Aussie 1-2 in Olympic test TT

What does it mean? Not a lot. Evans was 2nd in the test RR and now Evans and Rogers are 1 and 2 in the test TT. Against good but not the best competition. As a result it shows little but as a test of how Beijing will cope with the road cycling events it's a step forward. The Aussies weer there to test the facilities and scope the course, so it's job done. It at least means they know the course more intimately than the likely top-flight competition.

CN reports here on the 23km TT.

Aussie ProTour pipedream?

There's been talk but little action. Now we see Yahoo and CN are reporting some pretty weak but hyped news, though: "Roamfree.com has shed some light on its ProTour intensions, after announcing earlier this week it would throw $20 million dollars behind an Australian ProTour team. The Australian company, owned by former Australian Rules footballer turned businessmen Tony Smith, has revealed its eight figure pledge will be made over a period of five years, meaning another estimated $15 million in additional funding is required to make the plan viable."

Yawn.

Roamfree is an online accommodation service, so we can see the links here. An Aussie ProTour team would certainly need to roam around a bit. And the travel links nicely into tourism and government support. But do we need this? Why an Aussie team? What's wrong with just a Aussie corporate ProTour team of mixed nationality? Why not beef up one of the existing Aussie-based Continental pro teams? I'm all for giving Australians a chance to race as pro cyclists, and I like the idea of improving the image of cycling in Australia, but I really think that national teams are a side issue and a distraction.

National squads are a convenient label that we have become used to, especially at the Olympics, but they attract as much flag-waving-nutter hypocrisy as genuine support. It could become just another political lever for a government. A lever that is as easy to push to "off" as it is to "on". Instead let's distance ourselves from politics and nationalism and ground our professional cycling teams on rock, not shifting sands. If there is some bedrock under this suggestion, let's see that commitment.

Joe Lewis gets gastro, wins 100 Euros

From Cyclingresults.net, an excellent read from Joe Lewis. It's a gripping tale of gastro followed by some smart attacking after the prime to win the race. This is not an Aussie crit.

A win for Gilmore, McGee still up there

Speedy Gilmore had another win... and Brad's obviously flying at the moment. It was Zabel's 13th D-Tour win and Voigt retained yellow, btw.

Aussies dominate Junior Track Worlds

The Aussie juniors seem to be lighting up the track...from CN: The Australian team added another two gold and two silver medals to their collection overnight to finish on top of the medal table in the track events at the Junior World Championships being raced at altitude in Aquascalientes, Mexico. The latest victories came in the women's points race and the men's 1km time trial with Australia claiming silver in the Madison and women's keirin to give the Australians a final event tally of seven gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

Aussies elsewhere

Best we note that Aussies Sam Hill and Tracey Hannah have each had a win in their respective World Cup MTB Downhill events.. and remarkably that Drapac-Porsche development squad rider Stuart Shaw (10th) was best placed Aussie in a wet and wild Stage 2 of the Tour of Austria. Bravo! Plenty of good riders dropped on this stage, and local Point Clare rider and CCCC member Phil Thuaux is either suffering from supporting Stuart during the stage, the bad weather, illness, or perhaps the sheer effort of the stage itself, coming in 17 minutes behind the leader. Did he make the time limit? He's Lantern Rouge at the moment.

Nice win for McEwen at Tirreno-Adriatico

A short sprint out of a corner on a tight finishing straight... does that sound like McEwen country? Sure was. CN report here.

Aussie Henk wins for Toyota United

CN reports here on a stage win by Henk Vogels, for Toyota United, in the Central Valley Classic.

Rory Sutherland scored a 2nd place in the previous day's TT.