Is it me, or is it a bit odd to turn up in support, only just off your sick bed, but to put on full riding kit?
And Linus, what is he doing there, also in full kit?
Perhaps they feel left out of it if they don't dress the part?
Perhaps they'd otherwise have to spend the whole time giving interviews, signing autographs, and having to show their passes at every gate? (That is a joke, you kind of imagine that Andy Schleck's face is pretty well known by now.)
I had assumed that he'd actually gone home from the race: but maybe when you're that ill, you don't want to have to travel?
*rushes off to look it up on Google maps* - oh look, it's only about 4 hours by car. Hmmm, would I fancy a four-hour drive if I had a serious gastric upset: actually, no, I wouldn't. But would I fancy being a strange hotel? Well, given the choice I would rather be at home, but on balance, I would rather be in a hotel than in a car for four hours. Ah, I hear you say, but what about the transfers? They don't stay in the same hotel, do they, they have to keep moving from stage to stage.
Perhaps they left him behind in the hotel at Stage 3, with a change of clothes, bus fare, and strict instructions not to clear out the mini-bar, perhaps.
So many questions, so few interviews... I can feel more Schpleculation approaching, oh noes!
Gastroenteritis is horrible! I know, having gotten food poisoning last year. Mostly--and not to be crude--you just want to ensconce yourself on the loo. It's just that horrible.
ReplyDeleteThat said, Andy (yay, we're calling him Andy again, and not Teeth *pats self for uncommon display of maturity*) probably just had one of those 48-hour bugs?
That's my roundabout way of saying, yes, it IS strange that he's shown up in full kit, since he's not racing, and presumably not training.
Not related, I only just noticed the Radio-Nissan-tired-now-not-typing-the-rest calendar is a bit different from the old LT one, and has mini pictograms of the riders on one long list, as opposed to the old one, where you you had to click on a link to see who they were sending where: http://www.radioshacknissantrek.com/calendar-results
Weirder still, the Leopard Trek site has its own calendar? http://www.leopardtrek.lu/calendar-results. I would have expected a redirect to the Radio-Nissan-etc one, but no, it doesn't.
Hey Figgy, so glad that you are no longer referring to Andypants as Teeth. *pets Figgy*.
ReplyDeleteI am sooo not impressed with the new RadioWotsit calender: it't clunky and awkward, and the other one worked so well - I can't imagine why they didn't just import it. I do like the mini-list per race, that does save time: and I do like the way that hovering over the mini-pic calls up their name, for those of us who are still wavering in their commitment to the team and haven't bothered to learn about the Shack guys yet.
Is it me, or they getting a bit lax about actually typing things onto the Results calendar? They seem to be relying on the Farcebleurk comments to give it some content. I was hoping to learn more about why Andy and Linus were in Nice, but there was nothing about the last stage at all, just the results. It makes it look as though they are sulking!
The old site, the .lu one, is now being used by the Lux Junior team/Feeder team: it's quite sweet (I thought) that they managed to palm the old bus off onto them! We assume they also handed over a pile of generic Leopard kit to get them started. (Wonder if there was a fight amongst the youngsters to be the one to wear one of Andy's unused shirst, or Fabian's shorts, he he)
Oh dear, I've been trying not to raise this point, but now I am going to: I wonder if the old Leopard bus, now being used by the Junior team, still has the team names, including Wouter Weylandt, on it? They said it would not be removed.... but now it - the bus - has gone to a new team, would it not be the time to remove the riders' names from the paintwork?
Also, (again, bracing for rocks being thrown at me but I have to say it) I have noticed that the WW banners are now mostly gone from Twitter avatars, and I have also noticed a singular lack of the smart black and silver WW memorial wrist-bands on the wrists of our team.
This was my objection (whispered, at the time) to the whole business of memorial wristbands/writing on bus/banners on avatars etc: how long does one mourn for? I don't agree with it - someone has to be the first one to remove the mourning item, and why should someone who wants to remember WW have to ponder the question "will they all hate me for being the first to say it's time to move on?"
