My Newest Favourite Thing: Team Sky

Wow! What a team. What a performance. What a commitment! I've heard people say that they are boring - clearly these people know nothing about cycling and are probably the same people that say that Spain are boring at football. It's a team sport. And what a sport. These guys are supreme athletes. I'm speechless. All aboard the Sky Train!

And I know I've banged on about Cavendish before, but he is truely remarkable, so I will again. The acceleration is incredible, and to win on the Champs Elysees for the fourth time in a row, is a stunning achievement. He'll always have Paris.

And Bradley Wiggins... what can I say? A fabulous and worthy winner. A great winning speech - 'It's time to draw the raffle numbers' - and a passion and to commitment to the sport. Yes, I'm patriotic and yes, it's wonderful to see a British rider win Le Tour. But it's even more amazing to see the yellow jersey lead out the World Champion in the final sprint. The Sky Train has been brilliant. Every rider has pedalled his socks off and I love it all.

 

And the Olympic road race is in less than a week's time. At the last Olympics I was suffering slightly from dual nationality syndrome. No such dilemmas this time. You go boys; bring it home!

Quick Quintet: Team Support

With all the Rugby World Cup shennanigans going on, one of the interesting things that has come to light has been the talk of the 'minnow' teams, by which it is meant a team that isn't from the Five Nations and Italy, or the Tri-Nations. (Incidentally, most of the players in these teams hate this patronising tag, and rightly so.) Many folk in the 'provincial' towns have 'adopted' a team, so although they are obviously All Black fans, they will perhaps buy a Namibian flag to wave, or paint their faces in the red and white of Canada.

I'm afraid I simply don't understand this. You either support a team or you don't. You can't feign loyalty for a finite period. The team you support is the one you support and if you're unlucky enough to be born in Burnley, then you just have to tough it out. Although you may have a soft spot for another team and be interested in their results, there is no such thing as a second side. I will watch Wycombe Wanderers and am happy for them when they win but if they ever play Liverpool (and due to the magic of the FA Cup it has happened) there is absolutely no question where my loyalties lie.

5 Teams I Support:

1. England at anything (except the Olympics where it has to be Team GB)
2. Liverpool FC
3. Team HTC Highroad, the lads who led Mark Cavendish to a record number of Tour de France victories were all astounding
4. The New York Yankees - watching them play at Yankee stadium is an experience I will never forget
5. The Lions at rugby - see, we can play nicely with Ireland

Green Goblin

Congratulations to Mark Cavendish on winning his eighteenth Tour de France stage (his third so far in 2011), and the green jersey - it's a good colour; it suits him. I'm impressed by the way he came back from his defeat on the line the previous day at the hands (or feet) of André Greipel to reclaim his dominance - few can beat him in a sprint; he's an amazing little Manx dynamo. Good for him.

I'll be Mark Cavendish

Mark Cavendish has won another stage in Le Tour. We are watching all night - hence the lack of sleep. I love Le Tour, as I have mentioned before. In a great quote from the Guardian it is described as 'chess on wheels'.

I yearn for those sunny villages shown in the helicopter shots as the cameras cruise over castles and chateaux - I'm not sure if it's the history and culture I crave, or just the warmth and sunshine and lack of wind.

Anyway, apparently when he was about 15 Mark Cavendish went out on a training ride with a couple of mates. One said, "I'll be Eric Zabel"; the other said "I'll be Robbie McEwen". Mark Cavendish said, "I'll be Mark Cavendish". People accuse him of arrogance, but maybe that's the attitude you need to win races.

You've got to know you're good and you've got to believe in yourself. There's an expression, 'If you've got it; flaunt it' - I've never agreed with that expression, but I do think that if you've got it, you should use it and be honest about it.

Olympics: It's a very very Madison world

Another day; another medal haul, and this time New Zealand have been invited to the party. Bevan Docherty and Nick Willis claiming bronze in the triathlon and 1,500m respectively were fantastic . It was great to see Docherty bounding onto the podium to celebrate - it's not all about gold, although that would be nice, obviously.

Team GB's dominance at the velodrome continues to such an extent that I read a blog questioning whether we are too good at cycling. What? Do the Aussies ever worry that they are too good at cricket? Do the Scandinavians fret about their dominance of Nordic skiing? Do the Americans get perturbed about their invasion of countries who have democratically elected Communist leaders? There's only one thing to be said - 'On yer bike'!

The problem with success is that you come to expect it. So, it was slightly disappointing that neither the mighty Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish, nor the sensational Hayden Roulston and Greg Henderson managed to sparkle in the Madison. But what an incredible event this is! The BBC live updates on-line covered it in their usual inimitable style. Their descriptions of it included the following:

• The duck billed platypus of the sporting world
• Looks like something out of Ben Hur
• An athletic contest in which participants 'go queer' in their heads, and strain their powers until their faces become hideous with the tortures that rack them, is not sport. It is brutality.
• Who invented this sport? Jackson Pollock?
• The only thing that would make the Madison madder would be to give the participants swords
• The Madison will probably become a West End stage show - as long as Lloyd Webber doesn't have the final choice of riders, or music...

Tour de France

How fantastic to see Mark Cavendish win a stage of the Tour de France. I must admit to feeling sorry for Vogondy, the French champion, who had been in the lead breakaway for about 200km and got swallowed less than 20m from the line. Apparently there is no place for sentimentality in bike (or any) racing.

I love the colours and the patterns the bikes make as they snake through the beautiful scenery and ancient villages. I love the etiquette and the customs that temper the competitiveness; the way a rider is allowed to lead through his village or on his birthday; the way it is considered unsporting to attack a leading rider delayed by mechanical breakdown or other misfortune, one who is eating in the feed zone or satisfying un besoin naturel.

The language of the tour is another highlight - yes, I know, it's French. I love the Kraftwerk song with it's completely mad lyrics. I love the terminology: flamme rouge; prologue; lanterne rouge; voiture balai; domestique; peloton; danseuse; musettes; etapes; grupetto; hors categorie - I could go on - it's all music to my ears And then there's the hum of the slick tyres on well-sealed roads; a sound I miss in New Zealand.

Him indoors, watches the tactics and notes who is cycling which gears. It's fun for everyone, and something to watch until the football season starts again.