Telekom in disarray

[bobke]

Telekom is the most mismanaged, mishandled group of prima donnas. They remind me of a bunch of old complaining English women in the style of Monty Python.
"OOOh so YOU didnt have to ride the German Nationals, thats lovely!!"

Either that or they are playing an inspired hand of poker with making the tabloids in Germany. No, they are too stupid for that. I'm recallingh that Zabel is buddies with Lance.

from Eurosport.com

While Jan Ullrich opted out of putting in an appearance in a bid to hone his Tour de France preparations, it was thought that the 30-year-old Klöden was in favour of defending his national crown.

But Bild reported on Tuesday that the out-of-form Klöden was not "amused" as being "compelled" to ride the national championships, whereas Ullrich was given time off, presumably to cavort with new love Sara.

"I asked to be released too. I would have loved to stay away from this championship," Klödie moaned. "Other people were allowed to".

Klöden rode the 204 km race in Mannheim with little conviction, coming home in 57th place, 38 seconds off the pace.

Meanwhile, veteran sprinter Erik Zabel, who lost his place in the T-Mobile Tour line-up in a bid to strengthen Ullrich's assault on Armstrong's Tour hegemony, seemingly still holds a few sour grapes about his exclusion.

"I wouldn't have prevented him from winning," vouched six-time green jersey winner Zabel. "When I become second or third it is a loss, yet other people are celebrated for that." Ouch!

Zabel's room-mate Rolf Aldag - also not included in T-Mobile's final nine - has joined the fray, claiming: "I would have left it up to a champion like Erik to decide whether he wanted to start or not."

What is more, the 34-year-old sprinter has now been forced to ride the Tour of Austria. Running from 4-10 July, this means that Zabel will be unable to co-commentate - as scheduled - on German coverage of La Grande Boucle during the opening week of racing.

 

[rejobako]

Telekom is the most mismanaged, mishandled group of prima donnas. They remind me of a bunch of old complaining English women in the style of Monty Python.
"OOOh so YOU didnt have to ride the German Nationals, thats lovely!!"

LOL! Great analogy. But I think the article was a bit trumped up. A few snide comments does not make for a huge rift within T-Mobile. That being said, the more I think about it, the more I suspect that the fact that T-Mobile is top-heavy with GC contenders might cause problems down the road (literally). In one sense, they can say all they want that Ullrich is the chosen one, but from the comments they have made in the past, and from what we know of the personalities of Kloden and especially Vino, there may come a point when either may consider mutiny.

From a selfish perspective, I sort of hope this comes to pass, because it would make watching those mountain stages all the more interesting. Muhahahahahaha!

 

[limerickman]

Telekom is the most mismanaged, mishandled group of prima donnas. They remind me of a bunch of old complaining English women in the style of Monty Python.
"OOOh so YOU didnt have to ride the German Nationals, thats lovely!!"

Either that or they are playing an inspired hand of poker with making the tabloids in Germany. No, they are too stupid for that. I'm recallingh that Zabel is buddies with Lance.

from Eurosport.com

While Jan Ullrich opted out of putting in an appearance in a bid to hone his Tour de France preparations, it was thought that the 30-year-old Klöden was in favour of defending his national crown.

But Bild reported on Tuesday that the out-of-form Klöden was not "amused" as being "compelled" to ride the national championships, whereas Ullrich was given time off, presumably to cavort with new love Sara.

"I asked to be released too. I would have loved to stay away from this championship," Klödie moaned. "Other people were allowed to".

Klöden rode the 204 km race in Mannheim with little conviction, coming home in 57th place, 38 seconds off the pace.

Meanwhile, veteran sprinter Erik Zabel, who lost his place in the T-Mobile Tour line-up in a bid to strengthen Ullrich's assault on Armstrong's Tour hegemony, seemingly still holds a few sour grapes about his exclusion.

"I wouldn't have prevented him from winning," vouched six-time green jersey winner Zabel. "When I become second or third it is a loss, yet other people are celebrated for that." Ouch!

Zabel's room-mate Rolf Aldag - also not included in T-Mobile's final nine - has joined the fray, claiming: "I would have left it up to a champion like Erik to decide whether he wanted to start or not."

What is more, the 34-year-old sprinter has now been forced to ride the Tour of Austria. Running from 4-10 July, this means that Zabel will be unable to co-commentate - as scheduled - on German coverage of La Grande Boucle during the opening week of racing.

You copied this from Whiteboytrash.

How original.

 

[musette]

Kloden is terrible. First of all, he is the defending German national champion. People usually try to defend their national championships, and do not have to be forced to go. Second, he knew that TM has not done particularly well as a team this year (despite Vino's having done pretty well) and that a German national championship would have been a nice thing to have for TM (even if it were, as expected but not as actually occurred, a win over Gerolsteiner). Third, the way that Kloden got publicity for his position that Zabel should be off the TdF team was by saying that a team contending for yellow should have one leader and eight helpers. His statement shows a lack of acceptance that Jan is leader of TM, and therefore shows Kloden's hypocrisy.

