Teams & Riders EF Pro Cycling

[lenric]

Re:

Their season now basically depends on Uran/Rolland/Talansky coming good in the GTs, or at least doing well in a few week-long stage races. I'm not enormously hopeful as the GC field is a crowded one these days, although Uran could do well in the Giro again.

That lad wrote future checks his legs can't cash.

 

[vedrafjord]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

The problem is that half of the WT week-long stage races in the calendar took place already this year and the best Cannondale managed was 9th overall in Pais Vasco with Craddock. There are just 4 one-week WT races for climbers (as Eneco is not for climbers) left in the calendar. And the next one starts next week, so Cannondale better find improvement soon.

Indeed - this time last year Uran already had a podium in Tirreno-Adriatico and a 5th in Catalunya while this year he was only 10th in Catalunya. Pierre Rolland just about snuck into the TdF top 10 last year by getting into breakaways, but seems to be slowly going backwards year-on-year. Talansky has also been going backwards since his Dauphiné win.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

I thought it was the matter of the team expecting Slagter to do better, but apparently Woods took the blame for his positioning himself.

No problem. He's still got lots of time to learn.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Cannondale's provisional Giro Roster:
41 Rigoberto Uran (Col)
42 Andre Fernando S.M. Cardoso (Por)
43 Simon Clarke (Aus)
44 Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (USA)
45 Davide Formolo (Ita)
46 Moreno Moser (Ita)
47 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu)
48 Davide Villella (Ita)
49 Michael Woods (Can)

As for Cannondale's capabilities, this is a very strong and balanced team that Uran got for support. Possibly better than the TdF roster will be. Navardauskas, Clarke and Moser are very good combination of rolling skills and ability to get over some hills. For mountains he has Dombrowski and Formolo, two up-and-coming riders who could possibly be given support for their potential GC ambitons at some of the smaller teams, very reliable helper in Cardoso, Villella who has found some climbing form recently with top10 in Criterium Internacional and unpredictable (mostly in positive way) Woods.

Dombrowski has already stated that he will try to avoid time losses early in the race because you never know what's going to happen in GC.

The presence of Navardauskas is really interesting as I thought he would be well established rider for TdF roster as possibly the strongest rouleur in the team and their only real hope for good placing on some flattish stages. I also kinda expected Cardoso to be finally given his chance to ride TdF this year, but now it's likely he'll end up riding Giro-Vuelta again. Well, maybe that's the program that match his strengths better.

If they are going to show some flexibility with their goals and give riders other than Uran some freedom, this is also potentially a very good team for stage hunting.

If this team fails at the Giro (no stage wins or solid place(s) in GC), then I will probably have no faith in their TdF team at all.

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Cannondale's provisional Giro Roster:
41 Rigoberto Uran (Col)
42 Andre Fernando S.M. Cardoso (Por)
43 Simon Clarke (Aus)
44 Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (USA)
45 Davide Formolo (Ita)
46 Moreno Moser (Ita)
47 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu)
48 Davide Villella (Ita)
49 Michael Woods (Can)

As for Cannondale's capabilities, this is a very strong and balanced team that Uran got for support. Possibly better than the TdF roster will be. Navardauskas, Clarke and Moser are very good combination of rolling skills and ability to get over some hills. For mountains he has Dombrowski and Formolo, two up-and-coming riders who could possibly be given support for their potential GC ambitons at some of the smaller teams, very reliable helper in Cardoso, Villella who has found some climbing form recently with top10 in Criterium Internacional and unpredictable (mostly in positive way) Woods.

Dombrowski has already stated that he will try to avoid time losses early in the race because you never know what's going to happen in GC.

The presence of Navardauskas is really interesting as I thought he would be well established rider for TdF roster as possibly the strongest rouleur in the team. I also kinda expected Cardoso to be finally given his chance to ride TdF this year, but now it's likely he'll end up riding Giro-Vuelta again. Well, maybe that's the program that match his strengths better.

If they are going to show some flexibility with their goals and give riders other than Uran some freedom, this is also potentially a very good team for stage hunting.

If this team fails at the Giro (no stage wins or solid place(s) in GC), then I will probably have no faith in their TdF team at all.

