Diary watch: An old hand in Britain

T-Mobile's Tobias Steinhauser, 32, recently announced that this would be his last year as a pro rider, and actually had planned the Deutschland Tour as his last race. But, as so often happens, things didn't work out that way, and Tobias finds himself riding the Tour of Britain, where the going is wild and woolly.

"In the peloton, everyone is riding as if it was the world championships, and the worst in the troupe is the Japanese. They have no form, fall back on the slightest incline, but seem to all be trained "kamikaze" pilots and they ride like that - my goodness!" wrote Steinhauser.

"I asked one of them at the beginning of the race, why they ride the way they do. His answer was just, "F**k you!" I didn't say anything more, but a couple of kilometres later, he lay on the street. He f**ked himself! Not that you all think I had anything to do with it. I'm innocent, he ran into a motorcycle."

In the land of Harry Potter, Steinhauser seems to have caught a little of the wizard's magic, since those who cross him seem to crash. "Before my flat tire, a rider from Landbouwkrediet cut me off. I asked him if he was crazy, but nevertheless gave him the right of way. However, when I finally came around the last corner after having my tyre changed, he was sitting on the road in the last curve before the finish line! Do I have a bad "aura" today?" he asks. (www.tobias-steinhauser.de)