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Cavendish to OPQS

I cant find the transfer thread, but apparently SPecialised will pay his release clause to goto OPQS.

I think it was inevitable he was going to end up there, but interesting how Spech will be paying the clause.

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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30 comments

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Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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Yes, budgets, but we are talking about NEXT season. Budgets might have been laid out, but we are far from the first race of next season. Budgets can be adjusted before then.

Not every team can afford him. But most could if they and their sponsors wanted him.  3

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Darthshearer | 11 years ago
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Ah Astana, yes I forgot about them, but again they are geared for GC with Nibali.

I would get up earlier dude if youre going to try and catch us out, as in theory, Euskaletel are Basque and not Spanish  3

Wasnt one of their riders kicking off last week for them being linked to a German domestique?

AG2R & FDJ maybe owned by big companies, but it doesnt mean they have the kitty to shell out for someone like Cavendish.

Look at Newcastle United, they are owned by a billionaire, does he shell out? No.

One of the reasons he is such a huge commercial pull in the way of marketing is because he is the fastest man on the planet, and successful, however, teams have things called budgets that they have to stick to. What you are making out anyone in the ProTour could buy him, but in theory they cant.

About 5 teams can and then its down to logical preference on weather they are GC teams or not.

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Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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I was winding you up to see how many would guess Euskaltel.

But I think you are wrong to think that they are the only one's who can afford him. If a team wanted him, they could afford it.

AG2R - Insurance company, need I say more.

Astana - State owned companies from Kazakhstan that fund them, could quite easily afford him.

FDJ - French Lotto.

I could go on. But he's affordable to the sponsors as a tool for advertising. You've got to look at it that way rather than his ability to ride and how much his wage would be.

Would you like him to advertise your company? We know he can win stages, classics and small tours. How much would you pay to have your name on his chest everytime he crossed the line in front and also on the podium. Then have him at your HQ and various other events throughout the year......Its gotta be worth a fair bit.

Road.cc.....How much would you pay if you still had your name on a teams shirt and had multi-million pounds in the bank to spend?

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Raleigh | 11 years ago
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What, Basques allowed?

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Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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I kinda knew Sky wouldn't hold him to ransom. But I now think that it would only be OPQS that will be offering him a nice package. I see an Italian team and a Spanish team on the horizon......

The Spanish team will also be breaking their ONE major rule.......  3

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Darthshearer replied to Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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Gkam84 wrote:

I kinda knew Sky wouldn't hold him to ransom. But I now think that it would only be OPQS that will be offering him a nice package. I see an Italian team and a Spanish team on the horizon......

The Spanish team will also be breaking their ONE major rule.......  3

If youre talking about Euskaltel, no chance.

Only teams that can realistically afford Cav are OPQS, Katusha and BMC, maybe Rabo.

BMC have Gilbert and Thor on their books that havent really got any returns from this season.

Katusha wont have a near dedicated team for Cav, especially if Purito is going to target the Tour.

Rabo, again, will be geared to the Tour with Gesink next season.

OPQS is his only realistic chance.

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Darthshearer | 11 years ago
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Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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I thought you knew that is Cav went to OPQS (which I doubt), Boonen was off to Sohrabi Subaru to be Mehdi's leadout man  3

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Raleigh replied to Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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Gkam84 wrote:

I thought you knew that is Cav went to OPQS (which I doubt), Boonen was off to Sohrabi Subaru to be Mehdi's leadout man  3

Mehdi has a beast of a leadout train next year.

I heard a certain slovakian is due to join there, and learn how to really win bike races, from the original winner.

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Raleigh | 11 years ago
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Oh, and if cav goes there, boonen will leave.

He won't want to be playing second fiddle.

One bit.

BOONEN TO SKY!

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drheaton replied to Raleigh | 11 years ago
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Raleigh wrote:

Oh, and if cav goes there, boonen will leave.

He won't want to be playing second fiddle.

One bit.

BOONEN TO SKY!

 19

Dunno, Boonen never really competed in grand tour sprints, not enough to make him think he deserved a slot over an out and out sprinter like Cavendish.

If Boonen were happy to be a classics specialist rather than a true 'sprinter' then I think he'd manage to get along in the same team for a year or two. I guess it all depends on how good Boonen thinks he is in an out and out flat sprint.

Likewise, Cav won't get the nod for the classics when the likes of Boonen, Chavanel and Terpstra are above him in the pecking order.

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Raleigh | 11 years ago
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Sohrabi Subaru!

The first team to do the unique triple of:

Cobbled Classics,
Ardennes Classics,
Autumn Classics.

Not to mention winning all three grand tours in a year.

And worlds.

And every single worldtour national road and TT championship.

They're keeping it on the down low though, so they haven't told many people yet.

As a Super fan I got the email notification a few weeks back now.

S'gonna be amaze.

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Stumps | 11 years ago
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He has not been dropped, he has left to make his own world dominating super team.  24

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notfastenough | 11 years ago
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Raleigh will be gutted!

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drheaton | 11 years ago
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One thing the transfer thread doesn't cover... (unless I've missed it)...

Mehdi Sorabi has been dropped by Lotto!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sohrabi-leaving-lotto-belisol-after-one-...

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Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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If you look in my signature, you'll see a link to the transfer thread, but not to be filled with gossip.

Its my understanding aswell that JTL has signed for Saxo. But as Saxo as not naming any signing till the end of the calender, we'll have to wait and see

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drheaton | 11 years ago
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I think he was training with the 'GB' squad rather than the 'Sky' squad (ignoring the fact that they are, for the most part, identical). Saxo may have him on some sort of pre-contract agreement but if he's looking to break that there's no reason they publicise the signing. Sky may well be waiting to cash in on Cav before paying off Saxo so it could end up being domino's.

