Does BMC Have a Team?

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

0 wins... Personally don't think Boonen was the 2nd strongest even though he positioned badly and got caught out!For a cobbled classics team where there whole season is almost based around, that is very dissapointing.

you clearly did not watch the race ey. At Flanders he was very strong, at P-R he worked his a$s off only to be screwed by the rest.

also ironic that you mention the 0 wins thing... I mean evans and all...

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Were it not for Leukemans, Vacansoliel would have zero points under the UCI's ranking system.
Yet, besides a dozen podium spots, they have won 5 races, this year, including Kuurne-B-Kuurne!
They have also won the GC of an ASO stage race.

For all of that, the UCI give them zilch.

40 times less that what Cadel earned for his TDU.

The UCI is a PT ranking is only applicable to teams with unrestricted access to scoring races.

In a realistic ranking system, such as CQ, the true measure of BMC's "success" becomes evident.

As for Kurtinsc's argument about targetting races for automatic Tour qualifcation.
It's handy to be given two GT invites in which to score a few points towards that goal.
Something that is being denied to Vacansoleil.

This system reeks of the old boys club "members only" mentality.

I agree with this post.
The system is terrible, but it sums up the people in charge of the sport pretty brilliantly... Idiotic!

 

[Von Mises]

Say what? Boonen was the second strongest rider in RVV and P-R. The only thing that was going to stop Super Spartacus from winning both was bad luck, which did not happen. If it had Boonen would have been the one to capitalize on it.

Sure, Boonen was the second strongest, but thats not the point. As a team Quickstep is build around spring classics, if they come out without wins, then it is a big disappointment for them, bigger than BMC´s unsuccessful (and no doubt, it has been unsuccessful) campaign.

 

[9000ft]

If they win, they're dopers. If they don't, they stink and shouldn't be invited to the Tour. Pro cycling in a nutshell.

Nothing is worse than a doper except someone who rides like they're clean. Unexciting loosers, yup.

 

[powderpuff]

Once again Evans screws up. He could have gone to Garmin and the team would have still had change from getting rid of Wigans left in their pockets.

Garmin didn't want him after the TdF.

 

[Ferminal]

Garmin didn't want him after the TdF.

Wasn't he already in negotiations with BMC at the time of the TdF?

I think Garmin would've "wanted him" after his WC win, and JV missing out on Wigans and Contador.

 

[powderpuff]

Wasn't he already in negotiations with BMC at the time of the TdF?

I think Garmin would've "wanted him" after his WC win, and JV missing out on Wigans and Contador.

Everyone(most) would have wanted him after the WC, not so much interest when Cadel needed someone. Geez even Lotto wanted him after September October.

 

[auscyclefan94]

you clearly did not watch the race ey. At Flanders he was very strong, at P-R he worked his a$s off only to be screwed by the rest.

also ironic that you mention the 0 wins thing... I mean evans and all...

Boonen could not follow the attacks in the end of Hushovd and Flecha. eljimberino, we should not forget evans did not win the wrolds with lotto either. Garmin would have 3 leaders for a tdf team so going there is not ideal. CVV would not be wanting to ride for another rider imo again.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Ofcourse you can't follow the attacks when you have worked your *** off and the rest has only been sitting in your wheel and not sharing the work. I think your boy Evans knows that story, no?

Sorry to say but you really are naïeve and ignorant at times

 

[auscyclefan94]

Ofcourse you can't follow the attacks when you have worked your *** off and the rest has only been sitting in your wheel and not sharing the work. I think your boy Evans knows that story, no?

Sorry to say but you really are naïeve and ignorant at times

 

[Martin318is]

Boonen could not follow the attacks in the end of Hushovd and Flecha. eljimberino, we should not forget evans did not win the wrolds with lotto either. Garmin would have 3 leaders for a tdf team so going there is not ideal. CVV would not be wanting to ride for another rider imo again.

Flecha and Thor... hmm you mean the guys getting up to a 15-30% benefit in reduced power output requirements for the 200+km prior to them attacking the only guy who was actually trying to do anything at the front?

doesn't sound much like a successful proof that Boonen was weaker than they were to me...

 

[Jonathan]

Anyone watching the races this spring could see that Boonen has been showing excellent form, equal to any of his previous years. This is not much of a debate.

 

[tgsgirl]

Anyone watching the races this spring could see that Boonen has been showing excellent form, equal to any of his previous years. This is not much of a debate.

Not to people who know something about cycling, I agree.

 

[eljimberino]

eljimberino, we should not forget evans did not win the wrolds with lotto either.

Yes, that is my point. Only a team as strong as the one that helped Evans win the worlds is/was good enough. At the moment BMC are not showing signs of the strength needed to help Evans win a GT. We shall see, but at the moment his move seems to be a step backward, and not forward.

That Evans is the world champion is a mute point, because O'Grady et al is absent.

Heck, even going to Astana or Saxo bank as a domestique would have been better, and I wager would have reaped more results.

 

[Jonathan]

At the moment BMC are not showing signs of the strength needed to help Evans win a GT.

