Saxo-Tinkoff Results

[Kokoso]

Well I thought, he could be the next big thing, and as such i feel he has come short a few times, guess a bit like Gesink, Fuglsang (by Danes), lot of talent, but just seems to have an off day or not quite able to keep up with the big guys over a 3 week race. He is however still youngish and hopefully he will come good and able to challenge for a win in Vuelta this year, I also expect him to be in top 3 in TdS, but not 100% sure if where he form is at the moment.

Also, just to clarify, when I said I expect more of Roche, I did not mean I expected him to be better than Kreuziger, but I did expect Roche to have had at least 1 victory if not 2 and overall had a bigger presence in the races he has been in. Thus, Roche has been very disappointing to me, he really needs to show something, soon, whereas Kreuziger has been only one who has performed for TST so far. I am guessing Kreuziger will be captain for the Vuelta, and suggest we discuss again after that?

With regards to why I expect more of Roche in a GT this year, is that while at AG2R, I think they always wanted to attack to show their colors, whereas I think with TST, he could be allowed to stay with the main contenders and attack later on. That being said, right now, it seems TST have their 3 captains (Kreuziger/Majka/Contandor), thus thinking Roche will be used as a dom and might be allowed to go for stage win at some point.

I see now, I'm sorry. Nice. Not sure about Vuelta, there's more possibilities. One of them is if Alberto fails in Tour, he could try Vuelta. Or Majka. Or Rogers. I strongly doubt about Roche as a leader for GT in Saxo, he's just too weak. And of course Kreuziger as a captain for Vuelta is my wish.

 

[ILovecycling]

And so what. What is Contador going to do with this mountain team. There are no proper mountain stages.

oh man,you follow cycling for years,dont tell me you cant imagine a situation in which Berto's teammates are good help for him.for example 2 man up the road (Rogers and Kreuziger)with 30s gap and then Contador attacks...there a lot of scenarios...

to bolded:Contador doesnt need them.

 

[Pulpstar]

Looking at http://www.uciprotour.com/templates/BUILTIN-NOFRAMES/Template3/layout.asp?MenuId=MTY3Mzc&LangId=1 the goal is surely to simply avoid being in the last two.

If Nibali does a Giro-Vuelta-World Champs treble for Astana well that will bring alot of points, but noone will particularly care if say somehow they are only 6th in the rankings ?

WInning the big races & big jerseys (Green in the TdF being the biggest non overall I would say) is what its all about, well except if you are one of these 4, then you probably should worry about not being last/2nd last.

16 16 EUSKALTEL EUSKADI (EUS) ESP 146
17 17 FDJ (FDJ) FRA 121
18 18 VACANSOLEIL-DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM (VCD) NED 107
19 19 TEAM ARGOS - SHIMANO (ARG) NED 56

 

[Kokoso]

It looks good dor Saxo at TdS, at least some points for WT. In best case Kreuziger'll win and Nico get top ten.

 

[hayzer114]

While Roche's form has been disapointing thus far this season it generally corresponds to his previous form. He has rarely targeted the classics and has traditionaly become more competitive around the second half of the season. I think he has shown so far in Switzerland that he is coming into form and hopefully will be of major benefit to Roman in switzerland and Contador in the Tour. Hes 19th overall so far before the real tests which will tell alot on his form. I personally think he is better off focusing on stages in the foreseabe future in order to build confidence and let Kreuziger and Majka be the designatd GC men after Contador.

 

[TubularBills]

Very strong performance today. 3 riders in top 13 (Sky "only" had 2) and thats even without 3 of their main climbers (Kreuziger, Roche and CAS). If Kreuzige and Roche show good form in TdS TST migth very will be able to match Sky regarding mountain strength

It's a sad day when we start comparing team #ers, rather than talent.

You're post makes me curious to the future of the sport?

~ Sir Superficial

 

[notrolfsorensen]

It's a sad day when we start comparing team #ers, rather than talent.

You're post makes me curious to the future of the sport?

~ Sir Superficial

I think Cimber was responding to the claim that everybody from Saxo was showing poor form this season, and so when they start showing good form, he just points out that it is a good sign. I don't think it is sad that we compare team numbers. That's what cycling is these days, since Sky took over with their big train and always a number of doms ready to take the chase for the leader. In that way, when the Wiggo/Froome comes in yellow, they don't have to respond themselves. Now if Saxo can have 5 riders left in a group of 20 favorites there is a better probability that they can derail the Sky-train.

Strong teams have been a part of GT racing the last 20 years. Banesto, ONCE, Gewiss, Telekom, US Postal, Phonak, CSC. Look at the winners of GTs and tell me that it wasn't often the strongest team that ended up with the winner (clinic stuff aside). Sastre in 2008 won because Cadel would give Schleck the win if he chased to hard, plus was isolated with to Sastre-teammates (although in hindsight he should have gone for it, with the dislike between the Schlecks and Sastre). Pantani in 1998 is the only winner I can remember who didn't have a strong team to back him up.

