monosierra

Deal in progress. Liquigas has too many GC contenders so young RK is looking to lead OPL next season.

diphthong

think it would be a mistake; kreuziger would end up as cadel jr. i fear. there are enough stage races on the calendar for
nibali, pellizotti, basso & kreuziger to divvy them up and focus on 3-4 apiece. pellizotti is a known commodity and would
likely prefer to aim for the giro-i think he's earned the right over basso who performed okay his first season back but is
nowhere near the "extraterrestrial" he was at the 2006 giro. not to have a pellizotti/nibali/kreuziger trfecta at the tdf would
be a mistake. all 3 of these guys are capable of puttin' on the hurt in the mountains and liqiudgas will need all 3 plus
szmyd as a super-domestique to challenge contador/a schleck.

i thought opl was concentrating on having jurgen van der brocke (sp?) lead the gc charge this coming year.
granted, kreuziger would be an upgrade but liquigas is a better built team for his aspirations.

monosierra

He probably has the GTs in mind. With Basso and especially Nibaldi ahead of him, the Italian factor might come in.

diphthong

true that. the days of basso seriously challenging for the length of a 3 week tour are over though. top ten-yes
podium-no. top-notch domestique, occasional stage winner, breakaway rabbit, maybe 5-7 day tour are all within
his abilities now.
it would be a shame if liquigas couldn't keep kreuziger but if true, maybe there's a personality/ ambitions conflict
we don't know about-yet.

OrionKhan

Yeah, a lot of hard chargers on that squad. Like Mono said, the Italian thing might be an issue as to who becomes the number one. Kreuziger may see himself as the odd man out. It would be a shame if he left. Liquigas was one of my favorite teams to watch this upcoming season.

I agree. Basso certainly looks to be on the down slide.

monosierra

Just read that Nibaldi had wanted out to join Sky but Liquigas had refused. No doubt they're grooming him as a new Basso.

USAZorro

Maybe it's the money.

OrionKhan

In the end, its almost always about the money.