The Schlecks are gone

[movingtarget]

Andy Schleck has just made it harder for himself to win next year's Tour as well unless the cheque book is opened and some quality riders are signed up. Saxo is a very strong squad. Maybe he has jumped two years too soon ?

 

[sportzchick]

i used google translation for the above artical...

http://translate.google.com/transla...istorien-om-et-bebudet-fadermord/&sl=da&tl=en

 

[scribe]

Andy Schleck has just made it harder for himself to win next year's Tour as well unless the cheque book is opened and some quality riders are signed up. Saxo is a very strong squad. Maybe he has jumped two years too soon ?

I think so. But, if him and his brother are in the selection, they might be able to make an interesting race anyhow without all the team softening strategies employed now.

 

[Harplayr]

One area I worry about is the TTT in next year’s Tour.
With Contador and Cancellera on the squad they should gain a lot of time over a Schleck duo. This would put them at an early disadvantage.

We’ll have to wait and see who they sign up, but I doubt it will be as strong or as well run as the former Saxo.

 

[max_powers]

those guys are so skinny one hardly notices if they leave

 

[Boeing]

rumor the shack has first shot if luxumburge team dosnt work out

that might be closer to reality if AC goes Riis

otherwise they are Done and Done'r

 

[Benotti69]

Andy Schleck has just made it harder for himself to win next year's Tour as well unless the cheque book is opened and some quality riders are signed up. Saxo is a very strong squad. Maybe he has jumped two years too soon ?

how do you figure that out without seeing who is in the team? A lot of riders will want to ride for a potential TdF winner and they might just take half of saxo with them aswell.

I think their decision is based on the whole team being geared to riding the TdF and where have we seen that before

I also reckon they want part ownership of the team too.

 

[woodburn]

Great news, now just to get rid of the other winger in the team Cancellara......Attack El Pistalero Attack...Doesn't surprise me that the Schlecks are starting their own Team.Nationalism is very popular these days amongst Teams...Thus The Aussies and Kiwi's wanting their own teams aswell.

Agree on the point about nationalism. Even Riis admitted it would be hard to envision a Luxembourg team w/o the Schleck.

 

[LeonG2010]

Cyclical events

Riis himself knows well enough that professional cycling never stands still. I am sure he expected movement from Saxo-Bank as usual: Sastre left after winning the TdF for example. Any cyclist who comes under his directorship is sure to improve & leave a better cyclist. If Contador goes to any team Riis manages then he will become an even more considerable opponent for the Schlecks, particularly if he takes his key friends with him from Astana. Cycling careers are relatively short ones, especially at the top. There is little reason for a top performing cyclist to ignore what he considers as better opportunities elsewhere. Whatever happens any move entails some risk: changing team certainly adds to the element of uncertainty next year. With the Schlecks in a new set up events may not transpire as smoothly as they would have wished: Sky & Radio-Shack provide us with current examples. Remaining with Riis would have been more sure. It will surely make next season more interesting.

 

[redtreviso]

Good ...Riis is no hero DS..The more good riders that distance themselves from Riis and Bruyneel the better.

 

[El Imbatido]

Riders joining the Nygaard/Andersen project (Team Luxembourg) according to Luxembourg newspapers:

Fränk and Andy Schleck
Linus Gerdemann
Fabian Wegmann
Johannes Fröhlinger
Stuart O'Grady
Jens Voigt
Jakob Fuglsang
Brice and Romain Feillu
Fabian Cancellara (possibly)

Main sponsor could be Quick, a belgian fast food chain, budget will be around 15 mio.

Click Here For Link

So we could have Team Quick as well as Team QuickStep, the article also mentions that if the team is not ready for next year that the Schlecks could go to Team Radioshack for a year and it would then become Team RadioSchleck

 

[movingtarget]

Riders joining the Nygaard/Andersen project (Team Luxembourg) according to Luxembourg newspapers:

Fränk and Andy Schleck
Linus Gerdemann
Fabian Wegmann
Johannes Fröhlinger
Stuart O'Grady
Jens Voigt
Jakob Fuglsang
Brice and Romain Feillu
Fabian Cancellara (possibly)

Main sponsor could be Quick, a belgian fast food chain, budget will be around 15 mio.

Click Here For Link

So we could have Team Quick as well as Team QuickStep, the article also mentions that if the team is not ready for next year that the Schlecks could go to Team Radioshack for a year and it would then become Team RadioSchleck

Voight and O'Grady are near retirement. Gerdeman never seems to know what he is doing, in a race and Cancellara probably would not leave as he would not have strong riders around him for the classics apart from Wegmann. Not that he always need them. Apart from the novelty of having a team from Luxembourg I think it's a step backwards unless they have the resources to build a more competitive team. We will see. If Contador goes to Saxo with his Spanish friends and most of the existing Saxo squad remain, he should be very satisfied and confident for 2011. Interesting times ahead re transfers of riders.

 

[OctaBech]

Good ...Riis is no hero DS..The more good riders that distance themselves from Riis and Bruyneel the better.

First time in ages I'm logging in in, but bursting your bubble is just too tempting Kim A. has always been the personal DS of the Schlecks and that includes the Fuentes days, not forgetting that he himself has been caught for doping, twice.

I can't help wonder how much dirt the press will try to dig up now that Kim is making a name for himself instead of working from the shadows.

 

[Greenflame]

For Andy and Frank, this seems like a step up imo. Just look at the support they'll be getting in the mountains: Fröhlinger, Wegmann, Feillu, Fuglsang and Gerdemann. That's quite a step up from just CA Sorensen and Fuglsang as he had this year. On the flatter terrain the new team will obviously be weaker than Saxo, but that's not usually not where the Tour is decided.

 

[tgsgirl]

For Andy and Frank, this seems like a step up imo. Just look at the support they'll be getting in the mountains: Fröhlinger, Wegmann, Feillu, Fuglsang and Gerdemann.

Yeah, good thing the rumour mill is never wrong! Also, in terms of mountain domestiques that's pretty average, except for Fuglsang who they had at Saxo as well.

 

[hrotha]

Yeah, good thing the rumour mill is never wrong! Also, in terms of mountain domestiques that's pretty average, except for Fuglsang who they had at Saxo as well.

Yeah, if they don't get Sørensen or an equivalent climber I'd say it's actually a step down from Saxo.

 

[Cerberus]

Yeah, if they don't get Sørensen or an equivalent climber I'd say it's actually a step down from Saxo.

Sørensen is under contract until 2012, so he's of the table.

 

[Harplayr]

For Andy and Frank, this seems like a step up imo. Just look at the support they'll be getting in the mountains: Fröhlinger, Wegmann, Feillu, Fuglsang and Gerdemann. That's quite a step up from just CA Sorensen and Fuglsang as he had this year. On the flatter terrain the new team will obviously be weaker than Saxo, but that's not usually not where the Tour is decided.

If Contador is on Saxo (or whatever they will be called) then the lack of good rollers may cost him in the TTT.

 

[Ryaguas]

If Contador is on Saxo (or whatever they will be called) then the lack of good rollers may cost him in the TTT.

He is leaving Astana looking for a better team in the TTT cuz he is already thinking in the next TdF... if that new team won't has good rollers so better to stay in Astana cuz would be the same... good climbers - so so rollers = /

 

[Moondance]

Well, here's a delicious rumour. Apparantly Team Schleck will not be done in time for the 2011 season, and as such the Bros. will need to go on the hunt for a one-year deal for next season... Top favorite is The Shack.

Via Google translate from: Schleck–brødrene kan ende i armene på Armstrong

Schleck brothers may end in the arms of Armstrong

Brothers Andy and Frank Schleck chose the same model as Alberto Contador - to say goodbye to their former employer without sending clear signals about who the future will be.

But like the 27-year-old Spanish Tour de France winner has long been associated with the crew, Bjarne Riis next season send out on the roads as the successor of Team Saxo Bank has more or less be considered a fact that they two Luxembourg trumps must be front figures in the new storhold established in their homeland with Riis' former close associates of Kim Anderson and Brian Nygaard as the main drivers.

When news of the brothers' impending departure with Bjarne Riis and Team Saxo Bank was launched in the Luxembourg press, appeared, however, a rumor up, not previously observed, but which is fueling speculation about whether Nygaard and Andersen have enough time to get it new crew on the ground.

Media in the Grand Duchy Notes namely that the American superstar Lance Armstrong's Team RadioShack could be a possible staging point for Andy and Frank Schleck, whose project in the Luxembourg investors have to wait until 2012 to see the light of day.

Kim Anderson: Waiting for comments
"There are running so many rumors at the moment that it is almost impossible to keep up. There is nothing to suggest that we should not be able to. But I would like to admit that time goes very quickly. It is a way, what I have to say about the situation right now ', says Kim Andersen.

"We have chosen not to make any would comment on how the work progresses, and there will be no concrete announcements on this side of 1 September.

I wonder how this will affect the multitude of other riders who were supposedly already in talks to join Team Schleck in '11.

 

[outrage9]

Pretty sure that I recall rumors last year of Lance trying to get Andy to come to RS but he didn't want to without Frank, so this shouldn't be too big of a surprise. Just doesn't sound like a great way to build a team if RS has any ideas of become a long term investment because everything next year will be built around the Schlecks knowing they would be gone for 2012. Unless they are biding time for Phinney.

 

[kurtinsc]

Pretty sure that I recall rumors last year of Lance trying to get Andy to come to RS but he didn't want to without Frank, so this shouldn't be too big of a surprise. Just doesn't sound like a great way to build a team if RS has any ideas of become a long term investment because everything next year will be built around the Schlecks knowing they would be gone for 2012. Unless they are biding time for Phinney.

RS has some nice young riders... and some failing older riders. Neither group seems to be capable of making noise at the Tour, which has to be the key race for the sponsors of the team.

While not perfect for long term success... getting a 1st or 2nd out of Andy in the Tour for a year while they try to figure out a long term plan may be a best case scenario right now.

 

[Sophistic]

Joining Radioshack would be a better move than starting a new team where their strongest helpers are 39 year old Jens Voigt and Jakob Fuglsang.

 

[HL2037]

Hm - how did

Media in Luxembourg concludes that Team Radioschack could be a possible inbetween for Andy and Fränk Schleck if the Luxembourg investor project must wait until 2012

turn into

Apparantly Team Schleck will not be done in time for the 2011 season, and as such the Bros. will need to go on the hunt for a one-year deal for next season... Top favorite is The Shack.

Who started this rumour? Politiken doesn't name any of these Lux media.

 

[Frank Tuesday]

Hm - how did

"Media in Luxembourg concludes that Team Radioschack could be a possible inbetween for Andy and Fränk Schleck if the Luxembourg investor project must wait until 2012"

Reminds me of a drug ad with all the qualifiers

"Some studies seem to suggest that (insert drug name) may help to reduce the risk of (insert disease)." 7 qualifiers.

All the person watching the ad hears is "(drug name) stops (disease)."