Transfers and Rumours 2011 > 2012

[Magnus]

Luke Roberts stays with SBS:
http://www.saxobanksungard.com/ny_news.asp?lang=dk&n_id=3437

 

[LaFlorecita]

Luke Roberts stays with SBS:
http://www.saxobanksungard.com/ny_news.asp?lang=dk&n_id=3437

Wow. Surprising.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Ryo Hazuki was right was once again. How many spots does Riis have left? One?

 

[Cimber]

It does, black, red and yellow.

Ah ye ofc, toned down much more tho (0;

 

[Cimber]

Ryo Hazuki was right was once again. How many spots does Riis have left? One?

with Roberts they have 27 riders. And they have atleast 2 neo-pros among them. So there should be room for 3 more. However, Riis as stated that it is not certain that he will fill all 3 spots. Maybe he will get menchov or cobo if Contador gets banned? Buying time till the hearing maybe?

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Buying time till the hearing maybe?

They won't decide anything on that date, as far as I know.

 

[Cimber]

They won't decide anything on that date, as far as I know.

Aint sure about when the final decision is due, but should at least be shortly after the hearing. I hope it will be before december anyways. Its taken them long enough already. Anyways, going offtopic here.

 

[will10]

I just podiumed my 1st sportive at the weekend, I'm sure I seen Brian Holm in the crowd. he would of been mighty impressed of my leadout to the guy who won it. You heard it hear 1st midnightfright to QSOPL

Careful, with talk like that you'll start thinking that sportives are actually races.

 

[hrotha]

I just podiumed my 1st sportive at the weekend, I'm sure I seen Brian Holm in the crowd. he would of been mighty impressed of my leadout to the guy who won it. You heard it hear 1st midnightfright to QSOPL

No chance at QSOP, but I'd give Riis a call if I were you.

 

[Cimber]

No chance at QSOP, but I'd give Riis a call if I were you.

Only if he is 34+

 

[craig1985]

Luke Roberts stays with SBS:
http://www.saxobanksungard.com/ny_news.asp?lang=dk&n_id=3437

That's fantastic for him.

 

[Cimber]

That's fantastic for him.

Sure is. Less so for the team though

 

[roundabout]

There's one thing I don't really understand. Steensen has been riding better and better near the end of the season but he didn't do enough to earn a contract while Roberts who with all due respect is unlikely to get any better at 35 (next year) did.

I suppose Roberts is an important part of the Haedo train. That's about the only reason that comes to mind why Riis would prefer to keep him from a sporting perspective.

 

[maltiv]

There's one thing I don't really understand. Steensen has been riding better and better near the end of the season but he didn't do enough to earn a contract while Roberts who with all due respect is unlikely to get any better at 35 (next year) did.

I suppose Roberts is an important part of the Haedo train. That's about the only reason that comes to mind why Riis would prefer to keep him from a sporting perspective.

I guess he brings some points from his 5th place in TDU...

 

[roundabout]

Good point(s). But checking up it seems to be only 12 points and those points won't seemingly make a difference.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

roberts is a better rider than steensen

 

[hrotha]

roberts is a better rider than steensen

Yeah but Steensen is young and Danish. That's gotta be a plus.

 

[MADRAZO]

roberts is a better rider than steensen

Based on what? For someone like you that normaly prefers talents Im quite surpriced you'd think so.

Roberts has done almost nothing for years and is getting old. He might get a decent result down under but will be of very little use after that, just like this season. And the way his proloque-results have declined over the years, and the way Haedo so often fails in his positioning, Im definetly not to impressed about his leadout-abilities.

Steensen has been very unlucky so far as a pro, but should at least still have some potential, and he did finally start to show a bit in the end of this year, and I feel he would very likely have improved (to a level better than Roberts) next season.

I can still understand why Steensen was fired, though it seems dumb to fire him just when he starts to deliver, but keeping Roberts instead of him seems just weird (Id assume both would be close to minimum-wage so that that should not affect anything).

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Yeah but Steensen is young and Danish. That's gotta be a plus.

he is 26 and hasn't improved since he was a junior basically. also riis doesn't care too much wether a rider is danish or not. that was one of his biggest points of critic in danish media with csc

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Based on what? For someone like you that normaly prefers talents Im quite surpriced you'd think so.

Roberts has done almost nothing for years and is getting old. He might get a decent result down under but will be of very little use after that, just like this season. And the way his proloque-results have declined over the years, and the way Haedo so often fails in his positioning, Im definetly not to impressed about his leadout-abilities.

Steensen has been very unlucky so far as a pro, but should at least still have some potential, and he did finally start to show a bit in the end of this year, and I feel he would very likely have improved (to a level better than Roberts) next season.

