Salvo Montalbano

European Cup? Inter-cities Fairs Cup/UEFA Cup? Games for Rangers or Celtic at Hampden maybe?

Was another good race yesterday. Not sure about the new Sky tactic of sending Kennaught up the road (is this to force Movistar to up the pace?) but with the second and third riders in GC it's up to Movistar to dictate the race now. How much do you think Froome could make up on Quintana and Valverde in the time trial?

Bayer is a pharmaceutical company. Bayern with an n is the German name for Bavaria. And Leverkusen is nowhere near Bavaria, it's in North Rhine Westphalia near Köln and Dortmund (you pass the stadium as you drive between the two IIRC). Apart from that though...

Not sure if that was to do with condition, a tactical error or what. Strange to see Froome attack quite early without having the Sky train blow apart Movistar first as Quintana still looked pretty fresh. I know there's a time trial later which should suit Froome but he'll need to make sure he gets a wee bit closer before he can think about winning in Madrid.

Back in the days of grounds having mostly terracing, my dad would always want us to sit in the stand so for a lot of years it was interesting seeing the different seating areas. Raith and Dundee Utd both had those weird L shaped stands which I liked but always imagined would look great if they extended further round. Tannadice in particular was impressive since it hangs over the road outside. It's a shame the seats were uncomfortable and had no legroom. The best bit about East End Park before the new stands came up was the dressing room doors leading out to the pitch with a little set of stairs between them and the playing surface. It was expecially neat if you sat in the stand because you could tell by the roar from the cage that the players were coming out before you could see them. These days, I like the fact that the front row at NDP is high up with the toilets and coffee bar beneath - you're going to get a good view wherever you sit and you can see the game while waiting for food and drink.

Aye, it's amazing how many top athletes have "athletic induced asthma". More good racing today with the peloton a bit all over the place. Another crash near the finish with Bertie taking the brunt again and Valverde picking up some bonus seconds for a third place finish.

I thought Froome actually finished ahead of the others? Before the times were neutralised I mean. Good that the organisers have apologised for the bollard being in the road but it's no consolation for the guy who has had to abandon. More great racing today, it's always interesting in the Vuelta when the breakaway has a chance and there have been plenty of great efforts already in this race. Quite surprised there was a big effort from Movistar to get the stage win though when they have Valverde and Quintana going for the GC win. In the end it didn't work and a great attack from Yates saw him take advantage.

That was crazy steep. Did Fernández just not realise there was another guy further up the road? Will be tough for Bertie to make the time up.

Strange. A mate of mine phoned up the night before the final a few years back and got a ticket no bother. Might have been since he was just after a single ticket and not a pair or more. It was a bit of a thrashing for whomever lost since they were planning an exhibition frame or two if it didn't go long enough into the final session.

Didn't expect that, I had thought Orica Greenedge (as I can't stop calling them) or BMC would have taken it. Interesting stage today too with several attacks failing in the final few kms before 2 crashes in the final stages before the bunch sprint. Looking forward to the first mountain stage and the possibility of an early Bertie attack.

Looked like a horrendous place to watch football from the highlights tonight.

Thought it would have survived into a second season, especially with it being an HBO show where they tend to allow programmes to grow. The worst thing about American TV is when they cancel a show without telling the writers well in advance, leaving you wanting to know what happens next. Ray Romano was great in that show and his look at the end of the finale had me wondering what was coming next.

I ate in a restaurant that had been on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares before (not that I'd seen the show) and they seemed to be proud of the fact. Strange. I'm not sure if they had new owners or some such because it really was excellent. I liked Breaking Bad but couldn't get into it as much as many others. The Wire though I thought was excellent. My othet half was the exact opposite. She thought it took too long to get going and didn't like it at all until about midway through season three. If you like it straight off the bat, you'll love it when it gets really, extraordinarily good.

For sure. Although they spent a lot of money on the North Stand increasing the food outlets and stuff for the Commonwealth Games too remember. It's been done though - there are plenty of stadia in Germany where they've done away with the running track to make an "English-style" as they call it stadium and of course the Delle Alpi was converted very successfully albeit at quite high cost. Unless Glasgow wants to bid for a World Championship Athletics or another Commonwealth Games there's no real need to have the track at Hampden any longer. Actually seeing the goals from behind the other set would be a nice bonus.

Nor me? He was at Euro 2016!

Tell me that wasn't also on the BBC website?

That second tier is going to give an awful view. I take it that's the area away fans and the cheap local tickets they promised will be in?

Team GB is short for Team Great Britain and Northern Ireland, just as the British Lions is often used but is sometimes and more accurately known as the British and Irish Lions. But of course you knew that.

Cheers, I knew I'd heard something like that but I wasn't paying close enough attention. If a semi-pro (I guess) RL team can do it then it's hard to see why an NFL team can't.

To be fair to the BBC, the European fixtures are always kept separately (just as they are on betting websites and other sources such as Sky Sports) and it is the same for English fixtures when there are European games on.

I Sky plussed it. The two they've done before with the Sky team have been good. On Armisted, I see she's released a statement saying that she did protest the first missed test with a written explanation but that it wasn't accepted at the time (I wonder why CAS accepted it when UKAD didn't), and that another missed test was due to the person who was assigned to make sure she didn't miss another leaving his post. All seems a bit too much like a Parlour Farce to me? In other news, the UCI have increased the number of World Tour events and now the Tour of California and London-Surrey Classic are included at that level.

The USA considering a bid for the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. I think I heard the other day that RL is getting some good participation numbers in North America now. Will be interesting to see if they take the plunge and go over there.

There are several extenuating circumstances there though. They are in a proper state. Hopefully they sort themselves out.

Nicholas Roche also leaving Sky to join BMC. Seemed to never do much at Sky - you'd think with his grand tour experience he'd be leading the team at the Giro or Veulta or be one of Froome's super-domestiques for the TdF.

Super League in rugby used to do something like your 12 team solution which meant 4 lots of Wigan v St Helens and Leeds v Bradford games and close games neat the end of the season. At least that's how I remember it. Maybe one of the big RL fans can confirm that. It certainly seemed to work and there weren't too many complaints (although there are also play offs to decide the champions which had never really been a popular suggestion in football).