2019 Transfers - Rumours and Confirmations

ShutupJens

Yeah you realise the "obsession with track" helped us win some medals in the 2000s.. and then 2008 it kicked off, Sky dipped their toe in sponsoring GB on the track and then invested heavily in the road scene, how is that unhealthy?

I don't really like Sky/BC set up too much but they've done a hell of a lot for cycling in this country.

I think it's unfortunate timing with JLT, just that they are pulling out at the same time as two "sustainable" cycling teams, although it is fantastic to see One Pro getting a women's team together

ademort

ddraver wrote:

rozzer32 wrote:

Wout Van Aert terminates his contract. Guess he will start his lotto jumbo contract a year early.

How do you say Karma in Dutch..? (or irish?)

We havent heard the last of this.Van Aerts solicitor has sent a letter saying there was a serious incident this weekend which makes it impossible for Wout to carry on for Sniper Cycling team and he wishes to cancel the contract urgently. Van Aerts solicitor will not comment on the incident but says he is confident that if a tribunal is involved they will find in his clients favour.

ddraver

One wonders...

I can't imagine WvA is sorry to see the back of Nyens though. This contract farce has been ridiculous (though I don't quite understand this whole announcing a contract a whole year in advance)

bobmcstuff

r0bh wrote:

Matt Hayman retiring after the Tour Down Under

Fair play, sad to see him go.

cruff

bobmcstuff wrote:

r0bh wrote:

Matt Hayman retiring after the Tour Down Under

Fair play, sad to see him go.

Great servant to every team he's been on, and took his chance at PR with both hands. Just re-watched the schmaltzy Orica backstage pass of it again - still gets me in the gut every time how he goes over the top of Tommeke in the straight before the Velodrome. What a ride.

cruff

Pross wrote:

Cruff wrote:

Shirley Basso wrote:

Who's the Kenyan?

Why is track unhealthy? You are aware how BC & national lottery funding works?

Track is much more predictable therefore Olympic golds are 'easier' to win (in so far as it's a measured result).

Also - look how many top pro riders come from that background. You could almost argue that grass roots road racing is a waste of time as most top UK pros come from track background.

It's not that track itself is unhealthy - it's the obsession with it to the detriment of road cycling. We're probably the only country in the world that gives two sh1ts about track cycling - outside of the niche following that exists in all sports - which is why all the funding gets swallowed up by it. Be nice if some of that lottery funding went into road as well. The only reason most top pros in Britain come through the track scene is because they get identified and snapped up by the ODP early on. I do get that lottery funding is dependent on success at the Olympics - and I'm not suggesting that road cycling should be funded to the level that track is - just for a bit more of the cash floating around Eastlands to make its way out to local organising bodies. For instance, there used to be a development programme around the Northwest (CDNW) which went to the wall a couple of years ago for a number of reasons - one of which was an almost complete lack of support from BC. Just a little bit of money invested in regional development on road would identify talent in local clubs that might otherwise be missed and - just as importantly - give a bit more support to race organisers faced with an extremely vocal tiny majority of NIMBYs who don't want any races to take place on 'their' roads, ever.

But without that track success the money simply wouldn't be there. The Lottery funding is provided to win medals and the greatest chance to do that (both in terms of predictable success and number of opportunities) is on the track and so BC concentrate their resources accordingly. I can understand and accept that but would argue more of the membership money should go towards developing the road scene (and other forms of racing). There is fortunately a lot of crossover from track to road though and from a top level point of view British riders are flourishing on the road coming from that track development background.

The promotion of road racing is a whole other issue and I agree that BC don't seem to be taking a proactive enough approach to identify and promote suitable safe and sustainable road race courses. I gave up organising races but not due to any issues with locals, the problems I had were the region taking the date I'd started developing for a successful road race off me as they needed to move the regional champs to that date. It had previously always been a month later but apparently that was the only date someone had come forward to promote the event that year - if they'd asked I could have incorporated it into my race. Also, there were too many riders that didn't take their own and other riders safety seriously and acted like they were racing on closed roads so we have to take some responsibility ourselves if we want people to continue to promote road racing.

You'll get no argument from me on the last point. I did a Nat B on Sunday on a flat circuit with a couple of bends here and there - some of the chances people were taking on the opposite side of the road to move up on bends were hideous. Comm almost pulled two riders out for it. Had one lad move the length of the bunch uo the outside round one corner and almost get toasted when a car came round the bend...

r0bh

Wisniowski from Sky to BMCCCCCCCCCCC

rozzer32

Stijn Devolder to Corendon Circus to support MvdP in the classics.

iainf72

rozzer32 wrote:

Stijn Devolder to Corendon Circus to support MvdP in the classics.

