Oy, this drug stuff is making me queasy. We might need an entirely separate blog for it. Wait a second, it's already being done.
- On the heels of the latest Phonak "suspensions" comes news that iShares hasn't quite inked that sponsorship deal yet. Meanwhile, poor Phonak... they're sitting around Switzerland, peacefully manufacturing hearing aides, when some yutz in marketing talks them into sponsoring a bike team. Next thing they know, they're the Medellin cartel of professional sports. Now I don't subscribe to the "where there's smoke there's fire" notion, but at this point the innocence of the entire cycling staff cannot be assumed. But the corporation... what did they do to deserve this?
- Briefly to the road... Aaron Villegas and Koldo Gil stole away in the Euskal Bizikleta, with Villegas getting the win and Gil the boost to his overall lead. My pick, Sammy Sanchez, dropped a cool 13 minutes. Still waiting for results from Da Lux.
More on the flip:
- Also nominally on the road, Ivan Basso keeps winning, if you can call the rigged post-Giro crits an actual race rather than a victory lap.
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Liberty Seguros... I meanWurth... well whoever they are, the team that Alex Vinokourov races for will now be sponsored by Kazakh oil companies. I'm not sure that oil companies have ever fixed anyone's ethical problems, and personally I ride in part so I can reduce my greenhouse gas output, but at least as a stable income goes, this could work. And since Vino is a national treasure, it would be fitting to have his country sponsor him. No Borat jokes please.
- You gotta admit, even in retirement, Lance makes for interesting reading.