New to cycling world, Can anyone help out?

[ianstannard]

I have a few questions that I want to ask about cycling, I'm a new fan. I'm British so I'll support Team Sky.

1. Does Team Sky have any elite sprinters?

2. Which of Peter Sagan, Kittel, Greipel or Cavendish is the best sprinter?

3. Are Team Sky and OPQS rivals? Why did Cavendish and Uran join opqs?

4. Does Team Sky aim to win the GC, not stage races and one day races?

 

[Netserk]

Hi ianstannard. Welcome to the forum.

1) No, not elite level.

2) Depends on the stage. In a totally flat stage, I think the last three are close, but Kittel in front.

3) Not more or less than any other teams. I think they joined to get better opportunities.

4) Sky's first priority is by far stage race GC.

 

[ianstannard]

Referring to the first question. Does Team Sky have any sprinters that are good?

 

[Netserk]

No. Unless you think EBH is good Ben Swift is their best sprinter, but hardly great.

 

[willbick]

There best sprinters are Boasson Hagen and Ben Swift. Both are some way off the likes of Kittel, Cav

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

ianstannard, you seem to think cycling teams are like Football teams? Cycling fans mostly (not always always though) support individual riders instead of teams, and there is no big rivalry between teams.

As for your questions:
1.no
2.cav
3.no/more chance to be target man
4.all, but mostly GC
5.no (see 4)

 

[Der Effe]

ianstannard, you seem to think cycling teams are like Football teams? Cycling fans mostly (not always always though) support individual riders instead of teams, and there is no big rivalry between teams.

Exactly, cycling is more or less an individual sport as well. You do not say, 'Team Sky just won the stage' when Froomeyboy goes ballistic but you say "Froome just went apenuts and crushed mankind!"

 

[RedheadDane]

Yeah, the only time when you go "[team X] won the stage." is when it's a TTT.
And when said TTT results in a change of leader's jersey there'll still only be one guy wearing it, probably because having up to nine guys wearing the same jersey would look rather silly.

 

[happytramp]

Good on you for getting into cycling, it's really great spectator sport. I should warn you that team Sky are sort of the Manchester United of cycling, in that they have a huge amount of fans and success but those who don't support them tend to passionately hate them. Don't take any of the negativity too seriously

 

[arvc40]

I have a few questions that I want to ask about cycling, I'm a new fan. I'm British so I'll support Team Sky.

1. Does Team Sky have any elite sprinters?

2. Which of Peter Sagan, Kittel, Greipel or Cavendish is the best sprinter?

3. Are Team Sky and OPQS rivals? Why did Cavendish and Uran join opqs?

4. Does Team Sky aim to win the GC, not stage races and one day races?

All you need to know is cyclists take EPO. Just kidding !, well, sort of ??? !!! lol

 

[EnacheV]

1. Does Team Sky have any elite sprinters?
No

2. Which of Peter Sagan, Kittel, Greipel or Cavendish is the best sprinter?
Unknown

3. Are Team Sky and OPQS rivals? Why did Cavendish and Uran join opqs?
No
To be leaders in what they target

4. Does Team Sky aim to win the GC, not stage races and one day races?

They aim for general classification generally, one day races and stages in multi-day races are secondary.

 

[GuyIncognito]

I have a few questions that I want to ask about cycling, I'm a new fan. I'm British so I'll support Team Sky.

Good for you. Welcome.

1. Does Team Sky have any elite sprinters?

2. Which of Peter Sagan, Kittel, Greipel or Cavendish is the best sprinter?

3. Are Team Sky and OPQS rivals?
Why did Cavendish and Uran join opqs?

4. Does Team Sky aim to win the GC, not stage races and one day races?

1. Swift is quite good, but not top level. He can climb better than most sprinters so he has a better shot on an uphill sprint or at the end of a hard stage when most others will have been dropped

Sprinters tend to be the worst climbers of all, as to be fast you need to add muscle mass and to climb well you need to do the opposite - lose weight

