What Happens to the Astana guys

[Clemson Cycling]

After Vino gets his way and forces all of the exDiscovery talent off the team. There are going to be some great riders needing homes. Will they have to take the rest of the season off? Can they join Trek-Livestrong or are there limitations on that since they are a U23 team?

There will be a lot of talent it seems with guys like
Lance Armstrong
Levi Leipheimer
Chris Horner
Yaroslav Popovych
Andreas Klöden

And what ever happened to this Phantom American company that paid out $6 million big ones? Was it in fact Livestrong or Trek?

 

[ilillillli]

it's kind of interesting to think about. the team's barely held together now and certainly isn't sustainable. if i had to guess i'd say:

trek/livestrong:
levi
lance
horner
zubeldia
popo
rast?

fernando alonso's squad:
contador
paulinho


"astana"
vino
klöden
the other guy from kazakhstan

 

[Wolfpengap]

Lance, Levi, Horner, and maybe Popo to the new Armstrong/Johan team. Probably adding Taylor Phinney. Maybe a couple guys like Rast, Paulinho, Vaitkus and Brajkovic stay on.

Contador and Kloden go on to other squads.

Vino can have all his useless crap Khazak riders!

 

[Dr. Maserati]

After Vino gets his way and forces all of the exDiscovery talent off the team. There are going to be some great riders needing homes. Will they have to take the rest of the season off? Can they join Trek-Livestrong or are there limitations on that since they are a U23 team?

There will be a lot of talent it seems with guys like
Lance Armstrong
Levi Leipheimer
Chris Horner
Yaroslav Popovych
Andreas Klöden

And what ever happened to this Phantom American company that paid out $6 million big ones? Was it in fact Livestrong or Trek?

Clem - this has been discussed before, although I acknowledge it can be hard to find stuff in here at the moment. It probably has got buried down in page 700 of the "why does Lance wear black socks' thread.

Astana the team is owned by the Kazakhstan Cycling Federation - who get their money through some Kazakh companies. These guys have the Pro Tour licence.
However the riders contracts are with Johan Bruyneel's company Olympus SARL.
My guess would be that JB will form a new team with the above mentioned riders -although I don't think Nike will be the title sponsor. He will then apply for a Pro Tour licence - there are two available so that shouldn't be a problem.

However for the Astana team - with Vinos return they will build a team around him with a lot of Kazakhs but they may have difficulty getting in to races when he returns.

 

[ilillillli]

...although why doesn't levi sack-up and lead a squad again. team sky? columbia could use an american leader.... he could co-captain with vandevelde at garmin and still have a better chance than with astana in any of it's present/future configurations.

 

[ilillillli]

fill in the blank:

floyd landis will be riding for _________ in 2010.

 

[ericthesportsman6]

fill in the blank:

floyd landis will be riding for _________ in 2010.

I wish it was no one.

 

[ilillillli]

feel free to answer "deez nuts" if you feel that's the right thing to do.

 

[patswana]

...although why doesn't levi sack-up and lead a squad again. team sky? columbia could use an american leader.... he could co-captain with vandevelde at garmin and still have a better chance than with astana in any of it's present/future configurations.

He tried that before and was a bit of a nobody - when he rode for Gerolsteiner & Rabobank. The one exception being the Vuelta in 2001.

It seems he can only really ride well with the extra help he gets at Discovery/Astana.

Gerolsteiner would not let him work with Dr. Ferrari.

 

[Ninety5rpm]

fill in the blank:

floyd landis will be riding for _________ in 2010.

Nike-Livestrong.

 

[patswana]

fill in the blank:

floyd landis will be riding for _________ in 2010.

scraps of food and small change

 

[subzro]

fill in the blank:

floyd landis will be riding for _________ in 2010.

Rabobank haha

 

[Boeing]

I am sure Lance and Johan have other plans anyway. Remember Astana can't pay their bills anyway.

They are done after the tour

 

[Boeing]

poor floyd hahahaha still cant grow facial hair

never mind him has anyone seen Tyler? better check his apartment

 

[Boeing]

fill in the blank:

floyd landis will be riding for _________ in 2010.

vanderkitten

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

To extrapolate on illiilii's post:

Trek/HP/Livestrong/SRAM/Nike:
Lance
Levi
Horner
Popovych (probably)
Brajkovic (possibly)
Rast and a few others are possible, plus carry overs from other teams.

