Alberto Contador blasted anti-doping regulations

Three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, who is facing a one-year ban for taking performance enhancing drugs, blasted anti-doping regulations on Friday which he said "remain stuck in the '60s."

"Today, advances in science are able to detect minute amounts of some banned substances which neither further athletic performance nor can possibly be taken voluntarily, except if they enter our bodies through ingested food. This is my case with clenbuterol," the Spanish rider said in a statement on his website. "But whereas scientific advances have arrived in the year 2011, the rule remains stuck in the 60s, hence my 'crime' and possible sanction.

"Only by combining scientific advances with modifications to the anti-doping rules will it be possible to talk about honest and fair sport, as I have always practiced it."

The Spanish cycling federation (RFEC) informed Contador last week of its recommendation of a one-year suspension for his positive drugs test from the 2010 Tour de France.

The 28-year-old has said he plans to appeal, but faces becoming only the second Tour de France champion to be stripped of his title, after American Floyd Landis in 2006.

The rider denies any wrongdoing and says he unknowingly ingested trace elements of the banned substance clenbuterol from beef brought from Spain to France during the second rest day of the Tour.

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Matt Brammeier one of the day's early starters at HTC-Highroad

The Irish champion Matt Brammeier was one of the day's early starters at HTC-Highroad and he successfully negotiated the technical cobbled course to finish just nine seconds behind the winner, Lars Boom (Rabobank).

"At first I thought it was a bit crazy, but it was better than riding down the main road," Brammeier told Cyclingnews shortly after finishing. "It was really good actually. Judging the corners right makes it that bit more exciting."

Brammeier arrives at HTC-Highroad after two solid seasons with the An Post-Sean Kelly team and he has been impressed by his ProTeam experience to date.

"It's one of the biggest teams in the world," he said. "Everything you do is done right and done perfectly. It's awesome, hopefully it'll help me move on another step this year."

A versatile rider with a wealth of experience on the road and the track, the 25-year-old Brammeier is under no illusions about his role in the squad and is relishing the prospect of continuing to progress in his new surroundings.

"I'm going to do what I'm told everyday on the bike," he explained. "These guys know what they're doing and I'll listen to them. I think I can make a step up and when my chance comes, I'll take it. Of course, I'd like to win a race this year, but then everybody does.

"I just want to do my job for the team really. If I can finish the season and the directors and riders are happy with what I've done, then that will be a successful season for me."

After the Tour of Qatar, Brammeier's next action will come at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne before he faces into a hectic period of racing in March and April, culminating with the Ardennes classics. A Grand Tour is currently not on the agenda for 2011, although Brammeier said that he would not turn down the opportunity if it arises.

"I'm not doing the Giro so far, I think I'm reserve," he said. "I don't think I'll be doing the Tour. It would be pretty special to get there in my first year at this level with this team, but everybody wants to do the Tour. I'd love to ride the Vuelta, but we'll have to see how it goes."

While Brammeier makes his HTC-Highroad debut in Qatar, his former team An Post-Sean Kelly received recognition for its effort by earning an invitation to the ASO event. Brammeier was fulsome in his praise for the Irish squad, which played a pivotal role in his development.

"It's awesome [that An Post-Sean Kelly have been invited]," he said. "For the past few seasons Niko [Eeckhout] has won a few races, I won the national championships last year and obviously there's Sean's [Kelly] presence as well, and this is great for the team.

"I'm pretty sure that bar some of the American teams, An Post is the best Continental team in the world. One day you can be riding the Tour of Qatar with the world's best riders and then you can be in Belgium riding Kuurne. You can do everything, so for young riders it's great for their development and a great stepping stone."


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What about some Diving Holidays?

What about some Diving Holidays?

Cycling is a phenomenon sport due to its physically demanding.No other sport in my opinion equals to cycling.Another reason that makes cycling the greatest sport in the world,is the fact that we are able to practice outdoors,to travel and visit new places and landscapes and above all to ride among nature.

Of course we all deserve a break once in a while from so much physical effort.We can go to a peaceful place for a few days and simply relax and enjoy the nature,and instead of riding a bike we can practise diving and explore the nature of the ocean underneath,something that definitely we can not do with a bicycle.And for this type of vacation the best place to go in the world without any doubt is Sipadan in Malaysia.

