Teams & Riders Team Movistar-thread

[skippo12]

Plaza won in 2009 riding for Liberty Seguros, he went to Caisse d'Epargne only the following winter.
http://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=1199&y=2009

Thanks for the info...went through the list of spanish road race champions and thought he was with Caisse D`Epargne.
Plaza spent one season with Benfica Lissabon. You learn something new every day. Never knew they had a pro cycling team.

 

[AlexNYC]

Re:

Andrey Amador
Daniele Bennati
Imanol Erviti
Jose Joaquin Rojas
Marc Soler
Mikel Landa
Nairo Quintana
Alejandro Valverde

I guess Unzue is not worried about the TTT, which is a little strange to say the least.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Andrey Amador
Daniele Bennati
Imanol Erviti
Jose Joaquin Rojas
Marc Soler
Mikel Landa
Nairo Quintana
Alejandro Valverde

I guess Unzue is not worried about the TTT, which is a little strange to say the least.

Hope they don't shift too much time in the TTT - That team is carrying three or four riders for the TTT.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

Andrey Amador
Daniele Bennati
Imanol Erviti
Jose Joaquin Rojas
Marc Soler
Mikel Landa
Nairo Quintana
Alejandro Valverde

I guess Unzue is not worried about the TTT, which is a little strange to say the least.

Hope they don't shift too much time in the TTT - That team is carrying three or four riders for the TTT.

Other than Landa and Quintana, who?

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Andrey Amador
Daniele Bennati
Imanol Erviti
Jose Joaquin Rojas
Marc Soler
Mikel Landa
Nairo Quintana
Alejandro Valverde

I guess Unzue is not worried about the TTT, which is a little strange to say the least.

Hope they don't shift too much time in the TTT - That team is carrying three or four riders for the TTT.

Other than Landa and Quintana, who?

Reckon you need three or even four big engines to do a good TTT, 2 riders who are decent and two are carried - Amador has a big engine, while Valverde and Soler are decent while the rest are meh - Keep within a minute of the Sky/BMC and they've done well.

 

[skippo12]

Re: Re:

Andrey Amador
Daniele Bennati
Imanol Erviti
Jose Joaquin Rojas
Marc Soler
Mikel Landa
Nairo Quintana
Alejandro Valverde

I guess Unzue is not worried about the TTT, which is a little strange to say the least.

Hope they don't shift too much time in the TTT - That team is carrying three or four riders for the TTT.

Other than Landa and Quintana, who?

Reckon you need three or even four big engines to do a good TTT, 2 riders who are decent and two are carried - Amador has a big engine, while Valverde and Soler are decent while the rest are meh - Keep within a minute of the Sky/BMC and they've done well.

Sprinters are really underrated in TTT...but both JJR and Bennati are past their prime and probably aren`t even considered sprinters these days.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Andrey Amador
Daniele Bennati
Imanol Erviti
Jose Joaquin Rojas
Marc Soler
Mikel Landa
Nairo Quintana
Alejandro Valverde

I guess Unzue is not worried about the TTT, which is a little strange to say the least.

Hope they don't shift too much time in the TTT - That team is carrying three or four riders for the TTT.

Other than Landa and Quintana, who?

Reckon you need three or even four big engines to do a good TTT, 2 riders who are decent and two are carried - Amador has a big engine, while Valverde and Soler are decent while the rest are meh - Keep within a minute of the Sky/BMC and they've done well.

Sprinters are really underrated in TTT...but both JJR and Bennati are past their prime and probably aren`t even considered sprinters these days.[/quote]


Rojas doesn't even like for anyone to call him a sprinter anymore. He also seems happier to give a leadout to Valverde for a sprint than try to contest on himself at this point in his career.

I'm not liking this team for the TTT. Amador, Valverde, and Soler are by far the best riders on this team for a time trial and that is asking a lot of those three. Plus do we even know how Valverde is doing mentally with time trials as it was a time trial crash at the Tour last summer that almost ended his career. He's raced 2 ITTs (Abu Dhabi and Spanish Nationals) and 1 TTT (Valencia that didn't really count) this year.
Truthfully I think Bennati is included for the cobbled stage and he and Valverde are probably their best cobbled riders. Erviti isn't too bad with the cobbles either. This team could definitely lose a minute-ish to Sky and BMC in the TTT. Valverde is the only one of the 3 GC guys who might be able to claw some of that time back on the cobbled stage.

 

[Robert5091]

Movistar? Won't see them until week 2 (Ok, Valverde might get bored and strech his legs on a couple of stages but otherwise, why bother?)

