Go Go Wiggo!

Hiya!
What else is there to talk about?

Bradley Wiggins.  You are a God amongst men.

What an amazing victory!  And what an amazing team you are a part of.   Quite rightly Wiggo will get most of the plaudits but if ever there was a team who the Tour this was it.  Team Sky - each and every one of them - were head and shoulders above the rest.  Dave Brailsford's (Team Sky Principal - Fig. 1) vision has been laid bare for the rest of us mere mortals to marvel at.  After turning Britain's track team from also runs into the premier nation in the world he joined Team Sky as Principal two years ago, promising at the time (if memory serves) a British winner of the Tour within 6 years.  Well, the man has done it in less than a third of the time and, in my humble opinion, deserves as much credit for the victory as Wiggo himself. 

Figure 1.  Dave Brailsford - Team Sky Principal

The plaudits will rain down thick and fast on Wiggo.  A knighthood is almost guaranteed and with yet more glory beckoning at the upcoming London Olympics (Wiggins is scheduled to be riding in Saturdays Road Race as part of Team GB who will be looking to get Cav into a Gold medal winning position and he must now also be firm favourite for the Individual Time Trial 3 days later).  But it was Brailsford's vision that sealed Wiggo's victory.  The way Brailsford prepared for and ushered his team during this Tour was the epitome of professionalism and organisation.

Wiggo was never lower than second place in this years Tour and once he took hold of the maillot jeune there was no way he and Brailsford were going to let go.  A remarkable achievement that owes so much to the way the whole team worked together to nullify any possible threats, in most instances, before they even arose.  The Spanish commentator yesterday noted how, when the peleton hit the Champs Elysees, Team Sky had not two or three men at the front closing down any time gaps for their sprinter, but six, all working together.  And it's been that way throughout the Tour.  Yesterday it was for Cav who pulled out all stops, once again showing he has the most fearsome acceleration in cycling today as he ripped the opposition apart to win clearly for his 4th consecutive victory on the final day of the Tour (Fig. 2).

But in the mountains it had been for Wiggo.  Christian Knees, Edvald van Boassen Hagen, Berhard Eisel, Michael Rogers, Richie Porte and Cav himself, all did more than their bit.  Again the Spanish commentators marvelled each time Cav was seen dropping back to be the water carrier for the team.  'A World Champion and the best sprinter on the planet?  Water carrying?  He can't be happy!'  But one only had to see Cav's reaction in the post-race interview yesterday to know how much it all meant to him.

Figure 2.  Cav holds up 4 fingers to show the number of victories he has to his name on the Champs Elysees.

Every member of the team worked to fulfill Brailsford's instructions to the letter.  Each of them hitting the front as the mountains loomed, working their socks off to keep Wiggo in touch.  From the moment Wiggo put himself in yellow the team began to push the pace so hard, one rider after another giving their all then falling back, that I truly believe all of Wiggo's rivals were suffering too much to establish any strong breakaways.  As the peleton raced up mountain after mountain Team Sky kept the pressure on.  Eisel, Knees, Boassen Hagen, Rogers, Porte and then finally second placed hero, Chris Froome all rode so hard that when push finally came to shove Nibali, Van den Broeck, Brajkovic, Evans and the rest had nothing left to offer.

Figure 3.  Wiggo crosses the line yesterday to become the first British winner of the Tour de France.

In the end there was only one man left standing shoulder to shoulder with Wiggins and that was his team-mate Froome (Fig. 4).  At only 27 Froome must surely have many grand tours left and his performances in the Tour and last years Vuelta mark him now as a genuine contender for future victories himself.  On TVE they had the Director of the Vuelta and he said (if I got my Spanish correct) that they were hoping Froome would be riding this years Vuelta as Team Sky leader against, none other than, Alberto Contador who would be competing in his first grand tour since returning from his ban.  Now that would be something I would love to see.

Figure 4.  Chris Froome always seems to be smiling!

