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Nonsense. He doesn't really climb, he just rides up mountain roads.
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It's a shame they're not taking Muslim Elbows. He's been going pretty well all year.
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Yeah great to see a British Grand Tour squad with only one British rider in it
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He's Belgian, anyway.
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Yes it is: he sneaks whey protein into their bidons, a trick he learnt from the film 'Mean Girls'.
Cound Dawg caught him, hence why it didn't work with Froome
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How many mountainous stage races does Wiggins have to win before people give him credit for his climbing ability? Ten? Twenty?
News just in, he won the fucking Tour. You don't win that if you can't handle the high mountains.
I didn't say he was bad, just that the likes of Contador and Rodriguez won't struggle as much as him, making it harder on Wiggo
Granted, he does have a cracking team though -
You are Nigel Farage and ICMFP.
Sky's other British riders are hardly setting the world on fire are they?
You're always making me google stuff.
BUT Sky is a quasi-national pro team.I bet they'll be plenty of Aussies in the OGE squad, or Frenchies in FDJ.
Pragmatic decision I'm sure. You'll give a nod to the Italians in the squad for their home tour, always a good move, get the locals and media onside, and extra motivated riders. But it would have nice to have seen more Brits, even though we seem to have chucked them at the classics primarily.
Small gripe, British GT talent, while effective, isn't numerous yet.
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Just realised FDJ may not be at the Giro, but you'll take my point: certain squads are there to nurture local talent and should favour those riders, like Euskatel or Blanco/Rabobank
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Sky is a perfect model for British paternalistic social models: 'ethnic' Brits (Kenyans/Belgians) get to be top dog, soak up the winnings, enjoy the spoils whilst getting a load of lower-rent but highly meritous forrins to do the dirty work shovelling shite to pave their masters' way to glory whilst fighting each other for the scraps. Simples. (kidding) (well, kind of works that way..)
Anyway, if the choice is being current forrin-heavy format SKY or being more like Vini-Farnese (much as they are awesome) I think I'd rather see the Creeping Death stay the way it is until either Froome and Wiggo properly batter each other or there's a massive drug scandal a la Festina. Or maybe I should just stick to Eastenders.
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I agree with all of the demented above.
Even Euskatel have changed their tune. But there is benefit into looking to nurture local talent primarily. It's the Giro, first Grand Tour of the year and Sky are sending one Brit. Bit of a shame if you ask me, but small gripe.
Cos there is Cav
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So they are being pragmatic, as are Sky. But there still should be a priority of decent British riders, like Dowsett and Cummings now racing elsewhere, and doing well.
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to be fair, (fair? paf!) Euskatel are a fairly local sponsor with almost 20 years in the sport (their palmares are mostly local to Spain too with a few giro stages to mix it up) , SKY have been megabucks-buy-all-the-things since day one... the pretence of being 'British' was only in the sense of buying, eh i mean, putting a British rider on the Tour #1 podium... caveat emptor. It's exciting having the Real Madrids and Discov... I mean eh LA Lakers, every sport has them-means there are more underdogs. As in, their budget is 10 times greater than the next poor sods-it's what the Brits do best in setting up a one-sided conflict then winning it convincingly enough that we get to boast about it for at least four or five decades after the money's dried up and we're shit at it again.
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to be fair, (fair? paf!) Euskatel are a fairly local sponsor with almost 20 years in the sport (their palmares are mostly local to Spain too with a few giro stages to mix it up) , SKY have been megabucks-buy-all-the-things since day one... the pretence of being 'British' was only in the sense of buying, eh i mean, putting a British rider on the Tour #1 podium... caveat emptor. It's exciting having the Real Madrids and Discov... I mean eh LA Lakers, every sport has them-means there are more underdogs. As in, their budget is 10 times greater than the next poor sods-it's what the Brits do best in setting up a one-sided conflict then winning it convincingly enough that we get to boast about it for at least four or five decades after the money's dried up and we're shit at it again.
Maybe if there wasn't such close links with British Cycling that pre-dated the formation of Team Sky. There is a lot of hand-in-glove stuff, really Team Sky and Team GB are interchangeable in a lot of ways. Look at all the favours done Geraint and Cav for the Olympics, for example
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About
2013 Pro-cycling season thread
Posted by
@peter_v
I still think they're just making allowances for Ms Froomedog-millionaire being a bit of a mental and stashing a beretta in her Rapha musette. But if you insist.