What's DC's future?

The more I think about this, the more I think most of Europe is going
to regret Lance's retirement and officially joining the management
staff. His goal is going to shift from personal wins to making the team
win.
Looking at the personnel, and with the emphasis of winning the Tour
reduced, it looks like DC may very well be damn near dominant across
the season now. With a little tweaking they are going to be able to
compete for all three GTs and the classics too.
I'm seeing Hincappie or Popyvich for the Giro, but probably Hincappie
since he'll be coming off the classics. Savoldelli or Popyvich for the
Tour, just because Popyvich is young still. Then you throw Danielson
and the Spanish contingent at the Vuelta.
I might be crazy but I hope a recovered and healthy Mike Creed becomes
a spring classics contender. He's young, but has the power, now he
needs the seasoning.
I really like future of the team. I see it being as strong, but more
diversified and complete.
I can't see Lance ever letting the team fail, especially as long as he
owns a piece of it.
I hope that Riis can wrap up more sponsorship, because if he does it
looks to me like a classic rivalry for years to come.
Bill C

Little Mike Creed struck me as a super strong rider. I'm not so sure
about his motivation around the sort of guys on the classics circuit.
Can he stand up to the sort of menacing continence from a lot of those
guys? I know that it's a lot easier if he just rides them into the dust.

Bill C wrote:
The more I think about this, the more I think most of Europe is going
to regret Lance's retirement and officially joining the management
staff. His goal is going to shift from personal wins to making the team
win.
Looking at the personnel, and with the emphasis of winning the Tour
reduced, it looks like DC may very well be damn near dominant across
the season now. With a little tweaking they are going to be able to
compete for all three GTs and the classics too.
I'm seeing Hincappie or Popyvich for the Giro, but probably Hincappie
since he'll be coming off the classics.

Nah, he might have classics form in April, but it takes him a lot of
tempo climbing and dieting to get in this kind of GT shape. And the
Giro climbs are steeper and (until this year) ridden more explosively.

Bill C wrote:
I'm seeing Hincappie or Popyvich for the Giro, but probably Hincappie
since he'll be coming off the classics. Savoldelli or Popyvich for the
Tour, just because Popyvich is young still. Then you throw Danielson
and the Spanish contingent at the Vuelta.

Am I the only one that feels that Danielson hasn't shown jack
yet? And by jack I mean won a race that doesn't have to fill
out it's field with teams like Jittery F Joes or Colavita
like Georgia does.

I think Danielson is still at the riding-for-experience/lunch-meat
stage.

Bob Schwartz

Bob Schwartz wrote:
Bill C wrote:
I'm seeing Hincappie or Popyvich for the Giro, but probably Hincappie
since he'll be coming off the classics. Savoldelli or Popyvich for the
Tour, just because Popyvich is young still. Then you throw Danielson
and the Spanish contingent at the Vuelta.

Am I the only one that feels that Danielson hasn't shown jack
yet? And by jack I mean won a race that doesn't have to fill
out it's field with teams like Jittery F Joes or Colavita
like Georgia does.

I think Danielson is still at the riding-for-experience/lunch-meat
stage.

Bob Schwartz

That was why I was suggesting him for the Vuelta along with the strong
Spanish contingent. It's a little lower key, I'd think the climbs there
suit him well, and they field a strong team for it. He'd have time to
gain some experience and tactical knowledge without a ton of pressure
especially if he went as the lead domestique for a few years.
Mike Creed really fits into the "needs experience" niche too. I hope
he gets healthy and the team keeps him. Maybe OMC can give us an update
on how he's doing.
I really like the balance on the team, especially for the Pro Tour,
and the long run. If Eki comes back for another season or so that would
give them one of the best road captains in the game to work with the
younger riders during races and keep them on track.
Hincappie is the most intriguing question for me. He's really followed
Zabel's example and is reinventing himself as a solid all around rider.
IMO at this point he should concentrate on his GT form and not the
spring classics, he really seems to love them but it looks to me like
Boonen is the next Kelly or Museeuw so he could end up being the
eternal second fiddle. He may not be able to win a GT, but I think he
could make a run at it and win quite a few stages.
I'd love to see them set up a developmental team to concentrate on
racing here in the US that would give kids like Tejay Vangarderen and
Peter Stetina a pipeline/school to the big time. Frankie would make a
great DS for it, and they definitely have the money available.
Bill C

Bill C wrote:
Bob Schwartz wrote:
Bill C wrote:
I'm seeing Hincappie or Popyvich for the Giro, but probably Hincappie
since he'll be coming off the classics. Savoldelli or Popyvich for the
Tour, just because Popyvich is young still. Then you throw Danielson
and the Spanish contingent at the Vuelta.

Am I the only one that feels that Danielson hasn't shown jack
yet? And by jack I mean won a race that doesn't have to fill
out it's field with teams like Jittery F Joes or Colavita
like Georgia does.

I think Danielson is still at the riding-for-experience/lunch-meat
stage.

Bob Schwartz

That was why I was suggesting him for the Vuelta along with the strong
Spanish contingent. It's a little lower key, I'd think the climbs there
suit him well, and they field a strong team for it. He'd have time to
gain some experience and tactical knowledge without a ton of pressure
especially if he went as the lead domestique for a few years.
Mike Creed really fits into the "needs experience" niche too. I hope
he gets healthy and the team keeps him. Maybe OMC can give us an update
on how he's doing.
I really like the balance on the team, especially for the Pro Tour,
and the long run. If Eki comes back for another season or so that would
give them one of the best road captains in the game to work with the
younger riders during races and keep them on track.
Hincappie is the most intriguing question for me. He's really followed
Zabel's example and is reinventing himself as a solid all around rider.
IMO at this point he should concentrate on his GT form and not the
spring classics, he really seems to love them but it looks to me like
Boonen is the next Kelly or Museeuw so he could end up being the
eternal second fiddle. He may not be able to win a GT, but I think he
could make a run at it and win quite a few stages.
I'd love to see them set up a developmental team to concentrate on
racing here in the US that would give kids like Tejay Vangarderen and
Peter Stetina a pipeline/school to the big time. Frankie would make a
great DS for it, and they definitely have the money available.
Bill C

Bill,

Michael is back in Girona, and making good progress every week. It's
taken a slow and steady pace to recover from Epstein-Barr. He did Tour
Austria, but the biggest battle there was the weather, but it was good
to back in the group.

"OMC"

Bill C a =E9crit :
The more I think about this, the more I think most of Europe is going
to regret Lance's retirement and officially joining the management
staff. His goal is going to shift from personal wins to making the team
win.

And also make team members carry out vendettas which he has, so
far, only executed himself.=20

-ilan