Hoy Crashes

Chris Hoy had a nasty crash at the World Cup meet in Copenhagen over the weekend, when he and the French rider Kevin Sireau hooked up coming out of a turn in the keirin, sending Hoy crashing and taking out fellow Brit Ross Edgar.

Hoy goes down, taking out Edgar behind him. Photo: PA Wire/PA

Hoy lying trackside with the scars of his wreck visible. Photo: John Giles/PA.

Hoy lay motionless trackside for a few minutes before slowly getting to his feet and waving gingerly to the crowd. Although he didn't suffer any serious injuries, he does have some bad swelling on his hip, which is making it difficult for team doctors to determine the extent of the muscle damage. Hoy told The Guardian that he may struggle to be fit in time for the World Championships "but [the World Championships] are a long way off and I'm still optimistic." More coverage of the World Cup series and the run-up to the World Championships over on The Guardian.

Thanks to Val for the heads-up.

Sir Chris

Hoy gets a knighthood. Story here. Photo by Steve Parsons/AFP/Getty Images.

Race of Champions Photo

Okay, so the race between Chris Hoy and Lewis Hamilton was called off, but Guy Swarbrick, ace cycling photographer, still managed to get this pic of Hoy warming up on the motor-racing track.

Brakes? What a n00b. Thanks to Guy for the excellent photo. Check out more of his amazing cycling photos here.

Chris Hoy Wins BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Chris Hoy, the preeminent track sprinter in the world right now, won the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award last night. He was up against double Olympic gold medal winning swimmer Rebecca Adlington and Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton, but the Scot, who won three gold medals in Beijing, the first Briton to win three golds in one games since 1908, won the public vote convincingly, and became the first cyclist to win the award since the great Tom Simpson in 1965. It was a great night for British track cycling generally, as the Olympic track squad won Team of the Year, and their coach Dave Brailsford won Coach of the Year. It just shows how the incredible performance of the team during the Olympics really captured the public imagination in Britain, and augurs well for the sport there. More details here.

Race of Champions Live

Remember this idea? Chris Hoy on a bike versus Lewis Hamilton in a car? Well it's happening in London this Sunday, December 14th, at 1.50pm GMT, and you can watch it live, for free, here. You're welcome. Don't say I've never done anything for you. I am really curious to see how they work this "race," it could be amazing, but it could be a huge anti-climax...

[update] Race cancelled. Apparently a night of rain and some spilled oil on the track made it dangerous for Hoy to race Hamilton, so they called it off this morning. I just watched an hour of motor racing before I found out it wouldn't be happening. I want that hour back!

Theo Bos to Compete on the Road!

It's official, Theo Bos is making the transition from track to road. It was announced this week that the sprinter, the holder of the world record Flying 200 time, will join Rabobank's road team. I don't know if that means we'll see him competing this coming season, the report on Pez Cycling didn't have a ton of details, but I'm excited to see if he can make the change.

Usually, the track stars that do well on the road are not track sprinters, they're usually much too big and heavy. It's hard to imagine Chris Hoy, for example, hauling himself up many Alpine climbs. It's usually the trackies who ride distance events that make good road riders. Cav, for example, rides distance events on the track, but is a sprinter on the road. But, if any of the current crop of top track sprinters could make the transition, it's Bos. He's a taller, leaner, lighter figure than Hoy or McLean, so it's possible.

And, just to remind you of what he's capable of, here's one of the greatest vids of all time, which I'm sure everyone has seen a million times, but could stand to see again. Enjoy.



Thanks to ChrisP for the headsup.

World Champion Rims?

Let's hope they don't result in a world champion FAIL... Seen at the Cycle Mode 2008 Show, photo by cisvul.

Barack Obama: World Champion

IpsoFatso updated their great Barack pop-up image. Love it!!

Tom Simpson Gear

Yesterday, Tracko reported on the brilliant Tom Simpson feature that Pro Cycling magazine has in its current issue. Coincidently, I was about to post about all this retro Team Peugeot gear that Prendas and Santini recently released. Check it out.

Tom Simpson's Team Peugeot jersey.

Team Peugeot cycling caps. I like the BP version best, and I think it's the one Simpson was wearing at Herne Hill velodrome on the day those photos were taken.

