Mr_Christopher

Exactly. And that is what will make next year so fantastic to watch.

kleinboogie

Everyone has been saying that AS needs to let go of his brother. He got him a stage and a high place in the GC. At this point FS should let his brother go and let him be the winner he can be. LA will help AS be a better TT and give him a dream team. My prediction is if Radio Shack gets AS, LA will groom him for a year then give him the team. I'm excited personally. It makes me want to go buy some batteries at RS.

Howzit

The Sclecks would be absolute buffoons if they went to RadioShack.

Lance needs a bunch of people to nurse him to victory, thats the only way he can win, and the only way he ever won. This year, he comes onto the scene thinking he can manipulate the whole Astana Team to nurse him to victory and Contador told him to piss off and race for a change. Thats why Lance is now so pissed off. Lance could have won this year's Tour had everyone nursed him like they have always done.

Now, he is trying to buy young hopefuls to suckle on and use and abuse. What a prick.
Hope they are just playing and clowning Lance getting his hopes ups and just wasting his time.

USAZorro

Lance seems to be looking to win by other means, what he can't win on the road. There are two (at least) guys in his way, and one of them won't have anything of it.

Ames

If it happens it would be good for Andy and Frank as they would be taught how to time trial and train and really be a challange for the overall.

You will see a ton of rumors for a while so relax and enjoy the show.

Sea Green Sky

+1 Spot on. You should be a commentator on Versus

djcycles

You say Lance was nursed to his victories and is the only way he could have won any of his tours. It seems to me, that Contador was nursed to his victory as well. I didn't see him take any long pulls, lead out anyone. I didn't see him win this tour all by himself. He had the team helping him win. Which was the same with Lance, he too had te team help him to his wins. This is a team effort and it takes the team to succeed. Show me in recent history, one person who, by himself, won the tour!

monosierra

To be fair, AC managed to conquer the hills without needing much team support. He attacked freely (and irresponsibly at one point) and stuck to the Schlecks' wheel. He never really needed any help when the climbing got tough, though of course the likes of Rast and Popovych setting tempo early on was helpful to everyone in the team.

daveF

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/saxo...ansfer-rumours

Nothing more than a rumour. Besides, Andy is working on his time trialing with Julich.

cjbruin

Ed, that's really all you had to say on this topic? I saw the story and logged in so I could read your slant on how stupid and what an a-hole LA is for speaking with AS. Disappointed

erader

that's it. i hope lance is successful getting schleckk. i would love to see contador go to saxobank and i'll bet riis would too .

ed rader

Howzit

To Answer your question, Marco Pantani won both Tour and Giro by himself. Did I mention in the same year? OWNED.

Contador pretty much won on his own. You seriously missed all the complaining of how he should have been waiting all the time for LA and Kloden? Im confused here. We are talking about the 2009 Tour right?
Contador was instructed to wait, wait, wait for domestiques non the less.

Im not exactly sure how your sarcasm can even be a joke...

erader

that's it. i hope lance is successful getting schleck. i would love to see contador go to saxobank and i'll bet riis would too .

lance is still an a-hole and even the people defending him are starting to wake up to the fact. unflattering stories about lance are now hitting the mainstream press. when the media eventually turns on lance -- and you know they will -- it's gonna be fun to watch .

ed rader

reef58

Yea that no account Saxo team know nothing about time trialing do they???

Richard

YY

roadgator

Sure, but what part of this does Frank subtract from?

Howzit

Ok, Ok, i need to step in here and add some real facts, instead of all this pro-Lance, anti-Lance stuff.

Ill explain....

See, there are different levels of Pro teams under the UCI
The two to be concerned about in this conversation really are Continental teams, and ProTour Team (also known as Grand Tour Teams, or Pro Continental Teams).

There are very strict series of conditions that determine what makes a team Continental or Pro Tour.

UCI ProTour events form one of the two categories making up the UCI World Calendar. The second category consists of “Monument” events. The UCI ProTour category includes emerging events as well as more traditional races. So there are Cat 1.1-1.3 and 2.1-Grand Tour. These are the cream of professional cycling.

"In terms of participation, UCI ProTeams have priority to compete in UCI ProTour events. However, UCI Professional Continental Teams with wild card status can also take part in UCI ProTour events if invited. Wild card status is afforded to teams that apply and meet similar quality criteria to those applying to become UCI ProTeams, in particular with regard to ethical considerations." -UCI

Lance and Bruyneel need to gather up two things. Financial proof of stability and guarantee, when I raced I think the minimum was something like 25Million Euros or something, cant remember. But i know its gone up since then. Races such a Paris-Roubex, San Remo and othe classics, Grand Tours, some World cup races and so on, need to be qualified into by money.

The second is quality of riders, and their rankings in the UCI. For example, toy have a rainbow jersey on your Team, you need a rider who qualifie to race the World Champs and win. He then comes with some good points.

Currently Alberto Contador is Ranked number one in the world after winning the Tour De France. This is why is was so CRITICAL for Lance and crew to get "podium spots" for all the Astana guys, Lance, Kloden and Levi. Lance could then use his points to help with the formation of RadioShack.

Once you begun to understand how things are shaping up behind the curtain, you will understand why Lance and Bruyneel were so upset at not getting 3 podium positions, it interfered with their scrupulous plan for their RadioShack Team. Secondly, you will now understand why they are talking to one Scleck. He carries a lot of points, in addition to being a GC contender. His borther would still make an excellent team member, in fact, better than 80% of the peleton, but he doesnt have as many points as other people for example.

So, all this press and Versus propaganda about Alberto attacking and all of that stuff begins to make sense I hope.