As is Lasse Norman Hansen

https://twitter.com/Lasse_Norman/status ... 7842424832

awavey

Trixi Worrack (CanyonSRAM) & Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Wiggle High5) have also both joined Trek bikes new team, quite a strong team they are building with Lizzie D, Elisa Longo Borghini, Ellen Van Dijk, Taylor Wiles, Ruth Winder, Abi Van Twisk Lotta Lepistö, Lauretta Hanson & Letizia Paternoster cant be too many slots, if any,left there now

awavey

ShutupJens wrote:

Yeah you realise the "obsession with track" helped us win some medals in the 2000s.. and then 2008 it kicked off, Sky dipped their toe in sponsoring GB on the track and then invested heavily in the road scene, how is that unhealthy?

I don't really like Sky/BC set up too much but they've done a hell of a lot for cycling in this country.

I think it's unfortunate timing with JLT, just that they are pulling out at the same time as two "sustainable" cycling teams, although it is fantastic to see One Pro getting a women's team together

I dont have a problem with BC obessesing with the track to win medals to get lottery funding to win more medals on the track, it on the whole is a positive thing for all cycling in this country, my issue is if that sole focus then comes at the exclusion or cost of focus on a proper road or any other cycling discipline programme being supported by the main cycling body. BC arent the British Track Cycling organisation, they should have as much focus on road cycling, on MTB, on Cyclocross, on BMX, speedway on the sport side as well as the promote cycling as an activity to the public side, they might not get the same funds absolutely, but there should be the same commitment behind it..

and the problem is, and the launch of the new Team GB cycling kit to be worn for the first time in Innsbruck sums up perfectly, nearly all the BC promo is based on the Track team, Im sure the roadies are chuffed to bits the Track team designed their kit for them thats a joke btw based on the whole designed by the riders strapline they are using.

but serious point though the road programme feels like it operates in a vacumn that BC dont seem interested in, they had all the well publicised issues arranging the road series this year for both the mens and womens races, and then with sponsors at some races clashing with HSBC who then made the races unviable, its not surprising the likes of JLT or OnePro and I suspect a third team will go before the end of the year, because there are barely any road races for them now, there is no structure for them to promote themselves, the coverage is pretty poor because TV companies are no longer interested, even the Tour Series this year seemed remarkably low key to previous efforts.

its just annoying that BC are quick to jump on the credit of road cyclists success, when theres little evidence lately of them doing anything to help find the next generation of road cyclists to continue that success, and it cant be at the Team Sky level, it has to be grassroutes through to the pro level.

which is kind of why despite having won all the Grand Tours this year and having had quite abit of success over the years on the road, by and large Team GB go into this years world roads champs, pretty much not expecting to win anything, and will probably be hoping for a lucky podium at best next year.

anyway rant over as we seem to veering wildly off topic now

dish_dash

My man Tuft off to Rally Cycling for a last hurrah before retiring

DeadCalm

Pross wrote:

Hopefully he'll learn to control his aggressive style and to use it when he can make it count. Don't forget he made his name in the junior ranks where bonkers attacks are the normal tactic. Not many riders have a successful career in the pro ranks riding like that.

Whilst I appreciate and understand that people don't like to see attacking young riders go where they perceive they'll be used up as part of a train I also think Sky, for all their faults, is a team where young riders can develop without being put under pressure to get results. However, riders do get their chances and I can see Dunbar being given opportunities at the hilly classics.

They're going to have an exciting young team over the next few years with Bernal, Sivakov, TGH, Dunbar and (probably) Pidcock.

Well, he's made an encouraging start. I do wish it was for another team though.

As well as the guys you have listed, there has been talk of Sky trying to gatecrash the Sosa / Trek-Segafredo deal. It's not just my bias against Team Sky (which I hold my hands up to) but I'm not convinced it is great to have such a concentration of exciting talent in one team. It would be nice to see some of those guys competing against each other.

Pross

awavey wrote:

which is kind of why despite having won all the Grand Tours this year and having had quite abit of success over the years on the road, by and large Team GB go into this years world roads champs, pretty much not expecting to win anything, and will probably be hoping for a lucky podium at best next year.

Whilst agree with a lot of your rant I'm not sure that's fair. It's quite an unpredictable course and likely to suit the sort of riders who have ridden the Tour and / or Vuelta but if the riders were fresh we'd have a few decent contenders. I think if Adam Yates makes the podium it wouldn't be considered lucky. I could also see TGH being up there. It's going to be a hard race for any country to control and is quite wide open but I'd say GB has as good a chance as most.

