T-Mobile

Agreed. T-mobile rides for themselves and it is a big disadvantage to Jan
compared to what Lance has. USPS, is there for Lance and is a very strong
team.

Curt

"max taylor" <m@t> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I thought when your leader is in trouble you go back to help him. Why
isn't T-Mobile supporting Jan? If Lance were back where Jan was, I'm
pretty sure no other Postal rider would be ahead of him riding his own
race. They'd go back and help pace him back into the front of the pack.
I don't get what T-Mobile is doing. They don't seem to have Jan winning
the Tour as their main objective, as I thought it was. If Lance were
struggling would Postal be considering a new leader mid-race as the
commentators were suggesting T-Mobile might be?

max taylor <m@t> wrote :

Quoted message said:

I thought when your leader is in trouble you go back to help him. Why
isn't T-Mobile supporting Jan? If Lance were back where Jan was, I'm
pretty sure no other Postal rider would be ahead of him riding his own
race. They'd go back and help pace him back into the front of the pack.
I don't get what T-Mobile is doing. They don't seem to have Jan winning
the Tour as their main objective, as I thought it was.

Kloden is in contention for a podium spot, and Jan doesn't look good
for that right now. Sending Kloden back to pace Jan might gain Jan at
most a few extra seconds - for what? What's Kloden supposed to do,
push Ullrich up the hill?

T-Mobile can be criticized for a number of things, but this is not
one of them.

Quoted message said:

If Lance were
struggling would Postal be considering a new leader mid-race as the
commentators were suggesting T-Mobile might be?

Probably not, because rbr fanboys and dumbass US sports columnists would
scream betrayal. If Lance was really bad, though, the sensible thing to
do would be to give Azevedo a free hand to ride for stage wins or a high
GC position.

Benjamin Weiner said:

max taylor <m@t> wrote :

Quoted message said:

I thought when your leader is in trouble you go back to help him. Why
isn't T-Mobile supporting Jan? If Lance were back where Jan was, I'm
pretty sure no other Postal rider would be ahead of him riding his own
race. They'd go back and help pace him back into the front of the pack.
I don't get what T-Mobile is doing. They don't seem to have Jan winning
the Tour as their main objective, as I thought it was.

Kloden is in contention for a podium spot, and Jan doesn't look good
for that right now. Sending Kloden back to pace Jan might gain Jan at
most a few extra seconds - for what? What's Kloden supposed to do,
push Ullrich up the hill?

T-Mobile can be criticized for a number of things, but this is not
one of them.

Quoted message said:

If Lance were
struggling would Postal be considering a new leader mid-race as the
commentators were suggesting T-Mobile might be?

Probably not, because rbr fanboys and dumbass US sports columnists would
scream betrayal. If Lance was really bad, though, the sensible thing to
do would be to give Azevedo a free hand to ride for stage wins or a high
GC position.

Cool. I didn't know that team leadership was that flexible. By the way,
thanks for not flaming my newbie TdF naivete, and for simply informing me.

in article [email hidden], max taylor at m@t wrote on
7/17/04 8:01 PM:

Quoted message said:

Benjamin Weiner said:

max taylor <m@t> wrote :

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If Lance were
struggling would Postal be considering a new leader mid-race as the
commentators were suggesting T-Mobile might be?

Probably not, because rbr fanboys and dumbass US sports columnists would
scream betrayal. If Lance was really bad, though, the sensible thing to
do would be to give Azevedo a free hand to ride for stage wins or a high
GC position.

Cool. I didn't know that team leadership was that flexible. By the way,
thanks for not flaming my newbie TdF naivete, and for simply informing me.

Team leadership is indeed highly flexible. Just in this Tour alone:

- Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) dropped out leaving understudy Filippo
Pozzato to grab a stage win, and for Kim Kirchen to almost grab another

- Jean-Patrick Nazon and Jaan Kirsipuu, both on AG2R, have each won stages
which both were capable of contesting

- Denis Menchov came in as Illes Balears' hope for the overall, but
Francisco Mancebo outperformed him right up to the point that Menchov
dropped out from injuries

- Domina Vacanze's star sprinter Mario Cipollini departed, and Sergio
Marinangeli tried to get a stage win

- CSC and Alessio-Bianchi both had riders attack on alternating days during
the flat first week

- Phonak changed leaders on the road from Tyler Hamilton to Oscar Pereiro,
T-Mobile from Jan Ullrich to Andreas Kloden, and Euskaltel-Euskadi from Iban
Mayo to... uh... Iker Camano

-Sonarrat.