General News Thread

[issoisso]

Big threat for a stage win if he got in a break and it stayed away. I don't see him outsprinting Cavendish, unless Columbia implode big time.

.....and every other sprinter did the same.

 

[craig1985]

.....and every other sprinter did the same.

I'm thinking a mass pile-up taking everybody out and he somehow stays up right.

 

[HL2037]

Matti could be valuable on the stages with cobbles.

One of these three: Voigt, O'Grady, Nikki should be left home in my opinion.

 

[Cerberus]

Matti could be valuable on the stages with cobbles.

One of these three: Voigt, O'Grady, Nikki should be left home in my opinion.

In the article I read they considered Voigt and Nikki to be relatively sure to be picked. Certainly O'Grady would be the one to leave going by the performance this year, though perhaps he he just had a bad Tour.

ETA: The Danish News Paper Berlingske seems to think that Gustav Larson is the one most likely to be excluded given that there is no TTT this year.
http://www.sporten.dk/cykling/her-er-riis-tour-hold-0#part=11

 

[issoisso]

If it were up to me, Larsson would be nowhere near the Tour squad

 

[HL2037]

This morning in Jyllandsposten, Chris Anker Sørensen is quoted for saying that he doesn't mind missing the Tour, since he is going to be captain at the Giro.

http://spn.dk/cykling/article1927544.ece

Can Saxo do with only three pure climbers in the Tour?

 

[HL2037]

Larsson should definitely stay on the tour team for his ability to look cool in sunglasses.

 

[Cerberus]

This morning in Jyllandsposten, Chris Anker Sørensen is quoted for saying that he doesn't mind missing the Tour, since he is going to be captain at the Giro.

http://spn.dk/cykling/article1927544.ece

Can Saxo do with only three pure climbers in the Tour?

They had only 3 pure climbers this year and they did fine. Still Chris Anker should definitely be in the Tour Squad unless he is exhausted from the Giro. I'm pretty sure he will be selected to, unless he is to tired, crashes or gets sick.

 

[craig1985]

I see Romain Sicard is placed as a reserve on Euskaltel's TdF shortlist for next year. No no no no. Sicard should be nowhere near a GT squad until at least 2011. There is absolutely no need for him to race the Tour, although I won't be surprised, given that Sicard is French. Euskaltel should give him about 25-30 days of racing next year so they don't destory him too early.

 

[issoisso]

I see Romain Sicard is placed as a reserve on Euskaltel's TdF shortlist for next year. No no no no. Sicard should be nowhere near a GT squad until at least 2011. There is absolutely no need for him to race the Tour, although I won't be surprised, given that Sicard is French. Euskaltel should give him about 25-30 days of racing next year so they don't destory him too early.

Euskaltel had said in October that he is not riding GTs unless they have a bunch of injuries.

And indeed, nobody should ride a GT as a neo-pro. It's very bad for long-term development

 

[Tangled Tango]

Probably mainly CSC, the conflict between CSC and Sastre isn't remotely new. It seems to origin pre the 2008 tour where Sastre wanted to be the undisputed captain and Riis wanted to keep his options (read The Schlecks) open. Before this the barbs I've heard have mainly been from Sastre against Riis, claiming he was working against him in the 2008 vuelta, but it doesn't suprise me to see Schlecklet throwing darts too. He has an obvious part in the conflict after all.

Andy´s complaining doesn´t surprise me after hearing him in 09 after Contador´s attack that AC was helped by the cars & motorbikes shielding him from the wind and if Andy had such help he would of been able to go with AC. Check the footage, no cars, no help, just wind.

The fact is Sastre left CSC and Riis is still ****ed and probably sicking his Schleck dogs on him.

 

[issoisso]

Andy´s complaining doesn´t surprise me after hearing him in 09 after Contador´s attack that AC was helped by the cars & motorbikes shielding him from the wind and if Andy had such help he would of been able to go with AC. Check the footage, no cars, no help, just wind.

There's also Andy a week after the Tour claiming he's the best climber in the world.

There's also Andy criticising Sastre for somehow working against his brother in 2008.......the Sastre who wanted to attack on the Restefond when all the other contenders were dead but didn't because Frank asked him not to.....the Sastre who didn't attack when Frank was up the road at Hautacam......the same Sastre who didn't iniciate attacks on Prato Nevoso because Frank had a chance of getting yellow....even though Sastre was strong enough to follow Kohl's wheel without trouble when everyone else was getting thrashed....the same Sastre who the Schlecks arguably did no favours to by constantly attacking on Alpe d'Huez when he was up the road.


The public has this fascination with the Schlecks, with how they're "good guys" for no reason. It's becoming more and more clear that Frank fits the bill but Andy couldn't be farther from it.

It's going to be interesting to gauge the public's reaction at the end of the season when Andy has a decision to make. He's repeatedly said how riding with Armstrong interests him, how he'll only make a decision about his contract at the end of the season, etc, how he has to look out for what's best for his career...

 

[HL2037]

AS would be stupid to sign with Shack while LA is still riding.

It would also be unwise to go out in the press and say "I would never ride for Armstrong". Then he would have an enemy for life. As long as LA thinks Andy might sign with Shack for 2011, Andy is safe from his tricks.

