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afx237vi · July 2011

gsk82 wrote:

plowmar wrote:

:oops: sorry.

But if it is a 'possible', my thoughts surely still stand one team can not cover both positions with a hope of success.

why not?

success for wiggins would be finishing top 5, you dont need 8 men pulling on the front for 3 weeks to finish fifth. nor do you need 8 ment pulling on the front to win sprints

Not sure Tony Martin or Peter Velits would agree with that.

claudb · July 2011

Still no more news on HTC yet. I wonder if this is something to do with it ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14181329

andyp · July 2011

Extremely doubtful, that's how the technology industry works. It'll likely end with HTC agreeing to pay Apple a license fee for the patents they infringed.

RichN95. · July 2011

andyp wrote:

Extremely doubtful, that's how the technology industry works. It'll likely end with HTC agreeing to pay Apple a license fee for the patents they infringed.

I agree with you there. The list of patent infringement cases in the mobile phone industry would fill a phone book. They're constantly suing each other. It's just leverage on patent licensing deals.

petejuk · July 2011

There is also the contractual stuff the teams have to get right for the UCI. A few teams messed up last year and, from a sponsor's point of view, unless a team is guaranteed a ProTour place, they are unlikely to sign up. From reading this month's Procycling it seems that again this year, as last year, the objectives each team must meet to be assured a Protour licence remain unpublished making it hard for them to attract sponsors and riders alike.

knedlicky · July 2011

Tusher wrote:

Maybe Greipel will return- is his contract for one year or two? With OPL divorcing, will it count? He always sounded as if he loved the team, and then he can have Zabel all to himself.

If HTC keep Degenkolb, they don't need Greipel.
And from what I've heard, if no sponsor appears quickly, Holm and Zabel are leaving. Seems they have an offer from another team and have only deferred a final decision (until the first week of August) for the sake of Stapleton, .

iainf72 · July 2011

Holm has said Cuddly Bob has a sponsor for 3 years, they're just crossing the I's etc. He's not like to do a Ferretti or something like that.

iainf72 · July 2011

So Cuddly Bob has a sponsor according to the AFP

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/staplet ... 0&ns_fee=0

He continues to play his cards close to his chest, but it looks like it's not HTC

Hmmmmm

spezial · July 2011

iainf72 wrote:

So Cuddly Bob has a sponsor according to the AFP

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/staplet ... 0&ns_fee=0

He continues to play his cards close to his chest, but it looks like it's not HTC

Hmmmmm

Cue another winter of "guess the name" games for next season.

I bet they turn out as Team Highroad-Specialized, with a funny pronunciation of Highroad to make it sound exotic.

If Cavendish does go, I hope they build their team around Tony Martin. He's massively wasted as a breakaway-chaser, and it would be good to see him up there competing in the Grand Tours where he belongs.

Echo et les Boniments · July 2011

Spezial wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

So Cuddly Bob has a sponsor according to the AFP

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/staplet ... 0&ns_fee=0

He continues to play his cards close to his chest, but it looks like it's not HTC

Hmmmmm

Cue another winter of "guess the name" games for next season.

I bet they turn out as Team Highroad-Specialized, with a funny pronunciation of Highroad to make it sound exotic.

If Cavendish does go, I hope they build their team around Tony Martin. He's massively wasted as a breakaway-chaser, and it would be good to see him up there competing in the Grand Tours where he belongs.

I don't really think Tony Martin is such a Grand Tour prospect, he seems more suited for one week stage races. Peter Velits, on the other hand...

inkyfingers · July 2011

Spezial wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

So Cuddly Bob has a sponsor according to the AFP

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/staplet ... 0&ns_fee=0

He continues to play his cards close to his chest, but it looks like it's not HTC

Hmmmmm

Cue another winter of "guess the name" games for next season.

I bet they turn out as Team Highroad-Specialized, with a funny pronunciation of Highroad to make it sound exotic.

If Cavendish does go, I hope they build their team around Tony Martin. He's massively wasted as a breakaway-chaser, and it would be good to see him up there competing in the Grand Tours where he belongs.

I'm sorry, but I don't see Martin as a GC contender, when has he ever shown any signs that he may be?

