Retro Cycling Vintage

Hot:

DAVID DUFFIELD 2001…..

Josepi Beloki, following in the footsteps of Lance Indurain.

Air-conditioning wasn't invented when they built that hotel in 1821 - no, I'm exaggerating! (describing a hot night passed in a beautiful old hotel).

So, the river running through here, cooling air from it's hot and sticky day.

Mike's got all this information stashed in his head. The old grey cells were going click, click, click, and they wouldn't actually put themselves to pieces!

In the Tour of Italy, he either took his foot off the pedal or did the same thing.

(no context missing here!)

Pantani was like half a yard of popcorn! (reminiscing over riders' weights).

We were at the ad break, so you couldn't smell the barbeque going full tilt!

We would have no room to swing a cat…….I shouldn't let cats out of the bag!

He (a rider) looks a little young to be out of school.

Sean Kelly, the man who used to eat peat for breakfast!

Soloradathama (= solo ride in the mountains).

Wachashiza (= world championships in Zurich).

If you,re licking your lips at the prospect of a bunch sprint…I'm licking my lips at the swimming-pool inside the chateau. (an aerial view near the end of a flat stage).

I'm sure a lot of people when they get home will find their kids have snitched the sheets from the bed and put them up in the sky. (roadside banners).

A little bit of speculation flowing from the lips of Sean Kelly? Can I stick your neck out?

(Much pondering over how enormous a penny-farthing would need to be to get a big top gear)…in case you're wondering why they don't ride them anymore!

Hot:

Summer just wouldn't be the same without the three week insight into Le Grande Boucle that David Duffield provides us with. Every day he can be heard on the television for up to 7 hours a day commentating for Eurosport on the Tour de France without a break. Very often he is assisted by either his nemesis Russell Williams or his hero Sean Kelly but he will always have more to say than his co-commentator and very often he says it at the wrong time. How many times have we shouted at the screen when David is hunting out obscure facts from the 1950s:

"Dave , the break! "
"Dave , look , Pantani has blown!"
"Dave, fer chrisakes tell us what is going on."

Only for David to tell us that "Aah , something is going on here...." which we guessed might have been the case already.

For those of you who have never come across David before, this might sound off-putting, but have you ever considered how difficult it is to commentate non stop for 7 hours whilst sitting in a windy gantry at the top of an Alpine mountain, trying to find the apple that was going to sustain you throughout the rest of the day which has just dropped on the floor and rolled under the desk of your German colleagues? No, I bet you hadn't but these are the sort of things that David has to get through every time there is cycling on the television.

We are very lucky to have someone of David's calibre entering into our homes bringing us the latest news from the peloton. Sure he gets it wrong from time to time but you get used to it and you admire the way he gets himself out a pickle in the same way Will Hay would always come out on top against heavily stacked odds. We need characters like David; motor racing has Murray, boxing had Harry , cricket had Johnners, football has Motty and thankfully cycling has Duffers.

With this in mind we would like to dedicate a small part of our Agreeable World to David Duffield.

David Duffield Cycling Commentator

"Hats off to you David!" or "Chapeaux" as you frequently say.

If you have got any more info on David we would love to add it to our list. Likewise we would like you to send us any Duffield speak that you hear on Eurosport.

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