Somewhere along the way, some of the comments began to strike a chord with many behind the Swiss curtain that is professional cycling. Many of those who are professional riders, support staff, team owners, team managers, journalists, pundits, and avid fans began sending me important information about corruption at the UCI level, the federation level, and the team level to truly show what those in this sport are up against when all they want to do is ride their bike fast and have a good support group help them accomplish their goals.

My real life job affords me travel around various parts of the world, and sometimes allows me to interact with individuals within the sport, meeting face-to-face to truly understand what they are up against in order to get those bicycles on the road. I’ve had numerous phone calls, skype chats, facebook chats, DMs, with those who are considered to be influential in the sport. I am not paid to do this, and in spite of some organizations asking me to be paid to do this “commentary” I’ve resisted and will continue to resist as I feel it’s important to maintain editorial neutrality when discussing what is occurring.

Some people over the past year have attempted to take pot shots as they feel that I have some sort of agenda that hasn’t been revealed. Of course, many have discovered it is tough to take pot shots at someone who is after transparency in the sport from the governance level to the rider level. My “agenda” is one of inclusion for all in the conversation of cycling, rather than exclusion of some to the benefit of the very few. This agenda includes traditional journalists whom I have given information so they may fill in the gaps to many of their stories, as well as to bloggers, the twitterati, and hopefully to the general cycling community.

Many people have sent me emails or messages saying how the jokes or scenarios that I write about are very close to the reality in the sport, or somehow manage to end up being the truth that is uncovered weeks or months after the Dispatch has been written. That’s because mostly everything that is written is based upon true events, relayed to me by insiders in the sport who wish to remain anonymous. I do have to change the circumstance in many cases to protect those who have provided the “leak.” In some cases, the Dispatch contains the entire truth that is to be revealed at a later date publicly by those directly involved.

Our sport is a symptom of the greater malaise in our society. Our society is an overall reflection of those who disseminate their attitudes from the top that are filtered down through the layers of every corporation, sporting governance body, cycling team, or even the local retail store with which you do business.  When you have someone at the top of these organizations – be it the IOC, FIFA, UCI, SportAccord or the like –  who uses their influence for greater personal gain, or takes advantage of or perverts the rules, charters, or mission to benefit those of their choosing (or bend to their whims), it creates an empty feeling in our stomach, reminding us that we are insignificant and cannot make an impact.

There are reasons why the general population looks with satisfaction at companies that take care of their employees: those that are never in the news for massive layoffs during economic tough times; the ones that never look to “merge” to save their own skin while laying off “superfluous” support staff due to the contraction; the ones who do not give up on sponsor searches just because they want one golden sponsor instead of working harder to gain four or five that could do the same job; the ones who ask their staff what improvements can be made on behalf of their “customer” rather than care about the shareholder return only.

We see these examples in cycling – there are teams that we “cheer” for because you see the positive atmosphere from the top down. We see the athletes who show real enthusiasm when they win. These athletes make the effort to congratulate everyone who helped in the win. This same feeling goes to supporting those companies that provide the products for the sport that speak from a genuine enthusiasm as well, from folks like Campagnolo who still have their production in Italy, to Rapha, a firm affectionately parodied for their slick marketing efforts – but with beautiful and functional products from the heart, or to bicycle manufacturers like Look who refuse to succumb to mass-produced Asian carbon frames for the cycling masses.

We see this at the races this year, where folks like Brad Wiggins go out of their way to congratulate gents like a beaming Cobo who slogged out a Sky two-punch for a Grand Tour win. We poke fun at the camaraderie that is Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador who duke it out on the bikes, and yet joke with each other like brothers off. We see it when an entire cycling community rallies around the tragic deaths that have occurred this year, or when one of our own (whom many of us have even never met) is diagnosed with cancer and we rally to give him support.

John Galloway, who is known as @sofaboy on twitter, is the reason why I’m here and doing what I’m doing. He’s the one who inspired me to take the challenge beyond the twitter drivel and try to make a difference in 1000 words or fewer; this quickly ballooned to 1200 words, and then sometimes up to 1400 words. Thank Christ for editors like @cycletard who help me try to tame the madness. Galloway is also the reason why this Dispatch is a departure from the usual mucky muck to something a little more direct and stripped down.  He made some very interesting comments in his blog yesterday, that triggered this Dispatch.

