I don't think Taaramäe and Rui Costa are consistent enough in the high mountains. Coppel and Urán are good bets, but I don't think they're stronger than Mollema.
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Poursuivant said:Could EBH + Thomas be dark horses? Or will they sink in the mountains?
El Pistolero said:Was pretty stupid of Rabo to build their whole team around Gesink.
just some guy said:hindsight is a beautiful thing Top 3 and it was all good
Spine Concept said:Exactly my point a couple of posts ago.
So what do you reckon should have been their plan B? Mollema is already there for the secondary GC card. Freire? Reasonable, given the parcours, but then that's only one rider. Their plan B is obvious: see how far Mollema can get (top 15 and a white jersey is reasonable), try to win stages with the rest of the team (they're more than capable of doing so).El Pistolero said:No, it was pretty stupid. Crashes happen all the time, they should have had a plan B. They gambled at the Tour. Who the hell gambles at the Tour? If JVDB crashed Lotto would still have Greipel and Gilbert. Not all teams can afford multiple leaders(BMC, Euskaltel,etc) but Rabo could.
Although Freire was out no matter what happened right? Polyps or something?
hrotha said:I don't think Taaramäe and Rui Costa are consistent enough in the high mountains. Coppel and Urán are good bets, but I don't think they're stronger than Mollema.
El Pistolero said:If JVDB crashed Lotto would still have Greipel and Gilbert.
zyxwvu said:And what was their team like last year? That's right, all for Van Den Broeck.
El Pistolero said:No, it was pretty stupid. Crashes happen all the time, they should have had a plan B. They gambled at the Tour. Who the hell gambles at the Tour? If JVDB crashed Lotto would still have Greipel and Gilbert. Not all teams can afford multiple leaders(BMC, Euskaltel,etc) but Rabo could.
Although Freire was out no matter what happened right? Polyps or something?
luckyboy said:Didn't realise Rui Costa was that bad at climbing.
Taaramae vs Coppel vs Mollema vs Uran it is then.
El Pistolero said:No, it was pretty stupid. Crashes happen all the time, they should have had a plan B. They gambled at the Tour. Who the hell gambles at the Tour? If JVDB crashed Lotto would still have Greipel and Gilbert. Not all teams can afford multiple leaders(BMC, Euskaltel,etc) but Rabo could.
Although Freire was out no matter what happened right? Polyps or something?
Timmy-loves-Rabo said:what do quickstep have ?
it was a risk, it didn't work out, it happens I guess.
El Pistolero said:Boonen, Chavanel, Kevin de Weert and Dries Devenys. Yes, they had massive amount of bad luck, but they still had more than one dude.
El Pistolero said:No, it was pretty stupid. Crashes happen all the time, they should have had a plan B.
Timmy-loves-Rabo said:rabo had more then gesink also.
only they have had massive bad luck also.
sure gesink was the main priority but after him there was mollema and LLS.
Only the team had been also hit with lots of badluck aka 6 riders got injuries from stage 5.
please be consistent in your lame arguments.
Dutchsmurf said:Their plan B is the same as the plan A of teams without a leader. With Gesink out, they just switch to stage hunting and they sure have the riders for that. So basically like the French teams, Vacansoleil, Quickstep, etc, but then with better riders.