Best and worst teams in 2012 Tour

[Nocontest]

True. They ended up in that groupe because they at least tried. Vacansoleil kinda gave up, except for the regular Hoogerland-goes-in-break-and-drops-at-the-base-of-the-first-climb thing they seemed to be doing. And, obviously, Rabo and Garmin were even higher because they salvaged a stage win and were really gunning for stage wins after they both kinda lost plans A, B, and C in the first week.

To be fair to Euski, Isagear (necessary on a bike) got a bit of tv time as did Martinez.

Green Edge were a total disappointment to me, especially Gerrans who was total no show.

 

[Praetor]

De Weert and Velits are bad examples. They're not the guys you rely on for success.

Yes, they are. Or at least Velits is. He was even singled out by Lefevere as being very disappointing, since the Tour was his only goal for this year and he could do whatever he wanted the rest of the year, as long as he performed in the Tour.

De Weert was send to the Tour purely as a domestique and did just that, so no one is complaining about him.

 

[greenedge]

I shall say the best teams have been Europcar, Astana ( unlucky but always present ), Lotto, Sky and Liquigas.

Garmin and Rabobank have been unlucky but both rebounded well.

OGE have done ok at this TDF- Weening and Albasini were in a few breaks and Goss has been consistently placing in the sprint.

Argos- should have brought Degenkolb and Geniez, Kittel was not assured to win anyways.
Vaconsoleil i like but they have not gone well. OPQS have also been a fail ( poor Devenyns though ).

Poor Cofidis/ Saur have tried but not succeeded- next year they shall still get an invite to the TDF. Lampre also tried but have fallen short of a stage win.

 

[greenedge]

Levi breaking his leg earlier in the year, etc. For them this has basically been a lost Tour.

At least Levi shall have good post TDF form for Utah/ Colorado.

 

[Gloin22]

At least Levi shall have good post TDF form for Utah/ Colorado.

I dont get this.

Levi was in top 10 in Cali and 3rd at Suiise. People said he was coming in brillaint form - and now he failed - and all is pointed to his accident.

I know it too a lot from him, but he was looking strong at Suiise ... and that meant he was pretty much over the accident.

 

[greenedge]

Separated into tiers. Tended to take expectations into account, especially toward the bottom.

Groupe Zzzzzzzz:
1. Sky

Groupe Good Show Chaps:
2. Europcar
3. Liquigas
4. Lotto
5. FDJ

Groupe Could-Have-Been-Worse-I-Guess:
6. BMC
7. RSNT

Groupe At-Least-We-Can-Prove-We-Were-In-The-Race:
8. Astana
9. Movistar
10. Rabo
11. Garmin
12. Saxo
13. AG2R

Groupe Count-The-Names-We-Got-Mentioned-On-One-Hand:
14. Euskaltel
15. Katusha
16. OPQS

Groupe Faceplant:
19. Cofidis
20. Vacansoleil
21. Lampre
22. Greenedge

As if you think Katusha have been more present than OGE. I know this may sound like i am being a patriotic fanboy but OGE just wanted a stage win ( 1st TDF ) and have been present on the TV quite a lot ( Albasini and Weening were good in breaks ). Goss could have won the green jersey as well- if it was not for that sprint where he lost points ( it was quite bad manoeuvring ). Menchov had a whole TDF thread for him and completely failed. Other than Vorganov his team has not been strong either. I would even say AG2R have not gone well too- Riblon was good and Roche could get a top 10 ( like last year- JCP ) and JCP has failed to repeat last year/ other than losing to Millar has done nothing.

True Levi did fail- but my post was about him going well at the American races after the TDF ( sorry that it was off topic ).

 

[Praetor]

I think that Europcar has proven that they are World Tour ready (even if they don't add new riders).

On the other hand, Cofidis and Argos are proving that, unless they manage to upgrade their team, the World Tour isn't really going to be their thing, just too few interesting riders, especially Argos.

 

[roundabout]

Europcar with their grand total of about 3 very good riders?

