Paris-Nice

[theswordsman]

It's sorted - Sammy Sanchez will race Paris-Nice, NOT T-A.

Paris-Nice (7-14 March): Samuel Sánchez, Koldo Fernandez de Larrea, Egoi Martinez, Gorka Verdugo, Ivan Velasco, Beñat Intxausti, Mikel Snow and Romain Sicard.

http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=23409

Garmin: Tom Danielson, Fredrik Kessiakoff, Daniel Martin, Christian Meier, David Millar, Thomas Peterson, Svein Tuft and Christian Vande Velde

Skil-Shimano
Yann Huguet, Koen de Kort, Alexandre Geniez, Albert Timmer, Thierry Hupond, Roy Curvers, Simon Geschke and Tom VEELERS form the team he played the Skil-Shimano Paris-Nice from Sunday

Sky
Paris-Nice (7-14 March):
Sylvain Calzati, Kjell Carlström, Dario Cioni, Steve Cummings, Geraint Thomas, Simon Gerrans, Greg Henderson y Serge Pauwels. Sylvain Calzati, Kjell Carlström, Dario Cioni, Steve Cummings, Geraint Thomas, Simon Gerrans, Greg Henderson and Serge Pauwels.

Cofidis, without Moncoutie
Stéphane Augé (Fra), Samuel Dumoulin (FRA), Leonardo Duque (COL), Julien El Fares (Fra), Sébastien Minard (FRA), Amaël Moinard (FRA), Rémi PAURIOL (FRA), Rein Taaramae (EST

 

[Condorman]

Can you imagine a TdF where Lance isn't invited? C'mon.

I dream of a TdF where Popeye isn't invited.

 

[Raupi7]

And now all of you can relax Machado won´t be riding west flandern

hree Days of West Flanders / Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen (Bel), March 5-7, 2010

Riders: Fumiyuki Beppu, Sam Bewley, Ben Hermans, Markel Irizar, Dmitriy Muravyev, Ivan Rovny, Bjørn Selander & Tomas Vaitkus

Directors: Dirk Demol & José Azevedo

http://www.teamradioshack.com

 

[Angliru]

Perhaps, but he is middle of Radio Shack's pecking order. I think the tour team would look something like LA, LL, AK, then Machado. However, if he were in the Tour, I think he'll surpass Kloeden.

Machado over Kloeden in the Tour?? Over Zubeldia maybe, but has he proven anything in a grand tour setting to believe that he'll surpass Kloeden?

I'd imagine it would be quite difficult to find a better and more dedicated/selfless domestique in the mountains for a grand tour than Kloeden.

 

[thehog]

Machado over Kloeden in the Tour?? Over Zubeldia maybe, but has he proven anything in a grand tour setting to believe that he'll surpass Kloeden?

Oh dear. The guy followed an attack for 30 seconds in an early season race and all of sudden he's competing for the Tour!

This actually occurs in every race - i.e. Riders follow attacks - but why oh why when a rider who rides in a team with Bruyneel does said person who follows attack for less than 30 seconds become the next big thing? He ain't.

 

[theswordsman]

Well, you Machado fans won't have to wait, because he's going to ride Paris-Nice.

According to data from France Press, Tiago Machado will be at Paris-Nice accompanied by the cream of RadioShack, with the exception of Lance Armstrong and Andreas Klöden, racing, starting tomorrow, in Murcia. The U.S. called for training for the race French Jani Brajkovic, Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer, Geoffroy Lequatre, Tiago Machado, Yaroslav Popovych, Sebastien Rosseler and Gert Steegmans.

http://jornalciclismo.com/tiago-machado-troca-corrida-belga-pelo-paris-nice

 

[issoisso]

What's with the Machado worship?

Also, he won't be doing the Tour. He's not in the 14 man pre-selection.

And I should ad that Prudhomme has already mentioned Radioshack will get an invite.

 

[theswordsman]

What's with the Machado worship?

Also, he won't be doing the Tour. He's not in the 14 man pre-selection.

