Transfers and Rumours 2011 > 2012

[auscyclefan94]

pretty lame for von hoff to go to chipottle. he is 24 and chipottle don't ride a very strong calendar imo. would've thought he could move to a bigger team

I'd never heard of him until ACF kept going on about how fast the guy was.. Clearly he's a very quick rider so a bit surprised with that.

He's only been riding in the NRS for one year and before that he wasn't even cycling. He has said that he needs to work on his endurance so putting him in the deep end being WT would be a bad move considering the speed and distance.

But he is new to cycling so slowly bringing him on is smart.

Ps called the garmin move a couple of days ago

I was thinking about your post when I heard the news. Nice work.

 

[Ferminal]

CDT don't exactly do many decent races though. Most of the time he will be on the US domestic circuit, which is probably closer to the Australian level than the European one. But it could still be the best way, with more avenues forward than most Pro Contis. If all goes to plan he should definitely be Stagiare in the second half of the season and in the top Slipstream squad come 2013.

 

[craig1985]

He's only been riding in the NRS for one year and before that he wasn't even cycling. He has said that he needs to work on his endurance so putting him in the deep end being WT would be a bad move considering the speed and distance.



I was thinking about your post when I heard the news. Nice work.

I find that hard to believe, you don't just pick up a bike and start racing at NRS level. I'm sorry, you just don't. I believe bit about him working full-time, but von Hoff just taking up cycling, then racing at NRS level and winning, that story can't quite be right.

 

[Christian]

Bob Jungels to new Radioshack Continental team:

http://www.wort.lu/wort/web/sport/artikel/2011/10/165938/jungels-bestaetigt-zusage.php

 

[just some guy]

CDT don't exactly do many decent races though. Most of the time he will be on the US domestic circuit, which is probably closer to the Australian level than the European one. But it could still be the best way, with more avenues forward than most Pro Contis. If all goes to plan he should definitely be Stagiare in the second half of the season and in the top Slipstream squad come 2013.

Probably the program, but maybe it gives him 6 months more a full time and potentially better training so he does not break down in Qatar ?

 

[Tuarts]

I find that hard to believe, you don't just pick up a bike and start racing at NRS level. I'm sorry, you just don't. I believe bit about him working full-time, but von Hoff just taking up cycling, then racing at NRS level and winning, that story can't quite be right.

From the Genesys profile page for him:

Steele started out as a triathlete, but then at the age of 18 he started racing mountain bikes for Torq Nutrition. He followed the mountain bike circuit for 3 years, but with all the attributes of a sprinter, off-road didn’t really provide the opportunities he needed to show what he was capable of.

It looks like he took Road Cycling seriously in 2010.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I find that hard to believe, you don't just pick up a bike and start racing at NRS level. I'm sorry, you just don't. I believe bit about him working full-time, but von Hoff just taking up cycling, then racing at NRS level and winning, that story can't quite be right.

I was just going off what I had been told by cycling reporters. I'd imagine that he would of at least done a bit of riding on the side as it doesn't seem likely that he came from doing nothing to becoming a top domestic pro.

 

[craig1985]

From the Genesys profile page for him:



It looks like he took Road Cycling seriously in 2010.

Which makes a lot more sense. It should get reported that way as he has been cycling, just not on the road, which can cause confusion.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

An Post Sean Kelly announced four new signings today.

Scott Law, a 20 year old Australian and current national Omnium and Scratch Race champion.

Mark Christian, a 20 year old Manx rider, is a former British Madison champion (with Peter Kennaugh) and a Commonwealth Games bronze medalist in the Scratch Race.

Neils Wytinck, a 20 year old Belgian who won the Ronde Van Noord Holland this year.

Joren Segers, a 19 year old Belgian, who seems to be another with a track background.

They also resigned Sam Bennett, the Irish u23 Road Race champion.

This year they had by far their best ever season as a team, but as a result look likely to lose most of their best riders. Andy Fenn (who won the Memorial Van Coningsloo) has already signed for Omega Pharma - Quickstep. Nico Eeckhout is apparently considering finally retiring, although they have been trying to convince him to stay for another year. There have been repeated reports that Mark McNally (who won the Mi Aout en Bretagne) and Gediminas Bagdonas (who won too many races to list) have been in negotiations with an unnamed big team, but I haven't seen any transfer announced.

