"Al James" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "hold my beer and watch this..." <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
> > "OnThaBeach" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> >>
> >> The race went as predicted - The sprinters won.
> >>
> >
> > Dumbass,
> >
> > Bettini won in a break.
>
> Dumbass,
>
> You might want to read OnThaBeach's post again. He's saying, as expected,
a
> sprinter-type cyclist won the gold. The fact that Bettini won in a weird
> two-man break instead of a field sprint or leadout is irrelevant. And he's
> saying, since we knew a sprint-capable cyclist was going to win the gold,
> why the heck didn't Team USA have someone like Fred Rodriguez on the team?
> I gotta agree with the O.P. here. The coaches that made the discretionary
> team picks oughta be taken out to the woodshed.
>
> Al
What irritated me was the interview with Tyler after the race where he says
" Well I am about 90-95 %" **** man give up your spot them to someone like
Fred Rod who will at least TRY to win the damn race. The USA Euro pros (the
same old bunch) use the olympics as a paid vacation
"Sonarrat" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:BD44FCD8.813C%[email protected]...
> in article [email protected], Al James at
> [email protected] wrote on 8/15/04 10:12 AM:
>
> > "hold my beer and watch this..." <[email protected]> wrote in
> > news:[email protected]:
> >
> >>
> >> How stupid do you have to be to call a guy who can win hilly classics,
> >> win in breakaways, and win just about any race that doesn't have
> >> finish at the top of a cat II or higher climb a 'sprinter'...?
> >>
> >> So F Rod was left off of the team in place of levi? So what? If you
> >> think that he was going to beat betinni yesterday, you're even more of
> >> a douchebag than you let on.
> >
> > OK, OK... I'll wear the 'dumbass' crown for today. I concede Bettini is
> > not a pure sprinter by any means, but sprinters do win one-day classics,
> > right? I was willing to give the O.P. some slack in his definition of
> > "sprinter," I think he/her was using the term loosely to make a larger
> > point.
> >
> > No, I'm not saying Fast Freddie woulda beat Bettini. I'm just defending
> > the O.P. who was saying the USA selection committee's picks were not
> > optimal for the road coarse in play.
> >
> >
> > Howard Kveck <[email protected]> wrote in
> > news:[email protected]:
> >
> >> There were no discretionary picks.
> >
> > Sure there were. I could be mistaken but looking at the automatic
> > criteria were not Julich, Hincapie and Levi discretionary picks?
> >
> > Automatic Selection Criteria
> >
> > 1. Winner of Trials (McCartney)
> > 2. Top three finisher in 2003 Worlds in Hamilton (no one qualified here)
> > 3. Top five finisher in a UCI GT (Lance)
> > 4. Top five finisher in a World Cup, 1.HC or 2.HC
>
> This is the key one. Levi, Tyler, George and Bobby all qualified here.
> Here's how:
>
> George Hincapie: 4th in Gent-Wevelgem (1.HC), 5th in Paris-Nice (2.HC)
> Tyler Hamilton: 1st in Tour de Romandie (2.HC), 2nd in Dauphiné Libéré
> (2.HC)
> Bobby Julich: 2nd in Paris-Nice (2.HC), 4th in Vuelta al Pais Vasco (2.HC)
> Levi Leipheimer: 5th in Vuelta al Pais Vasco (2.HC)
>
> Freddy has no comparable results, so he was really in a powerless position
> when it came to the Olympics. If he had convinced his team to target
> Gent-Wevelgem, a race in which he finished 2nd in 2002, then he could
> certainly have made the selection.
>
> > 5. Top 25 in World Cup standings (no one?)
>
> Hincapie.
>
> > 6. Top 50 in UCI road rankings (Tyler?)
>
> Doesn't matter because by this point all five have been selected.
>
> > "4. Discretionary Nomination Criteria
> >
> > If positions remain open after the automatic nominations are exhausted,
> > additional athletes may be nominated to the team based on USA Cycling
> > Principles of Discretion (Section II)."
> >
> > Al
Yeah and that Damn USPRO championship that Fred Rod won doesn't mean ****.
Hincapie is a glorified domestique, Levi is a stage racer, same with Tyler,
Julich...I won't even go there, McCartney, he did win the selection race but
really did he stand a chance with the Euro guys? Send some motivated guys.
Not guys looking for a paid Vacation ( with the possible exception of Jason)
Dave
Boyd Speerschneider wrote:
> Faster Bordello <[email protected]> wrote in news:cfm7rn$642$2
> @news.xmission.com:
>
>
>>just loved the USA straegy. No, we'll freelance, we don't have a team
>>leader.........
>
>
> How would you have done it?
>
> "I'll ride for you because you'll pay me back later when ....errr, oh wait,
> no you won't."
>
> "You should ride for me because I'll pay you back later when...errr, oh wait,
> no I won't."
>
Probably couldn't have done it with this team. But with realistic
selection critiera one ecould pick the top one day riders and dictate a
strategy....
Carl Sundquist wrote:
> "Faster Bordello" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
>>No, we'll freelance, we don't have a team leader...
>
> ^^^^^^
>
> Was that supposed to be a pun?
>
>
wow great eyes I had *no* idea i'd done that.. sorry.
Al James <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> "hold my beer and watch this..." <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
> >
> > How stupid do you have to be to call a guy who can win hilly classics,
> > win in breakaways, and win just about any race that doesn't have
> > finish at the top of a cat II or higher climb a 'sprinter'...?
> >
> > So F Rod was left off of the team in place of levi? So what? If you
> > think that he was going to beat betinni yesterday, you're even more of
> > a douchebag than you let on.
>
> OK, OK... I'll wear the 'dumbass' crown for today. I concede Bettini is
> not a pure sprinter by any means, but sprinters do win one-day classics,
> right?
Very few pure sprinters do so. Zabel and that's about it. Bettini is
what i call a finisher. Going to the finish with him means being
second. At this time Bettini is more than ever the successor of Johan
Museeuw. His regularity and determination in small group sprints
shows that. And ofcourse more classics will follow.
