Abt busy: profiles of Mayo, Simoni

IHT | A brooding rebel with many causes

NYTimes.com | Basque Cyclist, Mayo, Enjoys Salad Days on Tour

Samuel Abt, the best English-language cycling writer, offers up profiles of Euskaltel-Euskadi's Iban Mayo (in the New York Times) and Saeco's Gilberto Simoni (in the International Herald Tribune).

On Simoni, the lead is my favorite:

You don't have to be Sigmund Freud or even a Dick Tracy Junior G-Man to figure out that when Gilberto Simoni failed to sign in for two consecutive days at the start of stages in the Tour de France he was betraying a certain reluctance to continue in the race.

Mayo has tired of The Question (have you peaked too early?):

"I've been asked one hundred times and I keep saying the same thing: No. My preparation has gone wonderfully but I still have room to improve. Last year at the Dauphiné," he continued, referring to a weeklong mountainous race in France in June, "I was better than I am now, so I still have room to improve." He finished that Dauphiné in second place, behind Lance Armstrong.

Abt has tired of The Pun (although he couldn't resist "Mayo Can Still Lay It On Thick" used ironically).