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A brilliant visualisation of the history of the Belgian rivalry between Quickstep and Lotto that dominates the spring races from cyclocosm, one of the most consistently interesting cycling blogs around.

You can read the full explanation of how it came to be on Cyclocosm which is a must-add for your reading list/feeds

A quick mid-weeker to pick up on one of those quotes that guaranteed to infuriate me.

I was reading Richard Moore's latest piece on Team Sky in The Guardian Bradley Wiggins dismisses claim that pro cycling hates Team Sky.

It was this section about Marc Madiot's annoyance that infuriated:

"Other criticisms, such as those made this week by Marc Madiot, team manager of Française des Jeux, seem to owe more to the fact that Team Sky, through Facebook and Twitter are communicating with fans using all the means at their disposal. It irritated Madiot that Sky ­publicised work in a wind tunnel. 'We also put riders in wind tunnels,' said the former double winner of Paris‑Roubaix, 'but we don't put out a press release about it.'"

Well perhaps if you did put out a few more press releases then perhaps your team might be a bit more visible. Or perhaps if you paid attention you'd see one of your riders gaining a cult reputation on Facebook after the Tour Down Under: Arthur Vichot.

Cycling needs to sort out its PR, not just on the doping front but on the fan front. The most successful of the new teams in the last few years have realised that a few autographs by the team bus just doesn't cut it these days.

A successful online presence doesn't take much more than internet access, a copy of wordpress and a five quid a month hosting deal to get started. Yes that seems to be beyond the abilities of a lot of top flight teams.

Sky got their online media presence right by investing the same time, effort and thought that they claim in their race preparation. There's plenty that Madiot could learn from them off the road instead of playing the humpy French team card.

I'll set aside the issue of someone who is employed to write for the team site writing about the team. I'm not the only person out there who thinks there's something odd about the issues of conflict of interest when it comes to Sky's reporting on the Team. Moore is a great writer and journalism but he writes for their official website and so I'm also a bit uncomfortable with his reporting on the Team.

A lot of people have seen the signing of Oscar Pereiro Sio as simply an attempt to bolster the Astana squad with an experienced rider who can be there when it matters in the high mountains.

His ability to sacrifice his own interests in working for Alejandro Valverde over the last few years will have been a characteristic that appealed greatly to Contador. This isn't a guy who is going to give him grief or take off in search of a stage win while the real battle is happening behind.

That's pretty vital to a guy who has lost his trusty domestique Sergio Paulinho to Radioshack. Contador still faces having to ride on someone else's team with the return of Alexandre Vinokourov to "his" Astana team.

What is so brilliant about signing Pereiro is that it's a very astute political move given the situation.

We can assume that ASO are going to be asking questions about Astana's inclusion on the basis of Vinokourov's presence. They've not forgiven him for his actions in 2007 which essentially amounted to kicking them in the balls while they were out cold after the Floyd Landis debacle.

Now name the only team in cycling with two Tour de France winners on their roster.

The answer is Astana with Alberto Contador and Oscar Pereiro.

The former is the defending champion who was unable to defend his title in 2008 because of the repercussions for Astana of Vinokourov's ban.

The latter is the rider robbed of his moment of glory on the podium in Paris as a result of Floyd Landis' ban.

In pure political terms the weight of their achievements/history combined may be the necessary counter to Vinokourov's disgrace, which still drags like ten tonnes of shit behind Astana.

We know that being defending champion in 2008 wasn't enough on its own to swing the balance in Contador's favour, albeit the politics then included Johan Bruyneel on the scales.

Given the passing of time and their record, the two riders may be enough to convince ASO not to exclude Astana this year.

Women have the little black dress. Very few women have just the one.

This should tell the predominately male cycling population something. Sadly, far too many choose to ignore a simple truth: black is the most stylish of colours.

Rapha understand this, that's why their classic jersey is black. So did Henry Ford.

For nearly a hundred years cycling seems to have survived with shorts only really available in black. Some would argue this was out of necessity and lack of other viable options in the fabrics available. I'd argue that it was because it works and looks good.

You think Eddy Merckx and Jacques Anquetil wore black shorts for no good reason?

Or Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi?

The latter had jerseys handmade from silk for him by Castelli. If he'd wanted shorts other than black he would have had them.

Take any cycling jersey you own and pair it with any shorts you like. It will always look better with a plain black short.

The World Champion's jersey has always looked better with black shorts. That's not a matter of opinion, that's a matter of fact.

And the same goes for any of the famous jerseys. The trend for shorts matching leaders jerseys started in the 1990s and has never been as cool as some riders and fans would have you believe.

For every Mario Cippolini resplendent in head-to-toe white and rainbow, there's a multitude of Michael Rasmussen looking like a jaundiced famine victim at Le Tour...

(Note Alberto Contador sensibly opting out of white shorts with the Best Young Rider jersey. Remember: you win the jersey not the shorts and matching socks.)

Or like a smallpox outbreak on a bike...

So to recap: If you are serious about looking good on the bike, get some black shorts.

You may also be interested in reading Roadcycling UK's Cycling Style Guidance Notes by Richard Hallett

I am reliably told that nude and flesh tones are the most happening colours in fashion this season.

My friend Lance Woodman pointed me in the direction of this fashion hate crime.

I hereby declare the competition for the worst professional kit of 2010 OVAH!

Did the designer accidentally pick up a copy of Elle rather than GQ when putting this number together? Or did the poor soul get handed a list of permitted colours and despair before getting the job done as quickly as possible and invoicing extra for loss of dignity.

See these guys?

Those are the faces of men who know they've dodged the bullet by not having to wear the team kit for at least the first six months of the year.

The only question that comes to mind, apart from the Peter-Alleneque "WHY?" is

"Which came first, the kit or the bike?"

Ultimately it doesn't matter because what we do know is that metallic colours do not translate into lycra without the use of sequins. Come to think of it, if it had been sequined jersey I would have applauded the iconoclasm.

I had been preparing myself to dissect the relative merits of the new BMC kit over on Bianchista but frankly whether or not the red shorts work is neither here nor there. They are wrong but does it even matter now?