Lance's new team…

we was chating at work and we think that Lance may ask Wiggins to join him on his new team…

What do you recon?

no.
Wiggins has done enough to prove that he can be a team leader for grand tours. Armstrong will be forming a new team so that he can be team leader.
It ain't going to work.

It is possible as Lance seems to accept he is not the strongest and may want to build a team for publicity, to win and for the future to mainatain a presence in a sport he clearly loves.
He may want to build a team for hispersonal cycling benefit and his ego.
One could involve Wiggo one would not

may want to build a team for publicity, to win and for the future to mainatain a presence in a sport he clearly loves.

He may want to build a team for hispersonal cycling benefit and his ego.

ooh…let me think. which is it going to be? 😉

Wiggo has already confirmed he'll be at Garmin for 2010 (Dave Brailsford asked him to come to Team Sky).

Read somewhere yesterday that lance will be doing running, cycling and tri. Methinks this is him saying he won't be able to dominate any one, but will be good enough whatever he does.

Levi to lead the team in GTs.

I think wiggo might be asked, Lance has alot of respect for him. Wiggo had a brilliant tour, but we wont see till next year whether he can up his game again!

Lance's team I dont think Lance will lead. He has proved he still is one of the best cyclists in the world but I think hes more a super domesteek now, he still has the mental edge over everyone and the legs are not to bad either!

Levi, Kloeden, Andy + Frank S and maybe wiggo, But then you have to many big names in there.

He's got the problem that there are now two very successful American teams with pretty loyal riders. So I'm not sure he'll be able to tempt as many riders away as he would have been in the past.

He has been seen with quite a few riders (Hincapie, Zabriskie and Gerrans for three), but they all seem happy with their respective teams at the moment. Especially the Garmin lot.

I agree that Levi might be the main GC contender in the new team.

Dont discount Lance's hillybilly mate Landis ! 🙄

Lance's team I dont think Lance will lead. He has proved he still is one of the best cyclists in the world but I think hes more a super domesteek now

I presume you've not seen his comments where he strongly implies he thinks he can win the TdF year?

I presume you've not seen his comments where he strongly implies he thinks he can win the TdF year?

was that before he had his arse royally kicked in both the mountains and the timetrials this year?

Otherwise, I'd love to be his doctor, some major work coming up…

was that before he had his arse royally kicked in both the mountains and the timetrials this year?

Probably before, since he also suggested he didn't expect to do that well this year 🙄

Andyp…you may not have noticed but he's there or thereabouts overall…not bad as a broken collarbone tends to upset training schedules slightly….I wouldn't write him off as a top 5 finish this year will REALLY motivate him to train for next year…I've no doubt that without the Giro problem he'd be closer to Contador….with a dedicated team behind him (as in previous wins) who knows?

you may not have noticed but he's there or thereabouts overall
surprisingly, I had noticed. I'd also noticed that he can't compete with the best in either the mountains or the timetrials any more. And he'll be a year older next year. No chance.

Royally kicked?! He's still third for christs sake! Not to be sniffed at by any account, merely finishing the tour is an impressive feat.

I'd also noticed that he can't compete with the best in either the mountains or the timetrials any more.

How far off the pace was he exactly? Everybody keeps talking about Wiggins as a potential future winner, yet the bloke still ahead of him in the standings is getting written off as having no chance!

He sat back with Wiggins too, when Kloden, Contador and the Schlecks went off up the road, to avoid towing him up. He'd be much closer to Contador, and probably even 2nd overall if he'd not done that.

Everybody keeps talking about Wiggins as a potential future winner

now that IS crazy talk. More chance than Armstrong however, merely on age, but he needs to find some acceleration for the mountains.

I doubt any team that involves Bruyneel and Armstrong would find it hard to recruit riders. 🙄

wiggins for prime minister!

Andyp.. "also noticed that he can't compete with the best in either the mountains or the timetrials any more."

Ummm..is it me here?..the TDF has the best teams in the world…with the best riders…at their fittest…and he's still a potential podium…WTF has the guy got to do to impress you fella?

I think AndyP would only reckon Lance had a chance of winning next year if he'd won this year 🙄

Reckon it is more likely Cavendish if a British rider joins. Lance and Cav had an alliance early on in TDF and Lance was alway bigging him up. Also means there is room for the two ego's and as a team more likely to have some good results.

Wiggo and Lance are too similar I reckon.

I think AndyP would only reckon Lance had a chance of winning next year if he'd won this year
not at all. If he won this year I think he'd have no chance of winning next year either.

WTF has the guy got to do to impress you fella?
? He won the tour 7 times. That's impressive. He's made a good comeback. That's impressive. He won't win it again however. Simple really.

Cav would never go to team Tandy as they wouldn't build a team around him the way that Columbia/HTC have done this year.

I think AndyP would only reckon Lance had a chance of winning next year if he'd won this year
not at all. If he won this year I think he'd have no chance of winning next year either.

WTF has the guy got to do to impress you fella?
? He won the tour 7 times. That's impressive. He's made a good comeback. That's impressive. He won't win it again however. Simple really.

He also finished 4th in the Tour of Spain first year of his comeback from cancer. It can take year of racing for a rider to come back to their former ability level.