EDIT I'm not sure who will be going to the Women's and Junior races but again I can see GB being strong in the Junior and U23 men as well (I don't follow the women's sport close enough).

ddraver

It's slightly dissapointing given that GB could have had Froome, G Thomas and Yates^2 going into a mountain world cup course...

Which is probably not far off a perfect fantasy 2018 All Stars team!

I totally understand why Froom and Thomas have decided to do other things but...that's an "England at the 2018 World Cup" style alignment of stars

markwb79

Cruff wrote:

Pross wrote:

I'm not surprised sponsors are pulling out of the UK scene. Even with the cycling boom of the last decade in the UK domestic races get little publicity. When was the last time a domestic race other than the Nationals, TdY or ToB got discussed on here - a forum for professional cycle racing? The teams are getting ever more professional (and costly) set ups but there can't be that much return for the sponsors. The actual number of races seems to have been dropping for years and the domestic pro scene these days is more or less surviving on a diet of town centre crits. British Cycling has been neglecting the road scene for ages and living off the success of the Olympic track programme and those going on to make it on the European scene.

Yeah. On the surface, with Yates, G and the Kenyan, and the success of Cav and Wiggins, cycling in this country looks in rude health - but scratch that surface and you'll find a multitude of problems. It's not just the unhealthy obsession with track above all else, but BC's apparent desire to pander to the motorist and NIMBY brigade by building a seemingly endless supply of dull crit tracks, rather than aggressively marketing and supporting grass roots road racing. More and more circuits are disappearing or falling into disuse because of protests by people not wanting to be inconvenienced in the slightest, it's getting harder and harder to organise a road race and, despite full fields in most cases indicating a clear demand, there are less and less road races each year.

Whats wrong with crits by the way?
I would have thought they are better rather than road races, from a spectator point of view. I would think you fit more people watching round a crit circuit than a road race?
The Dutch seem to do ok with them.

ShutupJens

Markwb79 wrote:

Cruff wrote:

Pross wrote:

I'm not surprised sponsors are pulling out of the UK scene. Even with the cycling boom of the last decade in the UK domestic races get little publicity. When was the last time a domestic race other than the Nationals, TdY or ToB got discussed on here - a forum for professional cycle racing? The teams are getting ever more professional (and costly) set ups but there can't be that much return for the sponsors. The actual number of races seems to have been dropping for years and the domestic pro scene these days is more or less surviving on a diet of town centre crits. British Cycling has been neglecting the road scene for ages and living off the success of the Olympic track programme and those going on to make it on the European scene.

Yeah. On the surface, with Yates, G and the Kenyan, and the success of Cav and Wiggins, cycling in this country looks in rude health - but scratch that surface and you'll find a multitude of problems. It's not just the unhealthy obsession with track above all else, but BC's apparent desire to pander to the motorist and NIMBY brigade by building a seemingly endless supply of dull crit tracks, rather than aggressively marketing and supporting grass roots road racing. More and more circuits are disappearing or falling into disuse because of protests by people not wanting to be inconvenienced in the slightest, it's getting harder and harder to organise a road race and, despite full fields in most cases indicating a clear demand, there are less and less road races each year.

Whats wrong with crits by the way?
I would have thought they are better rather than road races, from a spectator point of view. I would think you fit more people watching round a crit circuit than a road race?
The Dutch seem to do ok with them.

I think Cruff means the tracks that have races on every Tuesday or Thursday nights, away from the roads and uninteresting to any spectators. These places are brilliant for developing young talent before they're of the age when they can train on the roads, as well as skills training and it's dead easy to put on races, but it is also pretty dull

cruff

ShutupJens wrote:

Markwb79 wrote:

Cruff wrote:

Pross wrote:

I'm not surprised sponsors are pulling out of the UK scene. Even with the cycling boom of the last decade in the UK domestic races get little publicity. When was the last time a domestic race other than the Nationals, TdY or ToB got discussed on here - a forum for professional cycle racing? The teams are getting ever more professional (and costly) set ups but there can't be that much return for the sponsors. The actual number of races seems to have been dropping for years and the domestic pro scene these days is more or less surviving on a diet of town centre crits. British Cycling has been neglecting the road scene for ages and living off the success of the Olympic track programme and those going on to make it on the European scene.

Yeah. On the surface, with Yates, G and the Kenyan, and the success of Cav and Wiggins, cycling in this country looks in rude health - but scratch that surface and you'll find a multitude of problems. It's not just the unhealthy obsession with track above all else, but BC's apparent desire to pander to the motorist and NIMBY brigade by building a seemingly endless supply of dull crit tracks, rather than aggressively marketing and supporting grass roots road racing. More and more circuits are disappearing or falling into disuse because of protests by people not wanting to be inconvenienced in the slightest, it's getting harder and harder to organise a road race and, despite full fields in most cases indicating a clear demand, there are less and less road races each year.

