Re: Re:
Libertine Seguros said:
Again, though, this is the risk that you take when you sign up somebody like Horner. I recall the fuss that Johan Bruyneel raised when Radioshack weren't invited to the 2010 Vuelta, basically along the lines of "we haven't even mentioned the race all year, but we deserve to go because our sponsors put a lot of money in and deserve to get exposure for that". But all the other sponsors put money in too, and just saying that a team deserves to go to a race simply because of the money a sponsor has put in regardless of what the team offers the race is a very fast way to turn racing into a bidding war at the expense of the sport.
On the face of it, inviting a small Israeli development team with a few central-eastern Europeans and a random Spaniard seems like a bonkers call over an American team who offer a GT winner. Maybe by extending an olive branch to a team which has Peter Sagan as a patrocinador they hoped to get the man himself to ride, shoring up name value. Maybe they had concerns that Horner appearing on the winner's list when he's about to turn 44 and on a very weak continental team will give the race negative press or make it seem bush league.
It does seem silly, but it's hard to have sympathy for a team whose bid for these invites was based entirely around the Horner gamble. They've gained a lot more press out of the signing than they would have got from the rest of their roster even if they HAD been invited to California and Colorado. It's a bit like when Meridiana-Kamen tried to sign Riccò when he was fighting provisional suspension after his faulty transfusion: I can't recall if he ever got to race for them. But they didn't even have a working website, and more people talked about Meridiana-Kamen than ever talked about them before or since: I didn't even know until today they're still running this year. And I watched the Tour of Croatia where they had a rider come top 10, and I'd completely forgotten about that. Horner has gained Airgas as a team a lot of press attention they would otherwise not have been able to get; the flip side is, his reputation will make it difficult at times to secure invites to major races. Christina Watches-Onfone is another good comparison: they often didn't get to do the biggest races they intended to and got shut out of a lot of invites due to riders' reputations, but Hembo's push for attention and the willingness to take those riders for the press coverage meant more people heard the sponsor's name than ever would have done if she'd just sponsored a normal Danish Continental team.
The real shame is, had they known earlier, we could have seen Chris Horner vs. Portuguese Chris Horner, the forbidden battle in A Volta. Maybe 2016...
I agree with the gist of this. It is an unguaranteed gamble, but I don't think this picture you paint of a bidding war is realistic. In the end, not many of these pro tour riders who are still riding want or need to ride on a team in their last years where they likely won't get to compete in a high level of competition. Keep in mind, it is only the big names that will help with this gamble and they mostly made their money already.
In this particular case, you have to remember that Airgas Safeway didn't give horner a big contract hoping to get Grand Tour invites, they just wanted american race invites. If there really is a bidding war mentality for pro riders on continental teams then it can only be a good thing, but rarely do these continental sponsors have the ability or desire to afford this. The ROI just doesn't make enough sense for this to become a problem.
Man this forbidden battle you speak of has me intrigued
Horner didn't blow the doors off at this race, but no one can argue that he wasn't competitive. Personally, I think it is pretty cool to see the older generation of american riders duking it out with the younger. Even though he struggled to make his mark on the race, I thought it was even neat to see the younger generation work him over a bit. Horner certainly talks positively about these guys in the press, he talked up Woods a bunch. How is that not cool?
His asthma complaints seem like him being butt sore, but so what. In terms of his injuries, he did suffer some pretty unlucky injuries in his last years. If you recall he did get run over by a car in 2014 that left him with a punctured lung.
Anyways I would still personally like to see his team get the call up. Outside of Horner, his team did play a role in the race and I would guess that the times they did mix it up at the front was an incredible experience for his team and all those young riders. After more contemplation, I still think it is absurd that they aren't invited to Colorado.