Sky falling in on St Patrick's Day

Regular followers of me here or on my sporting blog will be aware of my love of cycling. But something that has happened as a result of the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York has thrown me a moral curve ball.

Guinness decided at the eleventh hour yesterday to pull their sponsorship of the parade in New York. This was after they requested that the organisers allow LGBT Irish Groups to march in the parade. Before others say they are allowed to parade, or that other groups don't march behind a banner, this is not the case. Groups do march behind the banner indicating who there are. Many of Ireland's LGBT people did emigrate some to the UK others to America when those places were less LGBT friendly than they are today. Like all such immigrants to the states they are as staunchly proud of their Irish roots as anyone else.

Guinness as part of their decision said:

"Guinness has a strong history of supporting diversity and being an advocate for equality for all. We were hopeful that the policy of exclusion would be reversed for this year's parade.
.

"As this has not come to pass, Guinness has withdrawn its participation. We will continue to work with community leaders to ensure that future parades have an inclusionary policy."

This is good and a brave decision especially as there was a 1.4% drop in share price of Diageo (the  parent company). However, it is the reaction of one media tycoon that leads to my dilemma.

Rupert Murdoch has said on twitter:

Where will this end? Guinness pulls out of religious parade bullied by gay orgs who try to take it over. Hope all Irish boycott the stuff 

It is a pity that Murdoch appears to be boycotting the 21st Century, I think we should boycott all of his stuff. This is easy as Eurosport cover cycling. But there is one issue. The title sponsors of both the GB Cycling Team (pictured) and the British UCI World Tour team is Sky which of course if out of the Murdoch stable. Most of the top British cyclist race for them, they are coming to Belfast in May for the Giro d'Italia and Yorkshire in July for the Tour de France.

After comments like this from Murdoch I'm going to find it very hard to support my favourites with a clear conscious.

Tour de France 2012: The Teams - Sky Pro Cycling

It is that time of year once again that the 21 teams in the Tour de France will be naming their nine man squads for the Tour de France which starts on Saturday.

So lets start with the team that will be hoping to see the world champions rainbow jersey replaced by the maillot vert (green jersey) as well as hoping to see the maillot jaune (yellow jersey) in their midst on the Champs-Élysées. But there is an home Olympics ahead for the British Team's big stars and one Geraint Thomas will be doing laps of a velodrome instead of the roads of France to prepare to defend his Olympic title.



Bradley Wiggins already this year he has won Paris-Nice, the Tour de Romandie as well as defending the Critérium du Dauphiné. He is in form over these week long Tours and Sky seem to have the team to help Brad both on the flat and in the Mountains. After crashing out last year he came third in the Vuelta a España his first Grand Tour podium. He is seriously being talked of as a contender again this year to go further than his 4th place finish in 2009.

Mark Cavendish will start the Tour wearing the World Champion's rainbow jersey. He moved to Sky at the start of the year after his former dominant team HTC-Columbia ceased to exist. He finally took the Green Jersey in last year's tour after 5 more stage wins and an unprecedented third win on the trot on the Champs-Élysées. With the Olympic Road Race coming only 6 days after Paris a target it is yet to be seen how much Cav puts into this year's Tour.


Edvald Boasson Hagen last year he was often contending with Cav for the sprints he actually took two stages last year. But this year his role has been to replace Mark Renshaw as the man who launches the Manx Missile to the line. In some of the tougher finishes he may be Sky's go to man if Cavendish is not going for line honours simply to stop people like Philippe Gilbert gaining points over Cav, but he will be at the front with about 600m to go ready to take the World Champion into his final sprints.


Bernhard Eisel has moved with Cavendish from HTC last year. Bernie will be ever present with Cav helping him through the mountains but also staying beside him in the peleton as the race trundles along before being a key component of the lead out train.


Chris Froome the Kenyan born Brit was actually ahead of Brad in last year's Vuelta a España coming in second. But as he proved there he is an able lieutenant in the Mountains as he was in the Tour de Romandie. Last year he was also one of the engines in the train that Great Britain used to control the peleton in the World Championships to deliver the rainbow jersey for Cav.



Richie Porte from Australia has a palmarès to his name this year winning the Volto ao Algarve but like Froome he is there to help Bradley control events in the mountains. He was best young rider in the 2010 Giro d'Italia.
 


Michael Rogers has been world Time Trial champion three times in 2003, 2004 and 2005. But he has also long been a mountain support in 2003 he helped Richard Virenque to his six polka dot jersey. He had periods leading T-Mobile and HTC coming as high as 9th in the Tour in 2006. But his role like Froome and Porte is to get Wiggins through the mountains.


