Poor Tommy! A third broken collarbone...

... well, technically, it's the same collarbone, the right one, which he has now broken three times.

He first broke it five years ago during a race, which is not unexpected, it's a typical cycling injury: like horse riders, when you fall, the tendency is to put out your hands to save yourself, and the shock ricochets up the arms and snaps the collar bone.

Then he broke it again during the Amstel Gold race last year, and he had the plate and screws taken out just 12 days ago.

Despite still being in what you might call the "recovery" phase, he went off to the Tour Down Under, and was out on a training ride when the car in front of him braked suddenly to avoid a pedestrian, and poor Tommy hit the back of the car, fell off, and snap! there it was, broken again.

Now he's languishing in the heat, and as Europcar didn't have a spare rider (must admit, I didn't think they were allowed to have "spare" riders, I thought they had to confirm their team a certain number of days before the race, and it's due to start on Monday...) they are going to be a man short this year.

Poor Tommy! Apparently he's not popular in the peloton - or at least, that's what the news reports always say - but he's quite a character, and always fun to watch, as he pulls faces and shouts at himself.

Let's hope that Frankie is luckier: do you hear me, Frankie? Be careful! He's out there now, with the rest of the team - oh, pfff, I've just opened the Trek Factory Racing website to get the names of the other riders, but it's a horrible site, all cluttered and with the black graphics ever-changing, and I can't find the page that ought to be called Calendar. So I gave up looking.

Trek, that's another "Fail" from me. Come on! Get your act together! All we want is a clear, well-structured website, where we can find what we want without having to wait several seconds for the graphic to load, then another several seconds for the graphic to swim into focus, then again for the page to scroll down a little. The current one is just too time-wasting. And I'm on my home PC, which is new: I hate to think how impossible it would be to view that website on my little laptop, or a mobile device...

Right, enough ranting for one day: I'll say "Good Luck, Frankie" and I'll be looking forward to reading the reports of the race next week. We are unlikely to get any TV coverage in the UK at all until the following week, so hopefully,  any Schlecklanders in the southern hemisphere might be able to add a comment here, now and again.

"And the award for crap kit of the year goes to.."

...  now that Footon Servelo's hideous beige/nude kit is fading into a dim memory, this award has to go to Trek Factory Racing.

Come on, guys, what are you thinking?

Black?

They look as though they are wearing surfer-dude wet-suits. Made out of the ribbed time-trial fabric that Sky used last year. (Sky, this year, have gone for the ultimate Dodgy Disco see-through net outfit, but we won't waste time with that now.)

In close-ups, they turn into natty short-sleeved pin-stripe wetsuits.  Even Fabs can't make it look stylish.

And at a quick glance at the team photos, it looks as though they are a disabled team, created to give a chance to one-armed cyclists.  No, I don't like the asymmetric look at all: when watching a cycle race, I think that it's vital to have your team looking the same, and easily spottable, from both sides. And above - ok, they managed to get TREK in biggish letters across the back, but no distinctive blob of colour to help us out in the helicopter shots.  Trek have a shield-shaped red logo - why not plaster than across the back?

Then we turn to the front - oh dear, they've made the classic poor-design mistake.

They've put the team name in medium print across the front. Yes, very nice for signing on, and for lounging around at the start, and for the occasional first-across-the-line sit-up-and-hold-up-your-arms shot (and we hope that Andy will be doing lots of those this year, hint hint) but for the other 6 hours? Have the designers ever actually watched a cycle race? They are hunched over the bars, the chest section is crumpled and invisible, and all we can see are the SHOULDERS which are almost completely bare.

Why on earth are they wasting this HUGE photo opportunity?  Lose two points, design team.

They have managed to notice that the sides, both body and shorts, play a large part in tv coverage, but instead of using one for the rider name, and one for Trek, they've put Trek on both. Thanks, guys, for ignoring the needs of us, your loyal and dedicated fans, who like to know who we are watching, and who are not always able to instantly identify a rider by his bike position. Lose two more points.

To say I'm disappointed is to put it mildly.

I haven't added any photos of this dismal kit, you can go and look at them at the Trek Factory Racing site if you don't already know what they look like - but make yourself a cup of tea before you go there, as it is so java- and graphic-heavy that it takes forever to load, and to change screens. Just like the RadioCrap site: too much emphasis on being clever, and too little thought for those on mobile devices, those with older, slower, compooters, and those who are simply not impressed by complicated manipulating of the background pics, but who want to just read the info, get the facts, and move around the site in a reasonable time.

