We're back, well I am at least. Today we're going to be looking at the tour down under,
google hangout with none other than Neil Rogers, get the latest stories in the cycling media.
And this week I'm being joined by Martyn Ashton former world champion in mountain bike trials
and well general mountain bike legend to be honest. Can you get your foot off the sofa
please.
So here we go and it's straight over to the US. Hi Neil thanks very much for taking the
time to join us there's been a lot of rumours in the press over the last few days about
a possible confession from Lance Armstrong, what have you heard and what's your take on
it? That's a really good question, if you'd asked me Friday morning if I thought a Lance
Armstrong confession was imminent I would have said no, the last time I spoke with Armstrong
was in July and he said there would never ever ever be a conffesion so the question
is what's changed and I think a mountain of evidence assembled by USADA is what's changed,
I don't think the Armstrong camp ever expected anyone to present so much evidence of doping
with Armstrong and the US postal team. I also don't think they anticipated the public perception
to turn on him the way it has and there are a lot of theories out there right now that
this possible confession story that ran in the New York Times is actually Armstrong team
floating it out there, testing the waters to see what the public perception might be.
There's no question that Armstrong is facing several law suits where he may be compelled
to testify under oath, the alternative at that point would be to try and settle, and
so perhaps the Armstrong team is trying to test the waters, see what the perception is
to a possible confession and then make the decision do we go ahead testify under oath
and confess or do we try to settle. Thanks for your time Neil and if any more news comes
up it would be great to speak to you again. Alright Thank-You.
Just around the corner now is the first world tour event of the season, the Tour Down Under
in Australia. Starting on the 22nd January and running for 6 stages this is now a key
International event even for the non Australian riders. In their latest January issue Pro
cycling have run a 4 day feature on the event, among the names to watch out for are Andre
Greipel an ex winner riding for the Lotto -Belisol team he will face competition from
Marcel Kittel of Argos-Shimano, Tyler Farrar of Garmin Sharp and Mark Renshaw of the new
team Blanco. Also you should look out for Phillipe Gilbert, the current world champion
and Simon Gerrans will return with his Orica Greenedge team to defend his 2012 title.
We couldn't go through the news today without mentioning the sad death of Burry Stander
who was killed when he was hit by a car whilst on a training ride. The popular South African
was under 23 World Champion in 2009 and was a rising star of the cross country mountain
bike scene.
Breaking news just in is that RCS sport have NOT given the Katusha team a wildcard entry
into this years Giro d'Italia. The three remaining spaces have been given to Bardiani Valvole
CSF Inox, Vini Fantini Selle Italia, plus team Colombia.
How many people does it take to do this news show, you can't be trusted on your own, alright!
Well in the news recently a lot has been the UCI president Pat McQuaid and cycling news.com
recently ran a story after he gave an interview to the Irish Examiner. He hit back at his
critics saying that they've been doing all that they can in the fight against doping
and simply don't have the powers of search and phone tapping that the police do.
We've also learnt that Mark Cavendish is due to make his season debut later on in January
at the Tour de Jose in Argentina and we're looking forward to seeing him race in his
brand new Omega Pharma Quickstep kit.
Now roadie gear is not really my area of expertise, well it didn't used to be, but we've put together
a comparison of the 2012 and the 2013 kit designs so you can decide for yourself what's
good, what's bad and what's plain ugly and I'm just going to drop in here that's on GCN,
the Global Cycling Network.
We like to do as we say so the crew and team are taking on a new challenge this year the
Granfondo Stelvio Santini, which is very difficult and I need to get training.
From Italy Giro D'Italia 2002 and 2005 Winner Paolo Savoldelli, former Garmin-Cervelo Pro Cyclist and Commentator Daniel Lloyd.
21.5km long with a maximum grade of 12%, Averaging 7% Highest paved roads in the Eastern Alps.
Granfondo Stelvio Santini Challenge, want to know how it went? Click here
Covering 2 of the most brutal yet beautiful climbs in the world the Mortirolo and the
Stelvio pass, these ascents echo in the feats of riders such as Fausto Coppi and Marco Pantani.
For only the second year the Granfondo Stelvio Santini will allow you to test yourself against
some of these legendary tough climbs and follow in the pedal strokes of some of cyclings greatest
ever icons. That does sound good.
Now for all of you training hard in the southern hemisphere in glorious sunshine you can hear
the pangs of jealousy all around we've got some how to tutorials for you that can A help
you improve your tan make you look even better, if that's possible and B help you improve
your bike skills.
Well that's it for this week thanks very much for joining us, we'll be back again soon,
in the mean time don't forget to leave your comments just down here. This has been the
Global Cycling Network, the what? GCN the Global Cycling Network, ooooo yer that's what it's called
the Global Cycling Network, got it GCN yeh