Re:
Who do Sky have? Henao can only win Flèche, liege is probably too long and hard for him, and Kwiat is kinda overrated.MatParker117 said:
- Mar 13, 2009
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Trek also just announced the signing of Julien Bernard, who rode as a stagiaire with them in Colorado and Utah.
Guercilena's signings are all over the place. I think he suffers a bit from a quite limited budget, 75% of which is eaten up by Cancellara and Mollema. The last two years his team has been a mix of has-beens that he probably signed for pretty cheap, hoping they would show sparks of former glory or at least bring in their experience; young prospects who never quite delivered; and completely random signings that can only be explained by the rider's nationality or personal connections, like Coledan.
In the end it seems none of the talented riders quite reached their potential at Trek, Jungels and Felline certainly were the best, but Van Poppel, Stuyven, Zoidl and Silvestre all remained under their possibilities. Someone mentioned Jungels getting a better program at Etixx, that must certainly be true. Trek competes in very few races outside of the WT calendar, probably also due to limited budget. In almost all races it looks like Trek riders are going backwards compared to their competition. When the whole team shockingly underperformed at the Ardennes, Jungels already said that the preparation program had to be questioned. I think whatever he decides to do at Etixx, or what they want him to do, he will improve if only because he will have a much more interesting program.
On the other hand now with the riders that they're adding, Trek should at least be decently competitive at 2 GT's and a fair amount of other stage races, barring injury, and not send ridiculously weak teams anymore like in the past. They had a very large amount of neo-pros the last two years, which is laudible, but unfortunately also made them very weak.
With so many riders coming in, it means a lot must be leaving also: Steegmans (retired) and Jungels (big loss) are confirmed, Van Poppels (big loss) are rumoured, other ones that I could imagine are Silvestre and Watson (showed no promise and aren't italian), Roulston (barely raced this year, wtf), Vandewalle...
But I also agree with a previous poster who said that Guercilena is racking up the 2nd and 3rd tier GC riders, hoping that together they will make one 1st tier one, when realistically he can expect one or two decent results from the lot of them
Guercilena's signings are all over the place. I think he suffers a bit from a quite limited budget, 75% of which is eaten up by Cancellara and Mollema. The last two years his team has been a mix of has-beens that he probably signed for pretty cheap, hoping they would show sparks of former glory or at least bring in their experience; young prospects who never quite delivered; and completely random signings that can only be explained by the rider's nationality or personal connections, like Coledan.
In the end it seems none of the talented riders quite reached their potential at Trek, Jungels and Felline certainly were the best, but Van Poppel, Stuyven, Zoidl and Silvestre all remained under their possibilities. Someone mentioned Jungels getting a better program at Etixx, that must certainly be true. Trek competes in very few races outside of the WT calendar, probably also due to limited budget. In almost all races it looks like Trek riders are going backwards compared to their competition. When the whole team shockingly underperformed at the Ardennes, Jungels already said that the preparation program had to be questioned. I think whatever he decides to do at Etixx, or what they want him to do, he will improve if only because he will have a much more interesting program.
On the other hand now with the riders that they're adding, Trek should at least be decently competitive at 2 GT's and a fair amount of other stage races, barring injury, and not send ridiculously weak teams anymore like in the past. They had a very large amount of neo-pros the last two years, which is laudible, but unfortunately also made them very weak.
With so many riders coming in, it means a lot must be leaving also: Steegmans (retired) and Jungels (big loss) are confirmed, Van Poppels (big loss) are rumoured, other ones that I could imagine are Silvestre and Watson (showed no promise and aren't italian), Roulston (barely raced this year, wtf), Vandewalle...
But I also agree with a previous poster who said that Guercilena is racking up the 2nd and 3rd tier GC riders, hoping that together they will make one 1st tier one, when realistically he can expect one or two decent results from the lot of them
- Apr 19, 2011
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Christian said:
Exactly. I have always wondered why Trek did not add more (North) American riders. There are plenty of quality guys that would WT for cheap. Trek needs all the US attention they can get.
Christian-
I agree that the programs should be called into question, as very few riders looked prepared this year. Arredondo seemed out of sorts, and Zoidl had a very trying year. I am perplexed by Luca saying Jungles had a bad year, I thought he along with DVP were Trek's most productive riders. Losing the VP's and Jungles is a HUGE loss. That is serious talent you are letting walk away. Instead of questioning the riders, how about some of the coaches and DS's. If I remember, isn't one of their main coaches a guy who came from Euskatel, and were they not notorious for having awful planning and coaching (was mentioned on here a while ago)?
On another note, I am happy with the new signings as I said before, and grabbing Bernard is exciting. I agree that they will be much more competitive in stage races. I also agree that being an American team, they should "Americanize" a bit more.
