Radio Shack Riders

timoid.

Aren't Leipheimer and Horner too darn old?

Why not pinch some better young strongmen like Rogers, Gomez Marchante or Knees

rockmount

iainf72 wrote:

Robmanic1 wrote:

Any mention of Basso yet?

That would annoy me a large amount.

Oooh fingers crossed then

tourdephila

Stijn Devolder from quickstep. former postie and three-year disco could make a return. LA spent like 15 minutes chatting with him at the front of the peleton during the ride toward paris.

mrushton

Shouldn't we refer to them as TeamTandy?

mididoctors

Timoid. wrote:

Aren't Leipheimer and Horner too darn old?

Why not pinch some better young strongmen like Rogers, Gomez Marchante or Knees

simon gerrens?

hommelbier

greeny12 wrote:

People are forgetting that LA himself has said he'll do only one more Tour in 2010..

People also remember that LA retired in 2006.

Le Commentateur

bipedal wrote:

He seems to like pocketing a top salary with none of the pressure to lead the team

Yeah, funny that – what a weirdo.

Le Commentateur

tourdephila wrote:

Stijn Devolder from quickstep. former postie and three-year disco could make a return. LA spent like 15 minutes chatting with him at the front of the peloton during the ride toward paris.

Good spot, Boonen would then have one rival less on his team at Flanders.

iainf72

So I've been thinking about this Radio Shack thing. They've signed a 2 year deal to sponsor the team. Lance reckons he'll compete again next year but no word on the year after that, so you end up with a situation similar to Discovery where the interest drops off considerably when he's not involved.

Aren't we in danger of having a pop up team, especially as there is no clear succession plan. Taylor might be good but there have been many other good Americans who have failed to capture the American publics imagination like Lance has?

richard wants a baum

Which is why Andy would be silly to sign, you can just see Discovery Channel written all over it.

bipedal

iainf72 wrote:

So I've been thinking about this Radio Shack thing. They've signed a 2 year deal to sponsor the team. Lance reckons he'll compete again next year but no word on the year after that, so you end up with a situation similar to Discovery where the interest drops off considerably when he's not involved.

Aren't we in danger of having a pop up team, especially as there is no clear succession plan. Taylor might be good but there have been many other good Americans who have failed to capture the American publics imagination like Lance has?

what about if he stayed on as a DS?

pottssteve

Any chance he could recruit from outside the current pro road ranks? Is there time to get someone like Dave Wiens a license?

iainf72

bipedal wrote:

what about if he stayed on as a DS?

I'm not convinced the great unwashed give a hoot about DS'ing. All they see if the guy on the ugly bike.

It's like with Discovery, post riding he was going to do some non-bike related stuff but it didn't seem to go anywhere.

donaldinho

dennisn wrote:

GroupOfOne MkII wrote:

Surely Shleck the younger will just look at Contador's problems this year and say 'Err no thanks guys'. Unless he wants to spend 2010 being told to tow Lance to the bottom of the final climb then I doubt he'd join Radio Shack. On the other hand, since when have cyclists done the sensible thing!

Then there is always "the money". I've been known to do jobs I didn't like for "the money".
Cyclist, like other athletes do have a limited time frame to make the big dollar.

If Contador had taken a pay cut last year and moved to a smaller team perhaps he could have entered and won the Tour then too... I'm sure any difference in wages would have been dwarfed by the monetary value of winning the Tour.*

* sponsorships, appearance fees etc

bipedal

iainf72 wrote:

bipedal wrote:

what about if he stayed on as a DS?

I'm not convinced the great unwashed give a hoot about DS'ing. All they see if the guy on the ugly bike.

It's like with Discovery, post riding he was going to do some non-bike related stuff but it didn't seem to go anywhere.

but on the evidence of this year I can imagine the English speaking press broadcasting every utterance if he's there... If he gave interviews after each stage in a branded cap it would do the job surely?! Plus as long as phil and Paul commentate it doesn't matter if lance is in the car, they'll still talk about him more than anyone else... But maybe that's all nonsense and the press aren't actually that shallow!

frenchfighter

Ekimov:

LA is part of the team and no one thankful word to the all team from AC! NO RESPECT! Sad!about 13 hours ago from web

simon_e

leguape wrote:

Andy needs to grip up and let Frank look after himself. It's sweet how they are brothers and all that nice sentimentality but it's not really getting him anywhere while he's looking back down the road for the less-gifted sibling.

Sentimental? I don't think so. Wasn't Andy trying to get Frank onto the podium? I'm sure Andy knew he couldn't get 5 minutes on Contador up the Ventoux so the plan would be to try to pull Frank clear of Armstrong and Wiggins. As it was he nearly took 4th off Bradley...

I'd suggest that, as long as Riis retains a good support team for them, Andy is in the best place to challenge Contador or anyone else. Why on earth would he want to ride for someone who he beat into third place?

greeny12

frenchfighter wrote:

Ekimov:

LA is part of the team and no one thankful word to the all team from AC! NO RESPECT! Sad!about 13 hours ago from web

Yeah, I just spotted that.