Christian Knees was the 2010 German Road Race Champion but his role in the tour is a domestique and wingman on the flat stages.


Kanstantsin Siutsou has been Belarus road and time trial champion. He finished 10th in last years Giro with Team Highroad but is another engine for the flat stages of the Tour.

Giro d'Italia Stage 3

It is our final day in Denmark but already this is a good Giro for team Sky. Geraint Thomas is still second in the overall classification thanks to his finish in the individual time trail around Herning.

Then yesterday the man who is second in the race helped the world champion to yet another win here in Denmark, the country where Cavendish won the rainbow strips.  The two of them were well up at the front, riding fifth and sixth wheels, ahead of a crash going into the finishing straight that caused a split in the peleton but because of the last km rule, no lose of time. Thomas himself wearing the red jersey for points leader finished 11th, before relinquishing his temporary custodianship of the points jersey to the man he hopes will still be wearing it in Milan.

Today we head to the east coast of the Danish mainland for a figure of eight circuit around the city of Horsens before three criterium loops around the city itself potentially setting up another sprint finish that Sky will want to consolidate they very good weekend in Denmark.

With the 20 second bonus for the stage win yesterday Cavendish is up to 12th in the overall classification only 18 seconds behind his team mate in 2nd place so another 20 second bonus today on the line would actually lift him up to 2nd overall, although of course with the mountains still to come Cavendish is only focussing on the red jersey for this tour.

Thomas because of his 2nd and 11th place finishes is actually second in the point classification at the moment.

The question already being asked by La Gazzetta dello Sport is can any other sprinter deny Cavendish.

Giro d'Italia 2012 Stage 1

Velkommen til turen i Italien.


Yes we are at the Giro d'Italia but we are in Denmark for today's opening 8.7km individual time trial around the town of Herning. Herning lies on the mainland of Denmark due west of Aarhus and due east of Edinburgh.

The rainbow jersey wearing Mark Cavendish is returning to Denmark where he won that jersey last year. This stage is longer than the 3km prologue of the Tour de Romandie 2 weeks ago in which Cav ended up in third place behind his team mate Geraint Thomas. Although Cav has worn the pink leaders jersey in both the 2009 and 2011 Giro this was as a result of a team time trial in the first stage and being team leader in 2009 and taking stage 2 in 2011. However, he is aiming to win the points classification here as a build up defending his Tour de France green jersey before going for Olympic gold. 


But with Sky on a high after helping Bradley Wiggins take the Tour de Romandie they will be focusing on Cav in this grand tour. He is joined by Thomas, his lead out man Bernie Eisel,and fellow super domistique Juan Antonio Flecha, mountain men Rigoberto Urán and  Sergio Henao plus fellow Brits Peter Kennaugh, Ian Stannard and Ben Swift.


Along with Sky other teams taking part include Radio Shack-Nissan lead by Frank Schleck, BMC Racing with Thor Hushovd trying to spoil things for Cav, Astana with Roman Kreuziger who was 6th last year in the Giro as the best young rider. Liquigas-Cannondale bring Ivan Basso to the Giro looking for a third win and last year's winner, following the ban of Alberto Cantador, Michele Scarponi returns with Lampre-ISD maybe hoping to actually wear the Pink Jersey at the end of the race this year.


The Giro will spend the first three days this year in Denmark before returning to Italy for the team time trial on Wednesday and the first medium mountain stage on Friday. The race will finish with an individual time trial in Milan on 27th May.

Wiggins achievement in perspective

Wiggins in yellow with his Team Sky support
earlier this week

 "I'm on that list of riders who won Paris‑Nice, the Dauphiné. There's just one left now to win."


So said Bradley Wiggins yesterday after winning the 2012 Paris-Nice to add to his 2011 win in the Criterium de Dauphiné Liberé. But who else in on that list?


Well 3 time Tour de France winner Louison Bobet (1954-6), five time Tour Champions Jacques Anquetil (1957, 1961-4) and Eddy Merckx (1969-72, 1974) and Raymond Poulidor who while he never won le Tour did win the 1964 Vuelta a España. It means that of the five names of those who have won the two eight-day Tours only Wiggins has yet to win a Grand Tour and along with Poulidor, who was up against Merckx is the only one yet not to have won le Tour.


Here's another thing, apart from Poulidor, Wiggins is the only one to have won the Dauphiné first. Anquetil thrice (1963, 65-6), Merckx (1971) and now Wiggins 2011-12 are the only riders to be champions of both at the same time. The first time the other two did it they went on to win their third Tours. 


