I just took a look at their roster again, excepting some of the Israeli riders and holdovers like Froome, Fuglsang and Zabel, they have a better team on paper than half the WT teams.
Top half seems a bit generous imo. I'd say they're very strong in one particular area - hilly one day races/stages. Weak/lacking results in a fair few others - GC with serious climbing, TTs (excepting Vernon in shorter efforts) and even sprints (unless we include Einhorn in Rwanda and Taiwan).
Somewhere about 15th is where I'd put them which is still pretty good.
Maybe I'll have a look at the potential leavers and stayers when I have time. 13 are of out contract according to PCS (not including Zabel).
Okay. Thirteen according to
PCS (add a grain of salt) and there's a couple of others I might add to that. Obviously if any of these guys suddenly start winning/failing like crazy then my view might change, but here's my guess at the team's thinking
Keepers - Strong, Teuns, Einhorn and TVA. No real explanations needed. I guess the danger is more that someone else comes in for either of the first two.
Adios - Fuglsang and Hollyman. The Dane is probably on a fairly large salary and age has just caught up on him.
Israeli/Canadian Connection - Boivin, Houle and Sagiv (suffering from EBV recently). Certainly no harm in keeping either of the first two, I'm more just linking these three in that if they do leave, chances are they'll be replaced by guys of the same nationality. Cote or Tene the obvious (only?) replacements.
Thats leaves four (Frigo, Clarke, Schwarzmann and MWS). They're more in a grey area. If they can get someone better in or need to strengthen elsewhere in the team then they could be under threat.
The other two that I thought potentially could be involved are Froome and Woods(!).
I can't remember if it was here or on another forum, but someone put forward the theory that the team might make a deal with Froome - you'll get selected for the TdF if you retire at the end of season. No news on that per se, but he is down to ride the Dauphine now and that's with zero results again this year. Probably wishful thinking.
Now the Canadian has a contract for 2025, but said in relation to extending to 2026 and the worlds in Montreal - “I don’t want to be the guy that doesn’t perform at the highest level, I don’t want to be racing if I’m not improving, if I’m not doing big things”. So if the results or performances aren't forthcoming in the rest of 2024, could he call it quits early?
Now to have a think about who they might try and recruit.