Euskaltel saved

Squidgy Black

Brian? wrote: »

Keen to let go of the greatest grand tour rider of his generation? I seriously doubt it. This time 12 months ago he won the Vuelta. He had a terrible Tour by his standards, but he's not finished.

I can see him doing a Nibali next year
and winning the Giro and Vuelta.

He's on an enormous salary, for what he's being paid he just isn't getting the results. €4.5 million a year, compared to the €1.2 of Gilbert or the €800,000 of Chavanel or Voeckler. The average salary in the peloton is €218,00

His salary is more than the rest of the team's combined, so I'd say they'd be more than happy to let him go.

godtabh

What's Nico's salary since we are on the subject?

AnotherView

He is not going to do any Giro /Vuelta doubles as he really wants to win the Tour de France and doesn't care about the other GTs

According to some article I read his relationship with Bjarne Riis is strained cos he wouldn't ride the Vuelta.....An there is talk of Tinkoff wanting to stay if Contador went or took a massive pay cut..and this caused further friction


Riis has been through a lot for Alberto so we can only wait and see

Zyzz

Eamonnator wrote: »

I've done 10,000Km on my bike this year.
Why don't my legs look like his?.

Have those 10000km been with pro teams and pro riders following a pro training plan? :pac:

godtabh

Zyzz wrote: »

Have those 10000km been with pro teams and pro riders following a pro training plan? :pac:

Obviously

Zyzz

godtabh wrote: »

Obviously

Actually more important question, are your legs shaved?






:pac::p

mahoo

A driver buying an entire team of cyclists.. there's an argument in here somewhere ...Just highlights the gulf in money in the two sports. Next up will be RVP buying VCD

happytramp

mahoo wrote: »

A driver buying an entire team of cyclists.. there's an argument in here somewhere

According to Cyclingnews.com he's going to insist that they train in single file, use cycle lanes and pay road tax.

Harrybelafonte

How it happened:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/09/analysis/inside-formula-one-pilot-alonsos-euskaltel-rescue_302449

Eamonnator

Zyzz wrote: »

Actually more important question, are your legs shaved?






:pac::p

I'm afraid, to say, that they are.

niceonetom

Euskaltel Euskadi team confirms Alonso deal is off and team will be dissolved...

gordongekko

niceonetom wrote: »

Euskaltel Euskadi team confirms Alonso deal is off and team will be dissolved...

Ah no that's terrible.

AG2R

A lot of big and good riders up for grabs now, some of them will end up unattached but others will be snapped up fairly sharpish imo

DaithiMC

niceonetom wrote: »

Euskaltel Euskadi team confirms Alonso deal is off and team will be dissolved...

He must have been p**ed off at losing to Vettel again at the weekend!

Harrybelafonte

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Well, I guess I can snap up some kit now and wear it without entering Fred territory. Cna match the bike and the bottle.

In all honesty, as opposed to the comment in the article, I think their demise is a big loss to the peloton. I'll miss the sea of orange and the Basque flags

biketard

Damn, this is very sad news indeed.

Cookie_Monster

His desire to relocate the team from the Basque country to Asturias was also said to be an issue, as was a request for an audit of the team accounts.

Bizarre issue, I wonder what they are trying to hide?

wirelessdude01

Isn't an audit of the accounts standard practice for any business transaction? Something going on here that they don't want uncovered.

Gonna be a lot of good riders available now.

Cookie_Monster

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Isn't an audit of the accounts standard practice for any business transaction? Something going on here that they don't want uncovered.

sure is.
If you were spending 2 million and the team / company you wanted to buy said you couldn't see the accounts it raises massive questions and it's time to just walk away before you get burned big time.

wirelessdude01

They will use the base move as the excuse for the team not being saved. Anyway wonder now who will get the licence?

mistermatthew

Ridiculous situation

"However it said that agreement was looking unlikely over the team’s demand that Alonso would also respect the contracts of the directors and other team staff, plus retain the current deals with bike supplier Orbea and clothing manufacturer Bioracer."

What company can demand this when they're being taken over? oh by the way, you have to keep the directors who were in charge when we ruined this team the first time. And you have to keep the sponsors who aren't giving us enough money to survive.

I thought it was honourable if a bit foolish that Alonso was offering to keep on the current riders, many of whom are simply unfit for task or too old. I imagine this ridiculous demand has sent him and Mr. Santander running.

And the Audit, don't even get me started.

Harrybelafonte

mistermatthew wrote: »

Ridiculous situation

"However it said that agreement was looking unlikely over the team’s demand that Alonso would also respect the contracts of the directors and other team staff, plus retain the current deals with bike supplier Orbea and clothing manufacturer Bioracer."

What company can demand this when they're being taken over? oh by the way, you have to keep the directors who were in charge when we ruined this team the first time. And you have to keep the sponsors who aren't giving us enough money to survive.

I thought it was honourable if a bit foolish that Alonso was offering to keep on the current riders, many of whom are simply unfit for task or too old. I imagine this ridiculous demand has sent him and Mr. Santander running.

And the Audit, don't even get me started.

Hold on, who ruined the company? Explain this for me please.

Which sponsors aren't giving them enough money?

Which riders are too old and which ones are unfit for task?

Ease up there for a second. Euskaltel was set up for a very specific reason and to a point I agree that some of the terms for a "business" were a little optimistic, but without some of those terms Euskaltel-Euskadi no longer held the same mission statement (if you really want to treat this as a business, which so many do), therefore, to a degree, the team became pointless.

