Victoria Pendleton said her 'heart sank' when she read the Parliamentary report latest revelations about goings on at Team Sky . I understand exactly how she feels. I am an enthusiastic cyclist myself and a huge fan of the sport, and have been for more than 30 years now. I think professional cyclists are the hardiest bunch of sports people out there, especially the Tour riders and the Classics specialists. Their bravery is only matched by their incredible resilience and I have the utmost respect for them all. The grand tours are spectacles unlike anything else in world sport and I still desperately want to believe in what I'm seeing.
The thing about most sports fans is that we can put up with an awful lot and my love for cycling will carry on undiminished; of that I have no doubt, and that is because I have to, I must believe that the majority of the peleton is not living in the grey, murky areas frequented by those that would destroy the sport. I need to continue to believe in the dignity of cycling, that there is still honour in the peleton because without that belief it all comes crashing down.
That said, it is precisely that respect I have for these amazing men and women, that makes this whole episode hurt so much. I am a Brit and the past decade of cycling excellence on both the roads and the track have filled me with pride. When I'm out on my bike, suffering on a mountain or being blown to a standstill in the face of a biting head wind, my thoughts invariably turn to my heroes for inspiration and if those heroes happen to be Brits then it is oh! so much better! With renewed energy and vigor, my cleats straining as I depress my pedals, inspired by thoughts of 'if they can do it, then so can I,' I fight on, work through the pain and it feels good. It feels right.
However, in dark times like these my thoughts and feelings return to the halcyon days of Lance Armstrong, a previous hero of mine; a majorly flawed hero as it turned out, and I remember how I defended him, almost unto the last; 'it cannot be true! This is Lance Armstrong!' And then I recall how I felt, as if I'd been kicked in the nuts when the house of cards Lance built came tumbling down. I can only describe it as 'mourning.' I was in mourning for the loss of someone who had been with me through so much, even though I'd never met the man, he'd been with me, egging me on, telling me to fight and persist on so many occasions that when it all fell apart I felt as if I'd lost a training partner. I was sad, for myself, for all the others who felt like me, sad for the sport, and sad for him that he felt the need to lie and cheat above that of telling the truth and winning (or losing) with honour.
Then came our Brad, a man who I have written about on my blog here, describing him as, in my opinion, the greatest British sportsman ever. His achievements are unparalleled across so many disciplines in cycling that I felt we should never see his like again. So many of his later successes gained, in part, through the guidance and leadership of Dave Brailsford, the cycling guru who revived British cycling, breathing new life into it's comatose form. And these successes, under the flag of Team Sky's sponsorship, were achieved in the wake of the Armstrong debacle and after much fanfare about the teams high minded ethics and clean, drug free competition that it championed, were a revelation. My heroes were reborn, this time under a cloud free sky, and what was more, they were British.
As Brad's time ended, the Froome era began. A period of unrivalled success in the Tour and then last year in the Vuelta. I was on cloud 9. Then came the adverse test results, the samples taken as it happens, two days after Froome and the Vuelta had passed through the village in Spain where I live! I still had my Team Sky, 'Come on Froomey' banner flying in my garden when it all came to light!
And now, after the jiffy bag scandal, comes the latest bad news about Wiggins, Brailsford and Team Sky.
I was watching Paris-Nice yesterday and it felt like I was once again watching a funeral cortege pass me by. I was numb. There was no enjoyment to be had.
Okay, I understand that the cases against Froome, Wiggins, Team Sky and Brailsford are , as yet, unproven, but really, is that the point? The sense of being let-down by my cycling heroes, yet again, is palpable. Right or wrong, for me the point is that they have risked so much. Their reputations. The reputations of their team mates, their friends, their families. The reputation of British cycling and British sport as a whole. It wouldn't feel so bad if they hadn't held held themselves up as paragons of drug-free virtue. But they did! And because of that they should have made sure that, in a sport as tainted as cycling is by its history, they were spotless all the way down the line. Did they really think that just because they said they were clean that the doping agencies would go look elsewhere? No, their high idealistic stance invited close scrutiny and they should have been cleaner than clean as a consequence.
It seems they were not.
Regardless of how things turn out now, I can never feel the same about any of them. In my head, as in everyone else's I'm sure, there will always be the questions if they go onto further success. Once again I'm burying my heroes down deep and my ride today will be all the lonelier for that. And I'm sad it has come this. I know how you feel Vickie Pendleton. I understand completely.
My Vuelta banner has now been cremated and another happy memory has become ash.
PS. The UCI must, I believe share a portion of the blame. As to how much...it is not for me to say. They need to set and enforce a much stricter set of rules, such as, basic medical standards and record keeping for all team riders. These should be, within reason, made available to us, the fans, who can then scrutinise and pick apart the way cyclists do the amazing things they do. Transparency is surely the only way to go. Cut out the grey areas, tighten the rules, cut off the rough edges and let's take cycling forward in a clean, honest and moral way. If that mens that standards suffer for a perios, then so be it, it is a price worth paying.
