Transfers "Rumours & Reality" and Young Guns

[Henrik]

Press Conference i Norway now. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Kurt Asle Arvesen and Lars Petter Nordhaug have officially signed for Team SKY.

 

[Anonymous]

Press Conference i Norway now. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Kurt Asle Arvesen and Lars Petter Nordhaug have officially signed for Team SKY.

no surprises there then.. so sky are realeasing country by couintry on a world tour...?

 

[Henrik]

As well as the three Norwegians and the six Briths riders presented yesterday, they also confirmed Løvkvist, Gerrans, Flecha, Carlstrøm, Augustin, Henderson and Possoni as ready for Sky.

 

[Parcours]

Arvesen has confirmed via twitter he will be riding for Team Sky next year.

It seems as though Sky are putting together a very strong team but still miss a leader for the Tour. They look to be strong for the classics with Flecha but I think they miss a main GC guy.

 

[Wergeland]

Arvesen has confirmed via twitter he will be riding for Team Sky next year.

It seems as though Sky are putting together a very strong team but still miss a leader for the Tour. They look to be strong for the classics with Flecha but I think they miss a main GC guy.

I think Boasson Hagen will be a better classics rider than Flecha next year. GC contender? Boasson Hagen could become one if he wants to and Sky pushes him in that direction. He's still young and already a very good tt'er and a decent climber. Work on those climbing skills and he'll be a proper GC contender for the 2011 season.

 

[issoisso]

Oh these norwegians and their unreal expectations for Hagen

You're seriously saying Hagen will be better on the cobbles than Flecha in 2010? I'll remind you that Hagen has done absolutely nothing at all whatsoever so far in cobbled races

He could be a GC contender, yes. Not a top one, but a decent one. If he lost a tremendous amount of weight that would see him have no chance in the classics.

After all, we're talking about the guy who regularly gets dropped by vaunted non-climbers (I'm sure Dekker_Tiffosi will soon be here to remind us of Posthuma summarily dropping him on the easy climbs of the ENECO Tour )

It's like saying Contador could be a good classics rider. Yes, he could. But he wouldn't be a top classics rider and the specialized training required to become so would destroy any stage race aspirations he may have.

 

[Henrik]

Edvald just said Sky will ride for him in the Spring Classics next year, and I'm sure they will ride for Flecha as well. So we will see soon enough, it will sure be exciting to see what he can do.

 

[screaming fist]

I'll remind you that Hagen has done absolutely nothing at all whatsoever so far in cobbled races

So winning Gent-Wevelgem is nothing?

 

[TRDean]

So winning Gent-Wevelgem is nothing?

You took the words out of my mouth!! He will be the protected rider in the classics...period!

 

[screaming fist]

Flecha and him will be co-captains. Going into these races with only one protected rider would be silly.

 

[issoisso]

So winning Gent-Wevelgem is nothing?

Oh brother

Gent-Wevelgem is not a cobbles race. It's a race where you try to utilize the wind properly to avoid a bunch sprint. The cobbles don't decide anything. They don't even soften up the peloton much at all.

It's won by a sprinter, or a good engine on the flat who is smart enough to attack at the right moment. Kuschinsky was just as strong as him and only lost in the sprint. By your flawed logic, Kuschinsky should be leading at team in Roubaix and Flanders.

 

[Bala Verde]

After all, we're talking about the guy who regularly gets dropped by vaunted non-climbers (I'm sure Dekker_Tiffosi will soon be here to remind us of Posthuma summarily dropping him on the easy climbs of the ENECO Tour )

But Posthuma is a great climber! If he could follow him when the road went uphill he's got a bright future ahead

Anyway, Freire was reported to retire, but he is like a flipflopfavre, he hinted at unretiring already before his actual retirement!

Hmmm, misschien toch niet. Ik ben er nog niet zo zeker over. Het zou kunnen, maar mijn besluit staat eigenlijk nog niet definitief vast. Ik begrijp wel dat veel mensen verrast zijn door het nieuws, maar zo stellig heb ik het echt niet bedoeld. Eind 2010 ben ik bijna 35, dan zou het zomaar kunnen, dat ik stop. Maar eigenlijk wil ik helemaal nog niet aan de toekomst denken. Dit seizoen zijn er nog prijzen te verdienen.

