Teams & Riders The Official Wouter Lambertus Martinus Henricus Poels thread.

[Ikbengodniet]

Poels will not defend his title in LBL. In fact he will skip the whole ardennes campaign due to his knee injury. He is back in full training mode though, so I think he is already preparing for the tour now.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

So another injury off year.

 

[Scarponi]

Can't wait for him to close the 2nd and third best climbers in the worlds attacks in July. Yawn

 

[Billie]

lol remember when he was supposedly the 2nd best rider in last years Tour

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

He isn't, but on his good days he basically killed all the fun by nullifying the others the last 2 years.

It's good for the Tour that he isn't fit enough this year. Froome will have less of an easy job.

 

[rick james]

it helps now he isn't there as a Dutch lady refuses to call him by his name and instead likes to call him lanky poels

 

[DBotero]

Too bad he has 2 more years from his contract as it would have been a good time to say goodbye to Sky.Let's see if those selected can really offer the same level of support.

 

[rick james]

Too bad he has 2 more years from his contract as it would have been a good time to say goodbye to Sky.Let's see if those selected can really offer the same level of support.

I don't think he wants to leave sky

 

[movingtarget]

Too bad he has 2 more years from his contract as it would have been a good time to say goodbye to Sky.Let's see if those selected can really offer the same level of support.

Five months off the bike might have something to do with the decision.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Poels is too inconsistent to be anything other than mountain support (or free role for breaks) in a GT or even a small tour. So he is at the right place at Sky. Occasional free role, mostly support.

 

[classicomano]

Lets hope Froome is fading. Poels might have a chance to ride for himself in the Vuelta.

 

[Katabatic]

Even if Froome fades, it's doubtful that Poels would get a chance to ride for himself at the Vuelta. Froome gets a bit more leeway than one bad GT.

Shame he's not going to be at the Tour, but I'm sure Froome's rivals aren't going to miss him.

 

[CTQ]

Team Sky had to buy a bike for Poels for his nationals
https://twitter.com/aswardy/status/878884305304473600

 

[deValtos]

I like Poels but from Sky's perspective it also makes a lot of sense honestly.

From their perspective taking Poels is a risk in the sense that they can't be sure if he is going to stay at his 2017 Rut de Sud form or hit his 2016 TDF form. In reality it will probably be somewhere in the middle but it could also be a very weak or very strong Poels for whatever reasons, either way Sky can't really know tbh. Then when they have 20 insane riders to pick from there's just no reason to take a "risky" rider right now. If it's another WT team who would not have a suitable replacement for Poels then sure take the risk and cross your fingers. They can also have him target the Veulta which gives him another couple of months to gain form.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Can't wait for him to close the 2nd and third best climbers in the worlds attacks in July. Yawn

In one or two stages but being almost invisible for the rest of the race; he isn't only one who can do that.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

He isn't, but on his good days he basically killed all the fun by nullifying the others the last 2 years.

Thankfully it's one or two stages per Tour and on the top of that not all fun is killed anyway, so job as usual.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Last year it was more than 2 days, that's for sure.

 

[DBotero]

This thread needs a bump. Give the man a leadership role in a GT
Good job today.If Froome wasn't so slow Poels could have won this stage.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

This thread needs a bump. Give the man a leadership role in a GT
Good job today.If Froome wasn't so slow Poels could have won this stage.

Could you imagine the forum grudge against him?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

tbh I think he was pretty pissed on the line, but managed to conceal it a bit.

Probably would have won if he didn't have to babysit Froome today. But that's what he signed up for when he joined Sky :lol:

 

[Jagartrott]

Could've been outright leader at QS or any other team.
Went to Sky for the money. I mean, the project, obviously.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

He went for the marginal gains obviously
Anyway. looking forward to him dropping as 1st man in Bergen. Similar to the olympics :lol:

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Could've been outright leader at QS or any other team.
Went to Sky for the money. I mean, the project, obviously.

Well he was in QS, and he wasn't been an outright leader He was not this good before Sky, not even close.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

sure looks happy that his leader won the race :lol:

 

[ice&fire]

With Landa out of the picture we need to keep alive the flame of team captain vs his best helper.