Cycling must change if it is to survive as an international sport. Every sport is nothing without the fans and the fans will be leaving cycling in droves if the negative revelations continue.
Showing posts with label Team Sky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Team Sky. Show all posts
Tuesday, 6 March 2018
Monday, 11 July 2016
Le Tour de France: My fun look at the first week!
Ok, so the first week of Le Tour is done and dusted, and what have we discovered, if anything? As always, at this relatively early stage there are more questions than answers, but I'm going to have a go at trying to answer a few of the more pertinent ones that have jumped out at me! As well as that I'm going to dish out my 1st week awards - good and bad - and try to make a few precarious predictions as to where this years race might be headed!
So where do we start? Of course, we start with the main man and that man this week has been Britain's Chris Froome.
Well, Chris is well placed, in yellow where he likes to be, but does he look as strong as he has done at this stage in 2013 & 2015 when he won his first two overall victories?
That's a hard one. On the face of it one might be tempted to suggest that his position is precarious by comparison to 2013 & 15. At this stage in 2013 he had a lead of 2m2s and in 2015 1m59s over Colombian ace Nairo Quintana, the man most people expect to be his main rival once again. So by pure numbers it's easy to suggest that Froomey is struggling and is set for a big fall come the high Alps in the final week of the race. In both of his Tour wins Froomey has hit the first week hard, and in particular the Pyrenees, where he has typically opened significant time gaps over Quintana and his other main rivals. This year however, although he did win Saturdays mountain stage it was only by a matter of seconds and not the minutes that perhaps we are used to seeing. Does this mean that he is on the back foot already and has only way to go as the Tour rages on - backwards?
I don't think so! If you listen to Chris speak, as well as how Dave 'the Maestro' Brailsford talks about him, I think it's fair to say that the 2016 version of Chris Froome is a much more relaxed, chilled and realistic animal. If it's possible at 31 years of age, I think Chris has finally grown into his role as a (budding) cycling legend and seems to be able to handle the stresses, strains and demands of being the Tour favourite in a much better manner than perhaps we've seen previously. He himself has pointed to his normally dominant first week and must be fully aware of the relative disparity in the comparative time gaps this year and the potential consequences as the race develops. But Team Sky are also a very different animal this year compared with their previous winning years with both Froomey and initially Wiggins (in 2012) when the Sky train was all dominant and, despite all the success, gained only scorn amongst sections of the press (particularly in France) for the manner of their victories. However, this year Team Sky have also grown into their role as (arguably) the top team at this years tour. The Sky train is still there, but it is no longer the rigid (and boring?) locomotive that we've seen before. The development of Brailsford's Team Sky and by proxy, Chris Froome, has come about as a result of their experiences over the past few years. Their learning curve has been steep indeed, and one would be hard pressed to suggest that they haven't taken on board any of the lessons learned since the team's inception in 2010.
We saw the first indications that the 2016 version of Team Sky was perhaps somewhat different from previous versions in the Dauphine where the riders seemed to have much freedom to explore their own races whilst still maintaining the basic remit of protecting their team leader, Froomey, and winning the day, which they duly did. The evolution of the team and it's riders has continued this week with riders appearing in breakaways as well as adopting different tactics in the early mountain stages where Sergio Henao, for example, has certainly been given his head to try and ride his own race, in stark contrast to 2011 when Froome was held back under team orders to guide eventual winner, Bradley Wiggins, over the high Alps.
Criticisms of Froomey being a boring, robotic rider in previous years have surely been laid to rest this year after his extravagant downhill attack and eventual stage win in Saturday's stage, if not by his elbowing of a Colombian fan who got too close on the ascent! I think Chris is riding well within himself and has preserved his legs (relatively) and energies for what is still to come.
The first week has seen the peleton cover just over half the distance of this years Tour, some 1769kms. The coming week features 2 more mountain stages, including on Thursday a mountain top finish of the legendary Mont Ventoux and on Friday the first of this years TT's, which is a longish, relatively hilly day with an uphill gradient to finish, all of which should suit Froomey well. Whilst Quintana has undoubtedly improved his time-trialling the 37.5km TT should see Froome putting a bit more time into Quintana. The big test though will surely come on the ascent of Mont Ventoux where we can reasonably expect Quintana and the other GC contenders to all have a bash at taking Froomey's crown! However, Ventoux is a climb Froomey knows well having won there in 2013 on the way to his first overall victory. If he does make the first move on Thursday I can see him running the show again and stretching his lead further over a somewhat reticent 2016 Quintana.
One would think that if Quintana truly has designs on this years Tour he would need to attack early on on Mont Ventoux to try and test Froome's endurance to it's max. But I've sensed a certain reluctance in Quintana so far to really put himself on the line, for example on Saturday when he failed to chase Froome down, despite being on his wheel, as they topped the mountain and instead he sat up and waited for Valverde to arrive before he began his chase. Does that indicate a lack of confidence in his own ability? Or maybe he's not sure of his own physical capabilities coming into this years Tour having not raced for some time, despite successes earlier in the year when he beat Froome (e.g. Tour of Romandie). Maybe that lack of racing the past few months will be telling in the final wash? Or maybe I'm reading too much into it all and he's really is just biding his time. By the end of this week we shall all know a lot more.