Sipadan is situated in southwest Malaysia.Celebes Sea at thirty-six kilometers away from sempoma port is great to dive in any time of the year. The Malaysian government likes to diffuse to the rest of the world that "here is the best place on earth to dive".The formation of the region was generate by volcanic eruptions.

The land under the sea rises 2,000 meters up,and in 20 minutes you can walk around the island.It`s heaven on earth for any diver,and despite being close to the equator to 4 degrees north is a magnificent place to go on holiday,with excellent conditions for diving.Several magazines specialized in diving elected Sipadan as the great "seashore diving"in the planet, and also taking first place as the world best place to cliff diving.The water is very clean and smooth with a huge variety of fish,called "God's Aquarium" by divers from around the world name that received by the great father of diving Jacques Yves Cousteau.

The Diving zones include Sipadan Island, Horse Island, Kapalai oil drilling platform and Island SEA VENTURE.The most negative about Sipadan is the very bad trip to reach the island.Must first make a trip of 3 hours to the capital city of Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.Then 30 minutes by plane to the interior,Tawau.After that one hour and a half in a minibus ride up to the Port Semporna.And finally another hour by boat to reach the island.

The price of the suites are around $ 750 for five days and four nights,pretty cheap considering that the price includes food, accommodation, travel, animation and transport.The accommodation houses are of high quality wood suspended above the sea.

You have complete freedom to arrange your own schedule,you may one day take a floating boat and enjoy the buffet,see the fish looking for food,lie on the beach to sunbathe or just take a dive in the blue ocean and exploit its riches.Lovely place,where we see tortoises Across the beaches of nearshore.And not far from the island of horse, there is a small but magnificent museum with varied rare creatures  to visit.This can really be your dream Diving Holiday of a lifetime.

For more informations visite the Sipadan Resort Website her:http://www.sipadan-resort.com/

There’s a lot to like about Giant Talon 2

There’s a lot to like about Giant Talon 2 – it offers genuine trail riding versatility with a frame that warrants long-term upgrading. But it badly needs a better fork. Spec compromises are common at this price level, but the RockShox Dart is just a compromise too far for us. Unfortunately you'll have to save up another £200 for the Talon 0 in order to score an air-sprung RockShox Recon unit.
Ride & handling: UK trail machine promises fun and practicality but is let down by crude fork
A shortish stem and lanky head tube pull the Talon rider’s weight back off the front wheel. This makes for a less racy position than some of the competition,  and neatly appeals to two completely different groups.

Newer riders will enjoy it for its comfort, while time-served riders will appreciate the front end’s ?ickability.

The frame’s thin walls deliver plenty of ride comfort despite its power-ef?cient rigidity, and the wide bars and high front-end stance encourage bursts of high-energy fun. There’s a but though: the fork doesn’t come close to delivering on the frame’s promise.

Twangy, crude and comfortably outclassed by the RockShox Tora and some of the more upmarket Suntour offerings on the competition, it simply doesn’t belong on this bike. This is a fork that’s built down to a price – and it shows.

Frame & equipment: Great handling and well designed frame with room for a 120mm fork
The Talon's chassis is well up there with the best of the rest. With a geometry that'll comfortably handle a 120mm fork, hydroformed top and down tubes providing a rigid backbone and a rear end that has enough mud clearance to keep things rolling on all but the gungiest of trails, it’s a good basis for long-term upgrading.
Rack mounts at the rear and double bottle bosses up front are practical touches and, as we’ve come to expect from Giant, the ?t and ?nish is top notch. The Talon 2 isn’t particularly light though, tipping the scales – in our test sample’s medium size – at a shade over the psychological  30lb mark (13.6kg).

Much of the extra grammage lurks in the functional but basic componentry that adorns the frame. From unbranded hubs to Giant’s own ?nishing kit, it all works ?ne… with the possible – and notable – exception of the fork. The Dart isn’t exactly our favourite budget coil unit, delivering a whippy, choppy and uninspiring performance.

We were never huge fans of Giant’s own-brand hydraulic discs, so it’s good to see the return of Shimano’s stoppers on the Talon 2. For a frame with such high-speed trail potential, though, we’d prefer to see a 180mm rotor up front.


