Luis Leon Sanchez

[nvpacchi]

After last year I was tipping a big year for him this year. I'm just wondering if he is in good form he may be given leadership in the giro. bruseghin might have something to say about it. The point on killer instinct may be something, having a little too much and blowing up on other days instead of conserving. It took valverde a little while to work it out as well.
The team looks awesome in my opinion, and I look forward to seeing what they can do.

I was impressed in oz, but beating Contador in a TT counts for a little more.

I see him as a better version of his new Italian teammate Marzio Bruseghin. A rider that could podium in the Giro or the Vuelta if he trained specifically for it. Love him as a rider, and hope he does reach his full potential and is able to eventually contend. He's got the TT down, now he just needs to wise up with more experience.

 

[issoisso]

After last year I was tipping a big year for him this year. I'm just wondering if he is in good form he may be given leadership in the giro. bruseghin might have something to say about it. The point on killer instinct may be something, having a little too much and blowing up on other days instead of conserving. It took valverde a little while to work it out as well.
The team looks awesome in my opinion, and I look forward to seeing what they can do.

I was impressed in oz, but beating Contador in a TT counts for a little more.

He won't be doing the Giro. Caisse's leaders for the Giro will be Urán, Bruseghin and someone else i'm forgetting...might've been Soler

 

[karlboss]

damn, pretty excited about uran though.

 

[Glockers]

Ok if Luis Leon is not going to become a GC guy, then what happens if Valverde doesn't ride the Tour de France?

 

[42x16ss]

LLS will probably ride a similar race to what he did last year and target a few of the intermediate stages during the second and third weeks. He is a very classy stage hunter/one week racer but I'm not convinced that he is strong enough or crazy enough to truly compete for GC in a GT.

 

[issoisso]

LLS will probably ride a similar race to what he did last year and target a few of the intermediate stages during the second and third weeks.

That was only because he made a big deal of being ready to ride for the GC and not going to let the team down, etc....then losing time in the very first GC stage

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'd imagine the 'other' leader for Caisse in the Giro would have to be David Arroyo, he's come top 10 there twice before (albeit only if you remove di Luca's 2009 result) and put in a good showing. Sadly his time trial makes Fränk Schleck look like Fabian Cancellara.

 

[issoisso]

I'd imagine the 'other' leader for Caisse in the Giro would have to be David Arroyo, he's come top 10 there twice before (albeit only if you remove di Luca's 2009 result) and put in a good showing. Sadly his time trial makes Fränk Schleck look like Fabian Cancellara.

Weirdly enough, given the route, Arroyo's said that this year he'll be doing Tour+Vuelta instead

 

[Galic Ho]

could never climb nor tt til he hooked up with IgorGdG

We could say the same about Wigans. Not that I care...it was a fair call on my favouring of riders. We all know it isn't ten, nor two years back that matters, it is current form. Samu a third tier rider? How would you describe CVV, Levi, Kloden and Lance then? Samu, regardless of how he achieved his form, is arguably in the group trailing Contador and Schleck 1 and 2 in the climbing stakes. He is very good at the end of three weeks and has a nice kick. Add in Menchov, Valverde, Gesink and Evans to this group with some of the Liquigas guys and we find the top tier of climbers. They can all climb, there are just big differences in how they climb and their kick. Samu is not at the bottom of this group, his Vuelta podiums show that.

LLS is also a great rider to watch. Style, charisma and smart. His win in the Tour last year was very good. Great to watch. Hopefully he can go on and win a 3rd stage in 3 years this July. Great asset to help Valverde along with Soler Hernandez.

 

[Galic Ho]

Ok if Luis Leon is not going to become a GC guy, then what happens if Valverde doesn't ride the Tour de France?

Valverde is riding. He will get a lot of help to. Add in his Vuelta win, Valverde will believe he can podium in France. Alejandro will top 5.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Weirdly enough, given the route, Arroyo's said that this year he'll be doing Tour+Vuelta instead

Probably to do with his climbing like Van Hummel in the Tour after his stellar Giro. Better support for Valverde if he's brought his climbing legs.

And surely, if Valverde is taking a stint on the naughty step, then there's Sánchez and the youngsters like Costa for stagehunting, and the likes of Soler or Cobo to hunt for the KOM. And Rubén Plaza, though his presence at the Tour will have me putting my heart in my mouth in fear of a positive test spelling doom for the team for the rest of his life.

 

[Koronin]

Luisle appears to be on the form of his life right now. 2nd at Valencia, with a couple of nice stages, then Murcia, and now to start Andalucia with a good showing.

 

[RedheadDane]

I think this might be some sort of record for how long a rider thread has been lying dormant before getting resurrected.

 

[Koronin]

Very possibly, however with how he's been racing recently, I think he deserves a little recognition. Plus if there was already a thread for him, didn't want to start a new one.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Lol yaah, I haven't seen this Luis Leon since his Caisse d' Epargne days. I hope for a great showing in Paris-Nice, he still has one more stage win left in him and probably a top 5/10 on this route. Or maybe he will go full *** Gilbert-resurrection, that would be mighty fun.

