AS his name comes up often in this forum…it’s just been announced that Hamilton will be racing for Phonak in 2004. I’m sure CSC will be more than a little disappointed. www.velonews.com
Too bad Postal couldn’t have afforded the price of that ticket!
-Robert
Postal had him before CSC did. Why would they want him back? He’s not interested in being a domestique for Lance. He’s already been there done that. Why would Tyler want to go to USPS?
Well, good question. But, I think a better one is why wouldn’t Tyler want to go to Postal? He and Lance could work together better than, say, LeMond and Hinault. Lance is no Hinault, but a man of honor. If he didn’t have it all next year, he would support Tyler, and vice-versa. I actually think with Herrera, Rubiera, and Hamilton, the chances would be better that the Posties would repeat in the Tour. Alas, it is mere speculation at this stage.
-Robert
Robert - let me guess. You’re a big fan of the Posties? You can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to ride for that team?
the USPS purpose in life is to get Lance to the Tour, thats it, Hincapie in the classics is a bonus, a Spaniar in the Vuelta is a bonus…but would never ever come at the expense of what Lance wants so why in gods name would Tyler sign up to play second fiddle to LA when he can go be the HMFIC at another team where they do for him what the posties do for Lance…
Going to the Postal service would be a step backwards, he knows that so long as LA is fit there is absolutely nothing for him there, he’s already been on three or four tour winning teams. Is he meant to be satisfied with helping someone else win for the rest of his life? or meant to count on LA to have a bad year so that he can have his spot in the Limelight.
There is not a single thing that makes sense about him going back to the USPS team.
Alright already! Enough!! I repent! :),
Sheezh… Hey, I love Tyler Hamilton. The guy is a total stud after finishing this past tour with a broken collar bone.
But…
-Robert
I am not so sure this is a good move for Tyler.
After such an excellent season, big wins, a great team, the support they gave him, and obviously a very talented Director.
I will admit I am not familiar with most of the riders on the Phonak team, save Zulle; but does he really have the infrastructure around him to support a legitimate bid for a podium placing in The Tour?
If someone knows this team better, please let me know if they will be able to support Tyler. Zulle will be a great benefit on the road as his experience and knowledge will help Tyler, a la Riis and Ullrich in 1997. But do we have the strong men and the talent climbers and time trialists to get him to the top in the tour?
Craig
hamilton may not have super support from Phonak, but to be honest I can’t remember any CSC guys working for him either. Sastre seems to have more personal aspirations.
The reason Hamilton left CSC for Phonak is dineros - 3 million Euros over the next two years is hard to pass up.
hamilton may not have super support from Phonak, but to be honest I can’t remember any CSC guys working for him either. Sastre seems to have more personal aspirations.
I think Sastre’s aspirations were always 100% in line with what is best for the team, in fact Tyler seems more interested in Sastre’s personal aspirations than Carlos himself is.
But maybe you didn’t see Sastre’s and Soerensen chase at LBL to bring back Lance and set Tyler up, or Sastre’s chase on stage 3 of Romandie to keep Tyler in contention, or the entire team’s effort when Tyler made a mistake on the first climb of the Tour’s Stage 16 (although most teams could have done that).
I agree CSC were incredibly supportive of Tyler.
He is no spring chicken he’s doing it for the money. Got a family to support - good luck to him.
Seems a bit hard on Bjarne and the boys but they won’t bear grudges. Besides I imagine half their budget was blown on replacement bikes for Tyler (only joking)
Business is business and love is bullsh1t.
As a Swiss I am happy that Hamilton joins a Swiss team. But as a Cervelo owner (and fan) I am disappointed that he leaves CSC Tiscali.
Now he will ride Swiss BMC bikes. Christoph Mauch rides also a BMC bike.
Felix
Felix: as a fellow Cervelo owner/racer and Swiss-American (family is originally from a farm near the hamlet of Ruesgbach in the Emmental), I agree on all counts.
Tyler trades any chance at winning the Tour for the payout in $$$. Hard to be harsh on him: an athlete’s competitive shelf life is short, and can be ended via injury at any minute (as Tyler knows all too well).
I wish him well; his gain is our loss.
– Richard Burkholder (that’s Yank for “Burkhalter”)
Seems a bit hard on Bjarne and the boys but they won’t bear grudges. Besides I imagine half their budget was blown on replacement bikes for Tyler (only joking)<<
Ha! I told a friend yesterday, maybe someone at Phonak will teach Tyler to stay on TOP of a bike. IMO, not a good move for Tyler. Money isn’t everything. I’m very happy to see CSC sign Ivan Basso!
Here is the blurb from cyclingnews.com on Phonak’s build-up:
Hamilton and Phonak’s new guard
The Swiss Phonak Hearing Systems team has pulled off what it called a “major coup” by signing CSC’s top rider Tyler Hamilton for the next two seasons. Rumours have been circulating for the last six weeks that Hamilton was to switch teams, and it finally became official today. In addition to Hamilton, Phonak also signed Slovenians Tadej Valjavec (Fassa Bortolo) and Uros Murn (Formaggi Trentini), and Italian Daniele Bennati (Domina Vacanze) for next season.
“I’m excited about joining the Phonak team and look forward to riding for winning positions in 2004,” said Tyler Hamilton about his new team.
In an official statement, the Swiss team said, “Phonak Cycling aims to be up with the very best on the circuit in the coming season and the objectives are clear: with its new, strengthened team, Phonak is aiming for places among the first three in all the Tours and World Cup races. With Tyler Hamilton as its captain, the Phonak Hearing System team is looking forward to a lot of excitement and some fantastic results at the next Tour de France, especially.”