There is much speculation and not an insubstantial amount of criticism here in Spain of Wiggins, Brailsford, and Team Sky because of the way Froome rode, particularly on stage 17 at Peyragudes.  The criticism peaked as Froome appeared to be capable of riding away from Wiggins on the final part of the climb.  With Nibali and Evans already distanced, and Alejandro Valverde up ahead and seemingly catchable by Froome, they were appalled to see Froome waiting for and egging Wiggins on.  For them there is no altruism or team play apparently.  Froome should have been allowed to go for the victory and that was all there was to it!

Well, maybe.  But in the end it would not have made any difference to the final result.  The time gap between Wiggins and Froome was large enough to have accommodated another win for Froome I think, but I'm not Dave Brailsford.  And I'm certainly not Wiggins.  Team Sky came to the Tour with the specific aim of winning with team leader Bradley Wiggins.  That is exactly what they did and Froome was a huge part of that and, for want of a Spanish rider on the podium, the jealousy and pettiness exhibited by the producers and commentators of the Spanish broadcast was shameful.  After Wiggo's virtuoso performance on stage 19 to slaughter the field in the final time-trial they refused to show his post-race interview.  The only day during the whole Tour when we didn't hear from the stage winner.  But to compound their childish jealousy, as Wiggins was on the podium yesterday the main presenter said, "Yes, a good winner, but not a fair one.  He won't win it again!"  And then the producers neglected to show Wiggo's interview once again.  As the interview started they proceeded to talk over him and then just left it altogether to talk about a stage of the upcoming Vuelta.  Perhaps, I thought, they might show it later!  But no!  It didn't stop there either.  Criticism of British cycling generally because 'so much money has been thrown at them, how can they possibly fail?' along with a more directed critique of Team Sky for making the Tour boring by not allowing breakaways to establish.  It's pathetic!  It really is!

Figure 5.  Enlarge this pic, then print off cutting carefully round Brad's face.  Then finally stick on your Brad-burns!

Wiggo has shown himself to be the best cyclist in the world right now.  He has won a very hard Tour with huge winning margin and must now surely be regarded as one of Britain's greatest ever sportsmen.  Why not jump on the Brad-wagon and make yourself up a Brad mask (Fig. 5) like me and the lady in the picture!

See you soon
 P XXX

Froomey & Wiggo - The Best Double Act since Morecombe & Wise?

Hiya!
What's been going on at the Tour since I was last here?  Well, let me tell you, it's been an action packed week with drama-a-plenty.  First and worst is the positive drug test of Frank Schleck on 14th July.  Traces of Xipamide were found in this B-sample and he was immediately suspended by his team RadioShack-Nissan.  Prior to the start of the Tour Frank had been touted as one of the big pre-Tour favourites, but his performances early in the season did little to convince me that he would be a threat once the race got under way.  Under pressure to win and succeed did Frank buckle and try cheat the system?  I don't know and the only one who really knows for sure is Frank himself.  However, I do believe in innocent till proven guilty and until the case against him is proven and Frank is actually banned I, for one, shall allow him the benefit of the doubt.

Frank is not a stupid man and I cannot believe that if he intended to cheat and take the risk of ruining not only his career, but his hard won reputation, then surely there would be a far better choice of drug than Xipamide.  Xipamide is, as far as I can tell, a diuretic drug that is used in the treatment of hypertension (high blood pressure) and oedema.  This is a drug that would be unlikely to add any sort of performance-based improvement, in fact some doctors state that under duress this drug can be dangerous and even cause death.  It also has common side-effects that include cramps and muscular weakness (see both Frank banned and Xipamide) making this is a poor choice of banned substance if one is intent on cheating. 

This is a story that will no doubt run and run, but for now in the light of the current evidence I give Frank my thumbs up and hope that cycling can avoid being raked over the coals yet again.  I just hope the truth wins out and every party gets what they truly deserve.

At the Tour itself we left the Alps and hit the huge mountains of the Pyrenees - always my favourite section of the Tour, not just for the amazing beauty of the scenery, but for the excitement that always accompanies the big mountain stages.  And this year was no different.

