MADRAZO said:
skidmark said:
The all-time leader team deserves a few comments, and again it looks like a very strong team that could easily win and that also as usual looks a bit like my own team. All the must have riders are there, and I agree with your analysis on Chavanel, that all the GT riding last year was stupid and that he has huge potential too improove big despite the age with a more suited raceprogram. I myself ended up going against my head on him, due to previous years where I have failed a lot with the picking of old riders so I choose young Bennett instead in that pricerange. But I think Chavanel will be a good pick for you.
Formolo should be a safe bet as you have mentioned. Should be able to improve and wont fail and you never know if he can improve a lot despite perhaps more expecting a steady small improvement. Same with Grosu. For Grosu though I doubt his raceprogram will allow much chance of a huge improvement so I did not really considder him much myself. He would also be my pick as your weakest link if one is too be found. But that could easily be proven wrong.
Petit is a interesting pick, I felt he had turned into a pure leadout lately and also was signed in that role now, so I quickly forgot about him now, but should that not be the case the potential to improve is big for him. And for the price he cant fail. Could be your joker.
And then all the younger cheaper guys you have picked that I have not like Cort, Stuyven, Kudus, Craddock, Kämna, Mohoric, Enger, G. Martin and Bauhaus they are all riders that I also had close into consideration and had deemed worthy of a place in my team should the puzzle fit. So all in all a very strong team.
Bennett could be a good pick for you. I had him a couple of years ago when he went from 121 to around 400, and that was because he was 23 already and moving to a PCT team where he'd be sprint leader. Last year he treaded water points-wise, but learned the ropes in the Tour. This year if he's the featured sprinter on big races, he knows what to do. Still, I decided against him as I thought his return might be in the 600 range rather than the preferred >800 range.
I looked at Grosu similarly to Bennett actually, except a step below. He picked up 266 points riding CT in 2014, but with 146 of them coming from the Tour of Estonia. Those inflated scores always make me pass on riders, like Mareczko, who scored so many points at the end of the season with no competition. So holding at 266 in 2015 means he picked up points in more races, and most were in September and October, suggesting he progressed as his neo-pro season went along. If he does that all year this year and also improves skill-wise, I'm doing great. If not so much, he'll still get his chances and more than break even. I'm more willing to do that with 266 points than >400. So yeah, he's my weakest link in terms of 'most speculative' sense, but I convinced at least myself he was worth a shot. Throw enough 1.1 and 1.HC Italian races at the wall and something is bound to stick.
Petit was my last pick - I had enough points for either him or Ten Dam, and I read an interview with him where he said he'd help Coquard in the big races and go for his own chances in the smaller ones. We will see, at least he's out of the talent development graveyard that is Cofidis.
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