I don't think that's carved in stone if a team has an emerging (possibly) talent. He wasn't considered for Paris-Nice, either, but he earned a spot. Maybe he was just really motivated to race in Portugal, or maybe he was closer to his peak fitness than others are early on. But if he does well next week, I can see him on the Dauphine or Toue de Suisse squads, and if he's stronger than their ninth best TdF guy, they'd be dumb to leave him home.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

I think some of you may have missed my point (not surprising in Hog's case ). Think back to stage 17 in last year's Tour, AC went with the brothers Schleck, Kloden couldn't come near matching that effort. Fast forward to Algarve, when AC attacked the only one that could come close to matching his effort was Machado, even ahead of LL. It's possible LL and Kloden aren't in top form yet, but Machado was still there. This doesn't indicate that Machado is a grand tour contender, but he could make a valuable mountain domestique, possibly more so than Kloden. In a couple years, he could develop to a GT contender because, contrary to Hog's effort to diminish Machado's achievements, the dude can climb and judging from the special colors he wears while time trialing, he's not a bad time trialist either. He could possibly be this season's big surprise (think Wiggo).

I can't wait to see him in Paris-Nice.

 

[Cerberus]

I think some of you may have missed my point (not surprising in Hog's case ). Think back to stage 17 in last year's Tour, AC went with the brothers Schleck, Kloden couldn't come near matching that effort. Fast forward to Algarve, when AC attacked the only one that could come close to matching his effort was Machado, even ahead of LL.

OK so on one hand we have Klöden who paced LA on Verbier and then on Le Grande Bornard follows AC and the Schlecks, possibly the 3 best climbers in the world, at the time they're in top form over many kilometres of tough climbing before finally getting dropped, and on the other hand we have Machado, who almost manages to keep up with AC on a short climb during an early season race, and from this you conclude that Machado is the better pick for helping LA in the Tour?

 

[Mellow Velo]

Machado man love is in the air.
So much hype over one little climb.
Other than his U23 and one senior Portugese ITT title, he's won....
2008
1st overall in the GP Internacional Torres Vedras - Joaquim Agostinho
Wow! If it were any other team than Shack....

I'll bet a Trek to a rusty escudo, that he'll be invisible, next week.

 

[MADRAZO]

Machado man love is in the air.
So much hype over one little climb.
I'll bet a Trek to a rusty escudo, that he'll be invisible, next week.

Tiago Machado was already a huge talent before this one climb in Algarve. For instance last year he lost 12 seconds to Contador (and Colom) on the same stage and this year 11 seconds. The hype is well earned, as Machado is one of the most talented stageracers in the world and has been so for years. Besides his mentioned wins he has plenty of top placings in strongly filled portuguese stageraces. Hopefully though he will not have to be a slave in the Tour, but will instead get a chance to ride the Vuelta in a free role, that would be much more interesting and also wise by Radioshack.

Great to see him in Paris-Nice though, he should be able to do well and if he has some freedom in the team he should be a serious top 10 candidate.

 

[issoisso]

Machado man love is in the air.
So much hype over one little climb.
Other than his U23 and one senior Portugese ITT title, he's won....
2008
1st overall in the GP Internacional Torres Vedras - Joaquim Agostinho
Wow! If it were any other team than Shack....

He wouldn't get 3 posts with his name on them.
Just another reason why I want Armstrong and Bruyneel out of this sport quickly.

I'll bet a Trek to a rusty escudo, that he'll be invisible, next week.

Only if Bruyneel has really gotten into his head. If he's his normal self, he'll try for the break on pretty much every non-flat stage. And flat ones too if he's not going well. He should animate the race quite a bit.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

OK so on one hand we have Klöden who paced LA on Verbier and then on Le Grande Bornard follows AC and the Schlecks, possibly the 3 best climbers in the world, at the time they're in top form over many kilometres of tough climbing before finally getting dropped, and on the other hand we have Machado, who almost manages to keep up with AC on a short climb during an early season race, and from this you conclude that Machado is the better pick for helping LA in the Tour?

