If there was one thing you could...

[CasperVg]

If there was one team you could promote to the World Tour (from (Pro)Continental), which one would it be?

If there was one team you could demote to (Pro)Continental, which one would it be?

If you could "buy" one (current) rider, who build be it be?

If there was one race (.HC, .1 or .2) you could promote to World Tour, which one would it be (tour or single-day race)?

If there was one race (WT) you could demote to HC or .1, which one would it be?

If there was one 'historic' rider you could put into race again (at his best level), who would you choose?

If you could "donate" a win to a rider, which win would it be (and to which rider?)

If you had to bet 10000$ on a -25 aged rider to win the Tour someday in his career, who would it be?

If you could choose one climb to be used as MTF in a GT, which one would it be?
---

Basically, anwser all (or some) of these questions in your reply. My personal list is:

-> Team promote: NetApp (they have been doing much better than I expected, generally living up quite well to their WT invitations)
-> Team demote: Euskaltel (so they wouldn't have to ride the cobbled classics anymore and could focus more on the climbing )
-> Buy rider: Paul Martens (fairly underrated (so quite cheap?), yet big potential
-> Race promote: Volta a Portugal (deserves a better field and it's a nice historic race)
-> Race demote: Eneco Tour (just one more of the "hilly" races that are decided by the ITT, we have enough of those)
-> Historic rider back: Pantani (at least he attacked)
-> Donate win: LBL 2012 to Nibali (like many times before in classics, he was one of the few that dared to attack)
-> U25 Rider to win Le Tour: Thomas De Gendt (shown some nice performances so far in both ITT and climbing)
-> Climb in GT: Puy de Dôme (in an MTT perhaps?)

 

[LaFlorecita]

Nice. I'll try this.

 

[Havetts]

Team promote: -
Team demote: Saxo Bank, sorry but without Contador they only add any value to a race with Nuyens & Chris Anker Sorensen.
Buy rider: Sylvester Szmyd, the guy who does the most work on any climb and doesnt complain. Mad mad respect.
Race promote: Giro del Emilia
Race demote: Tour of Romandie, do I need to explain?
Historic rider back: Marco Pantani.
Donate win: Gesink, Paris-Nice 2008 .
U25 Rider winning the tour: Wilco Kelderman.. - in all seriousness I dont know.
Climb in GT: Col Agnel, those last 6 kilometers

 

[LaFlorecita]

If there was one team you could promote to the World Tour (from (Pro)Continental), which one would it be?
Argos or Farnese.

If there was one team you could demote to (Pro)Continental, which one would it be?
Radioshack No, probably AG2R or FDJ. Or Euskaltel.

If you could "buy" one (current) rider, who build be it be?
Alberto of course.

If there was one race (.HC, .1 or .2) you could promote to World Tour, which one would it be (tour or single-day race)?
Don't know. There isn't one that really stands out for me.

If there was one race (WT) you could demote to HC or .1, which one would it be?
Eneco Tour.

If there was one 'historic' rider you could put into race again (at his best level), who would you choose?
Pantani without a doubt.

If you could "donate" a win to a rider, which win would it be (and to which rider?)
I would donate Paris-Nice 2013 to Jesus Hernandez.

If you had to bet 10000$ on a -25 aged rider to win the Tour someday in his career, who would it be?
Manuele Boaro because he's awesome.

If you could choose one climb to be used as MTF in a GT, which one would it be?
I don't know anything about climbs to be honest.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Team promote: -
Team demote: Saxo Bank, sorry but without Contador they only add any value to a race with Nuyens & Chris Anker Sorensen.

But Alberto will come back before you get the chance to demote the team

 

[LaFlorecita]

I just realised:

If you could "buy" one (current) rider, who build be it be?

Autocorrect?

 

[rzombie1988]

If there was one team you could promote to the World Tour (from (Pro)Continental), which one would it be?

If there was one team you could demote to (Pro)Continental, which one would it be?

If you could "buy" one (current) rider, who build be it be?

If there was one race (.HC, .1 or .2) you could promote to World Tour, which one would it be (tour or single-day race)?

If there was one race (WT) you could demote to HC or .1, which one would it be?

If there was one 'historic' rider you could put into race again (at his best level), who would you choose?

If you could "donate" a win to a rider, which win would it be (and to which rider?)

If you had to bet 10000$ on a -25 aged rider to win the Tour someday in his career, who would it be?

If you could choose one climb to be used as MTF in a GT, which one would it be?

1. Christina Watches or Androni. I'd really like a Rasmussen/Alberto rematch and I'd like to see Rujano get a chance at more than the Giro.

2. FDJ. Never been a fan of them and I feel they waste alot of spots. Yeah you have Sandy Casar but aside from some failed breakaways he's not doing much.

