Paris-Nice (SPOILER)
I thought I'd set this up to discuss the upcoming Paris - Nice. There are no results yet as its Friday but I put the warning in the heading in case people want to continue discussing things.
This year's race is interesting from many angles. It's back on the official calendar and we're expecting the UCI and the FFC/AFLD to bury the hatchet, this time not in each other's skulls.
But politics are still on the menu. Fuji-Servetto have been blocked by ASO. This also sees the return of Contador to ASO's races. I think Bruyneel and Contador will be only to happy to ensure the Spaniard puts on a show and he must the be the red hot favourite for the race.
But for the overall there will be other candidates. Frank Schleck is ready, Posthuma's on form and Kreuziger is an outsider. But you never know, all those lumpy stages down through the Massif Central and the Rhone Valley will be hard to control, it's possible guys like Chavanel, Barredo and Pauriol take their chances.
Has Wiggins raced much this year, I'm wondering how he will do in the opening TT?
This year's race is interesting from many angles. It's back on the official calendar and we're expecting the UCI and the FFC/AFLD to bury the hatchet, this time not in each other's skulls.
But politics are still on the menu. Fuji-Servetto have been blocked by ASO. This also sees the return of Contador to ASO's races. I think Bruyneel and Contador will be only to happy to ensure the Spaniard puts on a show and he must the be the red hot favourite for the race.
But for the overall there will be other candidates. Frank Schleck is ready, Posthuma's on form and Kreuziger is an outsider. But you never know, all those lumpy stages down through the Massif Central and the Rhone Valley will be hard to control, it's possible guys like Chavanel, Barredo and Pauriol take their chances.
Has Wiggins raced much this year, I'm wondering how he will do in the opening TT?
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Comments
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What'll be interesting for me with Contador is how he divides his energy, early season form peaks, and training between Paris-Nice and Castilla y Leon, just a week after. Of course there's an interesting meeting scheduled there with mr.LA... and you can't peak every week. And Contador is capable of losing huge amounts of time in a stage if he feels like it. Will be interesting.0
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He'll want this one.
I see Kreuziger and LL Sanchez as his main rivals.
Nice to see THREE paddies in the line upIt's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.0 -
There's more. McQuaid has just said five teams have to cough up for the bio passport scheme. Cofidis, Bbox Bouygues Telecom, Silence Lotto, Quick Step and Caisse d'Epargne apparently have not paid in full and must meet the €120,000 bill otherwise they can't start.
Funny how this gets announced 24 hours before the race, I'd like a journalist to ask whether the teams had been warned of this for some time, if so why did they get to start other races? Or was the payment deadline today?0 -
It sounds like they've been in discussions already
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=re ... &type=lgns
I'd have to side with McQuaid if the teams have had official communications about it in the past. It would be a bit of a coup politically for McQuaid to pwn some French teams.Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0 -
I continue to find McQuaid's rational unfathomable. Having patched up the relationship with the ASO, he then pulls this "mines' bigger than yours" stunt on the eve of such a major race.
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
Bring back Monsieur Clerc......
But Bordonali clarified that the LPR team has indeed paid for the passport testing this year and is fully compliant with the whereabouts system.
"The wild card label is not synonymous with the biological passport," Bordonali said to Cyclingnews. The UCI's wild card designation is based upon participation in the passport programme in part, but also carries other requirements unrelated to the anti-doping effort.
Confusion reigns supreme."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Blazing Saddles wrote:But Bordonali clarified that the LPR team has indeed paid for the passport testing this year and is fully compliant with the whereabouts system.
"The wild card label is not synonymous with the biological passport," Bordonali said to Cyclingnews. The UCI's wild card designation is based upon participation in the passport programme in part, but also carries other requirements unrelated to the anti-doping effort.
Confusion reigns supreme.
According to the full story, it appears that Bordanali may have paid the first instalment but not the second:
"Bordonali took over LPR at the end of 2007 with star rider Danilo Di Luca in his ranks. He found out early in 2008 that the team had to pay an additional sum of around 150,000 euro to join the International Cycling Union's new Biological Passport system. He did not pay because he did not have guarantees in which races his team could enter and he did not want to fuel the war between the Grand Tour organisers and the International Cycling Union (UCI)."
Quite ironic too that after Tomke's ouburst about LPR, Quick-Step haven't paid up either.
I'm expecting Lefevre to threaten sue someone by tea-time.'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'0 -
Of course, it rather suits Tommeke if Petacchi is blocked from Milan - San Remo. But as you say, it's ironic if Quick-Step haven't paid. The other day Agritubel were supposed not to have paid, so presumably they've settled the bill?
For Paris-Nice it sounds like the teams have been warned about it, so they should have paid in time. The bio passport scheme is a major plank in the anti-doping move and you'd hope it would be backed, especially by the two French teams that rely on a level playing field for their chances.
But it is a theatrical move from McQuaid. Threatening to ban teams from Paris-Nice sounds like a very harsh move. You'd hope this sort of thing could be done in the background, not announced in a press conference the day before a race.0 -
You'd also expect him to announce it before the banks closed at 5 pm CET on a Friday!0
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It's backfiring already. Cofidis said they'd pay and that they simply ordered the payment to be made today, on deadline day, and not before. After all, no bank or credit shop is going to pay the UCI a day earlier that it has to, that's basic shopkeeping.
