Transfers and Rumours 2011 > 2012

[virandociclista]

Why do people think Thor can win the RvV? He has always sucked there.

Pozzato, Boonen and Bettini never had any problems at Milan-San Remo. On the contrary...

after this year tdf.. I think that Thor can win RvV... RvV is a Paris-Roubaix with hills

 

[offbyone]

I can't possibly imagine how Thor is happy to have Gilbert on his team. So now we have hincapie, gilbert, thor, ballan? all on the same team. Lot of classics guys for one team.
Considering that Gilbert won half the classics thor and gang are going to get the crumbs. Pretty lame. Not too mention Thor and Gilbert will be green jersey rivals.
Hincapie's day is done, I could care less about Ballan but I can't help but feel that Thor is getting screwed here.

 

[Fetisoff]

I did see AC friends in the giro, maybe tiralong .... AC biggest mistake was to join JB/discovery in 2007... if he had been joined caisse in 2007 his life was much more easy... poor champion.

Not sure about that. How would he share the GT leadership duties with Valverde then?

 

[hrotha]

Why do people think Thor can win the RvV? He has always sucked there.

Pozzato, Boonen and Bettini never had any problems at Milan-San Remo. On the contrary...

I don't see Hushovd as a top contender for RVV, but some people brought it up in this thread. MSR, you'll agree, is within the reach of both, and they're likely to clash over it if they both want to give it a go next year.

 

[virandociclista]

Not sure about that. How would he share the GT leadership duties with Valverde then?

AC = TDF
Valverde = vuelta and classics.

 

[virandociclista]

I don't see Hushovd as a top contender for RVV, but some people brought it up in this thread. MSR, you'll agree, is within the reach of both, and they're likely to clash over it if they both want to give it a go next year.

Ok.. Thor may not be a top contender for RVV, but thor and gilbert in the same team are. Gilbert atack and thor try to win like Nuyens this year.

 

[Lanark]

Ok.. Thor may not be a top contender for RVV, but thor and gilbert in the same team are. Gilbert atack and thor try to win like Nuyens this year.

To 'win like Nuyens' you still have to be at least among the 10 best riders on the hills, something Thor has never been able to show he's capable of. Besides, those editions were a fairly large group goes to the finish with a tactical battle are quite rare, usually it's a game of strength.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

I don't see Hushovd as a top contender for RVV, but some people brought it up in this thread. MSR, you'll agree, is within the reach of both, and they're likely to clash over it if they both want to give it a go next year.

don't think so, attacker vs sprinter. It's the ideal mix if you ask me...

 

[ingsve]

Not too mention Thor and Gilbert will be green jersey rivals.

No they won't. Gilbert of not a green jersey contender and neither will probably Thor be. Gilbert only made a play for green because of the many finishes in this years Tour that suited him and it was still not enough to get him anywhere close.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?p=633536&highlight=Gilbert+Boonen#post633536

BLAST!

 

[hrotha]

don't think so, attacker vs sprinter. It's the ideal mix if you ask me...

For the team, yes. For the relevant egos, no way.

 

[kanari]

Thor obviously knew Phil was coming to BMC as well so clearly so he's very OK with that and I even think it was one of the reasons he went to BMC. They are good friends and training partners so there won't be any problems cooperating.

MSR: Within reach for both of them, but that should only work to their advantage, El Pistolero mentioned QS a few years back and we know how well they played it, we could see something similar here.

RVV: Same thing as MSR really, I think Thor has the potential to win it even though he has sucked here in the past for various reasons. Worst case for BMC is he is a great helper to Phil here. It's not a race Thor is superpassionate about like PR, I think he even wants MSR more to be honest as he has been podium there twice.

PR: Phil probably wont ride it as usual as he prepares for the Ardennes instead. If he chooses to ride it for some reason I'm sure he's happy to be a helper for Thor and Hincapie.

Ardennes: Thor probably won't race, if he does he'll be a good domestique for Phil, GVA and Cadel.

 

[kanari]

For the team, yes. For the relevant egos, no way.

But it helps when said egos are friends.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I am so bored of the BMC chequebook now.

 

[just some guy]

Thor and Phil are mates and training partners

Phil and Evans are Friends and Phil was very upset that Evans left Lotto as he thought they made a great 2 headed team.

I do think that each will have a goal for the hilly classics and that for those classics BMC will have 3 protected riders. GVA will do a lot of early attacks and then BMC sit back to let the other teams do the work.

Tabby cat cycling team better start finding so guys or Fab will be isolated before the start.

MSR 2012 GVA goes on the poggio about here

Who in their right mind would drag Phil and Thor to the finsh ?

PS Ballan must be one of the riders looking for a new team.

 

[hrotha]

But it helps when said egos are friends.

Yeah, but it's easier to be friends when you don't have to fight over captaincy status. Both of them strike me as the type to not handle this too well. We'll see.

 

[l.Harm]

BLAST!

That's another ava

 

[zapata]

Gilbert wants to win MSR and RVV too. Unless Hushovd only cares about Roubaix, this isn't going to work.

I think he does that. Hushovd will never win RVV, and he knows it, will probably be happy to help Gilbert any way he can. In Milano Sanremo, Flip attacks on the Poggio and Thor waits for it to come together, neither wins. Roubaix is for Hushovd, the ardennes is for Gilbert. Unless Evans wants a say? I really don't think there's many races where the ambitions of Hushovd and Gilbert will clash. Het Volk, maybe..

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Given that he's just won the Tour I feel Evans should feel justified in wanting a say, and Evans will likely want the Ardennes too. And the warmup events for the worlds next year will be interesting with the Valkenburg course likely to be one that both feel they have a good chance at winning...

 

[Michielveedeebee]

That's another ava

woopsie sorry. The image you gave didn't work and than I googled Amsterdam instead of Rotterdam my bad, it should be fixed now

 

[virandociclista]

So let's think about what will happen in 2013, after a normal 2012:

1 - Alberto Contador win the TDF like he won giro 2011. Big show.
2 - Evans fail and lose big time in the TDF. Try to win the vuelta and fail again.
2 - Gilbert win the Ardeness and the worlds.
3 - Thor finaly win P-R. Ok, that's not normal.

What will happen with Evans? Better question: Will BMC buy Alberto Contador in 2013?!

sorry: ACF!

 

[zapata]

Given that he's just won the Tour I feel Evans should feel justified in wanting a say, and Evans will likely want the Ardennes too. And the warmup events for the worlds next year will be interesting with the Valkenburg course likely to be one that both feel they have a good chance at winning...

They should make Evans the attacker, and have Gilbert wait for the "sprint"..

 

[auscyclefan94]

will they really keep Ballan and his doping problems for next year too?

Ballan won't be there. BMC have made him inactive for a 3rd time buthaven't made it public as they looked stupid the last time they did this. This is evident by his non participation in la vuelta.

 

[greenedge]

Tabby cat cycling team better start finding so guys or Fab will be isolated before the start.

MSR 2012 GVA goes on the poggio about here

Who in their right mind would drag Phil and Thor to the finsh ?

PS Ballan must be one of the riders looking for a new team.

I do wonder whether next year Cancellara will have a stronger team. Hermans might be able to help in RvV but he will have next to no one at P-R. I think he might win at least one classic next year but will adjust tactics.

GE ( pending Goss/ Howard signing ) and Skil Shimano would. ( Tony Martin would chase if he's bought ) setting it up perfectly for Kittel/ Degenkolb. If Cav survives as well Sky would also.

 

[Nielsa]

MSR 2012 GVA goes on the poggio about here
Who in their right mind would drag Phil and Thor to the finsh ?

Sagan to outsprint all of them at the finish