But what of the rest of the peleton?
Froome aside, the other big stories this week are perhaps also British. The return to form, after a seemingly long absence, of Mark Cavendish with 3 fantastic wins this week. Cav's post race interviews are always a mix of emotion, angst, muttered phrases and either beaming smiles or black scowls, but they are always entertaining! If I, for one, had been doubting Cav's ability to get back to his best after a long performance hiatus, then it must be said that Cav himself never shared in those doubts and is now perhaps as good as he's ever been and has, this week, overtaken Bernard Hinault's total Tour victories with a staggering 29 wins! He has more chances this week, though with the Olympics just round the corner one has to question whether we will see Cav racing all the way to the Champs Elysees this year.
Britain's other big successes this week have been Fridays amazing mountain stage win by 35 year old youngster Steve Cummings of Team Dimension Data (Cav's team) and the second placing overall (some 16secs behind Froomey) and white jersey holder (best young rider) of Adam Yates (Orica Bike Exchange)! Cummings win was arguably the best and biggest win of his career and comes at a time when most are digging out their pipe and slippers but Cummings, bucking the trend, just seems to be getting better and better! Has he found the secret of eternal youth I ask? And so for Cummings this week I give the Never Say Die Award which is also known as the Cher 'I can turn back time' Award!
At 23 years old and being well into the final year of his contract at Orica Adam Yates is probably this years hot young thing and must have new offers of employment filling his inbox every morning! His form so far this Tour has been quite staggering given that his chin is a mass of stitches after the inflatable flamme rouge collapsed on top of him during Friday's stage! He has managed to stick with all the big guns in the mountains so far, however, it must be said without setting the peleton on fire. Nevertheless, he could well be Britain's next grand tour winner (after Froome) in the making and for this reason I award him the Week One Hottie Award, an honour he is sure to live up to in the coming fortnight!
Other winners and losers this week include the Evergreen Peter Sagan (evergreen because he is destined to spend the rest of the Tour in green) who can surely gain worthwhile employment, once his cycling career is over, as a cartoon voice-over character; Alberto Contador, who followed up a very heavy fall on the opening day by trying to outdo himself the next day by tumbling over again, and in the end abandoned the race during Sunday's stage. Contador's days of challenging the best during the grand tours are now probably behind him and if he decides to continue next year (perhaps with the new Bahrain team) then it may well be in more of a support role! BMC's Richie Porte also had his share of bad luck losing time on his GC rivals with a mechanical failure some 5kms out during Monday's (I think!) stage and his chances of pushing for overall victory seemed to have dissipated in the process! Marcel Kittel, who looked so great earlier in the year, looks a bit below par but still managed to win Tuesday's stage ahead of Sagan, but does look to be second best this year to a rejuvenated Cav! Andre Griepel has been way off the pace despite having had good lead out trains for most of the sprint stages and is languishing in the sprinters wilderness right now! Best Newcomer Award goes to British sprinter Dan McClay riding in his first Tour and who has managed to finish in the top 10 of every sprint stage thus far! Keep it up Dan! And talking of Dan's, it wouldn't be right to finish without giving a mention to Ireland's Dan Martin who is showing that maybe he does have the makings of a GC contender after all. The Etix man is running hotter than ever after finishing to second in last month's Dauphine and finally seems to demonstrating that he has the confidence to stick with and even attack the top GC guys in the high mountains. But for both him and Adam Yates, the final's weeks high Alps tests will be the true test of their mettle and will show whether they really can compete with the very best over a 3 week grand tour!
Ok, I'll be back next week with another round up of Tour news! In the meantime, enjoy this weeks racing and get on your bike!
So where do we start? Of course, we start with the main man and that man this week has been Britain's Chris Froome.
Well, Chris is well placed, in yellow where he likes to be, but does he look as strong as he has done at this stage in 2013 & 2015 when he won his first two overall victories?
That's a hard one. On the face of it one might be tempted to suggest that his position is precarious by comparison to 2013 & 15. At this stage in 2013 he had a lead of 2m2s and in 2015 1m59s over Colombian ace Nairo Quintana, the man most people expect to be his main rival once again. So by pure numbers it's easy to suggest that Froomey is struggling and is set for a big fall come the high Alps in the final week of the race. In both of his Tour wins Froomey has hit the first week hard, and in particular the Pyrenees, where he has typically opened significant time gaps over Quintana and his other main rivals. This year however, although he did win Saturdays mountain stage it was only by a matter of seconds and not the minutes that perhaps we are used to seeing. Does this mean that he is on the back foot already and has only way to go as the Tour rages on - backwards?
