StryderHells said:
ski said:
StryderHells said:
Anderis said:
I wonder if Gavin Mannion will make it to the Cannondale-Drapac too. He was a trainee at the team in 2014 and did good work for Danielson during Tour of Utah. For me it really loked like he was going to join them for 2015 but then the Cannondale merge happened and they needed to honour the contracts of 7 riders from former Italian team.
I've read an interview with Mannion few months ago and IIRC he said he had been close to signing for a WT team for 2015, but then something out of his control happened and he didn't get a contract eventually. It really sounded like he could be referring to Garmin-Cannondale merge.
Also Tom Scully was a trainee at Garmin in the past.
Mannion should get a contract along with Scully and Canty, others in with a shot would be Clarke, Norris, Jones (might stay another season with the devo squad). The others will either move on or stay in with the devo squad
With all due respect Mannion is a nice guy, but he is not yet lighting it up in the US races or the other 2.1/2.2 they are doing - he will have no chance of being relevant at the WT level right now. The same applies to some of their other riders. Don't get me wrong they are great riders - but most likley most of them need to develop more at the lower level.
At this point Cannondale-Drapac has the 2 neo-pro positions they will fill, but after that, most of the new riders they sign need to be able to podium at PCT level races. As an example Wouter Wippert was at Drapac last year and had five wins and 18 top 10s last year and no wins, this year but 5 podiums and 10 top tens, so far.
According to procyclingstats only Canty has been signed for 2017 so far. There will be more.
For analysis of the Drapac performance this year -
http://www.procyclingstats.com/team.php?id=1164&c=7&season=2016 - clearly some good performances for a small pro conti team.
I'm aware that Mannion isn't doing that well but I was just playing out who might get a contract with the WT squad next season, if I was being brutally honest I'd only promote Canty at this stage but even he could do with another season at PCT. The one advantage for Canty being on a WT squad is the experience and being sent to more climbing orientated races which obviously suit him.
On Wippert, he won't ever be top tier but should make a solid pro. It's no surprise he is struggling a bit with the step up to WT level, he's in a squad that basically has no sprint train to speak of so he's fending for himself for the most part against teams and sprinters who are well drilled, at least when he was with Drapac he got meaningful support.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Lachy Norris got a contract, he's a pretty solid type who can get over hills and would make a good Dom in some of the 1 week races and a stage hunter in the weaker one's like Utah. Will Clarke is pretty handy aswell but I'm not sure if he would be interested in stepping back upto the top level.
Lachlan Norris would be the obvious name to jump up from Drapac, Koning might be another, along with Brenton Jones, who could make a good leadout man.
Canty, Mannion, Phelan, Lowndes and Spokes IMO need another year at Pro Conti level, or maybe a stagiaire ride to see if they're WT level. They do seem promising, but only Canty and Phelan are really standing out ATM. As said above, I doubt that the likes of Clarke, Brown and Mouris will want to/be able to go back to WT for various reasons.
Others like Kerby, Meyer, Sulzberger, Earle and Roe are racing at their correct level. As soon as the big boys turn up they're found wanting.