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Sky next year

Page 8 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Apr 15, 2013
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del1962 said:
Well one sky rider did last year, on top of a few others on other teams

He meant in his hypothetical squads for Giro and Tour "without doubling up" (I.e where a riders don't do both Giro and Tour). He wasn't saying that will/does reflect reality.
 
May 31, 2013
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Just speculating here, but from looking at ben swifts website i think he may have been told he could get a spot in their giro lineup if his shoulder rehab goes well
 
Grupetto1 said:
Just speculating here, but from looking at ben swifts website i think he may have been told he could get a spot in their giro lineup if his shoulder rehab goes well

The TTT alone is a good reason to consider him for the squad, if they try to win it with Porte with a weak team they might as well bring a sprinter because without Cav-Kittel-Gorilla there's every chance someone like Swift could take a stage win without too much effort from the team.

Swift might not be a great sprinter but i feel he's a pretty good rider and still only 26 so he can still improve his sprint and his overall level and could be of use in a giro squad, even for Team SKY.

Still i suspect SKY will have a few options, so he'll have to prove himself in the spring.
 
Apr 15, 2013
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Peter von said:
The TTT alone is a good reason to consider him for the squad, if they try to win it with Porte with a weak team they might as well bring a sprinter because without Cav-Kittel-Gorilla there's every chance someone like Swift could take a stage win without too much effort from the team.

Swift might not be a great sprinter but i feel he's a pretty good rider and still only 26 so he can still improve his sprint and his overall level and could be of use in a giro squad, even for Team SKY.

Still i suspect SKY will have a few options, so he'll have to prove himself in the spring.

I would rather they send him to the vuelta, would give him more time to get his form back after the injury and with Porte aiming for GC, I'd rather an extra climber or a rouleur was picked.
 
CycloAndy said:
I would rather they send him to the vuelta, would give him more time to get his form back after the injury and with Porte aiming for GC, I'd rather an extra climber or a rouleur was picked.

That's not a bad point about the injury, and i don't think he would be among my chosen nine if i was going to pick SKY's Giro squad, but if he wanted to do it i would have him on my shortlist and give him a chance to prove he should be there.

What his role should be is also an interesting question, many sprinters have been very valuable team members in a non-sprinter role on GT squads with a GC focus in the past, but at 26 isn't Swift too young to go that route?
On the other hand it's almost impossible for a sprinter to gain starts in GTs for team SKY as a sprinter. Even if he did focus on the Vuelta they might have Henao, POrte, Froome, Kennough or Nieve lined up for a go at the GC at that race and Swift would end up having to be a domestique to gain a start or race smaller races instead.
 
Peter von said:
That's not a bad point about the injury, and i don't think he would be among my chosen nine if i was going to pick SKY's Giro squad, but if he wanted to do it i would have him on my shortlist and give him a chance to prove he should be there.

What his role should be is also an interesting question, many sprinters have been very valuable team members in a non-sprinter role on GT squads with a GC focus in the past, but at 26 isn't Swift too young to go that route?
On the other hand it's almost impossible for a sprinter to gain starts in GTs for team SKY as a sprinter. Even if he did focus on the Vuelta they might have Henao, POrte, Froome, Kennough or Nieve lined up for a go at the GC at that race and Swift would end up having to be a domestique to gain a start or race smaller races instead.
Sky don't seem to care much for the Vuelta so why not line up a sprinter. Swift is the kind of sprinter who could fare well at the Vuelta, although this year the Giro probably won't have much competition either.
 
Apr 15, 2013
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Peter von said:
Even if he did focus on the Vuelta they might have Henao, POrte, Froome, Kennough or Nieve lined up for a go at the GC at that race and Swift would end up having to be a domestique to gain a start or race smaller races instead.

You're right he would end up being used as a domestique in the vuelta as well but I think Sky should (and are) mainly focus on the giro and the tour next year. Henao will probably be the vuelta leader but his poor performance this year means they probably shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket and can afford to include a sprinter.
 
CycloAndy said:
You're right he would end up being used as a domestique in the vuelta as well but I think Sky should (and are) mainly focus on the giro and the tour next year. Henao will probably be the vuelta leader but his poor performance this year means they probably shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket and can afford to include a sprinter.

