Euskaltel-Euskadi 2010

[lanternrouge]

I agree. There is clearly little to no benefit for the sponsor to have a presence of their team in Italy for the 3weeks, and with a small budget and limited GT riders it is very noble of them to allow a small italian team to get some exposure at the highest level in their own country.

About E-E, I absolutely love them. One of my favourite teams. They are real battlers. Such a small talent pool (as someone said, compared to the international talent pool of a team like HTC, E-E are doing pretty darn well) yet still come up with some good results. Not fantastic results, but when you limit your talent pool to basque (or 'almost' basque) riders, you can't expect too much..

When I first started watching cycling (via the tour) the first thing i noticed was the orange supporters and the orange jerseyed riders showing their worth in the mountains. I wanted to go out and get one of those orange jerseys straight away.

Given my screen name, I'm a big fan of climbers, and the fact that E-E chooses local talent who live and breath mountain climbing makes me want to watch them. The Pyrenees are exciting enough in the tour, but if you took away the orange fans and the EE riders it would be a little bit dull in the pro peleton.

On a side note, I think Sanchez should be targeting the Vuelta again, not the Tour. Too many contenders lining up for tour honours and SS deserves a GT win, and the vuelta is tailored to his characteristics. Not to mention that the defending champ, Valv, will probably push pretty deep in the Tour and may not recover in time for the Vuelta.

Anyways, i'll be supporting for EE when the peleton hits the mountains this year in France and Spain

+1 Agree totally. I maybe a little biased because I ride a orbea but I always cheer EE on, you just got to love the fans!

 

[hoolaparara]

Given my screen name, I'm a big fan of climbers, and the fact that E-E chooses local talent who live and breath mountain climbing makes me want to watch them. The Pyrenees are exciting enough in the tour, but if you took away the orange fans and the EE riders it would be a little bit dull in the pro peleton.

This is one of the things that irks me about Euskaltel, the big paul and phil imp show during the TDF about them being the men of the mountains when in reality, apart from a couple of french teams whose 9 riders sole purpose is to go before the flag has finished waving sit out the front but never actually win, they're the first team with nobody in the front when the road goes up!

 

[Angliru]

So I have a difference of opinon and you find me hard to reason with?

Not our difference of opinion but your willngness to alter the intent of my posts in a manner that is helpful to your point of view. As stated by Francois earlier either you don't understand my posts or you do understand them but still choose to conjure an altogether contrary meaning that is so blatant that everyone but youself is able to see it. I'm not going to continue to convey my message if all you're going to do is twist and alter it to your liking. Its insulting. I believe I've been very clear in my point of view. You can accept it or not but please don't twist it to your liking.

 

[Angliru]

This is one of the things that irks me about Euskaltel, the big paul and phil imp show during the TDF about them being the men of the mountains when in reality, apart from a couple of french teams whose 9 riders sole purpose is to go before the flag has finished waving sit out the front but never actually win, they're the first team with nobody in the front when the road goes up!

That's more the fault of the announcers that stereotypically pronounce them as a team of climbers and hype up the liklihood of their riders taking over the front of the climbs. Shouldn't you be irked by Paul and Phil and not the team that is out there busting their butts?

 

[Anonymous]

This is one of the things that irks me about Euskaltel, the big paul and phil imp show during the TDF about them being the men of the mountains when in reality, apart from a couple of french teams whose 9 riders sole purpose is to go before the flag has finished waving sit out the front but never actually win, they're the first team with nobody in the front when the road goes up!

They're are hardly the first team with nobody up front.

Let's face it, when the road does go seriously uphill, the peleton gets ground down to the 5-6 GC contenders, and 1-2 super domestics.

In the past EE have had Sanchez, Zubeldia, Mayo in the GC group, and when they are lacking a pure GC contender they ALWAYS join a breakaway on a mountain stage with the likes of Amets Txurukka, Martinez, Astarloza. Thats a pretty darn good showing in the mountains for a team with the smallest talent pool in the Pro Tour

It's hardly Phil and Paul making stuff up. EE are mountain men, and I maintain my original point that without the orange support and the orange jerseys in the Pyrenees, the peleton would be very dull.

 

[hoolaparara]

It's hardly Phil and Paul making stuff up. EE are mountain men, and I maintain my original point that without the orange support and the orange jerseys in the Pyrenees, the peleton would be very dull.

Nonsense they are no more the mountain men than almost all the other Pro Tour teams and there are plenty of other teams that attack more than them. I still don't see how going on a break on a mountain stage makes you a team of mountain men.. if so Rabobank were last TDF too since they won a stage with a mountain finish and their guy wasn't even hepped up on goofballs!

People are living in the past calling Euskaltel a team of mountain men.

 

[issoisso]

About Euskaltel and non-spanish races:

They're extending their calendar this year. Besides the few races in Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, Italy, Poland, Germany and France that they've done in the past few years, this year they're extending their calendar to include the Driedaagse De Panne and the 4 Jours de Dunkerque, both HC races.

 

[craig1985]

What was their reason for extending their racing calender?