Best TTT line-up for 2011

[ingsve]

Thats the thing, if its hypothetical then I have sky #1, but the likelehood of Dowsett, EBH, Thomas, Wiggins, Kennaugh and Rogers all making the tour squad is unlikely.

Is Kennaugh really that good of a TTer? I know he has a track background but I would that he is a little lightweight to push that hard compared to many others in a TT? I would think that Cummings would still be able to push out more watts on a TTT as of yet at least.

 

[Jancouver]

Voted HTC because of Martin, Grabsch, Rabon etc

1.HTC
2.BMC
3.GARMIN
4.SKY
5.LUX

 

[simo1733]

Voted HTC because of Martin, Grabsch, Rabon etc

1.HTC
2.BMC
3.GARMIN
4.SKY
5.LUX

I would be amazed if BMC can beat both Garmin and Sky

 

[Parrulo]

staying with riis

then saxo will also have a decent team(assuming berto gets a big slap on the wrist and no ban ofc) with berto, porte, larsson tho they will need 2 more decent guys cus i don't see the likes of navarro keeping up with the pace. it won't be a winning team but it will be enough to not to lose minutes to the shlecks and basso.

agree



Agree almost completely. Lux are i would say weaker than others, and HTC are the kings,

But in the Tour i expect a HTC to pretty much spend the whole of stage 1 on the front, and play the part of both yellow jersey team and sprint hunters in stage 2.

So by the time we get to Les Essarts, with no GC contender anyway, they might just say screw it.


This is pretty much what happened last tdf ttt. THey could have contested that ttt but instead, the day before they organised a team break for 40 seconds and a Cav stage win.

Werent so great the next day

well if they get to the TTT with the yellon(my memory is failing on me but iirc the TTT is before any montain stage so correct me if i am wrong please) they will want to keep it. also depends on how much they want to take chances with peter velits cus his vuelta performance was great and they may want him to try and get a top 10 or top 5. so they won't be blowing themselfs for cav nor will they have a big train in case they get lucky and need to work for peter.

BMC

Hincapie, Evans, Bookwalter, Phinney, Quinziato, Ballan, Kohler, Morabito, Burghardt

wow i wasn't expecting that.

some1 mentioned the shack. leipheimer, kloden, horner, popo, paulinho and brajkovic do make a good team and if they also take tiago machado to the tour(i suspect he will ride the vuelta or the giro) and nelson oliveira(he prolly won't ride any GT but this is just assuming) they have a team that could race for the victory. at least they would have a better team then BMC lawl

 

[The Hitch]

wow i wasn't expecting that.

some1 mentioned the shack. leipheimer, kloden, horner, popo, paulinho and brajkovic do make a good team and if they also take tiago machado to the tour(i suspect he will ride the vuelta or the giro) and nelson oliveira(he prolly won't ride any GT but this is just assuming) they have a team that could race for the victory. at least they would have a better team then BMC lawl

Yep Radioshack looks quite good. Pretty much the team which wooped everyone in Monteplier, sans Contador and Armstrong but with Janez.

 

[robertocarlos]

I voted Garmin. I chose them for 2 reasons.

1. All of their guys are good TTers for their discipline
GC: VDV, Tommy D.
Helpers/Stage Hunters: DZ, Millar, HesJay
Sprinters: Hushovd, Farrar
Young Guns: Bobridge, Meyer Bros

2. They are my favorite team and I'm allowed to be biased.

They had bad luck this year with fitness/accidents but I think they rank near the top.

What is Le Mevels TT like?

didn't farrar got shelled on the last tt in the tdf? isn't tommy d. not that good technichally speaking?

 

[maltiv]

Thats the thing, if its hypothetical then I have sky #1, but the likelehood of Dowsett, EBH, Thomas, Wiggins, Kennaugh and Rogers all making the tour squad is unlikely.

Don't forget Henderson...being good in prologues= good in a TTT.

 

[taiwan]

Went Sky. probably HTC next because of ze Germans. Liguigas do a good TTT, although you might not pick them out on paper.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

BMC
blah blah blah

new low to being biased.