 

[MonteZoncolan]

I've listed the teams in order of Most first places, then second and third. The total UCI points given after that. The final number in square brackets is the number of riders they have left. I've copied and pasted all this from various website so I take no responsibility for the accuracy, nor credit for that matter. Obviously there are today's and tomorrows stages to finish too.

Team Sky comes out above the nearest contenders for both podiums and UCI points. They are just above Liqui/Lotto/Europ

At the other end there are 3 teams that haven't registered a podium and 1 that hasn't registered a top5.

Looking at who they lost and how many, for me the underperformer is Cofidis shortly followed my Argos and Katusha

Garmin for me have overperformed given their early rider losses and crashes affecting all of their big hitters.

Hopeflly this table pastes in ok...

SKY (4,4,5) 158 [8]
Liquigas (3,2,1) 96 [9]
Lotto (3,2,0) 84 [9]
Europcar (3,0,1) 72 [7]
FDJ (2,1,1) 60 [8]
RSNT (1,1,3) 52 [6]
Greenedge (0,2,2) 40 [8]
BMC (0,2,0) 36 [9]
Garmin (1,1,0) 30 [6]
Rabobank (1,0,0) 30 [4]
Lampre (0,2,0) 22 [4]
Saxo (0,1,1) 22 [9]
Movistar (1,0,0) 20 [6]
OPQS (0,0,2) 18 [7]
AG2R (0,1,0) 16 [8]
Euskatel (0,0,2) 14 [5]
Argos (0,0,1) 10 [6]
Cofidis (0,0,0) 6 [7]
Astana (0,0,0) 6 [8]
Vancosoleil (0,0,0) 4 [4]
Saur soja (0,0,0) 2 [8]
Katusha (0,0,0) 0 [7]

 

[El Pistolero]

Yes, they are. Or at least Velits is. He was even singled out by Lefevere as being very disappointing, since the Tour was his only goal for this year and he could do whatever he wanted the rest of the year, as long as he performed in the Tour.

De Weert was send to the Tour purely as a domestique and did just that, so no one is complaining about him.

How many races has Velits won in total?

 

[pelodee]

Best and worst teams in 2012 Tour? Sky

 

[Praetor]

Europcar with their grand total of about 3 very good riders?

Europcar had very good results and/or performances in some of the classics with other riders (Turgot, Jerome, ...).

Argos is always Kittel/Degenkolb and that's about it.

Argos/Skil always ends up last in the team rankings in every big Tour that they ride and usually a couple of hours behind the second to last one.

 

[Praetor]

How many races has Velits won in total?

What does that have to do with anything? His own team leader says he's underperforming.

But I guess Velits has about as many career wins as Froome.

 

[El Pistolero]

What does that have to do with anything? His own team leader says he's underperforming.

But I guess Velits has about as many career wins as Froome.

Patrick Lefevre talks crap about all his team members.

This is the guy that didn't want to give Bettini a pro contract anymore after 2008.

 

[WindLessBreeze]

Lanterne*Rouge

Stageless' teams: Omega/QS (^^), Lampre, AG2R, Euskatel, Saxo-Tinkoff, BMC, Vacansoleil, GreenEdge, Astana, Katusha, Saur, Argos. ...The US, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Australia, Russia, among the Powerhouses w/o stages.... Europcar: MVT..Just a Pro'Conti with 3 stages and KOM....Froome&EBH MVPs

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Patrick Lefevre talks crap about all his team members.

This is the guy that didn't want to give Bettini a pro contract anymore after 2008.

You left out the funniest bit.

He didn't want to give Bettini a pro contract anymore after 2008... because he'd just signed Stefan Schumacher and thought he could fulfil the same role for less money.

