Rider(s) to watch in 2011

[auscyclefan94]

Andy Schleck beat Sanchez in 2010 Tour by 3:01, with 2:08 of that advantage coming from the cobbled stage. So without the third stage Schleck only put 53 seconds into Sanchez.

Picking him for the overall is not out of the question. The only thing Samu has against him is his team. Verdugo and Martinez will pace him for awhile, but they will never be with him when the pack is whittled down to 10 riders.

With a frantic descent into Pinerolo, an inspired climb up Alpe d'Huez (where he finished 2nd in 2008), and a good time trial in stage 20, there is a chance we could be seeing him in Yellow.

He's not the favorite, but there is not a whole lot separating him from ASchleck.

For an individual stage of the tdf you can't just say I am going to omit this stage and here are the results to show one's strength. Yes sammy had a good tour and was very strong but you must be good all terrains and clearly was by showing his strength on the cobbles.

 

[The Hitch]

Andy Schleck beat Sanchez in 2010 Tour by 3:01, with 2:08 of that advantage coming from the cobbled stage. So without the third stage Schleck only put 53 seconds into Sanchez.

Picking him for the overall is not out of the question. The only thing Samu has against him is his team. Verdugo and Martinez will pace him for awhile, but they will never be with him when the pack is whittled down to 10 riders.

With a frantic descent into Pinerolo, an inspired climb up Alpe d'Huez (where he finished 2nd in 2008), and a good time trial in stage 20, there is a chance we could be seeing him in Yellow.

He's not the favorite, but there is not a whole lot separating him from ASchleck.

mmm interesting. It sounded too good to be true till i remembered the 40 seconds Andy lost in Bagneres de Lucheon, which could have easily been 40 seconds the other way had his attack continued.

He also lost 15 seconds messing around with Contador on Ax 3 Domain and a bit on the Madeline.

Also, if Andy doesnt feel he can win it on Alpe, he might try it on earlier climbs.

On the other hand, i reckon Sammy can take about a minute from Schleck on a itt. Also he got a tad unlucky in Madeline, where he missed Al and Andy by 6 seconds, which cost him to lose 52. Hell lose perhaps a minute on the ttt but not as much as he lost on the cobbles in this year.

Maybe he will go on a few descents as well.

Hes got a chance, no doubt, especially if he gets overlooked in favour of Basso and Menchov, which i think will happen.

 

[rzombie1988]

What's the consensus on Luis Leon Sanchez?

 

[hrotha]

Andy Schleck beat Sanchez in 2010 Tour by 3:01, with 2:08 of that advantage coming from the cobbled stage. So without the third stage Schleck only put 53 seconds into Sanchez.

Picking him for the overall is not out of the question. The only thing Samu has against him is his team. Verdugo and Martinez will pace him for awhile, but they will never be with him when the pack is whittled down to 10 riders.

With a frantic descent into Pinerolo, an inspired climb up Alpe d'Huez (where he finished 2nd in 2008), and a good time trial in stage 20, there is a chance we could be seeing him in Yellow.

He's not the favorite, but there is not a whole lot separating him from ASchleck.

But Andy focused 100% on Contador, among other things letting Samu and Menchov ride away in that one stage. Andy didn't need to put time on Samu because he had those 2 minutes from the cobbles stage, but I think it was clear he was superior to him in the mountains by more than those 53 seconds.

He'll be 3rd this year so that automatically makes him a favourite for next year, but Andy is at least one step above.

 

[monopost]

I will focus on Kreuziger, I think he will have a great season in new team. In recent time nobody speak about him so much because he has not any great results this year, but I think we must count with him in the next season. Remember how strong he was in Vuelta, as fans on this forum said, he ruined mountain stages with his high pace. My opinion is that in spite of that, Nibali won Vuelta, Kreuziger isn't worse cyclist. Moreover, Kreuziger was important part of Nibali's win. He had crisis on Vuela, but Kreuziger was there and Nibali get over it, in other case others would start attacking. Kreuziger will have strong support in Giro and Vino believes, that he can win the Giro or at least have a podium. Kreuziger is also confident about Giro.

