Sky GT Lineup 2012

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J

JRanton

Apr 2, 2010
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maltiv said:
I belive they are planning to bring a specialist lead out man. At the moment I think they're deciding between Sutton and Appolonio. EBH and Cavendish aren't doing any races together this month, so I doubt EBH is planned to be his final leadout. EBH won't even do KBK.
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Yes, I think you're probably right. In which case the key selection decision comes down to including a climber (Uran) for Wiggins or another engine for Cav's lead out train. There has to be a compromise somewhere. I think the extra engine is probably more important than Uran because Radioshack will control the race in the big mountain stages even if Sky have yellow after the first (long) time trial.
 
Froome19

Froome19

Dec 30, 2011
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Timmy-loves-Rabo said:
I dont disagree that they have a really good team, but he is in fanboy overdrive. dribble away please :)
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I think I was making good enough sense.
The difference the way I see it between Sky and all the other top teams is that Sky do not have merely domestiques. If you say BMC or Radioshack is better indeed they may well have better top riders but in some races they are going to go missing because they also have many domestiques who are not as good.
Nordhaugs' win for sky is a prime example of Sky's strength because a rider who is considered effectively a dometique for Sky and who is certainly not considered one of the stronger riders dominates a hilly race against top class oppositon (never mind the time of year). The new recruits such as svitsov and porte also are now required to become domestiques just highlighting how every riders in Sky's roster is truly good enough to win top races, and they will thus excel in any race they send a squad to this season, as i said previously.
 
El Pistolero

El Pistolero

Jul 16, 2010
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Let's rate Sky's top riders shall we

Philippe Gilbert > Edvald Boasson Hagen + Jan Antoon Pijl combined
Cadel Evans > Bradley Wiggins + Chris Froome combined
Mark Cavendish > Thor Hushovd + Adam Blythe combined
Thor Hushovd > Edvald Boasson Hagen
GVA > Jan Antoon Pijl
Ballan > Jan Antoon Pijl

Sky won't win a GT or Monument, so they're far from being the best team.
 
El Pistolero

El Pistolero

Jul 16, 2010
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jens_attacks said:
lol strongly disagree.for the one day races of course. for the stage races and grand tours we'll see
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I know you think Chris Froome will be an unstoppable force, but let's be realistic here and only look at 2011 results shall we? ;)

And I'm talking about overall, so both classics and stage races.
 
jens_attacks

jens_attacks

Sep 8, 2009
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theyoungest said:
The GVA > Flecha one isn't that obvious to me, actually.
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let's just say is far away from truth.pistolero is peaking early this season:)

personally i think both bmc and sky are super teams.bmc will dominate the classics (but not van avarmaet and thor of course),sky the grand tours(sprints included)
 
El Pistolero

El Pistolero

Jul 16, 2010
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There's a reason why GVA would have come second in the old World Cup ranking :)

Besides, Flecha is getting old and seems to peak for the Omloop rather than the real classics. GVA is just dumb. At least the latter is fixable.
 
M

movingtarget

Aug 5, 2009
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I can't see many race winners in the Sky team apart from EBH and Cavendish. I think they are a solid team but I can't see one dominant team or even two this year. I think R/Shack are overrated. BMC on paper could clean up in the Spring. Who knows ? Sky should figure in the classics but mainly the flatter races. If Goss can regain his form from last year he also has some chances for GreenEdge in Ghent and Milan races. Would be also good to see Boonen in the finishes again but I think Cavendish on the right circuit is almost unbeatable. Almost as predictable as Gilbert on uphill sprints.
 
Froome19

Froome19

Dec 30, 2011
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El Pistolero said:
Let's rate Sky's top riders shall we

Philippe Gilbert > Edvald Boasson Hagen + Jan Antoon Pijl combined
Cadel Evans > Bradley Wiggins + Chris Froome combined
Mark Cavendish > Thor Hushovd + Adam Blythe combined
Thor Hushovd > Edvald Boasson Hagen
GVA > Jan Antoon Pijl
Ballan > Jan Antoon Pijl

Sky won't win a GT or Monument, so they're far from being the best team.
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The Key thing there is that aside from GVA, all of BMC's top stars have reached their potential and are mostly on the wane whilst if you look at Sky's top guys, EBH and Froome have plenty more to show and so has cav imo. Furthermore looking away from the people you mentioned the other BMC guys have not got much too show, as shown last year where Evans and GVA got all the results and not really anyone else.
The fact is if you're comparing riders, why are you comparing only the top riders and not all the riders. A team's strength is not indicative of only its top riders or is it?
Looking at 2011 is also not much help as sky have a whole raft of young riders who are capable of stepping up this season as opposed to BMC who have only got Frank, Blythe, TJVG and possibly Loodewyk.
Finnally it matters on how you determine how a good team is. If you are a sponsor then yes GT or Monument wins would be the most important things but if you're not, then it should be on how you challenge in every race (something Sky are much better at) and you're CQ points.
 
El Pistolero

El Pistolero

Jul 16, 2010
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Yeah Cav still has a lot of potential, but Phil and GVA don't :rolleyes:

This is about 2012, I could care less about the potential of EBH.

Froome can just be a one day fly. EBH has never shown anything in the real classics... Flecha will never win a real classic unless he gets extremely lucky and I don't get this hype for Geraint Thomas in the classics. You guys are acting as if he's Boonen, Cancellara, Bala Verde or Gilbert. The only realistic shot Sky have at a Monument is Milan-San Remo with Cav. BMC can win every single classic.
 