You see, John’s right. There has been a shift in cycling in spite of those attempting to control it from above. The sport is cleaner. The performances are more believable. This is not due to some edict from the UCI, but a shift in attitudes by those coming up in the ranks of the sport who watched their heroes die from doping complications, or deal with the emotional skeletons associated with doping.  Unless you are a total sociopath (naming zero names), there is a guilt trigger that kicks in once you begin “breaking the rules” that manifests itself either in behaviour, or addictions, or other coping mechanisms. No matter how much those in power wish to root out this response from the athlete, it’s impossible, unless you turn them into – as Neil Browne joked last week – Zombies.

However, this movement towards a cleaner sport is in spite of the attempts by the UCI to wrest total control away from the various stakeholders throughout the world of cycling. This isn’t some insiduous “Galactic Empire” plan by Hein Verbruggen and Pat McQuaid with designs on a “Death Star” to destroy all that oppose them. After all, in some bizarre fashion they truly do believe they are doing what is best for the sport – consolidation and control. Unfortunately, they have this attitude of “what’s in it for me,” which is the reason why we have some of these strange happenings that counter the aim, rules, and directives of the governing body. Read my past Dispatches here on Cyclismas for more specifics on that.

Consolidation and control means that they who make the rules feel that they are superior to those who are subjected to the rules. Therefore, less transparency means more control, fewer questions, and a “superior” sporting experience. It’s this sort of attitude that has killed many teams in the sport, and many manufacturers in the sport, and many races. When you focus on the end result rather than the process that achieves the end result, you end up with the wrong end result.

It is time to focus the attention away from the athletes, and stop wondering if they’re clean or dirty. Give them support instead scepticism. Instead, focus your questions on the governing body that seems to be at the centre of almost every controversy, not because they are the governing body, but because their fingerprints are all over whatever carcass happens to be offered up to the mainstream media.

The more we shine the light where it belongs, the more comfortable those who have suffered in silence will feel able to come forward and tell their stories. Lord knows they need to keep coming in an avalanche.

Question authority. It may be uncomfortable at first, but you’ll be rewarded with the results.

This is my throne. This is my sport.

Take, for example, this carbon road frame business. Firstly, I should have never agreed to that daft public relations firm and their idea of bringing industry journalists to Aigle for wining, dining, hugging, and air kissing. It never fooking works. And I was right.  After Carlton Reid of bikebiz.com posted an article where my quotes were not subjected to the usual whitewashing (as best he can, in most cases) by Enrico Carpani, I received a letter of rebuke from the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry. It’s not often that I receive a letter from the federation with the longest fooking name (must have the same PR firm as the Tour of Colorado), let alone under these circumstances.

To quote Reid’s article (which can be found here; if you’d like to see where the “gaffe” was made, here’s the video from Reid’s visit )

“Safety is the number one priority [for bike companies],” said Kock. “We want to help the UCI understand the issues. Pat McQuaid gave the impression that we as an industry made a lot of mistakes. Those comments were misplaced. The way the issue was raised was the wrong way.”

Look, we all know that most of the bike manufacturers have their frames produced in China, Taiwan, or Korea. It’s common knowledge that these frames cost anywhere from 250 euros or under, if not, the production would still be located domestically near the corporate offices of all these bicycle “manufacturers.” We also know that it is also common knowledge that if the frames are painted and assembled in the EU, they can “skirt” the “made in China” label as far as EU regulations are concerned. Of course, all the money is in the paint jobs and finish coats that these bicycles go through, hence why that 250 euro frame sells to some gobshite dentist for 5000 euros.

Any guesses which bicycle company this is?

So I say to Mr. Reid and to Robbert de Kock (yes, it’s his real name) of WFSGI, “I’m sorry for saying that the frames cost 50 euros — it should have been 250 euros. And of course they are of a very high quality (until one out of the thousands of frames produced snaps during a race, then everyone has a fit); Asia is known for producing some of the best quality products that are exported the world over. Hence why we want bike races in Asia, so those workers can spend all their heavily cash-lined pockets on exciting races like the Tour of Beijing.”

Speaking of the Tour of Beijing, yes, yes, I’ve kissed and made up with the AIGCP. It wasn’t easy. That Jonathan Vaughters is one smart and crafty individual. And he talks. Forever. After six hours in the car with him, I think I would have agreed to pay for his next home in Spain no questions asked.  The worst part about my day-long adventure is the fact that it happened on the day at the Tour of Colorado (presented by some Tea Party Promises or something) when the riders went down over the cattle guard, and one poor rider ended up with serious injuries in an American hospital.  I think they cleaned out his wallet before they cleaned out his injuries.

