New Jerseys - 2015 Season - TeamKits-Maillots-Tricots-Tenues-and-Exotics

[Kwibus]

Another black...yay....

Ugh...........

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Mg.Kvis

San Luis Somos Todos

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Giant-Alpecin: a horrible jersey for a horrible team.

 

[jens_attacks]

san luis somos todos!!!!

si senor!!!

 

[trevim]

Giant-Alpecin: a horrible jersey for a horrible team.

I also had some dislike towards this team but nowadays I kind of enjoy that hate: an exciting new team that developed its core of star riders (Degenkolb, Kittel, Barguil, Dumoulin) instead of buying out riders like BMC, has a presence in every race of the calendar (even the least suited) and generally has a positive approach to racing...can't understand that hate. Just because they pull back some lame breaks to win a sprint? Yeah that kind of what you do when you have a great group of sprinters. Shame on the other teams that can't stop them...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I also had some dislike towards this team but nowadays I kind of enjoy that hate: an exciting new team that developed its core of star riders (Degenkolb, Kittel, Barguil, Dumoulin) instead of buying out riders like BMC, has a presence in every race of the calendar (even the least suited) and generally has a positive approach to racing...can't understand that hate. Just because they pull back some lame breaks to win a sprint? Yeah that kind of what you do when you have a great group of sprinters. Shame on the other teams that can't stop them...

If your main interest in a race is to make it a sprint, you add nothing to a race and in fact subtract from it.

In races where Barguil is leading, perhaps they have some reason to be there. But strangling the life out of every race so that a rider like Kittel, who can barely outclimb Guardini and van Hummel, can pad their win list? Horrible.

They wear boring kits, race in a boring fashion and while they can have a presence in most races, the number of races where that is a positive presence can be counted on one hand. You make some good points regarding their development of riders, however they are developing the team around the kind of rider and the kind of racing I despise, and therefore I don't want to see them have any success because it encourages other teams to do the same. After all, they have built the team around being a kind of bargain-bucket HTC-High Road, and they were one of the most disgusting teams to ever disgrace the sport, with their surgical precision in removing all that is likable about racing.

On their squad, I don't mind Barguil or Arndt and I kind of like Degenkolb, but apart from that, they fill me with either complete apathy or outright distaste. Giant's new kit is kind of them in a microcosm. It's kind of stylish, effective, but utterly soulless and dreary, and in a peloton of similarly dull monochrome entities, a real disappointment.

And Marcel Kittel's haircut alone is enough reason to root for anybody to beat him. Other than Peter Sagan or Simon Gerrans, obviously.

 

[pastronef]

And Marcel Kittel's haircut alone is enough reason to root for anybody to beat him. Other than Peter Sagan or Simon Gerrans, obviously.

actually I like that team, they are a good group, no big GT leader, some strong domestiques.
anyway agree with the part "other than Sagan or Gerrans" but just because Gerro left Sky

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

What's wrong with Marcel Kittel's haircut?

And of course Giant is a great team, one of the few out there with some kind of group spirit.

 

[jens_attacks]

kittel is an asz but c'mon he has great haircut

of course because of the helmets, we never get to see it...

 

[LaFlorecita]

What's wrong with Marcel Kittel's haircut?

And of course Giant is a great team, one of the few out there with some kind of group spirit.

Which teams don't have some kind of group spirit?

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

On their squad, I don't mind Barguil or Arndt and I kind of like Degenkolb, but apart from that, they fill me with either complete apathy or outright distaste.

So basically you just hate Kittel, not Giant?

I mean, if we include Tom Dumoulin, who tends to ride pretty aggressively in hilly stages - so I don't see why you would dislike him - you like all their main riders.

I think you just hate Kittel so much you're emanating hate, pouring it out freely over all of Giant-Alpecin.

 

[Kwibus]

So basically you just hate Kittel, not Giant?

I mean, if we include Tom Dumoulin, who tends to ride pretty aggressively in hilly stages - so I don't see why you would dislike him - you like all their main riders.

I think you just hate Kittel so much you're emanating hate, pouring it out freely over all of Giant-Alpecin.

LS hates anything and anyone that tries to create a bunchsprint.
When you got the fastest sprinter and the course is easy it's obvious you want a a sprint. You should pretty much whine about race organisers more than the sprinters.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

So basically you just hate Kittel, not Giant?

I mean, if we include Tom Dumoulin, who tends to ride pretty aggressively in hilly stages - so I don't see why you would dislike him - you like all their main riders.

I think you just hate Kittel so much you're emanating hate, pouring it out freely over all of Giant-Alpecin.

Teams that set up around a sprint the vast majority of the time - and as Kwibus notes, race organizers who allow this miserable model of racing to be successful and proliferate - strangle all that is enjoyable out of the sport. The best thing I can say about Giant is that they're not good enough at it to match the HTC model, but if they could do, they would just do that: hold the break at 2-3 minutes, never enough to even dare to dream, then pull them back at a time set perfectly to prevent any counterattacks, then launch the fastest sprinter. You may as well switch the TV on 30 seconds from the end of the stage, you'll see everything you need.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

So this single eight/nine-man team is able to control pelotons of 150-180 riders, right?

