Confirmed Tour Teams/Pre-Selections

[airstream]

I think so too. One of the biggest risks is that if something happens to Porte (crash/illness) then Froome can become extremely isolated. If you have two elite mountain helpers (Porte + Uran/Henao) then that reduces the risk a lot.

Anyway, good news for the Colombians that they can focus on Vuelta/Worlds.

If Sky had feared that so much they would've included Uran/Henao. I bet Thomas will be very strong, on the level of last year's Porte. Plus Kiri, a little Terminator who can drop any but Froome on a good day.

 

[Froome19]

If Sky had feared that so much they would've included Uran/Henao. I bet Thomas will be very strong, on the level of last year's Porte. Plus Kiri, a little Terminator who can drop any but Froome on a good day.

Agreed.

People will be surprised with both the performances of Kennaugh and Thomas but they are both immensely talented riders who have been touted for quite some time and would have been working on their climbing for quite a while now, especially Kennaugh.

 

[Ferminal]

ORICA-GreenEDGE for the Tour de France:

Brett Lancaster
Cameron Meyer
Daryl Impey
Matt Goss
Michael Albasini
Simon Clarke
Simon Gerrans
Stuart O’Grady
Svein Tuft

http://greenedgecycling.com/news/the-orica-greenedge-tour-de-france-nine

 

[Boeing]

ORICA-GreenEDGE for the Tour de France:

Brett Lancaster
Cameron Meyer
Daryl Impey
Matt Goss
Michael Albasini
Simon Clarke
Simon Gerrans
Stuart O’Grady
Svein Tuft

http://greenedgecycling.com/news/the-orica-greenedge-tour-de-france-nine

anyone care to share what exactly this teams strategy is for this tour?

 

[Ferminal]

Chase down breakaways to finish fourth on sprint stages, get owned by Europcar in mountain breakaways.

 

[auscyclefan94]

ORICA-GreenEDGE for the Tour de France:

Brett Lancaster
Cameron Meyer
Daryl Impey
Matt Goss
Michael Albasini
Simon Clarke
Simon Gerrans
Stuart O’Grady
Svein Tuft

http://greenedgecycling.com/news/the-orica-greenedge-tour-de-france-nine

Goss will place in a couple of stages, but that is just about it.

 

[taiwan]

Top 20 for Meyer.

Seriously best tactic would be stage hunting with Albasini and Gerrans.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Goss will place in a couple of stages, but that is just about it.

probably, but perhaps Orica should hammer hard with Cannondale on stage 2 from the start and see if Cav, Kittel and Greipel are dropped.

Gerrans vs EBH vs Sagan looks better than Goss vs Greipel vs Cav vs Kittel etc, at least to me.

 

[Ferminal]

and Clarke. Problem is there aren't really any medium mountain stages which are too hard for Sagan but easy enough so that the breakaway ends in some form of small group sprint. Only real chance would be Gap. For the same reasons I doubt we will see a non-Europcar French rider winning from a break.

 

[roundabout]

shack

Jan Bakelants, Laurent Didier, Tony Gallopin, Markel Irizar, Andreas Klöden, Maxime Monfort, Andy Schleck, Jens Voigt & Haimar Zubeldia.

http://www.radioshackleopardtrek.co...d-radioshack-leopard-trek-2013-tour-de-france

 

[Cimber]

http://teamsaxotinkoff.com/ny_news.asp?n_id=4077
Noval is in )-: no Nicki, no Mørkøv

 

[Christian]

shack

Jan Bakelants, Laurent Didier, Tony Gallopin, Markel Irizar, Andreas Klöden, Maxime Monfort, Andy Schleck, Jens Voigt & Haimar Zubeldia.

http://www.radioshackleopardtrek.co...d-radioshack-leopard-trek-2013-tour-de-france

Wow, I am positively surprised by this! Especially Bakelants I did not expect. I am very glad to see some new faces on this team. Also very happy for Laurent Didier, he deserved it IMO!

 

[screaming fist]

Re: SaxoTinkoff
Surprised to see they don't have included a single Dane.

Re: Shack
Has Klöden a contract clause that secures him a Tour de France spot?

 

[Netserk]

http://teamsaxotinkoff.com/ny_news.asp?n_id=4077
Noval is in )-: no Nicki, no Mørkøv

- Michael Rogers, Australia
- Roman Kreuziger, Czech Republic
- Nicolas Roche, Ireland
- Matteo Tosatto, Italy
- Daniele Bennati, Italy
- Sergio Paulinho, Portugal
- Alberto Contador, Spain
- Jesus Hernandez, Spain
- Benjamin Noval, Spain

I think we have found a great mix of in form riders. We have a group of strong climbers in the team, we have riders designated to take care of Alberto on the flat roads and in the wind, and I'm sure we will perform well in the TTT as well. At the same time this team will allow us to ride aggressively or take a more controlling approach in all terrains depending on our needs. At the end of the day this versatility will be a key components in trying to win the race.

