Evans to ride Tour Down Under

[Zynster]

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1100 ... n-Under%27

[Chuck]

Armstrong, O'Grady and now the World Champion . How many cold showers will Turtur need between now and January to keep his excitement in check.

Great news, hope it's true.

[lukas]

Hope this isn't like last year's 'he will ride the Giro' announcement.

[sogood]

I wonder which SL team mates Cadel will bring for the TdU?

[MichaelB]

Hope this isn't like last year's 'he will ride the Giro' announcement.

If you read the Adelaide Now article, it isn't real set in stone as per the snippet below

"...Turtur said Evans' coach, Aldo Sassi, agreed to the Victorian champion starting his next ProTour season in South Australia in 2010.

"I spoke with Aldo Sassi and he was very positive about the possibility," Turtur said from Switzerland last night.

"We'll just let him (Evans) settle down a bit after winning and I'll follow him up in the next few days."

Cadel's Doc said he could, and then goes on to say they'll chat to him a few days after the WC's, so it could still be a "Giro moment"...

I'm hoping he comes, but we'll see....

Now, as to his team mates, do you think JvdB will be one of them .....

[Chuck]

Now, as to his team mates, do you think JvdB will be one of them .....

No, he'll be riding mountains somewhere in preparation for his role as team leader for Le Tour

[Zabriskie19]

Cadel Evans, to be honest i think he can win next years Tour down under (if he rides).
he Never loses time in bunch sprints always up there in the first 30 or so the first four stages he'll only be behind the likes of davis and other top sprinter by maybe 40 secs only because of time bonuses. Also have you guys seen the stage Five profile two nice 350m climbs in the final 35km so about 10km of climbing and 10km of desending in the final 35km could and should suit a rider like Cadel or some rider from a spanish team. I can see them putting minutes into they likes of Davis, Brown and other sprinters only problem is they'll probably be 15 of them trying to go for glory which could work for a strong breakaway i guess. anyway just my thoughts on what is usually a boring week for the sprinters. good to see the race organisers have put a decent climb in close to the finish .

[RICHARDH]

Last years course wasnt that dis-similar, the problem is the mountain goats never want to push it that hard that early in the season. I think Davis could double because of all the sprinters he climbs head and shoulders above the rest. Even with two laps of Willunga Hill all Rogers Armstrong and Co. could do was put 20 or so sec. into Davis (i was on the hill and was really surprised to see Davis so close on the second loop). As long as Quick Step are willing to work for those last 35km (which is why the teams there to train) no one of note will get away. Would be nice to see a non sprinter win and start to throw that sprinters race tag away but that would mean making the race harder than the teams want it and lowering the quality of the riders that are sent.

[MichaelB]

The race now is interesting. A few years ago the complaint was that it was too easy and that a big break on one day decided the race.

Then they made it hardre when it got the ProTour status, and all stages still ened ina bunch sprint, and people complained it was too hard.

They can't win !!

One thing that is missing is a ITT. Maybe 2011 version....

[RICHARDH]

One thing that is missing is a ITT. Maybe 2011 version....

I heard one of the italian DS's thought a ITT up Norton Summit would be a good stage and i reckon his right would certainly give the non sprinters another stage to get some time on. The problem with a ITT is that Australia is a long way to bring a whole heap of TT bikes for one stage, would be great to have one in one edition it the future though

[1st XV]

One thing that is missing is a ITT. Maybe 2011 version....

I heard one of the italian DS's thought a ITT up Norton Summit would be a good stage and i reckon his right would certainly give the non sprinters another stage to get some time on. The problem with a ITT is that Australia is a long way to bring a whole heap of TT bikes for one stage, would be great to have one in one edition it the future though

Or they could do it on normal bikes, ala Tour of Qatar TTT.

[MichaelB]

One thing that is missing is a ITT. Maybe 2011 version....

I heard one of the italian DS's thought a ITT up Norton Summit would be a good stage and i reckon his right would certainly give the non sprinters another stage to get some time on. The problem with a ITT is that Australia is a long way to bring a whole heap of TT bikes for one stage, would be great to have one in one edition it the future though

Or they could do it on normal bikes, ala Tour of Qatar TTT.

many used normal (or modded road bikes) for one of the Giro's ITT stages ...

[RICHARDH]

Hence why i think they where thinking Norton Summit Rd, but i think theres still a certain amount of logistics involved, mechanics have to setup the bikes for a time trial etc. etc. its not as simple as setting them off at two minute intervals i guess. After another 5 or so years the event will have some history and might be able to start making things harder for the teams without losing the rider quality which is actually really good considering the time of year and how far away we are.

[redcorpsjames]

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1100 ... n-Under%27

so this means cadel is staying with SL. So no tour win for evans this year.

[lukas]

so this means cadel is staying with SL. So no tour win for evans this year.

Regardless of the team behind him, I don't think Cadel can really match it with the likes of Contador, the Schlecks etc.

Seems like he's staying put. There was a bit of agitated talk post tour, but it's settled since.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out at Silence next year. Jurgen VDB was seemingly becoming the next big grand tour thing for them, but in 2010 they'll surely milk the rainbow jersey for all it's worth you'd think.

[Zynster]

I think the problem is that no other team wants him. While he is undeniably a great athlete, his social skills seem somewhat lacking.

[JV911]

Double page spread re TdU in today's Australian

rider profiles, LA Bio, stage profiles etc

[MichaelB]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/evans-b ... r-wildcard

It seems that the team is invited, so will Evan's race ???????

It seems he is. Whoohoo for Adelaide

[m@]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/evans-b ... r-wildcard

It seems that the team is invited, so will Evan's race ???????

From the article linked in this thread - sounds like it!

[RICHARDH]

I reckon its a goer, when he was in adelaide couple of days back he was pretty clear the only thing that really could stop it would be the team not being invited.