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Teams & Riders Team Movistar-thread

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Re: Re:

Koronin said:
Moviestar said:
Valverde, Quintana and Soler to participate in the Volta a Catalunya.

http://www.elperiodico.com/es/ciclismo/20180125/ciclismo-volta-catalunya-valverde-quintana-soler-confirmados-6577058

They could have planned this in a better way... Valverde and Soler working for Nairo :sad:

That's not going to happen. Valverde will be closer to peak than Quintana as well since Valverde will be peaking for the Ardennes. More like Quintana working for Valverde.
Is the route out for Catalunya? It's often decided on one stage, so you might as well just see who's better on the day, and I think peaking for Catalunya is relatively poor timing for the Ardennes.
 
Re: Re:

Red Rick said:
Koronin said:
Moviestar said:
Valverde, Quintana and Soler to participate in the Volta a Catalunya.

http://www.elperiodico.com/es/ciclismo/20180125/ciclismo-volta-catalunya-valverde-quintana-soler-confirmados-6577058

They could have planned this in a better way... Valverde and Soler working for Nairo :sad:

That's not going to happen. Valverde will be closer to peak than Quintana as well since Valverde will be peaking for the Ardennes. More like Quintana working for Valverde.
Is the route out for Catalunya? It's often decided on one stage, so you might as well just see who's better on the day, and I think peaking for Catalunya is relatively poor timing for the Ardennes.

Valverde will be closer to a peak. Also remember Valverde's peak vs not peak is a lot closer than other riders. He won Fleche Wallone in 2016 and he wasn't at peak. His team has said they normally have no idea how close to peak is because they usually can't tell the difference with him between peak and a bit off peak.
 
Re: Re:

Koronin said:
Moviestar said:
Valverde, Quintana and Soler to participate in the Volta a Catalunya.

http://www.elperiodico.com/es/ciclismo/20180125/ciclismo-volta-catalunya-valverde-quintana-soler-confirmados-6577058

They could have planned this in a better way... Valverde and Soler working for Nairo :sad:

That's not going to happen. Valverde will be closer to peak than Quintana as well since Valverde will be peaking for the Ardennes. More like Quintana working for Valverde.

I doubt that. Quintana will be in form also, coming from the Tirreno. I've seen him rarely underperform in a one-week stage race. He is always there, up with the best.
 
Re: Re:

Koronin said:
Moviestar said:
Valv.Piti said:
Moviestar said:
Valverde, Quintana and Soler to participate in the Volta a Catalunya.

http://www.elperiodico.com/es/ciclismo/20180125/ciclismo-volta-catalunya-valverde-quintana-soler-confirmados-6577058

They could have planned this in a better way... Valverde and Soler working for Nairo :sad:
Do we know which races of Paris-Nice, Tirreno, Catalunya and Pais Vasco Quintana, Landa and Valverde each will race? I think Valverde will only race Catalunya, so that would suck if he has to share leadership with Nairo or probably even be on domestique duties.

Valverde will participate in three stage races according to his schedule: Valencia, Catalunya and Dauphine.
Landa will start in Andalucia and he will be the leader in Pais Vasco. Not much is known yet of his schedule.
Quintana will participate in the Tirreno and Catalunya and probably Dauphine/Suisse.

I have read very little so far about the team for Paris-Nice. The recent years they have given the younger riders a chance to prove themselves, like Ion, Fernandez, G.Izagirre and Soler. Maybe Fernandez/Soler/Carapaz in a free role this year.

Betancur is also scheduled to ride Paris-Nice https://as.com/ciclismo/2017/11/05/mas_ciclismo/1509919173_214892.html


You can't really go based on anything right now as far as Valverde's schedule. He's actually stated he is racing either Andalucia or Abu Dhabi, and apparently has also said maybe both. He seems to be making his schedule as the season goes on. So until Movistar actually releases the names of who is competing in each race we really won't know. I do think a lot of this is because they want to see how Valverde's knee is reacting to racing. So far so good. Tomorrow's Mallorca race, I think, will be a key factor to knowing for sure how the knee is reacting to racing.

He already said what this schedule would look like, even Movistar had published his schedule not so long ago. On the Vuelta-presentation he more or less confirmed the schedule. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/valverde-to-race-from-mallorca-to-il-lombardia-in-comeback-season/ It's a classical Valverde schedule.
 
Re: Re:

Koronin said:
Moviestar said:
Valverde, Quintana and Soler to participate in the Volta a Catalunya.

http://www.elperiodico.com/es/ciclismo/20180125/ciclismo-volta-catalunya-valverde-quintana-soler-confirmados-6577058

They could have planned this in a better way... Valverde and Soler working for Nairo :sad:

That's not going to happen. Valverde will be closer to peak than Quintana as well since Valverde will be peaking for the Ardennes. More like Quintana working for Valverde.
Nowhere I read about who is working for who.
 
