Pirate Galaxy » y tricky here on power, as well

MONTREAL -- Canadian cyclist David Veilleux has announced he will pedal against the worlds best at the Tour de France. The 25-year-old will become the first Quebec-born to ever compete in cyclings premier event. "Its now official," Veilleux wrote on his website Monday. "My team chose me to participate in the 2013 Tour de France. I am extremely pleased by this news. Im living a childhood dream and all my years of perseverance and discipline are being rewarded." Veilleux excelled recently at the eight-stage Criterium du Dauphine race, where he wore the leaders yellow-and-blue jersey for three days. He finished the competition in 60th position, 55 minutes behind winner and Tour de France favourite Christopher Froome. Veilleux will be one of nine members of the Europcar team for the 100th edition of the Tour de France, which begins June 29. Pierre Rolland, who finished eighth in 2012, and former yellow-jersey holder and multiple-stage winner Thomas Voeckler will be the pillars of the team. NFL Jerseys China . Pirlo limped out of Sundays 1-0 win over Udinese after just 13 minutes. Juventus says Pirlo underwent tests on Monday which revealed he has "a second-degree lesion to the collateral medial ligament in his right knee. Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys . The 31-year-old Spain midfielder hasnt played since Madrid lost in the Copa del Rey final to Atletico Madrid in May due to back and foot injuries. http://www.cheapjerseysali.com/ . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . The mixed zone is not a place to make friends. Focus on ... Rosberg v HamiltonWe were told the lessons of 2014 had been learned. The relationship between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg was supposed to be mellowing, it was supposed to be getting easier to manage. Sure, the collision at this years Spanish Grand Prix was a disaster from a sporting perspective -- a one-two finish thrown away -- but the maturity shown in the aftermath represented progress, did it not? Despite the high-speed collision, there was barely a misplaced word to the media and a remarkable gesture of goodwill followed at the next round in Monaco as Rosberg moved over to let Hamilton pass.So what on earth happened in Austria?On the final lap of a rollercoaster race weekend for both drivers the illusion slipped and revealed the raw egoistic ambition of two top level racing drivers fighting for the ultimate prize in their sport. That ambition had never gone away but recently both drivers, especially Rosberg, had done a better job at concealing it. In Austria it was laid bare for all to see, and with it the problem Mercedes faces in managing its drivers.Team orders are on the table, but theres the potential for them to do more harm than good to the Mercedes brand. On the one hand the team has a duty to the sport to let its drivers fight for the title, but on the other it is fed up of its two best-paid employees undoing the hard work of 1,500 others. Team orders can come in many forms and it is unlikely we will see the drivers being told to hold position after the final pit stop, or worse, after the first corner. More likely is a return to identical strategies for both cars, making it harder for one to attack the other in normal conditions.In the immediate future, Thursdays press conferences will be fascinating. The stewards and most pundits blamed Rosberg? for the collision, but he is unlikely to roll over and accept that. Following the stewards decision on Sunday he logged on to Facebook Live and repeated -- almost word for word -- his version of events, in which he claimed he was simply using the full width of the track to defend his position.Either driver admitting they made a mistake would undoubtedly ease relations at Mercedes, but its hard to imagine that happening. Instead, Mercedes must balance the two egos of its drivers in public this weekend, while making sure any ill feeling does not trickle down to the rest of the team. Its an unenviable task, but one that will be fascinating to watch from afar.In need of a podiumOne of the biggest surprises of the Austrian Grand Prix was how Max Verstappen managed to outperform Daniel Ricciardo in the race. Once he was ahead of his more experienced teammate, he pulled away from him and was rewarded with the second podium finish of his five-race Red Bull career. By comparison Ricciardo has had an unhealthy dose of bad luck and scored just one podium. As an overall package, few would disagree that the more experienced Ricciardo is the better all-rounder, but he stiill needs to prove it with results.dddddddddddd.In need of pointsRomain Grosjeans return to the points in Austria was proof that Haas is slowly recovering its early-season form. The competitiveness of the car at any given track is still delicate, but the Frenchmans seventh place proved that in the right circumstances with the right tyres points are still very possible. As a result, Esteban Gutierrez must step up and take his first points of the season as soon as possible. On three occasions he has finished one place outside the points-paying positions, but to secure his future at the team he needs to move off zero.WeatherUnsurprisingly, rain is expected over the Silverstone weekend, but the question is when and where it will fall. Light rain is expected on Friday morning and again on Sunday morning, but anybody who has visited Silverstone will know how fickle a forecast can be. Saturday is likely to be the hottest day, with temperatures reaching 23C, but it is expected to dip back under 20C for Sundays race.BettingLewis Hamilton has odds of 1/1 to win his home race while Nico Rosberg is 2/1, making the latter the obvious choice for a bet on Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel is 13/2 in the Ferrari while teammate Kimi Raikkonen is 25/1. A Red Bull victory carries odds of 14/1 for both drivers, but perhaps a more tempting is Felipe Massa at 10/1 for a podium in the Williams.A lap with ... Romain GrosjeanYou start off on the new main pit straight before taking the first turn flat out. Then you come into two hairpins. The first one is more open than the second one, and the second you really want to go for as early as you can. Then you go through the old last couple of corners -very tricky braking here - before going along the old pit straight. Its very tricky here on power, as well.Then you get to the very high-speed section. Its a great sensation in the car here. You stay flat out as much as you can into Maggotts and Becketts, and then downshifting every corner a gear, and then youre onto the Hanger Straight to Stowe corner. This is another tricky one where you enter very quickly. You want to go on the power as quick as you can, but the corner is closing down more than you think. Then you go to the last chicane - heavy braking and its very bumpy. Then youve got your final throttle application with a lot of g-force on the right-hand side and you cross the finish line.TyresAvailable compounds: Hard, Medium, SoftWith the majority of teams choosing mostly the softest compound available - a consistent trend we have seen all year - its clear that the intention of many drivers is to run quite an aggressive strategy, which on a track like Silverstone could result in multiple pit stops. As last year showed, the weather is also a typically British variable, which means that we are likely to be in for an unpredictable race. ' ' '