I don't think so! If you listen to Chris speak, as well as how Dave 'the Maestro' Brailsford talks about him, I think it's fair to say that the 2016 version of Chris Froome is a much more relaxed, chilled and realistic animal. If it's possible at 31 years of age, I think Chris has finally grown into his role as a (budding) cycling legend and seems to be able to handle the stresses, strains and demands of being the Tour favourite in a much better manner than perhaps we've seen previously. He himself has pointed to his normally dominant first week and must be fully aware of the relative disparity in the comparative time gaps this year and the potential consequences as the race develops. But Team Sky are also a very different animal this year compared with their previous winning years with both Froomey and initially Wiggins (in 2012) when the Sky train was all dominant and, despite all the success, gained only scorn amongst sections of the press (particularly in France) for the manner of their victories. However, this year Team Sky have also grown into their role as (arguably) the top team at this years tour. The Sky train is still there, but it is no longer the rigid (and boring?) locomotive that we've seen before. The development of Brailsford's Team Sky and by proxy, Chris Froome, has come about as a result of their experiences over the past few years. Their learning curve has been steep indeed, and one would be hard pressed to suggest that they haven't taken on board any of the lessons learned since the team's inception in 2010.
We saw the first indications that the 2016 version of Team Sky was perhaps somewhat different from previous versions in the Dauphine where the riders seemed to have much freedom to explore their own races whilst still maintaining the basic remit of protecting their team leader, Froomey, and winning the day, which they duly did. The evolution of the team and it's riders has continued this week with riders appearing in breakaways as well as adopting different tactics in the early mountain stages where Sergio Henao, for example, has certainly been given his head to try and ride his own race, in stark contrast to 2011 when Froome was held back under team orders to guide eventual winner, Bradley Wiggins, over the high Alps.
Criticisms of Froomey being a boring, robotic rider in previous years have surely been laid to rest this year after his extravagant downhill attack and eventual stage win in Saturday's stage, if not by his elbowing of a Colombian fan who got too close on the ascent! I think Chris is riding well within himself and has preserved his legs (relatively) and energies for what is still to come.
The first week has seen the peleton cover just over half the distance of this years Tour, some 1769kms. The coming week features 2 more mountain stages, including on Thursday a mountain top finish of the legendary Mont Ventoux and on Friday the first of this years TT's, which is a longish, relatively hilly day with an uphill gradient to finish, all of which should suit Froomey well. Whilst Quintana has undoubtedly improved his time-trialling the 37.5km TT should see Froome putting a bit more time into Quintana. The big test though will surely come on the ascent of Mont Ventoux where we can reasonably expect Quintana and the other GC contenders to all have a bash at taking Froomey's crown! However, Ventoux is a climb Froomey knows well having won there in 2013 on the way to his first overall victory. If he does make the first move on Thursday I can see him running the show again and stretching his lead further over a somewhat reticent 2016 Quintana.
One would think that if Quintana truly has designs on this years Tour he would need to attack early on on Mont Ventoux to try and test Froome's endurance to it's max. But I've sensed a certain reluctance in Quintana so far to really put himself on the line, for example on Saturday when he failed to chase Froome down, despite being on his wheel, as they topped the mountain and instead he sat up and waited for Valverde to arrive before he began his chase. Does that indicate a lack of confidence in his own ability? Or maybe he's not sure of his own physical capabilities coming into this years Tour having not raced for some time, despite successes earlier in the year when he beat Froome (e.g. Tour of Romandie). Maybe that lack of racing the past few months will be telling in the final wash? Or maybe I'm reading too much into it all and he's really is just biding his time. By the end of this week we shall all know a lot more.
But what of the rest of the peleton?
Froome aside, the other big stories this week are perhaps also British. The return to form, after a seemingly long absence, of Mark Cavendish with 3 fantastic wins this week. Cav's post race interviews are always a mix of emotion, angst, muttered phrases and either beaming smiles or black scowls, but they are always entertaining! If I, for one, had been doubting Cav's ability to get back to his best after a long performance hiatus, then it must be said that Cav himself never shared in those doubts and is now perhaps as good as he's ever been and has, this week, overtaken Bernard Hinault's total Tour victories with a staggering 29 wins! He has more chances this week, though with the Olympics just round the corner one has to question whether we will see Cav racing all the way to the Champs Elysees this year.
Britain's other big successes this week have been Fridays amazing mountain stage win by 35 year old youngster Steve Cummings of Team Dimension Data (Cav's team) and the second placing overall (some 16secs behind Froomey) and white jersey holder (best young rider) of Adam Yates (Orica Bike Exchange)! Cummings win was arguably the best and biggest win of his career and comes at a time when most are digging out their pipe and slippers but Cummings, bucking the trend, just seems to be getting better and better! Has he found the secret of eternal youth I ask? And so for Cummings this week I give the Never Say Die Award which is also known as the Cher 'I can turn back time' Award!
At 23 years old and being well into the final year of his contract at Orica Adam Yates is probably this years hot young thing and must have new offers of employment filling his inbox every morning! His form so far this Tour has been quite staggering given that his chin is a mass of stitches after the inflatable flamme rouge collapsed on top of him during Friday's stage! He has managed to stick with all the big guns in the mountains so far, however, it must be said without setting the peleton on fire. Nevertheless, he could well be Britain's next grand tour winner (after Froome) in the making and for this reason I award him the Week One Hottie Award, an honour he is sure to live up to in the coming fortnight!
