CN on Basso: Italian adopts killer instinct in hunt for big win

[Alexzulle]

Hmmm...by adopting the 'killer instinct' i take it they mean CERA microdosing like diluca?

 

[ludwig]

I think that given that there is no TTT, next year may be Basso's best shot at a Tour win. Unless he intends to switch to CSC or Shack the following year.

 

[gatete]

I think that given that there is no TTT, next year may be Basso's best shot at a Tour win. Unless he intends to switch to CSC or Shack the following year.

Tha would be a problem for me, I root for both Contador and Prior to AC Basso was my favorite rider

 

[auscyclefan94]

Hmmm...by adopting the 'killer instinct' i take it they mean CERA microdosing like diluca?

talk about reading through the lines...

 

[blackcat]

I think that given that there is no TTT, next year may be Basso's best shot at a Tour win. Unless he intends to switch to CSC or Shack the following year.

I would expect Armstrong to pick up Michael Rogers, and Ivan Basso for 2011. Wait and see on Landis, I don't think he can be rehabilitated (cycling wise).

I would like to see Landis come buck with a big two fingers up to some of the administrators. Landis is paying penance and deserves alot for what transpired after he went positive, but the administrators also have a big responsibility.

Armstrong knows Rogers can win the Tour before Contador came on the scene, because he was also with Ferrari who indicated he had the numbers. Basso and Rogers on a team with a long team timetrial, could definitely threaten Contador. If Armstrong does not make the podium, surely he will retire. I cannot see his ego suffering another in yellow.

 

[ludwig]

I haven't heard anything about Rogers in a long time..where'd he go?

Won't be surprised if Landis goes to Shack eventually. Armstrong owes him for standing tall.

 

[blackcat]

I haven't heard anything about Rogers in a long time..where'd he go?

Won't be surprised if Landis goes to Shack eventually. Armstrong owes him for standing tall.

Landis, Rogers, Basso would be quite a troika.

Rogers is stuck in the sewage at Columbia. Dont know about his relationship with Stapleton.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

The idea was floated and discussed earlier. The backlash wasn't too great, so it's possible. Problems are that Landis seems like damaged goods now, and I don't know how well he's going to accept getting into a program like RS, and not having a shot at any sort of leadership.

 

[pedaling squares]

The idea was floated and discussed earlier. The backlash wasn't too great, so it's possible. Problems are that Landis seems like damaged goods now, and I don't know how well he's going to accept getting into a program like RS, and not having a shot at any sort of leadership.

Yes, Landis's drop in performance seems more likely linked to his head than his legs. Although he's lost so much, including monetarily, that he may well give anything to be a well paid domestique.

 

[blackcat]

medical program

that will solve it

Armstrong has proven what it does

 

[Galic Ho]

Landis, Rogers, Basso would be quite a troika.

Rogers is stuck in the sewage at Columbia. Dont know about his relationship with Stapleton.

Which one Bill or Bob?

 

[blackcat]

Bob, Columbia Bob.

But they are peas in a pod. Dont see how they are better or worse. There was a story that Stapleton took a dislike to Rogers and a resentment.

Apocryphal may be, but Rogers was on of the guys who got the tranfusions in 2006 in Freiburg, he rode to 10th on GC and climbed like a Colombian with an O mountain goat. But in 2008, when Stapleton left him out of the Tour team, word was it was not his mononucleosis, but the spectre of his Freiburg trip blowing big during the Tour, when they had got a new sponsor in Columbia.

So, he finished about 11th in the Dauphine, so he was definitely well enough for the 2008 Tour, but they left him out saying he was sick. So, he may or may not have had mono earlier in the year, but was well enough to ride for GC in the Tour. He is a better rider than Kim Kirchen.

He should just stay of the hgh cos his forehead is massive.

Dont like Bob and his arrogance, and thinking he has some elixir and secret formula on team strategy, and picking the best "young talent". His soundbite. Like BroDeal likes to assert, the "market theory" any obvious or manifest strategic advantage, should in theory, be able to be neutralised by copying such an operation. No patents in cycling.

