Professional Cycling For the Fans - Cancellara leaving Saxo Bank

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/09/news/fabian-cancellara-leaving-saxo-bank_141136

So we may as well start up the rumors here where he's going. I'll go ahead and throw out the obvious one that he is following the Schleck brothers to their new team. Anybody want to start some others?

Anybody want to start some others?

Team Honda

BMC is the only other team with enough money, and it seems like he would much prefer the Luxembourg team. Lots more friendly faces, more classics riders and more of a chance to contest GT stages.

Gee thanks for the spoiler alert :rolleyes:



;)

Gee thanks for the spoiler alert :rolleyes:



;)


Spoiler?

BMC is the only other team with enough money, and it seems like he would much prefer the Luxembourg team. Lots more friendly faces, more classics riders and more of a chance to contest GT stages.

Or he could join Radio Shack. That way he'd have more of a chance to contest the ToC.

My money is on Radio Schleck.*

*You have to be over 60 and from uk/Ireland to get it.

Not a big surprise I guess. No idea how much money Cancellara is getting but it's probably less than he could get with a new contract.

He must already have an idea of where he is going and how much money they are going to offer him. It sort of looks like Riis is having management problems though. I am thinking the dynamic behind the scenes there is not good at all.

More likely he wants to go to a team where he is the main star, and not an uber-domestique.

He was definatly a big star on Saxo, the same way he would be on any team. And by being on a team with a GT contender he had more focus than if he was on say Omega-Pharma, FDJ, or Quickstep.

I dont believe the problems of Riis's management. If anything its a good sign that he built a team that wants to stick together, which is what I think the issue is. Riis has always been good at building a great group of rides that work so well together. And thats what the Schlux team is trying to do.

Spoiler?
it was a joke, amigo. a bad one.

170519The 2011 saxobank kit,and the real reason cancellara left ! i like it,but i see why spartacus would be a little upset.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/09/news/report-cancellara-to-join-schleck-brothers_141834

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/09/news/report-cancellara-to-join-schleck-brothers_141834

Meh, it wasn't hard to see that one coming.

I'm kinda surprised the "Contador has no chance to win the TDF because Saxo will be a weak team now that everyone went with the Schlecks' team" threads haven't started yet.

Well eventally if contador is so good as everybody says he should be able to win the tour all by himself. He can TT big time and climbs awesome, the issue now is who is going to "advice him" because he doesn't look to have so much brains and probably we will see more screw ups next season than ever before.

Well eventally if contador is so good as everybody says he should be able to win the tour all by himself. He can TT big time and climbs awesome, the issue now is who is going to "advice him" because he doesn't look to have so much brains and probably we will see more screw ups next season than ever before.

Riis is a big name manager with huge credentials and as much as I think he has a team in crisis at the end of this year, I think he can give plenty of advice to Contador. I don't think that staying at Astana with Vino heading up the bunch could have been better by any stretch of the imagination. Unless of course advice means PEDS in which case I am sure he has a connection still.

I dont know if you have noticed but every team in last 3 to 5 years for him has been weird, sorry for this but some Spaniards are pretty brute and looks like AC is one of them so he is more like a darn animal that u have to keep well controlled or some stuff will happens, i dont think he is a racer that you can thrust that much either, he attacks when he shouldnt and weird behavoir also, i don't know if that's because he has been controled too much or is just like a racer that the ADD just gets him in the races or in the most important momments, personally i dont like him because u never know what it will happens and just just does nothing to win sometimes. This year if it wasnt because AS doesnt know how to shift he could have been in big troubles, he did nothing in the mountains and people was xpecting stuff like LA or Pantani type of attachs (I miss this type of crashing the adversary demonstrations) but he showed up nothing. That's why I imply before that I hope now he shows how good he is or Riiis will be in big troubles stuck with him and with a super weak team, just like it was happening to evans at lotto.

I dont know if you have noticed but every team in last 3 to 5 years for him has been weird, sorry for this but some Spaniards are pretty brute and looks like AC is one of them so he is more like a darn animal that u have to keep well controlled or some stuff will happens, i dont think he is a racer that you can thrust that much either, he attacks when he shouldnt and weird behavoir also, i don't know if that's because he has been controled too much or is just like a racer that the ADD just gets him in the races or in the most important momments, personally i dont like him because u never know what it will happens and just just does nothing to win sometimes. This year if it wasnt because AS doesnt know how to shift he could have been in big troubles, he did nothing in the mountains and people was xpecting stuff like LA or Pantani type of attachs (I miss this type of crashing the adversary demonstrations) but he showed up nothing. That's why I imply before that I hope now he shows how good he is or Riiis will be in big troubles stuck with him and with a super weak team, just like it was happening to evans at lotto.

