WIGGINS AND CAVENDISH FACE 'PLAN B' AFTER GIRO SNUB

Bradley Wiggins Bob Stapleton

Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish had planned to use the Giro d?Italia as a key part of their preparation for the Olympic Games.

Team High Road?s exclusion from the Italian grand tour looks to have thrown a spanner in the works, but Great Britain?s performance director Dave Brailsford is not panicking.

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WHAT ELSE IS ON?
Alternative stage races
May 6-11 Four Days of Dunkirk
May 19-25 Tour of Catalonia
May 28-June 1 Bayern Rundfahrt
June 4-8 Tour of Luxembourg
June 4-8 Bicicleta Vasca
June 8-15 Dauphiné Libéré
June 14-22 Tour of Switzerland

With speculation that the team?s chickens have come home to roost after the doping controversy that dogged its previous incarnations, Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile, Brailsford reiterated his support for the American owner, Bob Stapleton.

He took over from Olaf Ludwig after the Operacion Puerto scandal.

?I don?t think this decision by the Giro d?Italia can in any way be taken as a negative reflection on Bob,? said Brailsford.

?We have key members of our team at High Road and we are very confident that the team is run on a clean basis by very professional people.?

But the exclusion of High Road and Astana gave Brailsford a reminder that fostering good relations with race organisers is the key to having a successful British pro team in future. ?What would guarantee us places in the big races?? he asked. ?To have good personal relations with the people in charge at ASO, RCS and the UCI.?

PICTURE Bob Stapleton meets Bradley Wiggins.

RELATED LINKS

Astana and High Road left out of Giro

Comment: Shocking decision by Giro organisers

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Sports journalist Lionel Birnie has written professionally for Sunday Times, Procycling and of course Cycling Weekly. He is also an author, publisher, and co-founder of The Cycling Podcast. His first experience covering the Tour de France came in 1999, and he has presented The Cycling Podcast with Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe since 2013. He founded Peloton Publishing in 2010 and has ghostwritten and published the autobiography of Sean Kelly, as well as a number of other sports icons.