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General News Thread

Page 27 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
May 6, 2009
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Cervelo for the Giro:

Iñigo Cuesta, Volodimir Gustov, Ted King, Ignatas Konovalovas, Daniel Lloyd, Gabriel Rasch, Carlos Sastre, Xavier Tondo and Marcel Wyss. Reserve riders are Davide Appollonio and Stefan Denifl.

Should be good for a stage win or two. Would like to see Ted King make a real fist of it on a stage or two if he gets a chance (and I hope he and all the team do).
 
luckyboy said:
Seeing as Sastre's supposedly riding all 3 GT's this season, are people thinking he will save himself for the Tour and Vuelta rather than going for the win in the Giro and not being in great shape for the other 2?

No way. His main goal for the season is to win the Giro, there's no doubt about that.

My guess is that if he rides the Tour then it will be with a crap shoot mentality- If he's got the legs then fine if not then it's not the whole world. And finally it depends on how the season goes if he can also target the vuelta in a good way. It's alot more likely that he can go for the GC in the Giro and Vuelta rather than the Tour and the Vuelta.

What I think is that Cervélo will be interested in defending their green jersey with Hushovd and will need to back him up rather than backing up Sastre. The giro squad on the other hand is all about Sastre. I was expecting Theo Bos to be at the Giro as a sprinter but it seems they have other plans for Bos.
 
Mar 18, 2009
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I like this interview a lot. Let's call it a portrait of a fallen prospect.

Broken dreams indeed

Since Monday, Alexandr Pliuschin, 23 years old, takes part in the Tour de Romandie. This Wednesday he tried to attack near the end of the second stage.

But in his head, the Moldovan is resigned to being a simple domestique at the service of his leaders.

NO PROBLEMS WITH AG2R-LA MONDIALE

Alexandr Pliuschin turned pro in 2008 with the AG2R-La Mondiale team. Vincent Lavenu, manager of the french team, felt he had achieved quite a coupby signing the Moldovan.

The young man made himself know by winning the junior Classique des Alpes in 2005. Despite two crashes, he took the win at the summit of the Col du Granier.

After two years at at Aigle, Switzerland, the Junior World Championships TT runner-up chose, in late 2006, to joing Chambéry Cyclisme, the Continental feeder team of AG2R.

With AG2R's feeder team, he confirmed his immense potential by taking the Ronde van Vlaanderen espoirs.

He wouldn't stay at Chambéry for a second year. AG2R-La Mondiale didn't waste time in adding him to their pro ranks, as he signed a 2 year contract in June.
At 21 years of age, Alexandr Pliuschin debuted with the pros.

Despite a 10th plae at the Ster Elektrotoer and a national title, his 2008 season was quite discrete.
"I broke my collarbone". I restarted racing, but it was hard. Like something was broken inside my head.

His second season was once again a discrete one.

"The problem was with me, it wasn't with Vincent Lavenu, who is a superb manager. I don't have any problems with him"





I AM CLEAN

Having gone to Katusha this winter, he hopes to restart his career with [Katusha team boss and former classics superstar] Andrei Tchmil, who he's known since his teenage years.

"I thought a change of environment, from a french to a russian one, would change something, but it wasn't the case", he laments.

With the russian team, Alexandr Pliuschin is at the service of his teammates. Only.

"I don't get to ride for myself, I'm here to help my leaders, that's all. Hopefully I can achieve some small results, but I no longer have the motivation to do even top 5s. I desired to be a champion and nothing less. That's surely over."

But Alexandr Pliuschin continues to train as best he can. Despite his efforts, he believes he's made little progress.
"I want to do better, but I see that I can not. I'm clean. I don't want to take stuff [performance-enhancing drugs]. I prefer to help my teammates and know that I do all this naturally" confides Pliuschin who benefits from a good reputation in this regard.



TURNED PRO TOO EARLY

Alexandr Pliuschin can't imagine having a long career. At the end of the season he'll reassess his situation-

He can see himself racing another year or two. Barely more than that. How has this rider with such large potential arrived at this point?

Going pro with only 2 espoir years in his legs was, according to him, an eror.

