HTC

ROK ON

TinyExplosions wrote: »

I think you also have to look to see if he would achieve much more in another team -is Martin good enough to be a protected rider with someone else, or is he lucky to get some support due to the fact that he's the best GC man in a team built around CAV. Maybe when he moves he'll be a domestique with a breakaway chance at best?

It's undeniable that HTC was built around sprints and Cav, but I don't think too many riders got short changed because of it

I think for shorter tours then yes, he is deserving of a shot at team leader somewhere. Is he better than some of the team leaders in this years TDF, then yes I think so. I am not saying he is short changed, just that he could do better. Highroad has put him in the shop window, and he has doe well there. It would be interesting to see could he have done better in the absence of Cav. I think maybe. I'm a Cav fan, but it takes huge dedication, disciplin and sacrifice to do what Highroad have done consistently. In fairness Cav alwys acknowledges that.

ROK ON

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

If I was Boasson Hagen I wouldn't be. They're completely different animals. Boasson Hagen is the next Cancellera.

I would have thought that he is a little better than FC going uphill however. But I can see what your getting at.

BTH

Correct me if I'm wrong at any point here, but.....

HTC are an American team right?
The other American teams are Garmin Cervelo, BMC and Radioshack.

Garmin Cervelo was the result of two teams merging last year. Without this one of them certainly wouldnt have survived. Would Garmin have survived without Cervelo's added backing? Surely they wouldn't have taken on the headache of sacking some of their riders to make room for those coming from Cervelo if they didnt need the cash. And looking at a link posted earlier, they have quite a small budget. They do have some very good American rider nows, Farrar, Danielson, Vande Velde, Zabriskie, which helps with the sponsorship side of things so you'd think they should be OK.

At the end of last year there was rumours that Radioshack were going to fold. With the Americans that are on the team soon to draw pensions, or being lesser names, what price on those rumours starting up again soon. I vaguely recall that they only committed to one more year but I could be wrong.

BMC are a relatively new team. To be honest I don't know much about them, but the title sponsor is Swiss, and the American riders aren't big names of the present (Hincapie past, Phinney future). Really a European team with an American owner? Also another with a small budget.

Now HTC, who have very few americans, can't get a new sponsor.

So American teams, most struggling for sponsors, although the more American riders you have the better.

It's almost as if there's something big going on over there thats putting potential sponsors off the sport.

Lusk Doyle

RobFowl wrote: »

Apology awaited

“From year to year I got stronger. I saw this in the spring when I won Algarve and Paris-Nice. I hope I can also go up in the Tour de France and get a good place in GC,” he told VeloNation in a video interview conducted in the buildup towards his summer campaign.

Read more: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/8692/Video-Tony-Martin-Interview-Aiming-for-a-high-GC-finish-in-Tour-de-France.aspx#ixzz1U9VqDvIi

BOOM! How do ya like them apples!?!

TinyExplosions

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Now HTC, who have very few americans, can't get a new sponsor.

So American teams, most struggling for sponsors, although the more American riders you have the better.

It's almost as if there's something big going on over there thats putting potential sponsors off the sport.

Bob Stapleton said that in every conversation he had with potential sponsors, the Lance case, and the Contador fiasco were always brought up, so it certainly didn't help.

I think the biggest problem is that outside of Europe, the majority of people only see there being one race in the year, ie the Tour de France, and so for them it's a big investment for a small amount of exposure (bar maybe the Tour of California), and so non european companies don't care about the classics etc.

I do think that it's only a matter of time before we see Red Bull and Etihad or Emirates coming on board as a sponsor though...

ednwireland

http://espn.go.com/olympics/cycling/story/_/id/6834890/cycling-why-htc-highroad-no-more-team-radioshack-survives

The unconventional move spurred a flurry of corporate inquiries, and Stapleton said he held several meetings in Europe and the United States during the last weekend of the Tour and the week following. Several other teams approached him with merger proposals. Meanwhile, rival organizations circled, buzzard-like, over HTC-Highroad's multinational ensemble of accomplished riders.
In the end, Stapleton said none of the options passed muster at a funding level he considered viable, and he elected to pull the plug and let his riders and staff seek their fortunes elsewhere.

seems like stapelton had options, just chose not to take them

you need european sponsors to survive really, a someone who has watched pro cycling for a long time sponsors and teams come and go just look at the old jerseys on prendas.

