Future stars

[Hugo Koblet]

I said minor (makes a big difference) and basically agrees with you.

It does not look to good for the future of the spanish dominance. Of course they will still be a force but a new Contador, Valverde or even Sammy or Purito seems far away. Still Contador, Anton, Rojas, Cobo, Nieve, Ventoso, Moreno, Lulu, Pardilla, Intxausti and more will still be there for several years along the mentioned younger talents, so it wont be that bad. And one or two of the younger talents might surprice us. For instance Ambroa (a rider I had not taken to much not of as a amateur) this season took a huge step up and if he continues that way he could be a force and with the sheer quantity of possible candidates for breakthroughs I suppose at least a few will have some big succes. But in 10 years it will look bad unless the amateur-scene gets better again.

How about Fraile og Domene? Has the latter signed with Androni for the next season?

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

any young and upcoming stars that have shown some TT skills? would be fun to see if anyone can come up and challenge Martin in a few yrs

 

[Ruudz0r]

any young and upcoming stars that have shown some TT skills? would be fun to see if anyone can come up and challenge Martin in a few yrs

Jungels, Durbridge but its hard to compare them with pros and if they can be a real challenge for them.

 

[The Hitch]

any young and upcoming stars that have shown some TT skills? would be fun to see if anyone can come up and challenge Martin in a few yrs

Kwiatkowski.

Malori if we are counting more obvious ones.

 

[maltiv]

any young and upcoming stars that have shown some TT skills? would be fun to see if anyone can come up and challenge Martin in a few yrs

Jack Bobridge when he stops focusing on the track.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Nelson Oliveira too. And Marcel Kittel, but he'll probably not be working on developing his TT from here on in.

 

[trevim]

Nelson Oliveira too. And Marcel Kittel, but he'll probably not be working on developing his TT from here on in.

Jesse Sergent had great results in his first season.

 

[maltiv]

Not to forget Alex Dowsett, who was surprisingly strong this season. Taylor Phinney disappointed however, but as a BMC youngster that's no surprise

 

[JRanton]

Alex Dowsett too.

 

[hrotha]

Kwiatkowski.

Malori if we are counting more obvious ones.

Next year should be interesting for you, with Kwiatkowski, Majka and Domagalski out there.

 

[The Hitch]

Next year should be interesting for you, with Kwiatkowski, Majka and Domagalski out there.

All those riders need a few more years.

Dont see them doing anything special next year just yet other than a good performance or 2 somewhere.

For Polish fans Niemiec will be the most interesting. He may be in his 30s but he just did top 5 in Lombardy.

Hell be doing domestiquing for Scarponi in Giro but before and after that, who knows.

I remember Harmonn said he thought Poland had a good team for Mendrisio. Niemiec seems even stronger now than he was then, so a bit of luck Limburg

 

[greenedge]

I think Malori will just not be an elite Time triallist for some reason. He never seems to finish in the top 10 of most ITT's ( except for the Giro ). And riders like Bobridge, Sergeant, Phinney and others show more potential/ recent form ( even though Phinney had a disappointing first half of the season )

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Of those mentioned already, Durbridge looks like the brightest ITT talent for sure. Jungels will be very good as well.

Rasmus Quaade hasn't been mentioned yet, but he's a very big talent as well. Besides, he's about as ugly on his TT bike as Martin is

 

[auscyclefan94]

Not to forget Alex Dowsett, who was surprisingly strong this season. Taylor Phinney disappointed however, but as a BMC youngster that's no surprise

Taylor Phinney dissapointed? With the results he had in many races I would say he had a good season for what was his first full pro season.

 

[Luke Schmid]

Taylor Phinney dissapointed? With the results he had in many races I would say he had a good season for what was his first full pro season.

I agree, while it took him a while to get going 4th at the Eneco Tour, with a smashing win in the prologue and 5th at the Vuelta TT are good results. He also had 2nd on Romandie prologue although 97th in the TT is way below his best.
Not every rider is going to step into the WT and be a huge success immediately even if they a lot of talent.

