I'm looking forward to seeing JTL up against the worlds best - I just kind of wish he wasn't joining Team Sky......



Don't get me wrong. I'm not a Sky hater I just think that by having all of our the UK talent in one basket means that some of our guys are compromising their careers.



On a seperate note I urge all of you to read a book I'm reading right now. I'm sure you've heard of it....'The Secret Race' by Tyler Hamilton. I'm kind of shocked reading it so far. Not as a result of the revelations being a surprise - more because it just confirms how dirty US Postal were. How the French teams have not stood a chance in the last 13 years as they had to be clean. Shocked how Lance can still claim to have been a clean athlete. It really is compelling reading.



Talking of JTL - do you think he could figure in the World Road race this week? He looks in far better form than anyone else right now.

he is in the GB team (wasn't sure from your reply if you knew or not?) and given the terrain he might well have a chance but I still don't quite get why Cav is in there, reiging champion is the only reason why but think he might be a sacrificial Lamb maybe or just covering all the options should he still be there at the end. I'd think it very unlikely and that breakaways will be the order of the day.

Emma Pooley and Sharon Laws have already won a Bronze in the ladies' team TT for her team AA Drink-Leontian.NL



Great Britain squad for the 2012 UCI Road World Championships:



Elite men - road race



Mark Cavendish, Steve Cummings, Alex Dowsett, Chris Froome, Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift, Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, Bradley Wiggins



Elite men - time trial



Alex Dowsett, Chris Froome



Elite women - road race



Lizzie Armitstead, Katie Colclough, Nicole Cooke, Nikki Harris, Sharon Laws, Emma Pooley



Elite women - time trial



Wendy Houvenaghel, Emma Pooley

A team which will no longer exist by the end of the month. There has to be more effort put into the women's game, whether it's shadow grand tours or an obligation on Pro Tour teams to run parallel women's teams.

Yeah I knew he was going. I just wondered who might figure come the end of the race.



I see the winner coming from Spain this year. There are 4 very good Spanish riders who if they work as a team will be hard to beat in Contador, Rodriguez, Valverde and Sanchez.



I agree with you on Cav. I kind of know why he is going as he wants to defend his title. Plus it also gets him in the right area of the world for negotiating his contract for next year. He might figure more than we expect him to but only to increase his market value.



And John_D - I think it should be a condition of every World Tour team to have a womens team. More parellel races. More money available. The womens Olympic road race was far more entertaining to watch than the mens.

true, although we have done well over the years I think the promotion of cycling for women across the board is massively behind the men which is a damn shame, we really need an influx of ladies in clubs and commuting on the road

Wiggins: [url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/9549351/Bradley-Wiggins-wants-to-invest-in-a-cycling-team-for-Britains-women.htmlI'll invest my own money[/url to set up an elite women's road race team.



He also wins bonus points for using the phrase "tuppence ha'penny"

Is this Wiggins pointing out to his employers that they should be stepping up to the mark? Fair play to Wiggo though and hope that if Sky don't come in then he stays true to his word.



Prediction for Cavendish. I mentioned yesterday that I believe that he is there to do business. I predict that the business he is doing is with Rabobank.



Rabobank have recently had a change in the management and are fairly unique in as much as the team is owned by the bank. They had a very poor season last year and the team already contains several members of his old HTC train including the vital man who has been missing for him this year.....Mark Renshaw.

He'd better retain his world title then. Don't think orange would suit him

I think we can safely say that won't happen.

Dowsett second in the clubhouse. Ain't going to stay there - the big hitters are all on the road.

Tony Martin about to catch and pass C*ntador. Safe to say I think he's got this...

He has got it, but only by 5.4 seconds from Taylor Phinney.

just noticed that spain may not be able to stage the 2014 worlds due to the country's financial problems. wonder if GB might make an offer to step in, last held here in 1982, we are due one and could get it on the back of the olympic success

It would need to be a more exciting parcours than the Olympics. Id love to see a proper ride on the fred whitton

Superb from Gilbert yesterday. On that last climb, as soon as Nibali's backside touched that saddle, boom, see you later.