Very few, if any, teams have that strength.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Boonen could not follow the attacks in the end of Hushovd and Flecha. eljimberino, we should not forget evans did not win the wrolds with lotto either. Garmin would have 3 leaders for a tdf team so going there is not ideal. CVV would not be wanting to ride for another rider imo again.

way to miss my point entirely.

Yes flecha and thor attacked boonen , but that was after boonen worked his a$s off trying to catch spartacus. He was doing massive pulls in that group with pretty much no help. Tactics - spineless ones at that - helped flecha and thor beat boonen, not strength... try to understand the difference. Boonen rode for the win, the others rode for the minor places.

Boonen most definitely was the next best after spartacus this spring (P-R aside... Flanders. and E3??) and I thought he showed a lot of heart this classics campaign. Props to him.

Anyone watching the races this spring could see that Boonen has been showing excellent form, equal to any of his previous years. This is not much of a debate.

indeed. At times people tend to reak of ignorance here.

 

[kurtinsc]

Yes, that is my point. Only a team as strong as the one that helped Evans win the worlds is/was good enough. At the moment BMC are not showing signs of the strength needed to help Evans win a GT. We shall see, but at the moment his move seems to be a step backward, and not forward.

That Evans is the world champion is a mute point, because O'Grady et al is absent.

Heck, even going to Astana or Saxo bank as a domestique would have been better, and I wager would have reaped more results.

If I'm not mistaken, the Australia team at the Worlds weren't riding for Evans. They were riding for Gerrans.

Evans really didn't have any help... he was a free rider for the Australia team, but not the leader.

As for team strength... the determining factor would be if the Lotto team were completely focused on his goals (as BMC will be), or if other riders would be allowed to be free riders to pursue goals other then helping Evans.

If Van den Broek were 100% supporting Evans in the mountains and Gilbert were 100% helping in the flats and hills... Lotto would be a better squad for Evans. But Lotto might very well let VDB pursue his own placing and have Gilbert go for stage wins... then he's left with about the same level of support.

It definitely wasn't a step up (except maybe in terms of money). But I'm not sure it was a step back either.

 

[Ripper]

Wow, there is a lot of f*cking whining going on in this thread about how unfair things are. Does anyone want some cheese with that?

Has BMC had much of a year so far? No. They have shown some presence with Evans in a few races, but this does not add up to be a successful year, and least so far. Of course, their main goals are coming up, so we'll see if they perform or flop pretty soon.

Is the system fair? News flash ... no it isn't. Knowing the 'rules' is part of succeeding. It is not exactly BMC's fault that the system works the way it does; but knowing how the system works, they have done what they needed to do so far. If people are p*ssed at the UCI or ASO, write them a letter D - not that they would respond, unless you include a cheque for $500k ) Vacansoleil has done some exicting racing, in particular I have enjoyed watching Leukemans and Traksel race, but the ASO made it pretty clear why they chose the way they did. And did I just read that Leukemans might be moving to Katusha?

BTW - BMC seems to be following at least one of the patterns of Phonak (pre-Landis), which was a slow earlier season. Hopefully that is the only pattern they follow

 

[auscyclefan94]

If I'm not mistaken, the Australia team at the Worlds weren't riding for Evans. They were riding for Gerrans.

Evans really didn't have any help... he was a free rider for the Australia team, but not the leader.

As for team strength... the determining factor would be if the Lotto team were completely focused on his goals (as BMC will be), or if other riders would be allowed to be free riders to pursue goals other then helping Evans.

If Van den Broek were 100% supporting Evans in the mountains and Gilbert were 100% helping in the flats and hills... Lotto would be a better squad for Evans. But Lotto might very well let VDB pursue his own placing and have Gilbert go for stage wins... then he's left with about the same level of support.

It definitely wasn't a step up (except maybe in terms of money). But I'm not sure it was a step back either.

Step back in money actually. The team weren't really behind him. They did get riders but the management did not know what they were doing and were disorgansied. With BMC, it was more to have a fresh environement were people know what they are doing and there aren't idiots on the team.

 

[swuzzlebubble]

I'm surprised BMC didn't grab Horner when available.
Good fit for Cadel and US aspect of team.

 

[Moondance]

Wow, there is a lot of f*cking whining going on in this thread about how unfair things are. Does anyone want some cheese with that?

Has BMC had much of a year so far? No. They have shown some presence with Evans in a few races, but this does not add up to be a successful year, and least so far. Of course, their main goals are coming up, so we'll see if they perform or flop pretty soon.

Given that they signed Hincapie, Ballan and Burghardt, wouldn't you say that the Flanders' Classics were a major goal? And the best they got was a 4th for Hincapie at Gent-Wevelgem. Pretty disappointing if you ask me, even if the Ballan thing was out of their control.

 

[Ripper]

Given that they signed Hincapie, Ballan and Burghardt, wouldn't you say that the Flanders' Classics were a major goal? And the best they got was a 4th for Hincapie at Gent-Wevelgem. Pretty disappointing if you ask me, even if the Ballan thing was out of their control.

I would say Hincapie was hired for experience and marketing purposes, with an outside chance of doing well on the cobbles (very outside ). Like I said, what's been done so far would not be considered a successful year. And I also said there was a lot of boo hoo f*cking whining going on.