2011 Tour of Switzerland

[El Pistolero]

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.

So what you're saying is Hushovd is always having a very bad season? He's not exactly someone who wins a lot (big) races. His form hasn't been worse than previous seasons. Sure, he usually already won a race at this point, but I doubt winning a couple of sprinter stages in Catalunya against 3rd tier sprinters is all that good.

With Haussler I totally agree.

Don't expect much From Boonen, has been doing a lot of altitude training lately. And as we saw in the Tour of Belgium he isn't all that good after just coming from altitude training.

Probably something along the lines of Goss and Cav that will show something. I just looked at the Tour de France parcours, and there aren't really all that much sprinting stages Cavendish can win... I was a bit surprised actually. And most of these sprinting stages are at the beginning of the Tour, so sprinters should be near their peak already at Suisse. Of course Cav always sucks first few stages, so we'll see.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

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

Positively dripping with anticipation.

It's not every day you get to see such a strong controlling lineup that can completely own a flat stage at the Tour from start to finish.

Oh wait. Yes it is.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

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.

Err, there's quite a lot of doubt about that actually.


I'd expect HTC, Sky & Garmin to have very very good TTT outfits. How anyone other than HTC can be favourite in a TTT given the last few years really is a triumph of hope over experience.

 

[auscyclefan94]

BMC seeks stage wins in Switzerland

Just intersting to note:

Alessandro Ballan (ITA), Brent Bookwalter (USA), Marcus Burghardt (GER), Mathias Frank (SUI), George Hincapie (USA), Jeff Louder (USA), Johan Tschopp (SUI), Greg Van Avermaet (BEL).

On some of the other start lists Ballan was down as a reserve, back in for tour de suisse.

 

[dlwssonic]

Err, there's quite a lot of doubt about that actually.


I'd expect HTC, Sky & Garmin to have very very good TTT outfits. How anyone other than HTC can be favourite in a TTT given the last few years really is a triumph of hope over experience.

But they will be up against quality teams. Even your all mightly, unbeatable HTC got beaten by astana, garmin, saxo and liquigas in the 2009 tdf TTT. And they had a great team as the whole squad was dedicated to mark cavendish and his leadouts.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

But they will be up against quality teams. Even your all mightly, unbeatable HTC got beaten by astana, garmin, saxo and liquigas in the 2009 tdf TTT. And they had a great team as the whole squad was dedicated to mark cavendish and his leadouts.

Hell Astana was unbeatable in 2009 TTT, Contador, Leipheimer, Armstron, Kloden... They were all superTT guys

 

[Parrulo]

Hell Astana was unbeatable in 2009 TTT, Contador, Leipheimer, Armstron, Kloden... They were all superTT guys

and iirc didn't garmin only finished their TTT with 5 guys? wigans, DZ, millar, CVV and some guy hanging for dear life?

saxo and liqui are always good at this even when they don't have super itt guys but still liqui had kreuziguer and nibles that i can think of and saxo had canc plus some other decent guys like voight and stuff.

 

[jens_attacks]

so ballan back,damn that was close,throw your phone away in the river tony soprano style next time son.

oh it will be nice to see danilo di luca improving towards the magnificent win of vuelta,here he'll go pretty well i'm sure.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

and iirc didn't garmin only finished their TTT with 5 guys? wigans, DZ, millar, CVV and some guy hanging for dear life?

saxo and liqui are always good at this even when they don't have super itt guys but still liqui had kreuziguer and nibles that i can think of and saxo had canc plus some other decent guys like voight and stuff.

The guy hanging on the tailcoats for dear life was Ryder Hesjedal. Great ride from him, since they dropped the time trial dross like Farrar after only about 5-10km cos of the hellacious pace set by Wiggins, Zabriskie & Millar.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

But they will be up against quality teams. Even your all mightly, unbeatable HTC got beaten by astana, garmin, saxo and liquigas in the 2009 tdf TTT. And they had a great team as the whole squad was dedicated to mark cavendish and his leadouts.