The team intends to ride with a full squad of 25 cyclists next season, and thus there is room for four more riders in its roster. “Phonak is negotiating with other top riders as part of its objective to assemble a balanced team capable of lifting the sport’s top honours. Achieving this aim means having specialists for the key discipline - the team time trials - to complement the Swiss team during the big tours.”
Phonak also announced that it would not be renewing the contracts of Denis Bertolini, Roger Beuchat, Iker Camano, Stefan Kupfernagel, Miguel Martinez, Benoît Salmon and Massimo Strazzer. Thus, the provisional line up for 2004 is as follows:
Name 2003 Team UCI Points Contract
Michael Albasini (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 23 2004
Niki Aebersold (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 96 2004/2005
Gonzalo Bayarri (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 27 2004
Daniele Bennati (Ita) Domina Vacanze 204 2004
Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 448 2004
Cyrill Dessel (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 99 2004
Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 498 2004
Martin Elmiger (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 417 2004
Marco Fertonani (Ita) Phonak Hearing Systems 90 2004
Fabrice Gougot (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 76 2004
Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems 148 2004
Tyler Hamilton (USA) Team CSC 1403 2004/2005
Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 535 2004/2005
Uros Murn (Slo) Formaggi Pinzolo 396 2004
Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 452 2004/2005
Santiago Perez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 105 2004
Gregory Rast (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 83 2004
Daniel Schnider (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 277 2004
Alexandre Usov (Blr) Phonak Hearing Systems 229 2004
Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Fassa Bortolo 476 2004/2005
Alex Zülle (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 214 2004
I just hope Phonak gets a new team kit. Their current uniforms are pretty ugly if you ask me.
Of course there were times where CSC worked for Hamilton. But when the chips were down they didn’t seem to be there. CSC finished 10th in the team time trial, a minute down on Postal. And behind traditional time trial powerhouses like Vini Caldirola and AG2r Prevoyance. The only time I remember seeing CSC riders other than Hamilton up at the front was when they were launching solo attacks (Sastre, Piil). If their single minded focus was helping Hamilton, they would have stayed around him. How many stage wins did we see USPS and Bianchi domestiques going for?
In their defense, Hamilton did break his collarbone early in the race and I think Riis was not sure what to do afterwards. They couldn’t seem to make up their mind whether to go for stage wins, team classification, or riding for their team leader. My point is, mitigating factors excluded, that CSC did not prove a single-minded devotion to Hamilton this year.
In their defense, Hamilton did break his collarbone early in the race and I think Riis was not sure what to do afterwards. They couldn’t seem to make up their mind whether to go for stage wins, team classification, or riding for their team leader. My point is, mitigating factors excluded, that CSC did not prove a single-minded devotion to Hamilton this year.
So we’ve gone from no help at all to not 100% devoted. I guess that’s progress. But by the same logic, USPS is not 100% devoted to Lance since they rode for Eki in some of the Spring classics. It’s true that in the Tour they are 100% devoted to Lance, but that is a really stupid strategy for everybody but the eventual winner. See ONCE’s total collapse when Beloki crashed. Saiz told everybody they have nothing to aim for anymore, absolutely nothing. I think Riis and B.S. Christensen did a marvelous job keeping the boys in the Tour mentally.
And when you look at where Tyler lost time, no team could have prevented that from happening and there is no way he could have finished higher than fourth. The TTT was very early after his crash, the ITTs are obviously solo efforts and he only lost time in the mass start stages on the final climb to a mountaintop finish.
I am a bit confused when you say “this year”, since my examples of LBL and Tour de Romandie are 100% obvious examples of total dedication to Hamilton.
As for Riis not making up his mind on what to do, maybe you’re right, and that’s why they did it all. Three stage wins, the team win and fourth for Hamilton.
As for Sastre’s stage win, before he attacked he went to Hamilton to discuss the situation, and Hamilton told him to make the jump.
But I will agree with you on one thing, team strength is overrated sometimes. Other than in the TTT, the real results are made mano a mano when only the team leaders are left standing. It sure is impressive to see USPS tow the peloton for three hours, but I doubt it made any difference in the end result.
I didn’t mean to originally imply that Hamilton got no help. I just didn’t have any recollections of him sitting on a teammate’s wheel up Alpe d’ Huez, or sitting in on the red-and-white train on the flats. Would it have made a difference in the final standings? You are probably correct that it would not. But it is symbolic of what the team is trying to accomplish.
I think we all wish Hamilton the best of luck for next year. The reason he is leaving has nothing to do with CSC and everything to do with $. I’m just glad to see see one of the nice guys in the peloton getting paid well for a change.
Thus, the provisional line up for 2004 is as follows:
Bottom line: Unless at least five of these guys are yet-to-be-discovered world class “rouleurs”, Tyler’s GC chances are effectively buried the moment the Team Time Trial stage finishes.
Bottom line: Unless at least five of these guys are yet-to-be-discovered world class “rouleurs”, Tyler’s GC chances are effectively buried the moment the Team Time Trial stage finishes.
there, you are soooo wrong!!
Hamilton is a good TT rider in its own
Alex Zuelle was world TT champion
Oscar Pereiro beat Ulrich and Vino at the TDS prologue and lost only 15 sec to Ullrich on the 33km ITT and beat Vino by 6sec
Oscar Camenzind was World Champion and an amazing TT rider, not one that would win a ITT but pretty damn fast
MOOS Alexandre and Oscar Pereiro beat Hamilton and Zuelle in the TDR prologue, pretty hard if you’re not a good TT rider!
Daniel Schnider is the Swiss national champion
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