 

[Taxus4a]

Re:

Lol yaah, I haven't seen this Luis Leon since his Caisse d' Epargne days. I hope for a great showing in Paris-Nice, he still has one more stage win left in him and probably a top 5/10 on this route. Or maybe he will go full *** Gilbert-resurrection, that would be mighty fun.

I think he was in the Giro that Landa was third as strong that now, even more, becouse now it is just the begining of the season, Murcia is a very good place to train in the winter, and people from there use to start strong, motivated as well for Vuelta a Murcia.

But he is far of his numbers in those Paris Niza-

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I had almost forgotten this kind of LLS existed. But the signs were there already last year. Now he's back in his best shape ever. I think even better than when he placed top 10 in GT's.

 

[Salvarani]

Looking at his past seasons he is always good this time of the year though.

2017:
4th Overall Volta ao Algarve

2016:
1st Stage 2 Volta ao Algarve
2nd Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
4th Vuelta a Murcia

2015:
5th Overall Volta ao Algarve
5th Vuelta a Murcia

2014:
2nd Overall La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
1st Stage 1
3rd Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
8th Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana

If we go back to his 2010 season where he would go on to be top 10 at TDF and Vuelta his start to the season looked like this

2nd Overall Volta ao Algarve
1st Stage 5 (ITT)
2nd Overall Tour Down Under
1st Stage 5
2nd Overall Paris–Nice
4th Overall Volta a Catalunya

Now...

2018:
1st Vuelta a Murcia
2nd Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
8th Overall Tour Down Under

If he has reached his level in 2010 or become a better rider and has breakthrough this season compared to his last few seasons who knows? Too early to say that I think. He might just be good at this stage of the season and he likes these races a lot. Trend of last few years supports that theory at least... we´ll see though I guess.

 

[WheelofGear]

Most GC riders (Porte, Nibali, Aru, Bardet, Landa, Dumoulin, Lopéz, Majka, Thomas, Jungels) seem to target Tirreno-Adriatico instead of Paris-Nice this year. And Valverde/Quintana aren't even riding any of those races.

There is a chance of a top 5 if he isn't forced to ride for Fuglsang which doesn't seem to be the case right now.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

Most GC riders (Porte, Nibali, Aru, Bardet, Landa, Dumoulin, Lopéz, Majka, Thomas, Jungels) seem to target Tirreno-Adriatico instead of Paris-Nice this year. And Valverde/Quintana aren't even riding any of those races.

There is a chance of a top 5 if he isn't forced to ride for Fuglsang which doesn't seem to be the case right now.

Fuglsang is a clever captain.... he is working for his guys now, in the minor races, so that they work for him, when the big races come.

Paris-Nice however, is a serious race, and one where a lot of TdF contenders, try to hit their first peak of the season, so I expect Astana to ride 100 % for Fuglsang at that one, it will be their first test, of whether he has what it takes in July.

That having been said, a clever team can translate that into stage wins for other team riders, by sending out lieutenants, that other teams are forced to chase.

 

[Frankschleck]

I think they will give him a chance for Paris- Nice as the timetrial will decide a lot, and that means Fuglsang probably won't win. LLS might have a chance tho, as he is a better timetrialer.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

I think they will give him a chance for Paris- Nice as the timetrial will decide a lot, and that means Fuglsang probably won't win. LLS might have a chance tho, as he is a better timetrialer.

I'm 50/50 on that one.... Fuglsang needs to TT at TdF also, so not going for the race win, makes no sense to me, and on the bigger climbs, he's better than LLS.

 

[Frankschleck]

Re: Re:

I think they will give him a chance for Paris- Nice as the timetrial will decide a lot, and that means Fuglsang probably won't win. LLS might have a chance tho, as he is a better timetrialer.

I'm 50/50 on that one.... Fuglsang needs to TT at TdF also, so not going for the race win, makes no sense to me, and on the bigger climbs, he's better than LLS.

Yeah but with LLS's climbing form right now, he will be close to the best in Paris Nice, and as the climbs don't look to hard, there won't be massive differnces between the best. Fuglsang will need a lot of time on those climbs, to win the race, as lets face it, he has become a pretty weak time trial rider surprisingly, so LLS will almost defiantly have a bigger chance to win the race. And as i think the winning margain will be small, LLS will also have the advantage of being able to take bonus seconds, because of his sprint. Of course they should give them both a chance, as it would be smarter having 2 up there, but LLS is the best bet if they want to go for the win in Paris Nice in my opinion.

 

[Koronin]

At Paris-Nice LL Sanchez is the better TTer, so based on the idea of small time gaps and if he's still climbing this well then he'll have the better chance at winning overall.

For Fuglsang, it is a smart move to ride for team mates in smaller races. The other riders appreciate it and will be much more willing later on to help him later on and more willing to dig deeper later on. (In a way similar to Valverde and his teammates. He's helped his teammates get wins and high placings in smaller races. He's talked about needing to occasionally ride for your teammates as they will then be more willing to help you later on.)

 

[Velolover2]

I think the GC between Fuglsang and LLS is decided now.

Sanchez problem's is the MTF on Saturday. But if he can pull off a great TT, get in top 3 in the stage to Vence and take intermittent sprints bonuses.. he should have a good chunk of time before Valdeblore La Colmiane.