Transfers and Rumours 2013 > 2014

[Damiano]

Christina Watches are playing guess who again. Their new rider has 'two stage wins in the Volta a Portugal' and 'great results in the Vuelta a Espana'...

Haha, it turns out the rider actually won three stage wins in the Volta a Portugal. The rider was Francisco Jose Pacheco Torres.

 

[RedheadDane]

Yeah, that would be something! Lets hope for that

Any TTTs he competing in would simply be him pulling the rest of the team...

Okay, on a more serious note; if the Garmin rumours are true, and Alex R. gets his contract extended for next year, then Garmin will be the only WT team (other than Saxo) with more than one Danish rider.

 

[The Hitch]

Everytime they appear in the media, they seem to make a fool of themselves - at least when the team owner Claus Hembo opens his mouth. A disgrace to Danish cycling they are, but they have to promote their watches somehow, apparently.

from what I've seen cycling is bigger in Denmark than in any other country without a gt or monument on the planet with the exception or Colombia. I can't think of any other country that gives a **** so long as their riders aren't winning the tour de France.

 

[jaylew]

Cycling is bigger there than in the Netherlands? I wouldn't have guessed that.

 

[RedheadDane]

Cycling is bigger there than in the Netherlands? I wouldn't have guessed that.

Hitch did say 'without a GT or monument'...
Amstel's a monument, right?

 

[jyhjyh]

According to the Danish news station TV2, the Danish Olympic champ in Omnium, Lasse Norman Hansen, is going to be riding for Garmin next season.

http://sporten.tv2.dk/2013-05-28-afsløring-lasse-norman-skifter-til-garmin

Norman has just confirmed, signed for 2013-2014 with Garmin-Sharp:
http://sporten.tv2.dk/2013-05-28-norman-bekræfter-jeg-skifter-til-garmin

 

[Gloin22]

Nope, not close too it ( amstel being a monument )

They have a monument winners though.

 

[Gloin22]

Hitch did say 'without a GT or monument'...
Amstel's a monument, right?

Nope, not close too it ( amstel being a monument )

They have a monument winners though.

 

[jaylew]

Hitch did say 'without a GT or monument'...
Amstel's a monument, right?

No, just MSR, Roubaix, RVV, Liège and Lombardia

 

[The Hitch]

Cycling is bigger there than in the Netherlands? I wouldn't have guessed that.

The dutch posters keep telling us how small the sport is in the Netherlands, and it sounds like the fanbase mostly leeches of the Belgian markets.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Haha, it turns out the rider actually won three stage wins in the Volta a Portugal. The rider was Francisco Jose Pacheco Torres.

I have nothing against Pacheco, he's a pretty reasonable guy and deserved better than to be dumped unceremoniously to the amateur ranks in 2011, but I'm not so sure 5th place in a couple of stages back in 2009 really counts as "great results in the Vuelta". It's also unfair on him the hype campaign as it implies a guy like Plaza or Jiménez. Pacheco will probably do better on the calendar CWO get to do, mind, and I'd be surprised if Plaza jumped ship from a WT team that he's spent his career bouncing back and forth from mid-season when he's just started accumulating results again (i.e. his market value would be increasing, and mid-season buyouts of WT contracts probably aren't all that cheap for a team like CWO).

 

[Netserk]

Cycling is the third biggest sport in Denmark I'd say. First being soccer and handball being second.

 

[Cimber]

Cycling is bigger there than in the Netherlands? I wouldn't have guessed that.

Being half Danish and half Dutch I would say cycling is equally big in the two countries. Ofc Holland has bigger races and more sponsors but media-wise, fan-wise etc they are comparable

 

[Hysminai]

I'd say American Football might be more popular. The Tour is bigger than the Super Bowl will ever be, but I haven't met other danes than me who care about the rest of the season.

 

[DominicDecoco]

Cycling is bigger there than in the Netherlands? I wouldn't have guessed that.

Over 1 million danes watched the last ascent on a mountainous stage in the Tour 2011 out of a population of 6 million in total.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Cycling is the third biggest sport in Denmark I'd say. First being soccer and handball being second.

Same for the Netherlands, but behind soccer and ice-skating.

 

[Cyivel]

Same for the Netherlands, but behind soccer and ice-skating.

What about darts?

 

[theyoungest]

What about darts?

The athletes are very big in darts. The sport itself isn't

Although I guess more people in Holland watch a Barney match than, say, Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

What about darts?

If I look at my own environment, definitely more people watch cycling than darts.

 

[RedheadDane]

I'd say American Football might be more popular. The Tour is bigger than the Super Bowl will ever be, but I haven't met other danes than me who care about the rest of the season.

Well... I haven't met many people who care about American Football...




Anyway: Back on topic:

The Norman-Garmin stuff was (not surprisingly) true.

 

[Beech Mtn]

I have nothing against Pacheco, he's a pretty reasonable guy and deserved better than to be dumped unceremoniously to the amateur ranks in 2011, but I'm not so sure 5th place in a couple of stages back in 2009 really counts as "great results in the Vuelta". It's also unfair on him the hype campaign as it implies a guy like Plaza or Jiménez. Pacheco will probably do better on the calendar CWO get to do, mind, and I'd be surprised if Plaza jumped ship from a WT team that he's spent his career bouncing back and forth from mid-season when he's just started accumulating results again (i.e. his market value would be increasing, and mid-season buyouts of WT contracts probably aren't all that cheap for a team like CWO).

To the bold - that's totally par for the course with the Hembo hype machine. They massively oversell their new signings. Wish they'd hire somebody like Levi. I'd love to see how they would spin that. And bonus-> it would be yet another bald doper for the team

 

[Fus087]

I have nothing against Pacheco, he's a pretty reasonable guy and deserved better than to be dumped unceremoniously to the amateur ranks in 2011, but I'm not so sure 5th place in a couple of stages back in 2009 really counts as "great results in the Vuelta". It's also unfair on him the hype campaign as it implies a guy like Plaza or Jiménez. Pacheco will probably do better on the calendar CWO get to do, mind, and I'd be surprised if Plaza jumped ship from a WT team that he's spent his career bouncing back and forth from mid-season when he's just started accumulating results again (i.e. his market value would be increasing, and mid-season buyouts of WT contracts probably aren't all that cheap for a team like CWO).

Totally agree.
But it's CWO, creating media hype is what they do.
And it appears as if it's the only thing they really care about, too.
I'm not saying they don't care for the riders they employ or the races they do, but for a Continental team with the riders they have attracted they have a very low-level race program.
It just looks as if the team exists first and foremost to create hype in order to stay in the media and sell more watches. They can do with their team whatever they want (it's their money), but I think the advertisement message would work better if it wasn't jumping me in the face. Of course, I'm unlikely to ever buy one of those watches, anyway.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The athletes are very big in darts. The sport itself isn't

Although I guess more people in Holland watch a Barney match than, say, Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Barney? Are you stuck 10 years ago? It's all about Mighty Mike nowaday. A Brabant guy who looks like a 'tokkie' (like 90% of all darts players).

 

[The Hitch]

Same for the Netherlands, but behind soccer and ice-skating.

Surely tennis and some motorsports are more well known too?

Over 1 million danes watched the last ascent on a mountainous stage in the Tour 2011 out of a population of 6 million in total.

What about other races?

 

[janraaskalt]

How about staying on topic on transfers here and take you popularity discussion to the cafe?