TNT = Thor + Tyler

[LeakyLens]

Besides when has Haussler ever shown that he can even be close to Cavendish in a bunch sprint? I don't really count MSR since Haussler jumped at an unexpected attack and Cav had to chase him down before sprinting past him.

MSR was unorthodox, but you can't get much closer. Haussler has also been close a number of other occasions.

2009 Tour of Qatar Stage 6 - Cav 1st, Haussler 3rd.
2008 Tour de France Stage 13 - Cav 1st, Haussler 4th
2007 Eneco Tour Stage 2 - Cav 1st, Haussler 4th

And in the 2nd Stage of the 2008 Tour of California, Haussler came 2nd and beat Cavendish who only came 4th.

So to say he has never been close is incorrect. But I feel the point is moot, as Haussler will be focused on classics.

 

[maltiv]

I seriously doubt Barbie could beat Cav in a TDF sprint. He has other qualities, perhaps better ones but sprinting is Cavs territory

Haussler seems to be the only sprinter who has equal or perhaps even better acceleration than Cavendish. I think that if Haussler focused 100% on sprints, he could challenge Cav.

 

[royalpig180]

Heinrich Haussler is fast, Thor has power and Farrar is just pure speed...can't wait to hear Cav and his excuses when he gets squeezed in a tight sprint..."They ganged up on me" (sniff, sniff).

Unfortunately that's not quite how it's likely to work out. Garmin won't be sprinting in two lines up the road, they'll all be in one line. Having 2-3 fast sprinters in that lead out can only do so much good when there's a faster sprinter (Cav) who rockets past you in the last 100m.

 

[LeakyLens]

Haussler seems to be the only sprinter who has equal or perhaps even better acceleration than Cavendish.

Remember this from 2009?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjPEx1_NYyE

 

[Frosty]

Hushovd showed in Pau this year how good a climber he can be.

From what i remember seeing Hushovd was pretty much the last man back onto the group when they slowed approaching the Tourmalet, coming back with Geraint Thomas. That group was 63-strong in the end so although good for a sprinter it wasnt all that impressive. He did then go on the attack on the Tourmalet but i think this was more of a defensive measure really - the group was going slower than the pace he could maintain and he might have been worried there would be attacks near the top forcing the pace and causing him to be dropped. If you get out in front to start off with then if people do start attacking you stand a better chance of being able to get back on the descent. In the end he finished 10th - he was only with the peloton because they let the guys in front go.

Hushovd did well on a mountain stage in 2009 as well but he'll need to do well on more than one mountain stage here. Winning a couple of intermediate sprints is good but if he's a long way behind then it may be a waste of energy.

Even though the system is biased against him any stage with hills, Hushovd can wrap up some points when cav will be nowhere near.

THe problem with Farrar is that he is basically Cav but slightly slower. His tactic will be the exact same as Cavs but he will lose because Cav is slightly better. Hushovd brings other options to the table.

As for barbie, he should (and i think will) focus on classics.

It'll be interesting to see how Farrar performs on some of the uphill sprints early on because he does seem to do better than Cav on these. For instance,

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/65th-vuelta-a-espana-his/stage-19/results

suggests that Farrar could have as good a chance of placing well in the uphill sprints as Hushovd has (although i havent seen the profiles) and as should be their first choice sprinter on the flat then he maybe has a better chance of getting the green jersey than Hushovd does. Hushovd does stand a better chance on medium mountains stages though as seems to be better at longer climbs.

 

[Frosty]

MSR was unorthodox, but you can't get much closer. Haussler has also been close a number of other occasions.

2009 Tour of Qatar Stage 6 - Cav 1st, Haussler 3rd.
2008 Tour de France Stage 13 - Cav 1st, Haussler 4th
2007 Eneco Tour Stage 2 - Cav 1st, Haussler 4th

And in the 2nd Stage of the 2008 Tour of California, Haussler came 2nd and beat Cavendish who only came 4th.

So to say he has never been close is incorrect. But I feel the point is moot, as Haussler will be focused on classics.

He was going quite well against Cavendish in the stage of the Tour de Suisse where they crashed didnt he?

 

[LeakyLens]

He was going quite well against Cavendish in the stage of the Tour de Suisse where they crashed didnt he?

Yeah, may have ended up beating him. Of course, Cavendish was coming off the back of terrible form trying to build for the Tour de France, so wouldn't have been at his best. Although the same could be said for Haussler.

 

[scribe]

Husvold in a leadout train for Farrar, without exception. The only conflict might come in actual jersey points standings.

 

[Frosty]

Who do you think they will favour on the first stage of the tour next year? The leading Garmin rider may not win that stage but if they win the TTT then the leading Garmin guy on stage 1 is likely to get the yellow jersey. Ive heard the finish is a cross between the Barcelona 2009 finish and the stage 1 2008 finish. Hushovd won in Barcelona but didnt do so well in 2008 - in fact he was beaten by Millar!

 

[mr. tibbs]

Who do you think they will favour on the first stage of the tour next year? The leading Garmin rider may not win that stage but if they win the TTT then the leading Garmin guy on stage 1 is likely to get the yellow jersey. Ive heard the finish is a cross between the Barcelona 2009 finish and the stage 1 2008 finish. Hushovd won in Barcelona but didnt do so well in 2008 - in fact he was beaten by Millar!

