de Gendt & General Musings

Bo Duke
Bo Duke Posts: 1,058
edited October 2013 in Pro race
It's sad to see that Thomas de Gendt who came 3rd in last years Giro will likely not find a ride for next season. He missed the 2012 Tour getting married and had limited success since (no pun intended!). I think it's more a sad reflection of how cycling has been affected by the global economy with the loss of Euskaltel, Vacansoleil, Sojasun and now questions being asked about Saxo Bank.

Tough times and I hope the riders are able to both pick up remaining places and/or adapt to civvy street without too great a shock.

It's worth observing that events seem to follow little logic in life and I wouldn't be surprised that someone has noticed that a lot of talent, management and backroom staff and equipment are currently available 'on the cheap' and we might still see a new team rise from the ashes along the lines of a speculative Sr Alonso style entry. Fingers crossed.
'Performance analysis and Froome not being clean was a media driven story. I haven’t heard one guy in the peloton say a negative thing about Froome, and I haven’t heard a single person in the peloton suggest Froome isn’t clean.' TSP

Comments

  • Richmond Racer
    Richmond Racer Posts: 8,561
    Problem is that new ProTour teams need to get all their paperwork into the UCI by 1 Oct...so it looks like there'll be just 17 ProTour teams next season

    IAM are now planning on stepping up in 2015 I think?

    With Drapac moving up to ProConti, they've just announced some signings including Jonathan Cantwell.
  • Yellow Peril
    Yellow Peril Posts: 4,466
    Very sad indeed but as we know cycling hasn't helped itself over the last 20 years in relation to drug scandals etc. Now a new gerneration of cyclists will suffer due to a lack of teams
    @JaunePeril

    Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
  • rubertoe
    rubertoe Posts: 3,994
    T de Gendt is pricing himself out of the market. He wants World Tour Wages with out world tour results and has nothing to offer interms of Points and is living off an attacking style, a win on the stelvio and thrird in the Giro a few years ago.

    Its is a sad situation though...
    "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

    PX Kaffenback 2 = Work Horse
    B-Twin Alur 700 = Sundays and Hills
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,259
    rubertoe wrote:
    T de Gendt is pricing himself out of the market. He wants World Tour Wages with out world tour results and has nothing to offer interms of Points and is living off an attacking style, a win on the stelvio and thrird in the Giro a few years ago.
    His performance in the Giro was only last year. Those points are still live.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    would seem mutually beneficial
    http://fr.teameuropcar.com/cyclisme/le- ... tory.shtml

    They need at least one more rider. I think he would go well with Rolland
  • r0bh
    r0bh Posts: 2,448
    RichN95 wrote:
    rubertoe wrote:
    T de Gendt is pricing himself out of the market. He wants World Tour Wages with out world tour results and has nothing to offer interms of Points and is living off an attacking style, a win on the stelvio and thrird in the Giro a few years ago.
    His performance in the Giro was only last year. Those points are still live.

    He's right y'know, points are counted from last two years:

    http://www.uci.ch/Modules/BUILTIN/getObject.asp?MenuId=&ObjTypeCode=FILE&type=FILE&id=ODYwOTU&LangId=1

    The fact remains though that De Gendt has had a bit of a stinker this year.
  • stanislav
    stanislav Posts: 1,151
    De Gendt is an in and out performer,He clearly has ability but has more bad days than good so I can see why teams aren't queing up to sign him.On high wages he represents a gamble.
    PTP winner 2015.
  • squired
    squired Posts: 1,153
    Lets face it, there are a bunch of positives/negatives that we aren't going to know about. Does he fit well into a team? Is he willing to ride for team mates when asked to? Does he train hard? Is he easy going or disruptive?

    Maybe it is all about wages and lack of points, or maybe other teams just don't see him as someone that would fit in for any of a number of reasons. I wouldn't mind betting that he is looking to be a team leader, while some teams might see him as more of a super domestique that can also get results, with a leader role in certain races.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    He'll get a team.
    _
  • blim
    blim Posts: 333
    De Gendt might, but will the rest of these guys?

    http://www.nieuwsblad.be/SportWereld/cnt/DMF20131002_00771828
    kop van de wedstrijd
  • Richmond Racer
    Richmond Racer Posts: 8,561
    blim wrote:
    De Gendt might, but will the rest of these guys?

    http://www.nieuwsblad.be/SportWereld/cnt/DMF20131002_00771828


    That's sobering...
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    De Gendt loses 80% of his salary at OPQS compared to Vacansoleil, according to Het Nieuwsblad
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,679
    Hasn't the points system been reformed already, so that only the top few riders on a team count?
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • gpreeves
    gpreeves Posts: 454
    It's already been mentioned in the Horner contract thread, but isn't the talk of de Gendt's points moot?

    There's no competition for WT Licences this year so there's little to be gained in signing a rider based on his current points haul, sensible instead to sign whichever rider you think will win most races/gain the most points for next year or the year after that.
  • Captain Fagor
    Captain Fagor Posts: 739
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    He'll get a team.

    I really hope you're right. Sausageboy's performance from the top of the Mortirolo to the Stelvio was supreme!

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