Roman Kreuziger Discussion Thread

[Kokoso]

Re:

Often a cyclist has a reduced schedue when they announce they are joining a new team

Yeah but Tinkoff team is ending after this season, so this is obviously not the case.

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

Often a cyclist has a reduced schedue when they announce they are joining a new team

Yeah but Tinkoff team is ending after this season, so this is obviously not the case.

What do you think is the reason behind his not doing the Vuelta or the Olympic road race. As was mentioned earlier the Olympic parcours is ideal for him. The Vuelta I can somewhat understand. His statements regarding his new team and his ambitions for the future seemed more focused on the Ardennes, week long stage races and helping the team's young upcoming gc talent in the grand tours. No Olympics is quite curious IMO.

 

[Kokoso]

Re: Re:

What do you think is the reason behind his not doing the Vuelta or the Olympic road race.

I've answered this quite in detail few post earlier in the thread. That raises question why the hell would he change his opionin on Vuelta.

The Vuelta I can somewhat understand. His statements regarding his new team and his ambitions for the future seemed more focused on the Ardennes, week long stage races and helping the team's young upcoming gc talent in the grand tours. No Olympics is quite curious IMO.

In the statement there was said at the same time he will help Orica youngsters to develop generally and explicitly at Tour de France. So that leaves room for speculation about other two GT's, Giro and Vuelta. He hasn't stated explicitly that he no longer cares about GT's., only that he will focus more on one week long stages races and one day races.

The Vuelta I can somewhat understand.

I don't quite understand this. Why would he change his opinion for Vuelta? First he's preparing to race it but later changes his opionion...
One important fact is that he is first and foremost employy and as cuch he's hardly responsible for decisions which races he will or he won't do ultimately; Tour de Suisse this year is nice example, he should ride it but team called him of. And most likely he would be Contador't best helper in the mountains at La Vuelta. So from this point of view it doesn't makes sense either.

 

[Kokoso]

Re: Re:

Outside of the Top 20 ...

Hello

 

[Jancouver]

Re: Re:

Outside of the Top 20 ...

Hello

Hi! I little reminder about why Roman the "Polygraph" skipped the Olympics ... yeah, he was targeting the Vuelta :lol:

Funny, when I wrote int he Rio thread viewtopic.php?f=6&t=30710&p=1953113#p1953113 after he was left out of the Czech team that the main reason was that he is not a team player, I was called out.

Now when he did the same to Contador, people are surprised. Not me. That guy does not give a rat about anybody but his paycheck. Sure, he did OK when he was guaranteed a nice pay, now, when Kreuziger is looking for a new team, he is the old same selfish *** he always been.

Surprise, surprise ...

He wasn't left out. It was his own decision. There was a press conference with all the riders and Roman announced he won't go to Rio since he need to recover for Vuelta.

In fact it's opposite of selfishness. There is a rule that a rider starting in time trial has to start in the road race as well. Both Barta and Konig will ride time trial, so they have to be in the road race. That leaves 2 places for Kreuziger, Stybar and Vakoc. Both Etixx riders wanted to see Rio so Roman made his decision.

Of course, it is because of the Vuelta. Forget the meaningless Olympic race in Rio. Vuelta is THE number one race everyone is targeting or not?

After all, it was in the papers so it must be true ... :lol:

All right, now tell us the one about Little Red Riding Hood & The Big Bad Wolf

 

[Kokoso]

Re: Re:

Outside of the Top 20 ...

Hello

Hi! I little reminder about why Roman the "Polygraph" skipped the Olympics ... yeah, he was targeting the Vuelta :lol:

Funny, when I wrote int he Rio thread viewtopic.php?f=6&t=30710&p=1953113#p1953113 after he was left out of the Czech team that the main reason was that he is not a team player, I was called out.

Now when he did the same to Contador, people are surprised. Not me. That guy does not give a rat about anybody but his paycheck. Sure, he did OK when he was guaranteed a nice pay, now, when Kreuziger is looking for a new team, he is the old same selfish *** he always been.

Surprise, surprise ...

He wasn't left out. It was his own decision. There was a press conference with all the riders and Roman announced he won't go to Rio since he need to recover for Vuelta.

In fact it's opposite of selfishness. There is a rule that a rider starting in time trial has to start in the road race as well. Both Barta and Konig will ride time trial, so they have to be in the road race. That leaves 2 places for Kreuziger, Stybar and Vakoc. Both Etixx riders wanted to see Rio so Roman made his decision.

Of course, it is because of the Vuelta. Forget the meaningless Olympic race in Rio. Vuelta is THE number one race everyone is targeting or not?

