Teams & Riders Team Movistar-thread

[jaylew]

The number of disappointing/disappointed riders at the Dauphine is large but you got to say for teams as a whole Movistar are up there

Obviously Jumbo V are streaks ahead of everyone with DQ, Astana and Bora to the fore
Trek arent too bad for them
And UAE and Bahrain are putting in a good show

On the otherhand Ineos are struggling for a change
EF (excluding Martinez) look very poor
Sunweb and Ag2R not great
CCC well ?

But Movistar are having a terrible time
Soler couldn't hold on in the break today and look where Mas finished
Valverde is not young but he is struggling in a way we havent seen in an age

what kind of training have they had in te last months ?

There are 3 non world tour teams at the pointy end everyday (Cofidis, Hotelsc& BBs (?) and Quintana's team) but some notable WT teams missing

Looks a lot like last year, tbh.

 

[perico]

The number of disappointing/disappointed riders at the Dauphine is large but you got to say for teams as a whole Movistar are up there

Obviously Jumbo V are streaks ahead of everyone with DQ, Astana and Bora to the fore
Trek arent too bad for them
And UAE and Bahrain are putting in a good show

On the otherhand Ineos are struggling for a change
EF (excluding Martinez) look very poor
Sunweb and Ag2R not great
CCC well ?

But Movistar are having a terrible time
Soler couldn't hold on in the break today and look where Mas finished
Valverde is not young but he is struggling in a way we havent seen in an age

what kind of training have they had in te last months ?

There are 3 non world tour teams at the pointy end everyday (Cofidis, Hotelsc& BBs (?) and Quintana's team) but some notable WT teams missing

They were on rollers while a number of competitors were training on climbs. That may have hindered not only their form but their motivation as well. It’s not an excuse but this is going to be a weird season resultwise.

Valverde is old but we know when he’s in form he can hang on with the better climbers. Mas we’ve seen climb just as well as Superman Lopez in the past when they were both targeting the same race at La Vuelta, and he should not be getting dropped when a rider 2 years older like Guiilame Martin and a rather ordinary Old as hell climber like Reichenbach isn’t in any difficulty in the leader group.

Its baffling in some ways but understandable in others. Hopefully if he has a disappointing TdF he gains the form like he did last year where he was posting excellent results later in the season, which would have him in good shape heading into the Vuelta this year.

 

[Koronin]

The number of disappointing/disappointed riders at the Dauphine is large but you got to say for teams as a whole Movistar are up there

Obviously Jumbo V are streaks ahead of everyone with DQ, Astana and Bora to the fore
Trek arent too bad for them
And UAE and Bahrain are putting in a good show

On the otherhand Ineos are struggling for a change
EF (excluding Martinez) look very poor
Sunweb and Ag2R not great
CCC well ?

But Movistar are having a terrible time
Soler couldn't hold on in the break today and look where Mas finished
Valverde is not young but he is struggling in a way we havent seen in an age

what kind of training have they had in te last months ?

There are 3 non world tour teams at the pointy end everyday (Cofidis, Hotelsc& BBs (?) and Quintana's team) but some notable WT teams missing

I'm willing to give Soler a bit of a break as his goals are in late September and October.
Mas is the one I'm scratching my head over. He's the one that should be in the best form of the 3 and closest to a peak.
Valverde didn't believe they'd be racing again this year and thus trained as if he wouldn't be racing again until next year. He didn't actually believe they'd be racing until mid July. He kept expecting races to continue to get cancelled and postponed. He's very literally racing himself into form. He's said his form is improving. Although even back in June he had said he was planning on using these races through the Tour to race himself into form for the races after the Tour. I still wouldn't worry about him right now. Plus today he dropped back to try to help Mas and then was told to go back to the main group if he was able to bridge back to it.

 

[Koronin]

They were on rollers while a number of competitors were training on climbs. That may have hindered not only their form but their motivation as well. It’s not an excuse but this is going to be a weird season resultwise.

Valverde is old but we know when he’s in form he can hang on with the better climbers. Mas we’ve seen climb just as well as Superman Lopez in the past when they were both targeting the same race at La Vuelta, and he should not be getting dropped when a rider 2 years older like Guiilame Martin and a rather ordinary Old as hell climber like Reichenbach isn’t in any difficulty in the leader group.

Its baffling in some ways but understandable in others. Hopefully if he has a disappointing TdF he gains the form like he did last year where he was posting excellent results later in the season, which would have him in good shape heading into the Vuelta this year.