Mind, Belgium had all the bases covered. If it had come back together, Boonen was still in there for a sprint. Genuinely pleased for Gilbert though and bloody impressed with JTL again.

Also, Gilbert speaks French in a really odd accent.

I come from Halifax and have spent many hours cycling in and around Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden, Haworth, Rochdale, Oldham, Cragg Vale etc etc. Now that would make for an epic race in my view. Plenty of valleys for recovery after climbs and great scenery. I know the British Cycling Academy use the area a lot for training.



I'd love to see the pros tackling the area - maybe we'll see that for the stage of the Tdf in a few years? But equally I think it would make for a great World Championship Race.



I was sure it was Spain who would win with either Valverde or Purito but Gilbert timed his attack to perfection and very pleased to see him in the rainbow stripes next year.



Very credible first race at that level for JTL who was there in the reckoning on the final climb.



Some big issues to be sorted out in cycling which could have a major impact on the sport going forward. USADA are due to send their evidence to the UCI to have the lifetime ban on Lance Armstrong ratified.



What happens if they don't?



Well seeing as it is a condition of Olympic entry that a sports governing body must comply with WADA and the local anti doping body we could see the UCI take a step which means that the sport of cycling loses its Olympic status.



Whilst this is going on what is Uncle Pat McQuaid doing..........I'll tell you what!! He's busy suing Paul Kimmage along with the UCI and Hein Verbruggen (former UCI overlord) for comments relating to a Sunday Times article and comments given to Lequipe.

Crikey. That [url=http://inrng.com/2012/09/2013-giro-unveiled/Giro course[/url isn't taking any prisoners.

With the 55km time trial, uphill TT and TTT it's no wonder that Bradley Wiggins will be giving it a go.



It would appear that at the moment the Tdf is not in his sights which is an insult in my eyes. The defending Tdf winner should be at the race even if as a protected domestique. Even Cav showed up to the World Champs despite not standing a chance.

Tiernan-Locke to Sky confirmed, to the surprise of nobody

Super domestique with the odd challenge for stage wins on the hillier stuff? Can't see him as anything more tbh, I'd love to be proved wrong however.

For now, yes. Get some grand tour miles under his belt before doing anything else.

The JTL move to Team Sky basically means he will be put to the service of Wiggo/Froome in the next few years.



For me it is a waste of his talent. Just look how close he was to contention in the Worlds this year - looks to me like we have a guy who is perfect for the hillier classics.



For JTL it is a job - and a far better paid job than he has had for the last few years. Perhaps he just wants a few years with one of the best organised teams in the World Tour and put his personal ambitions on the backburner for a few seasons. Perhaps he is just a super domestique - I suppose we'll see on the World Tour stage.



Looks like I was wrong about the Rabobank prediction with Cav. I now expect OPQS to sign Renshaw.

Sky have been vocal about the disappointments in the classics and are targetting improvement in that area. They've made several signings with an eye on that direction

Looking at their signings I can't say that I would agree with you. The only signing where they have even mentioned the 'classics' has been.........



Gabriel Rasch - a 36 year old who has been signed to bolster the classics squad. Looking into his past he doesn't seem to have set the world on fire. Unless of course he has a great record of being a domestique in the classics.



I can only think he is the type of rider they have identified as a future DS.



Of course within the team already there are potential classics winners in EBH, Thomas, Stannard and Wiggins but I just don't think it is a priority to the team.



Every other signing (unless I'm mistaken) has been about improving the stage racing credentials of the team.

So, for the guys obviously into cycling on here, the results of the investigation seem pretty damning. Lance Armstrong always had allegations thrown at him, particularly in the French press. In a sport as physically demanding as that, it would be incredibly difficult to be as dominant as he was. Well now we, pretty categorically, know why. All those years he stood up and protested his innocence when he knew he was a cheat. It makes his whole persona seem so false, the whole Livestrong thing seems sullied by it now.



And the sport itself? Has it recovered from the doping scandal? According to the summary of the report read on the news, 20 of the 21 cyclists on the podium in the Tour de France from 1999-2005 were on doping programmes. That's a pretty shocking stat and suggests doping was incredibly widespread. Is it still? Or has it improved now, and is that a factor in Britain's rise in the sport?