levels1069
12-11-2006, 07:54 PM
taken from www.thepaceline.com's interview with Johan as of this afternoon....
Looking back at this week, did any of the guys stand out that either surprised you a little, or that you had been wanting to see?
Well I haven’t really seen John Devine that close before, and he was good but obviously a little bit nervous at the beginning, and so was Gianni Meersman. But hey, you know, you’re a young guy and the biggest cycling team in the world calls you and says come to camp in the US, that’s only logical, you know? But now they see now that we’re both a family and a professional team. But I think the two guys who really stood out here were Ivan and Levi. They are leaders, and you could see they have a presence more than anybody else. They both have that rare combination of being able to be both a gentleman, a top athlete, a team leader, and a big star…
So looking ahead, the next time the team meets will be in January in Solvang, CA, right?
Yes, and that’s when we will break up into two specific groups. We’ll have 28 riders and 4 young riders coming just to be a part of the camp – one is even a junior. We want them to be with the team so we can get a good look at them and see if there’s something there that we like, and so we’ll ride in two groups of 16.
And then after that, racing?
Like I said, our schedule is not set, but right now it looks like the Tour of Majorca will be first. I would like to add another race, but that’s still to be determined. If we can get that - Majorca, Algarve, and California - everybody can race and then the season goes full gas. And I can tell you that Levi will be our team leader in California going for the GC.
- And that's really all for now, hope you enjoyed the reports from here in Austin, and as always, thanks for checking in! - Cb...
'atta boy Levi!!!! I was happy to see him back on Disco to fill in their void for a true GC contender this year, but with Basso's signing that idea was put on the backburner. I even thought that Ivan would be their lead out, but Johan appears to think differently! nice...
Looking back at this week, did any of the guys stand out that either surprised you a little, or that you had been wanting to see?
Well I haven’t really seen John Devine that close before, and he was good but obviously a little bit nervous at the beginning, and so was Gianni Meersman. But hey, you know, you’re a young guy and the biggest cycling team in the world calls you and says come to camp in the US, that’s only logical, you know? But now they see now that we’re both a family and a professional team. But I think the two guys who really stood out here were Ivan and Levi. They are leaders, and you could see they have a presence more than anybody else. They both have that rare combination of being able to be both a gentleman, a top athlete, a team leader, and a big star…
So looking ahead, the next time the team meets will be in January in Solvang, CA, right?
Yes, and that’s when we will break up into two specific groups. We’ll have 28 riders and 4 young riders coming just to be a part of the camp – one is even a junior. We want them to be with the team so we can get a good look at them and see if there’s something there that we like, and so we’ll ride in two groups of 16.
And then after that, racing?
Like I said, our schedule is not set, but right now it looks like the Tour of Majorca will be first. I would like to add another race, but that’s still to be determined. If we can get that - Majorca, Algarve, and California - everybody can race and then the season goes full gas. And I can tell you that Levi will be our team leader in California going for the GC.
- And that's really all for now, hope you enjoyed the reports from here in Austin, and as always, thanks for checking in! - Cb...
'atta boy Levi!!!! I was happy to see him back on Disco to fill in their void for a true GC contender this year, but with Basso's signing that idea was put on the backburner. I even thought that Ivan would be their lead out, but Johan appears to think differently! nice...