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Teams & Riders The Bora - Hansgrohe team thread

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So Uijtdebroeks is the guy Bora is doing all this for. :cool:


...
He named the Tour de l'Avenir as one of his big personal goals of the season. "It is important to also drive races in which I can win, because that will not be the case with the professionals," said the talent about the renowned French junior race. "I'm not saying I will win, but I will go there to get a result."

In the professional races, however, Uijtdebroeks also expects “setbacks”. But these are to a certain extent part of the development plan agreed with Bora - hansgrohe. “I don't put any pressure on myself and neither does the team. I have no obligation to deliver results for the next three years. This knowledge takes the pressure off me. The most important thing for me is to watch my progress. If I win races, great. If not, bad luck. "

In the long term, however, the all-rounder and his new team are aiming for the highest goals. “I want to be good at the big tours and fight on equal terms with Primoz Roglic or Tadej Pogacar,” said Uijtdebroeks, who wants to benefit from the realignment of Bora - hansgrohe.

The Raublinger racing team strengthened its group of drivers around Emanuel Buchmann and Wilco Kelderman with well-known names such as Jai Hindley, Sergio Higuita and Aleksandr Vlasov and intends to challenge teams such as Jumbo - Visma or Ineos Grenadiers in the Grand Tours in the future.
 
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So Uijtdebroeks is the guy Bora is doing all this for. :cool:


...
He named the Tour de l'Avenir as one of his big personal goals of the season. "It is important to also drive races in which I can win, because that will not be the case with the professionals," said the talent about the renowned French junior race. "I'm not saying I will win, but I will go there to get a result."

In the professional races, however, Uijtdebroeks also expects “setbacks”. But these are to a certain extent part of the development plan agreed with Bora - hansgrohe. “I don't put any pressure on myself and neither does the team. I have no obligation to deliver results for the next three years. This knowledge takes the pressure off me. The most important thing for me is to watch my progress. If I win races, great. If not, bad luck. "

In the long term, however, the all-rounder and his new team are aiming for the highest goals. “I want to be good at the big tours and fight on equal terms with Primoz Roglic or Tadej Pogacar,” said Uijtdebroeks, who wants to benefit from the realignment of Bora - hansgrohe.

The Raublinger racing team strengthened its group of drivers around Emanuel Buchmann and Wilco Kelderman with well-known names such as Jai Hindley, Sergio Higuita and Aleksandr Vlasov and intends to challenge teams such as Jumbo - Visma or Ineos Grenadiers in the Grand Tours in the future.


He is Bora's best chance for a GT win.
 
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I bet Higuita can surprise a lot of people if he gets his preparation right. He's shown in 2019/early 2020 that he has a potential to be a top10 rider in the world IMO. And even when 2021 wasn't the best year for him, he's still shown a form that would be good enough for 5th/6th overall in the last couple of mountain stages of Tour de France if he had been on this level from week 1.
 
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An article about Buchmann´s "season to forget" and his plans for 2022.

It´s still not decided, but I am reading a little preference for the giro out here. It´s a bit contrary to what he said a few months ago, where he said that he would like to target the tour next season, so now I would assume, that he will go another time for the giro GC..

"The decision as to whether he will attack the podium in the Giro or the Tour next year has not yet been made, however. The tendency, however, could go in the direction of the Tour of Italy. "At the Giro, there are very few time trial kilometres and, as always, many difficult stages at the end. That certainly suits me in principle," said Buchmann with a view to the first big tour of the year, which will have fewer time trial kilometres on the programme this time than the Tour of France."

"However, it is a tough one and should also suit his climbing skills. "The route of the Tour is also very difficult, with many mountains," said Buchmann, before adding: "However, the first week is very tricky with a lot of wind and a Roubaix stage. That gives me a bit of a headache. The risk of something going wrong in the first week is certainly greater in the Tour."

 
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An article about Buchmann´s "season to forget" and his plans for 2022.

It´s still not decided, but I am reading a little preference for the giro out here. It´s a bit contrary to what he said a few months ago, where he said that he would like to target the tour next season, so now I would assume, that he will go another time for the giro GC..

"The decision as to whether he will attack the podium in the Giro or the Tour next year has not yet been made, however. The tendency, however, could go in the direction of the Tour of Italy. "At the Giro, there are very few time trial kilometres and, as always, many difficult stages at the end. That certainly suits me in principle," said Buchmann with a view to the first big tour of the year, which will have fewer time trial kilometres on the programme this time than the Tour of France."

