He also finished runner-up in the Tour de France in 2007 and 2008.

One of the best parts of the Tour is watching the fantastic scenery as the peloton rolls past medieval castles and crawls over spectacular mountains.

The Great Wall of China was an equally impressive backdrop to the Olympic road cycling, stirring memories of my visit to China in 1984 when I was ten.

Standing upon the awe-inspiring Wall, my dad, a history teacher with a warped sense of humour, and I threw coins towards Mongolia yelling, "Mongols stay out!"

And since that day there have been no Mongol attacks on Chinese territory.

The picturesque scenery of limestone mountains in Guilin and a hovercraft ride from Hong Kong to Guangzhou are other lasting memories.

Not to mention the millions and millions of bicycles in Beijing. Perhaps if modern technology hadn’t caught up with China they wouldn’t have the smog problem they do today.

The Brits again did well in the women’s time trial, picking up silver to go with the gold in the road race.

Speaking of Poms, it seems AOC president John Coates got their backs up over comments questioning their hygiene.

Surely everyone knows the saying, "the Poms keep their wallets under their soap", don’t they?

What started out as simple rivalry has quickly escalated into petty bickering with English tabloids having a field day.

They must know it’s a joke though, just like we knew Kevin Pietersen was joking when he said they’d win the Ashes next year…

Iraq powered its way to second in the C Final of the men’s double sculls yesterday, wiping 0.71sec off their repechage time.

The Chairman salutes Comrades Haidar Nozad and Hussein Jebur!