Cleared...Fired...Retired: Pick Two

As far as Mongo is concerned, the Pro Cycling season doesn't begin until it reaches the Northern Hemisphere and passes through the sham of the Tour Of Qatar and the barely respectable, Tour Of Oman. Yes, I know it's warm and the locals have lots of money and chicks and stuff, but I've seen more interesting racing at the local Recumbent Criterium. So...that brings us to the recently completed Volta ao Algarve, the ongoing Vuelta a Andalucia, and the upcoming "Mini-Classics", Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.

I am looking forward to this season. Mostly because Pro Cycling is in a precarious position. With credibility and sponsorship hard to find and two of it's biggest stars of the past decade plagued with controversy, what happens this year, both on and off the road, will go a long way in determining the future of the sport.

The good news is that the peloton is still full of talent. The bad news is that the bureaucracy is still riddled with greed and corruption. Nobody wants to give up their piece of the pie to facilitate a more efficient, transparent, system. Mongo is still a firm believer that talent always wins out in the end.