Well, maybe I just had to much spare time today (I'm not used to having mondays off work), bit inspired by a thread in a Danish forum I decided to go forth with the idea.
A long time ago, the Tour De France was raced by national teams (or regional at least). I thought it would be fun to watch a grand tour where all teams were national teams instead of sponsored teams. Therefore I sat down and made a thought experiment:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Each national team consists of:
- One captain (C) (more riders on one team could be potential captains,granted) for the general classification.
- At least one sprinter (S).
- At least one one-day rider (O) for breakaways or uphill finishes.
- At least one timetrialer (T).
- Some gregarios for the mountains.
A rider could have more roles. The countries with most riders have been permitted two teams (Spain, Italy and France - well, maybe I left out Belgium), but nothing more. In the end some countries just couldn't field enough (at least quality) riders, so I decided to make some mixed teams. USA gets the first nine jerseys, since LA is part of their team and he is the greatest GT rider of the last ten years.
25 teams, 225 riders - and the field looks extremely strong (not surprisingly). I guess there's no doubt SPAIN 1 looks superior, but there's a lot of interesting teams included. Feel free to comment about any riders you feel I left out (I made some difficult choices along the way, but i've got my reasons). I would be especially interested in hearing if I left a great GT rider out in the smaller nations. Actually the hardest part was selecting the French riders, since there's a very even peloton after the top2 (Chavanel and Casar). One could definitely argue a riders case there. If you just think I wasted my time, just surf on and spend no more time here
------------------------------------------------------------------------
USA:
1: Lance Armstrong (C)
2: Levi Leipheimer (T)
3: Tyler Farrar (S)
4: David Zabriskie (T)
5: Danny Pate
6: George Hincapie (O)
7: Christian Vande Velde
8: Tom Danielson
9: Chris Horner
SPAIN 1:
11: Alberto CONTADOR (C-T)
12: Oscar FREIRE (S-O)
13: Samuel Sanchez (O)
14: Antonio Colom
15: Juan José COBO ACEBO
16: Joaquin RODRIGUEZ
17: Igor ANTON
18: Ezequiel MOSQUERA
19: Oscar Pereiro
SPAIN 2:
21: Luis Leon SANCHEZ (T)
22: Alejandro VALVERDE (S-O)
23: David ARROYO
24: Ruben Plaza
25: JA GOMEZ MARCHANTE
26: Mikel ASTARLOZA
27: David De La Fuente (O)
28: Jose Ivan Gutierrez (T)
29: Carlos Sastre (C)
ITALY 1:
31: Danilo DI LUCA (C)
32: Stefano GARZELLI
33: Alessandro Petacchi (S)
34: Damiano Cunego
35: Marco Pinotti (T)
36: Daniele Pietropolli
37: Domenico Pozzovivo
38: Franco Pellizotti
39: Alessandro Ballan (O)
ITALY 2:
41: Ivan Basso (C)
42: Vicenzo Nibali (T)
43: Daniele Bennati (S)
