Contador shows that whilst winning is hard, class is even harder

In 1995 the new Rugby World Cup winners South Africa and their captain Francois Pienaar arrived in London for a friendly with England. England had not met South Africa in the tournament and the expectation was high that England could beat the World Champions. The England fullback Mike Catt, ironically South African born, was interviewed by the BBC. Catt said that South Africa were lucky to win the World Cup and that the captain Pienaar was an average player. In a separate interview the BBC, clearly looking for an angle, asked Pienaar what he thought of Catt's comments and in particular that he was average. Pienaar replied "Well I think Mike Catt is a very good player". A small thing but in one sentence Pienaar showed he had that very elusive quality which few sportsmen achieve - that as a rugby player, captain and man he had class.

There is very well known footage of Lance Armstrong crashing on a climb in the Tour following a collosion with a "spectator handbag". It is shown a lot because it is unusual, Armstrong hardly ever crashed. What is shown less is what happened further up the mountain. Jan Ullrich, Armstrong's great rival who always came off second best, slowed down and waited for Armstrong. But not only did Ullrich slow down so did his group. Ullrich showed that not only was he a class act, he was a rider with the presence to order other riders to slow down as well.

This is something Contador chose not to do.today. He chose not to do slow down for Andy Schleck nor to urge Menchov and Sanchez to do so. Was he right or not? Neither Paul Sherwin - he was wrong - and Phil Liggett - he was right - could agree on this. The ever wise Chris Boardman said afterwards that he was two minds on where he stood. What Contador did show though is that whilst he is a great cyclist who has won every grand tour he has entered, he was not able to match the class of his fellow Tour winners - not Merkx who refused the wear yellow the day after Luis Ocana crashed out, not Ullric, not Armstrong who once stopped for Ullric and not even Hinault.

So every one will have their own view on sportsmen who have shown their class.

My personal favourite is from a relatively small race in world sport - Ironman UK. A few years ago, I forget which year exactly, New Zealander Bryan Rhodes was leading the race well into the run. 10 miles from the finish he pulled up with an injury and was unable to do anything other than walk. As a pro whose living depending on triathlon, it would have been acceptable and completely understandable for Rhodes to stop and rush off to get treatment. Instead Rhodes walked the last ten miles to finish way down the field and out of the prize money. Rhodes stated afterwards that he finished to race out of respect to the event, his fellow competitors and the spectators. A class act.

And by the way South Africa beat England 24 -14.

Cyclists and broken collar bones

"Nor do I in any way approve of the modern sympathy with invalids. I consider it morbid. Illness of any kind is hardly a thing to be encouraged in others. Health is the primary duty of life."

So said Lady Bracknell in the "Importance of Being Ernest". I wonder, then, what she would have made of the modern sympathy with cyclists with broken clavicles?

Barely a day goes by in the Tour de France without one "poor malnourished individual" (as one fellow tweeter called them) lying by the side of the road, one arm hanging inactively whilst the other hands extends across hold it in an attempt to numb the pain. There then follows a deluge on twitter of pictures of the aforesaid injury usually accompanied by an optimistic pithy statement like "he's going to need surgery".

Poor Frank Schleck is the latest of appear in Twitpic glory looking forlornly at his brother Andy's iphone with his arm in a sling. Frank further illuminated us with the xray picks of his op with multiple titanium plates in place. It's a good op apparently and Frank will be hammering his turbo trainer within days.

If you look further every one seems to be doing it. Lance Armstrong did it last year and shrugged it off noting he'd cheated cycling lady luck for too long and even he had to succumb to the inevitable bike crash broken collar bone. Even class doesn't make you immune either. I read just last week that top royal tottie Zara Phillips took a fall off her pony and yes broke her collar bone. My injury reading was a biography of the great Italian cyclist Fausto Coppi. Poor lad took a fall in one of the first Giros after WW2 and yep you guessed it broke his collar bone.

I know what all this like because six weeks ago I did exactly the same thing though I can scarcely describe myself as malnourished. I hopped around the side of the road for a bit, extended my good arm to hold the bad one and looked at my Trek hoping that it was not irreparably damaged (good news it came off fine - well done clavicle you took the fall so that the Trek might live). There then followed a ride in an ambulance for the first time since I was three and then being stretchered into A&E in full cycling gear - it might have been the laughing gas but wow that felt great!

Four years ago on the other hand I took a very innocuous fall and dislocated my shoulder. Could I find anyone who had done the same thing? Certainly not any cyclists who didn't seem remotely daft enough to get an injury like that. In fact in around 6 weeks of rehab the only fellow dislocees I could find were Bryan "Captain Marvel" Robson - the image of him walking off the pitch in Mexico 86 was all that filled my mind when I was in A&E getting it put back in - and Mark Lawrenson, who kindly noted whilst commenting during the 2006 World Cup - "a dislocated shoulder is the most excrutiating pain you will ever feel". Ah thanks Lawro I think we both understand each other.

