Why does Argos-Shimano get so much love from race organizers?

[SetonHallPirate]

http://www.tourofbeijing.net/2012/08/argos-shimano-to-contest-this-years-tour-of-beijing/

I don't understand it...by my count, they've received wildcards for 19 of the 28 WorldTour events this season, and, frankly, their results simply don't seem to warrant that many invitations. Can somebody else explain this one to me?

 

[maxmartin]

http://www.tourofbeijing.net/2012/08/argos-shimano-to-contest-this-years-tour-of-beijing/

I don't understand it...by my count, they've received wildcards for 19 of the 28 WorldTour events this season, and, frankly, their results simply don't seem to warrant that many invitations. Can somebody else explain this one to me?

Shimano is a very powerful sponsor, lots of connections to the organizers of bike race

 

[Michele]

Shimano is usually offering the support cars at events, like at Vuelta.

 

[taiwan]

They do have a lot of talent on the squad with Kittel and Degenkolb though.

 

[CasperVg]

Yeah, Degenkolb & Kittel have won 8 WT-stages this season together. Plus Argos-Shimano has a "fully doping-free" (then again, theoretically all teams should..) policy which I think attracts some race organisers as well.

They're also 3rd-best ProConti team in the CQ ranking (behind Europcar and Saur) and there are a lot of WorldTour races in their vicinity (Netherlands, Belgium, France).

That said though, they need a GC-guy/climber badly...

 

[ebandit]

good team

good team.................on the up

hope they achieve world tour status

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

one reason: money...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yeah, Degenkolb & Kittel have won 8 WT-stages this season together. Plus Argos-Shimano has a "fully doping-free" (then again, theoretically all teams should..) policy which I think attracts some race organisers as well.

They're also 3rd-best ProConti team in the CQ ranking (behind Europcar and Saur) and there are a lot of WorldTour races in their vicinity (Netherlands, Belgium, France).

That said though, they need a GC-guy/climber badly...

Easy to get more points when you go to far more races that pay big points though, no?

They seem to be an almost totally sprint-focused team, with a few ok Classics riders. I can see that being a draw for races in the Low Countries, as those will suit them, and San Remo, the Tour Down Under, the Tour de Pologne. Not really sure what they're going to bring to Il Lombardia, but ok.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Meh Degenkolb and Kittel are added value to any race that has flat stages with sprints. Degenkolb can also handle some classics.

They're better than random local team's that don't do anything except get in chanceless brakes.

Not saying they deserve this much invites, but at least they have some sort of added value to almost every race they get invited too.

 

[CobbleStoner]

one reason: money...

nope, although that is one of the reasons. they have been around as a team for a long time, Skil/Shimano, and then last year had a bunch of results, hence the invites this year, they haven't quite lived up to the hype, they haven't failed either, they are a better team than a few on the Pro Tour right now

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

nope, although that is one of the reasons. they have been around as a team for a long time, Skil/Shimano, and then last year had a bunch of results, hence the invites this year, they haven't quite lived up to the hype, they haven't failed either, they are a better team than a few on the Pro Tour right now

the answer is money. very simple. argos are known to pay/sponsor for many of their wildcards. same as netapp and some other teams

 

[SetonHallPirate]

Worth noting, by the way, here are the WT races that Argos-Shimano failed to earn wildcards to:

Tour Down Under (does not give out wildcards)
Tirreno-Adriatico
Vuelta al Pais Vasco
Tour de Romandie
Giro d'Italia
Tour de Suisse
Clasica San Sebastian
GP Quebec
GP Montreal

 

[42x16ss]

Rightfully so.

Apart from the TdU I doubt that Argos would have contributed much to those races. However with Degenkolb and Kittel they have plenty to offer in a lot of the others, probably more than a lot of other smaller squads.

Sure lots of invites can equal lots of points but your squad still has to be good enough to collect when they are on offer.

 

[SetonHallPirate]

Rightfully so.

Apart from the TdU I doubt that Argos would have contributed much to those races. However with Degenkolb and Kittel they have plenty to offer in a lot of the others, probably more than a lot of other smaller squads.