44: Francesco Masciarelli
45: Mirco Lorenzetto (S)
46: Filippo Pozzato (O)
47: Matteo Carrera
48: Marzio Bruseghin (T)
49: Michele Scarponi
FRANCE 1:
51: David Moncoutie
52: Remy Di Gregorio
53: Thomas Voeckler (O)
54: Sylvain Chavanel (C-T)
55: Jimmy Casper (S)
56: David Le Lay
57: Matthieu Ladagnous
58: Jerome Pineau
59: Benoit Vaugrenard
FRANCE 2:
61: Romain Feillu (S)
62: Sebastian Hinault (S)
63: Clement L’hotellerie
64: Jerome Coppel (T)
65: Christophe Moreau
66: Pierrick Fedrigo
67: Anthony Geslin
68: Amael Moinard
69: Sandy Casar (C)
AUSTRALIA:
71: Cadel EVANS (C)
72: Allan Davis (S)
73: Robbie McEwen (S)
74: Simon Gerrans (O)
75: Matthew Lloyd
76: Mark Renshaw
77: Michael ROGERS (T)
78: Adam Hansen
79: Wesley Sulzberger
DENMARK:
81: Chris Anker Sørensen (C)
82: Matti Breschel (O)
83: Lars Bak
84: Nicki Sørensen
85: Jakob Fuglsang (T)
86: Brian Vandborg
87: Alex Rasmussen (S)
88: Frank Høj
89: Michael Mørkøv
BELGIUM:
91: Stijn DEVOLDER (C-T)
92: Tom Boonen (S)
93: Gert Steegmans (S)
94: Philippe GILBERT (O)
95: Kevin SEELDRAEYERS
96: Maxime Monfort
97: Jürgen Van Den Broeck
98: Johan Vansummeren
99: Francis De Greef
HOLLAND:
101: Robert GESINK (C)
102: Thomas DEKKER (T)
103: Kenny Van Hummel (S)
104: Karsten Kroon (O)
105: Steven De Jongh (S)
106: Joost Posthuma
107: Stef Clement
108: Lars Boom
109: Laurens Ten Dam
GREAT BRITAIN-IRELAND:
111: Mark Cavendish (S)
112: Charles Wegelius
113: David Millar
114: Daniel Martin (C)
115: Chris Froome
116: Ben Swift (S)
117: Bradley Wiggins (T)
118: Nicholas Roche
119: Philip Deignan (O)
RUSSIA:
121: Denis Menchov (C-T)
122: Vladimir Efimkin
123: Serguei Ivanov (S)
124: Yury Trofimov
125: Alexandr Kolobnev (O)
126: Vladimir Karpets
127: Timofey Kritskiy (T)
128: Evgeni Petrov
129: Aleksander Efimkin
GERMANY:
131: Linus Gerdemann (C)
132: Fabian Wegmann (O)
133: Tony Martin
134: Bert Grabsch (T)
135: Christian Knees
136: Andre Greipel (S)
137: Jens Voigt
138: Heinrich Haussler (S)
139: Andreas Klöden
SWITZERLAND:
141: Fabian Cancellara (T)
142: Martin Elmiger (O)
143: Michael Albasini
144: Gregory Rast
145: Aurelien Clerc (S)
146: David Vitoria
147: Oliver Zaugg
148: Johan Tschopp (C)
149: Mathias Frank
SLOVENIA:
151: Tadej Valjavec (C)
152: Janez Brajkovic (T)
153: Grega Bole (O)
154: Simon Spilak
155: Borut Bozic (S)
156: Marko Kump (S)
157: Gorazd Stangelj
158: Robert Vrecer
159: Jure Golcer
COLUMBIA:
161: Jose Serpa
162: Juan Mauricio Soler (C)
163: Leonardo Duque (S)
164: Felix Cardenas
165: Marlon Perez Arango (T)
166: Rigoberto Uran
167: Luis Laverde (O)
168: Victor Hugo Pena
169: Mauricio Ardila
PORTUGAL :
171: Candido Barbosa (S)
172: Rui Costa (C-T)
173: Tiago Machado
174: Nuno Ribeiro
175: Sergio Paulinho (O)
176: Filipe Cardoso
177: Manuel Cardoso
178: Bruno Pires
179: Jose Mendes
UKRAINE:
181: Andriy Grivko (T)