Tom Simpson's World Champion jersey.

Just in case you don't know who Tom Simpson was, he was an English cyclist in the 1960s, the winner of Classics like Milan-San Remo, Paris-Nice and Ronde van Vlaanderen, and he was World Champion in 1965, the first, and, if memory serves, the last Englishman to win the World Championship on the road. He tragically collapsed and died while riding the Ventoux in the 1967 Tour de France.

Ballan's World Champion Wilier - Part 2

I found this great photo of Ballan riding his new bike in the Giro di Lombardia recently. The gold of the fork and tape looks even better than I thought, and it's cool that Wilier finally get to add the world champ rainbow to their bikes. Thanks to Edward from Dot Cycling for letting me use the photo. Check out more of his awesome cycling photos here.

Booze, Sweat and Tears

I just read this interesting interview in The Guardian with British track star Bradley Wiggins, world champion many times over and the winner of 5 (five!!) Olympic gold medals. It seems that Wiggins went off the deep-end after winning gold at the Athens Olympics, and started heading down the local boozer in the mornings to get wrecked, every day. It's an interesting insight into the life of someone at the very top of their field, who was nevertheless unhappy and disillusioned. As he says himself:

"When I won gold in Athens I said to my wife, Cath, who was pregnant, 'This baby of ours will never want for anything.' There was real pride in that - but it just didn't happen. You end up trying to give the perception you've got a bit of money. 'Yeah, it's great, lots of offers rolling in ...' The reality was quite different. I woke up every Monday morning and we were still overdrawn and I'd think, 'God, I don't feel like riding my bike again.' There was a bitterness that nothing had changed after all the hard work but it went deeper than that. I'm not saying I was clinically depressed but there were definite bouts of depression - and lots of drinking."

"I drank because I enjoyed it. I was happy sitting at the end of the bar on my own, reading the paper. I've always enjoyed my own company and that stems from riding alone. I never trained with anyone - and I still don't. I've always been happy with my own thoughts and that sums me up as an individual-pursuit rider."

The interview continues: "There were enough moments to drive a self-respecting Olympic champion to drink. In 2004 Wiggins became the first British athlete to win three medals at the same Olympics in 40 years but he and Chris Hoy, who also won gold in Athens, were both ignored at the BBC's annual Sports Personality shindig. 'We were shunted near the back and Chris and me didn't get a mention the whole evening. They did a 10-minute slot on Red Rum instead. That struck home - we mattered less than a dead horse.'"

Clearly, winning 3 gold medals at Athens didn't exactly set Wiggins' world on fire as much as one might expect, and I think that's illustrative of professional cycling in general. The life of a pro-cyclist doesn't hold much appeal, for me at least. I'm not just talking in reference to this interview, but in general. It seems that unless you're one of the few people consistently winning big on the road, and I mean winning stages at the Tour de France or winning marquee classics like Paris-Roubaix or Milan-SanRemo, you're just not making very much money, or garnering much praise. Yeah, you're getting to ride your bike for a living, and you're getting paid more than your average factory worker, and, yeah, maybe it is hard to feel sorry for someone who has just won multiple Olympic gold medals, but in many ways cycling is a poorly recompensed vocation.

Which is what it is, a vocation, a real desire to do something, and not just a profession. I'm sure there are many of us who would love to ride in the pro peloton, but it seems that the reality of professional cycling is a little different than the glitz and glamour that a scant few big races would suggest, especially when you excel in one of cycling's "minority" disciplines, like track. And, there are plenty of people who will romanticize the pain and suffering inherent in professional cycling, but what they don't tell you about is how a lot of pros are struggling to just pay their bills...

But, I suppose cycling is a vocation. I don't think anyone gets into it because they want to be rich and famous. Just as well.

"Trackside, image is everything."

So true... it took me for feckin' ever to find a saddle the colour of which perfectly matched the colour of my grips. Anyway, that quote is from an interview in today's Guardian with Victoria Pendelton, current sprint, team sprint and keirin world champion. The journalist is clearly amazed that a woman can remain "feminine" while racing track, but apart from that it's an interesting interview.

Me Wantee!

The brand new Dolan DF3, seen here in world champion colours. Gorgeous. Head over to velodrome.org.uk for more details.