Transfers and Rumours 2013 > 2014

[al_pacino]

He will never win them though. He is a stage winner not a GC winner.

It seems he's won a grand total of two stages(in GTs mind) so that's not really true.

The chance to lead in the Spanish races mentioned previously plus a decent role at the Vuelta wouldn't leave him far behind where he was at Euskaltel.

 

[maltiv]

If the rumours about Euskatels poor training methods are true he should become much stronger with sky.

Or, more likely, just overtrained...

 

[CycloAndy]

2011: Epic giro stage win, Pais Vasco stage win, Route du Sud GC

Not much different to this year, which combined with the lack of stage wins last year shows Sky haven't stifled his personal ambitions (which was the accusation made).

 

[LaFlorecita]

sorry dude, if the route is good next year then we could have something special though, i expect everybody to target the tour next year in an attempt to topple froome

I say screw the Tour and ride Il Giro and let sky rot at the Tour! Make Il Giro the most prestigious GT! The Tour is overrated anyway

I am completely serious. No one but Quintana has a real chance to beat Froome.

 

[LaFlorecita]

It seems he's won a grand total of two stages(in GTs mind) so that's not really true.

The chance to lead in the Spanish races mentioned previously plus a decent role at the Vuelta wouldn't leave him far behind where he was at Euskaltel.

What I mean is that he isn't good enough to challenge in high profile stage races. He is good enough to win mountain stages. But then again he will probably turn into a world beater at sky.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Not much different to this year, which combined with the lack of stage wins last year shows Sky haven't stifled his personal ambitions (which was the accusation made).

The accusation made was that Kiryienka wasn't very successful this year.

 

[CycloAndy]

I say screw the Tour and ride Il Giro and let sky rot at the Tour! Make Il Giro the most prestigious GT! The Tour is overrated anyway

I am completely serious. No one but Quintana has a real chance to beat Froome.

Yeah lets only value races where your preferred riders win!

 

[CycloAndy]

The accusation made was that Kiryienka wasn't very successful this year.

Which was refuted (at least in the context of previous years). A GT stage win, plus being a beast of a domestique, is pretty much all he could hope for on any team. The route du sud victory he dreams of will have to wait

 

[LaFlorecita]

Yeah lets only value races where your preferred riders win!

How in the world did you manage to interpret my post that way

 

[Afrank]

I say screw the Tour and ride Il Giro and let sky rot at the Tour! Make Il Giro the most prestigious GT! The Tour is overrated anyway

I am completely serious. No one but Quintana has a real chance to beat Froome.

+1, every real cycling fan knows the Tour sucks, the Giro's where it's at.

 

[icefire]

Which was refuted (at least in the context of previous years). A GT stage win, plus being a beast of a domestique, is pretty much all he could hope for on any team. The route du sud victory he dreams of will have to wait

Yep, finishing a stage out of the time limit after nobody wanted to give him a bottle is all he could hope

 

[Arredondo]

Thanks a lot for the info! Looks like it will be a pretty strong ProConti team!

Definitely, will be stronger than the old Accent-Jobs.Wanty and similar to the current Vacansoleil team. They target to be with the best 5 teams on the Procontinental level.

They really want invitations for the big Belgium classics and they targetting one GT (would be too early it think though)

 

[Beech Mtn]

Definitely, will be stronger than the old Accent-Jobs.Wanty and similar to the current Vacansoleil team. They target to be with the best 5 teams on the Procontinental level.

They really want invitations for the big Belgium classics and they targetting one GT (would be too early it think though)

Not necessarily. GT wild cards should be easier to come by next year, as we'll likely be down one WT team, so there should be a little more wiggle room for race organizers.

Side note - with so many teams folding, hopefully the ProConti ranks will be stronger next year. PC teams ought to be able to pick up some quality guys, yes?

edit-
Speaking of strong PC teams who might get wild cards, Cyclingfever says Arroyo has extended with Caja Rural.

 

[Arredondo]

Not necessarily. GT wild cards should be easier to come by next year, as we'll likely be down one WT team, so there should be a little more wiggle room for race organizers.

Side note - with so many teams folding, hopefully the ProConti ranks will be stronger next year. PC teams ought to be able to pick up some quality guys, yes?

edit-
Speaking of strong PC teams who might get wild cards, Cyclingfever says Arroyo has extended with Caja Rural.

Perhaps the Vuelta is a possibility. The Giro is not in reach i think with Proconti teams like NetApp, Colombia, Vino-Nippo, Androni, Bardiani and perhaps a Ceramica Flaminia.

