Full marks and a gold star to BikeGirl for spotting this story in Rouleur:-
http://rouleur.cc/journal/riders/jakob-fuglsang-interview
It seems that the lovely Jakob is building a house in Luxembourg, which means that he and Andy and still buddies, which is great news. Wonder where it is? In Mondorf, where he would be handy for parties and baby-sitting? Or in Itzig, handy for special appearances at the Schleck-Shop, and only 21 minutes (16.3km) from their home? Not that I've looked it up at all, nooooo.
Another question is that of Jakob's contract, which comes up for renewal at the end of this season, just at the time when Ass-t'naa are in the news again for all the wrong reasons, and are in serious trouble - there is every chance that they will lose their world tour licence, in which case, what happens to Jakob?
(OK, what happens to Nibali et al as well, but here in Schleckland we are mainly concerned with Jakob.)
On the one hand, the team would continue as a Pro-Conti team, and as we are already short of one Pro Team, no doubt Ass-t'naa would automatically get the spare wildcard entry to all the main UCI races (unless the UCI put some sort of pressure on the organisers to not invite them, of course). So in a sense, it might not make much of a difference to them.
But on the other hand, there is the loss of status, and this could have a big effect on sponsors - particularly as the reason for the loss of status is to do with doping.
On the third hand (!) they could afford to lose a couple of sponsors, as it is much, much cheaper to run a pro-conti team than to run a Pro team.
Interesting times, huh?
YAY I got a gold star!! Though it may be revoked by the the time Coug finishes reading this (a stint in the naughty corner...)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if needs an interior decorator, I am very good at choosing accessories for all rooms of the house...all of them...
I am am praying he will be at the Giro this year as I am going to see the last 11 days, if he ins't going I may have to slap Vino with a wet fish for spoiling my reunion.
Anyway here in New Zealand there has be a literal smorgasbord of cycling on TV, with some hilarious results.
One race in Belgium had skiing commentary, until about halfway through when they realised, another race in Belguim had Carlton Kirby and Dan Lloyd commentating, which would have been awesome except they were commentating on the Volta Catalunya. I shouldn't complain cos at least we get cycling in the telly! I know you would agree with this Coug, Rob Hatch pronunciations of teams and riders drives me nuts!!!
I have a feeling Jakob may move on to another team next season, Team Coug sounds like a winner, I volunteer to be a soigneur
! ! ! !
ReplyDeleteThat's me being speechless - what a great idea, skiiing commentary for one race, and another with the wrong commentary - I shall never complain about the UK's lack of cycing coverage again!
Have to admit, we've had quite good coverage of the Classics so far, but I just haven't found time to blog about them - I am still suffering the AndyLess Blues, and seeing Frankie wobble around at the back of the pack just doesn't do it for me.
But I promise I will try to blog a bit more often - after all, Andy still gets mentioned from time to time. I'm still swinging between the two viewpoints of "he's a private person now, and it would be stalking" and "he's always going to be famous, and therefore not quite a private person so it's ok to still talk about him".
I wish I knew how he felt about it.
C'mon Andy, drop me a line - do you want us to continue talking about you? Or do you want us to go away and leave you alone?
*waits for email*
*still waiting*
Oh, and Rob Hatch is now one of my "pets", he has the decency to respond on Twitter when I tease him about his over-pronounciation, so I have learned to love it, and now I always say Ayy-Dhjee-Durrs-Air without even thinking.
ReplyDelete*starts funding request for Team Coug*