2012 Paris - Nice

[Gloin22]

Sky squad is quite awesome

 

[roundabout]

http://www.letour.fr/2012/PNC/RIDERS/us/engages.html

Who was it that said that the big names will do Tirreno?

 

[maltiv]

Sky squad is quite awesome

Hopefully since they're sending Froome, Porte, Wiggins and Uran to PN it means that Henao will be the leader for T-A.

 

[Lupetto]

Hopefully since they're sending Froome, Porte, Wiggins and Uran to PN it means that Henao will be the leader for T-A.

Henao will do 3 days of West-Vlaanderen and then return to Colombia for training till Pais Vasco.

 

[will10]

Hopefully since they're sending Froome, Porte, Wiggins and Uran to PN it means that Henao will be the leader for T-A.

I lol'd .

 

[maltiv]

Henao will do 3 days of West-Vlaanderen and then return to Colombia for training till Pais Vasco.

What? Henao in the 3 days of West-Vlaanderen? Sounds very illogical!

So instead they're sending their 4 best climbers to PN and none to T-A...Weird, considering their focus on Italy. Of course, they'll still get stage wins with EBH or Cavendish.

 

[theyoungest]

What? Henao in the 3 days of West-Vlaanderen? Sounds very illogical!

So instead they're sending their 4 best climbers to PN and none to T-A...Weird, considering their focus on Italy. Of course, they'll still get stage wins with EBH or Cavendish.

Didn't you hear? The 3daagse van West-Vlaanderen is the best prep for the Giro, Fuglsang will ride there as well

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Who was it that said that the big names will do Tirreno?

why? I am not impressed with this PN list

gc riders here:

AGR2: Peraud, Roche
Astana: Brajkovic, Kiserlovski, Seeldraeyers
BMC: Van Garderen
Cofidis: Taaramae, Moncoutie
Euskaltel: Anton, Astarloza, Sicard
FDJ: Jeanneson, Casar
Garmin: Le Mevel, Talansky
GreenEdge: Gerrans, Albasini
Katusha: Menchov, Spilak
Lampre: Cunego, Ulissi
Liquigas: Basso
Lotto: erm.. Bart de Clerq?
Movistar: Valverde, Arroyo, Lopez Garcia, J.Moreno
Omega: Leipheimer, T.Martin, Chavanel(?)
Project: who are we kidding here, no gc riders (good sprinters tho)
Rabobank: LLS, Mollema, Ten Dam
RadioShack: Klöden, Andy and Frank Schleck, Gerdemann, Monfort, Voigt
Saur: Coppel
Sky: Wiggins, Uran, Froome, Porte
Europcar: Voeckler
Saxo Bank: Navarro
Vacansoleil: De Gendt?

Most of these are up and coming names. The bolded ones are the real big names (considering froome, uran, Mollema as big names is too early).. Tirreno has more of them, far more

 

[roundabout]

Anton, Menchov, Cunego, Basso, Valverde, Leipheimer, Martin, Klöden, F. Schleck, Wiggins

vs

Evans, Scarponi, Rodriguez, Nibali and ????

But you seem to like to argue just for the sake of it

 

[Zam_Olyas]

That's provisional startlist no?

 

[Gloin22]

What? Henao in the 3 days of West-Vlaanderen? Sounds very illogical!

So instead they're sending their 4 best climbers to PN and none to T-A...Weird, considering their focus on Italy. Of course, they'll still get stage wins with EBH or Cavendish.

Why not ? He ( probably ) never rode too much on cobbles before and might try it. And as others pointed out if he was good enough and with Ronde much tougher this year you never know, he might be suited for that.

Obviously the most likely thing is he won't be that good, but it's worth to experiment and the try

Henao also would never lead at Tirreno, even if he was in the squad. He'd loose probably a minute to others GC riders on the last time trial. The leader will be definitely Rogers or Lofkvist.

 

[roundabout]

Time trial is only 9km or something. He isn't great as seen in Utah but I doubt he'll lose a minute in 9km.

 

[hatcher]

Last year Lofkvist was the only rider from Sky who did the Giro plus either Paris-Nice or the Tirreno. That didn't exactly go well, so I highly doubt any of their Giro riders will be at the Tirreno.

Terrible sentences, but I'm tired.

 

[Kvinto]

I'm not quite sure but i think i've read somewhere that Henao was scheduled for Giro di Sardegna and after it's been cancelled his racing program changed pretty much so that his participation in West-Vlaanderen is a part of this change...

 

[Mellow Velo]

Anton, Menchov, Cunego, Basso, Valverde, Leipheimer, Martin, Klöden, F. Schleck, Wiggins

vs

Evans, Scarponi, Rodriguez, Nibali and ????

But you seem to like to argue just for the sake of it

Eeerrrr, I'm just guessing here, but maybe DT is thinking Robert Gesink?
Hitch will then add Samu and viola! Poor old Paris-Nice.

I agree. That's looks a pretty fair, who's who startlist.

