Wiggins to Sky

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't put too much money on them getting to the start line of the TdF if they can't put some results on the table in spring. Particularly as on paper both Vaconsoleil and BMC have strong classics squads.

I can't imagine Wiggins would have gone to Sky if he wasn't fairly certain they could ride the Tour.

 

[Anonymous]

Honestly, Sky are like the New York Yankees of cycling right now - we have the cash, get out of our way. I've lost a lot of respect for Wiggo and Swift with the poor way they have handled themselves in this situation. I understand that the opportunity to cash in only comes once, but a display of a minimum of personal ethics, dignity and professionalism would have been nice to see.

what a completely ridiculous comment.. if money where not object and if they where splashing the cash like that, they would have bought very different riders, and youd see the likes of hausller, boonen, contador, nibali, sastre, evans, etc all headed to sky... does that squad look like a "money no object, new york yankees to you"....???

sky have acted on the whole pretty well for a new team out to get a full roster or riders, they havent done much rumourmoungering, have been pretty professional on the way they have released things, dealth with contracts..

onto the the ethics, dignity, etc of brad and ben swift.. brad did one interview where he said the wigan thing.. apart from that hes said absolutely nothing, ive brought this up time and again and as yet nobody has been able to argue exactly what brad has done to be so unprofessional except that maybe "he should have said something"... the telegraph have had a lot to say, vaughters has had a lot to say, but brads had very little.. ben swift has acted professionally, he instigated a clause in his contract to leave katusha (which was fairly obvious was doing to happen, watch the interview with him and geraint in the ToB).. sky planned to sign him.. the only Unprofessional ism in that one was from the blessed aussie organisers of the tour down under who couldnt keep their gobs should over a submitted team list, theyve blown that one well out of the water.. Not bens fault, not skys fault, the fault of whoever decided to put that on the TDU website without thinking of the consequences..

anyway.. the comment about sky splashing cash like the new york yankees is just silly..

something to bear in mind about skys loyalty
snippet from the guardian..

"Vaughters has been caught in a cleft stick, however, given that several of the key men involved in Wiggins's career since his junior days – and who helped him behind the scenes as he built up to this year's Tour — are also involved at Sky, which made the team an obvious draw for the Londoner, who has often said that the British Olympic cycling team is where he truly feels at home.
Brailsford, moreover, is also performance director of British Cycling and headed the coaching team who guided its riders to eight golds – two of them for Wiggins – in Beijing.
Sky are also using the services of Dr Steve Peters, the psychiatrist in the British team. They will probably call on Nigel Mitchell, the GB nutritionist who helped Wiggins achieve the weight loss that enabled him to race with the best in the Tour's mountains, and Matt Parker, the sports scientist. The track head coach Shane Sutton is also involved."

if he goes to sky hes signing for the guys that have pretty much guided his entire career.. hes been shunted from pro team to pro team, but the one constant has been DB and his team.. if anything by going to sky he is showing MORE loyalty...!

 

[auscyclefan94]

They didn't want two of the top three guys from the 2007 Tour in 2008

That's because of association with a drug infested astana. The astana team in 2009 was clean as a whistle.

 

[53 x 11]

Wiggins signed for sky OMG! Didnt see that happening.

 

[Anonymous]

That's because of association with a drug infested astana. The astana team in 2009 was clean as a whistle.

was that a feeble antipodean attempt at humour..

 

[auscyclefan94]

what a completely ridiculous comment.. if money where not object and if they where splashing the cash like that, they would have bought very different riders, and youd see the likes of hausller, boonen, contador, nibali, sastre, evans, etc all headed to sky... does that squad look like a "money no object, new york yankees to you"....???

sky have acted on the whole pretty well for a new team out to get a full roster or riders, they havent done much rumourmoungering, have been pretty professional on the way they have released things, dealth with contracts..

onto the the ethics, dignity, etc of brad and ben swift.. brad did one interview where he said the wigan thing.. apart from that hes said absolutely nothing, ive brought this up time and again and as yet nobody has been able to argue exactly what brad has done to be so unprofessional except that maybe "he should have said something"... the telegraph have had a lot to say, vaughters has had a lot to say, but brads had very little.. ben swift has acted professionally, he instigated a clause in his contract to leave katusha (which was fairly obvious was doing to happen, watch the interview with him and geraint in the ToB).. sky planned to sign him.. the only Unprofessional ism in that one was from the blessed aussie organisers of the tour down under who couldnt keep their gobs should over a submitted team list, theyve blown that one well out of the water.. Not bens fault, not skys fault, the fault of whoever decided to put that on the TDU website without thinking of the consequences..

anyway.. the comment about sky splashing cash like the new york yankees is just silly..