All I'm saying is.... #ers matter

 

[Cimber]

It's a sad day when we start comparing team #ers, rather than talent.

You're post makes me curious to the future of the sport?

~ Sir Superficial

Not really. Talent is super interesting when you are looking at the long term picture. But when you are only looking one month ahead current form and strength is more interesting. But surely in the long term picture talent is more crucial. But the post you quoted was referring to team strength in july 2013, not in 2014, 2015 or 2016. Team strength matters in winning GTs.

Not every discussion has to be about the long term future of the sport, but can very well be about the performance here and now (or very short term future).

My point was merely that TST doesnt look completely crap compared to Sky for this coming Tour. Something a lot of people have claimed.

 

[Kokoso]

While Roche's form has been disapointing thus far this season it generally corresponds to his previous form. He has rarely targeted the classics and has traditionaly become more competitive around the second half of the season. I think he has shown so far in Switzerland that he is coming into form and hopefully will be of major benefit to Roman in switzerland and Contador in the Tour. Hes 19th overall so far before the real tests which will tell alot on his form. I personally think he is better off focusing on stages in the foreseabe future in order to build confidence and let Kreuziger and Majka be the designatd GC men after Contador.

On grand tours surely he should focus on stage hunting, I agree. But regarding Saxo points situation, on week or so long stage races he should try GC too. Which he failed until now. Now there si little chance that he could reach top ten at TdS.

 

[Kokoso]

Today's showing was really bad from Kreuziger. I always hope for the best reagrding him, but today I'm really dissapointed. At least he no longer says "I want to win...podium...whatever this", but more like I want to earn something here. He knows why.

 

[Cimber]

Today's showing was really bad from Kreuziger. I always hope for the best reagrding him, but today I'm really dissapointed. At least he no longer says "I want to win...podium...whatever this", but more like I want to earn something here. He knows why.

In The Inner Ring's preview for the stage he mentioned that Kreuziger has problems with his shoulder after the crash he had a few stages ago:

"Still it’s worth mentioning that Kreuziger is suffering a bit from his crash on stage 3. He hit his shoulder and knee and especially the shoulder has been bothering a bit. If he’s not feeling good, the other teams may try to distance him already on this climb."

http://inrng.com/2013/06/tour-de-suisse-stage-7-preview/

Thinking about it he didn't get out of his saddle much today. Could very well b the shoulder. Hopefully it will be ok for the Tour.

PS: Mørkøv was awesome today. Think he nailed a Tour spot with that performance

 

[LaFlorecita]

In The Inner Ring's preview for the stage he mentioned that Kreuziger has problems with his shoulder after the crash he had a few stages ago:

"Still it’s worth mentioning that Kreuziger is suffering a bit from his crash on stage 3. He hit his shoulder and knee and especially the shoulder has been bothering a bit. If he’s not feeling good, the other teams may try to distance him already on this climb."

http://inrng.com/2013/06/tour-de-suisse-stage-7-preview/

Thinking about it he didn't get out of his saddle much today. Could very well b the shoulder. Hopefully it will be ok for the Tour.

PS: Mørkøv was awesome today. Think he nailed a Tour spot with that performance

In an article on biciciclismo they said tour team was already decided

 

[Cimber]

In an article on biciciclismo they said tour team was already decided

Oh ok. Can you throw me a link pls?

Anyways, I hope he is on the team after what he showed today

 

[Kokoso]

In The Inner Ring's preview for the stage he mentioned that Kreuziger has problems with his shoulder after the crash he had a few stages ago:

"Still it’s worth mentioning that Kreuziger is suffering a bit from his crash on stage 3. He hit his shoulder and knee and especially the shoulder has been bothering a bit. If he’s not feeling good, the other teams may try to distance him already on this climb."

http://inrng.com/2013/06/tour-de-suisse-stage-7-preview/

Thinking about it he didn't get out of his saddle much today. Could very well b the shoulder. Hopefully it will be ok for the Tour.

PS: Mørkøv was awesome today. Think he nailed a Tour spot with that performance

Actually he spent quite a lot of time out of his saddle. I don't think it was shoulder what made him with the Cam Meyer.
On the other hand who surprised me Tejay. Crappy in prologue, invisble for next two days and yesterday suprisingly he was climbing with the best. I don't get it.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Oh ok. Can you throw me a link pls?

Anyways, I hope he is on the team after what he showed today

You should check the Contador notebook site there is a link there.

Also apparently if everything goes as planned he will not ride nats

 

[boringboy]

Tour De Suisse:
So Roman finished 3rd, i was a bit disappointed, especially as 2nd place should have been possible. Also he seemed to loose form the last few days, not good if he cant recover faster than this, however not sure how his crash affected him. He did, however, pick up some, much needed, points for the team.

Roche, 15th, guess he is just out to train pulling at the front, think he did reasonable and could be important come TdF.

