Boris’s yellow joisey

THEY say the magnificence of the Tour De France has been spoilt by cheats in recent years. Some cyclists pop and inject performance enhancing drugs, others simply head-butt their rivals as they race to the line.

If they really want that yellow jersey so bad, maybe they should take a few tips from Boris Johnson, the London Mayor who posted what must be a record time on Monday morning for crossing London on two wheels. That’s his story at least.

At the launch of the blue super-highway project for cyclists in Clapham on Monday, he bragged:”I set off from my home in the wilds of North London. And I want you to know I obeyed every  single rule of the road…anyone here following me: Media pack? I stopped like a pillar of salt at every single traffic light. I nearly broke into a sweat. I’d like to know I got here in 35 minutes. I caught up this young chap in an over the top flash Peugeot, leaving him stuck in traffic…all that carbon…he overtook me, I overtook him. I told him, he should have been on a bike on a beautiful  morning like this.”

35 minutes? From his gaff near the Emirates Stadium to Clapham? That’s quite an achievement, Bradley Wiggins would be proud.

Lib Dem councillor Paul Braithwaite – Camden’s bike champ in spirit, if not in official council title any more – did more or less the same journey to get to the launch at his traditional full on pelt. I’d certainly bet on him in a bike race over podgy old Boris, but it took him a time of 40 minutes. Time to call in the race gendarmes methinks..