It's hard to respond to someone who basically restates something in the form of a question, but I'll give it a go. Kloden failed to match AC's efforts into Le Grand-Bornand and on Ventoux (where he was actually the first one to bonk). What I'm saying is Machado, after Levi and Kloden, might very well be the best climbing domestique on Team Radio Shack, and in the hypothetical situation he does race the Tour, it wouldn't surprise me to see him become more valuable than Kloden. I then explained why I think that. If that was lost in translation, not my problem. Would I rank him above Kloden going into such a race? Absolutely not.

Machado man love is in the air.
So much hype over one little climb.
Other than his U23 and one senior Portugese ITT title, he's won....
2008
1st overall in the GP Internacional Torres Vedras - Joaquim Agostinho
Wow! If it were any other team than Shack....

I'll bet a Trek to a rusty escudo, that he'll be invisible, next week.

I would feel the same way....regardless of team.

 

[theswordsman]

Each day, a program of nearly two hours will be produced live on the race. In France, the last 80 miles of each stage and will be broadcast by France Television (France 4 on weekdays, France 2, France 3 on weekends), and Eurosport in 59 countries in Europe.Many other European channels, but also U.S. (Versus TV), Asian (J-Sports) and African (SuperSport) give a prominent place in their programming at Paris-Nice.
Eager for images, viewers may initially find out live on the evolution of the race by logging on the official website, http://www.letour.fr. Each day, a few minutes before the start of the stage, The Live begins with information transmitted from vehicles following the pack: Gaps, interviews with team managers in the heart of the race, historical, etc. .

The main daily appointments:

France Televisions
> France 4 : 15h15 - 17h00 du 8 au 12 mars > France 4: 15.15 - 17.00 8 to 12 March
> France 3 : 15h15 - 16h55 le 7 mars ; 13h30 - 15h00 le 14 mars > France 3: 15h15 - 16h55 7 March, 13h30 - 15h00 March 14
> France 2 : 14h00 - 15h00, puis 17h20 - 17h50 le 13 mars > France 2: 14h00 - 15h00, and 17h20 - 17h50 March 13

Eurosport
Eurosport France: 15h15 - 17h15
International Eurosport: Live From March 7 to 12, deferred 13 (18h15 - 19.00) and 14 (17:00 - 17:45)

http://www.letour.fr
Every day, go to the start of the stage

Paris-Nice aired by 23 channels in 171 countries:

Europe: France Televisions, Eurosport, TV2 Zebra (Nor), TVE 2 (Spain), NOS (Hol), TV2 (DEN), TRV (Bel), RTBF (Bel), Rai (Italy) ...
America: Versus TV, ESPN International, Livecycling.tv ...
Asia-Pacific: SBS (Aus), J-Sports (Jap), Sky TV Sport 1 (Nzl) ...
Africa: SuperSport (RSA)

http://www.letour.fr/2010/PNC/COURSE/fr/actus.html#zone147573

 

[Cerberus]

It's hard to respond to someone who basically restates something in the form of a question, but I'll give it a go. Kloden failed to match AC's efforts into Le Grand-Bornand and on Ventoux (where he was actually the first one to bonk). What I'm saying is Machado, after Levi and Kloden, might very well be the best climbing domestique on Team Radio Shack, and in the hypothetical situation he does race the Tour, it wouldn't surprise me to see him become more valuable than Kloden. I then explained why I think that. If that was lost in translation, not my problem.

Everybody understands what you're trying to say, we just don't agree Fact is: Klöden was in the group right behind Andy and Contador in strenght in 2009. Machado has shown nothing to match that. Nor has he shown anything to match Popovych or Zubaldia. Perhaps Machado is a promising talent but Radioshack has a strong group of riders with a proven record, and a proven record is far superior to hopes and dreams.

 

[theswordsman]

I would feel the same way....regardless of team.

I agree. It wasn't about a Radio Shack rider, it was about seeing a potential young talent who was the only one besides Contador who could really get away from the bunch on a climb in February. I have no idea how he'll do next week or the rest of the year, but part of the fun of watching the sport is seeing new talent emerge, or at least put on a good show.

I still look at his team as the Dark Side, but the kid updates on blogspot, for God's sake.

 

[theswordsman]

Jesus Hernandez just tweeted that he's out of Paris-Nice with the bad knee.

How do you think this year's Astana squad compares to last year's?
Contador, Noval and Navarro were on both.

