Evans' Future

[auscyclefan94]

I think he should stick with the GTs, to say he had no chance this year was ridiculous, but the broken elbow he'd still be in yellow.

He'd probably have won in 07 had Contador not gained crucial seconds battling with the subsequently chucked out Rasmussen.

'08 Sastre on because he had the way stronger team. Evans had to move from Lotto, that's for sure.

Looking back they may have been his best chance, but to write him off is ridicuous, he's got a couple prime years left yet.

I agree with this post. In 2008 you can't forget the crash.

I think the parcours in recent grand tours in past years has also scrwed evans over. They are giving too much advantage to the climbers.

 

[El Pistolero]

I'm not a really big fan of Cadel, talking smack about Omega Pharma lotto and his team mates, but in the end Cadel Evans will never have what it takes to win a Tour and he never will win one. Pretty funny on todays stage when Cadel Evans couldn't keep up for more then 3 seconds when Jurgen van den Broeck was leading the peloton. Jurgen admitted in an interview he was laughing a bit inside when Cadel couldn't follow.

And I know he has a broken elbow but he still wouldn't be able to follow Jurgen anyway. His 2007, 2008 and 2009 Tour de France's proof that. He just doesn't have what it takes to win a Grand Tour(Jurgen doesn't have what it takes to win a TdF as well by the way, so you don't have to tell me that).

If I were Cadel Evans I'd focus on the Ardennes classics and perhaps the Giro/Vuelta(pick one, you're not good enough to ride 2 decent Grand Tours in one season Cadel)

I hope to see Cadel win something like Luik-Bastenaken-Luik once, even though I'm not a fan of him, but I do like(d) his racing style after he won the World Cup in 2009. Fun stuff to watch.

 

[goggalor]

I don't think he'd have a problem following VdB jr. at top form. At his best I think he'd be up there with J-Rod and Bertie. It's not just his elbow that's hindering him, he's been racing very hard and very well this season (much more so than VdB), and the Tour/Giro double just doesn't seem doable. To me it seems Lotto are more eager to take jabs at Cadel than the other way around, though maybe they interpret him praising BMC as indirect criticism. Shrug.

On-topic: I don't know how much doing well in the GTs interferes with doing well in the classics, so it's hard to say what he should focus on. But maybe go for the classics and only train specifically for a GT if the course really suits him (i.e. prologue, two 50 K TTs and no TTT).

 

[ericthesportsman6]

It's ironic that after Evan's left, Lotto has actually accumulated some pretty decent climbers. Of course theres VDB and Lloyd, but Daniel Moreno is the ace in the hole super-domestique.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

Cadel should do what he likes...

For me he is far too talented not to focus on winning the Tour de France.

 

[El Pistolero]

I don't think he'd have a problem following VdB jr. at top form. At his best I think he'd be up there with J-Rod and Bertie. It's not just his elbow that's hindering him, he's been racing very hard and very well this season (much more so than VdB), and the Tour/Giro double just doesn't seem doable. To me it seems Lotto are more eager to take jabs at Cadel than the other way around, though maybe they interpret him praising BMC as indirect criticism. Shrug.

On-topic: I don't know how much doing well in the GTs interferes with doing well in the classics, so it's hard to say what he should focus on. But maybe go for the classics and only train specifically for a GT if the course really suits him (i.e. prologue, two 50 K TTs and no TTT).

But honestly, tell me one Tour were Cadel is in top form and doesn't have some bad luck? Some of that bad luck is sadly his own fault, no matter how many excuses you make. Compare him to Armstrong this Tour. During his 7 year reign Armstrong almost never crashed and since his comeback he crashes like crazy. He's a lot less concentrated now then during his 7 year reign. I think Evans has that problem, he's just not mentally tough enough to win a Grand Tour.

Jurgen has proven enough that he's a better climber then Cadel. Cadel might(is) be better overall, but a better climber? I'd say no.

 

[delbified]

Pretty funny on todays stage when Cadel Evans couldn't keep up for more then 3 seconds when Jurgen van den Broeck was leading the peloton. Jurgen admitted in an interview he was laughing a bit inside when Cadel couldn't follow.

maybe jurgen should wait until he actually achieves something before he announces his own arrival.

 

[icefire]

It's ironic that after Evan's left, Lotto has actually accumulated some pretty decent climbers. Of course theres VDB and Lloyd, but Daniel Moreno is the ace in the hole super-domestique.

