Radioshack powerhouse

[Bag_O_Wallet]

Okay, so no Giro for Radioshack. Any point inviting them to the Vuelta, or do they actually want to race that event?

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Well at least we know they're not getting into the Tour based on merit.

 

[ustabe]

I do not think Lance is gracious enough to work for another in the overall.. To bad I would respect him if he did.

I think Lance would work for any rider who could prevent Contador from riding into Paris in yellow. And graciousness has nothing to do with it.

 

[ustabe]

I find it funny how people are bashing RS about being built around LA. Did anyone really think it was going to be any different than before? We all knew it was going to be that way, period. End of story.

But Armstrong's 38 years old, for crying out loud. How do you grow a team around a guy who's going to retire?

Well, growth was never part of the picture. Radio Shack is fluffing itself for a buyout, Lance wants one more season to get back at Contador, they're both from Texas, synergy!

 

[Oldman]

+1 If Boonen, Devolder and Hincapie were still with Bruyneel, Boonen and Devolder would still be riding for Hincapie and none of them would have won a Classic

Boonen was a Belgian rockstar and partier before Bruyneel got him and that's why he left. He didn't want to share the stage with a one-note Texan that couldn't harmonize. He'd have gone wherever he had the least disciplinary oversight (see his win record and party credentials-Keith Richards should be jealous). None of them would win a classic unless they developed some strategic discipline and Boonen did. George's tactical computer kicked in late and he broke his bike, crashed or guessed wrong; which is unfortunate because he had the strength to win, three years ago. You can't blame anyone but him for those choices.

 

[reyan12]

Okay, so no Giro for Radioshack. Any point inviting them to the Vuelta, or do they actually want to race that event?

They will never get an invite at the Vuelta!

 

[Jonathan]

They will never get an invite at the Vuelta!

Oh yes they will. And they will turn up there with a decent troupe. Steegmans will have a helper or two, and there will be a GC rider, perhaps even Kloeden or Leipheimer. They'll have a top ten finisher and win a stage.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

I think the Vuelta depends on the rest of the season. Say Levi wins in Cali-Forn-I-A, and Lance does reasonably well at le Tour, then "mission accomplished" , no sense in going to the Vuelta unless it's to animate the race a bit: give Horner a shot at top 10 and Steegmans a stage win or 2. However, if Levi comes up short and Lance bombs in July, I bet they'll send a squad in force to support Levi, and try to salvage what many will view as a failure of a season.

 

[*G*K*S*]

RadioShack reportedly for sale

Investment bankers are said to be pitching the electronics retailer to private-equity firms

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/top-stocks/blog.aspx?post=1728960&_blg=1,1728960

 

[Cobber]

RadioShack reportedly for sale

Investment bankers are said to be pitching the electronics retailer to private-equity firms

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/top-stocks/blog.aspx?post=1728960&_blg=1,1728960

ha ha ha ha ha...........

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

ha ha ha ha ha...........

That doesn't necessarily mean anything bad about RadioShack as a company. It's a strategic decision.

 

[*G*K*S*]

This little gem was published on March 23rd.

The Team RadioShack gang might not rate alongside the likes of Brazil’s 1970 World Cup team or the 1927 New York Yankees quite yet, but the potential for a dominant 2010 cycling season is within reach. Lance Armstrong has a history of being at the forefront of the lineup that stands atop the cycling summit at the end of the day and it’s hard to argue that this year will be any different.


LOL!

http://www.teamradioshack.us/team-radioshack-the-leader-of-the-pack-078/

 

[bianchigirl]

I think the Vuelta depends on the rest of the season. Say Levi wins in Cali-Forn-I-A, and Lance does reasonably well at le Tour, then "mission accomplished" , no sense in going to the Vuelta unless it's to animate the race a bit: give Horner a shot at top 10 and Steegmans a stage win or 2. However, if Levi comes up short and Lance bombs in July, I bet they'll send a squad in force to support Levi, and try to salvage what many will view as a failure of a season.

Whilst I basically agree with your overall assessment, can you honestly tell me when a Boss Hog team have ever animated a race? I don't mean launched their team leader to a win but actually enlivened a race - sent riders on the attack either on flat or mountain stages? They don't ride to animate - they ride to establish a lead and then defend, a far cry from what I, at least, understand as 'animating' a race.

 

[Angliru]

I think the Vuelta depends on the rest of the season. Say Levi wins in Cali-Forn-I-A, and Lance does reasonably well at le Tour, then "mission accomplished" , no sense in going to the Vuelta unless it's to animate the race a bit: give Horner a shot at top 10 and Steegmans a stage win or 2. However, if Levi comes up short and Lance bombs in July, I bet they'll send a squad in force to support Levi, and try to salvage what many will view as a failure of a season.

