Gilbert lashes out at Evans - "not a team player" ! Merde !

[whiteboytrash]

Looks as thou Evans is losing team-mates fast. Doesn't bode well for the Tour. Typical Aussie methinks.
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Cadel Evans began the final charge up the Mur de Huy in Wednesday's Flèche Wallonne and looked to be in a good position to win, but ended up taking fifth. It was another lost opportunity for Silence-Lotto, and co-captain Philippe Gilbert was unhappy with both the result and Evans' performance.

"Before the race he told us he was not doing well, but during the race he said he was fine," Gilbert said to sporza.be.

In the finale the team rode for Evans, "but we knew that he was not good enough to win. It is not easy for us to have a leader who does not know what he wants."

Evans ended fifth, seven seconds behind winner Davide Rebellin. Gilbert finished 35th, 48 seconds down. The highest-finishing Belgian was Ben Hermans of Topsport-Vlaanderen in 14th place at 21 seconds.

 

[BigBoat]

I find it hard to believe Gilbert could have done better than Evans, but I could be wrong.

 

[ElChingon]

I think the whole team hates Evans, the guy is not so well liked as people think, the number of ex-domestiques who bail on the him says it all. Then all the interviews at the '08 Tour where he basically ostracized the reporters/media was just over the top.

I can't wait till the Tour to see the team allow him to ride at the front till he tires out, he's not going to win unless they up the salary of the domestiques going to the Tour. I hope they back Dekker instead.

 

[franciep10]

I'm not defending Evans, frankly I detest him but where does gilbert get the balls to criticize evans I mean what has he done all season, nothing Lotto paid him a bunch of money and he hasn't done a thing, evans finished 5 he finished 35th I think he should shut up and ride

 

[ingsve]

There seems to be the same problem in Lotto as there is/was in Rabobank. An inability to support foreign team captains.

In Rabobank Levi Leipheimer never really got much support in the tour from the likes of Erik Dekker and Michael Boogerd. At least not for most of his years as tour captain there.

The same seems to be true with Evans and Lotto. I dare say that if Evans was a belgian Gilbert would never make a statement like that.

Yes, Lotto are probably very frustrated with their season and yes, Evans might be slightly to blaim himself but I sure think there is more to the situation than that.

 

[bikepure]

JEAASUS DID CADEL steal money from the above !?

He is a clean- passionate rider with a temper that makes great television.
Gilbert is just bitter. He is a fantastic rider and a classic win has eluded him. He was there in Flanders and P-R. A master of the Pave, but the final climb this week isnt his bag.
He led the Slience Lotto, A squad while the B outfit cleaned up at the tour of turkey. The pressure is on and gilbert showed his lack of leadership by openly going after Evans. If you are riding as a domestic to serve a leader, working hard all day long, u gotta trust your leader.

the very opposite, i think this will strenghten the squad around Evans.

 

[franciep10]

JEAASUS DID CADEL steal money from the above !?

He is a clean- passionate rider with a temper that makes great television.
Gilbert is just bitter. He is a fantastic rider and a classic win has eluded him. He was there in Flanders and P-R. A master of the Pave, but the final climb this week isnt his bag.
He led the Slience Lotto, A squad while the B outfit cleaned up at the tour of turkey. The pressure is on and gilbert showed his lack of leadership by openly going after Evans. If you are riding as a domestic to serve a leader, working hard all day long, u gotta trust your leader.

the very opposite, i think this will strenghten the squad around Evans.

well I can safely assume you're australian

 

[marinoni]

I agree with you but I think his remarks are better suited for the team bus, not the press. That's just classless.

 

[BikeCentric]

Not an Australian here, and not a Cadel fan either. But seriously, the Mur is well-suited to Evans and not well-suited to Gilbert. Evans rode a good race, went a bit too early yah, but that's better than getting stuck in the bunch and not even having a shot at a high placing. Rebellin and Schleck were cleary stronger, but Evans put in a good effort and did a good race. Gilbert looks really stupid speaking out like that IMHO.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Look, Evans is about as exciting as watching rocks, but I think Gilbert is a little out of line here.

Just because a guy doesn't feel great before the race, but once he gets going he feels fine doesn't mean he's lying or you should abandon him. Evans was probably telling the total truth. How many times have you started a ride (day) not feeling great, but you get going and all is fine. He rode as best he could up the Huy, and just attacked a little too early. 5th isn't bad, and he got good TV exposure. Furthermore, for the first time in a long time we saw him really go on the attack at the front - something he's been roundly criticized for not doing. No, he didn't win, but I think the guy is catching unnecessary flak here.

 

[Angliru]

JEAASUS DID CADEL steal money from the above !?