3. I'd buy Mark Renshaw and put him back into lead out trains. I'd also buy Rasmussen, but yeah I'm going to be the only one who would.

4. Skipping this one.

5. Tour of Columbia maybe.

6. I'd love to see what Merckx could do today. I'd also love to see Claudio Chiapucci putting in suicide attacks against the lazy peloton.

7. Wilco or TGBM. Maybe Pierre Rolland.

8. Col D'Abisque

 

[The Hitch]

Neither rolland nor mollema are under 25.

 

[pastronef]

Race demote: Tour of Romandie, do I need to explain?

explain please

 

[Fowsto Cope-E]

Team Promote - Europcar (along with AG2R, clearly the best of French teams)

Team Demote - FDJ (There is a lot of competition for ProTour spots, and they're simply not that good.)

Rider - Ruben Plaza (A lot of potential if he has a healthy season)

Race Promote - Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (I'd say it's just as big as E3 and G-W)

Race Demote - ENECO Tour (No one really cares about it)

Historic Rider - Eddy Merckx (It would be interesting to see how he fares during a time of "specialization")

Donation - 2010 Veulta, Igor Anton (He was tearing that race up)

U25 Tour winner - Rigoberto Uran (I've been thinking this for many years)

Climb - Brasstown Bald (It will definitely be a tough stage, but I'm not sure how big time gaps will be on it)

 

[Lexman]

-> Team promote: Androni
-> Team demote: AG2R
-> Buy rider: Contador
-> Race promote: Strade Bianchi
-> Race demote: Tour of Poland
-> Historic rider back: Merckx
-> Donate win: wins are not donated !!
-> U25 Rider to win Le Tour: no idea
-> Climb in GT: Puy de dome

 

[Gloin22]

-> Team promote: Androni
-> Team demote: AG2R
-> Buy rider: Contador
-> Race promote: Strade Bianchi
-> Race demote: Tour of Poland
-> Historic rider back: Merckx
-> Donate win: wins are not donated !!
-> U25 Rider to win Le Tour: no idea
-> Climb in GT: Puy de dome

Seriously, there are much worse races in WT at this moment. And this year they made the route quite mountainous as well. Not for a rider like Sagan to win.

 

[The Hitch]

Seriously, there are much worse races in WT at this moment. And this year they made the route quite mountainous as well. Not for a rider like Sagan to win.

Anyone who would demote the Tour of Poland but wants to keep Eneco TDU and Beijing, is just anti cycling.

 

[Red Rick]

If there was one team you could promote to the World Tour (from (Pro)Continental), which one would it be?

If there was one team you could demote to (Pro)Continental, which one would it be?

If you could "buy" one (current) rider, who build be it be?

If there was one race (.HC, .1 or .2) you could promote to World Tour, which one would it be (tour or single-day race)?

If there was one race (WT) you could demote to HC or .1, which one would it be?

If there was one 'historic' rider you could put into race again (at his best level), who would you choose?

If you could "donate" a win to a rider, which win would it be (and to which rider?)

If you had to bet 10000$ on a -25 aged rider to win the Tour someday in his career, who would it be?

If you could choose one climb to be used as MTF in a GT, which one would it be?
---

Basically, anwser all (or some) of these questions in your reply. My personal list is:

-> Team promote: NetApp (they have been doing much better than I expected, generally living up quite well to their WT invitations)
-> Team demote: Euskaltel (so they wouldn't have to ride the cobbled classics anymore and could focus more on the climbing )
-> Buy rider: Paul Martens (fairly underrated (so quite cheap?), yet big potential
-> Race promote: Volta a Portugal (deserves a better field and it's a nice historic race)
-> Race demote: Eneco Tour (just one more of the "hilly" races that are decided by the ITT, we have enough of those)
-> Historic rider back: Pantani (at least he attacked)
-> Donate win: LBL 2012 to Nibali (like many times before in classics, he was one of the few that dared to attack)
-> U25 Rider to win Le Tour: Thomas De Gendt (shown some nice performances so far in both ITT and climbing)
-> Climb in GT: Puy de Dôme (in an MTT perhaps?)

Promoted team: Argos-Shimano, they could make the sprints more exciting

Demoted team: AG2R, no strong team leaders, will get a wildcard for the Tour anyway

Promoted Race: Strada Bianchi, because of awesomeness

Demoted race: Anything from China, Eneco (if they don't come up with hill finishes in the ardennes very soon, something like haussire would be okay)

Historic rider: Lance, to see him getting crushed while not on his usual program.

Buy a rider: I'd choose between any dutch Rabo GC guy, to let him ride Giro Vuelta year after year (and maybe winning a GT one day) and Andy Schleck, who I'd let clean up my room if he whines too much

Gifted win: I dunno, Paris-Nice 2012 to Westra, or Tour de Suisse 2011 to Cunego.