IMO it is a waste to have a team that is so grand tour and stage racing focused and do only one grand tour. I believe they will definitely do the Vuelta after their decision to pass up the Giro for the ToC. Plus, after what I hope is their less than successful Tour performance, I agree that they will send a squad to the Vuelta likely with Brajkovic and Machado as anchors or as you say, in support of Leipheimer. I think Horner's hopes of grand tour glory and a top ten finish are beyond him.

 

[Angliru]

Whilst I basically agree with your overall assessment, can you honestly tell me when a Boss Hog team have ever animated a race? I don't mean launched their team leader to a win but actually enlivened a race - sent riders on the attack either on flat or mountain stages? They don't ride to animate - they ride to establish a lead and then defend, a far cry from what I, at least, understand as 'animating' a race.

I do recall Popo and Hincapie winning Tour stages out of/from breakaways but I can't remember exactly what year(s) (2005 or 2006). Hincapie's was won controversially over Pereiro when they both escaped and Hincapie followed Pereiro's wheel for the final 2k or so through throngs of fans reducing the road to a narrow path before he came around Pereiro for the win. Of course Pereiro channeled his anger by winning the very next stage in another break.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

I do recall Popo and Hincapie winning Tour stages out of/from breakaways but I can't remember exactly what year(s) (2005 or 2006). Hincapie's was won controversially over Pereiro when they both escaped and Hincapie followed Pereiro's wheel for the final 2k or so through throngs of fans reducing the road to a narrow path before he came around Pereiro for the win. Of course Pereiro channeled his anger by winning the very next stage in another break.

how is this controversial exactly? this is so annoying. i know this has been hashed over, again and again. but i still don't get it. basic tactics say that hincapie can sit on to the point of letting the break fail if necessary. pereiro had no obligation to tow george to the line. he could have sat up, right? this is the beauty of cycling tactics. it just worked out that hincapie won by sitting on and letting pereiro do all the work. where is the controversy? complex is not controversial. are you implying that gh is not a good racer and does not deserve the stage win? are you saying that pereiro was stronger and smarter and deserved the win, and hincapie somehow cheated? i don't get it.

i'm sorry, but i have never understood this point of view. yet very knowledgeable fans like yourself continue to propagate it.

angliru, help me out. could pereiro have sat up in that situation or not? last i checked, georgie was crazy strong on a bicycle and prolly should have won more often than he did. but the one time he did win something big, there are many who try to discredit it. i have been a student of cycling tactics for a long time and am very interested in this. please explain your point of view.

btw, jens voigt won a stage the other day doing the same thing and everyone cheered him, myself included. why can't george just have his win?

as you are named after a legendary climb in spain, i can only expect you to have a pereiro bias (although your avatar seems to be quintessentially american). you probably even think he is an actual tour de france winner too. but please, try to be objective.

or else admit that you only like cycling tactics when your man wins.

 

[karlboss]

how is this controversial exactly? this is so annoying. i know this has been hashed over, again and again. but i still don't get it. basic tactics say that hincapie can sit on to the point of letting the break fail if necessary. pereiro had no obligation to tow george to the line. he could have sat up, right? this is the beauty of cycling tactics. it just worked out that hincapie won by sitting on and letting pereiro do all the work. where is the controversy? complex is not controversial. are you implying that gh is not a good racer and does not deserve the stage win? are you saying that pereiro was stronger and smarter and deserved the win, and hincapie somehow cheated? i don't get it.

i'm sorry, but i have never understood this point of view. yet very knowledgeable fans like yourself continue to propagate it.

angliru, help me out. could pereiro have sat up in that situation or not? last i checked, georgie was crazy strong on a bicycle and prolly should have won more often than he did. but the one time he did win something big, there are many who try to discredit it. i have been a student of cycling tactics for a long time and am very interested in this. please explain your point of view.

btw, jens voigt won a stage the other day doing the same thing and everyone cheered him, myself included. why can't george just have his win?

as you are named after a legendary climb in spain, i can only expect you to have a pereiro bias (although your avatar seems to be quintessentially american). you probably even think he is an actual tour de france winner too. but please, try to be objective.

or else admit that you only like cycling tactics when your man wins.

etiquette...to sit on and not take a turn and then win is poor manners.

