silence-lotto versus cadel evans

fast as fupp

wot cadel said before le grand depart:-

"I've always had the idea I want to prove to the team what I'm capable of, so I can win their faith and hopefully what I'm capable of is winning their belief in me," Cadel said in a recent interview with Cyclingnews. "They will work for me and work 110%. Two years ago I wasn't sure of myself, if I could win the Tour and now all the indications are there that I can, so..." Adding power to Evans' punch will be new recruit Yaroslav Popovych, former lieutenant of Armstrong.

maybe cadel upset his teamsters as well as everyone else coz i didnt see anyone giving 110%!

LangerDan

What was very surprising was in the last week when it was obvious that -a) Cadel was still in with a shout and b) Silence Lotto's other riders were useless - that Silence Lotto didn't go around to the Ag2R or Agritubel hotels some evening with a suitcase full of cash to buy some support.

redbicycle

Clearly Evans was a tired man by today - all the attacking that CSC put in definitely weakend him as he had to do all the work to follow by himself in the big hills. Had he a stronger team I believe he would be in yellow today. He must be disappointed that Lotto didn't re-sign Horner as he would have helped Evans in the mountains - as it was, Lotto didn't comport themselves very admirably as a team. To me that's the difference - Sastre won because his team was strong. Evans lost because his team was weak.

fast as fupp

the most revealing aspect of this lack of support was when he was left completely isolated on the FLAT stage after he took the yellow

a sure sign that all is not well in the lotto camp

i honestly think that his 'team' didnt want to ride for him

scwxx77

fast as fupp wrote:

i honestly think that his 'team' didnt want to ride for him

One of them was more interested in being dead last :roll:

will3

scwxx77 wrote:

fast as fupp wrote:

i honestly think that his 'team' didnt want to ride for him

One of them was more interested in being dead last :roll:

Yeah what's that all about. He;s been dead last three years running is there a prize or some obscure kudos?

iainf72

will3 wrote:

Yeah what's that all about. He;s been dead last three years running is there a prize or some obscure kudos?

Being the Laterne Rouge is big deal. He'll make many €'s in the post Tour crits.

Silence-Lotto have cancelled their party in Paris after Cadel's failure to win.

claudb

If it's true he's going to Katucha then maybe they don't really want to help him anyway.
I can't help thinking that there is a problem behind the scenes as you'd like to think that they'd work for the potential earnings even if they did not like him.

Doobz

fast as fupp wrote:

the most revealing aspect of this lack of support was when he was left completely isolated on the FLAT stage after he took the yellow

a sure sign that all is not well in the lotto camp

i honestly think that his 'team' didnt want to ride for him

for sure, the dude is a weirdo - It seems like he was a "me me me" kinda guy - The right kind of attitude to have is like Cavendish - he always put his team before his individual wins saying stuff like "I had a great team bla bla bla"

Not like that evans who was more worried about his teddy and his mutt

ms_tree

I thought the interview Eurosport did with Lief Hoste was a bit strange. He didn't seem to me to be all that supportive, which spoke volumes!

sing_for_absolution

Problem is he seems to be an arse of a personality. The DON'T TOUCH ME! episode didn't help.

feersumendjinn

The act Evans pulled what with the body guard & Cadelvan, seemed to isolate himself from his team which was a bit odd,he seemed to want to play the Armstrong role before he had earned it & if i remember right McEwan was non to pleased at the beginning of the year that the Tour team was to be built around Evans
For next year he not only needs to drop the "Star" trappings but learn to get the most from the team around him, generate a bit of loyalty within the team,get them to believe in him & themselves.
And maybe, finally, learn that you can't win a Tour by following everyone else all the time.

Wonder if he'll go to Spain on his hol's this year.....

Herbie Sykes

Regardless of your feelings about Evans' somewhat eccentric personality, Lotto are as much use as a wooden compass at the TDF. They've been next to useless for Mcewan for years, and they have just cost Evans the Tour. Marc Sargeant has thirty riders, a decent budget, arguably the best stage racer in the world, and not one decent climber to support him. It beggers belief.

If I were Popovich I'd be making myself pretty scarce tonight. Then again he's been doing that for the past three weeks.

afx237vi

Ms Tree wrote:

I thought the interview Eurosport did with Lief Hoste was a bit strange. He didn't seem to me to be all that supportive, which spoke volumes!

I had the exact same thought.

Oz Chief

Should Cadel leave Silence-Lotto? Who would sign him up?

No Spanish teams would take him as they all have good leaders, and the ones that don’t, wouldn’t want to hurt the winning chances of Valverde, Sastre, Sanchez and Contador.

A team that would give Evans a chance is AG2R with Efimkin and Dessell. The only thing thing is that those 2 guys probably feel that they are a chance to win of the next few years and don’t really want to have to play second fiddle to him.

Another team for Evans would be Columbia. Rogers, Kirchen, Hincapie and Hansen would be a solid team to build around him. The obvious issue is Cavendish, but I tell you what, they way he demolished everyone this year, he could nearly win the Green jersey on his own.

Both those teams could take on Cadel as they don’t really have a team leader that can win. It would be a win for both parties.

Could they work?

Any other possible teams?

lloyd_bower

claudb wrote:

If it's true he's going to Katucha then maybe they don't really want to help him anyway.
I can't help thinking that there is a problem behind the scenes as you'd like to think that they'd work for the potential earnings even if they did not like him.

There's no doubt that with better team support Evans would have won this tour, and without Rasmussen the last year's too. The support of his Lotto team was dreadful, all the more strange condsidering the bonuses they must of been on had Evans won. Certainly a problem behind the scenes seems likely, maybe Evans isn't a motivating guy to work for. He doesn't come across well on TV that's a given but his interviews aren't too bad and he seems a decent guy.

