First Casualty of the UCI Pro Tour



[email protected] (Richard Adams) wrote:

>Brioches La Boulangère to Stop
>
>http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/jun04/j-
>un03news3
>
>Let's hear a big raspberry for those brilliant folk who try
>to fix what wasn't broken.

That's great news. If we have stupid useless boring french
team quitting the ranks, that's only a good team. The best
would be that next year there are only 3 french pro team, so
stupid leblank will be forced to give his wild cards to non
french teams.

And it's not true that something wasn't broken. The Giro
with almost only Italian teams wasn't something in line with
the history of this sport. Something needed to be done.
 
Richard Adams wrote:
> Brioches La Boulangère to Stop
>
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/jun04/ju-
> n03news3
>
> Let's hear a big raspberry for those brilliant folk who
> try to fix what wasn't broken.

There are 20 riders on the BLB roster. The Cyclingnews.com
story mentions Joseba Beloki, but the real prize must be
Sylvain Chavanel, who is still 25 years old. Beloki is 30,
Didier Rous is 33.
 
Davide Tosi <[email protected]> wrote:
> And it's not true that something wasn't broken. The
> Giro with almost only Italian teams wasn't something in
> line with the history of this sport. Something needed
> to be done.

What do you think is more likely? That the TT1's that are
currently skipping the Giro will start sending competitive
riders? Or that the TT1's that are currently skipping the
Giro will hire cheap and marginal riders until they get to
28 and then send them to races they don't care about (like
the Giro) to get ground up into lunch meat?

This could be a terrible thing for the Giro.

I'll bet a bigger factor with Brioches La Boulangere was
uncertainty over whether they'd even be one of the top 18
teams. Since they are currently ranked 20th they would have
to hire real riders to make the cut off. They wouldn't have
the luxury of taking the easy and cheap way out. Better for
them would have been a merger with the other French team
that won't make the cut, Credit Agricole.

I am predicting that teams that are on the margin will
merge and teams that are safely in the top 18 will hire
lunch meat.

Bob Schwartz [email protected]
 
Davide Tosi wrote:
> [email protected] (Richard Adams) wrote:
>
>> Brioches La Boulangère to Stop
>>
>> http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/jun04/j-
>> un03news3
>>
>> Let's hear a big raspberry for those brilliant folk who
>> try to fix what wasn't broken.
>
> That's great news. If we have stupid useless boring french
> team quitting the ranks, that's only a good team. The best
> would be that next year there are only 3 french pro team,
> so stupid leblank will be forced to give his wild cards to
> non french teams.
>
> And it's not true that something wasn't broken. The
> Giro with almost only Italian teams wasn't something in
> line with the history of this sport. Something needed
> to be done.

True that the majority of the teams were Italian. However a
lot of the riders weren't. If I recall correctly out of the
first 14 on GC there were 7 different nationalities.

--
Perre

You have to be smarter than a robot to reply.
 
Bob Schwartz <[email protected]> wrote:

>Davide Tosi <[email protected]> wrote:
>> And it's not true that something wasn't broken. The
>> Giro with almost only Italian teams wasn't something in
>> line with the history of this sport. Something needed
>> to be done.
>
>What do you think is more likely? That the TT1's that are
>currently skipping the Giro will start sending competitive
>riders? Or that the TT1's that are currently skipping the
>Giro will hire cheap and marginal riders until they get to
>28 and then send them to races they don't care about (like
>the Giro) to get ground up into lunch meat?
>
>This could be a terrible thing for the Giro.

But that's not what is going to happen. Even now there are
riders that would like to ride the Giro but their teams
sponsors don't consider it worth. Many riders in teams like
Quickstep or T-Mobile declared that they would have come to
ride the Giro if their team did.

Anyway, in case even this doesn't work, something else must
be done. I would go as far as making Giro partecipation
compulsory for every rider who wants to ride the Tour.

But you yankees only have to blame yourselves for this
situation. Before the coming of USA top riders, for each and
any top stage racer winning Giro and Tour in the same year
was *the ultimate goal*. Then came first Greg and than Lance
from yankeeland and the whole cycling

Personally I hope that if really Giro has to become a minor
race forever, than pro cycling goes to hell with it.
 
[email protected] (Davide Tosi) writes:

> But that's not what is going to happen. Even now there are
> riders that would like to ride the Giro but their teams
> sponsors don't consider it worth.

I had the idea that this has something to do with RAI
screwing up selling the TV rights. It's not on TV in
Spain, IIRC.

--
David N. Welton Consulting: http://www.dedasys.com/
Personal: http://www.dedasys.com/davidw/ Free Software:
http://www.dedasys.com/freesoftware/ Apache Tcl:
http://tcl.apache.org/
 
Davide Tosi <[email protected]> wrote:
> But you yankees only have to blame yourselves for this
> situation. Before the coming of USA top riders, for each
> and any top stage racer winning Giro and Tour in the same
> year was *the ultimate goal*. Then came first Greg and
> than Lance from yankeeland and the whole cycling

Oh please. Indurain did it twice after Lemond. Pantani
did it once.

The schedule changes that came when the Vuelta moved from
the spring to the fall did much more damage. It was a good
move for the Vuelta but it harmed the Giro and the World
Championships. It made doing the Giro-Tour double harder.

The Tour always came first, you can't blame that on the
Americans.

Bob Schwartz [email protected]
 
"Davide Tosi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> [email protected] (Richard Adams) wrote:
>
> And it's not true that something wasn't broken. The
> Giro with almost only Italian teams wasn't something in
> line with the history of this sport. Something needed
> to be done.

Well, that's true, but I don't think that the pro-tour is
the answer.
 
