Garmin cannondale

[The GCW]

How will Garmin Sharp fare after the change to Cannondale?

With Joe Dombrowski, Elia Viviani and the rest of the changes and regulars... how will they do?

 

[Akuryo]

They hired Tony Martins coach, so I guess they will improve on their TTT-skills.

 

[trevim]

First of all they should learn how to not crash/get caught in crosswinds in every single GT finding themselves without a leader. Then they can start to think about tactics and marginal gains.

 

[Anderis]

Viviani is not 100% sure if I'm not mistaken. He is strongly rumoured to Sky. There were 8 riders with valid contracts with Cannondale for 2015, and Vaughters said that while he is ready to honour them all, these riders are also free to negotiate with other teams.

So far, only Formolo and Mohoric confirmed they will be riding for Team Cannondale in 2015.

I'm really looking forward to what they will be capable of in hilly races next year. With Martin, Hesjedal, Slagter, Howes, Haas, Navardauskas, Formolo, Moser and Villella (assuming the last two will join) it will be an awesome team for hilly classics.

If Viviani will not join, they'll probably be really short of sprinters, though. But it's nothing new that the focus will be on the GC of stage races now.

Foremost, I hope for less crashes and mechanicals in key moments of key races next year.

 

[Afrank]

They have Joe Dombro, that all I care about. Sky did a good job squandering his development, now I'll be watching him and how JV develops him closely.

They've got a number of pretty talented young guys, I could see them putting the lot of them into a Giro or Vuelta and going for stages (maybe throw in Dan Martin for a GC threat). A Giro would be good to try this in if we get some hilly parcours.

Maybe send the young guys to some of the American races also, they can be good races for young riders to take their chances in and go for their own results.

 

[Anderis]

Maybe send the young guys to some of the American races also, they can be good races for young riders to take their chances in and go for their own results.

I'm pretty sure they'll go to American races with some serious leadership, as they usually do in recent years. Danielson perhaps, maybe Talansky or Hesjedal. Young guys will be helping, and maybe stage-hunting.

 

[Afrank]

I'm pretty sure they'll go to American races with some serious leadership, as they usually do in recent years. Danielson perhaps, maybe Talansky or Hesjedal. Young guys will be helping, and maybe stage-hunting.

Danielson and Talansky (so long as it coincides with his GT goals) would be my guess, Ryder usually races in Europe for the most part. Maybe Dombrowski to go for the young rider jersey/'s.

 

[Pharazon]

They have Joe Dombro, that all I care about. Sky did a good job squandering his development, now I'll be watching him and how JV develops him closely.

considering he spent most of his contract injured how exactly did they squander his development?

 

[Afrank]

considering he spent most of his contract injured how exactly did they squander his development?

Sky is just all around terrible at developing riders. Not racing, dealing with injuries, and just being overall anonymous in the pro peloton is kind of a running trend with Sky's young riders.

Look at Edmondson, hasn't done much that this or last year.
Sebastian Henao, did have a pretty good Giro, but not much since then (probably their best young rider results wise).
Boswell, again hasn't done much of anything so far. Very little racing this year.

Maybe squander isn't exactly the right word, my main point though is that they're not good at developing young riders. I think their too preoccupied with guys like Froome to put enough attention or resources into the younger members of the squad. Come to think of it, didn't Kennaugh say they didn't put enough faith into the younger members earlier this year?

 

[Anderis]

So what we know about the team for 2015? I've read somewhere that the team's name may be Cannondale Pro Cycling Team. It would be kinda disappointing not to have a 2nd title sponsor, because I don't believe Cannondale is paying that much to demand the sole title sponsor privilege. Vaughters said some time ago that they would be looking for a 2nd title sponsor and that may determine team's name and colours. But it looks they didn't find anything interesting. But maybe they're still looking for it and that's why we didn't have any announcement, yet.

Garmin was supposed to remain an important sponsor, but not important enough to make it into a team's name, it seems.

I would love them to present the 2015 kit now. I'm curious how it will look like. It is supposed to be a green argyle in case of not finding any additional sponsor next to Cannondale. I hope they will create something clean, neat and good-looking. The previous Cannondale kit was not bad but I see the room for improvement.