Stage 16 saw the peleton tackling the Hors Categorie giants of the Col d'Aubisque and the Col du Tourmalet.  In 1910 Octave Lapiz (who went on to victory in Paris after a ding-dong battle with Francois Faber) made the first ascent of the massive Tourmalet and upon reaching the summit screamed to the officials checking the riders through that "vous etes tous des assassins!" - You are all murderers!  These days there is a proper road for the cyclists to ride on, as opposed to the donkey tracks that Lapiz had struggled up, but even at over 19km long and 2115m high the Tourmalet is anything but an easy ride.  In 1983, on the exact same stage (Pau to Bagneres du Luchon), Robert Millar had also famously become the first Briton to win a mountain stage of the Tour.  Would 2012 see something similar?

With HC giants behind them, by the time the riders had reached the final climb of the day, the first category Col du Peyresourde, all the riders were suffering.  After a brutal day Nibali's options from third position overall were becoming limited and with time now short he needed to make his play for the top.  Finally Nibali took his opportunity and broke away with about 4km of the climb remaining and initially opened a small gap.  But Froome never looked like letting Nibali get away and he closed down the threat with Wiggo on his wheel.  At the top of the climb the top three went over together and finished together in Bagneres du Luchon (Fig. 1).  Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) won the day magnificently from the break away for his second win of the Tour.

Figure 1.  Nibali, Wiggins and Froome cross the line together in Bagneres du Luchon.  Photo from Team Sky

The following day, stage 17, was another monster day and perhaps more significantly, was the last chance for Nibali to make any impression on the dynamic duo.  He had to mix it up knowing that he stands to lose significant time to both Wiggins and Froome in the final time trial 2 days later.

In the event the day was won from the front by Alejandro Valverde (Team Movistar) with a fantastic solo ride.  Nibali never found the legs and struggled up the Peyresourde losing significant time to both Wiggo and Froome. 

At the bottom of the final climb Valverde had almost 7 minutes on the chasing group that included all the top names, but by the finish he just hung on to win by 11 seconds from a fast closing Chris Froome, with Brad a close third.  Fantastico!!

For me watching it was emotional.  I never thought I'd live to see a British winner of the Tour de France, but here was Wiggo making it happen right before my eyes.  Wiggo himself said afterwards, "The minute we went over the Peyresourde I knew that was it. I still felt fantastic at that point. We hit the last climb and I went on the front. I just lost concentration and started thinking a lot of things. Froomey was egging me on for more but I knew that [the riders behind] were all gone".

I could see Wiggo chatting to Froomey on the descent from the Hors Categorie Port du Bales  Nibali had struggled up the last kilometer of the Bales and Brad had clocked it.  "At that point, the first time in this whole Tour since I've led this race, I thought 'maybe I've just won the Tour'. And that's when it starts getting hard then because you lose concentration. It was an incredible feeling. It really was."

You're not wrong Brad.  It was.  An incredible feeling.

Stage 18 saw the return of the prodigal.  Mark Cavendish took the field apart in the final 600m dash winning clearly from Matt Goss (Orica Green EDGE) and green jersey holder, the ever combative, Peter Sagan of Liquigas.  It was Cav's 22nd win and puts him equal 4th on the all time list of Tour Stage Winners along with Lance Armstrong.

Figure 2.  Cav salutes another amazing win in stage 18 (Blagnac-Brive la Gaillarde).  Photo from Team Sky

Having done their share in the lead out to the line Wiggo (yellow jersey) and Froomey (at 2m 05secs) both finished close up in the peleton retaining their positions overall leaving it all to play for in the next day's time trial. 

And when that day arrived, what a day we had!