Also Stybar is a big question, I wish him succes, but I am a little bit cautious in expectations. Maybe in 2012 he can gain some results in road.

Peter Velits, is the next, but I think the Vuelta result was a little bit luck. Last TT did much, but he had good wind. So I am curious for next his races. He was really good but not so great.

It will be interesting to watch how improve some young talented cyclist like Porte, Fuglsang, van Garderen, etc. If Sagan resist longer stage race with keep winning stages.

I was surprised about Hesjedal on Tour, so I will look on his results next year.

 

[Ferminal]

What's the consensus on Luis Leon Sanchez?

Great stage racer and possibly a big classics rider (i.e. if he can bring his San Seb effort to the Ardennes) but I doubt we will see him climbing the big mountains in the favourites group of GTs anytime soon.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

What's the consensus on Luis Leon Sanchez?

Maybe 10th-12th again. Great short stage racer, but really needs a race with fewer steep, long climbs, and more descent finishes and TT mileage, to compete.

 

[The Hitch]

What's the consensus on Luis Leon Sanchez?

No chance.

Also ill add Cav eben if others have already.

Britain hasnt had too many sporting successes over the last few years. If this continues, then Cav has a good chance of getting more exposure next year. If he wins MSR they might cover it. If he wins the green jersey they will cover it and if he wins the worlds they will make a bit of a deal out of it, especially if there are no other successes.

The 2011 worlds course is for him. He has to win it. It is his big year no doubt.

 

[Francois the Postman]

What's the consensus on Luis Leon Sanchez?

I am with LS (Libertine Seguros), that LLS will feature, but not at the sharpest end in the GTs. More likely to see something in the shorter stage races. Hope he really targets Paris Nice.

Very glad to see him in Rabo colours, as it was getting a bit thin around Gesink after Menchov left. It still means that Gesink has been put at the team's helm for the Tour one year earlier than I had hoped, but I feel more happy with someone like LLS alongside him.

But what I am dead curious about, is if the classics' rider in LLS will be called upon a bit more now he is a Rabobus man, and how he will respond to that. I suspect that the Ardennes, etc, are more important for Rabo than they were for Caisse, in the overall calendar, and after Freire's MSR win, Rabo was a bit too underwhelming for me, in the spring classics.

I quite like the make-up of the overall squad. Breschel should make Rabo in the the Spring a lot more visible already (I hope), so if LLS was contracted to add additional gravitas to that part of the calendar, that would almost make more sense to me than add him as an additional GT GC rider, as I don't rate him that high.

I'm curious how they will play their pawns. If LLS looks a bit less at the 3-weekers, and a bit more at the one-dayers, I will be dead chuffed. I'm sure he has been given a Vuelta carrot when he signed. What will become clear soon is what direction LLS himself wants to take, I think.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

To be fair, I think the Ardennes were pretty important to Caisse. It's just they had Alejandro Valverde, who's won all of them, and until this year they had Joaquím Rodríguez as support. Sánchez therefore was seldom called upon for them.

 

[theyoungest]

I'm curious how they will play their pawns. If LLS looks a bit less at the 3-weekers, and a bit more at the one-dayers, I will be dead chuffed. I'm sure he has been given a Vuelta carrot when he signed. What will become clear soon is what direction LLS himself wants to take, I think.

Rabo DS Van Houwelingen implied that Luis Leon's only "downside" is that he comes up slightly short in the GTs, so this would mean that they won't really count upon him for that, not for a GC position at least. Gesink's luxury domestique in the Tour will be Mollema, I'm not sure what Luis Leon's role will be.

 

[Francois the Postman]

To be fair, I think the Ardennes were pretty important to Caisse. It's just they had Alejandro Valverde, who's won all of them, and until this year they had Joaquím Rodríguez as support. Sánchez therefore was seldom called upon for them.

Aye, but I meant it relative to Rabobank, for whom the Belgian classics are home matches too, in all but name.

 

[Francois the Postman]

Rabo DS Van Houwelingen implied that Luis Leon's only "downside" is that he comes up slightly short in the GTs, so this would mean that they won't really count upon him for that, not for a GC position at least. Gesink's luxury domestique in the Tour will be Mollema, I'm not sure what Luis Leon's role will be.

