Rider schedules for 2016.

[Brullnux]

A Sky thread would be a great idea, every now and then I like to know what Sky are up to, being one of the biggest sides in cycling, but also I want to know what Astana/TS/BMC/Katyusha are up to. As sky have the second biggest following (let's be honest, everyone deep down is an Astana fan) of all the teams, they should have their own thread, just as notable riders do.

 

[djpbaltimore]

Re: Re:

I asked about that a while ago, several posters including a mod agreed with me that it can be quite annoying, but it seems the Sky fans will just continue as usual.

That was in reference to these discussions in the Transfer thread where it was off-topic. I don't see why it should be disallowed in this thread. It only is a few posts after all.

 

[BigMac]

There's that WonderLance thread on how Sky will dominate the Solar System.

 

[MatParker117]

I might make a team lineups thread if everyone's ok with that?

 

[damian13ster]

Re:

I might make a team lineups thread if everyone's ok with that?

No need.
There is 'Transfers and Rumours' for changes in lineups and rider schedules thread for the lineups for specific races.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I might make a team lineups thread if everyone's ok with that?

Go ahead

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

Where does the obsession of Sky fans having to guess the teams line up for every race come from?

I asked about that a while ago, several posters including a mod agreed with me that it can be quite annoying, but it seems the Sky fans will just continue as usual.

In my case I work nights and I don't have much of a life Also next year in particular Sky has the most depth in terms of GC talent since the 2009 Astana team and the number of possible lineup permutations is fun to discuss.

As I said earlier I am sure you and others enjoy it (why else would you discuss it) but it may be better to have all those discussions in a single thread dedicated entirely to sky so those who aren't interested can avoid it, same for the Contador thread, if you don't like the craziness you can just not open it (*ahem* HelloDolly)

I don't open it. And its a pity because Contador to me is still the best GT rider of all (at least since Hinault & Lemond)

 

[HelloDolly]

With Aru riding the Giro & NIbali the Tour I wonder if some Astana stalwarts who ride with Aru will replace the usual Astana line up at the Tour. And even if Nibali will ride the Tour as super domestique

 

[Flat Out]

Nibali has told Italian press his main target will be Rio race because Olimpic Games are unique.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I don't open it. And its a pity because Contador to me is still the best GT rider of all (at least since Hinault & Lemond)

Well then surely "there is alot of annoying sh*t goes on with other fans esp Contador fans posting pictures of him every time he smiles or farts" shouldn't bother you as it's is almost exclusively limited to that thread.

 

[JRanton]

Re: Re:

Landa is likely to ride the Tour.
He told ETB that he chose Sky because they allowed him to lead at the Giro and support in the Tour. He wanted this specifically because he claims he can never reach good form in the last third of the season

Landa, Thomas, Poels, Kennaugh and Roche is a frightening prospect for Froome on the final climb of the tours mountain stages.

Kennaugh was nowhere to be seen on the climbs at this years Tour (or anywhere else) I would not necessarily ride him in the Tour.Let him do the Giro to build stamina

Froome, Landa, Roche, Thomas, Poles, Henao, Kwait, Stannard, Rowe (based on 2015 GT form) would be my Tour team

Landa, Konig, NIeve, Inauxasti, Kennaugh, Deignan, Viviani , Boswell, Kiri = Giro team

Just to annoy Contador's biggest fan girl I'm going to comment.

Puccio will be in the Giro team. He can help position Viviani and is a useful helper in hilly classic stages for Landa of which there are plenty in the 2016 Giro route. Actually I agree that Kennaugh would make quite a lot of sense in the Giro team as I remember he did a pretty good job for Cavendish in the lead out in 2012. One of Boswell or Deignan would miss out.

I'd say Froome, Landa, Thomas, Poels, Roche, Kwiatkowski, Stannard and Rowe are all pretty likely for the Tour, even if it is ridiculously early to speculate on the team. I know that Nieve was extremely disappointed to not ride the Tour this year so I wonder as part of his extension with Sky whether he was given a pretty good indication that he would make the team in 2016. So maybe swap Henao and Nieve.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

Landa is likely to ride the Tour.
He told ETB that he chose Sky because they allowed him to lead at the Giro and support in the Tour. He wanted this specifically because he claims he can never reach good form in the last third of the season

Landa, Thomas, Poels, Kennaugh and Roche is a frightening prospect for Froome on the final climb of the tours mountain stages.