I don't think Hushovd will be able to hang on in the finale of stage 1. From Prudhomme's description, this finish should favor a rider like Gilbert or Vino. Or maybe even Pineau, who did well in 2008's stage 1.

If it's flat enough for a classics type, I'd pick Boonen or Pippo over Hushovd. Or maybe even Spartacus, if he's having one of "those" years. Of these riders' teams, I expect Schlux to do the best in the TTT (close to, if not better than, Garmin), so Cancellara may have yellow for a few days. Or even Schleck!

Here's the top ten from 2008's first stage:
1 Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
2 Philippe Gilbert (BEL)
3 Jérôme Pineau (FRA)
4 Kim Kirchen (LUX)
5 Riccardo Riccò (ITA)
6 Cadel Evans (AUS)
7 Fränk Schleck (LUX)
8 Filippo Pozzato (ITA)
9 Óscar Freire (ESP)
10 Óscar Pereiro (ESP)

Quite a mixed bag of talents, so the stage could really go in any direction. Should be a lot of fun!

This stage is without a doubt intended more for puncheurs (strong riders with explosive speed which they use on short, but steep gradients with sudden attacks), than pure sprinters, as they will have to climb to the finish at the top of Le Mont des Alouettes.

Just food for thought.

 

[ozerulz]

essentially vaughters found a way to "buy out" Thor IMO. take Thor out of the equation and he believes Farrar has a better shot at green. unfortunately that's not the case as Farrar is basically the exact same rider as Cavendish except not as good.Unfortunately Thor is a nice enough guy to do as he's told and will waste the last couple of years of his GT's riding for this dip.

 

[ingsve]

I don't think Hushovd will be able to hang on in the finale of stage 1. From Prudhomme's description, this finish should favor a rider like Gilbert or Vino. Or maybe even Pineau, who did well in 2008's stage 1.

If it's flat enough for a classics type, I'd pick Boonen or Pippo over Hushovd. Or maybe even Spartacus, if he's having one of "those" years. Of these riders' teams, I expect Schlux to do the best in the TTT (close to, if not better than, Garmin), so Cancellara may have yellow for a few days. Or even Schleck!

Here's the top ten from 2008's first stage:
1 Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
2 Philippe Gilbert (BEL)
3 Jérôme Pineau (FRA)
4 Kim Kirchen (LUX)
5 Riccardo Riccò (ITA)
6 Cadel Evans (AUS)
7 Fränk Schleck (LUX)
8 Filippo Pozzato (ITA)
9 Óscar Freire (ESP)
10 Óscar Pereiro (ESP)

Quite a mixed bag of talents, so the stage could really go in any direction. Should be a lot of fun!

Well, Hushovd is aiming at getting better at exactly this kind of climbs and it depends on how long and steep the finish actually is. In good form and with the world champions jersey I wouldn't rule him out completely.

 

[Frosty]

Cheers Mr Tibbs, thats pretty much what i am thinking too with regards to the first stage. Suppose i'd probably be unimaginative and pick Gilbert at the moment. However, i was more interested in whether Hushovd might be favoured within Garmin and how this would play out with different people. There are a few teams who will be pretty close in the TTT - Sky and Columbia will be other challengers - but Garmin should stand a decent chance. Hesjedal may end up being their best chance on stage 1 or even Dan Martin if he is picked (although if he is in that sort of form then i imagine they would pick him!) If they were to get yellow then this would change priorities a bit - ok so they would want to chase breaks down anyway so its not the same as on a non-sprinter's team, and they are still going to go for stage wins with Farrar but it may mean they have to do more work so cant focus on other goals as much, leave them more tired for later stages, etc.

 

[mr. tibbs]

Cheers Mr Tibbs, thats pretty much what i am thinking too with regards to the first stage. Suppose i'd probably be unimaginative and pick Gilbert at the moment. However, i was more interested in whether Hushovd might be favoured within Garmin and how this would play out with different people. There are a few teams who will be pretty close in the TTT - Sky and Columbia will be other challengers - but Garmin should stand a decent chance. Hesjedal may end up being their best chance on stage 1 or even Dan Martin if he is picked (although if he is in that sort of form then i imagine they would pick him!) If they were to get yellow then this would change priorities a bit - ok so they would want to chase breaks down anyway so its not the same as on a non-sprinter's team, and they are still going to go for stage wins with Farrar but it may mean they have to do more work so cant focus on other goals as much, leave them more tired for later stages, etc.

I read that in your original post and meant to acknowledge it. Guess I never got around to that, sorry!

I know he's been discussed quite a bit on this forum, but I'm still a bit unsure as to what kind of finishing kick Martin has. Same with Ryder, actually. But depending on how they're going, I think they'll be the favorites from Garmin for this stage. I'm basing all of this conjecture on 2008 stage 1, but the finale of that stage was just hard enough--and the desire to win it high enough--that teams were unable to organize in support of a rider. It became everyone for himself. In that situation, against guys like Gilbert, I'd go with Ryder or Martin.

Having the rainbow jersey in yellow would be awesome though, so here's hoping that Thor's hill training (he's training with Gilbert, right?) pays off.

And speaking of the rainbow jersey, I'm a bit saddened by the apparent consensus that Thor will be working for Farrar. I hate to see the rainbow jersey in service to anyone.