It certainly shows the importance of a strong team, Lance Armstrong wouldn't have managed 7 in a row without the support of the strongest team most years. Since then the winner's had a strong team, Pereiro excepted, though his win owed alot to some dreadful decisions by the other teams letting him get such a big gap in a breakaway.

Where does Evans go from here, clearly he's not going to win the tour with his current squad, as it will be tougher next year, with Contador no doubt back and the younger Schleck a threat too.

Tom Butcher

lloyd bower wrote:

There's no doubt that with better team support Evans would have won this tour, and without Rasmussen the last year's too. .

I disagree. For a start without the CSCs Menchov wouldn't have been distanced after that crash split the bunch and Valverde would probably have got back to the leading group after being dropped on a climb and would have been much more of a threat on GC - maybe one of them would have one the tour? Secondly Sastre sat behind Evans when Schleck went up the road behind the Saunier Duval boys - I reckon without that Sastre could have put time into Evans then and won by more. Thirdly Evans just didn't have the legs - he was getting dropped on the climbs by more than just Sastre - I reckon a more open race with more people attacking would have meant him losing more time - the CSCs being there led to them all marking each other and that suited Evans.

top_bhoy

Evans didn't have team support which led to putting in big efforts to stay in touch to avoid being dropped. Still, winning the TdF is never easy and at some point, its down to the individual and Sastre in Alp D'Huex stage and in the time trial stepped up to the plate to show what a worthy champion he is.

Looking back retrospectively, I don't think Menchov had too much team support either but maybe I'm glossing over it all after the heat of battle. Valverde just didn't have it at all in the mountains - he struggled from early on. Evans in yesterdays TT looked really nervy on his bike - just like he did 12 months earlier chasing down Contador. Maybe tiredness and the effects of last weeks crash just caught up with him!!

Tom Butcher

I just don't agree. Where did the lack of a strong team make such a difference for Evans ? He didn't do a lot on the front - Kohl probably did more. Yes maybe if he'd closed down attack after attack you could argue it had worn him out - but he didn't. He did less attacking on the mountains than any of the other contenders and when Sastre went away it was clear if he could limit Sastre to about a minute lead on the stage the CSCs were out of it - with Sastre up the road F Schleck couldn't ride (though I don't think he had the legs anyway) - Evans couldn't respond and let Sastre get well over 2 minutes - the stronger rider won it. Again - both Kohl and Menchov lacked a strong team but both attacked on mountain finishes and at times succeeded in getting some advantage out of it - Evans either couldn't or chose not to because that's the kind of rider he is and that's why he hasn't won - not because of his team.

pinerellopaul

what ever happened to VAN DEN BROECK he was really impressive setting tempo up the long climbs in the GIRO he really should of been the man to have in the team

movingtarget

Lotto's management considered it was too much for him to do do two, three week tours in his first year as a tour rider. He is only young and obviously has talent. I think he would have struggled in the last week of theTour De France.

victorponf

Someone in youtube (http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=FikzgWE3t0A) wrote this about CADEL EVANS:

He's a joke. He rode like a complete wheelsucking pussy all the way up Alpe Duez, refusing to take the lead in the chase group after Sastre and he rode every other alpine stage this year in the same exact wheelsucking fashing rarely if ever taking the lead and pacemaking himself.

So glad he lost to Sastre who earned it on Alpe Duex by gutting ity out on the lead and doing the same today. Hope this little spolied brat just goes away, he didn't deserve to win the TDF.

colint

No sympathy for Evans, as others have said he did absolutely nothing to deserve the title. Not one single attack, you can't blame the team for that, if you're a champion you have to make things happen.

He's a good rider but just not good enough

vermooten

Cadel isn't a team player, which makes his almost winning twice in a row remarkable. He trains alone, seems to hate people.

But we all know that it's a team sport, so it's no surprise that the other riders weren't working for him as hard as they might. I expect he treated the rest of the team in the same way he treated the press - like it or not, Evans needed their support too.

Bjarne would have kicked his arse out for his behaviour, as he did Rasmussen.

14hurricane

Valverde helping CSC on Alpe d'Huez?

With 9.3 km left on Alpe d'Huez Valverde and the Schlecks had got away a little from Evans. Evans had almost caught up, Frank Schleck and Valverde looked back, it seems to me than that Valverde nodded to Schleck to go again.
See the video from 9m 12s on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAm7ZvGn ... re=related
Am I imagining it?

redddraggon

vermooten wrote:

He trains alone

I can understand that, if you train alone you can do what you want to do. He's still a bit antisocial the rest of the time though.

le_patron

If Evans had won, would he have distributed the winnings amongst his team ? Regardless of his individual failings (all relative, he's come 2nd after all) his team wouldn't really have deserved it.

steviedonut

Doobz wrote:

fast as fupp wrote:

the most revealing aspect of this lack of support was when he was left completely isolated on the FLAT stage after he took the yellow



for sure, the dude is a weirdo - It seems like he was a "me me me" kinda guy - The right kind of attitude to hCavendish ave is like - he always put his team before his individual wins saying stuff like "I had a great team bla bla bla"

jimmythecuckoo

His team didn't let him down in the TT...

Jez mon

Evans showed that you can ride a tour without attacking and use the final TT to gain the time needed. He rode a boring and defensive race but put himself in a position to win the yellow. The fact that he didn't perform on the day doesn't mean potential tour winners have to attack.

Evans is good enough to win the tour, he has however, not made the most of his opportunities, from not riding state of the art kit in TTs, to not building a team around him. Instead, Evans concentrated on stupid things such as bodyguards.

vermooten

It seems that if Evans had used a more aero front wheel he might have had a much better TT: http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum ... c&start=15