Doughnut
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Post by Doughnut on Sept 22, 2011 16:52:28 GMT
Anyone else interested?
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LUFC
Ashley Tait
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Post by LUFC on Sept 28, 2011 23:56:34 GMT
I usually follow the big three, Gero, le tour and Vuelta. Sometimes tour down under and Cali. though those are just buildups to the main 3.
I have recently been catching glimpses of UK road racing on sky sports which has caught my fancy. seems to be quite a good stable sport nowadays thanks to Sky and Team GB's success.
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Doughnut
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Post by Doughnut on Sept 29, 2011 9:50:32 GMT
Team GB's success in last week's World Championships was pretty impressive.
I'm wondering when Cav will finally announce who he'll be riding with next year. Sky looks likely but it's not going to be easy for them if they're planning on supporting both Cav and Wiggins in the Tour.
Cav's gonna have a tough decision to make next Summer too. Does he try and defend the green jersey and his winning streak on the Champs Elise, or does he drop out of the Tour at the end of week 2 in order to prepare for the Olympics? He's won green, he's just won the World Championships road race, he's won 20 stages of the Tour and could well improve on that total next year, but he's yet to win an Olympic medal and he has a good chance at taking gold at a home Olympics next year, my guess is that'll be his main aim above all else.
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LUFC
Ashley Tait
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Post by LUFC on Sept 30, 2011 19:59:25 GMT
I dont think Team Sky can accommodate him with with Wiggins and Geraint Thomas wanting to do the General classifications, then Boasson Hagen doing the sprints. There's history between Cav and Hagen over sprinting and i doubt Hagen will want to second fiddle to him.
I could see Cav going to a team that will build up for the sprint more than anything, like he had these past few years. Not sure as to which team would do that though.
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Doughnut
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Post by Doughnut on Oct 3, 2011 8:15:58 GMT
I dont think Team Sky can accommodate him with with Wiggins and Geraint Thomas wanting to do the General classifications, then Boasson Hagen doing the sprints. There's history between Cav and Hagen over sprinting and i doubt Hagen will want to second fiddle to him. I could see Cav going to a team that will build up for the sprint more than anything, like he had these past few years. Not sure as to which team would do that though. From a purely professional point of view I guess Cav would be best with a team that's built around leading him to the line every race. I don't think he has that option though as I don't think there is such a team now that HTC have gone. From a personal point of view though he knows the Sky team members better than those of any other team and gets on great with most of them having come through the GB youth set-up with them. There'd also be no better preparation for him aiming for a Gold in London 2012 than for all but one (David Millar) of the GB team to be racing for the same pro team. So it could come down to how much he wants that Olympic success. Sky would certainly have a delicate balance to pull off with the riders you mentioned in the same team, but I think those riders will mainly be aiming for success at different races. G Thomas is a great domestique but I think his GC ambitions will be restricted to 1 week races unless he massively ups his game. He'd make a good leadout man for Cav though. Boasson Hagen is going to be an awesome rider but I can see him as more of a classics and one day specialist which isn't likely to harm Cav's chances in the grand tour sprint finishes, in any case with the 2 of them on the same team Cav would clearly be top sprinter. The tricky bit will be when it comes to spreading the resources between Wiggins and Cav in the TdF (I doubt Wiggins will ride the other 2 grand tours if all goes to plan). Froome is also going to be a major consideration too, I can see him (quite rightly) being given team leader status for the Vuelta next year and maybe even TdF in years to come. It'd be a problem for Sky, but it'd be a nice problem to have. Next year's BMC team will have Cadel Evans, Thor Hushovd and Philippe Gilbert! It's going to be a lot harder keeping those three happy.
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LUFC
Ashley Tait
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Post by LUFC on Oct 6, 2011 9:51:13 GMT
It's certainly going to be hard for whatever team takes him on to decide how resources will be spread or moved too to help him win more sprints. HTC was the perfect weapon for him.
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Doughnut
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Post by Doughnut on Oct 6, 2011 10:14:00 GMT
It's certainly going to be hard for whatever team takes him on to decide how resources will be spread or moved too to help him win more sprints. HTC was the perfect weapon for him. Sky announced the other day that they're yet to sign contracts with Cav and have said "it's complicated". Omega Pharma Quickstep looks like a distinct possibility for Cav. I don't suppose Greipel would be too impressed having moved there from HTC last year to get out from Cav's shadow! www.cyclingnews.com/news/cavendish-to-omega-pharma-quickstep
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LUFC
Ashley Tait
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Post by LUFC on Oct 7, 2011 1:20:10 GMT
Interesting move if it comes off. Greipel may move on or just have to suck it up and help/compete for sprints while on the same team. wouldnt be too hard to train in 2 riders.
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Doughnut
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Post by Doughnut on Oct 7, 2011 8:38:27 GMT
Interesting move if it comes off. Greipel may move on or just have to suck it up and help/compete for sprints while on the same team. wouldnt be too hard to train in 2 riders. I guess if Greipel is already signed for next year he'd just have to suck it up or negotiate his way out of contract and maybe even join Sky instead of Cav. I'm not sure, but I think at HTC they competed in different races most of the time as there's not a lot of point in having two specialist sprinters in the same team in the same race. Greipel left HTC because he was never going to get a chance to ride the TdF with Cav in the same team. It'll be a real shame for Greipel if Cav goes there. He's not as good as Cav but he's a really good sprinter. Check out his career highlights on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Greipel
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LUFC
Ashley Tait
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Post by LUFC on Oct 11, 2011 15:48:45 GMT
www.skysports.com/story/0,,15264_7235754,00.html So he's gone to Sky afterall. Hagen, Swift and him as sprinters, looks a good lineup. But still i feel the balance is off.
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Doughnut
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Post by Doughnut on Oct 11, 2011 16:13:54 GMT
www.skysports.com/story/0,,15264_7235754,00.html So he's gone to Sky afterall. Hagen, Swift and him as sprinters, looks a good lineup. But still i feel the balance is off. I'm happy with this. Seems like the obvious thing to do for all concerned IMO. (except maybe Swift lol)
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Doughnut
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Post by Doughnut on Dec 3, 2012 11:02:21 GMT
Wiggins for SPOTY 2012? No thanks. Let Mo, Hoy, or Ennis have it IMO.
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Yotes
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Post by Yotes on Jan 18, 2013 12:20:14 GMT
Armstrong finally admits it ( BBC Sport). All a bit depressing to me, there's increasingly less room in sport now for the extraordinary, your first thought it always doping.
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Doughnut
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Post by Doughnut on Jan 18, 2013 15:05:52 GMT
Armstrong finally admits it ( BBC Sport). All a bit depressing to me, there's increasingly less room in sport now for the extraordinary, your first thought it always doping. It'll get a whole lot worse before it gets better. If it gets better. Looking at my previous post on this thread has reminded me: That Wiggins bloke still seems to be doing his damnedest to be as much like Lance Armstrong as possible.
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Caesar
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Post by Caesar on Jan 23, 2013 7:40:04 GMT
What's wrong with Wiggins? I have a passing interest in cycling and the guy doesn't seem to do a lot wrong to me
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Doughnut
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Post by Doughnut on Jan 23, 2013 10:34:36 GMT
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Doughnut
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Post by Doughnut on Feb 15, 2013 10:28:59 GMT
Go Froome (about as likely as Wiggo to be doping but at least he seems like a decent kind of chap)
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Yotes
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Post by Yotes on Feb 21, 2013 14:44:19 GMT
Giro d'Italia to start off with 3 stages in Ireland: BBC.
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