Consulting for clueless managers

[Robyklebt]

Good thread in the German forum long time ago... don't think we have it here, if we do, bah, to late, we have a new one.

The Ape has a problem:

Fabulous Conti:

WHAT to do?
He's Italian, he won MSR, he really would need to try to win a Giro stage. But not in my team now.

1 Fahrny 85 climber no reg, 54 TT
2 Urganov 84 climber some reg, 53 TT both with pavé, which gives them an outside chance. Unfortunately.
3 Haryono: 60-85 with downhill.
4 Mori 48-84, there for his reg.
5 Qian 76-81, going down, there because he needs to.
6 Sagyrbayuly 89 flat, no down, no reg.
7 Todea 57-74 no down, no form, 64 TT, good for the TTT
8 Uchigasaki 72-76 with 64 sprint, no down, there for money and stuff
9 Wei, 52-78 with downhill, not much reg, 60 TT, there for the downhill, and TTT

So: Put in Conti? For whom?
Mori the logic choice, but then I don't have the team to ride for him... with Conti Mori is needed. And he has reg, which the rest of the team doesn't really have.
Bakhtiyar? Well, with conti he is 100% needed.
Todea? But weaken my TTT team, Todea 64-Wei 60, Fahrny 54, Urganov 53 the rest around 50.. put in Conti, ok, 53 too. but... ... does it make sense to kick Todea who might not be that useful anyway?
Uchigasaki? 72-76 not really useful for Fahrny and co either, but will be my main money man...And after I sell Berlo and Qian, which will be sooner than later he's my main 70-80... well 70-76... a boring money man, yes. So kick him here, sell him immediately an option, he's not part of the 2012 plan for the Giro directly either... just indirectly by earning money.

The rest is not under discussion.. well Fahrny maybe, my leader... hihi.
Other problem, out Todea, in Conti, salary from 505 to 537... which doesn't really make me very happy.

Tipps?

Option nr 2:

Sell him. Ok too late for him to find a team to ride the Giro. But he has 22 wins, now just hang around the rest of May is a shame.
Any reliable sprinter team would buy him? He's 30 years old already... 32 for the Tour, 33-34 for the Vuelta. 2,746 Mio his cost. A lot of course, for "only" 3 guaranteed high level seasons. His goals? Win 55 races, ok, let's ignore his fantasies, realistic stuff:

1) Get Taruffi in the Italian sprint list, 28 I think.
2) Ride the Tour, win stages, try to attack BSE Marzahn if the Tour is ridden against him.
3) With another team ride the Vuelta, try to get a stage win there.

Any good reliable, strong sprinter teams interested?
And would it make sense to sell him?
Off course I'll be fucked for the Tour, have a team to support him by then, but no sprinter... .
But could use the money I would get by selling him.

Option nr 3:

Don't let him ride the Giro, don't sell him, let him ride some stuff in June, then Tour in July, then my August-September program (no Vuelta, still boycott that), maybe keep him til Paris Tours, no for sure, he'll be 35 and probably weakened, but still ok.

Any tipps on what I should do? Serious ones....

[auxilium torino]

Todea out
Conti in

Giro(Italia)
Conti(Italia)

es wäre als du Petacchi zu hause lässt

[Ciclistas]

Option nr 3:

Don't let him ride the Giro, don't sell him, let him ride some stuff in June, then Tour in July, then my August-September program (no Vuelta, still boycott that), maybe keep him til Paris Tours, no for sure, he'll be 35 and probably weakened, but still ok.

i would keep him and try to win as much as possible after the giro.

[Rockstar Inc]

Conti in doesn't make sense at all...for the moment as far as i see you got one team to support you at the sprintstages...only fL and you will not be able to get sprints alone...even if for example allagen brings leider, you know these jerk, he will escape the stages because he's sooo chanceless blabalbla...plus there are too many possible puncheurs at your group

selling him is more difficult, he can get some more victorys late may or june/july...at the tour it's easier to ride with him, than in the giro...

what is your plan after conti? buy another sprinter to train him as "flatsprinter" like conti...i know 54/62...

[Zentaron]

No Giro = no quality, somebody said in 2007 when I thought about riding Giro or not only for the sprints.
Or sell him and I buy him (if I see him before he's bought by another team). He will be a nice start-(and maybe back-)up for Fokke

[Blaue Quellen]

An earlier answer than anticipated:

Taking Conti to the Giro? Tempting option, but I don't see the mass of sprinters who'll help you to control the peloton, lest forcing the mass sprint. But I may be wrong, as some teams might ride for a 2nd or 3rd place behind Conti. But from me, a clear no-go.

