Radioshack / Armstrong find success by clinching the team classification.

[SilentAssassin]

Teams Classification??? Well mmmmhhh... I don´t know how valuable is to win that classification, since just one team fight for it.

Two actually, you forgot about CAISSE D’EPARGNE who were fighting for it...

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

You know what's funny? No one says "player hating"

Exactly. Except people like this

 

[RedsharkO]

Two actually, you forgot about CAISSE D’EPARGNE who were fighting for it...

Besides some TV comentetors, no one has seen a real effort from Caisse d'Epargne to fight for it.

 

[SilentAssassin]

You know what's funny? No one says "player hating"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1riiDGBdZWg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qep4c1uyNB0&feature=fvst

 

[Hugh Januss]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1riiDGBdZWg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qep4c1uyNB0&feature=fvst

Wow, that is your defense? Tupac and Paris Hilton, really?

 

[ericthesportsman6]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1riiDGBdZWg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qep4c1uyNB0&feature=fvst

Man, you must be a seriously cool dude. Paris Hilton knows all.

 

[rxgqgxnyfz]

Two actually, you forgot about CAISSE D?EPARGNE who were fighting for it...

They didn't, they had other more important things to do.

Like taking a stage win by going into breaks day by day, and again and again and trying to secure Lulu's place in top ten.

They failed on both (but they should have A+ for effort), but even then Caisse never fell so low to claim that team classification is the new objective from now on.
________
Harmed By Avandia

 

[Martin318is]

I'm just sick of these troll posts.

Sorry? YOU tell someone it would be poetic justice if they got cancer and it is THEM that is the troll?

 

[Polish]

And what is the prize for the team classification winner? Some nice gifts from the race sponsors?

I think it is 50,000+ euro's.

More than Polka dots or Green Jersey btw.

Pays for a nice team party.

 

[rxgqgxnyfz]

More than Polka dots or Green Jersey btw.
Pays for a nice team party.

Are Polka Dot or Green jersey prize money shared too?
________
What is love

 

[Oldman]

They didn't, they had other more important things to do.

Like taking a stage win by going into breaks day by day, and again and again and trying to secure Lulu's place in top ten.

They failed on both (but they should have A+ for effort), but even then Caisse never fell so low to claim that team classification is the new objective from now on.

That says it all.

 

[Benotti69]

Is LA not leading the 'road rash competition', which he should win with another bollard on the ITT? He's a winner all the way!

by the way for those who don't know, the 'road rash jersey' is a ripped jersey and the winner receives a first aid kit and a bike safety course. Go Lance!

 

[Roland Rat]

Jesus wept. I was going to make a joke congratulating Radioshack and commending them on joining the pantheon of greats such as [insert obsure team winners from the 60's and 70's], but even wikipedia doesn't bother to list the team winners. It's so utterly ridiculous it's not even funny. Just shows how utterly pathetic RS are and/or how desperate Bruyneel et al are to try to justify their undoubtedly high budget when the parent company seems to be in serious trouble.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Team Classification 2010 Winners (probably)
Team Radio Shack
* 21 Lance Armstrong (USA)
* 22 Janez Brajkovic (Slo)
* 23 Christopher Horner (USA)
* 24 Andreas Klöden (Ger)
* 25 Levi Leipheimer (USA)
* 26 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz)
* 27 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por)
* 28 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr)
* 29 Grégory Rast (Swi)

Now, go through them, one at a time and assess the individual performances of the "World's Strongest Team".

 

[SilentAssassin]

Just shows how utterly pathetic RS are and/or how desperate Bruyneel et al are to try to justify their undoubtedly high budget when the parent company seems to be in serious trouble.

Cool Story Bro. did you read this in IHATELance weekly?

Here is the real scoop concerning the parent company. Get your facts straight. And Lance has brought a lot more exposure to Radio Shack than Contador or any other cyclist in the TDF to their respective sponsor. That's the sad part.

NEW YORK | Mon Apr 26, 2010 5:46pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. electronics chain RadioShack Corp (RSH.N) reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit, driven by a 49 percent jump in wireless product sales, sending shares its up 2.2 percent.
RadioShack has been focusing on its wireless business to offset weak sales of products like TV converter boxes, video game systems and batteries.
The retailer, which is working to rebrand itself as "The Shack," said on Monday that first-quarter net income rose to $50.1 million, or 39 cents a share, from $43.1 million, or 34 cents a share, a year earlier.
Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 36 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Net sales rose 4 percent to $1.04 billion from $1 billion a year earlier. Same-store sales for company-owned stores and kiosks rose 4.7 percent.
Sales in the wireless business rose 48.8 percent, helped by higher Sprint Nextel postpaid wireless sales, the addition of T-Mobile as a third postpaid wireless carrier and higher sales of prepaid wireless handsets and airtime.
Sales fell 26 percent in its accessory business, which include digital converter boxes where sales in this segment fell to $10.6 million in the latest quarter from $72.4 million a year earlier.
BB&T Capital Markets analyst Anthony Chukumba said wireless sales should remain strong for a few more quarters, but would slow once the company cycles the addition of T-Mobile and the iPhone.
"The question once again becomes 'where's the growth going to come from?'," Chukumba said. "That's the $64,000 question."
RadioShack said capital expenditures were $12.3 million in the first quarter, down from $26.2 million in the year-earlier period. It said it expects full-year capital expenditures to range from $100 million to $120 million.
RadioShack shares rose 51 cents to $23.42 in after hours trading from their close at $22.91 on the New York Stock Exchange.

