Schleck: A grand loss to cycling
Systemic in the country, surely. If not actually state-run then there is an ingrained culture of doping there amongst riders themselves.
Thankfully wherever the ‘knowledge’ about doping is coming from is obviously behind the times when it comes to understanding current testing, and hats off to those testers too, they deserves praise for getting this done.
Groundhog Day at Astana HQ: Vinokourov to star in classic comedy remake
BREK EPIC just announced they will also implement a zero tolerance rule, and the Gran Fondo New York organisers have had one in place for a few years. apparently also there are several events in Italy that do the same. If the sponsorship money moves away from the WorldTour to events like this then, maybe, the UCI will have to think about this.
The Taiwan KOM Challenge: All former suspended riders declined entry
They were charged then had it thrown out, so they were not suspended. We reserve the right, as stated, to decline entry to those whose presence we feel would negatively affect the integrity of our event. Every entry will therefore be considered in light of this. This does not mean however that we would do that in the case of the 2 riders mentioned. Every rider is considered after application is made and on merit.
The Taiwan KOM Challenge: All former suspended riders declined entry
Thanks for the comments guys. As a racer first and foremost, my feeling on this line up with Rowan’s. If there was to be a claim every time someone broke a carbon rim, cracked a frame or broke a collar bone in bike racing then no one would be racing. Imaging the professionals taking another to court and watching videotape of a crash in the Tour to work out just who touched what wheel or dodged a bump but didn’t warn the guy behind.
And I didn’t put this in the original article but Alex makes a fine point, that many people would be put off biking if they had to have insurance just to go for a weekend ride with a mate. Also, many people cycle because they cannot afford a car nor the insurance costs that go with it.
It’s not that I am saying cyclists should be exempt from the ‘rules of the road’ – if I was to go off the pavement and onto the sidewalk and hit a pedestrian then yes, I should be liable. But when it comes down to one rider suing another because one dodged a bit of wood? Or one slammed into the back of another and is claiming it’s because he braked too hard? That kind of stuff happens all the time and as Alex said, you know that when you decide to join a group ride and must be willing to take that chance.
Legally liable on your bike? A dangerous precedent emerges
Hi Simon, thanks for the comment. Yep I don’t begrudge them either, more power to them, a French winner would be brilliant for the sport.
Re Quintana, it was not his decision, but more like Valverde’s! Here’s what I wrote earlier this year about that: http://www.theroar.com.au/2014/02/06/quintanas-non-appearance-at-the-tour-is-a-travesty/
Porte? Can’t see it, too oddly inconsistent.
The French fix le Tour, but it there's nothing anti-Froome about it
Thanks for the comments guys. Roleur, I’m not saying he couldn’t have won clean, I’m saying I just don’t know. I hear your point on Bassons but, think of this, how many of the guys who had successful and long careers – like Leipheimer and Hincapie – were actually average riders (in the pro sense) who then went on to success both in terms of wins and cash, and STILL have successful businesses and even books out there – because they doped? And even after they got caught?
Personally, I can’t blame Bassons, he pissed on cycling when it needed pissing on, and it wasn’t just because of LA, he had a pretty informed idea of how dirty the peloton was.
Hushovd comments reflect deep-seated contradictions in cycling
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/athletics/29528147 “The effect of anabolic steroids is certainly not transient,” said Coe.
“I think sanctions have to take into consideration the extent of the effect that they can have on a career even when the athlete is clean.”
…
Dopers are cheating for life, so ban them for life
AJ listen to the radio program. You obviously haven’t.
Dopers are cheating for life, so ban them for life
Simmo, please expand. Perhaps you disagree with my conclusion but what about the research? Are you an athlete? Does this not bother you? Perhaps you think that only ‘first rate’ athletes can have an opinion? And why are you here if it is only a place for ‘hubbards’?
Dopers are cheating for life, so ban them for life
Apologies! That’s what happens when you listen to Phil Liggett and don’t check facts…!
Tour Down Under 2016 review