 

[bobke]

You copied this from Whiteboytrash.

How original.

I read it in the news and posted it.
Where is it posted by WBT and who cares anyway.
Why don't you try to respond to posts instead of making irrelevant comments about what grade you are giving for originality or cleverness.
So what about it, whats up with T Mobile?

 

[bobke]

Kloden is terrible. First of all, he is the defending German national champion. People usually try to defend their national championships, and do not have to be forced to go. Second, he knew that TM has not done particularly well as a team this year (despite Vino's having done pretty well) and that a German national championship would have been a nice thing to have for TM (even if it were, as expected but not as actually occurred, a win over Gerolsteiner). Third, the way that Kloden got publicity for his position that Zabel should be off the TdF team was by saying that a team contending for yellow should have one leader and eight helpers. His statement shows a lack of acceptance that Jan is leader of TM, and therefore shows Kloden's hypocrisy.

Exactly. Hilarious on OLNTV when Ligget said Kloden was ridin like a sack of potatoess!!!

 

[limerickman]

I read it in the news and posted it.
Where is it posted by WBT and who cares anyway.
Why don't you try to respond to posts instead of making irrelevant comments about what grade you are giving for originality or cleverness.
So what about it, whats up with T Mobile?

WBT - posted the post that you copied.

My opinion ?
I think TM are all at sea (as usual).
Forty Shades of Green Goodefroot can't keep his charges in line.
He's the main problem.

Kloden needs his **** kicked from here to Berlin : he's been a waster since day one, and he has a distinct problem with JU being No1 at TM.
For blowing the TDF stage last year when he LOST to LA in a sprint finish, the man is a complete novice.

Overpaid (€8m, or in your useless currency that translates in to $11m) prima donnas.
As Hinault says - pay them all, only on the basis of results !

 

[whiteboytrash]

WBT always first with the news and doesn’t need a new thread to present.... get with it hombredesubaru vbmenu_register("postmenu_1977452", true); .... your old hat...... grabbing my post and presenting it as new…. Tired very tired…….

You copied this from Whiteboytrash.

How original.

 

[wicklow200]

WBT - posted the post that you copied.

My opinion ?
I think TM are all at sea (as usual).
Forty Shades of Green Goodefroot can't keep his charges in line.
He's the main problem.

Kloden needs his **** kicked from here to Berlin : he's been a waster since day one, and he has a distinct problem with JU being No1 at TM.
For blowing the TDF stage last year when he LOST to LA in a sprint finish, the man is a complete novice.

Limerickman,
isn't 3rd (did he get 3rd or 2nd last year) on the podium a major achievement. Wouldn't call it the performance of a novice. OK, on paper he should have outsprinted the GC leader who in theory had put in greater efforts, and had given him a major headstart on that particular sprint. But I think Kloden was overachieving last year wasn't he? Credit where credit is due.

My only other comment is why the hell Kloden is complaining about having to go to the nationals. Surely he knew 12 months ago that he was sort of obliged to go back again as defending champ. Surely not a bolt out of the blue for the guy.

 

[musette]

Well, LA is a pretty good sprinter as far as GC contenders go. Just like Paolo S is a lot better sprinter than Basso, as evidenced by his clear win over Basso on Giro's Dolomites Stars stage.

Kloden is a loser for having stabbed JU in the back to get second in last year's Tour anyhow.

 

[davidbod]

If Vino had been there last year he probably would have done the same as Kloden. I would look for Vino to be their main attacker. If Jan can't hack it, then I would suspect Vino will be there to step in. I also think this will be Vino's last year at T-Mobile. His cycling brain in my opinion is miles ahead of Jan's. All I've ever seen Jan do is follow wheels until they ride away from him. He takes no chances and ultimately you can only be second doing that. I'd rather see a rider take the chance and crack than always be second.

 

[MJtje]

Funny did kloden really lose?? He was totally dead at the end and armstrong had enough energy left...........I know whole stage behind his teammates. Very easy I know.....

But back to the main topic.........it seems that T-Mobile hasn't got a real teamleader. Mind you there aren't any real teamleaders in cycling nowadays, except for ........LA! Read my story about menchov at the other thread......he asked dekker very polite if he could work for him. Damn you are a leader or not it must be 'dekker come to the front', 'dekker work for me', 'dekker do this do that..........not can you pleaaaaaaaase work for me, find youre time, if it's 10 min later no prob. NO!

WBT - posted the post that you copied.

My opinion ?
I think TM are all at sea (as usual).
Forty Shades of Green Goodefroot can't keep his charges in line.
He's the main problem.

Kloden needs his **** kicked from here to Berlin : he's been a waster since day one, and he has a distinct problem with JU being No1 at TM.
For blowing the TDF stage last year when he LOST to LA in a sprint finish, the man is a complete novice.

Overpaid (€8m, or in your useless currency that translates in to $11m) prima donnas.
As Hinault says - pay them all, only on the basis of results !

