average team mates

[Vino attacks everyone]

Now this is not a thread about who is giving it all to help their leaders (Voigt style), or the best leadout man or, climbing domestique.
This is the thread about the guy in the team that for one reason or another seems very important to the team leader or the team itself, so he gets to take part in the biggest races in the world for no real reason.

Let me start by throwing out a name here: Noval, I mean Jesus Christ, they will use him in the tour once again

 

[Jason_Mercier]

Giovanni Bernaudeau

 

[Netserk]

Giovanni Bernaudeau

Nepotism? .

 

[Jason_Mercier]

Oh. The mythic french GT racer Benoit Vaugrenard Michael Schär. Remi Pauriol...

 

[Jason_Mercier]

Marco Marzano too.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

marzano is actually quite good.

I throw sone in:

matthew brammeier, nick gates, jan boven and juraj sagan

 

[Jason_Mercier]

marzano is actually quite good.

I throw sone in:

matthew brammeier, nick gates, jan boven and juraj sagan

He WAS good in amateurs.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

yes, but as a pro he was also a good climber. more than enough results despite a good helper. not as good as amateur obviously but still

 

[Le Baroudeur]

Team Argos-Shimano with the exception of Degenkolb.

 

[argyllflyer]

Team Argos-Shimano with the exception of Degenkolb.

Kittel won 13 races this year at .1, .HC or .WT

 

[Pentacycle]

Rasch, for some reason he's good enough for Sky. Also some of those Italians and Eastern Europeans at Lampre and Liquigas. I can't really keep them apart. Longo Borghini, Dall'antonia, Da Dalto, Bono, Righi, Kostyuk, they must all have some unique ability which gets them a contract.
Or can someone explain to me why they're so good in their respective teams? I tend to forget about domestiques and their abilities when they never get results.

 

[Le Baroudeur]

Kittel won 13 races this year at .1, .HC or .WT

Somebody has to pickup the scraps that the leading sprinters aren't interested in... Even if under protest you don't include Kettle as an average sprinter for "the biggest races in the world" (as per op), that still leaves the rest of the team. it also goes to illustrate the importance of 'Team' and as such nature of the thread...

 

[Netserk]

Rasch, for some reason he's good enough for Sky. Also some of those Italians and Eastern Europeans at Lampre and Liquigas. I can't really keep them apart. Longo Borghini, Dall'antonia, Da Dalto, Bono, Righi, Kostyuk, they must all have some unique ability which gets them a contract.
Or can someone explain to me why they're so good in their respective teams? I tend to forget about domestiques and their abilities when they never get results.

Apparently it is because of EBH's contract that says that there shall be another Norwegian.

 

[Parrulo]

Rasch, for some reason he's good enough for Sky. Also some of those Italians and Eastern Europeans at Lampre and Liquigas. I can't really keep them apart. Longo Borghini, Dall'antonia, Da Dalto, Bono, Righi, Kostyuk, they must all have some unique ability which gets them a contract.
Or can someone explain to me why they're so good in their respective teams? I tend to forget about domestiques and their abilities when they never get results.

the normal domestique should have a high level base and be capable of riding very long season. andy schleck would be absolutely useless as a domestique as his base level is too low and he would be useless for the team on every race where he wasn't on peak form.

it should also be capable of helping his leader keeping a good position on the peloton and he should also be capable of taking the wind for a full day to do it if necessary. this is noval's job and he was very good doing it at last years vuelta.

this ofc for normal domestiques not super doms or or road captains.

 

[Parrulo]

as an example i give bert grabsch, whom next year will resume his usual job on the htc days. he used to pace the peloton for like the first 100k each day( flat stages only ofc) and keep the the break in check on his own before pulling to the side and letting the rest of the team finish up the job.

it's not a pretty job and it doesn't make the headlines of the news but some1 has to do it, and since big bert with his hilariously gigantic gears could do it on his own i am pretty sure he got a nice paycheck too boost his moral for the next day of 3 hours of riding at the front.

 

[argyllflyer]

Somebody has to pickup the scraps that the leading sprinters aren't interested in... Even if under protest you don't include Kettle as an average sprinter for "the biggest races in the world" (as per op), that still leaves the rest of the team. it also goes to illustrate the importance of 'Team' and as such nature of the thread...

To be fair, Argos Shimano were not at all big races (18 wildcards out of the 28, and not all of those events were sprinter friendly) so the true judgement of Kittel's abilities will be at the end of 2013. He also beat some good sprinters at Schjeldeprijs and Oman.

 

[burning]

Vincent Jerome, Danny Pate, Julian Dean comes to my mind

and Noval is NOT an average team mate, he's just some friend of Contador who likes to ride a bike

Edit: I'd say Grabsch is a pretty good domestique, not an average one

 

[maltiv]

Apparently it is because of EBH's contract that says that there shall be another Norwegian.

It's no surprise if his agent did get that into his contract, considering how EBH's agent is the manager of Team Joker-Merida as well as several individual Norwegians, including Rasch. His primary goal is to get more Norwegians into the professional scene and adding that part to the contract helps his mission. Still, judging purely by performances they should have brought Vegard Stake Laengen instead, who's both young and reasonably talented (4th in l'Avenir).