Ster Zlm:
Did not even notice they were there, think some of these guys need to worry about were they will be racing next year

Tour de Luxembourg:
Think Boaro and CAS did enough to get themselves into the TdF, but had hoped for a stage win and Kump did come close.

 

[notrolfsorensen]

Think Boaro and CAS did enough to get themselves into the TdF, but had hoped for a stage win and Kump did come close.

No way Boaro is in the tour-team. There was to places left:
Alberto
Jesus
Rogers
Kreuziger
Roche
Nicki Sørensen
Benatti (although he might have driven himself of the team again)
BLANK
BLANK

As for the two last (possible 3 last) places, I think they will go to CAS and Mørkøv. Mørkøv was really good in TdS. I also think they would pick Paulinho and maybe Noval before Boaro. Paulinho looks good BTW. Maybe he is in front of CAS right now.

 

[Miburo]

No way Boaro is in the tour-team. There was to places left:
Alberto
Jesus
Rogers
Kreuziger
Roche
Nicki Sørensen
Benatti (although he might have driven himself of the team again)
BLANK
BLANK

As for the two last (possible 3 last) places, I think they will go to CAS and Mørkøv. Mørkøv was really good in TdS. I also think they would pick Paulinho and maybe Noval before Boaro. Paulinho looks good BTW. Maybe he is in front of CAS right now.

Paulinho is definitely going.

 

[boringboy]

I dont mind Paulinho and Moerkoev, but i am not so sure abt Benatti, doubt he can win anything with the group of sprinters going, so think Boaro for the tt could work, but then again, he wont win either.

Also not sure about Kreuziger, is he over the crash, if so he really needs to be better at recovering, but think it is 99.99% sure he will go.

 

[Cimber]

Actually he spent quite a lot of time out of his saddle. I don't think it was shoulder what made him with the Cam Meyer.
On the other hand who surprised me Tejay. Crappy in prologue, invisble for next two days and yesterday suprisingly he was climbing with the best. I don't get it.

And then in the TT he was crap on the climb again. Weird indeed.

 

[Cimber]

You should check the Contador notebook site there is a link there.

Also apparently if everything goes as planned he will not ride nats

Couldnt find the link but found this:


Is the team with you here indeed the Tour team? What’s your opinion of your team and your director Philippe Mauduit?
"Of the team here, basically all of them are on the long list for the Tour, and some other guys will be in Switzerland, like Kreuziger and Roche. There are one or two places left to decide, but we have a group of 10 or 11 riders for making up the Tour team(...)."

So I guess nothing was totally set in stone before the end of TdS. However, it does indicate that Noval was ont he short list (hope he doesnt make it though). The Tour team should be made official in this week.

 

[Team Riis]

CAS said, 7 riders are sure and he is not in this 7 riders.
So I thing, the 7 sure riders are:
Contador
Rogers
Roche
Kreuziger
Noval
Paulinho
Hernandez

The first 4 are very sure, and the other 3 are the boys from Contador.

So there are 2 places left and I think these 2 places are for the team time trial und flat stages.

 

[LaFlorecita]

CAS said, 7 riders are sure and he is not in this 7 riders.
So I thing, the 7 sure riders are:
Contador
Rogers
Roche
Kreuziger
Noval
Paulinho
Hernandez

The first 4 are very sure, and the other 3 are the boys from Contador.

So there are 2 places left and I think these 2 places are for the team time trial und flat stages.

Oh dear please not Noval

Contador
Hernandez
Roche
Rogers
Kreuziger
Bennati
Tosatto
N Sorensen
Paulinho

please

Cimber :
http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=62978

 

[Kokoso]

Tour De Suisse:
So Roman finished 3rd, i was a bit disappointed, especially as 2nd place should have been possible. Also he seemed to loose form the last few days, not good if he cant recover faster than this, however not sure how his crash affected him. He did, however, pick up some, much needed, points for the team.

Guess some will never be satisfied with him whatever he does. If you imagined that he'll win it by margin then you are of course dissapointed, but neither he nor the team said it was his goal before race to win it. I don't think he lost form. He had one worse day on Albulapass for whatever reason. Keep in mind that he was mediocre in prologue, clearly was weaker than Mollema or Dan Martin on Crans - Montana and in third stage he made the difference on descent. In TT he was fourth on the mountain regarding GC contenders (although I don't know about Fungert).
1. Costa 33:02
2. Jeannesson 33:03 (ten se ale na rovině flákal) smile.png
3. Mollema 33:08
4. Kangert 33:23
5. Peraud 33:25
6. Kreuziger 33:34
7. Pinot 33:40
Maybe he wasn't even third best in the race, but made it by tactics and agressivness.

 

[vcampbell]

Oh dear please not Noval

Contador
Hernandez
Roche
Rogers
Kreuziger
Bennati
Tosatto
N Sorensen
Paulinho

please

Cimber :
http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=62978

It could be good. I don't really understand Bennati, I think there are better options than him, but be it.