No need for rude nonsense - I'm a Cav fan but hold no candle for HTC.

Good of you to use evidence from 2 years ago, and conveniently ignore noting which team has won the last several TTT in grand tours in your unassailable assessment of which team is obviously favourite. Presumably we can all look forward to them winning by at least 30 seconds?

 

[ferryman]

But they will be up against quality teams. Even your all mightly, unbeatable HTC got beaten by astana, garmin, saxo and liquigas in the 2009 tdf TTT. And they had a great team as the whole squad was dedicated to mark cavendish and his leadouts.

And I thought this was a Tour de Suisse thread Take it outside guys, hell open a thread on it, I'm sure it will be a stayer given both your opening salvos

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Cavendish is not a happy man with these TDS stages. Read his twitter

 

[Moondance]

I'm quite delighted that stage 2 will go over the Nufenen... Was my first ever big mountain pass, and they say a young boy never forgets his first.

 

[theyoungest]

Interesting late addition to the Rabobank team for this race: Tom Jelte Slagter, back after his Giro crash.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Cavendish is not a happy man with these TDS stages. Read his twitter

haha, is little Mark upset because he's got to play with somebody else's toys for once?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Mark Cavendish
Just saw race handbook for #TourDeSuisse. No chance of another..ahem..mishap between Haussler & myself. BECAUSE THERE'S NO ****ING SPRINTS.

 

[Parrulo]

Mark Cavendish
Just saw race handbook for #TourDeSuisse. No chance of another..ahem..mishap between Haussler & myself. BECAUSE THERE'S NO ****ING SPRINTS.

i lol'd when i saw that

btw did you read the no water history on his twitter? he is a pretty funny guy tbh

 

[Moondance]

Mark Cavendish
Just saw race handbook for #TourDeSuisse. No chance of another..ahem..mishap between Haussler & myself. BECAUSE THERE'S NO ****ING SPRINTS.

What kind of cyclist plans a race in his calender without checking whether it suits him?

 

[roundabout]

Mark Cavendish
Just saw race handbook for #TourDeSuisse. No chance of another..ahem..mishap between Haussler & myself. BECAUSE THERE'S NO ****ING SPRINTS.

No sprints except for 3 stages 2 of which are easily winnable.

Less than usual, but no point in whinging as Dauphine has 1.

 

[Moondance]

Interesting late addition to the Rabobank team for this race: Tom Jelte Slagter, back after his Giro crash.

Interesting... I thought they might want to keep him on ice until late July and let him prepare for a crack at the Vuelta. This indicates they might be trying to prime him for for the Tour of Austria (if the Rabobus is even going to stop in Austria that is)

 

[Libertine Seguros]

No sprints except for 3 stages 2 of which are easily winnable.

Less than usual, but no point in whinging as Dauphine has 1.

Since when has that stopped Cavendish whinging before?

 

[maltiv]

Mark Cavendish
Just saw race handbook for #TourDeSuisse. No chance of another..ahem..mishap between Haussler & myself. BECAUSE THERE'S NO ****ING SPRINTS.

Huh? I count 2-3 sprints. Stage 5 and 8 for sure, maybe stage 4 too but that one is probably too tough for Cav.

 

[roundabout]

What kind of cyclist plans a race in his calender without checking whether it suits him?

Cavendish doesn't ride ****-small races that suit him.

 

[theyoungest]

Interesting... I thought they might want to keep him on ice until late July and let him prepare for a crack at the Vuelta. This indicates they might be trying to prime him for for the Tour of Austria (if the Rabobus is even going to stop in Austria that is)

No it's not (surprisingly).

 

[Moondance]

No it's not (surprisingly).

Awww.... Then I guess Slagter will just be riding to make up the numbers, since I don't think TGBM or Kruijsie are ever going to be in a position where they need a climbing domestique or anything.

Also, why no Austria? 'Tis a great race which always keeps the cycling fan entertained during the first Tour-week dullness.