Paris-Nice

[Moondance]

AC will indeed take this.

Valverde, Gerrans, Chavanel, Schleck the Elder, Cunego Samuel Sanchez, Kreuziger, Leipheimer, Vande Velde will challenge him though.

Greipel, Haussler, Bozic et. al set to sprint.

Excellent line-up if all of those guys make it to the start. Obv. not all of those guys will be in form or go for the GC, but it'll probably be the strongest non-GT lineup of the year.

 

[il_fiammingo]

AC will indeed take this.

Valverde, Gerrans, Chavanel, Schleck the Elder, Cunego Samuel Sanchez, Kreuziger, Leipheimer, Vande Velde will challenge him though.

Greipel, Haussler, Bozic et. al set to sprint.

Excellent line-up if all of those guys make it to the start. Obv. not all of those guys will be in form or go for the GC, but it'll probably be the strongest non-GT lineup of the year.

Don't forget Jurgen Van Den Breakaway who did an excellent Ruta Del Sol. Top 10 for sure, with a little luck maybe top 5?

 

[issoisso]

The climbs aren't all that hard. If Valverde can stay with Contador in Mendé, he can likely take enough bonus seconds to win the GC.

Besides, he knows full well it's his last chance to win a big race before his "vacation", so he's going to be going all out (and his statements so far show as much)

 

[stefrees]

geraint thomas is targetting the prologue, could be his breakthrough road result.


i hope for constant attacks

 

[Publicus]

Lulu wasn't originally going to do PN. Have Caisse changed their minds?

The T-A course changed his mind (getting rid of the long TT). I can't find the English article where I saw this, so I am passing along this Spanish version (translated via Google):

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.esciclismo.com%2Fampliada.asp%3FId%3D13752&sl=auto&tl=en

 

[Christian]

Don't forget Jurgen Van Den Breakaway

lol!

My favorite is - surprise, surprise, Fränk Schleck. He finished 2nd last year, it's one of his favorite races, he's going well already ... but he's probably not gonna win. I'm hoping for a nice stage win and some great Schleck-racing as we know it though

 

[Christian]

T-A will go to someone like sammy sanchez, evans, gesink, nibali, kirchen or schleck.. men who do well on the hills.

Well Nibali's out ...

But I'd say Fabian Cancellara should do really well with a strong Saxo behind him ... don't know how far he is in terms of form but it looks like a great course for him

 

[Bluebeard]

uh...that was sarcasm, right?

Sort of: in the context of the age profile of the team, these are among the youngsters

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

If AC shows up wanting to race, it should be an easy win for him, but Valverde and Leipheimer will challenge. I even have a hunch about Christian VDV doing something of note. Ultimately, I suspect AC with an easy victory and Team RS taking the team classification....which we all know is a far greater accomplishment than winning the GC.

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

geraint thomas is targetting the prologue, could be his breakthrough road result.


i hope for constant attacks

Thomas has a great chance in the prologue. He is seriously targetting it. Be nice for him to stay in the lead for a few days. He is such a classy rider. That said, he isn't good enough in the hills yet to stay with AC and ValvPiti so he will lose time there. I think he'll be working for Gerrans who has made this a big target of his.

 

[Publicus]

If AC shows up wanting to race, it should be an easy win for him, but Valverde and Leipheimer will challenge. I even have a hunch about Christian VDV doing something of note. Ultimately, I suspect AC with an easy victory and Team RS taking the team classification....which we all know is a far greater accomplishment than winning the GC.

I was with you up until that point. I don't see it. Also, report is that Lulu will be racing, so I think that changes the dynamic quite a bit (if it's true). Frankly, I may tip Valverde/Lulu for the overall, depending on how Pereiro looks.

Here's my question, where the hell is Machado? Why isn't he racing?

 

[luckyboy]

The climbs aren't all that hard. If Valverde can stay with Contador in Mendé, he can likely take enough bonus seconds to win the GC.

Besides, he knows full well it's his last chance to win a big race before his "vacation", so he's going to be going all out (and his statements so far show as much)

Won't his results get retrospectively wiped to when CONI found it was his blood?

 

[Merckx]

Gonna be interesting to see what kind of form Levi's gonna be in at this point of the season. Could definitely see him making things tough. Also Kreuziger seems to be riding well atm.. I guess the favorite still has to be AC though

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

I was with you up until that point. I don't see it. Also, report is that Lulu will be racing, so I think that changes the dynamic quite a bit (if it's true). Frankly, I may tip Valverde/Lulu for the overall, depending on how Pereiro looks.

Here's my question, where the hell is Machado? Why isn't he racing?

Really? I don't think LL will win it, but he can finish high in the GC. I can definately see Valverde taking it too.

As for Machado, I thought if he weren't racing here, he would be with Lance in Murcia, but I was wrong. Where in the world is Tiago Machado?

 

[theswordsman]

As for Machado, I thought if he weren't racing here, he would be with Lance in Murcia, but I was wrong. Where in the world is Tiago Machado?

He's on Blogspot!
http://machadotiago.blogspot.com/

 

[Publicus]

Sweet Baby Jesus may be out of Paris-Nice with knee pain. I wonder if they tap Tiralongo in his place.

 

[issoisso]

Where in the world is Tiago Machado?

Famalicão, probably

In all seriousness, he'll be riding the 3 days of West Flanders

 

[theswordsman]

Sweet Baby Jesus may be out of Paris-Nice with knee pain. I wonder if they tap Tiralongo in his place.

It sounded like Jesus had three days to get better (before being replaced), and Tiralongo is on the Tour of Murcia squad. With another group racing in Italy Saturday, plus the T-A squad, they don't have a lot of spares. Maybe call up a Davis?

 

[Publicus]

It sounded like Jesus had three days to get better (before being replaced), and Tiralongo is on the Tour of Murcia squad. With another group racing in Italy Saturday, plus the T-A squad, they don't have a lot of spares. Maybe call up a Davis?

If they want someone to go out the back on every stage, then by all means call up Davis. My guess is that Martinelli would pull Tiralongo from Murcia before he took anyone else. But it is just a guess.

 

[Publicus]

Famalicão, probably

In all seriousness, he'll be riding the 3 days of West Flanders

He's only listed as alternate.

 

[theswordsman]

If they want someone to go out the back on every stage, then by all means call up Davis. My guess is that Martinelli would pull Tiralongo from Murcia before he took anyone else. But it is just a guess.

I just saw on Davis's twitter that he's doing T-A, so he'll be going off the back in Italy instead of France

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

Famalicão, probably

In all seriousness, he'll be riding the 3 days of West Flanders

Found him!

Wonder why he's not with Lance or at Paris-Nice. I'm surprised by that.

 

[issoisso]

He's only listed as alternate.

Team Radioshack
41 Beppu Fumiyuki
42 Bewley Sam
43 Busche Matthew
44 Hermans Ben
45 Machado Tiago
46 Muravyev Dimitri
47 Rovny Ivan
48 Selander Bjorn

Found him!

Wonder why he's not with Lance or at Paris-Nice. I'm surprised by that.

He's not supposed to be in form this early. He says in his blog that he was surprised he was this good this early (at Algarve).

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

He's not supposed to be in form this early. He says in his blog that he was surprised he was this good this early (at Algarve).

I was too, frankly.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

I was too, frankly.

BroDeal won't be and he'll bag him for the win too.