Teams & Riders EF Pro Cycling

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

Rolland finally having a team that is finally able to protect him durning the first week is bad news for his opponents, top 5 or even more wouldn't surprise me.

Subtract the time lost by Rolland on flat stages in last year's Tour and he would've finished ahead of Nibali.

 

[greenedge]

Re:

I find it astonishing that a team like tinkoff can't secure a single sponsor and a crappy team with no results like cannondale can. It's even more amazing considering the fact that sagan and majka have deals until the end of 2017.

Drapac has a target market in the USA, CGG were an American team. It ties in perfectly.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Re:

Subtract the time lost by Rolland on flat stages in last year's Tour and he would've finished ahead of Nibali.

That doesn't mean he was climbing better than Nibali, though. He was allowed to go to early break and gain time on stage 18 thanks to his losses.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

Subtract the time lost by Rolland on flat stages in last year's Tour and he would've finished ahead of Nibali.

That doesn't mean he was climbing better than Nibali, though. He was allowed to go to early break and gain time on stage 18 thanks to his losses.

So was Nibali in the stage to La Toussuire, so let's look at the mountain stages:

Tarbes to La Pierre Saint-Martin: Nibali trails Rolland by 2'21"
Pau to Cauterets: Nibali trails Rolland by 0'50"
Lannemezan to Plateau-de-Beille: Nibali and Rolland s.t.
Digne-les-Bains to Pra-Loup: Rolland trails Nibali by 2'27"
Gap to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne: Nibali trails Rolland by 2'29" (breakaway)
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to La Toussuire: Rolland trails Nibali by 2'35" (breakaway)
Modane to Alpe d'Huez: Nibali trails Rolland by 1'49"

Overall: PR beats VN by 2'27"

Now, the interesting part is that, even if you don't count the two stages where they got into breakaways, Pierre still comes ahead by 2'21".

 

[Ricco']

Re: Re:

Subtract the time lost by Rolland on flat stages in last year's Tour and he would've finished ahead of Nibali.

That doesn't mean he was climbing better than Nibali, though. He was allowed to go to early break and gain time on stage 18 thanks to his losses.

So was Nibali in the stage to La Toussuire, so let's look at the mountain stages:

Tarbes to La Pierre Saint-Martin: Nibali trails Rolland by 2'21"
Pau to Cauterets: Nibali trails Rolland by 0'50"
Pau to Cauterets: Nibali trails Rolland by 0'50"
Digne-les-Bains to Pra-Loup: Rolland trails Nibali by 2'27"
Gap to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne: Nibali trails Rolland by 2'29" (breakaway)
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to La Toussuire: Rolland trails Nibali by 2'35" (breakaway)

Overall: PR beats VN by 38"

Now, the interesting part is that, even if you don't count the two stages where they got into breakaways, Pierre still comes ahead by 32".

What about the Alpe d'Huez?

I mean, I don't saw that stage, so I don't know if Rolland was in the break, but he arrived with a 1 minute and 49 seconds gain to Nibali.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

Subtract the time lost by Rolland on flat stages in last year's Tour and he would've finished ahead of Nibali.

That doesn't mean he was climbing better than Nibali, though. He was allowed to go to early break and gain time on stage 18 thanks to his losses.

So was Nibali in the stage to La Toussuire, so let's look at the mountain stages:

Tarbes to La Pierre Saint-Martin: Nibali trails Rolland by 2'21"
Pau to Cauterets: Nibali trails Rolland by 0'50"
Pau to Cauterets: Nibali trails Rolland by 0'50"
Digne-les-Bains to Pra-Loup: Rolland trails Nibali by 2'27"
Gap to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne: Nibali trails Rolland by 2'29" (breakaway)
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to La Toussuire: Rolland trails Nibali by 2'35" (breakaway)

Overall: PR beats VN by 38"

Now, the interesting part is that, even if you don't count the two stages where they got into breakaways, Pierre still comes ahead by 32".

What about the Alpe d'Huez?

I mean, I don't saw that stage, so I don't know if Rolland was in the break, but he arrived with a 1 minute and 49 seconds gain to Nibali.

Absolutely, I forgot the Alpe. I've updated my analysis. Rolland wasn't in the breakaway according to the CyclingNews live updates of that stage.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Re:

So was Nibali in the stage to La Toussuire, so let's look at the mountain stages:

No, Nibali wasn't in EARLY break in the stage to La Toussuire. He attacked on penultimate climb IIRC. That's whole a different story that going into an early break that peloton doesn't bother to catch.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

So was Nibali in the stage to La Toussuire, so let's look at the mountain stages:

No, Nibali wasn't in EARLY break in the stage to La Toussuire. He attacked on penultimate climb IIRC. That's whole a different story that going into an early break that peloton doesn't bother to catch.

