Transfers and contracts thread

mroli

Portal and Knaven appointed as DSs at Sky - Portal quitting riding partly due to heart problems....

iainf72

Gerdermann, Wegmann and Fuglsang confirmed for the Lux team.

DaveyL

mroli wrote:

Portal and Knaven appointed as DSs at Sky - Portal quitting riding partly due to heart problems....

Is that one of those alienated foreigners, staying on as a DS?

timmyflash

So Fabien's signed with Luxenbourg then.

secretsqirrel

Tomas Vaitkus, back to Astana from Radioshack.

RichN95.

Not transfer news, but there's an interesting bit of gossip in this month's Cycle Sport magazine.

Cycle Sport wrote:

We heard a great story this month but, unfortunately, the names must remain a mystery, otherwise we'll get into trouble with our source and he won't tell us any more gossip.
A very good young rider, whose agent may or may not be very well connected in the sport, is not particularly happy with his current team.
After a very good result this season, he feels undervalued. A big shiny team with plenty of cash offered to pay him nine times his current salary of around E50,000. Luvvly jubbly.
But there's a snag. He's under contract. Recognising the rider's increasing worth, his current team manager offered E150,000 for the remainder of his contract.
The agent tried to play hardball with the rider's team manager and stomped about a bit. The team manager played hardball back and said "Fine, he can stay here and he can stay on E50,000"
We don't know whether the agent threatened to tell his daddy or not.

Time to get a new agent, Richie.

takethehighroad

Future DS of big shiny new team announced

http://www.team-saxobank.com/ny_news.asp?lang=uk&n_id=2991

sonny73

Rogers confirmed with Sky: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rogers-signs-two-year-deal-with-sky

frenchfighter

Rujano signs two year deal, will return to European racing with the Androni Giocattoli squad

sonny73

Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project confirm Brice Feillu, Will Clarke and Stefan Denifl.

No_Ta_Doctor

Manuele Boaro and Volodimir Gustov to SaxoBank, Danish TV reporting rumours the chicken is on his way.

Tusher

Riis is going for The Chicken?
Wow- isn't this a buyer's market with Cervelo ceasing? Why Rasmussen- is he that much of a Danish nationalist?

No_Ta_Doctor

Tusher wrote:

Riis is going for The Chicken?
Wow- isn't this a buyer's market with Cervelo ceasing? Why Rasmussen- is he that much of a Danish nationalist?

Well it's just rumours, but Rasmussen has been almost begging Riis for a job and Riis hasn't definitively said no. I guess he'd be a stop-gap GC until Contador got back from whatever ban he gets. I can see the sense in it.

rick_chasey

Everyone gets a second chance don't they?

Tusher

Rick Chasey wrote:

Everyone gets a second chance don't they?

True, they should, but it does seem hard that his second chance may be preventing another cyclist's first chance.

rick_chasey

Tusher wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Everyone gets a second chance don't they?

True, they should, but it does seem hard that his second chance may be preventing another cyclist's first chance.

Yeah but that cyclist hasn't won the polka dot jersey has he?

No_Ta_Doctor

Rick Chasey wrote:

Everyone gets a second chance don't they?

That's approximately what Riis says, though without saying where that chance should come from.

Personally, I like second chances - at least for those that show some remorse and look like they would like to redeem themselves. Not sure that can be said of Rasmussen, who was taken to court and found not guilty of profitting from his involvement of the purchase of a blood spinning machine.

rick_chasey

No tA Doctor wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Everyone gets a second chance don't they?

That's approximately what Riis says, though without saying where that chance should come from.

Personally, I like second chances - at least for those that show some remorse and look like they would like to redeem themselves. Not sure that can be said of Rasmussen, who was taken to court and found not guilty of profitting from his involvement of the purchase of a blood spinning machine.

He's good value. How many proper pure climbers are there in the peleton nowadays?

Before his throw off he was great since he had no GC ambitions. And he's weird. We all love weird climbers.

iainf72

Caleb Fairly to HTC

afx237vi

Rick Chasey wrote:

Tusher wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Everyone gets a second chance don't they?

True, they should, but it does seem hard that his second chance may be preventing another cyclist's first chance.

Yeah but that cyclist hasn't won the polka dot jersey has he?

But what's the balance between having a past jersey winner and having someone who brings embarrassment to your team? Riis has had many years of sponsor troubles, and yet he still signs the biggest joke in cycling. What a great image to sell of your team.

Plus, he'll be 37 by the next TdF. Unless he dopes up even more than he did before he got banned, what's the point?

