and Lang is going there too. hmmm…

i agree with Kohl that if SL is serious about the TdF, they need more than one rider who can ride in the top ten.

from the team website:

So the revelation of the 2008 Tour de France will be able to blossom within the Silence-Lotto atmosphere, and to become an absolute value at the top of the great tours without being immediately set under pressure. With Cadel Evans, Silence-Lotto has an absolute leader for the coming two years. The team management is certain that Cadel Evans and Bernhard Kohl will be completely complementary with regard on circumstances. … Omega Pharma’s anti-snoring product breaks regularly through new international markets. This month, Silence will be in Austria, and thus Bernhard Kohl’s transfer was ideally timed. Omega Pharma has also important commercial assets in Austria through the Bittner production plant at Feldkirchen.

so, 1stly that the team says Cadel is the leader for the next 2 years and they will complement each other, and 2ndly, which doesn’t surprise me, the team has some monetary/marketing reason for getting an Austrian. IMO more than any other team (or at least that I’ve read) they really make it about the marketing, perfect example is all the name changes while keeping the same overall sponsor (Omega Pharma). Apparently too, they’ve got more sponsorship money which is why they can sign these riders…

And comments from Kohl and sponsor Marc Coucke at sporza (google translated version):

Kohl – “The Tour is for Silence across the major priority and that has given the decisive,” said Kohl. “For Cadel Evans work is important for my education. I can learn a lot from him.”

Coucke- “Bernard Kohl fits perfectly into our picture,” says Silence-Lotto manager Marc Sergeant to Sporza. “We have seen that in the Tour is important for several kopmannen to have.” “Look at CSC. They had next to the brothers-Sastre and Schleck also won the Tour. "We took Popovitsj, but that proved not enough. Now we get to Popovitsj Kohl and a double buffer around Cadel Evans,” it sounds. … “But Kohl is still young and another case. He still feels unable to withstand the weight of the whole team to contribute and would like to drive next to someone with more experience.”

They seem to be on the same page here about Kohl helping Cadel and learning from Cadel … wonder if that was really Kohl’s goal (it’s quite possible he’s thinking that it might be tough to replicate this year’s success and better to gain some experience/not have the full weight of team leadership).

… uh… Evans… Kohl… Popo… uh… uh… Cioni and..well… \o/… and Marc Seargent?

vs. Contador, Leipheimer, Kloden (hell with the umlaut), Colom and Ekimov/Bruyneel
vs. Vande Velde, Frischkorn, Pate, and Vaughters
vs. Schleck the Younger, Tony, Jens!, Schleck the Elder and Riis.

Sorry Bernie… it’s not looking good…

the Larsson transfer is now confirmed also. he’ll ride for caisse for 2 years.

getting a strong contender from another team to apprentice to the current team leader for a couple of years, before promoting him to lead dog.

Sometimes it works.