VeloNews and T-Mobil analyisis

Interesting analysis By Sebastian Moll over at VeloNews.com on the T-Mobile team and their lack of success by many big names they have signed in recent years (article). He sort of drops in the last paragraph the mention that Zabel and Vinokourov are exceptions. I think the fact that Zabel and in recent years Vinokourov have been so successful takes a lot out of the analysis. It is like saying Mapei was not a successful team as they only managed one Grand Tour win despite hiring riders like Rominger, Tonkov, and Garzelli. The Mapei primary focus was on the Classics and they won plenty of those over the years, but trying to win in the GTs was also a priority as was indicated by both their hiring of former GT winners as well as comments by the team boss. If you judge the success of the top teams primarily on the basis of them winning the Tour de France then most teams will have come up short for the past few decades.

Comments

[VinoVelo]

Given the number of second places that Zabel (one of my favorite riders) has recorded in the past couple of seasons, and Vino's absence for most of last year's season, even their successes are less than might be expected, albeit by their high standards. Obviously, Vino showed that he's back in force at this year's LBL, and rode to a great fifth in today's ITT at the Dauphine.

[Bucky]

While I didn't read the mentioned article, I think it is important to note how certain riders were signed to Telecom (Paolo Salvodelli, Cadel Evans, Santiago Botero) and did very poorly. Vino, Kloden, Ulrich, and Zabel have had sucess but they have been with Telecom for years. It is also funny how Salvodelli and Botero are having a great season on new teams (Discovery and Phonak).
Great site, I look forward to reading future posts.

[VinoVelo]

Just saw the results from today's Ventoux stage - looks like Vino is well and truly back!