BMC uninvited to Dwars door Vlaanderen

afx237vi
afx237vi Posts: 12,630
edited March 2010 in Pro race
For entering a no-name team:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/dwars-d ... ead-of-bmc

It really must have been bad, because the organisers think the race will be more animated by a bunch of wiry mountain goats from Xacobeo. In a Belgian semi classic.

Comments

  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    Can you imagine the reaction of the Xacobeo riders when hearing the news. :D
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    "Belgium? That's near the Pyrenees, right?"
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    :lol:

    On a serious point, this won't help BMC's image one bit, they might be spending July at the Tour of Austria.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    afx237vi wrote:
    "Belgium? That's near the Pyrenees, right?"

    LOL !!!
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    What was the BMC team due to ride?
    I like bikes...

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  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    Tactically very naive; they could have send Burghardt even if he climbed off at the feed.
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • SpaceJunk
    SpaceJunk Posts: 1,157
    calvjones wrote:
    Tactically very naive; they could have send Burghardt even if he climbed off at the feed.

    Naive? I doubt it. I'm sure they know what they're doing.

    And what does sending Marcus to the race, and getting him to jump into the team car at the first opportunity achieve?

    It's not going to please race organisers all that much; especially if the rest of the 'third rate team' did nothing.

    And it's not exactly going to win over other race organisers if they did this either.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    There were some comments from John L. about BMC not doing Paris-Nice. I'm sure he knows how to glad hand the right people etc.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    I don't think BMC will be at the Tour, regardless of how good Lelangue's contact list is.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    andyp wrote:
    I don't think BMC will be at the Tour, regardless of how good Lelangue's contact list is.

    And I don't think they'll be that heart broken.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    Apart from Cuddles. But he should have thought about that before signing for them.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    No, I get the sense Evans is going for the Giro. Given he's quite capable of winning this. But if he won, could they keep him out of the Tour? Yes, because the decision would have been taken a long time ago, so he'd be out anyway.

    But keep an eye on the Lampre situation, if they are ejected from the Pro Tour then I'd imagine BMC will get the call. The UCI is supposed to review this by the end of the month.
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,821
    I must have missed this, why might Lampre be thrown out?
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    They didn't satisfy the criteria for the Pro Tour licence:
    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/petacch ... ur-licence
    http://italiancyclingjournal.blogspot.c ... otour.html

    ...it's basically meeting the financial criteria - stability of funds, paying correct wages etc - required for Pro Tour status.
  • SpaceJunk
    SpaceJunk Posts: 1,157
    andyp wrote:
    Apart from Cuddles. But he should have thought about that before signing for them.

    I attended Evans' book launch last year on the day his move was announced (which included 60-odd minutes if question time for those attending), and several press conferences at the TDU.

    Everytime Evans was asked if he'd jeopardized his TdF ambitions he said that it wouldn't be the end of the world if he missed out, BMC are a work in progress, 2011 they will be stronger etc.

    Evans will never win the TdF - podium maybe. He might as well focus on winning the Giro and at least try and a grand tour win that way.
  • simon_e
    simon_e Posts: 1,707
    SpaceJunk wrote:
    Evans will never win the TdF - podium maybe. He might as well focus on winning the Giro and at least try and a grand tour win that way.
    He may also appreciate the different, less claustrophobic atmosphere and smaller press corp.

    I wonder if BMC and other sponsors might feel there's better publicity to be had there too. It must be difficult to make yourself heard above the 'big guns' (sponsors as well as personalities) at the TdF.
    Aspire not to have more, but to be more.
  • ms_tree
    ms_tree Posts: 1,405
    Isn't it a bit odd that neither Ballan or Hincapie weren't selected by the team to ride a Belgian race?
    'Google can bring back a hundred thousand answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.'
    Neil Gaiman

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