 

[BYOP88]

how is this controversial exactly? this is so annoying. i know this has been hashed over, again and again. but i still don't get it. basic tactics say that hincapie can sit on to the point of letting the break fail if necessary. pereiro had no obligation to tow george to the line. he could have sat up, right? this is the beauty of cycling tactics. it just worked out that hincapie won by sitting on and letting pereiro do all the work. where is the controversy? complex is not controversial. are you implying that gh is not a good racer and does not deserve the stage win? are you saying that pereiro was stronger and smarter and deserved the win, and hincapie somehow cheated? i don't get it.

i'm sorry, but i have never understood this point of view. yet very knowledgeable fans like yourself continue to propagate it.

angliru, help me out. could pereiro have sat up in that situation or not? last i checked, georgie was crazy strong on a bicycle and prolly should have won more often than he did. but the one time he did win something big, there are many who try to discredit it. i have been a student of cycling tactics for a long time and am very interested in this. please explain your point of view.

btw, jens voigt won a stage the other day doing the same thing and everyone cheered him, myself included. why can't george just have his win?

as you are named after a legendary climb in spain, i can only expect you to have a pereiro bias (although your avatar seems to be quintessentially american). you probably even think he is an actual tour de france winner too. but please, try to be objective.

or else admit that you only like cycling tactics when your man wins.

I can also recall Jens in the Giro a few years ago refusing to contest the win dispite Riis telling him to "sprint", after he sat behind Gárate for a while.

 

[Angliru]

how is this controversial exactly? this is so annoying. i know this has been hashed over, again and again. but i still don't get it. basic tactics say that hincapie can sit on to the point of letting the break fail if necessary. pereiro had no obligation to tow george to the line. he could have sat up, right? this is the beauty of cycling tactics. it just worked out that hincapie won by sitting on and letting pereiro do all the work. where is the controversy? complex is not controversial. are you implying that gh is not a good racer and does not deserve the stage win? are you saying that pereiro was stronger and smarter and deserved the win, and hincapie somehow cheated? i don't get it.

i'm sorry, but i have never understood this point of view. yet very knowledgeable fans like yourself continue to propagate it.

angliru, help me out. could pereiro have sat up in that situation or not? last i checked, georgie was crazy strong on a bicycle and prolly should have won more often than he did. but the one time he did win something big, there are many who try to discredit it. i have been a student of cycling tactics for a long time and am very interested in this. please explain your point of view.

btw, jens voigt won a stage the other day doing the same thing and everyone cheered him, myself included. why can't george just have his win?

as you are named after a legendary climb in spain, i can only expect you to have a pereiro bias (although your avatar seems to be quintessentially american). you probably even think he is an actual tour de france winner too. but please, try to be objective.

or else admit that you only like cycling tactics when your man wins.

It WAS considered controversial at the time because Pereiro felt that Hincapie could've taken a pull once they cleared the throng of fans but he did not. Hincapie's argument was that due to close quarters created by the fans that there was no way for him to have come around Pereiro even if he had slowed to motion him to the front. I was not implying that Hincapie was/is a not a quality rider nor was I implying that Pereiro was the stronger, smarter rider and how you could conjure this scenario from my post is beyond me.

Me being an American with a Spanish influenced forum name means that I can go either way. I like Hincapie and Pereiro. After the duo cleared the fans Hincapie should have came around but did not. Pereiro could have slowed to allow him to and may have. Who knows but the 2 of them. Maybe Pereiro was feeling especially strong that day and thought he could sprint Hincapie off of his wheel. That scenario is unlikely since most know that Hincapie was a sprinter before he became the super domestique that he was at the time.


The bottom line is that it is poor sportsmanship to ride a wheel in a 2 man break and then pip the rider who's wheel you've been riding at the line for the win. Hincapie's a great guy but we have seen how emotional he was when he was denied his chance at the yellow jersey last year. I believe the chance of getting his first Tour win overrode his sense of sporting ethics and he did what best guaranteed him obtaining a most coveted of wins.

How you surmise that what Hincapie did was "complex" is beyond me. He simply saw an opportunity to snatch his first Tour win after years of servitude and he jumped on it without really caring about the injustice he was doing to Pereiro. There lies the "controversy".

The thing is that there's a chance he still could've won without using the "tactics" that he did. Especially since you say that he was "crazy strong" at the time.

It was rather poetic justice that Pereiro won the following stage.

 

[Angliru]

btw, jens voigt won a stage the other day doing the same thing and everyone cheered him, myself included. why can't george just have his win?

as you are named after a legendary climb in spain, i can only expect you to have a pereiro bias (although your avatar seems to be quintessentially american). you probably even think he is an actual tour de france winner too. but please, try to be objective.

or else admit that you only like cycling tactics when your man wins.

Perhaps it is you with the bias who is in denial and lacking objectivity. You cheer on riders that win races after contributing little to the breaks they're in and justify it all to them using superior tactics. Interesting.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Everyone stop with the personal comments, please.