Last year Gesink had one team jersey ahead of him. Gesink is now exposed at the helm. Even with Mollema he will have his job cut out. I expect LLS will be a useful pair of legs to stretch the reach of Mollema's helping hand.

 

[nvpacchi]

For an individual stage of the tdf you can't just say I am going to omit this stage and here are the results to show one's strength. Yes sammy had a good tour and was very strong but you must be good all terrains and clearly was by showing his strength on the cobbles.

When there are no cobbled stages in next year's tour, I don't see any issue in ignoring that stage for future predictions.

I'm not saying that Samu is on par with ASchleck, but if ASchleck does not focus on putting as much time into either Samu or Menchov as possible, come stage 20 he could very well be in a world of trouble. He won't have a two minute cushion like he did last year.

 

[theyoungest]

Last year Gesink had one team jersey ahead of him. Gesink is now exposed at the helm. Even with Mollema he will have his job cut out. I expect LLS will be a useful pair of legs to stretch the reach of Mollema's helping hand.

Hm, Gesink pulled on the front a little too much for my liking, so I think he's actually better off this way. The Dutch media didn't really care about Menchov anyway, so the pressure remains the same

 

[hfer07]

But what I am dead curious about, is if the classics' rider in LLS will be called upon a bit more now he is a Rabobus man, and how he will respond to that. I suspect that the Ardennes, etc, are more important for Rabo than they were for Caisse, in the overall calendar, and after Freire's MSR win, Rabo was a bit too underwhelming for me, in the spring classics.

LLS is going to have more freedom to go for races when he was in Caisse and perhaps canalize his talent towards the classiscs & semi-classics. He can do very well in one week races too & have a successful season without reaching for GT goals.
As far as Caisse not giving importance to the Ardennes??? I reckon they won some with Valverde & got podium places with Purito too.
the problem now with Movistar(former Caisse) is the priority they've set as a team to get AC & Valverde in 2012-which leaves no options to operate for a rider like LLS.

 

[Francois the Postman]

LLS is going to have more freedom to go for races when he was in Caisse and perhaps canalize his talent towards the classiscs & semi-classics. He can do very well in one week races too & have a successful season without reaching for GT goals.

Yes. That is pretty much what I hope and expect.

As far as Caisse not giving importance to the Ardennes??? I reckon they won some with Valverde & got podium places with Purito too.
the problem now with Movistar(former Caisse) is the priority they've set as a team to get AC & Valverde in 2012-which leaves no options to operate for a rider like LLS.

[what I said] "I suspect that the Ardennes, etc, are more important for Rabo than they were for Caisse, in the overall calendar".

is not equal to

[what you made of it] "Caisse not giving importance to the Ardennes???"

Something I already commented upon a couple of post above this one.

 

[ttrider]

For me Contador will be one to watch he may get a year in which case i expect him to do well in san sebastien before winning Burgos La Vuelta and Giro di Lombardia. He ll be full of energy with either Saxo if they keep him or Movistar backing him. If no suspension he ll probably win Algarve Paris Nice Castilla Leon LBL the Dauphine Tour Burgos and the Vuelta instead!!

 

[ttrider]

Also expect a fascinating battle between Ricco Nibali and Anton in the Giro and the Vuelta. Expect Basso to do well in the tour but ultimately just fall short, would love him to win, judging by his career results and talent he deserves a yellow jersey more than anyone

Quickstep to have a good season, Chichi and Ciolek with Boonen leaves great possibilities in sprints.

 

[palmerq]

maxim iglinsky.
i think he will win e3 prijs and will podium at the ronde.

Good pick m8... Iglinskys been doing pretty good... I like astana and it would be nice to have another kazak winning things for them..

The sprints might be quite interesting next year with greipel away from columbia.. although i am sure cavendish will beat him easily.

 

[Badeend]

I expect Fuglsang to make a big step forward. Think he can become a main contender in Paris-Nice, Tour de Suisse, ... and LBL, Lombardia, etc.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Hm, Gesink pulled on the front a little too much for my liking, so I think he's actually better off this way. The Dutch media didn't really care about Menchov anyway, so the pressure remains the same

Yeah I agree. Gesink is at the age where he should be ready to lead . He is a confident character also so I see no issues here. He will be the same age as Andy was this year. No issue IMO .

