Cavendish bitter about 2012 Tour
Mark Cavendish remains bitter from this year's Tour de France, where he won three stages and Sky team-mate Bradley Wiggins won the overall.
"The Sky company slogan says 'Believe in better' but in the end we didn't really buy into that. We could have been better this year," Cavendish told the Telegraph newspaper.
"It wasn't a failure, and I was very proud to be part of a British yellow-jersey winning team with Brad, but it wasn't the ultimate either. We didn't achieve what I thought we were setting out to achieve at the start of the season."
Cavendish annulled his Sky contract early to race for team Omega Pharma-QuickStep. He signed a three-year contract.
"It was a tough year, but I did the rainbow jersey proud, which was the most important thing for me. It was a thrill pulling it on every day in training and a thrill racing as much as I could to honour the jersey. Personally I feel I should have achieved more but I'm content."
IOC deciding on Armstrong's 2000 Olympic bronze medal
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said yesterday that it is considering whether to strip Lance Armstrong of his bronze medal won in the 2000 Olympics
It said in a statement, "The IOC will now immediately start the process concerning the involvement of Lance Armstrong, other riders and particularly their entourages with respect to the Olympic Games and their future involvement with the Games."
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Armstrong placed third in the Sydney Games individual time trial behind Russia's Viatcheslav Ekimov and Germany's Jan Ullrich.
South Park lampoons Armstrong
Animated sitcom, South Park pokes at Lance Armstrong and cycling's doping scandal in its latest episode.
A synopsis of the 21-minute show: "Rocked by the recent news of drug use by a beloved icon, the world is left feeling lost and betrayed. The boys, join with the rest of the nation, and remove their yellow wristbands. Everyone is on board, except for Stan, who just can't seem to cut off his bracelet."
Watch the clip here (external website)
Wilier and Lampre split
Wilier and team Lampre are splitting on bad terms after nearly 10 years together. The Italian team annulled its Wilier contract a year early and agreed to with manufacture Merida to supply bikes and become the secondary sponsor.
"They kept putting off our request for a meeting," Wilier owner, Andrea Gastaldello told Cycling Weekly. "[It's] a bad ending. We've started to work with a lawyer to see how we can be compensated for 2013."
The team will race as Lampre-Merida in 2013. This year's secondary sponsor, Ukraine's ISD is cutting back its involvement in the team.
Belgian cyclist dies in Burkina Faso
Gunther Cuylits died of a suspected heart attack on Sunday after racing the Tour du Faso.
The 37-year-old placed eighth overall and reportedly collapsed in a restaurant before travelling home. The Belgian leaves behind a wife and two children.
Riccò fights 12-year doping ban
Riccardo Riccò will be heard on December 11, announced the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Wednesday. The Italian cyclist is fighting a 12-year doping ban that the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) imposed in April.
The ban came after he nearly died and admitted to blood doping in the hospital. It was his second case after being busted for blood booster CERA in after winning two stages of the 2008 Tour de France.
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Gregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist, based in Florence, Italy. He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro, Tour de France, and every major race since 2006. His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX, before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season.
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