Pre Tour de France-thread

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re: Re:

It's not confirmed yet, but most likely it's this:
- Dumoulin
- Kelderman
- Matthews
- Kragh Andersen
- Arndt
- Teunissen
- Geschke
- Ten Dam

It would be a great team. The only question in me is whether Haga would be a better addition to the team instead of Teunissen. He showed excellent form recently, especially in the TTs. Though he has the Giro in his legs of course.

Teunissen is not much worse in a TTT, but especially helpful in Roubaix stage / flat stages. He's a nordic man and ex-cyclocross

 

[Alexandre B.]

Movistar
Andrey Amador
Daniele Bennati
Imanol Erviti
Jose Joaquin Rojas
Marc Soler
Alejandro Valverde
Mikel Landa
Nairo Quintana

That's quite good.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Nice squad. Movistar definitely is all in. Rojas or Oliveira didn't matter to me, Rojas is probably the better climber, but Oliveira the better time trialist. Lets see how well Amador and Soler climbs, that could be the key.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Re: Re:

Apparently stage 19 should go ahead as planned - good news
https://twitter.com/inrng/status/1010163596070936579

It says "4-5 weeks" for the repairs

It is 4,5 weeks till stage 19.....

Optimism.

Well apart from Oomen not being there Sunweb's squad is very much like the one at the worlds TTT

Care to post the lineup?

It's not confirmed yet, but most likely it's this:
- Dumoulin
- Kelderman
- Matthews
- Kragh Andersen
- Arndt
- Teunissen
- Geschke
- Ten Dam

Ten Dam is an unlikely starter
https://www.nhnieuws.nl/nieuws/226642/Laurens-ten-Dam-reserve-voor-Tour-de-France

 

[kiszol]

Re: Re:

It's not confirmed yet, but most likely it's this:
- Dumoulin
- Kelderman
- Matthews
- Kragh Andersen
- Arndt
- Teunissen
- Geschke
- Ten Dam

It would be a great team. The only question in me is whether Haga would be a better addition to the team instead of Teunissen. He showed excellent form recently, especially in the TTs. Though he has the Giro in his legs of course.

Teunissen is not much worse in a TTT, but especially helpful in Roubaix stage / flat stages. He's a nordic man and ex-cyclocross

Ah, I see. Yes, he is also decent in the TT. Haga would very much like to try himself in the Tour as I know. So far he only had a handful of Giris and Vueltas. Maybe if Ten Dam truly won't start they could both feature.

 

[pastronef]

https://www.twitter.com/Fortuneo_Samsic/status/1011262884691791872

Fortuneo and Look STOP THE PARTNERSHIP

the team will race the Tour with another brand

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yeah I was unsure about Ten Dam. Could be anyone's guess then, I'm pretty certain about the other 7 though

 

[Poursuivant]

Didn’t know where to put this but I think it was Landa who said he prefers the TDF over the Giro because of his allergies. How does this work? Wouldn’t it be worse in July?

Great Movistar team, they have gone all in for the Tour this year, possibly because Froome went the Giro.

 

[Brt147]

Re:

Nice squad. Movistar definitely is all in. Rojas or Oliveira didn't matter to me, Rojas is probably the better climber, but Oliveira the better time trialist. Lets see how well Amador and Soler climbs, that could be the key.

I was a bit surprised with their decision of putting Oliveira out. But I think it is understandable since this season hasn't been really good for him, in terms of results and in terms of bad luck too.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

Movistar
Andrey Amador
Daniele Bennati
Imanol Erviti
Jose Joaquin Rojas
Marc Soler
Alejandro Valverde
Mikel Landa
Nairo Quintana

That's quite good.

Bennati is going to have his work cut out for him on stage 9 :surprised:

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Didn’t know where to put this but I think it was Landa who said he prefers the TDF over the Giro because of his allergies. How does this work? Wouldn’t it be worse in July?

Great Movistar team, they have gone all in for the Tour this year, possibly because Froome went the Giro.

Depends what you are allergic to.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

things like pollen from gras is worse in may than in july.

My pollen allergies are worst in april/may. So I can understand Landa

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

things like pollen from gras is worse in may than in july.

My pollen allergies are worst in april/may. So I can understand Landa

The reason Dan Martin is generally averse to doing the Giro is that the first time he went his pollen allergies made his throat swell most of the way shut. I don’t think he’s ever had similar (or at least similarly extreme) issues at the Tour.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

things like pollen from gras is worse in may than in july.

