2011 Tour de France

[Aushiker]

Hi

Bob Stapleton, owner of HTC-Highroad, has said that the team will cease to exist at the end of this season unless a new title sponsor can be found by the end of July, just a week after the Tour de France finishes. HTC appears unlikely to renew its sponsorship for 2012, and the American entrepreneur attributes the difficulty of finding a replacement to the impact on cycling’s image of doping investigations, notably those involving Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong

.

via Road.cc

This would be very disappointing.

Andrew

[AUbicycles]

Headliner Mark Cavendish has already announced his departure. We have three Aussie, the world's best lead in man Mark Renshaw, plus Matt Goss and Leigh Howard currently in the team though am not up-to-date on whether they have made any announcements re team.

Pity as the team has performed very well and got a lot of exposure so hope that there is an opportunity for the team to survive.

[jules21]

the potential loss of the US market would risk pro cycling going back to its old roots as a european sport, with less money and coverage. i hope not, but i fear Lance has done huge things for cycling's global appeal, but that it will all be undone. who can blame HTC for wanting to get out before the s*** hits the fan?

[AUbicycles]

good (speculative L.A.) connection - well spotted!

The failed Aussie team Pegasus suffered as a result of a major US investor pulling out, is there a general turn of the tide for big money cycling investment. On the ground floor sports cycling is booming in the US.

[bianchi928]

Headliner Mark Cavendish has already announced his departure. We have three Aussie, the world's best lead in man Mark Renshaw, plus Matt Goss and Leigh Howard currently in the team though am not up-to-date on whether they have made any announcements re team.

Greenedge???

[albe]

well sorta on-topic ... they're releasing this TdF manager type game for ps3 and x360 this week ... apparently its based on a pc or web game they released previously. Not too sure what the hell it involves but i'll be picking it up anyway being a bit of a gamehead!

i think its more of a strategy, team manager sort of deal ... u can send riders out in breaks etc ... not sure how much control there is over riders in sprints and so forth. Features all stages apparently, not sure how they managed that one though i'm guessing it might be a top-down, map based interface.

anyway could be a good accompaniment to watching the tour

[AUbicycles]

Greenedge???

No - Greenedge is gearing up, there was a bit of a unfortune with another team - search this forum for pegasus - heated discussion in parts.

[ozzymac]

Hi,
I was just checking the Austar TV guide for Eurosport to see what sort of TDF coverage they would be having and I couldnt find any?

Only coverage that shows up is SBS and highlights on Foxsports......

I signed up just recently expecting more cycling coverage via Eurosport.

cheers

[reeves]

Hi Ozzymac,

SBS has the rights to show TDF in australia so eurosport don't show it here. Pretty much every other main race is on Eurosport so lots to watch.

[jules21]

you can stream eurosport from the interwebs anyway

[ozzymac]

Hi Ozzymac,

SBS has the rights to show TDF in australia so eurosport don't show it here. Pretty much every other main race is on Eurosport so lots to watch.

Thanks for the Info. Guess it might come in handy for the other races then.

As for streaming from the net, not real good when the only net access is through Telstra Wireless, they dont let u have enough downloads.

cheers

[bosvit]

Hi Ozzymac,

SBS has the rights to show TDF in australia so eurosport don't show it here. Pretty much every other main race is on Eurosport so lots to watch.

Thanks for the Info. Guess it might come in handy for the other races then.

As for streaming from the net, not real good when the only net access is through Telstra Wireless, they dont let u have enough downloads.

cheers

I hear you on this one! $59 = 3GB and thats for upload/download combined Roll on NBN or out more to the point

[HAKS]

No Aussies make the Garmin Cervelo team

Garmin Cervelo

Tom Danielson
Julian Dean
Tyler Farrar
Ryder Hesjedal
Thor Hushovd
David Millar
Ramunas Navardauskas
Christian Vande Velde
David Zabriskie

[norbs]

Is Haussler still struggling with that knee problem?

[AUbicycles]

Is Haussler still struggling with that knee problem?

What a shame for him. Would also be interested to know as well.

[BarryTas]

Is Haussler still struggling with that knee problem?

What a shame for him. Would also be interested to know as well.

he did mention that he was going to skip the TDF and focus on the worlds

[roller]

Red Edge (Katusha) confirm an all russian line up:

Pavel Brutt
Denis Galimzyanov
Vladimir Gusev
Mikhail Ignatiev
Ivan Drago
Vladimir Isaychev
Vladimir Karpets
Alexander Kolobnev
Egor Silin
Yuriy Trofimov

[BarryTas]

Red Edge (Katusha) confirm an all russian line up:

Pavel Brutt
Denis Galimzyanov
Vladimir Gusev
Mikhail Ignatiev
Ivan Drago
Vladimir Isaychev
Vladimir Karpets
Alexander Kolobnev
Egor Silin
Yuriy Trofimov

lol there is 3 Valadimirs in the team

[brentono]

Porte-says-hes-in-top-form-pledges-complete-support-to-Contador
At least there is one other person (besides Contador)
who has a responsibility to their job and this year's 2011 TDF.
(Good wishes to Porte and I think he will be rewarded for it )

[jasimon]

Looking at that Garmin Cervelo team - are the sprinters some kind of train or are they all in it individually? Farrar and Husovd strike me as winners rather than lead-out men. And Dean isn't a slouch either. Anyone know what the 'arrangements' are?

[bianchi928]

Greenedge???

No - Greenedge is gearing up, there was a bit of a unfortune with another team - search this forum for pegasus - heated discussion in parts.

AUbicycles, given the mention of Cav leaving, I thought we were talking about where the Aussies mentioned would end up next year.

Greenedge appear to have the infrastucture (italian base, Bannan and Stephens) and more importantly the financial backing (Gerry Ryan) that Pegasus did not.

If Columbia HTC do not go on, there are some very good Aussies out there that they should be talking to (discretly before 1 August of course )

I would also like to see the Meyer boys and Bobridge there as well with Matty Lloyd.

Anyway, back on topic.

[JV911]

Tweet from @f_cancellara

Watch out on the TTT on sunday it looks so f...ing cool. Thanks @TrekBikes http://t.co/5roWb5B http://t.co/TzHmeao

my new trek speed concept timetrial bike customized.... http://t.co/jA0Va6C http://t.co/iOccSig http://t.co/g9HVKDw

[ni78ck]

Is Haussler still struggling with that knee problem?

he is just out of form!

[JV911]

Is Haussler still struggling with that knee problem?

dont know what the prob was but he said yesterday that he, "Starts training again tomorrrow!!"

[HAKS]

Only 6 Aussies all up this year