Arthur Lamy: No great fan of Mark Cavendish

I had planned to write this week’s piece about Mark Cavendish, his two finger salute and the resulting outcome, but now that I’ve just seen who the winner of the Tour de Romandie was, it’s a definite!

I’m no great fan of Mark Cavendish, nor for that matter anyone else in the professional peloton, but with six sprint victories in last year’s Tour de France he must have something.

While it would be wonderful for some gentlemanly behaviour to appear in any sport these days, I fear that sportsmanship, fair play and everything else that went with it probably disappeared with Stanley Matthews’ football boots. So given that blatant cheating, match fixing and performance enhancing drugs sometimes appear almost main stream,  it seems to me that Cavendish’s unprofessional gestures were rather heavily punished.

Anyone who has competed successfully in any sport will tell you that you need determination and passion to get to the top, and what we saw on Thursday was just the afterglow of Cavendish’s sprint winning effort.

What makes the whole episode so ironic is that Alejandro Valverde won it.  Why ironic? Well at present Valverde is serving a two-year ban in Italy for his links with Operation Puerto, a major blood doping case involving around 200 atheletes. The Court for Arbitration in Sport recently upheld this ban, and unless the ban is lifted Valverde, who is currently top in the world rankings, will not ride the Tour de France.

Fortunately, Valverde is not given to rude gestures so he’s managed to hold on to all this season’s victories.

Braking News

• Whilst in the past I’ve been getting excited about the North American Handbuilt Bike Show, there is one a little closer to home, the European Handmade Bicycle Expo opens in Schwabisch Gmund in Germany on May 21st. This year’s show has 90 exhibitors; coming from 12 different countries, among them will be classic brands like Moulton and Brooks. Log on to http://www.e-h-b-e.eu/

• Power Grips have just announced a new fixed wheel specific toe strap. It’s said to be able to take the extra strain imposed on it when slowing down a fixed-wheel bike. If you’re unsure about toe straps and clips, and definitely not a clip-in pedal person, then Power Grips are a good intermediate measure.

• Boris Johnson, the very pro-cycling Mayor of London, has urged the Government to revise the driving test so that cyclists are given more consideration. This move was prompted by yet another death on London’s roads earlier this week.

• British Tour de France hero, Mark Cavendish is back in form after a slow early season start. He won the second stage of the Tour de Romandie this week, and he literally gave the two-finger salute to his detractors as he crossed the line. See the piece below!

• Hot news just in, Mark Cavendish has been withdrawn from the Tour de Romandie by his team after his winning line gestures. He has apologised, and he said that he would be donating his prize money to a charity that teaches kids life values.

In addition to his contrite apology, Cavendish was also fined just over £3,500. Cycling’s controlling body, the

UCI, have the power to suspend a rider for up to six months if they feel that a rider has ‘blemished’ the image

of the sport. So far, it appears that Cavendish has not been suspended.

• Lance Armstrong has put his money where his mouth is – he has just taken a stake in Honey Stinger, a manufacturer of over 20 honey-based nutritional foods. Lance tried the products at a mountain bike race in Colorado, and he found that they tasted good and worked. The company already sponsored the Trek Livestrong Under 23 Cycling Team.

• If you need a little advice on bicycle touring, try a few minutes on the Bicycle Touring Pro website:     http://bicycletouringpro.com/blog/overcome-travel-hurdles-bicycle-touring/

• Police in Leicester have been equipped with BMX bikes to ‘break down barriers’ with the local youth. They are now riding Haro F3 BMX bikes complete with stunt pegs and a giro – and police stickers!

By the way has anyone seen our two local bicycle cops around lately? I don’t think that I’ve ever seen them,

have you?

• Here’s some video of the Rollapaluza National Final held at Herne Hill in London at the beginning of April. In an action-packed final, we see Melissa Bury beat Nadine Spearing in the Women’s 500 metre, and Miles Stovold beat Keith Henderson by just 0.01 seconds in the men’s final.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw74oXf5mac&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KoFl440ssY&feature=player_embedded

• Don’t forget to pencil in Sunday 16th May to take part in the 15th. Freedom Cycle Ride to raise funds for Amnesty International. If the tea, coffee and homemade cakes aren’t enough to inspire you, you can also win a new bike from Mark Pickford Cycles. To register: amnestycycleride@jerseymail.co.uk or phone Tim de Feu on 01534 859 566.

• If you enjoyed the Tour de Bretagne, you may be wondering who the winner was?  That honour fell to 36 year-old Franck Bouyer riding for the Bbox Bouygues Telecom team. Jetse Bol who wore the yellow jersey on both days the race was in Jersey came 8^th, one minute 28 seconds behind.

And Finally,

Look out for Nick Meadows, he’s just embarked on an ‘Around the World’ cycle ride using a home-made eco-trike.

This wondrous vehicle combines solar, wind and leg power. Within it, he is entirely self-sufficient. For example, his bed unfolds down from the roof of the trike when he needs it. http://theotherway.weebly.com/

Arthur Lamy is a freelance writer and tourist guide. www.cycleinjersey.com