That said I still think Bert would beat him (Di Luca like retrospective dope tests permitting 😉 ).

Regards

Cav would never go to team Tandy as they wouldn't build a team around him the way that Columbia/HTC have done this year.

You reckon? I get that Cavendish is a great rider but the fame draw may be a bigger pull for the likes of Cav than Wiggins.

Surely a team can have two focuses? Make sure everyone is in the main peleton near the front a la astana, but then get the sprint train going at the end like HTC? I am probably missing a bit more of Cavs game here though.

One sound bite from Lance this week stated that he thinks with a full season behind him and the pre Tour 2010 season will improve him for next years tour. He will lead the team at next years Tour (assuming they are given a license, invited to the Tour and Lance is fit enough) he WILL be leading the team! May take a backseat elsewhere but for Le Tour, there is only one boss where LC is concerned.

It can take year of racing for a rider to come back to their former ability level.
Ingoring of course the drop-off in performance related to age…

not at all. If he won this year I think he'd have no chance of winning next year either.

So all this stuff about "I'd also noticed that he can't compete with the best in either the mountains or the timetrials any more" was just irrelevant then?

You reckon? I get that Cavendish is a great rider but the fame draw may be a bigger pull for the likes of Cav than Wiggins.

There's no fame without the wins, and there's no wins with the "train". Very few riders have the speed and the skill to win repeatedly without a commanding train – McEwen being the obvious example.

Surely a team can have two focuses? Make sure everyone is in the main peleton near the front a la astana, but then get the sprint train going at the end like HTC? I am probably missing a bit more of Cavs game here though.

Columbia throw a lot of resources at leading Cav to a win, probably more than could also be supporting a really good GC contender. Different sorts of riders needed for those jobs and that's hard (not impossible) to fit into one tour rosta

So all this stuff about "I'd also noticed that he can't compete with the best in either the mountains or the timetrials any more" was just irrelevant then?

not at all. Totally relevant. If he won this year it would be because the best in the world had either not entered the event or had crashed out.

Ingoring of course the drop-off in performance related to age…

Not necessarily a significant factor whilst <40 and training.

If he won this year it would be because the best in the world had either not entered the event or had crashed out.

So if he's beaten the people who are finishing this year you would reckon he had a chance 🙄

So if he's beaten the people who are finishing this year you would reckon he had a chance

Naturally. If there were no other competitors I could win the thing. But there are other competitors.

Cav will want to go for Green now he's had a sniff of it. Riding for Lance would mean that he would probably have to risk either not being included in the Tour team or having no train. It might not be impossible to select a team to support both Yellow and Green in same team. Look at T-Mobile and later Silence. I am convinced that one of Jan's problems of not getting a repeat win was that the team was also geared for Zabel (probably more in favour of Zabel as well). Again Lotto/Silence whatever have had the same problem – splitting duty between McEwan and Evans. One problem is a sprint train to guarantee wins probably needs 4 or 5 lead out men.

LA & JB have been clever in selecting riders who can climb and do a good TTT and left stage wins (other than ITT, TTT and mountain stages) for others to chase.

As for Wiggo and Lance. Given the rumours surrounding LA and the number of LA team mates who have been aught out/admitted to doping, would Brad be comfortable going there? I was amazed when he went to Cofidis given Dave Millar's and others history with that team.

Who else would like to know who Dave Brailsford was referring to when he said they'd been speaking to a World Class rider for Team Sky, until they saw his biological passsport and then said – "no ta"?

In which case I'll repeat, with clarification for the hard of understanding…

I think AndyP would only reckon Lance had a chance of winning next year if he'd won this year (without the help of the imaginary situation where Contador or Schleck had decided not to ride, or had fallen off, which I thought went without saying <sigh>) 🙄

Is this possibly a set to team management / ownership? ie a kind of player/manager role to ease him into his retirement*, then joint owenrship and a director of football / manager relationship with Bruyneel.

*retirement!! he's the same age as me and I'm still improving as a cyclist (albeit I was really really bad – now just bad)

Just been scanning old threads, and found a good example of AndyP's powers of prediction relating to Lance's chances :

Armstrong in the top 3? no chance.

😀

Lance asked me to join his team after asking Wiggins and even I said no

I think AndyP would only reckon Lance had a chance of winning next year if he'd won this year (without the help of the imaginary situation where Contador or Schleck had decided not to ride, or had fallen off, which I thought went without saying <sigh>)

bless. are you getting a bit mixed up here?
I don't mean 'if someone finishes above him then he won't win'. Clearly that goes without saying.
I mean 'if a rider who is better than him participates and completes the race, he has no chance'. There are quite a few riders better than him this year, although there are only 2 ahead of him in the CG. I expect most of those riders to compete in the Tour next year.
However, with him being 38 next year, and without the best rider in the world as a teammate, he'll do well to finish top 10 IMO.

Just been scanning old threads, and found a good example of AndyP's powers of prediction relating to Lance's chances :

Armstrong in the top 3? no chance.

that settles it. Clearly Armstrong will win next year. He must do, I said he had no chance of a podium place in a previous thread. Lump on. I'm off to remortgage and head to the bookies.