2020 Pro thread

[Kjetil]

^Celeste and light blue is THE classic colour combo in cycling.



And before Gimondi there was Coppi in the same kit. IMO the colour that does not go well with Celeste is green. But then again the Celeste of Bianchi was never meant to go well with anything, but to pop against everything.

...

Now I see why those Manuela Fundacion boys want a cycling team. Weight loss motivation!

[CrankAddictsRich]

Lachlan is a seriously impressive guy.

I'm wondering whether any of the top ironman pros would stand a chance: they are all about steady aerobic output over a little less than 8 hours...

Lachlan is a monster.. I'm convinced that he could easily be one of the top 3 guys in the sport, fighting for grand tour wins if he wanted to deal with the drama that is involved with that... but he doesn't and he's happy with live as is, occasionally doing random freak acts just to show off how strong he is.

[eins4eins]

Lachlan is a seriously impressive guy.

I'm wondering whether any of the top ironman pros would stand a chance: they are all about steady aerobic output over a little less than 8 hours...

Lachlan is a monster.. I'm convinced that he could easily be one of the top 3 guys in the sport, fighting for grand tour wins if he wanted to deal with the drama that is involved with that... but he doesn't and he's happy with live as is, occasionally doing random freak acts just to show off how strong he is.

He is super good, no question, but what makes you think he could beat those current top guys?

[Leviathan]

Who are these Manuela Fundacion guys and why do they want to own a cycling team? And why do they look like the Spanish Sopranos?

Actually Im hoping this is a really innovative way to "blanquiar el capital" - Money Launder. Take the undeclared cash from your laundry and construction business, plus the extortion rackets they may or may not be involved with, put it into a charitable foundation which you then use to buy your cars from your own dealership as team cars, "buy" a service course which you already owned, pay yourselves as DS's and team "advisors" then get overbilled by all the other suppliers by 15% exploiting the retail/wholesale difference in for example bikes . Genius

[blaugrana]

Lachlan is a monster.. I'm convinced that he could easily be one of the top 3 guys in the sport, fighting for grand tour wins if he wanted to deal with the drama that is involved with that... but he doesn't and he's happy with live as is, occasionally doing random freak acts just to show off how strong he is.

I'm quite skeptical of that. He certainly has talent, but he hasn't really shown anything in Europe, where the big races are. I find it hard to believe that he has the capabilities to win something big but he simply hasn't bothered, because even if he has room for improvement, the gap between DNFing or placing ~100th at most races and winning them is massive.

[Dan Gerous]

Who are these Manuela Fundacion guys and why do they want to own a cycling team? And why do they look like the Spanish Sopranos?

Actually Im hoping this is a really innovative way to "blanquiar el capital" - Money Launder. Take the undeclared cash from your laundry and construction business, plus the extortion rackets they may or may not be involved with, put it into a charitable foundation which you then use to buy your cars from your own dealership as team cars, "buy" a service course which you already owned, pay yourselves as DS's and team "advisors" then get overbilled by all the other suppliers by 15% exploiting the retail/wholesale difference in for example bikes . Genius

That's probably it.

[dj97223]

Pretty strong allegations with no evidence.

[IchDien]

Isn't it just because the current team they own is sponsored by Cervelo and they want to get away?

[flying]

And why do they look like the Spanish Sopranos?

[tymon_tm]

Who are these Manuela Fundacion guys and why do they want to own a cycling team? And why do they look like the Spanish Sopranos?

that's actually quite disturbing, the fact cycling at the highest level might be a safe harbor for shady entities... not that sheikh money are clean, or those who stand behind astana, but if this is what it looks like, then it's a whole another level of money laundering and *making organized crime legit*. of course the concept itself is nothing new - all those billions of dollars of drug money have to go somewhere. I've read some reports on how and where Italian mob invests, and it's pretty frightening to learn how great their piece of the legit business pie is becoming - and given their basically endless stream of resources, it's a global problem, rather than a local thing.

I tried to google this 'foundation' and it seems there's hardly any info, aside from a mentioning of a family tragedy. I'm dealing with business consulting for years now, and if an enterprise that wealthy "doesn't google" then it's quite obvious indication for me (or to my clients) to stay clear from any dealings with them - of course it needs further digging, but so far, on few occasions, I've avoided this way dealing with straight up mobsters...

[Dan Gerous]

30 minutes show and highlights of the Slovenian National Championships, AKA Roglic VS Pogacar, AKA racing in the real world, AKA actually moving forward as they pedal.

https://4d.rtvslo.si/arhiv/sportne-reportaze/174702131

[northwestern]

Who are these Manuela Fundacion guys and why do they want to own a cycling team? And why do they look like the Spanish Sopranos?

that's actually quite disturbing, the fact cycling at the highest level might be a safe harbor for shady entities... not that sheikh money are clean, or those who stand behind astana, but if this is what it looks like, then it's a whole another level of money laundering and *making organized crime legit*. of course the concept itself is nothing new - all those billions of dollars of drug money have to go somewhere. I've read some reports on how and where Italian mob invests, and it's pretty frightening to learn how great their piece of the legit business pie is becoming - and given their basically endless stream of resources, it's a global problem, rather than a local thing.

I tried to google this 'foundation' and it seems there's hardly any info, aside from a mentioning of a family tragedy. I'm dealing with business consulting for years now, and if an enterprise that wealthy "doesn't google" then it's quite obvious indication for me (or to my clients) to stay clear from any dealings with them - of course it needs further digging, but so far, on few occasions, I've avoided this way dealing with straight up mobsters...

I read the the deal fell through and Green Edge will continue for another year.

[flying]

30 minutes show and highlights of the Slovenian National Championships, AKA Roglic VS Pogacar, AKA racing in the real world, AKA actually moving forward as they pedal.

https://4d.rtvslo.si/arhiv/sportne-reportaze/174702131

Thanks that was good

First racing (non-reruns) seen in quite awhile

[themidge]

Phwoar! That was a blistering attack from Roglic!

It looked like Pogacar was waiting (kept looking round nervously) and backing himself in a sprint, but I'm not sure he would have won anyway .

Also it's great that proper racing in back, I'm sure covid was engineered by Zoom and Zwift to make us give them our money.

[TobinHatesYou]

I read the the deal fell through and Green Edge will continue for another year.

It's a bit more complicated than that because Mitchelton-Scott is multiple entities. One operates the team and employs the staff while the other owns the World Tour license. Gerry Ryan / Green Edge own the license, but the Manuela Fundacion guys are laying claim to ownership of everything else. This is going to go to court or at least arbitration.