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One of my favourite results from the Giro this year – Ben Swift finished 18th.
- May 19, 2011
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Extraordinary interview from Dave B on Eurosport after the race. Aside from never being so giddy with excitement, he talked about the team's previous wins being 'defensive' and 'boring' - his exact words. That approach seems to be a thing of the past - 'we're the Grenadiers now'. I think in large part that's down to the fact that Sky Train only works if you have the strongest rider in the peloton, which they don't anymore, but I think also partly down to realising how much fun and success they've had over the past 3 weeks.
A Tour next year with Thomas, Adam, Carapaz, Tao, Bernal and Carapaz all throwing caution to the wind, would be fun to watch.
A Tour next year with Thomas, Adam, Carapaz, Tao, Bernal and Carapaz all throwing caution to the wind, would be fun to watch.
- Apr 20, 2012
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Their depth is ridiculous...
Bernal, Thomas, Carapaz, Porte, Yates, Tao, Sivakov, Martinez - all these riders can lead in a GT.
Then you have riders like Sosa, De Plus, Dunbar, Amador, Kwiatkowski, Castroviejo, Dennis who are also very good riders.
I'm not sure about Dennis targets next year but probably he will skip TdF again in order to prepare for the Olympics. Carapaz will want another crack at the Giro. Probably they will go with the young guys like Carapaz, Tao, Sivakov, Sosa in the Giro and the more experienced ones Bernal, Thomas, Porte, Yates in the TdF. Dunno about Martinez and De Plus.
Also, does someone know what's going on with Moscon?
- May 19, 2011
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Needless disrespect towards past riders that worked hard for their victories to make it seem like this was all part of some big plan. Lets be honest. if Thomas didn't get injured he isn't doing any buccaneering Pantani style 100k out attacks is he.
Like 'people stood on the side of the mountain with bottles' after Froome's solo victory, Brailsford is doing his very best to PR and devalue the *** out of what is a fine win for a young man.
What a tosser.
Like 'people stood on the side of the mountain with bottles' after Froome's solo victory, Brailsford is doing his very best to PR and devalue the *** out of what is a fine win for a young man.
What a tosser.
My thoughts exactly. He doesn't half talk some bullshyte, the only reason they rode like that in this Giro was because Thomas crashed out so they went all out for stage victories. Otherwise it would be the usual tactics.
Froome boring ? I would imagine in his early GT career he was doing exactly what Brailsford planned, later when he had more input he's been anything but defensive/boring. Hopefully he rams it down Brailsford throat next year, unlikely but I would love to see it.
- Apr 20, 2012
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Actually, besides Ganna 2nd stage win and Narvaez stage they would've won all the other 5 stages they've won. Ganna 3 time trials were a sure thing and TAO other two if the favourites would've battle it out as well(probably with Thomas as the winner). I still think that Thomas would've crushed this race.
Although the train tactic was never really used in Giro or Vuelta. It's very much a Tour thing and will be used at the Tour for years to come by someone, just as it was used for years before Sky.
- Apr 16, 2009
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- Jul 12, 2012
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Porte will be a great signing. He said after his podium at the Tour he is done with being a GC rider in GT’s. He doesn’t want the pressure and wants to spend more time with his young family, while helping the younger riders improve.
It’s one less rider they will have to juggle around.
- May 14, 2011
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If you think Dennis was a good signing for the role he played at the Giro then Porte is a huge addition to Ineos since he said he is no longer riding for GC.
- Apr 10, 2019
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Anyone knows what's going on with Sosa? Good in the first race after the lockdown, but after that he has been getting worse and worse. Given the fact that he's Bernal's training buddy and that Bernal performed similar (yes, he also had back problems, but still) one could assume that they both overtrained during the lockdown/race break.
Yes. at the vuelta he is invisible at the moment. In the first stages he still had been the last man for Carapaz, but now? Don´t know what happened..
- Apr 10, 2019
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He has been training with Bernal for years and this year their performances are following the same pattern - a good start (Occitanie and Burgos), but then they keep getting worse and worse. To me it looks like they got their preparation all wrong and training too much during the race break.
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Just had a look at their team for next year and they have a ridiculously strong roster for stage races even by their standards.
Bernal, Carapaz, Thomas and Tao are all Grand Tour winners.
Porte, A. Yates, Martinez, Sivakov can all win WT stage races.
Kwiatkowski, Amador, Castroviejo, Dennis, Ganna, De Plus, Sosa, Dunbar, Moscon, Van Baarle, Narvaez and Rowe are all capable of being excellent helpers.
Pidcock is a future star.
Bernal, Carapaz, Thomas and Tao are all Grand Tour winners.