I can still understand why Steensen was fired, though it seems dumb to fire him just when he starts to deliver, but keeping Roberts instead of him seems just weird (Id assume both would be close to minimum-wage so that that should not affect anything).

fire him when he starts to deliver? what in the hell did he show then?? steensen is typical danish talent, lived like a pro from when they were 16 and when turning pro have little to not growth margin left. they aren't talents

 

[theyoungest]

I can still understand why Steensen was fired, though it seems dumb to fire him just when he starts to deliver, but keeping Roberts instead of him seems just weird (Id assume both would be close to minimum-wage so that that should not affect anything).

I assume Roberts was basically kept on for the Tour Down Under? You can get cheap WorldTour points there, and it's the only race he usually does well in (in fact it's the only race where I think I've seen him).

 

[MADRAZO]

fire him when he starts to deliver? what in the hell did he show then?? steensen is typical danish talent, lived like a pro from when they were 16 and when turning pro have little to not growth margin left. they aren't talents

As I said I could still understand him getting fired and it definetly was not a big breakthrough he had, but he did have a pretty decent october, and also in the interviews he started sounding like he felt his form and strenght was improving a lot, something I dont recall hearing from him earlier.

Sadly otherwice you have a point regarding the danish talents. Dont know if its clinic-related (the one way or the other), mentalproblems or just early development or as you say a early pro-lifestyle (sounds reasonable), but a lot of these youth-dominators definetly seems to stagnate a lot. Steensen though can be excused to some degrea as he have had much bad luck with injuries and sickness during his time on Saxo Bank, just as well as he has been left of a couple of GTs that would have done him good. But still despite him not becomming a big star, my feeling is that he would have still improved for next season and that he would clearly have been better than Roberts.

 

[Fus087]

I think often the problem is mental.
The Danish junior and U23 riders are often supported by their parents/cousins/uncles (many come from cycling families: Lund, Breschel, Guldhammer, Mørkøv, Steensen, Lilholt, you name it) in very familiar clubs/teams, and thus rarely have to leave their comfort zone.
Yes, compared with other riders the same age, it's already a very professional lifestyle. But still far from what would be required of a professional cyclist.
When they get a pro contract, they (have to) move to Italy, Luxembourg or some other place and often don't adapt to their new surroundings, or don't make that final step in the first place.
There are plenty of examples for Danish riders who don't make a breakthrough on the big scene (at least in their first go) despite obviously having the talent, as they were - for lack of a better word - sheltered until that moment:
Mads Christensen, Lasse Bøchman, André Steensen, Troels Vinther, Thomas Kvist, Martin Pedersen (although he had a couple of good years)...
And then there's those that never really get out of the Continental teams:
Niki Østergaard, Kristoffer G. Nielsen, Morten Reckweg...

I'm not saying that the problem I describe is the only reason. Several riders had their chances ruined by illness or injury.
Neither do I subscribe to the view that Thomas Bennekou (national coach for U23) voiced somewhere: That if you want to make it as a pro, you have to move to a one-room apartment in Luxembourg and live of spaghetti with ketchup.
Nor do I blame the riders that have problems with living mostly alone in a country where they know only few people - I've tried that myself, and it's not fun.

But it obviously is an issue with Danish talents.

 

[search]

I don't think it's always about performance, Roberts has ridden for Riis for years and this year Riis offered him a contract as kind of an act of friendship after the Pegasus-collapse.

He is not supposed to win races anyway - he will do what he is told and won't make any problems. Something you never know about when you deal with young riders...

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I think often the problem is mental.
The Danish junior and U23 riders are often supported by their parents/cousins/uncles (many come from cycling families: Lund, Breschel, Guldhammer, Mørkøv, Steensen, Lilholt, you name it) in very familiar clubs/teams, and thus rarely have to leave their comfort zone.
Yes, compared with other riders the same age, it's already a very professional lifestyle. But still far from what would be required of a professional cyclist.
When they get a pro contract, they (have to) move to Italy, Luxembourg or some other place and often don't adapt to their new surroundings, or don't make that final step in the first place.
There are plenty of examples for Danish riders who don't make a breakthrough on the big scene (at least in their first go) despite obviously having the talent, as they were - for lack of a better word - sheltered until that moment:
Mads Christensen, Lasse Bøchman, André Steensen, Troels Vinther, Thomas Kvist, Martin Pedersen (although he had a couple of good years)...
And then there's those that never really get out of the Continental teams:
Niki Østergaard, Kristoffer G. Nielsen, Morten Reckweg...

I'm not saying that the problem I describe is the only reason. Several riders had their chances ruined by illness or injury.
Neither do I subscribe to the view that Thomas Bennekou (national coach for U23) voiced somewhere: That if you want to make it as a pro, you have to move to a one-room apartment in Luxembourg and live of spaghetti with ketchup.
Nor do I blame the riders that have problems with living mostly alone in a country where they know only few people - I've tried that myself, and it's not fun.

But it obviously is an issue with Danish talents.

a friend of mine onece saw a danish national team at a junior race,m they had dokte3rs, soigneurs, a huge bus. it was like a pro tour team. he told me then and this is many years ago when denmark dominated junior cycling. none of those will make it and he was right