I will miss the blue, though. And the Garmin name. That how it was pretty much ever since I had become interested in cycling. Not a very long time, though.

About riders. Most of the sites say there are 25 riders certain of 2015 contract. But I didn't find any confirmation about Ted King, Marangoni, Bettiol, Villella and Moser. Alex Howes said recently he still doesn't know how many Cannondale guys will be joining a team.
But it seems Vaughtes already let some interesting Cannondale riders, like Gatto, to slip out of his hands.

Bauer, Von Hoff, Dekker, Mannion and maybe Girdlestone and Fairly are the riders who could fill the remaining spots. But maybe Vaughters is seeking some riders from outside? There are still some interesting rider uncertain of their future on the market.

All things considered, I don't think that merger with Cannondale is really a step forward roster-wise. Ted King and Marangoni never were and never will be as good as the average WT rider IMO. Moser, had a very disappointing season. Mohoric and Bettiol are probably still too young to contribute much at the WT level. Koren is a very solid all-around domestique, but nothing more. Formolo and Villella are undoubtedly talented guys, but perhaps not at their primes, yet. In short term, I don't think it will really make the team stronger, and in the long term, some of these good talents may leave the team before Cannondale will really start profiting from them.

With riders like Farrar, Vansummeren and Kreder leaving the team, it (and Bauer and Von Hoff still being uncertain) has become short of depth in the flat races IMO. There is awesome team for hills now, though, and perhaps with that kind of budget you can't have everything.

 

[May0maniac]

I hope that they can get Moser and Dombrowski back on track, that would be awesome. Formolo is one of the biggest talents around, he's a good climber and decent in ITTs, in the over 24km long Tour de Suisse ITT he was only 4 sec. slower than Evans and 58sec slower than Dumoulin. For a young italian prospect he's a pretty good time trialist.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

They are certainly a much more focused team then they were in the past. And a much younger one. But they aren't going to do much in the sprints, on the cobbles, in flat races generally, in the ITT or the TTT.

That's an awful lot of "dead" race days, where their only interest will be getting in the break or looking for the opportunity to launch a late attack with someone like Navardauskas. Strange to think that this is a team that won Paris-Roubaix and that was possibly the closest thing HTC had to a rival in the sprints (not that close though).

They should be almost ludicrously strong in the hilly classics. Just getting into their Ardennes line up will be something of an accomplishment, almost like OPQS on the cobbles. They will be tricky to deal with in stage races with hilly stages too - in theory they could field a team where every member is too strong to be lightly let in the break. Their GC fate is hard to predict. They have very strong climbing support but leaders whose place in the GC rider hierarchy is hard to assess. And they don't have strong support for flat stages or TTTs. The romantic in me hopes to see them use their preponderance of climbers and puncheurs to create carnage in some stage races.

I agree with Anderis that the merger doesn't drastically strengthen the squad overall, at least immediately. But it does bring in some young prospects, and if one or two of them come good that's a huge deal for a relatively low budget team. If the team quality is unchanged, it's better to have a team of kids than a team of old men. The kids will improve, old men won't.

 

[ChewbaccaD]

They are certainly a much more focused team then they were in the past. And a much younger one. But they aren't going to do much in the sprints, on the cobbles, in flat races generally, in the ITT or the TTT.

That's an awful lot of "dead" race days, where their only interest will be getting in the break or looking for the opportunity to launch a late attack with someone like Navardauskas. Strange to think that this is a team that won Paris-Roubaix and that was possibly the closest thing HTC had to a rival in the sprints (not that close though).

They should be almost ludicrously strong in the hilly classics. Just getting into their Ardennes line up will be something of an accomplishment, almost like OPQS on the cobbles. They will be tricky to deal with in stage races with hilly stages too - in theory they could field a team where every member is too strong to be lightly let in the break. Their GC fate is hard to predict. They have very strong climbing support but leaders whose place in the GC rider hierarchy is hard to assess. And they don't have strong support for flat stages or TTTs. The romantic in me hopes to see them use their preponderance of climbers and puncheurs to create carnage in some stage races.

I agree with Anderis that the merger doesn't drastically strengthen the squad overall, at least immediately. But it does bring in some young prospects, and if one or two of them come good that's a huge deal for a relatively low budget team. If the team quality is unchanged, it's better to have a team of kids than a team of old men. The kids will improve, old men won't.

