Transferz
by Jen See on Aug 19, 2008 7:30 PM EDT
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Rumorage!
For which team will Bernhard Kohl ride next season? Today, he confirms that Rabobank is one of the teams he is considering. The Dutch team, who recently booted Dutch wunderkind Thomas Dekker from the fold, would like to hire the Austrian climber. (Can a Dutch rider be a wunderkind? Inquiring minds.) Rabobank is not the only team pursuing Kohl. Quick-Step, Silence-Lotto, Milram, and Columbia have also expressed interest in the third place finisher in this year's Tour de France.
Collect them all! AG2R would like to hire Alexander Efimkin, currently riding for QuickStep. The 26 year old Russian is the twin brother of Vladimir Efimkin, who already rides for Lavenu's French team. Should AG2R succeed, next season would mark the first time the two brothers have ridden for the same professional team.
Australian rider William Walker is in need of a team. Apparently, Rabobank is not planning to prolong his contract.
Not really a transfer, but... José Azevedo will start a new team in Portugal next season. He hopes to register the team as Continental or Pro Continental, two terms which sound pretty much the same. Pro Continental? Gets you the wildcard invites.
Staf Scheirlinckx of the fabulously Belgian name wants to leave Cofidis, where he currently rides. He'd very much like to ride for Silence-Lotto. No word just yet as to whether he will get his wish.
Crédit Agricole sprinter Angelo Furlan is reportedly close to signing with Skil-Shimano next season. In other Skil-Shimano news, Fumiyuki Beppu has extended his contract for one year.
Mikel Astarloza will ride for Euskatel-Euskaldi for two more years.
In the U.S., meanwhile, Toyota-United has released its riders. The team has not proved able to find a new sponsor, and consequently will not continue into next season. Among those now looking for roster spots are Cuban sprinter Ivan Dominguez, American crono champion Chris Baldwin, and Aussie Henk Vogels.
And Two Racey Race Resultz:
Damiano Cunego placed third in today's Tre Valle Varesine in Italy. By all accounts Cunego has recovered from his injuries from the Tour, but is not yet on winning form. Neopro Francesco Ginanni of the Diquigiovanni Androni team won ahead of Leonardo Bertagnolli, who is steadily stacking up results there in Italy in the hope of catching Ballerini's eye for Worlds. Ginanni attacked with four kilometers to go, and held a narrow gap over Bertagnolli to the line. Paolo Bettini declined to finish, dropping out with one lap to go.
In France, meanwhile, Nicolas Roche won the first stage of the Tour du Limousin. Roche won with a solo move, and holds the leader's jersey by 3 seconds over French rider Steve Chainel of Auber 93.
The Eneco Tour starts tomorrow. Hottitude fans of the world rejoice! Both Tom Boonen and Daniele Bennati will take the start of the otherwise relatively unexciting race. At least the scenery will be good. No word yet as to whether streamage will appear.
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Alexander/Vladimir
I guess that AG2R wants to hire Alexander, not Vladimir, who is already riding for the team.
I’m not the biggest fan of Kohl so I would prefer him joining one of the belgians team or Milram. I’m sure that Quickstep, Evans and Milram need more climbers.
Those darn Efimkins!
It is hard to remember which one is on which team, but KoD is right- its Vlad that’s already on AG2R and his brother Al is on QS.
craptacular
Check this. The good people at wvcycling.com have it right: Alexander to AG2R. But, the normally reliable tuttobiciweb says “Vladimir dal 2006 con la Caisse d’Epargne e poi quest’anno alla Quick Step, Alexander nello stesso anno con la Barloworld e poi quest’anno alal AG2r.” Kid you not. Linky. Since I don’t always trust my Dutch, I went with the Italian report, but I kept thinking it was wrong. Like, I swear Vladimir rides for AG2R. LOL, turns out he does.
‘kay, I’m going to go fix the OP now. Heh.
I’m bettin’ Kohl goes to Milram.
If anyone tries
I’ll offer free defense work. Sui Juris will surely pitch in too.
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Aug 19, 2008 11:25 PM EDT up reply actions
never trust Italians
“tip of the day”
by King of Doping on Aug 20, 2008 6:41 AM EDT up reply actions
Va fa Napoli!
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Aug 20, 2008 6:49 AM EDT up reply actions
A pedant writes: Nicolas Roche’s h-count is a little too high in your report :)
No gossip on who he’ll be riding for next season, with Crédit Agricole going bust? Garmin should probably sign him in order to compete with AG2R having the Efimkins (presuming that happens) and CSC the Schelcks (presuming they stay together). Having two cousins – Roche and Martin – isn’t quite the same thing but it’s close and Vaughters could probably squeeze some PR out of it.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
fmk did you ever respond to crashdan
why you chose that Samuel Beckett sig? He was upside down over it a while back.
Just curious.
