Bro Deal said:
This is the sad thing about the current situation. Evans may be just as talented the others but his team may not have as good of medical preparation as other teams. As a fan it sucks not knowing what is real.
Evans needs to switch teams in any case.
Evans needs to prove he is worthy of more support. As long as there is no TTT I think he needs to be content with Cioni, Horner, Aerts. Heck, Landis had no one bar Merckx last year to pilot him.
Brandt is not in the team, but if Evans had Cioni, Horner, Aerts, Brandt, Leukemans, Vansummeren, then that is more than adequate to get him to the last 5 kms of every stage perhaps bar the queen stage.
If he gets a podium, then and only then, can he ask for a rider the ilk of Leipheimer, Menchov, Contador, Sastre, Rasmussen, Rujano, to be his mtn domestique. As it is, those guys are his equals and competitors. He needs to prove his ascendency over those contemporaries before he can get their support and justify their wages.
The only real difference between the existing team, and a USPS team is dope. Cioni rode 4th or 55th in the '04 Giro on Fassa Dopolo with only one tt. He could ride top 10 in the tour with "preparation". Horner similar. Aerts and Brandt could ride top 15 if Hincapie can. Vansummeren is the equivalent of Hincapie as an engine.
That is, if the team was getting blood on each rest day, and running IGF-1 and insulin each stage.