Anyway, Rasch is indeed a good example of an "average teammate". Except from his impressive P-R in 2010 he has never done much. However, he is probably valued due to other abilities: motivating others, tactical knowledge (he is an expert in cross-winds) and generally being well-liked.

And most importantly, he designed the amazing Gabba jacket for Castelli

 

[Jason_Mercier]

Vincent Jerome, Danny Pate, Julian Dean comes to my mind

and Noval is NOT an average team mate, he's just some friend of Contador who likes to ride a bike

Vincent Jerome was in the favourites group in the ascent of Galibier (Telegráphe) TDF 2011 Hes a SUPER-DOM

 

[Bushman]

Rasch, for some reason he's good enough for Sky. Also some of those Italians and Eastern Europeans at Lampre and Liquigas. I can't really keep them apart. Longo Borghini, Dall'antonia, Da Dalto, Bono, Righi, Kostyuk, they must all have some unique ability which gets them a contract.
Or can someone explain to me why they're so good in their respective teams? I tend to forget about domestiques and their abilities when they never get results.

Well, Bono won a stage in the vuelta 10' i think (or 11'?) So he must have dome qualities, but i agree, its not very often that vi get to see it or hear about it.

 

[trevim]

Rasch, for some reason he's good enough for Sky. Also some of those Italians and Eastern Europeans at Lampre and Liquigas. I can't really keep them apart. Longo Borghini, Dall'antonia, Da Dalto, Bono, Righi, Kostyuk, they must all have some unique ability which gets them a contract.
Or can someone explain to me why they're so good in their respective teams? I tend to forget about domestiques and their abilities when they never get results.

I think Bono once said something like: "I'm an all rounder. I go slow in all kind of terrains.".
Righi I don't really know but I remember this result: http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=17396

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Rasch, for some reason he's good enough for Sky. Also some of those Italians and Eastern Europeans at Lampre and Liquigas. I can't really keep them apart. Longo Borghini, Dall'antonia, Da Dalto, Bono, Righi, Kostyuk, they must all have some unique ability which gets them a contract.
Or can someone explain to me why they're so good in their respective teams? I tend to forget about domestiques and their abilities when they never get results.

I rate Tiziano dall'Antonia highly.

as an example i give bert grabsch, whom next year will resume his usual job on the htc days. he used to pace the peloton for like the first 100k each day( flat stages only ofc) and keep the the break in check on his own before pulling to the side and letting the rest of the team finish up the job.

it's not a pretty job and it doesn't make the headlines of the news but some1 has to do it, and since big bert with his hilariously gigantic gears could do it on his own i am pretty sure he got a nice paycheck too boost his moral for the next day of 3 hours of riding at the front.

Txente García, who retired at 2011, is the gold standard of modern domestiquing. Christian Meier once tweeted excitedly about getting to share péloton-pacing duties with him for two hours and getting a bit star-struck, saying he'd love to grow to be half the domestique that Txente is. In Valverde's Vuelta win, pretty much every time a stage comes on to the air, Txente leads the péloton and carries them everywhere on the flats.

To be fair, Argos Shimano were not at all big races (18 wildcards out of the 28, and not all of those events were sprinter friendly) so the true judgement of Kittel's abilities will be at the end of 2013. He also beat some good sprinters at Schjeldeprijs and Oman.

It's a joke that we get censored for saying innocuous things like *****, ****stan and so on, and yet Scheldeprijs isn't in the word filter. I find it far more offensive than anything Wiggins called fans during the Tour, that's for sure.

Vincent Jerome, Danny Pate, Julian Dean comes to my mind

and Noval is NOT an average team mate, he's just some friend of Contador who likes to ride a bike

Edit: I'd say Grabsch is a pretty good domestique, not an average one

When a guy like Contador wants to be on your team, just keeping him happy enough to want to stay is enough reason to justify letting him have a friend or two there, and if they bring a little extra to the team from a cycling perspective that's just bonus. Just like Joaquín Novoa at Cervélo with Sastre, Mads Kaggestad following Hushovd around and Ardila and Kozontchuk with Menchov.

 

[Wigwan]

Well, Bono won a stage in the vuelta 10' i think (or 11'?) So he must have dome qualities, but i agree, its not very often that vi get to see it or hear about it.

Wasn't it a Eneco Tour stage last year?

 

[auscyclefan94]

Oh. The mythic french GT racer Benoit Vaugrenard Michael Schär. Remi Pauriol...

Schär is a very good rider, similar to Burghardt. Certainly necessary for the team.

 

[greenedge]

Vincent Jerome, Danny Pate, Julian Dean comes to my mind

Edit: I'd say Grabsch is a pretty good domestique, not an average one

Same with the Grabsch part- he has been a WC. I don't know enough about Jerome, Pate got selected to ride the TDF in 2011 and rode very well and Julian Dean has been able to pick up good wins and has supported his sprinters. This year he was injured for most of it and is quite old but he should still be fine.