"However, it is a tough one and should also suit his climbing skills. "The route of the Tour is also very difficult, with many mountains," said Buchmann, before adding: "However, the first week is very tricky with a lot of wind and a Roubaix stage. That gives me a bit of a headache. The risk of something going wrong in the first week is certainly greater in the Tour."


Yea the Giro would suit him well. As others have pointed out the weather is the main problem there.

I thought this was overrated to a good a degree, as most GC riders nowadays are are rather on the skinny side- even by procyclist standards- but this year his by far best performance was during that gravel stage when it was warm and sunny, as soon as it was just a bit colder or even rainy he started to struggle every single time. Cold really seems to mean 10-20 watts less for him.

So if the Giro was held during the summer and Roglic, Pogacar and Bernal wouldn't be there I would even give him a chance at winning it all. Like it is however a podium seems to be the maximum.

Same goes for the TdF, a podium is possible, likely not all the other, better GC riders will make it to Paris and if he gets himself into Dauphine 2020 form, the weather is good, he chances would be decent.
 
Kelderman for Giro GC is a bit of a surprise after his 5th place at this year tour.

I agree that the Giro line-up is really really strong. Probably the strongest line-up together with Ineos.

Tour squad more focussed on stage wins, also makes sense, because they don´t have a rider who can battle against the likes of Pogacar, Roglic and Bernal. So Vlasov as their man for GC with limited support also makes sense.

Also like Higuita for Vuelta GC. So in general I like the approach!
 
Kelderman for Giro GC is a bit of a surprise after his 5th place at this year tour.

I agree that the Giro line-up is really really strong. Probably the strongest line-up together with Ineos.

Tour squad more focussed on stage wins, also makes sense, because they don´t have a rider who can battle against the likes of Pogacar, Roglic and Bernal. So Vlasov as their man for GC with limited support also makes sense.

Also like Higuita for Vuelta GC. So in general I like the approach!


With Bennett, Schachmann, Konrad, Großschartner and Politt they have a chance to win every stage that is not a GC battle.
I really like this approach.
 
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Giro: Buchmann, Kelderman, Hindley, Kämna and two of Aleotti/Fabbro/Zwiehof
Tour: Vlasov, Schachmann, Großschartner, Konrad, Politt, Bennett
Vuelta: Higuita

This Giro line-up looks really strong.

I don't think that they should go with such a climbing heavy team. Especially with 3 "Leaders" and the always stressful Giro stages this would be too risky in my opinion. Having Kämna and one out of Aleotti & Fabbro as mountain domistiques is fine. After Etna and Blockhaus there's probably only one true leader left and the other two will be also support riders.

Knowing Bora I think they will go with Benedetti and maybe one out of Gamper/Pöstlberger. The much needed addition in the Giro Team is Haller. He is so versatile and pretty good at positioning.

Kelderman, Buchman, Hindley, Kämna, Benedetti, Aleotti, Haller, Pöstlberger -> that would be a balanced team to go for a GC Podium.

I also like the approach for the tour. Politt and Schachmann will be there for stages and the german press. Konrad & Großschartner are also good stage hunters but can also help Vlasov in the mountains if something unexpected happens and he isn't just riding for a best of the rest spot. Van Poppel is also a lock for the tour. I'm not so sure about Mullen. I think he has to back it up with good results. For Bennetts Sprint Train there's also Politt and Schachmann in the Line-Up wo can really help in the run in to a Sprint. Other Options for the last spot in the team would be Pöstlberger (if he's not riding the Giro) and Koch.

For the Vuelta I think it will be more of the same approach we saw the last years. The team uses the race as a developing opportunity. So Higuita is like Großschartner in the last two years a weaker leader with not that much support. They will for sure bring one or even both talented sprinters in Meuus and Walls. If they still believe in their projects Zwiehoff and Palzer that would be also the GT to give them more experience. Fabbro and Schelling were left out of my Giro/Vuelta Teams. They will be both included into a GT Team if they don't have a desastrous season because they have both a contract for 23. So I think the Vuelta would be good for them to hunt stages. I think both could be domestiques in the Giro no question. But I think think Kämna, Aleotti, Pöstlberger, Haller and Benedetti would be the better supporting cast.

It's a long time till the Vuelta but I think something like this would be a typical Bora Vuelta Squad: Higuita, Walls, Schelling, Fabbro, Zwiehoff, Laas, Meeus, Gamper. Mavbe switch Wandhal in for Zwiehoff or Laas, but I think that will come pretty close to the actual squad. I'm not a big fan of that approach. I think guys like Buchmann or Kelderman should be able to ride in two Grand Tours a year. They don't give you that much outside of stage racing & I think they are good enough to take advantage of a weaker field and the Vuelta is normally the GT with the weakest (but maybe not this year depending on PogRogs Form in August).
 