He's giving an outline of what he thinks it MIGHT be. There are a lot of maybe's in there. It's not a confirmed or definite calendar. Yes it will be more classics heavy, which makes sense as he's really a classics specialist.
Yes Quintana does do well in one week races, however we are talking about a Spanish race, with a Spanish team and a Spanish leader in Valverde who just won it the previous year. Quintana riders for Valverde.
 
Re:

masking_agent said:
Is Movistar going to suffer from the usual "too many team leaders" as they have Valverde, Quintana and Landa ?


Yes and no. Remember this particular team differentiates between team leader (undisputedly is Valverde) and race leader. For the most part they will race separate races until the Grand Tours. There are several series of thoughts on this among fans. They have managed to go to races with two race leaders (Valverde and Quintana) and be ok. Now they are adding a 3rd and who knows what will happen. It could work or it could blow up. There is a series of thought that Valverde's role at the Tour is to basically keep the rest of the team together if Landa and Quintana end up in a war with each other.
 
Re:

Breh said:
I just don't know why they don't give each leader their own GT. It's so confusing. Landa gets the Giro, Quintana gets the Tour, Valverde Vuelta!

That's what everyone thought they were going to do. Although crazy enough it still appears Valverde gets the Vuelta even with the other two going anyway. Esp when Valverde made the comment last Aug not long after he was back on the bike that la Vuelta was his and Landa and Quintana could fight over the other two GTs. Both Landa and Quintana also seemed more than willing to concede la Vuelta to Valverde.
 
Re:

Breh said:
I just don't know why they don't give each leader their own GT. It's so confusing. Landa gets the Giro, Quintana gets the Tour, Valverde Vuelta!
Because they want to win the Tour really bad. Froome (if he races) seemed to be on the decline in '17. It may backfire, but if the riders buy in and it's an all-out war, one of the three will reap the benefits. Bardet, Uran, and the likes won;t chase much and rely on Sky. And Sky can only do so much. We're talking about three big time riders.
 
Re:

staubsauger said:
I still believe that if Froome was banned, Landa would immediately target the Giro as he surely believes Dumoulin is beatable for him. But time is running out for that.
It would make a lot of sense, but I think that Unzue has made up his mind. He's sick and tired of failing at The Tour with Movistar. He wants to blow up the race, crush everybody, like La Vie Claire '85-'86.
 
Re: Re:

Tonton said:
Breh said:
I just don't know why they don't give each leader their own GT. It's so confusing. Landa gets the Giro, Quintana gets the Tour, Valverde Vuelta!
Because they want to win the Tour really bad. Froome (if he races) seemed to be on the decline in '17. It may backfire, but if the riders buy in and it's an all-out war, one of the three will reap the benefits. Bardet, Uran, and the likes won;t chase much and rely on Sky. And Sky can only do so much. We're talking about three big time riders.
It's pretty obvious how badly they want the Tour. I'm curious as to that will also show in their tactics in the Tour. That said, if they bring all 3 there's very little room for pure domestiques, both climbers and rouleurs, so they may get into a world of hurt in the first week.
 
Re: Re:

Red Rick said:
Tonton said:
Breh said:
I just don't know why they don't give each leader their own GT. It's so confusing. Landa gets the Giro, Quintana gets the Tour, Valverde Vuelta!
Because they want to win the Tour really bad. Froome (if he races) seemed to be on the decline in '17. It may backfire, but if the riders buy in and it's an all-out war, one of the three will reap the benefits. Bardet, Uran, and the likes won;t chase much and rely on Sky. And Sky can only do so much. We're talking about three big time riders.
It's pretty obvious how badly they want the Tour. I'm curious as to that will also show in their tactics in the Tour. That said, if they bring all 3 there's very little room for pure domestiques, both climbers and rouleurs, so they may get into a world of hurt in the first week.
I think the tactics will be pretty straight forward from the start - all in for Quintana. Keep Valverde and Landa high on GC so they have to be marked by Sky, but use them to set up Quintana for the winning attack. Same in the cobbles stage - it will be all out to protect Quintana, while Valverde and Landa look after themselves and hope they don't get a mechanical.

It's the only strategy that makes sense. Quintana at his very best has shown he can challenge and compete with Froome at his best in a GT. Landa and Valverde have never shown that level. Of course, this relies on Quintana being at his very best, which is a bit of a lottery based on the last few seasons. If he's not, then I imagine it could turn into a free for all.
 
Not sure that Froome will participate, but even if he does, put three strong TTT helpers, who will protect the three leaders (teams of two) if things go wrong on the cobbles. The question is: who are they? Evaluate the situation on rest day. The lesser of the three may be given some slack and get back into the game. Otherwise, he's the designated rabbit to chase. Counter. I really don't think that Sky can chase everything...not against these three. They are way too good. And if Froome isn't there, GT will be eaten alive. Movistar needs to take a Wanderlei Silva approach, bludgeon the opposition to death, they can do it. The TTT, the lineup is still a question mark to me, particularly if Froome is there. You can't lose 30 seconds so quickly if Froome rides it. Then you have to make up two minutes to survive the ITT.
 
