Jayco al-'Ula and its GreenEdge predecessors

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Orica will be disappointed with Keukeliere's untimely mechanical with 35kms to go - Looked one of the strongest riders at that time and probably would have made the final group of 6, Keukeliere must have suffered another mechanical or crashed because he finished 14 minutes behind - Hayman was a good ride and got through with experience, though Keukeliere was definitely the stronger - Suspect Durbridge has upper body injuries after his crash - Bewley gave Durbridge his bike, Edmondson was active working for other riders, Docker and Mezgec were anonymous and Cort was disappointing - Orica is making progress in the cobbled classics.

No reports on a second issue with Keukeliere, he punctured and it took a long time to get a wheel change and soft pedaled home, it's a pity as he was looking well on his way to his best Roubaix result but that's the luck of the draw on the Roubaix cobbles. Mitch Docker had a couple of falls during the race which is why he was anonymous, I'm just happy for the guy that he made it through the race and finished considering what happened to him in last years race.

Understanding that PR is one of those races in which many things can go wrong, this was one of the stranger editions of the race - According to Hayman, Keukeliere got a flat which was replaced by neutral service, was back in Hayman's group and then got another flat - He truly soft pedalled home.

 

[dirkprovin]

Re:

Well Juul-Jensen was preferred to Keukeliere for the final roster spot in the 2016 TDF - Chaves on the start list for Fleche Wallone - Wait and see.

Was judging on what he actually DID out there on the road .... and he really wasn't seen to any real effect.

Keukeleire has done Vuelta the past 2 seasons and finished 2016 particularly strongly; would expect that they'll look to go with what's proven to work if possible.

[quote="yaco"
Understanding that PR is one of those races in which many things can go wrong, this was one of the stranger editions of the race - According to Hayman, Keukeliere got a flat which was replaced by neutral service, was back in Hayman's group and then got another flat - He truly soft pedalled home.[/quote]

Yes, he was certainly showing the capacity to go with most of the moves. Whilst I suspect he'd really need to have all the planets line=up in order to win PR; it's far from out of the question that he could podium or at least top 5 at some point. As for RVV, at this point he currently looks the best suited of all ORS cobbles stock given he's stronger uphill than Durbridge (with usual disclaimer re youth with Edmondson & maybe still Cort); similar thoughts re his result potential.

 

[yaco]

The Orica CT squad has competed in two races in Italy

Lucas Hamilton 2nd and Robert Stannard 7th in the Trofeo Edil C and Robert Stannard 14th in the Trofeo Piva -Stannard goes ok for an 18 year old.

 

[yaco]

Lucas hamilton continues his good form - 2nd in Belvedere and Palio del Recioto - Will be in the WT in 2018.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

Lucas hamilton continues his good form - 2nd in Belvedere and Palio del Recioto - Will be in the WT in 2017.

He clearly isn't.
Unless you mean he could become a stagiare.
Unless-unless you meant 2018?
Of course he could become a stagiare in 2017, and then sign a full contract in 2018.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Lucas hamilton continues his good form - 2nd in Belvedere and Palio del Recioto - Will be in the WT in 2017.

He clearly isn't.
Unless you mean he could become a stagiare.
Unless-unless you meant 2018?
Of course he could become a stagiare in 2017, and then sign a full contract in 2018.

Should be 2018 - He could ride as a stagiare in 2017.

 

[yaco]

Bewley and Howson to train with Chaves in Columbia next month - Lock them in for the TDF.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

Bewley and Howson to train with Chaves in Columbia next month - Lock them in for the TDF.

I thought that they would have the same race program as Chaves but it's good to see it confirmed. He'll have a strong team of friends around him for the TDF.

 

[dirkprovin]

Re:

Bewley and Howson to train with Chaves in Columbia next month - Lock them in for the TDF.

Clearly a vote of confidence in Chaves by the team that they are sending his two clearly designated "right hand men" to share this bloc of altitude work with him. Interesting in a sense that Bewley is generally seen as his flatland "minder" and they might've thought of sending another climber along with Howson but maybe personal chemistry has a part to play and Bewley has shown that he will turn himself inside out for the little guy

 

[42x16ss]

Re: Re:

Bewley and Howson to train with Chaves in Columbia next month - Lock them in for the TDF.

