2015 Tour de France Start List

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

Christophe Riblon and Jan Bakelants make the cut.

AG2R team is officially complete.

So no ride for Kadri? A pity.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Re:

Why? They both have superior records as climbers.

Does Martin really have? Talansky has more top10 finishes in GTs so far despite being younger. And the best GT result of career for both is 7th in Vuelta. I would say Dan was never as competitive in high mountains as Talansky was in 2014 Dauphine.

Unless you consider hilly one-day races, I would say their records as climbers are comparable.

 

[durtyfat]

Re: Re:

Why? They both have superior records as climbers.

Does Martin really have? Talansky has more top10 finishes in GTs so far despite being younger. And the best GT result of career for both is 7th in Vuelta. I would say Dan was never as competitive in high mountains as Talansky was in 2014 Dauphine.

Unless you consider hilly one-day races, I would say their records as climbers are comparable.

I won't be surprised if Hesjedal will be the lone leader after the first week( maybe after the cobble stage) seeing his historic in this kind of surface. I dont think any of Martin and Talansky can do what Hesjedal did in the mountains of the 3rd week of the Giro. We'll see how this will rolled up in the next weeks.

 

[Escarabajo]

So Movistar has 7 riders selected. Other two spots still open.

The seven selected are: Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde, Gorka Izagirre, Jonathan Castroviejo, Winner Anacona, Adriano Malori and Alex Dowsett.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/movistar-suggests-tour-de-france-line-up-will-include-dowsett

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Movistar will be brutal in the TTT.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Movistar will be brutal in the TTT.

On paper. That TTT is kind of hilly so not sure how Dowsett will fare on the hilly parcours.

 

[Beech Mtn]

Re: Re:

Movistar will be brutal in the TTT.

On paper. That TTT is kind of hilly so not sure how Dowsett will fare on the hilly parcours.

Dowsett won't be all that helpful outside the TTT either. Plus he's never ridden the Tour before. I would take Erviti or Sutherland over him. But he got left out last year after hoping to ride the Tour, so I suppose they are going to make it up to him.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Re: Re:

Movistar will be brutal in the TTT.

On paper. That TTT is kind of hilly so not sure how Dowsett will fare on the hilly parcours.

You are clueless.
Giro '13.
Dowsett is a top ITT performer in all terrain except MTT stuff.

 

[May0maniac]

He's a great addition, now they only need 2 climbing domestiques for the final 2 spots and hopefully no Rojas.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

That will be 10 British riders, on the assumption that Rowe and Stannard will get the nod also. Surely the most ever?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Does Martin really have? Talansky has more top10 finishes in GTs so far despite being younger. And the best GT result of career for both is 7th in Vuelta. I would say Dan was never as competitive in high mountains as Talansky was in 2014 Dauphine.

Unless you consider hilly one-day races, I would say their records as climbers are comparable.

I would say that Martin's climbing has - to this point in their careers - been superior to that of Talansky. He does after all have a number of MTF wins in stage races, while Talansky has none. Their GT GC record is similar enough, but they get there in different ways - Talansky has a much better TT, is more consistent and also rides more optimally for GC. But strictly as a climber, well, Martin has better results over his career. Talansky, of course, is two years younger so in theory he should have more room to improve.

On a slightly different note, while Talansky's 2014 Dauphine was indeed impressive, he was not particularly good in this year's edition. In fact, he hasn't really done anything of note since his 2014 Dauphine, bar winning his national TT. Maybe everything is geared towards the Tour and he'll arrive in super form, but there really isn't much evidence for it. The cyclingtips interview with Vaughters the other day seemed to indicate that the team are a bit unsure of his current level too.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

I won't be surprised if Hesjedal will be the lone leader after the first week( maybe after the cobble stage) seeing his historic in this kind of surface.

I wouldn't be surprised by that either. But I wouldn't be surprised to see any of the three as sole leader after the first week.

 

[Anderis]

Talansky can also ride a good cobbled stage. Last year he beat all climbers bar Nibali, Fuglsang, Van den Broeck and Porte on TdF cobbled stage, and that's despite crashing.

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

Movistar will be brutal in the TTT.

On paper. That TTT is kind of hilly so not sure how Dowsett will fare on the hilly parcours.

Dowsett won't be all that helpful outside the TTT either. Plus he's never ridden the Tour before. I would take Erviti or Sutherland over him. But he got left out last year after hoping to ride the Tour, so I suppose they are going to make it up to him.

Well he's there for three and half reasons. 1. the TTT as you say, 2. he's a good contender for the ITT, and 3. in addition to shepherding Quintana/Valverde on the flat stages, I have seen mention of him protecting them on the cobbles, which is probably wishful thinking but look at what Westra did for Nibali, and his track record is similar to Dowsett's - a lot of DNFs and 91st positions - but clearly Movistar think he has the ability.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Talansky can also ride a good cobbled stage. Last year he beat all climbers bar Nibali, Fuglsang, Van den Broeck and Porte on TdF cobbled stage, and that's despite crashing.

True. Martin on the other hand will be grateful just to finish that stage with all of his limbs still attached.