182: Yuriy Krivtsov
183: Yaroslav Popovych (C)
184: Yuri Metlushenko (S)
185: Ruslan Pidgornyy
186: Volodymir Gustov
187: Vitaly Kondrut
188: Vitaliy Buts (O)
189: Dmytro Grabovskyy
TEAM SCANDINAVIA:
191: Thor Hushovd, NOR (S)
192: E. Boasson Hagen, NOR (C-T)
193: Kurt Asle Arvesen, NOR (O)
194: Gustav Larsson, SWE (T)
195: Thomas Lövkvist, SWE
196: Fredrik Kessiakoff, SWE
197: Marcus Ljungkvist, SWE
198: Jussi Veikanen, FIN
199: Kjell Carlström, FIN
TEAM SOUTH AMERICA:
201: Juan Jose Haedo, ARG (S)
202: Lucas Sebastian Haedo, ARG (S)
203: Mauro Richeze, ARG
204: Alfredo Lucero, ARG (C)
205: Jorge Giacinti, ARG (T)
206: Murilo Fischer, BRA (S)
207: Carlos Ochoa, VEN
208: Jackson Rodriguez, VEN (O)
209: Jose Rujano, VEN
TEAM EX-RUSSIA:
211: Kanstanstin Siutsou, BLR (C-T)
212: Aleksandr Kuschynski, BLR
213: Yauheni Hutarovich, BLR (S)
214: Branislav Samoilav, BLR
215: Alexandre Usov, BLR (S)
216: Vasil Kiryienka, BLR (O)
217: Maxim Iglinskiy, KAZ
218: Assan Bazayev, KAZ (S)
219: Sergey Lagutin, USB
TEAM EASTERN EUROPE:
221: Robert Kiserlovski, CRO
222: Roman Kreuziger, CZH (C)
223: Frantisek Rabon, CZH (T)
224: Vladimir Miholjevic, CRO
225: Martin Velits, SVK
226: Peter Velits, SVK (O)
227: Radislav Rogina, CRO (S)
228: Sylwester Szmyd, POL
229: Przemyslaw Niemiec (T)
TEAM ZEAFRICAN:
231: Ryder Hesjedal, CAN (C)
232: Svein Tuft, CAN (T)
233: Michael Barry, CAN
234: Dominique Rollin, CAN
235: Hayden Roulston, NZL
236: Robert Hunter, RSA (S)
237: Darryl Impey, RSA (O)
238: John Lee Augustyn, RSA
239: Gregory Henderson, NZL (S)
TEAM THE REST:
241: Thomas Rohregger, AUT
242: Bernard Eisel, AUT (S)
243: Rein Taaramäe, EST
244: Kim Kirchen, LUX (O-T)
245: Andy Schleck, LUX (C)
246: Frank Schleck, LUX
247: Ignatas Konovalovas, LTU (T)
248: Erki Putsep, EST (S)
249: Peter Wrolich, AUT
A long time ago, the Tour De France was raced by national teams (or regional at least). I thought it would be fun to watch a grand tour where all teams were national teams instead of sponsored teams. Therefore I sat down and made a thought experiment:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Each national team consists of:
- One captain (C) (more riders on one team could be potential captains,granted) for the general classification.
- At least one sprinter (S).
- At least one one-day rider (O) for breakaways or uphill finishes.
- At least one timetrialer (T).
- Some gregarios for the mountains.
A rider could have more roles. The countries with most riders have been permitted two teams (Spain, Italy and France - well, maybe I left out Belgium), but nothing more. In the end some countries just couldn't field enough (at least quality) riders, so I decided to make some mixed teams. USA gets the first nine jerseys, since LA is part of their team and he is the greatest GT rider of the last ten years.
