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King Boonen

King Boonen

Jul 25, 2012
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WKA311 said:
Doubt it honestly. He is targeting the rowing events there for years now. The plan for him was to row until Tokyo and then consider switching to cycling. He has had connections to Sunweb/DSM. Not sure if the connection is still in play though.
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I would doubt it too. Even if the timetable allowed for it, it'd be weird to pick him for the team and there's always the risk of crashing. I've no idea how good a rower he is (in terms of the worlds best, he's clearly very good!).
 
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WKA311

WKA311

Oct 5, 2011
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King Boonen said:
I would doubt it too. Even if the timetable allowed for it, it'd be weird to pick him for the team and there's always the risk of crashing. I've no idea how good a rower he is (in terms of the worlds best, he's clearly very good!).
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European champion 2019, 3rd at worlds 2019 and vice european champion this year all in lightweight double sculls. So legit chances of olympic medals and even pretty good chances for a gold medal. No way he is not racing there.
 
RedheadDane

RedheadDane

May 5, 2010
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Armchair cyclist said:
UCI seriously uses face by granting official world championship status to this glorified publicity stunt. One can only wonder what the size of the backhander was.
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I really don't see what the issue is. Not like they take World Championship status away from someone else, and there are already so many different World Champions: Road Race, Time Trial, Cross, MTB (multiple disciplines), Track (multiple disciplines), Cyclo-Ball, Cyclo Dance, and now... E-Cycling. Pretty sure all it means is that now Moolman Pasio and Osborne will get rainbow jerseys on their avatars in Zwift; big deal.
 
RedheadDane

RedheadDane

May 5, 2010
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Armchair cyclist said:
I think it devalues the prestige of World Championship status, and creates an unhealthy relationship between the organising body of the sport and one specific company.
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Sure, it's unfortunate that it's specifically Zwift (will they get rainbow-avatars in Rouvy or whatever other E-racing platforms there are?) but again; there are so many World Champions, I don't think a few more is gonna devalue anything.
However, if they hadn't been able to find a last-minute replacement to hos the Road Race World Championships, and had then decided that whoever won the Zwift championship would be the Real-Life World Champion, then I would have been a little "Eh?", and not just because it would mean Mads P. would've lost his jersey to someone sitting on a hometrainer. Though, I suppose he could ride, and then just have someone repeatedly pour buckets of ice-cold water over him, to mimic his preferred racing conditions.
 
Ricco'

Ricco'

Aug 14, 2012
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Well, Alpecin in theory can present more attractive names than Vini Zabú for the Giro (and they have an italian naming sponsor and the locals Modolo and Sbaragli who can mix it up for some wins in the sprints) or than Burgos/Kern Pharma for the Vuelta. They also said in that interview that they could mix their top names between races instead of having, for example, Merlier, VDP and Philipsen all on the Tour.

In a nationalistic perspective, yes it's a shame that some local teams won't be able to start on their national GT, but in a sporting way I don't think we will be in a worse situation.
 
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Devil's Elbow

Devil's Elbow

Sep 20, 2017
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Send Philipsen to the Giro, Van der Poel to the Tour and Merlier to the Vuelta and they likely pick up a stage in all three. Wouldn't back half the WT teams to do that, the real issue is how weak the bottom end of the WT is right now rather than Alpecin getting automatic invites. Arkéa in all three GTs would also be better than those teams.
 
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Samu Cuenca

Samu Cuenca

Sep 26, 2020
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Jungle Cycle said:
could this be a rival to the Acquadro's of the game or just 1 more to complete "the good, the bad and the ugly"?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1345452554650611716
View: https://twitter.com/sporza_koers/status/1345452554650611716
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It's not like football has benefited much as a sport by having more of these super agents around. Sure some riders would getter a better paycheck, but without the same type of revenue within the sport that football has, it could turnout as a kiss of death for some teams.
 
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BlueRoads

BlueRoads

Jan 4, 2020
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It might be a good thing for cycling if the agency's aim is to actually boost some rider's publicity in certain countries, like Almeida's in Portugal. Almeida by the way seems like a very decent guy who doesn't get carried away by something like that, but even then it can get too much for some... Anyway, if he appears in a few shows on TV or gives a few more interviews, that shouldn't be too bad. If the aim is to only get more money out of the teams for the individual rider, well, that won't work in cycling if it stays the same. First there needs to be more money involved. For which, I think, the main goal would be to relieve cycling from the over-association with doping.
Well, in general Mendes is not someone I would like to deal with, but that goes for a lot of team managers as well, so... Next step Raiola? :fearscream:
 
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