Garmin vs Sky 2010

[mr. tibbs]

well, that's the first weekend of meaningful races over and sky came out on top vs both cervelo and garmin. looks like brailsford is going to be able to transfer that winning by 100 cuts from the track to the road after all.

some strong performances by individuals on the other two teams though - farrar was impressive on saturday and hushovdt and lloyd worked well until it was clear that their efforts would be unrewarded today.

all set up nicely for the forthcoming Classics. where are QuickStep and OmegaPharma????

Boonen has had a few wins already this year, and he looked pretty amazing at Omloop Het Nie. Barring some unfortunate flat tires, I would think Boonen or Nuyens would have won that race. Chavanel was also mixing it up on Saturday, so I think it's a bit disingenuous to suggest they haven't been showing decent form for the upcoming classics.

 

[luckyboy]

The classics are in April anyway, so they'll be in top form then..

 

[Anonymous]

Boonen has had a few wins already this year, and he looked pretty amazing at Omloop Het Nie. Barring some unfortunate flat tires,.

So by that token, Flecha would have won by an even greater distance had he not flatted.

 

[LugHugger]

Boonen has had a few wins already this year, and he looked pretty amazing at Omloop Het Nie. Barring some unfortunate flat tires, I would think Boonen or Nuyens would have won that race. Chavanel was also mixing it up on Saturday, so I think it's a bit disingenuous to suggest they haven't been showing decent form for the upcoming classics.

sure, was playing devil's advocate a little. I did say meaningful though Boonen definitely looked good - as usual at this time of year. I can't think of anybody who can put in the repeated digs that he does over the bergs and split a group whilst maintaining the pace. Nuyens seems to be acquiring Flecha's recently discarded mantle of 'nearly' or 'what if?' man. He seems to have better excuses than Hoste though. Only 3 weeks until the first Classic though, so there's still time to fine tune.

 

[mr. tibbs]

So by that token, Flecha would have won by an even greater distance had he not flatted.

Well...I would argue that Boonen's two flats (especially the first) and Nuyens' flat did a lot more to hamper their chances than Flecha's. Seeing Boonen standing next to his bike while the race was really heating up and watching Nuyens drift back through the chase groups was pretty painful.

But I could be mistaken. (And, in all honesty, I hadn't even realized that Flecha had flatted.)

 

[Anonymous]

Well...I would argue that Boonen's two flats (especially the first) and Nuyens' flat did a lot more to hamper their chances than Flecha's. Seeing Boonen standing next to his bike while the race was really heating up and watching Nuyens drift back through the chase groups was pretty painful.

But I could be mistaken. (And, in all honesty, I hadn't even realized that Flecha had flatted.)

For me a big difference was, when Flecha flatted he had Matty Hayman with him supporting, so he immediately got Haymans wheel. Thats how Sky had it worked, that Flecha and Ebh had support. You could argue that it was poor by QS to not have support there for Boonen. They know what these races are like for mechanicals. Maybe rather than Chavanel wasting his energy in pointless breakaway attempts, he would have been better off sitting with Boonen, supporting him, then giving him his wheel when Tom flatted..?

It was noticable that when boonen flatted the pressure was upped in that group, most notable by a certain Sky rider. I think that may have been a bit of payback, for the payback.. Boonen was one of the cheif instigators in Oman after the pee stop.

I do see your point about boonens flat.. i was being pedantic in raising flechas flat. Although, had Hayman not been there, Flecha would not have won.

 

[miffed]

Im quite glad Boonen flatted, he's shown everyone he's ridiculously strong just soft pedalling of the front with 60kms to go but it allowing Flecha to win and get that monkey of being the perennial nearly man off his back.

This could be the set up to a great classics season;
Boonens flying, Hushovd's a bit ill but clearly has good legs, Flecha can win, Hauslers sprinting for 2nds again and EBH is maturing nicely into the new Merckx.

As for Quicksteps tactics Chavanel doing his silly attacks is fun, winning or losing Omloop isnt going to make much difference to Quicksteps season and if Chavanel can get into a winning move good for him. If on the other hand Sky win then its a huge deal and show that they are truly one of the big boys hence protecting EBH and Flecha.

 

[Anonymous]

Garmin is on the board.

 

[Anonymous]

Garmin is on the board.

Yeh, Congrats to Robbie, nice that he got the teams first win of the year. repays the faith they showed in signing him.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

So what's the score so far?

Garmin 1
Sky 5?

 

[Anonymous]

So what's the score so far?

