Teams & Riders EF Pro Cycling

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Talansky is back!

What happened to Dombrowski? I know he was in the break but when I turned on with 10kms to go and he was nowhere to be seen. Was he that weak or was he dropped with ease as every time when the road does not go uphill?

I wasn't watching when that happened, but going by forum posts, it seems it was the latter.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Talansky is not back, sorry. He looked awful on that climb and only managed to come back when a) the road eased up and because b) the favourites sat up / did not work together and d) he sucked every wheel he could to get there.

I'm sorry, but I've never expected him to drop everyone.

He is back to being a top10 overall contender in a WT races and that what I meant. He could looked like suffering as much as you like, but he finished 7th and the finishing place is what counts. He is expected to ride like that because he is not good at dealing with accelerations and he needs a very hard race at steady pace, otherwise it's always minimising losses for him. It's not a surprise that he passes at the end of the stage a few guys who tried to respond accelerations and cooked themselves. He always rides like that. He did at least as well as I expected him to do today.

He was also not up there when first accelerations occured on the first mountain stages of Dauphine 2014. And I don't expect him to win the Suisse, just to finish in top10.

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Talansky is back!

What happened to Dombrowski? I know he was in the break but when I turned on with 10kms to go and he was nowhere to be seen. Was he that weak or was he dropped with ease as every time when the road does not go uphill?

I wasn't watching when that happened, but going by forum posts, it seems it was the latter.

He looked good, but once again he got dropped on a descent...

 

[BigMac]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Talansky is not back, sorry. He looked awful on that climb and only managed to come back when a) the road eased up and because b) the favourites sat up / did not work together and d) he sucked every wheel he could to get there.

I'm sorry, but I've never expected him to drop everyone.

He is back to being a top10 overall contender in a WT races and that what I meant. He could looked like suffering as much as you like, but he finished 7th and the finishing place is what counts. He is expected to ride like that because he is not good at dealing with accelerations and he needs a very hard race at steady pace, otherwise it's always minimising losses for him. It's not a surprise that he passes at the end of the stage a few guys who tried to respond accelerations and cooked themselves. He always rides like that. He did at least as well as I expected him to do today.

He was also not up there when first accelerations occured on the first mountain stages of Dauphine 2014. And I don't expect him to win the Suisse, just to finish in top10.

You said he was back. Original Talansky looked like winning races, not like making half-arsed top tens. Still much to improve if he's to be himself again. But just to be clear, his problem today were not accelarations. He had been suffering at the back of the pack the entire climb, usually between the last three positions - the reasons he managed to come back are explained above. Little to no merit on his part.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Little to no merit on his part.

Yeah, because someone other rode that bike for him.

Believe me, or not, seeing how he rode with 5km to go, I was calm that the final outcome of the stage would be pretty much what it was for him.

Just watch this stage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn2cbF58NHE

At the beginning of the climb Talansky looked like losing minutes to Contador, yet finished the stage in front of him. That's just the way he rides. He lost the contact together with Kwiatkowski and earlier than Mollema. He finished 6th, Mollema 16th and Kwiatkowski 18th.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Really happy because of Dombrowski's and Talansky's performances today. And even Koren finished inside top10 for the first time since Cannondale and Garmin merged. Looks like this race may bring the most valuable result for the team this year so far, because I would rate a top3 overall in this race above anything they've managed so far.

I hope Talansky can finally have a good first half of the GT at the Tour this year because he is one of the best riders out there in terms of recovery.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Really happy because of Dombrowski's and Talansky's performances today. And even Koren finished inside top10 for the first time since Cannondale and Garmin merged. Looks like this race may bring the most valuable result for the team this year so far, because I would rate a top3 overall in this race above anything they've managed so far.

I hope Talansky can finally have a good first half of the GT at the Tour this year because he is one of the best riders out there in terms of recovery.

Let's see if the Cannondale technical team also get around to solving Dombrowski's downhill issues. He has huge potential if he can avoid dropping every time the road points downwards.

 

[Ricco']

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Really happy because of Dombrowski's and Talansky's performances today. And even Koren finished inside top10 for the first time since Cannondale and Garmin merged. Looks like this race may bring the most valuable result for the team this year so far, because I would rate a top3 overall in this race above anything they've managed so far.

I hope Talansky can finally have a good first half of the GT at the Tour this year because he is one of the best riders out there in terms of recovery.

Let's see if the Cannondale technical team also get around to solving Dombrowski's downhill issues. He has huge potential if he can avoid dropping every time the road points downwards.

Maybe Vaughters can learn a thing or two with the medieval french teams. Going to the race track did wonders with Pinot's confidence going downhill.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

For Dombrowski it's a bit more than just lack of confidence. During that Giro stage, he was dropped on flattish part with no technical difficulties. He is also losing time on easier stages every now and then even if he is supposed to avoid those losses. He just can't race anything that is not a long climb. No matter if it's downhill or flat or perhaps a couple of very short and explosive climbs. He is more of a one-dimensional rider than Kittel.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Am I now entitled to say Talansky is back or it doesn't count because he was riding at the back of the bunch most of the time again?

I wonder what happened to Dombrowski. There was one shot when I saw him in the main group, then there was a shot of something else, just few seconds later they showed Kelderman who was like 50 meters behind main group and there was no Dombrowski in between and the next shot of main group showed there was no Joe there. He had to slow down very much to avoid being spotted between Kelderman and the main group.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Am I now entitled to say Talansky is back or it doesn't count because he was riding at the back of the bunch most of the time again?