 

[Escarabajo]

I wasn't expecting Amador but it makes sense. He is good in TT and good in mountains. With Soler and Amador they have good domestiques in the mountains. With Rojas they have a decent climber for the lower slopes. Now I don't buy that only Valverde, Amador and Soler are the only good time trialists. Riders like Bena and Erviti can be very valuable as well. This is a TTT and not individual TT. Some of these big guys that don't figure out in the regular TT can be very strong in the TTT when required. Rojas can help also as well. Landa and Quintana if fit they can defend themselves. My 2 cents.

 

[Escarabajo]

Interview with Valverde:

http://www.revistamundociclistico.com/ruta/25722-el-tour-este-ano-sera-mas-abierto-porque-froome-no-fue-en-el-giro-tan-superior-como-otras-veces-alejandro-valverde.html

Quiero hacerlo bien. Desempeñando mi papel de trabajar para Nairo y Mikel o si la carrera se da y tengo que afrontar la responsabilidad de estar delante, cumplir con ello. Creo que mi condición física es adecuada para estar adelante".

"I want to do it right. My job is to work for Nairo and Mikel or if the race gives me the opportunity to be in front, I'll take the responsability. My condition is good to be in front.

 

[Koronin]

He always says the right things. He also again says in that interview that his big goals are the the Vuelta and Worlds. It goes with things he's said before about the Tour not being one of his goals. However, just because of who he is he'll be a protected rider throughout the race. They won't expect him to do the job of a domestique. Also another interesting note, someone (on another discussion board) said that in an interview Alex Dowsett said that Alejandro doesn't have an ego. (Would love to find that interview from Alex).

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re:

He always says the right things. He also again says in that interview that his big goals are the the Vuelta and Worlds. It goes with things he's said before about the Tour not being one of his goals. However, just because of who he is he'll be a protected rider throughout the race. They won't expect him to do the job of a domestique. Also another interesting note, someone (on another discussion board) said that in an interview Alex Dowsett said that Alejandro doesn't have an ego. (Would love to find that interview from Alex).

Excellent excuse.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

He always says the right things. He also again says in that interview that his big goals are the the Vuelta and Worlds. It goes with things he's said before about the Tour not being one of his goals. However, just because of who he is he'll be a protected rider throughout the race. They won't expect him to do the job of a domestique. Also another interesting note, someone (on another discussion board) said that in an interview Alex Dowsett said that Alejandro doesn't have an ego. (Would love to find that interview from Alex).

Excellent excuse.

Well he's said from the beginning of the year that the Tour isn't one of his goals. However, he's also very good at talking down his chances.

 

[AlexNYC]

I’ve learned to not put much weight on Valverde’s explanations of what his role will be at any given race where he’s not the designated leader. He always has a hidden agenda.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

I wasn't expecting Amador but it makes sense. He is good in TT and good in mountains. With Soler and Amador they have good domestiques in the mountains. With Rojas they have a decent climber for the lower slopes. Now I don't buy that only Valverde, Amador and Soler are the only good time trialists. Riders like Bena and Erviti can be very valuable as well. This is a TTT and not individual TT. Some of these big guys that don't figure out in the regular TT can be very strong in the TTT when required. Rojas can help also as well. Landa and Quintana if fit they can defend themselves. My 2 cents.

You’re right here. A lot of posters are misunderstanding the difference between a TTT and a regular TT.

The effort required in a TTT is closer to a prologue or the run into a field sprint than a standard TT, which is why pursuiters and sprinters who can ride strong short to medium TTs are so valuable like Küng, Meyer, Matthews, Sagan and Kittel. They can raise the teams pace above what the pure time trialists can.

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

He always says the right things. He also again says in that interview that his big goals are the the Vuelta and Worlds. It goes with things he's said before about the Tour not being one of his goals. However, just because of who he is he'll be a protected rider throughout the race. They won't expect him to do the job of a domestique. Also another interesting note, someone (on another discussion board) said that in an interview Alex Dowsett said that Alejandro doesn't have an ego. (Would love to find that interview from Alex).

Excellent excuse.

Don't you have some gloating and synchophanting to do in another thread?

 

[DNP-Old]

Movistar was in a weird position today. I think that if you told them prior to the start they were going to lose 54 seconds to the winner, everyone would be happy and smiling. But now, knowing that the likes of Astana and Katusha did better, I'm somewhat disappointed.

