New book from Charly Wegelius

[memyselfandI]

Anyone else read this new one? Just about to be finished here. Very insightful story of domestiques life. Interesting book in many ways. Chapter 10, Madrid..dunno what to say

 

[williamp78]

I finished it yesterday.

Not a bad book, and quite a nice insight (although shallow) into life as a domestique. However he never really explains very well how he moved from an amateur wanting to win everything into a pro who had no personal desire to win. (He tells one story but it really jars with what he described in his amateur years)

I would have liked a bookend chapter about his transition into a director sportif at Garmin.

I didn't watch cycling at the time of the worlds incident at Madrid so found his account quite interesting however the story was never picked up again; how is his relationship with British Cycling now? I do like the irony that his co-conspirator is the ghost writer for this book!

All in all, it was an interesting read; a better cycling autobiography than some but still a bit superficial for my liking.

 

[mariposa]

I have also read this and enjoyed it enough to read all in one evening. I do agree however that I would have liked it to go a bit further into his transition to the DS role. Also what is all the talk about lawyers stopping him saying things? He still was able to make it clear what he thinks about Cadel!

 

[memyselfandI]

I was quite surprised too how he saw Evans compared to Di Luca and then again not that surprised.

 

[Taxus4a]

I was quite surprised too how he saw Evans compared to Di Luca and then again not that surprised.

Could you explain a little what he said?

 

[mariposa]

Could you explain a little what he said?

Basically Cadel was crap at leadership and getting the team behind him, blaming them for everything, whereas Danilo Di Luca was very good at team leadership and accepting responsibility.I particularly liked the bit about Charlie and his other half being invited to dinner with Cadel and his wife. A bit of a stilted affair topped off by Cadel taking home the bottle of wine he had brought with him as a gift for Charlie.

 

[jens_attacks]

Basically Cadel was crap at leadership and getting the team behind him, blaming them for everything, whereas Danilo Di Luca was very good at team leadership and accepting responsibility.I particularly liked the bit about Charlie and his other half being invited to dinner with Cadel and his wife. A bit of a stilted affair topped off by Cadel taking home the bottle of wine he had brought with him as a gift for Charlie.

i thought that was always obvious
wegelius was a good domestique, i will read it too as soon as possible

 

[Taxus4a]

Basically Cadel was crap at leadership and getting the team behind him, blaming them for everything, whereas Danilo Di Luca was very good at team leadership and accepting responsibility.I particularly liked the bit about Charlie and his other half being invited to dinner with Cadel and his wife. A bit of a stilted affair topped off by Cadel taking home the bottle of wine he had brought with him as a gift for Charlie.

Danilo Di Luca has good treatment, he is kind, at least in my experience, I was a big fan, but anyway, I prefer other kind of values. And for me, Evans has that values, despite he is quite a mad man.

Anyway I would like as well the answer of memyself

 

[memyselfandI]

Could you explain a little what he said?

He saw Di Luca more natural leader than Evans.

Evans was of the pace throughout Tour 2009 and hinted throughout that lack of team support was to blame.

Wegelius was accustomed to keep his former captains "at the office" (near front INSIDE the pack saving energy relaxing and watching how racing would evolve). Evans wanted the team to sit on the pointy end of pack first week as he was nervous of crashing. Literally front dragging everyone. Doing this he ran team ragged already in the first week.

 

[memyselfandI]

Taxus (cuspidata?) when I said I'm not that surprised I meant that in my eyes Evans has allways seemed so stressed, tense, annoyed personality behind his somehow softface outlook. When questioned he typically looks like he is in great anger about to burst and ready to strangle you. This in my eyes long before this famous 'cut your head off'-case. Very rare short moments of true happiness and relaxing and joy when he won WC.

Back to Wegelius. Must have some attitude to be a foreigner in Italy those days and make his way up to the pointy end of team.

I like his dry sense of humour; his tweets are hilarious often.

 

[williamp78]

His story about Cippolini and the neo-pros at the first team get together was the highlight of the book to me; obviously wegelius was never in a sprint train but he zoned in on cippolinis qualities as a team leader uniting his team.

The way wegelius as a domestique looks at his team leader was quite interesting; evans was a good (and clean) rider but a real pain in the **** while di luca was a nice guy (who cheated) who took the blame but shared the plaudits. [Wegelius pretty much avoids the doping issue.] Both good riders at the time but di luca produced a team to lead him to victory; evans failed to do so.

(edit: i didn't realise there was auto redacting! I'm not allowed to use the local colloquialism for a persons derrière)

 

[One Eyed Aussie]

Does this book have a title?

 

[Pricey_sky]

I've seen the review in this weeks cycling weekly so I will have to buy this book, seems like a good read.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Does this book have a title?

Domestique

 

[ElChingon]

Fiction or non-Fiction section?

 

[William H]

Any interesting stuff on the '05 Worlds?