Brad was imperious.  From the get go Wiggins set the standard and in the shake down he was the only one who could stand the pace he himself had set.  Throughout the day Luis Leon Sanchez (Team Rabobank) sweated as big hitter after big hitter failed to crack his time of just over one hour and 6 minutes.  Finally Tejay Van Garderen (Team BMC) took away Luis Leon's fastest time at the first check after 14km, then came Froome faster still and finally the Wiggins whirlwind blowing everything apart.  Van Garderen then faded so that by the second check he was some 25 secs behind Sanchez.  The wind it seemed had changed direction and was now working against rather than for the riders in this part of the course.  I began to fret a bit, especially after Froome came in with his initial advantage over Sanchez whittled down to a mere 4 seconds at the second check.  But I needn't have worried.  Wiggins breezed through the check point almost a minute up on his compatriot and it was all but game over.

By the finish Froome had rallied and fair slaughtered Sanchez's long standing best time coming in 34 seconds up.  Unbelievable!  But what did Wiggins have left in the tank after an incredibly gruelling Tour?  

The bike camera following Wiggo gave us the answer as it flashed onto the bike's speedo to show 60kmh!  Wiggo wasn't just beating the rest; he was hammering them out of sight!  Young Brad sped across the line a full one minute 16 secs ahead of Froome, covering the 53.5km in an astounding 1 hr 04m 13secs at an average speed of just under 50kmh (Fig. 3).  Simply the best!

Wiggins tried in vain to explain where this spectacular ride came from.  "53km is a long way but it’s what I do best. I came out in March and looked at this course with Sean [Yates, Team Sky Sports Director]. I felt fantastic out there. The first pedal stroke in the warm-up I normally know whether I’m on it or not. I knew today the minute I rolled off that ramp that I was on a good one."  'A good one' is a slight understatement I think, but I applaud Wiggo's modesty!

 

Figure 3.  Wiggo punches the air in delight.  An amazing and historic Tour victory just 24 hours away.

 "I wouldn't say it was a lap of honour, because it hurt, but I just wanted to finish the job off in style.  There was a lot of emotion in the last 10k. Everything was going through my mind. All the years of getting to this point, my family, disappointments, crashing out the Tour last year, watching Cadel in this very position a year ago in Grenoble. I always imagined what that would feel like and now I know"

And it must feel amazing.  At home I was sobbing quietly hoping the Missus wouldn't come in and change the channel!  Wiggo continued.....


"I was thinking about my wife and children, my grandfather, my nan, my mother. That was just spurring me on with every pedal stroke.  It sounds cheesy but you work your whole life to get to this point – it’s a defining moment in your life. From the minute I got into cycling as a kid it’s all summed up for today."

And a defining moment in my life too and I thank you Bradley Wiggins for giving it to me.  You were my hero before....now, to call you a superhero seems inappropriate, but that is surely what you have become!

Congratulations on making history!

P XX

I´m back; I´m bad; I´m meaner 'an hell!

After what seems like an absolute eternity I am back with a regular internet connection and perhaps...able to move forward with this bloody blog!

The weather here in sunny Valencia...is, not surprisingly, sunny.... although today promises to be a touch more hazy than the rest of the week.  But hey, who wants to talk about the weather when we have so much more interesting fish to fry.

Having now got a regular internet connection I find myself darwn ineveitably towards news stories on Africa.  I'm married to a beautiful African woman and despite being white, I have always had the strong sense that somewhere deep, down inside that I am more African than anything else.  Is that a primal, evolutionary hangover from our our shared genetic lineage or something that has grown inside of me; a metaphorical African ghost that possesses and steers my attention ever-southward, ever drawn to the chaos that is Africa?  Or is it something much simpler?  I used to think it was just the wildlife.  Nothing compares to watching game on an African plain, but now after many trips I know that, as stunning, as wonderful as the flora and fauna are they could not possibly snare me the way that I have undoubtedly been snared.  It's not just the wildlife, it's everything that is Africa; the colours, the people, the smells, the chaos, the history, the culture, the wildlife and more...so much more.  And so in some mild-mannered way I take offence when someone seeks to destroy yet more of of this crumbling, delapidated continent and one of the most destructive forces in Africa today is Robert Mugabe.

