I think Kloden has been announced as well. I think with the demise of the Astana team most will follow Bruyneel to Radio Shack. I would like to see Hincapie on the team as well, but I don’t know his feelings after the tour this year. Not to mention, I don’t think anyone wants Radio Shack to be an old timer’s league and Lance, Levi, George and Andreas are all 34+ right now. Something tells me they will want an all-arounder who was in contention for the white jersey in the last decade on the team.
Originally I had said I would like to see them get Tony Martin, but looking at the white jersey standings I see something interesting. Liquigas has the 2nd and 3rd place riders in Nibali and Kreuziger. I would think one of them would be looking for a new team in the future as one of them won’t be the team leader. And at 25 or younger they both have to have aspirations of being team leader and vying for a Tour title.
Normally, moving to a different team to not be a team leader would be out of the question. Radio Shack provides a unique opportunity. As I mentioned the predicted top 3 riders on the team are all on the tail end of their careers. But they have all had tremendous success and would be able to mentor someone in how to be successful especially in the tour as you have 7 titles, a runner-up finish and two thirds. Add to that Bruyneel who is the most successful director and it is a pretty good situation. Certainly waiting a year or two to be the team leader on that team would seem worthwhile. Especially if the understanding was you would be the leader for either the Giro or Tour of Spain.
Other than that I would like to see some American riders on an American team. Garmin actually has quite a few, but I’m not sure how many were on the tour team. Columbia only has 2 in total. I realize the primary goal is to win races, but it would be nice if that was done while bringing along American talent.
patriotspride:
” Normally, moving to a different team to not be a team leader would be out of the question. Radio Shack provides a unique opportunity. As I mentioned the predicted top 3 riders on the team are all on the tail end of their careers. But they have all had tremendous success and would be able to mentor someone in how to be successful especially in the tour as you have 7 titles, a runner-up finish and two thirds. Add to that Bruyneel who is the most successful director and it is a pretty good situation. Certainly waiting a year or two to be the team leader on that team would seem worthwhile. Especially if the understanding was you would be the leader for either the Giro or Tour of Spain.”
Good observation. Johan/Lance can certainly teach the ropes to anyone willing to learn from the best.
Agree on Kloden. Surprised he faded a little, but know he’s a very capable rider. Also I think Lance respects him.
George would be nice, but he’s probably better elsewhere at this point in his career.