Arrest day

Les flics came for Rémy Di Grégorio on the first rest day of the 2012 Tour de France, dragging him off to the Bastille on suspicion of using products other than baguettes and mineral water to fuel his race around France. Zut alors! Say it is not so!

His team, Cofidis, as you may recall, is all too familiar with this sort of thing. David Millar and Phillipe Gaumont in 2004; Cristian Moreni in 2007; the party never stops. Each time the team trots out the old zero-tolerance twaddle. Same shit, different day.

Come to think of it, Bradley Wiggins — presently wearing the maillot jaune in the Tour de France — was among the Cofidis riders who went home after stage 16 in 2007. I don’t suppose any of the cunts or wankers in the press corps will wish to shake off their bone-idleness, get off their arses and apply themselves to discussing those dark days with him.

Speaking of which, Sean Kelly, a man with his own flair for language — whatever language it is that he’s speaking — thinks that Wiggo’s press-conference tirade is an indicator that while he may be strong in the legs, he’s weak between the ears.

“Bradley has always been fragile,” Kelly told Cyclingnews.com. “A puncture or another upsetting incident can make him lose his head. Last year, (Cadel) Evans experienced some mechanical problems behind (Alberto) Contador, in the stage to L’Alpe d’Huez, and if it had been Wiggins, he would have panicked. But to win the Tour, you have to know how to stay calm, overcome adversity, whatever it may be — and that, I’m not sure he’s able to do.”

Missed it by that much

The Flash and I have exactly one thing in common: red kit.
The Flash and I have exactly one thing in common: red kit.

I really thought BMC’s Brent Bookwalter was going to hang on for the win in today’s Giro opener until I watched Sky’s Bradley Wiggins rippin’ those Amsterdam corners without coming off his aero’ bars. Hijo, madre, puto, cabron. Like the man says, you can’t win if you don’t play, and Wiggo’ is most definitely a player. Chapeau to him.

And chapeau to Bookwalter, too, for holding onto the hot seat as long as he did. “I am a little speechless — my head is still spinning a little bit,” Bookwalter said afterward. “I really had no expectations of doing a ride like that going into it.”

He even nipped his team captain, world road champ Cadel Evans, who gave Bookwalter an attaboy for the effort.

“It’s a very special situation to have a guy like Cadel come in to say, ‘Impressive ride,’ it really means a lot,” Bookwalter said. No doubt.

I have a soft spot for time trials. My first race was a TT — the Colorado time-trial championships on the old Strasburg course, back in 1987 or ’88 — and I actually won a couple as a masters racer, one in Colorado (the Skyline Drive TT) and the other in New Mexico (the Tour de Los Alamos).

Mostly I was bringing a knife to a gunfight, though. Kent Bostick and John Frey ruled the roost when I lived in New Mexico, covering the 40km Moriarty course in 48 minutes and under when I was lucky to duck under 57 minutes. And there were plenty of other dudes in both states who could (and did) make me look like a chump without even putting it in the big ring.

Even so, it was fun. Special equipment, skinsuit and helmet — a guy gets to feel like a comic-book superhero for an hour or less. What’s not to like?