MTF in a GT. For Spain i'd say Alto de Gamoniteiro from Pola de Lena (very close to angliru, Gamoniteiro is a continuation from the Cobertoria. It's 16 km at 9% or something), Fuentes d'Escondida (dunno where it is, but 24 km at 7,5% is good in Spain), or Pic de las Nieves on the Canary Islands (22 km at 8%, max 24%)
For the Tour i'd climb Col de Rosael, which is 20,5 km at over 10% average and goes to 3000m in altitude, and descend into the ski-resort of Val Thorens (descending in a ski-resort sounds like an epic climb to me)
For the Giro i'd do a combination of Rifugio altissimo from Torbole (17km at little over 10%), descend towards Mori and climb Monte Stivo (rifugio marchetti) straight after it (15km at over 11%). That makes Crostis-Zoncolan sound like a medium mountain stage

Edit: Rider under 25 to win the Tour: Andy Schleck, he behaves like a 12 year old sometimes. More seriously i don't ****ing know

 

[Red Rick]

If there was one team you could promote to the World Tour (from (Pro)Continental), which one would it be?

If there was one team you could demote to (Pro)Continental, which one would it be?

If you could "buy" one (current) rider, who build be it be?

If there was one race (.HC, .1 or .2) you could promote to World Tour, which one would it be (tour or single-day race)?

If there was one race (WT) you could demote to HC or .1, which one would it be?

If there was one 'historic' rider you could put into race again (at his best level), who would you choose?

If you could "donate" a win to a rider, which win would it be (and to which rider?)

If you had to bet 10000$ on a -25 aged rider to win the Tour someday in his career, who would it be?

If you could choose one climb to be used as MTF in a GT, which one would it be?
---

Basically, anwser all (or some) of these questions in your reply. My personal list is:

-> Team promote: NetApp (they have been doing much better than I expected, generally living up quite well to their WT invitations)
-> Team demote: Euskaltel (so they wouldn't have to ride the cobbled classics anymore and could focus more on the climbing )
-> Buy rider: Paul Martens (fairly underrated (so quite cheap?), yet big potential
-> Race promote: Volta a Portugal (deserves a better field and it's a nice historic race)
-> Race demote: Eneco Tour (just one more of the "hilly" races that are decided by the ITT, we have enough of those)
-> Historic rider back: Pantani (at least he attacked)
-> Donate win: LBL 2012 to Nibali (like many times before in classics, he was one of the few that dared to attack)
-> U25 Rider to win Le Tour: Thomas De Gendt (shown some nice performances so far in both ITT and climbing)
-> Climb in GT: Puy de Dôme (in an MTT perhaps?)

So true, + 100

 

[DominicDecoco]

-> Team promote: Christina Watches for their acknowledgeable anti-doping politics.
-> Team demote: Sky. For using helmets. Yep, those helmets.
-> Buy rider: Fabi Cancelicious. His price tag must have had a drop you'd think.
-> Race promote: Tour Of Beijing - Already on the top end. It's not enough though. Put 2 weeks more in it and we have our next epic Grand Tour.
-> Race demote: The Olympics.
-> Historic rider back: Arvis Piziks. Don't have to explain that, do I? Legend.
-> Donate win: Iljo Keisse - but only if he wins it in the same way.
-> U25 Rider to win Le Tour: Chris Horner.
-> Climb in GT: Cervinia - final climb that was used 19/5 -2012 in Giro D'Italia.

 

[DominicDecoco]

-> Team promote: Christina Watches for their acknowledgeable anti-doping politics.
-> Team demote: Sky. For using helmets. Yep, those helmets.
-> Buy rider: Fabi Cancelicious. His price tag must have had a drop you'd think.
-> Race promote: Tour Of Beijing - Already on the top end. It's not enough though. Put 2 weeks more in it and we have our next epic Grand Tour.
-> Race demote: The Olympics. Why isn't it raced every year like every other races in the season? Pathetic.
-> Historic rider back: Arvis Piziks. Don't have to explain that, do I? Legend.
-> Donate win: Iljo Keisse - but only if he wins it in the same way.
-> U25 Rider to win Le Tour: Chris Horner.
-> Climb in GT: Cervinia - final climb that was used 19/5 -2012 in Giro D'Italia.