Tour will be extremely difficult, if you look at the french squads Cofidis, Europcar and IAM who are 100% sure. Then you have Colombia, NetApp, La Pomme, Bretagne...

Perhaps the Vuelta is possible, if we take into account that Caja-Rural, NetApp, Colombia and Cofidis will get wildcards.

 

[Anderis]

I've found a stange thing here:

King, who signed with the Garmin team prior to the finish of the USA Pro Challenge in August, is one part of a major facelift at Garmin. Other new signees include Phil Gaimon, George Bennett, and neo-pro Nathan Brown. Additional signings are expected to be announced soon from the Boulder,

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/09/news/garmin-confirms-ben-king-signing-for-2014_302574

I've never seen it in any other source (Bennett to Garmin). Is it true or is it some kind of a mistake in this article?

 

[Lexman]

Hilaire van der Schueren managed to form a new team. Wanty, co-sponsor of Accent-Jobs Wanty, is going to become the main sponsor of a new Procontinentel squad. The co-sponsor isn't announced yet.

Riders who are going to ride with the new team are Leukemans, Drucker, Selvaggi, and most likely Flecha (who makes clear to Hilaire that he really wants to ride one year with his new team).

He is under negotiation with Feillu, Marczynski, Hoogerland, and really wants to hold Mol, Wesley kreder, Lindeman and Lammertink. Van Hummel had a verbal agreement with team Alonso, but there is a chance he's going to join the team also.

De Gendt (too expensive) and Marcato (Cannondale) are not going to join the new squad.

http://nos.nl/artikel/557397-nieuwe-ploeg-redt-deel-vacansoleil.html

this is some very good news, might keep Flecha in the peoloton...

all hail to Hilaire!!!

 

[Christian]

I've found a stange thing here:



http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/09/news/garmin-confirms-ben-king-signing-for-2014_302574

I've never seen it in any other source (Bennett to Garmin). Is it true or is it some kind of a mistake in this article?

I've not seen this anywhere else either. It was confirmed a while ago that he would join a WorldTour team, it was rumoured that it would be GreenEdge but I don't know if there was any truth to that or if people just assumed that because he is from New Zealand

 

[Libertine Seguros]

sorry dude, if the route is good next year then we could have something special though, i expect everybody to target the tour next year in an attempt to topple froome

It's the Tour. You're hallucinating. The route will be a predictable piece of crap with double Tourmalet and at least one 'high mountain stage' with over 50km after the final mountaintop, they'll not unveil one new climb or gimmick, and everybody will ride around like gormless idiots letting the Froome train roll down the tracks for fear of endangering their ambitions of 9th place.

Nieve to Sky is one of the worst transfers I could possibly have envisaged. They won't be satisfied until they've taken all of the characteristics that give the sport it's je ne sais quoi and turned them into soulless, characterless tempo riders staring at their power meters in the service of a joke that isn't funny anymore. It's the equivalent of when they brought the fuel stops back in Formula 1, and it turned years of exciting battles between duelling personalities into a bunch of characterless automatons driving like robots with the guys looking at the telemetry and deciding the optimal pit stop lap being the ones that won the race.

I've come to the realisation that I'm watching the sport with cycling's equivalent of Battered Wife Syndrome.

 

[LaFlorecita]

It's the Tour. You're hallucinating. The route will be a predictable piece of crap with double Tourmalet and at least one 'high mountain stage' with over 50km after the final mountaintop, they'll not unveil one new climb or gimmick, and everybody will ride around like gormless idiots letting the Froome train roll down the tracks for fear of endangering their ambitions of 9th place.

Nieve to Sky is one of the worst transfers I could possibly have envisaged. They won't be satisfied until they've taken all of the characteristics that give the sport it's je ne sais quoi and turned them into soulless, characterless tempo riders staring at their power meters in the service of a joke that isn't funny anymore. It's the equivalent of when they brought the fuel stops back in Formula 1, and it turned years of exciting battles between duelling personalities into a bunch of characterless automatons driving like robots with the guys looking at the telemetry and deciding the optimal pit stop lap being the ones that won the race.

I've come to the realisation that I'm watching the sport with cycling's equivalent of Battered Wife Syndrome.

+1000 Amen. You just perfectly described my feelings

 

[theyoungest]

It's the Tour. You're hallucinating. The route will be a predictable piece of crap with double Tourmalet and at least one 'high mountain stage' with over 50km after the final mountaintop, they'll not unveil one new climb or gimmick, and everybody will ride around like gormless idiots letting the Froome train roll down the tracks for fear of endangering their ambitions of 9th place.

