The curious case of Steffen Radochla

The only slightly surprising signing announced yesterday by Euskaltel was that of Steffen Radochla. His performances the last few years seem to indicate the 33-year-old German sprinter's legs are tiring and fast, but what's more surprising is he doesn't seem to bring anything to the table as far as UCI points are concerned.

Now that's not entirely correct. The former Illes Balears rider has the grand total of one Rider Value point to his name - or two if you'd like, depending on your source of value calculations. So, Euskaltel release popular, solid home grown riders on the basis of a lack of points, then go hire comparatively old foreigners with none. That doesn't add up.

Spanish Rider Value points guru Fran Reyes speculates that the signing of Radochla might be a part of a package deal to bring 38-year-old fellow German André Schulze to the team. Now Schulze, with his 50 something points, makes sense as a deal, but if that included bringing along Radochla, not quite so much.

According to the same Reyes, Euskaltel's seven non-Basques bring 212 points, which allegedly puts them ahead of both Ag2r and Argos into 14th place - and thus they are secured a WorldTour licence. If these numbers are 100 percent trustworthy though remains to be seen.

Photo: Daily Peloton