Team Tinkoff-SaxoBank -What happens next?

[mufana]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tinkov-keen-to-reduce-sagans-contract-after-poor-spring

so.... Salary cuts and the team viewed by his own owner as a "TOY"

I quite honestly don't see this team pass next year, with that kind of BS coming from Tinkov and his distorted way to see the cycling profession as far as sporting management is concern-It's just WRONG to go off on twitter bashing on his very own riders and expect them to perform greatly based on threats & unnecessary pressure put on them, despite the already risks they take on the road & how hard the sport is by nature.....

Tinkov better worry about his very own business & have a CEO handle it properly.

I think most sponsers think of a sponsership as a 'toy'. A nice way to meet potential customers, do business and show them you're company is doing well. It's a nice sport. It's attractive and much cheaper then a F1 team.

 

[SeriousSam]

Tinkov should have said "My passion for this sport runs deep and I'm fully committed to this project. Only in the unlikely event that my love of cycling were to wane at some point in the future would I reevaluate my involvement ". That's saying pretty much the same thing but the tone is more palatable.

But the tone doesn't matter. The difference between Tinkov and others is just his unusual frankness and refusal to be filtered through a PR department. That doesn't endear him to the fans but that's the only drawback. When you look at the substance of what he says, that's pretty much how all sponsors, if not most people with any financial stake in sports at all, think There is no actual long term commitment. Be assured that even medium sized companies continuously analyse the RoI of their sponsoring and advertising activities, ready to end their involvement if the numbers aren't good enough.

 

[Netserk]

Don't confuse the lack of inhibitions as honesty. Tinkov is a master bullshitter.

 

[DBotero]

Tinkov "good for the sport," Team Sky manager says
Lol looks like Tinkov has a new fan
Brailsford praising Oleg in his last interview http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/brailsford-its-not-fair-to-write-off-porte-after-giro-ditalia-disappointment

 

[carton]

I'm of two minds on easy Oleg. On the one hand, most of the big teams are basically toys for Rhys, Coucke, Tinkov et al. They are clearly paying more than what they are getting out of them, marketing-wise. So saying something that should be clear to everyone shouldn't really be so unsettling. On the other hand, restating the obvious is logically redundant, so when smart people do it the actual purpose lies not in the statement itself but in its context. So what he may mean many things, all of which are in fact unsettling for his team. His high-pressure looking-for-all-avenues-to-dock-pay management style is not what I find most effective in the long run; and his win at all costs mentality is, to put it bluntly, bad for the sport. Some of the other things he does, like going against the tide of euros and focusing on the other grand tours, I fully support. So there. I said I was of two minds to begin with.

 

[staubsauger]

I'm pretty sure Tinkov reads Internet forums. Those "toy" comments may be pure polemic to provocate those who name him a vodka clown!

 

[WheelofGear]

I understand Tinkov's frustration. He is not behaving as a professional businessman, but exactly like vast majority of the posters in here. The average somewhat anxious fan of cycling.

This guy has invested tens (maybe hundreds) of millions in a team, in the sport of cycling. He is emotionally attached to the team as a kid is to his video game. When you you doesn't win, you get irritated and want more. You want to succeed, not see the "Game Over sign again-and-again-and-again.

The only thing I don't get is that he has to make anything public (see the Sagan comments).. but maybe that's just something he can't control. He is like most posters in here.

 

[ggusta]

This thread is quite a downer. Without these guys with outrageous fortunes sinking tons of money into their 'toys' at a huge loss where would cycling be as a business? I doubt we'd like it any more than what we're getting now and probably like it less. I reserve the right to be dead wrong. I'm not much interested in Oleg, or TS to be truthful, they have a few riders I like, I just want to see AC pull off the double. Would it have been more likely with Riis? I'll tell you at the end of July.

 

[Miburo]

Well saxo won 2 stage races in a short time. And they prob gonna win the giro, gj i would say

 

[WheelofGear]

Re:

This thread is quite a downer. Without these guys with outrageous fortunes sinking tons of money into their 'toys' at a huge loss where would cycling be as a business? I doubt we'd like it any more than what we're getting now and probably like it less. I reserve the right to be dead wrong. I'm not much interested in Oleg, or TS to be truthful, they have a few riders I like, I just want to see AC pull off the double. Would it have been more likely with Riis? I'll tell you at the end of July.

Yep. And in the end, people need characters like Tinkov in their lives. So they have someone to laugh about, hate, love, whatever. It's what makes the sport less generic.

 

[WheelofGear]

I have a question for you guys. How many of the current riders would you keep to support of Sagan and Contador?

They have been a failure in the mountains and wasn't there on the cobblestones. Only Juul-Jensen (who was aggressive in the classics and good in the Giro), Boaro (who won a stage and was fine in the Giro) and good old Tosatto have been good.

