2011 Tour of Switzerland

[will10]

Winning the lotto is more likely then soler performing.

Well they did win yesterday....

 

[jens_attacks]

pff again i have to pray for soler to stay on the bike.
from the looks of it,radioshack will own this race.horner will drop andy yet again.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Crans-Montana is usually a terrible MTF, but the profile of that stage reminds me of the awesome 2008 Giro stage to Pescocostanzo so I have some hopes for that one.

Malbun was great fun in 2007, and 14km @ 8,6% is hard enough on its own. Serfaus is a bit of a nothing climb.

This is what a proper Tour de Suisse should look like, none of that pathetic 2009 drivel.

Michael Albasini is in pretty good form at the moment (just won the GP Lugano). Malbun might be too difficult for him against this calibre of opposition, but he has won the Österreichrundfahrt, so he can climb plenty good enough. And it's not like HTC will let him go for GC at the Tour so he may as well give it a go. Peter Velits is also worth a mention, as the former Vuelta podium rider will be approaching some kind of form, but as we know the TDF GC is less important than Cav, so he may get some freedom here (or at least not waste as much energy as usual since there are few genuine sprint stages).

Fränk will probably want to try to repeat without expending more energy than he needs to. Malbun is probably the best place for him to show himself. Fuglsang may be let off the leash as the Schlecks chill out pre-Tour.

The Movistar list is clearly wrong, with at least 4 of those riders currently in the Dauphiné. I expect Rubén Plaza, if fit enough, will start. If he were in shape I'd say he's actually a reasonable shout for the podium, but as he's had very little racing he won't be. Soler therefore becomes the object of hope, which is depressing.

All joking aside, I will expect a decent showing at least from Mollema.

Vandevelde won't do anything. You could stick a fork in him. Hesjedal though could challenge alright.

I expect at least 1 Radioshack rider on the podium. If they don't stick somebody on the podium they've made a great big mess of it.

 

[Havetts]

The Malbun climb was insane in the 2007 edition, great attack by F Schleck.

 

[Duartista]

Soler has only a short prologue to negotiate before the first mountain stage, so I am mildly optimistic, crazy as that may sound.

 

[lucybears]

The Movistar list is clearly wrong, with at least 4 of those riders currently in the Dauphiné.

El Gorrión de Cazoña will be riding

 

[Libertine Seguros]

El Gorrión de Cazoña will be riding

With him and Mollema in the same race the universe may explode from inability to handle the awesomeness.

El Gorrión is on his way back from injury though, so may not be at 100%, which would save us from impending doom.

 

[Christian]

so ogrady is out? because I dont see him as much use for leopard. They already have strongmen like montfort, voigt, canc. And ogrady is ageing

No it looks like the team will be the eight riders from Tour de Suisse plus Posthuma, so they will take O'Grady as well. He is the road captain

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The Malbun climb was insane in the 2007 edition, great attack by F Schleck.

I liked Crans Montana in 2007 as well.

F.Schleck dropping supringly early. Cunego and Simoni throwing attacks at eachother virtually the entire climb. And when they had a little truce, Thomas Dekker jumped away and took the victory

 

[The Hitch]

The sprints should be interesting.

You have Haussler and Hushovd who are having very bad seasons, Cav who might not want to peak too early, Boonen who isnt that much of a sprinter anymore, Goss who might be leading out Cav, Freire and Mcewan who are pas their best and then a bunch of guys who dont tend to win WT races.

 

[Escarabajo]

Winning the lotto is more likely then soler performing.

His performance has never been his problem. Something worse than that.

 

[lucybears]

Your point being?

I had thought Renshaw was Cavs preferred lead out rider. With this being his last (international) race before the Tour, I find it interesting that Renshaw is not going with him to Suisse. The reports that Cav is not entirely happy at HTC have been around a while, but could it be that all is not OK with Mark and it will be Goss who is going to be the man for the Tour ? Anyway, as The Hitch says, the sprints should be interesting....

