Team Ineos Discussion thread

[tobydawq]

There are like 100 "ifs" for Pinot to win the Tour if he didn't retire. If we were talking about Froome it would be a different story. (Ok maybe not 100 "ifs" but many)

One if: Could he have maintained his level from the Pyrenees?

If yes, he wins.

 

[Escarabajo]

Never mind. De La Cruz to win la Vuelta!

 

[Escarabajo]

One if: Could he have maintained his level from the Pyrenees?

If yes, he wins.

Second if: Descending
Third If: Consistency third week
Fourth if: Illness
Fith if: Crash (But I'll give you this one)
Sixth if: Team strength

 

[JRanton]

Surely you didn't expect them to be contenders with the team they have? There isn't one GT team leader in there. They should have lost bucket loads from the TTT and gone for stage wins from day 2.

Strange comment. Obviously you at least try for the GC on stage 2 and take it from there which they did. Poels has finished 6th at the Vuelta before whilst working for someone else and Hart has ridden strongly this season in several races. Clearly they have their weaknesses though which is why they are no longer in GC contention.

 

[JRanton]

To finish first, first you must finish.

Anyway, wasn’t there like 12s between Pinot and Bernal going into stage 18? Given how Bernal finished the Tour in top form, and how Pinot normally struggles after a few days in very hot weather (by his own admission), it’s a bold claim to make.

Thomas and Sivakov have done ok, but it has been a below par season. It’ll be interesting next year with Carapaz joining on how they go about plans.

Froome, Thomas, Kwiatkowski and Moscon had 23 wins between them last year. None of them have won a race so far in 2019...

 

[Lequack]

Froome, Thomas, Kwiatkowski and Moscon had 23 wins between them last year. None of them have won a race so far in 2019...

But they won the Tour so their job is done.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Froome, Thomas, Kwiatkowski and Moscon had 23 wins between them last year. None of them have won a race so far in 2019...

Froome’s reason is obvious. Thomas built his whole season around the Tour and finished 2nd, not bad. Kwiatkowski and especially Moscon have not had a good year at all and need to bounce back. Kwiato did have a half decent spring I suppose. Poels hasn’t been as useful as he has in the past, perhaps a stage win in the Vuelta can save his year.

Sivakov, Tao and Sosa have impressed in various stages.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Froome, Thomas, Kwiatkowski and Moscon had 23 wins between them last year. None of them have won a race so far in 2019...

That is an amazing stat, really.

Even though Thomas finished 2nd in the Tour, he has been completely anonumous for the rest of the year. Its kinda mindboggling since Thomas is a guy who pretty much always is good. Guess thats what TdF does to you.

 

[Leinster]

Thomas’ whole season was built around 1) recover from celebrating his Tour win, 2) defend his Tour title.

He essentially achieved both goals, even if he personally didn’t retain his title.

 

[Gbai]

Today’s stage of La Vuelta represents the first race of a Grand Tour that Team Sky/Ineos have not had a rider placed in the first 100 finishers since the inception of the team.

 

[Leinster]

Today’s stage of La Vuelta represents the first race of a Grand Tour that Team Sky/Ineos have not had a rider placed in the first 100 finishers since the inception of the team.

They’re not even phoning it in on this Vuelta. They’re logged into the conference call, but left it on mute while they surf YouTube.

 

[pastronef]

Sir Dave Brailsford has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and already had the operation. he joined the team for Tour of Britain this week (from his Strava comments)
I wish him the very best and hope to see him back soon 100%

 

[PlanZ]

Sir Dave Brailsford has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and already had the operation. he joined the team for Tour of Britain this week (from his Strava comments)
I wish him the very best and hope to see him back soon 100%

Amen to that.

 

[bigcog]

Amen to that.

Indeed wish him all the best.

 

[JRanton]

Today was the best I’ve seen Moscon look for some time, probably since the end of last year when he was on fire. They’ve got to figure out why it’s taken until September of the last two years for him to ride well...

 

[therealthing]

So- besides a 3rd and 2nd for TGH they had a shockingly bad Vuelta. Most of their riders seemed to be there to make up the numbers.

Am now watching Montreal- just 1 Ineos rider left among a huge peloton- WTF???

 

[Pricey_sky]

So- besides a 3rd and 2nd for TGH they had a shockingly bad Vuelta. Most of their riders seemed to be there to make up the numbers.

Am now watching Montreal- just 1 Ineos rider left among a huge peloton- WTF???

It’s been a really quiet year by Sky/Ineos standards. Bernal was obviously the big plus, winning the Tour, Paris-Nice and Suisse. Kwiatkowski started well with a podium in PN and Milan-San Remo but has done nothing since then. Thomas’ only result was a Tour 2nd and Froome was a big loss.

As for the others; Sivakov has impressed while Tao, Sosa, Dunbar and Lawless have done ok, but I feel like it’s been a year for a changing of the guard, with some of the old faces moving on for 2020. It’ll be interesting to see how the team shapes up in the next year or two. I believe they only have 19 riders signed for next year at the moment, so a few new faces could be announced.

 

[JRanton]

So- besides a 3rd and 2nd for TGH they had a shockingly bad Vuelta. Most of their riders seemed to be there to make up the numbers.

Am now watching Montreal- just 1 Ineos rider left among a huge peloton- WTF???

They were nowhere in Quebec either so not really a surprise. Kwiatkowski is their only rider who I’d normally expect to be up there but his form is terrible.

Weirdly they actually won the two ‘preparation’ races before the Vuelta in Poland and at Burgos but of course with Sivakov and Sosa being so young they weren’t selected for the Vuelta having already done the Giro. I think Tao will be kicking himself because there was a golden opportunity for him to secure a high place on GC.

With that being said I don’t really understand their Vuelta selection. There was probably no need for either Kiryienka or Stannard yet alone taking both of them along with Puccio and Doull. Elissonde should have gone and would have likely have been their second best option to win a stage in the mountains.

 

[therealthing]

It’s been a really quiet year by Sky/Ineos standards. Bernal was obviously the big plus, winning the Tour, Paris-Nice and Suisse. Kwiatkowski started well with a podium in PN and Milan-San Remo but has done nothing since then. Thomas’ only result was a Tour 2nd and Froome was a big loss.

As for the others; Sivakov has impressed while Tao, Sosa, Dunbar and Lawless have done ok, but I feel like it’s been a year for a changing of the guard, with some of the old faces moving on for 2020. It’ll be interesting to see how the team shapes up in the next year or two. I believe they only have 19 riders signed for next year at the moment, so a few new faces could be announced.

Looking at their wins this year- all bar a couple are from very young riders or riders relatively new to the team.

None of their star riders (Froome, Kwiatkowski, Thomas) have won a single race.

But the team's future seems bright- the average age of the team will soon plummet and all of Ineos' young riders are doing really well. Kwiatkowski is the real disappointment for me this year, and Moscon.

 

[JRanton]

Looking at their wins this year- all bar a couple are from very young riders or riders relatively new to the team.

None of their star riders (Froome, Kwiatkowski, Thomas) have won a single race.

But the team's future seems bright- the average age of the team will soon plummet and all of Ineos' young riders are doing really well. Kwiatkowski is the real disappointment for me this year, and Moscon.

It’s interesting that for all the talk of salary caps and Ineos having too much money compared to other teams, they only have one rider (Bernal) in the top 40 in the UCI rankings and they’re only 5th in the team ranking behind DQS, Bora, Jumbo and Astana who have been by far the best teams this season.