 

[Moviestar]

Re:

Movistar was in a weird position today. I think that if you told them prior to the start they were going to lose 54 seconds to the winner, everyone would be happy and smiling. But now, knowing that the likes of Astana and Katusha did better, I'm somewhat disappointed.

Three seconds and one second, come on. They were at their place.

 

[Valv.Piti]

They did something that they very rarely do - starting to strongly. They were very poor from the 1st time check to the finish and almost dropped 1 minute on 20 kilometres. Just for this stage specifically, I think Oliveira in general over 21 stages had added more than Rojas would have, but oh well. Castro, Izaigirre, Malori, Dowsett etc. are long gone and that is felt.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

Movistar was in a weird position today. I think that if you told them prior to the start they were going to lose 54 seconds to the winner, everyone would be happy and smiling. But now, knowing that the likes of Astana and Katusha did better, I'm somewhat disappointed.

Three seconds and one second, come on. They were at their place.

I could also point to Cannondale. I just expected more of them, despite the likes of Gorka, Castroviejo not being on the team anymore. Movistar used to be atop of the food chain in this discipline not too long ago.

 

[Moviestar]

Re: Re:

Movistar was in a weird position today. I think that if you told them prior to the start they were going to lose 54 seconds to the winner, everyone would be happy and smiling. But now, knowing that the likes of Astana and Katusha did better, I'm somewhat disappointed.

Three seconds and one second, come on. They were at their place.

I could also point to Cannondale. I just expected more of them, despite the likes of Gorka, Castroviejo not being on the team anymore. Movistar used to be atop of the food chain in this discipline not too long ago.

Cannondale has more turbo in their team compared to Movistar. Uran, Vanmarcke, Scully, Phinney and Craddock vs Amador, Valverde and let's say Erviti. Maybe a 7th spot was the highest position they could obtain, but higher certainly not.

Correct, Movistar has lost a lot of their turbo's and they have left out Oliveira and Sutterlin as well, their current best timetrial specialists.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

Movistar was in a weird position today. I think that if you told them prior to the start they were going to lose 54 seconds to the winner, everyone would be happy and smiling. But now, knowing that the likes of Astana and Katusha did better, I'm somewhat disappointed.

Three seconds and one second, come on. They were at their place.

I could also point to Cannondale. I just expected more of them, despite the likes of Gorka, Castroviejo not being on the team anymore. Movistar used to be atop of the food chain in this discipline not too long ago.

Yeah, but precisely because of the likes of Castro, Izagirre's, Malori, Dowsett...

 

[Koronin]

With who they took, they had Valverde, Amador, Soler and maybe Erviti for this stage. That doesn't exactly make for a strong, or even good TTT team. I would have included either Oliveira or Sutterlin over Rojas for this Tour, but I'm not the one making decisions.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Oliveira is the better rider. Sutterlin has been rather underwhelming IMO.

These first 9 days have always been a case of not losing too much. Given that Froome is the one they are going up against, its not too bad - Landa and Valverde are even and Quintana is a minute down. As Valverde stated, instead of looking at the time Nairo lost, we should all be happy he didnt crashed out. So lets be that. I dont care if Landa or Quintana will be two, three, four or even FIVE minutes down on the Thomas, Jungels and TJs of the world as long as all 3 amigos are intact after the cobbles. Thats the most important thing. The Alps are super hard, afterwards the can hopefully work their magic and that starts on the early slopes of Col de Romme. Landa will be Sastre of 2009 with better legs.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Oliveira is the better rider. Sutterlin has been rather underwhelming IMO.

These first 9 days have always been a case of not losing too much. Given that Froome is the one they are going up against, its not too bad - Landa and Valverde are even and Quintana is a minute down. As Valverde stated, instead of looking at the time Nairo lost, we should all be happy he didnt crashed out. So lets be that. I dont care if Landa or Quintana will be two, three, four or even FIVE minutes down on the Thomas, Jungels and TJs of the world as long as all 3 amigos are intact after the cobbles. Thats the most important thing. The Alps are super hard, afterwards the can hopefully work their magic and that starts on the early slopes of Col de Romme. Landa will be Sastre of 2009 with better legs.

I agree just think including one of them would have helped today and would help on stage 9 as well.

After today's stage, Landa said if you'd have told me I'd be a second or two ahead of Froome after the TTT I'd have taken it and I'm going to take it now and be happy no matter how we got here.

Valverde's comment was something to the effect of: We were within the expected time loss. We're fine.

I agree about not being worried about being down to Thomas, Jungels, Tejay's etc as something will happened with them at some point or other.