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Cycling Competition

The vast majority of cyclists- whether pro, recreational or merely occasional- can stick to a plan. Well, for a time. It’s fairly easy. In general we like rules, we like boundaries, we like simplicity. The issues arise, however, when there is a potential issue/development which threatens to derail us from the straight and narrow of our chugging locomotive desire. I mean our desires which chug along. Relentless. Like a locomotive. Yes, like that. I’m not advocating car-love. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Well, in most countries. But I’m not here to judge, do what you will. However, I digress.

So… Persistence, perseverance, commitment, dedication. Call it whatever you will- this is the quality that above all, for me, personifies the attitude of the true champion. It’s a desire to keep going, whatever the odds. Whether that be on a daily basis, (the grind of regular toil, training and the balance of life/family/work) a session basis (gritting your teeth and really driving on for that last interval), or an event basis (really pushing for that Gold finishing time at the sportive you’ve been dreaming of completing all year).

Because, you see, champions walk amongst us. If you’ve met one, you’ve probably been struck by how commonplace and down to earth they are. That’s because they are, in many ways, identical to us. They have had to struggle, to balance commitments, to have off/bad days and deal with temporary issues. The only real difference between us and them (thankfully the day is still many years off before I start classing myself as one of ‘them’ or referring to myself in the 3rd person) is in how they approach their business.

Consider, then, how many of these champions started. They may have been one of the lucky few to win their first race. Local chipper or youth event, go out (probably with inferior kit and/or experience) blow away their contemporaries. Come back, do it again. Glittering stardom beckons, a dizzying ascent to the heights of the sport. And yet… how many have then gone straight on to be World Champions in their discipline, or to have confirmed their place as one of the greatest of all time? (I must at this point insist that you’re not allowed to mention Chrissie Wellington, an athlete I hold in incredibly high regard. She’s ruining my argument, so I’ll just pretend to ignore her.)

Obviously there are not that many World Champions around. Certainly far less in existence than the gifted individuals who won their first race or showed such terrific early promise. So where have they all gone? How many of you know or have known bright young things with incredible early talent, who then (for whatever reason) fall out of love or practice with the sport, and slip quite contentedly into a life of anonymity and malnourished potential?

The kind of adaptations, developments, and strengths required to ascend the very peaks of performance (in any endeavour) cannot be gifted or earned in the space of an afternoon or a few frantic weeks of activity. It takes years. Granted, some of your contemporaries may have been genetically blessed with long thigh muscles, or a particularly high VO2, or any number of other physical advantages. Yet those advantages alone never ensure success. They are very rarely a ticket to immediate success, and in the long run will surely be trumped by consistent persistent and dedicated commitment (bit of a tautology just to labour the point).
So to conclude this slightly long-winded and circumlocutory pondering… Keep at it.

Whatever it is you do, do it. Lots. And keep doing it. Because it may not always feel like it (especially in this weather) but every single extra minute you spend on that bike, or with your family, or addressing a work project or whatever- will make its benefits known at some point.

Discomfort is inevitable in every walk of life. For everyone; even if sometimes it seems like others neatly avoid all forms of negativity.

Pain isn’t an option, then. Suffering, however, is. I would much rather ENDURE something than suffer through it. There’s a fundamental mental difference in approach there.

And what’s at the end? Well, eventually there’s a breakthrough. The sun shines brightly one day; in the middle of a week of torrential downpours. Or you get a terrific tailwind. Or someone realises what an essential cog you are to the whirring of the company you are and promotes you. Sometimes it’s not even a positive change, but just an end to the discomfort you’ve been enduring.

Summarising this quite succinctly is Aristotle (the old boy is always good to touch for a quote):
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because
we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit”
And I don’t know about you, but quitting just isn’t my style, really…

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Gerard Vroomen ensured that his women's team was brought on board with the Garmin team

Cervélo co-owner Gerard Vroomen ensured that his women's team, which was the world's number one in 2010, was brought on board with the Garmin team after he signed his company on as a title sponsor.

Vroomen explained that the budget is bigger than last year for the women, but the drop in the roster was designed to benefit for the riders.

