Giro 2014 Field Speculation

[gooner]

Will Dombrowski get a start?

I suppose if he doesn't up the form on last year they may send him to Cali instead.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Will Dombrowski get a start?

I suppose if he doesn't up the form on last year they may send him to Cali instead.

vuelta if sky's lucky and they haven't killed him in training

 

[Afrank]

Will Dombrowski get a start?

I suppose if he doesn't up the form on last year they may send him to Cali instead.

He'll definitely do Cali with Sky having gotten an invite. Much better chance to show himself there and get a good result then he would have at the Giro.

 

[karlboss]

sky team really seems poor . is that it? richie will be in trouble big time if that's it

Froome, porte, henao, wiggins, nieve, thomas kennaugh, kiryienka, siustou, ebh, stannard, knees, aren't all doing the tour only, there is no way the giro team is as weak as presented.

I'd say doms for the flat at least kiyienka, ebh, stannard, leaving 6 pure climbers, froome, wiggins, porte, +2 still leaves maybe thomas and kennaugh free for giro, if not at least nieve henao... i think you get the point. There are 2 very good field destroying doms going to the giro with Porte.

 

[JRanton]

vs sky:

richie porte
dario cataldo
danny pate
joshua edmondson
philip deignan
xabier zandio
bernhard eisel?
salvato puccio
????

Swift has said the Giro is on his schedule. I think Lopez will ride the Giro this year. Also Knees probably. Can't see Eisel doing it straight after the classics and they have enough for the flat with the likes of Pate and Knees. Think the Giro might come a bit soon for Edmondson in terms of his development.

So I reckon it will be:

Porte
Lopez
Cataldo
Deignan
Zandio
Puccio
Knees
Pate
Swift

 

[JRanton]

Froome, porte, henao, wiggins, nieve, thomas kennaugh, kiryienka, siustou, ebh, stannard, knees, aren't all doing the tour only, there is no way the giro team is as weak as presented.

I'd say doms for the flat at least kiyienka, ebh, stannard, leaving 6 pure climbers, froome, wiggins, porte, +2 still leaves maybe thomas and kennaugh free for giro, if not at least nieve henao... i think you get the point. There are 2 very good field destroying doms going to the giro with Porte.

Brailsford is terrified of there being a similar situation to last year at the Tour when Kiryienka and Lopez had lost their spring form and Siutsou was tired after the Giro. As we know they'd stacked the Giro team in support of Wiggins and therefore didn't have any fresh riders to replace the tired/out of form ones.

We know that Froome, Wiggins, Henao, Nieve, Kennaugh, Thomas, EBH and Stannard have the Tour on their schedules (plus Porte depending on how he recovers from the Giro). I don't expect any of those 8 to ride the Giro. Probably Eisel will also be on the Tour long list although I doubt he'll make the final nine. I think the big question mark is over the two Belarussians and given Kiryienka's history at the Giro it would make sense to send him there and hold Siutsou in reserve for the Tour.

 

[karlboss]

Brailsford is terrified of there being a similar situation to last year at the Tour when Kiryienka and Lopez had lost their spring form and Siutsou was tired after the Giro. As we know they'd stacked the Giro team in support of Wiggins and therefore didn't have any fresh riders to replace the tired/out of form ones.

We know that Froome, Wiggins, Henao, Nieve, Kennaugh, Thomas, EBH and Stannard have the Tour on their schedules (plus Porte depending on how he recovers from the Giro). I don't expect any of those 8 to ride the Giro. Probably Eisel will also be on the Tour long list although I doubt he'll make the final nine. I think the big question mark is over the two Belarussians and given Kiryienka's history at the Giro it would make sense to send him there and hold Siutsou in reserve for the Tour.

So sky are going to stack their tour team to the point of one dedicated flat dom, 1 mixed dom, 6 climbers and a leader, and then rest the reserves? Seems strange, too strange to actually happen.

 

[JRanton]

So sky are going to stack their tour team to the point of one dedicated flat dom, 1 mixed dom, 6 climbers and a leader, and then rest the reserves? Seems strange, too strange to actually happen.

Well Thomas isn't a pure climber is he? Neither is Wiggins for that matter. And talking of Wiggins I'm sure the Sky management have a bit of a question mark over how useful he'll be in July. The same has to be said for Porte coming off the Giro. Is relying on him a good idea considering that practically nobody is able to back up a good Tour (or even an average Tour) after riding the Giro these days? And what if one or more of Nieve, Henao and Kennaugh are struggling for form by July? This will be Brailsford's logic behind keeping back a couple of very capable fresh options in reserve. The Tour is the Tour after all.

Personally I'd send Nieve and Kiryienka to the Giro instead of say, Swift and Puccio, and take a little bit of a risk on the Tour team.

 

[karlboss]

Well Thomas isn't a pure climber is he? Neither is Wiggins for that matter. And talking of Wiggins I'm sure the Sky management have a bit of a question mark over how useful he'll be in July. The same has to be said for Porte coming off the Giro. Is relying on him a good idea considering that practically nobody is able to back up a good Tour (or even an average Tour) after riding the Giro these days? And what if one or more of Nieve, Henao and Kennaugh are struggling for form by July? This will be Brailsford's logic behind keeping back a couple of very capable fresh options in reserve. The Tour is the Tour after all.

Personally I'd send Nieve and Kiryienka to the Giro instead of say, Swift and Puccio, and take a little bit of a risk on the Tour team.