 

[deValtos]

I actually don't think the Giro team were that bad. It's just when compared to Astana they looked awful. Looking at todays stage Hesjedal, Kruijswijk & Uran were in similar boats, but obviously it matters more when you're in the leaders jersey.

If Majkas going well I don't think there will be a problem for the Tour.

 

[IamIronMan]

I actually don't think the Giro team were that bad. It's just when compared to Astana they looked awful. Looking at todays stage Hesjedal, Kruijswijk & Uran were in similar boats, but obviously it matters more when you're in the leaders jersey.

If Majkas going well I don't think there will be a problem for the Tour.

Yes it was. Even with Astana's hilarious strength, TS was dropping when there was still 30 guys or more. It's not like it was 6 Astana's then 4 other guys in the whole peloton. This team was hot garbage, Rogers and Basso were huge disappointments. Problem with Majka is it seems like he likes to do his own stage hunting thing, and isn't a slave to the train. I don't see this going well for Contador at the Tour.

 

[rm7]

I have no words. Tinkoff-Saxo was truly a DISGRACE.

Obviously Contador had a bad day, but please tell me... Have he got any help just ONCE in the finals on mountain stages????? Not ONCE! In the whole race, he had to cover ALL attacks by himself. COME ON!

Kreuziger apparently got ill, but he wasn't even top10 in the big mountains.

I really hope Majka, Kiserlovski and Rodgers are in top shape at the Tour.

I really can't remember when somebody last time won a GT without any team at all. Kreuziger should've closed a lot of the gaps that Contador did himself.

 

[rm7]

The biggest problem for Contador this time was also that Astana had two strong riders.

It's like when he race against SKY, they only have Froome, so the SKY train is actually doing the job for him also. All he have to do is follow Froome when he attacks.

In this Giro he had to cover attacks from a lot of riders, but in the Tour I think SKY will do that job.

 

[BigMac]

And to think Paulinho will make the Tour team. I mean no disrespect for him, but he's completely useless now.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Rogers was in okay shape.. he was the last guy standing many times.. Kreuziger very bad (but ill, apparently), and Basso, well what can you expect

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

And to think Paulinho will make the Tour team. I mean no disrespect for him, but he's completely useless now.

He will?

 

[Velolover2]

Re:

Rogers was in okay shape.. he was the last guy standing many times.. Kreuziger very bad (but ill, apparently), and Basso, well what can you expect

He was stronger than Kreuziger, but being the last man with 30 men still there is not a good sign. Astana were often 6 with only 20 riders in the GC group.

 

[orangerider]

Yea, his Giro team is burnt out and will be useless on any gradient over 5% in the Tour. Jesus had abysmal performance in the TOC, not even able to keep up with Sagan on Baldy! Majka is the only hope for support and even then, just one man is not enough.

 

[rm7]

My estimation before the Giro would be that,

Paulinho would drop with 30 riders left.
Basso with 15-20 left.
Rodgers with 10 riders left
Kreuziger would be with the the last 6-7 riders.

Damn...

 

[IndianCyclist]

This Giro TS was really bad. they dropped like flies over the penultimate climb itself. That is not good for any leader. This may be because of the design of this Giro. But the expectation is that till the last 6 km 1 strong person has to be there. Like Porte for Froome, or Kreuziger for Contador previously, Fuglsang for Nibali.
The options are only Majka, Kiserlovski(no mention of him) and Roman

 

[WheelofGear]

Re:

My estimation before the Giro would be that,

Paulinho would drop with 30 riders left.
Basso with 15-20 left.
Rodgers with 10 riders left
Kreuziger would be with the the last 6-7 riders.

Damn...

Yep. The thing is, both Astana, Sky, Katusha and Movistar have an abundance of good climbers to choose from. Tinkoff-Saxo need at least 3, maybe 5 new, strong climbers for 2016.

 

[Kokoso]

At TdF Kreuziger will be in much better shape, because of this Giro. It was hard for him without race days, without GT in his legs and without training focused on big mountains.

But Basso? Joke. Even Rogers seemed worse than last year, or is that just because Astana was flying?

 

[Kokoso]

Re: Re:

My estimation before the Giro would be that,

Paulinho would drop with 30 riders left.
Basso with 15-20 left.
Rodgers with 10 riders left
Kreuziger would be with the the last 6-7 riders.

Damn...

Yep. The thing is, both Astana, Sky, Katusha and Movistar have an abundance of good climbers to choose from. Tinkoff-Saxo need at least 3, maybe 5 new, strong climbers for 2016.

One would think that Petrov, Basso, Kiserlovski, Kreuziger, Rogers, Poljanski, CAS, Zaugg, Majka, Contador are decent climbing squad. One could find reason why they are subpar for some of them, but the rest? Saxo no longer good team for climbers? Future will show.