Whats wrong with crits by the way?
I would have thought they are better rather than road races, from a spectator point of view. I would think you fit more people watching round a crit circuit than a road race?
The Dutch seem to do ok with them.

I think Cruff means the tracks that have races on every Tuesday or Thursday nights, away from the roads and uninteresting to any spectators. These places are brilliant for developing young talent before they're of the age when they can train on the roads, as well as skills training and it's dead easy to put on races, but it is also pretty dull

This

A crit like you're describing, Mark, isn't a 'crit' like most people race. That's a town centre crit, and outside of the tour series they're few and far between (I did two this year). Mostly they're on purpose built tracks and are as dull as dishwater both to race in and to watch

RichN95.

DeadCalm wrote:

As well as the guys you have listed, there has been talk of Sky trying to gatecrash the Sosa / Trek-Segafredo deal. It's not just my bias against Team Sky (which I hold my hands up to) but I'm not convinced it is great to have such a concentration of exciting talent in one team. It would be nice to see some of those guys competing against each other.

I agree that Sosa becoming a teammate of Bernal probably isn't good for anyone, but I disagree that Sky have a concentration of talent. They have a lot, but I think that we are exposed to them more due to the Anglophone media. And they don't all work out - Dombrowski was supposed to be a superstar.

Also there's a big trend of Colombians looking great in their early 20s but fading earlier than others.

gweeds

Wout van Aert being taken to court by Sniper.

ddraver

Edit - Red dress may also be Lotto...

gweeds

ddraver wrote:

Edit - Red dress may also be Lotto...

STOLEN FOR THE TWITTERS

Vino'sGhost

awavey wrote:

Trixi Worrack (CanyonSRAM) & Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Wiggle High5) have also both joined Trek bikes new team, quite a strong team they are building with Lizzie D, Elisa Longo Borghini, Ellen Van Dijk, Taylor Wiles, Ruth Winder, Abi Van Twisk Lotta Lepistö, Lauretta Hanson & Letizia Paternoster cant be too many slots, if any,left there now

theres a danger of womens racing being a trek benefit display.

Also Trixi is a hot name

ddraver

Power file of an XCO race - https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/see- ... ower-file/

Her face on the long climb is one of the best pain-faces of 2018

Nothing to do with transfers, just thought it was interesting, but not enough for a thread, and this is the least not-relevant...

ddraver

Nuyens has reportadly (twitter) recalled WvA's mechanic from the Trek World Cup...

#petty

ShutupJens

Trek Factory Racing to form as an Elite CX team comprising of Evie Richards, Ellen Noble and a lass from the u23 cross collective

ddraver

They ve been that for a year to be fair...they ve just got a swanky new jersey ( and a new U23 rider - Are Evie & Ellen still under 23..?)


Good start though.... (spoilers)

awavey

Vino'sGhost wrote:

awavey wrote:

Trixi Worrack (CanyonSRAM) & Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Wiggle High5) have also both joined Trek bikes new team, quite a strong team they are building with Lizzie D, Elisa Longo Borghini, Ellen Van Dijk, Taylor Wiles, Ruth Winder, Abi Van Twisk Lotta Lepistö, Lauretta Hanson & Letizia Paternoster cant be too many slots, if any,left there now

theres a danger of womens racing being a trek benefit display.

you say that but Boels have still got the last 2 world road champions Dideriksen & Blaak and the last Olympic champion in van der Breggen, they are still the number 1 team in womens racing imo. Mitchelton Scott & Team Sunweb... who have just signed Pfeiffer Georgi btw which is fantastic news, are pretty damn strong now as well, and with Marianne Vos CCC/Waowdeals team leading the rest at the moment, but if Canyon SRAM signed a few more riders, then Niewiadoma is right in the mix as well

dont get me wrong Trek look very strong with that line up, but I think we are actually near to reaching that critical mass of very talented riders spread around alot of teams, theres not a team of allstars anymore who will just win everything, so next years WWT could be incredibly unpredictable

DeadCalm

Pross wrote:

I can see GB being strong in the Junior and U23 men as well.

Really? With which riders? Genuine question.

I know nothing about the juniors and don't know who has been picked for the U23s but Donovan and Williams would seem to be the best options GB have at that level and neither looks strong enough to actually win.

DeadCalm

Ten Dam to CCC ccconfirmed.