Wonder who AC was supposed to thank? The openly hostile LA and LL??? Nope. LA acolytes Zubeldia and Popo who made sure he lost time in the Great Echelon Split? Nope. Kloden? Not sure why. Muravyev - was he even in the race? Ditto Rast. Maybe only Paulinho, and I guess he could do that in private mano a mano!!!

timoid.

greeny12 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Ekimov:

LA is part of the team and no one thankful word to the all team from AC! NO RESPECT! Sad!about 13 hours ago from web

Yeah, I just spotted that.

Wonder who AC was supposed to thank? The openly hostile LA and LL??? Nope. LA acolytes Zubeldia and Popo who made sure he lost time in the Great Echelon Split? Nope. Kloden? Not sure why. Muravyev - was he even in the race? Ditto Rast. Maybe only Paulinho, and I guess he could do that in private mano a mano!!!

Popo, Rast and Muravyev pulled like dogs for hours on the front of the peloton. Kloden was Contador's best lieutenant.

Good as he is, Contador doesn't win without those guys.

andyp

Contador may have thanked his team mates without using Twitter. Which would be a refreshing change.

teagar

Le Commentateur wrote:

tourdephila wrote:

Stijn Devolder from quickstep. former postie and three-year disco could make a return. LA spent like 15 minutes chatting with him at the front of the peloton during the ride toward paris.

Good spot, Boonen would then have one rival less on his team at Flanders.

I really can't see Devolder going anywhere.

He's Mr.Flanders, even buying chips with mayo and a beer from his local fast food joint to celebrate his Flanders win.

Why would he go to a team which has absolutely no interest in the northern classics?

Not a chance.

secretsqirrel

Timoid. wrote:

Popo, Rast and Muravyev pulled like dogs for hours on the front of the peloton. Kloden was Contador's best lieutenant.

Good as he is, Contador doesn't win without those guys.

+1

Contador has had good support from the team in all his Astana GT victories, probably the most notable being the 2008 Giro, when the team having been invited last minute pulled together for him. I watched a DVD of this race recently, and it reminded me how the whole team had to fight for that victory. And to be fair to Contador, he has always acknowledged this.

Many seem to be claiming that he has won on his own, and I can only assume they have been watching highlight shows, or the last 5kms of each stage, when has leader he does have to take it on himself.

andy_wrx

iainf72 wrote:

So I've been thinking about this Radio Shack thing. They've signed a 2 year deal to sponsor the team. Lance reckons he'll compete again next year but no word on the year after that, so you end up with a situation similar to Discovery where the interest drops off considerably when he's not involved.

Aren't we in danger of having a pop up team, especially as there is no clear succession plan. Taylor might be good but there have been many other good Americans who have failed to capture the American publics imagination like Lance has?

I can remember when Tom Danielson was being touted as 'the next great American hero'...

andyp

Good calll on Danielson. What are the odds that he'll end up at Radio Shack? He's sucked at Garmin so might feel he can improve by getting back on Armstrong's program.

iainf72

andyp wrote:

Good calll on Danielson. What are the odds that he'll end up at Radio Shack? He's sucked at Garmin so might feel he can improve by getting back on Ferrari's program.

Fixed that for you.

dennisn

andy_wrx wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

So I've been thinking about this Radio Shack thing. They've signed a 2 year deal to sponsor the team. Lance reckons he'll compete again next year but no word on the year after that, so you end up with a situation similar to Discovery where the interest drops off considerably when he's not involved.

Aren't we in danger of having a pop up team, especially as there is no clear succession plan. Taylor might be good but there have been many other good Americans who have failed to capture the American publics imagination like Lance has?

I can remember when Tom Danielson was being touted as 'the next great American
hero'...

I can remember when (put rider name here) was being touted as "the next great(put country name here) hero".

dennisn

andyp wrote:

Contador may have thanked his team mates without using Twitter. Which would be a refreshing change.

Good call. Maybe he did shake everyone's hand, in private, and tell them how much he appreciated their help. These things do happen and he's under no obligation to "twitter"
it to the world.

Cadence Minge

greeny12 wrote:

People are forgetting that LA himself has said he'll do only one more Tour in 2010.

So the pitch to Andy S surely is "help me beat that Spanish git next year then you have the total support of my super-team and the benefits of my know-how and that of the Hog to dominate the race after that."

Andy's still a youngster and I reckon that would make an intriguing offer with a big potential payback for one year of subjugation....

Good point, well made.

It would make me cry real man tears, but you wouldn't bet against it given the reasoning above. The infighting was the only thing that livened the Tour De Astana up this year, without that it's gonna be a procession next year once AC is busted.

(And, begin)

afx237vi

Maybe Contador thanked everyone at the celebration party that Armstrong couldn't be bothered to attend.

jimmythecuckoo

andyp wrote:

Contador may have thanked his team mates without using Twitter. Which would be a refreshing change.

the social networking backlash starts here