Who's your favourite team and why?

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Let me get back to you on this one...

 

[Avoriaz]

I don't really have on anymore, but when I first got into cycling it was Peugeot. I also had a Peugeot bike and a checker board jersey at the time. Driven by seeing Robert Millar win the stage to Bagneres-de-Luchon in the 83 Tour, and Phil Anderson and Allan Peiper in the Kelloggs City Centre Cycling series that year.

I don't see the sport as tribal enough to generate enough support for a team. Also, to all intents and purposes, the teams themselves are quite itinerant, in so far as they depend on sponsors. So lives may be short

 

[Avoriaz]

While it pains me to say this, wouldn't Chelsea potentially be a better analogy to Sky?

Only when Wiggins sleeps with Flecha's girlfriend

 

[Moondance]

Much like others before me I don't really root for a team. I like Rabobank, but that's just because they have a lot of good Dutch riders (who I do support), and invest a lot of money in Dutch cycling at all levels. But it doesn't mean I'll automatically support any foreigner who riders for Rabo, for instance I still couldn't care less for Denis Menchov, Mauricio Ardila or Graeme Brown, even though they've been with Rabo for years and (Ardila exempted) have gotten a couple of excellent victories for the team. And if you're a supporter I think you're supposed to like aussie, who'll love anyone on his team. E.g. during the last few month he's been gushing over nobodies Michael Schar or Danilo Wyss, which is the true mark of a supporter IMO.

I'll always lend moral support to new or up-and-coming team though. like Cervelo, BMC, Sky, Shack, Vacansoleil, etc. I'm big on new teams getting into the sport and doing well

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Well that is the reason I support rabobank, the dutch (I really like vasc too tho) influence. I love seeing the young guns like gesink race.

But for instance if it came down to a a non-dutch rabo rider (i.e brown) vs a dutch rider (i.e bos) I'd go for dutch guy 100% of the time, but other then that I like seeing rabo dominate, and win as many races as possible.

 

[kurtinsc]

This year I'm supporting Footon.

With jerseys that ugly... how can I not. I want to see that horrendous getup on the podium as much as possible.

 

[mr. tibbs]

This year I'm supporting Footon.

With jerseys that ugly... how can I not. I want to see that horrendous getup on the podium as much as possible.

lol'd. I guess the terrible kits were a smart marketing move: they stand out in a crowd and we as a forum have talked about them a LOT.

On topic: I tend to support the underdogs, so usually French teams and whatever pro continentals are sending young aspirants up the road.

 

[horizon27]

Ok, so if..

Columbia = Man City
Sky = Man Utd
Garmin = Wigan

What are the other teams?



Anyway, as people say they follow riders more than teams - in addition to the French teams, Liquigas and Euskaltel, I'd add Gilbert and Syl. Chavanel (though not their teams). I really don't have any Anglo-bias.

Columbia= Man City,columbia have won a lot of races Man city have won f**k off yet.

Sky= Manu same as above.More like sky = Man City not won anything yet,have potential.I think sky have more going for them than Man City.Spent millions bought average player's.Barry Lescourt Toure Kompany,no wonder Mark Hughes got the sack.

At least when Chelsea spent millions they bought quality.The special one actually bought a lot of sh*t,and is overrated.

Garmin are much better than Wigan,more like Aston Villa.

 

[auscyclefan94]

If Cadel joined Footon Cervetto or a team with Ricco in it, then that would be your favourite.

Care to share the team philosophy at BMC with us? As you know, we all don't follow Evans as closely as you do. What is the scoop?

Firstly Footon Servetto couldn't be my favourite team due to their ugly jersies! Ricco is just a dumb little ffuucker who doesn't have a clue. Lotto was never my favourite team even when evans was on it due to their plain stupidity.

Philosophy is probably the wrong word. Their approach to things seems a lot more organised. lotto probably have the better riders but are directionless and don't have attitude of riding your heart out for your leader. Also tatically John Lelangue knows how to win the tour. They seemed to have more organised and structured training camps than lotto. Originally their was going to be no ttt practise or training camps at all until evans organised it (I'm not making that up).

 

[auscyclefan94]

I completely misread that, i thought you said he followed cadel around with a scoop..

I had images of auscyclefan excitedly showing visitors to his house his cadel-sh** collection..

That will more likely you in a few years time. I only have 1 piece of memorabilia of his.
Imagine you in a few years time with all your sky **** around the house. Your becoming just as bad or even worse than me in the barracking and bias posting stakes.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I don't have one. I guess the closest I can come to having one is Garmin, but JV makes it hard for me to put any voracity into my support.

I hope George wins P-R...but I have been hoping that for what seems like 30 years, and so there will be no holding of the breath.

Gotta say that I root against Sky. Its the American thing to do... My real hope is that we take that "EASY" headline, and shove it down the Brits throats on June 12th.

Me too. If Aus gets through (not likely and hoping we don't as the media crapped on so much about how we were "robbed") we might play the brits. If they do lose then all the excuses will start coming out.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

Mate, you won't shove it down the 'Brits' throat come June 12th - Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are'nt in it . I think you'll be struggling against NZ anyhow .

What grates about SKY is their reliance on science and the need to appear whiter than white (a good thing) but not willing to take on Dave Millar, a reformed character and good bloke.

