Garmin cannondale

[trevim]

According to this CN report, "just" knee problem
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/skjerping-replaces-an-injured-acevedo-ahead-of-tour-de-san-luis

A Menchov type of knee problem?

 

[Tournesol]

Haas went down hard on stage 4, he was their leader, and after his crash he didnt have the legs anymore.

Exactly,i tipped Dennis and Haas as potential winners beforehand,got one right and i feel Haas would have definitely been top10 GC if not for the crash.He was 3rd favourite to win the race the night before the start getting backed in to 10-1 behind Porte/Evans.Had good form coming in to the race,the crash was just unlucky.

I like this team,JV is a polarizing figure but its a cool little underdog team.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

If Cannondale are going to keep Formolo beyond 2015, he may be the best ever signing for Vaughters' team.

But with their budget, it will be really hard to keep him over richer teams if Formolo can continue making progress this way. I can see either him or Dan Martin leaving the team for next year. The budget may be too tight to have both of them and Talansky, who has a contract for 2016 already in place.

They can't afford a Contador / Froome type leader and certainly not alongside other leaders for other races. But they can afford to have three decent leaders. So it really depends on how much Formolo develops. Particularly as Hesjedal, the third of their three current main men has to be on the down slope of his career at this point.

Basically if any if their riders turns into one of the top three or four GC men in the sport, they will find more money or he will be moving on. I don't think there's any immediate danger of Formolo turning into one of those. Somewhere else may offer him more money anyway, mind you. Martin may well have had better money offered elsewhere at this point, but he's a bit of a special case as he's been at Garmin all his career and they can give him great support in his specialty.

 

[Wallenquist]

Acevedo is currently on training camp with the team on Mallorca. Seems nothing suspecious is going on with him.

 

[JRanton]

There's a lot of talent in this team but it's also pretty unbalanced. No sprinter and not a lot for the cobbles aside from Langeveld and potentially Van Baarle. You then have a ridiculously deep group for the hilly races where I'd imagine some riders will be pretty ****ed not to even make the team for the big classics.

EDIT:

Cobbles squad will be something like this I think: Langeveld, Van Baarle, Bauer, Hansen, Koren, Marangoni, Ted King and Skjerping (8)

Hilly classics squad: Martin, Slagter, Formolo, Hesjedal, Navardauskas, Moser, Howes, Haas, Villella (9)

Pure stage racers/climbers: Talansky, Danielson, Acevedo, Cardoso, Dombrowski, Ben King (6)

Others/Neo-pros: Zepuntke, Mohoric, Bettiol, Brown (4)

Mohoric and Bettiol both rode LBL in their first year but probably won't in 2015. Cardoso rode well at Lombardia and Milan-Torino last year so he's another to be considered for the hilly classics even if his main role is to be a climbing domestique in stage races.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

There's a lot of talent in this team but it's also pretty unbalanced. No sprinter and not a lot for the cobbles aside from Langeveld and potentially Van Baarle. You then have a ridiculously deep group for the hilly races where I'd imagine some riders will be pretty ****ed not to even make the team for the big classics.

Navardauskas sprints very well. I could see Garmin make him fill that role a bit more than last year. Skjerping is fast as well, right? But yeah, you're right - no real top sprinter.

 

[JRanton]

Navardauskas sprints very well. I could see Garmin make him fill that role a bit more than last year. Skjerping is fast as well, right? But yeah, you're right - no real top sprinter.

I think he's more of a strong man for the classics than a pure sprinter (but certainly with a good finish). Viviani would have been a good fit for this team but I guess they ran out of money.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I think he's more of a strong man for the classics than a pure sprinter (but certainly with a good finish). Viviani would have been a good fit for this team but I guess they ran out of money.

Yeah, that's probably how I would categorize him as well.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

There's a lot of talent in this team but it's also pretty unbalanced. No sprinter and not a lot for the cobbles aside from Langeveld and potentially Van Baarle. You then have a ridiculously deep group for the hilly races where I'd imagine some riders will be pretty ****ed not to even make the team for the big classics.