So of course avoid all crashes, accidents and the occasional falls that happen if you are going to take a road bike and ride it down a hill at some speed. But if you are going to give something a whack breaking your collar bone means that you will find no shortage of better, fitter, richer and more handsome cyclists who can say to you "I've been there too and I know your pain".

Ride safe.

Look to the bench but not at Beckham

Picking themselves up off the floor as they watched Podolski or Mueller disappear into the distance, England players may have looked to the bench and cast their eyes upon two ex-England players for guidance and inspiration.

Had they looked to the first player they would have seen the most capped outfield player ever, a multi-millionaire celebrity with a showbiz wife and more mansions than I have road bikes. No doubt this player would have shaken his head in disapproval at the performance in front of him but inwardly felt a warm wave of relief that he was not out there with his own reputation joining the many that were being crudely mangled in a ruthless display of fast counter attacking football.

But then perhaps they would have looked at a second player. His face still slim showing the rare sight of ex England player in his 40s still determined to keep himself in shape. His simple cropped hairstyle looks no different from the days when he used to play in non-league grounds around London to crowds that numbered in their hundreds. In contrast this former international is quietly seething and cannot believe the lack of passion and anger that he is witnessing on the pitch. He is not relieved not to be part of it, he is furious. He wants to be younger, he wants to boot up and get out there and restore some order and leadership on the pitch.

So contrasts David Beckham and Stuart Pearce. Two very different England internationals from two very different England eras.

I've no inclination to write extensively on Beckham. No inclination to question a player for whom personal ego has always come before the team, who somehow has outcapped players who had twice his ability and commitment, who for almost eight years has traded on excellent performances in the 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign but has never matched them since. No interest in writing that he is the single player who embodies the self-indulgent indolence and stupidity that has characterised England over the last decade. No I'd rather write about Stuart Pearce.

"Psycho" would have to be in any Top Ten Living Englishmen. A hard left back who never gave quarter nor expected none in return. A player who never hid when it got tough. A player who formed part of the core big hearted players who made the Italia 90 team now the best England side most of us are likely to see for decades. A player who learnt his trade in the lower leagues in his own words "getting the sh7t kicked out of me". A player who said that "Englishmen are more prepared to put themselves on the line than other nationalities" (subsequently how wrong he was). But likewise a player who said how impressed he was with the modesty the Germans showed in victory in that semi-final in Turin. A player who was passionate for England but who always respected other nation's and their passion.

But above all the current England players would see in Pearce a big game player for whom the tougher the opponent and the grander the occasion meant the bigger the performance because that is what you did if you pulled on an England shirt.

Capello should start with Eriksson

If Capello wants to know where to start when choosing his squad for the Euro 2012 qualifiers he should look at the example of Sven Goran-Eriksson.



After fake sheikhs, FA secretaries, the 2006 World Cup circus it's easy to forget how brightly Eriksson started as England manager in 2001. Let's remember where England were. Kevin Keegan had resigned as following a 1-0 defeat to Germany with a side that contained Adams, Keown, Le Saux and Andy Cole. Keegan had become a somewhat discredited figure following the Euro 2000 campaign. A campaign which started the trend of overinflated expectations followed by a damp squib as soon as the players started to kick a ball. The fallout contained rumours of inner cliques, card schools and Kevin Philliips attributing his failure to start to his lack of interest in golf.



Move forward ten years and this all begins to sound all too familiar - an inner clique of senior players, past their sellbuy date and immersed in their own complacency.



Acting as caretaker manager, the underated Peter Taylor paved the way for Eriksson's first game after taking a young team to a friendly with Italy. Eriksson's first squad selection shut down the card school and brought in, amongst others, Rio Ferdinand, Nicky Butt and Frank Lampard for a 3-0 win against Spain.



Now it is time for Capello to follow suit and consign the "golden generation" to the lucrative world of media punditry and after dinner speaking. Out should go Terry, Lampard, Heskey, Barry and Beckham. In should come en masse players from the U21 squad including Wilshere, Johnson, Gibbs, Walcott, Carroll and Taylor. If they aren't regulars to their respective clubs so what? At least they will be fresh and will see playing for England as a step up. The U21 side needs to be viewed as youth team for the England side where good performances merit inclusion into the England squad. Of the senior squad I would retain Gerard, surely one day an England manager is going to work out how to get the best out of our most talented player, Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand who deserve the benefit of the doubt, and Ashley Cole, who has no reason to be ashamed of his performances in the World Cup.



Capello is inheritently a conservative man. How radical is he prepared to be? We will know at England's next friendly in August. If the squad and the starting side has a familiar look to it we should resign ourselves to another disappointing tournament.