Team Ineos (Formerly the Sky thread)

[BroDeal]

That is about it. Sky has become so ridiculous that their most ardent fanboys are trying to pretend it is not true.

We have fallen down the rabbit hole.

 

[red_flanders]

They went full on for the classics but lacked a dominant rider to challenge Sagan and Cancellara. Saying they didn't target them is a misrepresentation of fact.

The focus of this team from the get go has been to win the Tour de France. Stated goal. Not really debatable.

If they want to target the classics they will need to hire a classics team of note. Not the goal, so they don't do it and do the best they can with who they have.

Their classics team is not their A team.

They have won every race they've targeted, easily. To argue they are "average" being the #1 team in the world by a wide margin, having won the last two tours which is their stated team goal, is (again) preposterous.

EDIT: I think BroDeal said it much better. Rabbit hole indeed. Sorry I played a part.

 

[del1962]

The focus of this team from the get go has been to win the Tour de France. Stated goal. Not really debatable.

If they want to target the classics they will need to hire a classics team of note. Not the goal, so they don't do it and do the best they can with who they have.

Their classics team is not their A team.

They have won every race they've targeted, easily. To argue they are "average" being the #1 team in the world by a wide margin, having won the last two tours which is their stated team goal, is (again) preposterous.

EDIT: I think BroDeal said it much better. Rabbit hole indeed. Sorry I played a part.

So they didn't target the Giro?

 

[red_flanders]

So they didn't target the Giro?

Did their A-team GT rider ride the Giro? No. They sent the second string.

Rabbit hole.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

The focus of this team from the get go has been to win the Tour de France. Stated goal. Not really debatable.

If they want to target the classics they will need to hire a classics team of note. Not the goal, so they don't do it and do the best they can with who they have.

Their classics team is not their A team.

They have won every race they've targeted, easily. To argue they are "average" being the #1 team in the world by a wide margin, having won the last two tours which is their stated team goal, is (again) preposterous.

EDIT: I think BroDeal said it much better. Rabbit hole indeed. Sorry I played a part.

Pretty much.
The Sky focus has been on 3 races, the Tour, the Tour, the Tour.

Now, it didnt really start that way, back in 2010 they did appear to have a balanced team to go for GTs and Classics. They had the experience of Fletcha alongside the upcoming talent of EBH, as well as British talent like Stannard & Thomas for the Classics.
But since then all of the resources have been to assemble a team that dominates the Tour.

 

[del1962]

Did their A-team GT rider ride the Giro? No. They sent the second string.

Rabbit hole.

So Uran, Henao are B Team riders.

And why do you insult me with the stupid "Rabbit Hole" bait, I thought it was against the rules, but you being a mod and all that it matters not I guess.

 

[bobbins]

Without Froome and Porte the season would have been pretty average.

Is Porte coached by Bobby Julich like Froomey is? Kerrison is a numbers man but doesn't have the magic touch like Bobby J does.

The classics team were looked after by Ellingworth. Story is they cracked last Tenerife trip - the training they were getting was useless and they were well pi$$ed off with it. Expect that to change.

Dave B has got a bit more into shape - there's a funny story going round the velodrome about how he's shifted some weight and I'm not talking about moving Man Friller to London.

 

[Alphabet]

So Uran, Henao are B Team riders.

And why do you insult me with the stupid "Rabbit Hole" bait, I thought it was against the rules, but you being a mod and all that it matters not I guess.

Relative to the Froome, Porte, and the rest of the Tour team, they are.

Obviously if they transferred to some other team, one lacking in climbers/GC riders, then they would be outright leaders, but Sky have an embarrassment of riches and as such neither Uran or Henao are in that elite group.

All this A Team talk is crying out for a Mr. T quote.

 

[red_flanders]

So Uran, Henao are B Team riders.

And why do you insult me with the stupid "Rabbit Hole" bait, I thought it was against the rules, but you being a mod and all that it matters not I guess.

Yes, they are the B team for GT's. Froome with his lieutenant Porte are the A team.

I'm no longer a mod, and I'm referring to the post, not the poster.

That said, I'll grant you I could have been nicer about it and will endeavor to do so. Sorry about that.

 

[sagard]

However back in the real world, if McQuaid had some dirt on BC, then I would expect that it would leak out in the run up to the election

In the real world McQ has dirt on just about everyone. The question is whether or not he'd sacrifice himself just to villainize his opponents.

 

[gooner]

From Yates's new book.

"I still believe he [Armstrong] is a phenomenal athlete and still the biggest engine ever to get on a bike, apart from maybe Chris Froome," Yates said.

