Fabio Felline

[Brullnux]

I've got a feeling we will be seeing more and more of him in the next couple of years. He's been in the top 20 of two really difficult mountain stages in the Giro against a decent field, and has also out sprinted Michael Matthews. He's finished 8th in a 60km time-trial faster than Chavanel, Konig and Uran. This guy is the real deal and his improvement in the last year has been immense, mentally especially as well as physically.

I'm really excited to see where he can progress in the next year or so and think he deserves a thread.

 

[Christian]

If you look at his Giro, the only conclusion is that he can do everything: sprint, TT and even climb. With the right preparation he could kill it at shorter stage races, not only win stages but even go for the overall. If he can keep that level or even improve, Trek really have a gem there, I hope they realize it, if not I'm sure some other team will.

His TT was really impressive, for him to get a top-10 over 59 km, I did not expect that. His problem to some degree is that his team is so weak, leaving him to fight for himself in the finishes. Look at when he came in 2nd on stage 3, there was a group of 74 riders arriving at the finish, and Felline's first team mate was Beppu who arrived 14 minutes later. Not saying he would have necessarily beaten Matthews, but it surely couldn't hurt

 

[Sasquatch]

I hope he is going to Switzerland next.

Every stage except the mountaintop finish suits him. If there's time bonuses he may be able to hold on. He could win the prologue, come top 3 in the TT, and then those other stages could top 3 in them. He could very well podium the race.

 

[the asian]

Has developed from the Sprinter who can get over a Hill/Puncheur type to an All rounder who can do well in short stage races..

A lesser version of Kwiat.

 

[SafeBet]

Only problem with him is that he tends to spend a lot of time at the back of the peloton. He has improved in the past couple of years, but still needs to get better.

But yeah, great rider. Fast, good TTing, can climb, and a super recovery too.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

I'm not quite sure how he managed to get nothing out of this Giro. I suppose with such a weak team (or at least the rest of the team working for Nizzolo) it was tempting to have Felline try on every non-sprint stage but they really needed to be much more selective

 

[Sasquatch]

Was Felline highly rated as a junior?

 

[Bushman]

Was Felline highly rated as a junior?

Dont know, but he was very highly rated when he first went pro back with Geox.

 

[May0maniac]

Yes, as far as I know people called him the next Bettini and had huge expectations and I think it was just too much pressure for him when he was younger.

 

[stabbin31]

Re:

I'm not quite sure how he managed to get nothing out of this Giro. I suppose with such a weak team (or at least the rest of the team working for Nizzolo) it was tempting to have Felline try on every non-sprint stage but they really needed to be much more selective

Why do they have such as weak team? Who are the weak links that make you say this? I agree with you, but I can't put my finger on who I would replace. I have said before I am not a fan their Manager.

If you were the Manager, who would you keep and who would you get rid of. I am seriously curious to know peoples thoughts. The classics team is strong, but OLD and they do have a few young guns, but the cast of role players is lacking IMO.

 

[Christian]

Re: Re:

I'm not quite sure how he managed to get nothing out of this Giro. I suppose with such a weak team (or at least the rest of the team working for Nizzolo) it was tempting to have Felline try on every non-sprint stage but they really needed to be much more selective

Why do they have such as weak team? Who are the weak links that make you say this? I agree with you, but I can't put my finger on who I would replace. I have said before I am not a fan their Manager.

If you were the Manager, who would you keep and who would you get rid of. I am seriously curious to know peoples thoughts. The classics team is strong, but OLD and they do have a few young guns, but the cast of role players is lacking IMO.

Well I think in the end Trek can be satisfied because they won the red jersey. And they probably built their team around Nizzolo, with Felline having a free role. With Felline being so strong though, seems a bit of a waste, I hope his status will increase within the team so that next year he will have people working for him. Maybe he will also do the Vuelta again (he did last year).
They had 2 neo-pro's - for them it was pretty rough
3 guys who can't climb at all - Nizzolo, Coledan and Van Poppel
2 guys who maybe could have been able to stay with Felline longer - Beppu and Vandewalle

 

[Christian]

Trek's press officer Tim Vanderjeugd and photographer Emily Maye do this series of home stories of their riders called "Behind the stripes". Today the first part of Felline's home story went online:

http://www.trekfactoryracing.com/blog/behind-stripes-part-9-fabio-felline

It is about knowing what you’re good at and what you’re bad at. I climb well, I’ve got a good sprint and I’ve got a decent time trial in my legs - but I’m not a specialist in any of those, you know? I won’t outclimb Quintana, I won’t outsprint Cavendish and I won’t beat Fabian [Cancellara] in a time trial. That’s what on my mind a lot: how to deal with that.

 

[BigMac]

Thanks for that Christian, really liked reading and seeing those.

 

[Tryphon]

Yeah thanks Christian,fascinating stuff. Especially liked the Cancellara story,gives real insight into what makes a big champion.

 

[Christian]

Part 2 of the Fabio Felline home story:

http://www.trekfactoryracing.com/blog/behind-stripes-part-10-fabio-felline

 

[Brullnux]

He's slowly coming back . Too late for the Olympics, but I think he is going to the Vuelta to actually get some race days and then probably the late season Italian classics. Depending on the Lombardia course he has a chance too. If it is the 2014 one then if it's fairly conservative he can do really well.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

What happened with him this year? I don't even remember, did he crash in Amstel? He was quite bad before Amstel as well.

 

[GP Blanco]

Re:

What happened with him this year? I don't even remember, did he crash in Amstel? He was quite bad before Amstel as well.

He crashed in the neutralisation before the start of the Amstel because he was trying to fix his brakes.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

What happened with him this year? I don't even remember, did he crash in Amstel? He was quite bad before Amstel as well.

Yes, he suffered a few minor facial fractures and a basilar skull fracture, it looked like nothing but it was a horrible crash for him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNdo9dqprqA
I've always liked Felline and he has finally had a great year in 2015, I think he has the potential to be better than Ulissi, he's a really versatile rider, great in prologues and long ITTs, has already beaten Matthews, won GP de Fourmies with a late attack, 8th in Strade Bianche, he finished 5th on the Col de l'Ospedale and 18th in the Sestriere stage with Finestre, he has great recovery and really likes climbing, even if he isn't built like a climber.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Oh yeah that's right, I remember that crash now.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

He was quite lucky. There's a long list of blokes who died due to basilar skull fractures.

 

[proffz]

he was bike on the bike two weeks ago.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

I just noticed that Felline rolled in with the 2nd tier GC guys today (same time as Moreno, Meintjes, Atapuma etc), which is not a shock considering his class. Anyway, he seems to be in great shape this Vuelta. Will he improve on his 2nd place finish the other day. How do the stage winning opportunities look for the rest of the Vuelta?
Stages 12, 13, 16, 18 and 21?

 

[hrotha]

He seems to be targeting a top 15 or 20, which is beyond sad for someone like him.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

He seems to be targeting a top 15 or 20, which is beyond sad for someone like him.

Yeah, he's great allrounder who could go stagehunting, but he has great recovery and loves climbing, even if he's not a climber.
He should forget about going for gc and go stagehunting, but maybe he just wants to test himself.