There you are, a long-suffering cycling fan whiling away the weeks since the Giro, tweeting or perhaps crying tears of betrayal into your manga comic after discovering your latest pop idol is a computer-generated animation. And suddenly bang, it's the last week in June and you are days away from the best three weeks of the year.

Robbie McEwen is out. Richie Porte is in. Cameron Wurf is out. Adam Hansen is out. Mark Renshaw is in. Michael Rogers is out. Gerro is in.

In a break from tradition for this year's Tour, Cadel Evans is racing alongside riders wholly picked to support him. This is sure to disappoint fans who have come to expect Evans to look increasingly shattered while riding alone for two and a half weeks. It's also sure to cause head-scratching among the tactical gurus over at Omega Pharma-Lotto.

If you are lucky enough to be heading over to France, Cyclingnews has helpfully recommended a number of spots to set yourself up with your inflatable kangaroo/devil costume/mankini and watch the bikes go past.

First on the list is the Passage du Gois, a tidal causeway serving as a prelude to the opening stage, because why roll out the red carpet when you can have your riders begin a three-week race by negotiating 4.5km of cobbled slime?

The clip below from the 1999 Tour describes the Passage as the Wimbledon of local access roads. There is not as much Sue Barker and Cliff Richard as you might expect, so perhaps the reference is to the Pimms-induced carnage in the car park.





This year the peloton will be passaging through at low speeds and at low tide. Which is probably for the best.





Helmet heads

Emotive and irrational are words the Broom Wagon has read with quiet resignation on any number of SBS performance reviews.

They were also used by Professor Max Cameron this week to describe criticism of Australia's compulsory helmet laws.

The words also featured in the headline when the Age online reported the story – totally because this is the news angle, and not at all to set up the cyclist/anti-cyclist dogfight in the comments that lets Age readers know it is a day ending in 'Y'.

Prof Cameron, whose research helped set up the current helmet laws in Victoria, has labelled a new study by the University of New South Wales the definitive word on the subject, possibly making him Australia's biggest optimist.

The study looked at cyclists admitted to hospital before and after the helmet laws were introduced in NSW. It found a 29 per cent decline in the rate of head injuries relative to leg and arm injuries, while figures for pedestrians showed no such decline.

The findings, say the study's authors, support the mandatory helmet laws. They also contradict last year's study by University of Sydney professor Chris Rissel, which credited the decline to other factors such as better roads. Rissel's paper was later retracted after critics (academic, not the hotheaded anti-helmet kind) pointed out mathematical errors.

Of course, what the findings do not address any more than Rissel's study is the extent to which the helmet laws have reduced the number of cyclists on the roads. And whether having the lower number of cyclists has reduced cyclist safety, and whether overall community health has been affected.

This is what the emotional/irrational critics of helmet laws generally argue, and is why hailing a study which confirms your previous opinion on helmet laws as the definitive word on the subject remains a teensy bit premature.

Ride of the week

Noemi Cantele rode a 90km breakaway, much of it solo, before winning a sprint finish in Sicily during the week. (And according to Bridie O'Donnell on Twitter, it was hot). She is now Italy's new road race champion.

Shakespearean tweet of the week

London! Where is your summer ??? - @JohanBruyneel (London: "It's behind you!")

Dispatches from the Twitterverse

Rippin into NRL supercoach lately, Cannot wait to live back in Aus after 15 years OS!!!!! - @ allandavis27

Happy to hear @simongerrans will be joining me for a 3 week holiday in France this July, Lots of free food and real good hotels. - @Mark_Renshaw

I just sneezed twice. Which served as a HORRIBLE reminder that my ribs are broken. - @iamtedking

Just made the lunchboxes for the boys. - @stevendejongh