roadwarrior

I looked at the invites to this race which is apparently taking place (interesting that Kevin Livingston is the competition director)...

They took Tinkhoff Credit (good grief). They did not take Jelly Belly. Andrew Bajadali just won Redlands and he rides for Jelly Belly.

They also took BMC who finshed well behind Jelly Belly in the team standings with Scott Moninger their top placing rider in ninth.

Nice message being sent here on the Tinkhoff selection.

Yo, Kevin...you are not helping the sport here. OK?

pinky

Decisions were made before Redlands. I had a conversation with Robin Zellner of Kodak Gallery after things were finalized. This is all politics and no sports, also note how TdG got moved to the same time frame as Sea Otter. Money talks, BS walks...Tyler rides...

bbattle

I will be wearing my Jelly Belly jersey for the entire race, then.

roadwarrior

Make sure you are in spots to get in photos, tv, things like that.

Maybe a sign..."Free Jelly Belly"...

This is a big race and to exclude one of the better domestic teams is just wrong. It hurts them, their sponsors...people are critical of the TdF and its invites of French teams, but they take care of their own.

carpediemracing 

I think Tour of G is taking care of their own. BMC. Tinkov, well, having Tyler race in the US will be a draw, for better or for worse. BMC? Not sure of their total impact on the sport.

The politics stink. BMC Cycling is part of this. Jim Ochowicz is a team advisor of some kind. He's also the pres of USA Cycling. And Tour of G is part of USA Cycling's ProTour (not to be confused with the other ProTour). So a team that pays him to "advise" them gets selected for a huge USA Cycling ProTour race and a team that does not pay him is not selected.

I feel bad for JB, Danny Van Haute, and their crew as this has to be one of their season goals. JB immediately fired a rider that tested positive (Adam something, a few years back), saying there's no room for dopers. No questions, just did it. I think they run a good, clean team. And they get left off of TdeG and a team that pays the governing body's president gets on?

Watch BMC pull an incredible ride out of nowhere. I'll be the first to admit I was mistaken. But right now, from what I see, I don't like it.

cdr

Moochers_Dad

You'll get your a** kicked if you don't have some free Jelly Bellys to hand out to everyone who sees the sign and wants some to eat.

The_Convert

I'm a huge fan of the Baj and jelly belly. But, if you take the emotion out of it, it does far more for the race having Tinkoff instead.

Shemp

Yeah, that was a pretty raw deal and I know they had planned on being there.

roadwarrior

Well, if it says "Free Jelly Belly", that's only one bean per customer.

But maybe, "Release Jelly Belly" might be better...

53x11

Whats wrong with Tinkoff? they have 5 track world champs, current Pro tour Europe leader and Tyler Hamilton, your ex favourite rider!

Or you'd rather see Jelly Belly in there? Lets see some REAL EURO style racing for once! So what he won redlands, that does not make him a god of cycling does it?
Put him in the on the track in Madison World cup and watch what happens..

Tinkoff has more talent than HealthNut, Jolly Bellies and Crack Racing together!

steephill

Apparently, the last two TdG spots came down to Colavita, BMC and Jelly Belly and based on Tour of California performances Colavita and BMC were selected. Danny Van Haute (Jelly Belly team director) does agree the Tour of California didn't go very well for JB, but Jelly Belly has a good track record and their selection into the TdG shouldn't come down to one event. The USA Cycling National Development Team's link to USA Cycling obviously gives them a special exemption because only two of their eight riders finished the Tour of California and yet they were selected for the Tour de Georgia. The pros will quickly get annoyed with the Development Team getting byes into the big US Tours if the young riders don't perform. I'd be annoyed right now.

By the way, Tyler Hamilton is currently in last place, 186th position, 38 minutes off the pace, after three days of Settimana Ciclistica Internazionale Coppi-Bartali, but Tinkoff Credit Systems has a lot good riders and is a worthy selection.

Unlike Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada, Jelly Belly is fighting back on the road and look out for them at next weekend's U. S. Open Cycling Championships.

Tour de Georgia summary page.

jrennie

The troll aint riding so good since his comeback incase you haven't seen. Near last in almost everything.

GuitarWizard

That's from "lack of time in the peloton", right?

roadwarrior

There's nothing to say here, but...