After all, it was in the papers so it must be true ... :lol:

All right, now tell us the one about Little Red Riding Hood & The Big Bad Wolf

What with that? Do you think rider decides on his schedule? No, team decide. When thedy say you will ride Vuleta, Kreuziger rides it. When they say you won't ride Vuelta, Kreuziger doesn't ride it. You don't have to go far for example, it was the same with Tour de Suisse. Or what does that reminder mean?

Nice you can admit your mistake Jancouver "the unerring *****"

 

[dacooley]

kreuziger should be a main leutenant for bertie in the vuelta. tinkov won't allow him not to ride in spain.

 

[Kokoso]

I think there are two scenarios: one is that Kreuziger said I've changed opinions and I won't ride Vuelta thank and the other that team aka Contador doesn't want him at Vuelta thus he had to change his racing program. Given he's Contador best helper in the mountains the first case scenario seems more unlikely to me, team would want him at Vuelta even if Kreuziger wouldn't want to be there.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Czech federation didn't want Kreuziger to ride the Olympics because he 'helped' Vinokourov in London...

I think Uran was the biggest help to Vino !

 

[Kokoso]

Re: Re:

Czech federation didn't want Kreuziger to ride the Olympics because he 'helped' Vinokourov in London...

I think Uran was the biggest help to Vino !

There was a huge bee, like 10 centimetres, no wonder Uran had full hands watching it

 

[Kokoso]

Re: Re:

I thought he skipped the OG to focus on the Vuelta?! :O

He probably did but then Contador suddenly had the Vuelta in his sights...

Hardly surprising. Contador was always planned to ride the Vuelta if he crashed out of the Tour. I don't buy that, Kreuziger would have known that before he announced he wouldn't ride the Olympics.

What exactly you don't buy about that? I've been genuinly interested but no answer :sad:

Ont hing comes on my mind - Kreuziger announced that he won't go to Olympics even before Tour began, hardly he could know that Cotnador will crash out... I don't really understand you

 

[Kwibus]

I'm glad Kreuziger and Contador are no longer not in the same team anymore next year. Kokoso's tears are endless.

Next year tears about Chaves and the Yates brothers!

Roman is a great rider, but you don't want him to lead a GT anymore. OGE have atleast 2 better GT riders so he should prepare for a lot more domestique work and less chances in 1 day races as the yates twins are also better in that.

 

[HelloDolly]

Looks to me like he wanted to ride the Vuelta as leader but not possible now so he wants to go somewhere else where he can be leader .. ..As for the team making him do it ..I am not so sure at ths late stage in proceedings with this team...there probably is a more free for all where rider can try and get results
Contador does not really need him at the Vuelta ...so off he goes to Canada or wherever

I dont think Kreuziger si a selfish rider ....Tour 2013 points to the opposite of this..

The Olympics is probably the biggest mystery .....maybe it has something to do with a little trouble with Bio Passport , etc
He was the country's best option...but maybe he ruled himself out rather than having to put selectors in a difficult position

 

[gregrowlerson]

I'm glad Kreuziger and Contador are no longer not in the same team anymore next year. Kokoso's tears are endless.

Next year tears about Chaves and the Yates brothers!

Roman is a great rider, but you don't want him to lead a GT anymore. OGE have atleast 2 better GT riders so he should prepare for a lot more domestique work and less chances in 1 day races as the yates twins are also better in that.

OGE (or Bike Exchange or whatever) is a good move for Roman. And I will like him even more being on an Aussie team!

With Chaves more likely to give the TDF a go next season, I don't see why Kreuziger can't give the Giro another crack. Sure, he didn't exactly succeed in the lead role in 2012, but five years wiser he might be able to finish top five. Which would be a great result, especially in the 100th edition.

 

[Kokoso]

I'm glad Kreuziger and Contador are no longer not in the same team anymore next year. Kokoso's tears are endless.

Next year tears about Chaves and the Yates brothers!

Roman is a great rider, but you don't want him to lead a GT anymore. OGE have atleast 2 better GT riders so he should prepare for a lot more domestique work and less chances in 1 day races as the yates twins are also better in that.

Kreuziger is with Contador in one team for 4 years now, you know, mostly working for him. Never before I had problem with it. And you call endless tears...what endless tears exactly? On this or previous page, am I complaining or crying about something? Or anywhere else? I don't understand you.
And why tears about Chaves a Yates? Why do you judge me for something what didn't happen? That is not exactly fair.

 

[Frankschleck]

is he going to ride the vuelta?

 

[Jakub]

Re:

is he going to ride the vuelta?

no.