Other winners and losers this week include the Evergreen Peter Sagan (evergreen because he is destined to spend the rest of the Tour in green) who can surely gain worthwhile employment, once his cycling career is over, as a cartoon voice-over character; Alberto Contador, who followed up a very heavy fall on the opening day by trying to outdo himself the next day by tumbling over again, and in the end abandoned the race during Sunday's stage. Contador's days of challenging the best during the grand tours are now probably behind him and if he decides to continue next year (perhaps with the new Bahrain team) then it may well be in more of a support role! BMC's Richie Porte also had his share of bad luck losing time on his GC rivals with a mechanical failure some 5kms out during Monday's (I think!) stage and his chances of pushing for overall victory seemed to have dissipated in the process! Marcel Kittel, who looked so great earlier in the year, looks a bit below par but still managed to win Tuesday's stage ahead of Sagan, but does look to be second best this year to a rejuvenated Cav! Andre Griepel has been way off the pace despite having had good lead out trains for most of the sprint stages and is languishing in the sprinters wilderness right now! Best Newcomer Award goes to British sprinter Dan McClay riding in his first Tour and who has managed to finish in the top 10 of every sprint stage thus far! Keep it up Dan! And talking of Dan's, it wouldn't be right to finish without giving a mention to Ireland's Dan Martin who is showing that maybe he does have the makings of a GC contender after all. The Etix man is running hotter than ever after finishing to second in last month's Dauphine and finally seems to demonstrating that he has the confidence to stick with and even attack the top GC guys in the high mountains. But for both him and Adam Yates, the final's weeks high Alps tests will be the true test of their mettle and will show whether they really can compete with the very best over a 3 week grand tour!
Ok, I'll be back next week with another round up of Tour news! In the meantime, enjoy this weeks racing and get on your bike!
Monday, 23 February 2015
Weekend Sports Review: Cycling and Football
Weekend Sports Report
with Negrito
After a short break I'm back with all your Sports news. As usual it's been a bumper weekend and it's difficult to know where to start. But Paris is as good a place as anywhere. Yesterday saw the final day of the Worlds and Britain finished 10th in the medal table with 3 silvers, a long way off the achievements of the previous few years. In fact this was the worst Worlds since 2001 for Britain and to read some reports online one could be forgiven for thinking that the roof of the world had fallen in! But nothing so dramatic has occurred I'm afraid. Shane Sutton, British cycling head honcho after the departure of Dave Brailsford last year, has had a tough time since taking over. After the runaway successes of the past few years Sutton was always going to be batting on a sticky wicket and without a glut of golds in this, his first WC in charge, was on a hiding to nothing. But was it really as bad as all that?
Well, I don't think so. In reality it must be almost impossible to maintain the elevated performance levels of the past few years. At some point a period of rebuilding is going to needed. Many of our top stars have now retired and for the youngsters coming through time and a bit of patience may be the key. The Olympics are not for another 18 months or so by which time the picture may be much more positive. Sutton has a long-term plan that is geared towards Rio and I'm sure many of the newbies will by then be pushing for medals. For the more senior members of Team GB who didn't quite live up to their billing this time round, we need to again have patience. For any athlete, whatever the sport, there are times when things just don't click; you work just as hard, train even harder, but for some unknown reason sometimes things just don't go to plan. But with experience comes a degree of wisdom and those who haven't quite been on song this week, such as Laura Trott, Jason Kenny et al, will no doubt bring it back even stronger next time.
For me the star of the show was Francois Pervis, the triple gold medal winner who successfully retaining the titles he'd won the previous year and appears to have taken over as track cycling's newest superstar, filling Chris Hoy's shoes with ease. And finally special congrats to Australia's Anna Meares who won the Women's Elite Kierin, her 11th World title, amazingly putting her one title ahead of Hoy.
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| Froome on his way to victory in the Ruta del Sol. Pic. from Skysports.com |
Whilst this victory will certainly give Froome confidence that his training regime is going well, as a long term pointer to grand Tour success later in the season, it is largely irrelevant. Any win over a major rival is always welcome, but it's still early days in the 2015 season and the Tour contenders will still be hard in winter training and will only be looking to these early races as indications that things are going well. Another month down the line, however, things may well be rather more imperative. March sees several possible outings for Froome, though his presence at any, or all of these races has yet to be confirmed. Mid-March sees the Paris-Nice, an 8 stage World Tour event and a race Team Sky always put out a strong team for. The end of March sees the Volta de Catalunya, won last year by Joachin Rodriguez, and where there was perhaps the first indication that Froome wasn't going as well in 2014 as he had been in 2013 when he swept all before him. But the Volta is always a really tough outing, with long, mountainous stages and weather that is often extremely inclement. Last year the conditions were particularly tough and Froome didn't seem to enjoy it all. Given that experience it wouldn't surprise me if Froome by-passed the Volta this year to go for either the Paris-Nice or the Tirreno-Adriatico, another week long tour, which he won in his all-conquering 2013.
