Where did it go wrong

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I was reading some old stuff and came across this result

Rund um den Heniger Turm U23, 2004.

[font=verdana, arial, helvetica]1 Marc De Maar (Ned) Rabobank 4.16.51
2 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 2.15
3 Bas Gilling (Ned) Rabobank
4 Andreas Dietziker (Swi) Swiss National Team 2.50
5 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Rabobank 3.38
6 Carlo Westphal (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 3.48
7 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Winfix Arnolds Sicherheit 3.51
8 Stefan Heiny (Ger) Team Rothaus 3.52
9 T. Stamsnijder (Ned) Rabobank 4.01
10 Andy Schleck (Lux) Luxembourg National Team 4.02
11 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Rabobank 4.16
[/font]

Why aren't they dominating like that now

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Reading some more stuff from 2004 now.

The dominance Rabobank TT3 had in that period is unheard of. In later years they have never done so well again. Neither did any other team for that matter.

1-2-3-4 in thüringen, 1-2-3-4 everywhere actually. Often placing their entire team in the top 20 of all U23 races. And even competing with the pro's..
Especially Dekker, Vastaranta, De Maar, Giling and Reus were nothing short of awesome. And in the ITT you could add Sutherland, Stamsnijder and others..

Maybe the lack of competitors in that period? Well there was Andy Schleck, but he could never come close to beating them. Also Nibali is from that period, so is Brajkovic and Sivtsov

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

most of all because they wee already training and taken care of like pro's, so much less growth margin for those guys. the danish team gls was even worse in this. so came to me as no surprise none of all those danish talents broke through like lund, pedersen, gudmund nielsen, berendt hansen, kvist, steensen etc who dominated juniors and u23

check out the old thüringer rundfahrt gc's to see rabo tt3 ultimate domination, which was the biggest u23 stage race back then

 

[hrotha]

The dominance Rabobank TT3 had in that period is unheard of.
(...)
Maybe the lack of competitors in that period?

I don't know, let's ask Kohl.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

You should ask Nibali, Schleck, Brajkovic or good old Simon Spilak

Probably the reason they are so awesome. Because they had to fight these monstrous talents in their U23 period. The beating hardened them up, while the Raboboys became softies.
1 became soft (Vastaranta)
1 had his career ruined by a fall (Reus)
1 was lazy (Giling)
1 doped (Dekker)
1 had a lot of bad luck and is more injured then anything else (De Maar)

Still leaves the other half of the team

 

[roundabout]

Where did it go wrong for Gewiss?

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Regardless, the dutch seem to have one of their best generations coming through for quite some time... It is already showing in riders like Gesink and Mollema. I really hope Kelderman develops right. Massive potential.

I still get upset thinking about what could have been with Reus.
Dekker owned espoirs.

Could have been better, but it's not all bad.

@hrotha
not certain, but I actually think kohl suggested rabo u23 were clean.

 

[craig1985]

What is Bas Gilling and Carlo Westphal upto these days? I know Westphal won a stage at the 2008 ENECO Tour, but when Gerolsteiner stopped, he didn't get a gig for 2009.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

What is Bas Gilling and Carlo Westphal upto these days? I know Westphal won a stage at the 2008 ENECO Tour, but when Gerolsteiner stopped, he didn't get a gig for 2009.

Good question, I haven't heard anything about the guy in a couple of years

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Bas Giling retired after not finding a team for 2010, finishing his career with Designa Køkken. Carlo Westphal did a part season for a South African team in 2009 in .2 and .NE races, DNFed Turkey, Piastowskich and the Route du Sud and promptly retired.

 

[will10]

Is Reus retired now?

 

[K-0tic]

Is Reus retired now?

He retired last year yes, just because of his injuries .

 

[Nastyy]

You should ask Nibali, Schleck, Brajkovic or good old Simon Spilak

Probably the reason they are so awesome. Because they had to fight these monstrous talents in their U23 period. The beating hardened them up, while the Raboboys became softies.
1 became soft (Vastaranta)

Vastaranta certainly didn't become soft. He had serious sickness which forced him off the bike for quite some time. Now he's making a comeback as a mountan biker and is targeting the London Olympics.

 

[Kwibus]

He retired last year yes, just because of his injuries .

He did retire, allthough he might return.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

What is Bas Gilling and Carlo Westphal upto these days? I know Westphal won a stage at the 2008 ENECO Tour, but when Gerolsteiner stopped, he didn't get a gig for 2009.

he rode in south africa for a while(so did sven teutenberg for some years). don't know if he's retired now or still races there

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Vastaranta certainly didn't become soft. He had serious sickness which forced him off the bike for quite some time. Now he's making a comeback as a mountan biker and is targeting the London Olympics.

vastaranta didn't get soft he was already physically maturing and peaking at young age. you could already see the decline as an u23 compared to junior

 

[Havetts]

Is Reus retired now?

Retired and is focusing on Marathon Ice Racing/Skating

 

[Nastyy]

vastaranta didn't get soft he was already physically maturing and peaking at young age. you could already see the decline as an u23 compared to junior

Maybe he wouldn't be a star but he would be a decent pro. In his last year in Rabobank he suffered from some weird disease that nobody managed to diagnose. Rabobank basically said to him that he's a lazy f*ck who doesn't train, while his problems were caused by too much training. A vertebra was pushing some nerve and took the power out of his legs. He also couldn't digest well or breathe well on the bike. Poor gesture was what lead to his problems. He already quit cycling, but then a doctor found out what was wrong with him and then a Finnish masseur massaged him so he got better. But still nowadays his girlfriend has to massage him so he can keep racing. And now he is on his way to MTB glory.

 

[craig1985]

So what happened to Andreas Dietziker and Stefan Heiny?

 

[roundabout]

Dietziker is still riding.

http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/rider_palm.asp?riderid=1871&year=0&all=0&current=0

 

[craig1985]

Haha, fair enough.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

My gosh, this cq-thing seems to be the real deal.