---

SKY, HTC and Garmin are at a level above.
I kinda feel like sky have been overlooked a bit.

 

[Christian]

Yep Radioshack looks quite good. Pretty much the team which wooped everyone in Monteplier, sans Contador and Armstrong but with Janez.

Dude... you mean Montpellier?

 

[Anonymous]

Is Kennaugh really that good of a TTer? I know he has a track background but I would that he is a little lightweight to push that hard compared to many others in a TT? I would think that Cummings would still be able to push out more watts on a TTT as of yet at least.

If it was short he would be ok, did a solid dauphine prologue all things considered,and was in the vuelta ttt that was doing fine until they ballsed it up with indecisiveness over what to do.You could add in Cummings, Hendo, or Froome even after his spectacular podium in the nationals Add to that Nordhaug and Flecha who can both TT a bit (part of the winning 5 in qatar), even Downing managed to hang onto the sky team that beat Garmin

So erm. EBH, Wiggins, Thomas, Flecha, Nordhaug, Kennaugh, Henderson, Rogers, Dowsett - Not a bad nine.

 

[The Hitch]

new low to being biased.

.

I think hes joking

Dude... you mean Montpellier?

Yes

 

[ingsve]

So erm. EBH, Wiggins, Thomas, Flecha, Nordhaug, Kennaugh, Henderson, Rogers, Dowsett - Not a bad nine.

You can normally add Löfkvist as well. He's a very solid TTer. I don't know what happened during the Vuelta prologue though where he struggled. Perhaps he was just slow to get his legs going after not racing for a while or perhaps there was some early signs of the virus infection.

 

[Ferminal]

HTC.

An early Tour lineup for them might be:

Cavendish, Renshaw, Eisel, Martin, Grabsch, Peter Velits, Albasini, Siutsou, Rasmussen/Martin Velits.

Albasini and Siutsou are probably the weakest there, but are by no means poor.

Cavendish/Renshaw/Martin/Grabsch/Rasmussen would beat most teams.

 

[LukeSchmid]

BMC

Hincapie, Evans, Bookwalter, Phinney, Quinziato, Ballan, Kohler, Morabito, Burghardt

So Van Avermaet, Tshopp, Moinard, Santaromita, Santambrogio and Frank are all not going to the Tour de France next year.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I think hes joking


Yes

i know, that was my initial thought.
But acf being acf... he might not be

 

[auscyclefan94]

I would be amazed if BMC can beat both Garmin and Sky

I don't think they will beat those teams but at the tdf but I think they will be close. Will depend on the team which goes and the team has said that phinney will possibly do the giro.

new low to being biased.

---

SKY, HTC and Garmin are at a level above.
I kinda feel like sky have been overlooked a bit.

I was joking Timmy and put a vote for BMC so they would have at least 1 vote In all seriousness though I think BMC could do very well in a 20km ttt like that. Evans, Hincapie, bookwalter, ballan, quinziato and morabito are all decent in the short prologue efforts and that is what the tdf ttt is about not having good long tt riders like radioshack as it is about being explosive and keeping the pace high which is not nessercarily Radioshacks strength.

So Van Avermaet, Tshopp, Moinard, Santaromita, Santambrogio and Frank are all not going to the Tour de France next year.

Santaromita and Santambrogio I think are going to do the giro from what I have heard. I was purely basing my judgement on the best possible TTT team BMC have.

 

[LukeSchmid]

I don't think they will beat those teams but at the tdf but I think they will be close. Will depend on the team which goes and the team has said that phinney will possibly do the giro.

Phinney at 20 doing the Giro. Really hard to imagine him finishing seeing he doesn't climb that well.

I was joking Timmy and put a vote for BMC so they would have at least 1 vote In all seriousness though I think BMC could do very well in a 20km ttt like that. Evans, Hincapie, bookwalter, ballan, quinziato and morabito are all decent in the short prologue efforts and that is what the tdf ttt is about not having good long tt riders like radioshack as it is about being explosive and keeping the pace high which is not nessercarily Radioshacks strength.

