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Jspear said:Quintana: One of the top or the top GC rider right now. I'd take him over AC because he's a little younger.
Chaves: Great budding GC rider. He'd keep the team in high spirits.
Superman Lopez: Great climber. Still getting better.
Dayer Quintana: He'll continue to get better. He can climb pretty well when he's on his A game.
Rigoberto Uran: A decent all rounder. On my team he'd never get sick and he'd be even better.
Carlos Betancur: My trainers would rediscover his form of old.
Sergio Henao: He'd win every LBL, FW, type stage.
Julian Arredondo: He'd make a good dom for the early parts of mountain stages
Fernando Gaviria: He'd win every sprint stage.
GP Blanco said:Jspear said:Quintana: One of the top or the top GC rider right now. I'd take him over AC because he's a little younger.
Chaves: Great budding GC rider. He'd keep the team in high spirits.
Superman Lopez: Great climber. Still getting better.
Dayer Quintana: He'll continue to get better. He can climb pretty well when he's on his A game.
Rigoberto Uran: A decent all rounder. On my team he'd never get sick and he'd be even better.
Carlos Betancur: My trainers would rediscover his form of old.
Sergio Henao: He'd win every LBL, FW, type stage.
Julian Arredondo: He'd make a good dom for the early parts of mountain stages
Fernando Gaviria: He'd win every sprint stage.
No echelons
Jspear said:Quintana: One of the top or the top GC rider right now. I'd take him over AC because he's a little younger.
Chaves: Great budding GC rider. He'd keep the team in high spirits.
Superman Lopez: Great climber. Still getting better.
Dayer Quintana: He'll continue to get better. He can climb pretty well when he's on his A game.
Rigoberto Uran: A decent all rounder. On my team he'd never get sick and he'd be even better.
Carlos Betancur: My trainers would rediscover his form of old.
Sergio Henao: He'd win every LBL, FW, type stage.
Julian Arredondo: He'd make a good dom for the early parts of mountain stages
Fernando Gaviria: He'd win every sprint stage.
With a fit Betancur, you have him, Gaviria and Uran (not the GC choice remember) as pretty decent windshield unit. If wind was more probable then I'd plug in Anacona and take out Dayer.GP Blanco said:Jspear said:Quintana: One of the top or the top GC rider right now. I'd take him over AC because he's a little younger.
Chaves: Great budding GC rider. He'd keep the team in high spirits.
Superman Lopez: Great climber. Still getting better.
Dayer Quintana: He'll continue to get better. He can climb pretty well when he's on his A game.
Rigoberto Uran: A decent all rounder. On my team he'd never get sick and he'd be even better.
Carlos Betancur: My trainers would rediscover his form of old.
Sergio Henao: He'd win every LBL, FW, type stage.
Julian Arredondo: He'd make a good dom for the early parts of mountain stages
Fernando Gaviria: He'd win every sprint stage.
No echelons
Oliwright said:Why do so many people like Pinot? He finished 3rd at the tour in the weakest ever field and since then has disappointed. Yes he won a TT or 2, but not enough to be this talked up.BigMac said:Leader: Thibaut Pinot.
Slaves: Mikel Nieve; Marcel Wyss; Rafael Valls; Andrey Amador; Peter Kennaugh; Bob Jungels; Warren Barguil; Pierre Latour.
Indestructible.
PremierAndrew said:Looking at other big nations, just a couple of possibilities (looking purely at GC):
Froome, Thomas, Stannard, Rowe, Cummings, Dowsett, Kennaugh, Yates, Yates
Contador, Valverde, Landa, Erviti, Castroviejo, Rojas, Purito, Nieve, Ion Izaguirre
Nibali, Aru, Ulissi, Colbrelli, Scarponi, Malori, Moser, Oss, De Marchi
Pinot, Bardet, Gallopin, Rolland, Demare, Ladagnous, Alaphilippe, Geniez, Barguil
Kruijswijk, Dumoulin, Mollema, Gesink, Poels, Terpstra, Westra, Kelderman, Boom
Apart from those, I can't think of any other nations that could produce a better GC team than Colombia, despite the youth present in that Colombian team mentioned. Maybe Australia, but they don't have as much depth on the climbs as Colombia.
TMP402 said:I regret not picking Jungels. Based on his Giro perfomance, he might be the perfect mountain engine who can be persuaded to work for a better climber.