 

[MADRAZO]

How about Fraile og Domene? Has the latter signed with Androni for the next season?

I wonder about that myself, as first it seemed sure and then it has dissapered on cqranking and perhaps replaced with the slightly odd signing of climber Salvatore Mancuso that has not made any results for 2 years. But other places he is still mentioned as signing definetly with Androni so I still think that is the case. Would be nice to get a confirmation though.

Fraile should go to Orbea together with some other talents like Carlos Barbero and Haritz Orbe, where he should be expected to be able to advance to Euskaltel later on.

 

[maltiv]

Taylor Phinney dissapointed? With the results he had in many races I would say he had a good season for what was his first full pro season.

I don't agree. 1 victory isn't enough for a talent of his calibre and he was consistently disappointing in all time trials of any decent length. It got better towards the end of the season though so of course there is still hope, but he didn't exactly have a "Sagan-esque" first year, as some people expected him to have. I'd say that both Sergeant and Dowsett had better seasons, which one certainly wouldn't predict 1 year ago.

 

[profff]

best young italian climber aru. he will do very well.
santoro and cattaneo are interesting prospect too
stefano locatelli has ben hyped for the published data of 7.0 watt/kg, probably not true.
he is a good climber but imho inferior to the above mentioned.

what about monsalve , the young gun rom venezuela that won langkawi for androni ?

 

[Angliru]

I agree, while it took him a while to get going 4th at the Eneco Tour, with a smashing win in the prologue and 5th at the Vuelta TT are good results. He also had 2nd on Romandie prologue although 97th in the TT is way below his best.
Not every rider is going to step into the WT and be a huge success immediately even if they a lot of talent.

I think the forumite who mentioned Phinney's season as a disappointment is right. Considering the hype that followed Phinney, the continuous bombarding of minute info regarding his everymove, in addition to his being granted a regular column, it's a bit of a letdown that he didn't arrive on the scene in the same manner that someone like Sagan did, and with none of the hype that followed Phinney. If he hadn't embraced it it would not have been so bad but he took it and ran with it, setting himself up for all the lofty expectations that came with it. Ultimately he had a good first season but not one that measured up to all the loud trumpeting of his coming on to the scene.

Edit: Maltiv beat me to the Sagan comparison. :-(

 

[Parrulo]

Nelson Oliveira too. And Marcel Kittel, but he'll probably not be working on developing his TT from here on in.

you can count oliveira out as a future itt star, he said he saw himself as a 3 weeks rider(even tho his climbing is very bad) so he will prolly lose some of his very good itt to improve his climbing and become average at both. . .

another wasted talent *sight*

 

[daveinzambia]

I agree, while it took him a while to get going 4th at the Eneco Tour, with a smashing win in the prologue and 5th at the Vuelta TT are good results. He also had 2nd on Romandie prologue although 97th in the TT is way below his best.
Not every rider is going to step into the WT and be a huge success immediately even if they a lot of talent.

But from interviews i have seen Both Taylor and the team saw most of last year as a disappointment. Took him a while to find his professionalism. Hopefully given his form towards the end of the year he will a much improved rider next year.

 

[c&cfan]

But from interviews i have seen Both Taylor and the team saw most of last year as a disappointment. Took him a while to find his professionalism. Hopefully given his form towards the end of the year he will a much improved rider next year.

it's amazing that almost no one still rates cancellara at least as martin biggest challenge next year.

 

[Jakob747]

How about Fraile og Domene? Has the latter signed with Androni for the next season?

Ramón Domene rides for Caja Rural’s amateur squad in 2012!

 

[The Hitch]

it's amazing that almost no one still rates cancellara at least as martin biggest challenge next year.

I expect Cancellara to do some impressive things next year. Whether its in the cobbles, the Olympics or the worlds (I mean road race), Im not sure.

 

[c&cfan]

I expect Cancellara to do some impressive things next year. Whether its in the cobbles, the Olympics or the worlds (I mean road race), Im not sure.

for me and for the other cycling romantics he already is a legend. i just want to see him do what he does best, put the hammer down. it's beautiful.