 

[classicomano]

Giant-Alpecin: a horrible jersey for a horrible team.

Pathetic.

.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Teams that set up around a sprint the vast majority of the time - and as Kwibus notes, race organizers who allow this miserable model of racing to be successful and proliferate - strangle all that is enjoyable out of the sport. The best thing I can say about Giant is that they're not good enough at it to match the HTC model, but if they could do, they would just do that: hold the break at 2-3 minutes, never enough to even dare to dream, then pull them back at a time set perfectly to prevent any counterattacks, then launch the fastest sprinter. You may as well switch the TV on 30 seconds from the end of the stage, you'll see everything you need.

But the point that people are making is that Giant nowadays has more to offer than just that. Sure Giant spent a significant part of their season killing lame flat races for Kittel (but if they wouldn't do it, OPQS or Lotto would do it), but we also have Barguil's crazy rides in the Vuelta, Dumoulin stepping up, Degenkolb confirming in the classics.

I dislike Kittel too, as a rider, because his sole purpose as a rider is to win the most boring stages, but I like Barguil, Dumoulin and Degenkolb too much to dislike Giant as a whole.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

So this single eight/nine-man team is able to control pelotons of 150-180 riders, right?

Remember HTC? They had it down to an art form, because the engines they had to control the race were so strong, opposition teams simply lost belief they could get away, so we were reliant on the occasional bit of Hondo leadout brilliance to offer anything but a joyless Cavendish or Greipel parade. Especially because they would often send a full-strength team to races where one was absolutely not needed, resulting in shooting fish in a barrel.

 

[trevim]

I didn't mean to cause such an argument but I can't understand the hate for a team that rides to the best of their skills to maximize the number of wins. I have a bigger dislike for the other teams which don't even try to derail them.
[I'm not the biggest fan of Kittel either though ]

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I didn't mean to cause such an argument but I can't understand the hate for a team that rides to the best of their skills to maximize the number of wins. I have a bigger dislike for the other teams which don't even try to derail them.
[I'm not the biggest fan of Kittel either though ]

Michael Schumacher raced to the best of his skills to maximize his number of wins. I found F1 absolutely unwatchably dull during his years of domination.

 

[Akuryo]

I didn't mean to cause such an argument but I can't understand the hate for a team that rides to the best of their skills to maximize the number of wins. I have a bigger dislike for the other teams which don't even try to derail them.
[I'm not the biggest fan of Kittel either though ]

It's the same with Gerrans. He rides smart and does the best of his (limited) strenghts. He is not the best on the hills and not the best sprinter but wins a lot of races, because of smart racing. Or if you want to be cruel: Winning without doing the work. And that is what Giant does. Not doing anything for 180 kilometers and then a train of 8 guys for Kittel.

So yes, they are smart, but for (neutral) fans of the sport it is boring as hell to watch.

 

[trevim]

Michael Schumacher raced to the best of his skills to maximize his number of wins. I found F1 absolutely unwatchably dull during his years of domination.

I find F1 boring all the time...didn't get the point, sorry

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I find F1 boring all the time...didn't get the point, sorry

The point is, just because somebody is doing the sensible thing to maximize their chances to win doesn't mean that that is particularly appealing or interesting to the viewer. And when their chances to win are such that they are able to do this for several days at a time, it becomes doubly unappealing and uninteresting, at which point apathy breeds resentment breeds antipathy.

 

[burning]

Giant has the best sprinter, who can not survive a speedbump and their team is relatively strong to pull back weakish breakaways. It is not their fault to win pan flat stages, you should blame organizers for creating Scheldeprijses that could be summarized with a screenshot.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Giant-Alpecin: a horrible jersey for a horrible team.

The lack of rationality in your argument is exposed by you declaring this before we even know what the jersey looks like.

Not quite sure what your contention is: that Kittel should not be allowed to be a cyclist, or that his team shouldn't try to put him in the best position to win?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The lack of rationality in your argument is exposed by you declaring this before we even know what the jersey looks like.

Not quite sure what your contention is: that Kittel should not be allowed to be a cyclist, or that his team shouldn't try to put him in the best position to win?

That what we've seen of the jersey (which appears to be plain black with two white stripes down the middle) appears to be as bland, dull and soulless as the racing that I associate with the team. Mainly because unless Barguil's got the bit between his teeth, they're usually relatively anonymous or in sprint mode.

That racing of the sort produced by the Kittel train is being positively encouraged by race organizers is one of the biggest problems with the sport. "If we get a close finish, people will be happy cos they see the best", but I'd rather watch an interesting race between a dozen non-entities than a stage that can, as burning points out, be summarized with a screenshot and an audiobook of Carlton Kirby reading out Tripadvisor's notes on the region, occasionally punctuated with an incorrect pronunciation of a cyclist's name (probaby Samuel Dumoulin).

The guy didn't even have any intention of TRYING to defend his yellow jersey. Why should races be designed so that people like that have a chance of wearing it?