No to Team High Road for La Vuelta

Salsiccia
Salsiccia Posts: 405
edited May 2008 in Pro race
No place for High Road in this year's Vuelta, though Astana (surprise, surprise) are welcome.

clicky

Nice slap-down from Cav though!
I was only joking when I said
by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed

Comments

  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Unipublic have always said they'll invite Astana. And why wouldn't they with a huge Spanish star on the team.

    I can't figure out this statement "However, the race is not as important as the Tour de France and the Giro [d'Italia] for our sponsors"

    What sponsors?
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    * Giant
    * Right to Play
    * MOA
    * Uvex
    * Oakley
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    * Schwalbe
    * Shimano
    * Powerbar
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  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Those are all (pretty much) going to be covered off by other teams. It's the title sponsor what counts.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    I know, I know. But you asked :wink:
  • phil s
    phil s Posts: 1,128
    I thought High Road withdrew their application for the Vuelta anyway?
    -- Dirk Hofman Motorhomes --
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    phil s wrote:
    I thought High Road withdrew their application for the Vuelta anyway?

    They did - About a week ago.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • andy_wrx
    andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_s ... 373910.stm
    Unipublic said: "(All the teams) meet the maximum requirements in terms of ethics, image and administration."

    OK, so if for sake or argument we accept Astana in 2008 under Bruyneel isn't Astana last year or Liberty Seguros under Saiz and so are OK on ethics and administration, I wonder what the 'maximum requirements for image' are then, which Astana meet ?

    What must the minimum requirements be ?
  • terongi
    terongi Posts: 318
    iainf72 wrote:
    Those are all (pretty much) going to be covered off by other teams. It's the title sponsor what counts.

    What an extraordinary statement. If you supply Giant bicycles or Schwalbe tyres to Team High Road, you want them to be in the big races and winnning to get publicity for your product. You don't spend tens of thousands of euros sponsoring a team only to make sure you are "covered off".

    Even having one of many teams you sponsor being excluded from a big race is a missed marketing opportunity and a loss to your marketing budget.

    Evidence for this can be found by looking at Giant bicycles website (not just the UK one) which has Cavendish's latest Romandie victory as news.
  • GroupOfOne MkII
    GroupOfOne MkII Posts: 1,289
    Yes but High Road are more and more geared up towards one day races and short stage races. You look at their roster and the only riders you could really class as Grand Tour GC contenders are Kirchen (likely to target the Tour), Rogers (out ill, possibly won't be seeing him until late summer at the earliest) and Gerdemann (who's already said he's likely to miss the Tour and possibly wouldn't be ready for a race like the Vuelta).

    So by not riding the Vuelta (where they'd only likely be competing for a couple of stage wins) they can send stronger squads to the Vattenfall Cyclassics, and the Tours of Germany, Missouri and Britain, which are all going to be important markets for the likes of Giant and Schwalbe. Think Cav winning a stage of the ToB or Ciolek a stage in Germany or Hincapie in Missouri all equate to great domestic advertising in those countries, probably of greater value than Klier winning a transition stage of the Vuelta. And that's before you think of the overall.

    I'm surprised that none of the other teams pulled out (e.g. someone like Bouyges Telecom) as they'd be in a similar position. But I suppose in their case they need to keep the organisers sweet to ensure they get an invite in future years. Would far rather see the likes of Tinkoff riding, for whom it is a big occassion/chance, rather than some of the big squads who send a rag-tag bunch of 9 riders that they scratch together from other programmes, with the simple aim of riding the Vuelta because they have to.

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