I'm not keen on the miserable team photos either: they appear to have attempted a fifties black-and-white look, and they are all channelling Jakob in their use of hair products - either that, or they took the photos in a wind-tunnel, which could explain why hardly any of them are smiling. Didier looks as though he is facing a firing squad, Fabian looks as though he's one of the ones holding a gun, Jesse Sargeant looks as though he's on a Van der Graaf generator, Frankie looks plain grim, and even poor Andy looks somewhat sad and resigned.

The Staff photos are much nicer - relaxed, smiling, pity they didn't use that photographer for the riders.

Oh well, it can only get better, perhaps?

Jakob Fuglsang: how to conduct a tricky interview

Here in Schleckland, we all know that Jakob is an extremely good cyclist, not to mention a startlingly good-looking boy, but he's just given an interview to Cycling News that shows how his tact and diplomacy skills have improved over the last couple of years.

The interview - which I'm sure you've all read, but it's here if you haven't - is a really mean one: the interviewer asks seriously hard questions about Jakob's feelings about Bruyneel and Uncle Bjarne, whether they should be banned for life, whether Andy was working as hard as he could do, what Jakob felt about Uncle Bjarne selling the team, etc.

How on earth do you answer questions like those, with a reporter and his tape recorder in front of you, without jeopardising the rest of your career?

Answer, you do it as Jakob did - calmly, sensibly, without getting over-dramatic, and refusing to be goaded into saying anything that might be thrown back in your face later.

However, the most interesting thing - from our point of view - is where Jakob made a point within the interview about having his critics:

"It’s more the people writing on blogs here and there. They’ve not had the trust in me and didn’t believe that I could do it. I think some felt that I was a spoilt little kid who was riding on big teams."

Wow! Jakob reads blogs!! *waves enthusiastically* Hi, Jakob!  If it makes you feel any better, it's nothing personal -  you should read some of the things they write about Our Andy - it seems that any and every successful rider/athlete/pop star will have truly horrible things written about them somewhere on the internet:  the trick seems to be to ignore them.  We think you're lovely!

(As an aside, LLB asked me, in a puzzled voice, last year, "why do you always refer to 'the lovely Jakob' ?" *snorts through nose - have you not seen him?!*)

Meanwhile, somewhere in Luxembourg:

(Andy is sitting on the sofa, reading Cycling News. TinkerJil is sorting fan mail at the table. Martine is in the kitchen with Frankie, they are laughing and teasing each other as she tries to make coffee with Frankie putting mugs etc out of her [somewhat pregnant] reach. The apartment door opens, and a glorious yellow glow lights up the room.)

Andy: "Jakob! Put out that torch! Honestly, that whole yellow glow is so last year..."
(he turns and grins over his shoulder as Jakob walks in, bearing a basket of biscuits.)
Jakob: "Hey, Happy New Year everyone. What are you reading, Andy?"
Andy: "Some idiot gave an interview to that Benson bloke,  it's hilarious."
Jakob: "Who?"
Andy: "Daniel Benson - you know : "Outside of cycling, he enjoys GoPro-ing, web-developing, and serving and loving God."
Frankie: (leaning out of the kitchen) "Huh?  "
Martine: (leaning round him) "I think that's the Cyclocross Benson, isn't it?  "
TinkerJil: (looks up from huge pile of fan mail) "Yes - you mean the Benson that is the editor of Cycling News.  "
Andy: (grins) "Yep, that's the one.  "

Jakob: (plonking himself down on the sofa) "So what has this idiot been saying, then?  "
Andy: "Well, for a start, there's a comment about me not working as hard last year as I could have.  " (he pulls a threatening face at Jakob.)
Jakob: "And your point is?  "
Andy: "Aww, c'mon, cracked pelvis - cut me some slack, I had pain right down inside myself for months, and there were days when I thought I was never going to ride properly again. You can't blame me for not wanting to push myself, in case I made it worse.  "

(Jakob laughs, and punches Andy on the shoulder)
Jakob: "yeah, I know.  Better now, though, right? "
Andy: "Much better. "
Jakob: "Good. Because Astana and I are going to stomp all over your skinny little Schleck-ass this season....  "

Andy thwacks Jakob with a cushion, the dog starts barking, TinkerJil starts giggling, and the doorbell rings.

Martine answers the door. It is a courier, delivering the first box of new kit for Andy and Frankie...