 

[TMP402]

That will be 10 British riders, on the assumption that Rowe and Stannard will get the nod also. Surely the most ever?

I like the 2009 Giro for the many pre-Sky teams the nine British cyclists were on:
Chris Froome (Barloworld)
Jeremy Hunt (Cervélo TestTeam)
Daniel Lloyd (Cervélo TestTeam)
David Millar (Garmin-Slipstream)
Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream)
Ian Stannard (ISD)
Charles Wegelius (Silence-Lotto)
Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia-High Road)
Ben Swift (Team Katusha)

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

The sprints' excitement will suffer without Kittel

Sarcasm? Please say its sarcasm

Well, a few of the stages are destined to be settled with a bunch sprint. Its better to have all the top guys participating to give the competition maximum weight.

I agree. The more top guys, the better. The Champs-Élysées stage from 2013 was just awesome with Greipel, Cav, and Drago going mano e mano e mano. That said, Kittel won almost every sprint he contested the last two years so maybe it will make the really easy stages more interesting. I'm hoping Cav, AK, and Greipel will be on a similar level and no one guy dominates. Deg, Bling, and Sagan can join the mix in the slightly harder sprints.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

Movistar will be brutal in the TTT.

On paper. That TTT is kind of hilly so not sure how Dowsett will fare on the hilly parcours.

You are clueless.
Giro '13.
Dowsett is a top ITT performer in all terrain except MTT stuff.

Hope you are right. I really don't know him very well. I know he is the previous hour record holder, but wasn't sure about his TT attributes in all terrains. Thanks.

 

[46&twoWheels]

Re: Re:

Interested in who Astana decides to cut. They have 10 names who all supposed to be locks.

I was wondering the same. In the last article from Passo San Pellegrino (http://tribunatreviso.gelocal.it/sport/2015/06/24/news/io-nibali-ed-il-tour-slongo-fa-il-punto-sulla-sfida-bis-di-luglio-1.11672803) Slongo says Scarponi, Westra, Kangert, Grudvez, Taaramae are training with Nibali while other two sure of a place are Vanotti and Grivko who are now resting after Baku.

He's forgetting one name but it seems one of Fuglsang/Boom is out

Yes, seems like they set up a 10 member team expecting some casualty on the way. But everyone is still healthy, all of them were 'supposed' to go, and they don't know among themselves yet who's the one that gets cut. I wonder if it could be Kangert though, just because he the only one of them who did Giro already this year.

Astana's #TDF team according to Rein Taaramäe:
Nibali, Scarponi, Kangert, Taaramäe, Fuglsang, Westra, Boom, Gruzdev, Grivko

 

[whittashau]

The only surprise is that there isn't room for Vanotti. Climbing talent galore though. Fuglsang, Scarponi, Taaramae, and Kangert as climbing domestiques. Plus Westra and Grivko who both climb well too.

 

[JRanton]

Re: Re:

Movistar will be brutal in the TTT.

On paper. That TTT is kind of hilly so not sure how Dowsett will fare on the hilly parcours.

You are clueless.
Giro '13.
Dowsett is a top ITT performer in all terrain except MTT stuff.

Hope you are right. I really don't know him very well. I know he is the previous hour record holder, but wasn't sure about his TT attributes in all terrains. Thanks.

Is it just me who thinks the ''hillyness'' of the Tour TTT is overrated? It's really not that bad.

 

[JRanton]

Movistar's Tour de France team: Anacona, Castroviejo, Dowsett, Erviti, José Herrada, Gorka Izaguirre, Malori, Valverde, Nairo Quintana


Very strong team but then they are always are aren't they?

Disappointed riders: Team Gadret, Rojas, Ventoso, Capecchi and Sutherland

 

[mihhint]

Re: Re:

Interested in who Astana decides to cut. They have 10 names who all supposed to be locks.

I was wondering the same. In the last article from Passo San Pellegrino (http://tribunatreviso.gelocal.it/sport/2015/06/24/news/io-nibali-ed-il-tour-slongo-fa-il-punto-sulla-sfida-bis-di-luglio-1.11672803) Slongo says Scarponi, Westra, Kangert, Grudvez, Taaramae are training with Nibali while other two sure of a place are Vanotti and Grivko who are now resting after Baku.

He's forgetting one name but it seems one of Fuglsang/Boom is out

Yes, seems like they set up a 10 member team expecting some casualty on the way. But everyone is still healthy, all of them were 'supposed' to go, and they don't know among themselves yet who's the one that gets cut. I wonder if it could be Kangert though, just because he the only one of them who did Giro already this year.

Astana's #TDF team according to Rein Taaramäe:
Nibali, Scarponi, Kangert, Taaramäe, Fuglsang, Westra, Boom, Gruzdev, Grivko

Yes same team was just confirmed by Astana twitter also.

 

[blackmamba]

Chris Froome ‏@chrisfroome
Sir Dave Brailsford will be announcing the #TDF team live on Sky Sports News in 15 minutes @letour

 

[Pricey_sky]

Confirmed Sky Tour team: Froome, Porte, Poels, Thomas, Roche, Kennaugh, Stannard, Konig, Rowe