 

[Parrulo]

I had thought Renshaw was Cavs preferred lead out rider. With this being his last (international) race before the Tour, I find it interesting that Renshaw is not going with him to Suisse. The reports that Cav is not entirely happy at HTC have been around a while, but could it be that all is not OK with Mark and it will be Goss who is going to be the man for the Tour ? Anyway, as The Hitch says, the sprints should be interesting....

by now cav and renshaw prolly work as one with no problem. i doubt they need any more training.

i think the reason why he is going with goss is to prepare goss to lead out cav in the tour in case something happens to renshaw like last year.

 

[taiwan]

They might want to take Goss to the Tour to give the team a (better) second chance to win if Cavendish gets dropped. Or maybe it's just impossible not to take Goss since he won MSR. Cav will ride the Tour or I'll be a monkey's uncle.

 

[taiwan]

[edit] Completely the wrong end of the stick, sry.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Burghardt to win two stages again?

 

[dlwssonic]

No it looks like the team will be the eight riders from Tour de Suisse plus Posthuma, so they will take O'Grady as well. He is the road captain

I would prefer zaugg as they need more mountain goats and they have enough of strongmen. But o grady would be good for the TTT. They are favorites for the TTT no doubt.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

The sprints should be interesting.

You have Haussler and Hushovd who are having very bad seasons, Cav who might not want to peak too early, Boonen who isnt that much of a sprinter anymore, Goss who might be leading out Cav, Freire and Mcewan who are pas their best and then a bunch of guys who dont tend to win WT races.

And Ben Swift.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

I had thought Renshaw was Cavs preferred lead out rider. With this being his last (international) race before the Tour, I find it interesting that Renshaw is not going with him to Suisse. The reports that Cav is not entirely happy at HTC have been around a while, but could it be that all is not OK with Mark and it will be Goss who is going to be the man for the Tour ? Anyway, as The Hitch says, the sprints should be interesting....

Interesting that Renshaw's not there. They almost come as a pair and have a good relationship on and off the road (they room together when touring).

That said, Cav did pretty well without Renshaw's help in Bordeaux and Paris last year and did well with Goss in La Vuelta.

I think it's more likely, though, that Renshaw has a niggle or something and we'll see him and Goss present for a Eisel-Goss-Renshaw-Cav super train in the Tour. Add some of their big engines - Martin, Tejay, Grabsch, Velits x 2, Rasmussen, Bak, Stan, etc. and it's looking like it will be business as usual, whether Cav's 100% happy or not.

 

[lucybears]

My bet is Horner, too.

do you get refunds on non-runners ?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Interesting that Renshaw's not there. They almost come as a pair and have a good relationship on and off the road (they room together when touring).

That said, Cav did pretty well without Renshaw's help in Bordeaux and Paris last year and did well with Goss in La Vuelta.

I think it's more likely, though, that Renshaw has a niggle or something and we'll see him and Goss present for a Eisel-Goss-Renshaw-Cav super train in the Tour. Add some of their big engines - Martin, Tejay, Grabsch, Velits x 2, Rasmussen, Bak, Stan, etc. and it's looking like it will be business as usual, whether Cav's 100% happy or not.

So... Stan, Bak, Ras, Martin, Peter, Grabsch, TJVG, Tony, Eisel, Goss, Renshaw, then Cav.

I think an 11-man leadout train is unprecedented in the Tour.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

So... Stan, Bak, Ras, Martin, Peter, Grabsch, TJVG, Tony, Eisel, Goss, Renshaw, then Cav.

I think an 11-man leadout train is unprecedented in the Tour.

My use of the word 'etc.' was meant to infer that some, but not all, of the aforementioned would be there.

Whatever - I can tell you're excited already

 

[McLovin]

So Rogers no Dauphine and no TdS. He's not doing the Tour??

 

[stefrees]

I would prefer zaugg as they need more mountain goats and they have enough of strongmen. But o grady would be good for the TTT. They are favorites for the TTT no doubt.

Seriously? Sky, rabo, htc and garmin would rank higher favourites IMO

 

[maltiv]

So Rogers no Dauphine and no TdS. He's not doing the Tour??

Probably not, he hasn't been able to recover from his virus.