What could be the absolute worst scenario to happen when you’re in a team car of the man who is insisting that race radios are an absolute necessity for safety reasons? Right. The next two hours were the most painful I’ve ever experienced. Even more than that saddle sore I had back in Ireland during my infamous training ride with Sean in ’78. Made Boonen’s zitvlak look like a hang nail. I had no choice but to acquiesce to Vaughters on the radio issue, as he was correct in his assertion that radios would have probably saved those riders from being injured.

However, my argument about the organizers not taking route planning seriously and in detail as a rebuttal to his radio argument opened another can of worms, as he then brought up the Tour of Beijing, which I alluded to earlier. I just couldn’t fooking win on that day. It was as if the Karma gods had lined up against me on behalf of the unruly unshaven one. The worst part about the conversation is that I couldn’t escape, and Vaughters was a dog on a bone.

The three of us look good here (Rumpf is in the middle as always)

Firstly, he gave me a hard time about threatening to yank the team’s pro licences if they didn’t show in Beijing. Then, he gave me more difficulty about the fact that Alain and Rocco were calling sponsors directly to put pressure on the team owners. In fact we pushed so hard that Radio Shack pulled out of cycling completely. Oopsie.

What else could I do? He had me in corner. Not only did I agree to radios being in for 2012, and to reconsider the “commission” that I formed to give appearances that we were really evaluating the radio issue, but I also conceded to pay the teams through Global Cycling Promotions for their agreement to show up in masse on the start line. Vaughters asked me to allow Harold, Ricardo, and Trey to negotiate the terms of the payment – I’d had enough in the car so I capitulated; poor Rumpf now has to deal with this mess (and negotiate with those three) and he’s not going to be happy about the fact that some of our profits from this race won’t go into our pockets, but instead will be heading the teams’ way. Ah, you win some you lose some…

Speaking of winning some and losing some, at least the UCI has acquired an internet “news” outlet in the form of Sietse Schelpe and his “RockyRoads Network,” which is probably an apt name for the venture (link to the deal here). Since no one really follows the MTB business worldwide, it’s our position to see how we can utilize our disinformation plan in a smaller venue before taking it large-scale with www.cyclingnews.com. I understand those folks had a great time with Global Cycling Promotion in China; it’s bought us some fooking goodwill so far *chuckle* and should show the full benefits as we move on a going-forward basis.

Always scheming, is Bruyneel.

Lastly, while on the topic of disinformation, anyone who buys the rumour that L’Equipe published today should be shown the door from cycling to a more simple pursuit, like American baseball. I’m sure Johan is laughing his arse off that he pulled an early September April Fool’s joke on that media outlet. Leopard-Trek done at the end of September? It’s all completely ludicrous.

Or is it?

However, this post is about brothers in the Tour of France. Throughout the years, several brothers have been riding bikes professionally, and surprisingly many have been on the same team.

These days Andy Schleck is riding the Tour de France side by side with his elder brother, Fränk. The two are close, having shared almost their entire professional lives on the bike; they probably know each other inside out. They are a team, and it seems impossible to hire just the one of them.

Bjarne Riis took Andy Schleck under his wing in 2004 by recommendation of Fränk. In 2010, when Fränk broke his collarbone at stage three, Andy feared his Tour was lost. They seem to rely on each other, not only physically but psychologically as well. Nothing wrong with the brothers’ genes, the Schleck’s father, Johnny Schleck, rode the Tour several times, nailing top 20 GC in 1967 and 1970. It’s hard to see where one is without looking over his shoulder for his brother. Rumours say that when Fränk got married and being a father, it didn’t take long for Andy to get a girl either. He has even presented her to the public. The two are so close that even teammates says they are more concerned with the other one’s success than their own. I have heard people saying that the Schlecks are not entirely this way when it comes to fishing, but that has yet to be confirmed.

Fränk and Andy Schleck at the Challenge Mallorca

The Schlecks are not the only brothers who have participated in the Tour. If they all were so merry as the as Andy and Fränk, this might be the end of the discussion. However, Johan Kaggestad, a Norwegian cycling commentator with a taste for details, has inspired me to find out more about a whole host of interesting Tour brothers.

