Evans to 09 Giro

iainf72

Basso will still kick everyones butt.

calvjones

Not sure. Remember the Buffalo was 2nd to him when he finished 7 mins up, so whatever Fuentes was doing was incredibly effective.

Will be interesting to see how he copes psychologically without dope.

I do have a horrbile suspicion however it may be the Lance & Ivan show with domination in time trials sealing it up and LA, if he can't win himself 'gifting' the race to his young mate :roll:

timoid.

calvjones wrote:

Not sure. Remember the Buffalo was 2nd to him when he finished 7 mins up, so whatever Fuentes was doing was incredibly effective.

Will be interesting to see how he copes psychologically without dope.

I do have a horrbile suspicion however it may be the Lance & Ivan show with domination in time trials sealing it up and LA, if he can't win himself 'gifting' the race to his young mate :roll:

Do you honestly think he'll stay off the sauce?

Kléber

It's becoming increasingly difficult to dope. Whereas riders in the past were sailing around Italy and France with haematocrits above 60% and loading up with 800ml of packed cells for breakfast (that's a volume more than a bottle of wine, ketchup-thick red blood cells going in you).

Today some may still cheat and use methods to stop the haematocrit count drifting down during a grand tour but they old methods are no longer possible, the gaps should be much smaller. The possibility of retroactive testing is also going to make some think very carefully.

skavanagh.bikeradar

I'm not putting my money on retroactive testing at the Giro helping to put people off doping...............

6288

with LA likely being tested for everything under the sun they'll have to apply the same procedures to everyone else so if any of them are that daft then let them get on with it ...

i reckon Basso will end up at Cunego level and just not have a Grand Tour win in him, maybe top 3 at best (Valverde is pretty much the same) ...

Lance vs Menchov if he turns up in decent nick ... now there's a dull fight ...

Simoni will lose time on any little hill finishes as per usual and after the 1st ITT it will be over for him ...

Di Luca and Cungeo will fight over said little hill finishes but drop back when the going gets tough for a few days in a row ...

and I expect Basso to drop 20-30 seconds most places and they will all add up in the end ... same with Sastre ....and i'm being kind to him ...

Menchov will hang with Basso and is a better TTist so that's why i tip him to be fighting for 1st or (more likely) 2nd.

Oh, and Cadel won't turn up ... he's still hoping that Contador and LA won't make it to the Tour or start squabbling ... he'll try the Vuelta if the Tour goes tits up for him.

Basically the Giro is old guys vs no hopers/dopers ... unless Andy Schleck pitches up ... now that would make it interesting ...

Oh, and LA helping Basso ... i doubt it after he singlehandedly ended Disco's chances of getting a new sponsor ... i expect payback ... i'm sure that's what LA's Giro is all about ...

skavanagh.bikeradar

6288 said:

Oh, and LA helping Basso ... i doubt it after he singlehandedly ended Disco's chances of getting a new sponsor ... i expect payback ... i'm sure that's what LA's Giro is all about ...

I'd say it's the reverse, Disco risked everything to get him. LA is I'm sure capable of holding vendettas. In this case it's probably with 'those responsible' for Basso getting found out.

Kléber

6288 wrote:

Oh, and LA helping Basso ... i doubt it after he singlehandedly ended Disco's chances of getting a new sponsor ... i expect payback ... i'm sure that's what LA's Giro is all about ...

I'm not so sure Bruyneel signed Basso only to learn he was working with Fuentes, I suggest that he hired the Italian knowing full well what he was up to. It was this attitude to signing up controversial figures - is Basso cycling's biggest liar? - that probably scared off the Discovery executives, not the unsurprising revelation that Birillo was actually Basso.

skavanagh.bikeradar

What he said.

blazing_saddles

6288 wrote:

with LA likely being tested for everything under the sun they'll have to apply the same procedures to everyone else so if any of them are that daft then let them get on with it ...

i reckon Basso will end up at Cunego level and just not have a Grand Tour win in him, maybe top 3 at best (Valverde is pretty much the same) ...

Basically the Giro is old guys vs no hopers/dopers ... unless Andy Schleck pitches up ... now that would make it interesting ...

