Vacation (i.e. non-relaxed) version...
- Probably the most important thing I can tell you today is this: the Second Annual Podium Cafe Vuelta a Espana Virtual Directeur Sportif Competition will be coming to you before the week is out. I am looking over the points assignments, if I ever get a moment, and Clydesdale -- defying all normal human limitations -- has agreed to run the scoring again. Seriously, if Gerolsteiner do disband, we should all pitch in to buy their statue, stick the name "Clydesdale" on it, and move it to his Heartland hometown. Anyway, look for extensive details soon, and start plotting your strategies immediately.
- Bjarne Riis is in deep spin mode over at CN. This he-said-she-said is well beyond anything I can stay interested in, but it's significant in that Riis seems to be the subject of a subtle campaign by the anti-doping forces to bag a DS. We shall see...
- Perfessor Wilcockson breaks out the old tape recorder to cover a rather mundane story (by esteemed journo in semi-retirement standards): the Leipheimer contract pursuit. No info about which team, but there's nothing but Belgian fingerprints on this one.
- The first WTF? of the transfer season: Zabel back to T-Mob? On the road it makes sense, though the artificial appearances aren't what you'd expect from the Magentas...