First off, this thread is about Cancellara. Secondly, everything in your post is nonsense.

Assuming that you are talking about Contador, which this thread was NOT about and is appears you were caught up in a fanboy rant: Well, nobody has noticed it because you have no idea what the hell you're talking about. There was nothing weird about Astana this year. The team fully supported AC and he won the TdF. The rest of your BS post about Spaniards being "brute" and "more like a darn animal that u have to keep well controlled or some stuff will happens" is pure crap. It was Alberto Contador that rode the tactical controlled race this year. It was Andy Schleck that made the critical mistake. Nobody, that mattered, took any time out of AC in the mountains. On one mountain stage AS took about 10 seconds. And on another mountain stage AC took the same 10 back from AS. I'm sure you were one of the people who harped all year about how weak Astana would be and that there would be no way AC could win. Well, you're wrong. Riis will put together a strong team and Contador will be the favorite next year. Schleck might get him, then again he might not. But this crap you're throwing about about AC being out of control or having ADD is nonsense. Your implication that you "now hope he shows how good he is" is stupid. Alberto Contador has won the last 5 grand tours that he's raced in. He's the best tour rider in the world right now. That's how good he is. You have a right to your opinion. The problem is that your opinion is wrong. Its smacks of racist overtones and is baseless in factual support. I know my reply may seem harsh, but to many times we allow stupid opinion to be blathered about unchecked.

Why don't you just admit that you don't like AC because he's a potential threat to Lance Armstrong's? AC stood up the Armstrong and JB and still won. There is nothing wrong with it. Just stop trying manufacture silly reasons for not liking AC or to denigrate his ability as a bike racer. Jeez, get over it already.

Secondly, everything in your post is nonsense. lol
I didnt' make it below the third line.

I read Cancellara was unsure about which team he would be on next year,
but Riis's decision to boot Andy from the Vuelta helped him make up his mind.

I read Cancellara was unsure about which team he would be on next year,
but Riis's decision to boot Andy from the Vuelta helped him make up his mind.

Where?

I just skimmed the article.
It was either velonews or cyclingnews.

Hm. seems like Cancellara doesn't have much personal ambition beyond doing what he's been doing at CSC/Saxo Bank the last couple years. A little boring imo, I would've liked to see what Cancellara could be able to do if he tried improving his climbing ability, but whatever, being known as the best time trialler is nice too I guess. ;)

Hm. seems like Cancellara doesn't have much personal ambition beyond doing what he's been doing at CSC/Saxo Bank the last couple years. A little boring imo, I would've liked to see what Cancellara could be able to do if he tried improving his climbing ability, but whatever, being known as the best time trialler is nice too I guess. ;)

Most professional athletes try and improve aspects of their performance that they are deficient with. I would be surprised to find that Cancellara hasn't worked on climbing to become as good at it as he can be in that area. The problem for Cancellara and climbing would be be less about desire and more about body type. He's big with lots of muscle. Turning this body type into a climber would be like trying to turn a full back into a wide receiver. You can make improvements but you just can't change completely.

I don't think Cancellara has many illusions about expanding his repertoire. He is supposedly a top TT guy in no small part because he's incredibly flexible and can maintain a superbly aerodynamic position much longer than most other riders. Nothing about that lends itself to becoming a great climber; if he works on that at all, it's probably just so he can hang in the mountains, help the GC guy, and try to nail the final TT's.

I'd also say that "best TT'er in the world" is actually a fairly ambitious goal. ;) Many cyclists strive their entire career for a single TdF stage win, let alone to ride in yellow as much as he has.

Hm. seems like Cancellara doesn't have much personal ambition beyond doing what he's been doing at CSC/Saxo Bank the last couple years. A little boring imo, I would've liked to see what Cancellara could be able to do if he tried improving his climbing ability, but whatever, being known as the best time trialler is nice too I guess. ;)

I think he is excelling in what he does best, and clearly one of the best cyclist in the world. Did you catch Paris-Roubaix, the pain he dished out in the TDF, the gold and rainbow kit whenever he time trials. Not to mention a bronze medal in road race. What greater ambition do you want him to have.

