Cadel Evans Future
Where should he be next year?
It’s not just because he’s pulled on the Gold jersey that he is suddenly gonna take over the cycling world. I don’t think he’s capable of beating anyone who finished on the podium in Paris, but should he try and change teams?
The only possible teams I can see him be benefited by moving to are Katuscha and Sky. And of course If Menchov/Sastre/Schleck move teams then maybe to there.
Will Lotto want him there next year?
It’s not just because he’s pulled on the Gold jersey that he is suddenly gonna take over the cycling world. I don’t think he’s capable of beating anyone who finished on the podium in Paris, but should he try and change teams?
The only possible teams I can see him be benefited by moving to are Katuscha and Sky. And of course If Menchov/Sastre/Schleck move teams then maybe to there.
Will Lotto want him there next year?
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Comments
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He doesnt have the class to win a GT and I dont think anyone will build a team arround him.
I might be wrong but I think he has passed his sell by date..
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I think he has to do something in this Vuelta or he can forget being classed as a GT contender in the future. And I can't see him doing a Cunego and winning a couple of classics any time soon?
So it's now or never for Cadel.0 -
cage fighting seems popular now0
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I agree. He needs a good ride in the Vuelta to persuade a team that he is still a GC contender, and he's worth building a team around.0
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The thing is there are GC's and GC's. He is NEVER going to win the TdF, he missed his chance, hard to see him getting a Giro either, too many stronger contenders usually. He might have a Vuelta in him depending on who rides and who doesn't. I feel if he can't win it now he's done for.0
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bikerZA wrote:I agree. He needs a good ride in the Vuelta to persuade a team that he is still a GC contender, and he's worth building a team around.
He may be fortunate in that the opposition in this years Vuelta is not as good as it could be.I know that Valverde is being touted to win but he has a dodgy GT record so i think Evans may just pull this one off . I find myself slightly warming to Evans a bit dont know why that should be as he often is that surly he has a face like a bulldog licking p*ss off a nettle.Gasping - but somehow still alive !0 -
dougzz wrote:The thing is there are GC's and GC's. He is NEVER going to win the TdF, he missed his chance, hard to see him getting a Giro either, too many stronger contenders usually. He might have a Vuelta in him depending on who rides and who doesn't. I feel if he can't win it now he's done for.
I feel sorry for him. It took three, very good riders on the same team to beat him last year, and with one decent domestique and/or without one dubious tactical decision (not following Carlos & trusting to cane Frank in the TT) he would have won.
Agree that might have been his best chance for a GC though. Mind you, I'm really not sure about the level between Giro and Tour. Evans could have beaten Menchov on this year's course I reckon.___________________
Strava is not Zen.0 -
calvjones wrote:
I feel sorry for him. It took three, very good riders on the same team to beat him last year, and with one decent domestique and/or without one dubious tactical decision (not following Carlos & trusting to cane Frank in the TT) he would have won.
Agree that might have been his best chance for a GC though. Mind you, I'm really not sure about the level between Giro and Tour. Evans could have beaten Menchov on this year's course I reckon.
And he should have caned them both in the TT, he sort of lost his bottle there a bit. I do feel sorry for him in that he lost the 2 tours by such a small margin. I don't buy into this need for domestique support on the mountains though, at that point it's all about what you've got yourself.0 -
By the last mountain,maybe,but you need to get there in contention.dougzz wrote:calvjones wrote:
I feel sorry for him. It took three, very good riders on the same team to beat him last year, and with one decent domestique and/or without one dubious tactical decision (not following Carlos & trusting to cane Frank in the TT) he would have won.
Agree that might have been his best chance for a GC though. Mind you, I'm really not sure about the level between Giro and Tour. Evans could have beaten Menchov on this year's course I reckon.
And he should have caned them both in the TT, he sort of lost his bottle there a bit. I do feel sorry for him in that he lost the 2 tours by such a small margin. I don't buy into this need for domestique support on the mountains though, at that point it's all about what you've got yourself.
Look at the sterling work done for Wiggo by Vandervelde on the Colombiere,it deffinately saved wiggo's fourth spot.so many cols,so little time!0 -
I don't know but a guy who is the No 1 wheelsucker, who then whinges that he can't get by.
