Lidl-Trek (no longer Radioshack-Leopard Trek)

[movingtarget]

That all sounds great! But who's going to HELP both of them in the ITT's?? They're not going to win anything this year, plain and simple. And they don't deserve to, as long as the weak link in their armor is their gaping inability to ITT.

I doubt he can win as you said, the TT issues are a huge weakness but at least this Giro decision clears the way for only one team leader at the Tour instead of all of the brother "whoever is best on the day" nonsense. Someone like Bruyneel had to go in and shake things up..........that's if they really want to win the Tour. Sometimes I get the impression that Andy doesn't care, hardly the killer instinct and will to win of an elite athlete.

 

[greenedge]

At least Frank will not suffer so much in the TTT at the Giro according to http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?detp=view&_ap=startlijst&editie_idd=MjI5MTI=
BENNATI Daniele
KLÖDEN Andreas
NIZZOLO Giacomo
ROHREGGER Thomas
ROULSTON Hayden
SANTOS SIMOES OLIVEIRA Nelson Filipe
SCHLECK Frank
SERGENT Jesse
ZAUGG Oliver
Oliveira is good, Sergeant is, Nizzolo at Romandie shows he is good ( all young ) and Bennati, Roulston and Kloden have got experience in these events.

 

[Ferminal]

Far from suffer, that team is probably the best on paper (if you don't count Frank ).

 

[movingtarget]

At least Frank will not suffer so much in the TTT at the Giro according to http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?detp=view&_ap=startlijst&editie_idd=MjI5MTI=
BENNATI Daniele
KLÖDEN Andreas
NIZZOLO Giacomo
ROHREGGER Thomas
ROULSTON Hayden
SANTOS SIMOES OLIVEIRA Nelson Filipe
SCHLECK Frank
SERGENT Jesse
ZAUGG Oliver
Oliveira is good, Sergeant is, Nizzolo at Romandie shows he is good ( all young ) and Bennati, Roulston and Kloden have got experience in these events.

Yeah that's a pretty good TTT team for the Giro. Can't imagine that the teams of the other GC riders have a much better TTT squad. GreenEdge will probably have a competitive team for the TTT but no GC rider of course.

 

[Christian]

At least Frank will not suffer so much in the TTT at the Giro according to http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?detp=view&_ap=startlijst&editie_idd=MjI5MTI=
BENNATI Daniele
KLÖDEN Andreas
NIZZOLO Giacomo
ROHREGGER Thomas
ROULSTON Hayden
SANTOS SIMOES OLIVEIRA Nelson Filipe
SCHLECK Frank
SERGENT Jesse
ZAUGG Oliver
Oliveira is good, Sergeant is, Nizzolo at Romandie shows he is good ( all young ) and Bennati, Roulston and Kloden have got experience in these events.

Roulston is back in NZ and his next race is Bayern Rundfahrt (according to his blog) so I assume he won't be there. Maybe Posthuma instead? I doubt they'll take him to the Tour again.

As for TTT it is the same problem as always with RSNT. On PAPER it looks like a good team but in reality they have no experience riding together... Fränk for example has never ridden with any of these except Klöden and Oliveira once. Have they even practiced TTT besides in january?? Don't expect much from them!

 

[Christian]

Fränk is lobbying for Laurent Didier on twitter.

Plans changed unexpectedly,after 5 days no training, the first week in the giro will get pretty hard...

but with Kim Andersen,the team and hopefully Laurent Didier around me a good result is certainly realistic!

Looking forward to the giro.Thanx for all your support!

 

[hoerpi]

I think Hermans will ride instead of Roulston at leasta ccording to swedish Eurosport.

 

[Cancellator]

Roulston is back in NZ and his next race is Bayern Rundfahrt (according to his blog) so I assume he won't be there. Maybe Posthuma instead? I doubt they'll take him to the Tour again.

As for TTT it is the same problem as always with RSNT. On PAPER it looks like a good team but in reality they have no experience riding together... Fränk for example has never ridden with any of these except Klöden and Oliveira once. Have they even practiced TTT besides in january?? Don't expect much from them!

Well at least their T-A squad was good for the TTT, so I wouldn't say always.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Fränk is lobbying for Laurent Didier on twitter.

it's getting sadder and sadder. also the 5 days without training is so much bs. if you are in good contition you can do without a week of training and still be great.

 

[Marco Pantani]

Was great news hearing, that Fränk was ordered to ride the Giro. But checking out his Twitter comments, I have a bad feeling.
I hope he will take that decision as a professional and honour the race the way it deserves.

100 per cent focused on the Giro, I would rate him as one of the three biggest favourites, with a really good shot for the victory, at the moment I got my doubts.

I hope he'll develop some fighting spirit as the race progresses. For him, it's important not to lose time and stay in contact with the favourites over the first half of the race.

Andy should benefit from this decision in July. Man do I hate, seeing Andy wainting for his brother.....

 

[Froome19]

it's getting sadder and sadder. also the 5 days without training is so much bs. if you are in good contition you can do without a week of training and still be great.