Clearly a vote of confidence in Chaves by the team that they are sending his two clearly designated "right hand men" to share this bloc of altitude work with him. Interesting in a sense that Bewley is generally seen as his flatland "minder" and they might've thought of sending another climber along with Howson but maybe personal chemistry has a part to play and Bewley has shown that he will turn himself inside out for the little guy

Bewley already has. Go back as far as the 2015 Vuelta and you'll see that Bewley's climbed well above what's expected in support of Chaves on several occasions.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Bewley and Howson to train with Chaves in Columbia next month - Lock them in for the TDF.

I thought that they would have the same race program as Chaves but it's good to see it confirmed. He'll have a strong team of friends around him for the TDF.

Who says they haven't, from now on?
They didn't have the same racing program as Chaves for the last couple of months because he didn't race, due to being injured, and of course they couldn't have done the National Championships with him anyway, for obvious reasons.

 

[yaco]

The workload needs to be shared amongst the team, and you also have to devote resources to help the Yates brothers - It was always thought Howson was a near certainty to ride the TDF and there was a question mark on Bewley - But both doing altitude training in Columbia for a month suggest they'll ride the TDF.

Impey broken collarbone and out of the Tour of Yorkshire.

Does anyone know why S.yates rode so poorly in LBL - Dead last in the race.

 

[42x16ss]

Re: Re:

Bewley and Howson to train with Chaves in Columbia next month - Lock them in for the TDF.

I thought that they would have the same race program as Chaves but it's good to see it confirmed. He'll have a strong team of friends around him for the TDF.

Who says they haven't, from now on?
They didn't have the same racing program as Chaves for the last couple of months because he didn't race, due to being injured, and of course they couldn't have done the National Championships with him anyway, for obvious reasons.

Nobody said that they wouldn't have the same program as Chaves, it makes perfect sense. I was just saying that it's great to see confirmation.

 

[greenedge]

Maybe Simon rode the race at an easy tempo so he could be good for Romandie.

 

[yaco]

Another good ride by Edmondson in the Prologue of Romandie - Third place is an excellent sign - Reckon Orica will quickly have him locked up.

 

[StryderHells]

Re:

Another good ride by Edmondson in the Prologue of Romandie - Third place is an excellent sign - Reckon Orica will quickly have him locked up.

I'm pretty sure Edmondson was always going to be re-signed but the way he's going he might get a slight bump in what was on the table, he looked very promising as a junior and is starting to show why he was rated highly.

 

[dirkprovin]

Re: Re:

Another good ride by Edmondson in the Prologue of Romandie - Third place is an excellent sign - Reckon Orica will quickly have him locked up.

I'm pretty sure Edmondson was always going to be re-signed but the way he's going he might get a slight bump in what was on the table, he looked very promising as a junior and is starting to show why he was rated highly.

There's little real doubt that, bar major poor conduct issues, all three of Haig, Edmondson & Power will be resigned by ORS but Haig & Edmondson have both shown that they are likely to attract some significant market interest in a few year's time so one suspects ORS will enhance their offers.

Having said that, ORS has now arguably graduated from being a "second level" WT team to being one of the top bracket teams (top 5-6) as regards rankings/results so any future moves would be far less a case of "moving up to a higher ranked team" but rather seeking further personal opportunities that may be shut out at ORS.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Maybe Simon rode the race at an easy tempo so he could be good for Romandie.

Nope, he was one of the main team's weaponsalong with his bro and Albasini. Poor showing, indeed. Even no significant help from him. Wasted spot on the roster.

 

[dirkprovin]

Re: Re:

Maybe Simon rode the race at an easy tempo so he could be good for Romandie.

Nope, he was one of the main team's weaponsalong with his bro and Albasini. Poor showing, indeed. Even no significant help from him. Wasted spot on the roster.

Perhaps he got caught behind a crash at a pivotal time and had no real chance of re-connecting with the sharp end of the race so soft pedalled to the finish ? Who knows ?

Anyway, he had an excellent ride at Romandie topped off by winning the queen stage. Holding onto yellow with the final ITT was always going to be "an ask" but he did well to hold onto the podium. Like his brother, and Chaves, ITT will never be a major strength or be something that will win them stage races; but they all seem to be progressing to a point that they are not haemorraging massive chunks of time to most other GC contenders and, on hillier terrain, be reasonably competitive.

