I fear for Saxo Bank.

[Ibanez]

All the prominent riders from the Giro seem completely knackered - Dupont and Gadret have been complaining, Arroyo is 12 minutes down.

And from the Saxo domestiques, Navarro and Hernandez are both 20 minutes back, and they have much less representation at the front of the bunch then the other major teams. I know that they will be aiming to save energy going into the Pyrenees, but it doesn't look good. Stronger support could have saved Contador that 80 seconds on the first stage as well.

So are they still exhausted from the Giro? I don't question that Contador can do it, but what about the mere mortals that he will rely on? Navarro was a beast last year but now I'm not sure he is in any position to do it again, and Leopard have so far been everpresent at the front of the peloton. Predictions anybody?

 

[auscyclefan94]

it's not surprising they are knackered...

 

[spalco]

They did the same thing in the Giro. No way to tell how their form is yet. I guess Riis probably knows, but we don't.

 

[Jan the Man]

I think Saxo will be fine in the mountains. While Navarro might not be as effective this year Contador will have Chris Anker Sorensen to count on and he didn't do the Giro. He was Schlecklet's best mountain domestique last year.

Nikki Sorensen is also pretty effective in the early part of mountain stages. Hernandez and Navarro will chip in when needeed.

 

[dlwssonic]

all of the riders who did the giro are dead exhausted. the only ones looking strong in saxo are CAS and nicki sorensen and they didnt do the giro. the team isnt looking good on the flats. and im really unsure about navarro and hernandezs form.

 

[Mambo95]

And from the Saxo domestiques, Navarro and Hernandez are both 20 minutes back,

Don't be fooled by that. They're dropping off the back deliberately to save energy.

 

[dlwssonic]

im a bit unsure about riders dropping to 20 minutes trying to conserve energy.

 

[will10]

Don't be fooled by that. They're dropping off the back deliberately to save energy.

Yep, they've been doing it for a while now. Same as we saw Chris Anker rolling in a few minutes down this week

 

[dlwssonic]

their weak on the flats which IMO is more important.

 

[Spaniard]

With the insane Giro , the french public against him, the doping stuff the whole year,his bad luck in the first stage and his weak team, if Contador can manage to win this tour I will consider him at least at the level of Indurain and Armstrong.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Yep, they've been doing it for a while now. Same as we saw Chris Anker rolling in a few minutes down this week

We'll see. CAS will be good but I don't see the others being that great. Even if they do go off the back, there has been some hard racing so far which would be sapping especially after the giro.

 

[rolfrae]

With the insane Giro , the french public against him, the doping stuff the whole year,his bad luck in the first stage and his weak team, if Contador can manage to win this tour I will consider him at least at the level of Indurain and Armstrong.

You better move that kind of talk to The Clinic.

 

[theyoungest]

im a bit unsure about riders dropping to 20 minutes trying to conserve energy.

Last year they did exactly the same thing. Turned out pretty well in the mountains.

 

[Mambo95]

At the end of stage 6 last year (just before they hit the first mountains), on GC, the bottom 12:

177 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Astana 0:30:36
178 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne 0:30:47
179 Simon Spilak (Slo) Lampre-Farnese Vini 0:31:01
180 Nicki Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank 0:31:28
181 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Astana 0:35:16
182 Adriano Malori (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini 0:35:39
183 Anthony Roux (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:35:45
184 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank 0:36:27
185 Grega Bole (Slo) Lampre-Farnese Vini 0:37:59
186 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Team Radioshack 0:39:03
187 Juan Jose Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:40:04
188 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Astana 0:42:55

 

[auscyclefan94]

with the dropping back of team mates, I've noticed some other teams doing it as well.

 

[Spaniard]

You better move that kind of talk to The Clinic.

Sorry, I don't usually post, why should i move that to The Clinic ?

 

[craig1985]

Sorry, I don't usually post, why should i move that to The Clinic ?

For the 'D' word my friend

 

[spalco]

It was a joke. Spaniard didn't mean it that way but rolfrae deliberately misunderstood him I think.

 

[Spaniard]

It was a joke. Spaniard didn't mean it that way but rolfrae deliberately misunderstood him I think.

Dudes I'm totally lost

 

[JPM London]

All the prominent riders from the Giro seem completely knackered - Dupont and Gadret have been complaining, Arroyo is 12 minutes down.