Admitting you were wrong is a very powerful, human thing to do, as is the noble sport of cycling. SKY not considering Millar is dismissing the value of redemption and humanity. Allied to their number crunching, they come across as a bit dry, but I do admire how fastidious they are.

I think they've made some canny acquisitions and hope they do well - much has been made of many of the riders, but I must say that I like Serge Pauwels a lot, he's a classy rider and will be a good servant in the hills.

I like Garmin and Columbia and hope Radioshack and Lance does well. The anglophones generally . It feels good that English speaking teams steal Frances glory!

That said, I do like to see Chavanel and Tommy Voeckler giving it a go and very much like the work Marion Clignet is doing at BBox. Chapeau!

 

[LugHugger]

Cervelo by a long shot. Love their competitiveness, love the fact that bike and component companies put their money up front and said 'test this, tell us what's wrong (and right) and let us learn from guys who race their bikes'. Love that they keep trying to get to the front and make things happen.

 

[elapid]

Cervelo by a long shot. Love their competitiveness, love the fact that bike and component companies put their money up front and said 'test this, tell us what's wrong (and right) and let us learn from guys who race their bikes'. Love that they keep trying to get to the front and make things happen.

+1. Cervelo because of their philosophy and because they race well throughout the season in both Classics and GTs. Haussler was aggressive in ToQ and both Haussler and Thor are looking good for the spring Classics. Sastre is like the Energizer bunny and it is just a pleasure watching him light up the mountains like in last year's Giro. They also have one of the most recognizable kits and this makes them standout from the rest of the teams.

 

[eric_vv]

Rabo, mainly because of the fact they have a long standing (and still expanding with the new offroad-team) commitment with developing Dutch cycling. Actually the ontinentel team is my favorite team, I love hearing and reading about the coming stars. I'm really looking forward to hearing about Vermeltfoort, Bol and Keizer again (who I hope make the jump to the protour soon) and finding out about the new signings like Bovenveen and Kelderman.

But I liked the team before Rabo (and the development plan) was involved (Buckler, Wordperfect, Novell) when they were a team for the breakaway without major results but with exciting racing. Not like TVM (which was the other major Dutch team at the time who were usually setting up a sprint for Blijlevens and just weren't as exciting in most races. I just don't like bunchsprints that much, I prefer a breakaway fighting for the win. That's also what I like in the other Dutch squads Skill and Vacansoleil they are now similar to the original Rabobank team.

 

[Bike Boy]

Like most of you guys I'm a passionate fan of cycling, so I don't support one team solely. Very unlike football/soccer.

But I have to support Saxo Bank. And I guess I have to name RadioShack/retirement shack.
It's not just because of Armstrong, there's a few others, that I fancy on that team (Leipheimer, Popovych and Rubiera).
Despite of the reputation as being the old team I'm curious to follow young talents like Impey, Hermans and I suppose Phinney will join the pro team from 2011.

But as I have already hinted, cycling for me is more about, appreciating the big moments rather than who's creating them, but of course I could name a few riders, who are likely to entertain me this spring: Gilbert, Cancellara, EBH, The Schlecks, Valverde,........ I could go on and on for hours.

 

[usedtobefast]

team radio shack. why? why not.

 

[Christian]

I like Saxo Bank because they have good and sympathetic riders (Schlecks, Voigt, Cancellara), and Katusha and AG2R because luxembourgish guys ride there

 

[karlboss]

Further to my original question...if you were putting together a team who would you choose? why?

Would you aim for classics, attempt to be a national based squad etc?

 

[luckyboy]

French attacking riders and Euska attacking riders

Leaders: Sylvain Chavanel, Moncoutie & Iban Mayo

Riblon, Joly, Guesdon, Casar, Vogondy, Dumoulin, Di Gregorio, Fedrigo, Calzati, Dessel

Txurruka, Egoi Martinez, Intxausti, Isasi, Sicard, Verdugo, Azanza, Nieve, Urtasun

Along with some youngsters

They would just go to races and attack repeatedly and without end. Guesdon could help out Sylvain in cobbled races. Stage hunting (also combativity/mountain prizes) and smaller tours would be the aim. Jaja, Durand for DS's. Oh, and J.Zubeldia seeing as he retired.

 

[badboyberty]

Vaconsoleil: Feillu and Feillu

 

[Echoes]

Telenet-Fidea.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Further to my original question...if you were putting together a team who would you choose? why?

Would you aim for classics, attempt to be a national based squad etc?

A team that likes to attack, and hates it when the road is flat/rolling/windy/cobbled. Nothing but climbers here. Sort of like the 2008 CSF-Navigare squad in the Giro, but preferably without the huge amounts of doping. Names I'd want would range from Txurruka to Machado to Urán. And, unlikely as it is, David Moncoutié of course.

 

[Zaschrona]

I really like Team Saxo Bank because there ride/rode my favourite riders like Laurent Jalabert, Carlos Sastre, Fabian Cancellara, Schleck brothers, Jens Voigt, Bobby Julich, Ivan Basso, Stuart O'Grady or now Baden Cooke.
Other teams what I like are Liquigas and HTC-Columbia (mainly because Czechs Roman Kreuziger and Frantisek Rabon) and PSK Whirpool (because they are only Czech Pro Team).

 

[Andrichuk]

Quickstep and Française des Jeux.