Their four new young signings last year were all successes, does anyone know anything about the four riders theyve signed this year? They all seem to be successful trackies, which probably bodes well for the type of races APST mainly compete in.

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

Mark Christian has mainly had his best results on the track. However, he did finish 11th at the Tour De L'Avenir which indicates he may be able to be a decent road rider.

A lot of people expected him to stay at the Academy for another year but I think this is a good move for him.

Mark McNally has been linked to United Healthcare but I haven't heard much for a while. He's moved on this year and I hope he gets a shot with a Pro-Conti team who do a lot of Belgian races.

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

Might have already been posted so if so sorry but Jack Bauer to Garmin from Endura

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Mark Christian has mainly had his best results on the track. However, he did finish 11th at the Tour De L'Avenir which indicates he may be able to be a decent road rider.

A lot of people expected him to stay at the Academy for another year but I think this is a good move for him.

It was certainly a good move for Fenn and McNally. Being on a good Belgian based Conti team gets you the kind of experience of tough road racing that you just can't get on the track. Particularly if you've already been in an elite track programme for a couple of years.

Mark McNally has been linked to United Healthcare but I haven't heard much for a while. He's moved on this year and I hope he gets a shot with a Pro-Conti team who do a lot of Belgian races.

Ah, I hadn't heard what team he was supposed to be talking to, but knew that there definitely was one because Kurt Bogaerts mentioned that he and Bagdonas were talking to big teams. He'd hardly be saying that two of his better riders were on the way out if they weren't. It's tough on APST in a way, as they weren't far off the lesser Pro Conti teams this year and have been talking about going Pro Conti themselves, but as long as you stay in the Conti ranks and have the correspondingly small budget, acting as a nursery for young riders who are off to bigger things is part of the deal.

UHC have made some very good signings this year and seem to be one of hte more ambitious Pro Conti outfits. Not a bad place for a young rider to land, although I tend to agree that Belgian races would be more suited to him.

 

[hatcher]

Yeah like most GB track guys I don't think Mark Christian is even sure about what sort of rider he'll end up as on the road. Pretty good at everything. Has had some good results in tough races.

An Post have a pretty high success rate with their youngsters, so a good move for Christian.

 

[daveinzambia]

Would be really interested to see a list of the riders that end up being bumped from the world tour as a result of teams folding / merging at the end of this transfer season.

 

[ingsve]

Would be really interested to see a list of the riders that end up being bumped from the world tour as a result of teams folding / merging at the end of this transfer season.

Well, that will still always be a zero sum game. For every rider that doesn't get a further shot at the WT new riders get a chance instead. A rider who doesn't get a new contract within the WT probably had his days numbered anyway.

 

[daveinzambia]

Well, that will still always be a zero sum game. For every rider that doesn't get a further shot at the WT new riders get a chance instead. A rider who doesn't get a new contract within the WT probably had his days numbered anyway.

Yeah that is kind of what I thought, lot of people made a fuss about teams disappearing but was just wondering what the actual effect was?

riders without contracts? drop in wages? from a few comments i have seen on twitter get the feeling that things are fairly hard from some of the second tier riders who seem to be struggling to find rides.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Yeah that is kind of what I thought, lot of people made a fuss about teams disappearing but was just wondering what the actual effect was?

riders without contracts? drop in wages? from a few comments i have seen on twitter get the feeling that things are fairly hard from some of the second tier riders who seem to be struggling to find rides.

not only that but consider team staff. Not only the riders have families to feed.

Furthermore when you get sponsors like geox pulling out abruptly we get these ridicilious precedents. After the disbanded trends we've seen this year, sponsors feeling the pressure may be more inclined to follow such footstops.

It might not be disastirous yet... but from long term sponsor views it is becoming an dangerous issue.

I see little stability in the backbone of cycling at the moment.

 

[daveinzambia]

not only that but consider team staff. Not only the riders have families to feed.