He is a clean- passionate rider with a temper that makes great television.
Gilbert is just bitter. He is a fantastic rider and a classic win has eluded him. He was there in Flanders and P-R. A master of the Pave, but the final climb this week isnt his bag.
He led the Slience Lotto, A squad while the B outfit cleaned up at the tour of turkey. The pressure is on and gilbert showed his lack of leadership by openly going after Evans. If you are riding as a domestic to serve a leader, working hard all day long, u gotta trust your leader.

the very opposite, i think this will strenghten the squad around Evans.

Do you have some double notch spy secret list of clean riders that no one else has access to? If so I would love to have a gander at it.

I really don't see the difference between Gilbert's criticism of Evan's indecision over the course of the day of whether or not he was feeling up to being the team's leader for Fleche Wallone and Evan's yearly public statements bemoaning the lack of support that he receives at the Tour. Maybe his teammates would've ridden the race differently if they weren't
given conflicting signals from their leader. Evan's has added that he was almost driven into the barriers by Fabian Wegmann when he was "gearing up" for his final sprint up the Mur de Huy (This as reported by Velonews). Is this factual or another excuse?

The heat is definitely on at Silence-Lotto and Gilbert's statements are evidence of the pressure that they're under with only 2 wins (I believe) to show for their season so far after the acquisitions of Dekker and Gilbert and the expectations of Hoste and Van Avermaet.

 

[ingsve]

If he wasn't feeling good then there is no way he would have taken 5th place. I'd say everyone in the top 10-15 places has to have better than average legs, otherwise they would have been alot further down.

 

[Cosette]

I looked up the comments from Gilbert and Evans on Sporza.be and want to put some things from that article here.

Gilbert admitted he was not good at the Fleche Wallone. He had not fully recovered from the Amstel Gold Race.
He says they did not know Evans wasn't good enough to win.
He (Evans) had told the rest of the team that he wasn't feeling well before the race, but said he was feeling well during the race.
And Gilbert makes the statement mentioned above, about it not being easy to ride for a captain who doesn't know what he wants...

Evans says that he attacked early, but later then in 2008. And that he was almost involved in a crash.
He also says, and I quote (alright, I translated the quote into English):
"With the way I was feeling today, it is a miracle I could show myself in the finale."
He also states that he was feeling good on sunday, but not on wednesday. And that that surprised him.
He also states that he told his teammates to ride for Gilbert...

For anyone interested, the link to the article in question is here.

Just wanted to clear this up. For the rest of this discussion. I intend to stay out of it due to my strong personal preference for one of the two, and consequently a strong possibility of based and clouded judgement.

 

[Angliru]

Look, Evans is about as exciting as watching rocks, but I think Gilbert is a little out of line here.

Just because a guy doesn't feel great before the race, but once he gets going he feels fine doesn't mean he's lying or you should abandon him. Evans was probably telling the total truth. How many times have you started a ride (day) not feeling great, but you get going and all is fine. He rode as best he could up the Huy, and just attacked a little too early. 5th isn't bad, and he got good TV exposure. Furthermore, for the first time in a long time we saw him really go on the attack at the front - something he's been roundly criticized for not doing. No, he didn't win, but I think the guy is catching unnecessary flak here.

Technically he wasn't really attacking and he wasn't at the front, he was pursuing David Delay's aggressive move that looked relatively dangerous. I think Evans got happy feet again and took off too soon instead of waiting for one of the other teams to take chase and then jumping on their wheels. In Evans' defense he has attacked on at least a couple of occasions this season one being I believe at Paris-Nice and funny thing he is aware of his reputation of not being aggressive. So either the media is mentioning it to him and/or he's been reading cyclingnews.com's forum.

I think its Lotto management's fault for putting all their eggs in one basket so to speak and solely depending on Evans for the win. This especially when Evans had pre-race reservations about his form. Obviously he ended feeling well enough to go for the win at the end but it also tied the arms of Gilbert whose instinctual aggression could have changed how the race played out.
While the Mur is not a climb that Gilbert can win if faced with a sprint versus the likes of Cunego, Valverde and Rebellin that isn't even his MO. He would have taken a flier off the front in hopes of suffering up the climb with enough of a gap that he could make it to the line before getting caught (Ideally.)
What we were left with is Evans crying that he was almost run into the barriers by Fabian Wegmann just when he was "gearing up" for his sprint and Gilbert and Co. working hard leading Evans to the ultimate climb.

I agree these things are best left said behind closed doors and not to media. It will do nothing for team morale and with this team and the pressure that they are under, morale has to be at an all-time low. Now comes L-B-L and they have a potentially fractured team.

By the way my judgement may be biased and clouded due to my preference for one of the riders too.

 

[ElChingon]

No matter who you support (us fans) Silence Lotto lost, again.

