BMC in disarray?

[dlwssonic]

After the ardennes, this thread will be total nonsense Or even maybe after RVV

 

[Eric8-A]

After the ardennes, this thread will be total nonsense Or even maybe after RVV

And if Cadel goes well in the Tour.

 

[Maxiton]

So if you're in good form you never get flat tires?

Good post, but as you said, Roger de Vlaeminck is somewhat of a joke.

Wait, how is de Vlaeminck a joke exactly?

 

[dlwssonic]

And if Cadel goes well in the Tour.

This tour really suits him plus there is no contador. Still many things can go wrong.

 

[Mellow Velo]

After the ardennes, this thread will be total nonsense Or even maybe after RVV

Not really.
It's about now, not then.
As it stands: Saxo (minus their only star) >> BMC (with their all star cast)
If we are still waiting for the first win until the Ardennes in the latter half of April, then they could even end up behind The Carrots etc.
All things and reputations considered, it could hardly be much worst.

 

[hrotha]

Many cycling legends are utter jokes nowadays. I don't know about De Vlaeminck, but Merckx and Bahamontes come to mind.

 

[dlwssonic]

Not really.
It's about now, not then.
As it stands: Saxo (minus their only star) >> BMC (with their all star cast)
If we are still waiting for the first win until the Ardennes in the latter half of April, then they could even end up behind The Carrots etc.
All things and reputations considered, it could hardly be much worst.

So you are telling me just because saxobank got their brilliant win in the tour of taiwan they are better than BMC. The performance of a team is not measured by the quantity of wins. A 5th GC and young riders jersey in PN is way better than a stage win in taiwan.

 

[Mellow Velo]

So you are telling me just because saxobank got their brilliant win in the tour of taiwan they are better than BMC. The performance of a team is not measured by the quantity of wins. A 5th GC and young riders jersey in PN is way better than a stage win in taiwan.

No, just that Saxo have won this season and that BMC haven't.
As I said, it's about the season so far, not what might happen before the Giro.
I'll turn it around.
How would you rate BMC's season, thus far?
Better than you expected?
About what you expected?
Worse than you expected?
A lot worse than you expected?

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

So you are telling me just because saxobank got their brilliant win in the tour of taiwan they are better than BMC. The performance of a team is not measured by the quantity of wins. A 5th GC and young riders jersey in PN is way better than a stage win in taiwan.

saxo already won in san luis. and you can say all youw ant but you are actually defending the joke trhat is bmc? I'm a fan of coldeportes riders and I;m thoroughly disapointed in how badly they ride

 

[Angliru]

Still it is weird that Gilbert fell.

First of all he has always been very good at avoiding this.

Second he is Gilbert and he is wearing a unique yersey, that alone gives you a little more space in the peleton.

One's string of good fortune eventually runs out.

A unique jersey isn't also an airbag device nor does it magically stop riders from crashing in front of and around you, often cases in which you hitting the pavement is unavoidable.

 

[Angliru]

Still it remains so that there are only 2 riders that could possibly hope to beat Gilbert in a Cauberg sprint.

And with Evans + GVA to keep the bunch together...

BTW the fact that GVA did a bit of work for Gilbert in MSR pretty much proves that the latter was feeling well.

Sky was working for Cav too as were HTC the year they decided to leave an on form Greipel at home in favor of a dentally challenged Cav. Sometimes a team's hopes have more to do with pacifying a highly paid rider than any logical strategy based in reality. Of course for Sky this year they had no reason to think Cav would've lost it with 90 km to go. What the race showed though is that there is now a formula for eliminating Cav from the MSR equation.

 

[El Pistolero]

Many cycling legends are utter jokes nowadays. I don't know about De Vlaeminck, but Merckx and Bahamontes come to mind.

Merckx is a genius compared to what De Vlaeminck says. Don't get me wrong, if I see a newspaper with a De Vlaeminck interview in it, it's the first thing I'm going to read. Let me just say that he's 10 times "worse" than Cavendish in interviews. And I'm not exaggerating.

 

[Beech Mtn]

Not really.
It's about now, not then.
As it stands: Saxo (minus their only star) >> BMC (with their all star cast)
If we are still waiting for the first win until the Ardennes in the latter half of April, then they could even end up behind The Carrots etc.
All things and reputations considered, it could hardly be much worst.

Nice point. With the money BMC have spent on riders, they need to start producing results soon.