2. What went for Swift goes double for Sagan, he can climb better than any other sprinter. In fact he's not really a sprinter, he's a jack of all trades who is a master of many. He's almost as fast as the three fastest sprinters in the world, the other three you mentioned

At this moment Kittel is the fastest and since he's the youngest he's also the least likely to decline in ability first, which the other two are close to doing. Cavendish and Greipel are only barely slower, but Greipel is erratic in positioning himself well (speed is irrelevant if you're nowhere near the front) and Cavendish is currently having issues with his team leaving him in a bad position. Sagan is noticeably slower

3. There aren't really any rivalries in cycling because most teams last only a few years and because fans tend to be fans of specific riders.
Cavendish because Sky didn't give him the support he deserved and Urán because he proved he's good enough to lead a team in his own right instead of burying himself working for Froome

4. Winning the GC means winning the stage race.
Individual stages take a backseat for Sky

One day races they still aim to win just as much, they're just not very good at them due to a variety of factors that can (and have many times) filled many pages of forum discussion

 

[Catwhoorg]

1. Does Team Sky have any elite sprinters?

Not top level. Swift and EBH are both fairly good, but in sprinting it really is winner takes all, so they struggle.

2. Which of Peter Sagan, Kittel, Greipel or Cavendish is the best sprinter?

Lets see in 2014. Kittel probably was the best in 2013. Sagan has more flexibility in getting to finishes, so will likely take the green 'points' jersey at the tdf again. The other three will fight for stage wins, and probably get at least one each

3. Are Team Sky and OPQS rivals?
Why did Cavendish and Uran join opqs?

Yes.
They joined for opportunities and support. Cav will get 6+ teammates working for him at le tour. Uran will not have to work for Wiggo, Froome or Porte. (or Henao)

4. Does Team Sky aim to win the GC, not stage races and one day races?
The goal of Sky seams to place GC wins above stages. They keep working at one day races, but as these are often very tactical and uncontrolled, they struggle. GC is all about controlling the flow of a stage race for Sky.

 

[manafana]

I have a few questions that I want to ask about cycling, I'm a new fan. I'm British so I'll support Team Sky.

1. Does Team Sky have any elite sprinters?

2. Which of Peter Sagan, Kittel, Greipel or Cavendish is the best sprinter?

3. Are Team Sky and OPQS rivals? Why did Cavendish and Uran join opqs?

4. Does Team Sky aim to win the GC, not stage races and one day races?

my view,

none as elite but both swift, sutton and eisel can hold themselves in flat stages.

2 Sagan is a more rounded rider, on a flat flat day Kittel is my favourite.

3 SKy are rivals with everyone because of how they do business.

4 Sky main aim is the Tour due to its exposure they also target the warm up races

 

[will10]

I have a few questions that I want to ask about cycling, I'm a new fan. I'm British so I'll support Team Sky.

1. Does Team Sky have any elite sprinters?

2. Which of Peter Sagan, Kittel, Greipel or Cavendish is the best sprinter?

3. Are Team Sky and OPQS rivals? Why did Cavendish and Uran join opqs?

4. Does Team Sky aim to win the GC, not stage races and one day races?

Why not watch the races and see which riders you take a shine to? You might be surprised if you lose the Union Jack glasses

 

[SaxonUK]

Why not watch the races and see which riders you take a shine to? You might be surprised if you lose the Union Jack glasses

Sky are the reason for alot of new spectators coming to cycling so I'm not surprised he wants to support them, let him support Sky for now and then see what other riders interest him

 

[LaFlorecita]

Why not watch the races and see which riders you take a shine to? You might be surprised if you lose the Union Jack glasses

Good point

 

[argyllflyer]

The teams at the top just now do have a national identity of sorts (GreenEDGE very Australian, Belkin Dutch, Movistar Spanish, Katusha Russia [despite their major talents being Spanish] etc...) and have riders in the main of that nationality. As a Brit I'm happy to see Sky opening the door to new fans of road racing. With the French now keen to establish a rival to Sky, this seems to be the pattern.

