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Vande Velde team leader again according to the linked Cyclingnew.com article, and I say, hells yeah. Vende Velde is the man, and has been for a long time. I’m not saying Wiggins won’t, or can’t do good and big things on the bike, he might, but a one race flash in the pan does not make you a superman out there. Hell, Wiggo could do a “Julich”, who showed some promise in big stage races, and was never seen at the front end of a GC again after the drugs tainted (aren’t they all though?) Tour de France in 1998. Sure, Bobby J went on, had a good career as a rider and a super domestique, but he never really lived up to the expectations of that one Tour when he was on the podium. Wiggins, could do the same thing, we just don’t know yet do we? And he’s going to ride for Sky, great, grand, and lovely. Which means, he’s riding for Murdoch and his Dad. I’d choose a better boss myself, but I’m sure he’s getting paid well. We’ll see what shakes loose in the early season, and then in le Tour when it all goes down, and I’m pretty sure as petty and bitchy JV is about, well, just about everything, he’ll sick Garmin-Transitions on Sky to ruin any chance Wiggins has of winning the race, or finishing in a high placing on the GC. It’s going to be interesting to watch, fo’ sho. No longer will Columbia be the target of JV’s bitchiness, nope, it’s going to be Sky.
Going back to Christian VDV, I’ve been a fan of that guy for a long time. He can ride the bike, and he seems like a fine fella. Quick story. Once, I think it might have been in 2001, maybe 2002, when he was still riding for Postal, he came to Greenville, SC to ride in the end of the season race that George Hincapie’s brother put on in downtown Greenville, The Michelin Classic as it was called then. Christian rode a few laps around the fast crit loop, maybe about half of the race, and dropped out. Hey, the man had a long season. He dropped out on the backside of the course, and myself, and a friend of mine who will remain unnamed were standing out there watching the race. My friend decides that Christian NEEDS to be back in the race. He saunters over to some traffic cones, picks one up, and in the most annoying voice he could summon, starts yelling through the cone…
“CHRISTIAN VANDE VELDE! GET YOUR ASS BACK IN THE RACE! WE CAME HERE TO SEE YOU CHRISTIAN! RIDE THAT BIKE! RIDE THAT BIKE!”
He cracked a smile, and rolled over, because we were laughing our asses off, and shot the shit with us for awhile while the race was still going on (we were still suck ass cat 3’s back then, oh wait, we’re still suck ass cat 3’s now, ah well), and I got the impression, he is just a nice dude. We saw him later that night at the after race party, and got hammered with him. So, he can ride a bike, likes to drink beer, and likes to have himself a good time. Sounds about right.
Here’s hoping that this season, he sustains no injuries, and comes back and pimp slaps Wiggins every single chance he gets. And aside from all of that, what the fuck is up with Wiggins’ jaunty British style he’s got going on here? 
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VdV? Nice guys aren’t champions… do you really think VdV is going to light the racing world on fire this season? I guess he can podium the races the big boys decide they don’t want to bother with. And wiggins looks quite punk in his ascott.
http://brandireland.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/jonny-rotten.jpg
If you’re going to kit up like that, you might as well be drinking.
Holy shit, it takes a better man than I to pull that off.
That’s just Rotten.
I’m thinking that was not his first beer of the day…
John Lydon is a genius. Go listen to some of that Public Image Ltd., either the eponymous record or _Happy?_.
Actually, I think that picture of johnny has something to do with him selling butter…. yeah,I don’t know.
Funny you should mention butter. I was looking at that picture earlier, and I said to myself, “Self, I hope to hell we have some butter in the house.” I can’t explain it. Life is funny like that sometimes.
Er, and I think you’ll find Wiggo wasn’t half bad in the last Tour, not to mention eating most of your track squad for breakfast…..will be better in this one. Jullich ? Isn’t he the guy truing Wiggo’s wheels, this Tour ?
It’s called panache……
I’m just saying, one good tour does not a tour rider make. Pereiro anyone?
It’s not as if Wiggo was lighting the cycling world on fire himself last year. 1st in British TT championships, wow, who did he beat? Millar? 1st in the Herald Sun Tour, again, not a top “A” race for much of anyone. Ooh, and he was part of the TTT that won the 1st stage of the Tour of Qatar. 4th in the Tour? Nobody remembers who got fourth 5 years from now, you’ll see.
He did nothing on the track last year.
