Is this Roches' final year of his Ag2r contract?

JacksonHeightsOwn

if so, is he likely to move, or renew with Ag2r?

dont they always do their contract dealings on the first rest day of the tour? could be very interesting to see what happens with Nico

aindriu80

I just heard that on Eurosport. I don't know if he will get another contract with Ag2r for sure since he didn't have outstanding run of events in the last few years. Depends on how he gets on this tour I guess. The French riders could be doing better though.

ROK ON

AG2R are pure rubbish - results don't lie. Some if this is down to the riders and some is down to mgt and training.

Hopefully Nico will kick on from TDS and first week of the tour to secure a contract with a better pro team. AG2R barely deserve to be pro Conti, and I think Nico can do much better with a more professional approach to training, preparation and race selection.

Flandria

ROK ON wrote: »

AG2R are pure rubbish - results don't lie. Some if this is down to the riders and some is down to mgt and training.

Hopefully Nico will kick on from TDS and first week of the tour to secure a contract with a better pro team. AG2R barely deserve to be pro Conti, and I think Nico can do much better with a more professional approach to training, preparation and race selection.

Well they will hardly garner enough points for Protour for next year so you would have to think he will definitely go. His old man reckons he needs someone like a Riis or Bruyneel to motivate him, but unless his TT improves significantly he is never going to be the GC rider that he or AG2R seem to think he is. He could and should be a decent classics puncheur at somewhere like OPQS or Lotto, but does he work hard enough for those teams to consider him? I fear not...

Wicklowrider

ROK ON wrote: »

AG2R are pure rubbish - results don't lie. Some if this is down to the riders and some is down to mgt and training.

Might be my being naive, I'll never learn, but I get the impression Ag2r are clean riders. All of them seem human and yet hardly a stage in any race goes by that they haven't a rider in the break. In terms of return for investment to their sponsors they would seem to be next best thing to winners?

dave_o_brien

Wicklowrider wrote: »

Might be my being naive, I'll never learn, but I get the impression Ag2r are clean riders. All of them seem human and yet hardly a stage in any race goes by that they haven't a rider in the break. In terms of return for investment to their sponsors they would seem to be next best thing to winners?

If they're not clean, they need a better pharmacist!

I think what ROK ON is saying is that the team didn't have a tt bike for him to train on last year, don't use things like power metres, often don't equip their riders with things like disc wheels for tt's, seem not to have as well structured a training regime as other teams and don't employ the level of control over things like diet as other (more professionally run) teams- remember a few years ago Roche bonked one day because all he ate to recover the previous evening was pasta with oil, because he thought the cheese to go with it would be too fattening mid way through a 3 weeks stage race(!).

They seem typically old school, and sceptical of the advantages that modern training techniques can give a team in preparation for a tour and in monitoring the riders form. I agree with ROK ON that I think he'd be better off taking on a different role at another team. I think it'd be far more beneficial to his development as a rider, but might cost him the ability to fail at going for a top ten in a GC at the Tour (although I think he has a chance this year...).

ednwireland

i think they eat the hotel food i think most of the teams now bring their own chefs, garmin have their own kitchens i think
this is what they had a couple of years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPv5Drzvyq0

furiousox

Maybe this year is different but according to his tour diaries last year he ate nothing but a bowl of plain pasta every night.
Ridiculous!

JacksonHeightsOwn

furiousox wrote: »

Maybe this year is different but according to his tour diaries last year he ate nothing but a bowl of plain pasta every night.
Ridiculous!

you'd think the management would at least provide him with a Dolmio stir in sauce. Oh the agony

i want him to move to one of the english speaking teams. Wasnt there rumours of Sky wanting him last year?

if they can make Chris Froome a GC contender ,then boy jaysus Nicholas Roche would be the second coming of Indurain!!!

Roger Hassenforder

on purely sartorial grounds, he should move.

Briando

Roache is pretty big around the shoulders in comparison to the riders around him. Dnt know if he will ever be a great climber.

iregk

I think we all know at this stage Nico will never be a grand tour winner. That said he is good enough I feel to be a classics rider. AG2R are a low budget outfit and it shows. They don't employ a chef and have only two recovery beds/suits and go for the cheapest hotels that are often miles away from the finish. It's regularly close to midnight when they are eating their "recovery" meal and getting the rub down. That's madness in this day and age of professional endurance sport.