It's definitely an all in one basket gamble, and I agree and extend your criticism of my "climbing doms" Strictly speaking, Henao, Wiggins, Kennaugh, and Thomas all go pretty well in a flat TT so me calling them climbing doms may be a bit much. Nieve and Kiryienka would be more than enough to help Porte at the Giro, but I have a feeling it'll be Kennaugh filling the superdom role. Nothing in it really, he played a similar role in 2013 as Porte in 2012, states the Giro is one of his favourite races, seems like a good test.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

So sky are going to stack their tour team to the point of one dedicated flat dom, 1 mixed dom, 6 climbers and a leader, and then rest the reserves? Seems strange, too strange to actually happen.

ebh stannard and thomas are for flat, more than enough

 

[Ruudz0r]

http://www.tuttobiciweb.it/index.php?page=news&cod=64663&tp=n


Quintana still not decided if he will ride the Giro.

 

[Afrank]

Sometimes I think these athletes just like to F*** with us for fun.

I'm confident he'll end up doing Giro-Vuelta like everyone is saying he will.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Wout Poels will also be riding the Giro in service of Uran.

 

[hfer07]

Sometimes I think these athletes just like to F*** with us for fun.

I'm confident he'll end up doing Giro-Vuelta like everyone is saying he will.

I reckoned since the Giro route was announced-Nairo has always claimed his desire to ride it -whether Unzue schedules it in combination of Tour or Vuelta is the matter that is pending up this date. I'm sure he'll be in Italy too.

 

[staubsauger]

No way Quintana will ride the Tour. He's gonna bring up "The Nairo Quintana Show - Live on RAI" in May! Why on earth shoul he aim for a 2nd place at the Tour?

Also in Colombia the Giro has been the grand tour featuring home riders in the past and Movistars main advertisement market actually is South America! They're O2 everywhere in Europe unless Spain.

No no no Unsue is a man with clue. No way he's so stupid to send Quintana to the Tour. I would be suprised in that case.

The route is tailor-made for Quintana. He has the strongest team and 9 additional Colombian helpers. He will smoke Porte boss like, like a cigar!

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

No way Quintana will ride the Tour. He's gonna bring up "The Nairo Quintana Show - Live on RAI" in May! Why on earth shoul he aim for a 2nd place at the Tour?

Also in Colombia the Giro has been the grand tour featuring home riders in the past and Movistars main advertisement market actually is South America! They're O2 everywhere in Europe unless Spain.

No no no Unsue is a man with clue. No way he's so stupid to send Quintana to the Tour. I would be suprised in that case.

The route is tailor-made for Quintana. He has the strongest team and 9 additional Colombian helpers. He will smoke Porte boss like, like a cigar!

the giro isn't even broadcasted in colombia and never has. it's only tour and vuelta colombians know and care about

 

[staubsauger]

the giro isn't even broadcasted in colombia and never has. it's only tour and vuelta colombians know and care about

But where does Nairo's obsession for the Giro comes from in that case?

 

[hfer07]

the giro isn't even broadcasted in colombia and never has. it's only tour and vuelta colombians know and care about

...And who are you to speak on behalf of the Colombian people?

Colombians DO know & follow the Giro-not as much as the Tour or La Vuelta, due to the past achievements on those GT-but people remenber Lucho Herrera goint to the 89 Giro and won two stages -after that Nelson "el Cacaito" Rodriguez, Oliverio Rincon & El Chepe Gonzalez glowed during the 90's...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUJuvW3qigo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_HLvTiSEFQ
http://www.eltiempo.com/deportes/ciclismo/ARTICULO-WEB-NEW_NOTA_INTERIOR-12825878.html

 

[Afrank]

...And who are you to speak on behalf of the Colombian people?

Colombians DO know & follow the Giro-not as much as the Tour or La Vuelta, due to the past achievements on those GT-but people remenber Lucho Herrera goint to the 89 Giro and won two stages -after that Nelson "el Cacaito" Rodriguez, Oliverio Rincon & El Chepe Gonzalez glowed during the 90's...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUJuvW3qigo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_HLvTiSEFQ
http://www.eltiempo.com/deportes/ciclismo/ARTICULO-WEB-NEW_NOTA_INTERIOR-12825878.html

haven't you learned by now, Ryo knows everything there is to know about Colombia and anything else.

 

[staubsauger]

haven't you learned by now, Ryo knows everything there is to know about Colombia and anything else.

Guess he's Hugo Chaves himself ... Oh **** wrong country

 

[Escarabajo]

But where does Nairo's obsession for the Giro comes from in that case?

Not sure either. But Ryo is right that the Giro is not broadcasted in Colombia.

If Quintana goes I bet you (99.999%) that it will be broadcasted. It is obvious. But the truth is that the Colombian people only know or care about the Tour.

 

[Escarabajo]

...


Now, regarding the Colombian Armada (as per the Spanish Armada who tried and failed at TdF), discard any Colombians riding for a team with GC ambitions, I don't see any Lampre, Trek or Garmin leaving their leaders to support a fellow compatriot. It's only what Uran or Quintana might agree upon during mountain stages, and the limited support Colombia can provide without risking their own chances of stage results.

Is mostly the help that comes from the Colombia team really. Just because they don't have a true leader. Well in paper only, but Duarte has failed so many times. And only if they don't risk a stage win like you said.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

But where does Nairo's obsession for the Giro comes from in that case?

because he likes the course. quintana is very different from other colombian riders. he actually knows european riders. most colombian riders may know who contador and and that is pretty much it

 

[Arredondo]

because he likes the course. quintana is very different from other colombian riders. he actually knows european riders. most colombian riders may know who contador and and that is pretty much it

Arredondo said in an interview he knows Cancellara, Voigt and the Schleck's

Quintana is a clever guy, he knows he has a big chance to win the Giro.

 

[Ferminal]

I find it hard to believe that about 15 weeks out from the Giro a top contender still doesn't know their GT schedule.