2012 Speculation (and confirmation) thread - rider schedules and parcours

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

I'd prefer them to do Dauphiné also, but as youngest mentioned I guess it comes down to what works for who.

Gallopin said that Bruyneel wants Andy Schleck to do the Dauphine. It could happen.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Thomas Dekker @DekkerThomas

Laatste 150 km van de Ronde van Vlaanderen gereden. Stuk lastiger door de parcours verandering. Halve klimkoers. Wel spektakel.


--


Translated: Dekker / garmin did a recon of the last 150km of flanders (Dekker did that just for fun, he isn't riding it). The course is much much heavier than it was before, it's almost an ardennes classic according to Dekker.



So this definately enlarges the chance for Gilbert

 

[theyoungest]

Yeah, obvious Gilbert win is obvious.

Poor guys who have been putting on the kilograms to better survive the cobbles

 

[Christian]

Schedule for LEOPARD TREK CT:

4 février : Grand Prix de la Côte Etrusque (Ita/1.1)
18 février : Trophée Laigueglia (Ita/1.1)
26 février : Boucles du Sud Ardèche (Fra/1.1)
3 mars : De Vlaamse Pilj (Bel/1.2)
4 mars : Grand Prix de Lillers (Fra/1.2)
9-10 : Tour de Drenthe (PBS/cat 2.1)
14 mars : Nokerre-Koerse (Bel/1.1)
16 mars : Handzame Classic (Bel/1.1)
19-25 mars : Tour de Normandie (Fra/2.2)
25 avril -1er mai : Tour de Bretagne
2-6 mai : Tour de la Région du Frioul (Ita/2.2)
16-20 mai : Flèche du Sud (Lux/2.2)

In addition to this the riders can participate at the following races with their national teams:

Tour des Flandres, La Côte Picarde, ZLM Tour, Toscane-Terre de cyclisme, Coupe des nations Ville de Saguenay

http://www.lequotidien.lu/les-sports/31499.html

 

[norwegian]

An article in Procycling.no (Norwegian site) speculates in Thor Hushovd not doing the TdF this year. This due to his wife giving birth to their second child in late july, and him not beeing fully focused on the Tour as a result. OR that BMC using this as an explanation for not letting him do the Tour. Either way it would be a fault not having him there.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Schedule for LEOPARD TREK CT:

4 février : Grand Prix de la Côte Etrusque (Ita/1.1)
18 février : Trophée Laigueglia (Ita/1.1)
26 février : Boucles du Sud Ardèche (Fra/1.1)
3 mars : De Vlaamse Pilj (Bel/1.2)
4 mars : Grand Prix de Lillers (Fra/1.2)
9-10 : Tour de Drenthe (PBS/cat 2.1)
14 mars : Nokerre-Koerse (Bel/1.1)
16 mars : Handzame Classic (Bel/1.1)
19-25 mars : Tour de Normandie (Fra/2.2)
25 avril -1er mai : Tour de Bretagne
2-6 mai : Tour de la Région du Frioul (Ita/2.2)
16-20 mai : Flèche du Sud (Lux/2.2)

In addition to this the riders can participate at the following races with their national teams:

Tour des Flandres, La Côte Picarde, ZLM Tour, Toscane-Terre de cyclisme, Coupe des nations Ville de Saguenay

http://www.lequotidien.lu/les-sports/31499.html

Running that through translate to the names we're familiar with (eg GP della Costa Etruschi etc), I assume that the Tour des Flandres is the Espoirs version, since the chance of a random national team being invited to the Ronde is pretty slim.

 

[Gloin22]

Cavendish confirmed he will ride Giro. Don't know if he will ride all of it though. Don't think so. As well that he said he wants to win more races, not only TdF but more of smaller races like he did in 2009.

 

[Christian]

Running that through translate to the names we're familiar with (eg GP della Costa Etruschi etc), I assume that the Tour des Flandres is the Espoirs version, since the chance of a random national team being invited to the Ronde is pretty slim.

