Tell me more about Alan Davis and AC

[richwagmn]

Did some searching on Alan Davis, but didn't really come up with much other than his TDU win.

What sort of rider is he? Will he ride the TDF? Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not looking up all the articles again to get the documentation, but from memory; Davis mentioned in the past day or two that he and Contador raced together years ago and have stayed friends. Alberto mentioned to him a few months ago that it would be good to be on the same team again. Astana will establish individual race schedules during their camp in Calpe next week. Davis said after the TDU he'll ride some classics as Astana's number one sprinter, and he hopes for a chance to ride the Tour to help Alberto go for the win and chase some stages. The list of teammates for the Tour is getting pretty long, even if the Kazakh politicians stay out of it, so there's no telling at this point.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,26558284-12428,00.html

 

[Race Radio]

Did some searching on Alan Davis, but didn't really come up with much other than his TDU win.

What sort of rider is he? Will he ride the TDF? Thanks.

He was 2nd in MSR a few years back

 

[rgmerk]

Wikipedia has his results.

He's a sprinter. Some good results at Milan-Sanremo, for instance.

He was going to ride the TDF for Quickstep last year after Boonen's episodes with the Bolivian marching powder, but at the last minute management changed their minds and Boonen rode.

 

[42x16ss]

Davis has finished in the top 5 for the green jersey in 2006? He has had some good results in some of the smaller classics and has always been in the running at the TDU (He has made the final podium every time he has raced it).

Davis doesn't have Cavendish or Hushovd's top speed but he is a good climber for a sprinter and is capable of mixing it up for a classic or GT stage win.

 

[El Imbatido]

Did some searching on Alan Davis, but didn't really come up with much other than his TDU win.

What sort of rider is he? Will he ride the TDF? Thanks.

Don't blow up at me if this is wrong, cos i'm doing this from memory.

Davis and Contador were friends from their ONCE/Liberty Seguros/Astana-Wurth days.

Davis was caught up in Operation Puerto because of dirty, dirty DS Manolo Saiz (which is where JB most likely learnt his trade), i think Davis' name was in the documents somewhere too. Very much like Contador he was cleared and allowed to return.

Signed with Disco in 07. Did jack all. Once Disco folded went into the wilderness until Quickstep picked him up.

Regarding Davis as a rider. More a sprinter but in my eyes not an out and out sprinter. He has always been more of a lead out man and more classicy (more like Renshaw than Cav IMO) but has made it known he wants to be a number 1 sprinter which would never happen on Quickstep, hence probably part of the reason he probably left.

 

[brianf7]

Albe has beaten McEwan a number of times he can do more than sprint as he showed last year in TDU.
He is still young enough

 

[Tugboat]

... and has always been in the running at the TDU (He has made the final podium every time he has raced it).

That's not quite true. He's the only rider to race all 11 editions of the TDU but he's only made the final podium 3 times (2nd in 2005, 2008 & 1st 2009)

 

[Ferminal]

Don't blow up at me if this is wrong, cos i'm doing this from memory.

Davis and Contador were friends from their ONCE/Liberty Seguros/Astana-Wurth days.

Davis was caught up in Operation Puerto because of dirty, dirty DS Manolo Saiz (which is where JB most likely learnt his trade), i think Davis' name was in the documents somewhere too. Very much like Contador he was cleared and allowed to return.

Signed with Disco in 07. Did jack all. Once Disco folded went into the wilderness until Quickstep picked him up.

Regarding Davis as a rider. More a sprinter but in my eyes not an out and out sprinter. He has always been more of a lead out man and more classicy (more like Renshaw than Cav IMO) but has made it known he wants to be a number 1 sprinter which would never happen on Quickstep, hence probably part of the reason he probably left.

No doubt they got very chummy in Fuentes' clinic.

 

[issoisso]

He's called Allan, not Alan. There, I've told you more about him

On a serious note, he's a sprinter. He's a very all-round rider and could've been a brilliant stage-hunter/breakaway guy, good on all terrains with a great finish to win stages. He really is good on all terrains.

Except he isn't that because he chose to focus on being a sprinter, which of course, through specialized training has limited his effectiveness elsewhere. As a sprinter, he's good, but not great.

Seems to have the knack for picking the right wheel to follow into second place, but when it comes to having the speed to jump out of it and win, that's where he's lacking, so he tends to have a bucketload of 2nd and 3rd places but not many wins.

However, when the sprint is on a false flat or otherwise uphill, he's extremely dangerous.

Same thing when the stage is hard enough to tire out the pure sprinters, but not him, as he climbs so much better than them. When that's the case, he's a real danger. As seen by his better-than-usual results at Milano - San Remo

Signed with Disco in 07. Did jack all. Once Disco folded went into the wilderness until Quickstep picked him up

I'd hardly regard it as jack all. Sure, he only had one big win, but he had decent results

 

[bianchigirl]

Saiz spoke about Davis having the ability to be another Jalabert

 

[Offtheback]

Don't blow up at me if this is wrong, cos i'm doing this from memory.

Davis and Contador were friends from their ONCE/Liberty Seguros/Astana-Wurth days.

Davis was caught up in Operation Puerto because of dirty, dirty DS Manolo Saiz (which is where JB most likely learnt his trade), i think Davis' name was in the documents somewhere too. Very much like Contador he was cleared and allowed to return.