Selling Conti? He's quite old, and I won't buy him. Don't see too many other specialists who might be interested in the italian hero. I see a great danger of him becoming an "option-rider" instead of number 1.

My wish: let him eat some good pasta during the next 3 weeks, take him with you in your manager's car and let him enjoy the Giro by your side. Then take him to France and fight Fokke.

[Bear]

don't sell him!!

and when you really want to win a Giro-stage with him, then you have already one part of the decision. the other part would be to kick one of the TTT guys.

[team fl]

Seriously? Don't sell him. Ride the Tour with him. Do as BQ said.

Bring him to the Giro? I don't know. Sprinter stages were on of the funniest parts the last Giros. But Conti is maybe to strong. You have two climbers, so focus on that and try some escapes. Might get you another perspective after the last years of working for a sprint. Either one climber and Conti, or two climbers and no Conti, I would say.

[auxilium torino]

Todea out
Conti in

Giro(Italia)
Conti(Italia)

es wäre als du Petacchi zu hause lässt

this was a post not from a clueless manager, but from a fan from Conti

[Rockstar Inc]

was nützt ihm ein scheissteurer Sprinter ohne ne Etappenchance?

[Robyklebt]

Thanks for the answers... all of you are right, that's the problem.

Aux is right. Having an italian star, Conti, leaving him at home is just a shame. He just should have a guaranteed spot. No questions askes, he's Fabulous Conti, not some random sprinter who happens to have 95 sprint.

But FL and Franco are right too: It's not a sprinters Giro, a 95 spritner will just be too superiour, not much help to be expected, likely 0 wins. And dancing on 2 weddings (hihihi, can you say that in english, let's say sexing up 2 women) will just be too much. In this Giro with a 95 sprinter. Aux of course is right again, it shouldn't matter. It's Fabulous Conti we're talking about.

Franco and the money, right on the money again, doesn't happen often with him, so let's applaud him for that. clap clap clap. Again, shouldn't matter, it's Fabulous. But 537 instead of 505, without really much hope to get those 672'000 back... plus losing some more seconds in the TTT.. Buhmann had me pay 1,498 Millions a year ago to get a cool name, Petit Singe, pigcool, ey, much better than Robyklebt, what kind of retard gets a name like that? Took me ages to recover from that, now another blow to my finances, Ferdinand Gygax, the highly qualified accountant might start an assassination attempt on me if I do that. And I'm scared of pain, even if it's only virtual one. So, I have to take him, Aux is right, but somehow can't, FL and Franco are right.

So sell him: It would have one huge, ape-penis like advantage. My Giro 2012 winner would join the team in the next few days. Sell Ducu, Uzielli, Berlo, THEN Fabulous and then the Girowinner 2012 is mine. Ok, might have to sell somebody that wasn't planned after the Giro too.... fucking game this, which asshole invented the taxsystem??? But for my 2012 Giroplan, which is the nr 1 concern of the team already now, it would be a good option.

But Bear is right too... keep him, then win some stuff after the Giro.. Although I wouldn't mind seeing him in a strong team as nr 1. Problem, no strong team wants him as nr 1 right now. Marzahn wants to misuse him for the machine, Conia has Cordero, BQ the same, others no comment. And I wouldn't need a typical sprinters team, somebody like FL who rides for sprint would be enough. But yeah, like BQ says, the danger that he becomes a option rider, or worse, a TM corpse is too big somehow.

So... right now I'm back at my first idea. Keep him, give him pasta etc. use him after. It just makes more sense.. was really close to pulling the trigger when I wrote the post...serial sellings of the others, then Conti, let him ride this 3 weeks with another good team if one is interested.. .but no.. keep him.. don't let ride him. Which is a fucking shame.

Other option? Put him in for Uchi. Sell Uchigasaki. Have the money for my Girostar 2012. Then think about adding Berlo for Mori (increasing my chances to get sprints, yeah) to have the battery in the mountain stages. Yes, 13k per day more, 13 k he won't get in that Fabulous sprinter, but who cares about money (I do a bit...) when there is honour to be had (not even winning, trying would already bring some) Anybody thinks that's a good idea?

[NoPikouze]

Why conti vs todea and not conti vs wei ?

But the point about the other sprinter teams if a very good one indeed. If you have to ride alone or almost, it would be nonsense to bring him. Especially because the most sprinter stages are not completely flat, and your team is not very strong neither and you have to keep an eye on the energy.
Last year you had a group with a lot of sprinters, there it was easy. If it's not the case... give him 3 weeks of vacation and keep him for after the giro.

