TEAMS - Losers :( and WINNERS :) ! !

[Jagartrott]

Don't agree with the 8.5 for Movistar. I've not seen half of their team, and Valverde hasn't contested a stage yet.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Don't agree with the 8.5 for Movistar. I've not seen half of their team, and Valverde hasn't contested a stage yet.

Agreed but it's all about GC for Movistar this year and given that Valverde is on the podium at the moment deserves a high score IMO.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

NetApp have been pretty solid. König is not that far away in the GC, they have top 10-ed twice, Dempster just missed a top 10 spot in the sprints, in the team ranking they are better than some WT teams and apart from Europcar all other wildcard teams. Machado showed great heroism yesterday, which is pretty valuable for a sponsor, too.

And this with a team without a single day of TdF experience.

 

[ILovecycling]

NetApp have been pretty solid. König is not that far away in the GC, they have top 10-ed twice, Dempster just missed a top 10 spot in the sprints, in the team ranking they are better than some WT teams and apart from Europcar all other wildcard teams. Machado showed great heroism yesterday, which is pretty valuable for a sponsor, too.

And this with a team without a single day of TdF experience.

Yeah,and good breakaway of Barta in London.
I think they can do some decent breakaway in coming days,and Top10 for Konig is still possible imo.

 

[Jagartrott]

Agreed but it's all about GC for Movistar this year and given that Valverde is on the podium at the moment deserves a high score IMO.

A good position in GC right now does not buy your team all that much, does it. Especially with the small gaps we're seeing in the top-10 and even beyond. Victories, yellow (and other) jerseys, spectacular breakaways, that's what you cannot take away any more.

But OK, that's how I see it, I do like your initiative.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

A good position in GC right now does not buy your team all that much, does it. Especially with the small gaps we're seeing in the top-10 and even beyond. Victories, yellow (and other) jerseys, spectacular breakaways, that's what you cannot take away any more.

But OK, that's how I see it, I do like your initiative.

Totally agree and the score could be a hell of a lot lower by the time we reach Paris !

 

[SafeBet]

Totally agree and the score could be a hell of a lot lower by the time we reach Paris !

Say Valverde podiums in such a field, how much of an achievement would it be?
Important cause he never did it before (and probabloy never will again)?
Or disappointing cause this is the chance of his life to try and win the whole goddam thing?

 

[nevada]

Do Astana have a full compliment of riders ?

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Say Valverde podiums in such a field, how much of an achievement would it be?
Important cause he never did it before (and probabloy never will again)?
Or disappointing cause this is the chance of his life to try and win the whole goddam thing?

I take your point but the score is based upon initial expectations of the Team going into the Tour and where they currently stand.

Surely Movistar have never had illusions of winning it, so therefore achieving an overall podium would be a pretty satisfactory Tour IMO.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Do Astana have a full compliment of riders ?

Yes. No DNF's so far . . . .

 

[Anderis]

I'm not sure why Garmin is 2 and Tinkoff 3. They're pretty much the same so far. GC leader crashed and that's all what can be said of them.

Barring Talansky's crashes, rest of the team did really fine job. They were going really well on cobbles, visible in front of peleton protecting Talansky, and Slagter was where he was needed in harder stages. For me they deserve the same as Tinkoff.

 

[el_angliru]

It's strange, but Riis' Team hasn't had much success at the Tour since they signed with the world's greatest GT rider.

Tour de France results 2001-2010 for CSC/Saxo

GC Podiums: 6 (2 wins if we include Andy 2010)
Stage wins: 21 (by 12 different riders)
Yellow jerseys: 36 days (I think, worn by 6 different riders)


Tour de France results 2011-2014 for Saxo/Tinkoff

GC Podiums: 0
Stage wins: 0
Yellow jerseys: 0

I'm aware that I'm comparing a period of 10 Tours with only 3½ Tour (with Contador only riding 2½ Tour) but still...
I hope they can get a stage win this year (their first since the four stages they won in 2010). As for the topic: I'd say a score of 2 or 3 for TS.

 

[JeanRobic]

I understand what you say and I would never have expected Rogers to nail the Zoncolan.

But the TDF is an altogether different race to the Giro and although the purists on this forum will always point out how the Giro and Vuelta are always better in some respect to the TDF (giro more severe, Vuelta better competition) the fact is that the TDF is raced the hardest.

And IMO Rogers winning the Zoncolan does not give him any green card to winning any stage on this years TDF.

Harsh but its true.

Agreed, and despite Rogers' past ITT wins, that stage isn't a realistic goal for him. He's never won an ITT in a grand tour, although he did take one a couple years ago in Bayern-Rundfarht (again, obviously a different level of competition).

Maybe a realistic prospect for Saxo is Markov chasing stage wins and combativity awards, like he did two years ago. But surely no polka dots for him this year, unlike '12.

Or maybe Saxo has spent the rest day practicing leadouts for Bennati. He did actually take a sprint win in the Vuelta not so terribly long ago.

 

[el_angliru]

Or maybe Saxo has spent the rest day practicing leadouts for Bennati. He did actually take a sprint win in the Vuelta not so terribly long ago.

Morkov also won a Vuelta sprint (in 2013):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZNgFiovZgk