Transfers and Rumours 2011 > 2012

[markene2]

According to wielerland Kashechkin will ride for Team RusVelo. Astana is making a slot for Cobo ?

Machine transelation from a user called: Диас. On astanfans

Andrey Kashechkin denies shift in RusVelo and is preparing to join the team Astana on the collection, which takes place in Calpe

 

[gustienordic]

Plus Astana already has enough GC leaders. They don't need Cobo.

 

[craig1985]

It looks like Gediminas Bagdonas may be returning to the An Post Sean Kelly Team for another year, as Geox look less and less likely to find a new sponsor in time. Apparently, he's been in touch with APST about a plan B, and they, unsurprisingly, would be only too happy to have him back. If this happens it's great for APST, but very hard on a rider who surely deserved a ride with a big team after a phenomenal season.

APST are apparently also on the verge of signing Niko Eeckhout for yet another season, with the 41 year old(!) looking likely to postpone retirement again.

http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_5992.shtml

The positive side of this is that APST, who had by far their best ever season last year, are likely to have a seriously strong team for a Conti outfit. They were expecting to lose four of their five main race winners last year (Bagdonas to Geox, Eeckhout to retirement, McNally to Europcar and Fenn to Omega Pharma), only holding on to Sam Bennett. And they had moved to replace them with a new crop of ambitious young track stars. Now it looks as if they'll have a team with all bar Fenn of their best riders from last year, along with the guys they were hoping would step into their shoes. The most immediately promising of the new riders look to be Scott Law, Mark Christian and Neils Wytinck (all 20 years old). They have also signed Jonny Bellis, which seems like a good move for both parties.

The downside is that it's a real pity that a rider like Bagdonas can have such a dominant season on a Conti team and still not get a chance at a higher level. The guy won a stage of the Tour of Britain, the Ras GC and two stages, the Ronde de l'Oise GC and a stage, plus his national ITT championship. If that doesn't get you a ride on a World Tour or a Pro Conti team, I'm not sure what exactly a Conti rider is supposed to do. Another casualty of the many team collapses and mergers this year.

Hopefully APST will get a lot of good invites this year. They are talking about becoming Pro Conti in 2013 and their team for 2012 looks like they wouldn't disgrace themselves at that level.

Do you know what APST's budget is like? I would say the biggest stumbling block for an Irish team is that Ireland's economy not going too good that it makes the task of attracting sponsors even harder. I know this is slightly OT, but why has the Ras survived for so long, but the Tour of Ireland hasn't? I know they paid a fortune to Armstrong which resulted in the race being reduced to three days from five, but with a race that attracts a higher calibre of teams and riders would have a better chance of surviving.

In other news, Mirco Lorenzetto has retired at the age of 30.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Plus Astana already has enough GC leaders. They don't need Cobo.

who? Kreuziger if he improves his recovery abit mybe, but that is not exactly many

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Do you know what APST's budget is like? I would say the biggest stumbling block for an Irish team is that Ireland's economy not going too good that it makes the task of attracting sponsors even harder. I know this is slightly OT, but why has the Ras survived for so long, but the Tour of Ireland hasn't? I know they paid a fortune to Armstrong which resulted in the race being reduced to three days from five, but with a race that attracts a higher calibre of teams and riders would have a better chance of surviving.

In other news, Mirco Lorenzetto has retired at the age of 30.

spot for Cobo there

 

[ingsve]

who? Kreuziger if he improves his recovery abit mybe, but that is not exactly many

Kreuziger, Brajkovic, Kiserlovski, Kessiakoff, Tiralongo, Seeldreyers could all be considered GC riders of some sort. They may not all by podium candidates in a GT but they can and have all been captains or co-captains in GTs. Then you also have Vinokourov but who knows what he's planning to do. And if you ignore the Vuelta then any of these riders have shown more and just as much as Cobo in the last couple of years.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Kreuziger, Brajkovic, Kiserlovski, Kessiakoff, Tiralongo, Seeldreyers could all be considered GC riders of some sort. They may not all by podium candidates in a GT but they can and have all been captains or co-captains in GTs. Then you also have Vinokourov but who knows what he's planning to do. And if you ignore the Vuelta then any of these riders have shown more and just as much as Cobo in the last couple of years.

Kreuziger - possible gt thrreat if he improves on what i said earlier
Brajkovic - i highly doubt it, good domestique
Kiserlovski - mybe, we will see this year i guess
Kessiakoff - good in a very average vuelta field (all favourites without any kind of form)
Tiralongo - if he was 2 years younger mybe
Seeldreyers -
Vino - sadly no, a good mountain stage hunter, nothing more

Cobo - if he is mentaly in order from now on (hopefully) he has shown before that he has a high enough climbing level to compete for an top 5, mybe not suited for next years tour, but still better than anyone else on astana mybe exept Kreuziger if he can start perform in the tt in gts

 

[El Pistolero]

Vino is a one day racer now.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Vino is a one day racer now.

and future president of Kazakhstan

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Do you know what APST's budget is like?

I don't know for sure, but my assumption is that money is pretty tight. It is for almost all Conti teams, after all.

I would say the biggest stumbling block for an Irish team is that Ireland's economy not going too good that it makes the task of attracting sponsors even harder.

It's only partly an Irish team. It's Belgian based, Belgian registered, and it has a dual mandate of developing young Irish and Belgian riders. The DS is Belgian (Kurt Bogaerts), Sean Kelly famously loves Belgium and the guy who has been their biggest name for years is Niko Eeckhout. I get the impression that Eeckhout brings in many of their secondary sponsors, because he's pretty popular.

There's also the British connection, as they seem to have become the stepping stone of choice for young British track riders who aren't ready for a team like Sky yet. That makes quite a lot of sense, because it's an English speaking team in Belgium with a very professional attitude and they get a significantly better race calender than the British based Conti teams do. I presume that's much the reason that Scott Law (the big Australian track prospect) or Jonny Bellis signed for them. They also have an approach of telling their riders to attack in every stage of every race, which means that a young rider can sign for them and know that they'll get their chances rather than just be fetching bottles.

They sign as many decent Irish talents as they can, but there really aren't that many of them. Nowadays they have as many British riders as they do Irish, they always have more Belgians than either and they'll also take a chance on promising riders from elsewhere (like Law or, most successfully Bagdonas).

The problem they may face is finding sponsorship to go Pro Conti as they want to do (and to be fair as their results last years merit). An Post have put a lot into Irish cycling over the last few years, through the An Post team, the Sean Kelly Cycling Academy, the Ras and a whole load of local sportifs and races, but it seems very hard to imagine them stumping up a Pro Conti budget.

I know this is slightly OT, but why has the Ras survived for so long, but the Tour of Ireland hasn't? I know they paid a fortune to Armstrong which resulted in the race being reduced to three days from five, but with a race that attracts a higher calibre of teams and riders would have a better chance of surviving.

The Ras survives precisely because it is a lower level race than the Tour of Ireland was. As a 2.2 race, it can bring in all of the decent amateur squads in Ireland and functions as a kind of stage race national championships. Basically, the Ras means a lot to the domestic scene, while the Tour of Ireland didn't.

Although that might not last for too much longer as nowadays a whole bunch of very good Conti outfits take part and are serious about winning and they completely outclass the amateur domestic riders. It was almost embarrassing this year, how much better the likes of Bagdonas and An Post and the (2nd and 3rd place) ISD team and the British Conti teams were compared to the amateur squads.

It's a real pity that the Tour of Ireland didn't continue, by the way, as it could potentially make use of the Irish terrain in a way that the Ras is understandably reluctant to. Ireland has no high mountains, but the West coast is viciously hilly and could easily provide a lot of Ardennes style routes. And I'll always be a fan of any race that includes a circuit with St Patrick's hill on it. It may only be 1km long, but it has a 23% gradient and is right in the middle of Cork city centre.

 

[rxgqgxnyfz]

Kreuziger - possible gt thrreat if he improves on what i said earlier
Brajkovic - i highly doubt it, good domestique
Kiserlovski - mybe, we will see this year i guess
Kessiakoff - good in a very average vuelta field (all favourites without any kind of form)
Tiralongo - if he was 2 years younger mybe
Seeldreyers -
Vino - sadly no, a good mountain stage hunter, nothing more

Astana 2012 starting to look like RadioShack 2010 a bit -- lots of decent GT guys/superdomestiques dragging the aging star.