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Darthshearer | 11 years ago
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I read months ago he had signed for AG2R, then that go quashed and its all about Sky now.

I think if Saxo had signed him they would have come out now. It just smells of Sky if you ask me.

He was training with them in Tenerife so makes sense really that he has joined Sky.

Dont forget, he is 28 almost 29 so not a spring chicken.

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drheaton | 11 years ago
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There's a point re Boonen and Chavanel et al.

What races is Cav going to be targetting? Just Grand Tours? I read when he joined Sky that he wanted to move towards Classics as he got older and the younger quicker guys came through, OPQS doesn't fit the bill for that as he'll be competing for classic spots with Boonen etc. Think he may get pigeon-holed as purely a grand tour sprinter if he moves to OPQS. That might be what he wants now but with more guys like Sagan/Degenkolb/Kittel/Bouhanni coming through how long can he keep winning in those types of finishes?

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IOM Paddy | 11 years ago
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Last year it was reported that Cav signing with Sky was held up by his personal deal with Specialized.

As a Cav and Specialized fan I would love to see MC back on a Spec bike with a sprint train.

Much as I can dream of being chased down by Tom Boonen I would rather dream of a sprint finish with Cav.
In my dreams I still loose but only just  20

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Super Domestique | 11 years ago
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As a fan of Spesh and Cav I hope this does happen tbh.

I looked extensively at both Pina and Spesh when I bought mine and couldn't agree that Pina are much nicer bikes tbh.

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Darthshearer | 11 years ago
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The Pinarello's IMO are an awful bike, I really dont like them.

Sky have know Cav was leaving months ago and I am sure they are happy with what they have.

Ardenne rides would goto JTL, the others, a mix of EBH & Gee Thomas.

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Stumps replied to Darthshearer | 11 years ago
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Darthshearer wrote:

The Pinarello's IMO are an awful bike, I really dont like them.

Sky have know Cav was leaving months ago and I am sure they are happy with what they have.

Ardenne rides would goto JTL, the others, a mix of EBH & Gee Thomas.

Please correct me if i'm wrong - and i hope iam - but isnt JTL going to Saxo ?

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drheaton replied to Stumps | 11 years ago
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stumps wrote:

Please correct me if i'm wrong - and i hope iam - but isnt JTL going to Saxo ?

That was my understanding but nothing's official and ever since the ToB/Worlds every man and his cycling correspondent has been talking up JTL to Sky (probably just because it's a nice easy leap for them to make). I think given the choice that's where he'd go but he may already have signed something with Saxo, not that contracts are worth much when Sky get involved...

I reckon he will end up at Sky in the end but that might not be for a while yet.

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chrisdstripes replied to Darthshearer | 11 years ago
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Darthshearer wrote:

The Pinarello's IMO are an awful bike, I really dont like them.

Sky have know Cav was leaving months ago and I am sure they are happy with what they have.

Ardenne rides would goto JTL, the others, a mix of EBH & Gee Thomas.

Seeing how Thomas goes next year is one of the things I am most excited about - would be great if he can become a strong classics rider now he's off the track.

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drheaton | 11 years ago
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I doubt it Stumps, I think Sky have probably made all of their big signings for next year, and probably reallocated the Cav budget to sign people like Cataldo.

I could be wrong though but it does seem a little late and no-one fitting that bill seems to be visibly 'available'. A couple of good classics specialists would really add to the team but with the emergence of Uran, EBH (as a classics rider), Henao and a couple of others they could really mount a challenge on all fronts with the riders they have. I think part of their poor classics forms this year was actually as a result of Cav being on board and him being their number 1 rider for races that don't really suit him but he could have won under the right circumstances (M-SR for example). Hopefully next year Sky will go into those races with more 'options' having learned from the Olympics and pick a squad that can win in a number of ways. Swift may fit this bill better as he's a sprinter that can handle more hills than Cav and be there to compete without being molly-coddled and having a full team around him.

It's a shame that Sky lost Nordhaug though, he looks like he has the potential to be a great one day racer.

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Stumps | 11 years ago
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Pinarello are a much nicer bike than the Spesh. If he does go to OPQS then i would expect a major GC or Classics rider coming in to rpelace him.

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drheaton | 11 years ago
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Spesh may pay to get him out of his contract but I assume that would come as part of a large personal sponsorship/image rights deal as bashthebox has said. It'll also tie them into supplying OPQS for a few more years, possibly for the length of whatever contract he signs and ensure that Cav does a large amount of promotional work/appearances at Spesh events.

I wonder if the mid-season rumours of Sky ditching Pinarello only to re-sign with them came at the start of the horse-trading re Cav. Once Sky knew that he wanted out perhaps they gave up on a Spesh deal and stuck to Pinarello who likely would pay them more for the privalege of supplying their bikes.

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boardmanrider | 11 years ago
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If asked, I reckon would say he was never happy on his Dogma. I get the impression he is very technical in his approach to bike setup right down to spoke tension. I also read that he changes the seat post height during stage races.

As for Specialized paying the loot, I wouldn't be surprised if the Venge was built 'for him'. What will be interesting is that QPQS is a Zipp and SRAM sponsored team so electronic shifting and PRO cockpit for him. I wonder how he will find the change to mechanical shifting?

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bashthebox | 11 years ago
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Cav was really vocal on his love for Specialized when he was at HTC, right? I reckon a glowing endorsement from Cav is worth an awful lot to a bike company. Plus there's probably something tied in to image rights now for X number of years.

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