Merckx to Discovery?

homeycheese said:

I swear I saw a story earlier today on Velonews indicating Axel had signed for next season.

Has anyone confirmed this yet? I know it has been rumored and discussed elsewhere
😕

I now see on another site that someone else had the link to velonews announcing Merckx along with Hammond, but now the story has been removed from the vlownews site.

homeycheese said:

I swear I saw a story earlier today on Velonews indicating Axel had signed for next season.

Has anyone confirmed this yet? I know it has been rumored and discussed elsewhere
😕

cyclingnews.com is not reporting anything yet, but they are reporting that Andreas Kloden could possibly be looking for another team.

thebluetrain said:

cyclingnews.com is not reporting anything yet, but they are reporting that Andreas Kloden could possibly be looking for another team.

Tis true tis true. Merckx and Roger Hammond both signed with Discovery

velonews.com6733.0.htmlOpen ↗
thepaceline.comthepaceline.comOpen ↗

birdman23 said:

Tis true tis true. Merckx and Roger Hammond both signed with Discovery

velonews.com6733.0.htmlOpen ↗
thepaceline.comthepaceline.comOpen ↗

Cool!! This is starting to look like a team built for more of the classics.

Now the question I saw on another site is what bike will Axel ride?

Discovery Channel is clearly packing its roster for the whole Pro Tour!

Will Eddy Merckx let Axel ride a Trek?

homeycheese said:

Cool!! This is starting to look like a team built for more of the classics.

Now the question I saw on another site is what bike will Axel ride?

YEah they are definitley preparing for the pro tour. Should be a pretty kick butt team next year!

My guess is that he would have to ride Trek.

is it possible to have such a large strong team that you could field -2- complete teams under different names?? (ie. dicovery & Berry Floors)

Salsa Rider said:

is it possible to have such a large strong team that you could field -2- complete teams under different names?? (ie. dicovery & Berry Floors)

Talk about mucho dinero!

DiabloScott said:

Discovery Channel is clearly packing its roster for the whole Pro Tour!

Will Eddy Merckx let Axel ride a Trek?

Nahh. It'll be a Merckx with Trek stickers.

DiabloScott said:

Discovery Channel is clearly packing its roster for the whole Pro Tour!

Will Eddy Merckx let Axel ride a Trek?

Do we know for sure that the team will still be on Treks next year with the sponser change? I'm sure that if Armstrong has anything to say about it they probably will. I assume they'll still be riding Treks but haven't heard anything official.

meehs said:

Do we know for sure that the team will still be on Treks next year with the sponser change? I'm sure that if Armstrong has anything to say about it they probably will. I assume they'll still be riding Treks but haven't heard anything official.

My understanding ,which is limited, Trek is still a sponsor the team just lost USPS and picked up Discovery as the main sponsor

I know EM makes "trekking" bikes - don't think you'd want to race one though.

The Pro Tour charter requires Pro Tour Teams to have a development team. Interesting sidebars in ProCycling magazine about some ProTour revolt by big names.

DiabloScott said:

I know EM makes "trekking" bikes - don't think you'd want to race one though.

The Pro Tour charter requires Pro Tour Teams to have a development team. Interesting sidebars in ProCycling magazine about some ProTour revolt by big names.

So who would be on the way out?

I hope they do not lose Floyd Landis, he is one of my favourite riders.

Craig Walsh said:

So who would be on the way out?

I hope they do not lose Floyd Landis, he is one of my favourite riders.

According to this article Axel is still considering...
vrtnieuws.netindex.htmlOpen ↗

I suppose not many of you know Dutch 😄

In short it says that Marc Sergeant (Leader of Omega Pharma-Lotto) will be offering Axel a new contract after San Sebastian race. According to Sergeant Axel would like to stay on his team, but he is considering 2 or 3 offers (including Discovery).

We'll just have to wait and see....

Jupiler said:

According to this article Axel is still considering...
vrtnieuws.netindex.htmlOpen ↗.

Yes, Merckx is still considering. Yesterday, thepaceline (LA's fan site) indicated that Bruyneel had signed Merckx and Hammond. Then, late last night, the update changed to this, omitting Merckx:

"Correction 8/4/2004 - From Johan Bruyneel: Team Discovery has confirmed the signing of current Lotto rider Leif Hoste and Mr.Bookmaker / 2004 Paris-Roubaix podium man / Brit Roger Hammond for the 2005 season - more info soon..."

So I believe Merckx, while close to signing with Discovery, still hasn't quite done so.

DiabloScott said:

I know EM makes "trekking" bikes - don't think you'd want to race one though.

lotto-Domo seemed to do alright on them.

DeRosa_AV said:

lotto-Domo seemed to do alright on them.

Nope - "trekking" bikes are like european hybrids.

http://www.eddymerckx.be/bike/trekking.jpg

DiabloScott said:

Nope - "trekking" bikes are like european hybrids.

http://www.eddymerckx.be/bike/trekking.jpg

They also make some very nice racing bikes.

eddymerckx.beeddymerckx.beOpen ↗

Jupiler said:

According to this article Axel is still considering...
vrtnieuws.netindex.htmlOpen ↗

I suppose not many of you know Dutch 😄

In short it says that Marc Sergeant (Leader of Omega Pharma-Lotto) will be offering Axel a new contract after San Sebastian race. According to Sergeant Axel would like to stay on his team, but he is considering 2 or 3 offers (including Discovery).

We'll just have to wait and see....

The paceline had shown Axel as a new signing along with Leif Hoist but then it was retracted and it had a notice saying correction and the new signings were listed as Leif Hoiste and Roger Hammond.