With Contador going all out this year, showing his hand early by announcing his intention to go for both the Giro d'Italia (in May) and the Le Tour in July, it is important that Froome gains as much of a psychological advantage over Contador as he can. To be honest, it's a tall order for Contador and I doubt whether he will win both, the last man to do 'the double' being the ill-fated Marco Pantani in 1988. All 3 of the Grand Tours now are brutal events and I cannot see Contador recovering sufficiently well to be able to take on a fresh and fit Froome, Quintana, Valverde and the rest, just a few weeks after the Giro, no matter how well he might have performed.
However, one writes Contador off at one's peril. For me, he has been perhaps the best cyclist of his generation, maybe the best since Indurian, and if he is fit enough to be on the start line then he is always going to be there or thereabouts at the finish. Having won both the Giro and Le Tour before, and having already announced his future retirement after the 2016 season, Contador will be looking to his cycling legacy and thinking about what he leaves behind. Of course, like Armstrong, he has had his troubles with performance enhancing drugs and actually had his 2010 Tour and 2011 Giro wins stripped from him. However, the circumstances surrounding Contador's ban for clenbuterol (a steroid), the same drug infamously taken by shamed sprinter Ben Johnson at the end of the 80's, were controversial and, (I believe) were it not for Armstrong, he may well have garnered a lesser ban than the 2 years he ended up serving. I like to believe that Contador was a bit unlucky, but either way his cycling pedigree may now be forever linked with that of his contemporary, Armstrong, and that would be unfair and unwarranted. Contador's motivation to succeed one more time before he hangs his cleats up may well be further ramped up by a desire to win over ex-fans and perennial doubters, so don't be surprised to see him pushing hard to equal the achievements of Pantani, but perhaps more pertinently, to beat Froome and the rest. Can't wait!
Moving on from cycling I have to have a quick word about this weekends footy. In the Premier League (PL) Chelsea stayed top, but by only 5 points now, having drawn at home to struggling Burnley, with Man City closing the gap on the leaders with a ruthlessly efficient and highly entertaining 5-0 ass-kicking of Newcastle. The Boss's team, Man United, lost poorly to Swansea, with LVG maintaining they played well and created many chances. I admit, I didn't see the whole match, but from what I did see I have to wholeheartedly disagree with LVG. This season MU are struggling. Their play is too slow, too predictable and too easy to break up. The cumbersome going forward, clumsy at the back and only where they are because of David de Gea who has saved them more times than can be counted this year already. They need to move the ball quicker, utilise the space they create to put teams under pressure. MU have lots of work to do and unless they change things quickly then I can only see them sliding down the table even further.
Back in the week with a mid-week report on the Champions League and we also take a look ahead to the start of the F1 season in just 19 days time.
See you then
Negrito
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Belated Weekend Sports Report with Negrito
Negrito here with all your Sports News. And what a weekend it was! Full of footy shocks, tennis tales and cycling woes, we've got a story for everyone!
We'll begin with Friday nights woeful performance by Manchester United in their 4th round FA Cup tie at Cambridge United's Abbey Road stadium. The Boss, as you may know, is an MU fan and he was not a happy bunny, I can tell thee! United set their stall out from the first minute and a sparsely furnished affair it was, the ball being pushed impassionately along the midfield line, before it patiently came back the same way again a few minutes later, no forward ground having been made. And so it continued, LVG going for the Squarest team award which he should win hands down with what seemed to be no more than handful of forward passes during the whole 90 minutes. Appreciating that the big teams don't want to be embarrassed by getting their bums kicked by lower division sides, but United just looked paralysed with fear, giving Cambridge the impetus, much as West Ham did against Bristol City on Sunday afternoon. The United players were static throughout, expecting maybe to pass their way through a well organised Cambridge side who pressed the big names hard from the outset. Only late in the game when Ander Herrera replaced Fellaini was their any attempt at link-up play between the far-from united factions of defence, midfield and attack. But even then, when Herrera made a run, either the player on the ball ignored the run, or, if the ball did come then it was invariably too late and too slow. And who was running into space created by Herrera's run? Nobody, that's who! The whole team seemed to be wearing leaden boots. No-one was prepared to make a run or bust-a-gut to win a 50/50 ball or to latch onto a quickly slipped through pass. The movement from United was non-existent, their play too laboured, too slow and too predictable. Without wishing to take anything away from Cambridge, the MU players are plainly of better quality, but in terms of wanting the win the boot was firmly on the other foot!
And on to Saturday when the fairies obviously sprinkled some magic dust on the ties and we saw PL teams eating humble pie on numerous occasions. It really was a whacky weekend when form counted for nothing and league positions were forgotten, then turned on their heads. MOTD highlights don't really show enough of the match to be able make any in depth analysis, but even so I loved seeing Jose Mourinho's Chelsea get their gold-plated arses badly tarnished by League 1 Bradford City. What a treat! Bradford took their goals superbly and by all accounts took the game to Chelsea, in the end fully deserving their amazing win. Big congrats to them and Saturday's other giant killers Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers who all disposed of PL opposition. Fantastic!