This year, the race to be part of our Tour de France lineup has been tougher than in many years with more than the nine riders selected deserving a spot, and in our reserves group consisting of Nicki S&#248]

 

[saneguy]

shack

Jan Bakelants, Laurent Didier, Tony Gallopin, Markel Irizar, Andreas Klöden, Maxime Monfort, Andy Schleck, Jens Voigt & Haimar Zubeldia.

http://www.radioshackleopardtrek.co...d-radioshack-leopard-trek-2013-tour-de-france

Seriously surprised by Bakelants. Thought Rast would have got this spot especially after his performance in the Tour De Suisse. Pretty strong team on paper. Not expecting much performance though from them. None of the guys have done anything much in any of the stage races this year.

(*Secret Prayer - Hope Andy does well*) LOL!

 

[ciranda]

- Michael Rogers, Australia
- Roman Kreuziger, Czech Republic
- Nicolas Roche, Ireland
- Matteo Tosatto, Italy
- Daniele Bennati, Italy
- Sergio Paulinho, Portugal
- Alberto Contador, Spain
- Jesus Hernandez, Spain
- Benjamin Noval, Spain

1. No Danish riders means less attention from Danish media means less annoying questions about doping. Riis is clever like that.
2. Good for Chris Anker Sorensen. It would suck to see him be a helper after last year. Now he can get into real shape for Vuelta, World Championships in Firenze, Emilia and Lombardia.

 

[Cimber]

"But we have committed ourselves to go with the group, we believe has the best composition to achieve our overall goal," Bjarne Riis says.

Bullshi t. If that was true Noval would never have even made the short list.

 

[Roderick]

"But we have committed ourselves to go with the group, we believe has the best composition to achieve our overall goal," Bjarne Riis says.

Bullshi t. If that was true Noval would never have even made the short list.

Who else is going to wipe Berto's *** after he took a **** or going to sing him a night night-song?

 

[Cimber]

Who else is going to wipe Berto's *** after he took a **** or going to sing him a night night-song?

Well no one says Noval couldnt join the crew for the after-stage services

 

[The Blues]

The Saxo-lineup is a joke. Unfortunately it isn't surprising they are there, but Noval and Tosatto definitely shouldn't be there. Nicki and Chris Anker Sørensen is much better choices. Mørkøv is also much better than Noval, I think, and he's in some good form as well - he says he is stronger than last year and that he has trained a lot on his time trial-bike because of the ttt and to have the strength needed on the flats and hills.

As a Dane I'm very annoyed that there's no Dane - especially when Noval and Tosatto are the replacements. Bah...

 

[Dazed and Confused]

"But we have committed ourselves to go with the group, we believe has the best composition to achieve our overall goal," Bjarne Riis says.

Bullshi t. If that was true Noval would never have even made the short list.

Noval delivers in one race every year. He will do that this year as well, no doubt.


separately....

While I'm not a fan of Bennati's skills in the sprinter department, the fact is this tour edition includes something like 12 sprinter stages. Why not include a guy that can play a bit in these while being pretty strong in a TTT?

 

[T-Nielsen]

Noval delivers in one race every year. He will do that this year as well, no doubt.


separately....

While I'm not a fan of Bennati's skills in the sprinter department, the fact is this tour edition includes something like 12 sprinter stages. Why not include a guy that can play a bit in these while being pretty strong in a TTT?

Noval has not delivered in a single race since he arived at Saxo. He has not been able to sit with Contador at the front and only once has he not been the first to get dropped on a TTT.

Saxo starting with 8 men once again.

 

[del1962]

Sky must be confident, Knees is the 9th man!! So Dauphine 8 plus Knees

Where does this come from?

 

[Escarabajo]

- Michael Rogers, Australia
- Roman Kreuziger, Czech Republic
- Nicolas Roche, Ireland
- Matteo Tosatto, Italy
- Daniele Bennati, Italy
- Sergio Paulinho, Portugal
- Alberto Contador, Spain
- Jesus Hernandez, Spain
- Benjamin Noval, Spain

I thought Noval was retired. He is so fat. It is embarrassing really.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Noval has not delivered in a single race since he arived at Saxo. He has not been able to sit with Contador at the front and only once has he not been the first to get dropped on a TTT.

Saxo starting with 8 men once again.

lol, Noval is a bit of a joke of course, but he will deliver in July.