The circus comes back to town

CyclingNews.com | Unibet.com repeats in Marseillaise

So the European racing season kicked off today, with the perfect winner, Jeremy Hunt of the ? and the Mysterians team. Pro wrestling doesn't have such improbable story lines. Telemundo telenovelas don't even have such improbable story lines.

I mean, what are the odds that in the very race where Tyler Freaking Hamilton his-own-self came back to the peloton, we would have a team raising questions 2 feet tall?

These Unibet.com guys are the perfect poster boys for the pro posse: They just dropped Carlos Quesada, apparently over his possible role in Operacíon Puerto, the scandal that just won't die. Meanwhile, the UCI and the Grand Tours are fighting over who gets to run the races. The UCI wants to add teams to the ProTour, and the Grand Tours want the flexibility to invite some wild cards. The puck getting slapped around by the UCI and the Grand Tours? That's right: Unibet.com.

They've been informed that the ASO (organizer of the Tour de France) can't make room for them at Paris-Nice, and that they're not welcome at the Vuelta a España. So today at the GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, conflict turned to comedy as race officials told the team they couldn't wear their team jerseys, since they advertise a gambling company beside the French state-run lottery and casinos, in possible violation of French law. This led to the clown costumes that Jeremy Hunt wore to victory today.

And let's not even talk about Landis, Ullrich, or Basso. Or Pereiro's (and dozens of others') Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).

Next up, the Etoile de Besseges.