The point is Nibali was also allowed to gain time in a break after early losses.

And, even if you take away Rolland's breakaway but not Nibali's (which is not really fair, but let's consider it for the sake of the argument), the difference between the two riders was only 2", which means Pierre was for all intents and purposes climbing on the same level as Nibali in the 2015 Tour.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Re:

The point is Nibali was also allowed to gain time in a break after early losses.

The situation was incomparable. The leeway Nibali got was much, much lesser than in Rolland's case. And he had to show much more strength to carry his advantage, because Quintata went flat out trying to gap Froome on the last climb, and he only had downhill to build his advantage, not pretty much the whole stage, like Rolland. And he had to do it alone, not in huge 29-men breakaway. It's not impossible Nibali would've won that stage even if he was dangerous in GC.

I don't deny the fact that the cumulative time on all mountain stages for Nibali and Rolland could have been simillar. But it's oversimplication to claim that Rolland would've finished ahead of Nibali if not his time losses on flat. That simply impossible to know what effect would it have, but certainly Rolland wouldn't gain time on stage 18.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

I don't deny the fact that the cumulative time on all mountain stages for Nibali and Rolland could have been simillar. But it's oversimplication to claim that Rolland would've finished ahead of Nibali if not his time losses on flat. That simply impossible to know what effect would it have, but certainly Rolland wouldn't gain time on stage 18.

We can agree on that.

Therefore, I think Rolland can very well crack the top 5 or even the podium if he doesn't lose time on flat stages.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale-Drapac

Craddock very high on todays stage. Definitely wasn't looking after Rolland in the last 3 kilometers (there was almost a split and Craddock was in the front group while Rolland in the back). Is he possibly not ruling GC out? :surprised:

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re: Cannondale-Drapac

Craddock very high on todays stage. Definitely wasn't looking after Rolland in the last 3 kilometers (there was almost a split and Craddock was in the front group while Rolland in the back). Is he possibly not ruling GC out? :surprised:

Are you really going for GC if you end up around 20-25th at best though?

 

[PremierAndrew]

When did Cannondale become Cannondale-Drapac

Thought this happened at the same time as OGE > OBE

Oh nvm, just saw that the OP was edited on 30th June to include the Drapac. I'm not going crazy after all

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

When did Cannondale become Cannondale-Drapac

Thought this happened at the same time as OGE > OBE

Oh nvm, just saw that the OP was edited on 30th June to include the Drapac. I'm not going crazy after all

Cannondale-Drapac has always been Cannondale-Drapac. We have always been at war with Eastasia.

 

[swuzzlebubble]

Canty wins stage 3 in Austria

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

Canty wins stage 3 in Austria

Does that already count as Cannondale?

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Rolland moves up to 9th.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re:

Rolland moves up to 9th.

Always near the front,looks good,I hope he will aim top5 with some surprising attacks

 

[thehook]

I have to admit. As much as JV drives people on these forums nuts. He might be right about keeping Rolland safe until the Mountains and seeing what he can do.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

Rolland moves up to 9th.

Always near the front,looks good,I hope he will aim top5 with some surprising attacks

This year he's already climbing better than Nibali!

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Rolly Polly again finished safely with the favourites' group.

 

[RattaKuningas]

Very good so far for Cannondale. Saving team and Rolland for 3rd week might be a good idea.
Not spending any more energy than necessary. Maybe even Kruijswijk like scenario (fighting with the best) like in the giro minus crash.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale-Drapac

Not that it matters much but I'm puzzled how Slagter and Craddock managed to lose so much time. I've seen them near the front of the main group near the top of the mountain. They must have taken the downhill veeery easy.

Lack of climbing depth is hurting their chance to be in the mix for stage win during stages like today. 3 men in the breakaway, but Breschel and Langeveld never stood a chance and Howes would have to be in form of his life to keep up on a climb like this.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Cannondale-Drapac

Not that it matters much but I'm puzzled how Slagter and Craddock managed to lose so much time. I've seen them near the front of the main group near the top of the mountain. They must have taken the downhill veeery easy.

Lack of climbing depth is hurting their chance to be in the mix for stage win during stages like today. 3 men in the breakaway, but Breschel and Langeveld never stood a chance and Howes would have to be in form of his life to keep up on a climb like this.

I think that once Howes was just in front of the GC group Craddock and Slagter basically turned their engines off and just rolled home down the hill. It makes sense for them to preserve energy, they are going to need it.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

I have to admit. As much as JV drives people on these forums nuts. He might be right about keeping Rolland safe until the Mountains and seeing what he can do.

I seriously think that Rolland climbs as well as anyone outside Froome, Quintana, Nibali and Contador. He's proven it almost every year since 2011, with his crazy scramblings to regain time after terrible first weeks. Top 5 isn't out of the question at all IMO.