I'm not critiscisng him, he's a great rider. He can ride a phenomenal time trial and can climb well enough to get over the the climbs in races like Paris-Nice and Romandy, but I don't think he's got what it takes to climb with the likes of Schleck and Contador. The only way he might have a chance is if they suddenly started putting lots more TT kilometres into grand tours.

I agree that he is often wasted leading out Cav when he could be going after stage wins and overall wins in shorter stage races, but I just don't see him as a GT contender.

spezial · July 2011

inkyfingers wrote:

Spezial wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

So Cuddly Bob has a sponsor according to the AFP

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/staplet ... 0&ns_fee=0

He continues to play his cards close to his chest, but it looks like it's not HTC

Hmmmmm

Cue another winter of "guess the name" games for next season.

I bet they turn out as Team Highroad-Specialized, with a funny pronunciation of Highroad to make it sound exotic.

If Cavendish does go, I hope they build their team around Tony Martin. He's massively wasted as a breakaway-chaser, and it would be good to see him up there competing in the Grand Tours where he belongs.

I'm sorry, but I don't see Martin as a GC contender, when has he ever shown any signs that he may be?

I'm not critiscisng him, he's a great rider. He can ride a phenomenal time trial and can climb well enough to get over the the climbs in races like Paris-Nice and Romandy, but I don't think he's got what it takes to climb with the likes of Schleck and Contador. The only way he might have a chance is if they suddenly started putting lots more TT kilometres into grand tours.

I agree that he is often wasted leading out Cav when he could be going after stage wins and overall wins in shorter stage races, but I just don't see him as a GT contender.

He looked good on Ventoux a couple of years back at the end of the 3 weeks, and if he really focused on a particular GT and had a bit of support I think he could be right up there.

He might lose a bit of time here and there to more explosive riders in the mountains, but if he can put 2/3 mins into people on the TTs, I think he's got a chance.

luckao · July 2011

Wouldn't HTC be better off focusing on P. Velits for the GC. He might be able to muster a decent position with some support.

inkyfingers · July 2011

Spezial wrote:

inkyfingers wrote:

Spezial wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

So Cuddly Bob has a sponsor according to the AFP

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/staplet ... 0&ns_fee=0

He continues to play his cards close to his chest, but it looks like it's not HTC

Hmmmmm

Cue another winter of "guess the name" games for next season.

I bet they turn out as Team Highroad-Specialized, with a funny pronunciation of Highroad to make it sound exotic.

If Cavendish does go, I hope they build their team around Tony Martin. He's massively wasted as a breakaway-chaser, and it would be good to see him up there competing in the Grand Tours where he belongs.

I'm sorry, but I don't see Martin as a GC contender, when has he ever shown any signs that he may be?

I'm not critiscisng him, he's a great rider. He can ride a phenomenal time trial and can climb well enough to get over the the climbs in races like Paris-Nice and Romandy, but I don't think he's got what it takes to climb with the likes of Schleck and Contador. The only way he might have a chance is if they suddenly started putting lots more TT kilometres into grand tours.

I agree that he is often wasted leading out Cav when he could be going after stage wins and overall wins in shorter stage races, but I just don't see him as a GT contender.

He looked good on Ventoux a couple of years back at the end of the 3 weeks, and if he really focused on a particular GT and had a bit of support I think he could be right up there.

He might lose a bit of time here and there to more explosive riders in the mountains, but if he can put 2/3 mins into people on the TTs, I think he's got a chance.

His ride at Ventoux doesn't make him a GT contender, he was way down on GC and in a soft break on a day when the GC contenders did nothing but look at each other.

He might be able to put 2/3 minutes into Andy Schleck or J Rod in the TT but I think they could easily gain that back in the mountains. He wouldn't take much time back in the TT against Contador, Nibali, Menchov or Evans and yet they would also drop him in the mountains.

If there was 100KM of flat TTing and no Contador then maybe he'd have a shot, but when was the last time we saw that in a GT?

spezial · July 2011

inkyfingers wrote:

Spezial wrote:

inkyfingers wrote:

Spezial wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

So Cuddly Bob has a sponsor according to the AFP

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/staplet ... 0&ns_fee=0

He continues to play his cards close to his chest, but it looks like it's not HTC

Hmmmmm

Cue another winter of "guess the name" games for next season.

I bet they turn out as Team Highroad-Specialized, with a funny pronunciation of Highroad to make it sound exotic.

