Giro 2014 sprints

[goose30]

***** Kittel

*** Bouhanni , Viviani

** Nizzolo, Farrar, Matthews, Swift, Mezgec, EBH

* Ventoso, Ferrari, Appollonio, Belleti, Avila, Oss, Ratto, Dehaes ....

 

[miketrout27]

Swift, EBh and Mezgec will hunt hilly stages. No real threat for Kittel in the flat stages though...

 

[Gloin22]

Viviani and Bouhanni on a good day could beat him.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Maybe Hurel can be in the mix in some stages he has been doing pretty solid this year. And Chicchi should be in the list!

 

[42x16ss]

Viviana, Bouhanni and maybe Matthews will be the only competition Kittel will have here unless Farrar recovers some long lost form

 

[miketrout27]

Is Mezgec or Swift faster in stages with climbs?

 

[whittashau]

Viviani is actually climbing quite well too.

 

[Afrank]

Hoping that Viviani can do well, he's been looking in good form. And if Kittel doesn't stay through the whole Giro (and I doubt he will) he has a good chance of bringing home the points jersey.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Viviani and Bouhanni on a good day could beat him.

only if Kittel is blocked or something. In a hea dto head sprint? Noway anyone of them stand the slightest shot against Kittel

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

Swift, EBh and Mezgec will hunt hilly stages. No real threat for Kittel in the flat stages though...

Which hilly stages? There aren't any.

 

[goose30]

and what about YellowFluo ??

 

[Dazed and Confused]

and what about YellowFluo ??

Chicchi will do the bunch sprints for that team.

Two stars for me maximum.

 

[coimbrawu]

Belkov, Caruso, Gusev, Losada, Daniel Moreno, Paolini, Vicioso and Vorganov will be the team around "Purito" Rodríguez for @giroditalia

So Moreno works for Purito in giro and a good team for his GT win bid

 

[Anderis]

I'm curious if Haas will be able to build on a good spring and show somerthing somewhere. If some sprints from reduced peloton are going to happen, he may be a factor.

 

[Ruvu75]

Anybody who knows if Matthews is planning to ride the full three weeks?
Could be a big contender for the maglia rosso, but he may also ride the Tour and in that case he could well quit after a week or two....

 

[Wilba60]

Anybody who knows if Matthews is planning to ride the full three weeks?
Could be a big contender for the maglia rosso, but he may also ride the Tour and in that case he could well quit after a week or two....

Interesting question really with Mathews and Goss the two who would be in contention for the sprint position. Goss seems to be out of favour but they may be taking him through California rather than the Giro this year to see if he can hit the TdF harder. Mathews is in great form though but I would rather see him fight out a full Giro and see how he goes for stage wins and possibly the sprint jersey.

My OGE riders so far for the TdF would be Gerrans, Hayman, Impey, Albasini and Clarke. Even though it must be tempting to put Adam Yates in, I think they will give him some more time and put in one of the sprinters with a lead out....possibly Howard/Mathews or Howard/Goss. Leaves 2 spots up for grabs.

 

[MADRAZO]

From todays article on CN:

"Matthews will be challenging the likes of Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) on the flat stages as he looks to gain a spot on the Tour de France team in July.

"Michael will be targeting a lot of the stages in the first two weeks of the race" said White. "He's going to face some stiff competition, but we're confident that he will really benefit from this experience. With the teams support, he's up for the challenge."

Sounds a bit like he will likely abandon after 2 weeks, but will be interesting for sure as he would indeed be a strong contender for the pointsjersey if he finishes the race, and for a rider like him that should still mean a lot, but ofcourse so will a TDF start. I suppose they will first make a final decision during the race.

 

[Pricey_sky]

My OGE riders so far for the TdF would be Gerrans, Hayman, Impey, Albasini and Clarke. Even though it must be tempting to put Adam Yates in, I think they will give him some more time and put in one of the sprinters with a lead out....possibly Howard/Mathews or Howard/Goss. Leaves 2 spots up for grabs.

I hope they leave the Yates brothers away from GT's this season, however if they wanted them to do one then the Vuelta would be more suited.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

I hope they leave the Yates brothers away from GT's this season, however if they wanted them to do one then the Vuelta would be more suited.

Adam already is one of the most raced riders of the year and he's off to Cali, so I presume he'll have a break then ride Poland and some late season lumpy stuff with his brother.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Adam already is one of the most raced riders of the year and he's off to Cali, so I presume he'll have a break then ride Poland and some late season lumpy stuff with his brother.

Makes sense, they could always give them the Canadian races in September.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Makes sense, they could always give them the Canadian races in September.

*Tangent*

My only worry is that hilly classics is the only area OGE have any strength, so Simon may get pushed in his brother's direction, trying to focus on longer climbs, as he's never going to get backed over Gerrans or Albasini.

 

[SafeBet]

***** Kittel

*** Bouhanni , Viviani

** Nizzolo, Farrar, Matthews, Swift, Mezgec, EBH

* Ventoso, Ferrari, Appollonio, Belleti, Avila, Oss, Ratto, Dehaes ....

Sonny's better than most 2 star riders listed here.
He might even fight for point jersey.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Sonny's better than most 2 star riders listed here.
He might even fight for point jersey.

Sonny is not that fast after an easy flat stage. Dont think he will compete for the point jersey they might even give Ruffoni a shot at the flat stages (although think they will all go for themselves) and for the hilly stages they got Battaglin and Colbrelli himself then.

I made a sprinters + point jersey preview if anyone is interested: http://www.cyclingupdates.com/giro-sprinters-point-classification/

 

[fgrune]

Read that Viviani wants to do well for the first 10 days, does that mean he plan not to finish the giro? Would think he has a good chance to win the points jersey.

 

[Gloin22]

Sonny's better than most 2 star riders listed here.
He might even fight for point jersey.

Beter in what way? He's definitely not faster. At best he might be equal to Swift, he should be still slightly quicker on flat than Sonny.

And there's not many finishes at Giro that suit him that great.