Downing at a Grand Tour?

sonny73
sonny73 Posts: 2,203
edited April 2010 in Pro race
Does anyone think we will see Russell Downing be given a spot at any of the Grand Tours this year? I hope so, be great to see him ride one!

Comments

  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Sonny73 wrote:
    Does anyone think we will see Russell Downing be given a spot at any of the Grand Tours this year? I hope so, be great to see him ride one!

    Wot? You mean the British fellow on Sky who's won a race? :wink:

    I think he might do the Vuelta.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • inkyfingers
    inkyfingers Posts: 4,400
    I really hope he gets a go as I like him and his style of riding, would be a good shout for a breakaway victory on a non GC critical stage. I know he's already won a race this year but i'd love to see him get a full length stage win to add to it

    Though i'm not sure he'll ride the Vuelta as surely he'll be aiming at the Tour Of Ireland and The Tour Of Britain?
    "I have a lovely photo of a Camargue horse but will not post it now" (Frenchfighter - July 2013)
  • pedro118118
    pedro118118 Posts: 1,102
    To be fair to Russ, he's living the dream, just having a place with a ProTour team and he must be pinching himself as he's riding some of the Classics.

    I'm sure (like any pro) he's desperate to ride a GT, but the question is what would his role be? A puncheur going for stage wins, a grinding domestique etc??? He's a bit of an unknown quantity over 3 weeks, but then again I would imagine the number-crunchers/button-monkeys at Sky/BC will have a good idea of his capacity.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,244
    iainf72 wrote:
    Sonny73 wrote:
    Does anyone think we will see Russell Downing be given a spot at any of the Grand Tours this year? I hope so, be great to see him ride one!

    Wot? You mean the British fellow on Sky who's won a race? :wink:

    I think he might do the Vuelta.

    As a build up for the worlds?
  • Bakunin
    Bakunin Posts: 868
    I thought he was Irish.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    Bakunin wrote:
    I thought he was Irish.

    He's from Yorkshire

    To paraphrase the Arctic Monkeys "He's not from Dublin City, he's from Rotherham"
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • RichN95 wrote:
    Bakunin wrote:
    I thought he was Irish.

    He's from Yorkshire

    To paraphrase the Arctic Monkeys "He's not from Dublin City, he's from Rotherham"

    It's technically not really Rotherham, and they tell people they're from Sheffield, but you're basically right. I'm just a little too wrapped up in the politics of the South Yorkshire conurbation
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    RichN95 wrote:
    Bakunin wrote:
    I thought he was Irish.

    He's from Yorkshire

    To paraphrase the Arctic Monkeys "He's not from Dublin City, he's from Rotherham"

    It's technically not really Rotherham, and they tell people they're from Sheffield, but you're basically right. I'm just a little too wrapped up in the politics of the South Yorkshire conurbation

    I wouldn't know one end of Yorkshire from the other to be honest.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • pedro118118
    pedro118118 Posts: 1,102
    He is from Rotherham.
    He still ives in Rotherham - Sunnyside I think?
    Rotherham is a veritable hot-bed of cycling at present - having also produced his brother Dean and Ben Swift. Think the evergreen Malc Elliot is also from Rotherham.........might be Sheffield.
    People's Republic of South Yorkshire!
  • Homer J
    Homer J Posts: 920
    Ees a norvaner
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    I think he'd be a good shout for a grand tour - let him go for breakaway stage wins - he's a good finisher if he can get there in a small group.

    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,244
    I think he'd be a good shout for a grand tour - let him go for breakaway stage wins - he's a good finisher if he can get there in a small group.

    Me thinks he's even more useful in a Worlds team....

    Didn't he put in a good performance in the worlds in 2009?
  • aarw
    aarw Posts: 448
    not as good as his performance in 2008 worlds :wink:
  • sonny73
    sonny73 Posts: 2,203
    Well he's definitely not going to the Giro, from Cycling Weekly: http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/452523/froome-faces-race-to-be-fit-for-giro-after-time-trial-crash.html
    Team Sky's line-up for the first grand tour of the season, which starts in Amsterdam on May 8, will be Bradley Wiggins, Steve Cummings, Morris Possoni, Dario Cioni, Chris Sutton, Greg Henderson, Mat Hayman, Michael Barry and Froome, if he's fit. Ian Stannard, Sylvain Calzati and Lars Petter Nordhaug are on the reserve list.
  • better suited to shorter courses... thou he has got round te worlds before but never contested

    vuelta perhaps


    |It would be good to see him complete at least one GT
  • Tusher
    Tusher Posts: 2,762
    He's my favourite Sky rider, I'd be so chuffed for him if he was to ride the Tour.
    And a very worthy choice it would be as well- a good, solid, dependable domestique who could gain them valuable publicity on a break-away, and who may even win a stage.


    Heck, it wasn't that long ago that we would all have been jumping for joy at the prospect of a British rider maybe being good enough to ride the Tour. How things change.
    Anyone remember what year it was when there were no British riders at all? I think it must have been during St David's ban.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    Tusher wrote:

    Heck, it wasn't that long ago that we would all have been jumping for joy at the prospect of a British rider maybe being good enough to ride the Tour. How things change.
    Anyone remember what year it was when there were no British riders at all? I think it must have been during St David's ban.

    I remember that our British riders were Magnus Backstedt (lives near Cardiff), Robbie McEwen (British passport) and Dario Cioni (born in Reading)
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Tusher
    Tusher Posts: 2,762
    McEwen has a British passport??

    I mean, I gathered he had Scottish ancestry, but didn't realise he had a British passport.
  • Tusher wrote:
    Anyone remember what year it was when there were no British riders at all? I think it must have been during St David's ban.

    I'd guess at 2005, but my memory of that race is worse than vague. Charlie may have been in that one though.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    Tusher wrote:
    McEwen has a British passport??

    I mean, I gathered he had Scottish ancestry, but didn't realise he had a British passport.

    Yeah, but he doesn't like to talk about it

    http://twitter.com/mcewenrobbie/status/2658030702
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • pedro118118
    pedro118118 Posts: 1,102
    Typical. Spend you're life pom-bashing until there's something in it for you...
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    Russ tweeted that he was having a week off the bike this week. Now this could mean he's resting up before some pretty solid training ahead of Dauphine, Tour of Switzerland and a certain GT race in July.

    Or it could just mean he has no races for a while so can schedule a week off!
  • simon_e
    simon_e Posts: 1,706
    hammerite wrote:
    Russ tweeted that he was having a week off the bike this week. Now this could mean he's resting up before some pretty solid training ahead of Dauphine, Tour of Switzerland and a certain GT race in July.
    Fonzy in yellow, now that would be really special.

    We can dream, can't we :)
    Aspire not to have more, but to be more.