Many cycling legends are utter jokes nowadays. I don't know about De Vlaeminck, but Merckx and Bahamontes come to mind.

Thank god somebody said this about Merckx. I could do without the cycling media prostrating themselves every time he opens his mouth to voice an opinion. It's not like they ever critically analyze whether he's right or wrong, got an agenda himself, etc. They just report it like it's holy gospel handed down from on high.

saxo already won in san luis. and you can say all youw ant but you are actually defending the joke trhat is bmc? I'm a fan of coldeportes riders and I;m thoroughly disapointed in how badly they ride

Yes they did. Saxo have 3 wins this year, no matter what CAS says.

 

[Angliru]

Many cycling legends are utter jokes nowadays. I don't know about De Vlaeminck, but Merckx and Bahamontes come to mind.

Why is Bahamontes a joke? (Sorry to derail the thread topic but I too am curious about these legends that supposedly have sullied their reps).

 

[King Of The Mountain's]

I hope Boonen wins PR 5 times so he can ****-off with his record.

cancellara has more chance of winning le tour than boonene getting 5 roubaix lol

 

[movingtarget]

Nice point. With the money BMC have spent on riders, they need to start producing results soon.



Thank god somebody said this about Merckx. I could do without the cycling media prostrating themselves every time he opens his mouth to voice an opinion. It's not like they ever critically analyze whether he's right or wrong, got an agenda himself, etc. They just report it like it's holy gospel handed down from on high.



Yes they did. Saxo have 3 wins this year, no matter what CAS says.

The legends are entitled to their views and they know more about the sport than any of so called legends on this site. So what if if they have a few crackpot theories. The sport has changed so much since then including the racing and training methods. I think the Gypsy makes a lot of sense but I sometimes wonder about Eddie's moderate views re doping.

 

[movingtarget]

Oh lordy lord!

BMC is not doing well thus far. All their A Team are looking at different and later races, so that might partly explain. But putting all your eggs in one basket can backfire ... we will find out soon.

This said, all this chatter about Gilbert is actually funny. No one really knows if his form is really bad right now. He did have bad luck, and whether his position was due to chance or poor form, we will never know. We do know that the rider who might have caused the crash has caused Gilbert to crash before (at least if we believe Gilbert - "Rollin is my bête noire for crashes…").

Anyhoo, as such a 'superteam', they have not impressed yet, at all. But it is mid-March and it is a long season and an Olympic year, so a bit early to toss in the towel.


As of now riders like Gerrans, Valverde and Rodriguez would have to be feeling fairly confident re the Ardenne classics but Gilbert and Evans still have time to get it together. Early days as you said.

 

[DominicDecoco]

cancellara has more chance of winning le tour than boonene getting 5 roubaix lol

That's a brave comment.

 

[zigmeister]

Well, Gilbert did get wrecked out of San Remo as well as Hincapie. Then Big George was able to get back up to the front and do some work.

It was quite funny to watch Gilbert ride up to the front of the peloton at one point where his teammates were pulling like maniacs to chase down the break and was like "WTF is wrong with you guys? We have no spriters, why are you chasing for everyone else?"

Too many Chiefs, not enough Indians. More accurately though, too many big egos, not enough team players.

 

[zigmeister]

Nice point. With the money BMC have spent on riders, they need to start producing results soon.

Don't worry, they have everything riding on Le Tour and that baby faced defending champion Cadel Evans!

All will come together by July!!

 

[thehog]

Don't worry, they have everything riding on Le Tour and that baby faced defending champion Cadel Evans!

All will come together by July!!

Problem with that is Gilbert and Thor will be so desperate for wins they'll ignore Cadel and be bombing off the front all day long.

 

[zigmeister]

Problem with that is Gilbert and Thor will be so desperate for wins they'll ignore Cadel and be bombing off the front all day long.

Well, that WOULD be exciting to watch/see though. As long as Cadel gets the overall title, he wouldn't care. Those guys can't climb anyway.

 

[mewmewmew13]

Problem with that is Gilbert and Thor will be so desperate for wins they'll ignore Cadel and be bombing off the front all day long.

and don't forget Georgie and who knows who else...

 

[virandociclista]

BMC very disappointing so far. Gilbert and Cia totally out of shape. Only the gregarios are training in this team....

 

[Panda Claws]

Gilbert was good enough in MSR.

Lefevre is not worried either. You can be sure that Gilbert will be there in Flanders and especially in Liege.