I’m just saying
Let’s take a look at guys who have finished, 3rd in le Tour, and see what some of them done in said race. Armstrong, OK, he has won 7 of them. Bad example. Bernard Kohl. Rumsas. Beloki. Escartin. Julich. Virenque. Jaskula. Let’s not give old Brad a ticker tape parade, before he’s really won anything on the road shall we? He’s done quite well on the track in year’s past, OK, more than quite well, but he’s literally done not too much on the road. Is he the next Jose Rujano? Don’t know, this year will tell more.
That Rotten getup is either the most punk ever or the least. There is no middle ground… and it’s hurting my brain. I need some more of what he has in the glass..
Beer. It’s what’s for dinner.
I gotta say though, nice Pinarello.
I’ll have to agree with Dave on this one.
Yeah well, I gotta say, Wigger should go back to being the frontman for Oasis after he dukes it out with Janez Brajkovic or some other similarly gifted athlete for a top ten position at leTour ’10.
Funny I’ve felt about the same towards the ascot as i have towards the pinarello double woopty fork / seat stay bends, WTF i could also imagine a Quadrophenia scooter with lots of mirrors and a wound up mf’r chasin down wiggo on his pino in the ascot, kicking his ass and shit.. whatev he stomped pretty hard in the tour last year, . we’re pretty lucky for what we’re gonna witness in this upcoming season. oughta help take our minds off the impending apocalypse
I can’t ride like that man can, but my road bike is not running Shimano. I don’t give half a thin fuck what Lance thinks. Campagnolo is the good shit.
…… and, who is that guy in the wool suit that seems to scream he knows greatly how to define the term ‘fuck-stick’ as in, I am the quintessential ‘fuck-stick’. One rung above ‘prick’.
that would be non other than Johnny Rotten since you ask.
A fuck stick of supreme supremacy.
That is a nice ride for sure. I do like me a Pinarello, since I have one and all.
Pinarello’s should wear Campagnolo!
Isn’t that in the rule-book somewhere? In the same section where it says that different manufacturer’s gruppos shall not be mixed. Rule XVII.VIXI.17: Wherein any bicycle manufactured inside the provincial territory of Italy, shall at all times be fitted with components also manufactured in Italy. Failure to comply with this rule shall result in general mockery, having to sing opera, and give a “refund”, even if you are poor and honest. Wherein, we realize that application of this rule outside of the territory of Italy, would result in a monopoly for the only Italian component manufacturer, this rule shall only apply to Italy. However, mixing of gruppos is still highly discouraged.
I have to vote the bike ugly as well. I’m more of a classic, lugged steel kind of guy at heart. That said, no one in professional racing across the pond will ride a steel bike in 2010. I seem to be stuck in the early 90’s. And, maybe that’s ok.
I’d like to know what Wiggo’s transfer cost team Sky.
“Italian” bikes are mostly made in Taiwan or China or somesuch nowadays. Run what you like.
Having said that, anything other than Campy on vintage Italian-made steel is, indeed, a travesty.
Jonny, I too seem to be stuck in the 90s. 1890s. Everytime I forsake my fixed gear to have another go at coasting it just feels so unnatural.
…unfortunately colnago, one of THE quintessential italian names in cycling, has in sponsoring various pro teams over the years, been regularly paired up w/ shimano…i say “unfortunately” cuz i’m an italiaphile (read: campagnolo fan) myself…
…actually italy has totally developed high end carbon fiber bicycle frame building w/in the industry…
…lots of lower end frames may be manufactured in asia or “somesuch” but lots of top end stuff comes from the boot…
…if i was gonna ride a full carbon frame set, i kinda like the shape of that pinarello…but i’d want one of pinarello’s sister company’s bikes…that’s right el jefe, “opera bikes”…riding an italian opera just seems right…
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…malcom mclaren, in helping to form the sex pistols, told john lydon, “go forth & be ‘rotten’ ” & the truth is, that son of a bitch has never really dropped the ball…props, mr lydon…always a voice of dissonance in a world that needs a few voices of that nature…
…as far as the outfit ???…kinda rivals my pal gary fisher daily episodes of sartorial splendor, nicht so ???…
May be the gayest photo ever…
You heard it here first, Wiggins is gonna crumble like feta. Lot easier to come into the Tour with no expectations as the #2 option then to be the man with the big contract and a Countries worth of expectations.
Can’t say I would not have gone for the contract either and don’t blame him, but he won’t do as well this year. If he does, I will be the first to congratulate.