it is great that popo came back he is the best of his­ job with him astana will be perfeck for the next year

Good luck,Popo!

Popo mystifies me, he has the all round ability to win­ any race he puts his mind to, yet always seems to lack­ that natural instinct and condition to take out the­ win. Maybe he needs to be tightly man-managed, with a­ good old arm round the shoulder however, when all your­ riders live across Europe that is not always possible.­ However, in saying all that Johan Bruyneel did seem to­ get the best out of him during his time with Discovery,­ after his move from Landbouwkredit-Colnago in which he­ was the big fish in a smaller pond. The confidence­ since has seemed to drain from him and hopefully will­ be replaced with this move to Astana.

It was probably hard for him to suffer for someone like­ Evans. Obviously he had no admiration for the guy. I­ expect he will be highly motivated and prepared riding­ for Astana for 2009.

well surely all astana need now is a decent classics­ rider nd the season will be sewn up!!! theyre going to­ be dominant in the mountains in the grand tours. The­ only man capable of puttin out their flames is andy­ shleck!! and i am just praying he achieves this at the­ tour!! Go ANDY!!

thats the way i see it too chem452002 looks like­ armstrong means business, i just hope he is fit enough­ come the tour to put in a classic armstrong­ performance, if anybody knows how to put the best team­ together and get the best out of the riders then it­ absolutely has to be armstrong, love him or hate him he­ is the big daddy when it comes to organising a team.­ cant wait for 2009

This means only one thing. Armstrong is serious and­ wants ppl that he thinks can do the job. I like­ Contador but he will understand soon Armstrong is not­ Cadel Evans. Armstrong is superior. He will be 38, I­ know ,but we are talking about Armstrong here. Another­ thing about Armstrong is, he is obsessed wt Cycling. He­ tried fame, women, money, hanging out with famous­ people but found out nothing is exciting like cycling.

Good job for Astana, good job for Popo, i love to watch­ him on downhill, he is the best rider on downhill.­ Contador must say thanks to Popo for win on TDF­ 2007

Astana is super team, like Discovery channel­ 2002-03, maybe strongest team i ever see in cycling

The stage he went for the win was because the leaders­ were not going to catch the break. They sent him at the­ road as he wasn't in good form in tour so that if­ the break was caught he would be there to help Evans.­ Sure he didnt give Evans the help that was expected but­ when he was at Discovery his work on the lower slopes­ sent alot of the other big riders helpers out of the­ group. I'd expect him to do the same job for Astana­ with Contador, Armstrong, Levi, Kloden, Horner, Popo,­ Rubiera, Zubeldia and Brajkovic they have the ability­ to put out such a strong team in the mountains.

last yr was dissapointin 4 popo but in 2007 i think he­ had a gr8 tour so it wil b interestin 2 c how he does.­ certaintly though astana hav a gr8 team 4 next yr, cnt­ fink of ne1 hu can challenge them reli

Agree with Raffy, Popo's 2008 season was­ unremarkable. He never did supply the goods for Evans­ during the TdeF.

well he is going back to help big daddy armstrong.­ great maybe sastre will also come back, one big happy­ family lol

As A domestique he didn't do much for Evans. At the­ only time he was really in a position to help him he­ went for himself, dashing his leader's chances in­ the process. Hopefully he has something better in store­ for Astana..!
Raffy