Flandis and Peña gone....wazzup with Bruyneel?

Frihed89

I don't think Discovery Channel is overjoyed about losing Landis or Pena. They just weren't prepared to shell out the large sums for 2 support riders. They are an American Team. They are looking for short-term success built around Lance Armstrong and the TDF. Anything else is gravy. OK, you can fault their strategy for being too short term. But I think Phonak continues to be naive about its choices, throwing enormous sums at doubtful riders.

Now think about this, how good a rider do you have to have to be to support Lance Armstrong, given his abilities in the closing portions of mountain stages, once he is hearded to the front? How many other riders are in his class as an ITT rider? There isn't anyone else on the horizon with the exception of Ullrich. Every year, the old maybes fade and the new ones come up.

My expectation is that you won't be able to forecast the next multiple tour de france winner until you see him on top of the podium in Paris a couple of times.

mareblu

Wow! no faith at all in Landis ah?

thedivekrb

Over the years this team has lost:

Heras
Hamilton
Livingston
Pena
Landis
Ekimov

and a cast of thousands....

Has it mattered?

What's up? What's up is Lance and Johan are the best when it comes to building a TEAM that has the ability and willingness to work together for the strongest rider. But more than that they know talent, and how much to pay for it. CSC is the only other team that comes close IMHO.

mareblu

Hey! I didn't know that Viatcheslav Ekimov was not in the Team any longer. Where is he going? what team?

thedivekrb

Eki left several years ago over a money dispute then returned after a season (it may have been two). As far as I know he's staying. He's made sounds about retirement several times over the last few years, it may be a negotiating ploy though.

Virenque

Yes he said something about retiring after OG`s silver if I remember correctly..

musette

Eki will continue to race the TdF so long as LA races it, LA or Eki has said.

mareblu

Wow! I did not know this info....thanks!

By the way, I wonder if Eki had something to do over the dispute of Tyler's Gold Medal in Athens or was it the Russians going on with this alone?
anyone knows if Eki said anything in regards to this particular issue?

benson

I think Lance won't ride the Tour next year - look for a Giro-Vuelta double. And his elusive Amstel. Landis & Pena (and everyone else) to Phonak to get Tyler the win. (He'll be proven innocent.) Lance will ride in 2006 with Landis back for win #7 and he & Azevedo will vie for leader in 2007.

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Virenque

I was thinking about Eki and OG too! Gold is gold and Hamilton has it just because the rules! It`s almost clear that he doesn`t deserve it! But Eki is not a person which will attract attention, protest and make conflicts!
Yeah, sureI`m persuaded that Lance is 100% focused on TdF! As I said few times before, all these talks about Giro and Vuelta are just for publicity! He is not a person which will stop something successful! It`s the step back if you can win the Tour and insted of it you`re going to ride Giro or Vuelta!

Powerful Pete

But then again that would make all of us naysayers (me included!) shut up! A whole lot of people will continue to say that the reason that Lance won so many Tours was that he focused on one race in the entire season, and that he is not as overpowering as everyone says if he needs to do a double.

Then he could retire with a very smug smile on his face!

(BTW, I believe that Lance should do the Vuelta - Giro double, and am quite sure he could win it. What the heck, why not race all three of the grand tours in a year - what does he have to prove in the Tour any longer?).

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Virenque

A lot of people are talking that the reason is focusing only on Tdf, yes! But why not? Other riders can do the same if they want! There is no rule how many races before TdF must riders race! He was the fastest and only that counts! And, by the way, that is his habit only last two years, before he was riding few other races too!

As I know Lance`s thinking I`m very skeptical that he will do any other GT! If he will loose TdF then it will be more possible!

donhix1

I think Lance's new sponsor wants the attention that a TdF win brings. Since the TdF gets 5 times the coverage of other Tours I say there is a good chance he will be there in 2005. He may convince them that he will race in 2006 after doing the Giro, but then he runs the risk of time catching up with him. Either way I think Lance will ride the TdF one more time and then retire.
As far as Tyler goes I think he will be lucky to finish on the podium once in his career. Don't forget that Basso and Ulrich will be there.

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Galibier

Yep, I'd agree. Can't see Discovery Channel being too keen on the idea of their new team racing the Tour without Lance. I'd like to see him do other the other Grand Tours too, but at the end of the day, the Tour de France is the biggest and most important and it's the one that gets the most TV coverage for the team sponsors.

I'm sad to see Floyd leave, but like so many others here, I don't really see him as a Grand Tour winner and that may have been the thinking at Discovery - better to have a young rider with enormous potential like Popyvich than a 29 year old who can finish in the top ten of a Grand Tour but will probably never win one. His time trialling is up there with the best, but I can't see him ever being good enough to mount an attack in the high mountains - which you need to be able to do in order to win at that level.