Robbie McEwen leaving Lotto
 

Rumored to be headed for Katusha with Pozzatto and Steegmans.

He's definitely gone from Lotto...the Katusha thing is speculation.

Can you blame him?

Man, if Katusha gets all of the riders they are rumored to, they'll be able to man the tour with 18 good teams all by themselves. :)

Assumming that Silence Lotto will try to add support for Evans for next year's TDF, McEwen really had little choice, if he wants another Green jersey or even more stage wins.

I thought I heard* Boonen was headed to that team for something like 3x what he is being paid now. I can't seen Tom and Robbie on the same team.

From Paul and Phil.

Evans should have left SL and signed up for a team that could actually support him. How long is his current contract? Evans on, say, Columbia would have won this year's Tour. At this point I'm not sure that a team change could help him next year. He'll again be up against Johan, Contador and Leipheimer machine. It wouldn't surprise me to see him finish second next year, just behind Contador.

Evans, the Polidor of the new millennium?

Only difference is people liked Polidor.

:lol::lol::lol:

It's hard to not look at Evans right now and use the baseball term: clubhouse poison.

it's not like mcEwen is liked is it? cancellara, who is pretty popular, said no one likes that little *******.

plus robbie is finished as a top sprinter :eek:.

so while i think evans is a total wad i also think mcEwen is worse.

ed rader

hahahahaha :)

Umm....no?

Does anyone else find this to be false? Kirchen was left out to dry on all the climbs just as Cadel was, and Kirchen did not even hang with the good climbers most of the time. If Cadel were on Columbia he would not have won this year's tour, he would have done the same if not worse. Columbia is worse than Silence when it comes to climbs.

Agreed. Cadel and Vande Velde could have caused a ruckus though.

Does Robbie even still have it, I wonder? Team or no team, he didn't look as dominating or aggressive as he did a few years ago...

It'll be interesting to see where McEwen lands. I think he's just like Cadel, actually - both their windows for the jersey has probably closed, as they age and younger, stronger contenders emerge.

If Boonen is back, I don't see Robbie winning any sprint finishes against either Boonen or Cavendish, no matter what team he rides for or what lead-outs he gets.

...possibly going to Tinkoff. From Velo News

"Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen has confirmed that he plans to leave Silence-Lotto for a new team next season.
McEwen has reportedly signed with Tinkoff Credit Systems squad, but in an interview with The Australian newspaper, the Aussie sprinter declined to confirm that."

Lotto really screwed up this year. No help for McEwen, no help for Evans :rolleyes:

I think those problems are probably interrelated. Lotto before Evans was a team built totally around getting McEwen group sprint stage wins. Now, they get a GC contender, so of course they SHOULD get more climbers and all-arounders who can help in the mountains - which obviously hurts the support for Robbie, and means the team has to be re-constructed for a very different objective.

Where they screwed up, it would appear, is they didn't accomplish getting Cadel any real support.

That says alot about either the team resources, the DS, or Cadel - b/c one, two, or all three had to be lacking somehow to not recruit a stronger team around Cadel for '08 especially, since he came in as the GC favorite (since last year's yellow wasn't even there). Maybe they were stuck with long-term contracts? Too small a budget? DS couldn't evaluate talent? Super-domestiques didn't want to ride for Cadel? Who knows - but for a team with a top GC contender, they were awfully weak.

Why the hell would SL let Popovich try for the stage win on the 2nd day in the Alps? If Popo could have stayed on until the bottom of Alpe d'Huez and grabbed Satre's wheel.......

Who knows.... maybe Frank Schleck wins the day on the Alpe but still craps out in the TT.

I think the DS crapped the bed on that day.

Baloney. Plenty of people like Robbie. He pops off a bit, but when he does: a) - it's the truth, and b) - he doesn't bad-mouth his team mates.

His chances as a top sprinter do certainly seem to have dimmed considerably, but he still has some wins left in him.

He may have lost a step but he's till got a lot left in him. He had a bad tour and had the misfortune to run into an on-fire Cavendish. Same thing happened to our friend Thor.

I'd like to see Peta take on Cavendish.

I want to see Peta, Tomke, McEwan and Cavendish all in a mad dash for the line.
That would be interesting indeed.

Marty

True especially in the company of Cavendish. He's not as lost as Zabel (yet) though, but next year he will be a year older.

I like listening to interviews with McEwen. He is one of the
most knowledgable riders in the peloton. He does
play to win though.