Wiggins isn't talking himself up too much ahead of July instead saying:

"I don't know if I'm a favourite [for the Tour] but I'm one of maybe five riders who can do something there [overall] this summer. I said Paris-Nice was a stepping stone, no disrespect for Paris-Nice. But I must continue that progression to July now. Lance Armstrong warned me recently not to burn too many matches for July. It's certainly a long trail."

But he is taking the advise of the seven times winner. Only the Tours of Catolonia and Romandie, his defense in the Dauphiné are where he will be competing ahead of the three weeks in July in which he could make history. 


But he already has as a winner of both, indeed a concurrent holder of, the Dauphiné and Paris-Nice titles.

#TDF The Teams 1 - Team Sky

It is that point that the team are finalising naming their nine man teams to take on the 98th edition of the Tour de France.

So I'll start my look at the teams with the one with most British interest Team Sky

Team Sky's Tour de France squad

111 Bradley Wiggins (UK) 31 The Olympic gold medalist of course turned his attention to the road after Beijing. With his winter training in 2008/9 led to him coming fourth in the 2009 Tour equalling the best performance by a British cyclist in the Tour. Last year with Team Sky it was rather disappointing in the Tour for Brad. However, this year the team leader has shown some form. He came 3rd in the Paris-Nice Classic, he had a stage win in Bayern-Rundfahrt and comes into the Tour in the back of his win in the Criterium du Dauphiné.This year he hasn't raced the Giro d'Italia in the led up like he tried last year so may be ready to compete in the General Classification (GC) once more. 5th Tour Start Best 4th 2009

114 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) 24 The Young Norwegian completed his first Tour last year and was up there in the group sprints twice making the podium. He also won a stage at Bayern-Rundfahrt after which he pulled on the leader's jersey and had two podium finishes in the Criterium du Dauphiné. An injury hit early season may mean he is fresher into the fight for the Tour. May be looking to sneak a stage win when the other top sprinters aren't paying attention. 2nd TS 116th,  6th in points

112 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) 33 The Argentine-born Spaniard is seen as a Classics specialist having won Züri-Metzgete (2004), Circuit Franco-Belge (2008) and 3 podium finishes in Paris–Roubaix. With some of the 'flat' stage not being so flat at the finish he may well be the sort of man to look out for. However, he will be an invaluable lieutenent to Wiggins in these stafe. He won stage 11 in 2003 (Narbonne-Toulouse) when he mimed firing an arrow in celebration to mark his family name. Last year on Stage 13 Rodez-Revel he was deemed the most combative rider a stage over 5 small climbs. 9th TS Best 73rd 2005

113 Simon Gerrans (Aus) 31 The Aussie had a 2010 Tour in which he was involved in a number of crashes including one on stage 8 where he broke his arm. However, he is one of a small band of cyclists who has won stages on all three of the Grand Tours, Stage 15 2009 Tour de France, Stage 14 2010 Giro d'Italia and Stage 10 2010 Vuelta a España. He also came third in the Amstel Gold earlier this season on a tricky uphill finish like some of those in the first week. His Tour stage win came when he broke away from the rest of the break away on the lead into the finish. 6th TS Best 79th 2008


115 Christian Knees (Ger) 31 Is currently the German nation champion he joined from Milram at the start of the year. A previous winner of Bayern-Rundfahrt in 2009, he helped Geraint Thomas to the title this year. He knows how to survive in the mountains but will give a great deal of firepower to the sprinter's lead out train. 6th TS Best 21st 2009

116 Ben Swift (UK) 23 While if may be Swift's first Tour de France he has already competed in the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España. Indeed he came third on stage 2 of the 2009 Giro. He has also won King of the Mountains competitions on the Tour of Britain and Giro delle Region. So he may be a sprinter to challenge on some of those uphill finishes in the first week. Expect him though to be part of Boasson Hagen's lead up on tradition group finishes though. Debut Tour

117 Geraint Thomas (UK) 25 The Welshman wore the GB national colours in last year's tour. Last month saw his first profession win in the 5 day Bayern-Rundfahrt race. His strong stage finishes in last year's Critérium de Dauphiné saw him wear the Green Jersey on occaions, a competition he ended up 5th in. He completed last year's Tour in 67th place as the 9th best young rider. 3rd TS Best 67th 2010

118 Rigoberto Urán (Col) 24 The young Columbian is like most of his countrymen who have riden the tour a climber. Top five finishes in the Volta a Catalunya and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. He came 52nd in the 2009 Tour riding for Caisse d'Epargne. 2nd TS Best 52nd 2009

119 Xabier Zandio (Spa) 34 Another mountain specialist who has joined Sky this year from the famous Banesto team. Along with Urán will be helping Wiggins through the high mountains amrking the attacks and bring their leader to where he has to be at the foot of the final climb. Starting his eleventh Grand Tour and 5th successive Tour de France. 5th TS best 22nd 2005

Overall Sky are also one of the teams to watch in the Team Time Trail on Stage 2 as this video of them training for last year's Giro d'Italia shows.