Kennaugh was nowhere to be seen on the climbs at this years Tour (or anywhere else) I would not necessarily ride him in the Tour.Let him do the Giro to build stamina

Froome, Landa, Roche, Thomas, Poles, Henao, Kwait, Stannard, Rowe (based on 2015 GT form) would be my Tour team

Landa, Konig, NIeve, Inauxasti, Kennaugh, Deignan, Viviani , Boswell, Kiri = Giro team

Just to annoy Contador's biggest fan girl I'm going to comment.

Puccio will be in the Giro team. He can help position Viviani and is a useful helper in hilly classic stages for Landa of which there are plenty in the 2016 Giro route. Actually I agree that Kennaugh would make quite a lot of sense in the Giro team as I remember he did a pretty good job for Cavendish in the lead out in 2012. One of Boswell or Deignan would miss out.

I'd say Froome, Landa, Thomas, Poels, Roche, Kwiatkowski, Stannard and Rowe are all pretty likely for the Tour, even if it is ridiculously early to speculate on the team. I know that Nieve was extremely disappointed to not ride the Tour this year so I wonder as part of his extension with Sky whether he was given a pretty good indication that he would make the team in 2016. So maybe swap Henao and Nieve.

Yeah but Henao was also very upset not to be in the Tour team (as was Deignan & Lopez)

Heano is a better TTer imo and stronger on mid mountains in my book


Anyone care to speculate on SKY team for Paris Roubaix & Tour of Flanders ?

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

Where does the obsession of Sky fans having to guess the teams line up for every race come from?

I asked about that a while ago, several posters including a mod agreed with me that it can be quite annoying, but it seems the Sky fans will just continue as usual.

And even if it wasn't annoying it's so pointless. Who guessed Pate would be in the 2014 Tour team? That still makes me laugh.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

Where does the obsession of Sky fans having to guess the teams line up for every race come from?

I asked about that a while ago, several posters including a mod agreed with me that it can be quite annoying, but it seems the Sky fans will just continue as usual.

And even if it wasn't annoying it's so pointless. Who guessed Pate would be in the 2014 Tour team? That still makes me laugh.

Specualtion is the backbone of this forum, where each thread is speculation about where riders will ride, how they will ride, who will win, what will be the team line out, what the parcours of GTs will be ,what riders are like , who are the best sprinters, climbers,etc . And by its nature it can be way off or spot on,pointless or a fun past time Yet you only seem to find it pointless if speculating on SKYs GT line up...Even you must see how biased and ridiculous your point is when looked at in the context of the whole forum

It seem speculation on this thread is only a problem for a few anti SKY people,who totally ignore their own constant speculation about riders such as Contador

To try and control other speculation while ignoring your own is laughable

 

[Velolover2]

http://www.sport.es/es/noticias/ciclismo/giro2016-coronara-ruta-mas-alta-europa-4564511

Not to make it a all-Sky thread, but it looks like Intxausti will ride the Giro with Landa. He also said that he will like to win the Basque Country, so maybe he is not a pure dom for Landa? Landa could ride for Intxausti in Pais Vasco and Intxausti for Landa in the Giro.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

http://www.sport.es/es/noticias/ciclismo/giro2016-coronara-ruta-mas-alta-europa-4564511

Not to make it a all-Sky thread, but it looks like Intxausti will ride the Giro with Landa. He also said that he will like to win the Basque Country, so maybe he is not a pure dom for Landa? Landa could ride for Intxausti in Pais Vasco and Intxausti for Landa in the Giro.

What about Henao who rode a very good Pais Vasco this year and previous years

 

[Velolover2]

Could maybe be co-leading Pais Vasco with the Basque trio. But I'm not sure that Henao will get many chances next year. Very few, I think.

I'm pretty sure that he will ride the Ardennes too. But now that Kwiatkowski is there, he is no longer their leader for the classics.

It's difficult for me to visualize his program. He is better as an attacker, rabbit and stage hunter than being a part of a train.