With the news today that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is to seek an audience with the despotic leader Zimbabwe's plight once again surfaces onto the front pages.  Why though, this wholly unacceptable situation is not on the front pages every day is beyond me.  Mugabe is without doubt a ruthlessly, efficient leader.  I do not doubt his intelligence or his leadership skills persay....anyone who can remain in power in the political hothouse that is Africa is obviously succeeding in some way or another.  One doubts that his longevity is down to his kind and generous spirit!  His is a regime built on fear and destruction, coercion, bribery, corruption and pure, unadulterated evil. 

Mugabe first came to prominence in the 1970s where, as a freedom fighter (against Ian Smith's fading colonial and pertinently, white regime) and thence to power as leader of Zanu-PF in 1979.  In the early days of his reign Mugabe entered into a short-lived and ultimately destructive coalition with Joshua Nkomo.  He wished to improve the lot of his people, to make Zimbabwe into a modern, shining example of black African government.  But very quickly after the collapse of that initial coalition (following the discovery of a cache of arms at Nkomo's HQ) his bright new world descended into darkness.  Early promises of democracy and political unity failed miserably in the aftermath of a country supposedly free from the tyrannical yoke of imperialist colonialism.  Political rivals were rounded up, captured, tortured or killed as Mugabe sought to tighten the political noose.  The post-colonial economy went from being one of the most profitable and productive in Africa to one the the worst performing in the world, a fact that Mugabe, now 84, continually refuses to acknowledge hiding behind a ream of paper-thin denials, insisting that Zimbabwe is still the powerhouse it once was.  Deluded is not the word!  The last journalist to interview Mugabe in December last year must have wanted to laugh when Mugabe insisted that Zimbabwean economy was "a hundred times better" than that of most African countries! 

In 1992 I was lucky enough to visit Zim (as it is affectionately known amongst travellers) at a time when the situation was still reasonably progressive and the people of Zimbabwe still had cause to hope that their future would be as bright as they had once believed only a few years before.  I saw a country with (by African standards) an excellent infrastructure; good roads, trains that ran almost on time and flourishing agricultural and tourism industries.  It seemed to me at the time that of all the countries I'd visited in Africa (and there are more than a few) that Zim had indeed been singled out for a prosperous and settled future.  The game parks were well run.  There was food on the supermarket shelves and in the markets.  People drove modern vehicles and trade seemed good.  But as a toursit you often become blind to the deficiences of the places you are visiting just because you are so happy to be there.  Perhaps that was me.  At the time I knew all about Mugabe but the (shall we say) unpleasant face of his regime had yet to emerge internationally.  He was still being wined and dined by world leaders as a 'freedom fighter' and hero whilst at the time performing political slight-of-hand to make his rivals disappear from under the very noses of those.

Now, by all accounts the supermarket shelves are empty, the fields produce no crops and the game parks have no animals.  This horrid, little, detestable man is running the country into the ground and lining his pockets at the expense of his own people.  Of all the evil and corrupt regimes that have come about in Africa since the collapse of colonialism roughly 50 years ago, Mugabe´s may not be the worst but it can certainly lay claim to be the most resilient.  And still the powerful politicians of the world just seem to be content to let these atrocities continue.  Africa always seemed to be a place apart politically.  A place so far removed from the affluent West that most people, politicians included, cannot even contemplate relating to the problems of a nation so different and so poor that to save them from further suffering seems to be just too much effort to bear!  How can we bring realsisation home to the people of the world?  I have no idea.  But something needs to be done.  The politicains turn a blind eye so it is left to the likes of Sir Richard Branson who, by all accounts tried and failed to 'buy' Mugabe out of power (http://gu.com/p/32gqk).  But at least he tried which is a damn site more than most men of power have!  Or the campaigning Archbishop of Canterbury, who after arriving in Zim last week was kept waiting and waiting before finally being granted an audience with the despot.  No doubt promises made about saving the Zimbabwean Anglicans from further persecution were warmly recieved by the Archbishop, Rowan Williams (http://gu.com/p/32gfm), but in truth I don't doubt for one minute that it is just another bucketful of Mugabe's verbal pigswill that the world seems only to grateful to swallow!

