Recently in Vuelta a Espana Category

One of the joys of the internet age is that publishing is so swift and global that I can read stuff from news sources that I might never have known about. For example, The Oregonian is unlikely to be on the news stands of West London, but its internet presence oregonlive.com is available in my living room.

Which is good for me as it means I can read the excellent Freewheeling with Chris Horner blog on their site.

Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer have nicknamed him "the redneck" I think on account of his love of big trucks and motocross but it does him a massive disservice as he's pretty literate for a redneck. Indeed the insight he gives into being a pro rider is among the best out there.

He's currently riding the Vuelta where it looks like he's going to be given a chance to stretch his legs and see whether he can rediscover the form he was enjoying at the Giro earlier this year before yet another twist of misfortune saw him out with injury yet again.

You can also catch him on twitter at twitter.com/hornerakg

And while I'm mentioning cycling blogs worth reading, you should check out 6 Years In A Rain Cape which is written by Joe Parkin, author of A Dog in a Hat and a former professional himself.

You can catch him on twitter as well at twitter.com/joeparkin

And you can buy A Dog in a Hat on Amazon, it's subtitled "An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium" which gives you at least four good reasons to buy it (your reasons may vary).

PS. I've still not scored a point, despite a fantastic "death or glory" effort with two laps to go which held off the bunch for a lap or so. Was too far back to get involved in the bunch sprint and sat up when someone got spooked and locked it up in front of me.

For the riders, it's the heat, the wind, the Netherlands (WTF?), the mountains and the bleached scenery. For me it's trying to find an angle to write about the damned thing. Well, I managed it in the end:

Read "Has the Vuelta lost its way?" on BBC Sport

That journalistic trick of asking a question then not entirely answering it in several hundred words once again proves its worth and allows me to mention most of the important information that I could knock together off the top of my head in a couple of hours.

I am going to be watching, I'm just not sure how excited I can get about it.

Andy Schleck is, on paper, the odds on favourite based on recent Grand Tour performance but I'm intrigued by an article on Velonews in which Sean Yates says Chris Horner will get a crack at the GC:

Read Yates: 'Horner will get his chance at Vuelta' on velonews.com

Like everyone else I had assumed that Vinokourov had got his Astana bat and ball back and he would decide who gets to play with it.

My lucky girlfriend is going to be in Spain when it passes through the Valencia/Alicante/Murcia stretch so might (if I can figure out before she goes away) get to watch some of it roadside.

From what I remember of the last time I was in Spain when it was on, it's also wall-to-wall on Spanish telly throughout the afternoon when it's otherwise a bit too warm for being outside. But for me it's Eurosport live in the office when I can and highlights in the evening when I can't.