Most Disappointing Team of the Tour

[Eyeballs Out]

The award for the strongest team that ended up with nothing much to show for it at the end of the day must be Caisse D'Epagne

 

[goggalor]

Voted for Sky, even though Thomas, EBH and Löfkvist have had pretty good Tours. But no stage win and no top ten overall = fail.

They may save their Tour tomorrow, tho, with a perfect leadout and a super sprint by EBH (a perfect lead out in Paris means being at the very front when turning onto the Champs-Élysées).

 

[theyoungest]

Voted for Sky, even though Thomas, EBH and Löfkvist have had pretty good Tours. But no stage win and no top ten overall = fail.

They may save their Tour tomorrow, tho, with a perfect leadout and a super sprint by EBH (a perfect lead out in Paris means being at the very front when turning onto the Champs-Élysées).

I know Sky always starts their leadout too early, but now you're overdoing it a bit IMO.

 

[sublimit]

Sky have been very disappointing, so no complaints on that one.

Thomas came second on the cobbled stage and a couple of good rides in the TT'S and Hagen a few top 10 results on flat stages, but nothing much to show so they have to lick their wounds and come back again better next time.

 

[Ryberg]

Hmm... Plenty of candidates for sure!

SKY, Caisse, Cofidis, RS, LGas... But to me the tiebreaker was the fact that I didn't even consider Milram as I had totally forgotten that they were in the race!!

 

[ansimi]

I'll go with Liquigas because I had pretty high expectations of them having a strong and deep team.

I think Sky was OK - G. Thomas was really impressive.

I was actually quite disappointed with Katusha. I wasn't expecting more on GC or sprints but I thought they'd be a team to animate the race with attacks and make mad dashes for wins but they didn't show themselves much.

Those of you saying Cofidis may well be right though - I'd honestly have to look up exactly who was on their team this year and how well they did so it probably wasn't much.

 

[theyoungest]

Tie between Milram and Sky... Milram because for a team looking for a sponsor they did absolutely awful (for any team really) and Sky because their debut Tour has been a debacle of sorts. Yes, Geraint Thomas showed some promise, and Flecha was his usual gritty self, but that's about it. Our overhyped Norwegian friend was particularly disappointing, getting dropped on every speed bump... the new Eddy Merckx he is not.

 

[richwagmn]

Not even close. Team Sky has been a complete bust.

 

[Faserr]

Milram. I have to admit that they had bad luck because some riders were ill. But they should have tried more.

 

[AtletiSK]

it is a tie between Sky, Milram and Radioshack for me

 

[hfer07]

without a doubt, Sky is the greatest disappointment of the Tour

Given the money that David Brailsford has put into his team-I hope Sky goes well-EXCEPT that in cycling, to win you need a bit of hunger"

Bernard Hinault

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Team Sky. Easily.

True with all the hype and the money they invested you'd expect them to win at least one stage. I must say I did not expect Footon to be in the attack so much so they didn't really dissapoint(Valls was really good).

 

[jaylew]

Cofidis for sure

 

[Escarabajo]

Rabobank???? Are you sure about your list?

 

[this_is_edie]

Got to go with Sky because of the pre-Tour hype - and Radioshack a close second for the same reason.

I wasn't disappointed in Milran because I was expecting them to do anything really.

 

[sublimit]

Tie between Milram and Sky... Milram because for a team looking for a sponsor they did absolutely awful (for any team really) and Sky because their debut Tour has been a debacle of sorts. Yes, Geraint Thomas showed some promise, and Flecha was his usual gritty self, but that's about it. Our overhyped Norwegian friend was particularly disappointing, getting dropped on every speed bump... the new Eddy Merckx he is not.

Hagen should concentrate on the classics because he cant compete against top line sprinters on dead flat ultra fast finishes at the moment.

Thomas did well for a young rider and water carrier,, He outperformed his teammates in the TT's, was lead out rider for Hagen, grabbed a second on the tough cobbled stage early on, that and having to fetch and carry supplies to his teamates the whole time so he did a fantastic job.

 

[la.margna]

Footon was very active. Rafael Valls an impressive youngster and second in the Jura stage. A positive surprise.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Rabobank???? Are you sure about your list?

Don't worry. That's typically Dutch. Results should be attained by aggresive racing.
Much like the football team, it's never good enough, 'we' can barely live with 2nd place at the world cup, because they played defensively.
Dutch folk transpose that to cycling. It must be nice to watch, attacking.
Now 2 followers end 3 and 6 in the GC. That's not good enough for Jan and Piet

 

[personal]

3. Milram - invisible.
2. Sky - great expectations, huge budget, produced nothing.
1. Armstrong Shack, obviously.

 

[Throbbobank]

The Sky return v budget issue keeps being raised - it's been reported that Sky have the 6th largest budget in the pro tour at the moment...perhaps on a positive note (does this forum ever actually do positive?) this could be altered to most impressive teams and individuals on the tour this year......

ps yes Sky didn't meet there objectives and overall, I'd say, had a baptism of fire - one wonders, however, whether Brailsford's refusal to sign anyone with known history with doping in the early stages scuppered such plans

 

[Anonymous]

Sky by a wide margin.

 

[Menndo]

Milram, although I didn't expect nothing from them apart from the sprints.

 

[van nelle]

Cofidis for me by a large margin. They were totaly invisible and accomplished nothing. Really bad for team with such a history (and in contrast with other french teams).

Then RS. Team packed with GC talent, to have the best guy in tenth place is not good enough - dissapointment for me.

Milram safe for me, didn't expect anything, Footon good (visible), Sky ok will get better, Liquigas nothing special, but expected that (although I thought that they will be more visible in the mountains - but that was my fault, not theirs, no reason for such).

Rabobank, Garmin excelent.

 

[turtlesoup]

Milram is in turmoil so i didnt expect much from them.

I also didnt pick the shack because i didnt believe any of the prerace hype and they did better than i assumed they would. 1 top 10 and 3 in the top 20. Pretty solid IMO including a stage win and if lance and horner werent so fail they would have a 2nd.

Sky had a huge budget and had an off first tour, EBH did really well as did Thomas.

Cofidis was the worse, they had no plan for a win or a GC place. What the hell were in they in the tour for?

 

[the vagabond]

Teams with GC threats that didn't come through have to be the biggest disappointments and Radio Shack has to be the biggest disappointment of all. Bruyneel has always had guys on the podium and the best they can do is 10th? With their #4 or #5 man?

Also, I put BMC 3rd or 4th simply because of the Evans result.