 

[Wilba60]

Best:
Sky
Europcar
Liquigas-Team Sagan
Honorable Mention:Lotto

Worst:
Argos
Cofidis
Saur-Sojasun
Lampre

And the worst of all is Greenedge. (Compared to expectations, I thought they would get 1 stage with Goss and 1 with Gerrans or Albasini

I would have thought GreenEdge being in their maiden Tour would be quite pleased with the results. Do you rate them as worst on your own expectations or on pure results? The table re. podiums and points posted by Monte Zoncolan shows them in the top third of teams based on performances. I am sure Goss would have loved a win but 2nd twice, 3rd twice, 4th once and his 7th when he was DQ'd in the sprint vs Sagan was still a pretty handy tour. And he made a lot of the first week stages a bit more interesting with the intermediate sprints....winning a few of those as well (against the sprinters, rather than breakaway riders). They also had Albasini 5th, Impey 5th and 9th, Lancaster 6th to add.

I agree with Gerrans, besides his 13th in Stage 1 he didn't seem to get himself in the mix enough. Albasini though certainly had plenty of attempts and was a bit stiff that most of the breakaways he got in were reeled in. The team did a lot of Km's on the front of the peleton as well, especially in week 1. I think they should sit somewhere in the middle of the pack, rather than near the worst of the teams.

Maybe they can crack it for a win in the final stage, it will be a good battle as I expect Sky will have a train, along with Lotto and possibly Liquigas

 

[Mshengu]

Actually Europcar had the best tour, and not forget FDJ, but Pinot's phone must be ringing off the hook right about now

Euskaltel, Katusha were not in the Tour ( yeah I said it )

 

[diggercuz]

I would have thought GreenEdge being in their maiden Tour would be quite pleased with the results. Do you rate them as worst on your own expectations or on pure results? The table re. podiums and points posted by Monte Zoncolan shows them in the top third of teams based on performances. I am sure Goss would have loved a win but 2nd twice, 3rd twice, 4th once and his 7th when he was DQ'd in the sprint vs Sagan was still a pretty handy tour. And he made a lot of the first week stages a bit more interesting with the intermediate sprints....winning a few of those as well (against the sprinters, rather than breakaway riders). They also had Albasini 5th, Impey 5th and 9th, Lancaster 6th to add.

I agree with Gerrans, besides his 13th in Stage 1 he didn't seem to get himself in the mix enough. Albasini though certainly had plenty of attempts and was a bit stiff that most of the breakaways he got in were reeled in. The team did a lot of Km's on the front of the peleton as well, especially in week 1. I think they should sit somewhere in the middle of the pack, rather than near the worst of the teams.

Maybe they can crack it for a win in the final stage, it will be a good battle as I expect Sky will have a train, along with Lotto and possibly Liquigas

This.

I thought they did really well, would of loved a stage win, but you know, give em time... I also thought Gerrans would of been a bit more at the pointy end but nope... also Langeveld... every time i saw him he was tailing of the back.. i would of thought he would of been able to do something but maybe he was still suffering the effects of the spectator incident...

Anyway in my eyes, GreenEdge did good. Obviously Sky were better... their whole team was / is on fire and is light years ahead of everyone else...

 

[blaxland]

I would have thought GreenEdge being in their maiden Tour would be quite pleased with the results. Do you rate them as worst on your own expectations or on pure results? The table re. podiums and points posted by Monte Zoncolan shows them in the top third of teams based on performances. I am sure Goss would have loved a win but 2nd twice, 3rd twice, 4th once and his 7th when he was DQ'd in the sprint vs Sagan was still a pretty handy tour. And he made a lot of the first week stages a bit more interesting with the intermediate sprints....winning a few of those as well (against the sprinters, rather than breakaway riders). They also had Albasini 5th, Impey 5th and 9th, Lancaster 6th to add.

I agree with Gerrans, besides his 13th in Stage 1 he didn't seem to get himself in the mix enough. Albasini though certainly had plenty of attempts and was a bit stiff that most of the breakaways he got in were reeled in. The team did a lot of Km's on the front of the peleton as well, especially in week 1. I think they should sit somewhere in the middle of the pack, rather than near the worst of the teams.

Maybe they can crack it for a win in the final stage, it will be a good battle as I expect Sky will have a train, along with Lotto and possibly Liquigas

All well made points Wilba60,but Orica/Greenedge had only one objective leading into this tour.And that was Stage wins only(they picked their entire sqaud with this in mind)and came up empty handed.If stage placings is all they wanted then yes they have achieved their goals,but this isnt the case...Epic fail for Orica/Greenedge.Lets hope their young guns get their chances from now on?

