Originally Posted by
damocles1
Another signing of a guy who can't finish it off...
Look at Slipstream's/TIAA's results over the last couple of years. They haven't won anything big and rarely put a guy in the top five of even medium sized races. And don't say I'm full of sh*t, do a search for the results.
Now they want to race the Grand Tours? Where's the GC guy?
And good luck competing with the big US Pro teams with guys like they have signed. The team Vaughters has constructed would get killed in a big money crit. I have it on good authority (DS of a BIG US based pro squad) that most of the teams around aren't now, nor have they ever been, fearful of Slipstream.
The day will come when Vaughters gets an actual company to sponsor him and they will demand results. The rich guys who are bakrolling him now are doing it for an ego stroke and nothing more.
1. Why do you need a GC guy to race a Grand Tour? There are 21-22 teams every year and < 5 have a shot at the podium.
2. 7-Eleven won three stages in their first Tour and held the yellow jersey without a snowball's chance of winning the GC.
3. Until last year their roster was primarily U25/trackies so it's no wonder they didn't win much.
4. I don't think Vaughters gives two sh*ts about crit results no matter how much money is on the table.
5. Most sponsors, large and small, do it for the ego stroke. The company may seek publicity but behind it all there's a cycling fanatic executive who's doing it for the ego stroke.