"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Really? ASO screws the pooch again?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/mar09/mar17news3

So they ditch Fuji-Servetto and Barloworld, and go with the almighty, powerful force of Grand Tour-ready riders of..... Skil-Shimano?
Seriously?
They'd be a great choice for... Paris-Roubaix or something, but have their riders even competed in a race lasting more than a week? Two weeks?

IMO Xacobeo (sp?), Barloworld and Fuji-Servetto would have been better choices.

Helll, even LPR Brakes or Diquigivoanniluigimariospaghetti-lasagneciaomama would have been better choices.

Same with Astana for 08. Fuji was Saunier Duval last year so they must be doping this year(!) after a complete revamp of the team.

Punish the teams that had the major doping offenses last year. Maybe it will make teams think about the consequences for their current actions.

Same with Astana for 08. Fuji was Saunier Duval last year so they must be doping this year(!) after a complete revamp of the team.
It's still Mauro Gianetti at the helm. Clearly they think he's less than innocent.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/mar09/mar17news3

So they ditch Fuji-Servetto and Barloworld, and go with the almighty, powerful force of Grand Tour-ready riders of..... Skil-Shimano?
Seriously?
They'd be a great choice for... Paris-Roubaix or something, but have their riders even competed in a race lasting more than a week? Two weeks?

IMO Xacobeo (sp?), Barloworld and Fuji-Servetto would have been better choices.

Helll, even LPR Brakes or Diquigivoanniluigimariospaghetti-lasagneciaomama would have been better choices.

i didn't like the decision last year, i still don't like it this year.

however, i am interested to see how jonathan hivert does. that guy killed it in paris nice. if he is a $200 investment in the performance fantasy tour de france, i am snagging him. ;) hopefully he can justify skil-shimano's inclusion.

I always kinda liked Barloworld.

No good reason, really, though PBK did give me some free Barloworld bottles.

Barloworld did very well in their first year, they won stages with Hunter and Soler and won the KOM.
Having an old school rider from the drug-days using some old EPO he found in the bottom of his closet at his rental house shouldn't have had any effect on their admittance in '09.

I for one think that Mauro Gianetti is still a bad guy, but I'd like to believe that his guys are clean. If one of his riders gets popped, he'll likely never get another chance at running a team.

Sad to see that Soler will be out of the Tour again. He was electric in 2007, energizer bunny-like.

Skil-Shimano is a solid squad and deserving of their spot.
They'll produce something, just like every continental team does.

I feel for Soler, big time. But it's really a shame that Barloworld isn't getting the publicity that they would have from the tour, since they stayed on with the team after the positive. Fuji-Servetto, I totally understand.

I applaud ASO for applying their rules consistently, if nothing else. Inviting teams with riders guilty of doping infractions this year after the non-invite of Astana last year would have been a PR disaster. They're sticking to their guns, as they did last year, and good for them.

I applaud ASO for applying their rules consistently, if nothing else. Inviting teams with riders guilty of doping infractions this year after the non-invite of Astana last year would have been a PR disaster. They're sticking to their guns, as they did last year, and good for them.
Then why did Liquigas get an invite? They did have Manuel Beltran last year and a convicted doper on their team.