- May 15, 2011
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Damn, Sky steals "our" automatic annual Spanish ITT Championship 
Sad to see him go, one of the better Time Trialists though he never quite won the big ones.
As a mountain dom he'll be adequately replaced, in the rouleur section he'll leave a bigger hole.
Sad to see him go, one of the better Time Trialists though he never quite won the big ones.
As a mountain dom he'll be adequately replaced, in the rouleur section he'll leave a bigger hole.
Dunbar going to Aquablue is a very big signing for the team. On the face of it, it should be an obvious move: the best Irish espoir going to the only Irish pro team. But Dunbar, like the other top tier espoirs, will presumably have had a large number of offers to pick from, so it's not quite as obvious a move as all that. It would be very surprising if there weren't significantly bigger teams interested.
I'm guessing that he thinks he is better off moving up to PCT and being able to ride for himself on a team that gets an excellent calendar than signing for a WT team at 20 years old and going straight to the bottom end of the team's pecking order. A lot of promising kids have done the latter and barely been seen again.
There is also the possibility that Aquablue are paying him above market value. An Irish leader would be very useful for them in pr terms, and Dunbar is from the same county the team is based in and the owner is from. So it wouldn't be surprising if they wanted him a bit more than teams that want him purely on the basis of his results.
(I note that the announcement says he'll be riding there next year, but doesn't mention 2019. Ordinarily as a neopro, you would expect a 2 year contract. This leads me to suspect that the team is only formally guaranteed financing as far as the UCI are concerned for one more year, regardless of the owner saying in interviews that he'll back it for four years at least. Is that how it works with neopro contracts?)
I'm guessing that he thinks he is better off moving up to PCT and being able to ride for himself on a team that gets an excellent calendar than signing for a WT team at 20 years old and going straight to the bottom end of the team's pecking order. A lot of promising kids have done the latter and barely been seen again.
There is also the possibility that Aquablue are paying him above market value. An Irish leader would be very useful for them in pr terms, and Dunbar is from the same county the team is based in and the owner is from. So it wouldn't be surprising if they wanted him a bit more than teams that want him purely on the basis of his results.
(I note that the announcement says he'll be riding there next year, but doesn't mention 2019. Ordinarily as a neopro, you would expect a 2 year contract. This leads me to suspect that the team is only formally guaranteed financing as far as the UCI are concerned for one more year, regardless of the owner saying in interviews that he'll back it for four years at least. Is that how it works with neopro contracts?)
Re:
Presumably that's mandated by their budget. If you want to have two top established top tier leaders and a third one rapidly moving towards that status, you'd better have a super budget or you can't support them adequately.
hrotha said:
Presumably that's mandated by their budget. If you want to have two top established top tier leaders and a third one rapidly moving towards that status, you'd better have a super budget or you can't support them adequately.
- Feb 20, 2010
- 33,064
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The other issue with Movistar is that pretty much everybody they've been linked to, from the espoirs (Samitier, Castrillo) to the bigger stars (Landa) and everyone in between (Rosón, Narváez, Sepúlveda, Kudus), is an escalador. Most of their most promising younger riders already on the roster are also climbers of different types (Carapaz, Soler). And apart from the Quintana rumours which seem to be going quiet again, everybody who's rumoured to leave or is leaving (Gorka, Castroviejo, Dowsett, Malori) is a bigger engine. The remaining rouleurs are mostly old - Erviti will be 34 next season, Sutherland 36, Bennati 37. They either have a lot of faith in Oliveira and Sütterlin, or they're going to find themselves very stretched to defend their climbers next year, and all-rounders like Amador, Sepúlveda and Jesús Herrada are going to find themselves having to do far too much on the flat to be much use on the hills unless Arcas and Pedrero really step up their game. There's only so many races Rojas can do.
Away from the friars, Peter Kennaugh signing for Sagan's team fits perfectly.
Away from the friars, Peter Kennaugh signing for Sagan's team fits perfectly.
- Jun 27, 2013
- 5,217
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Re:
Of all the insults you've thrown at Sagan's personality over the years, this is the one that went too far.
I joke of course, but I see what you're implying.
Libertine Seguros said:
Of all the insults you've thrown at Sagan's personality over the years, this is the one that went too far.
I joke of course, but I see what you're implying.
Does anyone here know something about Silvan Dillier's furture? He was very disappointed with BMC after not being nominated for the Tour de Suisse despite winning a stage at the Giro (although he kind of used that disappointment to succes in RdS). His contract with the team ends after the season.
Which teams would be a possibility? Katusha? Bora? (Just wild speculation in this case, so no source for that.)
Which teams would be a possibility? Katusha? Bora? (Just wild speculation in this case, so no source for that.)
- Jul 27, 2009
- 6,610
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- Jun 27, 2013
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- Jan 15, 2013
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Re: Re:
Great news:
He's only 20 though! And already RVV U23 champion. Seems like people I know have been complaining about him turning up as a junior in their A3 races and killing everyone for decades.
Zinoviev Letter said:
Great news:
- A step up (Conti to Pro Conti) but not too big a step up
- Irish young hope to new Irish team
- Aggressive racing guy to aggressive racing team, who will let him off the leash and encourage his 50+km attacks
- Will presumably still have a free role and not be tied down in a train etc
He's only 20 though! And already RVV U23 champion. Seems like people I know have been complaining about him turning up as a junior in their A3 races and killing everyone for decades.
With Oss gone BMC can't afford to lose a rejuvinated Dillier (hope focus on track was merely down to Olympics) if they want to hold on to GvA
Re: Re:
Wonder if thats the inspiration. Froome, Kwiatkowski, Thomas, Castroviejo, Moscon, Kiryienka, Stannard, (insert climber) :lol:
That would be a massacre. 1m 30s on a 35km TTT, that's already 30s more of a gap than Froome needs to win the Tour...
JRanton said:
Wonder if thats the inspiration. Froome, Kwiatkowski, Thomas, Castroviejo, Moscon, Kiryienka, Stannard, (insert climber) :lol:
That would be a massacre. 1m 30s on a 35km TTT, that's already 30s more of a gap than Froome needs to win the Tour...
laarsland said:
From BMC's perspective they should definitely try to hold him but after his recent results I'm sure he has the choice not to stay if he doesn't want to. And the team not sending him to one of his main goals of the season surely does not in their favour. But maybe that's all long forgotten after Route du Sud, who knows...
Anyway, Movistar, as suggested by some, would certainly make sense for both sides.
Re: Re:
BMC would be able to challenge with Porte, Dennis, TJVG (if he decides to be of service, otherwise Roche), Caruso, GVA, Schar, Kung, Dillier.JRanton said:
Sestriere said:
From the perspective of us wanting GTs to be more even - yes.
From a logical standpoint - no. The team is more or less all Latin, only the odd central European present due to sponsorship duties. No viable support in cobbled classics, team (currently) not present in the invitation-based classics with slightly lesser fields where Dillier could exceL, Valverde top dog for any puncheur finish he likes etc. I think he'll stay, if not FDJ would be a much better destination given opposite situation on most reasons listed above.
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