I agree that the programs should be called into question, as very few riders looked prepared this year. Arredondo seemed out of sorts, and Zoidl had a very trying year. I am perplexed by Luca saying Jungles had a bad year, I thought he along with DVP were Trek's most productive riders. Losing the VP's and Jungles is a HUGE loss. That is serious talent you are letting walk away. Instead of questioning the riders, how about some of the coaches and DS's. If I remember, isn't one of their main coaches a guy who came from Euskatel, and were they not notorious for having awful planning and coaching (was mentioned on here a while ago)?
On another note, I am happy with the new signings as I said before, and grabbing Bernard is exciting. I agree that they will be much more competitive in stage races. I also agree that being an American team, they should "Americanize" a bit more.
Re: Re:
Your point being? The only reason Trek is registered as an 'American team' is because the sponsor is American, but apart from that they have no American roots. They're an international team and - unlike teams like FDJ, Lotto BE and NL - don't have the philosophy of building a team around riders of a certain nationality.
TMP402 said:Der Effe said:TMP402 said:
Thinking a team that is registered in the US must also have a certain amont of American riders, now that is ridiculous
Name a WT team with fewer riders from the country they're registered in.
(You can't. Next fewest is Tinkoff with four, and they will be increasing the number of Russians next year.)
Your point being? The only reason Trek is registered as an 'American team' is because the sponsor is American, but apart from that they have no American roots. They're an international team and - unlike teams like FDJ, Lotto BE and NL - don't have the philosophy of building a team around riders of a certain nationality.
- Feb 20, 2010
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Re: Re:
Ey? Trek are formed from the merging of Leopard (Luxembourgish but with no real fixed national identity) and Radioshack (very much an American team). Trek are from the Radioshack side of the operation (Leopard rode Specialized, right?) so they very much have American roots. They were the team formed for Lance around comeback 2.0 when they split off from Astana, and for whom their biggest success was a GT win by Chris Horner, the guy whose opinion of you changes depending on whether you're American or not.Der Effe said:TMP402 said:Der Effe said:TMP402 said:
Thinking a team that is registered in the US must also have a certain amont of American riders, now that is ridiculous
Name a WT team with fewer riders from the country they're registered in.
(You can't. Next fewest is Tinkoff with four, and they will be increasing the number of Russians next year.)
Your point being? The only reason Trek is registered as an 'American team' is because the sponsor is American, but apart from that they have no American roots. They're an international team and - unlike teams like FDJ, Lotto BE and NL - don't have the philosophy of building a team around riders of a certain nationality.
- Mar 13, 2015
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Re: Re:
If Cannondale could sponsor an Italian team, then Trek didn't have to change from Luxembourg registration, but they chose to, and are not currently backing that up with American riders on their team. That is the point. You're the only one expressing opposition here.
Der Effe said:TMP402 said:Der Effe said:TMP402 said:
Thinking a team that is registered in the US must also have a certain amont of American riders, now that is ridiculous
Name a WT team with fewer riders from the country they're registered in.
(You can't. Next fewest is Tinkoff with four, and they will be increasing the number of Russians next year.)
Your point being? The only reason Trek is registered as an 'American team' is because the sponsor is American, but apart from that they have no American roots. They're an international team and - unlike teams like FDJ, Lotto BE and NL - don't have the philosophy of building a team around riders of a certain nationality.
If Cannondale could sponsor an Italian team, then Trek didn't have to change from Luxembourg registration, but they chose to, and are not currently backing that up with American riders on their team. That is the point. You're the only one expressing opposition here.
Re:
Interesting. He was rumoured to Cannondale already last year IIRC but it didn't happen. Will add some much needed depth in flattish races for them.Lexman said:
Re: Re:
When Trek purchased Leopard SA---the company owning the WT-license---they said that "[t]he riders' nationalities represent our major markets and become an army of ambassadors at events all over the world." They have no ambition to have an "American" team.TMP402 said:
- Mar 13, 2009
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Re: Re:
Libertine - either you are being ironic (in which case I apologize for not getting the joke!) or your encyclopedia-like knowledge of who sponsored the socks of obscure third-division teams from the eighties has failed you! Did you really forget that the full name of the Leopard team was LEOPARD TREK (in all caps, and pronounced LAY-O-PARD TREK)? Trek was the main sponsor of Leopard besides that sleezbag Becca.
Trek Factory Racing did set out to be an international team, like janraaskalt correctly quoted. On the other hand, the US races are clearly a priority for the sponsor, since they roll out their entire PR-machinery for those races. "The Jensie" celebrated the end of his career in Colorado and Utah, and Tour of Alberta is one of the very few non-WT races that Trek enters. Unfortunately, the team sadly underperformed as usual in those races, and to top it off their one US rider Matty Bouché (who did Trek a huge solid by winning the US nats) was injured.