Junior

RobFowl wrote: »

Apology awaited

“From year to year I got stronger. I saw this in the spring when I won Algarve and Paris-Nice. I hope I can also go up in the Tour de France and get a good place in GC,” he told VeloNation in a video interview conducted in the buildup towards his summer campaign.

Read more: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/8692/Video-Tony-Martin-Interview-Aiming-for-a-high-GC-finish-in-Tour-de-France.aspx#ixzz1U9VqDvIi

I apologise, I hadn't seen that ! But a 'good place on GC' is different that say what Nico was aiming for, no ?

However, Martin is building the right way this year, firstly working thru a week long GC race and winning it, he could be a decent rider to be second in command to a GT rider, hence why I would think Saxo Bank would see him as an ideal sublieutenant to Contador. On the other hand, currently he rides for HTC and their stated goal is to win as much as possible and to do this they utilize the fastest sprinter they have, so it's not as if he wasn't aware of his role. Sadly I did think he might have been a stopgap for HTC if/when Cav left as he could realistically have kept up winning ways for HTC but in a differing manner.

@Tiny, I think Bob is being a little diversionary there, his problems originally stemmed from the fact when contract talks broke down with Cav he didn't seem to want to dig into the pockets and that situ got out of hand.

seven stars

True about Tony Martin. I think at one point in the TdF he dropped back to help out with the Cav project when Martin was something like 5th or 6th in the GC himself.

TinyExplosions

Junior wrote: »

@Tiny, I think Bob is being a little diversionary there, his problems originally stemmed from the fact when contract talks broke down with Cav he didn't seem to want to dig into the pockets and that situ got out of hand.

It could well be... I guess everything is idle speculation unless the facts come out... I suspect that Cav was asking for more money (deservedly so imo), and Stapleton was trying to get a sponsor who could afford to pay his wages, and probably couldn't find anyone willing to pay that much, so maybe he was willing to let the team fold rather than go from the winningest (god, I hate that Americanism!), to another mediocre, small budget team... he gets to leave with his head held high and a fantastic record this way

Junior

TinyExplosions wrote: »

It could well be... I guess everything is idle speculation unless the facts come out... I suspect that Cav was asking for more money (deservedly so imo), and Stapleton was trying to get a sponsor who could afford to pay his wages, and probably couldn't find anyone willing to pay that much, so maybe he was willing to let the team fold rather than go from the winningest (god, I hate that Americanism!), to another mediocre, small budget team... he gets to leave with his head held high and a fantastic record this way

He seemed to have got in the region of $37 Million from T-Mobile when they pulled out early and said they could run the team for 2 years without a title sponsor so you'd wonder where he spent the cash ?

Chips Lovell

Junior wrote: »

He seemed to have got in the region of $37 Million from T-Mobile when they pulled out early and said they could run the team for 2 years without a title sponsor so you'd wonder where he spent the cash ?

Likely went towards bank rolling the team for the past five years along with cash from HTC and Columbia.

I find it difficult to imagine he couldn't find a sponsor full stop. I find it more believable that he couldn't find a sponsor who could match the team's current budget.

DominoDub

Maybe a company with lots of free cash like Apple could get involved in cycling. It could blend well with their "Lifestyle" brand image ,Steve Jobs said many years ago that “Computers are like bicycles for our minds" ..but their maybe one problem!

Inquitus

DominoDub wrote: »

Maybe a company with lots of free cash like Apple could get involved in cycling. It could blend well with their "Lifestyle" brand image ,Steve Jobs said many years ago that “Computers are like bicycles for our minds" ..but their maybe one problem!

Clearly that's the "Revolutionary" new Apple re-invented wheel :rolleyes:

Beasty

Inquitus wrote: »

Clearly that's the "Revolutionary" new Apple re-invented wheel :rolleyes:

I reckon they will cut the corners to get a version 2 out pretty quickly though ...

Hungrycol

....never mind the proprietary components and gear... :rolleyes:

Beasty

Renshaw signs for Rabobank

Could be quite interesting seeing him up against Cav

ednwireland

Beasty wrote: »

Renshaw signs for Rabobank

Could be quite interesting seeing him up against Cav

problem is renshaw will start sprinting too early

Junior

ednwireland wrote: »

problem is renshaw will start sprinting too early

That's ok if he's leading out Theo Bos.