Organiser, National Championship 50 mile Time Trial 19720 -
deejay wrote:I don't know but a guy who is the No 1 wheelsucker, who then whinges that he can't get by.
Yeah but this year we saw a different side of the hitherto whingeing Aussie. Admittedly the net result is the same but it was more interesting. Also apparently hes got arms that hang like a gibbon
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Don't forget he's a pretty nippy hilly classics rider too.
Lotto would be better off having him in peak form for the Amstel - Fleche - Liege week and having him go at some of the tougher stages, rather than having him hover around the top 5 in in the TdF GC, making him heavily marked.
Lotto could do with some actual wins rather than good placings, and since they're Flemish and get hammered on the cobbles by their arch-rivals, bagging a hilly classic would certainly do them some good!Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.0 -
markwalker wrote:deejay wrote:I don't know but a guy who is the No 1 wheelsucker, who then whinges that he can't get by.
Yeah but this year we saw a different side of the hitherto whingeing Aussie. Admittedly the net result is the same but it was more interesting. Also apparently hes got arms that hang like a gibbon
Wheelsucker or not exciting racing or not it doesnt matter. In the end there are winners and losers. If you win nobody recalls if you wheelsucked your way to victory. If you lose and attack it doesnt matter in the end you lost. You are paid for finishes not entertainment.0 -
teagar wrote:Don't forget he's a pretty nippy hilly classics rider too.
Lotto would be better off having him in peak form for the Amstel - Fleche - Liege week and having him go at some of the tougher stages, rather than having him hover around the top 5 in in the TdF GC, making him heavily marked.
Lotto could do with some actual wins rather than good placings, and since they're Flemish and get hammered on the cobbles by their arch-rivals, bagging a hilly classic would certainly do them some good!
They have Phil Gilbert for that though and he is from Belgium, so better if he wins for the sponsors.
Edit- Correction to his origin :oops:0 -
Actually Gilbert is Walloon-- Dirk Hofman Motorhomes --0
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Bugly wrote:markwalker wrote:deejay wrote:I don't know but a guy who is the No 1 wheelsucker, who then whinges that he can't get by.
Yeah but this year we saw a different side of the hitherto whingeing Aussie. Admittedly the net result is the same but it was more interesting. Also apparently hes got arms that hang like a gibbon
Wheelsucker or not exciting racing or not it doesnt matter. In the end there are winners and losers. If you win nobody recalls if you wheelsucked your way to victory. If you lose and attack it doesnt matter in the end you lost. You are paid for finishes not entertainment.
Yes but i dont pay him but i do want to see exciting races and Evans has started to be more interesting. especially his penchant for headbutting.0 -
Gilbert is great rider. speaks Flemish as well.0
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\markwalker wrote:Yes but i dont pay him but i do want to see exciting races and Evans has started to be more interesting. especially his penchant for headbutting.
Thats as exciting as he gets0 -
Bugly wrote:
\markwalker wrote:Yes but i dont pay him but i do want to see exciting races and Evans has started to be more interesting. especially his penchant for headbutting.
Thats as exciting as he gets
how much more exciting do you want? Attacks repeatedly in the mountains when he can (duel with Valverde) and headbutts people. If he sprinted to a win every day internet forum people would complain its too predictable. Hes a grand tour / stage race rider his whole season is based on a very small opportunity that requires a team, tactics and personal performance to peak at just the right moment. He doesnt appear as talented as some others but now hes fighting differently as a viewer its more appealing than previously (well for me at least)
Armstrong was boring in the end and the battle for the lesser jerseys more exciting and closely fought and in the case of the green jersey right into the final stage.0 -
Ok. So Evans finished 3rd by a minute and a half, which is basically what he lost with a flat tyre on stage 13(?) If he was good enough he would have made it up but anyway. The quality he beat was Gesink, Basso and Mosquera.
Should he aim for the Giro-Vuelta double and accept that he wont win the tour because a) he's not quite good enough and b) his team doesnt exactly help the situation.0 -
Gragi wrote:Gilbert is great rider. speaks Flemish as well.
You'd be hard pressed to find a Belgian rider who doesn't speak both French and Dutch.
He's not so great anyway. Still hasn't seemed to have learnt that attacking the peleton with 30km is not going to work.
He did it once, further out, in Het Volk, ( the one that doesn't quite matter) and that's it.