He says he is unsure and hasn't made a definite decision yet.

 

[bogard]

Arvesen has confirmed via twitter he will be riding for Team Sky next year.

It seems as though Sky are putting together a very strong team but still miss a leader for the Tour. They look to be strong for the classics with Flecha but I think they miss a main GC guy.

Well, they have Lövkvist! Sunderland thinks he can be a GT podium finisher. And he has shown step by step progression in the GTs year by year. He still hasn´t had a shot at a GT as an absolute leader but still managed to produce some results (White Jersey holder Tour 08, Maglia Rosa Giro 09).

 

[Bala Verde]

Tom Slagter (Ruiter Dakkapellen Team) and Remco Broers (Asito Craft) are said to go to RAB CT

 

[samb01]

Oh these norwegians and their unreal expectations for Hagen

Wrt Boasson for the GTs, it's really Brian Holm who is saying it:
http://www.feltet.dk/index.php?id_parent=1&id=28&id_nyhed=21789

Seems like a long shot, and personally I think a future as a green jersey contender is a lot more likely than pursuit of yellow.

You're seriously saying Hagen will be better on the cobbles than Flecha in 2010? I'll remind you that Hagen has done absolutely nothing at all whatsoever so far in cobbled races

You can count on Flecha being there, just as you can count on him not winning. Currently better? No. Potential to actually close the deal? Absolutely.

 

[craig1985]

As stupid as it may sound, but do people think EBH could do well in the Ardennes Classics?

 

[filipo]

TBF nothing has ever been said about Cummings or Froome. It is like saying Basson was a doper because he rode for Festina.

My point is that there was a lot of talk about how high Brailsford's threshold for hiring riders was. To me it looks like status quo.

I'll add Flecha to that list.

 

[Bala Verde]

As stupid as it may sound, but do people think EBH could do well in the Ardennes Classics?

I think that has been discussed quite extensively already in the "Hagen is really truly, very much, amazingly talented and quite good as well" thread...

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

So winning Gent-Wevelgem is nothing?

Gent-Wevelgem is not Paris-Roubaix. The cobbles in that race total to what... 5kms? Flecha not being at the very least a co-leader at Ronde and P-R would be silly.

 

[Anonymous]

As stupid as it may sound, but do people think EBH could do well in the Ardennes Classics?

As someone else said, discussed at lenght, but personally i think EBH can win just about anything he wants to.. Hes like the B@stard child of Sean Kelly, Fabian Cancellara and Jens Voigt...

Hes the most promising young rider in the world, and the ones who where watching him 3 years ago where saying the same thing then. He has consistenly through his career surprised people time and time again and will carry on doing so.. To be honest, Sky should build the team around him now, in two or three years he will repay them big time..

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

As someone else said, discussed at lenght, but personally i think EBH can win just about anything he wants to.. Hes like the B@stard child of Sean Kelly, Fabian Cancellara and Jens Voigt...

Hes the most promising young rider in the world, and the ones who where watching him 3 years ago where saying the same thing then. He has consistenly through his career surprised people time and time again and will carry on doing so.. To be honest, Sky should build the team around him now, in two or three years he will repay them big time..

Although I agree with just about all of the above, I hope EBH doesn't waste his talent chasing GC in GTs. If he plays to his strengths he will win so much. From Classics (cobbles and hills maybe), week long stage races, many GT stages (along with many leader jerseys im sure) to World championships (maybe in both disciplines on the road...)

 

[samb01]

My point is that there was a lot of talk about how high Brailsford's threshold for hiring riders was. To me it looks like status quo.

How dumb is this? Why even single out Cummings and Froome? Doesn't make any sense. If one were to take your standards seriously, Brailsford would have had to fill his team with neo-pros exclusively.

 

[Wergeland]

Oh these norwegians and their unreal expectations for Hagen

Maybe, but two days ago Columbia DS Brian Holm said this:
"Boasson Hagen is unique, even among the greatest. He can pull watts like noone has seen before and with that power, he only has to loose three kilograms to look like a tour de france winner."

 

[Anonymous]

EBH Is going to dominate the sport like nobody has in twenty years.. Hes that good.. and i would stake my hat on it..

now. .to other transfer news..

 

[Raupi7]

Sam Bewley said in his twitter that he is leaving the Trek LIvestrong team.No word where he´ll go