Susan

 

[spanky wanderlust]

It WAS considered controversial at the time because Pereiro felt that Hincapie could've taken a pull once they cleared the throng of fans but he did not. Hincapie's argument was that due to close quarters created by the fans that there was no way for him to have come around Pereiro even if he had slowed to motion him to the front. I was not implying that Hincapie was/is a not a quality rider nor was I implying that Pereiro was the stronger, smarter rider and how you could conjure this scenario from my post is beyond me.

Me being an American with a Spanish influenced forum name means that I can go either way. I like Hincapie and Pereiro. After the duo cleared the fans Hincapie should have came around but did not. Pereiro could have slowed to allow him to and may have. Who knows but the 2 of them. Maybe Pereiro was feeling especially strong that day and thought he could sprint Hincapie off of his wheel. That scenario is unlikely since most know that Hincapie was a sprinter before he became the super domestique that he was at the time.


The bottom line is that it is poor sportsmanship to ride a wheel in a 2 man break and then pip the rider who's wheel you've been riding at the line for the win. Hincapie's a great guy but we have seen how emotional he was when he was denied his chance at the yellow jersey last year. I believe the chance of getting his first Tour win overrode his sense of sporting ethics and he did what best guaranteed him obtaining a most coveted of wins.

How you surmise that what Hincapie did was "complex" is beyond me. He simply saw an opportunity to snatch his first Tour win after years of servitude and he jumped on it without really caring about the injustice he was doing to Pereiro. There lies the "controversy".

The thing is that there's a chance he still could've won without using the "tactics" that he did. Especially since you say that he was "crazy strong" at the time.

It was rather poetic justice that Pereiro won the following stage.

this is a terrific explanation of your position. thanks. i simply disagree that this would be a violation of sporting ethics. once the break is guaranteed to survive neither rider has the obligation to pull through, unless there are gc considerations. how many times have we seen two up track stands in the last km as neither rider is willing to tow the other to the line? cycling tactics are complex (in general, not george's specifically), and it can be especially hard for fans because we don't know what is going on in the heads of riders and directors.

oscar was simply screwed in this situation. his only hope for the stage win was to escape from gh, which he didn't do. it was unlikely he would outsprint hincapie. i don't see how "ethics" plays into it. i think george was strong enough to take the win that day even if he was taking regular pulls, but for whatever reason he did not. my guess is that he had a ds in his ear telling him not to (it wouldn't be the first time this particular ds tested the limits of sporting ethics and courtesy). i also think that any "controversy" was manufactured by pereiro (and the spanish media) at the finish out of sour grapes.

as for poetic justice, i don't know about that, but it is the hallmark of a true competitor to bounce back from misfortune. he was obviously on form at the time and ripe for a victory. good on him.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

Perhaps it is you with the bias who is in denial and lacking objectivity. You cheer on riders that win races after contributing little to the breaks they're in and justify it all to them using superior tactics. Interesting.

i read through my post and can totally see why some might interpret my remarks as sort of personal. my apologies, sir. i assure you that i respect your opinions. and of course you are welcome to have whichever biases you so choose. who doesn't? i just wanted to know what they were so i could understand your position, and how it was formulated. it wasn't meant to be personal, i mean, it's not like you are the only person to hold this position. i just never understood it. now i do. thanks. i just respectfully disagree, that's all.

my bias, fwiw? i love good bicycle racing and good bicycle racers. team or nationality is irrelevant to me. i do cheer for george because i think he's awesome. i always thought he should get to the finish first more often and i never understood the whole subservience to lance thingy. so i enjoyed watching him win the etapa reina. oscar is cool too, just not a fave of mine. i don't mind seeing him win, and i'm super glad he has a job right now. as for his tour "win", well... that's just a frickin' mess.

ok. back on topic.

 

[altark123]

Well they actually did ok today...

their big guns sucked it up but Machado, Horner, Martens all top 10.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

etiquette...to sit on and not take a turn and then win is poor manners.

this is the common response that i just don't get. at least not entirely. and i'm not sure etiquette really applies here. there are times when it does, but not here.

i mean, it's not like they're taking tea with the ladies in the salon with emily post. it's a bicycle race. and the queen stage of the tour at that! a two up, mano a mano, vale tudo cage match between two terrific riders on form at the highest level of the sport. someone will get pummeled!

the onus was on pereiro and his ds to make a choice between three options. one, attack and try to get away, which he did not for whatever reason. fine. two, sit up and threaten to kill the break altogether if george doesn't pull (this is the nuclear option and happens all the time). three, let it play out to the finish and try to outsprint gh. he chose option 3 for better or worse and got beat by a stronger sprinter. that's bicycle racing.

as for george, i think he wins in this scenario even if he were taking regular pulls (i suspect he was directed not to). watching it live i wasn't calculating any possible wins for oscar unless he dropped george, which he didn't.

ok, sorry. back on topic.