The weekends second live game on the BBC was the West Ham vs Bristol affair mentioned above, but it was once again the team from the lower division that took the game by the scruff of the neck. The spell cast over the big names of Premier League football this weekend was finally broken when Sakho came off the bench to knock in yet another header this season to end brave Bristol City's cup run. But the first half had hinted at yet another upset as once again the big names showed nothing and Steve Cotterill's bright looking Bristol set the early pace. For us watching at home it seemed as if yet another PL side started the game with fear of losing at the forefront of their minds, rather than believing in themselves and playing their normal game. Luckily for Big Sam (Allerdyce) West Ham finally got their foots on the ball and managed to scrape past Bristol, much to their relief.
Weekends like this past one are what footy is all about for me. The PL big names shot through with self-doubt as the underdogs came on, baring their fangs, drawing blood from their blue-blooded opponents as they subsequently staggered, stumbled and finally lost their footing completely. I have no doubt that if MU or West Ham had been up against other PL opposition that they would have performed to their usual high standards, which inevitably leads to the question 'why do the big names struggle (year after year) to put the minnows to bed?' And I can only think it is fear. Fear of losing, but not just losing, it's losing to opposition so far beneath them that even the very thought of losing beforehand is just not an option, and yet year after year we see the tables turned. You've gotta love it, but in truth it shouldn't happen....ever!
Watching the expensively assembled MU team hesitate, fumble and finally fail against a Cambridge side put together for less money than Wayne Rooney tips the waiters at The Ivy, I couldn't help thinking that they were so scared of humiliation and defeat that they became physically paralysed, unable to make even the shortest of passes effectively. That fear seeped into their everyday play rendering each and every one of them impotent whenever they had the ball. The lack of imagination and creative play was quite shocking. This wasn't just a bad performance; it was truly horrible! But it would be unfair to say that United, Chelsea, Man City and the PL's other FA Cup strugglers were poor solely because they were scared; I have no wish to take credit away from the so-called underdogs by undermining their achievements with excuses for the big knobs. Without exception the lower division sides came out to play football and to try and win. They were under no illusions but came out attacking nevertheless, hoping to win the game, and if not to win, then to put on a good show for their fans and followers. It's just such a shame that the cream didn't float to the surface, preferring instead to languish and curdle the mix, leaving many fans wondering what happened. I can tell them.......it was the 4th round of the best Cup competition there is! Bring it on!
Moving onto tennis, Andy Murray and his aerodynamic Adam's apple (see blog entry 20 Jan 2015) have moved smoothly though all challengers to the Australian Open semis with the loss of just a single set. With Federer (knocked out early on by Murray's defeated quarter final opponent, Nick Kyrgios) and Nadal out of the way (beaten by Murray's next opponent Tomas Berdych), and Djokovic and last years winner, Stan Warwrinka, in the top half of the draw, Murray must thinking he's in for a really good chance of taking this title. At the end of 2014 Djokovic was peerless, but he hasn't started 2015 in anything like the same manner. With both Stan's and Djokovic's quarters yet to begin, Murray must try to concentrate on his own game, but with yet more big names set to tumble out (Nishikori and Raonic are up against Warwrinka and Djokovic respectively) the urge to get carried away must be immense. Murray is, however, an avid footy fan and he would no doubt be aware of the FA Cup giant killings this weekend and must be hoping that a similar fate doesn't await him.
And finally, Team Sky's Richie Porte secured 2nd place just 2 seconds behind BMC Racing's Rohan Dennis in the Tour Down Under, the UCI's first world tour event of the 2015 season. In Argentina Cav also took his first win of the year in the Tour de San Luis, but for me at NN perhaps the biggest cycling news of the past few days is that Lance 'Lack of Charmstrong' reckons he's served his time and should be allowed to compete once again. Mind you, he must be about 64 years old by now ("Hey, no problem man! I got a drug for that!"), so I don't think Chris Froome will be losing any sleep at the possibility of Lack of Charmstrong's return. Apparently Lack of Charmstrong trains on his own now! Quelle surprise! Wonder if he's figured out why that is.......we digress!
See you soon Sports Fans
And finally, Team Sky's Richie Porte secured 2nd place just 2 seconds behind BMC Racing's Rohan Dennis in the Tour Down Under, the UCI's first world tour event of the 2015 season. In Argentina Cav also took his first win of the year in the Tour de San Luis, but for me at NN perhaps the biggest cycling news of the past few days is that Lance 'Lack of Charmstrong' reckons he's served his time and should be allowed to compete once again. Mind you, he must be about 64 years old by now ("Hey, no problem man! I got a drug for that!"), so I don't think Chris Froome will be losing any sleep at the possibility of Lack of Charmstrong's return. Apparently Lack of Charmstrong trains on his own now! Quelle surprise! Wonder if he's figured out why that is.......we digress!
See you soon Sports Fans
Tuesday, 20 January 2015
Weeknd Sports Report with Negrito
Time for a sports round-up; our first of the year and we're going straight for the jugular with questions such as, 'Is Jose Mourinho the worst tempered manager of all time?' and 'Is LVG the man to save United?' And finally, 'does Andy Murray's massive Adam's apple inhibit his serve?'
