• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

General News Thread

Page 61 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
I would be shocked if Cofidis didn't get a wildcard for the Tour.

So the lesson we've learnt is:

Buy one big star on a paper-thin roster = leg-up to all the big races.

Buy two riders who've won 4 GTs between them = gonna have to fight for it.

I know I'll get slaughtered for this, but I wonder if things may have been different had Sastre or Menchov spoke English as their first language.

Not that it matters, as they'll probably get invites to all the GTs anyway. It's a shame for a lot of the young guns on the team though.
 
Libertine Seguros said:
I would be shocked if Cofidis didn't get a wildcard for the Tour.

So the lesson we've learnt is:

Buy one big star on a paper-thin roster = leg-up to all the big races.

Buy two riders who've won 4 GTs between them = gonna have to fight for it.

I know I'll get slaughtered for this, but I wonder if things may have been different had Sastre or Menchov spoke English as their first language.

Not that it matters, as they'll probably get invites to all the GTs anyway. It's a shame for a lot of the young guns on the team though.

I also see a suspicious correlation (causal relationship?) between the length of the ProTour licenses and the Anglosaxon nature of a team.

Christian said:
If you find a spelling mistake ... you may keep it.

I am sorry Chrisian
 
Libertine Seguros said:
So the lesson we've learnt is:

Buy one big star on a paper-thin roster = leg-up to all the big races.

Buy two riders who've won 4 GTs between them = gonna have to fight for it.

If you're talking about BMC then I don't understand your logic. How has BMC been in any better position this year than Geox will be next year? Geox will have no problems getting into the biggest races next year so I don't see any real distinction between the cases.
 
ings - I was thinking of Sky actually - though that may be harsh on Jan Anton Pijl and Edvald Boasson Hagen, the whole thing was the Wiggins circus. But BMC also half-fit, but as you say, match up more with Geox this time around (though I'm certain Geox have more strength in depth than 2009 BMC ever had).
 
Libertine Seguros said:
ings - I was thinking of Sky actually - though that may be harsh on Jan Anton Pijl and Edvald Boasson Hagen, the whole thing was the Wiggins circus. But BMC also half-fit, but as you say, match up more with Geox this time around (though I'm certain Geox have more strength in depth than 2009 BMC ever had).

Ah, ok.

Well, ya that would be a bit harsh I think. I would hardly call Skys roster this year paper thin. It was by no means filled to the brim with talent but they had a fair number of well established riders. They didn't have anyone with the palmares of Menchov or Sastre but on the level below that they had quite a few well established PT riders like Flecha, EBH, Arvesen, Löfkvist, Henderson, Gerrans, Hayman, Cioni and of course Wiggins to name a few.

Geox does have two strong leaders but below them it is alot thinner in my opinion than what Sky had. The one other riders that are somewhat established are JJ Cobo and Ardila but the rest are mostly unproven talents and fillers.
 
Nov 17, 2009
2,388
0
0
Visit site
Libertine Seguros said:
I would be shocked if Cofidis didn't get a wildcard for the Tour.

So the lesson we've learnt is:

Buy one big star on a paper-thin roster = leg-up to all the big races.

Buy two riders who've won 4 GTs between them = gonna have to fight for it.

I know I'll get slaughtered for this, but I wonder if things may have been different had Sastre or Menchov spoke English as their first language.

Not that it matters, as they'll probably get invites to all the GTs anyway. It's a shame for a lot of the young guns on the team though.

BMC was 15th in the ranking used by the UCI now. While they may only have one rider... he scored a LOT of points. Geox was 17th... so they had to try for one of the last 3 spots.

AG2R and Quickstep still had years on their contract I think... so that left 1 spot between Euskaltel, Geox and Cofidis. Euskaltel had the highest point total of the three.

It appears that apart from honoring the pre-existing contracts for AG2R and Quickstep, they went entirely by the ranking.
 
Jul 7, 2010
73
0
0
Visit site
Why can't UCI make a system that the general public can relate to?

The ProTeams should consist of the 18 best ranked teams from the year before. Like Football there should be relegation and promotion every year.

I'm tired of UCI deciding what 18 teams they think are the best. Leave it to the results, and not the personal opinions of UCI's "expert commission". :rolleyes:

And the teams seeking ProTeam license should not start as ProTeams (Luxembourg). Let them start in second division and if their results prove them worthy for a ProTeam, they can be promoted to first division. With such system you help the existing ProTeams finding new sponsors.

The current system creates a lot of confusion for newcomers to the sport.
 
Libertine Seguros said:
I would be shocked if Cofidis didn't get a wildcard for the Tour.

So the lesson we've learnt is:

Buy one big star on a paper-thin roster = leg-up to all the big races.

Buy two riders who've won 4 GTs between them = gonna have to fight for it.

