Hushed talk of testosterone and the like is never too far from the peleton these days, but Italy's favourite cycling son, Mario Cipollini, has recently been discussing the subject in an uncommonly open manner.

Cipollini, who won his third stage of the Giro d'Italia this week, was in fact brushing aside cycling's long-standing but unwritten rule of avoiding "strength-sapping" sex during the more demanding tours. "I've had sex the night before I've won races," he told Procycling magazine. "When my wife comes to visit me on the Giro, we enjoy ourselves. Sex has never slowed me down and I have a lot of experience in that. It's just some idea that the managers try to put into the younger guys' heads."

One wonders if Sean Kelly, cycling's legendary abstainer, would have anything to say about that.