Update Team Sky will start with two riders in national colours, Bradley Wiggins in the GB hoops and if he overcomes shingles Edvald Boasson Hagen in the time trial.

Is Cav aiming for the Sky?

Speculation is rife ahead of the start of the Tour de France next weekend that Mark Cavendish, who is out of contract with HTC-Highroad at the end of the year, might be joining Bradley Wiggins and UK Coach Dave Brailsford on Team Sky.

When Brailsford first muted the idea of a predominently British team there where three names in the ring Wiggins, David Millar and Cavendish himself. Together these three are the top British road cyclists at the moment and each has their own strengths. While Bradley can chase the overall wins, like he did last week in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Millar is known for his time trialling ability and is not unknown in the breakaways, but seems settled at Slipstream-Chipotle.

But of course it is Cav who will be the man that you want to propel to the front of the pack when the line approaches on a flat stage. He is the sprinter supreme, having already won fifteen stages in the last three Tours de France and seven in the Giro d'Italia. It is those addition wins that will attract sponsors, that additional coverage on race days that makes Cav the biggest catch in the cycling world at the end of this year. If Sky or anyone else wish to secure his services there will be a high price tag, and also possibly the need to acquire a lead out team to suit him, maybe even securing the services of his lead out man Mark Renshaw.

Of course all this talk at the moment is just speculation, no team or individual can say anything until the start of August as the grandest of the Grand Tours is out of the way.

And Now....The Prologue

No it is not an Up Pompeii! reference to Frankie Howerd's Lurcio, even though I'm sure Woolwich educated Frankie would approve of a prologue on London Pride day. (Also I just had to include an image)

And although it is nothing to do with Italy it is strange that this year both the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia have decided to start from the Netherlands (who actually may well be still partying like Brazilians after knocking the 6 times winners out of the World Cup). Oooh noo, please, it's wicked to mock the afflicted!

No it is that time of year that the French all head off on holiday, but these days on certain of their roads they are being joined by the Spanish, Dutch, Italians, Americans, Australians, Kazachs, Luxembourgers and of course a growing contingent of Brits amongst others.

So instead of tulips in Amsterdam, as the Giro started, Le Tour kicks off in Rotterdam. Here is the route.


The other glorious thing is that little Freeview box is enough to get me live coverage whenever I can get back in time to see it. As every stage will be having some live coverage on ITV4. Seeing as there are more Brits taking part that the last time we had a British national team in the field. We have British Team Sky headed by Bradley Wiggins who equaled the best British performances last year. And the winningest Brit in any tour with six stages last year Mark Cavendish going for Green with his impressive HTC-Columbia train.

Other Brits taking part are David Millar (Garmin Transitions), Charlie Wegelius (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Geraint Thomas and Steve Cummins (both Team Sky), Daniel Lloyd and Jeremy Hunt (both Cervélo)

But titter ye not, the Tour de France to mark the 100th Anniversary of its first mountain stages is starting in the flattest country in Europe.

Is Sky now no Limit for Wiggins?

Earlier this week I posted my preview of next year's Tour de France. Today comes the news that the British based Team-Sky have netted one of the two goals they were most keen to when the outfit was announced.

Sprint King Mark Cavendish may be remaining loyal to his team, indeed lead out train, at Columbia-HTC, but the other British star of last years tour Bradley Wiggins seems set to be the team leader as the team prepares for France in July, he's announced he is leaving Garmin-Slipstream to join the British outfit next year.

The three time Olympic Gold Medalist and multiple world champion on the track, finished fourth in last year's race. If it hadn't been for the return of seven time winner Lance Armstrong to last summers race, he may well have been on the podium on the day that Cav led the race over the line in the sprint on the Champs d'Elysses. Wiggo will be joining Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard, Russell Downing, Peter Kennaugh, Chris Froome, Steve Cummings and others in flying the flag for British cycling on the roads from now on with Team Sky.

Wiggins has also said that in last year's Tour de France it was like entering the Champions League with Wigan instead of Man United. He is teaming up again with Dave Brailsford the man who has been behind the success of the GB cycling team on the track including Wiggins earlier career. Having dominated the track Brailsford now thinks GB riders can dominate on the roads. With Wiggins on the team there is a real chance of a Brit finally making the podium in Paris, we already have in Mark Cavendish the man most likely to take the Green sprinter's jersey, but he needs his team to be geared to that goal.