The Giro: Astana's Final Act

[Mellow Velo]

Looks like the end of the road for Astana.
More unpaid wages. Millions owed and the Kazakh Fed
saying the Giro is their final race.
http://translate.google.ca/translat...st=0000000026&nd=1&sl=ru&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

 

[benpounder]

Well, if true I'm sure some "fans" of cycling will be ecstatic.

 

[ElChingon]

If Astana dissolves after the Giro, you know Armbucks will front it till at least the Tour and at the same time dump the lead weight of the Kazak riders left over. Or at the very least he'll get his buddies to pitch in (Giro, Oakley, Trek, Nike, etc.) to keep it afloat so he gets to ride at the Tour.

So it will be a biter sweet news for some. I just hope they come up with a better team name than Mellow Johnny

 

[Bala Verde]

That explains the mellow johnny participation in Gila... If I were Leipy, LA and Horner, I would cash those checks/that prize money

I bet the internal doping controls were too expensive... they found so many illegal substances per rider, it bankrupted the team =)

 

[Black Dog]

Hmmm

Funny how the rest of the media world missed this story. Especially since they are claiming that the UCI is involved and demanding back wages. When I see some more media outlets on this story I will start to believe, this would be huge news and almost impossible to have missed if the situation were as dire as claimed on this web site. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.

 

[marinoni]

Funny how the rest of the media world missed this story. Especially since they are claiming that the UCI is involved and demanding back wages. When I see some more media outlets on this story I will start to believe, this would be huge news and almost impossible to have missed if the situation were as dire as claimed on this web site. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.

This story does seem sort of out of the blue, like maybe it's nothing more than a rumor. If it's true, I wonder if this means Vino isnt coming back. There's never been any real point to this team without him or another Kazakh rider in a starring role.

 

[Anonymous]

Looks like the end of the road for Astana.
More unpaid wages. Millions owed and the Kazakh Fed
saying the Giro is their final race.
http://translate.google.ca/translat...st=0000000026&nd=1&sl=ru&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

i interpreted that dodgy google translate very differently.. lets wait till we see it somewhere in english i think..

that made no sense to me at all..

edit: ok.. reading through makes a little more sense.. but we had all this a couple of weeks ago when the russians said astana where finished, then they where not.. will see what happens..

if astana do pull out, someone will move in pretty quick, let contador go as the big money coster, lance and the rest stick around, new sponsor gets the publicity, lance gets rid of alberto, everyone is happy..

 

[Epicycle]

Contador to Caisse to ride with his buddy LLS?

 

[clydesdale]

If Astana dissolves after the Giro, you know Armbucks will front it till at least the Tour and at the same time dump the lead weight of the Kazak riders left over. Or at the very least he'll get his buddies to pitch in (Giro, Oakley, Trek, Nike, etc.) to keep it afloat so he gets to ride at the Tour.

So it will be a biter sweet news for some. I just hope they come up with a better team name than Mellow Johnny

My money has Amgen being their new sponsor. Just what I've heard or rather what I would find amusing.

 

[Wrecktangle]

Amgen is a good rumor...

...they did really well at TOC...2+ mil on side of road (I was one)...all the cities in CA are lining up to get Lance into their city next year...

 

[Epicycle]

Amgen is a good rumor...

...they did really well at TOC...2+ mil on side of road (I was one)...all the cities in CA are lining up to get Lance into their city next year...

No way there were 2 million watching the TOC.

SRAM-Trek-Livestrong is a better guess than Amgen.

 

[Wrecktangle]

Epi, that's not my number, it was widely reported in the press. I was at the start at Rancho Bernardo and at the end in Escondito, and both places were mobbed. Escondito had 'em standing 15 deep. You couldn't get up Palomar on Sunday, as there were so many folks...

Lance is so powerful a marketing force that he could start his own tour here in the USA.

 

[Bala Verde]

My money has Amgen being their new sponsor. Just what I've heard or rather what I would find amusing.

Haha, AMGEN. That's even funnier than when Davitamon became a team sponsor. They desperately need clinical testpersons?

For your reference...

http://www.boston.com/business/glob...appeal_amgen_wins_protection_for_anemia_drug/

 

[Epicycle]

Epi, that's not my number, it was widely reported in the press. I was at the start at Rancho Bernardo and at the end in Escondito, and both places were mobbed. Escondito had 'em standing 15 deep. You couldn't get up Palomar on Sunday, as there were so many folks...

