SKY need to protect Landa & Heano for as long as possible ...but I guess Landa is the G heir apparent now
Oliwright said:Dave B said on ITV's coverage that they will try to keep Froome, G and Landa up there. He said there is no point keeping people who aren't genuine GC candidates, as team wont chase them.
Kokoso said:Mikel Nieve is great so far. This is one rider that doesn't get much attention, but deserves it fully. One of the best climbers out there these days surely, but woeful time trialist and even Sky could do nothing with that.
I suspect if he was given Henao's role he would have been as good as him.
On the top of it, he seems very likeable.iii
Edit: and I like Basques, for whatever reason.
HelloDolly said:Kokoso said:Mikel Nieve is great so far. This is one rider that doesn't get much attention, but deserves it fully. One of the best climbers out there these days surely, but woeful time trialist and even Sky could do nothing with that.
I suspect if he was given Henao's role he would have been as good as him.
On the top of it, he seems very likeable.iii
Edit: and I like Basques, for whatever reason.
I was singing his praises before the Tour & fighting for his inclusion
He is a different rider to Henao ...heano is a faster finsher and a better TT but to date has not produced a result over 3 weeks
though now is Heano's time
I suspect what will happen is Nieve will be key for Froomeon the long climbs like Ventoux and the Alps
Thomas is worse than Henao obviuosly, but he might be able to do pulls as Landa and Nieve are doing, who knows. Landa and Nieve made long pulls, but especially in case of Landa tempo wasn't hard to enough to reduce the groups much. Such performance Thomas could pull off too I think.Valv.Piti said:Landa has been taking marathons pulls, Nieve has been great, Henao likewise, but Thomas and Poels are not good right now, pretty expected IMO. Hopefully it will stay that way since those 5 would be able to shut almost everything down apart from an all out Quintana attack
Kokoso said:Thomas is worse than Henao obviuosly, but he might be able to do pulls as Landa and Nieve are doing, who knows. Landa and Nieve made long pulls, but especially in case of Landa tempo wasn't hard to enough to reduce the groups much. Such performance Thomas could pull off too I think.Valv.Piti said:Landa has been taking marathons pulls, Nieve has been great, Henao likewise, but Thomas and Poels are not good right now, pretty expected IMO. Hopefully it will stay that way since those 5 would be able to shut almost everything down apart from an all out Quintana attack
Poels not being as great as he's hyped, well...he might be saving powers.
Pricey_sky said:Kokoso said:Thomas is worse than Henao obviuosly, but he might be able to do pulls as Landa and Nieve are doing, who knows. Landa and Nieve made long pulls, but especially in case of Landa tempo wasn't hard to enough to reduce the groups much. Such performance Thomas could pull off too I think.Valv.Piti said:Landa has been taking marathons pulls, Nieve has been great, Henao likewise, but Thomas and Poels are not good right now, pretty expected IMO. Hopefully it will stay that way since those 5 would be able to shut almost everything down apart from an all out Quintana attack
Poels not being as great as he's hyped, well...he might be saving powers.
Last years Tour the sky doms rotated in most stages. Porte had a couple of great days, same with Poels towards the end, Thomas was strong for 2 weeks but faded.
I would not be surprised if Poels was a key man in the final week, while Thomas has said he's slowly feeling Stronger, while perhaps Nieve who has done the Giro may fade.
Unless other teams are massively sandbagging Sky should have the advantage regardless, in the mountains so far most other teams are down to the final 2 riders while Sky still have 4 on the front.
Intxausti doesn't seem to be recovering at all.
sir fly said:Any news about physical condition of the riders involved in crash yesterday?
Didn't see it in the stage thread. Thank you.Pricey_sky said:sir fly said:Any news about physical condition of the riders involved in crash yesterday?
I mentioned in the stage thread that after his TT Stannard was taken to hospital for an X-ray, maybe just precautionary if he doesn't feel great on the bike.
Geraint Too Fast said:Intxausti doesn't seem to be recovering at all.
TMP402 said:BEÑAT INTXAUSTI @benatintxausti 10h10 hours ago
Triste por tener que abandonar Tour de Polonia.Cuando la salud no ayuda no hay nada que hacer.Vuelta a casa. A recuperar.Good luck Boys
Poels usually has 2 or 3 days in a gt when he's a monster on steep climbs, no surprise.Poursuivant said:Poels was good yesterday.
Publicus said:Oliwright said:In some morning transfer news, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf have reported Team Sky are looking into signing Steven Kruijswijk from LottoNL-Jumbo after his breakout Giro performance in May."
Wouldn't make much sense. Sky already have Landa and Thomas capable of leading in GTs. Also with Adam Yates potentially joining in the future as a leader and Seb Heano, Wout Poels, Sergio Henao all capable of developing into GC riders why would you block their development?
The only reason i could see was if they expected Thomas to leave? or to not be able to sign the Yates in the coming years?
If Sky hires the best GT talent, who's left to lead other teams. Talk about neutralizing the competition....
myrideissteelerthanyours said:Publicus said:Oliwright said:In some morning transfer news, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf have reported Team Sky are looking into signing Steven Kruijswijk from LottoNL-Jumbo after his breakout Giro performance in May."
Wouldn't make much sense. Sky already have Landa and Thomas capable of leading in GTs. Also with Adam Yates potentially joining in the future as a leader and Seb Heano, Wout Poels, Sergio Henao all capable of developing into GC riders why would you block their development?
The only reason i could see was if they expected Thomas to leave? or to not be able to sign the Yates in the coming years?
If Sky hires the best GT talent, who's left to lead other teams. Talk about neutralizing the competition....
He's almost 30 and his best result was a single top-5. How is that neutralizing the competition if he isnt competitive?
alspacka said:Does anyone have any details of Sky's rider wage bill in comparison to the other WT teams?
HelloDolly said:alspacka said:Does anyone have any details of Sky's rider wage bill in comparison to the other WT teams?
Only Nico Roche saying when he left Tinkoff for SKY he got a 30k pay raise ...hardly earth shattering
SKY have the attraction of promising much ...ie turning you into a GT winner , the great equipment and care, the promise of teaching you some fantastic marginal gains ,etcc
I don't think for instance Richie Porte took a pay drop at BMC
SKY are very Tour centric so other teams scatter their talent around SKY just seem to only want the Tour