This little bit of footage will make some pretty uncomfortable viewing for everyone involved with Harlequins. I love Barnsey’s comment – “the only person who has punched Tom Williams, is Tom Williams” – how prophetic?

Richards has gone, Williams is suspended, club about to be thrown out of the European cup – and the season doesn’t start for another couple of weeks.

I’m not normally a Trek fan, but the belt-drive single-speed District is a seriously cool piece of kit. I want one.

Kristian House upset the odds, and a couple of better-known pros, by winning the British National Championship Road Race last month. These great photos from Rouleur sum up the relief and emotion perfectly.

If you’ve got Lance Armstrong in a press conference don’t wind him up with those pesky questions about his drug-buddies, Basso and Landis. Oh and don’t describe him as the cancer that has returned to the sport.

Football humour is cruel and sometimes very funny. This just about sums it up.

(via The Guardian )

Just as Twenty-20 cricket has provided a huge shot-in-the-arm for live county cricket in this country, Nasser Hussain has had a similar impact in the previously stuffy, old-boys network of the commentary box. This clip from Saturday’s Twenty-20 Cup final between between Middlesex and Kent sums up exactly what I mean.

This is Damon and I getting ready to ride the Dragon Race on Sunday. I was psyched-up, carbo loaded and my Assos arse cream anaesthetic was starting to kick in. Then disaster struck.

Literally on the way to the starting line Damon discovered that he had managed to snap the bolt that connects his saddle to his seat post. The prospect of riding 100 miles plus of undulating Welsh countryside without a saddle - Assos arse cream or no Assos arse cream - was not on the agenda and after an unproductive search for a replacement bolt, we had to concede that it was a non-starter.

So, sucking my stomach in for this photo was about the most strenuous thing I did all day.

This Saturday's 20th stage of the Giro d'Italia between Rovetta and Tirano features three of the most brutal climbs in world-wide pro-cycling including the Passo Gavia - a mere 2,618 metre climb with some sections at 24% gradient. Little wonder Diquigiovanni team boss, Gianni Savio, described the 214km stage as a "horror show".

It is somewhat fitting, though, that the Gavia features in the 2008 tour as it's the 20th anniversary of probably the bravest ride in history which gave the Giro one of it's most iconic images. In the 1988 tour Andy Hampsten simply refused to give in to the elements on the Gavio, finishing the stage second and taking the overall leader's pink jersey in the process. He never gave up the lead after that and became the first non-European to win the race.

Since he returned to the peloton after his drug-ban, Britain's David Miller has pretty much become the poster-boy for substance-free cycling.

Never one to hide his emotions, this is how he dealt with the disappointment of his chain breaking within a kilometre of the end of a 180km stage of the Giro d'Italia, last week. I'm assuming he checked for spectators first!

I completed my first cyclosportive of the Summer yesterday - 80kms of the North Downs in Surrey. Whilst I was rather-vainly looking for photos of myself at the event, I stumbled upon this great little mapping site, Map My Ride, where you can look up the routes and distances of literally thousands of rides - here's the May Flyer route - or create a new one yourself.

Talking of bikes, my new steed arrives (hopefully) this weekend. Will go very nicely with my new silver Sidis! (Mine will have pedals too!)

In the week that two great servants of English sport - Johnny Wilkinson and Steve Harmison - were dropped from the national rugby and cricket sides respectively and another sporting icon - Michael Owen - prepares for Championship football next year, I couldn't help thinking back to when the three of them lined up together in better times to promote their mutual sponsor - Northern Rock!

Now, who are Bear Stearns sponsoring....?

As if spending a weekend in Wales wasn't bad enough (only joking, I love Wales), I'm going to be spending Sunday 15th June on the Dragon Ride in South Wales, a totally full-on cyclosportive covering a not-inconsiderable 180KMs and the small matter of 3,000 meters of climbing!

This has been booked as a pre-cursor and a moment-of-truth as to whether I will complete the equally vicious Etape Du Tour, a 165KM stage of the Tour de France, which I am also committed to doing three weeks later (although my finger is still hovering over the book now button on the Etape web site!).

The Dragon Ride is still only 75% full (surprise), so if anyone fancies 9 hours non-stop cycling in the Valleys, sign up now.

Traditionally, professional cyclists win races either by putting in hours of relentless training or by taking more performance-enhancing drugs than the other competitors.

In this year's Tour Down Under, Elia Rigotto introduced a new weapon in the cyclist's armoury - the "Zidane". Here, Matthew Hayman takes the full force of Rigotto's head-butt and ends stage 4 with a broken collarbone.

Whilst all the focus has been on the inclusion of Danny Cipriani and Lesley Vainikolo in the England squad for the first match of this year's Six Nations, the player I'm most excited about seeing is the Leicester flanker, Tom Croft.