In article <[email protected]>, Davide Tosi
<[email protected]> wrote:

> But you yankees only have to blame yourselves for this
> situation. Before the coming of USA top riders, for each
> and any top stage racer winning Giro and Tour in the same
> year was *the ultimate goal*. Then came first Greg and
> than Lance from yankeeland and the whole cycling

I guess those guys are also responsible for top riders
getting reasonable salaries too, eh?

Maybe it's really the fault of the Italians who love to see
10 bunch sprints in a grand tour so the teams that don't
want that kind of race go elsewhere.

Or maybe it's the French. Yes, it has to be their fault too.
And don't get me started on those Swiss!

Ciao,

-WG
 
[email protected] (Richard Adams) writes:

> Brioches La Boulangère to Stop
>
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/jun04/ju-
> n03news3
>
> Let's hear a big raspberry for those brilliant folk who
> try to fix what wasn't broken.

I predict that they may be the first sponsor, but they
certainly will not be the last, to pull the plug.

Pro bike racing is elitist these days: No more a bunch of
lads giving it a go because it was better than the coal-
mines in Flanders

Today you have to give a good ROI else you are ****

--
le Vent a Dos
Davey Crockett
Six-Day site: http://members.rogers.com/sixday/sixday.html
Please address all replies to the list
 
"Richard Adams" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Brioches La Boulangère to Stop
>
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/jun04/ju-
> n03news3
>
> Let's hear a big raspberry for those brilliant folk who
> try to fix what wasn't broken.

18 teams with 28 riders = 504 riders 22 teams with 20 riders
= 440 riders

I realize that some teams may have more than 20 riders, but
it seems to me that the result will be more riders riding
for stronger organizations.

-T
 
[email protected] (Davide Tosi) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Bob Schwartz <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Davide Tosi <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> And it's not true that something wasn't broken. The
> >> Giro with almost only Italian teams wasn't something in
> >> line with the history of this sport. Something needed
> >> to be done.
> >
> >What do you think is more likely? That the TT1's that are
> >currently skipping the Giro will start sending
> >competitive riders? Or that the TT1's that are currently
> >skipping the Giro will hire cheap and marginal riders
> >until they get to 28 and then send them to races they
> >don't care about (like the Giro) to get ground up into
> >lunch meat?
> >
> >This could be a terrible thing for the Giro.
>
> But that's not what is going to happen. Even now there are
> riders that would like to ride the Giro but their teams
> sponsors don't consider it worth. Many riders in teams
> like Quickstep or T-Mobile declared that they would have
> come to ride the Giro if their team did.
>
> Anyway, in case even this doesn't work, something else
> must be done. I would go as far as making Giro
> partecipation compulsory for every rider who wants to ride
> the Tour.
>
> But you yankees only have to blame yourselves for this
> situation. Before the coming of USA top riders, for each
> and any top stage racer winning Giro and Tour in the same
> year was *the ultimate goal*. Then came first Greg and
> than Lance from yankeeland and the whole cycling

I don't think you should post when you're drunk, especially
on all that super nasty Italian beer.

> Personally I hope that if really Giro has to become a
> minor race forever, than pro cycling goes to hell with it.
 
[email protected] (Davide Tosi) wrote in message

> But you yankees only have to blame yourselves for this
> situation. Before the coming of USA top riders, for each
> and any top stage racer winning Giro and Tour in the same
> year was *the ultimate goal*. Then came first Greg and
> than Lance from yankeeland and the whole cycling

>

great analysis dumbass. see this is what makes it
worthwhile. expert opinion like this.
 
Davide Tosi wrote:
> Bob Schwartz <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> What do you think is more likely? That the TT1's that are
>> currently skipping the Giro will start sending
>> competitive riders? Or that the TT1's that are currently
>> skipping the Giro will hire cheap and marginal riders
>> until they get to 28 and then send them to races they
>> don't care about (like the Giro) to get ground up into
>> lunch meat?
>>
> But that's not what is going to happen. Even now there are
> riders that would like to ride the Giro but their teams
> sponsors don't consider it worth. Many riders in teams
> like Quickstep or T-Mobile declared that they would have
> come to ride the Giro if their team did.

But that's what is already happening. Rather than make
hypotheticals about what teams will do in 2005, let's look
at the teams that were able to send riders to all three GTs
in 2003. There were only four of them: Alessio, Fassa,
Kelme, and Saeco; and note also that Fassa and Saeco had two
of the largest rosters: 25 riders. So look at what riders
they sent to the three GTs. I think you'll see that they
tended to send contenders to at most two of the tours, and
they sent lunch meat to the other (or others). Only two
riders last year made the start list in all three tours
(Alessio's Furlan and Fassa's Aitor Gonzalez). Even with the
expansion to 28 total riders you're not going to see real
talent going to all three tours.
 
David N. Welton wrote:
> "Robert Chung" <[email protected]> writes:
>
>> Only two riders last year made the start list in all
>> three tours (Alessio's Furlan and Fassa's Aitor
>> Gonzalez).
>
> Didn't Petacchi *win* stages in all of them?

Whoops. You're right. Petacchi did start all three GTs. But
this is more a highlight that Petacchi is a rare rider than
a refutation of the underlying point, which is that few
riders are capable of doing all three GTs. Next year's Pro
Tour teams will almost certainly be forced to pad their GT
rosters with lunch meat.
 
Could the Giro be made earlier so it didn't conflict so much
with the Tour?

If so, how much earlier would it have to be?
 
>Originally posted by Remove The Poli [/i]
>Could the Giro be made earlier so it didn't conflict so much
>with the Tour?
>
>If so, how much earlier would it have to be?

Well, April is the 'classics' season, and March would be too early.
 
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