Galic Ho said:What I meant about EBH is that his season up to May was cracking. I heard soo much about him. Then all quiet. No Tour for him, no race details. Nothing.
well Qinghai is a GT too obviously.ingsve said:Bob Stapleton: "In my opinion I see the Tour of California as a Grand Tour. It’s the eighth largest economy, directly behind France. The race will be televised in over 100 countries and it has a broad following in Europe already."
Is this guy delusional or what?
ingsve said:Bob Stapleton: "In my opinion I see the Tour of California as a Grand Tour. It’s the eighth largest economy, directly behind France. The race will be televised in over 100 countries and it has a broad following in Europe already."
Is this guy delusional or what?
scribe said:Delusional in that California's economy is actually a selling point.
Not that I disagree wrt Tour of California in particular, but is it just my imagination or has Monte Paschi Eroica taken on a fair bit more prestige than what one would expect from a three-year old race?ingsve said:No matter how Tour of California evolves it will never be a clasic race like the three GTs. Except perhaps in a hundred years time.
samb01 said:Not that I disagree wrt Tour of California in particular, but is it just my imagination or has Monte Paschi Eroica taken on a fair bit more prestige than what one would expect from a three-year old race?
samb01 said:It wasn't their call to make. According to a recent interview with Pro Cycling Stapleton claimed he would match anyone wrt money, but EBH's manager just wouldn't give him the time of day.
In general, you would have more informed opinions if you paid day-to-day attention to the sport as opposed to just tuning in for the biggest events.
ingsve said:Obviously you're the type of person who thinks the season ends with the Tour.
EBH rode the Giro as a first test at a GT and at no point was there a plan for him to ride the Tour. So after having a busy spring season of classics and Giro he had the summer off to train except for the national championships. Then he came back and had one of the best fall seasons of anyone.
maltiv said:Then why do you even say anything at all? He wasn't chosen to ride the tour de france because Colombia thought it would be better for his development not to.
Yea he has definitely been invisible since May![]()
auscyclefan94 said:I think a good question is, can/will columbia be as succesful next year as they have been the past two years?
Galic Ho said:The HTC piece on this websites posted today had Stapleton admitting Greipel and Cav notched up 44 wins between them. More than any other team. Add EBH to that and there is 60 wins. Even without EBH, HTC will get close to 80 wins next season as well. Blackcat detailed that the team can change tactics and in all probability improve. I hate their jerseys as well. Looked neater and better in 2008. Yellow, white and black, uuurrrrrggghhh!
Maltiv, you are right, nobody claimed Eneco was EBHs best result. That was never raised till you mentioned it. Plus beating Farrar requires a solid effort, but Greipel? He rode for the same team this year, that doesn't count in sprints. GC, ITT and points comps I'll accept but not stage wins.
I don't mean to offend but I'm not sold on Siutsou, Martin and EBH. They are all going to be competing in future for more or less the same wins along with young guys like Nibali and Kreuziger. The pointy end of the field is fiercely competitive. Few live up to expectations. Everyone cannot win. I'm not prepared to annoint anyone as something they are not without consistent evidence and form. If EBH does the same as this year, next year, fine. But no sooner.
blackcat said:line of Columbia's jerseys Gallic - Columbia's contract with Stapletont was (this is my mail, I could be wrong) his contract was non financial til 2010. He has received no money from Columbia yet. He was running the team still on the dime of T-Mobile severance.
Could be wrong.
From my mail, Stapleton then felt he deserved a bonus for 2008 from Columbia, but they had signed a contract that did not require them to fork out until 2010. Stapleton thought his crew who were on CERA and other gear, and all those wins and Cavs 20 odd wins deserved a bonus. And this guy came from the private sector!
So now Stapleton sticks the Columbia brand in some sci-fi jersey, a rip off of Cipo's and Sky HD and Rock Racing derivatives...
Now this is so far from Columbia positioning as you can get, Columbia seems to me to be a very conservative outdoors firm, and I never saw them as appropriate for cycling. In fact, if I was in their marketing department I would have put an injunction on Stapleton using their brand on that jersey design.
Stapleton may have been a great operator in telcoms, but unfortunately he puts the U in ugly American. The Hincapie situation, an ownership over the peloton thinking they deserved to have the leader's jersey. And sticking his sponsor in a jersey which is so far from their brand image that he could find.
Galic Ho said:Obviously you Scandinavians stick together. A Norwegian and now a Swede. Like the generalisations do you? We can do that all day in the land down under. Really guys, nothing was said at which to take offense. But your great hope of the future EBH was mentioned and like a true fanboi, offense was taken. Read my posts, plenty mentioned beside the Tour.
Great post. I can't see how I can reply to this masterpiece without looking silly. Oops!Galic Ho said:Enjoy the winter in Norway. Can you actually ride a bike in winter in Norway? I am well aware of why EBH left HTC. What nationality was he again? Thats not the reason why you've taken issue with someone ignoring him is it? Have your cry over one person on the other side of the planet not paying attention to one rider. I am more than willing to ignore EBH. If he was as good as you believe him to be, he'd have been riding, like Martin in France. We'll see about the future. Good move leaving HTC, because they can't support everybody, not with Siutsou and Martin also developing.
Opinions are like @rseholes. Everyone has one. Most are exclusive to the person who holds them. If I have the opinion EBH was quiet after the Tour, from my perspective I am right as I had no knowledge saying otherwise. Check the threads on EBH pre and post TdF. Lots more posts and info before July.
As for me not paying attention to the tour of Britain. Please, I noticed the basics and it was boring. Why would an aussie give a toss about a race in Britain? Anyone I like racing? Maybe in Norway after all snow based sports you've got nothing better to watch, here in Australia, the Tour of Britain isn't on the priority list. Go and sit in a good psychology class. People dispose of useless information very quickly, hence why I saw the headlines and didn't care. I regard the tour of Britain as useless.
craig1985 said:Bob Stapleton described EBH as a 'once in a generation rider'.