I can't really tell how good his current form is. He looks like he could win the Tour de Suisse, which would be a huge deal for his palmares, but he also looks a bit ropey against climbers who are well below the standard of the top tier TdeF climbers. Then again, it's a warm up race so you can never really tell who is near their peak and who has a few more weeks to go. So he could be heading for a mediocre to decent Tour or a great Tour and I just don't think his performance here really clarifies that even though he could take a really big win.

I know that this post is incoherent, but that's because his performance fits with multiple narratives.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Being in the mix for the win here is kind of surprise considering it's 2 years since he finished any WT race higher than on 10th place. What will happen in July is irrelevant, because I judge his current form. Considering the fact it's just 7th in Vuelta and 10th in Tour what's his best ever GT achievement, he should be judged based mostly on one week races whether he is back to what's he is capable of.

In July he may be lacking a strong team, I'm afraid. Many guys who would fit in perfectly as domestiques were sent to the Giro. But I can't blame the team for backing Uran over him considering what he has shown in the last 2 years.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Talansky within 8 seconds of López.

He gained 4 and 5 seconds on the Colombian in the first two mountain stages, but lost 17 in yesterday's stage. It won't be easy, but Andy can do it.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

I would be surprised if he does but anything can happen.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

I'm disappointed that Talansky slipped down to 5th in GC. I was rather confident he would finish in the top3 few days ago. Poor descending from him, he used to do better in the past.

The team still without a WT win since Giro 2015.

On a positive note: Zepuntke, whose only professional win so far comes from a sprint finish and who was injured a couple of months ago, was climbing decently the last couple of days. A versatile rider he is. He said he would be working on his climbing because he wants to ride 2017 Tour. His mother is the mayor of next year's Grand Départ hosting city- Düsseldorf.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

I'm disappointed that Talansky slipped down to 5th in GC. I was rather confident he would finish in the top3 few days ago. Poor descending from him, he used to do better in the past.

Same here.

This team's got talent. Either they're having an epic streak of bad luck or there's something wrong on the training level. I read not so long ago that last year they tried to race less and train more. If so, you can say that new approach was a flop.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Well, Talansky missing the Tour de France after good Tour de Suisse, that came as a surprise to me! I'm glad he signed an extension for 2017. But if it's just for 2017, it shows the team still doesn't has it's future secured beyond 2017. Will be not easy for Vaughters to find a new backer unless results improve very soon.
It's also interesting how the team will manage the GT ambitions of Uran, Talansky and Rolland next year, when there is no Olympics, so Uran may be willing to have a shot at the TdF.

Now their TdF roster will probably look very meh. Who do they have apart from Rolland? No proper mountain domestiques, no proper sprinter, not even a proper stage-hunter, maybe apart from Slagter who will probably do nothing judging by his form earlier this year.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

I hope at least Rolland goes for something achievable like the mountains classification.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

Procycling stats has these riders listed for TdF at Cannondale since today:
- Pierre Rolland
- Tom Jelte-Slagter
- Alex Howes
- Ben King
- Lawson Craddock
- Matti Breschel.
I don't know where do they know this from but it seems reasonable. The last 3 spots should be between Van Baarle, Koren, Bauer and Langeveld I guess. Less flat men than I would expect. Craddock didn't race at all in June, so it would be interesting approach for preparation. He has raced a lot during the spring.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

CPT nets a win, albeit a not very significant one if I may say so, with Navardauskas's victory in his national RR championships.

 

[screaming fist]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

They have announced their Tour roster today

Breschel
Craddock
Howes
Koren
Langeveld
Navardauskas
Rolland
Slagter
Van Baarle


Also this:
Cannondale Pro Team ‏@Ride_Argyle 5 Min.Vor 5 Minuten
We announced our roster for @LeTour today, and we've got another exciting announcement coming this Thursday. #christmasiscoming
https://twitter.com/Ride_Argyle/status/747515668296175616

New co-sponsor? Is it Floyd's weed business?

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

They have announced their Tour roster today

Breschel
Craddock
Howes
Koren
Langeveld
Navardauskas
Rolland
Slagter
Van Baarle

That team doesn't look capable of defending the maillot jaune.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

They have announced their Tour roster today

Breschel
Craddock
Howes
Koren
Langeveld
Navardauskas
Rolland
Slagter
Van Baarle

That team doesn't look capable of defending the maillot jaune.

No but it does look capable of looking after a fringe GC contender reasonably well, while sending other guys stagehunting. Given the strength of their Giro support roster and the fact that Talansky isn't riding, this is a much better looking team than it might have been.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

They have announced their Tour roster today

Breschel
Craddock
Howes
Koren
Langeveld
Navardauskas
Rolland
Slagter
Van Baarle

That team doesn't look capable of defending the maillot jaune.

And who of those guys is going after the maillot Jaune?
Even if they get it they won't try to control the race anyway. They will go more as a wildcard team IMHO. To haunt stages and to get a decent GC position (top ten at most).

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Cannondale Pro Cycling

And who of those guys is going after the maillot Jaune?

One might have said the same of Kruijswijk and the maglia rosa (remember most people saw him as a top 10, maybe top 5 contender). The lack of team support helped bury his chances after the fall.