TMP402 said:I regret not picking Jungels. Based on his Giro perfomance, he might be the perfect mountain engine who can be persuaded to work for a better climber.
Akuryo said:TMP402 said:I regret not picking Jungels. Based on his Giro perfomance, he might be the perfect mountain engine who can be persuaded to work for a better climber.
Indeed, he is almost as versatile as Thomas or Kwiatkowski. Although he lacks their palmares, he is already a decent rider. And he is only 23, so who knows where his ceiling might be...
Oliwright said:Akuryo said:TMP402 said:I regret not picking Jungels. Based on his Giro perfomance, he might be the perfect mountain engine who can be persuaded to work for a better climber.
Indeed, he is almost as versatile as Thomas or Kwiatkowski. Although he lacks their palmares, he is already a decent rider. And he is only 23, so who knows where his ceiling might be...
I don't think Kwiat is as good in the high mountains as Jungels or Thomas.
To be fair Kwiat was great at 23 he finished 10th in the tour!
Arredondo said:Contador (team leader. Best climber in the race. Best GT-rider)
Landa (my dark horse. Gets the space to attack the first mountain stage, to put pressure on all the other teams. Last man standing too for Contador in the mountains)
Zakarin (attacking horse, will light up the race multiple times)
Purito (will do a Murito the first km on Alpe d'Huez to launch Contador)
Scarponi (best domestique there is atm)
Valverde (chasing yellow in the first week and to get a likely stage win for the team)
Sagan (getting green, animate the race and he can work for Contador on a variety of points)
Ferrari (incredible bike handling skills, safeguard for team leaders Alberto and Sagan)
Tossato (because he's got massive experience, and a 'friend' of Contador)
TMP402 said:PremierAndrew said:Looking at other big nations, just a couple of possibilities (looking purely at GC):
Froome, Thomas, Stannard, Rowe, Cummings, Dowsett, Kennaugh, Yates, Yates
Contador, Valverde, Landa, Erviti, Castroviejo, Rojas, Purito, Nieve, Ion Izaguirre
Nibali, Aru, Ulissi, Colbrelli, Scarponi, Malori, Moser, Oss, De Marchi
Pinot, Bardet, Gallopin, Rolland, Demare, Ladagnous, Alaphilippe, Geniez, Barguil
Kruijswijk, Dumoulin, Mollema, Gesink, Poels, Terpstra, Westra, Kelderman, Boom
Apart from those, I can't think of any other nations that could produce a better GC team than Colombia, despite the youth present in that Colombian team mentioned. Maybe Australia, but they don't have as much depth on the climbs as Colombia.
Imagine Germany in the sprints:
Knees-Politt-Martin-Sieberg-Kluge-Arndt-Degenkolb-Greipel-Kittel
PremierAndrew said:TMP402 said:PremierAndrew said:Looking at other big nations, just a couple of possibilities (looking purely at GC):
Froome, Thomas, Stannard, Rowe, Cummings, Dowsett, Kennaugh, Yates, Yates
Contador, Valverde, Landa, Erviti, Castroviejo, Rojas, Purito, Nieve, Ion Izaguirre
Nibali, Aru, Ulissi, Colbrelli, Scarponi, Malori, Moser, Oss, De Marchi
Pinot, Bardet, Gallopin, Rolland, Demare, Ladagnous, Alaphilippe, Geniez, Barguil
Kruijswijk, Dumoulin, Mollema, Gesink, Poels, Terpstra, Westra, Kelderman, Boom
Apart from those, I can't think of any other nations that could produce a better GC team than Colombia, despite the youth present in that Colombian team mentioned. Maybe Australia, but they don't have as much depth on the climbs as Colombia.
Imagine Germany in the sprints:
Knees-Politt-Martin-Sieberg-Kluge-Arndt-Degenkolb-Greipel-Kittel
Well we've got Doha for that
Similarly the Belgian team would be quite daunting for the cobbled classics
Jan the Man said:Jan Ullrich
Andreas KlÖden
Stefan Schumacher
Matthias Kessler
Patrick Sinkewitz
Udo Bolts
Tony Martin
Michael Rich
Erik Zabel
Great pick. He's been the best domestique around since he joined Astana.Mr.White said:Contador
Valverde
Scarponi
Ion Izagirre
Kriyienka
Luis Leon Sanchez
Sagan
Erviti
Bennati