2014 Tirreno Adriatico, Stage 1: Donoratico - San Vincenzo 16.9km (TTT)

[jaylew]

Can someone explain me why are Garmin doing THAT badly in the TTT recently? I know they're not as strong TT-wise as they used to be a couple of years ago, but still, with Talansky, Millar, Bauer, Dekker, King, they should have a team good enough to finish in the middle of the field at worst today.

I'd say middle of the field at best with their lineup, given the other squads assembled.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Pretty much as expected, though they've set themselves apart maybe even a little earlier than expected. Porte's got his work cut out for him making up for lost time.

Porte will need to be in PN '13 form to gain time on the lot ahead of him. He looks pretty thin and everything so perhaps he can do it.

 

[Anderis]

I'd say middle of the field at best with their lineup, given the other squads assembled.

For sure it was not a line-up to challenge teams like Omega and Orica, but I don't think they look worse on paper than Canondale or Lotto.

 

[VeloHuman]

For sure it was not a line-up to challenge teams like Omega and Orica, but I don't think they look worse on paper than Canondale or Lotto.

Or friggin Lampre

 

[Catwhoorg]

Millar tweeted

Feel sorry for the new UCI technical advisor, Dimitris Katsanis, I went apoplectic at him today regards the new rule on TT position.


I wonder if they had some last min adjustments to position or equipment that affected them.

 

[jaylew]

For sure it was not a line-up to challenge teams like Omega and Orica, but I don't think they look worse on paper than Canondale or Lotto.

Some teams performed slightly better than expected and others slightly worse. Certainly Garmin fits in the latter group. Still, I had them middle of the pack at best. Their lineup was just not that strong.

My prediction was:

I'm going:

Quickstep
Movistar
OGE
Trek
Sky
Tinkoff
BMC

With relatively small gaps between them.

I almost added Lotto and would have had them next. Then Garmin would have been mixed in with the middle group somewhere.

 

[del1962]

Porte will need to be in PN '13 form to gain time on the lot ahead of him. He looks pretty thin and everything so perhaps he can do it.

Dont know if it was my impression but Porte looked like he was struggling a bit in TTT though

 

[Afrank]

Surprised by Sky's result, figured they would have been the 1st or 2nd of the GC team. Not disappointed about that however. Very strong win by Omega like I expected. Also great result for Movistar, Nairito will just have to dispatch Kwiat and Uran on the climbs now.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Dont know if it was my impression but Porte looked like he was struggling a bit in TTT though

well, unless he somehow wanted to "save" himself for the next two flat stages, I guess we can write him off then.

 

[Jelantik]

Dont know if it was my impression but Porte looked like he was struggling a bit in TTT though

yeah.. that's what I saw too. He should be flying on this discipline but today he didn't seem that way.

 

[ferryman]

yeah.. that's what I saw too. He should be flying on this discipline but today he didn't seem that way.

Haven't seen today's racing but wouldn't be surprised by this. Have you seen how thin and slight he is looking compared to last year and so early in this season. Saturday is looking more and more interesting...

 

[peloton]

Anyone know more about what mechanical issues Garmin had?

Sure it wasn't their best roster by far for a TTT, but it was still surprising they did so poorly.

OGE is one of most fluent TTT teams I've seen in a long time, they have it really dialed in, despite the loss. Great to watch.

 

[greenedge]

Congrats to OPQS...

I thought OGE did well, however if they had not focused on Santamorita for GC they could have gone better- finished with 5 or 6 riders instead of 7

Nice performances by Movistar/ Tinkoff.

 

[Jelantik]

Anyone know more about what mechanical issues Garmin had?

Sure it wasn't their best roster by far for a TTT, but it was still surprising they did so poorly.

OGE is one of most fluent TTT teams I've seen in a long time, they have it really dialed in, despite the loss. Great to watch.

I'm surprised too with Garmin peformance. What happen with vaughters team?They are used to be the specialist on this discipline? Now it's kind of like so mediocre that I forget about them. And of course that hideous smurf mushroom house helmet... For fashion only, they're already fail miserably.

 

[Afrank]

I'm surprised too with Garmin peformance. What happen with vaughters team?They are used to be the specialist on this discipline? Now it's kind of like so mediocre that I forget about them. And of course that hideous smurf mushroom house helmet... For fashion only, they're already fail miserably.

The reason they failed to achieve results in line with what we have seen them do in past TTT is 100% due to those godawful helmets.

Actually, I'm completely serious on this one...

 

[coimbrawu]

Cannondale sent all their good TT guy to TA so I won't be surprised to see they enter top 5. (they also did top 5 in 2013 TA's TTT)

Besides, they hire Sebastian Weber this year, who come from Katusha. He did a decent job in Katusha so they get good TT results in the past 2 years.
http://www.katushateam.com/management/sebastian-weber/