This isn't soccer or F1, there's a bit of spirit in the pro levels of cycling. Personally, I'd rather not see the team anymore than see them break with what made them a worthwhile team to support. You want to support a team because they win, then stick with Sky.

mistermatthew

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Hold on, who ruined the company? Explain this for me please.

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Which sponsors aren't giving them enough money?

Euskatel/Orbea/Bioracer, They're going bust

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Which riders are too old and which ones are unfit for task?

Sammy Sanchez?

Perhaps I am being a bit harsh. I just find it ridiculous that a company (And yes I know they're a team, but at the end of the day they are on the brink because of lack of funds and poor results despite selling out on the basque only ideals they had. How can someone in this situation of putting people out of jobs put stringent demands on a potential buyer?)

With the alonso deal at least next year those who love Euskadi would still see those same riders riding at alonso's team whereas now they will be scattered all over the pro peloton. Who will those people support then?

bobcranfret

mistermatthew wrote: »

Ridiculous situation

I thought it was honourable if a bit foolish that Alonso was offering to keep on the current riders, many of whom are simply unfit for task or too old. I imagine this ridiculous demand has sent him and Mr. Santander running.

And the Audit, don't even get me started.

Yes, Alonso took a closer look at the team and found that they were a Basque-et case.

Harrybelafonte

mistermatthew wrote: »

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Hold on, who ruined the company? Explain this for me please.


Euskatel/Orbea/Bioracer, They're going bust


Sammy Sanchez?

Perhaps I am being a bit harsh. I just find it ridiculous that a company (And yes I know they're a team, but at the end of the day they are on the brink because of lack of funds and poor results despite selling out on the basque only ideals they had. How can someone in this situation of putting people out of jobs put stringent demands on a potential buyer?)

With the alonso deal at least next year those who love Euskadi would still see those same riders riding at alonso's team whereas now they will be scattered all over the pro peloton. Who will those people support then?

Orbea gave them bikes, don't think money was involved. Orbea aren't exactly a huge bike manufacturer either. Bear in mind Eus rode the same bikes in 2012 aw they did in 2011, no upgrades. Nieve still uses a fork/magnet speedo. Orbea were never exactly flush.

Euskaltel were still offering sponsorship but with the failing Spanish economy the Basque area government couldn't send public funds their way.

Bioracer? Are you really holding a clothing company accountable for the amount of funding they're getting?

In any case, they never 'ruined' team. The Euskadi gov pulling out was the biggest kick they took and that's a political argument and makes fundamental sense. what's more important is that fact that teams like this and Vacansoleil can't find sponsors, how long will belkin (who only got in there in time for the TdF) prop up ex-Rabobank?

You mention Sanchez who has't been doing too well since the Olympic win, but still shows his face and you forget how well Nieve and Anton did this year, as well as their only sprinter Labato who will make definite inroads over the next few years. They were also atop team classification at the Vuelta and had been top for a large part of it.

There are another couple of teams who could go in the next few years by the way, Cofidis anyone?

They're gone, they're gone. Too late to reinvent the team.

dogsears

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

sure is.
If you were spending 2 million and the team / company you wanted to buy said you couldn't see the accounts it raises massive questions and it's time to just walk away before you get burned big time.

No deal, in the world, goes ahead if accounts cannot be seen, unless the purchaser is the stupidest person alive. If Euskatel thought they'd agreed an outline to sell but were not planning on giving over accounts this would be astonishing to the point of disbelief. So I don't think this can be true.

If there is anything to the part of the report about asking for an audit, and if it isn't wildly off beam through a combination of speculation, translation and re-telling, I'd say its to do with the degree of access and probably to particular contracts.

granda

looks like alonso still interested in setting up a team somehow
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/300737/alonso-not-giving-up-on-cycling-team-plans/

Beasty

dogsears wrote: »

No deal, in the world, goes ahead if accounts cannot be seen, unless the purchaser is the stupidest person alive. If Euskatel thought they'd agreed an outline to sell but were not planning on giving over accounts this would be astonishing to the point of disbelief. So I don't think this can be true.

If there is anything to the part of the report about asking for an audit, and if it isn't wildly off beam through a combination of speculation, translation and re-telling, I'd say its to do with the degree of access and probably to particular contracts.

The report does not state the accounts could not be seen. It refers to an audit being requested which could mean all manner of things from a full-blown audit of the accounts to a review of certain expenditure.

In all likelihood we will never get the fine detail here. The team indicate they are bound by confidentiality clauses and it would be typical for there to be other reasons for the deal to fall through that may never come to light. Hence to lay blame at either side at this time may be pointless

happytramp

granda wrote: »

looks like alonso still interested in setting up a team somehow
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/300737/alonso-not-giving-up-on-cycling-team-plans/

With Ferrari's and Colnago's relationship it's a bit of a no brainer that Alonso would be keen to organise Colnago as bike sponsors. Also there was talk of him being eager to team up Contador, who isn't released from his contract with Riis until 2015. There was also speculation that we could see an Alonso led Spanish team built from scratch in 2015.

So to surmise. There's a chance we'll see a new Spanish team, owned by Alonso, captained by Alberto Contador, Riding Colnago bikes for the 2015 season.

Zyzz

happytramp wrote: »

So to surmise. There's a chance we'll see a new Spanish team, owned by Alonso, captained by Alberto Contador, Riding Colnago bikes for the 2015 season.