So things have got a little bit better for the team during May. Hesjedal's 5th overall in Giro is better than I expected. Formolo got a stage win and the rest of the team has secured some decent results in races like California and Bayern-Rundfahrt. They currently sit 13th in CQ 2015 team ranking, so it's not as disastrous as it was several weeks ago, although a couple of wins would make things look a bit better. The team was winning a monument or GT each year between 2011-2014, but that's unlikely to continue in 2015. It would be nice to win a race overall at a WT level this year, but it seems to be a bit of a challange.
Now I'm curious to see who will make it into the TdF final roster. Considering both TTT and cobbles appear during the race, guys like Langeveld, Van Baarle, Bauer and Koren should be very useful. I think the last of them would be least likely to make it based on recent form, but he is probably the best climber among them, so who knows. Then you have Navardauskas and Haas to work on flat and easier hills. But that makes 6 "flat" guys worthy of being in the team. Probably only 4 of them will be there. Maybe 5, if Vaughters thinks it's better to have stronger team to work on flat. Or maybe 3 if the balance is set to be more towards climbing.
Then you have Talansky, who was intended to be a team's leader for GC, but Martin has proved in last year's Vuelta that he can go for a top10 GC in a GT and the route suits him very much with little ITT, a lot of short climbs and time bonuses. And Hesjedal, who exceeded expectations during the Giro will also target TdF. He came to France in very good shape in 2012 after strong Giro, but unfortunately he crashed out and we couldn't see if he was able to keep that throughout another 3 weeks race. All 3 should make into the roster, but then it will make it sophisticated about who should be protected etc. so I would not be surprised if one of them is moved to the Vuelta.
Who should be the rest of climbing support? Probably Andre Cardoso, who is very steady rider and was intended to do a Giro-Tour from the beginning of the season. You also have Ben King and Howes who made it into the team last year. King seems to be doing quite well recently, but Howes was a bit nowhere this season. Joe Dombrowski has made enough this season to deserve a place in TdF roster IMO, but he is set to ride Vuelta and Osterreich-Rundfahrt from what I have read recently. Don't know if Acevedo or Slagter can recover after Giro to be included in this consideration. The Colombian is nowhere near his best this season anyway. Neither is Slagter, but at least he made a Top10 in La Fleche. And Tom Danielson. He abandoned Giro with a knee injury, but he seemed to be in decent shape this spring so maybe he can recover for the Tour. But he may rather focus on Utah again.
My bet? Probably: Talansky, Martin, Hesjedal, Cardoso, Ben King, Navardauskas, Bauer, Van Baarle and Langeveld/Haas. But last year there were some surprises, so it may also happen this year.
Also there are not many climbers to support Talansky in his attempt to defend his 2014 Dauphine title. But it was pretty much the same last year. Maybe they aim to do well in TTT so that's why there are so many roleurs in their provisional roster.
Ahh, I forgot about contract extention thing. I imagine guy like Van Baarle can be omitted in TdF roster if he is to sign with another team for 2016 (Lotto-Soudal rumoured IIRC).