Yes if they have gran schemes for the Vuelta they're hiding them well, probably because they know fatique is an important factor in the Vuelta.

I think you might be right about Henao especially if he does the Tour, if thats the case Swift might even have a guy or two to help him in sprints.
 
Apr 15, 2013
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Peter von said:
Yes if they have gran schemes for the Vuelta they're hiding them well, probably because they know fatique is an important factor in the Vuelta.

I think you might be right about Henao especially if he does the Tour, if thats the case Swift might even have a guy or two to help him in sprints.

Luke Rowe could go as his lead-out man. Hopefully, Swift gets some form back because otherwise I can't see him having his contract renewed. I remain sceptical whether he can though.

The potential presence of EBH on the vuelta team could also confuse matters, as they'll both be competing with each other for 5th or 6th place on the sprint stages.
 
Interesting comment from Porte:

RP: There’s no doubt you need to take a team that’s strong to the Tour if you want a win. I don’t think we had the strongest team at the Tour this year, we had the strongest rider in Froomey, and I was up there too.. but we lost Kiryienka early, one of the strongest riders in the peloton, and a lot of our guys were tired going into the race. I think the team’s learnt a lot from this year, and next year at the Tour, and I don’t think we’ll make the same mistakes, or have the same weakness.

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/news/52059/A-season-of-battles-lost-and-won-for-Porte

So Kerrison did **** up then.
 
May 28, 2012
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Ryo Hazuki said:
more importantly is that kerrison realises this and needs to change a lot. accordign to aldo toni the way kerrison continues he expects froome to last 2 years max at this level before he's completely burned up

Porte could the suffer the same fate then, and I'm also worrying for Henao.
 
lance never burn up so don't put all your hopes in that wish

on the other hand, lance had just one peak sensation. and it's quite obvious that kerrison training camps are extraordinary brutal and you have to be a beast to survive and make it useful for yourself. we'll see...
 
May 31, 2013
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Just a thought, were kerrisons methods all that bad? I mean Lopez, Kiri and Siutsou were the tired ones at the tour but lopezs season really turned after the tour and kiri got his vuelta stage and worlds tt 4th. Basically I think there'll only be subtle changes not completely dramatic overhauls in how they operate
 

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Jul 7, 2013
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Ryo Hazuki said:
more importantly is that kerrison realises this and needs to change a lot. accordign to aldo toni the way kerrison continues he expects froome to last 2 years max at this level before he's completely burned up

considering Froome has mostly rested (aka no huge efforts) till 26y and he fits the late bloomer definition, i very much doubt that. He will last 5+ years easily. If competition steps up and he stops winning that's another story.
 
Ryo Hazuki said:
more importantly is that kerrison realises this and needs to change a lot. accordign to aldo toni the way kerrison continues he expects froome to last 2 years max at this level before he's completely burned up
It wouldn't surprise me if Kerrison did it anyway. He comes from Australian high performance swimming, where top athletes are relatively common and can be burnt out and discarded when necessary.
 
Apr 15, 2013
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Grupetto1 said:
Just a thought, were kerrisons methods all that bad? I mean Lopez, Kiri and Siutsou were the tired ones at the tour but lopezs season really turned after the tour and kiri got his vuelta stage and worlds tt 4th. Basically I think there'll only be subtle changes not completely dramatic overhauls in how they operate

I think Kerrison changed his method post-tour, hence the increased success for some of them. The only question is whether that was because they realised they had been over-doing it or whether Kerrison went easier on them because Sky don't focus so much on post-tour results? Hopefully the former!
 
Grupetto1 said:
Just a thought, were kerrisons methods all that bad? I mean Lopez, Kiri and Siutsou were the tired ones at the tour but lopezs season really turned after the tour and kiri got his vuelta stage and worlds tt 4th. Basically I think there'll only be subtle changes not completely dramatic overhauls in how they operate

You're right that they found form after the Tour (and a rest) but I think the main problems were the January training camp in Majorca and the pre-Dauphine/Tour training camp in Tenerife which Porte described as ''hellish''.
 

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