I'm going to have to disagree with you Dim, wiggo and garmin have talked riddles the whole time. Just keep your mouth shut and just announce. Unfortuantely for Wiggo though everyone expected him to go to one team; Sky. With Evans, the was a lull on the announcement of the descision as the lawyers had to confirm the descision and the evans camp had obviously kept the negotiations of the deal quiet for a long while.

 

[auscyclefan94]

was that a feeble antipodean attempt at humour..

sadly yes. i have a very dry sense of humour

 

[gregod]

Don't you think the organizers will want someone who finished 4th last year to be apart of the Tour? ...

I seem to remember that the guy who won the Tour (in 2007, I think) not getting invited the following year.

 

[Anonymous]

is this thread going backwards?

 

[auscyclefan94]

I seem to remember that the guy who won the Tour (in 2007, I think) not getting invited the following year.

Don't you think they would want a current road world champion contesting for gc, 2x 2nd in the Tour de france and 3rd in the Vuelta and soon to be the winner of the Giro in 2010

 

[badboyberty]

the only Unprofessional ism in that one was from the blessed aussie organisers of the tour down under who couldnt keep their gobs should over a submitted team list, theyve blown that one well out of the water.. Not bens fault, not skys fault, the fault of whoever decided to put that on the TDU website without thinking of the consequences..

So it's the organisers job to check that the riders on the team list submitted to them are actually on the team? The TdU organisers published an official team list. It's Sky who mucked up, they didn't put an embargo on the list, or a little asterisk and a TBC next to Swift's name. And you can't claim they didn't expect the list to get published, it's half the reason why the team lists are submitted in the first place. the office worker at the TdU office did their job, it's whoever put the list together without checking that the names on the list they were putting together were actually on the same team.

Dimspace you're usually onto it, but either Swift screwed up and told Sky he was free to leave when he wasn't (likely situation) or Sky screwed up thinking they could buy out Swift's contract with no fuss from Katushka.

 

[gregod]

Don't you think they would want a current road world champion contesting for gc, 2x 2nd in the Tour de france and 3rd in the Vuelta and soon to be the winner of the Giro in 2010

One would think so, but I think if it came down to a choice between French second division team or BMC getting in the Tour, ASO will not be picking the rainbow wearer.

 

[Anonymous]

Dimspace you're usually onto it, but either Swift screwed up and told Sky he was free to leave when he wasn't (likely situation) or Sky screwed up thinking they could buy out Swift's contract with no fuss from Katushka.

i think swift has left as far as he is concerned, he has had a contract change, other riders have got out of katusha as a result, so he should be able to.. his lawyer has said to sky, yes hes free, so they have treated him as theres.. i think young ben has pre-empted the situation a little.. thats youth for you.. i do think its fairly obvious he was going though, him and GT seemed way to close in the ToB..

whats weird, is that this has come to light, because of the tour down under registration.. sky have said that the tour down under required registration further ahead than some of the other races because its on the other side of the world.. what difference does that make in this technological age, or do things like that still litterally get posted..??

as for the TDU, i think they should have had the gumption to think, ooh, that guys not registered yet, lets give sky a call and just clarify this before we publish it and stir the proverbial..

 

[auscyclefan94]

One would think so, but I think if it came down to a choice between French second division team or BMC getting in the Tour, ASO will not be picking the rainbow wearer.

We'll see, even if he doesn't he could just ride the vuelta as he did this year for the worlds.

 

[Anonymous]

We'll see, even if he doesn't he could just ride the vuelta as he did this year for the worlds.

could you not tell us hes going to win something sooner than the vuelta.. i cant cope with 10 months of you saying hes going to win something..

why not the australian open championship, or the tour down under...? that way ive only got to wait a month to laugh at your poor predictions..