Yates even asked Armstrong to write the foreword for his autobiography, It's All About the Bike. He did not.

Asked if Armstrong rode clean in 2009, Yates said: "I don't know. He came out and said he did whatever. I believe he was [clean] and certainly his performances were nothing out of this world."

Yates had left Team Sky the previous October, at the same time as the British squad restated its zero-tolerance policy. To many, particularly on Twitter, Yates was guilty by association – by his friendship with Armstrong and his work alongside other convicted or confessed drug cheats in Alberto Contador and Bjarne Riis.

In his book Yates details how the Team Sky principal, Sir Dave Brailsford, was struggling with justifying Yates's position on the team against those insinuations.

Yates had had enough. Ill health – he has had two strokes and has a pacemaker fitted to his ailing heart – meant he did not need the hassle.

The decision for Yates to leave had been made but the official announcement came only after a Sunday newspaper reported he was going as part of an anti-doping cull, "putting two and two together to make five," Yates wrote.

Some even suggested Yates's health issues were associated with doping in his riding career. He ignores those comments.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/sep/12/lance-armstrong-chris-froome-sean-yates?

 

[the sceptic]

Is big engine a codeword for super responder?

Doesnt reflect well on Froome to be compared to Armstrong like that. And I also didnt read "Froome is clean" anywhere in that article

 

[BroDeal]

From Yates's new book.

"I still believe he [Armstrong] is a phenomenal athlete and still the biggest engine ever to get on a bike, apart from maybe Chris Froome," Yates said.

Froome! Biggest talent ever! LOL. I cannot believe they are trying to feed people this horsesh!t.

It is piling up deep over there in Britain. The big question is whether I can make money from this. There has to be natural fertilizer corporation I can invest in. It looks like the Brits are rapidly on their way to becoming world leaders in that industry--if they are not already.

 

[red_flanders]

Froome! Biggest talent ever! LOL. I cannot believe they are trying to feed people this horsesh!t.

It is piling up deep over there in Britain. The big question is whether I can make money from this. There has to be natural fertilizer corporation I can invest in. It looks like the Brits are rapidly on their way to becoming world leaders in that industry--if they are not already.

Both hysterical, but for me the idea that someone could say at this point, with a straight face (presumably) that Armstrong was the biggest engine ever simply shows how utterly corrupt the sport has been.

Yates just doesn't accept that doping changes the game in any way, and for him it's just the way things are done. If I were Froome I wouldn't want that jackass saying a word about me and certainly not associating me with the biggest fraud/doper ever.

But I guess Yates sees two of a kind and can't help himself.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Is big engine a codeword for super responder?

Doesnt reflect well on Froome to be compared to Armstrong like that. And I also didnt read "Froome is clean" anywhere in that article

Talking of Big Engines - I wonder is there a chapter on Motoman?

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Pro cycling is like a movie with great actors but they're all bad guys.

Looks like Britain wants to become famous for more than just bad teeth, crap cuisine, hooliganism, and begging the US to help them beat up Argentina.

 

[badboygolf16v]

Regarding Sky's Classics performances. Thomas was in fantastic shape early season but couldn't stay on his bike for the WT races. I'm not sure we saw his best form.

Stannard was OK in San Remo too.

 

[Avoriaz]

Pro cycling is like a movie with great actors but they're all bad guys.

Looks like Britain wants to become famous for more than just bad teeth, crap cuisine, hooliganism, and begging the US to help them beat up Argentina.

Want to borrow my Delorean so you can escape the 80s?

 

[elduggo]

Because OPQS offered him more money than Sky thought he was worth to them. That's basic budgeting.

in that case they'll be more average next year than they were this year

 

[BigBoat]

Well who here will be able to read this book without becoming nauseous:

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/sep/12/lance-armstrong-chris-froome-sean-yates

 

[Papa Kel]

Agree with Yates, Froome easily has the biggest natural engine... just that bloody bilharzia hampered him early.

 

[Ferminal]

Can't fault Yates for telling it like it is.

 

[elduggo]

Agree with Yates, Froome easily has the biggest natural engine... just that bloody bilharzia hampered him early.

comparable to Lance Armstrong's 'natural engine'.

 

[JRanton]

Sean Yates: "People on internet forums, people who tweet ... deprived me of my living and my ability to provide for my family."


The Clinic/twitter got Yates the sack.

 

[JRanton]

Sean Yates: ''The guys running the team don’t know enough about bike-riding and a lot of the riders went into the Tour overtired.''