This is a rather redundant feedbag, whose only purpose is to try to get a handle on the avalanche of news happening these last few days. Some important stories are disappearing below the fold, because new stuff is coming in so quickly.

Celebrity retirements: Paolo Bettini, effective immediately. Erik Zabel, effective in a couple weeks. Ditto for Bobby Julich.

Celebrity transfers: Dekker to Silence! Lotto; Svein Tuft to Garmin; Lance to Astana; Alberto Contador to, well, anywhere else. And non-transfers: Mark Cavendish is staying put. Now, maybe Linus Gerdemann is too?

Sponsorship news: Riis adds IT Factory to Saxo Bank for his much more Danish-looking cycling empire.

Peace in our time? I'm still waiting for someone to explain why I should believe that the UCI and grand tours are friends again.

Doping hell: Frank Schleck implicated. Riis may be caught in the dragnet. LNDD is re-testing several old samples from various French races for CERA. If there's a bomb to go off this year, this is it.

All of this is less than a week's worth of news. Unbelievable. Did I mention that the World Championships and Interbike were held? Fortunately, you don't have to scroll far to find those bits of news. Yikes.