I suspect more than just Valverde had no motivation to train while they were locked in their homes. Valverde has admitted as much. He's the one that said several times he didn't believe they'd be racing at all this season and refused to train for anything more than a off season base level. He can't be the only one who didn't believe they'd be racing again until they were actually showing up for races.

 

[inthepink]

I suspect more than just Valverde had no motivation to train while they were locked in their homes. Valverde has admitted as much. He's the one that said several times he didn't believe they'd be racing at all this season and refused to train for anything more than a off season base level. He can't be the only one who didn't believe they'd be racing again until they were actually showing up for races.

Well one person who trained more than anyone on rollers was Uran and where is he in this race ?

There is more to it than what riders say at interview about training

Look through the results ...some unexpected riders in final 20 on clims and some MIA

 

[Koronin]

Well one person who trained more than anyone on rollers was Uran and where is he in this race ?

There is more to it than what riders say at interview about training

Look through the results ...some unexpected riders in final 20 on clims and some MIA

Wasn't Uran also coming back from an injury?

I know one of the young Movistar riders said after he was able to start riding on the road that all the training on the rollers and trainers was semi pointless as it took him 3 days to get back to doing more or less normal rides out on the roads again.

 

[ice&fire]

Pro-riders were allowed to train on the roads in Andorra and Spain since the first week of May. That's seven weeks of lockdown, followed by almost three months of training on the road before their first race at Burgos.

I don't know what to make of Valverde given his age. But Landa has been subject to the same lockdown conditions and he's not omly miles ahead of Mas but keeping up with the best. Mas' poor level can't be explained by the lockdown. He lost 15 minutes today!

 

[BlueRoads]

Say what you want, it's the negative aura of the lockdown. It has affected people in Spain badly. If not for the lockdown Barcelona would have won that match against Bayern with ease.

Landa... he probably asked a wizard for help. That one built a protective shield around him, keeping the negative aura from him. The negative aura also comes from the rollers. That's why Landa destroyed his.

 

[Koronin]

Landa had more belief they would actually be racing again?

There are many Spaniards who due to the rising numbers of the virus believe they are headed for another lock down. I believe BlueRoads about a negative aura affecting the Spaniards from the lockdown.

 

[yaco]

The fact is Valverde has struggled all season - Pre and post lockdown.

 

[inthepink]

Its not just Spanish riders not going great ...MScott ?
Here is a team that were going to challenge Sky a few years ago ...

They changed from a classics/TTT team into a GC team and yet at the moment things look very ropey

Also soem individuals like Bob Jungles, M Valgren, Kwaito, Bilbao, Lutsenko, deGendt, Carthy, Teuns, Fraile, Wellens,

 

[Koronin]

I suspect we can also now write off any win at the Spanish National Championships for Movistar as well. Anyone on their long list for the Tour is not allowed to ride the National Championships and has to be in a bubble in France for the next two weeks before the Tour starts.

 

[RedheadDane]

What? You don't think Mora could take it?

 

[Koronin]

What? You don't think Mora could take it?

No. If they win it it would have to be with one of the kids. I suspect a team like Caja Rural who will have the majority of their riders will be in much shape to win it. In this case I suspect we'll get a break that could easily go all the way. No WT team will have enough riders to do anything about chasing and I suspect the Pro Conti teams have no interest in chasing for WT riders.

 

[BlueRoads]

Some interesting people could be in national jerseys soon.

 

[RedheadDane]

No. If they win it it would have to be with one of the kids. I suspect a team like Caja Rural who will have the majority of their riders will be in much shape to win it. In this case I suspect we'll get a break that could easily go all the way. No WT team will have enough riders to do anything about chasing and I suspect the Pro Conti teams have no interest in chasing for WT riders.

I may, or may not, have purposedly picked the most unlikely guy.

 

[Koronin]

I may, or may not, have purposedly picked the most unlikely guy.

LOL, I'm not even sure he's the least likely guy on the team to win it. I'm not convinced they have any actual options to win it with who they are sending. I'll put my bet with a Pro Conti rider winning it. Although a Conti rider or even an amateur rider could end up winning the thing. Now that would be funny and very possible this year.

 

[Koronin]

Some interesting people could be in national jerseys soon.

It's possible an amateur could win it this year.

 

[Anderis]

I've just realised that Movistar is the lowest classified WT team in both PCS and CQ season team rankings. Something has gone horribly wrong when they are even outperformed by Israel and NTT (who don't really seem to have got any better compared to previous years). I had expected them to be significantly weaker than in previous year due to their uninmpressive transfer activity but this goes beyond my expectations. Such a rapid decline for a team that was a top6 team in almost every year during the last decade.