 

[pankadog]

LiveStrong

It is interesting to see that LiveStrong has discontinued all support for scientific cancer research (will only support indirect patient care like IT services etc, but no more bench research. On the other hand, now Armstrong will be getting salary from Radioshack and the team is receiving financial support from LiveStrong. I wonder when will the media pick up on this. So who is LiveStrong really supporting?

 

[craig1985]

Martin Pedersen has been promised a spot on the 2010 TdF by Footon-Servetto. That's if they get an invite, not that they will.

 

[kurtinsc]

It is interesting to see that LiveStrong has discontinued all support for scientific cancer research (will only support indirect patient care like IT services etc, but no more bench research. On the other hand, now Armstrong will be getting salary from Radioshack and the team is receiving financial support from LiveStrong. I wonder when will the media pick up on this. So who is LiveStrong really supporting?

Link?

I'd like to see proof that the Lance Armstrong Foundation is paying any money to a cycling team. I looked over their publicly available financial documents and didn't find any indication they had done so with Trek-Livestrong or are doing so with Radio Shack. From what I can tell, they are a charity partner... not a sponsor.

As for the LAF's decision with their research grants... probably a good move. As far as researching a cure goes, other charities do a better job. The LAF's strength seems to be in providing services for survivors, not finding a cure. It makes sense to focus research grants on that area.

 

[lucybears]

Martin Pedersen has been promised a spot on the 2010 TdF by Footon-Servetto. That's if they get an invite, not that they will.

they don't need an invite

 

[issoisso]

I finally got to see the Tour de Suisse route......jesus what are they doing with the route? It kinda sucks for the second year in a row.

They completely killed off the Tour de Romandie which used to have an awesome route. Are they trying to do the same here?

 

[Mellow Velo]

I finally got to see the Tour de Suisse route......jesus what are they doing with the route? It kinda sucks for the second year in a row.

They completely killed off the Tour de Romandie which used to have an awesome route. Are they trying to do the same here?

In a word: Cancellara.

 

[issoisso]

In a word: Cancellara.

Not this year. There's only one mountain stage, but he won't hold on in this one.

 

[halamala]

Not this year. There's only one mountain stage, but he won't hold on in this one.

Have you found stage profiles?

 

[issoisso]

Have you found stage profiles?

Yes, a very nice german fellow by the nickname of "Daniano" built them based on google map altimetry and the maps of the route on the official site.
They're not official but you can trust them

(First and last stages are ITTs, other than that, road stages)

 

[craig1985]

they don't need an invite

Are you sure? They never got invited to any of the ASO races in 2009 and had to go through the courts to get a ride in the Giro and the Vuelta.

In other news, Chris Anker Sørensen will ride with a Luxembourg licence in 2010. Luxembourg licence for Sørensen - cyclingnews.com. But he won't be able to race the national team though, right?

 

[El Imbatido]

Yes, a very nice german fellow by the nickname of "Daniano" built them based on google map altimetry and the maps of the route on the official site.
They're not official but you can trust them

(First and last stages are ITTs, other than that, road stages)

~snip~

That route is shithouse. The only good stage is sage 6 and everyone will stay together until halfway up the last climb so some of those other climbs were wasted IMO. Stage 2 has one decent hill in it and that is it. The rest is flatsville. And what is the go with 2 TT's in a week? I 've always wondered about that. Is it just because of Cancellara? Have they always done it? The only other race i can think of that does that is the Dauphine Libere.

What is the tour of Romandie like? I'm watching this years atm. Only on stage 1 but it seems as though it will be a good race. They actually had to cut a climb out because it was snowed over. Maybe that is one of the reasons there may not be as many climbs this year.

 

[issoisso]

That route is shithouse. The only good stage is sage 6 and everyone will stay together until halfway up the last climb so some of those other climbs were wasted IMO. Stage 2 has one decent hill in it and that is it. The rest is flatsville. And what is the go with 2 TT's in a week? I 've always wondered about that. Is it just because of Cancellara? The only other race i can think of that does that is the Dauphine Libere.

The Tour de Suisse has always (as far as I can remember) had a prologue and a final TT. The Dauphiné has a prologue and a middle TT, but the TdS has 9 stages versus the Dauphiné's 8.

It's also had tons more mountains, but last year they needed switzerland to have more people at their home worlds, and that was only going to happen by having swiss riders win stuff, so they designed the route for Cancellara....it was dead flat.

This year it's not as flat as last year, but it's still nothing compared to previous years. It's pathetic, really. I guess for the second year in a row the Dauphiné will have the better route of the two....which, believe me, is not common at all.

What is the tour of Romandie like? I'm watching this years atm. Only on stage 1 but it seems as though it will be a good race. They actually had to cut a climb out because it was snowed over. Maybe that is one of the reasons there may not be as many climbs this year.

Romandie used to be prologue->flat stage->hilly transition stage-> 2 hard mountain finishes -> final TT in lausanne

Then they progressively neutered the climbs, making it slightly easier with each passing year, until this year it was 1 mountain stage (which can hardly be called that as it was extremely easy and the last climb was miles from the finish) and the ITT was turned into a much shorter TTT.

So we went from one of the best races of the season to the snoozefests of this year and the last.