Of the 3 Valverde has raced in some of the semi cobbled classics in the past (plus Tour stages on cobbles). He's the one of the 3 that has proven over the years he can handle himself on the cobbles. So there is that. Who knows maybe this is the year Valverde finally races Flanders in preparation for the cobbled stage of the Tour? My guess would be two each to protect Landa and Quintana and one with Valverde, my guess would be Erviti or Rojas to help Valverde on the cobbles. Landa is the one who prefers to attack early a bit more like Contador and I would expect they will allow him to do that. Valverde will race it as he always does and will be given the freedom to do so. The rest of the team should be all in for Quintana. I agree good luck to any team trying to control 3 GC riders. Even with the TTT stage and because they are sending 3 GC riders I wouldn't be shocked if they again send a team mostly full of climbers with one or two roulers (Erviti, Rojas, Oliveria, Sütterlin). Basically one or two spots for those guys and the other 3 spots for climbers.
For the Giro at this point my guess is Amador will lead that team.
 
I can't wait to see him Soler will do in P-N. He was much better than I expected in Ruta del Sol which is why I have pretty big expectations for him. There are a lot of very good riders in P-N who can win, but there are no truly great riders (think Porte and Valverde-level) which is why I hope and kinda expect him to play a role in the fight for the win. The route is pretty good for him - he obviously isn't explosive, but the MTF suits him very well and he will be one of the better time trialists. He also did very well on the Nice-stage last year. Carapaz should be able to support him decently.

The exact thing holds true for Landa - better than I expected in Ruta del Sol and should absolutely be up there, but it will be very hard against Sky. Same for Soler. Rosón is also riding here and could finally show his level on the biggest scene. Their TTT team is decently strong as well.
 
Actually not having any top level stars (Valverde, Porte, Contador level) at Paris-Nice actually really has my interest this year. Alaphilippe, D. Martin, Fuglsang/Sanchez and a couple others would be the top level guys. I'm interested to see what Soler can do against them. I'm also curious to see how he does in leading this team and how he handles the pressure of leadership. I agree that Soler was impressive at Andalucia. I didn't expect to see him on the podium.
I'm hoping to see a bit more from Landa at T-A. He has a solid team around him there. I also want to see what Roson can do. He's shown well so far this year as well. I remember his first race for Caja Rural a couple years ago here in the states in Colorado. No one knew who he was and he impressed a lot of people. Funniest part about that was my husband and I were watching him and saying who is this kid. About 5 minutes later the commentators said the same thing, who is this kid. Of course since they had no idea who he was, they ended up using the English/American pronunciation for his same instead of the Spanish pronunciation. My husband and I have been following Roson ever since that race and were very happy when he signed with Movistar.
 
Re:

Asero831 said:
forward thinking to the Tour, I really fear that Sky, Sunweb and BMC will put a minute on Stage 3.

Izaguirre brothers, Castro, Dowsett and Malori are now gone. We are left with Oliveira, Erviti and Bennati. Amador may not ride the Tour


Sütterlin and Oliveira are the two TT specialists on the team now. One of them along with Erviti will definitely be going to the Tour. I doubt they take more than 2 non climbers. The team has reverted back to being very much a team of climbers plus with taking 3 protected riders leaves 3 more climbers. Valv.Piti made a comment on a different thread that is true about Movistar and time trials. At this point Valverde is their big engine for the time trials. Yes they could easily look a minute to the top TTT teams on that stage.
 
Yeah, the loss of motors are quite frightening in that aspect. While Olivera and Sutterlin are good motors, they are really not in the class of Castroviejo, Malori, izagirre etc. That team they send to the 2015 was pretty awesome in that aspect, they were super close to the win. Dowsett hadn't made the team anyways with 8 guys. Theoretically, they could include Soler and Amador, Erviti and the 3 captains along with Oli and Sutterlin which would make for a very good TTT-team. But I doubt both Amador and Soler are going to ride - Amador is riding the Giro and Soler I have no clue about. Bennati is most likely riding, and then you have guys like Rojas, Rosón and Anacona who all also are good enough to be taken into consideration. I would be surprised if a rider I hadn't mentioned here would be selected.
 
Re:

Asero831 said:
forward thinking to the Tour, I really fear that Sky, Sunweb and BMC will put a minute on Stage 3.

Izaguirre brothers, Castro, Dowsett and Malori are now gone. We are left with Oliveira, Erviti and Bennati. Amador may not ride the Tour

I would say that if they are only 1 minute behind after a 35km TTT... then they have done extremely well!!

I am expecting them to be at least 2-3 min behind the teams you mentioned and I think they know that too, even though I am hoping they will do better than that obviously and surprise us.
 

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