And from the Saxo domestiques, Navarro and Hernandez are both 20 minutes back, and they have much less representation at the front of the bunch then the other major teams. I know that they will be aiming to save energy going into the Pyrenees, but it doesn't look good. Stronger support could have saved Contador that 80 seconds on the first stage as well.

So are they still exhausted from the Giro? I don't question that Contador can do it, but what about the mere mortals that he will rely on? Navarro was a beast last year but now I'm not sure he is in any position to do it again, and Leopard have so far been everpresent at the front of the peloton. Predictions anybody?

As other have mentioned they're conserving energy - Nav and Hern aren't exactly flat riders, you'd expect them to suffer until now. Don't forget how Saxo dropped riders early on the TTT - that counts as well and don't forget the energy expended in getting Conti back to the peloton more than once and how other of the riders have been involved in crashes as well.

Stronger support would not have helped Conti with the 80 sec either. The reason he got caught was that they moved him towards the front too late - that was a tactical error, the riders followed the plan. They were successful in getting him back towards the front after the split (got it down to 35 sec) before another crash completely spoiled that - so wouldn't have helped either.

Saxo bank are in the Tour with one goal only - Conti to win. Every rider's job is to take care of that - not ride for their own position. Note that there are no Saxo bankers in breaks either...

It's constantly repeated that Saxo is not as strong as some of the other teams - which might be right, although I think a lot are underestimating the team when they hit the mountains - but what they also forget is that last year all you heard was that Astana was far too weak to support Contador. Didn't seem to stop him and he often had more support than Andy in hte mountains anyway...

 

[dlwssonic]

nah i think contador is at a higher level he is even better than ricco or vino

 

[Ibanez]

As other have mentioned they're conserving energy - Nav and Hern aren't exactly flat riders, you'd expect them to suffer until now. Don't forget how Saxo dropped riders early on the TTT - that counts as well and don't forget the energy expended in getting Conti back to the peloton more than once and how other of the riders have been involved in crashes as well.

Stronger support would not have helped Conti with the 80 sec either. The reason he got caught was that they moved him towards the front too late - that was a tactical error, the riders followed the plan. They were successful in getting him back towards the front after the split (got it down to 35 sec) before another crash completely spoiled that - so wouldn't have helped either.

Saxo bank are in the Tour with one goal only - Conti to win. Every rider's job is to take care of that - not ride for their own position. Note that there are no Saxo bankers in breaks either...

It's constantly repeated that Saxo is not as strong as some of the other teams - which might be right, although I think a lot are underestimating the team when they hit the mountains - but what they also forget is that last year all you heard was that Astana was far too weak to support Contador. Didn't seem to stop him and he often had more support than Andy in hte mountains anyway...

Of course, I agree that losing time by itself is not an indication of weakness, but I doubt Arroyo and Gadret are too happy to lose time and look what has happened there. Who knows, maybe come the first mountain stage they will be lining out the bunch, but I'm not convinced. On the Mur de Bretagne most of the contenders had a guy there for support - Contador had no one. Not saying he needs it on a climb like that, but it can't hurt to have someone there if people have the form to do it.

For what its worth (which is nothing), I never doubted that Astana would do just fine in the mountains last year

 

[JPM London]

Also when you look at his flat domestiques it doesn't look too bad; Matteo and Vandborg are 8 minutes behind and Nicki Sorensen and Noval are 11 behind... looks ok to me?

 

[Publicus]

All the prominent riders from the Giro seem completely knackered - Dupont and Gadret have been complaining, Arroyo is 12 minutes down.

And from the Saxo domestiques, Navarro and Hernandez are both 20 minutes back, and they have much less representation at the front of the bunch then the other major teams. I know that they will be aiming to save energy going into the Pyrenees, but it doesn't look good. Stronger support could have saved Contador that 80 seconds on the first stage as well.

So are they still exhausted from the Giro? I don't question that Contador can do it, but what about the mere mortals that he will rely on? Navarro was a beast last year but now I'm not sure he is in any position to do it again, and Leopard have so far been everpresent at the front of the peloton. Predictions anybody?

you very well could be right here, but so far as I can tell this hasn't been their terrain and they are conserving energy accordingly. Porte is only 4'25" down and he rode the Giro as well. CAS who didn't ride the Giro, is 13'21 down and he aimed to peak for this one.

 

[Publicus]

all of the riders who did the giro are dead exhausted. The only ones looking strong in saxo are cas and nicki sorensen and they didnt do the giro. The team isnt looking good on the flats. And im really unsure about navarro and hernandezs form.

cas 13'21
ns 11'03