I'm happy with it, Uran finally has a strong team that supports him in a gt, Formolo, Cardoso and Dombrowski are all strong climbers and they have plenty of guys for the hilly stages.
I hope that Dombrowski will be allowes to go for epic mountain raids in the high mountains, but I'm probably one of the biggest Dombrowski fanboys on this forum.

 

[jahn]

They have the best website though. Love the portrait art for each rider on the plates. The artist wisely drew them with a slightly more dignified and serious facial expressions from the photo it's based off of, great stuff.

http://www.slipstreamsports.com/cannondale-garmin-pro-team/

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Any outside chance in LBL?

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

I doubt Slagter has miraculously found his form in 3 or 4 days and the rest of the team doesn't look like being capable of making an impact here. Apart from unpredictable Woods, of course, who is the only rider from this roster I can see finishing top10 on Sunday. But I don't hope for much. Too bad Rigo is not riding.

 

[afpm90]

Slagter appeared in good form on De Brabantse Pijl but a few days later apparently that form disappeared.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

I doubt Slagter has miraculously found his form in 3 or 4 days and the rest of the team doesn't look like being capable of making an impact here. Apart from unpredictable Woods, of course, who is the only rider from this roster I can see finishing top10 on Sunday. But I don't hope for much. Too bad Rigo is not riding.

He's got to focus on the Giro, where he's got a realistic podium chance.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

He's got to focus on the Giro, where he's got a realistic podium chance.

I know but we've had riders in the past who were able to combine good LBL with good Giro. Hesjedal in 2012 finished 9th in LBL before going to the Romandie and then winning the Giro, so it's possible.

Slagter appeared in good form on De Brabantse Pijl but a few days later apparently that form disappeared.

He really tried in Brabantse Pijl (and the team worked for him), yet he finished 9th in a weaker field than he has to face in races like Fleche or Liege. It was better than what he has shown at Amstel, but that was still a bit lacking from the top10 level in Ardennes IMO. When he was in good form in 2014, he was performing well all-throughout the spring, with 2 stage wins in Paris-Nice, 2nd in GP Miguel Indurain and 13th in Pais Vasco, where he finished 4th on 2 stages.
This year he only won stage on Tour du Haut Var (before being dropped on 2 stage) and finished 9th in Brabantse Pijl. It was an indication he is nowhere near his 2014 form.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

I know but we've had riders in the past who were able to combine good LBL with good Giro. Hesjedal in 2012 finished 9th in LBL before going to the Romandie and then winning the Giro, so it's possible.

I think we can all agree that Hesjedal winning a Grand Tour was more of a fluke than anything else.

 

[yaco]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Cannondale's provisional Giro Roster:
41 Rigoberto Uran (Col)
42 Andre Fernando S.M. Cardoso (Por)
43 Simon Clarke (Aus)
44 Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (USA)
45 Davide Formolo (Ita)
46 Moreno Moser (Ita)
47 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu)
48 Davide Villella (Ita)
49 Michael Woods (Can)

As for Cannondale's capabilities, this is a very strong and balanced team that Uran got for support. Possibly better than the TdF roster will be. Navardauskas, Clarke and Moser are very good combination of rolling skills and ability to get over some hills. For mountains he has Dombrowski and Formolo, two up-and-coming riders who could possibly be given support for their potential GC ambitons at some of the smaller teams, very reliable helper in Cardoso, Villella who has found some climbing form recently with top10 in Criterium Internacional and unpredictable (mostly in positive way) Woods.

Dombrowski has already stated that he will try to avoid time losses early in the race because you never know what's going to happen in GC.

The presence of Navardauskas is really interesting as I thought he would be well established rider for TdF roster as possibly the strongest rouleur in the team and their only real hope for good placing on some flattish stages. I also kinda expected Cardoso to be finally given his chance to ride TdF this year, but now it's likely he'll end up riding Giro-Vuelta again. Well, maybe that's the program that match his strengths better.

If they are going to show some flexibility with their goals and give riders other than Uran some freedom, this is also potentially a very good team for stage hunting.

If this team fails at the Giro (no stage wins or solid place(s) in GC), then I will probably have no faith in their TdF team at all.

Can definitely win stages with this team - Anyway a stage win in a GT = success.

 

[myrideissteelerthanyours]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

I know but we've had riders in the past who were able to combine good LBL with good Giro. Hesjedal in 2012 finished 9th in LBL before going to the Romandie and then winning the Giro, so it's possible.