Yes all those are part of what is called the "Coupe des Nations" for U23 riders

http://www.uci.ch/templates/UCI/UCI2/layout.asp?MenuId=MjE4OQ&LangId=1

 

[Froome19]

Cavendish confirmed he will ride Giro. Don't know if he will ride all of it though. Don't think so. As well that he said he wants to win more races, not only TdF but more of smaller races like he did in 2009.

really happy he stated his desire to win smaller races, because he has the talent to rack up as many wins as any Gilbert, kittel, sagan etc and it is just a shame if he wastes it, the best sprinters should be getting the most wins per season and its stupid if theyre not.

 

[Christian]

LEOPARD TREK CT for GP Costa degli Etruschi:

Eugenio Alafaci, Giorgio Brambilla, Jesus Ezquerra, Oliver Hofstetter, Bob Jungels, Julian Kern, Alexandr Pliuschin, Pit Schlechter, Fabio Silvestre and Joël Zangerle

 

[theyoungest]

LEOPARD TREK CT for GP Costa degli Etruschi:

Eugenio Alafaci, Giorgio Brambilla, Jesus Ezquerra, Oliver Hofstetter, Bob Jungels, Julian Kern, Alexandr Pliuschin, Pit Schlechter, Fabio Silvestre and Joël Zangerle

Seriously... if we're going to have continental teams' line ups in this thread, this is going to be one busy affair.

 

[Christian]

Seriously... if we're going to have continental teams' line ups in this thread, this is going to be one busy affair.

Yes you are right we should start a seperate thread just for CT's!

 

[maltiv]

Saxo Bank will be at Tour of Norway in May and it's apparently quite likely that Contador will start (obviously an important race for their sponsor).

 

[Christian]

Saxo Bank will be at Tour of Norway in May and it's apparently quite likely that Contador will start (obviously an important race for their sponsor).

You have some insider information?!

 

[roundabout]

Unless somebody pays him Armstrong-like appearance money it's quite likely that Contador will not start.

 

[theyoungest]

Unless somebody pays him Armstrong-like appearance money it's quite likely that Contador will not start.

You think they paid him that in Argentina?

 

[El Pistolero]

You think they paid him that in Argentina?

Of course, the race has a budget of 4.6 million euros. All paid by the province/state(or whatever they call it in Argentina), no sponsors.

 

[Duartista]

First I've heard of Uran this season - he's been working hard on his time trialing and sprinting in Colombia, spending a lot of time on the track. He was in Mallorca for 11 days with the rest of Sky, then went back to Colombia where he's traing with Matteo Carrara. He was supposed to start his season in Sardinia, but obviously that will have to change now.

Interview: http://www.elcolombiano.com/BancoConocimiento/U/uran_entrena_la_contrarreloj/uran_entrena_la_contrarreloj.asp

 

[maltiv]

First I've heard of Uran this season - he's been working hard on his time trialing and sprinting in Colombia, spending a lot of time on the track. He was in Mallorca for 11 days with the rest of Sky, then went back to Colombia where he's traing with Matteo Carrara. He was supposed to start his season in Sardinia, but obviously that will have to change now.

Interview: http://www.elcolombiano.com/BancoConocimiento/U/uran_entrena_la_contrarreloj/uran_entrena_la_contrarreloj.asp

Sounds like they are trying to develop Uran into becoming an essential part of Cavendish's leadout. Awesome plan!

 

[Duartista]

Sounds like they are trying to develop Uran into becoming an essential part of Cavendish's leadout. Awesome plan!

Yes, that was my first thought/fear on reading the interview!

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Sounds like they are trying to develop Uran into becoming an essential part of Cavendish's leadout. Awesome plan!

Yes, that was my first thought/fear on reading the interview!

He needs to change teams asap if his career is more important to him than money. I guess he'll gets to lead the team in some lesser races, but this is going nowhere.

 

[will10]

Sounds like they are trying to develop Uran into becoming an essential part of Cavendish's leadout. Awesome plan!

Maybe they're working on his sprint so he can actually win a race.

 

[roundabout]

I think he has a decent enough sprint for a rider of his profile. Or maybe I have been reading this forum too much.

 

[El Pistolero]

Maybe they just wanted to **** off Ryo.

 

[Duartista]

He needs to change teams asap if his career is more important to him than money. I guess he'll gets to lead the team in some lesser races, but this is going nowhere.

To be fair I think he'll be the leader in the Ardennes, and he did make decent progress last year. But yeah, in terms of GTs the only one with a 'leader' spot open is the Giro, and Uran struggled with the weather there in 2010.