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Teams & Riders The Great Big Cycling Transfers and Rumours Thread

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Last year he still finished 14th at the Tour with a totally improvised preparation after rushing back after the surgery, so he should still have something left in the tank.
When he had his meltdown at the Tour this year he also had some family stuff going on (his Grandfather was rushed to the hospital and died 2(?) days after Aru's DNF, apparently they were really close).
He was also good in the Ventoux race and in the prep races before Lombardia. He also raced too much wen he was in really bad shape during the last few years, so it wouldn't surprise me if that was also a factor.
 
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Last year he still finished 14th at the Tour with a totally improvised preparation after rushing back after the surgery, so he should still have something left in the tank.
When he had his meltdown at the Tour this year he also had some family stuff going on (his Grandfather was rushed to the hospital and died 2(?) days after Aru's DNF, apparently they were really close).
He was also good in the Ventoux race and in the prep races before Lombardia. He also raced too much wen he was in really bad shape during the last few years, so it wouldn't surprise me if that was also a factor.

Doing Tour de Suisse, Tour de France and Vuelta after just coming back from that surgery was a really, really dumb move.
 
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Doing Tour de Suisse, Tour de France and Vuelta after just coming back from that surgery was a really, really dumb move.
Yes, it would have been one thing if he raced the Tour like Nibali, but he tried to hang on on every single stage.
Or the 2018 season, when he had the meltdown at the Giro, cracked at the Vuelta and then they still had him ride the Italian autmn races and the Tour of Guanxi.
Or 2017, when he peaked a bit too early and faded towards the end of the Tour (with no team to support him) and Astana still send him to the Vuelta and to the Italian autumn classics.
You get the picture...
 
Yes, it would have been one thing if he raced the Tour like Nibali, but he tried to hang on on every single stage.
Or the 2018 season, when he had the meltdown at the Giro, cracked at the Vuelta and then they still had him ride the Italian autmn races and the Tour of Guanxi.
Or 2017, when he peaked a bit too early and faded towards the end of the Tour (with no team to support him) and Astana still send him to the Vuelta and to the Italian autumn classics.
You get the picture...

yes, it's never his fault, the way you frame it

even when he fails at the first GT of the year that he does, it's still the team's fault
 
apparently after epidemiology you are also an expert on orthopedics

strange that such a renaissance man like you is not held to even greater esteem

I fail to get this point. Everyone and their mother could see that Andy Schleck didn't enjoy racing after 2011 and never managed to get back into shape, most probably due to a lack of motivation.

Then he had a crash in the 2014 Tour, and very quickly he announced that it was career-ending (but he had managed to finish the stage of the crash).

How many other career-ending crashes have we seen like that for a rider younger than 30? I think Valverde's crash in 2017 (at the age of 37) was significantly heavier than Schleck's but he wanted to get back, Schleck didn't.

I can't feel how Schleck felt with his knee but him getting an excuse to get out of the sport perfectly fits the pattern of his last couple of years of activity. And why would it be career-ending in and of itself? Injuries can heel. It wasn't like he got his leg amputated.
 
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yes, it's never his fault, the way you frame it

even when he fails at the first GT of the year that he does, it's still the team's fault
Of course it's also his fault, he was the one who insisted with riding the Tour last year, he was the one who was hanging on for a top 15 instead of using it as a prep race for the Vuelta, so don't get me wrong. Aru is a hothead who has made more than enough mistakes himself, but I don't think that he's totally finished (even if his recovery seems to be getting worse and worse).
I have little faith in Qhuebeka of all teams getting him back on track, but we'll see...
 
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Do we actually have a source for that? Last thing I read, it was 50/50.

Nope, nothing official.
Actually just read La Guia del Ciclismo saying that Lopez to Movistar is at best 50/50.

For Lopez, it’s Movistar in 2021.

There is nothing official. Unzue confirmed they were talking to Lopez, but there have been no announcements.
 
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No source, but it’s a done deal i confirm it.

If it was done it would have already been announced. As of TODAY the reports are it's 50/50. You have to provide a source to confirm what you are claiming.

From the publication mentioned above.

En cuanto a las incorporaciones, habló de los hermanos Mora, de ciclismo en pista: “En ciertos momentos somos un equipo insignia del país y los dos muchachos podrían subir al podio en Tokio, como Sebastián ganó la carrera europea por puntos”. Y culminó su entrevista hablando de la posibilidad de contar con Miguel Ángel López para el 2021: “Hombre , ¿qué preguntas me estás haciendo? No te puedo contestar. Puedo decir que estamos muy interesados y que seguimos con mucha atención su recuperación de la caída del Giro. Algo se sabrá dentro de una semana. Pero si tuviera que darle un porcentaje, me quedaría con 50 que vendrán y 50 que no”.

As for the incorporations, he spoke of the Mora brothers, track cycling: "At certain times we are a flagship team in the country and the two boys could get on the podium in Tokyo, as Sebastian won the European race on points." And he ended his interview by talking about the possibility of having Miguel Ángel López for 2021: “Man, what questions are you asking me? I can not answer you. I can say that we are very interested and that we are closely following his recovery from the crash of the Giro. Something will be known in a week. But if I had to give you a percentage, I'd be left with 50 that will come and 50 that won't ”.
 
Astana re-signings for 2021
Boaro
Contreras
Gregaard
Martinelli
Gorka
Ion
Lulu

confirmed from their website
Is there any reason besides nepotism to keep Davide Martinelli around?
Don't get me wrong, he did a good job at Quickstep and is a capable leadout man/member of a sprint train, but on a team like Astana that doesn't really have a sprinter he isn't super useful.
 
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Is there any reason besides nepotism to keep Davide Martinelli around?
Don't get me wrong, he did a good job at Quickstep and is a capable leadout man/member of a sprint train, but on a team like Astana that doesn't really have a sprinter he isn't super useful.
Well they do need to have someone in the spring classics. So he will probably ride almost evverything from Het Nieuwsblad to Paris-Roubaix if we have a normal calendar next year.
 
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