• Roger and Erik de Vlaeminck. The Belgian brothers who rode the tour between 1968 and 1971. Erik chose cyclo-cross and was very successful, being WC astonishing seven times. He was known to live a “hard” life, with spectacular partyies after races, however, he never failed a drug test. When Erik returned to racing after a break, the Belgian Cycling Federation actually permitted him with one-day licences only, to see if his life improved. Roger chose road racing and was a dominant Classics rider of his era and is one of only three rider to win the “five monuments.” Roger might be the best known of the two outside of Belgium; both are highly admired by Belgians.
• Marc and Yvon Madiot. They rode the Tour together between 1984and 1992, on the same team. Yvon did win the French national title in 1986, while his brother, Marc, won the Paris-Roubaix twice, and a few stages in the Tour, winning cycling fans’ hearts and minds all over the world. Marc Madiot is now team manager of the French team FDJ while brother Yvon is DS. Marc has been one of the team managers in the World Tour who has been most friendly towards the ruling made by the UCI on banning radios, probably causing some irritation by others, as the team managers need to look as unanimous as possible.
• Stephen and Lawrence Roche. The Irish brothers rode together in the Tour de France of 1993 on the same team. Lawrence (sometimes spelled “Laurence”) never managed to perform at the same level his brother did, so his palmarès is somewhat different. Stephen did win the WC , the Tour and the Giro in 1987, but a knee injury stopped him from repeating that feat. The Irish journalist and former pro rider Paul Kimmage and others have accused Stephen Roche of using PEDs, something Roche has denied. Stephen is currently living a quiet life in Antibes, where he owns a small hotel. Nicolas Roche, Stephen’s son, is currently riding for AG2R while Stephen’s nephew, Dan Martin, won the Irish RR in 2008 and currently rides for Garmin-Cervélo. It’s all in the genes I guess.
• Miguel and Prudencio Indurain. The two brothers shared the spotlight in the Tour de France of 1993 when Miguel finished first in the individual time trial and Prudencio last. Miguel was known as the eagle and Prudencio the sparrow.  Evil tongues said that the only thing the two brothers had in common was their manners off the bike. Prudencio was literally bullied by the press since he seemed to lack the genes his brother had. He was constantly asked by the press if he only was on the team because of his brother. Imagine that! Prudencio has always managed to control his temper, saying that he does not need to defend “unfounded” allegations like that. The two rode together for three tours, Prudencio always a step behind his brother, or in cycling terms, in front of his brother. I guess Miguel doesn’t need a further presentation. Prudencio is now trying to make a living as a local politician in Navarro, Spain.
• Laurent and Nicolas Jalabert. Rode the tour together nine times. Nicolas, the younger one, struggled to keep up with his more talented elder brother. Laurent won both the point jersey as well as the KOM jersey twice in the tour. This combined with his stage wins – including a stage win on Bastille Day –ensured him a special place in hearts of the French cycling fans. Imagine being the younger brother, less talented, your big brother a superstar, you bring water bottles, shield him from wind and may be prepared to give your bike to him! Not an ideal position to be in, is it? Probably not the best environment for family dinners on Sunday. Nowadays, you might recognize Laurent Jalabert’s voice if you happen to tune into French Eurosport where he is paired with Thierry Adams.
• Sylvain and Sebastien Chavanel. Both riders are still active in today’s edition of the Tour, Sylvain is Quickstep’s hope, while Sebastien is riding for Europcar. The latter is the youngest brother, but not more than two years separate them. Sebastien is more of a sprinter and has proved himself in the classics, while Sylvain is constantly being seen breaking away from the peloton. He did this last year in the Tour, and this ability has allowed him wear the yellow jersey two stages. You will not have any trouble spotting Sylvain “Mimo” Chavanel in his French national championship jersey.
• Romain and Brice Feillu. One is rather bulky and named by Cav to “always be causing havoc in sprints,” one is famous for not zipping his jersey while winning stage seven of the 2009 edition of the Tour. Leaving many in awe I might add. The team sponsor of Agritubel wasn’t probably thrilled either. The win was a surprise to most, but followers of French cycling will know he has long been a promising rider, but then again, the peloton is not exactly full of those. Not a small achievement by Brice, he had just turned pro with this team, nailed a stage win and even wore the KOM-jersey for a while. Romain even had the yellow jersey, and the happy siblings made France feel proud. Brice has been known to joke about himself not being related to Romain at all, due to his height, 1,88cm versus Romain’s 1,74cm. I don’t know if this ever has occurred in his father’s head, but I guess he sleeps tight.
• JJ Rojas and Mariano Rojas. Until recently the wearer of the maillot vert, JJ Rojas, had a brother who also participated in the Tour. The brother Mariano was very talented, he wore the white jersey as he participated in the Tour when only 21 years old in 1995. Mariano rode for ONCE, and was trained by Manolo Saiz. Sadly, Mariano died in a car accident in 1996, only a year after his great performance in the Tour. JJ enjoy training in Spain and has been in teams like Liberty-Würth (amateur), Caisse d’Epargne and now Movistar. This years parcours suits the talented Spaniard and he could very well be a contender for the green jersey.