 

[auscyclefan94]

All well made points Wilba60,but Orica/Greenedge had only one objective leading into this tour.And that was Stage wins only(they picked their entire sqaud with this in mind)and came up empty handed.If stage placings is all they wanted then yes they have achieved their goals,but this isnt the case...Epic fail for Orica/Greenedge.Lets hope their young guns get their chances from now on?

Leading a team for the 1st time at a Tour de France is always hard. Greipel and his train struggled last year a fair bit as Andre and his train could not get into a good position. He would have won one or two more stages last year if he was in a better position. Same is happening with Goss. I think he is struggling a little bit being the leader as trying to fight for position and follow your train in a Tour sprint is so much harder than anywhere else.

 

[Wilba60]

All well made points Wilba60,but Orica/Greenedge had only one objective leading into this tour.And that was Stage wins only(they picked their entire sqaud with this in mind)and came up empty handed.If stage placings is all they wanted then yes they have achieved their goals,but this isnt the case...Epic fail for Orica/Greenedge.Lets hope their young guns get their chances from now on?

Blaxland, I am glad they stated they wanted to win a stage, would have been pretty poor to say we are just racing for the experience. I think every team coming into the TdF wants a stage win, so surely OGE are in exactly the same boat as all of the other teams that race. I would call it an epic fail if this was their 3rd or 4th year in the tour and they had gone with a similar plan to previous years and still not won. I too am waiting to see how the young guns go but they aren't ready yet. With Howard, Meyer and Durbridge all finished with the track, possibly Bobridge, Bewley and Hepburn as well then it will be interesting to see what sort of team they put up in the future....2014 seems a better shot than 2013 IMO.

 

[Wilba60]

This.

I thought they did really well, would of loved a stage win, but you know, give em time... I also thought Gerrans would of been a bit more at the pointy end but nope... also Langeveld... every time i saw him he was tailing of the back.. i would of thought he would of been able to do something but maybe he was still suffering the effects of the spectator incident...

Anyway in my eyes, GreenEdge did good. Obviously Sky were better... their whole team was / is on fire and is light years ahead of everyone else...

In defence of Langeveld he was the main grunt soldier, doing lots of long turns on the front of the peleton, especially in the first week. Probably not the best way to use his talents but he drew the short straw it seems.

 

[movingtarget]

Blaxland, I am glad they stated they wanted to win a stage, would have been pretty poor to say we are just racing for the experience. I think every team coming into the TdF wants a stage win, so surely OGE are in exactly the same boat as all of the other teams that race. I would call it an epic fail if this was their 3rd or 4th year in the tour and they had gone with a similar plan to previous years and still not won. I too am waiting to see how the young guns go but they aren't ready yet. With Howard, Meyer and Durbridge all finished with the track, possibly Bobridge, Bewley and Hepburn as well then it will be interesting to see what sort of team they put up in the future....2014 seems a better shot than 2013 IMO.

Everyone thinks that GreenEdge has over achieved already this year and they have done well. TDF is the most stressful race of the year and Goss has not been able to duplicate his form from Spring 2011. I think their best riders this season have been Albasini and Gerrans. Goss has been caught out badly with his positioning in some of the sprints. Be good to see him back in form next season. Sky were obviously the best team. Lots of bad teams many that were effected by crashes but for me I was disappointed in Rabobank apart from Sanchez, Quickstep and Vaconsoleil most of all. BMC not so good but still finished with the White Jersey and two riders in the top 10.

 

[diggercuz]

In defence of Langeveld he was the main grunt soldier, doing lots of long turns on the front of the peleton, especially in the first week. Probably not the best way to use his talents but he drew the short straw it seems.

Yeah i did wonder about that... I was sort of hoping he could of had a shot for himself though.

Anyway there is one stage left, may not all be lost. However looking at Cavendish coming from about 4 million miles back on friday night would of sent shivers down Goss, Greipel and co... man he was flying.