25 teams, 225 riders - and the field looks extremely strong (not surprisingly). I guess there's no doubt SPAIN 1 looks superior, but there's a lot of interesting teams included. Feel free to comment about any riders you feel I left out (I made some difficult choices along the way, but i've got my reasons). I would be especially interested in hearing if I left a great GT rider out in the smaller nations. Actually the hardest part was selecting the French riders, since there's a very even peloton after the top2 (Chavanel and Casar). One could definitely argue a riders case there. If you just think I wasted my time, just surf on and spend no more time here
------------------------------------------------------------------------
USA:
1: Lance Armstrong (C)
2: Levi Leipheimer (T)
3: Tyler Farrar (S)
4: David Zabriskie (T)
5: Danny Pate
6: George Hincapie (O)
7: Christian Vande Velde
8: Tom Danielson
9: Chris Horner
SPAIN 1:
11: Alberto CONTADOR (C-T)
12: Oscar FREIRE (S-O)
13: Samuel Sanchez (O)
14: Antonio Colom
15: Juan José COBO ACEBO
16: Joaquin RODRIGUEZ
17: Igor ANTON
18: Ezequiel MOSQUERA
19: Oscar Pereiro
SPAIN 2:
21: Luis Leon SANCHEZ (T)
22: Alejandro VALVERDE (S-O)
23: David ARROYO
24: Ruben Plaza
25: JA GOMEZ MARCHANTE
26: Mikel ASTARLOZA
27: David De La Fuente (O)
28: Jose Ivan Gutierrez (T)
29: Carlos Sastre (C)
ITALY 1:
31: Danilo DI LUCA (C)
32: Stefano GARZELLI
33: Alessandro Petacchi (S)
34: Damiano Cunego
35: Marco Pinotti (T)
36: Daniele Pietropolli
37: Domenico Pozzovivo
38: Franco Pellizotti
39: Alessandro Ballan (O)
ITALY 2:
41: Ivan Basso (C)
42: Vicenzo Nibali (T)
43: Daniele Bennati (S)
44: Francesco Masciarelli
45: Mirco Lorenzetto (S)
46: Filippo Pozzato (O)
47: Matteo Carrera
48: Marzio Bruseghin (T)
49: Michele Scarponi
FRANCE 1:
51: David Moncoutie
52: Remy Di Gregorio
53: Thomas Voeckler (O)
54: Sylvain Chavanel (C-T)
55: Jimmy Casper (S)
56: David Le Lay
57: Matthieu Ladagnous
58: Jerome Pineau
59: Benoit Vaugrenard
FRANCE 2:
61: Romain Feillu (S)
62: Sebastian Hinault (S)
63: Clement L’hotellerie
64: Jerome Coppel (T)
65: Christophe Moreau
66: Pierrick Fedrigo
67: Anthony Geslin
68: Amael Moinard
69: Sandy Casar (C)
AUSTRALIA:
71: Cadel EVANS (C)
72: Allan Davis (S)
73: Robbie McEwen (S)
74: Simon Gerrans (O)
75: Matthew Lloyd
76: Mark Renshaw
77: Michael ROGERS (T)
78: Adam Hansen
79: Wesley Sulzberger
DENMARK:
81: Chris Anker Sørensen (C)
82: Matti Breschel (O)
83: Lars Bak
84: Nicki Sørensen
85: Jakob Fuglsang (T)
86: Brian Vandborg
87: Alex Rasmussen (S)
88: Frank Høj
89: Michael Mørkøv
BELGIUM:
91: Stijn DEVOLDER (C-T)
92: Tom Boonen (S)
93: Gert Steegmans (S)
94: Philippe GILBERT (O)
95: Kevin SEELDRAEYERS
96: Maxime Monfort
97: Jürgen Van Den Broeck
98: Johan Vansummeren
99: Francis De Greef
HOLLAND:
101: Robert GESINK (C)
102: Thomas DEKKER (T)
103: Kenny Van Hummel (S)
104: Karsten Kroon (O)
105: Steven De Jongh (S)
106: Joost Posthuma
107: Stef Clement
108: Lars Boom
109: Laurens Ten Dam
GREAT BRITAIN-IRELAND:
111: Mark Cavendish (S)
112: Charles Wegelius
113: David Millar
114: Daniel Martin (C)
115: Chris Froome
116: Ben Swift (S)