McQuaid should not have named these teams in public until the deadline had passed.0 -
Conta-doper is going to rip a new one. He JUST came off a win in the Volta ao Algarve so he has been training-racing with blood refills already.
Astana will destroy the other teams unless they can dope with their frozen packed red cells. Lets hope none of Contador's competition have a power shortage to their freezers! Maybe it could be a race.0 -
Kléber wrote:It's backfiring already. Cofidis said they'd pay and that they simply ordered the payment to be made today, on deadline day, and not before. After all, no bank or credit shop is going to pay the UCI a day earlier that it has to, that's basic shopkeeping.
McQuaid should not have named these teams in public until the deadline had passed.
The deadline was yesterday though ... and it was only a 50% payment by March 5th,0 -
Spot on!LangerDan wrote:Quite ironic too that after Tomke's ouburst about LPR, Quick-Step haven't paid up either.
I'm expecting Lefevre to threaten sue someone by tea-time.Patrick Leferve wrote:"I have no problems with taking this to the courts to seek damages if we're not allowed to race tomorrow [sic]. The UCI can't turn around two days before the race and blackmail us like this, not with all the delays and problems they've had with the biological passport in the past. We'll be turning up for the race tomorrow, you can count on that."
From here;
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id= ... mar06news40 -
I stand corrected on that if it's late, thanks Stagehopper :oops:
But a governing body should not be naming and shaming teams like this in public, nor should it be threatening teams on the eve of a critical race. Funding the bio passport is a serious thing but it seems the payment details were changed by the UCI without getting the teams to agree to it. Over on cyclingnews.com Quick Step bossman Lefevere has gone beserk about it.
Luckily Vaughters adds some calming words, a voice of sense in a sport desperate for some calm.0 -
Interesting that the AFLD can target riders if they want to, eh?
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/06032009/ ... ation.html
It almost sounds positive....Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0 -
Kléber wrote:I stand corrected on that if it's late, thanks Stagehopper :oops:
But a governing body should not be naming and shaming teams like this in public, nor should it be threatening teams on the eve of a critical race. Funding the bio passport is a serious thing but it seems the payment details were changed by the UCI without getting the teams to agree to it. Over on cyclingnews.com Quick Step bossman Lefevere has gone beserk about it.
Luckily Vaughters adds some calming words, a voice of sense in a sport desperate for some calm.
From what I can tell Quickstep only paid 25% and wanted to spread out the rest of the cost over the full year. Other teams with smaller budgets have paid up in full so why should QS get preferential treatment?
Have to agree that this would have been better done behind closed doors but you have without knowing the extent of the discussions it's hard to lay the blame fully at the door of the UCI.
on a positive not as ian pointed out Bordry seems to be very happy with the access the UCI has given him and the AFLD for Paris-Nice. Has McQ turned over a new leaf?0 -
Everyone has paid up and will start.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id= ... /mar07news
Maybe, just maybe, McQuaid's move was a calculated one?0 -
The AFLD / UCI piece is really interesting. Reading Bondry's comments in Cyclingnews it looks like the AFLD will be doing the tests in the TdF stylee.
Does this mean we need to keep our eyes on last minute withdrawls?Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0 -
Peace in our time? Bodies working together on doping issues? Sun is shining? Paris-Nice tomorrow? This can't be cycling as we know it.0
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sorry if its been said somewhere else but reallu cant find out, anyone know?0
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meant to ask if its on TV?0
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T.V.times
Paris-nice and tirreno adriatico are on eurosport heres the times:
Live Cycling on eurosport+british eurosport:
Sunday 5pm stage 1:
Monday 9th March stage 2: 1:45pm:
Tuesday 10th stage 3: 1:45pm
Wednesday 11th stage 4:1:30pm
Thursday 12th stage 5: 1:30pm
Friday 13th stage 6: 1:30
Saturday 14th stage 7 2pm
Sunday 15th stage 8 2:35pm
highlights on these times of both Paris-Nice and tirreno adriatico.
Paris-Nice
Stage 1 Sunday 8th March 5:00pm
Stage 2 Monday 9th March 9:30pm
Stage 3 Tuesday 10th 11:45 pm
Stage 4 Thursday 12th 12:15 AM
Stage 5 Thursday 12th 8:30pm
Stage 6 Friday 13th 11:15 pm
Stage 7 Saturday 14th 2:pm
Stage 8 Sunday 15th 2:35pm
Tirreno Adriatico
Stage 1 Wednesday 11th 3:30 pm
Stage 2 Thursday 12th 4:15 pm
Stage 3 Friday 13th 10:30 pm
Stage 4 Saturday 14th 5:30 pm
Stage 5 Sunday 15th 3:30 pm
Milan-Sanremo live sunday 22nd march 12-150 -
Bradley Wiggins fastest so far. Woo Hoo, he's my PTP pick!0
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Don't think anybody expected that result! Contador's on good form!Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.0
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Aye, looks like Contador has prepared well for this coming season0
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:shock:
Evans is the opposite!0 -
sergen wrote:Ste_S wrote:Aye, looks like Contador has prepared well for this coming season
Indeed.
that result doesn't sit comfortably. looking back to last year, when it seems as though the afld testers seemed to be one step ahead of the uci, i wonder... the performance doesnt make sense especially when it had started to rain again0 -
Reminds me of a certain other Bruyneel protege.
Edit: Had not read the above ^ when writing that! Comment based purely on the performance - not doping suspicion.Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.0