"The world is a mess and I just need to rule it." Dr. Horrible
Beckett
Apps to crashdan, must have missed the question.
Is just a quote I like, that’s all. And Godot was a cyclist.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
oopsy :-)
all fixed up. we wouldn’t want him to have too high of an h count ;-)
Interesting question ‘bout where Roche ends up next year. I’d guess somewhere French, but Garmin isn’t at all a bad pick, if Vaughters has space left still. Talented kid. I haven’t seen any rumorage just yet, though no doubt the French sites must have something soon. I’ll cruise ’round domani and have a look – someone must be asking the same question we are.
Certainly having his future on the line is encouraging him to poke his nose out from the peloton and get himself noticed. I’m expecting him to try something in the Vuelta. He’s nowhere near a GC contender, but he could blag a stage.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
And just like that, my question gets a response with news that AG2R have signed him. Should see him riding alongside Philip Deignan.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
William Walker
I didn’t know he was Australian. I thought he was just played by one in the movie.
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Aug 19, 2008 11:27 PM EDT reply actions
Eneco
Spoke to an actual person yesterday at CyclingTV, the shock took me a bit by surprise, but the fact that they don’t have the rights to ENECO or Plouay didn’t shock me at all. Guess I’ll just put them in the same ‘black hole’ as the ‘Zero’ days of Dunkerque etc.
There’s a streaming link for ENECO at CyclingFans.
Brad
there's no link for streaming video yet at cyclingfans for eneco
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
links are up for eneco at cyclingfans..
they’re in realtime
absolutely horrendous… looks like under 100 streaming
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
you can't be serious
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
Gerdemann
Gerdemann is rapidly coming back on form. Today he won the Coppa Agostoni in Italy, outsprinting Leonardo Bertagnolli (who is totally en fuego right now) of Team Liquigas and Christian Pfannberger of Barloworld.
Nice to see Gerdemann back riding well. He’ll ride the Tour of Germany as his next big race.
Plouay-- any hope for decent feed?
Quite a startlist due to its UCI protour status. Don’t know much about this race…anyone?
Don't know about feed
But Plouay is both old and prestigious even without the pro tour thingy. Course is hilly, flat finish.
The last k or so may be flat
but there is a steep enough hill just before that to take out the likes of Cavendish.
yes, mos' def'
it’s a hilly classics guy course, usually a small group finish. Just meant it doesn’t finish on a climb like Liege or Fleche, so the winner needs a quick jump for the line.
Brothers
Didn’t Haimar Zubeldia’s younger brother ride for Euskaltel for a while? Joseba?
Not picking though, excellent work as always.
Efimkin Boys
She was saying that it would be the first time that the Efimkin Bros were on the same team — not the first time any brothers were on the same team. The Schleck boys are currently doing pretty well with that…
Beloki's brother
did, as did Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, then there’s the Jalaberts and all those Simon brothers. Ullrich’s brother was a wrench for t-mobile also. Probably others as well . . .
Meanwhile, on the domestic scene
Toyota-United floods the market with talent. Now, Henk Vogels and even Ivan Dominguez (holy crap, he’s my age) may decide to hang it up, but we’re still looking at riders with futures like Hilton Clarke, Dominique Rollin, and Ivan Stevic. We knew this was probably coming, but it has to make captains on other domestic squads worry a little more about their positions.
Seriously, between Symmetrics and T-U folding, you’d think a North American sporting co. could make something out of the opportunity.
Speaking of which – if you were a DS of a desperate team and looking around, where would you look for sponsor dollars?
Cervelo Out - Specialized, Scott or Trek In at Saxo Bank
Danish media are reporting that Cervelo will no longer provide bikes for Saxo next year. There is currently negotiations (bidding war?) over who will replace them., 3.5 million € /year is allegedly the bid right now.
My guess is that Riis would have continued with Cervelo had he not needed the money to keep riders like Sastre, Larsson, Kolobnev and others whose results make them more expensive to re-sign. I’m also guessing Cervelo are pretty happy with the rocket-ride to the big-leagues they have gotten from their sponsorship and they should be able to stay visible with a smaller team at a much smaller cost than at Saxo.
Carlos Sastre - Tour de France winner - Born From Jets
It's been a good relationship for both sides
Will be interesting to see who wins the sponsorship war. Specialized is already in with QS but CSC would get them some air time in every race all season long including the GTs. Scott is looking to move on from the Saunier Duval debacle, and Trek might be looking for more exposure in Europe.
Can see a case for all 3.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
makes perfect sense to me
Interesting to see who wins that prize. It’s a fab team for any of those companies. Big exposure all year long.
Kohl news (non-news actually)
sporza/Het Nieuwsblad says he will not go to QuickStep
http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza.be/wielrennen/080821_Kohl_neen_tegen_quick-step
QS is death to a guy with GC aspirations
Lefevere has never, and I mean never put up a team for the Grand Tours.
