Teams & Riders Brothers in (crank) arms - Yates Discussion Thread

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Surely they don't have much chance of beating Sky due to their superior numbers. Any time they attack then Thomas or Stannard can just bring it back and leave it for Swift to win the sprint. Course certainly won't be hilly enough for Adam anyway although he can at least give Simon support.

Depends how it goes down. Pretty rare for nats to involve 1 team trying to keep a peloton together. If there's a high quality break with some sky in it everyone else will sit up pretty quickly.

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

They'll need to get rid of a few Sky riders before the finishing circuit (10 laps) to stand a chance.

 

[Pricey_sky]

They'll need to get rid of a few Sky riders before the finishing circuit (10 laps) to stand a chance.

Yes, there is a short (250 metres?) section of around 10% but that's about it on the finishing circuit. Swift has a good chance if still holding his form.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

We've reached the top of the climb to Trellech and a group of eight are leading - four Team Sky, the Yates brothers of Orica GreenEDGE, a Team Raleigh rider and a Madison Genesis rider. We're now 70km in.


Not sure if that is more or less controlled than having all the also-rans there as well

 

[Pricey_sky]

Wow what a suprise! Simon Yates in the Tour team. He's obviously fresh as he's suffered form injuries earlier in the season and I hope he learns a lot from his next few weeks.

Orica obviously sensing a big PR boost with Simon the only English rider in the Tour.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Just heard Simon Yates in the Tour !

Fantastico !

Gotta fancy his chances for a podium on one of the stages !

 

[trevim]

Wow what a suprise! Simon Yates in the Tour team. He's obviously fresh as he's suffered form injuries earlier in the season and I hope he learns a lot from his next few weeks.

Orica obviously sensing a big PR boost with Simon the only English rider in the Tour.

Yeah I can't see anything other than PR in choosing Yates instead of Chavez for instance. Good for him though, he only has to finish the English stages. Everything else is a bonus.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Could win stage 2 !!!

My head will blow off if I see him on Jenkin Road first !!

 

[Pricey_sky]

Could win stage 2 !!!

My head will blow off if I see him on Jenkin Road first !!

I'm going to be on Jenkin Road too, see you there! If he's still in that lead group up there I'm going to go crazy!!!

 

[Bushman]

Yeah I can't see anything other than PR in choosing Yates instead of Chavez for instance. Good for him though, he only has to finish the English stages. Everything else is a bonus.

Chaves has the Vuelta as a goal later on.

 

[murali]

OGE now has real chances with a GC spot.

 

[del1962]

OGE now has real chances with a GC spot.

Assuming you mean Yates, as much as I would love to see him make the top twenty on GC I don't think we can really expect him to be challenging for a top GC position.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

OGE now has real chances with a GC spot.

Wrong Yates.

 

[dirkprovin]

OGE now has real chances with a GC spot.

Maybe a few years down the track ..... and if either or both Yates decide to stay with OGE for another contract. Otherwise a quite ridiculous comment seeing as the longest race EITHER Yates have ever completed is ONE week .... and a GT lasts three !!

Give them a chance to see if they can actually finish a GT ..... let alone prove to be contenders ?

 

[Eclipse]

Delighted for Simon

A smart move from Orica imo PR wise, GB riders have been dropping out all over the place.

It's a big ask for him to be competitive the entire race, but valuable experience and maybe he can be in the hunt for a stage at some point.

 

[murali]

Wrong Yates.

did i confuse him with the other brother?

either way, i think the brothers need more trust. i dont feel tht he will struggle over the 3 weeks.

Unless he crashes out, i m betting a top-25 finish.

 

[Pricey_sky]

did i confuse him with the other brother?

either way, i think the brothers need more trust. i dont feel tht he will struggle over the 3 weeks.

Unless he crashes out, i m betting a top-25 finish.

Yes, I feel in the future Simon is one for the shorter hills and climbs whereas Adam will be the GC guy.

 

[fowlyetti]

did i confuse him with the other brother?

either way, i think the brothers need more trust. i dont feel tht he will struggle over the 3 weeks.

Unless he crashes out, i m betting a top-25 finish.

I dont think Simon will try and stay with the big guys in the mountains, and will target stages perhaps. Adam would probably have tried to get as high on GC as possible if he was riding. Just a guess tho.

