Astana: Pick your rider!!

sonny73
sonny73 Posts: 2,203
edited June 2009 in Pro race
Astana's new method for team selection? http://www.astana-cyclingteam.com/special_features/2009tourpoll.html

Comments

  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    Got to be Chris Horner, doesn't it? Currently leading with 44%...
  • Bakunin
    Bakunin Posts: 868
    Whoever is going to help Contador win.

    Which most deserves to ride the tour? -- this team is a disaster.

    The Hog has lost it
  • paulcuthbert
    paulcuthbert Posts: 1,016
    It's the top two, and it's looking like Horner and my man Brájkovič :)
    The most painful climb in Northern Ireland http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs200.snc1/6776_124247198694_548863694_2335754_8016178_n.jpg
  • lucybears
    lucybears Posts: 366
    Horner -
    Do you know who is the leader going to be this year for Astana? "Haha! Ooh now you're getting in to the questions.. On paper it's pretty easy. Alberto Contador BUT sometimes you have to look further than the cover.. "
    video
    http://www.oregonlive.com/tour-de-franc ... s_and.html
    interview.cyclingfever.com
  • avoidingmyphd
    avoidingmyphd Posts: 1,154
    why are people on this thread talking like this is actually the way they're choosing the roster, rather than just another internet poll?
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    You mean JB isn't watching on the interweb? Damn, I did think about voting for the fella at the bottom, he's got quite a nice jersey... :D
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Actually team selection is proving a tough matter. Contador wants some of his close riders like Noval and Paulinho on the squad but Armstrong has alternative views on who to pick. The gap between the two riders is getting wider and wider, they are very different characters to begin with but the Spanish media are claiming Armstrong is employing "destabilising tactics" to upset Contador, mind games from who's on the team to which hotel room Contador is put in (Armstrong gets the royal suite, Contador's next to the lift shaft) are being played.
  • schlepcycling
    schlepcycling Posts: 1,614
    It seems that the poll has been disabled.
    'Hello to Jason Isaacs'
  • micron
    micron Posts: 1,843
    I'd sympathise with Contador but he made his bed - he chose to stay there, even after the tactics of Boss Hog earlier in the season
  • Petromyzon
    Petromyzon Posts: 221
    That's a bit harsh... Contador is probably still the strongest GT rider in the world but Astana have so much pedigree in their tour 9 that they are liable to turn the big mountain stages in to nothing more than a fast group ride.

    I may exaggerate a little but even if he had his pick of teams would you leave the best one and risk an inferior talent pipping you to the top spot because he had Levi, Kloden, Popyvych, Zubeldia and Horner pulling them up the hills?

    That said I have no idea how the Astana politics will play out. I suspect it may not be as exciting as people would like, I think they will use the team to crush the other challengers and then Contador will really light up a few mountain stages, with a stage-managed victory for Armstrong in one of them.[/code]
  • skavanagh.bikeradar
    skavanagh.bikeradar Posts: 1,097
    I bet if it does come down to Lance wanting a stage, it'll be Ventoux.
  • micron
    micron Posts: 1,843
    That would be PEDigree, would it?

    I think Contador should have been allowed to seek a new team when Armstrong came back - potentially turning the 'best GT rider of his generation' into a water boy is a disgrace and Bruyneel of all people should know that the secret of his success has always been the 'all for one' approach with the team focused on one leader. But then Bruyneel didn't guide Contador to his Giro and Vuelta success and the TdF was a fluke.

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