I think Nico has to get out of there. They are a good team for an up and coming rider but in order to bring him to the next level he has to get out. I'd say someone like Leopard or Saxo would take him, although he wouldn't be a protected rider anymore, he'd likely be the one pacing a Shlek up a mountain. Or a little outside the norm but as he lives in Italy how about Liquigas?

elduggo

ROK ON wrote: »

AG2R are pure rubbish - results don't lie. Some if this is down to the riders and some is down to mgt and training.

they're no better or worse than any other French team though. It seems they're more focused on stage wins and a half-decent showing in GC than throwing all their eggs in the GC basket.

I'd say he'll stay put.

Does anyone recall comments Philip Deignan made about Ag2R when he left them? I don't recall them exactly but do remember him not being overly-complimentary about them.

Dura Ace

elduggo wrote: »

Does anyone recall comments Philip Deignan made about Ag2R when he left them? I don't recall them exactly but do remember him not being overly-complimentary about them.

I found this interview with him. He doesn't slate them in this article, so maybe it was something else you read.

http://www.roadcycling.com/interviews/Philip-Deignan-Interview-part-1_003318.shtml

"AG2R is a French team with a lot of French traditions and you speak French all the time. AG2R wasn't a bad team. I think a lot of French teams have got a reputation for being backwards and not training properly. But I don't think that's the case. The reason why I wasn't performing wasn't because I was with AG2R it was because of different things as well. I got on great with the riders and all the staff there, but I felt like I needed a change."

AG2R

He should leave because personally I don't think he'll win anything there at all not even a classic. IMO the team seems split between Roche and Gadret

buffalo

AG2R wrote: »

He should leave because personally I don't think he'll win anything there at all not even a classic. IMO the team seems split between Roche and Gadret

And Jean-Christophe Peraud?

BostonB

Seems to me hes too often on his own with no team mate around him when he needs them.

AG2R

buffalo wrote: »

And Jean-Christophe Peraud?

oh **** and him.

Diamondmaker

BostonB wrote: »

Seems to me hes too often on his own with no team mate around him when he needs them.

is that not due to some team tactics to be in a break away all the time..and compounded that he is not the leader, although at this point he should be no ?

I noted the AG2r web site press release from the last stage focussed on the bad luck of the French riders in the break aways and Roches good placing and consolodating GC top 10 was an aside.....

Over 3 TDFs he has placed 23/15/26. I remember that 15th was hampered by a puncture and his team mate not giving him his wheel, despite being down on GC.

Apart from Perauds 10th he is overall Ag2rs best TDF performer ever, so i dont get why there is such a lack of a clear focus on who is the team leader, or does it just escape me ? Tactics are ramshackle as a result of a lack of a clearly defined focus of leader, or just selection of the wrong leader...?

just my thoughts, as a guy who bikes for tri ! so Im not up on a lot of this.



He popped in the latter stages of the mts last year, but blamed on illness or perhaps nutrition Im reading here...

corny

Diamondmaker wrote: »

Apart from Perauds 10th he is overall Ag2rs best TDF performer ever, so i dont get why there is such a lack of a clear focus on who is the team leader, or does it just escape me ?

By that logic Peraud should be team leader.

breezy1985

AG2R are a very basic team but I think he should stay with a team where he can be the Tour GC contender.

And Ide rather see him never win anything than move to muppets like sky or radioshacknissanleopardtrekarmstrong.Power meters can never replace talent and guts.

elduggo

Dura Ace wrote: »

I found this interview with him. He doesn't slate them in this article, so maybe it was something else you read.

http://www.roadcycling.com/interviews/Philip-Deignan-Interview-part-1_003318.shtml

"AG2R is a French team with a lot of French traditions and you speak French all the time. AG2R wasn't a bad team. I think a lot of French teams have got a reputation for being backwards and not training properly. But I don't think that's the case. The reason why I wasn't performing wasn't because I was with AG2R it was because of different things as well. I got on great with the riders and all the staff there, but I felt like I needed a change."

the comments I was thinking of were directed mostly at Lavenu and it may even have been Mark Scanlon rather than Deignan. I couldn't find them when I did a search just now but couldn't find it. I was pretty sure it was Deignan though, as I remember thinking it a bit odd hearing them around the same time as Roche was joining the team.

