Comeback Brits

Last weekend saw the first meeting of the Cycling World Cup series. Taking place in Manchester, this was a chance for the British team to establish a strong start to the series and to continue the success they have enjoyed over recent years.

It also saw the return of Sir Chris Hoy to international cycling competition after a lengthy lay off with a hip injury that saw him miss the World Championships earlier in the year and only returning at the British Championships in October.

So how did it go? Well, 11 Golds were won by Brits, with Hoy (riding for the Sky+ HD team) winning three of them. A superb achievement - here's hoping they can build on this in the next round in Melbourne in a couple of weeks. It should be noted that some of our riders have now qualified for the World Championships next year and will be concentrating on training instead.

Another Brit making a comeback this week was Andy Murray. After several weeks out of competition with a wrist injury, and having slipped down back down the rankings from 2nd to 4th, he was competing in the Valencia Open. He was top seed but how would he perform after so long out?

The answer: he won his 6th tour title of the year. Next stop: The Paris Masters ahead of a trip to the O2 at the end of November for the final tournament of the year - the ATP World Tour Finals - at which only the top 8 compete.

So, onwards and upwards for Hoy and Murray - both proving that they have the competitive edge to see them through set-backs and get back to winning ways.

Andrew

P.S. Our Para-cycling team has also enjoyed a great deal of success this weekend, winning 14 medals (10 of them Gold) at the World Championships this weekend.

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The Brits are Flying...

I've got a question:

Which of the following events do you think will be widely reported on the news tonight?

1. 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton wins his first Grand Prix of the year with a commanding performance in Hungary.

2. In just two years, and at the age of 24, Mark Cavendish has become the first British man to win more than 8 stages at the Tour de France .

3. Bradley Wiggins has finished fourth in the Tour, matching the previous record for a British man in the competition.

The answer, of course, is the first one. Formula 1 is loved and followed by millions of people. It's a sport in which the Brits have a great history and heritage and where a number of teams have their bases. It's glamourous, wealthy and highly commercial.

Cycling, by contrast, is a bit of a cinderella sport. While it has benefited from National Lottery funds, and a governing body which has invested in a training infrastructure designed to achieve World and Olympic medals, it has not really reached into the popular consciousness in the same way.

Despite the haul of cycling golds at last years Olympics, precious few people will be aware of the continuing plaudits achieved by our cyclists. Indeed, few people will be interested in cycling until the 2012 Olympics roll round.

Now, I'm not wanting to be hypocritical about this. I'm not pretending I've been following every twist and turn of Mark Cavendish's achievements in the past year while I have been following every twist and turn of F1. I'm not expecting cycling to become the focal point of sports bulletins or the BBC to broadcast "Ride of the Day"

The point I want to make is that we have sportspeople out there, in various sports, competing either directly or indirectly for this country week in, week out. And when they achieve personal bests or outperform their predecessors, we owe them a bit more than an "and finally" in the news.