 

[Koronin]

I've just realised that Movistar is the lowest classified WT team in both PCS and CQ season team rankings. Something has gone horribly wrong when they are even outperformed by Israel and NTT (who don't really seem to have got any better compared to previous years). I had expected them to be significantly weaker than in previous year due to their uninmpressive transfer activity but this goes beyond my expectations. Such a rapid decline for a team that was a top6 team in almost every year during the last decade.

Their extreme over reliance on Valverde is starting to show?

It doesn't help when they do an almost complete rebuild in one season and then the two younger riders who are supposed to be helping lead the team aren't exactly doing much of anything.

Thing is, they do have a few of the new signings for this year who are showing they have some potential.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Dunno about amateurs, it's a pretty tough nationals course. They should get one national jersey at least (Eider Merino most likely), but for the men it's probably unlikely, I think Samitier and Carretero would be their biggest hopes, more likely Samitier. The circuit includes the Alto de Baeza which is climbed five times. I think we're probably talking a ProConti rider. On the stage of the Ruta del Sol that included the climb the top Spaniards were Pello Bilbao, Ion Izagirre, Marc Soler and Rubén Fernández - would not be surprised if the latter takes this, having something to prove this year and will probably have the advantage of numbers on that Euskaltel team. Mikel Iturria and Jonathan Lastra are other possibilities, while on Burgos-BH there's always the possibility of Ángel Madrazo, who would actually be not unreasonably placed to win this you know... then there's those in Portugal like García de Mateos and Jesús del Pino.

The other thing is that a lot of the expats may have been prevented from travelling to race (other than Javier Sardá who of course won the HTV Cycling Cup) and therefore, shorn of their earnings in Japan, we might see people like Benjamí Prades and Marcos García strong... or even Paco!

 

[Koronin]

Dunno about amateurs, it's a pretty tough nationals course. They should get one national jersey at least (Eider Merino most likely), but for the men it's probably unlikely, I think Samitier and Carretero would be their biggest hopes, more likely Samitier. The circuit includes the Alto de Baeza which is climbed five times. I think we're probably talking a ProConti rider. On the stage of the Ruta del Sol that included the climb the top Spaniards were Pello Bilbao, Ion Izagirre, Marc Soler and Rubén Fernández - would not be surprised if the latter takes this, having something to prove this year and will probably have the advantage of numbers on that Euskaltel team. Mikel Iturria and Jonathan Lastra are other possibilities, while on Burgos-BH there's always the possibility of Ángel Madrazo, who would actually be not unreasonably placed to win this you know... then there's those in Portugal like García de Mateos and Jesús del Pino.

The other thing is that a lot of the expats may have been prevented from travelling to race (other than Javier Sardá who of course won the HTV Cycling Cup) and therefore, shorn of their earnings in Japan, we might see people like Benjamí Prades and Marcos García strong... or even Paco!

They very well may get the women's title, but not sure the fans actually care.
I've heard that the Spanish riders from Astana will be there. We have Valverde Team with 2 invites for the elite race and multiple of their riders participating in the lower races. One of their elite riders invited is a former Movistar rider who now rides and coaches for Valverde Team. With the numbers, I'd suspect one of the 3 Pro Conti teams will end up producing the winner of the race. However, I still think the winner comes from the break.

 

[Koronin]

Someone posted the provisional start list for the Spanish national Championships. This is the list of WT riders competing:
Movistar (7): Arcas, Carretero, Elosegui, Lluis Mas, Mora, Torres, Samitier
Cofidis (4): Barcelo, Jesus and Jose Herrad and Mate
Ineos (1): Carlos Rodriguez
Astana (1): Oscar Rodriguez

Pro Conti Caja Rural (14), Euskalte-Euskadi (14), Burgos (11)

Gorka Izagirre, Rafa Valls, and Gerard Armillas may be added to the final list.

Also Castroviejo has pulled out of the Spanish TT Championships.

 

[Anderis]

Their extreme over reliance on Valverde is starting to show?

I've just tried to remove Valverde's points from their results during the last few years and it would've landed them around 13-15 place most of the time, which is a tad lower than I expected but not as bad as this year. And I guess he was taking a large chunk of their salary budget so the results would've been likely better than that had they not had him but were able to spend that money on other riders.

Still, Quintana's results alone would be enough to take the team near the mid-pack of WT teams so it's as much a failure to find a worthy replacement for Quintana as over-reliance on Valverde IMO.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

IMHO the money spent on Landa was the problem, not Valverde or Quintana.
btw with the Giro start list getting weaker and weaker, I now fully expect Soler to win.