I think we can all agree that Hesjedal winning a Grand Tour was more of a fluke than anything else.

Agreed. Typically someone who top-5s the tdf should not expect to beat Thomas DeGendt in anything.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Agreed. Typically someone who top-5s the tdf should not expect to beat Thomas DeGendt in anything.

If anything, De Gendt finishing on the podium is yet more proof that it was an anomalous Giro.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

I think we can all agree that Hesjedal winning a Grand Tour was more of a fluke than anything else.

It depends on your definition of "fluke". I kinda expected that he could potentially win that Giro. He had shown during TdF 2010 that he was able to outperform some of the top Giro 2012 favourites over 3 weeks. And he has proven last year during the Giro that it was not one-off that he could outclimb pretty much anyone in the 3rd week.
People really forget how good rider Hesjedal was in 2010. He was classified top10 in WT individual ranking at the end of the season and finished 4th on TdF's queen stage. It was a level that definetely put him in contention for winning a GT if a weaker field appeared somewhere, and while, yes, he needed below average field, below average fields happen every few GTs so I wouldn't consider it that much of a fluke.

All in all, I rather more disagree than agree.

 

[jens_attacks]

With last years giro form, he still would have won that 2012 giro

Stars alligned for him but no fluke.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Can definitely win stages with this team - Anyway a stage win in a GT = success.

at

Yes that team can win stages, although it is not clear how much they will be let off the leash if Uran is competitive in GC.

More importantly, while a stage win normally makes a GT a success for a team, Cannondale have put a lot of eggs in the Giro basket. To be a "success", this Giro will have to go a long way towards rescuing their season. Uran on the podium or more than one stage win or better still both, would constitute real success.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Yeah. Considering the fact they named Giro their main goal of the season, the strong roster they bring here and lack off results in 1st half of the season, one stage win alone is not what I would consider a success.

I think it needs to be either top5 in GC, or top10 in GC with stage win, or multiple stage wins. Otherwise, I will be disappointed.

A real success would be a GC podium or GC top6 with stage wins. A total GC failure can't mean success in this circumstances, even if they win few stages.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

With last years giro form, he still would have won that 2012 giro

Stars alligned for him but no fluke.

Debateable, but I tend to agree. Scarponi and Basso waited all Giro for those uber hard Dolomiti-stages and weren't able to shake a super peak Hesjedal 3 week, rather the opposite, since they at that point were past their prime. It became obvious that week. Bring on a 2010 Basso or 2010 or 2011 Scarponi, heck any version of Nibali from 2010-2015, and it woulda been different. Rodriguez was strong, but fortunately for Hesjedal, not that smart.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

With last years giro form, he still would have won that 2012 giro

Stars alligned for him but no fluke.

Aren't "stars aligned for him" and "it was a fluke" two different ways of saying the same thing?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

With last years giro form, he still would have won that 2012 giro

Stars alligned for him but no fluke.

Aren't "stars aligned for him" and "it was a fluke" two different ways of saying the same thing?

I think the implication is that Hesjedal didn't really get lucky during the race, nor did he produce a one off level of performance that he never managed before or after. He was the best in it. His luck was in deciding to target a Giro for GC that happened to have a weak field. A fluke could be taken to imply that he wouldn't have won that Giro if it had been run again.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

With last years giro form, he still would have won that 2012 giro

Stars alligned for him but no fluke.

Aren't "stars aligned for him" and "it was a fluke" two different ways of saying the same thing?

I think the difference is that fluke refers to Hesjedal not under any circumstances would be able to climb/ride so well, while all stars aligned is more of a comment to the lacklustre field since Jens' argument was that he climbed as well last year, but the level simply being much higher 2015. That way his performance really wasn't a fluke since he was able to reproduce that. If that makes any sense.

 

[jmdirt]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

I know but we've had riders in the past who were able to combine good LBL with good Giro. Hesjedal in 2012 finished 9th in LBL before going to the Romandie and then winning the Giro, so it's possible.

I think we can all agree that Hesjedal winning a Grand Tour was more of a fluke than anything else.

You can't win a GT on a "fluke". If you mean something clinic that could certainly be debated (in the clinic of course).

 

[robin440]

lol rolland will win this years tour with his 10 % improvement in power