The soundbite on "young talent" and about being clean, just braggadocio. Quite unedifying middle aged men trying to tack on some alpha male credibility onto their identity.

 

[Galic Ho]

Good old Bob.

I heard Bob also took a dislike to Cadel. Rogers is better than Kirchen. Bob's arrogance needs no introduction. His dispute (too tame a word but my preference is banned) with Garmin illustrates this. HTC need to decide who is the GC man and whether they will support such a role. Rogers should get the nod.

Rogers needs to adopt the 'killer instinct' no pun intended in this instance. After his hiccup in the prologue in Monaco I knew his GC race was over. I told everyone watching the stage with me. "I dropped my chain twice" was his claim. No, that was Rogers excuse for the camera, he mentally knew he didn't have it on a physical level and provided an excuse to salvage his self esteem. Then he fell coming into Spain and took out Haussler. Didn't surprise me either. Still thinks he can win le Tour and has said as much...people tend to ignore it because he is Michael Rogers. Must know something we don't. Maybe with the 'killer instinct' he would not be as predictable.

 

[frenchfry]

Landis, Rogers, Basso would be quite a troika.

Rogers is stuck in the sewage at Columbia. Dont know about his relationship with Stapleton.

Which Stapleton? Not that it really matters.

oops, I see the question was already asked. It was a good question though.

 

[Anonymous]

I would expect Armstrong to pick up Michael Rogers, and Ivan Basso for 2011...

I could actually see Rogers (and Kreuziger) going somewhere like BMC to work for Cadel. I do not think Rogers can win the tour, but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

Do you really think Basso to the Shack?
After the Discovery hiring/firing?
Perhaps, but interesting call, good call tho, I like it.

However, I can't see LA retiring after 2010. With his ego, he will not leave until he has won again. I believe he can win again, and I don't care how much sh!t I get for it. I'm not starting another LA debate here becoz this is a Basso thread...

 

[karlboss]

don't know why, but i get the impression rogers and evans don't get along. I think Blackcat could enlighten us on that one.
Basso I think this year rode clean or at least relatively so, unlikely armstrong who jumped straight back in. Once bitten twice shy sort of thing. Next year we'll see a different Basso.

 

[Anonymous]

don't know why, but i get the impression rogers and evans don't get along. I think Blackcat could enlighten us on that one.

Hmmm, I thought they did... don't know where I got it from

Then again, if the *8 votes Gerrans, 1 vote Cadel* story is true, perhaps you're right...

 

[Berzin]

I would like to see Landis come buck with a big two fingers up to some of the administrators. Landis is paying penance and deserves alot for what transpired after he went positive, but the administrators also have a big responsibility.

Armstrong's loyalty does not extend to disgraced dopers. He doesn't owe him anything. If he was/still is stupid enough to protect the code of "omerta" in cycling at all costs, that is an individual choice Landis felt they had to make.

So he has to deal with being a has-been, anonymous domestic rider.

He'll never see the pro European peloton as a rider ever again.

Too bad for him.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I haven't heard anything about Rogers in a long time..where'd he go?

Won't be surprised if Landis goes to Shack eventually. Armstrong owes him for standing tall.

Rogers will never win a GT unless
1. He moves away from Columbia as there support is for Cav and griepel only
2. he would need a ttt and plenty of itt km's as he would need a big buffer on the climbers
3. There is not many mountain top finishes

I personally think Rogers would be a good mountain domestique but i think he is not a GT leader.

 

[Runitout]

Rogers will never win a GT unless
1. He moves away from Columbia as there support is for Cav and griepel only
2. he would need a ttt and plenty of itt km's as he would need a big buffer on the climbers
3. There is not many mountain top finishes

I personally think Rogers would be a good mountain domestique but i think he is not a GT leader.

I don't get the impression that Rogers and Evans get along well at all, but I haven't seen them in the same room together, so I could be talking out of my a4se. Neither is exactly exuberant in their praise for the other.