Sure lots of invites can equal lots of points but your squad still has to be good enough to collect when they are on offer.

I wasn't saying Argos-Shimano would have contributed much (if anything) to those races, but was just listing which races they failed to earn wildcards to. In fact, I'm the person who started the topic in the first place...there's no way that, on the team's merits, they deserved 19 wildcards out of 28 WorldTour events...

 

[El Pistolero]

I can tell you 7 wild cards they didn't deserve: Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix, Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Criterium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France.

And besides one second place in a Paris-Nice stage they were pretty useless there as well.

 

[42x16ss]

Who would you invite instead? Maybe Coldeportes for the Ardennes but what about RvV and PR?

Also that's 5 races

 

[El Pistolero]

Who would you invite instead?

Good teams.

 

[theyoungest]

I can tell you 7 wild cards they didn't deserve: Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix, Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Criterium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France.

And besides one second place in a Paris-Nice stage they were pretty useless there as well.

Topsport Vlaanderen don't deserve them either. Yet they get invited for all cobbles and Ardennes classics.

At the basis, Argos is still what it used to be, a team where the talents who didn't get scooped up by the big teams get a chance. And in that respect they're pretty similar to Topsport, just with more results.

 

[El Pistolero]

What talents? The only guys winning at Argos are Kittel and Degenkolb.

 

[theyoungest]

As opposed to the prolific winners at Topsport

Skil have provided the launching pad for the careers of Langeveld, Tjallingii, Martens, Wagner, Beppu. Right now they have Dumoulin, Ludvigsson, Klemme. And of course Kittel and Degenkolb by themselves are more young talent than some WT teams have in their squad.

What they lack is GC riders or climbers, for which reason they never score a lot of points, and always end up at the bottom of the teams GC.

 

[El Pistolero]

As opposed to the prolific winners at Topsport

Skil have provided the launching pad for the careers of Langeveld, Tjallingii, Martens, Wagner, Beppu. Right now they have Dumoulin, Ludvigsson, Klemme. And of course Kittel and Degenkolb by themselves are more young talent than some WT teams have in their squad.

What they lack is GC riders or climbers, for which reason they never score a lot of points, and always end up at the bottom of the teams GC.

And Topsport Vlaanderen has been launching pads of actually good cyclists.

Though I never once mentioned them, that's what you did.

I personally would have invited the team of staf scheirlinckx and Leif Hose to Paris-Roubaix, but hey who am I to argue about Argos non existing talented riders.

They only have Kittel and Degenkolb, both of which had no problem finding a big team at the start of their career.

 

[theyoungest]

Ah, which big teams were lining up to sign Marcel Kittel? Who wasn't even a sprinter before he turned pro at Argos?

If I remember correctly, Degenkolb had bad luck in Roubaix. Frankly I'd given him as much of a chance as Hoste or Scheirlincqksz.

 

[El Pistolero]

Ah, which big teams were lining up to sign Marcel Kittel? Who wasn't even a sprinter before he turned pro at Argos?

If I remember correctly, Degenkolb had bad luck in Roubaix. Frankly I'd given him as much of a chance as Hoste or Scheirlincqksz.

Kittel was an obvious talent from an obvious feeder team of talents. He was a good time trial specialist back in U23, so the fact that he wasn't even a sprinter before Argos doesn't really matter.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Who would you invite instead? Maybe Coldeportes for the Ardennes but what about RvV and PR?

Also that's 5 races

androni for all of the classics way above argos. the tour wildcard should have gone to coldeported rather than argos for sure. I don't think I ever remember an argos rider this tour.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Ah, which big teams were lining up to sign Marcel Kittel? Who wasn't even a sprinter before he turned pro at Argos?

If I remember correctly, Degenkolb had bad luck in Roubaix. Frankly I'd given him as much of a chance as Hoste or Scheirlincqksz.

tehre were a lot of teams wanting kittel. he was world class junior. but he signed with argos, again for money.