2007: A year in review

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Cooke wins the sprint at the Ronde van Vlaanderen(Image credit: AFP)

Tales from the peloton, December 19, 2007

Operación Puerto investigations continue - in some places anyway: in Germany, the media reports that blood in bags marked "Son of Rudy" are confirmed to be Jan Ullrich's, and Ivan Basso (Discovery Channel) agrees to voluntarily stop competing until investigations into the bags of blood allegedly linked to him is carried out. This puts the defending Giro d'Italia champion's participation in next month's race in serious doubt.

Finally, the main event arrives for the people of northern Belgium, as everyone turns up to see local hero and former world champion, Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) win three Ronde van Vlaanderen in a row. Lanky Italian De Panne winner, Alessandro Ballan hasn't read the script though, and puts in the strongest attack of an uncharacteristically hot spring day to escape the locals just before the Muur. He hangs on to finish solo in Meerbeke.

The always-controversial Gent-Wevelgem once again doesn't fail to disappoint, as a massive crash on the descent of Kemmelberg takes out a load of riders, despite its cobbled surface being bone dry. Unibet.com sprinter Jimmy Casper is probably the worst off as he hits the ground face first, adding to Unibet.com's woes. A T-Mobile one-two sees youngster Marcus Burghardt solo away while Roger Hammond beats Oscar Freire (Rabobank) in a small group sprint.

If you thought last weekend's Ronde was uncharacteristically hot, you ain't seen nothin' yet! The hottest Paris - Roubaix in history turns the usual mudfest into a dustbowl. Given the conditions it's no surprise that a guy from South Australia takes the biggest win of his career. CSC's Stuart O'Grady solos away from about 20km out, despite having been in a large breakaway group all day. A small group arrives less than a minute behind him and Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) takes the sprint from Weisenhof's Stefan Wesemann.

The Ardennes Classics follow their usual pattern, and the usual suspects are there at the finale of all three. In the Amstel Gold, it comes down to who has the best legs on the final climb up the Cauberg, and Gerolsteiner's Stefan Schumacher takes it from team-mate Davide Rebellin. Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas) shows his form is coming together nicely ahead of next month's Giro d'Italia by coming in third.

La Fleche Wallone has an almost identical finish, as the climbers battle it out on the Mur de Huy. This time it's Rebellin who comes out on top, ahead of last year's winner Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne). Once again Di Luca completes the podium. In the women's race, anyone who though that Vos was just a sprinter is sorely mistaken as she does what no one thought possible by beating Nicole Cooke up the Mur!

The new month brings continuing woes for Ivan Basso as he and the Discovery Channel team mutually agree to go their separate ways. As more evidence appears he finally admits to the world that he was a client of Fuentes' and that (as everybody had known for ages) his dog's name is "Birillo" after all, but also claims that although he did have blood extracted and stored, he never inhaled - or something - so it was only "attempted doping".

The Landis hearing finally starts, but amongst the legal exchanges, the biggest story to emerge is Landis' business manager Will Geoghegan attempting to "dissuade" former Tour winner Greg Lemond from testifying by calling him up and pretending to be the man who abused Lemond as a child. Jaws drop all over the world, not only because we're all feeling great sympathy for Greg, but also because we're totally amazed that anyone could do something like that! After thinking about it for a moment or two, Landis fires him.

Speaking of dopes, cycling in general - but specifically in Germany and Denmark - takes a beating as most of the mid-nineties Deutsche Telekom team (now T-Mobile) confesses to varying degrees of drug use. The biggest names to 'fess-up are Rolf Aldag, Eric Zabel and Bjarne Riis, who specifically admits to doping on his way to his '96 Tour win and that it now means nothing. Organisers ASO strike him from the record.

In Sardegna, one of the most eagerly awaited Giro d'Italia gets underway, without last year's winner. "Dove Vai?" asks Liquigas captain Danilo Dil Luca as Enrico Gasparotto crosses the line first in the team time trial to take the first maglia rosa. Despite appearances, we're told that this was actually planned (yeah, right!) but Di Luca takes it off him the next day by finishing ahead of him at the stage finish.

After a transfer to the mainland, the first week is a mix of sprints and hilltop finishes as the race makes its way north up the leg of Italy. Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) is well and truly back, and Marco Pinotti (T-Mobile) wrests the maglia rosa from Di Luca after the race's first successful breakaway. He doesn't get to keep it for all that long though as the Killer gets it back on the Giro's trip over the Alps to France.

In a move to avoid more embarrassing scandals at the sport's flagship event, the UCI decides that it's going to insist that all riders taking the start of this year's Tour de France will have to sign a declaration that they won't dope, and will give up their DNA if required for the Puerto investigation. The document also forces riders to agree to give up a year's salary if they're caught doping. Whether it's legally worth the paper it's printed on is up for debate.

As the first Grand Tour of the year comes to an end, the peloton starts to look towards the next. The Criterium du Dauphiné Libéré is the usual chance for riders to test their form and check each other out before the Tour, and an important Prologue victory goes to Londoner Bradley Wiggins (Cofidis) who badly wants to win in his hometown next month. The overall eventually goes to French favourite Christophe Moreau (Ag2r-Prevoyance) after an imperious stage victory on Mont Ventoux. This, despite a bevy of stage wins from team Astana - including two from Alexandr Vinokourov, whose form is building nicely for July and his season's big target.

The pre-Tour circus continues at the Tour de Suisse, where the race is topped and tailed by World Time Trial Champion Fabain Cancellara (CSC), who takes the prologue and final time trial stage. He wants to win in London next month almost as much as Wiggins does. Vladimir Karpets (Caisse d'Epargne) gets the overall victory as the stage wins are shared around the teams - one stage is even taken by Colombian Rigoberto Uran of Unibet! Now where have I seen that team before?