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Kelderman and Hindley riding the Giro once again on the same team, that's gonna be interesting.
I don't know if I'd send a solid TTer like him to the Giro, but maybe they don't have that much faith in him surviving the hectic first week + cobbles and the Tour and they want to send Vlasov to the Tour.
Surprised to see 3 gc leaders and Kämna at the Giro, I would have thought that they'd send him to another gt as a stagehunter. That said, he's the opposite of Buchmann in the sense that he loves bad weather. He also wants mountain stages to be as hard as possible, so on paper the Giro should be the best gt for him.
Haller at the Giro wouldn't be a bad idea, but I guess that he'll need a bit of rest after riding all the spring classics alongside his buddy Politt, other than that I agree with the Giro team that Filippo suggests, looks balanced to me.
 
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Kelderman and Hindley riding the Giro once again on the same team, that's gonna be interesting.
I don't know if I'd send a solid TTer like him to the Giro, but maybe they don't have that much faith in him surviving the hectic first week + cobbles and the Tour and they want to send Vlasov to the Tour.
Surprised to see 3 gc leaders and Kämna at the Giro, I would have thought that they'd send him to another gt as a stagehunter. That said, he's the opposite of Buchmann in the sense that he loves bad weather. He also wants mountain stages to be as hard as possible, so on paper the Giro should be the best gt for him.
Haller at the Giro wouldn't be a bad idea, but I guess that he'll need a bit of rest after riding all the spring classics alongside his buddy Politt, other than that I agree with the Giro team that Filippo suggests, looks balanced to me.

Kelderman said yesterday that he is really happy to be back at the Giro because he doesn't like the Tour, it's to hectic.

I hope they don't bring Benedetti, Gamper is way better at this stage of theire career. It will be interesting to see who they bring as domestique to fill out the Giro team.
Like Filippo said, after Etan and Blockhaus one of the three leaders will be a domestique.
 
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Kelderman said yesterday that he is really happy to be back at the Giro because he doesn't like the Tour, it's to hectic.

I hope they don't bring Benedetti, Gamper is way better at this stage of theire career. It will be interesting to see who they bring as domestique to fill out the Giro team.
Like Filippo said, after Etan and Blockhaus one of the three leaders will be a domestique.
They are also different kind riders, Gamper is a big engine for the flat, while Benedetti is more of a domestique for hectic hilly/medium mountain stages.
 
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I think Benedetti will go because he was/is a sort of Road Captain for the Giro squad. Tbh I think that is the big thin the Bora team is missing overall: They lost really a lot of good versatile Domestiques over the last years. I really don't know why they let go Burghardt and I think they will miss him. He was able to help everywhere (classics, hilly semi-classics, Grand Tours). Also Oss is leaving and they didn't resign Pfingsten or McCarthy in the last years. Schwarzmann was also very valuable in the smaller stage Races. Gamper is maybe a good talent but I didn't saw enough of him to see him in those kind of roles. Haller and Politt would be really good at it, but maybe they are more looking for their own chances.
 
I think Benedetti will go because he was/is a sort of Road Captain for the Giro squad. Tbh I think that is the big thin the Bora team is missing overall: They lost really a lot of good versatile Domestiques over the last years. I really don't know why they let go Burghardt and I think they will miss him. He was able to help everywhere (classics, hilly semi-classics, Grand Tours). Also Oss is leaving and they didn't resign Pfingsten or McCarthy in the last years. Schwarzmann was also very valuable in the smaller stage Races. Gamper is maybe a good talent but I didn't saw enough of him to see him in those kind of roles. Haller and Politt would be really good at it, but maybe they are more looking for their own chances.
Well if you look at the squads of teams in the past, who had gone 100% for GC in a grand tour during the last couple of years there are maximum two riders in every team which are not within the Top50 climbers in the field.

For example Jumbo 2021 at the tour

Roglic
van Aert
Gesink
Kruiswijk
Kuss
Martin
Teunissen
Vingegaard

Martin & Teunissen are not within the top50 climbers

or Ineos 2021:

Thomas
Carapaz
Castroviejo
Geoghehan Hart
Kwiatkowski
Porte
Rowe
van Baarle

Rowe and perhaps van Baarle are not part of the top50 climbers. (Although van Baarle had years, when he had been within the top 20)

So in regards of this rule I would say that two out of Benedetti, Gamper, Pöstlberger and Haller should be enough for the giro team. What´s really missing for Bora is a rider like Kwiatkowski, Castroviejo or van Aert, which can be used on the flat and in the mountains. So because of the lack of such a type of rider it really could really make sense to start with more then 2 riders who can only be used on the flat.
 
