Cav's leadout man?

[Midnightfright]

And yet it seems to be absolutely set in stone, at least in the media, that everybody accepts Renshaw as the best leadout man in the sport. It's easy to appear the best when you have a guy behind you so good that he'll win even if you do your job at a mediocre level.

Renshaw is damn good at what he does. But we have no idea if he could do what Hondo does, because he's never asked to. I want to see what Cavendish does if people get under his skin now, since the old trick used to be "hide behind Renshaw".

It's like jumping to the conclusion that hernandez is the best climbing domestique because Contador was destroying everyone in the mountains.

 

[cycladianpirate]

I'm sorry. Was I the only one to see Boonen's reaction when Cavendish passed him on Stage 3 of Qatar??

He's got the hoodoo on the rest of them. That's better than any leadout.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Tony Martin, Peter Velits, Grabsch, etc are pretty hard to replace. Wiggins won't be taking over Tony Martin's job for example

Sure, and I don't expect there to be a Sky train of that sort. But, really, they should at least have a decent sprinter with good positional sense working as a dedicated, year round, leadout. They do have guys capable of that who don't have something obviously better to be doing with their efforts.

I mean, according to Matt Brammeier's twitter account, Boonen has a number of guys whose season is about working for him in the sprints (and who are not all guaranteed to be his classics helpers). And, while Boonen is one of the best riders in the world, he's hardly a better bet in the sprints than the best sprinter there is.

 

[Swede1]

Sky will undoubtedly have a leadout train for him for the big races. We already know that Eisel will be a key piece for his train (like 3rd from the end). Rogers can be an effective engine for a leadout train. Riders like Porte, Siutsou, Pate... are all very good at bringing in break aways. Sutton has been a leadout man before and still is one sometimes. He was good speed/power and if he is part of a train, positioning isnt too important. In the Tour, Hagen will probably be Cav's final leadout man, and I doubt positioning will be a problem. The train might look like: Cav - Hagen - Eisel - Rogers - Flecha. That is pretty solid.

 

[CobbleStoner]

In the Tour, Hagen will probably be Cav's final leadout man, and I doubt positioning will be a problem. The train might look like: Cav - Hagen - Eisel - Rogers - Flecha. That is pretty solid.

what? positioning will be a BIG problem because Hagen isn't very good at it, he is plenty strong, but not the brain. Eisel has the positioning know-how but seems he has lost a bit of speed/power. on paper it sounds like a confused mess, albeit strong. and in reality so far, it has been exactly that.

 

[PCutter]

CJ Sutton seemed to suggest he may be getting the lead-out role for Cav on SBS's Cycling Central. He's joining the squad Oman after staying in Sydney getting in shape in the warm weather

 

[Libertine Seguros]

what? positioning will be a BIG problem because Hagen isn't very good at it, he is plenty strong, but not the brain. Eisel has the positioning know-how but seems he has lost a bit of speed/power. on paper it sounds like a confused mess, albeit strong. and in reality so far, it has been exactly that.

Yea, but it's February. Still trying things out, working out who's best where. By the time we get to the crunch races, I'd expect that everything will be working smoothly. The big question will be how they reconcile the train with Wiggins' and Froome's GC ambitions. People like Porte and Siutsou can cover both roles, but they aren't superhuman, so they can't rely on them completely.

 

[Gloin22]

what? positioning will be a BIG problem because Hagen isn't very good at it, he is plenty strong, but not the brain. Eisel has the positioning know-how but seems he has lost a bit of speed/power. on paper it sounds like a confused mess, albeit strong. and in reality so far, it has been exactly that.

Really ? A mess ? Seriously ?

Hagen didnt evean had a chance to lead him out this season. And Cav barely rode one race, which he won 2 stages comfortably and had that unlucky crash. Where's the mess ?

 

[theyoungest]

Really ? A mess ? Seriously ?

Hagen didnt evean had a chance to lead him out this season. And Cav barely rode one race, which he won 2 stages comfortably and had that unlucky crash. Where's the mess ?

And where was his leadout in those two stages?

 

[sublimit]

And where was his leadout in those two stages?

His teamates were riders that will be important in the Spring not burying themselves in leading the guy out in a warm up race.

Boonen and Farrar were his leadout.

 

[El Pistolero]

And yet in the Spring we'll see QS dominate Sky as well

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

An awful lot of talk for a team that have been pretty irrelevant for the last 2 years.

Some good signings (not amazing, but good) this year, but pretty vulgar to start trash talking before they win anything of note.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

An awful lot of talk for a team that have been pretty irrelevant for the last 2 years.

Some good signings (not amazing, but good) this year, but pretty vulgar to start trash talking before they win anything of note.

Indeed, Quickstep do look in pretty good shape right now though, Boonen's the best I've seen him look for a good while, Steegmans too. Andy Fenn winning and probably won't even get into the QS lineups. I'd be more confident for SKY's chances with Thomas in there, he's going to win one of the big classics in the next year or two.

 

[sublimit]

And yet in the Spring we'll see QS dominate Sky as well

I doubt it - I'm more concerned with Radioshack..
Nice avatar BTW. Nice to see a Belgian Andy Fenn fan.

 

[Andy99]

I doubt it - I'm more concerned with Radioshack..
Nice avatar BTW. Nice to see a Belgian Andy Fenn fan.

Has he changed it

 

[theyoungest]

An awful lot of talk for a team that have been pretty irrelevant for the last 2 years.

Some good signings (not amazing, but good) this year, but pretty vulgar to start trash talking before they win anything of note.

You kidding me? They signed the world champion TT, who also tends to win the odd stage race here and there...

Or were you talking about Sky?

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

You kidding me? They signed the world champion TT, who also tends to win the odd stage race here and there...

Or were you talking about Sky?

No, OPQS.

Martin is obviously a very very good signing. I'm not overwhelmed by any of the others. Their winter signings are not on a BMC level. And I don't see Tony dominating the spring classics, which is where this little chain started.

 

[CobbleStoner]

Really ? A mess ? Seriously ?

Hagen didnt evean had a chance to lead him out this season. And Cav barely rode one race, which he won 2 stages comfortably and had that unlucky crash. Where's the mess ?

yes, a mess. that 'unlucky' crash as you put it, would not have happened with a proper lead out, really kinda obvious. and you know Cav is ****ed, which is probably what they needed to get it together, can't afford their top $ signing to be eating pavement

 

[JRanton]

Eisel himself pretty much admitted to the media that the lead out was a mess in Qatar. Sutton and Hayman join the squad in Oman which should result in an improvement.

 

[El Pistolero]

Has he changed it

It was always a Matt Brammeier avatar. I'm following Andy Fenn, but can't call my self a fan yet - haven't seen enough of him yet and don't know him well. Looks promising though. I hope he's more than just a sprinter as I can't really be a fan of someone who's just a sprinter.

 

[El Pistolero]

I doubt it - I'm more concerned with Radioshack..
Nice avatar BTW. Nice to see a Belgian Andy Fenn fan.

Since when are Geraint Thomas, Flecha and Edvald Boasson Hagen a bigger threat in the classics than Sylvain Chavanel and Tom Boonen?

Don't even think about the hilly classics, Sky will be non-factor there as will QS.

 

[Euskaltel!]

The lead out was such a mess that it didn't even exist, but then again Cavendish still managed to win despite this, so it's game on as far as the season goes - let's see how they iron out the issues in Oman