Richie Porte must be pissed off.

iainf72

Riis has said he is absolutely not signing the Chicken.

pedro118118

What's all this fuss about Richie Porte?

Sure, he had a decent first season as a pro and was especially impressive in the first half of the Giro, but anyone would think we were dealing with a super-human win machine. Let's see how he backs up his breakthrough season and then we can see whether he's genuine team-leading material and he can secure a contract, which reflects this progression. Probably from Team 'we'll-treble-your-money' Sky.

afx237vi

pedro118118 wrote:

What's all this fuss about Richie Porte?

Sure, he had a decent first season as a pro and was especially impressive in the first half of the Giro, but anyone would think we were dealing with a super-human win machine. Let's see how he backs up his breakthrough season and then we can see whether he's genuine team-leading material and he can secure a contract, which reflects this progression. Probably from Team 'we'll-treble-your-money' Sky.

I generally agree, except for one thing. I thought he was more impressive in the second half of the Giro, not the first. It's one thing to get a bit lucky and find yourself in a good breakaway that catapults you up the GC - it's quite another thing to hang around and stay there until the end of the race.

Besides, it wasn't just the Giro. He showed himself well and rode aggressively in San Sebastian, the Tour of Britain, Eneco Tour... and of course Romandie. I'm not saying he deserves to go into the Tour de France as outright leader based on one promising season, but he certainly deserves it more than Rasmussen does.

pedro118118

afx237vi wrote:

pedro118118 wrote:

What's all this fuss about Richie Porte?

Sure, he had a decent first season as a pro and was especially impressive in the first half of the Giro, but anyone would think we were dealing with a super-human win machine. Let's see how he backs up his breakthrough season and then we can see whether he's genuine team-leading material and he can secure a contract, which reflects this progression. Probably from Team 'we'll-treble-your-money' Sky.

I generally agree, except for one thing. I thought he was more impressive in the second half of the Giro, not the first. It's one thing to get a bit lucky and find yourself in a good breakaway that catapults you up the GC - it's quite another thing to hang around and stay there until the end of the race.

Besides, it wasn't just the Giro. He showed himself well and rode aggressively in San Sebastian, the Tour of Britain, Eneco Tour... and of course Romandie. I'm not saying he deserves to go into the Tour de France as outright leader based on one promising season, but he certainly deserves it more than Rasmussen does.

Now that is somthing we can agree on.
Porte has had his head turned by Sky, but he should just knuckle down and earn his big pay rise for 2011/12. Cuts both ways with a neo-pro contract - do you think Porte would accept a pay cut if he had tanked and been useless this season? I don' think so.

stagehopper

pedro118118 wrote:

Now that is somthing we can agree on.
Porte has had his head turned by Sky, but he should just knuckle down and earn his big pay rise for 2011/12. Cuts both ways with a neo-pro contract - do you think Porte would accept a pay cut if he had tanked and been useless this season? I don' think so.

He had offers from a number of teams apparently so not just Sky in this.

RichN95.

Another Saxo Bank departure: Bobby Julich is another new Sky DS/coach.

Tusher

Heard (Realpeloton podcast?) that Richie Porte is very disappointed that Julich is going.

pedro118118

stagehopper wrote:

pedro118118 wrote:

Now that is somthing we can agree on.
Porte has had his head turned by Sky, but he should just knuckle down and earn his big pay rise for 2011/12. Cuts both ways with a neo-pro contract - do you think Porte would accept a pay cut if he had tanked and been useless this season? I don' think so.

He had offers from a number of teams apparently so not just Sky in this.

Offers for what? The boy is under contract.
Or is that now irrelevant post Wiggo/Swift and cycling is now operating a football-style transfer fee system?
Perhaps Porte should have negotiated a more incentivised neo-pro contract in the first place, which provided for an uplift based on performances - bottom line is don't sign a contract you don't intend to honour.

stagehopper

pedro118118 wrote:

Offers for what? The boy is under contract.
Or is that now irrelevant post Wiggo/Swift and cycling is now operating a football-style transfer fee system?
Perhaps Porte should have negotiated a more incentivised neo-pro contract in the first place, which provided for an uplift based on performances - bottom line is don't sign a contract you don't intend to honour.

You don't seem to be having such a fit about Cancellara (who is under contract) leaving the same team.

iainf72

stagehopper wrote:

You don't seem to be having such a fit about Cancellara (who is under contract) leaving the same team.

Cancellera did it in a manly style and discussed it with Riis, negotiated a price and off he went. Porte was offered a big uplift in his wages but his agent still went out and shopped him around despite Riis not planning to release him.

They were different situations.