British/Sky road team

[ingsve]

They will certainly need lots of good established names to become Pro Tour right away. My guess would be that in a squad of say 25 riders there would be room for perhaps 10 british riders counting up and comers as well as a couple established names. That leaves 15 international riders, I'm guessing at least 5 of which need to be well known pro tour riders and the rest might be whatever is needed that can't be found from british talents...

Thats' my early prediction...

 

[Parcours]

You're ****ing joking? BC wouldn't touch LL (remember Puerto?) and probably no-one else from Caisse either. Wouldn't touch Contador either. They will want riders who are as far from scandal as there can be, pretty much how Cervelo went about signing riders.

Cavendish has a contract through to the end of 2010. Not interested in him yet as they don't want to have to build a team around him for the tour. although I'll take back my suggestion that Cav will try to get Kennaugh on Columbia as Brailsford seems pretty keen to have him on Sky.[/QUOTE/]

I was unsure of the position of Luis Leon with regards to Peurto and since doing a bit of back ground I realise that is a no go and I assume the same for Contador as well.

I think Peter Kennaugh is nailed on to be involved same goes for Steven Burke who is apparently rated as the top sprinter in the academy and often beats Cav in training rides. I would assume that Stannard will sign as well as I?m pretty sure he only signed a 1 year contract back in September with his current team.

With regards to Roger Legaey and Scott Sunderland I wonder if you may see some riders involved that were on their previous teams? For Legaey maybe Hivert? Sunderland there could be Breschal, Arvesen or Goss?

Then you have the possible collapse of Agritubel so riders such as Vogondy, Iste, Feilu and Lequatre will be available and will give them a strong French influence which should help with ASO races.

Cycle Sport also seem to think that a top Italian Stage Racer signing is the big rumour Cunego/Pellizotti? They also state the team will be based around a climber who can go for GC, a sprinter and then time trial riders for the TTT situations. They then list Rolland, Lhotellerie, Lokvist, Boassen Hagen and Augustyn as possible acquisitions.

 

[Jarvis]

They will certainly need lots of good established names to become Pro Tour right away

They won't "need" lots of established names as they won't do things the usual way.

 

[ingsve]

They won't "need" lots of established names as they won't do things the usual way.

Part of what goes into the decision of which teams get the Pro Tour licenses is the strength of the teams. The UCI would never give a Pro Tour license to a team that doesn't have a competitive roster.

They may want to "go their own way" but then they'll have to do it as a continental team. To become a Pro Tour team they will indeed need to get some established riders.

 

[Graham]

They may want to "go their own way" but then they'll have to do it as a continental team. To become a Pro Tour team they will indeed need to get some established riders.

With a reported budget of ?10M per year, I can't see how they wouldn't end up with a squad that couldn't get a ProTour license when teams like AG2R and Bouygues Telecom can without any major recognised stars.

I also don't see how a new team of this magnitude can be described by anyone as uninteresting. At a time when teams like Credit Agricole, Gerolsteiner and Agritubel are disappearing, how can we not be excited when teams like Sky and Katusha come out of nowhere with these sorts of budgets? If nothing else, the excitement should just come from acknowledgement that road cycling isn't dead!

Graham.

 

[philcrisp]

A few points.

I don't know how much the team is an adjunct to BC's Olympic programme. However that is focused on medals on the basis that that's how the funding is calculated. More Olympic medals on the track than all the other disciplines combined. This brings me to Cav. IIRC Brailsford was quoted in the Comic last year to the effect that the 2012 men's road team is Cav and a train. Interesting to see if they want to leave him where he's happy, or bring him over.

According to Armstrong's first book, he'd never seriously considered going for the Tour until Brunyel suggested it. What do BC know that the rest of us don't?

 

[LugHugger]

Part of what goes into the decision of which teams get the Pro Tour licenses is the strength of the teams. The UCI would never give a Pro Tour license to a team that doesn't have a competitive roster.

They may want to "go their own way" but then they'll have to do it as a continental team. To become a Pro Tour team they will indeed need to get some established riders.

You mean like most of the French squads for the last decade?????

As other correspondents have said, with their budget, the stated team ethos and respect that Legeay, Sutherland and Brailsford have with the UCI and filling the roster with young, British and Commonwealth riders that are already riding in the Pro Tour, Sky will have no problem acquiring their license.

 

[Parcours]

A few points.

I don't know how much the team is an adjunct to BC's Olympic programme. However that is focused on medals on the basis that that's how the funding is calculated. More Olympic medals on the track than all the other disciplines combined. This brings me to Cav. IIRC Brailsford was quoted in the Comic last year to the effect that the 2012 men's road team is Cav and a train. Interesting to see if they want to leave him where he's happy, or bring him over.

According to Armstrong's first book, he'd never seriously considered going for the Tour until Brunyel suggested it. What do BC know that the rest of us don't?

I?m not sure that there is a British rider in the peloton currently that has the potential to win any Grand Tour let alone Le Tour. I do however believe that from an interview I read with Brailsford that there is someone in the Academy who is putting out numbers that shows the potential to be a GT winner, although as we all know numbers and potential don?t win you anything.

I wonder how long it will be until news regarding; further sponsors, bikes, group sets and initial riders begins to filter through?

 

[Graham]

I don't know how much the team is an adjunct to BC's Olympic programme. However that is focused on medals on the basis that that's how the funding is calculated. More Olympic medals on the track than all the other disciplines combined. This brings me to Cav. IIRC Brailsford was quoted in the Comic last year to the effect that the 2012 men's road team is Cav and a train. Interesting to see if they want to leave him where he's happy, or bring him over.

Strictly speaking, it isn't allowed to be part of the Olympic programme and will have to show a certain degree of segregation to keep those that hand out the public money happy. I think we all know that BC will use it to try and move our success from the track to the road, but the national team and Sky team will have to be considered separate entities as public money is not allowed to be put into professional teams.

I think we can forget Cav for this team. He is under contract for another year with an option for 2011, too. He is riding for a team that has a great ability in controlling sprints and so there is no way that he is going to risk the position he is in.

I'm also not sure how good he would be long-term for the team. Most of the Brits that are going to be used are still fairly inexperienced. If Cav is signed, all they will end up doing is becoming very good at lead-out trains. Considering the track experience, it is something that Sky could become very good at very quickly. Admittedly, that could take the heat off the team very quickly because they will a lot and often. It was a tactic that worked brilliantly for High Road/Columbia last year whilst they were trying to get a major sponsor on board.

However, I think there are a couple of significant differences between Sky and Columbia. BC already have the sponsor, and that sponsor is bought in for 4 years. Therefore, they don't need quick wins other than to get the media off their backs.

The other significant difference is that Columbia is a traditional pro cycling team. I don't think Sky are. Despite my comment in my first paragraph about how this team needs to be seen as separate to the national team, I think everyone knows that Brailsford's motivation for this team is to raise the male road performance of British cycling. Therefore, I think he will be more interested in a long-term vision that maybe is light on wins at first but has a wider spread of major wins amongst British cyclists in the mid-term. I don't think BC can easily achieve that mid-term aim if they have to try and keep Cav happy within the team.

Graham.

 

[Parcours]

http://tinyurl.com/dzendo

Seemingly another interesting addition to the backroom staff. Does anyone happen to know much about him or the role he will be filling?

Also interesting to note that it is Scott Sunderland who has been tasked with establishing the riders for the team. Are there any riders that he is particularly close to? Maybe from CSC or Australia?

Further news is expected regarding sponsors as well.

 

[Anonymous]

gettng a bit like waiting for xmas isnt it..