 

[limerickman]

Limerickman,
isn't 3rd (did he get 3rd or 2nd last year) on the podium a major achievement. Wouldn't call it the performance of a novice. OK, on paper he should have outsprinted the GC leader who in theory had put in greater efforts, and had given him a major headstart on that particular sprint. But I think Kloden was overachieving last year wasn't he? Credit where credit is due.

My only other comment is why the hell Kloden is complaining about having to go to the nationals. Surely he knew 12 months ago that he was sort of obliged to go back again as defending champ. Surely not a bolt out of the blue for the guy.

Yes, his TDF second place was a great achievement.
But I feel that Kloden is a rather petulent individual and his views about the German nationals confirm this for me.

Everything that you needed to know about Kloden was exemplified by his performance when he lost that sprint stage last year.
As Sean Kelly said when he was commentating "amateur".

 

[Dead Star]

well, I see the propaganda and tabloid-like comments have begun from the Disco camp.

 

[bobke]

WBT always first with the news and doesn’t need a new thread to present.... get with it hombredesubaru vbmenu_register("postmenu_1977452", true); .... your old hat...... grabbing my post and presenting it as new…. Tired very tired…….

I didn't see your post.

Really,,, I didnt. I swear I never did (think Monty Python)
Anyhoo.

I think it is funny that T-Mobile is in disarray.
Maybe Catherine Zeta Jones needs to make a house call and set things aright.
And those flaming pink outfits, ugh.

 

[whiteboytrash]

No problems I was just playing.............

I'm not sure if there are any German posters on this board but I work with a lot of Germans and they are very very very very direct people and just because they say what they think doesn’t actually mean there is trouble.... Germans will often tell each other that they are upset and that is that....... Germans do not have what English/Americans have called 'small talk'... they just don’t do it.... So when Kloden says it straight he means it but Ulle would not take offence and they are still best mates....... or maybe because Kloden's wife is very good friends with Jan's ex there maybe some ill feeling ? Remember they all went to on holidays as couples at the end of last year and bough those ridiculous baseball glove chairs !



Love hurts !



WBT gossip column out.

I didn't see your post.


Really,,, I didnt. I swear I never did (think Monty Python)
Anyhoo.

I think it is funny that T-Mobile is in disarray.
Maybe Catherine Zeta Jones needs to make a house call and set things aright.
And those flaming pink outfits, ugh.

 

[limerickman]

When the German language is translated in to english, it does create the perception of "straight talking".

The german language and even german expressions have no english translation or equivalent.
Having worked with a very large German engineering company many years ago, I can attest to the fact that when German statements are translated in to english, the entire meaning and perception of what is actually being said is lost or confused or indeed lost.
I well remember being asked by my english speaking coleagues to define the
German financial concept of "Tefengliderrung" : which to this day I still cannot define in direct english translated equivalent.

However the actions of Mobile speak volumes and I think that there is not the same cohesiveness required to overcome a team like Discovery, regardless of the english translation of german statements.

The lack of cohesiveness (compared to USPS) has always been Mobiles undoing and will (I'm afraid) be their undoing in 2005.

 

[snyper0311]

I agree with Lim. But, in retrospect to the "BIg Dogs", I think this will be a great year for the smaller teams. Telecom could never catch USPS/Discovery and wasted a lot of effort in trying to do so. This year, I think Discovery is not as focused as in previous years and a lot of energy is going to be spent between Telecom and Discovery trying to keep up with each other. This opens the door for the smaller teams.

For me, right now, the front runners for the 05 "Upset" are Euskaltel or Libirty.

Earlier this year, I was thinking that Lance would walk away with another win in the tour, but now, I really htink that one of the smaller teams have a great chance at robbing a TDF overall win.

 

[limerickman]

I agree with Lim. But, in retrospect to the "BIg Dogs", I think this will be a great year for the smaller teams. Telecom could never catch USPS/Discovery and wasted a lot of effort in trying to do so. This year, I think Discovery is not as focused as in previous years and a lot of energy is going to be spent between Telecom and Discovery trying to keep up with each other. This opens the door for the smaller teams.

For me, right now, the front runners for the 05 "Upset" are Euskaltel or Libirty.

Earlier this year, I was thinking that Lance would walk away with another win in the tour, but now, I really htink that one of the smaller teams have a great chance at robbing a TDF overall win.

I think LA is certainly going to be there or thereabouts on GC.

But, like Synper, I would love to see some new faces come in to contention.
We could well have a situation where a "smaller team" nips through because
Mobile and Discovery are only concentrating on each other.

CSC would be my nomination.

 

[rejobako]

We could well have a situation where a "smaller team" nips through because Mobile and Discovery are only concentrating on each other.
CSC would be my nomination.

I could see that, although I think Basso has become threatening enough that he will be on the radar of the big 4 at Disco/T-Mobile. The big guns typically mark each other pretty closely; seems to me that two years ago, Vinokourov (when Ullrich was still with Bianchi) kind of snuck up on the duo during that fateful stage when Beloki crashed out. Although Vino and Ullrich are now teammates and both threats to the GC, I could see a similar situation where a good rider who wasn't hyped pre-tour might sneak away on a critical stage and make a run for the GC.