I know I'll get slaughtered for this, but I wonder if things may have been different had Sastre or Menchov spoke English as their first language.

Not that it matters, as they'll probably get invites to all the GTs anyway. It's a shame for a lot of the young guns on the team though.

Yeah, it's pretty depressing (but inevitable) that there are 4 US teams in the WorldTour and 1 French team.
 
Nov 17, 2009
2,388
0
0
Visit site
luckyboy said:
Yeah, it's pretty depressing (but inevitable) that there are 4 US teams in the WorldTour and 1 French team.

Well... those 4 US teams have riders who have gotten better results over the last 2 years.

In fact... using the metric the UCI has for ranking the teams... the one team in the pro-tour that wasn't in the top 18 of that ranking... is a french team.
 
Mellow Velo said:
Pat continues to choose to build his house upon the sand.
Lets hope that the French are still around to pick up the pieces, when the novelty has worn off.
I wouldn't blame them if they throw in the towel, in the meantime, however.

Of course the French are partly to blame themselves too, as they didn't produce world class cyclists for the last decade. But still, the UCI is making a bold step.

Cycling in France will never die out though, as the Tour de France is too big to fail.
 
Mar 13, 2009
5,245
2
0
Visit site
kurtinsc said:
Well... those 4 US teams have riders who have gotten better results over the last 2 years.

In fact... using the metric the UCI has for ranking the teams... the one team in the pro-tour that wasn't in the top 18 of that ranking... is a french team.

Yeah I'm as thankful as anyone for what Cofidis, BBox, AG2R and other French teams such as Crédit Agricole and Agritubel have done for cycling but we can't keep them in just for nostalgic reasons. I think the strongest teams (except maybe Geox) with the largest budgets got the ProTeam licenses and that was the right thing to do. They say ethics played a major role as well, so let's hope that is true.

Plus Cofidis and Europcar have always been mainly focused on the European races, in my opinion Pat only did them a favour, at least now they don't have to compete in China or Canada.
 
US World Tour teams

There's only THREE US World Tour teams in 2011. BMC is, rightfully so, registered as a Swiss team in 2011. Besides that, the US-registered teams hardly seem American.

Radioshack: 7 American riders
Garmin: 7
HTC: 4

BMC has 9 US-riders, if I am counting correctly. So, that leaves a very marginal section of the peloton with an American passport. Don't let the numbers fool or mislead you.
 
Jun 16, 2009
19,654
2
0
Visit site
yes BMC is swiss.

Speaking about BMC, Alexander Kristoff has announced his program

Tour Down Under
Tour of Qatar
Tour of Oman.
Paris-Nice
Milan-San Remo
Gent-Wevelgem
GP Scheldeprijs.
Giro del Trentino
Giro D'Italia.
 
auscyclefan94 said:
yes BMC is swiss.

Speaking about BMC, Alexander Kristoff has announced his program

Tour Down Under
Tour of Qatar
Tour of Oman.
Paris-Nice
Milan-San Remo
Gent-Wevelgem
GP Scheldeprijs.
Giro del Trentino
Giro D'Italia.
If they want to murder him, that's a pretty good program!

Almost 60 days of racing, and that's only the spring...
 
Jun 16, 2009
19,654
2
0
Visit site
maltiv said:
If they want to murder him, that's a pretty good program!

Almost 60 days of racing, and that's only the spring...

I am pretty sure he did a fair amount last year. Check out the CN article on him.

He has reasonable breaks between Oman and PN & Schelderprijs and trentino.
 
auscyclefan94 said:
yes BMC is swiss.

Speaking about BMC, Alexander Kristoff has announced his program

Tour Down Under
Tour of Qatar
Tour of Oman.
Paris-Nice
Milan-San Remo
Gent-Wevelgem
GP Scheldeprijs.
Giro del Trentino
Giro D'Italia.

The funny thing is that the reason he's doing all three of those early races is that they are unsure if it's possible to train well enough in norway during the winter. I guess it's hard for people who are not used to cold, snow, and rain to understand how that is not a deterence for some people. It may also have to do with the fact that he pulled a muscle right before the first training camp last year so when they first saw him it looked like he was not in good form.
 
Jun 16, 2009
19,654
2
0
Visit site
ingsve said:
The funny thing is that the reason he's doing all three of those early races is that they are unsure if it's possible to train well enough in norway during the winter. I guess it's hard for people who are not used to cold, snow, and rain to understand how that is not a deterence for some people. It may also have to do with the fact that he pulled a muscle right before the first training camp last year so when they first saw him it looked like he was not in good form.

Well I think he could get some form up at down under and then have a good shot at some stages in Oman & Qatar. BMC now have some guys that will be able to give him a proper leadout. If i was a pro, it would be more beneficial to be racing instead of training in miserable weather.
 

TRENDING THREADS