Domestiques: A Dying Race?

[13.01 16:04] Although a rider has to ride his own bike there is absolutely no doubt among fans that cycling is very much a team sport as well. One of the familiar characters on the cycling scene is the so-called domestiques.

But domestiques aren't what they used to be.

"They still exist, but it's not like the old days, where there were loads of them and where they had only one task throughout the season: Helping the team's big stars," explains Team CSC sports director Kim Andersen using his own team as an example:

"We still have some riders, who are mostly helpers, but really we prefer they give it a shot and go for it themselves once in a while. You could say that on Team CSC we have two riders belonging to that �old school� category: Volodymir Gustov and Inigo Cuesta."

Cuesta turns 39 this coming season and has some great results from stage races in the past. His latest stage win was in the 2005 edition of Volta a Catalunya. He's been very dedicated to his role as domestique though – especially for Carlos Sastre, but also other riders on the team. He was seventh in Deutschland Tour in 2006, where he assisted Jens Voigt in the mountains.

30-year-old Gustov only has one pro victory under his belt from Regio Tour 2003, but he's been a great asset to his team mates countless times. For example for Sastre in last year's Vuelta and for Dave Zabriskie in Dauphiné Libéré.

"It's hard to get Inigo to go any further. His found his niche and he's sticking to it, but I sometimes wish that he'd take some chances for himself once in a while. Of course there are certain races, where we insist they function as domestiques, but there are also other ones where we'd like for them to try their own chances, but it's so ingrained in them that's it's really hard to change," says Kim Andersen.

"In Dauphiné Libéré and at the beginning of Vuelta a España Gustov was given free reigns to make a go of it for himself. But I think maybe he doesn't have enough confidence and maybe finds it hard to make the exact right break. But there's absolutely no doubt whatsoever about Volodymir's importance to the team in his role as a domestique. Both he and Inigo are highly regarded among their team mates and well liked – and that's important to remember. It's their strength in the mountains, which makes them so important, because their kind don't grow on trees these days," determines the Danish sports director, who would have liked to see Gustov a bit more eager to attack, when he was on top form during Dauphiné Libéré in 2007.

"It would've been exciting to see Volodymir go for a top spot in Dauphiné Libéré, where he was 12th in 2007, even tough he spent a lot of resources helping out Dave Zabriskie in stead. I could see him as a contender for a podium spot if he was to go for it," finishes Kim Andersen.

Crommy wrote:
@ doping - Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
It appears to be disappearing in the cycling world, where accusations are almost treated as if they are facts. I find it sad that cyclists are labelled dopers for no good reason.

When we took the decision of wiping the slate for 2007 and building a new squad commited to racing clean we held a few dozen interviews with prospective riders to be hired.
About three out of four "suddenly remembered" they had a better offer from someone else very the moment we explained how we were commited to the fight against doping. Only one openly told me he refused to race clean. Most of those riders are household names for fans and quite a few have "clean" reputations

- Bob Stapleton, circa early 2007

When we took the decision of wiping the slate for 2007 and building a new squad commited to racing clean we held a few dozen interviews with prospective riders to be hired.
About three out of four "suddenly remembered" they had a better offer from someone else very the moment we explained how we were commited to the fight against doping. Only one openly told me he refused to race clean. Most of those riders are household names for fans and quite a few have "clean" reputations

- Bob Stapleton, circa early 2007

CrueTrue wrote:
A 19-year-old British rider who has mainly archieved things on the track. You can read a little about him here: https://www.cyclingwebsite.net/coureur...urid=19859

mattiasgt wrote:


So we can assume that 3/4 of the 2006 T-Mobile team are and was riding on candy. This is probably how it is in most of the other old teams. Pretty hard to be a youngster trying to win clean today.

mattiasgt wrote:


So we can assume that 3/4 of the 2006 T-Mobile team are and was riding on candy. This is probably how it is in most of the other old teams. Pretty hard to be a youngster trying to win clean today.

Waghlon wrote:
Aaaannnnd the Tour of Utah?

issoisso wrote:


you misunderstand. he was talking about 3 out of every 4 riders from other teams that were interviewed for the possibility of signing with T-Mobile for the 2007 season.

I remember the news back then...they went after half the world...even Bettini and Valverde rejected huge offers from them. Bettini said he was more comfortable at Quickstep and Valverde said he'd stay at Caisse if they matched T-Mobile's offer...which they did, making Valverde the currently best-payed rider in the peloton at 2.7 million per year.

"This year I worked a lot in the wind tunnel to take a new position," he remarked on his time trial position. "After all the work before the Tour de Suisse, the UCI changed the rules, and all this work was wasted. I had no choice but to retake the position I had last year, because it was the last one I studied and practiced. I told the mechanics to put the bike in the same position as last year, and that we would see."

- Carlos Sastre