George to the LoveShack...

[akaAndrew]

Oh, and I wouldn't quite describe TeamSky and Shack as "coming to the fore" just yet. Neither have a team so we'll have to see who they sign and just how they perform before thinking either are a shoe-in for a TdF invite.

 

[andy_wrx]

I am also yet to be convinced that bertie will get to be team leader if Vino is back, regardless of what has been released to the press.

Sounds just like this year all over again !

 

[kennykool]

Ok lets say bertie moves on.......I think that Lance will be working on his Time trialling over the winter and Likewise Andy Schleck. Wiggo will also be doing more work in the mountains!

Amended prediction.

Lance to win the Tour with Andy and Wiggo in second and 3rd respectivley.

THEN Andy will sign for the Shack after Lance retires to become Director Sportif and will then dominate the Grand Tours with bertie becoming the spanish version of Jan Ullrich

 

[mangaman]

Ok lets say bertie moves on.......I think that Lance will be working on his Time trialling over the winter and Likewise Andy Schleck. Wiggo will also be doing more work in the mountains!

Amended prediction.

Lance to win the Tour with Andy and Wiggo in second and 3rd respectivley.

THEN Andy will sign for the Shack after Lance retires to become Director Sportif and will then dominate the Grand Tours with bertie becoming the spanish version of Jan Ullrich

You seem to dislike Bertie!

He'll also be working over the winter - to get even better.

He was so dominant in the mountains and time trials with a team that probably was against him.

Schleck will never come close to him in TTing and isn't a much better climber.

Wiggins is never going to climb as well as Bertie however hard he works and Bertie can TT as well as him.

Lance will work I'm sure, but gets older every year, just as Bertie reaches his prime.

Bertie has never shown signs of being like Ullrich - he always keeps in shape, rides more races and has won more GTs

 

[kennykool]

I DID like Bertie and was actually wishing him to win last years Tour. I lost any respect I had for him when he slated Lance in a press conference. I think he should have been more professional. Lance gets a hard time for saying things about other riders so why shouldn't Bertie?

Yeah maybe the comparison with Ullrich was a bit harsh and maybe more wishful thinking

 

[Chuffy]

I DID like Bertie and was actually wishing him to win last years Tour. I lost any respect I had for him when he slated Lance in a press conference.

Funny, but I had more respect for him, given that he saved his comments for after the Tour. Considering the way that he was royally shafted by Team LA during the Tour, I think he acted with admirable restraint and great professionalism throughout.

 

[akaAndrew]

Funny, but I had more respect for him, given that he saved his comments for after the Tour. Considering the way that he was royally shafted by Team LA during the Tour, I think he acted with admirable restraint and great professionalism throughout.

+1. Contador resisted making comment during the tour, even when asked, and only ever referred to tensions within the team - naming no names (not that he needed to). Armstrong actually offered opinion; about 2 team leaders, Contador not acting on team orders, etc. All this, imo, to rattle Contador and undermine him. It didn't work. Contador let his cycling do the talking. It was only after the tour, and - note - after Armstrong had announced his new team, that Contador said something. Something that surprised nobody really, and only confirmed what others could see and had been thinking.

He acted, imo, as a model professional both during the tour and after.

kenny, do you know why there wasn't a team car to take Contador to the final time trial? Why he had to get a lift from his brother? Because they were all otherwise occupied, that's why. And rumours abound as to why that was. Tell me how that happens to the leader of a team, wearing the yellow jersey? Contador had to deal with that kind of sh*t and still say focused on the job. He said nothing and got on with it. No 'I' in team? Don't make me f*cking laugh!!

 

[kennykool]

Mmm interesting - maybe Contadors brother is just so controlling over him that he HAD to drive him to the last time trial??? He is his agent after all?

 

[akaAndrew]

What would Lance do Kenny? Well, this makes interesting reading...

http://nyvelocity.com/content/features/2009/one-man-alone-command

...the first car incident

If he had any doubts, the time trial of Annecy erased them right away. Contador did his preparations: a ritual training and warm-ups. But when he requested a car to go to the start line, he found there was none available. Armstrong made sure all the cars were used to pick up his family and friends upon their arrival that day in France

...and the other version of how Armstrong gained 41 seconds on Contador on Stage 3

“I was just behind Alberto at that moment,” said Rojas, the Murcian sprinter from Caisse d’Epargne. “He was on Paulinho’s wheel who in turn was behind Zubeldia. Seeing that, I didn’t worry when I saw that Paulinho moved to the side, and Alberto got separated. I thought that the ones who were in front were not too far and that with a sprint, we could have caught them but as soon as we rounded the curve, I saw that we were really far away, that they had discarded Alberto.”

 

[lukesdad]

What battle? Contador was nt even trying this year. He played with them Wait untill he really gets serious.

Only one could challenge him......but you wont get him away from xc !!!!!!!!!

 

[yello]

but but but...

the beeb reports he IS off to BMC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/8233363.stm

Hincapie had been expected to join seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong's new Radio Shack team.

 

[Keith Oates]

Perhaps they should have let him get the Yellow Jersey after all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!