Where's Lotto Domo in Giro?
- Thread starter Nicko71
- Start date
I haven't looked at the team roster, but it takes some strong riders to get up there near the end, fight through the traffic, and lead their man to the front to give him the best shot at winning the stage. With the strength of Fassa Bortolo for Petachhi, and Cippolini's team, its getting crowded up there. Now with Cipo out of the race, I'd look for Lotto to get some more results.
They help from farther back - if they're too close to the front, the referee will see the hand slings.
This sort of non-racing by some teams could become the norm if the UCI get the pro-tour off the ground.
Cant wait for that!
Cant wait for that!
Robbie's up against a super-motivated FB in their home Tour.
Lotto-Domo are a long way from their comfort zone of the Scheldeprijs and GP E3. It seems so far that FB and Saeco are more than happy to pull hard when they need to, so perhaps Lotto feel they only need to get Robbie to the front (by any means necessary!!) for the final.
Im not sure if i fully understand team tactics (or maybe u dont?) but my thoughts are that there is generally only a need for one leadout train in each stage. The train is there to keep the pace high enough to stop any last minute breakaways and to give the team sprinter a good sit coming up to the last few hundred metres. This can be done by any team who has the strength/speed to do so. But i know Robbie prefers to come off a wheel at full pace rather than to hit out himself (pettachi prefers to hit out) so it makes no sense to have his team sit up the front, as Robbie can get just as good a sit on Pettachi and get a damn good leadout (even though he doesnt seem to have the legs to get past) every time with this method. The Lotto boys job for each stage is to deliver Robbie to the front and onto his preffered wheel within the final km's of a race without him having to hit the wind to get there, while Fassa do the hard work for their man, and keep the pace high (55km/h ish) so nobody can escape in the last few km's. There are different ways to win a bike race and i think if Pettachi was riding for Lotto then they would be riding in a similar way to Fassa, but because of the way that McEwen likes to sprint then there is no need for the Lotto guys to be riding their arses off at each and every stage finish.......You may notice that they (Lotto) help chase any breaks down so that it does come together for a bunch gallop, but once the real race gets under way they let Fassa pick up the pace for their sprinter Pettachi, as this is not McEwen's ideal type of finish, he prefers a slower "kick sprint", possibly coming out of a slow corner close to the finish (Champs Elysees x 2!)
Champs-Elysees a kick sprint?? 60kmh for the last lap of central Pairs, then 400m to the line from the last corner??
What you say about FB doing a lot of the work for Petacchi is true, as this is how Italian teams especially have operated for their sprinters over the years. We have, however, seen in recent times riders voice their displeasure at not having a team selected for tours based on their own sprinting capabilites (O'Grady, Zabel), so the value of a strong train cannot be discounted. At the Tour de France a couple of years ago Lotto-Adecco were planted on the front Fassa-style in the early stages, so clearly if a team thinks they have the dominant sprinter, they'll try to control the front of the peloton.
Its fascinating stuff!!
I do some amateur racing.I sprint well amongst people of my standard but think the big lead out train has gone wrong more often than when I find the good wheel myself.
Team lead outs seem to need to be very very fast and timed to perfection. When too slow, or too early they can really crucify someone with a good sprint. Maybe LOtto just doesnt have the leadout speed of Petacchis FB, must be damn hard amongst all those riders to find your way through to the right spot at the finish. Full credit to all of them I say.
I do some amateur racing.I sprint well amongst people of my standard but think the big lead out train has gone wrong more often than when I find the good wheel myself.
Team lead outs seem to need to be very very fast and timed to perfection. When too slow, or too early they can really crucify someone with a good sprint. Maybe LOtto just doesnt have the leadout speed of Petacchis FB, must be damn hard amongst all those riders to find your way through to the right spot at the finish. Full credit to all of them I say.
I cant wait to see which team has the power and speed to take the initiative to take control of the train in the last 8-9 km of the tour stages this year.
We have seen in the past that no single team leading out causes crashes but Domina vs Fassa vs Lotto vs Cofidis (O'Grady) vs FDJ.com (Cooke) is going to be fascinating.
We have seen in the past that no single team leading out causes crashes but Domina vs Fassa vs Lotto vs Cofidis (O'Grady) vs FDJ.com (Cooke) is going to be fascinating.
Obviously Fassa has the most confidence in their man to do the job and that is why they seem to be dominating the front of the field in the closing kilometres. It still seems pointless to me to have a team such as lotto trying to compete with a purpose built sprint train such as FB in these final km. Even if lotto and fassa were dead level coming into the final few hundred metres i think Pettachi would still win as he has the outright power to travel the fastest. If on the other hand Robbie had a sit on Pettachi and used a technique commonly known as "laying off" i think he would have more of a chance of beating pettachi than when he has a personalised lotto train. It comes down the the style of sprinter. Pettachi's style suits a big fast leadout Robbie's doesnt. Put them both in a crit with no team mates and 9/10 i think Robbie would win.
Pettachi made it six stage wins today without seeming to break sweat despite misjudging the finish and leading out for a hundred metres more than he would he wanted.
Simply the best at the mo'
Simply the best at the mo'
Petacchi sure is in incredible form at the moment.
There are some interesting insights into team tactics in Magnus Backstedt's diary (Magnus Opus) on www.velonews.com
There are some interesting insights into team tactics in Magnus Backstedt's diary (Magnus Opus) on www.velonews.com
Maybe that will change if the rumoured merger between Lotto and Chocolat Jacques happens next season.
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