Anyway, if given the choice I reckon Roche should stay put. He can be a star on an average team, or be a nobody on a team of 'stars'. I'd prefer the former for him.

BostonB

Diamondmaker wrote: »

is that not due to some team tactics to be in a break away all the time..and compounded that he is not the leader, although at this point he should be no ?.....

I know nothing about the sport tbh. But does that not point to bad tactics as it seems to happen a lot to him over the years. Which suggests to me its the wrong team for him. Also that hes getting poor advice when he ends up doing his own thing and making bad decisions. Seems to me hes up there with the big names, or at least just behind them. But just not getting any results to reflect that.

Captain Havoc

I thought AG2R's only ambition was airtime?

Lumen

Airtime aside, surely if you have a weak GC contender it makes total sense to get a man in the break every day.

If the break stays away you get the chance of a stage win, otherwise the strong teams tire themselves out chasing the break while your GC man gets to sit in behind them.

Diamondmaker

corny wrote: »

By that logic Peraud should be team leader.

Roches form was over 3 season, Peraud was a bit of a bolter in his 1st TDF. He sits 40th some 22 mins off yellow this time....so No is the answer.

Thats my point you have Roche with a decent 3 seasons and the team dont build around him and support him, no other team member has been any where near him in the last 3 seasons.

Surely Ag2r need to completely back him now and ensure a top 10, instead of putting riders in breaks who burn out, dont get a stage and dont benefit a top 10 for their best placed rider.

They are however under pressure to deliver a stage win as they have not won a stage this season, this may cause them to throw their resources after the stage glory rather than the top 10 GC.

buffalo

But having men in the break returns a much better return for the sponsors - lots of TV coverage - whereas nobody talks about who's coming 7th or 8th. Obviously we care about Nico due to his Irishness, but how many times has Zubeldia or Menchov been mentioned on the news? So Ag2r, without a realistic potential podium finisher, will always try to have a man in the break. They're a commercial company after all, not a pure athletics team.

corny

Diamondmaker wrote: »

Roches form was over 3 season, Peraud was a bit of a bolter in his 1st TDF. He sits 40th some 22 mins off yellow this time....so No is the answer.

Thats my point you have Roche with a decent 3 seasons and the team dont build around him and support him, no other team member has been any where near him in the last 3 seasons.

Surely Ag2r need to completely back him now and ensure a top 10, instead of putting riders in breaks who burn out, dont get a stage and dont benefit a top 10 for their best placed rider.

They are however under pressure to deliver a stage win as they have not won a stage this season, this may cause them to throw their resources after the stage glory rather than the top 10 GC.

I was just pointing out the inherent weakness in your argument. You can't make a case for Roche being easily the best rider at the team and ignore the fact that Jean Christophe Peraud has achieved something Roche hasn't (he was ninth when you pull out Berto btw and it was no fluke).

flying11

i dont think AG2R are as bad as people are saying.
They have been uploading daily videos during the tour this year giving a background into the team. (**note it is in french). Well worth a view. i would'nt mind looking around the mechanics trailer. i would be like a child in a candy shop:D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cRhsujiRjM&feature=relmfu

Lusk Doyle

Why is Roche wearing number 79 and 71 like the other team leaders?

elduggo

Lusk Doyle wrote: »

Why is Roche wearing number 79 and 71 like the other team leaders?

He was joint team leader with Peraud. I guess Peraud was 'Plan A' though.

Gipo3

Lusk Doyle wrote: »

Why is Roche wearing number 79 and 71 like the other team leaders?

Alphabetical order.

