RadioShack gets ProTour license

[Mellow Velo]

Depends.

(Did anybody else notice that there is a minimum 10 character limit for posts.)

Agreed....

 

[quiensabe]

Not on the list!?

Right! Armstrong, L. doesn't appear on the list of riders for Radiowhatsit. He's probably not in the team - same as he "wasn't in Astana, just riding with them" as I was very reliably informed. Still, he managed to commandeer Astana team cars for use as free taxis, controlled the "don't race" dictat on the day ear-pieces were banned, talked about "for the sake of the team" to every microphone in sight. Ergo: it doesn't matter if he's officially on the team, he'll still call the shots; and for tax purposes - he won't have a salary to declare. He is a lot of things but not dumb.

 

[RTMcFadden]

Agreed....

Ya'll need to lighten up. I told a joke.

http://www.us.depend.com/incontinence-products/Default.aspx?WT.mc_id=DPG3

 

[eleven]

OK, I stand corrected, but you said it yourself, there was a clause in his contract. Disco were not happy.
Look what happened when JB went looking for a post Disco, US sponsor.

Yes, there was a clause. He fulfilled the obligations of that clause - and with a partial ownership stake in the team, he benefited from that clause and his own participation.

When he had fulfilled that obligation, he retired as a rider and maintained an ownership stake. Discovery was "happy" until the CEO at Disco who was a cycling fan left. That's not exactly uncommon - a new CEO comes in and decides to allocate limited resources to areas s/he feels are more profitable. When the management went looking for new sponsors, they were unsuccessful. I'm not sure how anyone thinks that reflects on Armstrong in any way. They simply couldn't find a company willing to throw 20M at a sport with the problems and uncertainty cycling faced. Other teams faced similar hurdles and either found a way to self-finance or folded.

So, yes, there are 3 US PT teams, ( 2 being more anglo) but don't forget BMC are on the up, too.
4 major squads (5, if you include Sky, the UK being stuck in the middle) propping up an essentially European sport.
Shows how in terms of the media, the world is no longer the great divide.

In the long run, I think all of this American participation will benefit the sport tremendously. It will be interesting to see how much that translates into:
1. More top-level races on US soil and/or
2. Increased US interest.

 

[Boeing]

Four years? I doubt they'll be around that long. Does anyone expect there to be any interest, sponsorship wise, if Lance goes away after next season or maybe '11?

Somehow I think Lance is looking beyond his abilities the next year maybe 2. We might assume the long term focus is around youth and Phinney.

I had this discussion last night with a few "in the knows" so to speak and we all concluded that no one knows quite how the Phinney transition to stage racing will evolve yet however.

It seems Trek and others major sponsors are geared up for this anyway

 

[Boeing]

Depends.

(Did anybody else notice that there is a minimum 10 character limit for posts.)

I remember my first smiley face reply

 

[eleven]

Right! Armstrong, L. doesn't appear on the list of riders for Radiowhatsit. He's probably not in the team - same as he "wasn't in Astana, just riding with them" as I was very reliably informed. Still, he managed to commandeer Astana team cars for use as free taxis, controlled the "don't race" dictat on the day ear-pieces were banned, talked about "for the sake of the team" to every microphone in sight. Ergo: it doesn't matter if he's officially on the team, he'll still call the shots; and for tax purposes - he won't have a salary to declare. He is a lot of things but not dumb.

Not only does he have a salary to declare, but he'll pay capital gains on his ownership portion of CSE.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Turn it up, I read the book on Pantani. I was actually asking an honest question trying to find more info out. But you are entitled to your opinion sir.

Easy tiger. I wasn't attacking you, but just pointing out that someone with an addictive personality such as Pantani could lack the emotional stability to successfully "forgive and forget".

 

[Moondance]

Somehow I think Lance is looking beyond his abilities the next year maybe 2. We might assume the long term focus is around youth and Phinney.

I had this discussion last night with a few "in the knows" so to speak and we all concluded that no one knows quite how the Phinney transition to stage racing will evolve yet however.

It seems Trek and others major sponsors are geared up for this anyway

Slow down there buddy. Taylor Phinney is 19, which means he can't even legally drink in his home country, and you're already thinking about a team being built around him? Phinney is a magnificent talent, that is for sure, but until he gets a result, any result actually, amongst the pros talk of building a team around him is premature.

 

[lagartija]

Somehow I think Lance is looking beyond his abilities the next year maybe 2. We might assume the long term focus is around youth and Phinney.

I had this discussion last night with a few "in the knows" so to speak and we all concluded that no one knows quite how the Phinney transition to stage racing will evolve yet however.

It seems Trek and others major sponsors are geared up for this anyway

i think the conclusion should have left stage racing out of the equation .....while i do think taylor is a huge talent , stage racing , as in general classification , im not thinking so.............

 

[derailleur]

but until he gets a result, any result actually, amongst the pros talk of building a team around him is premature.

Sure. But by the time it's not premature all the good speculation will be mooted.

I think he can dominate time trials and hang with the roleurs. (His rainbow collection and that chunk of Pave' in his closet suggest that rather strongly.) But that makes him the next Fabian Cancellara. The question is if he can gain some climbing skills. We're watching Brad Wiggins make that pursuit/climber bridge (I expect Wiggo to improve that in 2010, albeit Contador/Schlecks A&F/Sastre/Evans/Armstrong/etc. will as well).

Is Phinney's dominance of the flat solos going to be greater than Wiggins'? Will Phinney be able to make the climbs as well as Wiggins has? Better? How much better, being a mountain-biking Colorado boy with Olympic-experienced parents and the best training support in the world?

All it got Wiggo is a 4th in the TdF after one attempt at crossing over. Hard to tell what it cost him.

Taylor Phinney is 10 years from entering the decade in which a cyclist is expected to peak. And yet everything I see says that the mistake isn't in premature speculation, it's in underestimating his potential separation from his peers by then.