Sorry Jo…

A bit of sport, but not too much and not the usual suspects.

This years Tour de France inspired my to get my bike out again, with a lot of help from Neal. Unfortunately, neither I nor my umpteenth-hand racer bear much similarity to what I've been reading about, but what a fantastic race it's been - despite a number (let's not be too specific) of the competitors being on drugs, there have been epic battles, surprises and romance - the return to Mont Ventoux, the mountain which killed Tom Simpson and regularly ends races and careers, Wiggins's results and Cavendish's battle with Thor Hushovd have produced a stunning spectacle. I particularly liked Cavendish/Hushovd's end to their rivalry: yesterday they conspired to put on a 50 metre sprint at the end of a stage and ended it dead-level, grinning madly.

There's just something about the Tour which transcends the grubbiness of the money-and-drugs circus surrounding it. The hugely unreasonable demands on bodies, the fans' obsession, the personal battles and the huge respect felt for those who drag themselves thousands of kilometres without any hope of even a stage win, particularly the Lanterne Rouge (the man at the back).

In other sports news, my brother's made his final (official/professional) appearance in the newspapers, which I thought was worth recording:

STOKING OFF

Owners attempting to slip amusing or risque names past the censor, can breathe a sigh of relief. Owen [Vole], communications officer at the British Horseracing Authority, who has taken pride in stopping potentially embarrassing monikers from making their way onto racecards, is to leave next month in order to pursue a legal career. His first stop will be a year back in the classroom at Keele University.

The ever-affable [Vole] has often been the first port of call for many a racing journalist when pursuing a story, but his portfolio of tasks has also included dealing with angry punters who regularly ring to vent their spleen about apparent non-triers. "It's not always been easy. I remember someone on the Betfair forum once called me 'The Comical Ali of the BHA' after I defended the ride given by a particular jockey," he told Tattenham Corner.

"I started working under John Maxse at the Jockey Club in 2001 and quickly learnt what the job entailed with the Panorama and Kenyon Confronts investigations. The worst name that I ever managed to let through was a horse called Skanky Biscuit, although I later went back and checked the date it was approved and it was the first day of a skiing holiday, so I obviously had my mind elsewhere. "Now I am returning to Stoke, the city of my birth, and home of the greatest team in the Premier League."