Gipo3

flying11 wrote: »

i dont think AG2R are as bad as people are saying.
They have been uploading daily videos during the tour this year giving a background into the team. (**note it is in french). Well worth a view. i would'nt mind looking around the mechanics trailer. i would be like a child in a candy shop:D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cRhsujiRjM&feature=relmfu

You would swear by the "experts" on here that they were working out of a Hi-ace van.

Lusk Doyle

Gipo3 wrote: »

flying11 wrote: »

i dont think AG2R are as bad as people are saying.
They have been uploading daily videos during the tour this year giving a background into the team. (**note it is in french). Well worth a view. i would'nt mind looking around the mechanics trailer. i would be like a child in a candy shop:D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cRhsujiRjM&feature=relmfu

You would swear by the "experts" on here that they were working out of a Hi-ace van.

Peugeot. It's a French team!

finchkerry

Right lads, for the first time I've really been taken in by the tour. Mainly due to the fact we have an Irish man in contention, ok going for a top 10 finish rather than overall winner.

My question is on Stage 10 how will Roche get on? Can we expect anything from Martin, surely this is more his terrain with many of his main teammates crashed early this must help him somewhat.

Plastik

Was listening to Newstalk this morning and they mentioned that Nico is going to be on Off The Ball later this evening.

Lucifer-0

Plastik wrote: »

Was listening to Newstalk this morning and they mentioned that Nico is going to be on Off The Ball later this evening.

What is that? I don't see it on the tv guide?

http://www.rte.ie/ten/listings/

ThisRegard

Off the Ball, a sports radio show on between 7 and 9 on Newstalk

Chips Lovell

Lucifer-0 wrote: »

What is that? I don't see it on the tv guide?

http://www.rte.ie/ten/listings/

It's on the radio. Newstalk

Lusk Doyle

ThisRegard wrote: »

Off the Ball, a sports radio show on between 7 and 9 on Newstalk

7 and 10 I believe.

tawfeeredux

Lusk Doyle wrote: »

7 and 10 I believe.

7 & 9 at the moment. The Football show takes a break for a few weeks while the prima-donnas go on hols/attend court.

JacksonHeightsOwn

so, just to bump this thread up

the second rest day is now tomorrow, isnt this traditionally a day where riders moot out new contracts?

dvntie

Fiver says vaughters will come sniffing

dave_o_brien

dvntie wrote: »

Fiver says vaughters will come sniffing

What will he be sniffing?

JacksonHeightsOwn

rumours going around that Nico could well be off to Saxo Bank

Nico to be a super domestique for Contador?

Stokolan

We were talking about this at work the other day and came up the idea of him going to sky. Seen as he's good mates with Wiggins and he sat on his arse for most of the tour.

JacksonHeightsOwn

Stokolan wrote: »

We were talking about this at work the other day and came up the idea of him going to sky. Seen as he's good mates with Wiggins and he sat on his arse for most of the tour.

werent they trying to sign him before he signed on with Ag2R for a further year.

personally, id love to see him go to Sky. The resources they have would release his full potential, what ever that may be.

kenmc

chrisbonnie wrote: »

werent they trying to sign him before he signed on with Ag2R for a further year.

personally, id love to see him go to Sky. The resources they have would release his full potential, what ever that may be.

that'd leave me with some dilemma. like nico, can't stand team Murdoch....

aindriu80

Stokolan wrote: »

We were talking about this at work the other day and came up the idea of him going to sky. Seen as he's good mates with Wiggins and he sat on his arse for most of the tour.

It would mean zero chance of attempting any G.T win. Wiggins and Froome would really be pushing and capable of G.T wins.

Brian?

chrisbonnie wrote: »

rumours going around that Nico could well be off to Saxo Bank

Nico to be a super domestique for Contador?

That could actually work out very well for him, if it happens. Bertie might even teach him to TT.

JacksonHeightsOwn

aindriu80 wrote: »

Stokolan wrote: »

We were talking about this at work the other day and came up the idea of him going to sky. Seen as he's good mates with Wiggins and he sat on his arse for most of the tour.

It would mean zero chance of attempting any G.T win. Wiggins and Froome would really be pushing and capable of G.T wins.

If sky can make Chris Froome a GC contender, then god only knows what they can do for Roche.