The Death of Marco Pantani by Matt Rendell has won the Best Biography category at the prestigious British Sports Book Awards 2007. “The Death of Marco Pantani shatters the myths and makes shocking revelations about both Pantani’s life and the world of professional cycling. Marco Pantani was an inspirational icon: his successes, against all the odds, and his terrible, often self-inflicted downfall, make gripping reading,” says the publisher’s blurb. The book was published in hardback by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in June 2006 and the paperback (priced £7.99) will be published in June 2007.

Coming off a breakout performance in 2006, 26-year-old Vancouver rider Ben Boyko has been re-signed to a money deal with Sombrio Clothing for the 2007 season. “Boyko had standout segments in Kranked 6 and CKD in 2006,” says Sombrio owner, Dave Watson. “He consistently laid down huge, clean, technical runs at Saalbach, Crankworx and Monster Park. Basically, the kid is on fire.” Boyko, who has roots in BMX, is often cited as one of today’s hardest working riders, always digging, building, riding, and shooting. “I’m planning on hitting all the big comps this season,” explains Boyko. “I can’t wait to work on a new segment again, travel the world and ride with good friends.”

St John Ambulance has won a Cycling Development Award, showing its dedication to using bikes to deliver first aid. Seamus Kelly, Commissioner at St John Ambulance, London (Prince of Wales’s) District, said, “We are delighted to receive this award. We’ve invested heavily in our cycle response unit so that last year we were able to treat patients at over 40 London events, including the Notting Hill Carnival and Flora London Marathon. Our programme is entirely voluntary and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our hard-working volunteers who are dedicated to ensuring that everyone in London who needs first aid is able to receive it.”

After a week on holiday, the email inbox of Bikemagic editor Mike Davis exploded this morning, resulting in a cloud of press releases, forum moderation alerts, general reader enquiries and spam drifting across a large area of Somerset. Local residents are advised to remain indoors, although the health risk is said to be minimal. “Most of this stuff’s so fluffy and transient that it’ll have vanished completely within 24 hours,” said Davis.