Slipstream's in the Tour!!

[dirtmistress]

Tour de France organiser ASO on Thursday named the 20 teams it has selected for this year's race.
The line-up includes the American team Slipstream-Chipotle.
Team director Jonathan Vaughters said the invitation was a relief.
"I found out about 5 minutes ago," Vaughters told VeloNews Thursday morning.
"I feel relieved after all the work we put in. We proved we are one of the better teams in the World right from the start all the way through Tirreno, but we had a mediocre Paris-Nice, of all the friggin' races to have go sideways on us!! So of course that worried me a bit. But anyway, the bigger picture has been A+ work for a new team, so I'm glad ASO agreed with that. Off we go."
Vaughters said it was too early to talk about which team riders would go to the Tour.
"Gotta wait on that one," he said.
The Tour line-up comprises all teams holding a ProTour licence, with the exception of the Kazakh-backed, Swiss-based Astana team, ASO said.
ASO ruled in February that reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador and his Astana team would be barred from competing in this year's race as a result of doping scandals over the past two years.
Slipstream is one of three Continental Professional teams invited. The others are Agritubel (FRA) and Great Britain's Barloworld.
The Tour starts in the Britanny port city of Brest on July 5.
Each team will comprise nine riders for a total peloton of 180.
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The teams:
France: AG2R, Agritubel (Continental Pro), Bouygues Telecom, Cofidis,
Credit Agricole, Francaise des Jeux
Spain: Caisse d'Epargne, Euskaltel, Saunier Duval
Germany: Gerolsteiner, Milram
Belgium: Quick Step, Silence
United States: High Road, Slipstream (Continental Pro)
Italy: Lampre, Liquigas
Denmark: CSC
Great Britain: Barloworld (Continental Pro)
The Netherlands: Rabobank

[allison]

Awesome news!! Zabriskie FTW! (Ok, at least a TT stage.)

[bobcat38]

Congratulations to Slipstream-Chipotle. It's to bad Astana is not in. They are a completely different team than last year. Different riders and under new management. It is one of the strongest teams out there.

[lardbutt]

Originally Posted by bobcat38

Congratulations to Slipstream-Chipotle. It's to bad Astana is not in. They are a completely different team than last year. Different riders and under new management. It is one of the strongest teams out there.

+1 to Vaughters and team. Slipstream is a VERY solid group. And if they excluded all teams who had doping issues, the field would be kinda small, HTF can they exclude JUST Astana? Perhaps they are getting a little tired of Johan and the boys handing them their a$$es every year?

Me thinks me smells a rat...

[Knuckledragger]

Sick!

C.K.

[OffRoadie]

I'm upset about Astana, but really happy about Slipstream. Barloworld is back too!

[jonathan_sykes81]

That's great but to be honest I am still pissed about Astana.

[dirtmistress]

What team is Soler on? He was going for KOM ,was it last year? He was a riot. All over the road and knocking bottles out of spectators hands when they'd offer drinks.
Gangly rider too but fast! Fun to watch!

[OffRoadie]

Soler was part of the Barloworld show last year. They were awesome. Mauricio Soler took KOM, Robert Hunter 2nd in points, and they won some stages.

[allison]

Soler was definitely fun to watch!

[Abui]

Every Slipstream jersey comes with a permanent burrito!

(Image is copyrighted, you must link to see)

LINK

[allison]

Originally Posted by Abui

Every Slipstream jersey comes with a permanent burrito!

LINK

Nice! I have one of these:

[tbowren]

Hmm, I thought Rock Racing would be on that list.

Maybe it's not a final list?

[SheDevil]

Originally Posted by tbowren

Hmm, I thought Rock Racing would be on that list.

Maybe it's not a final list?

Yeh and Cipo is in the Olympics. NOT. (sorry but gangster road racing makes me nautious)

[Reedster]

Rock Racing is not a pro tour team. Actually the owner sounded surprised when he was told that his team didn't have the right license. Then he threated to punish whoever "made" the mistake.

I'm glad for Chipotle, but are they going to let that doper Millar race the tour?

It would be better if Astana were there. It would be good to see Levi and Contador racing against Cadel and everyone else.

~R

[Pain Freak]

Originally Posted by lardbutt

+1 to Vaughters and team. Slipstream is a VERY solid group. And if they excluded all teams who had doping issues, the field would be kinda small, HTF can they exclude JUST Astana? Perhaps they are getting a little tired of Johan and the boys handing them their a$$es every year?

Me thinks me smells a rat...

I know I smell at rat! If they want to know what will kill racing faster then dope, it's the freekin politics of the UCI. This really stinks! Alberto should still be in.

This sux, but I am very happy for Slipstream.

[allison]

Originally Posted by Reedster

I'm glad for Chipotle, but are they going to let that doper Millar race the tour?

Millar served his time and is on a team that promotes 100% drug free. I don't see why it'd be a problem. He hasn't been involved in anything doping related since he did his time (that I know of).

[jschwart73]

The question is, if Astana would have gotten in, would a spot for the Burrito Boys still been available?

[allison]

Originally Posted by jschwart73

The question is, if Astana would have gotten in, would a spot for the Burrito Boys still been available?

Tour always allows two Conti teams in, IIRC.

[Reedster]

Originally Posted by allison

Millar served his time and is on a team that promotes 100% drug free. I don't see why it'd be a problem. He hasn't been involved in anything doping related since he did his time (that I know of).

Yea, I know. It's just that sometimes I get the feeling the he doth protest too much.

I won't make a list of all the known dopers who are in the Tour, but there are plenty. Then if you add the implicated ones from Puerto and elsewhere you have a significant percentage. So I think it's unfair to exclude Astana and let others in.

And, Zabriskie might be top 20 but I'll be surprised if he places higher than that. But, who knows, he is climbing substantially better this year than last and he has always been a good time trialer.

~R