Worse than Euskaltel

Come on Ken, cut these guys a break. They've had two bad years in a row
and they are a pro team.

I thought that Zubeldia was the real thing back when everyone was
talking about Mayo and Roberto Laiseka.

<[email hidden]> wrote >

Quoted message said:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aWHqsHDWb824&refer=us

From that link:

"Euskaltel's own research showed that public perception of the company fell
5 percent after none of the team finished in the top 25 at last year's Tour.
"

Wow.

I just watched an excellent documentary about the backmarkers of the
2004
Tour, by the Belgian program "Striptease." They followed RAGT and
La Boulangere. There were many interesting episodes, e.g., when an
RAGT rider is 200 meters behind a La Boulangere rider, while both
are way off the back, and the Boulangere rider is doing everything to
prevent him to bridge back to him for 20 km.

Anyway, the RAGT team looks incredibly
weak, and even the directeurs sportifs are continually talking about
the inability of their riders, which doesn't improve their morale much.
The weirdest scene: During a massage, one rider asks the other: "Are
you going to jack off tonight?" The other answers: "No, my wife is
going to be here on Sunday. But I did it two days ago."

-ilan

k.papai a écrit :

Quoted message said:

Ignoring the French teams, is there any other team which has done worse
than Euskaltel? (the laughable and horrible Domina Vacenza might be the
easy choice of the worst of the non French)

They have one guy, Zubeldia, at 15th in G.C., after that nothing,
either in points or polka dots. Seems like they are merely turning the
pedals, following wheels, and doing nothing. Goddam even Subway could
do better.

-Ken

"k.papai" <[email hidden]> escribió en el mensaje
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Ignoring the French teams, is there any other team which has done worse
than Euskaltel? (the laughable and horrible Domina Vacenza might be the
easy choice of the worst of the non French)

They have one guy, Zubeldia, at 15th in G.C., after that nothing,
either in points or polka dots. Seems like they are merely turning the
pedals, following wheels, and doing nothing. Goddam even Subway could
do better.

-Ken

Everything relatively accurate, except the last sentence. They have tried
with Egoi Martinez and Kamaño. The rest of the team is in Vacation mode.
They brought a team around Mayo (and apparently the team that Mayo wanted -
except for Zubeldia), as soon as Mayo failed (almost day one) the rest of
the team is thinking about whatever is left of the season, and what is going
to happend with them after this TdF. I think there will be a full shake up.

Very telling from that Bloomberg link:

"Sponsors such as Bilbao, Spain-based Euskaltel, savings bank Bilbao
Bizkaia Kutxa and bicycle maker Orbea SA say they need Mayo and his
teammates to be toward the head of the field on the 14th, 15th and 16th
stages when the race snakes into the mountains. Euskaltel's own
research showed that public perception of the company fell 5 percent
after none of the team finished in the top 25 at last year's Tour.

``The team went missing in action and our image suffered as a result,''
Nerea Lupardo, Euskaltel's director of investor relations, said during
a interview in Bilbao. ``People want to see the team fighting for the
lead.'' "

LOL, Ken, such a waste of talent there.

k.papai said:

Ignoring the French teams, is there any other team which has done worse
than Euskaltel? (the laughable and horrible Domina Vacenza might be the
easy choice of the worst of the non French)

They have one guy, Zubeldia, at 15th in G.C., after that nothing,
either in points or polka dots. Seems like they are merely turning the
pedals, following wheels, and doing nothing. Goddam even Subway could
do better.

-Ken

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aWHqsHDWb824&refer=us

<[email hidden]> a écrit dans le message de news:
[email hidden]...
I just watched an excellent documentary about the backmarkers of the
2004
Tour, by the Belgian program "Striptease." They followed RAGT and
La Boulangere. There were many interesting episodes, e.g., when an
RAGT rider is 200 meters behind a La Boulangere rider, while both
are way off the back, and the Boulangere rider is doing everything to
prevent him to bridge back to him for 20 km.

Anyway, the RAGT team looks incredibly
weak, and even the directeurs sportifs are continually talking about
the inability of their riders, which doesn't improve their morale much.
The weirdest scene: During a massage, one rider asks the other: "Are
you going to jack off tonight?" The other answers: "No, my wife is
going to be here on Sunday. But I did it two days ago."

-ilan

I like the scene where Christophe Rinero was being encouraged by a fan as he
struggled up the hill. He yelled at the guy, "Push me, [censored]!"

trg a écrit :

Quoted message said:

I like the scene where Christophe Rinero was being encouraged by a fan ashe
struggled up the hill. He yelled at the guy, "Push me, [censored]!"

Yes, they managed to show a lot of pushes, as well as towing by the
team car as well as the DS looking out for commissaires. They also
captured the incompetence of the DS, who was looking down at something
while driving, and bashed into the car in front of him. They took off
without realising that they had destroyed the radiator and eventually
broke down, and the car had to be towed away. Note that the RAGT
co sponsor was the auto company MG-Rover.

Makes Euskaltel look like US Postal/Discovery.

-ilan

"Yes, they managed to show a lot of pushes, as well as towing by the
team car as well as the DS looking out for commissaires. They also
captured the incompetence of the DS, who was looking down at something
while driving, and bashed into the car in front of him."

He was driving and surfing the Internet WWW looking for all Basso
sister photos, what else? She was prominent last July too, no? GOOGLE
'basso sister photo' and report back.

"...but German tabloid Bild announced on Monday that the five-time Tour
runner-up [der Kaiser] had found new love in the arms of pal
Steinhauser's sister, Sara."

Sisters!

-kjp

"k.papai" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:1122057644.657540.84300
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

They have one guy, Zubeldia, at 15th in G.C., after that nothing,
either in points or polka dots.

Iker Flores has a commanding lead in the competition for the Lantern Rouge.

NS

alex said:

"k.papai" <[email hidden]> escribió en el mensaje

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

They have one guy, Zubeldia, at 15th in G.C., after that nothing,
either in points or polka dots. Seems like they are merely turning the
pedals, following wheels, and doing nothing. Goddam even Subway could
do better.

Euskaltel won both the Dauphine Libere and the Tour de Suisse.
How'd Subway do in those races?

For whatever reasons (peaking, doctors, egos? ...), they're sucking
again in July and they didn't even bring Gonzalez. Lately, the
Spanish and Italian teams have had a few decent riders and a lot of
packfill in the Tour. They have their own grand tours to worry about.
I imagine Liberty and others will be more visible in September.

Quoted message said:

Everything relatively accurate, except the last sentence. They have tried
with Egoi Martinez and Kamaño. The rest of the team is in Vacation mode.
They brought a team around Mayo (and apparently the team that Mayo wanted-
except for Zubeldia), as soon as Mayo failed (almost day one) the rest of
the team is thinking about whatever is left of the season, and what is going
to happend with them after this TdF. I think there will be a full shake up.