Cycling4all is reporting that a bunch of riders including Zabriskie have contracts with Slipstream for next year. Also reporting that Slipstream has a new co-sponsor ABN AMRO, which is a global banking group, and along with restaurant chain Chipotle's sponsorship, the budget will be 8 million Euros.

USA Professional team Slipstream has big plans for next year and gives some hope for a new future of pro-cycling. Under the management of ex-pro rider Jonathan Vaughters, assisted by a.o. ex-pro Frankie Andreu, the team seems to have (pre-)contracted already several top-riders for next year. Named are  a.o.

Marcus Backstedt (Swe) = Liquigas; David Cañada Gracia (Spa) and David Millar (GBr) = both Saunier; Christophe Laurent (Fra) = Crédit Agricole; David Zabriskie (Usa) = Team Riis; Martijn Maaskant (Ned) = Rabo Continental, who should have signed for 2 years leider, while also Jérôme Pineau (Fra) and Thomas Voeckler (Fra) = both Bouyges Telecom seems to be contracted.

New sponsor of the team will be Chipotle (a Mexican restaurant chain) and as co-sponsor ABN AMRO is named. The budget should be around 8 million Euro next year.

They aim for a doping-free cycling world. Each year - each rider will go through 50 bloodtests and 50 urine tests; which seems to be much more (5 times) than the average team is doing. The costs (around 20.000 dollar per rider) are payed by the Agency for Cycling Ethics, which got their money from gifts and (co-)sponsors.

This team will not apply for a Pro Tour licence as - in their opinion - the participation in the 3 Major Tours it too much for the team. But they are now lobying already for a wild-card in the biggest event, The Tour de France.

David Millar is writing quite funny articles for Bicycling Magazine's website. He gives some unique insight into the inner workings of the peloton, most notably the proper use of the "yellow jersey pee break" tactic.

Also notable on the Bicycling site is an interview with the always quotable Jens Voigt. His take on socialism: "You know the idea of Socialism is great. But unfortunately it involves human beings. And that means it has to turn to shit."

Jan Ullrich is guilty of blood doping. How long before Basso and all the rest are shown to be guilty as well? Our sport is a scam, once and for all.

The rumor mill whispers that T-Mobile's new Aussie rider Adam Hansen scored so far off the chart in his VO2 max test with team doctor Lothar Heinrich a few years ago that they almost hired him on the spot. Now finally getting his chance to prove the numbers can equal results in the ProTour, Hansen has shown his strength recently in the Tour of California and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. While few people really seem to doubt Hansen's physical gifts, some have seriously questioned his tactical smarts or lack thereof, and a certain occasional tendency toward impulsive ill-timed attacks and unpredictability. All of this makes Hansen one of the more intriguing new ProTour riders to follow this season, as what true cycling fan doesn't love those riders who can and do attack crazily and bravely Vino-style for no apparent reason?

Hansen also happens to be a bit of computer geek and has been regularly updating his own home-grown website. He posts new info (all of it charmingly or annoyingly misspelled, depending on your mood) under three areas on a regular basis: Diary, News, and Race Stories. Including a deadpan stream of consciousness account of what happened at the recent Belgian race Le Samyn where Hansen came sixth.

So does anyone else find it totally bizarre or maybe audaciously unbelievable that the official Discovery Team site actually has posted an earnestly written, serious article about how athletes can best recover from donating blood. They must be kidding.

The article helpfully suggests taking a rest day on the date that the blood is removed, and discusses proper nutrition for rebuilding the red blood cell supply. The guy who wrote this helpful article seems very, very knowledgeable about this process. I wonder why? Do elite athletes really go around altruistically donating blood to hospitals and blood drives out of the goodness of their heart, when it has a detrimental effect on their performance? Somehow I really think not.

Sadly the author leaves out the really interesting part-- the bit about re-infusing the blood later. No fair, that is what we really want to hear about! Note to Bruyneel: you just hired one dreamy but possibly dirty Italian named Ivan Basso, who is supposedly implicated in a BLOOD DOPING scandal (and actually cannot remember the name of his own dog). What the hell are we supposed to think after reading this article? It made me think: no wonder Disco never gets caught & Basso chose Disco, they have alot of experts on this stuff. Worse, they seem to have no problem rubbing our noses in that fact.

While for most riders the season is over, some hardy competitors will still be pulling on the team kit one last time this Sunday. The Japan Cup will be held on a 14.1 km circuit on Oct. 22 in Utsunomiya, Japan. While defending champion Damiano Cunego will not be present, there will be plenty of other notable contenders, with ProTour teams Discovery Channel, Lampre, Bouygues Telecom and Saunier Duval in attendance. Additional teams include Skil-Shimano, Miyata-Subaru, and other Asian national teams.

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Finally someone who's willing to speak frankly. I think he may be my new favorite cyclist. Sadly it probably won't be long before he starts being publicly attacked by other cyclists.

Sick of feeling ashamed because I'm a professional cyclist
by Bradley Wiggins
[From the Guardian]