AG2R... If they are smart, they come out stronger.

[benpounder]

If necessity is the mother of invention, reality is the mother of motivation.

Astana is Disco is USPostal. Saxo is CSC. Columbia is Team Telecom is T-Mobile. All teams coelesed and adapated when they had winner/leaders on their teams.

AG2R has been riding with 'yellow' and have had to ride hard when they normally would sink into the background. Their team is necessarily getting stronger. A good DS would build upon this. (and they had a great tour last year.)

My question is, will AG2R become the powerhouse they should be, or will they succumb to the fatalistic attitude that so many French teams have adopted?

[Clemson Cycling]

They might want to drop the brown pants

[benpounder]

Originally Posted by Clemson Cycling

They might want to drop the brown pants

So team kits "make" the rider?

[Clemson Cycling]

No they make the riders look better, duh. They also may want to pick up a GC threat. There should be a few on the market to choose from after Vino gets his way in August.

[ericthesportsman6]

Efimkin tends to be a threat at the vuelta, if anyone cared.

[benpounder]

edited out... cuz it only made sense to me...

[badboyberty]

I don't know if they've got true GC contenders, or just riders that would make excellent lieutenants to true GC rider in the mountains. Efimkin, Dessel and Valjavec are strong and consistent, but seem to lack that last half a percent required to be real threats. I'd say I'm not alone in that appraisal, if you look at stage 8, Efimkin was given a long leash despite the "1" on his dossard and his half decent GC position at the start of the stage.

I suspect AG2R are actually using their GC talent responsibly this year. The management have learnt from experience that one rider in yellow for a day in the middle of the Tour is remembered much better than having two riders in the top twenty at the end.

[Bluebeard]

That makes sense (now) BBB, the management seems to really have a better handle on how to operate in a Grand Tour, through what was essentially an accident, as I doubt anyone saw Nocentini as a possible GT GC man within the squad until it looked clear that there was a chance in Andorra. Thanks to Efimkin's breakaway, they went on to be the team with yellow numbers until Sorenson's break yesterday wrested it for Saxo - somehow I doubt that AG2R would have come close to doing this if they had not had the maillot jaune in its ranks.

How they manage this with Valjavec, who must surely be the main GC candidate at the team at the mo, or younger riders like Nicolas Roche, in forthcoming Grand Tours will be very interesting to watch. I'd love to see a French team start to really make something of themselves and push into being a top team. I think that they probably need a top quality climbing domestique to make genuine inroads into the elite four or five, but right now, they look better organised to support a GC contender than Silence.

Perhaps Cadel should make his way to sunny France...

[Irish2009]

Ag2r do have GC talent....Nicholas Roche, he would be in the top 10 now, bar the fact he had to work hard for Nocentini on a stage and lost 14 mins. It's his first tour as it is Nocentini's..Ag2r have very good GC results in the past due to shrude moves but they don't have a GC rider that can contend for the podium but can go top 5-20. I'd say Evans could do with a team like this.

[RhodriM]

Am I the only one who quite likes their kit?