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I'm definitely biased as I have been quite negative about their off season for some time but I don't see this Giro GC project ending too well. Even with a weak Giro field none of their guys really move the needle and I also don't see a 3-leader approach of Keldermann, Buchmann and Hindley working particulary well.
Having said that, its the best GT to target your GC hopes. While I don't see anyone beating an in-form Carapaz the other GC hopes (Yates? Almeida? Landa? Dumoulin?) have just as many questionmarks over their heads as the Bora guys, so a podium place is definitely a reasonable goal. With Giro being the first GT of the calender it also gives them good flexibility with their planning afterwards, definitely smart to go for stage hunting in the TdF and then they should have a wide range of stage hunting and GC options for the Vuelta.
 
I don't think that they should go with such a climbing heavy team. Especially with 3 "Leaders" and the always stressful Giro stages this would be too risky in my opinion. Having Kämna and one out of Aleotti & Fabbro as mountain domistiques is fine. After Etna and Blockhaus there's probably only one true leader left and the other two will be also support riders.

Knowing Bora I think they will go with Benedetti and maybe one out of Gamper/Pöstlberger. The much needed addition in the Giro Team is Haller. He is so versatile and pretty good at positioning.

Kelderman, Buchman, Hindley, Kämna, Benedetti, Aleotti, Haller, Pöstlberger -> that would be a balanced team to go for a GC Podium.

I also like the approach for the tour. Politt and Schachmann will be there for stages and the german press. Konrad & Großschartner are also good stage hunters but can also help Vlasov in the mountains if something unexpected happens and he isn't just riding for a best of the rest spot. Van Poppel is also a lock for the tour. I'm not so sure about Mullen. I think he has to back it up with good results. For Bennetts Sprint Train there's also Politt and Schachmann in the Line-Up wo can really help in the run in to a Sprint. Other Options for the last spot in the team would be Pöstlberger (if he's not riding the Giro) and Koch.

For the Vuelta I think it will be more of the same approach we saw the last years. The team uses the race as a developing opportunity. So Higuita is like Großschartner in the last two years a weaker leader with not that much support. They will for sure bring one or even both talented sprinters in Meuus and Walls. If they still believe in their projects Zwiehoff and Palzer that would be also the GT to give them more experience. Fabbro and Schelling were left out of my Giro/Vuelta Teams. They will be both included into a GT Team if they don't have a desastrous season because they have both a contract for 23. So I think the Vuelta would be good for them to hunt stages. I think both could be domestiques in the Giro no question. But I think think Kämna, Aleotti, Pöstlberger, Haller and Benedetti would be the better supporting cast.

It's a long time till the Vuelta but I think something like this would be a typical Bora Vuelta Squad: Higuita, Walls, Schelling, Fabbro, Zwiehoff, Laas, Meeus, Gamper. Mavbe switch Wandhal in for Zwiehoff or Laas, but I think that will come pretty close to the actual squad. I'm not a big fan of that approach. I think guys like Buchmann or Kelderman should be able to ride in two Grand Tours a year. They don't give you that much outside of stage racing & I think they are good enough to take advantage of a weaker field and the Vuelta is normally the GT with the weakest (but maybe not this year depending on PogRogs Form in August).

Schelling will not ride any GT, he has requested that specifically. Instead he will focus mostly on success in one-day races this year. So you seem to be wrong there. Also i think Higuita will get more support and probably also a co-leader in the Vuelta. Also I think Higuita can surprise if he can get back on track.
 

this even says they bring Kämna, Aleotti, Fabbro AND Zwiehoff as domestiques.
Yeah let's see what will happen in the end. They will for sure have 10 guys ready for the Giro until a few weeks before the start. The risk of loosing someone relatively last minute (covid) is huge at the moment. So I would guess that they don't bring all those Mountain domestiques, but Earns1985 is right that they are missing quality riders who can be a great support in the mountains, hilly parcours and in hectic flat stages. If it where up to me I would bring Haller & Pöstlberger as best options for this role, but of course I'm not a DS.

Overall I think the development of Bora will be pretty interesting this year. It could end in a total dumpster fire. Their Ardennes Team (as per PCS) is also kinda crazy: Konrad, Schelling, Schachmann, Vlasov, Higuita....I'm not sure if that can be a success, seems to be a lot of riders looking for their own result. It's like with the GTs. If they don't try a lot before the better teams control the race, they will get beaten. They have a lot of guys who can get Top 10, but winning big races...I can't see it right now.
 
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