Zim is definitely a subject I shall return to.  Often!

And now for Spain today....here´s the good news!  This morning Standard and Poor have cut Spain's credit rating from AA- to AA causing yet another drop in the value of the Euro.  The reasons cited include Spain's exceptionally high unemployment, tightening credit and high private sector debt.

They said....."Despite signs of resilience in economic performance during 2011, we see heightened risks to Spain's growth prospects due to high unemployment, tighter financial conditions, the still high level of private sector debt, and the likely economic slowdown in Spain's main trading partners."

They went on to say that they did not have confidence in Spain's projected growth for 2012, which had been predicted to be only 1.5%, but is now expected to be less than 1%.  Further credit rating drops may well follow should Spain actually fail to meet it´s projections and fall in line with that S&P expectations.

This is bad news for all of us.  Not just for us in Spain but for Europe as a whole.  The severity of the economic climate in Spain was brought home to me last week when the various projects at the company I work for were put on hold or, at the very least, delayed because creditors were unable to pay their debts to us.  It´s a vicious circle ...one cannot the other who cannot pay the other and everyone in the line falters!  Companies here seem to be taking bigger than usual risks in order to swell their books and gain new business.  Manufacturers and suppliers are slashing prices and taking on new clients without the usual credit considerations because they have no choice but to take the risk.  The climate is desperate and shows all the signs of getting much worse.  As one of the plebians, all I can do is keep my nose to the grindstone and hope that things begin to turn round.  Everyone is struggling.  Everyone is juggling debts and credit, deciding who to pay and when.  I am lucky in that, to some extent my job is more international and so I am still able to see a future for myself, but other co-workers are not sure.  They work on projects for the Spanish market and these seem more precarious than ever.  The amazing thing is atht in the streets and the bars and the cafes no-one seems to be the slightest bit worried.  Wednesday was national fiesta day ...again!..... and everyone was out drinking, eating and making merry.  Whatever the economic situation nothing, it seems, can dampen the Spanish need for a party!

In Kenya yesterday 2 female Spanish aid workers from Medicins sans Frontieres were kidnapped from the Dabaab humanitarian camp by Somali gunmen who shot their driver in the neck (though amazingly he lives still) and escaped back over the nearby border (http://gu.com/p/32tmq).  In the wake of the recent kidnapping of two French and British women the aid workers are now, understandably, feaful for their safety.  OXFAM said last night that this new incident may well affect the aid missions in and around Dabaab whislt security conditions are reassessed. 

To say I don't understand this madness that seems to have affected the Somali people is to only voice what everyone else is surely thinking.  These gunmen have no respect for anyone or anything and to abduct aid workers such as this again and again shows that they have no understanding or apprecaition of how the rest of the world thinks or behaves.  It is a hotbed of violent, criminal activity that the rest of the world seem quite happy to just let continue.  I cannot help thinking that if there were exploitable resources in the country then such a situation would not be allowed to roll on endlessly.  We would have been in there years before sorting things out and tying up the re-construction contracts before the last bullet had been fired.  But since Somalia is of little economic value the situation endures and the innocent continue to suffer.  There must be something that can be done to end this cycle of bloodshed and violence before the disease spreads and infects the rest of East Africa.  Please write to your local MEP with your suggestions.

And finally....Mark Cavendish...perhaps the greatest British cyclist of his generation and, of course, the new World Road Race Champion, has announced his arrival at Team Sky for the start of next season (http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,15264_7235754,00.html).  This is fantastic news....Team Sky is primarily a British outfit (though there are many international riders on the team) with British management and now British stars!  I cannot wait for next year to come and to see a British cycling team pushing all before them and sweeping the board.  Go Cav!

See you soon