However, from a team development perspective, the most pleasing notes from Romandie were not necessarily SY's podium, Albasini's stage win & Edmondson's multiple placings (pleasing as all of them were) but rather the high GC finishes by Howson (11th) & Haig (22nd). Howson finished with the main GC contenders on the queen stage and Haig just behind. Whilst both have already proven themselves very valuable in the mountains, and will continue to do so, these may also indicate the potential for some high/highish GC finishes in their own right at WT stage races in the future.

 

[swuzzlebubble]

Neil Stephens was quoted somewhere that SY just didn't have the legs at F-W after a heavy training block.

 

[yaco]

Dirk you nailed it with your post - Haig and Howson finishing high up in GC was the most pleasing thing for Orica - Howson's final TT was disappointing - He should be beating S.Yates in this discipline and if so could have finished top 5.

 

[dirkprovin]

Re:

Dirk you nailed it with your post - Haig and Howson finishing high up in GC was the most pleasing thing for Orica - Howson's final TT was disappointing - He should be beating S.Yates in this discipline and if so could have finished top 5.

Yes and no; on paper Howson SHOULD have produced a superior TT than Yates but I think people read too much into Howson being a junior World Champion in that discipline. Has he ever really produced an ITT of note since turning pro ?
My read on him is that whilst he's a good TTer, he is NOT elite by any means and his characteristics as a rider have changed with his emphasis foremost based around maximising his climbing potential.

As for Haig, whilst he is clearly no super time triallist, he's at least servicable and clearly far stronger in this aspect than Power.

As regards Power, this year will continue to be one of gaining race miles and experience and there is little liklihood of any "return on investment"/tangible results and there should not be a second's consideration given towards giving him any GT airing this season. One suspects he's likely to be very much a work in progress for the next year or so.

Edmondson has certainly been a significant pleasant surprise; not only with regards to his potential shown but even moreso by him already logging some tangible results/high finishes in WT races in what is essentially his neo-pro season. In pre 2016 days, he may've earned himself a GT start with the expectation of merely gaining some GT exposure and an early exit but that ORS is history and they cannot afford such a luxury. 2018, and a few 1000 more race miles in his legs, and they may be willing to give him a start.

 

[dirkprovin]

No sooner than I write this then they make a liar of me !

http://www.greenedgecycling.com/news/juggling-act-to-support-orica-scott-youth-at-giro-d-italia

Whilst one side of me says that Edmondson merits such a reward (and in many ways he does); I cannot help thinking ORS are shooting themselves right in the middle of both feet !! By selecting Edmondson, who under no circumstances can be expected to finish the Giro; they are essentially locking themselves into a best case scenario of voluntarily going 2 men down come the business end of the race because Ewan sure as hell ain't gunna make it !!

Also think they're really leaving Yates very light on more mountain support with only Verona & Plaza as mountain support. Juul-Jensen has ridden well this year and will probably be of some utility in the hills and lower slopes. Hepburn has shown some greater utility in such terrain this season so he may be more than just flat land grunt. Mezgec as lead-out support = no issue and will be of some wider utility. However, I'm not that pleased about Tuft's selection; he's been an amazing servant for the team but he's very much into the realms of vastly diminishing returns when it comes to effectiveness.

Almost certainly going to be their weakest GT line-up of the year unless either Chaves or SY aren't able to front at either or both of Tour & Vuelta.

 

[StryderHells]

Do Orica and Yates really need anymore than 2 mountain Doms? Obviously the team are all in for the Tour this season so will be sending the strongest team to support Chaves. Yates did a pretty good job hanging onto the big names in last years Tour and look at the team that Orica sent to that race and they only had two riders who could be considered climbers in Yates and Plaza. The squad they are sending to the Giro is good enough to look after him on the flat/rolling terrain and deliver him to the base of the big climbs, Plaza and Verona are riders who can be sent up the road and be ready to give him some support on those big climbs and for the rest he can hang with the bigger names/teams when riders start getting dropped. Looking at the GC for this years Giro he isn't one of the main favourites and really a spot on the podium would be the absolute limit of expectations for him at this stage of his career. I do agree that Tuft is an odd selection at this late stage of his career.

 

[yaco]

Two mountain supports riders for Yates is probably OK - A third may be handy,but I'm of the view you need to be lean and mean in the mountains - Having good rouleurs can do damage before the climb and weaken the opposition - It's obvious that Orica think highly of Edmondson, seeing he's been a late addition to the cobbled classics and the Giro.