I thought it was heart-warming/breaking to see all the WW 108s written on the road later in the race, and on banners - and Tom Boonen's bike - and so on, but at some point you have to take them down, or let them wear out. When does that point occur? Will the Giro organisers remember to remove the number 108 this year? Will they remove just that one - which would be odd - or will they remove the whole 101-108 section? What about the following year? At what point will they bring it back?
I worry about these things.....
Coug
maybe andy and linus were on their way out for a training ride and stopped in at the bus to say good luck? otherwise I don't know why they'd need to be in kit unless they were doing some sort of promo thing.
ReplyDeletethe giro organisers have said number 108 will not be used this year or ever again. I do wonder if eventually it will be used again. I also think there's going to be some sort of ceremony during the giro this year. I actually haven't seen many of the guys wearing the bands anymore. Jakob was wearing his up until Oman. and Will Clarke still wears his. I think it's a decision each person has to make for themselves. I used to wear my band all the time, but I don't wear it so much anymore. only sometimes :-)
The "strict instructions not to clear out the mini bar" part almost made me snort out my tea with laughter!
ReplyDeleteI have been on a 3.5 hour flight once while having a food poisoning. No fun at all, to say the least.
Johan Bruyneel told l'Équipe that Andy had started training again and that he flew out to Nice (from Lux) over the weekend to go training there for a week, before heading to the Volta a Catalunya to make up for his missed racing days. And since Linus lives in Monaco (if I remember correctly) I think they were out training together and stopped by to cheer on the others.
Inge
Well done Inge, good Schlecklandering! It's very handy, having Schlecklanders in all countries, who are kind enough to read things in their own language and share them with us in English *blushes guiltily at being English, a race that famously don't speaking other languages*.
ReplyDeleteSo that was it! He had been home with TinkerJil for a while then. So glad that she was able (presumably) to wipe his fevered brow and help him recover. (Let's hope he didn't pass the bug on to her, otherwise there might be complaints...)
3.5 hours on a flight with food poisoning? Oh Inge, you poor thing.
Leelu, talking of promo things and kit, that is a good point, does anyone know if they normally train in full kit? Or do they have more generic kit for training? I have seen several videos of training, but of course they are set up for the cameras, so you would expect them to be in full kit.
So what do they wear on normal training days? Tatty old kit? Plain black kit? Last year's kit?
I would have thought that if you were even a little bit "famous", then you would dress in a discreet manner for training, firstly to avoid being mobbed by fans everywhere you went, and secondly to avoid being spotted by journalists etc who might report on your form in a way that you don't want.
(I'm sure that they all love being "spotted" at first - but after a while, it must get very wearing.)
On the other hand, there is the whole publicity/sponsor angle: if I were sponsoring them, I would want to see my company name out there all the time.
Hey, what a great idea - the Schleckland Schluper Team! We would have the best-designed kit, that's for sure. *drifts off into daydream of sponsoring my own cycle team*
Coug
i think they would be contractually obliged to wear their proper kit any time they ride, because they're representing the team. that goes for training rides too. ;)
ReplyDelete"and strict instructions not to clear out the mini-bar, perhaps . . ." made me LOL, too. Especially since I can attest to the medicinal aspects of vodka (hubby is Head of Legal for Stoli--please all, drink more Stoli . . . kids need new shoes).
ReplyDeleteI had some sort of horrible tummy bug on the day we moved from Moscow to Luxembourg. Sad rabbit, was I. Very, very sad. Nothing worse than actually having to USE one's airsickness bag. Worse still to have to ask your traveling companions for theirs as you need more than one. Can't imagine trying to balance on a bike in that state.
Did anyone read the article about Brian Nygaard's experience working with Leopard Trek management? I saw it in Cyclingnews but I believe the story first ran in Denmark.
ReplyDeleteThis is only one side of the story but if it's true, I'm even more impressed with the results of the team last year. One of the things that it illustrates for me is how important leadership is in an organization (from this story, a lack of it from the very top) and how you can be a leader from any place in an organizational structure. From this story, it appears that the leadership came from Nygaard and his team but we are also very familiar with the leadership from specific riders themselves (Schlecks, Cancellara, Jensie etc). Anyhow, I found it an interesting read of some of the behind the scenes pressures of the cycling world.
