offbyone said:
Zubeldia, Jani and Horner will not all ride the TdF. One of them will be motivated for GC. Guys like Machado and Rubiera definitely won't ride TdF and will have fresh legs and this could be a major target for them. Radioshack is deep. Can you even name 5 other squads that will be stronger?
Considering half the teams guaranteed to go are going to be sending their b-squad or tired out tdf riders, the vuelta should add the best teams they can to the extra spots.
Well, it doesn't matter you whining about the decision or me trying to put words in Javier Guillén's mouth, the decision has been made. And the point is that, when Bruyneel's teams don't target a race in particular, they have a habit in the last couple of years of clogging up the lower half of the top 20 and not bringing anything to the race.
Saying they don't care about the vuelta is just your opinion. They have never said it. Most vuelta teams have showed no more interest publicly than radioshack.
No, but most of them have been guaranteed entry. Cervélo have expressed interest in the Vuelta (talking about giving Bos a runout there for example). Katyusha have expressed interest (talking about Rodríguez' chances for GC). Sky have expressed interest (talking about getting all of their riders a GC slot). Xaco and Andalucía have obviously expressed interest. Which just leaves Garmin and Shack.
We aren't talking about Astana, we are talking about radioshack. I was suggesting a lance, levi, kloden free team not the opposite. You are being disingenuous if you don't think radioshack is going to have a bunch of fresh riders. You don't think Machado would race hard? Jani? If horner or zubeldia don't ride the tour they would be motivated. Rubiera? These guys would be very motivated and take this race seriously.
So were Navarro, Vino and Hernández. I am suggesting a Lance, Levi, Klöden free team. But crucially, Bruyneel is not. He's suggesting Levi and Klöden on the longlist. Jani and Zubeldia could do something, or equally they could not. Machado and Brajkovic do not have proven GC records, though I think they could both be very interesting to watch - certainly more interesting than most of the Shack's riders that will go to the Tour. At the end of the day, though, it's more that the riders are paying for Bruyneel and Armstrong's ego-tripping and sense of entitlement. Javier Guillén is trying to do to Radioshack here what the Oman péloton did to Team Sky - "you're not as big as you think you are".
I totally agree but again my same point as above. You said yourself, radioshack has a deep team of 25 riders. They have had a light schedule this year. There are a ton of fresh riders on their team that would be motivated.
Yup, and it sucks for those 15 riders who won't get to ride a GT this year (9 Tour riders + Fuyu Li, who is off the road atm). But the general consensus this year has been that Radioshack haven't been interested in riding too many races, and because of the name value they bring to the table they can get any invites they please anyway. So they've behaved accordingly. Unipublic have stood up to them. I applaud them for doing so, but at the same time I'm also quite disappointed because I wanted to see Tiago Machado at a GT.