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The three biggest losers (teams) after the three first monuments

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la.margna

May 5, 2009
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1. BMC
no wins. no podest placings. complete disappointment. weak tactics in P-R that prevented Ballan from podium by setting on Quinziato. nice performance from van Avermaet in M-SR, but no results.

2. Quick Step
no wins. unlucky Roubaix. failed tactics in Flanders. Maybe a Chavanel taking turns with Cancellara would have resulted in 30s more advantage and Chava could have left FC when he was in crisis on the Bosberg..?? ok, would should could trash... sorry.

3. Leopard-Trek
having the strongest and best rider and collecting no win is surely also a disappointment. first wanted to take Katusha to the third spot, but then decided for the Leo's. Apart from Stuey no decent support at all, FC isolated far from the finish in Flanders and P-R. Failure to send a rider to P-R escap group to bridge. Let's be honest. major failure by team and DS if they are not able to win at least one of the three races with a rider of such calibre in such form.
 
M

Moondance

Jul 2, 2009
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If we're only looking at the monuents themselves I'd say Sky.

Nothing in MSR, and Flecha's 9th in Roubaix was their highest placing in the Flanders-Roubaix doubleheader. Plus they made the mistake of sacrificing a amazing Thomas for a not-so-amazing Flecha in the Flanders finale. Maybe Thomas could've managed better there if allowed to ride for himself.
 
Archibald

Archibald

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Moondance said:
If we're only looking at the monuents themselves I'd say Sky.

Nothing in MSR, and Flecha's 9th in Roubaix was their highest placing in the Flanders-Roubaix doubleheader. Plus they made the mistake of sacrificing a amazing Thomas for a not-so-amazing Flecha in the Flanders finale. Maybe Thomas could've managed better there if allowed to ride for himself.
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agree on this

tis interesting that the OP chose just the monuments, and that 2 of his three still picked up wins in the semi-classics surrounding these three monuments, as well as podiums at the monuments themselves...
 
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Mambo95

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AG2R, Movistar and Cofidis - all in all three races and almost invisible

Liquigas, Katusha and Lampre should all be doing better, but at least made the selction in MSR


(I'm excusing Euskaltel, but do they really need to be a ProTour team and in these races?)



Oh, sorry, I forgot this is CyclingNews, isn't it? - Garmin, Sky, BMC, Rabobank and Radioshack
 
Timmy-loves-Rabo

Timmy-loves-Rabo

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will10 said:
Euskaltel.
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it's a matter of expectations tho.

BMC for all their hype and strongest team claims, they should be disappointed. Even more so when the cobble semi-classics are included. They were poor there.
Katusha even more so are disappointing. But despite their strength who here really they would do well? I know I didn't.
Vasc. have little to show as well. And of course sky.

Garmin, HTC and Saxo all won so they are a success.

Leopard got 3 podiums, two of which were 2nd place (+e3). Even if the strongest guy didn't win one, that is still an excellent string of results.

Quickstep, Rabo and Lotto got a podium each so are probably content at this point (+they all won a semi classic... that's right GW is a semi classic, not better then omloop or MSB :p )
 
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la.margna

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Moondance said:
If we're only looking at the monuents themselves I'd say Sky.

Nothing in MSR, and Flecha's 9th in Roubaix was their highest placing in the Flanders-Roubaix doubleheader. Plus they made the mistake of sacrificing a amazing Thomas for a not-so-amazing Flecha in the Flanders finale. Maybe Thomas could've managed better there if allowed to ride for himself.
Click to expand...

Yeah, fully agree, completely forgot about SKY, definitely also a huge disappointment.
 
sublimit

sublimit

Jan 18, 2010
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1.Sky.
2.Katusha
3.BMC

Some Sky riders were good but too many crashes, Hagen injured and Flecha was out of form in the last race.

I reckon they had the best 2 domestiques though in Stannard and Hayman so that was good. Maybe I'm being harsh but they have such a good squad so I've factored that in, and I reckon The Shack were rubbish apart from Rast getting up there Sunday
 
M

movingtarget

Aug 5, 2009
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BMC, lots of work, no cigar. Leopard and Katusha. Will the season finish before Pozzato and his DS have a fistfight ?.............unless it's already happened. Euskatel bikes should be used as mobile spare parts. If you puncture, the nearest orange jersey hands the wheel over plus food and drinks if requested.
 
L

la.margna

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but honestly, did anybody expect anything major or serious from Euskaltel, Astana or the Shack in these three monuments? From my perspective, they performed as expected, and I would not dub them losers. It was clear before it started that they have no say for the podium.
 
A

Anonymous

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As far as monuments go, only HTC, Saxo and Garmin won one, so everybody else failed.

Of the rest, both Sky and BMC at least gave it a go (Sky in Flanders and Roubaix) BMC in MSR and Roubaix and both teams were visible. Katusha get some marks for at least trying to drive things in MSR while Leopard were happy sitting on the back.

For me biggest dissapointments. Rabobank, who didnt animate either of the northern races, Liquigas (did they even enter any of the races?), Lampre, Radioshack (did they enter MSR or Flanders?), AStana (Did they enter any of the three races)

Leopard will be majorly dissapointed, not only in failing to win one, but by Saxo putting one over on them.

So for me, Radioshack, Liquigas and Astana for the fact I cant even remember if they were there.
 
Captain_Cavman

Captain_Cavman

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I see it differently from the above replies.

I don't know what people expected for BMC and Sky but I expected exactly what we got, plenty of involvement as key actors as the story unfolded but podiums unlikely. I thought BMC had a great return of a 4th plus 2 6ths.

The picture is distorted because we had a surprise winner in each race from teams who otherwise didn't produce anything (possibly unfair on HTC).

The teams who would have expected more are Boonen's Quickstep with 4th & 2nd at RvV and Cancellara's Leopard with three podiums but no wins. Both would have expected more, and I would have expected more from them too.
 
T

theyoungest

Jan 11, 2010
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TeamSkyFans said:
As far as monuments go, only HTC, Saxo and Garmin won one, so everybody else failed.

Of the rest, both Sky and BMC at least gave it a go (Sky in Flanders and Roubaix) BMC in MSR and Roubaix and both teams were visible. Katusha get some marks for at least trying to drive things in MSR while Leopard were happy sitting on the back.

For me biggest dissapointments. Rabobank, who didnt animate either of the northern races, Liquigas (did they even enter any of the races?), Lampre, Radioshack (did they enter MSR or Flanders?), AStana (Did they enter any of the three races)

Leopard will be majorly dissapointed, not only in failing to win one, but by Saxo putting one over on them.

So for me, Radioshack, Liquigas and Astana for the fact I cant even remember if they were there.
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Lol. Sky gave it a go in Flanders and Roubaix, and Rabobank didn't? Check the race footage again (and the results sheet). And this without their actual leader for the classics.
 
Winterfold

Winterfold

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Oooh quick everyone - a possible Sky hate thread.

Sky get the prize for least reward for the effort they put in - but at least they were there and visible.

Liquiguff, Katushwho, Astanamanana and Radiosuck all out disappointed them considerably

Disappointment for me means not being visible in the race in any meaningful way, except the Radiosuck guy who got 5th in P-R.
 
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