Will Kloden work for Vino?

Eurostar

Anyone know what's going on inside Astana? They need to pick a leader but I can't see Kloden sacrificing himself for Vino. Perhaps his performance in the prologue was a statement of intent - he was probably hoping to grab yellow and force the team to work for him. After spending so long in Ullrich's shadow he must want to get out, grab the glory and become Germany's favourite again. I reckon Kloden might try to out-climb Vino today as another statement of intent.

On the other hand I can't imagine Vino working for Kloden. Maybe Astana will self-destruct and give Sastre a good chance? What say you?

iainf72

The rumour was that Klodi was favoured by the Astana staff and management, much to Vino's disgust.

I think they'll self destruct leaving it more open to others.

andyp

I'm sure Kloden gave it full gas on Saturday as a statement of intent, i.e. I'm the better bet in this team for overall glory.

I think the Astana management have to ensure that there is a clear strategy, which one imagines is "all for Vino", and then get a grip on any hint of dissent as soon as it appears. If they leave it open then confusion and doubt will reign and it'll all fall apart.

Personally I hope it does go tits up - it's always fun for the spectator when teams are riven by internal rivalry plus Astana's (lack of) ethical stance means they are the bogeymen in this Tour.

Eurostar

So we'll have another year of Vino doing his crazy solo attacks. I suppose it's great for the sponsors. One minute the cameras are on Vino, the next they're on Kloden. Kloden must have a good chance of grabbing yellow in the mountains on Saturday. He's got just over a minute on Rasmussen at the moment.

shazzz

Didn't Klodi leave T-Mob even though he was offered leader status?

I think he will be quite loyal to Vino - they have known each other for years. Don't forget that Astana is sponsored by Kazakhs and rides in Kazakh national colours - it will take a pretty big upset for Klodi to be let off the leash. He never showed any signs of dissent when at T-Mobile so I can't see why he would now.

My guess is Vino will keep the leader status unless he has real problems - much the same as the Klodi/Ulle partnership in 2004.

The prologue always mixes things up a bit, but won't change who the leader is........yet.

timoid.

I think Klodi won't attack Vino (its not his style), but he won't bury himself for him either.

Kasch, Savo and Colom will be Vino's train in the early mountains and their pace will be dictated by the Kazakh.

Klodi will wheel suck behind Vino's train and just never go away, but take his chances by latching onto other peoples attacks and possibly leaving Vino behind. He'll also be stronger in the TTs.

But as Andy said, it would be amusing to see Team Evil go tits up due to in-fighting.

Eurostar

I met Kloden once and he's got a shifty look about him. And he's really peed off with being suspected of doping. Refused to speak to journalists completely for a while because they kept asking about it. I think he's quite fired up. And his career can't go on forever. He's 32 now, only 1 year younger than Vino.

GroupOfOne

I've met Kloden twice, and both times completely different. The first time outside the City of Manchester stadium before the Tour of Britain, he was signing autographs with all the other T-Mobile riders, but looked distinctly like he didn't want to be there - unsmiling, dark glasses, and not even recognition when I thanked him & wished him luck in German.

Then early on Saturday morning he was quite happily smiling away and posing for photos with fans and signing autographs next to the Astana coach in Horse Guards, so my estimation of him in that respect went up.

andyp

shazzz wrote:

Didn't Klodi leave T-Mob even though he was offered leader status?

I think he will be quite loyal to Vino - they have known each other for years. Don't forget that Astana is sponsored by Kazakhs and rides in Kazakh national colours - it will take a pretty big upset for Klodi to be let off the leash. He never showed any signs of dissent when at T-Mobile so I can't see why he would now.

My guess is Vino will keep the leader status unless he has real problems - much the same as the Klodi/Ulle partnership in 2004.

The prologue always mixes things up a bit, but won't change who the leader is........yet.

Did you not see the bizarre sight of T-Mobile riders, aka Kloden and Ullrich, chasing down an attack by their team mate, aka Vino, in the 2005 Tour?

That looked like dissent to me...

skut

As someone else said, I think that tey will just be racing for themselves, but that Vino will have the support of the rest of the team.

Personally I think Sastre or Klodi will take the overall

campagchris

I think they(Astana)will leave it to them to sort it out in the time trials,and attack in the mountains as Vino and Kashechkin did in the vuelta.
Vino is carrying an ankle injury as well so might not be up to it.

shazzz

andyppro wrote:

Did you not see the bizarre sight of T-Mobile riders, aka Kloden and Ullrich, chasing down an attack by their team mate, aka Vino, in the 2005 Tour?

That looked like dissent to me...

Yeah, I remember that. I also remember it put Lance in a bit of trouble for a while (the first attack), with Vino and Ulle up ahead. I never did agree with Sherwin as he spat into the mic about how pathetic T-Mob was for chasing down Vino (the second attack). Ulle was clearly the leader at that time and there was a sliver of a hope of dropping Lance again. If Lance had been dropped, everyone would be remembering the tactics of T-Mob on the day they put in repeated attacks from their three stars to drop the mighty Lance. (Un)fortunately that didn't happen.

Anyway, my point was that Klodi never showed signs of dissent. He worked relentlessly for UIrich, the team leader. If anyone was breaking team orders it was Vino, who did make a habit of attacking whenever he felt like it and had just announced that he was changing team.

iainf72

Timoid. wrote:

Kasch, Savo and Colom will be Vino's train in the early mountains and their pace will be dictated by the Kazakh.

.

Does he frighten anyone else? He's probably the most robot like member of Astana.

His dream is "to be healthy"

http://www.team-astana.eu/e/colom.php

Mr Bumble

I reckon internal fueding will infect Caisse d'Epargne aswell...

Karipets is in good form and will pounce on Valverde in the TT''s.

Just scared myself: what if Astana had the family mentality of CSC!!!!

Johnny Ergo

I've always had my doubts about Vino and teamwork. I understand the problems within T-Mob last year are quite complex, but I just think that Vino is too impulsive. I don't think he can be a team player - at least he has to start seeing the big picture (sorry about jargon). Don't get me wrong, I've always liked the guy - he's an honest gutsy rider with bags of ability - but if I was the team manager I would be putting my resources behind Kloeden.
Of course the Kazakh connection might be the telling one.
Cheers
Johnny

drenkrom

Lucky for Astana, the two of their leaders are completely different riders.

Vino is the attacker, sometimes going on what seem like crazy moves, yet sometimes surprising everyone. Everyone scoffed when he attacked on the stage to Granada in the Vuelta last year, as we all saw Valverde coming back to him at the end of the climb and getting on on the descent. Did I ever eat my socks that day! He also showed that he could use teammates in very effective tactics.

Klöden is more of a grinder. He stays on the coattails of the leading group but rarely do we ever see him attacking. He's just one of the guys left at the end of the selection. As we've seen last year, that is less effective in the post-Lance days.

I can envision a strategy where Vino is helped by his teammates until he goes off. If he falters or gets caught back, you've got Klöden in the lead group securing a good position that he can transform into victory with a good TT performance.

As for how that'll play out on the road...

rustychisel

Must agree with Eurostar's initial assessment. Exactly. It's one of the most interesting points to be resolved in the next 2 1/2 weeks IMO.

jocksyboy

What's up with Vino's ankle?

Did he crash or is it an old injury?