Different riders require different amounts, maybe 5 days without training is irrelevant to Contador, but to the Schlecks who generally seem to have more of a struggle getting up to form it is not so.

 

[Ripper]

I doubt he can win as you said, the TT issues are a huge weakness but at least this Giro decision clears the way for only one team leader at the Tour instead of all of the brother "whoever is best on the day" nonsense. Someone like Bruyneel had to go in and shake things up..........that's if they really want to win the Tour. Sometimes I get the impression that Andy doesn't care, hardly the killer instinct and will to win of an elite athlete.

I think at this stage, JoBro Hoggy has more faith in Klodi (and Horner)

 

[Magnus]

That all sounds great! But who's going to HELP both of them in the ITT's?? They're not going to win anything this year, plain and simple. And they don't deserve to, as long as the weak link in their armor is their gaping inability to ITT.

The giro this year has only 6 km itt more than the TdS 2010 that Frank won. Just saying.

 

[Magnus]

it's getting sadder and sadder. also the 5 days without training is so much bs. if you are in good contition you can do without a week of training and still be great.

Maybe so. But I think we can all agree that one week notice for doing a GT isn't ideal.

 

[Magnus]

Andy should benefit from this decision in July. Man do I hate, seeing Andy wainting for his brother.....

When did this happen besides the Ventoux stage in TdF '09? (and who in their right mind would argue that Andy could have taken ~4 min out of Contador)

I know it's a wide spread narrative but where's the smoking gun?

 

[movingtarget]

Maybe so. But I think we can all agree that one week notice for doing a GT isn't ideal.

They obviously expected Fuglsang to ride the Giro but his knee problem returned again.

 

[El Oso]

The giro this year has only 6 km itt more than the TdS 2010 that Frank won. Just saying.

Which is exactly why they should just try to focus on winning the Giro instead of a TT heavy Tour

 

[DominicDecoco]

it's getting sadder and sadder. also the 5 days without training is so much bs. if you are in good contition you can do without a week of training and still be great.

I have to ask this. Are you former pro cyclist or is this just something you are throwing out of the blue...?

 

[Christian]

I have to ask this. Are you former pro cyclist or is this just something you are throwing out of the blue...?

This is what we call a classic ryodiculous

 

[Christian]

Yet another clusterf....

One day before the infamous press release, Fränk still said this:

"I am not in the know. I have no idea about this hypothesis, no one has contacted be so far. I am set to accompany Andy to the Sierra Nevada. We have planned the journey, starting on May 3rd. Honestly, I would be surprised to go to the Giro"

http://www.lequotidien.lu/les-sports/34169.html

This was Friday evening, on Saturday he already spoke of a great opportunity

 

[Frosty]

Does anyone know what is up with Zubeldia this year? Doesnt seem to have raced since February but i havent seen reports of him being ill or injured?

Edit: Ah, well apparently he will be training in the Sierra Nevada with Andy and Popo. Still dont know why he doesnt seem to have raced.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/532595/bruyneel-sends-schlecks-to-training-camp.html

 

[roundabout]

Does anyone know what is up with Zubeldia this year? Doesnt seem to have raced since February but i havent seen reports of him being ill or injured?

Edit: Ah, well apparently he will be training in the Sierra Nevada with Andy and Popo. Still dont know why he doesnt seem to have raced.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/532595/bruyneel-sends-schlecks-to-training-camp.html

He had some sort of a muscle problem.

 

[Angliru]

One day before the infamous press release, Fränk still said this:

"I am not in the know. I have no idea about this hypothesis, no one has contacted be so far. I am set to accompany Andy to the Sierra Nevada. We have planned the journey, starting on May 3rd. Honestly, I would be surprised to go to the Giro"

http://www.lequotidien.lu/les-sports/34169.html

This was Friday evening, on Saturday he already spoke of a great opportunity

That doesn't sound like the lines of communication are exactly open. I can see this snowballing into to some highly entertaining drama.

 

[thehog]

That doesn't sound like the lines of communication are exactly open. I can see this snowballing into to some highly entertaining drama.

Sounds like an excuse!

“I don’t want to look for excuses, but since I’m replacing Jakob and this frankly wasn’t predicted, it’s not exactly the best preparation,” Schleck said. “Fortunately, the first ten days aren’t very hard and I’ll have to use those opening stages to gradually get into the race. But after ten days, I’ll know how my body is reacting.”

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/schleck-surprised-by-late-giro-ditalia-call-up

“I’m being classed among the favourites for this Giro because of my palmares, but I shouldn’t be ranked as a favourite on account of Contador’s success in 2008,” Schleck said. “I think that year he must have been ready all the same. As for me, I really thought I was taking time away from racing after Liège-Bastogne-Liège. But I’m the leader of the team, and like I said, I’ll do everything to figure well in this Giro.”

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I have to ask this. Are you former pro cyclist or is this just something you are throwing out of the blue...?

yeah. I used to be a cyclist, when I was younger but I'm talking out of my experience in mma. and basically any sport is commonly known that a week before your peak/match/fight whatever. you take as much rest as possible and is best not to train at all.