"When you look at women's racing there is rarely a double program," Vroomen said. "The races except for the Giro [Donne] are all for six riders. If there's no double program and you can't field more than six, why would you have more than 10? It doesn't make sense to have a larger team than there are races to put riders in."

Despite a smaller roster, Vroomen revealed the budget for the team has actually increased over 2010. "The reason budget went up is we instituted a minimum salary, which doesn't exist in women's cycling. Plus we have some very successful riders, and they should be rewarded for that."

Five riders have returned from the dominant 2010 squad: time trial world champion Emma Pooley and fellow Britons Sharon Laws and Lizzy Armistead, Australian Carla Ryan and Dutch rider Iris Slappendel. New to the team are Lucy Martin, Trine Schmidt, Jessie Daams, new Australian champion Alexis Rhodes and Noemi Cantele.

With the loss of prolific winner Kirsten Wild and stage race favorite Claudia Häusler, Vroomen said the scaled-back squad will not be under pressure to be as dominant in 2011 as they were in the past.

"In a way, the goal is to win less this year. I think it would be good for the sport. As a team, we'll try to win every race we can - but [for] the overall design for the sport - it's one of the reasons we went from 14 to 10," came the counter-intuitive argument.

"It's important to have all the strongest riders at the start line. Of course when you let four strong riders who might have been bench sitters for us go to another team and start, then competition will go up. I see it as a positive. You don't go out and tell the team the goal is to be just as dominant as last year, of course every single race we'll do the utmost to win, that's part of competition. But it won't be realistic to be as strong after an unbelievable year in 2010."

The team's directeur sportif, Theo Maucher, comes out from behind the desk of the Cervélo TestTeam where he was in charge of logistics, to lead the women's team in its first race of the season, the Ladies Tour of Qatar.

While the team will go to Qatar with star sprinter Armistead, Rhodes, Cantele, Martin, Slappendel and Schmidt focused on the usual bunch sprints, Maucher expects the team to be more unpredictable and exciting during the season.

"For one day races we have a lot of possibilities with fast Lizzy Armistead, who has the ability to compete with the other big sprinters. We now have Noemi Cantele, a very experienced rider - I think we have a lot of possibilities to win," Maucher said.

"It's won't be easy to figure out what our tactic will be, compared with last year. If you have a rider like Wild or Teutenberg in your team then a lot of races are blocked by the tactics, to bring it to a bunch sprint.

Sometimes it's a little bit boring for the public and also for the sport director. Now we have more possibilities. We can win a bunch sprint, or we can win with a breakaway group. For me it's more impressive. There are more possibilities and the other teams don't know what we will do."

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Alexandre Vinokourov determined to wear the yellow jersey again

Determined to wear the yellow jersey again at some stage in the summer,Veteran cyclist Alexandre Vinokourov announced on Friday that 2011 will be his last season as a professional rider.

"It's my last season in cycling and I'd like to wear the yellow jersey for a few days. It's a dream that I can achieve even if each year it gets harder," said the 37-year-old as his Astana team staged its 2011 launch.

"I can't race until I'm 40. Now it's time to leave all the work to the younger riders. I could continue to ride on my reputation, to win for the money. But what I want is to win races," added the Kazakh, who won a stage on the Tour de France in 2010 and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic.

Astana, who celebrated Tour de France victory last year courtesy of Alberto Contador, have high hopes for the new season in the shape of 24-year-old Czech Roman Kreuziger, who has targeted a Tour of Italy triumph. Kreuziger, ninth on the Tour de France for the last two years, has joined after five years with Liquigas.

"After five years with the same team, I wanted to rediscover some stimulation. With the experience of "Vino" and Giuseppe Martinelli (new team manager), this was the best choice," he said.

Vinokourov has no doubt about Kreuziger's potential and has tipped Astana, the only Pro Tour team from Asia and with a 15-million-euro budget for the season ahead, to keep succeeding once he has retired.
"It represents a dream for all the young riders in our country," he said.

Astana leave Contador out of picture
Embattled Tour de France winner Alberto Contador was wiped from the record when his former Astana team staged their 2011 launch on Friday.

Contador, who was provisionally suspended after failing a drugs test on the 2010 Tour, did not feature in Astana's video presentation to showcase the 27-strong team for the new season. Neither was he mentioned by name despite having been responsible for Astana's leading triumphs last year before leaving to race for the Saxo team.