 

[Taxus4a]

Taxus (cuspidata?) when I said I'm not that surprised I meant that in my eyes Evans has allways seemed so stressed, tense, annoyed personality behind his somehow softface outlook. When questioned he typically looks like he is in great anger about to burst and ready to strangle you. This in my eyes long before this famous 'cut your head off'-case. Very rare short moments of true happiness and relaxing and joy when he won WC.

Back to Wegelius. Must have some attitude to be a foreigner in Italy those days and make his way up to the pointy end of team.

I like his dry sense of humour; his tweets are hilarious often.

baccata

Thanks

I think the same of Evans.

Anyway I want him at the front in this Tour for a question of suit some theories.

 

[movingtarget]

Basically Cadel was crap at leadership and getting the team behind him, blaming them for everything, whereas Danilo Di Luca was very good at team leadership and accepting responsibility.I particularly liked the bit about Charlie and his other half being invited to dinner with Cadel and his wife. A bit of a stilted affair topped off by Cadel taking home the bottle of wine he had brought with him as a gift for Charlie.

Evans was under intense pressure back then. He was probably half mad considering how close he came to winning the 2007 and 2008 Tours and knowing that he made a mistake which cost him the win in 2007 and had other problems in 2008 and a mediocre TT at the end. Evans could not handle the media spotlight and put himself under so much pressure it was only natural it would effect his team mates. The change when he left Lotto was obvious. Lotto management was also rubbish and were partly to blame. As for Di Luca even if he was popular he has wiped out those good memories now. In the insane stakes Di Luca is miles ahead of Evans.

 

[memyselfandI]

Name of this book is Domestique: The True Life Ups and Downs of a Tour Pro.

David Millar too gets his small share in this book as Wegelius returned home from Madrid to be billed for all his expences from the race and banned for life from the national team. While British team seemed not to understand why Wegelius did what he did, they were easily supporting Millar in his comeback from suspension for taking epo to win WC in Hamilton. In a GB jersey naturally.

Then again, Wegelius is now DS in Garmin-Sharp as Millar is there too. Small world innit?

 

[mariposa]

Evans was under intense pressure back then. He was probably half mad considering how close he came to winning the 2007 and 2008 Tours and knowing that he made a mistake which cost him the win in 2007 and had other problems in 2008 and a mediocre TT at the end. Evans could not handle the media spotlight and put himself under so much pressure it was only natural it would effect his team mates. The change when he left Lotto was obvious. Lotto management was also rubbish and were partly to blame. As for Di Luca even if he was popular he has wiped out those good memories now. In the insane stakes Di Luca is miles ahead of Evans.

I was summarising and not judging. Actually after not being a great fan of Evans I have come to appreciate him more even if I can't quite bring myself to wholeheartedly support him. Di Luca I have never really liked without really being able to explain why even before the drug issues

 

[williamp78]

Name of this book is Domestique: The True Life Ups and Downs of a Tour Pro.

David Millar too gets his small share in this book as Wegelius returned home from Madrid to be billed for all his expences from the race and banned for life from the national team. While British team seemed not to understand why Wegelius did what he did, they were easily supporting Millar in his comeback from suspension for taking epo to win WC in Hamilton. In a GB jersey naturally.

Then again, Wegelius is now DS in Garmin-Sharp as Millar is there too. Small world innit?

It's mentioned in the book that Wegelius almost joined Team Sky. Although British Cycling may have shunned him he does seem to get along with the younger generation of Brits that followed him into the peleton (as well as millar himself)

 

[auscyclefan94]

Evans was under intense pressure back then. He was probably half mad considering how close he came to winning the 2007 and 2008 Tours and knowing that he made a mistake which cost him the win in 2007 and had other problems in 2008 and a mediocre TT at the end. Evans could not handle the media spotlight and put himself under so much pressure it was only natural it would effect his team mates. The change when he left Lotto was obvious. Lotto management was also rubbish and were partly to blame. As for Di Luca even if he was popular he has wiped out those good memories now. In the insane stakes Di Luca is miles ahead of Evans.

Although I agree that Evans is not the natural born leader and not a unifying figure, when the management is not behind you and your team is ****, it is understandable that you would be very ****ed off with them. Wegelius was very disappointing as a rider in supporting Evans tbh.

 

[86TDFWinner]

Anyone else read this new one? Just about to be finished here. Very insightful story of domestiques life. Interesting book in many ways. Chapter 10, Madrid..dunno what to say

What's the name of the book?

 

[movingtarget]

Although I agree that Evans is not the natural born leader and not a unifying figure, when the management is not behind you and your team is ****, it is understandable that you would be very ****ed off with them. Wegelius was very disappointing as a rider in supporting Evans tbh.

Yes Lotto were so stupid that they did not bother re-signing Horner even after Evans made it clear how good Horner was for him and the team. Wegelius was better than Popovych which is not saying much. They had some good domestiques but they simply did not have the climbing legs to support Evans except for Horner.

 

[memyselfandI]

Wegelius was very disappointing as a rider in supporting Evans tbh.

Really?

Wegelius was seasoned domestique/superdomestique that time already. Evans didn't have tactical nous tbh.