The after race comments from any rider on the team is justified as they're on the team and know what is going on or should. If Evans stated he wasn't going good maybe, just maybe the assigned domestiques did not protect him as much and could of if they knew he was going to go for it? You know as in team tactics, to support the leader. Gilbert never said he was going to go for the win, only that Evans didn't know what he wanted and frankly as a leader that day it was up to Evans to state what he wanted or end up doing it himself.

I'm sure Gilbert would of supported Evans had Evans told him to do so, the team must be under heavy pressure especially at a Belgian race to do good and Gilbert is just venting that he wants a leader that will well lead them to a victory.

 

[cyclelicious]

Agree, and maybe the tension created will do the team /Evans good. Evans has griped about his team and not being supported, well maybe Gilbert is giving him some reasons why.

but hey…at least Evans attacked .

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Well I have serious questions about Evans man handling capabilities. Two years ago, when Rasmussen got kicked out of the Tour. Evans rode up to T.Dekker and Boogerd, and laughed in their face. I think Dekker never forgot that moment.

Now he is a teammate, but said in some Belgian sports magazine: "I won't do more for Evans then is necessary. I'll bring him to the foot of the Muur de Huy, but on sunday (LBL), he won't have to count on me. Evans is not a good leader, nobody wants to ride extra hard for him."

Not exactly flattering words...

 

[mr. tibbs]

Well I have serious questions about Evans man handling capabilities. Two years ago, when Rasmussen got kicked out of the Tour. Evans rode up to T.Dekker and Boogerd, and laughed in their face. I think Dekker never forgot that moment.

Now he is a teammate, but said in some Belgian sports magazine: "I won't do more for Evans then is necessary. I'll bring him to the foot of the Muur de Huy, but on sunday (LBL), he won't have to count on me. Evans is not a good leader, nobody wants to ride extra hard for him."

Not exactly flattering words...

Post a link?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

It was in many interviews back in 2007. During and after that stage. It also came back in interviews once or twice, when talking about Evans. That;s before he was signed by Silence.

Both Boogerd and Dekker had confirmed that story. Evans was riding up to them and said "Now all the hard work you put in last weeks was for nothing. Hahaha". /Evans.

I've got no link to the news in English. But it definately happened, if necessary I'll search through my 'Wielerrevue' (Dutch cycling magazine) and scan it for you...

 

[Mr Pumpy]

During last years tour Evans looked totally isolated by his own team, and pretty much like someone with no friends in the peloton. I suspect that is his own doing. You'd have to try pretty hard to alienate your own team that much. Factor in Lotto's smaller budget and you've got two reasons why he'll not be winning much.

 

[patswana]

I agree with you but I think his remarks are better suited for the team bus, not the press. That's just classless.

Absolutely.

Evans is clearly unpopular both within his team and everywhere else. But showing the disunity in the team so openly isn't helping anyone...

 

[cycutza]

lots of great points above. For me...

- keep your opinions on the bus or not at all Gilbert, you get paid to ride, not talk

- As captain, Cadel gets to change his mind, domestiques follow suit.

- No doubt Cadel is an arrogant and disliked rider. I'm an Aussie and I was pretty annoyed at how he handled himself last tour but that just adds to the passion of cycling IMHO and he might be disliked, but two seconds in the tour and maybe a first this year (if Alberto, the schlecks, levi and Menchov have to pull out) is nothing to be ashamed of. I still have to cheer for him.

- Great work on the Mur, maybe too early but at least he kicked and took it on from the front. Was a great finish.

 

[ridley]

lots of great points above. For me...

- keep your opinions on the bus or not at all Gilbert, you get paid to ride, not talk

- As captain, Cadel gets to change his mind, domestiques follow suit.

Boo hoo - I have to agree, not really sportsman-like to run your team mate down in the press.

Ride harder and save comments for a team strategy planning /retrospective

 

[patswana]

Well I have serious questions about Evans man handling capabilities. Two years ago, when Rasmussen got kicked out of the Tour. Evans rode up to T.Dekker and Boogerd, and laughed in their face. I think Dekker never forgot that moment.

Now he is a teammate, but said in some Belgian sports magazine: "I won't do more for Evans then is necessary. I'll bring him to the foot of the Muur de Huy, but on sunday (LBL), he won't have to count on me. Evans is not a good leader, nobody wants to ride extra hard for him."

Not exactly flattering words...

The obvious second question is "what had T. Dekker & Boogerd said to Evans before this?"

If T. Dekker and Evans can't bury the hatchett and work together, then they are as pathetic as each other. This just makes me lose all respect for Dekker.

 

[Captain Kirk]

Yes Aussie
Yes got the T Shirt...

Putting aside he said she said,

Fact, few wins for Lotto
Presure keeps mounting with every race
Even more expectation with Belguim races

Looks like where heading for the litmus test, either as already stated this will somehow bring the team together in their darkest hour .....or the public cracks will go nuclear

Bottom line....not a good feeling in the final prep before the Tour :