[Robyklebt]

Because Wei at this point is better. He can go down, a big weakness in the team otherwise. So Wei is fix. But ok, Conti stays where he is. Came to my senses by now and will keep him 3 weeks, he doesn't even have to go to Romania for the training camp. He can follow the Giro in the team car as BQ suggested.

[iBanesto]

You should ask the ugly and brutal question: What's the point of bringing both Fahrny and Urganov? Fahrny can probably compete for the white jersey, but needs to ride defensively because of reg problems. Urganov could go for crazy attacks to get a stage, but riding for GC is pointless for him. If you bring both, can both achieve their goals? Who's priority number 1? Can you support both? Is it mad to leave a climber at home for this kind of a Giro?

[Robyklebt]

Fahrny and Urganov are fix. I'm the winner of last years Giro, I have to do everything to repeat that win. Leave one of the 2 at home, not an option. Fahrny white? He wants rosa. Urganov crazy attacks? If that's what it takes to get rosa, so be it. TdF? Ok, there I can do without them, not at the Giro.

[auxilium torino]

For me was an error start without Conti...stage 10 and 12 are very good for an MS

[Pirkio]

Yesterday Davide Cassani (speaker of the Giro in italian tv) Say:

For me in this GIRO there are 7 stages good for the mass sprint

[auxilium torino]

real races is other as RSF races...we need change a little bit more, i think die effekt from 3 to 7 %

[Luna]

RSf has this special type of sprinters, called "hill-sprinters" for races that have a little obstacle in the finale, while in RL only Cavendish gets dropped (if any) while the rest of the bunch may fall apart, but nonetheless finishes the race with all the sprinters in the main field. Depending on the composition of the participating teams, their strength and their interests.

[Lizard]

So, I have a problem. After the Giro my bank account will be in the red numbers, so that means a rider needs to go. I see I'm not a manager for two climbers at the same time, that's why either Eickendreyer (85-54-78-53-57, 58 Reg) or Stockdale (84-58-66-61-54, 58 Reg) has to go. Both 25 years old, not the super talented riders... so, which one has to go? Or maybe both?

My criteria are like this:

Pro Eickendreyer
- allrounder, good downhill, good sprint, fits to a classic race team like me, for sure the more efficient choice in this aspect
- cheaper than Stockdale

Pro Stockdale
- keeps winning, always afraid to get rid of winners, one tour and Giro stage already to his palmares
- Can do good places in the coming tours like Dauphine/Tour de Suisse, Tour de France etc etc

So what can you guys recommend?

[NoPikouze]

What kind of races are you going to ride in the next months ?

By the way they are 25, it's not only about june, i think

[Lizard]

All in all I ride the important races... probably TdS, TdF (if time for such a long tour), Vuelta, Eneco, the big classics, etc.. something like this

[flockmastoR]

and there is no other option?

hm also have a problem, thought i have -1mio by now but in fact i have +500k so i dont need to sell anyone and will be able to buy a youth rider next season, but dont know what i should buy? Team is getting old soon hm

[Lizard]

and there is no other option?

hm also have a problem, thought i have -1mio by now but in fact i have +500k so i dont need to sell anyone and will be able to buy a youth rider next season, but dont know what i should buy? Team is getting old soon hm

Well, there is another option: selling Mitchell Pique, who brings enough to even the minus. But then I am afraid to ride again with two useless climbers and have even more financial lacks

And in your case:

Yes, team gets old.. but then you have the time to look for new faces... since Schrödinger will be there another 5-7 months at least you can go for a new classic rider.. okay, there is Fatou, but as a single he will have it hard.. so Bürgi still there some time, Schrödi aswell.. buy a second young classic rider, never a wrong decision. New sprinter or climber can come later I guess, climber anyways because he'd be good during winter when theres nothing important except Anden + dec tour, but all fantasy.. so climber around Vuelta time, sprinters you can buy anytime... well, maybe sprinter OR classic rider.. but then theres need for new flat riders aswell

[iBanesto]

Pro Eickendreyer (85-54-78-53-57, 58 Reg)
- allrounder, good downhill, good sprint, fits to a classic race team like me, for sure the more efficient choice in this aspect
- cheaper than Stockdale

Pro Stockdale (84-58-66-61-54, 58 Reg)
- keeps winning, always afraid to get rid of winners, one tour and Giro stage already to his palmares
- Can do good places in the coming tours like Dauphine/Tour de Suisse, Tour de France etc etc

So what can you guys recommend?

A climber for classics with 58 Reg is not an efficient choice. If you have any intention to win one of the big tours this season, go for Stockdale. Then again, Stockdale without Eickendreyer might be difficult in the big mountain stages. Can you field a cheap team without Mitchell?