January cycling review

The Tour Down Under was the first big race of the year. Andre Griepel collected 3 stage wins and Simon Gerrans won GC. The real story for me was the impressive showing of the local UniSA team. They picked up a super breakaway victory for Will Clarke on stage 2 and their rider Rohan Dennis won the Mountain & Youth classification.

Elsewhere there was another stage race in Argentina which I didn't follow: Tour de San Luis won by Levi Leipheimer.
The European season kicked off with the GP la Marseillaise. This was the first outing for my favorite Europcar team. They managed to ride a solid race and new rider Davide Malacarne finished 5th.
Team Europcar also relaunched their website, which was most welcome, as it now features an official shop.

Complimenting the new season I also joined the fantasy cycling game on the road.cc website. It looks more interesting than the other fantasy sport (football, cricket) games I've played before. There's an overall competition as well as separate prizes for each stage race throughout the season.

In other news a date has been announced for the verdict on the Contador doping case. February 6th will hopefully reveal the news the cycling world has been waiting for. If cheating has occurred I hope the punishment fits the crime. As a cycling fan I'd rather see Contador emerge free to ride after the verdict. He is arguably the best stage race rider in the world and certainly one of the best climbers. A stage race would be poorer without his presence. For me, at last years Tour de France, he made the attack of the whole tour. After struggling in stage 18, he made a ridiculously early attack on the next days stage. This attack resulted in the best stage of the tour and a stage that will live long in the memory. It put everyone on the back foot and forced a huge tactical error from Thomas Voeckler as he set off to chase Contador, which ultimately may have cost the Frenchman a place on the podium. Voeckler was the big loser that day, but it produced some epic road racing that day.
I have a feeling that Contador will be cleared of doping charges. The length of time this case has gone on would seem to suggest a favorable verdict for him. Then the world of cycling can move on to the next doping scandal. (step forward Marcel Kittel)