"I turned pro too soon. That was my biggest mistake. In hindsigt, I should've turned pro in 2010. I think I could've done well. It's better to know how to be patient, even if your dream is to turn pro."

After catching the eye of the biggest professional teams, such as T-Mobile, Alexandr Pliuschin has to settle for being an anonymous member of the pro peloton.

A situation that's quite onnel. "Even when you're one of the best juniors and espoirs, it's hard to jump right into the pros.

I dreamed of being among the best one day, but it's not possible. It won't happen. That's just how it goes. I could do something more [needle-to-arm gesture], but I don't want to "slip".
 
Apr 8, 2009
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Cerberus said:
The team says they're talking to a potential Danish sponsor, but no names have been named save as pure speculation and there's no real confirmation.
anything more on Saxo's sponsor hunt?

speaking of Saxo - is it just me or havent I seen Stuey riding lately - is he injured or they saving him from Le Tour?]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bellis-to-return-to-racing-at-uk-nationals - this is a great story

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/giro-start-a-dream-for-australias-porte - and porty makes it 3 Aussies in the Saxo team :)
 

Barrus

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Apr 28, 2010
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sportzchick said:
anything more on Saxo's sponsor hunt?

speaking of Saxo - is it just me or havent I seen Stuey riding lately - is he injured or they saving him from Le Tour?]

I thought he was quite an important and good rider within the classics, mainly being used as a helper, but I did see him quite often throughout april, or I might be mistaken (you do mean Stuart O'Grady right?)
 
Apr 8, 2009
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yeah I was and probally at my its more due to the lack of cycling coverage in oz other than the Le Tour and 90% of what we see is highlights anyway
 

Barrus

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sportzchick said:
yeah I was and probally at my its more due to the lack of cycling coverage in oz other than the Le Tour and 90% of what we see is highlights anyway

Yeah, he wouldn't really be in the highlights because most of his work was already done by the final parts of the races. But in my mind he was a great help to the team really guiding the team when they took the front of the peleton
 
Apr 8, 2009
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he always is - we all know that! I cant believe in the TDF thread that a couple were thinking hed be the one to miss out.....silly stuff IMHO.

On another topic - http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/sram-tour-of-the-gila-ne/stage-2/results Happy with team Fly V's progress in the Gila :D I wonder how much of a posiblilty is it for them to get Pro Satus...........not sure if overseas people understand how much us aussies want a Aussie Pro Tour team :D
 
May 6, 2009
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pic105529603_600.jpg


tdf016_600.jpg


Credit Agricole always had Shimano on their Look frames.
 
May 6, 2009
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Omega Pharma-Lotto for the 2010 Giro d'Italia: Jan Bakelants, Adam Blythe, Francis De Greef, Michiel Elijzen, Olivier Kaisen, Sebastian Lang, Matthew Lloyd, Daniel Moreno and Charlie Wegelius.

As well as Moreno, Bakelants is their other GC man with the aim of a high overall finish. Not that I know much about Bakelants though, aside from winning the Tour de l'Avenir in 2008.

Moreno is doing the Tour as well.
 
Mar 18, 2009
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theyoungest said:
He's given free reign, no expectations. They do say though that "as a former winner of the Tour de l'Avenir he can surely have ambitions in GTs". What they don't mention is how he's won it: in an escape.

Precisely. He won a bunch of minutes from a break, and when it came to the mountains, he lost most of it to Costa, who isn't a great climber by any stretch.

He has loads of potential and can be a heck of a rider, who can be a jack of all trades, but surely not a GT contender.
 
Nov 24, 2009
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Lampre's Giro squad: Damiano Cunego, Alessandro Petacchi, Gilberto Simoni, Matteo Bono, Danilo Hondo, David Loosli, Marco Marzano, Daniele Righi and Alessandro Spezialetti.

Substitutes are Mauro Da Dalto and Mirco Lorenzetto.
 
May 6, 2009
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Rabobank for the Giro:

Oscar Freire, Mauricio Ardila, Graeme Brown, Bauke Mollema, Dmitriy Kozontchuk, Jos van Emden, Rick Flens, Koos Moerenhout and Peter Weening.

What is van Emden's strengths as a rider?