auscyclefan94 said:
I have been talking to Dim about this on Twitter and he raised a good point that it wasn't necessarily wise to having 70-80% australians. If you look at that list of riders, their ain't many real top professionals who can get some big results. A lot of similar riders and I think it is important that they win from the start of the year therefore if they don't then things could not go so well for them.
I also don't see Gerrans leaving Sky. he said that he was pretty much staying at sky earlier in the year.
Agreed.
(I also didn't think they would sign Gerrans, but seems to be a stronger sentiment over the last few days, due to his win mainly?).
When you are bringing in so many young and inexperienced names (regardless of their potential), you don't have too much room for just average support riders.
They already have: Bobridge, Meyer, Meyer.
They will also take 2-4 of Durbridge, Howard, Hepburn and Dennis.
For the 2013 season they will be looking at names like Law, McCarthy, Parker and Morton.
You're looking at maybe 5-8 youngsters/track-busy for the next 2 seasons who you will not be expecting a whole lot from.
There is only room for so many older riders who are unlikely to achieve results. Yet if they keep their ridiculous nationality quota they may just have to pick those sorts up.
If you include Cooke, Wilson, Lancaster, Roberts, Davis (if he doesn't get his act together) etc you have half a squad which might be unable to impose itself on races. O'Grady will have a big impact on the squad (a great signing) but results wise probably not.
So you have 10-15, all Australians, who you can't rely on to get results. Then there is also S. Clarke, Docker and W. Sulzberger, all who I rate fairly highly and who can be competitive, but maybe a year or so away from consistent results. Teklehaymanot will also be in his first full pro season.
An ok team would be something like:
Bobridge
Meyer
Meyer
(3)
O'Grady
(4)
Teklehaymanot
(5)
Howard
Durbridge
Hepburn
Dennis
(9)
4 of:
Docker
S.Clarke
W. Sulzberger
J. Walker
Davis
(13)
2 of:
Cooke
Roberts
Lancaster
Wilson
(15)
2 of:
Henderson
Dean
Roulston
Sutton
(17)
Goss
Langeveld
(19)
4-5 of:
Gerrans
Lloyd
Albasini
Kroon
Pozzato
Weening
Pinotti
Bak
Larsson
4-5 of:
Vaitkus
Pate
Tuft
Rabon
Mouris
Seeldraeyers
etc
(28)
Names are not necessarily those linked, more those (I think?) who are possibly available.
That would give you around 16-17 Australians, close to 60%.
Quite similar to Rupert's team (which only had 26 if you counted them all). I have left out Martin again, if they get Tony or Hushovd then they can afford to lower their requirements on a few of the other spots, and could pick all of the Cooke group. The more Australians you pick, the higher quality, on average, your internationals have to be. I just think it doesn't make sense to focus on a quota when they are fortunate enough to be entering the market in a time where there seems to be a great array of talent looking for a new team for 2012.