@ hitch

I think you are overrating scarponi , you speak ASIf he is one if the best gt guys out there when I'n reality at the age of 31 he has only once really contended 1 gt. And the giro, as amazing as it was, had a weak field.
I agree he is good but suggesting he is one of the few whom is maybe better I'n gts then Samu is clutching at straws.

As for Samu I don't think this year will be any bigger this past season. Maybe a better placing at the tour yes, but i expect roughly the same .
If any eusk rider is gonna have a massive year it'll be Anton . But I suspect you agree with this anyway.

And yeah guys like Samu menchov basso Evans etc is not a lot between them, depending on form they could all beat each other.

And yeah Andy might have gained 2 mins on cobbles, he also lost time on the chaingate. Anyone watching this year knows he was far away better then the rest, samu included.

 

[cobblehead]

David Malacarne (quickstep)
alex rasmussen (HTC-columbia)
thomas degendt (vacansoleil)
greg van avermaet (BMC)
Ben Hermans (radioshack)

 

[Matthijs]

Di luca told to La Reppublica , that he had private conversation with Zomegnan after his words that he dont want to see Di Luca on Giro-2011 . And Danilo said that Zomegnan allowed him to participate in all RCS races including Giro . And after that killer said that he want to be on Giro 2011 . Di Luca and Scarponi can be two team leaders on Giro .

DiLuca is much different then Ricco and Sella. He is an ex-winner, every newspaper is going to mention him, his presence will make the Giro bigger. The newspapers will mention his doping affiare, but also his victories. He is a big Italian champion for years and the audience probably didn't forget his duels with Menchov.
While Ricco and Sella take the Giro down: only about 2 years at a good level, but never the toplevel of DiLuca. Their presence will make the Giro not bigger, so they weren't welcome. Maybe every newspaper mention these guys too, but only about doping.

 

[The Hitch]

Yeah I agree. Gesink is at the age where he should be ready to lead . He is a confident character also so I see no issues here. He will be the same age as Andy was this year. No issue IMO .

@ hitch

I think you are overrating scarponi , you speak ASIf he is one if the best gt guys out there when I'n reality at the age of 31 he has only once really contended 1 gt. And the giro, as amazing as it was, had a weak field.
I agree he is good but suggesting he is one of the few whom is maybe better I'n gts then Samu is clutching at straws.

As for Samu I don't think this year will be any bigger this past season. Maybe a better placing at the tour yes, but i expect roughly the same .
If any eusk rider is gonna have a massive year it'll be Anton . But I suspect you agree with this anyway.

And yeah guys like Samu menchov basso Evans etc is not a lot between them, depending on form they could all beat each other.

And yeah Andy might have gained 2 mins on cobbles, he also lost time on the chaingate. Anyone watching this year knows he was far away better then the rest, samu included.

I put Scarponi as one of the guys who may be better in gts than Samu, because I included Basso on that list, and in the Giro Scarponi was pretty close to Basso in the mountains.

He lost 1 30 on Zoncolan, but he then he stayed with Basso on Monte Grappa, and on the Mortirolo and on the Gavia where others lost about 20 seconds or so.

I suppose Nibali might be added to that list as well because he can make up what he loses in mountains in tts and always gets a nice head start thanks to team time trials. But then i think Samu can match him in tts, match him on descents and beat him in mountains.

He can beat Scarponi too, but just saying that Scarponi, if he has the same mountain form as last year, i see him as the favourite for the Giro. I think he will beat Nibali. Ricco obviously is the big threat. Maybe Anton if he rides it. Di Luca perhaps. Sastre if he regains old form. Pellizoti, i dont see it. Everyone else is doing the Tour.

As for Samu, its not about him really. He doesnt need to perform any better. The point was that the guy who stoped him from getting a gt in 09, might not be there. One of the guys who beat him in the Tour last year, is not there. Last year he got unlucky with the broken wrist.

With Contador and Valverde gone, and a bit less bad luck the same performance that gave him a good 2010 season can get him an amazing 2011 season.