 

[roundabout]

Unless they have changed their schedules, neither Samu nor Gesink are doing Tirreno.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

http://www.robertgesink.nl/programma/

gesink's calander listed;
Clásica de Almería
Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia
Volta Catalunya
Pais Vasco
ardennes
Tour de Suisse
Tour

 

[Lupetto]

I'm not quite sure but i think i've read somewhere that Henao was scheduled for Giro di Sardegna and after it's been cancelled his racing program changed pretty much so that his participation in West-Vlaanderen is a part of this change...

That's what I read too. Plus he calles Paris-Roubaix his favourite race. Besides that West-Vlaanderen doesn't contain that much cobbles and seems perfect to me for adapting to European racing.

 

[cineteq]

http://www.robertgesink.nl/programma/

gesink's calander listed;
Clásica de Almería
Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia
Volta Catalunya
Pais Vasco
ardennes
Tour de Suisse
Tour

Is he trying to improve his Spanish or something?
Although some Basques and Catalanes would disagree

 

[Euskaltel!]

Even after his injury Gesink should be ready for the Tour with that programme, will be interesting to see how his climbing comes on as well as his longer TT's

 

[barmaher]

I am going to get crucified for this, but I think that this is an exciting route.

The opening time trial is interesting as it is not very prologue-like, with a climb, a gradual descent and some turns.

Stage 2 is a sprinters' stage and not a very interesting one at that.

Stage 3 is a classic "classic" type stage, which will be good for punchy riders and will be exciting if the GC guys are at the front for bonus seconds.

Stage 4 has a number of small climbs, some of them reasonably steep and a decent finish, with 500m at 8%, false flat and then a kick at the end.

Stage 5 has a very nice finish, which could see decent but not large distances between the GC contenders at Mende. The stage has a couple of tough enough climbs in the last 40km to soften up any weaklings.

Stage 6 isn't great, but is only the second for the sprinters.

Stage 7 is one of those funny stages with a climb 50km out, then a long descent and then a 15km chase on the flat into Nice. Not a GC stage, but interesting tactical battle between strong sprinters' teams and the breakaway. 220km is a nice length for such a stage.

I like stage 8, the MTT.

The field looks good, with possibly 10 winners, unlike in Italy where I can only count 3 or 4.

If it is epic mountains you are looking for, switch to the T-A. But I think this will see the more exciting racing.

 

[Lanark]

I wouldn't call it exciting, but it's not terrible either. The most frustrating thing about this route is that it's really close to being great. I really like everything about it except for stage 6 and 7. Exchange those for (for example) the classic Cannes and Nice stages, and it would be a fantastic route.

 

[will10]

I wouldn't call it exciting, but it's not terrible either. The most frustrating thing about this route is that it's really close to being great. I really like everything about it except for stage 6 and 7. Exchange those for (for example) the classic Cannes and Nice stages, and it would be a fantastic route.

This .

 

[Oliver]

Unless they have changed their schedules, neither Samu nor Gesink are doing Tirreno.

Samu will do Catalonie. What should he do if Catalonie will be cancelled? Same for VDB

 

[barmaher]

Rolland is out of this race, leaving Voeckler as Europcar’s GC hope.

Team Europcar for Paris-Nice: Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn), Giovanni Bernaudeau (Fra), Sébastien Chavanel (Fra), Damien Gaudin (Fra), Vincent Jérôme (Fra), Davide Malacarne (Ita), Alexandre Pichot (Fra), Thomas Voeckler (Fra)

It looks like a course that might suit Roche, but Peraud might like the final stage time trial, and he goes there with decent top 10 ambitions, arguably better than his leader. Usual suspects make up the remainder of the AG2R squad.

AG2R-La Mondiale for Paris-Nice: Maxime Bouet (Fra), Mikaël Cherel (Fra), Hubert Dupont (Fra), Blel Kadri (Fra), Sébastien Minard (Fra), Anthony Ravard (Fra), Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra), Nicolas Roche (Irl)

The other French teams have a couple of likely stage winners and Top 5/10 contenders in Casar, Hutarovich, Jeannesson and Federigo (FDJ), Coppel (Saur Sojausan) and Taaramae, Moncoutié and Sammy Dumoulin (Cofidis)

FDJ-Big Mat for Paris-Nice: Sandy Casar (Fra), Pierrick Fédrigo (Fra), Anthony Geslin (Fra), Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr), Arnold Jeannesson (Fra), Rémi Pauriol (Fra), Cédric Pineau (Fra), Jeremy Roy (Fra)

Saur-Sojasun for Paris-Nice: Jérôme Coppel (Fra), Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra), Jérémie Galland (Fra), Jonathan Hivert (Fra), David Le Lay (Fra), William Levarlet (Fra), Julien Simon (Fra), Yannick Talabardon (Fra)

Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne for Paris-Nice: Mickaël Buffaz (Fra), Rémy Di Grégorio (Fra), Samuel Dumoulin (Fra), Jan Ghyselinck (Bel), Luis Angel Mate (Spa), David Moncoutié (Fra), Rein Taaramae (Est), Tristan Valentin (Fra)