I thought he had a contract until end of 2022 with Trek. But it's definitely clear that he's retiring and won't be going anywhere near Kazakhstan
Retiring, or...?
I think the Stokes article said something like “talks didn’t get far,” which suggested to me that he would like to continue, but the offers coming in, and what he was looking for, were too far apart.I was referring to two articles that appeared on the CN website in the last three days - The first article was a patched up news article which showed parts of Roche's retirement statement from his instagram account, while the second article was a long-form interview with Shane Stokes. Why don't you ask Cycling News where they sourced the article ? Media platfoms often share news stories, so effectively not every article on CN is written by a CN journalist.
I was surprised at Roche's retirement announcement as he always expressed an interest in riding until his 40 which was mentioned in the Stokes article - I surmised that the main driver behind Roche's retirement was no compelling contract offer on the table which was strongly suggested in the Stokes article.
Anyway that's my opinion and I'll let you worry about silly names and memes.
I came in at the tail years of Kelly and Roche, and cycling probably wouldn’t have been as available in Ireland without them, but it was the Indurain/Chiapucci years that really got me into the sport, and then Pantani and Ullrich. There’s always another hero coming down the road in cycling…It's sad to see the riders of my generation all retiring. If I didn't have the Irish guys to cheer for in my early days of watching I don't think I would have tuned in to the TdF long enough to become a full time cycling fan.
I know more than enough about cycling now to be able to find new riders to love but seeing Martin win at the top level which is rare for the Irish in any sport and I couldn't care about Nico's results watching him plough away for TdF top 10s at little AG2R is how I learned cycling is about more than doped up Texans.
I don't think anyone who comes along in cycling will ever be as special to me personally as Nico and Dan
I came in at the tail years of Kelly and Roche, and cycling probably wouldn’t have been as available in Ireland without them, but it was the Indurain/Chiapucci years that really got me into the sport, and then Pantani and Ullrich. There’s always another hero coming down the road in cycling…
I was surprised he got back to a WT team for a final go round after the last couple of years, if you look at that mini-renaissance in 2019 with Androni, it's almost all in the far-flung Asia Tour races like Langkawi and Taihu Lake which have mostly not been running, and despite his decent run of years at the top level his climbing was never up to WT standard, he withdrew or HDed every GT he entered early on.Matteo Pelucchi will ride his last race as a pro today.
Who are biggest names retiring this year?
Dan Martin, Greipel, Tony Martin, Aru?
If the metric is brand value or name recognition, I don't think she is the biggest name.Van der Breggen.
If the metric is brand value or name recognition, I don't think she is the biggest name.
She’s one of THE biggest names in women’s cycling, up there with the top riders of all time. She definitely deserves recognition parallel with the 4 lads.If the metric is brand value or name recognition, I don't think she is the biggest name.
Well, Dan Martin has two monuments, Greipel has countless GT stages Tony Martin has World titles, Aru has a Grand Tour. But all of them - Aru especially - have the stench of Last Year's Man about them. And ironically Aru is the youngest of them, as the two Martins have been able to secure at least decent results into their veteran years. For those with no knowledge of cycling, van der Breggen's Olympic gold may hold currency, but sure name recognition is still much larger in the men's cycling and those guys were all at least reasonably big names so the man in the street who doesn't really follow cycling but might watch the Tour and the Worlds would have significantly higher chances of hearing of the guys, sure.If the metric is brand value or name recognition, I don't think she is the biggest name.
I think a lot depends on perspective. A cycling fan from Germany would certainly know Tony and Greipel, but might not be as familiar with Dan or Aru, and an Irish fan would obviously know Dan Martin, but maybe not the other guys. A Dutch fan would have a good chance of knowing who won the Olympics for their country over a German who used to win bunch sprints (“You mean Kittel? Didn’t he retire already?”)Well, Dan Martin has two monuments, Greipel has countless GT stages Tony Martin has World titles, Aru has a Grand Tour. But all of them - Aru especially - have the stench of Last Year's Man about them. And ironically Aru is the youngest of them, as the two Martins have been able to secure at least decent results into their veteran years. For those with no knowledge of cycling, van der Breggen's Olympic gold may hold currency, but sure name recognition is still much larger in the men's cycling and those guys were all at least reasonably big names so the man in the street who doesn't really follow cycling but might watch the Tour and the Worlds would have significantly higher chances of hearing of the guys, sure.
But in terms of the hole in the péloton their absence will leave between 2021 and 2022, Anna VDB is a bigger loss than all four of those guys combined.
Or a rider like Lucy Kennedy, who comes back from retirement short term because the team is short of riders.One thing I've started to find interesting about retiring is when riders are said to be retired from. Some riders - like Aru - will announce their retirement from a point mid-season, while most are just officially retired from December 31st but will obviously have their last race before that. I guess the main difference is that even if a rider has declared "This is my last race!" as long as (s)he is still in the testing pool, (s)he can still race. And then, of course, there's a rider like De Kort, who is retired now. No matter what the dates say.
Or a rider like Lucy Kennedy, who comes back from retirement short term because the team is short of riders.
Well, Dan Martin has two monuments, Greipel has countless GT stages Tony Martin has World titles, Aru has a Grand Tour. But all of them - Aru especially - have the stench of Last Year's Man about them. And ironically Aru is the youngest of them, as the two Martins have been able to secure at least decent results into their veteran years. For those with no knowledge of cycling, van der Breggen's Olympic gold may hold currency, but sure name recognition is still much larger in the men's cycling and those guys were all at least reasonably big names so the man in the street who doesn't really follow cycling but might watch the Tour and the Worlds would have significantly higher chances of hearing of the guys, sure.
But in terms of the hole in the péloton their absence will leave between 2021 and 2022, Anna VDB is a bigger loss than all four of those guys combined.
No doubt about that. When I mentioned the other four riders I was simply looking in a certain drawer of my brain, and it was the one with male cyclists. Anna's stored in the one next to them, but she's on dark red velvet whereas the others are just lying on pure wood.
But had she officially declared that she was retiring after P-R, or simply that she was retiring, and P-R would be her last race, and then - two days later; "Lucy... please... we need you!" ?
One thing I've started to find interesting about retiring is when riders are said to be retired from. Some riders - like Aru - will announce their retirement from a point mid-season, while most are just officially retired from December 31st but will obviously have their last race before that. I guess the main difference is that even if a rider has declared "This is my last race!" as long as (s)he is still in the testing pool, (s)he can still race. And then, of course, there's a rider like De Kort, who is retired now. No matter what the dates say.
This kidnapping business of yours is getting out of hands!
But had she officially declared that she was retiring after P-R, or simply that she was retiring, and P-R would be her last race, and then - two days later; "Lucy... please... we need you!" ?
No, cause P-R was never meant to be her last race (she didn't ride it either), Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche was.
Worrack was supposed to have ridden her last race in P-R, though.
It's always the really important things you find interesting...
Will you stop wasting time with inane posts - For a start it was Ardeche and not PR - It's well documented through official media, social media and Bike Exchange's website.