You can go all the way back to Mapei and there has never been a team which was a threat that he has been apart of.
Evans needs this guy, but Lotto is really tight with their budget so we’ll see, but I wouldn’t hold my breath with them unless Popo decides to move on; which he may do ‘cause he doesn’t seem too happy about where he is.
I'd rather see Kohl
ride for himself than Evans. He made the podium at the Tour. Dude deserves better than playing Evans’s whipping boy.
and hopefully whatever he does...
his team leader won’t trip him up or ride off the front with no apparent purpose other than advertising. and maybe his new team will actually have some sort of recognizable plan for him. at least if Kohl rides off the front, we can now be reasonably assured that its going somewhere. who knows what the little chimney sweep could do with the right support…
this Cervelo-Gerolsteiner development/rumour is an intriguing possibility…
Well, I guess I was thinking it more like this . . . .
. . . . Berni will be 27 next season, where as Cadel will be 32.
If I were Lotto, I’d hire Berni for two years and Cadel for a one year contract.
I would have Berni peak this next year for the Giro.
Then I would have him in the Tour for another Poka jersey as well as a super gregario for Cadel.
The following year, I would have Berni as the team captain for the Tour, and if Cadel is still with the team he would be scheduled to peak for the Ardennes Classics and the Giro.
Basically, I think Berni could use a bit more time to mature and Lotto may be a really good place for him to do that.
I think it will be hard
to convince a guy who just podiumed in the Tour to go to the Giro next year. At 27 he’s not young talent anymore. Also, I wouldn’t be too impressed with the “maybe we will give you our halfassed support next year”-promise.
Carlos Sastre - Tour de France winner - Born From Jets
new british team
There are rumors that a big new British team is in the works, probably for the 2010 or 2011 season. Huge budget, four year commitment. Probably sponsored by Sky.
Eh, you know how these things go.
Brailsford’s ANC-Halfords Mk2? Or another one?
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
The Sky involvement sounds like it’s Brailsford’s squad. With Murdoch pouring his money into the BCF most seem to assume he’s lined up as prime sponsor for that squad should it ever get off the ground.
Thing is, given how shite the road guys were in the Olympics – all DNFing – and the fact that Cav is showing that road and track aren’t a a good mix if you want to win on the road (he’s more or less said he’s hanging up his track wheels) I just don’t see the point of Brailsford’s dream team and its claimed intention of complementing buying bangles in the velodrome.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Unless
it is all part of some grand “Plan Cav” so that in 2012 the road race will make its way along the Thames path, maybe crossing the Chilterns to satisfy any elevation requirements in the rules without compromising the chances of the local star. Although I don’t see why Cavendish would want to be part of it. He’s got a far better collection of lead-out men where he is now.
Or for a less charitable view, Brailsford only values the road team as a training ground for his trackies, but none of the teams are interested in giving his riders jobs. After all there are plenty of Italians around willing to work full-time. There’s an interesting but oldish piece still on the front page of Cycling Weekly that gives lots of hints. http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/Tuscan_training_run_BC_Olympic_Academy_article_148375.html
Oh, and Max Sciandri has apparently saved all his training plans
from when he worked with the good Dr Cecchini. That’s the one bit that makes me uncomfortable.
Take it to the Max, Max.
This is the same Max Sciandri who was part of Cecchinis’ 1-2-3 at the Olympics in 96, isn’t it? And who thought only Ferrari could pull off a stunt like that?
And now Max has been named manager of the Team GB Tour of Britain squad. What the hell is going on there? Brailsford gets uppitty over a fair French comment and then goes and does this? WTF?
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Consistency? Brailsford?
After all Tom Southam was supposed to never be riding for Team GB again after what happened at the Worlds. Yet he’s back, and has apparently been in Brailsford’s own Halfords team all this year.
Let's hope
that the team photographer there is a bit better than the CSF one. Completely off topic I know, but I’ve never seen a worse collection of professional photos than those on the CSF website.
and
a better hairdresser for Grillo also hope
by semprenaroda on Aug 21, 2008 7:47 PM EDT up reply actions
perhaps we ought to send paride
a wee memo to help him out?
lyne and gav, fashion consultants to the starz.
You guys could make a debut with him at our party in Feb. :-)
"The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed."
Inspiration by Harpo
Skip forward to about 5:30
pro?
i figured the team mech shot them. camera, wrench, it’s all the same.
of course, before i got dissin’ the team mech’s that team columbia mech who posted his giro shots was freakin’ awesome. that dude, definitely knows his wrench from his wideangle.
Agreed about Benny the Mechanic
(and no sniggering in England about that line) If you’ve not seen his stuff then have a look over at http://wrenchman.blogspot.com/
Allan Davis
to Quick Step, debut at Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen, 3rd Sept.
Finally he gets a decent home
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
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