2014 UCI Road championship teams (Ponferrada, Spain)

[Ryo Hazuki]

France:

Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale)
Warren Barguil (Giant-Shimano)
Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr)
Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling)
Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Belisol)
Cyril Gautier (Europcar)
Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R-La Mondiale)
Kevin Reza (Europcar)
Geoffrey Soupe (FDJ.fr)

Chava and Coppel for the TT

So no Démare and Bouhanni drama.

demare sucked anyway and let's be happy. the french will now also want a hard race

 

[Jagartrott]

Is there a TTT thread already or should it all go in this thread?
Quickstep look slightly less formidable than the past two years, but should still go strong.

 

[jens_attacks]

Portugal RR Team
Rui Costa
André Cardoso
José Mendes
Nelson Oliveira
Sérgio Paulinho
Tiago Machado

no rui sousa. bleargh!

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Agreed, and you'd imagine the Worlds will be raced harder than most Vuelta stages were - which will also reduce Degenkolb's chances.

Not taking into account his obvious problems atm, Degenkolb did proof himself on a 260km hilly course, no?

 

[Afrank]

Is there a TTT thread already or should it all go in this thread?
Quickstep look slightly less formidable than the past two years, but should still go strong.

No thread for it, but this thread will due as a general thread for all types of teams competing at worlds.

 

[kingjr]

That's a shame. Do Germany have a decent plan B? Perhaps Wegmann or a long range solo attack by Martin?

Wegmann never. Tony Martin might actually the best idea, but I doubt that he realizes that himself. He's stuck deep in the TT pigeonhole.

 

[trevim]

Definitely. If it's a small group in the end he has the power to go away Cancellara style. But yeah he's too much of a domestique to think about it.

 

[thequestionmark]

Oh no. I was a bit disappointed with Degenkolb in the prologue finishing 39 seconds down to Malori but now with an infection that sounds like a good result.
Now Germany has a team of domestiques a bit like France.

Martin could win. However, in his stage win at the Tour he was in the break for almost the whole day. He won't win like that at worlds. Compared to Cancellara his attacks and sprints are less powerful. Geschke and Burghardt are two others who could attack late but I don't see them winning.

Anyway as much as I like Degenkolb a weak german team is gould for the race. Germany has to bear no more responsibility to control the race.

So who will do it?

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

No Degenkolb, would this mean, one team less aiming for a group sprint, and thus a more open race? Or rather other country's sprinters suddenly thinking they can win, and thus a more closed race?

 

[greenedge]

If Gerrans is there towards the end (and he most likely will be), I certainly hope that at least one rider like Sagan or Degenkolb will be there. Would make for a more interesting finale than Gerrans simply following whoever attacks before out-sprinting them for the line.

No problem against Degenkolb, Gerrans has beat Greipel in a sprint/ Greipel usually beats Degenkolb.
And we all remember last year TDF stage 3

In all seriousness I think those two would beat Gerrans in a sprint.

I think the race will come down to a sprint of around 8,with Cancellara, Gilbert, Gerrans, Sagan, Valverde, Kwiatowski Vs "non-sprinters" in Costa and Dumoulin. Either that or Betancur will crush them all, literally

 

[LaFlorecita]

Valverde, Ion Izagirre, Jesús Herrada, Erviti, Castroviejo, Luis León, ‘Purito’, Moreno, y Navarro.

for RR

Castroviejo and Irizar for the TT

 

[greenedge]

That's a scarily strong team for Spain and Izagirre, Sanchez, Purito and Navarro all seem to be in good form and other teams must not let them jump away.

 

[BeagRigh]

Valverde, Ion Izagirre, Jesús Herrada, Erviti, Castroviejo, Luis León, ‘Purito’, Moreno, y Navarro.

Strong team assuming they don't fall out!

Hopefully they make the race hard enough to get ride of Gerrans and then Valverde can find away to lose to someone else in the final

Actually I can see Costa defending his title

 

[Pentacycle]

Definitely. If it's a small group in the end he has the power to go away Cancellara style. But yeah he's too much of a domestique to think about it.

Tony Martin is no classics rider, he lacks endurance beyond 250 kms.

 

[b.broadhurst]

Sky Sports Cycling ‏@SkyCycling 6m
GB team for men's world RR: Froome, Cummings, Kennaugh, Millar, Rowe, Swift, Thomas, S Yates, A Yates. TT: Wiggins, Dowsett #Ponferrada2014

 

[DenisMenchov]

Decent squad, maybe this time someone manages to finish the race.

 

[David_Incognito_66]

Sky Sports Cycling ‏@SkyCycling 6m
GB team for men's world RR: Froome, Cummings, Kennaugh, Millar, Rowe, Swift, Thomas, S Yates, A Yates. TT: Wiggins, Dowsett #Ponferrada2014

Funny how Froome can be more loyal to GB, being Kenyan and spending so much time there, than Contador is to Spain. And don't come with the "race doesn't suit him" excuse. It doesn't suit Froome either, in fact it suits Contador more. And Froome will go for it purely as a domestique something Contador is not humble enough to do.

 

[Jspear]

Funny how Froome can be more loyal to GB, being Kenyan and spending so much time there, than Contador is to Spain. And don't come with the "race doesn't suit him" excuse. It doesn't suit Froome either, in fact it suits Contador more. And Froome will go for it purely as a domestique something Contador is not humble enough to do.

If AC is not humble enough to ride for someone else, then why did he do it last year at the worlds?

 

[David_Incognito_66]

He did? haha
He really went deep that day for his nation... If his domestiques went that deep during the races he would never win lulz
Bet Froome did 2 or 3 times more work than him at least.

 

[Jspear]

He did? haha
He really went deep that day for his nation... If his domestiques went that deep during the races he would never win lulz
Bet Froome did 2 or 3 times more work than him at least.

They both were DnF's....But, AC lasted longer than CF.

 

[Netserk]

They both were DnF's....But, AC lasted longer than CF.

Maybe he lasted longer because he did less work...

 

[DFA123]

Maybe he lasted longer because he did less work...

Contador and his team did do the job though and deliver two riders to a final group of three, only for tactics to let them down. Whereas GB... did they even have anyone left in the race with 100km to go?

 

[DirtyWorks]

He did? haha
He really went deep that day for his nation... If his domestiques went that deep during the races he would never win lulz
Bet Froome did 2 or 3 times more work than him at least.

You seem to be forgetting 2013 WC RR was run under terrible conditions. The podium had to deal with a difficult course, long distance, and terrible weather. Something completely unsuited to Froome...

Team GB all DNF.

Check the list of DNF's from the race: http://www.cyclingnews.com/worlds2013/elite-men-road-race/results

Contador has certainly ridden in a support role.

 

[SeriousSam]

Froome, somewhat surprisingly, will not be doing any time trialling. Is this an audacious bid to win the Rainbow Jersey with his new found sprinting prowess?

 

[Pricey_sky]

Happy that the Yates brothers are in, I wonder if they will be given some freedom, I can't see Swift being good enough with the likes of Gerrans, Valverde and co there.