Teams & Riders Brothers in (crank) arms - Yates Discussion Thread

[AmRacer]

@AmRacer

Yeah, great solution for sure. Likely some sort of prize will be the outcome. We'll see.

Jonas completes his GTs

 

[Ilmaestro99]

There have been numerous stories told by pros and journalists in the last few weeks about Simon either mentioning to them that he might retire soon, or seeming completely unmotivated. I don't think there's anything more to it than that

 

[CyclistAbi]

@Ilmaestro99

Nice fairytale.

Jonas completes his GTs

Yeah it seems that Jonas will squeeze out the remaining juice and that is that for Visma. Loss of reigning GT champion and invaluable helper and pretending like that si nothing. Plus who do they got now, beside Jonas, in terms of realistic current and future GT contenders? UAE, RBH, Lidl ... they all got options.

 

[Unchained]

Yates retired because he knows the growing threat of kangaroos to pro bike racing, he wants out before he is kicked off his bike, or worse yet, ends up in some mama roo tummy pouch

 

[CyclistAbi]

@Unchained

Doubt it, there are no loose kangaroos in Europe.

 

[AmRacer]

@Ilmaestro99

Nice fairytale.



Yeah it seems that Jonas will squeeze out the remaining juice and that is that for Visma. Loss of reigning GT champion and invaluable helper and pretending like that si nothing. Plus who do they got now, beside Jonas, in terms of realistic current and future GT contenders? UAE, RBH, Lidl ... they all got options.

We will see.

 

[Rob5091]

The narative being pushed is burnout and the pressure at the top, but that's just what the team wants. Yates has gone into a black hole seemingly ...
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...eeper-scrutiny-of-visma-over-shock-retirement

“There are no riders who just stop in January,” Holm said on Café Eddy. “When there’s a press conference, why don’t they stick the knife in and ask: ‘What the hell is going on with Yates?’” Holm openly rejected the idea that motivation alone explains such an exit, listing a series of unanswered questions that, in his view, were never properly addressed. He went as far as to say he had heard rumours of internal or financial friction, while stressing that the complete silence since Yates’ announcement only deepens suspicion.

original pod at https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/café-eddy/id1780609310

 

[Red Rick]

The consipracies around it are getting pretty nasty in my view. And I will not patronize that *** with a click.

 

[Salvarani]

The narative being pushed is burnout and the pressure at the top, but that's just what the team wants. Yates has gone into a black hole seemingly ...
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...eeper-scrutiny-of-visma-over-shock-retirement


original pod at https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/café-eddy/id1780609310

Valid questions being asked.

It is just strange.

From the outside, it looked like Simon was preparing for the new season and seemed motivated.

I find it hard to believe he went through with preparing himself for the new season and then called it quits right when the season was about to start. It is peculiar.

Feels like something happened.

 

[Netserk]

holm is an arse with a mike

 

[yaco]

Valid questions being asked.

It is just strange.

From the outside, it looked like Simon was preparing for the new season and seemed motivated.

I find it hard to believe he went through with preparing himself for the new season and then called it quits right when the season was about to start. It is peculiar.

Feels like something happened.

I posted that at the time of his transfer from jayco to Visma that he was entering a new world and I had my doubts how he would adjust to the new way of working.. At Jayco he fairly much ran his own ship, chose his race program and was trusted by managment to get his preparation right, whereas, at Visma everything is heavily scrutinised from your sleep to your eating etc.

 

[Salvarani]

I posted that at the time of his transfer from jayco to Visma that he was entering a new world and I had my doubts how he would adjust to the new way of working.. At Jayco he fairly much ran his own ship, chose his race program and was trusted by managment to get his preparation right, whereas, at Visma everything is heavily scrutinised from your sleep to your eating etc.

That could be true, but again... it just seems strange to make the necessary preparation and all the media stuff before season... only to then call it quits.

I can only come to the conclusion that there was a bust-up, disagreement, or that something unknown happened... which made him say "screw it".

There is a possibility he made all the preparations and wasnt really sure, but then heard he wasnt gonna get to defend his Giro-win and just said to Visma that "Thanks, for last year but I will hang it up if thats the case". More power to him, rather than ride and spend a lot of time away from family without a big goal of his own.

Perhaps something like that just tipped the cup over for him.

 

[Red Rick]

That could be true, but again... it just seems strange to make the necessary preparation and all the media stuff before season... only to then call it quits.

I can only come to the conclusion that there was a bust-up, disagreement, or that something unknown happened... which made him say "screw it".

There is a possibility he made all the preparations and wasnt really sure, but then heard he wasnt gonna get to defend his Giro-win and just said to Visma that "Thanks, for last year but I will hang it up if thats the case". More power to him, rather than ride and spend a lot of time away from family without a big goal of his own.

Perhaps something like that just tipped the cup over for him.

It's not exactly like Visma forces riders to stay if they want to leave for another team. The whole story seems pretty consistent with burnout, where the athlete just thinks he'll find his motivation again after a restingn period, but that just never happens.

 

[Salvarani]

It's not exactly like Visma forces riders to stay if they want to leave for another team. The whole story seems pretty consistent with burnout, where the athlete just thinks he'll find his motivation again after a restingn period, but that just never happens.

No, I dont think so. Especially, when he is not the first rider to call it quits like that at that team and a team with history of riders having health problems in the last couple of seasons. If you want to bring up the burnout part.

Questions are valid.

Whether it is for health/mental reasons or a fallout with the team.

And the situation becomes particularly peculiar when he showed up and posed with full gear right before the season, with the so-called leaders of the team.

 

[kingjr]

The narative being pushed is burnout and the pressure at the top, but that's just what the team wants. Yates has gone into a black hole seemingly ...
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...eeper-scrutiny-of-visma-over-shock-retirement


original pod at https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/café-eddy/id1780609310

Brian Holm? Thanks, a good laugh is always appreciated

 

[Rob5091]

Smithy says he's not surprised that Yates called it a day -
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...tes-retirement-amid-claims-of-unhealthy-sport

For Smith, the issue is not one rider’s motivation. It is the system around him. “It’s pressure, pressure, pressure the whole time, and some people just say that’s enough. What did Pogacar say at the Tour de France? He’s not doing the Vuelta, and there was talk of one word: burnout. Burnout. They’re racing 80 days a year – in my day we raced 120.” “But there’s no place to hide now. I can totally understand it. The teams are abusing these athletes; it’s abuse. They’re looking at riders as Formula One cars.”

Maybe teams should switch to camel racing type robot jockeys instead ...

 

[AmRacer]

Smithy says he's not surprised that Yates called it a day -
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...tes-retirement-amid-claims-of-unhealthy-sport


Maybe teams should switch to camel racing type robot jockeys instead ...

Camel? I prefer goats

 

[Dazed and Confused]

So either Simon's retirement was totally normal and above board or I smell something fishy.
It's beyond doubt hilarious hearing people explain it away with innocuous reasons.

Indeed. UCI inspects the incident:

 

[AmRacer]

So either Simon's retirement was totally normal and above board or I smell something fishy.
It's beyond doubt hilarious hearing people explain it away with innocuous reasons.

Indeed. UCI inspects the incident:

Fishy? Maybe the fish packer is somehow involved 🤔

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Moderator reminder:

If anyone wants to suggest that Simon Yates' retirement was related to doping, this is not the place to do it. There are threads for V|LAB and the Yates brothers in the clinic.