Astana ok for Vuelta

iainf72

Unipublic have said Astana can do the Vuelta as long as they leave Vino at home.

They've got a month off now so they'll be able to do some quality preperation!

andyp

Will they have enough riders/players though, given what I saw when perusing the Champions League qualifying round draw;

FH Hafnarfjordur or BATE Borisov v Zaglebie Lubin or Steaua Bucharest
Tampere United or Levski Sofia v Astana or Rosenborg
Spartak Moscow v CELTIC
Werder Bremen v NK Domzale or Dinamo Zagreb
FK Ventspils or FC Salzburg v Pyunik or Shakhtar Donetsk
Ajax v MSK Zilina or SK Slavia Prague
Valencia v Debreceni or IF Elfsborg
Genk or FK Sarajevo v Dynamo Kiev
Fenerbahce v Anderlecht
RANGERS or FK Zeta v FK Crvena Zvezda or Levadia Tallinn
Toulouse v LIVERPOOL
Benfica v FC Copenhagen or Beitar Jerusalem
Lazio v Dinamo Bucharest
Sparta Prague v ARSENAL
FC Zurich v Sheriff or Besiktas
Sevilla v AEK Athens

:shock:

drenkrom

Yes. Astana being a city, they do have a football club.

andyp

:roll:

So it's true what they say - Canadians and humour are rarely bedfellows.

Moose11

andyp wrote:

:roll:

So it's true what they say - Canadians and humour are rarely bedfellows.

Harsh.. Canadians have one of the best sence of humours of most :P

I think its fair enough they get to continue to ride to be honest.

drenkrom

hehe... only Canadians on a shitty Friday at work.

We'll never match you Brits on the humour side, though.

Fat Head

drenkrom wrote:

We'll never match you Brits on the humour side, though.

evidently (kriss akabussi laugh)

Ed Moses

Shame that they have no bikes to ride - could prove to be a handicap!

OffTheBackAdam

Who Canadians?

iainf72

According to Wim at C4All, the Vuelta have added Relax-GAM as a 22'nd team.

Astana vs Relax = Alien vs Predator?

drenkrom

Relax did agree to leave their... how to say... plausibly dirty riders home. They will be bringing their ex-dopers along, which is fine by me if they served their time. They're also trying to clear Jan Hruska (or however you write his name) to bring him along. They're not that impressive once you weed out the confirmed or highly suspicious dopers from their roster, are they? I somehow don't foresee the most exciting Vuelta this year.

hehehe I said "exciting Vuelta"....

LangerDan

iainf72 wrote:

According to Wim at C4All, the Vuelta have added Relax-GAM as a 22'nd team.

Astana vs Relax = Alien vs Predator?

Don't know why people are picking on Relax-GAM to the exclusion of the other squads. T-Mobile will have a squad yet appear to be unable to rid their squad of the doping ethos that has pervaded for over a decade. Saunier Duval will be present too as will Cofidis etc. Certainly I wouldn't rate Relax as the Slipstream of the Spanish peleton but they are only playing by the same rules and behaviours that the "big boys" use.

iainf72

LangerDan wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

According to Wim at C4All, the Vuelta have added Relax-GAM as a 22'nd team.

Astana vs Relax = Alien vs Predator?

Don't know why people are picking on Relax-GAM to the exclusion of the other squads. T-Mobile will have a squad yet appear to be unable to rid their squad of the doping ethos that has pervaded for over a decade. Saunier Duval will be present too as will Cofidis etc. Certainly I wouldn't rate Relax as the Slipstream of the Spanish peleton but they are only playing by the same rules and behaviours that the "big boys" use.

You crazy fool, those other teams all have British riders so must be as pure as driven snow! :P

Relax are just a bit more brash than some of the others, with hiring of Sevilla / Paco Mancebo etc. It's the amount of dubious reputation contained in one team that really highlights them.