 

[badboyberty]

i think swift has left as far as he is concerned, he has had a contract change, other riders have got out of katusha as a result, so he should be able to.. his lawyer has said to sky, yes hes free, so they have treated him as theres.. i think young ben has pre-empted the situation a little.. thats youth for you.. i do think its fairly obvious he was going though, him and GT seemed way to close in the ToB..

whats weird, is that this has come to light, because of the tour down under registration.. sky have said that the tour down under required registration further ahead than some of the other races because its on the other side of the world.. what difference does that make in this technological age, or do things like that still litterally get posted..??

as for the TDU, i think they should have had the gumption to think, ooh, that guys not registered yet, lets give sky a call and just clarify this before we publish it and stir the proverbial..

Face it, some office worker who probably doesn't give a rats about cycling received a fax and then did what he/she is meant to and entered the data onto the website. Barely anyone outside of England knows who Ben Swift is, and even fewer would know which team he's signed to or not signed to.

If the pot was being deliberately stirred it was at the Sky end. I'm sure the staff at the TdU office have better things to do than start s***-storms over contract disputes.

And the disruption caused by the Christmas break has probably more to do with the need for early paper work than anything else.

 

[Anonymous]

Barely anyone outside of England knows who Ben Swift is, and even fewer would know which team he's signed to or not signed to. .

i think you do the young man a terrible injustice...

actually its interesting, how many people outside the brits do know who he is, how many outside america had a clue who taylor phinney was, we forget sometimes that we are all different nationalities..

 

[bobbins]

Swifts name's already on the side of the team bus, Wiggins isn't.

 

[hektoren]

Lövkvist? Looking at what he achieved in '08 and '09, why aren't you more concerned about the role of EBH ?

 

[thehog]

It’s all good news.

Well done Brad and thank-you James Murdoch for paying out his contract with Garmin. Wiggins was earning a very high salary at Garmin with no bonus structure. Most top tiered riders earn a moderate base with a high bonus pool. As result of this it took some time to agree a figure and arrange the finance.

It’s a shame Alberto Contador couldn’t be released from his contract to join Garmin. However there is a written agreement in place that runs to the day before the 2010 Tour de France that he can join Garmin if Astana are to loose their place in the ProTour, infringe on standing orders or receive a doping violation.

I think what will be more surprising is that there are still some moves to come before Jan 1 deadline.

This is my last post.

 

[Greg Johnson]

ben swift has acted professionally, he instigated a clause in his contract to leave katusha (which was fairly obvious was doing to happen, watch the interview with him and geraint in the ToB).. sky planned to sign him.. the only Unprofessional ism in that one was from the blessed aussie organisers of the tour down under who couldnt keep their gobs should over a submitted team list, theyve blown that one well out of the water.. Not bens fault, not skys fault, the fault of whoever decided to put that on the TDU website without thinking of the consequences..

It was issued in a press release with the team roster supplied by Team Sky. They issued the information as they have with every other team this year, and as they have with every team in previous years.

The issuing of that information was no mistake on the TDU's part. I do, however, agree that this was not of Ben's doing and it's unfortunate any damage/missed opportunities that may or may not come as a result.

Cheers
Greg Johnson

 

[auscyclefan94]

could you not tell us hes going to win something sooner than the vuelta.. i cant cope with 10 months of you saying hes going to win something..

why not the australian open championship, or the tour down under...? that way ive only got to wait a month to laugh at your poor predictions..

ok then he'll win the giro. he'll be absolutely no shape to contest for tdu. I'm narrow minded but not stupid

 

[screaming fist]

here we go: http://twitter.com/triplesmc/status/6527932043

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

And here: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bradley-wiggins-signs-with-team-sky

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Its official - from Sky News.

@Dimspace - The whole Ben Swift being on the TDU roster was team Sky's fault. Many teams have signed riders whose contracts do not end until the end of the year - as an example Cadel is on the BMC roster even though he is still with Lotto - so it is the team that is submitting the rosters responsibility to ensure its accuracy.