 

[Red Rick]

trolololol

 

[Aapjes]

-> Team promote: Argos
-> Team demote: Euskatel
-> Buy rider: Sagan
-> Race promote: Strade Bianchi
-> Race demote: Tour of Beijing
-> Historic rider back: Gino Bartali. During his best years he couldn't race because of the war (so instead he helped the resistance). A great man who deserves another go.
-> Donate win: Lemond for the tour of 1991 and all tours after that. No Epo champion ever.
-> U25 Rider to win Le Tour: Dunno. The love baby of Merckx with Lemond.
-> Climb in GT: Monte Zoncolan

 

[Ruudz0r]

-> Team promote: Argos
-> Team demote: FDJ
-> Buy rider: Zurlo
-> Race promote: Emilia
-> Race demote: Tour of Beijing
-> Historic rider back: Maarten Den Bakker
-> Donate win: Paris Roubaix 2012 to Fabian Cancellara
-> U25 Rider to win Le Tour: Lachlan Morton (he is still very young but he seems insanely talented to me)
-> Climb in GT: Angrilu

 

[burning]

Team promote: Europcar
Team demote: Saxo without Contador
Buy rider: Sagan
Race promote: Omloop
Race demote: Anything from China
Historic rider back: Merckx or Hinault
Donate win: Freire AGR 2012
U25 Rider winning the tour: Dont have any idea
Climb in GT: Cardeccia stage was awesome, for single Climb, Zoncolan

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Team to promote: Farnese Vini

Team to demote: Radioshack or Sky, to make the races more interesting

Rider to buy: Domenico Pozzovivo

Race to promote: Volta a Portugal, Rund um Frankfurt

Race to demote: The obvious choice is Beijing, but if I promote Frankfurt, then Vattenfall. Also, the TDU should not be giving as many points as Paris-Nice.

Historic rider to bring back: José Manuel Fuente. Van Impe and Bahamontes 2nd and 3rd.

Win donate: any pro race anywhere to Amets Txurruka. Just so he gets one.

U25 rider: Rafael Reis, more in hope than expectation. Mikel Landa, likewise.

MTF: So many to choose from! Monte Oiz, Haza del Lino, Val Pelouse, Gamoniteiro, Solaison, Laberouat, Mont du Chat...

 

[Caruut]

Team to promote: Europcar. Good squad across the board.
Team to demote: Ag2r-La Mondiale. They just aren't good enough.
Rider to buy: Peter Sagan. It's such an obvious choice, but he is a potential winner of all 5 monuments, could be the best classics rider since Kelly.
Race to promote: Giro del Trentino. Short mountainous race, the kind of racing people like.
Race to demote: Tour of Beijing. Again, for obvious reasons, it's a moneygrab by Pat and cronies.
Historic rider back: Pantani again.
Donate win: Something to Txurruka.
U25 Rider to win Le Tour: Thibaut Pinot.
Climb in GT: Something from Austria for the Tour or Giro.

 

[Wigwan]

Team to promote: Europcar
Team to demote: AG2R, pathetic.
Rider to buy: Sagan, wins everywhere, great for the sponsors.
Race to promote: Paris-Tour.
Races to demotes: Beijing, Eneco, probably the 2nd one in China but we'll see.
Historic rider back: : '04 Cunego.
Donate win: Vuelta for Anton or Samy Sanchez
U25 Rider to win GT: Pinot.
Climb in GT: Mt. Washington, but it's in the US. Otherwise i like le Grand-Colombier.

 

[ElChingon]

-> Team promote: Androni Giocattoli, they at least try to animate the races. Europe Car should of been ProTour already.
-> Team demote: Euskaltel-Euskadi, not even sure how they qualified again this year, need to go to the ProConti ranks. Rather invisible except for the crashes at le Tour. BMC is a close second, all that talent and nothing... waste. Not a SuperTeam they make, only an over paid team.
-> Buy rider: Alejandro Valverde Belmonte, so I could put him back in racing year round again, this select racing of modern riders is BS.
-> Race promote: Vuelta a Espana, need to give negative points to riders exiting early (heck for all GT's). Races are races not training exercises.
-> Race demote: ToC, its not in Europe and a total pain in the rear logistically, Euro's are mainly in it for training or vacation time in Cali.
-> Historic rider back: Vino!, the younger version that is, he'd attack his own DS let alone a teammate, miss those days.
-> Donate win: Any ProTour one day race or GT Stage to Tommy "I'm sick", "I'm hurt", "I miss home", "I don't speak the language", "I don't like my Euro DS", "I don't like my Euro Teammates", "I crashed again", "I am scared", "Its too cold to race", "whine, whine, whine", "The Great American Hope", "The Future Lance", "I have best cycling performance lab stats" Danielson. Then he could retire and that would be over with.
-> U25 Rider to win Le Tour: Ángel Madrazo, just so I could here the announcer repeat his last name countless times , most of you don't know how its used
-> Climb in GT: Pass, we need another climb in a GT like another rider who doesn't attack.

Addendum: Rider Stats/Points to be Counted in the UCI system: Attacking, breakaway K's. And! If there is a MTF in a GT it should have the sum of points for the climbers jersey of all the top mountains in that stage. So if there is a Cat. 1 worth 40 and a Cat. 2 worth 30, the MTF should be worth 70. That will show those not so good climbers gaining the jersey who is the best climber.