Gerdemann joins Milram

Schmidthouse

http://www.velonews.com/article/84729/g ... ins-milram

OK - peoples thoughts - good move or bad?

Kléber

Bad. The Milram team management seem very bad, they get tactics wrong and just don't seem well organised. Lax on doping and signing honest riders too. But the team has never done well because they've not had the big leaders and Gerdemann could be the clean talent they need.

afx237vi

Depends on what Milram expect him to do. Let's face it, he ain't gonna win a grand tour any time soon. Milram don't have the riders to support him even if he wanted to.

I think he should aim for smaller stage races or stage wins. But he is a heavily touted (why?) German rider signing for a German team... could buckle under the pressure.

Columbia have signed Maxime Monfort as his replacement too. They're both very similar. Solid but unspectacular.

JC.152

Good-because milram need him to be there leader and for the others to work for which he might not get at Columbia becuse of the top riders(Cavendish,Kirchan,Grabsch,Boasson Hagen and all the rest)


Bad-because hes leaving the team with the most wins this year to go to one with about 60 less wins this year

moray_gub

afx237vi wrote:

Depends on what Milram expect him to do. Let's face it, he ain't gonna . But he is a heavily touted r.

I dont get the hype with this guy, a few decent results but nothing to go overboard about.


cheers
MG

sylvanus

I dont get the hype with this guy, a few decent results but nothing to go overboard about.

He's become the Thomas Voeckler of German cycling. He's also a very sweet-natured and charming character. I was lucky enough to do some rides with T-mobile at at training camp and he came across as a very shy, gentle (and good-looking talent). I'm sure German young ladies rate hime very highly and remember that in France and to a lesser extent, Germany, cycling still pulls huge audiences.

I'm sure that his decision is driven very much by national / cultural loyalties which given the change from German T-Mobile to Californian Columbia, makes some sense.

His talent / test numbers etc are pretty huge and a number of people told me that they expected him to grow into a major rider if the peleton were clean.

phil s

Gerdemann's a top bloke, exceedingly polite and good-natured from my experience. I really hope the move works out well for him, but he won't have half the support at Milram that he had at Columbia

Kléber

He's got a lot more than Voeckler, some of his lab tests show amazing power output. Managed right, he could become a champion. Of course, he's gone to Milram now.

Cumulonimbus

Is Gerdemann seen as a grand tour competitor or shorter events such as the (now defunct) Tour of Germany? Columbia seems to be centred a lot around time triallists and sprinters. If it comes to a stage race then Columbia are always going to have a sprint specialist. As far as the Grand Tours go he has Kirchen and Rogers in the team to compete against. I wouldnt have thought that he would want to become a domestique for them in the mountains or ride on the front of the peloton all day.

As far as Milram goes maybe the Velits brothers will be able to help him out in the mountains?

(apologies if any of the people i have mentioned are riding for a different team next season)

knedlicky

afx237vi wrote:

he is a heavily touted (why?) ... could buckle under the pressure.

Moray Gub wrote:

I dont get the hype with this guy, a few decent results but nothing to go overboard about.

Gerdemann appears to be highly rated not just because of some of his (few) results but also because he comes over as a good blend of intelligent, self-assured, ambitious, clean and modest, and people sometimes confuse ability with personality. Also after Ullrich, Jascke, Sinkewitz, etc, and no one quite sure about Kloeden, Germany needs a new “white hope”. I think he needs more results to prove himself, but he certainly comes over as confident and determined.

Early in his career he had a reputation of not being a good team player, rather he wanted to be the one with the ‘say’, and already months ago, when T-Mobile became Columbia, Gerdemann indicated he wanted to leave because he didn’t want to be in a team with an international orientation. I think these two things amount to, he didn’t want to play second fiddle at Columbia. For him, it’s probably a good move because whether he succeeds or fails, he’s now got the chance.
It’s possible his mate Ciolek will follow him.

DavMartinR

I think its a good move for him.

Milram have been buying up all the Gerolsteiner riders like Fabian Wegmann, the Fothen brithers, Ronny Sholz and Robert foster. Plus Servais Knaven from Columbia and dutch rider Niki Terpstra coming back from injury. So I think they may be a stronger team next year.

jimmythecuckoo

He gets to ride a nice Focus next year, so it isnt all bad!

derby

This just popped up on my screen:

http://www.velonews.com/article/84748

Roadie Rods

knedlicky wrote:

Ciolek will follow him.

Confirmed.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/30102008/ ... ilram.html