• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Last WT-team to get a win // 2020 edition

Page 3 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

Which World Tour-team will be the last to snatch a UCI-win in 2020?

  • AG2R La Mondiale

    Votes: 13 19.1%
  • Astana Pro Team

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Bahrain-McLaren

    Votes: 7 10.3%
  • CCC Team

    Votes: 22 32.4%
  • EF Pro Cycling

    Votes: 5 7.4%
  • Groupama-FDJ

    Votes: 2 2.9%
  • Movistar Team

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Team INEOS

    Votes: 7 10.3%
  • Team Sunweb

    Votes: 11 16.2%
  • UAE-Team Emirates

    Votes: 1 1.5%

  • Total voters
    68
Sure, but I can think of riders who'd have been a bigger surprise than Soler.

And I've actually been wondering; who are the most surprising "out-taker" in this? Maybe A. Viviani for Cofidis, or Barbier for Israel SUN...
Doesn't help that I can't remember half…

True, if one of their rookies would have won first that would have been a bigger surprise than Soler.

Maybe we should have a vote on who the biggest surprise "out-taker" of the year has been. I agree the two you mentioned have to be up there.
 
With several stage races coming in few days (thus a large number of chances for a win) – it is a proper time for a first summary.

At the moment, six WT teams remain winless. These are: Astana, Bahrain, CCC, Groupama, Ineos, Jumbo.

First thought: it does not look very differently than last year. At the same point of time (early February) in 2019 we have the following seven WT teams still waiting for a season win: Ag2R, Astana, Bahrain, Dimension Data, Groupama, Jumbo and Sunweb. So four teams out of these seven are the same in 2019 and 2020 (Astana, Bahrain, Groupama and Jumbo).

Second thought: this season, this competition seems to be a wide open. With the usual suspects (NTT = ex DD and Israel Start-Up = ex Katusha) being out of competition very early, we need to seek for another candidate.

To assess on the chances of each team concerned, we should take into account where they are starting in the closest days to come, what squad they are fielding and against what competition.

Astana:
As they may feel particularly motivated now, I believe that some of them will win shortly, either in Saudi Arabia or in Valencia (I. Izaguirre, L.L. Sanchez?)

Bahrain:
They should prove able to win a stage in Saudi Arabia (with Haussler or the resurrected Cav, for example). If not, some chances should arise in Valencia (Bilbao, Mohoric, Poels, Teuns), but it will be definitely more difficult there.

CCC:
They send a strong line-up to Valencia (GvA, Trentin)– but the competition is strong as well. It could prove difficult to grab a stage win, while winning the GC is completely out of reach. In Etoile de Besseges, the competition is clearly weaker. But they send their B (or even C) squad to this race. Hardly can see one of them winning a stage there.

Groupama:
In the closest days to come, they only start in Besseges, with their second-tier squad. If they do not win anything there, the next chance is Tour de la Provence (Pinot or Gaudu may take a win there).

Ineos:
Quite a strong squad in Valencia (Tao, Kwiat, Moscon), still without obvious candidates for a stage win. But then they are going to Columbia with Bernal and Carapaz, and their first season win may likely come from there.

Jumbo:
Normally, Groenewegen should win at least one out of three flat sprint finishes in Valencia.

It seems that, at the end of the day, it is between Bahrain, CCC and Groupama (with no clear favourite).
 
  • Like
Reactions: postmanhat
CCC would have been a sure out a week from now if Bevin hadn't had his heart problems. Then he would certainly have won the New Zealand TT Nationals. Now, they need a win from Trentin or Greg but the peculiar thing is that that is most likely to happen in one of the real spring classics and that may be too late. Trentin may have a chance in Murcia, though, but it's only two stages and may be a bit uncontrollable plus he didn't seem in great shape today.

It's hard to imagine that INEOS won't win anything before the end of Algarve (especially if Bernal has recovered well for Colombia 2.1 and can compete against Higuita), and Astana won everything at this time last year so they must win something soon this year as well.

They will not be present in Colombia, though, so López will not defend his victory there. And even if they have a strong team for Tour de la Provence, there is a very strong WorldTour participation there with no fewer than 13 teams, and I wouldn't bet much on Gorka Izagirre defending his win there (especially not as they will ascend part of the Mont Ventoux and people like Gaudu and Pinot will be in the race). Murcia could be the time for Astana but with Valverde and Ackermann in the race (the profiles are not up on PCS yet), it's not a given. But then Fuglsang will probably win something in Andalucía if the last week has not bothered him too much.

So in conclusion, I think CCC will win this. Unless Bevin rides the Nats which I think he won't.
 
  • Like
Reactions: postmanhat

TRENDING THREADS