Expect JB to run this team with a new PT license, and the team to be stacked with more riders. Lance won't ride for a team that isn't the, or nearly the, biggest funded most powerful team. He hasn't since about 1999, maybe.

Fernando Alonso's squad:
Contador (unless he goes to Caisse, and he might if Valverde is done, and Pereiro retires).
Paulinho
Noval
Hernandez
Novarro
Others, of course.

Astana:
Vino
Kasahekin
Zeits,
Bazayev
Dmitriyev
A slew of other Kazaks, and a few others too.

Zubelida and Klöden are likely to end up elsewhere, though Zub could end up here. Klodi may be in no man's land after the Tour.

The problem the Astana team is going to have is that the ASO is going to push hard to keep Vino and Kashi out of the Tour because of the UCI's 4-year rule against riding for a PT team. I don't think the UCI will uphold it though, and will likely cave. Expect lawsuits.

fill in the blank:

Floyd Landis will be riding for Ouch/Maxxis in 2010. Same as now. He can't ride for a PT team until his 4 years is up under the phantom UCI rule (see Vino and Kashi above). However, this rule didn't apply to Basso, DiLuca, etc. So if he can get in with the right group (like Lance/JB's team) the UCI would likely look the other way, though the ASO won't let him race in the Tour, or many of their other races.

Floyd is going to be a real question mark. He rode okay in the ToC, then mediocre in March, April, May and into June he looked better recently, mostly as a very good decoy for Sutherland, helping the team results. At some point Floyd is going to either step up and show some of his old form, or he's going to be stuck there in a funk. Though he could have huge dividends from his Ouch teammates coming - when he's ready to try to win, I'm sure they'll throw everything behind him. Curious how he races at the Pro and ToM coming up.

 

[Johnny Colnago]

fill in the blank:

floyd landis will be riding for _________ in 2010.

The Mennonite Manglers a hand picked squad of mennonites set to blaze a drug free trail across Europe. Podium girls at all events they ride will wear ankle length dresses and no racing will be held on Sundays. lol

 

[craig1985]

I would say Zubelida would join Contador at Fernando Alonso's team.

 

[subzro]

I would be very very surprised if Contador went with a start up team next year. I just don't see it happening.

My money would be on the obvious C d'E.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Astana:
Vino
Kasahekin
Zeits,
Bazayev
Dmitriyev
A slew of other Kazaks, and a few others too.

The problem the Astana team is going to have is that the ASO is going to push hard to keep Vino and Kashi out of the Tour because of the UCI's 4-year rule against riding for a PT team. I don't think the UCI will uphold it though, and will likely cave. Expect lawsuits.
Floyd Landis will be riding for Ouch/Maxxis in 2010. Same as now. He can't ride for a PT team until his 4 years is up under the phantom UCI rule (see Vino and Kashi above). However, this rule didn't apply to Basso.
Floyd is going to be a real question mark.

Well, where one man leads, others may follow.
Basso joining Liquigas has set a presidence, so legally, there is no way of re-closing a door that the UCI opened.
So, in theory, all of the above can join PT teams.
IMO, if Basso had wished, he could have ridden this year's Tour, as the ASO already invited him to ride their LBL.
The others? Not a chance of riding the Tour, as their sins were compounded, by being exposed during the ASO's showpiece.

So, Floyd could well be able to join the old boys network, making the US proud owners of not one, but two geriatric cycling teams!

However, his signing could have Tour invite reprocussions, once again, for a team run by Bruyneel.
Simply having a PT licence doesn't guarantee entrance to Le Grand Boucle, as we have all witnessed, these past two editions.

 

[Animal]

Lance, Levi, Horner, and maybe Popo to the new Armstrong/Johan team. Probably adding Taylor Phinney. Maybe a couple guys like Rast, Paulinho, Vaitkus and Brajkovic stay on.

Contador and Kloden go on to other squads.

Vino can have all his useless crap Khazak riders!

- useless crap
+ jacked to the eyeballs