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The time is now for Evans
It's great news that Cadel Evans has decided to leave Silence-Lotto - not that the announcement has come as a real surprise..
Evans'
world championship win has definitely increased his bargaining power -
that being the case he may have had no choice but to move camps after
winning gold in Switzerland.
Be that as it may, he is the
newly-crowned world champion and wherever he ends up, let us hope he is
given the respect he duly deserves as one of the world's top
pro-cyclists and that his ambition to win the Tour de France is finally
realised.
The chemistry between the Australian and his Belgian
based team appeared frosty, to say the least. I feel it had more to do
with cultural rather than creative tensions between the Silence-Lotto
captain and his teammates.
And from the moment he "lost" this
year's Tour de France after the team's disastrous performance in the
stage four team time-trial, the relationship had clearly broken down.
Evans must ensure this does not happen again.
Ranked
number five in the world, he is now in a position to set the table for
2010, signing with a team that is ready to assemble a team of fighters
who will bury themselves for him in France next July.
From where I sit covering the Tour for SBS, that hasn't necessarily been the case in the past couple of years.
Off
the bike and away from the pressures of the cycling environment which
consumes his season, Evans is a genuine "Mr Nice Guy". In fact, you
couldn't meet a nicer more inquisitive human being.
In the times
I have crossed paths with him, he's often asked about how things are in
my life, which is a pleasant change in the world of sporting egos.
But
I feel Evans may need to change his attitude and express some more
aggression after he signs on the dotted line with his new employer.
Evans learned a lot from Robbie McEwen when the Aussie pair headed Silence-Lotto's Tour de France attack in 2007.
He
now needs to take a leaf out of McEwen's book and take a more
"hard headed" business approach, and show the honchos at his new team
who is boss when it comes to ruling the roads to Paris.
I've got a strong feeling, 2010 may the start of a new era for a bloke who deserves all the accolades he gets.
Your Say
Newcastle
I Like a long dialogue it lets me explain my viewpont. I may be wrong but people know where I stand. As far as wins being the only measure, look at O'Grady 2009 arguably one of the strongest rider around. A rider like Evans will never match Robbie or Cav etc but neither will Contador. Look at Sammy Sanchez, he had a good year with only 1 win is he being picked on NO. Suffice to say Cadel usually wins 3-6 races a year and rarely rides poorly and out of contention. How many races did Lance win last year and tell me he had a poor season. One day specialists are meant to win regularly and if it wasn't for Evans at the end of the year Gilbert may not have had the stellar October he did.
Pinto, Madrid
I don't agree with Ben Bruno. I know him well, someone else has taken his voice. Wes had a point. Silence won more when Robbie was there. Wins don't count? Say that to HTC and Cav. Silence have Gilbert, he's been doing a lot of winning recently. Cadel was paid to win. Did he do this? Well he raced and sometimes won. Watch out with the thesis length post Bruno, the Mexicans might get upset again...they've been betting on the wrong horses you see.
melbourne
call me cad-el, when you hunt the white whale you need a crew that dies for you/ blood on the moon or in the water, just get argonauts that can survive the two rocks of pride and ecco homo to sneak evans to victory. fly the kangaroo thru sport/ less diggery and more dooooo!
Newcastle
I agree with Ben that BMC needs more oomph in the mountains. As for Cadel leaving lotto I think it is a win win situation. Lotto can put alot of resources into Gilbert (pity about johan Van Summ) and they can get back to winning one day races and stages (something there were good at). As for JVDB as a genuine GC contender I fear not, he may challenge top 10 but realistically a good domestique is his role. I think the only thing he won this year was a few crits. Cadel can concentrate on his own agenda (which may not include tdf this year but I suspect it will) Is he really any worse off than 2007 (when you can argue that Cadel lost due to the Rasmussen factor of dragging Contador with him) other than Chris Horner who did he have for help. 1 more climber would be an improvement overall. Contador will more than likely be in a weaker team unless he goes to caisse DP but we may need to see what happens to Piti-valve. Shack should be the strongest team with 2-3 genuine contenders. Saxo need at least 1 more helper for the Schleks in the high mountains to seriously challenge and Andy needs to improve his TT a little to really challenge. If BMC get invited and Evans rides Le tour with the same tenacity as his 2007 tour he will challenge the favourites. If he can get more supporting riders at BMC he will be a genuine contender.
Lithgow
At this stage Cadel only has George Hincapie as an experienced ally in the big mountains so it's urgent that fresh riders are recruited before the start of the new year. I fear Lelangue may have left his run far too late with BMC and whether he can attract big names for big money may cost our Cadel another shot at the big one in July. At this stage the makeup of the squad appears strong to dominate the Spring Classics and not the TdF.
Geeliong
Keep supporting your failed hero Tom Boonen, Wesley. He's all you people have got in cycling. Thank goodness for Phillipe Gilbert as he is the last of the great Belgians. Then again maybe not, as he is a Franco-Belgie and probably doesn't count.
N.T
Hey Wes', dont you think Cadel gave the Silence Lotto Team enough of his patience/respect and knowledge /support to work their way up to a worthy positon over the years he rode for them? They would not be in the media eye as much without his high profile I am sure of that. Just another euro team riding in the tours. I think you are just an angry man,disappointed at loosing a great rider!! Typical cultural differences that Cadel had to contend with. It is a multi-cultural world nowdays matey.
Bruxelles
Glad to see the back him now Lotto can get someone who can actually win.
Uraidla
This is a tricky one. Dont forget the Tour of Cauliflower is in bed with the ASO so if they perform well there I am getting they will get the gig. To throw a spanner in the works though the Cauliflower if now held the same time as the Giro. That could be tricky. One the other matter regarding the Tour Down Under. What do you think the chances of Cadel getting a gig on UNi SA? or remember Mike Turter works for the UCI so we could see the rules being bent again. I hope
Adelaide
Cervelo is a hell of a lot better team than BMC, they got a ride a TdF because they had the defending Champ not to mention a big name sprinter & eventual green jersey winner. Also there was a lot less competition for spots last year. Cadel 30th and Ballan 95th last year isn't terribly inspiring even hincapie smashed them at 19th.
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