2009 - Dyachenko, Paulinhho, Popovych, Schar, Zubeldia

2010 - Pereiro, De la Fuente, Fofonov, Gourov, (whoever replaces Hernandez)

 

[Publicus]

I was the first one to raise Machado's absence from the Radio Shack squad. It seemed odd to me that he wouldn't he wouldn't be included on either the Murcia or Paris-Nice squad given how well he performed at Algarve. I don't know if he is ready for the Tour or Paris-Nice for that matter, but I'm interested to see what he has to offer with a deeper field. It looks like we'll get a chance to see starting Sunday.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

Everybody understands what you're trying to say, we just don't agree Fact is: Klöden was in the group right behind Andy and Contador in strenght in 2009. Machado has shown nothing to match that. Nor has he shown anything to match Popovych or Zubaldia. Perhaps Machado is a promising talent but Radioshack has a strong group of riders with a proven record, and a proven record is far superior to hopes and dreams.

I pretty much agree with everything you said there.

I agree. It wasn't about a Radio Shack rider, it was about seeing a potential young talent who was the only one besides Contador who could really get away from the bunch on a climb in February. I have no idea how he'll do next week or the rest of the year, but part of the fun of watching the sport is seeing new talent emerge, or at least put on a good show.

I still look at his team as the Dark Side, but the kid updates on blogspot, for God's sake.

Exactly.

Jesus Hernandez just tweeted that he's out of Paris-Nice with the bad knee.

How do you think this year's Astana squad compares to last year's?
Contador, Noval and Navarro were on both.

2009 - Dyachenko, Paulinhho, Popovych, Schar, Zubeldia

2010 - Pereiro, De la Fuente, Fofonov, Gourov, (whoever replaces Hernandez)

Pereiro and DDLF are a boost for Astana, but losing Pop, Paulinho, and Zubeldia hurts.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I pretty much agree with everything you said there.

Exactly.

Pereiro and DDLF are a boost for Astana, but losing Pop, Paulinho, and Zubeldia hurts.

Popovych only works when paired with Bruyneel. Paulinho and Zubeldia were big losses, but at least Lance now has no excuses. He bought virtually all of Contador's help. If he still can't beat Contador, I'm selling my Amgen stock.

 

[Publicus]

I pretty much agree with everything you said there.



Exactly.



Pereiro and DDLF are a boost for Astana, but losing Pop, Paulinho, and Zubeldia hurts.

Is it really a loss? I mean those guys were no where to be found last year when he needed them, so to the extent that he has teammates around when things heat up he's better off already. Frankly DDLF maybe more valuable than Popo, Paulhino and Zubeldian put together at this stage of the season.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I wouldn't think F Schleck is Saxo's leader. Saxo's leader would be Fuglsang. Perfect race to put him against the stronger climbers in the peloton as sole leader IMO. Frank is a domestique now and they are looking at Fuglsang in the future. Put him in the hot seat. He was in the hot seat in the Vuelta last year.

I would love to see that uphill finish - how steep it is.

5th place at last year's tour de france (would have come 3rd if he could hold his own in the ITT) and you think he should be a domestique to Fugslang?
I 'Pffft' that notion !

edit: mollema to get a top 5 *optimistic > realistic

 

[karlboss]

5th place at last year's tour de france (would have come 3rd if he could hold his own in the ITT) and you think he should be a domestique to Fugslang?
I 'Pffft' that notion !

edit: mollema to get a top 5 *optimistic > realistic

or without the TTT, give the man some credit. The only time he should be in a race for climbers and instantly a domestique is the TDF to andy, and even then I'd prefer to see him "joint leader" more like his role with sastre.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

or without the TTT, give the man some credit. The only time he should be in a race for climbers and instantly a domestique is the TDF to andy, and even then I'd prefer to see him "joint leader" more like his role with sastre.

agreed, IMO the biggest factor seperating andy and Frank is the ITT.

In terms of this race and riding for fugslang, well paris-nice has only 8kms of tt'ing anyway, it's foolish to suggest frank rides for anyone.
As a matter fo fact, Frank FTW!!