Dear Roulers,

The last 3 weeks have been a blur with my work life intruding into my quality time on on the bike and blog.  I can say that I have passed the 4,000 Km mark in goal to ride 5,000 Km this year.  However, I have been remiss in my coverage of the La Vuelta , all the interesting personnel movements between the UCI men’s teams and the World Championships in Richmond USA. In the order of most recent events first, means I should really say something about this guy….Michael Matthews.

Bugger…. second to Peter Sagan is an amazing effort, particularly when the rest of your team is riding for someone else.  Who was it…oh yeah… Simon Gerrans who finished 6th.

There doesn’t appear to be much love between these two and you have to wonder whether Michael Matthews might move on from Orica-GreenEdge at the end of his contract. Robbie McEwan seems to have hit the nail pretty much on the head, I  refer to Exhibit A your Honour – Robbie McEwen thinks a rift could form between Michael Matthews and Simon Gerrans by David Polkinghorne.  I hope that doesn’t eventuate, its kind of cool to see a mainly Australian team going round in the UCI.

Speaking of Orica-Greenedge and La Vuelta, how good is this guy going to be, Esteban Chaves, 5th in the La Vuelta with a couple of stage wins, is seriously good going.  How good is he going to be with a few more seasons experience.

So on to team movements…Is there going to be anybody left at Astana by the end of the year.  If the rumours are true that Team Sky have snared Mikel Landa and Michal Kwiatkowski, which adds some serious firepower to their team.  I can say is Richie who…..??

So I’m not sure when the next blog entry will be, as I’m on holidays in Europe for 4 weeks.  I have serious trips planned to some of the better bike shops in London and Madrid.

So until next time, ride well and stay safe.

Marv