"We decided to do it like this because it's a new season that is about to begin," said team leader Alexandre Vinokourov, who also took the opportunity to announce his retirement from cycling at the end of 2011.
But despite Contador's mounting problems, which have seen him facing a one-year ban handed out by the Spanish cycling federation (RFEC), Vinokourov is standing by his former teammate.

"No decision has been taken. Contador is still the winner of the Tour de France," he said.

Earlier Friday, Contador, on the edge of tears, denied taking performance enhancing drugs and vowed to appeal a ban.

"I will appeal wherever necessary to defend my innocence to the end," he told a news conference at his Saxo's team hotel on the Spanish Balearic island of Majorca.

The RFEC on Wednesday informed Contador of its recommendation of a one-year suspension for his positive drugs test from the 2010 Tour de France.

But it left it to the discretion of the three-time Tour de France champion as to whether he made it public.
The 28-year-old rider has 10 days to appeal, but faces becoming only the third Tour de France champion to be stripped of his title, after American Floyd Landis in 2006 and Maurice Garin in 1904.

The rider denies any wrongdoing and says he unknowingly ingested trace elements of clenbuterol from beef brought from Spain to France during the second rest day of the Tour.

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Christina Watches has taken over the licence from Bianchi M1

Christina Watches has taken over the licence from Bianchi M1 which is still listed on the UCI website. However, that will change soon, according to Blaudzun.

“At the moment the change of name from Bianchi M1 to Christina Watches is in process, and we expect pretty soon to listed as Christina Watches on the UCI site. All the forms, etc., have been sent, and that should just be a matter of time,” he said Monday morning.

In addition, the team may expand beyond the previously-announced 14 riders “Right now we are 14 riders, all Danish. In the near future we will look at the possibilities of eventually signing one or two more,” Blaudzun said.

He confirmed to Cyclingnews that one of those riders may be Angelo Furlan. “It's too early to say at the moment, but we are in contact with him.”

Furlan told Ekstra Bladet that he was in contact with Blaudzun. “His team is only a small team, but for me it is important to keep my career up and running races. I can do very well on a small team. I can help Michael,” he said.

The 33-year-old rode the last two years for Lampre, and finished second in the 2010 Paris-Tours. He was not given a new contract for the current season.

However, main sponsor Christina Hembo says further signings depend on whether the team is invited to the Tour of Denmark.

“Michael Blaudzun tells me that Furlan will be a dream rider who can supply many victories,” she said to Ekstra Bladet.

“But there is great uncertainty about whether we will be allowed to be at the start of the Tour of Denmark, and before we know if we get a fair chance to run the race or not, I think that 14 riders are enough.”

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On the Road

The weather, while arguably as cold as on the previous attempt, was looking more kindly on the ride. Several dry, breezy days immediately prior meant that the roads were, for the most part, dry rather than slick with half-melted black ice.

The breeze, however, was coming steadily from the north-west, and was very cold. Not that we noticed while heading south on the traditional route via Newdigate, Rusper and Mannings Heath. Bright sunshine created enough warmth to hint at the imminent arrival of spring and, propelled by that chuff wind, we reached Steyning in just over 1hr40'.

There are plenty of small rises on the way there, enough to keep things interesting, but veterans of the Clog know that the real action starts with Stomping Hill, better known as Steyning Bostal. This savage climb acquired its more apt soubriquet on the first running of the ride way back in the late '80s when Rob Jefferies and I, fresh from winning prizes in a criterium on Worthing sea front, rode down to the town to redeem the vouchers awarded. For inner tubes, if I remember correctly.

That year, before reaching Worthing we climbed the Bostal and descended to the village of Sompting, its name hinting at the only practicable way of getting over the hill. Rob hadn't ridden the Clog since but had decided to turn up for this one. His groan of recognition as we left Steyning with the awful sight of Stomping Hill ahead was worth the ride down...

Regrouping at the top, we were surprised to see rugby player Danny Hutton make the summit. A Clog alumnus but short this time around of road miles, Danny had intimated that he would wait for us at the cafe in Steyning while we did the loop around Coombes and Botolphs. Seems he "overshot" the cafe and had to ride the hill. Sensibly, he rode back down and headed for the lunch stop near Billingshurst while we rode the loop.