This is a short-list of the most famous Tour-brothers in the long history of the Tour de France, but there are certainly others.

Perhaps this is the year we will see if the Schlecks can benefit from being brothers, if they both stay out of trouble that is.

A joint special Task Force formed by ASO & UCI officials undertook a massive overnight operation to find and rectify the cause of the problem that resulted in so many big-name riders being involved in unscheduled tarmac interface events during Wednesday’s Stage 5 of the Tour de France.

A source close to the operation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that an extensive search had been conducted to locate the problem and that the task force had located and isolated the cause shortly before breakfast time this morning.

“We realised that the only explanation for so many unscheduled tarmac interface events was if gravity was somehow being interfered with” said our source, “…obviously, it would take something incredibly powerful to disrupt gravity in such a manner and for a few hours there, we were at a complete loss to explain it.”

The operation originally centred around the possibility that an outside agent was interfering with the riders and at one point a number of Task Force operatives supported the theory that Ricardo Ricco was behind the crashes. However, extensive review of video footage ultimately discredited this idea leaving investigators no closer to finding the cause.

It was shortly after 6am this morning that the Task Force operatives finally got the break they needed, when a French scientist attached to the investigation picked up intense local fluctuations in the gravity field which were eventually traced to a small hotel near Dinan, the Grand Depart of today’s stage.

Using highly sensitive and expensive UCI-accredited equipment, the Task Force Operatives closed in on the source of the disruption and were shocked to discover it was emanating from the LeOpard-Trek restaurant on wheels, parked in the grounds of the Hotel.

“It was a complete surprise,” said our source, “not once had we considered that a team would be responsible for the disturbance. We entered the trailer to find them all sitting down to breakfast surrounded by life-sized hero shots of each rider watching over them from the walls.” Pausing for a moment to compose himself before continuing, he said “It was the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Task Force operatives quietly took Kim Andersen, Leopard-Trek DS, aside to explain the situation to him and were shocked by his response. Said our source, “He explained to us that Leopard-Trek had been experimenting with various techniques to give the Schlecks a mental advantage over the rest of the peloton but that none of the regular methods had worked. In the end, faced with repeated failures and a pair of despondent Schlecks, Andersen felt they had no option but to turn to experimental science.”

The 2011 edition of the Tour de France has seen a number of teams embracing ‘controversial’ science to give their riders any advantage they can. AG2R la Mondiale, for example, are experimenting with cryotherapy, placing each rider in a super-chilled chamber for 3 minutes to purge waste material from the muscles and naturally stimulate the production of testosterone. Andersen, it seems, was willing to experiment even further.

“It turns out that Leopard-Trek have invested heavily in an experimental Reality Distortion Field Generator, the goal of which is to isolate the Schlecks from the crushing reality that neither of them are going to win the Tour de France without a disqualification / promotion scenario.”

According to information from Task Force scientists, the amount of Reality Distortion required to convince the Schlecks they had a chance of overall victory was so immense and required so much power that it was “almost inevitable” that we would experience and see gravitational disturbances such as we did yesterday.

Thankfully, Kim Andersen was willing to negotiate with the Task Force to ensure the safety of the peloton. Our source didn’t want to go into specifics about the nature of the negotiations but did confirm that a ‘pretty pony’ was to be provided for Andy Schleck; Fabian Cancellara will receive a handlebar mounted mirror to allow him to check his hair while racing; and Jens Voigt, who frequently complains about the quality of hotel beds, has been given a roll-out bed of nails to prevent him having to endure too-soft mattresses in the future.

Shortly before the start of today’s stage from Dinan to Lisieux, a Task Force spokesperson released this brief statement: “After extensive investigation and research the joint ASO / UCI Task Force has isolated the cause of yesterday’s unscheduled tarmac interface events. As a result of this we are fully satisfied that the situation has been dealt with and that any further crashes will be solely the fault of the rider involved.”

Kim Andersen was unavailable for comment as we went to press.