So Trek Factory Racing is undoubtedly an international team, but which at the same time puts a certain importance on the American market. That was probably also the reason for Busche's participation at last year's Tour de France (not to diminish his sportive merits). So the fact that the team was virtually invisible in the US races this year, plus their one US rider being injured for a big part of the season, must have displeased the sponsor, and is likely one of a few reasons behind the signings of Hesjedal and Stetina. Let's not forget that last year Trek also wanted to sign Dombrowski, but fell short, so they ended up going with Mollema.
So I'd say that they are "americanizing" the team a little bit in order to be a little more present during the American races, while still keeping an international identity.
Libertine Seguros said:
Libertine - either you are being ironic (in which case I apologize for not getting the joke!) or your encyclopedia-like knowledge of who sponsored the socks of obscure third-division teams from the eighties has failed you! Did you really forget that the full name of the Leopard team was LEOPARD TREK (in all caps, and pronounced LAY-O-PARD TREK)? Trek was the main sponsor of Leopard besides that sleezbag Becca.
Trek Factory Racing did set out to be an international team, like janraaskalt correctly quoted. On the other hand, the US races are clearly a priority for the sponsor, since they roll out their entire PR-machinery for those races. "The Jensie" celebrated the end of his career in Colorado and Utah, and Tour of Alberta is one of the very few non-WT races that Trek enters. Unfortunately, the team sadly underperformed as usual in those races, and to top it off their one US rider Matty Bouché (who did Trek a huge solid by winning the US nats) was injured.
So Trek Factory Racing is undoubtedly an international team, but which at the same time puts a certain importance on the American market. That was probably also the reason for Busche's participation at last year's Tour de France (not to diminish his sportive merits). So the fact that the team was virtually invisible in the US races this year, plus their one US rider being injured for a big part of the season, must have displeased the sponsor, and is likely one of a few reasons behind the signings of Hesjedal and Stetina. Let's not forget that last year Trek also wanted to sign Dombrowski, but fell short, so they ended up going with Mollema.
So I'd say that they are "americanizing" the team a little bit in order to be a little more present during the American races, while still keeping an international identity.
Re: Re:
sorry Libertine, I had to laugh
maybe Libertine is either joking, or remembered the Schlecks riding Specialized in 2010 with Saxo, and in her mind she kept them on Specialized in 2011 too (instead of Trek)
the 2 teams (RadioShack and Leopard merged thanks to Trek who sponsored both teams)
Christian said:
sorry Libertine, I had to laugh
maybe Libertine is either joking, or remembered the Schlecks riding Specialized in 2010 with Saxo, and in her mind she kept them on Specialized in 2011 too (instead of Trek)
the 2 teams (RadioShack and Leopard merged thanks to Trek who sponsored both teams)
Re: Re:
Well, they are a team more focused on GC I think, and he will probably be better supported. This year's Giro, his support was basically non-existent. Still, I think the different focus is most important.DBotero said:Vasilis said:
I'm not too thrilled about it.I don't see how this will be an improvement over Etixx
I'm glad that Cannondale has been able to replace Martin and Hesjedal with riders Uran and Rolland. That's better than I expected.
Any rumours on Rasmus Guldhammer? Had a great season so far and surely has the potential to be a successful WT-rider.
Re: Re:
It's not bad. Martin is clearly the most likely of the four to win a really big race, but they are all good even if Hesjedal is getting on a bit. I think Anderis's point was less that C-G are making some kind of step forward and more that they've done pretty well to sign Rolland and Uran in a year when very few top climbers are available. Losing Martin and Hesjedal would have been an absolute disaster otherwise.
Inquitus said:
It's not bad. Martin is clearly the most likely of the four to win a really big race, but they are all good even if Hesjedal is getting on a bit. I think Anderis's point was less that C-G are making some kind of step forward and more that they've done pretty well to sign Rolland and Uran in a year when very few top climbers are available. Losing Martin and Hesjedal would have been an absolute disaster otherwise.
Re: Re:
They have more in the way of climbing domestiques and they won't make him an afterthought to sprinters or stage hunters.
DBotero said:Vasilis said:
I'm not too thrilled about it.I don't see how this will be an improvement over Etixx
They have more in the way of climbing domestiques and they won't make him an afterthought to sprinters or stage hunters.
- Aug 4, 2010
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Re: Re:
,its Vaughters
Yep,but its GarminZinoviev Letter said:DBotero said:Vasilis said:
I'm not too thrilled about it.I don't see how this will be an improvement over Etixx
They have more in the way of climbing domestiques and they won't make him an afterthought to sprinters or stage hunters.
,its Vaughters Re:
But I'm pretty sure he'll be offered a new deal by CULT Stölting - and will take it.
He's had bad experiences by going to too big a team too early, and now he's one of the leaders at a PCT - why risk that for a bigger team where he'll only be "one of many"?
Haven't heard anything.rekhyt said:
But I'm pretty sure he'll be offered a new deal by CULT Stölting - and will take it.
He's had bad experiences by going to too big a team too early, and now he's one of the leaders at a PCT - why risk that for a bigger team where he'll only be "one of many"?
- Sep 28, 2010
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