Signed with Disco in 07. Did jack all. Once Disco folded went into the wilderness until Quickstep picked him up.

Regarding Davis as a rider. More a sprinter but in my eyes not an out and out sprinter. He has always been more of a lead out man and more classicy (more like Renshaw than Cav IMO) but has made it known he wants to be a number 1 sprinter which would never happen on Quickstep, hence probably part of the reason he probably left.

I remember Alan as a junior, when I did some junior coaching (not him). He was very quick but climbed very well as well. Most of all I remember him as a really nice young fellow. I would surprise me if he he had succumbed to doping. Came from a cycling family who loved the sport. Who knows? I would definitely give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[sTTevie]

but at the last minute management changed their minds and Boonen rode.

Allan always knew that he had to make room for Tom if the court ruling came out in favour of Tom ... it was definitely not a "last minute mgmt decision"


btw ... Patrick & Tom thanked Allan for his professional attitude towards the whole situation

 

[Anonymous]

Here is a 12 photo preview of the bikes they'll be riding.
http://ow.ly/Uk3s

 

[Anonymous]

Wikipedia has his results.

He's a sprinter. Some good results at Milan-Sanremo, for instance.

He was going to ride the TDF for Quickstep last year after Boonen's episodes with the Bolivian marching powder, but at the last minute management changed their minds and Boonen rode.

Yea, that was one of the most moronic moves of the year.

 

[issoisso]

Yea, that was one of the most moronic moves of the year.

I disagree. They said all along that Davis would only ride if Boonen couldn't. At the last moment, Boonen could.

So they had a choice. Take Boonen and get the sponsor's 2 million € bonus conditional on Boonen riding the Tour.........or take Davis and lose out on 2 million in the current financial climate.

 

[craig1985]

I reckon they still could have found room for Davis and Boonen in the same team.

 

[sTTevie]

I reckon they still could have found room for Davis and Boonen in the same team.

yeah, asking ASO to give room for 10 riders instead of 9 in the peloton

 

[Ferminal]

yeah, asking ASO to give room for 10 riders instead of 9 in the peloton

Yes because all 9 QS riders contributed to their amazing 2009 TdF success.

 

[sTTevie]

there's more to life than the Tour alone ... I wonder if 90% of the forum members are aware of this

 

[issoisso]

there's more to life than the Tour alone ... I wonder if 90% of the forum members are aware of this

Yeah, there's the tour presentation and after-tour highlights too!

It's amazing how many people don't know this

 

[Ferminal]

there's more to life than the Tour alone ... I wonder if 90% of the forum members are aware of this

Well that's a good duck there.Boonen Out Davis in, Davis Out, Boonen in, Rubbish TdF - Oh wait the TdF doesn't matter.

We were directly discussing the Davis/Boonen situation and you produce this random judgmental nonsense, muppet.

If you're going to insult someone it's probably best that you don't make yourself look like the fool in the process...

 

[sTTevie]

I like you too

firstly, this thread was about Allan alone, somebody else dragged in Tom ...
secondly, I was just saying that QSI told Allan that there was a good chance he wouldn't be riding the Tour if the court ruled in favour of Tom ... that's all ... after the ruling was announced Patrick & Tom thanked Allan for being very professional about it, in hindsight with Tom being sick and the whole commotion around his drugs use it would've been better to let Allan ride, but believe it or not, Tom is still the major player at QSI (mmmm, why in the world would that be?) ... so it's only logical that he would ride the Tour ... and yes, QSI doesn't have the best Tour team in the peleton, something they should work on ... with a guy like Seel they've got a good talent coming trough the ranks & if Patrick makes a couple of good tranfers next year who knows ...

thirdly ... check the smiley I put at the end of the sentence ... don't be offended (I've placed two now, so you'd notice)

 

[Ferminal]

I like you too

firstly, this thread was about Allan alone, somebody else dragged in Tom ...
secondly, I was just saying that QSI told Allan that there was a good chance he wouldn't be riding the Tour if the court ruled in favour of Tom ... that's all ... after the ruling was announced Patrick & Tom thanked Allan for being very professional about it, in hindsight with Tom being sick and the whole commotion around his drugs use it would've been better to let Allan ride, but believe it or not, Tom is still the major player at QSI (mmmm, why in the world would that be?) ... so it's only logical that he would ride the Tour ... and yes, QSI doesn't have the best Tour team in the peleton, something they should work on ... with a guy like Seel they've got a good talent coming trough the ranks & if Patrick makes a couple of good tranfers next year who knows ...

thirdly ... check the smiley I put at the end of the sentence ... don't be offended (I've placed two now, so you'd notice)

Well you said it as a direct response to my statement, so I do feel offended. But I wont hold it against you

It was simply a continuation of the theme of the thread of QS making a mistake by not selecting Davis, Boonen or not. After all, he probably couldn't have made their TdF any worse.

 

[sTTevie]

no prob

Boonen talked about the TdF during several interviews the last month ... he's not to keen on it, doing it more for the sponsors than anything else ... he's going to give it one more shot this year (that's how I interpreted it) & is going to try to get a victory (expect a break away, he doesn't want to sprint anymore, well not in a TdF kinda way )

he's like Museeuw a lot in that perspective ... early on in his career a pretty good power sprinter & later on focussing more on one day races