Despite being only 22, Croft is already a fist team fixture at Welford Road and you can see why. He is tall, athletic, can play second-row, 6 or 8 and he has absolutely blistering pace. Rumour is that he is second fastest in the Leicester squad over 100 meters just behind winger Tom Varndell.

Here is his quite stunning 60 meter effort against the New Zealand Maori last year at Twickenham - the try that won us the Churchill Cup.

There has always been some friendly animosity between Tottenham and Newcastle United fans. Maybe it's because the clubs have traded their best players to each other over the years - Carr, Gascoigne, Ginola, Ferdinand, Waddle etc. - or maybe it's that both sets of fans long for past glories and cling to the idea that their clubs are still in English football's "big six". I don't know.

But it's no surprise that the Tottenham fans are enjoying a huge slice of shadenfreude with the events at St. James Park at the moment, epitomised by the heart-over-head appointment of Kevin Keegan as the new head coach.

So what a great excuse to roll-out his greatest moment - the Sky Sports interview when he demonstrated why he'll never join English football's management elite.

I'd love it if they got relegated!

British boxing is going through a bit of a purple patch at the moment with something like seven World title holders. Unfortunately, due to the ridiculously fragmented nature of the various belts and weights, Junior Witter will remain more famous as an answer in Dr Martin Owton's pub quiz rather than as the WBC Superlightweight World Champion!

No such obscurity for Ricky Hatton who has a (slight) chance on Saturday to cement his reputation as one of the sport's all-time-greats if he rolls over Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas. Notwithstanding his boxing prowess, Hatton comes across as a pretty genuine bloke; he is very funny and is refreshingly free of a hyper-inflated ego, so commonly found in boxers.

Mayweather is the red hot favourite, but he will underestimate "The Hitman" at his peril. Watch this clip of Ricky knocking out Jose Luis Castillo last June. At around 2minutes 50 seconds of the clip, there is one of the most devastating body punches you will ever see. Ouch!

Once he's cashed the FA's cheque for £2.5 million, no doubt Steve will be back in the job market. Here's a couple of suggestions;

Man about town - Ulrika, Faria, Nancy: Sven used his power to play the field. Chantelle from Big Brother is single these days.

Midfielder, Lincoln City - His old club are currently bottom of League Two.

Press officer, No10 - One dodgy result against Croatia and 25m people forget their bank details have been 'mislaid'. Steve's got a talent for burying bad news.

England goalkeeper - If he can repel shots like he repels goodwill, the No1 jersey is his.

Film star - Already has the teeth, and with his jaunty umbrella and cheeky smile Steve would make an excellent stand-in for Gene Kelly.

Judge, Britain's Got Talent - Already has a great eye for hapless comedy acts.

(via The Guardian's football writers)

Contrast the different attitudes of the two British Rugby codes to "blooding" young players in high profile internationals.

During the Union World Cup, England's next generation - Cipriani, Abendanon, Haskell, Geraghty - all 22 and under, were discarded from the squad and effectively told to wait till 2011, whilst those that did make it, like Tom Rees, got dropped after one so-so run-out.

No such issues in League. Sam Burgess became the second youngest player to pull on the GB shirt on Saturday night. The 18-year-old scored a try on his debut as the Lions won the first Test against New Zealand, 20-14.

Aside from the try, the young prop made quite an impact. Fuifui Moimoi was on pain-killers on Monday morning and had to sit out training after being on the end of one of Burgess' trademark big hits. Just don't say "the new Andy Farrell"!

Excitement about England's highly-unlikely appearance in a second-consecutive Rugby World Cup final should be tempered by the news that last Saturday's only try-scorer, Josh Lewsey, will miss the game because of a hamstring injury.

This is terrible bad-luck for Lewsey, who would be one of a half-dozen or so players going for a second winners medal having been part of the 2003 team.

He has taken a lot of flack over his performances recently and has been pretty poorly-treated by the England management, but I can't think of a player who better embodies the never-say-die attitude which seems to be permeating through the squad at the moment.

The South African's won't be sorry to see the back of him. This is one of the best try-saving tackles you will ever see and effectively saved Martin Corry and (temporarily) Andy Robinson's bacon when the two teams met last Autumn.

Anyone who can remember Freddy Michalak and the rest of his French Rugby colleagues posing in various states of undress for a calendar, will know that the Latin rugby nations are so much more comfortable than their Anglo-Saxon and South Sea Island cousins with the - how should I put this - more homoerotic aspects of their sport.

But this is going too far!

Please can someone explain why the ad agency felt it was necessary to get the Argentinean team in the shower, covered in soap to promote Isenbeck beer? (Parental Guidance - this film contains images of naked men)