Van Avermeat for me also. Or Matthews as a smokey.
Just got on to this. It has Dave Beaker written all over it!
I love you Will.
Looks like I’ll be getting absolutely zero work done today.
I hadn’t paid much attention to what Haussler had been doing- last I’d heard he was out injured- then he pops up on a continental team? Correct me if I’m wrong, but does this mean things aren’t going so well? Hope he does well on sat then
Getting on the cans and then crashing a car (whilst injured) usually doesn’t bode well with future employers
Oh snap!
Nor does winning no races as a protected rider…
My money is on Terpstra.
i know a fair bit about pro cycling and there’ll be a few losers i reckon.
Genuine Lolz eh.
Disappointed to see K-B-K cancelled, was keen to see if Leigh Howard could upset Cav and Greipel.
Also, at the Track Worlds the ride by Martyn Irvine in the scratch race deserves some recognition. Attacked solo with 10 laps to go, got caught by the Austrian with one to go, but had enough strength to pin him on the shoulder through turns 2 and 3 and then pull away from him out of turn 4. Watching them both give it everything on that last lap was amazing. And Ireland’s first men’s track medal for a ridiculous 116 years. Worth watching.
Team he is on was very close to signing Cancellara (and a few others) but he apparently couldnt get out of his contract. There’s a fair bit of money behind them and they have/had a good chance of some wildcards and so are possible ProTour material for next year. I think he needed a change and this might be it.
He tried to get out when the sh1t hit the fan about Bruyneel-US Postal but he didn’t have a anti-drugs break clause in his contract; not necessarily to sign with IAM but to leave RSN generally.
RSN wouldn’t let him go for free and he couldn’t buy out his contract. If IAM had the cash they would have bought out the contract, but we’re talking 3-4million euro just to get him free. Add his 2013 salary and that’s a 5.5-6million rider
IAM whole budget is 6mill euro a year
Scarponi is in the doghouse:
La Gazzetta dello Sport, Lampre stated, “[Scarponi] voluntarily signed a resignation clause that would come into effect if he is linked in a sporting or civil investigation.”
Accuracy of the quote aside, the key word is linked
Few races over the weekend.
I enjoyed Mosers win at Strade Bianchi, Fabien coming 4th seems to show that he is on form.
Cadel came 29thish I think.
Yeh, I watched the Strade Bianche yesterday. Was a great race, only really decided in the last 2 kilometres.
Poor old Fabian though, really needs to get some stronger teammates and some better tactics. I think they’ve worked out that he likes to just ride away from everyone, and Sagan for one just tagged him the whole race. Worked out well for Moser.
Yeah, he is wasted so much in that team.
Nearly any other team would be better for him than Radioshack.
He would have been boned if katusha didn’t get up. His bike had Puritos name ready to go on it. This extra contract clause was a fallback plan
FDJ making the classy move and giving Nacer Bouhanni a sponsorless French champion kit. Miles better than some teams and their ‘here’s a stripe on our regular kit’ interpretation.
i spose FDJ have enough exposure to warrant/be able to do it, good move - i like.
looks Yugoslavian though…?
