http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jun/09/bradley-wiggins-team-rebut-rule-bending-accusations-hour-record wrote:Asked if he thought British Cycling preferred Wiggins to Dowsett, Collins said: “Oh yes, completely.”
Wiggins rode titanium handlebars custom made through a process similar to 3D printing but which others call “additive manufacturing” on the bike produced by Pinarello, the Italian bike manufacturer.
“We had to do full documentation for the UCI detailing every component; every bit of the bike and kit was approved by the UCI down to the shoes, helmet and skinsuit. The bike is fully approved by the UCI,” a source close to the Wiggins bid responded.
This Cookson dude who's the President of the UCI, doesn't he happen to be British and to have had some association with British Cycling prior to becoming UCI president? I'm not saying Cookson isn't as pure as the driven snow, nevertheless ...
Edit: Cookson's CHF340 thousand annual salary (that's about USD 365K, or about 239 thousand quid for you Brits) as UCI president doesn't really leave him much to save for retirement. So I hope Pinarello at least provided a nice contribution toward his "retirement" account. I'm sure not as much as the FIFA guys got, but every little bit helps.
Edit: Ambiguous, "unenenforceable", and unenforced rules are stupid a$$. Get rid of the retarded rules about things having to be available for sale within 9 months after the event. Even if there were clear rules on what "being available for sale" even means, including such things as custom sizing, what happens if some riders on a team use equipment which doesn't wind up becoming available for sale, but the winner did not use such equipment, but benefited from teammates who did? Do you disqualify the team members who used equipment which didn't become for sale, but let the results of the winner who didn't use such equipment stand?