Lance is so powerful a marketing force that he could start his own tour here in the USA.

I understand but the TOC's organizer Medalist Sports always greatly inflates attendance figures. A reasonable estimate would be between 750,000 and a million. That is still an impressive number.

 

[ElChingon]

Well I doubt anyone was doing a head count but the start/finish's were definitely Euro Popular Race packed with people. The only thing missing is the official race song being played over and over and over till you memorized it.

 

[Wrecktangle]

Epi, I don't know. I was wondering about 2008's 1.5mil and several of us did an estimate of folks at starts and finishes with estimated counts on road (which you can do since VS covers the entire race...but NOT the Veulta or Giro, grrrr), and we got within 10% of that number. Much more this year. Even got coverage in local papers. Us Californicators love our cycling, it seems.

 

[franciep10]

well it would be much less to talk about on this forum, what else would we talk about actual cycling

 

[Animal]

There's never been any real point to this team without him or another Kazakh rider in a starring role.

That's right. I whole think was simply a vehicle for Vino. The Kazakhs don't really want to fund the Lance Armstrong show.

 

[jonjungel]

I would be happy to see the sponsor Astana go. Kazakhstan has a dubious record concerning human rights.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Kazakhstan

As for the team, I'm sure they'll continue without much trouble.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Hard to translate, but it still doesn't look good, at all. I'm going to guess they'll make it through the Tour, then they're done.

Amgen is not going to sponsor a cycling team and a race. Might as well call it Team EPO. And after the lack of testing at this year's TOC...

SRAM doesn't have enough money. Certainly not enough to afford this team, which is the NY Yankees of cycling. Nike just went through a slew of layoffs, and Jim Jannard sold most of his stake in Oakley to concentrate on Red. JB and Lance need to look to someone still big and successful, like Google or Oracle or Visa. Or really think outside the box to somewhere like Bechtel or Pratt & Whitney. If they can't have a big team with JB, Lance will retire again.

I do see Astana coming back though next year with a freshly doped up Vino and Kashi, and a whole bunch of no-name minimum-wage Kazaks.

I've actually been to Kazakhstan, believe it or not. I'd say they're in a LOT better shape than their several neighbors to the south as far as human rights and social stability go.

 

[lucybears]

Melow Js

"I would like to have a team all of my own. To be the owner, the sporting director and a cyclist,"
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=reu-giroarmstrong&prov=reuters&type=lgns

 

[El Imbatido]

Richard branson should come on board. It could be Team Virgin. That would be freakin hilarious. I can jus picture them now. Led by the biggest d1ck of them all.

So they wouldnt be virgins for long. (Ha Ha i just thought of that then)

 

[unsheath]

LOL. The Big Texan D!ck and his merry men.

 

[Bala Verde]

Maybe an American Bank, like (Blood)Bank of America or JP Morgan, perhaps Wachovia or erm Hells Fargo. A car manufacturer, like Chrysler, erm Fiat, or GM?

All of them have in common that they like to think big...

 

[Pietro]

Looks like the end of the road for Astana.
More unpaid wages. Millions owed and the Kazakh Fed
saying the Giro is their final race.
http://translate.google.ca/translat...st=0000000026&nd=1&sl=ru&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

From CN-"Armstrong plans team announcement after 2009 Tour

Lance Armstrong plans team for 2010
Photo ©: Mitch Clinton

Lance Armstrong believes there is a "high" probability he will start a professional team of his own for the 2010 season. The American expects the announcement to come this July, after he races the Tour de France.

"I would like to have my own team: to be the owner, director and... cyclist. Because if I have a team I also want to race. It does not necessarily have to be the Giro and Tour, but only when I have the desire," he said in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport after the Tour of the Gila stage race in the USA.

Armstrong, seven-time winner of the Tour de France, announced his comeback to the sport last fall. He joined his former team manger Johan Bruyneel at team Astana and announced his support of an Under 23 development team.

"The name? That of the principal sponsor. Its probability? High. You will know it in July. Even if it is hard to convince sponsors to give money with the economic crisis and news of doping."

Armstrong travelled from USA and arrived in Rome this morning. Tomorrow, he will meet with Italy's Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, to present his cancer foundation's programme.

From Rome Armstrong travels to Venice for the Centenary Giro d'Italia, May 9 to 31. He will lead the team with USA's Levi Leipheimer, winner of Tour of the Gila and Castilla y León."