S

stefrees

Mar 12, 2009
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El Pistolero said:
Yeah Cav still has a lot of potential, but Phil and GVA don't :rolleyes:

This is about 2012, I could care less about the potential of EBH.

Froome can just be a one day fly. EBH has never shown anything in the real classics... Flecha will never win a real classic unless he gets extremely lucky and I don't get this hype for Geraint Thomas in the classics. You guys are acting as if he's Boonen, Cancellara, Bala Verde or Gilbert. The only realistic shot Sky have at a Monument is Milan-San Remo with Cav. BMC can win every single classic.
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Seriously? EBH has been injured for the classics the last two years, hayman and stannard could step up this year, and geraint? If you don't think he's got any potential your more one eyed than I thought!
 
The Hitch

The Hitch

Jun 14, 2010
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What Pistolero doesnt realise is that for none Belgian cyclists like Thomas, they dont grow up trying to be good for the cobbled classics and then destroy everyone on their debut appearance at the age of 22 like Boonen.

For someone like Thomas who grew up on the track and then switched to road, he only will have found out hes good at cobbles once hes done them.

Now hes tried and seen. His performances were impressive. Thomas is a very talented rider, a olympic gold medalist at a very young age, a great tter someone who has performed on various routes but never really picked one speciality on the road to excell in.

If he focuses more on the cobbles over the next few years than he very much does have potential to challenge. Id rate him as a better cobbled rider than both last years cobbled monument winners last year.
 
S

stefrees

Mar 12, 2009
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The Hitch said:
What Pistolero doesnt realise is that for none Belgian cyclists like Thomas, they dont grow up trying to be good for the cobbled classics and then destroy everyone on their debut appearance at the age of 22 like Boonen.

For someone like Thomas who grew up on the track and then switched to road, he only will have found out hes good at cobbles once hes done them.

Now hes tried and seen. His performances were impressive. Thomas is a very talented rider, a olympic gold medalist at a very young age, a great tter someone who has performed on various routes but never really picked one speciality on the road to excell in.

If he focuses more on the cobbles over the next few years than he very much does have potential to challenge. Id rate him as a better cobbled rider than both last years cobbled monument winners last year.
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I agree with all of that. Which makes it more of a shame he won't be in the classics this year
 
T

theyoungest

Jan 11, 2010
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The Hitch said:
What Pistolero doesnt realise is that for none Belgian cyclists like Thomas, they dont grow up trying to be good for the cobbled classics and then destroy everyone on their debut appearance at the age of 22 like Boonen.

For someone like Thomas who grew up on the track and then switched to road, he only will have found out hes good at cobbles once hes done them.

Now hes tried and seen. His performances were impressive. Thomas is a very talented rider, a olympic gold medalist at a very young age, a great tter someone who has performed on various routes but never really picked one speciality on the road to excell in.

If he focuses more on the cobbles over the next few years than he very much does have potential to challenge. Id rate him as a better cobbled rider than both last years cobbled monument winners last year.
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I agreed with you, until the last line came up. That's BS.
 
El Pistolero

El Pistolero

Jul 16, 2010
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I never said Geraint Thomas didn't have any potential. I said he was over-hyped here. You guys are acting as if he's a guaranteed future Monument winner. Hitch is the prime example of him being over-hyped. When has he ever shown anything close to what Vansummeren has shown in Roubaix? Or Nick Nuyens in the Ronde and other semi-classics(Dwars door Vlaanderen, Omloop het Volk, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, Paris-Brussel, GP de Wallonie, etc)

Wasn't it Nick that beat Geraint Thomas this year at Dwars door Vlaanderen? ;)

I see I've hurt some Anglophone feelings here. Don't get me wrong though, Geraint Thomas definitely has potential, but he's no Cancellara, Boonen or Valverde. I rate Geraint Thomas about as high as Sep Vanmarcke. But you don't see anyone over-hyping him, now do you? ;)

Sometimes I do think people just read what they want to read here. Even a blind cat knows Geraint Thomas has potential for the Northern classics. He's not a guaranteed winner however, far from it actually. Which is my point.
 
The Hitch

The Hitch

Jun 14, 2010
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El Pistolero said:
I've yet to see someone call Garmin's classic squad a force to be reckoned with or being better than Quick Step's squad for the cobbled classics.

I find it funny that I'm the one who's called biased here though. I'm not the one that's calling Flecha + Geraint Thomas a better duo for the cobbled Monuments than Chavanel and Boonen.

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showpost.php?p=790509&postcount=139
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All this time I've been wondering which major sky personality Is it that said sky were better than opqs that pistolero is raging against. that he blames all sky fans worldwide for the comment. turns out twas a poster on a forum and he merely implied it. may even have been joking.

Yes you are the one who's biased and some comment from some other thread don't change that.
 
El Pistolero

El Pistolero

Jul 16, 2010
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Everybody is biased at something. What's your point?

I just don't see anyone from Sky win a classic this year except Cavendish at Milan-San Remo and EBH/Eisel at Gent-Wevelgem.

Not bad, there are definitely teams who will do worse this Spring, but hardly worth being called the best squad. There are 4 teams I rate higher for the Spring classics(Movistar, QS, BMC and RS). I know Radioshack's cobbled classics squad sucks, but Cancellara more then makes up for that. And they also have Zaugg, Fuglsang and the Schlecks for the hilly classics.
 
M

maltiv

Oct 23, 2009
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Not that I'm a moderator or anything but this thread is about Sky's GT lineup, and you're arguing about the classic potential of Geraint Thomas...:p
 
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