Teams & Riders EF Pro Cycling

[ciranda]

Re:

Yeah, the point was more that a normal Breschel can/could always do something like that so something is not normal. And of course out of condition Breschel would still be better than many from the team so he or the team must have chosen Coppi e Bartali over Sanremo and Belgium.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Well that’s the whole season made. A great breakthrough for Bettiol and Slipstream has now won four of the five Monuments.

The team performance today was remarkable, particularly when they seemed off the pace in the earlier classics. They had three on the front a little before Bettiol went and others were also visible quite late on. They were represented in all of the dangerous moves. They were probably the strongest team in the race, which I don’t think many would have predicted. With Vanmarcke more recovered than expected, they can again be a big force at Roubaix.

 

[Anderis]

You've summed up so many of my thoughts in such a short post! I wanted to write one but there's not much to add.

Does anyone know why Woods is not riding Itzulia Basque Country?

 

[Anderis]

Vanmarcke:

Today I knew if I did everything perfect, I could still be close to victory. And today I did everything perfect. I didn’t make one mistake. But then on the Carrefour de l‘Arbre, my derailleur stopped working. I went into the 11 and I couldn’t do anything anymore. I had to wait for 10-kilometers for a new bike and it killed my legs. I had to let the victory go. It was in my legs but because of the bike, I couldn’t fight for it

damn

Double top10 at Paris-Roubaix. Not bad. I have to say it didn't look like that by mid-race! I have no idea what the team was doing but apart from Breschel, they were all so far back that I thought they wouldn't even have one rider in top30 today! So lucky that all of the splits came back together. Before Arenberg I barely ever could see an EF rider within first 50 positions of the peloton at any point. So strange for a team with two strong contenders for good places and a bunch of experienced specialists as domestiques to risk being caught in a split continuously for 2/3 of the race. I don't know if that was part of tactics to conserve energy? Bettiol and Langeveld seemed to do the same at Flanders.
Speaking of cobbled domestiques- most of them are out of contract after 2019 and considering that they've pretty much failed in all of the races apart from Flanders this year, I hope that Vaughters will bring some fresh blood in that department. I think the team needs it. From all I know (maybe the team knows the reasons why they didn't perform better), I would let Modolo, Breschel, Docker, Phinney and Logan Owen all go TBH. I wanted to write which riders I would like to see instead but this types of wishlist don't have that much sense, do they? Little do we know about how happy the riders are with their current teams or if EF can afford them with their limited budget etc.

Disappointed with Martinez' climbing at Pais Vasco. After the ITT I thought he was at least 50% sure to finish within top5 in GC. The team didn't cover this race at all in their social media (which I find strange). Anyone knows what happened?

I also have to express concern about EF not going anywhere with their neo-pros recently. The ones taken in 2016 were the last to achieve any kind of results. I don't know if they are choosing the wrong ones or if they train them badly or it's just a bad luck that they didn't deliver but the fact is that they do not deliver.
I don't consider Martinez a neo-pro as he had spent 3 years in pro-conti teams and had ridden a lot of big races including two Giros before he joined the team.

 

[KZD]

There is always some misfortune happening to Sep.

 

[Escarabajo]

This is not the fist time that happens to Martinez. I thought he had made a step forward this year. But he is still young. Similar thing was going on with Uran in his younger days. He was fairly inconsistent. Of course they come back and say that they were sick but TBH Uran had that issue for few years to the point that I was giving up. But he came around with a high placing in the Giro. And then second. Things got better. He was just too young.

About Sep I was starting to get upset about his riding since he was looking around too much instead of taking matters into his own hands but then I realized that he was having mechanical problems. He missed his big chance here. Oh well. Good performance anyway.

 

[Anderis]

Yeah, maybe I expected too much from such a young rider but he didn't crack like that a single time in 2018 so it was still a surprise to me as he seemed to be in good form.

Just realised Dylan van Baarle didn't finish a single classic in top10 since he had left Cannondale. Maybe he would like to do a Bettiol and come back to the team?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yeah weird thing DvB doesn't exactly look weak at Sky either. But he mainly excels at short stage races with a time trial it seems. In classics he just seems to lack that little bit of extra so he has to anticipate.

I would like to note Langeveld also did great in this classics complain but was often consigned to a role in the shadows

 

[Anderis]

Langeveld was awesome this spring and if he had more luck, he could have gotten better results. Shame the stars didn't allign for him in any single race. It looked like in most of the races his legs were better than his position at the finish line.

 

[Anderis]

What a season Simon Clarke is having! I actually think he could've won if he just sucked Van der Poel's wheel instead of trying to go away with Mollema.

It was very positive to see EF having 4 guys in the final selection. I didn't think their roster for Ardennes was very strong this year but they have traditionally done well as a team in these races even if their leaders did'nt always deliver. It's kind of funny, though, how their 2nd best rider was only 61st today despite the fact they had 4 riders in what was like top35 not far away from the finish and another group was way behind at that point.

I'm slightly worried about Woods, though. He dropped a bit too easy today and he didn't ride Itzulia despite having said that he was going to a couple of weeks earlier. I think he might have been ill recently or something like that? I'm just guessing. EF's social media generally don't deliver much info nowadays. I don't think their prospects for FW and LBL are great but I would like to be wrong.

 

[Mavic]

What a season Simon Clarke is having! I actually think he could've won if he just sucked Van der Poel's wheel instead of trying to go away with Mollema.