Still, i believe in Kessiakoff.

And in Vino of course. Always bet on Vino.

And on Kash "news" -- they probably confused him with his brother. As heartbreaking as it is, but i stopped caring either way.

 

[gilbertador]

Astana 2012 starting to look like RadioShack 2010 a bit -- lots of decent GT guys/superdomestiques dragging the aging star.

Still, i believe in Kessiakoff.

And in Vino of course. Always bet on Vino.

And on Kash "news" -- they probably confused him with his brother. As heartbreaking as it is, but i stopped caring either way.

I think Kessiakoff is a massive talent, it wouldnt be a shock at all to see him top 5 giro or vuelta next year for me or top 10 the tour

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Astana 2012 starting to look like RadioShack 2010 a bit -- lots of decent GT guys/superdomestiques dragging the aging star.

Still, i believe in Kessiakoff.

And in Vino of course. Always bet on Vino.

And on Kash "news" -- they probably confused him with his brother. As heartbreaking as it is, but i stopped caring either way.

to win LBL, yes i allways do, to top 5 a GT, it would suprise me, but if Horner and Levi can climb at the age of 60 (this is not a typo ) mybe vino can to...

 

[Ruudz0r]

Giorgio Brambilla to Radioshack Nissan Trek Continental team.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Giorgio Brambilla to Radioshack Nissan Trek Continental team.

giro domestique fpr Fuglsang there i guess

 

[roundabout]

giro domestique fpr Fuglsang there i guess

Continental team

And he is more like a 6th rate sprinter/classics rider

 

[Ruudz0r]

Continental team

And he is more like a 6th rate sprinter/classics rider

He had 2 years with bad luck and injuries. He indeed is more a classic rider type + sprinter, but his programm with Da Rosa didnt really let him ride in the races that would suit him best. Hopefully the switch to the conti team of Radioshack will give a positive twist to his career.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I think Kessiakoff is a massive talent, it wouldnt be a shock at all to see him top 5 giro or vuelta next year for me or top 10 the tour

kessiakoff has no recupation I fear

 

[Sylvester]

He had 2 years with bad luck and injuries. He indeed is more a classic rider type + sprinter, but his programm with Da Rosa didnt really let him ride in the races that would suit him best. Hopefully the switch to the conti team of Radioshack will give a positive twist to his career.

You mean Colnago. He tried his luck once in the Giro, if I recall correctly, finishing fifth or sixth in the stage won by Capecchi. And his results these last two years don't look that bad. Strange transfer as he seemed happy enough on the Italian circuit.

 

[roundabout]

Other Brambilla.

 

[Sylvester]

There's two of them and they're called Giorgio and Gianluca. Ain't that great.

But it all makes more sense now

 

[greenedge]

kessiakoff has no recupation I fear

He barely had a chance to do anything at a younger age. Now he is solid. He showed good form at the Tour of Austria and also at the Vuelta before crashing. I like him, though a top 10 at the TDF might be a bit far for a few years.

I really want Cobo to join a team that gets an invite to the TDF.

 

[greenedge]

Astana 2012 starting to look like RadioShack 2010 a bit -- lots of decent GT guys/superdomestiques dragging the aging star.

And on Kash "news" -- they probably confused him with his brother. As heartbreaking as it is, but i stopped caring either way.

Wasn't that the same as this year??? ( for Astana dragging Vino )

I think Kash should from now on go stage hunting.

 

[will10]

He barely had a chance to do anything at a younger age. Now he is solid. He showed good form at the Tour of Austria and also at the Vuelta before crashing. I like him, though a top 10 at the TDF might be a bit far for a few years.

I really want Cobo to join a team that gets an invite to the TDF.

Cobo is wasted at the TdF, no really steep climbs where he seems to excel, and loads of TT kms for him to hemorrhage time to the favourites.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Cobo's actually a pretty good time triallist compared to many climbers and represented Spain in the Worlds ITT in 2009 (albeit after Héctor Guerra tested positive and was removed).