In today’s VS tdf coverage they have alluded to Cadel sueing Vino for the loss of publicity.
A couple days ago he was bitching about his team when Horner is riding his ass off.
In today’s stage he is bitching at the camera motorbike guy.
What a whiney little bitch. Is he always like this? If he does win the Yellow Jersey, I’m sure he will only have negative comments.
Yeah, I was always thinking he was a whiney bitch also. He was complaining alot last year too.
I’m just comparing it to the media bytes the other riders have given. eg. Chris Horner always seemed to give positive comments.
In today’s stage he is bitching at the camera motorbike guy.
Cadel wasn’t too pleased with the close proximity of the bike and, after a brief discussion, splashed some drink from a can of Coke at the photographer…
Some athletes are better than others in terms of diplomacy and being in front of the camera. Regardless of media coaching many of these fellows are what they are; relatively uneducated sportsmen with big legs.
I was aghast at the lack of insight by Hincapie’s comments on Versus as well.
Steady on. Good to see you bitchin’ about someone bitchin’ His DS was talking the legal angle based on lost airtime for his sponsors. Fair enough, they pay big money and expect a return. I don’t think he was bitching about his team apart from the fact the guy has been continually isolated. From what I’ve read, he really respects Horner but anyone can see that when the going gets tough Cadel looks around and sees all the GC contenders with 3 or 4 team mates, yet he looks over his shoulder to see trusted and loyal soldier Chris Horner battling away and hanging in there by his fingernails. The way he’s been ambushed on some of these climbs, I can appreciate the frustration. And yeah, those bikes would piss me off as well. I don’t know much about Cadel, but I like his never say die attitude and tenacity in hanging in there when behind the eight ball. Go the underdog! And he’s as clean as they come on the tour (I hope)
I believe Paul misspoke. I think it’s the team that is suing for publicity loss, not Cadel himself.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/jul07/jul26news3
It’s the PRL team, not Cadel sueing Vino and Astana.
Yeah, I’ve found him so/so in interviews, and I don’t think he’s ever bitched about Horner, since Horner has been his only help in the mountains (Well Cioni on early cat 4 climbs, before the going gets tough). The problem is the team itself, it’s the same reason that Ullrich got isolated with Telekom by USPS, the team is really double built, they’ve got their support for Robbie McEwan, and then a couple for Cadel. If they’re serious about yellow, you leave McEwan with Fast Freddy, and maybe one other rider to help, the rest of the team should be built around your leader and for the mountains.
Ironically Evans is one of the more soft speaking pros.
I don’t think it was him who was upset by the loss in the TT now that Vino is out, it was his Team sponsor(s) and rightfully, they did loose a significant amount of exposure due to that.
As for the complaints about the set-up of the team. This is not new. Evans has been campaigning for a few years about changing the make-up of the team. How it is set up and who is on it. It’s a Belgian team and in the true Belgian tradition is more set-up for the Spring Classics and in the Grand Tours it’s been more set-up around and for the sprinting prowess of Robbie McKewn. Honestly, I am not sure why Evans is still with Predictor-Loto. With his GC capabilies in the Grand Tours, I am surprised that he did not go to another team more designed for Grand Tour GC success.
As for the encounter with the Camera Moto today. Clearly the Moto was in the wrong, trying to squeeze up the side of the road. He may have even bumped Evans. You could see the Camera guy ( Hope that was not Graham Watson) apologizing after the fact.
If Cadel had riders that could stay with him through an entire mountain stage, right to the top of the last climb, he would not have domestics, but competion for team leader.
The solution is to use strategy, which he as leader and Predictor/Lotto in general missed. They should have sent one or more riders in the break, knowing that these riders could drop back in the event Cadel needed help. Hincapie being at the top of that final climb, and pacing the decent for Contador, was likely not just dumb luck but good planning.
The reason this works is that it is easier for a domestic to ride a steady, but faster pace, throughout the stage and get a lead than it is for the same domestic to sit right next to the leader. This is particularly true when the pace heats up on the climbs. Good domestics can handle hard work, but maybe not the peak pace required on the climbs.
So I think Cadel is coming under attack for his comments regarding not having team members by his side because he is using poor tactics, not because he needs a better team.
Paul
I don’t think he was bitching about his team apart from the fact the guy has been continually isolated. From what I’ve read, he really respects Horner but anyone can see that when the going gets tough Cadel looks around and sees all the GC contenders with 3 or 4 team mates, yet he looks over his shoulder to see trusted and loyal soldier Chris Horner battling away and hanging in there by his fingernails. The way he’s been ambushed on some of these climbs, I can appreciate the frustration.
Well I disagree somewhat on the facts, he’s had Horner into every final climb and then everyone except top 5-6 get shed pretty quickly.
But regardless of the facts. It is stupid to ever criticize your team’s abilities in public. This just demoralized the team. (One might debate whether it is effective to criticize your team’s effort/performance in public. I’d say not.) Any issue with team composition is entirely Cadel’s own FAULT. He chose to sign with P-L. He has failed to convince management to augment the team.
Looking at it another way, what good does it do to criticize your team’s abilities? None. He is just making excuses. That is called whining.
I’ll say that while I’m not impressed with what he has to say, he has been a gutsy, tough rider and I respect him.
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