117: Bradley Wiggins (T)
118: Nicholas Roche
119: Philip Deignan (O)
RUSSIA:
121: Denis Menchov (C-T)
122: Vladimir Efimkin
123: Serguei Ivanov (S)
124: Yury Trofimov
125: Alexandr Kolobnev (O)
126: Vladimir Karpets
127: Timofey Kritskiy (T)
128: Evgeni Petrov
129: Aleksander Efimkin
GERMANY:
131: Linus Gerdemann (C)
132: Fabian Wegmann (O)
133: Tony Martin
134: Bert Grabsch (T)
135: Christian Knees
136: Andre Greipel (S)
137: Jens Voigt
138: Heinrich Haussler (S)
139: Andreas Klöden
SWITZERLAND:
141: Fabian Cancellara (T)
142: Martin Elmiger (O)
143: Michael Albasini
144: Gregory Rast
145: Aurelien Clerc (S)
146: David Vitoria
147: Oliver Zaugg
148: Johan Tschopp (C)
149: Mathias Frank
SLOVENIA:
151: Tadej Valjavec (C)
152: Janez Brajkovic (T)
153: Grega Bole (O)
154: Simon Spilak
155: Borut Bozic (S)
156: Marko Kump (S)
157: Gorazd Stangelj
158: Robert Vrecer
159: Jure Golcer
COLUMBIA:
161: Jose Serpa
162: Juan Mauricio Soler (C)
163: Leonardo Duque (S)
164: Felix Cardenas
165: Marlon Perez Arango (T)
166: Rigoberto Uran
167: Luis Laverde (O)
168: Victor Hugo Pena
169: Mauricio Ardila
PORTUGAL :
171: Candido Barbosa (S)
172: Rui Costa (C-T)
173: Tiago Machado
174: Nuno Ribeiro
175: Sergio Paulinho (O)
176: Filipe Cardoso
177: Manuel Cardoso
178: Bruno Pires
179: Jose Mendes
UKRAINE:
181: Andriy Grivko (T)
182: Yuriy Krivtsov
183: Yaroslav Popovych (C)
184: Yuri Metlushenko (S)
185: Ruslan Pidgornyy
186: Volodymir Gustov
187: Vitaly Kondrut
188: Vitaliy Buts (O)
189: Dmytro Grabovskyy
TEAM SCANDINAVIA:
191: Thor Hushovd, NOR (S)
192: E. Boasson Hagen, NOR (C-T)
193: Kurt Asle Arvesen, NOR (O)
194: Gustav Larsson, SWE (T)
195: Thomas Lövkvist, SWE
196: Fredrik Kessiakoff, SWE
197: Marcus Ljungkvist, SWE
198: Jussi Veikanen, FIN
199: Kjell Carlström, FIN
TEAM SOUTH AMERICA:
201: Juan Jose Haedo, ARG (S)
202: Lucas Sebastian Haedo, ARG (S)
203: Mauro Richeze, ARG
204: Alfredo Lucero, ARG (C)
205: Jorge Giacinti, ARG (T)
206: Murilo Fischer, BRA (S)
207: Carlos Ochoa, VEN
208: Jackson Rodriguez, VEN (O)
209: Jose Rujano, VEN
TEAM EX-RUSSIA:
211: Kanstanstin Siutsou, BLR (C-T)
212: Aleksandr Kuschynski, BLR
213: Yauheni Hutarovich, BLR (S)
214: Branislav Samoilav, BLR
215: Alexandre Usov, BLR (S)
216: Vasil Kiryienka, BLR (O)
217: Maxim Iglinskiy, KAZ
218: Assan Bazayev, KAZ (S)
219: Sergey Lagutin, USB
TEAM EASTERN EUROPE:
221: Robert Kiserlovski, CRO
222: Roman Kreuziger, CZH (C)
223: Frantisek Rabon, CZH (T)
224: Vladimir Miholjevic, CRO
225: Martin Velits, SVK
226: Peter Velits, SVK (O)
227: Radislav Rogina, CRO (S)
228: Sylwester Szmyd, POL
229: Przemyslaw Niemiec (T)
TEAM ZEAFRICAN:
231: Ryder Hesjedal, CAN (C)
232: Svein Tuft, CAN (T)
233: Michael Barry, CAN
234: Dominique Rollin, CAN
235: Hayden Roulston, NZL
236: Robert Hunter, RSA (S)
237: Darryl Impey, RSA (O)
238: John Lee Augustyn, RSA
239: Gregory Henderson, NZL (S)
TEAM THE REST:
241: Thomas Rohregger, AUT
242: Bernard Eisel, AUT (S)
243: Rein Taaramäe, EST
244: Kim Kirchen, LUX (O-T)
245: Andy Schleck, LUX (C)
246: Frank Schleck, LUX
247: Ignatas Konovalovas, LTU (T)
248: Erki Putsep, EST (S)
249: Peter Wrolich, AUT