What greater ambition do you want him to have.

Try to win the Tour de France maybe. ;)
But yeah, it's not going to happen.

First off, this thread is about Cancellara. Secondly, everything in your post is nonsense.

Assuming that you are talking about Contador, which this thread was NOT about and is appears you were caught up in a fanboy rant: Well, nobody has noticed it because you have no idea what the hell you're talking about. There was nothing weird about Astana this year. The team fully supported AC and he won the TdF. The rest of your BS post about Spaniards being "brute" and "more like a darn animal that u have to keep well controlled or some stuff will happens" is pure crap. It was Alberto Contador that rode the tactical controlled race this year. It was Andy Schleck that made the critical mistake. Nobody, that mattered, took any time out of AC in the mountains. On one mountain stage AS took about 10 seconds. And on another mountain stage AC took the same 10 back from AS. I'm sure you were one of the people who harped all year about how weak Astana would be and that there would be no way AC could win. Well, you're wrong. Riis will put together a strong team and Contador will be the favorite next year. Schleck might get him, then again he might not. But this crap you're throwing about about AC being out of control or having ADD is nonsense. Your implication that you "now hope he shows how good he is" is stupid. Alberto Contador has won the last 5 grand tours that he's raced in. He's the best tour rider in the world right now. That's how good he is. You have a right to your opinion. The problem is that your opinion is wrong. Its smacks of racist overtones and is baseless in factual support. I know my reply may seem harsh, but to many times we allow stupid opinion to be blathered about unchecked.

Why don't you just admit that you don't like AC because he's a potential threat to Lance Armstrong's? AC stood up the Armstrong and JB and still won. There is nothing wrong with it. Just stop trying manufacture silly reasons for not liking AC or to denigrate his ability as a bike racer. Jeez, get over it already.


Awesome, Cancellara best of luck,i would have like to see you racing with pistollero but thats life. AC admits he was not in top form this year,and still won all his stage races,except the one where he came in second.Double grand tour wins next year,and double rainbows all the way across the sky!

Saxo Bank could possibly be a stronger team for Contador without Cancellara as they won't have to take yellow from the get-go in next years tdf, saving the team for later stages.

i would love to see a tour with a longer prologue, a TTT, a long ITT, 1 super hard cobble day, some classics style stages. If only there was a tour were the whole three weeks were like the battling in the beginning of the giro this year. GC guys going for time bonuses and just racing every stage for time. that would be great. basically limit the the time gains for the pure climbers.

Like say this years Giro(or to a lesser extent the Vuelta). The tour has been for years the least exciting of the GTs. It has the biggest viewership, most cache, and most coverage but generally the least exciting racing. There is so much banal tradition, and no need for excitement that organizers have become complacent. Now its more important to have certain style stages, than to build an exciting 3 weeks of racing.

Saxo Bank could possibly be a stronger team for Contador without Cancellara as they won't have to take yellow from the get-go in next years tdf, saving the team for later stages.

Yup, that's the first thing I thought of when I heard AC was going to Saxo. It would've been a lot of work to have yellow from the start and later in the tour (assuming that they would've defended Cancellara's assumed yellow as they've done in the past even with the possibility of working for GC as well of course).

Contador's news puts a bit different light on this. You have to figure Cancellera knew. So either he didn't want to stay without AC, or his issues with Saxo didn't really involve AC.

Contador's news puts a bit different light on this. You have to figure Cancellera knew. So either he didn't want to stay without AC, or his issues with Saxo didn't really involve AC.

Lance had a really cryptic Tweet on the same day (Aug 24) that they say Contador first heard the result. So I figure he knew. And if he knew, lots of other people had to know. I'm just wondering how everyone managed to keep their mouths shut for an entire month and not leak the story to anyone. That impresses me:). Good to see Fabian not mixed up with that.

based solely on the bottles on his bike.. my guess is he will be riding for bmc in 2011
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races10/worlds10/worlds10menrr-fabu.jpg

BMC? that would be more than a surprise for everybody but actually it could work out, the only guy bmc needs if FC does it is vino, with him the team is more than strong, army strong! :P


Now seriously, anybody knows where FC is going?

Saxo Bank could possibly be a stronger team for Contador without Cancellara as they won't have to take yellow from the get-go in next years tdf, saving the team for later stages.

+1