- Kat
I read it Kat. It made a lot of things make sense to me actually. It also provides insight into what may now be possible with RSNT. I was just shocked at the article. What must those guys have been going through? How pleased must they have been to find new management that they knew understood riders? And not being able to say anything about what was going on. And we all noticed changes in riders, and still do.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate Nygaard speaking up and being honest. I have more respect for him now -
BE
Thanks for your thoughts BE. Interesting that Becca is still involved with the team but if JB is as controlling with Becca as he appears to be at media rider interviews then hopefully there will be a "Bruyneel buffer zone" and therefore little "Becca impact" on the guys. I wonder if I am being unfair to Bruyneel with the use of the word "controlling". Perhaps he is just being protective of his riders.
DeleteLooking forward to reading a post from Coug *fingers crossed but no pressure if she's studying* about MSR and then your comments, ladies. I really need a more advanced understanding of race tactics because I must admit to feeling disappointed with today's outcome. - Kat
I tweeted earlier on this week that I'd be very interested in hearing what else Nygaard had to say about working within LT last year. I would hope circumstances have changed somewhat this year, but I have my doubts unfortunately. I think it's absolutely disgraceful that that was the approach taken by management!
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine translated an interview with Tom Stamsnijder for me, not long ago. From what was said, the neglect of some riders (if your name wasn't Schleck or Cancellara) is clear - and they even had Tom riding in the wrong position, to the detriment of his body last year. I'm not blaming Andy, Frank or Fabian for this, but it's no wonder a lot of the team 'happiness' seemed forced last year and quite a few riders seemed to be going backwards in their development! I just keep thinking, thank goodness most of the riders I liked on LT got out of that situation. Tom, for instance, is so much happier at 1T4i and it shows. And I actually have new-found respect for Nygaard now. I think maybe he did do his best to protect the riders as much as possible from that negativity, but there's only so much one can do.
Like I said, I hope hope hope things have changed for the riders' sakes. I really do.
On another, happier (for me anyway) note - YAY GERRO!!!
Simon Gerrans has stolen my heart. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteCheck this out - hysterical....
http://cyclismas.com/2012/02/tour-of-flanders-2012-riis-is-briefed-on-muur-and-bosberg/
Anyone else see the twitter pic's of Jil and Andy?
BE
Yes! They looked great together. I'm a little bit surprised at how intentionally public they have been lately and there has been very little about actual cycling from Andy. - Kat
DeleteD'aaaw! I have exactly the same pictures, taken in the same photo booth! (Except not with Andy, of course)
DeleteCoug
*one eyebrow raised comically* "(Except not with Andy, of course)" Taken with Tinker Jil then???!!! ;)
DeleteOh there is a comedian born every minute and shockingly, it somehow wasn't me! *giggle* - Kat
After reading that interview with Nygaard, Mr Becca has once again proved not to be the smartest guy out there...Doesn't he know that you cannot buy success in sports, and especially not in cycling? That all comes down to team spirit and guys willing to work for each other.
ReplyDeleteThe comments on Posthuma and Stamsnijder after the TTT in the Tirreno are beyond rude. They were on the wheel of the Swiss TGV nonetheless!
I can only hope that things are better for the riders now. I'm not a big fan of Bruyneel, but at least he knows what it's like to be a cyclist.
BE, that video is quite funny, only don't like the certain German. But the "crotch eagle" part is hilarious!
Inge
If blogs had a "like" button as Facebook does, I'd "like" all your comments. Thanks Leela, BE & Inge! :) - Kat
ReplyDeleteI've only had time for the quickest scan of Brian Nygaard's comments - will add my comments later on today, if I get time!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile hope we all enjoyed seeing Fabu being fabulous in Tirreno-Adriatica and in MSM. I certainly did!
Coug
Fabu was great! I was there, in San Remo, near the finish line. It was so exciting, and they all were so fast that Fabu went out of my picture, but still! He sprinted away one meter from me! :D So bad that the only buses that I didn't found where were parking was Rant and Liquigas... but hey, I could make two photos of Wagner's butt (who seemed to search for their bus, like me), and a picture with Stuey :)! And I never thought that it's too hard to make photos and shouting at the same time...
DeleteNarce (still in a mood too enthusiastic :) )