Nieve to Sky is one of the worst transfers I could possibly have envisaged. They won't be satisfied until they've taken all of the characteristics that give the sport it's je ne sais quoi and turned them into soulless, characterless tempo riders staring at their power meters in the service of a joke that isn't funny anymore. It's the equivalent of when they brought the fuel stops back in Formula 1, and it turned years of exciting battles between duelling personalities into a bunch of characterless automatons driving like robots with the guys looking at the telemetry and deciding the optimal pit stop lap being the ones that won the race.

I've come to the realisation that I'm watching the sport with cycling's equivalent of Battered Wife Syndrome.

I think you rather have the Disappointment In Advance Syndrome. No matter what course they come up with, you think it will suck anyway. This year we had Froome (the yellow jersey) isolated for almost an entire stage, and dropped in an echelon in another. What Froome train? What gormless idiots?

And what exactly is the je ne sais quoi that Euskaltel in its latest incarnation contributed to cycling? For the life of me, I can't remember a single thing they've done this year. And that includes Nieve.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I think you rather have the Disappointment In Advance Syndrome. No matter what course they come up with, you think it will suck anyway. This year we had Froome (the yellow jersey) isolated for almost an entire stage, and dropped in an echelon in another. What Froome train? What gormless idiots?

Froome got isolated for an entire stage and everyone sat around like gormless idiots not putting any pressure on him. It was a stage that promised much and delivered little. It caused me to break my embargo on watching the Tour. That lasted a day.

 

[pastronef]

Froome got isolated for an entire stage and everyone sat around like gormless idiots not putting any pressure on him. It was a stage that promised much and delivered little. It caused me to break my embargo on watching the Tour. That lasted a day.

wow, it's a strong will force. I wouldn't imagine to do it.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

wow, it's a strong will force. I wouldn't imagine to do it.

This season, I didn't watch Paris-Nice, I didn't watch Tirreno-Adriatico. I think actually the only cycling I watched until the biathlon season was over was Roma Maxima and Milano-Sanremo. I didn't watch Romandie, I even skipped a couple of days of País Vasco (País Vasco!!!!!!). I didn't watch the Dauphiné, and only watched the last 2 days of the Tour de Suisse. I watched one stage of the Tour and one stage of the Vuelta. I watched a few days of California but none of the other North American races. Though this was the best edition of California ever. I did watch as much as I could of the Giro, however.

The smaller races where the big guns don't show up, and the one-day races that have proven harder to win with the control method, have been far more interesting.

 

[pastronef]

This season, I didn't watch Paris-Nice, I didn't watch Tirreno-Adriatico. I think actually the only cycling I watched until the biathlon season was over was Roma Maxima and Milano-Sanremo

you're a biathlon fan?
I was following it when there were Ole Einar, Poiree, Fischer etc.
here in Italy biathlon is not followed very much.
where u from?

I see your point anyway, about exciting racing. But again, I would turn the tv on anyway, and ride early or late to watch tv, and try to have working shifts to allow me watch races. I was at work and got to see the last 500 m of Liege! and I had to keep quiet and not scream !YES! when Dan distanced Purito!

sorry for the offtopic

 

[Libertine Seguros]

you're a biathlon fan?
I was following it when there were Ole Einar, Poiree, Fischer etc.
here in Italy biathlon is not followed very much.
where u from?

I see your point anyway, about exciting racing. But again, I would turn the tv on anyway, and ride early or late to watch tv, and try to have working shifts to allow me watch races. I was at work and got to see the last 500 m of Liege! and I had to keep quiet and not scream !YES! when Dan distanced Purito!

sorry for the offtopic

Maybe that explains why Forni Avoltri just handed back its cards to hold the IBU Cup in the upcoming season - still, Italy has 3 IBU events next season (WC Antholz, IBU Cup Martell & Ridnaun), more than any country bar Germany!

I guess it's a regional thing in Italy though, since most of the top stars are from a fairly small area, with Hofer, Wierer and the Windisch brothers all from Brüneck/Brunico, the Runggaldier family all from Brixen/Bressanone and Ponza from Bozen/Bolzano. De Lorenzi is the only non-Südtiroler out of the main Italian names at present, I guess, and he's from Lombardia. Are there any facilities further south? Only ones outside of Veneto & Trentino I'm aware of are San Sicario from the 2006 Olympics, which is out of use, and Brusson in Aosta.