EDIT:

Cobbles squad will be something like this I think: Langeveld, Van Baarle, Bauer, Hansen, Koren, Marangoni, Ted King and Skjerping (8)

Hilly classics squad: Martin, Slagter, Formolo, Hesjedal, Navardauskas, Moser, Howes, Haas, Villella (9)

Pure stage racers/climbers: Talansky, Danielson, Acevedo, Cardoso, Dombrowski, Ben King (6)

Others/Neo-pros: Zepuntke, Mohoric, Bettiol, Brown (4)

Mohoric and Bettiol both rode LBL in their first year but probably won't in 2015. Cardoso rode well at Lombardia and Milan-Torino last year so he's another to be considered for the hilly classics even if his main role is to be a climbing domestique in stage races.

Yes, the polite way of describing the team is "focused" but it ultimately means the same thing as "unbalanced".

I mean who is the second fastest finisher after Navardauskas, who is himself by no means a sprint specialist? A neopro like Skjerping? A puncheur with a small group sprint like Martin?

They could field two genuinely strong hilly classics teams. Just getting into their lineup will be an accomplishment. I can only hope that they have hoarded so many hills and mountains guys with the intention of letting them go nuts attacking in stage races with hills, because there really aren't enough hilly classics to justify that kind of depth.

Their leaders certainly won't be able to claim a lack of climbing support.

 

[ray j willings]

Garmin tend to find their GT leader on the road. Maybe this year they should have a nominated leader and see how that pans out. They always seem to get involved in a big time loss crash or incident. Focus the team on a leader and ride together a bit more instead of spreading themselves out.

 

[durtyfat]

Here's my prediction for garmin-canondale squads in the tour and the Giro this year. =.=

Giro: Hesjedal, Cardoso, Formolo, Villela, Moser, Marangoni, Van Baarle, King, Haas

TDF: Talansky, Martin, Navardauskas, Slagter, Langeveld, Danielson, Koren, Bauer, Howes

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Garmin tend to find their GT leader on the road. Maybe this year they should have a nominated leader and see how that pans out. They always seem to get involved in a big time loss crash or incident. Focus the team on a leader and ride together a bit more instead of spreading themselves out.

They are moving towards that kind of model a bit, with three clearly defined GT "leaders" in Martin, Talansky and Hesjedal. Whichever one or two of them is in a GT will be leader / co leader. Maybe someone else as co leader in the Vuelta too, Formolo possibly or Danielson even.

 

[BeachBum]

Here's my prediction for garmin-canondale squads in the tour and the Giro this year. =.=

Giro: Hesjedal, Cardoso, Formolo, Villela, Moser, Marangoni, Van Baarle, King, Haas

TDF: Talansky, Martin, Navardauskas, Slagter, Langeveld, Danielson, Koren, Bauer, Howes

Well played. They have two Kings. You have 2 chances to be right.

 

[ray j willings]

They are moving towards that kind of model a bit, with three clearly defined GT "leaders" in Martin, Talansky and Hesjedal. Whichever one or two of them is in a GT will be leader / co leader. Maybe someone else as co leader in the Vuelta too, Formolo possibly or Danielson even.

I really enjoy Ryder. He's so aggressive and really rides with enjoyment and without fear of getting beat. Not a JV fan but really hope the aggressive riding pays off for Ryder Martin etc etc . They are the anti-sky team and I love them for it.

 

[Anderis]

I mean who is the second fastest finisher after Navardauskas, who is himself by no means a sprint specialist? A neopro like Skjerping? A puncheur with a small group sprint like Martin?

Haas and Zepuntke are definetely faster than Martin, and perhaps faster than Skjerping, Haas especially. He had plenty of good places on flat finishes last year.

Here's my prediction for garmin-canondale squads in the tour and the Giro this year. =.=

Giro: Hesjedal, Cardoso, Formolo, Villela, Moser, Marangoni, Van Baarle, King, Haas

TDF: Talansky, Martin, Navardauskas, Slagter, Langeveld, Danielson, Koren, Bauer, Howes

I think Andre Cardoso is set to do both Giro and Tour.