That said, I love watching the riders with real panache, be it Voeckler gurning his way to another disaster (Dwars Door Vlaanderen last year will live long in the memory, or even when his waterbottle got stuck in his own wheel at Tour of Belgium) or Sagan bunnyhopping his way to stage victory. The diminuitive Colombians are majestic too.

 

[42x16ss]

I have a few questions that I want to ask about cycling, I'm a new fan. I'm British so I'll support Team Sky.

1. Does Team Sky have any elite sprinters?

2. Which of Peter Sagan, Kittel, Greipel or Cavendish is the best sprinter?

3. Are Team Sky and OPQS rivals? Why did Cavendish and Uran join opqs?

4. Does Team Sky aim to win the GC, not stage races and one day races?

1. 2-3 years ago, I'd have said Boasson Hagen but now he's just a guy with a fast finish. Sutton and Swift are sprinters but not top shelf.

2. Depends. Right now Kittel is the fastest on a flat run in and Sagan is most likely to make it to the finish on tough stages. When he does, he's very hard to beat.

3. As said earlier, there aren't many team rivalries (maybe OPQS and Lotto - Flemish/Walloon rivalry), more rider rivalries - eg: Cancellara and Sagan, Contador and Froome, Cav and Greipel, Cancellara and Boonen. Even then there is usually a good dose of respect there.

Cavendish and Uran moved as OPQS could offer what Sky couldn't. For Cavendish it was a dedicated sprint team, for Uran it was leadership at Grand Tours. This was because both of their priorities were second to Froome, Porte and Wigan's GC ambitions. OPQS also lacked a pure sprinter and a genuine GC rider.

4. Sky's main focus is GC in stage races now that first Wigans, and now Froome and Porte are riding at their current levels. There used to be some focus on stages and classics with guys like Boasson Hagen, Sutton, Flecha and Hayman but the latter two left and the first two have had their ambitions stifled for GC riders.

Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard look like Sky's best chance at a classic now but Sky seem to struggle with the unpredictable nature of 1 day races.

Like a few others have already said, why only support Sky? Watch the races with an open mind and support the riders who approach the races with a mindset that you enjoy. Why limit yourself to supporting around 6% of the professional peloton?

 

[ianstannard]

So it's normal to support lots of riders?

For example it's normal for a fan to support Greipel, Kittel and Cavendish? And Quintana and Froome at the same time?

btw, thanks for all these replies.

 

[maltiv]

No. Unless you think EBH is good Ben Swift is their best sprinter, but hardly great.

True, none of them are particularly good, but Swift has only won 2 bunch sprints (both in Pologne) since June 2011. In the same period, EBH has won 8, with much tougher competition.

At the moment it seems unlikely that any of them will win a flat bunch sprint again though.

 

[LaFlorecita]

So it's normal to support lots of riders?

For example it's normal for a fan to support Greipel, Kittel and Cavendish? And Quintana and Froome at the same time?

btw, thanks for all these replies.

Well that would be a little weird, as they're all rivals, but it would be possible.

For example I support Contador, Chavanel, Stybar, Boonen, Sagan, Quintana, Hoogerland... the list is long. All different teams and different nationalities. It's normal

 

[RedheadDane]

Who cares about "normal" anyway?

Personally I support everyone, but will cheer for a specific rider if I think he's doing something particularily awesome. Even if I've never really heard about the guy before.
Of course this means that sometimes I find myself basically cheering for several different guys at the same time, but hey; then I'll be happy either way!
It's completely possible to both hope that a guy who's been in a breakaway all day will manage to stay clear of the favourites and take the stage-win, while at the same time hope that one of the favourites will attack the others and make up time in the GC.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

You wouldn't be a forum favorite by supporting Sky, but who cares?

I heavily favor the Dutch riders, but also support Quintana, Contador, Sagan, Cancellara and since recently Stybar, because I think they are awesome riders I like to see riding.

So just cheer who you want to cheer for

 

[ianstannard]

A few of you guys mentioned EBH, is he like an all rounder that can climb and sprint as well? (like a sagan type rider, but obviously not as good)