discos giro team, what do you think?

vitamin s said:

missing brajkovic, leipheimer, contador, martinez, and hincapie, i assume because these guys will be going to the tour de france. thoughts on their choices? solid lineup?

Popo as leader is a good choice. He was been wasted in the last couple of years at Disco. He should have stayed with an Italian team to have more freedom at the Giro. He loves the race and I think if he had an Italian director he would be encouraged to attack more. He won't win but like to see him have a dip at the GC.

btw/ Popo lives in Italy and expressed the same views in a ProCycling magazine interview last year. Bruynnel may have made Armstrong the rider he is but he has alienated a lot of talent in his team... or should I say wasted ?

Nice to see that Popo will be back in the role of Giro team leader, he has after all scored a podium at the Giro before.

Have to agree with you WBT about wasting talent. Disco was completely hung up on Lance, to the exclusion of all else. And the only person they want to give a chance to in the classics is Hincapie. Hopefully this year will force them to reconsider their system and turn them into a better team for it.

Agree with Eld and WBT : Popo should have been promoted to leader as far back as 2005 in my opinion.
He was a great talent.
He has been neglected by and large at USPS/DC : and he has only been made captain because Basso's in the soup.

I don't know how well he will do at the Giro - but at least he's been given a chance.

limerickman said:

Agree with Eld and WBT : Popo should have been promoted to leader as far back as 2005 in my opinion.
He was a great talent.
He has been neglected by and large at USPS/DC : and he has only been made captain because Basso's in the soup.

I don't know how well he will do at the Giro - but at least he's been given a chance.

and, of course, all Popovych's good placings in the Giro came before he went to Discovery...

The team is undoubtedly stronger than several of the others I've seen - really disappointed Gadret is not riding - but I can see Popovych having OP troubles (not to mention Contador, Paulhino and Davis)

micron said:

The team is undoubtedly stronger than several of the others I've seen - really disappointed Gadret is not riding - but I can see Popovych having OP troubles (not to mention Contador, Paulhino and Davis)

He's not? I had high hopes for him. He was doing well last year before he crashed out, and today he did a great ride on in the TdR's queen stage.

😠

Well, I'm disappointed. No Tommy D.... He would crash the Giro field and Disco's giving a leadership to a Ukrainian guy. 🙄

limerickman said:

Agree with Eld and WBT : Popo should have been promoted to leader as far back as 2005 in my opinion.
He was a great talent.
He has been neglected by and large at USPS/DC : and he has only been made captain because Basso's in the soup.

I don't know how well he will do at the Giro - but at least he's been given a chance.

Sort of. He has only had about two weeks of knowing that he would be the leader. Was his training plan designed so he would peak at the Giro or did Disco use their usual strategy and call for everyone to peak for the Tour. Seems like he might be getting screwed here.

After Heras left Disco should have let Popovych lead the team at the Vuelta, or at the very least some of the shorter stage races. Maybe the Switzerland or Romandie or the Dauphine. It looks like Disco wasted his talent.

vitamin s said:

missing brajkovic, leipheimer, contador, martinez, and hincapie, i assume because these guys will be going to the tour de france. thoughts on their choices? solid lineup?

Brajkovič won't be riding this year's Tour de France.