What team do you think BMC will take to the tour? I was not thinking Quinziato or Ballan would be in the team if they want to take the new climbers and Van Avermaet.

Santaromita and Santambrogio I think are going to do the giro from what I have heard. I was purely basing my judgement on the best possible TTT team BMC have.

I know but that wasn't the question - it was about TTT in a grand tour.

 

[bjaelkesex]

HTC.

An early Tour lineup for them might be:

Cavendish, Renshaw, Eisel, Martin, Grabsch, Peter Velits, Albasini, Siutsou, Rasmussen/Martin Velits.

Albasini and Siutsou are probably the weakest there, but are by no means poor.

Cavendish/Renshaw/Martin/Grabsch/Rasmussen would beat most teams.

Alex Rasmussen has been told that he should train for the Tour de France as he would be an important asset in the TTT..

 

[auscyclefan94]

Phinney at 20 doing the Giro. Really hard to imagine him finishing seeing he doesn't climb that well.



What team do you think BMC will take to the tour? I was not thinking Quinziato or Ballan would be in the team if they want to take the new climbers and Van Avermaet.



I know but that wasn't the question - it was about TTT in a grand tour.

Of course Phinney won't finish. I'd imagine that Quinziato will do the tour as will Santaromita and Santambrogio. Ballan has not done the giro before so I'd imagine he would do the tour again.

Personally I see the lineup as being

Evans
Hincapie
Ballan
Bookwalter
Morabito
Moinard
Tschopp
Van avermaet
Frank

Kroon and burghardt may have to miss out but they may take out one of the climbers out of that team for possibly Burghardt, Schar or kroon?

 

[LukeSchmid]

Of course Phinney won't finish. I'd imagine that Quinziato will do the tour as will Santaromita and Santambrogio. Ballan has not done the giro before so I'd imagine he would do the tour again.

Personally I see the lineup as being

Evans
Hincapie
Ballan
Bookwalter
Morabito
Moinard
Tschopp
Van avermaet
Frank

Kroon and burghardt may have to miss out but they may take out one of the climbers out of that team for possibly Burghardt, Schar or kroon?

I was thinking Santambrogio instead of Ballan in my tour squad thinking. Ballan, Burghardt, Kroon and Quinziato should focus on classics with perhaps the Giro afterwards. Ballan was going to do the Giro this year until he was suspended.

Anyway back to the topic directly, the squad you have listed is not going to be super strong in the TTT.

 

[nobilis]

Since i'm a fan of caisse d'epargne, what do you think would be the chances of Movistar in the tour TTT. They have decent TTers like Gutierrez, Plaza, Kyrienka, Konovalovas and maybe Bruseghin with some good sprinters (JJ Rojas and Ventoso) that would be helpful in a relatively short TTT.

 

[ingsve]

Since i'm a fan of caisse d'epargne, what do you think would be the chances of Movistar in the tour TTT. They have decent TTers like Gutierrez, Plaza, Kyrienka, Konovalovas and maybe Bruseghin with some good sprinters (JJ Rojas and Ventoso) that would be helpful in a relatively short TTT.

Out of 22 teams they wouldn't be last but I don't think they would be in the top 5 either. My guess would be somewhere between 7th and 12th.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I was thinking Santambrogio instead of Ballan in my tour squad thinking. Ballan, Burghardt, Kroon and Quinziato should focus on classics with perhaps the Giro afterwards. Ballan was going to do the Giro this year until he was suspended.

Anyway back to the topic directly, the squad you have listed is not going to be super strong in the TTT.

Which is why I think they may cut Frank and/or Tschopp for Burghardt and possibly Schar. It is about having good prologue/short tt riders, which is why sprinters teams cpuld do well in this.

I think I have read somewhere that Santambrogio is actually going to do the giro.

 

[whittashau]

Surely it's either HTC or Garmin. Liquigas always seems to TTT really well, but on paper they really don't seem very special. I guess they're just well drilled.