All this and much more with Negrito at NN....read on for all the facts and goss.
Football : Here at NN we like to cover the stories that others miss and in light of Chelsea's arse-kicking of Swansea 0-5 we are asking why is Mourinho such a grumpy old bugger? In the post-match press interviews you'd think they'd lost 5-0 instead of having put in what was perhaps the best (first) 45 minutes of football we've seen so far in the PL this season. He was as glum as a dog without a bone and I couldn't help wondering if he'd got a parking ticket just before the kick-off because I've seen happier looking Pugs than him! C'mon Jose, what's the problem? Didn't Roman give you a big enough January transfer budget this year? Or did one of the police dogs use your leg as a watering post? We know all about the theory behind the hang-dog face.....court the controversy and keep the pressure off the players! But really! Would a smile hurt that much? We asked 100 people that question and we're now looking for the Pointless answer! Can you guess what it is to win the coveted Pointless trophy?
Following Louis van Gaal's successes at the World Cup with his Dutch team, we ask do his favoured tactics work in the PL? The Boss at NN is a die-hard MU fan (poor bar-steward!) and so, on his behalf, I must question whether the 3-5-2 tactics that worked so well in Brazil for LVG, actually work with MU? Acknowledging that he has had notoriously bad luck with injuries thus far, especially at the back, so that for the odd match things may well have been forced onto him, I still question whether a 5-man midfield is working given that the 3 at the back seem completely at odds with each other and what is being asked of them. Marcus Rojo has yet to convince this canine that he was worth the millions paid for him. He seems unable to function with any of his compatriots at the back. This may be down to the fact that Jones, Evans and Smalling are being asked to defend in a way that appears to be as alien to them as E.T. is to the rest of us! And what's more, they don't seem to be getting more accustomed to the system as the season wears on. In fact at the back United look as inept now as they did on the first day of the season. The fact that they are in 4th place is more down to the competitiveness in the PL than their own good, consistent play. Going forward there is no doubt that they are fearsome, if not yet awesome, but the frailties at the back seem to be rubbing off on Rooney et al because with RVP, di Maria, Rooney and Falcao you must say they should be scoring a lot more than they are. So, is LVG the man to put United back on their pedestal?
At NN the jury is still out. Last season we were never convinced that David Moyes was the right choice. He just wasn't big enough for the job. There is no doubting LVG's pedigree; he is a proven manager with a successful track record, so like Fergie before him, I hope the board give him time and money enough to complete the job and hope against hope (cos we're fed up with the Boss's tears!) that he invests well. We're not convinced letting de Gea go would be the right decision. Without him United may well be in a relegation battle this year instead of fighting for a place in Europe next season. Investing in Bale, which appears to be the direction LVG is heading, at the expense of de Gea would be bad business, as good a player as Bale is. Rather than spending £100m on another front man, they'd do better to get hold of 2 top class centre backs to reinforce the line in front of de Gea.
Tennis: After Andy Murray's first round success over qualifier Yuki Bhambri we ask the question that no-one else in tennis has the 'balls' to ask. Does Andy Murray's massive Adam's apple inhibit his serve and his all round game?
We have conducted independent wind tunnel tests with this question in the forefront of our minds and can confirm right now that wind tunnels are indeed extremely windy places, and that once in profile position Murray's obstruction, that has been likened to El Capitan, the cliff face scaled so famously last week by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson, can block out the sun and indeed affect the weather, thus bringing us to the inevitable conclusion that Andy's apple is a hurdle to his further success and advancement in the game.
However, the fact remains that in spite of this enormous handicap Murray does still seem to be inordinately successful for a Brit tennis player which leaves us wondering if he was whacking the ball back on a level playing field (l.e. he was born anywhere else than Britain, AND had a less than monumental Adam's apple) would he win the lot and go on to be the greatest player in history?
Sorry Andy, but the truth hurts! Only one question left to ask, does the Adam's apple hurt too?
Cycling: With the Tour Down Under kicking off the UCI's pro cycling 2015 calender, we're looking at Team Sky's Richie Porte and asking has he got what it takes to triumph in his backyard tour. We asked our old mate Crocodile Rundown (a distant rellie of Crocodile Dundee but with much more cycling know-how and knowledge) what he thought of Porte's chances. Here's what he had to say!
"Aw, Porte's a boy alright! He's got two legs and can defo ride a bike so I reckon that puts him in with a shout provided he can stay off the XXXX thereby allowing the team mechanics to dispense with the stabilisers! Nothing worse than a pissed team leader. You end up riding twice as far as the rest!"
So there you have it, straight from the Horse's Mouth (that's a bar on the beachfront) where we found old CR 7 parts to the wind. Who's wind it was he didn't say and all we could say for sure was that it stunk like an outback dunny!
And that's all the Sports News for now. I'm off to peer in the magic mirror and ask some relevant questions of myself, like 'who is the fairest sports reporter of all?'
BFN
Negrito
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