 

[greenedge]

I think that Garmin last year were a very complete team and with their new signings not much will be added. However some of them are really talented, so maybe in 2 years time this will be vindicated.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

That did make me laugh.

 

[Anderis]

According to cyclingfever, Marangoni and Bettiol are now confirmed.

They are certainly a much more focused team then they were in the past. And a much younger one. But they aren't going to do much in the sprints, on the cobbles, in flat races generally, in the ITT or the TTT.

That's an awful lot of "dead" race days, where their only interest will be getting in the break or looking for the opportunity to launch a late attack with someone like Navardauskas. Strange to think that this is a team that won Paris-Roubaix and that was possibly the closest thing HTC had to a rival in the sprints (not that close though).

They should be almost ludicrously strong in the hilly classics. Just getting into their Ardennes line up will be something of an accomplishment, almost like OPQS on the cobbles. They will be tricky to deal with in stage races with hilly stages too - in theory they could field a team where every member is too strong to be lightly let in the break. Their GC fate is hard to predict. They have very strong climbing support but leaders whose place in the GC rider hierarchy is hard to assess. And they don't have strong support for flat stages or TTTs. The romantic in me hopes to see them use their preponderance of climbers and puncheurs to create carnage in some stage races.

Good post that I generally agree with apart some small exceptions.

The team isn't exactly forceless on cobbles. Langeveld finished the last 4 cobbled monuments in the top10. Van Baarle had a decent neo-pro season, so he may surprise next year. And Skjerping will be the man for sprints in easier cobbled races, as he won a sprint for 2nd in u-23 Flanders this year. It's not anywhere near as good as it was in 2011, but Langeveld alone is the reason why they can confidently ride cobbled races with an aim to do well.

The only "dead" race days will be totally flat stages in races where the competitions is strong (and Navardauskas is not there with the form of his live). They have some options for cobbles and tougher finishes. And in smaller races, even guys like Howes have proven to be able to win a flat finish.

I also want to notice this team has always been full of young riders and one of the younger teams in WT. Maybe not as young as for 2015, but 2015 roster is too young to be called optimal IMO.

I can't wait to see the confirmation of new, full team name, kits and full roster. It's about time to know.

 

[The GCW]

More info

This, over at Velo News may offer clues:

"Italians aim for fresh start on new U.S.-based Cannondale squad"

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014...tart-on-new-u-s-based-cannondale-squad_352365

 

[Anderis]

So it seems we know for sure which 8 riders from the former Cannondale will join the team. If it was my decision, I would have taken no more than half of them, TBH. But it was not my decision and they needed to honour existing contracts.

If there's a training camp next week, then the team's roster should be pretty much finalised, shouldn't it? I wait for more news soon.

I had a dream today that the remaining 2 spots were taken by Gavin Mannion and Caleb Fairly. Let's see if it was right, but my dreams are rarely the same as reality.

 

[The GCW]

Tough training next week.

Their Boulder, Colorado training camp may be a tough one, next week, with snow in the forecast and temps not even getting above freezing for a few days.

Flagstaff has been closed for most of the day except weekends and the summit destinations will be even colder.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Move the bonding inside.

 

[avanti]

Their Boulder, Colorado training camp may be a tough one, next week, with snow in the forecast and temps not even getting above freezing for a few days.

Flagstaff has been closed for most of the day except weekends and the summit destinations will be even colder.

As I recall last year's training camp was for team bonding and included hiking and rock climbing.

 

[Oldman]

Move the bonding inside.

Is that a bong of legal Colorado on the table? That would help with appetite bonding. Put some meat on those skinny climbers.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Is that a bong of legal Colorado on the table? That would help with appetite bonding. Put some meat on those skinny climbers.

yep, cabin comes with build in ventilation and exhaust system in every room.

Getting meat on the table is part of the exercise.

 

[Anderis]

So we know now for sure Dekker will not be one of the riders who will fill the remaining spots in the team.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/thomas-dekker-to-attempt-hour-record

TBH, I barely noticed him anywhere in the last 2 years, so I do not regret.

 

[The GCW]

Recent info:

Photo collage and additional info:

http://www.procyclingstats.com/team/garmin_Cannondale_2015