Porte, A. Yates, Martinez, Sivakov can all win WT stage races.
Kwiatkowski, Amador, Castroviejo, Dennis, Ganna, De Plus, Sosa, Dunbar, Moscon, Van Baarle, Narvaez and Rowe are all capable of being excellent helpers.
Pidcock is a future star.
It will be interesting how they approach the season. With Froome they had the best stage racer, but now they don't. It's up for grabs who is. My pick is Pogacar. Brailsford's talk about riding in a different way seems like someone who thinks he can't replicate the Froome years .
At some point Brailsford is gonna need a bigger budget to extend contracts or to be able to throw some cash at next years top talents.
Riders like de Plus, Martinez and Hart better be earning similarly to Carapaz and Thomas for compromising their own chances in such a team.
Their team is so strong you would almost forget about Carlos Rodriguez which had a very solid season for a 19yo on all kinds of terrain.
Riders like de Plus, Martinez and Hart better be earning similarly to Carapaz and Thomas for compromising their own chances in such a team.
Their team is so strong you would almost forget about Carlos Rodriguez which had a very solid season for a 19yo on all kinds of terrain.
- Oct 5, 2011
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Apparently not. They had a budget of 50m euro in 2019.
Rod Ellingworth back at Ineos, i would suggest he is being paid a substantial increase in salary to leave in effet running a WT team to being back in the ranks of Ineos. Dave B not happy with this years performances is gettig the band back together. Dan Hunt who was previously with Sky during the earlier years and left to work with the premier league is also back
- Feb 16, 2010
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- Feb 18, 2015
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Ok, so this is really just a random thought that popped up in my head a few days ago but I still feel like writing it down. I guess the thought came up when I read the news about the company Ineos getting a 1/3 share of the Mercedes F1 team, you know the team that laughs at Team Sky for not winning 2 of the last 9 Tours. Now aside from the sponsor, the F1 team and the cycling team of course don't have anything in common, but what it did make me realize was that the whole talk of Ineos basically building a "sports empire" really did have some merit to it.
Now, I haven't been the biggest fan of Team Sky (or rather their budget) over the last few years, so if the next sentences sound like I'm not exactly neutral about this, it's because I'm not.
I cannot *** believe that the one cycling team with way too much money, completely destroying the balance of entire grand tours, that is moreover completely centered around riders from one specific country is losing its main sponsor (mind you, the only sponsor in the entire world that up to that point was willing to give a cycling team such a huge budget) in the exact *** year some billionaire from the same *** country decides he is the 2nd guy in the entire world willing to give that much money to a cycling team, because he wants to start a sports empire. Like, what are the *** odds?
Now, mind you, the team in general surviving is a good thing in general, but did they seriously need to find a new sponsor who looked at the old Sky budget and said "Ain't that a little small?". We have so easily forgotten the problem of rich super teams exists, because for once Ineos completely messed up their preparation for the biggest race of the year. But they are gonna be back and it's again gonna be horrendous to watch a team with their 3rd best climbing domestique better than most teams gc leaders.
Idk, I just thought of this and just couldn't believe the Brailsford team or whatever you want to call it got so lucky. Like, couldn't the billionaire deciding to make his country a cycling superpower just have come from Austria or something?
Now, I haven't been the biggest fan of Team Sky (or rather their budget) over the last few years, so if the next sentences sound like I'm not exactly neutral about this, it's because I'm not.
I cannot *** believe that the one cycling team with way too much money, completely destroying the balance of entire grand tours, that is moreover completely centered around riders from one specific country is losing its main sponsor (mind you, the only sponsor in the entire world that up to that point was willing to give a cycling team such a huge budget) in the exact *** year some billionaire from the same *** country decides he is the 2nd guy in the entire world willing to give that much money to a cycling team, because he wants to start a sports empire. Like, what are the *** odds?
Now, mind you, the team in general surviving is a good thing in general, but did they seriously need to find a new sponsor who looked at the old Sky budget and said "Ain't that a little small?". We have so easily forgotten the problem of rich super teams exists, because for once Ineos completely messed up their preparation for the biggest race of the year. But they are gonna be back and it's again gonna be horrendous to watch a team with their 3rd best climbing domestique better than most teams gc leaders.
Idk, I just thought of this and just couldn't believe the Brailsford team or whatever you want to call it got so lucky. Like, couldn't the billionaire deciding to make his country a cycling superpower just have come from Austria or something?
- Apr 3, 2016
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some not so much fans of the company got a whole of some of the cycling team cars in Belgium...
View: https://twitter.com/AnnickDeRidder/status/1340951013579255811
View: https://twitter.com/AnnickDeRidder/status/1340951013579255811
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