Oh, and LA helping Basso ... i doubt it after he singlehandedly ended Disco's chances of getting a new sponsor ... i expect payback ... i'm sure that's what LA's Giro is all about ...

Wrong, wrong.....wrong and........er.....wrong.

It's the Giro and the UCI are the p**s test dummies. Lance might tell us he's being tested more than the rest, but here, he'll be just one of the group.

Basso will, as Iain says, kick everyone's butt. He isn't using it for Tour tuning and will really want to win.

If you exclude old guys, dopers and no hopers, you end up with.........Andy Schleck. Other than him and the Spanish waterboy, you have covered the entire peloton.

Seems like the strongest Giro turn up for years, to me.

Basso ended Disco? According to Chris Horner, it was Armstrong who ended that particular era. Bruyneel signed Basso, when he wasn't supposed to touch him. Fact is, US sponsors wouldn't touch Belgian Bruyneel, sans Lance.
Don't think LA could care less.

iainf72

Evans says he's not doing the Giro.

skavanagh.bikeradar

In the light of who else is rushing to do it, he's probably figuring he's got a chance at the Tour again.

blazing_saddles

Hissy fit at the Giro organisers. Moans about his team.
No wonder he's so short tempered.
I see another year wasted adding to his bitterness.

Kléber

Blazing Saddles, he's just said he's not riding and that his name was being used in vain by RCS,which is not fair. Also he's got a right to be annoyed, his team looks even weaker now and he's got to take on several big teams. Still, he signed for Lotto and must have know what he was doing, they are reputed as one of the more chaotic teams around.

iainf72

Stranger and stranger

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/12122008/ ... evans.html

Idi Merckx

Is Cadel Evans trying to cultivate a grumpy git image or is he just naturally like that?

You don't often see a team and its GC contender squabbling in puiblic with each other.

Perhaps they should all pay attention to the name of their main sponsor - sssh

blazing_saddles

You put your Aussie in, you put your Aussie out.
In out, in out, you shake him all about.

This must have a lot to do with Evans feeling he's been short changed, team wise.
Understandably miffed at how things have panned out, but it's hardly Lotto's fault.
Popovych flopped all on his lonesome and as for Kohl......
He's clearly unhappy with his Lotto.

Much depends on JvB and whether he can stop breaking thngs and repeat last year's form.
Charlie W won't let him down in Italy and Mattie Lloyd shone there, last season.
The experience didn't backfire for Dennis Menchov.
Worth a shot, I'd say

richard wants a baum

Thats what i dont understand SL do have some climbing talent on the roster but they constantly go for guys that have no chance of helping him. I honestly couldnt understand how Lloyd got left out of last years Tour? his probably not going to win Cadel the Tour but it would have been better than some of the other guys that ended up on that team.
Evans isnt PR savvy, he just opens his mouth and says what he thinks, not a bad thing otherwise you end up with the stage managed interviews you get in F1 and MotoGP

brakelever

this years giro will be a lance basso love in , shame really with all the attending crap that will go with it ! would be nice to see the texan come unstuck but some how things will conspire to see him win it . how bloody boring .

AMRcycling

Kléber wrote:

Blazing Saddles, he's just said he's not riding and that his name was being used in vain by RCS,which is not fair. Also he's got a right to be annoyed, his team looks even weaker now and he's got to take on several big teams. Still, he signed for Lotto and must have know what he was doing, they are reputed as one of the more chaotic teams around.

I agree with BSaddles. Adding to it, Cadel must have a good reason to stay with Lotto, so he should act with a bit more professionalism and just do his job... During last year's TdF, I couldn't stop wondering what his domestiques were feeling as he kept stating the weakness of "his" team.

The Giro will be a great race this year, with or without Cadel Evans!!!

richard wants a baum

Someones playing games, I doubt its the RCS, with armstrong and co. there will be enough publicity. Evans hasnt got anything to gain by saying yes then no. SL wanting to get some headlines away from LA and Astana? :roll:

victorponf

I prefer Mosquera´s team (Xacobeo) than Evans in the Giro