Tour De France News
EDINBURGH BID FOR TDF GRAND DEPART
Today a report will go before a full meeting at the City of Edinburgh Council seeking approval for £1.03m funding to host the Tour de France Grand Depart in 2017. With British cycling never been so popular it’s only fitting that Edinburgh are fully supported in their bid to bring the World’s most renowned Cycling event to the Capital in 2017.
Things have never looked better for British cycling with the success of Team GB at the Olympics, Bradley Wiggins becoming the first British cyclist to win the TDF, Team Sky being so prominent in the world of Pro Cycling, winning the Team Championship of 2012 and with Glasgow hosting the 2014 Commonwealth games.
The proposal is for presentation of the teams at Edinburgh Castle with the opening prologue taking place along the Royal Mile, Holyrood Palace, the Scottish Parliament and Holyrood Park, with up to three further stages proposed South of Edinburgh before returning to France.
Reports suggest that hosting the event could generate between £45 to £55m to the national economy. This proposal is not all plain sailing as a counter bid from Yorkshire is also rumoured to in the pipelines.
WIGGINS – “MY GOAL IS TO WIN THE TOUR DE FRANCE NEXT YEAR”
Interestingly Wiggins has spoken on BBC5 Live stating “My goal is to win the Tou de France next year“. Now this comes as a bit of a shock and surprise, especially since little over a week ago Team Sky confirmed that Chris Froome would lead the charge for TDF glory next year with Wiggins target being the Giro d’Italia.
Don’t know what’s going on at Team Sky at the moment but one thing is certain, it’s going to be an interesting season in 2013! Team Sky have several vacancies in their management team since enforcing their strict doping policy and asking all members of the team, riders, coaching staff and management to sign a disclosure document stating that they have never used illegal drugs or been involved in the administration of banned performance enhancing substances. As a consequence several members left the team or slipped quietly into retirement avoiding the need to address the issue.
KATUSHA DROPPED FROM WORLD TOUR
With the shock news that No-2 ranked Pro Cycling Team Katusha have not been issued their International Union Licence for season 2013, which prevents them racing in the world most prestigious races including the Tour de France, the rumour mills have been churning with suggestions that Team Sky could move for world number 1 Joaquim Rodriguez.
Mystery still surrounds the reasons to why Katusha’s licence was not issued to them for the forthcoming season, but I’m sure light will be shed on the situation in the near future.
LOCAL NEWS – Innerleithen MTB Chairlift Granted Planning Permission
Exciting news on a local basis this time as Innerleithen has been granted planning permission to install a bike chairlift. Now all that’s needed is for the local community to find the £5m required to fund the project!
Should the funding be found it’s expected that the project will create 100 new jobs. Figures going about just now suggest that the new bike chairlift will be capable of transporting 1,200 people an hour to the top.