Furthermore when you get sponsors like geox pulling out abruptly we get these ridicilious precedents. After the disbanded trends we've seen this year, sponsors feeling the pressure may be more inclined to follow such footstops.

It might not be disastirous yet... but from long term sponsor views it is becoming an dangerous issue.

I see little stability in the backbone of cycling at the moment.

yeah there are others two but think that group is just too hard to track. Difficult to tell with sponsorship money as well. Has the total sponsorship of the top 18 teams gone down this year?

feels like the sport is in trouble now, wondering if anyone has done any analysis that shows this to be a fact rather than anecdotal. Did the arrival of Sky and Leopard over the last couple of years skew the market somewhat and this is a return to balance. is this a general downward trend? is it just a reflection of the global financial markets.

lots of people claim the issue is in the way the sport is run and the UCI should change but mainly anecdotal at the moment

anyway drifting way off topic for this thread now. Blaming my friday afternoon wandering mind.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

yeah there are others two but think that group is just too hard to track. Difficult to tell with sponsorship money as well. Has the total sponsorship of the top 18 teams gone down this year?

feels like the sport is in trouble now, wondering if anyone has done any analysis that shows this to be a fact rather than anecdotal. Did the arrival of Sky and Leopard over the last couple of years skew the market somewhat and this is a return to balance. is this a general downward trend? is it just a reflection of the global financial markets.

lots of people claim the issue is in the way the sport is run and the UCI should change but mainly anecdotal at the moment

anyway drifting way off topic for this thread now. Blaming my friday afternoon wandering mind.

my problem isn't with the financial input. I assume it is still pretty healthy, but rather the way teams are just pulling out of the sport earlier then originally planned. The fact some of these teams get WT status and then pulled out the follwoing year aka leopard is disturbing and makes the WT status a joke imo.

Another reason dedicated long term sponsors should be rewarded Wt status before these big budget bullies who only want to have a dip in the pool rather then long term commitment ( I realize this isn't always the case, but if a sponsor is serious a year or two in PC isn't not so bad).

 

[Sneekes]

my problem isn't with the financial input. I assume it is still pretty healthy, but rather the way teams are just pulling out of the sport earlier then originally planned. The fact some of these teams get WT status and then pulled out the follwoing year aka leopard is disturbing and makes the WT status a joke imo.

Another reason dedicated long term sponsors should be rewarded Wt status before these big budget bullies who only want to have a dip in the pool rather then long term commitment ( I realize this isn't always the case, but if a sponsor is serious a year or two in PC isn't not so bad).

I agree with the sentiment - there needs to be some way of increasing the degree of financial certainty for teams and riders - but I'm not sure how it can be done without decreasing the number or the size of investments, and I'm not sure making them start pro-conti is the answer (as they could easily just buy an existing WT team and then dump them a year later).

The UCI could demand that sponsors sign up for a minimum of two years, and pay in advance. Or they could demand that the following years sponsorship money is paid by the end of the preceding June so that teams know if they will exist or not the following year before they start negotiating rider contracts.

The problem here is that both of these will scare off some sponsors, the former probably more so than the latter.

 

[luckyboy]

FDJ - BigMat is definitely happening then http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/brev...6_bigmat-et-la-fdj-pourraient-s-associer.html

Seems a bit late to be 'strengthening the structure' now - not many riders available to bring in

Maybe Hoste, Bakelants, Willems could go there ?

Also, remember it being reported that Di Luca was talking to French teams...

 

[craig1985]

I can't see Di Luca ever ending up on a French team.

 

[maltiv]

I can't see Di Luca ever ending up on a French team.

I could definitely see him rediscover his golden "form" at Europcar

 

[just some guy]

Gabriel Rasch and Veikkanen to FDJ-BigMAT -Rumor

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bigmat-in-talks-to-co-sponsor-fdj


Philippe Gilbert has asked Madiot to find a berth for his former Omega Pharma-Lotto teammate Jussi Veikkanen.

 

[craig1985]

Roulston to Radio Shack:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/roulston-confirms-with-radioshack-for-2012