 

[dirkprovin]

did i confuse him with the other brother?

either way, i think the brothers need more trust. i dont feel tht he will struggle over the 3 weeks.

Unless he crashes out, i m betting a top-25 finish.

I'm sorry but I firmly disagree. These guys are 21 y.o and first year pros; NOT riders with a few years pro experience stepping up to WT & GT level. At this point, they just don't have the miles in their legs.

Finishing a GT is a physical ordeal, whether you finish in Yellow or the lantern rouge ....... as any rider who finished one would testify. The step up from one week to three weeks is immense. There is also the capacity to deal with the added media pressure/long transfers that go with GTs, especially the circus that is the Tour.

A top 25 next year would be nice, but first and foremost the goal would be to finish one. This year would be more to give them a taste of GTs with little pressure to deliver results but licence to go for stage results if opportunities arise and their form allows.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Yeah I can't see anything other than PR in choosing Yates instead of Chavez for instance. Good for him though, he only has to finish the English stages. Everything else is a bonus.

If you were picking 1 young climber for OGE based on potential shown this season, Chavez wouldn't be the one, and I'm not even sure I'd have him 2nd personally.

Anyway, very exciting news. Hopefully he doesn't get lured in to riding for a top 25 place - if he has good form in the 2nd half he could be a real threat for a stage in the right breakaway.

 

[trevim]

If you were picking 1 young climber for OGE based on potential shown this season, Chavez wouldn't be the one, and I'm not even sure I'd have him 2nd personally.

Anyway, very exciting news. Hopefully he doesn't get lured in to riding for a top 25 place - if he has good form in the 2nd half he could be a real threat for a stage in the right breakaway.

I doubt he even gets to the 2nd half. He may quit after 2weeks or so.

 

[Bushman]

If you were picking 1 young climber for OGE based on potential shown this season, Chavez wouldn't be the one, and I'm not even sure I'd have him 2nd personally.

Anyway, very exciting news. Hopefully he doesn't get lured in to riding for a top 25 place - if he has good form in the 2nd half he could be a real threat for a stage in the right breakaway.

Chaves won mountain stages in both Tour de Suisse and Tour of Cali. That is a bit more impressive than finishing 6th at Tour of Slovenia. BTW im not trying to talk Simon Yates down as i am already a big fan of both Yates, your post is just quite biased tbh.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Chaves won mountain stages in both Tour de Suisse and Tour of Cali. That is a bit more impressive than finishing 6th at Tour of Slovenia. BTW im not trying to talk Simon Yates down as i am already a big fan of both Yates, your post is just quite biased tbh.

What a fine straw man.

I don't buy hype from results achieved when a rider is a threat to no one and allowed to ride off without anyone batting an eye lid.

Adam's results are clearly stronger this year. You can make a reasonable case for Chaves over Simon, but of the two the Basque result shows more long term potential to me.

I hope Chaves has an excellent career to be discussed on another thread, but I will have more grounds to expect it when he puts in a strong GC showing with decent competition again (hat tip to Langkawi, for what it is worth).

 

[jaylew]

Doesn't seem like a straw man to me. And I was thinking the same thing. Even more so when you say that the Vasco says more to you GC-wise than what you've seen from Chaves.

You can argue that Adam Yates has shown more potential there so far but it's certainly not clear cut. And lets not forget that Chaves is coming off of major injuries that kept him out for basically an entire year. That has to be taken under consideration as do his fine results the year before that injury.

Of course it must be said that I have nothing against Simon. In fact, I like his style and I hope he becomes a great rider.

 

[Bushman]

What a fine straw man.

I don't buy hype from results achieved when a rider is a threat to no one and allowed to ride off without anyone batting an eye lid.

Adam's results are clearly stronger this year. You can make a reasonable case for Chaves over Simon, but of the two the Basque result shows more long term potential to me.

I hope Chaves has an excellent career to be discussed on another thread, but I will have more grounds to expect it when he puts in a strong GC showing with decent competition again (hat tip to Langkawi, for what it is worth).

Adam Yates' results this year has certainly been more impressive than Chaves' this year considering he is a first year pro. However, regarding long term potential, you should also consider the injury that kept Chaves out for all of 2013. Look at his Vuelta a Burgos in 2012. If not for his injury he would probably have a higher level right now.

It is also a bit silly writing off Chaves stage wins because he wasn't a marked man. I dont think Adam Yates were the biggest concern of the favourites either.