Lance need good riders with good reputation to even be allowed to race in big races as Im sure you all already guessed. Its just like any other sport that has to deal with rankings and qualifications. (Im not sure in NASCAR has this, or American Football)

Forget about all that pop-corn propaganda from Versus and all of that.

bigfred 

LA and JB have a long history of building incrediblystrong teams that include some of the main GC contenders. I won't be surprised if they hire the brothers Schleck and I don't think it would necessarily be a bad move for the brothers. While LA is certainly an arrogant, self assured and competative individual. I sometimes think that we don't give him enough credit for how long or deep a game he may be playing. Number 8 may only be a nice side note to his greater goals.

He's not back because he needs money. He's already got plenty and had a nice revenue stream for the foreseeable future from appearance fees. He claims to be back because of desire to increase awareness for the Foundation and cancer research in general. I contend that in order to remain viable at that, he needs to continue to be in the public eye ,his years as a rider are numbered and he's aware of that. I don't think the last couple year's rumors about Lance wanting a stake in the TDF are entirely untrue. They need him, or some other N.American interrest, and he probably misses the competative cycling world when compared to what he's been up to the last three years. How many athletes find it difficult to find a suitable career after sport? Can you really see Lance happy owning a couple car dealerships around Texas? Or, a vineyard in France? We know that The Tour organizers are more than happy to "work with" him in order to ensure better press numbers.

He'll won't be happy with third next year. But, he'll be willing to except it, if it comes with one "his" riders on the top. Or, better yet, a team sweep, which he is arogant enough to consider a possibility. And, after a few years of Team Armstrong dominating The Tour, the French may even welcome his owning a share of The Tour, IF, it means he won't be fielding a team.

I know, I know. This is all fantasy and conjecture. But, I really do believe the man is playing a slightly deeper game than most give him credit for. His eyes are not set on next year alone. Mark my words on that.

He didn't need to come back. He's back for a purpose, and it's not necessarily number 8. So, beyond, increasing exposure for the Foundation, he's up to something. The Schleck brothers could go a long way to helping him realize whatever that is. What better choice(s) exist?

erader

why would andy schleck leave saxobank when he has the team's full support? i mean they backed that boy to the hilt in the TDF. is schleck unhappy there?

i just find it odd that anyone would think that schleck would consider leaving what seems like an ideal situation for him.

ed rader

erader

that's a good post. so if schleck is a no-go radioshack needs to go for someone like cordell evans. does the chicken come with any points?

ed rader

bigfred 

Howzit,

I don't think that getting a license is as big a concern for them as you imply. If my numbers are correct, with regard to ProTour licensing, the UCI bank guarantee is $900,000 or 25% of salaries, another $100,000 to the UCI for licensing fees and $163,000 to the biopassport contribution. Beyond that, yes they need to show some talent to get a ProTour license but that's really a second concern to putting a quality team together. A quality team will by default include sufficient talent just look at the bottom of the 18 current ProTour teams. And, there seem to be 2 licenses of the 20, currently available. Besides, they don't even need a ProTour license to get invites. All they need to do is register as a ProContinental team, which is considerably less involved, and they'll get wildcard invites to any race they want to participate in. Their media draw potential will guarantee them of that much.

oneradtec

Andy is a young guy and is still getting a lot stronger every year. He isn't that far off from Contador...at least in the mountains. I believe that Andy could win 3-4 Tours in his future.

I can see Andy coming to RadioShack because he's young and might be willing to help Lance one more year before he takes the reigns and begins to dominate the Tour himself. The advantage to Lance is that Andy has a long career ahead of him and might be willing to sacrafice one more year to help the Texan go out on top by defeating his rival Contador. You saw how dedicated Andy was in helping Frank. Lance would love to get that same dedication from Andy next year. Lance does not want to share Andy's allegiance with Frank...which is why RadioShack doesn't want them both. My bet is that Lance and TRS are going to offer Andy a fat long term contract, maybe even buy him out of the Saxo Bank contract. Then fill out the roster with guys like Levi, Horner, Hincapie, Popovych, etc. Probably Kloden too.

bigfred 

A fair question.

Ans: Did he win The Tour this year? Is he getting paid more than TRS can offer? If the answer to both of those questions is "no", then wouldn't it make sense to consider other offers? Only fools refuse to consider all options before deciding upon their course of action. The Schlecks aren't fools. Considering, doesn't hurt.

Remember, I didn't suggest that it was in Andy's best interests to sign with TRS. I contended that it was in TRS's best interests, and perhaps LA's, to go after them. Big difference between the two.

erader

only a fool would assume schleck would go to radio shack. you can make a phone call then send out a tweet but that really doesn't mean jack.

schleck did not lose the tour because of his team. they rode their hearts out for him and were very aggressive launching him on the climbs.

ed rader

Howzit

That is correct, the media coverage WILL pretty much secure them.
They still need to meet the criteria obviously for regulation's sake.
And you are right, the bottom of the Pro Team isnt anything special (in context)

However, one big factor we shouldnt forget is that not everyone wants to ride for RadioShack.
So they may have all the money, but they need the talent.

All the young hopefuls are not stupid. They know that RadioShack will be a use and abuse team for LA's personal cancer-shielded profiteering goals. They also know that LA says what he needs to to people when he needs them, and then stabs them in the back when they are not looking, (Poor Horner, Hincape, Contador, Hinult, LeMond, Sastre, Frankie Andreu, his ex wife, ex girlfriends, the list goes on)

I think the big names, after seeing what LA has done to Contador, would not want to ride with him. Even Vino from the side lines slammed the bugger.

tzarbomba

It's amazing how much drama you guys can make just out of some rumor.