 

[MatParker117]

Re:

Could maybe be co-leading Pais Vasco with the Basque trio. But I'm not sure that Henao will get many chances next year. Very few, I think.

I'm pretty sure that he will ride the Ardennes too. But now that Kwiatkowski is there, he is no longer their leader for the classics.

It's difficult for me to visualize his program. He is better as an attacker, rabbit and stage hunter than being a part of a train.

Henao's job will be to act as a Super Dom for Froome in stage races and Kwiatkowski in the Ardennes as his presence means more work for Sky in those races.

 

[HelloDolly]

Well for me Henao is a better rider than Intxausti so how you can be so certain Henao will be just a dom while Intxausti will be leader is beyond me


Also as I said if you think Landa will lead most races while very good SKY riders are not given any opportunity then I think there will be alot of unhappy riders. These firm views of who will be leaders is not (beyond froome) guaranteed for me. Kwait had a pretty poor 2015 so saying he will lead all is not certain. same with Landa who has limited TT ability and no record of stage racing wins. I am going round in circles here so will leave it there . My view is the 2 main leaders in stage races will be Froome & Thomas with Landa maybe one or 2 races. Kwait is at SKY to become a GT riders so if anyone needs to shadow Froome its him but he will be leader in the Ardennes but I wont be surprised if a few other riders get some co leadership Brailsford will go with the numbers

 

[Wallenquist]

Henao is racing for Sky for four years already and only race when he really played the super domestic role for Froome was Tirreno 2014. Don't expect him to suddenly become a domestic riders just because Sky signed three strong climbers.

 

[MatParker117]

Re:

Henao is racing for Sky for four years already and only race when he really played the super domestic role for Froome was Tirreno 2014. Don't expect him to suddenly become a domestic riders just because Sky signed three strong climbers.

Where can he lead?

 

[JRanton]

Re: Re:

Henao is racing for Sky for four years already and only race when he really played the super domestic role for Froome was Tirreno 2014. Don't expect him to suddenly become a domestic riders just because Sky signed three strong climbers.

Where can he lead?

Plenty of races. This season the only time I remember him being a domestique was for Thomas in Switzerland and that was fair enough really considering there was a long time trial and that Thomas came within five seconds of winning the race. Even in the Vuelta he was allowed to ride for himself until his crash took him completely out of contention.

He will have very much a protected role in the Ardennes for instance. You don't need 7 riders all to work for one leader in those races.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Henao is racing for Sky for four years already and only race when he really played the super domestic role for Froome was Tirreno 2014. Don't expect him to suddenly become a domestic riders just because Sky signed three strong climbers.

Where can he lead?

Ardennes, mainly Fleche. He is better than Kwiat on really steep slopes IMO, and Cherave before it means that Kwiat can attack on Cherave (he probably is not going to win anyway), have a dom with Henao and jkeep him fresh for the final climb, where he can try to beat Valverde maybe.

 

[Wallenquist]

Re: Re:

Henao is racing for Sky for four years already and only race when he really played the super domestic role for Froome was Tirreno 2014. Don't expect him to suddenly become a domestic riders just because Sky signed three strong climbers.

Where can he lead?

It's not about being a leader but more like having options. And like someone said, he's not the type of rider setting the pace at the front of the group. I'm sure he will have a free role in Vasco and Ardennes plus as usual Pologne and Lombardy. Also, he barely race with Froome. This year's Vuelta was an exception, last time they rode together for result was Tirreno 2014. Henao might not be happy about missing Tour year after year but actually I don't think he fits to the Froome's train.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re: Re:

Henao is racing for Sky for four years already and only race when he really played the super domestic role for Froome was Tirreno 2014. Don't expect him to suddenly become a domestic riders just because Sky signed three strong climbers.

Where can he lead?

It's not about being a leader but more like having options. And like someone said, he's not the type of rider setting the pace at the front of the group. I'm sure he will have a free role in Vasco and Ardennes plus as usual Pologne and Lombardy. Also, he barely race with Froome. This year's Vuelta was an exception, last time they rode together for result was Tirreno 2014. Henao might not be happy about missing Tour year after year but actually I don't think he fits to the Froome's train.

Agreed. A hard constant pace is exactly what burns Henao off, he doesn't deal well with it