Rogers' best year was 2005, when he should have won the Tour de Suisse. He was climbing at least as well as Ullrich, and looked like he was getting into form. That race is instructive, as it shows how he rides when in GC contention against the very best. It's a race famous for Gonzales' heroics to come back from nowhere, to win the whole damn thing with a lot of panache, crazy riding and presumably pharmaceuticals. (McGee was also riding well that race, but couldn't hold it against the genuine mountain goats. He showed up Ullrich's tactical ignorance well though, to grab the leader's jersey).

Rogers is a good defensive rider, but he can't seem to put in that decisive attack that separates the winner from the others. Unless you have a great ITT, you need to beat your rivals in the mountains at some stage. It takes a strong rider, who reads a race well, and has the courage to go for broke. I just can't see Rogers dropping his rivals when the road tilts up. A good medical program cures all ills, but he's been on the road for a long time (for Mapei, Quickstep and T-Mobile) and has never showed that kind of form. Then again, the first attack that Evans has pulled off in a season and a half landed him the arc-en-ceil, so you never know.

I agree with blackcat - I can see Rogers working for Armstrong, but not Evans. Rogers will never thrive at Columbia - I think the Giro GC he gained this year is as high as he will fly with his wings clipped au naturel.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I don't get the impression that Rogers and Evans get along well at all, but I haven't seen them in the same room together, so I could be talking out of my a4se. Neither is exactly exuberant in their praise for the other.

Rogers' best year was 2005, when he should have won the Tour de Suisse. He was climbing at least as well as Ullrich, and looked like he was getting into form. That race is instructive, as it shows how he rides when in GC contention against the very best. It's a race famous for Gonzales' heroics to come back from nowhere, to win the whole damn thing with a lot of panache, crazy riding and presumably pharmaceuticals. (McGee was also riding well that race, but couldn't hold it against the genuine mountain goats. He showed up Ullrich's tactical ignorance well though, to grab the leader's jersey).

Rogers is a good defensive rider, but he can't seem to put in that decisive attack that separates the winner from the others. Unless you have a great ITT, you need to beat your rivals in the mountains at some stage. It takes a strong rider, who reads a race well, and has the courage to go for broke. I just can't see Rogers dropping his rivals when the road tilts up. A good medical program cures all ills, but he's been on the road for a long time (for Mapei, Quickstep and T-Mobile) and has never showed that kind of form. Then again, the first attack that Evans has pulled off in a season and a half landed him the arc-en-ceil, so you never know.

I agree with blackcat - I can see Rogers working for Armstrong, but not Evans. Rogers will never thrive at Columbia - I think the Giro GC he gained this year is as high as he will fly with his wings clipped au naturel.

+1
Was evans and rogers together at mapei?
IF they were it would of been interesting on how they got along. I didn't see the logic of rogers being at the tour doing leadouts for cav. i think he and Krichen should of taken some time off and built up to the vuelta which they could of had a good crack at. Rogers and Kirchen need to get out of Columbia as they need to find teams that will give them a go at a GT as EBH, Griepel, Cavendish and possibly Renshaw will be led out for sprints and they will have no spot to lead or support a gc team.

 

[Galic Ho]

Kirchen left for Katusha. Rogers is all comfy with Renshaw, Hansen and now Bobridge. Perhaps he is comfortable.

 

[pendant]

I haven't heard anything about Rogers in a long time..where'd he go?

 

[ludwig]

Rogers will never win a GT unless
1. He moves away from Columbia as there support is for Cav and griepel only
2. he would need a ttt and plenty of itt km's as he would need a big buffer on the climbers
3. There is not many mountain top finishes

I personally think Rogers would be a good mountain domestique but i think he is not a GT leader.

He certainly looked like a potential GT leader in the 2006 Tour. And at that point he was allegedly on the Freiburg program rather than the full-tilt Fuentes program (though the Freiburg program seems to have worked well for Kloedi). What he needs, as you note, is a TT heavy course.

Now I remember there was some hype about Rogers possibly contesting the 2009 Giro but apparently he wasn't ready and/or Cavendish was the team's priority.