 

[Kokoso]

More bad then good beginning at Orica (as a leader, as a helper - very good job). After not so bad Oman crash and resulting DNF at Strade Bianche. DNF at Tirreno (where he was one of the leaders). It's a question whether that fall at Strade Bianche really influenced his Tirreno TTT peformance or not; nevertheless he got ill and DNF later, so... Good Liege, but no chance to make result due to team tactics (which turned out rather unsuccesful with Adam Yates 8th; I think Kreuziger might be capable of better result, given his previuos years results). Albeit he was he was leader with Simon Yates at Romandie at the end tactics was for Simon again, so again, little chance to make result. Apart from that he had terrible TT at the end, I wonder whether he really tried there or not. Rest of the races he was working for others, but except for Romandie (where Simon was 2nd ) without good reward. Yates brothers or whoever was leader mostly disappointing, too.
Overall I tgink Kreuziger in most cases doesn't have expected performance and Yates brother too, for some reason. On mutual thing springs to one's mind instantly - they are riding for the same team, but whether that's the factor or not is a question.
Maybe he got simply older, father of two and likes his peace more than anything else. But as his fan I don't stop hoping for better times

 

[Red Rick]

Kreuziger is definitely held back by his team in getting results for himself.

Roman Kreuziger carved out a very decent palmares, but it's not close to what he was hyped for when he was young and what his early years indicated. He's won WT stage races, won a classic, numerous top 10's in GTs and a Giro stage win.

He can either leave to a team where he can be leader in big stage races, and it won't be a big team on a big salary, or he can stay where he is on a bigger salary and do what he's told. Obviously he's gonna want to ride for himself every now and then, and that's fine. His palmares won't change much by more GT top 10s anyway, so if I were him I'd settle for having a free role in some hilly one day races and get a pass to get in GT breakaways every now and then.

 

[Frankschleck]

I really feel that orica held him back in the spring classics, where especcially in liege, he looked like the strongest after valverde.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Kreuziger is definitely held back by his team in getting results for himself.

Roman Kreuziger carved out a very decent palmares, but it's not close to what he was hyped for when he was young and what his early years indicated. He's won WT stage races, won a classic, numerous top 10's in GTs and a Giro stage win.

He can either leave to a team where he can be leader in big stage races, and it won't be a big team on a big salary, or he can stay where he is on a bigger salary and do what he's told. Obviously he's gonna want to ride for himself every now and then, and that's fine. His palmares won't change much by more GT top 10s anyway, so if I were him I'd settle for having a free role in some hilly one day races and get a pass to get in GT breakaways every now and then.

I agree, about all. He was hyped (not as much as people use to think though; much less compared to many else like Betancur for example, or Kelderman, Gesink, Rolland...).
Well I thought it would be good for him to be a mentor and worker for others and have his chances here and there. I hope he'll get stage hunter, too. If De Gendt can be succesful stage hunter, Kreuziger could be too and even better, cause I consider him better of the two. Problem is, unlike De Gendt, until now everybody is alert when Kreuziger gets to the break.
Just it's a bit frustrating seeing him work for guys who undeperform and he could get that results as well.

Forgot about Tour de Suisse which he was designed to lead by Orica but Orica (once again) put him in service for Yates and Chaves at Dauphine (where both are bad until now at least). I am not sure Orica acts clever towards Kreuziger, looks like they're acting way you don't want to make friends. When you say something (or even promise) you should fulfil that. Obviously he's professional so he'll do what he's told to do, but that doesn't exclude him possibly being unhappy with the way Orica are treating him. Already he might have reason know. BUt maybe changing programme to Dauphine was mutual.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Kreuziger is definitely held back by his team in getting results for himself.

Roman Kreuziger carved out a very decent palmares, but it's not close to what he was hyped for when he was young and what his early years indicated. He's won WT stage races, won a classic, numerous top 10's in GTs and a Giro stage win.

He can either leave to a team where he can be leader in big stage races, and it won't be a big team on a big salary, or he can stay where he is on a bigger salary and do what he's told. Obviously he's gonna want to ride for himself every now and then, and that's fine. His palmares won't change much by more GT top 10s anyway, so if I were him I'd settle for having a free role in some hilly one day races and get a pass to get in GT breakaways every now and then.

Another one of those riders that can make the top 10 or top 5 but struggle to make the podium. 2013 Tour was his chance to podium but he was riding for Contador. As team leader in the Giro he was disappointing. He lost his best TT ability as well. In the early years his TT was much better. Maybe if Orica have some team changes he will get more chances.

 

[yaco]

Think he is in decent shape but is being held back helping a struggling S.Yates - I suspect he will ride better and get more opportunities under DS White who allows his riders more freedom - DS Stephens is all for the leader -AFAIK Kreuziger was never riding Suisse.

 

[Sartorius]

Kreuziger won Tour de Suisse 2008.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Think he is in decent shape but is being held back helping a struggling S.Yates - I suspect he will ride better and get more opportunities under DS White who allows his riders more freedom - DS Stephens is all for the leader -AFAIK Kreuziger was never riding Suisse.

Yes, you are probably right about Suisse. Sorry for that. It was just Kreuziger's wish to ride Suisse as a leader and may wishful thinking that stemmed from that.