Strongest tour team
- Thread starter Scotttri
- Start date
[lang=da]Jeg vil mene, at der skal noget til, for at stille et stærkere hold, end det her!
Andy Schleck
Frank Schleck
Fabian Cancellara
Jens Voigt
Jacob Fuglsang
Matti Breschell
Chris Anker
Nikki Sørensen
Gustov Larson(hvis ellers han begynder, at arbejde som hjælperytter, synes ham sparer sig temmeligt meget, for derefter at falde fra. Men så må han jo arbejde på flad vej!)[/lang]
Andy Schleck
Frank Schleck
Fabian Cancellara
Jens Voigt
Jacob Fuglsang
Matti Breschell
Chris Anker
Nikki Sørensen
Gustov Larson(hvis ellers han begynder, at arbejde som hjælperytter, synes ham sparer sig temmeligt meget, for derefter at falde fra. Men så må han jo arbejde på flad vej!)[/lang]
SaxoBank, Columbia, Garmin, RadioShack, and Astana will be the top teams. BMC, with Cadel Evans, will be another to watch. Contador better get some help or he could be put into a lot of trouble but he's such a strong rider he can't be discounted. If Vinokourov insists on riding the Tour the Tour may keep Astana away entirely.
Will Basso lead Liquigas or Pellizotti? Too early for anyone to say at this point.
Sastre has a strong team but he disappointed me this past year. Perhaps he and Menchov gave too much to the Giro.
Will Basso lead Liquigas or Pellizotti? Too early for anyone to say at this point.
Sastre has a strong team but he disappointed me this past year. Perhaps he and Menchov gave too much to the Giro.
saxo seem to have sincere interest in winning gt's other than just the tdf. so i'll give them the nod for having the team best-suited to contest all of the gt's. radioshack might put some effort in at the giro, a bit less for the vuelta, but load up for their annual push to inflate armstron's ego, and so, i'm knocking them down a peg. columbia and garmin seem to tip their hats to the gt's but i think their interest is in the winning of the rosa, jaune, & oro is less than their interest in team & sprint competitions.
dark horse/untested bet: i'm tipping bmc to make a splash that's larger than their overall strength of team.
dark horse/untested bet: i'm tipping bmc to make a splash that's larger than their overall strength of team.
Saxo anounced their 2010 Tour candidates.
Andy Schleck, Fränk Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, Stuart O'Grady, Jens Voigt, Gustav Larsson, Matti Breschel, Jacob Fuglsang, Nicki Sorensen and Chris Anker Sørensen. Just one of them won't make it, if everything goes well during spring.
As always, it's very strong team with clear duties and with lots of experience in riding the Tour together. I won't say they're the strongest Tour team, just to notice their composition is very different from Shack's, so every comparison is questionable.
Andy Schleck, Fränk Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, Stuart O'Grady, Jens Voigt, Gustav Larsson, Matti Breschel, Jacob Fuglsang, Nicki Sorensen and Chris Anker Sørensen. Just one of them won't make it, if everything goes well during spring.
As always, it's very strong team with clear duties and with lots of experience in riding the Tour together. I won't say they're the strongest Tour team, just to notice their composition is very different from Shack's, so every comparison is questionable.
IMO the best *team has to be The Shack - listing their first three riders does it:
Armstrong
Kloden
Liepheimer
And then there's a host of other support riders like Zubeldia, Rubiera, Popo, Horner, Brajkovic, Pauhlino, Vatkius...etc
They don't neccesarily have the best rider, but they will have the best team which is why they have a chance to win. Of course, the likely winner is Contador with Schleck and Armstrong nipping at his heels hoping to expliot a weakness (perhaps his team).
Armstrong
Kloden
Liepheimer
And then there's a host of other support riders like Zubeldia, Rubiera, Popo, Horner, Brajkovic, Pauhlino, Vatkius...etc
They don't neccesarily have the best rider, but they will have the best team which is why they have a chance to win. Of course, the likely winner is Contador with Schleck and Armstrong nipping at his heels hoping to expliot a weakness (perhaps his team).
Yakko said:
just looking to play with the idea here. since there will be no team time trial, the ultimate team advantage is negated. if i'm a.c. all i'm going to do is suck armstrong's wheel and then beat him up and make him look bad in the hills (where the schlecks will pose a problem) and slap him silly in the time trial (where the schlecks won't pose a problem). assuming armstrong's ego is going to give his all to win, he won't likely let his own teammate go up the road (thereby ruling out a win by klodi or leipheimer and no need for contador to chase) and if armstrong lets them go up the road, all a.c. has to do is **** on lance's parade by shoving him down a step on the podium. again, advantage andy schleck to sneak away with this one if he has improved his time trialling or cadel evans if hincapie stays healthy. so put me in the book with this prediction, 2010 will not go to armstrong. end of story.
Talking about teams, what the topic is here, I mentioned different compositions of Saxo and Shack. There can be included Astana too. The Shack will play on high all round quality of their riders and their competitivity in GC placing. As mentioned before, Armstrong probably won't allow independent racing, but the fact that Shack has three GC prospects who can drag their leader in situation of big trouble, as well as race for themselves, is the card they will play on.
Saxo clearly built their team around Andy with only goal to protect him, make him safe until the decisive point of stage, where he should be able to work for himself.. There is Frank in role of super domestique who can follow attacks (from Shack's men or someone else) if they're not sure if Andy should follow. Also, Frank (if opportunity rises) will be there like this year to Grand Bornand.
Astana's composition is very similar to Saxo's, with only difference - they have the strongest man who can build advantage in many ways. If he finds himself in trouble in the mountains he can decide who will he follow depending on virtual GC (like Evans tried in 2008, but wasn't able) or he can play on TT (again like Evans wanted, but couldn't).
And at the end, Columbia is the team which will (looking at this year's Tour) do best team job They targeted stages and perfectly delivered their man and no one was even close to them.
Saxo clearly built their team around Andy with only goal to protect him, make him safe until the decisive point of stage, where he should be able to work for himself.. There is Frank in role of super domestique who can follow attacks (from Shack's men or someone else) if they're not sure if Andy should follow. Also, Frank (if opportunity rises) will be there like this year to Grand Bornand.
Astana's composition is very similar to Saxo's, with only difference - they have the strongest man who can build advantage in many ways. If he finds himself in trouble in the mountains he can decide who will he follow depending on virtual GC (like Evans tried in 2008, but wasn't able) or he can play on TT (again like Evans wanted, but couldn't).
And at the end, Columbia is the team which will (looking at this year's Tour) do best team job They targeted stages and perfectly delivered their man and no one was even close to them.