Moreno signed for Lotto with the intention of supporting Evans in the mountains just before Evans moved to BMC

 

[Garduen]

2007 tour, he finished 23 secs behind contador

This is one of those could of/would of/should of questions but didn't he essentially get done by the time bonuses AC got over the course of the race?

 

[delbified]

This is one of those could of/would of/should of questions but didn't he essentially get done by the time bonuses AC got over the course of the race?

i can't remember but more generally speaking, most people would accept that a good team providing strong support is worth more than the 23 second deficit cadel finished with. it's an excuse to say he should have won that Tour, but a plausible one nevertheless. contador was lucky.

 

[dolophonic]

I was surprised at how well he was riding today (thursday) amazing turnaround from the other day that elbow must be healing real fast.

 

[auscyclefan94]

This is one of those could of/would of/should of questions but didn't he essentially get done by the time bonuses AC got over the course of the race?

He would of only lost by 2 seconds without time bonuses. I read that on CN i think.

maybe jurgen should wait until he actually achieves something before he announces his own arrival.

I think Evans has that problem, he's just not mentally tough enough to win a Grand Tour.

Jurgen has proven enough that he's a better climber then Cadel. Cadel might(is) be better overall, but a better climber? I'd say no.

Jurgen and you are both full of cow dung! Even if Jurgen is a better climber, he can't time trial and is a lanky, uncoordinated idiot! Try riding with a broken elbow going up the climb. He does not have a clue!
Even your idol "el pistolero" put Jurgen back in his box at morzine avoriaz.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Van Den Broeck didn't annouce his own arrival. He also never said he is a better rider or better climber than Evans.
So better stop whining...

 

[auscyclefan94]

Van Den Broeck didn't annouce his own arrival. He also never said he is a better rider or better climber than Evans.
So better stop whining...

When you have made comments twice about being better on climbs than someone you obviously think you are better than them. They definetly don't get along at all.

 

[killswitch]

Even if Jurgen is a better climber, he can't time trial and is a lanky, uncoordinated idiot!!

Um, VdB is former world junior TT champ.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Um, VdB is former world junior TT champ.

And what other tt results has he had in the past?

 

[El Pistolero]

maybe jurgen should wait until he actually achieves something before he announces his own arrival.

Maybe Cadel should try and win a Tour(or any other Grand Tour for that matter) some day without blaming it on his team or his "bad luck" when he can't win one. I would lie if I said I'm impressed by Cadel Evans' palmares. And Jurgen is a humble kind of guy, he said he probably wont make it into the top 5 and is aiming to stay in the top 10. When someone talked smack about me and is now performing like this I would laugh inside as well. If Omega Pharma Lotto is really that bad then why are they constantly in breakaways?

Why did Cadel Evans let his team work so hard to keep that yellow jersey anyway if he really had a "broken elbow"? Why didn't he tell his own teammates he had a broken elbow? Why did he let them work for nothing?

 

[goggalor]

Probably because he didn't feel they were working "for nothing".

 

[BroDeal]

Interesting quote about Evans not having many friends:

Q: Somebody said to us you can’t win the Tour without friends.
A: Absolutely not possible and that has been Cadel’s biggest problem too; not having enough friends. It is a fact of life. He hasn’t gone out of his way to make friends. Phil Anderson was the same. He could have had five times the amount of victories that he had. If you look at the results, go and look on cycling.com and look at all the classics and go through classics season. Have a look at the past. Some of them give top threes from the seventies and the eighties, not just the winner. Have a look how many placing Phil Anderson got. Every single classic he run top five over and over again. He only won Amstel Gold Race and something else because he was never allowed to win. He just didn’t have enough friends, yet he was there every race. Cadel is much the same. He is good enough to be there but his internal politics haven’t been good enough. So many people want him to not win compared to - he has respect and deserves to win, which makes his worlds victory even greater because he just smashed them. He was the best and good on him. Hopefully it will give him a bit more respect.

http://www.newcyclingpathway.com/

 

[Archibald]

Somebody said to us you can’t win the Tour without friends.

the Giro too it seems

 

[Angliru]

If you follow the history of the sport, many of the top riders and especially the top grand tours riders, have faithful domestique(s) that they include in their negotiations when moving from team to team. Evans hasn't culitvated this type of relationship at least not that I can see.