Rewind the Cassette - January 30, 2011

Rewind the Cassette is a short weekly feature covering some of the more interesting bits of news from the cycling world. It is not meant to be a definitive feed of all thats happened in the prior week... just some of the bits that caught my eye.

• The biggest news this week was... drum roll... the one year suspension of Alberto Contador for the positive clenbuterol test during last year's Tour de France. Contador held a news conference two days after the news broke about his suspension and promised to fight the sanction. My thoughts on the announcement.
• Earlier in the week, in another bit of doping related news, the Garmin-Cervelo team fired directeur sportif Matt White for referring Trent Lowe to a doctor with known ties to doping scandals. Garmin-Cervelo has been one of the teams most outspoken about keeping their riders "clean" and I applaud their decision. The story got more interesting when Garmin suggested that Trent Lowe tried to blackmail the team.
• The New York City Police Department continues their blitz on cyclists. The last report from a week ago is that over 1400 tickets have been handed out in the past couple of weeks.
• From a bike tech perspective, the Campagnolo 11-speed electric group won its first race at the WorldTour level during the Tour Down Under. Between the new Campy group and Shimano's Di2 group(s), things are going to get interesting (and expensive) over the next couple of years.