If Cavendish does go, I hope they build their team around Tony Martin. He's massively wasted as a breakaway-chaser, and it would be good to see him up there competing in the Grand Tours where he belongs.

I'm sorry, but I don't see Martin as a GC contender, when has he ever shown any signs that he may be?

I'm not critiscisng him, he's a great rider. He can ride a phenomenal time trial and can climb well enough to get over the the climbs in races like Paris-Nice and Romandy, but I don't think he's got what it takes to climb with the likes of Schleck and Contador. The only way he might have a chance is if they suddenly started putting lots more TT kilometres into grand tours.

I agree that he is often wasted leading out Cav when he could be going after stage wins and overall wins in shorter stage races, but I just don't see him as a GT contender.

He looked good on Ventoux a couple of years back at the end of the 3 weeks, and if he really focused on a particular GT and had a bit of support I think he could be right up there.

He might lose a bit of time here and there to more explosive riders in the mountains, but if he can put 2/3 mins into people on the TTs, I think he's got a chance.

His ride at Ventoux doesn't make him a GT contender, he was way down on GC and in a soft break on a day when the GC contenders did nothing but look at each other.

He might be able to put 2/3 minutes into Andy Schleck or J Rod in the TT but I think they could easily gain that back in the mountains. He wouldn't take much time back in the TT against Contador, Nibali, Menchov or Evans and yet they would also drop him in the mountains.

If there was 100KM of flat TTing and no Contador then maybe he'd have a shot, but when was the last time we saw that in a GT?

OK, so he did manage to go out the back on an alarming basis on climbs this year, but I don't think he's ever had the chance to really have a go at a GT yet without pulling along the Cav Train in all the sprint stages. Vellits doesn't seem to spend as long working on the chases.

I do agree that this is probably a sign that the HTC management are saving Vellits for the climbs though as they they think he's got a better chance in the GC, so I am playing devil's advocate a little bit!

mz__jo · July 2011

Martin was a white jersey hope before he was a Cav tug. He might yet develope as he matures - top 10 material anyway

takethehighroad · July 2011

mz__jo wrote:

Martin was a white jersey hope before he was a Cav tug. He might yet develope as he matures - top 10 material anyway

Only in the same way that G is a white jersey hope, in that he hopes to have it after the first mountain stage as a bonus.

Romandy, Eneco, and this year's Paris Nice are tailor made for Tony Martin

inkyfingers · July 2011

I guess we have the likes of Lance Armstrong and Greg Lemond to blame the idea that the rest of the calendar is just one big warm up for the TdF, but in my eyes there is no shame in just being bloody good in the classics and/or shorter stage races.

spezial · July 2011

mz__jo wrote:

Martin was a white jersey hope before he was a Cav tug. He might yet develope as he matures - top 10 material anyway

It's amazing how it's gone from 3 German teams to none on the Pro Tour in hardly any time at all. Having a clean German rider competing in Grand Tours would be a good thing to get some German sponsors back for some financial stability.

I know HTC probably want to forget about the tarnished T-Mobile/Telekom roots of the team, but it sill has a lot of German connections in management and rider development.

So, when does Stefan Schumacher's ban end?

iainf72 · July 2011

Spezial wrote:

So, when does Stefan Schumacher's ban end?

Do keep up, he's back, racing and winning for the powerhouse that is Miche. His team mates like Rebellin have no problem with him.

spezial · July 2011

iainf72 wrote:

Spezial wrote:

So, when does Stefan Schumacher's ban end?

Do keep up, he's back, racing and winning for the powerhouse that is Miche. His team mates like Rebellin have no problem with him.

Damn it, I missed the Tour of Azerbaijan this year so that completely passed me by.

cornoyemade · July 2011

iainf72 wrote:

Sounds like Cuddly Bob has secured the teams future for 3 years. Pity he's almost got no riders left

Unless he makes up with Cavendish and he flips Sky AGAIN.

I'd be happy to see cavendishy go anywhere but an american team. I am really hoping it is SKY, because the infighting would be very entertaining. Of course, it would also be nice to see all of the brits on this board crying in their beer when Cavendishy choses his palmares over country, and stays with his HTC babysitters who drag his arse to the line every day.

Won't this be fun?

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