Evans is definitely better sticking to single stages and classics, and perhaps the odd one weeker as far as I'm concerned, unless they go all out at the Giro, in which case they could run a Cunego-esq programme of full tilt for Giro (i mean, if Menchov can win it falling off...), and then full tilt again for the Worlds and Lombardi, with a couple stage attempts in the Vuelta.Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.0 -
teagar wrote:Gragi wrote:Gilbert is great rider. speaks Flemish as well.
You'd be hard pressed to find a Belgian rider who doesn't speak both French and Dutch.
He's not so great anyway. Still hasn't seemed to have learnt that attacking the peloton with 30km is not going to work.
He did it once, further out, in Het Volk, ( the one that doesn't quite matter) and that's it.
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Does last years Paris -Tours matter ?Gasping - but somehow still alive !0 -
Moray Gub wrote:teagar wrote:Gragi wrote:Gilbert is great rider. speaks Flemish as well.
You'd be hard pressed to find a Belgian rider who doesn't speak both French and Dutch.
He's not so great anyway. Still hasn't seemed to have learnt that attacking the peloton with 30km is not going to work.
He did it once, further out, in Het Volk, ( the one that doesn't quite matter) and that's it.
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Does last years Paris -Tours matter ?
Given his salary, probably not enough.Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.0 -
Evans may as well carry on doing what he's doing - aiming for grand tours - I doubt he'll ever win one but he's a stage race rider rather than a one day rider - he isn't aggressive enough to win a classic especially with his lack of any kind of finish. There's always a chance he can nick a win in the Vuelta or Giro in the next two years if the luck goes with him.
The alternative might be for him to go for king of the mountains jerseys - maybe he sees himself as a bit too good for that - maybe he is - but if he was willing to sacrifice the GC I'm sure he could pick up 2-3 TdF spotted jerseys before his career is out.
it's a hard life if you don't weaken.0 -
Unlikely as it may be, I'd love to see Evans give Paris-Roubaix a real shot. If he's mentally right, he is a real tough cookie and I think this race is one of the classics tailor made for him.0
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Bugly wrote:
\markwalker wrote:Yes but i dont pay him but i do want to see exciting races and Evans has started to be more interesting. especially his penchant for headbutting.
Thats as exciting as he gets
Evans is excellent value. Suffered terrible luck, crap team support, great reaction to press...sort of a modern day Fignon but without the wins.
The best thing about him.....IMO he's honest and clean getting by on an incredibly touch and disciplined training regime on his own. He's a solitary dude. It would be great for cycling fans to get behind the likes of Evans and Wiggins.
They won't be jumping away in the mountains of bettering Cancellara in a pretty flat TT but you can trust them.0 -
Robbie McEwen, Andy Schleck. Both signed autographs for us at the hotel after the '08 TdF.
Mr Evans, however, refused...
All were knackered after the final stage. Ok, Cadel was pissed off after not winning again, but except for the winner, they'd all lost the Tour! A bit of humility wouldn't go amiss though.
Maybe coming from a single rider sport of Mountain Biking, perhaps he can't get his head around the team thing, or his team can't get used to supporting him when it's needed.
Either way, everything has to come together to get him on the podium on the top step.
Great rider, crap attitude and approach, but it may come good in the end.0 -
Cadel a funny bloke and really hard to like, i think he should really look at the likes of Contador and A. Shleck and ask himself if he thinks he can really beat these guys in the mountains. I think race's like L-B-L and Fleche Wallone are perfect for him and he seems to always do well without making them his focus. The problem is that his signed to be a Tour rider and even though silence dont support him and seem to do anything they can to derail a decent July they wont want Cadel focusing on other racing his there wipping boy. I personally think a change of teams is what Cadel needs.Take care of the luxuries and the necessites will take care of themselves.0
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Can he really win a classic though ? With his lack of finish he'd have to be far more aggressive than I've ever seen him ride. OK so he had a go in Paris Nice this year - but all that did was show up his lack of any acceleration compared to the likes of Valverde.
People keep saying how tough he is but is he really tough - the way he acts make me think he's mentally fragile compared to some of them. The way he couldn't hold Sanchez's wheel at the Vuelta - if he'd stayed in the front group I'd have put money on him staying with them - but once something went wrong I don't think his head was in the right place and that cost him.
it's a hard life if you don't weaken.0