Garmin 1
Sky 5?

Ive lost count..
erm..

cancer classic
tdu 1 stage
qatar ttt
oman 1 stage
oman tt
omloop

six..

garmin are claiming three though, cos they are claiming the aussie nationals..

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

Ive lost count..
erm..

cancer classic
tdu 1 stage
qatar ttt
oman 1 stage
oman tt
omloop

six..

garmin are claiming three though, cos they are claiming the aussie nationals..

Forgot about the Cancer classic.

I don't know about Aussie Nationals. Did anybody show from Sky? Gerrans or Sutton perhaps?

 

[Tugboat]

I don't know about Aussie Nationals. Did anybody show from Sky? Gerrans or Sutton perhaps?

No. The Sky guys felt that a camp preparing for the TDU was more important than riding nationals. So neither Gerro or CJ rode the Aussie champs or Henderson the NZ champs that were on around the same time.

 

[Tugboat]

Yeh, Congrats to Robbie, nice that he got the teams first win of the year. repays the faith they showed in signing him.

They'd better celebrate... it could be the only sprint win they get all year.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

No. The Sky guys felt that a camp preparing for the TDU was more important than riding nationals. So neither Gerro or CJ rode the Aussie champs or Henderson the NZ champs that were on around the same time.

Then it's Garmin 1....

 

[Willy_Voet]

Forgot about the Cancer classic./QUOTE]

That's b/c it's utterly forgettable.

 

[Willy_Voet]

Forgot about the Cancer classic.

That's b/c it's utterly forgettable.

 

[Willy_Voet]

No. The Sky guys felt that a camp preparing for the TDU was more important than riding nationals. So neither Gerro or CJ rode the Aussie champs or Henderson the NZ champs that were on around the same time.

I suppose they're right, who would want a champions jersey to screw up their team color (er, colour) scheme? Yellow and green clash with Sky Blue.

 

[Anonymous]

I suppose they're right, who would want a champions jersey to screw up their team color (er, colour) scheme? Yellow and green clash with Sky Blue.

None of the sky national champs jerseys have the sky colours on.

I think also there where issues about them not wanting to wear the team strips until the first race together as a team, so they would have been riding the nationals in plain jerseys.

 

[Boeing]

 

[Anonymous]

Hmm

Sky 6
Robbie Hunter 2

Theyre catching..

 

[tgsgirl]

No. The Sky guys felt that a camp preparing for the TDU was more important than riding nationals. So neither Gerro or CJ rode the Aussie champs or Henderson the NZ champs that were on around the same time.

The Sky Aussies/Kiwis weren't allowed to ride the nationals, because the first time the kit was to be desplayed was when they were all together as a team. There is no i in Dave Brailsford. Wait..

(All of this, of course, well after their very own team presentation. Where the kit was on display. And they didn't race together as a team.)

 

[Willy_Voet]

In all seriousness, it's 6 to 4, Team Sky.

Every team counts national championships.

e.g. Quickstep 2009: linky

I would posit that Cancer Classic doesn't count either, unless we're going to count every little parking lot crit, training race and charity ride as well.

 

[ingsve]

In all seriousness, it's 6 to 4, Team Sky.

Every team counts national championships.

e.g. Quickstep 2009: linky

I would posit that Cancer Classic doesn't count either, unless we're going to count every little parking lot crit, training race and charity ride as well.

Exactly, that's why my opinion is that the score is Sky 5 - Garmin 4. And I'm sure as hell is going to count all nationals come June...Go EBH.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The sheer numbers are irrelevant. As has been shown above, the relevance or value of races can lead to things like the Cancer Classic and nationals being counted or not counted. If you support Team Sky, then the lead is 6-2 because the Cancer Classic counts but the Aussie nationals don't; if you support Garmin or just dislike Team Sky then their lead is 5-4 because the Cancer Classic doesn't count but the Aussie nationals do.

It doesn't really matter, because to just count it in terms of numbers is to do it an injustice. How many races did Lance Armstrong win from 1999-2005? Not that many. But he won the most important race every time. To date, the Omloop has been the biggest race of the season, and Sky won it. But one Monument Classic would outdo all of the wins Team Sky have to date even if Sky would still be ahead on sheer numbers, hell a 2nd at Roubaix would be better than all of Sky's wins to date save, arguably, Omloop; the reverse would be true if the teams were the other way round as well. Some teams' biggest names don't ride often so that they can best target specific season goals. Judging the teams based solely on the statistical basis of number of wins is simply not representative.