 

[SilentAssassin]

Team Classification 2010 Winners (probably)
Team Radio Shack
* 21 Lance Armstrong (USA)
* 22 Janez Brajkovic (Slo)
* 23 Christopher Horner (USA)
* 24 Andreas Klöden (Ger)
* 25 Levi Leipheimer (USA)
* 26 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz)
* 27 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por)
* 28 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr)
* 29 Grégory Rast (Swi)

Now, go through them, one at a time and assess the individual performances of the "World's Strongest Team".

If we did that then we might as well call it the GC...It's called "Team" classification for a reason.

 

[Roland Rat]

Cool Story Bro. did you read this in IHATELance weekly?

No, it was in Ilovecyclingandcan'twaitforlancearmstrongtoretireandtakehispatheticfanboyswithhimsothatwecanhaveoursportback Weekly.

 

[L'arriviste]

If we did that then we might as well call it the GC...It's called "Team" classification for a reason.

This is true in itself, but I would say it's why the team classification does not always reflect the best team.

Indeed it can give you the most selfish team or the most unfocused team - a team whose members have worked for their own GCs rather than sacrificed themselves for higher goals. How could Astana or Saxo win the team classification when Navarro, Vogt and all the other strong guys out there have to grit their teeth and ride their hardest, then blow up and crawl home. And when they've blown, no camera is watching them. That, to my mind, is more admirable.

All this year's result proves to me is that folks like Kloden, Horner etc have tapped along at their own pace and not really worked to the bone to any particular plan. And why? Because LA fluffed early and there was no Plan B. It shows that RS has been nothing but the best at riding every man for himself, headless chicken style.

 

[hrotha]

There have been teams that rode like teams and won the team GC, like ONCE in 1995, simply by virtue of being the strongest. Zülle was 2nd, Jalabert 4th and Mauri 6th, but they still rode like a team (remember why the Mende climb is called Laurent Jalabert?).

However, RadioShack didn't win it like a team. Witness their top GC man being abandoned in the last friggin' climb of the Tour while everyone else went up the road. Their top three riders in any given stage always rode for themselves. They didn't get in breakaways, they covered Caisse riders who got in breakaways. They didn't animate the race, they detracted from it with their negative and destructive tactics to win the team GC.

They won it by going 100% against what the team GC is supposed to be.

 

[Mellow Velo]

As, I think it was Kurtinsc, pointed out to me, yesterday, for Shack 2010, read Discovery 2006.

I remember Bruyneel saying that the 2006 team had four possible leaders, not one.
It was almost as if there was no focus.
I believe, in reality what he meant was, that he hoped George Hincapie could someone continue his metamorphism into a mountain goat and when that failed, there was no plan B.
The team degenerated into a headless shambles.

This year, the hope was Lance Armstrong, but they already expected the worst.
The only real option to the team, without any individual rider stealing Lance's limelight, was the TC.
Hence, Plan B was born. As a result, as hrotha has already posted, they set out to follow Caisse around France, neutralising the KOM competition in the process.

Simply put, they swapped negative riding tactic 1, for negative riding tactic 2.

 

[Benotti69]

No, it was in Ilovecyclingandcan'twaitforlancearmstrongtoretireandtakehispatheticfanboyswithhimsothatwecanhaveoursportback Weekly.

hey i subscribe to that too

 

[Paco_P]

Beg pardon?

Top 10? Not the Lance I watched the last 2.5 weeks. That lance cannot climb with the front group, and cannot match several of his teammates.

It was not crashing.

Like all the Lance-lovers say, he's riding clean.

 

[SilentAssassin]

This is true in itself, but I would say it's why the team classification does not always reflect the best team.

Indeed it can give you the most selfish team or the most unfocused team - a team whose members have worked for their own GCs rather than sacrificed themselves for higher goals. How could Astana or Saxo win the team classification when Navarro, Vogt and all the other strong guys out there have to grit their teeth and ride their hardest, then blow up and crawl home. And when they've blown, no camera is watching them. That, to my mind, is more admirable.

All this year's result proves to me is that folks like Kloden, Horner etc have tapped along at their own pace and not really worked to the bone to any particular plan. And why? Because LA fluffed early and there was no Plan B. It shows that RS has been nothing but the best at riding every man for himself, headless chicken style.

Plan B was Levi, but he just didn't have the legs in the mountains, but at least Horner, plan C is in the top 10

 

[SilentAssassin]

Plan D. Stage 10 Paulinho wins

 

[flicker]

Yeah, it really took me a while to figure out the whole 1,238 user name thing, but I finally caught on. I couldn't figure why people were always being mean to the new poster

It makes sense, now. He has no respect for rules if he doesn't agree with them. Banned from the forum? just sign up again.

Above any regulations, just like his hero.

Team GC is completely awesome, though. Definitely what a team with a 20 million dollar budget is looking to win.

Brilliant tactical move making Lance crash so some other guys could focus on GC and move the team up in the standing. Paul Sherwin is right, Johan really is a master tactician. Not sure what Bertie will ever do without him.

Just to let you know, my club which has US military affiliations, I evesdropped on 2 conversations. ! Lance would have been top 5 in this years tours if it was not for his 3 crashes stage 8. I also heard this: the credibility of his accusors before the grand jury is not credible as the witnesses are dopers. Just wanted to share. All these people speaking have master degrees or are writing masters thesis at this time.
I am so happy that cyclingnews lets you trash the sponsor of your blog here. Truley alturistic of them.