 

[Gloin22]

Well played. They have two Kings. You have 2 chances to be right.

But only one useful

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Many, many races ends with some sort of uphill sprint these days. Garmin just follows the trend and I think thats pretty smart.

The bunch sprint field is pretty ridiculous right now. To have a good chance of being successful here a team needs to add a proper tier 2 sprinter and throw serious resources behind it. Thinking about Cannondales limited budget, I can see why they opt out of such a plan.

The GC element is so, so, but thats similar to 10 (or more) other WT teams.

If Cancellara and Boonen tanks in the cobbles races, perhaps Langeveld finds himself on the podium in a monument. Very long shot, but how do you get a real cobbles contender without spending half the budget?

Anyway I do like the team this year.

 

[Tournesol]

Formolo does have big potential but maybe he needs more work on his time-trialling to do well in GT's.He says he's doing an hour every day on the TT bike according to a recent article,how rapidly that improves will determine his GT aspirations.

He can challenge in other races this year,top 7 GC at Suisse last year was a fine result for a 21 year old.Talented youngster who will be exciting to watch throughout the season i hope.

 

[Banana_Joe]

...The bunch sprint field is pretty ridiculous right now. To have a good chance of being successful here a team needs to add a proper tier 2 sprinter and throw serious resources behind it. Thinking about Cannondales limited budget, I can see why they opt out of such a plan....

I think Navardauskas proved that he is even a fast guy on high level competition.
He finished 3rd in the finale stage of the Tour in 2014, behind Kittel and Kristoff. If his team takes care of him as a sprinter, he will probably be able to show his speed a couple more times in the future.

Nevertheless he isn't a pure sprinter, more kind of a really versatile guy how has his biggest strength in a sprint of a smaller bunch (+ having the abilities of a great puncheur, being a good time trialist as well and strong enough to conquer hilly stages and classics).

 

[Dazed and Confused]

snipped..

Nevertheless he isn't a pure sprinter, more kind of a really versatile guy how has his biggest strength in a sprint of a smaller bunch (+ having the abilities of a great puncheur, being a good time trialist as well and strong enough to conquer hilly stages and classics).

I would call this a hardman sprinter. Still not convinced he will ever win a competitive bog standard flat stage ending in a bunch sprint. Too many specialist with trains in the field today.

In tougher terrain against Degenkolb, Kristoff and Sagan etc, yea I think he can play very well.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

I think Andre Cardoso is set to do both Giro and Tour.

Interesting shout. He has been a very good domestique for them. Not a superdom, not a leader in waiting, just a very reliable, very good domestique. I think the competition amongst the climbers to get in their Tour team will be quite intense, but, of their climbing doms, I suspect that you are right that he is the most likely to do the GT double.

He was a good unspectacular signing.

 

[Banana_Joe]

I would call this a hardman sprinter. Still not convinced he will ever win a competitive bog standard flat stage ending in a bunch sprint. Too many specialist with trains in the field today.

In tougher terrain against Degenkolb, Kristoff and Sagan etc, yea I think he can play very well.

Thats true. There will be always one or two quicker guys then him in a bunch sprint, but he is still able to grab some good results there.

But we are on the same page, because I also think that he is kind of a "hardman sprinter". Even if he is facing up the big names for those tougher sprints, he is able to compete and will maybe win bigger races, if his great progress continues. I could imagine him finishing MSR better than 11th 2014.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

yea, MSR would be good for him. Maybe he should try some cobbles races as well.

 

[Banana_Joe]

I'm also surprised that he did not try those kind of races. His body is perfect for cobbles, but I don't know about his skills. Maybe you could compare him with Vainsteins (a light version of the latvian guy), if he would start to succed in cobble races?

 

[Ruudz0r]

In 2010 he rode PR U23 (finished 8th) and Flanders U23 (finished 4th), but he feels more comfortable in the hilly races.