Quickstep and Lotto to Merge?

[theswordsman]

I have my doubts that Contador wants to begin from the scratch every season. Barring desaster I think he will stay with Astana.
And a team like Quickstep has no experience how to support a GT contender.
It's not done with signing one and some climbers.

It's a tough situation with Contador. He's got some very loyal teammates for the Tour de France team, and if he gets to pick the eight he wants, they should be solid. But he's lucky there's no Team Time Trial. Remember he changed his schedule this Spring partly because he was happy with his fitness level, but also because his teammates were taking a physical beating having to do so much work.

He's been asked a number of times about riding the Vuelta, and I've never read that he said it would be a problem for him - it was always concern about what his teammates would have left after the Tour. Plus the Vuelta has a zany evening Team Time Trial that could cost some time against specialists.

He could stay if they decided to bring in some new riders to make a stronger team. But they'd have to replace guys who came to help him this year. There's no way the team will have fewer Kazakhs, which is fine, but it will be tough to say goodbye to some of the other guys.

I don't know if Quick Step is right for him. It sounds like Lefevre is committed to change, and there was apparently a lot of contact between the two. Caisse would be good if Valverde goes away, but he'd have to switch bikes again, and there's the sponsorship issue. Sky is out. Whatever team the Schlecks, Evans, and some others are out. No to Liquigas. Definitely no Radio Shack, even if they still have a team. A lot can still change during the season, but looking down the list, there aren't a lot of teams that would be a good fit. Columbia has too much focus on supporting the sprinters. I dunno.

 

[RedheadDane]

Let's say it really did happen... what would the name of the team be? Quickstep OmegaPharma Lotto? Or what about OmegaPharma Quickstep Lotto? Or how about Lotto OmegaPharma Quickstep? Tons of possibilities!

 

[cobblehead]

failed? Mapei was great.

wasn't talking aubout mapei, the team I was talking more about the quickstep - davitamon-team, which looked like a similar attempt (a botched one since lotto quickly came up)

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Lefevre once had the best team in the world (at least for one-day races).
But these days, budgets are getting bigger, cycling is getting more international.

What do we have now? 2 Mediocre teams in a country of 10 million inhabitants.
There's no room for 2 Belgian top teams in cycling (altough Belgium still is one of the top countries).

One big team would be the rational solution.

Lotto doesnt need international publicity (it's the national lottery), so: 1 Pro-tour team Omega pharma-Quickstep (whith lotto as 3th sponsor)
2 pro-contental/U-23 teams: Lotto-Omga pharma & Lotto-Quickstep