My pollen allergies are worst in april/may. So I can understand Landa

The reason Dan Martin is generally averse to doing the Giro is that the first time he went his pollen allergies made his throat swell most of the way shut. I don’t think he’s ever had similar (or at least similarly extreme) issues at the Tour.

And the second time he crashed out on the opening stage.
Guy doesn't have much luck with that race...

 

[Broccolidwarf]

This roster release wait is so annoying - all teams must know who they are bringing by now?

I'm impatient to see who Sky and Sunweb are bringing, and most of all Astana.

If they bring no kazaks, they fully believe in Fuglsang, as a serious podium contender
If they bring one kazak, they believe in him a little, but are probably happy with top 5
If they bring two kazaks, they don't believe in him at all



(nothing racial intended - it's just that all the kazaks have sucked this spring, except Gidich who is too young for the tour)

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

This roster release wait is so annoying - all teams must know who they are bringing by now?

I'm impatient to see who Sky and Sunweb are bringing, and most of all Astana.

If they bring no kazaks, they fully believe in Fuglsang, as a serious podium contender
If they bring one kazak, they believe in him a little, but are probably happy with top 5
If they bring two kazaks, they don't believe in him at all



(nothing racial intended - it's just that all the kazaks have sucked this spring, except Gidich who is too young for the tour)

Lutsenko has the potential, though, which he showed in the Tour of Oman but he rode the Giro so is a question mark. Zeits isn't bad either. Probably better than Hansen.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re: Re:

This roster release wait is so annoying - all teams must know who they are bringing by now?

I'm impatient to see who Sky and Sunweb are bringing, and most of all Astana.

If they bring no kazaks, they fully believe in Fuglsang, as a serious podium contender
If they bring one kazak, they believe in him a little, but are probably happy with top 5
If they bring two kazaks, they don't believe in him at all



(nothing racial intended - it's just that all the kazaks have sucked this spring, except Gidich who is too young for the tour)

Lutsenko has the potential, though, which he showed in the Tour of Oman but he rode the Giro so is a question mark. Zeits isn't bad either. Probably better than Hansen.

They both did the Giro, while Hansens season has been timed for the Tour.

However, I think Kangert leaving the Giro early has thrown a spanner in the works, and that he will take Hansens spot in the squad, because he is a equal climber but a far better TT and cobbles rider.

I think the certain ones are:

Fuglsang
Valgren
Sanchez
Cort
Cataldo
Fraile

The last two spots are up for grabs, and Kangert will probably take one and a kazak the other.

 

[Robert5091]

I still don't get why Tommy D is doing the TdF - I can understand why Sunweb want him there.

Will he do a "Cipollini" and go home after the first week then re-emerge to win the Vuelta?

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Didn’t know where to put this but I think it was Landa who said he prefers the TDF over the Giro because of his allergies. How does this work? Wouldn’t it be worse in July?

Great Movistar team, they have gone all in for the Tour this year, possibly because Froome went the Giro.

It depends on what type of allergies he has. My husband has allergies and his are worse in the spring (pollen especially) than the rest of year. So yes it's very possibly his allergies could be worse in the spring than the summer.

 

[Poursuivant]

Thanks for replies people.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I still don't get why Tommy D is doing the TdF - I can understand why Sunweb want him there.

Will he do a "Cipollini" and go home after the first week then re-emerge to win the Vuelta?

It's the other way around. Dumoulin wants to be there, and it looks like he is very serious about the GC as well. Even though he accepts it might go nowhere.

 

[42x16ss]

I still don't get why Tommy D is doing the TdF - I can understand why Sunweb want him there.

Will he do a "Cipollini" and go home after the first week then re-emerge to win the Vuelta?

It's the other way around. Dumoulin wants to be there, and it looks like he is very serious about the GC as well. Even though he accepts it might go nowhere.

That's right. And even if Dumoulin has a bad first week and ends up riding as a domestique for Kelderman/Matthews, he's going to command a lot more respect in the peloton than any of Sunweb's other domestiques. He'll have a far easier time positioning a leader than just about anyone else, which has great value in itself.

 

[Bakkie]

(click on the picture to see the bigger version)

 

[Anderis]

They better hope the race doesn't pan out a way in which Jungels would need help in high mountains.

 

[Akuryo]

They could actually put him in a really good position with the TTT and the cobble stage... but from there he's all on his own.