It was very positive to see EF having 4 guys in the final selection. I didn't think their roster for Ardennes was very strong this year but they have traditionally done well as a team in these races even if their leaders did'nt always deliver. It's kind of funny, though, how their 2nd best rider was only 61st today despite the fact they had 4 riders in what was like top35 not far away from the finish and another group was way behind at that point.

I'm slightly worried about Woods, though. He dropped a bit too easy today and he didn't ride Itzulia despite having said that he was going to a couple of weeks earlier. I think he might have been ill recently or something like that? I'm just guessing. EF's social media generally don't deliver much info nowadays. I don't think their prospects for FW and LBL are great but I would like to be wrong.

Agree about Clarke's season and EF in general. However, win a sprint a deux vs van der Poel? Never say never but highly unlikely.

 

[Anderis]

Agree about Clarke's season and EF in general. However, win a sprint a deux vs van der Poel? Never say never but highly unlikely.

I'm basing my assumption on the fact that he wasn't actually that far despite riding really hard for 15kms (he pulled more than Mollema). He would have a lot more energy if he just stayed in that group, so it would have to be at least very close.

If tired Clarke could be this close, you can't disregard the chance of fresher Clarke winning. Van der Poel is fast but he was pulling a lot in the final kilometers.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I have a feeling Mathieu actually led 90% of the time in the last 5 kilometres. He has just totally nuts today, but yes, if Clarke did what you suggested, he might have won. THAT would have been highly anticlimactic tho with Mathieus performance in mind, so Im glad he didnt!

 

[claude cat]

Son of Michael Drapac killed while riding his bike to a race on Anzac day (25 April)

https://cyclingtips.com/2019/04/damion-drapac-son-of-team-owner-michael-dies-after-being-struck-by-a-car/

 

[Potomac]

Giro roster per PCS

91 MODOLO Sacha
92 BROWN Nathan
93 CAICEDO Jonathan Klever
94 CARTHY Hugh
95 DOMBROWSKI Joe
96 HOFLAND Moreno
97 KANGERT Tanel
98 VAN DEN BERG Julius

 

[Escarabajo]

Change of plans for Woods. Somebody already mentioned this somewhere else but didn't know if serious. So that means that he is going to the Tour with Uran. Maybe Uran recovery is going very slow.

 

[Anderis]

Woods has been talking about wanting to ride TdF since the beginning of the season so no surprise. It looks like EF will send all the best they have to TdF. No Martinez, no Woods, not even Clarke or Bettiol as a stage-hunter for the Giro. I don't think this is the right approach, splitting their power a bit between two GTs would be more likely to bring them some good results, they are very unlikely to be forced to control the race at TdF.
Their climbing crew seems to be in good shape as shown in Romandie but I don't think anyone of them has a good GC in them and with Modolo's form being rubbish, this is perhaps the first time in many years they'll go to a GT without a proper leader.

This is still unconfirmed roster, though. Hofland doesn't look like anywhere near GT-level in his current condition, only 9 race days this year but that shrinks to 5 if you exclude DNFs. Even in a relatively easy race like Frankfurt he was gone by the mid race. Would be really weird if they didn't replace him. They risk a very likely early DNF if they take him.

 

[Tim Booth]

Re:

Maybe Uran recovery is going very slow.

Uran rides California

 

[torcia_86]

Re:

No Martinez

Martínez suffers from pollen allergy, which is why he has always had bad results at the Giro

 

[Anderis]

Official roster for the Giro: Bennett. Breschel. Brown. Caicedo. Carthy. Dombrowski. Kangert. Modolo

As I predicted, Hofland wouldn't be there. I'm hoping that Carthy can do the race of his life after looking very strong at Romandie, although he was never going well at GTs so far, otherwise the roster is not very strong. Would be a decent squad to support someone in the mountains but there's no leader.

 

[The GCW]

Fan of EF Education First w/ connections to Boulder, Colorado (evolving from Slipstream...), been happy to read recent Giro updates.

EF was very quiet for the beginning of the Giro. Now Dombrowski and Carthy are racing well and want to commend them. Hope they can suffer more than ever and continue their ride.

 

[luckyboy]

Surprised how well Carthy and Dombrowski are going here. Maybe a top ten for one of them in Verona.

Carthy is still young but seemed to plateau after joining EF after some nice results (Catalunya, Asturias, US Pro) aged 20-21 with Caja Rural a few years ago. He had some decent results in 2018-early 2019 (Utah, Colorado, Haut Var) but this is really a step up from anything he showed before.

And Dombrowski looked like a guy who would show up in the USA races, and his ceiling in GTs would be to challenge for mountain stages from the breakaway. He's the bigger surprise, obviously.

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

No Martinez

Martínez suffers from pollen allergy, which is why he has always had bad results at the Giro

He would've been fine this year, I think.

 

[Potomac]

Carthy and Dombrowski 6 and 7 minutes back from a top 10 finish. What was EF's goal from the start in this race?

 

[Salvarani]

Re:

Carthy and Dombrowski 6 and 7 minutes back from a top 10 finish. What was EF's goal from the start in this race?

Probably try to win a stage. Riders having a lot of freedom to make results.

Carthy and Dombrowski just been going really well. Kangert not too bad either, even though he was probably the one who you would think could get a top 10 or top 15 place beforehand.