Re:
Netserk said:
The Colombians will be racing and big stars by 2016.
Whoa. +5 points for Griffindor.
Ruudz0r said:
slosada said:
BTW, Colombia's DS (Carlos Mario Jaramillo) still counts on CABG for Rio.
So the so called ban was more of an answer from the heat of the moment.
The old Betancur suits perfectly for the parcours.
There are enough others who are also suited to the course, if Betancur doesnt show anything he should not be in the selection, atm I would go for N Quintana, SL Henao, Chaves, Uran and Lopez (5 different (major) squads). But if Arredondo gets back to his best after his injury from last year he is also very interesting +they might leave someone out to get a guy in who has no problem with sacrificing himself 100%.
Escarabajo said:
O would not take Lopez yet for that length. Atapuma, Pantano or another workhorse.
Bringing this to a more fitting thread, even though it's a bit premature, I think Colombia's Rio team is going to be really interesting.
In theory this is apparently a race for the GC guys, like the Indurain/Pantani/Olano shootout in Tunja. But here's the issue with that: the teams with great GC men have better options than to push the pace. Chris Froome is superb in Unipublic-type profiles where the shootout happens at the end (Yates is a good backup). Purito is perhaps even better (with Contador/Landa as a table-setters and Valverde for cleanup -not saying that makes for an easy coaching job). Nibali's best shot is probably attacking off the descent at the end a la Lombardia (with Aru for "company" and Ulissi for a reduced sprint). France's best shot is probably Tony Gallopin over the top or Bardet on the descent rather than making it an endurance match.
So where does that leave Colombia? For Nairo to have a good shot they're going to have to go all in for him since they probably would be the ones driving the peloton up every hill. But they might be better off sending a quiver of arrows and see what sticks. Chavez and Henao (Betancur? Lopez?) on all out attack, Pantano for the descent, Uran for a reduced sprint (an underrated descender to boot), Nairo in case all hell breaks loose. It's an intriguing call. I have complete faith in the federation utterly bungling it.