It is lumpy in an innocent kind of way and is very popular with cyclists, who passed going the opposite way in considerable numbers. Following on from the Bostal and the subsequent climb to Sompting Abbots, however, this little leg always does a lot of damage. The first to look a little sluggish was DA, who hasn't had the best January ever. Leaving Steyning we found ourselves presented with a surprisingly stiff headwind; finding himself on the front for the first time, triathlete Tristram Bishop put in a generous turn and immediately had DA in trouble.

Shiny Boy, however, knows how to dig deep and did so, hanging on despite finding himself at the back of what he described as a four-up TTT to Billingshurst and lunch, where we found Danny about to order his usual Olympic Breakfast. Just the one this year.

From here on, distance and the biting headwind began to take their toll. The pace gradually slowed with no one particularly keen to push on the front. Tootling up Weare Street, we got to the northern end to find a police cordon with several patrol cars just beyond and a policeman marking the road. Here was the aftermath of some sort of unpleasant RTA, no doubt. I ducked the cordon tape and got a yell from the copper, wanting to know if I had seen it.  I had, and told him so, adding that we had just ridden five miles along a road with no turn-offs and that, had there been a warning at the other end, we would not have set off down it.

Faced with this kind of logic he had little choice but to let us through. As we waited for Danny, a member of the Norwood Paragon rode straight through from the other direction, on receipt of the yell simply stating that he had been told by another copper to go through. The look on the face of "ours" as Paragon man blithely ignored his instructions was beautiful to see.

The final scenes of the day were written by Shiny Boy, who now found new strength from nowhere. Noticing that Rob was suddenly nailed to the road, he attacked hard out of Newdigate, shelling Tristram and regaining a lot of confidence if his happy demeanour back at Ryka's cafe could be believed. It had been a fine edition. Leaving our companions to drive home, DA and I set off for south London and our first 100 of the year, DA managing a total of 198km by the time he got home. Not bad for someone who has had to go back to basics this winter.

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Mountain Bike Shimano’s top-end XTR disc brakes

These new 394g per end XC stoppers are 55g lighter than the previous XTR and are everything we’d hoped they would be.What Mountain Bike Shimano’s top-end XTR disc brakes come in two ?avours: XC (for cross-country) and Trail. 

Firstly, do they stop the bike faster than the old ones? Emphatically yes. Once fully bedded in, which is a quick and easy task, the bite from a grab of the lever is hard and decisive and excess speed can be hacked to zero with ease. As the old Pirelli tyre ad slogan went, ‘Power is nothing without control’ and Shimano understand that.

You can control the level of braking from the merest tickling off of a few mph to some massive eye-popping deceleration into a downhill switchback – even with small 160mm rotors. The one-?nger levers allow you to achieve either effect with ease. Yes, one ?nger – the abbreviated brake lever’s a visual sign from Shimano of just how powerful the XTR brake is. We never felt like we needed more ?ngers to do the job.

There are several new details that we like; one is the split clamp, which is ideal for bar changes. It’s also about time that Shimano caught up on this now old trend. Another Shimano catch-up is a new ability to integrate the brake and shifter mounts (as on SRAM’s XX), using a hook and grub screw combo. The look is clean and we’ve no complaints with the adjustable ergonomics.

New rotors (sold separately along with adaptors) are still a two-piece and centrelock design (spline ?t only) and come in 140mm (rear only), 160mm (tested) and 180mm options. The brake body is polished alloy and the levers are black anodised. Performance on the trail, as we've already hinted, is luxuriously smooth, with next to no lever friction.

The action is so light that they’re almost too easy to grab, but this makes them perfect for long rides, especially ones involving multi-minute downhill braking sessions. If that’s your bag, however, you might prefer the XTR Trail with vented callipers. Unlike the Trail model, there's no bite point adjustment on the XC version, though they both have a lever reach adjustment.

Bleeding is still simple, although the Shimano instructions don’t make it appear so. Since ?tting these brakes we have been riding faster than normal just to experience the joy of slowing down and stopping with them. If you have got some money for non-budget brakes this year, we suggest you seriously consider Shimano’s new stoppers.



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