The Clouds Factory

20th century philosopher Michel Foucault was particularly unusual in his methodology. Rather than concentrate on one subject he sought to gather wisdom from the study of, well, everything. History and more specifically Genealogy were his means to find answers to the concept of the self and the direction of knowledge, which can be structured by the diversification of themes: "... [Genealogy examines] the constitution of the subject across history which has led us up to the modern concept of the self." He viewed genealogy as an inquiry into the seemingly not important, but eventually crucial, parts that constitute a subject and not into the timeless condition of being. Each of these elements are indivisible from the fabric weaved into the current self.

Too soon or too late, but it's definitely an odd time to come out with this movie as the story has saturated the sport and some riders are still around, which makes it difficult from a legal and sporting point of view. I had the best seat, front row, just off the stage where later Frears, Walsh and the impeccable host Rebecca Charlton would hold a Q&A session. As cyclists we tend to have an inherent passion about our sport, we debate, argue, shout, cheer, and mimic our greatest heroes and ride in the same parcours. So when a director who has not a clue or is not remotely interested in cycling, is given the job of unravelling one of the most controversial stories in the history of cycling, nothing too good can come out of it. The film is the visual representation of 'Seven Deadly Sins', a book written by journalist David Walsh and his pursuit to unmask Armstrong's doping and the various types surrounding a systemic doping that had its pinnacle at the turn of t...

Jakob Fuglsang   Astana Pro Team No wins from him since 2012 (apart from a TTT at the 2013 Vuelta) Mark Cavendish Etixx-Quick Step All in perspective given his status as one of the fastest sprinters in history. Lots of wins but only one in the World Tour at the Tour. Outpaced by several sprinters when it mattered, this has been his worst season to date, although other riders would give their right hand to have his 2015 results. Contract not renewed Michal Kwiatkowski Etixx-Quick Step Often in the thick of it, he won the Amstel Gold Race but nowhere near his previous season. The rainbow jersey's curse strikes again Rigoberto Uran Etixx-Quick Step The Colombian was outperformed in the Grand Tours and was never a real threat all year. His form was coming on just before the Worlds, too late Heinrich Haussler IAM Cycling Winning the National championship was a good start but since then Heinrich has all but disappeared from the top tier Roberto Ferrari La...

 Stage 17  The Alps . The last hope for some, the last struggle for others. The rest day, as per script, became a stress day, with doping allegations, data crunching, numerology and mythology having their 15 minutes of fame. Then, like at the opera after the instruments are tuned up with a well rehearsed cacophony, all was ready and quiet. Well, if 50km/h and a few mountain passes can be considered quiet! A few riders tried to ride through illness and fatigue, some of those eventually had to give up. Notably, Kwiatkowski , who coincidentally has been told his contract won't be renewed by Etixx-QuickStep . But the biggest surprise was the retirement of BMC leader Tejay van Garderen , leaving the race in 3rd place. The American struggled from the start and was repeatedly dropped until he eventually threw in the towel, unable to keep up with the pace. That opened up the race for the podium.

 Stage 10  The first week is always very unpredictable, as the GC guys normally just ride through it and form is not at its peak. For those reasons many riders have been caught out by the pace and hard parcours. The Pyrenees would be a better test for many riders and stage 10 became a nuclear test! Nothing happened much until the final climb of the day, a 20km climb with over 1,200 metres of altitude gain. By the time Froome attacked with his trademark Speedy Gonzales impression on the pedals, Nibali and Contador had started to lose ground in a very unlikely fashion. Froome would go on to win by a big margin over teammate Porte and rival Quintana . Geraint Thomas proved once more to be an invaluable domestique and showed much improved climbing prowess.

 Stage 1  Controversy started even before a single rider had stepped down the ramp of the opening individual time trial. Lars Boom had shown abnormally low level of cortisol , which could mean poor health or doping. Under the MPCC rules (Mouvement pour un cyclisme credible), a voluntary organisation for professional teams with a clean-cycling ethos, Boom should have been suspended for racing for 8 days, but Astana wouldn't have it and the rider took to the start. Astana  was therefore suspended by MPCC , which is like hitting someone with a foam baton.

THE CROWDS Cycling is a sport that allows the fans to be in close proximity, for free, to its stars and heroes. That has the side effect of gathering distracted, ignorant (or potentially mean) people, alongside the vast majority of fervent supporters. So it happens that an idiot enters the course with a fixie bike and the peloton crashes to a halt, losing some of its best pieces, and almost stopping the eventual winner on day two. Then there were the idiots taking photos by leaning into the path of the oncoming peloton, causing more crashes. But, as I witnessed in person, there are no better fans than cycling fans, and Giro spectators are awesome. Everywhere there was enthusiasm (still not sure about Milan and puncturegate) and excitement, people

Dear Mr Jenkins, I am glad you've finally turned around to the idea that cyclists are not pests but human beings like everybody else. I applaud that during this last year you've taken up to cycling and it has contributed to your change of mind. What saddens me is when people of your culture have to act out a part before understanding it. It is akin to say it's ok to be racists if you don't know anyone of different ethnicity or you're not one yourself; it's ok to ignore pay inequality unless you dress and behave like a woman for a year; it's ok to inflict on the poor if one mingles exclusively with the rich. Perhaps respect and understanding should be exercised by reason and intellect. I'm a cyclist but I'm no hero, it's just what I do and should be allowed to do without the aggression and rage thrown at me on a daily basis in the streets of London. I shouldn't have to wait for every Londoner to get on a bike for a year before they u...